Tinbelboolo - A Special Story for Special Young Ones

Tinbelboolo
Bella and George, Tinley, Lola, & Becca- four very special girls go on an amazing surreal adventure after receiving four precious star eggs from an angel.

Tinbelboolo- The Littlest Star Eggs - A Special Story for Four Special Girls.

*******
The Littlest Star Eggs - Tin-Bel-Boo-Lo
Chapter 1
"Line up girls!" Miss Jo called out, clapping her hands to get the attention of her young art students currently finger deep in several clay pots filled with multi-colored paints.
Five year old, light brown haired Tinley was the first one to hurry over to her art teacher, pink and green fingers wiggling in the air. Quickly following behind her was ten year old, blondish brown haired Bella. With the assistance of Bella's large service dog, George, a beautiful black and white Great Dane, she clutched her pink and yellow paint covered fingers in tight little fists, not able to hold onto his harness as she usually would, she leaned into him as she needed to cross the short distance to the teacher.
"Careful, Bella…" cautioned her teacher softly.
Before Bella could reply, seven year old Boo, also known as Becca upon occasion, spoke up for her. "Bella's always careful, Miss Jo, aren't you, Bella?" The mostly bald Boo grinned her very infectious grin at Bella and waved her purple and blue fingers at her art buddy.
Giggling, Bella nodded and settled into the line behind Tinley.
The last little girl, two year old, dark haired Lola, was the youngest of the group. She slowly walked towards the others staring mostly at her red and orange fingers nearly bumping into Boo.
"Hold up, Little Lola," Miss Jo cautioned quickly. "You don't want to lose your paint to Boo's back."
Smiling, Lola gave a little shy nod, lowering her big, beautiful dark eyes.
"All right girls, to the paper!" Miss Jo exclaimed happily and with a wave of her arm she gestured to the long piece of startlingly white paper taped to the wall.
The four young, very special girls laughed as they eagerly followed their teacher's orders and walked to the wall positioning themselves in front of the paper and raising their paint covered hands.
"Ready…set...go!" Miss Jo called out; grinning as she watched the little paint covered hands press up onto the paper just like they'd practiced several times without the paint.
"We did it!” Becca Boo announced as she pulled her hands off the paper leaving behind a wonderful pair of purple and blue handprints.
The giggling continued as each girl removed their hands from the paper and while they might not have left perfectly outlined prints, they were all wonderful and very colorful.
"Yes, you did it and it is a job well done. Let's wash up now. Our painting needs to dry to be ready for the party tomorrow," Miss Jo told the girls and ushered them towards the sink in the far corner of the room.
As they walked from their truly unique piece of art work, not a single one of them noticed as each set of small, very colorful handprints began to move across the paper.
As the sound of water splashing down into the metal sink filled the air, and paints of all colors were being washed from the student's hands the newly made handprints were busily turning this way and that in some bizarre, and totally unrealistic dance.
Tinley's handprints on the farthest side of the paper joined Lola's in the right hand corner of the banner,  brilliant handprints with small fingers wiggling then began linking together. Tiny fingers intertwining as palms began to touch the edge of other palms and it didn't take long for the four foot long white, banner to change completely. Instead of four pairs of little girl handprints spread across the paper the prints were now all grouped into an odd oval shape set in the right hand corner of the paper.
With a last twitch from a little pink fingerprint all the movement stopped. To look at this amazing sight one could imagine an artist purposefully setting out to create such a painting. Four little girls and their art teacher however, never intended their handprints to move, let alone join together.
While the strange moving prints settled into their new position the small group of girls were busy drying their now freshly washed hands, and a loud bell sounded over the intercom, class was over.
"Hurry, hurry, put your towels down and go get your things," Miss Jo told the girls. Neither she, nor the girls noticed the change to their banner they were in such a rush to leave. Time had gotten unexpectedly away from the usually very prompt teacher, and keeping parents waiting was never something she liked to do.
Taking the students out to their designated pick up spot in front of the school, Miss Jo apologized to the waiting parents, but none of them seemed overly upset at the slight delay. With each child now gone, the last one waving good bye to her through their open car window, the art teacher waved back and  returned eagerly to her classroom. There was a lot of work to be done for the upcoming party. The classroom was going to be transformed with colorful party streamers, and many helium filled balloons, and that was going to take time.
Wanting to quickly check the handprint banner, hoping there weren't too many drip lines trailing off the paper to the floor beneath, Miss Jo let out a shocked gasp of surprise, her own hands instantly rising to completely cover her mouth. "What?!" "How?!" She whispered through her fingers, unable to move, her shock widened eyes transfixed on the rearranged handprints.
Blinking rapidly she slowly lowered her hands and moved closer to the painting. They were the same handprints, she'd seen each girl put them there, but how they'd been moved?! Arm outstretched, she tentatively reached a pointing finger towards the paper. Maybe she was dreaming, or perhaps someone was playing a trick on her and switched the painting while she was getting the girls out to their families. The many possibilities of what had happened played quickly through her thoughts but none of them made any real kind of sense.
Before Miss Jo's fingertip could land on the paper a bright yellow light filled the oval center of the grouped hand prints, and she let out a loud gasp. Staggering backwards she bumped hard into a little table and almost fell.
Wild thoughts flew through her mind- she was having a stroke, or a mental break of some kind, hadn't her mother told her she was working too hard lately? That had to explain things. She needed to get to her phone so she could call for help. The doctors would know how to fix this...this, whatever it was that was happening to her. And as the twenty-six year old art teacher contemplated her course of action the bright light suddenly leapt from the center of the circle and shot in her direction.
Flinging her arms up to protect her face, Miss Jo closed her eyes tight and waited for the impact of the light beam to hit her. The thing about light however is that you can't feel it unless it has a heat source such as a sun beam, this light had no heat source and as it settled over the cowering teacher she felt nothing at all, there was no impact.
When nothing seemed to happen, she wasn't vaporized or burnt; Miss Jo slowly lowered her arms and tentatively peeked out through mere slits in her eyelids. Light. She was surrounded by nothing but light. The classroom had disappeared entirely, in fact everything but light was gone.
"Wha...what's happening? What's going on? I...I  d..don't understand," she stammered in complete bewilderment. Turning around she realized her whole world had completely disappeared except for light. Putting her hands up and taking a very slow step forward hoping she could somehow step out of the light, she didn't succeed, the light moved with her. "Please, God, please, help me,” she pleaded softly, her voice cracking as she felt the tears welling hotly in her hazel blue eyes.
"Don't cry Miss Jo, we need your help."
Had she been expecting a reply maybe she wouldn't have cried out and fell to her knees. The impact with what was supposed to be a hard classroom floor wasn't hard at all. The light, or whatever substance it was, cushioned her fall and her knees sank into firm softness. In imagining how God might sound if she should ever hear Him speak, she had never quite thought it would be the soft, childlike voice that answered her anxious prayer.
The disembodied voice, in a melodic strain, surrounded the teacher offering her comfort. "We aren't God, Miss Jo, but You are safe with us, please, don't be afraid."
"Don't b...be afraid?" Miss Jo ask incredulously. No one in their right mind, of which it would seem she wasn't at the moment, would not be afraid in these circumstances. Who was she talking to? There wasn't anyone there! In fact there was nothing there, no one, and nothing. Had she died? No, she couldn't have died, death was a sleep and she wasn't sleeping. Or was she sleeping and having a bizarre nightmare?
"You are not sleeping; this isn't a nightmare, Miss Jo. We know your love for the children is great and we are here to gift them but we need your help."
"My heh...help? Gift them? Who are you?! Wha...what's happening?! Am I going…?”
"Crazy?" The child's voice supplied the last word, cutting the teacher off. "No, you are not crazy. We are the Helpers, and we've been instructed to help the four children you teach with very special gifts. The children are too young to accept the gifts on their own, you must guide them. Remember these few things and all should go well. Try to impress upon your children the need for secrecy, none but you and the children will see these gifts. Guard the gifts at all times; there are those who will seek them for their own misguided ways. Above all remember love is always needed."
Helpers? Gifts? Secrecy? Guarding? Love? What was all this crazy nonsense?! "I don't understand any of this. Why can't I see you? Who are you? What's a Helper?" The questions flew from the teacher's lips quickly. It was truly amazing how vivid and strange her mental breakdown was taking shape. Surely her overworked imagination was supplying all the fodder necessary for such bizarre hallucinations- visual and auditory. The doctors would help her. Someone would find her and they'd get her to a hospital and…
"You will understand everything in time. Remember keep the gifts safe, and loved. We must go now, be strong and watchful, Miss Jo. Don't forget, no one but you and the girls will be able to see." The amazingly soft voice grew even softer fading away into the distance with each word. "Keep them safe….love them...love…"
And just like that the voice and the light disappeared and the classroom reappeared around her as if she'd never left. "Wait! Hold on! Hey...come back!" Miss Jo cried out as she turned a full circle around looking for the strange light. "What just happened?" She asked herself, knowing she was talking to herself because no one else was in the room. Was her mental break over? Was the hallucination at its end? Were things back to normal? Whipping her head around she had to look at the painting that had triggered this crazy episode. If the painting looked exactly as the girls had created it everything would be okay, she could forget the whole thing happened and chalk it up to stress.
"No...no," she whispered softly and shook her head in disbelief. Not only wasn't the painting as she'd hoped, it had changed yet again. The handprints were no longer linked, the oval shape it'd made was gone, but now each set of handprints were spread apart across the paper again and somehow extending outwards off the paper and cupped together. In the center of each pair of cupped hands rested a rather large, softball-sized iridescent egg!
"Remember." The softest of whispers tickled Miss Jo's ears.
"Remember," she repeated the whispered word and found she no longer had any strength in her legs, she had to sit down, this was all too much to take in. Sitting quickly down on the corner of a small table, the bewildered teacher stared at the completely altered painting for the longest time as she contemplated her new reality.
There was no telling how long the teacher might have stayed there sitting and staring at what was supposed to be a painting, a half an hour had passed already when there was a quick, sharp knock at the door and it opened.
"Jo! What're you doing just sitting there?! I thought this room would be half decorated by now. We'll never get done in time to get home before the meeting. I have to call my sister and see if she can get over and get things ready at the house… Jo?" The woman who had barged into the room and began talking nonstop, finally did stop her little tirade when she realized that her slightly younger friend was still just sitting there, not responding to her at all. "Jo? Are you okay?"
Blinking slowly, Miss Jo didn't want to talk; she didn't want to even breathe until her friend told her she saw the painting-sculpture, whatever it was, with its strange egg holding hands. If she didn't talk surely Sarah would walk over to her, and to get to where she was she would have to pass directly by the painting thingamajig.
"Jo, I'm talking to you. What's going on? Did something happen? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about this party- it was your idea," Sarah sighed heavily and she did just as Miss Jo hoped she would, she walked over to her.
There! She was right next to the painting! Why wasn't she looking at it? Why wasn't she freaking out? "Don't you…" Miss Jo stopped herself before she could finish the question. Sarah couldn't see it! The Helper had told her no one would see it but her and the girls! But if Sarah couldn't see the bizarre painting what was she seeing?
"Don't I what?" Sarah asked as she stood with hands on her hips directly in front of her friend.
Looking up at Sarah, Miss Jo pointed to the painting now off to her side. "Don't you...see it?"
"See what?" She turned her head slightly and gave the painting a quick glance. "That's cute, but it's hardly enough decoration. Come on, you start with the streamers and I'll call my sister and then get started on the balloons," Sarah answered, she was all business about getting the party decorations up. She had seen the painting, only what she saw and what Miss Jo saw were two very different things.
"Cute?" Miss Jo replied and pushed herself to her feet moving closer to the oddity on her wall. "Do you really think it's cute? It's not, weird?"
"Weird? What's weird about a handprint banner? You told me you were going to do it yesterday. It looks fine, maybe a little bare. Hey, you could tape balloons in the corners or maybe paint a quick border on it but not now, let's get the streamers and balloons going. Are you sure you're alright?” Sarah asked. As much as she wanted to get the room decorated and get home to the meeting and do a variety of other things, if something was wrong with one of her best friends she wanted to know and help her if possible.
Miss Jo nodded, her thoughts racing. Bare? Sarah wouldn't be thinking it looked bare if she saw what she was seeing, no, bare would not be something she'd think at all. The truth was, Sarah did not see what she was seeing and yet it was there. The true test would be if her students saw it but she wouldn't know that until the next morning when they arrived. What to do until then? Carry on as if she weren't going crazy? Pretend everything was normal? Why not.
"I'm fine, just a bit tired. You're right though, let's get this done. The sooner we finish the sooner tomorrow will get here," Miss Jo said, and gave a little chuckle.
Relief flooded Sarah's face; there was the familiar friend she was expecting. Whatever tiredness had overcome Jo, would just have to take a back seat to decorating. "And the sooner the party will be here and the sooner it will be over," Sarah teased.
"Yes, the sooner it will be over," Miss Jo said and managed to pull herself away from the hand holding egg painting and over to where the box of decorations was waiting. If her gaze kept wandering back to the banner she couldn't help it, she was hoping each and every time she looked to it that somehow it would be normal, but each time she was disappointed.
When they finally finished decorating and she turned off the light, shut the door and locked it, the teacher was very reluctant to leave. A feeling of dread washed over her, she'd been told to guard the gifts and here she was just leaving them behind. What if something happened to them? But how could anything happen to something that no one else could see?
"Sarah, you go on. I forgot something; I'll meet you at the house."
"Sure, but don't be long. We already have a lot of explaining to do, we shouldn't have been late," Sarah told her and grinned.
"I know, I know I'll hurry, I promise," Miss Jo smiled back and reached to unlock the door, already feeling a little better about not just leaving the gifts. Exactly what she was going to do with them she didn't know.
With the door unlocked, Miss Jo reached to turn the door handle and her fingers met very cold metal. Pulling her hand back she stared down at the door handle. Why was it cold? So much for feeling better, she now had a coil of fear tightly squeezing her insides and she didn't like it at all. Did she go in? How could she not? What if the gifts were gone? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Everything inside her mind shouted a loud, "Yes!" but everything inside her heart was aching at the very idea everything she'd just experienced was truly a bizarre hallucination and there were no gifts and never had been.
She had to touch the door handle, oddly ice cold or not. Gathering her courage she reached out for the handle again and gave a little gasp as the iciness instantly numbed her flesh. Turning the handle she flung the door open and quickly released the freezing metal. "Owww.." she moaned and clutched her achingly numb hand to her chest.
The room was supposed to be completely dark but it wasn't. She didn't have time to worry about her frozen hand; there was something over where the banner hung upon the wall. That something was letting off an eerie green glow, and the glow revealed the strange egg holding painted hands were still there.
"Who...who's there?" Miss Jo called out and took a tentative step into the room.
The green glow flickered and grew smaller.
"Who are y...you?" She stammered. Of course a better question might have been; what are you?
Growing still smaller the green glow was now the size of a golf ball and no longer lighting the painting.
Getting closer to the banner, Miss Jo wished she'd turned the room lights on, but she'd been in too much of a hurry to make sure the gifts were safe. It was obvious whatever, or whoever, the green glowing light might be they weren't going to tell her, they were disappearing right before her eyes taking the feeling of awful dread away with its strange light.
When all the light from the glow was gone the darkness filled the room and Miss Jo hurried back to the wall by the door where the light switch was located. Flipping the switch upwards all the lights in the classroom were instantly illuminated and a quick glance at the banner revealed all four little eggs were snug in the cupping hands. "Yes, thank you, God, thank you!" Miss Jo genuinely gave thanks to God, realizing just how grateful she was those eggs were safe.
Without giving it too much thought the teacher knew she couldn't leave the eggs there overnight, she had to take them with her. After a bit of frantic searching she found a suitable box and soft rags to wrap and pack the eggs.
Stopping in front of Tinley's cupped sculpted hands, Miss Jo reached to take the iridescent egg very carefully. As her flesh came in contact with the egg she let out a soft exclamation of surprise. It was warm to the touch, and soft, not hard at all, like a store bought chicken egg. It was also larger than a chicken egg, but not the size of an ostrich egg, it was more like an eagle's egg in size but completely unlike any egg she'd ever seen in coloring.
"So beautiful," Miss Jo whispered as she cupped the egg in her hands. No wonder something might be after the eggs, they were clearly the most impressive things she'd ever seen. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe. Nothing will hurt you," she told the egg, still whispering.
As she quickly but very carefully packed the eggs into the box, Miss Jo glanced at the wall clock. She was so late! How was she going to explain her tardiness? If she even tried everyone would think she was crazy, especially if she opened the box to show them the eggs and there was nothing but soft rags. Why this was happening she wasn't sure, she couldn't explain it at all. She hadn't a clue what a 'Helper' was, or what these gifts were beyond being four gorgeous eggs. How were the girls going to comprehend all this when she couldn't?
With the box carefully in her hands, Miss Jo once more left the classroom after a quick glance at the banner. The empty hands of the special little girls looked forlorn; tomorrow morning truly couldn't be here soon enough.
Chapter 2
The next morning had arrived quickly enough after all.  A night spent in bed with her arm wrapped around a box hidden under the covers wasn't exactly comfortable, but amazingly she'd been able to sleep. A quick check on the eggs in their box convinced the art teacher all was well with her mental breakdown and she followed her normal before work routine to the letter, only stopping to grab up the boxed eggs on her way to the door. She had to get back to the classroom and find out if her delusions were still intact and the banner still there with its outstretched hands.
The party she was giving was a celebration of the end of the school year. Each special child who had participated in the small art class had shown tremendous improvement in their artistic abilities. Sure, some might say art isn't important and even a scribble is good art to some, but Miss Jo knew the healing power of art and how the emotional and mental well-being of people could be improved through art. When she became a child psychologist major with a minor in art she knew she was going to combine the two fields into one. With her love of art and love of children, and a passion towards helping those with handicaps of any sort, Miss Jo had found her niche when a hospital and school decided to fund an arts program for the littlest outpatients.
She had twenty-four students in all, and each group met once a week.
The little group that met the day before the party was the only group of four she had, the rest of her classes had five students each. These four were amazingly, special. Five year old, Tinley and two and a half year old, Lola were both born with Apert's Syndrome. With Apert's Syndrome both little girls were born with some of their skull bones prematurely fused which in turn didn't allow their skulls to grow normally causing their skulls and faces to become misshapen. Not only were their skulls affected by this genetic disorder, but their fingers and toes were fused together as well.
Ten year old, Bella was born with Morquio Syndrome. This  syndrome was caused by a very rare birth defect where the body was unable to metabolize long chains of sugar molecules properly. The effects of Morquio Syndrome were many causing internal and external abnormalities . Bella with her syndrome was in need of a service dog, specifically George (or Georgie as she'd been known to call him) to help her balance and walk.
Six year old, Becca Boo wasn't born with, but developed cancer- Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia which caused her to have to endure radiation, chemotherapy and suffer the effects of both, all with the hopes of putting the cancer into remission.
Miss Jo loved her students, all twenty-five of them with their unique and varied situations. She never treated them with anything but love and kindness, going above and beyond anything an average teacher could offer. The results of her working with these less than fortunate- through no fault of their own- children were often amazing. Being able to lift the spirits of a child was a special gift she had, and by the grace of God she was able to share that gift happily.
Happily that was until she was suddenly having to question her own sanity.
For some reason, beyond Miss Jo's comprehension, these four girls had been chosen to receive gifts that weren't really there, but they were there. She believed in miracles and this had to qualify as one, but what was the reason? Who were the helpers? What would the gifts do? With a lot more questions than answers, Miss Jo had to figure out how she was supposed to protect the gifts and yet give them to the girls. Or were they not supposed to take them? She was so incredibly at a loss as to what to do. When she finished the last minute preparations for the party she walked over to the banner.
Earlier she'd placed the banner on the large chalk board with four other class banners similar to it in most ways. Miss Jo knew she was the only one who could see the biggest difference in the five banners. Replacing the eggs she'd taken home with her the night before, each set of cupped hands now held the special gifts. She'd debated keeping the eggs in the box until the party was over, but when she'd walked into the classroom the empty hands had been outstretched not cupped, they'd literally been reaching for their eggs.
Standing there in front of the strange banner Miss Jo took a very deep breath and let it out slowly. "Please, tell me what I need to do with you. Everyone will be here soon. What happens if the little ones see you before I can talk with them and help them understand they need to keep you a secret? I don't have any more classes this year with them; school is over for the year."
She was so intently focused on the banner; Miss Jo didn't hear the classroom door open and close. She didn't even hear footsteps until they were coming up right behind her and she let out a small gasp, spinning around to see who was there. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" It was the principal of the school. The almost sixty year old salt and pepper haired, rather sharply dressed man had a small grin teasing at his lips. He wasn't really sorry he'd scared Miss Jo; he'd purposefully kept quiet as he could in order to do just that.
"Principal Gerald," Miss Jo sighed in a little bit of exasperation but quickly returned the slight smile; she knew that he knew that she knew he'd meant to startle her. A light blush colored her cheeks. Had he heard her speaking to the banner? Had she been caught talking seemingly to herself?
"All ready for your party I see," Principal Gerald looked around and reached up to grab at a long string hanging from one of the many helium filled balloons littering the ceiling.
"Yes, all ready. Will you be joining us, sir?" She asked. He couldn't have heard her, he sure wasn't teasing her like she knew he would if he had heard her. The principal was a kind man, but one who loved to tease whenever the opportunity arose.
Wrapping the red balloon tail around his pointer finger, the principal gave a little shake of his head. "No, no, I'm just stopping in to wish you well with...everything." With his free hand the principal waved almost offhandedly at the banner.
Blinking fast several times, Miss Jo looked from the banner to the principal. Had he just indicated he knew what was happening? Was he being deliberately obtuse hoping to confuse her? Or had she imagined his hesitation? Was he wishing her well with the party, then why not say party? Why did he say 'with...everything'?
"Are you feeling okay, Miss Jo?"
"What? Oh, yes, of course, I just, well, yes," she stammered. "Thank you for the well wishes, sir." He couldn't know… could he?
"You're welcome," he told her with a wider grin as he let the balloon string slip off his finger allowing the balloon to pop up quickly to bob on the ceiling. "By the way, I never heard back from you about filling in for the summer school art teacher for the first month."
Summer school? This was the first she was hearing about a summer school art class. "I…"
"No matter, the position is still open if you want it. I just need you to come to my office later and fill out a few papers and whatnot."
"But sir, I…"
"It's only one class five days a week, just like you have now but the same students will be in the class throughout. Apparently the parents, ah! Apparently…. the parents, now that's funny," the principle laughed at his own play on words. He had a rich, deep, rumbly laugh.
"The parents…?" Miss Jo prompted, giving a perfunctory, somewhat forced chuckle.
"Yes, yes, the parents of these four students would like to keep their little ones active in the program. They are touting amazing results from this little venture of ours."
"Four students?" She asked as a strange shiver rippled invisibly through her body. She already knew the four students who would be in the summer school art class.
Principal Gerald gave a quick nod, "Yes, your Friday class I believe are the four. Any way, you can think about it and let me know by tomorrow because if you can't I'll have to call around to find a substitute…"
"I'll do it," Miss Jo answered quickly. This was the answer to her question, the one she'd been asking the absent Helpers just moments before. She was positive she hadn't been told there would be a summer school art class, none of her students or their parents had mentioned it at all. Whatever had transpired for this to all fall into place was beyond her, and not for the first time the word 'miracle' danced across her thoughts.
"Well then it's settled, you start Monday morning bright and early. I'll get you the details when you come to my office later to fill out the paperwork," Principal Gerald said, seeming immensely pleased.
Before she could reply the door swung open again and several students along with their parents began to fill the room, the party was officially underway.
"Miss Jo! Miss Jo! Show momma my painting," Becca Boo called out hurrying in the teacher's direction.
"You have your hands full, I'll see you later, Miss Jo," Principal Gerald told her and turned to leave.
Mumbling something of an 'okay she'd see him later', the teacher was glancing back and forth from the 'helper' changed banner to Boo and her mother, her mind instantly elsewhere. This would be the true test, would Boo see the changes in the banner or not? Was it revelation time?
"There they are, those are my hands, blue and purple! And there are Tinley's and Lola's, and Bella's." Becca Boo was grinning from ear to ear, obviously not seeing anything at all strange about the banner she'd printed with her painted hands.
Relief washed over Miss Jo and the somewhat apprehensive grin widened and relaxed noticeably. The girls weren't going to see the very special gifts, at least not today. Of course as that thought flickered through her mind another was hot on its trail. Did this mean that she was definitely losing touch with reality? The girls seeing the egg gifts would verify her sanity and now she no longer had that reassurance.
More and more students with their parents and family members were entering the room and for all that she was worried, Miss Jo shoved the anxiety aside and decided to just enjoy the party as best she could and make sure everyone had a fantastic time. There were games to play, gifts to hand out, and plenty of snacks to munch on, the morning was going to be filled with fun and would hopefully go by quickly. She still had to guard the eggs. Or did she? Looking over to the banner after greeting yet another student, Miss Jo noticed the hands cupping the eggs hand shifted somehow so that barely anything of the eggs themselves were seen. The small hands were in protective mode and this eased the teacher's mind a bit, allowing her to move about the room as she needed.
Chapter 3
As the party was winding down and most of the students and their families were gone, Miss Jo wasn't too surprised to find her four summer school students grouped together around a small table. When a large wet nose nudged her hand she grinned down at George, Bella's service dog. "Did you have fun at the party, George? I sure hope so. You've been good as you always are."
Miss Jo adored the Great Dane. He was the most well behaved service dog she'd ever encountered. The Service Dog Project out of Massachusetts was well known for the amazing service dogs they provided to the many needing their help. Bella's story with George was inspirational and one Miss Jo never tired of sharing.
"He had lots of fun, Miss Jo," Bella told her and grinned, then told George to take his position at the side of her chair on his mat. "We had fun too."
"Yeah, and we're all coming back here," Becca Boo piped up happily.
"We are!" Tinley chimed in equally happy.
"Me…me!" Lola giggled.
"I know, I know and I'll be here. We'll have lots of fun," Miss Jo told the girls and while she hadn't a clue as to what the summer school curriculum was she knew she'd find out and there wasn't any chance it wouldn't be fun. "Now get your balloons and presents and don't forget to take some cake home with you. Have fun this weekend and I'll see you all on Monday."
The girls giggling and talking to one another followed the teacher's instructions. The age differences between the four were not much of a problem they all had such amazing patience with each other. Yes, their ages were from one extreme to another but somehow the group just clicked together perfectly and there had been absolutely no trouble at all during the entire school year.
Watching as the girls along with their families gathered their things and made their good byes to each other, Miss Jo hoped her strange encounter with the Helper and the gift of the eggs would only knit  their little group closer. She also hoped it was all a reality, if it weren't she wouldn't be teaching the summer school class for long, she'd be busy getting brain scans and possibly seeing a psychologist.
Waving good bye to the last of the children from the door way of her classroom, the teacher felt a huge sense of relief as she closed the door, the loud click as it latched elicited a heavy sigh from her.
The classroom was empty once more and it was time to make sure all was well with the gifts. Miss Jo walked over to the banners everyone had adored. Moving in front of the special banner, the hands cupping the eggs tightly had now relaxed and the eggs were clearly visible once more.
Throughout the morning, Miss Jo had questioned her sanity numerous times, but each time she took a glance at the banner and saw the eggs. Sure, she could still be bonkers but she wouldn't know with any certainty until class on Monday morning, just a few days away. Until then there would be no harm indulging her delusions, if that's what they were.
"Looks like I've got you four until Monday," she told the eggs and reached out to caress Lola's beautiful egg, still very warm and wonderfully soft. "Back into the box with you and then," she paused, grinning. "...you can go back in these hands later, I'm bringing the banner home for the weekend. But first, I need to clean up this room and then get my summer school orders from Principal Gerald."
Before she could even start cleaning a loud bang had Miss Jo jumping backwards. Her head jerked around in the direction of the noise and she gasped softly, quickly smiling to hide her surprise.
A very old and rather decrepit woman was standing there in the door way with a telltale gray smock of a school janitor hanging loosely on her too thin, bony shoulders.
"Heh! Didn't know anyone was still 'ere!" She cackled, her voice raspy, as one might expect from such an old odd creature.
Not recognizing the woman as any of the janitors she'd seen over the course of the last school year, Miss Jo took a protective step towards the banner and turned her back on it as if somehow she could hide it. The old janitor wouldn't be able to see the gifts anyway, right? She was being silly, and she silently chided herself for it. "Just me, everyone else left. I'll be out of your way in about an hour if you'd like to come back later."
"Come back later, heh? Now wouldn't ya like that?" The old janitor took a step forwards in Miss Jo's direction and gave another rather creepy cackle. "I can 'elp ya clean up." With a wave of her long, thin arm almost lost in the baggy fold of the too big smock sleeve, the old woman gestured to the leftover party streamers and balloons floating about the room.
"No, no, that's all right," Miss Jo was quick to respond. She felt a shiver run up and down her spine, there was something not quite right about this janitor; actually there was a lot not right about the janitor. "Please leave, I can take care of this quickly, much faster than…"
Before she could even finish her sentence the old scary woman was suddenly zipping about the room at a speed no normal human being should have been able to move. Balloons were disappearing from the ceiling and streamers were blinking out of existence all around her and Miss Jo could only watch, jaw dropped, mouth hanging open, eyes wide as they tried to follow the blur that was supposed to be a school janitor.
Feeling a breeze as the woman shot past her, Miss Jo quickly turned to the banner and started to snatch up the eggs.
"Not so fast!" A raspy voice whispered right in her ear, so close the teacher could feel the hot breath of the old woman against her neck. "I'll take those."
What?! She could see the eggs?! Of course she could see them, she was some awful unreal creature here to steal the unreal eggs and Miss Jo was caught up in this unreal mess.
"No! You can't have them!" Miss Jo hissed in a voice unlike any she'd ever had to use with her students. "Go away!" She growled, and clutched all four eggs close against her chest as she spun around to glare at the ancient intruder posing as a janitor and doing a poor job of it.
The old woman let out an even louder cackle and reached out a hand towards the eggs. Her age yellowed fingernails like curved claws sought to land upon a soft egg shell.
"I said, no!" the teacher screamed and backed up until she could back up no further, the chalkboard hard against her back.
"Ya said, "no". Oh dear, oh no, oh me, oh my, should I run and hide, heh, should I now!? I'm so scared, so-so scared of ya missy! Not!" The old woman, looking more and more like a scary hag by the second taunted Miss Jo and lunged forward with one hand. Her sharp fingernails ever so lightly whipping across the teacher's cheek stinging her flesh but not cutting her.
"Stop!" Miss Jo cried out and jerked to the left finding a way of escape through the tables and chairs. She had to get out of there, away from the horror trying to steal the egg gifts from her.
The awful laughter from the old crone followed her. "Ya can run, but ya can't get away from me!"
Before Miss Jo could make it to the classroom door it was once again flung open- only this time a familiar face was there.
"Principal Gerald!" Miss Jo gasped and barely stopped herself from running into him.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on there, what's all this?" The principal laughed. "In a hurry to leave are you? I was bringing the papers to you; I thought you might have forgotten." He held up a hand, fingers clutching several papers.
"I...I, no, she was… she…" Miss Jo whipped her head about looking for the old woman. She was gone! Where'd she go?! She couldn't have gotten passed her.
"She? Uhm, Miss Jo maybe you need to take a seat, looks like you've been working too hard. I thought it'd take you a lot longer to get this room back in order," He said, and smiled at the confused teacher.
Sure enough the principal was right. No longer looking for the awful old woman, Miss Jo could clearly see the room was almost entirely back to order. All the streamers and balloons that had filled the room were neatly packed in a large box on the table nearest the chalkboard and on top of the box was the banner she was taking home; it too had been removed as a decoration, but how? When? By whom? Had the evil old janitor imposter cleaned up for her? Hoping this wasn't yet another manifestation of her deteriorating mental state; the teacher took a deep breath and glanced down at her arms clutched tightly about herself. The eggs were still there, right there in her arms. She had to put them in the little box. Even though the principal couldn't see them, she didn't dare risk acting like they weren't there; if she dropped them they could be damaged.
"Please, have a seat at my desk, Principal Gerald. Let me just do one more thing and I'll be right there to sign the papers." With her wits tentatively gathered about her, Miss Jo forced a reassuring smile at the principal and walked away from him and towards the little box on the corner of the table, near the decoration filled, much larger box.
"I have to tell you, we really appreciate your taking over the summer school class for a month. We were terribly afraid we'd have to cancel this class." Principal Gerald spoke as he walked to the large desk in the corner of the room, clearly the teacher's desk.
"I'm just glad I could help out," Miss Jo answered, putting the eggs safely in the box. Still looking about the room, wondering if the old scary woman was hiding somewhere, she closed the lid of the box and picked it up. There was no way she was leaving it unguarded, not after all that.
"What a nice box, a gift from your students?" The Principal asked as the teacher set the little box down on the desk.
Nice box? It was just an old brown cardboard box what was so nice about that, Miss Jo thought and glanced down at it, letting out a soft gasp. It wasn't cardboard any longer! How? She'd just handled it and it hadn't been anything but plain cardboard. Now the box was a glossy white container with gold edging, along with a gold clasp with a tiny gold lock, and most amazing of all, the principal could see what the old cardboard box had turned into, it wasn't invisible. Surely if it'd been her imagination, or strange delusion she was under, such as the eggs and all the confusing stuff associated with them, he wouldn't be able to see the very beautiful box.
"Miss Jo?"
"Yes, what? I...oh, yes a gift from… someone," she told the principal, and it wasn't a lie. Someone had provided her with the box, but it couldn't have been the students. Hoping the eggs were safe inside- it was all she could do not to try the little lock and see if she couldn't get to the contents inside. The last thing she wanted was to make more of a spectacle of herself in front of the principal, looking inside would have to wait.
Taking her seat and moving the little box closer to her and further from the principal, Miss Jo gave the man sitting opposite of her another simple smile. "The papers?" She was ready to sign and at that point she really didn't care what she was signing. She wanted the principal gone and she wanted to get out of the classroom and safely home where she could try to make sense of everything.
"Here you go, just sign here… and here… and initial there, and there, then sign that one and I think that'll do it," Principal Gerald spoke quickly, very business-like as he flipped through the little stack of papers pausing briefly at each spot a signature would be required.
Quickly signing each indicated spot and initialing where she was told, Miss Jo was happy to see the Principal pick up the papers and head for the door. He couldn't leave fast enough and she couldn't get home fast enough.  Lucky for her she was able to gather up the banner, the egg box, and a few other things and she was on her way home.
Chapter 4
When Miss Jo returned home and the egg gifts were safely placed in their hands upon the banner which was now hanging in her bedroom, she breathed a huge sigh of relief and collapsed on her bed almost instantly falling asleep.
The teacher's sleep was far from normal though. She entered a dream almost as soon as her breath deepened. A dream in which she was awash in the sensation of safety- finding herself surrounded by a warm light with soft music calming her. "Where am I?" She whispered her question, not sure if there were anyone there to answer.
"You are among the Helpers, rest you will need your strength and your wits about you." The voice that responded was a mere whispery sing-song of the sweetest sound.
"It's you! The Helper! You must tell me…"
"Shhhhhh, rest now. You are safe and the gifts are safe, we will watch over you."
Miss Jo didn't like being shushed but the weight of all the worry engulfed her and with a simple dreamy  nod of her dream head she was curling up on a soft dream circle of warm light as she sank down into a deep, now very dreamless sleep.
When she first opened her eyes after the restorative sleep, Miss Jo knew something wasn't right. The wall clock she'd inherited from her grandmother was telling her it wasn't Sunday, but rather Monday! How could it be Monday already?! How did she lose a whole day?! Jumping out of bed she stared at the banner, something had changed but she wasn't sure what. The egg gifts were all still safely clutched in the small hands, and as abnormal as that in itself was, it wasn't the change she was trying to figure out.
Turning her gaze elsewhere the changes were immediately apparent. There, lying across the chair in the corner of the room, was an outfit complete with shoes, shirt, skirt and undergarments. Who had laid out her things? And not only had her clothes been prearranged for her, the lesson planner the principle had given her was sitting on her dresser and several other papers she hadn't seen before were on top of the planner. Clearly someone had moved things about but it hadn't been her… or had it? Was she sleepwalking? She'd never been a sleepwalker so why would she start now?
As the strange craziness of her situation began to seep into her sleep fogged brain, Miss Jo hurried to the bathroom. If it were really Monday morning she only had an hour to get ready and to the school. Would her life ever be normal again she had to wonder as she turned the tub water faucets on to get the warm water started. Did she even know what normal was anymore? Another very valid question she asked herself and shoved that question, and all others aside so she could focus on getting ready for school.
Chapter 5
The first day of summer school had begun and aside from the normal supplies, Miss Jo had something she was bringing in that no other teacher had- a hand sculpture banner and egg gifts. With everything set up, the banner hung on the chalkboard where it'd been placed for the party, and the eggs set in those hands, the teacher pulled a little round table right up close to the chalkboard. Five chairs were placed around the table, with an empty space left so all the chairs faced the chalkboard.
A quick glance at her watch and Miss Jo felt the nerves of butterflies flutter in her belly. This would be the day she found out if the children were really meant to have these gifts, or if she were going crazy, they'd be here in just minutes. That she'd lost an entire day and then some over the weekend troubled her, but she was grateful in an odd way because there were no more strange occurrences with the eggs.
With the table set up and everything ready, she was staring at the door and she didn't have long to wait before it was flung open and the smiling face of little Lola was there, along with her smiling mother.
"We're ready for summer school!" Lola's mom called out happily and ushered her little daughter into the room.
"Good morning, Lola," Miss Jo greeted her first pupil. "Go put your things in your cubby and come have a seat. We're going to have so much fun." Of course as the teacher was talking she was looking for some sort of sign Lola saw the banner and eggs, but there was nothing to indicate she had.
As Lola made her way to the cubbies in the corner, her mother bid the teacher and her daughter good bye and as she was leaving, Tinley and her mother arrived, and right behind them the last two students, Becca Boo and Bella. With greetings all around and snacks stowed away in the cubbies, the last of the parents walked out the door and closed it behind them. They'd all be back in about three hours; the class was only a half day long.
"Come have a seat around the table, girls," Miss Jo told them and pulled out the chair she was going to sit in, placed strategically between the four girl's chairs.
"What're we going to do today? Momma said we'll do special things because it's summer school," Becca Boo asked as she quickly sat down next to the teacher.
"Your momma's right. We're going to do something very special," Miss Jo answered and pulled out a chair for little Lola to climb into.
When Tinley and Bella were settled in their seats, with George the Dane on his mat in his normal down stay position near Bella, the teacher took a very deep breath and closed her eyes for a brief few moments silently hoping the children would be able to see the eggs. Opening her eyes, she looked at each child in turn and then pointed towards the chalkboard and the banner they'd made.
As if her finger had obtained some special sort of power a bright light shot out from the tip and illuminated the banner in a very special warm yellow glow.
"Miss Jo!" Tinley gasped and raised her little hand, her wonderfully crooked, little pointer finger pointing right at that banner.
"What'd you do?!" Becca Boo asked. Her voice was filled with awe as she stared at the banner, both her hands pressed tight against her cheeks.
"Magic!" Bella whispered, half frightened and half excited. In his position on the floor, George's ears flickered back and forth, his head bobbing up, nose pointed towards the ceiling as if he desperately wanted to get up instead he held tight to his training and stayed put.
"Magic!" Lola mimicked her older classmate, her grin wide, and no fear at all in the youngest of them. She giggled and bounced in her seat happily.
"No, not magic," Miss Jo was quick to explain as she folded her hands together and settled her chin on top her folded fingers, her eyes brilliant with happiness. They could see! She wasn't crazy!
The light that had come from her finger was gone as soon as the banner had been lit up, and she felt amazing. "These are special gifts from the Helpers. It isn't magic, it's..it's a miracle," she told them truly believing that's just what it all was, a special miracle.
"What are they? I mean, those are eggs, right? And those are our hands, aren't they?" Bella asked her questions and her voice lost all fear as her curiosity took over.
"Can we touch them?” Becca Boo asked, but made no move to get out of her seat.
"They are eggs, but beyond that I'm not sure. A few days ago after you'd made the banner everything changed. Your painted hands moved on the banner and then a light appeared and the eggs were there in the hands and I was told by a voice that only we would be able to see these eggs, no one else. And I was also told to keep them safe. As for holding them… look…" Miss Jo unfolded her hands and again pointed towards the banner, but no light shot from her finger this time. She was pointing out the fact the girl's painted fingers were uncurling from the eggs, the hands opening as they offered the gifts to the girls. "Go on, go get them," she told them.
Chapter 6
As each of the girls left their seats and started for the banner, Miss Jo was reveling in the fact they could really and truly see the eggs. Everything, every single thing she'd experienced since the eggs appeared was real- the good things and the bad. All the craziness wasn't really craziness at all, but her life living the miracle she'd been entrusted to experience.
While she ruminated a bit, the young girls were all moving from their seats, some slower than others and they too tried to comprehend what was happening. If they were feeling anything like she had felt when everything first occurred, Miss Jo hoped their being children would protect them from thinking they were going crazy as she had thought about herself.
Little Tinley approached her egg-holding hands quickly. Like Lola, her hands were formed differently than the average hands, her Apert's Syndrome producing fused fingers upon birth. The work of a very skilled surgeon had given Tinley actual fingers, even if they weren't the typical fingers, none of it matter to Tinley or those around her; her special needs were unique to her and they each had their own. The egg-holding hands were exact copies of Tinley's real hands, and as the little five year old cupped her real hands and raised them towards the matching pair jutting out from the banner, the banner hands twitched and the egg rolled from the colorful fingers into Tinley's hands.
"Oh...oh...oh!" The exclamations of joy came from the little bespectacled child as she felt the warm, leathery softness of the egg suddenly resting in her hands. "Hot!" She called out; her grin incredibly wide, obviously it didn’t hurt her, for all she was saying the egg was hot it was really just very warm.
"Yes, they are warm aren't they? Come sit back down, Tinley, and be very careful," Miss Jo cautioned gently, grinning because she was unable to stop doing so, she was so amazingly thrilled. Was she worried Tinley might hurt the egg? Strangely, not at all. Yes, she wanted the child to be careful, but there was no fear at all that she could hurt the special gift.
While Tinley made her way back to her seat, egg in her hands, Lola also took her egg from the banner hands. The little one giggled again, and spoke, repeating one of Tinley's words. "Hot!"
Miss Jo thought about helping the young two and half year old, but there was something in this miracle they were all experiencing that had her believing even the youngest could protect her egg gift if need be. "Follow Tinley, Lola, and come back to your chair," Miss Jo told the precious child.
At the banner Becca Boo reached out a single fingertip and stroked the egg in her identically sculpted hands. "It's so soft," she whispered and wiggled her finger over it a bit.
"They are soft, I was surprised. I think they'll harden though," Miss Jo told the six year old, and her impossibly wide grin managed to widened just a bit more. "Go on pick up your egg, Boo, and bring it to the table, please."
"It's so pretty!" Becca Boo exclaimed as she curled the fingers of both hands around the large egg and carefully lifted it up.
As Becca made her way back to her seat Bella, along with her constant companion, George, walked over to the left side of the banner where her own pair of painted hands held onto her egg gift. "What do you think, Georgie?" She asked her service dog and beloved pet as she reached around and scratched the top of his very large head.
George leaned over closer to the egg until his soft, wet black nose touched the warm shell. He gave a gentle snort and the hot air of his nostrils washed across the egg making the shiny iridescent shell shimmer. The large dog backed up one step and rubbed his head into Bella's waiting hand. Giving a low, clearly pleased whuff, more air than woof, and Bella knew George approved of this strange yet amazing egg gift.
"Beautiful," she whispered and caressed the egg shell gently. "It's too big for me to carry in one hand," she told George, her voice too low for even Miss Jo to hear what she was saying. "Would you carry it for me?"
Was it strange that the ten year old asked this of her dog? Probably, well, almost certainly it was because Bella wasn't asking George if she could put the egg in his service vest pocket. Bella was asking if he would carry the egg and truly there was only one way for him to manage that and they both knew what that way would be.
The Great Dane gave a single jerk of his head upwards, clearly agreeing to his beloved owner's request. This miracle was indeed inducing an extended miracle bonding between the pair, and from her position at the table, Miss Jo watched the interaction in awe. No she didn't know what was being said but she could tell from the actions of the pair that they were truly communicating in more than a way that would be considered normal.
Bella moved to the side a little bit, her harness holding hand never loosening from George. "Go on," she whispered encouragingly to him.
Opening his mouth wide and revealing his perfectly sharp, white teeth, George reached and plucked the egg carefully from the hands. "Good boy, Georgie! Good boy!" Bella called out happily.
Giving a single little gasp, Miss Jo watched the Great Dane take the egg and then she let out a laugh, clapping her hands together. "Yes, good boy, George!" She had to add her admiration, even though she normally wouldn't talk at all to the working service dog unless he was out of harness and off duty. "Come on, Bella, you're the last to your seat," Miss Jo told her happily. How couldn't she be happy, it would be impossible to be anything but happy in this moment as each of the girls claimed their Helper given egg gifts.
"Will it hatch, Miss Jo?"
"What do you think is inside, Miss Jo?"
"Miss Jo, pretty egg!"
"Mine?"
All the girls were talking at once as they set their eggs on the table, never taking their hands off the beautiful gifts. Laughing, Miss Jo hushed them gently; it was hard to temper such enthusiasm. "I don't know if they'll hatch but I think so. As for what I think is inside, I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. The eggs are yours and they are very pretty. Do you all think you can keep them a secret? I'm not sure what would happen if you told anyone. I do know that no one else can see them. At the party I could see them but no one else could, not even you four."
Tinley nodded. She kind of knew what a secret was, but not fully. At five years old you were really just beginning to learn about secrets with any sort of real conviction to keep a secret. Little two and a half year old Lola was bobbing her head up and down, which she'd probably do to most questions the teacher asked. She wasn't old enough to even have the beginnings of understandings about secrets. Bella and Boo were both old enough to know about secret keeping and the two girls assured their art teacher they'd keep their eggs a secret.
Not quite knowing if the girls could keep the gifts a secret, Miss Jo had the suspicion that if they couldn't through no fault of their own besides their years and innocence, help would be given to them to do so. There was no way this Helper character would ask the impossible of the children, what would the point be in doing that?
"I think for art class today we are going to make some very special stuffed animals that can hold your eggs and keep them warm, what do you think, is that a good idea?" The art supply closet had all sorts of goodies and among them was enough fabric for each girl to pick out the kind of fabric they'd like for this very special project.
"Yes!" The girls shouted mostly in unison.
"All right, we don't have any time to waste, let's get started," Miss Jo stood up and pointed at the beautiful box in the middle of the table. "First we need to put our eggs in this box, and I'll help you, we want them kept safe while we're working."
None of the girls wanted to release their eggs but each understood the necessity of doing so.
Chapter 7
As each girl worked on their fabric, the older ones using scissors to cut patterns out and the younger ones drawing on the backs simulating a pattern, but truly just having fun, Miss Jo retrieved the portable sewing machine from the storage closet and set it up quickly. If each girl could put their eggs safely inside a semi-stuffed animal, they'd be able to carry them easier. For Bella, they would attach a strap and if the others wanted one they'd do that too. Keeping these gifts safe and warm was important because whatever was really going on had to be very special for all this to be happening.
Working very quickly, Miss Jo was just finishing up sewing the third stuffed animal when Boo called over to her.
"Miss Jo, it's getting really dark outside." There was clear worry her voice and that worry had everyone leaving what they were doing and moving to the windows where Boo stood.
Outside the sun seemed to have disappeared completely as thick, almost black clouds obscured its light. The rest of the sky was a light gray but it too was being quickly over taken by the very ominous dark clouds.
"Looks like we're going to have a storm, let's get the window blinds shut and hope it passes quickly." Miss Jo gestured to the older girls who went to two of the four blind wands and started to turn them, shutting the blinds completely. The teacher took care of the other two blinds and then smiled. "How about a snack? Boo why don't you and Tinley get the snacks from the cubbies and Bella could you and Lola set the snack table?"
All the girls were eager to help, even little Lola did her part in helping to carry the napkins over to the  table.
Peeking out through the closed blinds as the girls readied the snack, Miss Jo felt a prickle of fear tingling in her gut. This was no ordinary storm, something was very different about it, something she didn't like at all.
With the table set for snacks and the little trays holding small baggies of fresh cut apple slices, cheese slices, and small crackers Miss Jo settled the four girls and had them begin eating their snacks while she went to get them their drink boxes of juice. Glancing at the egg holding box in the center of the snack table, another shiver of fear rippled through her. Something definitely wasn't right, but she didn't know what that something was.
With the drink boxes in hand the teacher walked back to the table and set one at each child's place. "There you go," she told them and smiled a smile that didn't really reach her eyes.
"What's wrong, Miss Jo?" Bella asked softly as she put the straw in her drink box.
"Wrong? Nothing is wrong," she quickly responded, the smile widening while her eyes grew more troubled.
"Look!" Tinley called out loudly and pointed at the chalkboard.
There where the banner hung the children's hands were glowing bright yellow. Every single pair of different colored painted hands was now infused with the same strange light that had shot from the teacher's finger only a short while ago.
"What's happening?" Boo asked in alarm.
"I don't know," Miss Jo replied as she reached for the box, feeling an intense need to protect the eggs inside.
"Scared…." Tinley whispered, and Lola gave a little whimper that was usually a prelude to tears.
"No, no don't be scared, it's okay. We have to be brave remember? We have to protect your eggs. Come on now, wouldn't Elsa and Ana be brave right now?" The reference to the most current fictional heroines of an animated nature came easily enough. Most young girls were infatuated with the pair, and if the thought of them helped ease the worries of these four girls that's all that mattered.
No sooner had the teacher offer reassurance to the girls then the lights in the classroom flickered off and on, and everyone, including Miss Jo gave a little gasp. "It's okay! It's okay!" She told them. "The lights are on; let's…let's finish the snacks."
"Miss Jo!" Boo cried out and stood up so quickly in her chair that it fell over backwards with a loud clap on the floor.
George gave a loud growl and a huge bark from his down stay position which he didn't want to maintain.
Each girl was scrambling out of their seats now and around the table to be closer to their teacher. With the command to rise given, George was up instantly and his growling intensified, his eyes clearly fixed on something unseen standing by the banner. Bella didn't try to shush her service dog, she wanted him to protect them all, the eggs included.
Loathed to set the egg box down, Miss Jo tucked it tight in one arm and used the other to pull Little Lola and Tinley close. The two youngest were now in tears and clinging to her, while the older two girls weren't exactly crying but their fear was obvious.
"We're okay… we're okay," she told them all, clearly not believing they were all okay. The lights flickered off again and the only light in the room came from the glowing hands. Watching, as the each small pair of glowing hands curled up into tight fists, they couldn't take their eyes off of them.
"Come on girls, we're...we're going to go…" Miss Jo told them, trying her best to figure out what course of action to take. They were in a mostly dark room with strange supernatural happenings, and she was beginning to think maybe these special egg gifts weren't exactly a good thing if having them meant endangering the children. With that thought she stopped inching towards where she knew the door to be and whispered to the girls.
"Nothing can hurt you, whatever is happening is happening because of the eggs. Do you want to give them back? We don't have to keep them." Miss Jo didn't want the special eggs to be taken by some dark, foreboding entity but she didn't want her students terrorized either.
"No! No!" All the girls cried out, even Little Lola who had tears streaming down her precious chubby cheeks.
"We can't let them be hurt! We just can't!" Boo wailed, fighting tears and anger at the thought her special egg gift would be taken by something bad.
"Please, Miss Jo, please, we'll be okay, we won't cry," Bella told her teacher, hoping the youngest two would be able to stop their tears. "We can't give them away, please!"
George continued his low growling even as he leaned into Bella gently, her upset ignited his instinct to calm her.
"We'll keep them, we don't have to give them up," Miss Jo was quick to reassure the children, and a moment later an all too familiar voice spoke loudly from across the room.
"Ya wanna keep them do ya now, heh! How do ya expect ta do tha' when I 'ave this!" There by the banner, illuminated by the glowing fists was the shadow outline of the old decrepit woman Miss Jo had encountered a few days before.
"We have the eggs!" Miss Jo countered, feeling her own ire rise as the fear subsided in its wake. "You can never have them!"
The girls were scared silent as they crowded ever closer to the teacher, needing her reassurance. They could see the creature in the shadows and she looked more monster-like than anything human.
"Ha! If I 'ave this…" The old, evil tormentor caressed the banner with fingernails shaped like claws, and the sound of paper ripping seemed to echo around them all. "… s'all I need!"
"Stop!" Miss Jo told their ancient adversary and took a step towards the chalkboard, child encased as she was. "Go away! Get out of here! Leave us alone!"
As the teacher yelled at the old crone like creature, George's growling grew incredibly more ominous and Bella felt the entire body of her service dog shaking with pent up rage, something she'd never felt before. Watching the banner as it was being torn and her teacher's commands didn't seem to be stopping it from happening, Bella had to do something. Releasing her hand from the service vest the young girl tightened her other arm around her teacher and gave her Great Dane a command she wasn't even sure he knew. "Get her, Georgie! Stop her!"
With a loud woof of understanding, the large dog took off straight for the witch-like woman who was bent on destroying the banner. All the Great Dane understood was this thing - that didn’t seem quite human to him- was threatening his human and it had to be stopped. Being given permission to protect, he moved faster than seemed dog-ly possibly and only seconds later he leaped off the ground and through the air, jaws open wide.
"Ahhh! Ya foul flea infested beast!" The crone hissed at George as she saw him coming at her and suddenly the lights in the room flickered wildly off and on making it all but impossible for the girls and their teacher to see what was happening. A loud thud was followed by the sound of a couple of chairs crashing together and then the sad sound of whimpering filled the air.
"GEORGIE!" Bella cried out and thrust herself away from her perched against Miss Jo, she had to help George.
At Bella's cry the lights stopped their flickering and stayed on and everyone could see that the old woman was gone. George was trying to find his proper footing around the fallen chairs he'd crashed into, his whimpering tampering off at the sound of Bella's voice. He had to get to his human, it was his job, he had to take care of her.
"She's gone," Miss Jo stated the obvious, reassuring herself and the girls. She turned to Boo. "Hold this, please," she told her and held out the box containing their very precious eggs. As soon as Becca took the box, Miss Jo was helping Bella get to George while Tinley and Lola clung to each other; their fear induced soft sobs, subsiding now that the scary danger was past.
"Georgie, Georgie," Bella called to her beloved four-footed companion, her heart aching to think he'd been hurt.
George was on his feet by the time Bella and Miss Jo got to him. Bella wrapped her long thin arms around George's thick neck and buried her face against his furry cheek letting the tears flow. "I'm sorry, Georgie, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She pulled her face back to look him in the eye she received a large, slobbery wet kiss as an answer. "Oh Georgie!" She smiled as the tears slipped from worry tears to happy tears instantly. He was okay, he had to be okay.
While Bella embraced George, Miss Jo gave him a quick check for any injuries and saw nothing cut or broken upon examination. She'd have to see him move to determine if there might be something hurt internally, but he wasn't whimpering or crying anymore and didn't act as if he were seriously hurt. At most she hoped all he'd have were a few bruises and bumps.
"You were so brave, Georgie, you saved us," Bella told him and received several more very wet dog kisses and she didn't mind a single bit. Scratching him about his neck it was her turn to inspect him and she did so more thoroughly than her teacher, making him move his legs and touching him, feeling for anything abnormal. "Such a good boy, a brave boy."
Taking a huge very deep breath, Miss Jo looked over to the other girls who had drawn closer to them near the chalkboard and the partially torn banner. "Is everyone okay?" She asked and bent down to wipe the tears from the eyes of the two youngest girls.
"M'kay," Lola sniffled, still holding tightly onto Tinley's hand.
"George okay?" Tinley asked softly rubbing one eye with her free hand, as her teacher cleaned her tear spotted glasses. The tenderhearted child more concerned for the dog than herself.
"I think so," Miss Jo told her softly.
"I'm okay," Boo said, very subdued as she held the box tightly against her, determined to protect it should that old creepy woman return. There was no way she would let that thing have their eggs, no way at all.
"He's okay," Bella announced now that she was done inspecting him.
"Let's go back and bring our snack to this table, closer to the banner," Miss Jo told the girls and smiled for the first time since the chaos had begun. She reached for the box Boo held and thanked her when she released it to her. "Then we can talk about what happened."
The hands upon the banner they were still glowing brightly, but no longer clenched into small, tight fists. The tear along the top would have split the banner in two if it had been allowed to continue and there was no telling what that would have done. For some reason the old crone thought the banner was just as important as the eggs, and maybe she was right. If only a Helper would come to them now and tell them more about everything happening.
That wish wasn't going to be fulfilled at least not right then, because no one came and the girls moved their snacks each helping the others where they could until everyone was finally seated once more. This time their chairs were placed closer together and who could blame them after the fright they'd just endured.
Setting the box down on the table, Miss Jo opened it and peeked inside. The egg on top was just fine- the vibrant blue sparkles running through the otherwise iridescent shell told her it was Becca Boo's egg. "No harm done here," she said and took out Boo's egg. As soon as she did the corresponding hands on the banner reached out towards it, the brilliant light fading as the hands turned back to their normal purple and blue. "Ah, I guess I should put it in the banner hands, hmn?" She smiled at Boo, who gave her a gentle smile in return and nodded.
Each pair of hands had the same reaction when she picked up the egg belonging to them. The second egg was Lola's and Miss Jo knew this because it was speckled with orange pinpricks of light. The third, was Tinley's with its tiny green stars , and the last egg was Bella's and it had glowing yellow dots cascading over the shimmering brilliance of the more subdued white mixed with many brilliant shiny colors making up the iridescent sheen all the eggs had.
With every egg safely in their banner hands, there was an obvious relief felt around the small table. "Miss Jo?"
"Yes, Bella."
"Will she come back?" There was no need to ask who the 'she' was, they all knew.
"I don't know, sweetie. She might. I saw her the other day she tried to get the eggs but the principal came in the room and she disappeared."
"What was she?" Boo asked and picked up an apple slice to nibble on.
"That's a good question," Miss Jo answered. "She wasn't human but she looked kind of human. I think the closest thing would be an evil spirit of some sort. I'm not even sure what the eggs are or what the Helpers are. Sadly we have a lot of questions but hardly any answers."
"How…" Boo began to speak but stopped herself.
"How what?" Miss Jo prompted.
"How do we know she won't come to hurt us when we go home?"
Miss Jo didn't have an answer, none that she wanted to voice. "I...I don't think we can know that, Boo. If you leave the eggs with me I promise I'll take care of them for you." That was the only real solution. She couldn't risk the children being harmed. Hadn't that same old crone creature lightly scratched her cheek that first time? She hadn't left a mark, not really, but the sting of that touch was something the teacher could still recall. If any of the children were hurt because of this, she'd never forgive herself.
Each child was deep in thought, even little Lola, who when it came to the eggs seemed to have an intelligence beyond her years. They each wanted to take their special eggs home in their special stuffed animals, but they were also each scared of doing so.
"How about when we're done with snack time we finish up the stuffed animals and put them inside them and see how you feel about it then? Sound good?" It did to the teacher who knew she'd be worried sick if any of the children took the eggs home.
With little nods all around, the children agreed to hold off on any decision for the moment.
Chapter 8
The rest of snack time went by uneventfully and the work on the stuffed animal egg carriers continued. All the while outside the sky continued to darken without any of them being aware. It wasn't until a knock came at the classroom door, followed by the head of a fellow teacher as she peeked inside. "Miss Jo, can I have a word please?" She asked, and the strange smile she forced to her lips didn't at all make it to her worry filled eyes.
"Certainly," Miss Jo told her and stood up, setting down the last of the stuffed animals she was sewing. "I'll be right outside the door and I'm leaving the door open," she reassured the children who looked suddenly very apprehensive at the prospect of being teacher-less in the classroom where not long ago very strange and potentially bad things had happened.
True to her word the teacher went out into the hall but the door was never closed all the way. Even when the other teacher glanced at the door as if waiting for the art teacher to close it, Miss Jo held her ground and spoke very softly. "Is something wrong, Tisha?"
Nervously tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear, the summer school fifth grade teacher who had taken on the task of teaching not only her grade, but third and fourth as well for the students who needed that extra bit of help, whispered a reply. "Have you looked outside?"
"Not since we closed the blinds a little while ago when it looked like it was going to storm, why?" Miss Jo looked back into the classroom, all four girls were looking in her direction clearly worried.
"It's completely dark, like it's night. This isn't an ordinary storm. Matthew has all his students with mine; do you want to join us all in the auditorium? There aren't any windows there, it will be safer just in case this is ...well, I don't know," Miss Tisha finished and glanced over the art teacher's shoulder into the classroom at the four students with disabilities and quickly back at Miss Jo.
Not an ordinary storm? If it wasn't an ordinary storm it would fit right in with the last few days which were anything but ordinary. Did they go to the auditorium? What if this unusual storm was another attack of sort on the eggs? Surely it wouldn't be anything they couldn't handle, right? Undecided but needing to make a decision, Miss Jo bit at her lower lip briefly and sighed. "Yes, we'll come to the auditorium. You go on back we'll be there in a few minutes."
"Good, good! Hurry though," Miss Tisha encouraged and gave a full body shudder. "Did it just get a lot colder in here?"
The air surrounding them had in fact grown very noticeably cooler by several degrees. "I don't...yes, yes it did. Go on, go, we'll hurry." Miss Jo wanted the other teacher to leave and fast. The sudden cold brought a different concern to her that she couldn't share with her.
"Hurry," Miss Tisha told her and rushed off down the hall.
Miss Jo moved quickly back into the  classroom and snatched up the almost finished fourth stuffed animal. "We have to finish this quickly and get to the auditorium. Bella and Boo make sure the little ones have their eggs in their stuffies, please."
"Cold," Tinley said as the temperature dropped even further.
"Miss Jo, why is it so cold?" Boo asked as she helped Lola with the egg.
"I don't know, but we have to keep these eggs warm." And that was why the art teacher was working frantically to get the last stuffed animal ready. She knew the stuffing and such would help keep the eggs warm.
"Did someone put the air condition down?" Bella queried, as she handed the egg-stuffed animal to Tinley who quickly hugged it gently to her chest.
"It's possible," Miss Jo answered. "Why don't you go to the supply closet with Boo and get as many table cloths as you can find, we can use them to stay warm."
The two girls and George headed for the supply closet in the corner of the room and the other two watched them go, clinging to their stuffed animals. This special egg gift stuff was becoming more scary than fun, but even as young as they were they knew they had to protect the gifts. Something was growing inside the eggs and they didn't want whatever it was to be harmed.
As the temperature continue to drop, the teacher finished up the last stuffed animal and handed it to Bella. The table cloths the girls had been able to find were in a pile next to her. There wouldn't be enough for everyone in the auditorium but maybe the youngest of them could be kept a little warm. "Are we all set, girls?"
All the eggs were in the stuffed animals and being held safely with the extra security of a neck strap to keep them from falling to the floor.
"Let's go, pair up and follow me," Miss Jo told them and started for the door, but stopped for a moment to look at the banner. Did she take it with them? The banner hands were no longer glowing in any way, the fingers of each hand curled up. "Wait a minute everyone," she told the girls. "Stay here." She set down the table cloths she'd been holding and rushed to the banner. Removing it from the chalkboard quickly she was surprised once again how the sculpture hands disappeared into flat painted hands as she folded the paper. Tucking it into the box on the table she grabbed that up as well and placed the table cloths on top of that. "All right, let's go girls."
They walked through the school down several hallways until they came to the auditorium. It was a quick walk, but cold one. No one was dressed for cold, it was summer and there weren't any cold snaps cold enough to need a jacket during the summer.
Pushing open the double doors leading into the auditorium, the teacher held them so the girls and George could enter. In front of the stage, three center rows of ten seats each were almost filled. Summer school was nowhere near as crowded as regular school, and the mere handful of students compared to normal school year attendance were all assembled along with their two teachers.
Letting the door close, Miss Jo moved in front of her four girls and started to walk slowly down the slanted main aisle. As they neared the front rows the voices of the other children reached them.
"Why's it so cold?"
"I wanna go home."
"What are we doing in here?"
"I don't like this."
It seemed as if all the children were talking at once and the teachers, Mr. Matthew and Miss Tisha were trying their best to calm them down.
"Listen up," Mr. Matthew ordered, uncharacteristically raising his voice just a bit. "Everyone, please be quiet."
The noise softened but didn't stop.
"I said be quiet," He repeated the command and gave a slight glare at one of the trouble making students who was in summer school because he couldn't seem to behave.
"I am, I'm be…"
"Quiet now."
While Mr. Matthew settled his and Miss Tisha's students, Miss Jo guided her four into seats, leaving the aisle seat for Bella so George could be very comfortable as he was directed into his down stay position.
"I brought some table cloths, huddle together and wrap up as best you can." Miss Jo gave two of the cloths to her students and then handed the rest to Miss Tisha to pass out to those most in need.
As soon as Miss Tisha was done passing out the tablecloths, she walked over to the other two teachers.
"What're we going to do? Should we call their parents and let them leave early?" Miss Tisha asked in a whisper.
"There's only an hour left of school. I say we keep them in here until then, maybe the storm or whatever it is will be over by then," Mr. Matthew replied and took off his glasses, using the edge of his shirt to swipe at them before replacing them back on his face.
"Maybe we should ask Principal Gerald, did anyone contact him? He's in his office, right?" Miss Jo asked. It was rather curious that the principal wasn't with them.
"I checked his office he's not there."
"And I called him from my classroom; he's not answering his phone."
"Did anyone check the air condition? Maybe the maintenance crew can help…"
"I couldn't get a hold of them either. And yes, I checked," Mr. Matthew sighed and looked over at the children, a second later he gave a warning glare while raising a finger that called for obedience from the few students who had started to whisper.
"This is just so strange, maybe we need to call the police," Miss Tisha suggested. She rubbed her bare arms trying to take some of the chill off them.
"But what is our emergency?" Miss Jo asked. "We could call a non-emergency number." She offered and slipped her cellphone from the pocket on her art smock.
"Yeah, we can do that. Just ask someone…" Miss Tisha paused then quickly continued before anyone else spoke. "Exactly what are we going to ask them?"
"Right, what are we going to ask them?" Mr. Matthew repeated. It seemed strange and silly to call the police. "We can't ask them to check the weather."
Miss Jo touched her blank phone screen and nothing happened, no back light lit up, no familiar wallpaper appeared. "It's not working," she told them and pressed the power button several times.
"I'll call them," Mr. Matthew said, and took his own phone from his pants pocket. A few taps and pokes later he confirmed what Miss Jo feared. "Mine isn't working either."
He hadn't finished poking at his phone when Miss Tisha was trying hers with the same result. They were cut off from outside communication, at least by cellphone. "This is just too strange. We can't just stand around and do nothing," Mr. Matthew's patience was quickly wearing thin. Maybe they could stand around and do nothing, but that's not what he wanted to do.
"You are right about that, son. Hey, is this thing working?" A disembodied voice shrouded in electronic static burst out much too loudly causing a gasp from almost all present. Everyone looked to the stage where the very tall burgundy curtains rippled as someone seemed to be trying to find the opening. "I said, is this thing working?" Out poked a tall metal microphone stand on the end of a long, white flowing sleeved arm whose hand was mostly obscured by the cloth. A second later the top of a white curly haired head poked out and as the curtains gave away around it. A strange black bearded, white haired, blue and green eyed, white robed, old man appeared sporting a huge grin. "Ahhh, it must be working, you're all looking at me. No time to be shy, heh?"
Miss Jo looked at her fellow teachers who looked back at her with the same strange befuddled expression. They had no clue who this odd man was or what he was doing.
"I am a sight, aren't I? But enough about me, I imagine you're all wondering just who I am. But I did say enough about me, does that mean I can't tell you who I am? Ah, the conundrums we make for ourselves. I suppose I should talk more about me but that'd just be rude. I want to know about you, and you, and you, and… well, all of you," the old man pointed from child to child and then gave a rather loud rumbly chuckle.
"Enough!" Mr. Matthew growled, clearly irritated by the strange man's inane chatter. "Get off the stage and away from the microphone, we aren't here to be entertained, we've a serious situation."
"You've a serious situation? And just what is that situation, Mr. Matthew?" The old man asked as he walked across to the end of the stage dragging the microphone with him.
"How do you know who I am?" Mr. Matthew asked, clearly taken aback.
"No fair, I asked you a question first it's only polite to answer me before asking me a question."
"No fair? Polite? What in the world are you talking about? Who are you? What are you doing here?!" Mr. Matthew was quickly growing red in the face either from embarrassment or anger, most likely a mixture of both.
"I could ask you the same questions but you know who you are, don't you? Hey, is anyone cold? Let's see about getting this place warmed up, we've work to do. I don't suppose anyone could show me where the fire pit is." The strange old man looked quickly about, even raising one hand to shield his eyes from a non-existent glare as if that could help him spy the elusive fire pit.
"We don't have a fire pit," Becca Boo called out loudly when no one seemed to be helping out the old man. She wasn't scared of him, quite the opposite as soon as he'd appeared on the stage she felt calmer and she wasn't alone. The rest of the students felt it too.
"Ahhh, Becca, thank you dear, thank you. I guess the first thing we need to do then is make a fire pit," the old man chuckled.
"Wait a moment, please, I don't understand, I…" Miss Tisha was all sorts of confused, and she felt none of the calming influence the children were experiencing.
More concerned for her four students than anything else, Miss Jo left the other teachers and walked back to where they were sitting. That the strange old man knew Becca's name concerned her greatly.
"What's to understand, Miss Tisha, a fire pit, we need a nice big fire pit. So, where should we put it?" Looking about on the stage, his long white robes flowing about his body with a life of their own, the old man tapped the bottom of the microphone stand in the center of the stage. "How about right here?"
"What?! No! What are you crazy?! We aren't building a fire!" Mr. Matthew snapped out of his momentary stupor and bounded quickly for the stage stairs off to the left. There was no way he was going to allow this crazy old man to burn down the school!
"Crazy? Another question, Mr. Matthew. Well, I might be a little off my rocker but for the most part I can still rock pretty good. Watch your step there…" With a tilt of the microphone stand in the direction of the stairs a little flash of blue lightening shot out and suddenly the stairs were no longer stairs at all but rather a ramp angled just so it would be very difficult to ascend without a running start which Mr. Matthew's didn't have. When the stairs disappeared out from under his feet he slid backwards and fell forwards with a loud startled cry of surprise.
The children watching everything gave a little laugh when it was clear the teacher wasn't hurt at all, merely startled. This was a magic comedy show, it had to be.
"Now that fire pit is a must, I have to insist. It's too cold to think and plan and we have a lot of planning and a bit of thinking to do. So, kids why don't you all start hunting about for some fire wood and I'll get this pit dug for us." The old man raised the microphone stand which he was no longer speaking into but still sounding as loud as ever, and with a tap of it on the ground it changed into a long handled shovel.
Laughing, several of the students stood up to do as they were told, but Bella called out over the laughter. "Sir?! Sir?! We are in school, we can't find fire wood in school." Whoever heard of such a thing?
"Right you are!" The old man laughed and lifted his shovel high swinging it about his head with one hand. After its first complete circle the whole auditorium was bathed in a huge shuttering ripple of white light, a light so bright it momentarily blinded everyone. In a blast of cold air their sight returned before they could lament its disappearance and the auditorium had been severely altered around them.
Trees had miraculously appeared along all the walls, thick forests of them in the two sections off to either side of the main section of auditorium seats. Beneath their feet was a lush carpet of the thickest grass mingled with various sorts of wild flowers. Up the aisles to either side of the seats were dirt paths and in front of them the stage was now a hill and on the side of the hill was a leveled section with a large fire pit and a small fire burning. A glance upwards revealed a partial ceiling with sections missing and a dark sky showed through.
The astonishment of everyone was clear in the gasps, exclamations, and several small cries of shock. Miss Jo and the four girls were probably the only four who weren't quite as taken aback by everything. This had to do with the egg gifts, it had to be.
"There, that's much better don't you agree? Now how about it children, time to find us some fire wood so we can get this fire built up before night fall, and if the adults in the room would kindly gather up here around the fire with me, we'll get down to the real business at hand."
The old man rumbled a chuckle and settled himself on a comfy tree stump, setting his strange shovel aside so he could rub his hands together briskly near the closest flames from the fire, he paused to give an encouraging wave of a hand towards the teachers.
Miss Jo looked at her four girls and motioned for them to gather in the aisle for a quick talk. "I don't know what's going on, but we have to guard these eggs, remember keep them a secret and safe. Bella please take Tinley with you and don't let each other out of sight, Boo take Lola with you and don't lose each other. Use the straps on your stuffies and don't set them down anywhere." All the little girls were nodding in understanding and agreement. They knew on some special level that their gifts were part of all this strange, very strange occurrence and they didn't want anything to happen to them. The memory of their classroom encounter with the creepy thing that would take their gifts and ruin them was still very fresh in their minds.
"Do we have to leave you?" Bella asked softly, her big eyes filled with apprehension.
"Yes, but I won't be far away just over there. Stay together and everything should be okay. Just call out if you need me," Miss Jo told the girls and gave each one of them a little hug. It was clear that she didn't want to leave them but had no other choice.
Chapter 9
The entire school auditorium was now so strangely altered it was truly unbelievable and yet all the children, close to thirty of them, seemed to adapt readily. There were one or two of them in a semi-state of shock, but even those were quickly coming around to their new environment. Whatever miracle was taking place, the children with their young impressionable minds were being swept up into the adventure of it all. It wasn't every day your school auditorium was turned into a weird half forest, half auditorium right in front of your very eyes.
The woods were interspersed with a lone auditorium seat every now and again, and bits of tiled floor could be seen peeking out among the rocks and tree roots on the ground.  Then as if normal forestry of all kinds wasn't odd enough on one of those few auditorium seats a strange little bunny, or rather half bunny-half bird sat chirping at the children, a bunny with wings who would have ever thought! Things were quickly going from strange to completely surreal and yet it somehow managed to seem normal.
Underneath another seat there peeked out a small, black snake with the head of a white mouse, a combination of creatures none could have imagined. Various other odd creatures were popping up here and there the children were absolutely amazed and awed. With their minds being stretched to accept the unreal as real, they were calling out happily to each other as they spied the strange creatures about them, none of which were threatening in any way.  After another reminder of the task at hand, students began to pick up sticks. The cold air hadn't disappeared and necessity demanded they truly gather firewood.
As the children set about that task, the three teachers met at the base of a small incline where the slanted stairs Mr. Matthew slipped on were gone. The inclined now had an odd array of varying sized grayish stepping stones leading up the side of the hill towards the plateau where the strange old man waited for them.
"This is insane!" Mr. Matthew whispered harshly as he gestured wildly with his arms flailing about him not sure what to stop on to clarify which bit of insanity he meant.
"It may be insane, or the best dream I ever had!" Miss Tisha laughed.
"Insane or a dream, it doesn't matter," Miss Jo told both of them. "He wants us up there."  She had to know what was going on. If this were about the eggs then finding out sooner than later was a must. Of course he could be like that old hag of a creature, only in a better disguise.  That old man could be just another thing trying to hurt the eggs, but if he were he wasn't attacking the eggs and that alone had Miss Jo eager to get to him to find out what he wanted.
"Hurry along you three, if we had all day it wouldn't be almost night now would it," the old man encouraged the teachers, and around him three more tree stumps appeared out of nowhere.
"I can't do this, I can't just play along! This is crazy, I'm going…" Mr. Matthews was now shouting but was thankfully cut off mid-sentence by the booming voice of the old man directly in his ear.
"You're going exactly nowhere, son. Do you even see a door? Now settle yourself a bit and if it helps - pretend you've entered one of those video games you love to play so much."
While the old man had never moved from his seat near the fire, his voice had traveled to be heard by Mr. Matthew and only Mr. Matthew.
"I…how'd you know I like…video games?" Mr. Matthew whispered. Clearly, like Miss Tisha, he was dreaming only he was dreaming he was in a weird videogame and he hadn't decided if it were a nightmare or not. Never before had he experienced such a vivid dream, and while he wanted to wake up, he didn't. The epitome of contradiction had become his existence.
"Come on," Miss Tisha told Mr. Matthew, as she hurried after Miss Jo onto the stepping stones making her way towards the fire.
"I'm coming, just have to take inventory," Mr. Matthew claimed and in a way he wasn't fibbing, in a lot of video games you needed to take inventory and know what you had on you, right? As he calculated all his possessions he followed the other two teachers to the old man. "A pen, a roll of lifesavers, two, maybe three paper clips…" he muttered as he ascended.
Chapter 10
The fire in the middle of what used to be a school auditorium stage wasn't at all out of place in the little clearing on the side of the hill that now inhabited the auditorium. As children in a steady stream brought fire wood up the hill and laid it in a pile as instructed, the old man fed the fire until it was rather large. The heat it gave off seemed to somehow be tempered in different directions. Where the teachers were settling down nearest the fire it was toasty warm, but not hot, yet fanned outwards towards the remaining auditorium seats and woods it was much hotter, spreading the heat to where it needed to go to warm the children.
"Much better, much, much, much better wouldn't you all agree?" The old man asked, and his black beard and mustache shrouded mouth was turned up in a very pleasant smile.
"Yes, it's warmer," Miss Tisha answered and smiled back at him.
"Mr. Matthew, sir and Miss Jo, ma'am are you two warm enough?" The old man queried.
"I am," Mr. Matthew answered, distinctly measuring his reply. You couldn't be too careful about what you said in a video game after all.
"Yes, thank you," Miss Jo replied. She was still holding onto the box whose contents might not be the special egg gifts, but the hand banner was important as well.
"Good, good," the old man answered, seemingly satisfied enough to settle himself a bit more comfortably on his tree stump. Laying his shovel across his lap, he let his fingers absently stroke the smooth silver metal. "Obviously you're all wondering what's going on… "
"Yes, I…"
"Tut, tut! Let me speak, questions come later if you will," the old man chided Miss Tisha, who was a bit too eager to interact with her dream manifestations.
"As I was saying, you're all wondering what's going on and I'm going to tell you. First things first, let me introduce myself. I am Gliedlegna, don't go and try to pronounce it, just call me Glied for short, or G, or …. well I suppose that's enough for now. And I am here because there's a battle coming your way and you need to be prepared," Gliedlegna made his pronouncement and waited for the questions that were surely coming.
"Battle?" Miss Tisha whispered softly.
"Of course, there's a battle coming and soon there will be flying monkeys and a short man hiding behind a curtain and…" Mr. Matthew laughed and slapped his knee. "I get it; this is some sort of joke, right?"
Miss Jo wasn't laughing though and she didn't even whisper her question. "Does this have to do with…" Did she dare speak about the eggs? She'd been told to tell no one, but did that include strangely dressed men with weird names who were preparing you for battle and had seemingly miraculously changed a school auditorium into a forest?
"Yes, battle, and no I don't think there are flying monkeys, flying bunnies- yes, monkeys- no. As for short men hiding behind curtains, I don't see any curtains and no, this isn't a joke at all," Gliedlegna answered Miss Tisha's and Mr. Matthew's questions and then looked directly at Miss Jo, his two different colored eyes both darkening slightly as they narrowed a touch.
"It's only fair to tell you, Miss Jo, that yes, this is all about them," Gliedlegna's answer was somewhat solemn compared to his glib answers to the other two teachers.
"Should we speak of them? I was told not to, “Miss Jo looked away from the old man and out towards the bottom of the little hill they were on. She could see all four of her children on the edge of the wooded aisle off to the left.
"Speak of them, who? What them?" Mr. Matthew clearly felt left out of this conversation and didn't like it one bit.
"Them," Gliedlegna said and waved his long boney fingered hand in the direction of the four, very special children below.
"Miss Jo's kids?" Mr. Matthew asked, brow deeply furrowed. What sort of video game scenario was this; he needed so much more information. This was like one of those novice games manufactured by some off-shoot group, put out there without any instructions on how to play.
"Those four cuties?" Miss Tisha added, "How does all this have to do with them?" Why she'd be dreaming about them she hadn't a clue.
Miss Jo wasn't all that confused; she'd been prepared for the craziness over the last few days. "All about them, so what now? What's happening? There was an old woman in the classroom who tried to take them, and a Helper who brought the gifts," Miss Jo babbled, clearly concerned but pleased to at last have someone to talk to about all that was going on.
"Gifts? What gifts?" Miss Tisha asked as she half stood up to get a better look at Miss Jo's students. Whipping her head around she looked at her friend and colleague. "What old woman? And a helper. None of us have been allowed student teachers in a while due to budget cuts and…"   The confused teacher may have continued but Mr. Matthew cut her off mid-sentence.
"This is nonsense, I just need to know how to play this stupid game!"
"I'll tell you how," the old man answered Mr. Matthew. "But it's not at all stupid. Now listen up, this building is... well, for lack of a better way to describe it, this school is in a different time, in fact it is in no outside time at all, time has stopped for us in here to them out there." Gliedlegna let that sink in but the confused looks were too much and he tried to explain a bit more. "Imagine you've been put in a giant bubble where time has stopped, outside the bubble no one even knows there is a bubble, you've gone to a different uhm, dimension. That's it, you're in a different plane of existence!"  Clearly they had to understand now, right?
Mr. Matthew leaned forward his eyes lighting up with comprehension, now they were getting somewhere. Information- he needed as much as he could get. "A giant bubble, do we need to burst it? Is that the end game?"
"Burst it? We're not really in a bubble, Mr. Matthew, that's just silly," Miss Tisha answered and laughed softly. A dream bubble? Was it possible? She supposed anything was possible in a dream, right?
"The end game, Mr. Matthew is keeping the gifts safe for these very special children. There are forces, evil forces that do not wish these gifts to come to fruition. They've surrounded us, and will attack at dawn. You." He pointed at Mr. Matthew. "And you." His finger moved to Miss Tisha. "And you." And his finger rested upon Miss Jo. "You all must prepare to do battle." The seriousness with which the old man was speaking seemed quite ominous given his propensity towards humor.
"Battle," Mr. Matthew spoke the single word with such awe that it was clear the idea of battling intrigued him. "Tell us more about the battle. Where are the weapons and what are the weaknesses of these evil forces?" Battling was something he excelled at, eventually winning most of the video game battles he was involved with.  Sure protecting the treasure was important and accumulating points was a priority in a lot of games but he wasn't competing with anyone but himself right now, at least he didn't think he was.
Gliedlegna stroked his black beard slowly as he eyed Mr. Matthew thoughtfully. "You know, I do believe you'll be able to lead the army."
"Lead the army?! Really? Me?" Mr. Matthew laughed. This craziness couldn't get any crazier.
"Him?" Miss Tisha added, clearly doubtful. She knew Mr. Matthew was a very competent teacher but a leader of an army?
"Why yes, Mr. Matthew has extensive experience with warfare. First things first though, you must gather your army and you, Miss Tisha have to help him," Gliedlegna said and tossed the black beard he'd been stroking over his shoulder as he leaned in closer to the teachers. "Out there in the woods there are creatures, many creatures. You need to take your students with you into the woods and seek out as many of these creatures as you can. Tell them the battle is nigh and ask them to follow you."
"Uh," Mr. Matthew paused, and twisted in his tree stump seat to look off towards the newly wooded auditorium. "Creatures? I'm going to be a general to an army of...creatures?"
"What sort of creatures?" Miss Tisha asked. She liked creatures- cats, bunnies; she even had a few of them as pets.
"Elves? Centaurs? Dragons?" Mr. Matthew offered, clearly hoping he'd be leading some very prestigious  creatures.
"Pish posh! Elves, centaurs, dragons, next you'll add unicorns and fairies to the mix," Gliedlegna scoffed. "What do you think this is, some fantasy fiction?"
"Uhm...yeah," Miss Tisha answered, grinning slightly.
"Well it's not, no not at all. The creatures you'll find are all truth fighters, light seekers, spirit defenders of the highest order," Gliedlegna huffed.
"Wow!" Mr. Matthew exclaimed, eyes wide. He was going to lead an army of amazing creatures. Thoughts of the little details such as how they would undertake this battle, and using what sort of weapons started to creep in but before he could ask about the weapons and weaknesses of the enemy, he was cut off.
"There, see, one of your students is talking with one of the creatures now," Gliedlegna told them, and sure enough he was speaking the truth.
A young blond haired boy no more than nine years old was leaning up against the back of one of the few remaining auditorium seats at the edge of the woods and on top of the seat sat a rather pudgy raccoon bodied, possum faced creature. Though the teachers couldn't make out what was being said, it was obvious a conversation was taking place between the creature and the boy.
"But that's a...a…" Mr. Matthew stammered.
"...a cutie!" Miss Tisha replied.
"Not at all what I was thinking," Mr. Matthew said.
"That is only one of many creatures out there in the woods, oh not just Racosums, but there are Moukes, and Bunirds, Beons, Pogs, Sheolfs and more,” Gliedlegna told them as a matter of fact, as if these strange twisted combinations of animals wasn't at all a big deal.
Standing up, Mr. Matthew stretched and sighed. "Just tell me one thing, are they trained for battle?"
Chuckling, Gliedlegna stood up as well and walked over to the computer lab technician turned summer school teacher and put his arm around the other, shorter man's shoulders. "They are trained in fighting for all things right and good and that's what we need, Mr. Matthew. You go and gather them up, search the entire woods and find as many as you can. Tell them…"
Mr. Matthew interrupted the strange man who had turned his life upside-down, "...the battle is nigh, and to follow me."
"Yes, good, you've got a spectacular memory, Mr. Matthew! Quite impressive. If any of them choose not to follow don't worry, you just do what you can to alert them all. You may need some of your students to help you carry some of the smaller sort; we don't want any left behind if possible. So if you come across a Spidpillar give him or her a hand and don't forget the Anroaches, wonderful and fierce warriors."
"Spidpillar? Anroaches? Do I even want to know?" Mr. Matthew wasn't fond of the creepy crawling kind but he wasn't going to let that stop him from helping out. It wasn't every day you were the leader of an army and he was going to make the best of this very realistic video game.
"I've got to see them, all of them," Miss Tisha said, and came up on Mr. Matthew's other side, "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Mr. Matthew told her and the pair set off towards the stepping stones on the side of the hill, both of them calling their students to order as they went.
Miss Jo watched the other two teachers leave and stood up. "How do you want me to prepare for this battle, Gliedlegna?"
The old man flung his head around, his beard flying from where it had been resting over his shoulder to slap him in the chest. "You pronounced my name perfectly!" He was obviously pleased.
"I'm good with names, now, what am I to…"
"Very good with names. It's that light guttural pronunciation at the end of the gna that usually trips people up, but you, why you got it right on the first go. Impressive indeed, very impressive."
"Thank you, I just want to know what…"
"Why I wager you'd get even the hardest names right if given half a chance and that's no easy feat. There was this one gentleman years ago called…"
"Sir, please! I just want to know what I'm to do to prepare for battle," Miss Jo's exasperation was apparent. She didn't want to be praised about pronunciation, she wanted answers.
"Settle down, just settle down I'm going to get to that. I do get carried away sometimes with the inane it's an old man's disease I'm afraid. Let's walk," Gliedlegna told the teacher and tapped the bottom of his strange shovel on the ground. A moment later the shovel was no longer a shovel at all, and it wasn't a microphone stand either, but a thin silver rod with several holes in one side and what appeared to be the mouth piece of a flute, however the rod was entirely much too long to be any normal sort of flute. "This way."
Starting off around the backside of the fire pit, Miss Jo hesitated and looked down the hill where her four students were still mostly grouped together and busy picking up twigs and long sticks from a pile that seemed to never grow smaller. With a little shake of her head, the teacher dismissed the idea that it would be wrong to walk out of sight of the children, she knew that Gliedlegna would do nothing to endanger them. If he said the evil forces were going to attack at dawn, she believed him. Then again, she wasn't even sure what time of day it was any longer. With an internal shake she forced herself to stop thinking and hurried to catch up to the old, white robed man who had quite a long stride to him.
From the bottom of the hill, Bella saw their art teacher walking away and gave a heavy sigh. "She's leaving us."
"What? No, Miss Jo would never leave us, she'd…" Becca Boo turned her head and glanced up towards the firepit where she'd last seen her teacher.
"Gone?" Tinley asked and worried at her lower lip a bit, not wanting to cry.
"M'Jo?" Lola whispered and moved to take Becca's hand in hers.
"Should we follow her?" Becca asked, squeezing little Lola's fingers softly.
"I don't know," Bella answered and reached over to gently squeeze Tinley's small shoulder reassuringly. Her and Becca had to protect the little ones and their eggs.
"Well, I think we…" Before Becca could finish her sentence she was interrupted.
"Dilly dallying dawdlers."
"What?!" Bella gasped and squeezed Tinley's shoulder and George's harness tighter as she looked down at the ground in front of her and the others. There semi-coiled in a rather large circle was a pale greenish-yellow snake bodied,  black headed mouse creature.
Sure the girls had seen some of the odd animals as they'd gathered the firewood, but this was the first time one had talked to any of them.
"Dilly dallying dawdlers, don't deny doing dat."
Giggling, Becca couldn't help herself. "A snake mouse! You're a snake mouse! And you talk!"
Becca's laughter instantly made the other girls feel better.
"I'm not a snake mouse, silly dilly, I'm a mouake. You can call me Larmic, who are all of you?" Slowly the mouake raised up his mouse head until he was almost eye leveled with Lola.
"Lo-la,"  Lola answered and gave a tiny giggle, turning her face into Becca's side shyly.
"I'm Becca, but you can call me Boo," Becca told the strangest and only animal she'd ever really had a conversation with.
"And you?" Larmic asked Tinley as he turned his narrow furry face towards her.
"I'm Tinley," she answered. "'an I'm five."
"Five, well that's quite an age to be, I'm five plus five, plus five and maybe a few more fives, I forget," Larmic squeaked out a little bit of laughter.
"And I'm Bella, and this is George," Bella told the mouake.
"Please to meet to you all. So why aren't you wood gathering like the others? Are you dilly dallying dawdlers, really?" Larmic squeaked yet another bit of laughter and moved until he was eye to eye with George.
The service dog amazingly felt nothing threatening at all in this strange animal, not a single hackle raised, if anything he was amused and when he darted his head forward and gave the mouake a very wet, and very quick lick in greeting, he gave a tiny woof that almost sounded like a laugh.
"Hey! Are you trying to drown me! Ewwwww!" Larmic laugh-squeaked and turned to rub his wet furry face on Bella's shirt.
All of the girls were laughing and giggling now, and clearly more at ease in the absence of their teacher.
"We're not dawdlers or dilly dallying, we were wondering where our teacher was going and thinking about following her," Bella answered and turned to look up at the hill and the woods Miss Jo had disappeared into.
"Were you told to follow her?" Larmic asked and brought the rest of his rather large, long body into his coiled form so that he was easily able to rise up taller than Bella and Becca and look down at them.
"No," Becca Boo answered, and gave a little shrug as she craned her neck back to look up at Larmic.
"There you go then, I think the fire needs more wood though. Why don't you follow me to a bigger wood pile and if your teacher isn't back by the time we finished bringing all that wood to the fire then we'll see about finding her. Sound like a plan? No dilly dallying dawdlers."
George gave a woof that was clearly one of agreement, and each girl quickly added their own confirmation to the plan given. "Who are you anyway, the dilly dallying dawdler police?" Becca Boo asked, grinning.
"Smart alec, of course I'm not a police of dilly dallying dawdlers, but I do know how to sniff out the potential dilly dallying dawdlers," Larmic told Becca Boo and flicked the tip of his tail at her foot gently.
Laughing, Becca shook her head. "Not me, I'm no dillier."
Bella laughed as well and the two littlest laughed along with her, and it felt really good to do so.
Chapter 11
While the girls were being watched over by Larmic the mouake, Miss Jo was walking side by side down a narrow dirt path that her and Gliedlegna had entered. This particular part of the woods would have normally made up the little hall off the stage, or what most called the 'wings'.
"Where are we going?" Miss Jo asked softly.
"We are going hither and yon, or was it yon and hither? Never you mind, it doesn't matter which or what, we are headed for the hatchery."
Stopping dead in her tracks, Miss Jo repeated the old man's last word. "Hatchery?"
Walking a few more steps before realizing the teacher wasn't beside him any longer, the old man spun around and the long thin flute like rod he'd been using as a walking stick let out a long, very beautiful musical note.
Stunned by the beauty of the sound, Miss Jo's blue eyes widened in awe.
"Shhh, not yet, not yet," Gliedlegna told the rod and tapped it hard once on the ground, the note instantly silenced. "Can't take this thing anywhere, likes to show off I tell you. Now why are you stopped there, we've a ways to go and we'd best be hurrying."
"You said, hatchery? We're going to where the eggs will hatch?" Miss Jo asked her questions but resumed walking at the same time.
"You catch on quickly you do, I think they chose a smart one this time. But smart or simple, as long as the heart is set right it doesn't matter all that much. Yes, we're going to the hatchery. You've the task of keeping any of those evil bits from entering the hatchery while the hatching happens. We'll be stopping most of them before they get this far, but you just never know. There was this one time…"
"Hold on, you're saying this has happened before?" The teacher wanted desperately to stop walking so fast, her little jog barely kept her in step with the old man's excessively long stride. If only they could sit down and hash this all out, but obviously time was of the essence and there wasn't going to be an opportunity for any more chit or chat.
"Since the beginning," Gliedlegna stated. "But as I was saying, there was this one time…"
"Beginning of what?" She interrupted.
"Why the beginning of the world of course, but like I was saying, there was this one time the ranks hadn't been closed tight enough and…"
"The beginning of the world?! Are you telling me…"
"Ah, and here I was thinking you were a bright one. I guess your pronunciation ability doesn't extend to other brainy realms, hmn? We're almost there and I need you with wits not witless, so yes, the beginning of this very world. I’m not privy to the other worlds and their goings on, this is the one I tend to, so please listen up. You need to…"
"Other worlds…" Miss Jo was truly shocked. She knew she was far from witless, but she was very susceptible to being stunned witless. The things coming from the old man's mouth were preposterous, but then again the whole of the last several days were crazy so nothing should shock her, so why were things shocking her?
"Snap out of it!" Gliedlegna grumbled and immediately the flute staff let out another of its amazing musical notes, louder than the last and held longer. "Ahhh, will you please stop. I'm not being a grump. I'm just explaining and she keeps interrupting me, and… why am I talking to you. Hush up, you know my bark is bite-less."
The old man was now holding up his flute-like staff almost sideways and talking to it as if it were alive and had a mind of its own, and right then Miss Jo wouldn't doubt that it did.
"I apologize," Gliedlegna told the teacher, never once breaking his long stride. "There, I apologized now no more from you," he told the flute-creature.
"It's beautiful, whatever it is. Why don't you want it playing?" Miss Jo asked.
"There's a time and a place, or place in time, timeplace, no, timepiece, oh fiddlepickle, it's not the time is all. Are you ready to listen now? I was trying to tell you that you have to guard the hatchery from any of the evil bits that might seep through the battlefront. Most likely if were very blessed this time you will have been prepared over the years, and you'll be able to put your preparations to practice."
Miss Jo listened, not wanting to interrupt with even more questions but she had to, she just had to interrupt like it or not the old man would have to bear with her. "What preparations, I don't have a clue what's going on. How could I have prepared?"
"Ha!" Gliedlegna barked a laugh and turned his gaze in the teacher's direction fixing his green and blue eyes upon her. "You started preparing the day you were born, you just didn't know it. Life is all about preparation don't you know. It's a shame that part is largely forgotten."
Life is preparation? No, the teacher wasn't so sure about that as a concept. Preparation meant preparing for something and for the most part when you prepared for something you then experienced the event you prepared for. What event was life itself a preparation for? Did everyone alive go through these fantastical events she was having? If so why weren't they talked about? So many questions!
"Uhoh, you're quiet," Gliedlegna grinned and turned his gaze up front once more. "You'll understand, just know that you can't slack off and expect a happy outcome. You might have a tendency to think that someone will intervene for you, but you can't count on that. As much as the Helpers like to help they aren't allowed in the hatchery. Post hatching they'll help out as much as they can, but you've got to get them through the hatching on your own. Don't worry though, worrying never changed anything except maybe the chance for a bit of peace. Something tells me you might be one of those over worriers and if that's the case remember practice what you teach and you sure wouldn't tell your young’uns' to worry now would you?"
Miss Jo's head felt like it would explode with all the information and misinformation being tossed her way. The humor in the old man's voice was about the only thing that kept her from screaming and turning around to run away from all the insanity. While she did have a million and one questions she wanted to ask, she only spoke one.
"Are we almost there yet?"
Gliedlegna laughed, "I was wondering if you'd ever ask."
Abruptly he stopped walking and turned off the path that still looked as if it would continue impossibly on forever. "We're here," he told the teacher, his boisterous voice cut down to a raspy whisper.
Chapter 12
They were there. Miss Jo looked about her trying to figure out just what Gliedlegna meant. Nothing had changed; they were still standing upon a narrow dirt path surrounded by trees. "This is the hatchery?" She couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. She'd been expecting some amazingly fancy, fantastical, perhaps otherworldly place.
"This? No, no, I didn't say this was the hatchery, I said we're here, and if I were you I'd keep my voice down," Gliedlegna told the teacher, still whispering himself.
"So," Miss Jo dutifully whispered. "If we're here then this has to be…"
"Tut, tut." The old man wagged his forefinger at Miss Jo, silencing her. "Watch."
Taking the musical sentient flute staff in both hands and holding vertically, Gliedlegna brought it close to his lips. "Are you ready?" He asked it softly.
The tiniest of trills came as a reply. The old man released the staff and it stayed where it was all on its own and began to play the most amazing song. The notes were barely audible to begin with but as each moment passed they grew stronger, louder.
Stepping back away from the staff, the old man was grinning wide and stroking his long black beard with a single hand.
As the music became ever louder the air around them was suddenly filled with vibrations thrumming in time with the tune. Feeling as if she were in a whirlwind of musical joy her very flesh experiencing the music in a way she'd never thought possible, Miss Jo's grinning matched that of Gliedlegna's.
"Hold on now," the old man whispered straight to her ear through the joyous sound around them and he reached out a hand to grasp one of hers.
Before Miss Jo could question why she was to hold on- the ground under her feet began to move, they were sinking! The hand holding hers tightened, but that wasn't enough for the teacher, and she found herself quickly hugging the long robed old man. A strange mixture of fear and exaltation engulfed the teacher and she fought the urge to close her eyes as they descended, dirt walls up to her waist and then up to her shoulders and suddenly higher than she was tall and still they were going downwards.
When they had sunk into the earth at least double her height of five foot three inches, Miss Jo knew it was only the strange calming and yet exhilarating music coming from the silver staff that kept her from panicking. There was an invisible web of comfort surrounding them, a thick padding of peacefulness. And as the music started to slowly fade the dirt walls around them began to expand. Unseen forces pushed the vertical tunnel into an almost perfect square widening it around them and the teacher couldn't help but think she was in what could have been a small dirt cellar, all that was missing was the small house above and of course a way to climb up out of the cellar.
Moments later the almost silent silver staff let out a loud trill and instantly there was a set of wooden stairs and they were in a real cellar as above them a floor was being built wooden slat by wooden slat appearing to grow from each side of the square. Through the not yet closed hole, Miss Jo could see there were wooden walls being erected above and from them a roof was starting to quite literally grow. In mere minutes they were being engulfed in darkness except for a bit of glowing light coming from the silver staff.
"I don't...understand," Miss Jo whispered.
The silver staff was barely humming quietly now, a background noise, a sweet, soft, soothing song.
"The hatchery is almost complete," Gliedlegna told her matter of fact.
"But why this way?" She didn't understand why there hadn't just been a house to walk into, why had they gone through all they did? Was there a reason? She needed to know, wanted to know.
"You built this,' he told her.
"What do you mean, I built this? I didn't…"
"It was your design; for all that you thought you wanted something spectacular your heart understands the simple. You created this out of your heart and because of that these walls, this cellar, those stairs, that roof are all bound with your protective nature; they'll fight for your safety. Come on, shall we ascend?" The old man released Miss Jo fully and started for the simple wooden stairs, the silver staff now in hand.
"How can walls fight for me?" Miss Jo asked as she followed after Gliedlegna.
"How indeed," the old man scoffed and pushed up a trap door that covered the top of the cellar stairs. "You really do know so little about the ways of the invisible. Never ceases to amaze me. You can breathe the air you can't see, you can comprehend the wind rising from nowhere, but you insist on not believing in the unseen forces. Well, I suppose it's through no fault of your own it protects you in many ways, but I digress, you've weaved hope through this little hatching house and there are many of the lesser evils that cannot abide hope in any form. Don't get me wrong you'll have your hands full with keeping out the others, but good job, Miss Jo, good job."
The old man and art teacher stood in the small one roomed house with light streaming in from several glass enclosed windows. A fire place complete with a low burning fire was set on one wall, and in front of that fire rested the little box the teacher had thought she'd dropped when she moved to cling to the old man in fear. A long rectangular table with several chairs was pushed up against another wall. And on a third wall were set of wide bunk beds three beds high. The last wall was centered with the door and on that door were at least twelve formidable locks of various sorts. If the teacher had truly imagined this place into existence it was clear she wanted protection from something.
"I'm not sure what's supposed to happen next," Miss Jo said and grinned just a little bit.
"Don't worry, what happens next is sure enough for the both of you," Gliedlegna said in his strange confusing manner. "I need to leave you here, but don't worry you'll see me again… I hope," he told her and gave her a blue-eyed sparkling wink.
"Leave?"
"Ah, don't go stating the obvious on me. You can't be confused by my leaving, surely you understood this is your challenge to overcome...or not, time will tell and telling will time. I'm off now but you won't be alone for long. If I were you I'd get the hatchery set up." Gliedlegna chuckled and tapped the silver staff on the wooden floor and once again the staff changed. No longer the long silver flute-ish instrument, the old man now held a long wooden branch in his hand and the branch had a multitude of tiny limbs springing out of it with tiny green leaves unfurling upon them. "Hope, Miss Jo, remember, hope."
And with that parting word, the old man was gone. He didn't walk out the door, and there was no flash of lightening or puff of smoke, simply one moment he was there and the next gone.
"Hope," Miss Jo sighed and used her forefingers to rub both her temples lightly. "And how does one set up a hatchery? Had to leave before you could answer that very important unasked question did you, Gliedlegna? Not that you would have given me a straight answer. Oh no, you'd have given me a cryptic something or other and made me think for myself. A brain gets tired with all this imagining stuff. Am I still crazy? Is this still really happening? Listen to me blabbing away and I have a hatchery to set up. Do I just think things into existence?" She paused her babblings and thought really hard, thinking about an old fashion chicken coop egg hatching enclosure she'd seen once years ago.
"Nope, I guess that no longer works." No egg coop appeared from thin air as she'd wished would, but her eyes did land upon the box in front of the fireplace. "Maybe you have something to do with this," she said and pointed to the box. Letting out a low laugh, she shook her head. "And now I'm talking to inanimate objects. Then again, what's inside isn't really inanimate." And she spoke truthfully having seen those hand prints come alive with lives of their own many times.
Kneeling on the floor before the box she opened the lid and reached in to pull out the banner. The thin paper which by all rights should have been much worn with all the use it'd endured was in surprisingly good shape. The tape repaired tear from earlier was holding up well and Miss Jo knelt down and spread the banner out on the floor in front of the fire place.
The hand prints were so amazingly small yet so significant for what they represented. Her amazing students whose life challenges would be daunting for adults, let alone them in their youth. Each one of those little human beings were brilliant in their own right. Each of their smiles brightened her life, and tugged on her heart strings. They blessed her with their innocence, their enthusiasms, their trials and all their many tribulations allowing her to nurture them for such a small part of their day.
Reaching down to touch the pink print that was Tinley's, Miss Jo recalled the first time she'd met the amazing child. She was so incredibly friendly with just a hint of shyness that endeared her to her instantly. The small hand she was touching rose up off the paper and the small fingers grasped her forefinger, much like a small baby wrapped their tiny fingers around a parents much larger finger. Smiling wider, it amazed the teacher that she wasn't at all taken aback by such an unthinkable act, painted hand prints springing to life, who would have ever thought, most assuredly not her.
As the tiny hand let go of her finger, Miss Jo watched as all the hand prints began to emerge off the paper transforming into sculpted life-like hands of different colors. Only this time they didn't stop emerging at the wrists as they always had before, they kept rising up out of the paper. Startled, but in a very good way, she moved back scooting on her knees so she could take in what was happening.
The rising hands were now up to the elbows and still they didn't stop. It wasn't until they reached armpit height that the pair of hands and now arms stopped emerging. Each set of individual hands pressed together, wrist to wrist forming an open cup shape perfect for their eggs. On the paper between where the arms were spread apart as if an invisible chest were spreading them, something began to happen. Tiny puddles of pinks, greens, blues, yellows, reds, and purples were forming, swirling around in small whirlpools made up of a paint-like substance. As the multi-colored whirlpools were forming the edges of the entire banner were sinking downwards into the wooden floor, fastening itself there.
"Beautiful," Miss Jo whispered. "So beautiful." Scooting back even further her eyes were drawn to the growing colorful whirlpools beneath the gorgeously sculpted arms and hands. No longer confined to just staying under the sculptures the colors were moving outward and splitting off. Tendrils shot out from the pools that were no longer whirling. A bright pink tendril under Tinley's sculpture shot up into the air between the fireplace and arms, and faster than the teacher could truly keep up with, a small pink chair was being formed. Similar chairs were being created for each sculpture, a blue one for Boo, a purple one for Bella, and a yellow one for little Lola.
"Amazing!" The teacher whispered in awe, she was obviously overjoyed with what was taking place, and she had no idea at all how it was happening. She wasn't thinking about chairs or any such thing. She was still stuck on what a hatchery should be. If the old man had been right and she was creating this, she was glad her subconscious was taking over because she felt clueless.
The little chairs were formed and the color tendrils seemed to disappear back into the multi-colored whorls and whirls underneath the sculptures.
Was this it then? Was everything ready?
"Sorry sweetie, I don't think so." A delicate feminine voice answered the unasked question.
"What?!" Miss Jo whipped her head to the side, her whole body jerking to the left where the unexpected voice had come from. There on the floor was a small squirrel like creature only this squirrel had a tiny elephant head!
"I just said, 'I don't think so.' But really, I'm sorry to tell you sweetie, everything is far from ready, but don't you worry I'm here to help you out. First off, close your mouth please, it's very unflattering for a lady to hold her mouth open like that. My name is Shastie and before you ask I’m an eleuirrel. Please, Miss Jo, close your mouth. I promise you'll be used to me in no time at all." The small eleuirrel scurried quickly over towards the fireplace and raised her tiny paws to warm them. Equally tiny elephant ears fanned the flames a bit but nothing too be worried about the fireplace was very large after all.
Speechless, dumbfounded, and thrown for another amazing loop, the teacher had several questions flooding her thoughts but the first one she blurted out was most pressing.
"How did you read my mind!?" She was talking to a creature that didn't really exist, not in her world. Well, it did but in two separate forms not this crazy mingled mix of animals. She was torn between thinking the eleuirrel was adorable and grotesque at the same time and she wasn't trying to think about the grotesque part because if her mind was being read then Shastie would know!
"Do you really want to know how?" Shastie laughed and turned to wiggle her fluffy squirrel tail at the fire while facing the teacher. "I think you are just surprised I can, you don't really want details because frankly sweetie, I'm not too fond of the idea of explaining the mechanics behind God's supernatural happenings. Suffice it to say I can pick up a thing or two from your thoughts time and again. Let's stop troubling about the how's now, okay?"
Nodding, Miss Jo smiled at Shastie. "Okay, I guess."
"Old Gliddy said you were on top of things and he wasn't joshing about, and we both know he's such a josher. This set up is nice, really nice." The eleuirrel jumped up on Lola's chair and scurried across the backs of each one, stopping on Tinley's where she reared back on her hind legs using her tail for balance. Poking her tiny trunk towards the hand sculptures she shook her head at the same time. "Those won't do though, no, not at all."
"Won't do?" Miss Jo didn't ask the obvious 'why'.
"Unfortunately not like that they won't. Just think for a moment, if those little hatchlings come out quick they are likely to tumble right to the ground, and you can just imagine what would happen then, can't you, Sweetie? Smooshed and squooshed, squashed babies, that's what." Shastie sighed softly and sadly.
"How should I fix it?" Miss Jo asked. Forcing herself not to ask another question she'd been wondering since the eggs showed up-- baby, what?
"Clouds," Shastie answered quickly and jumped from the back of the chair into the palm of one of Boo's sculpted hands.
"Clouds?" She felt dumb, because she knew in this crazy world where animals were mixed up quite literally, and paintings turned themselves into sculptures, and houses grew up out of the ground, and school auditoriums were changed into magical lands that she should know that if this eleuirrel said clouds it was going to be clouds, somehow, some way there would be clouds.
"Don't chastise yourself, sweetie, you're not dumb just new to it all. Go easy on yourself. Just put a few clouds about these hands, and if one of our darling precious itty bitties decides to take a tumble everything will be just fine," Shastie leapt off of Boo's hand and onto the teacher's knee. "Yes, I know you don't know how, but feel how."
Tiny eleuirrel paws pressed warmly on the teacher's knee, and it was all Miss Jo could do to keep herself from reaching out and petting the fluffy furred animal. With such obvious intelligence it wouldn't be as if she were stroking a real animal at all. "Feel how," she repeated Shastie's words. How did you feel clouds into existence?
"I think you're trying too hard, sweetie. Don't worry about it just yet, you have time. I think you need to open the door though, our guests are about to arrive," Shastie leapt from Miss Jo's knee and quickly darted around the room almost too fast to track until she finally stopped moving and rested upon a top bunk bed, tail and trunk both swishing slowly back and forth.
Chapter 13
While their art teacher was busy with the strange yet friendly eleuirrel, her four students were doing their best to contribute wood to keep the big fire burning. All four of them stayed close together with the addition of Bella's very special companion, George.  Larmic the mouake had stayed true to his word and helped them gather the wood until an entire pile of the stuff had been moved
"Will Miss Jo be back soon?" Boo whispered to Bella worriedly, not wanting to alarm the younger two with them, even though they most likely heard her.
With a firm grip on George's service harness with one hand, Bella used the other to reach over to her friend taking her hand and squeezing. "I don't know, but I do know everything will be okay, you'll see. Whatever is happening to us is a good thing, don't you feel it?" Smiling her beautiful wide smile, Bella gave Boo's hand one last squeeze before releasing it.
"I...I think I do feel it," Boo answered and couldn't help but return the smile with one of her own amazing grins. "Hey look!" She pointed over Bella's shoulder. Sitting there on the edge of one of the few remaining armrests was a very strange butterfly- in fact is wasn't a real butterfly at all.
"Go on you four, I think help has arrived," Larmic squeaked happily when he saw who they were looking at.
All the girls looked in the direction Boo pointed and let out a mixture of startled gasps. "Pretty!" Tinley said and clapped her hands together.
Lola gave a little jump and clapped her hands together as well. "Fly!"
And Bella giggled immediately after her own little gasp of surprise. George, only because he was currently on duty, did not let out the woof that was bubbling inside him. The service dog did raise his nose into the air towards the creature and sniffed several times loudly. He knew it wasn't all butterfly, but part something else and that something else had him wanting to inspect it closer, but he didn't dare move.
"Thank you, Larmic!" Bella told the mouse-snake that had helped keep them busy. If he said the creature before them was going to help them, she believed him.
"You're very welcome, Bella. Go on now, off with you," Larmic gave one last mousy squeak and slithered off into the woods.
"It's a butterfly cat!" Boo exclaimed as she walked closer to the strange creature that was gently flapping its gorgeous light gray, white dotted, black stripped wings.
"No, I'm not whatever it is you said silly! I'm a catafly. Vilstat at your service quite literally. I'm here to guide you to the hatchery," he announced in a very deep voice for one so small, and seemingly delicate.
Vilstat the catafly had the body of a large, hand-sized butterfly with the tiny head of a black cat sporting gray ears, and a surprisingly long furry white tail.
"Cat-fly," Tinley said, grinning wide and moving a little closer to the strangest creature she'd ever seen.
"You're a catafly, I've never…" Boo started her sentence but didn't finish. She was in complete awe of the beautifully but strange animal insect before her.
"You can talk too," Bella whispered, and looked away from the catafly when she felt the small hand of Lola slipping into her larger hand for comfort. Lola didn't know what to think about the cat butterfly, initially she was thrilled but now, just a touch shy of its strangeness.
"I talk, I fly, I meow," Vilstat told them and did just that, meowing softly. "I even purr." He chuckled. "If you're ready we really should get going, just follow me, I'll fly slow and take you through a short cut you'll like. Are you excited; the hatchery is where your eggs are going to hatch." Taking flight as he spoke the last word, Vilstat flew a bit haphazardly as was the way with most butterflies and darted about the girls careful not to get too close to any of them, not wanting to panic them as they became used to his very odd presence.
In awe they watched Vilstat, clearly one of the strangest, if not the new strangest thing they'd ever seen in their young lives. Boo recovered herself quickly and asked a most pertinent question. "What's inside our eggs? Birds? Turtles? Alligators? I know, dinosaurs?!"
A purred laughed sounded around them and Vilstat flew past Boo, gently swiping his soft white tail across her cheek. "That's a surprise!" He told her and made a turn towards the youngest in the group.
Flying over Lola's head he meowed softly. "Don't worry little Lola, you'll love your surprise."
Lola giggled and nodded. "Yes!" She told the catafly and beamed broadly lighting up her entire face with happiness.
Tinley gave a low ouuuu followed by a soft ahhhh as Vilstat for the briefest of moments touched her nose, perching there. "You too, Tinley. You're going to love what's inside your egg."
"I love it!" She told him, knowing already she really did love the egg itself and whatever was inside had to be even more special.
"We're off then, make sure your backpacks are all safe and sound it's up the hill we go," Vilstat told the girls and flew about George's large head flicking his tail on the Great Dane's black nose. "I know I shouldn't bother you, you're working, but I do love to tease dogs. I couldn't resist. No worries, Bella, I won't tease him again… I hope." Vilstat laughed and seeing that all the little girls were ready to go he started flying off towards the slope and stone steps that would lead them up the hill where the stage used to be.
George tilted his head after Vilstat flew off and gave Bella a look of slight exasperation. If one had been able to read his thoughts they'd know he was a tad bit miffed at the catafly's teasing. He took his job seriously and no catafly should try to distract him. If it happened again a show of teeth just might be in order.
Chapter 16
Off in the woods the noise of many children could be heard and along with them the voices of their teachers. Both Miss Tisha and Mr. Matthew were very busy in the woods and the creatures they were gathering for the battle to come were plentiful. It was no longer strange to look behind a large bush and see a couple giraows, big creatures with giraffe heads on short cow bodies, or to spy a pack of sheolfs, fierce wolf faced creatures with rather adorable fluffy sheep bodies. Then there were the beons so far they'd only come across two of them, bear bodied, lion headed vicious looking animals that Mr. Matthew was most impressed with. He was in deep conversation with one of the beons as they continued through the woods in search of more and more fighters for their battle. Miss Tisha on the other hand was fascinated with the tiny warriors and had no trouble turning over a rock, or picking up a rotting log in search of the most amazing of animals and insects. She'd just talked a long eight-legged spidpillar into gathering his young'uns, as he called them. They were an immensely large group of over a hundred spider headed and legged- caterpillars that had just hatched seven days prior. When asked if he ever went into a cocoon and a metamorphic state the spidpillar had laughed and said not until he'd lived through many cycles and then only after he'd managed to swallow a ply- a pillbug fly which as you can imagine didn't much want to get swallowed even if it didn't result in their death. It wasn't very pleasant for the pillbug being stuck inside a spidpillar through the long metamorphosis that had to take place so the spidpillar emerged into a catafly. All very complicated but Miss Tisha was taking it all in and her imagination was thirsty for more.
After what seemed like hours Mr. Matthew and Miss Tisha came to the edge of the forest and an impenetrable wall of stone covered in green moss. It was time to turn what had become a very large group of creature warriors around and head back to the hill so they could figure out a battle plan. Dawn would arrive soon enough and the teachers wanted to be ready. Exactly what they were up against was unknown to them, but most of the creatures they'd asked to follow them into the nigh battle understood. Mr. Matthew had told Miss Tisha if they were lucky before the battle started they'd be able to comprehend what they were up against. Get enough creatures with each of them adding a bit of information to their knowledge base and a good overall picture should form- at least that was the hope. Figuring it all out was part of the excitement, as any good dream video game scenario should attest to.
Chapter 14
The hike for the four little girls and one service dog wasn't easy. Their legs were shorter than the adults, and their medical conditions weakened them in various ways but their spirits soared as they made it to the top of the little hill.
"Don't worry, it'll get a lot easier for you in just a few moments," Vilstat the catafly told them as he flew circles about their heads. "Look up!" He called out as he heard the approach of their surprise.
Above in what was and wasn't the school auditorium ceiling turned into a sky, the shape of a black and white flying horse of sorts was gliding around in circles making its way down to them.
"Horse!" Lola called out and gave a precious little wiggle of excitement.
"It's not a horse, it's a pegasus," Boo corrected, not taking her eyes off the creature for a moment. Everyone knew a flying horse was a pegasus, right?
"No, no, it's not a pegasus," Bella further corrected the other girls. "Look, it doesn't have a horse face at all! It's a bird horse!"
"Bird horse!" Tinley repeated and laughed her endearing little laugh.
"Actually," Vilstat chimed in correcting them all. "It's an albaorse, and now let me introduce you."
The albaorse had landed close by furling his wings to his sides as he started to walk towards the little group. When he was close enough, Vilstat flew about his head for a moment and settled on top of the white feathered dome. "Girls, this is Skippepo, the one and only albaorse in these woods."
Bowing his bird shaped albatross head, Skippepo acknowledged the children before him and then let out a rather annoying yet soft squawk before speaking. "Pleased to make your acquaintances, young ones. We haven't time to talk though so if you'd please mount up as quickly and safely as possible I'll get you where we need to be, the hatchery."
Skippepo was lowering himself to the ground as he talked, his horse legs curled beneath him.
"We get to ride you?!" Boo asked excitedly. This was like a dream come true, riding a flying horse- of sorts.
"Hold on, hold on," Bella called out, shaking her head. "I can't leave Georgie here." There was no way she was going to abandoned her beloved service dog, no way at all.
"Who said you'd need to abandon him?" Skippepo asked and let out another semi-shrill squawk. "Littlest in front, then the next size up and so on, then George draped behind the last, don't worry, I have safety features in place to keep you all secure. Up you go, you don't want your eggs hatching outside the hatchery that would be bad for everyone." Skippepo didn't want to scare the children but he did want to do his job. There was a time for playing, and he was one who loved to play, but this wasn't one of those times- near hatchings never were. If he came across as overly serious he couldn't help it, the fate of the eggs rested upon his partially feathered shoulders.
"Safety features?" Bella asked but as she spoke she went to help put the littlest, Lola, up on the albaorse.
"Fly?" Lola asked and raised her hand to point towards the sky.
"Yes, we're going to fly, it'll be fun!" Bella told her and watched as her small legs straddled the albaorse's neck.
Lola didn't know whether it would be fun or not, she was a touch apprehensive but her worries settled a bit when Tinley moved up behind her. She wouldn't be doing this on her own and if her friends could do this so could she.
"Me next!" Boo called out and not really needing any help from Bella she was quick to climb up behind the other two girls.
"I'm not sure that Georgie will…"
"Don't worry, he will, won't you George?" Vilstat flitted around George's head, only partially annoying the very professional service dog who barely gave him a glance.
With help from George, Bella was able to get up on Skippepo's, the black and buff colored horse body. Looking down from her perch in George's direction, Bella opened her mouth to give instructions but before she could, the service dog was already making his way up behind her draping himself with forelegs on one side of the albaorse and hind legs hanging over the other. He wasn't comfortable, not really- being in such an undignified position, and he really wanted to be in front of Bella so she could hold onto him better, but he knew what was going on and settled in for the ride. "Good boy, Georgie," Bella told him, and her broad, loving smile was all the comforting George needed to have him happy again.
"Now before you are alarmed my very good friend, Cereta, a most amazing alliorm is going to strap you all in with her very strong, very soft body. I tell you not to be alarmed because, well…" Skippepo squawked a low sigh.
"What he's trying to tell you is, Cereta has very sharp teeth and a wickedly powerful tail, and both head and tail are very rough, but she's the sweetest, most gentle alliorm there is and she won't hurt you so don't be scared when you see her, okay?" Vilstat told the girls, hoping they wouldn't have a typical screaming and running reaction, neither would be very good because they were sitting on Skippepo.
"Okay." All four girls replied in unison as they waited for this scary looking soft creature that was going to strap them in with her body.
Their wait wasn't a long one because without their being aware, Cereta was already coiling around one of Skippeop's forelegs on her upward journey.
"Here she is…" the albaorse told them, and Cereta's head appeared very close to Lola even though she held it angled out away from Skippepo's body.
Cereta had a dark green alligator head attached to a pretty pink worm-like body, and as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, her very sharp teeth were on display.
"Hi! It's me, Cereta! Do you like me, do you? Uhn? Uhn? Do you like me?" The tiny child-like voice that came from the hand sized alligator head was very unexpected. "I'm a pretty little alliorm and I know it. You have to like, me, you just have to. I…"
"You talk too much!" Vilstat laughed and interrupted her.
"Do not! Well, okay, maybe I do, I probably do. People tell me I do, but maybe they want to hear me talk. They might like me talking. Some…"
"Some don't want to hear you talking right now when we've important business at hand," Skippepo interrupted this time.
"That's right! Very important business. Don't you worry I'll have you all strapped in no time at all!" Cereta told the wide-eyed girls who were clearly amazed and a bit confused by the alligator worm that was going to use her body to keep them safely aboard the bird horse they were going to fly on. Who wouldn't be a bit confused? Even children who could more readily adapt to strange realities weren't beyond being a touch upset by the completely surreal surroundings they were now immersed in.
Surprisingly not one of the four young girls was scared. The preemptive warning had helped but even more than that, the tiny child's voice the alliorm sported along with her bubbly personality had allayed any fears that might have arisen.
"Round and round and round I gooooo," Cereta laughed playfully as her body began to form bands all around Lola and then Tinley. The way she was weaving in and out, over and under surely had them securely bound to Skippeppo.
"Tickles!" Lola giggled and wiggled in her seat a bit. It was an odd sensation having the ropelike worm body moving over her.
"Yes! Tickles lots and lots!" Tinley added and giggled along with her friend. She let her small semi- misshapen hand stroke the soft, cool body of the alliorm still moving over her.
"You're right!" Becca Boo called out with a laugh of her own, and a wiggle she just couldn't contain.
"I tickle little ones, but it's a good tickle and it won't be for long. I'm almost done. I told you I could do this fast, fast, fast!" Cereta moved a tiny bit faster because she truly was almost done. "Don't worry, George, I won't tickle you too much, you've got fur on! Fun furry, furry George I won't ever let you fall, not ever!"
Bella twisted her head around as best she could to watch the alliorm slither over her George. It was the oddest sight ever to see the rope thick, pink body moving in and around her service dog fastening him firmly to the back of Skippepo. They had a living rope tying them to a flying bird horse; things couldn't get any stranger, Bella was sure of it, very sure.
"Are we ready?" Skippepo asked as he began to unfurl his beautiful white wings.
"Let me give you a once over," Vilstat called out and flew all around just making sure all was good.
"Once over, twice over, thrice over it'll all be the same, I did good, good, good! I did, didn't I? Didn't I? I did good!" Cereta knew she'd done well, this wasn't the first time she'd done this sort of thing and it wouldn't be the last time.
"You're good to go, Skippepo, Cereta has them all strapped in. Hurry up now, it'll be dawn soon enough," Vilstat said, and quickly flew about each child one last time. "Happy hatching to you all!" He told them and then suddenly they were airborne!
The leap from the ground into the air was effortless and with very little jolting, just how that feat was accomplished no one could rightly tell, but things being what they were no one worried too much about figuring it out either.
All four girls were laughing and smiling excitedly, they were flying on a winged horse bird, an albaorse to be exact and they loved every moment. They were above the treetops and being winged rapidly over them. The distance they were able to cover wasn't calculable because truly fifteen feet or fifty, a hundred feet or thousand it was impossible to gauge in this supernaturally created world.
"Coming in for a landing!" Skippepo called out after what seemed like only moments from their taking flight.
"Landing! Landing! Landing! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Cereta yelled above the noise of the great flapping wings and slightly tightened her body around the children.
And then without so much as a thud they were on the ground and after Skippepo pranced about in a wide circle once he came to a stop and immediately Cereta was untangling herself from the girls.
"We're here, here, here! Everybody off! Oh, you're going to have such an exciting time. A hatching! I love hatchings! Hatchings are just so much fun!" The alliorm seemed to babble on the entire time she was unraveling her body from each child and no one seemed to mind too much.
Quickly George jumped off the albaorse before Skippepo could even lower himself to the ground. He hadn't liked that ride not even for a moment but he endured it because Bella needed him to.
With George on the ground, Bella, quick as she could made her way to him when they were lowered downwards. Boo stayed back and helped the two little ones get down and then she jumped off and hurried to Skippepo's head before he could stand. Without asking, she rushed in and wrapped her arms around his feathered neck hugging him tight. "Thank you so much! That was the best ride ever!"
"Well...uh...uh...yes, yes, you're welcome," Skippepo stammered a bit, clearly thrown off guard by the display of gratitude.
 Boo released Skippepo and ran to where Cereta had coiled her very long pink wormy body and knelt down grinning at her. She wasn't quite sure how one went about hugging an alliorm.
"You're so sweet, sweet, sweet!" Cereta told the child, with a wide toothy grin. "But go now, go, go, go! The door is opening!"
Sure enough, when Boo jumped up and looked across the small clearing she saw a tiny wooden cabin  and the door was opening.
"Come on," Bella called to the girls as she felt the egg in her stuffed animal backpack twitching. "Hurry, my egg is moving!"
Chapter 15
Standing in the doorway, Miss Jo was smiling as wide as was humanly possible. "Girls! Over here!" She waved her arms encouraging them to hurry to her. Thrilled to see her four, very special students and George, she barely took note of the strange winged horse-bird prancing behind them. It was truly amazing how getting used to the strange and unusual was happening so quickly. Under normal circumstances she would have fainted at the sight, but no longer, her fainting days were over.
"Miss Jo!" All four girls called out to their teacher just as happy to see her as she was to see them. Their separation had been scary for the girls, but their bravery had paid off they were safely together once again.
Hugging all four girls as they walked over in group, each watching out for the others, Miss Jo had to blink back the tears of joy and relief she felt, not wanting to explain happy tears to them if she didn't have to do so.
"My egg is moving," Bella told the teacher as she released them from the hug.
"Mine too!" Boo added.
"Wiggles!" Tinley giggled and pulled her backpacked stuff animal egg carrier to the front of her so she could hold it as it wiggled.
"Yes," Lola added and with a little help from Miss Jo, she too was now holding her backpack.
"Let's all get inside and lock the door, the hatchery is all ready for your eggs," Miss Jo said, and guided them inwards. With a last look outside she couldn't help but give a little shiver, the sky was darker, much darker and the temperature had seemed to drop instantly twenty degrees. Shutting the door and bolting it tightly, she turned around to see her pupils all digging their eggs out of their packs. "Careful now, be very careful they don't wiggle out of your hands. We have to put them over here…" She pointed to the sculpted hands and arms that were perfect matches to each of the children.
 "Wow!" Becca Boo exclaimed upon noticing her handprint sculpture. "They grew!"
"Bigger," Tinley added, and hugged her egg tight against her little body.
"Yes, they grew and they need your eggs," Miss Jo told them and moved towards Lola who seemed to be having a little bit of a struggle holding on to her large, wiggly egg.
"Hurry girls," Shastie called out from her perch upon the bunk bed.
All four girls looked at the eleuirrel and they laughed in unison at the sight of the elephant squirrel. "You're so cute!" Bella told the creature.
"I'm just adorable I know, but you have to get that egg where it belongs. Don't you feel it?" Shastie asked, and her tail poofed out against the sudden chill she felt seeping in through the walls.
"Here, let me help you, Lola," Miss Jo told the precious young girl and together they lift the trembling egg towards the waiting hands. With the egg gently set down the small hands curved up around the shell as best they could. The teacher could now fully comprehend why she'd been told to add clouds, but how?!
Rather quickly each child had their eggs in the outstretched hand sculptures and were climbing into their small chairs. These very special gifts were going to hatch. It seemed impossible, in fact by all rights it was completely and utterly impossible for any of this to be happening, but it was, it really was.
"Miss Jo, what's going to come out of the eggs?" Whispered Bella, as she settled George beside her and looked to her teacher, already knowing the answer. None of them knew, they didn't have a clue.
"Something amazing I'm thinking," Miss Jo answered and gave Bella a soft smile.
"Rockin'!" Lola called out as her egg's light trembling seemed to take on a more vigorous shaking.
Stepping back, Miss Jo watched as all four eggs seemed to be moving faster. She had to protect them. She had to keep them safe! It was too close to the end of all this to mess it up. Clouds, they needed soft, fluffy cottony clouds. They needed giant marshmallows, or large downy feather filled pillows, or…or…
"You're doing it, Miss Jo, you're doing it," Shastie called out softly. Indeed, the teacher was doing it. The amazing appearance of a misty white substance was seeping upwards out of the banner paper bonded to the floor. Clouds, maybe or maybe not, but whatever it was seemed to be soft and stopped rising upwards about six inches from the floor.
"I did it!" Miss Jo answered and laughed. She was protecting the eggs, or rather the creatures within the eggs.
The children's feet and bottom half of their legs disappeared beneath the thick foggy mist but they didn't seem to mind. All of them had to touch the stuff and when they did surprise quickly registered on their faces. This wasn't a thin vapor but some sort of silky, living cushion-like substance. "It's so soft!" Bella exclaimed and looked at George who was all covered except for his neck and head. The service dog didn't seem to mind the stuff floating about him, he only raised a leg once and pawed at some of it gently, testing its mettle. He could easily move in it and that was most important should Bella need him.
"Maybe the fire needs to be a little warmer," Shastie suggested as she scurried from the bed towards the fireplace. The chill that had seeped inside was only growing stronger and the eleuirrel did not like it at all. That creeping cold was something to be leery of, and she was… very leery.
"I'll put some more wood on it," Miss Jo offered and went to the stacked wood pile she hadn't even noticed before. She too felt the coldness and it was very concerning given the fact the last time this strange coldness happened their whole world had been turned upside down inside the school auditorium. That she knew on some level she was still inside the school seemed impossible but it was true, what part of the school she didn't really know not since her hike to the hatchery.
With the wood added to the huge fireplace, the room didn't seem quite as cold but the teacher and Shastie both couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread that had accompanied the cold.
Chapter 16
Outside the cabin there was a very good reason it had grown frighteningly colder. All over the little wooden structure thin black, billowy shapes of something not quite solid were slithering hungrily. As each moment passed more and more of those ethereal creatures were making their way to the cabin, each one adding its own chill to the already cold producing evil spirit beings.
In the woods a small army made up of a myriad of creatures along with their leaders- two very un-leader-like humans- marched towards the hatchery. There was very little talking among the animals but the two humans couldn't seem to be quiet at all.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Miss Tisha asked, and not for the first time.
"Facbok, you know the beon with the…"
"Blue streaks in his fur, yes, I know he said this is the right way, I just…"
"You just don't know what we're doing and neither do I, but hey, we got them all together like we were told so maybe they know what they're doing," Mr. Matthew answered with a heavy sigh.
He'd talked and talked and talked with the various animal warriors and from all his talking he gathered very little information about what they were up against. One said the wind, another a forceful wind, and still another said wisps, while yet another had told him the darkest evil he'd ever know. All of that was well  and good, but the teacher, an avid video-game player, wasn't quite sure what all of it meant. Wind forces, wisps and evil all sounded like they'd be very hard to beat and not very tangible at all. How you could fight against the wind forces or wisps, along with evil -wasn't something he knew from all his game playing. There were bad guys, animated monsters and things like that he could tackle. Sure he'd fought an evil spirit ghost like creature in a game but that animated creature was brought down by his equally animated spirit busting machete, and he didn't see any of those lying around.
"Hey, are you getting colder?" Miss Tisha asked and rubbed her upper arms briskly. The temperature had dropped quite suddenly and severely.
"Yeah, do you think that means we're almost there?" Mr. Matthew asked and swiveled his head from side to side looking for the thing one of the pogs- a pig headed dog had told him would be the hatchery. "Hey, Baby Bootgelcess, are we almost there?"
The black head and shouldered, tan colored body of the pog was just up ahead and he slowed and turned back to the teacher. Giving a loud grunting snort from his snout the pog snuffled up against Mr. Matthew's leg gently. "Yes, very close, garrrrrrruph!" An even louder grunting snort right up against his leg had the teacher jumping backwards.
"Okay, okay, just asking. Uh.. Thanks," Mr. Matthew grinned awkwardly at the pog who with a parting snort minus the grunt turned and hurried back towards the very front of the animal pack.
"So what do we do now?" Miss Tisha asked, unable to hide the slight grin of amusement brought on by the other teacher's little jump.
Not amused at all, but rather embarrassed, Mr. Matthew's ire raised but only fleetingly. He mimicked Miss Tisha, "So what do we do now?" And giving her a sideways glance his anger disappeared. This really wasn't the time or place to let a little embarrassment intrude. "We move and try to keep warm. I guess we just…"
"There it is, everybody freeze!" Facbok called out loudly but strangely hushed.
Instantly every single animal as well as the two humans stopped abruptly in their tracks.
Sure enough they were there. The cabin hatchery was no longer quite recognizable as a cabin at all it was so completely covered in the writhing, slither gray wisps.
"That's it?" Miss Tisha whispered the question softly.
"Wisps." An anroach, replied, he was one of hundreds of tiny ant-roaches, who had crawled up the teacher undetected and now rested on her shoulders.
"Wisps," Mr. Matthew said barely audible, he was trying so desperately to keep his voice down. "How do we fight them?" He asked, still clueless, he had no real weapons. A paperclip sword wouldn't quite cut it, or a lifesaver roll of hard candies as a club he just couldn't imagine would do too much damage to the almost ethereal things he was seeing.
"They can't get inside or they'd be in there by now, they're just trying to freeze them out. We have to replace them with ourselves, that's the only way," Facbok said as he moved back to the two teachers very slowly. "The thing with wisps is, they'll try to get inside you to freeze you so you have to keep your nose covered, they only go in through the nose. We'll send…"
"The nose-less in first?" Mr. Matthew finished for the beon.
"Correct, and the rest of us need to hang back. Where there are wisps, the evil will come and then the wind force." Facbok gave a swish of his blue and white lion tail then moved up very close to Mr. Matthew, almost nose to nose with him as he reared back on his bear legs standing up. "You need to tell them, we are only as strong as your commands, use your spirit. Both of you." Facbok turned to look at Miss Tisha, the seriousness in his brilliant amber eyes unmistakable.
"Use our spirit?" Miss Tisha asked and while she may have voiced the question, she sort of knew what Facbok meant. She could feel inside her something akin to righteous indignation welling up, growing, rising and wanting to be unleashed.
"You believe in God, you know what I mean," Facbok answered and settled back down on all fours.
"We do believe, but what has this to do with God?" Mr. Matthew questioned, but like Miss Tisha, he too knew the answer already. This… all of this they were enduring could only be termed as supernatural, beyond the realm of the norm, but still happening. There were forces of nature at play that stepped out of their world and into another that was still very much a part of their own. Complicated to say the least, the teachers did understand. The gifts those very special children had received from helpers were coming from the ultimate source of love.
"You need to give the order," Facbok told Mr. Matthew. The beon could feel the coldness through his thick fur.
"Okay…alright, I…I'll give the order…" Mr. Matthew stammered and swallowed hard over a strange lump in his throat. He reached for the other teacher's hand. They were in this together, their spirits united in this cause. "Listen up!" He whispered commandingly to all around him somehow knowing they could all hear him, even those that were the furthest from him. "We need all the nose-less warriors to storm the outer hatchery, get under the wisps, attach yourselves to the walls, the roof, the doors, the windows and hang on tight. On my mark…" He raised his free hand into the air and felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through his body. He was doing this, he was really doing this, he was leading this army! "Go!" His arm came down abruptly as he sent a multitude of nose-less insects off to swarm the outer hatchery in hopes of keeping the freeze from taking over the inhabitants.
Chapter 17
All of those inside the hatchery were shivering even with the fire going full force. The little girls bravely remained unmoving in their hatching seats not daring to leave their trembling eggs.
Trying her best to think the hatchery warmer, knowing she was its creator through some miraculous means unknown to her, Miss Jo was the coldest of them all. It wasn't working, no odd ball thought, no silent plea, nothing was driving the awful cold from the room.
"Don't worry, your worry is clouding your mind," Shastie whispered in the teacher's ear. She'd scurried up Miss Jo's body and was now perched upon her shoulder. Rubbing her tiny elephant trunk against the teacher's cheek reassuringly, the eleuirrel wanted to encourage the disheartened teacher.
"Are the eggs shaking because they're cold?" She had to ask, and hope it wasn't the case. If the eggs she'd been charged to keep safe were harmed because she couldn't follow through, she'd never forgive herself.
"No, they were shaking before it got so cold, silly," Shastie told her, and chuckled softly. "Go on and help the girls, I think Tinley's egg has a crack in it."
Sure enough as Miss Jo stepped closer to her five year old student and looked down at her egg there was a large jagged crack across the very top. "Broke?" Tinley asked, looking up at her teacher with very sad eyes.
"No, I mean, yes, yes it's broke but it has to break, sweety so the…the surprise inside can come out," Miss Jo said softly, laying a hand on each of Tinley's small, thin shoulders. "Isn't this exciting?"
Before Tinley could answer the crack in her egg widened and a tiny pinkish-white nub pushed upwards poking a hole through the egg.
"What's it?" Tinley asked in awe, peering closer at the egg as she inched forward on her small chair.
 "I.…I don't know," Miss Jo answered and resisted the urge to reach out and pull the egg shell apart to spill its full contents.
"Wiggles," Tinley said, and gave a small giggle. The little nub was wiggling and with each wiggle it was widening the crack and more of the creature was beginning to emerge. After three hard wiggles it was clear the pink nub was covered in white fuzz and four more little wiggles had reveal much more of the nub which was no longer a nub at all but now a round tipped triangle shaped… head!
"Eyes!" Tinley cried out happily.
The fuzzy white triangle appendage had eyes! The tiny creature blinked twice with bright blue eyes that were perfectly round and much too big for what had to be its tiny head.
"And…" Miss Jo hesitated, peering a bit closer at the thing emerging from the shell, "…it has a tiny mouth too."
"Mouth!" Tinley repeated the word and gave another amazing giggle, clapping her little hands together excitedly.
There below the striking eyes of the creature was a tiny round mouth, but no nose that the teacher could detect.
By now all the girls were looking at Tinley's hatching creature and trying at the same time to watch their own eggs.
The cold no longer seemed quite as cold and it wasn't, thanks to the insects crawling all over the outside of the hatchery. So thick in numbers were the multitude of those nose-less bugs that they looked like a living, dark carpet.
With the bug army keeping the freeze-inducing wisps off the outer hatchery, Miss Jo no longer had to concern herself with the cold and that was a huge relief, especially with this baby…creature…about to appear without its shell which was suddenly cracking in several places along the sides.
"Broke!" Tinley cried out in excitement.
"Yes, yes, it's breaking apart, get ready…." Miss Jo told her and squeezed her tiny shoulders very gently. "I think you need to catch her." Her? Miss Jo didn't know if whatever was hatching before them was a her, but she had to say something and 'it' no longer seemed very appropriate.
"Catch…catch…I will catch her," Tinley giggled and stopped clapping her hands so she could move them up closer to the egg.
Just moments later the shell split fully apart and fell off to the sides down into the cloud cushion, and there in its place was a very wobbly, adorably chubby, yet very damp white fuzzy star shaped creature. The triangle tip that was its head was clearly not a triangle of its own but one triangle appendage out of five strikingly similar but eyeless and mouthless appendages that had to be its arms and legs.
"Star!" Tinley called out as the sweet, living, damp and fuzzy star fell into her hands and she carefully pulled it to her chest cradling it gently. Instantly Tinley felt a rush of love from the tiny star as it rubbed into her.
And because the creature's back was now pointed in Miss Jo's direction, the teacher could also make out what appeared to be a pair of tiny, amazing wings! "Yes, a…a living star, she's amazing!" Miss Jo said in awe, with tears of happiness stinging her eyes. She didn't have long to stare at Tinley with her little winged star because all at once it appear the three other eggs were cracking.
Bella's little star was poking a leg out of its shell first, and Boo's had both arms sticking out the sides of her egg, and Lola watched as her shell simply cracked down the entire middle and split neatly in half revealing her enter little star all at once.
"Take her, take her," Miss Jo told the youngest one who was already reaching for her star creature.
Both Bella and Boo were waiting eagerly for their little stars to finish cracking their shells, each desperately wanting to hold the chubby cuteness in their hands.
"Soft!" Lola said. She was grinning from ear to ear as her little star pressed up under her chin rubbing its damp white fuzzy head against her. She too felt the amazing jolt of pure love emanating from her winged star creature.
"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" Shastie whispered in Miss Jo's ear happily.
"It is wonderful, I'm… I… it's just… wonderful!" Miss Jo stammered, completely in awe of what was happening.
"Look!" Boo cried as her fuzzy star broke the eggshell into pieces around a struggling little body and there the star was blinking her big eyes at the six almost seven year old. "Oh, come here precious, come here!" She told her and scooped her up gently. "I love you too!" She told the star creature and cuddled her close. The rush of love entering her mind was overwhelming, she'd never felt such a deep emotional bond before and it was amazing!
Giving a gentle woof, George didn't want to remain in his down stay position. He wanted to watch what was happening with the egg and he couldn't help but nudge Bella's leg.
"Yes, yes," Bella told him and reached for his harness with one hand knowing he'd rise to push it into her waiting grip. After a single pat to the harness, Bella was petting her service dog's head, and bent her face close to his. "Don't worry, I'll love you most no matter what, Georgie," she told him and kissed his muzzle softly before turning her attention back to her cracking egg. The little star leg was wiggling in the hole it'd created but it wasn't cracking otherwise. One hard wiggle from the leg and the egg started to tumble off the sculpted hands. Before Bella could catch it, George was there using his very large black nose to keep it from falling. With the clouds beneath, everyone knew it wouldn't have been hurt but it was still amazing to see how fast the pair worked to keep the precious gift from falling.
"We've got you, we've got you," Bella told her darling star creature, her voice no more than a whisper. She and George were a team and this little star was going to have to accept them as such.
Only a heartbeat later and the shell splintered along several invisible lines and the fuzz matted chubby star was laying there flat in Bella's palm. "Hi there," she told her and let George nuzzle and sniff at the wiggling wonder. After a very fast nuzzle sniff from George, Bella brought her little star up close to her and just like the others, she experienced an instant blast of what could only be known as love, so much love. "Ohhhhh…" Bella exclaimed the single word softly, wondrously.
Miss Jo was crying silent tears of joy, she couldn't help herself.
Nudging one of the teacher's tear streaked cheeks with her tiny elephant trunk, Shastie gave a little snort. "Amazing, just…hey, did you feel that?!" The eleuirrel gave a startled jump. The entire hatching house had given a rumbling shake. "Oh no, it's here!" She whispered in fear.
"What's here?" Miss Jo asked, her own voice a whisper. She didn't want to frighten the girls who were all very caught up in their star creatures.
"Evil…" Shastie answered in dread. "…evil just outside! We need to pray, pray hard it's all we can do. It's up to those on the outside to keep it from getting in."
"Pray?" Miss Jo queried. She knew all about praying, but she was surprised by the eleuirrel knowing about praying.
"Yes, pray," Shastie answered and lowered her elephant head until her forehead touched the teacher's shoulder, her trunk curled up underneath.
"Pray," Miss Jo stated and with a last glance at her students and their wondrous gifts she knew nothing about, the teacher closed her eyes and began silently praying. She didn't want anything to take this happiness from these amazing girls and if she had to pray for hours she'd do so.
Chapter 18
From the outside of the hatchery you'd never know the joyous event of hatching had taken place. The entire cabin was covered in insects which had succeeded for the most part in dispelling the insidious wisps. When the gray writhing masses of freeze inducing wisps had slithered away after fighting to keep hold of the cabin, the insects held tight to the structure by the command of their leader, Mr. Matthew. Barely having a moments reprieve from the awful assault, the teacher knew something worse was on its way.
"Facbok, what's this evil that comes next? Tell me now before it gets here and I can prepare," Mr. Matthew questioned/ordered the lion headed, bear bodied creature with its strange blue and white mane. He seemed to have a lot of answers to his questions and that’s what mattered to the teacher- answers.
"I could tell you but I'd probably be wrong. The evil comes in many different forms and rarely the same way twice. It's different every hatching, I…" Fakbok growled and shook his very large hairy head. "Come with me, we only have a very short window of time before it gets here, I can feel it…do you…" Before the beon could finish his question a very large tremor shook the ground under their feet and rolled across the clearing towards the cabin. The vibration from the tremor shook the cabin and a multitude of insects were jarred loose from their perch.
"This way, we only have minutes!" Facbok told the leader-teacher and started to run on his short bear legs for a few steps before falling to all fours where he could run the fastest.
"C'mon!" Mr. Matthew told his teacher companion, Miss Tisha, and started after the beon who was leading them back into the woods down a small path they'd never been down before.
"Where?" Miss Tisha had to ask, even as she started running with Mr. Matthew.
"I don't know, Facbok…ahhhh…Facbok said… ahhhhh….we have to… uuhhhghhhh…" Clearly Mr. Matthew was having trouble with the running and talking, all this exercise was foreign to the video game playing, grade school teacher. "Just… lets fol…low…." He finished and picked up speed to keep up with at least seeing the tail end of the beon in front of him.
Smiling, and doing a little huffing and puffing of her own, Miss Tisha was thrilled with the elements this dream world was taking on, such adventure!
They didn't have much longer to run, the beon skidded to a halt in front of a tiny pool of water that had gathered from a stream which, from the sound of it, was being fed by some sort of waterfall they couldn't quite see through the trees.
"Here! Come on you two, get the mud off your paws and run!" Facbok gave a loud roar of incentive to the two straggling humans seemingly weighed down by something, they were so incredibly slow.
"We're….ohhhhhh boy…. We're here!" Mr. Matthew huffed out, and bent over, his hands on his knees as he fought for much slower breathing, and if his pulse would just go down a few notches he'd take that too.
"Where is… whew… here?" Miss Tisha asked, her recovery just a tab bit quicker than the other teacher's.
"Hold on, hold on," Facbok told them, and then lowered his large mouth towards the water. "Googiki!" He called out the strange name and used a paw to tap hard down on a somewhat loose rock at the edge of the water pool.
A moment later a tiny octopus head popped up out of the water. "How may I help you? I have a wealth of knowledge not known to any other. May I be of service to you? Just tell me…"
"Oh just stop with the spiel, we're in a hurry," Facbok told the teeny tiny octopus head bobbing up and down in the pool.
"Well, I never!" The aquatic creature gave a little huff and jumped up out of the water only to reveal his sleek, equally tiny dolphin body.
"You better start then, it's the evil!" Facbok growled before the octophin could disappear beneath the water.
While the little octophin did disappear under the water, unable to stop his forward trajectory, he reappeared seconds later. "The evil!" He gasped and reared back on his dolphin tail seeming to dance on the water a few inches backwards.
"Yes," Mr. Matthew answered. He was on his hands and knees staring down at the tiniest dolphin octopus type creature ever, not that he'd seen a larger one, or one at all before this moment.
"The wisps are gone but the evil is coming," Miss Tisha supplied, and while she probably should have been scowling along with the words she spoke she was grinning. The octophin was adorable!
"I, Googiki, can help you," the octophin announced, having recovered from his initial surprise. "I have the data necessary to supply you with a few details that will help you compile a tentative mental projection of this evil. One, it's female. Two, it's old. Three, it's expandable. Four, it's … erase four- insufficient verification to submit four as fact."
"What in the world? You sound like a dictionary or an encyclopedia or…" Mr. Matthew stopped himself, he was clearly wasting time marveling at the strange way the octophin was answering their question. "Okay, so the evil is an old girl that grows?"
"What could be so evil about an old growing girl?" Miss Tisha asked. It sounded silly to her, they needed more answers.
"If you'd like to add more data I would need your sources, unless you feel lucky and want to…"
"Enough of this, we have to return!" Facbok hissed and turned from the water hole quickly running off back the way he'd come.
"Uh, thanks!" Mr. Matthew told the ocotphin and while his thoughts were jumbled with the almost computer-ish-like water creature he too turned and started running back after the beon.
"Gotta go, thank you, Googiki!" Miss Tisha told the tiny but very brainy creature, and in a flash she was also running back towards the hatchery.
While the odd trio hurried back to the cabin, the ground once more shook hard beneath them and almost sent Miss Tisha falling face forward. Managing to get her balance just in time before she face-planted into the dirt, she called out.
"What is that?!"
"The old girl growing!" Facbok answered. No, he wasn't quite sure what was going to turn up as the evil but he knew it wasn't going to be anything quite so innocent sounding as a chubby old lady.
By the time they reached the hatchery all the insects had disappeared from the cabin and were back in the woods nearby where all the other creatures were waiting, each speculating just what they were going to be fighting next.
Catching their breath once more, the teachers listened as Facbok gave the new information to the others on the evil that would be next. "As far as I can tell the timeline for this is unpredictable. I'll give you an updated status change as soon as I know more," he finished and growled deep, shaking his heavy mane in irritation.
"If it's who I think it is, there is going to be only one way to stop her." A soft, yet authoritative- and as yet unheard- voice of a sheolf spoke up from the crowd of creatures. The sheolf's wolf head was sleek and regal as well as ominous in appearance with the long teeth in its very large mouth, but it's rather adorable, large wooly sheep body was a contradiction to the appearance of its head.
"You know what it is?" Mr. Matthew asked. He truly couldn't get the picture of an elderly granny rather on the plump size, from his mind.
"She's been around since almost the beginning, just as most evil has been and she's the stuff of nightmares. I ran up against her a few years back and her one weakness turned out to be…" the sheolf whipped back his large head and let out a terrifyingly loud, wolf howl. Jerking his head back down, he finished his sentence with a snap of his sharp teeth. "…canines."
"You mean she's scared of … dogs?" Miss Tisha asked.
"Canines of all sorts," the sheolf answered and gave a little growl in the teacher's direction. Dog. He wasn't a dog.
"Oh, yes, all sorts, sorry," Miss Tisha replied and took a little step closer to Mr. Matthew. She wasn't really worried the sheolf would injure her or anything, but it didn't hurt to be a bit cautious.
"We need all the sheolfs, pogs, coyalos, foamas, and prairkals to gather around, the rest of you prepare yourselves to help the wounded," Facbok roared and took a step back. "You'd better form a strategy, teacher, uh, leader." He told Mr. Matthew and stepped back even further.
"Strategy, yes, I can do that, strategy," Mr. Matthew repeated as he watched the animals that had been called, separate themselves from the crowd. The sheolfs numbered at least twenty, the coyalos which seemed to be buffalo headed, coyote bodied animals were more numerous at about thirty, and the foamas- a fox headed llama combination were fewer at about fifteen, but the prairkals- prairie dog faced, jackal bodied animals were highest in number upwards towards fifty or so. Only the pogs, the pig headed dog bodied creatures were equal in number to the prairkals and a few of the pogs even had sharp curved tusks.
When it seemed as if all the canine type creatures were gathered together, Mr. Matthew cleared his throat but before he could utter his first word the ground shook even harder than before and more than a few animals cried out from the startling earth tremor.
"She's here!" Who said it, didn't matter, that it was said had fear clenching at both teacher's bellies.
Chapter 19
The prayer Miss Jo prayed was deep and heartfelt, but it was also silently spoken very quickly. The children were still absorbed with their amazing star creatures, as well they should be, but the danger was just as real.  Mostly oblivious to the danger, the girls couldn't stop hugging and petting the little five inch long, fuzzy white stars.
"What are you?" Bella asked the little chubby star in her hand, and she received no answer at all, just another wave of love that washed over her from head to toe.
"They're star loves," Boo said, trying to guess. She felt the love, and they were shaped like stars so maybe she was right.
"Fuzzy soft," Tinley giggled.
"Sof," Lola agreed and rubbed the star up against her cheek gently.
"Star loves?" Bella tested the idea of that being what they were by saying it, but she wasn't convinced. "Can you fly, little one?" She asked her star, staring at the slowly blinking, very big eyes. For answer she felt the tiny wings on its back flutter several times, but the creature didn't seem to want to leave her and truthfully Bella didn't want her to go.
"They aren't star loves, well, they are, but they aren't," Shastie told the girls. The little eleuirrel had stopped praying as well and moved closer to the girls, leaping from Miss Jo's shoulder to the now vacated sculpted hands of Boo.
"What are they?" Miss Jo asked and forced herself to look from the door where she had the awful feeling something was going to try and break in. She moved up alongside of Lola and crouched down to eye level with the strange but wonderful, newly hatched … being.
"These are Star Angels," Shastie said, softly, her voice filled with wonder. "You need to keep them close to you for a few hours while they dry out, whatever you do, don't let them go before then."
"Star Angels," Miss Jo repeated in amazement. Angels? Special angels? But she'd never heard of them before, never. Could they really be angels? She knew all about angels from the Bible but not once had she ever read anything about Star Angels. What was their purpose? In the Bible angels were messengers, helpers of God, helpers of man, ministering angels. Star Angels were something entirely new to the teacher and she had to know more. "Please, Shastie, tell us…."
A loud, wood rattling, bang against the door of the hatchery stole the teacher's question from her lips. "Girls! Come here, hurry!" Miss Jo quickly rose from her kneeling position to her feet and held her arms open wide, gesturing for the girls to come to her. "Careful with your Star Angels, careful!" She cautioned, hoping the little angels wouldn't fall. Yes, they had wings but from what Shastie had told them it was clear the girls needed to guard the temporarily vulnerable angels.
"I KNOW YA ARE IN THERE, YA LIL'BEASTIES!" A screeching, hideous and all too familiar voice blasted through the thick wood of the door.
"She's back!" Bella cried out and George couldn't keep the deep growl from rumbling forth through his uncharacteristically bared teeth.
The fear filling the children at the memory of the witch-like hag from their classroom was all but palpable and the little Star Angels in their newly hatched infancy were doing all they could to alleviate that fear. While the angels continued to exude love and reassurance to their bonded, they were just too vulnerable themselves at the moment to do much more.
"Yes, she's back but we got rid of her once we can do it again," Miss Jo told the girls and pulled Tinley closer, while snatching up Lola with her other arm to carry her.
"She sounds...she…she sounds bigger!" Boo whimpered softly. With both hands on her Star Angel, she wasn't taking any chance of losing this precious gift. She'd protect her; she would, no matter what.
Was it possible to sound bigger? Miss Jo supposed it was possible because Boo was right, not only did the awful, scratchy rasp of a voice sound bigger, it sounded more evil than ever before.
"I HEAR YA! I SMELL YA! AN' I'M GONNA GIT YA!" The evil creature screamed right up against the wooden door, the vibrations of her words rattling even the windows which were no longer easy to see through, the wisps having left a filmy, dark slime all over the glass.
"We have to hurry!" Miss Jo told the girls, and glanced at Bella with George, hoping the girl's one arm hold on her Star Angel would be enough to keep it protected.
"Hurry where? Where are we going, Miss Jo?" Boo asked. To her there was absolutely nowhere to go. They were in a single room cabin for all intents and purposes and going through that door where the voice was booming didn't seem to be an option.
"Over here," Miss Jo told her and quickly walked over to where a very faint outline of the cellar's trap door could be seen.
 "Good, good! You hide, all of you hide," Shastie told them and gave a rather loud blast of her elephant trunk for one so little. The squirrel tail she sported was fully bushed out from fear.
With little Lola still in her arms, Miss Jo had to set her down to open the trap door. "Stay right there, I'll help all of you down don't worry, we'll be okay, we will be, you'll see." Yes, she was babbling reassurances but that was her job, wasn't it?
"YA AIN'T GONNA WIN! YER SNIVELING CUR S'NO MATCH FER ME NOW!" The evil witch was talking about George and they all knew it! As if understanding the evil witch, George let out a loud blast of woofs all the while remaining at Bella's side, supporting her. The Great Dane's entire body was trembling with pent up fury, he wanted to attack the thing that would dare threaten his Bella! He wanted to tear her to shreds like he'd never torn anything so violently before.
"Georgie!" Bella yelled to be heard above his barking. When her voice penetrated His rage fueled brain, George reduced the barking to a low continuous growl. "It's okay, Georgje, we'll be okay, we will… you'll see we have to be! Shhhhh… shhhhhh…you have to come with me, I can't lose you, Georgie, I can't…I love you too much! I can't ever lose you!" The young girl knew that her service dog would sacrifice his own life to protect hers and she couldn't let him do it, she just couldn't. Her heart would be broken beyond repair if her Georgie could no longer be at her side, he was family to her, not just a working dog, but family.
Hating to leave Bella, George, Boo and Tinley up above, Miss Jo had to get Lola down into the cellar first before she could get the others. Moving as quickly as humanly possible she didn't have much time to think about a light source. They'd have to stay in the dark for a bit until she could figure something out. Most pressing was getting everyone down there and locking the trap door somehow.
"Here, stay right here, don't move, Lola, don't move."
"Scare, scared! Dark!" Lola cried out as the teacher's comforting arms disappeared and she was engulfed in the darkness.
In her arms the little Star Angel wiggled up against her trying to give her comfort, being so young and not quite fully bonded to the child yet, the little one could only do so much.
"You're next, Tinley, come on… come here," Miss Jo told the five year old from her perch near the top of the stairs, arms out to take her.
"Lola, Lola's crying," Tinley sobbed, crying as well. She moved within reach of the teacher and let herself be scooped up.
"Shhhh, I know, I know… it'll be okay, it will," Miss Jo told her as she hugged her tight to her and carefully hurried down the stairs hoping she wouldn't knock over Lola. The light from the open trap door wasn't extending very far down into the cellar and the other girl was no more than a possible shadow right there at the bottom of the steps where she'd set her down. "You're going to be okay, I promise! I won't let anyone hurt either of you!"
Managing to set Tinley down without knocking Lola over, Miss Jo was relieved when she heard Shastie's voice. "I'm here too, I'm down here with you. I'll protect you." How an eleuirrel could protect them would be a sight to see, but one the teacher hoped she didn't have to witness.
"Shastie's here with you, I'll be right back," Miss Jo told the two crying girls and rushed back up the stairs. "Becca Boo, come…" Miss Jo didn't have to finish her sentence because Boo was already grabbing at her with her free hand, the other clutching her Star Angel firmly.
"I'm not scared, I'm not…I'm brave, momma always says I'm the bravest girl ever, and daddy too, I'm their brave girl," Boo told Miss Jo as she hurried the child up fully into her arms and started down the steps once more.
"You are a brave girl, the bravest ever," Miss Jo reassured her, knowing the quivering in Boo's voice was fear that couldn't be masked by the determination to be brave in the face of an evil unlike anything any of them had ever known before that day. However, Becca Boo had faced the evil of cancer and had been extremely brave, the teacher knew in her heart this amazing young girl would be courageous as she possibly could be.
"I'M COMIN' TA GIT YA!" The old crone's pounding on the door became louder and the sound of splintering wood could be heard. The door was starting to give way!
"Bella!" Miss Jo cried out, and quickly set Boo down to rush back up the stairs reaching both arms up to the older child.
"No! George first, George has to go down first!" Bella cried, refusing to be snatched up by the teacher. "Go Georgie, go! Down stairs, down stairs now!"
"Bella…" Miss Jo climbed all the way up out of the cellar. "Bella please!"
"No, please Miss Jo, please, Georgie first or…or he'll…he'll go fight her, I know it! Please!" Frantic, Bella gave George the order to go down the stairs yet again, but the instincts inside the Great Dane coupled with his enhanced ability to understand what was happening in this strange world they found themselves in, had him painfully refusing the order. Letting out a low woof, George actually backed up out of Bella's hand on his harness something he just didn't do as a Service Dog.
"No," George growled, unmistakably speaking!
"George!" Bella's shock at his speaking had her stumble but the teacher was there to steady her.
"Go, I protect! Go," George woofed and used his nose to nudge Bella's side, pushing her closer to the teacher. "No, Georgie, no! You can't… you can't!" Bella cried out and in her rush to go to him she released the Star Angel.
Before Bella or Miss Jo could even move an inch to try and catch the falling star, George had snapped her gently up between his teeth and held her out to Bella. "Georgie...please…please…" Bella pleaded even as she reached to take the little chubby Star Angel. While she felt a growing attachment to the Star Angel, her attachment to George was solidified and stronger than anything else. The mere thought of losing him to that evil creature breaking through the door terrified Bella.
"Bella, we have to go, we have to…"Miss Jo didn't want to just unceremoniously grab her up but she did.
Struggling to be free but only half-heartedly, because she knew George would not back down and had to protect her, Bella sobbed. "I love you, Georgie! I love you! Please…please…"
"Love you, Bella," George told her in his surprisingly deep, yet so very soft and loving voice. "Go, be safe." He backed away as Miss Jo started down the steps holding the sobbing Bella tight to her.
All the girls were crying now, even the brave Becca Boo, whose heart was breaking at the thought of Bella's George not coming down to safety with them. To hear her friend's gut wrenching sobs tore at her brave heart and as soon as the teacher got her to the bottom of the steps, Boo was rushing towards them. "I'm… here… Bella, I'm here…" Unable to see anything clearly, the girls grappled for each other, both of them holding their Star Angels. "It'll be okay, it will…it will," Boo sobbed at her friend and soon Tinley and Lola were there as well, all four of the girls holding each other.
Letting the girls group together, Miss Jo had to rush up the stairs and close the trap door. Tears streaming down her face she looked one last time at George as the service dog took his attack stance facing towards the door. A moment later wood splintered and flew off all around him and the giant hand of the evil witch broke through. The last thing Miss Jo saw was the Great Dane leaping off the floor, jaws wide heading straight for the giant hand.
Chapter 20
When the evil old crone had appeared the army of canines was ready, but what they weren't ready for were the slew of metal animal traps that appeared with her. There were traps of all sizes, each with a spring loaded mechanism that just needed a paw to trigger it into releasing the sharp metallic teeth that would snap bone in two. There weren't hundreds of them, but thousands spread out in a carpet twenty feet from the evil crone.
"What do we do now?!" Dediwebe, the sheolf who had spoke up earlier asked, not daring to move towards the cabin. Even a calculated leap wouldn't get him far enough to miss the traps and get to the crone.
Mr. Matthew stared wide-eyed at the traps but only for a split second. "Stones! Get stones, set the traps off! Everyone, stones! Throw stones at the traps! Hurry!" If they could set off enough traps to clear a path to the crone they could still defeat her before she hurt the others.
All the animals that could possibly throw stone were instantly hunting for them. From the bird like creatures to the mixed up insects, to the mismatched animals all of them were doing their part. It was only seconds from the command that the first trap was set off by a rock, and soon the air was filled with flying stones and the sound of metal traps being sprung rang out loudly around them.
"She's trying to break down the door," Miss Tisha cried out and threw the rock in her hand so hard and far it actually hit the evil crone, but bounced off her having done no damage at all.
"Throw faster! Concentrate on that row there, come on everyone concentrate! Make every throw count!" Mr. Matthew yelled out his commands. A row of spent traps only a foot wide seemed to be taking shape and the teacher knew they had to work harder to make the path if they had any hope of the canines getting to the insidious evil before it busted down the hatchery door.
"I think I can make it now," Dediwebe called over to the leader teacher. "I've got a long jump in me."
"Try then, try!" Mr. Matthew told the sheolf, he'd seen the evil crone's fist slam through the door. They couldn't let her get inside!
Gathering up all his strength, the wolf-headed, sheep bodied sheolf started to run. His rather short sheep legs were moving fast over the spent traps and just when he was going to run into the traps still set he leapt into the air and sailed towards the crone, wolf jaws opening wide at the last second before impact. Sinking his long sharp teeth into the evil one's back, Dediwebe latched on and locked his jaws tight refusing to let go. "AHHHHHHH!" The evil witch cried out and it wasn't just because of the sheolf. Inside, and now attached to one of her huge knuckles, George the Great Dane wasn't letting go either even as the witch tried to pull her arm back through the broken door. "VILE GITS! FILTHY DOGS! CANINE DEMONS! LOOSE ME!"
"He made it, he made it! Any of you who think you can do it go, go now!" Mr. Matthew commanded the others even as he continued to set off the traps not wanting a single animal hurt if he could help it.
In moments there were pogs, coyalos, foamas, prairkals, and more sheolves hurrying to attack the evil one who was trying her best to become even larger than she already was. Then, as if  being inflated by an invisible air pump the witch was growing bigger and bigger until she was taller than the house. Her arm pulled the door off its hinges and still hanging from her fist the seemingly small dog, George, was being shaken about as she tried to get him to release her.
Several canines were now attached to various parts of the witch’s body, and more were attacking every second.
"NO! YA WON'T BEST ME, YA WON'T!" The witch screamed and just as she was about to slam George hard into the roof of the hatchery a foama with its fox mouth wide clamped onto her underarm keeping her from seriously injuring the loyal service dog. "NO! NO! NO! GIVE ME THE STAR ANGELS! I HAFTA 'AVE 'EM! GIVE 'EM TA ME! THEY'RE MINE, MINE!"
With all the canines attacking, the witch was finally showing signs of defeat. All her flailing about couldn't release her from their attack, they were too strong, too determined.
With a loud howl and a kick to the wall of the hatchery half the cabin was caved it and suddenly the evil crone was gone, simply gone! Where she'd been standing was now a pile of canines doing their best to sort themselves out all the while cheering loudly!
"We did it!"
" We won!"
"We beat her!"
" She's gone!"
Along with the evil one's disappearance the traps she'd set disappeared with her. Mr. Matthew, Miss Tisha and several animals rushed forward to help untangle the canines.
"Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?" Mr. Matthew asked as he pulled a pog up off a prairkal and set it on its feet.
"Some bruises, and scrapes I think, but otherwise we're mostly okay," Dediwebe told the teacher as the sheolf rubbed at his aching jaw with one of his hooves.
"Over here!" Miss Tisha called out to Mr. Matthew, she was kneeling by the body of the only animal that wasn't a mixed up jumble of a creature. "George," she whispered to the seemingly unconscious service dog. "Oh, George," she sighed, tears welling in her eyes.
Chapter 21
Down below inside the house Miss Jo and the girls along with their Star Angels, and Shastie were frantically, and silently praying for a miracle. As soon as Miss Jo had managed to close the trap door and secure it, the ceiling of the cellar appeared to grow four pairs of very bright glowing hands. The girl's sculpted hands had managed to alter yet again, this time they were no longer upwards in their egg holding position, but they had sunk down through the floor to illuminate the girls and their gifts.
The little Star Angels were cuddled close to each of their girls, continuously emanating waves of reassurance and love to them.
Bella held her little Star Angel with both her hands and pressed it against her cheek, all but burying her face into its very soft chubby form. She was hoping and praying George would be safe, she didn't know what she'd do without him. "Please, Miss Jo, please can we check on him, please?" She asked her teacher after the noise had died down.
"Let me check, you four stay down here with Shastie and your Star Angels, let me see what's going on," Miss Jo answered and gently pushed the two youngest ones off her and made sure they had their footing. She was hesitant to open the trap door just in case the evil hag was playing some sneaky trick on them, but what other choice did she have? She didn't want to leave George out there any more than the rest of them had wanted to.
"Thank you, thank you!" Bella whispered, her voice ragged with all her crying.
Boo leaned against her friend offering silent support. If it weren't for her Star Angel she knew she'd be crying hysterically herself.
"Nechama."
"What'd you say?" Boo looked at Bella and the other girl shook her head.
"I didn't say anything," Bella told her and only took one hand off her Star Angel so she could wipe the tears from her cheeks.
"Nechama."
"Yes, you did I heard you," Boo told the other girl and took a step away from her.
"I didn't, hush, I have to hear Miss Jo," Bella answered, confused by the other girl's insistence that she'd spoken to her when she hadn't.
"Nechama."
"I…" Boo began to protest but stopped herself. She looked down at her precious little white furry Star Angel. "Did you…was it you?" She asked.
"Nechama."
"You…your…is that your name? It is, isn't it!?" Boo couldn't help but grin. Her little Star Angel had whispered her name to her! "Nechama! Her name is Nechama! She talked to me!"
"What?" Tinley asked and held up her own Star Angel, staring into the very big, very human-like eyes that almost matched her own perfectly. "What's your name?" She asked her, and pulled her closer to her ear.
"Aliza," Tinley's Star Angel replied, her voice a mere whisper, but such a beautiful whisper it was!
"'liza," Tinley repeated happily and gave a tiny giggle, the first one since they'd been forced down into the cellar. "Her is A…Aliza."
Lola expectantly looked to her own special gift, clearly wanting to know her name as well.
"Tikva," Lola's Star Angel told her bonded one and wiggled happily in her hands.
"Tik…va…. Tik…va…" Lola repeated and bounced a little on her feet. The joy she was feeling was aided by the rush of love from her special angel.
Bella was so tempted to climb the stairs after Miss Jo, but the teacher had stopped halfway up when the girls started talking about the names of their Star Angels. Looking down at Bella she nodded. "Go on; listen for her name, please." Miss Jo didn't want Bella to miss out on something so precious.
"But Georgie…" Bella sniffled, she just wanted her George. Not that she didn't want her Star Angel, she couldn't imagine ever giving her up after George had done so much to see that they stay together.
"George will need to know her name too, won't he?" Miss Jo asked, and smiled gently at her oldest student.
Giving a nod, Bella looked at her amazing little Star Angel. "What's your name little one?"
Wiggling one of her arms, the Star Angel, blinked slowly, almost shyly and much like the others she whispered her name. "Shulamit."
"Shulamit, her name is Shulamit," Bella told everyone and cuddled the angel against her, smiling a very crooked, very sad smile. George, she still needed her George.
"They all have such beautiful names," Miss Jo said and gave a little clap of her hands. "Now I'm going to check up here and see about George, I'll be right back." Turning her body back around to finish her climb up the steps, the teacher felt greatly reassured by the Star Angels. The bonding was going so well in spite of all the chaos around them. She'd been told that evil would try to get to the special gifts and she could understand why. There was something so incredibly amazing about these little Star Angels, and  evil wouldn't want something so good loose in the world to spread the joy of love, comfort, reassurance, and peace in the unseen God who had created them, not even to four special little girls.
At the top of the stairs, the teacher pulled the securing bolt back and very tentatively pushed upwards on the door. When it didn't move she pushed up harder, really putting her weight behind the push. Nothing. They were trapped in the cellar! Panic rushed to twist her belly into a tight sickening knot and she tried to shove it away as quickly as it had rose up.
"What's wrong?" Shastie asked. The eleuirrel had scurried up alongside of the teacher and now sat on the very top step, tiny paws reaching up to the trap door pushing against it, using her trunk, hoping the incredible strength in that appendage would help matters- it didn't.
"Shhhh…." Miss Jo cautioned, she didn't want the girls worrying. "Listen, do you hear them? There are others up there. Maybe if we knock?"
"Knock? Yeah, sure, let's knock," Shastie answered and slapped her trunk against the wood above her.
Miss Jo made a fist and gave the trap door several hard raps.
"Miss Jo?" Boo called up to the teacher. "Is something wrong?"
The question seemed almost ludicrous given their situation, but the teacher understood exactly what the little girl was really asking her. The trap door should have been opened by now, and knocking on it clearly meant something wasn't right.
"Uhhh," the teacher wanted to lie and tell her no, but she couldn't. Lying never helped anyone even with best intentions. "The door is just a little stuck, don't worry." Don't worry? Boo, Bella, Tinley and Lola hadn't stopped worrying since they'd been brought to the cellar, clearly they weren't about to stop now.
"Stuck?" Bella repeated the word and started towards the steps. They couldn't be stuck! George was out there!
"No, Bella, please stay off the …. steps.." Miss Jo called down to her, but too late. About to start down to make sure she didn't fall, the teacher stopped.
"Is there someone down there?!" A loud, somewhat muffled voice called out to them.
"YES! Please! We can't open the door!" Miss Jo answered, relief flooding through her. Whipping her head around she looked at Bella who was half way up the steps, pulling herself from a sitting position step by step all the while holding Shulamit tight to her. "Bella, be careful!" She cautioned unnecessarily, the ten year old was being as careful as she could be.
"Don't worry! We're going to get you out of there! Is everyone okay?!" Mr. Matthew asked, even as he, along with a lot of others were busy digging through the splintered wood and various debris covering the trap door.
"We're okay! Is…Is…" The teacher wanted to ask about George, but did she dare? "Is everyone up there okay?"
"Ask him about Georgie, please, please Miss Jo, ask him about Georgie!" Bella begged. She had to know, her heart was aching so much she thought it would crush her.
"Move away from the door!" Mr. Matthew hollered, purposely not answering the question. He could be evasive; he was the leader after all. "We don't want anyone hurt if it caves in, move away from the door!"
"We're moving!" Miss Jo answered as a spray of dust and wood chips seeped through the cracks and covered her head. Brushing with one hand at the light debris on her face and in her hair the teacher started slowly down the steps making her way to Bella. "Here, let me help you, Bella," she told the girl and soon moved her arms around her thin shoulders to support her.
"Georgie?" Bella whispered hoarsely, fighting back a fresh wave of tears.
"We have to have faith, Bella. We have to believe he's okay, we have to," Miss Jo told her softly. Faith, they needed to believe that even if they couldn't see the service dog.
"I know, I know, I… I just, I need him," Bella sobbed softly.
 "I know you do, soon, soon," the teacher told her as she moved towards a far corner of the cellar and sat down. "Come on girls, come over here please," she told the others wanting them all as far from the trap door as possible.
"They'll get us out, look," Shastie told them all, and pointed her tiny trunk towards the trap door. "I see light." Sure enough there were beams of light coming through the cracks around the door. "We're almost there!" Mr. Matthew hollered and the noise of a large object being dragged across the floor could be heard below.
"Not long now, not long…" Miss Jo told the girls. They'd all gathered close about her clutching their precious Star Angels, but their gaze was fastened on the trap door above.
"Hold on…" Mr. Matthew called below. "Here we…go!" He said and with great effort the trap door was flung back on its hinges.
"GEORGIE!" Bella yelled and pushed against her sitting teacher, wanting to get up and go to her George.
"Wait, Bella, wait…" Miss Jo carefully moved, keeping Bella restrained just enough so she didn't try to rush off and hurt herself.
 "GEORGIE!" Bella yelled again, wanting him to come to her. He had to come to her, she was calling him, she needed him, and he always came to her when she needed him, always. Why wasn't he coming to her now?!
"Everyone okay down here?" Mr. Matthew asked, as he walked down several steps.
"Georgie!" Bella's cry was thick with anguish. She was trying to have faith, she really was. She wanted to believe he was okay, but he wasn't coming to her.
"Georgie?" Mr. Matthew queried.
Before the teacher- turned army leader- could say more, Miss Tisha peeked down into the cellar, kneeling at its opening. "He's here, I've got him. Come on," she held a hand down. "Mr. Matthew help Bella up here, please."
"Georgie," Bella cried softly, she could say nothing more, no other words would come. Miss Jo helped Bella to the stairs where Mr. Matthew reached for her, lifting her easily. Quickly he handed her up to Miss Tisha who gathered her close. Moving to her feet she walked them over to a corner of the room where a bunk bed mattress had been laid out along with a few blankets, and there piled on top of them lay the black and white form of the Great Dane. "Georgie? Why isn't he awake?!" Bella cried out and wiggled hard until the teacher set her down next to him.
"Georgie! Wake up, Georgie! I'm here, your Bella is here! Wake up now!" Tears flowed down her cheeks unchecked as she moved to grab hold of her beloved dog's thick neck, her Star Angel now clinging to her chest of its own accord. On her knees, Bella buried her face tight into George's furry face. "Please, Georgie, please," she begged him. "Wake up, please wake up." He had to be okay, he had to!
Miss Jo had helped all the girls up out of the basement with Mr. Matthew's assistance and they all hurried over to where Bella was clinging to her stricken service dog.
"Is he…dead?" Boo asked, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"Shhhhh, shhhh, I don't… I don't know," Miss Jo answered and looked at the other teachers. Had George given his life for them? She didn't realize it, but tears were also falling from her eyes. She was supposed to be the strong one, the adult who took care of her students, who took care of the service companion of her student and she'd failed.
Miss Tisha shook her head, "No, no, he's not dead. He's breathing, look, he's breathing and I couldn't feel any injuries. He's not bleeding. I don't know what's wrong."
"He's breathing," Miss Jo repeated, and smiled through her tears. He was breathing, he was alive!
"Breathing," Tinley also repeated the word and nodded, moving closer to Bella and George.
Lola followed suit, as did Boo. All four girls surrounded George now and without any words they each placed their chubby little Star Angels upon him, never taking their hands from them as they did.
"Help him, please, help him," Bella whispered hoarsely.
Could the Star Angels help? Could they do for George what no other could do? The little girls believed they could.
"Help him," Boo whispered along with her friend.
The two youngest joined in. "Help him, help him, please, help him."
The three teachers watched the little group and they too began to plead for help. "Help him, God, please help him." Miss Jo begged. She knew God had blessed these children with their extraordinary gifts, and He could allow these gifts to help, weren't angels helpers?
The little Star Angels lay against the warm fur of the Great Dane, wiggling softly. "Help…" Whispered the tiny voice of Bella's Shulamit. And the white fur of each baby Star Angel began to glow.
"Ohhhh.…" Bella and the others collectively sighed in wonder at the amazing sight unfolding before them.
The glowing sheen left the Star Angels and moved over George. Tendrils of the softest light extended from the tips of the angels limbs and coiled all around the service dog until he was completely covered, bathed in the glowing light.
"Georgie," whispered Bella and underneath the covering light she saw his eyelids flickering open. "Georgie!"
The service dog's eyes snapped open fully at the sound of his beloved Bella's voice and the glow around him completely disappeared. A moment later his warm, wet tongue gave Bella's cheek a loving kiss.
"He's awake! You did it! Thank you! Thank you!" Bella cried out and hugged him tight to her.
"They did it! They fixed him!" Boo said and laughed happily as she scooped Nechama up in her hands and hugged the Star Angel against her.
The other two girls also gathered their Star Angels to them, each one grinning happily, feeling the rush of awesome love as the bond with them deepened.
"Thank God, thank You, God!" Miss Jo said in awe and  wiped the tears from her face. Such miracles! Such amazing miracles!
"Sorry to put a damper on things," Mr. Matthew moved closer to the celebrating group and cleared his throat loudly. "Uh… this isn't over yet. Come on, we have to find shelter before…"
And before he could finish they all felt the first touch of what was on its way. A breeze, unlike any breeze they'd ever felt brushed over their flesh. It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold, but it sent a burning skin prickling sensation over them that was anything but normal. "What is it?!" Miss Jo asked, rubbing instantly at her bare forearms.
"The Wind Force," Mr. Matthew answered. "Come on everyone, come on, to the woods now!"
Chapter 22
No sooner had they lived through one evil than another was upon them! Would it ever be over? Miss Jo saw the terror in the eyes of her four young students and it crushed her. What had she done to them? If she'd never protected the eggs in the first place they would be gone and none of this would have happened. Bella wouldn't have almost lost George and the awful attacks would never have been witnessed by eyes too young to fully comprehend. Who was she kidding, her eyes were much older and she didn’t fully comprehend anything.
"Come on, Miss Jo," Boo called to her teacher who was temporarily lost to her self-recrimination. "We have to follow Mr. Matthew and Miss Tisha."
"What? Oh, yes..yes, come on. Can George get…" Before the teacher could finish her question, the service dog was on his feet and offering his harness to Bella. If he'd been seriously injured he was now fully healed. Miracles. Miraculous creatures. Whatever this all was, even if it were a bizarre dream/nightmare, it was beyond whatever imagination she'd always thought she'd possessed and she'd always had a very healthy imagination.
"Hurry, it only gets worse," Dediwebe the sheolf grumbled as he scrambled across some of the hatchery debris littering the floor. The wind was growing stronger and what remained of the hatchery walls wasn't safe to be around.
Miss Jo ushered her students carefully from the broken down hatchery and with one last glance she couldn't help but feel a pang of loss. Gliedlegna had told her that her imagination had created that hatchery and now it was no more than rubble. It had served its purpose, the Star Angels had hatched successfully from their eggs and that was most important. Forcing herself to look away from the hatchery, the art therapy teacher glanced up at the semi-darkened sky. Dawn had come and passed, but still it didn't feel as if a new day had started. They hadn't slept and time seemed so different in this world. She wasn't even extremely tired which she couldn't comprehend. In some ways it had seemed like mere hours from the start of the first day of summer school, and in other ways it seemed as if days and days had passed. Wondering what her students were making of it all, Miss Jo was determined to ask them once they were safe once more.
"Where are we going?" She asked Mr. Matthew as they entered the edge of the forest.
"Back to the auditorium," he told her, barely sparing her a backwards glance. "Back to where we started." He was growing quickly tired of this real life video game and needed to find the exit button, it had to be somewhere, and auditoriums usually had more than one exit sign, right?
"Will we be okay?" Boo asked, as she moved up alongside of Miss Jo, slipping a free hand into her teacher's.
"Yes, we will. If we can survive what we just survived, we are going to be just fine," Miss Jo told her and grinned, lightly squeezing Boo's thin fingers.
"Good. I can't wait to get home and tell everyone what happened. Addy won't believe it! And Jasmine is going to be so shocked, and Chelsea, well no one will believe it!" Boo giggled.
"You can say that again, Becca Boo, no one will believe any of this," Miss Jo outright laughed, and it felt good. For a moment, just a moment she allowed herself to forget about the Wind Force that was even now pushing its strange tingling fingers at their backs.
"Momma?" Lola asked, clutching Tikva to her, letting the tip of the fuzzy head of the star tickle under her chin.
"Yes, you're going to see momma soon, I promise," Miss Jo told the ebony skinned, amazingly vibrant little Lola.
"Home soon, David will like Aliza," Tinley said, joining in the conversation, thinking of her younger brother.
All the girls and their teacher had the same hope- a safe and quick journey home.
"Yes, David will like Aliza, if…" Miss Jo added the 'if' because she had to. She didn't want the children disappointed. "If he's allowed to see her. I'm not sure how it'll work out girls. Your little Star Angels didn't come with manuals. Let's just hope others will see them, yes?"
"Yes," they all said in unison. All but Bella who had been strangely quiet since they'd left the hatchery.
"What about you, Bella? Do you hope others will see Shulamit?" Miss Jo asked.
Bella hadn't really been quiet, she'd been talking with George very softly the entire time. Almost losing him had all but destroyed her and she didn't want to ever risk losing him again. The pair were actually conversing with each other. George speaking in his very soft, deep voice, hushed even softer to a whisper so their conversation would remain private.
When Miss Jo asked her question, Bella jerked her head around to look at her teacher. "What? Oh, yes, yes, I hope so." She did want others to see the precious, George saving, Shulamit but she didn't want anyone to try and hurt her and it would appear strange, evil things did want to hurt the precious Star Angel. "Miss Jo, where's Shastie?" Bella asked. Maybe Shastie could give them more information on their Star Angels she'd already told them they had to keep them close for a few hours, and hadn't it been a few hours? Bella wasn't sure, time was weird, really weird right now.
"Shastie?" Miss Jo repeated and looked about her. As far as she could see around them ahead, back and side to side she didn't spy the eleuirrel. "I'm not sure. The last time I saw her she was watching George wake up."
"Can I call for her?" Bella asked and gave a little shudder. The prickling wind was getting colder and then hotter alternately and it didn't feel good at all.
"Sure," Miss Jo told her and picked up her pace some.
"SHASTIE!" Bella called out and then all four girls were calling for the elephant squirrel that had become their hatchery companion.
From up above them in the trees a leaf shaking limb bent down and there she was hanging by her tiny elephant trunk. "Hi! You didn't think I was leaving you just yet, did you?" She laughed and then released herself from the limb. Her small squirrel body twisted mid-air and she landed surprisingly soft on Miss Jo's head. "Hey!" Miss Jo cried out and laughed.
"Hey yourself," Shastie laughed and gave a little trumpet. "What'd ya need girls?" She asked and scurried from the teacher's head down to her shoulder where she perched herself securely.
"I was just wondering if you could tell us more about our Star Angels, they don't talk too much," Bella answered.
"Ah, no and they never will talk much. You see, Star Angels are well, little comforters really. They're gifted to those who are very special and can use their comforting, their love, and their hope in the future. I know you're all so young and you won't understand it all now but as you grow up you'll know. You all have a hope beyond all the heart aches and pains of your world. These precious gifts allow you to realize there's a better place waiting for all of you that is being prepared for you by Jesus."
"Jesus," Miss Jo whispered. Her relationship with God had been a constant up and down over the years, but she had always held fast to the hope He and He alone offered. "You're talking about Jesus returning to take those who are alive and His to heaven, not about anyone dying, right?"
"That I am, Miss Jo, that I am. One day Jesus is going to return here to this world, He promised. But something a lot of people choose to ignore is He's never going to touch the ground but remain in the air. He's going to call all His people to Him in the air and they're all going to His home in heaven. These Star Angels are His gifts to you now, to remind you of the hope you have in Him so that no matter what you have to endure now, one day everything will be perfect. Do you understand? It's okay if you don't, like I said you're all a bit young." Shastie said.
"I'm not sure I understand it all," Bella said, and Boo gave a little shrug of her shoulders, she wasn't sure about all of that either but it sounded interesting.
"What do we do with them?" Boo asked, holding her already beloved Nechama out in front of her, smiling at the Star Angel as her heart swelled with the love inside her.
 "Do with them? Well, in a little bit they're going to be old enough to do some pretty amazing things." Shastie told her and gave a tiny trumpet with her trunk, a happy little noise for the happiness the eleuirrel was feeling. "Your Star Angel won't always remain visible to even you, they'll be able to be seen and not seen at their discretion. I mean, they'll always be around, ready to comfort you, but they won't need to be held much longer. They can fly as you know, they have wings," Shastie chuckled. "
"What do you mean they won't always be visible? Will they be like spirits?" Miss Jo asked.
"They are spirits every bit as much as the angels you know about are spirits. Did you ever read the story in the Bible about angels coming to Abraham and eating with Him before they went on their way? Abraham saw them in the form of people, and they joined him for a meal, but they were angels just in human form at the moment. These Star Angels are the same. Very soon they'll be able to return to just their spirit form, or take on their Star form as they need to," Shastie explained, hoping, really hoping the young children understood enough of what she was telling them.
"Do they eat?" Bella asked.
Laughing, Shastie felt a touch of relief that they didn't seem overly confused by what she'd just said.
"Yes, they can eat, but they don’t have to. Also, they'll be able to grow."
"Grow? How big do they get?" Bella asked, wondering if her Star Angel would outgrow George.
"They'll get as big as needed," Shastie answered, a touch cryptically.
"A big as needed? What do you mean?" Boo asked, and grinned at Nechama who was smiling at her with her tiny mouth.
"Just what I said. If you need a cuddle companion, they'll be cuddle size. If you need a comforting embrace they'll be big enough to hold you in their arms. They'll never be just a single size. They'll also be as small as you need them to be too, but only when they're older, they grow into these things, you'll see."
"Wow," Boo exclaimed looking in wonder at her Star Angel. Even now she could feel the love coming from Nechama and it was a warm, needed feeling that made her feel all cuddly inside.
"Wow," Tinley mimicked, the little girl only understanding so much of what the eleuirrel was saying.
"Yes, wow," Miss Jo added. To have a tangible proof of the love of God in this way was something she never even imagined existed. The blessing these children had been given and that she had been given in being a part of it all, was beyond measure.
"Hate to break up your little chit chat, but you have to move faster," Baby Bootgelcess, the black and buffed colored pog snorted behind them. "The wind is picking up and you don't wanna be caught out in it when its full force, so hurry it up."
The wind was picking up and Miss Jo didn't like it at all. It reminded her simultaneously of a dust storm with its biting sand being whipped about and a snow storm with tiny ice particles flying everywhere.
"Let's go girls, you're going to have plenty of time to get to know your Star Angels," Miss Jo told them and once more picked up her pace hurrying the children along to keep up with the other teachers and children.
Chapter 23
The walk back through the woods went rather quickly all things considered. Mr. Matthew didn't get lost, of course his guide kept him on the right path.
"Hey, Rockeiniponth!" Mr. Matthew called out to the racosum, an animal with a raccoon head and tail all on a possum's body, a creature that moved surprisingly very fast.
The racosum stopped and turned around but didn't make a move to go to the teacher- the teacher would have to come to him. He never back tracked over territory already gone over if he could help it, and he could help it.
"How much further? We're getting close aren't we?" Mr. Matthew was growing more and more concerned. His bared skinned felt chafed and almost raw, he could only imagine how the others were feeling. He had kids and Star Angels to look out for. Yes, he and Miss Tisha both had gaped in wonder at the little Star Angels that had hatched from the eggs, but neither had time to do much more.
"Close is a relative term, I'm not exactly sure where you are going? Yeah, yeah to the auditorium where we first saw you, but will you want to be on the hill or down in the wooded seats, you never said?" Rockeiniponth whipped his big bushy striped tail back and forth quickly, it helped keep the biting wind off him, not that it hurt too much he was pretty much covered in thick gray fur.
"Are you kidding me?" Mr. Matthew grumbled.
"No, he's not kidding you, where are we going?" Miss Tisha asked, moving up alongside the other teacher.
"The woods, there has to be more shelter in there than here, we can get to the corner of the back stone wall and set up a shield of branches or something," Mr. Matthew grumbled. He wasn't sure his plan was a good one so voicing it wasn't something he wanted to do.
"We'll be there in less than a half pass, if you stop dawdling," Rockeinponth told him and turned to rush off.
"Dawdling? I don't dawdle, I…" Mr. Matthew began to defend himself.
"You're dawdling!" Rockeinponth called back to the teacher.
Groaning, a low somewhat miffed growl, Mr. Matthew started forward once more. "Half pass, what's a half pass?!" He grumbled.
"No clue," Miss Tisha told him, and laughed. "Hey, Thumpweet! How long is a half pass?"
A pretty brown flying bunny with bright yellow feathered wings flew around Miss Tisha's head. "It's not a whole pass," she told her and landed upon her shoulder, bunny paws clinging to the teacher's shirt.
"What's a pass, I mean, how long did it take to get to the hatchery?" There, maybe she could figure this time thing out if she had that information.
"A couple passes at least, I'm not sure exactly," Thumpweet told her and pushed off Miss Tisha's shoulder and back into the air.
"Thank you," Miss Tisha told the bunird, and watched the bird bunny fly away. Best dream ever! "Hey, Mr. Matthew! We should be there in less than half hour."
Mr. Matthew jerked his head around, staring at the other teacher. "How do you know?"
"A little bunird told me, hey, you're dawdling," she teased him and giggled when his cheeks took on a pink tinge.
For all that the two teachers leading the small group were engage is a bit of small talk, or so it seemed to those further behind, and at least one of them was smiling, Miss Jo wasn't even thinking about grinning. Her worry lines had deepened as the girls were clearly starting to feel the abrasive effects of the wind.
Looking at the thirty or so school children between her little group and the two teachers up front, it was clear they too were growing increasingly uncomfortable. The children, the strange animals, all of this was taxing on them and Miss Jo wasn't sure how much longer they could go without a significant bit of rest.
Just when she thought it was time to call out to the other teachers and tell them they all needed to rest, a lemowl flew by screeching loudly. "Take cover! Take cover! It's almost here!" The flying lemur-headed owl screeched again. "It's right behind me! Take cover!"
"Run! Just run!" Miss Jo yelled. To take cover insinuated there was somewhere to take cover, but there wasn't, not really, not yet.
When Mr. Matthew and Miss Tisha heard the lemowl's warning they both stopped and spun around to face the school children, and then they heard Miss Jo's yelling for them to run. "You heard her, RUN!" Mr. Matthew hollered and motioned for the group to go on forward without him. He had to help with the youngest ones, the littles that couldn't run as fast at the others. Scooping up Tinley, he gave a jerky head nod at Miss Tisha who grabbed up Lola. Both teachers turned to run after their students, knowing Miss Jo had Boo now clinging to her. Bella, upon George's command had climbed up on his back and laying as flat on him as possible, clinging to his harness which was biting into her body in various places, the service dog took off running. While he hadn't been trained at all to do this, it was something the emergency called for and besides, it was his idea, one he'd voiced to his beloved Bella loud enough for Miss Jo to hear.
They weren't going to make it, Miss Jo, who was the last in the group felt a sharp searing pain across her shoulders as the wind force cut into her flesh through her clothing tearing right through the material as if it were nothing.
Letting a cry she couldn't hold in the teacher almost fell over but before she could Facbok, the beon- bear/lion was there grabbing her up in his strong arms. "I've got you! We can help you!" And by 'we' he meant several other beons that appeared and began grabbing up teachers and students. Along with the beons, a pack/herd of sheolfs appeared and were quickly instructing various smaller students to climb upon them. The animals were saving them, they had hope! Now, if only they could out run the wind force, but truthfully who could ever outrun the wind?
With animals helping humans, while other animals guided them over the auditorium hill where the ashes of the fire were still smoldering in the big firepit, the motley group were all being unrelentingly struck by the biting wind. "Hurry!" Mr. Matthew yelled to all who could hear him, he saw the racosum Rockinponth just up ahead they were almost to the back wall of the auditorium. Would they meet their demise there, all of them cut to shreds by the wind force while cowering against the wall? Not if Mr. Matthew had anything to do with it, and he hoped he did.
"Get in the corner! All of you in the corner! Hurry!" He yelled as he was released and the beon carrying him moved off to try and help others. "This way! Hurry! Over here!" He motioned wildly with his arms for the children who were also being released by their animal helpers, to come to him. And moments later the last of them was there and the group of thirty-some children with the three teachers were all grouped tightly together.
Various cries of fear and pain could be heard above the growing noise of the fierce wind, and Mr. Matthew had never felt more helpless in his entire life. "Please! Help us!" He yelled to the animals who were feeling their own distress from the wind force.
Without any hesitation, the selfless animals that were so much more than mere creatures to be treated as pets or used as fodder, and as sport were forming a barrier up around the furless human beings. "How do you fight the wind?!" Miss Tisha yelled to the other teachers to be heard above the wicked noise the wind force was making.
"You can't!" Miss Jo yelled back at her. Wild dust storms, snow storms, tropical storms all over the world fueled by wind could never be fought, only waited out until they dissipated, they'd have to do the same, just wait it out.
"Pray!" Mr. Matthew hollered, and repeated himself. "Pray!" And as he yelled the last word, suddenly he saw the one thing he'd been looking for, the exit sign!
There is was, brilliantly lit up in bright red and even flashing, and beneath the sign he watched a pair of doors appear with their normal metal push bars for handles. The normalcy of them seemed out of place set in the stone wall as they were but he didn't care, the exit sign, their exit was there! They could escape; a way had been made for them to escape!
"There!" He shouted and pointed towards the doors, all the while hurrying towards them with Tinley still clinging to him. "Follow me!"
Pushing up against the metal handle for a moment the teacher thought it'd be locked but it gave way easily enough and he was through. It took only a second for it to register that the door opened to the hallway of the school, the normal unaltered school. "Come on! Hurry!" He set Tinley down safely off to the side and told the little one to stay put while he helped the others hurry in. They were back! They'd left the video game dream world and were going to live to tell about it, not that any would believe them.
In rushed all the school children and at last the other two teachers. Stopping at the open doors, the animals couldn't cross over. The wind force was blasting at them, they could hear it but the invisible barrier that kept the two worlds separated held fast. "Thank you! Thank you for everything!" Miss Jo yelled hoping the animal could hear her.
"Come on, close the doors," Mr. Matthew told her. He was hoping once the doors were closed the wind force would die off because it no longer had a reason to exist. The Star Angels were all safely out of reach from all evil that would steal them from their bonded ones.
Pushing the doors shut, the teachers had to set down Lola and Boo, who quickly went over to Tinley and Bella, who was no longer clinging to George's back.
A loud clang of metal on metal rang out in the hall as the doors shut completely and the awful noise of the wind was instantly silenced.
The children who had been crying were now drying their tears, and the checking each other over for any injuries- surprisingly finding none at all. Each stinging blow from the wind force was gone, no bruises, no cuts, no scratches, nothing at all remained and as they watched in wonder even their torn, dirty clothing was repairing itself. Whatever magical adventure they'd just endured apparently wasn't completely over just yet as they were tidied up. Without any assistance, hair ribbons were being tied, shoes buffed, and buttons replaced and it was all happening very quickly.
"I…" Mr. Matthew started to talk only to stop himself and shake his head in disbelief. What did one say when they'd been through something like this? Was it a mass hallucination induced by some experimental drug vented through the school air ducts? He knew it wasn't but he wasn't sure how to make it all make sense in a way he could believe without thinking himself crazy.
Mr. Matthew wasn't alone in his thinking, Miss Tisha knew on a certain level that she hadn't been dreaming and still wasn't dreaming, but she didn't know how else to keep her sanity, dreaming just helped make things better.
"Miss Jo?" Bella held up Shulamit, smiling wide. "Can you see her still, Miss Jo?" The four girls with their special gifts had no problem comprehending the miracle they'd been involved in, the living proof was settled in their arms, felt in their hands, and believed in the love flowing from the Star Angels right into their hearts.
Nodding, the art therapist teacher, smiled gently. "I can still see her, Bella."
The others, the two teachers and their thirty-some students seemed to be taking stock of themselves more than anything else, so when Boo whispered to Miss Jo, she wasn't all that surprised. "They can't see them anymore."
Boo knew this to be true because she went to thank Mr. Matthew, she told him Nechema thanked him too, but he'd only smiled and nodded, patting her on the head once. But he looked right past the Star Angel in her hands as if he didn't see her at all.
"I'm not sure what's happening," Miss Jo told the four girls as she gathered them close to her. "I think their memories are being fixed along with their appearance. Listen to them…" She glanced over at a small group of four boys joking around with each other.
"Summer school doesn't last as long; we get out of here a whole hour earlier."
"You wanna come over my house and hang out?"
"My mom's working; dad's gotta pick me up. I'll ask him."
"Hey, why don't we all get our bikes and go to the park?"
Miss Jo laughed softly. Everything was truly going back to normal; it was as if everything that had happened to them was disappearing from sight and memory to all but the five of them. Even Miss Tisha and Mr. Matthew were calling out for their students to head back to their classrooms for homework assignments.
"I don't understand,” Boo whispered, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Honey, I don't understand most of what's happened to us and I have a feeling I might never understand it all. I think," Miss Jo paused and crouched down in front of the girls. "I think this miracle was for us for many reasons. You've all been given something so amazing, and while you can't share it with the whole world, the gift you've been giving will help you become the most amazing adults ever. You know there is something miraculous in this world without any doubt and this will help you give hope and inspiration to others in a very special way. Keep the hope and the faith real inside you with your Star Angels knowing no matter what, there's a special future that awaits you and all who believe."
"Miss Jo, do you think others have Star Angels too?" Bella asked, as she gently stroked the very soft white fur covering Nechema.
"I do, I believe that others do have Star Angels and more will," Miss Jo answered and stood back up. "Now what do you say we go back to our classroom and get things ready for you to go home? Your parents will be here soon."
And just like that the very special gifts for Tinley, Bella, Becca Boo, and Lola were safe and secure. What adventures were going to lie ahead for the little girls and their special gifts weren't for Miss Jo to know. Her renewed faith in a God who gives blessings and miracles to all His children in so many ways, would see her through all the rough patches that would come. The girls hadn't been promised physical healing, but they were given promises of spiritual hope, of comfort, of love that no illness, no disease, in fact nothing could take it from them, not ever.
The End.
*******
Star Angels
Spirit gifts - hope, comfort, reassurance, love

Fuzzy white at birth the Star Angels are small, star-shaped, furry, gossamer winged creatures that are amazingly soft.  Their all white fur will grow in quickly over the course of the next month until they are very fluffy. After their fur is in fully it will have the ability to take on colors as desired by its bonded.  However their wings will always remain mostly translucent but are otherwise tinged with an iridescence sheen.

A Star Angel is only 5 inches long at hatching but rather pudgy and will eventually gain the ability to expand and contract to whatever size is needed by their bonded. How long it takes to get this ability varies from Star Angel to Star Angel and no one is quite sure what influences this trait.

They can fly a few hours after hatching when they are fully dry and bonded,  and will do so, going wherever their bonded one goes without needing to be carried.

They have no ability to carry anything and can't be used to get anything tangible for their bonded.  Their arms and legs are handless and footless, projecting out from their bodies much as you'd expect from a star-shaped creature. They can wiggle their arms and legs as needed, and they can also cling to their bonded simply by being next to them.

On the their fifth appendage pointed up between their two arms they have very large expressive, round, almost human-like eyes closely matching the colors of their bonded eyes. The Star Angels communicate with mostly voiceless emotion, though they can speak in whispers, but only if they choose and never upon command. They exude emotions needed at any given time and its sole purpose is to offer love to their bonded through hope, comfort, and reassurance. Their bonded one is constantly reminded they are never without a companion.

Each Star Angel is only seen by its bonded and those involved in its hatching,  but can also choose to be seen by those who truly, beyond a doubt love their bonded.  They can also be seen by animals, but because of their nature, every animal that sees them will find a friend in them and they never cause an animal to become upset in any way.

Every Star Angel has the ability to understand their bonded one but Star Angels rarely speak aloud even though they have small mouths used mainly for sharing of food something that is not necessary to their existence but is often utilized by the need of their bonded to nurture them in that way.  They have a very supernatural existence, and their digestive system is also in the realm of mystery and quite inexplicable.

Star Angels have the amazing ability to be solely spirit without corporeal form, and can never, ever be hurt after they've successfully bonded with their partner for at the least an hour. Their ability to seemingly disappear protects them at all times.

Through all of life's pains, heartaches, and troubles a Star Angel will give to their bonded the very special knowledge that they are loved by a God who wants them to never forget Him, and to know that one day they will put on immortality and live in a new world without any pain, heartache, or trouble, at the return of God's Son who will call them to be with Him forever.

Unlike most guardian angels that every person possesses, Star Angels give a tangibility to God's protection that is rarely allowed.

Needing nothing to live- no food, water, air- these Star Angels can live forever and when their bonded sleeps their temporary death sleep they will be with them the entire time until they awake at Jesus' return.

Can a bonded one ever divest themselves of a Star Angel once they've bonded? No. However a Star Angel will never intrude on a bonded and if the bonded one doesn't want to see them, or use their comforting, hope giving, love offering abilities the Star Angel will disappear until needed.   If however a Star Angel's bonded chooses to not love God and be with God through the grace of God's Son, Jesus Christ, a Star Angel will go on to be with God without their bonded when Jesus returns for His people.

Tinley-  Star Angel - Aliza (Joy)
Lola- Star Angel - Tikva (Hope)
Bella- Star Angel-  Shulamit (Peaceful)
Boo- Star Angel-  Nechama (Comfort)


Author- Dorene https://www.facebook.com/shirl.d.hughes?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/TinleyGraceBritton?fref=ts     Tinley
https://www.facebook.com/LolasVoice?fref=ts        Lola
https://www.facebook.com/bellaandgeorge?fref=ts    Bella
https://www.facebook.com/allergictocancer?fref=ts    Becca