A Magical Short Story (or the beginning of something big)

The heat was so intense that even the moss-covered ground was starting to crack.The sorceress had been tracking her enemy's trail for what seemed like hours. She was close now. All nearby trees were still burning with that familiar purple flame.

How had the banshee escaped from the prison? The answer had to wait, her enemy was causing irreparable damage to the forest now.

There, the sorceress spotted an abandoned dwelling. She needed to conjure up a magical shield to keep her from burning. These purple flames were filled with dark, vicious magic.

The sorceress made her way carefully around a corner of the remaining stone wall. Suddenly, a scream broke the silence and a purple fireball sailed through the air directly at her.

“Not today!” the sorceress shouted jumping to one side, “Ice spell - I am freezing you Banshee!”

“Aaahhh,” came the whimsical cry from her opponent followed just before he hit the ground and shattered like ice.

“Well played love,” Georgie’s dad said, getting up from the ground. He brushed off his trousers and windbreaker jacket, which were coated in freshly fallen leaves. Malcolm made his way over to his daughter who was just putting her wand back into her homemade leather sheath. He gave his daughter a kiss on the head and put his arm around her.

Both stood silent for a moment bathing in that late October sunlight that shone through the multi-coloured leaves. The woodland looked as if it had been painted golden and Georgie's brown hair had assumed a faint bronze colour.

Georgie's eyes were drawn to her favourite tree in the woodland, a Tibetan cherry birch with its red bark. No matter what trouble she had faced at school or how annoying her siblings could be, here she felt at peace. This was home.

“I think it will be dinner time soon,” Malcolm said, checking his watch, “and mum will need help.” The two started walking in the direction of their house.

“Thanks, Dad, for spending time with me”

“You don’t ever need to thank me for that. I love our Friday afternoons. Your big brother and sister used to love running around the woods too when they were younger. "Now, the chance that I'd be able to tear them away from their devices is slim to none,” he said solemnly.

“Well, that won’t be me. I don’t even want a phone when I am older!”

“Ha, you wait and see,” Malcolm answered, smiling at his middle child. Georgie's dad started making his way up the path that would lead them back home when Georgie stole a last glimpse towards the red birch. And there she saw it: "Dad! The deer is back, dad!" Georgie shouted, tugging at her dad’s sleeve. Malcolm turned around and looked back.

"Where?"

"By the red tr... oh... it's gone again!"

"Georgie, I told you before, the deer never come this close to the house."

"No, I promise it was there! It's the same one I saw on Monday!”

"Come on love, playtime is over, time for dinner. It probably was just a fallen branch that you mistook for an animal.”

After dinner, Georgie had just finished reading a story to her younger siblings when she heard her parents' raised voices. She made her way along the corridor towards her parents’ bedroom.

Creeping closer she could see a bunch of large papers lying on the floor. The papers were large scale prints showing a collection of houses of different sizes, some with garages and cars parked in front of them. Georgie’s mum often brought plans like those home as part of her job. But she usually kept those in her parent’s home office, not strewn overthe floor.

Georgie bent down to take a closer look.

The plan on top had “Redcap Homes” written on it, bookmarked with a little red gnome's hat on either side. Now she could hear her parents clearly arguing about money. It seemed to be the topic of the day, every day.

Georgie was just about to turn back, she did not like hearing her parents fight, when she noticed a street name at the bottom of the top plan. It was their street!

“What is this mum?” Georgie yelled, opening the bedroom door and swinging the plan in her right hand.

Her parents fell silent, taken aback by the intrusion and obvious anguish on their daughter’s face.

“This honey is what will save this family,” Grace responded.

“Save this family? You are planning on destroying our forest!” Georgie shouted, the anger now rising inside her.

“See! She gets it!” Malcolm added with an approving nod to his daughter.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Grace shot back with a mix of anger and sadness in her voice.

“Mum, you can’t destroy our forest and build stupid houses there! That’s… it’s… you can’t do that!”

“Don’t make me the enemy here you two!” Grace said in defence. “I am well aware of what this piece of land means to you and this family. It is my family home after all. But since I am the only one bringing in any money here-”

“Hey, come on," Malcolm interjected "that’s not fair. We agreed that I am here for the kids, you could have stayed home instead.”

“Sorry. I know. I didn’t mean it like that. I am just sick and tired of living from paycheck to paycheck. And with seven mouths to feed…”

“But don’t destroy our forest for money! You can use my savings to pay for the next shop,” Georgie responded, burying her face in her mum’s blouse.

Grace’s face softened and she embraced her daughter in a tight hug. “Georgie. You are an angel. What have we done to deserve you?”

Georgie started to sob harder “Please mum...”. Grace gave her daughter a long kiss on her head.

Malcolm stepped forward and started stroking Georgie’s back, “I told you, the woodland is part of our heritage. We cannot just sell it off for profit. I think we should resurrect my business idea again, I can make it work this time!”

“You two! Honestly, one has to admire your love for that woodland! But neither of you has a magic wand and your idea is not the golden goose that you make it out to be. In fact, if I may remind you, dear husband, last time you lost us money with your idea, so let’s not go there again.”

The rest of the evening Georgie’s mum tried to console Georgie without much success. Georgie felt isolated in her sadness as her dad seemed to have given up the fight. It didn’t help that her big brother told her to stop whining as 'it is just a few trees'.

After her parents said their goodnights Georgie just stared at the ceiling. Her sadness had turned into frustration and a sense of helplessness.

Who could she turn to?

Georgie's eyes glanced around the room and came to rest on a little door under one of her window sills. The door’s top half was round-shaped with a square window in its centre. It was made of wooden panels that still carried a faint purple colouring on it.

Georgie had always assumed that her granddad had glued it to the wall, as her parents denied having anything to do with it when she first asked them about it. When Georgie was younger she used to leave little notes for her fairy, which were always gone in the morning. Sometimes, she received a little gift such as a flower or a horse chestnut depending on the time of year.

Georgie slipped out of her bed, grabbed a notebook from her school bag, and started writing. After she finished her note, she folded the piece of paper and placed it gently by the little door.

Back in her bed Georgie still felt frustration pulsating through her, but writing down her feelings allowed her to at least find some sleep.

Georgie woke up in the middle of the night. What was that noise? It sounded like a door creaking. Was her brother still up playing his stupid video games?

She readjusted her pillow and was about to close her eyes again when she noticed a note in front of the fairy door.

But this was not her note!

Georgie climbed out of bed, made her way across the room and picked up the note. The paper was rolled up and tied with a bow. The string felt like some type of grass. The note itself was written on much thicker paper, which seemed to have a darker shading to it then the paper Georgie had used.

Unrolling the paper revealed a short message: “Come to the spot where magic begins”.

That could only mean one spot. And this could only mean one thing: he had found a way to save the forest.

But did he want her to come right now? It was the middle of the night after all.

Georgie sat back down on her bed, the note still clutched in her hand. After a few minutes of twiddling with the paper and re-reading the message, Georgie got up again.

She pulled on her fleece jumper, a pair of jeans and her favourite boots. Georgie opened one of her windows, careful to avoid the squeak that the hinges made when you opened it too slowly, sat down on the window sill and swivelled her legs out. Living in an old Scottish stone cottage had its advantages - no big jump needed to get to the flower bed in front of the house.

Georgie started making her way down the path that lead from her house to the woodland.

Soon after passing the first trees Georgie was swallowed up by darkness. Having spent half her childhood in and amongst these trees, however, meant that Georgie showed no sign of fear. She knew how many steps it took to the next bend and where she had to dug low to avoid particularly thorny branches that were trying to scratch her.

The forest produced its usual night-time sounds, a mix of bird noises and some animals rummaging around for some food on the ground.

The path took the familiar hard right turn that led to the red birch tree. Georgie saw a light flicker nearby.

“Dad!” she whispered, but the only answer was the crunching sound of fallen leaves under her feet.

However, when Georgie got close to the tree, the light suddenly started to bounce slightly and move away from her.

What was he doing?

Georgie stopped and squinted her eyes, trying to make out what her dad was doing, but she could only see the little ball of light moving slowly further into the forest. She did not understand why her dad would not wait for her.,

After a minute of walking down the path leading towards the lake in the center of the forest, the light turned left, along an unfamiliar path. This wasn’t part of their land anymore.

Georgie needed to slow down as she kept tripping on roots and rocks on the path. An uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched was also beginning to take hold of her.

Maybe she should turn back, or call out for her dad to stop? But just when she was about to open her mouth to call out to him, the light rested.

Georgie caught up to it now. The light was in the centre of a clearing, one she had never been to before.

Georgie slowly stepped out of the trees and into a meadow. Her hand was stroked by the long grass that reached up much higher here than in any other part of the forest. Suddenly the light in the middle of the meadow vanished, but instead of darkness, Georgie was greeted by a sea of small lights radiating from the trees around her. For the first time tonight Georgie looked scared.

Where had she been led to and where was her dad?

“I told you she would come”

That was not her dad’s voice. The words had also been sung rather than spoken. But by whom? Georgie couldn’t see anyone.

The grass just off to her right started to part, as if a small animal was making its way to her. Georgie noticed that her heart was beating uncomfortably fast and she took a step back.

“Hey, where are you going?” came a second voice. This one also had that melodic element to it as the first one. But it was deeper and raspier.

“Who is out there?” Georgie heard herself saying. Her voice had lost its usual strength.

“You told us that you wanted to help us” came the response from the second voice, now closer.

“I am here to meet my dad, who is speaking?”

“Your dad? But you followed me.” The first voice responded.

Then a little light, one the size of a tennis ball, emerged out of the grass to Georgie’s right. It rose up as if someone was pulling it up by a string. The light was too bright to look straight into however and Georgie needed to close her eyes and turn her face away.

“Oh apologies young lady, I forgot how sensitive human eyes are”

Georgie started to glimpse up again towards where the light emerged. Her eyes grew wide. The light was still there, but much softer, a ball of light with a purple ring around it. And in the middle of the light was, well, it had to be, a fairy?!

“Look at that face, ha!” The second voice said. Now Georgie noticed a second ball of light off to her left. It was a second fairy, one that had a green circle of light around her. Georgie’s head looked like it had been placed on a swivel turning from the purple fairy to the green and back.

Was she dreaming after all?

"What... who...?" Georgie managed to squeeze out, her voice more resembling a croaking now.

"Georgie, my na..."

"How do you know my name?"

"Of course we know who you are" the first fairy replied in her sing-song voice, for Georgie could now see that this was a girl-fairy.

"But I have never seen you before." Georgie's head stopped swivelling but now she felt a headache growing inside it. This couldn’t be real! "Who are you? What are you?" Georgie burst out, finding her voice again.

"Ok young lady, give me a moment" the first fairy replied, gesturing Georgie to slow down with her arms whilst her wings kept beating to stay at eye-level with her.

"My name is Caitlín. I am a Woodland Faery. You, Georgie, wrote me a note tonight telling me about the threat to our home. You know it as the red birch, for that is the heart of our kingdom here. And the fact that you came shows that I was right to lay my trust in you."

Georgie slowly moved her right hand to her left arm and gave it a pinch. No, she was not dreaming. That hurt!

"Oh and this is Oisín" Caitlín quickly added.

"At your service" Oisín replied with an over-the-top curtsy in mid air.

Georgie couldn't help herself but laugh. Oisín reminded her of someone, but who?

"Now, to the matter at hand young lady," Caitlín continued "you have passed the first test, but we still need to check if you have the gift."

"Hang on, what first test?" Georgie asked, crunching up her forehead.

"You can see us, silly" Oisín answered and with that he opened his arms and flew in a circle around himself. Only now did Georgie notice that between the trees were hundreds of little lights. All were bobbing slightly and with different hues.

"There would be no second test for you, if you could not see and talk to us, would there?"

"But.. how?" Georgie's emotions swayed between pure awe at what she was witnessing and utter confusion.

"Georgie, you established a connection with me when you first wrote to me. With every note you left, with every bit of sharing of your emotions, you kept building that connection. You believed." Caitlín explained.

"I thought mum or dad...So you took my notes and brought me those gifts?"

"That's right. And when you wrote to me tonight about the threat against us, I convinced our queen that I needed to try and get you here. Get to see if you the gift, if you can become a conduit."

Georgie was now utterly confused. What was a conduit?

"Enough talking" Oisín interjected impatiently as he flew towards Georgie "let’s get on with it! Georgie, your left hand please."

"You ready?" he called out, but not to Georgie as much as to Caitlín who Georgie realised was now hovering just at her right hand. And with a nod, the two faeries grabbed Georgie's two index fingers.

As soon as the faeries touched Georgie's skin she felt a tingling sensation spread from her fingers up her arms. It was a wonderfully calm and at the same time invigorating feeling like when you are entering a warm bath, although this sensation here flowed from the inside out.

Georgie looked at the two faeries holding her hands. Their glow began to shine brighter once again, as did the glow of all the other faeries amongst the trees.

When the two streams met in the middle of Georgie’s chest, they started to spiral around her heart. “She’s got it” Oisín shouted, his melodic voice filled with excitement. “I can’t believe it, but she’s got it!”

“Georgie!” Caitlín reclaimed her attention “whatever happens next, know this: you have the power to save our home! Trust in yourself!”

Georgie was opening her mouth as to ask her what she meant by that, but the humming from the faeries wings was drowning out all other sounds. At the same time the light around Georgie grew brighter and brighter. She felt herself lifting up off the ground and drawn into a prism of light. But this light had all the colours of the rainbow dancing inside it.

When Georgie woke up, light was streaming through her windows. She must have slept in, since she was usually awake when it was still dark outside at this time of year.

Turning over in her bed Georgie started to remember her dream. Wonderful, Georgie tried to grab onto the memory of the dream. It was too good to let go and forget.

But no, it hadn't been a dream! Had it?

Georgie scanned the room for any sign from last night and there, just outside her little faery door, a curled up piece of red bark!

And what had their names been again? Something beginning with 'K' and... Oisín! Yes, that was it, Oisín and Caitlín!

Georgie jumped up and only narrowly missed the beam on the ceiling that stuck out over her bed. She ran down the corridor and found her dad already in the midst of the lunch preparations. Her younger siblings were busy in the corner underneath a fort made out of pillows, blankets and what looked like dirty cleaning cloths.

"Dad! I met faeries last night! I got this message, which I thought was from you, so I went down to our tree, but there was only a light and I followed it and it took me to this meadow and then there were these voices and then there was this one purple light and a green one. They talked to me and said they knew I-" "Wowow Georgie, hang on" Malcolm intervened in his daughter's rapid-fire storytelling "You went to the woods last night by yourself?”

"Yes, but that doesn’t matter. Listen, the faeries said that I knew I could help save the forest and they put their fingers on me and then this-" "Georgie, that sounds like a great dream, but slow down if you want me to understand your story"

"Ah! It wasn't a dream dad! I met these two-" But Georgie got stopped again mid-sentence, although this time it was her mum calling from the hallway "See you later honey"

"Bye love! And...good luck...I guess" Malcolm replies shouting down the corridor.

"Where is mum going?" Georgie snapped back, an uncomfortable knot forming inside her stomach.

"The developers are coming out today. They want to see if our land would be suitable to build on," her dad responded.

"On a Saturday? But they can't come today, I am... I don't know what I need to.." Georgie was turning around wildly trying to look for something to give her a clue as to what to do. She needed to stop the developers!

Georgie turned on the spot and ran out of the kitchen. "Georgie, where are you going now?" came the call from her dad when Georgie was already halfway down the corridor to her bedroom.

When she got to her room, she picked up the bark by the little door. What had Caitlín said to her again? Something about trust. Georgie closed her eyes and there, she could hear that singing voice telling her again to "trust in yourself". But what did that mean?

The bark was from the red birch. Caitlín called it their home.

Georgie felt a tear rolling down her cheek. This was not about just a woodland anymore, this was about protecting a home. She needed to get to the tree.

Georgie was about to take off her pyjamas to get dressed, but she realised that she was still wearing her fleece and jeans from last night!

How did she actually get back home?

It didn’t matter now. Georgie grabbed her boots and stormed out back to the forest.

Georgie started running down the path leading to the forest. She saw her mum greeting a bunch of people, who looked like they belonged in an office and not out here, by the side of the road, all looking very much out of place. The sight of who was trying to destroy her woodland was fuelling her steps.

When Georgie got to the red tree, she was half expecting to see either Caitlín or Oisín, but no faery was in sight. She started to search around the tree, for a clue as to what the faeries wanted her to do. Georgie stepped closer to the tree and she ran her hands along with the bark, nothing. No sign, no hidden door, no message.

Georgie slumped down leaning next to the tree. There was a strange clanging noise in the air, coming from the direction where Grace and developers were meeting. Georgie walked back up the path to the edge of the tree line. A couple of the developers in business suits were marking an area by hammering poles into the ground and sectioning it off with tape. “All these trees here need to go to start a proper site survey,” Georgie heard one of them say.

Georgie was turning on the spot, desperately looking again for a sign of support. Where were Caitlín and Oishín?

The fairies had grasped her hands the night before, they somehow connected with her. No, they connected with something inside her. Could Georgie reach out and connect with the faeries?

Georgie returned to the red tree and stepped towards it. She grasped the two thick branches that extended on either side of the tree. Georgie closed her eyes.

Breathing deeply, Georgie tried to connect with what was living here. She may not have been able to see it, but she believed that it was here.

They were here.

"I am here to help, but I need you for this" Georgie whispered to no one in particular. Then, like the previous night, Georgie's hands started to tingle. Something was connecting with her.

Intuitively, Georgie let her hands glide down and she grasped the trunk of the tree. Next, she lowered her head and fully exhaled. When all the air had left her lungs, a new, strange sensation gripped Georgie.

She felt grounded.

But not like you and me standing on the ground, no Georgie felt that she was part of everything around her. She could feel the squirrel’s claws on the soft woodland floor that was just hurrying towards the birch. She could sense the breeze swirling through the trees. She was one with her surroundings.

This was what Caitlín and Oisín must have sensed in her last night: Georgie had the power to connect with nature!

"And here we are planning to — Georgie?" Her mum's voice pulled Georgie out of her meditative state. "Excuse me please,” Grace said to the developers. She walked swiftly to her daughter, nearly tripping on her high-heels. "What are you doing here?"

"I am here to stop this forest from being destroyed"

"What, by holding a tree? Georgie, please!" Grace's voice was now barely audible, more of a hissing sound that was escaping her clenched teeth.

"Everything all right there?" came the voice from one of the developers behind them.

Georgie's mum turned around, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Of course, my daughter was just playing and -" But Grace stopped mid-sentence seeing the expression on the developers faces, a mix of fear and sheer disbelief.

"What is it?" Grace asked turning back towards Georgie, but this time she stumbles for real and lands on her bottom. Next to Georgie were a couple, no, a herd of deer! At least 30 deer emerged out of the woodland.

Georgie was flanked by a stag on one side and a doe on the other.

Stunned silence filled the air for what seemed like minutes. At one point one of the developers overcame his surprise, "I am sorry, but you promised us that this woodland wasn't home to any significant number of animals. That clearly isn't the case!"

He took a step back with an expression of surprise and fear on his face. "We can’t continue with this project like this.” And with that, he turned and gestured to his colleagues to follow him.

Grace was too confused to even think about following her potential business partners. She kept staring at her daughter who had laid a hand on each of the deer flanking her, stroking their majestic bodies.

Georgie smiled at her mum. "I told you I was going to protect this woodland"

"But how?"

“Well, would you believe me if I told you that I met the woodland faeries last night?” Georgie asked. She was greeted by a look of sheer confusion.

Georgie stopped stroking the deer and thanked them. The two animals flanking Georgie gave a slight nod and the herd returned into the forest.

“Let’s go home mum” Georgie said, stepping forwards to help her mum back up “and I think it’s time to let dad try out his idea one more time.”