Fortune's Magic Farm by Suzanne Selfors (i read book .TXT) 📗

before them—speckled beach, clay banks, and fir trees as far as the eye could see. Rolo took flight, disappearing over the treetops. The marmot crawled from the kelp shirt and stood on Isabelle’s shoulders, draping her body over Isabelle’s head for a better view. Neptune caught the face of a wave and slid onto the beach.

As soon as the seal came to a complete stop, Isabelle scrambled off his back and carefully meandered between the other seals that mingled at the water’s edge. The marmot scampered up the beach, squatting to pee beside a log. Thank goodness she didn’t do that in my shirt, Isabelle thought.

Sage removed the saddle and flung it onto the beach. He patted the seal’s head. “GOOD JOB, NEPTUNE!” The seal nodded, then nose-butted Sage’s legs. Sage shoved back. Neptune followed with a flipper swat, Sage followed with a slap, until the two were playfully punching each other like brothers. The battle ended when Neptune pinned Sage to the ground. “OKAY, OKAY! I GIVE UP!”

Sage scrambled to his feet. “Best say goodbye,” he told Isabelle.

“Neptune’s not coming with us?”

“Of course not. Have you ever heard of an elephant seal climbing a mountain?”

Isabelle didn’t know whether seals climbed mountains or not, but she didn’t say so. She’d never seen a mountain but she didn’t mention that either. Sage would just tell her, again, that she didn’t know anything.

Isabelle knelt in front of Neptune’s thick head and looked into his dark eyes. So much had happened since that night on the beach when she had thought he was a sea monster. “THANK YOU FOR THE RIDE! AND THANKS FOR THE APPLE!”

Neptune roared softly, his fishy breath warming Isabelle’s face. Then he pulled himself back into the depths. His family followed, churning the water like porridge bubbling in a pot.

“Will we see him again?” Isabelle asked. Despite how bad he smelled and how seasick she got when she rode on him, she had come to like the big guy.

“I can’t think why you’d ever see him again. You’ll be living on Fortune’s Farm from now on. No need for you to travel by sea.”

“But what about when I go back to Runny Cove? Will Neptune take me?”

Sage opened the satchel, freeing Eve the cat, who shook herself, then scampered off. “Go back? Why would you ever go back to that stink hole?”

“To get Gwen. She’s an orphan and my best friend. She could come and live on the farm with me.”

Sage straightened his long body and stared down at Isabelle. “I’d get that idea out of my head if I were you. Things don’t work that way.” Before she could say anything, he handed the satchel to her, then hefted the saddle over his shoulder. “Don’t start in with the questions. Let’s just go.”

How could he expect her not to ask questions? That was as ridiculous as expecting a slug not to ooze a trail of slime. Or expecting Mama Lu to bake a birthday cake for someone other than herself. Isabelle tightened her grip on the satchel as she followed Sage up the beach. “Then who is going to answer my questions? That’s what I’d like to know, because I’m still very confused.”

“And I’m very tired. I found you, didn’t I? I’m taking you to Fortune’s Farm, aren’t I? All I ask is that you stop asking questions that I’m not supposed to answer. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Fine!”

The late afternoon sky, though cloud-covered, shone brighter than Isabelle was used to. She had taken to squinting since leaving Runny Cove and her cheeks ached because of it.

They walked through a grove of pine trees, passing over a forest floor of dappled shadows and moss. Eve strutted proudly, her tail sticking straight up. While the cat walked a straight, determined path, the marmot zipped up and down, over and under, occasionally stopping to sit on her hind legs and look around.

Isabelle grumbled to herself. She wanted to tell Sage that he was rude, and rotten, and mean for not answering her questions. But each time a question rolled onto her tongue, she clamped her lips tight to keep it from escaping. She’d know soon enough.

“Here we are,” Sage announced.

They stepped out of the forest and into a little meadow where a wooden caravan sat. It resembled a yellow house on wheels, with windows on the side and a door in back. A creek meandered through the meadow, sparkling as it trickled past.

“What are those?” Isabelle asked, stopping in her tracks.

Two creatures stood beside the creek, their heads bowed as they drank water.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen oxen before,” Sage said, dumping the saddle in the grass.

Okay. I won’t tell you.

Sage knocked on the caravan’s door. “I’m back.” He opened the door and stuck his head in. Eve leapt into the caravan. Sage cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “Walnut! Where are you?” The oxen raised their horned heads but did not offer an answer.

“Who’s Walnut?” Isabelle asked, dropping the heavy satchel.

“He’s going to drive us to Fortune’s Farm.” Sage put his hands on his hips and walked in a slow circle, surveying the surroundings. “He’s probably fallen asleep again. I just have to look carefully… there he is.” Sage walked over to a mound of shrubbery. “Yep, that’s him.”

A shrub was going to drive them to Fortune’s Farm? Isabelle held back the question, knowing full well that Sage’s response would be, “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a shrub that can drive.” The marmot tapped on Isabelle’s foot to be picked up, then draped herself over Isabelle’s head to get a better view. Certainly, that marmot was the heaviest and wheeziest hat that Isabelle had ever worn.

“He’s under here somewhere,” Sage said. “He’s a tender, just like you.”

Isabelle gasped. “You mean, I’m going to turn into a shrub?”

“No.” Sage pushed back the shrub’s branches, snapping some off in the process, until a curled-up old man came into view. “This always happens when he falls asleep. When