On the Other Side

by N A Wedderburn

  “I know how to handle him,” Gilda joked, giving Chariot a grateful smile as she handed over her mouse. Max was in too much of a bad mood to care about the lesson, and so his mouse joined the others.

  The mice, which were all lazy and content with being carried around on Gilda’s shoulders, were named Hickory, Dickory and Dock, and were a rather mundane addition to the group. Max thought he saw one of them move a couple of times. He hoped that if they keeled over, he wouldn’t be blamed for that, too. He spent most of his time during the next few weeks with Chariot and Gilda, his mind, for once, off pranks. Raven’s refusal to talk to him would have taken his mind off Sam, as well, if people weren’t still disappearing. Some of the wizards assigned to the case vanished suddenly in the third week of October, and, a number of students from the school never made it home. It seemed they all had one thing in common: Their families were involved with the plan to unite the two worlds.

  *

  “If you mention Sam one more time, I’m going to throw this jack o’ lantern at you,” Scarlet threatened, shoving her knife violently into the jack o’ lantern’s eye for emphasis. “Honestly. Everyone’s already on edge as it is…Why does this thing look like it swallowed a lemon?”

  “They could at least try to investigate him,” Max insisted, but fell silent at the look his sister gave him. “I mean…You really suck at this. You have to make the mouth wider.”

  “Shut up,” Scarlet growled.

  It was Halloween morning, and the two of them were sat at the kitchen table, carving pumpkins. It was a mortal tradition that Max had wanted to try out for a while. The walls and ceiling of the kitchen were hung with realistic looking cobwebs and horrifying phantoms, and a large barrel was oozing a sweet smelling smoke into the room. Max and Scarlet had one thing in common. They both loved Halloween.

  Every year a huge festival was thrown on the island, and it seemed to be the one thing lifting everyone’s spirits right now. Scarlet always saw the festival as an opportunity to dress in even more outlandish clothes than usual. Max, however, mainly enjoyed the abundance of sweets, and pranking opportunities. He didn’t feel as though he would enjoy either, tonight.

  “Darnit,” Scarlet said angrily, dropping her knife onto the table as she accidentally carved off the one tooth she had managed to get right. “I’m going to go get ready.” And she stormed out of the kitchen, clicking her fingers to make the jack o’ lantern perfect. To Hell with doing it without magic!

  *

  That evening, Max followed Scarlet out of the house, rolling his eyes at her flowing black dress and corset, which she wore beneath a ruffled red cape, the hood up as usual. He went out in his usual mortal attire. Scarlet was not the only one dressed up. The island was full of life, and as the siblings climbed the higher ledges of the island, the sounds, sights and smells of the festival greeted them. People were scurrying here and there, carrying apples doused in toffee, in the shapes of bats, pumpkins and even spiders. They crowded the stalls, which were lit by flickering candles, casting long, wriggling shadows. Many people were already gathered at the top of the island, trying to find the best view of the forest below. Others hovered in the air, on brooms, carpets, or by their own magic, among floating orange lanterns. No one seemed bothered by the bitingly cold October air.

  “Hey losers,” a joking voice overhead called out. Max looked up to see Chariot hovering above him. He suddenly wished he had brought his broom. Many of the surrounding people were taller than him, and he had a feeling he would miss a lot of the show.

  Scarlet rolled her eyes and stalked away to find her friends.

  “I should have listened to the hover charm Mr. Grimm taught us last week,” Max commented dully as Chariot stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Here,” another voice said, from behind him this time. He turned to see Gilda reaching into the small bag on her necklace. Grabbing a small handful of powder, she sprinkled it on the ground below herself and Max, and the two of them floated up to join Chariot, just in time to see the beginning of the parade emerging from the trees below them.

  Max smiled at the two of them, ignoring the fact that he could see Raven floating nearby, sat on a dusty carpet with his siblings and cat. The cat glanced over to them, no trace of her owner’s anger on her face.

  Hickory, Dickory and Dock regarded her with their backs tensed and their noses twitching.

  The first float of the parade was rising slowly out of the trees, shaped like a large, lit jack o’ lantern, opaque ghosts floating out from the eyes, nose and mouth. The ghosts rose high above the crowd, fading into smoke and out of sight. A murmur of awe ran through the onlookers. As more and more floats rose to join the jack o’ lantern, the air was filled with the kind of magic impossible to achieve through spells. The parade lasted about an hour, and featured a float showing a short, yet heartfelt re-enactment of Humphrey Dumpkin’s heroic story. The last float featured an army of dancing puppets, their faces twisted monstrously as they moved rigidly through the air.

  After the parade, Max, Chariot and Gilda browsed the stalls, which were mainly selling sweets, and cheap novelty items tonight. Then, they moved on to the haunted house, which, this year, was taking place in the school buildings. Mr. Grimm was waiting by the fence, greeting people on their way into the attraction. As Max approached, he narrowed his eyes.

  “If one thing goes wrong in there-” he began to warn.

  “Don’t worry sir. I usually take Halloween off,” Max interrupted, smirking at the teacher.

  “I mean it,” Mr. Grimm said, less than amused by the boy’s attitude. “There’s wizards swarming the festival. We have real problems right now without you adding to them.”

  Max waved a dismissive hand to indicate that he understood, and followed his friends onto the school grounds. The gravestones in the field of flowers looked much more ominous in the near darkness, and the school itself seemed to loom miserably overhead. The sound of wailing escaped the building, and a purple light momentarily illuminated the ground as the door slid open and closed. Chariot made a small noise of excitement.

  “This is what I’ve been looking forward to most,” she said happily. “I mean. A few floats…Not exactly terrifying, is it?”

  “Didn’t you see those puppets?” Max said, raising one eyebrow at her.

  Chariot shrugged, her eyes on the door as it opened to let them inside. A gust of freezing cold wind greeted them, and the purple light filled the air. They entered silently, as though tugged along by an invisible string.

  Chariot was right. As enchanting as the parade had been, the haunted house was much more terrifying. They made their way down one of the narrow corridors, which seemed to tip to the sides as they went, dizzying them. Howls, screams, and the fluttering sound of bats wings erupted all around them; always from somewhere out of sight. It was so dark, that they could barely see the ends of the corridors, and walked straight into a huge, realistic cobweb. It took a while for them to rescue Gilda, who became hopelessly entangled. They passed portraits which followed them with their eyes, shambling, headless zombies, and bodies hanging from meat hooks. Occasionally, they glimpsed shadows moving just within their sights, and wondered whether they were other visitors of the attraction, or ghostly figures haunting the halls. Just as they made it to the exit, however, an unwelcome voice called out to them.

  “Oh, look. It’s the amateur.” It was Rob Goblin. And he was with Raven. Max felt a wave of betrayal wash over him.

  “Didn’t you want to set this off?” Raven said, ignoring Max completely. In his arms, he was holding a suspiciously shaped paper package. But Rob wasn’t listening.

  “I heard you tried to pin that rabbit’s death on me,” he said angrily, his small eyes narrowed at Max, his tail swishing. Chariot clenched her fists, and Hickory, Dickory and Dock poked their noses up from Gilda’s pocket.

  “Well, it was your fault, so…” Max s
hot back, equally annoyed. Although, his irritation was aimed at Raven. He couldn’t even look at him. How childish.

  “Wanna say that again?” Rob shouted, advancing.

  Chariot let out a snort of laughter. “A baby goblin going up against a warlock? This should be interesting.”

  “Shut up, big ears,” Rob growled at her.

  “You’re just lucky I don’t have my fireflies,” Chariot said dismissively, unphased by his insult. Her ears, after all, were only slightly larger than Rob’s.

  “Guys…Maybe we shouldn’t-” Gilda started, looking nervous.

  “No. Let’s see what he’s going to do,” Chariot interrupted, her eyes sparkling.

  Max raised one hand, thinking over the best possible hex in his mind. He could glue Rob’s clothes to his skin…or turn him into a pig. But Rob seemed to know this. He stopped, a foot away from Max, and decided to change his tactics. “I had nothing to do with that rabbit’s death,” he said quietly, so Raven couldn’t hear him. “But I’ll admit that prank was mine…If you do something for me, first.”

  Max lowered his hand grudgingly to indicate he was listening.

  Chapter seven

  It was strange how, with all the extra security on the island, it was so easy for Max to get into the old block. Part of the reason he agreed to Rob’s stupid deal, was that he didn’t believe it was possible. But, Gilda had just pushed on the gate…and it had opened. Now he was standing in a garden, overflowing with weeds. It was much larger than expected, and he could just make out the remains of what had used to be a path beneath his feet. He shivered in the cold autumn air, and another feeling swept over him. Somehow, the very air felt alive with magic. The decrepit old mansion looming over him had lost all of its visual glory years ago, but it oozed power. At the other end of the garden, he could see another, moss covered gate. That gate, he thought with awe, led to the mortal world.

  He pushed his way through the weeds towards it, his hand outstretched. Although he didn’t expect it to open, he couldn’t help feeling a slight disappointment when it didn’t budge. Sighing, he turned back towards the house and swallowed.

  Rob had dared him to spend the night in there, on his own. “Piece of cake,” he muttered, but he dragged his feet as he approached the door. Piece of cake, alright. The mouldy wooden door creaked open and he stepped into what had once been a large hall. The walls were crumbling, and the wooden floor was damp, the floorboards squelching as he walked. It was almost pitch black, apart from the silver moonlight shining through the glassless windows. A set of stairs stood before him, but he didn’t dare go up. They looked as though they would crumble away if he applied the slightest weight to them. Instead, he turned right and brushed aside the thick cobwebs strung across the doorway to the next room.

  He entered what must have been a small dining room, the door to an even smaller kitchen just within his sight. Brushing the splintering wood of the dusty table, he let out a small sigh. This was the house Humphrey Dumpkins had built. Turned into a school house, it had been left abandoned for so long, since the main school buildings had replaced it. As he explored the downstairs rooms, he found tiny, deserted classrooms, and the remains of slates the students had used to write down answers. Any trace of fear left him as he moved from room to room. Maybe he would even brave the upstairs.

  But, as that tempting thought crossed his mind, a flash of blue light caught his eye, and he turned quickly to see it vanish under a table. He darted over to it and knelt down on the dusty floor. The small orb of light was now hovering inside a small cage, and a second floated in to join it.

  “What the…” Max whispered, reaching under the table to grab the tiny cage. As expected, it was attached to a long, delicate chain. It was Chariot’s necklace. But how did it get here? Hadn’t that hag taken it from her? From his position on the floor, and in the small light cast by the fireflies, he noticed something else. Something that made his stomach turn.

  In the thick dust covering the floorboards, he could make out footprints. Hesitating for the longest moment, he followed them to a small, narrow door at the back of the room. It creaked open with ease, despite its crooked and bloated appearance. Someone had used it recently. Beyond was a small closet; the darkness in here pressed against his eyes. Lifting the necklace, he saw that it was not a closet at all, but the entrance to a cellar. Ancient, worn down stairs disappeared into darkness below.

  Lightning struck outside, and he jumped. Part of him wanted to turn away and leave the house. Rob’s promise didn’t seem so important right now. It seemed as though he had found out where the missing people had gone. Where, Sam, most likely, was taking them. Did he really need to see what was at the bottom of these stairs? Despite all his senses telling him to stop, he felt he had no choice but to go down there.

  But, before he could take another step, a strong scent filled his nose. He had thought the lightning was strange, in the absence of a storm; it hadn’t been lightning at all. Turning, he glimpsed something running past the window outside, but he couldn’t make out who it was. That didn’t matter. Smoke was rising from one of the tables in the classroom, and he stared as it caught fire.

  Quickly, he ran out of the room, back down the corridor towards the exit. The fire was spreading faster than natural, and he could feel the heat on the back of his neck as he ran. His hand shot out as he reached the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Not good,” he whispered, looking back towards the flames, which were beginning to engulf the large hall. Aware that he would be trapping himself further, he ran towards the stairs, and up onto the landing above. The fire followed him…He was its target. Whoever had cast the spell really wanted to deal with him before he discovered what was in that cellar. He pointed back over his shoulder, and a stream of water showered from his hand. But it was no use. His spell wasn’t as strong as the fire. And, before he knew it, he had reached the end of a long corridor, and was cornered in a small room, his only possible escape a tiny, arched window. There was no glass.

  He climbed out onto the decaying ledge outside and looked back at the flames as they engulfed the entire room behind him. There was nothing else for it. Closing his eyes he jumped, hoping the immense weeds below would at least cushion his fall a little bit.

  But, when he landed, he felt almost no pain at all. They really were thick, he thought as he opened his eyes. His heart sank. Of course the fire had alerted people…Or maybe Rob had told them himself. Perhaps this whole thing had been a set up. Whatever the case, Max was lying flat on his back on a strange bubble, staring up into the furious eyes of Mr. Grimm.

  *

  Max was in serious trouble, and he knew it. Not only had he trespassed in Humphrey Dumpkin’s mansion, he was now being accused of setting fire to the place and almost damaging the portal. He tried to explain that he didn’t know how he had got in so easily, but none of the wizards would listen to him.

  Fortunately, since no one was harmed, and due to his age, he avoided the harshest sentence, but he wound up being suspended from school for two weeks. His grandmother refused to let him see any of his friends, and she wouldn’t listen to him when he tried to insist he had found the place Sam was taking the people who had disappeared.

  “Nonsense,” she said angrily. “People are still vanishing left and right, and you think it’s funny to make a joke about it?”

  “No!” Max insisted, just as angry. “I’m telling you, it’s Sam!”

  His grandmother snorted. “Even if you did find something, no one can get in there now,” she pointed out. “No one could go check if they wanted to, thanks to your stupidity.”

  “It wasn’t me!”

  “Hmph,” Scarlet joined in unhelpfully, on her way to the front door. “I bet you’re loving all this attention. But I assure you, no one at school thinks you’re cool or funny. They just think you’re an idiot, and that you should have been expelled. Even your fr
iends.”

  Max didn’t need to be told that. His friends hadn’t visited him once since he had been suspended, and the first week was already over. He thought Gilda at least might have come to see him. Chariot’s necklace was still upstairs in his bedroom, the fireflies flitting about, being a nuisance. He wished she would come just so he could get rid of the thing.

  That afternoon, when Scarlet returned from school, she dropped her basket on the kitchen table, an unreadable expression on her face.

  “What’s with you?” said Max. “You look like you’ve been unfairly punished.” His tone was sarcastic, and he clicked his fingers to stop the feather duster he had been controlling.

  Scarlet rolled her eyes. “I’d tell grandma you’re skipping out on your chores,” she said. “But I don’t really care, right now. They think they’ve caught the one behind the disappearances.”

  “They caught Sam?” Max said, a hint of triumph and relief in his voice.

  “What? No,” Scarlet said impatiently. “They arrested that Raven you’re always hanging around with. From my year. I couldn’t believe it at first, but he has always been a weirdo, and he was the last person anyone saw with-“

  “Raven?!” Max interrupted, overwhelmed by his disbelief.

  “Looks like you had a lucky escape. Maybe you should be more careful about who you hang out with in future.” Scarlet seemed more gleeful at his horrified reaction, than concerned he might have been targeted.

  *

  Max was forbidden from seeing Raven during the next week. Even if he had been allowed out of the house, his grandmother made it clear she didn’t want him anywhere near that ‘lowlife’. And it seemed, conveniently, that while Raven was in custody of the wizards, the disappearances had stopped. That meant nothing. Max knew Sam was just taking advantage of Raven’s situation. As soon as he went back to school, he was going to get all the evidence he could, and take Sam down himself, if he had to.