The Winding Woods: Tales of a Boggle

By Dani Swanson

Once upon a time, or so the story goes, a girl named Izzie is taken from her home in the Winding Woods. Hidden away with a boggle, she learns how to live in a new world with an adopted family. Only the boggle can explain the mysterious happenings around Izzie: items flying across the room, shadows taking over the yard, a classmate's inexplicable death. No one suspects the weird girl, all the while her family worries about the "imaginary" friend that doesn't seem to go away with time. The boggle is not only her caretaker but her only true friend, knowing all her secrets. He protects her from the class bully to the larger-than-life shape-shifting shadows who try to kidnap her into the darkness. Creatures emerge from the deepest crevasses of the land in an attempt to steal back the beloved girl. Through chaos and fear, she learns the truth of the Winding Woods' curse and her key to the magic behind it. Not knowing the extent of her powers as a witch or who to trust, Izzie returns home to save it from the Phantasma, learning that not all fairytales are meant to end with a happily ever after.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dani Swanson
• Release date: Jun 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005078614

Dani Swanson

I was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With a love of stories, I majored in English Lit for my undergrad, and Human Services for my Masters. I started the writing process after suffering a major concussion which lead to a lot of the stories within The Hunt of the Grimalkin.Currently residing in Minneapolis, where I enjoy painting, writing and making other pretty things; all while trying to leave the world a little better than I found it.

Book preview

The Winding Woods

The Winding Woods

Tales from a Boggle

Dani Swanson

Copyright © 2021 Dani Swanson

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form is forbidden without written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, named by a contest winner (naming the character is the only prize) or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. It’s not about you.All rights reserved.

Cover Art by:Ana Ristovska

Editing by:Jess Johnson, Lisa Swanson, and Kaitlyn Ziegler

ISBN: 9798669417581

ISBN: 9781370364435

DEDICATION

Mike: I love you the most.

To the Bloomington Online School’s 4th and 5th grade winners of the make your own Hero/Villain contest: I hope you keep reading, writing, and creating.

One winner from each class got to name a character in this book as a prize. Thank you for giving me the names for Team Zeta:

Wyatt Sheldon - Reyna

Alexis Ernst – Jade

Sahra Ali – Zallen

Sadie Baldwin -Pan

Diego Lopez - Robin

1: It always starts Once Upon a time

Once upon a time, or how tales of magic and mischief are supposed to start, there was a young girl. Her story may be, in fact, about magic and mischief but telling it with Once Upon a Time doesn't seem to fit her tale. Every tale she ever heard that started as such always ended with, and they lived happily ever after. And that doesn't always end up being the case when it comes to magic – sometimes there is darkness, mishaps, and even pain. Nevertheless, her story will start with the grand intention of being that of a happily ever after ending and will properly begin as it is expected to:

Once Upon a Time……….

A young girl of the age of five was wandering the streets by herself with nothing but the clothes on her back and a small stuffed animal that looked to be a well-loved orange cat. She had been well cared for – her long auburn hair was neatly combed and tied into a ponytail running down her back. Her dress was clean – a frilly pink dress with little flowers scattered across the hem. The girl's shoes were simple black leather with a single strap around the ankle. She wore a necklace that was of a silver chain with a small purple stone sparrow charm. A simple hemp bag was over her shoulder and across her chest that she tightly held onto the strap.

The girl decided to settle at Hyde Park. She sat on a bench, watching the world go by for hours. She was talking to herself, or so it seemed, about what she saw passing the bench she was on. No one seemed to notice that a five-year-old was sitting by herself. The girl sat, snacking on the fruit that she had with her and smiling; her face was warm in the sun.

It was a typical Saturday afternoon in late June – not too hot, not too cold - families were playing in the park, and people were out walking their dogs and jogging the trails. The girl stayed on the bench and watched the world go by.

Do you think that guy over there will let me play with his animal? What do they call it? She was looking over her shoulder as she spoke. A dog? It looks like a wolf to me. But it doesn't look like it's going to try to eat him. He keeps throwing that ball, and the wolf, I mean dog, just brings it right back to him. She giggled as she shoved apple slices into her mouth.

A woman sat on a bench not far from where the little girl was and took notice of her. She watched from afar as the girl carried on a conversation on her own. She looked around to see if anyone else had noticed that the little girl was alone. No one appeared to be in a panic that they were missing their daughter. She finally decided that the child was sitting there by herself and went over to check on her.

Hi, are you here with anyone? Are you all alone? The woman softly smiled as she bent down onto one knee to look the girl in the eye.

The little girl smiled back – she had no fear of talking to someone she didn't know. I'm not alone….. I'm here with Zyon! Her grey eyes twinkled as she answered the woman.

The woman looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to this small child, but she was all alone – the park was starting to empty as it was nearing supper time, and there wasn't anyone who seemed concerned for this little girl talking to a stranger. Will you come with me? I want to help you find your parents.

Sure, we'll come with you. Come on, Zyon! The little girl gently placed her stuffed animal into her bag and started to follow the woman – taking her hand into hers as they walked down the path through the park.

My name is Lucy. What's your name, sweetheart? The woman questioned as she pulled out her cell phone and was waiting for someone on the other end to answer.

Isabella. The girl did not show any signs of being afraid as she smiled from ear to ear, staring up at the woman that found her.

Yes, hi – I have a non-emergency call. There is a little girl that was sitting on a bench in Hyde's Park by herself. She doesn't have any parents around and has been here for a couple of hours from what I can tell. Yes, I'm walking her to the entrance of the park. Thank you! She hung her phone up and placed it in her pocket. There is a policeman up here at the entrance that is going to help you find your parents. How old are you?

The little girl held up her hand, showing all five of her fingers to the woman. Lucy returned her contagious smile.

What's your mom's name?

Mommy.

Lucy smiled as they walked up to the policeman that met them at Hyde's Park gate. Isabella would occasionally whisper something to herself or giggle but would answer with a sweet oh, nothing. As if Lucy had asked what she said. Lucy said her goodbye to Isabella and told her to stay with the policeman to find her parents. He, too, tried to get any information on who the child belonged to. Alas, he was unsuccessful as all he got out of Isabella was that she lived in a cabin with her mom and dad, but she didn't know where that was. The policeman stated to the little girl that there weren't any cabins in the city, but Isabella was sure that she lived by many trees, just like the park, where there was a cabin.

The sun was starting to set, and the policeman had walked Isabella around the entire park finding no one that the little girl had known. The policeman told Isabella that she would stay with some people who would take care of her for the night. Isabella was brought to Child Protection Services, who had her placed for the night in a group home where she was fed and given a bed. She settled in – still not showing any signs of fear, which was unusual for the workers to see in the children in their care, especially on the first night.

The lights were out, and all the children were sleeping, well, except for Isabella. She had a cot in the corner of the room – cuddled up with her little orange stuffed cat and was whispering to herself.

Why didn't you tell them what you said about my mommy? That you were just watching me for a while. I wasn't there by myself, and you let them think that I was.

You know what I told you. They're not supposed to know that I'm here, and they wouldn't understand anyway. You'll be safer this way. Trust me. Zyon's voice was deep but friendly, as he spoke to Isabella.

But they thought I was just here with my kitty. What's going to happen? Fighting not to fall asleep, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Zyon gently pulled the covers up to Isabella's chin and smoothed the blankets out. You're going to go to sleep and let the pieces fall into place, Izzie.

Zyon wasn't the well-loved orange stuffed cat that Izzie had carried in her bag with her. He was a little man covered with dark coarse hair; his skin was as green as grass, and his eyes were the brightest blue found in nature. His nails were long, coming to sharp points. A slight underbite deformed his jaw. He was small in height, as he was no taller than the five-year-old he was there to protect. His magic made it so that Isabella was the only one who could see or hear him, which would be a favor to them both being in this new land. He was able to manipulate his size, shrinking down to the size of a small doll or growing to the height of a fully grown human male. Unlike the Winding Woods, where humans and creatures lived together, this new land only seemed to have humans. In this new world, it was doubtful that they would understand what a boggle was, let alone allow him to be by a small child, like his sweet Izzie. He had pledged that he would do everything he could to keep her safe – even if that meant bringing her to a place that he knew nothing about. He loved the little girl as if she were his own.

She waved her finger, and the shimmers of the dust in the moonlight gathered into a beam of energy, closing the curtains, covering the light from the window. You can't do that here, Princess. Zyon softly whispered as he pushed her hair off her forehead.

Izzie drifted off to sleep, hugging the little cat as she softly snored with all the other children innocently dreaming in the room. Zyon took his post on the edge of the bed, watching everything moving outside of the window. He would keep every person, every shadow away from his little princess. He did not sleep.

2: A Girl named izzie

Izzie's family was never found, and the older that Izzie got, the less that she remembered about her parents. Isabella spent almost two years in foster care before she got adopted. Many of her foster parents didn't know how to deal with her. Things would move about the house, and Izzie always claimed that she didn't know how it happened. She even started to tell her foster families about Zyon. They thought it was adorable – at first – that Izzie had an invisible friend. They read that many kids in foster care, have something like this to cope with the trauma they might have gone through.

Izzie was like any normal little girl – she loved to color, play with dolls, and snuggle with her foster family's cats while swinging on the porch swing. She watched cartoons and excelled in school, reading and math were her two favorite subjects.

Her new family was lovely – she was now a part of the Smith family. Samantha (Sami) and Jack Smith were a nice married couple who owned a beautiful Springfield house. The front of the house faced the East and always was warm in the morning from the rising sun. The blue siding was cheery with small flower boxes hanging from the windows on the upper level. Sami was great in the garden and loved to have them covered in pink flowers. They had two real live cats named Kitty and Frankie who both looked just like the stuffed animal that Izzie loved. They had one child of their own, a little boy named Nathan who was a year older than Izzie. He was a sweet boy who loved to play video games and baseball. He had shaggy blond coarse hair and green eyes – his skin had olive tones like his dad's.

Izzie was adopted by the Smiths after a year of them fostering her, the longest she had stayed in one home out of the six other families she had been placed with. As Izzie didn't remember when her actual birthday was, they figured she was now seven years old. They let Izzie pick the day she wanted her birthday to be, and she picked September 24th. After school had started and she would have a party with her friends- the weather was usually quite lovely then.

She was a great fit with their family, and Nate was so excited to have a little sister to play with. They would spend hours playing the classic Nintendo games that Jack had kept from his childhood, or spending time outside on that swing – talking about adventures that they would go on when they got older. He accepted her and never teased her for talking to herself or her invisible friend. He loved her for the charming little girl that she was.

You are getting so good at mixing the dough by yourself, Iz! Sami baked with Izzie every Friday afternoon; this week, they made sugar cookie cutouts in many animal shapes that they were going to decorate with colored sugars and red-hot candies.

Sami turned her head for just a moment as Frankie had jumped up onto the counter and started to hiss toward the mixing bowl. It was odd how Kitty and Frankie reacted to Izzie. Most of the time, they loved her, cuddling, and nuzzling her whenever they could, but every once in a while, they would stare toward Izzie, and all the fur on their backs would be on end, and the cats would have a throaty growl. It was one of those times that the cat seemed to be staring at the wall and looked like he was ready to attack. Izzie wasn't fazed by the cats any longer when they acted this way and was busy singing a little song to herself as she measured out the last cup of flour that was needed to be added to the mixer. Frankie jumped toward the mixer, bumping Izzie's arm, causing her to scatter flour all over the counter.

Oh, Frankie! Get down! Sami shooed the cat out of the kitchen, dusting the flour off her hands onto her apron. I wonder what’s gotten into her?

Zyon was making faces at her again.

Sami shook her head but didn't say anything about how Izzie referred to her invisible friend. Sami's friend Nichole, who studied child psychology, told her that Izzie should outgrow it when she gets more comfortable in school and her home life. Sami wished she could figure out how to make Izzie comfortable.

Sami started to wipe up the flour from the counter and notice that tiny little footprints were cutting through the mess. How did you do that? She leaned her back against the counter and folded her arms over her chest.

Do what? She didn't raise her eyes as she was busy scrapping the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula.

Make these little boot prints? Are you playing a joke on me?

Izzie looked over to the mess and smiled, as she gestured with her head back toward the wall. Zyon did that running from Frankie.

Sami started to tear up with frustration as she was doing her best not to react to Izzie's stories, but she felt that after being in the house for over a year, the girl needed to stop all the invisible friend nonsense so she wouldn't get teased at school.

Izzie, honey, we've talked about this before, remember? Zyon isn't real, sweetie. You need to stop making up stories and blaming them on something that isn't real.

You better just agree with her – she's not supposed to know I'm real, Izzie. The boggle had perched himself on the shelf in the corner, hiding his flour-covered shoes behind a plant.

Yes, mom. She stuttered. Izzie had gotten good at not making eye contact with Zyon when he started to talk, as she was supposed to ignore him. It was hard for her to call Sami mom, but knew it made her happy, so she did it.

Sami smiled whenever the girl attempted to call her mom. It made her feel like they were finally making a connection. They didn't speak much as they finished making the cookies and decorating them with the cheerful sugars.

Izzie's relationship with Jack was never forced as it was with Sami. The girl greeted her brother and dad at the door with a plate of cookies when they returned from baseball practice.

Did you win? Izzie chirped as she hugged her brother, ignoring the dirt and sweat the covered his uniform.

It was just practice, goofy! We will go to my game tomorrow, though. Are you going to come and cheer for me? His eyes twinkled as he sank his teeth into the warm cookie. Izzie gave Nathan a big smile and nodded. Do you want to go play Zelda with me? Izzie had already linked elbows with her brother and was walking down the long hall to his room.

Jack made his way into the kitchen with the rest of the cookies. He greeted his wife, who was busy scrubbing the dishes in the sink. He was taller than her by at least a head, having to bend down to kiss her on the temple.

What's with the face? His mouth was full of cookies as he gave her a curious look, leaning back next to the sink so he could watch her.

Sami's expression was one of concern, and as she sighed before she started to speak: She's still making up stories about this Zyon. She made little footprints in the flour today and said that her invisible friend ran through it. When is she going to grow out of this? Tears of frustration cooled her flushed cheeks.

She'll grow out of it, I'm sure. She doesn't have any memories from before the park – I'm sure it's her coping mechanism. Besides, she started making friends at school. Isn't it supposed to replace the invisible friends when they start making real ones? Jack wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and brought her in for a hug.

Sami shrugged and then laid her head in the crook of Jack's arm. Are you sure that she isn't going to be needing medication? What if there is something terribly wrong with her? Sami felt sick in the pit of her stomach as she didn't know what to do for her daughter.

That will all come with time, honey. We can't push Izzie to be anything other than the happy little seven-year-old that is playing Zelda with her big brother. They listened to Izzie's cheers from down the hallway as her brother beat one of the castles.

Zyon sat on his perch in the kitchen and quietly listened to the conversation between Izzie's new parents. He was stuck in his spot until they left so he could clean the flour off his shoes; he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He knew then that he had to convince Izzie to stop talking about him as the parents didn't understand. The thought of his little princess being drugged made him sick to his stomach.

3: the Dawning of the Enchanted

Isabella loved to sit on the swing that was on the front porch of their house. No one else seemed to sit out there much, so she treated it as her own little area. The cool fall breeze was starting to roll in as the sun was lowering in the sky. She loved the breeze as it tickled her skin. Zyon sat on the arm of the bench and had his hands behind his head as Izzie gently swayed the swing back and forth with a wave of her finger. Her legs were too short to manually pump the swing. She had her drawing pad on her lap and a new box of crayons that her dad had brought home for her.

Nathan, bored of playing his video game as a single player, popped his head out of the door. His golden hair reflected in the sun. Whatcha doing? he made his way over to the seat. He didn't have to jump to get onto the bench, as Izzie did.

Just coloring. Do you want to color too? Her eyes lit up as she looked over at Nathan. Her most favorite thing at this house was when he wanted to play.

What are we coloring today? He asked with a smirk, as he held up an emerald green crayon in the air.

I'm drawing the Winding Woods. She returned matter-of-factly, without lifting her eyes from the tree that she was drawing.

Where is that? I've never heard of a place like that around here. He wrinkled his nose