Chapter fifty—I learn my Latin
I couldn’t sleep last night; not after everything I had heard, and everything that I had witnessed a couple hours ago. It was about eleven when we had all managed to get in our beds, but it was dawn that I had actually closed my eyes. I was too afraid to sleep; I didn’t know what was to come. Malistaire had told the tale many times through his actions, a dream of whats not meant to be. In a universe of the free, he will play with your mind.
As faith for the future fades faster than we expect, he will grow strong with the pain he will cause, and he will be set free.
If Malistaire rules us, he will rule with fear. Fear of him, and fear of his power weakening. He is scared, I thought. He is scared of being overwhelmed; of being taken over.
He is afraid of being weak, so he poisons the truth and he feeds on fear, thinking if he devoured it, he will be rid of it. If he ruled your loyalty and your heart, he will sell your soul to evil and darkness.
And that’s just where he belongs; he is a child of the dark.
In my heart there is a trace of a small fire burning; a sheltering ray that shines through this night, although its small, it’s bright. Darkness may be lurking, but remember what you stand for, and you will survive. We always survive.
I had walked into the living area of Fiona’s cottage. Nobody was awake besides Natalia, who was weaving by the window. The slight rays of sun shone through, making the strands of hair hanging over her face glow, as she weaved, her eyes determined.
I breathed softly, as though making too much noise; it would startle her, like a deer in the forest. I knocked on the wood paneling of the wall, and she looked up. Her eyes were not afraid, as I thought she would be, especially after last night. She was a strange girl.
“Good morning.” She announced to me, as I sat in a chair near the spinning wheel. “Did you sleep well?”
“I slept… As I usually do.” Sadly, it was the truth. “What are you weaving?”
“Weaving.” She replied, as if I couldn’t see it. “Why are you awake so early?”
“I woke up early.” I answered in the same way she did. “Why are you?”
“Oh…” She trailed off, looking off into the distance. “Just… Thinking. Everything has been rather stressful, and it’s nice to think of home.”
“Where is your home?” I asked.
“Hametsu Village
I scooted closer, interested. “My mother did the same thing… What stories did your mother tell you?”
She stopped weaving, and stared off into space out the window. “About stories of the Titans, my ancestors, and the Elemontai’s.”
“The what?”
“Titans, ancestors, and Elemontai’s.”
“Well, I got that part.” I replied with annoyance. “What are the Elemontai’s?”
She stared blankly at me. “It surprises me that you don’t know, but I suppose it’s different for you- you never grew up in Mooshu.” She turned to me. “When the Titans roamed the spiral, they lived on these separate mystical islands before they were cast down into the underworld. They each crowded the first magical planet ever made; it was the planet before the Titans warred, and made it explode, making every single chunk of that huge world a new world. When the planet exploded, it pushed the islands away. The way the islands were formed was a pentagon, and they surrounded the worlds that they were stationed at.”
“Stationed? As in they move?”
“Every thousand years, the pentagon moves, and the islands move to another piece of the scattered, destroyed planet. It’s when the moon and the sky turn blood red, and the island’s align, therefore if you cast the spell on that date, the Elemontai’s will create a shield against evil. However, as powerful as it sounds, it can’t hold against demons… The shield protects against the evil supernatural, not the creatures of the darkened heavens.” Natalia explained. “The islands were named the Elemontai’s because each Titan had an element; Fire, Ice, Storm, Myth, Life, and Death. Balance are the lines between the Elemontai’s, which make the pentagon.”
“This is a very strange story.” I frowned. “For a bedtime story, I mean.”
“My mother told it to me because it was a family tale.” Natalia remarked, quietly. “It was said that my ancestors, Peacemakers, had done a ritual with the spell, and had saved a man who was possessed with a demon…”
“Why was the man so important?” I asked, for it was merely a man.
“Because it was said that the man had helped the Enchanted race move off Earth.” Natalia shrugged, as though it was no big deal. “It may not be true, though.”
I wondered if the blood moon was near the day of the war. I spoke up, quickly. “Natalia, do you remember the spell, or at least the date of when the next ritual could be done?”
Natalia raised her eyebrow, finally making eye contact with me. “You don’t honestly think it’s a true story, do you?”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. “Just answer the question.”
“No, I don’t know the date of the next blood moon.” Natalia answered, and I felt my heart drop. “But I do know the spell. It was like a lullaby my mother sang to me; it always made me feel protected.”
“Can you tell it to me?” I asked, hopefully. I took out a piece of parchment and a quill that I kept in my bag.
Natalia’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a strange girl, Mary.”
I chuckled, wondering if she knew I thought the same about her. “Please? It’s important.”
Natalia sighed. “Alright, but only because your nice.” She smirked, and began to sing softly, her mother’s lullaby:
“Protect us with the unnatural,
Above all, it is in light we delight,
Around these worlds we ask,
Elemontai’s Pentagon to be cast-
All who enters or leaves I shall detect,
Creature, wizard, undead, all will be checked;
If harm is meant,
To our will it shall be bent-
Elemontai binds thee,
So mote it be.”
My breath was caught in my throat as I wrote the spell/song down. “And you have no idea when the next blood moon will be?”
My breath was caught in my throat as I wrote the spell/song down. “And you have no idea when the next blood moon will be?”
“Nope.” She continued to weave. “But you could always ask the Fates.”
“I-“I stuttered, rather astonished. “I can’t just have a little random chat with the Fates whenever I want to!”
“I know, but it’s easier with the Tree of Life.”
I shook my head, dumbfounded. “Everything that you’re saying makes no sense to me.”
Natalia sighed. “For a girl who is destined to save us all, it’s depressing that you don’t know much.”
I felt my face redden. “You wouldn’t know much about where I live, either, you know.”
Natalia shrugged her little annoying shrug. “The Tree of Life was planted by Moodha himself, and it is a known translator for a person to talk to the Fates. If you touch its rough bark, you can hear their voices. It’s only for people who deserve to be listened to… Without the Tree of Life, Mooshu will die.”
“Where is this Tree of Life?”
Natalia sighed once again, but not in an irritated sort of way- more of a sad way. “It is in the Yoshihito Temple , near the Village of Sorrow
“Village of Sorrow
“Everybody is sick, there…” I cocked my head in a confused manner, and she straightened up with another story. “Ever since the Tree of Life began to wilt, the Emperor and the residents of the Village of Sorrow and Yoshihito Temple
“Well, if the Tree of Life is dying, then why do you want me to go it?” I asked, bewildered. Did she want me to get sick?!
“Because I want you to save it.” Natalia’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s why I mentioned it.”
“Oh.” I had nothing to say. How could I save a dying tree? A magical tree, for that matter. It sounded like my mother’s job. “Why me?”
“Because,” Natalia sputtered, as if I was supposed to know. “It was Malistaire that cursed the Tree of Life, which is why it’s dying.”
“Because he doesn’t want us connecting to the Fates.” I rolled my eyes in deep annoyance. “That sounds exactly like something he would do.”
“You don’t seem very overwhelmed.”
“That’s because Malistaire seriously has underestimated how much connection we have with the Fates.” I replied, almost laughing.
“Why do you have such a strong connection?” Natalia asked, staring at me.
“Um.” I fiddled with a string hanging from my shirt. “That is an interesting question you have.”
“Well, hello girls.” Juan’s voice popped out of nowhere and I felt creepy chills go down my spine. “How are you this fine morn’?”
“It was perfectly fine until you came along.” I smiled a dashing smile towards him, and his stupid, perverted smile only faltered slightly. I sat up, and poured myself a cup of cold tea in the kitchen just to use time. Unfortunately, Juan followed.
“So, how did you get from Marleybone to here?”
I grimaced. “I teleported.”
He raised his eyebrow. “No wizard or witch can teleport all the way to Mooshu from any world.”
“Yeah, well.” I pretended to take a sip of my tea. “Look at me, sipping tea in a cottage in Mooshu. Quite impossible.”
He chuckled. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
“Some people’s minds reject what they don’t want to remember.”
“Such a pity,” he fake frowned. “The first time I saw you, you were imprinted on my brain.”
“That’s nice.” I swirled my tea cup around, staring at the whirlpool of tea. Looking up at Juan, I grimaced. I wondered why he had green hair.
“The night of the Enforcement Ball.” His eyes wavered, looking from my face to my toes in glances. He’s frickin’ checking me out! “I saw you in that gorgeous black gown that showed off your marvelous curves, with Caspian Nightstone drooling all over you.”
“Oh?” Well, the Caspian part caught my attention. The sound of his name sent warm tingles through my body, making me feel all jittery and nice. I wished Juan would leave me alone.
Juan inched closer and I scrunched up my nose. “I liked the way you stood up to him- you are fierce, like a tiger.” He touched my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “You were running to the balcony, and I grabbed your arm.”
Suddenly, the vivid memory came back to me in a quick reminder of what happened the night I first met Sophia.
When Abby was leading me to the exit doors to a balcony, probably to talk, I felt another hand grab my other arm. Suddenly being pulled both ways, Abby stopped in a rush to see what had stopped me.
A boy with tan skin, muddy eyes and greenish brown hair smiled a charming smile at me. “Don’t worry; Caspian can be feisty with girls. However,” he put a finger under my chin gently. “I’m quite nice, and I like girls with self-confidence.”
He smirked, and he inched closer once again. I crossed my arms, and stared directly into his dirty eyes. “Come any closer and I swear to the Fates I will slap you so hard, you won’t feel your face for a week.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll get you one day.”
Then, a miracle happened. He walked away into the living room, and I was alone. “Creep.” I muttered under my breath, while dumping the tea into the sink. “I hate black tea.”
“He is a creep.” Abby walked into the kitchen with Fiona by her side. Abby’s hair was perfectly straight, despite the fact she had just woken up. “Did you see him checking me out last night?”
“He’s that kid from Marleybone- the kid that flirted with me after I fought with Caspian.” I explained. “It’s so disgusting.”
“Despite boy troubles, have any of you require food?” Fiona asked, taking out a cauldron and placing it over the fireplace. “I’m thinking of making corn and beef soup.”
“I’m starving.” Abby announced quite loudly. “But my stomach hurts like hell.” She was sitting down at the little dining table, holding her stomach. Fiona nodded to Abby, and picked a plant leaf from the window sill. She placed it in the cauldron, and poured steaming hot water into it.
“What are you doing?” I asked, but she didn’t reply. Instead, she began chanting quietly into the cauldron.
“Plantae terrae huius potione aurare.” The contents in the cauldron suddenly came to life, steaming. She tipped the cauldron into a bowl, and put it in front of Abby. “It would be stronger, but a few things were missing from my storage.”
“Like what?” I asked, surprised.
“Dragon blood, dragonfly wings, and eucalyptus.” Fiona frowned. “It’s almost as if somebody was trying to make a truth potion- a potion that makes somebody tell the truth.”
“Weird.” I chuckled.
“What language did you just speak?” Abby asked her, staring at the bowl in front of her like it was poison.
“Latin.” Fiona smirked. “It’s an old language from Earth. When you use it for spells, it makes them more powerful, because it’s a powerful language.”
“What did you say in Latin?”
“Plants of the World, make this potion heal.” Fiona replied simply.
“Can you teach me?” I asked eagerly.
Fiona shrugged. “Sure…” She looked at the pot. “Are you hungry?”
I, however, was not that hungry. Instead, I answered Fiona’s question with a question. “Fiona, is there any way I could go to the Yoshihito Temple
I saw Fiona freeze, and then look at me strangely. “Why in the worlds would you want to do that?”
“Natalia told me about the Tree of Life.” I explained. “If I could possibly heal it, we could have better communication to the Fates.”
“Absolutely not.” Fiona’s decision startled me. “The bridge to reaching the Village is torn down. It’s impossible.”
“It’s not impossible.” I argued. “We can easily use magic to fix it-“
“Somebody else could heal it, then.” I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. “I don’t trust you, especially after what I had been told last night, to go near that tree. It’s very sacred- it is what keeps Mooshu alive and pulsing with light.”
I gaped at her, hurt. Abby was sitting at the table, glancing between Fiona and me. I expected her to say “This is awkward,” but she said nothing. I walked out of the room in a fury, and Abby actually followed me.
Nikki, Natalia, Sophia, Ronan and Juan were sitting in the living room, chatting. Alia and Sierra must still be in their rooms, I thought. They were staring at the door to the kitchen. Evidently, they heard my conversation with Fiona.
“Nikki, Sophia, Abby.” I acknowledged them. “Come with me.”
I walked into my bedroom, them behind me. Closing and locking the door, I turned to them with a serious look.
“Mary, what was all that about?” Sophia asked, folding her arms tightly, like a lecturing parent.
I told them everything Natalia had told me about. Their faces became gloomier and gloomier by each detail I told them, eventually into gasping when I told them about the Tree of Life.
“And Fiona won’t let us go?” Nikki grunted in annoyance.
“Us?” I croaked. “I can’t bare the chance of having you guys become sick. I’m going on this journey alone.”
“But if you get sick, then what will we do?” Abby exclaimed, her hands in angry fists. “We aren’t going to just stand here like fools.”
“All that I want to do is try to heal the Tree.” I explained. “If I can’t, I’ll put a protection spell on it, depriving any darkness to add furthermore damage… However, if it isn’t healed, it’s still damaged, which kind of doesn’t help much.”
“Then let’s go before it gets anymore damaged!” Nikki jumped up clearly determined. “We can just sneak out. Its not like Fiona can stop us.”
“Yeah,” I decided. “But that wont help much with the trust she doesn’t have in us anymore.”
“Then we will sneak out tonight.” Abby decided, always the sneaky one. “Fiona won’t know a thing.”
“And the Tree of Life will be helped.” Sophia smiled.
“I still don’t like this idea.” I sighed.
“Yeah, well, you’re all nice and wise.” Abby smirked. “You don’t know crap about being naughty.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Nikki walked over to the door, unlocking it. “We should go eat whatever Fiona has conjured up, besides that weird healing potion.” She opened the door, and Sierra was standing right outside, her hand outstretched to the doorknob, her other hand holding a tray with tea.
“Hello, Sierra.” I stuttered, surprised. “I didn’t know you were out and about.”
“Yeah, well.” She smiled a weak smile. “I wanted to apologize for the way I acted last night.”
“Oh, it’s alright.” I smiled back.
“If it’s alright with you guys,” Sierra turned to my sisters. “I kind of want to speak to Mary alone…”
I felt my smile falter. Something isn’t right.
However, the girls didn’t notice. They murmured their goodbyes, and walked outside, secretly scheming tonight’s plan.
I looked at Sierra, studying her every movement. She seemed nervous; almost guilty. “Whats up?”
“Well, I-“Sierra sat up, and began to pace. She almost seemed lost at words. “I just wanted to talk about something.”
“Which is?” I asked. It was almost like she was stalling.
“About…” Her eyes lit up. “About how you got from Marleybone to Mooshu.”
“Oh,” I shrugged. “Juan asked me the same question earlier this morning… I just teleported.”
“B-but that’s impossible.” Sierra’s voice wavered.
“Sierra, are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine.” She smiled her little smile, and then glanced down at the tea. “Oh! I almost forgot. I brought you some tea.”
“Thank you.” I took a cup, and wondered if she was going to pour some for herself. I took a sip, and it tasted strange. Almost like a metallic, thick taste. It was too late before Sierra jumped towards the door, and locked it. I dropped the teacup, remembering what Fiona had told me this morning. It’s almost as if somebody was making a truth potion- a potion that makes you tell the truth.
“What-the-hell, Sierra!” I gritted my teeth. I felt uptight and strange, as if I was on Sierra’s command.
“I’m so sorry!” Sierra told me quietly. “As Malistaire’s daughter, I just can’t trust you. I’m part of the Enforcement still, Mary, and I have to do this.”
I wanted to scream. “Don’t do this, Sierra.”
Sierra’s face darkened. “You are hiding things- admit it!”
I couldn’t even will myself to close my mouth. “I admit it.”
Ah, crap. I thought. I’m trapped.
Sierra’s lip trembled. “I’m just going to ask you a few questions. I hate doing this, but it will ware off in a little bit of time.”
As if saying its not permanent will change things!
She asked her first question: “Are you running from something?”
“I am not sure.” I blinked, now realizing that I never really thought of the question. Now that I know demons are released, perhaps we are running from something.
Sierra took a deep breath. “Are you an ally with Malistaire?”
“No.” I gritted my teeth in anger.
Sierra put her arms around herself, as if cold. “What are you looking for?”
Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! I felt myself shaking, trying to hide it, but it was too much.
“The Seraphina-Alleyen.”
Sierra frowned. “Can you tell me what that is?”
I couldn’t speak- but if I didn’t, my head would pound and my mouth would burn, as if I had eaten raw jalapeños. I felt my head turn towards my bag, where my mother’s music box and letter sat.
I willed myself not to cry as Sierra sat up quickly, taking the letter with her pale, tiny hands. As she read, I breathed heavily, watching her.
When she finished, she lowered the letter, staring into my eyes.
“What the hell are you, Mary Ravengem?”
