Book 2, Karena the Fairy and the Bat Colony: In This Second Installment of the Karena the Fairy Trilogy Join Karena, Michael and Anna as They Venture into the Icy Forest in Search of the Witches of Slevfoy. a Perilous Journey Leads Them to an Underground Bat Colony.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Summary of book one:

Karena the Fairy

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

About the Book

Karena The Fairy

And The Battle For Stackton

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

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

About the Author

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank everyone who bought a copy of my first book, Karena the Fairy. As I published the book myself I appreciate all the support from friends, family and acquaintances. Thanks to all the principals, teachers and students in primary schools in the Cooley peninsula and Dundalk town who let me come in and talk about the book in the classroom. Thanks to Louth County library for purchasing copies for the libraries in Co. Louth. Thanks to everyone who read the book and for your feedback. Thanks to those who told others about the book and generated interest in it, particularly my aunt Valerie Mc Donnell. Thanks also to all the bookstores who stocked Karena the Fairy. Thank you all so much for the feedback and kind words of encouragement.

Prologue

Karena the Fairy and the Bat Colony is the second book in the trilogy, Karena the Fairy. Karena the Fairy is the name of book one and book three, Karena the Fairy and the Battle for Stackton is included in this edition. If you haven’t read book one please visit www.maryrosemcshane.com to order your copy online. Alternatively you can read the following summary of book one.

Summary of book one:

Karena the Fairy

In the first book, Karena the Fairy lives in a carefully maintained fairy fort amid a close knit community of family and friends. Unlike the others in the fort who are cautious and afraid of change, Karena is adventurous and longs to explore the world around her. She is drawn to the river on the outskirts of the fort because it goes on a mysterious journey into the unknown. Karena disobeys her mother’s warnings, goes to the river alone and ends up getting washed away by the current.

Dazed and confused she manages to get out alive and encounters a shifty crow who promises to show her the way back to her home. She follows this dark creature that leads her through a snow covered, lifeless forest and eventually to a town where it is permanently winter. Karena is shocked by the sudden change in weather as it is the start of summer everywhere else.

They arrive at an elaborate palace from which, Queen Sheba rules her permanently icy kingdom. Sheba makes Karena very welcome in the palace by giving her as much as she would like to eat and has new clothes made especially for her. Sheba also has servants in the palace that she refers to as trolls. She frequently bullies them by shouting, throwing things and calling them stupid.

For five years now, the crow and Sheba have been conspiring to keep the townspeople of Stackton under their control. All this time the town has been in a state of winter. As queen, Sheba has the power to change the seasons, or so they believe. But she has not done so, claiming to need the help of two mysterious witches who live far away. The townspeople have been told that the witches refuse to help them until they have worked hard enough to give them the food, clothing and other material goods they desire. So the locals work harder and harder while Sheba and the crow live in luxury. A mayor named Malcolm Harrison works for Sheba and the crow ensuring that things run smoothly in the town.

By pretending Karena was sent by the witches, the crow and Sheba make her an object of fear that forces the townspeople to work harder. Despite living in luxury, Karena is lonely in the palace. She is waiting for the crow to find the way home - a task he sets out daily, he claims. One evening Karena sneaks out of the palace and befriends two local children, Michael and Anna. Michael tells Karena the story about why the seasons are not changing. Karena learns that many years ago on a cold winter’s night an old witch was wandering the streets of Stackton looking for shelter from the cold. Nobody opened the door as they were afraid. As the witch lay dying in the snow, she put a powerful curse on the town that it would be permanently trapped in winter. A local girl found the witch and brought her home to her family who took care of her. However it was too late but with her dying words the witch gave the girl and all her female descendants the power to change the seasons. Michael tells Karena that Sheba is a descendent of this girl and should be able to change the seasons but hasn’t done so. Skeptical about the general belief that Sheba can lift the town’s curse, Michael is anxious to set out on his own to find two witches who Sheba claims can help her. Meanwhile Sheba is behaving ever more strangely. The crow tells Karena that Sheba is drinking too much wine.

A great big beast called Lucio moves into the palace. Half-man, half-wolf, he is a friend of the crow. Karena discovers that the crow hasn’t been looking for her home at all and Lucio locks Karena and Michael (who Karena brought to the palace) in the palace cellar. Finally released by Anna, the trio set off on a quest into the bleak woods to find the mysterious witches who could help Sheba change the seasons and, ultimately, find Karena’s home.

For everyone who purchased a copy of my first book, Karena the Fairy. Thank you for the support.

Chapter 1

As twigs cracked under their feet and echoed in the still forest, Karena was reminded of her arrival to Stackton. The trees were desolate with crooked branches that twisted outwards as though reaching out for light to enrich their weathered barks. The forest gradually became denser as snow covered branches jutted between heavy tree trunks. Michael paced forward, staring intently at his compass like a sergeant leading his men into war. Anna had to break into a jog to keep up, stopping occasionally to stare up at the cobweb of branches. Karena flew directly behind Anna to make sure everyone stayed together. The light faded as thick grey clouds filled the sky. A cold wind whistled through the branches and blew in their faces. Then a gust of snowflakes swirled like clothes in a washing machine. The wind’s whistle strengthened to a howl, bringing snowflakes. Michael stopped and looked up through the winding branches to see a thick, dark cloud. He gritted his teeth and stomped his foot before turning round to call Anna.

‘Come on,’ he motioned and they ran for cover. The wind gripped them with icy hands while the flakes battered their faces. They squinted their eyes in an attempt to see as they ran through the storm. Then Karena spotted something among the lonely trees. She spurted ahead and led the way to an abandoned log cabin with four walls and a roof. They entered to find a big empty room. They shook off the snow as the harsh wind whistled through the windows, blowing gusts of snowflakes inside.

‘This is not good,’ Michael rubbed his red face and hands. ‘The blizzard could last for days.’

‘We could turn back,’ said Karena, once again hoping that he would agree with her.

Michael sat down and hung his head as he thought about his hopes of helping the town being blown away by a commonplace snowstorm.

‘I don’t want to go back,’ he said with angry eyes. ‘You two go and I’ll continue alone.’

‘Maybe we should spend the night here and see what the weather’s like tomorrow,’ suggested Karena who was getting tired of Michael’s angry stares.

Anna’s head whisked from Karena to Michael.

‘Alright,’ he said as though he was doing them a favour. ‘But I’m going to go and find the witches even if there is a storm.’

The blizzard continued through the night, howling and beating against the cabin. Michael and Anna huddled together and Karena sat next to them, curled up in her coat like a kitten. Anna asked Karena about Adelida and Karena told her all about her family and friends and how she had been swept away by the river. Michael was silent as he gazed out at the storm. In the last five years the cold winter had robbed his family of most of their money. It had battered their house into a broken down shack. It had dragged him from his education and forced him to work. Now it was preventing him from doing anything about it! Anna and Karena slipped off to sleep, while Michael’s angry thoughts kept him awake. In the end, he too drifted off.

The next morning, Michael awoke to the howling of a strong wind that blew on his face as though telling him it had won. He jumped up, looked out the window then kicked the cabin wall. The thud shook the girls awake.

‘I know what storms like this are like,’ he clenched his fists. ‘I’ve seen them on trips with Dad. They usually last for about five days!’ With a flushed face, he marched over to them and grabbed his rucksack. He pulled out some items and placed them in a plastic bag.

‘I’m going forward alone,’ he said. ‘You two had better go back. Here’s some food and water to keep you going.’ He handed Anna the bag then stormed out of the cabin. Anna and Karena jumped up and followed.

‘Michael wait!’ cried Anna through the thick blizzard. They could barely make out Michael’s curly head through the heavy flakes. He shouted a final ‘GO HOME!’ as he broke into a run.

‘WAIT!’ Anna’s started to cry.

Karena flew close to her as the snow hailed down.

‘We have to go back to the cabin,’ she shouted into Anna’s ear.

Anna looked longingly into the blizzard.

‘Come on Anna,’ pleaded Karena.

Reluctantly she followed the fairy back to the cabin as tears rolled down her soft face. Rage swirled in the pit of Karena’s stomach like bubbling hot soup as she thought about Michael leaving them like that. It rose through her body like fire. When it left, she found her thoughts to be quite clear. She told Anna to relax, that they would follow Michael when the storm eased down a bit. She was thinking to herself that the best thing to do was to go back to Stackton and tell Michael’s parents what had happened. A search party could be organised and they would have a better chance of finding him than she and Anna would. She took out the food that Michael had left them. Anna tucked into some of the palace’s finest chocolate cake and eventually stopped sobbing.

All day long the wind howled through the cabin as the snow came down. Karena tried to distract Anna by telling her about Adelida and making up games to pass the time. One was called ‘Catch me if you can’ were Karena flew like an annoying bluebottle as Anna chased, trying to clasp her legs. Anna’s face brightened up as she giggled when the fairy swooped out of reach. The game also helped them to stay warm. When they felt the low grumble of their stomachs, they ate more food and drank some water. When night fell, Anna was tired from chasing the fairy around and Karena wanted to sleep to forget about the rumbling in her stomach. Anna lay on the wooden floor and Karena curled up beside her.

Chapter 2

The next morning Karena opened her eyes to see that snowflakes were not being blown into the cabin. She flew over to the window and peered out. Snow danced from light grey clouds. She was delighted to see the stillness in the branches as they hung, draped in a thick layer of snow as though feeling sorry for themselves. She flew back to Anna who was asleep with her hands tucked beneath her head.

‘Anna, wake up,’ she whispered. ‘The wind has stopped.’

Anna sat up and yawned. Her face then lit up into a smile. Karena felt a sense of admiration for the way that Anna had coped with staying in the cabin for two nights, without complaining. She realised that the uncomfortable conditions in her life didn’t stop her from smiling and laughing.

‘Can we go after Michael?’ asked Anna.

‘We don’t have a compass so we don’t know what direction he took,’ said Karena. ‘I think it would be better if we went back to Stackton. We could tell your parents and they could organise a search party.’

‘Ok,’ Anna sagged with disappointment at the thought of giving up the witch-hunt. ‘But how do we get back to Stackton?’

Karena’s heart sank suddenly. She had not thought about that. She knew the way through the forest from the palace to Stackton but she had never come this deep into it. They had followed Michael the whole way and had walked for an hour before reaching the cabin.

‘Come on Anna,’ Karena put on a brave face. ‘We’ll figure it out.’

Karena could feel the bubbling soup of anger again as she thought about Michael leaving them. She then took a deep breath and released it. She then focused her energy on getting back into the town.

They stepped outside and snowflakes fell like confetti. They smiled, feeling thankful that the harsh wind had gone. Karena flew upwards above the branches, taking care that she didn’t scratch herself. As she looked around, all she could see was a sea of trees stretching out in every direction like a vast, eerie wilderness. Thoughts of Adelida with its trickling stream and lush green grass ran through her mind as she wondered what direction it was. Then her thoughts came flooding back to Stackton as she heard Anna ask if she could see anything. There was no sign of it. In fact, there was no sign of anything but trees! As she flew down, her mind retraced their steps.

‘This is the spot where we saw the cabin,’ she said as she landed in the snow and Anna came running over. ‘If we go that way and walk southwest for an hour then we should arrive in Stackton,’ she pointed her finger with the same serious expression as Michael had had when he clutched his compass.

‘Alright,’ smiled Anna.

Karena looked upwards at the sky in an attempt to figure out what direction southwest was.

‘The sun rises in the east, shines in the south and sets in the west,’ she told herself.

‘So southeast should be that direction.’ She fixed her gaze at a point in the sky where the sun shines in the evening. Then she lowered her finger from the sky and into the woods.

‘This way,’ she told Anna as she fluttered ahead.

They had been travelling for an hour and Karena kept looking up to that point in the sky where the sun shines in the evening. Then she flew up above the trees and looked around. To her horror, the view was exactly the same. Crooked, lifeless branches reached for miles like a hopeless maze. She shook with fear as she swooped back to Anna.

‘I don’t understand it,’ she threw out her hands. ‘We should be in town by now.’

Anna’s blue eyes widened as she stared in silence.

Karena gulped back her fear. She looked up at the sky then continued in the direction of what she hoped was southeast.

A little later, she flew into the air just above the trees and looked around. All she could see were more trees. Then something caught her eye. It was like a star shining in the distance. It radiated like the light at the end of a tunnel.

‘I SEE SOMETHING!’ she shouted down to Anna.

‘WHAT?’

Karena swooned down and landed in the snow.

‘It’s a bright light shining in a clearing with no trees. I think it must be the clearing in Stackton. Anna, we made it!’

They both rushed towards the light.

Chapter 3

As they approached the bright light, Karena flew faster as Anna came faltering behind. When they reached it they stopped. They found themselves at the edge of the bleak forest, looking at a wilderness with luscious green grass, shrubs, bushes, wildflowers and leafy sycamore trees. Butterflies and bumblebees fluttered above brightly coloured flowers as the sun’s rays fell, bathing the land in gold. They were still standing in the forest with grey clouds hanging above, covering the sky like a heavy blanket. Winter and summer were sitting side by side like two photographs on an unprocessed film! Karena and Anna left the forest and stepped into the wilderness. The sun shone on their clothes, melting the slushy snow that evaporated into nothing. Droplets of sweat gathered on their brows, forcing them to take off their heavy coats. Anna’s eyes widened then narrowed, as her she tried to figure out what was going on. She couldn’t remember Stackton when the seasons had changed so she had never known summer. Then a butterfly fluttered past and she ran after it.

‘Are they fairies too?’ she jumped.

‘We must have left Stackton because it’s summer here but I have no idea where we are,’ Karena scratched her head.

As the heat enveloped her like a blazing fire on a cold night, she thought about Adelida. She imagined bathing in the stream with Timmy at the start of summer as they splashed each other. She scanned the wilderness to see more shrubs and mountains in the distance.

‘Where is Adelida?’ She wondered as a tear welled in her eye.

The place was an exotic playground to Anna as she watched birds and insects buzzing and flapping alone or in groups that swooned in perfect sequence. She enjoyed the sun’s heat as she skipped over flowers and weeds. Karena, a little shocked, smiled as she watched Anna play while thinking about their next move.

She looked back at the bleak forest and dreaded the thought of re-entering. Then she wondered if they could walk around it and perhaps find Stackton that way. They would be able to keep warm and Karena could keep flying above the trees to keep an eye out for the town. Karena explained her plan to Anna as they rested and had something to eat in the long grass. Anna was bursting with questions like a reporter to a president.

‘Karena, what’s that? Oh look, what’s that thing?’

Karena found Anna’s enthusiasm tiring after a while as she was in the serious business of trying to find Stackton.

They eventually began their journey on the outskirts of the forest. Karena couldn’t see any other form of life except for the abundance of insects, birds and small animals. It seemed as though fairies and people stayed far away from Stackton and its curse.

‘Is it like this in Adelida?’ Anna continued her questions.

‘Well yes. It gets like this once a year and lasts for around three months. It’s called summer.’

‘I wish we had summer,’ Anna brushed her hand through the long grass.

‘If Michael finds those witches, they might be able to bring summer to Stackton.’

Anna lifted her head and stared with eyes wide.

‘You mean it could be like this in Stackton?’

‘Maybe,’ Karena wore a smile that fell as she remembered Michael. She looked up at the deep blue sky and said a silent prayer that he would be alright.

‘If it was like this in Stackton I would play out all the time,’ Anna pulled a handful of grass and flung it into the air.

They continued walking along the perimetre of the forest to the sound of the lonely breeze whistling through the branches.

Suddenly they heard a loud rustling. They froze. Then another as though someone was walking.

‘Anna get down!’ Karena dived into the grass. Anna followed suit, popping her head up and down like a scared hare.

‘Keep your head down.’ Karena was about five feet away but could hear the rustling of the grass as Anna peered over it.

To their horror the footsteps got louder. They crouched further to the ground like cheetahs on the hunt for food. Two more footsteps were heard and they knew that whatever was causing the noise was close by. They stayed as they were for about ten minutes, and then Karena crawled through the grass like a snake over to Anna.

‘I’m going to have a look,’ she whispered. ‘Whatever you do, don’t move.’

Anna nodded and Karena carefully rose. She peeped over the grass and a bulky figure came into view against the clear blue sky. It had its wide back to her and was bent over as though it was picking something up. Karena stared in awe, dreading the thought of what it actually looked like. Meanwhile Anna was getting restless and was curious to see what Karena was staring at. She stood up a little. The grass rustled and the creature turned round. Karena saw its head. It had no hair and the face of a man! It had small eyes, a big nose, a wide mouth, broad shoulders and thick legs. It stood up straight and was about ten feet tall! It had a wooden club in one hand and rabbits that hung from the ears like washing on a clothesline, in the other. It shielded its eyes with its arm as it looked in their direction then THUMP, THUMP, THUMP…it moved quickly towards them.

‘RUN!’ shouted Karena in terror as she darted from the giant. Anna