In Ferry's backyard, under the old walnut tree, and hidden behind the rustling sheets put to dry, the children felt as if having a secret meeting inside an ancient citadel; away from curious eyes and just as curious ears. It rained the other day, and the air was fresh and invigorating. The sun wasn't that generous that day, and the evening hours were bringing along traveling shadows and sweet linden flowers' scent. The darkness didn't set just yet, and a few beams of light were descending from above, sneaking through the branches like the flickering light of a lantern.

Matilda climbed on one of the lower branches of the tree and she was dangling her feet while enjoying a strawberry-flavored lollipop. Ben was sitting on the ground and he was keeping himself busy with a stick, drawing in the soft soil strange shapes only he could understand. As for Ferry, he was sitting in his swing, his favorite place in the entire world. But something was concerning him.

"We need to find Danny," he suddenly said.

His words made Ben stuck still with the stick in the air while from the tree, they could hear Matilda's smack of disapproval.

"Why would we do that?" she burst out, ready to start a fight as always when they were having Danny as a subject.

"Because that is the only way we could help Miss Summer. It's the only way we can prove she had nothing to do with Danny's disappearance. Besides, how can you pretend nothing happened? A child our age has gone missing. Someone we know. Someone who has parents who are probably worried sick and miss him. Someone with a mother who most probably hasn't slept or eaten ever since. Think about how your parents would feel if that happened to you. It could've been any one of us..."

Matilda calmed down a little, "All right, let's just say we are going to look for him. What makes you think we'll find him? The police couldn't find him. It's been two weeks and no sign of him what so ever. We wouldn't even know where to start," she said in one breath. The boys could tell she was enjoying talking to them from up there.

Ferry was hesitating. And Ben didn't miss his hesitation. "Is it something we don't know?" he asked.

"Well... I don't know how to put this... But what if Danny has disappeared from less... ordinary reasons?"

"What do you mean?" his friends asked at the same time.

Matilda jumped from her branch so she could hear better.

"Didn't you notice there were things that made little sense? The footprints vanishing... Or no object of Danny's that could be found..."

"Do you think he was kidnapped by aliens?" asked Ben and his friends could read the excitement in his voice.

"Will you stop with those aliens already?" Matilda shouted.

"But it makes sense," Ben insisted. "How else would he vanish without a trace? Who or what could cause that? Do you have any idea, Ferry?"

"Whatever or whoever it is, they are holding Danny captive," he said.

Matilda turned serious, "How would you know that? We don't even know if he's still alive. We don't have the slightest idea about the way he vanished."

"Maybe we don't. But maybe the one who witnessed Danny's disappearance might know something..."

"Billy!" both his friends shouted.

"But Billy will never talk to us," Ben concluded.

"It's true, Billy will never talk to us," said Ferry, and a smirk appeared on his face. "Not to us."

⃰

All four were pedaling on the long alley leading to the Pride Mansion. They managed to convince May she was the only one who would have made Billy tell what he saw the day Danny disappeared. Aa always, May was happy she could help.

The afternoon was hot, and the mansion was appeared in their sight, trembling in the waves of heat.

"I could really use an ice cream now," Ben said barely pedaling. He was behind everyone, heavily breathing. Matilda was way ahead, followed by Ferry and May. The heat was exhausting. Even if Billy would have refused to see them, at least they could have asked for some water.

When the big house was in plain sight, they stopped and waited for a while, catching their breath. They left their bikes at the bottom of the huge marble stairs and Ferry knocked. A butler opened the door and asked them politely what they wanted.

"We would like to talk to Billy," said May with her small voice, pushed from behind by Matilda. "Is he home?"

The butler invited them in, letting them know they could wait in the cool, vast hallway. After a few minutes, they could hear steps on the stairs coming from the upper floor and Billy appeared. He seemed sad, but as his visitor came to his sight, they could see the wonder on his face. Especially when he saw May.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"We'd like to talk to you about Danny," said May coming one step closer.

But Billy took one step back as if he was ready to hit the road only by hearing his friend's name.

"I've got nothing to say to you!" he shouted. "And since when are you hanging out with the weirds, May?" he spat the words, trying to be as unbearable as possible. But no matter how hard he tried, the children could see how sad he was. He didn't even seem to have the power to be rude anymore.

Then, he just turned his back on them, determined to leave. But May took another step closer. "Please, Billy," she said with a warm voice, "he's the only friend you've got..."

Her words made him stop. He turned to them and, if they didn't know any better, they thought he was about to cry.

"Come with me," he said in a low voice.

They followed him in silence, crossing the immense room that was hosting the parties. The hall was so big, the air seemed cooler and echoes of their steps resounded as they were walking on the marble slabs. Ferry could never wonder enough in front of the grandeur of that hall, even though it wasn't the first time he was there. For his friends, the wonder was even bigger. They watched in awe the huge room they were walking through. The paintings on the walls, climbing towards the ceiling, the dark, old furniture, and the majestic chandelier with the pieces of crystal slowly moving as they passed by, sending small, bell-like sounds, made the children feel like they were inside a fairytale palace.

Finally, they arrived on the vast terrace leading to the maze. They sat on wicker chairs and before they knew it, on the glass table in front of them, glasses of lemonade, fruits, and cookies appeared. They didn't even notice the servants who brought the treats.

"So what do you want to talk about?" asked Billy after the servants left.

"We want to find Danny," said Matilda, looking determined.

Billy forced a smile, "The police couldn't find him and you think you can?"

"We can't just sit and wait," said Ferry. "We must do something. Somebody must have seen something," he said, looking at Billy dead in the eye.

But Billy looked away, staring at the glass in front of him.

For a while, all they could hear was the sipping of the lemonade through the straws.

"You must tell us what you saw, Billy," May broke the silence. Then, she gently put her small hand on Billy's trembling hands. As by magic, Billy stopped trembling and his blue eyes watched May with wonder.

"You're the only one who saw what happened," May insisted.

Billy sighed. He didn't look annoyed anymore, "It's true... I'm the only one..."

But Matilda lost her patience. "Well? What did you see?" she asked.

Billy fussed on his chair. The panic in his eyes said he didn't want to remember.

"I didn't mean any of these to happen," he sobbed. "We just wanted to scare Miss Summer and pretend we've got lost in the woods. We didn't even go that deep... We stopped by an old oak tree, big enough to hide us both. And then..."

And Billy stopped talking, his body shivering again.

"Then, what?" May asked him gently.

"Then, Danny began to behave awkwardly. He was talking and waving his hands... as if he was talking to someone."

"What was he saying?" asked Ferry, his heart skipping a beat.

"He was saying, 'What is your name? Where did you come from? Do you live near the forest?'

Then he pointed at me and said my name. But then, he said the strangest thing, 'What do you mean you can't see him? He's right here with me!' And he kept pointing at me, asking me to say something. I was too frightened to talk. That thing, whatever it was, couldn't see me, just as I couldn't see it. And then Danny asked, 'Can't you see the girl near the tree? She wants me to go with her. She wants to show me a secret treasure...'"

The children shivered to hear such a story.

"And then," Billy continued, "the strangest thing happened... So strange, I would've never believed it, if told by someone else. I felt something.... like a shift in the air... I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't see anything moving; not even the smallest leaf. It was all very... still.

Then, Danny said he was going with the girl to see the treasure. I told him to come back; I begged him not to go. But he wouldn't listen; he headed towards the oak tree and... he went through it! I couldn't believe it, but he actually went through the oak tree. He went on the other side of the tree, then walked a few steps and then his image fainted slowly, until he vanished. He completely vanished! That's when I heard Miss Summer calling for us. And I came out of the forest. You know the rest..."

The children were all silent. They were trying to find something logical in Billy's story.

"If things happened the way you're saying, how come that strange being saw Danny, but not you?" Matilda asked.

"I don't know..." Billy mumbled.

Ben seemed lost in thoughts. In fact, he hadn't said a word since they arrived.

"Have you done something different?" he eventually asked Billy. "Or did you have something on? Something that would have made you look different from Danny?"

The other children looked at Ben with wonder. They couldn't understand what he was trying to say. Only Billy looked away.

"Did you have anything on that made you invisible, Billy?" asked Ben looking at him dead in the eye.

"What— What do you mean?" Billy pretended not to understand his question.

Ben loved playing the detective, "Well, it's pretty obvious that mysterious being showed itself only to Danny. But why, since you were there, too? Maybe it wanted to be seen only by him if we presume something unusual happened. But why it didn't see you?"

"I don't understand a word you're saying!" Matilda snapped. "What are you trying to say, Ben?"

"I'm saying Billy did something which made him invisible. It's the only logical explanation. Isn't that right, Billy?"

All eyes turned to Billy.

"Is it true, Billy?" May asked.

Billy eventually snapped, "It's true, all right! I did carry something with me that day. Something to make me invisible. I thought it would be fun to play a joke on Miss Summer during the picnic. We wanted to make the food look like flying... I told Danny what I intended to do, and he thought that would be fun. We would've loved to see everyone's faces. Only that--"

"Only you couldn't do that anymore because Danny disappeared," Ben added.

Billy nodded.

"What was that object? The one that made you invisible?" Matilda asked the question on everyone's lips.

But Billy persisted in staying quiet.

"You have to tell us, Billy," said Ferry. "It might help us find Danny."

"I don't see how..." he said, nodding.

"What was that object, Billy?" Matilda almost shouted.

"It was a feather, all right?" Billy flared up. "It was one of the charmed feathers of the veiled lady."

Everyone's jaw dropped.

"There are three feathers," Billy continued. "The veiled lady must be a witch and she must have put a spell on them otherwise I can't explain their powers. In fact, only two of them seem to have powers; I haven't found what the third one could do. If you put the blue one near your eye, it can make you invisible. If you place the green one on your foot, it can─"

"-- it can make you fly!" Matilda completed his sentence. "That's how you won the bike race! I saw something strange sparkling, but I thought it was some mechanism placed on your bike's wheel. I knew it was something strange. I knew it!"

Billy didn't say a word. Instead, he was staring at the ground.

"We must have another race. One where you will not cheat!" she threatened him with her finger.

"All right, all right," Ferry interfered, "we'll have another race. But first, we must find Danny."

Billy shrugged. "How are you going to do that?" he asked. "The police couldn't find him. Just like they couldn't find the others before him. It's obvious there's something unusual happening in those woods."

"Well, at least we're trying. You, instead─" Matilda spat the word, obviously annoyed.

"But to do that, we need your magical feathers," said Ferry.

Billy looked at him with thunders in his eyes. "NO! They're mine! You gave your word!" he shouted, pointing a finger at Ferry.

"But they could be of great help. You said it yourself there's something unusual in that forest," Ferry tried to convince him.

But Billy was determined, "They're mine! Now go away, all of you! I've got nothing else to say to you."

The children had nothing left to do but leave. This time, Billy didn't lead the way. Instead, he just stood there, staring at his untouched lemonade.

"Can we really trust Billy?" Matilda asked when they were far enough from the mansion. "He's nothing but a cheater and a liar."

Ferry was lost in thought. Then, his words sounded sinister in the hot air of the summer, "He's right about one thing, though. Whatever it is in that forest, it is not from this world..."

Thank you for reading this chapter! Please vote and comment! I'm so anxious to know your thoughts ;)