- Helen Duvall's house - Jericho - 11.50 pm. -
"I think it's a bad idea!!!"
exclaimed Jean Duvall loudly as she clutched her favourite blanket tightly; it was Saturday night and the next day neither she nor any other students in the world would have school.
Yesterday she had turned twelve; her mother, Helen Duvall, head pastry chef and owner of El Milagro bakery, had organised a small party for her and her best friends from school.
Balloons, a clown, a cake and, to top it all off, a pyjama party at home, just for Jean, Cassie, Mia and Ellie.
'Come on, the blond gentleman promised us all the sweets we could eat.'
Ellie, with her black hair and a little tummy poking out from under her blouse, replied to Jean; you could still see a bit of baby fat on her cheeks.
"Wasn't all that cake you ate this afternoon enough for you?"
Cassie couldn't help but retort; she'd watched in amazement as Ellie had wolfed down five slices of cake during Jean's birthday party, whereas one was enough for her.
"It was at least five plates."
"I couldn't help it! I'm growing."
"Yeah, right. The blond gentleman is more important than food; he's so handsome it's worth going over to say hello."
Mia got up and locked Jean's room; two doors down, Jean's mother, Helen, was fast asleep, and Mia didn't want any interruptions.
Three days ago, they'd all had the same strange dream: a spacious hall with a vaulted ceiling, a long table laden with desserts of every flavour, all looking absolutely delicious.
A fireplace burning with a warm, bright fire, with the pleasant sound of wood crackling in the flames, and the most important part for the girls: the handsome boy smiling temptingly at them as he poured himself a cup of tea.
"The blond gentleman told us all, 'Take your chalk and draw a door, far from your parents' gaze…'"
Mia said aloud as she took a long white piece of chalk from her pocket; it was new. She had specifically asked her mother to buy her a new box of coloured chalks; she already had one, but what if it didn't work with old, worn-out chalks?
Mia wouldn't take that risk.
"That in itself is suspicious. Why away from our parents?"
Jean had also had that strange dream, but the mere presence of the man from the dream unsettled her more than she cared to admit. She was a grown girl; she'd finally stopped having to go to the therapist because of the incident in the woods a year ago. she didn't want to have to go back to that place where everyone told her what she had seen and felt; no matter how much she spoke to them about what had happened, no one chose to believe her words, and that hurt her deeply.
They weren't there; they didn't feel the fear I felt. It was easier for them to say it was a dream, a nightmare, something that never happened.
"Maybe he's shy, and no one's forcing you to come if you don't want to, 'kidnapped'."
Cassie didn't find anything suspicious about it; on the contrary, the adventure filled her with excitement. It seemed like something straight out of a fairy tale: she was the princess and the blond knight was the charming prince.
"Don't call him that."
Ellie held Jean's hand; they weren't exactly best friends—at best, they were classmates—and their mothers were the reason for this sleepover.
Mia just snorted in response, walking over to the bare wall determined to draw the best chalk door that had ever existed. The chalk traced four long white lines under the control of Mia's small hand.
"Isn't it crooked?"
Cassie tilted her head; Mia's vertical lines weren't the best—they were crooked and lopsided, and the chalk door seemed to be dancing.
"Shut up..." said Mia, and immediately stopped talking. "It's real!!!"
The chalk lines seemed to cut through the plasterboard of the walls; the openings glowed a warm orange. Within seconds, a new door had magically opened in the wall that had been solid just a moment ago.
"Wait!!!"
Before Jean could stop Cassie and Mia, they both walked through the door without waiting a moment.
The dreams the four of them had were slightly different from one another; Cassie received more sweet words from the blond gentleman than the rest, whereas Mia received a strong and intense declaration of love.
Jean was promised strength, the ability to never be hurt again, and that her destiny would be decided by her own hand. As for Ellie, her dream was brimming with delicious food, desserts, fruit, expensive meat and a huge glazed ham like the ones her grandmother used to cook at Christmas.
Her grandmother had passed away a few days earlier; she misses her terribly.
"Do you want to go too?"
Jean felt Ellie tugging hard on her hand towards the door.
"I miss her so much, Jean, I want to taste her food again… my grandmother's."
Ellie let go of Jean's hand and ran to the door without looking back.
Jean was breathing heavily, her hands were sweating profusely and her heart was beating so fast she felt it might burst out of her chest at any moment.
"He saved me and I want to save them, if necessary!!!
When fear filled her body, when those wart-covered beings had kidnapped her and covered her body with that stinking animal hide, someone had saved her, and now she would save her friends, just as he had saved her.
That weekend evening, five little girls, led by a deceptive illusion, slipped out of the room in complete silence.
- Nevermore - Ophelia Hall. - 11:51 pm. -
"Do you really have to do this?"
Enid said as William held her hands and gently slipped one of his rings onto her ring finger – specifically, his Grimm ring.
"Actually, I don't have to do it; it's more of a personal choice – a choice to do it."
William removed his second ring, the Six-Winged Fury, and placed it on Enid's next finger, then continued with the Silver Drake until he had placed the last of his beast rings, the Nemean Lion.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about the Cold Steel Ban."
Bruma whispered in a voice so low that only William could hear it.
The Cold Steel Ban was the second barrier erected around the Pale Man's hall; one of his friends invited to the feast of flesh was responsible for raising it every fifty years around the hall exclusively for the event.
This barrier prohibited any metal objects from entering the hall, excluding those already present inside, such as forks, screws, nails and various metal items found in the Pale Man's rudimentary hall.
Without the Pale Man's barrier prohibiting entry to men, the Steel Prohibition Barrier ensured, to a certain extent, the safety of everyone inside; they need not fear the iron of swords, the steel of arrows, the protection of shields, or so-called lead bullets.
This meant that if William wanted to enter the Pale Man's hall, he had to leave any metal objects he was carrying in a safe place.
It took him a couple of minutes, but in the end, each of his precious rings was safely in the hands of the person William trusted most: Enid.
Next was his Stellar Silver Necklace with the Selkie medals and the addition of his latest, recently acquired medal: the J'ba Fofi medal, blessed with the ability to increase reaction speed. It was a rectangular medal with a vivid engraving of a huge spider with outstretched legs.
"At first I just had to look after your watch; now I have to look after all your jewellery."
Enid smiled fondly as she felt William's fingers around her neck, fastening the clasp of the necklace.
"If you're not careful, you'll end up as my personal coat rack."
"That doesn't sound like a bad job."
Enid winked playfully at William; she knew how important these objects were to him, to the point that he almost never took them off, except when he was painting, and he even showered and slept with all his jewellery on.
(Giving them to me is a great sign of trust.)
"Click"
The clasp of the Dawn Moth bracelet clicked as it closed around Enid's slender wrist. This bracelet held four of William's medallions: those of the Trasgo Queen, the Ink Centipede, the Blood Centipede, and Red-hatted Trasgo.
"Now the ones on your left hand."
"I feel like every time I see you, you've got a new piece; I hadn't noticed this spider medallion before."
Enid held the J'ba Fofi medallion between her fingers.
"It's the most recent one I got in Pennsylvania."
William slipped the Imp King's ring and the fairy ring onto Enid's pretty fingers; all that remained were her three-jawed bracelet and her spider-silk bracelet.
'They're in my care now: six rings, three bracelets and a watch. Come back soon, or I won't give any of them back.'
Enid said as she stood up and took out the white chalk William had given her; the favour he'd asked of her was to draw a door on the floor of her bedroom, so that he could access a strange space on a treasure hunt.
(She doesn't need to know anything about the Pale Man and his friends, who loved to devour children; it's enough that I know.)
Enid drew a perfect circle on the bedroom floor; soon the chalk lines bubbled with white foam and, with a gentle push from Enid, the wooden floorboards swung open like a trapdoor.
On the other side was a chequered floor, and she was sure that Emily lived in the room below; that room with its intermingled red and white tiles was not Ophelia Hall in Nevermore.
William removed the Calisto belt and left it on Enid's bed.
(This time I'll have to do it without you, Titan, Sting.)
William left Titan and Sting on Enid's bed, both in the form of small, short daggers.
(According to Bruma, the doors stay open for a maximum of five minutes, so I have to hurry.)
"Right then!! Will... hang on, where's your jacket?"
Enid crossed her arms when she saw William taking off his jacket; it was the black one his older sister had given him for his birthday.
'It has buttons, zips and metal fittings; the door won't let me through with them on.'
"It's a bit chilly for you to go out in just a T-shirt."
"It'll only be five minutes."
William walked over to Enid and hugged her tightly, pressing her soft, slender body against his own.