Olivia and Trevor went downstairs, entering an impressive room. The walls were decorated with fancy wallpaper; on the floor, a symbol touched almost all the edges of the room. A symbol Olivia had never seen that resembled an eye. In the middle, there was a pedestal and a Book resting on it. The Book of the Portals.
Once again, it looked as though they were alone in the place. There was no sign of Edmund Lars or his allies. However, they had learned before that looks could be deceiving. They should be prepared for the worst; at any time now there could be phookas or trolls or who knew what else attacking them.
The Book of the Portals seemed to call Olivia and Trevor, and as they got closer to it, the whole room vibrated as if they had passed through a force field.
“Be careful, Trev,” said Olivia, her eyes locked on the Book.
Trevor closed the Book and his fingers went numb. He felt as though he was touching years of history, sadness, fighting, loneliness. The Book was heavy with meaning, with expectations. Olivia and Trevor were waiting for something to happen as soon as they touched the Book, for someone to attack them. But nothing. The room was still empty.
“Let’s go!” urged Trevor, hugging the Book of the Portals tightly and walking to the stairs they had used before. “I don’t believe that we’ve been through all this and won’t even be able to put a face to a name.”
“I believe it’s better this way.”
They ran up the marble stairs very fast and crossed the dining room like a hurricane. The place seemed to have stretched. And as they were so eager to get out of that house, they felt like it was taking forever to get to the dining room doors. When they were finally about to go through the doorway, the doors closed, making a loud noise that echoed inside the room.
Olivia and Trevor turned away slowly, and there he was. Standing in the middle of the room was a tall, skinny man, hair as red as blood and straight, falling over his shoulders and delicately framing his features. The man had a tranquil look on his face. The tranquility of someone who knows exactly how something is going to end. Someone who is sure of victory. Olivia and Trevor knew before any introduction: They were seeing Edmund Lars for the first time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Expected Journey
“Ibite my tongue,” cursed Trevor as soon as he put his eyes on Edmund Lars.
Olivia and Trevor didn’t know what to do or what to say. They just stood there, looking at Lars. Trevor held the Book of the Portals tightly in his arms, trying to decide what to do next.
As Olivia stood there, she studied Edmund Lars’ face and found him disturbingly normal. He would easily pass unnoticed in a crowd. He would easily blend in anywhere. He would easily be someone else.
“So, what are we waiting for?” said Edmund Lars in his grave, penetrating voice, breaking the silence. The expression on his face didn’t change a bit. It was almost calming.
He didn’t give Olivia and Trevor much time. As soon as he was finished talking, he threw a giant flame at the two friends. The fire quickly spread out and took over the room completely. Tiny salamanders came out from it, full of life and scintillating, dancing on the ground. Olivia’s and Trevor’s eyes burned from the fire, and the smoke scratched their insides as it entered their lungs. They both coughed frantically. Trevor threw the Book of the Portals closer to the doors and began to shoot arrows at Edmund Lars, who didn’t seem to care.
Olivia was now thinking about how she could extinguish the fire from the room. And before she even noticed, she was making water fall from the ceiling, like an artificial rain. The fire weakened, and the salamanders disappeared one by one. The tables that had been so beautifully set before were now burned, and there was only wreckage scattered across the room.
Trevor was moving around throwing arrows relentlessly and protecting himself when Lars sent more fire and blasts of wind at the boy’s direction. Olivia lifted what was left of some of the burned tables by waving her hand and then throwing them at Lars. He could almost too easily defend himself and would stop them in the air, breaking the tables into a thousand pieces, turning them into dust on the floor. Trevor tried to take advantage of the moments in which Lars defended himself from Olivia’s spells. He would fire more arrows at the wizard, in the hopes that one would eventually strike him and do some kind of damage. However, nothing seemed to alarm him. Nothing that Olivia and Trevor did get even close to touching his skin.
They kept trying, and their movements were now synchronized. Trevor jumped lightly from one side of the room to another, resembling a bird playing between the branches of a tree. His movements were agile and coordinated, but even so, his arrows were never fast enough to touch Edmund Lars.
The evil wizard had barely moved during the whole fight. He was still there, practically in the middle of the room, waving his hands and making Olivia and Trevor believe that there was something, a sort of invisible shield protecting him. His face was unchanging; his eyes even seemed peaceful. Olivia saw no hesitation, no surprise, and even no hate there.
Edmund Lars seemed to be invincible. At some point that was the only thing that Olivia and Trevor could think. He was so skilled in magic that all the things around him seemed to be at his will. And Olivia even wondered if that wasn’t the case for herself and Trevor too. Had this all been part of Lars’ plan since the beginning? Were she and Trevor fighting just the way Lars intended? He appeared to know every step they would take, everything they would try against him. He was always prepared and protected.
The room was now almost completely destroyed. The wreckage from the dining tables and chairs were transformed by Lars into long snakes that crept in Olivia’s and Trevor’s direction. Trevor jumped back fast, getting closer to Olivia, who was trying to think of something that could save them.
“Get behind me!” Olivia yelled to Trevor, who quickly obeyed.
Olivia got down and touched the floor, making it shake like in an earthquake. The movement made the snakes lose their form as the small wood pieces separated. Olivia’s powers came from nature, she needed the element’s assistance to do her magic. She thought about water, and she asked for its help. Moments afterward, a rush of water washed over the floors, making the fake snakes completely disappear.
Olivia searched Lars’ face and found a discreet smile. This was the first time during the whole battle that the man had moved. He began walking toward Olivia and Trevor, who quickly got into their attack positions once more. But there was something about Edmund Lars that made them slower. They got a bit hypnotized by him, and they just stood there, ready for battle but doing nothing.
Suddenly, there was a bang, and the two red doors opened at once. Through them came Belenos, Alegra, and Orion, who quickly joined the fight. Belenos got to Olivia and Trevor and grabbed them urgently by their arms.
“Let’s go! Let’s go! We must go!” he said, almost yelling.
“But–what about Alegra?” said Trevor.
“There’s no time. She’s strong, Trevor. You must trust her,” said Belenos, guiding them to the door. Trevor got down on his way out and grabbed the Book of the Portals from when it had landed. The thing was intact, even after the fire, the rain and everything else that happened inside that room, as though it was unaffected by it all, or even indestructible.
They ran outside as fast as humanly possible. All that Olivia saw around them was a blur, and she didn’t even have the time to enjoy leaving that terrible place. Belenos guided them to the side of Edmund Lars’ house and kept running until they were inside the black forest. After hurrying blindly into those creepy woods, they finally saw Cordella and Alavro.
“Oh! Blessed be!” said Alavro, relieved.
“Come on, come on! There’s no time.” Cordella used the same tone that Olivia and Trevor had the pleasure to know on the first day they arrived in Tartae. They were close now. The end was near.
“We need to be fast. Lars is on the move,” warned Belenos. In the black of the forest, his face still had a glow. Howe
ver, he looked worried and stressed.
The forest around them was dark and sinister. Once again, the emptiness of that place was palpable, nature appeared to be lifeless. There was a nasty smell all over, and something seemed to be lurking and plotting. It was a dreadful place, and Olivia wished she were somewhere else.
On the forest floor, there was a series of symbols and a drawing that reminded Olivia and Trevor of a tree and a flower, very similar to one of the paintings they had seen in Cordella’s house when they arrived in Tartae. Around it, there were twelve Keys of the Portals lined side by side, forming a perfect circle.
“Olivia, the Key.” Cordella reached for it. Olivia took off her necklace and handed it to Cordella. “No, keep it in your hand. And you, Trevor, take Olivia’s hand now.” Trevor gave the Book of the Portals to Alavro and took Olivia’s hand, and Cordella enveloped their hands inside of hers tightly. The key pressed against her skin, causing some kind of twinkling in her palm. “You two can’t let go of the Key at any time. You keep holding it.” Cordella looked deep into their eyes.
The five of them formed a circle around the Keys that were laid on the floor, and Alavro opened the Book of the Portals solemnly. Olivia couldn’t read what was written on the page he chose, but an almost suffocating agony grew in her heart. She held Trevor’s hand tighter, and he did the same. The energy was expanding and vibrating.
Cordella, Alavro and Belenos closed their eyes and voiced some unintelligible words. A yellow light bloomed from the forest floor, delineating a circle around them, forming a spiral and enveloping them in that golden, glistening light.
“It’s time,” whispered Cordella solemnly. “Repeat after me.” And all of them began to say the words in unison after the witch.
“From rupture, peace is born;
From destruction, salvation blooms.
To Nature we plead:
May we close the gate.
May each world be limited to itself,
May there be again a limit in itself.”
A brilliant light blinded Olivia, and a strong force pushed and pulled her in all directions. The whole place was swallowed by a white light, and her hand was still glued to Trevor’s, like they were one.
When she was finally able to open her eyes again and look around, she recognized the City of Leve. And everything was the same. Crickets were stridulating, and a car honked in the distance. Olivia and Trevor hugged each other. They didn’t say a word. There was not much to say after all that had happened. When they finally let go, they only exchanged a meaningful look and headed home.
Olivia walked inside her grandmother’s empty house. No one had even noticed she was gone. The house was dark and quiet, and she found everything strange: the smells, the corners, the shadows. She went to the bathroom and turned on the fluorescent lights. Seeing herself in the mirror made her give a baffled scream. She was covered in dirt and cinders; her face was cut in multiple places, and there was blood everywhere. However, from everything she saw in her own reflection, something intrigued her more than the rest. Her eyes were different. They shone with a different light. The green in her irises was now deep and electric, and it hypnotized her for a couple of minutes.
Although she was now home, she felt like a stranger. She could only think about how it all happened so fast during those last hours in Tartae and wonder what had happened to her friends. What had happened to Bran? What destiny did Tartae have?
Olivia splashed some water on her face and emptiness took over her heart. Tartae was left behind.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Back to Where It All Started
“Do you want some popcorn, Olivia?”
“Yes. Extra butter, and I also want chocolate, please.”
“Of course!” answered Lara casually, getting ready to order.
It has been a year, four days and eight hours since Olivia got back to the City of Leve. And she was counting the minutes. The decision to travel back to her world was abrupt and beyond herself. However, it was the only thing she could have done, the only option she’d had. She made the best out of being back, trying to enjoy every little thing her world had to offer. She made constant trips to the movies and found ways to get lost into those adventurous–although inoffensive–make-believe worlds. All of that to try and forget Tartae. Life seemed to be back to normal, and nothing was altered. Not even her battle wounds were noticed by anyone in Leve. They gradually healed and then disappeared. As for her eyes, they regained their usual color in no time, unfortunately.
Her grandmother was still cruising around the world, living her own version of an adventurous life, Olivia believed. And Olivia didn’t even know if the woman would notice if Olivia were gone forever, since Mrs. Halin barely called and was very much invested in being far away.
In order to heal completely from the physical wounds she got in Tartae and recover her emotional stability, Olivia asked Mr. Fildor for two weeks off, and he granted it without asking any questions. “Oh, everybody needs to take a break. I know it very well,” said the man with an honest smile, only to break into the same complaints, “I sure need a lot of breaks–you know, my back hurts, my feet hurt ...”
And as for school, Olivia and Trevor were lucky enough to be almost at winter break when they arrived.
They took a while to recover from the pain, the trauma, the fear they had been through. Even sleeping on their beds was hard for a while. They spent some time sleeping with their lights on, waking up with every sound, searching in the night for their weapons.
Unlike Olivia’s grandmother, Trevor’s father had been about to call the police when he had arrived home on that Sunday early in the morning. Such a stunt was not like Trevor, who would never test the limits that his father had imposed. Trevor knew how much his father worried about him, especially after he lost his wife.
Harder than explaining why he was home so late was explaining why his clothes were in that pitiful state and why he was wearing something that his father had never seen before in his life. Trevor did his best to explain using facts that wouldn’t lead Mr. Meris to believe that his son had gone insane. Trevor told his father that he was part of a play and that he didn’t say anything before because he wanted it to be a surprise. Mr. Meris didn’t seem to buy it, but he let Trevor get away with it. The boy looked more tired than a marathon runner, and the man simply let it go. After that, Trevor had to sign himself up for the drama club so his story would be at least a bit convincing.
Olivia and Trevor kept thinking that they would someday laugh about all of this, but that day hadn’t arrived yet. A year had passed, and they were still having nightmares about Tartae. The last hours they were in there, the battles, the fire, the way those phooka creatures laughed. Olivia could still feel the disturbing sensation of her sword’s blade perforating Baltazar’s Fletce flesh, and Edmund Lars’ look longing for her death. She still woke up in the middle of the night searching in the shadows for something that she didn’t wish to find.
As the time passed by and the wounds went away, Olivia tried to adapt to her ordinary life in the City of Leve again. Her job in the bookshop was still boring, and high school had come to an end. She was now finally getting ready to go to college. She had a talk with her grandmother, who had just won some good money on a casino cruise, and the woman agreed to pay for her studies. “At least for a while,” she said. Her life was getting back on track and her future was not a faint promise anymore.
But with every nightfall, and every time she looked at the sky and didn’t see the two Tartae moons, Olivia missed that place. From time to time, her heart would go back there almost uncontrollably. It would take her back to the forests, to that constant feeling of flirting with the unknown. She would remember how much she had learned and how fascinating things were. It was hard to be back in Leve.
Olivia and her friend Lara entered the movie theater and sat down in their places. It was a movie about a couple who were soulmates, and they found themselves in different mome
nts in history. As if the two souls were traveling through time together. Olivia wasn’t very excited about the plot, as it wasn’t her kind of story, but Lara had seen too much of Indiana Jones lately, and Olivia was in debt with her.
“Lara, I need to go to the restroom before the movie starts,” said Olivia quickly. She didn’t want to miss anything during the movie, and the trailers were already on.
“Don’t get lost,” joked Lara, not looking away from the screen.
Olivia opened the door to the restroom, which was completely empty. The sound of water dripping echoed, and the stall doors trembled due to the powerful sound system in the theaters that shared walls with the restroom.
Olivia had a weird feeling. Something was out of place. Something inside her was struggling, trying to free itself, and it was fairly uncomfortable. She examined the restroom, looking for something uncommon and, drip, drip, drip. There was only the sound of the water.
As she stood in the middle of the restroom, she turned to the mirror, and then she knew.
“Someone’s here,” she whispered to herself. As though she were talking to her reflection or searching for a confirmation inside of herself. She spent some more seconds pondering, deciding if she was right or imagining things. After months without the adventures and adrenaline of living in Tartae, this could be nostalgia. A desire to reclaim something that was lost. “There’s someone here.”
Olivia looked around the room and exploded in a scream:
“SHOW YOURSELF!”
For a split second, she thought that nothing was going to happen. That she was imagining things that didn’t exist. For a moment, the world stopped. And then, the restroom floor trembled and the stall doors slammed madly, making a deafening sound.
The Portals of Tartae- the Land With the Two Moons Page 21