The Moonlight Boy | Ferry's Tale # 1

Into the darkness (part two)

"Danny, don't be afraid. It's me, Ferry. Matt's with me. We've come to take you home."

Danny looked at their faces. In the light of Ben's torch, their faces must have looked shifty. A sparkle of hope glittered in his eyes. But then, it was gone just as fast as it appeared.

"Leave me alone!" he said in a feeble voice, crouching back in his corner. "I'm not going anywhere with you..."

"But Danny, we've been through so much to get you out of here," said Ferry. "Why would you want to stay here, in the darkness?"

Danny didn't seem to care, "Don't you think I know what you're trying to do? You took my classmates' appearance to make me play your twisted game. But you won't fool me this time."

Matilda stepped closer, "Listen, Danny... I know you like cookies and milk. I know you like to craft and carve. And I also know that, when people call you fat, you go to your room and cry. I know you don't want to treat Ferry or Ben wrong, but you do it anyway because otherwise Billy Pride wouldn't talk to you anymore and he's the only friend you've got," she said before even breathing. "How would I know this if I weren't Matilda?"

Danny seemed like giving it a though, but then he shook his head, "What if you can get into my head and read my mind? Maybe fairies can do that, too," he said, before turning his back on them. "I'm not coming with you!"

Ferry didn't expect that. Nor anyone else.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked his friends. "How are we going to get him out of here?"

Shadow rolled up his sleeves, "That's it! We take him by force."

Baldie stopped him just in time, "We can't do that! He's going to make so much noise, he'll alert the Kallikans."

Silence followed and everyone thought about what there was to do to get Danny out of that place without too much fret. Finally, Matilda squeezed her way and before anyone could do anything, she kicked Danny in the softest part of his body.

"Ouch!" he whined. "Matt, why did you do that?" he asked, rubbing the place.

"So you know I'm Matt, right?" she cut him short.

"Yes, I know it's you. I would recognize that kick from a thousand others. But I don't understand why you came after me. Why would you help me after all I did to you?" he asked, keeping his eyes to the ground.

Ferry came closer, "It's all right, Danny. We came for you because no child deserves to stay away from his family. And no mother should cry after her child."

Danny was now in tears, "I want to come with you..."

Ferry smiled at him, "Then let's go home!"

To avoid being seen by the Kallikans, they needed to stay in the light. So Baldie crafted some sort of a lantern, tying the flashlight on the top of Rosemary's walking stick; a stick of which Ferry thought it had magical powers because it was always glued to her. Izzy had now the important task of carrying the lantern because he was the tallest of them all. The lizard-man took his job seriously, carrying it with dignity in the middle of the group, like a captain carrying the flag of victory.

Danny came to his senses after eating a whole pie and drinking a whole flask of water. And now he was chatty. He even bragged about escaping from the Blind Alley twice, although he never reached too far.

They were now ready to go.

Danny was acting like a tour guide. "Kallikans are stupid," he said as if he's been living among Kallikans since forever. "They don't even lock the gates. And they have to since it's so dark here that you could stick your fingers in your eyes and not even know what happened. But I have a talent few people know. I can smell a pie from miles and miles away. That's how I managed to escape from here. I was following the smell of pie coming from the nearest house. At home, I knew when Mum was cooking pie since getting out the school's door," he said, winking at Matilda. "I can't wait to get home," he sighed.