Beyond the Demon's Gate

PROLOGUE: Within the Gates

-------------------AGE 10-------------------

"Go back home, Bo. We don't want you following us."

Four boys were crammed into the gateway between Ms. Leer's home for boys and a back alley. The only thing that stood between the four boys and freedom was Bowan, a younger boy, who had followed them. He had latched onto them and shadowed them like a ghost.

"I don't think he can understand what we're saying. He's a moron," one of the boys offered. There was a wave of laughter as the four boys stared down at their unwanted guest.

"If we run we might be able to lose him through the forest." One of the boys offered a way out that did not result in violence.

"He's not coming with us. I don't want people to think we are friends with a coward."

"I am n-n-not a c-coward." Bo broke his silence at last.

"Then why are you sh-sh-shaking?" One of the boys said, mocking his stutter with convulsing arm movements.

"Am n-not!"

"Prove it then."

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Bowan walked to the most dangerous place on earth, the Demon's Gate.

Settled a few miles north of Greening, the northernmost town in Lycra, was a cage for the monsters in the world to dangerous to roam free.

It was a sea of green fields. Grasslands surrounded a caged forest of black trees. 

Bo stood as close to the gate as he could stomach. The wrought iron fencing towered over him and the trees stood in the distance out of reach. He needed proof he was not a coward. The proof lay somewhere beyond the Gate.

There was no way in. The forest was deep and full of shadows. The mind plays tricks and imagines horrific beasts in dark corners. The iron bars were sharpened to a deadly point. He walked the fence line looking for a souvenir. A black branch or twig. Anything that would show that he had faced the Demon's Gate. Something to prove he was not a coward.

"Hello." His head was down, his eyes scanning the ground near the gate. He was in his third hour of looking without success. He did not expect a voice.

He saw the girl who called out to him and he ran. He stopped when the grass got taller and ducked down, cowering.

The girl approached the Gate. Her hands wrapped around the iron bars. Bo shook like a rabbit, terrified. She had dark brown hair that brushed to the back of her knees. She wore an oversized coat that made her seem bigger than she was. She was far from the imagined monster he expected. She looked just like a normal girl except she was on the wrong side of the gate.

"Helloooooo!" she called.

The word 'coward' flashed through his mind and he frowned. The Gate would hold. The Gate had held for years. It was the only thing that gave him the courage to stand up.

"There you are!" She called. Bowan took slow curious steps towards her.

"Hello." She was met with cautious silence. "Can't you speak?"

"D-demon." That was the only word he could speak. The only word that mattered to him. 

"I am not a demon, I'm a girl." She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"N-no one is allowed b-but demons." He said sharply. Stopping close enough to the gate to speak, but far away enough to feel safe.

She dropped her unnerving smile finally and frowned.