Imposter Jewel gave a slow hand-clap, both irking and angering Jewel. She had never had any good feelings towards Ember, but Ambrosia had been right. Ember was on their side, and Jewel wasn’t about to let these imposters hurt her.
“Well, well, well. The weakling speaks, and so nicely too.” Imposter Jewel grinned evilly. “Unfortunately, however, you are wrong. The Darkness grows daily. There is no stopping it and those who won’t embrace it and bow down to he who controls it all will perish and do so in a most horrible way.”
Just then a man and a woman appeared- both having the same sunrise colored hair that Ember did, followed by two individuals that Jewel cringed at the sight of- Fenix and Crowe. Fenix still had her poofy red-orange hair and Crowe still looked like a moving mountain with wings. Both of which Jewel could have gone an entire lifetime without seeing again. Between Fenix’s affinity for inflicting torturous deaths and her ability to set things on fire along with Crowe’s ability to crush and lack of any moral boundaries- this situation had just turned a lot more dangerous.
“Gertrude and Shade are busy. They sent us to see what the fuss was about.” Fenix said, sparks shooting off her fingertips as she spoke.
“Ember?” The woman with sunrise hair said, taking a step towards Ember.
“I’m sorry, Mom.” Ember said, her head dropping just a bit.
“Sorry for what?” Ember’s Dad stepped towards her, but Crowe blocked their paths. “What is the meaning of this!”
“She is the spy we’ve been looking for. A traitor amongst our midst.” Imposter Jewel said as she danced around Ember in a peculiar fashion.
“That’s not possible. Our daughter would never-” Ember’s Dad began.
“It’s true Dad.” Ember admitted. “I love you and Mom dearly, but what you are doing is just wrong, and if you can’t see how evil Gertrude and Shade are, or how much darkness Malum is spreading, then you are too far gone to help.”
“We are doing this to secure our future. Can’t you see that?” Ember’s Mom said. “Power is all that matters in any world and I refuse to be on the side without it.”
“I thought we taught you better than this, Ember?” Ember’s Dad spoke, making Jewel’s blood boil in the process. All Ember was doing was trying to stand up for what was right, and her parents were clearly not interested in anything more than gaining more power. It was sickening.
“You taught me to stand up for what I think is right, and that’s precisely what I’m doing.” Ember said, not a hint of remorse in her words.
“Well, blah, blah, blah- blah, blah.” Imposter Rain said in a disdainful tone.
“Tell you what, weakling.” Imposter Jewel started. “You tell us who knocked Manti out, and we might just go easy on you.” She finished with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“That’s easy.” Ember stated, jutting her chin out. “I did.”
All the Transmuters fell into a fit of laughter. Even Crowe and Fenix chuckled.
“Yeah, right, weakling.” Imposter Jewel said, before getting into Ember’s face in a threatening manner. It was like watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only it was Jewel’s face going from a weird happy state to a lethal one in less than a second. “You don’t have the power to knock Manti out, so I’ll ask you one more time. Who…did…this?”
“I did.” Ambrosia answered, hopping out of the tree. Storm, Galadriel, and Zephyr had to hold down Sage while Rain, Steele, Skye, and Frost grabbed Jewel’s arms as well. There was no way Jewel was just going to wait around for them to hurt Ambrosia, but it was her dad that made her stop fighting.
“Ambrosia is one of the smartest, most strategic warriors I have ever met. She has to have a plan, or she wouldn’t have revealed herself.” Steele whispered.
“Listen to your Dad, Love.” Skye pleaded softly. “If you reveal yourself now, we will have to call for reinforcements and believe me when I tell you that they are not ready to go up against this group, much less Gertrude and Shade. Let’s just wait to see what Ambrosia is up to.”
Jewel’s lips thinned, but she stopped fighting. She looked over at Sage and saw that he was still struggling to get free, so Jewel quickly sent Sage a telepathic message.
If Ambrosia gets into trouble, I’m going to let their Hell freeze over while you grab her. Jewel rolled her eyes at what she was about to say. And try and grab Ember too if you can, but we won’t let Ambrosia get hurt, Sage.
Sage quit struggling immediately, and although confused, her friends allowed him to sit up. I can’t believe she just did something that stupid. He shook his head.
Neither can I, but she had to have a plan in place, or she wouldn’t have. Jewel said, hoping that she was right.
Sage nodded and fished some potions out of his satchel, ready to charge in at a moment’s notice.
Jewel looked through the small opening in the bush she was still crouched behind, watching as things unfolded. The shift in the air was palpable as Ambrosia faced off against the Transmuters, Fenix, and Crowe. It was almost as if nature itself knew that something horrible was about to happen as the temperature dropped significantly and plump snowflakes began to fall.
“Well, well, well.” Imposter Sage began. “What do we have here? You back for some more romance, darling?”
Ambrosia smirked. “Not at all.” She scoffed. “How do you think I figured out you weren’t really Sage?” She asked as a look of confusion crossed Imposter Sage’s face. “You were a horrible kisser, darling.” She laughed and Imposter Sage’s face turned murderous. “You must not have had much practice, because let me tell you, it would have been more enjoyable to have a prickle bush attached to my lips than to have your lips on mine.”
The rest of the Transmuters, Fenix, and Crowe howled with laughter, some even slapping their knees as Imposter Sage turned an angry red-purple color.
“She’s got your number.” Imposter Rain chuckled. “Don’t worry, Fangs…..it was that bad for me too. That was the real thing for him, not just an act.”
“That’s pathetic.” Ambrosia smiled fangily, not even flinching when Imposter Sage lunged at her.
“What are you getting at?” Imposter Sage demanded. “You’re not accomplishing anything by angering me, you little leech.” He sneered, but Ambrosia merely turned her back to him, looking directly at the bushes where Jewel and everyone else was hiding, and she winked before turning around.
“Actually. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.” Ambrosia said sweetly, making Imposter Sage’s face scrunch in confusion.
“Oh, yeah. And what’s that?” Imposter Sage asked, the rest of the Transmuters clearly preoccupied with Ember and her parents who were now arguing with Fenix and Crowe.
Ambrosia leaned in and whispered. “To cause a distraction.” And the fight was on. She grabbed hold of Imposter Sage’s arm, and turned in a circle so fast that she became a blur, before flinging him away.
Jewel and the rest of the group had joined the action now, and although Jewel had gone into the fight with nothing but confidence, it quickly went away, because the only ones who were being affected by her time freezing abilities were Ember’s parents.
“Come on Green.” Galadriel said, as he fought against Imposter Galadriel. “Freeze them already!”
“I…I can’t. I’m trying. It’s not working.” Jewel said as she was knocked to the ground by the Transmuter that looked exactly like her. Jewel allowed her body to fill up with power, glowing as it did.
“That’s right, Spitfire.” Rain yelled as she sent a volley of raindrops at Imposter Rain at a speed that must have hurt if Imposter Rain’s face was any indication. “Sparkle on. Sparkle on all over them!”
And Jewel tried to. She tried her pain manipulation power on the Transmuters and on Crowe and Fenix. Nothing. She tried her Keeper of Tempus powers again. Nothing. She tried her mind control. Nothing short of hitting a wall.
At this point, Jewel was beginning to panic. Nothing she was doing was working against the Transmuters, Fenix, or Cr
owe, and at this point it appeared that they were gaining the upper hand.
Imposter Jewel, however, looked upon the real Jewel with amusement and malice in her emerald colored eyes. “Having trouble there, Jewel?” She smirked, giving Jewel the odd desire to punch herself in the face as hard as possible.
Imposter Jewel didn’t even try and fight Jewel. She merely smiled as Jewel tried everything to get her powers to work. “Well, Gertrude did say you weren’t very bright so, by all means, keep trying the same thing over and over, but it still won’t work. You see, Malum, the ruler of Darkness, has gifted his most loyal and powerful followers with a protection of sorts. Think of it as our own type of immunity, if you will. All we had to do was pledge our allegiance to him and swear to serve the Darkness until the end of time, and we were granted these.” Imposter Jewel said, holding her arm up for Jewel to see. There was a mark on Imposter Jewel’s wrist that was shimmering ever so slightly as she moved her arm. The mark itself was simple in design- a large spider with four wavy lines running through its body. It almost looked like a young child’s drawing, but the fangs that were protruding from the spider’s mouth were nothing short of nightmarish. “You see, Jewel. You can’t hurt us. Malum knows every power you have, and he has granted us the ability to be unaffected by the main four. You’re Keeper of Tempus, empath, mind reading and control, and pain manipulation powers can’t be used on us.” She said with glee, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Haven’t you noticed that you can’t see our auras? Nothing you throw at us from your bag of tricks is going to work. Well, nothing but your pitiful telekinesis and elemental powers, but we both know that those are no match for those on our side. You’re nothing without your main powers. So, you see. You just signed your friend’s death warrants, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And after we’re done, we’ll take a trip to Malum Mansion and we will be rewarded for bringing him the great Immune that everyone is so impressed by. Personally though, I have to admit that I’m a bit let down by your performance. Or your lack of performance, I should say.” She said, her lip curling.
Jewel snarled at Imposter Jewel and lunged at her, but the Imposter merely moved, and Jewel slipped and fell to the snow-covered ground, angrier than she had ever been. Even with her group outnumbering the Transmuters- they were somehow evenly matched, and what was even more perplexing was the fact that Jewel got the distinct impression that the Transmuters weren’t really trying to hurt her group, because all they appeared to be doing was deflecting everyone’s attacks. Nothing got through to them. Not Zephyr and Storm’s gale-force winds; Not Skye’s telekinesis; Not Frost’s and Rain’s onslaught of Elemental powers; Not Steele’s and Sage’s potions or spells; And not even Galadriel’s and Ambrosia’s attack where Galadriel used his teleporting to place Ambrosia in a strategic position to try and use non-magical combat. Nothing seemed to be giving Jewel’s group the upper hand, and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But thankfully, Fenix and Crowe seemed too preoccupied with Ember’s parents to be paying any attention to the fracas around them.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Jewel said as she stood and brushed the snow off her jeans. “And if you really wanted my friend’s dead, I have a feeling your buddies would be trying much harder and not just be deflecting the attacks.” She began, calling the Imposter Jewel’s bluff and hoping that she wasn’t reading the situation wrong. The Imposter pursed her lips or Jewel’s lips. Ugh, the whole situation was just confusing, but the imposter didn’t look like she was going to say anything, so Jewel continued. “Yeah. That’s what I thought, so what exactly is the end goal for you right now? Because you know I’m not going to come anywhere with you voluntarily and I think you’ve vastly underestimated my telekinesis and elemental abilities.”
Imposter Jewel said nothing for a while, and Jewel couldn’t help but show her irritation. “Listen. I don’t have all day, so if you are going to speak, then speak. You weren’t having any problem a second ago when you were droning on and on about the whole Malum, leader of darkness, blah, blah, blah, and showing me that hideous marking you are so proud of. Personally, I think it’s a bit on the boring side, and definitely not a fashion piece.” She finished with a smug expression.
“You are as impertinent as you are foolish. Did you not listen to what I was saying? These markings protect us against anyone’s main powers that are not a part of the Darkness. None of you have pledged to serve Malum, so none of your main powers are going to affect us.” Imposter Jewel rolled her eyes. “Ugh. You know, I really don’t see why Malum wants you, but he does, and I just follow orders, so I guess I’m going to be stuck with you for a while. Lucky me.” She said, venom and sarcasm lacing her words.
“Neh. I wouldn’t worry too much about that if I were you, because as I said before- I won’t be going anywhere with you. And wow. You said I’m not the bright one, but you are just plain dense.” Jewel began. “You literally just fell right into the oldest trick in the book by telling me more information than I ever had before. But thanks for letting me know that my pitiful elemental powers and my telekinesis will still work on you and your group. I really appreciate that, but I’m tired of you now, so see you later.” She said, allowing a whoosh of power to hit Imposter Jewel and fling her away like a fly ball in a baseball game. Jewel immediately turned her attention to the others and saw that the fighting had all but stopped. Imposter Rain, Imposter Frost, Imposter Zephyr, and Imposter Galadriel were apparently just the lackeys, because without Imposter Jewel being there- they looked lost. Jewel used her telekinesis on the remaining four as well and they skyrocketed off into the distance, landing wherever it was that she had sent Imposter Jewel.
Fenix and Crowe were still busy fighting off Ember and her parents which was impressive because Fenix and Crowe were quite powerful, but it seemed as though Ember’s parents could hold their own. It also provided Jewel with the perfect opportunity to teleport everyone away, or so she thought, because she didn’t even get the chance to gather everyone together before Ambrosia charged towards Ember, grabbing hold of her hand, but also catching the attention of Crowe in the process, and as Jewel knew from personal experience- he was fast. Before Ambrosia could blur back to the group with Ember, he grabbed hold of Ember’s arm. The bones splintered so loudly that Jewel could hear it from where she was standing. The splintering sound even superseded the agonizing screams being emitted from Ember, which was really saying something.
The only choice now was for the group to fight, because the window for teleporting was gone and even if Jewel could have done it in smaller groups, there was no way to teleport Ambrosia away safely because she was apparently determined not to leave without Ember, and Ember now had a very sadistic Fairy attached to her arm. Jewel’s teleporting skills were good, but she couldn’t chance bringing Crowe anywhere with the group.
The others must have sensed Jewel’s resignation and line of thinking, knowing they needed to be quick and get going before the Transmuters made their way back, because they creeped forward, readying their powers. And then they let them go. Skye, Sage, Storm, Zephyr, Steele, Frost, Galadriel, and Rain let out a skin-tingling battle cry as they sent their powers flying into the mix- casting spells, throwing potions, using every Element under the sun, but everything seemed to rebound off Fenix and Crowe, and it was then that Jewel saw their creepy spider markings on their arms, but theirs had an additional swirl-like design on the spider’s body.
Jewel rolled her eyes and screamed for everyone to get back. Nothing they would do was going to affect Fenix and Crowe, and if she tried to fling them away, Crowe would probably rip Ember’s arm off which as hard as he was holding it, it was surprising that he hadn’t already done so.
The group fell back, all but Ambrosia who had been tackled to the ground by Sage and then teleported by Galadriel back to the rest of the group where she was then held in place by arms the Vampiress both loved and probably wanted to dislocate at the moment.
With the absence of Amb
rosia, Crowe had no problem throwing Ember to the ground.
“Enough of this.” Crowe rumbled. “Finish it.”
And with a quick nod, Fenix froze Ember and her parents to the spot. It was the worst sensation of déjà vu that Jewel had ever had because the next second, Fenix had caused Ember’s parents to be magically set on fire just like she had done in the past to the traitorous Tracker Rats.
Jewel couldn’t stand by and let it happen, so she teleported herself right behind Fenix and grabbed her poofy-red hair, and tried to pull her to the ground, but all it did was make the Elemental angry. She turned and it was the first time Jewel saw first-hand how the Darkness worked. Fenix’s eyes were pitch black, and her voice sounded like two in one when she spoke.
“You can’t stop me. The Darkness has chosen me as an enforcer and there is nothing you can do about it, because where the Darkness strengthens me, the Light weakens you.” Fenix said, a grin spreading across her face that made Jewel pause. It was the grin of every villain in every horror movie.
Fenix grabbed hold of Jewel’s arm, and that was it. The group jumped back into the fighting, but Jewel knew they weren’t prepared for this, whatever this was. The Darkness was nothing to be taken lightly, and they needed to regroup and try to take it on a different day. Jewel tried to rip her arm away from Fenix, but it was no use. The vice-like grip that Fenix was using was unwavering and strong.
The Elemental began to say words that Jewel had never heard before. She threw her head backwards, looking up at the sky that had now changed to a swirling black that looked cyclonic in nature. Even Crowe looked a bit apprehensive as he kept glancing up at the sky while trying to fend off the attacks that were hitting him from every angle.
“A little help would be nice.” Crowe snarled at Fenix who just shrugged back.
The Council Page 40
