"Danny, don't be afraid. It's me, Ferry. Matt's with me. We've come to take you home."

Danny looked at their faces. In the light of Ben's torch, their faces must have looked shifty. A sparkle of hope glittered in his eyes. But then, it was gone just as fast as it appeared.

"Leave me alone!" he said in a feeble voice, crouching back in his corner. "I'm not going anywhere with you..."

"But Danny, we've been through so much to get you out of here," said Ferry. "Why would you want to stay here, in the darkness?"

Danny didn't seem to care, "Don't you think I know what you're trying to do? You took my classmates' appearance to make me play your twisted game. But you won't fool me this time."

Matilda stepped closer, "Listen, Danny... I know you like cookies and milk. I know you like to craft and carve. And I also know that, when people call you fat, you go to your room and cry. I know you don't want to treat Ferry or Ben wrong, but you do it anyway because otherwise Billy Pride wouldn't talk to you anymore and he's the only friend you've got," she said before even breathing. "How would I know this if I weren't Matilda?"

Danny seemed like giving it a though, but then he shook his head, "What if you can get into my head and read my mind? Maybe fairies can do that, too," he said, before turning his back on them. "I'm not coming with you!"

Ferry didn't expect that. Nor anyone else.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked his friends. "How are we going to get him out of here?"

Shadow rolled up his sleeves, "That's it! We take him by force."

Baldie stopped him just in time, "We can't do that! He's going to make so much noise, he'll alert the Kallikans."

Silence followed and everyone thought about what there was to do to get Danny out of that place without too much fret. Finally, Matilda squeezed her way and before anyone could do anything, she kicked Danny in the softest part of his body.

"Ouch!" he whined. "Matt, why did you do that?" he asked, rubbing the place.

"So you know I'm Matt, right?" she cut him short.

"Yes, I know it's you. I would recognize that kick from a thousand others. But I don't understand why you came after me. Why would you help me after all I did to you?" he asked, keeping his eyes to the ground.

Ferry came closer, "It's all right, Danny. We came for you because no child deserves to stay away from his family. And no mother should cry after her child."

Danny was now in tears, "I want to come with you..."

Ferry smiled at him, "Then let's go home!"

To avoid being seen by the Kallikans, they needed to stay in the light. So Baldie crafted some sort of a lantern, tying the flashlight on the top of Rosemary's walking stick; a stick of which Ferry thought it had magical powers because it was always glued to her. Izzy had now the important task of carrying the lantern because he was the tallest of them all. The lizard-man took his job seriously, carrying it with dignity in the middle of the group, like a captain carrying the flag of victory.

Danny came to his senses after eating a whole pie and drinking a whole flask of water. And now he was chatty. He even bragged about escaping from the Blind Alley twice, although he never reached too far.

They were now ready to go.

Danny was acting like a tour guide. "Kallikans are stupid," he said as if he's been living among Kallikans since forever. "They don't even lock the gates. And they have to since it's so dark here that you could stick your fingers in your eyes and not even know what happened. But I have a talent few people know. I can smell a pie from miles and miles away. That's how I managed to escape from here. I was following the smell of pie coming from the nearest house. At home, I knew when Mum was cooking pie since getting out the school's door," he said, winking at Matilda. "I can't wait to get home," he sighed.

He was right. The heavy gate of the dungeon was unlocked. They went out, protected by the roof of light above their heads.

"As long as we stay in the light, the Kallikans can't see us," said Baldie. "So we must stay together."

But as they walked out the gate, a cold blast greeted them, letting them know that nothing good was waiting on the other side. Cries and wailings came from all over. Dungeons stretched on both sides of the cold corridor they were walking; blind eyes watched and bony arms tried to reach them, begging. They were people, prisoners in the fairy world. The ones that could still remember their past lives. The ones who couldn't let go. Hundreds of captive souls in the prisons of darkness.

None of the new prisoners dared to say a word. They all wanted to get out of that place safe and sound. Ferry wanted to save all those lost souls, but he knew that was impossible.

Matilda was the one to break the silence, "How are we going to find Mum among so many people?" she asked the question everyone was afraid of. No one dared to answer.

"We're going to find my mum, right, Ferry?" she insisted.

Ferry felt a warm lump in his throat which couldn't let him talk. "Matt, we don't have any chance to find your mother," he eventually said. "The other prisoners will give us away. And we're going to be stuck in here forever..."

"But Ferry, you promised..." she said and her voice started to quiver.

"Your mother is here?" asked Danny.

"Yes," she answered between sobs. "And I can't find her."

A short break followed. Rosemary came closer and took her in her arms;  Matilda buried her head at her chest and sobbed.

"They're right, we can't find her among so many people," Danny concluded. Hearing him made Matilda cry even harder. "But we can make her find us," he added.

"How?" she asked.

They stopped, listening to Danny.

"Maybe if you'd call her? Maybe she'd recognize your voice and come to you."

Baldie shook his head, "How could she recognize her voice? She was a child when her mother vanished. That would be too ticklish on our behalf. The Kallikans can't see us but they can hear us. We must go!" he said, as firm as can be. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

His words made Matilda cry even harder, her whole body shaking with sobs.

"But Matilda could do something else," Rosemary said gently. "She could sing."

Matilda wiped out her tears and blew her nose, "It's true," she said, a glitter of hope in her eyes.

"Tommy-rot," Izzy sniffed. "What could you sing?"

"I could sing a song only my mum and I know," she said.

And without waiting, the girl started to sing. It was a sweet song, a lullaby; the same they heard Matilda's mum singing in the Secluded Forest.

At first, her voice trembled; but then, it sounded louder, more confident. Just like by magic, the cries and wailings stopped and the song echoed like a hymn in a cathedral.

"Keep singing," Rosemary encouraged her as they moved forward.

And the song echoed, clearer and louder than before.

Soon, they could all hear a voice echoing back. They stopped, listening. A sweet voice came from the darkness behind them. In the silence that was setting in, the voice was warm and melodious; and listening, the homesick came over Ferry like never before. His thoughts were interrupted by a long creak. They've gathered around, waiting.

Matilda stopped singing, then she slowly let go of Rosemary's embrace. The voice was closer. She screwed her eyes, still under the light of the flashlight.

It was perfect silence when a silhouette appeared from the darkness. She slowly headed towards them as if floating. Tears were pouring from her eyes, just as they were pouring on Matilda's cheeks. The young woman opened her arms and Matilda jumped into her arms without second thoughts. They stayed there, in the warmest embrace, without wanting to let go.

"Matilda... My beautiful, beautiful girl..." she whispered, caressing her hair.

But Matilda couldn't answer. She snuggled into her mother's chest, sobbing. Everyone was sobbing. Everyone, except Baldie.

"Let's go," he said, "we don't have time to waste."

They all set off going again. Their group was getting larger; so staying in the light turned out to be rather hard. They headed towards the exit of the dungeon. The wailing started again, now that the song was over.

The dungeons were situated on both sides of the large, cold corridor; dozens of dungeons where the poor souls who refused to forget they were trapped.

"This place is horrible," Matilda whispered.

"I hope I could forget about it when we get home," said Danny.

"There are some things you just can't forget, no matter how hard you try," Matilda's mum added; then, silence fell again.

They went up the endless stairs at the end of the corridor. The stairs were narrow and the climbing was difficult. Matilda stepped on Izzy's tail and Danny stumbled a few times in Matilda's mum's dress. But none of them expected the wonderful, eerie view at the end of the stairs.

They were on the out edge of a large amphitheater, the largest square Ferry ever saw. It was as if he was watching a painting with gigantic archways in the background and the tall walls of a citadel behind. Impressive stone statues representing deities of distant times dominated the square. They held books and maps in their hands and their foreheads were adorned with laurels.

In the middle of those statues, there was a fountain; the fountain had dried out a long time ago. The marble it was made of turned black with the passing of time. Yet, at the base of the fountain, there could still be seen engravings, cut deep into the stone. People during crop time or dancing in the circle. Scenes with a family at the table. A mother rocking her child to sleep. Old people with beards all the way to the ground gathered around a roundtable. And dragons! Dragons that looked like protecting the human beings beneath with their long wings, spread out like the sails of the boat.

Ferry knew about dragons from his mother's tales. He never saw or heard of dragons in fairyland.

Far away in the distance, the dark walls of the citadel welcomed the blessing of the bits of light coming from Ben's flashlight; who knew for how long the light hasn't caressed their surface? The towers went high to the skies, looking like holding it. From time to time, the light funnel spread beyond the archways surrounding the square, revealing corridors and passages leading to the center of the citadel.

The dungeon was way behind now and they all tried to forget about it like it was a bad dream. Baldie slowly left the group and looked up towards the highest archway. A flag was engraved on the arch. The coat of arms was an old pine tree and an owl flying over. Old, strange letters surrounded the pine tree.

Ferry stepped closer. "What is this place?"

Baldie was still observing the winding letters. "It can't be..." he whispered to himself.

"What is it, Baldie?" he asked.

Baldie seemed troubled, "The Lost City of Darrah... But how?"

"What's the Lost City of Darrah?" asked Matilda.

"It's a city which vanished a long, long time ago. The legend says it vanished with hundreds of people altogether in only one night. But I never would've thought that Blind Alley is actually the Lost City of Darrah. "

"But why would the fairies keep this city hidden? Why would they turn it into this terrible place?" asked Ferry.

Baldie shook his head, "This is not a city of the fairies. This is a city of people."

"What?!"

"This is a city of the ancient people. A place of knowledge, of peace and good, true life. A city ruled by the wisest men on Earth. This is where wars ended and others were avoided. Sometimes, even the Great Fairies descended from their world to accept guidance and knowledge. Legend says that sometimes, when the doors between the worlds are opened, the shadows of the city can be seen again on Earth, like a thin, shifty mist. That's why it's also called the Ghost City of Darrah. "

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Thyme, are you sure?" asked Shadow. "Darrah is famous everywhere in fairyland. Fairies don't have such great powers to transport a whole city with all its people into their realm. That is fully forbidden by the Book of Fairies. I know the fairies of Tenalach don't follow the Book of Fairies. But if they did it, it would still be wrong and forbidden. And who would have such great power to transport a big city from one place to another? From one realm to another, mind you."

"This is called the Carry Charm. And only the Great Fairies could do it. So whoever did it, it was a Great Fairy. Only they have such power. "

"There's only one fairy here with such great power..." said Shadow.

"Fae Queen..." nodded Baldie.

Ferry had a strange feeling. Maybe for the first time since he was in Tenalach, he could finally see who he had to deal with; how hard it would be for them to get out of Tenalach.

They all stood still. A Kallikan was a few steps away, sniffing the air around. He jumped all in four, screwing his blind eyes. A stripe from Matilda's mum's dress was left in the darkness, away from the light. The Kallikan was now staring at it, not knowing what to believe. Shadow quickly pulled the stripe into the light and they all forgot to breathe for a few seconds. The Kallikan came closer, too close to Matilda's mum. Then, he sniffed the air again and he dashed, disappearing in the labyrinth of passages.

"Let's leave this place!" said Baldie.

But which way to go? Which one of the corridors was to take them out of the Blind Alley?

"I know a song about this city," said Izzy. "I've heard it from a bard once. It says,

The short road of Darrah takes nowhere,

The longest one takes you somewhere."

"What does it mean?" asked Ferry.

"I think it means we have to follow the longest corridor," said Baldie. "It will take us out of here."

So they set off again, following the path under the biggest archway. They soon realized it was the right way because the Kallikans were growing in number. They could see them uselessly wandering around on the stone slabs. Luckily, the Kallikans didn't seem to see them.

But as they were going forward, the light of the flashlight was fading. After a while, it started to flicker.

"The batteries are running out," whispered Matilda and they all could sense the panic in her voice.

"What's a battery?" asked Shadow.

"It's some sort of coal that makes the fire in this magical object keep burning," said Izzy. "And now it came to an end."

They rushed, trying as hard as they could to stay under the fainting light of the flashlight. Far away, ahead, the darkness didn't look that thick, a sign that the way out was close. Soon, they could see the high gates of the citadel.

But the flashlight started to flicker ever more often. They all realized that they were going to be in the darkness soon.

"What are we going to do?" Danny started to whine.

"Keep walking!" said Baldie.

Yet no matter how hard they tried to hurry, the gates were still too far. The Kallikans were now swarming everywhere and it was hard for everyone in Ferry's group to avoid them. Then, the flashlight stopped dead. Luckily, they were protected by a big wall outside the citadel and the Kallikans couldn't see them. Yet.

"That's it," said Izzy, "we're doomed to stay here forever."

But Rosemary interrupted his whining. "Shhh, I think I see something. Like a little light coming towards us..."

Indeed, somewhere in the distance ahead, they could all see the frail light of a lantern. A lantern with people's fire! And soon, the creature holding the lantern appeared in front of them.

"Come quickly, Master!" he said to Ferry in a high-pitched voice. "We don't have much time."

Thank you all for the long wait! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to comment and vote.