Calyptus

In the backyard of her grandparent's house at 76 Bayside Drive, Bottlebrush Beach there was a small shed. A passionfruit vine thickly covered three of the walls and a loop of the vine hung low over the doorframe, like a loose strand of hair, stopping the door from closing completely. The sea air had rusted the hinges so that every time the door was bumped it would wail like an alarm. Allegra wasn’t allowed in the shed, but she didn't know why. Sometimes she would see her cousin Harrison come out, but whenever she asked him what he was doing he would turn his nose up and away from her and trot off, like he hadn't heard her speak. The old rickety door was a boundary she had never dared to cross, until today.

*****

It was summer holidays and Allegra and Harrison had been shipped off to their grandparents' place. Their grandfather, retired, was lumped with the children but their grandmother still worked four days a week.

Harrison, two years older than Allegra, had started to push boundaries and test the limits of everyone’s patience. Now that he was 12 he had decided he was too old for Allegra and her childish games.

On this particular day Allegra and Harrison were fighting in the bedroom they shared, their grandfather was in the shower and their grandmother at work, when Harrison decided to remove Allegra from the room; bag, mattress and Allegra tossed out in the hallway and the door locked behind her. Allegra picked up her book, The Magic Faraway Tree, and her doll Aurelia and hid behind the couch in the cool dark of the living room.

Their grandfather, towel around his waist, stumbled upon the debris, "HARRISON. Open this door immediately? Harrison, I mean it, if you do not open the door this instance I will belt you to next Tuesday."

"I'll tell Mum," Harrison said puffing his chest.

"Once you're Father hears about this…" At the mention of his father the door sprung open. There were muffled whines, stamping feet, the name Django and then reluctant steps down the hallway.

Django was Harrison's imaginary friend. A place was set at every family meal for Django, right next to Harrison - Harrison would not eat if there wasn't. Allegra had tried to join in, but every imaginary friend she invented Django would promptly kill. Allegra didn't mind too much, her parents had explained to her that Harrison was going through a 'transition'. She didn't know what that meant but from the calmness in their voices, she knew that she shouldn't ask any more questions.

Harrison reluctantly apologised, as he was ordered to, but he maintained it was Django who did it, not him.

Allegra returned to her book, lost in the magic of the Faraway Tree, she felt a light nudge on her shoulder. There was a small girl standing above her, peering right in her face. The girl had caramel curls tumbling over her shoulders and the tips of her ears pointed up to the sky like a pixie’s. She looked just like Allegra’s doll, except for her ears and the aliveness.

Allegra lay frozen on the carpet, clutching her book tightly in one hand, she reached her other hand across the carpet to find her doll but couldn’t.

"My Father sent me". The small girl's voice was barely audible, and Allegra only blinked in reply. The small girl jumped onto Allegra's chest and peered into her face, which had drained of all its colour. "Are you alright? Can you hear me?" the small girl asked, a little louder now.

"I… I don't know. Who are you?" Allegra asked, lying perfectly still, lest she knock the small girl off her chest or out of existence.

"I am Princess Aurelia of Calyptus, daughter of King Django. I need you to come with me at once, the king requests your presence."

The princess jumped off Allegra's chest and marched towards the door. Before she had time to digest what she had seen Allegra was up and following the tiny princess, who moved swiftly for her stature, out of the living room, down the hall and out the back door. Her grandfather was in the kitchen, facing away from the door as they passed, sloped over the chopping block with a pot bubbling on the stove behind him, he was too involved to notice Allegra and the tiny princess. Allegra followed the princess across the garden path to the shed where the door stood slightly ajar as usual. The princess slipped around the door without disturbing it and into the darkness of the shed.

"I'm not allowed in there," Allegra whispered after the princess. She scanned the backyard, checking for Harrison, nudged the door open further and it let out a screech. A final glance behind her as she disappeared into the darkness confirmed that no one had seen her.

The inside of the shed smelt sharp and stale, of rusted metal and damp wood. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness. There was a workbench along one wall with tools strewn across it, the old labels on the wall where the tools should have hung now faded and peeling. Paint tins, with lines of dried dripping paint on all sides, were stacked in cylinders three high.

"Just follow me." The princess disappeared through a small gap between two stacks of paint tins.

"I won't fit through there. Plus, I'm not even supposed to be in here."

The princess popped her head back through the slit, "just think small and press on."

Allegra did her best, she scrunched her eyes, held her breath and imagined she was the size of the princess. She took a few hesitant steps…

"You'll need to go at it much faster than that."

Eyes still closed, and now fingers crossed tight, Allegra ran. There was a light tinkling crash, she felt the paint tins brush past her in a whoosh, and suddenly she was running through lush grass, jutting above her head. The sun was glorious, like a perfectly warmed bath, tickling her skin. She was standing next to the princess, peaking above the oversized blades of grass at a tall, thin castle in the distance with two flags flapping at the top of its grand spire. One was blue with a red bottlebrush in the middle, and the other white with a small wattlebird in the corner.

"This is the Kingdom of Calyptus, and we need your help." As the princess spoke a horse-drawn carriage arrived, this was when Allegra noticed she was now the same size as the princess. She followed Aurelia into the carriage, the princess announced, "to the castle" and the carriage took off.

The trip to the castle was fast, and they covered a lot of ground. As she stared out of the window at the countryside and a village with cobbled streets, Allegra wondered how the princess knew who she was, “I’m always with you”, she thought she heard her say, but when she looked the princess’ head was turned away.

*****

They arrived at the castle, set on the peak of a tall hill, the whole city laid out before them. Directly below the castle was an empty strip of land, with what looked like a small tent, right in the middles. Cobblestone streets spread out on each side like two separate spiderwebs.

"Allegra Fitzwilliam your Highness", the princess bowed and backed quietly out of the room.

"Ah Allegra, I'm glad you're here. Please sit down." Allegra sat on one of two chairs facing the king, the glossy red wood of the chair was cold and smooth under her legs. The table between them was bare except for a big brass key, four times the size of Allegra's, now miniature, hands.

"I understand you know Harrison Fitzwilliam?" The king's eyes were kind and he looked seriously at Allegra. Allegra noticed that his ears had the same skyward peaks as the princess and his hair was the same rich caramel colour.

"Yes, he's my cousin."

"He's been causing us quite a bother. He visits the kingdom often, however, he seems to have gotten himself mixed up in an ancient land dispute between the two sects of Calyptus, the people of Bottlebrush and the people of Wattlebird. Many years ago, there was a married couple who wanted to start a family, unfortunately the woman could not carry a child. After many unhappy years the families decided that the pair would separate, but there was a disagreement over the dowry, and to whom it should revert. The dowry included a piece of land that has, since that time, served as the physical boundary between the two sects, you can see it when you look out over the city. No one lives there and neither sect will dare to cross the ancient border. However, about a month ago Harrison set up a teepee on the land and he says he wants to live there. The people of Calyptus are furious, they have banded together and they are demanding that I banish Harrison from the land. They have threatened to kidnap my only daughter and heiress to the throne, Princess Aurelia, and start a war if I do not act. Harrison will not listen to reason, and he has threatened to disclose the kingdom and its secrets to the outside world if we don't let him stay."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you want me to do."

Just then there was a bang at the door, and without being invited two knights charged into the room, with Princess Aurelia between them.

“Your highness, the townspeople are coming,” one of the knights announced. “They have come for the princess.”

Allegra walked over to the window and could see a mass of people heading toward the castle; at the front of the pack the same two flags that flew above the castle were flapping in the breeze.

"Allegra, you're the only one who can help us. You’ve already proved yourself capable by making it here to Calyptus, now all I need is for you to go home," King Django was standing behind Allegra, looking out over the angry mob. He gestured to the oversized key on the table, "that is the key to the shed at your grandparents' house. I need you to take this with you, shut the door behind you, lock it and throw away the key. Harrison can never come back to Calyptus; the safety of the princess and the kingdom depend on it."

"But that key is too big, I won't be able to carry it."

"The knights will help you to get it back to the gateway, and once you are through you will return to your normal size and you will be able to lift it."

“Please Allegra, I need your help” the princess said, as she nervously looked down at the townspeople gaining on the castle. One of the knights reached out his hand to Allegra and led her to the back exit of the castle, the other hauled the key his thick arms. The king and the princess followed.

"Allegra, you're the only one who can save us", the king implored.

The expression in Allegra's furrowed brows turned from worried to determined.

Princess Aurelia and Allegra were bundled into the carriage, with the key, the two knights rode up the front, steering the horses down the side of the castle and around the townspeople, who were now storming the castle.

When the carriage stopped it looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, but they were surrounded by the same tall grass as when they first arrived. Allegra looked back in the direction they had come and could now see a plume of smoke rising above the castle. Allegra could not see a doorway back to her world. She opened her mouth to ask Aurelia how she would get back as the princess reached for Allegra's hands holding them in her own.

"Thank you Allegra. Think big and press on, and you will always be able to find your way home." The princess smiled warmly and placed Allegra's hands on the key, which lay nestled in the grass. She was again struck by how much the princess looked like her doll.

Allegra scrunched her eyes, held her breath and imagined she was her normal size. The grass began to rush past her, with a swoosh and a light tinkling bang she was standing beside the paint tins in the shed, back to her normal size, with the key in the palm of her hand.

"Dinner time!" she heard her grandfather call from the kitchen. She could not let Harrison see her coming out of the shed or the key. She had to move fast.

Allegra managed to maneuver around the door and out of the shed without the door squeaking, but as she tried to pull it shut behind her it let out a wail and the vine stopped it from closing. It was too high for her to reach, she paused to calculate whether she had time to get a chair but figured she didn’t. She would just have to hope that no one heard her as she opened the door to the shed again. The hinges screeched as she reentered the shed and pulled a half empty tin of paint from the top of a pile and dragged it out, clattering behind her. She thought she felt something brush past her leg and when she looked down her doll was on the ground - it wasn’t there when she went into the shed. As she was staring at her doll Harrison came out of the backdoor and started heading towards her. Using the paint tin as a step, she was able to pull the loose strand of the vine off the wall and shut the door. There was another almighty shriek, and Harrison started running towards her. Allegra quickly locked the door and tucked the key in her back pocket, she would have to hide it later.

“What were you doing in there?” red was rising up Harrison’s neck and spreading across his face. He snatched her doll off the ground and waved it in her face.

Allegra couldn’t risk him finding the key, she pushed past him and said “Aurelia’s safe now and you’ll never see Django again.” Allegra grabbed her doll as Harrison’s hands dropped to his sides as he stood staring at the closed door.

"Coming" she called to her grandfather as she skipped to the backdoor and into the kitchen.

At the dinner table Harrison sat where Django normally did. "Harrison, where's Django?" his grandfather asked.

"I’m not a baby” Harrison said, moving nothing but his mouth and staring straight at Allegra.

After dinner Allegra snuck into her grandparents’ bedroom and hid the key at the back of a drawer under some old knitted jumpers. She crept down the hallway to the shared bedroom, the door was wide open and her mattress had been returned to the room. Harrison lay on his mattress with his back to Allegra.

“I know what you’ve done. You and Django are going to regret this.” Harrison rolled over to look Allegra right in the eye, he had been crying but his face was now set hard like stone. Allegra saw that Harrison had ripped the head off her doll and both parts were tied above his bed.

“Aurelia!” She gasped as she reached for the doll and their grandpa appeared in the doorway to turn off the light.