“Arian said you’d be here soon enough,” salt-and-pepper said to me. “But we thought we’d hang a lantern on your present.” He tilted his chin toward Paige’s body.
“You did this?” I said angrily.
The hunter shrugged. “Some loss. The thing was barely human. Killing her was easy and fast. Killing your friends to make you pay for everything you’ve done, that will be easy and a privilege.”
The hunters approached the net that contained my thrashing, struggling friends. The men set their guns down and drew their blades. Something dark and powerful writhed inside me.
That’s when it happened.
White noise coursed through my ears. The emotions surging inside blackened like Paige’s body. My hands clutched the net without my conscious control. Then power rushed out of me with vengeance.
Magic Instinct consumed my net in golden energy and ripped it in three pieces, freeing Jason and me. The separate pieces flew forward and plowed into our attackers like enormous bolos. The men were propelled twenty feet across the grass and hit the ground roughly before rolling to a stop in front of several gnarled trees.
I jumped to my feet and strode toward them. My eyes, face, and hands burned from fury and magic. It was not focused; it was angry. Untamed and uncontrollable, my power felt as primal and potent as the lights that streaked the sky and the pure hatred that beat inside me.
As the hunters rose to their feet, my eyes darted to the mangled trees directly behind them. My body moved on autopilot and I lifted my hand.
“Consume,” I said.
I didn’t consciously decide to give the command, but my Pure Magic knew what it wanted and the order had come out of my mouth with ease. As I watched the golden energy overtake my body, a subterranean part of me felt like it wanted this too.
My mystic glow lit up the trio of nearest trees. The roots lashed around the hunters’ ankles. Vines entrapped their arms and wrapped around their torsos. Both began to pull the hunters back, despite how the men clawed and struggled.
As the hunters were ruthlessly reeled in, the trunks of the trees abruptly hinged open. Their bark split apart like mouths opening wide. My fists clenched tighter. Power coursed through my veins as I watched with loathing and satisfaction as the hunters got sucked into the trees, slowly consumed and entombed.
“Crisa!”
SJ’s voice felt faraway and inconsequential. The white noise in my ears grew. Pure Magic clutched the reins with greater ease the more my emotions swelled. And right now my ire was too potent. It pumped through me like white-hot fire that had to be released unto the people who warranted it—people like these hunters.
They deserved to feel trapped and persecuted like I had since they’d started chasing me. They deserved to be taken down once and for all like they’d taken down Paige. They deserved to die. And I was going to deliver the judgment.
I could feel energy radiating from every part of me, even my eyes, as the trees devoured the magic hunters. Each man was covered in roots, faces gnarled from screaming as the trunks drew them in further. Then my Magic Instinct kicked it up a notch. It began to suck the life from the hunters. Golden light flowed out of their mouths like air leaving their bodies. The hunters’ faces quivered and blurred as they started to disintegrate into ash.
“Crisa, stop!”
Blue’s shout rang in one ear and out the other. She was miles away. My pulse was so fast it was like a single vibration in my head, blocking out everything else. Magic Instinct was handling things, and a deep part of me felt safe in a kind of mental slumber as my power ran the show. Some part of me did notice that my glow had changed to majorly gray streaked with only waves of gold during this episode. However, while my buried consciousness knew this was bad, I couldn’t do anything about it. My will to act was buried deep and Magic Instinct had me on complete emotional autopilot—the kind where you didn’t care about control or consequences.
The energy coming out of the hunters was getting fainter as their life forces dwindled. Meanwhile, everything but their desperately outstretched hands had vanished into the depths of their tree coffins. I knew it was only a matter of moments before the job was done.
Hold it steady, an internal voice urged. A little bit longer and they’ll be gone. Just a few more seconds and . . .
Oomph!
I was tackled to the ground. The sudden impact was jarring, and it brought me out of the malicious trance.
I opened my eyes and saw Daniel halfway on top of me. His eyes were full of urgent concern and fear. It took half a second for that same worry to consume me. Like a flash of lighting, the realization of what I’d done and what I was about to do surged through me. The autopilot was switched off. The Magic Instinct spell had broken. Responsibility and reality set in.
I leapt to my feet. “Stop!” I ordered, pointing my hand at the very destruction I’d created.
My glow seemed reluctant to return.
“Stop!” I ordered again.
After a second, the golden aura thankfully engulfed me. There was no gray this time. The trees immediately halted and the energy stopped leaving the hunters’ bodies. My panic subsided. I walked up to the hunters and used every ounce of control and clarity I could muster to have the trees release them. The trunks gradually opened up and the vines and roots pulled away. I kept the hunters’ limbs restrained enough that they couldn’t get free just in case though.
Our enemies were unconscious, but it looked like they were still breathing. I examined their formerly disintegrating faces. All three were returning to normal.
“They’re alive,” Jason said as he stepped back from the hunter whose pulse he’d been taking.
“Good,” Daniel said. “We’ll leave them here. I know Julian is evil, what with the whole letting Rampart keep Ozma thing, but we’ll ask him and Eva to come arrest these guys later.”
I barely heard him. I checked my Hole Tracker. “There’s forty minutes left in the Aurora. We better make this fast.” I pivoted in the direction of the mountains.
“Crisa,” SJ said. Her face was pale and her expression was shocked, wary, and a bit afraid. “You . . . you almost murdered those men.”
I swallowed hard and turned away. After all, what could I possibly say in response to that?
“Come on,” I said. “We have a mission to finish.”
y friends and I arrived at the base of the North Mountains, halting where the plain curved onto an ascending rocky path. I think we all instinctively felt like this was the official entrance to the North Mountains, which meant the In and Out Spell border had to fall within the next few feet.
Gradually we walked closer—five steps, seven, nine . . .
Then I felt it.
In and Out Spells were ordinarily invisible, but when you passed through them, there was an unmistakable sensation like a bedsheet being pulled off your body as that small section of the spell lit up. I was expecting this. What I wasn’t expecting was for the entire dome of the spell to illuminate, which it did. When we crossed the spell the full barrier encasing the mountains crackled in lightning-like patterns that were pink, silver, and spider-vein purple. It was probably a result of the Aurora’s weakening affects on normal magic. Seeing it made me optimistic.
“Arian didn’t think of that,” I thought aloud as my friends and I watched the magic of the spell react.
“What?” Kai asked.
“Arian’s hunters stole Merlin’s powers so they could sneak into Glinda’s lair and access the memory stone undetected,” I explained. “But he didn’t know the Aurora would cause the entire spell to light up this way when they crossed it. Which means despite their invisibility, Glinda was alerted of their presence the second they came through. She knew they were coming, just like she knows we’re coming.”
“At least they had the power of invisibility to help them from here on,” Daniel said.
“And so do you!”
All of us jumped as Merlin popped out of the bushes. The hiding pl
ace seemed like overkill given that he could turn invisible, but I was starting to learn to roll with his weirdness.
“Took you long enough,” he said. “You were about to get mangled.” Merlin pointed to the sky with his spear-drill staff. A fleet of flying monkeys was descending like a meteor shower toward us. Until now they’d been camouflaged by the swaying colors of the Aurora.
“Don’t worry,” Merlin said. “I got it.” His form glowed with golden energy and a second later all seven of us were consumed by it, though only for an instant.
“There! Now we’re all invisible,” he said. “But if we could move it along, that would be great. The Aurora is helping me out, but I was dead less than an hour ago and I’m not as strong as usual.”
I held up my hand. My skin and clothes were shimmering like they were imbedded with glitter. I was vaguely translucent, but I could still see myself. I could see the others too. However, the flying monkeys had pulled up with raucous and confused screeches. They flew in high circles searching for us.
“Invisible things can see other invisible things,” Merlin explained before I could ask. “A good break, otherwise we’d all keep bumping into each other. Oh, and by the way, I brought an extra surprise.” Merlin gestured at the bushes behind us.
Ozma!
The thirteen-year-old was wide-awake and ready to go. This was the first time I’d seen her with her eyes open. They were very bright, alert, and mint green like her jacket.
“I’m sorry I missed the other battles,” Ozma said, uncrossing her arms. “But Merlin filled me in on the key plot points and he thought I could help now. I agree and I’m ready to fight. This is my realm and I don’t care how long I’ve been gone—I have to defend it. Before Glinda was evil, she and I used to come to the North Mountains. I know them well. While you guys go after the memory stone, I am going to try and get the second Simia Crown away from Glinda and save her.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Blue asked.
“Being invisible should help me get the crown. And my magic is a solid plan B if it doesn’t,” Ozma replied. “I’m sure my brother told you about each of us having an elemental magic power because our mom was the Fairy Queen Lurline?”
“Yeah, he did,” I said. “And listen, Ozma, about your brother—”
“Save it,” Ozma said, waving a hand. “Plenty of people have told me their theories about him selling me out so he could rule Oz with his wife Eva, and I don’t buy it. He’s better than that.”
I wanted to argue but didn’t have the time or the heart.
“And as for saving Glinda,” Ozma continued, “I have this.”
Ozma pulled up the cord I’d seen around her neck in the infirmary. The pendant at the end was a little test tube, much like the necklace Merlin had given me with magic Forget-Me-Nots. Inside Ozma’s tube, however, was a teaspoon of clear-colored liquid.
“These are the Four Waters of Paradise,” Ozma said.
My jaw dropped.
“A dose of this can cure anyone of Pure Magic Disease,” Ozma explained. “The person will still have a weaker version of his or her magical abilities once cured, but there’ll be no chance of disease-based corruption. I saved this tiny sample last time Dorothy and I went to Avalon. It should be enough to cure one person.”
I couldn’t believe it. When I had unsuccessfully tried to secure the Four Waters of Paradise on Avalon, the Lady of the Lake had said, “You did not find the Four Waters of Paradise here, but that does not mean you will not find them elsewhere.”
She’d been right.
My friends and I shared an unspoken thought—maybe I should use those waters. I was sure Merlin had mentioned my Pure Magic to Ozma, but it clearly had not occurred to her that I might need the cure more than Glinda. Maybe once we defeated the witch and got the crown I could and should try and make a case to Ozma for why I might need the waters more. It was a selfish move, but given all the realms and prophecies relying on me, maybe it was a fair one? I mean, after the way I just lost control with those hunters . . .
I pushed away my anxiety and glanced at the Vicennalia Aurora. Its lights seemed much crueler now.
“We better get moving,” I said. “Arian and the rest of our enemies are inside somewhere. For all we know, they could have already defeated Glinda and found the memory stone.”
“They haven’t,” Blue said firmly.
“How do you know?” Jason asked.
“Because I’ll be darned if we’re the first protagonists in history who let the antagonists win. So enough dillydallying. Let’s climb, people!”
We didn’t need to be told twice. The invisible eight of us rushed up the path that cut through the mountain range. The higher we ascended, the more flying monkeys we spotted—darting through the skies, nesting in rock crevices, perching on outcrops like gargoyles. Each flying monkey had a five-foot-long torso, thin hairy limbs, and bat-like wings. The scariest moment was when we slipped through the ten-foot archway of a cave that went into the mountain. Six monkeys slumbered on top of the rocky threshold, their feet clinging to the roof and their tails dangling over our heads. I didn’t know how they could be sleeping when so much was going on, but boy did they look peaceful.
The opposite cave wall was only about fifty feet away. Our access further into the mountain was by means of going down. The cave plunged into a big drop below us and the only way to descend it was via a narrow path that curved around the drop in a corkscrew spiral. We took it carefully but speedily. The distant sound of flying monkey screeches echoed up from the bottom, which made the hairs on my arms stand up.
When we reached the base of the spiral, Ozma led the pack. She felt sure she could guide us to Glinda’s main hub. Some paths were narrow with plummeting drops. Others widened into full caverns ranging from barn-size to ballroom-size. Almost all caves had two things in common.
The first was the crows. On our last visit to Oz, we’d learned that because Glinda was trapped in the North Mountains, she used crows to get her information. Many of the sinister creatures were outfitted with video recorders on their necks to spy on the rest of the realm. I hadn’t seen any outside on our hike up, but as we delved deeper, they were perched in every rocky layer of the mountain. The birds were watching, which meant Glinda was watching, but thanks to Merlin’s powers of invisibility we went unseen.
Another consistency within the mountain was the source of lighting. Like my dream of this place long ago, parts of the ceiling and rock were illuminated by deposits of magic dust. It would have been a magic hunter’s dream to mine here. Magic dust was the most potent fuel source in existence—the deposits in one of these caverns alone could’ve powered our magic train back home for a month.
We eventually entered a large cavern where we found our first collection of the dead. A battle had passed through here. Both flying monkey and man lay splayed on the floor. The deceased flying monkeys were contorted messes of tail, wing, and fur. While a solid number of their carcasses littered the area, only three men had died here. One dead human we passed was Victor. He had scratches all over his face and arms, and a large gash on his chest. Another antagonist soldier had his throat ripped out, and I quickly averted my eyes so I wouldn’t retain the details. Regrettably, in doing so I spotted a third soldier who’d been shredded. I hurriedly about-faced and shuddered; I just couldn’t look at that stuff.
“I don’t understand,” Jason said. “If Arian had invisibility cloaking him and his forces, how did the flying monkeys find them?”
“Sonny, I have decades of Pure Magic practice,” Merlin replied. “The hunters who stole my abilities have none of that experience and the Vicennalia Aurora is making normal magic weaker. So if there are three hunters on the loose who took my abilities—”
“Two hunters,” SJ interrupted. She gave me a sad glance. “The third has been . . . incapacitated.”
“All right,” Merlin said. “If there are only two hunters with Arian wielding my magic, then I’d garner their invisibi
lity is not strong enough to protect their entire group at once.”
Blue nodded. “That checks out, especially since their focus would be harder to hold if monsters are zipping about attacking them. But how did the flying monkeys spot them in the first place?”
That’s when I noted the shadows. Although I remained invisible like the rest of my friends, under the light of the magic dust in the cavern a shadow elongated across the floor to mirror my frame.
“It’s our shadows,” I said. “The flying monkeys, the crows, even Glinda can see them.”
A chorus of monkey shrieks and human shouting echoed through the cavern. Another battle was happening deeper in the mountain not far away. One voice sounded familiar—I’d spent seventeen years listening to it.
Alex.
“You’re right,” I said to Blue. “Arian hasn’t won yet. Setting off the In and Out Spell lights gave Glinda’s forces a heads up and the antagonists have been waylaid enough for us to catch up. Ozma, let’s keep moving. Hurry.”
Ozma continued to guide our way further into the mountain’s bowels. The noises grew louder as we zagged through the trails. Dead monkeys were splattered here and there and large black crows stared like stalkers in every alcove.
We came across a few more of Arian’s dead soldiers. Given the number of bodies we’d passed, I wagered he only a handful of men left. This was excellent for us; we were eight strong and anxious for a re-match.
The sounds of battle got louder, and when our team ran into a massive cavern, we finally encountered the enemies we sought. Our present tunnel let us out on a ledge five feet from the ground. Stalagmites grew from the uneven cavern floor while sharp stalactites hung overhead. There were thicker ores of magic dust here, carved into the ceiling with runoffs splintering into every crevice they could find. Meanwhile, water trickled down the walls and fell from the occasional stalactite like a runny nose. It was as if the world’s biggest bathtub was in the room above us and caused the roof to leak.
Crisanta Knight: The Lost King Page 23