The creatures methodically searched each open cavern in the fallen pine tree, edging closer and closer to where the twins were hiding.
“If this works,” said Meghan, “I will never call you Little Bro again.” She shook her head, her thoughts screaming, I cannot believe I’m doing this!
Colin wanted desperately to relish his sister’s promise, but time was not on their side. The creatures were nearly upon them.
“On the count of three then,” he sent to her. “We’ll say together, take us to camp.”
“And when it doesn’t work?” she whimpered.
He had no reply. There was no other way out.
They held hands, each of them grasping the book.
The creatures had reached their room now, clicking and growling as their wolf-like faces started to poke inside. Smelling, and then seeing the twins sitting on the ground, set off a fury of howling and screeching. The cloaked figure ordered them to back away and strode toward them.
Here goes nothing! Colin thought to himself, unsure of whether anything would come out when he tried to speak. The twins jammed their eyes closed and counted.
“One… two… three... TAKE US TO CAMP!”
They kept their eyes shut, fully expecting to be yanked from their hiding spot and hurled into the air, or mauled by the ferocious fangs of the hideous creatures outside.
All went quiet, neither twin breathed, and they kept their hands held together still gripping the book. The growls, clicking, and screeching howls were gone. All the twins could hear was music; guitars playing somewhere not too far away. Meghan was the first to open her eyes. She did so slowly, and just one at a time.
“Holy crap!” she exhaled, hitting at her brother’s arm.
He peeked through one eye, then the other.
They were sitting on the ground, a few feet into the woods behind the Jacoby travel trailer. The music they were hearing was from the gypsy caravan.
“I am…” Meghan could not finish the thought.
“This is… ” Colin shook his head, unable to think of a word strong enough to describe how he was feeling. He opened the book, stroking the pages with a fond new reverence.
To their further bewilderment, there was another message. However, this time the book spoke it.
“Those tremendous votes of confidence might well be enough for me to give up all of this fun, and retire,” it stated rather snidely. The twins sat in utter disbelief again, their eyes glued to the book.
“How… can… you… talk?” Meghan asked as if she were talking to someone who spoke another language and could not understand her.
“I… will... not… answer... such… a… stupid… question!” the voice from the book retorted mockingly. It slammed itself shut, refusing to open again.
“Great, you’ve insulted it,” said Colin.
“Listen to yourself! How can I possibly insult a book?”
“I don’t know, Sis. But only you could.”
“At least we are home,” she said, standing up.
“Uncle Arnon!” Colin remembered urgently. They sped to the trailer, where, to their relief, he lounged on the front steps. He did not look happy, but at least he had not followed them.
“We took way too long. He looks totally miffed,” said Meghan.
“Thanks a lot, now we’re going to get grounded again.” To their surprise however, Uncle Arnon did not get angry.
“That took you long enough. How many times did that boot come untied?”
“Sorry,” they said in relieved unison.
Meghan explained, “We got a little sidetracked. Saw a deer in the woods and decided to watch it for a little while.” It came out as more of a suggestion than an actual excuse.
“Deer eh? Just be careful. You never know what you might run into in these woods, not everything lurking out there is as friendly as a deer.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” the twins mumbled together.
“What’s that?” asked their uncle.
“Nothing,” replied Meghan rapidly, for fear he might question them further.
“Man, I am spent!” Colin yawned, stretching dramatically. “I think I will head to bed early tonight.”
Meghan followed him with a yawn of her own. Arnon gave them a curious look as they passed by, but did not argue.
“Night then,” was all he said.
Once in their room they slammed the door shut and plopped down on the floor, sitting in complete silence.
“Tell me once more that it wasn’t all just a bad dream,” Meghan muttered after a while. He did not tell her, but rather mustered up enough strength to lean forward and pinch her, hard, which followed by Meghan punching his arm.
“Nope. No dream,” he winced.
“I still want to find out what those things are, and how they got here, and who they are planning on attacking later, and why!” said Meghan, with awakening vigor.
“And I really want to find Jasper Thorndike and ask him again where this book came from.” After a pause he glanced at his sister. “Do you think we should tell Uncle Arnon?”
“Oh, no way, he would never believe it!”
“He believed in our telepathy,” reminded Colin.
“This… this is way different, Colin.”
He shook his head, in the end agreeing with her.
“Okay. I wanna pass something by you, Col. Maybe this is farfetched but…”
“What?” he asked eagerly.
“Remember, before we went into the woods and ran into those, bat-wolf things, who we saw coming out of that path?”
“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten, they were from… wait, do you think those things are here to attack Jae’s caravan?”
Meghan shrugged, worried he would agree to her deduction. Colin considered the possibility.
“It is odd timing, that they are supposed to leave tonight, and they might be leaving via that path, and those screeches they keep running away from. It makes perfect sense, and oh man!” His heart sped up as he saw his sister’s face.
“We need to warn them, Colin. Maybe we are wrong and they will think we are completely nuts. If we are right though, they might get hurt. Jae might get hurt, or maybe even killed.”
“This is insane, Meghan! As much as I want to help Jae and his caravan, I do not want to go back out there in the dark, with those creatures nearby. It would be suicide,” he whispered loudly.
“It won’t be if we have the Magicante,” she tried to convince.
“If you recall, the book sealed itself up. I couldn’t get it back open.” In attempts to prove his point, he tried once again to open the book, to no avail.
“Fine, Colin. You stay. But I am not going to sit back and do nothing.”
He trembled, thinking of those creatures attacking Jae and his caravan without any warning.
“Okay,” he agreed, defeated again. He added, matter-of-factly, “If we do this, how are we going to do it? I don’t think we can simply walk up to their front door, knock, and say, hey, if you guys are thinking about any night time strolls through the woods to a certain fallen down pine tree, you may want to think twice. Because it just so happens that a couple of demented bat-wolf creatures want to attack you.”
“That does sound a bit too crazy,” agreed Meghan.
They paced back and forth, hearing Uncle Arnon go into his room and turn on his radio. It was getting late and the guitars at the camp were no longer playing.
Which meant only one thing: they were running out of time!
CHAPTER NINE
The radio in Uncle Arnon’s room was still on, giving the twins some cover as they continued pacing back and forth, racking their brains for an answer to their predicament.
“Can you see anything going on outside?” Colin asked Meghan.
“I don’t see anything,” she said, closing the curtain.
“Maybe we’re too late. Maybe they have already gone,” he said uneasily.
“They couldn’t have. We would have hea
rd the caravans driving out. They have to pass right in front of our site.”
“Meghan,” Colin said slowly. “They walked in, remember?”
“I’d forgotten that. We would still hear them, wouldn’t we?”
“After what we saw in the woods, I’m not sure I want to ask more questions like that.”
“This is not helping. What are we going to do?” her frustrated voice said too loudly. They worried for a minute that their uncle would realize they were still up, but he stayed in his room, with no sign of movement.
A moment later, Meghan was tearing up the carpet that covered the camper floor revealing a secret trap door; one that their uncle had installed himself as an emergency escape. To this day, they had never needed to use it.
“Whoa,” said Colin, quietly, but firmly. “What are you doing?”
“Going to find and warn them.”
“No, no, no, I don’t think so.” He shook his head, for dual agreement.
“What, you chickening out?” she whispered angrily. “If they already left camp, we have to find them before it’s too late.” Meghan opened the trap door. “Coming?” She jumped to the ground cautiously. With her head sticking up into the trailer, she said, “It’s not that I’m not scared, Colin, but I cannot let them walk into a trap, can you?”
“But we can’t confirm that we’re right,” he protested, though his gut told him they were.
“Sometimes you have to take chances, Little Bro,” she knew this would rile him.
“You promised,” he whined.
Meghan sunk down below the floor hopeful her brother would follow. Colin listened as she crawled along the ground and ran off into the darkness. He paced back and forth trying to gather the strength to follow.
“Okay, we really don’t have any other choice,” he finally concluded. Colin grabbed the Magicante and climbed down the escape hatch, closing it overhead. After a few steps, he slowed, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark, and searched for a glimpse of his sister. He called out for Meghan through his mind, but there was no answer.
“Great, she can’t hear me.” Caught off guard, he gasped when something seized his leg and pulled him into the edge of the wood.
“Shhh. I think it’s best to try to keep ourselves unseen.”
“You could have just answered me,” he scolded. His heart searched in vain for its normal rhythm.
“Yeah, well, that’s for taking so long to make up your mind.”
Colin shook his head in disgusted aggravation.
“What exactly is your plan, Sis? We don’t even have a flashlight.”
“We can’t have one,” she said, sticking to the edge of the road. “We would be seen too easily. Besides, it’s a full moon tonight. That should give us some light.”
“You know, there are two full moons this month, which is why they are having the Blue Moon Festival. It only happens once every three years, or thereabouts.”
“Good to see you’ve come back around. Can we stick to the task at hand, please?”
“Sorry, you know I can’t help it when I get nervous,” he replied.
They worked their way out of the campground, halting at the entrance leading to the fallen pine tree. They both searched the pathway for any sign of life, or movement, but all they saw was dark. Not even the light of the full moon could filter through. They looked up into the starry night sky; there was no sign of the bat-wolf creatures.
“You’ve got that book, right?” Meghan asked.
Colin secured the book under his arm. “Got it. Whether it will work…” he shrugged apprehensively.
“Let’s go,” commanded Meghan, stepping cautiously. Colin followed, sourness churning in his gut. The pathway was pitch black. The twins used their hands and feet to find their way through. After what seemed like an eternity, voices started filtering through the trees.
Someone shouted orders. “You guys, go over there, that door. Get lined up already. Not much time left. C’mon people, we need to be ready.” It was the newly familiar voice of the man called Vian Sadorus, with the spiky hair and boisterous coat.
The twins came into view of the fallen down pine tree and took cover, observing from behind a leafy shrub. They were astonished at the sight. Small groups of gypsies lined up at the entrances to the tree’s secret rooms. Some held lanterns to light the way. Vian Sadorus continued barking orders. It appeared that the group was almost ready for whatever was about to happen.
One woman, standing off to the right, immediately caught the twins’ attention. She was tall and thin, almost gaunt; with hair of such a deep red, it looked nearly black. The full length, form-fitting jacket she wore swept across the ground, catching leaves as it shifted over them.
“I love that jacket,” said Meghan, glancing at her own clothes.
Colin listened to her thoughts; she was picturing the jacket on herself.
My hips are way too big to pull off that look.
“Earth to Meghan,” he beamed to her mind. “I cannot believe you are daydreaming about clothes.”
“Oops,” she shrugged.
“We need to find Jae,” he reminded.
“Look,” she pointed. “We’re in luck. He’s in the line closest to us.”
“Now, how are we going to get his attention?” Out of the corner of his eye, Colin thought he saw a foreboding silhouette fly overhead.
“It is time,” the woman in the long jacket spoke, robustly.
She moved to the front of the fallen pine tree, with her back to the twins. “Once it opens, remember, you will have only five minutes until the door closes. Go safely! We will see each other on the other side.”
Other side of what? asked the twins in simultaneous thoughts to each other. They pushed through the bush, almost into full view of the gypsies.
“We are never going to be able to warn them,” said Colin. “Without getting caught at least.”
“Maybe we won’t have to. Wherever they’re going, they have to go fast apparently. What can happen in five minutes?”
“We can still be stuck here,” replied Colin dryly.
“Not if the Magicante works again we won’t.”
Colin started to open the book when bright light distracted him.
The fallen pine tree’s rooms, including their hiding place from a short time ago, were filling with brilliant white light. The gypsies began walking, and disappearing, into the brightly lit rooms.
Meghan and Colin realized that they had stepped into full view as they had forced their way through the bush. They tried to back up but hit a branch, snapping it. They stopped, quite confident the gypsies would notice them standing there. Only one of the smaller children did though.
He appeared ready to give them away, but as luck would have it, pulled on Jae’s arm and pointed at the twins. Jae squinted, trying to see what the boy was pointing at; a second later, someone picked up the little boy and carried him inside the pine room, vanishing.
Jae took a few steps closer and realized what he was looking at. He glanced around before dashing over to them. “You should not be here. There’s no time to explain, but you must go!” His voice was pleading, not arrogant, or sad.
Jae turned to go back.
An ear-piercing, shriek-mixed howl rang out of the sky, bringing the mass exodus to a sudden halt. Seconds after, movement began again with renewed fervor. The silhouettes of the fearsome bat-wolf creatures threw chilling shadows against the light emanating from the fallen tree.
The woman in the red jacket shouted orders, with incredible calm.
“Everyone, get through now! Garner, assist me.”
Vian, Garner Sadorus rushed to her side as the creatures swooped down upon the gypsies. They raised their palms facing the creatures and before they could land, or cause any harm, some kind of invisible force blasted the creatures, hurling them upward into the night sky.
“What are they doing? Trying to fight those things?” asked Meghan, astounded anyone would attempt such a feat. An
d wondering just how they were doing so. They watched in stunned awe as the creatures reformed and attacked, while the woman and Garner continued to fight, allowing the remaining gypsies to flee.
The twins, if they did not leave soon, would be stuck alone once all the gypsies left. Reality thrust itself upon them when something flew in front of Meghan’s face, bringing them out of their stupor.
She started jumping around as if there were a spider crawling on her, shaking her clothes violently; in the process, she again moved out into the open. Colin rushed to her side and dragged her back.
“It was only a bird,” he explained, sounding perplexed. He blocked from her that it greatly resembled the same bird that had flown into her face a few days prior.
Another invisible blast from the woman’s palm caught Meghan’s eye.
“That woman’s got style,” she muttered, again mesmerized. Repeatedly, she and Garner blasted the beasts away. The twins took their eyes off the pair battling the creatures, to see that most of the gypsies were gone and the light inside was beginning to fade.
“They must be safe once they’re through,” said Meghan, over the noise of the screeching and howling beasts.
“Meaning, since we’re still here, we are not,” said Colin. “I think we should heed Jae’s warning and get out of here, while we still can. They might be able to fight off those things, but we can’t.”
The only gypsies remaining were the woman in her form-fitting jacket, Garner Sadorus, three others who hastily hurled packages through, and Jae. He stood at the edge of a room, looking for the twins. A voice echoed out of the pine room, begging him to hurry. He paused, touching the entrance, but not stepping through. On the other side of the pine tree, all were now through. The light behind Jae was dimming fast.
The twins ran out from behind the bush, attempting to escape, but skidded to a stop when they saw Jae still standing at the edge of the tree.
“The light is almost gone, Jae,” warned Meghan. She was certain this meant he was almost out of time for whatever he and his caravan were doing.
A distant voice pleaded with Jae to hurry.
Awaken (The Witches, The Spell Book, and The Magic Tree) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 1) Page 8
