Chapter 2
A Wish Made in Anger
I really did respect my sister's wishes...for the most part. I didn't give the children too much ice cream. We only watched one episode of The Muppet Show. I bathed them, brushed their teeth, and had them in their pajamas and in their bedroom by 7:30. It was no time for sleep, however...not just yet. We sat in a circle on the floor beneath a fort constructed from a blanket suspended between Alec and Callie's two small beds. The gentle glow of a nightlight crafted in the shape of a wee yellow mouse with a red storybook in its tiny paws cast its soft illumination over the eager faces of my niece and nephew who had just settled themselves down in a nest of pillows and blankets, casting curious glances between me and the mysterious green backpack that sat open on the floor next to me.
I smiled. "Would you like to see what I've brought you?"
"Yes, please!" Callie chirped delightedly. Alec, a man of few words, only squirmed in excitement.
"Right, then..." I reached into the pack and carefully withdrew a bundle of silk and scales. "This...is Bartimeo, my scaly friend." I gave the bundle a shake and it unfolded to form the shape of a three-dimensional dragon with delicate wings and individual scales of polished metal. His eyes were amber, his scales silver, his hide and wings were made of silk, black and smooth. It must have originally been a marionette as intricate as it was, though it no longer bore the strings to attest to the fact. It was the most magnificent toy dragon you would ever see, a gift from my beloved grandfather long ago. If you moved the creature just so, the amber in his eyes and the silver in his scales would catch the light, making him come alive.
Both of the children gasped this time, wonder plain in their large eyes. I grinned and held the dragon out for them to touch before placing him on a pillow between them, positioning him to look as though he were sitting there of his own accord and listening to our every word.
Then I reached into the pack a second time and pulled out a small book, bound in green linen with its title printed in gold across the front. Poems and Tales From the Labyrinth and Beyond, a collection of short stories and faerytales compiled by renowned actress and author, Sarah Williams. I had been given the book over three years previously for my 15th birthday and in the time since it had become one of my absolute favorites, weaving itself tightly into the seams of my being as favored stories so often do. Sarah's tales were so unique and intriguing, told with such skill and imagination. Some I knew from elsewhere, whereas others were completely new to me. I often wondered—sometimes jealously, I'll admit—where her brilliant ideas came from.
"What is it?" Callie asked, squinting at the book's title, obviously trying to decipher the shapes and squiggles that she knew formed words.
I gave her a knowing grin. "Goblin stories."
Alec gasped softly and Callie cuddled her favorite toy unicorn to her chest. "Mama was right," she whispered to her brother, grinning ear to ear.
I turned to the first chapter in the book, relishing the much-loved rustling of pages as I prepared to taste the written word. Reading aloud has always been something of a passion of mine, allowing me to exercise my enjoyment of the theatrical and to entertain a certain penchant for many a various voice and accent. I would pull faces and make grand gestures to match the story's narrative as I read, loving nothing better than winning fits of laughter or squeals of delight from my rapt audience. That evening, I was in particularly fine voice.
The first story told of a dwarf prince who went on a grand adventure with a noble fox-knight and a gentle troll, culminating in the rescue of a wood nymph's child from the claws of a possessive satyr. The second told of Bartimeo the Wishing Dragon (after whom my dragon puppet had been named), anybody to seek him out and present him with a suitable gift would be granted exactly one wish. And the third...the third was the story around which the anthology was centered. It was the tale of a nameless young girl and her adventures in the magnificent Labyrinth. As the story went, if ever a child was wished away to the Underground realm using the magic words written by the notorious Goblin King, his goblin subjects would come and claim it, spiriting the child away to the castle of their beloved king. If any soul were brave enough to try and rescue the child—as was the girl in the story—they would be made to run the infamous Labyrinth that served as the castle's protection. Very few had ever done so successfully.
"So, some children would have to stay with the Goblin King for ever and ever?" asked Calpurnia, her eyes sparking with interest.
I nodded. "If the child's champion fails to solve the Labyrinth in time, the Goblin King rejoices with a song and raises the child to be one of his goblins!" I poked Alec in the tummy, making him laugh.
"You wouldn't let that happen! Would you, Aunt Lara?" Callie grinned.
"Never! I'd never say the words! Besides, the Goblin King wouldn't dare snatch you away..." I winked. "He's afraid of me." The children laughed as I turned to the next story in my book. "Now then...I'll read you just one more of these, and then it's off to bed! This story is about the Last Unicorn."
Al perked up then. "U...u-ni-corn?" he asked, the word almost too difficult for his toddler's tongue. "This?" He reached over and plucked the stuffed unicorn toy out of Callie's lap.
"Hey! Alec, that's mine!" Callie glared at her brother and made to snatch the equine plaything out of his hands, but the little boy's grip proved tighter than she had expected.
Rrrriiiipppp.
Callie gasped. Alec let go of the toy as if his hands had been burned. The unicorn's head was now hanging on by just a few stitches, the seam at its neck having given out under the sudden strain. Everyone went quiet then, startled by the mishap.
"L-look what you did!" Callie shrieked at last, staring in horror at the pale stuffing that poured forth from the split seam. "Look what you did!" Alec cowered before her, eyes wide with terror. "You killed her!" With a howl the girl leapt to her feet and ran from the room, collapsing our blanket fort as she did so.
"Callie!" I shouted after her, tossing the fallen blanket back off of my head. She did not respond, continuing to rage in the hallway. I looked at little Alec, his face pale with shock at his sister's anger as tears formed in his baby blue eyes.
"I-I'm sah-wy..." he whispered, in a voice so small and full of tears that it stabbed me right in the heart. I pulled the little boy into my arms and hugged him tightly.
"I know you're sorry... But, you're not in trouble, okay? I'm gonna go talk to Callie. You wait here with our blankets and I'll make everything better." The baby nodded. "Good lad," I said, kissing his forehead and placing the dragon puppet in his lap. "I'll be right back." I rose, gave him a thumbs up and a wink, and went out into the hall to try and console my overreacting niece. She hadn't gone far.
"Look!" she shouted, brandishing that stupid unicorn at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Look what he did!"
"Callie, I saw what happened. It was an accident. Alec didn't mean to rip it."
"Ruined! It's ruined!" Callie wailed, throwing her damaged toy at my feet.
I picked up the unicorn and examined the wound in its stitching. "Oh, you're just being silly. I can fix this with a needle and thread!"
"No, you can't! No one can fix her! Alec killed her!" Purest rage and determination claimed her young features as she spoke her next words. "I wish the goblins would come and take him away! I hate him!"
"Calpurnia Evans!" I said sternly, giving a disapproving frown and choosing to ignore her childish reference to goblins. "You mustn't say 'hate.' You know your mummy doesn't want you to do that. Alec is your baby brother. Your family. You don't mean that."
She narrowed her eyes defiantly and glared. "I do mean it! I DO! I hate him and I wish the goblins would take him away, right NOW!" She stamped her little foot, the impact making a muffled thump on the carpeted floor.
I scowled and opened my mouth, intending to scold her for such behavior. Before I could utter a syllable, however, before I could even blink, the lights flickered and went out, plunging the two of us into purest darkness. It was so black and so sudden that I felt as if we had been cast into the deepest part of the ocean...swallowed by some monstrous beast. Oh, God... My breath caught in my throat as my stupid heart rate began elevating, and I was only subconsciously aware of the unicorn toy slipping from my limp fingers and dropping to the floor. I could almost swear that I felt some ominous being's icy breath on the back of my neck, that I could sense invisible hands reaching out in the black to press themselves over my mouth and nose...smothering me in ink. Callie gasped and lunged forward, catching hold of my arm an clinging to it for dear life. The feeling of her tiny hands gripping mine roused me from the paralysis that threatened to lock my limbs in place, and I blinked, managing to rein myself in as my eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden night. All was silent. All was still. I looked down at little Callie. Her small face was moon-pale in the feeble light that bled through my sister's prized curtains, her eyes wide, round pools of fear.
"It was only an electrical surge," I reassured her. "There's nothing to fear." Wasn't there? I was having more difficulty persuading myself than I would have liked to admit. I closed my fingers around the little girl's hand and led her back to the room she shared with her brother. "Come on. We'll get Alec and head down to check the fuse box."
The girl shuddered, but followed without a sound.
"Alec?" I called softly through the gloom, placing my feet carefully so as not to trip over anything. "Alec, are you okay? Don't be scared. The lights will be on soon."
He made not a sound.
"Al?" Once we reached the children's room the clouds outside shifted, casting blissful silver moonlight through the windows, over the carpeted floor and the pile of pillows and blankets thereupon. It illuminated the childish paintings on the walls, fell across the two narrow beds, toy chests...dressers...but it did not reveal the face of the little boy. "Alec, where are you?"
No response...
A quick stab of fear chilled my stomach and raised goosebumps on my skin. I reached out, ran my fingers along the wall near the doorframe, and toggled the light switch, more out of desperate habit more than anything else. My efforts, of course, were in vain. "Alec!" I moved into the middle of the room, Calpurnia in tow. Where was he? Why was he hiding? He couldn't have snuck off elsewhere in the house. He'd have had to run right past Callie and me. We would have heard him.
Suddenly, a cackle rose from the pile of blankets on the floor, a cold, sinister sound that sent icy fingers up and down my spine. "Al? Was that you?" I moved forward carefully and crouched beside the pile, hooking my fingers beneath the edge of a blanket. "Are you trying to scare us?"
I tugged the blanket away but did not find the boy beneath...only pillows and carpeted floor and...and a black, furry, thing. It had two arms, two legs, two massive yellow eyes, and a long pointed nose, sharp as a birds beak. I yelped and snatched my hand back, leaping to my feet and retreating to Callie's side. The thing cackled again and darted beneath Alec's bed, dragging the blanket behind it. Callie shrieked and flung her arms around my waist, burying her face in my side.
"Goblins!" she cried. "It's the goblins!"
All hell broke loose. The wind outside began to howl violently, sending shadows of branches and wings dancing around the room, across our faces. The air began to fill with cackling, more dark shapes. They were everywhere! In the hall, under the beds, in the beds, peeking out of the children's toy chest, running out of the closet. My eyes were wide, my heart hammering violently in my chest. What in God's name is this?!
Instinctively, I held tightly to Calpurnia, keeping myself between her and the monsters and glancing around for something, anything to be used as a weapon. It was all I could think to do. My eyes fell upon Alec's wooden sword and I snatched it up in my left hand, holding it defensively before me. When one of the black creatures came tottering too close to us, I smacked it hard on the top of the head with my blunted blade, sending it scrambling for cover with a squeak.
A tapping and a scraping drew my attention immediately to the window. Outside, a barn owl was beating at the glass with its wings, scratching at it with its talons. And then the window was open and the owl was inside, diving at my face, buffeting me with its wings. I ducked low and brandished my weapon at the demonic bird, but it simply flew out of my reach back to the window, where it landed...and changed. I don't know how else to describe it. The creature changed, its shadow elongating, shifting on the floor. Then the owl was gone. In its place, the moon carving his outline in the darkness, was a man.