Max Downstairs: Episode 10

Tilley Tartmore picked up a large staff and thumped it on the ground. “Hee-hee! All the disruption you’ve caused. See what it uncovered? The Staff of Truth! And with it, power!” She thumped it again. 

Tendrils of smoke pulled Malvin up from the Haven and into the clearing. 

"And you thought you were safe there, but nothing escapes the Staff of Truth. Except, where is that sniveling boy?"

Malvin just shook his head.

“Ah well! I will summon him eventually. Meanwhile..." Tilly Tartmore gave another thump and leered at Keisha. "I decree this by the power of the Underside Patrol: Stepping on my grass, you miserable girl, is punishable by making your house troll my servant!”

“No!” Keisha said. “He didn’t step on your grass. I did. Besides, you step on ours all the time. What does that make you?” Rascal curled around her neck, hissing as if she could do something.

“It makes me one step closer to avenging my father’s death!” Tilley Tartmore turned to Malvin. “For doing my dirty work, for doing all the things to bring Max and those wretched kids to my territory – where is that boy? Anyway, here's a reward.” The smoke tendrils loosened around Malvin. He stumbled backward to a wall of boulders behind Max.

Keisha was about to cry. “Malvin? And just when I started trusting you.”

“I’m sorry. But she, she—”

A rumbling came from the distance, the roots and smoke forcing someone toward them.

“Mom?” Max said from his prison-chair.

“Max!” Mrs. Patterson walked forward like it was just another sunny day. How could she stay so calm? “Here you are!” Then she turned. “Hello, Tilley. We meet again. But really, do I need to remind you that we are not the enemy?”

“Oh, but you are. I saw it with my own eyes, your husband, in his troll form, standing over my father, bleeding and dead."  A scrape of noise came from behind Max. "What’s that?”

That was the slight noise of pebbles tumbling from a crevice in the boulder wall. And that was Arty, Max’s stone glowing in his hand. He pulled it back just before Tilley Tartmore spun around.

“Confound it!” Tilley Tartmore said. “More crumbling. Malvin! You WILL clean up this place.” She turned back around. “Now, where was I?”

“You were accusing my family of murder, the story you want to believe.” Mrs. Patterson turned to Keisha. “Here’s the real the story. Her father, a cruel man, demanded a house troll of his own, but none would live there. Attempting to kidnap one from the Underside, he disturbed a fissure and fell through.”

“Safely,” Tilley Tartmore said. “He fell into the Haven, where giant fireflies lowered him to the soft dirt. And your evil trolls—”

“Were trying to save his life,” Mrs. Patterson said, “after his head hit on a boulder.” She turned back to Keisha. “The trolls had almost stopped the bleeding when Tilley found a way down, interfered, and accused them of kidnapping and killing him.”

“Lies! All lies!” Tilley thumped the staff again.

Would that force Arty out of the crevice this time? Keisha held her breath. It didn't! Maybe the stone was protecting him. That gave her the courage to step forward. “If it’s lies, then show us. If that really is the legendary Staff of Truth, it will show what happened. You told us. Remember, Max?”

Max shook his head. “Only with the special stone. You know, the one with—” Tilley Tartmore had turned, eyes wide. "I mean the one that disappeared or something," he continued.

Tilley groaned. As she stormed back around, Max leaned toward the crevice as best he could and spoke softly. "It needs to stay hidden until we are free.”

Arty must have heard because he stayed in his crevice.

“But how do we get home free?” Keisha said.

Mrs. Patterson put a reassuring arm on her shoulder. “No worries dear. There is a way up. That’s the good news. The bad news, we’ll have to be clever. The person who brings anyone down here must have devised three riddles. If we answer them – and the Staff of Truth, even without the stone, will be the judge – we will be transported back up to the Overside.”

“That’s right!” said Max. “Tilley Tartmore, we’re ready. Riddle number one. Go!”

Ingredients needed for the next scene: What riddles will Tilley Tartmore use to challenge them? How can Arty safely come out of the crevice and attach the stone so everyone will see the truth? And Malvin: Is he a friend or a foe?

—Jody (with help from story ingredients provided by Elijah T, Gracyn, and Tucker E. ... Thanks!) 

The Recipe: In the comments to THIS EPISODE, give us your best ideas to answer our questions. We’ll collect your answers Tuesday at 11 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) and will use as many as we can to write the next scene. If you want to, sign your first name to your idea so we can give you credit.

Come back next Thursday to see what we wrote!

P.S. If we don’t take your suggestion this time, be sure to keep playing—we need your help to cook up a good story!