“And may I ask why you’ve bestowed such misery upon your parrot?”
“Because it’s also my Book of Beautiful Lies,” Charmwill said. “Parrots tend to talk too much, so I thought I’d enchant it with eternal silence.”
Pickwick folded his wings like humans fold their arms in front of their chest. He looked away, displeased.
“Then you shouldn’t have chosen a parrot in the first place,” Justina mused. “But you’re charming Charmwill. You always do things your way, and I won’t argue with you. Nice to meet you, Pickwick,” she nodded toward the parrot as if she could see. “I am the Justice Godmother of the Fairyworld, but as you see I’ve been blinded by the dark forces, trying to spread evil into our world,” Justina sighed at the irony. “I’m blindfolded, and you’re mute. We might be the perfect match.”
The mermaids let out a sympathizing whistle.
“Any luck with balancing the good and evil in the Fairyworld?” Charmwill wondered. He knew the apples resembled the good, and the snakes represented evil.
Godmother Justina kept silent for a moment. She had been trying her best to balance good and evil, but the evil in the Fairyworld, however little, caused a lot of mischief.
“So tell me, Charmwill. What brings you to the Missing Mile?” Justina asked, rummaging in a basket next to her for a healthy apple to balance the scale.
Charmwill put his hand-held glasses back on, walked to the edge of the ship, and looked down at the coffin with the shadow of a boy in it. “I came to free the boy,” he said.
“What boy?”
“The Boy Who is a Shadow,” Charmwill looked back at her.
“Loki?”
“Yes, Godmother,” Charmwill nodded. “I came to free him from being shadowed, and give him a second chance in life.”
“And why would you want to do that?” she wondered. “You know this boy has great darkness in him. That’s why he was banned from Fairy Heaven. He’s been sentenced to be shadowed for eternity.”
“Eternity?” Charmwill narrowed his eyebrows.
“When an immortal, particularly a half-angel, sins, his soul is turned into a shadow as punishment. Forever. His shadow is very strong though; that’s why it’s chained.”
“I can’t believe you did that to a fifteen year old boy,” Charmwill said.
“It was the right thing to do, or the darkness inside him would have taken over his soul, and the consequences would be irreversible.”
“He is mentioned in the prophecy,” Charmwill said. “This boy is going to help save the Fairyworld. How could the Council of Fairy Heaven do that to him?”
Pickwick had never seen his master so upset.
“It looks like the prophecy was false,” Justina said, adding half an apple to the scale. Still, the snakes won. “The boy has proven that by defying the Council’s orders. You know what he did, Charmwill.”
“I don’t care what he did,” Charmwill said. Pickwick was curious as to what the boy did to be punished. “He was one of the best Dreamhunters ever. He killed many demons, defending the Fairyworld.”
“That was before he fell in love with a demon girl,” Justina said. “Disobeying the Council of Heaven is the worst thing a half-angel can do,” Justina sighed. “In Loki’s case, the phrase ‘like father like son’ proves to be true.”
“Are you saying that because his father also fell for a demon girl?” Charmwill asked.
“Although his father was a pure angel, we both know that he defied the Council of Heaven, too, when he married Loki’s mother, a demon girl as well,” Justina said. “Can’t you see it runs in the family?”
“I still have faith in the prophecy, Godmother. I still want to free the boy,” Charmwill said.
“You don’t understand,” Justina said as she rummaged in the basket, desperately wanting to balance apples and snakes. She had picked the ripest, red apple from a basket to create a balance, but without success. The problem was that the snakes grew bigger and heavier whenever she added an apple to the scale. It made her mission impossible. She found a rotten apple in the basket with a worm climbing out of a hole in it. Pickwick thought she knew about the apple from the way it smelled. Or was it that the Godmother Justina was cheating, and that she wasn’t actually blind? “This boy you’re trying to save is like this rotten apple,” she sighed, about to throw it away.
“Wait!” Charmwill said. “I see you’ve failed to balance the scale with the ripe apples. Would you accept a suggestion on my behalf, Godmother Justina?”
“And that would be?”
“Why don’t you try using the apple in your hand?” Charmwill said.
“You mean this rotten apple?” Justina shook her head, “no way.”
“Just trust me,” Charmwill said. “You compared it to the boy, remember? What if it balances your scale? Would that change your mind about him?”