The Circle of Owls (The Grimalkin Book 3)

by Dani Swanson

  For a moment the fighting had stopped as the witches, cats and men all looked up to see Cricket’s smiling face above. Charles was the first to scream at the witch and start the charge, but Cricket was gone from the throne room before they ever made it up the flight of stairs – she was making her way to where her mother and niece were waiting her.

  Charles ran back down the stairs to where Robin’s body laid. Tinker was nudging Robin’s cheeks, trying to get her to move. Charles silently cried as he picked up her body and started to bring it up to the throne room. “We’ve got to find Thea! Go get her!” He yelled over his shoulder to his brother. Dean nodded and turned on his heels and was off to the castle walls to try to see where Cricket was headed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The Baba Yaga traveled through the forest with a few dozen dragons flying behind her as they approached the Kingdom of Owls. A dense fog rolled in on the dragon’s wings, covering the light from the stars - the darkness of night cloaked their entrance to the kingdom – hiding everything but her glowing yellow eyes.

  She placed Agatha down onto a mossy patch of ground in the shadows without saying a word to her and then started out into the battle. For an instant both sides stopped in their tracks and looked at the ancient witch in awe as she walked into their midst. She took one of her massive arms and swept it wide – knocking many members of the Circle of Owls into the darkness. Without hesitation, she took her other arm and did the same to those who lived at the Kingdom of Owls as well. The Baba Yaga felt that both sides were wrecking the world she created and thought that she should be the only winner of this fight. She was going to do everything she could to end the battle on her own.

  Lola was leading the charge on the ground. She had a small blade in her paw as she ran between the legs of the much larger trolls, biting their achilles causing them to fall. They screamed in pain as they grabbed their feet, now being unable to walk. She ran up the back of a colossal org, running around his face and perching her bushy bottom on his nose - she stabbed him in the eyeball as one of the fairies cast a spell sending him flying into the distance.

  The dragons blew streams of flames at the fairies and elves who were trying to ground them. The Baba Yaga laughed at the witch’s attempts with their fireballs and mudtrolls to attack her. It wasn’t until a giant that belonged to the Circle of Owls came out of the trees, tall enough to look the Baba Yaga in the eye did her laughter stop.

  He was not afraid of her size or power – he even nodded at her in acknowledgement as an old friend before he swung a tree trunk at her leg, dropping her down to one knee. The growl that came from her throat shook the ground as she stood back up. She called out to her dragons who came to her rescue, igniting the beast from every angle. She turned her back on him, shrinking back to her normal size and followed the members of the Circle into the darkness of the forest as his yelps echoed in her ears.

  Agatha had run as fast as her feet would carry her to the old entrance of the Circle of Owls and found Dean and the cats running toward the trees. She knew in her gut that was the way to go to find Thea and the others. She crouched behind a fallen tree when she saw a couple of high-powered elves searching through the brush, and she could see Thea, Penelope and Lilly being guarded by a few members of the Circle.

  Agatha motioned for Dean to go the other side of the clearing and wait there. Fig and Tinker were ready to pounce as they moved around the perimeter. She sent mudtrolls marching – they broke sticks as they walked and made the dwarfs jump with each step echoing behind them. Her trick had them distracted enough that she was able to grab Penelope and get her hidden in the shadows – Dean rushed over to them and unlocked her collar right as Cricket had lit it up with a shock. The collar fizzled with the current and faded into dust that blew away with the wind.

  “Fools!” She screeched as she flew fireballs into the darkness – hitting many of her own followers in the process. “I need all of them here!” Dean barely missed getting hit by a rouge fireball, as he dived to get out of its way. He didn’t land right, slipping and hitting his head hard onto a rock – knocking himself out cold.

  With a flick of her wrist, Cricket had removed the collar from Lilly Quinn, but already had her silvery hair in her grasp as she blew a powder into Lilly’s face. The powder didn’t react with Lilly as it had done before with Sorgin. She sneezed but then stared at Cricket with a hypnotic look on her face. Cricket pulled Lilly’s face near her own, placing her lips near Lilly’s and inhaled a long breath. Blackness started to seep from the thin-lipped witch as Cricket’s eyes started to change to a milky grey. Lilly started to be lifted from the ground when everything around them stopped. The deafening sound of silence rang through Cricket’s ears as everyone froze in their spots; she was surrounded in the darkness with Lilly suspended in the air near her face, and Thea laying on the ground with her cat, looking at the green shocks that were suspended in the air. The fighters from both sides were immobile mid battle – fireballs and thunderbolts frozen in time.

  Two figures emerged from the darkness – Their hands held out in front of them as the white light of the Ether was coming from their hands. Penelope and the Baba Yaga were walking toward Cricket as they – together- had stopped the flow of time around them. The movement of the forest, the noises from all of the creatures went to an earsplitting buzz. Everyone could see what was happening, but movement was not an option.

  “You cannot do this Cricket! It is not your place!” Said Penelope, as her arms shook from the flow of power shooting through her.

  “Her power is strong if she is still able to move.” The words of the Baba Yaga had barely left her lips before Cricket started to speak.

  “You are the one that they call Godmother, no? I understand what you are saying as I have learned from the imp-witch when I took part of her powers. If I am able to move in your spell, I must be strong enough to move you!” Cricket threw fire at the Baba Yaga, but this time it streamed blue from her mouth, just as the Grimalkin would have. Cricket’s eyes were not fully black, but still a milky grey as her body glided up in the air from the force of the magic.

  The force of her flame caused the Baba Yaga to go flying into the trees as the smell of her burnt flesh filled the air. Her magic had stopped, leaving Penelope to try to hold off Cricket alone. Everything started to move in slow motion as Cricket took cautious steps toward her mother.

  Fig had started to grow into a massive cat, standing over the top of Thea, protecting her. Agatha was able to wake Dean as she shook him and slapped his face. Dean and Agatha charged at a snail’s pace from their own hiding spots with their sights set on Cricket.

  Cricket playfully shot fireballs at her mother as Penelope’s arms shook harder than before – she wasn’t strong enough to hold the spell on her own. Cricket made it to her mother just before she lost control of the spell, blowing the dust into her face. Cricket whispered, “I love you, mommy.” Right before she started to steal her powers. As the misty rose essence came out of Penelope – she lost all control and time started back at its normal pace. Dean ran with his sword drawn, to strike Cricket in her back. He was met with the sharp pain of an arrow hitting him on his spine from an elf in the darkness. He fell and all that could be heard was the cry from Thea as she lay helpless on the ground, watching him fall. Agatha was able to shoot a thunderbolt that took out the lock that Cricket had on Penelope. The elder witch took a large gasp of air when she was released and stumbled back into the trees. Her face had aged nearly 100 years within a moment.

  “You won’t win Cricket! You need to stop this now!” Agatha ran as fast as she could toward Cricket throwing whatever she could conjure at her. Cricket laughed at her as she simply raised her hand and sent Agatha flying back and into a tree; her spine cracking against the wood echoed over the noise of the fighting. Her body laid in a lifeless lump at the base of the tree.

  The fire cat and the ice cat both pounced onto Cricket, creating steam around them as they tried to bite her jug
ular; this allowed Thea to get to her feet and made her way over to where Dean was laying. She took the small key from his hand and reached behind her head and unlocked the black collar, exposing her newly scared skin. She was able to place her hands on him, watching the wound reverse and showing his smooth skin where the arrow used to be. She grabbed him by the face and kissed him. When she pulled away, she sternly told him: “You need to get back. I can’t handle you getting hurt again.”

  She stood up and started to run toward her cat who she could hear howling from the opening in the trees – Dean started to protest and follow her, but Thea stopped him by having mudtrolls wrap themselves around his legs. She got there just in time to see Tinker go flying into a tree as the fiery streak of Fig’s fur flying toward Cricket. He sunk his teeth into her flesh, ripping away the skin near her collar bone. Her blood no longer red, ran black from her gash, spilling down the font of her clothing – she did not scream or cry, but rather laughed as she saw her own blood before swatting the cat away into the trees.

  Thea started to conjure fireball after fireball at Cricket as she was fighting against the mighty cats. The Baba Yaga was now throwing bare knuckled punches with a group of borgs as if they were in a boxing ring at the bar. She was starting to also lose her energy as it was getting harder for her to cast a spell.

  With her full attention on Thea, Cricket wiped the blood from her neck - her eyes to turned grey as her grin started to twist into snarly cat’s mouth. She sprayed blue flames from her mouth as she ignited the trees around the clearing all while never taking her eyes off her niece.

  Lola and the remaining members of the Kingdom of Owls attacked the Circle of Owls members who were hiding in the trees. They were able to draw them away from the clearing, leaving Cricket alone against the cats and witches.

  “Now Cricket, this has gone on long enough….I can heal that wound for you. Just let me come near you and I will help you.” Thea cautiously moved closer to her aunt, as she was looking for some glimpse of Cricket in her dark eyes. Cricket just laughed.

  “I think I can almost heal myself Little Witch. There’s only one thing that you’re going to do to help me!” Cricket bent down like the Grimalkin and charged toward Thea, knocking her to the ground. She took the last of her powder from her pouch and blew it into Thea’s face. Thea did what she could to hold her breath, but she couldn’t stop it from entering her body. Cricket bent down with her smeared crimson lips and started to steal the powers from within Thea.

  The pearly light pink essence of Thea’s being started to escape her. The sensation of being lighter than air took over; her fear changing to euphoria, then ending in an empty numbness. She felt as if she was being drained of everything in her body, and she couldn’t do anything to move her arms or legs to fight back – all she could do was stare into the ever-darkening eyes of her aunt as she stole everything that made Thea who she is.

  Thea’s eyesight was starting to fade, all she could see through the tunnels of light that were left were the same icy blue eyes her aunt had that matched her own.

  Cricket could feel the new energy surging through her veins. Her skin was pulling tight, her hair was fuller as were her cheeks. The age spots on her hands disappeared, and the wound in her neck was no longer bleeding and was healed completely, as if Fig had never bit her there in the first place. The power within her was growing so strong that her veins were glowing through her skin. She had nearly taken all of Thea’s power when she was knocked over from the side.

  Tinker had come back and was now on top of the witch, blowing an icy wintery mix onto her face, framing Cricket’s head in a block of ice. Thea gasped for air as some of her life came back into her lungs. As she breathed, she felt her body trying to heal itself from within. She stumbled to her feet and started toward Cricket. Thea neared to where Cricket laid but was unable to cast a spell. She caught the weight of Tinker’s mighty body as it was shot back from a fireball to the chest that Cricket had thrown. It hit Tinker with such force that she landed motionless in her normal cat form.

  “You’re no longer the stronger witch, Thea.” Cricket’s voice was demonic and echoed within itself as if there were three separate voices coming from Cricket’s throat at once. Her veins glowed so bright she was drawing attention from the fighting groups along the castle in the distance. “Now to finish taking from you and mother, then I will be the strongest witch ever created!”

  Cricket raised her hand and brought Thea toward her with the Ether. She flew as easily as a paper doll in the wind. With her other hand, the frail body of Penelope came flying out from the trees. She was breathing in their essence at the same time.

  “Stop! You’re forgetting something!” Charles had emerged from the trees with the Baba Yaga in tow. He held the purple crystal, now glowing with its souls and powers swirling within. For a brief moment Cricket looked worried and had stopped spewing fire and was back up on her two legs. Cricket tilted her head to the side before starting to speak to Charles.

  “You’re going to want to give me that back, before anything happens to you, or your friends.”

  “Happen to my friends? You already killed Robin!”

  “You killed Robin?!” Thea screamed. Suddenly she no longer felt weak and was full of rage as she tried to fight against the pull of the Ether.

  Dean emerged from the darkness, no longer covered in mudtrolls and was at his brother’s side.

  “Thea, she stole Robin’s powers and then killed her by pushing her down a flight of stairs! She’s dead!”

  Thea stumbled as she tried to attack Cricket. She wasn’t able to conjure anything that she could attack Cricket with, and her legs trembled as she tried to move. Everything just fizzled in her hand and burnt out. Cricket just smiled at her.

  “It’s all right little man, I took Thea’s powers too. Soon, all the most powerful witches in the realm will be a part of me, and I will be the only one with any power.”

  You will never have all the power! I will make sure of that!

  The Baba Yaga started to grow as she pushed Cricket with the Ether. Penelope and Thea both tried to push her too but couldn’t conjure anything to aid the Baba Yaga. Dean drew his blade and he too was leading the charge toward the fight. Penelope was so weak she fainted as she tried to walk. Thea went to her aid and helped her out of the clearing.

  Cricket started laughing as she too started to grow matching the size of the Baba Yaga. The white streak of Ether was not stronger than the flame streaming from Cricket’s mouth. Regardless of the amount of power the ancient witch gave, Cricket was now stronger, overpowering her. She stomped and kicked those charging her legs with one swipe. Dean was unfortunate enough to catch one of her immense hands, sending him flying off into the trees.

  The noises from the battle at the castle couldn’t be heard by Thea as she started to panic and only heard the high-pitched noise of the Ether squealing through the air. She made her way to where Penelope was sitting in a slump in the brush of the trees. She healed her as best she could with the slight power that she had left.

  “Wait child.” Her grandmother placed a light hand on her cheek. “What’s his name? Charles? Charles! Come here with that!”

  Sparks were flying through the darkness – the smoke from the burning trees covered the forest floor with a thick haze that concealed all of the movement throughout the forest. Charles stumbled over roots and what he assumed were fallen bodies as he made his way to where Penelope was calling for him. The crystal started to glow as Penelope took it from his hands.

  “Now, that’s a good boy.” Her voice was raspy as she took his sword as well. She quickly shaved parts of the crystal off the mass, collecting it in the palm of her free hand. “Take a deep breath in!” She turned to Thea and waited for her to comply, before blowing the purple dust into her face, filling Thea’s mouth and nose with the burning sulfur powder that made her feel sick to her stomach. “Don’t you dare throw that up!” Her grandmother had placed her hand over her mou
th and was sternly looking into her eyes as Thea gaged.

  Thea was about to ask what was to happen, but she didn’t need to, she could feel the power start in her lungs, and move through each of her veins soaring through her blood, until each one of her veins were glowing in the dark, filling with the power of those who’s magic was stuck within the crystal.

  “Now you, young man.” She turned to Charles who was cautiously watching the fight between the giant witches.

  “I’m not a wizard, ma’am, it would be wasted on me.”

  “You have had power ever since that eyeball was put into your head! Get over here. I don’t have time to argue with you.” Charles bent down to look Penelope in the face and was greeted with the same burning sensation that Thea had experienced. His chest felt tight as he gasped for air, he grabbed his chest and fell to his knees. He had never experienced such a rush as he had with the dust flying through him. His single eye started to glow.

  The space between the fire and the Ether between Cricket and the Baba Yaga grew smaller as both witches were losing their energy.

  “No throwing up now! My turn Thea, hurry up and blow this into my face.” The old witch poured the dust into Thea’s hand and smiled as she closed her eyes – Thea blew the dust into her grandmother’s face and watched as she started to glow. The wrinkles in her face smoothed out and the grey hair melted away into the raven black hair that she had on her own head. “That feels so much better.” Penelope looked down at her hands as she watched the age spots melt away.