by Dani Swanson
"It works with the Ether. I would have to pull her into it. No, my mom doesn't have one. Stop digging in her stuff! But I know where I've seen this before!"
"Okay, I'll bite. Who has one?" Nathan folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back in his chair to look out the window. Phantasma wasn't standing where they had left her.
"Zyon." Her voice lowered as all her anger was coming back. "I remember seeing this necklace in a picture he had hanging in the castle when I first met him."
"So, now we need to go all the way back to Zyon's? You know that nasty-looking ghoul thing is floating around out there waiting for us, right? Sweets, I don't think we should be going all the way back there. We should go find your shadow friends first."
"We don't have to go back there; they're waiting for us out there." She pointed out the window to see Robin waving at him. He had gone back to the castle and retrieved the other shadows dressed, ready for battle with their noble red Zs embroidered on their chests. "Robin brought back reinforcements."
"I just don't think it's safe out there for you." Xander rubbed his hand on the small of her back. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Xander. This place isn't safe for you. We really should just go back home."
Izzie furrowed her brow and turned to look at them. "Not safe? I'm the one that pulled you two to safety. You weren't protecting me! I protected you! I wasn't "safe" back home." She used her hands to make quotes as she spoke. Her voice was growing louder, and she was sure that the shadows could hear her even through the forcefield. "I got kidnapped and brought here. The creature that was "protecting" me was actually holding me captive for that thing out there! I wasn't safe there, and the closer I get to my twenty-first birthday, the more in danger I am going to be, regardless of where I go. So, I'm going to keep moving forward and stop being scared. I've feared everything my entire life! I'm not going to be some snack for that thing to absorb!"
"Absorb?" That was the word that Nathan held onto from her whole rant.
"Yes. Absorbed. That's what she's trying to do to me. Absorb the powers that I got from my mom, grandma, and two of her friends when they died. Their powers were absorbed into me, and parts of their powers were absorbed from the witch that Phantasma used to be." Izzie walked to the book and found the pages about how a witch's powers can be gifted to another as a baby. She also read of a powdered potion that is used to steal the magic from a dead witch. Izzie was sure that this was Phantasma's plan; to kill Izzie and take her powers once she had become a fully grown witch. "So, you see, I am not safe here, or there, or anywhere. I need to take care of Phantasma before she kills me and then hurts every single creature in the Winding Woods. She already killed Zyon's parents because she wasn't getting her way. What is she going to do if I disappear? Who would be next?" Her voice quivered as she was fighting back her tears, filled with fear. "Now you can come with me, or you can stay here in this bubble. The choice is yours."
Nathan and Xander looked at each other, both letting out a loud sigh in frustration.
"Come on. Let's get going." Xander stood from his spot and walked to the door, opening it to wave at the shadows. "We'll be right there!" He called out to them.
"How about you?" Izzie looked at her big brother with her large sad eyes just as she did when they were kids. "Are you staying, or are you coming on an adventure with me?" She held out her hand to help him up, knowing that he was going to join them.
"Fine." He took her hand, but instead of using it to stand, he linked his pinkie finger with hers. "I made you a promise a long time ago." She smiled at him as he made his way past Xander and out the door. "Don't dawdle now Isabella. You know how we can't dawdle." He did his best impersonation of their dad as he walked out to the sunlight, trying to keep the mood light even though Nathan was sure that he was walking to his doom. He was beyond scared but had to keep his vow to always be her protector.
25: Vincent Vale’s Vanishing VessEl
Under the shroud of the shadows, the group quickly made their way back to Zyon's castle by the following day. Incubus was already a dismal place the first time that they had visited. Now, there were bodies of boggles scattered across the field outside the castle walls, and the smell of a freshly put-out fire wafted through the air. The giant shadow gracefully moved from tree to tree, hiding in the darkest spots of Incubus.
"What do you suppose happened?" Pan whispered.
"Whatever came through here isn't something the five of us are equipped to handle," Zallen replied.
"Can we get a little context in here? All we can see is the blackness." Nathan was annoyed as the force of the shadow made him walk faster than he would have preferred.
"We'll let you out when we get to the gate. You'll see it all then." Reyna's voice was stern as they pushed on.
Once they were at the gate, the shadows let them out of their center, returning to their natural form. The act of changing into a shadow and physically moving someone made them all tired, more so than traveling on foot.
Izzie, Xander, and Nathan all rubbed their eyes as they adjusted to the little bit of light showing through the trees. The earth had been burned to char. The guards that had harassed them when they last arrived were all dead, scattered amongst the ash. They were silent, frozen in their spots as they surveyed the landscape, looking for anyone to move.
"Why are you back here?" The grizzly voice that Izzie knew all too well came from behind them, causing them to jump.
Zyon stood there, disheveled as if he hadn't bathed in days or slept in a week. His eyes were bloodshot, and though Izzie didn't recall ever seeing him shave, he had a straggly beard forming on his face. The smell of day-old rum was pouring off him.
"What happened to your kingdom?" Reyna approached her cousin with concern in her eyes. "Was it Phantasma?"
Izzie did not give him the chance to respond before she started to speak. "I need to ask you about something I remember seeing in your castle."
"Anything you need, Iz. Come on in." He looked at her with sad eyes, giving her a weak smile that was not returned.
Reyna had instructed the shadows to stand guard and to watch the perimeter of the castle. She followed behind Zyon as he led Izzie, Nathan, and Xander into his castle's main hall.
"She came here looking for Izzie and set the place on fire. Not with magic. She had jars of some potion and threw them at my guards, starting everything on fire. It was like those things’ you guys set off every 4th of July back home.... fireworks. Like some fireworks blowing up. I'm starting to think she doesn't have any magic at all. Do you know what got my men killed? Fear. They were so scared of Phantasma and what she could do from all the stories they heard about her that they just froze." He answered Reyna's question as he plopped down on the thrown and pulled out a fresh bottle of rum from a bucket sitting on the floor. "She cut Rory's throat. Floated up behind him without making a sound and pulled out a dagger and dragged it across his throat. When I first got back here, Rory told me that our parents are dead too. They were dead before I ever agreed to take care of Izzie. Everything I have done was built off a lie! Izzie, I'm so sorry!" He started to sob, and his words were jumbled. "I'm so sorry!" He dropped his bottle to the ground, shattering the glass as he covered his face to cry.
Izzie's eyes were full of tears. She hated to see him hurt like that, but her anger was boiling within. Her eyes raced around the room, and then she remembered they were upstairs when she saw the picture. She left the group without saying a word. Reyna was so busy comforting her cousin that she didn't notice the boys had followed Izzie, and they were all out of sight.
"What are you looking for, Iz?" Nathan's voice was a hushed whisper as he was nearly jogging to keep up with her pace.
"Babe, slow it down! Let us help you." Xander had caught up to her and grabbed her hand, forcing her to slow her steps.
"That! That is what I'm looking for!" Izzie's face lit up as she pointed to the painting of Zyon's parent
s just as she had remembered it from all those years ago. "Help me get it down."
"You don't need to. I'm here." Zyon said as he snuck up behind her. The tears had left dried streaks down his cheeks. "What do you want with the picture of my parents?"
"The necklace. Do you know where your mom had it last? Was she wearing it? Or is it here someplace?" Izzie was talking fast as she kept pointing to the picture.
"No, it's here. She only wore that thing on special occasions." He motioned her to follow him as he staggered down the hall.
"That's what you brought us here for? That cursed necklace?!" Reyna, for the first time since Izzie had met her, had fear in her voice. "You shouldn't use the magic in that necklace."
"What do you mean? It was in her mom's spell book. That’s how we're going to trap Phantasma." Xander took Izzie's hand to comfort her.
"Reyna, don't fill their head with that nonsense. There is nothing wrong with that necklace." Zyon had to use the wall to steady himself.
"That necklace is why we have nightmares and why YOU and your family torture people in their sleep with sleep paralysis." Reyna's passion for the subject was pouring out of her.
"Have you ever thought that we need the nightmares, Reyna? Without them, people wouldn't know of fear. That there are scary things out in this world that they should be fearful of? I mean, how would they know what a good dream is if there isn't something bad to compare it to. You can't have just the good, Reyna. There must be balance. The whole Winding Woods relies on balance. And we're not the cursed ones! The other worlds know all about the boogeymen, and that you are kidnapping their children! They were teaching about you in one of her classes. How is that not terrifying? Isn't that a nightmare for the people that are left behind without their kids?!" He was walking closer to Reyna as he spoke, tipping over with every step.
"We save those children from abuse! We give them to loving homes here where we can watch them and make sure that the horrors of their lives are gone. Do you know why kids are told to fear us? Because if we can't save them, their abusers can keep them!" Reyna was next to her cousin, shoving him against the wall. "None of that happened until the boggles opened the vessel! We would never have needed to do what we do if it wasn't for your side of the family!"
Nathan pulled them apart in fear of Zyon getting hurt before he could finish helping his sister. "Hold on! If you hurt him, he can't help us."
"Haven't you been listening, human? You don't want that necklace. It is cursed!"
"Tell us why or how it's cursed, Reyna. I don't understand why it's so bad. My mom's book said it would hold evil if I put it in there." Izzie gave Reyna the same sad eyes that she gave Nathan when she wanted something and made her voice soft and soothing as she spoke.
Reyna let go of Zyon's collar and smoothed out her clothes. "Vincent Vale created his vanishing vessel hundreds of years ago. He worked with a group of witches, fairies, gnomes, and boogeymen to rid the world of evil by storing it all away in that emerald charm. The gnomes of Erresuma mined the most significant emerald that they could find, while the fairies charmed it to open, like a locket. The elves smithed the gold into the vines holding it together. The strongest coven, the Sacred Sparrow, used the Ether to push all the world's evil into the vessel, allowing our world to live in peace. " She let out a loud sigh before continuing. "Our great-great-great-great-great grandfather was Vincent Vale and he had created the idea of having a perfect night's dream that lasted into the hours of being awake. It worked for many years and his wife, Victoria, kept the gem around her neck for safekeeping."
"Okay, so who let everything out?" Xander was ready for the ending of the story to see why Reyna was so angry.
"Victoria could hear voices coming from within the gem. They were begging her to open the stone and let the fresh air in. They promised her magic like no other creature in Erresuma ever possessed. Victoria would tell Vincent about the voices and what she heard, but he told her that she was dreaming them up. She eventually took the necklace off as she couldn't listen to the noise any longer, but every morning when she would wake, there it would be around her neck again. It had attached itself to her. Eventually, the necklace possessed her. The voices drove her mad and eventually she let out all the evils of the world. The hatred, fear, and pure evilness that had been locked away were now out into the world. That's when the trees started to open to other dimensions, like where you are from. The evil found its way there too. Victoria took half of their many children and started the kingdom of Incubus while Vincent created the Guild of Shadows to fight against the evils of the world."
"Beware of the shadows, right Zyon?" Izzie said with a smirk as she watched Zyon fight to keep his eyes open.
"Huh? Yeah, Princess. Watch out for the shadows; they'll kidnap you into the darkness. That's what they do!" Zyon's eyes were wide as he was now fully awake. "She will spin it that the boggles are to blame. We are just keeping the balance of what had happened. You're mad about something that happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago!"
"You still project fear and harmfulness out into the world!" Reyna screamed.
"You kidnap alien babies from other worlds and dump them off in the woods!"
"You kidnap children too!" She was pointing right at Izzie.
"I didn't kidnap her! I protected her after she had already been kidnapped!"
"Protected? Protected? You think you were protecting me?" The anger in the pit of Izzie's stomach was rising to her throat. "You lied to me. For my whole life! You told me that my parents would be fine when I got back. You said that the shadows were the ones trying to bring me to Phantasma, not that you were just babysitting me until she could get my powers. You didn't even tell me I had powers until they accidentally went off! I had to figure that out myself."
Xander and Nathan were on either side of Izzie, trying to calm her down. Silver sparks were coming from her fingertips with every syllable she said.
"Easy, babe," Xander said, stroking her arm. She pulled it away, and when she did, her force shook all the pictures on the walls, causing them to crash to the floor.
"When were you going to tell me? When we got here, and you dropped me off at the lake to be slaughtered? I thought you loved me?!"
"Princess, you've got to understand the position I was in."
"Don't-ever-call-me-Princess AGAIN!" She screamed, and the glass in the windows shattered, sending shards falling to the ground outside.
Zyon raised his hands in protest, trying to calm her down. "Okay, okay, Isabella, let me show you something." He lowered his voice and motioned her to come to the window as he drunkenly made his way to the edge. "Do you see all those houses down there? All those lights that are on?" Izzie peered over the edge and nodded at him. "Each one of those houses has multiple boggles inside. I'm responsible for them. Phantasma took my parents, which left me and my brother Rory to lead the kingdom. I thought she had power! It's like that ethics class you and Xander were just in. What do you have to do for the greater good? I didn't know who you were or where you came from. I was taken advantage of just like you were. We're not in charge of our fates. She played both of us! She had killed my parents the second she had them and made me believe that being a part of her scheme was the only way to save them and all those boggles down there. It doesn't mean that I don't love you. You're like my child. It means that I didn't know what I was going to do when you turned twenty-one. I didn't bring you back here. They did. The shadows took you into the darkness, just like I said was going to happen. I can't tell you how sorry I am, Iz. I should have told you everything and let you make that choice." Zyon slumped down to the ground and was crying big heavy sobs. "I hope you can forgive me."
Izzie stood there, blankly staring out the window. "I don't know what I would have done either." She coldly responded. Xander hugged her and kissed her on top of her head.
"Zyon, we're done listening to your crap! Take us to the necklace so we can go." Nathan picked Zyon up off the floor and pushed him toward t
he directions he had previously been walking. "You're not protecting my sister, but we will." He shouted as he pointed at Xander. "Let's go!"
Reyna sympathetically touched Izzie's arm, which she pulled away from. "Let's just get this thing and get out of here."
The room that they had entered was the most extensive closet any of the humans had ever seen. There were coats, crowns, and fabrics galore. A case filled with delicate jeweled necklaces lit up in the center of the room, surrounded by a vanity with silver-plated brushes laid out on top. Zyon walked over to where the necklace was and placed his hand on the doors of the case. They glowed yellow before opening. He gingerly removed the chain and looked at it for a moment before handing the necklace over to Izzie.
"Here you go. I don't know how you plan on trapping her into that thing. Suppose the stories of it aren’t even true. They could just be a fairytale that our parents told us."
"She read something about the Ether being used to push the evil away," Xander said as he was admiring the jackets on the far wall.
"She needs to be able to control her powers, or it won't work. I don't know anything about witches, nor how to teach her that." Zyon rubbed his head as the well-overdue hangover was creeping in.
Izzie raised her hand and flicked her wrist as the doors to the cabinet closed. She then moved her hand and made the shades on the windows rise, allowing the little bit of natural light that Incubus receives to come through.
Zyon smiled at her. "Well, I'm glad you're learning something about who you are."
Izzie returned his smile this time and placed the necklace around her neck. The cool metal pressed against her skin made her even more aware of the warmth that came from her sparrow necklace.
"Now we just need to drain the lake, make it rain, AND trick Phantasma to get into your necklace. No big deal." Nathan was examining his sister's necklace. She stuck her tongue out at him in response to his sarcasm.
