Dark Realms

by Kristen Middleton

  I folded my arms under my chest. “Let me guess, you’re running for president as well and would like me to back you up?”

  Her face lit up. “You’d do that?”

  I was speechless. Words just couldn’t describe how much I despised Hailey at that particular moment, although, if I had the power to turn her into a toad right now, I’d turn myself into one instead. Then I’d turn her into a fly, so that I could devour her.

  “Listen,” she said. “Don’t forget to meet us at ‘The Pointe’ after school. Mark mentioned that he was giving you a lift?”

  The Pointe? That was a popular partying spot. I cleared my throat. “Oh, yeah. I’ll see you later.”

  She stared at me curiously for a minute and then walked away.

  ~~~

  As I continued to search for Kala, I noticed Tyler hurrying towards me.

  “Did you see her anywhere?” I asked.

  He nodded and then ran a hand through his hair. “I did, but unfortunately Mark hustled her out of the school so quickly, I didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”

  I sighed. “Well, I know where they’re going,” I said. “The Pointe.”

  “What’s “The Pointe”?

  I smirked. “Exactly.”

  He snorted. “Do you know where it is?”

  “I think so. There’s a park a few blocks from here with a great view of the valley below. If you climb down the hill underneath it a few feet, you’ll supposedly come to this hidden cave. That’s where the kids hang out to drink or do whatever.”

  His eyebrows went up. “So you’ve been there before?”

  I shook my head.

  He looked a little relieved. “Let’s go find it then,” he said, taking my hand.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Clarice checked your house while you were inside and Adrianne is still not there,” said Rebecca as we slid into the back of her car.

  “Yes, I left her an encrypted note so she’d know you were safe, as well,” said Clarice.

  “Did you teleport from the car?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered, patting the outside of her purse. “I flew on my broom.”

  My jaw dropped. “You actually flew on a broom and now it’s in your purse?”

  She smiled weakly. “I just can’t teleport like I used to. The last time I landed, my knees were sore for a week.”

  “But, seriously, you can fly on a real broom?” I asked. If I wasn’t so worried about my sister and mom, I’d make her fly for me.

  Clarice nodded. “Oh, yes. I find the old-fashioned way is much easier. Plus, I can see exactly where I’m going.”

  I sat back. “I wonder where my mother is? What if Vivian has already found her?”

  “Your mother is not an easy witch to put down,” said Clarice. “She’s just as powerful as Vivian, remember. They’re twins.”

  Rebecca sighed. “Yes, but Vivian practices Black magic, which Adrianne wouldn’t touch.”

  “What’s the difference?” I asked.

  “Black magic is evil and it’s used for one’s own good. A witch who uses this type of magic learns how to control demons and spirits, using them for his or her own selfishness. Usually,” Clarice added with a scowl, “to do harm to others.”

  “We don’t dabble in Black magic,” said Rebecca firmly. “It’s dangerous and against our beliefs. Instead, we use only White, which works with the spirits,” said Rebecca, “to heal others or create spells that help us defeat evil.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Which is stronger?”

  Rebecca and Clarice looked at each other.

  “It depends on the witch and her inner strength,” said Tyler. “If she believes she can conquer the other’s magic, no matter what it is, she usually succeeds.”

  “So White magic doesn’t always win?” I squeaked.

  “Only if the witch knows what’s she doing and believes her powers are the stronger of the two,” said Tyler.

  That revelation gave me goose bumps. I only hoped my mother’s inner strength and beliefs were enough to keep her alive.

  ~~~

  The park was crawling with high school students, most of them attempting to climb down the hill, many carrying small brown bags.

  “Looks like a B.Y.O.B.,” remarked Tyler.

  “Bring your own broom?” asked Clarice. She smiled and her eyes lit up. “Oh, how wonderful. I used to enjoy those parties as a young girl, you know.”

  Rebecca laughed. “No Clarice, bottle, not broom.”

  Her smile fell. “Oh, those naughty kids.”

  “I can’t believe my sister is going to this party,” I said. “She told me Mark didn’t drink alcohol.”

  “Hey, there they are,” pointed Clarice.

  Sure enough, my sister followed Mark towards the hill, although neither of them carried a bag of any sort. Kala didn’t look very enthused.

  “I’m going to talk to her,” I said, opening up the car door.

  “I’ll come with,” said Tyler.

  “We’ll keep an eye out for Vivian. She might be drawn to this kind of thing,” said Rebecca.

  Clarice raised her hands in the air and closed her eyes. “Yes, I can sense an aura of evil and deception radiating from some of these kids. This party screams of bad news.”

  “Sounds like a blast,” answered Tyler with a humorless smile. “On that note, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  We stepped away from the car and walked towards the edge of the hill.

  “Hey, it’s vampire boy,” snickered Trevor Danes, coming up behind us. He was holding a two plastic bags filled with ice and plastic red cups.

  I smirked. “Wow, Trevor, looks like you’re all set.”

  Trevor was in our math class – a total surfer type of bonehead. He was also close friends with Mark.

  He bobbed his head up and down. “You know it. Say,” he said, motioning towards Tyler. “I didn’t know you had a thing for bloodsucking-losers, Kala.”

  I opened up to let him have it when Tyler removed his sunglasses and motioned for me to remain silent.

  “There goes the shades… hey, watch out for the burn, dude!” laughed Trevor.

  Tyler looked into Trevor’s vacant blue eyes. “Stay put, and keep an eye out for a woman with long, red hair. If you see her coming this way, howl like a wolf as loudly as you can.”

  Trevor’s face became slack and he nodded.

  I smiled. “Wow, I wish I could do that. Of course, I would have told him to drop dead.”

  “I don’t know if that would work on a human,” said Tyler with a straight face. “I’ve never attempted it.”

  “Oh, my God…I was kidding!”

  He didn’t say anything.

  My eyes narrowed. “You mentioned something about trolls before. Um, was that real? Did you actually kill three trolls?”

  “Yes, but they deserved it,” he smiled. “They wouldn’t let me over their bridge.”

  “Wow, you’re amazing,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Sorry,” he laughed. “I just couldn’t resist.”

  I lowered my voice. “Seriously, though, are there really trolls?”

  He pursed his lips and nodded. “Yes, and pray that you never meet one. They’re nasty creatures and very hard to kill.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  We started climbing down the hill, which was actually steeper than I thought. “This would have to be very dangerous if you’ve been drinking,” I noted.

  “Yeah, look down below us.”

  There was a ravine at the very bottom of the hill, about three hundred feet down.

  “If you didn’t get hurt tumbling down, you might just drown in the ravine,” I said.

  Loud music and laughter blasted out of the large cave as we drew near.

  “I wonder if the cops know about this place?”

  “No,” replied Mark, stepping out of the cave. “And I’ve worked hard to keep it that way.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Where’s Kala
?”

  His smile gave me the chills. “Come, I’ll show you, Kendra.”

  Tyler looked at me and I knew he felt it too. Mark was acting strange and he hadn’t seemed surprised at all to see us.

  Mark glanced at me. “Well, I have to say, Kendra, you’re looking pretty hot. It’s almost like,” he said with a wicked grin. “Someone put a spell on you.”

  “Hey, Kala!” smiled Hailey. She was sitting with a couple of girls and drinking a beer. “I must be seeing things because I could have sworn you just passed by a few minutes ago.”

  I smirked. “Maybe you’ve just had too much to drink?”

  “Not yet,” she answered and then giggled.

  “Don’t worry, Hailey,” smiled Mark. “I’ll let you know tomorrow if you’ve taken off any clothes.”

  “Stop about the last time already!” she pouted. “You shouldn’t have been looking anyway!”

  I wasn’t about to ask what she meant by that. Tyler just shook his head and removed his sunglasses.

  We followed him deeper into the cave. It was getting darker and after a while, Mark pulled out a flashlight. “Watch out for spiders and other things lurking in the dark,” he said. “You never know what you’ll run into in these caves.”

  “Where is Kala?” I asked, getting worried. Why would my sister be hanging out somewhere in the back of this smelly dank cave?

  Mark turned to me. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.”

  We came to a tunnel and he motioned for us to keep following him.

  “Are you sure she’s back here?” I asked.

  He turned back and gave me a reassuring smile. “Of course. Wait until we get there, you can see for yourself how great she’s doing.”

  I shuddered at the way he said that, and even Tyler frowned.

  “Here,” said Mark, pointing towards a lit-up passageway. “Come on.”

  We followed him through the opening and my breath caught in my throat when I noticed my sister. “Kala?” I whispered in horror.

  She lay on a giant slab of rock with her arms and legs tied together. Her eyes were closed and her skin was so pale, she appeared almost… dead.

  “Oh, God!” I screamed, rushing towards her. “What have you done to my sister?”

  “Wait!” yelled Tyler, as I slammed into some kind of invisible wall and fell backwards.

  “So we meet again,” chuckled Vivian, stepping out of the shadows of the cave. “Isn’t this a quaint little family reunion?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I stood up. “Let my sister go!”

  “No,” she sneered. “I don’t think so.”

  With a very determined look, Tyler took a step towards Vivian.

  “Freeze!” she demanded, raising her wand. “You try anything, boy, and I’ll kill both girls.”

  Tyler clenched his fists. “Leave them alone. They’re not who you’re after.”

  “No, but they’re good bait, don’t you think?”

  A bright flash of light lit up the cave and I sighed in relief when I saw Rebecca and Clarice appear, both of their wands raised.

  “Teleport!” they cried in unison. Rebecca aimed her wand at me and Clarice aimed hers at Kala.

  The next thing I knew, I was transported through the rainbow vortex and landed on my butt at Tyler and Rebecca’s home in Vail.

  “What happened?” moaned Kala, who was lying on the plush carpet a few feet away. She rubbed her temples and shuddered. “Man, I don’t feel so good.”

  “Oh, my God, Kala,” I cried, crawling over to her. “You’re okay!”

  Kala opened her eyes and gasped. “What… what happened to you?”

  I smiled sheepishly. “I lost a little weight. It’s a long story.”

  She looked around. “Where in the heck are we, and how’d we get here?”

  “Um, we’re at my friend Tyler’s house.”

  She stood up and swayed. “Oh,” she mumbled, touching her forehead. “I’m a little dizzy.”

  “Sit down,” I said, motioning towards the white leather couch.

  Kala stumbled towards the sofa and plopped down.

  “Better?” I asked.

  She sighed and put her head in her hands. “I don’t understand, what happened?”

  I took a deep breath and started telling her about mom and how she was a powerful witch.

  “Excuse me?” she snapped, raising her head. “Are you on crack?”

  “Listen, don’t you remember being tied up in the cave? Or the crazy redhead who looked like our mother?”

  She glanced at her wrists, which were slightly pink. “I don’t remember being tied up, but I tell you what, I’m never going out with Mark again. He dragged me to that party and then left me alone in the middle of the cave.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “So you really don’t remember anything else?”

  She shook her head and frowned. “No.”

  Before I could say anything else, Tyler burst out of the vortex and landed on the carpet by her feet. Kala backed away from him on the sofa and began screaming.

  I placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, he’s a friend.”

  “A friend…where did he come from? He wasn’t here a second ago!”

  “He just came from that cave party,” I said. “Like us. We both teleported here as well.”

  She put her head back in her hands and moaned. “Okay, someone must have slipped me something in my diet soda. This must be what it’s like to be stoned out of your mind.”

  “You’re fine,” I said, sitting down next to her. “Thank God.”

  Tyler cleared his throat. “So, are you two girls okay?”

  “I think so,” I said, turning to him. “Oh, my God, what happened to you?”

  I had been focusing all of my attention on my sister and hadn’t even noticed the horrible shape he was in. His clothes were ripped, he was sweating, and his hand was torn up and bleeding.

  “I’m okay,” he said. “A few scrapes from Vivian. Could have been a lot worse.”

  I frowned. “I think you need stitches. What in the heck did she do to you?”

  “She blasted me with her wand when I went after her son.”

  “Her son?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, you know, Mark.

  “No way, seriously?”

  He closed his eyes and let out a painful sigh. “Deadly serious, Kendra.”

  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked, seeing his face grow paler.

  Before he could answer, Rebecca appeared out of nowhere.

  “Is everyone okay?” she asked.

  Kala’s face was as white as a ghost. “I’m definitely losing my mind.”

  “Tyler’s hand is pretty messed up, other than that, we’re okay. Where’s Clarice?”

  “She went to go find your mother. Let me see your hand, Tyler.”

  He held out his hand and Rebecca pointed her wand. “Mend.”

  Kala and I watched in awe as the skin on his hand began to glow and repair itself. The next time I blinked, his hand looked smooth and free of any injury.

  “Please tell me I’m dreaming,” murmured Kala, “because if I’m not, I should be locked up.

  “Oh, you’re not dreaming,” said Rebecca with a reassuring smile. “This is real and someday, you’ll hone the same powers as your mother.”

  “It’s true, Kala,” I said. “Like I was trying to tell you, our mother’s a witch. She also has an evil twin sister who practices Black magic and wants to destroy her.”

  She laughed, bitterly. “Really? So that she can rule the planet and kill us all.”

  “No,” said Rebecca. “Just those who won’t bow down to her every whim.”

  “Are you people out of your freaken’ minds?” she yelled. “Our mother runs a daycare! There is no way she could possibly be a witch. That’s absurd and I won’t believe it for a minute!”

  “Believe it, honey,” murmured the soft voice of my mother as she began to materialize before our eyes. “E
verything you’ve heard, it’s… true.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Mom!” I cried, stumbling towards her. “Where have you been?”

  She raised both of her hands and took a step back. “Wait,” she answered, breathlessly. “Please don’t touch me. It’s too dangerous.”

  “What? Are you hurt?” I asked, noticing how pale and delicate she looked.

  She swayed slightly and blinked. “Vivian’s… placed a spell on me.” Then before I could say or do anything, she collapsed to the floor.

  “Mom!” I sobbed, reaching for her.

  “Wait! Stay back!” hollered Clarice, who suddenly materialized next to her. “You mustn’t touch her!”

  Rebecca placed herself between us and then turned to Clarice. “Take Adrianne into my bedroom.”

  She waved her wand. Then, they were both gone.

  “What in God’s name is wrong with our mother?” choked Kala, who was still sitting on the sofa. “And who are you people?”

  Tyler removed his sunglasses and walked stepped forward. “Don’t be afraid,” he said softly.

  She stared at him in confusion.

  “You must relax and listen to your sister. She’s telling you the truth. You need to be strong so you can help each other.”

  Kala’s eyes were now dilated. She nodded her head slowly. “Yes.”

  Tyler, who also looked exhausted, turned to me. “Okay, now, talk to her.”

  “Kala?” I asked, edging back towards the sofa. “Are you okay?”

  She turned to me and I watched as her eyes began to refocus. She nodded. “Yes. I’m just trying to absorb everything.”

  Rebecca stepped forward and squeezed her shoulder. Then, she looked at me. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to find out what happened to your mother, although,” she said with a pained expression, “I think it’s pretty obvious.”

  “Listen,” I said to Kala as soon as we were alone. “Everything I’ve told you is true. Vivian is mom’s twin sister. She wants to kill her so she can steal all of her magic. I guess if you’re a twin and a witch you can absorb the other one’s magic after they die.”