So where is the lightning bolt scar?

Riley looked between the boy and the man. Confusion had taken grasp of Riley’s mind and it was giving her a headache. The two looked alike and obviously the boy knew him. Yet, it could not be more than coincidence that these two men, which she had never met before but had seen in her dreams, had arrived on the doorstep. This situation was just so illogical.

She knew that taking her dreams as fact could be a massive mistake. She had never believed any parts of her other dreams. Of course it was easier to believe that people were real then that a giraffe lived in her closet. Riley was sure that she was right about the men that had shown up on her doorstep. Riley knew she had seen this man before dealing with the toady man in what she could assume was a trade for the boy.

“But” she started. “I thought you sold the boy to the other man” she stated before she could stop herself. The man stopped and his brown eyes snapped towards her.

“How do you know that?” he questioned. Riley could not tell if he was angry or astonished by her statement. She was not quite sure how to respond back. She decided that the truth was perhaps the best way to go.

“I dreamt it or well I saw you do it in my dream” she asserted. His brow furrowed and it seemed that all the puzzle pieces were falling together in his mind.

“How many of these dreams have you had?” he asked, standing straighter and it was as if he had grown several inches taller. The nerves that had been replaced by her confusion had come back. She was not quite sure if she should say anything to him about how many of these dreams she had. She was ever so curious about what he knew.

“A few” she responded vaguely. It had been more than few dreams more like a dozen.

“You are the seer then” he said as if Riley should know. Riley backed up closer to the hallway in case being the seer was a bad thing.

“Seer?” she questioned loudly. “Who are you? Where are you from?” she continued. Riley could only figure that this man was crazy and somehow had brainwashed this small boy. Yet, she was connected to all this by her dreams and could only hope that there was some logical explanation to these strange visions she had been having. She let her husky blue eyes narrow at the opposing man waiting for his answers.

“My name is Wilder” he spoke his voice calm and even. It seemed that his voice held s kindness as if he was speaking to a scared child. “Well, I am from across the woods, well not the woods in this land exactly. You are the seer” he tried to explain.

“So let me get this straight” Riley said. “You are from some fairytale land and somehow I can see into it?” she questioned yet again. Wilder simply nodded his head and began to open his mouth to explain further but Riley did not give him the chance.

“How did you get here then? Apparate? Thru a wardrobe? Did you bring a hobbit with a ring?” She asked in disbelief. Riley was having a hard time taking this all in. She waited for some defensive response from Wilder. Yet, no response came. Silence again visited the room like an unwanted house guest. Riley watched Wilder think, still standing defensively just in case this was some trick to lull her into letting her defenses down.

“How would I know of your dreams?” he asked.

“I don’t know” Riley replied trying to find some logical answer.

“It is just a coincidence that I happen to look like someone from your dreams?” he continued to question.

“I don’t know” she said exasperated.

“Can we please go somewhere and sit. I promise to explain this all to you as best as I can” he stated. Riley wanted to push this Wilder character out the door and she knew that is what any normal human would do. Riley needed to know about her dreams and he was the only key to understand them. She wrestled with this conflict and curiosity won. Riley motioned Wilder to follow her into the kitchen.

The kitchen was a vast sea of marble and stainless steel. Out swimming in the middle was a small wooden table with four chairs, which seemed out of place in this grand old house. Riley leaned against a counter while Wilder sat at the table with Buddy sitting beside him.

“So?” Riley urged “Everything?” Wilder’s chest rose and fell deeply. He pulled the chair closed to the table, the chair making a loud screech like noise.

“I or well we” Wilder began motioning towards Buddy, “came thru the forest where the lands meet. That is your world and my world. You see I am Lyander’s uncle” Wilder continued motioning towards the boy. “His mother is my sister and she is the wife of the current monarch. Which makes Lyander the next heir to the throne and that puts him in danger. A plot has been discovered that involves kidnapping Lyander and then murdering his father. To make sure this was not successful. I went undercover as a mercenary and hired myself out to the other side. The cage you saw in your vision was empty. We traveled thru the woods to here for a safe haven but Lyander got separated from me in a brief skirmish with Stanwag.”

“Alright, how about my dreams or vision as you are calling them” she asked. Riley was slowly processing all the information that had just been given to her. There should be more questions that she would have but none were coming to mind. Rather, Riley was taking the whole story as fact.

“Magic or rather special abilities are more commonly accepted in my land. You are a seer which means you have visions of events. There are not many of your kind anymore. Stanwag and his cronies have taken care of the majority of them. Which means you are in grave danger and if you stay here I doubt you will be safe” he said.

“What are you saying that I should come with you?” Riley asked. Riley had always wondered how hero in most fantasy novels could so easily accept the unbelievable but now she had the same decision. Could she or would she just follow him? Perhaps, Wilder was not implying for her to come along. She did have a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“Yes, come with us” Wilder replied.

In which she meets the man from her dreams

Riley’s peaceful silence did not last long, perhaps twenty minutes, before forceful knocking came back to the door. Riley could not figure how the man had returned so very quickly. She looked to the small boy and said, “Go hide, I’ll tell you when it is safe.”'

The boy stood taking is book and ran quickly down the long hall. The ringing of the doorbell echoed thru the large manor reminding her, whoever it was, was waiting. Riley briefly wondered if she just ignored the doorbell, if the person would go away. Then again, it could be the police or someone to help her. Against her want to go and hide, Riley went to the front door. She peered thru the peephole to only see black. Whoever it was outside her door, they were obviously covering the peephole in attempt not to be seen. This thought was very unsettling. With this unsettling thought, fear began to rise inside Riley’s chest like a tidal wave. Riley trying to keep a level head went to the kitchen and took the biggest knife she could find in her hand.

She creaked opened the door, peeking thru the small opening. With a brief glimpse she recognized the face in front of her. His face was from her dreams and not her daydreams of the perfect man. This was the face of the man with the cage. He was tall and not exactly skinny, lean was the right word she supposed. His dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail that she thought was longer then her own hair. His complexion was tan but she could tell at one time he had been fair. Riley realized a bit too late that she had been studying him for too long. Without a word, she attempted to slam the door. The man was too quick and had placed his body within the door, blocking it from closing.

The two were facing each other, and Riley grasped the knife in her hand. She realized quite quickly that she had no idea how to stab anyone with effect. He was nearly a foot taller than her and his muddy brown eyes were completely calm. All she could think of doing was to run towards him with the knife trusted out.

“Wait” he yelled his voice not nearly as booming as Riley expected. It was a bit too late as she could not stop in the middle of her run. He grabbed her arm before the knife had a chance to slash his skin. Riley froze not quite sure what to do. She had never fought anyone before.

“Look” he said strongly. “I’ll let go of your arm if you promise not to stab me” he stated simply. Riley looked doubtful. She was not sure if he could be trusted. She really had no other option.

“Promise not to hurt me” Riley replied rather pitifully. A small smile crept across his lips and nodded his head. He let go of her arm and took a step back. Riley dropped the knife letting the metal clang upon the metal floor. As soon as the clanging stopped, they looked at each other. A million questions were buzzing thru Riley’s head but it seemed that none would come to her voice. She gulped trying to get the words to come up. Then in the distance, she heard footsteps that were growing quicker and closer every second.

“Buddy stop” she yelled her voice finally returning. The boy did not heed her and instead ran straight towards the man who swung him up into his arms, giving the boy a great bear of a hug before returning him to the ground.

Counting

It had been exactly 76 hours and 43 minutes since the mystery boy had shown up on the doorstep of May Manor. Within that 76 hours or 3 days, not one call had come from the police station. Riley had taken to calling the police station every twelve hours but nothing had been accomplished from that besides annoying the operator. So thus, Riley was stuck with that she assumed was seven year old boy that was peculiarity thin and longer than usual black curly hair. The boy had yet to speak but whenever Riley had had looked into the sapphire eyes of this boy, he had seemed to have answers. She had concocted a tale about him being a gypsy run away but Riley knew that was just her over active imagination.

Despite the obvious barrier in lack of language, the pair had fallen into a routine. Riley would wake every morning usually to her odd dreams, dress and prepare breakfast for the dogs and the boy. The pair would then take the spoiled poodles on their walk and return to wait for a phone call. While they waited for a phone call that never came, the pair would go about a normal day, the boy, that Riley had begun to call Buddy , usually would spend it watching the television or in the library.

Today, however, the routine was disrupted by a knocking on the large oak door around mid-afternoon. Riley looked to boy who did not lift his head from the C.S. Lewis book he was currently reading. She rose placing down the magazine she had been reading and went to the door. She peeped through the peephole and spied a very familiar face. It was not a face she had met before but rather one that had been in her dreams. Her heart began to bang against her chest; the face belonged to the toady looking man that appeared so often at night. She knew she was being ridiculous but the panic had arisen so quickly. She took a deep breath and willed her heart to be still before opening the door.

“May I help you sir?” she asked politely putting on her best smile. She let her eyes wander over the toady man standing before. He was dressed normally in a pair of slacks and polo that were ill fitted to his rather robust frame. His wispy brown hair combed over his balding head. He did not look intimidating in the least bit except for the menacing look that was displayed in his beady brown eyes. Riley just did not trust him.

“I’m looking for a young boy” he began but before he could continue Riley quickly cut him off, her mind working quickly.

“Have you checked with the police?” she asked. Buddy had looked so skinny and terrified when he had shown up on the doorstep, she was afraid to hand him over to anybody without the police checking them out first. Besides, she did not trust this man and was not about to reveal any information to him.

“No” he said opening his mouth again to continue but Riley took his slight pause to interrupt again.

“It is about twenty minutes to town by car but I am sure if you went to the police station they will have a list of found children and if not you can report him missing” she said not
taking a pause. The man looked a bit stun before turning from the door and leaving the house. Riley closed the door and stationed herself at the front window making sure the man left the property. There was something very unsettling about the beady eyed man. She could only hope he would not return.

Paris and Nicole

Chapter 1
The manor stood at the edge of the expansive forest. It stood in perfect solitude without a visitor and only the inhabitants as its company. These inhabitants did not even feel its many rooms of loneliness. It was not an old manor only gracing the wilderness with its presence for ten or so years. Its owners had built it as a place for them to retire, so that they could hike, paint and read without a moment of interruption. Solitude eventually becomes monotonous and soon the older couple began to flee the home every summer for the south of France or Spain depending upon the year.

The couple did not leave the manor completely alone. It seemed that it was just way too much hassle to fly two pureblooded, full grown poodles to the south of France, so thus the owners left their precious fluffy and muffy. This stormy morning, the pair of poodles was yelping at their dog sitter or rather the house sitter. Riley’s five foot five inch frame was splayed across the king size bed of the guestroom and her husky blue eyes were staring straight at the ceiling trying to gather her thoughts. It was too early for her to be up, 5:43 a.m. to be exact. She doubted between her dream, the dogs and the storm that she would be able to fall asleep.

The same dream had plagued her for weeks but yet she could not recall it vividly. She could only remember enough to bother her. Most of the time, the dream only left her with a sense of dread. Riley had yet to awake screaming but she was sure this was the next logical step. She was sure her future college roommate would appreciate that. She knew she would have to warn her but what was she suppose to say, Oh, by the way I have these weird dreams that I can’t remember but really scare me, Riley thought. She rolled out of the bed, knowing she was not going to get much more sleep, and firmly planted her feet upon the wooden floors. The dogs were waiting at her door for either a walk or breakfast.

“Paris..Nicole.. Puppies come on” she called to them to follow her. She realized that Fluffy and Muffy were the poodles real names but thought that Paris and Nicole suited the two much better. She walked down the hall and the grand staircase to the kitchen to fix the dogs their breakfast. The rain outside was coming down in sheets. Riley was in no mood to walk the pair of spoiled pooches in the rain and especially since both enjoyed mud and puddles. Riley prepared the meal for dogs, it was better than some poor children in China ate. She placed the meal in front the pooches that just sat and stared at her. She rolled her blue eyes and proceeded to walk to the massive library.

Riley spent an hour or searching for books on interpretation of dreams. She ran her long fingers through her auburn hair, Freud had nothing to say about dark horseman or toady henchman. Besides, if he did she assumed it would be oddly sexual. The rain had finally let up and Riley decided the best way to clear her head was to take the princess pooches on a long walk. Both dogs were waiting at the door for her. She put both dogs on their leash hoping that they would not drag her thru the mud.

Riley opened the massive oak door expecting the doorstep to be completely barren. Yet, to her surprise sitting upon her doorstep was a soaking wet, semi-clad, five to seven year old boy. Riley immediately held the dogs back as not to overwhelm the boy and she swept him inside. Once inside, she started a bath making sure the water was plenty warm. She turned to boy with his scraggly, matted, black hair and began her line of questioning.

“What is your name? Where are your parents?” she asked calmly. The boy opened his mouth to answer but he quickly closed it. Riley did not know if the boy could not or would not answer. Riley continued, “The only way, I can help you is if you tell me what happened to you.”

The boy still did not respond. She sighed to herself before turning off the water and tried to help the boy out of his clothes. He shrank away from her and she assumed that he could remove his own clothes. Riley could only hope that the warm water would warm the boy’s almost blue skin to the normal healthy color. She left the room giving the small boy his privacy. Riley could only think of one course of action and that was to report her findings to the police. She found the number to call and waited for the operator to pick up.

“Hello, how may I help you” the nasally voice the operator came over the phone line.

“ I would like to report, well I guess the findings of a missing boy” she responded but the operator did not give her any inclination of what to do next.

“He is between the ages of five and seven and he won’t talk to me but he showed up this morning on my doorstep, well actually the doorstep of May Manor. I was wondering if there had been any boys reported missing this morning or in the past couple of days” she rambled on.

“Hold on and let me check with missing persons” the operator responded. Riley waited patiently listening closely to the sounds of the manor making sure the boy did not drown in the tub, though she thought, she doubted that she would be able to hear anybody drowning.

“I am sorry Miss but there have been no reports on a missing boy made in the past days” the operator reported.

“What am I suppose to do with the boy?” Riley asked.

“We will get back to you in a few hours if you could just watch him till then” the operator responded before hanging up the phone.

Riley could not quite believe what was happening. She had somehow gotten stuck with a mute little boy to take care of and had to wait for the police department to call back. Riley had a sinking feeling in her gut that a few hours might mean a few days. She really could only hope it did not mean a few weeks. She realized that she needed to feed and clothe the boy. Her mind starting to take inventory of what was inside the house that she could use to clothe the boy and she could only hope that the couple had a grandson. All Riley really knew is that her mundane job as house sitter suddenly became a little more exciting.

A short Prologue

“Do you have him?” asked the short toady man to a taller leaner younger man. The sun had long left the sky replaced by a lowly sickle moon and most normal humans had retired for the night. The only ones up at this hour were drunks, theives, kidnappers or murders. The two men were not drunks but it had yet to be seen if they were thieves, kidnappers or killers. The pair was no doubt up to any good but no one was here to witness their misdeeds, though an owl perched upon a large oak tree seemed particularly interested in the transaction. It was merely an owl could truly just be looking for its meal.

“Of course” the taller man replied gruffly, “Do you not think I keep my word.”
“Well, where is he?” the toady man implored.
“Payment first” the taller man responded holding out his hand.
“Fine, fine” the toady man agreed digging through his money purse and shoving coins into the kidnapper’s calloused hand. The kidnapper shoved a covered wooden cage into the toady man’s hand. The kidnapper turned and left the clearing without a single look back. He was gone as quickly as he appeared.

The toady man carried the cage back to his horse before deciding to remove the cover from the cage. He placed the cage upon the ground. He carefully removed the covered and peered inside to an empty cage. A surge of dread ran through his veins. He had been given specific directions and he had taken short-cuts. He had paid someone else do the dirty work. He had placed too much trust in the power of money. He had not given enough credit to pull of greed. It was too late to run after the kidnapper. Besides, what would he do if he did catch him, the toady man thought. It was not as if he could take the other man in a fight. It was his own fault for being foolish. He could not return to his employer empty handed. He had to find a way to accomplish his task or else face death.