A Gypsy Song (The Eye of the Crystal Ball - The Wolfboy Chronicles) by Willow Rose Page A

now?” she asked when he suddenly stopped.
    Manolo looked up at the sky.
    “I have made us a new friend. I found him while you were sleeping.” He pointed up in the sky. “We are following that cloud. It has promised to lead us.”
    Sara looked up and saw a small black cloud in the middle of all the white ones. It seemed to be smiling at her, she thought, but that had to be nonsense, because clouds had no faces let alone a mouth. Sara looked again and it winked at her.
    “What is that?”
    “It is a leading-cloud. It will tell us where to go. We have to follow it the rest of the way. When it moves, we move, when it stops we stop.”
    “That sounds simple enough,” Sara said and looked up again. Suddenly the cloud started moving faster and Manolo began to run.
    “Come on,” he yelled. “We have to keep up with it.”
     
    They followed the cloud for hours, sometimes it moved slowly and sometimes very fast. Sara had the suspicion it was playing with them. It had that cheeky look on its face like that of a naughty child.
    But Manolo followed it, and so did she.
    Later that afternoon, Sara was tired and wanted to rest, so she stopped and sat down on the ground.
    “You can’t do that now,” Manolo said. “There is no time. The cloud has already moved on and if we lose its track we are lost.”
    “But I am so tired. We haven’t had anything to eat since this morning. Can’t we just sit still for a little while and then catch up with it?”
    “No! This cloud wants us to do whatever it tells us to. It is the only way to find the Sensisaron and The Eye of the Crystal Ball. That is what you want, right?”
    Sara sighed and got to her feet again.
    “Of course it is.”
    “Great. We have no time to waste.”
    Quickly Sara took out a piece of bread that the desmans had given them and she ate while they walked. The cloud was nice to them for awhile and slowed down so she could eat.
    Later, they both were worn out and needed badly to take a break. But the cloud just winked at them and kept on going.
    Sara looked at a tree she thought she had seen before since it had a distinctive look, like it had a funny face. Then she saw a rock she could have sworn she saw earlier that same day.
    She told Manolo.
    “I think we have been here before,” she said.
    “Nonsense, it just looks all alike,” he said.
    They walked for a little longer and then she saw a small pond that she was certain she had seen before.
    “We are walking in circles,” she said. “We passed that pond two hours ago.”
    “Hmmm…” Manolo grumbled. “Magic clouds can get a little mischievous if they want.”
    “So you think it might be teasing us?”
    She looked up at the cloud and saw it smile widely. Then it speeded up and they started to run to keep up.
    “Yes, I am afraid so,” Manolo said.
    “So what do we do?”
    “We play along.”
    “What? Why?”
    “Because it has to lead us in the right direction at some point. It is bound to, it is its task and it has to fulfill it. A leading-cloud has to help anyone who asks it for direction.”
    “So what you are saying is that we have to do everything it says until it decides to finally fulfill its task?”
    “Yes.”
    Manolo was breathing heavily now. He, too, was getting exhausted.
    “Even though we don’t know when that is going to be?”
    “Yes. It is our only hope.”
     
    Finally the cloud slowed down and stopped. Manolo and Sara threw themselves onto the ground and caught their breath. Then Manolo hurried and got food and water out for them to eat. When they were done they looked at the cloud above them with great anticipation. But nothing happened.
    “Maybe he wants us to camp for the night here?” Sara asked after an hour of silence from the cloud.
    “Maybe you are right,” Manolo said. “The sun is almost setting and we need to get some sleep.”
    He took out their blankets and made a bed of branches and pine needles for her.
    “But what if the cloud moves while we are