Emma L.

Dark Woods

By Emma Lann

To all my friends, for being such good ones

Maple Leaf Book Writing Project

Brattleboro, VT

Copyright 2014

Prologue

To the people in say, 2014, this is future. Sure there’s jetpacks, but it’s worse. To begin with, jetpacks streak across the dark sky, polluting it more. All the gas stations have at least one leak, which spills out fuel, hurting the little bit of dirt. You can’t go anywhere without meeting bullies.

Far away the shouts of a boy split through the unearthly silence.

Chapter 1

“No!” yelled Sam, “We won’t do it!” Sam is my best friend, not boyfriend. He’s my only friend. Sam and I are both orphans, but there are no orphanages in town. If there were, we would have run away anyways. Sam and I got in a fight with a local street bully bunch. They wanted us to go into the dark woods. Evil things lurk there and the head of the bullies wanted to see what would happen. I am so tempted to shoot the bullies with my bow and arrows I have on my back.

“Ruby, our magic isn’t strong enough,” Sam started to say.

“Your magic isn’t strong enough, unlike me, you haven’t been practicing!” I tell Sam. Yes, in this world people can do magic. Fairytale magic. I grabbed Sam by the wrist and we went into the the dark, evil, traitorous woods. Since we went in I assumed we could go out of the woods. When we turned around the entrance was gone. We were stuck in the maze of the woods.

Sam was flipping out.

“We’ll never get out now! We, we could get eaten, or scared to death by a lion!”

“There’s not going to be a lion!” I snapped. Then a cat jumped out of a bush, scaring Sam so bad that he jumped into my arms, pushing me over. The cat morphed into a lion, I guess Sam gets to say told you so. I used my magic to try to shrink the lion back to a kitten but my spell bounced off it and hit Sam, shrinking him to the size of a lizard. Oops.

“The lion has some force field around it!” I yelled to Sam. I grabbed him, stuffed him in my pocket then ran, only to be thrown in the air by one of the oldest traps there are. A foot rope trap.

I don’t remember much after that besides getting stuffed in a bag that smells like socks.

I came to while the person was carrying me, I turned Sam back to normal size so the person would get the extra labor. I heard the person grunt. I smiled.

Chapter 2

When the person dumped us out we were in a fortress, in a prison cell, and under a man’s glare. The boy who dumped us was by the looks of it, my age. He had a tangle of brown hair on his head. The man was a tall and mean looking guy. He also had no hair, just a slick bald head.

“What should we do with them?” asked the boy who dumped us in the cell.

“Skyler, I told you the next time you talked you would get tossed in jail,” said the man. “Now, you join these rats in their cell.” The man threw the boy, Skyler, into the cell with us.

“Mr. Gin has such stupid rules…” muttered Skyler. I jumped on him,

“Hey! Stop!... I want to help!” whispered Skyler so Mr. Gin wouldn’t hear.

“Why should I believe you?” I said.

“Just believe me! I promise!” he told me.

“You only get one chance.” I said.

“How did you even end up here… Sam! What are you doing?” I called to Sam

“Looking around the cell……” Sam said.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the the story.” Skyler clenched his teeth. “I was a baby, an orphan, left outside the woods. The forest branches took me into the woods and to Gin. Gin took me in, but not lovingly. He made me be a slave on the spot.”

“Wow.” I was shocked. There was a long silence.

“How long have we been in here?” I asked.

“Three hours I think.” replied Skyler.

“Aaaaa! This is all my fault!” I cried. “If I didn’t give myself up to my pride we wouldn’t be here! Those bullies made me go in here! I hate them!”

“Hey guys, found a exit!” Sam called loudly.

“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Skyler and I both shushed Sam. We all froze, waiting for steps to come down the dungeon stairs. None came. We squeezed through the narrow entrance Sam found. Then sirens blared.

We ran for the nearest tree to hide. I used my magic to open a hole in the tree. When we went in, the hole closed. We waited till the voices were gone to reopen the hole to climb out.

“That was too close,” I gasped. As we walked along, we saw posters hanging up, Wanted posters with us on them. That was fast.

“ This is really bad,” Sam shivered,

“I know! Now every creature in the woods will try to kill us!” Skyler blurted.

“That, and look how low they priced me! You guys have a huge price!” exclaimed Sam. Skyler and I just stared at him.

“I really want to strangle the bullies who made us go in these woods.” I said again because I wanted too.

We got going again, but only to fall into a deep pit. We all kind of blacked out, but when we came to, we were at the bottom of a pit. In a tunnel with light at the end. We followed it until we were out of the tunnel. We were outside the woods. We had found a underground exit.

“Freedom! Wait, where is Sam?” Skyler asked, looking around.

“He’s probably still in the woods!” I said, alarmed.

“But we’ll get stuck again if we go in!” argued Skyler.

“That doesn’t matter!” I called back as I ran into the labyrinth. Skyler clicked his tongue and ran after me. The woods were dark and cold, I was freezing. If we got out again, we’d get in the not existing records book for coming out alive twice. Skyler and I looked in every tree, every hole, everywhere but couldn’t find him. Then, something caught my eye. It was the wanted poster, over Sam’s name was a bright red stamp that said “ FOUND” We were too late. Gin had Sam. A wave of dizziness fell over me. Long ago, we promised to keep each other safe. And I broke that promise. “No,” I stammered, “I can still make it right.”

“Hey, girl, what’s your name?” Skyler called.

“Ruby,” I answered.

“Right, are you all right?” he asked.

“Skyler, we are going to Gin’s,” I replied.

Chapter 3

“The doors are sealed shut by magic!” I whispered to Skyler. “Do you have a card or something to open it with?”

“I have my servant card for the servants to get in,” Skyler whispered back. He slid the card in a slot and the doors flung open. Inside was a mess. Cracked walls with peeling paper went twenty feet up. Pictures and “BEST WIZARD” trophies were scattered on the floor.

“He really tore up the place looking for us,” I said looking around. “Where should we start?”

“Throne room.” Skyler cringed.

Chapter 4

When we opened the doors cautiously Sam sat in the middle of the room. The throne was empty, Gin was no where in sight.

“Sam!” I called, running towards him.

“Stop! It’s a trap!” yelled Skyler frantically, but I didn’t listen. Biggest mistake. Sam grabbed my arms, his grip almost cut off the circulation in my wrists. I looked up at Sam, he had a faraway look in his eyes.

“No!” screamed Skyler, pulling me away from Sam and to the doors. They slammed shut.

“Going so soon?” teased Gin.

“What did you do to him?” I stammered.

“Made him my property, of course!” Gin said.

All at once I couldn’t control my magic. A huge ball of it formed in the air as I flung power at Gin and he got smashed to the ground.

“Sam!” he yelled. Two cold hands grabbed me, I got another ball ready, turned to face the person. It was Sam.

“You wouldn’t dare hurt your friend.” Gin said, brushing bits of floor off him.

“Take them away.” Sam herded us to a bright room. It wasn’t bright because of the sun, (you can’t see it in the woods anyways), it was because the room was filled with treasure. Sparkling curtains hung from the ceiling for decor purpose only. The floor had a giant oriental rug covering it completely, or it looks like it does, you can’t see the end. Sparkling jewels, gold, gems, and much more made elephantine piles.

“Not here,” Skyler stuttered.

“What?” I asked, afraid now.

“This treasure room is almost endless!” he yelled.

“Like the desert?” I asked.

“Like the desert!” replied Skyler just as a ton of gold fell from a tube.

“There!” I yelled, trying to be louder than the noise of falling treasure. “Skyler, where does that tube go?” I said to him.

“Throne room, why?” he asked.

“I believe we found our exit.” I said grinning.

Chapter 5

When Skyler and I crawled out of the treasure pipe we were in the throne room, behind the throne. Sam and Gin were talking.

“So Sam,” said Gin. “ How is it being here?”

“Awful.”

“What did you say?”

“Awful,” Sam replied.

“Sam, I think you need to be hypnotized again.” said Gin.

Hypnotized! That’s what happened to Sam. Gin reached out to Sam to hypnotize him again, when a creaking floorboard gave our hiding spot away. Gin listened for awhile before using the shadow spell on himself (makes you turn into only a shadow) and made his way to the throne and started to look behind it, when Sam came to. He knocked a vase down with a shattering crash. The shadow of Gin whisked himself to Sam.

“Why. Did. You. Do. That!?” yelled Gin, losing interest in the source of the creaking floorboard. Skyler and I moved to a different hiding spot. Only Sam noticed.

When we were safe behind a elephantine pot Sam yelled:

“Something’s behind the throne!” Gin whisked over to the throne, to only find the extinct carnivorous dust bunnies. While Gin was searching, Sam inched ever so carefully towards Skyler and I. He was stopped in his tracks though.

“Nothing was there Sam!” hollered Gin. Sam thought fast.

“That’s because the thing moved to behind the curtains!” Gin fell for it again. This time Sam got all the way to us. Gin, enraged, came hurtling at Sam.

“There he goes! It’s Skyler!” Gin still believed Sam. Sam ushered us out of the throne room. We all sprinted out of the castle. From behind us we could hear the screams of Gin echoing in the castle. In his rage, Gin set the castle on fire.

“We’re lucky we weren’t in there,” Skyler panted. “We could have been burned to a crisp!”

We kept going, except when a giant fire ball of death hit the path in front of us. When we turned around the castle was shooting fire balls.

“Quick! Use the bubble spell!” I screamed over the whistling of the balls. We all used the bubble spell to float through the brown foliage. Why hadn’t we thought of floating out before? That’s when I looked around and saw that the woods never ended. Was this an illusion? A stretch out spell? No, it was the woods itself. It was designed to drive one mad.

“We need to go down,” I said glumly. As we floated down we froze. Gin was down there and looking for us.

“What now,” I whispered. “He will kill us!”

“I have a plan,” Skyler whispered back. “Now listen, I’ll try to get the evil out of Gin. If it doesn’t work, you guys help me defeat him.”

“That’s a awful plan!” Sam whisper-yelled.

“Do you have a better one?” Skyler had Sam there.

“Fine,” grumbled Sam.

Chapter 6

“Mr. Gin! Mr. Gin!” called Skyler.

“Oh my,” said Sam.

“Who’s there!?” screamed Gin.

“It’s your old pal Skyler!” Skyler said.

“Where!?” Gin said in a annoyed tone.

“I’ll never tell!” Skyler replied.

“WHAT!” Gin hollered.

“Listen, you need to let go of that evil inside you!” Skyler reasoned.

“Okay,” said Gin.

“Really?” asked Skyler.

“NO!” Gin yelled.

Gin found and threw Skyler backwards.

“NOW!” I yelled. Sam and I lept from our hiding place and attacked.

“Two to one, Gin!” Sam said.

“Or is it?” Gin chuckled. We stepped back in horror as lions materialized in front of us.

“Who’s out numbered now?” Gin cackled.

“The… tree…” Skyler stuttered. “What?” I called to him.

“Tree,” Skyler repeated, pointing to a glowing tree. It was humming quietly. Making faint waves towards Gin, making him stronger. I got his message and grabbed the bow and arrows that were on my back. I took one clear shot at the tree, which started to wither.

“AAAAAAAAAARGH!” hollered Gin, clutching his side.

“We did it!” said Sam. His celebrating didn’t last long though, because a blast of blue lightning hit him. I whirled around. Gin was standing as healthy as ever.

“You got killed!” I said to him.

“That was for show, now it’s your turn,” Gin replied.

“You can’t kill me!” I said.

This made Gin so mad for some reason, he accidentally set fire to his lions before hurtling lightning at me, which I dodged.

When he shot another one at me I reflected it back at him and he fell to the ground. Suspicious considering the blast wasn’t big. I convinced Sam and Skyler to get up and we got out of there.

“ W-what’s going on?” Skyler said.

“I’ll explain later! Run!” I said urgently.

“Why? Gin is gone, you defeated him, remember?” asked Sam.

“I blasted him with a reflect spell! He couldn’t be defeated by that!” I answered. As we ran, things started to look familiar.

“There,” Skyler yelled, “ there’s the exit to the woods!” He was right, I could see it. Branches making an arch, sunlight pouring through, getting closer and closer by the second. I ran ahead, eager to get air that wasn’t rotten. The boys were still behind me when I got out. They were huffing and puffing. Sam was first of them to get out.

Maybe it was just a strong blast of wind but whatever it was, Skyler couldn’t get through the exit. Sam and I pulled and pulled on his arms trying to get him out. Something caught my eye. It was another glowing tree.

“Sam,” I asked him, “do you still have that rope you always carry?”

“Yes, why?” he replied.

“I need you to tie it around my waist so I can go back in and not be lost.” I told him.

Sam tied it around my waist and I walked towards the tree. I took another arrow out of my quiver and shot the tree. It must have been a tree that kept Gin and his slaves from leaving because when I shot it, the barrier broke. Skyler stumbled out of the woods. I turned around to head back when something cut the rope. I watched as the exit shrunk from view.

“Where do you think you’re going?” said a voice all too familiar. I had forgotten about Gin.

“I’m going home!” I yelled, clearly frustrated by his persistence to kill me. I ducked between his legs and ran, hoping to find the door. Gin had other plans. He hit me with lightning, or tried to because I blocked it with a shield of magic.

He never looked more angry. He started chanting a spell I didn’t understand. Then I remembered. In wizard school we had tournaments, I played against Sam, he loves cats so he did the lion chant. Lion chant summons a lion as big as a elephant, teeth as big as swords, and claws as sharp as its teeth.

Gin was using the lion chant. He seemed to like lions. Now think Ruby! What did you do at the tournament? Oh! Dog chant! Cats hate dogs, and this dog is a gigantic dog! I started to say the dog chant right as Gin finished the lion chant. Thankfully, the dog chant is short so my gigantic dog and his gigantic lion showed up at the time. The lion ran away as soon as he saw the dog.

“Coward!” Gin screamed after the lion. This was my chance, I sent the dog to kill, or hurt Gin badly but Gin shrank the dog back to a puppy, opened a hole under it, and my dog fell in. Gin then picked up a dagger from a skeleton near by and threw it at me.

It hit my leg and my leg felt like it was being ripped off. With splotches in my eyes I pulled out the dagger, lunged at Gin, stabbing him in the heart. He then evaporated into black leaves. The leaves disintegrated. He was gone for now.

The woods started to shift and wither, as if they needed Gin. I couldn’t stare in amazement because the trees were crashing down on me, and the entrance was back. I ran as fast as I could. The wind was whipping my face as I dogged trees here and there. I jumped through the exit right before it collapsed. I was met with cheers from Sam and Skyler.