Luminari

Chapter twenty

My grandpa just sat there looking at me then he started to laugh a joyous laugh.

"You were right!" he shouted into the air "he's way too smart to fall for it!"

"I told you," I heard Seth's voice say from below.

I quickly ran to the door in the hall that led to the basement and hurried down the wooden stairs, I flicked on the light switch at the end of the stairs and found Seth sitting curled up in the corner next to Brandy's wedding dress and my elfin clothes. I gave him a quick hug then me and Seth went back upstairs to where my grandfather was waiting for us.

"Why were you trying to hide Seth from me?" I asked curiously trying not to sound too angry.

"Bailey, no matter what happens you can never go back to Luminari," Seth said in his utmost sincere of voices.

"From what Seth has told me, Luminari has become a very dangerous place and after all the trouble you caused down there it's only gotten worse."

"What trouble?" I asked stupidly.

"You kidnapped the princess and killed the queen," Seth said with an are you kidding me sort of look.

"But the queen's a ghost how did we kill her?"

"The poison Brandy threw on her made her ghost disappear and no one has seen her since," My grandfather explained his voice low and his eyes stern.

"I went down there for a day, and it's gone totally insane, I think a war is about to start," Seth explained and a guilty feeling erupted in my chest, I didn't mean to mess anything up.

"Bailey please don't feel guilty, it wasn't your fault there's no way you could have known what you caused."

"So, I can't ever go back?" I wasn't too upset about this though. Frankly I didn't ever plan on going back to that looney place and even if I did, I'd make sure it was years from now.

"Me and Seth burned the daed tree as an extra precaution, no one can enter or exit Luminari through that tree anymore," My grandfather explained, and I nodded.

"Are there other entrances?"

"Oh yeah dozens, or is it hundreds, thousands really," Seth explained and my grandfather shot him the evil eye.

"But you can never, never, never, ever, go back understand me?" Seth said with a sharp nod of his fuzzy head.

"Okay."

"Good and you can't tell your parents anything about it.... or Brandy," my grandpa sighed sadly.

"But Brandy was there she knows what happened."

"When she wakes up, I'm going to tell her it was all a crazy dream and you're going to help me!"

"But I can't tell her a lie like that she'll never believe me, and what about Seth?"

"We'll tell her that Seth is a stray and he wandered to the house in the middle of the night and that we've decided to keep him."

"Are you sure we can't tell her? I know she's a little young but if we really explain everything to her then she should keep it a secret."

"It's not that we can't trust her to keep it a secret it's just that Brandy being the person she is would never stop trying to get back to Luminari a place where fairies live in tiny houses and flying horses carry people through the clouds. But she can't ever go back so it's best if she believes it was all a dream."

"But?" I said then Seth nudged my hand with his nose.

"Why don't you go wake her up and tell her about our stray non-talking brand-new dog that's not named Seth," my grandpa suggested patting my shoulder.