she was in an entirely different place. She saw nothing but a tiny face bent over her, that of a small animal of some sort. Its face was no bigger than a fist. It had a pointy nose and two small, black close-set eyes. It had a spiky fur with a long tail and was no more than like five inches tall.
Sara sat up but bumped her head on the ceiling of the small cave she was in. There were two of the small animals next to her.
“Where am I?” she asked and then she realized something. “I can see again,” she yelled.
The two small animals looked strangely at each other and shook their heads.
“Now why, why, why, would she yell like that?” one of them said with a small squeaky voice that Sara recognized from just before she passed out.
“Why, why, why, would she do that?” the other one replied.
Sara looked at the two small animals and smiled.
“Did you bring me here and cure my eyes?” she asked but the small animals didn’t seem to be listening. They kept wandering around in the cave saying the same thing over and over again.
“Why, why, why?” one of them said looking at the other.
“Why, why, why scare us like that?” the other replied.
“Why do such a thing?” the first one said.
“Why do such a thing?” the other repeated.
Sara felt a little tired in her head and looked to see if there was an exit to the cave somewhere. She had to get back and find Manolo.
She found a small tunnel with light in the end and started crawling outside when she heard the voices behind her.
“Now where is she going?”
“Now where is she going?”
“Why would she go?”
“Why would she do that?”
Sara shook her head and crawled out. The sun had almost set outside and the light was getting dim. As she crawled, she sensed that they were near water since the ground was moist and muddy.
She stuck her head up from the cave and then she smiled and jumped out.
“Manolo!”
There he was lying in the grass by the mountain stream where the small animals had built their cave. He was chewing on a straw of grass, watching the sun set behind the mountains. He looked at her as she yelled and threw herself in his arms.
“Easy there,” he said and hugged her.
“Where are we? How did I get my sight back? Was it those cute small animals that saved us?”
Manolo looked at her with a smile.
“We have been sleeping in the Desman’s small cave.”
“Is that what they are? Desmans?”
“Yes. They are Cantabrian Desman. A very rare and almost extinct animal with great healing powers. They must have seen us being taken away by the spider-witch and when she left the web to go hunting, they came to get us. They probably had help from their friends that live all over this place to carry us here. I can’t see how else they could have done it.”
“And what about my eyes?”
“They probably lifted the spell. Desmans are magical creatures. A little weird but a big help.”
Just as he said that, the two desmans stuck their heads out of the entrance to their cave. They stared at Manolo and Sara and shook their heads.
“Why, why, why would they be talking about us in such a manner?”
“Yes, why, why, why would they do such a thing?”
Sara laughed and looked at Manolo but he had already gotten up from the grass and was packing his bag.
11
ABIGAIL THE SNAIL
They stayed with the desmans for the night and moved on the next morning. The desmans packed a lot of food and herbs for them for the trip. As the time came to say goodbye, Sara kissed them both on their cute noses. They looked a little sheepish afterwards and stared at each other while shaking their heads.
“Now why, why, why would she do such a thing?” Sara heard them say as they waved goodbye.
”Why, why, why, would she do that?” the other one replied.
Manolo whistled as he and Sara walked along the mountain stream. Sara enjoyed his happy mood and soon she herself was whistling along with him.
“Where are we going
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