Crowns and Curses

by V. B. Marlowe

  “Hi. My name’s Gretchen. I can make a recipe for almost anything. If you drink this, you will be even more beautiful than you are now.”

  The woman stared at the tin cup, tapping her fingers on the side of her oval-shaped face. She snatched the cup from Gretchen’s hand and drank it. Gretchen scrambled back to her seat on the rock.

  The woman wiped her mouth, seeming to be satisfied. "What else?"

  What could they offer that would be of use to her? The Yuki-onna pointed to something in Oriana’s hand—the golden compass.

  Oriana shook her head, hiding the compass behind her back. “No. I’m sorry. I can’t. We need it to know where to go.”

  “Ori,” Scarlett whispered loudly, “we won’t be going anywhere if we’re turned into ice sculptures.”

  Oriana shoved the compass into the pocket of her coat. "No. I can't. There has to be another way." She smiled brightly at the woman. Molly hoped Oriana's doll-like features would work in her favor. "You don't want this old thing. It has magic on it that only makes it work for me."

  The woman’s face twisted into a grimace. She turned her head to the side and exhaled heavily. Immediately a thick line of ice formed mid-air and hung there.

  Lily turned to Isleen. “Uh. We better think of something quick. You’re the expert. What do we do?”

  Isleen furrowed her brow for a few seconds before hopping to her feet again. “Wait, please. We can give you something much better than that old compass. You must get very lonely out here all by yourself. Besides us, you probably haven’t had a visitor in ages, right?”

  The woman didn’t answer the question, but she stared at Isleen intently. At least she had her attention, but Molly wondered where she was going with this.

  “We can bring you someone,” Isleen said. “Someone who will stay with you forever.”

  Molly stood. “What are you doing? Who are you going to bring to her?” She didn’t want them making any promises they couldn’t keep.

  Isleen shrugged. “I came up with the idea. Can’t you figure that part out?”

  Molly put her hand to her forehead as she thought. The Yuki-onna was losing what little patience she had as she jutted her chin forward. Molly worried that her next move would be another icy blast. Now that Isleen had put the offer out there, she had to think of someone. Who could she banish to this frostbitten island inhabited by a snow ghost? "I have someone," she said. "He's a doctor, and he's very handsome."

  Molly felt only a little bit guilty about trading Dr. Meyer. He had put all their lives in danger and caused a severe delay in them locating the first pen.

  The snow hag cocked her head to the side in interest. “Forever.”

  “Yes,” Molly replied. “He will come here and be yours forever.”

  The woman's face softened. She looked content like a baby who had just been fed. She reached into the folds of her kimono and retrieved a small burgundy box with gold trim. She held it out but then snatched it back quickly. "If you do not keep your promise to me, I will come for each of you wherever you are, and you will die a slow, frosty death."

  Molly swallowed hard at the threat. "We promise," she said speaking for the group. The woman approached Molly. She reached out a bony hand and held Molly's chin. It was the coldest thing that had ever come into contact with her skin. It felt like needles, and Molly felt as though when the woman removed her hand, she would take Molly's skin along with it. The woman ran her cold fingers all over Molly’s face. “Pretty,” she whispered.

  She handed Molly the box. Molly wrapped her fingers around it but before she could utter the words, "Thank you," the woman and the fog had disappeared.

  Everyone breathed sighs of relief. Molly tucked the box into her bag. Isleen stood with her pack. "Thank goodness you're not ugly. Now let's get out of here before we freeze to death."

  They rose from their places and heaved their packs onto their backs. Oriana held her compass out and pointed to the east. “We need to go that way.”

  The group followed her traveling in a straight line. After about half an hour, a swirling blue circle appeared, and Molly couldn't have been happier to see it. Each person stepped through one by one. When it was her turn, Molly took a deep breath and took one last look behind her at the frozen tundra. “Now on to “too hot”.”

  21

  Isleen

  AS SOON AS THEY’D entered the next portal for Thinnis, Isleen missed the cold. The sun blazed, radiating off the yellow sand making her feel as though she were baking in an oven. Unlike the others, Isleen had rather enjoyed the cold. She liked the way it pricked her skin like knives. She liked the way it made her feel alive.

  Everyone stopped to tear off their winter clothes, leaving them behind in a pile on the blistering sand. Once they had stripped down to t-shirts, tanks, shorts, leggings, and boots, they followed Oriana and her compass.

  Isleen tried to recall everything she could about Ammit. "She usually resides by the lake of fire, so we need to look for that. What time is it?"

  Ms. Dillinger glanced at her watch. “We probably have a few hours before it gets dark. Thankfully it should cool down then.”

  "What will we do about the beasties when they turn?" Isleen asked. It was a fair question. What if Scarlett and Oriana tried to hurt them when they were in their animal form? They weren't exactly in a place where they could separate from the group.

  “They will stay with us,” Ms. Dillinger answered. “We will need them.”

  “But what about our safety?” Isleen wondered out loud. “We have enough enemies to fight as it is. We don’t need them turning on us.”

  “We won’t turn on you,” Oriana said sternly, shoving the compass into her pocket.

  Isleen knew it was best not to start a fight right then, but how could Ori possibly make a statement like that when she had no control over it? “Yeah? How do you know? You weren’t there that night when Scarlett tried to rip us apart.”

  Scarlett looked down at the sand sheepishly and said nothing. Oriana came to the aid of her best friend. “She had a bad moment. She won’t do it again.” She stopped walking and glared at Isleen. “Scarlett didn’t mean what she had done, but you did. I think we should be more afraid of you than you are of us.”

  “Ori . . .” Lily warned.

  Isleen had no response to that. What could she possibly say?

  "What are you talking about?" Ms. Dillinger asked. "What did she do?" She'd asked that question before, but no one had told her the truth about what happened that night.

  Isleen had no idea why the girls hadn't snitched on her, but she had a bad feeling that her luck was about to run out.

  “It’s nothing,” Lily said quickly. “Just a little misunderstanding.”

  Relief was over Isleen, and she was grateful to Lily for probably the first time ever.

  After an awkward silence hung in the air, it was evident that everyone had some concerns about their safety. Scarlett sighed. "Look, if I try to hurt you, Izzy can knock me out with her sleeping powder."

  Isleen liked the idea of that. “Yes. I could do that.”

  Ms. Dillinger took a swig of the water from her container. The ice was finally thawing out. “So, it’s settled then. Let’s keep moving forward and stay focused.”

  "So how exactly does this work?" Gretchen asked. "She'll give us the box if we all have pure hearts?"

  Isleen shrugged. "I don't know what we'll have to do exactly. I say just be prepared to take her down if we have to. She's big, but she's slow. We should be able to handle her."

  They walked on taking several breaks for food and water, but being mindful of the time and the warning Ms. Bea had given them. Isleen was soaking wet from perspiration. She had the urge to rip off the wet clothes clinging to her body. She wanted nothing more than to take an ice-cold shower or a plunge in the pool.

  “You know what I could go for right now?” Scarlett asked. “A great big bowl of ice cream. Vanilla with chocolate syrup and walnuts.”

&n
bsp; Gretchen closed her eyes. “Hmmmm. I’d like a tall raspberry slushy with cherries on top.”

  “Make mine a strawberry-banana smoothie,” Oriana added.

  Isleen tried to tune the girls out because they were making her both hungry and thirsty. Thankfully the sun began to set, and the air cooled little by little. When it was completely dark, Ms. Dillinger said that they should stop to get some sleep. They found a cluster of palm trees and made themselves comfortable between them. Everyone unrolled the tarps they carried in their bags and spread them out over the sand. Ms. Dillinger yawned. "Just a couple of hours. We're already down a day, and we need to keep moving."

  Scarlett and Oriana moved away from the group to undergo their transformations, but they weren’t far enough to be out of sight. Isleen of course, couldn’t sleep like the others although she longed too. She rested her back against the trunk of a palm tree. Though her body ached from exhaustion and her eyes watered from a lack of sleep, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

  She did, however, keep an eye on Scarlett and Oriana. She didn't trust the bear and the wolf as much as the others did and she was ready with her flute of sleeping powder if she needed to use it.

  While the others snoozed, Isleen’s gaze wandered to something glistening in the darkness a few feet away. Slowly and quietly Isleen crept toward it. In the sand was something that looked like a diamond, but it wasn’t a diamond. It was something better. Something more powerful.

  Isleen picked up the thing that looked like a jewel and held it close to her face. It warmed and glistened in the palm of her hand, sending surges through her body. It had to be something special.

  She glanced over her shoulder at the others. They were all still fast asleep, even the animals. She dug around in the sand nearby to see if there were any more. She didn’t find any others, but she did find something that felt like a rough cloth. She retrieved it from the sand and brushed it off, holding it up to her lantern. Messy writing was scrawled across it, but it was written in English. “The keeper of this Glimmer will possess magic whenever he or she holds it. Use it wisely. Its power is limited.”

  Isleen smiled to herself, holding the Glimmer to her chest. She couldn’t believe how lucky she had been to find it, but then she thought it had to be placed there just for her. It was too much of a coincidence. She held the Glimmer to her lips and kissed it. “Don’t worry little magic jewel. I’m going to use you very, very wisely.”

  She crept back over to her pack, and after making sure everyone was still asleep, she hid the Glimmer all the way at the very bottom. Maybe she could use it to get out of Everly. At the rate she was going, she would never be granted an elixir.

  While the others slept, Isleen thought of all the things she could do with her newfound magic. She needed to know more about it. Where had it come from? What could it do? Could she use it to break past the barrier that surrounded Everly Academy? Could she use it to control Ms. Bea and the other girls? Maybe she could use it to get something else she wanted. Owen. How perfect would it be for the two of them to be able to break away from Everly and spend the rest of their lives together? If she could get him away from Everly, he would forget all about Ms. Dillinger.

  Before she knew it, the sun was rising, and the alarm on Ms. Dillinger's watch caused everyone to stir. The girls ate a bit of their food before moving on. Scarlett and Oriana were human once again, and the desert heat was as hot as ever.

  “I don’t have much water left,” Oriana pointed out. “I hope we get to where we’re headed soon.”

  Isleen's water was running low too, and the others reported the same. Without water, it was hot enough for them to die.

  Hours later they approached a large cave that seemed to run a few miles wide. Oriana consulted her compass. “It’s pointing in that direction,” she said, nodding toward the cave. “We have to go inside.”

  Isleen summoned all the courage she had. There was never a good reason to enter a cave, and it was most probably where Ammit lived. She didn't have many fears, but she wasn't particularly fond of enclosed, dark places.

  The inside of the cave was beautiful and not what she was expecting at all. Everyone gasped as they entered. The entire cave seemed to be made of gold. It was everywhere and so shiny that it was almost blinding. The yellow metal hung from the ceiling in the shape of icicles. Even the boulders scattered throughout were made of gold. A narrow path lay before them.

  The further they ventured in, the higher the temperature rose. Just as Isleen was about to down the last of her water, Ms. Dillinger paused. "Shhh. Do you hear that?"

  A familair noise came from somewhere nearby. It was the same sound she heard when water boiled in a pot. They moved forward a few more feet, and the narrow opening led them to a vast cavern. In the center of it was the lake of fire Isleen had read so much about. Steam rose from the pool of fiery red liquid which bubbled in certain areas. The heat coming from it made Isleen feel as if she were going to melt and she couldn't imagine what it would be like to fall in. She pictured the flesh melting off her bones right away. Isleen took deep breaths as the smell of something burning made it hard to breathe.

  "Look." Lily pointed to something in the distance.

  Across the lake of fire, nestled in the corner was Ammit. Isleen had seen different representations of her in books, but in person, she was much bigger than she imagined. Ammit slept soundly, laying on her short legs. She had the long snout of a crocodile with a mess of wild brown hair piled on top of her head. Her stubby hippo tail wagged back and forth.

  “So, what now?” Ms. Dillinger asked.

  All eyes went to Isleen who sighed in exasperation. "Of course. Everyone wants Izzy to figure everything out. I don't know, but somehow we have to get the box from that thing."

  Lily got her bow and arrow in position.

  Scarlett eyes her warily. "Lily, what are you doing?"

  "Getting this show on the road," Lily answered. She squinted and let the arrow go. The golden arrow soared over the lake of fire, hitting Ammit square right between the ribs. The creature stirred, releasing a low growl. Before anyone could protest, Lily shot another arrow. This one landed directly in Ammit's eye before clattering to the ground. Ammit roared, climbing clumsily to her feet as the cavern vibrated from the sound.

  "Great, Lily," Isleen said. "Now you've pissed her off."

  Lily lowered her bow. "Well, what were we going to do? Stand here and watch her sleep until our time ran out?"

  Lily might have had a point, but Isleen wasn't about to admit it.

  Ms. Dillinger stared straight ahead. "Look underneath it. It looks like one of the boxes."

  She was right. A small box rested on the ground right underneath Ammit's belly.

  "Well," Oriana said. "Somebody go get it."

  Isleen nodded sarcastically. "Sure. All we have to do is make our way around the fire lake and get the box from Ammit without being thrown into molten lava. Piece of cake."

  The creature stared at them expectantly wagging her thick tail. Isleen thought she looked more like a friendly dog than something they should be afraid of, but of course, looks could be deceiving.

  Isleen thought back to what she knew of the creature. "She judges your soul. If your heart is judged to be pure, then she lets you be, but if not, she tosses you into the lake of fire."

  Ms. Dillinger paled. "So, going over there is like playing the lottery. You may think you have a pure heart, but if you don't, you're doomed."

  “Well,” Gretchen said. “I think we know who not to send over there.”

  Isleen knew perfectly well that it was a job directed at her. She didn't want to be the one to take a gamble with Ammit, but she wasn't about to let Gretchen's comment slide. She was sick of them acting as if they were so much better than her.

  "Yeah," Isleen retorted. "Well since you're all so good and perfect, why don't you go over and get it? It shouldn't be a problem." Gretchen looked like she was about to attempt it, but Ms. Dillin
ger interjected. "No, no, no. I can't take that kind of chance. I just can't."

  Isleen jumped as a booming voice filled the cavern. It took a moment for her to realize that the voice was coming from Ammit. In all her research she had never read that it spoke. "You've come for the box."

  Ms. Dillinger took a step forward. “Y—yes we have.”

  Ammit lowered herself onto the box again. "To get the next box, you must reject the three temptations."

  “The three temptations?” Isleen asked. “What does that mean?”

  Ammit rose again, awkwardly turning her body counter-clockwise revealing an opening in the wall of the cavern. The doorway was dark and narrow. "Only three of you. First is the teacher."

  All eyes went to Ms. Dillinger. She swallowed hard a few times before she finally moved. She removed her sword from where it rested in its sheath and made her way around the fiery lake. Ammit watched her curiously as she approached, but it didn't stir. Isleen and the others watched anxiously as Ms. Dillinger disappeared through the dark crevice.

  22

  MOLLY

  MOLLY PAUSED AT THE doorway. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. Her heart was beating so rapidly she feared it would burst through her chest. Molly had no idea what to expect once she stepped inside or if she'd be able to leave once she did. Ammit had been very cryptic with the instructions. All she'd told them was that they had to reject three temptations. Molly through a final glance behind her at the girls waiting on the other side of the lake of fire. They had come this far, and she wouldn't let the journey be a failure because of her.