CHAPTER 2

Gerald and Sharon clung to each other within a swirling blue vortex. A brilliant, wispy ocean of sapphire clouds riddled with jagged streaks of lightning whirled around them in a raging maelstrom. Its beauty would have awed Sharon if she had not been so terrified.

“Gerald!” Sharon screamed over the rush of the roaring wind. “What’s happening!!?”

Gerald tried to respond, but the noise of the vortex was too loud for any exchange of words to be possible. It was like speaking underwater.

They continued to spiral down the vortex, spinning faster and faster. Sharon felt the airstreams tearing at her hold on Gerald. Then, a huge gust of wind nearly broke them apart like an explosive charge. But Gerald held on to Sharon’s right wrist as they twisted in the tumultuous currents. Through the turbulent maelstrom, Sharon looked at Gerald to see his expression overwrought with strain and panic.

Desperately, he reached toward Sharon in a frantic attempt to grasp her other hand, but the centrifugal force of their spinning descent was too strong. Finally the boisterous winds ripped them apart.

“NOOO!!! GERALD!!!” Sharon screamed.

Gerald’s mouth formed her name as the winds propelled him out of sight into the blue, electrical maelstrom. Sharon sobbed in fear and panic. When she had agreed to meet Gerald at midnight, she had expected some pleasant conversation, Gerald’s lovely melodies on his flute, and maybe even kiss him for the first time. Never in her wildest nightmares had she expected this!

The raging wind continued to roar in her ears as the lightning crackled in fury. Is this the end? Sharon thought. Will I die?

Exhausted by terror and panic, she blacked out.

* * *

Sharon regained consciousness in the mud beneath a heavy rain as thunder and lightning flashed and crackled overhead. Sharon wiped her wet, muddy hair from her face as she struggled to her feet. She peered at her surroundings through the driving rain, hoping to see something familiar, but all she saw were trees. And what trees! They were enormous! They were like the redwoods in California of which she had seen pictures, except that they were all coal black. And they were so tall Sharon could not see their branches through the thick fog. This was definitely not the forest of her New Hampshire home.

Sharon slogged forth through the mud hoping to find shelter before she caught pneumonia. Time dragged as she trudged on for what seemed like hours. Sharon was sobbing hopelessly when she spied a faint light through the soupy mess of the downpour. A new hope burned within her and spurred her on. As she approached, she was able to see the outline of a structure. It was a cabin. She considered knocking on the door and asking for shelter, but what if they were not friendly? She couldn’t bear the humiliation of being turned away. But next to the cabin was a large shed. No, it was actually a small barn. She decided to take shelter there.

Through the muck and mud, Sharon staggered toward the barn’s door, pushed it open, and entered the shelter. She found the barn to be warm and dry. There were a couple of cows in the stalls and some chickens, but she was past caring with whom or what she shared her accommodations. She walked over to a mound of hay and fell upon it, fast asleep before her head hit the straw.

* * *

Sharon dreamed of home.

She was back in the meadow by the New Hampshire woods on a gorgeous sunny day. Gerald was there. He sat next to the oak and played an entrancing melody on his flute. Everything was perfect. Drifting, billowy clouds floated across the beautiful blue sky while birds sang their songs as they fluttered from tree to tree and the flowers around her grew and fully bloomed before Sharon’s eyes. Suddenly, the enchanting melody stopped. Sharon turned and was pleasantly surprised to find Gerald sitting next to her. She gazed deeply into his enthralling green eyes, enjoying his closeness and warmth. Then Gerald leaned forward as Sharon closed her eyes, ready to receive his gentle kiss. Instead, she felt a sharp poke into her ribs.

“Ow!” Sharon yelped.

Sharon opened her eyes to see Gerald poke his flute into her ribs again.

“Ow, Gerald! Stop it!”

When she was poked a third time, Sharon woke to find herself on the bed of hay. Instantly, she remembered everything that happened: the midnight rendezvous, the spinning vortex, and the giant trees. And most important of all, she remembered that she was lost with absolutely no idea where she was.

She felt another jab in her ribs.

“OOOOWWW!” Sharon rolled over to see an old woman, holding a hoe in a pair of gnarled hands. Her face was a mass of wrinkles and her nose bent downward like a bird’s beak. She wore a green outfit, which consisted of a dress and a blouse with a big black belt around her waist, fastened with a yellow buckle, and her head was covered with a sash as green as the rest of her garb. Again, the old woman prodded Sharon with the handle of the hoe.

“Stop! Hey! Stop it!” Sharon yelled, swiping the hoe’s handle away.

“Who ye be, lass?” said the old woman. “What ye be? I know ye not to be shade or spirit. Ye be havin’ substance,” she said as she thrust again.

“No! NOOOOO!” Sharon cried as she rolled away from the thrust. “I’m just a GIRL!”

The old woman paused. “Why ye be here? Here ye don’t belong! Have yer say or be off with ye!”

“I dunno! I dunno!” Sharon began to cry as she told the old woman everything, from when she met Gerald, to the spinning vortex, to when she sought shelter here. “Please, please don’t be mad at me! I just want to go home!” Sharon said, sobbing.

The old woman regarded the girl for a moment. Then she laid the garden hoe aside and sat beside Sharon to console her. “There there, lass. There be no need fer fussin’. Olden Jade be sorry she be yellin’ at ye.”

“But-but my story must sound so-so outrageous! You must think I’m crazy!” Sharon sobbed.

“Truth be told, lass, Olden Jade be believin’ ye.” Sharon looked up at the old woman in disbelief. She couldn’t be serious; Sharon could hardly believe her own story herself.

“Now there be no need fer ye to be lookin’ at Olden Jade that way, lass,” said the old woman. “Aye, stranger things be happenin’ in these parts than that.”

This old woman, who oddly referred to herself in the third person, was just humoring her. Yes, that must be it. She was just giving her a sense of security before she called the authorities. But all the same, Sharon relaxed and allowed Olden Jade to comfort her.

“Now, child, let’s be gettin’ some food into ye. As thin as a stick, ye be.”

So the old woman took Sharon inside her cabin. Once there, Sharon feasted on bread, cheese, and a cup of milk. As she ate, Sharon examined her surroundings. The old woman’s lodgings were quite primitive. There was no phone, no television, or electrical appliances of any kind. Everything was made either of wood or stone. Sharon thought Olden Jade might be a hermit, and a very eccentric one at that, considering the way she spoke.

Olden Jade poked her head out from the hut’s kitchen. “Ye be fed now?” she asked.

Sharon nodded her head as she chewed and gulped down the last of her cheese.

“That be good,” said the old woman as she entered the living room. “‘Cause Olden Jade must be flyin’ into town. There be errands to run. Ye be all right by yerself?”

“Sure,” Sharon replied as she wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin.

“Very well,” said Olden Jade as she snatched a broom from the corner of the cabin. “Off I be!”

Olden Jade dropped the broom. But instead of hitting the ground, like Sharon would expect, it stopped a couple of feet above the wooden floor and simply hovered there. Then Olden Jade hopped aboard the broom, which reared like a stallion as the old woman cackled in glee. “Away I be!”

And like a shot, Olden Jade flew out the window, the shutters and curtains flapping in her wake. Sharon gaped in astonishment, and then ran to the window to see Olden Jade speed away above the trees upon her broom. Sharon stared after her in bewilderment as she watched the old woman fly out of sight.

What on Earth was this place?

Next Chapter: Chapter 3