The Adventures of Rachel and the Goblin

“Your father will be home soon.  I’ll talk to him.”  Her voice softened slightly.  “It’s not

only about the chickens, Rachel, but I was worried.  I thought you had wandered off.  You know

there’s wild animals around.  Coyotes, and bears, and mountain lions.”

The concern in Aunt Pearl’s voice shamed Rachel.  She was very sorry for what she had

done, or, rather, not done.  What would happen now?

Rachel found that out immediately.

No sooner had Aunt Pearl vanished from the doorway to return to the kitchen, that the

light in the room suddenly wavered, grew dim.  A cool breeze touched her face, and from

somewhere a sheet of cold fog slithered around her, hiding the familiar objects of the room .

Rachel shivered.   She leaned forward trying to peer through the mist, but she saw

nothing.  Suddenly, a loud voice pierced the darkness, crying, “Rachel Llewald!  Rachel

Llewald  is summoned!  For her misbehavior, she is summoned to appear before the court of

Fairyland!  She will be taken away at once. “

When the voice stopped speaking, and Rachel waited fearfully, the mist cleared slightly,

allowing Rachel to see two figures in the room.  One was Gobby. The other a shrouded figure

slightly taller than Gobby but whose face she could not see.

“Oh, Gobby,” Rachel said timidly, “What’s happening?  Is that a banshee?  Am I going to

die?”

“No. It’s probably worse,”  Gobby said glumly.  “They’ve come for us.”

“Who has?”

“The sentinels.”

“But there’s only one,” Rachel said, gazing at the gray-robed figure, who so far had not

spoken,, but Rachel sensed glittering eyes within the darkness of the hood were watching her

intensely.

“There are others.  There usually are.  You just can’t see them.”

“Oh, Gobby!” Rachel breathed.  “Did I do something wrong?  I shouldn’t have become

invisible.  That’s it, isn’t it?  All right, you can have the power back.  Just make him, or whatever

it is, stop staring at me.”

“I can’t take the gift back.  I don’t know how.  I never learned.  I’m not sure anyone can.”

The muffled figure spoke suddenly in a hollow voice that made Rachel shiver from head

to toe.  “I have been sent to take you to Fairyland, along with this irresponsible hobgoblin, where

you will be informed of the charges against you and what your punishment will be.”

“But we haven’t been tried yet!”  Rachel cried.  “How can we be punished if we haven’t

had a trial?”

“That,” the figure stated, is for the Queen and her court to decide.  For now, this goblin’s

powers of flight are canceled so he can make no attempt to escape.”

“But what have I done that’s so bad?”  Rachel’s wish to go to Fairyland was now a

desperate hope she could escape the trip.

“You will be informed when we arrive.  Now it is time to go.”  The figure fluttered a

gray swaddled arm, and the wall before them dissolved to disclose a large tunnel that seemed to

made up of dark billowing rings one after another stretching into darkness.

“It’s like a worm hole,” Rachel thought to herself.

Suddenly four, graceful black horses, a little smaller than Rachel’s Shetland pony, with

flowing white manes, drawing a driver-less black coach appeared at the entryway and entered

the room silently.  The coach drew broadside to Rachel and Gobby and stopped.  The coach door

opened, revealing a dark green empty interior.

“If you w