On a gloomy Saturday in May 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, a family walks down the simple, rustic roads to Inwood Park, in New York, in a steady torrent of rain. Despite the poor weather, life, in perspective, grows more relaxed and gradually simplifies. Mr. Valinore, a tall, white man with olive green eyes and quite a pronounced burly nose heedlessly leads his family past the impoverished city and through the woodlands; he and his wife make their way with a set of matching rusty, iron lanterns. By evening, the rain dwindles and the forest shadows magnify as they rediscover Hob Lake, a bewitching place they visit now and again. Strangely, it has been said the water itself in Hob Lake holds 2.4 trillion times more energy than regular tap water.
The affectionate father builds a small fire for his family; he then asks his beloved daughter to tend to the blaze. A twinkle shines in his warm hazel eyes as he cautions, "Be brave Zacouria. It isn't hard, see? Just keep adding small twigs and tinder, for the most part, to keep it going!"
"I feel like I am positively melting," she murmurs sadly.
Ursela, a short chubby olive-skinned girl with a pointed chin and deep-set bright blue eyes, ambles towards a nearby crooked Weeping Willow, near a tremendous jagged red boulder, and sees something reddish-orange flicker about its elongated leaves in mid-air. She shivers and her eyes widen—she reaches out, trying to grab the fairy tale-ish creature. What in the world? "Leave me alone," a shrewd man's voice hisses.
"What are you?" She catches the fiery orange creature and sees an impish face peering up at her. The creature's tiny limbs are the length of a human baby but less than half the width and much shapelier.
"The name is Valpar. Let me be now I said!" He says with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and eyes that bulge hauntingly while dark skin hangs loosely around them. Valpar struggles to get out of her thick arms and tears a hole in her already dirty white, knee-length cotton dress. She wraps her olive toned forearms snugly around him, enchanted by his unearthly appearance; the imp's wings are golden and in his clawlike fingers he clasps a jagged scrap of metal with a turquoise handle.
"What is that?" He carries something that looks like a carving utensil. "Is that a peeler? An actual kitchen potato peeler? You stole it from my mother's rucksack, didn't you?" Ursela is just a young girl, but her voice sounds full of spirit- melodious even.
The imp struggles, scowling with determination to get away from the fat human girl. She pulls his long nose and plays with his floopy ears. "HEY!" He kicks her in the belly and she lets go of him immediately. His golden wings carry his chubby body, towards the wrinkled tree trunk, at a pace that is not difficult to catch up with.
"Now you are getting the hang of it Zacouria!" Her father's booming voice. "The rest of you can set up the tent with Mummy and don't dare wander off. I have a surprise for you all and don't ask me a word. I won't be gone for too long. Come here Ursela! Attagirl. I'm leaving a lantern here so that when you feel the dark is too empowering, you can use it. "
The kids answer with cries of "Yes Poppa!" and "Please don't stray too far!" and of course brave Colin with his, "Don't you worry. I shan't be wandering too far." Mr. Darion Valinore walks away; his grey casquette cap is barely visible now as he walks towards the bank of the other side of the lake.
Zacouria mutters to him, "You're too scared to do anything because Daddy might forbid it." Even at the age of twelve, her face holds a severe look with her sharp jaw, from neither parent, narrow eyes, and pale thin face; she looks a bit like her mother except Zacouria has straight hair.
Colin, fourteen as of yesterday, and with russet brown hair, pretends to be insulted, and whispers, "I shall wonder off, you just wait." He looks exactly like his father, with his brown skin and hair, and hazel eyes; his most notable feature is his golden, horn-rimmed, tortoiseshell spectacles. His scouting lessons help them all while they rest in the wilderness.
"Every camping trip you say you shall and then you fall right asleep!"
"Shall."
"Shan't"
"Shall."
The trees hear them as they murmur and sway with the wind, cautioning them not to roam too far. "You will never guess what I saw."
"And what's that Ursela? Another one of your imaginary creatures," Zacoria sneers.
Their mum, with curly, short-cropped black hair, pleads for silence and eventually gives in to an angry outburst. "Believe it or not but your arguments are certainly not entertaining for the ears surrounding you!"
For a while, no one utters a word. Then Colin groans, "Mmpppf. This would make a decent sectional pole," as he manages to build the tent while Mum and Ursela, try to gather more wood to help the bluish-grey fabric stay up. Zacouria's bright glossy eyes reflect the fire she tends to. Ursela gulps some water and wonders, I wonder where Papa is going.
"Nay," Colin calls out.
"Yes?" To any outsiders, these two phrases sound a bit like a rising argument. To the Valinores, Colin was referring to his younger sister, Ursela, who likes to be called Naida, not Nay.
"Well, what do you want Colin?"
"I expect a lot of things but a story would be nice." The eager nine-year-old hands him her last batch of tinder, chiefly consisting of dry grass and spruce twigs, and plummets into the cold lap of her mother.
Zacouria pretends to not to listen but pays close attention anyway. Ursela might not have been educated at all at school, but she was pretty crafty when it came to stories.
"Once upon a time, long ago, an elderly man with the greyest of all whiskers—"
"Why do all of your stories have old characters in them?"
"Shut it Colin. And the elderly man had the greyest of all hairs. He sat beside a cherry blossom tree. The man neither talked nor wrote, but wept. He had the sweetest voice, like that of a grape being popped into one's mouth."
"Uhm Ursela dear?"
"It's a story! Her mother nods and silently wonders, Where's Darion off too? We're surrounded by these eerie woods; this mist is unrelenting. How many hours has it been since he left?
Ursela resumes. "However, the cherry blossom tree was the man's sole companion. Decades had gone by but the man was not affected in his physical features. The villagers began to fear him and stayed away from the forest; they whispered secrets and false myths among themselves. Now to say his skin was practically on the verge of losing its appeal of color is an understatement. But to claim that it is the color of the moon or slightly translucent is an overstatement. By now, the village was getting old and you, too, would be frightened at the thought of a man that seemed positively immortal."
It was evening and by now, everyone's face was illuminated by the light from the small blaze. The each muched noisily on their supper meal, which consisted of a few pieces of pork along with mashed potatoes and turnips; Colin listened intently while Zacouria and her mother seemed preoccupied. "Rumors of him escaping the Maiden of Death began to exist. Finally, a young girl, who had been watching the man all twelve years of her life, stepped forward."
" 'Soul,' she asked bravely,' why do you weep?' "
"And the old men said, 'Because there was no one to hear me.' "
"Not your best Nay."
Zacouria giggles as Ursela hides her disappointed expression behind her knee-length, curly black hair; she fiddles with it constantly. As dusk begins, the drenched family settles inside the tent, which is just beyond the dense, heavily wooded area. Around midnight, Ursela wakes up and looks around. "Where's father?" No one seems to hear her soft whisper in the darkness. She feels the knots in her thick black hair and wonders how her frizzy strands became so entangled.
Ursela bravely decides to look for him while everyone else remains in a deep slumber. She brings the already lit lantern with her and tip toes, making her way, with bare feet, across the solid, cold ground. When she is far enough, so that she cannot be heard, she runs. Finally, she reaches the bank on the other side of Hob Lake and with every step, she ventures northwards, deeper into Bungalow Woods, and away from the water. She breathes in deeply and sniffs an earthy smell, full of beginnings and endings that fills all of the wooded area. She will later claim this area as her kingdom, Jairut, which is very much alive to anyone who can sense the greetings of its inhabitants.
In the corner of her eye she spots a wave of colorful lights that float in the air. Pigments of colors like crimson, lemon, gold, and of a dab of pink coral-like color appear to form a line, that join as a blob, then form into a line again, and so forth navigate through the air. Out of curiosity, she follows the Will' o' Wisps, which head in an easterly direction throughout the woodlands. The lights travel above the river as she, in the midst of the woods, trudges cautiously over a moss covered log that has fallen over a black river. For a moment, she listens to the howls and sounds of musical voices that belong to men and women alike.
"Argh!" She falls over the slippery log and lands vertically, with just her right foot hanging in the water. The lanterns, along with fragments of its glass, fall into the depths of the murky, dark water. She looks up and says, "Come back now!" But the lights seem to be moving farther and farther away. She shrieks. Something tries to grab her foot. She turns around and sees a thin, lanky humanoid creature. It's face looks like a skull. Where there are supposed to be eyes, are deep, black holes. It tries to bite her foot and she screams as her pinky toe is ripped off. The withered skin is spread too thinly over it's bony mass. She whimpers as she sees a black shadow move slowly towards her. It turn out to be a boy, who rips the creature's claws off her skin and lifts Ursela, while running in the direction of the faint lights. Strangely, the creature remains in the murky water instead of chasing after them. Under the moonlight, she sees the boy's face.
"Colin!" Tears run down her cheeks. "Oh, thank God!"
"I've been lying awake for hours, wondering if I should leave and then I see you get up and oust my tent the minute you wake up." He smiles, his glasses are coated with a thin film of water; he carries himself like a hero and strides triumphantly along. "We can only follow the lights now and see what happens. Otherwise, we'll be stuck in this forest till morning comes."
"What the heck just attacked me? Slow down, I'm bleeding!"
"We can't Nay. The lights remember?"
They cross the river, and she sees a pair of bright eyes that peer out from a shrub. Her foot leaves a trail of blood on the ground as Colin continues to run with his sister still in his arms. They enter a tunnel, with intricately carved stones, on either side. "We caught up with the lights!" Colin grins sheepishly. As they enter the tunnel, strange patterns and markings light up around them and they look about them in awe. When they turn around, at the end of the tunnel, the glowing markings disappear.
They see the Will O' Wisps enter a trunk of an imposing tree, with branches that look like squirming snakes. The trunk hole looks small, but they are desperate to get in.
"What do you think they're here for? Come on Colin. I can still stand at least."
He helps her up. "Beats me. It looks like a gathering." They try to enter the tree but the trunk is too small. "Please let us in! My sister is bleeding."
"Help us! I'm awfully scared! Something bit me just a while ago." The tree's bows shake, not against the wind this time, but almost, with its own sense of mind. The ground underneath their feet opens up and they fall fast and hard.
"Ow!" They rub their bottoms and thighs.
"How many feet do you—"
Ursela answers, "I'd say a good twenty feet, but look, we're not even hurt."
"I got a bruise right here. What are you talking about?"
"Colin, I mean you didn't break any of your limbs."
"So where are we then?"
Straight ahead of them a black jaguar yawned as he sat perched with one claw over the other. They took one glance at him and then at each other and screamed. "What can I do for you?" He walked slowly towards them and placed his paws at their backs, since they were now clawing at the claylike surface behind them; they were hoping to escape.
Colin feinted. Naida shudders and says, "W-w-e were just….we were just" She stares silently at the jaguar.
"About to leave?" The jaguar grins cunningly at them "Now why would I let you do a thing like that," he says spatting out the last word. He licks his canines and behind him, Naida sees more burnt-orange colored Imps, like the one she saw previously, with golden wings busying themselves by engraving designs of leaves and flowers into the trunks of trees in a rope-like patterns that twist and creep around trees of different types