Jack Gregson & the Forgotten Portal (8 page)

Yes! Thought Jack. The second he’d arrived
here he knew he wanted to stay and explore. Maybe they could spend
a bit more time here with Anthrow and help find answers about the
emerald.

“We can’t.” said Rosie. “We have strict
instructions to return as soon as we’ve delivered you the
message.”

“Why do you want us to come anyway?” Asked
David suspiciously, still pointing the knife. “You want to turn us
in for a reward? Is that it? You attacked us.”

Jack watched Anthrow thinking on how to
respond. All of a sudden he smiled before turning into a blur
before their eyes, charging towards Jack and then David before
zooming back to where he’d stood not moments ago.

In one hand he held the orb, the other his
knife.

Jack looked on in shock as he noted an
immediate change in Anthrow. Somehow in the second it had taken to
steal the orb and knife, he had also put on his jacket.

While still looking skinny, he now stood
tall, legs straight and shoulders back. The manic personality was
gone, replaced with a calm and collected stare that told Jack that
this person was and always had been in control of the
situation.

“The Universe is a big place,” said Anthrow.
“And you never truly know who you’re dealing with. There are those
who would steal from you or even kill you before you even had time
to say hi.

You three look harmless enough, but I would
be a fool to rely on looks alone. So when we met, I took the
offensive to see what your reaction would be. As it turns out,
you’re a force to be reckoned with, and I’m glad we’re on the same
side.”

“A force to be reckoned with? You just took
our weapons from us before we had time to think!” replied Jack.

Anthrow shrugged, as he started to slouch
again, his unusual mannerisms returning.

“Well I was impressed. Seriously, you pulled
out a Chaos Pixie! I wasn’t expecting that.”

He walked over to Jack and held out the orb
to him. “But please put it away. And don’t drop it! You!” he spun
around and pointed to David. “Never touch my knife again. Get your
own! And you,” he said turning to Rosie, “If you say you must
return home, then you must. I won’t have Marion saying I didn’t
fulfil my debt on a technicality like that. I just assumed you were
coming with me.”

“Wait.” Said Jack. “How long do you think
this will take? If it’s just a few hours…maybe we could come.”

Anthrow shook his head, “No. I’m sorry I
said it. It’s way too dangerous for kids.”

“We’re not kids! David and I are thirteen,
and Rosie is eleven. You said yourself we can handle ourselves. I’m
sick of people keeping secrets from us and treating us like we’re
not old enough to understand anything!” Jack said angrily.

He looked over at his cousins and saw their
mouths open in shock. They weren’t used to Jack losing his
temper.

“Sorry. It’s been a long day,” he apologised
lamely.

“I meant what I said about you being able to
handle yourselves,” replied Anthrow. “And I apologise for calling
you kids, but my debt is to your Grandmother, not you. If she wants
you to return now, I cannot go against her wishes.”

Jack didn’t say anything but nodded,
realising he didn’t have a choice.

Anthrow looked around and got his bearings.
“Right then! We’re already at your portal I see. You three didn’t
travel far did you? Let’s go,” he said as he walked towards the
path from where they’d arrived. All of a sudden he froze.

Jack walked up to him and followed his gaze
through the trees. Hadn’t there been more light, shining through
the foliage earlier? He took a step forward, but Anthrow grabbed
his arm, stopping him.

“The Horde,” he whispered.

Suddenly black mist oozed out through the
trees, making its way towards them. Thin tendrils of smoke reaching
out, each trying to get to them first.

“Run!” shouted Anthrow as he took off in the
opposite direction.

The three of them followed in a panic.

“It’s above us!” shouted Rosie. The mist was
creeping down the walls through the holes and gaps in the rocky
roof.

“This way!” Anthrow called as they ran
through the Grotto, the mist closing in on them from all
directions. “In here!” he yelled turning right, following one of
the pathways through the trees and into a clearing.

As he ran towards a door built into the
rock, he clapped his hands and it swung open.

“Quickly!” He said as he stopped and urged
them through.

David went through first, followed shortly
by Rosie. As Jack reached the door, he looked back.

A man made of mist was gliding up the path
towards them, pointing at Jack as the Horde engulfed the ground
around him. His face was featureless, his muscular body a mass of
angry, swirling black smoke.

“You can’t escape the Horde,” the Shadow Man
hissed.

“Anthrow! Where does this portal go?” asked
Jack.

“Somewhere that isn’t here! Now go!”

Jack turned and stepped quickly through the
door. Immediately the invisible force grabbed him, pulling him
faster and faster through space as he flew through the portal,
towards the white light ahead.

He arrived on the other side in darkness.
“Rosie, David?” He called urgently.

“We’re here,” called David. “Although I
don’t know where that is.”

There was a whoosh of air and all of a
sudden Anthrow stood to Jack’s left.

“Safe! Is everybody ok?”

“Are we safe?” asked Rosie. “What’s to stop
the Horde following us?”

“The Horde can’t travel through portals,”
replied Anthrow. “I’m not fully certain why, but I think it has
something to do with its form. Because it’s mist, I don’t think the
portals have much to pull on.”

“But we’ve seen the Horde on Earth!” said
David.

“Not that particular one you didn’t.
Theorden has many of them, on many planets.

Jack took a deep breath, his heart still
pounding. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and he could see
the outline of objects around him.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Cortavia. It’s a small planet, no
people.”

“We’re on a completely different planet?”
asked David excitedly.

“Technically at the Grotto you were also on
a completely different planet, but yes! Different planet.”

Jack walked through the area, touching
various objects trying to work out what they were. There was an odd
familiarity about everything, with strange alien touches. The thing
in front of him seemed to be a chair; however how anyone could sit
in it without seriously hurting themselves was beyond him. In front
of that was a table, made strange by the holes and structures built
into its uneven surface.

“Are we in a living room?” asked Jack.

“I thought you said nobody lived here,” said
David.

“They don’t…anymore. Their sun died
centuries ago, making it impossible for life to continue. No doubt
they escaped through the portals and started again on another
planet. Now come,” said Anthrow.

“Where are we going?” asked Rosie.

“To another portal. I didn’t choose this
planet for its lively atmosphere. I just needed a safe place for us
to escape to and luckily it happens to have another portal back to
the Grotto not far from here.”

“But the Horde is there!” David said.

Through the darkness, Jack saw Anthrow stop
and look at the three of them in turn. “Do you realise that I still
don’t know any of your names?” he said, pausing for a response.

“There just hasn’t been any time,” Rosie
said before introducing all three of them.

He continued to stare. “I spent a lot of
time trying to convince you three that I’m trustworthy, and now I
find my self wondering about you three. How can members of the
Gregson family, who now seem to be a target of Theorden, know so
little about…well everything?”

“It’s our families fault!” David said as he
went on to explain the limited Gregson family history they were
told while growing up, right until the events of that day which had
eventually led them to him. “So you can’t blame us for asking so
many questions.”

Anthrow thought about it for a time, seemed
about to say something and then shrugged as he walked off,
expecting them to follow.

“The Grotto isn’t just a big underground
cave on some distant planet. It’s a
huge
underground cave
that takes up an entire distant planet! A planet three times bigger
than your Earth I might add. There are millions of portals to take
you to millions of places. Some planets have two entrances, while
some have thousands. Yes we’re returning to the Grotto, but to the
other side, far away from where we were.”

Jack followed in silence as David continued
to ask Anthrow questions. Something was worrying him. The Horde had
been right near the Gregson portal, laying in wait as if expecting
their arrival. Had he and his cousins just walked into a trap? If
they had, what was Theordens plan? Could Anthrow keep them safe?
Questions kept coming to him, ones he had no answers for.

The Shadow Man concerned him even more. He’d
seen wolves and horses come out of the mist, but a man?

“Hurry up Jack,” Rosie said from ahead of
him. “Anthrow said it’s too dangerous to return to our portal for a
while. He’s taking us somewhere we can rest for the night.”

Jack walked faster, at the same time
realising what troubled him most. It wasn’t that the Shadow Man had
looked right at him as if knowing who he was. It was that Jack
couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow he recognised The Shadow
Man too.

Chapter Eight

Gratins

Jack lay awake, staring at the dark sky
above. Anthrow had led them to another portal on Cortavia, taking
them back to the Grotto.

The four of them had travelled from the
middle of the day to the dead of night within minutes. Anthrow
truly must have taken them to the other side of the Grotto
planet.

Rosie and David slept beside Jack, exhausted
by the day’s events. He was tired too, but couldn’t sleep for all
the questions that kept pestering him. How could he have recognised
the Shadow Man? He didn’t have any features to recognise in the
first place. He was made of mist!

Jack rolled over and reached for Rosie’s
bag. He grabbed the book and her phone to use as a torch.

Turning on the light, he looked at the book
and saw that the title on the cover had changed. Where it had
originally said ‘The Gregson Estate,’ it now said ‘The Grotto.’

He opened to the contents page and saw that
it also had changed. Where there had been chapters on different
rooms of the house, there were now chapters like The Grotto,
Punkeys, and Portal Etiquette.

Jack thought about what his grandmother had
said earlier about the chocolate cake, and thought of a question he
wanted answered. Immediately a chapter appeared at the bottom of
the list – Chapter Twenty: Chaos Pixies. He noted the page number
and eagerly flipped to it.

Chaos Pixies are pixies often held in black
orbs. They are good to use when trying to escape danger, and bring
fear to even the most experienced travellers like Anthrow.

In other words you have no idea what Chaos
Pixies are, he thought. The book had basically repeated what he’d
learned that day. What good was this book if it didn’t know
anything that was helpful?

Suddenly the chapter on Chaos Pixies wiped
away from the page leaving it blank. A new chapter title appeared,
‘Maddox and Jessica Gregson.’

Jack looked at the page in shock as sentence
after sentence appeared on the page, all about his parents.

Maddox Gregson was born to Ronald and Marion
Gregson in 1978 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. He weighed six
pounds…

Jack flipped the page. He wanted to know
everything about his dad and promised himself to come back later to
read every word, but right now he felt the need to skip ahead.

Maddox and Jessica married in 2000, the
ceremony and reception taking place in the Eastern garden amongst
family and friends. Maddox couldn’t believe the amount of people
that his mother had invited that he’d never met before…

Maddox found a very special book in the
library that enriched his life and opened him up to the
possibilities of the Universe. The joy and happiness the book
brought to him…

In 2011, Jessica fell pregnant much to the
joy of the whole family…

Maddox confronted his mother about what he’d
learned about the Grotto through his amazing book. Angry that
secrets had been kept from him, he found entry to the portal and
went in search of adventure…

Jack paused from reading. His father had
been lied to, just like he had! Why had his grandmother kept things
from all of them? He felt anger as he continued reading.

On May 1st 2012, Jack Gregson was born into
the world, unhealthy and close to death. Unexplained complications
caused Jessica Gregson to pass away at his birth…

Unexplained complications? Jack wondered
whether it was just the books lack of knowledge on his mother’s
death or if truly was a mystery. And sick? He had never been told
he was born unhealthy.

Maddox confronted his mother, and demanded
she use magic to save Jessica and his child. She refused saying
that it wasn’t possible. Maddox then left through the portal in
search of Richard Gregson, who had somehow managed to cheat death
and whom Maddox believed could help him save his wife and son.

He hasn’t been seen since.

Jack closed the book and looked out into the
trees in front of him. They were in yet another clearing, the same
as the others he’d seen that day. He could make out some movement
in the dark, an animal moving around foraging for food.

He watched as it walked away from a trees
shadow and into the dim moonlight. It was what Rosie had called a
Punkey, and David had been right, it really did look like a monkey
crossed with a puppy.