The Demon in the Pastry Shop

68: Luck and Mistakes and Wishes

They took the Water Dragon back across the Nebulous and retraced their steps until they reached the Hollow Realm. Silus knew they lucked out when they found an empty boat waiting for them on the milky lake surrounding the castle island. He knew they lucked out when there were no monsters guarding the path up -not even a single Pumpkin Gnome in the way. As he cradled Ravitavah in his arms and felt the brush of his delicate fur, he thought how Mavah must sense his brother was dying. The Ace of Wishes must be opening the way for them.

When they entered the castle, Mavah greeted them with a grave face. He spoke directly to Silus, who held Ravitavah (Jude elected to hold the quilt). Silus turned to Kit who started scribing for him without being asked. She showed him the notebook.

"Shasnah here. Hand cat to Mavah."

Silus nodded and slipped Ravitavah into Mavah's arms. The cat's head stirred but not enough to inspire any confidence. Kit stayed ready with her pen and her notebook as the Ace of Wishes led them into a study where a woman with cropped hair and a dress made of many wrapped cloths waited for them. She beckoned them in from behind a dusty looking desk. Mavah took silky, but quickened steps across the way to her.

Though the Ace of Luck had certainly never crossed his path, Silus was familiar with Shasnah from the occasional mention on Ravitavah's part. The two worked closely. What was accident and what was luck are often difficult to tell apart. She must be worried.

Shasnah began to pass her hands over Ravitavah's cat form and her mouth moved carefully as she addressed Mavah and glanced up across the table at the rest of them. Kit bumped her elbow into Silus' side and he turned his gaze. The notepad went up.

"They're not sure they can recover him," Kit wrote, "but there's one thing they can try."

"I didn't realize a Terrorling could hurt an Ace that bad," Silus replied.

Across the table, Mavah's eyes glinted over at him -an amber shine under his silvery tones. But it was Shasnah who spoke to Silus. Kit's pen lifted up and started moving on its own.

Shasnah's magic wrote, "our brother, the Ace of Terrors, is the eldest and his creatures are quite strong. It was lucky you brought him back alive."

Kit began to pen something. Silus saw her eyes flitting to his cracks and the quilt where her mothers were wrapped up. She gnawed on her lip hard and frowned at the paper. Every couple of words, she scratched something out and started out. Then Jude's hand stretched out and covered hers. Both Silus and Kit looked over at the old muse's face, his prism pulse rippling over his tired face.

He smiled at Kit and told her something, patting her head once. She nodded to him and he shuffled toward the Aces like he was cleaning the sandy floor with his shoes.

"What is he doing?" Silus wondered aloud. Kit took a moment to get this one down for him, but he waited patiently and leaned over her shoulder when she was done.

"It's easier for Jude to speak with them than us. He's telling them what happened, about my mothers, and about you to see if there's anything to be done."

"I only need to find Eltikan again to get fixed," Silus assured her, "they don't need to worry about me."

The tip of Kit's pen tapped the paper and she leaned her arm against him seemingly for comfort as she wrote, "wasn't that Eltikan's hammer and chisel that Lovell had?"

Silus nodded, eyelids low as he gazed down at her. His fractured body grew tired and all he wanted to do was collapse in a heap on a bench somewhere with Kit.

On a fresh page, she etched out in black, "they're magic -won't he need those to fix you? Won't you need him? I thought Lovell captured him."

The room took on a sort of grayish hue and Silus' snakes started sagging and bumping into each other. Maybe he was a little more than tired then.

"I need a bench," he said, the words coming out in a slanted sort of way he didn't think would've sounded right.

Kit's eyes grew wide and she whirled on him. Her muscles tensed strongly as she grabbed onto him while his body began to slouch toward the ground. She helped him into an empty velvet padded chair nearby and he thanked her (or tried to) before he closed his eyes.