Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers by Lee Edward Födi

reply, but Kendra couldn’t help to notice a slight twinkle in his blue eyes. She had never known her uncle to play a trick of any sort before. She didn’t even know he had a sense of humor. “How strange,” she said to Oki.
    “You know what’s even stranger?” the mouse said. “Look back . . . I can’t see Een anymore.”
    Kendra turned around and, sure enough, she could see nothing of the River Wink or anything else from home. The landscape seemed to just continue on as if Een didn’t even exist.
    “It’s an illusion of course,” Professor Bumblebean explained. “You see, the land of Een is invisible from the outside. Now you or I could march directly through the magic curtain and find ourselves home. But if a Goojun or some other monster were to blunder into the curtain, he’d just appear on the other side of Een without even knowing what had occurred.”
    “But if we can’t see Een and we can’t see the curtain, how will we find our way back?” Oki asked worriedly.
    “You just have to know where you started from, of course,” Professor Bumblebean replied. “Take a good look about you, Honest Oki, and mark the spot in your mind.”
    Neither Oki nor Kendra wanted to be stuck in the outside world. While the other members of the company consulted the professor’s maps and did one last check of their supplies, the two young friends set about trying to memorize the landmarks around the curtain.
    “We proceed due north,” Professor Bumblebean declared shortly, pushing at his glasses. “We shall embark on a straight course towards those mountains. In those rocky pinnacles we will find our castle and—hopefully—the Box of Whispers.”



THE BAND OF WOULD-BE HEROES was now on its way. Captain Jinx took the lead, followed by Kendra and Oki, then Professor Bumblebean, and lastly, Uncle Griffinskitch, who shuffled along with the help of his gnarled staff.
    To Kendra, the world outside the curtain seemed no different than the one inside, though both she and Oki expected to find Goojuns and Ungers around every corner. Now, I’m sure you’d be excited to read about a Goojun or an Unger, but Kendra knew that even the thought of such creatures was enough to send a shiver down Oki’s spine. Indeed, every time a leaf or branch brushed against his long tail, he jumped in the air and cried, “Eek!”
    “Enough already!” Jinx snarled after Oki had jumped for the fourth time in less than an hour. “Why don’t you just wave a flag and tell every monster from here to Krodos that we’re on our way?”
    “Oh, dear,” Oki murmured. “Do you think they heard me?”
    “Who?” Jinx asked crossly.
    “Every monster from here to Krodos,” Oki whispered.
    “How should I know?” Jinx retorted. “Just try and keep quiet.”
    “Have you ever seen a monster?” Kendra asked the grasshopper.
    “You sure are a talkative bunch,” Jinx grumbled.
    “Well, it helps pass the time, don’t you think?” Kendra asked.
    “Go talk to Bumblebore then,” Jinx said, pointing to the professor, who was plodding a short distance behind them. “He likes to talk better than anyone I know.”
    “We’d much rather talk to you,” Kendra told the captain.
    “That’s for sure,” Oki agreed. “What do you think is in the Box of Whispers?”
    “That’s hardly my concern, or yours for that matter,” Jinx replied. “Our job is to find it—and that’s all.”
    “It must be important,” Kendra said. “I mean, Elder Woodsong even called the orb to help find it.”
    “I think there are voices inside the box,” Oki said.
    “But whose voices?” Kendra wondered.
    “Probably those of the ancient Eens,” Oki replied. “That makes the most sense to me. But I don’t know why they call it the Box of Whispers.”
    “Maybe the box isn’t big enough to hold loud voices,” Kendra suggested. “Maybe it can only fit quiet whispering ones.”
    “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard,” Jinx declared.
    “Well, what