The Winding Woods: Tales of a Boggle

by Dani Swanson

  Rory’s face dropped as he now felt sick to his stomach. He sat back down and went back to studying the pattern in the stone on the wall. “So, now what.”

  “Now, I will find somewhere to hide this child, and you little brother, will run this kingdom until I return.”

  “I can’t….”

  “You will, and you must.” He wrapped his arm around his brother and hugged him. “I will move her in the morning. I better get back there in case she wakes up.”

  The brothers said their good-byes, and Zyon tiptoed back to his chair by the window. His brother was right. He did not know the first thing about raising a witch. He did not know what his next move was going to be, but he did know that to keep both his kingdom and the little girl safe, he would have to move far away from the Winding Woods.

  21: Blessed by sparrow’s wings

  The road to the center of the Winding Woods was well-traveled. The bricks that lined the path had been walked on by many. The stone that pushed down into the earth below eroded into a smooth surface of red bricks leading to The Mother. The trio had run from Incubus as fast as they could for as long as they could until their lungs felt like they were about to burst, their legs burning with each step. When they felt that they had put enough distance between them and the kingdom, they had ducked into the brush to hide, walking off the main road, ensuring that they hadn't been followed.

  Izzie wasn't talking much, even though Xander and Nathan were doing their best to keep the conversation light, trying to get a smile to cross her face.

  "Babe, I think you're in shock. You need to breathe." Xander kept physical contact with her the entire time they were moving, either by holding her hand or resting his arm around her shoulders. He didn't want her to feel alone, like the look that showed on her face. "We love you, and we'll be with you through all of this." He gently ran his finger down her cheek. She forced a small smile as she laid her head on his chest as they walked.

  "I love you both. You know that." Her voice was soft and barely audible to Nathan, who was walking on the other side of her.

  "Do we dare go back onto the main road? I'm feeling like a pin cushion going through these bushes." Nathan nudged Izzie with his elbow and looked off like it wasn't him that did it.

  "I don't know what any of the answers are." She moped as she peeled off from Xander's arm and headed toward the road. "But I guess there is only one way to find out." She poked her head out from the line of trees, looking both ways before she stepped out. "I think we're okay." She hooked her pinky finger with Xander’s as this was how they held hands and pulled him out on the road with her. The next few hours were silent, only the occasional snap of a stick under their feet.

  "Do you see that?" Nathan was pointing ahead. There was a light glowing at the horizon, lighting the way to where they were walking. "Do you think it's the tree? Did we find it?!" Nathan's excitement finally brought a smile to her lips.

  "It feels right." Izzie smiled at her brother.

  "That's not the only glowing thing! Look!" Xander pulled on the chain around Izzie's neck, showing her that the purple sparrow charm she was wearing was glowing and pulsating to the same rhythm as the light ahead. "Why is it doing that?" Xander brought his face closer to the charm, examining it between his fingers.

  "It knows it's home." Izzie could feel the power within her necklace pulling her forward. "I don't know how to explain it, but we're going the right way." She held the charm in her palm and wrapped her fingers around it, feeling the pulse of its power run through her veins.

  "I'm not dreaming. Like this is actually my life, and I haven't just fallen off the deep end." She stopped and looked up to meet Xander's gaze, then turned around to look at Nathan's eyes. "Mom had me talk to a specialist, and everyone told me that I was crazy my entire life; I need someone to tell me that this is real." She had a surge of pain run through her arm as Xander had pinched the underside of her bicep, bruising her skin. "Ouch!"

  "If you can feel that you know that you're not dreaming. And I am seeing all the same craziness that you do." He held his hands in front of him to block the flying fist she produced.

  "Me too." Nathan placed his arm on his sister's shoulder. "And mom said I was the normal kid, so if I see it, it must be real life." She playfully shoved him as she looked up at the goofy grin on his face. "You're not crazy."

  "Well, she might be a little crazy, but she's not dreaming." Xander jogged ahead as he laughed at his own joke.

  "Who needs to doubt themselves when they have you two for support?" Izzie stuck her tongue out and continued to focus on the rhythm of the pulse. "This feels right." She whispered to herself. "I feel right."

  Calling The Mother a tree didn't feel right to Izzie when they got closer to where she sat. Her branches stretched farther than any tree they had ever seen. The colors from every tree they have passed in the Winding Woods were wound, intertwined within her branches. The tree stood beautifully, mesmerizing all that laid eyes on her.

  It started with Izzie, then Nathan and Xander followed suit with the running. She was excited to be there and see all the wonder and amazement that Zyon had told her about. They reached her base, looking up to the top of the tree soaring higher than the highest redwood back home.

  "She's enormous! Can you imagine trying to climb that?" Izzie pointed to even the lower branches. She went up and touched the bark; the hair on her arms stood on end. The Mother's power pulsated through her veins; Izzie's necklace started to levitate away from her body, being drawn to the tree. "Do you see this? She's amazing!" The dark bark of the tree had a soft velvety feel to the touch.

  "Step back and look at it." Xander tilted his head to the side, looking at the intricate design on The Mother's bark. "All the creatures we've seen are carved into her. See? There's a bunny, over there is a gnome, and that looks like that frightful cat that growled at me! Wait, do you see the wilted leaves at the top?"

  Izzie looked up to see blackened leave limply hanging from The Mother’s tallest branches. She made a grim face and nodded in response.

  Nathan was busy examining the base of the tree. "Where are you going, man?" Xander called out to him as Nathan continued around the tree.

  "Zyon's story said that there was a face of an old woman on the tree. I'm looking for The Mother. I remember that he was adamant about the magic coming from The Mother. I think she was a witch that turned into a tree. I want to talk to her. She might know how to get us home."

  "I think I am home." Izzie smiled, with Xander standing at her side and watching the necklace pulling toward the tree.

  "Babe, take it off. See where it goes. I think the tree wants your necklace."

  "But it's all I have from my birth mother." She forced the charm to press against her skin. The sparrow was almost too hot to the touch, and she couldn't stand the heat on her chest. She let it go again, and it gently floated away from her body toward the tree. "All right, but we need to follow it."

  Izzie unhooked the clasp from behind her neck. She held the chain for a moment as she looked at Xander to make sure he was ready to follow it. He gave her a reassuring nod, and she let it go. The sparrow no longer was a stiff stone pendant but was able to flap its wings! She followed it as the purple crystal touched each of the creatures around the bark of the tree. It met the bazzle, boggle, and nexiv that were all carved in front of her, each lighting up in a purple hue as the sparrow's wings blessed it. The creatures each changed positions as the magic passed through it. The sparrow flew high and low, greeting each etching, lighting them with its magic. They found Nathan on the other side of the massive trunk. He, too, was now watching the spectacle happening with Izzie's charm.

  "Is that your bird?!" He cried with enthusiasm as he chased the small crystal sparrow.

  "Yes! Isn't this amazing?!"

  Faster, the little bird flew, circling the large tree multiple times, setting each of the creatures aglow. The last creature carving that the bird landed upon was a girl with a round face a
nd long flowing hair. A necklace was around her neck, and a knot in the tree was the exact size and shape of the little bird. It flew into the spot lighting, the girl's face.

  "Is that you?" Nathan looked at the etching on the tree and back at his sister. "That's exactly how you looked when you came to live with us! I swear that's supposed to be you."

  "She has returned!" A trembling voice echoed through the air startling the trio as they spun in a circle, trying to find where the voice had come from.

  "Who said that? Show yourself!" Xander wasn't shy about drawing his arrow, pointing it to the tree line.

  "It was you who sought me." The voice came through as a yawn. "You have brought me back the child."

  "Are you referring to me? Is that supposed to be me?" When Izzie turned to look at her sparrow charm on the illuminated tree, she saw where the voice was coming from. She nudged her brother and Xander to turn around and look at what she saw. In the center of the tree, the bark had formed the face of an old woman. Her eyes were kind, and the wrinkles around them made her look wise. "Please speak again. Was it you talking?"

  "Yes, Isabella. Welcome home." Again, the old woman yawned as she spoke. "I am so very tired." The Mother closed her eyes and started to doze off while she was talking.

  "Wait, Izzie has come all this way to find you! Please stay awake a bit longer."

  "I can hardly keep my eyes open. She's done this. She's put my magic to sleep."

  "Me? She? Who?" Izzie put her hand on the bark and felt The Mother's energy enter her bloodstream, pumping through her heart.

  "Phantasma. Beware of Phantasma. She’s killing me." The Mother shut her eyes, and it was as if a light switch had been shut off. The illuminated figures on the tree went dark, and the sparrow fell from the knot in which it was resting, landing in Izzie's hands.

  The Mother was fast asleep just as everything else had been throughout the Winding Woods.

  "No! You need to wake up! I don't know how to get out of here!" Izzie was pounding on the tree, hard enough that her skin broke and her fists were bleeding.

  "Iz! Izzie! You need to chill!" Xander wrapped his arms around her from the back, restraining her arms as she started to sob.

  "I don't understand what that was about. We already know that Phantasma is someone we should avoid. Now, where do we go?"

  From the line of the trees, there was a soft noise of someone clearing their throat. Nathan drew his machete and turned around with the tip pointing to where the noise came from.

  "Perhaps we can be of service with where you need to go, Izzie." Pan, with the rest of Team Zeta, emerged from the shadows. "If you want to help The Mother, you have to beat Phantasma."

  "Friends of yours?" Xander had put Izzie behind him and was shielding her from what he thought was dangerous.

  "Xander, Nathan, these are the shadows that brought me here. The Guild of Shadows - Team Zeta."

  The five members of Team Zeta bowed their heads. Reyna was the first to break the half circle and move forward toward the trio.

  "My cousin has reached out. He told me that he let you go and threw Phantasma off your trail. It won't be long until she finds your scent again and will be coming after you. We have found where she is living, and we think that we have found out how she is keeping the Winding Woods under her spell."

  "Isn't she just using her magic? I'm sure she knows how to control her powers." Izzie's voice was full of annoyance as she couldn't figure out how she could do anything with her own magic.

  "Phantasma doesn't have enough power to conjure that type of magic. That is why she was waiting to harvest it from you." Zallen stated matter-of-factly as if Izzie was supposed to know everything about Phantasma. “She is regenerating her own magic, but the process is very slow.”

  "Harvest? How do you harvest magic?" Nathan challenged though he was afraid he already knew the answer.

  "Kill her." Jade's voice was sympathetic as she looked onto Izzie with tears in her eyes. "That's how a witch takes another witch's powers."

  "That's not the only way! Stop scaring her!" Robin had become very protective of Izzie. "We're not witches; we don't know all that they do!" He gave a reassuring nod to Izzie as he scolded Jade.

  Izzie's face was twisted up in confusion as she put her necklace back around her neck. "We won't let anything happen to you." Xander kissed her on the top of her head. He held her hair up for her to get her necklace back on.

  "Zyon reached out to you? Why did he change his mind? I thought it was his job to hold me for Phantasma to harvest me." The anger in her voice was back, and she could feel her voice getting stuck in her throat as she was holding back tears. "I can't believe he was part of the plan for me to die!" Tears rolled down her face as she buried it into Xander's chest. "I thought he loved me!"

  "I know that this is a lot for you to take in. Unfortunately, I don't think that he was given very much of a choice on what he was doing. But he chose you over the threats of Phantasma. She killed many of the boggles as you were fleeing, but Zyon refused to tell her where you were. He does love you if you can believe it, regardless of his previous actions. "Reyna came over and placed her hand on Izzie's arm. "We are here to protect you. Just as we told you before. Please let us help you."

  "Can you get us out of here? We need to go home!" Nathan still had his weapon drawn; he didn't trust any creature from this world.

  "No, Nathan. I am where I'm supposed to be." She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I can feel it. I am meant to be here. I never fit in back home. The two of you and then one true friend growing up that I haven't seen in almost two years. That is what I have back there. I don't fit in there and never felt like I belonged. At least here, I feel like I'm supposed to be here." She pointed at her picture carved in the tree. "I'm part of something bigger."

  "What about the two of us? I have parents back home. The people who raised you are your parents. They'll miss you."

  "No, they'll miss Nathan."

  "They loved you too, Izzie." Nathan was doing his best to make her feel better, but he had to agree with her comment. Their mom hadn't bothered to call his sister since she left the house. She often called him every day.

  "What am I to do about Phantasma? I don't even know how to control my powers, so what do you want with an uneducated witch?"

  "You're the only witch from the Winding Woods that wasn't affected by her curse. Every other witch, creature, and human that wasn't born from a dream was put to sleep. You were still wide awake. Why is that? That's what we need to figure out, and that is why you need to defeat her. You're the only witch left. All we could do was give her sweet dreams." Jade's passion and frustration sept out with her words. "We have an idea of how she made the curse work, but we don't know how to stop it." Jade looked at her friends to see if she was overstepping her boundaries as she spoke to Izzie.

  "Well, don't stop your story there! How did she do it?!" Xander said.

  "Water." The word echoed from all the shadow's mouths at the same time.

  "Water? How is water the key to what is happening here?"

  "The Winding Woods has one main water supply that runs underground and provides the water source for the entire woods. The Silver Lake runs deep under the Woods, and most importantly, waters The Mother. She is the source of magic, and with her being affected by the water supply, she somehow put everyone asleep. The boggles and the shadows are the only creatures that pull their magic from dreams, which when everyone is asleep all of the time, gives us an abundance of power." Pan smiled as he shared his thought process. "Except for you. You still have powers that are developing within you, but you're not asleep. Somehow it doesn't affect you, so you MUST be the key!"

  The trio exchanged looks as they digested what was said.

  "I mean, poisoning the water supply that keeps The Mother alive could upset her natural ecosystem that would then affect the magic that she gives off to The Winding Woods, which she created. I guess that makes sense." Nathan was tapping his fin
ger against his lips. "So, if we remove the source from the water supply, then we should be able to balance whatever levels are off with The Mother, and it should wake up the woods?"

  "I'm glad you've been paying attention in science class." Xander punched him in the arm. "But how are we going to make a filter?"

  "Well, I'm glad my two science nerds are all about this, but we don't know what she did to the water, and we should figure out what she did to the water before you can figure out how to clean it." Izzie was starting to calm down as they were talking about something that made sense.

  "We can escort you to the lake! We can show you where the mouth of the underground lake meets on land!" Robin took Izzie by the hand and started to lead her to the path.

  "Hang on Robin; we need to bring everyone with us." She looked over her shoulder back at Xander and Nathan.

  "We do need to warn you that we're quite certain that Phantasma is living at the lake. We may run into her along the way."

  "She's looking for me anyway. Maybe she won't think to look for me in her own backyard? Are you okay with this?" She directed her question to Xander and Nathan. "You don't have to go with me if you want to go home. I'm sure that the Guild of Shadows can bring you home."

  Xander looked at Zallen and Pan, who nodded that they could get the humans back to their world.

  "I won't leave you." Xander walked up to his love and took her by the hand. "I'm not going to let some witch harvest you.”

  "I've promised to protect you since you became a part of my family. I'm not going to stop doing that now." She wrapped her arms around her brother and squeezed him as hard as she could.

  "I love you guys too."

  Izzie's confidence in herself grew the more she learned about her past and the Winding Woods in general. Team Zeta told their version of the Creation and how The Mother created the entire Winding Woods.

  Then the adventure of a trio turned into a party of eight, traveling down a path to Silver Lake in search of the cause of the poisoned water supply.