by Simone Pond
She simply grinned and said, “You need my help getting up that river, sweetness, because I can make deals with the other cities to allow you to pass without any problems. Or … I can ask them for favors, ensuring they use everything in their power to keep you from getting north. I’m sure you already have enough to worry about with Magnus on your trail, don’t you?”
Okay, so maybe she did have some leverage over me. But why couldn’t she kill Magnus on her own? I wasn’t ready to fold just yet. Plus, I still needed to do some digging on the High Tower and where exactly I might find Isabella. It was time to redirect the conversation. Find a way to get her to share some of that compartmentalized information. Otherwise it’d be back to the creepy staircase for Benjamin and me to continue the breadcrumb trail and extend this journey, which was already taking too long.
“Tell me about the real Endor,” I said.
“Why in Ashtar’s name would you want to know about that despicable place?”
“You tossed my boyfriend in there, so I’d like to know more about it.”
Benjamin slapped his leg. “I knew you two were seeing each other!”
Glendora glared over at Benjamin, her face hardening even more than its typical resting marble. The witch didn’t mess around. Benjamin shrugged and scooped a forkful of chicken into his mouth, moaning as he chewed. I stayed level, not wanting to lose the direction we were going.
“The real Endor is a place without any magical illusion. It’s grotesque and the people are atrocious,” said Glendora.
“But if that’s Endor’s true nature why be something you’re not?” I asked.
“True nature?” she snapped. “Far from it! Endor wasn’t always like that. It used to be a charming city. Not quite as elaborate as the one you see before you today, but it was nice … Pleasant.” She stared out the windows to the garden of dark red rose bushes.
“What happened?” I asked.
“What always happens to good things … Magnus. He destroyed it with his evilness. And he was only a child, no more than ten years old. Leveled the town and invited in a slew of demon warlocks. They took over and nearly overran the city. But when he left to go to Mysterium, the majority of the deplorable beasts followed him. I inherited the Red Ruby from my aunt—the Oracle—and was able to restore what I could of Endor. But this is only an illusion. And now my city is in grave danger.”
What did she mean by the majority of demon warlocks followed him to Mysterium? The information gouged a hole in my chest. I set down my fork, unable to continue eating. If Magnus had demon warlocks working for him, where were they and what was he planning to do? This conspiracy went way beyond Mysterium. It sounded like the High Warlock wanted to conquer the entire Confederated Six—and beyond.
Glendora cleared her throat, pulling my attention back to her.
“Sorry, I just … you threw me with the demon warlocks. Do you know where he keeps those by any chance?” I asked.
She cackled and dragged on her cigarette. “Oh, sweetness, if I knew that, I would’ve gone after those beasts years ago.”
I forced myself to refocus on the moment; we needed to fetch a lead on Isabella. “So, why is Endor suddenly in grave danger?” I asked.
“Recently, my dear cousin found a way into the realm of the real Endor and stole the Red Ruby. I have no idea how he got inside or how he found the ruby, but we need it back.”
I remembered Magnus’s cane—the one with the ruby handle. That’s where his sudden increase in power had come from: Glendora’s Red Ruby.
“So you want to use me as bait to lure Magnus here?” I asked.
“Exactly, sweetness. Magnus will do anything to stop the Chosen One from fulfilling your little prophecy. He’s obsessed with it. That and bowing down to Ashtar. Now that he’ll be so consumed with you, he won’t be paying much attention to me.”
She had that right. Magnus did have a one-track mind. But he wasn’t stupid. “No way. He’s too smart to be lured into that simple of a trap.”
“You don’t know him like I do,” said Glendora.
“Okay, if I agree to this, I want some sort of assurance that Matthias is safe. Or better yet, I want you to release him from the real Endor and bring him here.”
Glendora stared at me, her black eyes burrowing into my skin. The smile curving on her dark red lips explained everything. She wasn’t planning to release Matthias. And after she had lured Magnus here, she’d get rid of me, too. The room felt like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of it and a wave of heat rushed over me. She laughed wickedly and snapped her fingers. Two of the warlock butlers started over toward me. It was time to go.
I grabbed Benjamin’s hand and jumped up, yanking the two of us away from the table. We darted out of the room and sprinted down the hallway.
“You have to go!” I told him as we dashed toward the front door. “Just fly back to those stairs and follow the breadcrumbs to find Isabella. Then come back for me.”
The double doors were locked. I pulled Benjamin into one of the sitting rooms off to the side of the foyer. I grabbed a chair and slammed it against one of the windows, scattering glass everywhere, then tried shoving Benjamin to the opening. I felt the magnetic pull of the witch drawing me back into the room. She was calling me to her.
Benjamin held my hand tight. “I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
Both of us were sliding across the gleaming black-and-white-tiled floors as Glendora’s magic drew us back like a fish caught on a line. I trudged forward, pushing Benjamin toward the open window.
“I’m not alone,” I said. “I have the Ancient One.”
Before he could argue, I drop kicked him with as much strength as I could muster and Benjamin scampered across the shards of glass, his pale green eyes flickering. He slammed against the windowsill and shook his head. I didn’t care if he was pissed, he had a better chance at finding Isabella than me. I motioned to my hair—reminding him of the golden stars—and finally he swung his legs through the open window and shifted into an eagle.
I breathed a sigh of relief as his golden wings stretched across the twilit sky and he soared above the trees and off into the distance without any interference.
Then my body slid across the room and I slammed up against Glendora. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and cooed into my ear, “Oh, sweetness. Everything will be fine. But just to be safe, I must lock you away for now. At least until my dear cousin arrives.”
Tendrils of black smoke curled around the edges of my face. I tried not to inhale, but the curling ripples of smoke forced their way into my nostrils.
“Somnum,” whispered Glendora. “Somnum. Somnum.”
And that was the last thing I remembered.
Chapter 9
I awoke shivering in a murky corner of a damp stone prison cell surrounded by loose straw strewn about the dirt floor. I was still wearing the fancy red corseted dress and looked out of place. It was surprising Glendora didn’t have my wrists and ankles shackled in rusty chains to complete the dramatic portrait. It looked like the set of a basement prison in one of those old castles teetering on the edge of a cliff.
Wait …
Did this mean that Glendora had taken me to the High Tower where she held her special prisoners? Could I be so fortunate? It seemed as though fate had worked in my favor. If this was the case, Glendora—in her ignorance—had taken me straight to the witch we were after: Isabella.
The excitement of this possibility was immediately snuffed out when I ventured around the corner of the cell. Though the High Witch appreciated duplicating details, she wasn’t about to risk an escape by having a gate with iron bars. Nope. Instead, she had deployed a highly charged forcefield blocking the exit and stationed a coven of witches right outside, ensuring zero chance of escaping the dreadful dungeon. The group of women stood in a circle, chanting some ancient language that sounded a lot like gibberish. I leaned back against the stones and tried to block out their droning so I could concentrate on
how to get past them and search for Isabella.
First, I’d have to dismantle that forcefield, then kill the witches. I counted six of them. They wore red hooded capes so I couldn’t see their faces, but if they were anything like Glendora, I assumed perfection lay beneath their cloaks. I patted my hair to make sure I still had the two golden stars with me. Their sharp points poked my fingers as I brushed over my heaping curls. I could probably wing one of the stars at the barrier, blast right through it, and take out every single one of those witches. Or … the star could backfire and kill me. I still didn’t know the full extent of how they worked since I’d only used two of them. Again, some instructions would’ve been helpful.
I glanced up to the small window above and saw the gleaming moon. It was a crescent moon and next to it was a twinkling star. Not the guiding star, but still, it was bright and held a certain mystical beauty. Silvery blue clouds with blunt outlines drifted past the moon with an effortlessness that reminded me of something. I couldn’t put my finger on it at the moment, but it nagged at the back of my mind.
“Look who’s up,” cackled one of the witches.
I peered at the forcefield. One of the women had separated from the coven and stood off to the side, the hood of her cape pulled over her head so her face was only a shadow. She held her hands in front of her midsection and twisted her bony fingers over each other as if trying to keep the circulation going.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Jordan.” I figured being polite wouldn’t hurt.
“Please, girl. You think we don’t know who you are?” She laughed again. The awful high-pitched sound pierced my ears. She continued shrieking in an endless flow that felt like it was ripping apart my eardrums.
I backed away, covering my ears. I had to free myself of that ghastly noise. It felt like she had sent an army of scorpions into my head. A scalding heat tore down my ears and the sides of my neck. This witch was torturing me with that scathing racket. Rage lit up my insides. I wanted to rip off her head and crush her skull with my foot. Anything to shut off that noise.
I dropped to my knees. “Please, Ancient One. Please. Make it stop. Or give me the power to make it stop!”
The sound continued and my heart tightened to the size of a pebble. My lungs burned like dry ice. Everything inside me began to shut down. I had to escape that wretched witch.
I shall equip you with seven golden stars to pierce the heart of evil.
The words the Ancient One had spoken to me. And they were true and they were good.
They are true and they are good!
I didn’t waver another second. I grabbed one of the stars from my hair and pitched it forward, straight into the heart of the evil witch, screaming out the name of the Ancient One as I did so. And when one of the points pierced directly into the heart of the hellish fiend, her screeches ceased. Her red hood fell back, revealing a grotesque and deformed face with empty black holes for eyes. The light from the star spread through her chest like liquid gold. She tried to scream, but no sound came out as the yellow light oozed through her limbs like molten lava, destroying her.
“What have you done?” screamed one of the other witches.
In her fury, she broke the coven’s circle and burst through the forcefield—completely dismantling it—and charged toward me. I darted away. Even in all of that material, my agility was much more evolved than the witch’s. I ran toward the witch who was melting and shoved her from behind, right into the remaining circle of witches. The golden light emanating from her skin scorched the others at the slightest touch and spread like wildfire through their bodies. The witch who had been chasing me halted and watched as her coven melted into a puddle of liquid gold on the dirt floor.
“You’ve killed my sisters,” she murmured as she removed her hood to reveal her gruesome face. Her eyes were hollow holes leading to nowhere. Deep crevices lined her gray scaly skin, and warts covered the majority of her bumpy bald head where the tufts of black hair didn’t. She was an appalling sight.
But why? Why had Glendora—the master of illusion—not covered this coven of witches with her elaborate deception. I’d figure she’d spare no expense at making her daughters the most beautiful witches of Endor—besides herself, of course. Glendora didn’t seem like someone who would skirt over those details or allow her special forces coven to walk around looking like tales from the crypt.
Unless …
“Yes, Chosen One. You’re inside the real Endor. So even if you escape the High Tower, you’ll still be trapped inside this realm. And …” She paused and gave a wide and wicked grin. “As you can see, it’s not so pretty in this version of Endor. You’ll never make it.”
The witch thought she had me backed into a corner, but I laughed because this was the best news I had heard all day. Not only was I in the High Tower, I was in the same realm as Matthias. I’d just been dealt a royal straight flush.
“What’s so funny, girl? Did you think you could get away that easily?” She stepped forward, reaching her long bony fingers toward me.
I’m sure the hideous creature was about to lay some heavy-duty spell on me, but I swooped down and cupped a bunch of the liquid gold in my palms and flung it right into her hideous face. She wailed in agony, clasping at her throat and spinning in circles as the gold burned through her skin like acid, eating away at her existence. I stood back and watched, waiting until she was nothing more than a mere puddle. It would’ve been nice to have a container to bottle up some of that potent liquid. But I still had one more golden star to keep me safe. Now that I was in the same realm as Matthias, I was extremely confident we could find Isabella and be back to our ships in no time. Then again, it’s never a good idea to get too cocky.
Chapter 10
The shoes had to go. They were too noisy and clunky, so I slipped them off and left them in the cell. I nearly dislocated my shoulders reaching around to unbutton and remove the corset. It took a solid ten minutes to wriggle out of the dress and its heavy layers of material. I stood in my undergarments of cotton bloomers and a camisole. Cold, but at least I’d have more freedom to move around.
I removed the golden star from my hair and let loose the pile of curls. I clenched the star in my palm. Where could I put it to keep it safe? I yanked a long piece of string from the corset and fashioned it around the star to make a necklace, then tucked it underneath my camisole. I took another piece of string and tied my hair into a ponytail. Not the best ensemble for taking on witches and fierce warlocks, but I was about thirty pounds lighter.
Golden star safely resting over my heart, hair tied back, and senses on hyper alert, I headed down the dark corridor toward a spiral stone staircase. I stepped lightly and kept my breathing quiet, listening for any unusual sounds or other witches in the tower. The staircase went up and up in tight circles. Close to the top, I heard a repetitive clinking from somewhere, like someone was clanging a piece of metal. I stopped mid-step and listened, trying to figure out if it was coming from below or above. There was a distinct pattern to the clinks. Morse code? I waited for the pattern to repeat. Whatever it was, it stopped.
I started up the steps again, touching the golden star to make sure it was still around my neck. Trickles of sweat dripped down my back, though I was shivering from the damp air and lack of proper clothing. At the top of the staircase—only twenty steps away—a large window awaited. No bars or shutters. It was a dark archway that opened to the black sky. More of those crisp clouds passed across the crescent moon, and an icy wind swept in from the outside, chilling me. The stairs led to a dead end. Unless I wanted to jump through the window and plummet to my death on the cold ground below.
The clinking sound started up again, louder and more frenetic. Where was it coming from? It seemed like it was right outside the window, but going up to take a gander seemed like a trap. Like if I poked my head out to investigate, some heinous witch would creep up behind and shove me out. But what was the point in climbing the stairs if I didn’t follow through on my
search? It was a gamble, and I’d taken a few of those already, so I climbed up the remaining stairs.
When I reached the window, I peered out and could see all of the real Endor. I understood why Glendora was so eager to get her ruby back from Magnus. If she lost the ability to continue the illusion, that would be the end of her reign. The real Endor was death. The entire landscape was blackened ash. The trees looked like thousands of charcoaled skeletons. Thick vines of thorns and brier twisted in knots around crumbling buildings and tattered landmarks. The canals that webbed throughout the city streets bubbled and oozed with tar. Magnus had charred the city to rubble and ruins. I stepped back into the tower staircase before any of the hideous beasts roaming the filthy streets glanced up and caught a glimpse of me.
Again, the clinking returned with a fierce determination, causing my heart to leapfrog forward. It had to be coming from below. But where? Maybe this was some sort of witch torture device set to drive me insane. And then I smelled it … coffee beans and hints of vanilla. Isabella’s perfume. What was it called? Midnight Opium.
“Isabella?” I whispered.
The clinking stopped.
“Who is that?” A small voice came from behind the stones.
“Name’s Jordan Temple. I’ve been looking for you. Can you tell me where you are exactly?”
Silence.
“Are you a witch?” asked Isabella.
“Far from it, but I can explain everything if you just tell me where you are so I can help you and we can get out of this place.”
More silence. I sat on the steps, shivering from the freezing air blowing from the open window behind me. I didn’t understand why the witch was worried; it’s not like her situation could get much worse.
“Oh, but it can,” she said.
“What the—? Please don’t read my mind, witch. That’s rude.”
“Sorry,” she said. “But I don’t know you and I’m not about to disclose my location to a stranger. Also, I prefer to be called an enchantress. Witches are quite nasty creatures.”
