Chapter 3
Father
Over the next week, Mandy awaited eagerly for Daniel and his mother to come. She hadn't seen him when she went to school, and Mother never mentioned them again.
So, Mandy decided to bring up the topic to Mother.
They were both kneading dough to make a cranberry pie.
"Mother," Mandy said. "Is Daniel going to visit us again?"
Her Mother grinned playfully.
"Why...are you interested in him?"
I'm not interested in him, Mandy thought. I only like him as a friend.
"No...uh, nevermind." But Mother wasn't fooled.
"Mandy-" she started out. Then, their front door opened. Mother wiped off her flour quickly and ran to the door.
A tall, well-groomed man was coming in and placing his sword and sack on the floor.
"Charles!" Mother exclaimed happily and rushed over to him, placing her arms around his neck.
"Father!!" Mandy cried out, running out from the kitchen and embraced both him and her mother.
Father smiled. "If you want to see what I brought back from my trading, you must let go of me,"
Both Mandy and her Mother detached from him.
He opened the sack and took out one item. It was a red rose. At closer inspection, Mandy saw that it was carved out of wood! But, oh! The workmanship was beautiful. It looked exactly like a real rose. Maybe even more beautiful than one.
"This," said Father. "Is one of Algulen's. It's beautiful isn't it?" Algulen was an elf. He wasn't a professional carver yet; He had just started, but the artifacts he made were still priceless.
"Yes," Mandy said in wonder.
Father turned the rose sideways, and Mandy saw that it was a cup. How natural it looked!
"This is for you, Mandy," Father said, handing it to her.
She clasped it in her hand, amazed at the beauty and delicacy.
Then, Father took out a plain, brown box that fit in his hand.
"What's this?" Mother asked, bemused.
"It's a fairy trifle," he said, explaining. Mandy looked up, curious.
She noticed something strange; her parents were staring at each other, as if there was something they wanted to say, but couldn't. Mandy felt slightly chilled. But she didn't take any note of it.
"Let's see what it does," Mandy said.
"OK," said Father, the look gone from his face.
He held it out in his hand, and there was a rich smell of baking bread coming out of it.
Mother stared at it in surprise.
"What am I to do with that?" she asked.
"Whisper anything to it, and it'll have the scent of that thing."
"Garden," he whispered to it.
Instantly, the room was filled with the luscious scent of roses and dirt.
Mother smiled.
"It was made as a fairy joke, but I couldn't resist it. It was quite expensive, too."
He handed it to Mother. "Warning. Don't whisper anything smelly to it. Otherwise..."
"Yes, I understand," said Mother, laughing.
Father took out many less expensive items, such as many dresses for Mandy and Mother, exotic foods, and jewelry. Mandy and Mother had already gotten so many gifts from Father's previous trading expeditions, but each time, they were still astounded by the beauty of everything. But, he had one last gift for Mandy.
"This one is also a fairy trifle," he told her. "It was made long ago, when fairies lived in abundance."
He handed her a plain, old book.
"Oh, Father," she said, somewhat disappointed.
"When you open it," he told her. "You'll be surprised."
Afterwards, Father sat down on the couch to rest, and Mother and Mandy went back to the kitchen to finish the cranberry pie.
Once it was made to perfection and placed in the oven, they went to sit with Father in the living room. However, Father had already fallen asleep.
"Shh," Mother whispered. "We don't want to wake him up. Go to your room."
Obediently, Mandy grabbed the book and went up to her room. She wasn't sure what was in it. After wavering, she decided to open it.
You are the eighth owner of this book
Treat this book with care. If you lose it, it will always come back to you.
From the Fairies
Mandy flipped to the next page. Inside, there was a story about Fairies. It explained that they used to be the most populous species on Earth, and humans were quite rare. However, a human and fairy fell in love, and the human used her to destroy all of the rest of the fairies. By the end of the story, Mandy was sobbing. Why had the human betrayed the fairy? Why had the fairy been so foolish!
But, it's all a story, she thought. No point mourning over something that never happened.
She flipped to the next page, expecting another story.
However, she looked at the next page in surprise.
There was a boy on it. He seemed to look like Daniel.
She looked closely at the picture. The boy seemed to be in a marketplace. She turned to the next page. There was a bigger picture. She could see that he was with a large group of friends outside in the marketplace. She caught sight of a man chopping off a chicken head behind them. And she saw many girls flocking to the group, flirting with the boys. All the girls were quite beautiful.
The boy in there was probably someone who looked like Daniel.
The next page showed something weird. It was a page of rules.
How to Know You're a Fairy
It was followed by lines of strange symbols that Mandy had never seen. There would probably be an explanation on the next page.
She turned to the next page, and there was a translation of the previous page.
1. You have extremely small feet
Mandy looked down. Her feet were quite small. She was about to read on, but her book had fallen on the ground when she was looking at her feet. She opened the book and flipped quickly through all the pages. She couldn't find the page of rules anymore.
At that moment, there was a knocking on the door downstairs. Mandy took no heed and continued flipping through the pages. Mother answered the door downstairs.
Mandy continued to flip through the book furiously. However, all the pages had changed! The first page was different, replaced by a fairy tale. Was it really magical? Suddenly, Mandy realized there was a presence at the door. It was probably Mother.
"I'm not hungry, Mother," she said. "I don't want any pie."
Mother didn't leave. Mandy looked up. Daniel was standing there! Just then, Mandy realized what had just happened. She felt silly.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, standing up. "I thought you were Mother."
Daniel smiled and came in.
"I saw you flipping through the book without reading it," he said. "What were you looking for?"
"Oh, nothing," I told him. "So, what are you doing here? It's quite...unexpected."
"I was at the marketplace closeby with a couple friends," he explained. "I saw your house, so I decided to come visit for a while."
"I see," said Mandy. Slowly, her mind formulated what had happened. Daniel was the one in the book. It was a real scene from real life that was happening. No, it couldn't be. She decided to ask him.
"Where there any, uh, girls?" she questioned.
"Yeah, a couple, I guess," he said, looking uninterested. "Why?"
Daniel was the one in the book! The book took scenes in real life!
She still didn't believe it. I'll ask him one more question, she thought. If he says yes, then it's a magic book.
"Was there...a man behind you...selling chickens?" Mandy asked.
Daniel looked surprised.
"Yeah! Were you there? How come you didn't come say hi?"
Mandy felt scared. The book was magical. It truly was. But she had to answer Daniel's question. She made up an excuse.
"I had to come home quickly," she said. "Sorry."
She really wanted to tell Daniel about the magic book. But, something inside her told her not to. She almost believed that she heard a voice from the book telling her not to tell anybody about it. But when she looked at it, it was lying still.
She and Daniel talked for a while, but she couldn't concentrate on what was happening. The book could show scenes from life! It probably could predict the future, even.
"Mandy?" he asked. "Mandy?"
Mandy shook out of her trance. "Yeah?" said Mandy.
"You don't look well," he said.
That was true. Her mind was overwhelmed by the magical book.
"Maybe I should go home, let you rest a little."
"Yea, sure," breathed Mandy. She wanted to look through the magic book again.
Daniel patted her on the back.
"Get well," he told her, and then he left the room.
Right when he stepped out, Mandy opened the book again.
There was a warning.
Do not reveal this book to anyone.
That was all it said.
She turned to the next page and next page. They all said those seven words. All of the pages contained this warning.
Surprised, she closed the book. Then, she opened it again. There was no trace the words had even been there. Instead, there was an image of Daniel walking down the stairs of her house. She watched as he walked through her living room and say goodbye to Mother. She even saw Father sleeping on the couch. Then, she looked in regret as Daniel walked through the front door. Then, the page was dark.