Shadow's Revenge: The Magical Gate

By Julie Earle

In Shadow’s Revenge, Amy finds herself pulled back into the magical world she once knew so well. Years after her first journey through the gate, she is now a grown woman with a child of her own. But when her daughter tells her about a magical gate in their garden, Amy can’t resist the call to adventure once more.

As Amy steps back into the world of fairies and enchantment, she reunites with old friends Thorn, Amy, and Brownie. But their mission is urgent: they must stop Shadow, a banished entity who has returned and threatens to take over fairyland. Their task becomes even more perilous when they learn that they must also rescue the daughter of the guardian of the land of the moving rocks.

Together, Amy and her companions journey through the land of temptations and face numerous trials and dangers. From the field of illusions to the winter wonderland of Jack Frost, their quest takes them to unexpected places. As the stakes grow higher, Amy must race against time to save her daughter and the other captives before Shadow’s revenge is complete.

Will they succeed in their quest, or will Shadow triumph and take over fairyland once and for all? Find out by stepping through the gate - if you dare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398407466

Julie Earle

Julie Earle was born in 1976 and raised in Luton, England. Her father told her fairy stories from his own imagination which captivated her into a fantasy world. As she grew up, she took her imaginative skills to school and got her first story published in the school magazine. After leaving school, Julie worked in a small playgroup filling children’s imagination with all her stories. She loved working with children and went on to receive a diploma in nursery nursing. She now lives in Essex with her husband and five children. Her passion for writing took over and she became a member of a freelance writing group. After having her fourth child, Julie began to create The Magical Gate series; and so it was born.

Book preview

About the Author

Julie Earle was born in 1976 and raised in Luton, England. Her father told her fairy stories from his own imagination which captivated her into a fantasy world. As she grew up, she took her imaginative skills to school and got her first story published in the school magazine. After leaving school, Julie worked in a small playgroup filling children’s imagination with all her stories. She loved working with children and went on to receive a diploma in nursery nursing. She now lives in Essex with her husband and five children. Her passion for writing took over and she became a member of a freelance writing group. After having her fourth child, Julie began to create The Magical Gate series; and so it was born.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my parents; thank you for all the stories you told me as a child. I really do believe it fed my imagination to be able to write The Magical Gate series and many more books to come.

Copyright Information ©

Julie Earle 2023

The right of Julie Earle to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398431973 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398407466 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my husband for his support throughout this book and the first. I would also like to thank my children for their ongoing support and everyone who has encouraged me. Without them, this book would not have happened. I would like to thank Maska, the dog, who inspired me to build one of the characters on. I would like to thank David Pearce for his magic of the front cover and all the amazing pictures inside this book.

Chapter One

Several years had passed; Amy had become a woman and had a little girl of her own called Louise. Amy would tell Louise stories of how she had met the fairy king and saved Fairyland from the evil goblin Shadow. Louise would sit and listen to her mother for hours, just wishing this was her, and after all, they were still in the same house that Amy had grown up in, so anything was possible. As Amy finished telling Louise how she had escaped Death on Brownie’s back and how the king had banished Shadow forever, Louise butted in and whispered, Did you really… Mum, did you really go into Fairyland or is this just a story?

Yes, honey, I really did. this happened to me when I was only nine years old.

Wow! shouted Louise, who was now bouncing up and down on her bed in pure excitement.

Amy laughed and placed her hand upon Louise’s head and ruffled her hair while saying, Come on, back to bed before your father hears me telling you these stories. You know he doesn’t like me filling your head with fairies.

But why, Mum? Why doesn’t he like you telling me? It’s so magical and fun.

I know, babe, but you see the fairy queen told me that when a child grows into an adult, their hearts became hard and unbelieving. That’s your dad; an unbeliever.

But you still believe and you’re a grownup.

That’s because I’ve seen them, I’ve met them and I was given the gift of wisdom; given to me by the fairy king. Now come on, settle down, it’s time to sleep.

Okay, Mum, love you.

Amy bent down and kissed Louise on the top of her head and closed her bedroom door. Louise lay in the darkness, her head whirling with wonderful thoughts of fairies and pixies. She crept out of bed and stared out of her window; she could see the snow falling softly to the ground. As Louise looked, she could see the snow sparkling like stars in the sky.

I wonder if that’s a fairy, Louise said under her breath. She loved her house and her garden; it was so magical and everything about it was special. Louise walked quietly back to her bed and settled down for the night, when she suddenly noticed the darkness which filled the room. As the fear gripped her, she heard the evilest gruff voice begin to talk to her and say, I’m back and I’m out to get you, watch yourself, you will be next.

Louise sat bolt upright and screamed. Amy and her husband came running in. She had never woken up screaming before as she was such a happy and content child.

What’s wrong, love? Amy asked.

Oh, Mum, it was horrible. I heard a voice say to me, ‘I’m back and I’m coming to get you’.

Louise’s father looked at Amy and said, Have you been filling her head with those stupid fairy stories? I told you not to tell her any more stories. Filling our daughter’s mind with garbage, any wonder why she has had a nightmare.

Amy thought it was best to keep quiet as she knew Tom was not impressed. She settled Louise down and kissed her goodnight. As she closed the door, she paused for a second and opened it enough for Louise to see the landing light on.

Amy felt uneasy and was unable to sleep. She got up and went downstairs and made herself a cup of tea. The words rang loud in her ears. ‘I’m back and I’m going to get you.’ Surely that couldn’t have been Shadow; he was chained and imprisoned by the fairy king.

No, I would have heard from them, as I have fairy hearing, and they would have called for my help, I know they would have, Amy thought to herself. She knew that Louise could be in great danger as Shadow must have mistaken Louise for her. Amy got up and looked out of her window, she could see thick, white fluffy snow that had just fallen. She knew one thing; she had really missed Thorn and the others. As she carried on watching the snow falling, she could see two sparkly dots moving in the snow. She carefully watched the beauty unfold. There playing in the snow where two beautiful snow fairies. Amy rubbed her eyes. They were wearing petal dresses in a shape of icicles, and on their arms, she could see a little white band with what looked like snowflakes hanging off. She could see they were having so much fun darting in and out of the snow. As Amy watched, she could see that the fairies were sprinkling sparkles on the cobwebs and hedges. After they had finished, they were gone. The whole garden looked magical and sparkled and glistened. Amy smiled and walked back to bed, still very troubled.

Louise woke up bright and early the next morning, jumping up and down on Amy’s bed.

Mummy, Mummy, wake up. I want to play in the snow.

Amy moaned and rubbed her eyes as she sat up, she was so relieved to see her. She smiled at Louise and said, Go and get washed and dressed.

Louise scurried off with excitement. She ran into the bathroom and turned on the taps and pretended to wash. She was so excited; washing would just hold her up even more and cut her playing time in half. She rushed out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, she found her warm clothes and quickly pulled them on. Amy walked into Louise’s bedroom just as she was struggling to pull on her wellies. Amy laughed as she could see Louise jumping around her room trying to pull on her boot.

Come here, let me do it for you, love.

Louise reminded Amy so much of herself when she was a child. Amy pulled on her boot and fluffed her hair.

Come on, then, said Amy.

Louise excitedly ran down the stairs and opened the backdoor. She gasped in wonder; everywhere was covered with thick white fluffy snow, everywhere glistened.

This must have been the work of a fairy, said Louise.

Amy smiled a warm and loving smile and whispered in her ear, It was. I saw them last night; they were so pretty. They put sparkles all over our garden.

Louise frantically shouted, Tell me more; tell me what they looked like. Oh Mum! I wish I could have seen them.

All Amy could say to her was, You will one day, I’m pretty sure of that.

With that, Amy went inside to make herself some hot chocolate. She couldn’t help but feel very worried for her daughter. She had to somehow warn Thorn, but how? The gate hadn’t appeared for years so there was no way she could contact them. All she could do was to watch and hope Louise would be safe.

As Louise was busy playing, at the bottom of her garden something strange caught her eye. As she walked over to where it was, she could see what looked like a wooden gate. Could this be? Surely not, not after all this time, thought Louise, her heart racing with excitement. She carefully brushed off all the snow. To her amazement, it was a beautiful wooden gate with a metal latch.

This must be the magical gate.

She stretched out her hand to reach for the catch when she heard, Louise, dinner’s ready. Come on.

Okay, Mum. I’ll see you after dinner, Mr Gate.

Louise ran indoors full of excitement, eager to tell her mother what she had seen. She reached the back door and saw that her father was back from work; she knew this would have to wait for him to go and watch TV like he usually did. She opened the back door and walked into a nice and very warm kitchen which was filled with the smell of her mum cooking. She sat down and ate her food in complete silence which was very unusual for her as she liked to talk all the time. Amy knew something was up but kept quiet.

After dinner, Amy looked at Louise and said, Louise, will you dry up for me?

She looked at her mum and with heaviness in her heart, sighed and nodded.

Good girl. Tom left the table and headed for the living room.

As soon as they heard the TV go on, Amy quietly said, You have something to tell me, don’t you?

How do you know this stuff? It’s so freaky, but yes, I do. I think I have seen the magical gate.

Chapter Two

Amy dropped her saucepan onto the floor and stared at Louise. All she could say was, What did you say? I thought I just heard you say you have found the magical gate?

That’s right, I did. Well, I think I did.

But that’s impossible. The gate has not appeared for years. I would have heard from them if anything was wrong.

Amy remembered the voice that Louise heard and began to fear the worst; did she miss the trumpet call now that she was all grown up? Had the task been given to her daughter and that is why she found the gate? Amy’s brain was mixed with all sorts of different emotions.

Come on, you must have a look, then you will know for sure if it was the gate.

Louise took her mother’s hand and led her to the bottom of the dusky garden. There stood the beautiful wooden gate with swirls at each end of it. Amy gasped and put her hand over her mouth, tears began to well up as she had not seen that gate for years. She knew what was beyond the gate. Thorn and Cherry were just a walk away, all she had to do was open the gate and there they would be. Amy wanted to open that gate more than anything in the world but was very unsure as to what or who was beyond the gate. Memories of Fairyland came flooding back into Amy’s mind.

Are you okay, Mum? What’s wrong?

I have wanted to see that gate appear for years and it never has until now. I’m just wondering if Shadow has escaped as you heard that voice.

Shall we go through, Mum? There’s only one way to find out. We could do this together.

Amy looked at her daughter, not wanting her to get hurt or killed but she could never let Louise know this as she would never understand. No, this was something that she had to find out herself.

Not tonight. It’s getting late and your father will wonder where we are.

Louise felt very disappointed, but her mum was right about Dad; he would never understand. The two of them walked back to the house in complete silence. Amy turned back to have one last look at the gate and walked into the house and shut the door and locked it. Amy finished off the washing up, her mind racing with her plans to go through when her daughter was asleep. That way, Louise would be safe.

Louise got ready for bed, Amy bent down and kissed her forehead. Louise was very confused; her mother had told her stories all her life of this gate and she never wanted to walk through—why? She had to know. Her mum was just about to close her door when Louise blurted out, "Why didn’t you want