Garden Wraith
1. Aftershocks:
Over the wall and back again.
The soft flame of a lantern flickered and was blown out, now lying among the dead leaves and snow.
Walking deeper into the mist and snowflakes, they felt the cold surround them and the fog filling their heads cleared, water filling their lungs.
They shivered and shook, hacking out the water in their lungs as they desperately clawed their way up the muddy bank before collapsing, the darkness of exhaustion dragging them back down just as they caught a glimpse of their rescuers. It had taken every bit of energy he had to get them out of that lake, the cold seeping all the way down to his bones and to his soul, tugging it back to the place they had just escaped from. The smell of the lake and mud and an almost indescribable smell of what would only be described of as the dark clung to them as they were rushed to the hospital, but not as hard as he had clung to the tiny body in his arms.
Paramedics later told him how he hadn’t let go of his brother even when he had fallen unconscious and how brave he was to have not let his brother go through all of that. He didn’t feel like he deserved the praise and told them as much, but the adoring eyes from said younger brother soon stopped him. In the eyes of that child, even after all they had gone through, he was still the older brother that he admired deeply and that had gotten them out.
After being settled into their hospital beds, fussing nurses and serious doctors now out of the way, the boys experienced their mother’s hugs for the first time in what felt like a long time. And in a way, it was. They sunk into her warm embrace and the comfort she provided, feeling her love for them and both cried in her arms. The images and impressions from their experiences were still too fresh and the terror was still all too real for them. This lasted until they felt they could cry no more from relief and everyone was ushered out of the room for the night, the doctors keeping there for further monitoring, but they would be released in the morning. With that reassurance, their mother promised that she would return bright and early for them and they agreed, smiling at her softly.
Once alone in the hospital, the brothers turned to each other, tears in their eyes as they whispered about what they had gone through. They wanted to reassure themselves and each other so as not to think that had simply made it all up. The Unknown. The Beast. Beatrice. The Edelwood. Cloud City. Wirt almost dying. Greg’s deal. Greg almost dying. The escape. The lantern. The smaller boy held his frog close to him in a desperate bid for comfort.
“Wirt?” the younger asked.
“Yes, Greg?” the elder answered, trying to keep his voice from trembling, but was still hoarse from the previous tears.
“Is he gonna come back for us?” he asked quietly, his tiny body almost visibly trembling. The elder swallowed down the true terror he felt, his mind flashing back to the brilliantly shining arms that beckoned in the dark. But he shook his head to dislodge the image. They had vanquished that darkness. They had broken free and walked towards the light that was life. When they had awoken, Wirt’s first assumption was that he had had some sort of crazy fever dream while they had been drowning. It was a reasonable assumption considering all they went thought, but that illusion was shattered when he heard the sound of Lorna’s bell ringing inside of Jason Funderburker’s stomach. Not only that, but Greg was also spouting off the more lighthearted parts of their adventures rather than the darker parts that stuck vividly in Wirt’s own mind. Luckily, his parents wrote that off as just the overactive imagination of a child that just went through trauma, smiling and nodding to indulge the seven-year-old. Wirt wouldn’t know how to explain to their parents that their kids had been stuck in the quasi equivalent of Purgatory and had almost not made it back without being taken to a psychiatrist and possibly committed. Taking a breath, he blinked away the thoughts and shook his head.
“No, Greg. He’s gone and we’ll never see him again. We beat the Beast.” He reassured the younger and Greg let out a small, broken sob, sending a jolt of pain and shock through Wirt’s chest.
“I was so scared, Wirt. I…I thought…” he hiccupped and Wirt sat up immediately, concern creasing his brow. He had never seen his little brother like this. Sure, he had cried, he was only seven after all, but to see him sobbing in fear or pain or sadness wasn’t something he did. He was happy and carefree and everything that Wirt himself wasn’t. Maybe that was why he hated him for so long? He hated that Greg was so confident and friendly and people instantly warmed up to this sunshine child and his parents loved him unconditionally. And now, after everything that had happened, Wirt understood that too and lamented at how much of a horrible person he had been to his brother. How could it be that it was only as he was about to lose him that he realized how much Greg meant to him? He was lucky, incredibly lucky, that he learned this lesson before it was too late, and he vowed that he would never take advantage of that again.
With a slight huff from the ache in his bones, he untangled himself from the hospital sheets and padded over to the other bed, moving the frog to the other end of the mattress before sliding in and holding his brother tightly, rubbing his back in comfort.
“I know, Greg. I know. You were so brave to face him down like that and I’m so sorry I made you do that. I should have been better at leading the way out. I shouldn’t have lost hope and given up and I’m so sorry I failed you.” He whispered and hugged him softly, feeling his own tears threaten to spill over.
“What? Wirt, no! You made me the leader! It was my job to get you and Jason Funderburker out of there!” Greg cried quietly, nuzzling into his elder brother’s chest.
“No! None of this was your fault! You were a great leader! But I should have been good leader too. I was a bad one and got you hurt and I’m so sorry!” Wirt apologized, hugging the little body next to him. The image of Greg’s form slowly being trapped in the Edelwood made him tremble and he had to reassure himself with the feeling of the boy’s heartbeats beating beneath his fingertips.
“We’re out now and I promise that I’ll protect you. You’ll never have to see the Beast again. Not if I can help it.” Wirt whispered, taking comfort in the fact that Greg was calming down now, his trembling stopping and his sobs turning into small sniffles.
“Y-you promise?” Greg asked softly, eyes staring up at him. Wirt sighed softly and grabbed a forgotten object from the desk next to him, putting a small smile on his face.
“It’s a rock fact!” he whispered softly, playfully moving around the rock with a painted-on face. Luckily, that made the boy let out a small giggle and it filled Wirt with relief. There. A smile suited the child’s face much better than tears. And if it were up to Wirt, he would never have to see Greg cry about that again. From then on, he would be the best brother he could be and they would never have to experience something like the Unknown again
With their hearts settled and with the comfort the other brought them within reach, they fell themselves slip quickly into the arms of sleep, relief that it was all over now.
Sadly, that couldn’t be farther than the truth.
*
Over the next month, Wirt and Greg discovered that while they had left the Unknown, the Unknown hadn’t left them. At least, not completely. It had left them with a few souvenirs for their troubles that neither of them expected. On the whole, the remnants of it wasn’t all bad. For some reason, neither of them could be turned around as long as they were outside. They had discovered this when they had gone on a trip to their nearby park. Normally, they would have to keep a close eye on Greg who had a tendency to wander off and get lost, but he always came right back and when he didn’t and his mother panicked, Wirt always knew where to find him. It was like the forest itself was bending to his whim and sent a resonance into his soul as to where all things were within the forest. Greg described it as knowing where everything was in a dollhouse. It sent a tremor through the elder boy, but he resolutely pushed the fear back, excusing the occurrence as that he and Greg were just better at navigating through the forest now since they had spent so much time in it before. He had even joked with the younger boy as to how he had become an expert at Greg tracking and his brother laughed. It was a good reason and that was what he stuck with, trying to assure himself and Greg that there was nothing wrong and smiling a bit as Greg thought of how cool it was. It was a relief to know that they would never be lost in the woods again and Wirt tried to take comfort in that.
Another oddity that they boys noticed was that they now attracted animals to themselves, though the most common occurrences were the neighborhood and woodland animals. Frogs absolutely adored Greg and Jason Funderburker and it was amazing to see the amount of frogs that were on the lawn even when they really should be hibernating. The same couldn’t be said for Wirt. He seemed to attract birds. The most common, much to his embarrassment, was bluebirds, though more than that popped up including a few owls. Greg commented excitedly that maybe he was being invited to a wizarding school, to which Wirt rolled his eyes and tried to shoo them away. Stubborn bluebirds always ended up staying, though. Maybe Beatrice matched what she was after all? A few of them even reminded him of her when he attempted to shoo them away and they cast an unimpressed look his way, refusing to leave. Either way, these were things that Wirt could handle. It was harmless and altogether inconsequential to their daily lives. This was fine. It was even something fun to show off on occasion.
But then the dreams began, and Wirt felt his heart clench in terror.
As December rolled in and the holidays began, he closed his eyes in the comfort of his home, glad for the short reprieve and the time to spend doing nothing and fell asleep. School had been stressful as usual, but he was getting better at the whole “friends” thing. The Unknown, if nothing else, definitely taught him a few things about not being a pushover and talking to people better, including Sara and her group of friends. Or, well, they were his friends now too. After Halloween and after he was cleared from the hospital, she and him had talked about the tape he left her and about his feeling towards her. Sadly, she didn’t really see him that way, though she appreciated the tape, and asked if they could still be friends. It was a bit of a blow to Wirt’s pride, but he agreed. She was still nice and funny and sweet and made him feel comfortable about his interests. In turn, she introduced him to her friends and they all hung out now and got along with Greg as well. It certainly did wonders for his self-confidence and it was a bonus that none of them made fun of his poetry and even encouraged him to enter writing competitions and to try out for band of which a few of them were a part of. It was…nice, to have people he could trust and relate to. He even ended up talking to Jason Funderberker. The human, not the frog. He still found himself bristling around the boy occasionally, but the boy was harmless, albeit good at a lot of things and fit in well with their friend group. His life was going well and both he and Greg seemed happier for it, settling back into their normal lives even as the falling snow settled around them and reminded them of their escape from the dark forest.
However, as sleep released its hold on him and he opened his eyes again, he found that he had woken up in a familiar dismal forest, though it looked different than when he and Greg had left. The change didn’t help though and sent him into a spiral of panic as he begged for this all to be a dream, pinching himself repeatedly to try and wake himself up from this nightmare. It didn’t work and only served to throw him deeper into the pit of fear with the pain punctuating the all too real reality of the situation. The world blurred black around the edges of his vision and the colder wind fluttered through his clothes. Shaking from both the fear and cold, he saw that his clothes were his Halloween costume which vaguely struck his hazy mind as odd since that wasn’t what he was wearing when he went to bed. This shook him enough for him to be able to survey his surroundings, lungs still heaving, but when he looked around the snow-covered ground, a flickering light caught his eye.
There, sitting innocently in the mouth of the yawning, twisted hollow of an Edelwood tree, was a lantern. It flickered warmly within the vessel, almost taunting the teen.
There must always be a Beast in the Unknown.
A whisper. A fact. A promise. It flickered through his mind and that was it. Wirt felt the world tilt and the black overtook his vision. He woke up screaming for the first time since he and his brother returned, heart thundering and mind whirling. His breathing erratic and his vision dark, he breathed out slowly and saw his breath coming out in a cloud of ice. The room was almost frosted at first glance but disappeared when light was cast into the room.
“Wirt? Are you okay?” a small voice suddenly came from his door and he jerked his head to the entrance where a very tired looking Greg was rubbing his eyes, his other hand wrapping around his frog. Said frog also looked tired, but Wirt could have sworn it cast a worried look his way as well.
“I… I-I… Yeah. Y-Yeah, I’m fine…” Wirt croaked, the temperature slowly going back to what was normal.
“You sure, brother o’ mine?” Greg asked quietly, concern now taking over his soft, sleepy expression.
“Yeah, Greg. Just…just a nightmare. Go back to sleep.” He murmured reassuringly, though still a little breathless, and Greg hesitated before nodding, stepping out and closing the door behind him. With that, both boys lay down in bed, minds and hearts racing at their experience. Wirt tried his best to fall back asleep, hoping that he wouldn’t dream again while Greg could only stare at the ceiling, reeling and trying not to give in to fear. Wirt didn’t know it, but his eyes glowed in a similar way to the thing they feared the most. He wasn’t sure if his older brother knew yet and he didn’t know how to tell him if he didn’t.
*
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, an older man stared in awe and horror as something that he had seen almost every day for many, many years and caused him many a headache along with a few nightmares changed before his eyes.
A single glyph on the cave wall, copied down meticulously in his notes, so out of place and seemingly unrelated to the rest of the symbols all bunched together was shifting and changing. In the previous month, he had noticed that the symbol had begun to blur around the edges. At first, he had thought that either he or his family had accidentally smudged it a bit. It wouldn’t be a surprise considering how old his notes were and how many of said family had handled the book, so he disregarded it and shelved his book again. But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. A few days later when in his lab, he happened to glance over at his forgotten corkboard of notes and theories in the corner of the room and his heart leapt into his throat. That symbol had had its own little section when he had been studying it before dismissing it when nothing came of it. Looking at it now, though, all surfaces on which the symbol had been drawn on were smeared even worse than the one in his notes. Now he knew for a fact that something was going on. His family all knew that no one should touch his notes, even his brother and the man hadn’t even glanced that then through all the years of his absence, so he knew that this wasn’t their doing. The previous symbol was almost completely indiscernible and looked like it was shifting into something else. It worried him deeply since he knew that nothing like this had ever happened before. At least, not without some sort of outside interference and that couldn’t happen in his lab. He had fortified his home with everything he had against everything her could after the almost apocalypse not too long ago, so nothing unwanted should have been able to make it down to the basement without his knowledge. Nodding, he resolved to keep an eye on the symbol and hope that it meant nothing.
By the end of the month, the symbol had completely changed and the new shape that took its place filled his stomach with a sense of unease he hadn’t felt in a long time. He learned to trust his gut feelings like this and if the symbol changing by itself didn’t already concern him, then the feeling it gave off now absolutely left a pool of ice in his chest. Gathering up his courage, he walked upstairs to tell the rest of his family about his discovery and give some kind of warning. They would need to be watchful and wary of this new development. Nothing would endanger his family ever again.
Silently, the dark shape of a lantern filled the spaces on the papers, the center almost glowing brightly in mockery of a flame.
*