Kelly was running for her life. Ahead of her she saw a forest, and she ran for the shelter of the trees. The wizened old man draped in a black cloak was getting closer every second. Kelly's heart beat like a triphammer in her chest. She instinctively knew that if the old man caught her, he would kill her. It seemed that no matter how fast she ran, the old man continued to gain on her. How could such an old man run so fast?

As she entered the forest, the old man was almost upon her. He was not actually running -- he seemed to float slightly above the ground, gliding swiftly and picking up speed with every passing moment as if drawing strength from the forest around him.

With the darkness of the mist-enshrouded forest closing in upon her, Kelly realized that she had made a fatal mistake. She didn’t know her way through the forest and the old man seemed to draw additional power from it. Kelly screamed as she felt his cold, bony hands grip her shoulders. She felt herself being pulled to the ground with great force. Her last memory, before unconsciousness overtook her, was of falling helplessly toward a black void.

In an old crumbling stone building, Jack Mullen held his Book of Magic open-faced in his hands. He knelt at a makeshift altar murmuring a chant. Outside, the storm clouds were gathering. The sky was a threatening shade of gray and the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. A perfect night for a visitation, thought Jack.

To look at Jack, you wouldn’t think he was particularly menacing. His appearance was bland. No distinguishing marks or characteristics set him apart from the crowd. He was of medium build, slim, with black hair and eyes to match. Everyone in town had seen him around here or there, but no one really knew the man.

As far as Jack was concerned, the fewer people he knew, the better he liked it. He didn’t like people. People pried into your life and presented themselves at your doorstep when they weren’t welcomed. No. He certainly didn’t want ‘friends’. He was content to be by himself. And....Jack had a secret.

When Jack was just a little boy, he began to have ‘visions’. No one believed him, of course. His parents threatened to send him away if he didn’t stop talking about the ‘visions’. He learned, quickly, to keep them to himself.

Suddenly, Jack was plucked from his reverie. A vapor began to rise from the alter moving in concentric circles rising toward the ceiling. Slowly, the vapor began to take shape and the image of a man began to appear. The old man was draped in a long black cape with a cowel hood. His face could not be seen, but wisps of pure white hair peeked out of the cowel. His skin was very wrinkled, almost translucent in appearance. His eyes were blue with hooded lids. The old man lifted his arms to the sky and bellowed, “She is here! The girl is here!”

“Find her. Find her and destroy her.”, the old man snarled.

Michael and Sean led Kelly along the well-worn path that led to the village proper. The path had existed for longer than anyone could remember, and it cut through thick woods that Kelly thought would be frightening after dark. The skin on the back of Kelly's neck prickled as she remembered her dreams of the evil man in the dark forest.

Sean and Michael told Kelly all about some of the ancient ruins in the area and asked which she would like to see first.

After a few minutes of walking, they came to a turn in the path. Kelly noticed something moving peripherally on her left side, but when she looked in that direction, there was nothing to be seen. She could not shake the feeling that there was something there, and, when she looked again, she saw the figure of a tall, ancient-looking man in a long, black cape. The cape had a very large hood which made it quite impossible to see the face clearly. She did see a lock of pure white, wispy hair and a very wrinkled forehead. She let out a little cry of fear, alerting her cousins to see what had frightened her.

When Michael and Sean saw the old man, they yelled for Kelly to run. All three ran quickly back to the cottage, never once looking back for fear of what they'd see.

At the cottage, Michael told Kelly not to say anything about what they had seen to his parents. Kelly followed Michael back to his room, where she hoped this strange sighting would be explained logically. Michael looked at Sean and said, "We might as well explain it all to Kelly. She needs to know everything if she's going to be able and willing to help us. Besides, if she saw him, too, she must be a part of it."

Michael leaned back on his bed, looking at Kelly and Sean. He said, "I guess it would be best to begin at the beginning:

A few days ago, Sean and I decided to go up to the ancient Druid circle. It's always been one of our favorite places to explore. Kelly, it's a magical place with huge standing stones where the Ancient Druids practiced their magic. You would love it. Sean and I set out for the circle at about two in the afternoon on a beautiful, sunny day. When we arrived at the circle, it was shrouded in a thick, heavy mist. The sky over the circle was dark as night, and it seemed as if there was a presence there that could not be seen. Sean got spooked and wanted to leave, but I was fascinated and wanted to explore the hill."

"So, there we were, arguing over whether to stay or leave, when all at once the hill cleared. I mean the mist disappeared entirely, and the sun appeared as if it had always been there. Sean and I looked at each other disbelieving what our eyes were telling us. We began to run home as if the very Banshees were at our feet!

As we began to run, I tripped over something on the ground. It knocked me flat on my face and knocked the wind out of me. When I got up, I saw what I had tripped on."

Michael bent down and reached under his bed. When he straightened up, he held a strange stone in his hand and offered it to Kelly, who examined it eagerly. He said, "I picked up this stone, stuck it in my backpack, and ran to catch up with Sean. After a few miles of running, we were beginning to feel a bit foolish. After all, it was a beautiful day, no one was chasing us, and we decided we had probably let our over-active imaginations get the best of us. We have let that happen in the past, you know." "That was the very first time we saw the old man in black. We've seen him every single day since then. No one else seems to be able to see him.

Before you arrived, only Sean and I saw the old man. He's come close to the house when our parents are home and they never see him. We don't understand what he wants or who he is, but we don't get a good feeling about him if you know what I mean. There's something very . . . evil about him."

Kelly listened quite attentively to Michael's story, trying to recall all she knew about the Druids. At the same time, she was carefully examining the stone, which was oval in shape and engraved with some kind of fancy writing or decoration. The stone looked very, very old, and the engraving was well-worn and hard to decipher.

Kelly and her cousins decided that it would not be wise to tell their parents about this. Aunt Maureen and Uncle John knew and, at some level, believed many of the old stories and superstitions. But, the kids were afraid that if they told the adults about what they had witnessed, they would be prevented from any further exploration of the phenomenon. Her Aunt and Uncle were fantastic people, but their first instinct would be to protect the children from harm and possible danger. Kelly, Michael and Sean knew this, but the three felt they had a unique responsibility to confront the mysterious figure. They knew their parents would be over-protective, and they needed their freedom of movement if they were going to unravel the intriguing mystery. They decided that this mystery was meant for only them to solve. No one else could see the old man because no one else should be involved. The three shook hands, solemnly, to seal their pact.

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Additional Excerpts:

The Druid Stone: The Isle Of Mist
The Adoption Legacy
The Haunted Cove