The Great Adavera

This is a story. Or perhaps the beginning of a story. I don't know if I'll write anymore. If you want to hear more vote "Interesting" on the bottom of the post.

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And yes, this would be a child/preteen story, so it's probably not for everyone.

365 Days of Creativity

day eight

Ally jumped up and down on her bed. Her brunette curls bounced in front of her eyes.

"Hey, monkey! No more jumping on the bed, it's time to sleep." I picked her up and gently laid her against her pillows.

"But Mooooooom, I'm not-"

"Tired?" I interrupted. "You say that every night and every night you pass out faster than I do when your dad talks stocks."

Ally giggled. "Yah, but tonight I'm really REALLY not tired."

I reached over and swept one of her silky locks off her forehead. "Really really?" I asked.

She nodded sincerely. "I want to hear the seashell story."

I gave her a stern look.

"I mean!" She fumbled to correct her self, "Can I please hear the seashell story? Daddy says it's your best story of all."

"Well, it is new to you, but that's a long story, are you sure you want to hear it?"

Ally nodded.

"And it can be scary, are you sure you won't get scared?"

All tossed her hair back, "I'm the bravest little girl there is, even Daddy says so."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, "Well then it must be true."

She squished into her pillows excitedly and pulled her covers up to her chin. "Ok, ready." She declared.

"Ok, if your sure you can handle it." After one more affirming nod from her, I began. "Once there was a little girl. She was a lot like you. Her and her mommy lived together in a little house by the sea. Her Daddy died in the war, and she missed him very much.

Everyday the little girl would go down to the shore and pick the prettiest shell could find. Only one of them. Once she had thirty shells, her Mommy would tell her to pick her favourite. Then she took the little girl to the cemetery, and they would put the shell on the Daddy's grave.

And so it went. For years they collected shells until the girl was old enough to walk to the cemetery alone. The grave was almost completely covered now.

One month, the young woman, (for she was quite grown up now) walked to deliver the seashell. This one was especially nice. It had the perfect pearly finish on the inside, that shone wonderfully under the quarter moon. (She always went on the quarter moon because that's when she thought it was prettiest.) And the top of the shell was hardly ridged at all, but had dark stripes on it, like that of a tigers.

And so she walked, not seeing the leaves stir and trees tremble. She was too busy looking at the lovely shell and thinking about how she would like to swim out to sea and just float with the turtles and dolphins and all the fantastic creatures of the ocean.

By the time the girl got to the cemetery the wind had pick up quite a bit. She held her shell close and pushed open the heavy gate.

Gusts of wind pulled her clothes this way and that, and her hair was thrown about her face. She couldn't see much, but she knew the way to her father's grave like she knew the smell of the sea.

She saw the flowers that old man Nicholas always left for his wife, and knew her dad was two rows over. Worried that all her shells might be blowing around, she ran the rest of the way. But when she got to her father's grave, all the shells were just as she left them.

The girl bent down and placed the newest addition. Just... there, yes that's perfect. She thought. The shell nestled into it's new home, and suddenly the wind stopped.

The young lady looked around. It was dark, too dark. Something was wrong.

Suddenly, she could hear a music box. It was plinking and plunking and getting louder and louder. She could also hear squeaking, like a door thirsty for oil.

Coming slowly out of the darkness was a bit tall box The top half of the box was glass. The bottom was faded and rusted, but you could still see some colour on the old tin siding.

Looking closer, the girl saw that it was an old fortune teller booth, like they used to have at fairs. It's neglected wheels were bringing it noisily closer.

The girl had nowhere to hide, so she stood there as the box wheeled right up to her. A dim red light came on inside the glass, and something started whirring in the bottom of the box. She could see a dark something starting to move.

A dark lump raised up, draped in crimson silk. A skeletal hand came off the base of the box and slowly reached under the cloth. The music was losing rhythm, and the plunking of the song slowed to a stop.

And then!"

Ally gasped, her eyes wide as tennis balls.

I paused for dramatic effect.

"And then the veil was thrown back, and a gypsy woman stared at the girl. Her face was mostly hidden with the same red fabric, but her eyes stared out. Or, I should say, the shadows where her eyes should have been.

The girl screamed and jumped backwards, but a chair appeared behind her and she fell right into it.

The gypsy watched her. When she finally spoke it was a harsh rattling sound, and her words were pulled around by the strange accent she had. 'Vat is your name?' She asked.

'Me?... n-uh,' the young girl stammered.

'Me-nuh? Mina?' The gypsy looked her up and down. 'That is an unusual name for such a regular girl.'

'Who are you?' Mina asked.

'I, am the Great Adavera.' She gave a grand flourish with her skeletal hand. 'The best fortune teller and seer in the history of Ore.'

'Of.. Ore?'

'Yes! Of Ore! You do not believe me? Let me show you.'

Mina watched Adavera testily. The gypsy beckoned her closer with a bony finger. Mina slowly stood up and approached the booth.

Adavera reached into her robes and pulled out a perfectly clear crystal ball. She raised it up to her face and whispered something ever so softly. The ball came to life with a small white bead in the center. The tiny sphere rotated and started to unfurl. Little wisps of smoke extended here and there. A tendril reached out and pressed against the globe.

Adavera put the ball onto a velvet stand. The red light in the booth gave the smoke a ruby hue.

'Come child, tell the ball who you are.' Adavera waved Mina up to the glass.

She moved foward slowly, 'What do I say?'

'Tell it what you are doing here.'

'I- um,' Mina leaned into the glass, when she spoke her breathe created a small circle of fog. 'I came to the cemetery to give my dad his seashell.' The fog from her words slowly seeped through the glass. The small cloud was pulled into the slowly rotating smoke in the crystal ball.

The smoke churned and turned a dark angry grey. Adavera reached her hand into the globe. She slowly pushed through the glass, and grabbed something in the cloud. The hem of her sleeve touch the ball and it sizzled away instantly. When Adavera pulled out her hand, the white bones were steaming. Clenched in the skinny fingers was something grey and striped.

Mina's eyes went wide and she burst out in protest, 'Hey! That's for my father's grave!'

Adavera stared at her with shadowy sockets. 'Don't vorry Mina, it hasn't been moved.'

Mina looked down to her fathers grave, only to realize it was gone. Every grave was gone. The landscape was all the same, yet nothing was there.

'Where are we? What did you do?!' Mina demanded.

'I didn't do anything.' Adavera held out the shell, her hand reaching through the glass.

Mina ignored her hand. 'What are you?!' She spat.

'I am your wake up call.'

'Get away from me!' Mina screamed.

And suddenly the shell was falling. The gypsy booth was gone. The shell landed softly on the ground. A thick black moss covered everything.

Mina breathed heavily. She bent down and picked up the shell. It was indeed identical to hers. If anything maybe a bit more vibrant.

Mina looked around, seeing only shapes that she could barely make out by starlight. Starlight? She looked up, where has the moon gone? 

And so Mina stood in this strange world, alone and afraid."

I turned to Ally and kissed her forehead.

She looked puzzled. "And?" She asked.

"And what?" I said.

"Aaaaaand, what happens next? What happens to Mina, where did the gypsy lady go?!"

I smiled and winked. "They went to bed, and so should you."

"But!"

"But nothing. That was plenty of story, and if you're a very good girl tomorrow, I might tell you some more." I stood up and moved towards the door.

"Night Mommy." Ally blew me a kiss and snuggled into bed.

"Goodnight monkey." I shut the door.