by E. G. Foley
“Lady Bradford, wake up! Can you hear me? You need to let me in!” She dropped down to look through the crack beneath the door again and saw the old woman had not stirred in answer to her calls.
Panicked, Dani knew she had to get the door open so they could help her. She started ramming it with her shoulder and kicking it, but she wasn’t strong enough.
Jake. His telekinesis.
In the next heartbeat, she was racing down the stairs, taking them two at a time, her hand on the banister to avoid falling. Teddy sprang off the couch and scampered after her when she ran by the wide doorway of the sitting room.
Dani barreled outside, ignoring Nixie, who had paced down to the far end of the terrace. Rushing over to the balustrade, she cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed Jake’s name into the night.
# # #
Jake nearly fell off the rock where he had been counting stars and half dozing when Dani’s scream tore through the darkness.
Instantly wide awake, he leaped to his feet and whirled around.
“Jake, come in here!” she cried frantically. “It’s your aunt! Something’s wrong!”
“What happened?” he bellowed back, already running toward her.
“I don’t know! She’s on the floor—she’s not moving!”
Hearing this, all down the beach, the others had had a similar reaction. Thus, it was not just Jake who went racing toward the house; Isabelle and Maddox abandoned their posts too.
Sapphira waved them on. “Go, I’ll keep watch!”
Baffled by Dani’s claim, Jake sprinted as fast as his feet would carry him through the deep sand higher up the beach until he gained the bottom of the stone stairs leading up to the villa. From separate directions, the other two were also converging on the beach stairs, but Jake arrived first, since he had launched into action from the minute Dani had screeched his name.
He had never heard her sound so hysterical.
“What happened?” he clipped out as the redhead flung halfway down the steps the sooner to reach him, then ran back up them again by his side, babbling with fright.
“I was in the house and I heard a bump on the ceiling and I knew something was wrong. I went up to check on her and she didn’t answer, so I looked under the door. She was lying on the floor, not moving! She had a bloody nose, Jake! She needs help, but I couldn’t get the door open. It’s locked!”
“I’ll get it,” he said grimly.
“Oh, please, don’t let her be dead,” Dani whispered. “She looked dead, Jake, I swear.”
Inside the villa, they pounded up the stairs, ignoring Liliana, who stood looking dazed in the doorway of the oval drawing room. Teddy was barking at all the clamor and followed them up the stairs.
“Be quiet!” Jake ordered as he stalked to the door of Aunt Ramona’s suite.
He tried the doorknob as Maddox and Isabelle came pounding up the stairs, their weapons still in hand.
“Aunt Ramona? Can you hear me?” Jake called, jiggling the handle.
“I told you, it’s locked!” Dani said, starting to cry.
Jake dropped to his knees to peer under the door, confirming that what Dani had said was still accurate, and making sure his aunt was not in the way of the door before he opened it.
The sight of her there struck him like a blow to the gut, though. Aunt Ramona indeed looked lifeless, a trickle of blood coming from her nose. “What has she done to herself?” he said as he climbed to his feet, his knees turning to jelly at the mere possibility of facing life without her.
It had been a rhetorical question, but Dani answered in a shaky voice. “I don’t know. But she told us it was something she thought she would probably regret. Remember?”
Jake’s mind was reeling to think that his aunt, the Elder witch, who was like a force of Nature herself, should have fallen in whatever sort of mystical, long-range battle she had been trying to wage.
“Don’t just stand there, hurry!” Isabelle said. “Get the door open, Jake!”
“I’ll do it,” Maddox said, but Jake barred the way with his arm and then took a step back, using his telekinesis to blast the door open.
It shot back so hard it half tore off its hinges.
At once he strode in. Isabelle and he rushed across the room, dropping to their knees on either side of their aunt.
By now, Archie and Nixie had arrived too—he with a cry of shock, setting aside his pneumatic blunderbuss, she with a gasp at the sight of Aunt Ramona on the floor.
Lil had also followed them as far as the sitting room doorway, while Teddy ran around, getting underfoot and barking. But not even that noise was enough to wake the old woman.
“Aunt Ramona, can you hear me?” Isabelle pleaded, while Jake stared at his aunt in shock.
“I told you she was like this,” Dani said, then picked up her dog and managed to shut him up a bit.
“I have medical equipment, I think.” Archie dashed out of the room to fetch whatever he could find.
Maddox, however, walked over calmly to the dowager and crouched down on one knee. He picked up her hand and felt her wrist for a pulse, while Isabelle tearfully continued trying to wake her.
Jake remembered belatedly that Guardians received basic emergency medical training.
Maddox nodded. “She’s alive.”
Thank God, Jake thought.
“But her pulse is weak,” he added. “I think she just fainted.”
“I have smelling salts!” Isabelle shot to her feet. “What?” she added defensively at Jake’s startled glance. “Miss Helena says every girl’s got to have them!”
“Get them; they might help,” Maddox said in a steady tone. “Let’s get her off the floor.”
“Careful, she might have broken bones from the fall!” Isabelle warned, halfway to the door. “She’s old, remember? Don’t make it worse!”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” Maddox retorted.
“Not now, you two!” Nixie cried.
Isabelle and Maddox looked at the young witch, then glanced warily at each other.
“I’ll get the smelling salts, Izzy,” Dani mumbled. “You stay with your aunt.”
Isabelle nodded with gratitude and the redhead hurried off, taking her dog with her.
“Well, we can’t just leave her on the floor like this,” Maddox said.
“He’s right.” Archie marched back in with his medical reference book already open. “We have to elevate her upper body by a few degrees and apply pressure to her nose until it stops bleeding.”
“I could’ve told you that,” Maddox said quietly.
“I could levitate her onto her bed! It’s only in the next room—”
“Everybody, just calm down,” Maddox ordered. “I’ll carry her. Don’t worry; I’ll be careful. Remember the gnomes the Elders made me take care of for two weeks for my Assessment?”
Jake remembered. The lesson had shown that a Guardian had to be gentle and kind as well as strong and courageous.
Nobody argued as Maddox bent down and tenderly lifted Aunt Ramona’s frail body off the floor. Archie supported her gray head and rested it against Maddox’s shoulder while Jake ran ahead to open the door to her bedchamber.
Isabelle glided in first, holding up a candle to light the way, then Maddox walked in carrying Aunt Ramona. As Izzy set the candle on the dresser, Archie hurried over to the bed and stacked some pillows against the headboard so she could lie down slightly elevated, as the book had specified.
The bed was made up, but they didn’t bother trying to put her under the covers. Maddox just rested her on top of it, propping her head and shoulders on the pillows Archie had arranged.
The room was dark with only the one candle, but over by the dresser, Jake saw Isabelle pouring some water out of the pitcher into the shallow white washbowl. She dampened a washcloth and brought it, along with the bowl of water, over to their aunt’s bedside.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and began wiping the blood off their aunt’s wrinkled face, and try
ing anxiously all the while to get a response. “Aunt Ramona, can you hear me? It’s Isabelle. We’re here to help you…”
Still, the old woman didn’t stir, but at least they saw that her nose had stopped bleeding. Jake finally managed to scrape his wits back together after the shocking sight of the powerful and intimidating Elder witch in this helpless condition. But Maddox’s mention of the Assessments had triggered a memory.
“I had a nosebleed like that once,” he said grimly. “During the final test in my Assessment. It happened because I strained my powers too much. So what was she doing in here?”
They all looked at Nixie, who had come only as far as the bedroom doorway. She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder at the round table in the sitting room, where Aunt Ramona’s crystal ball was set up.
“I don’t know much about High Magick. It’s really advanced. But I would assume she was trying to participate in the rescue mission on the astral plane.”
“People do that?” Jake asked in astonishment.
“Most people can’t,” Nixie answered. “May I remind you, Her Ladyship may just be Aunt Ramona to you, but to the rest of the magical world, she’s sort of a legend. So…” Nixie shrugged.
“If she’s such a legend, then why would she faint like some ninny of a girl?” Archie exclaimed. “Did she overuse her powers like Jake said, or did somebody out there on this astral plane of yours do this to her?”
“How should I know?” Nixie cried. “They’re trying to rescue Derek and the others from the Black Fortress! Do you have any idea what’s involved in that? How dangerous it is?”
No one dared answer.
Jake was flabbergasted. “Well, she’s going to be all right, won’t she?” he demanded.
“Of course,” Archie said quickly, too quickly. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She just needs a rest, probably…”
His words trailed off, but, thankfully, Dani returned just then with the smelling salts in one hand and Teddy tucked under her other arm. She brushed past Nixie in the doorway and sped over to bring the requested item to Isabelle.
Once she had handed off the dainty little silver bottle, Dani retreated to lean against a post of the canopy bed, hugging Teddy the way she always did when she was upset. She and Jake exchanged a fraught glance.
Isabelle quickly twisted open the perforated silver top of the vinaigrette, then waved the smelling salts under Aunt Ramona’s nose.
They had no effect.
Isabelle persisted for another moment or two, then gave up and lowered the smelling salts to her lap in dismay.
Nothing was working.
Jake sat down dazedly on the edge of his aunt’s bed. This can’t be happening. Derek and Tex captured. Red off on what sounded like a suicide mission. The Dark Druids closing in on him with their spectral bounty hunters. And now this.
The Elder witch unconscious.
Feeling awful over how he had last spoken to her, Jake took her fragile, bony hand and winced to find it cold and clammy.
“How long will it be before she wakes up?” Izzy ventured, but no one had an answer.
“With magic, it’s impossible to tell.” Nixie sighed.
“Especially when we don’t know how this happened to her in the first place!” Archie said angrily. “Lud, I hate magic!”
Nixie looked at him in surprise as he spun away.
But Jake couldn’t stop staring at his aunt, at a loss. “What do we do now?”
Maddox glanced toward the doorway. “We need to get back out onto the beach and keep watch. Some of us do, anyway. I’ll go.”
“How can you leave at a time like this?” Isabelle exclaimed.
Hands on hips, the Guardian apprentice just looked at her.
“I think we’d better contact Merlin Hall,” Jake said slowly, barely able to believe his own words. But maybe he was finally learning. “She’d want us…to tell the adults. So, let’s send an Inkbug message to Sir Peter.”
“Yes, that’s it! Jake, you’re brilliant,” Dani said. “They could send somebody right away. A Lightrider, like Finnderool—with a healer to fix her!”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Archie said in relief, clapping Jake on the back as he passed him. “I’ll do it.”
“I brought the Inkbug and his box downstairs after Aunt Ramona told me to watch for any incoming messages,” Isabelle called after her brother.
“Where?”
“The blue parlor! By the bookshelf.”
Archie nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
But as he headed toward the door, a sound floated up from the beach that chilled them to the bone.
The Triton Trumpet sang out through the night—two long warning notes.
Jake gasped and shot to his feet, while the full moon peered in on them through the window.
“It’s Davy Jones,” he breathed. “They’ve found us.”
# # #
“Sapphira’s out there alone,” Maddox said, bristling. At once, he ran back out into the sitting room and grabbed his rifle from where he’d leaned it against the wall. “I’ve got to go and help her.”
“I’m coming with you.” Isabelle was right behind him, reaching for her white staff.
“You? Don’t be daft! Stay in the house!” he ordered.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” she bellowed back.
“Sweet Hecate, you two sound like you’re already married!” Nixie exclaimed.
“Both of you, get out there and try to hold them off!” Jake said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“Me too,” Nixie said as they ran out, but Jake stopped her.
“Hold on. Arch, Nix, you two have to be in charge of the orb.”
“Don’t let them find the hatbox!” Dani added from behind him.
“Exactly,” Jake agreed. “But first, we have to do something to protect Aunt Ramona, since she’s defenseless right now. Nixie, can you create one of those invisibility spells to conceal this whole room somehow?”
She nodded quickly. “Any inanimate object. I could hide the doorway to the sitting room out there. Make it look exactly like the rest of the wall.”
“Perfect. That’ll give the girls two layers of protection. Dani, you’ll need to stay in here with Aunt Ramona and Lil. Here, take this.” He picked up Archie’s blunderbuss and handed it to her. “If anything gets through that door, shoot it.”
“Er, don’t I need that?” Archie asked.
“No. You’re leaving,” Jake said.
“What?!”
“I’ll explain in a moment.”
“Jake?” Dani handed off Teddy to Lil in order to accept Archie’s big, odd gun. She looked like she was going to object as Jake herded her back into Aunt Ramona’s bedchamber, along with the little mermaid princess and the dog.
But Jake wasn’t taking any chances with their safety. If the pirates gained the house, he didn’t want anything happening to Dani or his aunt or Liliana.
“It’ll be all right,” he soothed. “Move the dresser to block the doorway once we’ve got you sealed in. Shut the window and pull the curtains, too, so they don’t see the light in here and come to investigate. If Aunt Ramona wakes up, just tell her what’s happening. She’s welcome to help if she’s able.”
“What about the Inkbug?”
“There’s no time. We’ll send the message later. Right now, we’ve got to go.”
Dani nodded, wide-eyed. “I understand. Be careful, Jake.”
“I will. Don’t worry about me. You’ll be safe in here,” he assured them. She’d better be. “Lil, are you ready to be brave?”
The younger girl nodded. “Please don’t let anything bad happen to my sister.”
“Ah, don’t you worry about Sapphira, Your Highness. Your sister is one tough mermaid. But of course we’ll look out for her. Do you think you can keep Teddy quiet?”
The dog was wriggling in protest again in Liliana’s arms and starting to make noise.
Dani sighed. “Nobody can keep Ted
dy quiet.”
“I can.” Nixie pulled out her wand. “It’s no use hiding you if they can hear him barking. They’ll keep looking till they find you.”
“What are you going to do to him?” Dani asked.
“Don’t worry, it’s only temporary, and it won’t hurt a bit. It’ll just…mute him for a few hours.” Nixie flicked her wand at Teddy before Dani could object.
Though the terrier kept barking, no sound came out anymore.
Lil giggled and carried the angry dog into the bedchamber. “That’s better, Teddy.”
Jake stepped toward Dani. “Well.” He swallowed hard. “Are you all set, then?”
She nodded, her green eyes wide with trust in him and fear of their situation. She looked so scared that Jake was tempted to chance giving her a kiss on the cheek to try to make her feel better—oh, but now was not the time for such nonsense. “Remember,” he instructed, “stay silent.”
She nodded, holding the blunderbuss. And as Jake pulled the door shut, he knew that the image of her freckled face in that moment would be permanently stamped upon his mind.
Outside the bedchamber, Nixie put a locking spell on the bedchamber door. Once it was shut, Jake could hear Dani sliding the dresser in front of the door as an added barrier. Good. Then he, Nixie, and Archie crossed Aunt Ramona’s sitting room and stepped out into the upstairs hallway.
There, Nixie cast another invisibility spell like the one she had put on the hatbox, concealing the doorway to Aunt Ramona’s sitting room. It was their only option at this point, since the door was too damaged to be shut or locked, thanks to Jake blasting it off its hinges.
Nixie spoke the short chant, just a line or two, and the whole doorway disappeared. In the blink of an eye, it looked like there was not a room there at all. The wallpaper and wainscoting just continued smoothly.
“Nicely done,” Jake said in relief.
“Right.” Archie pivoted. “Let’s get out there, please, and help my sister!”
“I will, Arch, I promise,” Jake said. “But that’s not the plan for you two.”
“What are you talking about? Frankly, I don’t understand why we all didn’t just hide in there behind Nixie’s invisible doorway. We could just wait until these rotten pirates go away!”