Author's Note: I told you I'd have another post up today!
Here's your disclaimer: I am poor. Thus, I am not Holly Black. Thus, I do not own Spiderwick.
Jared was standing next to the strange girl from the night before. She still towered over him, but she looked thinner, and paler than before.
"Why are you still here?" he asked her. Maybe she was crazier than Jared thought!
"I have nowhere else to go," she answered, her green eyes staring down into those of the boy below her.
"Go home!" Jared told her.
"I have nothing to eat," she said, much in the same manner as before.
"I can't help you!" Jared yelled, frustrated.
"I have nothing," she said, her tranquility and paleness a foil to Jared's trembling anger and rage-blushed-red face.
She leaned forward and reached her hand out to him, as he began to fade backwards into the dark. He could do nothing but listen; "Do I have you?" her voice faded away.
"Wake up, Jared!"
Jared shot straight up in bed, panting, his sweaty sheets stuck to his legs.
"Jared!" His mother called again, "you better be up, and on your way to the kitchen!"
"I'm up already!" he hollered back.
"What kind of dream was that?" Jared asked himself as he pulled on his clothes and headed down the stairs.
"Maybe it was just a guilty conscience…Yes, that must be it! I mean, I did just leave her there after I knocked her over," He paused. "And she did say she was lost…"
Some introspection was in order here, and in all the rapidity inherent only in youth, Jared came to a conclusion: "I am a horrible person," he said, in a monotone voice.
"Don't think that'll work as an apology!" Helen said, as she stuck her head through the kitchen door, to the landing where Jared was standing and contemplating his actions.
"Huh?" Jared pulled his mind back to reality. "What apology?"
"You are planning to apologize, I hope?" She responded.
At Jared's blank face, she just shook her head, waving her hands and said, "Never mind. Sit down, here."
Her son did as he was told, and looked up at his mother, expecting another tongue lashing, following last night's ventures. He did not expect the long silence that was to follow.
Helen stared at her son, searching his face for the answer to an unknown question, forming in her mind.
After enough time to make Jared thoroughly confused and uncomfortable, Helen spoke.
"I am going to give you another chance, Jared. I think maybe, if I trust you a little more, you might respect me a little more, and respect my rules."
The young brunette was not prepared for this. He didn't know what to say! Did his mother expect him to agree? To apologize? To remain quiet?
Turns out Door #3 yielded the prize, because Helen began to speak, yet again.
"This is your chance, Jared; your last one. I am taking your sister on a long needed shopping trip. We'll be gone for the whole day," She let this soak in for a moment, before beginning again.
"I have a short list of tasks for you, there on the table. Other than that, you're free to do what you want."
Ms. Grace let another one of those silences stretch, but Jared managed to remain still and quiet, chanting in his head, "Be like Simon, be like Simon. She won't get mad, if I can be like Simon." His efforts were rewarded.
She sighed, and said, "I thought a lot last night, Jared. I understand your fascination with faeries. I understand I can't ever tear you away from them—"
"No, Mom—"
But Helen held up her hand, stopping him from finishing his protest.
She took a deep breath.
"You have been a part o f that world ever since that goblin gave you the sight."
"Hobgoblin, Mom," Jared corrected, automatically.
His mother smiled knowingly, and dejectedly.
"Yes, hobgoblin," She acknowledged, smiling almost sadly. "So, I won't yell at you anymore about faeries, alright? Just promise me something, Jared"
"What?" he asked.
Jared didn't know what he could have possibly done to merit this Get Out of Jail Free card, but he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure he did not lose this chance.
"Just try to keep your brother out of it."
Helen almost hated herself for saying this, but it had to be done. She had not slept even an hour last night, for worrying about her children, especially her two sons. In the end, she concluded that she had lost Jared to that wonderful, horrible world called the Fantastical Realm. His only friends were not human, he wrote in the Field Guide rather than on his homework, and he spent more time speaking with magical creatures than with most of his family.
But Simon was a different story. Simon had friends. He was on a retreat with them right now. He was doing well in school, and he spent most of his time, either with his numerous pets, or with his mother and sister. Simon was not like Jared, Helen thought. She had not lost Simon, yet, and she did not intend to. The problem was that Jared always tried to pull his brother along for the Fantastical World adventures he had daily. Whether it was to see the new baby sprite, to listen to one of the hobgoblin stories, or to offer up an opinion on the new species he had found and documented. Simon must not be pulled into that world. She hoped her decision would not hurt her sons as much as it was hurting her.
"What?" Jared asked, hurt, rather than confused.
"I want your brother to live a normal life, and I know that you will want to involve him in the Fantastical World as much as possible. I am asking you, in exchange for your freedom with faeries, for you to keep Simon away from all things magical. You can still spend time with him; as much time as you want, but not in the Fantastical Realm."
All Jared could do was to stare at his mother. What was she playing at? Why was she doing this?
"Alright, honey?" Helen asked for confirmation.
And then, Jared made a decision that would affect him, and his brother, for the rest of his life.
"All right, Mom," he conceded. "I'll keep Simon out of it."
Ms. Grace smiled, relieved. She knew how hard this would be for Jared. But as long as he steered Simon away from the Fantastical World, and she kept her quietest son unaware of the new turn of events, everything would be fine.
"Thank you, Jared," She said, standing up from the table. "Your sister's in the car, waiting for me. There's some food in the fridge for lunch. We should be home around eight. Be good, okay?"
"Okay, Mom" Jared said, as he watched her leave, reminding him of how he left the girl in his dream. What would happen to her?
Jared looked in the fridge, rifling through its contents.
"Food for lunch, huh?" He said to himself, as he collected an assortment of provisions, and placed them in the largest basket he could find. "I wonder if she likes tuna?" He muttered to himself, as he piled high the food in the basket, preparing for what would most certainly be a Fantastical meeting.
Author's Note: So what do you all think? Helen has surrended one of her children to the 'cluthces' of the faeries. Lolz.
Anyway, the next chapter will be up either tomorrow or the next day.
Also, check out those new chapter titles, hey hey!
