“It sounds like a beautiful tradition,” Rachel said. “Too bad we don’t do it back home. I could use a little magic during math class.”

  “I do not know about math class,” Spindlethorne said, “but I believe we can extend the tradition of bead-giving to our Princesses. Your first time in our world is like a kind of birth.”

  “Wow,” Marisol’s eyes lit up. “You mean we get one of these beautiful beads?”

  The older man nodded. “We will also share our mud with you, so that you are part of our family—our clan.”

  The girls looked at one another. They felt like they’d already shared quite a bit of mud, but they didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. The Folk had been so kind. “You honor us,” Aly said.

  All of the Folk gathered around the girls in a circle near the trays of beads. Spindlethorne asked the Princesses to line up. Then he walked to the first in line—Shaylee—and put his hand on her head. “We welcome Shaylee, Princess of the Folk. Who sees for Shaylee?”

  “I do.” A slender young woman stepped forward and walked to the trays of beads. She peered into them for a moment, then selected a perfectly round bead swirled with different shades of pink and lavender. “I choose morning sky to remind our dear Princess to embrace new beginnings.” She slipped the bead on a leather thong. Then she touched it to Shaylee’s forehead before tying it around her ankle.

  “It’s so beautiful,” Shaylee whispered.

  Then Hearth handed the young woman a small bowl of thin purplish mud and a tiny brush. The woman painted a triangle on Shaylee’s cheek, then painted a careful drawing of a person. Rachel recognized it as the picture on Shaylee’s realm key and was amazed that the woman could do such delicate work with mud.

  Then Spindlethorne stepped up to Marisol. “We welcome Marisol, Princess of the Living Waters.” Marisol gasped, and then grinned. All the girls knew that Marisol loved swimming and any kind of ocean-themed decorating stuff, so her title fit her perfectly. “Who sees for Marisol?”

  Another young woman stepped forward and picked a blue-green bead in the shape of a shell. “I choose hidden treasures to remind you to look deeply and wisely, to know that the way things appear is not always the way they are.” Then she accepted a bowl of thin greenish mud and painted the dragon design from Marisol’s key on her cheek.

  One by one, each of the girls was given a bead and a design intricately done in mud. Rachel smiled when she was given a golden bead in the shape of a bear’s head to represent strength without aggression. “Sometimes, it is when we withhold our strength that we use it best,” said the woman who chose Rachel’s bead.

  At Rissa’s turn, an elderly man gave her a faceted bead swirled with abstract colors and shapes. He told her it represented discernment and cautioned her to see clearly through the storms of life.

  Kaida’s chooser turned out to be the burly man who had carried Shaylee so easily through the woods. He chose a shield-shaped bead with a sun so bright in the middle it seemed to glow. “You are Kaida, Princess of the Bright Sky. With great power and strength,” he warned, “come greater responsibility. Only by taming the fire can you avoid being consumed.” Kaida shivered a bit, looking puzzled.

  Finally, Hearth chose for Aly. The leaf-shaped bead in shades of green was no surprise to anyone. “Just as plants need light,” Hearth said softly, “so should you, Princess of the Earth, step out of the shadows and let your quiet power nourish others.”

  The smiling Folk gathered to hug the girls and welcome them into their community. “You will always have a place here,” Spindlethorne said.

  “Thank you all,” Rachel said. “We’re very grateful, but we have a place back home with our families, too, and I don’t think we’re going to get back there until we finish our quest.”

  “Can you help us get back to the Wellspring?” Kaida asked.

  “There is an overland route we take each spring to trade with our Meadow Folk kin, but it is long and slow,” Spindlethorne said. “Far too slow with the magic waning so quickly. Already some of our older folk have become bedridden with the weakness. I believe the only way to get to the Wellspring in time is by river.”

  The Folk around him gasped, and the girls looked around nervously. “Is there something wrong with going by river?” Marisol asked.

  “Monsters,” a willow-thin girl said in a low murmur.

  “Monsters?” Shaylee squeaked. “I don’t really want to meet any monsters.”

  “Don’t be scared.” Stripe pushed his way through the crowd and peered up at the girls. “I’ll be with you.”

  “I feel safer already,” Rissa mumbled.

  “Stripe is the only one among us who has much useful knowledge of the river,” Spindlethorne said. “He has a strong boat and has explored much—to the annoyance of his mother. He will guide you on your trip.”

  Rachel looked into Stripe’s proud, smiling face and hoped they weren’t about to sail into total disaster.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Where Dragons Lurk

  It seemed everyone in the entire Mud Shapers’ village walked with the girls to the makeshift dock at the edge of the slow-moving river. The dock was really more of a small raft lashed to thick trees at the water’s edge. Stripe’s boat was tied up at the end of the dock. The boat looked like a cross between a canoe and a raft, with curving sides and a wide, flat bottom. Stripe grinned as the girls looked at it. “My father made it. He was a Seagoer before he met my mother. This is a great boat—nothing can sink it!”

  “Ah, no boasting now, Stripe,” scolded Hearth. “No need to invite trouble—especially on the river.”

  “It looks solid enough,” Kaida said.

  “It’s beautiful,” Marisol sighed with a dreamy look on her face. She walked to the boat and climbed in, staring out at the river with a smile.

  “I don’t know that I’d go that far,” Kaida muttered.

  “Can you tell us more about the monsters?” Rachel asked. “Have you actually seen monsters in the river?”

  “No,” Spindlethorne said firmly. “The monsters come mostly from stories wedded to reports of odd sounds and sights. I believe some Folk are prone to being a little overly imaginative.”

  “I’ve seen the monsters,” Stripe said cheerily. “They’re like snakes, only 10 times longer than my boat. They have fangs as long as my leg, and when they roar, it makes the water boil.”

  “Right.” Kaida rolled her eyes.

  “You never know,” Shaylee said. “We’ve seen such weird things here.”

  “I believe Stripe has an admirable imagination,” Spindlethorne said. “But you must not let him frighten you, Princess. It is important that you reach the Wellspring.”

  The girls couldn’t argue with that. Until they accomplished their mission, they couldn’t go home. Rachel took a deep breath, grabbed her sister’s hand and marched over to the boat, climbing in to sit beside Marisol.

  When all the Princesses had taken their seats, Hearth stepped forward and handed Aly a blanket-wrapped parcel. “Your clothes, clean and dry,” Hearth said, her eyes twinkling. “We had enough magic left to see to it that your parents do not kill you.”

  “Thank you,” Aly said warmly.

  Stripe nearly squirmed with joy as he hopped in, rocking the boat alarmingly. He waved at the small crowd of Folk on the riverbank. They all looked so worried that Rachel felt a small lurch in her stomach that had nothing to do with the bobbing boat.

  Stripe cast off the rope that held his boat to the dock and began paddling upstream. The current in the slow-moving river offered little resistance, and the boat moved off slowly but steadily.

  “Can I help paddle?” Kaida asked, picking up a second oar from the floor of the boat. “I’ve had lots of practice paddling canoes at summer camp.”

  Stripe frowned for a moment, then nodded. “OK, but be careful. If you don’t stroke evenly, we’ll spin in circles.” Kaida dug in with her paddle, and soon the little boat was moving at a fairly steady clip. They were quickly out of sight of the small dock.

  The riverbank looked wild and overgrown. Low-hanging limbs hung out over the water. Several times, Stripe and Kaida had to steer around the dangling branches.

  Rachel tapped Marisol on the arm. “Are you OK?”

  Marisol turned slowly to look at Rachel. Her eyes looked oddly unfocused, as if her mind was far away. “It’s so ... Don’t you just want to jump into the river?”

  Rachel glanced over the side into the water. It was nearly opaque with river silt. “No, actually. It doesn’t exactly look appealing,” she admitted. “And I bet it’s really cold.” But Marisol had already turned her attention back to the water. She didn’t seem to be listening to Rachel at all.

  Turning toward her sister, Rachel whispered, “Marisol is acting really weird. Do you think she’s sick?”

  Aly bit her lip thoughtfully, then shook her head. “Do you remember when we first got here? I could feel the life-glow from the trees, from the animals, even from you, and it made me want to laugh and just soak it up. It was a while before I could really concentrate.” She nodded toward Marisol. “At the bead ceremony, they said Marisol was the Princess of the Living Waters, so maybe she’s feeling something like that with the water. I think she’ll be OK in a little while.”

  Rachel hoped so. She didn’t remember Aly acting that flaky, but maybe she hadn’t noticed then. So much had been going on.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Kaida asked Stripe, “It sounds like there are a few different groups of Folk—Meadow Dancers, Mud Shapers and Seagoers. Are there any others?”

  Stripe shrugged. “I have only seen the Meadow Dancers once, and I have never been to visit my father’s people. I have heard of the Spellmasters, but I have never met any. Most Folk are afraid of them.”

  Rissa perked up when Stripe mentioned spells. “Do you know where the Spellmasters live?”

  “On the far side of the Guarded Forest, I think,” Stripe said. “It’s not near where we’re going.”

  “That’s too bad,” Kaida said. “Sounds like they might be able to help you with your spells, Rissa.”

  “I only tried the one spell,” Rissa said. “And it certainly was powerful.”

  “Yeah, it got us powerfully stuck in the mud,” Kaida said with a laugh.

  Rachel could tell that her friends were cranking up for a tiff, so she leaned forward and called out to Stripe, “Will it take very long to get to the Guarded Forest?”

  “I’ve never actually gone that far on the river,” Stripe said reluctantly. “We can make it in a few days, I’m sure of that. We’ll have to camp a couple of times along the way.”

  “Camp!” Shaylee yelped. “On the ground? With no tent or sleeping bags or anything?”

  “Sure,” Stripe said, looking at Shaylee. “I do it all the time. It’s not bad, except for the bugs and the monsters, but a fire will keep the bugs away. You’ll have to take your chances with the monsters.” The little boy giggled at the look of horror on Shaylee’s pale face.

  “He’s just trying to scare you,” Kaida said, giving the younger boy a playful shove, but her smile made it clear she wasn’t scolding him.

  “Looks like he’s doing pretty well,” Rissa commented as Shaylee practically crawled into her lap. “You don’t think they would really have sent us out here if there were monsters, do you?”

  “I think they would have done just about anything to get us to restore the Wellspring,” Aly said quietly. No one could argue with that. They knew Aly was right.

  “Don’t you want to know what the monsters look like?” Stripe asked, breaking into their thoughts.

  “So we’ll recognize them?” Kaida asked with a laugh.

  “Don’t laugh,” Stripe scolded, suddenly serious. “They hate to be laughed at.”

  “I think it’s you who doesn’t like to be laughed at,” Rissa teased.

  “Nah,” Stripe said. “It’s the monsters. You’d not laugh if you saw them. They have eyes as big as my whole head, and they could eat you up with one bite.”

  “Oh, really?” Kaida asked skeptically.

  “You don’t believe me,” Stripe sulked.

  “No so much,” Kaida replied.

  “I’ve got proof,” Stripe insisted. “You paddle and I’ll show you.” He dug around in the rucksack he’d brought along. Finally, he pulled out what looked like a thin, oval-shaped, metal plate. Pointedly ignoring Kaida’s outstretched hand, he gave it to Aly instead. “It’s a scale from one of the monsters. I found it washed up on the riverbank”

  “It looks man-made to me,” Kaida commented.

  “No,” Aly said slowly. “I can feel a slight life energy left in it. It came from something alive.”

  Rachel felt an icy chill at Aly’s words, and she noticed that Shaylee shuddered too.

  “Let me see,” Marisol said eagerly. She took the scale from Aly’s hand and smiled at it. “It’s gorgeous.” She turned it over and over. “Look at it shine in the light. It has so many colors.”

  When Marisol held it in the light, it did look a bit like a butterfly scale, casting off different colors. Even so, Rachel wasn’t sure she would have picked “gorgeous” to describe it. “I just hope we don’t run into the creature that it belongs to,” Rachel said.

  “I think that would be wonderful!” Marisol declared. She turned back toward the river and, holding the scale with both hands, plunged it into the water. Then she sang out, “Come and visit with us!”

  “Hey, don’t lose that,” Stripe protested, grabbing at Marisol’s arm.

  “Don’t rock the boat!” Kaida scolded. The boat was tipping, but Rachel couldn’t imagine how either Marisol or Stripe could be tipping it so much. Shaylee shrieked and clung to Rissa as the boat lurched more violently.

  Stripe pointed to the water, his eyes wide. “Monster!” he screamed.

  A huge head burst from the water in front of the boat as all the girls screamed. The beast looked like a dragon, with a long, toothy snout and seaweed hanging from its chin like a beard. When it poked its head toward the prow of the boat, Rachel saw a flash of scales and realized that they must be resting on the monster’s back.

  Then Marisol shouted, “Yes! I am coming!” and dove over the side, into the water. The sudden shift in balance was more than the boat could bear, and it capsized, dumping them all into the water.

  As Rachel’s head slipped under the surface, she remembered Shaylee’s earlier panicked cries. Her friend couldn’t swim!

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Princess of the Living Waters

  Rachel coughed as her head broke through the silt-filled water. The long gown the Mud Shapers had given her felt like a weight trying to drag her under again. She looked around frantically. “Shaylee! Aly!”

  Aly’s head popped up next to Rachel. “Are you OK?” she sputtered, pushing her sodden hair out of her face.

  “We have to find Shaylee now!” Rachel yelled. “She can’t swim!”

  The girls looked around frantically. They saw Kaida’s head break the water closer to the riverbank, with Stripe next to her. Then Rachel saw Shaylee’s blond head pop up for a second a little further downstream. Almost instantly, her head disappeared as she flailed her pale hands, splashing frantically in obvious panic.

  “Downstream!” Rachel yelled to her sister. She began swimming toward Shaylee with strong strokes, suddenly grateful for all the summers their mother had insisted on swimming lessons. The clinging gown made it hard to kick, but with the river’s current pushing her, she quickly reached the spot where Shaylee had appeared. Rachel looked around again. “I can’t see through this water!” she yelled. “Can you see her, Aly?”

  Aly peered into the gloomy flow. “I see her life glow!” She immediately began swimming downstream again and Rachel followed her. Suddenly Aly dove beneath the surface. When she popped back up a few seconds later, her arm was around Shaylee.

  Shaylee coughed and squirmed, clearly frightened. “We’ve got you,” Aly calmly said into her ear. “Don’t fight me.”

  Rachel grabbed one of Shaylee’s flailing arms and the sisters began swimming for the riverbank, careful to keep Shaylee’s head above water. With the heavy weight of their dresses tugging at them relentlessly, the girls tired quickly, and their strokes slowed. Rachel suddenly felt a cold stab of fear. What if they all drowned within a few feet of shore? Then she heard splashing. Kaida was swimming out to help them.

  “You OK?” Kaida said.

  “Tired,” Rachel gasped. “Can you take Shaylee?’

  Kaida wrapped an arm around the smaller girl. “Will you two be OK?”

  “I’m OK now,” Aly said. The sisters slowly swam to the shallow water next to the riverbank.

  “Where are Rissa and Marisol?” Rachel asked, staggering a bit in the shallow water.

  “Rissa’s on shore with Stripe,” Kaida said as she hauled Shaylee onto the sandy bank at the river’s edge. “But we haven’t seen Marisol.”

  Rissa ran down to meet them and slipped under Shaylee’s arm on one side. She helped Kaida half-carry the younger girl to a dry log. “Are you OK, Shaylee?” Rissa asked anxiously.

  Shaylee nodded, still coughing up river water onto the ground near her feet.

  Though nearly exhausted from towing Shaylee in, Rachel anxiously turned back toward the water. “We have to find Marisol!”

  “She’s an excellent swimmer,” Aly said. “I would have thought she would beat all of us back to shore.”

  “Unless the boat hit her on the head,” Rissa suggested, “or her gown got caught on something—these things are not exactly made for swimming.”

  “Can you spot her life energy like you did with Shaylee?” Rachel asked Aly.

  “Not from here,” her sister said, looking nervously over the water.

 

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