Olivia was frozen in place by the look in Uncle Jethro’s eyes

“What do you want?” She asked, shaking

“I want to give you a gift.” He said smiling wryly. He was a robust man of about 65 who was dressed nicely in a blazer and button down plaid shirt with denim pants, cowboy boots, and a bolo tie to bring the outfit together. The man was wearing a fedora which he took off as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a brass key on a neck chain. He extended his arm to her, holding the key out in front of him.

“Go on.” he said, “You can take it.” Olivia tried to get her nerves about her.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“I’m Uncle Jethro,” he said calmly.

“Are you the Shadow Man?”

“I’m Uncle Jethro,” he said, trying to reassure her. Olivia broke her paralysis and reached out to grab the key. She held it in her hands and looked at it. It seemed pretty ordinary; old, but ordinary.

“What is it?” She asked.

“It’s a key…” He said.

“I can see that. A key to what?” she said sarcastically.

“Doors.” He said flatly. “Specifically a door that’s very far away but one I want you to walk through.”

“What does that mean?” She said skeptically.

“You are a mage.” He began. “You come from a long line of mages. A mage is, how do I put this, sort of like a wiza-”

“I read fantasy and sci-fi, I know what a mage is.” She snapped. “Sorry, but my letter from Hogwarts never came. You’ll have to go give your, “you’re a wizard, Harry” speech to somebody else. Where is my dad?”

“He’s stepped out. And I assure you, you are a mage.”

“...And you’re here to take me to mage school or something?” She asked.

“No.” He said. “I’m here to help you open the door.” Olivia stopped. She had a bad feeling about all of this.

“You need to go.” She said, “You shouldn’t be here when my father is not.”

“I will go, I will go.” he assured her. “But first, I am so parched from my journey. Could I have a cup of water?” Olivia rolled her eyes and walked towards the kitchen. She couldn’t believe she was entertaining this ridiculousness. She grabbed a glass and poured the water from the filter in the fridge. When she returned Uncle Jethro was taking off his boot and pouring a small mound of sand out of it onto the floor.

“What are you doing?” She asked almost disgustedly. He motioned for her to bring him the water which he then poured on the small mound of sand. He got onto his hands and knees and blew on it. As he did it began to creep out in streams of wet sand from the mound, and as it did it started shedding tiny sparks. As it branched out it appeared that the floor underneath it was turning blue, but that wasn’t exactly it. Olivia moved in for a closer look and saw bright green. She couldn’t figure out what she was looking at, but her Uncle stayed on the floor blowing this wet dirt and the streams revealed more and more colour. She finally realized that she was looking through some kind of window or opening into another world. A sideways world, but a world nonetheless, similar to the world in her dreams.

“I believe you’ve seen this world before.” He said smugly, still on his hands and knees.

“Who are you?” She asked again.

“I’m Uncle Jethro.” He smiled revealing his yellow teeth and dark, sickly looking gums.

“Who are you really? Why do you have the Shadow Man’s eyes?”

“My eyes?” He asked. “I didn’t think of it. You’ve seen more than just the world then. You’ve been there. You’ve met him.”

“His eyes always freeze me, the same way yours did when I first walked in.”

“I am not the Shadow Man.” He said, “But I do know of whom you speak. We work for the same woman.”

“What woman?” She asked.

“The Dark Mage.” He said plainly, “Our family has served her for generations.”

“And she makes your eyes go like that?” She asked frigidly.

“An occupational hazard.” he said.

“And you want me to, what exactly? Join you? Serve the dark mage? I won’t do it, I’m not a mage and I’m not evil.”

“You are a mage. It is your birthright and your father was wrong to keep it from you.” He said. “And I’m not here to convince you or convert you. I’m here to give you the key and open the door. The door for that key is through this door.” He pointed to the portal in the floor.

“Where’s my dad?” She asked.

“He’s gone to Pandromir.” He said, motioning once again to the ground, “to see the Dark Mage.”

“Get out of my house.” She said firmly.

“Not until you realize who you are!” He said.

“Get out of my house!” She stomped her foot and tree roots broke up through the floor and began to tangle around Uncle Jethro. She gasped as the roots grew up his leg and onto his body. He writhed and screamed but nothing he did would shake the roots off. Olivia gasped and put her hands in front of her face in horror of what was happening. The roots had grown over most of Uncle Jethro at this point.

“Child!” He yelled through bared teeth, “Stop this!” Olivia screamed and ran up the stairs to the safety of her bedroom. Not that the room was actually that safe but it held a sense of refuge for her. She grabbed her blanket and rolled under the bed where she hid until morning. She was too scared to sleep that night but had convinced herself that the previous night’s incidents were just the product of a rough day and a bad dream. Olivia got up, changed into a clean school uniform, and crept towards the door. She opened the door slightly.

“Hello?” she called out, “Daddy? Are you home?” She opened the door slowly with a loud creaking sound easing out of the door hinges. She walked slowly towards the stairs and began to descend. To her horror, there was an apple tree growing out of the floor in the middle of the dining room. It had a twisted viney trunk with a large bulge in the mid section where Uncle Jethro was still encased. The portal, or whatever it was, was gone. Olivia’s mind was racing, what could be happening? Did she do this? Was Uncle Jethro really in there? She ran back upstairs and into her room where she grabbed her backpack and books for school and jumped out the window the same way she did the night before when she was trying to get to Charlotte’s. Charlotte! Olivia knew she was the one to see. She could talk some sense into this crazy situation; she could talk some sense into Olivia. The tree branch lowered her down to the ground gently and safely just like the night before and then sprung back up to its normal position to await the next time Olivia needed to use it. She ran fast, like, really fast. She was bobbing in and out of groups of people, dodging kids, the elderly, dogs, anything that got in her way she was able to dodge and keep up her speed. Olivia needed to get to Charlotte’s place as quickly as possible. The traffic lights were really annoying her by this point because it seemed every time she got to a crosswalk the hand would be flashing and she’d have to wait until the light turned green. At one light she got so tired of waiting that she blew past the hand into what she thought was stopped traffic, but what was actually a bus blocking her view of the middle lane of the road. As she crossed illegally a car came to a screeching halt nearly hitting her. Olivia jumped out of the way but it was such a close call that she had her hands rested on the hood of the car. She looked up into the driver’s seat to see a woman also pushing 60 staring back at her with the same fiery eyes as Uncle Jethro and the Shadow Man. What was happening? Was she going crazy? The woman rolled down the window and stuck her head out. Olivia was expecting to get an earful about watching where she was going, or being more careful, instead the woman just shouted, “Olivia! Get in the car!” Olivia didn’t wait to hear more, she took off down the street towards Charlotte’s house. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Surely this was all just a bad dream, just an extension from her normal Shadow Man nightmare, but no, she knew in heart this was real. She felt the air rushing through her hair as she ran, she felt her heart pounding in her chest, she felt the sweat on her brow. This was real and it was terrifying. She turned the corner and found herself on Charlotte’s street. Charlotte lived at the very end of a cul-de-sac in a nice two story blue house with white gables on the windows. Olivia didn’t wait to knock, she just ran into the house and up the stairs. Charlotte’s mom was in the kitchen when she heard the commotion and just about called 911 until she heard Olivia call from upstairs and say “Hi Mrs. O’Brien!” Olivia mounted the stairs towards Charlotte’s room and was dismayed to find that Charlotte wasn’t there. Olivia looked at the clock. Of course she overslept again, or rather, over waited, as she didn’t sleep a wink the night before but was hiding under her bed. She happened to glance out the window and then stopped and did a double take. Olivia rubbed her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. On the street, looking directly up at her were Uncle Jethro and the woman from the car in the road, along with two other women she had never seen before. They stood on the sidewalk looking at her with those fiery eyes. She froze in fear. How could this be happening? She saw Uncle Jethro get eaten by the tree the night before, and yet, there he stood, right out in the open! How did these people know where she was and where she was heading? This truly was a nightmare come to life. She stumbled backwards a little and then collapsed and sat on Charlotte’s bed with her head in her hands. Charlotte’s mom came into the room.

“Olivia? What on earth are you doing here?” She asked. Charlotte's mom was a rotund woman with bright red hair in a pixie cut. She had freckles, lots of them, but always seemed to wear them like a badge of honour. She was a sweet woman who loved Olivia, but right now stood at the doorway in utter confusion.

“I’m sorry.” Olivia said, “I’m having the weirdest morning.” She looked out the window again. “Um…” Olivia started, she had a lump in her throat and a quiver in her voice. “Could you by any chance drive me to school?” She asked. Charlotte’s mom saw how scared Olivia looked, she was visibly shaking.

“Sure, hunny.” She said. “Let me just grab my keys.” They headed downstairs where Mrs. O’Brien rummaged through her purse trying to find her keys. She was not the most organized person and this was apparent by all of the random things that were coming out of her purse while she looked for the keys. Old receipts, lip balm, sun glasses, but no keys. Finally she put her hands down into her jeans pocket and pulled them out. “Oh, here they are!” she exclaimed. They walked outside to the car. Uncle Jethro and the others were now farther away and acting nonchalant so that they wouldn’t be questioned by Olivia’s escort. Olivia and Mrs. O’Brien got in the car and backed out of the driveway. Olivia had forgotten what a nervous driver Mrs. O’Brien was, but being in the car felt infinitely safer than walking at this point. It was a short drive to the school, but it still felt like forever to Olivia who made it the whole trip without saying a word.

“Well, sweetie, here we are.” Said Mrs. O’Brien. Olivia opened the door.

“Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.” She said. She closed the door and walked towards the school. It was then that she spotted Sophia and Isabella waiting by the front door of the school smoking. This was the last thing she needed right now. But she gritted her teeth and stomped forward to the door ready to bowl them over. They soon spotted her and started in on her.

“Well if it isn’t Houdini the magical disappearing girl!” Shouted Isabella.

“We are going to make your life hell today!” Said Sophia. Olivia was fed up.

“Oh, cram a squirrel in it!” she yelled back at them. Suddenly a scritching sound started echoing through the air. All three of them stopped walking and shouting and turned their heads to get a better listen to the eerie sound. Olivia looked over to the large tree she hid behind the day before while she was running from the girls and saw a scurry of squirrels leaping down the trunk of the tree onto the grass and making a b-line directly for them. Olivia ducked and put her hands over her head hoping the squirrels would run past her, which they did. To Olivia’s horror, however, the squirrels bypassed her completely and lunged towards Sophia and Isabella. Two squirrels in particular lodged themselves in the girls mouths while the others just swarmed them and clamored and climbed all over them. Olivia shrieked and ran into the school. What was happening? This was crazy. She ran down the hall past her locker directly to her math class (which was already half over) where she knew she would find Charlotte. She burst through the door, completely out of breath and collapsed into the seat next to Charlotte.