Prologue – The disappearance
The sun was shining down on the small village of Bidston that morning as Lucy Fisher made her way down School Lane. She continued through the shortcut that lead to a busy road and then onwards to a sunlit pathway leading to the local trainstation.
Bidston station had recently started renovating, so the tickets, and the man who sold the tickets with the occupation title that no one really knew the name of, were situated in a small portable that constantly smelled of a mixture of coffee and cigarette smoke.
"Return ticket to Leasowe, please," said Lucy to the man behind the counter in her salty, Scouse accent that always lilted at the end of each sentence without fail.
"£2.50, love," said the man, whom Lucy noticed had rather bushy eyebrows. They're wriggling at me thought Lucy as she internally shuddered.
"Ta," she said impassively, and, keeping up her proud Northern teenager act, stuck out her chin a little and stalked away. She started up the stairs and across the yellow painted metal bridge that lead to the platform and waited not-so-patiently for her train to arrive.
After about ten minutes of checking her phone, pulling out a piece of chewing gum from her purse and chewing on it like there was no tomorrow, checking her phone again, and staring longingly in the direction her train was coming from; the train finally arrived. The headlights of the train could be seen through a veil of distance, draining the bright, government issued colours of the train to a series of pale greys and yellows that were common colours affiliated with Merseyside trains. The trains themselves, despite being in relatively good shape had been in use for more than three decades. Lucy's own father had taken these very trains to and from school when he himself had attended Wallasey Secondary School.
The train jolted to a halt in front of the platform, and as it did, the doors creaked and groaned open with an awkward shudder that Lucy had been used to since she was ten years old, when her Nan had taken her shopping up near Lime Street in Liverpool. She climbed on and sat by a window seat, automatically placing her bag on the adjacent seat to prevent any strangers sitting beside her. Before the doors could fully close, however, a very red-faced girl leapt onto the train, looking exhausted. She wore a very tattered looking school uniform and had a school tie wrapped precariously about her head in a hurried fashion. It looked as though she hadn't even had time to pull it onto her neck. When she saw Lucy, the girl grinned at her wearily, clearly very impressed with herself, as this was the last train to leave before she would have been late for school, and then she promptly stumbled towards the seat next to Lucy.
"Lucy, budge up would'ja? I've just run half a mile!" the girl said irritably, the initial euphoria of not missing the train forgotten as Lucy didn't immediately take away her bag.
"Alright, Mags, keep your 'air on!" said Lucy, giggling.
"Eh, it's alright fer you, you don't live up in Beechwood!" Mags said, turning red.
"Hey, you 'ad the choice to go to Ridgeway, and don't blame me for yer tardiness. Mags, s'not my fault yer chose the wrong school. Yer could've gone to Park High, too, but yer decided Wallasey. Did'jer even check out the craphole in the first place?" Lucy said, trying – and failing miserably, to calm Mags down.
"You know why I couldn't go to Ridgeway," Mags said darkly " tha' bitch, Godsell was there a' the school opening. I wasn't gonna do tha' again, Luce. And Park's filled with all those block'eads from our old school."
Lucy and Mags had attended Bidston Church of England Primary school together since they were both 7 years old. Mags had changed schools because she was being constantly bullied by a girl named Amy Godsell. They stayed at Bidston until year six, when it time for them to move to secondary school. They both ended up choosing Wallasey. Lucy chose the school, because she liked trains, and thought it was cooler to take the train to school than the bus, like all the kids going to Park High. Mags just thought it was her only viable option.
"Yeah, wha'ever, Mags. Anyway, didjoo see the size o' the eyebrows on tha' one? The bloke with the tickets?" Lucy said, trying to lighten the mood. This seemed to have the desired effect as Mags snorted and said "yeah, didn't 'alf look like caterpillars did they?"and they continued their happy chatter until the train entered Leasowe station. Lucy had often wondered why Wallasey school was in Leasowe and not in Wallasey, but she always ended up shaking the thought out of her brain. Who was she to question the makers of The Wirral? Besides, talking about the latest boy Mags was crushing on was much more amusing than musing over the philosophy of somewhere as boring as Birkenhead.
The two girls clambered off the train as the doors grunted, squeaked, and finally shuddered open and they set off on their walk down Reeds Lane. The pale smell of fruit and herbs drifted through the air from the Typhoo tea factory as the girls walked on, giving them the not-so-subtle reminder that they both had neglected breakfast that morning.
"Wanna go the shop and get a bevvie, Mags?" asked Lucy, all airs and graces.
"Well, if you're only gonna get a drink, tha's fine, but I'm gonna ge' REAL food!" Mags replied, grinning.
"Yer wha'? yer idea of food is 'Aribo and some chewies!"
"Don' be daft!" Mags said, but then she grinned. "The chewies would make me 'ungrier!" And they both started laughing heartily as they climbed the slight hill of the long road.
After a couple of minutes of walking quietly, Mags looked at Lucy, catching a strange light coming from her in the corner of her eye. Lucy was bathed in gold light. It was twisting through her hair, scaling her arms and legs. Mags didn't know what to think. She had two older brothers who wasted no time telling her that magic didn't exist and fairies were stupid as a child, but what else could make someone glow like this?
"What'choo lookin' at?" Lucy said disgruntled, in answer to Mags' stare, plainly having no idea that she was turning gold.
"Luce, look a' yer arms... an' yer legs, and' yer 'air... you're turnin' yella'..." Lucy laughed, a hand coming to her mouth, and she caught sight of her glowing limb. She looked at her friend with wide, terrified eyes.
"... Mags, what's happeni-". But before Lucy could get the words out of her mouth, she was swallowed in a cloud of gold smoke and vanished. Lucy Fisher was nowhere to be found.