The Witch and the Bottle of Djinn (The Seaforth Chronicles Book 4)

by B. J. Smash

  This time, Zinnia pushed the tea to her lips and forced it in her mouth. Ella gulped some down.

  I looked around to see who else was present. Ish McTish sat on his deer beneath Izadora’s branch. He winked at me and I lifted my hand and waved. Izadora noticed the exchange but chose to ignore it. Apparently they were getting along at the moment.

  Solstice and Drumm were beside Ian and when Solstice saw me he lifted his head and whinnied. Drumm was the first one to walk over and pull me up into a giant bear hug. “Why did you wish me out of Helsberg without you?” I knew by his tone he was angry and disappointed. I knew he would be.

  “I am your guardian!” he said and I momentarily sank into his arms. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him right now.

  Everyone began talking at once and telling me how happy they were that I’d made it back. It was chaotic but I appreciated them all. However, Izadora never had any tolerance for noise and by the way her face was scrunched up, I knew that everyone had better pipe it down.

  “Be quiet!” she commanded. She banged the tree three times with her long, gnarly staff. Sparks flew out of the end and landed on the ground with a hiss and a sizzle.

  Everyone clamped their mouths shut and Izadora turned to me. “It is good to see you, Ivy.”

  I slightly pushed Drumm aside so that I could view Izadora better. “Where are they?”

  “Who?” Drumm asked. The muscles in his arm tensed beneath my grip.

  “Snake Man and Ladriant? They didn’t make it?” I asked nervously.

  She leaned her ear forward, as if she were straining to hear me but I knew dang well that she could hear me just fine. “Oh! Yes, of course they did. Your spell worked just fine.” She lifted her staff and pointed it to the air above us. “They are stuck in limbo between worlds, till I open the door for them,” she said and then looked up to the sky and said, “Open.”

  A jagged white light streaked out of her staff and hit right above me. For a moment all that could be heard was a loud screeching noise; like someone had just plugged a microphone into a speaker. Then, all that could be heard was static.

  A wind tunnel seemed to appear out of nowhere. Someone was screaming from the inside and soon Snake Man’s head was visible. The tunnel seemed to spit him out and he fell from about six feet up, and plopped to the ground with a thud.

  “Ow. That hurt,” he groaned as he lay on the ground holding his shoulder. The snake continued to coil itself around his neck.

  I was so happy to see Snake Man that I ran over and touched his arm. “I was worried that you’d died!”

  “Huh? I’m still alive?” He forced himself to sit up and look around.

  I didn’t have time to convince him that he was alive. Two big bluish feet lingered at the edge of the tunnel above us. The tunnel shook and convulsed as if it were the throat of some animal. It buzzed and whirred violently and my hair whipped around my face. Suddenly, there he was. Ladriant flopped out of the tunnel and landed next to Ian, nearly knocking his wheelchair over.

  “Hey! Watch it buddy,” Ian complained. He wheeled his chair farther back and wiped a speck of dust from his black blazer.

  Ladriant’s black hair hung in his eyes, but he lifted both hands and pushed it aside. When he saw where he was, he scrambled to his feet.

  Drumm immediately got into a fighting stance. “Ivy! Move out of the way. He’s dangerous.”

  Ladriant didn’t know what was going on or why he was here with us. He’d just been falling to his death only moments before he’d arrived here. Fearing for his life, he got into his own fighting stance.

  As Drumm prepared to kick the life from him, I yelled out, “Wait! He is not dangerous.” But Drumm wasn’t about to listen to me. His turquoise eyes grew dark in the middle and he advanced toward Ladriant with only one intention: to kick his butt.

  Before he reached Ladriant, I hopped in between them and got into my own ninja fighting stance, and balled up my fists. “No!”

  I couldn’t believe that I was prepared to take on Drumm, but he needed to wake up! “You need to trust me on this one. He’s not an enemy.”

  “Ivy! He is our enemy. He walks with those that practice the dark ways! And I mean dark magic. Stuff that would make you want to carry a vile of holy water.”

  “He saved my life. Several times in fact,” I said.

  Drumm’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. There were hushed whispers all around us. No one was prepared for a Dark Elf to plop out of the wind tunnel and into our world. That is…no one besides Izadora.

  “She tells the truth,” Izadora said calmly.

  Drumm tilted his head and squinted his eyes. He reached up and scratched behind his ear. He often did this when he was confused about something.

  “My mother sent him,” I finished.

  This time, Drumm stood up straight but Ladriant relaxed his stance, and bent over to lean his hands on his knees. His chest heaved up and down, and he focused on his breathing.

  Everyone else stared at Ladriant. It was so quiet you could hear the hummingbirds flap their tiny wings.

  “Tell us your story,” Izadora commanded him. She sat up in her tree cupping an elbow with one hand and tapping her chin with the other.

  Ian had one eyebrow up permanently and an uppity expression on his face. I noticed that my sister’s ear cocked up the second “magic” was mentioned. She was a magic-o-holic and wouldn’t dream of missing any conversation that had to do with magic. Dark or Light.

  Eadgar rolled his eyes and leaned on the apple tree. Everyone else seemed to lean forward to hear what the Dark Elf had to say. Except for Ella. She was strapped so tightly to the chair, she could barely breathe, let alone lean forward.

  Ladriant took in a deep breath and blew out. “Not that this is any of your business but Ivy’s mother—princess Anah-Lilli—sent me to watch over Ivy.”

  After hearing it from his own lips, several of them gasped.

  “It’s a long story,” Ladriant scowled, “but I suppose I’ll sum it up for you.”

  He crossed his arms over his strong chest and started his story. I was all ears at this point.

  “A few years ago, I worked for the king. I was chosen by him for my swiftness and my ability to learn quickly. He trained me himself and I soon became his confidant.

  “He told me things that would curdle your blood. It is well known that you had to have a strong mind and a strong will to work for the king.” He paused and ran his hand over his mouth.

  “And then one day, there was a Dark Elf in the Dark Kingdom that was said to have committed a terrible crime. It was said, that this Dark Elf had stolen the king’s treasured Book of Shadows. This book had been written by the king’s own mother and he was very angry at the time it was stolen. He didn’t investigate for long. He thought he knew who had committed the crime, even without finding the book as evidence. He had this Dark Elf killed right before my very eyes. And this Dark Elf just happened to be my father.”

  Ladriant paused. The garden was too quiet now. Cherry blossoms continued to drift through the air and he reminded me of some sort of mythical creature.

  “I tried to tell the king that my father hadn’t committed the crime. He wouldn’t listen. I tried to explain to the king that it was, I, that had taken his book.”

  “Bloody hell!” Ian said alarmed.

  “I destroyed it. The book was pure evil.” Ladriant shook his head.

  Izadora thrummed her fingers over and over on the branch she sat upon. “Now, tell them the rest of the story.”

  “The king thought I was covering up my father’s deed and he wouldn’t listen to me. But he cast me down to the lowest rank and imprisoned me, my sister, and mother in his dungeon for nearly a month. He fed us rotten rat and filthy water. I tried to break us out but to no avail. Eventually, he had a small group of his men take us out to an open field by the Adrianness River where they prepared to kill us. The plan was to make me watch them die a slow and torturous death and then kil
l me.

  “And as a Dark Elf held my sister up by the hair and prepared to cut her face with the end of his blade…your mother flew out of the forest. I’ll never forget the way she rode in, like a goddess with her long hair flowing behind her. Time seemed to slow and the moment was surreal. She rode on the back of her elven horse and was accompanied by only four Light Elves. They had been out for a leisurely ride and happened to catch wind that the Dark King was about to kill innocent women.

  “She rode into our circle with a flaming white sword and her long green gown flowed out behind her. On her own, she wiped out several of the Dark Elven, while her four Light Elven backed her up. She helped my sister onto the back of her horse and cut my ropes and another Light Elf helped my mother get on his horse.

  “When they finally left the field, there were only a few Dark Elven left standing and I took off running. She and her men had saved us. From that point on, I’ve lived in the hills on my own. I have a high price on my back and whoever catches me will become quite wealthy. But my mother and sister, they remain in a secret location that your mother still has guarded to this day. I’ve seen them a few times and they are doing well.

  “Princess Anah-Lilli’s bravery will forever linger in my mind. She didn’t have to help us. But I spoke with her one day and she told me that she couldn’t abide the innocent getting slaughtered; and then she asked me if I would do her a favor someday. When she brought it up, it was as if she already knew exactly what she was going to ask me to do. It was like she knew exactly what would happen one day.”

  I knew exactly what he was talking about. My mother and her visions were uncanny. It was downright freaky sometimes. But I didn’t care about that so much. What filled me with pride was that my mother risked her own life to save Ladriant’s mother and sister. To be honest, it was hard for me to envision it. Every time we were together, she seemed pleasant and soft-spoken. It made me smile to picture her as a warrior.

  “As you can see, he is not an enemy. Ladriant, you are free to go when Ivy leaves for Hy Brasil. You should stick around until then.”

  “Hy Brasil,” I whispered.

  “Maximus is ready for you,” Izadora concluded.

  Drumm backed off after that story. He adored my mother and even though he didn’t trust Ladriant, he would tolerate him.

  Everyone was back to their constant chattering, but they all hushed right up when I asked for Lucian. I figured he was resting up at Ian’s mansion or something.

  “Where is Lucian?”

  No one would answer me. Finally, Ian lowered his face and rubbed his temples. “He’s fine. At least that’s what they tell me.”

  Izadora spoke next, “You leave tomorrow morning for Hy Brasil. When you are there, Maximus will instruct you on what to do next. It is time to find the cure.”

  “What do you mean? Isn’t he healed? That was one of my wishes…I don’t understand! Where are the djinn bottles anyway? And where is Tom and William?”

  “I’ve already made the three necessary wishes. Sebina and Ameena are now vacationing in a secluded jungle in India. Tom and William are with Magella for the time being. As far as Lucian…he’s over there.” Izadora leaned back and pointed to a tree behind her.

  Ish McTish—who’d been relatively silent until now—said, “Brace yourself, missy. He won’t be the same.”

  I totally ignored what Izadora said about Tom, William, Ameena and Sabina. I needed to know what happened to Lucian. I walked around the tree Izadora sat in and there he was.

  “No,” I whispered. My throat tightened as I walked closer to Lucian’s body. He stood inside the center of a large tree. The trunk had been hollowed and his body was covered from head to toe in some type of reddish-brown substance.

  “He is preserved in amber,” Izadora said.

  “I see that,” I said disturbed. I reached out and touched the reddish-brown material. It felt like plastic. Beyond the amber, Lucian’s face appeared soft and peaceful. His eyes were closed and his arms crossed over his chest. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was only taking a nap.

  I pressed my forehead to the amber and whispered to him. “Lucian. I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to fix you yet. But I promise you that I’ll find the cure.” I assumed that no one heard me speak to Lucian. They were all behind me jabbering about something.

  I was wrong…

  “I once told you that certain things cannot happen until other things take effect.” Izadora sat on a limb in the same tree that Lucian was encased in.

  I jolted back in surprise. “How do you do that so quickly?”

  “Do what?”

  “Fly from tree to tree, limb to limb.”

  “It’s what I do. Of course I’m quick about it. Anyhow, do you remember me telling you that or not?” she asked impatiently. Her white hair flew every which way and her wrinkled fingers held tightly to the branch.

  “I do,” I answered. The not too distant memory of Tom and William’s story about their mother’s came to mind. Things had played out to a certain end and even though they didn’t get the bottle for Magella, things played out just the same.

  “Well, then you must know why you’ve had to wait to help Lucian,” she said.

  “Because no one…not even Maximus knows how to cure Lucian. Which confuses me to no end. You guys can do everything and anything…but you can’t seem to cure Lucian,” I said. I sounded insulting and I knew it. After the words left my mouth, I actually wished that I could bring them back.

  “Hold your tongue, Ivy. You are not paying attention to what I’m saying. We know how to cure him. But we don’t have the cure.” She smacked the tree limb and it shook under her weight and threatened to break. She teeter-totted back and forth to gain her bearings.

  I held back a smile. “Continue,” I said, mimicking her. That’s what she was always telling everyone else, “continue.”

  “You’re a real smarty pants today,” she said.

  “I know. I’m sorry but for real…continue.”

  “The sphere that Kepler found is ready for use,” she said.

  “It’s finally ready?” It seemed like we’d been waiting for eons for this thing to be ready, and I still didn’t even know what it was!

  “Yes. It is ready because you are now ready,” Izadora said.

  She spoke in riddles. “I don’t understand.”

  “A year ago, you wouldn’t have been prepared for the journey you are about to embark on. And your Aunt Clover was not prepared for it either. But she is now.”

  “Aunt Clover? What does she have to do with any of this?” I asked.

  A smile formed on Izadora’s wizened old face. This was something that rarely happened. “She is prepared to go with you. To find the cure for Lucian.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Maybe I was thickheaded and missing the whole point but I just wasn’t understanding any of this. “What the heck does any of this have to do with the shiny sphere that Kepler found at the base of a tree on Hy Brasil?”

  “It’s not just any sphere, Ivy. It is one of the original thirteen crystal skulls. The thirteenth to be exact. And it is not about what it can do…it’s more about where you are going.” Her eyes were wide and glowing.

  Tingles flew up my arms and back down again. My heartbeat quickened and I was speechless. One of the thirteen skulls? I had heard and read many theories about the thirteen skulls. The one that stood out foremost in my mind was that each skull contained extraordinary information. Information that humankind hasn’t been ready for. I always imagined what it could be…what information these skulls held. Science beyond our understanding? Magic? Ancient Alien technology?

  The skulls had been separated for God only knows how long? They were spread out over different continents. Because once they are together again the information can be extricated. By the right person of course…which would mean that the Great Wizard Maximus was ready!

  I nearly fainted and swooned in front of Lucian’s amber conc
oction. I reached out and touched the tree for support. Drumm had been watching us the entire time and he walked over to check on me. I felt like a baby and I said, “I’m fine. I just…” I found myself bottling up my breath. I forced out some air and said, “Thirteenth skull?”

  “Oh, you told her?” Drumm asked.

  I wanted to smack them both but I was far too happy. “Alright. Just so you know…you two aren’t holding back any information from me any stinkin’ longer. Just so you know…I’m done with that.”

  “But you weren’t ready to hear it until now,” Izadora scowled.

  “Yeah-yeah, whatever,” I said. I felt lighthearted and lightheaded all at once. Looking at Lucian’s face one last time, I grinned. Whatever was about to take place…whatever was about to happen…I knew that Lucian would be cured and soon he wouldn’t have the demon dog poison in his veins any longer.

  Drumm put his arm around me and I looked up into his eyes. “Whatever those skulls can do…it’s going to be awesome!”

  His handsome face lit up and for a moment I was lost in the depth of his sparkling eyes.

  “Now go prepare for your trip to Hy Brasil. Your Aunt Clover has been waiting for you. Your Aunt Cora has been putting her under hypnosis for hours upon hours every day. She’s getting antsy,” Izadora said.

  None of this made sense. “What does Aunt Clover have to do with any of this? Antsy for what?”

  “It’s like she doesn’t hear a word I say,” Izadora complained to Drumm.

  “I’m sort-of lost too. What is Clover antsy about?” Drumm asked.

  Izadora snorted impatiently, “Why, she’s ready to research her days as a pirate, of course! She was once a pirate known by the name of Nellie McCleary from the 18th Century. From what I hear she was a tough one,” she stifled a laugh. “Anyhow, the best place to do research on that topic is at Hy Brasil.”

  Drumm steadied me as I threatened to fall forward on my face. “Aunt Clover really was a pirate? Yup. Just another day with the steady force of Seaforth Madness.”

  Izadora still wasn’t being clear enough with her explanation. All I knew at this point in time is that one: Maximus had all thirteen crystal skulls. The originals! And two: Aunt Clover wanted to research her days as a pirate. As usual, Izadora was enjoying her game.