The Golden Winged Horse

Chapter 5

Dad actually left for work after that. I looked at Tristan, still the picture of sadness, and felt tears welling in my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Tristan."

"It's ok," he said. "Not a lot you can do now anyway, not after that lockdown spell he put on me."

"Is that what that was?"

He nodded and then slowly folded his legs under him and laid down on the hard wooden base. "He's essentially locked me in here by clamping the glass dome down. Nothing but magic will move it now."

"Do you know the spell to move it?"

He shook his head. "Spells aren't my area of expertise I'm afraid."

A thought sprang to mind, and I jumped up with enthusiasm. "All I need to do is speak to Calico again and it'll all be sorted. He can give me the spell, right?"

"I appreciate your eagerness but you're forgetting it's daylight."

"They'll come out in daylight, I remember Gran telling me. I just need a bigger offering."

Tristan snorted. "I hate to burst your bubble, but they only come out in daylight by absolute necessity. I'm afraid a human isn't deemed as that."

"But needing the spell to release you is."

He flopped back, his head squashed up against the glass. "They won't know that's what you need unless they come speak to you."

I sighed. "Ah. A total catch twenty-two. Guessing Dad knew that."

"Most likely." Tristan sighed. "If you don't mind, I'm going to force myself to sleep for a few hours, just to stop myself from thinking on things if anything."

"Ok," I said, standing up. "I'll come back later and see you."

He said nothing and closed his eyes. His long fluttery golden eyelashes lay softly against his cheek. He was so pretty, I wished I could keep him.

Ambling into the living room, I collapsed onto one of the grey fabric sofas and resisted the urge to scream. If anything was going to make the relationship with my dad even worse, this would be it for sure.

I spent the day watching mind numbing shows, just to distract me from life at the moment. As the hours ticked by, getting closer and closer to the time I should be releasing Tristan and proving myself to the fairies, a mix of nerves and guilt flooded me. I wondered if I should head out there and apologise, explain why I couldn't release him, but remembering Calico's hostility, I decided that may not go down too well.

Darkness soon swamped the world, and after waiting up until ten o clock for Dad, I headed upstairs for a shower and then bed. I hoped and prayed Dad had a plan forming by now because his first day was over. One down, one to go.

***

The next morning, after checking on Tristan, who was still somehow asleep, I grabbed some toast and switched the TV on to see the local news blaring away about the latest trivial matters. Just as I was about to change the channel, the next story came on, its introduction by the news reader catching my attention immediately.

"In a strange twist of events, parents all over Tioga County are reporting that their children are not sleeping at nights. Now, children not wanting to go to bed may seem like a normal thing for most of us, but for the past two evenings, it seems no child has slept and is reporting rather disturbing nightmares and strange creatures plaguing their rest."

"That's right, Tom," said the female news reader. "And it's not just one or two reports, we're talking hundreds, all reporting the same thing."

As the woman carried on delivering the strange story, my instincts told me that without a doubt, this was linked to the magical little creature sat in my dad's office. Immediately, I thought of Macie, who had a six-year-old brother. I battled with myself for several minutes, then threw caution to the wind and decided to call her.