Wirl's End Chapter 8.

                                Chapter Eight

 

                                 Homecomings.

 

          Life at Wirl's End should have gone back to normal after that, but it did not seem to. Brian and Lexa sat on his garden wall and looked down the road towards the Door.

           "I don't think we should go anywhere near the Door again." said Lexa. "I am not sure that James and Verity will be as good as old Mr. Warder and Mrs. Turnkey at catching anything nasty that might come through."

 

          Brian gave a nod. "They seem more interested in each other than anything else." He stopped and drew a circle in the dust with his toes. "What happened to you and Verity when you went through the Door?" He stopped and took a deep breath. "You don't have to tell me if it upsets you."

          "It's all right, said Lexa."It was just silly of us really. You'd think that after reading all those books about witches and magic, I would have known better." She shrugged her shoulders.

    "On the other side of the Door I fell over. When I got up, it was not a Door in a Wall like ours, it was a garden gate in a fence. It was closed. I tried the handle but it would not turn, so the Gate would not open. There were two cottages, one on either side of the Gate."

          Brian gave a nod. "I saw those too."

          Lexa continued. "I had a quick look inside, but they were empty, so I did not go in. Then I followed a track until I came to two more ruined cottages."

    "I saw them," said Brian.

"There was a girl sitting on the doorstep of one of them. She was crying like a baby," continued Lexa.

 "I said. 'Hello' and she jumped like she had been bitten."

 

            "You're not the witch, are you?" She asked, sounding very, very scared." said Lexa.

           "No," she said, "You are too young. "Sorry, only this is the Dark Forest and the witch lives around here somewhere."

          "Definitely not a witch." I told her. "My name is Alexandra, but everyone calls me Lexa."

            "My name is Verity," she said. "And everyone calls me Verity."

            "I just came through that Gate back there," I said. "But, I am not sure how. Or how I am going to get back."

           "I had a row with my boyfriend, somewhere along the road, and I stormed off. Now I am lost and I don't know where he is." Verity began to cry again.

          Lexa snorted." She was a real watering pot."

          "I met her boyfriend on the track," said Brian. "He was a real scaredy cat."

          "Anyway," she went on. "I said we should follow the track and see if we could find her boyfriend. She nodded, and we set off. I marked the trees as we went so we could find our way back to the Gate"

          "I did, too," Brian admitted. "But when we came back, the marks had disappeared."

           "They were very strange trees," agreed Lexa. "After we had gone some way, we came to a cottage. A huge flock of rooks flew up as we came close. They made an awful noise."

"They did that for us as well," said Brian.

"Verity put her hands over her eyes and screamed. There did not seem to be anyone about, and no-one answered the door when I knocked, so I looked through the window." went on Lexa, ignoring the interruption.

I was wondering what to do when I was grabbed from behind. It made me jump, I can tell you. Then I was spun round. A fierce looking woman had us both in her hands. So, she said, "Nosy visitors."

 

   "I did try to get free, but she was very strong. Then she waggled her fingers and I found I could not move. I was only looking to see if anyone was home." I told her.

"Hmmm," she said in a very nasty tone of voice. "Curiosity killed the cat. So nosy little cats you are and cats you shall be."

          Then, she waved her fingers and I watched as Verity turned into a grey cat. When I looked down at myself, I was a white cat."

    "It is funny," said Lexa. "I may have looked like a cat, but I still felt like a girl. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a growl."

           The witch said, "Now run along. You can stay like that until the bell rings."

    "I did not know what she meant by that," said Lexa.

    Excitedly, Brian said. "I do. Verity had a bell with her, but it was stuffed with hankies, so it could not ring. I used it to call Mr. Warder when I found the speaking tube. That means that the spell has probably been broken. If you and Verity ever go back to the other world, then you will not change into cats after all."

"I hope that's right," said Lexa. "Being a cat is not as much fun as people might think. Well, to carry on with the story," said Lexa. "We ran off into the trees. After a while, we saw you and James ahead of us. I was just about to catch up with you when I heard those riders coming along the road."

Lexa stopped. "You know, cats have a much better sense of hearing than we do, so I heard those riders long before they arrived. We hid behind a bush and watched the riders take you away.

"They were not very friendly," said Brian.

   Lexa went on, "When you had gone, Verity started crying again. Or at least the cat equivalent of crying. I did not know what to do, so being a cat, I sat down and had a good wash."

  Lexa laughed. "Did you know that when a cat does not know what to do, it has a wash? I still find myself trying to lick the back of my hands when I am a bit worried."

Brian shook his head. "I did not know that."

 

"Well, they do," said Lexa. "The Dark Forest is full of strange noises for a cat and is very scary. Verity the cat just curled up under a bush and refused to move. I did not like to leave her, so I curled up as well.  That is another thing about cats, "she added. "They need an awful lot of sleep. We stayed like that until you came back with the riders. You know the rest. We turned back to our true selves when we came through the Gate.

"You were very clever, the way you sort of talked to us," said Brian.

Lexa gave a shrug and said thoughtfully. "Cats can also see things that humans can't. When we came through the Gate there were two shadows at the end of the road. They turned and went away when our Door was closed again."

Lexa took a deep breath. "We turned into human beings again as soon as we came through.  Mr. Warder and Mrs. Turnkey were waiting for us. The sacks were empty. I felt the things that had been in them go past me and through the Door.  I got the feeling that they were very angry at being sent back into that other world."

Mr. Warder said. "Thank-goodness you are safe. Mrs. Turnkey was as grumpy as usual. She said "Perhaps it will stop you playing near the Door in future."

"Now, now. Alls well that ends well," said Mr Warder.

"Lot of fuss caused by a naughty girl," said Mrs. Turnkey.

"They led us into Mr. Warder's house and the bell rang." finished Lexa. "You know the rest."

"Let's hope the Evil beings have gone for good," said Brian. "The one that came and passed me felt incredibly evil."