Lore Isle
Lore Isle
She stood up and walked toward him. Her dress skimmed the floor as if she was gliding an inch off the floor, and the rubies winked like tiny Christmas lights.
“Stay with me forever, and I’ll take care of you.” Her singsong voice lulled him.
No more worries about money for the house, no burden of a quest. Living with Sarracena seemed like the ideal life.
“I want to have an ordinary life again. I’m tired,” he confessed.
“Sapped, you might say.” A chair appeared behind Peter. Sarracena gently pushed his chest with her long fingers, and he fell back into the chair, holding tight to the mirror.
Yes. He was sapped. Grandpa’s death has been hard enough, but the altered will, the evil aunts, and Mom’s condition left Peter with little choice but to follow Mr. Doyle and his promised gold coins. And in Lore Isle, the list of what he needed to accomplish kept growing – it now included the responsibility of the resurrection of the extinct Newfoundland wolf. “It’s all too much!” Peter blurted out.
“I understand,” Sarracena cooed with a motherly expression.
The fireflies floating around the indigo ceiling blinked their sympathetic lights. The gossamer drapes allowed in a gentle, warm breeze. Sarracena’s dress grew tall and wide and multi-layered like a giant wedding cake. Delectable desserts appeared on every layer. He had seen similar, ornately decorated cakes and pastries at her wedding. His mouth flooded with saliva in anticipation. Where to start?
“Try them all. They’re all for you,” said the honeyed voice from above.
Peter picked up a petit four covered in a smooth, pale blue icing and decorated with an exquisite lily of the valley made from green marzipan for the leaves and precious, pearled candy beads for the flowers.
He popped the entire creation in his mouth.
It tasted delicious… but stale. Could these be the same desserts from the wedding?
“Have another my sweet.”
Peter had another, and another. He couldn’t stop eating them. Outside the windows, the sun, in slow motion, rose and began to come back down. Patiently, Sarracena watched him from above, smiling like an angel on top of a Christmas tree. Peter was sure the fairy was proud of him for eating so well.
An ostentatious gold goblet appeared in her hand. From a small packet, she sprinkled lime green powder into the drink. It fizzed. “A little fairy dust.” She winked.
She opened her hand and the goblet floated down to him. The beads of sweat covering the metal vessel promised him a cold drink. The dry pastries and cakes had made him thirsty.
Peter gulped down the refreshing liquid. Bright flashes of his life in Newfoundland burst in his head. He saw his grandpa with a fishing rod, Mom pruning a plant, the school bus pulling up to the museum, Ben and his dog Willow coming around the side of the house, his aunts puffing and inhaling. Then the memories began to fade like sun-bleached photographs ‘til he forgot his own name. Tension drained from his body as if he had put down a heavy object he had been holding.
“You may stay with me forever once you give me the mirror,” said a fuzzy and gooey voice.
Peter, 13, has lived in Newfoundland with his mother and grandfather his whole life. Things haven’t been easy for Peter, with his father gone and his mother afraid to leave the house, but Peter’s grandfather, though harsh sometimes, has always been there for Peter and his mother, Lily. However, when Peter’s grandfather dies suddenly, Peter and his mother face a new hardship. In his will, Peter’s grandfather split all his belongings between Lily and her awful twin sisters. Peter’s aunts make it clear that they are going to sell the house unless Lily can buy their share from them, something she can’t afford to do.
Sad, scared, and dreading their impending homelessness, Peter isn’t in a good place for his grandfather’s funeral. Things may be looking up though when Peter meets a mysterious stranger, Mr. Doyle, a man who claims to have known his grandfather well, despite being unknown to Peter and Lily. Mr. Doyle tells Peter that he has a way for Peter to get the money needed to stay in his house without his mother working! Mr. Doyle asks Peter to travel with him through a pond into a strange fairytale-like world and help him bring back the Newfoundland wolves. Peter has always liked wolves and thought it a shame that they were hunted into extinction in Newfoundland; however, Peter’s grandfather had been a wolf hunter with no similar kindness towards the animals. Despite this, Peter agrees to go with Mr. Doyle and bring back the wolves and enough gold to save his house.
In Lore Isle, things are very different from Newfoundland, and Peter is faced with all sorts of fairies, giant insects, dangerous ice bridges, and mummers (stuffed and masked people inhabited by the souls of people who bear their grudges into death) that try to stop him and Mr. Doyle from bringing wolves back to Newfoundland. More difficult than any of the things in Lore Isle that impede Peter is the secretive Mr. Doyle who also has Peter looking for his lost goddaughter, Ella. From the way Mr. Doyle keeps adding new steps to their journey, to how he is able to speak with and understand the black wolves in Lore Isle, Peter can tell that Mr. Doyle isn’t being truthful with him. Peter must navigate Mr. Doyle’s lies, fairy curses, and a mummer that seems oddly familiar, one wearing a coat that looks an awful lot like his grandfather’s, all in order to find Ella, get enough gold to save his mother and his house, and bring the wolves back home to Newfoundland.
Lore Isle is a coming-of-age story filled with magic and nostalgia, one that feels like reading a fairy tale as a child before bed. Peter’s journey with Mr. Doyle is a winding and tumultuous one that takes him all over Lore Isle and has him meet all different kinds of creatures that live there. Kim has crafted a story that shows Peter grow into a confident and capable young man, one that can stand up for his own values even if they differ from those he cares about.
Deanna Feuer is an English Literature graduate from the University of the Fraser Valley. She lives in Langley, British Columbia, and is currently studying Archival Sciences.