“Where is your wand now?” Angelina asked.
“It’s in my bag,”
“Go get it for me. Perhaps my woodland magic can revive it.”
Willow stood up from the table, walked into her room, and got the wand out of her bag. She handed it to Angelina, and as soon as Angelina touched it, the wand’s wood began to come back to life! Willow watched as the dead wood suddenly turned back into the beautiful silver-and-gold object it had been on Enchantica Island.
“How did you do that?” Willow gasped. Angelina grinned widely. “Magic!” She handed the wand back to Willow.
Willow threw her arms around Angelina and gave her a huge hug. “Thank you!” she squealed.
“You’re welcome,” Angelina replied, hugging Willow back.
Willow sat back down in her chair. “I have the transporter spell memorized,” she said.
“What about my clothes? I need other clothes so that I won’t stick out so much.” Angelina said. The question caught Willow off guard.
“And I need a sword!” Christabel chimed.
“We are just going to the vault. No one will see you,” Riordan said.
“I got several sizes of dresses for Willow since I didn’t know what size she wore. Why don’t you try those on first?” Marian asked.
“I’ll do that. Where are they?” Christabel asked.
“They’re in the closet in Willow’s room.”
Angelina and Christabel walked into Willow’s room. They took some of the dresses into their own rooms and tried them on.
Willow flipped through the journal. There’s so much valuable information written here. She read all about how Tareth planned to trick a sorcerer or sorceress into taking part in his plot to assassinate King Banderon.
There was so much information written in the journal about how magic had returned to Ethermoor. Her head was whirling with all the information she discovered, especially from the entries that were from the last four months, starting in the month of Octaria.
Octaria 3:
A massive beam of light shot across the sky today, and I saw the shield over my island come down. A massive blast shook my island. I have discovered that my magic has returned to me, and now I can perform my spells and rituals again. I must find out how this was able to happen.
Octaria 13:
I used my desperation spell to locate whoever might have caused the magic to come back. An archaeology professor at the University of Aralin, who apparently has spent many years learning how to decipher fairy runes, found the castle of Zadelia and summoned a fairy helper named Aslin. I found this man, a man named Edward Smith, and I killed him. I thought that once a fairy’s summoner had died, the fairy went to the next most competent magician, but this fairy disappeared.”
Good for her, Willow thought as she read the entry.
Octaria 15:
I cast the desperation spell yet again to find students who might be interested in magic. I discovered that two noblewomen, Princess Ambrosia and Princess Desdemona, have been studying dark magic on their own without the knowledge of King Banderon. They are especially interested in helping me return to power in Ethermoor.
She read the entry from the day she accidentally transported herself to the mountain. According to the entry, he remembered her mother’s note and decided to go to Mount Pyraxia to look for her. Then, she read an entry where Tareth wrote that he snuck into her room one night and took hair out of her brush.
Marian walked into the room. “Would you like some tea, Willow?” she asked.
“Oh, yes! Please!” Willow replied.
Marian disappeared and returned holding a steaming cup of tea. Willow sipped it as she read the rest of the journal entries.
The thought of someone coming into her room and taking her hair out of her brush made her more than slightly nauseated. Angelina walked into the room, wearing one of the dresses Marian had bought. Christabel came out of her room also.
“This dress fits me perfectly!” Christabel said, twirling around in her dress.
“My dress fits me too,” Angelina chimed.
Good. Now we can get going on our quest and not have to go dress shopping in addition to weapon shopping, Willow thought.
“I still need a sword,” Christabel said.
“Yes, you do.” Willow sighed.
“There is a weapons store in the city. I’m sure they have one,” Riordan said.
“Yes, and you probably need to buy me one too,” Angelina said.
Riordan looked her in the eye and said, “I know you’re lying. You don’t need anyone to buy any weapons for you.”
“I don’t want to get attacked again just because my nearly worthless currency in my world is priceless in yours. Plus, I don’t want to get arrested for using magic should I need to defend myself again,” Angelina said. Riordan laughed.
“What kind of currency is it?” Christabel asked.
“The lowest form of currency in my country is the penny, and it is made of copper,” Angelina said. Christabel and Marian gasped loudly in shock.
“Copper is cheap in your world?” Christabel shrieked.
“I’m assuming so, I don’t know. I just know that the lowest form of currency in my country is made from it. I took some pennies out of my purse when I was in a bookshop, and it provoked someone to attack me,” Angelina replied.
“Is there anything here to hide my face when I am in the city? I don’t want anyone to recognize me,” Christabel asked.
“I only got one for Willow a few days ago when she arrived here. I have one in my closet,” Marian replied.
“May I borrow it?”
“Certainly. I will go get it.”
Marian walked out of the room and returned holding a grey coat. Christabel put it on. “You’ll also need one of these,” Marian said as she walked out of the room. She returned seconds later with a handkerchief. “Use this to hide your face.” Christabel tied it around her face, leaving just her eyes visible.
Christabel, Angelina, Riordan, and Willow walked into the city to go to the weapons shop. Angelina had no idea how to start looking for a sword. She looked around at all the swords in glass cases and wondered how in the world she would be able to swing such an object should an attacker approach her. Christabel, however, looked excitedly at all the weapons.
A handsome young man was standing behind the counter. He smiled at Christabel and asked, “May I help you, ma’am?”
Christabel batted her eyes flirtatiously and said, “I’d like to see . . . that one!” She pointed at a sword that had a golden hilt with gemstones embedded in it. “Do you see one that you like, Angelina?”
“Well, I’ve never even held a sword before,” Angelina replied.
“That one would be good for you,” Christabel said. She pointed to one in the back of the cabinet. It was a beautiful sword with a golden hilt and a leather handle. The man took the sword and handed it to Angelina. She picked the sword up and was surprised at how light it was. She waved it around, careful not to hit anyone with it.
“Is that the one you want?” Willow asked.
“I believe so,” Angelina replied. She placed her sword on the counter.
Christabel pulled out a drawstring pouch. “Don’t worry about paying for it. I have some money with me that I brought from home.” The man took her money and placed the swords in boxes.
“Why, thank you!” Angelina said graciously.
“Well, you saved me yesterday!” Christabel said, smiling.
They thanked the young man and walked out of the store. When they got back to Marian’s house, Willow said, “According to the journal, only someone with fairy ancestry can open the door to Tristan’s vault.”
“That means Desdemona and Ambrosia can’t get into it,” Christabel said.
“Yes, they can, actually. According to this journal, Tareth snuck into my room at night and took hair out of my hairbrush. He is going to use it to trick the magic into sensing that he is a sorcerer.”
<
br /> Christabel cringed and said, “Eew! That’s disgusting! I knew Halvor was weird, but that’s just . . . ew!”
Angelina burst into laughter at the thought of someone sneaking into a room at night to take hair out of a hairbrush. Willow saw the humor in the situation and laughed along with Angelina and Christabel. She felt so much better about their situation after finding something funny about it. Willow calmed down and said, “All right, we need to get going here.” The four of them said goodbye to Marian and walked outside.
Willow said, “Okay, here’s how the spell works. We all stand in a line and hold hands. I stand on the end so that I can wave my wand. We all imagine that we are standing on the side of Mount Pyraxia. Then, I will recite the spell and wave my wand.” They saddled their horses and stood them all in a line.
“You all be careful now!” Marian hollered from the kitchen window.
“We will!” Riordan yelled back.
They all stood in a line. Willow said, “We imagine we are standing by the door to the Pyraxia Library. Now time and space shall make it so!” She waved her wand over her head.
They were suddenly standing in a snow-covered mountain range. Willow recognized the area as the place she had accidentally sent herself to when they were practicing the transporter spell.
Riordan dismounted his horse, walked up to the side of the mountain, stuck his hand in the snow, and said, “Florida!” The snow melted away, revealing the ornately carved door underneath. Then, he said, “Please.”
The door opened, and they all scrambled inside to get out of the freezing cold, wet, windy weather. Riordan shut the door. “The ability to hide the doors under a huge blanket of snow is precisely why the Knowledge Sorcerers picked this mountain to hide our library in,” he said. Willow was very thankful to discover that the inside of the vault was much warmer than the outside.
“How come it’s so much warmer in here?” she asked.
“There is a river of lava flowing twenty miles under the surface of the mountain. Every ten thousand years, the volcano erupts. Dragons tend the fire.”
“Dragons?” Angelina yelled fearfully.
“Ah, don’t worry. They are friendly. Tristan brought them here to guard the vault.” He smiled at Angelina.
Willow lit her hand up to light the way. The cavern inside was tremendous.
“Hello!” Angelina yelled. She heard her voice echo off the walls of the cave for a solid minute. They rode their horses through the cave.
“Stop. Don’t take another step. This place is booby-trapped.” He walked up to a large rock that was jutting out of the side of the cave. He pulled on the rock, and the floor opened up right in front of them. Angelina was incredibly thankful Riordan told them not to take another step.
He walked up the edge of the hole and looked down. “Safire!” he yelled. There was no answer. “Safire! It’s Riordan!” Again, there was no answer. “Angelina, we need your magic.”
“My magic?” Angelina asked, curious as to what her magic could do to help them.
“Yes, make a vine or something that we can crawl down. Safire isn’t answering us, which is odd. We need to look for her,” Riordan instructed.
“Well, okay. I haven’t done very much magic, but I’ll try.”
Angelina dismounted her horse, walked up to the edge of the hole, and looked down. She saw a huge mountain of golden objects sitting on the floor of the cave, and estimated that the tip of the mountain was at least one hundred feet below them. A light source at the bottom of the pit illuminated it.
Angelina pictured in her mind a spiral staircase made out of vines that were strong enough to hold human weight growing out of the floor of the cave. She held her hand out and felt the strange power source that she had felt both times before while working her magic flow out of her hands. She heard the stones breaking apart, and opened her eyes. Several huge vines grew out of the floor of the cave. They wrapped around each other and created a spiral staircase that led down into the hole.
Riordan leaned toward her and whispered, “Show off!” A grin spread across his face.
“Well, this is much better and safer than a vine!” Christabel said. All of them tied their horses’ reins to the railing of the staircase.
Angelina thought her first purposeful creation was lacking something. She stuck her right hand out again, and the vines suddenly were covered in beautiful flowers of every color. “Well, I just wanted to give us something nice to look at while we are here.”
“It’s beautiful!” Christabel said. She hopped on the first step of the staircase. Everyone else followed behind her.
They emerged out of the hole, and Angelina saw that gold covered the walls of the cave. Torches hanging on the walls illuminated the cavern. The staircase ended where the tip of the pile of gold was.
“Safire!” Riordan yelled. There was no answer. They walked around and called for her, but none of them saw any sign of a dragon. Riordan had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. They searched all the caverns for her, but found nothing. “We need to continue to Tristan’s vault.”
They walked back up the spiral staircase, untied their horses from the railing, and saddled them. Willow walked alongside Riordan and lit the way through the cavern. They walked for around a day and camped out to sleep for the night.
The next morning, they came upon a huge door with strange runes carved into it. “This is it, the door to the innermost vault where Tristan lives,” Riordan said.
Willow looked at the runes on the door and asked, “What does ‘And the Fae Will Rise’ mean?” Willow asked. As she did, the runes on the door glowed and the door slowly opened.
“Well, that was easy,” Angelina commented.
“It means that the fairies and their descendants will be allowed to practice magic in Ethermoor once again,” Riordan said.
He jumped as if he suddenly remembered something important.
“Wait! There are traps in here too, and only Tristan knows how to disarm them. I do know where they are and can tell you where not to step. So please, walk behind me.”
They came to the spot where the bees had attacked Ambrosia and Desdemona. “Don’t step there! This red beam is a trap trigger!” Riordan yelled as he pointed to a red beam. Don’t let your dresses get caught in it. The women lifted their dresses and stepped over the beam.
They walked through a door into another room. Willow saw spots of red liquid splattered on the floor, leading to the fountain. The water in the fountain was bright red with blood. “Blood. From someone who didn’t know how not to set off the trap,” Riordan said.
They walked into another room where a horrific sight met their eyes. A giant blue dragon lay on the floor, wailing loudly with grief. There were three bodies of Knowledge Sorcerers lying slashed to pieces on the floor, covered in pools of their own blood. Riordan collapsed on the floor in disbelief and grief.
“I don’t know who did it! I killed the intruders when they fell into my cave!” the dragon sobbed.
Willow knelt next to Riordan and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you,” Riordan replied through his sobs.
Christabel said, “The blood is fresh. That means they were just here. If we hurry, perhaps we can get back to Ethermoor City before they are able to hurt more people.
Riordan stood up, wiped his tears, and said, “You’re right. We need to get back to the palace before they can hurt more people.”
Christabel screamed and pointed at something lying on the other side of the large wooden table in the center of the room. Riordan ran around the table and froze when he saw what she was pointing at. A heap lay on the ground. Willow saw an arm sticking out from under it, and she realized that the heap was the body of a man.
She saw his face, and her blood ran cold. It was the most horrifying facial expression that she had ever seen. His face was shriveled, his mouth gaped, and his eyes bulged out of his head. Willow let out a piercing shriek at the sight of it.
“
Faeblood Wraiths! That’s the expression all of their victims have on their faces,” Riordan said, cringing. He recognized the man as Tristan, or what was left of him, anyway.
“Gosh, Tareth really sucked the magic out of him, didn’t he?” Willow mumbled to herself.
Riordan walked up to a door and placed his hand on the handle. “Behind this door is the most terrifying trap. The trap where you have to confront your greatest weakness,” Riordan said.
“Goody, Tareth should be dead behind that door!” Willow said. She hoped that wasn’t just wishful thinking.
Riordan walked inside, but nothing happened. This was another trap that Riordan had no idea how to disarm. They walked inside, and absolutely nothing happened to them.
There were no bodies in the room, which to him was a sign that perhaps Tareth had figured out how to disarm the trap. Then, a thought occurred to him. If he got Tristan’s magic before he got to this trap, and it was apparent that he did, he probably would have known how to disarm it, which is probably why the trap did not spring.
They walked to the other door on the opposite end of the room. “Looks like he might have disarmed this trap once he got Tristan’s magical abilities. Now, when we get in the next room, stand facing the wall and feel your way to the other side of the room. This trap is the poison dart trap, and if you look into the little red beam, deadly poison darts will shoot at you,” Riordan said.
“Allow me,” Angelina said. She cracked open the door and stuck her hand inside. In her mind, she commanded a huge leaf to cover the light source of the beam.
When she felt that her magic had done as she wished, she peeked inside. Sure enough, a huge leaf covered the top of the roof, blocking the beam. They crossed over to the other side of the room. “Now, this last room is where the rings are,” Riordan said as he opened the door. He looked inside the room and saw the two pedestals sitting in the center of it. A red pillow sat on top of each of them. To his horror, the pillows were empty. The rings were supposed to be sitting on each of them. But they were empty. Someone had stolen them.
The Night Sorceresses Page 18