Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Peter Had Trouble Fixing the Plumbing

"Oh, madam, your majesty!" panted the maid. "I can only let them in. That kid is so fussy!" The people in the room were full of doubts.Everyone stood up, and someone dropped a teacup.Sim rushed to catch the cup, and the King leaned forward for the pancake plate.Madam Pendragon stood up with Morgan in her arms, still staring at the boy, as the blue tear-shaped creature flashed in front of her. "It wasn't my fault, Sophie!" he kept explaining, his voice bursting with excitement. "I swear, it's not my fault! We can't make Morgan stop crying."

Princess Hilda stood up calmly. "You can go out now," she said to the maid. "You needn't worry. Sophie, dear, I didn't know you didn't have a wet nurse." "True, I haven't. But I'd like a good rest too," said Mrs. Pendragon. "You'd think," she continued, still glaring at the little angelic boy, "that wizards and fire demons could take care of a child." "O man!" said the princess. "I don't know a man can take care of anything. Of course, Morgan and the little boy are our guests too, now that they're all in. Where does the Fire Demon want to sit?" Turning to the less conspicuous gentleman, she asked road.

"I'm content with a pile of logs and a fire," crackled the Fire Demon. "I see it in this room. That's enough. Besides, my name is Calcifer, ma'am." Both the princess and the unassuming gentleman looked relieved."Certainly," said the princess. "I think we met in Ingle two years ago." "And what about the other boy?" the king asked kindly. "Sophie is my aunt," answered the little boy in a sweet but inarticulate voice, lifting his angelic face to look at the king with his great blue eyes. Mrs Pendragon looked annoyed.

"Nice to meet you," said the king. "What's your name, kid?" "Winky," the little boy whispered, bowing his head shyly, his golden curls still charming. "Have a pancake, Winky," the king said enthusiastically, passing the plate over. "Thanks," Winky replied gratefully, picking up a pancake. At this moment, Morgan also stretched out his fat little hand arrogantly, and cried, "I, I, I!" until the king also gave him a pancake.Mrs. Pendragon put Morgan on the sofa and let him finish eating.Sim looked and cleverly brought a piece of cloth from the cart.The cloth soon soaked up the butter.Morgan looked up at Sim, the princess, the maids, and the ministers, smiling, his face seemed to be shining. "Pancakes," he said. “Delicious pancakes.”

Meanwhile, Charmain finds Mrs. Pendragon hiding Winky behind her sofa.She overheard Mrs. Pendragon asking, "Do you know what you're doing, Hal?" She sounded so fierce that Waif jumped into Charmain's lap and curled up in a ball. "They forgot to invite me," replied Winky's sweet voice. "It's so stupid. You can't handle this trouble alone, Sophie. You need me." "No, I don't need it!" Sophie retorted. "And do you need to be so inarticulate on purpose?" "Yes," replied Winky. "Oh!" said Sophie. "It's no fun, Hal. And you brought Morgan here—"

"Tell you," Winky interrupted, "Morgan has been crying since you left. Ask Calcifer yourself if you don't believe me!" "Calcifer is as bad as you!" said Sophie excitedly. "I don't believe you two tried to stop him. You were just making excuses to come to Princess Hilda in disguise!" "She needs us, Sophie," Winky said earnestly. Charmain listened fascinated to their conversation, but unfortunately, when Morgan looked back to his mother, he saw Waif trembling on Charmain's lap.He yelled "Puppy!" and jumped off the sofa, stepping on the cloth.He ran towards Waif with his buttery hands outstretched.Waif jumped onto the back of the couch in desperation and stood there barking.It sounded like someone coughing dryly in a high-pitched voice.Charmain had to pick up Waif and back away from Morgan.The next thing she heard from behind the sofa was the strange conversation.Mrs. Pendragon says she's going to send Winky (or is his name Hal?) to bed and skip his supper, and Winky urges her to "try it out".

After Waif quieted down, Winky said sadly, "Don't you think I'm pretty now at all?" There was a strange thump in the room: Mrs Pendragon stamped her foot as if she had forgotten etiquette. "Yes," Charmain heard her say. "It's disgustingly beautiful!" "Now," said Princess Hilda, walking to the fire, while Charmain continued to back away from Morgan, "it's always refreshing to have children around. Sim, get Morgan a muffin, and hurry." point." Morgan immediately turned around and ran towards Sim and SpongeBob.Charmain heard his hair creak.She turned to see the fire demon emerging from her shoulder, looking at her with burning orange eyes.

"Who are you?" Fire Demon asked. Charmain's heart was pounding, but Waif seemed perfectly composed.If I hadn't met Lubbock before, Charmain thought, I'd be terrified of this Calcifer. "I...uh...I came to the library to help out," she said. "Then we'll talk to you later," Calcifer crackled again. "You smell like magic, you know that? You and your dog." "She's not my dog. She belongs to a wizard," Charmain said. "Wizard Nolan who always messes things up?" Calcifer asked. "I don't think Uncle William has screwed things up," Charmain said. "He is well respected!"

"He seemed to be going to all the wrong places," Calcifer said. "You don't have to be bad to make things bad. Look at Morgan," he said, and floated away.He has a way, Charmain thought, of disappearing from one place and reappearing from another, like a dragonfly tapping water on a pond. The King came before Charmain, and wiped his hands with delight on a large napkin. "Time to get back to work, darling. We've got to tidy up before nightfall." "Yes, of course, Your Majesty," said Charmain, following him towards the door. Before they reached the door, the angelic Winky escaped from the enraged Mrs. Pendragon and tugged on the handmaiden's sleeve. "Excuse me," he asked in a charming voice, "do you have any toys?"

The maid looked bewildered. "I don't play with toys, honey," she said. Morgan heard what she said. "Toy!" he cried, shaking his arms and clutching a butter sponge cake in one hand. "Toys, toys, toys!" A doll box fell in front of Morgan, the lid was suddenly opened, and the doll popped out from inside.A huge toy house fell beside it, followed by many very old teddy bears.After a while, a simple stone house rose up next to the tea and dining car.Morgan yelled happily. "Let my daughter attend to her guests," said the king, leading Charmain and Waif out of the hall.As he closed the door, more and more toys fell from the sky, the kid named Winky was still very shy, and the others were running around the house in a panic. "Wizards are energetic guests," the King remarked on the walk back to the library, "though I didn't know they were wizards so young. It's a bit of a challenge for their mother, I suppose."

Half an hour later, Charmain was walking back to Uncle William's house, and Waif ran behind her, feeling as shy as the kid named Winky. "Wow!" Charmain said to her. "You know what, Waif, I've never experienced so much in three days!" She still couldn't get enough.The king had his reasons for putting her in charge of bills and love letters, but she still wanted to take turns with him in charge of books.She will be very happy.Even if it was just flipping through a few pages of an old, musty leather book, because that was what she had hoped for.But that's okay.When she got back to Uncle William's, she could keep her head down on The Twelve-Pointed Wand, or perhaps even better, Memoirs of an Exorcist, because it seemed like it would be more enjoyable to read during the day.Or simply find a completely different book? She'd been so dreaming of a good reading time that she didn't even pay attention to where she was walking, but she noticed that Waif was running more and more panting and struggling, so she picked her up.With Waif in her arms, she kicked open the gate of Uncle William's house and found herself facing Rollo on the path, his little blue face still wrinkled. "Now what?" Charmain said to her, really wondering if he should pick up Rollo and throw him into the hydrangeas.Rollo is small and easy to throw, even if she holds Waif in one arm. "Those flowers you piled on the table outside," Rollo said. "Do you want me to glue them back, or do you have other plans?" "No, of course not," Charmain replied. "I let them dry in the sun. Then I take them inside." "Ha!" said Rollo. "Take it in for decoration? How do you think wizards like this?" "None of your business," Charmain replied haughtily, striding forward, forcing Rollo out of her way.Rollo shouted something behind her when she opened the door, but she ignored it.She knows it's not a good word.At his yelling, she slammed the door shut. Inside the living room smelled more than musty and smelled like a fetid pond.Charmain put Waif on the ground and sniffed it suspiciously.Waif sniffed too.There was a long strip of tan stuff coming out from under the kitchen door.Waif tiptoed over.Charmain, too, tiptoed cautiously into the nearest brown trickle.It felt like a swamp. "Oh, what's Peter doing?" Charmain exclaimed.She flung open the door. Two inches of water had already splashed on the kitchen floor.Charmain could see that water had seeped into six bags of clothes by the sink. "My God!" she cried, slamming the door, opening it again, and turning left. The hallway is completely submerged in water.The sunlight from the windows at the end swayed on the water, and it looked like a huge stream of water was coming from the bathroom.Charmain splashed across the water angrily.All I want is to sit down and read a book!She thought to herself, but when she came back, she saw that the house was flooded! She heads to the bathroom, Waif paddling painfully behind her.The bathroom door opened and Peter rushed out, drenched to the chest, looking very tired.He had no shoes on, and his trousers were rolled up to his knees. "Oh, great, you're back," said Charmain before he could speak. "There's a hole in one of the pipes here. I've tried six different spells to plug the hole, but they just keep dislodging the hole. I'm about to get the water out of that furry sink. Close it—let’s try it—but maybe you have a better way.” "Furry sink?" Charmain said. "Oh, you mean the one with the blue fur? How do you think that works? There's water everywhere!" "That's the only thing I haven't tried," Peter yelled at her. "Water must be coming out of there somehow. You can hear it dripping. I think I'm going to find a piston—" "Oh, you're useless!" Charmain yelled at him too. "Let me take a look." She pushed Peter aside and rushed into the bathroom, splashing water as she went. There really is a hole.There was a narrow crack in one of the pipes between the washbasin and the tub, from which water splashed and turned the bathroom into a joyous fountain.There were gray blotches that looked like magic traces all over the pipes, must have been from Peter's six useless spells.And all this is his fault!She growled to herself.He was the one who made the pipes red and hot.Oh hell! She rushed to the splashing crack and blocked it with both hands angrily. "Stop!" she ordered.The water continued to splash from the side of her hand and onto her face. "Stop immediately!" But the crack moved only six inches sideways from under her fingers, and the water splashed onto her braids and onto her right shoulder.Charmain covered it again with both hands. "Stop! Stop!" The crack moved a little further to the side. "Are you going to make a fuss like this?" Charmain said to the crack, covering it again with his hand.The crack moved away again.Her hands followed.After a while, she drove the crack to the top of the tub, so the water splashed into the tub and drained away through the drain.She plugged the pipe with one hand, trapping the crack there, while she thought about what to do next.I don't think it occurred to Peter to do that.She murmured to herself as she thought, that all he could do was run around chanting useless spells. "Uncle William," she yelled, "how do you stop the leak in the bathroom pipe?" no answer.Evidently Uncle William would not have imagined that Charmain would need to know such a thing. "I don't think he's very good at plumbing or anything like that," Peter said from the doorway. "There's nothing useful in the box either. I dug it out and looked at it all." "Oh, is it?" Charmain replied indignantly. "Yeah, there's some really interesting stuff in there," Peter said. "I'll tell you, if you—" "Quiet, let me think!" Charmain yelled at him. Peter may have realized that Charmain was not in a good mood.He didn't go on, but waited while Charmain stood in the tub, leaning on the spout, thinking.Plug the leak from both sides so it can no longer move.Fix it in one place first, then plug it.But how?Come to think of it, or my feet will be completely soaked. "Peter," she said, "go get some rags. Three bucks at least." "Why?" said Peter. "Don't you think—" "At once!" said Charmain. To her relief, Peter finally walked away in the water, talking about some grumpy fat cat.Charmain pretended not to hear.At the same time, she didn't dare to let go of the crack, and the water continued to spurt out of it, making her wetter and wetter.Oh damn Peter!She put her other hand on the other side of the slit and began to bring her hands together as best she could. "Close!" she ordered to the hose. "Stop leaking, close it!" The water still sprayed violently onto her face.She felt the crack trying to break free, but she just wouldn't let it escape.She squeezed and squeezed.I can use magic!She thought about what she had said to the pipe.I'm going to say a spell.I can make you close! "Close it!" It worked.Charmain's underwear was soaked through by Peter's return with only two cloths, which he said was all he could find, but the pipe was finally leak-free.Charmain took the cloth and tied knots on both sides of the pipe where the crack had been.She grabbed the long-handled brush from the side of the tub—the closest thing she could get to a wizard's wand—and tapped the cloth. "Stay there. Don't move!" she said to Boo.She tapped again on the patched crack. "Close it, too," she said to it, "or it will be worse for you!" Then she pointed the brush at the gray spots left by Peter's spell, and tapped them. "Go away!" she said to them. "Go away! You are so useless!" So they all disappeared obediently.Excitedly feeling that he possessed great strength, Charmain tapped the hot water pipe next to his knee again. "It's hot again," she said to it, "stop messing around! And you," she went on, reaching over and tapping the hot water tap on the washbasin. "It's getting hot—but not too hot, or you'll suffer. And you keep running cold water," she said to the cold faucets, patting them.Finally, she stepped out of the bathtub, and with a lot of splashing, she tapped the water on the floor. "You disappear too! Quickly, get dry and drain the water. Quickly! Or—" Peter went to the washbasin, turned on the hot water, and put his hand under it. "It's hot!" he said. "You really did it! Great. Thank you." "Oh!" said Charmain, who was very unhappy, wet and cold. "Now I'm going to change into dry clothes and go read a book." Peter asked pitifully, "Aren't you going to help clean it?" Charmain did not understand why she should come.She looked down at poor Waif, who was struggling to swim towards her, the water lapping beneath her.That brush doesn't seem to have an effect on the floor. "Okay," she sighed. "But I've been working all day, you know?" "Me too," said Peter excitedly. "I've been busy all day trying to plug the pipe. Let's at least dry out the kitchen." The fire was still dancing and crackling on the kitchen grate, making the kitchen almost like a steam room.Charmain passed the warm water and went to open the window.The inexplicably increasing laundry bags were soaked, but everything was dry except for the floor, including the box, spread out on the table. Behind Charmain, Peter said strange things, and Waif barked under his breath. Charmain turned to see Peter with his arms outstretched.A small ball of fire flickered on his hand, extending from his fingers to his shoulder. "Dry up, O water of the earth!" he intoned.The flames began to spread through his hair, down to his damp chest.His expression was no longer smug, but tense. "Oh, my God!" he exclaimed.While speaking, the flames had spread to his whole body, and he began to burn violently.Now he was terrified. "It's too hot! Help!" Charmain rushed up to him, grabbed him by a hot arm, and pushed him into the water on the ground.This is completely useless.Charmain stared at the flickering flames still burning under the water, and hot bubbles flew from around Peter, and the water began to boil, making him take another hot steam bath soon. "Stop it!" she yelled, pulling her hand away from his hot cuff. "What spell did you use?" "I don't know how to stop!" cried Peter. "What spell?" Charmain yelled at him. "It's the spell in the Book of Parchments that stops the flood," Peter said vaguely. "I don't know how to make it stop." "Oh, you fool!" cried Charmain.She grabbed one of his burning shoulders and shook him. "Stop, spell!" she yelled. "Oh! Curse, I order you to stop immediately!" The spell obeyed her orders.Charmain stood where she was, shaking her charred hand, and watched the flames disappear in a hiss, into a puff of steam, leaving behind only a dank, charred smell.Peter looked scorched all over and made squeaking noises.His face and hands are bright red, and his hair is noticeably shorter. "Thank you!" he said, patting himself in relief. Charmain pulled him up. "Pfft! You smell like burning! How can you be so stupid! What other spells have you used?" "No more," Peter replied, smoothing out the burnt hair.Charmain was sure he was lying, and if he had, he wouldn't admit it. "And it's not that stupid," he argued. "Look at the ground." Charmain looked down to see that the water was almost dry.The floor was tiled again, and it was wet, shiny, and steaming, but it didn't look like it had been flooded anymore. "You're lucky," she said. "Always," said Peter. "That's what my mother always said, when I say a spell wrong. I think I'll have to change my clothes." "Me too," Charmain said. They went through the inner door, Peter tried to turn right, and Charmain pushed him to the left, so they went straight into the living room.Patches of water steamed from the carpet and dried quickly, but the room still smelled horrible.Charmain sniffed it, pushed Peter to turn around, opened the door and turned left.The corridors are still wet, but not flooded anymore. "See?" Peter said, walking towards the bedroom. "It does work." "Hmph!" Charmain said, walking into his room.Don't know what else he did.I don't trust him at all.Her clothes were a wet mess.Charmain undressed uncomfortably, and hung them up in the room to dry.And the scorching marks on the chest of her favorite coat should be impossible to remove.When she goes to the royal mansion tomorrow, she will have to wear ordinary clothes.But would I dare to leave Peter here alone?she thought.I bet he'll experiment with spells to pass the time.If it were me, I would do the same.She shrugged, realizing that she was no better than Peter.It is also difficult for her to resist the temptation of the spell in the "Book of Parchment". When she returned to the kitchen, feeling much friendlier to Peter, she was dry, except for her hair, in her oldest clothes and slippers. "Ask, what about supper," asked Peter, as Charmain was drying her wet shoes by the fire. "I'm hungry." He looked much more comfortable as he entered in his old blue coat. "There was food in the bag my mother brought yesterday," said Charmain, trying to fit her shoes. "No, there's nothing in it," Peter said. "I ate it all at lunch." Charmain was no longer friendly to Peter. "Greedy pig," she said, knocking on the fireplace, asking for food for Waif.Waif was delighted to see new dog treats despite having had his fair share of pancakes at the royal mansion. "And you, too, are a greedy pig," said Charmain, watching Waif gobble him up. "Where do you put everything you eat? Uncle William, what should we do if we want dinner?" That kind voice was very faint now. "Just knock on the pantry door and say 'dinner,' dear." Peter went to the door of the grain storage room first. "Dinner!" he yelled, knocking heavily on the door. There was a crackling sound on the table.The two turned their heads to look at the same time.Next to the open suitcase was a small lamb chop, two onions, and a kohlrabi.Charmain and Peter looked at the food. "It's all raw!" exclaimed Peter. "And it's not enough," Charmain said. "Can you cook?" "No," said Peter. "My mother always cooks at home." "Oh!" said Charmain, "what the hell!"