"You are Arachne's lieutenant!" I spat out, pointing at Amaryllis."You!"
Amaryllis looked down and did not meet my eyes, but Arachne merely smiled, and I could see the same barbed fangs I saw in the vision. Judging by the horrified looks of my friends, they had seen the vision as well.
"Really," said Arachne, with a rusty, rattling laugh in her throat. She pointed at me. "Your expression was priceless! You shouldn't be so quick to trust, you know..." Arachne started laughing again.
Arachne pointed at Amaryllis and said,"This is her true appearance."
Amaryllis's features changed until she looked like Arachne, except Amaryllis had eight hairy, spidery arms instead of two, and her skin turned pure black, so black that at night, Amaryllis would not be visible.
"Yes!" crowed Arachne. "This is who she is! A Spinner, just like me! Her visage is much less human, though, because she was born from one who was a spider, and one who was mixed breed, human and spider, like me!"
My fury grew till I was positively quivering. I did not go through so much danger, lead my friends through battles, go against all odds, to lose. I was not going to let it all go to waste. Arachne was evil and did not deserve to win. I used it. I used my anger, my energy, and converted it into something indestructible, whole, and untamed. I created magic. I took the glowing force and hurled it at Arachne, using all my worked up feelings, the stress from leading the dangerous quest, my anger at Arachne, my frustration at going so far yet to slip away from my goal, and most of all, my love and loyalty to my friends, and forced it on Arachne.
The release of all my conflicted emotions made me feel surprisingly calm.
The power of my magic was so strong, it knocked Arachne off her feet. At first, Arachne lay there, looking most surprised and annoyed. Then, she calmly got to her feet, and, quivering with anger, she pointed at us, and said to Amaryllis, "Put them in custody and do not let them go until I say so. Take them away."
Her voice was regal and commanding, yet razor thin with warning. Amaryllis obeyed, scurrying over to us and binding us with magic ribbons. And not the kind of ribbons you wear in your hair. These were as strong as iron handcuffs, except they were made of cloth. They wrapped around my wrists, tightening them until they almost cut off her blood circulation. Looking at her friend's strained faces, I guessed that they were undergoing the same pressure.
"Follow me," said Amaryllis. Her words were said clipped and short. "If you resist, the stretching of the ribbons will only tighten further, perhaps triggering loss of your hands." Amaryllis walked out of the door and into the corridor, holding our ribbons like leashes, and the rest of us had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 20
If the walk to Arachne's room has taken hours, the walk to wherever Amaryllis was taking us took minutes.
Amaryllis thrust us into a holding cell, removed our bindings, and left. She did not speak one word to any of us. We were sitting in a trampled heap when Stephanie said," What was that in there, Evanna? I've never seen anything like it!"
"Do you think it is your power?" asked Holly.
I shrugged.
"Probably," I said. "I mean, do we know any other humans who can use magic?"
"I bet that's your special power," breathed Kae, awed. "Can I do it?"
His friends had no objection, so Kae said,"Evanna, you have been gifted with the power of magic."
I felt my eyes burn, and I had to close my eyes. I felt myself rising up, higher and higher, and my senses sharpened. I could sense the ceiling of the holding cell above her, though no part of me was touching it and my eyes were closed. I knew my friends were murmuring excitedly, but I did not know why. After all, shouldn't they be used to golden glowing people rising up into the air to get tattooed by now? Suddenly, my eyes flashed open, and though my eyes were painfully burning, I could not close them. But I couldn't see my friends below me. Instead, I was in a long hall, decorated kind of like a wedding, but there were no people. I wandered along the aisle, looking at the altar, and all the pretty golden chairs. She saw golden net ribbons strung across the room, with bouquets of silver tulips tied up where the ribbons crossed.
I meandered all way up to the altar. Except it wasn't an altar. Instead of the place where the bride, groom, and the minister stand, there was an ivory chair- no, not a chair, a throne. It was decorated with realistic looking vines made of gold, and on the vines bloomed gorgeous, but delicate silver tulips. If I looked closely at them, I could've sworn they were growing. Suddenly, the throne glowed white-hot, and the tip of my nose, which was touching a flower as I bent over it, got a small burn on the end.
She stepped back as a lady materialized on the throne.
I gaped. I knew this must be a goddess, like Anaina from the Twilight. But this goddess was much more regal, grander, and majestic. Her skin was bronze, and her eyes glowed molten gold. Her long hair flowed in shimmering locks of coppery gold. Her dress was made of pure gold, I was sure, but it flowed at easily as water.
"Evanna," said the goddess when she saw me staring in amazement. "Finally, I get to meet you. At last."
I couldn't speak. The goddess laughed slightly.
"I understand your confusion," she said. "I am Islana, goddess of fortune, celebration, and gifts. I am visiting you because you have discovered your true power.... the ability to control and use magic."
I didn't know what to say, so I kept quiet, fidgeting slightly.
The goddess continued," I also am a seer."
I suddenly found my voice.
"That means you can predict the future, right?" I said, my head jerking up eagerly.
Islana sighed, her hair falling over her shoulders.
"Bits and pieces, child, bits and pieces. It is an old gift, and cannot be depended upon."
"Oh," I said, disappointed.
"But," said Islana. "I have foreseen something that could be of importance to you. Something that could help you.........."
The goddess waved her hand, and images appeared out of thin air.
They were of me returning to my mom, who was happy and safe, me defeating Arachne with my magic, me hugging my friends, who had just buried Arachne's body.....
"These can all come to pass," said Islana,"if you do what I say."
I said, my mouth slightly dry, "What's that?"
The goddess smiled, and for the first time her smile looked evil.
"It's all in here," said Islana, and she handed me a scroll. Then, she vanished, and I felt myself fall.
Chapter 21
I fell through the air. My tunic flew up, exposing her tank top underneath. As she neared the ground, I began to flutter this way and that, like a leaf. I gently landed on the ground. My friends rushed to me.
"What happened?" asked Holly, checking me over for damage. I smiled. Holly had always been a mother duck.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I laughed. "But something strange happened up there."
She related all that had happened with Islana.
"Here's the scroll," I said, opening my hand. Then I noticed that everyone's faces looked extremely guilty.
"What happened?" I asked, letting the scroll fall. "Why do you all look like that?"
Holly took a deep breath and said," The same thing happened to me." She reached in her hoodie pocket and pulled out a scroll identical to mine.
"Me too," said Stephanie. She reached into her trench coat pocket and put her scroll in.
"I got one, too," said Kae, putting his scroll in. In the end, it turned out that everyone had gotten a scroll and had kept it a secret.
I looked disbelievingly at her friends.
"You mean you all kept it a secret?" I asked. Holly looked at her hands.
"I'm sorry, but Islana asked me to keep it a secret. She said that if I told someone before we got to Arachne's castle, whatever that's on this scroll would disappear," said Holly.
"Me too," said Eli, and everyone nodded solemnly.
"Well, we should open them, right?
" asked Stephanie, breaking the silence that followed. Everyone nodded uncomfortably, so Stephanie opened the scrolls. I knew that her friends had just been doing what was best for the quest, but she couldn't help feeling that a connection between her friends, one we had spent weeks to build up, had been severed.
I looked at the scrolls. Each one of them had a number, followed by a set of directions.
1.Find a sword, an apple, and a bobby pin.
2.Make sure other supplies are secured. Then take the above items and place in front. Then prepare weapons.
3.Using the sword, cut a slice of apple. Place it by the three inch wide mouse hole.
4.Using the bobby pin, open the lock. It is a spring lock, so it will work.
5.Lean something against the door to make it appear shut. After finishing, go back to the apple.
6.On the apple, you will see tiny green spots starting to appear. Wait until they grow into blisters. Take the apple away from the mouse hole. Pop every blister.
7.Await further instructions.
I looked up.
"What does it mean?" she asked.
"I don't know, but we should do it," said Phillip. "What's the harm?"
Stephanie scowled.
"The harm, Phillip," said Stephanie," is that either Amaryllis or Arachne will find our door open, and then they will mutilate us!"
"Well, they're gonna do that anyway if we don't try," said Holly. "So really, there isn't any harm. I say we go for it."
I knew Holly had been using her power, because Stephanie started to look convinced.
"Okay, all right," mumbled Stephanie. "I guess we can do it."
"Any more objections?" I asked. There were none.
"All right," I said. "Let's get started."
Chapter 22
Phillip found an apple in one of Holly's packs. Mallory pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, and I volunteered my knife.
"No," said Stephanie, looking at the knife. "No, no, no. We cannot use that."
"What's wrong with it?" I asked.
Stephanie shook her head, sending her mane of strawberry blonde hair flying.
"Not okay to use a knife," said Stephanie. "It has to be a sword. What if it's the sword that makes the apple get the spots? Use a sword."
"But swords have all sorts of different materials and sizes and shapes," protested Kae. "It's not possible that the sword makes the apple get the blisters."
"Just do it," insisted Stephanie, so we ended up using Phillip's short stabber blade.
"Thank goodness Arachne was stupid enough not to search us," I said as she cut the apple slice.
Holly, who was next to her, grinned and said, "Uh-huh. We're going to have no problem defeating her if she's got so little brains."
I smiled, and felt some of the recent tension between us lift a little.
Stephanie put the apple slice by the mouse hole. There were two mouse holes. One was a foot long mouse hole and the other was a small one that I figured measured up to three inches. I wondered about the foot long one, though. What kind of mouse would need that big of a hole?
I sat next to the apple, waiting to see when the blisters would grow.
"What are you doing?" asked Stephanie, her hands on her hips.
"Watching the apple," I said. "You know, for the blisters."
"Uh-uh-uh," said Stephanie. "The instructions don't say to do that. Take a look."
Before I could protest, Stephanie had spread out the scrolls.
"Look," she said. "It is very clear."
5. Lean something against the door to make it appear shut. After finishing, go back to the apple.
"Oh, all right," I sighed. "I'm a-coming." She got up and followed Stephanie to the door. I leaned against the wall to watch Kae try to open the door.
He tussled with the door for quite a while, until Holly lost patience, grabbed the pin, stuck it in the keyhole and opened the door.
"There," she said triumphantly, and dropped the pin in Kae's hand. "Done. Now let's go get the apple." She marched over to the mouse hole. The others followed her. Kae's mouth still hung open as he stared at the pin in his hand. I reached over and shut it for him.
At the mouse hole, we were intently examining the apple. Green spots had appeared, and they were growing to blisters.
"Oh, there goes one," said Kae, pointing to a fully grown blister. "And another."
After that, the blisters rapidly appeared, forming huge green pustules.
"Ugh," said Mallory, taking the apple from the mouse hole. "Why did I volunteer for this job?"
She took it to a corner, and grimacing, began popping the blisters with her hands. Electric orange pus oozed out of the popped blisters.
"Finally, I'm done!" she cried after she popped all the blisters. Her hands were stained with the orange goo, and she had bits of the green part in her hair.
Stephanie walked over to her and handed her the bobby pin.
"You know, this is sharp enough to puncture the blisters?" she asked, snorting.
"You know, this would have been helpful before I started popping the blisters?" asked Mallory, imitating Stephanie.
Stephanie's only response was, "Don't put your hands on hoodie. You might get pus on it, and you're borrowing it from me."
Mallory's eyebrows began to clench up in anger, but they relaxed and she started laughing. Stephanie joined her, and soon they had the whole room giggling.
"You... are .... so .. evil!" snorted Mallory through her laughs.
"You better believe it," said Stephanie. "And watch out, because I'm not happy with the way you stained my hoodie...."
Stephanie's face was deadly serious, but everyone caught the twinkle in her eye.
Suddenly, Phillip's face turned white.
"The goo! It's moving!" he yelled.
The laughter stopped.
The orange goo on the apple began to slither off. It formed a small puddle on the floor, and began to move.
"Do you think these are our further instructions?" asked Stephanie, looking at her scroll.
"I don't see why not," said Phillip.
"All right, then, let's go! After all, the door is open, isn't it?" came a voice from the doorway. The seven turned. It was Amaryllis, and she looked very, very, mad.
Chapter 23
"You children!" muttered Amaryllis angrily as she walked down the corridor. The seven floated above her, tied to her presence like balloons with a bit of magic.
"Do you know how much trouble I could have been in if Arachne had chosen to visit you instead of sending me?" asked Amaryllis. "It's very lucky I found you, or we would all be dead by now."
"Well," said Stephanie innocently. "You know, we do have obligations other than following you. You can't really blame us for trying to get out."
Amaryllis turned, and I hissed,"Stephanie!"
I was sure Stephanie had blown it for us.
But Amaryllis took a few deep breaths, gave us a nasty smile, and said,"I would kill you now, but then Arachne wouldn't be happy. And if I want to stay alive, Arachne should stay happy."
She turned back and continued striding down the corridor. As we bobbed above her, I marveled at how much Amaryllis had changed.
Before, Amaryllis was extremely giving and kind. We had noticed something missing from her, and had distrusted her because of it, but she had never really shown anything to make us openly oppose her.
Now, she was openly ruthless and cunning, as if she wanted the us to know what she could do.
There was still something that bothered me. When she made her first act as a leader, she gave a choice to her friends on whether they wanted to go or not. Amaryllis had said that going on the quest would give us a fighting chance. She said it could save our families. She had persuaded us to go. Why, if she was on Arachne's side? Wouldn't she want to remove every obstacle, every minimal thing, so that there would be no doubt to Arachne's rise?
Amaryllis took us along the corridor. At the end of it, there was a la
rge empty space. Amaryllis said a few words, and suddenly the seven were trapped on a big bubble of shimmering magic.
"There," said Amaryllis smugly. "Now you can't get out." She left.
I turned to her friends. but before she could say anything, the bubble started turning.
"Ow!" I exclaimed. As she sat up, she saw Eli clawing wildly at the bubble, making it tip and turn.
"Stop it! Calm down!" cried Holly, using her power. Eli stopped clawing at the magical wall, and the wild look in his eyes disappeared.
"Sorry," he mumbled, looking down at his hands. "I told you before, it's one of my fits. I haven't had one since that one when we first got here, but.... you know." A tear was in his eye.
Holly put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay," she said softly. "Don't worry, it's not your fault..."
Then she started crying.
"I'm so sorry for not trusting you," she said. "Back when we thought you had kept a secret from us. I was so mad at you, but then it turned out that Arachne had planted all that balderdash in your head... I'm so, so, sorry!"
"Yeah," said Kae, and his ice blue eyes were warm and comforting. "We all are, Eli, I'm sorry." The others chorused our sorry's too, and I said," I am really sorry for being suspicious of you when you guys kept the scrolls a secret. You were only doing what was best for the quest, and I know I would have done it as well. I'm really sorry."
"Aw, don't be," said Stephanie, putting an arm around me. "It's okay. Really, it is."
With that, the tears were wiped away, and someone cracked a corny joke, and with the peals of ridiculous laughter that followed, everyone felt the best we had in a long, long, time.
Chapter 24
As the day grew long, the laughter stopped, and our faces grew somber. Arachne was going to rise at midnight, and we knew that once she rose and gained full power, no one would be able to stop her. We had to get her tonight.
"Well, does anyone have any ideas?" asked Stephanie.
"Nope," said Holly.
"Zilch," said Mallory.
"Nada," said Phillip.
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