The Huldra Hostility Read online

  They did not enter back into the forest at the same spot. Tad walked them down the shore in a south-westerly direction until they saw another, wider, path. Here they turned inland toward the Lodge. They had been on this path before. It was the main track from the Lodge to the beach. They had run along this during the long distance run at the end of the camp games last year. Shy shivered to himself as he again thought of how the huldra had impersonated the contestant from the Shore cabins. That girl, Helen, had not returned to camp this year. Shy had not been able to see through the evil huldra’s impersonation, not until the huldra had allowed it. Her Glamour powers had been too strong.

  As they hopped onto the path, Ralph held back. He waited for Shy to enter onto the forested path. When Shy paused and looked back at the cautious, quiet Ralph, he nodded to Shy and began to follow. The nod made Shy feel funny. It was as if Ralph was telling Shy that he thought of Shy as his leader.

  Shy had often felt a little protective of the boy, even though they were the same age. He was so nice and quiet, not like some of the other rambunctious and raucous boys. Shy felt that protective umbrella bloom from his chest to encompass the spectacled, thin boy. Shy smiled back in response to Ralph’s nod.

  The path was wider than the one they had taken down to the beach, but it passed through some dense forest. At times it seemed as if they were passing through a green tunnel. At those times, they heard the snap of a twig, or a giggle or two. Shy could sense that all of their nerves were tweaked. The boys’ heads were on swivels, peering into the dark green gloom of the forest. They would occasionally make eye contact with each other as they tromped forward, quickly looking away so the other would not see their fear. If something jumped out at them now, Shy thought to himself, he might piss himself. He was sure he would not be the only one.

  Suddenly, ahead where Tad was leading, Shy heard shouts. He instantly stopped, and strained his ears. He could see tall, red-headed Sampson, just ahead of him doing the same. He was on his tiptoes, trying to see if he should run forward to help, or flee in fear. Shy could feel the pulse beat in his neck as he strained for further sounds.

  As if in answer, he heard laughter drift to him through the pine scented branches. He breathed. He hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath. Ahead, the laughter continued, and Shy saw Sam begin to jog forward.

  Shy turned and nodded his head up the path to his follower and they started off at a trot. Soon they came upon a gathering. The path was clogged with kids, smiling and laughing.

  Before he knew it, Portia was snuggled up next to Shy and planted a small kiss on his cheek! He didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was floating. He stared at the group. They hadn’t noticed, but Ralph must have. He was right behind them. Shy could feel his smile boring into the back of his head.

  Ralph then pushed up past Shy on the right and gave him an elbow nudge as he went by. Shy glanced at him as he passed, and could see the smile he knew would be there.

  Shy glanced at the group again. They all were talking at once. No one was looking at Shy and the tall, curly, blond-haired girl on his left. He hadn’t seen much of Portia yet, and had been waiting for his chance. He turned and was unable to hide a smile as he saw her face glowing at him.

  He attempted to cover the smile by asking, “What happened?”

  Portia put her arm through his and pulled him up to the group. He was embarrassed but allowed her to lead him.

  She leaned in, and he could smell the fruity shampoo she must have used. She said, “We have been following you dumb boys the whole time. We waited in the woods while you stared at the Shore cabins. Then, once we knew what path you were taking, we hid in the woods. It was an ambush!”

  He could tell she was proud, and that he should respond. He should tell her it was amazing. When he looked at her to do so, he saw sky blue eyes, and he fell right into them. He couldn’t look away. They were so blue and pure.

  When he didn’t respond, she smiled a shy kind of smile and pulled him to a stop next to the group.

  An argument had broken out, and, as usual, Henry and Sawyer were right in the middle of it. Kennedi, Penelope, and Claire were facing off with the two of them. Tad and Mad Meg stood back and were giggling to themselves. From what Shy could gather the argument was about who were better woodsmen, or woodswomen. The boys argued that had they known it was a competition, they would have been able to avoid the ambush. In fact Henry claimed, the boys would have reversed the situation, had they known.

  The argument went on, escalating as it went. Soon, Shy thought as he listened, Henry would be claiming they could fly. Tad must have sensed also that it was getting out of control. The two counselors stepped forward to break up the discussion.

  As the two counselors shooed the youth up the path toward the Lodge and their breakfast, Portia explained that Meg had heard them coming down the path. They had decided to follow the boys and try to surprise them.

  “Well you didn’t do a very good job… with all that giggling,” Shy said quietly.

  “What?!” Portia exclaimed as she stopped and pulled on his arm to turn him to face her. “We did not giggle.” She sounded offended. “We were as quiet as any group that large could have been, moving through the woods.”

  She had planted her hands on her hips.

  Shy looked at her and thought how she looked so magnificently defiant. She radiated confidence and beauty.

  She brought him back to reality with, “Shylock, what are you thinking?”

  He shook his head slightly, and then remembered… the giggling.

  “We heard giggling,” he said with a frown.

  “You were just imagining,” she replied. “The way Henry and Sam nearly jumped out of their skin when we launched the ambush… well, there is no way you were expecting it.”

  “That’s not what I am saying,” he claimed. “We did hear giggling in the woods. We stopped several times because of it. I even saw something red moving through the trees… just a flash of it, but I saw it,” He said definitely.

  “None of us is wearing red,” she said kindly as she pulled him forward after the others.

  “That is what I am afraid of,” Shy whispered under his breath as he glanced behind them one more time.

  ***

  After they had reached the Lodge, and had settled in with their pancakes, Shy noticed Morrie slide into the room virtually unnoticed. The tall pony-tailed man with the round glasses perched on his nose glanced at Shy’s table. It even seemed like he glared directly at Shy. The skin around those cold eyes tightened slightly before he looked away.

  Chapter Six

  Mission: rescue and return

  After breakfast, they took the rocky path back up the hillside to the forest cabins. Tad split them into pairs to practice their events. The young counselor seemed intent on splitting up their natural pairings from last year. Shy and Daniel had become fast friends last summer as they practiced their events, so they looked at each other unhappily as they split apart to be with their new partners. Shy was paired with Sawyer, and Daniel ended up with Eddie. Daniel looked particularly miserable Shy thought.

  Tad was planning on rotating from group to group to make sure they understood the basics of their events. He warned them to stay together, and if they noticed anything strange to head straight back to the Hive. Tad looked around and his eyes came to rest on Shy.

  “I will start out with Shy and Sawyer.”

  The group broke up and Shy, Sawyer, and Tad took the path west from the Elevator to the river gorge trail, and then headed north to the path that meandered down through the cliffs to the waterfall.

  The waterfall. Shy had avoided thinking about it. He needed to return to the other side of the waterfall, like he did last summer. First, if he could believe Tom T, Gust was probably still alive there… imprisoned. Imprisoned because of Shy, or so he felt. He owed it to his friend to rescue him. Gust had no other hope. It was because he had been guarding Shy that Gust had been captured to begin
with.

  Secondly, Shy needed to return the box. He had to. To set things right. If he did it though, he would be stuck there. That ominous thought haunted him.

  His deep thoughts were interrupted when Tad pointed out the spot he had been held captive by a troll back when he was a camper there. He had told the boys the story of the entire adventure last summer. Gust had rescued him. Shy shivered as Tad then pointed to where the Troll’s giant cooking pot had sat. Shy stared in an attempt to identify if anything was hidden by the Glamour, but there was nothing there. Tad was watching him knowingly, and Shy simply shook his head. Tad nodded and they moved on.

  Sawyer was surprisingly reserved. Shy thought it might be because he was separated from his best buddy Finn. Or, maybe Sawyer was reliving the night they had snuck down to the lake and encountered the fossegrimen. That wily, sneaky-tongued creature had started them on the path to treasure. In the end, however, the treasure was a box that held a recipe and, according to Tom T, a power that could control all of the seelie fairy creatures. The Forest cabin nisse claimed that Shy taking the box had launched them down the inevitable path to war. War between the fey. War that, if the unseelie acquired the box, would result in tragedy and enslavement for all of the good fairy creatures.

  Shy thought about poor Tom T enslaved. He thought about Shep, his ever faithful friend. He thought about the beautiful sylphon that had rescued Shy and Portia from the horrible clutches of the huldra. He thought again about Gust. Who knew what tortures he was having to endure as a prisoner in the twisted dark forest on the fairy side of the waterfall. There was no doubt. Shy had to find a way. Mission: rescue and return.

  His mind came back to the task at hand as they reached the shores of the giant pool at the bottom of the waterfall. They moved onto some large boulders at the edge of the water as Tad was explaining the concept of trout tickling to Sawyer.

  “So you can climb in the water, or you can lay flat on the bank and hang your hands in. The key is you need to find a spot where a trout would likely be.” Tad said.

  Sawyer was nodding and looking dubiously at the dark pool of water. The waterfall roared downward a bit north of where they were, into what Shy assumed was a deep, dark pool. It then flowed into, and formed, the river that swept down the river gorge and ended up pouring in to Lake Superior.

  “It’s not that bad,” Tad tried to convince Sawyer. “It is really difficult, however. If you catch one trout, you’ll probably win the competition. I have never been able to do it, but I know Gust always could.

  At the mention of his name, Shy felt the heavy watch on his wrist pull him down with guilt. If he would have just not taken the box last year, Gust would still be there with them. He had to set him free. That line of thinking only brought him back to the same circular problem: how was he going to free Gust AND return the box. He needed the box to get back to this world… to pass back through the waterfall. But, if he didn’t return it, they would just try to take someone else close to Shy for ransom. After seeing the lindworm at his school this last year, and being attacked by goblins on the way to the bus stop, Shy knew it could be done. One day he would come home from school and his mom would just not come home from work. Or, he would see a report on the news that his dad was now a missing person. He had to end it, but how?

  “That’s right!” Tad encouraged Sawyer. The boy was waist deep in the pool, and moving towards a small rock ledge that was hanging low over the water. “Now, hold up. They call it noodling in the south because they put their hands in catfish holes as bait. They wiggle their fingers like noodles and try to get the fish to bite their hands…”

  Shy saw an expression of alarm on Sawyer’s face. He began to back up.

  “Now, just hold on,” Tad kept encouraging. “What I was getting at is, that is not how we do it for trout. They actually call it tickling for trout. Once you locate a fish, you kind of sneak up behind it. They will face into the current, so work up from downstream, slowly and gently slide your hands under the fish. With one finger gently stroke or tickle its underside. Continue doing that, and the fish should go into a kind of trance. It should allow you to gently but firmly grab it.” Tad was now breathless.

  Sawyer looked over at Shy, gave him a grin and moved back up to the rock ledge. Tad squatted near him. Shy watched nothing happen. Presumably Sawyer was searching under the ledge with his hands for a fish. Shy still saw no movement since he had bent down and was underwater from the neck down. Sawyers eyebrows popped up suddenly and his facial expression twisted into one of disgust. Shy heard Tad whisper guidance to Sawyer. His face screwed tight and focused.

  A minute went by. Two. Then out of the quiet a whoop erupted from the water. Sawyer held up a fine looking fish in front of his face, proudly displaying it to Shy. Shy began to clap, but the pride of success was quickly wiped from his face as the fish squirmed, slapping Sawyer in the face with its tail!

  PLOP!

  Sawyer stood in shock for a minute, minus one fish, while Shy and Tad practically rolled on the rocky beach with laughter.

  Shortly thereafter Tad left to go find Daniel to see how his animal tracking and Eddie’s log chopping were going. Shy sat on a boulder and watched Sawyer try for another fish. He was not having any luck, and called over to Shy.

  “Hey, you wanna try?”

  Shy shook his head vigorously. He had no desire to be reaching into dark areas that he couldn’t see into. What he wanted to do was think. Think and plan. There had to be a way. It would be dangerous regardless of what plans he made. He remembered the flaming red horse creatures that had almost run him down last summer, when he first took the book.

  “Why are you shivering?” Sawyer asked as he walked up to Shy dripping wet. “I am the one who should be cold. It might be summer, but that water isn’t warm.”

  Shy watched the boy who last year had been thick and sturdy, and saw that with his wet shirt clinging to him, he had put on some pounds. He was definitely chubbier than Shy remembered. They were all twelve now, Shy thought. He remembered his mom telling him before school ended this spring that he was at the age where kids really began to grow at different rates.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  Sawyer wasn’t one to let someone just not talk. He was like Henry in that. He felt like silence needed to be filled up with talking. At that thought Shy smiled.

  “I was just thinking about Gust.”

  “You miss him? You two were kind of close”

  “Yeah, well Tom T says he is still alive.”

  “Yeaaaahhhh…” Sawyer drew out the last syllable, trying to get Shy to say more.

  “Well… yeah nothing. I just worry about it. You know? If he is alive, what are they doing to him?”

  Sawyer just looked at Shy suspiciously.

  “What are you planning?”

  “Nothing.” Shy answered flatly.

  “C’mon Shy. We spent all last summer together. We know you better than that. We know how you rescued Daniel. What are you planning?” He repeated.

  “Maybe I should try to practice my wolf howling?”

  “Yeah, OK. Go ahead.” Sawyer said after a pause.

  Shy turned away but could feel Sawyer’s eyes digging into his back. He knew that the chubby troublemaker was not buying into his change of topic. Still, Shy didn’t want to involve the other boys, as the plan that was starting to form in his mind would be way too dangerous. He took a deep breath, cupped his hands, and howled downriver, towards the perpetual mist that shrouded the river gorge.

  “AAAAaaaa…OOOOOoooooo…ooooooo” Shy howled again, trying to change inflection and tone as he went. He carried the howl as long as he could. It faded off into nothing down the gorge.

  Shy turned back to Sawyer, hoping that he had forgotten their conversation, when they both heard it. A deep wailing cry off in the distance. Shy knew that cry. After their experience in the woods, he saw recognition bloom on Sawyers face also. It was the lindworm!

  Shy grabbed Sawyer’
s wet shirt and shoved him towards the cleft in the cliffs where the path opened to the falls.

  “Go, go, go! We need to get out of here.” Shy yelled.

  ***

  They ran practically the entire way back to the Elevator. They breathed hard as they pulled themselves upward into what was called the Sentinel tree. The mechanical system of pulleys groaned as they moved up into the catwalks of the Forest cabins. After they stepped off the Elevator, Sawyer lowered it back down and ensured it was again hidden. Then they moved off to the Hive.

  When they arrived they saw several of the other boys. Tad had moved, after checking with Daniel and Eddie, to see how Henry and Sam were doing. They were the three that had not yet returned. Since there was no Henry, the Hive was quiet as they entered.

  Daniel immediately motioned Shy over. As he crossed the smooth pines floors, Shy noticed Eddie, sitting off on his own. He actually looked as though he was sleeping on a hammock. As Shy watched, however, he saw one eye open for just a second. He wasn’t sleeping, Shy thought to himself.

  He grabbed an icy lemonade off the pine table as he walked across to where Daniel sat. As he balanced the extremely full glass, he wondered how Tom T was able to keep up with taking care of them and protecting the box. The nisse had looked worn out. It was just another reason to find a solution.

  As he lowered himself and his drink into the bean bag next to Daniel it hit him like it had been staring him in the face all day. The Lesidhe. The ultra powerful Fey creatures that Tom T had told him about. The only ones to have ever defeated the reds. If Shy could find a way to enlist their help… but Tom T had warned him. They probably wouldn’t get involved. It was so tantalizing though. Maybe he could slip past the waterfall, rescue Gust, get back and get the Lesidhe to stop the huldra.

  “Shy, are you listening?” Daniel poked him in the side.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking,” Shy responded and took a drink of the lemonade. It wasn’t mixed right, he thought. Too sweet.