Ms. Brook dragged Mateo to the maple tree, where Evie met the camp crew the day before. For some reason, its leaves were extra beautiful that day. She let his ankle go, and he immediately stood up. Before Mateo could open his mouth to say something, Ms. Brook grabbed his head and hugged him to her breasts.
“My little Mateo Waeo,” she whimpered. She kissed him all over his face, leaving lipstick stains, and on top of his head.
“Mamá, let go of me,” Mateo begged. He pulled his head free and gave her an evil glare. “What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “When you hung up yesterday without saying ‘Goodbye’ or ‘I love you,' I knew something was wrong. Therefore, here I am.”
Mateo looked like he was about to explode. “You mean, you just left Maria?”
Ms. Brook gently slapped his cheek. “Of course not, sugar cube. I brought her.”
“You what?” Right when Mateo asked that, his fiancée appeared over a hill. She wore a nice outdoor uniform with a hat and bug net over her head.
A smile broke across her face. “Mateo!” She hurried through some flowers, her black hair flowing in the breeze, and stopped beside him. Maria threw her arms around his neck, but she bumped his belly.
“Ow!” he yelled. He quickly pushed her off.
“‘Ow’?” Ms. Brook flashed Mateo an angry look. “I knew it! I knew you’d get hurt! You’re way too exhausted for this mission, you little…!” She again thumped him on the back of his head.
“I’m not hurt,” Mateo argued, but his belly burned right when he said that. He puffed out his cheeks to hide the pain. He exchanged glances with his mom and fiancée. “Look, it’s way too dangerous for you two here.”
Maria grasped his arm. “Mateo, please, we just want to help you. We couldn’t sit around and do nothing. You need to lay low and get some rest.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need any rest,” Mateo said. “Now, will y’all let me go? A briefing is about to start for a girl in my group.”
Ms. Brook threw her hands. “Well, perfect. You can take a nap while it’s going on.”
Mateo blushed. “Seriously, Mom? I am a grown man.”
She punished him by smacking his head for the third time. “You’re hardly a man! You’re going to take a nap.”
Maria was on Ms. Brook’s side. She clutched her heart and begged, “Please, Mateo, all we’re asking is just ten minutes.”
“I am a grown man!” Mateo ripped himself free from Maria’s grasp. “Don’t make me use magic on you guys! Just let me do my job.”
“That’s the thing,” Ms. Brook said. “You love your job way too much.”
Mateo tightly clenched his fists. “Well, it’s the only way I can get away from you, Mamá!”
Ms. Brook froze. Her son, her own son, just said that. She looked like an arrow had pierced her.
“I’m tired of you still treating me like a child,” Mateo added. “Just get out of here and leave me alone!” He turned on his heel and marched away from the women.
Ms. Brook sniffed. She shook her head. “My own son.”
Maria put her arm around her shoulders. “He didn’t mean that, Ms. Brook. He’s just tired. I’ll try to knock some sense into him. Knowing him, he’ll listen to me.”
Ms. Brook rubbed tears from her eyes. “He’s my only son, Maria. I’m scared for him.”
“I know you are. I am, too, but we’ll figure it out.” Maria gave Ms. Brook a quick hug.
***
The briefing was held at the center of the village, where the Feast of Peace was the night before. The tables had been replaced by three rows of chairs, all of which faced the stage. Did Evie’s rule-breaking deserve a court hearing? That seemed a little extreme for a camp punishment unless something else was going on.
She nervously looked around the area. Her eyes widened when she saw two familiar figures standing with Ms. Julie. “Mom? Dad?” Evie asked.
Sure enough, it was Keegan and Charlotte. Both of Evie’s parents wore jeans and a T-shirt.
Charlotte turned toward her daughter and gasped. “Evie!” She and Keegan hurried to her. One by one, they hugged her. Like Ms. Brook, Charlotte kissed her daughter’s head. “Why would you put yourself in danger like that? When we got the call from Ms. Julie yesterday, we feared the worst.”
Evie exchanged glances with her parents. “I couldn’t just let Mr. Mateo do everything by himself.”
“Wait, Mr. Mateo?” Keegan said.
Oops, Evie should not have said that.
Her father's face turned steaming red. “You mean, you tried to help that scrawny freak of a counselor? I told you not to get close to him!”
“But, Daddy, I’m in Mr. Mateo’s group.”
“You're what?” Instantly, Keegan stormed to Ms. Julie. He held his finger up to her face. “I demand that she’s taken out of that group!”
Ms. Julie pushed his hand away. “I’m sorry, Mr. Madison, but Mateo needs to be Evie’s counselor.”
“Why?”
Evie remembered what the witch doctor told her and the young man. Did her parents not even know who they were? Why? Her blue eyes captured her group members and Sam sitting in the first row of chairs. John stood in the aisle beside them.
If things weren’t too heated, Mateo, Maria, and Ms. Brook stepped onto the scene. They entered the village’s heart by the eastern entrance.
Paperblank's mayor, Mr. Clovis, also joined the briefing. He tossed his velvet cape over his shoulders and stepped onto the stage. Evie did not get a good look at him because he hid his face under his hood.
Mateo came within reach of Evie and her parents, followed closely by his party. He cringed when he recognized Evie’s dad.
Keegan wasted no time. He grabbed Mateo's shirt collar and shook it. “I’m only going to say this once, you creep. If you lay a finger on my daughter, you’re going to wish you were never born!”
“Keegan.” Charlotte snatched her husband away from the frightened young man. That was when she and Ms. Brook met each other’s eyes. Instantly, they glared. “Ugh!” Charlotte shouted.
“You!” Ms. Brook fought.
Mateo, Evie, and Keegan jumped. As did Evie’s friends.
Evie and Mateo instantly knew their mothers were sisters. What the witch doctor told them was true.
The two women pushed past their family members and stomped to each other.
“I told you I never wanted to see you again!” said Charlotte. Steam puffed out of her nose.
Ms. Brook tapped her chest. “You were the one who left and made me raise a child alone!”
Evie gasped. Wait, Mateo never had a dad? How was he born, then?
Keegan looked just as perplexed as her. Did he not even know he had a nephew? Had his own wife been lying to him their whole marriage?
Mateo and Evie hated being dragged into their family dilemma, and it didn’t help when the sisters started arguing about them.
Ms. Brook snatched Mateo’s arm. She took him away from Maria. “But I’ve got to admit that I did a good job, much better than you,” she told Charlotte. “My son is the most well-known ranger in Pinta Country.”
“Oh yeah?” Before Evie could run, Charlotte grabbed her. “Well… My daughter aces all her tests at school.”
“Oh yeah?” Ms. Brook shook Mateo’s arm. “My son won all the dance competitions in school.”
“Did he ace all his tests, though?”
Ms. Brook stamped her foot. “Well… My son can use magic! What can your daughter do? Huh, huh?”
“My daughter is only eleven years old!”
“Stop! Stop!” Evie and Mateo begged. They quickly freed themselves from their mothers’ grasp.
The women did not shut up. They continued to yell at one another and pushed each other’s chests every so often.
Ms. Julie sighed. It pained her when children acted more adult than two grown women. She came between them and pulled them apart. “Knock it off, you two! This briefing is supposed to help your family, not hurt it further.”
Evie and Mateo perked up. Wait, so it wasn’t Evie’s briefing? “But, Ms. Julie, I don’t understand,” she said. “I’m the one who got in trouble.”
“Yeah, about that.” Ms. Julie scratched the back of her head. “I apologize, little one.”
Evie huffed. For once in her life, could there be no secrets?
***
The Brook family—well, Evie, Mateo, Ms. Brook, and Charlotte—sat in a single line of seats directly before the stage. The women were on the end, with their children in the middle. Keegan, Evie’s camp crew, Maria, and Paperblank villagers rested behind them.
Mr. Clovis gestured for Sam to join him on stage.
Sam gulped, but he slowly rose to his feet.
John escorted him to Mr. Clovis, who held his hands behind his back.
He smiled at the young boy. “Hello,” he said. His voice was relatively young, and, like Mateo's, it had a touch of a Spanish accent.
Sam was perplexed by him. He thought a mayor would be older.
John’s face lit up at the sight of his old friend. “Bro! How the devil are you?” Before he could say anymore, Mr. Clovis thumped him on the back.
The interaction confused Evie and Mateo. How did John and the mayor know each other? Things were getting weirder and weirder. The youths expected Mr. Clovis to remove his hood, but he did not. He kept it on.
To the audience, he said, “It has come to my attention that the basilisk is active again after sixty years.” He gestured at Sam. “The Pebble Masters have freed this boy: our very own Evie and Mateo.”
Evie and Mateo shivered from their seats.
Mr. Clovis started to pace. “However, it has also come to my attention that the Pebble Masters still have not regained lost trust.” His deep brown eyes rolled over to Charlotte and Ms. Brook. “Without it, there is no hope to befriend the Green Guardian and defeat the basilisk.”
Both Charlotte and Ms. Brook jumped up.
“Forgot it!” Ms. Brook argued. “I will never trust this wretched wreck of a woman again!” She pointed at Charlotte. “She made me raise a child all by myself!”
Mr. Clovis held his hand up to them. “I’m not asking for your opinion on the situation. Hypothetically, Ms. Brook, you and Mrs. Madison destroyed the Brook family. Now, it is up to your children to save it.”
Again, Evie and Mateo shivered.
“Sam Aitchison.” Mr. Clovis glanced at Sam. “You were the one who befriended Euphorbia sixty years ago, so you know what it takes to trust a fairy. You must teach these amateurs what you learned the day you disappeared.”
Confusion flashed across Sam’s face. “What do you mean ‘what I learned’?”
Mr. Clovis took his shoulders. “The people of Paperblank Village are counting on you. Try, try to remember.”
“But I didn’t learn anything.”
“Yes, you did, son.” Sam could hear the determination and optimism in Mr. Clovis’s voice.
Beside him, John said, “Listen to him, man. My friend knows what he’s talking about.”
“John!” Mr. Clovis snapped.
The two definitely knew each other. Evie tried to remember who Mateo said John was friends with, but it had slipped her mind. She couldn’t help but think Mr. Clovis was more than just a mayor.
Sam sighed and said, “Sir, I just want to go home.”
“And you will, once you complete your mission,” said Mr. Clovis. “The first thing you must do is take this family and find the Green Guardian.”
That was a lot of pressure to put on Sam’s shoulders. Then again, he technically was a seventy-one-year-old in a child’s body.
Ms. Brook and Charlotte clenched their fists. At the same time, they said, “We refuse!” to Mr. Clovis.
The crowd behind them gulped. Murmurs rose amongst it.
Charlotte pointed at Ms. Brook. “I made it very clear that I never wanted to see her again.”
Ms. Brook returned her gesture. “I intend to sue the Union for setting up this scheme and assigning my baby boy to the mission!”
“Mom,” Mateo mumbled.
Mr. Clovis fought back, but he remained calm. “And I intend to push you two to your limits. You may think you don’t, but you still love each other. Love is what holds Pinta Country together. That's what y’all have to learn.”
Charlotte scoffed and crossed her arms. Chuckling sarcastically, she tapped her foot. “Who are you supposed to be—the king?”
Evie, Mateo, Ms. Brook, and the rest of the audience focused their attention on Mr. Clovis. An awkward silence followed, lasting about two minutes.
Finally, Mr. Clovis stood tall. “Actually…” He reached his hands up to his velvet hood and pulled it down. “I am.”
Sure enough, Mr. Clovis was none other than King Benjamin.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
