Chapter thirty-two—Marleybone
I didn’t exactly understand if Malistaire was going to come. Surely, he would be here, if he truly believed Krokopatra’s words.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She spoke, as if we were visitors in a little cottage in a fairytale.
I pointed my sword at her, glad it was with me. It worked better than a wand. “I know your plan, now. If Malistaire truly believed we were here, then he would be here.”
Krokopatra blinked, and in her stupid mind, she looked dumbfounded. “He is going to come.”
“No, he isn’t. He thinks you’re stupid. He doesn’t think you would be able to kidnap us- and you can’t. You’re overpowered, Krokopatra, and the Order is here.”
“Mary, careful.” Nikki whispered to me, cautiously. “She still doesn’t know about the S.A.
I recognized what I had said. I wondered if she was suspicious of my statement: He doesn’t think you would be able to kidnap us. Slowly, I fixed my mistake. “Can you even kidnap us? Two, tiny little girls?”
Krokopatra, overcome with anger, screamed a violent scream. She held a sharp wand at us, taunting. “I will kill you. I am not stupid!”
She was extremely sensitive, I observed. If there was only way to trick her. She was dumb enough.
However, before anything could happen, a wondrous roar came from behind us. At first, I thought we were to be attacked by another Hellhound, but what was behind Nikki and I was very different.
It happened to be a dragon, with three heads, just as the Hellhound. Each head was a different color- red, light blue, and purple. Nikki gasped in amazement, and the dragon flew over to Krokopatra, and began clawing at her face. It was a small dragon- perhaps a baby.
“It’s a hydra.” Nikki laughed. “They’re very rare! I wonder how one got here.”
“How is it rare?” I asked, while I watched in shock as the hydra began to kill Krokopatra. Blood sprayed the room like a fan.
“It is known that they are descendants from the rain.” Nikki replied.
Suddenly, I knew how the hydra got here. The rains, back in the desert. Either my mother, or the Fates had sent it, or I knew it was ours to keep.
When the hydra was finished, it flew towards us. Nikki stepped back with slight fear, but I stepped forward. The hydra, despite all its gruesome acts, had no blood on itself. It was actually kind of cute.
“Mary, what are you doing?” Nikki hissed.
“It’s sent by the Fates.” I answered, simply. The hydra nuzzled one of its heads into my hand. “Its heads are for Fire, Ice, and Storm, right?”
Nikki nodded, and she ran to get the Krokonomicon. She wiped off the blood off the cover, and I saw a tear run down her cheek. “I despise violent deaths.”
“I agree.” I replied, with true sorrow. I stood up, and the hydra unfurled its wings. I looked down, and thought of a name. “Its name will be Xena.”
“It’s a girl, you know.” Nikki told me, as she held the book to her chest.
I ignored that last comment, not wanting the knowledge on how Nikki knew that. She knows everything, but questioning that might give me a disturbing answer. So, I changed the topic. “Where will we keep the Krokonomicon?”
“I don’t know.” Nikki shrugged. “Definitely not the Order of the Fang. It was already stolen once, so evidently it’s not protected enough.”
“Or in our keeping, considering that Malistaire is already chasing after us. Having another thing he wants will just make him want to kill us even more.” I sighed. Xena followed quietly behind us, flapping its wings cheerfully.
Footsteps suddenly echoed around us, in the tunnel, like a spiraling disturbance. It sounded like running. Suddenly, somebody came into view, with his black hair sticking out of his ponytail, eyes creased in worry. “Are you guys alright? And is that a..?”
“Hydra, yes.” Nikki answered quickly. “And we are alright. Krokopatra is dead.”
‘Did I just hear that somebody killed Krokopatra?” A girl with light golden blonde hair walked up behind Matt, and out of the darkness, five other people stepped out as well. They were all blood smeared, but apparently unharmed.
“Who are you?” I asked, confused. “In fact, who are all of you? I mean your names.”
Sierra stepped up, grinning. She pointed to the white-blonde haired girl, with the slim brown eyes. Next to her, was another dirty-blonde girl, with blue-green eyes. “The white-haired one is Saffron, and the blonde one is Caroline.” She pointed to the light-blonde haired girl next to Matt, and to Laura. “Next to Matt is Shanna, and that’s Laura Raven.”
“And you know Sierra and I.” Rowan nodded curtly. It shocked me that a girl of her age was fighting so violently. However, I kept that thought to myself.
I nodded. “And you’re all in the Order.”
They all mumbled something like a yes.
The girl named Saffron cocked her head, frowning in concentration. “Is that… The Krokonomicon?”
“It sure is.” Nikki replied, with a proud look. “We just don’t know where to hide it.”
Sierra and Rowan smiled, glancing at each other. Sierra spoke up. “I think I know a good area, however, it’s not exactly in this world.”
I raised my eyebrow. “You mean we’re going to have to leave Krokotopia?”
She smiled reassuringly. “We will have books, so you shall learn plenty still. However, I’m going to a place named Marleybone. It’s a city area, and they’ve been having some… Troubles. Anyways, the thing is, I’m joining a Police Force to help out there.” Sierra grinned. “I want you and Melissa to join.”
“Alright?” I told her, and Nikki looked exasperated for some reason.
“What does this have to do with hiding the Krokonomicon?” She asked, irritably. I stared at her, wondering why her attitude was so dull.
“There is a clockwork tower in their grand museum. Nobody knows about it but the high officials. It will be safe there.”
“Could I just… Talk with Mary for a moment?” Nikki smiled charmingly, but I saw annoyance in her eyes. The Order nodded, and Nikki took me aside.
“What is it? Why are you so irritated?” I demanded, wanting to know.
“We don’t have time for this!” Nikki exclaimed. Wringing her hands, she looked stressed. “We can’t just go off to Marleybone, when the S.A.
“Why not? You heard Sierra. They are having troubles, and I want to help.” I pouted.
“You will be helping by finding the S.A.
I sighed, and stared longingly at Sierra. She was talking to Matt, Shanna, and Laura.
“Are you alright?” Rowan’s voice startled me, and I jumped. I sighed sadly, and glanced at Nikki’s harsh glare.
“Yes.” I lied.
“You know, you guys should really join the Department.” Rowan grinned, as though she was inviting us to a Play. “We’ve been getting some big cases.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but we can’t. We have too much to do.”
“Wait a moment.” A light lit Nikki’s eyes. “Could you tell us some of the cases?”
I gazed at her, trying to understand why Nikki was so strangely reactive. Why would she want to know the cases that they had?
“Well,” Rowan started, thinking. “Murder on the rooftops, scratchings, the mysterious woman-“
Suddenly, that caught me off guard. “Wait, whats the ‘mysterious woman’ about?”
“It’s a strange one, but apparently people have been seeing a woman in black on the rooftops. A common person would call her a thief, but she has stolen nothing! She just wonders around, until somebody found her covered in blood. Not her own blood, but something else. She is now known as a murderer- but nobody can capture her. Mysterious, huh?” Rowan twirled a curled lock of dark red hair, her green cat eyes glinting.
Nikki and I made eye contact, and nodded. This case of the woman was no case at all. It was something more dangerous, like us.
“Let’s go to Marleybone.” Nikki announced, and the Order cheered.
Later that night, with my arm now healed with my powers, I packed. Nikki sat on a bench as Sierra and I organized our suitcases. Ronan was back with his boat, but this time, we were apparently going to ship to be directly under the Northern lights. That was the Marleybone portal.
“I wish there was a better teleporter invented.” I sighed, stacking my clothes. “So we wouldn’t need to ship out every time.”
“I know, right?” Sierra grinned. Strangely, I never saw her so cheerful. I wondered if she thought Nikki and I were up to something. It was hard keeping the S.A.
In the dark of night, we left the tent. I kept that tent in my memory, knowing I would miss it. Despite the times I’ve spent here, I still loved the place. The deserts and beautiful sky was my paradise- even though I’d always have to wake up.
I breathed in a deep breath of the sweet night air. Deep inside my mind, I prayed and promised that I would listen to the rain. That I shall not fall.
While the stars of beauty watched with sorrow, missing us, we walked upon Ronan’s ship, and set sail.
I leaned against the wooden railing of the ship, treasuring the low wind running its fingers through my hair. I treasured the serenity in the darkness of the water, and the brightness of the stars. I closed my eyes, and let the wind take us away.
I blew a kiss to the world I loved, and we disappeared from view.
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