by Susan Harper
“We found some redacted files on our parents’ case,” Monica said. “The case that Brian had started looking into.”
Bolt, who was no longer suffering the effects of the truth potion he had ingested the evening before, was out and about at last. He had been hiding out all morning from embarrassment after he had told Clowdia about his secret desire to take a pole dancing class right before they had locked him away in his room. “That’s the file he requested from Head Authority Mueller?” Bolt asked to be sure. “You think that your parents’ case might have something to do with why he was taken?”
“Brian was either kidnapped to hurt the Wysteria Werewolves’ chances of winning the match, or he was kidnapped because of the case he had started looking into. Either way, Krulin is a viable suspect for either scenario,” Monica said. “So, we are going to have a little chat with him.”
“I crush him!” Urrgah exclaimed.
“Simmer down,” Deimus said. “Though a little bit of intimidating might not hurt.”
Almost as soon as Deimus said this, they spotted Krulin up ahead. He was strutting out of his hotel room, an empty ice bucket under his arm and his hair wet as though he had just stepped out of a shower. When he spotted the entire Wysteria Werewolves team, Coach Joanne-Jo included, marching toward him with scowls on their faces, he looked slightly alarmed. “What do you lot want?” he asked. He seemed to be taking note that Monica, Mona, Holly, and Isaac were also present.
“We have some questions for you,” Mona snapped.
Her tone alarmed him. Krulin was an overly-confident jerk, but he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t about to try to smart off to the entire team plus someone as powerful as Mona while he was by himself, and Monica was certain Udali had told Krulin what Holly was capable of as well by now. He started backing away like he intended to hurry back into his room and lock himself away, but when he spun around quickly to open the door, he found that it had completely disappeared. “My… What?” he stammered, and Monica noticed that Holly’s eyes were glowing. Had she really managed to make an entire room disappear? If so, Monica was impressed.
Krulin spun back around, staring at each of them. “You better back off,” he said, and as they were all now walking toward him at full speed, he elected to bolt. He darted down the hall, and Mona whipped out her wand.
“Iterium!” Mona shouted, and Krulin fell flat on his face.
He stumbled back up to his feet, and for a moment, Monica thought he was going to turn a corner and disappear. Then she caught a glimpse of Holly. She faded into the floor, sinking and disappearing. When she appeared again, she came up through the floor in front of Krulin and blocked him. Black mist surrounded her, and it alarmed Krulin. “How… How did you do that without a wand?” he asked, staggering away from her.
Holly smiled at him. “Stay put,” she warned. “And answer my friend’s questions.”
He stared at her. “Udali told me about yesterday,” he said nervously. “What are you?”
Holly, evidently electing to use a scare tactic to deal with Krulin this time around, opened her mouth. Out of her mouth came a swarm of roaches. Monica felt Isaac grip her arm, and she turned to see he had on a look of absolute horror as the roaches swarmed around Krulin. Krulin, in his terror, had gone for his wand, but it was knocked out of his hands by the overwhelming number of bugs darting at him. He screamed and fell to his knees, swatting them away.
The Wysteria Werewolves all stopped in their strides, forgetting that they were all angry and had come along prepared for a fight and instead found themselves pitying Krulin for a moment. Holly whistled, and the swarm of roaches disappeared, leaving a bite-covered and mortified Krulin whimpering on the floor in the hallway. Holly approached, kneeling in front of him and smiling innocently. “Sorry,” she said. “I might have overdone it.”
He didn’t find this amusing. “What the heck was that?” he yelped.
“The point I was trying to make is that you don’t want to mess with me or my friends, Krulin,” she said. “So, stop running. Stop smarting off. You’re going to answer my friend’s questions, or I’ll take it up a notch next time.” She held out her hand, and a flower grew up from nothing. “My magic isn’t all scary, though.” She handed him the pretty red flower and helped him back to his feet. He gripped the flower, looking still quite shaken by the roach attack.
“Interesting interrogation tactic there, Holly,” Bolt muttered.
Holly shrugged. Krulin, still shaken, turned to them all. “What do you want?” he asked pitifully.
“I want to know about your time in Wysteria,” Monica said. “And the explosion that you witnessed.” Monica shoved the case file in front of him, and Krulin went pale.
“Where… Where did you get this?” he asked.
“Those people who died?” Mona said. “They were mine and Monica’s parents.”
Krulin stared at the youthful picture of himself in the file for several moments before looking back up at them. “I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to them,” he said, and he sounded honest. Frankly, Monica was pretty sure Holly had scared him out of any shred of dishonesty he had been holding onto.
“Talk,” Monica said. “Tell me what happened that night, and I’m going to suggest you don’t lie, or I’ll sic Holly on you again.”
Krulin glanced at Holly for one more nervous second before nodding. “Okay,” he said. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize… I didn’t really think I’d ever meet the kids who were in that house, you know?” He took a breath. “My old man was part of Remembrance. Not me.”
“Your tattoo says otherwise,” Coach Joanne-Jo said.
“I was not part of them!” he snapped. “Never have been. Never will be. I got the tattoo as tribute to my dad, all right? He died when I was a kid.”
“Tell us,” Monica said firmly.
Krulin nodded. “I was on holiday. Dad lived in Wysteria. Mom lived here in Norbury, and she was fighting, with good reason, to make sure she got full custody of me. While I was in Wysteria, Dad told me he had this job he had to take care of. He and his boss.” He lowered his head. “He took me with him, and I watched them harass some non-wizards. It was… It was really messed up. I know I run my mouth a lot about non-wizards, but this… He was hurting people. Took me with him to do it, too. I was just a kid. One of our last runs of the night was this family with two kids… Guess that was you guys. It screwed me up. My dad didn’t blow up the house, but he provided the potions necessary to do it. Said the family was a disgrace and needed to go. We watched the place burn, and then the authorities pulled up. My dad… He ran with his boss and left me in the dirt.”
“That’s messed up,” Deimus said.
“The lead authority took me home, but I never said anything about why I was there or that I was there with my dad. Dad acted like I had snuck off to go play when the authorities dropped me off,” Krulin said. “I wrote to my mom that night about what happened, and she was in town to get me the next morning. Told Dad she’d use my letter against him in court if he ever tried to contact us again. We should have gone to the authorities about it right away, but Mom was just worried about getting me away from him. Dad died less than a week later. He was killed during an authority raid against a different group of extremists he had started to associate himself with.”
“Why?” Mona asked, and Monica glanced over to see that her sister was crying. She reached over, touching Mona on the shoulder to give her a bit of reassurance that she was there for her. She felt a lump forming in her own throat as well.
“Why what?” Krulin asked anxiously.
“Why us?” Mona asked. “Why did Remembrance come after our family? What did we ever do to you people?”
“Don’t associate me with them!” Krulin said. “I’m not like them, I swear. I wouldn’t ever hurt anyone like that.” He wrung his wrists for a moment. “But I do know why they went after your family.” He stared at the ground for several minutes. Finally, he glanced up
, and his eyes lingered on Monica for a moment. “It was because of you,” he said. “Because of you being an unnatural.”
12
Monica felt as though someone had punched her in the stomach. Was Krulin really telling her that the reason here parents were dead was because of her? Because of the way she had been born? Because she had been cursed to live out her days as a witch with only half the amount of magic, if that, of what she was meant to carry? She felt Mona gripping her shoulder, and she glanced in her direction. Her eyes seemed to be pleading with her not to get in her head about it, but she couldn’t help it.
Monica glared at Krulin. “What do you mean Remembrance went after my parents because of me being an unnatural?”
Krulin looked honestly sorry to have to be the one to tell Monica this. She still didn’t like him much at all—she still thought he was a tool—but he did look sorry. “I mean what I said,” he began. “Remembrance is one messed-up group. My dad got involved with it, and it’s one of the main reasons he and my mom split. Remembrance has this hierarchy made up in their heads, and mortals are at the bottom, up next are non-wizard mystics, and they’ve got a whole order of what goes where, and at the top is wizards. And, as far as unnaturals, Remembrance thinks of them as mortals born lucky into a wizarding household.”
“I’m not mortal!” Monica snapped. “I have magic!”
“Remembrance doesn’t care,” Krulin said. “To them, you might as well be a mortal. They think of mortals as vermin that should be wiped from the earth. They think other mystics should be subservient to wizards, but mortals need to be terminated all together. And they lop unnaturals in with that mortal category.”
Monica felt sick. Her parents were dead because of her malformation. “Your father was a sick man!” Monica snapped, trying to fight off tears.
“I know he was,” Krulin admitted, and he touched his tattoo. “But he was still my dad.”
“You said your dad went with his boss, or his superior,” Mona said. “That he only provided the potions that blew up the house. Who was the person he went with? Who is the one who blew up our parents’ house?”
“I never knew her name,” Krulin said. “I only met her the one time, and she wore—”
“A masquerade mask?” Mona asked.
“Yeah!” Krulin said. “Had this little nose. This crazy black hair…”
“No,” Holly said breathlessly, taking a step back. “You saw Morganna.”
Krulin stared blankly. “Morganna? Are you insane? Like, the Morganna? She’s long gone. Dead thousands of years ago.”
“No, she’s not,” Isaac said.
Krulin smirked. “How would you know, mortal?”
“Because,” Holly said, “she’s my mother.”
Krulin looked like he was going to be sick. “No,” he said, inching down the hall like a trapped animal trying to escape.
Holly shook her head, covering her face after a moment. “Monica… Mona… I’m so sorry! My mom… My mom killed your parents!”
“Your mom is Morgan La Faye?!” Rosemary asked, looking simply aghast. “The Morgan La Faye. The pale lady? Merlin’s apprentice and betrayer? The mistress of darkness? That Morganna?”
“I mean, we’re not exactly on speaking terms, but yes,” Holly said.
“So you’re an Ibeji and daughter of the most evil sorceress to have ever lived?” Clowdia asked nervously.
“Don’t forget, her dad has got some seriously interesting ancestry worth mentioning too,” Isaac said, and Mona elbowed him.
“I’m so sorry,” Holly said, wiping tears away from her face. “You guys, I’m so sorry.”
“Holly, you’re not your mother,” Monica said, though she still had an awful feeling in her stomach. “You’re one of my best friends. You’re not like your mom or your sister. It’s not your fault.”
“I can’t believe I’m related to those people,” Holly said, still wiping her eyes. “How is that possible? Are they even people? They’re just monsters, honestly. Wait… What if… What if they knew? They’re very powerful. They’ve probably been spying on us ever since they appeared to us in Wysteria. What if my mom knew that Brian was looking into the case?”
Monica’s stomach lurched. Morganna? Could she have gone after Brian? “You’re an Ibeji,” Monica said. “You can do just about anything if you just think it!”
“Yeah, and?” Holly asked.
“Can you track your mom?” Monica suggested. “Or maybe your sister? You’re twins, right? Twins have a magical connection.”
“That’s true,” Mona said.
“I don’t know,” Holly said anxiously.
“Grace said all you have to do is believe you can do it,” Mona said. “Remember? You just have to believe you can do it, and you can.”
“I suppose if I can make bugs fly out of my mouth, I can figure out where my sister is,” Holly said. “Okay, give me a second.”
Everyone stood around, watching as Holly closed her eyes. She stood still for several minutes, and at last, she opened her eyes. “I saw her!” Holly exclaimed. “I could see through her eyes!”
“Wait,” Monica said. “You saw through her eyes?”
“You’re right! She’s got Brian,” Holly said, and Monica felt sucker-punched.
“Where is she?” Monica asked.
Holly tugged at her collar. “Um…our ship.”
“Our ship!” Deimus exclaimed.
Monica covered her mouth. “Abigail! Aunt Wilma and Uncle Drac were taking her back to the ship!”
13
The Wysteria Werewolves followed Monica and the others out of the hotel. Krulin, relieved that he was no longer being questioned, ran out of sight and disappeared somewhere in the hotel. Monica felt her ears ringing in her panic. Brian was in trouble. Abigail and her Aunt Wilma and Uncle Drac could be in trouble as well. And for what reason? What could a witch like Morgan Le Fay possibly want with Brian? And would she go after Abigail and the others if she saw them on the ship?
Monica’s questions would be answered soon enough. As they came out onto the lawn outside of the hotel, for a split-second, Monica thought that the ship was gone, but it was merely floating above their heads. “Brooms!” Deimus shouted, and they all scrambled to summon their broomsticks—those who could fly, that was. Urrgah, who was obviously not going to fit on the back of anyone’s broomstick, began climbing up the ship’s anchor chain, grunting the entire way.
Holly, it seemed, had mastered levitation. It was as though her Ibeji powers had abruptly increased overnight with everything Monica had seen her do that day. Ever since they had met Grace, Holly had been practicing, she knew, on her own, but she hadn’t expected to see such impressive feats so quickly. Holly grabbed onto Isaac, and they soared up ahead of the rest. Monica changed her broom into the motorcycle with the sidecar so Clowdia and Trixie could join her on her bike. Bolt, who had a training broom for non-wizards, rode Gale on the back of his while Ida elected to ride up with Mona. Deimus and Rosemary each had their own broomsticks, and Coach Joanne-Jo flew up on her sprite wings.
Monica gripped the steering of her motorcycle, teeth gritted. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she got to the top of that ship. She questioned herself: how had they not thought of Morganna before? Hadn’t she left them in a rather threatening way the last time they had seen her? And, with Holly’s increasingly impressive abilities, how was it that they had just now thought of using her to track Brian down? It seemed foolish in retrospect.
They all flew up over the side of the ship, Urrgah throwing himself up and over and landing on flat feet, shaking the whole ship. The air up here was different. There was dark magic here. Even Monica, who had never been able to read auras in her life, could feel it in the air. Down below, the world had been sunny and warm, but up here, it was dark and cold. The air was filled with mist, and it seemed as though they had just wandered into some haunted place they had no hope of escaping—quite unlike the ship they had left that morning.
Holly, who was standing nearest to her, had her hands outstretched. They were glowing purple and green. She stood in a fighting stance, ready to throw down if need be. “If we’re really dealing with Morganna, should I go get help?” Coach Joanne-Jo whispered as she fluttered past Monica’s head.
“Probably a good idea,” Monica said. “Who knows what Morganna has in store up here in her little house of horrors?”
“My family—my biological family—are in the hotel,” Holly said. “Go get them. My stepmother and her brother are pretty powerful, and my parents can pack a punch too even though they’re just mortals.”
Coach Joanne-Jo nodded, and she flew up and over the edge of the ship, disappearing from view. Trixie stepped forward, punching her left palm with her fist. “All right, you psycho-witch! Where are you hiding? We know you got our teammate!”
There was still nothing but silence. They all went forward slowly. Mona raised her wand. “Ventus,” she said, waving her wand to try to clear away the mist, but it had very little effect. Some of it backed away as they all walked forward.
Coming through the mist, they spied a slight red light. Monica and Deimus both held up their wands, as did Rosemary. Bolt growled. But just as Mona was about to cast a defensive spell in that direction, they heard a familiar voice. “Mona? Monica? Is that you?” It was their Aunt Wilma, and a second later, she, Uncle Drac, and Abigail came hurrying towards them from within the mist.
Monica sighed with relief, and she threw her arms around Abigail. The light had come from the tip of her Aunt Wilma’s wand as she used it to guide them through the dark. “Vhat is going on!” Uncle Drac exclaimed. “One minute, ve are resting below deck, zhe next, zhe boat is in zhe air, and zhere is zis fog!”
