then a child? Where is the nobility in that? I’ll tell you. There is none. Because your Princess Boa is a fake! She has no more royal blood in her than I do.”
There was a furious shriek from overhead—
—and the branches shook so violently that a green rain of torn leaves fluttered down.
“There you are,” Candy heard Laguna Munn mutter under her breath. “I knew you were up there somewhere, you vicious little—”
A branch overhead creaked loudly, drawing Candy’s gaze up through the knotted branches to the place where Boa was squatting, her form delineated by narrow rays of violet light that passed up through her body from her soles to her scalp and from her head to her heels, throwing off a loop of incandescence when they crossed at her waist. She rocked back and forth on the branch, and then suddenly spat on Laguna Munn’s now upturned face.
“What are you staring at, you fat, old buzzard?” Boa said.
Mrs. Munn pulled a large handkerchief out of the sleeve of her dress. “Nothing of any worth,” she replied as she wiped her face. “Just
And with that she sprang up from the ground into the canopy where Boa was squatting, leaving her handkerchief to drop to the ground.
“Take care of Jollo!” she yelled to Candy as she disappeared into the shadowed canopy. Then the nearby trees shook as Boa attempted her escape into it, and the chase overhead moved off up the slope, leaving Candy alone with the sick child.
Chapter 15
Face-to-Face
MAMA?” JOLLO SAID WHEN Candy sat down beside him. She didn’t need to correct his error. “Wait, you’re not Mama.”
“Your mom won’t be long,” Candy told him. “I’m just here to look after you until she comes back.”
“Candy.”
“Yes.”
“She came out of you, didn’t she? The girl who killed me.”
“You’re not dead, Jollo. And your mom’s not going to let you die.”
“There’s some things even Mama can’t control,” Jollo said. His voice was getting weaker, word by word.
“Listen to me,” Candy said. “I know what the Princess did to you was horrible. She tried to do the same thing to me. But hold on.
“What for?”
“What for?”
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to answer that.” He raised his head off the ground and squinted at Candy. “Tell me about the Constrictor.”
“The what?”
“Boa,” he said, his face suddenly becoming a playground of mischief. “Get it? Ha! I just made that up.”
At the moment death was forgotten, anything was possible. Candy grinned. There was such sweetness in him she saw, hidden behind his melancholy.
“She was there inside you all the time?”
“Yes, she was there.”
“But you didn’t know what a monster she was, did you?”
Candy shook her head. “I had no idea,” she said. “She was part of me.”
“And now? How does it feel?”
“Empty.”
“You feel alone?”
“Yes . . .”
“Still, it’s better that she’s gone.”
Candy took a moment to consider this before replying.
“Yes. It’s better.”
Before Jollo could ask any further questions, a welcome and familiar figure appeared between the trees. “It’s only me!”
“Malingo!”
“Same old geshrat,” he said. “But who’s this?”
“You remember Jollo? Mrs. Munn’s boy?”
“He remembers me the way I was,” Jollo said. “Before Boa got to me.”
“So it worked,” Malingo said.
“Yes, she’s gone,” Candy said. “But she almost killed poor Jollo.”
“And you.”
“Well, yes. And me.”
“Where is she now?”
“Up in the trees somewhere,” Candy said.
“She’s running away from Mama,” Jollo said. He looked up at Candy. “Isn’t she?”
“That’s right.”
“But I want her back now. Just to say good-bye.”
“Maybe I should go and look for her,” Candy said.
“Yes . . .” Jollo said.
Candy took hold of Jollo’s hand. His fingers were sweaty but cold. “What do you think, Jollo? If I have Malingo stay with you, will you promise not to . . . not to . . .”
“Not to die?” Jollo said.
“Yes. Not to die.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll try. But bring Mama back soon. I want her here with me if . . . if I can’t stay any longer.”
“Don’t say that,” Candy said to him.
“It’s the truth,” he replied. “Mama says it’s bad to tell lies.”
“Well, yes,” Candy said. “It is.”
“So hurry,” he said, slipping his fingers out of Candy’s grasp. “Find her.” He turned to Malingo. “You were a slave to a wizard once, weren’t you?” he said.
“I was,” Malingo said.
“Come closer. I can’t see you in the darkness. There. That’s better. Tell me about it. Was he cruel? I heard he was cruel.”
Jollo’s interest in Candy had already slipped away; all his focus was now entirely upon Malingo. Candy got to her feet and left the two of them to talk, happy the boy was diverted.
“So how did you become a slave?” he said to Malingo.
“My father sold me . . .” Malingo began.
Candy didn’t hear any more. She retreated until she no longer had sight of Jollo, and he had no view of her. Only then did she turn her back on the place where he lay and face the tree-covered slope. This time she didn’t need any magic to plot a course to Mrs. Munn. She could hear the chase going on through the densely knitted canopy farther up the slope. Candy could even hear echoes of the incantatrix calling after Boa.
“There’s no way off this island, Boa.”
“Let me alone, will you?” Boa yelled back as she sprinted over the treetops. “I didn’t know the boy was your son. I swear I didn’t. I mean, how could I? There’s no family resemblance.”
“Liar! Liar!” Candy yelled right back, her interruption echoing that of Boa, minutes before. But she had more to say. “You knew
“Stay out of this, Quackenbush!” Boa hollered. “Or you’ll be sorry!”
