The Council

by Phoenix Willow

  “What about Mom?” Jewel inquired.

  “Ah, yes. Your Mom.” Steele began, a small smile forming on his face. “Well, your Mom was an anomaly. She was a very powerful Elemental, as was the rest of her family, but she was also able to wield a bit of magic herself. Spells and potions came as easy for her as they do for me, which as I’m sure you’re aware- just doesn’t happen for a non-Sorcerer.”

  Jewel snorted. “Well, I can safely say that that will not be one of the gifts I inherited from either of you. My spell-casting and potion making skills definitely fall into the classification of mediocre or nonexistent.”

  “Perhaps, but it doesn’t mean that you have discovered all of your Sorcerer powers either. You have teleporting down to a science now, and your mind control, telekinesis, and pain powers are within your control. But your Empathy, Astral Projection, and Keeper of Tempus powers are still relatively new. Who knows what other powers you have that are just suppressed right now- there could be a lot, just one or two, or maybe none at all. My only point is that you shouldn’t be surprised if something else comes to the forefront.” Steele said.

  Jewel nodded, making mental notes of everything her Dad was telling her. She didn’t really want any other powers, but at least now she had a heads up about which one’s she might have inherited.

  “Now, onto the next subject.” Steele began, his tone serious. “When you visit these other worlds, you need to know one thing and one thing only- you must be transparent and honest about everything. Don’t try and figure out a plan for what you will do or say. Just be truthful about why you are there, and what is at stake- which is, as you put it earlier, very literally the fate of all the worlds.”

  “But what if they don’t listen to me? What if I can’t convince them to help?” Jewel said, expressing her fear.

  “Then you move on to the next world. Don’t grovel, and don’t make deals that you aren’t sure you can keep your end of.” Steele said simply. “And the final thing I will leave you with, is that you must never for a second believe that Shade is the good guy in all of this. I know that you want to believe that he is inherently good and that perhaps the Dagger had something to do with his odd behavior. But just know that during my time with the Horde, he was a frequent visitor to Gertrude Bile. I don’t know the details as to why, but my assumption has always been that their romance never truly ended, and that their business relationship was definitely personal on at least some level. Well, at least for Gertrude.”

  Jewel’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? But he’s married to Skye!”

  Steele nodded. “That’s true, but Shade has an issue with feeling powerless. He is ruled by one thing and one thing only- gaining more power by any means. This is the reason why he can commit such heinous acts with no remorse. He is always looking towards his end goal which is to rule over everyone. Which, I believe, is another reason why he and Gertrude are working together. They both want the same things in life and are willing to do anything and hurt anyone to get it.”

  “I know we don’t have forever right now, but since you brought up Gertrude, I just have to ask.” Jewel paused. “How were you able to work with the Horde for so long. There were so many people that were hurt along the way. How did you bring yourself to do it, and for what? What was your goal in doing it? Why couldn’t you get me away from Gertrude? You had to know where I was, since you were working so closely with Manti and Gertrude.” She asked, hurt showing clearly through her emerald green eyes.

  Steele ran a hand through his ebony hair. “I originally joined the Horde because I was trying to find you. I took Hammond’s place within the ranks and because he and I shared similar powers, it wasn’t hard to convince everyone that I was indeed Hammond, and not just some imposter.”

  “What happened to the real Hammond? Weren’t you worried that he would show up at some point.” Jewel inquired.

  “No.” Steele shook his head. “I knew he wouldn’t, because he was killed during the melee, the same melee where your Mom and I were overthrown from the original Horde, and the same melee where you were kidnapped. I glamoured Hammond’s body to look like mine, and I did the same to myself, so I would look like him. Uretha is the one that found Hammond’s body, but she didn’t think twice about it once she saw that it looked like me. Manti was a bit more suspicious, because my personality and Hammond’s are a bit different, but our power signatures are very similar so even she was fooled. Your Mom was captured, and Gertrude boasted that she had killed your Aunt Starr, but I never saw the body, so I’ve always held out hope that perhaps Gertrude was lying. It wouldn’t have been the first time.” He said with a small tilt of his head. “And then there was you. I had no idea where you had been taken, only that Gertrude had you. So, I joined the Horde, taking Hammond’s place in the hopes of finding your location and your Mom’s. But, that obviously didn’t work out the way I had planned it. I still have no information on your Mom’s whereabouts, and I never knew where you were until that day in the Food Frenzy bathroom.”

  “So, Mom could still be out there. She could still be alive.” Jewel stated.

  “She absolutely could, and in fact, I believe that she is. I just have no idea as to where.” Steele admitted. “Also know, Angel, that I may have done some things I’m not proud of while pretending to be Hammond, but I always tried to make things right in some form or fashion afterwards. My intent was to never irrevocably hurt anyone, but you have to understand that I had to keep up appearances so to speak.” He admitted guiltily.

  All at once, everything shifted and started to go fuzzy, and Jewel began to hear faceless voices calling for her. She looked at her Dad with a mix of sadness and determination. She could feel her astral projection power starting to wane and she knew she only had seconds before she was once again separated from her Dad.

  She threw her arms around his neck, squeezing as tightly as she could. “I understand why you did what you did.” She said. “And I’m going to find Mom. I’m going to find her and figure out a way to get you better.” Jewel vowed. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Angel.” Steele said as he hugged Jewel back just as tightly. “And remember everything I said….you are not to blame for any of this and-”

  Steele was cut off as he abruptly vanished. Everything began shaking as though from an earthquake within her mind, and everything in front of Jewel faded quickly faded away. She felt as though she was flying and was met by a snapping feeling as her mind and body reconnected. She felt someone’s hands gripping her shoulder’s and shaking them every so often, and she knew, even without everyone yelling all the ridiculously large number of nicknames she had, that she was back in the Meadow. The sweet aromas were unmistakable, and the tinkling of the gemstone trees was distinct, even with all the shouting.

  Jewel already missed her Dad, but she felt more at peace than she had in a very long time, so without waiting any longer, she took a deep breath, readying herself for what would be an undoubtedly long conversation with an even longer explanation of what had just occurred, and opened her eyes.

  Chapter Six

  Locations, Locations

  “Chocolate covered veggies, Spitfire!” Rain shrilled. “You had me worried sick. And don’t even get me started on how I feel about you teleporting me back to camp.” She added with a pointed glare.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I just sort of lost control.” Jewel admitted, noticing that Frost was standing close by with his arms folded across his broad chest, and his signature scowl more pronounced than ever. She averted her eyes back to Rain quickly, because he seemed just as annoyed as Rain was, which Jewel completely understood but wasn’t ready to face just yet. “Umm, I really am sorry that I lost it back there, but on an entirely different note- I’m okay now.” She said, smiling broadly. “In fact, I’m better than I have been in a long time.”

  “Girlie must have hit her head harder than we thought.” Ambrosia said, inspecting the side of Jewel’s head with a worried expression. “Maybe I di
dn’t use enough spit-dirt.” She mumbled to herself.

  “No, seriously. I’m okay.” Jewel tried to convince everyone.

  “Yeah. Uh huh.” Jade said skeptically. “Tell that to the remnants of your glow show.” She said, motioning to Jewel’s head.

  Jewel looked at Jade in confusion, who in turn pointed to Jewel’s hair. Jewel grabbed a handful of her hair and started to inspect it to see what Jade was referring to. Immediately, Jewel saw a streak of rich forest green mixed in with her dark locks that certainly wasn’t there before. She let her hair go in surprise, but then grabbed a handful from the other side of her head and saw that it too had streaks of the same forest green color. It was as though she had gone and gotten highlights from a high-end salon specializing in color.

  “Yeah, you sort of went all sparkle monster back there, Spitfire.” Rain said. “Now, I’ve seen your eyes glow plenty of times, but this was something different. You actually looked like you were a completely different being. Every part of your body was glowing and the amount of power you were emitting was insane.”

  Jewel head snapped up from her hair inspection, and it was then that Jewel realized that Galadriel was nowhere to be found. She glanced around, past Rain, Jade, Frost, and Ambrosia, and saw that Winter, Sage, and Zephyr were also there, but Teagan, Foster, Dream, Lyric, Skye, Zekiel, Ryker, and Galadriel were no-shows. Jewel felt her cheeks warm as the guilt set in. Galadriel was probably more than just a little upset with her, and Skye probably was too.

  Jewel’s head dropped into her hands for a moment. Looking up, she stated, “I messed up really bad. I didn’t mean to hurt Galadriel, even if it wasn’t with my pain power. I didn’t know that I was capable of doing what I did.”

  “It’s his own fault, Girlie. He shouldn’t have pushed you as far as he did. Plain and simple.” Ambrosia stated firmly.

  “Agreed.” Jade nodded. “And he isn’t mad at you Hybrid. He knows he went too far.”

  “And besides, Snowman probably hurt him more than you did, Spitfire.” Rain chuckled.

  Jewel’s head whipped in Frost’s direction and when she saw the sheepish expression form on his face, she narrowed her eyes in question. “What did you do?” She demanded.

  “Um. Well, I……well, you see-” Frost sputtered.

  “Just spit it out, Snowball.” Rain prodded.

  “I was just so mad, Gem. You teleported us away, and then by the time we made it back with Winter and Skye- you had managed to knock yourself out by falling down the hill. Galadriel and Jade were trying to wake you up, but it wasn’t working, and, well- I lost my temper.” Frost admitted.

  “O-kay, so, again, what did you do?” Jewel asked.

  “I sort of punched him in the face.” Frost confessed.

  Rain snorted. “More like, he used Tricksters face as a punching bag. But Ambrosia fixed him right up, so no permanent damage was done.”

  Jewel pinched her nose with her fingers and sighed. After everything she had put Galadriel through, Frost had still let him have it.

  Trickster’s having a really bad day, Jewel thought to herself. What made it worse was that Jewel knew that all Galadriel had really wanted to do was to help her.

  “Holey buckets, Snowman. Between the two of us, we have some apologizing to do.” Jewel shook her head. “Well…. where is Galadriel now? I need to talk to him and then I need to get everyone together, so I can explain what my Dad told me.”

  “Your Dad? Steele?” Winter asked, her brow furrowing as she stepped closer to Jewel.

  Jewel nodded. “Yeah, it’s a long story, but if at all possible, I’d like to explain it to everyone at one time.”

  Winter pursed her lips, and gave a small nod. “Very well. I believe Galadriel is back at camp now. I’ll get everyone together, and we can all meet by the river. Same place where Skye and I told you about the prophecy.”

  “Sounds good. I won’t be long.” Jewel assured everyone before teleporting herself back to camp, successfully scaring the bejeezus out of Dream and Lyric as she suddenly appeared.

  “For magic sakes, Draconis!” Lyric sputtered in surprise, successfully dribbling her drink onto her chin. She quickly swiped the liquid away with her hand and tucked her raven black hair behind her ear. “I’m telling you, you need a bell.” She said with a roll of her violet eyes.

  Dream was busy trying to brush off the liquid that she too had spilled onto her sapphire blue tunic, but when she noticed Jewel looking at her, she stopped. Her eyebrow rose, and her honey-brown eyes appeared to be searching for something. After a few more moments of no one saying anything, Dream finally spoke. “Are you okay?” She asked Jewel in concern.

  “Yeah.” Jewel said, before quickly adding, “Well, I mean, I am now. I definitely wasn’t before, or even since the whole Shade incident happened if I’m being honest. But, I am now.”

  “Good.” Dream said, her shoulders relaxing just a bit. “We were really worried about you. Well, not were, but more like have been. You haven’t been eating very much, and the circles under your eyes have become more pronounced by the day.” She said honestly. “There’s been so much you’ve had to handle, and there’s not much any of us can do to fix it.” She stated quietly, a frown forming on her face. “Which is why, I cannot believe Galadriel picked that illusion to use. I mean, out of all the illusions in all the worlds, he picked the worst possible one. And when you started turning all green- I’ll admit that I thought your mind might have snapped completely.”

  “Um, well I think it sort of did.” Jewel said truthfully. “Because I definitely wasn’t in control of myself anymore, which can’t happen again. But I also don’t think it will, because of what happened afterwards.”

  “Oooh, spill. What happened afterwards? We’ve been here for a while, so we have no idea what you’re talking about.” Lyric said, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

  “Yeah. Does it have anything to do with a certain scowling Elemental. Hmm, does it?” Dream added with a waggle of her brows.

  Jewel chuckled. “It doesn’t have anything to do with Snowman.”

  “Well, don’t keep us hanging. Give us the goods, Draconis.” Lyric urged.

  “Yeah, you owe us anyway. That was some really good berry juice we spilled all over ourselves when you teleported here without warning. We’re going to be sticky and stained until we take a wash off, so you’ve got to give us something.” Dream said, her cat-like features more noticeable as she smirked.

  “I’m going to tell everyone, but all at once so I don’t have to repeat it.” Jewel said. “I just need to talk to Galadriel first, but everyone’s already starting to gather down by the river, so you could wash off a little before I get there. It’s perfect, really. No more stickiness, hopefully no more stains, and then you’ll get to hear all about it.” She said with a grin and a wink.

  “Fine, but don’t be too long. I’m dying to know what happened afterwards that has you so Zen right now.” Lyric stated.

  “He’s in his tent with Skye.” Dream offered. “Oh, and when you’re done, maybe don’t teleport down there. I’d rather not fall in the river if I can help it.” She added teasingly.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” Jewel smiled before heading in the direction of Galadriel’s tent.

  She heard a very annoyed sounding Skye when she reached the flap of the tent, and it gave Jewel pause. Skye was Galadriel’s mom after all, and Jewel couldn’t blame her for being upset with what she had done to him. Jewel held her breath as she peeled back the flap and stepped inside.

  “Knock knock.” Jewel said with a nervous smile. “Is this a good time, or should I come back?” She quickly asked upon seeing the irritation marring Skye’s face. It was so out of place that Jewel immediately regretted not waiting until Galadriel was alone. Jewel was no rocket scientist, but it didn’t take seeing the red aura around Skye to see that she was obviously upset, and Galadriel had yet to even look in Jewel’s direction. So, so far, this meeting was little more than just plain aw
kward.

  Skye pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes which were reminding Jewel of sparkly pieces of coal. “Nope. You should stay, Love. I think my Son has a few things he would like to say to you.” She said pointedly while looking directly at Galadriel.

  Jewel could tell that Galadriel was tense, and she felt more confused than she had when she walked in the tent. She couldn’t tell if Skye was upset with her or if she was upset with Galadriel. Skye had called Jewel ‘Love’ which was normal, and she hadn’t shouted at Jewel which was good, but her usual relaxed demeanor was still nowhere to be found.

  “O-kay…..well, I also have some news. Everyone is gathering down by the river with Winter. Same spot where you two explained about the Protectors and the prophecy.” Jewel said.

  Skye nodded. “Then that’s where I’ll head.” She stated as she took a few steps towards the front of the tent, but instead of leaving she stopped directly in front of Jewel. “Galadriel explained to me what happened, and I am so very sorry you had to relive any part of what happened at Shade’s house, much less what you actually ended up enduring today with the glamour. It doesn’t matter that you could see things that were real and fake at the same time. I’m sure it was traumatic all the same. But just know that your Dad is still safe within his tent and that we will do anything we can to save him.” She said as she gave Jewel a hug. “And don’t forget, it’s like I always say, even in the lowest pit or in the darkest times, the sparkles will still shine on through. We only have to be open to find them.” She finished, giving Jewel a squeeze before exiting the tent, her white-blondish hair with silver grey streaks flowing behind her, and her shimmery black and silver dress becoming even more dazzling with every step she took into the sunlight.