Secret Novel Chapter 21: Ends and Beginnings (Patreon)

Rain fell over the Garden as Madeline stood in her thick cloak beside the small hole she had dug under the willow tree. The bones and dress of the Garden’s previous owner had been gently placed inside. Before she had brought the bones over to the hole, Madeline had walked them around the Hedge Home, as she had dubbed it, one more time. It felt a little strange, but it did feel like the right thing to do, giving the former owner one last look inside her home. Now standing over the bones, Madeline wasn’t fully sure what to do. She didn’t know the beliefs of this woman, or her traditions, so she couldn’t give her the proper send off she might have wanted. Still she felt that she needed to do something. Getting down onto her knees, Madeline spoke.

“I don’t really know what to say,” she said honestly. “Thank you. Thank you for all you’ve left to me. I… I hope that I can live up to your expectations of taking care of this Garden. It has already given me so much, and now even more. I will do my best to keep my new home safe.” Her words were quiet and slow, but filled with emotion. It took a moment for Madeline to realizing she had just called this her new home and she meant it. “This is my new home…” she said to herself rather than the bones. This was her home. Not Lexford but here in the Maze. Here in her Garden, even if it was so far away from all of her friends and all she’d ever known. She looked up and at the Garden and marveled at the beauty of her new home. She couldn’t help but smile before she turned back to the bones. “I’ll do my best to learn all that I can and keep this sanctuary safe. Thank you.”

With care, Madeline filled in the hole, before trying something she didn’t try yesterday. She had made very small plants grow slightly yesterday, and found if she focused a little harder they grew a little more. What she hadn’t tried was growing anything from a seed. In the dirt over the hole, she had placed a seed from the lily that was the plant that gave her magic. Placing her hands on the dirt, Madeline did her best to focus on the seed inside and reach out with that new feeling she wasn’t sure was actually a feeling.

It took quite a while, and a lot of energy that Madeline felt she didn’t have, before the plant sprouted. She only managed to get the plant to grow one leaf before she had to stop, panting from the effort. It was a strange feeling to exhaust a muscle she had never used before, if that was the best way to think about her new abilities. Falling back on her rear, Madeline took a few moments to catch her breath as a small wave of dizziness came over her. Even after playing with the plants for a long time yesterday she didn’t feel this exhausted afterwards. Helping something grow when it was already there was easy, but helping a seed sprout was draining. Would it always be draining though? Or would it maybe get easier with time? Only practice would tell her.

After catching her breath and letting the dizzy spell fully go away, Madeline made her way back over to the hedge home. Hanging the cloak on a peg by the door, Madeline thought the first order of business would be to make a good meal. As good of a meal as she could make without meat, eggs, cheese or bread. Though a thick soup full of those spuds, called potatoes according to one of the mage books, and the red bulbs, tomatoes, would be welcome on this rainy day.

Despite having cooked a meal the night before, Madeline still found herself searching around the kitchen to find all that she needed. She would get used to this new kitchen in time. She could even rearrange if she wanted to. This was her home now. She could do what she liked and she had all the time in the world to do it. Not only did she make herself a very well spiced red soup, she also cleaned up after herself right away. Even cleaned up from the night before. Like the bathroom, Madeline found a decent basin in the kitchen in one of the counters with a small stone pillar hanging over it. Apparently if she touched it, water poured from the stone spout. Madeline took an educated guess that the water would also be safe for drinking.

With all that finished, Madeline stood in the doorway to the study looking in. Where should she start? There were more books than Madeline had ever seen. Maybe she should just go one by one to find where to start. There might even be some organization that she could find to the shelves. Also, should she put the mage books on the shelves? If she could find room. Then again, Madeline had a feeling that the mages and this E.P. didn’t get along. Maybe their magics were completely different as well, so the mage books might not be of any help at all. Deciding that the mage books should stay in the bag, at least until she could find a place to put them that didn’t feel wrong, Madeline walked up to one of the shelves. Grabbing the first book from the top left, the young woman started her search.

As the hours flew by, Madeline checked over each and every book, and she discovered some interesting things about them. The shelves appeared to be organized into subjects, at least that's what Madeline thought, as many of the subjects seemed strange and confusing. Within these sections Madeline found that the first few books in a subject were basically the more simple beginner side and then progressed into more advanced. The books towards the end of a subject appeared to be books more for information and references. Overall the books in this study were a little less schoolbooky than what she found with the mages books, but still contained a world of information. There was so much to look over in this room and Madeline barely understood any of it. There were even books that were in languages Madeline had never seen before, which was surprising since the letter E.P. left was in Given. She also found one book where the letters changed every time she blinked. It hurt her eyes and head, which were already aching from all the other books she had looked at.

Deciding now would be a good time to take a break, Madeline went and sat down in the chair that hadn’t been occupied by E.P. Rubbing her temples, she sighed and looked back over the shelves. She had maybe gone through a fifth of them. It had taken so long that she forgot to make herself lunch. She should go make at least a snack and get something to drink, but she could wait a moment until her head was feeling a little better. Looking over to the empty chair, Madeline gently said, “You could have at least given me a good starting place.” She didn’t mean it harshly, and she even smiled while saying it. She really would find a home that could teach her everything about magic with no discernible place for her to start.

“I’ll figure it out,” Madeline said to no one. “I’ll make it work.” Looking back over at the empty chair, something caught her eye. A bit of white under the table between the chairs. Bending down, she found that there was a little shelf under the table, and on it sat a massive book with another letter sitting on top of it. “Huh,” the young woman mused as she grabbed what could more accurately be described as a tome. It was far lighter than she thought it would be and setting it on top of the table barely made a noise. Grabbing the letter, Madeline read:

Quirks and Other Information.

The home has a habit of adding new rooms as needed. Don’t be surprised when they disappear.

The home will light its rooms as it sees fit for any occasion.

Do not let squirrels in the home. They will climb into the ceiling and never come out.

As the guardian of this Garden you have permission to use the forest out back as you see fit, no offerings needed.

If you forget to replant and lose a plant entirely, it will reappear at some point, but in a random spot.

Do not forget to clean up fallen fruit. Having drunk animals running around the garden is not as fun as it sounds.

The list went on to describe more ‘important’ information that all sounded a little strange. Some of them didn’t make sense to Madeline at the moment, such as the home deciding what the lighting should be. Wouldn’t it just be lights on or off as she needs it? No matter how confusing and strange the list was she did read it in its entirety before setting it down next to the letter from last night. Now onto the tome. Tome was the right word for the book. It was the largest book Madeline had ever seen, both in thickness as well as dimensions. It was easily three of her hands tall and two wide, which was quite big given that Madeline had fairly large hands. It was fully leather bound and, though at first she had thought it plain, closer inspection revealed that there were intricate carvings over the front. Once they might have stood out boldly, but this tome had clearly been well used even if it was in good condition. The leather had worn down over time but the carvings were still there. Beautiful depictions of flowers and other plants lined the cover while the spine sported an incredibly detailed image of the moon. Flipping the entire thing over, and still finding that it was far too light for a book of its size, the back cover depicted the Garden. A depiction made from the perspective of the very window Madeline now sat in front of. Of course in the carving the Garden was a lot neater and a little better kept, but it was still so clearly recognizable as her Garden.

Setting the tome back onto the right side, Madeline flipped open the cover to the first page. Written in large bold letters was Eda Payne.

“Eda Payne,” Madeline said out loud with a smile growing on her face. “E.P. Now that I know your name I can properly thank you, Eda.” She looked out back into the Garden, to the small mound of dirt with a sprouting flower on top of it. “Thank you, Eda. Thank you for all this.”

Looking back to the book, Madeline flipped to the next page, and at the very top, written boldly and underlined was the word Basics.