Bearradh-anuilc-Evil clutches

From outside, the mansion would have seemed identical to any other in the neighborhood. Large curtained windows set in solid concrete walls with burnt red tiles on the roof. Stone statues of angels guarding the entrance, a freshly trimmed lawn, flowering bushes and the dusky sunlight reflecting off the surface of a pool on a typical warm winter day,everything seemed absolute normal.

The black Ford has just screeched to a halt in front of the entrance, with a hearty smile Mr. Malcom greeted the guests."Dia dhuit, Mr.O'Brien!"

A gentle man stepped out of the polished black Ford with a smile on his face moved forward to greet Mr. Malcom with a firm handshake.

"Wow Mom, this is beautiful!",stepped out a little boy of around five following his dad,he ran and stood beside his dad with a bright smile on his face and a curious look in his eyes drifting across the mansion.

Mr. Malcom with his usual smile asked,"So this is Mr. O'Brien, junior?"Mr.O'Brien nodded a 'yes'.

A lady was trying to step out off the car settling her flapper hat followed by a cute little chubby girl, bigger than the boy around seven.

The lady greeted Mr.Malcom with a quick 'Hello' and then they started their small talks!

Sean O'Brien and his family was here to see the mansion which was recently left unoccupied by the residents,who moved to the city as informed to Mr.Malcom.

This little and oldest town of Ireland, Ballyshannon was a quite and peaceful place to live in, away from the hustles and bustles of the cities, traffics and the fast paced life, this lowly populated place sheltered huge groves of peaches and apples.Surrounded by hills this small village was a home to forests of pine and fir.

Sean was accompanied by his wife Maeve, son Aiden and daughter Gilda O'Brien.

Mr.Malcom,was the caretaker and a broker who took the responsibility of leasing the Mansion in absence of the owners, a jovial little man with a huge belly and flat nose,he was half Irish and half English, he wore round glasses and often peeked through them with a funny look.

He led the O'Brien family through the entrance which further led to a gravel path turning and twisting to the main entrance of the house.

The O'Brien family was overwhelmed to see the beautiful sculptures , the garden filled with blossom of pansy and dandelions as if a carpet of pink,blue,yellow and green spread across the garden,the gravel path was railed with thick hedges.The white monument stood in front of them as symbol of solemn and peace.

With dazzling eyes they entered through the large wooden door.....a chill ran down the veins as soon as the door opened with a screech.

"Welcome,welcome,Mr.O'Brien, this is the hallroom",Mr.Malcom said with a husky voice, the smile still on his face twinkled his eyes as he peeked through his round glasses.

The hall room was big enough to accommodate almost 50 people at once,towards the right was a spiral staircase leading to the second floor"Three bedrooms on the second floor,two towards the left and one towards the right and a guest room down here to the left of the hall room and the kitchen straight out there...!"loquacious Mr.Malcom said in one breath,describing the location of the entire Mansion.

Aiden's fingers were claspsed to his dad's until now,he left the clutch with a jerk and ran around happily making noises,he was happy to get such a grand house where he could have large space to play!

The family looked at him with amusement,when suddenly Mrs.O'Brien realized,"Where's Gilda?"......the couple called out for Gilda, but no response,Maeve looked for her in the garden,when she saw,by the border of the pool in the lawn sat Gilda with her pale chubby legs,staring numbly at the ripples spreading from where her bare feet glided across the lustrous water. Her red, puffy eyes were framed by disheveled hazel hair.She was perfectly silent,not aware she was being called.

"Gilda,Gilda"shouted her mom,which suddenly as if arose Gilda from deep sleep or as if she regained her senses.

"What is it mom?"asked Gilda quizzically.

"We called you up several times, why didn't you reply Gilda?"Maeve was furious at Gilda.

With an innocent face Gilda replied,"Sorry mom,but I didn't hear anything.....!"Maeve was about to say something,Sean stopped her,"Hon, leave her alone, let her enjoy.....look the garden is so beautiful....." He shifted Maeve's gaze to the garden and then to the mansion and winked at his daughter as they left.He favored his daughter more than he favored his son!

Mr.Malcom guided the couples through the entire Mansion and explained everything in and about it,"You take a walk through the woods right through the backdoor,there is a small cottage right inside the woods that belongs to Mr.Harrison, he is an English and owns a peach orchard,but he seems to be little cynical and doesnot like children......"smiling through his round glasses Mr.Malcom said in a husky voice looking at the children who were now playing in the garden.

The couples looked at each other .....

"And you would have Maya in the next neighborhood,she is a psychic,she is into tarot & future reading,people say she is quite educated and studies different cultures and folklores!She is an Indian, well I have never spoken to her!",Mr.Malcom laughted heartily.

Mr.Malcom,took a leave,when suddenly he stopped midway to the garden,looking back at the family who was now waving at him.

He recalled something,"Mr.O'Brien,make sure not to open the store room under the stairs!"he warned

Sean was confused,"Well, we are the owners at the moment and I believe...."

"The room is filled with the used items of the previous resident, you never know when they can come back to claim them!"Mr.Malcom stopped Sean midway and replied sternly.

The family stood silently as Mr.Malcom left the mansion in his green car.

Later in the evening,the family was busy arranging the stored dejected nonmatching furnitures. Large Cardboard boxes in the rooms were stacked high against the ceiling and the content of the few that had been unpacked and were dispersed throughout the rooms. The heavy dusty air dimmed the area.

In the master bedroom, the children played, jumping over the bed,throwing the fluffy pillows at each other,crumbling the bedsheets and the doughy blankets .

The embroidred table clothes loitering unwrapped over the floor along with the soft and white clouds of synthetic cotton spreading across almost everywhere in the room, when suddenly someone threw the door open,"Mom!"both the children screamed exulting in their success to scare away their mom, Maeve was extremely furious and scared at their screams and how they have dilapidated the room, she yelled at them but Sean entered as their saviour, the children ran and hid behind their dad.....escaping their mom's anger and smiling triumphantly.

The family was happy in the new house,little did they knew episodes of sorrows were waiting for them.

At kitchen Maeve was cooking the dinner,it was already equipped with all sorts of unused cooking utensils and the wooden drawers were filled with all the latest gadgets.The chicken whistled in the oven and with a click it stopped......

"Time for dinner!"she called out to her family.

A colossal couch occupied the living room,Aiden sat with his dad devouring a whole packet of chips and watching the latest news......at a distance Gilda sat on the floor with her colourbox and painting books,she was engrossed in drawing...the dad and the son quickly headed towards the dining table at Maeve's call,they were hungry, it was a long and tiresome day,they needed a good tight sleep after dinner.

"Where's Gilda?"asked Maeve.....Sean looked behind to the hallroom......

"Gilda,Gilda,where are you princess?"

The colourbox and the painting books lay on the floor......but no Gilda!

"I know she is growing mischievous!Gilda are you coming ?you are going to sleep hungry tonight......do you get it?" Maeve bellowed.

Sean went back to the hallroom to check on Gilda,she wasn't there, he called her name twice, no response!

He ran upstairs to check the rooms,she wasn't there too!

Worried Sean ran downstairs and called for Gilda once again,her mom was now tensed, the door was locked, where could she have possibily been to?

Maeve and Sean were terrified, the chilling winter wind gushed through the open windows ,flapping and making screeching noises......

All of a sudden they heard something rambling in the store room just beneath the stairs,and then suddenly 'dooooom...drass...sh' sound of something heavy falling down and in a moment they heard,"Mom,dad! I'm hurt!"

Gilda yelped.

Sean dashed into the store room and switched on the lights, there lay Gilda in a pile of books!

"Dad save me!I'm hurt!"her dad tried reaching out to her hastily and comforted her,"what do you think you have been doing here Gilda?"shouted Maeve from the door angrily.

Gilda looked terrified,she swallowed her breath, with great anxiety she just signaled towards the extreme interior wall of the store room,"I didn't,they called!" An obliterating pain shot up her arm like fire,she cringed.It exploded in her head with a probable blinding whiteness,it made her dizzy and she fell unconscious,her dad somehow managed to bring her back to consciousness and carried her back to the hallroom in his arms."What's the matter with Gil,mom?" Aiden was nervous now unknown what exactly happened, Maeve was petrified at Gilda's situation, she forgot her anger and started nursing her daughter.

Gilda revived ,she needed rest,thought the parents and left her in her bedroom to sleep.

Maeve was silent throughout the dinner,why would Mr.Malcom ask them not to open the store room?how did Gilda reach there?who was she pointing to?who were this'they'? Every question pierced in her mind, it made her lost in thoughts,when Sean asked,"Is everything okay,darling?"

Maeve suddenly jumped at his question,she was lost in her pool of questions,she nodded a 'yes',but something was not right,Maeve didn't wanted her husband to be panicked.

The next morning, Gilda felt better.

Maeve was trying to settle the rest of the things at home,while Sean was leaving for the market,Aiden threw tantrums to accompany him.

Gilda stayed back with her mom helping her with the chores.

The family had not checked the guest room yet, Maeve decided to start from there,as she entered, she found a wardrobe overflowing with abandoned clothing stood unhappily in the dark corner of the room. The additional lacerated shoe storage was too small to contain every pair despairingly scattered on the floor.

"Who on earth had left these used items here?"Maeve thought to herself and started cleaning the room.

Gilda led a helping hand, when suddenly the phone rang,Maeve walked away to attend it, Mr Malcom had called the family to check on their wellbeing, after a small talk,Maeve put down the phone and turned towards the guest room,when she over heard Gilda speaking to someone,she suddenly entered the room a while later......no , there was no one!she saw only Gilda trying to reach out to the top shelf of the wardrobe on a stool.

Assuming to be her myth she asked her daughter,"what are you trying to reach out to baby?"

"Mom,there's a toy out there...!"Gilda replied.

Maeve could not see anything, assuming her daughter might have seen something else said,"No Hon!I don't see anything!"

"Mom,it's right there!"Gilda said adamantly, to which Maeve gave up and tried to look for it herself......there was nothing!

"Look,there's nothing here!"she turned to look at Gilda, who was now out of the room.

Maeve freaked,she was unable to understand what Gilda was upto,she looked for Gilda and suddenly realized, the store room was unlocked......she peeped through the half opened door....Gilda laughed and talked to someone......or something!

Maeve could not understand and opened door ajar, the screech of the door alerted the 'thing' and it ran away as fast as it could towards the wall of the store room,"Mom,you scared him!"

Maeve looked at her daughter,"who was he?"she demanded an answer.

At the same moment the car honked,Sean had returned.

Aiden came running and hugged his mom tightly,he had got chocolate, cookies,ice creams......he was happy, Sean had by now kept the daily groceries and vegetables aside,when he spotted Maeve seemed tensed."What's the matter Hon?" he asked his wife.....before she could say anything, both the children came running to their parents,"We are hungry"said they in unison.

After lunch,the family walked to the nearby woods to chop fresh woods for the fire,the door from the backyard led straight to the woods.

They walked through the woods to a distance,when they found a small clearing as told by Mr.Malcom.A clear creek flowed nearby, a swarm of butterflies fluttered over the small yellow dandelions,birds chirping and a sweet smell of the wild flowers and peaches spread across, the winter sun seemed soothing.....They spotted a cottage across the creek and a small orchard of peaches attached to it, the peaches were already ripened.An old haggard man stood by the entrance to the cottage looked at the family, his eyes were scary,the sharp nose,dark complexion and the gray beard gave him a look of a wizard.....Sean smiled at him doffing his hat......the old man shifted his gaze away as if he saw nothing.....what a strange man!

The children laughed,jumped,giggled and played around,Sean noticed his wife worried,he was about to ask something,when Aiden came running to them,crying,"Dad Gil left me,I can't find her."he sobbed.

Sean and Maeve were baffled again and looked for Gilda,after a quick search,they found Gilda sitting by the bank with her chubby legs drowned upto the knees in the water blabbering something as if talking to someone.....Maeve observed something peeking through the rocks beside the creek.....she could spot from the distance....the same 'thing'!

She was horrified and stood there numb, by the time Sean reached to his daughter,the 'thing'had slipped away silently.

"Something is not right"murmured Maeve, Sean overheard and said,"Cm'mon Maeve, she is small and has no company like hers.....her friends are in Dublin, she might feel lonely, she is just a child, what's wrong with it?"

It grew colder at nights, the winter was at the midst.Usually in such suburb areas of Ballyshannon dusk draws in quickly and the night covers the area with thick blanket of fog, which is so dense that sometimes one cannot see anything at an arm's distance.

The fireplace was lit up with freshly chopped woods.The family sat down to talk around the fireplace.The table was almost over loaded with boxes of cookies,candies,chips,biscuites etc.

"Well Maeve,it just slipped my mind, did you ask Mr.Malcom anything about the last occupants?I found a desolate bicycle leaning against the mucky wall in the garage today!" said Sean,to which Maeve replied,"Even I found abandoned clothes and shoes in the guest room,as if someone kept them in a hurry and left!"

"Strange!I need to talk to Mr.Malcom about them tomorrow...." replied Sean.

"They belong to Billy and his family", uttered Gilda suddenly to everyone's surprise.

"Who's Billy?"asked Sean

"The last occupant of this house!"she responded innocently.

"Why would Billy and his family keep their things in our house!"asked Sean.

"It's not our,it's 'their'house!"replied Gilda....

Sean smiled and said,"Oh I see,so it's Billy's house?"

"No,their's" replied Gilda sternly as she left the hallroom and went to her bedroom.

Sean laughed at his daughter's innocence."Something is wrong with her Sean!It isn't a matter of joke,,the storeroom incident yesterday, again in the morning, I found her talking to someone in the guestroom and then in the storeroom and then in the woods, I have seen someone or some'thing'......."muttered Maeve in one breath

She was panicked ,her eyes lined with anxiety,there was a faint note of hysteria in her eyes.

Sean regarded them to be an after effect of a restless and tough day and avoided the talks further.

Maeve took her son to the bed room,Gilda was sketching something,"Time to go to bed children!"their mother bid them goodnight and they fell asleep.

Maeve went downstairs to turn off the lights,a window flapped open and a gush of cold winter wind filled the room,the almost smoldering fire in the fireplace suddenly rekinddled.She walked towards the open window to close it,in the far off woods,she could see an image, an image of a man with a lantern in his hand,he lifted the lantern next to his face,which was now clearly visible, the gray beard and the long sharp nose was enough to identify him as the haggard old man of the cottage...."was he keeping an eye on us?"thought Maeve while closing the window quickly to avoid his gaze.

"Peek-a-boo!" Gilda laughed.....

Her laughter awakened both Sean and Maeve,it was 2'o'clock at night, what are the children upto at this hour?

They were astonished,Maeve walked towards the kid's room.

She could hear both her children giggling,talking and laughing ,but no,they weren't two, they were more,three,four or may be even more!

Then suddenly one of them said,"Peek-a-boo!"!in a fraction of a second Maeve thrashed open the door......the room was dark,a table lamp litted the bedside leaving the entire room into darkness,silence prevailed and both her children were fast asleep.

The incident left Maeve petrified,Sean drove away her words with a wink,"They were just being playful to scare us."

Maeve could not risk her children's life,she tried thinking over the recent incidents again and again.Sudden vanishing of Gilda in the storeroom,in the forest and then returning back,talking to someone and last night,that old man!.....everything seemed unusual,she rang Mr.Malcom.

He seemed surprised as well,then said,"It could be the children are being naughty!"and smiled.

The growing anxiety raised to another level the next day.

Aiden came running to his mom,he had been playing with his sister,"Mom,Gil showed me a magic,"he was super excited.

Maeve was busy with something,irritated she did not answer,"Look mom!there she is! She can walk through the storeroom to the hall...!"

"Aiden,what's so funny in that son?" asked Maeve,Sean has been out for quite sometime now, she was disturbed,she was not able to reach his mobile phone,she wanted to inform him,she had seen the old man at a little distant away from their backyard in the early hours.

"Mom,look!she can walk....oh Gil,oh there ,she is out of sight!"

Aiden repeated inccessantly, frustrated Maeve asked,"What is it?"

"Mom,look Gil can pass through the walls....!"he seemed cheerful and enjoy Gilda's every move,Maeve was confused she shifted her gaze to Gilda,who was now trying to climb the wall,rather was almost 2 feet above the ground,clinging to the wall,Maeve stood stunned,her throat dried, she wanted to swallow her breath,but it seemed to be stuck somewhere!

Before she could realize anything......there was a loud thud followed by a terrible shriek ......!Gilda had fallen down to the ground on her face.

When Sean arrived,Maeve had been nursing Gilda's wounds,she had bruised her knees and a possible fracture in the elbow.

Sean immediately rushed her to the nearest paramedics,a small town like Ballyshannon had no great hospitals, but the medical experts and nurses treated Gilda well.

"Hello Sir, is everything okay with you?" a voice shifted Sean's gaze toward the hospital entry,a sturdy man,well built,with dark eyes and thick moustach asked Sean, he was in his uniform and seemed to be a cop.

He came nearer and stood beside Sean next to where Gilda was seated and the nurse was examining her legs to check if she was fit."Hello,I am Sheriff Kevin,I was just here for a quick round,when I saw you dashing inside!"

With a small introduction Sean explained him the situation and expressed his worry"My children are a bit naughty ,you know!"he ended.

The sheriff smiled and haunched towards Gilda,"What were you doing little lady?"Gilda looked at the sheriff and then said softly,"they want us to leave them alone!they threw me down today and if we don't leave they will punish us even more harshly!"

The sheriff looked at Sean,who was now embarrassed at Gilda's stupid fascination ...... "It's the child's fantasy you know imaginary friends!"he said to the sheriff.

The Sheriff asked, "Are you guys in the Sherwood Mansion?"

"Yes,we are",replied Sean.

The sheriff thought for a while and left warning Sean to remain safe and watch out for anything strange and that he will be available for help.

After an X-Ray, it was discovered, there were no major injuries,just the wound which would be recovered in a short while.Relieved ,Sean took Gilda back to the mansion.

At night Sean could get a hint that Maeve was restless.

She was desperately looking for something or some answers.

She had called Mr.Malcom twice, however his secretary answered both times letting her know that Mr.Malcom was out of town.She went to check on her the kids every 5 minutes.

Sean was unable to understand the reason of her restlessness,he posed to question Maeve, when she bursted out,"Sean,I think there is something wrong with this house.....or something wrong with Gil,she had not been behaving normal, she remains isolated most of the times, locked in the room, today,today....she...she...."Maeve's voice shivered,Sean couldn't understand ,"What's the matter with you Hon?" He asked,"Sean, she was trying to climb the wall, she was clinging to the wall,like...like a spider man or something of that sort!" Overwhelmed with fear Maeve spoke out the words."There is this little'thing' in the house, I am not sure where it comes from,where it goes to,the old man who is watching us from the woods,he is cynical!Gil is in danger,my daughter needs help Sean,don't you understand?"

Sean just smiled and took her in his arm and pecked her hair,"Maeve, it's a new house, new environment, there's nothing wrong in it....she was just trying to be kiddish,she must have tricked with something to bother you......"

Though Sean tried calming Maeve,he was starting to doubt about everything that was happening,why would the sheriff ask him to remain guarded?

Gilda was left in her room the entire day to rest with her painting books, she hadn't eaten anything, nor spoken, her mom had tried asking her about the last night's incident, however she chose to remain quite.

In just 3 days she had grown feeble, dark circles deepened around her eyes looked as if a hollow hole!

She had not talked or played with Aiden...he was sad and had watched the television the entire day and bothering his mom.

Maeve went to check on her daughter, the room was dark with only the table lamp lit, Gilda was drawing in her sketch book.....the food beside her laid untouched on the table.

"Sweetheart,why didn't you eat anything baby?Would you like some chocolate shake?"she asked, Gilda did not say anything....she kept drawing.....Maeve went towards her daughter,"You need to eat something Gil, come on...."She said.

No response......., Maeve tried to surf over her shoulder to watch what she was drawing and what she saw horrified her.......

Little men about 7 of them in a group with horrific looks, long noses and thin chins,they all had the same red beard, red hat, red coat,the looks in their eyes were dangerous, each one held a sharp spear in their hand.....the elves looked almost like the one she saw with Gilda.

"What are you drawing Gilda!"she asked her voice almost numb with fear.

"Leprechauns.....they are my friends,mom!"she answered calmly without shifting her gaze from the drawing book.

"Gil, are you crazy?where did you get to know them from?You should not even take their names..?do you understand...!"

Maeve shouted aloud to terrify Aiden who was sitting downstairs nibbling a packet of chips,Maeve almost tried grabbing the drawing book from Gilda.....when Gilda held out her hand...... "NO MOM! THEY ARE MY FRIENDS DO YOU GET THAT." The words were enough for Maeve to take a step back, she was terrified by what and how Gilda said.

With big round eyes Gilda looked at her mom, her eyes burning with anger.....her hands tightly clutching her mother's.Suddenly with a jerk she released her mother's hand.....Maeve stepped back in fear.....in a seconds time, she could feel that someone or something was behind her....she turned to look back.......1-2-3-4-5,slowly and gradually through the white unplastered wall appeared the tiny men.....red men.....the same men in Gilda's drawing.....with horrific looks, long noses and thin chins,they all had the same red beard, red hat, red coat,the looks in their eyes were dangerous...!

"Run,run Maeve....!" An inner voice responded to Maeve, she shrieked and sceamed and quickly ran towards her daughter to protect her.......but how could they leave?The little people had guarded the entrance.....

Maeve looked at her daughter, she smiled at the Leprechauns.....she was not scared,as if she knew them , each one of them......the horrific look was enough to let Maeve fall unconscious.

When she regained her senses, Sean was trying hard to bring her back to senses,frightened,Aiden stood beside his dad,Gilda sat on her bed,as if nothing had happened, she was still drawing.......

The series of incidents confused Maeve.....she could not understand what had just happened...when she related the entire story of the Leprechauns, Sean laughed back,assuring her that no one was there in the room when he arrived except Gilda......and Leprechauns are just in folktales....they are not real.

Maeve could not understand it was a trance or a truth, to examine, she sneaked in to the kids room late in the night to check the drawing book.....no they were not false,Gilda had really drawn the little red people......she turned the pages,every page had the diagram of the little red people and a symbol underneath......she tried concentrating on the symbols little did she knew that she was summoning them again......

Next morning Maeve was found with the throat slit....she was rushed to the hospital.......Sean had just went to check on her daughter when he heard the groans......he saw Maeve lying in a pool of blood her throat slitted.....she murmured in pain,"s...s...Sav.. save Gilda....she is..is under.. sp..sp...el of the lep..lepr...!"she had passed out......

The doctors declared she was critical and only a miracle could save her....!

Sean had brought Aiden along with him.....he was restless, unsure about the situation and broken down he sat on a bench.

"Can I be of any help sir?"a female voice interrupted his thoughts,Sean looked back,a lady around 30 dressed all in black,with a black taira on her head, she wore a long black gown with a black beaded belt around her waist,she wore rings of different stones on her fingers, different shapes and colour.The nose pin that she wore was decorated with black crystal,the ear rings were black crystal too, a round big black bindi neatly positioned between her eye brows on her forehead, the hair seemed to be unwashed for days,as if curls of serpents rolled down until her knees.

Her wrists were covered with beads of different colors and bracelets.

She walked slightly more towards Sean,"Hello Sir, I am Maya,I live in the neighborhood of the Sherwoods, I saw you quite disturbed and so asked if you needed help...."

The stanger introduced herself.Sean was in no mood for an amusing talk with the strange lady.

He shifted his gaze,"No thankyou!"

The lady seemed persistent,"I have watched you guys rushing to the hospital in the early hours,is everything okay at home?"

Sean had not thought about,Aiden was with him,but Gilda!

She was alone at home!What did Maeve say before passing out?She struggled to say something......

"s...s...Sav.. save Gilda....she is..is under.. sp..sp...el of the lep..lepr..."

What does that mean?

The voice still probing behind him,"Sir, if there is something with your daughter, please let me know I can be of help.....!"

Disturbed Sean shouted at her and left for his house......he dashed in to the mansion calling out for Gilda,but no response,he looked everywhere, the bedrooms the guestroom, the terrace the garden, the kitchen, the bathroom......everywhere,tears rolled down Sean's cheeks, what was he into?His wife was struggling on the death bed, his daughter missing, the terrible message that his wife wanted to deliver,the sheriff's warning, the old man, the strange woman!

Wait a moment, the woman was quizzical, did she do something with Gilda?

Sean needed to confront her!He really had to.....

Aiden! Where was Aiden, troubled he even forgot about Aiden......he was going crazy, he hopped on his black Ford and drove back to the hospital.....he ran about in the hispital, looking for his son, calling out his name.....and finally reached his wife's cabin....."Aiden!"Sean sighed in relief....but he was along with the strange woman.....Sean was about to confront her,when they realized,Maeve was coming back to her senses, "If this is something you did lady,I AM NOT GOING TO SPARE YOU!"Sean shouted at Maya......

Maeve tried saying something but could not, Maya stopped her midway,"Mr.O'Brien,you need my help to find your daughter,I will answer all your questions, but we need to stop them first orelse you will never see your daughter......"She explained."I cannot even think,that scoundrel did not even tell you about them......I knew something was wrong...,the Leprechauns has a control on your daughter!"she murmered in one breath, confused Sean stood their still,"There's no time to think Sean,let's go....you have to trust me,there is no other choice."

They reached the same clearing where the O'Brien family had been to few days back.Maya hid herself behind a tree,so as not to be visible and signaled Sean to do so,it was getting dark, in the dimming sunlight, they could see the Leprechauns dancing happily around a bonfire in a circle, beside which there lay something......someone..."Gil.... "Sean was about to shout when Maya sealed his mouth with her hand.

"These people are dangerous,as per the folklores they are little demons mischievous,tricksters and confuses human.They are magical beings and has great treasury of gold,if they are captured or threaten at times they even donot think twice to kill the person......these Leprechauns are evil ones.....and fascinates the children......and only because of their tricks children who gets trapped looses their life......the other residents in Sherwood suspiciously abandoned the mansion.....I belive they fell in to the Leprechauns' spells!"

Sean stood numb, Malcom hid such a major fact about the mansion!

A creepy,little man sat next to the fire which created dazzling lights of yellow , orange and red.....it looked fierce.....

Before he could say or do anything ,some one passed by them as fast as the wind and warned the Leprechauns.....the person was weak though trembling on the feet...still stood there to warn the little people, it was no longer a fight between human and demons, but a fight of a mother for her daughter!

Maeve had followed Sean and Maya to the forest and now she was holding a pair of scissors,which she probably stole from the hospital to scare away the doctors and nurses,

She lifted up the scissors as if to pierce through the heart of the Leprechauns, but fell down unconscious.

The Leprechauns were warned and now was turning together towards Maeve in mob.....fiercefully as if to pounce upon her Sean could not wait he moved fast to cover Maeve....when "drooom.....drooom"2 shots blew in the air, the Leprechauns scattered..........the old haggard man had shot at the mob with his shot gun ......

A state of confusion was created.......the Leprechauns were powerful,more in numbers and knew magic tricks....

The old man shouted at Sean,move aside I will take them down......another shot blew hitting an elf,the ferocious group now moved towards the old man's cottage.....Gilda was still next to the ablazing fire,the creepy little man still sat guarding Gilda who was regaining her senses,the elves flew from different directions trapping the couple and few jumped in to catch hold of the old man,with their little spears they pierced through the eyes, ears, body of the 3 people.....which pierced them like several needles....

When suddenly Maya shouted,"Leave them alone you little demons",all the elves turned to her......fear spreading across their face,Maya was hold a pouch decorated with different stones in one hand and four leaf clover in the other.......

The Leprechauns quietly returned to Maya as obedient as slaves.....they set themselves down at her feet, the creepy looking man who was guarding Gilda until now stepped forward and in a different language asked something,as if Maya was able to decipher the language she replied to them, in about 2 minutes the place was cleared.....a wounded Maeve,Sean and the old man confused at what just happened walked towards Maya,Maeve ran and embraced Gilda who now regained consciousness,"What are we doing here mom?"she asked.....

Maya smiled and said,"Go back home now little lady....you need not to get scared.....they will never scare you!"

On the way back home,Maya explained that the creepy man was guarding the pouch decorated with jewels .....which actually had gold coins in it......the Leprechauns are scared of four leaf clover which she always carry for safeguarding and when she showed it to the creepy elf ,he drifted away and Maya took the opportunity to grab the pouch.As the legend goes Leprechauns takes care of their gold and any one who finds it,they grant 3 wishes to him or her.They can be controlled very easily if an intelligent person can play with their tricks and if they are slaves to anyone,the world at his or hr feet!

When asked what were the 3 wishes she asked for,Maya replied,

"One that they should leave their nest and go somewhere else

and that they should not harm or attack your family any more!"

Sheriff Kevin had arrived with his force......he was aware about the little people but had never believed , but what the family went through led him to believe on the folk demons.

Few days later,Maeve and Gilda were revived from the injuries ,the family had their dinner and both the children were off to bed listening to folk tales from their mom,they fell asleep.....

Maeve stood up to leave when she saw the window open, she went ahead to close it,the window opened straight to Maya's bungalow,she saw few unnatural activities.....few shadows....

Maya only told them about the 2 wishes she asked for.......what was the third wish!!!!!!!!