Eleanor and The Cryptochrome
An Illustrated Middle Grade Fantasy Novel
Eleanor is an 11-year-old girl who is often told that she is too loud, too messy, and generally just "too much" for the world around her. She dreams of adventure without the reproach of aggravated relatives and harried teachers. Then one day in her garden she accidentally falls into a realm full of giant talking woodland creatures. After landing in the burrow of three human-sized rabbits, Eleanor seizes the chance for adventure and embarks with them on a quest to retrieve a precious family heirloom—the key to her return home—from a band of devious squirrels.
The Rabbit Family
“Basil raised the rabbit equivalent of an eyebrow in Rhu’s direction. “Please excuse my sister, she’s had a bad run with unexpected company lately. I am Basil. Over there is my younger brother, Sorrel, and this is our sister, Rhubarb. Rhu for short. You see, you happened to drop in on us at a rather inopportune moment. We are about to be on our way to infiltrate the fortress of The Dray, a particularly shifty pack of squirrels. Even by squirrels standards.”
“She turned her attention to Sorrel next. He was futzing over an overflowing pile of tools in a corner. He’d pick one up, muttering to himself. When a wrench, or some such, met muster it was carefully placed in a tool belt around his waist. Eleanor settled in next to him, sorting similar looking instruments into piles. When she dared to ask him the proper use of a particularly odd looking item, he surprised her by launching into a detailed and technical monologue on its many attributes…Sorrell spoke of each item like a dear old friend whom he was thrilled to introduce to her.”
“You want to let it escape?! Basil, that is insane. I bet the Squirrels sent it!” From a better distance the menacing rabbit looked smaller than the first, more the dimensions of a well fed Irish Wolfhound than a bear, with sharper features that matched her narrowed suspicious expression. Her ears stood straight up, gesturing when she spoke. They rather reminded Eleanor of her mother’s sewing scissors waving around the room when she was making a particularly impassioned speech, and she eyed them warily.”
Eleanor
“Of course you could all just be a dream. Except that I remember waking up this morning and I definitely remember breakfast. Then I was walking in my garden with a book” Her hand flew up to her smack forehead in realization. “Oooh no I lost the book! Anyways, then I fell and I hit the ground, rather hard actually, which they say you can’t feel in a dream. I suppose I could have bumped my head but I really don’t think so. Besides, I’m often told I have a very hard head. I’m also told that I am quite clumsy and that I can’t keep tidy for the life of me…”
She trailed off, glancing down ruefully at her muddy school uniform and scuffed loafers. Her dress had a sizable tear on the front and there were large dirt smudges all over the smart navy pinafore and crisp white collared shirt underneath. Even her knee high socks looked to be in a sad state of affairs.”
“The heavy mood broke a little as Eleanor and Basil rounded a bend and caught sight of Orvil’s ferryboat. Eleanor let out gasp of delight, running the rest of the way down to the riverbank and along a short wooden dock. The jaunty blue sailing boat was covered in brightly painted plants and flowers that had the illusion of growing haphazardly up from under the deck of the ship and across it’s surface. They even extending up to the top of the mast above which flew a flag with a cheerful orange and yellow sun on a white background. Its two large triangular sails were crisp white and edged with matching bright blue rope to make a looping border. On the deck, its captain waved to them from under a sailing cap where his straw hat used to sit. Rhu lay draped across the bow, her sour face so at odds with the buoyant vessel that it now appeared almost comical.
“Climb aboard, climb aboard!” Orvil called down, “Eleanor, there’s a rope ladder near the stern. Basil, I expect you can just jump on. Mind the lines! Welcome, welcome to the good ship Arinna.”
Orvil and The Soothsayer
“As Eleanor reached the garden gate she spied the aforementioned Salamander at work harvesting squash into a well-used wheelbarrow and singing the jaunty tune. Up close he stood roughly at the height of her shoulder and was most beautiful shade of reddish orange she had ever seen. The color was darkest on his back then faded to pale yellow as it reached his belly. A freckle-like pattern of black spots ran from his snout down to the tip of his tail. He wore a wide brimmed straw hat to complete the look, giving Eleanor the impression of a brilliant sunrise.
Rhu muttered under her breath, “The old guy is nice enough but like I said, he’s an odd one. Hard to tell what he’s talking about most of the time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she pushed open the gate and walked inside.”
“The snake had entered so silently that if Eleanor hadn’t been standing in just the right spot she might have missed the entrance entirely. The Soothsayer was unlike any of the garden variety snakes Eleanor had seen in the past. Her jet black head was almost indistinguishable from the rest of her, with nothing to mark the transition to her thick body. She would have looked the same coming or going were it not for cloudy gray eyes and decorative head covering. The latter was made from thin silver chains, draped dramatically and affixed by invisible means. Right at the front a dark red stone glinted in the candle light like a third eye. When she spotted Eleanor a wide smile split her face unsettlingly into two halves, exposing long fangs that appeared to fold down out of the open jaw.”