“Arley,” Alpin said to me, “my mum, to whom I do
not tell all my secrets, but this one yes, because she found out through
others, says I have to thank you for resurrecting me from my ashes like a
Phoenix. I am not too happy to have to do this, because I think you should have
been looking after me and not jabbering away with your fretful brother, who is
a crohnic complainer even if he still hasn’t raised a row over the shameful
joke the Jocose Gang played on him, foisting half a dozen kids on him. I am
sure as sure that sooner or later he will lament this, just as he bitterly
lamented and complained to you about his wife’s life style. I am calling
Cathsheba his wife, because he will get down to marrying her, won’t he?”
“To be honest, it is Cathsheba you should
thank, not me. The more I think of it, the more convinced I am that she allowed
me to trap the rag so I would feel I had done something brave that day. I am
sure she could have handled the situation herself and grabbed the rag even
before the witch could try to recover it. Shebie is very quick.”
“She has survived in the forest for
centuries, hasn’t she? And fairies, the older they get, the stronger they grow.
Or so it is said.”
“Yes. She, if anyone, will know how to care
for those kittens. And for my brother. Who would have guessed?”
“Have you already decided what to do with the
ashes of the witch and the lethal rag? You said you didn’t want to keep them in
your rooms and your brother doesn’t want them in his castle now that he has
curious babies snooping all over it.”
“Grandpa told me my aunt Caléndula wants to
create a museum here in Apple Island. We don’t have a single museum here
because people keep their treasures in their homes, where they are perfectly
safe. And if they have a lot of treasures and are proud of them, they open
their houses once or twice a week to the public to show the treasures off. Or
they do this on especial occasions.”
“Yes, and they even invite visitors to tea. And
you are going to stick your rag and box of ashes in this museum? Will it be a
museum of horrors?”
“In Apple Island? No, I don’t think we will
have a museum of that kind here. That´s why I think Caléndula won’t want the
rag or the ashes. I will probably end up giving these things to Uncle Gentlerain,
because the siblinghood of preventers is sure to have storerooms full of
monstruosities somewhere. But since Aunt Calula wants to inagurate the museum
as soon as possible, I think we should go help her organize the place.”
“Organize the treasures? Won’t you want to
acquire one? Tell Calula to open an auction house. She will do better.”
“No, I don’t think she would like that. And
the museum accepts donations, so if you have anything she might like, think
about this.”
Alpin and I left my parents´ palace and went
to St. Job’s Library, for that was where I had been told Caléndula’s museum
would be located. Sir Job Hobb, always so kind, had ceded Mum’s cousin three
rooms where she could exhibit the treasures she had gathered. When we got to
the library, we greeted Mildew, the lovable librarían, who told us that my
sisters Heather and Thistle had also come to help and had mentioned they wanted
to see me about something that worried them.
“Look here, Arley. Aunt Caléndula has had to
leave and there isn’t much to do here today. We’ll return another day to help
her. But there is something that we feel you need to know. It has to do with
the Rag Hag,” said Thistle.
“Oh, no! You’re going to tell me a horror
story!”
“Right now it will only be a tale of mystery,”
said Heather. “So don’t let your imagination run riot. We were seeing how we
could give Aunt Caléndula´s museum publicity and we entered a page of magical
museums. Of course, all museums are magical places, but you know what I mean.
Museums only fairies have heard of.”
“Get to the point!” interrupted Thistle. “In
the list we consulted, we read about a museum called The Horrific Haunted
Mill of the Hag of the Rag.”
“We went into shock when we saw that,” said
Heather.
“Get to the point,” Thistle hushed her. “It’s
located in Minced Forest. I could swear this is the exact same mill where you
had your adventure. Daddy says that yes, this is the same place.”
“The post announcing this museum is very
recent,” said Heather. “It says there will be a grand inauguration this evening,
after sunset.”
“Ugh! How scary!” said Alpin. “Surely the
witch’s friends want to render homage to her.”
“A witch like this one cannot have friends.
Maybe accomplices,” sentenced Thistle.
“You can’t allow anyone to glorify this
witch, Arley,” Alpin said to me. “Scoundrels who should be locked up in jail
cannot have monuments, cities, squares, streets, subway stations, airports or museums
that bear their names.”
“I suppose the fans of the Rag Hag would
disagree,” I said.
“We’re going to that inauguration and we will
break it up if necessary,” said Thistle, most determinedly.
“Disrupter!
I don’t know if I will,” said Alpin.
“You will,” said Thistle. “You will assist
and you will pay a fay pound for the entrance ticket,” Thistle assured him.
“Pay to be be ground into powder? Burnt to
ashes? Not me. I already got that service for free.”
“That won’t happen,” said Heather. “That’s
why we will be going with you. To impede this.”
“If I
assist, it will be incognito,” I said.
“That won’t do you any good,” said Alpin, “because
if things get rough for me, I mean to betray you, Arley. I will not hesitate to shout
that you are the bloke who socked the hag with her rag. I’ll abandon you to
your fate at the hands of the avenging beasts,
Arley. Traitors don’t give notice, but I am warning you.”
“Then you had better not come with us,” I
said.
“Of course I will. I am as curious as the
proverbial cat to know what this museum is about. Always supposing you guys
will pay for my entrance ticket. I’m not wasting a fay pound on a museum. It’s
what the fay cinema costs.”
Finally, it was Dad who paid for all our
tickets. He and Puck wanted to come along too, given the gravity of the
situation. And as we marched off towards the mill, we met more people who joined
our group.
“Can we join you?” asked the Leafies we met on
our way. With them was Gingerlad too.
“The more the merrier, so you are all invited,”
said Dad.
Moth
and Cobweb showed up too as we marched along.
“Where are you going so determinedly?” they
asked.
I answered, explaining everything to them.
“I would love to see all that dust waiting there to be
cleaned,” said Cobweb. “I’m a professional cleaner, you know.”
“Both of you can come. I’m inviting you,”
said Dad.
It was like that all the way there. And soon
we were quite a host.
And since I am telling you this story, it is
evident we survived our excursion. But the jaunt had its interest. And its
consequences too.
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