The Lost Soul

  Melina just smiled. "I feel like they're still here with me in this shop."

  "I see you met my girls, Melina," interrupted Moira who had appeared from the back of the shop with a large basket filled with goodies, "Thanks for letting me into the back. I know a lot of this stuff isn't available to regular customers," she smiled.

  Ever since Wendy's Wonders had opened to the public, Wendy had kept a separate room in the back for serious witches, where all kinds of weird and wonderful things were for sale for the more unusual spells. Perhaps not 'eyes of newt' or 'puppy dogs tails' but close.

  "If you girls have finished browsing, we ought to head back home."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  As Gwynethea took Jack's hands in hers, Zalea sat quietly to his side by the softly glowing orange flames of the fire in the centre of the room.

  "It's dark, there is nothing but blackness all around you. You can see nothing. You can hear nothing. Just the sounds of your breathing. Your breath is quick and short. You are afraid. You try to stand

  but you are being held against your will. There are chains around your ankles and wrists. You cannot move. The pain. There is pain all around you. Oh," Gwynethea recoiled from Jack, temporarily dropping his hands. When she opened her eyes, they are not her eyes that Jack and Zalea saw. Her eyes were no longer blue but bright green, like a cat's eyes. Jack jumped and Zalea screamed.

  "Gwynethea!"

  Suddenly, she closed her eyes once more and when she re-opened them, the old lady's blue eyes had returned.

  "I am fine, young one. This is nothing but a memory. It might flash in my eyes, but fear not, it is just a memory. Come, we must return. Jack must remember."

  Taking his hands, she reverted back into the trance.

  "You are not alone. There are others chained like you. You can hear them but you cannot see them. There is a light in the distance, it is coming closer and closer. It is a torch. It is being carried by someone. Wait, you gulp back the fear. It feels like it's stuck in the back of your throat. It comes closer and closer. It is not human. It is... Nephilim."

  Suddenly, Jack let out a low groan and a sob, "I remember the beast," he whispered," I remember. No.....no," he sobs.

  "That's enough, Gwynethea!" yelled Zalea, jumping up and trying to unlock their hands.

  When Gwynethea opened her eyes and looked around, she released Jack's hands.

  "You were with the Nephilim, Jack. I am amazed you survived."

  "But who are they?" asked Zalea, rubbing away a falling tear from her cheek. "Who are the Nephilim? Did they take my sister?"

  "My dear, Sheharazalea. We are here to recall Jack's memories. I cannot tell you if they have your sister. But for now, we need to concentrate on what he has blocked from his mind, okay?" she said soothingly as Zalea nodded and returned to her seat by the side of the fire.

  "I'm sorry," she said.

  "It's all right, my dear. You are clearly anguished. We will get to the bottom of this. Now we must speak of the Nephilim."

  "Nephilim," whispered Jack quietly, "who are they?"

  "They are demons, my dear, demons. And they live not far from Argentumalea."

  "There are demons close to us? Why do we not know about this? We cannot live near to demons," screeched Zalea.

  "Shhh child. The Nephilim and the Faeries have lived close to each other for thousands of years. It is just the way it is. No doubt you have all been told not to venture far from home. Well, the Nephilim are one reason why. But they can never come close to your home. They are trapped, you see."

  "But how did they get Jack?" she whispered.

  "I'm not sure. To discover that, we will need to go back to the trance, to remember."

  "Then we must. I need to remember everything," said Jack.

  "Then take my hands and we will return. We will try to go further back in time."

  As Jack took hold of the old woman's hands once again, a shiver went down his spine as he recalled that awful dark, damp place where he had almost perished.

  "The beast is close. He is looking for something, someone. He makes his choice and releases the chains of someone close to you. It is a man, an old man. He yells for help. All you can hear are his sobs as the Nephilim carries him out of the cave in which you are trapped. Your face feels wet. You are crying. Another memory is coming through. You are in a dark place. You are alone. There are no chains but you are trapped in a dark room, a black room. There is no way out. You are drained, so drained and so weak. Suddenly you see a light in the room, it's like water, no... a....a vortex. You step into it. You know it's the only way you can escape this room. Then there is nothing, just a whirling and you fall right into the hands of the Nephilim. You try to run, you are surrounded by the beasts. You are too weak. You fall to the ground. You feel like you are falling to sleep."

  Zalea watched the rapid eye movement of Jack's eyeballs beneath his closed lids, but she knew she must let them continue, knowing it was the only way for him to remember himself and what happened to him. How he came to be in Argentumalea in the first place. She wondered if he might have any memory of her lost sister, Tiffanimelicomelea.

  "You wake up. You are in a small cage surrounded by many others trapped in similar cages. When you turn your head to look around, you find a female Nephilim watching you. She hungers for you, you can tell by her eyes. You ask her what she wants. She says nothing. You shout and she stands, laughing at you. She moves closer to you, so close you can feel her breath on your face through the bars. You yell obscenities at her. You feel disgusted. But she does nothing but laughs a cruel, evil laugh. But wait, that laugh, it reminds you of something. You remember someone. A beautiful woman who has harmed you in some way. Who is she, Jack? Remember her. Focus on this beautiful woman."

  Jack winces and speaks, "Vivian. I remember now. I know who I am."

  CHAPTER NINE

  The spell worked. December, Moira, Ruby and Lilly looked on in utter shock as Millicent appeared to them in earnest. Not just a floating spirit but a woman with a body.

  "Oh, get the woman some clothes, already. She'll freeze to death in here standing there naked like that. And after all of this, we certainly wouldn't want to lose her to the cold would we?" said Ruby, floating around her ancestor in shock.

  "Yes, yes, of course. I'll run upstairs and get something for her to wear," muttered Moira, who was having some difficulty believing the spell had actually worked.

  "I'm human again... after all these years. I can barely believe it," whispered Millicent, pinching her arms and jumping up and down.

  "Woah there. Can you wait 'til you've got some clothes on before you start doing all those gymnastics" sniggered December with a grin.

  "Oh, sorry... I'm just excited. It's been a long time since I felt like this. Well, since I actually felt at all."

  After Moira had hurriedly returned with an outfit, Millicent struggled to put on the jeans. But when she did, she looked just like one of the family.

  Finally, December hugged her ancestor and squealed, "I can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

  Lilly remained seated on the bed, not quite sure what to do or say.

  "Let's all go upstairs and get something to eat and drink. This calls for a celebration, don't you think?" said Moira, leading Millicent up the steps and out into the bright light of the hallway and into the kitchen.

  "You sit yourself down and I'll just go to the garden to tell Monty about our guest and then we'll have something for lunch."

  Millicent couldn't stop touching things. The kitchen worktop, the toaster, the sink, the tap (the feel of the running water particularly excited her), the fluffy towels... it was as if she was feeling everything for the first time. But then, she probably was considering she was originally from the 1200s.

  Just as the excitement was building for them all, December fell from the stool to the ground, clutching her head in pain.

  "Call for Moira please Lilly," said Millicent, deftly picking December up from the fl
oor and helping her into the living room where she placed her carefully on the sofa.

  "Now this is what you called me here for, December. You must trust me when I tell you I know exactly what you are going through. I need you to focus. I know it is not easy but you must focus on the pain. The pain is trying to tell you something. Can you focus on it? It will eventually go away but you must find out where it's coming from. Who it's coming from."

  The others rushed into the room and watched as Millicent calmed December down, calmly talking to her and getting her to focus all she could on the pain.

  "Now close your eyes. Do you see anything?"

  December gently shook her head and winced.

  "It's all right, December. You can talk. Don't move your head, just talk to me. What do you see?"

  After a few moments, December spoke, "I see a man."

  "That's good. Can you describe him?"

  "No, it's too dark. I can just see his outline."

  "Can you see where he is?"

  "It's so dark."

  "Can you hear anything?"

  December focussed hard on the vision behind the head-ache while everyone in the room was silent.

  "I can hear something, it sounds like, like chains. And sobbing. He is sobbing. I think he's being kept prisoner."

  "That's good, December. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

  "It's warm... I don't know how I can tell, but it just feels warm, really warm."

  "That's good, December. That's enough for now. Open your eyes and focus on me. Look at me and breathe slowly. Just look at me. Is the pain fading?

  December nods, "Yes, it's going, it's going."

  "Excellent. Now close your eyes and rest for a while. We'll be right here."

  Millicent took December's hand and held it tightly. She turned to Moira and said, "Well, I can tell you this. December is going through the exact same thing I did. She has somehow developed a connection with this man."

  "Do you know who or where he is?"

  "Well, I can't really answer that."

  "What about when it happened to you? Who was it? And where were they?" asked Lilly eagerly.

  Millicent closed her eyes for a second before turning to look out the window.

  "It was very unusual. He was a man who was from our world but he had somehow become lost on another," she tried to explain.

  "You mean he was on another planet?"

  "I don't believe so."

  "Well then, what do you believe?" asked Monty.

  "I think you'd all better sit down..."

  After they'd all made themselves comfortable, Millicent began to tell them the story about how she began communicating with a man called Badrick.

  "The headaches began when I was quite young, but I didn't learn to control them until I was 20. It was then that I began to have the visions of the young man. He too was trapped in chains in a dark place surrounded by evil. It took a while but eventually we managed to actually converse, strangely enough through space and time. He told me his name was Badrick and he was just a normal man. I didn't quite believe that, of course. I think he had a secret of some kind. But that secret he took to his grave. But anyway, he had been born, grew up and lived in England with his young wife, two daughters and a son. One day he was working the fields when he saw a strange light. When he walked towards it, he was sucked into it and when he woke up he was chained to the wall of a dark cave. He told me he felt like he was deep underground. There were others chained there too and every now and again, the beasts would come and take one away. I never found out what the beasts were doing to them, whether they feasted upon those poor souls or killed for entertainment. Badrick did not know until... until they took him and once they did, I never heard from him again. I know deep down they killed him."

  With eyes wide open with shock, Lilly asked, "But who are these beasts?"

  Millicent closed her eyes once more, looking out the window again to calm her.

  "Nephilim. They were the Nephilim."

  Moira and Ruby gasped in unison.

  "Nephilim," said Monty, "I thought they were just mythical creatures?" he asked.

  "I used to think witches and vampires were mythical creatures. How wrong was I?" replied Lilly without thinking.

  "The Nephilim are real. They are most definitely real."

  "But what are they?" said December sleepily, who had been listening to everything with her eyes tightly closed.

  "The creatures I've read about are the offspring of demons who mated with women. It is believed they were cast to the depths of the earth where they've been trapped for thousands of years. However, over time they have continued to try to lure men and women into their grasp so they can have their fun with them before they cast them aside."

  "But that's just myth though, right?" asked Lilly, confused.

  "That's what I thought until Millicent told us otherwise. Are these the same creatures, Millicent?"

  Looking across at her family and friends, the young woman sighed, "I'm afraid to say so, but yes, these are one and the same. These mythical creatures you speak of are the Nephilim."

  "But how do they lure their prey?" asked an intrigued Ruby.

  "Badrick told me he saw this strange light and he went into it. That is all I know."

  "So, a kind of vortex, then?" asked Moira, fiddling with the ring on her finger nervously.

  Millicent nodded, "quite possibly, yes."

  "So now we just need to figure out who this man is and how we can rescue him," said December as she sat up, looking straight at Millicent who patted her on the hand with a smile.

  "You mean, if we can rescue him," added Ruby quietly.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Who is Vivian, Jack?" asked a startled Zalea as both he and Gwynethea opened their eyes simultaneously.

  "She's the woman who ruined my life. She killed my wife and teenage daughter and put a spell on me before kidnapping me and my newborn baby. She kept me trapped for years and I couldn't do a thing. Not a damn thing about it..." Jack said before he broke down and sobbed for what seemed like hours.

  Gwynethea and Zalea just sat beside him, letting him release the intense grief that had been locked within him for so long.

  Eventually, he could cry no more and he looked into the flames, "I need to find my daughter. I need to find Lilly."

  "We will do everything we can to help you, Jack. But for now, I suggest you get some sleep. You must be exhausted after such an intense experience."

  He nodded and yawned at the same time.

  "And it wasn't so long ago you nearly died, remember? You're still not as strong as you could be. Take some time to relax and let your body and mind heal," added Zalea, patting his shoulder gently.

  He looked across at the beautiful faery who had brought him back from the brink of death. He owed her everything. He owed her his life, yet she wasn't interested in that. She was just happy he was finally safe and that he'd finally remembered.

  Looking into her eyes, he was saddened to see the heartache that lie beneath them. She was almost mourning the loss of her sister and he was determined to find out what had happened to her. She had helped him and now he wanted to help her.

  But first, they both needed to rest. He was well aware of that.

  "I think it best that both of you remain here and sleep this evening. I will make us some food before we turn in," said Gwynethea, standing and stretching her arms and legs with a stifled yawn.

  "You are exhausted too, Gwynethea. Let me help you," said Zalea as she stood and stretched.

  Jack looked on as the woman and faery prepared a broth from strange looking vegetables. When they were finished and he was handed a bowl, the first mouthful was like a firework in his mouth, hot and spicy and absolutely delicious. He smiled and the bowlful was soon gone. His eyes became heavy and before long he was curled up in front of the fire gently snoring.

  Gwynethea smiled across at her faery friend, "The poor man was exhausted."

 
"Yes, grief does that to you," replied Zalea with a yawn.

  "I know you too are grieving, my dear Sheharazalea but you must not. I believe that Tiffanimelicomelea's life essence continues to be strong."

  "But what if she has been taken by the Nephilim? What then, Gwynethea?"

  "I believe Jack will help you find her, my dear. You were his saviour and now he intends to be yours," she said with a smile, watching the young faery lie down and close her eyes. Her breathing slowed until eventually sleep overtook her.

  Startled awake by what seemed like a jolt out of the blue, Jack sat bolt upright. For night time, the light was unusually bright. He looked around to see both women fast asleep to his side. He climbed up from the ground and tiptoed to the entrance of Gwynethea's home. Pushing the hanging branches of the willow tree aside, he looked out at the night and marvelled at the orange sky above. It was like nothing he'd ever seen. Bright and fiery. Even the silver forests looked tinged with an orange hue. It was quite spectacular. Jack wondered where exactly he was. It was another world.

  Am I on another planet? he wondered. Or another dimension? I hope I can find my way home, he thought as a sudden pain in his head caused him to wince and curl to his knees.

  He was suddenly reminded of his time with the Nephilim. Whilst trapped, he had found himself connected to someone back home. A young girl. A friend of Lilly's. She had somehow managed to communicate telepathically with him and then....yes, the memory was returning, he had spoken to his own daughter when she was in danger.

  But how? he wondered. Jack realised he had to find that connection again. It was the only way he knew of finding his way home back to his family.

  CHAPTER TEN

  It felt like an electric shock. A shock which jolted December awake in an instant, forcing her to sit bolt upright in bed. The moment she opened her eyes, she had to shield them from the intense bright light from the full moon that shone in through the bedroom window. She had never seen such a beautiful moon before. But it wasn't just the beauty of it that made her breathless, it was something else. It almost felt like the moon had jolted her awake.