2 A Charming Cure

by Tonya Kappes

  The last place I wanted to go was back to Hidden Hall, but if I didn’t, I knew Aunt Helena, Faith, and Raven would be next. And then the demise of the entire Spiritualist community.

  Oscar’s jaw was clenched. He shook his head.

  “I don’t like this, June.” He paced around the room with papers clutched in his hands as I scampered from door to door looking for Eloise.

  She was nowhere to be found.

  “You need to take a look at these.” He grabbed me from my frantic tirade and held the papers in front of me.

  To everyone who doesn’t believe in the Dark-Siders, beware. I’m an ingredient away from discovering the Ultimate Spell, no thanks to a few Good-Siders. I’ve done it all on my own in the name of all Dark-Siders.

  Follow me and I will take you into the new spiritual world where we will rule the world and create the justice that is due to us!

  There was no time to waste. I took Madame Torres out of my bag.

  “Show me Eloise.” I commanded. Nothing happened. I yelled, “Show me Eloise, NOW!”

  Madame Torres appeared, visibly shaken. She had streaks of black running down her face. “I’m sorry. I can’t. There is an evil force blocking her from you.” She swallowed hard. “I’m afraid there is an evil force taking over the spiritual world and. . .”

  The ball went black.

  “Madame Torres?” I frantically shook the ball. “Madame Torres!”

  It was hopeless. Madame Torres was disappearing before my eyes and I couldn’t help her.

  Eloise. I put the last image of her shackled to the wall in my mind and concentrated. I searched the mental picture for anything and everything. All I could recall was the Mandrake flower she played with in her fingers.

  “I’ve got it!” I screamed at Oscar and I ran out the door and down the steps. Without turning back, I could hear Oscar right behind me. “Eloise grows Mandrake flowers in her garden. She has to be there somewhere.”

  We ran down the cobblestone pathway, zipping past the array of colorful flowers that I, in the past, enjoyed pruning with Eloise, and straight back into the garden.

  We stopped, and in a mad frenzy I screamed out, “Eloise! Eloise!”

  Thump, thump.

  “Did you hear that?” Oscar turned his head and we waited for the sound.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  Out of nowhere, Mr. Prince Charming dashed across the garden near the gazebo patio.

  Meowl, meowl. He went underneath the table and made a complete circle before he sat down.

  I ran over and took a closer look. There was an outline of a circle. A witch’s circle.

  “Is that a trap door?” Oscar bent down on his knees and began to knock on the wood. The boards were loose and he pulled one up, exposing a set of stairs.

  “You stay here.” Oscar grabbed my hand and squeezed. His eyes grew serious and still. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

  “I can’t let you go alone.” I vehemently shook my head.

  Without even thinking that Hili could be down there, Oscar held my hand and led me down the steps.

  Letting go of my hand, Oscar looked back. We locked eyes. We knew that behind the wooden door, Eloise was going to be there. Hopefully alive.

  “1,2,3.” Oscar pushed.

  “Eloise!” I pushed past him and ran over to her limp body lying on the dirt floor in the corner of the room.

  I grabbed her and wrapped her up in my arms, exactly the way I had done a few days ago when Helena had cast her away.

  “Go,” She muttered. “Stop her from killing anyone.”

  “I can’t.” Tears whaled in my eyes. “I can’t leave you here like this.”

  “Oscar can help me.” She used all the strength she had to talk.

  “June is not going anywhere without me.” Oscar knelt down beside us. He began working on getting the chains off Eloise’s wrists. “I’m not putting her in danger.”

  “You can’t enter Hidden Hall unless you have received an invitation from Helena.” Her words were soft, but they stung like daggers. “June must go alone. She has the power to stop Hili from taking over the world.”

  “What do you mean?” I begged her to tell me.

  “Once the spell gets into the Dark-Sider’s hands, they become the ruler of the Spiritual world. Kind of like an Armageddon.” Eloise trailed off, keeping her eyes closed.

  “Eloise,” I whispered, almost fearing her answer. “Are you a Dark-Sider?”

  Slowly she nodded, confirming my suspicion.

  With my suspicions confirmed, there was no time to waste. Hili was already at Hidden Hall and casting evil spells all over. She was going to stop at nothing and no one to get the Ultimate Spell.

  “You be careful.” Oscar had already freed one wrist. He stood up. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t in my life. I barely survived four days.”

  “I’ll be safe.” My heart was torn in two. One side ached to stay with Oscar, while the other side was in fear of what Hili was doing to the new world in which I lived. I put my fingers up to his lips. “I promise I will be back.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to say anymore. It was just best if I left, while I still had the courage.

  Mr. Prince Charming was waiting by the trap door when I emerged from the dungeon.

  “It’s up to us.” I let Mr. Prince Charming take the lead. I rubbed the owl charm that dangled from my bracelet. It was time to make some very wise decisions. It was time to confront Hili.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  There was no way I was going to be able to do it alone, nor did I want to. I tapped the sign that pointed toward the campus, exposing the pathway through the wheat field.

  In a distance, a gray cloud hung over the campus area, even the always bright Once Upon a Time Library.

  Mr. Prince Charming gave the all clear as his tail waved me to come on. He proceeded ahead of me to make sure the coast was clear as we made our way through the campus streets.

  Everything was shut down. Closed off. Hili had definitely made her presence and what she was after known.

  A cold breeze swept past my right ear, sending a spine chilling prickles up my leg.

  “Who’s there?” I demanded to know.

  Out of nowhere, Gus appeared.

  “Gus, I’m so glad you are here.” I grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him closer. “Are you the one who keeps whizzing by me, creating that cool breeze?”

  “Probably. Dean Helena wanted to keep close tabs on you. You have come just in time. The students are on lock-down. Dean Helena is keeping watch over Faith. She knew you’d be back, so she revoked your expulsion.” He glanced over to the Dark-Sider’s edge of town. “It’s the evil versus evil.”

  “Hili?” I feared.

  “And Raven.” He continued to look into the distance. He turned and looked at me. Panic rioted his face. “I’m scared. Raven can’t beat Hili alone.”

  Meowl, meowl.

  Mr. Prince Charming ran as fast as he could toward the Dark-Sider’s part of town, disappearing into the woods. I ran after him, as I felt Gus teleporting past me.

  “The good Dark-Sider has to win,” His whispers were heard in the wind. “She has to save her sister.”

  I had to get to Raven. All this time she had been trying to save her sister.

  Sigh. I inhaled as my intuition started to kick in. “Welcome back,” I whispered.

  “Yeah, welcome back,” sarcasm dripped in his voice.

  “I wasn’t talking about me coming back here. My intuition seems to be back.” I stopped just inside of the Dark-Siders territory. “Are you coming?”

  “I can’t.” And he was gone.

  There was no time to wait. Whispering Falls was dying by the second, all because of Hili. If Raven and I could join forces, maybe we had a shot at bringing the spiritualist world back.

  Steam rolled out of Raven’s tree-house windows. Unlike the last time I was here. My calves ached as I ran up the
stairs as fast as I could. The door was wide open, and Raven was frantically stirring the cauldron with a long oar. Her long black hair was no longer lush. It had fallen in strings, swinging back and forth with each circle she created in the boiling potion.

  The overwhelming smell of pinecones shot up my nose, making me gasp for air.

  “What are you doing here?” She ground the words between her teeth. She was seething mad. Her tamed black straight hair was mussed up. Her dark eyes were set back in the deep black circles that formed around her eye sockets. “I can do this without your help.”

  “No you can’t.” I walked in and took the Magical Cures book from my purse. I held it up. “We can put our spiritual gifts together and bring Faith back.”

  “You fool!” She whipped around; her icy fingers taking hold of my forearm. “It’s not Faith I’m worried about. It’s us. The entire world will be destroyed if Hili has anything to do with it. Faith knew it was Hili. She was willing to sacrifice her life for me to save our family, our spiritualist community.”

  “Like a spiritualist martyr?” If only my intuition had worked while I was at University from the get-go, maybe this whole situation could’ve been stopped.

  Raven slowly nodded without looking at me.

  Without hesitation, I concentrated on the book looking for any and all cures that would help reverse the spell that Hili had cast on Faith. I had never reversed a potion, much less a cast.

  “There is something that I’m missing and I don’t know what.” Raven’s lack of sleep was beginning to show on her pale skin. She was beginning to look like Faith. “If Hili comes up with a potion or spell that will kill Faith, she will win and destroy us. Of course I want my sister back, but stopping Hili will help us win the war.”

  “I don’t understand.” There were so many things that didn’t add up.

  Raven viciously stirred the cauldron, her hair swooshing from side-to-side. “When Faith figured out that Hili was really a Dark-Sider, she started to talk about the Ultimate Spell. Hili was unable to really talk about it because Dark-Siders don’t know the spell. I don’t know the spell.” She threw in a dash of Eyebright. The elixir turned amethyst with copper accretions on the side. The pinecone smell turned to the aroma of coffee. The moving liquid glowed, and then turned to brown.

  The Magical Cures Book opened to a page on its own. I stepped back, realizing this was a new power I had. I didn’t know anything about Telekinesis, but I was going to use everything I could.

  I concentrated on Faith lying in the bed. My intuition told me to really focus on the fingernails and her lungs that I had already brought back to life.

  “Where is Hili?” I asked. Swiftly the turning pages created a wind, blowing my bangs back.

  “I don’t know.” Raven didn’t stop. She no longer stirred in nice, neat circle. She used the oar erratically, causing the potion to tumble over the sides. “I cast a spell around the perimeter of the Dark-Siders village that won’t allow Teletransporter’s to enter.”

  No wonder Gus couldn’t come.

  “Wait.” I put my hand in the air. “Hili is a Teletransporter?”

  “Yes, among other things.” Raven let go of the oar, but the oar continued to rotate. Sweat was pouring down her face. “I’m just in my first year of University. I have no idea what I’m doing. Hili has taken over the entire campus.”

  “I think I know where I can find her.” I looked down when the Magical Cures Book stopped. “Here, this is what you need to add. You need to help your sister.”

  “Thank you, June.” Raven slumped into my arms, giving a gentle squeeze. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to find Hili.”

  I left as quickly as I had come. Mr. Prince Charming darted ahead of me to make sure the coast was clear. The street was still empty and the grey cloud was looming closer. Magic hung in the air, and it wasn’t a good form of magic.

  The cottage dorm was dark and the door was pushed open. Little puffs of smoke wafted from the light fixtures as if someone had burned them. Mr. Prince Charming and I climbed the stairs.

  The framed, retired professors’ eyes all smoldered with fire.

  Hiss, hiss. Mr. Prince Charming arched his back at the top of the stairs. His body turned toward the hallway. Our hallway. Faith’s, Hili’s and mine.

  The door to Hili’s room was wide open. All the photographs on her wall flickered in the light of the lit candles. I remember exactly what she said to me the first day I stepped in her room and looked at those pictures.

  “That’s my daddy. He wants me to be really successful in school.”

  I had a feeling her daddy didn’t want her to be notoriously successful as the Jeffery Dahmer of the Spiritual world.

  A shadow cast down the wall, catching my attention, I jumped, turning around.

  “I wondered how long it was going to take you to come back.” Hili was no longer dressed in her cute little Capri’s and matching tops. She was wearing a black cape with a pointy collar. She had dyed her blond hair coal black. She peeled off the long black gloves, finger-by-finger. “What? Never seen a dark witch before? Oh honey, my little princess act was just that. An act!”

  Slowly I backed up and found the wall behind me.

  “It took everything I had not to dive into your delicious little Oscar.” A thunderous laugh left her body. “I don’t have time for a wannabe sorcerer. You should’ve seen his little wand. Pit.I.Ful.”

  There was a desire in her eyes, as she looked me up and down. I stood, waiting for my intuition to kick in.

  Please don’t fail me now.

  “Umm…June, you shouldn’t leave a man like that alone in this big bad spiritual world.” She walked past me and abruptly turned back around. “Any girl would gobble him up. Including me.”

  She opened the door that I had tried to open when I first visited her room. What a fool I was. Some intuition I had.

  The room was filled with shelves of potion bottles, and a big cauldron sat in the middle. UnHidden Hall Chronicles were stacked in the corner.

  I remembered how she stopped me from opening the door because she was “too embarrassed for you to see my messy closet.”

  “What? You think that I was going to let you in on my little secret just because you are the Dean’s niece?” She scoffed. “You are no threat to me. You are old. Your man on the other hand is just my type. So mark my words, when I do away with all of you, I’ll go back and get him for myself.” An evil grin crossed her lips, exposing her pointy eyeteeth. “Honey, we young girls love older men.”

  She pulled out an ingredient from underneath her cloak and dropped it in the boiling cauldron, sending the calm potion into a fury. Sparks flew everywhere.

  “What was that?” Anger boiled in me, but I had to keep my calm. Hili was on the edge and she was completely insane.

  Laughing, she walked back with her fingers outstretched, pushing me down onto the couch. Suddenly her eyes held an eager evilness. Something I had never seen before. Something that frightened me to my core.

  “It’s time to do away with you June Heal, and all of Hidden Hall. Any last requests?”

  “Why? Why are you doing this? Why did you hurt Faith?”

  “Those are easy questions to answer.” She drummed her fingers together while she paced back and forth in front of me. “I was only curious to find out what the Ultimate Spell was made of, so I pretended to be a Good-Sider. That was when Little Miss Prissy Pants started to dig around.”

  As she turned to back, my eyes darted around the room looking for anything to hit her over the head with and knock her out. Somehow, I had to get her tied up. Just like she had done Eloise.

  Why? Why couldn’t I have any cool magical abilities? Like turning her into a beetle so I could step on her and squish her. There was no sense in asking such fruitless questions now.

  Hili continued, waving her hands in the air as sparks flew from her fingertips. I ducked; making sure none of them hit me. Her voice escalated, �
��I warned her not to come clean with any of it, but she refused. She gave me what she called ‘time to change,’ but there was no changing. I sick and tired of being on the wrong side.” She tilted her head from side-to-side and rolled her eyes. “Change? She or you have no idea what it’s like to be an outcast among your peers all of your life. I’m going to make a change when I have the Ultimate Spell in my hands. The Dark-Siders will rule the world!”

  Her words stung. I concentrated on the pictures of her family hanging on the wall. Was this the success your father wanted? I wanted to ask, but kept my mouth shut. Time. I needed to buy some more time to figure something out.

  “What spell did you cast to put her in a deep sleeping coma?” This was one thing I couldn’t figure out.

  “No, no, no.” She took the ripped out page from the Mortimer file off her desk and threw it at me. I quickly glanced down at it:

  Remember that Faith has very special powers. She made the Ultimate Spell at the age of three without ever touching on her spiritual gifts. And it could be very dangerous if anyone knew about this.

  Please, Faith is extremely allergic to Rosemary Pea and it can kill her. Some potions call for it, but unfortunately her love of pine cones overshadow her innate ability Faith has to know the ingredient is in the potion.

  As for Raven, she is a sweet Dark-Sider. Her mother and I have learned everything we can about the Dark-Sider community. Raven has attended the prestigious Pitch-Black Academy. She’s completely aware of her amazing powers of having some Good-Sider traits.

  We’d appreciate it if you could keep it quiet that Faith and Raven are sisters. This is due to the fact that they want to set their own ways in life. They had decided at an early age to respect each other’s lot in life.

  She snatched the note from my fingertips.

  “I don’t care about Raven. She’s nothing. But I care about the Ultimate Spell and taking over the spiritual world.” She neatly folded the page and stuck it on the desk. Her eyes were hooded like a hawk. “You have no idea what I’m going to do when I rule the world.”