The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [56]
“Not erratic,” corrected Bert, with tears in his eyes. “She’s just following the signal.”
The star dipped suddenly and came into full view in front of the cresting sun. Each of the companions gasped in turn, as they realized that John’s star had wings, and the point of light was a fiercely shining Compass Rose.
It was Laura Glue.
Seeing the Indigo Dragon, she let out an excited whoop and flew directly toward them.
In one hand she was clutching the Compass Rose that had led her to them in Oxford.
And in the other she held the Imaginarium Geographica.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dante’s Riddle
Despite the circumstances, it was a glorious reunion. There are rare moments in human experience, Jack thought to himself, that fill one to bursting with emotion. Many are based on relationships, or personal experiences, and are too individualized to really be shared or explained. But there is one emotion that is universal, in which an infinite amount of gratitude may be felt with the smallest pinch of experience: the knowledge that one has not been forgotten.
Seized by joy, the companions passed the elated Laura Glue from one to another, hugging her tightly and laughing. All save for Aven—who seemed happy to see the girl, but was strangely removed from the reunion the others were celebrating.
“I knowed I could find you!” she said, beaming. “I told Jamie I just knowed I could!”
“And so you did!” declared John, who had rather delicately taken the Geographica from her grasp. “I can’t believe you came, Laura Glue.”
“I wanted to show Jamie my wings,” she said. “So we went out to the autogobile where you’d put them, and that’s when he saw the book, and boy, did he call you lots of names.”
…the rotating water…was forming a gigantic whirlpool.
John reddened. “I’d imagine so. But how did you find us?”
She held up the Compass Rose. “Same way as before. Jamie knew how to remake the mark, and he said you’d be needing your book right away. So we had tea, and when it was night, we went to the park, and…”
Laura Glue paused, thoughtful. “He said that it was ap—apro—”
“Appropriate?” Charles put in.
“Yeah,” she said. “He said it was appro’prate that I leave from where the statue of my grandfather is. But you know, it doesn’t really look like him at all.
“So I started flying, and came through the black clouds, and that’s when the Compass Rose brung…um…”
“Brought,” supplied John.
“Right. That’s when it brought me here,” said Laura Glue. She looked around at the tattered remains of the Indigo Dragon. “Hey—who broke your Dragonship?”
“That was me,” said Jack. “I had to rescue Aven.”
“Excuse me,” said Aven, “but there was more to the situation than just saving me. It’s not my fault the tower was falling apart.”
“Now, now,” Charles said placatingly. “Let’s not be placing blame. We should be looking to the Geographica to get out of here, should we not?”
Aven threw one last poisonous look at Jack before nodding her head. “You’re right. Let’s get back to our plan. I…”
Aven stopped. The moment Jack had mentioned her, Laura Glue fell silent, and had been staring at the queen with platter-shaped eyes.
“You,” Laura Glue said reverently, “you’re a Mother now, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Aven replied, unsure what the girl really meant by the question. “But once I was your friend, remember?”
“I remember who you look like,” said Laura Glue. “But you weren’t a Mother. Not then.”
Aven knelt before the girl and took her hands. “We used to play together, you and I. We had tea parties, and pretended we were wolves, and once I broke my arm, and you carried me to safety.”
Laura Glue’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She took her hands and traced the lines of Aven’s face, then fell forward, hugging her and sobbing. Aven was startled, but after a moment, she hugged the girl back.
“Poppy!” Laura Glue gasped through a sheen of tears. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’ve come back at last, and…and you’re a Mother.”
“Poppy?” Jack said, looking askance at Bert, who shrugged.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” said Bert. “Although as I understood it, all the children