She giggled as she pointed me in the direction of the kitchen. “Come, let’s talk over a cup of tea and cookies and you can tell me all about it.” As we walked through the living room, I started to notice things were different than before. Somehow the house felt warmer this time. The signs and candles were no longer on display.
I sat down in a chair and watched her carefully make my tea. She sat it down on the table, then turned around to make two more cups. “Is Tailya and your other friend going to join us?” My eyes stilled and I swallowed hard. Fawn gave me a wink, and with a crooked grin she said, “I know why you’re here.”
My hands became sweaty all of a sudden, and my stomach was turning so fast I thought I was going to heave all over the table. Acting like I thought she surely didn’t know everything; I gave her a hollow stare. “No one is here but us, ma’am.” She glared at me and I knew she wasn’t buying it.
“Annalise, there is no room for lies in this place. Call your friends, because they need to hear this also.”
Meanwhile, Tailya and Starbeam couldn’t find anything to destroy Fawn. “I just don’t get it, Tailya. We haven’t found one thing, and she doesn’t even have evil trinkets that would make us think she’s bad. Are you sure she’s bad?”
Starbeam felt a shift in his stomach, thinking something seemed off. Tailya’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? Of course, she is.” Tailya was flustered with the way Starbeam was acting. She couldn’t understand why he was getting cold feet when they were so close to defeating the very person that had destroyed most of their lives.
“Oh, come on, Starbeam. We haven’t checked her bedroom yet, maybe there’ll be something in there we could use.” Starbeam still wasn’t convinced, but he followed her anyway. Just before Tailya stepped into the room, they both heard their names being called by Anna.
Tailya and Starbeam jerked their heads toward each other. “She knows,” Starbeam said with a gasp. Tailya looked away from Starbeam’s shocked eyes. She shook her head to get rid of the cold chills that were trying to rise up all over her body.
“No, we’re so close. I’m not giving up. You wait here.” Tailya took off to go inside Fawn’s room, but Starbeam yanked her hand. “Are you nuts?!” he growled. “Shh…wait, I see something,” Tailya said, while snatching her hand back. But she wasn’t successful. Starbeam’s grip was too strong. “Come on, Tay, I don’t think we can hide any longer.
Tailya took a deep breath then sighed. “But we were so close,” she whined as Starbeam pulled her down the hall. They were making their way to the kitchen through the living room when Tailya noticed an odd shaped book on Fawn’s mantle. She stopped and Starbeam stumbled into the bricks that surrounded the fireplace.
“Ouch!” He turned toward Tailya with steam coming from his ears. “What is so dang important this time?” he scowled. “Look! Don’t you see it?” The book was white with writing in some other language. “What do you think this is?” Starbeam asked. Tailya held up the odd star-shaped book. She opened it to the middle, hoping for something to be revealed to them.
“What do you think this is?” Starbeam asked as he pointed to the strange incantation. Tailya grinned at Starbeam with accomplishment in her eyes. “It means Fawn is going down. Come on, let’s go.”
CHAPTER 30
Annalise was staring at her tea. Afraid it might be poisoned, she decided to ask Fawn more questions, so she wouldn’t have to drink the might-be-poisoned beverage sitting in front of her. “Who am I to you, ma’am?” Anna gulped hard when she realized the words she had just spoken.
Fawn smiled, and right before she could answer, Tailya and Starbeam came charging into the kitchen. “We got it, Anna, come here,” they both said while breathing heavily. Anna’s heart jumped as she lifted off her chair and rushed to her friends.
Fawn stood up. Worry was written all over her face when she focused on what Tailya had in her hands. Fawn tried to protest; tried to explain. “Wait, you don’t understand, I…” “No, you won’t hurt another family ever again!” Tailya cut her off.
Anna wiped away her angry tears and gathered her hands into Starbeam’s and Tailya’s. She took a deep breath then dropped their hands quickly. She grabbed the wand and the book. She was just about to shout the incantation, but the voice she once heard spoke again.
“Annalise, stop. What is done cannot be undone.”
The faint words tried to linger in her mind, but she shook her head violently out of anger. She wasn’t going to listen. She was determined to end this here and now. Annalise focused all her anger on Fawn. Her eyes burning and her head felt like it was going to explode, she shouted…
“Through your existence in time and space, I now remove you from this place. I banish you into the earth where you will stay, never again to see the light of day!”
A bright burst of light made all three of them turn their heads. Anna was the first to lay her eyes on all that was left of Fawn. “Look guys…” All that was left was white crumbles. Both Tailya and Starbeam dropped their jaws as they realized their nightmare had come to an end.
“Did you guys find your father?” Anna had almost forgotten about her friends’ mission. Starbeam looked at her with disappointment in his eyes. “No, but I think I saw something in Fawn’s room that’s worth a look.” Tailya answered, still curious of what she saw on Fawn’s pillow.
Anna’s curiosity was piqued, so they all headed to the room. “Tailya? David? Is that you?” Starbeam’s and Tailya’s mouths gaped open. Starbeam looked as if he remembered something. “That’s my name!” he shouted. Then both of them rushed to their father’s arms for a long, overdue, giant embrace.
“What in the…Tailya, look!” Anna shouted. A portal in Fawn’s bathroom was reflecting Anna’s home. “I can go home!” Anna’s mind started racing around all of the things she wanted to do and say when she got back to Bristeria.
Starbeam and Tailya were still holding onto their father. They both smiled at Anna. She was just about to say her farewells when they all heard a loud pitch cackle coming from behind them. “Ah ha ha ha! Now, where do you think you’re all going?”
All three blinked their eyes in confusion. Yurika stood in human form in front of them. Mangled jet-black hair surrounded her shoulders. Her bright green eyes stared deep into their souls. A deep purple, torn dress draped across her body and yellow-stained gunk covered her teeth.
David, Tailya and Anna locked hands. Tailya and David’s father clasped his hand tightly to Tay’s. “Get ready, kids.” Anna didn’t know what to do, she could only think of one spell. Hoping to buy enough time for all of them to escape, she reached for her wand and yelled, “Ekragei!”
Yurika screamed as black flames hit the ceiling. “Where did she go?” asked David. “There’s no trace of her body!” Anna rushed over to David, wanting to see for herself. “I guess she exploded into the air,” Anna said, scratching her head.
“Come on, kids, let’s go. There’s nothing else to see here.” Tay let go of her father’s hand. “No, wait!” she shouted while running over to grab something from Fawn’s bed. “Ok, I’m ready now.” Tay clasped her hand tightly to her brother’s and all four stepped into the portal back home to Bristeria.
CHAPTER 31
After dropping Tay’s family off, Anna and Tailya headed to Bristeria. “I’m glad you came with me, Tay,” Anna said, as they both took a step into Anna’s world. Anna and Tailya’s eyes bugged out while looking each other over. Tay was stunned. “What happened here?” Anna dropped her head and sighed.
What was once her beautiful home was now withered and covered in darkness. Everything looked rotted. “Come on, Tay, let’s go see my father.” They raced down to the castle. “Stop!” Anna shouted at Tailya. She didn’t see what she was about to run into.
A man holding a silver staff with a skull head at the base was pacing back and forth inside the front window. “Shh…look…” Anna whispered. Tay slowly stepped back. “Who is that?” she whispered. Anna focused h
ard on the man’s stature. He walked closely to the window. Tay and Anna ducked. Anna squinted her eyes and watched the man push his face into the window.
Anna gasped. Bile rose in her throat and her heart was pierced with a sharp pain as she let out a horrific cry. Tay shoved her hand over Anna’s mouth. “Shh! Quiet! Do you wanna give us away?” “Tay, you remember my little brother Kedron. The one you brought to the woods that day?” Anna sniffled. “Well, that’s him!”
Tailya’s mouth dropped and her mind became jumbled. She looked at Anna dumbfounded. She remembered Kedron, but he wasn’t a man when she met him. She wondered if she had grown him by accident. Tay looked at Anna with wide eyes.
“I didn’t do it, I swear!” Anna’s puffy red eyes looked at her friend and she nodded slowly, knowing this was something else. She wondered if her mom had something to do with this. Anna grabbed Tay’s arm. “Come on. We’ll sneak in through the dungeon.” Tay gulped. “The dungeon?” Anna pulled Tay harder. “Come on, no one is down there. Father just had it built for a scare tactic.” Hand in hand, they tip-toed around the back of the castle.
Anna walked up to the gate where she always knew she could sneak in and not get caught by the guard. “This way, Tay. Be very quiet, ok?” Tailya took a deep breath and held it as they traipsed past the first cell.
Puh… Tay let out a huge amount of air, and then started gasping. “You weren’t supposed to hold your breath, Tailya,” Anna said, annoyed. A faint voice came from the left cell they were standing by. “Is someone there?” Anna’s stomach twisted when she heard the man’s voice.
Tears blurred her vision, and she wiped them quickly. She had to be sure it was him. Anna charged to the locked gate and fell to her knees. “Daddy, no….no… Why? How did this happen to you? Who did this to you?” Anna was shaken to her core. She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing. Her father was a prisoner and she felt helpless.
The one thing she wanted most of all was to wrap her arms around her father and never let go. Tailya placed her hand on Anna’s back. Tears rolled down her cheeks in frustration because she wasn’t able to help her best friend. All she could do was try to comfort her, but even Tay knew that wasn’t good enough.
King Cyrus moved to the locked gate. “Who… Who’s there?” Anna cried harder. Her father didn’t even recognize her voice. She sniffled. “It’s me, Daddy,” she said, gripping the cage. He crept up slowly and Anna didn’t recognize the man standing in front of her. “Pete… Pete, is that really you?!” King Cyrus couldn’t believe his tired eyes.
“Annalise, it’s been five years.” He clasped his hands around his daughter’s. He looked her over and then stepped away while saying, “Leave me, witch. You’re not my Annalise. Your foolish tricks won’t work on me anymore.”
Anna’s heart sank. She wondered what all her father had endured for him to simply look directly at her and just turn away. Anger rose through her quickly. She had to somehow bring her king back from his tormented mind.
“Daddy, this is my friend, Tay. She has traveled far with me.” The king felt a shift in his tortured heart. “Queen Chelynna was always alone. She never brought anyone with her, and she certainly never showed any pleasantness,” he thought to himself. Then he heard her speak again. Her voice was so familiar to his ears. He gasped. “Pete, is that really you?” His voice rose in elation at the sound of the apple of his eye finally returning home.
King Cyrus slowly trudged closer. He gently wrapped his boney fingers around Anna’s. “I thought you were dead,” he whimpered. Anna squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “It’s a long story. One I will gladly share, but first we need to get you out of here. Where is the key?”
He lifted his head to look at her and then slowly dropped his gaze. “There isn’t one. Your mother has enchanted the dungeon. She couldn’t win over all of my guards, so she took the ones she could and killed the others. She then locked me up and cast a spell that only she can undo.”
Anna lifted her father’s chin and with determination fixed in her eyes, she said, “We can undo it.” Hope filled his chest. “How, Pete?” he asked. Anna reached her hand behind her back toward Tay. While opening and closing her hand, she said, “With this!” But nothing touched her palm. She looked around at Tay. “Where is it?” Tailya’s mouth dropped when she realized Anna was asking for the wand.
“You never gave it back to me. You used it to defeat Yurika, remember?” "No. I don't." Anna dropped her chin and shook her head.
Clenching her fists, she shouted, “Why is this happening?!” Anna’s body went cold. She couldn’t remember having it in the portal. She wondered if it had fallen out of her pocket before she stepped through.
“Why?! Why is this happening?!" Tay gasped. She'd never seen her friend so distraught.
“Annalise, I am truly sorry. We will figure something else out I promise."
Anna wasn't ready to admit defeat, even though the outcome was inevitable. She shook off the chills that were trying to climb up her back. She wasn’t going to let that stop her from forming a plan to save her king. She had no idea how she was going to save her father from captivity, and she had no way to unlock her father's prison door.
She pushed herself up to her feet and leaned into the bars to kiss her father’s forehead. “Don’t worry, daddy. Tailya and I will get you out. We will find a way.” Fear started to overcome her when she looked into her best friend’s eyes. Her father yelled in terror. “No, Pete! No! She’s too powerful. Please, Annalise, get out of here and go find Brighton. He somehow knows what to do when she is having one of her spells. For reasons unknown, she can’t resist him. Now go, and please be careful."
Anna huffed with gobs of tears pouring down her face. "Father what's wrong with you?! What do you mean one of her spells?! Look at what she's done to you! Can you not see that there is something seriously wrong with her?!"
Anna knew forcing the truth on her father was harsh, but she had to snap him out of thinking that his wife was just ill.
Tailya fixed her gaze on me and tried to persuade me to follow my father’s plea. But I wouldn’t listen. I was being too prideful. I squeezed Tay’s hands. “You have magic and I have magic, right?” Tay nodded. “Ok, then we don’t need a wand to defeat my mother.”
Tay looked at me and nodded her head in agreement. Her eyes opened wide and she reached into her back pocket. “Here, this was what I grabbed before leaving the other world. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. I want you to hold onto it so I don’t lose it.”
Anna grabbed the note from her friend and bent down to stick it in her shoe. Tailya looked up and rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, “I can’t believe with all that is going on, this is what I'm thinking of right now! I didn’t think of that!” Both of them stepped into a hole in the wall that was hidden by a picture. Anna remembered her candle and matches that she had left by the opening.
She bent down to grab them, but then quickly jolted back up, gripping Tailya’s hands and forcing her back through to the dungeon. “Wha… What was that?” Tay asked, frightened. Anna was still pulling Tay toward the other exit of the dungeon. “Tay, that was my mother’s laugh. I knew she was close.”
Tay panted between breaths.
“That was creepy,” she said. Anna covered her friend’s mouth. “Shh…I think she’s still coming.”
CHAPTER 32
Hand in hand they raced through the dungeon, passing her father who was yelling, “What’s going on?!” Anna didn’t have time to comfort her father’s anxiety. The queen was coming, and they had to get out. They reached the outside only to find her little brother, Kedron, waiting for them.
“Kedron, it’s me. It’s me, Anna.” Right before he could focus on her words, the queen spoke. “Oh good, Kedron, you found them. Now then, who might you two be, trying to intrude into my castle?” I lifted my eyes to hers, hoping some part of kindness was still in her.
“It’s me, mother.” She straightened quickly and glared
at me with fire in her eyes. “I had hoped I’d never see you again, wretched girl.” The words quickly poured out of her, but I was still focused on her eyes. Emptiness. Nothing but icy cold, hollow eyes staring back at me. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I knew this was it. I focused on my anger from everything I'd witnessed, every dark moment I could remember, and I allowed those emotions to push down the fear that was trying to surface.
All the training from Tay was supposed to be my victory, but I somehow lost the only thing to save my mother. I gathered my courage as I looked at Tay. Dropping her hand, I said quietly, “You ready?” Tay’s chest rose like a mountain as she gave me a slight nod.
I kept tight hold of all the pain and torment I had suffered and allowed the fury to soak in. Gathering my wits, I charged my mother, screaming at whatever was keeping her from me. “You won’t get away with this! I won’t let you have her!” For a brief second I could see sorrow trying to seep its way through her eyes. The moment happened in a flash. She looked me over and cackled as her eyes went hollow again. I had no way to save her. Even worse was the fact she had also let it take over my little brother. My sadness turned to rage when I heard her raise her voice. “You think you can defeat me?” Looking behind me toward my father’s cell, I could see she was scheming something in that twisted mind of hers. Turning back around she said, “Let me show your father just how much I can make him suffer.”
Her malicious words began to sliver away pieces of my soul and she could see the discomfort starting to come over me. Her retort was a vile snarl.
I listened as the queen shouted orders to my little brother. “Kedron, do what I taught you, son.” I looked to him with tragic eyes, going over in my mind the horror he must have experienced having to live with her. I suddenly realized my poor little baby brother had grown up enduring her wrath, which had been meant for me.
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