The Moonlight Boy | Ferry's Tale # 1

Echoes from the past (part two)

"I've looked for him for days in a row, but couldn't find any trace of him. I had to tell the village people Nick had decided to leave me since there was nothing between us anymore. I don't know whether they believed me or just thought I had something to do with Nick's disappearance, too.

"All I know is that I soon began my nocturnal visits to the forest again. I was convinced that Nick, just like Poppy, was taken away by the fairies to their land. Now it was easy for me to reach the forest without being seen. And one night, I found him. He was at the edge of the forest, weak and confused. I brought him home and took care of him as best as I could. But the old Nick was gone. His tongue was like glued and he could barely speak. Instead, he would growl like a wild beast. Agatha, who was the only one to know about the fairy encounters, said it happened to those who would go to fairyland and come back. They would become hideous and lose their minds. And Nick was one of them. He remained that way to this very day..." she said, and two teardrops fell from her blind eyes.

She sighed and her hand trembled. Ferry had the vague impression that she was not telling everything.

"Ever since that day, my life was a continuous search," she added. "I knew fairies existed, I knew they lived in that forest, but from some strange reason, I couldn't reach their world..."

"That's odd," said Ben as if talking to himself, "my mother used to tell me bedtime stories about the fairies in the Round Meadow. But I never thought they were true."

"That's because Agatha was your great-grandmother, Benjamin," said Mrs. Cobbs, smiling. And for a moment, she looked like the nicest granny in the world. "Your mother heard those stories from her grandmother. The people in this town are more connected to fairies than they know or they want to admit. Now they look at me like I'm the mad, strange old lady. But deep down, they know the fairies have to do with a lot of strange things happening in this town. And I know at least two fairies that have been living in this place for years. I'm talking about fairies who are actually living among us. Not the ones who just visit this town from time to time," she said, this time looking at Shadow.

"But how can you tell who's a fairy and who's not?" asked Matilda.

"Because ever since I could see their world, ever since the shadows came upon my worldly eyes, I could see with the eyes of my mind. I opened my mind and I could see. And fairies, whatever shape they might have, they have a bright aura surrounding them. But not only the bright fairies visited this town. There were also dark fairies with a dark, shadowy aura who bring terror and despair with them. I've met such creatures. One of them haunted the streets of this very town at night, a few months ago. Then, it was gone."

"But you said something about the fairies living in our town," said Ben, his eyes wide big with curiosity.

"Oh, yes... One of them has been living in the northern hills long before I came to live in the village. She rarely comes to town, late in the fall to pick up branches for the winter. You see, fairies don't cut the trees for fire; they only use the dry branches the trees are dropping. They see the trees as beings, just like them. The trees offer fairies shelter and energy. Without the trees, the fairies would perish."

"You mean the veiled lady is actually a fairy?" Matilda asked. "I thought she was a witch."

"Well, I think it suits her down to the ground that people believe she's a witch, if you ask me," Mrs. Cobbs laughed. "All she wants is to be left alone. I visited her a long time ago. I asked for her help, but for some reason, she avoids the fairies of Shepherd's Forest just like she avoids people. She's a silent, lonely creature, even for a fairy."

"If I were a fairy, I would help you find your little girl," said Matilda really convinced of her sayings.

"Thank you, dear," said Mrs. Cobbs. "All I want is to see my little girl just once more before I close my eyes for good. Sometimes, I can hear her jolly laughter, like the sound of a small bell, lost among the trees. But I'm too old to follow her. I've seen her a few times, running before my very eyes and then vanishing into thin air. And never, not even once, have I managed to stop her from her ceaseless run..." she said with a sigh.

"What about your husband?" asked Ben. "What happened to him? Did you talk to him? Did you find out where he's been and what happened in that place?"

The old lady frowned. "Follow me!" she said to the children and rose from her rocking chair with difficulty.

The children followed without saying a word as if they went to find a buried treasure. Mrs. Cobbs led them to a dark corridor at the end of which there were other stairs. They all went down the stairs to the basement. You would've thought Mrs. Cobbs's entire house was a labyrinth of tangled stairs and hidden rooms.

They eventually arrived in front of a locked door. It had a big, rusty padlock. Mrs. Cobbs took out of her pocket a big key, just as rusty, and opened the door.

A strange smell came over the children as the door opened. They stood in the doorway, not daring to go in. No matter how big the curiosity, none of them dared to take one step forward. Mrs. Cobbs went in and she lighted up a match from the wall of the basement. To the children's horror, there was someone crouched in the corner. The three friends watched in fright and fear the old man who was shivering and mumbling something they couldn't understand. He was staring at something without noticing their presence. The old man was wearing clean clothes and his hair and beard were clean and combed. Yet, his lost gaze made him look more like a beast than a human. His left leg was tied up by the wall with a chain.

The children took a step back at such a horrible sight.

"This is my husband, Nick," Mrs. Cobbs said in a low voice. "He's been acting this way since the day I found him at the edge of the forest. What the old people were saying was true—no one remembers anything if they ever come back from the land of the Unseen."

And the old woman blew the candle she was holding and darkness covered again that sad, terrible room.

The children couldn't say a single word. They climbed up the stairs in silence, and then, they were in the living room again. Shadow was still sleeping by the fire as if nothing happened.

"So this is my story," said Mrs. Cobbs with a sigh. "I don't know how it will end. But I won't find peace until I see my little girl one more time. And maybe, somewhere close, there is a fairy who would want to help me see her. Just see her and caress her hair one more time..."

"Oh, so that's why you have fairy traps all over your garden," Matilda dared to speak.

Mrs. Cobbs nodded.

"Only that the fairies don't have wings," said Ferry. It was the first time he had spoken since they entered Mrs. Cobbs's house.

The old lady looked at him in that strange manner again; his friends, still under the impact of so many emotions, didn't seem to notice. Matilda searched her pockets and took out the silver watch she had found. The one with the fifth and last pendant that Poppy didn't get for her birthday.

"Here," she said, placing it in Mrs. Cobbs's palm, "I think this is yours."

At its touch, the old woman's eyes became flooded with tears again. "Thank you, my dear," she said in a faint voice. "I thought it was lost it forever... You are a good girl, indeed," she said while caressing Matilda's hair.

"But you said there were two fairies living in our town," Ben interrupted. "Who's the second fairy?"

Mrs. Cobbs smiled without taking her eyes away from Ferry.

"Well, your friend here, of course."

Well, now you have it! Mrs. Cobbs's secrets revealed. What do you think about this chapter? What do you think Ferry will do, now that his secret is out? Can't wait to know your thoughts.