Jack Gregson & the Forgotten Portal (17 page)

“Jack? Is everything alright?”

“Come on,” he said as he returned them to
human form. He didn’t want to discuss his feelings with Anthrow.
“The Forgotten Portals this way.”

“You know, this place is very much like the
Grotto,” said Anthrow as he followed Jack towards the path.
“Whoever created the Forgotten Portal must have chosen this place
because of that.”

“The book said the Forgotten Portal was
created by a god. If that’s true, then maybe it created the Grotto
too,” replied Jack.

Anthrow didn’t reply to that but nodded at
his logic.

They continued on the path in silence, until
they came to the wall made of stone.

“This is it, the way home,” said Jack.

“Ah home,” said Anthrow. “I think I’m going
to create a portal right into my living room. Imagine the
convenience!”

“What about unwanted visitors? Anyone could
enter your home, if they knew the right portal.”

“Then I would welcome them and offer them a
warm cup of your worlds English Tea. Believe it or not, most people
that travel the portals are really quite nice. You just had an
unfortunate first journey. There are so many wonders I could show
you! Yes, your next visit will be much more pleasant.”

“Oh I doubt there’ll be another one,” a
voice hissed from behind them.

Jack turned, just as black mist appeared out
of nowhere. It twisted and swirled as it began to take shape.

A small of plume of smoke was spat out of
the mist. It flew through the air, becoming more solid as it took
shape. The small green man appeared and fell to the ground
hard.

The remaining cloud began to take form as
well, Maddox once again becoming the Shadow Man.

“A clever trick Gregson. I see you have the
family magic, even if you don’t fully understand how to use it. It
was quite easy to latch on to you unseen. And now you have brought
me right where I needed to go.”

Maddox laughed as he turned towards the
portal. “With this, we can go anywhere! We will crush your world.
Enslave your people and destroy all life that opposes us.”

“It’s your world too Maddox. Why would you
want to see it destroyed?” asked Jack.

“It is not my world! Everything that I lived
for there was taken from me. Now it is my turn to take. My turn to
make people suffer.”

“Your mad,” said Jack softly. He once again
wondered how this could be his father.

“Enough talk!”

“What are you going to do Maddox?” Asked
Anthrow. “You’re here alone, without your Horde to command. You
can’t hurt us.”

A wave of black mist shot out of Maddox’s
body, the head of a wolf charging towards Anthrow. It hit him in
the chest, causing him to fly backwards and land on his back.

Maddox laughed as he began to turn to mist
once again. “Perhaps my powers are limited right now, but do not
presume that you could ever beat me.”

The black smoke had once again become a
tendril, as it glided towards the green man who was holding up the
red vessel. “Create a portal to the graveyard of Gregson Manor,” he
hissed. “We travel to Earth,”

“Anthrow, Quickly!” Jack shouted as he ran
towards the small man.

He tackled him to the ground, just as Maddox
finished entering the vessel.

“What are you doing,” asked Anthrow as
limped towards him, hurt from the hit he’d taken.

“Hurry! Remember the first time the Horde
chased us? You took us to a world. One with no people and a dead
sun.”

“Cortavia. Yes what of it?”

“Here! Take this,” Jack said as he grabbed
the red vessel from the man’s hands and passed it to Anthrow. “I
think my father would enjoy the darkness there.”

Anthrow smiled and said, “Oh I know he
would. What about this one?” he nodded to the green man struggling
beneath Jack.

“I’ll take care of him. Now go before he
works out what’s happening.”

“Goodbye Jack,” said Anthrow as he walked
into the passageway. “Until we meet again.”

“Goodbye Anthrow,” said Jack smiling.
“Thankyou for your help. We couldn’t have done this without
you.”

“Just one thing before I go. Next time we
meet…you have to promise me. No more Chaos Pixies. Your grandmother
really was crazy for giving one of those to you. People often do
crazy things for family, but it only means they care.”

Anthrow smiled once again. “Now! How do I do
this? Do I just say ‘Cortavia’ and then…”

Jack didn’t hear the end of the sentence as
the portal pulled Anthrow away to the planet with a dead sun.

He stood up, and dusted himself off. The
little green man was eyeing him wearily; unsure of what Jack was
going to do to him.

“Are you going to try anything?” asked
Jack.

The green man shook his head.

“Good. We’re going to take a trip,” he said
as he put a hand to the man’s shoulder and led him to the
portal.

“I’m going home.”

Chapter
Nineteen

Home

Lightning flashed and crackled as it appeared
from thin air in the attic of Gregson Manor.

“What on Earth!” the curator cried as she
rushed over to see what was occurring.

A black hole had appeared on the glass of
the rear wall and it was getting larger.

It grew and grew, finally taking the shape
of a door, leading to a passageway beyond.

Suddenly the glass within the doorway
shattered as Jack and the small green man came flying through, to
land in a heap on the ground before the curator.

“It worked!” said Jack, looking up at
her.

“You’re back!” she said.

Jack stood and looked at the portal. It was
right where he’d imagined it to be, when standing in the Forgotten
Portal.

“How did you do that?” asked the
Curator.

“Jack?” his Grandmother called as she
entered the Attic.

He turned to see her standing there, sick
with worry. She looked at though she hadn’t slept in days.

“I’m back Grandma,” he replied as he rushed
to the model of the Gregson Manor in the centre of the room.

The Rear Garden was back to normal, the
black warrior statue gone, and the statue of Charles once again in
its rightful place.

The Horde was also gone, although the
destruction it had caused remained. Jack thought it would take
sometime for the plants and trees to regrow.

“We did it!” he said turning to face them
all. The little green man was still seated on the ground, still
unsure of his fate.

“Yes I saw the model change some hours ago,”
said the curator. “The Horde is gone.”

“Jack, where are your cousins?” asked his
Grandmother.

“What? They returned hours ago,” said Jack
confused.

“No, they didn’t. We haven’t seen or heard
from any of you since you left the grounds three days ago…”

“But Maddox said…” Jack trailed as he
remembered the events of the day. His father had said his cousins
had returned and the portal was now sealed. Why would he make that
up?

“Jack, did you say Maddox?”

Jack looked at his Grandmother. A look of
shock had come over her weary face.

Yes, Maddox. My father,” Jack replied.

He waited for the anger he’d been carrying
for days to start welling up inside of him. His Grandmother had
kept so much hidden from the family. He had found out about his
father’s alliance with Theorden from a stranger!

The anger didn’t come. How could he be angry
with her when he’d kept the same secrets from his cousins?

All of a sudden he knew that he was ashamed.
He was ashamed that his father was aligned with Theorden.

Didn’t it then make sense that his
Grandmother would be ashamed that Maddox was her son?

“Jack…”

“It’s OK,” he replied cutting her off. “We
need to find David and Rosie.”

Jack quickly told his Grandmother everything
that had happened since they’d first walked through the door in the
Western Garden and arrived at the Grotto. She listened intently,
asking questions occasionally. She was surprised to hear about the
Forgotten Portal and the real purpose of the book. She was shocked
to hear that Maddox controlled the Horde and had taken on the
Shadow Man form. Finally she was in denial that Alice could
possibly be involved in the whole plot.

“So that’s it. I know that David and Rosie
returned to Earth. I saw them go through the portal.”

His Grandmother didn’t respond but walked up
to the small green man.

“Where did my son instruct you to take him,”
she demanded.

The green man shrank back in fear. Jack
realised that while this creature worked for Maddox, he wasn’t
necessarily bad. Perhaps he was a slave of some sort.

“Where!”

“The…The graveyard,” he replied timidly.

“He’s right, I remember now. Maddox told him
to create a portal there,” said Jack.

“How did you get this!” the curator said
angrily, as she pulled Anthrow’s necklace from one of the man’s
pockets.

“It’s Anthrow’s,” said Jack as he bent down
and retrieved the book and black ring as well. “They took all of
our magic items when they captured us.”

“I know it is Anthrows. I gave it to him,”
she replied as she closed her eyes. The necklace sparkled and
glowed briefly in her hand. “There, fully charged.”

She turned to Jack and said “Anthrow, is he
OK?”

“He’s fine,” Jack said, hiding his surprise
that she was the ‘special person’ that had given him the necklace.
“Can I please borrow that, to get to the graveyard?”

The curator nodded and handed it to him.

“Jack, What are you planning?”

“Rosie and David could be down there,
needing my help.”

“That is the problem, not a plan to solve
it,” his grandmother replied as she walked towards the portal that
Jack had created.

Her hands started to glow white, magic
building within her.

She pointed at the portal and two magic
bolts flew out towards it, a white glow spreading as it hit.

A door appeared, wooden and exactly like the
one in the Western Gardens.

A key shot out of the newly made lock and
flew into his grandmother’s hand.

“That should hold it, unit we can get an
emerald to seal it properly. Now, Jack. I promised you the secrets
of the Manor and perhaps it would be a good time for your lessons
to start now.”

“Ok…” he replied.

“Go to the graveyard. See if your cousins
are there. I won’t be far behind.”

His Grandmother disappeared into thin air,
leaving Jack standing there in shock. She was clearly a master of
magic.

“Well hurry up then, you heard her,” said
the curator. “I’ll look after the green one.”

Jack nodded, and concentrated on the
necklace, willing it to activate.

The world became a blur as his body entered
a time and space unlike everything around him.

He took a step towards the entrance of the
Attic at the other side of the room and was suddenly already
there.

Another step took him to the bottom of the
stairs, and another two to the front door of the house. Three more
steps and he was standing next to the monk in the rear garden, his
head spinning. It was if the magic was reading his mind on where he
wanted to go, and taking control of his body to get him there. He
doubted he could ever get used to it.

Jack deactivated the charm and took a moment
to recover.

The rear garden was as he had seen it in the
model. Dead. Every tree, plant and blade of grass drained of
life.

At least they’d destroyed the Horde, he
thought.

The graveyard was ahead, the rusted iron
fence just in sight.

Jack ran towards it, hoping his cousins were
ok.

Chapter Twenty

The Wardens of
Gregson Manor

Jack slowed to a walk. He’d spotted his
cousins seated on the ground beside Alice the moment he’d entered
the graveyard. They had seen him too, so he saw no point in trying
to hide, but hoped his Grandmother would join him shortly.

To the left of them was a man, his back to
Jack as he looked down on a gravestone.

Isn’t that my mother’s grave he’s looking
at? Thought Jack.

As he got closer, the man turned towards
him, a smile upon his lips. He looked…normal. Was this Theorden,
the most feared person in the Universe? He looked like one of
Jack’s teachers. Despite the smile his face was stern, much like
the portrait of him on the third floor of the house, but he didn’t
look evil or all-powerful.

“Ah Jack. I was beginning to worry you
wouldn’t join us. Come,” said Theorden, waving him over.

“Jack, stay back!” said David.

“Quiet!” Alice yelled at him as she smacked
him over the head. The timid housemaid was gone.

She turned and smiled at Jack, a crazy look
in her eye.

He noticed she wore the blue emerald on a
chain around her neck.

“You know, you have the good looks of your
father,” Theorden continued, as if nothing had occurred. “Although
he is a shadow of his old self these days. Where is he by the way?
He was instructed to bring you here, yet you come alone.”

“Maddox is gone, you won’t see him
again.”

Theorden laughed. “No matter. When he’d
finally caught you, I feared he would fail me once more and let you
get away. That is why I told him your little cousins here had been
successful in their mission, in the hope you would return to the
manor if you managed to slip through his misty fingers once again.
Yes Jack I know all about your adventures. I barely threatened
these two before they were telling me everything.”

“He said he’d cut off one of my fingers!”
said David defensively. “He’s nuts!”

The comment resulted in another smack from
Alice.

“I especially liked the part about the
Forgotten Portal. I see the book deemed you worthy of its secret.
Perhaps you will see that I am worthy of the secret too.”