Jungle Heat
Dear Aunt Patty,
I'm still here in South America. It's a strange place, the jungle. It's hot and wild and I don't know what to make of all of it. I just wanted to send a note to let you know that Mrs. Bumble, Dolly, Kat and I are hiking through the jungle tomorrow. We have a lead on dad. I know you are thinking of your brother (my father) Frank and so am I. After I got to see him again in the Black and White Sister's cabin, my heart grew three sizes! I had missed him so much and hadn't even realized it. I wish you had been able to take me to see him while he was locked up at Silver Mountain Institute, but looking back, I understand now why you couldn't. The sisters had such a hold on him that if he saw me, his daughter, whom he loved more than anything, our connection would have immediately alerted the sisters to my presence. And who knows what they would have been able to do? Maybe they would have succeeded in what they tried to do in the cabin--finally kill me once and for all.
I hope that Abbie, Britt, and Wilson are doing okay. Have you happened to see or hear from Finn, Claudia, or Rupert? Mrs. Bumble told me that they're coming to Mexico with the rest of the middle school students to the Monarch Migrations soon. If we can find dad and get him away from Mary and Meredith, then we can meet up with the school as they witness the amazing butterflies...thousands of them...returning back to their home in Mexico.
I think you know now that it's also where the Jewels of Jericho meet every year to share ideas and reconnect. I am excited to see it but maybe also a little nervous. Mrs. Bumble and her aunt Ruby down here in Colombia - they tell me I am gifted and special. I don't know about that. I am just focused on helping dad escape from the grip of Mary and Meredith, twisted souls that they are. Mrs. Bumble believes that the reconnection between me and dad in the cabin--where he touched my ankle and I became normal again, back to my true self for a few minutes--lessened the sisters' power over him. I hope they are right.
We have a lead that they are holed up in a sacred jungle place . . . somewhere hard to find. Keeping dad out of sight while they build up their strength. I am a little scared to see them again. After what they did to me in the cabin . . . using my blood in their potion and almost killing me . . . well, I don't really want to ever see them again! But I won't leave my dad to spend his life under their spell. I can't.
I will never give up and I sure am glad my best friends are with me on this journey. Kat and Dolly send their love...well Dolly actually is asking if you can send her some new magnolia body spray as Kat threw hers away...and Kat is asking that you tell Delia to mind her own business. Something about leaving a bunch of voice messages on Dolly's phone asking Kat where she hid Delia's curling iron. Who knows.
If you happen to see Finn, please tell him . . . maybe just . . . well, if you get a chance . . . I know he doesn't really understand where I am now, the real me, I mean . . . Tabby . . . I think you told him I was visiting relatives overseas for a while . . . but if you see him, tell him his friend Tabby says hello.
Your niece,
Tabby (aka Ms. Mulligan)
