by Peter Wilson
His cousins also had no idea what he was holding, and he didn’t want to risk something happening to them as well.
He sighed, and replied “A pixie. A crazy pixie orb.”
Anthrow dropped his knife to the ground and put his hands up showing them he was no longer a threat.
“Crazy pixie. You mean Chaos Pixie don’t you?”
“That’s right, Chaos Pixie.”
“That crazy woman gave you a Chaos Pixie?” Anthrow said as he gave a nervous laugh. “Look let’s just calm down. I am a friend of the Gregson’s. Maybe not the evil crazy ones, but any who know Marion Gregson…”
“Marion is our Grandmother,” Rosie said.
“There you go! I’m here to help you.”
“Then why did you threaten us?” David demanded. “Jack, get ready to throw that Chaos Pixie Orb right at his face.”
“No! Marion - your grandmother told you to contact me, so there must be a message! Let me read it. She trusts me, let me prove to you I can be trusted.”
Jack didn’t lower his arm but looked over to Rosie and nodded as she pulled her backpack off. They had decided to put the note between the pages of the Book so it didn’t get crumpled.
“Here,” Rosie said as she passed it to Anthrow, staying as far away from him as possible.
He grabbed it, broke the seal their Grandmother had placed on it and started reading.
David meanwhile took the opportunity to crouch down and grab the dropped knife from the ground.
Anthrow’s eyes widened as he read further down the page. “This is bad.” Looking up at Jack he asked, “Do you know what this says?”
“That we are calling in your debt, we need to recover something that was stolen from us,” replied Jack. “Apparently you’re skilled at this sort of thing.” He kept his response vague, not knowing what his Grandmother had written and not yet trusting Anthrow.
“Yes, but do you know who would have organised the theft of that emerald?”
“Theorden?” David guessed.
“Ha! You say the name so casually. Yes Theorden!” said Anthrow as he started to pace. “What was Marion thinking, sending children on a task like this. Theorden!”
“I was also supposed to give you this,” Jack said, ignoring what he had said as he pulled the red stone necklace from his pouch and threw it to him. “The person who stole the emerald tried to hide the theft with that enchanted necklace. It’s a clue. Grandma said few could have crafted a stone such as this. If you can find out who made it, we’ll be able to track the thief.”
Anthrow caught the stone and ran his fingers over it. He then closed his eyes and whispered something Jack couldn’t hear as if trying to determine the stones power.
After a minute he opened his eyes and said, “She’s right, there are only a few people with the skills required to craft something like this. Okay! I will help you track down the origin of this stone, but that is all. Now, I have some conditions.”
“Conditions?” asked Jack.
“Yes conditions. Firstly, please put away that orb. If you accidently drop that…Just put it away. Secondly my debt is repaid in full. Full! I get that infernal cube back and I can finally stop worrying about a Gregson pulling me back into their crazy shenanigans. You know your family is quite nuts. Even the nice ones.”
“Anything else?” Jack asked still holding the orb, not ready to trust Anthrow.
“No that’s it, we best get started. I’d let to get back home as soon as possible. I did actually have plans this evening you know.”
Yes! Thought Jack. The second he’d arrived here he knew he wanted to stay and explore. Maybe they could spend a bit more time here with Anthrow and help find answers about the emerald.
“We can’t.” said Rosie. “We have strict instructions to return as soon as we’ve delivered you the message.”
“Why do you want us to come anyway?” Asked David suspiciously, still pointing the knife. “You want to turn us in for a reward? Is that it? You attacked us.”
Jack watched Anthrow thinking on how to respond. All of a sudden he smiled before turning into a blur before their eyes, charging towards Jack and then David before zooming back to where he’d stood not moments ago.
In one hand he held the orb, the other his knife.
Jack looked on in shock as he noted an immediate change in Anthrow. Somehow in the second it had taken to steal the orb and knife, he had also put on his jacket.
While still looking skinny, he now stood tall, legs straight and shoulders back. The manic personality was gone, replaced with a calm and collected stare that told Jack that this person was and always had been in control of the situation.
“The Universe is a big place,” said Anthrow. “And you never truly know who you’re dealing with. There are those who would steal from you or even kill you before you even had time to say hi.
You three look harmless enough, but I would be a fool to rely on looks alone. So when we met, I took the offensive to see what your reaction would be. As it turns out, you’re a force to be reckoned with, and I’m glad we’re on the same side.”
“A force to be reckoned with? You just took our weapons from us before we had time to think!” replied Jack.
Anthrow shrugged, as he started to slouch again, his unusual mannerisms returning.
“Well I was impressed. Seriously, you pulled out a Chaos Pixie! I wasn’t expecting that.”
He walked over to Jack and held out the orb to him. “But please put it away. And don’t drop it! You!” he spun around and pointed to David. “Never touch my knife again. Get your own! And you,” he said turning to Rosie, “If you say you must return home, then you must. I won’t have Marion saying I didn’t fulfil my debt on a technicality like that. I just assumed you were coming with me.”
“Wait.” Said Jack. “How long do you think this will take? If it’s just a few hours…maybe we could come.”
Anthrow shook his head, “No. I’m sorry I said it. It’s way too dangerous for kids.”
“We’re not kids! David and I are thirteen, and Rosie is eleven. You said yourself we can handle ourselves. I’m sick of people keeping secrets from us and treating us like we’re not old enough to understand anything!” Jack said angrily.
He looked over at his cousins and saw their mouths open in shock. They weren’t used to Jack losing his temper.
“Sorry. It’s been a long day,” he apologised lamely.
“I meant what I said about you being able to handle yourselves,” replied Anthrow. “And I apologise for calling you kids, but my debt is to your Grandmother, not you. If she wants you to return now, I cannot go against her wishes.”
Jack didn’t say anything but nodded, realising he didn’t have a choice.
Anthrow looked around and got his bearings. “Right then! We’re already at your portal I see. You three didn’t travel far did you? Let’s go,” he said as he walked towards the path from where they’d arrived. All of a sudden he froze.
Jack walked up to him and followed his gaze through the trees. Hadn’t there been more light, shining through the foliage earlier? He took a step forward, but Anthrow grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“The Horde,” he whispered.
Suddenly black mist oozed out through the trees, making its way towards them. Thin tendrils of smoke reaching out, each trying to get to them first.
“Run!” shouted Anthrow as he took off in the opposite direction.
The three of them followed in a panic.
“It’s above us!” shouted Rosie. The mist was creeping down the walls through the holes and gaps in the rocky roof.
“This way!” Anthrow called as they ran through the Grotto, the mist closing in on them from all directions. “In here!” he yelled turning right, following one of the pathways through the trees and into a clearing.
As he ran towards a door built into the rock, he clapped his hands and it swung open.
“Quickly!” He said as he stopped and urged them th
rough.
David went through first, followed shortly by Rosie. As Jack reached the door, he looked back.
A man made of mist was gliding up the path towards them, pointing at Jack as the Horde engulfed the ground around him. His face was featureless, his muscular body a mass of angry, swirling black smoke.
“You can’t escape the Horde,” the Shadow Man hissed.
“Anthrow! Where does this portal go?” asked Jack.
“Somewhere that isn’t here! Now go!”
Jack turned and stepped quickly through the door. Immediately the invisible force grabbed him, pulling him faster and faster through space as he flew through the portal, towards the white light ahead.
He arrived on the other side in darkness. “Rosie, David?” He called urgently.
“We’re here,” called David. “Although I don’t know where that is.”
There was a whoosh of air and all of a sudden Anthrow stood to Jack’s left.
“Safe! Is everybody ok?”
“Are we safe?” asked Rosie. “What’s to stop the Horde following us?”
“The Horde can’t travel through portals,” replied Anthrow. “I’m not fully certain why, but I think it has something to do with its form. Because it’s mist, I don’t think the portals have much to pull on.”
“But we’ve seen the Horde on Earth!” said David.
“Not that particular one you didn’t. Theorden has many of them, on many planets.
Jack took a deep breath, his heart still pounding. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and he could see the outline of objects around him.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Cortavia. It’s a small planet, no people.”
“We’re on a completely different planet?” asked David excitedly.
“Technically at the Grotto you were also on a completely different planet, but yes! Different planet.”
Jack walked through the area, touching various objects trying to work out what they were. There was an odd familiarity about everything, with strange alien touches. The thing in front of him seemed to be a chair; however how anyone could sit in it without seriously hurting themselves was beyond him. In front of that was a table, made strange by the holes and structures built into its uneven surface.
“Are we in a living room?” asked Jack.
“I thought you said nobody lived here,” said David.
“They don’t…anymore. Their sun died centuries ago, making it impossible for life to continue. No doubt they escaped through the portals and started again on another planet. Now come,” said Anthrow.
“Where are we going?” asked Rosie.
“To another portal. I didn’t choose this planet for its lively atmosphere. I just needed a safe place for us to escape to and luckily it happens to have another portal back to the Grotto not far from here.”
“But the Horde is there!” David said.
Through the darkness, Jack saw Anthrow stop and look at the three of them in turn. “Do you realise that I still don’t know any of your names?” he said, pausing for a response.
“There just hasn’t been any time,” Rosie said before introducing all three of them.
He continued to stare. “I spent a lot of time trying to convince you three that I’m trustworthy, and now I find my self wondering about you three. How can members of the Gregson family, who now seem to be a target of Theorden, know so little about…well everything?”
“It’s our families fault!” David said as he went on to explain the limited Gregson family history they were told while growing up, right until the events of that day which had eventually led them to him. “So you can’t blame us for asking so many questions.”
Anthrow thought about it for a time, seemed about to say something and then shrugged as he walked off, expecting them to follow.
“The Grotto isn’t just a big underground cave on some distant planet. It’s a huge underground cave that takes up an entire distant planet! A planet three times bigger than your Earth I might add. There are millions of portals to take you to millions of places. Some planets have two entrances, while some have thousands. Yes we’re returning to the Grotto, but to the other side, far away from where we were.”
Jack followed in silence as David continued to ask Anthrow questions. Something was worrying him. The Horde had been right near the Gregson portal, laying in wait as if expecting their arrival. Had he and his cousins just walked into a trap? If they had, what was Theordens plan? Could Anthrow keep them safe? Questions kept coming to him, ones he had no answers for.
The Shadow Man concerned him even more. He’d seen wolves and horses come out of the mist, but a man?
“Hurry up Jack,” Rosie said from ahead of him. “Anthrow said it’s too dangerous to return to our portal for a while. He’s taking us somewhere we can rest for the night.”
Jack walked faster, at the same time realising what troubled him most. It wasn’t that the Shadow Man had looked right at him as if knowing who he was. It was that Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow he recognised The Shadow Man too.
Chapter Eight
Gratins
Jack lay awake, staring at the dark sky above. Anthrow had led them to another portal on Cortavia, taking them back to the Grotto.
The four of them had travelled from the middle of the day to the dead of night within minutes. Anthrow truly must have taken them to the other side of the Grotto planet.
Rosie and David slept beside Jack, exhausted by the day’s events. He was tired too, but couldn’t sleep for all the questions that kept pestering him. How could he have recognised the Shadow Man? He didn’t have any features to recognise in the first place. He was made of mist!
Jack rolled over and reached for Rosie’s bag. He grabbed the book and her phone to use as a torch.
Turning on the light, he looked at the book and saw that the title on the cover had changed. Where it had originally said ‘The Gregson Estate,’ it now said ‘The Grotto.’
He opened to the contents page and saw that it also had changed. Where there had been chapters on different rooms of the house, there were now chapters like The Grotto, Punkeys, and Portal Etiquette.
Jack thought about what his grandmother had said earlier about the chocolate cake, and thought of a question he wanted answered. Immediately a chapter appeared at the bottom of the list – Chapter Twenty: Chaos Pixies. He noted the page number and eagerly flipped to it.
Chaos Pixies are pixies often held in black orbs. They are good to use when trying to escape danger, and bring fear to even the most experienced travellers like Anthrow.
In other words you have no idea what Chaos Pixies are, he thought. The book had basically repeated what he’d learned that day. What good was this book if it didn’t know anything that was helpful?
Suddenly the chapter on Chaos Pixies wiped away from the page leaving it blank. A new chapter title appeared, ‘Maddox and Jessica Gregson.’
Jack looked at the page in shock as sentence after sentence appeared on the page, all about his parents.
Maddox Gregson was born to Ronald and Marion Gregson in 1978 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. He weighed six pounds…
Jack flipped the page. He wanted to know everything about his dad and promised himself to come back later to read every word, but right now he felt the need to skip ahead.
Maddox and Jessica married in 2000, the ceremony and reception taking place in the Eastern garden amongst family and friends. Maddox couldn’t believe the amount of people that his mother had invited that he’d never met before…
Maddox found a very special book in the library that enriched his life and opened him up to the possibilities of the Universe. The joy and happiness the book brought to him…
In 2011, Jessica fell pregnant much to the joy of the whole family…
Maddox confronted his mother about what he’d learned about the Grotto through his amazing book. Angry that secrets had been kept from him, he found entry to the portal and w
ent in search of adventure…
Jack paused from reading. His father had been lied to, just like he had! Why had his grandmother kept things from all of them? He felt anger as he continued reading.
On May 1st 2012, Jack Gregson was born into the world, unhealthy and close to death. Unexplained complications caused Jessica Gregson to pass away at his birth…
Unexplained complications? Jack wondered whether it was just the books lack of knowledge on his mother’s death or if truly was a mystery. And sick? He had never been told he was born unhealthy.
Maddox confronted his mother, and demanded she use magic to save Jessica and his child. She refused saying that it wasn’t possible. Maddox then left through the portal in search of Richard Gregson, who had somehow managed to cheat death and whom Maddox believed could help him save his wife and son.
He hasn’t been seen since.
Jack closed the book and looked out into the trees in front of him. They were in yet another clearing, the same as the others he’d seen that day. He could make out some movement in the dark, an animal moving around foraging for food.
He watched as it walked away from a trees shadow and into the dim moonlight. It was what Rosie had called a Punkey, and David had been right, it really did look like a monkey crossed with a puppy.
“Can’t sleep?” Anthrow said as he walked up behind Jack.
“Nope,” replied Jack.
“Big day. A lot to take in, considering how little you knew when you woke up this morning.”
“Yeah,” Jack said and paused. “Anthrow, what debt do you owe my Grandmother? It must be pretty big for you to agree to help us.”
Anthrow took this as an invitation to join Jack, and sat down beside him, legs crossed, facing the trees.
“I’ve known the Gregson family a long time,” he said thoughtfully. “Way back before Theorden and the Horde. Back then your family was new to the Grotto and the Universe.”
“It’s rare you know? To find a planet that no one has heard of before. Millions and millions of portals and most of them have been mapped or charted. Then all of a sudden, one day a man interrupts me eating my lunch, saying he’s from Earth and wants directions. I offered my services as a guide and discovered he wasn’t even sure where he wanted to go! He just wanted to take a look around and see ‘what’s what.’ A curious bunch you humans are.”
