The Forgotten Spell (Legends of Green Isle Book 1)

by Constance Wallace

Not knowing what to do, Matt stayed on the bottom steps, hidden behind the railing, watching the fury of panic. When the town’s police arrived with the bloodhounds, he retreated to the second floor, out of sight. Shortly thereafter, his father rushed in and barked orders at the household. Matt could hear him periodically conversing with the police chief in hushed tones. His eyes met his father’s briefly towards the end of the evening. The look he gave his son spoke volumes. Seeing his father’s disappointment, he stayed above, away from the commotion and activity of the search. Matt hoped his father would not come looking for him anytime soon. In the formal living room, he heard his mother crying hysterically. It made Matt’s heart sink.

  “I told them to watch the child,” Mrs. Stacey muttered repeatedly to one of the police officers. “They didn’t listen.” She blew her nose loudly on her handkerchief.

  The Chief questioned everyone, including Clarence, who kept twisting his hat nervously around his hand. Matt felt sorry for the man. “I saw him only this mornin',” the man stated sadly. “I thought his brother was supposed to get him, which is why I didn’t think anything of it when he wasn’t there anymore.”

  The words twisted in Matt like a knife.

  As the afternoon waned, some of the townspeople drove in to help. Matt continued to stay in the background, glad no one was asking about him. His guilt overwhelmed him, and he felt helpless. He couldn’t bring himself to even join the search. Evening finally arrived, silently creeping through the windows and covering the interior of the house with darkness. Matt continued to watch from the second floor as people and dogs moved around the grounds. Not one person attempted to look beyond the wooden gate into the garden. It was as if the whole area became invisible to them. When the night consumed everything, he could see the lights from lanterns and flashlights dance like fireflies in the twilight. Matt became lost in his thoughts thinking about Toby’s predicament.

  “Well, I’m guessin’ our meeting tomorrow is out of the question.”

  Matt jumped at the sound of Miranda’s voice. Seeing her beside him broke the wall he had created inside himself and every bit of emotion he had held all afternoon broke through. “It’s my fault, Miranda.” Anger and guilt burst from within, no longer containable. He hugged her as his heartache poured forth. “I promised my mother I would watch over him and now he’s been taken by a witch or somethin’ worse.”

  “What are ya talkin’ about?” she asked, her brow furrowing in concern, as she hugged him back.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m probably not making any sense.”

  “It’s okay,” she smiled, pushing him back. “I don’t know how this could be your fault and all. You were with me all morning.”

  “That’s why it’s my fault. I wasn’t supposed to be with you all morning.”

  Taking a shaky breath, he told her about his mother’s instructions to come back within an hour of nine o’clock and get Toby from the stables. “I forgot. I was having such a great time with you. And then I wanted to explore the garden, but when I looked though a hole in the garden wall, Chester was there, and talking, telling me Toby had been kidnapped by a black banshee.” He paused, waiting to see her reaction.

  Miranda’s mouth hung open for a Moment as his words sunk in. “Matt Kelly, are ya sure you didn’t slip and knock your head on the way home?”

  “No. I’m telling you the truth. Chester actually talks. He told me to meet him at the gate in the morning and bring help, because all of us would be needed to find Toby. We have to wait on DaGon and Delila, whoever or whatever they may be, to show us to the other side.”

  “And you’re expecting me to help and all?”

  Clearing his throat, he pleaded, “Yeah. Please. I don’t know anyone else I can ask.”

  “Well, WE ain’t gonna help ya,” a voice declared loudly from the dark part of the stairs, causing Miranda and Matt to jump in surprise.

  “Good gravy!” Miranda exclaimed upon seeing her cousins.

  “How long have you been there?” Matt questioned, seeing Thomas and Ned in the shadows.

  “Gee whiz, long enough to hear about the talking horse,” Thomas retorted as he wrinkled his nose.

  “Why are you two here?” Miranda asked.

  “Cuz, Caitlin and George are missin’, too,” Thomas explained quickly, his voice low. “Our Dad came out with their father to talk to the police. They think Toby’s disappearance, along with Caitlin and George’s, are linked somehow. Can ya believe it?”

  “What?” Miranda and Matt said in unison.

  Thomas quickly related how the siblings’ mother sent them that morning to deliver a welcome package to the Kelly residence with strict instructions to come directly home after giving it to Matt and Toby’s mother. Neither, Caitlin or George returned. After several hours, Mrs. Carothers became anxious and called her husband at the plant. By that time, Matt’s father had already heard the news of what happened to Toby and was headed home.

  “Uncle Ted thought Caitlin and George were helpin’ search for Toby, but when we got here, Mrs. Kelly said she hadn’t seen them all day,” Ned finished.

  “Three kids disappearin’ all on the same day,” Miranda exclaimed. “That makes five souls this ole wicked house has taken.”

  Thomas nodded in agreement. “The Knox twins last summer. Gee whiz, they didn’t ever find any sign of them at all, even after huntin’ for several months. Now Toby is gone, and our cousins, too.”

  “Yeah, I’m thinkin’ whatever got Toby, Caitlin and George, probably got those twin girls, too,” Ned concluded, folding his arms close to his body.

  “Matt, you’ve gotta tell your parents about what that talking horse said,” Thomas implored. “Maybe they would believe you.”

  “Are you kidding? They'll think I’m making all this up so I won’t be blamed.” Matt shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “If ya don’t do it, how will those kids get rescued?” Ned asked.

  “We’re going to rescue them,” Matt replied quietly.

  The three cousins glanced at each other.

  “It’s gonna be up to us to find them,” he stated with determination. “You guys know that no grown-up is going to believe any story I have to tell about a talking horse and a black banshee kidnapping three kids, possibly five. I mean, would you?”

  “If you must know, I’m kinda finding it hard to believe it myself and all,” Miranda stated. “But I’m never one to leave a friend in need. I’ll help you.”

  “I’m not going, and there’s nothin’ ya’ll can say that will make me change my mind,” Ned proclaimed adamantly. “We’ll probably end up dead or something.”

  “Caitlin and George are your cousins. Quit bein’ so selfish,” Thomas exclaimed as he slapped the back of Ned’s head. “Gee whiz, they woulda done the same for you and you know it.”

  Ned sulked quietly for a Moment. “All right. But I want ya to know I’m going under protest.”

  “Okay then. It’s agreed. We’ll meet up at the garden gate at sunrise, like Chester instructed.” Matt put his hand in the middle of their small circle. “And nobody tells any grown-ups. We’ll make a pact, just the four of us.”

  Miranda put her hand on top of his and Thomas did the same. Ned glared at them before he reluctantly placed his on the rest. Sealing their pact, the four friends stood for a Moment, looking at one another in quietness before saying hushed goodbyes. Miranda, the last to go, paused at the top stair. “I just can’t wait to see a talking horse and all,” she smiled slightly as she waved good-bye to Matt.

  “It’ll be an adventure, won’t it?”

  “Yeah, an adventure,” she murmured before departing.

  Turning back to the window, he watched the cars leave. The hour had grown late, and lights were being put out as people came back from the hopeless search. Sounds of voices drifted from below and he heard his father comment on the time.

  “Thank you for staying late and helping,” Matt’s father said to the Chief of
Police.

  “We’ll be back in the morning. I’m not going to give up anytime soon. Those younguns are out there somewhere,” the police chief stated firmly, tipping his hat before closing the mammoth oak door.

  “Mr. Kelly?” Mrs. Stacey whispered from behind Matt’s Dad.

  “Yes?”

  “Mrs. Kelly finally fell asleep from the medicine Dr. Henderson gave her.”

  “Good. We all need to rest if we’re to start early in the morning. I won’t give up searching for my son, or the other two.”

  Matt paused at the top of the stairs, squaring his shoulders for the talk he assumed would be coming shortly. When the heavy footsteps of his father moved across the foyer and stopped down below him, he swallowed hard. He was unable to breathe as he heard his father’s voice.

  “Matt?”

  “Yes sir?” Matt stood still waiting for the harsh words.

  His father looked up at him, his eyes tired and emotionless. “I...,” he began and then lowered his eyes, shaking his head. “Go to bed, son.”

  Matt watched his father walk down the hall to his study and close the door. Within a short time, the lights flicked off. Standing alone in the dark hall, a single tear coursed slowly down Matt’s cheek as he thought on his father’s action. He knew in his heart his father’s anger wouldn't fade away.

  Matt went to his room and threw himself on his bed, his head aching from the stress of the day’s events. The small light beside his bed glowed softly, a comforting illumination on the gloomy night. Surrendering to the softness of the pillows, his eyes glimpsed the tapestry above the fireplace in front of him.

  He hadn’t noticed it before, but now through the dirt and age he made out the features of a maze. It appeared to be a representation of the one outside his window. A once-white square, woven into the center of the fabric with a strange symbol etched in the middle, caught his attention. Not knowing why, he got out of bed and stood on the chair beneath the tapestry, an unsettling feeling drawing him to the strange symbol. Touching the spot, he felt something hard beneath the surface. The strange sensation that played along the back of his neck caused him to instinctively reach out and tear at the threads until he managed to free the object hidden in the material. Matt studied the dark red stone he held in the palm of his hand. Veins of gold ran through the polished surface and reflected oddly in the soft light from the lamp. It was strange and felt usually warm. Folding it carefully within a small handkerchief, he put it in his back pocket. It would be a present for Toby when he found him, he concluded to himself. It would be his peace offering to his little brother.

  He lay back on his pillow, his thoughts shifting through the events of the day. It did not take long before he drifted into a fitful sleep. His dreams swirled around Chester, mixed with a black entity chasing him through the maze. Children, calling out from a dark hole in the ground, cried for help, as strange beings shifted in and out of the background shadows. Toby’s voice, louder than the rest, clamored for Matt to save him. His brother’s words screamed in his dreams for a time, echoing and then changing, morphing into the sound of a tinkling bell. Matt became confused. Jerking awake, he heard his name called again, this time from outside the window.

  “Matt,” the small child-like voice wailed, “let me in.”

  “What...?” He rubbed his eyes struggling to make out the shape at the pane.

  “Quickly, open up,” the voice cried out as the figure tapped relentlessly on the glass pane.

  He sleepily approached the window and flung open the sash. A glowing ball of light flew past him and then bounced from the ceiling, diving quickly towards him. It sailed over his head and caused him to duck, and then abruptly stopped in front of his face. A tiny woman glimmering with green and gold balanced herself in mid-air, swaying. The beat of her wings hummed slightly. Her face glittered in the soft lamplight as she smiled brightly. “Are you ready?” she asked.

  Matt stumbled backwards, the appearance of the tiny fairy a shock. His fright caused him to trip on the edge of the carpet and fall backwards, his head hitting the wooden floor with a sharp crack. Before the blackness slid over his eyes, Matt caught a glimpse of a green gold dragon wedged in the window.

  Chapter Five

  The sensation of flight brought Matt back from the nothingness he had slipped into. He shook his head, his mind foggy. Darkness surrounded him and he struggled to figure out where he was. He reached out tentatively, feeling rough fabric all around him. Was he rolled up in a rug? “Hey! Let me out of here.” He rolled from side to side, trying to escape his confines.

  “Hush, before you wake the world,” a gruff, hoarse voice commanded.

  Matt silenced at its authority. In the quietness, he heard flapping wings, and remembered the image of the dragon in his window. “Where are you taking me?” he demanded.

  “If you don’t be quiet, I won’t be taking you anywhere,” the voice replied irritably. “I’ll be more inclined to drop you on your head.”

  “I’m sorry, Matt, but we had to wrap you in the tapestry.” He heard a second voice from outside the fabric. “You wouldn’t wake up after you hit your head. Your friends are already at the gate and we had to hurry. We can’t miss the opportunity to cross through the portal, otherwise we have to wait another whole day. Don’t worry though, dear. DaGon won’t drop you. He’s only flying a few inches above the tree tops.”

  Matt’s stomach lurched as he felt himself plunge downward. A cool draft washed over him as he heard the wings change beat.

  “Gee whiz, will ya watch it?” Thomas yelled.

  “Hey, now!” Miranda shouted. “Ya’ll are causing a mess and all.”

  Matt felt hardness beneath his body as the tapestry dropped abruptly upon the ground and opened to the pre-dawn sky. In the gray of the early morning, a small green and tan dragon settled beside him. The dragon, no larger than a horse, awkwardly shook its back leg, trying to dislodge a part of the rug caught in its claw. Seeing Matt’s stare, it raised a scaly brow.

  “What? Do I have a piece of boy stuck in my teeth?” the dragon sneered, shoving its snout into Matt’s face and expelling a rancid breath of sulfur.

  “DaGon, that’s not very nice,” a fairy exclaimed.

  “Why do I have to be nice all the time? People need to be afraid of me,” the dragon replied curtly.

  “They need our help. Frightening them is not the best introduction,” she retorted angrily. “Don’t you remember why we are here?”

  Exhaling a plume of smoke from its nostrils, the dragon snorted, forcing the gray wisp to circle around Matt’s body, enveloping him in a cloud of sulfuric fumes. Coughing, Matt backed away.

  “I’ve seen that smoke before,” he accused the dragon. “You’re the one who’s been making those horrible noises in the garden, aren’t you?”

  “So what if I was. Were you scared?”

  “Yeah, and so was my little brother, Toby.”

  “Good. Then my job was done.” The dragon chuckled, the sound raspy.

  “It’s not right to go around scaring people like that,” Matt remarked harshly.

  “There’s a very good reason why I want to scare people,” the dragon snarled.

  “Does it have something to do with some sort of anger about being short?”

  “I have you know I’m considered very tall in stature among my friends.”

  “Yeah, if you hang around fairies,” Thomas whispered to Ned. Both boys snickered, until the fiery glare of the dragon veered in their direction.

  “I would caution all of you. The last one who laughed at me perished in flames.” The dragon growled as he bellowed out a dark plume of smoke that swirled around the group.

  The fairy dodged in between the dragon and the boys, holding her hands up. “Let’s not begin our journey on a sour note, please. My name is Delila,” she said, turning and bowing slightly. “But you can call me Lily for short. This wonderful dragon here is DaGon. He’s usually not in such a foul mood, but we’ve been here o
n Earth a rather long time and it’s made him slightly irritable. We’re the guardians of the portal and will be your guides through it, to the land beyond. But we must hurry. The sun will be over the horizon soon. The spell will only work with first rays of light.”

  DaGon spread his wings, flapping them in a display of strength until Lily shook her head at him in disapproval. With a small disagreeable sound, he carefully folded them on his back, glowering at the kids in front of him.

  Matt went to Miranda’s side and clasped her hand. She smiled slightly and squeezed his fingers. “I’m not frightened,” she assured him.

  “Just in case you need me, though. I’ll always be by your side.”

  The four friends formed a line and followed Lily and DaGon along a hidden path, which ran along the outside of the garden wall. Within Moments, they stood in the middle of the weeping willows Matt noticed the day they arrived. A small brook cut across the landscape behind the trees and disappeared under the brick through an arched hole.

  DaGon tilted his head towards the sky, allowing a low, throaty moan to rumble from deep within his body. It crescendoed into a wail, the sound waking the trees. It was the same, ghostly howl Matt had heard before and it gave him goose bumps to hear it again. “That’s what I heard the other day. It must have been DaGon and Lily in the garden, not ghosts,” he whispered to Miranda.

  “At least part of the mystery is solved.” She sighed softly.

  As DaGon's moan ceased, unearthly voices, soft as a breeze, answered from the tips of the willows’ branches. The trees slowly began to sway, dancing in rhythm to a soft song which Matt heard coming from inside the bark of the trees. The limbs came to life and reached for the children, encircling their branches gently around their bodies.

  “What are they doing?” Ned asked in panic.

  “Don’t be afraid,” the dragon instructed patiently. “I called them to help us over the wall.”

  The willows lifted the children into the air with ease and placed them on the ground on the other side. Matt noticed Chester waiting in the shadows of some holly bushes.