The Phoenix Stone: Chapter 3

"When my father was a boy, there was no such thing as a double lion. In fact, many people didn't even believe lines existed! It all started with 2 young boys. Nobody knew their names or where they came from and at first, they were quite nice. They helped the ladies by running errands, and they moved coal from place to place to help people stay warm in the Winter. The boys even helped build train tracks for the trains to pass through the village. Even Miss. Miller liked them to help around her house. But one day, food started getting stolen from the market. Houses were broken into, and things were taken from them. Everyone knew that it wasn't their neighbor, but that only left the 2 boys. " It can't be them," or " Poor dears blamed for everything," is what everybody said when they saw the boys. But little-by-little, the boys got more and more money and no one could figure out where it came from. Even the men whom the boys worked for didn't pay them that much. Some people say that every time something was stolen their eyes would turn bright yellow. Eventually, they had so much money that they left the village. The night they stopped in the next village, the baker was murdered and robbed. In the morning, the boys moved on to the next village, and again, someone was murdered and robbed. The boys always left the village they were in by daybreak. This went on for many months, maybe years, when the boys ended up in a city outside of the kingdom itself. They, again, acted quite nice. On Mondays, they would run errands, on Tuesdays, they would clean, so on and so forth. Everyone came to love the mystery boys. When the boys had been there about two years, another man was murdered and robbed. The boys' eyes were yellower than is known possible to anybody. It turns out that they murdered and robbed the old witches son, who was quite rich and kind. This brought the witch into the investigation. She questioned every person she knew and didn't know. She eavesdropped on conversations around town. She didn't know the boys too well before, but a week into the investigation, she knew them very well. She learned about their golden eyes and how they had suddenly gotten so rich. The old witch fit the pieces together and hunted down the boys. Around 9 o'clock PM, she huddled near the boy's house. Inside, the boys were talking. " We should move on, brother, they will find out soon enough." One was saying, when the other cut him off. "They will never suspect us. We have been so kind to them. Besides, no one has proof. It will look like wild lions killed them." " But brother, what if they find out we are young Rejigs?" Rejigs were a group of people that could turn into animals. Usually, a Rejig could only turn into one animal. These boys could turn into lions. When the witch heard this, she jumped through the window. " You have murdered my only son and robbed him. You Rejigs! If it's a lion you want a lion you shall be! Lions have no need for wealth!" Then she screamed some words I would rather not repeat. She said a spell and the boys began to transform. They have feet one instant and paws the next. They had long fuzzy manes, and were larger than John Henry himself. The two boys turned into one lion that was thrown out of town. The lion murders out of anger. He has no use for money and he dislikes most people. Silas has formed an army of rogue Rejigs. They are going to attack the people, I'm sure." The man smiled at Isabel, then disappeared. Isabel, questioning the old man, was now hungry and wanted to go home. She looked at her necklace and a map floated down on the desk. A red line showed her the way home. Elsa jumped on the desk, nudged the necklace, wished for a sandwich and looked up. Out of nowhere, a sandwich fell on Elsa's head. It was gone in less than 10 seconds, then the travelers headed home.