Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 14

Damien

Damien and his scouts were on John's heels as Nyline screamed at him through the little black device that John had in his hand. Once outside all of us saw that the large tree house was lighting up like the sun. Damien focused on John; he could tell that John was yelling up to Nyline, and she was yelling down. He couldn't hear a thing as he assessed the situation and started barking orders to his scouts.

However, his words died in his throat as he watched Nyline fall back first out of the tree and vanish into a pool of light that was about halfway up the trunk. As soon as she had fallen through all of the light died out leaving John standing under the tree looking as if he was about to break something.

"Did you do anything?" John rounded on Damien and his scouts who could only lift their hands and shake their heads violently. John ran his fingers through his hair once, twice, three times before he spun again. "Damn it," escaped his lips as he stared down at the ground as if it had all the answers for him, then just as suddenly as the light in the tree house he turned and stormed back into the house.

"John, what was that?" Jake ran after him only to find the kitchen empty before a rustle of clothing made him turn his head to see John appear in the all black stretchy scout uniform. John's eyes focused on Jakes as he fixed the sleeve and pulled the mask over his nose and mouth.

"That was a recall spell. I'm going to the fairy gate; she's on the other side." John spoke his voice muffled by the mask. He turned to leave but Damien reached out and grabbed his arm causing him to pause.

"We're all going with you, so just wait a tick." Anger burned in John's eyes as they darted from Damien's eyes to the hand that was currently resting on his arm. Then with a rush of air John pulled his arm from Damien's grasp and took a step back.

"Maybe you should just go home. Where I'm going it probably best if you didn't tag along." John didn't look at Damien while he spoke but turned so his back was to him and his scouts. Damien looked as if someone had physically slapped him across the face.

"I have been chasing after this girl for my entire life.  I am not going to just give up and go home now." Damien crossed his arms as he spoke. John rubbed the back of his neck.

"We'll make sure he doesn't cause too much trouble," Jake smiled. John looked at Jake for a moment before he sighed.

"Fine, but if you are slowing me down, I will leave you behind." And with that John disappeared leaving behind the noise of his clothing rustling.

Angelica and Rebecca both grabbed one of Damien's arms and jumped into the air. He hated when they used their movement skill with him, it always made his stomach turn.  Angelica and Rebecca stopped suddenly as they arrived at their destination. When they released Damien, he staggered slightly but quickly tried to right himself before anyone noticed. He hated stopping more than the moving part. He looked around for John and saw him walking out of the cabin as he spoke with a woman with long blond hair and blue eyes.

"That's the witch on this side of the gate," Angelica smiled as she spoke. She skipped off towards the witch who turned and smiled at her. They spoke for a couple minutes before she returned. "We're already to go." Angelica said with a smile on her face.

"What exactly did you pay?" Damien asked raising his eyebrow. Angelica looked at him for a long moment, before she pressed her finger to her lips.

"It's a secret. I paid enough for us to get here and go home. That's all you need to worry about." Damien's brow creased at that, wondering what in the world she had paid for this trip.

"Is everyone ready to go? All right, have a safe trip."   The witch asked as she waded into the waters. Everyone walked into the pond as well.

Damien head got heavy once again as the water pulled him into the center; he grabbed one last breath before he was pulled under. The water pulled him this way and that as he opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. After a few minutes, he started to swim upwards and his head broke the surface on the other side of the fairy gate. He swam to the edge and pulled himself up, his breathing was ragged. His eyes went to his scouts and John, they all looked as if they just gone on a summers swim. He sat on the edge for a moment before he surged to his feet and looked at John.