Read The Moon Stealers and The Children of the Light Online
Authors: Tim Flanagan
The Moon Stealers and The Children of the Light (24 page)
Steven turned to the man who had saved him.
‘Dad?’ he said, looking into the man’s eyes. He didn’t
recognise the old man that stood before him. Compared to the newspaper cuttings
or the old photographs he had seen, this man was older and tired, but there was
something so familiar about the man that he knew he must be telling the truth.
Rhys nodded. ‘I have been searching for you all my
life and I have so much to tell you.’
Outside the pulses of light continued. The creatures
were no where to be seen, but the survivors barricaded the external doors followed
by the double doors that led into the corridor. They were taking no chances in
letting the creatures inside, even though they were unsure what happened to
them.
of Life
Following the defeat of Coldred, the rest of the
guards inside Osborne House reluctantly handed in their weapons.
All of the dead
or injured were taken from the Council Room along the main wing of the house to
the Health Sector.
Georgia
led a small group of survivors back to the Durbar
Wing. She walked along a corridor of framed portraits and stepped into a large
room where she saw groups of children huddled together nervously around a
candle or watching through a gap in the blinds at the strange pulsating white
light in the sky. There had only been two guards placed to look after the
children, but they quickly realised they were outnumbered and surrended their
weapons to Russell.
Georgia
walked amongst the children. It seemed they hadn’t
been restrained in chains in the same way the adults had, but bound by rope around
their wrists. Russell had already been round removing them, but the children
still looked frightened and stressed.
Georgia
was looking for one child in particular.
Out of the corner of her eye
Georgia
’s attention was drawn towards a child that had turned
away from the window and was now staring directly at her.
Georgia
turned and saw a crystal clear teardrop catch the
white light that forced its way in through a gap in the blinds, and fall from
her cheek.
‘Annie,’
Georgia
whispered. The word seemed to catch in her throat.
‘They said you never came back and were probably
dead,’ the little girl explained.
Georgia
ran over to Annie and pulled her tightly to her
chest.
‘We've come to take you home,'
Georgia
said. 'Steven’s here too. And Tracker.’
Over the coming days and weeks, every member of the
community was immunised against the creatures, but every night since the
strange white light had appeared in the sky, there had been no further
sightings of them. The only signs that remained were several black scars in the
earth. Animals began to emerge from their hiding places, birds began to sing
and crops grew with a renewed energy. Steven spent many days walking around the
estate talking to his father, finding out about his mother and the magical
bloodline he was part of. Rhys explained to him about the children he had met
on his journey and where the light in the sky had come from.
But the time came for part of the community to leave.
'I'll be over to see you all soon,' said Tracker as he
hugged
Georgia
.
As he pulled away
Georgia
kissed his cheek. 'Make sure you do.'
Steven stepped forward and grasped Tracker's hand.
'Goodbye,' he said. 'We're heading back to
Yorkshire
,
to the place this all started.'
'Parsley Bottom,' replied Tracker with a smile on his
face.
'There are some special children heading there that
need a family. Do you mind if we borrow Butterwick Hall for a while?'
'Be my guest. Look after each other,' Tracker added.
He had decided to stay on at Osborne House to help rebuild separate communities
across the
Isle of Wight
whilst Steven,
Rhys
,
Georgia
, and Annie returned to
England
.
Two boys nervously rowed across a lake in Snowdonia.
They searched the sky for signs of the Moon Stealers, but there was nothing
more than a lone Chough acrobatically riding the breezes that whipped off the
top of the mountains. They had another journey to make, one they had agreed
with Scarlet and Peter before they had separated at Ingleton.
They were heading back to Parsley Bottom.
They were going home.
THE END
At some point in Tim's childhood, he was abducted by aliens and sent on
a voyage of knowledge and discovery across the universe. Eventually the aliens
realised how pointless this was and, as a failed student, he was returned to
Earth and left with a family who brought him up as a human bean. But, the
persistent memories of new worlds, dragons and other creatures, continued to
knock at his frontal lobe, desperately trying to break out.
To avoid making a mess and calm his imagination, Tim began writing as a
way to communicate with Earthlings. Fuelled by Chilli and Nachos and a bottle
of wine, Tim manages to balance a love of loud rock music and fast cars
(preferably red!) with emotional chic flicks, smart leather shoes and a well
tailored suit. He has successfully infiltrated the humans and hides behind the
façade known as a family. He learns from his children, but is regularly told to
stop acting like a child by his wife.
Naturally shy and unsociable by nature, he is selective of the human
company he keeps, preferring to be around old books, bonsai and art. He cries
at 'It’s a wonderful life' but sulks if fed evil vegetables disguised as
Parsnips or Peas. He is bored by mundane conversation, excited by architecture
and castles and fuelled by Caramel Latte Macchiato's.
Occasionally, he likes to catch up with old acquaintances on Tatooine,
Westeros, and Middle Earth, and stare at fantasy and concept art as if it is a
window to his childhood adventures. He is always trying to learn lessons from
the masters; Mr Charles Darwin and Mr Lionel Ritchie, about life and love.
Tim's galactic mission is to translate his brain activity into a language that
inspires and entertains you, transports you to different worlds and grants you
an audience with the characters you have dreamt about, but never dared to
remember. All of this in an attempt to redeem himself with his childhood alien
abductors and travel the stars once more.
He is also the author of :
The Moon Stealers and
the Quest for the Silver Bough (Book 1)
The Moon Stealers and the
Queen of the Underworld (Book 2)
The Moon Stealers and the
Everlasting Night (Book 3)
The Curious Disappearance
of Professor Brown
Lawrence Pinkley's Casebook.
Vol. 1
My
blog
is the best place to get an insight into my mind. There are various posts and
videos that have nothing to do with writing, sometimes just things that made me
laugh or made me think.
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