The last days of school were hard to bear. Even the summer holiday, once so alluring, seemed somehow dull and uninviting. Ferry was the gloomiest of all his classmates. Without Miss Summer and her kind and warm advice. Without Matilda, with her restless spirit. He even missed Billy's teasing, go figure!
Now he was watching the old Biology professor dozing at the teacher's desk; even the naughtiest students were tired to tease him.
Matilda cut her hair short, as she always did during the summer. She looked the same as the day Ferry first met her. Only this time, she wasn't talking to him. Instead, she was pretending to read a book Miss Summer had recommended. Meanwhile, Billy was as sad and absent-minded as usual, since the day of Danny's disappearance.
Even May looked sad for some reason, and she would wring her hands, sobbing.
"Is everything all right, May?" he asked her during the break.
May forced a smile, but tears came to her eyes, "It's Harry, my rabbit. He's gone."
"What do you mean gone?"
"Well, he was going out often, but always came back. Now, he's been missing for three days."
"Izzy's been missing, too," said Ben who overheard their conversation. "But he's done it before. Oh, and I've talked to Matt. Her dog has also been missing for three days."
"What's going on, Ferry?" asked May, now worried.
Ferry couldn't answer. He didn't know what was going on. But he knew his raven was missing, too. And he also knew that it had to do with his journey to the Land of the Unseen.
That afternoon, Ben visited Ferry, as planned. He brought his notebook where he's been writing everything he could find on fairies.
"I couldn't find much," he said. "I've searched at the library, but Mrs. Dear, the librarian, told me there was a burglary years ago and all the books on fairies were stolen. Even colouring books for children. Weird, huh?"
Ferry nodded. When it came to fairies, everything was weird. And everyone in town was silent or changing the subject about fairies, trying to convince him they were just bedtime stories for children.
Ben gave him the seven wooden boxes with the iron filings. He didn't ask why he needed it. Just like he didn't ask anything about his fairy nature. But Ferry knew the things were different, now that Ben knew. He could see him spying on him with the corner of his eye while he was pretending to read something in his notebook.
"You can ask me anything, Ben," he told him.
"Ask you what?" Ben pretended he didn't understand his question.
"Anything about fairies. And I'll tell you, the little that I know."
Ben fussed. Ferry could see he wasn't comfortable with the subject. "Well. I don't know... How long have you known you were a fairy?"
"Since always, I guess," said Ferry. "I didn't know at first. Yet, I've always known I was different."
"Different how?" his friend asked and Ferry could see his eyes glittering with curiosity while the hand grabbed a pen as if ready to take notes.
"Well, I guess everything started a month after my birth, as my mother said. That was the moment her child was switched with me, I think..."
Ben jumped on his feet as if stroke by lightning. "I know! My mother told me about that! You're a changeling! I mean the fairies replaced the real Donovan child with you. I wonder what happened to him," he added, lost in thought.
Ferry shrugged. "I suppose they took him to fairyland..."
"Yes, but why? My mother said that fairies usually switch a human child with a sick fairy child who eventually dies. But you are not sick..."
Ferry shook his head, "Nor have I ever been. Except when touching iron objects. Iron is poison to fairies."
"So can you really see fairies? How do they look like?" Ben kept on asking.
"Well, some of them are very beautiful. Some are playful and some are tricky. But others can be really mean and scary," he said, shivering at the recollection of the shadow on the Halloween night. "I don't really know. That's what the veiled lady told me."
"I could've sworn she was a witch. And do you really believe our pets are actually fairies?"
Ferry nodded.
"All right, but what do they have to do with us, the ordinary children? And why are they all missing? I really miss Izzy... I hope I'll see him again..."
"I don't know. But I really think we will see them again," he smiled, trying to make Ben feel better.
Ben was lost in thought again. Sitting on the edge of Ferry's bed, he kept on writing something in his notebook. Then he would put his hand on his head as if trying to remember something. Or thinking deep. Ferry was watching him from the chair across the bed.
"You don't have any plan, do you?" he eventually said.
Ben closed his notebook slowly. "No, I don't," he said, keeping his eyes to the ground. "I've tried to think of something, but I know so little about fairies. I don't know if my advice would help. I'm sorry, Ferry," he whispered.
Ferry smiled. "It's all right..."
"The only thing that comes to my mind is that you have to go to that stone in the Round Meadow. If what Mrs. Cobbs says is true, that stone is some sort of a portal to the fairyland. So if you're a fairy, you can easily get through. For humans, that would be pretty difficult. Not everyone is accepted on the other side... And then ─"
But something made Ben stop. He slowly rose from the bed, as if sleepwalking and went to the wall on the other side of the bed. He stopped in front of Ferry's framed drawing.
"How strange," he said as if talking to himself, "it looks like the drawing you gave me on Christmas."
"Well, there are four of them," said Ferry. "One is yours and I gave the others to Matt and May."
"How strange..." Ben repeated, and he took the drawing Ferry gave him out of the pages of his notebook. He removed Ferry's drawing from the wall and put them side by side.
"Look!" he shouted as if winning the lottery. "It's a map!"
"A map?" Ferry frowned.
"Yes, look! The drawings look as if completing each other. Like a puzzle. We need the other drawings to make the map. I'm going to ask it from Matt."
"And I'm going to ask it from May. I hope you're right. A map could be really useful right now."
⃰
All said and done. Ferry was in front of May's house in the blink of an eye. He hasn't been visiting for quite a while. During springtime, May suffered from cold repeatedly. She even missed school a lot. And Ferry really yearned for those visits.
Now, he entered the flower shop, his heart racing. Basil Flower, May's father, sat at the counter, absent-minded. He seemed sad and tired.
"Hello, Mr. Flower," dared Ferry to speak. "Is May home?"
"Hello, Ferry. How are you?" he thrilled like awoken from a dream. "Unfortunately, May is not home. May I help you?"
The joy that filled Ferry's heart each time he visited May now faded.
"When will she be back?" he asked.
"Very late, this evening, I'm afraid. And she'll probably be very tired, so..."
Ferry nodded. "It's all right. I'll see her tomorrow, at school."
But May's father shook his head, "I don't think she'll come to school tomorrow..."
The pale joy Ferry had now vanished. He said goodbye to May's father with a heavy heart and went out of the flower shop.
He spent all day wandering around, thinking about where May might be. He couldn't wait too long anymore. He thought maybe May was looking for her lost rabbit. He searched the whole town, yet couldn't find her anywhere. He wanted to tell her that Harry is actually a fairy. That he would leave for fairyland. And that they would see each other soon. Hopefully...
But the truth was he was also missing his raven. Ever since he was gone, he didn't have anyone to tell his joys and sorrows. Even if he knew Baldie didn't answer, he would always listen to him.
That day, he felt gloomier than ever. And he had all the reasons in the world to feel that way. He had lost his best friend. Baldie was nowhere to be found. And May, the only person who would chase the clouds away with a smile, was now away.
His feet took him to the forest, just like every time something troubled him. As if the forest was a being with a will of its own, waiting for him quietly and patiently, always certain he would come.
He stopped at the edge of the forest and closed his eyes. The wind started to blow again, all of a sudden, bringing along the same secret whispers, always so hard to understand. The whispers he's been hearing for so long.
But then, he heard someone calling his name. The voice sounded faint and coming from afar. He opened his eyes, his heart racing. This time, the voice was closer.
"Ferry... Ferry, help me!"
That's when he noticed Danny's silhouette looming between the trees in front of him. He seemed weak and scared. More scared than the last time he saw him.
His voice fainted, "Ferry, please, help me. I want to come home... Please, Ferry!"
Waiting no longer, Ferry rushed towards him, not minding the branches that scratched his face or the weeds that caught at his feet.
But right before he could reach him, Danny's figure faded away like a flock of butterflies scattered away by the wind.
Thank you so much for being part of this! Your support is amazing and you are the reason I keep writing :)