by Kathryn Moon
They slept and were not woken. Even when the denizens of the woodland came for a look. They didn’t bother them. Their long arms were kept in their pockets. Their hoods were kept up over their pointed heads and pointed ears. They didn’t steal and they didn’t murder. They had no reason to. They saw the travelers and they were not hungry and neither did they need anything that the travelers looked like they had. So they had a look, had a sniff and went away.
Abigail and her friends woke up in the morning refreshed.
They walked on, following the directions that the witch had given them and they came to a tower which rose up from the plain. It looked huge and imposing, even from the distance when it was small and very far away.
It got bigger and they felt smaller as they got nearer. They knew they could be seen. There was nowhere to hide. The plain was just grass. No bushes, no trees. Just them and a sea of green.
Nearer and nearer they came and as they came to the big wooden door at its base the door swung open. Abigail jumped as she was just reaching out to grab the door knocker.
A voice boomed out. “Enter travelers.”
The room beyond was white marble with a silver thread running through it. A spiral staircase swept up around the wall. It had no safety rail and as Abigail and her friends stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind them she began to panic.
The voice boomed out again. “Sorry, slipped. Come up the stairs.”
They walked up the stairs, through the floor of the room above.
The staircase went on but there was someone in the room so they stepped off of the staircase onto the landing and entered the circular room.
There was nothing in the room other than a sofa and two chairs, a fire which was suspended in the air with no fireplace or flue, a coffee table was set with a pot of tea and cups.
Sitting in one of the armchairs was a thin man. He was unremarkable in his looks. His hair was short. His nose slightly pointed. His round glasses fell down onto the tip of his nose as he moved and he pushed them back into place. He didn’t look much like a wizard in Abigail’s opinion. He looked like the boy down the road that she knew. He had a hand knitted jumper on and chino trousers. He looked up. “Hello Abigail, So you want to go home?”
Abigail was stunned. “Well, yes. I have crystals, two for you, two to work your device.”
The man shrugged. “Very good, put them down on the table and do you want a cup of tea? I’ve been told that visitors like cups of tea. I don’t get many visitors. I’ve got sugar and milk, do you like those?”
The mage made them a cup of tea and Abigail sat on the sofa. The little goat sat down beside her on the floor and the bear crouched down and sat beside the goat.
The man looked uncomfortable. “I am not used to this sort of a situation as I expect you are not used to it either. You want to go home. I got a message from my friend the witch so I know this. You have the payment. So I can send you home now. We will finish our tea and I will arrange it.” He seemed distracted. He was hardly looking at them and he seemed bored by the situation.
Abigail drank her tea slowly. Her head was full of thoughts and she was glad of the silence. The man drank his tea and seemed to be half looking at the book that was open on the arm of his chair. She recognized it. It was a school science book she had seen her neighbour with. It seemed odd to her but she didn’t want to ask.
She looked at the little goat at her side. She looked at the big bear who sat looking around the room and she thought. I won’t see them again! If I go home I will never see them again. Her hand reached out and she stroked the little goat who looked up at her with his big brown eyes. “I don’t know if I want to go home. I like it here.”
The mage looked up. “Of course you want to go home. It is why you took your journey and you do not belong here.”
Abigail looked sad. “Can I visit?”
The mage laughed. “Of course you cannot visit. You don’t belong here. So I’m going to send you home. You have drunk the tea. You will now go to sleep here and wake up back at home. Say goodbye to your friends.”
Abigail looked horrified. She grabbed little goat up onto her lap and cuddled him. He licked her face. She hugged bear but as she was hugging him she felt her arms go through him. He was no longer there.
She was laying in her own bed in her own room. She could see her wallpaper covered with pictures of animals and trees. She could see her toys. Her little brown fluffy goat was in its basket. Her grey Tatty Ted was on its shelf. Her picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was on the wall over her shelf. She was home.
Her mother and father were sitting beside her. As her eyes opened they looked at each other and smiled at her. “Welcome back little one. We were very worried about you.”
Abigail cried. She cried more than she had ever cried in her life. She didn’t want to be home. She wanted to be in the world of magic where everything was different. She didn’t want to go to school after the Christmas Holidays. She didn’t want to sit at tea. She didn’t want her presents. She just wanted to go back to a world where everything was magical.
THE END