“BEN!” Casey Screamed. They had all been watching the black hole intently, holding their breath, waiting for Ben to pop back out and tell them everything was okay. When the hole suddenly winked out and vanished, there were several long seconds of stunned silence and then Casey screamed again.
The second time Casey screamed, Louise felt the earth tilt beneath her and was dimly aware of Amos trying to catch her as she was falling. As the ground came rushing up to meet her, everything went dark. When she regained consciousness, she was lying on the ground and staring up at an empty blue sky. Casey was sitting on the ground beside her, holding her hand, and Amos was dabbing her forehead with a damp cloth. Who are those three elves, she wondered, and what am I doing lying here in the meadow? She heard Casey’s voice calling to her, but it sounded faint and far way.
“Grandma,” Casey cried, “please wake up.”
Then slowly it came back to her; the wagon trip, the elfin riders, Marcus, the black hole, and… Ben. She sat up and looked around.
“How long have I been out?”
“A good ten minutes or more,” Casey answered. “You scared me, Grandma.”
“I’m sorry, dear.” Louise patted Casey on the hand and turned to Amos. “Ben?” she asked.
Amos shook his head.
“What are we to do?”
Garrick knelt down and took Louise’s other hand. “Let’s wait here a while longer. We can only assume the pathway opened to Castle Twilight and when Ben stepped out, it closed. He is probably talking to Gabriel, even now, as we speak. If the pathway does not reopen soon, then we will have no choice but to continue to Castle Twilight and hope that we find Ben waiting there for us when we arrive.”
“Thirty minutes,” said Louise, looking at her watch. “I will wait thirty minutes and not a moment longer.”
Thirty minutes passed excruciatingly slow and the pathway did not reopen. Garrick sent one of the riders back to the Twilight, in case Ben was there, to let him know that they were on the way, while Amos transformed into a bear and loped off after the dwarves. The current plan was for Amos to return with the wagon and then they would make the painfully slow trip to the castle, where they hoped to find Ben waiting for them, safe and sound. They also decided that it would be best for the dwarves to make the journey in their boat, as planned, because that would put them at the Twilight much sooner than the wagon. Garrick stayed with Louise and Casey, while Roland, the other elf, accompanied Amos to the cabin.
When they arrived at the cabin they found the wagon parked on the side. It had been unloaded and all of the tack had been put away. Dan was nowhere to be found and the dwarves were gone too.
“I’ll find your horse,” said Roland, “while you ready the wagon.”
“Thank you,” Amos replied. “I’m going to run down to the lake to make sure that the dwarves have left safely. I’ll be right back.”
Roland nodded and whirled his horse around. He sped off into the meadow, in search of the big draft horse, and Amos hurried down the path to the lake. When he got to the hidden beach, where the dwarves kept their elfin boat, he could see their tracks and the marks in the sand where they shoved the boat into the water. He scanned the lake for any sign of them and found none. If they were already on the river, they were making excellent time. He hurried back to the cabin where he found Roland waiting for him with Old Dan.
“I didn’t expect you back that soon!” Amos exclaimed.
“He was not far from here and came running to meet us when my horse called to him. Any sign of the dwarves?”
“The boat is gone and there is no sign of them on the lake. They are well on their way to the Twilight. Help me grab the tack, some blankets, and a few things to eat and we’ll be on our way as well.”
After Dan was hitched and the wagon loaded, Amos climbed aboard and snapped the reins, while Roland sped off to let the others know that he was coming.