Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

“Dad?” Virginia gave a startled look when she realized her voice was gone. She couldn’t hear herself, or for that matter, hear anything at all. There was such deafening silence all about her that it was practically roaring in her ears.

Tony helped his daughter stand up and shook his head sadly at her. He looked up and saw Wolf being halted by his friend to not come after Virginia. Smart move, my friend, Tony thought. But now what were they going to do? Virginia was trapped in the Sixth Kingdom along with them. This is turning out to be a fine, fine mess, Tony, he said to himself.

Virginia grabbed at Tony’s arms and her eyes were the mostly shocking blue as she tried to ask her dad questions with just her eyes. WHAT HAPPENED? she mouthed carefully. Tony shook his head again and retrieved his chalkboard slate. He squibbled something onto it and handed it to Virginia; then he turned his attention back to Princess Wendy who seemed to be looking up into the sky at something. She lifted up her arm up and pointed. Tony raised his head and looked. He saw a tiny speck of something coming closer and closer to them.

DAD, WE’RE ALL TRAPPED NOW? Virginia wrote after she read Tony’s explanation. Tony just nodded. OH, DAD, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? she wrote again. Tony shrugged. WOLF! HE’S STILL OUT THERE! THERE IS STILL HOPE! Tony nodded to assure Virginia that Wolf just might be able to help. But he himself did not want to get his hopes up again just to have them rammed down his throat once again.

Princess Wendy began tapping on his shoulder and pointing in the sky. Tony looked again and realized that the tiny speck he had seen in the air was actually Pip, the talking white dove. In all the excitement, they hadn’t even notice that he was gone. Now he had flown up as high as he could and come back to the side of silence in the Sixth Kingdom.

Pip landed on Wendy’s shoulder and his beak began moving around frantically. But he soon realized no sound was coming out and he stopped. His little shoulders slumped and her fluttered into the air and noticed that Virginia was now among the trapped humans in the Sixth Kingdom. He rolled his eyes when he realized what had happened.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? Virginia wrote out on Tony’s slate. I CAN’T HEAR ANYTHING. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?

TOO LONG, VIRGINIA. BUT DON’T WORRY. WE’LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT.

DAD! MY SHOES!!!

Tony raised an eyebrow and looked at Virginia as if she was mad. WHAT ABOUT YOUR SHOES? YOU MEAN THOSE UGLY BROWN LOAFERS YOU PUT ON EARLIER? I WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU ALL WERE DOING.

THEY’RE MAGIC, DAD. THEY’RE THE SHOES OF TRUTH. WE USED THEM JUST A LITTLE WHILE AGO TO FIGURE OUT WHO HAD PLACED THE CURSE. IT WAS OUR FRIEND, MELODY.

Virginia gave a sad shake of her head to try and erase all that had happened since Melody had run off. She couldn’t believe that Wolf was still alive. Her heart had jumped to her throat when she had turned around and seen him. But her relief had been shattered again when Bon had grabbed her. And now she had fallen into the Sixth Kingdom and all sound was lost. She also then realized that her magic Shoes of Truth were on the other side in the Second Kingdom with Wolf and Patrick.

She sat down on the fallen log and put her head into her hands. This whole trip back to the Nine Kingdoms was certainly not the vacation she had been looking forward to. They had befriended a witch who had been trying to kill them. She’d been lost in a pumpkin patch with what she’d thought was a monster. She’d then been attacked by a mass of tazmanian wolves who’d frightened her to death. Wolf had been under a spell for a while there making him fall in love with Melody. They’d met three billy goats and their slave troll. Then they’d met a talking bird who’d told them about how her father was trapped in the Sixth Kingdom. And lastly, she’d practically murdered her own beloved Wolf.

This is not happening to me! she screamed in her head. What else can possibly happen now?! She quickly knocked on the log she sat on to un-jinx herself. Knock on wood, Virginia. Knock on wood.

WHERE ARE THESE SHOES, VIRGINIA? Tony wrote using his white powdery chalk which was quickly shortening from the constant use.

Virginia pointed towards Wolf and Patrick whom they could still see clearly. They were both in the process of sitting down on the ground, not speaking or moving. With her eyes, she searched for her bag in which she’d left her shoes in but couldn’t seem to locate it on the ground where she’d left it on the other side in the Second Kingdom. Where had it gone, she asked herself? Had someone taken it? Her thoughts were interrupted when the ground beneath her began to shake. She scrambled to her feet and gave Tony a horrified look. Tony smiled and gave her a slight smile to let her know to relax.

IT’S JUST UDO, he wrote down.

“I’ve been looking for you all over, Little Man!” came Udo’s loud and booming voice from above them. He soon materialized before them and Virginia’s eyes grew as big as saucers as she saw his face way up over the high trees.

“What are you all doing? Hey, who’s she? I don’t remember seeing her before. But then, my memory is sort of shot,” Udo blasted again. Without being asked, he quickly picked up Tony, Wendy and Virginia individually and placed them in his hand in which he began to raise high up into the air. The three small little people hung on to dear life as they watched the ground below them retreat further and further away.

“Good timing, Udo. Tony gave Udo’s huge hand a pat, which he doubted the giant even felt.

“Oh yeah? What’s going on? Did I miss anything exciting?”

Tony gave a shout of exaggerated laughter. “You sure did, Udo. But it’s not important. This is my daughter, Virginia.”

Virginia quickly regained her voice and shouted out a greeting to the giant.

Princess Wendy quickly took Virginia’s hand and patted it gently. “Do not worry, Virginia. You are the heroine that save the Nine Kingdoms from the evil queen. I am sure you will now figure out how to get us out of this mess.”

That did not help Virginia one bit. Instead it made her even more nervous. All the pressure!

“Man, I thought she had surely killed that wolf-man!” a small obnoxious voice called out. They all looked and saw that Pip had flown up with them and was now perched on the index finger of the giant. “When I saw what was going on, I figured I might as well fly on over to you guys and explain what was going on. But then I remembered that you couldn’t hear me anyways. But I guess everything turned out a-okay, Pops. So what’s next on the agenda?”

Tony rolled his eyes. The obnoxious bird sure talked a lot.

“We need to break the spell that is holding us all in the Sixth Kingdom. That’s what’s on our agenda, my friend.”

“The shoes. I need to get those magic shoes. If you ask it a question, they will tell you the answer no matter what it is,” Virginia announced. She looked down to the ground and got dizzy from the height but she forced herself to look at the sitting forms down below of Wolf and Patrick.

“Well, those magical shoes or whatever you call them are on the other side in the Second Kingdom. You think Wolf or that other friend of yours might figure it out and use them?”

“His name is Patrick, our friend. I’m not sure if they know, but even if they did, they can’t use them. Only I can wear them. The billy goats programmed the shoes that way.”

“The billy goats? Oh don’t even start. I don’t want to know.” Tony threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Hey Pops, I can fly on over to those men down there and tell them to use the shoes,” Pip piped in.

“That would be good, but still it wouldn’t work. Virginia needs to be wearing them. We need the shoes on this side with us,” Tony explained, but a sudden thought popped into his head. “Okay, I am feeling like the worst idiot in the world now. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier. Pip, fly down to Wolf and Patrick. Tell them to throw the shoes over through the border. Udo, you can pick them up and then Virginia can put them on here. Then we can figure it out!”

“Dad! You’re a genius!” Virginia cried out, grabbing onto Tony’s arm with excitement.

“I know, I know.” Tony couldn’t help cracking a grin.