“Look, my mother was a state representative in the state of Massachusetts, but I have no idea how to set up a government,” Angelina said.
“Well, you can at least give us some ideas here!” Willow said.
“Look, I think you’re asking the wrong person about something like this.”
“But you said that your system was better than the system we have here.”
Oh, no. Here I go, Angelina thought.
They finished eating supper, and Angelina explained to them how the American governing system worked. Which bored her to death but seemed to enthrall Willow and Riordan.
When they finished, they decided to ride a little further until sundown. Angelina, however, had never ridden a horse. Riordan handed Sugarplum’s reins to Angelina. Willow led Starfire beside where Sugarplum and Angelina stood. “You lift yourself onto the saddle and swing your right leg over,” she said to Angelina. Sugarplum was much taller than Angelina.
She hoped that she would regain her ability to talk to animals again so that she could ask the horse to squat down so she could get on it. “Here, put your foot in the stirrups, like this,” Willow said as she put her left foot in one of Starfire’s stirrups. “Now you do it.”
Angelina’s heart throbbed as she put her left foot in the stirrup. She was terrified of falling off the horse. “Then you put your leg over the other side like this,” Willow said as she jumped up, put her right leg over the saddle and sat on the horse.
Okay, here I go, Angelina thought. She hoisted herself off the ground with her left leg, threw her right leg over the saddle, and sat on the horse.
“There! You did it!” Willow shouted happily.
Angelina started to relax. “Now, how do I get it to start walking?”
“Just kick the horse like this,” Willow said.
She kicked her horse in the side, and it started trotting forward. Angelina hoped her horse would not decide to buck her off. Willow kicked her horse in the side, and it started trotting forward too.
They rode until sundown. Willow showed Angelina how to dismount her horse. Angelina dismounted Sugarplum, and the three of them tied their horses to a tree.
Angelina pulled out a blanket she had taken with her on the flight. Willow made a bed out of the blankets she had packed from Marian’s house. Riordan pulled out a sleeping bag. He was the only one prepared for sleeping outdoors because his job required so much travel. Riordan took a necklace out of his pocket and put it around his neck.
“Angelina, I forgot to tell you something. You need to keep that ring visible tonight. Don’t put your hand under the covers. If it is what you say it is, it can help ward off Faeblood Wraiths should they decide to attack,” Riordan said.
“What are those?” Angelina asked.
“They are sorcerers and sorceresses who had their magic stolen by Tareth. People have been seeing them in this country lately. When a wraith is created, the soul detaches itself from their body, and it drains magic from sorcerers to try to replenish the magic that was stolen. Then, the victim becomes a wraith, as well. Showing them an object that belonged to Tareth is said to scare them away because they act on his commands.” He handed a small bracelet to Willow. “This was found among his things 500 years ago.” She put it on her wrist.
Angelina lay awake for a long time, trying to process the events of the day. She eventually fell asleep.
The sound of an owl hooting suddenly awakened her. In her sleep-induced state, she slowly became aware of what the owl was saying. “We’re safe from them!” the owl said. Angelina discovered that she could now see as well at night as she could in the daylight. Perhaps the iron injection had finally worn off, and seeing at night was one of her new animal abilities.
She looked around and was aware that she did not see either Willow or Riordan anywhere! “Did you see where my friends went?” Angelina asked the owl.
“They followed the white shadows,” the owl said.
“Could you take me to them?” Angelina asked.
“Follow me.” The owl flew off the branch. She followed the owl through the forest. She saw some odd glowing white figures gliding amongst the trees.
“This is as close as I’ll get,” the owl said. It perched on a branch.
Fear shot down Angelina’s spine. What are those strange creatures? she wondered. Her heart started throbbing fearfully, but she pressed forward anyway. As she walked closer, she saw that two of the creatures were sucking a strange blue mist out of Willow and Riordan.
At that moment, she realized that either she could be afraid of what the creatures might do to her, or she could attempt to chase them away from her friends. Angelina ran forward and waved her hands high into the air. She ran into the crowd of specters and yelled, “Go away! Let them go!” The creatures looked at her and suddenly took off flying through the forest.
The mist around Willow and Riordan disappeared, and they both dropped to the ground. The three of them were alone in the forest. Willow looked weak and was barely able to stand up. Riordan gasped for his breath and stumbled to his feet. Willow was aware that someone had hypnotized her in some strange fashion.
She looked up and saw Angelina. “How did you . . . how did you do that?” She gasped.
“I . . . I don’t know. I just waved my hands, and they flew away.”
“I had my necklace on.” Riordan felt his neck and discovered that the bottle pendant was hanging under his shirt. “Clearly they didn’t see it,” he grumbled as he pulled the pendant out.
“My hand must have been under the covers!” Willow said.
“That ring of yours, it must really be Tareth’s World Turner ring since it was able to scare them off,” Riordan said, pointing to Angelina’s ring.
“How do I get it to work? How do I get it to help me travel to different worlds?” Angelina asked.
Riordan shrugged and said, “Don’t know. Perhaps it got broken at some point. It still saved our lives.”
“Maybe we would be safer if we slept in the daytime and traveled at night?” Angelina asked.
“No. Wraiths attack people regardless of if it is nighttime or daytime,” Riordan replied.
They all struggled to go back to sleep that night. Angelina could not believe it. She knew that she would have to tell her father about the experience. Faeblood Wraiths, the creatures that he used to tell her stories about as a child to keep her from going outside at night by herself, were real.
Chapter Seven
Desdemona, Ambrosia, and Victor suddenly appeared on the side of a large mountain. A huge blast of cold wind hit Desdemona. She discovered they had arrived on Mount Pyraxia in the middle of a blizzard. If they hadn’t drunk the immortality potion, they would all freeze to death out in the cold.
Victor recognized the terrain as the place Willow had transported herself to when she was learning the transporter spell. When he didn’t see Willow in the house after she recited the transporter spell, he decided to see if she had transported herself to the Pyraxia Library. He had read her mother’s note and knew it was probably a place Willow wanted to go to. He decided to go there and look for her.
“This is the correct mountain, according to the professor’s notes here, and according to the note Willow’s mother had,” Victor screamed above the wind. He was holding a notebook that he had stolen from a university archaeology professor named Edward Smith, who was the person who had recited the spell to bring magic back to Ethermoor. Victor had stolen many, many books from him to create his library in his castle on Enchantica.
In his notebook was written, “Open the door to the vault of Mount Pyraxia by sticking your hands in the snow and saying the words to the spell to open it, something which is only known by Knowledge Sorcerers. Only a person with fairy blood can open the doors to the Pyraxia Library and the Pyraxia Vault.” Then he flipped to the back page of the notebook, where he had copied the directions to the library that Willow’s mother had been given.
“The word to melt the snow
off the doors to the vault and the library is Florida” was written there.
Victor had gathered a wad of hair from Willow’s brush over the last couple of months, which he hoped would help him trick the magic into thinking he was a sorcerer. According to the professor’s notes, the snow-covered vault door was about a mile from the stone towers that marked the entrance to the library.
“Now, according to the notes, the library entrance should be there, and the vault entrance should be somewhere over here,” Victor said as he pointed at two very tall stone pillars, then pointed to the pile of snow right in front of them. He opened the bag he brought with him and pulled out a small pouch. He opened the pouch and pulled a big clump of Willow’s hair out. “That’s disgusting! What are you doing?” Ambrosia asked, sounding as if she was trying not to gag.
Victor laughed so hard at the comment that he doubled over. “This is Willow’s hair. I got it out of her brush. If the spell senses Willow’s magic, then it will work for us.”
He put the clump of hair in the snow. “Florida!” Suddenly, the snow melted away, revealing a metal door. “Please?” Victor asked.
The door swung open, and they all walked inside. “Now, be careful. According to the notes, there is a trap door to a dragon’s lair. Watch where you are going and don’t step on any loose stones,” Victor instructed. They were all immortal now, but he knew that being torn to bits by a dragon was still a very painful experience.
“Do you know where the trap door is?” Rosaria asked.
“There is no information in the professor’s journal about where the door is,” Victor replied.
“How does one man live by himself for so many centuries?” Desdemona asked.
“How did I live by myself for so many centuries? Did you ever think to ask me how I lived by myself on Valroth for five hundred years?” Victor spat. Desdemona closed her mouth and shrank backward. “To answer your question, I don’t think he is here alone. There are probably lots of sorcerers in the library.”
Tristan’s vault held all the fairy objects of importance that were stored away before the banishment. On this particular trip, Desdemona and Ambrosia were searching for the rings of the fairy King Salovar and Queen Alysianna of the Azodar Forest. Desdemona and Ambrosia had spent many years researching magic, and according to legend, the rings were the most powerful fairy objects that existed. Victor planned to steal Tristan’s powers and use them to rule over the kingdom of Ethermoor. The Wisdom Fairy powers would enable him to subjugate the people to his control.
A musty smell filled the air. Victor pulled out a gem he’d brought with him to light the way. “Lumina!” Victor said. The gem suddenly glowed brightly, illuminating the entire cavern. The three of them saw a long passageway covered in stalactites ahead of them.
Desdemona, Ambrosia, and Victor started walking. All of a sudden, the ground crumbled out from under their feet, and they fell through a hole. Ambrosia felt the wind get knocked out of her as she hit a large pile of metal. She looked around and saw that gold covered the cavern walls, and torches illuminated the interior of the cavern. She was sitting on the largest pile of gold, jewels, and other precious metals that she had ever seen.
“We have to get out of here! Quickly, try to climb up the wall!” Victor said nervously.
“Climb up the wall? Are you crazy? Let’s use the transporter spell!” Ambrosia said.
“She’s right. Let’s hold hands,” Desdemona agreed. She grabbed Ambrosia’s hand.
“Well, we can try it. It probably won’t work because this is all part of Tristan’s vault,” Victor said. He grabbed Ambrosia’s hand and recited the spell. “We imagine we are standing in the room where the rings of Alysianna and Salovar, king and queen of the Azodar Forest, are sitting in the Vault of Tristan. Time and space shall make it so.” Nothing happened.
Desdemona heard the sound of wings beating in the wind. She turned around and saw a massive dragon flying through the cavern! She let out a piercing shriek. The creature inhaled deeply. Desdemona, Ambrosia, and Victor scrambled to get off the pile before it exhaled. They were immortal, but that did not make getting burned alive any less painful.
The dragon drew in another deep breath and blew out a massive plume of fire, engulfing all three of them. Ambrosia and Desdemona felt their skin singe off their bones. Then, they were aware that their skeletons were being carried high into the air.
Is this what being immortal feels like? Desdemona wondered. Her ligaments and muscles had been singed off, and her bones were all that was left of her.
Desdemona felt her skeleton break apart as the dragon smashed her bones against a pile of rocks. She saw Ambrosia’s and Victor’s skulls lying across the cavern.
The dragon, who was very pleased with its handiwork in destroying the intruders, turned around and flew back into its cave. The dragon’s name was Safire, and she, like most of the dragons and magical creatures of Ethermoor, was an ally of the fairies and sorcerers. She had bright-blue scales that glistened pink when the light shone on them.
Guarding the vault was a job her family members had held for generations, and she was a fifth-generation vault guardian. It was a job she felt was a high honor, even though she had never performed it until today. It puzzled her how the intruders got into the cave without freezing to death, given that they were not wearing clothes suitable for walking around in the cold climate outside.
She left the cave and flew to the secret door to the Pyraxia Library. She knocked on the door with her tail. The door opened, and Melvil stood in the doorway. “Sir, there were intruders in my cave.”
“And?” Melvil asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
“I burned them alive. I just thought you should know that someone broke into the vault,” she replied.
A look of grave concern stretched across Melvil’s face. “I will assemble a team of sorcerers, and they can go tell Tristan. Let’s warn him about them just in case some didn’t fall through the trap.” Melvil disappeared back into the library, and he returned with three younger sorcerers. “Take Andrew, Frances, and Vincent with you. I would go with you, but I am too old to fight.”
The four sorcerers climbed onto Safire’s back. She took off flying through the cavern. When they passed the entrance to the trap Safire lived in, she noticed that all the bones were gone. She flew down and searched the area.
“What are you doing?” one of the young wizards asked her.
“I’m searching for the intruder’s skeletons! I killed them and smashed their bones against the rocks here so I wouldn’t have their bones cluttering up my cave!”
Safire whimpered. She flew close to the rocks and examined the terrain, searching for the bones, but none were there. “This is so strange! The skeletons were right here!” Safire said.
It was now even more imperative that they warn Tristanabout the intruders. They flew to the innermost vault and decided to stay there with him until they thought the danger had passed.
Desdemona hoped that she would not have to spend eternity as an upside-down skull in a cavern. Now what? she wondered. She saw one of her friend’s skulls land upside down right in front of hers. Man, we’d sure be sick if we were still mortal. She knew that she would have laughed at that thought if she still had her stomach and vocal cords.
She felt a sort of odd magnetism drawing all her bones back to themselves. She watched as her bones reattached themselves and her internal organs grew back. Victor’s and Ambrosia’s bodies regenerated too. Victor decided to recite a spell to make clothes for them. “My wand and magic must act as a needle and thread to weave these women and I lovely clothes that we can wear again!” Victor said. He waved his wand around in the air.
A mist surrounded the three of them. When the mist disappeared, their clothes had been remade, good as new. I hope I never experience that again! Desdemona thought. She was thankful that Victor knew a spell to make clothes for them.
“I’m guessing that saying ‘the room where the rings are sitting�
� was not specific as to which room in the vault they are in,” Ambrosia said.
“Well, I didn’t see any other name for it written in the book,” Victor said.
He thought about looking through the notebook to check to see if there was another name for the room. He was suddenly aware that his bag had disappeared during their fall, and his heart went into his throat. “My bag is gone!” he said. He looked down into the hole, and a wave of relief washed over him when he saw a small brown shapeless mass lying in a valley between two of the massive mountains of gold.
“Come to me!” he whispered. He shook his wand, and a cloud of gold came out of the tip. It surrounded the bag, as well as another object that Victor couldn’t see from the edge of the hole, lifted them out of the hole, and brought them right to Victor. The second object was the lumina gem he had also lost during the fall. He looked through the bag and was relieved to see the professor’s notebook there. “Thank goodness!” he breathed. “Now, we can continue onward!”
They continued walking for the rest of the day and went to sleep that night. The next morning, they came to a large, ornately carved door with fairy runes on it. “Now, Ambrosia, this is a test for you! You’re the one who’s been studying fairy runes for years!” Victor said, smiling.
“And the Fae Will Rise!” Ambrosia said aloud. Suddenly, a blue light illuminated the runes, and there was a horrible grinding sound as the door slid open. The three of them walked inside.
Torches illuminated the walls of a large, cavernous room. Marble walls and columns lined the inside of the room, giving it the grandeur of a palace. Desdemona saw a small red beam shooting out of the wall. Not knowing what it was, she stepped over it. “Watch this thing here. I don’t know what it is,” she said. Victor stepped over it cautiously. Ambrosia did too, but the hem of her dress brushed the beam. She breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened.
They walked a few more steps through the room. Desdemona heard the sound of a faint humming off in the distance. They continued walking, and the sound grew louder and louder. Ambrosia turned around and saw thousands of tiny lights flying right toward them. She shrieked, and all three of them started running in all directions! The swarm broke into three different swarms and headed for each of them.
The Night Sorceresses Page 15
