The same night, an urgent meeting took place in great secrecy. Ferry and his Guardians gathered in Lavender Sky's garden. It was a starless night, yet full of firebugs and sounds of the logs snapping in the fire. Unlike their usual meetings, where they were laughing, eating seeds, and talking about what happened during the week, this time, a heavy silence reigned all over the place. They all looked at the fire in the middle without saying a word. They were waiting for Thyme who had been lingering for a little while near Ferry's house to take a better look at the stranger.

The night was warm still, although the summer had receded, leaving the place for a wind which brought along smell of leaves and smoke. The smell of autumn. The sky was dark that night, making the shadows even darker. The moon was hidden behind the clouds as if it did not want to be seen.

A fluttering of wing announced Thyme's arrival. He shuddered by the raven appearance and stepped toward his friends.

"I couldn't see anything," he mumbled. "The window was locked, and the light was off."

"I know," said Ferry, "he went to bed right after we finished dinner. He didn't want to share the room with me. He said he didn't want to disturb me. So he slept on the couch. But that's not going to last."

"What do you mean?" asked Parsley, the lizard-man.

"My father wants me to share the room with him, now that he found his long lost son. But that means he might find out my secret. Our secret."

"We can't let that happen," said Thyme, clenching his feasts. "The arrival of this boy changes everything."

"But who is he? What do you know about him so far?"

"He says he's my paren— the Donovans' lost son," said Ferry, feeling a lump in his throat. "But that can't be true. Right, Thyme? I mean... the Donovan child is in Akna, right? That's where you took him when you swapped us. Isn't it so?"

"Do you think he's a fairy?" Sage, the wolf-man, interrupted him and Ferry could read the worry in his voice. He asked the question on everyone's lips.

"I don't know," said Thyme slowly as if afraid to say the word. "But we must keep an eye on him. Whether he's a fairy or not. In Akna, alarming things are happening."

"Have you any news?" asked Lavender who slowly stepped closer, leaning on her crane. Over the years, her body has shrunk. She looked like an ordinary old lady and no one would've guessed the great powers once hid under her weak, frail body. The only sign of the fairy greatness were the pale signs that still shone on her wrinkled forehead when the moon was full.

"Lord Stephan sent me whispers from Akna," said Thyme, "but it's getting harder for him to do it. All the doors between the worlds are guarded. The enemy is beginning to conquer the land of Akna..."

"That means Ferry must be prepared for leaving earlier," said Lavender and all the eyes turned on him.

Thyme shook his head, "He's not ready yet... Garret doesn't know how to control his power yet."

Silence fell and everyone turned their eyes away from him. Ferry felt a pit in his stomach. It was the guilt he wasn't strong enough to help his friends and the people who depended on him.

"I'll try harder," he said, trying to look confident". "If I have to go to Akna sooner, I'll do it." 

"You have to believe that first," said Thyme, looking at him dead in the eye. "And you don't believe that."

*

The next day, Ferry suggested letting Andrew sleep in his room. He wanted to move to the attic, anyway. He had agreed with his Guardians that that was the way to keep a distance from the mysterious newcomer and keep him under observation at the same time.

"You don't have to do that, Ferry," his mother said, "You could share the room."

"It's all right, Mom, I don't mind it," said Ferry trying to look he meant what he said. "Besides, Andrew never had a room of his own."

"If he wants to do it why won't you let him?" his father interfered. "It's time for Andrew to feel he has a family," he added, tapping the boy on his back. "See you tonight, son," he added before walking out the door.

All day long, Ferry kept himself busy moving his things to the attic. He didn't have much to move, anyway. He made his bed on an old sofa while his mother hanged a nice curtain at the small window that led to the backyard; he now had a better view of the walnut tree and the forest. On the beamer of the room, Ferry helped his mother attach white old sheets that made the room look like a sailboat. When they finished, Ferry held his mother's hand, smiling at her. She smiled back at him, although Ferry could feel the sorrow in her heart.

Then, he watched Andrew from the shadow. After the boy unpacked the few things he had — clothes, a comb, a handkerchief, and a sandwich box — he came downstairs and asked Eileen if he could be of any help. After she politely said no, the boy went to the garden and walked it along and across, stopping a few times in front of the jasmine bush and the walnut tree. He was wearing clothes he borrowed from Ferry which fitted him perfectly. A few times, he looked to the attic window as if he knew Ferry was watching from behind the curtains. Then, he sat on the stairs of the back door and watched the backyard with the fluttering sheets for hours. In the evening, the entire town of Goodharts has found out that the Donovans' lost son was back. Peter took care of that. When Ferry arrived at Matilda's, the girl bombarded him with questions as soon as she saw him.

"Who's that boy? Is he your parents' lost child? What's going to happen to you? Will you be taken to the orphanage? You know that's what the law says... You can't leave! We need you here."

Ferry didn't answer. He watched his best friend walking across her backyard, waving her hands. For whatever reason, talking to her brought even more uneasiness to his heart; which made him think that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to visit her that day. Matilda was still Matilda: the short bangs, the ruffled hair always behind her ears, the baggy blouse over the scruffy skirt that she shortened herself so she could run faster. Her knees were almost always scratched and her legs full of bruises. For a while now, Matilda was training Sage, the wolf-man, in the backyard, to turn him into a fearless warrior. And although Sage would've preferred to bake a pie, his warrior abilities were getting better by the day. That, obviously, was making Matilda proud.

Her attitude was the same, too. "You have to do something!" she shouted, shaking Ferry by his shoulders.

"What am I supposed to do, Matt?" Ferry shrugged. "I read that letter. It seems authentical..."

"Authentical?" she sniffed. "Anyone could forge a document today."

"I can't do anything for now. I must keep an eye on him. We must all keep an eye on him."

"You can count on me," Matilda nodded.

Their talk got interrupted by Matilda's mom who brought them lemonade and some plumb pie Sage had baked. Matilda gobbled the piece of the pie, then licked the sweetness off her fingers.

"Tilly, I've told you so many times to stop doing that," her mom scolded her with a gentle voice.

"And I've told you to stop calling me Tilly," Matilda replied with a frown. "Call me Matt. Everyone calls me Matt."

Her mother smiled a sad smile and gently tamed one of the girl's stripes of hair on the top of her head. Then, she went inside without saying a word.

Ferry could see Matilda watching behind her mother, and a tear glittered in the corner of her eye. Matilda could cry with one eye if she wanted, and she always bragged about it. But now, she seemed just sad.

"What is it, Matt?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just—" 

Ferry could feel her uneasiness and the words that wouldn't come out.

"Talk to me," he softy said.

"My mom and I, we were never close," she sighed. "I mean, I know she loves me and she takes care of me... I know that. But she wants me to wear dresses, and let my hair grow, and put ribbons in my hair. Maybe —maybe we didn't have the time to become close, you know? Finn was born after she came back and— Even if I know she loves us both, she always seems to care for him more. Maybe because he's special, and he needs more attention. I don't know..."

Finn was Matilda's younger brother. He was born less than a year since Matilda's mother came back from Tenalach. He was small and thin, and he could barely talk which was odd for a six-year-old child. He was sick most of the time, and he could catch a cold at the smallest wind blow. He could even stay in bed for weeks for that cold. For that reason, Matilda's parents decided to keep him home and not send him to school. His mother was homeschooling him. Yet he was fast and he could hide in plain sight and stay hidden for hours without anyone suspecting he was there.

"I see her sometimes, lost in thought," Matilda continued. "Sometimes, she puts on her shawl and leaves. I follow her, and she stops on the hill near the forest. She stands under the linden tree for hours watching the forest. I think it's about that man..."

"What man?" Ferry wondered.

"The man that gave her that embrace..."

"You mean Doruh? The warrior of Tenalach?"

Matilda nodded.

"Don't mind me," she said, forcing a smile. "You'd better go. You said you wanted to see Ben. It's getting late and you won't be home in time for dinner. I don't think your father would like it, now that the family is back together."

Matilda was right. Ferry shouldn't have been late, especially now. They said goodbye, and he headed towards Ben's house. Ferry was dragging his feet; even he, who loved the sun, couldn't escape the heat that was wrapping the street that late summer day.

But he hasn't even left Matilda's house, that he had the strangest feeling. He felt he was being watched. He looked back, then around him. Nothing. He kept on walking, all his senses awoken. With the corner of his eye, he could see the bush he just passed by was moving. He darted and, in one jump, he was right behind the bush. Nothing again. But someone has been there, watching him from behind the foliage. He could feel it without needing any proof.  

Thank you so much for reading this story! I'm so anxious to know your thoughts. So happy to have you as my readers!