Out of the Woodwork

The first thing I could think of to ask was, “What are you drinking?”

The Arnold statue chuckled. “Water. As an imbuing, I don’t need to eat or drink, but my living counterpart enjoyed tea and gave me something to do to pass the time. I pour the water, pretend to drink, then return it to the teapot.”

“I haven’t met a lot of imbuings, but you seem more. . . .”

“Charming?”

“Um, real,” I said, blushing.

“I am an unusually strong imbuing,” Arnold said. “Not that different from Arnold himself. A tribute to my—or his—prodigious skill.” He lifted his teacup as if toasting himself. “Ah. Nothing like stale water that I cannot taste, smell, or swallow. Greetings, Key!”

Squerk!

“The bird’s name is Key?”

“Of course,” he said.

“How did you know my name?”

“I have my ways,” Arnold said mysteriously, then laughed. “Several ways, actually. This entire area is imbued by Arnold, although not quite as strongly as this statue is. Or should I say not as strong I am? Never quite sure what pronouns to use. Unfortunately, Arnold hadn’t decided by the time he imbued me so I will never know. I can hear everything. But even Arnold could have heard your loud compatriots through the door.”

“Oh, right,” I said.

“Now tell me, why do you want the Pearls of Prescott?”

“Because–” I started, then stopped. “I’m not actually sure I do want them. But if I find them, they’ll let me become Seer and keep my memories of the flyland.”

“Since when did finding jewelry become a qualification to be Seer?”

“Well, I already am Seer, but they’ll take it away if I can’t find them before Misty does.”

“And why is being Seer so important to you?”

“I think I make an awful Seer,” I said.

Arnold’s wooden eyebrows rose. “Have a seat, Santiago.”

I stared at him, confused, then pulled out a chair and sat.

“You’re not making a compelling case for yourself, you know,” Arnold said. “What makes you such an awful Seer? Are you cruel?”

“Well, no,” I said.

“Arrogant?”

“I dunno. Would it be arrogant to say no?”

“What would you do as Seer?”

“Try to help people, I guess,” I said, rubbing my thighs.

“Have you tried to help people since becoming Seer?”

“Yes, I guess, but I just can’t be Seer,” I said.

“You couldn’t have gotten this far if you weren’t clever.”

“I had help.”

“Clever people usually do. You seem kind and considerate.”

“But I have the worst luck ever,” I said, my hands clenching. “I’d probably just make the curse even worse.”

“Ah, the curse,” Arnold said. “Luck is a pendulum that swings to extremes for Seers. That’s why they say we’re touched by Fate.”

“I don’t get extremely good luck. Only bad.”

“That’s not a sign you’re ill-suited to be a Seer. It’s a sign you’ve repressed your gift. It happens when you refuse to share your insights for the benefit of others.”

I thought about that. I used to share my “nudges”—little insights about things that would happen. Then I stopped when– I swallowed.

“Seems to me you’d do an adequate job as Seer, assuming you stop suppressing your gift. I was Seer too, though seldom sought for counsel given my reputation.”

“I didn’t know you were a Seer.”

“Don’t act so surprised. A Seer was necessary to craft the Pearls of Prescott.”

“You helped Sigourney? What happened with her?” I asked.

The wooden statue looked momentarily sad. “Sigourney. I fell in love with her when we were almost as young as you are now. She and I hoped to rescue my father who was enslaved by the emperor. Pugsly caused the death of her parents and my mother.”

He paused, moving the teacup to his wooden lips before continuing.

“We were apprenticed to the greatest Tinkerer of our age, Timothy. Over the years, Sigourney and I fell in love. My love for her helped me forget my hatred toward the Emperor. Sig did not forget, however. I watched as her hatred consumed her.”

“How do the Pearls fit in?” I asked.

“The Pearls were my idea. I thought we could link a magical object to a man’s deepest desire and point him there.”

“So if my deepest desire is for new running shoes, it will take me to the store where they sell them?”

“It’s much more than that,” Arnold said. “Which shoes would be your ideal? Do you have sufficient funds for these shoes? If not, what is the most efficient way to get the funds? The necklace will guide you through each step.”

“Wow,” I said, thinking of the possibilities.

“Wow indeed,” Arnold said, smiling as though he found the word funny.

“And you wanted to use it to rescue your father?”

“Yes, but he died before the Pearls were finished. Sigourney, however, had other intentions for the Pearls.”

“She wanted to take down Emperor Pugsly?” I guessed.

“Indeed. The Pearls could point her to her goal. But they could only go so far. So she secretly added an additional capability.”

“Mind control,” I murmured.

“Now how did you discover that?” Arnold asked, a wry smile on his wooden lips.

“I talked to the dwarves.”

“Good show, chap,” he said. “Mind control is one way of putting it, but it was worse than that.”

“What’s worse than mind control?”

Arnold paused. “Connecting the Pearls to the part of the soul that desires things was tricky. That’s why a Seer was necessary. Standard magic doesn’t touch desires, thoughts, and feelings. Once connected to the wearer’s desires, Sigourney amplified them toward people near the wearer. The Pearls made obeying her addictive. The more a person heeded her, the more addicted they became until disobeying her became virtually impossible.”

“How is that worse?”

“Don’t you see? I could hold a sword to your throat and pressure you to do something, but you’d be aware of my influence and still have a choice to disobey me. The Pearls didn’t force people to do as she said; they made it so people wanted to obey. They became unknowing slaves.”

He paused. “She was my dearest companion. But once I discovered what she’d done, I ended our courtship. However, she didn’t want to lose me. And I became her slave too.”

His wooden features looked pained, so I tried to change the subject. “It must have been easy to take down Pugsly.”

“Indeed, it was,” he said forlornly. “Under the influence of the Pearls, he happily retreated into his own dungeon. Never was there a man more delighted to meet his execution.”

Was it just me, or was that a look of shame on his face? For a wooden statue, his face was expressive.

“And thus began the most prosperous age in the history of the flyland,” he continued bitterly. “You’d be astounded how successful a community can be when its inhabitants are at the beck and call of their ruler. At first, Sigourney was benevolent, but she gradually became too distracted to tend to her kingdom. But the people, despite being hungry, loved being her slaves, not realizing they’d lost their power to choose.”

He went quiet.

“Then what happened?” I prodded.

“Because I knew I was being controlled, I rebelled in small ways. She’d ask me to fetch food and I’d bring food she didn’t like. She’d ask me to sweep the kitchens and I’d do it as slowly as possible. Small rebellions led to slightly larger rebellions. Finally, I took the Pearls from her. She took them off to bathe, and I stole them.”

“I bet she didn’t like that.”

“Not in the slightest,” Arnold said. “She destroyed half of Prescott in rage. Dozens died. Blew herself up too.” Arnold’s sad expression returned. I guessed that, despite everything, he still cared for her. “Somehow, people found out that I had stolen the necklace from her and they hated me for it. The people were used to being provided for. They were used to getting a thrill of pleasure every time they obeyed the words of Sigourney. And I deprived them of that. No one wanted to know they were enslaved. No one wanted to believe that their beloved Sigourney the Great was anything other than a kind and wise ruler who brought us prosperity that we’d never known before.”

“Wow. That’s awful,” I said, not sure what else to say. On my shoulder, I heard a Squerk! from Key. I reached up and patted its head.

“They thought they’d come under a curse. Although I was never held accountable—nobody had any proof that I’d done anything—I wasn’t welcome among humans in the Northern Colony any longer. I made it my life’s work to hide the Pearls.”

“Why not destroy them?”

Arnold smashed the Pearls on the stone floor. They scattered, then rolled back, reforming perfectly.

“I tried for many years but couldn’t,” Arnold said. “Even this imbuing has been consumed by that thought.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“A statue doesn’t require compassion.”

“I’m not sure I can just turn it off and on,” I said.

Arnold ignored the comment. “The Pearls are within your grasp. What’s stopping you from claiming your position as Seer?”

“I just don’t think I’m the right person for the job,” I said, massaging my thighs.

Arnold considered me, then said, “I was in a relationship with one of the most deceitful women in history. I’m not Arnold, but I can recognize when someone is hiding something.”

“I’m not hiding anything,” I said quickly.

“When did your bad luck start?”

“A- about six years ago.”

“And that’s when you started repressing your gift?”

“I’m not repressing anything,” I blurted.

“Something happened six years ago, Santiago, and I’m pretty sure you know exactly what it is. I don’t care what lies you tell yourself, but don’t lie to me. Why don’t you want to be Seer?”

“I don’t know!”

“Tell me.”

I felt something uncontrollable clawing its way up my throat. “Nothing!”

“Come now, chap. You’ve come this far. Why don’t you want this?”

“Because then it would all be my fault! My papá’s death. It would all be my fault. MINE!”

I looked up at Arnold, but he merely stared back at me expectantly. I heard a sad squerk! and Key nuzzled into my ear. This caused something inside me to soften.

Then the words came tumbling out. “The- the night my papá and James’s mom died—I knew they were going to die. I knew it! I was eight years old, and I knew I had some kind of ability. When I hugged my papá, I-” I swallowed, unable to bring myself to say it, so I continued on. “I still remember what he smelled like, how he felt as I squeezed him tighter than I ever had before. Because I- I- I . . . I knew. I knew he was going to die as I said goodbye. I knew as he walked out the door, and as I watched the car pull out of the driveway and as I chased it down the street, watching it as long as I could, seeing him wave at me one last time before the car disappeared. And I didn’t say a thing. I remember lying in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, hoping I was wrong, praying it wouldn’t happen.”

I rubbed my thighs, unable to look up at the kind wooden face.

“I was still awake when the police officer rang our doorbell. I listened at the top of the stairs and heard every word. And I knew—I knew I’d failed my papá.”

“So you decided that you didn’t have a gift,” Arnold inferred.

“It’s so stupid.”

“You were a child.”

“If it’s true that I’m connected to fate, then when Papa’s and James’s mom’s died—it was my fault. I should have tried to stop it, but I didn’t. It’s gotta be Misty. I don’t think I could live with myself if it were really me.”

Arnold was quiet for a moment as my emotions churned inside me. It felt both relieving and frightening to lose control, like a bottle of soda shaken until it exploded. I wiped a tear from my eye, then looked up at the statue.

“Santiago, that part inside you that’s still eight years old and full of shame– perhaps it’s time to show him compassion.”

“But it’s my fault, isn’t it?”

The statue shrugged. “Maybe you could have saved them, maybe you couldn’t. From one Seer to another, one of the most important things you can learn doing this job is that a foreknowledge of the future doesn’t always mean that you can change it. Yes, sometimes you can, but sometimes you cannot however much you may try.”

I swallowed, the idea tasting bitter.

“Take it from another Seer who failed his father,” Arnold said. “You’d honor his memory better by embracing your gift and forgiving yourself than by repressing it and torturing yourself.”

I didn’t trust myself to say anything, so I merely nodded.

“I sense additional people at the courtroom portal. Are you expecting more companions aside from the three already outside?”

“No,” I said. The sudden jolt back to reality felt like emotional whiplash. I took a couple deep breaths, trying to reel in my brain. Then I remembered what I’d seen earlier. “It might be the Sombras—scary creeps who have been watching me.”

“They seem to be waiting for you to exit, but that might change.”

“What should I do?”

“You’re the sentient one,” Arnold said. “What do you think we should do? Are you going to take the Pearls so that you can prove that you should be Seer?”

I mulled over it, then said, “I think returning the Pearls of Prescott to the city council would prove I shouldn’t be Seer.”

“I agree,” Arnold said. “But the Pearls can’t stay here. Now that you’ve led these Sombras to this place, it’s only a matter of time before they make their way through my defenses.”

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“What’s done is done,” Arnold said. “Now, I knew that sooner or later, people would come looking for the Pearls. Thus I had the rather ingenious idea to–”

“Make decoys?” I finished for him. “Do any of those actually do anything?”

“None of them will take you to what you most desire, but all of them do lead somewhere. One will take you to a bakery that had the most delicious confections known to mankind. Another will take you on my favorite scenic route around the Gloomwood while another guides the wearer on a roundabout route to my favorite toilet while a fourth–”

“How many did you make?” I asked, surprised.

“Hundreds. I’ve got several dozen in here alone,” he said, leaning over and producing a small wooden box. Lifting the lid, he spun it around, showing me that it was full to the brim of necklaces. I took one out, eyeing it carefully.

“Both the real necklace and these fakes will pull toward a destination. If you set them on the ground, they’ll form an arrow when you need to move, an X when you need to stop, and a circle when you need to say something.”

“You don’t have anything in here that could help us escape, do you?”

“Have you ever used a stun bomb?”

I shook my head. “How do they work?”

“Hand me your knapsack,” he said. I shrugged off my backpack and set it on the table as he stood up, walked over to a crate and removed the lid. “It’s simple really. Throw one of these stun bombs in the middle of a group of people and the impact will set off a gaseous brew which will put everyone within a few feet to sleep. Much like one of old Pugsly’s speeches, actually.”

“That’s fantastic! How many of those do you have?”

“A dozen,” he said, fumbling with the backpack, trying to get it open. “Confound it, how do you open this thing?”

“The zipper,” I said, reaching over and tugging it open.

The statue laughed. “Now that’s quite clever!” He began putting the stun bombs into my backpack before pulling the zipper closed with a giggle. “I really need one of these . . . sippers. Now I’m not really sure how many of these bombs will work. It has been, after all . . . what century are we in?”

“Twenty-first,” I said.

“Good griffins! It’s been 200 years? That’s what I get for not being able to note the passage of time. Needless to say, I’m not sure how effective these will be.”

“Do they wear out over time?”

“Possibly. The truth is I’m not certain. It’s quite possible that they become even more effective. You could be putting people to sleep for weeks.” He turned his head toward the door. “Your Sombras are getting restless. You better get going. Here, take a decoy to remember me by.” He handed me a necklace, which I pocketed.

“Is there another way out?” I asked.

“I was planning to create an exit after I imbued me. Arnold had this fantastic idea about an invisible ladder with rungs that only appear when you’re touching them. I’m not sure if I finished. There’s an easy way to find out,” the statue said, holding out another necklace.

“Is that the– are you sure?” I asked, stepping back.

“I’m sure it can’t remain here anymore.”

I took the Pearls of Prescott and held them. I instantly could sense they were real. There was a familiar feeling to them, reminding me of both the Pop Shop and of my time with Arnold himself. Well, fake Arnold, that is. I turned towards the door.

“Remember that where the Pearls are concerned, contradiction fights addiction.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“You will. Farewell, Seer Santiago.”

Key hopped onto my shoulder and I pushed through the revolving door.