by Dani Swanson
"Hold on; I haven't heard his side of the story at all. He loves me. I've known him longer than I have known you, Nathan. He has kept me safe for all of these years; I can't imagine that he would be doing it just to give me to the creature that did all of this to the Winding Woods." She pointed out the sleeping fairies on the branches and moved the curtain of leaves to look out onto the path. She had missed the fact that all the trees in this area had blue leaves when she was stumbling through the darkness. "The shadows told me his kingdom is called Incubus and is to the West. I want to go there and find Zyon."
"Incubus? Like the creatures that paralyze you when you are sleeping and give you nightmares? Yeah, that sounds exactly like a place we should go, babe." The sarcasm was thick, and Xander rolled his eyes as he joined Nathan on the ground to eat. "I think you have the better idea, Bro."
"Yeah, the shadows told me that boggles control nightmares.....and the boogeymen control the dreams." She apprehensively added to the conversation. "So, I guess the name is fitting?" She shrugged as she plopped down next to Xander, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Iz, what about this Phantasma thing? It has everything knocked out around here. If its primary goal in life is to get you, why are we going to go to the place that was supposed to hold you for it? That sounds like the dumbest idea that you ever had." Nathan's voice was stern as he watched his sister's face. He was scared for her and didn't want to know what the creature's plan was for her.
"I don't know who to believe anymore. Zyon has never done anything bad to me. He kept me out of trouble and protected me. He would tuck me in at night and kiss me on the forehead like I was his kid. Does that sound like he has ill intentions for me? He loves me just like the two of you love me. What if it is the Guild of Shadows trying to take me for this Phantasma thing? What if they are trying to turn me against Zyon? You guys don't know what the truth is any more than I do." She was raising her voice louder and louder with each question she asked. She was now on her feet and pacing under the shade of the tree's leaves.
"Hey, hey, I get you're frustrated, but we probably shouldn't be yelling. We don't know anything about this place. We might not be the only things awake around here." Xander tried to keep her calm and be the neutral party between Nathan and Izzie, as he had always seemed to have to do when they started to debate.
"Have you thought about your family? Like your birth parents? Aren't they here someplace? Wouldn't you want to go find them first and make sure they're all right?" Nathan wanted nothing more than to distract Izzie from going headfirst into the unknown. He never cared for Zyon and always thought it was dangerous for Izzie to be around him since he had first been shown the boggle. "Besides, Zyon left to go out on his own. He may not want to be by us. Or better yet, he may be here and just doing that invisibility trick that he does when he doesn't want someone to know that he is there."
Izzie hadn't thought of that. Who knew what else could be hiding among them without being seen? If her boggle could make himself invisible to the human eye, who's to say that there wasn't something else lurking by. "I haven't even thought of my family. I wouldn't know where to look. And I don't know what they look like. What if they're sleeping too? If they've been asleep for fifteen years, don't you think they're going to be looking for a five-year-old? Maybe the question should be, how do we wake everyone up so that someone can tell us how to get back home." Izzie was getting more frustrated and could feel a knot forming in her stomach. She just wanted to go back to her life at school. For the first time that she could remember, that was the only place where she felt whole and not like an outcast.
"But what if you look exactly like your parents and they see it in your eyes when you wake up? Xander wrapped his arm over her shoulder and hugged her. "You have powers, right? What are they? Maybe you are the one that can break this sleeping spell."
"Always the optimist." She said with a sigh. "I have no idea what my powers are. I can move stuff sometimes. But I don't know how I do it. Sometimes I wish something wasn’t in my way, and then it just moves. I shattered a wooden door when I was at Chimena—sent five shadows flying across the room too. I had silvery surges of power; I don't know, like lasers maybe, coming out of my fingers. I have no idea how that happened; I just knew I was scared, and I didn't want to be there anymore. It's like my body created an escape route for me."
"That's crazy! You can shoot stuff with your hands?!" Xander was holding her hand in his, examining her fingers.
"I guess that's what happens, again, no idea about how that happens."
"He might be right, ya know?" Nathan did not seem moved by Izzie's newfound experience. "Those shadow things have been coming after you since we were kids. Remember in the backyard when we were camping? I saw them too. That's why I believed you about Zyon when no one else did." He had wrapped up the remaining food so that there was a handle in the white cloth Robin had used to cover it. "If you really want to go and track down Zyon, we will go with you, but I want you to be aware of all the other factors that may be playing out here. This isn't a choose your own adventure book; there isn't any sneaking back to a page because you don't like the outcome." He was peaking between the vines of leaves, seeing if there was any movement.
"I was seven when I did that."
"Still applies to this situation." Nathan shrugged, knowing that he was right. "I just don't think you're going to enjoy the outcome if you do find Zyon. This is his world, his home. If he wanted to find you, don't you think he would have done so by now?"
His words were sharp and cut into her. "Yeah. He would have found me by now. He may still be angry that I locked him in that box."
"Or he's up to his own agenda." Xander was starting to side with Nathan.
"I know, but he's been my protector for so long. I just need to understand his side of things. Let's go and try to find The Mother and Incubus. If we head West, we are bound to find one of them. Is that fair? We stay together and head in one direction. We're bound to find something then."
"Seems logical. But it also seems like you're trying to get us to go find Zyon, which is what it really sounds like you want to do." Nathan said as he stepped out from the shelter of the tree. "Come on, the sun is coming up, and I'm getting sleepy sitting there. Let's go on an adventure."
"Just like dad used to say when he took you camping."
"Yeah, let's just hope this adventure is equally as boring as camping with dad in the woods by our house." Nathan's voice was unsure as he didn't believe that this adventure would be as dull as those trips.
"All right, but the next sleeping thing we passed that has some kind of weapon on it, I'm taking it." Xander looked around, hoping to find another centaur with a crossbow. "I should have swiped that one off the last guy."
"Do you even know how to use it?" Izzie raised her eyebrows as she doubted such an item would be helpful to them.
"Um, yeah. I went camping. I know how to shoot a bow and how to fence too. I took classes in High School."
"I thought I was the nerd." She said as they followed down the dirt road headed to the West.
"You're both nerds, but I feel it will come in handy." Nathan had to add to the conversation. "At least I know I'm strong and fast. If you can’t fight something, run away to fight another day." Nathan's sound advice fell on deaf ears as he picked up a fallen tree branch to use as a walking stick.
"A camper, an archer, and a witch enter the woods. It sounds like the start of a horrible joke." Xander shook his head as he weaved his fingers to intertwine with Izzie's. They walked in silence for a while as the trio ventured into the wilderness.
19: The Mother
"We're going the wrong way! We're supposed to be going into the darkness, not away from it." They had been walking for hours, and Izzie was tired. The sun was high in the sky by the time they had reached the fork in the road.
"There's a sign, any idea what it says?" Xander was squinting at the sign written in some language he had never seen. The post held many w
ooden signs with lustrous lettering pointing off in different directions. Two of the largest were lined up with the paths through the trees.
"I can't say I can." Izzie tilted her head to the side as if that would clear up what was written to her.
"Well, I say we go to the left. You always go to the left on video games." Nathan offered his reasoning as the only sound advice. He looked at Xander and Izzie's faces to see that they weren't amused. "Flip a coin?" He pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
"Take a picture of the sign. Maybe someone will be awake and can help us." Izzie patted Xander's phone in his pocket. "Then make sure you turn it off. I'm sure we won't find a charging station around here."
She started to the left just as Nathan had suggested, without saying a word more about it. The boys followed behind her after Xander got a picture of the sign.
They passed a few small villages hidden in the Winding Woods. They passed through one that was humans, all sleeping where they were standing the moment the curse passed through. They did find a couple of houses that weren't locked and helped themselves to some dried meats and a machete-styled knife.
"Have you ever seen something like this before?" Nathan said as he held the blade up to glisten in the sun. The handle fit his hand perfectly, and the blade had a rounded edge with a green hue to the metal.
"I feel bad for taking this stuff," Izzie said with a sigh, as she found a bag styled like a backpack and filled it with some essentials. "We need to remember where we got this stuff from so, we can return it."
"Right now, I would focus on us surviving. These people have been asleep for like fifteen years. I don't think they need their big knife or a blanket. I wish it hadn't been so long, so there were more things to eat. I'm scared to take anything that resembles food." Xander carefully peered into the kitchen of the house they were in. "Wait, guys, look at this."
As they rounded the corner into the kitchen, they saw a fire going on the stove. There was a pot next to the flame-filled with stew, and loaf of bread on the counter, but the house owner was lying on the ground, fast asleep. In fact, nothing was spoiled! The entire house still had their goods from fifteen years ago as fresh as when the food was purchased from a market.
"How is that possible?" Nathan carefully nudged the man on the floor with his foot, expecting him to at least moan. He was still lightly snoring and wasn't bothered by Nathan's foot in the least.
"Everything was affected by the spell. Not just the creatures." Izzie broke off a piece of bread and gave her brother a hesitant look before sinking her teeth into the crust. It was fresh and sweet; her mouth continued to fill with saliva as her stomach begged for more. "I think it's fine," she managed to get out with her mouth full of bread.
"You're eating fifteen-year-old bread," Xander said as he scrunched his face in displeasure.
"You can just starve; I'm eating." Nathan ripped off a chunk of the bread and found an icebox with bottled drinks and some kind of casserole leftovers. "Put the pot on the stove. Let's put this guy in his bed."
Izzie moved the pot over to boil, and Xander took the sleeping man's arms as Nathan grabbed his legs. They tucked him into his bed and put a blanket over him.
"There, he can't be too mad about us eating his food; we got him all tucked in." Nathan set the table as he had done when they were kids for dinner. The smell of beef stew filled the tiny house. They ate until they were full and then decided to nap as they were inside a home. The trio sprawled out onto the couches and a chair in the living room and slept for a few hours - rising refreshed, ready to continue on their adventure.
After having one more fill from the man's kitchen, they took what they needed and headed to the door.
"Awesome!" Xander's voice carried through the house from a back room. "Lookie what I found!" Xander came back to the main room with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "I feel better about going through the woods now."
"So, we're just going to clean this guy out? Eat his food and take his weapons?" Izzie said with a shrug. "What happens when he wakes up, and he's the only one to be sacked throughout his whole town?"
"Again, Iz, we're not from here, and we don't know if this curse thing will ever be lifted. I'm more worried about us surviving and making it home than I am about this guy IF he wakes up." Nathan patted her on the shoulder as they headed to the door.
Though she didn't like how they got the things they did, she felt better that they had some way of defending themselves now. Once they were out of the town, the trees' leaves started to turn a shade of blue that almost looked black, and the sun was tougher to see through the branches.
"I think you picked the right way, Nathan. I would say this area is getting darker." The path began to have vines from the trees overgrown across it, and the signs that were upon the road were old and decrepit. The fragrance of the flowers that had been on the breeze changed as well. The sweet smell of roses and daisies had changed to a pungent smell of lavender mixed with a spicy fragrance of cinnamon. Two scents that didn't go together on Izzie's palate.
"I think it stinks." Xander said as Nathan and Izzie were trying to decide what the smell was that was filling their noses. "And it makes me a little sleepy."
"Maybe it’s the lavender? That is in every aromatherapy thing I've ever tried for going to sleep."
The tree branches were so thick in this part of the Winding Woods that Izzie couldn't tell where the sun was any longer. It was dark enough that it could be nighttime for all she could tell.
"Hey! That sign is something I recognize! That totally is a drawing of a boggle! It looks just like Zyon." Nathan wasn’t wrong. Izzie could see that someone talented with their drawing abilities had drawn a picture of Zyon with a crown on his head on a piece of parchment the size of some of the posters she had in her room back home. The shading throughout was done with detailed charcoal and got Zyon's features down to the weirdly shaped freckle he had on the tip of his nose. There was an arrow pointing toward the direction that they were walking and a word in a strange language written under it.
"That's Zyon, all right. I wonder who drew it."
"Is Zyon a king?" Xander was examining the poster closely. "He sure didn't act very kingly when I was interacting with him." Xander wasn't wrong with his assessment; Zyon had been quite rude when they were together.
"Zyon never said that he was, but I learned during my short stay with the shadows that he is the king of The Boggles. And Zyon is just an acquired taste. You get used to his gruffness. He really is nice."
The path that they were walking on started to become steep and was a bit of work for the trio to climb. Once they reached the top, they could see a castle off in the distance. Unlike the one of the shadows, this one was built with black stone and was incredibly low. The gate was heavily guarded with little men dressed in blue. Each guard had an axe propped on their shoulder and a helmet on their head. As they got closer, they could see their green hair sticking out through the sides.
"They have battle axes! That’s sick!" Xander's hushed voice was more excited than Izzie thought it should be.
"Yeah, let's just hope that they don't plan on using them on us. We don't know if they're friends, remember."
Xander's excitement melted away as Izzie scolded him.
"I don't think we would be allowed this close if they were going to do something. They're in the trees behind us now." Nathan didn't move his head as he had seen the branches behind them start to bow under the weight of their invisible bodies climbing the trees. "They can be invisible, but they can't be weightless."
"That's close enough! State your purpose." A boggle who had sideburns running down his cheeks and a ring through his nose called out from above the gate.
"Ah, my name is Isabella. I'm here to see Zyon."
"Who are they?" The boggle used one of its long-yellowed nails to point at Xander and Nathan.
"My brother and my boyfriend," Izzie called back. "They are also here to see Zyon."
"You are allo
wed in. Not them. They can wait here for you."
"They come with me, or I leave." Izzie's voice cracked as she stood her ground.
"You won't be leaving. We have orders to get you into the castle." The gate lifted, showing the village of the boggles on the other side.
Izzie could feel the pain in her stomach start to grow, as it had when she felt trapped with the shadows. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She looked at her brother, who was squeezing the handle of his machete. Xander was nervously rotating the end of an arrow between his fingers. "Don't. We're outnumbered." She hissed through clenched teeth.
"Inside. Zyon is waiting for you."
"Again, I will not be going anywhere without them. You can relay that message to Zyon. If they can't go in, he can come out."
A group of boggles came out of the gate and marched toward where they stood. Izzie nervously backed up to meet the arms of Xander and Nathan. Her breathing was becoming more rapid the closer they came.
"Hey! Please stay away from us! We don't want any trouble!" Xander started to take an arrow out of the quiver.
"We're just here to talk. Zyon brought us to the Woods, and we just want to know how to get back home, then we'll be on our way." Nathan had the machete held at his side; his knuckles were turning white from holding it so tight.
The boggles continued to push forward. They formed a half-circle in front of the trio and were getting close to Izzie. One of the lady boggles reached out and roughly grabbed Izzie by the forearm; Nathan punched the boggle square in the face. "Keep your hands off her!"
Xander now had the bow drawn and pointed it at whom he thought was in charge of the group. "Back off! I will shoot you!"
The boggles laugh as, one by one, they turned invisible and formed a zigzag pattern around the group. One reached out and grabbed Izzie's arm again. She let out a scream; her face was flush, and she felt dizzy. "No!" She screamed again as energy from within pushed out her fingertips and pushed the invisible beings back from where they were standing. Izzie's hair rose from her head, standing on end, and a white light glowed behind her eyes. She raised her arms in front of her and pushed forward, knocking the boggles from the wall to the ground.