Grandmother paused, her shoulders drooping as if a great weight had settled there. “Henry was ten when he was cursed, so it seemed fitting. She provided us with a recipe for a cure to reverse the curse for these subsequent babies. After they reached their tenth birthdays they would be returned to our world, where, if the curse was not broken, they wouldn’t reach adulthood. Poor Henry was fifteen when he sadly perished.” Grandmother, her hands shaking, took a deep drink of tea, and continued, “Rhosyn sent us back to our world with the recipe, and a small bottle of transportation dust that would allow us to send any boy babies through to her if needed. She modified Henry’s memory so he had no knowledge of Fairy Land and what his fate would be. We told him that we had been playing hide-and-seek in the attic and he believed that, happily going off to the kitchen with Clara. Boys are rare in our family; Henry had been the first boy born in generations. That’s why we Bloom girls keep our name in order to carry it on.”
“Which leads us to Otto,” Mum began, standing to pace the room once again. “Although boys are rare in our family, twins are not.” She gave a brief smile to Martha and Beatrice. “Your mother already had you two girls, and I had Felicity, when I found out I was pregnant again – this time with twins.”
Octavia let out a gasp. “Twins?”
Mum stopped pacing and crouched next to her. “Naturally, I assumed it would be girls. Boys were practically unheard-of. You were born first, all copper curls and flailing fists. You can imagine how surprised and horrified I felt when the doctor told me I also had a son; I knew what his future held. Otto had the same copper curls as you but stared quietly up at me with enormous, inquisitive, violet-blue eyes. The doctors couldn’t understand why I was crying so hard.”
“I have a twin brother,” Octavia whispered in shock. “Why did you not tell us?”
“How could we explain? It was hard enough explaining it to your father that his longed-for son would have to spend the first ten years of his life in Fairy Land unless we searched the world for rare flowers to counteract a fairy curse. He didn’t believe me at first, but that all changed when we came to Castle Bloom and spoke to your grandmother. We agreed that our need was greater than keeping the secret, so I revealed the door to your father and that was enough to convince him. We decided to tell your Uncle Piers and Aunt Ana too, and the four of us made a pact to never stop looking for the flowers. The lives of all future boy Blooms were at stake.” Mum looked at Octavia. “That’s why we’ve spent so much time on research trips. We thought we would be able to use our skills and expertise and get the flowers quickly. Aunt Clara had vowed to devote her life to finding the flowers and had managed to find a couple before your aunt, uncle, father and I took over. Some of the flowers only bloom every ten to fifteen years, and that was if we could find them in the first place. We had to follow the recipe and gather the flowers in order – one for every colour of the rainbow. I have left your father, Aunt Ana and Uncle Piers to get the last flower I believe is in this world – the indigo Corpse Flower. Only the violet Arianthe flower remains, and now I know it is indeed in Fairy Land.”
Octavia nodded in understanding and, determined, got to her feet. “We should go and get it. We have to help my brother.”
“No! Your father and I, and your parents, too” – Mum said with a nod to Martha and Beatrice – “have this all in hand.” She looked at Grandmother and Great-Aunt Clara. “I really need your support on this. I have to go through the door and get the final flower. Mother, where is your bracelet? I need the key.”
“It is in a safe place; I never wear it to bed,” Grandmother replied, her face pale, as she tightened the belt of her dressing gown.
Rowan started chattering, tiny squirrel paws waving in the air. Pan in response swooped down to sit at his feet, chirping in a furious manner.
“Now, now, gentlemen, I’m sure we can handle this without it coming to blows,” Great-Aunt Clara admonished, her attention on the little creatures. Bronwen, with a huff at the bickering creatures, loped over to the fire and curled up.
Unnoticed by Mum and Grandmother, who were arguing over the consequences of using the key, Octavia pulled Felicity up. She motioned for her cousins to follow them and slipped from the room.
“I know where Grandmother keeps her bracelet. I’m going to Fairy Land to save our brother,” Octavia told Felicity, who vehemently shook her head.
“You can’t! You heard what happened last time. What if we cause more damage? The last thing we need is more curses.”
“We won’t. Unlike Grandmother and Great-Aunt Clara, we know what to expect, so we’ll be cautious.” As she talked, Octavia was hurrying up the staircase, the three girls following. She slipped into Grandmother’s room and headed to the window.
“Tavi, enough! We shouldn’t be in Grandmother’s room without permission,” Felicity hissed, looking around uncomfortably. “I won’t be a part of this!”
“Fine – I’ll go alone! I only need you to help me reveal the door,” said Octavia as she pushed the stone in. The secret drawer popped out from underneath the window seat once more. The other girls gasped as Octavia bent and retrieved the bracelet. Rifling through the various charms, a tingling in her fingers made her stop on a tiny golden key with a twinkling crystal embedded in its top.
“This is it,” she said with certainty.
“I’ll go with you,” said Beatrice, finding her voice at last.
Martha turned in shock. “Bea!”
“Well, why should we let the adults have all the adventures? I’m tired of being here every holiday and Mum and Dad always being away. If we help find the cure and get Otto back, then we can go back to normal with everyone home and together,” Beatrice snapped.
Octavia held her breath as Martha and Felicity exchanged a look.
“I do miss being with Mum and Dad…” Martha agreed, trailing off. Felicity nodded slowly.
Sensing that the tides had turned, Octavia silently placed her hand in the centre between them. Felicity paused before placing hers on top, followed by Martha and Beatrice.
With no time to change clothes, the girls headed straight for the attic in their slippers and dressing gowns.
“Beatrice!” hissed Martha. “They’ll hear us.”
Beatrice, who had crashed into an old jumbled suit of armour, looked contrite. “Sorry, I didn’t see it.”
Ignoring the twins’ bickering, Octavia took a deep breath and held her sister’s hand. The beam of light once again shot from their clasped hands and solidified into the Fairy Door. Taking the tiny key in her damp fingers, Octavia slowly inserted it into the glowing keyhole. Time stood still as on a collective breath, she turned the key, and with a click the tiny door swung open. Rainbows, the scent of damp woodland, and the slightest tinkling of bells entered the musty attic.
Barking and the sound of running feet spurred the girls into action. Felicity grabbed Martha’s hand, and she tightly gripped Beatrice’s. All four turned to the attic door, as Mum, breathless, burst through it, her hand outstretched.
“Girls, no—!”
Octavia locked eyes with those of her frantic mother before a sensation of being enveloped in a thick bubble overwhelmed her. Bronwen’s barking grew fainter as in a wink they were standing in a mossy clearing, and Mum and Castle Bloom were gone.
Chapter Five
Through the Door
A shout echoed from the distance, bouncing around the girls as they stood grouped in a circle of glossy red toadstools.
“Intruderzzzzz!” a thousand voices buzzed, as a swarm of bees headed toward the girls.
“Key Keeper, run!” shouted a squeaky girlish voice as a tiny grey mouse scampered across Octavia’s slipper. Octavia leapt from the fairy ring, her sister and cousins following, and headed for the wood in front of her, illuminated by the large almost-full moon above. They slid into the cover of the trees as the bees chased them. Abruptly, the swarm stopped as if an invisible barrier held them back.
“We’ll b
e safe in here; Queen Nesrin’s bees cannot enter Rhosyn’s Woods,” a voice squeaked near Octavia’s left ear.
Octavia jumped in shock; in the corner of her eye she saw the grey mouse sitting on her shoulder.
“Do not be alarmed, Key Keeper – I am Ferren, your companion. Although I did not expect to be paired with you so soon. You have not yet reached ten human years, have you?” The little mouse twitched her whiskers as she talked. “It was so strange – I was at home in the woods when I felt this tingling in my whiskers and a strange sensation that I needed to be here at the toadstool ring. All of a sudden, you four girls appeared with a pop!”
Bemused, the four girls looked at each other, then back to Ferren.
“Companion?” Octavia asked.
“Surely you know about the Key Keepers’ companions?” Ferren squeaked in surprise.
Octavia mutely shook her head, but her attention was turned to the angrily buzzing swarm of bees, hovering just beyond the treeline.
“What do the bees want?” Felicity asked, casting a wary glance at the swarm.
“They are Nesrin’s alert system. She’ll know you are here soon enough. We need to go deeper into the woods.” Ferren leapt from Octavia’s shoulder onto a fallen tree, where a sleepy toad opened one eye.
“Oh marvellous, humans! There goes my peace and quiet,” the toad croaked grumpily.
“That is no way to welcome our guests, Lyffy,” Ferren admonished him.
Lyffy regarded the girls with a steady green-and-golden-eyed gaze. His skin was mottled with golden spots across his jade-green skin. “Guests?” he said, one webbed hand gesticulating. “What about the code?”
Ferren tilted her head, her whiskers twitching. She turned to the girls. “Oh yes, the code! It is not safe for you to be here. Come, let’s go further into the woods to talk.”
“Um, excuse me, um, Ferren,” Octavia stumbled over her words, “how can we understand you?”
The other three girls crowded around, eager to hear Ferren’s answer.
“You are in Fairy Land now; creatures, fairies and humans can talk freely. When you become Key Keeper on your tenth birthday, I will be your companion in the human world and you, you alone, will be able to understand me there. But I will tell you more once we are safer in the woods,” Ferren told her.
“Well, that explains Great-Aunt Clara’s Rowan, and Mum’s Pan!” Octavia exclaimed, finally understanding the funny little conversations her mother and the sparrow always appeared to be having. Octavia had just thought Mum had been playing around.
Leaving Lyffy to his solitude, the girls followed Ferren deeper into the woods. They crossed a rustic bridge, which hovered over a glittering stream. Rainbow-coloured fish leaped from the water, bubbles rising to the surface in their wake. As they popped, the most delicious scents filled the air: strawberry, blueberry and blackberry. The girls breathed in deeply, a calm stealing over them.
“Oh no, I forgot! Don’t breathe in the aromas; they will intoxicate you and you will forget where you are. I am not used to dealing with human frailties,” Ferren fretted, nibbling on Octavia’s earlobe until she came out of her trance enough to listen to the mouse. “This way – quickly.”
Octavia blinked, trying to dispel the cotton-wool feeling in her head. Sleepily, she pulled the reluctant Felicity, Martha and Beatrice along behind her until they came into a clearing. She looked around. Where am I? she thought in confusion. Ferren gave a squeak and thrust a sprig of leaves which smelled strongly of peppermint at the girls.
“Chew this; it will make you feel better,” the little mouse told them.
Dubiously, the girls looked at the leaves. Octavia, feeling like she was in another dream, ripped a piece off, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed. Instantly she felt back to normal and remembered where she was.
“It’s fine,” she told the others. Copying Octavia, the faces of the others cleared from their previous dreamy expressions back to ones of bewilderment and slight worry.
“What was that?” Octavia asked Ferren. “I forgot why I was here!”
“The Stream of Dreams – different scents give different dreams. The dream fairies use them in their potions. They process them into sleep dust, which they sprinkle over human children to give them sweet dreams. Unfortunately, if humans inhale the pure scents for too long, they forget everything,” Ferren explained apologetically.
“But how do the fairies get the dust into the human world? I thought the Key Keepers kept the door between the worlds locked.”
“That is to keep the humans out of Fairy Land, not the other way around. Humans started to become afraid of our magic and slowly, over time, stopped believing, causing fairy doors all over the human world to disappear. This happened until only one remained – the one in Castle Bloom, in the care of the last family who still truly believe and who themselves have vestiges of magic running through their veins, courtesy of their fairy prince ancestor. Well, he was actually king at one point, but he passed the crown to his sister instead so he could marry a human girl!” Ferren paused, her eyes turning misty as if she was moved by the romantic notion. She twitched her whiskers before continuing. “The dream fairies and tooth fairies are still permitted to visit the human world, under cloak of darkness and to sleeping children only. Queen Rhosyn has a portal in her castle which she uses to send fairies through your door to do their nightly work. Your job as Guardian and Key Keeper is to keep the door, the last of its kind, safe: you are tasked with ensuring no human enters through it.” Ferren suddenly sat up on her hind legs, her intelligent black eyes flashing. “Which brings me to ask – what exactly are you four doing here?”
Octavia exchanged looks with the other girls. “We have come to rescue my twin brother, Otto. We need to find a flower so we can make the cure and free him from the curse Nesrin has placed upon the boys in our family.” She paused. “Have you seen Otto? Do you know where he is?”
Ferren twitched her whiskers. “I have heard whispers of a human boy being kept in Queen Rhosyn’s castle. It is on the other side of Rhosyn’s Woods.”
Octavia stood up, the others following suit. “Will you take us there, please, Ferren?” she asked.
“You can’t just go into Castle Enfys; you have to speak to one of Queen Rhosyn’s advisors first,” said Ferren. “These are dark times. Nesrin’s powers are growing stronger by the day, and there are rumours she wants to control all of Fairy Land.” She shivered.
“Can you take us to one of her advisors? Please, Ferren.” Felicity knelt next to the little mouse, who turned her troubled black eyes her way.
After a moment’s hesitation, Ferren nodded. “I will take you to see Feargal. He will know what to do.”
Fireflies flitted through the trees as the girls followed Ferren through a winding trail that glittered with luminescent toadstools and night-blooming flowers. Octavia studied these flowers keenly as she passed by, looking for the one she had seen in her dream. None matched, she realised with dismay.
“I’m cold and hungry,” Martha moaned. “How much farther?” she asked Ferren.
Ferren stopped. Beyond her, the trees had thinned out to reveal a shallow valley, and nestled up on a cliff was a pearly-white castle. The moonlight illuminated it like a spotlight. “We’re here,” she squeaked.
Martha apparently forgot her hunger and tiredness as she gazed up at the magnificent castle, her mouth dropping open.
“Who goes there?” an imperious voice barked. A large red fox slunk out from the shadows to stand in front of Ferren and the girls.
“It’s me, Feargal – Ferren – and these are the Bloom girls,” Ferren announced grandly.
“More Bloom girls?” Feargal sneered. “What disaster will befall us this time?”
The others shifted uncomfortably, but Octavia met Feargal’s gaze steadily and said, “We are not here to cause any trouble. We only want my twin brother back.”
Feargal’s eyes turned thoughtful.
“Indeed. Wait here,�
�� he commanded, racing down the valley and disappearing over the crystal bridge at the bottom. The girls watched for some minutes, but as there was no sign of his return, they sat on a few overlarge toadstools to wait.
“I know your name, of course, Octavia – there was much celebration in Fairy Land when the dream fairies came back from Castle Bloom one night with the news that the next Key Keeper had been born – but I don’t know your names,” Ferren said, smiling at the other girls, who introduced themselves.
They passed a few pleasant minutes talking about Pan and Rowan, whom Ferren had heard about from her time at her Companion Class at Fairy School. There she had learned all about the human world and how to be a good companion to the next Key Keeper.
“So, how exactly does being a companion work?” Octavia asked thoughtfully as she toyed with the tiny golden key still nestled tightly in her palm. It was so small, it would be easy to lose it. Looking around, she plucked a strong vine from a tree trunk and twisted it into a necklace. Slipping the key onto it, she placed it around her neck and securely knotted it.
“Well, in a nutshell, I’m here to keep your belief in Fairy Land strong – a visual reminder of the bond between the Blooms and the fairy folk. Oh, and to ensure you do not use the key unless it’s an emergency,” Ferren finished with a twitch of her whiskers as she turned her small black eyes on Octavia.
Octavia giggled nervously. “Saving my brother is an emergency, isn’t it?” she asked, tucking the key out of sight under her dressing gown.
Ferren’s gaze turned thoughtful, but she looked up as Beatrice gave a shout.
“What is that?” Beatrice was pointing to something large and round glimmering in the moonlight, heading their way.
“That would be your transportation,” a snide voice replied, making the girls jump. Feargal had returned silently without them noticing.
Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key (Through The Fairy Door Book 1) Page 4