Meela couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She only needed one more week until she could turn into a beautiful butterfly. Now she couldn’t even get food to eat. She guessed she could crawl to get her food, but it just took to much energy, and most of the leaves were too high for her to eat. All the good leaves anyways. If she ate the dirty and yucky leaves on the bottom, then she’ll never turn into a beautiful butterfly, maybe just a crippled one. She shuddered just to think about it.
“Oh no, what should I do?” Meela whined.
“What?’ Auga asked innocently. She was chewing on a green leaf.
“My magic’s gone!” Auga’s tiny mouth dropped. Everyone around them stopped chewing. Meela felt miserable. Slither was gone and was nowhere to be found. He was probably laughing right now with her magic, doing evil things Meela could not comprehend.
“What should I do?” Meela cried. Suddenly, everything froze around her. It was frightening. Everyone around her just stopped. Stopped eating, stopped breathing. The wind even stopped blowing and all the leaves stood still.
Imma stood before her, in all her green glory. Somehow, she shone and looked like she was exhibiting all the colors of the rainbow, and that wasn’t possible until you were a butterfly, and sometimes the butterflies were not even as brilliant as Imma before her. A talisman appeared before Meela and Imma spoke.
“Do you wish to get your magic back?” Imma whispered. Meela was speechless. Of course she wanted her magic back! She thought it was a pellucid fact; something that was as clear as day. Meela mustered up a nod.
“Then,” Imma continued in her soft dulcet voice, “You must find the axiom that will unlock the secret of your heart; and only then can you get your magic back.”
“But where can I find that… axiom?” Meela meekly asked.
“In an atelier! There, you shall find a peremptory artist who will expect you to do things for him right away. Finish three tasks and he will reward you.” And with that last bit of mysterious instruction, Imma raised her talisman and transported Meela into another realm…
Meela dropped in front of a beautiful brass door. It had intricate archaic carvings on the sides and a big angel in the front. Meela never saw anything like it; it looked so old and outdated and precious at the same time. Am I in caterpillar heaven? Meela thought. But no, she remembered Imma saying something about an artist…
The brass door swung open and a perspicacious blue bird appeared. “Come in,” he said gruffly. The blue bird had glasses and looked as if he lived through most of history itself. Maybe someone as smart and as old as him can tell Meela the secrets of her heart… Meela crawled in the room. The blue bird’s atelier was huge and it had a cold beauty to it. Everything was sharp and pristine. Meela gulped and usurp her voice and asked, “Um, what do you want me to do?”
The blue bird spun around and stared her down. Meela cowered. “These caterpillars and their whiny questions! I want my magic back. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You think I care about your magic? If there were less butterflies and their superficial beauty flying around, the world would be a better place!” And with that, the blue bird continued walking toward the other side of the room. She didn’t know why this patronizing bird was being so mean. Obviously, he had never lost his magic. Meela felt as if she came here just to be a scapegoat for the blue bird’s frustrations. Maybe that was her first task…
“Okay,” the blue bird was saying roughly, “Your first job for me is to expurgate those giraffes from my atelier; they are driving me nuts!” And he stormed away into another room and slammed the door. Meela heard pencil scratching on paper and wondered what the blue bird was sketching.
Meela looked around. She didn’t see any giraffe; maybe the bird’s old age finally made him crazy. It was a possibility. Meela sat there for a while, listening to the classical sounds of the breeze, its dulcet chimes pulling her into a daydream. Just as she was falling into a sweet lumber, big thumping noises awoke her.
There were giraffes everywhere! They were not doing anything harmful; they were just stomping around the place. Meela looked nervously to the door; she was afraid the blue bird would come back out and start screaming at her. But he didn’t come out, and for that, she was grateful.
She stared up the giraffe’s long graceful necks. Now that she looked closer, she realized they weren’t randomly stomping around. They were dancing. “Um, excuse me guys,” Meela said meekly. They didn’t hear her. “GUYS! MAY I HAVE YOUR HUMBLE ATTENTION PLEASE?”
They all turned to look at her. Meela suddenly turned shy. But she reminded herself she needed to turn into a butterfly. “Um, can you not dance here please? Blue Bird needs to concentrate. You know, it’s rude to dance in someone’s atelier.” The giraffe turned to each other, shrugged, and left. Wow, that was simple. Meela thought. With her first task finished, Meela felt more confident that she was going to get her magic back in no time.
But, ten minutes passed and Blue Bird still did not come back out. Meela felt her stomach whine in protest. Caterpillars weren’t abstemious creatures; they needed to eat constantly to keep up their strength. Just when Meela thought she was going to pass out from the hunger, Blue Bird came back out.
“Oh good, you got rid of those pesky creatures. Wanted to draw them once and they wouldn’t leave,” he mumbled. “Here is your second task, get rid of this,” and Blue Bird threw her some green luscious leaves. Meela was grateful for the food, and happy that the task was so simple! Just as she was going to bite into the leaves, she heard a groan. She looked and in a corner and saw a weak browning caterpillar that she didn’t notice before.
“May you be so kind as to share your leaves with me?” The dying caterpillar coughed. Meela looked at her pile of leaves. There wasn’t enough for two! And Meela was so hungry! Her thoughts vacillated between giving up her lunch and helping the poor caterpillar. If she helped the caterpillar and gave him her leaves, then she would be hungry, and might not have enough strength to finish her last task. But if she didn’t help the poor caterpillar out, her iniquity would haunt her forever. Finally, she decided to give up her leaves. Anyhow, her task was to get rid of the leaves; he didn’t mention how. Plus, Meela figured once she got her magic back, she would have all the leaves she could get.
The caterpillar ate quickly and greedily. When he was done, a burst of bright light filled the room and blinded her. In the caterpillar’s place was a beautiful butterfly with intricate patterns on his wings. “Thank you for you kindness,” he said, and he flew out the window and into the clouds.
Huh, Meela thought. Interesting. Somehow, Meela didn’t feel hungry anymore either. She also felt as if she was glowing, something that happened when magic was at its peak level…
(To be continued with next week’s vocabulary words…)
Vocabulary
- talisman- noun: a magic charm
- pellucid- adj: something that is clear or transparent
- dulcet- adj: something that is pleasing to the ear
- axiom- noun: universal truth
- atelier- noun: an artist’s or designer’s workshop
- peremptory- adj: expecting to be obeyed immediately
- archaic- adj: old, outdated
- perspicacious- adj: mentally sharp or clever
- usurp- verb: to seize power
- patronizing- adj: acting superior
- scapegoat- noun: one who bears the blame for others
- expurgate- verb: to remove objectionable material
- abstemious- adj: consumes sparingly
- vacillate- verb: to fluctuate or to waiver; to be indecisive
- iniquity- noun: an evil or wicked act
Yay! keep continuing on the stories, they are so good!
I think usurp should be “usurped” in the context that you used it.
Other than that, great job!
<333 Cora
lahaiseslair.com, how do you do it?
may i ask, do what? :]