By Jareth
Chapter Ten: Recovery
“How long has she been out?
“Three days.”
“I can’t believe nothing’s broken, Foxglove is one lucky bat!”
“Too right! Why I remember once when I was in Queensland, one a those fellas dropped right out of the sky and landed right on topp’a me. Broke most a’ the bones in me body!”
“Look, she’s waking up!”
Foxglove opened her eyes too find herself on the couch, all of her good friends crowding around her. “What happened? I feel like a freight train hit me.” Foxglove said as she sat up.
“You’ve been out for three days luv!” Monty informed her, relieved that she had finally woken up.
“We were afraid you had gone into a coma.” Said Gadget, sounding as equally relieved as Monty had.
“I… I had the most wonderful dream.” Began Foxglove.
“WHAT?!” The Rangers yelled in disbelief.
“Yes,” Foxglove continued, “I dreamed that Winifred was trying to become a real witch, and that a giant bat landed on me, knocking me out.
“Criky!” Exclaimed Monty “I’d hate too see one o’ your nightmares!”
Foxglove continued, “The Laundromat was about to collapse and squash me, when Dale rescued me and carried me off in his arms.”
“That wasn’t a dream.” Chip informed her.
Now Foxglove looked nervous. Before, she had simply dismissed the part about Winifred because she hadn’t known that it was real. “S-s-she’s…” Foxglove began stammering
“Don’t worry Foxglove.” Gadget said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “What ever chemical Winifred had in that cauldron, became a volatile acid. She literally melted, just like the wicked witch of the west!”
“M-melted!?” Asked a horrified Foxglove.
“Yup,” Responded Gadget “melted.”
Foxglove sat up. “I think I’m going to throw up.” She said, covering her mouth with her wings and running into the bathroom. The sound that came from the bathroom moments later, suggested that she had.
The Rangers waited for Foxglove to come out, but instead, they heard what sounded like soft pouting, coming from inside. Quickly, they all ran in to see what was wrong. Foxglove was crying all right. She sat on the floor, looking down and sniffling.
“What’s the trouble luv?” Monty asked, getting on his knees so he could see her face.
Foxglove looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. “*sniff N-not even Winifred deserved that.”
“She was going to kill us all!” Chip protested.
“Foxglove’s right Chip.” Gadget said, looking over at Chip “No matter what the circumstance, no one ever deserves to die.”
“Gadget’s right Chip.” Agreed Monty
Although it had nothing to do with their current conversation, it suddenly occurred to Foxglove that Dale wasn’t there. “Where’s Dale?” Interrupted Foxglove. A loud snore from across the hall answered her question.
“He’s sleeping” Chip said, rolling his eyes. “He’s got to be the laziest…” But Foxglove had already left the room. Chip, Gadget, and Monty followed her to Chip and Dale’s room, only to find her hanging upside-down, gazing at Dale.
“Aww, now aint that cute?” Said Monty, putting his hands on his hips.
“Well, Foxglove seems to have made a full recovery.” Chip said half jokingly as he began to close the door.
“Yeah,” Agreed Monty “speakn’ of recovery, I’m gona go see if Zipper’s woken up yet.”
Foxglove hung, fixated on Dales sleeping face. “He’s so cute when he’s asleep.” Thought Foxglove as she moved a little closer. “Almost as cute as he is when he’s awake.” Foxglove closed her eyes dreamily. “My knight in shining armor, coming to rescue me and carry me off in his arms.” Foxglove moved so close that her face was almost touching his. She turned to make sure that the door was shut. Foxglove then turned her attention back towards Dale. She moved her head slowly towards his, and began to kiss him.
Dale’s eyes burst open. “Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!” Dale screamed as he fell of the bed.
The other Rangers came bursting in “What happened!?” asked Chip looking at Dale.
“I dreamed that I was kissing Fat Cat!” Dale yelled, a tone of horror in his voice
“That’s enough to wake anyone up!” Monty said, chuckling.
Foxglove noticed that he had left out the part about waking up to Her kissing him. However, at the thought of Dale kissing fat cat (She had seem pictures of him), Foxglove couldn’t help but laugh along with the rest of them.
Meanwhile, at the library downtown, the librarian sat at his desk. “*yawn,
When is something interesting going to happen around this place?” Complained
the middle aged librarian, stamping the Date Due stamp down on a sheet of paper.
He had grown so board that he had begun stamping various due dates onto some
paper, seeing how long if would take for the ink to run out so he would have
an excuse to go outside and get some more. At that moment, the most beautiful
woman he had ever seen in his entire life walked up to the desk, causing him
to accidentally stamp his hand. The woman was accompanied by what appeared to
be a pet fox. “Please be looking for me!” He said hopefully.
“My name is Winifred.” Said the woman as she sat on the circulation desk. “I was just wondering where the books on magic were stored.”
“W-well uh… Maam, the books on magic tricks are located near origami and –
“No,” Said Winifred, stopping him in mid sentence “I mean Magic as in actual magic.” It had been a while since Winifred had been fired from her cleaning job at library, and they had moved everything around drastically.
“Why, are you some kind of witch?” The librarian asked jokingly
“You might say that…” Winifred replied in a foreshadowing tone.
“I kind of guessed that by that star-moon outfit you’re wearing. By the way, those cloths look kind of big on you.” Commented the librarian as he eyed her form.
“Ahem.” Winifred said, beginning to become annoyed with this man.
“Right, Well,” began the librarian “lets just have a looksey through the online card catalogue.” He began to search through the computer. After around what seemed like fifteen minutes and twenty thousand mouse clicks, the librarian finally looked up.
“Well?” Winifred asked hopefully.
“Do you know which button is the start menu?” The librarian asked sheepishly.
Winifred sighed, looking at Darien who had lain down on the floor.
“I’ve no clue which button it is.” Darien said calmly.
“That’s not what I was going to ask.” Winifred said, a hint of frustration in her voice. “I was wondering if you remembered what the first book smelled like.”
“Yes, indeed I do. Is this new one made of the same leather?” He asked, stretching lazily.
“Yes, it is.” Answered Winifred.
“Oh God, I think I just crashed the Internet.” The librarian said, accidentally dropping/breaking the mouse.
“Good, go find it,” Winifred ordered, “I’ll take care of mister computer wizard over here. It will be an excellent chance to test out some of my new spells.” Winifred grinned evilly.
“As you wish master.” Darien said as he began to wander off into the labyrinth of bookshelves.
“Uh, maam, animals aren’t allowed in the library.” The librarian informed her, nervously watching Darien as he walked out of sight. “If they go to the bathroom anywhere, I’d end up being held responsible.”
Winifred turned to face him. Without a word, she reached up and pulled what appeared to be a short white glowing line out of thin air. Winifred moved the glowing string in front of her lips, and blew very gently, causing the line to divide into tiny pieces, which instantly became dozens small glowing white rose petals. The librarian watched in sheer amazement as the petals began to swirl around in front of Winifred’s face. Winifred stuck out her hand and pointed at the librarian. Instantly, the petals rocketed towards him as if they had been shot out of a rocket launcher, and cut right through him, hitting the wall behind him and bursting into thousands of tiny white sparkles which quickly fizzled out.
“Augh…” The poor librarian began to cough up blood. With that, he fell to his knees and with one final cough, died.
“Good riddance.” Winifred said heartlessly as she began to walk away from him, towards the bookshelves. “Have you found it yet?” Called Winifred.
“Yes, I have.” Came a voice from behind her.
Winifred spun around to see Darien holding a leather book in his mouth. “How did you get behind me?” She asked, looking interested.
“I guess I’m as sly as a fox.” Responded Darien, dropping the book at Winifred’s feet.
“Heh, good answer.” Said Winifred as she picked up the book. The
book read in the same style letters as the first, COMPLEX CURSES AND HEXES (FOR
ADVANCED WIZIRDS/WITCHES ONLY!)
She opened the book and began too leaf through it.
“Well,” Darien asked, looking up at Winifred “does this book contain any techniques worth learning?”
“This book has some very useful skills indeed!” Winifred began reading
some off: Vapor apparition, Advanced Psychokinesis, Levitation, The insignia
curse…
Winifred stopped, apparently reading the description of this one. “My God,
this one is perfect!” She yelled, showing it to Darien.
Darien looked at it for a moment before saying anything. “This curse is one of the key steps in your plan.” He said, looking back up at Winifred. “But where are we going to find a seven inch black diamond shard?”
“Come Darien,” Said Winifred, motioning him toward the exit “we’re
going to make a little withdrawal.”