“Then why didn’t she?” Brent asked.
“Well,” Jasra said with a frown. “It’s because they are twins. And since the twins were born into witch-dom, they are bound together forever. If one dies, the other will too.”
“Well that just sucks, now doesn’t it?” Brent picked up a beach rock and squeezed a fist around it. “For Cadence and Caprice. It’s like they’re conjoined twins or something—or they may as well be, because just like a lot of those babies, they can’t be separated without dying.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, thinking. “Not only does it suck for Cadence to be stuck with that witch … but it sucks for you guys, too.” He thought about the dilemma a moment, a weird sensation growing in his stomach like a bug crawling around inside of him. “There has to be a way to release your souls,” he said finally, a lump forming in his throat. He wanted to help Jasra and the other ghosts trapped on Dead Beach. They couldn’t just walk away and leave Jasra like that forever. Nobody deserved an eternity of being stuck on Dead Beach, especially not a friend. But the thought of going anywhere near a black witch was overwhelming. Who knew what she could do to them? What if they all ended up stranded on Dead Beach forever—as ghosts?
Jasra shook his head sadly. “The only way would be to get the soul vase and break its spell.”
“How do that?” Finley asked, his gaze darting around.
“The only ones who can break the spell are the black witch or the white witch. Obviously, the black witch will never do that—and the white witch is locked away.”
An uncomfortable silence crept over them for a minute. Piper tapped her lip in thought before saying, “Supposing someone managed to get the soul vase … where would they find the white witch to break the spell?”
Jasra looked her straight in the eye. “If you are thinking of trying to help us lost souls, I will be honest and say that I would be very thankful. But I cannot expect you to put yourselves in more danger. You have already risked so much for our land.”
“We want to help,” Piper said, twisting her hands together. She dragged in a deep breath and blew it out fast. She was obviously nervous too, but Gabriel knew she would never let Jasra suffer if she could help it.
“If you can tell us what we need to do, we promise we’ll at least try,” Gabriel agreed, ignoring the nervous knot in his stomach.
Brent whipped the beach rock through the air. It hit the ground in the distance with a clack, clack, clack. “I’m down with that, don’t get me wrong. I totally want to help you, man, seriously I do. But we’re kinda on a deadline.” He shoved a hand through his hair and threw Gabriel a look. “Dude, if we don’t show up tomorrow, they’ll kill Empress Malina and Princess Evangeline.”
Jasra stepped forward, his lips in a straight line. “Brent is right. You must go to them. If there is hope for us here at Dead Beach you can try to find it later.” He paused, bowing his head, his antlers tipping low. “That settles it. And just the fact you even want to help me, warms my cool heart.”
Tears sprung to Piper’s eyes and she murmured something in Spanish under her breath. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “Well, okay, fine. But I’m not giving up. We’ll come back and save you. I promise to at least try.” Determination etched her face. “Where does the black witch even live?”
Jasra pointed behind him in the distance. “About a mile back. She lives in the secret cavern that separates Dead Beach and Crimson Lake.”
Gabriel jumped to his feet. “Secret cavern?” He peered out in the direction Jasra pointed. “It separates both places?” He looked back at Brent and Piper. “Hold on. That can save us time, right?” He rubbed Finley’s head. “A shortcut, Finley!”
“Dude,” Brent said, eyes flaring. “It won’t be any shortcut if the black witch catches us.”
Piper shrugged. “I say we give it a try,” she said, even as her face turned sickly pale. It wasn’t like Piper to throw caution to the wind, and Gabriel could tell this was scaring the crap out of her. But loyalty was Piper’s middle name. If there was a way to help Jasra, she wouldn’t give up until she found it. “Look, we have powers, don’t we?” She eyed Brent, then Gabriel, before settling her gaze on Finley. Her honey-brown eyes grew wide. “What the heck good are they if we can’t help our friend here?”
Gabriel smiled inwardly at her bravery. He nudged Brent, then cast hopeful eyes on one scowling Finley. “It is on the way—cuts down on our time, right?” He lifted a shoulder like it was no big deal, trying to act braver than he felt. “So, we try finding this soul vase thing, bypass the black witch, go save the empress and princess, then find the white witch—” Gabriel paused, turning his attention back on Jasra’s ghost. “Where is this white witch anyway?”
Jasra’s face darkened. He hesitated like it was an answer he didn’t want to give. Finally, he spoke up. “She’s chained to the bottom of Fool’s Well.”
“Fool’s Well?” Gabriel croaked. An icicle formed in his chest at the thought of the creepy darkness of the deep and confined space of a well.
A memory flashed in Gabriel’s mind to when he was five years old—just before they’d moved to Willow Creek. His family had lived in the country with no neighbors for miles. Their only source of water had been from a well in the backyard. One afternoon, Gabriel had been following a cat wandering in their yard. Being distracted, and because the stupid repair guy had left the cover off the well, Gabriel had fallen in. It was a whole freaking twelve hours later before he’d gotten lifted out of that black, cold hole. The fireman who’d rescued him said Gabriel was lucky the water level was low and he hadn’t drowned. To make it even worse, Gabriel had made the front page of the newspaper. Even though he was only five at the time, that picture was like Gabriel’s photo of shame—totally embarrassing. His five-year-old self had made it home from the hospital with bumps, bruises, a minor concussion, and yeah, inspiration for future nightmares.
Wells were not his thing. He didn’t want to see one ever again. Let alone one with a witch at the bottom of it. He didn’t care if Cadence was a good witch or not, she was still a witch. Fool’s Well. He couldn’t help but think that maybe they’d be the biggest fools of all for going down a well with a witch trapped at the bottom. His mind raced with thoughts of mechanical locusts, crazy lizard people, ghost monsters, trapped souls, witches, evil spells, and still a kidnapped empress and princess. No, Valta wasn’t technically dying like the last time they’d been there, but this seemed equally impossible.
Gabriel lifted his heavy gaze from his shoes and scanned his friends. Piper poked at the rip in her jeans, looking more uneasy than ever. Brent had picked up another beach rock and was staring at it as if it would solve world hunger or something. And Finley gripped the end of his tail between his fingers, eyes darting left to right.
They all seemed to be thinking the same thing—this quest to save Empress Malina and Princess Evangeline had taken a new twist full of suck. With growing problems and time ticking by at warp speed, their scary adventure was quickly turning into their worst nightmare ever.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After thirty minutes of arguing back and forth on what to do, the decision was made. They’d go to the black witch’s cave to find the soul vase and a shortcut to Crimson Lake.
“Me no like,” Finley whispered to Gabriel as he hopped along beside him toward the secret cavern.
“I know it sucks, Finley,” Gabriel replied, eyeing Jasra in the lead. “As in bad. But hey, sometimes you gotta take big risks to get a big reward. If we can take a shortcut to Crimson Lake and save Jasra and the other souls here, we need to try, right?” He didn’t admit to Finley that he was scared to go into a cave with a crazy witch. And he definitely didn’t tell him that he was beyond terrified of wells. Those weren’t the kinds of things you liked admitting to anyone. He could only hope one of his friends would offer to get the white witch out if they were lucky enough to find the soul vase, then the stupid well.
As they walked, cackling laughte
r and creaking footsteps carried on the wind and encircled them like an angry enemy. Gabriel trudged forward even though fear gripped him and goose bumps ran across his skin. They kept close to Jasra’s ghost, figuring he would keep the bad ghosts from hurting them.
Jasra led them up to the cliff face, and there, partially concealed in the shadows, loomed an oval-shaped entrance. “There,” he said, pointing to the hole. “Keep going until you reach the bottom of the cavern. That’s where you’ll find a pool of water and the soul vase.” His face grew serious. “The black witch weakens after sunset and until sunrise. During this time she is unable to leave the confines of the cave. It is then that she re-charges herself by drawing on the souls trapped within the vase.” Jasra eyed the stones under his hooves, then looked back at them. “I don’t want you to be alarmed, so prepare yourselves for the cries of despair from us souls at that time.”
Piper blinked. “Do you mean”—she swallowed—“that you’re in pain every evening at sunset?”
A wounded expression crossed Jasra’s face. “It feels like we are dying all over again—being drawn back from ascension—our souls sucked back into her soul vase.”
“What’s ascension?” Brent asked, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck.
“Our souls trying to rise to the ever-after.”
Piper’s eyes glistened with tears and Gabriel’s stomach did a tumble as a shiver rushed through his body. That had to be the creepiest thing he’d ever heard—and the saddest.
“We need to stop her,” Brent said with a scowl as he marched into the cave. He twisted around and faced them. “I don’t like the whole idea of this, but she sounds as mean as Duke Malgor. Let’s go. We don’t have a lot of time before sunset and we need to stake the place out before the sun goes down.”
“Finley be tracker,” Finley said, stepping forward, puffing out his chest, and thumping his closed fist against it. “Me lead.” The freaked-out look in Finley’s eyes told Gabriel that leading them into the black witch’s lair was the last thing he wanted to do. Finley stepped around Brent anyway, obviously trying to put his game-face on. “Follow me.” He gave Piper a warning scowl. “No talk.” Gabriel figured it was because she had made noise on the beach earlier and brought out the ghosts.
“What?” Piper raised her hands palm-up. “Geez. I fell, okay?” She grunted, then turned and smiled at Jasra. “I promise we’ll do our best to get you to your mom.”
“Yes, we’ll definitely try,” Gabriel said, joining Brent in the cave.
“Thank you, my friends. “But before you go—a final warning—do not look into Caprice’s eyes. It is through the eyes that she can steal your souls. As much as I enjoyed seeing you, I do not wish you to end up on Dead Beach like me.”
Awesome. Another thing to worry about. What Jasra said brought new meaning to the phrase “the eyes are the windows to your soul.” It felt more like they were the windows to stealing your soul.
Finley moved in slowly, trailing his fingers through the mix of sand and pebbles dusting the ground. The wind had picked up, swirling it around in small funnels. Dust blew up Gabriel’s nose and he muted a cough. Piper’s hair whipped around her face. She yanked an elastic band from her wrist and tied her hair into a ponytail as they headed forward.
The cave walls looked like cooked marshmallows—all bubbly with different shades of brown. The cool, damp air seeped through Gabriel’s jacket, making him shiver. The farther they walked into the cave, the darker it became. A mineral scent lingered in the air like pennies, and the sound of water trickling in the distance echoed around them. Finley moved quietly, his head darting left to right and behind him, his serious gaze reminding them to keep close. The cave gradually descended.
After a half hour or so, they reached the bottom of the cavern. Gabriel knew they were in the right spot. The area opened up into a large space that was kinda like a giant circle filled with irregularly shaped rocks. The sound of water trickling had grown louder. Echoing sounds of plop, plop, plop bounced off the cave walls. Gabriel watched as drops of water fell from several stories above them and landed in the pool of water at the center of the cave floor.
Dust sparkled in beams of light that shone in from cracks in the cave roof—light that was growing dimmer by the minute since it was almost sunset. More light trickled in far on the other side of the cave. It looked like a way out, and Gabriel hoped it was the exit that would lead them to Crimson Lake. He drew his gaze to the center of the cave. Stalactites and stalagmites shot out from the top and bottom of the rock like icicles. Except these weren’t like any stalactites and stalagmites Gabriel had learned about in school. These were covered in mirrors. Gabriel tugged Brent’s arm and lifted his chin toward the mirrored, pointed rocks. He pinched his eyebrows together at Brent, who mimicked his confused expression back at him.
They didn’t talk as they all searched the cave for the soul vase. Except, they couldn’t find it.
Brent fisted his hands and gritted his teeth, looking more annoyed than ever. Gabriel knew Brent hadn’t wanted to divert from their original plan in the first place. Not that it was such a solid plan, but it didn’t include searching for a vase with trapped souls—in a cave an evil witch lived in. Brent was worried about being late for the empress and princess. And who could blame him? Gabriel was worried, too. But they all cared about Jasra, and this was supposed to be a shortcut. As the time ticked by with no sign of the soul vase, Brent’s cheeks turned the color of pizza sauce.
Inwardly sighing, Gabriel pressed against the cave wall beside the others. He remembered Jasra had said the vase was by the pool of water. Gabriel squinted, trying to make out any sign of the thing in the dimly lit cave. No vase. No witch. Nothing but the damp cold and the plop, plop, plop of water dripping that poked at the back of his head like a woodpecker.
Finley jerked his head, motioning for them to keep moving. He shifted to the left while keeping close to the cave wall and away from the beams of light that trickled in. Gabriel slid his hand along the cool, damp surface of the rock as they moved, its rough edges scratching his skin. He scoured every ledge next to the pool of water in the distance that he could find.
Finley stopped after a couple of minutes. He pointed to the cave wall beside him, his brown eyes wide. Gabriel’s pulse jumped, hoping Finley had found the soul vase. They needed to grab it and get out of there. But when he looked, he didn’t see any kind of a vase. Just when he was about to raise his hands in a “what are you pointing at” way, Piper rushed around him and headed straight for Finley. She’d obviously seen something Gabriel hadn’t.
Then Gabriel saw what the commotion was all about. It wasn’t the vase like he’d hoped, but a series of paintings in shades of red lining the cave wall. They looked like ancient symbols—like the Egyptian sort Gabriel had seen in books or on TV. Gabriel edged closer to his friends, studying the wall in silence.
Piper ran her hand along a picture of a cylindrical-shaped painting that looked like a bug with a million legs. Other symbols were drawn beside it like some sort of code. Gabriel followed the images, getting lost in the vivid imagery. The slug-looking things and strange symbols made no sense. A sketch of an oval-shaped archway with a man standing beneath it came next. Above the doorway, three more odd symbols were drawn. Piper ran her fingers along them lifting a curious brow.
Then Gabriel noticed three round orbs circling a bunch of people. He leaned in, squinting. His gaze traced the people’s faces thinking how weird they looked, but also—how familiar. He barely contained a gasp and slapped a hand over his gaping mouth. The people in the painting had long, skinny, snake-like things coiled on their faces—where their noses should be. Gabriel stumbled back from the wall, his stomach clenching like someone had kicked him in the gut. The drawings weren’t of people at all.
They were Solarians.
Brent caught Gabriel by the elbow. Steadying him on his feet, Brent gave Gabriel a “what gives” look. Gabriel was about to tell them what the drawings wer
e, but he didn’t get the chance.
As quick as a bolt of lightning, something black and gold shot from above. It splashed in the water at the center of the cavern. They whipped their heads around.
The black witch.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
They all pressed their backs against the cave wall, hiding in the shadows. Luckily, the witch’s back was turned to them, and it didn’t seem as if she’d seen them.
Caprice moved her head to the left, and even though Gabriel’s heart pounded against his ribs uncontrollably, he could almost feel everyone’s collective sighs.
She was beautiful.
Totally not like the witches he’d read about in books or seen in the movies—the kind you imagined with a long hooked nose and a wart on the end. Nope. Caprice’s long black hair was braided and threaded with gold ribbon. It matched the gold sash tied around the waist of her long black dress and the choker secured around her thin neck. She stood in the middle of the pool. The water lapped against her ankles and a stream of light shimmered over her pale skin. Her reflected image bounced off the many mirrored stalagmites shooting up from the cave floor around her.
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