SILVERTHORN’S SCHEME
“Is someone going to tell us what’s going on?” Trevor said.
“Okay,” Electrum said. “Let’s compare notes.”
“Let’s start with how I got this size and how come Brownie can talk,” Trevor said.
Electrum was frantically trying to remember any references to humans shrinking. Nothing was coming to mind, but he had to say something. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“No, it’s not obvious at all,” Trevor said.
Electrum took a deep breath and tried again. He pointed to the glowstone that lay shimmering in the leaves. “A glowstone, pookah dust, and twilight. Twilight’s fading. You’re shrinking.”
“I’m going to get even smaller?” Trevor shrieked.
Electrum squinted at him. “I don’t think so. You haven’t changed any in the last few minutes. You’re our size. I think the shrinking has stopped.” He hoped it had stopped.
“But how did this happen?”
Electrum thought it best not to admit he didn’t know. He shrugged. “Magic of course.”
“It’s not permanent,” Silverthorn said and looked at Electrum. “Is it?”
The pookah looked up at the moon and sparkles spilled down his back. “Nooo, I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so? What does that mean?” Trevor said.
The pookah avoided his eyes. “I think you’ll be regular size again after the sun has been down for awhile.”
“You don’t know?” Trevor turned away in disgust. “I’m going to go home now.”
“You can, but it’s going to be a bit of a walk.”
“I can carry you home,” Brownie said. “Climb up and we’ll be there in no time.” The cat crouched down, and Trevor started to climb up his leg.
“There might be a little more to it than that,” Electrum said. He was now remembering snatches of passages about twilight enchantments.
Trevor paused and looked over his shoulder. “Let’s hear the rest. I’m already in trouble for being out after dark. My mother will ground me for so long that I’ll never see sunlight or moonlight again. They’re probably already wondering where I’m at.”
“Yes, you’ll need an alibi for tonight and probably every twilight for awhile.”
“What do you mean?” The boy’s eyes narrowed.
“It has all the markings of a silver twilight enchantment. That would mean that every evening when the sun starts to set, the enchantment will return and you’ll be small again.”
“Every night?” Trevor said, his voice rising in a squeak. “Forever?”
“There is a way to break the enchantment,” said Silverthorn.
Electrum looked at him in surprise. “There is?”
“Along with the scrolls from the gold archives, I read some of your books. There was a passage on it in that old tattered tome that you keep in your storage bag.”
“That explains why it was lying out where I stumbled over it. Just when did you become so interested in studies?”
“After I read about the changeling plant. I figured there must be some lore about it in the old writings.”
“Could we get back to breaking the enchantment?” Trevor said.
Electrum gestured invitingly to Silverthorn. “Would you care to enlighten us?”
“Well, it wasn’t specific about the enchantee. It referred to the cat, but it should work on the boy too. Wouldn’t it?” He looked uncertain.
“Let’s not rush into things,” Electrum said. “I’m sure there’s an easy solution, I just need to research it.”
“I think if we all work together we can put everything right, and still accomplish our goal,” Silverthorn said.
“Goal?” Trevor said with a frown. “What kind of goal?”
“Ralphie here has a little problem.”
“Silverthorn.”
“Right. Silverthorn has a problem. You see he’s a silver sprite, or will be pretty soon. Not showing the best judgment, which seems to be a habit of his, he has fallen in love with a gold sprite named Amber.”
“Is there something wrong with Amber?” Trevor said.
“Didn’t I say she’s a gold sprite?”
Trevor shrugged.
Electrum made a face and rolled his eyes. “Gold sprites can only come out in the morning twilight. Silver sprites can only come out in the evening twilight.” He opened his hands and raised his eyebrows. “It’s a logistics problem.”
Trevor nodded “I see...,” he said with a blank look.
“Ralphie was looking for a way to find the changeling plant, so he can turn into a gold sprite.”
“In turn, we’ll figure out how to get you to your normal size and Brownie can go back to being speechless,” Silverthorn said.
“But I like talking,” Brownie said.
Electrum waved his hand. “We’ll work out the details later.”
“Our problem,” Silverthorn said, “is that we don’t know exactly what the changeling plant looks like, just what it smells like.”
“Actually,” Electrum said, “we don’t know firsthand what it smells like either.” He looked pointedly at the prince. “That would be hard to accomplish from reading an old book.”
“Well, we know cats are attracted to it.” He pointed at Brownie. “That’s where you come in.”
“I don’t understand,” Brownie said.
“I think I’m beginning to,” Electrum said. “Gilder’s box. It’s full of Amber’s dust isn’t it? You’ve been planning this for months.”
Trevor interrupted, “Is the plant poisonous?”
“Poisonous?” Electrum said confused.
“I don’t want anything to hurt Brownie.”
Electrum took a deep breath. “No, it’s not poisonous to the cat or to you. But Silverthorn and I cannot handle it in its raw state. It seems we’ll need you to carry it back here.”
“How will we know what plant it is?” Trevor asked.
“Brownie will know,” Silverthorn said. “As soon as a cat gets close to this plant, they roll in it, they chew on it, they….well it’s most undignified.”
Brownie straightened up and looked indignant.
“Catnip,” Trevor said. “You want catnip? You can buy that at the pet store. I have a bag at home. You remember when I gave you some last week, don’t you Brownie?”
The cat rubbed his paw over his nose and pretended to wash his face.
Electrum shook his head creating a halo of sparkles. “No, it has to be fresh. It doesn’t have enough strength in a dried state.”
Trevor scrunched up his eyes and bit his lip. “Mrs. Hayworth has a garden. She mentioned she grows catnip for Max.”
“Oh yes,” Brownie said. “Bob has told me about the yellow monster cat rolling in the grass there.”
Electrum sucked his breath in at the mention of a yellow cat, but Silverthorn leaned forward and rubbed his hands together. “Now we’re talking. Where do we find this Mrs. Hayworth and her garden?”
“In the next block over from my house.”
“Bob finds dog biscuits in her yard,” Brownie said. “He claims they’re not bad eating.”
“Dog biscuits!” said Electrum. “That means there’s a dog. That’s not good.”
“It’s a Pekinese,” Trevor said. “He’s mean.”
“One of those little yippers?” Electrum said. “He’ll alert the whole neighborhood.”
Trevor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Every time I’ve gone by the house he’s been out in the yard with Mrs. Hayworth. When she isn’t messing around in her garden, she’s on the porch in her glider. I guess you’d have to go after dark.”
“After dark is not really an option. I’m at my best at twilight,” Silverthorn said. “Once the sun goes down I’m about as helpless as a human…” his voice trailed off.
Trevor looked like he was going to laugh.
Silverthorn cleared his throat. “Well now, what we need is a plan. You can scout out the garden and repo
rt back here. Remember that time is short, so you should check it out tomorrow and come back here at twilight. Don’t forget to start early enough so you’re not trapped in the field when you shrink.”
Trevor started to protest.
“Up you go on Brownie,” Electrum said as he gave him a boost up. He pushed against his back to steady him. “Hurry now before twilight ends. You don’t want to crush Brownie when you get big. There’s just enough time to get back before that happens.”
The cat dashed out of the clearing with Trevor clinging to his back.
“That went well,” Silverthorn said. “Maybe we should have asked him to return the ship.”
“Don’t push it. The boy already knows too much. Better to lose one ship than have him know about the whole shipping trade.” He picked up the glowstone. “You carry the rug. I have things to think about.”
As they flew back to the palace, Electrum’s thoughts were jumbled. It looked like another sleepless night reading old scrolls by lamplight.