‘You haven’t got a beard,’ Jack said, mouth agape. Gordy's thin, barky lips stretched into a smile.
‘We grow beards when we find our life partner,’ he said which wasn't really helpful. Jack stared.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said.
‘You will,’ Gordy replied.
‘What’s it got to do with me? Why are you doing this?’
‘Do you believe in destiny?’
‘What?’ Jack asked shaking his head as if this would sweep the confusion from his brain.
‘Destiny, destiny! Does destiny choose us or do we choose it? Do we have freedom of choice or are we sacrifices of fate?’
‘I d-don’t know,’ Jack stuttered.
‘Sometimes we have to chase our destiny whether it is the one we want or not. Some people don’t. They lose their dreams. They forget themselves. Those who do choose to chase it, those who are brave or desperate or stubborn, do it because it’s the right way not because it’s the easy way.’ Gordy stopped and looked at Jack keenly as if Jack would have some kind of revelation. Jack didn’t know what to say so he repeated his last questions.
‘What’s it got to do with me? Why are you doing this?’ He wanted to walk from the clearing up to the Manor and climb into bed, sleep deeply and then it would be morning. Another grey morning with nothing to do except wait for time to pass.
‘Sophie,’ the gnome said. Jacks skin blanched and goose flesh crept up his back and over his scalp. Deep down, very deep, a Jack that had been wandering lost and lonely for a long time knew it was about Sophie. It couldn’t be about anything else.
‘Sophie,’ he echoed.
‘Sophie. She’s the reason you’re here.’
‘What have you done with her?’ Jack's voice screamed softly passed his clenched teeth.
‘I haven’t done anything,’ Gordy replied a look of shock at Jack's sudden accusation flitted over his strange face.
‘What’s Sophie got to do with you? What do you know about her? Tell me. Now.’ Jack's fists were clenched tight as his jaw.
‘I know why she was taken. You have to find her. You’re the only person who can.’
‘Tell me,’ Jack repeated.
Gordy sighed deeply. ‘She was taken because she’s a fifth Elemental.’
‘A fifth Elemental?’
‘The birth of a pure Metal Elementals happens once every three hundred years. They are always human born.'
'You're saying she's vanished because she’s… different?'
'In essence. And only a blood relation can find her.’
‘She’s gone,’ Jack said. He could feel his heart pulling out of his chest as he spoke.
‘She’s not gone. She’s well hidden.’
‘If you know so much why can’t you find her?’
‘Only a blood relative can find her. It's old magic. Ancient.’
Jack glared at the gnome, his eyes hard chips of blue ice. ‘Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything?’
‘Only you can break the hold her kidnapper has forged over her. That’s all I know.’
‘Who? Who kidnapped her?’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘You either know or you don’t. There’s nothing complicated about it.’
Gordy looked surprised. ‘Yes but…’
‘I’m going home and you’re coming with me.’ Jack could take Gordy to his parents – they would find Sophie together; his house would become a home.
‘You cannot leave. You are bound to the task. You have to find her before her seventh birthday.’
‘What are you talking about? What about her seventh birthday?’
‘This is your destiny. It has chosen you.’
‘What does that mean?’ Jack shouted, eyes wild.
‘She’ll be lost. Truly lost. She’ll be consumed by the glamour,’ Gordy said. Jack's face crumpled. He heard lost. He heard truly lost.
‘I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of this!’ Jack ran, he ran without a clear idea of where he was going, he ran away.
Chapter 3: Jacks Choice
Jack ran through the noiseless, ancient forest stuttering and stumbling through the undergrowth until finally – with a gasp of relief – he saw an opening.
He could see snatches of Steele Manors overgrown driveway and the sight caused his legs to wobble; his head felt as if it became any lighter it would simply float away. It beckoned. To Jack it had never looked more tempting, brokenly snaking its way up to the Manor, his home no matter how cold and distant. It was only a short walk along the freshly beaten path. He looked behind him. No one. Just the still forest, suspended in moonlight.
Jack shook himself – no regrets. He would go back to his room, get into bed, sleep – and when he awoke? Why, when he awoke this would have all been a dream. He was just a kid who had lost his little sister. Surely he alone could not find her if the whole world had already looked.
Still. A strange, half-remembered feeling crept through his veins.
Excitement.
Jack pushed it away and stepped out from beneath the forest canopy. From the corner of his eye he could almost see how the trees would look if he took a couple more steps. Normal. Standard. Ordinary. A small copse of trees huddled together like a group of frightened children.
The impossible, tall, almost endless trees were still towering above Jack now though; the branches filtered the light and created a hazy glow around the top layer gilding them with white gold. Slowly Jack took another step, back towards the path, back towards Steele Manor, back towards his parents; old and cold and broken like the driveway. The excitement diminished with the trees. One more step and the forest looked nearly normal. The raw excitement of adventure faded to a lonely drone.
Jack tore his eyes away, closed them, forced himself to take the last step back towards his old, safe, uncomfortable life. The easiest step.
As he did he walked into something completely solid. He bounced off it and tumbled onto the grass.
Jack a strange voice spoke. Jack didn't move – he'd already fallen into the clearing, escaped at a panicked run through the forest and now this. He was worn out.
‘Go away,’ Jack said, eyes still tightly closed.
Jack the voice repeated.
Jack sat up and opened his eyes. At first he thought he must have knocked himself out again, or perhaps he was dreaming. Still, his eyes widened as stared at what had caused him to fall over.
A girl was suspended in the air before him. Jacks mouth fell open again. She looked young but Jack knew she was old, very old, older even than the ancient trees that he had moments before been walking amongst. She was transparent, like a ghost, her body was rippling gently in the breeze. Despite all these unusual things, it was her eyes that captivated Jack.
They were compelling – a very pale and beautiful grey from corner to corner. Occasionally formless white shapes raced across them like clouds in a powerful wind.
Jack. He heard her say his name again, although he had not seen her lips move. He knew why she was there.
‘I won’t do it,’ Jack said, looking straight into the girl’s eyes. He could smell the fresh ozone of summer storms.
Your destiny has chosen you Jack. You must chase it the girl said without speaking. The clouds racing across her eyes were moving ever more quickly, the grey darkening.
‘I won’t do it,’ Jack repeated, louder now. ‘I can’t, don’t you understand? It’s too hard to hope for something that can’t be.’ But, a small voice whispered – what was there to go back to? A cold, barren house run by two strangers masquerading as his parents? A life filled with the spectres of happy days that had quite literally vanished?
If you do not go no one will the girl said sorrowfully, her eyes now very dark and the clouds in them pregnant with something that was not rain.
‘I can’t,’ Jack whispered, agonised almost beyond enduring – he could not hope, he would not. The girl looked deep into his eyes, he could feel
her penetrating his innermost thoughts. She nodded as if agreeing with him.
Leave then she said, backing away from Jack, back into the woods, back towards the clearing and danger, fear, the unknown. Her eyes were flashing now, the storm had broken and Jack watched as the backlash made her eyes water, almost as if she were crying.
Jack hesitated. The unknown might be dangerous and full of darkness and fear and hopelessness but, Jack thought, surely it had to be less scary than what he had become used to; less frightening than the dull monotony of his life at home. Jack wasn’t sure of anything.
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair,’ Jack whispered, the last words he had spoken to Sophie. She had given him a friendship bracelet and ran back into the garden laughing. He had tied it round his wrist the day after she vanished and vowed not to remove it until she was safely home.
Goodbye Jack, the girl spoke a final time as she vanished into the woods. Her voice, haunting and mournful, finally stirred Jack into action.
‘Wait! Come back!’ Jack sprinted back into the woods.
It didn't take him long to find the clearing this time. He walked down the bowl slowly, looking closely at each of the four trees surrounding the central one to make sure there was no one but himself and Gordy there. Jack peered up into the branches of the tree.
‘You're back,’ Gordy said, lounging back against the tree as if he had settled in for the night; his green eyes peering out brightly from his leathery face reminded Jack sharply of how strange this whole business was.
‘I’ll do anything to get my family… Sophie back,’ Jack said, flushing. He hoped Gordy didn't notice. ‘And, well, I guess I don’t have much choice anyway. Just tell me what to do.’ Jack looked up at the gnome. Gordy’s face softened.
‘You…’ Gordy began but before he could continue a crash echoed through the glade and what might have been a muffled curse. Jack whipped his head round and saw someone slipping down the side of the clearing. He ran over to where the small form now lay crumpled and unmoving at the foot of the slope, whimpering. He gaped when he saw who it was.
It couldn’t be … impossible … but it was … Cali, an older, taller Cali lay there groaning and rubbing her back.
‘What are you doing here?’ mumbled Jack as he pulled her to her feet. He hadn't seen her since the night of the party. The night his sister disappeared.
‘I saw you through the kitchen window with that… that thing – what was that? - by the edge of the woods and followed you in,’ she said. ‘What was it? Was it one of the ghosts the villagers always talk about? I thought you were in trouble…’ her eyes were wet. Jack wasn’t sure whether they were filled with tears of fright or pain.
‘What do you care?’ he said. Cali’s cheeks flushed.
‘That’s not fair,’ she said.
‘No, it wasn’t was it?’ Jack said. He could feel his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands as he curled them into fists.
‘My Granddad told me to give you some space and then when your parents let all the staff... It got... it just got hard. I'm sorry Jack,’ Cali said her voice small but unwavering.
‘It wouldn’t have stopped me,’ Jack said moodily refusing to meet her eyes. He stubbed his toes against the floor of the clearing, kicking up small tufts of grass and moss.
‘Well, if you’re OK I’ll go home,’ Cali said.
‘Wait... What were you doing up at this time of night anyway?’ Jack asked suddenly reluctant to see her go.
‘I just got up to get a glass of water. Don’t worry though, I won’t bother you any more,’ Cali said.
‘Fine. Whatever.’ Cali opened her mouth to say something else but Jack never found out what because she stopped abruptly, her mouth hanging open as Gordy approached undisguised.
‘Oh. You brought a friend,’ Gordy said his voice flat. There was no trace of softness in it. Jack wondered if he had imagined it in the first place.
‘I didn‘t…’ Jack began but Gordy carried on speaking as if he had not heard.
‘Well, it’s not what I would have done but it seems there’s no choice now. Right, first thing we need to do is get you into Five Oaks. You won’t be able to do this alone.’
‘Do what alone?’ Jack asked. He might as well have saved his breath.
‘We need to see Aloysius. Come on.’ Gordy turned and walked to the central tree again.
‘What?’ said Jack, speaking to Gordy’s back. ‘I can’t go now, what about my parents? My … everything else? I can’t just go! And she’s not with me,’ he jerked his thumb towards Cali, who took no notice whatsoever and continued to stare at Gordy.
‘She is now.’ Gordy said. ‘Your parents will be taken care of.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jack blanched. Gordy sighed as he turned to face Jack and Cali again.
‘Don’t worry – we’ll simply remind them that you are at summer camp,’ he said flatly.
‘It’s only June!’ Jack retorted. Gordy looked blank.
‘So it is,’ he said. ‘We’ll think of something. Ready?’
Jack looked at Cali whose face was white again.
‘Does she really have to come?’ he asked – he didn't want Cali dragged in to this.
‘Yes. She’s seen me. She’s found this clearing. Few people know of it and those who do, the very few, are sworn to secrecy.’
‘It can’t be that well-hidden. I found it,’ Jack said.
‘You found it because we wished it so. She must at least come before the Council,’ he said. ‘Now. Both of you. Ready?’
‘I’m ready,’ said Jack. Cali was still gaping at Gordy.
Gordy muttered something under his breath then his voice rose and he spoke clearly, his voice ringing through the clearing.
‘Head of Council Aloysius Winstanley,’ Gordy said. Cali let out a sharp gasp - she had finally taken her eyes off Gordy. She and Jack watched the central tree, the one that Gordy was facing, growing taller and wider and more there right in front of their eyes. After a few seconds it appeared to loom, so high and tall and real that it was beginning to make Jack feel unsteady.
A small archway appeared at the foot of the tree. It grew rapidly and soon it was big enough admit Jack, Cali and Gordy. Easily. Jack felt a jerk as the expanding arch finally stopped growing. He turned to look at Cali. She looked stunned. Jack tried to act as if this sort of thing happened to him every day and turned back to look at the tree. Everyone was still - frozen. The door in the archway swung open silently. Gordy turned to Jack.
'Well?'
If Jack walked through the arch now that was it, he was accepting everything Gordy said, the whole, huge horrible story. That Sophie had been taken not for who she was but for what she might become. It was no choice at all really. He had to believe in magic and gnomes and Elementals. He had to believe that Sophie was alive somewhere – alive and alone for so long. Jack felt a weight, a weight he had not even known was there, lift and he walked forward blindly.
Chapter 4: Aloysius
After the hazy moonlight in the clearing, the room he entered was very bright. Jack had to squint his eyes almost shut against the glow which seemed to be pouring from the walls. Jack didn't know what he was expecting but it wasn't this warm, light, civilised room.
The walls of the room curved away gently from either side, eventually meeting at a large wooden door directly opposite where Jack stood. Jack studied it. The door looked as if it were made of a single sheet of wood, highly polished, a deep caramel colour. If he were to touch it, he was sure he would leave smudgy fingerprints all over its glass-like surface. Jack could see his own reflection in its glossy sheen even from across the vast room. The handle too looked like it was made from wood, a different colour, lighter, a simple perfect circle.
Tearing his gaze away from the mesmerising door Jack looked around the rest of the room. The walls were lined from top to bottom with books. In the centre of the room was a large desk and chair, both of which looked as though they
had sprung from the floor. The desk had the same glossy look as the door with several interesting objects resting on its surface – a bowl of water whose surface was flickering, a map of a country Jack had never seen before and some kind of greenish crystal on a chain. There was also a globe of the Earth. A further two organically grown chairs stood on the other side of the desk.
Jack walked towards it, reaching out to stroke the smooth surface. His eyes followed the smear his finger left. The smudge looked how he had imagined it would on the glossy door.
He turned back to the bookshelves drinking in the strangeness of the subjects covered there. Among the titles he read were 1001 Herbs by Heather Greenleaf and Tree Maintenance by Ash Barkley which sounded pretty ordinary but there was also Soil and It’s Healing Properties by Murdock McGrave and Mother Nature: Myth or Reality? by Summer Moon.
He moved closer and ran his fingers along the shelves, which were not glossy like the desk and the door but matte. Jacks finger stopped every now and then next to a volume whose title or author he found interesting or startling.
He heard a cough and turned to see Cali standing a few feet away, still pale, her eyes oddly distant. Jack had not seen her follow him into the room from the forest but then he had not been taking much notice. Nor had he noticed Gordy, although he did now as the gnome began to move towards the large, glossy door.
‘Where are you going?’ Jack asked.
‘Out,’ the gnome said shortly ‘I have to do something.’
Gordy’s answer snapped Jack’s mind to the present. He was a step closer to finding his sister, closer than he had ever been, and he was browsing.
And now that he was paying full attention to what was going on he noticed something else that was strange. The only door in the room was the one Gordy was heading for, the glossy, hypnotic door.
Elemental: Steele Stolen: Part 1 and 2 Page 2
