The Shadowy Figure

Chapter 1

3 year old Lina looked up at the shadowy figure by her bed, which was actually still a crib. She started to cry, but the figure shushed her by covering her mouth.

"It's okay, Lina, I won't hurt you," it told her, slowly taking her hand away. If Lina was older, she probably wouldn't have trusted it. Unfortunately, she was still only a toddler, and she trusted anyone and anything if she was told to.

"I'm going to the park. Come with me."

She had watched the small child for quite some time now, so she knew Lina loved the park. Lina, as she expected, agreed. It smiled and picked the girl up, silently melting into the shadows.

----

Indiana Wilstan was among the first to hear of Lina's disappearance. She was a close friend of the family and the news depressed her. She had known Miles Kantat since high school, and had watched him become a wealthy man through a combination of his own efforts and sheer luck. Wealth didn't make him as happy as you might think, as his wife, Anne, who he loved dearly, was found dead a few months after Lina's birth. Since Lina was the only family he had left, she was worth more to him than gold. He'd give it all up for his daughter's safety.

Harriet Wilstan was the only girl out of the Wilstan triplets, and she, as well as her brothers, were only 8 when the two-year-old went missing. (Joshua and Lance, the other two triplets, didn't call her Harriet. Nobody did since an incident last year. Harriet Polly Wilstan was somehow called Holly by mistake. She didn't mind, so the name just stuck.)

Sometime around a week after Lina's capture, Miles was involved in an accident and died. As the search for his will began, the Princess realized she was stuck with a loud, crying ...thing. She nearly killed the youngster, but then she had an idea. It's young enough to mold into whatever I want, and nobody's responded to my request for an assistant.

Months went by before Miles's will was found, and the triplets had turned 10 by the time it was finally recovered. Most of his small fortune went to a charity, leaving Lina only enough to get into a certain school, The Enchanted School for Young Magic Users.

Around that time Holly was starting to wish for something exciting to happen. "Why is life so boring?!" she said one day to her slightly-older brother Lance as she boredly watched the snowflakes outside the window. The only reason they weren't out making snowmen was because their mother said it was too cold to go outside. "I wish something cool would happen, like a UFO crashing in our yard!"

"Sis, did you already forget? Mom's dead friend's daughter- scratch that, it came out weird- little Lina's still missing. You want exciting, you got it! Me and you should go find her."

"If you two are going anywhere I want in, or I'll tell Mom."

Shoot! Holly thought. They'd forgotten their major tattletale of a brother was in the room too. After huddling and pretending to argue over the problem, the two decided that it would be alright for their 'little' brother to tag along. But before the trio could leave, they had to prepare. Holly used the few, simple spells her mother had taught her. It wasn't until the day they were ready to leave that Josh admitted he never intended to come with them, making his siblings pretty steamed. Lance twisted his arm behind his back and made him swear not to tell, and he was usually peaceful. However, they were still able to leave that day, late at night.

It didn't take long for them to get lost. Less than an hour, in fact.

"Th-this was a b-bad idea," Holly admitted, shivering even under the biggest jacket she owned.

"You think?!" her brother snapped, "I feel like a walking popsicle, and I better melt soon!"

They just kept trudging through the snow, their legs getting more and more tired with every step. Just when they were about to give up and rest, they spotted a large, darkly-painted house not too far off in the distance. The siblings exchanged a look.

"You see it too, right?" Lance asked.

Holly flashed him a mischievous smile."Wanna check it out?"

Lance nodded and the children began to nervously drag themselves towards the house. It seemed like hours before they actually reached it, though in reality it took less than 20 minutes.

"You should knock, you're braver," Holly told her brother as they stood on the house's porch.

"Thanks, but you're the one who suggested we come here."

"But you're my big brother, you're supposed to protect me!"

"You do it!"

"No, you!"

"How about we both knock at the same time?" Lance suggested before their little argument could go any further. Holly nodded, and a second later they rapped on the door three times and waited.

"Oh, shoot," Lance said, obviously lying, "I guess nobody's home. We should turn back around, maybe we can find our way back home."

Just as he started to turn around, the door creaked open. A person with a black hood hiding his or her face was now standing in the doorway.

"Oh, goodness! You poor children, you must be freezing! Come in, come in," it invited them. Lance was happy to get out of the cold, but Holly found something about this suspicious and crossed her arms.

"Who are you?"

"A nice woman who's letting you inside her home so you and your brother won't freeze to death," she answered with a false sweetness in her voice.

Holly raised her eyebrows as if to say, Really?

"Look, girl, do you want in or not?"

She had finally entered when a thought crossed her mind.

"How did you know he's my brother?"

Holly smirked as the stranger became nervous. "It was, um, just a guess, really. You know, um, you have green eyes, he has green eyes. Uh...Look, your noses are the same!"

Now both of the children suspected something was up. Seeing their suddenly suspicious faces, the hooded woman said, "Oh my, look at the time! You two should be getting to bed. Let me show you to your room."

As she led the way, Lance asked her name. The stranger thought for a moment before saying, "What's yours?"

"I'm-" he started to answer, but his sister covered his mouth and quietly warned him to use a fake name. When she took her hand away he quickly answered, "Luke, my name is Luke."

"And you, girly?"

"I'm Violet." Holly had always liked that name.

"Thank you. My name's Webbly, but you can call me Webb."

"Webbly?" Lance repeated.

"Ah-huh."

"That's a weird name."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," she chuckled.

The woman suddenly stopped halfway through the hallway in front of two rooms. On the left was a green door with dark red spots that looked suspiciously like blood, and on the right was a pink door without a doorknob.

"You'll be staying in the pink room, now off you go." She gave them a light shove into the room.

They were shocked at the room's appearance. It was huge enough to be split into two sections. The section nearest the door had pink walls and a two-story dollhouse with 4 dolls sitting, standing, and lying down on the bed in different positions, and it was this half that caught the girl's attention.

Holly's mouth opened in surprise when she saw the bed. It looked exactly like the one she had at home, from the sheets and pillow to the purple jelly stain on the top left corner. She glanced over at her brother to see if he'd noticed, but she found him standing at the other end of the room.

The black walls had little stars painted on it. By the window sat a telescope and pushed into a corner was a black bed.

As they were marveling at the room's interior and the amount of time it might've taken to put it together, something strange happened. They suddenly both felt exhausted and crawled into the beds, telling each other good night.