Luca landed face-first in a bed of moss so soft it felt like falling into a cloud. His lungs emptied with a whoosh, and for a moment, he could only lie there, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Somewhere to his right, he heard Jamal groan.
"You okay?" Luca managed, rolling onto his back. The words caught in his throat as he looked up.
The forest canopy stretched above them, but not the forest they knew. Here, the trees glowed with a soft inner light, their bark threaded with luminous blue veins. Instead of stars, strange floating orbs drifted between branches, shifting colors like tiny dawns and dusks trapped in glass. The air smelled of cinnamon and rain.
Jamal sat up beside him, leaves tangled in his hair. "Where…" He couldn't seem to finish the question.
Luca pushed himself to his feet, wobbling slightly. The ground felt solid enough, but somehow softer than it should be, as if the earth itself breathed beneath them. Around their landing spot, mushrooms pulsed with gentle blue light, creating pools of illumination in the twilight dimness.
"Maya!" Luca called, his voice sounding strangely muffled. "Lily!"
The only answer was a series of unfamiliar sounds—something between the trill of birds and the gentle ring of wind chimes. The noise bounced between trees, creating echoes that seemed to shift direction with each repetition.
"I don't like this," Jamal whispered, brushing dirt from his jeans. "We shouldn't be here."
Luca turned in a slow circle. The forest looked simultaneously familiar and alien—the same shapes and structures as their woods back home, but rendered in impossible colors and textures. Moss carpeted everything, glowing softly in patches. Tree trunks twisted upward like they were reaching for something, their branches curving in graceful arcs unknown to oak or maple.
"We need to find them," Luca said, trying to keep his voice steady. He pulled the brass lantern from his backpack. The brass was cool and silent—its glow long since faded in the tumble through the portal. He examined it carefully, relieved to find it undamaged despite their rough landing. Now it pulsed with only a faint light, like a heartbeat slowing after exertion.
A rustling came from their left—not the wind, but something moving through undergrowth. Luca and Jamal froze, instinctively pressing their backs together.
"Did you hear—" Jamal began.
"Shhh," Luca interrupted, pointing.
From between two luminous bushes emerged creatures unlike anything they'd seen before. They looked like rabbits, but with longer ears that ended in tufts of fur that glowed like fireflies. Their coats shimmered with patterns that shifted as they moved, and their whiskers emitted tiny sparks of light when they twitched. Five of them approached cautiously, pink noses quivering.
The largest one, with fur that rippled between silver and blue, sat up on its hind legs. Luca wasn't entirely surprised when it spoke.
"You don't belong here," it said, its voice musical and light. "You're from the Other Side."
Jamal made a choking sound. "It's talking. The rabbit is talking."
"We're called Lumilagus," the creature corrected, twitching its glowing whiskers indignantly. "And of course we speak. How else would we warn travelers of dangers?"
A smaller Lumilagus with golden-tinged fur hopped forward. "Be kind, Quickspark. They're obviously lost." It turned luminous eyes to the boys. "My name is Dewdrop. You've fallen into the Twilight Wood—the place between your world and others."
Luca swallowed hard. "We're looking for our friends. They came through before us—a tall girl with dark braids and…" his voice faltered.
"My sister," he continued more firmly. "She's small, with red hair."
The Lumilagus exchanged glances, their whiskers sparking with what looked like concern.
"Two others did pass this way they looked under control must have inhaled the control rose they won't know what they're doing for a while but it wears off eventually," said a third Lumilagus, its fur a deep purple. "We glimpsed them heading toward the eastern paths we tried to go after them but they were far for us to reach."
"We can guide you," Dewdrop offered, "but we must move quickly. Night falls differently here, and the paths shift when darkness comes."
"Can we trust them?" Jamal whispered, leaning close to Luca.
Before Luca could answer, the purple Lumilagus's ears twitched suddenly. "The Glimmer Beast has been unsettled these past days," it murmured to the others. "It feels the disturbance in the veil."
"Glimmer Beast?" Luca asked.
Quickspark's whiskers dimmed slightly. "A creature that dwells in the deepest part of the Twilight Wood. It… collects things that shine."
"Like our lantern?" Luca clutched the brass object tighter.
"Like anything that doesn't belong," Dewdrop said gently. "Come. We'll explain as we walk."
The Lumilagus bounded ahead, their glowing forms creating a moving trail of light through the strange forest. Luca and Jamal followed, stepping carefully over roots that seemed to shift when viewed from the corner of the eye.
As they walked, Luca noticed subtle changes in their surroundings. Paths appeared where none had been seconds before. Light flickered between trees like whispered conversations. The mushrooms grew larger, their caps wide as dinner plates, pulsing in rhythms that almost seemed to form patterns.
"Have you lived here long?" Luca asked Dewdrop, who had fallen into step beside him.
"Time works differently in the Twilight Wood," the Lumilagus answered. "I've seen the great oak crown and fall seven times."
Jamal frowned. "Is that a long time?"
Quickspark made a sound that might have been a laugh. "For some, an eternity. For others, merely a breath."
They rounded a massive tree with bark that sparkled like it was embedded with tiny diamonds. The path ahead split in three directions, each disappearing into different qualities of light—one golden, one silver, one the deep blue of twilight.
Dewdrop paused, nose twitching. "We take the silver path. It leads to the heart of—"
A sound cut through the forest, faint but unmistakable. A human voice calling from somewhere ahead.
"Luca! Jamal! Where are you?"
Luca's heart leapt. "That's Lily!"
Without waiting for the Lumilagus, he plunged forward onto the silver path, Jamal close behind. The Lumilagus bounded after them, their whiskers flashing urgently.
"Wait!" Quickspark called. "The paths are—"
But Luca wasn't listening. His sister's voice had come again, more distant now, and all he could think was that she was lost, afraid, needing him. His feet pounded the glowing path as sweat beaded his forehead.
"Lily!" he shouted. "We're coming!"
Jamal grabbed his arm. "Luca, slow down. Something's not right." He pointed ahead, where the silver path suddenly vanished, melting into a swirl of mist.
The Lumilagus caught up, their breathing quick. "The paths shift," Dewdrop explained, "especially when emotions run high. Your fear for your sister is changing the forest around us."
"Then how do we find her?" Luca demanded, frustration edging his voice.
The purple Lumilagus's ears swiveled. "Listen with more than your ears. Feel the pull of those connected to you."
Luca closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing heart. He thought of Lily—her laugh, the way she always stole the last cookie, how she'd curl up next to him during thunderstorms. Something warm bloomed in his chest, a tug that pointed… left?
He opened his eyes and looked toward a stand of trees where no path had been before. Now a narrow trail of glowing mushrooms led between them, disappearing into soft darkness.
"There," he whispered.
The Lumilagus nodded in unison, their whiskers sparking with approval.
"The connection between siblings is strong magic here," Dewdrop said. "Follow it, but be wary. Where the Glimmer Beast roams, all lights can deceive."
Luca stared down the new path, feeling both hope and dread rise within him. Somewhere ahead were Lily and Maya, but something else waited too—something that collected shiny things that didn't belong. Like two girls from another world. Like a brass lantern that opened doors between realities.
Jamal took a deep breath beside him. "I'm scared," he admitted quietly, so only Luca could hear.
"Me too," Luca confessed. "But we can't leave them."
The Lumilagus bounded ahead, their glow forming a chain of lights leading deeper into the Twilight Wood. With one last look at the shifting paths behind them, Luca and Jamal followed, stepping into deeper shadows where distant calls echoed like promises—or warnings.
## Chapter 6: Firefly Path
The path narrowed as they ventured deeper into the Twilight Wood, forcing them to walk single file. Overhead, what Luca had first mistaken for stars revealed themselves to be enormous fireflies, their abdomens pulsing with light brighter than any insect back home. They drifted in lazy circles, occasionally swooping low enough that Luca could feel the whisper of wings against his cheek.
"Stay close," Dewdrop cautioned, her golden fur glimmering in the strange light. "The fireflies mark safe paths, but stray too far and the ground grows… uncertain."
As if to emphasize her point, Jamal's next step was met with a wet squelch. He froze, looking down in horror as his right foot sank ankle-deep in what looked like ordinary forest floor.
"Help!" he gasped, trying to pull free. The more he struggled, the deeper his foot sank, now almost to his knee. Panic flashed across his face. "Luca! I'm stuck!"
The Lumilagus bounded back, circling the spot with agitated hops. "Bog mud," Quickspark declared. "It seeks the fearful."
"I'm not afraid!" Jamal protested, though his voice cracked. His leg was now submerged to mid-thigh, and the mud made a hungry sucking sound.
Luca grabbed Jamal's arms, bracing his own feet against a nearby root. "On three, I'll pull. One, two—THREE!"
He heaved backward with all his strength. For a moment nothing happened, then with a sound like a cork popping from a bottle, Jamal came free. Both boys tumbled backward, Luca's sleeve catching on a low branch and tearing with a sharp rip.
Jamal lay on solid ground, panting, his right leg coated in iridescent blue mud that smelled faintly of peppermint. "I hate this place," he muttered, but Luca could see the relief in his eyes. "First talking Lumilagus, now mud that eats people."
"The Twilight Wood responds to what's inside you," the purple Lumilagus said, helping to clear mud from Jamal's shoe with careful paws. "Your fear of being trapped made the bog reach for you."
Jamal looked away, embarrassed. Since his parents had gone overseas for work, leaving him with Luca's family, he'd been fighting that fear daily—the feeling of being stuck while everything moved on without him.
"Everyone's afraid of something," Luca said quietly, helping his cousin to his feet. "Come on. We need to find the girls."
The path widened again, winding between tree trunks so massive they must have been growing for centuries. The fireflies clustered more densely here, creating a ceiling of pulsing light overhead. After another twenty minutes of walking, they emerged into a clearing dominated by the largest tree Luca had ever seen—a colossal trunk, hollowed at its base into a space big enough to park a car.
Inside this natural chamber sat the oldest-looking Lumilagus imaginable. Its fur had faded to pure white, but its whiskers glowed with a steady silver light brighter than the others. Both ears drooped slightly, and around its neck hung a small crystal vial containing what looked like captured starlight.
"Silverwhisker," Dewdrop said respectfully, her nose touching the ground briefly. "We've brought visitors from the Other Side. They seek their lost companions."
The elderly Lumilagus's eyes opened slowly, revealing irises that swirled with the colors of dawn. "My whiskers have felt the tremors in the veil," it said, its voice crackling like autumn leaves. "Four have crossed where none should pass, and the Glimmer Beast grows restless."
Luca stepped forward. "Please, we need to find my sister and our friend. The Lumilagus mentioned something about a Glimmer Beast?"
Silverwhisker gestured for them to sit. Inside the hollow tree, soft moss formed natural cushions, and the air smelled pleasantly of cedar and mint.
"The Glimmer Beast is as old as the Twilight Wood itself," the elder explained. "Neither good nor evil, but hungry always. It collects lost things—objects that shimmer with the light of other worlds, creatures who wander where they shouldn't."
"Like us," Jamal said grimly.
"Like you," Silverwhisker agreed. "And like your companions, who even now are being drawn to its lair."
Cold fear gripped Luca's heart. "Are they in danger?"
The ancient Lumilagus's whiskers dimmed slightly. "The Beast doesn't understand the difference between objects and beings. It simply… collects. Treasures. Keeps."
"Forever?" Jamal asked, his voice small.
"Unless something of greater shine distracts it," Silverwhisker said, eyes fixing on the brass lantern peeking from Luca's backpack.
Luca clutched the lantern protectively. "This brought us here. It might be our only way home."
Silverwhisker nodded slowly. "The Lantern of Veils. We have stories of it—an object that walks between worlds." The old Lumilagus reached out, gently touching the brass surface with one paw. "It chose you for a reason, young one."
"How do we find this Beast's lair?" Luca asked.
Silverwhisker turned to a small opening at the back of the hollow tree. "Follow the mushroom path. Where they glow brightest, the Beast makes its home." The elderly Lumilagus removed the crystal vial from around its neck and pressed it into Luca's palm. "Take this. It may help when darkness seems complete."
"What is it?"
"Captured starlight," Silverwhisker said. "The answer to an old riddle: what shines without fire?"
Jamal, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly looked up. "Starlight," he whispered, eyes widening with understanding. "Of course. It's not burning like our sun—it's cold light from millions of miles away."
For a brief moment, Luca saw something like approval in Silverwhisker's ancient eyes. "The clever one sees truly," the Lumilagus murmured. "Remember this when you face the shadows."
They left the hollow tree with renewed purpose, following a winding trail where bioluminescent mushrooms grew in perfect lines, their caps pulsing in synchronized rhythms. The deeper they went, the larger the mushrooms became, some tall as Luca himself, with caps wide enough to shelter beneath.
The light changed too, growing dimmer despite the glow of the fungi. Shadows stretched longer, and the distant sounds of the forest took on a deeper, more ominous tone. Something between a croak and a groan echoed through the trees ahead.
"The Beast stirs," Quickspark whispered, whiskers dimming with apprehension. "We can go no further."
"What?" Luca protested. "But we need—"
"Our light would only excite it," Dewdrop explained gently. "Draw its attention from your friends. You must go the final distance alone."
The Lumilagus gathered around the boys one last time. "Follow the brightest mushrooms," Dewdrop instructed. "And remember—what seems lost can always be found when the right light shines."
With that, the Lumilagus bounded away, their glowing forms quickly swallowed by the strange forest. Luca and Jamal stood alone at the edge of a ring of enormous mushrooms, their caps pulsing with hypnotic blue light. Beyond the ring, a path led downward into what looked like a swamp, where distant lights flickered like fallen stars.
"Do we really have to go in there?" Jamal whispered, eyeing the dark water visible between twisted tree roots.
Luca clutched the vial of starlight in one hand and the brass lantern in the other. Both felt warm against his skin, as if responding to each other's presence. He thought of Lily—her face when she'd been pulled into the portal, frightened but also filled with wonder. He couldn't leave her in this strange place, collected like a shiny pebble by some creature that didn't understand the difference between things and people.
"Yes," he said simply. "We do."
Together, they stepped past the mushroom ring and onto the spongy ground beyond, moving deeper into the realm of the Glimmer Beast. The mushroom glow reflected off dark water, creating paths of light that seemed to shift and change with each step. Something large moved in the depths ahead, sending ripples across the swamp's surface.
The vial of starlight pulsed once against Luca's palm, as if in warning—or welcome.
Dear reader, what would you hold tightest in such a moment—the lantern that might lead you home, or the starlight that guides your way forward into darkness?