“So now what?” Eleanor asked.
“Well, we have to figure out a way to spy on the cottage,” Elfie said. “We can’t just go barging in. It may take a day to figure out if that’s where the thief is. Plus, if the prince is being held there, we really have to be careful.”
“Will the wolves be there?” Eleanor asked, remembering her dream.
“Probably not. My guess is that they’re guarding the main path to the cottage, which is why we ran into them.”
The three packed up camp and poured the rest of their molten chocolate over the fire to put it out. Milo took one last look at his map before rolling it up and sticking it in his pocket.
“We should travel with our hoods up. I think it will be safe to fly right above a path for now,” he said. “We’ll just have to watch the sky. If the trees are dying, we won’t have as much cover.”
“I just wish we knew which side the owls have taken,” Elfie said.
After checking their camp for any supplies left behind, they continued their adventure. Eleanor was extra jumpy because of yesterday’s wolf chase.
As they walked deeper into the forest, it was clear that the trees were dying. Many had fallen over, and the ones still standing had lost their leaves. Eleanor bent down and picked up a shiny purple leaf. She twirled the stem in between her fingers and then put it in her pocket.
“So, Milo, did you hear anything else about the crystal?” Elfie asked.
“Not really. I just saw the posters up and a couple of off-duty guards had come in. I wasn’t able to catch everything they said, but the crystal is definitely missing, and they believe the prince has been kidnapped too. The queen hadn’t left her throne all day. We’ll probably hear a royal announcement about what she plans on doing if the crystal isn’t found,” he said.
“Why hasn’t the queen done anything? I’d be out looking if someone stole my magic,” Eleanor said.
“She can’t risk her life. She’s the last of the line at this point, isn’t she? If she died, our kingdom would be done for,” Elfie responded.
Eleanor liked to think she’d be a brave queen, but she’d probably be hiding in the safety of her castle too, if this happened to her.
“Plus,” Elfie continued, “the thief can’t do much with the crystal except make a mess. He can’t control it, and neither can the prince. He may understand how it works, but as a man, he’s unable to truly possess it. I’m guessing he’s a magician of some sort, which is why he’s enchanting the beasts.”
“But how do we know the thief is a man? Maybe it’s a witch or something trying to gain control of the kingdom,” Eleanor said. Her mind was in a different world right now.
“I guess we don’t,” Milo said, shrugging his shoulders. “But I don’t think the magic would be this messed up if the thief were a woman because she could control the crystal. Everything is wonky, which is why I think Elfie is right.”
“So, where do magicians hang out?” Eleanor asked.
“They were banned from the kingdom eons ago, remember?” he said, looking oddly at Eleanor.
“Well, yeah, I know that,” she said, scrambling. “Where do they hang out now?”
“Nobody knows, but they do know about the crystal and our kingdom. Before they were driven out by the queen, they worked in the castle. But once the crystal was the only source of magic needed, they started an uprising,” Milo said.
The illumination from the trees was fading quickly as they made their way into the deepest part of the Nightshade Forest. Eleanor started losing her footing.
“I can’t see anything!” she said, tripping over a root.
“Maybe if we fly just a little off the ground, it will be better,” Elfie said.
Although it was still hard to see anything, flying a little off the ground was the best way to go around. Eleanor flew with her arms outstretched to make sure she didn’t fly face first into a tree.
“Let’s land and regroup in the clearing coming up,” Milo shouted to the girls behind him.
They landed, bumping into each other.
“Okay, we obviously can’t fly like this,” he said. “Pix, can you make a small ball of fire?”
Eleanor looked at her hands. “I’m sure Pix could,” she whispered under her breath. “I think so,” she told Milo.
Milo made what looked like a small torch and handed it to Eleanor to light. She thought about the smallest ball of fire she could think of, and it shot to the torch.
They needed to get to the cottage quickly before they attracted anything with the smoke. The three fairies stuck to the ground. They continued to walk in silence. Knowing you’re close to a possible magician-thief-kidnapper didn’t really make anyone want to chat. Eleanor’s stomach grumbled, and she realized she hadn’t eaten anything since landing in the forest...yesterday? With the weird always-daylight, always-night thing, it was hard for her to tell how many days had passed.
“All right, it’s right up here. Hoods up,” Milo said.
Eleanor put her hood up and her stomach turned. This time it wasn’t hunger.
13
Elfie, Eleanor, and Milo carefully walked toward the cottage. There were torches lit all around it, so Milo put theirs out. Eleanor looked to the sky. She prayed for the owls to show up and guide them to the crystal. Unfortunately, based on the many fairytales she had read, she knew that would be very unlikely. At least, this early in the story.
Elfie took her binoculars out and looked at the cottage. “Are you sure this is the right one?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s the only one on my map,” Milo said.
Elfie looked toward the windows and muttered something about not being able to see anything.
“It’s either empty, or everyone is sleeping. There’s nobody guarding it either. I don’t think anyone is here,” she said, putting her binoculars down.
“So now what?” Eleanor asked.
“Let’s get closer,” Elfie said.
“What? I thought we had to be careful.”
“Elfie is never careful. You should know that by now,” Milo said. “That’s why she always takes you with her on her crazy adventures—to make sure she stays alive.”
“And I only take you along for the maps,” Elfie said, sticking her tongue out at Milo.
For a minute, Eleanor forgot she was about to meet the impending doom she would have to survive in order to get home. She started to laugh.
Elfie pulled her hood tighter and ran toward the cottage, leaving Eleanor and Milo at the edge of the woods. Eleanor looked to the sky again. She didn’t want Elfie to get caught by an owl. But the night sky was clear. She wondered why there weren’t any stars. If she were queen, she would have filled the sky with stars. They were her favorite thing about the clear night sky back home.
Her stomach growled again.
“Pssst!” Elfie called from the front porch of the cottage. She waved her friends over.
Cautiously, they tiptoed toward Elfie. Eleanor’s knees began to wobble again, and she saw Elfie point to the lock on the door. It had the same crest as Milo’s safe. Fire locked.
Eleanor called for fire and put her hand against the lock. It made a popping sound and the door swung open.
Elfie was the first one through the door. The other two followed, but Eleanor wanted to run back the other way. She’d rather fight a thousand angry dwarves than be in this cottage.
“Hey!” Elfie whispered.
Eleanor jumped.
“Look,” Elfie said, pointing to a desk. There was a small lantern with matches lying next to it on the desk. A soft glow bounced off the walls.
“I don’t know if we should have that on,” Milo said, looking around. “What if they come back and see lights on in the window?”
“Well, then we will just ask them for the crystal and be on our way,” Elfie joked.
She looked around the place, and once they were sure nobody had been there for a while, they began to relax.
“Maybe we should
stay here for a bit and figure out our next plan. I thought for sure they’d be here,” Milo said. He set his satchel on the sofa.
If Milo thought it was safe, Eleanor figured it must be. She didn’t quite trust Elfie’s judgment, but Milo seemed pretty sure. She plopped down on the sofa and rummaged through her pack. She was famished. Inside was a bag of mixed fruits and nuts. She devoured them.
“A little hungry there?” Milo asked.
“You have no idea. What snacks do you have?” she joked.
He threw her a piece of red sticky leather. Nothing had ever tasted sweeter, not even the molten chocolate they had earlier. Finally, when her stomach was satisfied, she let out a loud, long sigh.
Milo pulled his map out and studied it. Elfie went rummaging through the other rooms. She came out with a big smile on her face.
“How much of that fairy powder do you have left?” she asked.
“A bit,” Milo responded. “Why?”
“Because they were here at one point, at least Prince Franco was,” she said, holding up a gold handkerchief with five stars embroidered in the corner. “Only the prince wears a gold hankie in his pocket,” she said.
“I’m confused,” Eleanor said. “How is fairy powder and a gross hankie supposed to help us find the thief?”
“Can you track it, Milo?” Elfie asked, ignoring Eleanor’s question. This was something Pix was supposed to know, and she didn’t want to draw attention to it.
“I can try,” Milo said triumphantly. He placed the handkerchief on the map and sprinkled some powder on it.
Eleanor’s eyes lit up as she watched what happened next. As soon as Milo sprinkled the fairy powder on the handkerchief and the map, a red x appeared. The prince was close. And he was moving directly toward them.
14
“We have to go, hurry!” Milo said, tossing his pack over his shoulder.
Eleanor packed her things back up and looked around. Elfie was gone.
“Elfie! Let’s go!” Milo shouted.
They could hear rustling coming from another room. Elfie popped out of the doorway.
“Okay, okay,” she said. “I’m coming.”
They cut the lights and snuck out the door. Milo kept an eye on the moving red x. Franco was coming back, and they didn’t want to be there when whoever had the prince hostage came with him.
They made their way across a field and past a fence before sitting down. Eleanor lit the torch again when they were sure it couldn’t be seen by the cottage windows.
“You know what’s weird,” Elfie said, making a comfy seat out of a toad stool and a stump.
“Huh?” Eleanor asked.
“There wasn’t anything magical left behind in that cottage. No sign of a magician or his things. Maybe they were using it as a prison for the prince. But as far as I can tell, he was the only one in that place,” she said.
“Well, I say we set up camp here and just watch the map for a while. We may be able to learn a little bit about what’s going on by watching. They aren’t going to expect us on this side of the forest, even if the wolves did tip them off,” Milo said.
Eleanor looked around and saw something sparkling in the distance. It looked like a whole sheet of glitter.
“What’s that?” she asked Elfie in a whisper so Milo couldn’t hear.
“That’s the edge of the kingdom,” she said. “There’s a magic barrier on that side to keep us all safe. The only travel into the kingdom can come from the other side. Nobody can go in or out of this side.”
Eleanor continued to explore a little. She hadn’t had a chance to really soak in this new world since landing in the forest the first day. It had been a whirlwind of saving the day and running away from monsters that wanted to eat her.
She looked up into the sky and saw where the daylight met the night sky, right where the boundary was. She wasn’t very tired but knew she would need rest for whatever tomorrow brought. She thought about reading but didn’t want to bring the torch too close to her hammock.
“Hey Pix, can you come light this fire?” Milo asked.
“Yeah, just a sec,” she said, tossing her pack into her hammock. She headed over to the pile of sticks and was impressed with what he had come up with this time.
“Well, now that’s a fire pit,” she joked.
Milo laughed. “I studied the one you did earlier.”
She conjured fire, and he sprinkled some powder on it so the glow would disappear. A warmth flooded her as she felt the heat from the fire. It felt like Christmas morning all over again. Eleanor wondered what her parents were doing at this moment. She crawled up into her hammock and stared at the blank sky.
Eleanor stayed like that for a long time, listening to Milo and Elfie talk around the fire. They were coming up with a plan for later, and Eleanor wished she knew enough about the kingdom to help. She felt more like a secondary character than anything, which was okay right now. Although, sometimes secondary characters in fairytales were the ones who got eaten. With that thought, she hopped out of her hammock and joined her friends.
“Can we just have the fire glow for a little bit?” Eleanor asked. “We should be far enough away from the cottage.”
“Maybe a little glow,” Milo said nervously.
“I’ve never seen a creature this close to the edge of the kingdom before, so we’re fine,” Elfie said.
Eleanor threw another fireball at the fire, and the glow danced around their fire pit.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked. Back home, she never had any close friends, especially ones to go on adventures with. She had told herself not to get attached to any characters, but Elfie and Milo were so real, and they had become her best friends.
“Well, I’ve been watching the x, and he’s still inside the cottage,” Milo said. “Maybe Elfie’s right and it is being used as a prison for the prince. It stinks that Elfie couldn’t find something of the thief’s though. It would have been better to track them both.”
Eleanor thought about the whole thing and was about to mention her concerns when the sound of voices made them jump.
“Shh!” Elfie whispered.
Milo threw his last bit of fairy powder onto the fire and it disappeared. He pointed to big boulders off to their right. They grabbed their packs and flew with no time to pack up the rest of their camp. From behind the boulders, they listened as the voices got closer.
“I swore I saw fire,” the male voice said.
“I can still smell smoke,” said the other.
Eleanor peaked over the rock and squinted. It was hard to make out anything, but these figures wore tall hats, just like the guards she saw at the castle gates. They held torches and looked around.
“Over here,” one said. As he was walking toward the hammocks, he tripped over the fire. “Fairies,” he muttered.
Eleanor watched as the other guard walked over to their magic fire. They looked around and inspected the hammocks.
“Yep, definitely fairies. Three were reported missing earlier,” he said. “They missed their meeting with the beavers.”
“But what are they doing way out here? There aren’t any animals to help here.”
“Maybe the thief recruited them.”
“Well, if he did, they won’t be sleeping here tonight,” the other one said, setting fire to the hammocks.
“They must be moving because that cottage was empty.”
Milo glanced down at his map. The red x was still glowing in the same spot: the cottage. He looked at his friends, confused.
“Let’s go,” one guard said. “The fairies can’t give us trouble anymore.”
After the guards left, Eleanor, Elfie, and Milo ran back to their camp. The fire was out, the hammocks were ruined, and Milo had used the last of the fairy powder.
Eleanor sank next to a tree in defeat.
“How was the cottage empty?” Milo said, scratching his head.
“Maybe the map is wrong?” Eleanor asked.
“Milo’s
maps are never wrong. That’s why I always use them. The prince is there, but how did the guards miss him?” Elfie asked. “We have to go back.”
“Go back? Are you crazy?” Milo shouted.
“No. If they didn’t see the prince, it means he was hiding. They would have found the thief if he was there though. They’re castle guards; they don’t miss anything,” she said. “Now’s our chance.” She started heading back to the cottage.
Eleanor and Milo looked at each other in disbelief. Elfie was crazy, but they had no choice but to follow her. She was already to the gate to the cottage by the time Eleanor and Milo caught up to her.
“Elfie, wait!” Milo cried.
But it was too late; Elfie was at the door.
“Please be unlocked,” she whispered, pushing on the door. To her delight, it creaked open. Milo and Eleanor watched her disappear into the cottage.
15
Eleanor and Milo shared a concerned look and slowly walked into the cottage. Eleanor had her hands out, ready to conjure fire if she had to.
As they walked into the main room of the cottage, they couldn’t see or hear anything. They continued into the rest of the cottage.
“Elfie?” Eleanor whispered.
“I’m in here,” Elfie answered. She was in one of the bedrooms, rummaging through a drawer. “It looks like the guards were right; nobody’s here.” She bounced down onto a bed.
Milo pulled his map out and looked. The red x was still floating over the cottage.
“I think there’s something wrong with your map after all, Milo—AHHH!” Elfie screamed and pointed behind Milo.
Eleanor turned around just in time to see Prince Franco fully appear. He had been invisible. She looked for some kind of fairy hood, but he wasn’t wearing one.
“Your Majesty, we need to get out of here before your kidnapper and gem thief comes back,” Milo said, bowing.
“Kidnapper?” the prince asked, laughing. “Do you fools think someone would be powerful enough to capture me?”
“Well, then why are you here? Are you searching for the crystal too? Why did you hide from the castle guards?” Elfie had so many questions.
Nightshade Forest Page 4
