A fire was lit in his belly that wouldn’t go out anytime soon
They set off into the forest, Daniel in the lead as usual. The excitement of adventure seemed to hang in the air. Shy felt the tingle in the pit of his stomach, or perhaps that was the feeling he got from knowing that Portia had moved into the position directly behind him. Regardless, the air was sharp with a kind of magic. Not fairy magic, but rather the kind of magic that infuses a child with the sense that something special is just around the corner.
Shy’s head was on a swivel, and at one point he glanced upward into the Northern Minnesota sky through a gap in the trees. He saw the constellation Orion, the hunter. It felt appropriate.
Soon they reached the north-south path that meandered along the top of the river gorge. Daniel and several others held flashlights. Sawyer was randomly flashing his into the girls’ eyes, until he got swatted from behind by Claire. She promptly took the flashlight away from him. Finn chuckled softly at the exchange.
Shy’s mind began to drift as they walked. He was staring off into the trees when he saw a flash of light ahead. He stopped and grabbed the back of Daniel’s shirt. Portia stopped extremely close behind Shy. He could feel her there. He seemed to be ever-conscious of her whereabouts.
Daniel was looking at him expectantly, but stayed silent.
“Did you see that flash of light just ahead?” Shy asked.
“No. Just now?” Daniel said as he turned to look back up the path. “Guys, shut up!” He turned back and added as the rest of the pack reached them.
In silence the twelve campers stood and strained their eyes.
Finally, Shy broke the silence and said, “I swear… I thought… Well it reminded me of last summer, when we were being chased. I was sure I was going to be caught, and this light flashed and led me off the path…” Shy didn’t know what else to say. The light was gone. “Forget it, let’s just keep moving…”
Daniel set out again, but his head was on a swivel. It wasn’t long before the hair stood up on Shy’s arm, and he saw a flash again, not too far ahead! He grabbed Daniel, but before Shy could get any words out, Daniel whisper yelled, “I saw it!” The light flashed again, but off to the side. Again, further off the path.
“What do we do?” Daniel asked with obvious strain in his voice.
“Follow it!” Shy didn’t hesitate. He was sure now the light had helped him before, and his gut told him to trust it again.
“Hurry!” He called out to the others, and grabbed Portia’s arm and they ran after the quickly disappearing light.
Shy could hear everyone crashing along behind him and Portia. They were now off the path, and heading deeper into the forest. He could see a flashlight beam, from behind him, bouncing off trees in front. Shy was beginning to pant, and he heard a little squeak from Portia, every change of direction or lurch in his step. He had an iron grip on her arm and didn’t let go.
Then… it was simply gone. No more flashes.
Shy skidded to a halt, and was looking around wildly as the others caught up.
“What?” Daniel began, but Shy shushed him immediately.
Something was wrong, but Shy couldn’t place what. Then a look of fear crossed his face as he placed what he had been missing. The smell! He caught a strong whiff of sour milk!
“Everyone, get DOWN!” Shy whispered fiercely and dropped to his knees. He scooted over to Daniel and got right in his face. “The smell… Do you smell that? Do you remember?”
Shy saw realization dawn on Daniel’s face.
He turned to the others and said, “We have to be silent and still… There are trolls close by!”
Shy had moved back to Portia and was holding her hand. She raised his arm, snuggled into his side and wrapped the arm around her other side. She shivered slightly. He squeezed her and held her tight. He could feel her breath.
Movement far off in the forest stole him from the reverie of holding her tight. He strained his ears and could tell by their faint silhouettes that the others were doing the same. As the seconds ticked by the sound became clearer. Grunts intermixed with a cadence of thumps. It was group of trolls. A large group of trolls. The smell became overwhelming. Shy could feel Portia gag. He squeezed her tight and she regained control.
Based on sound, the trolls were passing the portion of the pathway that the group of campers had just been on. The trolls weren’t following the pathway exactly though. They seemed to intersect the path, and continue to push more northeasterly. Shy caught occasional glimpses of faint light bobbing with the rhythm of their strange three pointed walk. Shy wondered how creatures as broad, bulky, and brutish as the trolls could capture fireflies to actually make a lantern.
Another nagging thought pulled at Shy. He had seen what he thought were troll lights moving in the same direction previously. He had seen Reds…. What was it that Tom T had told him? She gathers them? The nisse had said the huldra was gathering all kinds of Unseelie. He said she was preparing for war. These must be the soldiers she is enlisting. Where were they coming from? So many… how could Tom T and the few other Seelie ever hope to withstand a force like what Shy now realized must be building up north of the camp? And it was Shy’s fault. He had taken the box, last summer, from where it had been safeguarded for who knows how long. That is what started her plan. Now if the huldra was able to get the box from him, she would use her army to overrun and enslave the Seelie, and who knows what effects she could have on humankind. Just the thought of Tom T, the dingy, drab, nisse with a brave, shining heart of gold having to serve the huldra made Shy throw up in his throat a little. He swallowed the bile and acid back down. One thing at a time, he thought. I am going to get Gust out and then call the Lesidhe and win them to our side. I may have to learn how to fight, before this is all over Shy thought.
Portia was now pulling him to his feet in Daniel’s direction. They needed to get moving. Shy was now very aware that there could be other Unseelie troops moving in the woods. The thought of the bloodthirsty Reds following them in the woods made Shy shiver. Portia looked at him.
She leaned in and warmly breathed in his ear, “Are you cold?”
“No, I was just thinking. This whole deal with the box could be a lot bigger than I was letting on.”
She kept her face close to his ear, and didn’t let him move. He tried to move towards the rest of the disappearing group, but she held firm. He turned his head towards her questioningly.
She let her hold go on him and cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him full on the lips! Shy didn’t know what to do. His instinct was to pull away, but something else overrode that instinct. The kiss seemed to last forever. It seemed far off in the distance that he heard Daniel say, “Where is Shy? And Portia?!”
Shy realized that he had his eyes closed. He opened them as they naturally pulled away from each other. There in the faint moonlight, Shy saw her mouth curve into a smile, and a fire was lit in his belly that wouldn’t go out anytime soon.
Shy grabbed her hand and pulled her toward Daniel’s now grumbling voice.
“What’re you doing?” Daniel asked as he rounded a tree coming back toward Shy.
“I had to tie my shoe,” Shy said. “Sorry if we aren’t as fast as you.”
Daniel looked at them suspiciously, and even glanced at their clasped hands, but let it go. “Do you have the box still, I hope?”
Shy turned to Daniel and stuck out his butt. The luminescence of the box shown faintly from his pocket.
They edged slowly and carefully from the forest, back onto the path. The incident had reminded them that they were not alone moving around in the camp at night. There was no more joking or flashing the light randomly in the group. They all realized now that this wasn’t a game.
They proceeded North on the river gorge path. It wasn’t far before they came to the branch of the path that shot off eastward and down towards the river, through the cliffs. They made their way down quietly, single file. As the group began to file past the place where Sam, Daniel, and Shy had most recently encountered the fossegrimen and his horribly priced riddle, Shy thought he could see the other two boys glance over in the darkness. They moved quickly past the spot, not wanting to remember too fully the inevitable, irresistible pull of the fairy magic that had dragged them across the rocky ground when they had begun to falter in solving the riddle.
When Shy passed, he paused and stared at the spot on the cliff wall. He half expected to feel the pop of the Glamour and see the behemoth sitting there on its tiny stool, with an eerie half smile on its face. Nothing happened, but he strained his ears as Portia, now in front of him, tugged on his hand. Shy thought he had heard a faint melancholy strain of fiddle music float off into the darkness. It had been only a few notes, and then it was gone.
The path now leveled out completely. Up ahead, around the jutting end of the cliff, lay the beach next to the waterfall fed pool. Next to where they now stood, the river began its trek that took it through the gorge, alongside the campground, under the Cave cabins, and out into the mighty Lake Superior.
Daniel still led the group up and around the cliff. Shy remembered the dancing fairies on the beach the last time they had made this journey. It was a magical sight that he could see again in his mind’s eye. He almost hoped that they might be celebrating again when he rounded the bend. He saw nothing, however. The beach was calm and still, with no pull of Glamour anywhere.
Once one rounded the cliff onto the beach, the roar of the waterfall was overpowering. The only way to talk was to get right into each person’s ear. Daniel was doing that now. From camper to camper he went and whispered directions in each ear. Shy watched jealously as Daniel spoke into Portia’s ear. She simply nodded, let go of Shy’s hand, and pulled a plastic bag from her pocket. Then she began to strip off her shorts!
Shy stared at her as Daniel walked over to him. As he started to talk into Shy’s ear, Shy realized that Portia had a swimsuit on under her clothes. He looked around. All the girls had swimsuits! They were piling their clothes into the plastic bags.
Daniel was speaking, “… they planned better than we did. We will be wet, and they will have dry clothes to put on. I wish Claire would have said something. She’s so bossy the rest of the time… you would think she would have told us to do the same as they did.”
Shy smiled.
Daniel continued, “I told everyone that we should go across two at a time, and that when we get to the other side you would lead us through that tunnel. You OK with that?”
Shy nodded, and then shivered. He had some reservations. He couldn’t get last summer’s close call from the flaming demon-like horses out of his mind. This was it. They were really going back. He felt himself spinning Gust’s watch on his wrist. Touching the watch seemed to solidify his resolve. He had to do this. Gust would have done it for any of them. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Portia moved back over to him. He tried not to stare at her in her bathing suit.
Time to be brave, he thought, but he certainly didn’t feel like it. Rather, he felt like running back to his sleeping bag and hammock. He wondered how it must feel to be one of those brave adventurers from the stories when he was younger… or from the movies. They never seemed to be scared, he reflected. He looked quickly at several of the other faces. On the open beach the partial moon was brighter than in the forest. In that faint light, all the faces Shy looked at all seemed to reflect excitement and eagerness. They didn’t know what he had seen last year. Maybe being brave was just not knowing, he thought.
Portia squeezed his hand. He looked at her and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had to go, he told himself. Now. He pulled Portia over to the waters edge, and quickly stripped off his shirt. She caught his arm and grabbed the shirt. She placed it into the plastic bag and then reached around to his back pocket and grabbed the box. That she also added to her bag. He didn’t have the heart to remind her that he had gotten the box from a lake and was pretty sure it wouldn’t be ruined by getting a little wet.
Still holding her hand, he pulled her into the pool. It was icy cold. The heat and humidity of the summer instantly disappeared. Portia resisted. Shy assumed she now realized exactly how cold this crossing would be. He pulled her on. They had to do this. No stopping now, he kept telling himself. He got to the edge of the drop off, and paused. It would be all swimming from this point on. Try as he might, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the creature in Lac Igam. Who knew what kind of creatures might be in this water. Or big sturgeon, for that matter. They could swim right up the river from Lake Superior. Shy had read that the fish could get to be as long as twelve feet! They continued growing their entire life.
Suddenly he felt himself pulled into the deeper water by Portia, who, with a tight grip on his hand, had pushed off the edge of the drop off. They were now both treading water. Portia motioned him forward and swam off to the other shore.
Shy couldn’t shake the thought of some huge creature swimming just under his body. He tried to catch Portia as she stroked smoothly to the other shore. He didn’t catch the long athletic girl. She reached the other shore first and climbed out of the water still holding the plastic bag. Shy was really embarrassed. Not only was she braver than him, she swam faster too… while holding a bag!
He felt the sand beneath his body and began to walk ashore. Portia had set down the bag and was standing on the beach, dripping wet, in the moonlight, waiting for him. Shy stopped in shock, halfway out of the water. Right then he couldn’t remember anything more beautiful. Her blond curls were wet and shimmering in the moonlight. He felt his face heat up, but he couldn’t move. He was happy for the rushing sound of the waterfall, because at that point he wouldn’t have been able to say anything.
She smiled and rushed back into the water, grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the shore. The moment was over, but Shy would remember the scene for many years to come.
They dressed quickly, and Shy stuck the box back into the pocket of his wet shorts. Then they stood, hand in hand, looking back out over the water. They could make out the others on the opposite shore, but it was difficult to see heads bobbing in the water. Eventually tandems began to emerge. Sawyer and Finn, Sam and Kennedi, Arya and Henry, Penelope and Ralph. Finally, Claire and Daniel emerged, and quickly put their dry stuff back on.
All eyes turned now to Shy. He had been looking around, trying to get his bearings and remember where exactly the path was that he had followed the previous summer. He thought back. They were standing closer to the falls than when he had crossed last summer. He moved down the beach, scanning the boulders and rock wall. He was waiting for his vision to catch. Finally he felt the pull of the Glamour, slowing his vision. It quickly popped, and he saw the crevice entrance to the path he had followed last summer.
“There!” He yelled. Then, realizing no one could hear him, he pointed and began walking towards the opening. He looked at Portia, and she nodded and confirmed she too could see the opening.
Shy waited for everyone to get close. He motioned for everyone to stay tight together. Then, he took another deep breath, held tight to Portia’s hand, and slipped into the creviced opening. The path quickly turned to the right. It was very dark since the faint moonlight only shone shallowly into the top of crevice that was the beginning of their path. The path quickly narrowed further, changing into only a crack in the cliffs. Shy was turned sideways as he edged forward in order to maintain his hold on Portia’s hand. He remembered the path turning downward abruptly, and so proceeded with caution. At one point, as he felt his way forward with his left foot, he paused to remember. Portia squeezed his hand, to give him courage. He didn’t need the courage so much now, he was resigned and committed to this adventure, but he was being cautious.
Finally, he felt the path drop. He stopped and pulled Portia close. Putting his mouth to her ear he yelled, “Path goes down here! Pass it on!”
He felt her nod, and then turn to whoever was behind her. When she had passed it on, she squeezed his hand one more time.
He moved forward and downward steeply, sliding his feet with each step on the damp embankment. He used his free hand on the crevice wall to help guide them as it was now totally black.
They were now in a tunnel and he could feel the pounding of the waterfall on the wall of the tunnel. The waterfall’s roar, however, was muted some now. Enough for Shy to be heard.
“Be ready… we are almost there!” He turned and warned Portia. She squeezed his hand yet again in answer.
With the next step, Shy stepped into sunshine! He squinted and held his hand up to his eyes. He pulled Portia forward and heard her gasp. She, too, had her hand up to cover her eyes. He moved them forward, so the others would not run into them, and then he quickly scanned the scene below him.
The lake had shrunk up since last summer, similar to what would happen in a drought. He saw no demon-like horses waiting to trample him. In fact, he didn’t see any movement in the shallow valley.
He glanced toward the forest, and time seemed to slow. He saw dark green leaves rustle and sway. They seemed to recoil at his glance. His vision lingered, almost as if he could feel Glamour. It was there, and then it wasn’t. There was no magic that he could push through with his sight. It was as if the magic was moving and shifting, as if it was alive.
The others began to tumble out of the passageway. They all squinted and attempted to cover their eyes. As they fought off the brightness, Shy could read the awe in their faces. It didn’t matter that Shy had told them it might be daylight here. There was no way to make something like that believable until one experienced it for oneself.
He turned back to the valley for a second time. Besides the shrunken lake, and exposed muck left in its place, this place looked much the same as it had on his last visit. As the seconds ticked by, though, he noticed some differences. The lush purple flowers still covered the slope they were standing on. As he gazed to the lake and across, he saw that the purple gave way to a brilliant array of wildflowers. Where last year he had seen manicured waves of grass on the other side of the lake, he now saw a meadow of wildflowers so vibrant that it appeared to be a painting, until he felt a breeze ease past, and the flowers gently waved at him.
He felt at ease. A calmness settled on him, and he heard himself sigh. He heard the same coming from the others behind him. He reached back, without looking, and grabbed Portia’s hand. It would be nice to walk with her through the flowers. They could enjoy the warmth of the sun on their shirts, and then let the colors wash over them with the breeze.
Daniel and Claire had wandered forward together. It seemed they had the same idea as Shy. He heard one of the boys behind him begin to hum a melancholy, soothing tune. There were no worries here, Shy thought to himself. They strolled forward, arm in arm. They gave the harsh, mucky, shrunken lake a wide berth. Shy’s thoughts just brushed the lake and moved past, back to the beautiful flowers and their sweet scent. He inhaled more of the scent. He hadn’t noticed it’s fullness at first, but now, in the midst of the wildflowers it was strong and lush smelling.
He held his arms wide and spun with his face up to the sun. He heard Portia giggle, and saw that she was doing the same. He stopped and saw that each of the boys was paired up. Even Sawyer and Finn were walking hand in hand with girls Shy had never seen before. Good for them, Shy thought. The girls were beautiful… they looked like the sylphon. Shy’s eyes lingered for long seconds, but then Portia danced in front of him and all thoughts of the other girls left Shy. He began to spin again, inhaling the magical scents as he went.
They spun until they fell into the soft flowers. Shy landed hard. There was something in his pocket. It was uncomfortable. He reached back and pulled out a box that was glowing warm. There was something about that box. Shy tried to remember, but couldn’t grasp the fleeting thought. The scent of the flowers overpowered his nostrils… he wanted to sleep. Heavy eyelids pulled down as he took one last look around. The others were also climbing down onto the soft bed of flowers, or were out of sight. Shy sighed again. The box dropped from his hands. Shy watched it fall with the slow motion of a dream. As it hit the ground the clasp opened and everything changed.
He couldn’t see it, but Shy felt some kind of a power sweep from the box. It shot into the air, and washed over the valley just as the breeze had done. In its wake, the flowers shriveled brown, and puffed into dust. All except the purple ones that had been there on his first trip, Shy couldn’t help but note to himself.
It was at that point that the fog really began to clear his brain. He was lying amongst brown decayed flowers and dusty ground. He remembered, now, where they were, on the other side of the waterfall. He remembered that they were trying to rescue Gust. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t recall how he ended up on the ground. He saw Portia not far from him, with a bewildered look on her face.
Suddenly a scream erupted from a dip in the ground, just a short ways away. Then another followed quickly. Shy recognized the second voice as Finn’s. He popped up off the dust, pulled Portia to her feet, and ran to where the sound had come from. They saw Sawyer and Finn. Both boys were standing looking in horror at what lay at their feet.
Shy and Portia looked to where the two boys pointed. There on the ground was a husk of a body. Shy could see tattered remnants of must have been a beautiful gown. Bones stuck out of parchment-like skin. Long hair still flowed from the portions of scalp that remained on the heads.
“What is that? When I woke, I was laying with my arms around it!” Sawyer’s voice was an octave higher than normal as he shivered in the warm air.
“Yeah? Well, I opened my eyes and that head was on my chest!” Finn turned away as he gagged. When he had control of his dinner, he turned back and asked, “Why were we asleep anyway?”
All three looked to Shy for answers. He ignored them and looked for Daniel. Claire and the tall boy were moving closer from across a hill. Shy waited until the entire group was gathered.
“I am not sure what just happened, but I think it was the flowers’ scent. I think it made us all drift off. I couldn’t seem to think, or remember anything. I dropped the box and it somehow made the flowers die off.” Shy said.
He saw Henry looking dubiously at the remaining purple flowers.
“Those were here last year when I was here. I think they must be OK. Last year it was a bunch of grass covering these fields and meadows. Only purple flowers, not all these others.” He said as he reached down and crumpled the browned remains of a flower.
“What are those?” Daniel pointed to the partial skeletons.
“Well….” Shy paused. “just before I fell into the flowers, I saw Finn and Sawyer holding hands with two really pretty girls…” He let the thought hang in the air until Henry spoke up.
“You mean those two were getting down with a couple skeletons?” Henry asked in disbelief. “Man, I know you two don’t have girlfriends, but really?” Henry asked as he stepped between Sawyer and Finn.
Sawyer, who was still very white in the face, turned and punched Henry in the ribs.
Sam laughed out loud at this.
“I think that Unseelie forces knew we were coming. I think we need to be really careful.” Shy stated the obvious.
“’Cause we weren’t already?” Daniel asked. Then, he seemed to remember something else, and turned to Shy. “Dude, where is the box?”
“The box? Oh, the BOX!”
Shy turned and ran back to where he and Portia had fallen. He pictured where the box had landed, but it wasn’t there!
The others ran up. Shy held out his hands helplessly. He had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.