Escape From Olshek's Castle: The Forgotten Portal, #1

By Kayla Cox

Allie McGee, straight-A student and rule-follower to the core, comes home from school one day to find that her little brother Pete is gone. She remembers the imaginative stories he told about a magical tree in the woods behind her house and she sets out immediately to find him. She begins to realize his stories were true when she finds the tree and is transported to a different world, only to discover that Pete's been kidnapped by the wicked King Olshek. She must go on a dangerous journey to get to the castle where her brother is being held captive. Will Allie dare defy Olshek? Or will she and Pete be trapped in his castle forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kayla Cox
• Release date: Dec 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9798223637301

Book preview

Escape From Olshek's Castle

Kayla Cox

Copyright © 2021 Kayla Cox

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: Kayla Cox and Generative AI

To my family, for their unfailing love and support.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Also by kayla cox

The Forgotten Portal series

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

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About The Author

Books By This Author

Also by kayla cox

Fiction

The Swamps of Dorscha

Non-Fiction

The Laid Back Guide to Intermittent Fasting

Overcoming Weight Loss Obstacles

The Laid Back Guide to Weight Loss Maintenance

Intermittent Fasting Workbook

The Forgotten Portal series

Book I

Escape From Olshek's Castle

Book II

The Swamps of Dorscha

Chapter 1

Allie McGee caught her reflection in the glass of her front door and wondered if Pete would be able to tell she’d been crying. He always could. Still, she gave her eyes a quick rub hoping it would wipe away the telltale signs.

Just ten more days, she said with a sigh, as she turned the knob and slipped inside her house, closing and locking the door behind her in one swift motion. Ten more days of school, and then Christmas break would be here. If she could just hang in there till then, her days would be filled with baking and music and jigsaw puzzles in front of the fire. Her book bag dropped with a resounding thud onto the entryway floor.

I’m home, Pete! she called to her little brother.

No matter how rotten her day had been at school, hearing him thundering down the hall to greet her always cheered her up. But today, the house was eerily silent.

Pete? she called a bit louder. Sometimes he got lost in his own little world, as young children are prone to do. She strained her ears. No answer.

Allie hung a left out of the entryway toward the dining room. She pushed open the door and poked in her head. The table was spotless, and the chairs were all tucked in under the table. Pete’s customary half-empty mug of hot chocolate and Rice Krispies treat wrapper were nowhere to be found. Allie furrowed her brow and headed towards the kitchen. All the cabinets were shut and the countertops were clean. Clearly, Pete hadn’t been there.

Pete! Where are you? she shouted, an edge of fear in her voice. No answer.

Her mind flashed with terrible things that might have happened to Pete before she got home. What if someone had broken in and kidnapped him? What if he had run away? What if he never made it home? She started to feel lightheaded, and her stomach felt tight.

Stay calm, she reminded herself. It was the first rule of babysitting, the one her mom, Laura, had drilled into her constantly when she was preparing Allie for her new role. Business had been slower than expected at the used bookstore her parents had recently opened. Her mom had decided to get a part-time job waiting tables to help make ends meet until the business was off the ground. Since Allie was almost thirteen, her mom had felt she was responsible enough to watch Pete for the few hours between when they got home from school and when her shift at the diner was over. It was only supposed to be temporary, but it had been almost two months already and nothing had changed.

Allie marched across the house and down the hallway, which was lined from floor to ceiling with overfull bookshelves. On a normal day, she would search each shelf for the latest additions her dad, Nick, had brought home from their store the night before, but right now she was starting to get a bad feeling.

PEEEETE? she called up the staircase at the end of the hall.

Silence

It occurred to her that he might have stayed after school for soccer practice. She sometimes got her days mixed up. She jogged back to the entryway, but Pete’s book bag was sitting right where he always dropped it when he got home. Another possibility crossed her mind: maybe he was hiding.

Lately, Pete was obsessed with ninjas and was getting good at moving stealthily through the house. He loved nothing more than to catch her reading on her bed, completely absorbed in a book. He would creep silently into the room and then run full speed towards her and fling himself into the air.

Hiiiiyyyaa! he would squeal, in his best karate voice as he executed a flying kick. A scuffle would then commence, which always ended with Allie kicking him out of her room. Even though she always acted annoyed, she secretly thought it was fun.

Peter Nicolas McGee! Stop hiding this instant! You’re going to be in big trouble if you don’t come out right now! she shouted, doing her best to imitate the tone her mom used to get him to straighten up.

Pete was mischievous, but this threat was always enough to get him to stop messing around. She stopped and listened carefully, sure she would hear his muffled giggling from somewhere down the hall. The only sound came from the tick-tock of the grandfather clock in the living room.

Allie’s heart began thudding harder in her chest. She took the stairs two at a time and then raced down the hall to his room. Markers, crayons, and paper littered the floor, as usual. Colorful drawings of everything from castles to ninjas to whales plastered the walls. A half-eaten dog biscuit lying next to one of his pictures on the floor caught her eye.

Boomer! she called as she picked up the biscuit. Where are you, boy? Want a treat?

Boomer was their family dog, a Beagle-Dachshund mix. They had gotten him as a puppy when Pete was born, and the two had bonded instantly. He slept in Pete’s room every night and absolutely refused to leave his side if he was sick or sad. But even his allegiance to Pete couldn’t keep Boomer this quiet for this long. The offer of a treat always made him come running. Allie’s palms started to sweat.

After making a full search of his room, she made her way downstairs to the living room, looking in all of Pete’s usual hiding spots along the way. She noticed the sliding glass door to the backyard was slightly ajar. Thank you, God, she said to the ceiling. Pete knew playing outside before she got home was against the rules, but occasionally he forgot. At least, that was the excuse he always gave.

Pete’s favorite place to play was the backyard. Their dad had built a playhouse right after they moved in five years ago. It was alternately a fort, a pirate ship, a pioneer cabin, or whatever else they dreamed up. Lately, they had pretended it was a submarine and spent countless hours reenacting scenes from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. She had been Captain Nemo, and Pete had, of course, played the giant squid with boundless enthusiasm.

She jogged over to the playhouse and threw open the door. Pete! How many times have I told you— She stopped cold. The playhouse was empty. Her stomach churned as her brain raced to figure out what she should do next.

Her eyes scanned the yard. There was no trace of him anywhere. Her eyes fell on the line of trees that marked their property line and all at once, she knew where Pete was. He had been obsessed with a place he called the Forsaken Forest. His stories about his outlandish adventures in it had entertained the whole family as they sat around the dinner table for the past few weeks. And although at the time she thought he was making the stories up out of thin air, she now realized that Pete had been talking about these very woods.

They’d been on a family hike through those woods once before. Her dad thought the state owned the land because that’s what his real estate agent had told him when they were buying the house. They had marveled at how beautiful and untouched it seemed. It was the first time Allie had ever seen a fox in the wild.

The day after their hike, however, a mysterious note had arrived. They found it on the floor amongst all the ordinary letters that came through the mail slot at the front door. The oilskin envelope had no return address, and the lettering on the front was peculiar. A red wax seal embossed with a symbol that looked like an O held it closed. Inside was a folded piece of parchment, lettered in the same unusual hand. It read:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am aware that you have trespassed upon my land.

Take heed that it does not happen again.

If it does, there will be consequences.

The same symbol on the seal appeared at the bottom of the letter. Allie’s mom looked up the property information online, but the owner record only read NAME WITHHELD. That night her dad had called a family meeting and told them that further exploration into the forest was strictly forbidden. Though he loved exploring, Nick valued his privacy and the privacy of others. He explained that this O person was probably a man who simply wanted himself and his land to be left alone.

Since that day, Allie had always felt a little afraid when she looked at the forest. No matter how bright and sunny the day was, the forest always seemed dark and forbidding. Today it looked more mysterious and more dangerous than ever. She knew what she had to do, but she hated the thought of it. She had to enter the Forsaken Forest and find her brother.

Chapter 2

Allie headed towards the orange and green wall of maples and cedars, calling for Pete as she went. It was still early in the afternoon, but the days were short this time of year, and she knew she only had a couple of hours at most before sunset. She tried to convince herself the forest would be brighter after entering it. Her feet hesitated as they reached the property line. What would the consequences be for trespassing?

That didn’t matter. Pete might be lost or hurt. Mr. O will have to get over it, she said. Her brother’s life was more important than some old coot’s privacy. As she crossed into the woods her sneakers disappeared beneath the blanket of fallen leaves that covered the forest floor. An icy December breeze whooshed by and sent goosebumps up her arms. She thought she heard a voice whisper something, but she couldn’t make out what it was.

Pete? Is that you? she called, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. No answer.

Allie squinted as she surveyed the forest, but there was no sign of Pete. The trail her family had used on their hike lay about a hundred feet ahead of her, and she made up her mind to start there. The thorny undergrowth that stood between her and the path caught at her legs and arms as she made her way forward. As she trudged through the shin-deep dead leaves, Allie tried not to think about snakes that might be burrowed down within them, seeking shelter from the cold.

By the time she arrived at the trail, she was scratched up and sweaty. Her eyes studied the ground and she had her first stroke of good luck. Yesterday’s rainstorm had left the ground soft and she could make out two faint sets of tracks: one that looked to be made by a child and the other by a dog. She breathed a sigh of relief. Pete and Boomer had been here.

PETE? she yelled at the top of her lungs, but the forest swallowed the sound. She stood still, waiting for a reply, but one never came.

Her only option was to follow the footprints and pray that they led her to wherever he was. Allie started to run down the path, but she found it was too dark to keep track of the faint prints at that pace. Frustrated, she slowed down to a hurried walk. As she went along, she tried to remember the details of Pete’s stories about the Forsaken Forest, hoping they would provide some clue. He tended to chatter on and on about pretty much everything, and she usually tuned him out after a while. Her mind skipped from one memory to the next, and at first, nothing useful surfaced. As she continued to follow the tracks she slowed her thoughts down and mentally replayed each story she could remember.

A picture formed in her mind of Pete talking about a magical gateway inside the Forsaken Forest that led to a world that had different people and strange creatures. He said the gateway was inside the Enchanted Tree. Obviously, the stuff about the different world was made up, but there was probably some sort of tree that had captured his imagination on the hike. The real question now was, where was that tree?

Her mind went back to the day of the hike. Had there been any special-looking tree? No, not to Allie’s mind. But then again, Pete’s brain worked differently than hers. He often pointed out interesting things that she had walked right past. On the other hand, maybe they hadn’t even seen it on the hike. Maybe he had found it some other day. Maybe he snuck out here every day after school but then got back to the house before she got off the bus. She cringed at the thought of Pete playing in this place out here all by himself.

Again and again, she called for Pete, but there was never a reply. For now, there was just enough sunlight filtering through the treetops to illuminate her path, but with each passing minute, the sunlight faded. Too soon it would be dark and this forest was the last place she would want to be at night. Every night when she was lying in bed, she imagined that when she looked at her window she would see a robber staring back at her. It had never happened, but that never stopped her from thinking that one day it would. She could only imagine what tricks her mind would play on her out here at night. She resolved that she would be safe and sound back in the house with Pete by then. She quickened her pace a bit more, staring hard to keep sight of the prints. The tracks ended abruptly.

Oh no! she cried as she hurried forward several paces, hoping the tracks would pick back up further down the path. No luck. She knelt down and examined the ground, desperately hoping to see some footprints, but the trail had gone completely cold.

She turned and hurried back down the path. When she arrived at the familiar footprints, she looked around. Her mom had taught her that you could tell an animal had been through a place, even if it hadn’t left footprints. You could look for disturbed areas, for one thing. She looked at the last of the prints and noticed they seemed to go at a slightly different angle.

Why didn’t I notice that before? she asked the ground.

The direction of the tracks veered off the path and deeper into the woods. It looked like there was a faint trail through the leaves. Allie looked around and for the first time realized how deep in the forest she was. She could no longer see where the forest ended and their backyard began. Her dad had warned them about how easy it was to get lost if they left the well-worn footpath. Fear caught at her throat and she considered turning back. But Pete was her responsibility. She had to find him and bring him back home.

She looked around for something that would help her find the path again. A large dead cedar tree just up the way stood out stark against the vibrant evergreens around it.

Alrighty. That’s my mark. After I find Pete, I’ll march right towards the cedar, and then we’ll get out of this creepy, creepy place. Her words made her sound more confident than she felt, but talking out loud helped her feel less alone.

She took a deep breath and stepped off the footpath. Another gust of cold air blew past her and she again thought she heard something whisper. A chill ran down her spine. Allie suddenly felt very distinctly that someone or something was watching her. Her eyes looked around in every direction, but there was no other living creature in sight. She shook off the feeling of the unseen eyes and set off on Pete’s trail.

The disturbed leaves provided a decent path to follow, but occasionally the ground would be bare and hard and she would begin to despair. Despite her frustration, she continued to press on. There was always another clue up ahead: sometimes it was a bent twig, other times it was a tuft of grass that looked trampled, occasionally it was just a gut feeling she had. As she slowly progressed down the trail, she frequently looked back to make sure she could still see the brown cedar. As the daylight continued to fade, the cedar took on a more ominous appearance. She swallowed hard as she gazed at the tree. She had to find Pete, and fast.

Chapter 3

The darkness started to come on faster, and as the light faded, so did her hope. Soon it would be so dark that progress would be impossible. She took a quick inventory. She had no flashlight. No lantern. No matches. Soon it would just be her, alone in this terrible forest in utter darkness. If she stayed out here much longer, she wouldn’t be able to see the twigs she had been breaking to mark her trail back to the cedar, which had completely dropped out of view several minutes before. If she made a miscalculation in how much time she had left, she would have to stay out here in the forest all night, alone. Panic welled up inside her.

Why didn’t I just call Mom and Dad? Why did I come to this stupid place? She tried to shout it, but her voice had given out from constantly yelling for Pete. Her body felt exhausted, and in that moment she knew the right thing to do was to turn around now and go home before night fell. She turned around, ready to bolt, but the noise of a faint yelp stopped her. She would know it anywhere.

Boomer! she cried. She could barely make out his form bounding through the woods. He ran as fast as his short legs would take him, yipping all the way. He cut circles around Allie, jumping and barking all the while. She knelt down to try to give him a scratch behind his big floppy ears, but he continued to race around.

She stood up and hesitated. If Boomer was here, Pete might be close by. But it was just too dark to continue forward. They would race back to the house as fast as they could and she would get help.

Boomer, come! she commanded, setting her face towards home. But Boomer would have none of it. He yelped sharply and ran in the opposite direction, then to her, then back.

Boomer, I said come! Allie said it as loudly as she could manage, but Boomer seemed not to hear it. The stubborn dog would follow her if she led the way, she decided. With a frustrated sigh, she started marching back towards the dead cedar. Then Boomer did something he had never done before. He lunged in front of her with his teeth bared and growled. Boomer had never growled at another living creature in his whole life. He didn’t even growl at Snowball, the neighbors’ unpleasant cat.

Boomer! Get out of my way! Allie shouted.

Boomer stood firm, his eyes narrowed. As she tried to move past him, Boomer grabbed the leg of her jeans and pulled her with all his might in the opposite direction. A thought occurred to her. What if Pete was hurt, and this was Boomer’s way of telling her? She took one last look towards home, then down into Boomer’s pleading eyes. She