The Ghosts of the Woods

Chapter 11

"Well, I think we've been here long enough. It's time to bring you home", Alea smiles.

It is first now that Johnny and I look around the room that is now lit up. It is just a bare room, with nothing in it, a bit like a padded cell in which crazy people are sent to, except that the walls are not padded, but made of stone. And there is no window or door anywhere.

"And how are we going to get out of here?" I ask Alea, seeing as there is no exit to be seen anywhere. 

"Through a portal of course", she smiles, as if it is that obvious that we are going to leave through a portal.

"But what about Lucy? She is locked away in some dark room and the ghost said that he would kill her, if we didn't succeed in the test", I explain, looking worried, because I did not really see any test we could pass here anyway. And I did not want anything to happen to Lucy. I had promised her that we would get out of her alive after all.

"What is the test exactly anyway?" Johnny asks, as if he had heard my thoughts. "There is nothing here that I can see. It is a bare room, with nothing in it. What could possibly be our test here?"

'Of course', I say to myself, realising exactly what this test is about. "You are right Johnny, there is nothing here, it is a bare room. Which means there is also no door or window. So, the only logical explanation for this is that our test is to find a way to get out of here", I say proudly and look at Alea for reassurance that my assumption is right. She is nodding and looking very pleased with my answer.

"That is exactly the test, Kathy. Well done", she smiles. "And that way out is going to be through a portal I will create. Just step back a bit and wait for me to tell you to move", she points behind her to a place for us to stand.

Johnny and I walk over to the place behind her without hesitation and let her concentrate.

She stretches her hands out and mutters something. A ball of yellow light starts to form in her hands, first pretty small and then it grows bigger and bigger. Carefully, the ball starts to float out of her hand, hovering above her. She mutters something else under her breath and the ball floats in front of her, stopping a few inches away from her. She is still muttering something, and the ball just hovers there for a while.

Johnny and I are looking at it closely. It looks beautiful. The whole sight is beautiful and so magical, it is almost as if we can feel the magic in the room. Maybe we really can...

Then Alea moves her one hand up into the air and the other she moves slowly towards the ground. By doing this movement, the ball starts to stretch. First upwards, in sync with Alea's hand and then downwards, also following Alea's hand.

The yellow thing that was a ball just a few seconds before is more shaped like an oval now. Alea carefully takes her right hand that is pointing upwards and brings it back down again. Once it has reached the height of her chest, she moves it towards the right, the oval shape stretching to the right as she does so. The same movement she does with the left hand and the oval shape is now pretty much a circle, which is bigger than any of us.

Alea's final step is muttering another thing under her breath and then blowing into her hands, as if she is blowing someone a kiss. As soon as this hits the circle, it starts sparking. It looks absolutely beautiful.

Alea turns to face Johnny and me. "It's time. Go now", she says and motions for us to walk to the circle.

Johnny looks at me and holds out his hand, which I take without hesitation. Then we both walk past Alea to the portal. In front of it I stay standing with Johnny right beside me and turn to face Alea once more.