Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

Patrick had pulled out Melody’s bag and was rummaging through it. There were books, small leather pouches, bottles of odd colors and stacks of rolled up papers and scrolls. He flipped through one of the small leather-bound books and realized he was looking at a spell book of enchantment. So it’s true. Melody has really been a witch this whole time, he thought with remorse when the realization dawned on him. He turned to look at Wolf who, in the last five minutes, had ran his hands through his dark hair about four hundred times already. And the occasional mournful sounding sighs would follow and the whole process will repeat again.

“Huff, puff. I wish I knew if Virginia was all right or not,” Wolf finally breathed out.

“I’m sure she’s all right,” Patrick said.

“Hey, you two down there.”

Wolf and Patrick looked up at the small white dove that was slowly flying down to them. They had both completely forgotten about that bird during the whole disaster that had unfolded not even thirty minutes before.

“What do you want?” Patrick cried out.

“Jesus, you sure know how to greet someone. I just got some news, that’s all. Maybe you don’t wanna hear it.”

“Damn that bird!” Wolf said low in his throat.

“What is it?” Patrick cried out again. Pip flew around in circles and finally landed on Patrick’s shoulder.

“Man, you’re impatient,” he remarked.

“I think we have every right to be, don’t you think?” Patrick grit his teeth in aggravation. If the bird did not spill out the news, he was afraid he was going to squeeze the little birdie life out of it! And Wolf looked like he was just about to do the same.

“You have those magic shoes?” Pip cooed.

“Yes, we do. What good is it if we don’t have Virginia to wear them, though?”

“Toss them into the Sixth Kingdom. Tony says that Virginia can put them on there and they will figure out how to break the damn spell.”

“Virginia? She’s all right?” Wolf jumped to his feet in anticipation. He whimpered and absentmindedly scratched his forehead.

“Of course she is. Man, why do you care? She practically drowned you. If I were you, I’d just leave her trapped. But of course, I ain’t you. I’m a dove. No, actually I’m a talking dove from Brooklyn and now I’m stuck here in this god forsaken fairyland helping a bunch of humans. Who, by the way are nothing but selfish idiots. Back in Brooklyn, that is,” Pip rambled. “I think I need a vacation.”

Wolf threw his head back and howled in respite when he found out that Virginia was all right. His sweet delicate love of his life was perfectly fine trapped in that kingdom of doomed silence. He ignored the bird’s comments about how Virginia had almost killed him. He didn’t give a sheep’s ass that he had almost suffered from the lack of “life.” Virginia had been under a spell. A horrific spell that thankfully he’d known how to break by just merely clapping. He was not going to hold that against her. When Virginia had held his head under the water, he’d realized that Virginia was not going to let up. His cunning wolf instincts instantly told him to lay still in hopes that she’d let go thinking he was dead. And she had. She hadn’t known that Wolf was able to hold his breath for such a long time. When she’d lifted his head out of the water to peer at him, he’d quickly drawn in air through his nose without her noticing. And through the cracks of his eyes he was also able to see in HER eyes that she knew exactly what she had done and that she was in such dreadful pain but she couldn’t stop herself. When she’d reached out to touch his face, Wolf’s heart had almost burst from knowing that she loved him so much that she was still able to “feel.” But he’d held on to his composure and lay still.

Patrick was already rummaging through his bag for Virginia’s Shoes of Truth. There was no time to waste. It was better than just sitting around and doing nothing. When he finally retrieved them, he quickly dusted them off on his sleeve. He held them up to Wolf and gave him a questioning look as if asking for approval. Wolf just gave a curt nod and Patrick quickly tossed the shoes to the area where they had seen Virginia vanish. The shoes immediately disappeared and Pip flew into the air like lightening to fly over the high brim of the invisible wall.