by Jill Cooper
“It’s been more often than not that she looked out for me. Each day she impresses me with the leader she’s become.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m standing right here. Keep the praise for my funeral, one day. For now, we have work to do.”
“Wise words from a curator who hasn’t completed her mission.” Magenta said loudly and entered the room.
George startled and his head ticked down several times. I gripped his hand harder. “She’s not what she was. I stripped the curse from her. Now she’s nothing more than a six century old curator.”
“Like you?” George whispered.
I nodded. “We’re related by blood.”
“Yes,” she said loudly. “You may call me Magenta and I’m sorry for the pain I inflicted on you. On everyone.” Her head cast down and I saw two of her long black curls were now white. I couldn’t help flicking them with my finger.
George didn’t say anything, but his facial expression softened and the fear went out of his eye. I knew it would still be difficult for him. Time was the only thing that would help.
“Did I do that to you?” I asked with dread to Magenta.
Magenta nodded. “I’m over six hundred years old and it’s catching up to me quickly.”
The news saddened me. “You’re the only family I have left.”
Her lips puckered together. “I hadn’t thought of us as family, but I suppose we are. A grandchild of the most miraculous kind.”
I blushed as she touched my hair gently, the way a mother would. Magenta turned toward the table and faced everyone. “The remnant and the staff must be combined to reveal the last library.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s do it.” Ana said, resting her hands on the table.
“I’m waiting for Ella. She deserves to be awake and present when the remnant and the staff are brought together. She got us here just as I did.”
Sebastian took a deep breath. “After she betrayed you, you mean?”
“She double crossed the Temptress. I don’t think she had any intention of letting Temptress take me. It was a ruse, not much different from the same game I was playing.”
Sebastian shook his head. “A change of heart at the last minute. We can’t know what her intentions were at first.”
“Then we ask her,” Magenta said in a loud, confident voice. “She’s beginning to awake.” She gazed up past the entryway of the room.
“I want to be there when her eyes open. I’ll be back.” I touched George’s hands as I pulled away and as I headed to the stairs, Sebastian chased after me.
“Abby!”
On the first step, I turned around to face him. “I know you have a lot on your mind, but can we discuss it when we get back?”
Sebastian leaned his head to the side. “We’re leading into the final portion of our quest and I know you won’t want to hear it.”
I shook my head. “Not now.”
“George is a distraction same as Penny is for me, but I have the good sense not to pull her into battle. You can’t protect him.”
“What would you have me do? He was taken by Temptress and imprisoned here. We had to rescue him and the children. We’ve done both. I won’t leave him behind again.”
“It changes things. The dynamic of the team. We are so close to taking out Creighton and the ministers. We can join the world back together, but if you are constantly looking to George—.”
“Are you upset about the team or that you’re not number one by my side? Because if you are, you’re wrong. I’m still running into battle with you. We’re in this together until the end. Do you remember that promise we made to each other?”
Sebastian nodded. “Just the other night we renewed our promise.”
“It doesn’t change because George is here. I know I can’t appease him on everything, but he just got free. Cut the both of us a little slack.” Angry, my jaw shifted side to side and I gripped the railing in my hand.
Sebastian ducked his head down. “Forgive me for rushing in with haste, but I fear what’s to happen next. Don’t you?”
More than he could know.
A scream coming from upstairs stole my attention. Oh no, Ella. I raced up the stairs and Sebastian followed, nipping at my heels.
****
In Ella’s dreams she saw light.
She ran from it, going down a set of stone stairs. Her fingers gliding down the stone wall as she ran, the silver sparkling dress she wore clipping at her ankles. Ella threw a glance behind herself and saw the growing shadow.
It was coming for her.
She screamed as she ran through the long corridor and it dumped her into a giant room lined with shelves and bookcases. There were giant tables in the center of the room with lamps on them, they were lit even though they had no kerosene or candle wicks.
Fearful magic. The kind that tore you apart.
She pushed open the double doors as the beast behind her growled. Ella couldn’t see its face but only its long flowing robe, its long, skeletal fingers, and the talisman he wore around his neck. He wanted to grab her, hold her, and destroy her.
“Please!” Ella cried as she ran deeper into the room, sliding behind the bookcases so she could find a place to hide. In the back, the books shined and she pulled the biggest book from the shelf and flipped through its glowing pages, but all the pages were blank.
Words and magic had gone out of the world.
“Time for you to go back.”
Ella gasped in surprise as the Temptress appeared in front of her. “Please, no. I’ll be good I promise. I’ll stop lying. I’ll—.”
Temptress’s face twitched as it went rigid as stone and then she jolted Ella with her golden staff. On the end, the crystal remnant spun as it tore through her soul.
****
“Ella!” I opened the door to the bedroom and burst in. Ella sat up screaming on the bed, her legs kicking back and forth. I swooped in and took her by the shoulders. “It’s okay. It was just a dream.”
With her tears tapering off, Ella fixed her eyes on me. First, they were confused, but slowly, they took me in and recognized me. “We did it. Didn’t we?”
I laughed. “We did.” I hugged her tight. “We destroyed the evil Temptress, freed the children and my beloved George. The first curator is with us, and with her help, we’ll find the library and destroy Creighton.”
“Together,” Sebastian said as he entered the room. “We’ll do it together—the three of us.”
Ella nodded and a slow smile spread that was void of happiness or relief. I wondered what was wrong.
“We’ll complete our mission. Aren’t you happy, Ella?”
She nodded and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “It’s your mission, not mine. I did my part. You wanted to free the children I helped capture. I did. I wanted to be free of Temptress. Now I am. I’m not in this to save the world. That’s your thing, and a stupid thing it is.” She picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder.
“You’re not going to stay? You’re not going to help us?” My lips pursed and I felt as if Ella had betrayed me all over again.
Ella wouldn’t look at me as she tightened the belt around her waist. “You’ve always known I was only in this because you forced me to be.”
I thought she had changed her mind and now to know she hadn’t…“I thought we were becoming friends. I thought—.”
“You’re as foolish as you look. Maybe more. Sorry to disappoint you.” She stormed off, but Sebastian held out his hand. Ella twisted her lips to the side. “You have a final insult for me? Lay it on.”
Sebastian’s brow crinkled. “Abby needs you. You’ve seen what your power can do. What your body is able to contain. How can you just walk away knowing what waits out there for her? All of us?”
“I ain’t special. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.”
“Say it until you’re blue in the face. It doesn’t make it true.”
Ella threw me a glance over
her shoulder. “Sorry, Abby. Is that your real name?”
I nodded that it was.
“You should’ve kept it. You should’ve stayed home and out of all this. If you did, maybe your family would still be alive. You could’ve avoided all this.” Ella threw her weight behind her shoulder as she slammed Sebastian out of the way and headed down the stairs.
She was scared, but her words tore through me anyhow. I put a hand over my mouth to stifle the grief desperate to come out and Sebastian wrapped his arms around me in comfort. “I’m sorry, Abby. She shouldn’t have said that.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s true, isn’t it?”
“No one has come this close in centuries to defeating Creighton. We can’t wish that all away.”
He was right. We couldn’t, even if our hearts were desperate to change the past. What we were doing would save generations of people. Maybe forge a new future for all of us. If Ella wasn’t going to stay, that was on her. What came next, was my choice.
And I say it was time to fight.
Chapter: Ella
She ran down the steps and didn’t pause as she made her way toward the exit when something hooked her leg. “Oof!” Ella cried out as she slammed chest down onto the red tile floor and slid along. Staring up at a set of black metal boots, Ella scurried up to her feet.
She narrowed her eyes at the former Temptress. Once she was beautiful, but now her hair had grayed around the temple and she had wrinkles around her eyes. “You’ve looked better,” Ella sneered.
“You think you’ll survive out there without any friends through the bog and swamp? The ravengers might be gone but soon every beast out there will know it. They’ll be on the prowl for a meal instead of cowering in their caves.”
Ella took a deep breath. She hadn’t considered how she’d survive if she left the tower. All she knew was, she needed to get out, away—and soon.
Magenta stepped up closer. “And a wolf likes nothing better stuck in its teeth than a little girl.”
“How dare you threaten me after everything you’ve done? Everything I’ve done for you.” Ella’s eyes widened and she stomped toward the entrance.
Magenta struck the tile down hard with the end of her golden staff. “You’re starting to remember your place in all this, aren’t you?”
Ella didn’t respond. She only faced the outside wilderness, feeling the breeze on her face and watched the bog in the distance bubble. It’d be hard, but she could travel alone. She did it once, she could do it again.
“Know this, child. We will catch up to you. Tarnish Rose will find you when she needs you the most and you won’t be able to hide. You won’t be able to run away. Your destiny can’t be avoided, no matter where you go. We are bonded.”
“We have been since the very beginning.”
“Lies!” Ella hissed, lashing her head forward at Magenta. “All of it, lies!”
It had to be.
Magenta turned down the hall. Ella listened to her go and then with tears streaking down her cheeks, she stepped out onto the steps that led outside. She stood there for a moment too long, the choices she was making nipping at her conscience.
Tarnish will be fine! She doesn’t need us.
She does and you know it. Step back inside.
Why should Ella care? She was a scavenger, someone who stole from other people to survive. She stayed under the radar, she avoided death and getting involved, so why was leaving so hard? Ella could leave anyone, anywhere, at any time. It was never hard.
“It’s about survival,” Ella said out loud, even though she didn’t mean to.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ana? Ella turned around just in time to take an arrow in her upper left arm. Ella cried out in pain and tottered backward.
Ana reached forward and grabbed Ella by the scruff of her shirt and pulled her back up. “Sorry,” Ana sneered, “but you’re not going anywhere. My master is going to want you.”
Chapter: Tarnish Rose
The sadness of losing Ella haunted me through the remainder of the day. Even as we planned, discussed, and figured out what would happen next, my mind didn’t stray far from her. She had been so afraid of the dream she had, her eyes so lost. I wished she had stayed and talked about it with me rather than rushing off through the bog by herself.
She should’ve been here, but since she left, we had to soldier ahead. Standing at the table in our meeting room, I took the staff and slid the remnant on top. They snapped together and the remnant began to spin in a slow circle, as if moving on an axis. I picked up the golden staff with both hands and the crystal sphere glowed.
It was so beautiful and I stared into it seeing the wonders it wished to show me. Then I lifted it over my head and the light shined so bright it cast its glow out of the tower windows for all to see.
Sebastian clapped his hands together once, but Robbie and Beatrice started to clap their hands the hardest.
“A rainbow,” George called from the window. “The colors, they’re so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it in the sky before.”
Everyone rushed to see and I gasped as the sky cleared. The clouds parted and sunlight shined through as the grayness of the sky turned bright blue. So bright, I had to shield my eyes and then the sun turned into a golden yellow ball in the sky.
“It hurts to look at it,” Sebastian whispered, “but I think I never want to stop looking at it again.” He laughed, sounding more joyful than he ever had before.
I hugged him for his belief in me and our quest. We were doing it. Slowly, bit by bit, Creighton would lose. He would die.
And people everywhere would be triumphant.
“I just wish Ella was here. Strange as that sounds.”
“She’s better off where she is,” Ana said. “Wherever that may be. This fight wasn’t for her. She hated it. We’ll find a way to do it on our own.”
“Thank you for your words, Ana.”
She smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I have your back, Tarnish Rose.”
****
We gathered around the table and had a grand feast of grapes, cheddar cheese, and slabs of roast beef and roast chicken breast. Bottles of red and white wine made their way around. It felt weird to drink something my parents reserved only for wedding ceremonies back in Rottenwood, but considering what we were headed into, who was I to complain?
There was talk and laughter and we spoke neither about Ella nor the mission. Beside me, George sat and ate, but was quiet and reserved even when spoken to. I squeezed his hand beneath the table and when I caught his gaze, he leaned over and kissed me.
Being with him again was surreal and everything I hoped.
I excused myself to bring a plate of food to Magenta as well as a goblet of wine. Upon entering her master bedroom, I was disheartened to see her resting against her pillows. Her hair was fully white and the skin around her eyes sagged. The lines were deep and I had never witnessed someone as old as she.
Yet, life sparkled in her gaze as I slid the plate of food onto her nightstand. She smiled at me as I sat down on the bed beside her.
“You freed me. Don’t mourn or be sad. This is what’s supposed to happen when you grow old. For six hundred years, I’ve waited to be reunited with my children in the afterlife.”
We didn’t believe of such things in Rottenwood. The ministers taught us what a foolish fantasy that was, but I kept my disbelief to myself and only held her hand. “It would’ve been great to fight Creighton with you by my side.”
“You don’t need me.” Magenta’s voice rasped as she drew a long breath. “And I’d never make it out of this bed, let alone onto the battlefield. I can offer you only words of wisdom, bestowed to me from my historian, Teddy.”
Teddy from my visions. I nodded and sat up straighter.
“To defeat Creighton and raise the library, you need inspiration. You must seek out the dragon.”
The dragon? The one who I came into contact with
outside of the remains of New York City, where I met Ella? Magenta’s words reminded me of what the narrator had said. “I need to release the muse.”
Magenta nodded. “You’re smarter than even I thought. Good, but it won’t be as easy as the others, not without Ella, but we can shorten the journey by moving the tower.”
I held my breath and stiffened.
“Take the golden staff,” Magenta wheezed and rested her eyes. “Place it in the markings in the throne room. Then you can move the tower anywhere you wish, but only at sunset. If you miss it, you must wait another day. You will arrive at your destination the next morning.”
The next morning? “Is it safe?”
Magenta nodded. “It is. You’ll be fine, such as I always have been. You are now the rightful owner of the staff and this tower.”
It was so much to take in, I felt dizzy as my head spun in so many circles. “Is there anything else I should know?”
There was resistance in the way Magenta spoke, I was sure of it. “The dragon, I fear, will be waiting for you.”
“Is she a friend? Or a foe?” I asked with fear. I thought when we met I could control her, I thought she understood me, but when she attacked me, I lost faith that I knew what was going on in the first place.
“Once upon a time, the best of friends, but time in her current form has twisted and corrupted her. You must replace her broken, blackened heart.”
Replace her heart? How could I even begin to do such a thing? I sunk a bit into the mattress, fear gripping me and swirling through my mind with doubt.
“Don’t fear what is to come. It is your birth right. You can do it. All you need to do is…” Magenta coughed as she wheezed. Her body tensed as something in her seized. I feared she was coming to the end of her time with me.
“What do I need to do?” I leaned over and squeezed her hand. “Please, I know you’re growing weak, but I need your wisdom. I need to hear your words.”
“Tell…” Magenta drew a sharp, pained breath. “Tell a story. One that will break through… her stone heart.”
