The Magic Drink
Forgiven

After a while of walking, a conversation started up.

“How old is Mungo?!” Mári asked.

“Ten,” Eilish replied, “Or eleven...”

“Ten?! So I guess he hasn’t aged much. Unlike Scotty and I were. We were the same age when we met, I had Mungo when I was 25, when I was 30, he watched me die! And Scotty is now over 2,000 years old,” Mári said.

“Sad...” Eilish said.

“What will you do with all of these prisoners once we get to Scotty’s Tower?” Mári asked.

“Make them promise to be good, then let them go,” Eilish said.

“I’m not sure if they’ll keep their promises, prisoners are unpredictable!” Mári said.

“It would be wrong to harm them...” Eilish said.

“And some of us aren’t even adults yet!” the young boy commented.

“Let’s let them go,” Eilish said.

“I agree! They seem to not be dangerous,” Mári said and licked someone’s hand.

Eilish smiled.

“And we are forgiven that easily?!” the young boy asked.

“Well, what did you do?” Eilish asked.

“Me? I stole a bottle of Magic Drink from the market. They had no idea how I snuck in!” the young boy said.

“That’s not that bad...” Eilish said.

“Yeah, but they say I’m too young to drink and also that I stole it which they say is bad. So they popped me into a prison cell!” the young boy said.

“That’s not good,” Eilish said.

“They think I’ll grow up and kill people,” the young boy said.

“Be free,” Eilish said.

“Thanks,” the young boy said.

“Okay, don’t drink that stuff though...” Eilish said.

“Fine, I won’t,” the young boy reluctantly said.

“I’m serious, my friend got amnesia from drinking Magic Drink...” Eilish said.

“Ha, it’s milk! Milk can’t be that bad for you right?!” the young boy asked.

“It’s alcoholic milk!” Eilish said.

“Alright, alright!” the young boy said.

“Okay,” Eilish said.

“It’s not like you’d ever see him again so you would never know if he kept his promise,” Mári said.

“You don’t trust me anymore?!” the young boy asked.

“A lot of people can change,” Eilish said.

“I’m not going to drink the Magic Drink, okay?!” the young boy said.

Eilish smiled and said, “Yay!”

“Do you still have the keys? We need to unhandcuff them all,” Mári said.

“Yep!” Eilish said.

“Alright!” Mári said.

Eilish unhandcuffed the young boy.

“Where should I go now?” the boy asked.

“Don’t you have a mom and dad?” Eilish asked.

“Yeah, actually I do!” the young boy said.

“Then go back to them,” Eilish said.

The young boy nodded his head and took off. Eilish smiled.

“You know, the storm stopped when Scotty drowned,” Mári noted.

“So he did it,” Eilish said.

“He never finished following the plan he scratched into the wall... I should’ve never trusted him anyways!” Mári said.

Eilish was confused.

“Back 2,000 something years ago when he was still in prison, I gave him a tool to draw on the wall. He sketched out everything he planned to do when he was free. I loved him too much to realize that everyone, not just me, was threatened by him! He was so young then! They beat him until he bled and they forced him to do hard work around the building!” Mári said.

“Poor Scotty...” Eilish said.

“I loved him so much... I know he didn’t mean to kill me. He was drunk that day and I tried to talk to him,” Mári said.

“It’s not your fault,” Eilish said.

“But he wasn’t drunk this time; he purposely wanted to kill you!” Mári said.

“I beat him to it...” Eilish said.

“One second more and you would’ve been the one underwater!” Mári said.

“I didn’t though...” Eilish said.

“I have no idea why he wanted to kill you so badly though,” Mári said.

“Probably because I sent him to jail,” Eilish said.

“He was very great at pretending, until he smirked,” Mári said.

“Why did he smirk?” Eilish asked.

“I have no idea, I only knew that it meant he was going to kill you,” Mári said.

“Thanks for warning me,” Eilish said.

“You’re welcome! Um, when can I see Mungo?!” Mári asked.

“Let’s go!” Eilish said.

Mári followed. Eilish ran back to the house and grabbed the kittens.

“The kittens kept trying to eat me!” Fyer said.

“Oh, I’m sorry...” Eilish apologized.

“They are all safe though,” Fyer said.

“Yay!” Eilish said.

“The buildings in town are a bit damaged from that wacky storm!” Fyer commented.

“Oh...” Eilish said.

Fyer flew around, shining red light on everything. Eilish looked around.

“I bet Joe would be willing to fix this! And we need to give him his kitty anyways!” Jamie said.

“Great idea!” Eilish said.

“But where is Joe?” Fyer asked.

“I have no idea...” Eilish said.

“If only we figured that out earlier...” Pàl said.

“Yep,” Eilish said.

“I could track him down, if any of you have his scent?” Mári suggested.

Mári, Fyer, Eilish, and the McNeills all headed off to replace where Joe went and eventually tracked him down to the second floor of another store. They asked him if he could help repair the town.

“Hm, sure! The town sure could use a fixer upper,” Joe said.

“We got you a kitten too!” Jamie said excitedly.

“Really? May I see it?” Joe asked.

Eilish handed over a red kitten. Joe cuddled the kitten and then prepared for work.

“Thank you so much! You guys are all so nice!” Joe said.

“You are nice too, you are willing to help us fix the town and stuff,” Eilish pointed out.

“I guess that’s true,” Joe said.

“Anyways, before we get even more sidetracked...” Malcolm said impatiently.

“Let’s go!” Eilish said cheerfully.

“Yeah!” Jamie agreed.

“While you guys go wherever you are headed, I’ll be fixing up the broken town,” Joe said.

“Alright,” Eilish said.

With that, Joe carried his kitten away in the pocket of his hoodie and went off to fix the broken town.

The group left and finally headed for the hospital; which looked to be the final destination, and where the last kitten would replace its owner. What happened once Mári was reunited with her son? Will Mungo remember much about the others? Many secrets were still hidden and they must be figured out. Which will win, sorrow or happiness? The world is constantly changing, for better, and for worse...

white’>“If you don’t kill him, he’ll end up killing you like he did to me!” Mári said.

Eilish pushed Scotty under the water. Scotty was trying to get out of the water. Mári turned away, unable to bear seeing her husband die. Eilish held Scotty down. Scotty was struggling.

“I’m sorry...” Eilish apologized to Scotty.

Scotty started sinking, holding his hand out in hopes that Eilish would change her mind and rescue him from the flood. He disappeared under the water. Eilish sighed sadly.

“Now...how are we going to explain this to my son?” Mári asked.

“Where is he?” Eilish asked.

“My son...I haven’t seen him since my death!” Mári said and started crying.

Eilish swam over to Mári and said, “It’ll be okay.”

“I must see him!” Mári said.

Eilish hugged Mári.

“Who is your son anyways? Maybe we’ve seen him! Right, Eilish?” Jamie suggested.

“Yeah, Jamie’s right!” Eilish agreed.

“I named him Mungo... He can turn into a shadow sometimes. He loves the color black, he has blue eyes like mine used to be, his hair is black, and he has little fangs. That’s how I remember him,” Mári said.

“Mungo’s your son?!” Eilish asked.

“You know him?! So does that mean he survived?!” Mári asked.

“Yes, but he’s got amnesia...” Eilish said.

Mári was shocked, she asked, “How?! Did Scotty have something to do with it?!”

“He drank too much Magic Drink...” Eilish said.

“Where is my son now?! I need to see him!” Mári begged.

“At the hospital,” Eilish said.

“First of all, we need to take all of these prisoners to Scotty’s Tower!” Mári said.

“Okay!” Eilish agreed.