The Grand Keeper's eyes were the purest aqua-blue and her smile conveyed a calm expression of...of...what...what was it? It was pure love like when my mother was holding me in the kitchen. This felt just as strong but the Grand Keeper wasn't even touching me. I glanced over at Freck and could tell by the awe in her face that she was experiencing the same thing.

Looking directly at me and Freck the Grand Keeper said, "If you would like to come with me I will show you where I live and reacquaint Wishes with the Whistling Salamander."

Reacquaint me with the Whistlin' Salamander? I wondered what she meant by that.

"As for the adults, I would like to spend some time with these children alone if you don't mind. Stuman, please make sure they don't want for anything while I'm with Wishes and his dear friend Freck. We won't be long." Her tone was light and musical like a tender lullaby. It would have been impossible to refuse her and nobody did.

Her walk wasn't what you'd expect from someone that old. Her feet didn't shuffle like other old people, instead they glided over the hallway. It reminded me of the way our Burns librarian, Mrs. Goodly walked, like a dancer.

Her place had smaller butterfly doors like the ones in the big hall upstairs. I wanted to ask about them but I didn't know what to call her. "Oh, you can call me Grandma Chrys, Chrys, or just Grandma. That's what almost everyone else calls me. And about these doors, they will only open when they are supposed to open. If someone approached them with ill-intent, they would grip so tight that even a molecule couldn't slip through. But isn't the butterfly effect lovely? That's why I insisted they be installed on the Great Hall entry." And she smiled that beautiful smile.

Grandma Chrys led us into her place. It was nice but not as impressive as Stuman's home. Grandma explained that, "Stuman loves his house between the two mountains. He likes the peace, the view, and the amenities like his swimming pool. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone should have what they love. My tastes are simpler and I'm too old to be athletic. I'm happy, he's happy. Isn't that the way it should be?"

"Gee," she called, "Gee, I've brought visitors." An enormous salamander came runnin' 'round the curve of the wall. There was nothing in the library books even suggested that they could grow this big. Boy, would all the scientists be excited if they could just see it? It was about knee high with a long body like a dachshund dog. Altogether, body and tail, it was probably 8 feet long. Its color was a glowing light gray. Gray isn't usually a color associated with glowing, but this animal was bright. Just looking at it made me want to put on a pair of sunglasses.

"If a salamander was capable of facial expression, I'd swear that this one was grinnin'. He scurried over to me and rubbed against my leg like a cat, so I bent down and petted it, and it purred with a kind of whistlin' sound. 

"Wishes, while you and the Whistlin' Salamander get reacquainted, I'll show Freck the rest of the place, would that be okay?"

I didn't answer because Gee kept me occupied. He was as playful as a puppy and I was guessin' he didn't get much playtime around here. He knocked me over and was standing on my chest with his tail waving so vigorously that you'd think his team had just won the big game. I spotted a red ball that was just barely within my reach under a couch. I snagged it and gave it as good a toss as I could from a prone position. He launched himself off, oof, and chased the ball. I don't know what I was expectin' of the Whistlin' Salamander, but this warn't it. Who cares? We was havin' fun!

Gee was back. He dropped the ball by my knees, so I grabbed and threw it again. This went on for a while until Freck and Grandma Chrys came back into the room. By this time, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor and Gee jumped into my lap. I bent over, hugged him around the neck, and kissed him on the top of the head.

"That's how you got your name, you know," said Chrys.

"What do ya mean?" I asked.

"When your parents, Al and Renna (your mother) came for visits before you were born. Gee would lay his head on your mother's stomach. To this day he still insists that he could talk to you before you were born.

"Of course, Gee couldn't roughhouse like today, but you used to grab Gee around the neck, just like you are now, and give him baby kisses.

"You have heard of the legend that says if anyone should catch the Whistling Salamander and kiss it on the head that person would have good luck for the rest of their lives? The legend is absolutely true, and believe me; Gee would not let just anybody kiss him. You were, and still are, very special. That is why you were named Wishes. You probably thought it was just a nickname shortened from Aloisius, but it wasn't. It is just the opposite. Aloisius is your nickname and Wishes is your real name. Your dad's name is Al, so when added to Wishes, you became Al-Wishes or the more accepted, Aloisius. See?"

"Haven't you ever noticed that every strong wish you've ever had has come true? In your case, and I know you've been told this before, always be very careful what you wish for. Every granted wish comes with consequences, like when you wished to ski down that hill. Because you were unprepared it turned out badly. If you had practiced and learned how to stand and slide on soap bars in less dangerous places your experience could have been different."

I was shocked. She said every strong wish I made was granted, "Grandma Chris, what if I wished that Freck's mother would come back? Freck misses her so much, don't you?"

"Yes," Freck responded, "That's why we started this search--to get our mommas back."

"Wishes, Freck," Grandma Chrys said cautiously, "That is a good example of a wish that would have terrible consequences. There are things in life that must not be tampered with..." then her tone-of-voice got more serious, "...not ever. Matters of life and death are not within our power and should you insist you would be scarred for life. I could not say what would happen, but it is sure to be terrible."

That scared me. I squeaked, "But Grandma, I wished that I could be with my momma again, and now I am."

"Yes, but your mother had not passed on. She was alive in another in-world, but living nonetheless. It is not the same."

"Freck, does that make you terribly sad?" Grandma Chrys sympathetically asked her.

Anyone could see that Freck was on the verge of crying. She choked a little as she admitted that, "Yes, I really was hoping after seeings Wishes' momma that I could get mine back too."

"I know dear. You understand, don't you, that we dare not make that happen, but we can arrange a close substitute. Tell me, how much do you like Emma Anderton?"

"Mizzus Anderton?" Freck asked. "I think she is wonderful. If there is any woman in Burns that I would want to be like when I grow up, it is her."

"You do know, of course, that Emma never had children and she thinks the sun rises and sets on the two of you, especially on you Freck. She wishes with all her heart that you were her daughter. What if we could work it out with your father to allow Emma to act as kind of foster mother? She isn't the one who gave birth to you, but I daresay she already loves you like her own. It would be a great blessing for the two of you. It would be a relief for your father too. Your father loves you very much. He has often said that he doesn't know how to raise a girl and he worries that he might do a bad job."

"Are you kidding? That would be amazing! Did you hear that Wishes? I'm gettin' a momma too!"

She smiled so big that all her teeth showed.

Grandma Chrys seriously said, "We sent Jacob Foster to Burns so he would grow up Topside and experience first-hand what a Topside life was like. We also sent your mother, Wishes, to find someone without keeper blood that we could train to assist us. That's why she brought back your father. You were the result of an unusual pairing. We didn't expect that Renna, that's her keeper name, and your father would fall in love. We didn't expect it, but the whole Kingdom was overjoyed when you were born. A half-keeper, half-human is a rarity as you can imagine. Our plan for you Wishes was to introduce ourselves to you after your eighteenth birthday and then bring you back to the Kingdom for training. You have many undeveloped abilities. With your and your parents permissions, we would like to assist you in developing all your gifts to the fullest.

"Freck, you, and Mrs. Anderton were a total surprise. I guess we should have anticipated the possibility that the unbreakable bond between Emma and Jacob would eventually bring them back together. There is none among us who isn't thrilled at their reunion. Freck the bond of friendship between you and Wishes is strong too. If it wasn't, you wouldn't have come to the Kingdom.

"As much as we admire all of you, it does create a problem. If all had gone according to plan Wishes would have grown up and gone away to college, or that would be the story he would tell. No one would have been overly concerned like they were with Jacob when he didn't return. But now, as we speak, the town is in chaos over the five missing people. That's you Freck, Wishes, Emma, Al, and Tyrone Tieg."

I sputtered, "Mr. Tieg is here too?"

"Well no, Wishes, he is not in the Kingdom, nor is he any longer on the earth. After a massive struggle Tyrone Tieg was killed by a lair-beast. Before dying he achieved something we believed impossible. He killed one of them in hand-to-hand combat."

Freck and I looked at each other. We were shocked to hear this news. "How did it happen?" I asked.

"I'll make this brief because there is a lot we have to discuss. When Jacob entered the forest on that fateful night, Tyrone saw him. He was just outside of the woods and completely out-of-sight of any of the townspeople. Tyrone had been stalking Jacob because he knew that Jacob had been saving up to buy his true love, Emma, an engagement ring. He was very jealous of their love and wanted to get even for what he saw as rejection. He assumed, and was correct, that Jacob had the money on him. So he followed Jacob, who was following our retriever, into Locci Forest. He picked up a fallen tree branch to use as a club. When he got just behind Jacob he used that club and bashed him in the head. That single blow nearly killed Jacob. Our retriever witnessed the crime and saw Tyrone pick Jacob's pocket, remove his wallet, and take out all of the money. He tossed the billfold aside and returned to his home in Burns so much the richer.

"After it was rumored that you had discovered the wallet that he ditched twenty years ago, he was afraid that the find would prompt another search of the woods. He always believed that he murdered Jacob and that the discovery of his wallet might lead searchers to his remains. He'd seen enough detective mysteries on TV that he knew there could still be clues. He had to find those bones and make sure they would never be found. So he went back.

"It was the same night that you Wishes, barely escaped the attack by the lair-beasts. The two angry animals still appearing as saber tooth tigers, came across Tyrone during his search. Tyrone was extraordinarily large, very strong, and cunning. The tigers ran toward him and as they leaped he ducked and they smashed into each other fang-to-fang. They turned on one another, completely forgetting about Tyrone. The horrible screams that came from that battle were as loud as anything ever heard in the forest. One beast destroyed the other. The injured survivor sniffed out the path taken by Tyrone and gave chase. Tyrone knew he couldn't outrun the tigers so he found a defensible alcove to make his stand. He had a hill to his back and on either side were rock walls. He had gathered a pile of heavy stones to throw and a few sturdy samplings that he stripped down to use as spears. In front of him was Locci Creek. He didn't have to wait long for the wounded lair-beast to find him.

"What you don't know about lairbeasts yet is that they are incredible shape shifters. They can instantly take on the form of anything that will terrify their victims. They believe that extreme fear sweetens the meat. The beast must have decided that a saber tooth tiger wasn't sufficiently frightening enough because Tyrone was prepared to do battle, so it shifted into the legendary Big Foot. Tyrone just laughed. Even Big Foot is no match for a man with his size and strength. It shifted again. This time taking on the form of an enormous cobra snake. It's mouth was so wide you could almost drive a truck into it. The cobra hissed and wriggled toward Tyrone attempting to scare him. It didn't work. Tyrone began tossing boulder sized rocks at the snake's head. He scored some direct hits. Undeterred the lair-beast slithered across the stream right into the alcove. It raised up, flared it's hood, and tried to strike Tyrone. That's when Tyrone did the most surprising thing. He grabbed one of his sapling spears and charged right into the mouth of the snake. Then he began thrusting his spear in and out repeatedly like the needle on a sewing machine. He poked so many holes that he perforated it all around its mid-section. The very next attempt the monster made to rise up it tore in two. The lair-beast expired right on the spot. Never had we witnessed a battle between man and lair-beast where the man was victorious. Tyrone did not get long to celebrate. Unknown to him a third monster was hunkered down on the hill behind him observing the battle. Within seconds it pounced on the unsuspecting man. Your Mr. Tieg's body was dragged into the deep lair and we assume, devoured."

We barely had time to gasp before she said, "Now let's get back to the problem at hand."