The Truest Heart Page 3

  As the noise died down, one ogre raised his voice louder than the others. “Watching them eat has made me hungry. Bring on the food!”

  “He’s kidding, right?” Cory asked Blue as the crowd headed toward the pavilion where the food had been laid out on tables.

  “Not at all,” said Blue. “Ogres’ three favorite things are eating, drinking, and contests. You’re going to see plenty of all three today.”

  “What about music?” Cory asked him. “They did invite you here to play your trumpet.”

  Blue grinned. “That’s when they’ll do their drinking. They’ll roll out the barrels of cider once the contests are over.”

  “What is there to eat?” Cory asked, crinkling her nose at the strange smells.

  “Lots of things!” said Blue. “Why don’t I get you a plate of food you can eat? It can get pretty rough when a crowd of ogres are vying for their favorites.”

  Cory took a seat at one of the picnic tables while Blue went to get their lunch. Although the table was empty when she sat, ogres carrying loaded plates soon headed her way. She was glad when Macks took the seat across from her.

  “Great party, huh?” he said as he set his plate on the table.

  Cory nodded. “It’s not like any party I’ve ever attended before.”

  “You should enter the next contest,” said Macks. “It’s a three-legged race. No boulders to roll over you in that one!”

  “I’ll see,” said Cory, not sure she wanted to take part in any ogre contests.

  She looked up when Blue sat down beside her. “Here you go,” he said. “Corn fritters, turnip greens, and applesauce.”

  “I’m surprised they have food like this,” said Cory.

  “Ogres like all sorts of food,” Blue told her.

  “Don’t you eat meat?” asked Macks. “There’s some tasty beef and sausages on the end table. They always get the best liverwurst.”

  Cory shook her head. “My mother is a fairy and I grew up eating like one. Very few fairies eat meat.”

  “Huh,” grunted Macks. “Takes all sorts. Hey, Estel! Over here!” Turning back to Cory, he gestured to the young ogress approaching the table. “That’s my girlfriend, Estel. We’ve been together about a year now.”

  Cory watched Estel cross the lawn, waving to some ogres, saying hello to others. If she had been a human or fairy, she would have been considered extremely unattractive with her patchy hair, eyes that were two different sizes, lumpy nose, and no chin. But if Macks was indeed considered to be a handsome ogre, she was probably thought to be lovely.

  When Estel reached them, Macks scooted over and patted the bench beside him. “Have a seat, sweetie pie. I want you to meet Cory, Blue’s girl.”

  “Hey there,” Estel said as she set down her plate. “I’m glad I finally get to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from Blue and Macks. I’d be jealous if you weren’t so . . . well, you know.”

  Cory glanced at Blue with one eyebrow raised. He shrugged and patted her hand.

  “Cory and I were just talking about the three-legged contest,” said Macks. “Why don’t you be her partner, Estel? You’re closer to her in size than Blue is.”

  “Sure, I could do that,” Estel told him, giving Cory a condescending smile.

  When Macks and Estel started their own conversation, Cory whispered to Blue, “What was that all about?”

  Blue cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “To most other people, you are considered to be a truly beautiful young lady, but ogres have a different standard of beauty. I hate to say this, but she’s acting like she feels sorry for you. Estel is a very popular girl among ogres. She thinks she’ll be doing you a favor by being your partner in the contest.”

  “But I don’t even want to be in the contest!” said Cory. “I never said I would do it.”

  “I know,” said Blue, “but you sort of have to now. It would be a real insult if you didn’t take her up on her offer.”

  Cory sighed. She’d do it if she had to, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. While the ogres gobbled their food, she started picking at her lunch. After the first few bites she discovered that it was surprisingly good. Her appetite had come back, so she ate everything on her plate and sat back to wait for Blue to finish.

  “Want to go for a walk?” he asked when he finally set down his fork.

  “I’d love to,” Cory said.

  “Be back in time for the race!” Macks told them as they got up from the table.

  “We will,” Blue assured him, taking Cory by the arm.

  Cory waited until they were alone before saying, “You do realize that Estel may be smaller than you or Macks, but she’s still much taller than me and has to weigh at least two hundred pounds more. I don’t know if I can do a three-legged race with her.”

  “You’ll be fine,” said Blue. “If she has to, she can carry you. After all, you are as light as a feather.”

  Cory gasped when he swept her off her feet and ran toward the forest. She thought she saw someone dart behind a tree, but then Blue twirled her around and she forgot all about it. Around and around they went until they were both dizzy. When he finally set her down, they leaned against each other, laughing as they waited for the world to stop spinning.

  “You know I love you, right?” he murmured into her hair.

  “I love you more!” she replied.

  “That’s not possible,” he said.

  Blue was about to kiss her when they heard Macks yelling. “Hey, you two lovebirds, the contest is about to start!”

  “Rain check?” Blue asked her.

  “You’d better believe it!” Cory told him.

  Estel was waiting with a length of rope in her hands when Cory and Blue reached the spot where the contest was about to begin. Macks and Blue paired off while the ogress tied her right leg to Cory’s left. Someone had used chalk to draw a line on the grass. When all the contestants stood behind it, an ogre standing to the side roared, “Go!” and they all took off.

  Cory had been in three-legged races before, but never with an ogress for a partner. She felt like a fly riding on a unicorn’s back and had about as much control. She held on to Estel so she wouldn’t fall, although the ogress was holding on to her so hard that falling might not have been an option. Estel dragged her down the field, moving her legs at a normal run—for her. To Cory, each ground-pounding step was too fast and jarring, shaking her so that she had to clamp her mouth shut so she wouldn’t bite her tongue.

  When they rounded the turn in second place, Estel grumbled, “We can do better than this,” and started to go faster.

  Cory groaned, wondering how she’d ever make it to the end. From what she’d seen of the course, there were two more turns and a long straightaway. They were in the lead when she saw the next turn located by the edge of the trees where she and Blue had almost kissed. Cory and Estel were nearly there when a figure ran out and raised her hand, making the air sparkle in front of her. A moment later the figure turned and ran off, leaving the ground behind her sparkling.

  “Estel!” Cory shouted, wanting to warn her partner. When she glanced up, she saw that Estel was looking the other way.

  “Macks and Blue are getting close,” the ogress panted. “We can’t let them catch up. We’re almost—”

  As they reached the sparkle-covered ground and their feet slid out from under them, Cory realized that it was frost. And then they landed and she felt a bolt of pain shoot through her ankle.

  “Watch out!” Blue shouted behind them.

  And then Blue and Macks plowed into them and tripped, sprawling on the ground half on top of Cory and Estel. Much to Cory’s relief, the next pair of three-legged runners was able to go around them, so no one else joined the pile of bodies.

  “Ow!” howled Estel. “Get off me!”

  Macks and Blue struggled to stand, although it wasn’t easy on the slippery ground, especially when they were still tied together. A crowd had gathered around them by the time Estel and
Cory were able to sit up. Macks had untied himself from Blue and was hovering around the edge of the ice when the ogress reached for the rope tying her to Cory.

  “Cory, are you okay?” asked Blue.

  Cory shook her head. “I think I twisted my ankle.”

  “Let me help you up,” Blue said.

  “What about you, sugar lump?” Macks asked Estel.

  “I’m fine,” she grumbled. “Just mad, that’s all. Did anyone see who did this?”

  The ogres were shaking their heads when Cory spoke up. “I did. It was a frost fairy. I saw her come out of those trees,” she said, pointing.

  “The guilds have brought their feud here, to one of our parties!” one ogre bellowed.

  Estel had untied the rope by the time Blue reached them, so he was able to pick up Cory and carry her back across the frost.

  “No one should have been able to do such a thing!” declared one of the largest ogres. “This was our party and Cory is our friend! We’re sorry we failed you, Cory. We know all about your campaign against the guilds and we should have protected you better. From now until the trial is over, we’ll be watching over you.”

  “I spent all day yesterday watching over her,” Macks told him.

  “Yes, but now we’ll do it for honor, not money,” the bigger ogre told him.

  “I thought it was already arranged,” Cory whispered to Blue.

  “It was, but this is even better,” he whispered back. “The ogre who just placed you under the solar-cycle gang’s protection is Gnarl, their leader. Now they’ll all watch out for you and be more vigilant to gain back the reputation that the frost fairy tarnished. He was right, no one should have been able to do anything to hurt you here.”

  A roar went up from the three-legged race’s finish line, and everyone who had stayed to see about Cory and Estel started heading that way. “It seems the race went on without us,” said Cory, wincing when she tried to put her weight on her foot.

  “They are ogres,” Blue said with a smile. “Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?”

  Cory shook her head. “No, my ankle isn’t that bad.”

  “Do you want to stay at the party or should I take you home?”

  “I think I’ll be fine as long as I can keep off my foot for a while,” said Cory.

  “Then how about we have a little music now?” Blue said as he picked her up again.

  Cory smiled and settled into his arms. “Sounds good to me!”

  After taking Cory to the pavilion and finding her a seat and something to prop up her foot, Blue left to fetch his trumpet from the compartment in his solar cycle. While he was gone, Macks came up to Cory. “Any chance you brought a drum with you?” he asked.

  Cory laughed and shook her head. “My drums are a little big to carry on a solar cycle.”

  “I didn’t think you had, but I wanted to ask just in case,” he said, and gestured to some other ogres.

  The ogres approached Cory then, lugging a trash can and some copper pots. Macks handed her two wooden spoons, saying, “Do you think you can play these instead?”

  “I suppose,” Cory told him. “It won’t sound the same, but I can try.”

  When Blue came back, he raised his eyebrows when he saw Cory tentatively tapping on the trash can. She shrugged and grinned, saying, “My new drums.”

  “You don’t mind, do you, Blue?” asked Macks. “The boys and I thought she could play along.”

  “We’ve never played together before, but I’m sure we can figure something out,” said Blue.

  While he warmed up, Cory tried to get a feel for her unusual drum set. It wasn’t going to be perfect, but then it didn’t need to be. Ogres began to gather in the pavilion, talking and laughing until Blue lowered his trumpet and said to Cory, “Do you know ‘Midnight Madness’?”

  “Sure do,” said Cory, and began a drumming introduction. They played then, getting a feel for each other’s style. Cory’s drum playing was a little rough, but they made do and soon felt as if they had been playing together for ages.

  After “Midnight Madness,” they played all the songs they both knew that called for a trumpet and drums. It was late afternoon when they finished, tired but happy. When the ogres started to clean up, Blue offered to help, but they turned him down and gave him a generous amount of money for playing. They paid Cory, too, which she wasn’t expecting.

  Blue and Cory were on their way home before they realized that an ogre was following them. Cory noticed him first. “It’s someone from the party,” she told Blue. “Should we stop and see what he wants?”

  Blue shook his head. “I know what he wants. That’s the first bodyguard. Gnarl told me that they’re going to take turns.”

  “He isn’t the first,” said Cory. “You were the first, then Macks. Does this mean that I’m going to have a different ogre watching over me every day?”

  “Not if it bothers you. I can tell Gnarl that you don’t like that if you want me to.”

  “Please tell him that I’d like Macks to be here most days,” said Cory. “He did a good job and I like him.”

  “I’ll talk to Gnarl, but I think the guy following us plans to stick around at least until morning.”

  Cory sighed. “I hope this trial doesn’t last long.”

  They had almost reached Micah’s house when Cory announced, “As soon as we get home, I’m going to take a hot bath and put on comfortable clothes. I’d like to go to bed early tonight.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Blue. “I can make supper while you relax and—Say, what’s that?”

  They were still three houses from Micah’s, but they could already see that something was wrong. The front yard was covered with frost, making it sparkle just like the patch of ground had sparkled during the race.

  “Frost fairies came here, too!” said Cory. “Oh, no! They’ve frozen all of Uncle Micah’s flowers. I bet every one of them is dead.”

  “It looks as if they were very thorough,” Blue said as he got off his solar cycle. “They even froze the flowers in the pot on the porch.”

  “I’m too tired to deal with this now,” Cory told him.

  “It can wait,” said Blue. “You’re still going to take your hot bath and get comfortable. The frost should be gone by morning, and if the flowers are already dead, one more day won’t make a difference.”

  CHAPTER

  4

  Micah was on his way out the front door the next day when he remembered something. “I forgot to tell you,” he said when he returned to the kitchen where Cory, Blue, and the ogre named Snifflit were eating breakfast. Cory’s foot was already feeling better after a night of rest. “Yesterday during my planning period, I contacted the Itinerant Troublemakers Guild and filed a complaint about how they sent two members to our house on one night. I know you reported them to the FLEA, Blue, but I wanted the guild to hear that I’m not happy about it. I’ve taught a lot of their members over the years, so my word might carry a little weight. Don’t worry, Cory. I didn’t mention your friend, Harmony Twitchet. I know she just came by to warn us that the ITG was going to send its Big Baddies after us.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Micah,” said Cory. “I wouldn’t want to get her in trouble when she was trying to be a friend.”

  “Speaking of friends,” Cory said after Micah was gone, “I need to contact Mary Lambkin as soon as I finish eating. I’ll start cleaning up the yard after that. Are you going to be staying all day, Snifflit, or is someone else coming over?”

  “Snifflit is going to leave when Macks gets here,” said Blue. “I contacted Gnarl after you went to bed last night. Macks will be here most days, although Gnarl will send over more ogres if we need them.”

  “Is Macks taking time off from a job? Is this going to be hard for him?” asked Cory.

  “Not at all,” said Blue. “He works for his brother in construction. Alecks understands and is fine with it.”

  “I’m not that lucky,” said Snifflit. “I have a job, and I
have to go home and change my clothes so I can get to work on time. Do you mind if I don’t wait until Macks gets here? As long as you’ll still be around, Blue. I don’t want to leave Cory on her own.”

  “No problem,” said Blue.

  “What kind of job do you have?” Cory asked the ogre.

  “I own North Side Beauty Salon,” he said as he got up from the table. “My wife and I are both hairdressers there.”

  “I’ve heard of that salon. It has a great reputation!” said Cory.

  Sniff   lit shrugged. “What can I say? I’m an artist who happens to work with hair. Thanks for dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I hope you have an uneventful day.”

  “Thank you for staying,” said Cory.

  “Yeah, buddy. Thanks!” Blue added.

  “Send me a message if you need me again,” Snifflit told them as he left.

  “He was very nice,” Cory said once Snifflit was gone.

  “Most ogres are once you get to know them,” said Blue.

  While Cory finished her breakfast, she wrote the message to Mary Lambkin. She said good-bye to Blue, and he went out on the porch to pet Noodles and wait for Macks while she sent the message.

  Mary,

  There’s someone I’d like you to meet. His name is Jasper Wilkins. I think he would be just right for you. Are you interested?

  Cory

  “By just right, I mean absolutely perfect,” Cory said to herself as she sent the message.

  “Were you talking to me?” Macks said as he walked in the door. “Blue just drove off.”

  Cory laughed. “No, I was sending a message to a friend. Thank you for coming over, Macks. I have to clean up the yard today. The frost fairies paid a visit while we were at the party.”

  “I saw that,” he said. “I can help with the cleanup as long as you tell me what to do with all the dead plants.”