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tomeandflickcorner · 6 years ago

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The Halloweentown Tetralogy

To commemorate this Halloween, I’ve viewed all four of the Halloweentown movies, as requested by @knightrookjones. Special thanks to @xemmaloveskillianx @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine and @midouriya for helping me locate sources where I could watch them.

Halloweentown- The first movie in the Halloweentown Tetralogy where we’re introduced to the series’ main character, Marnie, and her family. In the first installment of the franchise, Marnie is 13-years-old, and she lives in an unnamed town with her apparently widowed mother, Gwen, and her two younger siblings, 12-year-old Dylan and 7-year-old Sophie. For some reason, Gwen is clearly adamant about preventing her children from participating in any of the usual activities associated with Halloween, from going trick-or-treating to attending costume parties. But when the family receives a surprise visit from Maternal Grandmother Aggie, played by the dearly departed Debbie Reynolds, Marnie ends up eavesdropping on a conversation between her mother and grandmother, which leads her to discover that their family are actually descended from a long line of powerful witches. But, because Gwen’s late husband was an ordinary human from the Mortal World, Gwen had decided to keep her children from ever learning of their magical heritage, in the hopes that they would grow up to be normal. This doesn’t sit well with Marnie, however, and, with her younger siblings tagging along, she ends up following Grandma Aggie back to Halloweentown, a pocket dimension where witches, goblins, monsters and every manner of spooky creature have been living in peace for centuries in order to avoid persecution from the people of the Mortal World. Shortly after they arrive, the children learn from Aggie of a mysterious being known as Shadowman, who is behind the disappearances of many of Halloweentown’s inhabitants. It eventually comes out that the Shadowman’s ultimate plan is to lead Halloweentown’s population in a revolt against the people of the Mortal World, in order to take back their rightful place instead of continuing to live in hiding. The only hope of defeating the movie’s antagonist is by activating Merlin’s Talisman, which Aggie just happens to have in her possession. But when Aggie and Gwen (who ends up journeying to Halloweentown herself upon discovering her children were not in their beds) fall prey to the Shadowman’s evil spell, it’s up to Marnie, Dylan and Sophie to help save the day.

As far as made-for-TV Disney movies go, this one is fun. I particularly like how creative they got in regards to creating the world of Halloweentown and the number of creatures that live there. We got a skeleton who drives a taxi, a werewolf hairdresser, and a literal cat woman who works as an aerobics instructor. They even had the town dentist be the actual tooth fairy. And actress Debbie Reynolds was by far one of the highlights of the movie, as she just took this role so seriously. Not just when she had to play the part of a bonafide witch, but also when she was interacting with her on-screen family. You really got the impression that she was utilizing her experience of being a real-life mother and a grandmother when she was portraying the role of Aggie Cromwell.

Of course, the movie is not exactly a masterpiece. There are a few moments when they resort to obvious green screen technology, and that can be a bit distracting. But that wasn’t my only issue with the movie. For instance, Marnie’s brother, Dylan, comes across as a bit of a pod person. I get the idea is that he’s supposed to be the serious-minded sibling, but come on. What 12-year-old kid talks like that? I’m also a bit confused on exactly why Gwen was so adamant about keeping her children from having anything to do with Halloween. The movie claims it was because of her mortal husband, but that seems like a rather weak explanation to me. It would be one thing if the movie gave any indication that Gwen had experienced some kind of ostracization because of her magical heritage when she first decided to stay in the Mortal World with her non-magic husband, but they never alluded to anything like that. Though, to the movie’s credit, Gwen eventually acknowledges that she was wrong to try and prevent her kids from learning of their family history. As far as the main character goes, Marnie was a pretty believable 13-year-old, right down to the fact that she was clearly at that stage where she felt she was, and I quote, ‘practically an adult.’ Even though everyone over the age of 20 would know that’s not the case. And admittedly, there were many times when she was a bit useless. Not that I’m saying that to mock her or anything, because she was able to figure things out on her own when it mattered the most. But at the end of the day, it actually was the little sister, Sophie, who contributed the most. They wouldn’t have managed to even activate Merlin’s Talisman in the first place if it wasn’t for this kid. Honestly, Sophie was probably the best out of the three siblings.

I also do have to applaud the movie for the reveal of the Shadowman’s true identity. I suppose you could say it was a pretty big Scooby Doo moment when it’s revealed the main antagonist was the town mayor, Calabar. They even have him do this whole bit when he explains that his true motivation was his bitterness over how Gwen ended up marrying a man from the Mortal World instead of him. That’s right, the movie’s antagonist is angry over how he was ‘friend zoned’ by his crush, and that made him decide to turn evil. I can see how this could potentially rub some people the wrong way. Of course, on the other side of the coin is Luke, who is initially Shadowman Calabar’s smart mouthed flunky. At first, he admittedly comes across as this punk kid who thinks he’s all high-and-mighty because of his position of being the main antagonist lackey. But once he figures out that Shadowman Calabar is even willing to harm Aggie and the rest of the Cromwell family in his quest to overthrow the Mortal World, he quickly recognizes the error of his ways and even helps Marnie save the day. On a final note, I think it could be argued that the way they ultimately defeat Calabar seems a bit too convenient, in the sense that it really comes across as a whole ‘defeated by the power of love/friendship/etc.’ sort of deal. Especially when Dylan is suddenly revealed to have magic powers as well, despite there not being anything to suggest he had inherited the magical gene before that point. But hey, it’s clear this was never meant to be this big epic movie, so I suppose I can cut them some slack. After all, for what this movie was, it was pretty good. Though the people who wrote the movie’s script really need to come up with better insults. (Seriously, did Marnie actually call Shadowman Calabar ‘chocolate bar?’ What kind of insult is that?)

Halloweentown 2: Kalabar’s Revenge- The first sequel to the Disney Channel original movie, this one was certainly the darkest film of the four. But it also brought about a slight issue with how to spell the name of the first movie’s antagonist. The title card for this movie stated it was spelled with a K, but the closed captions and opening & closing credits for the first installment had his name begin with a C. But that’s probably just a small nitpick. Regardless, I’m going to continue spelling it with a C for these reviews. Anyway, the movie opens on Halloween night, exactly two years after the events of the first movie. Right away, we see that Aggie has moved in with her daughter and grandchildren, and Gwen has eased up on her anti-Halloween stance enough to allow her family to throw a Halloween party at the house. Of course, that doesn’t mean things are completely harmonious for the Cromwell family, especially since Marnie is scheduled to spend an entire year in Halloweentown with Aggie in order to focus on her training, as she is first in line to become the next head of the Cromwell line. And if Marnie chooses to follow that path, she’d have to completely give up her life in the Mortal World. Which is something that would deeply affect Gwen. Of course, Marnie is still a bit of an idiot, and when a young boy her age named Cal shows up at the party, Marnie instantly develops a crush on him, like you do. And, in order to impress her new crush, she proceeds to show him around the house, including a stop at Aggie’s room. This, of course, proves to be a mistake, as Cal is actually Calabar’s long-lost son. No word on who the baby mama was, but it appears Cal has decided it’s up to him to continue his father’s work in conquering the Mortal World. Taking advantage of Marnie’s naive trust in him, he steals Aggie’s spell book and uses it to cast a spell on all of Halloweentown, turning the whole place into a warped version of the Mortal World, in which everything is dull and gray and the people of Halloweentown are transformed into caricatures of boring old humans. This, of course, turns out to be only the first step in Cal’s evil plan, as he only casts this spell in order to trick Marnie and Aggie into entering Halloweentown, thereby getting them out of the way while he gets to work on his real plan- turning the humans into the very creatures they dress up as for Halloween, as punishment for always mocking the people of Halloweentown. When Aggie is once again put out of commission because of Cal’s spell, Marnie has to team up with, Luke, the goblin she befriended in the last movie, to try to find a way to fix things while Sophie and Dylan work to assist them from the Mortal World. They even manage to utilize a time traveling spell in their attempts to stop Cal’s plan. While there are moments in the movie where it seems like they’re simply following the formula from the last film, there’s still enough fresh elements to make things seem new and interesting. Including the introduction of the crotchety Gort, who collects and hoards every single item that’s ever lost in both Halloweentown and the Mortal World. Basically, every time something ends up lost, from that last puzzle piece to the left sock, it magically ends up at Gort’s place.

In a lot of ways, this movie often seems to be better than the last one. Especially since the stakes seem a lot higher, as Cal’s plans will effectively destroy both worlds if he succeeds. We also get a legitimately creepy scene where the mother, Gwen, is transformed into a hag and even tries to attack Sophie. And, towards the end, it really seems that Cal actually wins, as the portal between Halloweentown and the Mortal World closes before Marnie, Aggie and Luke can succeed in stopping Cal, which means they’ll be stranded in Halloweentown and won’t be able to save Dylan, Sophie and Gwen, not to mention everybody else, for an entire year. But because of another Deux ex Machina moment, which involves Marnie deciding that they can take advantage of the strength of the Cromwell family’s magic and pretty much rewrite the laws of magic, they manage to reopen the portal despite Halloween being over.

One thing I particularly liked in this movie were the scenes with Sophie and Dylan. And not just because these two really sold the whole brother and sister dynamic. Sophie is more or less the same as she was in the last movie, but she’s become a bit more assertive than the sweet little 7-year-old she was when we last saw her. Dylan, on the other hand, really has improved in terms of his believably. In the original movie, the character of Dylan came across as if it had been written by someone who wanted him to act like a nerdy stick-in-the-mud kid, but had never actually been around a 12-year-old and therefore had no idea how they actually acted and spoke. This time around, Dylan’s characterization was much more believable. He’s still reluctant to embrace his magical heritage, but he actually does act like an average 14-year-old. Especially when he’s trying to find a date to a costume party at the school later that night. (Though that does seem a bit odd, that the Cromwells throw a Halloween party at their house when there’s another party being held later on that night. Exactly how long is this Halloween night supposed to be?)

Now, there’s this one part in the movie that, depending on your sensitivity level, might be offensive. There’s a character in the film named Alex, who poses as Cal’s father before Cal’s true identity as Calabar’s son is revealed. Thanks to Sophie’s intuition, Alex is eventually revealed to be a golem that Cal created out of frogs. Considering the golem is a figure of Jewish folklore, the inclusion of Alex in this movie could potentially offend some people and be taken as cultural appropriation, especially when the golem was created and controlled by a warlock. It’s possible that this was just an unfortunate oversight on Disney’s part (and let’s face it, they do have a history of overt racism in some of their movies, particularly the older ones,) but you could argue that makes it even more offensive. That particular issue aside, however, this was a good sequel to Halloweentown, as it brought back the whole cast and actually connected to the events of the first movie. But the problem is, the sequels that came after the movie never referenced anything about Cal again. That admittedly bothered me a lot, because the movie even had them acknowledging that Cal would probably come back. But if he did, we never saw it happen. Talk about a major loose end.

Halloweentown High- Once again, two years have passed, and Marnie has been commended by the Halloweentown Council (because there’s a high council now) for the part she played in ensuring the portal between Halloweentown and the Mortal World would remain open all year round, and not just on Halloween. But now, Marnie has developed an idea to fully heal the rift between humans and the people of Halloweentown by creating an exchange program of sorts, in which some teenagers from Halloweentown would actually attend a school in the Mortal Realm. Unfortunately, Marnie ends up accidentally wagering her entire family’s magic on the outcome of this, meaning that if this attempt to prove that humans have changed since the creation of Halloweentown and would no longer persecute the creatures that live there doesn’t work, then her entire family would lose their magical powers forever. When Marnie realizes what she’s just done, she is reasonably uneasy, but is still confident that she can make this work, as long as she’s there to help guide the Halloweentown students, which consist of Cassie the witch, Pete the Werewolf, Natalie the troll, Nancy the fairy, Chester the gremlin, Bobby the ogre, and Ethan the warlock, with the non-humanoid students donning human disguises while attending the school. The whole human disguise thing alone was pretty laughable by itself, as they’re basically just wearing human skinsuits like it’s a Men in Black movie. (Wasn’t there a spell that could make them appear human?) Aggie also ends up stepping in to assist Marnie’s efforts by getting a teaching job at the school. But of course, this movie decides it wasn’t enough to just have this be a simple high school themed movie, because we also have to contend with an apparent threat from Knights of the Iron Dagger, a fabled order that sought to destroy all things magical.

Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it. This movie was terrible! I can’t think of a single scene in this movie that I even remotely liked. In fact, while watching it, I kept checking the time to see how much longer I had to endure this crap. I think the worst part was that they were clearly trying to give the movie this whole underlining message about prejudice and whatnot, but the execution of it was just so horrible. In the climax of the movie, it’s revealed that the father of the warlock student, Ethan, who is actually on the Halloweentown Council, wants the portal between Halloweentown and the Mortal World to be closed permanently. So he conspired with the human school’s principal to expose Marnie as a witch in the worst possible way, by making it look as if she was openly attacking the school with her magic at the school’s annual Halloween Bash. Thereby getting the other students to resort to a mob mentality and try to chase her and the Halloweentown exchange students out of town. But all it takes for everyone to calm down is a whole ‘shame on you’ speech from Cody, Marnie’s new love interest, and then it’s all hunky dory. Even the school principal, who was in league with the movie’s main antagonist, ends up changing his tune because of his apparent crush on Aggie. Okay, obviously, it should go without saying that prejudice is bad. But it’s a very complex issue. It’s not something that can be instantly solved with the substance of an after school special. So seeing the way this movie resolved everything was quite eye rolling. They even have Aggie completely forgive the principal, even though he had been openly persecuting her and her granddaughter moments before. While forgiving someone is obviously admirable, it’s a bit bothersome that the movie is acting as if Aggie should just forget all about what the principal had just tried to do and enter into a relationship with him. Just saying, forgiving someone does not mean you have to let them back into your life. Especially if there was a serious breech in trust between you and the person you’re forgiving.

And even the way this movie portrays characters we’ve grown to love in the first two movies was really bad. Sophie, who was a prominent character in previous installments of the Halloweentown series, is now little more than a background character. And she seemed to disappear from the movie altogether after the mall scene. That alone was annoying, as Sophie was arguably a better and smarter witch than Marnie, and the only reason why Marnie was first in line to be the head of the Cromwell line was because she was the oldest. As for Aggie, she suddenly seems to be more of a senile old woman than a powerful and wise old witch, with the movie playing her up for laughs. I’m just saying, considering she’s supposed to have spent four years living in the Mortal World, you’d think she’d be a bit more careful in regards to her magic and wouldn’t accidently magically create a parrot in front of a roomful of students. Oh, and Gwen, who had made it clear beforehand that she wanted to simply live her life as an ordinary mortal like her late husband and only used her magic in special circumstances, is now using her magic in everyday situations. The only character who seems to have maintained his characterization from the last two movies is Dylan, even though he spends most of the movie sharing a possible romance subplot with Natalie the Troll.

Finally, there’s the fact that they’ve seemingly forgotten all about Cal, the antagonist of the last movie. Even after the last movie implied that he would be back, we never see him do so. They don’t even acknowledge his existence, even though they had the perfect opportunity to do so. At one point, Marnie and Aggie are having a mild argument about Marnie’s latest crush, Cody, with Aggie being suspicious of him as Cody has apparently just moved into the area. So, when they start seeing evidence that the Knights of the Iron Dagger were lurking around the school, Aggie speculates that Cody might have something to do with it. Of course, Marnie isn’t interested in hearing any accusations against her crush, but this was such a perfect opportunity for Aggie to say something like ‘remember what happened the last time you met a boy who had just moved here.’ But they don’t. It’s such a missed opportunity. And by the way, why are the movies so determined to give Marnie a love interest? I know, she’s supposed to be a teenage girl and all. But doesn’t she have enough on her plate, considering she’s training to be a witch while trying to help bridge the gap between Halloweentown and the Mortal World so they won’t have to remain separate anymore? Not to mention the fact that her entire family’s magic is on the line. Does she really have the time to worry about finding romance? I’m not saying that finding love is necessarily bad, but it is bad to imply that someone NEEDS to have a boyfriend to be fulfilled. Besides, what happened to Luke? I know there was never anything to suggest that they were ever more than friends, but Luke clearly had a crush on Marnie ever since they first met at 13. And the last movie had him saying something along the lines of how he believed anything was possible as long as Marnie was there. So I was admittedly a bit of a Marnie/Luke shipper. Thus, I was really upset that we didn’t see him appear in this movie. They could have easily made him be one of the Halloweentown exchange students. Even if they didn’t have him and Marnie end up together, they had a pretty good friendship going on. I would have been satisfied with them simply continuing on as good friends.

Return to Halloweentown- Okay, apparently, Halloweentown High was supposed to be the final installment of the Halloweentown series. But in 2006, someone over at Disney decided to try and squeeze out a bit more milk from the franchise, creating this fourth film. I’m not sure why they thought it was a good idea, as Halloweentown High wasn’t even good. And apparently, Kimberly J. Brown seemed to agree that this was a bad idea, as she didn’t return to reprise her role as Marnie, forcing them to hire Sara Paxton to take her place.

So, in this movie, Marnie has been accepted at Witch University, a college located in Halloweentown, with a full scholarship. This is a bit distressing to Gwen, who had hoped that Marnie would go to college in the Mortal World, but Marnie insists on going to college at Witch University because she didn’t want to hide her powers while attending a human college. Which does present a bit of a continuity issue, as Halloweentown High suggested that everyone now knew all about Halloweentown. And it’s not as if they try to pretend that movie never happened, especially since the character of Ethan Dalloway comes back as one of Marnie’s classmates at Witch University. Regardless, Gwen eventually allows Marnie to go off to Witch University, on the condition that Dylan goes with her. (It’s stated at one point that Dylan ended up skipping a grade). Of course, once Marnie arrives at Witch University, it slowly becomes apparent that she was only given her scholarship because this evil group of witches called The Dominion stumbled across some moldy old prophecy involving an ancient box that had once belonged to one of Marnie’s ancestors, Splendora Cromwell. This box is said to contain the Gift, an extremely powerful magic, and that only a Cromwell can open it. So this evil group of witches, which includes Witch University’s headmistress and the history professor, plan to trick Marnie into opening the box so they can steal the Gift for themselves and become all powerful. Yeah, the plot of this movie is just as painful as the one of Halloweentown High. And to make it even worse, we have to endure the inclusion of the Sinister Sisters, the typical Mean Girl™ troop, the leader of whom Dylan ends up getting a crush on simply because she can speak Latin. Which just really makes Dylan seem extremely pathetic as he doesn’t even care when Scarlet and her sisters treats him poorly. Not even Debbie Reynold’s portrayal of Aggie Cromwell could save this movie, considering she was barely in it, since Aggie was away focusing on Sophie’s witch training and only appeared briefly through magical hologram. Yeah, that’s right. Sophie wasn’t even in this movie, and Aggie only briefly appears twice. Instead, we got a Aggie lookalike in the form of Miss Periwinkle, one of the professors at Witch University.

Of course, one of the most painful aspects of the movie is one I have to go into spoiler territory for. Marnie, at one point through some more time travel shenanigans, ends up finding out that Splendora Cromwell was actually just a younger version of Aggie. And that the Gift was a magical amulet that could be used to grant the wearer the power to control anyone. Unfortunately, after she finds that out, the members of the Dominion try to blackmail Marnie into helping them enslave all the non-magical inhabitants of Halloweentown. Okay, since when was it even hinted at the fact that some witches and warlocks viewed the non-magical inhabitants of Halloweentown as inferior? Wasn’t the last movie’s attempts to send an anti-prejudice message bad enough? Now we got a moral about segregation? Even though these are good points to get across, the Halloweentown films are not exactly the best place to try and convey those messages. Besides, how did we go from angry warlocks who wanted to punish humans for persecuting them to angry witches and warlocks viewing their non-magical neighbors as inferior beings?

It’s just really upsetting that the Halloweentown franchise went so downhill like this. The first two installments were really good. Not great, but really good. They were fun and imaginative and unique. But then they had to go and butcher it by turning the last two movies into generic, formulaic drivel, complete with one-note antagonists who are either lack a relatable motivation or are simply being mean for the sake of being mean. And of course, they’re also trying way too hard to give the movies a relevant moral to teach kids some life lesson or whatever, completely forgetting what made the first two Halloweentown films special in the first place. We watched the Halloweentown movies because we wanted to see something fun with interesting creatures. I don’t think anyone was interested in seeing the franchise turned into bland ‘high school movies.’ Because that’s what Halloweentown High and Return to Halloweentown were. They were just another set of ‘high school movies’ that just happened to feature the characters of Halloweentown.

I don’t know what else to say. By all means, check out the first two Halloweentown movies sometime. Especially if you want to see something fun and lighthearted. As for the other two, just skip them. Because you won’t be missing much.

#halloweentown #halloweentown franchise #halloweentown tetralogy

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juliusjethompson1 · 5 years ago

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AWARD WINNING AUTHOR JULIUS THOMPSON INTRODUCES SILVER BATAL AND THE WATER DRAGON RACES BY K. D. HALBROOK!

Book & Author Details:

Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races by K.D. Halbrook (Water Dragon Races, #1) Published by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) Publication date: June 4th 2019 Genres: Fantasy, Middle-Grade

Synopsis:

Set in a vivid, Arab-inspired world filled with friendly and fearsome water dragons, K.D. Halbrook’s Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races is a middle-grade fantasy adventure, with illustrations by Ilse Gort, that’s perfect for fans of Tui T. Sutherland, Sayantani DasGupta, and Roshani Chokshi.

Silver’s dreams of becoming a legendary water dragon racer come true when she befriends a rare dragon that can swim and fly. Thirteen-year-old Silver Batal calls the desert home, but her heart belongs to the waters. Although she’s expected to become a jeweler like her father, Silver harbors a secret and forbidden wish to race water dragons. Destiny comes calling when her friendship with a mysterious old woman leads her to Hiyyan, a baby dragon that can swim and fly.

Risking everything, Silver, Hiyyan, and her resourceful cousin Brajon set off across the desert to join the legendary races in the royal city. But the road to Calidia is filled with danger, and the trio must band together as they encounter ferocious cave beasts, clever desert foxes, and cutthroat competition.

AUTHOR BIO:

K.D. Halbrook is an author of Middle Grade and Young Adult novels (as Kristin Halbrook). Her debut Middle Grade book, SMOKE AND MIRRORS (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books) was called "captivating," "enchanting," and "artful" in trade reviews and, in a starred review, the BCCB said, "The novel's wistful prose and a relatable search for the Light will be rewarding for readers who can see in the Smoke any number of metaphors for the things that haunt us." K.D.'s next Middle Grade is the first in an exciting series: SILVER BATAL AND THE WATER DRAGON RACES, releasing in June, 2019 from Macmillan/Henry Holt BFYR. K.D. is a graduate of the University of Washington and lives with her family and floofy goldendoodle in Seattle. When not writing and sharing her love of books with readers, she enjoys cooking and baking, running and triathlon training, yoga, gardening, painting, hiking, and travel. She would love a dragon that swims AND flies.

Author links:

http://www.kristinhalbrook.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KristinHalbrook/

https://twitter.com/kristinhalbrook

https://www.instagram.com/kristinhalbrook/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35217645-silver-batal-and-the-water-dragon-races?ac=1&from_search=true

Purchase:

Amazon:

https://books2read.com/u/bOGYao?store=amazon

B&N:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/silver-batal-and-the-water-dragon-races-k-d-halbrook/1129098298#/

iBooks:

https://books.apple.com/ca/book/silver-batal-and-the-water-dragon-races/id1437813219?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Kobo:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/silver-batal-and-the-water-dragon-races

SILVER BATAL Blog Tour Excerpt:

Nebekker whistled. “Come on out, pretty one. My turn to be your mama for a little while.”

Silver waited, pretending not to be watching. Who in the desert was Nebekker talking to? Surely there couldn’t be children down in the cavern.

Nebekker whistled again. Her teeth flashed as she grinned. Silver followed her gaze across the river. There was something moving among the stalactites. Crouched…or even slithering. Something that matched the blue light and pale silver of the cavern.

The thing across the river purred.

Purred?

The sound touched Silver to her very core. She got to her feet and moved toward the river without thinking, as though a string tied to her middle pulled her. There was no staying away if she’d wanted to. The need to meet the creature on the other side of the river was far too great. She stepped into the river.

The ice-cold water over her boots slowed her down for only a moment. But that was long enough for Nebekker to grab her arm and hold her in place.

“Of course this would happen.” Nebekker sighed wearily.

“Let me go!” Silver had to get to the other side of the river.

“Stay right here. He’ll come to you. The stars know it’ll affect the both of you.”

In the back of her mind, Silver wondered what the old woman meant, but she didn’t ask because the pull to cross the river was still so powerful.

“I have to…”

She struggled to free herself, but Nebekker was incredibly strong. Just then a shadow slipped into the river with a splash and made its way to Silver and Nebekker. Silver knelt into the water, waiting. She didn’t know what for or if she was in danger. She only knew that she had to open her arms and greet it.

When the creature finally burst from the water, it bowled Silver over. She landed on her back hard, rocks digging into her spine. Her arms and chest became even colder than before, soaking in the river water. But she didn’t care. She was awash with euphoria. Within seconds, the warmth of the creature bled into her skin. Its happy heartbeat thudded in time with Silver’s. It purred again and licked her face until the smell of fish and river weeds overwhelmed her nostrils.

Silver laughed and opened her eyes. A pair of obsidian-dark eyes looked back down at her from a sky-blue face ringed with white.

“Another Aquinder,” Silver marveled. “A little one!”

“If your definition of little means the size of a house.” Nebekker stood over them. Her hands were on her hips and she didn’t seem particularly happy. “Kirja’s son. Another troublemaker, if you ask me.”

“No, he’s perfect.” Silver’s heart swelled nearly to bursting. “And I won’t have you calling him names or else.”

Nebekker snorted. “Or else what?”

“I don’t know what. But I’ll think of something. I’d do anything for…for…what’s his name?”

The water dragon licked Silver some more, then rolled over and let his tongue loll out to the side, just like Kirja had. Silver rubbed his belly.

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