The Council

by Phoenix Willow

  “Of course, you would think that.” Jade said with a raised brow, gaining some snickers around the group.

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” Sage demanded.

  Jade rolled her eyes. “Come on, you two. Everyone here knows that you and Ambrosia are a thing. It’s kind of obvious, and even if your matchy-matchy outfit today didn’t scream togetherness- the way that you act together and agree with everything the other says, certainly would.” She retorted with a raised brow.

  Jewel snorted as she looked at Sage and Ambrosia. Jade wasn’t wrong. The two really were starting to dress alike. Case in point, currently they each had on citrus yellow shirts, emerald green work-out pants, and a citrus yellow-emerald green hat. In Jewel’s opinion, they might as well be holding up a sign that screamed, ‘we’re together!’.

  Ambrosia’s cheeks turned a slight pink color, and she averted her gaze from most of the group, but Sage was completely unruffled by Jade’s statement. “Well, be that as it may, I have nothing but Jewel’s best interest at heart and based on that- she needs to keep practicing.”

  Seeing a divide forming within the group, Jewel quickly said, “I’ll give it a few more tries.” She stated as she moved into position. She noticed that Frost and Rain were both about to argue, so she quickly added, “It’s fine. They’re right. I do need to practice. At least for a little while longer.”

  “Wait!” Galadriel said abruptly. “We do need to stop, at least for a little bit, because what Green’s doing right now isn’t going to work. We’re definitely missing something.”

  “What do you mean, Trickster?” Zephyr asked, his cherubic features morphing into curiosity.

  “What I mean, Puff, is that we keep having Green try the same thing over and over again, which is crazy because it’s obviously not working.” Galadriel started.

  “Chocolate covered coconut. I literally just said that.” Rain muttered.

  Ambrosia shook her head in Rain’s direction, before asking, “Okay, Sorcerer, you’ve got my attention. What exactly do you suggest?”

  “I suggest we follow Sage’s line of thinking and put Green in a stress-filled situation. It might trigger her powers and allow her to get a better understanding of how they work and how to control them.” Galadriel explained.

  “I like it.” Ambrosia smiled fangily. “Any suggestions?” She asked the group.

  “Well…..I think I might have one.” Galadriel answered, a mischievous expression crossing his chiseled features. “We know that Green’s Immune status doesn’t help her when it comes to my glamouring power. What if I use my power to disguise myself as someone that has caused Green a lot of stress and pain. It should emit an involuntary response from her, and her emotions will be heightened. I’ll also create an additional glamour where everyone she cares about is being hurt or threatened by me or the glamour me and the only way to prevent that is by using her time freezing power or opening a portal to a different world. I can make it as real as possible by creating the situation not just in the physical world, but also in my mind, so her Immune ability can’t decipher which is real and which is fake. What does everyone think?”

  Jewel stared at Galadriel in disbelief. His idea was risky and there was no telling if it would help Jewel with her new power or not. She wasn’t that emotionally or mentally stable these days as it was, but to actually trick her mind into thinking her friends were in danger was playing with fire. She knew his intentions were good, but he would be on the receiving end of her anger and Jewel had no idea if she would be able to reign herself in. But, on the flip side, there were only a few days left from the one-week deadline that Jewel had set, and she was still no closer to understanding her new power, so anything was worth a try- or at least that’s what Jewel tried telling herself.

  “I think it’s a very bad idea, Trickster.” Zephyr said, his almond grey eyes narrowing. “Not that I would mind seeing you knocked off that high horse of yours, but you’re talking about trying to set off the one individual here that no one else can match when it comes to level of power. If Jewel loses control, we could be putting ourselves in danger, and I know she would never forgive herself if she wound up hurting one of us- even if it was you.” He finished with a look of distaste on his cherubic features.

  “You don’t give Green enough credit, Puff.” Galadriel fired back. “She is more put together than any one of us. I know if I had gone through even half of what she has that I would be a mess, and yet here she is- still trying to figure things out. She can do this.” He stated, looking at Jewel with an intensity that screamed ‘believe in yourself, because I do’.

  Jewel looked to Frost who appeared calm, but his yellow aura and storm-filled gunmetal eyes were telling a much different story. Jewel glanced around the group and could see a lot of confliction, but when Rain caught Jewel’s eye and gave a small nod of encouragement, that was all Jewel needed.

  “Let’s get started.” Jewel announced, but looking at Galadriel, quickly added. “Oh, and I might as well go ahead and tell you that I’m sorry if I hurt you in the process.”

  “You’ll do just fine Green. You know me, and I know you’ll be able to do this. Trust yourself.” Galadriel retorted, before his features melted away and he changed himself into a man that had very possibly ripped away any chance Jewel had of normalcy- Shade Sterling, himself. Instantly, Jewel bristled, and she felt a rage bubble up inside of her, the likes of which no one in the group had ever seen. Jewel knew rationally, however, that it was just Galadriel with a glamour, and so she worked hard to taper down her emotions. He hated his dad just as much as she did, so she just kept telling herself that they were on the same team and attempted to convince her mind that what she was seeing wasn’t real.

  The group moved closer together and watched Jewel. Ambrosia was the only one who wasn’t in the mix, because she had given herself the job of handling Jewel, should things get out of hand. So, Jewel looked on in apprehension as Shade-Galadriel faced off against Rain, Frost, Zephyr, Sage, Lyric, Dream, Jade, Teagan, and Foster. It was a sight to be sure, and it was taking everything for Jewel not to react to the fact that her mind was screaming at her to save her friends and take Shade out.

  “Okay, Girlie. You got this.” Ambrosia said. “All you need to concentrate on is your time freezing power. That’s it. I’ll be here the whole time in case things get out of hand.”

  Jewel pursed her lips and nodded, before waiting on pins and needles for the next step in Galadriel’s plan.

  “Okay, Green. Here we go.” Shade-Galadriel said as the Meadow abruptly fell away, leaving a dungeon type setting in its place. Jewel blinked several times, because although she could still see the underlining truth which was that everyone was still safe in the meadow, her mind was having a very difficult time deciphering which setting was real and which was fake. And every moment that passed made it even harder.

  Shade-Galadriel placed himself between Jewel and the rest of the group, who now appeared to be tied up and being held by guards. Jewel stiffened. She kept reminding herself that it was all a trick, and when she really looked, she could visibly see the difference between what was real and what was fake- sort of like when Galadriel put the glamours on others. There was definitely a visible bubble-like outline surrounding the meadow and the group that showed the glamour and illusion Galadriel was pushing for, but it was still hard for Jewel to convince her emotional side that everything was okay. Especially when her mind was working overtime to separate the two scenarios in front of her and Shade-Galadriel was just standing in front of her sneering. He threw a potion holding a twinkling black liquid behind her and when it broke, darkness overtook the meadow to the point where Jewel could see nothing but Shade-Galadriel and the weird dual scene he had concocted using his glamour ability.

  “It’s just a nightshade potion Jewel.” Sage called out. “Nothing to worry about.” He said encouragingly.

  Jewel nodded, her nerves on edge, but Sage had helped at least a little with letting he
r know what the heck Galadriel had thrown. She kept telling herself that her friends were fine, that Galadriel was just using his glamours, and that the main goal was to figure her power out. And Jewel’s line of thinking was working just fine until Shade-Galadriel started mocking her.

  “Oh, look who it is.” Shade-Galadriel hissed. “It’s Jewel Draconis….the great Immune…….the abomination. Tell me, how’s your father feeling these days?” He finished with his lip curling, and Jewel felt her temper rise and her power right along with it.

  Jewel shook her head to try and calm herself, but it wasn’t working so she tried to find Ambrosia, but the Vampiress was nowhere to be found within the inky shadows that were covering almost everything. And truth be told- Jewel was starting to feel more than just a little disoriented. It was starting to become impossible to convince her mind that this whole scenario was just the trick of Galadriel’s glamour. Her senses weren’t helping much either because it literally felt as though the temperature had dropped, and it was damp just like it would be in dungeon. And the smell was no longer the sweet array of the Meadow. It instead was musty and quite unpleasant to Jewel’s nose as it wrinkled involuntarily in rebellion. Her mind was buying in to the whole glamoured illusion and little by little, Jewel felt herself losing sight of reality.

  Shade-Galadriel walked a few steps closer to Jewel, cocked his head to the side, and snarled. “You were never supposed to exist. I thought I deterred your stupid father’s infatuation with Rose when I imprisoned your Aunt Starr. But nope- guess not. And now look where everything has gotten him. He’s dying slowly as a flavorless popsicle while you frolic around a Meadow with your friends. Everyone around you gets hurt or dies, and everything you touch turns to a big pile of manure.” He continued.

  Jewel tried to block him out, so she could focus on the task at hand, but her emotions were getting the better of her.

  That is, until she heard Ambrosia’s faceless voice state, “You’ve got this Girlie. Focus on either freezing time or on opening a portal. Either one, but tune Galadriel out, so you can concentrate.”

  Jewel immediately closed her eyes and began to concentrate on her intentions and not so much on her emotions. She wanted to work on freezing time first. Opening a portal was going to be important too, but they had no idea what kind of welcome they would get in these other worlds so if they needed to make a quick get-away, freezing time was going to be a necessity.

  Jewel slowed her breathing, and once she was able to slow her heart rate back to normal, she realized that she had tuned Shade-Galadriel’s taunting out to the point where his voice was merely background noise. She allowed her mind to be free of any and all distractions, emptying it until all she was focused on was her ability to freeze. She remembered how she had frozen time in the past, how she had been feeling. Her emotions had been out of control, but her intent each time had been to get everyone to stop and listen to her or to simply stop arguing. So, it was all in what her intentions were. That had to be the key- just like when she used her mind control power- this was no different. She merely needed to visualize what she wanted to happen in her mind, and to focus on making that a reality.

  And so, she did. Jewel focused on what she would do if this was a real situation. She wouldn’t freeze everyone, but she would freeze the guards and Shade, so that’s was she concentrated on doing. Not freezing everything around her as she had done when she was out of control but pinpointing certain individuals instead. She visualized it in her mind, and the longer she did that, the more she felt her power build until it began to flow from her mind like a gentle wave. Jewel felt the power pulsing, as though it had its own heartbeat that was connected to the innermost depths of her mind and body. She relished the feeling of power and control, both finally working hand in hand. She felt like she could do anything, and it brought a small grin to her face.

  Jewel continued to concentrate and allow the power flow from her until she heard someone gasp. Her eyes immediately popped open- fearing that somehow something had gone awry. She began searching out the group, and saw that no one seemed injured, but they were all staring in Shade-Galadriel’s direction. He had been facing away from her when she began her latest attempt at freezing time, so she walked around a bit to see what her friends were looking so pleased and shocked by, and what she saw brought a smile to her lips. Her friends might not be frozen, but Shade-Galadriel sure was, and the guards that Galadriel had created with his glamour seemed to be blinking in and out of existence. They sort of appeared to be short-circuiting since Galadriel was frozen and unable to keep his glamour from fading in and out.

  Jewel giggled as she took in Shade-Galadriel’s appearance. His mouth was open, but no sound was coming out. Jewel had also frozen him mid-blink which would have made for a funny picture, but there was no time for that. Jewel stepped closer to Shade-Galadriel, so he would know without a doubt that she had succeeded, before closing her eyes once again, and allowing time to unfreeze.

  “And furthermore-” Shade-Galadriel said until he stopped short, looking at Jewel with a befuddled expression. “Wait- how did you get here? You were over there, but now you’re here. How did you do that? I didn’t see you teleport, and I definitely didn’t see you move.” He said as he threw a milky white potion behind Jewel, effectively dissipating the darkness that the nightshade potion had brought about.

  “I did it, Trickster.” Jewel said while doing her own version of a strange touchdown dance. “I froze time, and I think I’ve figured out how to do it now. It’s a lot like my mind control and pain power- intent is everything.” She beamed as she explained.

  “That’s great, Green.” Shade-Galadriel said with a genuine grin, which looked creepy and completely out of place on his still glamoured face. “Did you figure out the portal thing?”

  Jewel shook her head. “Nope. Well, not yet anyway, but-”

  “No buts, Green. Sorry, but it looks like you need a bit more pushing.” Shade-Galadriel said as he took a few steps away and threw another bottle of nightshade potion behind her, immediately covering almost everything in the inky darkness yet again.

  “No, she doesn’t Galadriel. It’s enough for now. We can work on more later.” Ambrosia said, and Jewel would have given the Vampiress a hug if not for the fact that it was too dark to see where Ambrosia was.

  But Shade-Galadriel merely shook his head. “There’s no time for resting. We all agreed that she needs to be pushed, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

  And push, Galadriel did. The scene in front of Jewel quickly morphed into the inside of Shade’s house, but that wasn’t all that appeared. Jewel saw her dad lying on the floor with blood seeping from his wound. She saw her friends, lying unconscious on Shade’s filthy, cluttered floor. It was déjà vu. A scene that Jewel knew all too well from several months prior.

  It was too real. Everything reminded Jewel of what had actually taken place in that very house. No longer could Jewel remember that everything was just a glamour. The bubble-like outline seemed to be taking precedence over what was real. Her senses were overwrought with emotions, and the more she looked at her dad’s unmoving body, the more she felt bile rise in her throat and a mix of panic and rage that was unmatched. Shade-Galadriel smirked in Jewel’s direction and that was all it took for her mind to snap.

  Chapter Five

  A Meeting of the Minds

  “Galadriel! You need to stop this right now. It’s too much for Girlie to handle, and if she loses control, there’s only so much I can do.” Ambrosia said, apprehension lacing her voice.

  “It’ll be fine.” Shade-Galadriel answered, but all Jewel could see was Shade.

  No longer was she able to decipher between the dual scenes. Between Galadriel’s flawless glamour power on himself, and the fact that this exact scenario had happened, Jewel was literally living out her worst nightmare and one of the most traumatic experiences of her life. She couldn’t have differentiated between what was real and what wasn’t anymore, even if she had tr
ied her hardest. She felt trapped, forced to experience her worst moment on a messed-up version of instant replay. She dropped down on her knees next to her dad, but unlike what had happened several months earlier- Winter didn’t wake up and come to her aid.

  Jewel’s dad looked at her with his sea green eyes, and he kept saying how sorry he was for not being there for Jewel sooner, and how proud of her he was. Jewel couldn’t hold herself together any longer. Her throat burned from the sobs that were now escaping her lips, and her face was drenched with the tears she had been trying to hold back for so long. Her body shook uncontrollably as she attempted to find something to stem the flow of blood from leaving her dad’s body. But it was no use. There was nothing she could use to help her dad and no matter how many times she screamed for help, none arrived. Jewel watched as the light began to fade from his eyes, and when Steele took his last breath, Jewel heard someone wailing a mournful sound that was full of anguish. The sound continued, but Jewel soon realized it was her own voice that was making the noise. This was a nightmare, her worst fears come to life, and Jewel’s grief was all-consuming. Her heart was shattering

  “Girlie, I know you are hurting, but this isn’t real. Your father is safe in the Meadow. We are still in the Meadow. It’s okay, Girlie. It’s not real. It’s just Galadriel’s glamour.” Ambrosia said soothingly, trying to convince Jewel.

  Unfortunately, the glamour Galadriel had created hit too close to home for Jewel. Not only was it too detailed, all the way down to the clutter Jewel remembered being in Shade’s house- but the horrific, nostril burning odors were making her gag and the wet, stickiness of the blood she now thought she was covered in, confused her mind completely. Her mind had been completely tricked into thinking that the glamour was in fact real, and there was no amount of talking that was going to convince Jewel that was she was seeing wasn’t real. She heard Ambrosia’s words, but Jewel’s mind was too far gone in her own grief, panic, and rage to be reasonable.