Chapter Ten

Wanda nearly screamed in frustration when no response came to her mental calls. She'd been trying to reach Stephen for nearly an hour now. Either something had happened to him, or he was too busy to respond to her, or Chthon was preventing it somehow. She ran her hands through her hair in desperation. Now what do I do? She'd settled Kya in the Moses basket for a nap, and the baby was sound asleep. A quick glance outside showed that Sofia/Chthon was still bound, but the bonds were weakening. They wouldn't last much longer, and if the demon escaped, they were all dead. She couldn't let it come to that.

Inhaling deeply, she considered her options. Alright, she couldn't call for help from another sorcerer. But she wasn't totally helpless. She thought hard. If Stephen had been here, his first move would probably be to enter Sofia's mind and attempt to cast Chthon out. She could attempt the same thing... She didn't have the amount of skill that Stephen did at such things, but there were few other options.

A shiver ran down her spine as the long list of risks involved ran through her mind; Her physical body would be unguarded, as would Sofia's, Kya- her precious baby- would be unattended for who knew how long, and then there was the slightly important detail that she and Sofia could lose the mental battle...

She crushed her doubts. The longer she waited, the more chance there was of irreparable harm being done to Sofia. And if she went into this battle unsure of victory, then Chthon had already won.

Quickly running to her room, she gathered supplies- protective herbs and amulets, candles, chalk- and raced back downstairs. Returning to where Kya slept, she began incanting, charms for peace, sleep and protection, as she drew a circle on the ground, surrounding the Moses basket. Finishing, she pressed a kiss to Kya's forehead with a murmured 'I love you' to her daughter before taking several calming breaths and heading back to the yard, to face Chthon.

He leered at her, the expression looking even uglier on Sofia's innocent face, and Wanda struggled to ignore it as she chalked more runes and a more powerful circle, enclosing herself on one half and Chthon on the other. Once the circle was complete, Wanda sank into a lotus position, centering and focusing her thoughts, concentrating on memories of Sofia, of the sense she'd gotten of the girl's mind during the months they'd spent together.

She felt a faint response, and her heart leapt- Sofia was still in there somewhere! Closing her eyes, she let her astral form leave her body, praying the bindings on Chthon would stop him leaving Sofia's body and taking hers, and imagined herself in a mindscape, looking for Sofia, travelling towards the presence she'd sensed a moment ago.

Feeling solid ground beneath her feet, she started and her eyes shot open. Had it worked? She stood in a place that looked like a mash-up of New Orleans and the Sanctum Sanctorum- if both of them were recovering from a volcanic eruption! The air was thick, and stank of brimstone. What little light there was, was red. All the buildings and rooms that made up Sofia's mental landscape were damaged, derelict and burning. Shadows lurked everywhere, moving and growing. Wanda clenched her teeth, remembering the tell-tale signs of an attack from Chthon from her own experiences with the demonic Elder God years ago. She 'listened' for the presence of Sofia, no doubt hiding somewhere, petrified. Feeling a tug towards an apartment in the 'New Orleans' section of the landscape, Wanda set off that way, tense and wary for any attack on her Chthon might try.

To her shock, and growing unease, there appeared to be no sign of him. A cold shiver ran down Wanda's spine as the implications hit her. He could be attacking Sofia's true self right now, and if he overcame the teenager and took full control while Wanda was here astrally... She shuddered and began moving faster, nearly running the last few steps towards the apartment block.

Once inside, she looked around, only then realising that she didn't actually know which floor Sofia had lived on when she'd lived in New Orleans. Frowning, she went to examine the elevator numbers. Sometimes, in the mindscape, objects could be manipulated to reveal information.

She raised her hand, running it parallel to the line of numbers. The button for the twelfth floor lit up as her fingertips brushed over it, and she felt a stronger surge of Sofia's presence- and a huge amount of fear. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the elevator, pressing the '12' button. She had no way of knowing if this was a trap, but she had sensed Sofia, so all she could do was go up there and pray she wasn't already too late.

The elevator made ominous creaking noises as it ascended, but Wanda took no notice. I am in control at this point. Nothing is going to go wrong. I am going to get to the twelfth floor safely. She kept reciting that to herself, imposing her will on her surroundings.

The elevator doors hissed open. The corridor beyond was dimly lit and hard to see. Wanda squared her shoulders as she stepped out.

She was now on the first floor of the Sanctum, although it was as damaged as everything else here. Ignoring the logic (or lack thereof) of this place, she strode forward, going with her first guess that Sofia would be in her own bedroom, and opened the door as quickly as she could, bracing herself for what she'd see.

Sofia's room appeared relatively undamaged, though it was more than half occupied by the formless shadow of Chthon itself. Wanda fought down the urge to run from it, and instead glanced around rapidly, hoping to get some idea of where Sofia was.

There. The closet door was shut, and glowed bright white despite the darkness of Chthon. The demon crept closer, only to recoil. Wanda's heart nearly stopped. Was Sofia keeping him at bay like this, keeping herself hidden? That demonstrated an incredibly powerful will (or just stubborness) to separate one's spirit from body and keep the true self from corruption.

However, against a being like Chthon, that could only work for so long, and there was another risk- the longer this went on, the more chance that Sofia would never be able to regain control of her physical self. So Wanda needed to deal with Chthon now.

Bracing herself, she stepped towards the closet, fighting the urge to shudder as the movement took her closer to Chthon, who now loomed over her.

"You cannot triumph here, Witch."

Wanda put a huge amount of her willpower into this, picturing her words like blows: "You are not real. You aren't here."

Chthon was forced back, but only a few inches. It was enough- just. Wanda raced to the closet door and knocked with her fist. "Sofia, it's Wanda! I can get us out of here, but I need your help. I-"

Her focus had slipped and Chthon lashed out. Whips like fire cascaded over her back and shoulders. Despite knowing she had no real physical injury, the pain was excruciating and Wanda cried out.

The whips became hooks and she felt Chthon dragging her backwards, away from the closet and Sofia. He laughed chillingly.

"You cannot save the sorcerer's whelp! You cannot even save yourself!"

Black spots flickered across Wanda's vision. She struggled to focus on the fading white glow of the closet door. Chthon's shadow began to engulf her, and she shouted desperately. "Sofia! I know you probably hate me for leaving like I did, I'm sorry! I will explain everything, I swear. You don't ever have to forgive me," (It hurt Wanda to say that), "but if you don't help me now, we're done for!"

Chthon laughed. "Pitiful. Utter weakness. And I had such hopes for you, my Scarlet Witch... perhaps this young female will prove a better tool for me..."

"I AM NOT YOURS!" Dazzling white light surged from the closet, and the door slammed open, blinding Wanda and making Chthon roar in pain.

Sofia's heart was pounding so fast she thought she might faint, and she had no real idea what was going on. She remembered exploring the Sanctum, then the weird red light from that Hell-place, then she was at Wanda's (how had she gotten there and why?) but it was like watching a dream- she'd spoken to Wanda, and seen her baby, but it hadn't been her talking.

Then everything had gone black, and she'd found herself in this bizarre amalgam of her former home and her current one, and that shadowy thing had been spreading everywhere, turning the place into a wasteland. She'd run for her old apartment, wanting to get away from all this craziness, and had run into her home only to find herself in the Sanctum again! She was seriously starting to wonder if this was all some freaky dream, but then the Shadow had come after her so she had run to hide, slamming her bedroom and the closet doors, and visualising both rooms full of bright light, hoping that would keep the Shadow-thing away. It had worked, but she'd got tired fast and it had gotten into her room. The closet was still safe (and glowing) but Sofia had no idea how long she'd been there. Then she'd heard Wanda's voice.

She hadn't moved at first, afraid it was a trick to get her to come out, but then she'd heard the conversation between Wanda and that... thing, and Wanda got hurt. Sofia had concentrated hard, ignoring her fear, and light had begun to appear from her, which was beyond weird, but what the heck. She burst from the closet with a defiant yell at the thing, that she wasn't its property, knowing this was a stupid move, exposing herself, but desperate to help Wanda. Light banished shadows, right? Why would it be any different with a magical light and an evil shadow creature? Besides, she meant what she'd said. She didn't belong to this demon!

With light still radiating from her, she reached for Wanda's hand, horrified to see her friend half engulfed by the shadow-demon. She clasped Wanda's hand, hanging on to her, and focused on bringing forth more and more light.

The shadow was being driven backwards, hissing. Sofia's resolve strengthened as her trick worked. "That's right, get out of here, and don't come back!"

It tried to lunge forward, but began dissipating in the blinding light.

"This is... not possible!" It howled, but its voice was growing fainter. Sofia kept concentrating.

"You're nothing but a nightmare. You don't exist." Her words were determined. "Leave."

One more flash of light and it was gone. Sofia fell to her knees, gasping. Wanda was staring at her in shock, her eyes wide.

Sofia inhaled shakily. "You OK?"

"Y-yes. Sofia, how did you do that?"

She blinked. "Um... I don't know. I just kept thinking that it was a shadow, and bright light would get rid of it, and it just sort of... worked?"

Wanda still looked stunned. Sofia huffed. "You're welcome!"

"I- I mean, thank you, obviously, but..." The older woman looked thoughtful. "You don't know what that entity was, do you?"

Sofia shook her head. "No, and I don't want to!"

"Maybe that's how you were able to banish him... you don't understand his true power, so he did not have it here in your mind." Wanda's voice was thoughtful, her brow furrowed.

Sofia folded her arms. "The only part of that I really got was that we're in my mind. That's actually creepy so... can we get out of here now?"

Wanda nodded, standing and tugging Sofia up with her. "Of course. Close your eyes."

Sofia obediently did as she was told. The next thing she knew, she'd opened them again, and sunlight was beaming down, making her squint. Slowly she realised she was still in Wanda's yard and looked around, bemused. Huh. Guess that all really did happen in my mind... Magic gets weirder every day. She smiled at Wanda, who tentatively returned the expression.

"Sofia, I don't want to worry you, but in a minute, you're probably going to start feeling exhausted. You should sit down."

"That would be a wonderful idea." Stephen's voice sounded from the house's back door. "And when you're sitting comfortably, you can explain exactly what's going on and why your mother and I both felt such fear from you, hours after you disappeared from the Sanctum without a word. Then we track you here, and find you and Wanda both in a trance that even I couldn't rouse you from!"

Sofia paled, biting her lip as she sat down slowly (she was tired to the point of dizziness), and gulped. "Um, Wong knew I was exploring..."

"Yes." Clea's voice came from behind Stephen. "And he had your word you would not use any portals, yet clearly you did." She stepped around Stephen, and it was only then that Sofia (and Wanda) noticed that she was cradling baby Kya. Her blue eyes flicked from Kya, to Wanda, then Stephen, before she actually looked at Sofia. "I think we deserve some explanations..."

To be continued...