The lake wasn't nearly as kind as it had been when it threw Warren down to his knees in a new location. He was back at Naw's Lake again, Sayre and the others were nowhere in sight, but he could hear people whispering among themselves. Somewhere hiding in the trees. Warren forced himself to stand up and brush away the bits of rock that clung to his palms. Miraculously, Crow was still clinging to his shirtsleeve.
Clouds had rolled in, filling the sky with uncertain darkness. Not a single drop of blood rain fell, much to Warren's delight. There was no ignoring the unfathomable dread in the pit of his stomach. He was going to watch a horrible confrontation, and there was absolutely nothing he would be able to do about it.
Warren plastered on a mask of courage. He needed to know about the lake, he needed to know just what he was going up against.
"She will be here, but be prepared, she is ready for a fight," instructed Puck as he and his allies slipped from the treeline. "It is possible that she's already severed the bond of balance, we may not be able to contain her."
"If the villagers come, we stand a chance," Fae argued from beside Puck. "She'll be distracted with them, but I fear- I fear-"
"That Gabriel brought the Grymory?"
"Yes... And I'm worried that Sayre will be unstoppable if she gets her hands on it."
"The book wouldn't open for her, she needs a Seelie or an Unseelie to open it. She's fallen from grace, a Seelie disowned by her kind. There's no way that will happen, I'm sure of it."
"Puck," whispered Fae, she obviously didn't want anybody else to know what she was about to say. "That's why she's dragged Mina with her. The girl's as Seelie as you and me. She was to become the Odette."
More people- no- more Seelies emerged from the treeline tailed by several villagers. The Seelies were armed with nothing more than the magic that pulsed through them, but the villagers brought their pitchforks and torches. One man had the audacity to bring ropes. The villagers were confident that they'd be able to catch Sayre, but only Warren and Crow knew that she'd successfully severed the tie between the Odette and the Odile, there would be a fierce struggle for power because of that.
Another man stood next to a shriveled old crone, a satchel hung beneath his arm.
Gabriel van Helsing had brought the Grymory against the Seelies' wishes.
"Set up defenses," Puck ordered, gesturing to the treeline. "We need just a little more time. Bring me the Odette, please."
The Seelie male nodded, he whisked off to the treeline with two others flanking him. All three glanced over their shoulders at the chittering villagers before subtly beginning a spell of some sort. Warren watched in curiosity as a shimmering barrier slowly began to rise up from the ground.
"You're a fool to have brought the Grymory," Fae sneered as soon as Gabriel and the Odette shuffled towards them.
"This can only end one way, we must keep the Grymory out of Sayre's reach," chastised the Odette. She patiently took the Grymory away from Gabriel, "It is hard to let go, I understand, but it is the wisest choice."
Fae stiffened, "I will not follow your plan."
Warren turned his attention from the bickering Seelies and back to the magical barrier that barely managed to crawl up into the air. Trees were rustling, hissing with anticipation. A cacophony of thunder cracked the sky, causing many villagers to jump in surprise. Crow shimmied down Warren's arm and jumped down to the grass. He held up a hand like a tiny visor.
It's strange to see myself, Crow murmured as he stared at the yellow eyed tree humanoid approaching Puck and Fae. But as I said before, telling my story will take time. Perhaps later.
That didn't do much to quell Warren's ever growing list of questions.
Look closely, you'll be able to see how Sayre managed to get in despite the boundary.
Upon further inspection, Crow's statement proved itself true. Tiny silver strings connected the walking tree stump to the forest it had come from. The boundary had encompassed the silver threads, but hadn't cut them off. Crow's old tree body had become a puppet. Sayre's story about splitting her powers as the Odile came sashaying through Warren's head.
Crow was linked to Sayre, as was Mina.
Sayre's locket hung around one of the branches protruding from the tree stump.
The curse.
"You can't remember because you had the title of Odile," Warren said slowly, his eyes glued to the scene about to unfurl before him. "You put on the locket and the curse came after you."
That explains... quite a bit.
"It drained you of an identity and it sucked everything away from you."
No, just my identity. I never considered the wooden form I wore to be a body, that was taken from me years before this ever happened. I don't suppose you've thought of what the price was for Sayre to throw her power into two other beings, do you?
"You... You were her first son, weren't you?"
The little mushroom man fell down to his little mushroom knees. Warren tensed as he began to connect the dots. The eyes in the jar, Crow's tree body with its eerie yellow eyes. John Sayre, Crow's sentiment over watching John's father die. While he couldn't remember it all at first, memories never truly went away. They were just waiting for subtle reminders to bring them forwards into the light.
Yes, yes I was. And she sacrificed, Crow paused. He sat in the grass, She sacrificed everything that made me a person. Because- because she cared more for power and herself than... Than for- for me.
"Crow, I-"
Stop. This is my burden and mine alone, search for the tiniest details as Sayre attacks. I hope you can forgive me for wishing to mourn on my own.
Warren opened his mouth to say more, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. What could you say? Crow had had an entire lifetime of choices ripped away from him as a child because of something Sayre chose to do. He'd lost years and years of life outside of the lake because of his mother. There weren't many words of comfort to offer. No jokes came to mind, nothing to make the mood slightly happier. There was nothing but mourning. Nothing but despair.
"Ah, here comes the Odile," Puck said excitedly, clasping Crow's tree stump body in a tight embrace. "It is good to see you friend, promise me we'll do something stupid once this is over?"
The tree stump shrugged, and instead, turned the yellow eyes on the Odette. She clutched the book to her chest as she studied the Odile. But her resolve didn't last for very long. A smile spread across her cheeks like butter, and the Odette handed the Grymory over to the Odile. Gabriel, on the other hand, frowned. He snatched the Grymory back from the Odile's branchy fingers.
"Once Sayre is trapped in the lake, we should all celebrate," the Odette chuckled. "We've all earned it."
"You will all be celebrating a new world instead," said a sultry voice dancing on the wind.
Puck jerked into a fighting stance, "Sayre can't get in, we've got a barrier."
But the barrier so many Seelies had faith in exploded into hundreds of thousands of little glass shards. Black cracks cut through the bark of Crow's tree stump torso. The silver threads that were wrapped around Crow's body suddenly drew taught. Roots emerged from Crow's tree legs and burrowed into the ground as the strings began to slowly pull backwards. The villagers scattered, there had to be at least twenty in all. Cackling rang through the forest, insane laughter.
The Odile's eyes began to sizzle with heart as if they were growing hotter and hotter with each passing moment. The silver threads continued to try to pull the tree backwards, Warren realized that there was only one person those strings could be connected to. Sayre was using the Odile to drag herself in towards the lake.
"Band together! We must hold-" Fae yelled over the beginning chaos, urging the Seelies to come towards those who remained of the twelve.
Her order was never heard. The three Seelies Puck had sent on at first to set up the barrier took the brunt of Sayre's first attack. Trees melted into black sludge as Sayre calmly walked through the broken barrier. A deranged grin spread across her face, her teeth had sharpened into points. More cracks had made their appearance on her skin. Behind her, Mina strode in confidently, she too had begun to develop cracks in her skin. She too had silver threads tied around her wrists and arms, but rather than connect to Sayre, the strings hung limply from her wrists. Mina's yellow eyes were sizzling in her sockets.
"The witch has come!" Yelled a villager, he raised his pitchfork. "In the name of our God!"
"In the name of your God, I send you," Sayre pointed at the frontmost men. She closed her fingers together and twisted the air in a single motion. The men fell, their necks twisted and broken. "Back to your maker."
One of Puck's three Seelies dragged himself to his feet, black acidic sludge ate through his skin. He raised his hands in an attack. Golden leaves began to swirl around sayre, but she didn't fear anything. She threw back her head and laughed at the ever storming sky.
The Seelie's autumn magic was soon countered by a blast of white light. White feathers drifted to the ground.
A swan stood in the Seelies' place.
Horror pierced through the Odette's eyes; a cry of rage passed from Puck's lips. Sayre could not be stopped. Pitchfork wielding villagers came after her again and again, but they were intercepted by a different foe. Crow's tree body moved under Sayre's influence, catching village men and tossing them back towards the lake as if they were mere pebbles.
Mina van Helsing had begun to contribute to the growing showdown as well. The silver strings on her wrists drew taut as she too began to listen to nothing but Sayre's bidding. A laugh of nauseating delight burbled from her lips as she waved at one of her former Seelie uncles. The Seelie stared at her in disbelief as Mina's hands contorted into long needle fingers made of bone. She turned the staring uncle into a swan, exactly like Sayre did.
"Begin the spell," the Odette pleaded, using the palm of her hand to open the Grymory. "Before it's too late!"
"You help," Puck turned to Fae, "I'll go. You keep them safe."
"But-"
There was more to the staring gaze Puck and Fae shared for a split moment. Something more than friendship. Puck grinned mischievously, "I always win at these kinds of games, now for once, please do what I ask."
"You better come back to me," Fae snapped, a ball of light beginning to spin between her fingers. "Give her hell for me."
The Odette, under Fae's protection, began to chant aloud in a language Warren couldn't understand. His heart had trapped itself in his throat as he watched Sayre snap Seelie necks while Mina turned another one of her uncles into a swan. Rothbart had joined the fray of battle as well. He held a leather folder in one hand, and cast green flames from his other. John stood at Rothbart's back, repeating the same spell. Together, the two men managed to singe and murder a fair amount of Seelies. Of the group that had to at least be thirty strong, only fifteen Seelies and Unseelies remained alive and untransformed.
"Trap those who seek to do harm within the lake, trap them and stop them," chanted the Odette over and over again. Fae stood beside her, holding her hands above her head as white protective magic shimmered down to the ground.
With each passing moment, the Odette's plea became racked with emotion. Sayre continued on the offensive while Warren watch helplessly as all those who stood up to her were mowed down or turned into swans. But one tiny detail stood out from the bloodshed and agony.
As Sayre used her magic, cracks appeared. Her face was distorting. She looked nearly identical to the demonic woman Warren had seen in the mirror when he'd picked up Ophelia's locket.
Too much was happening all at once, Warren struggled to take in as much as he could. Crow's tree body was attacking Fae's defensive bubble again, but this time, Puck was returning blows. Rothbart joined Crow's tree stump in attacking both Fae and Puck. John was casting his own spells trying to steal the Grymory. Sayre too had begun to switch her strategies from killing Seelies to taking the Grymory away.
The fight for the Grymory should have been Warren's first priority. He should have watched for Sayre's fighting techniques, but there was something else. Something Warren was drawn to.
Mina's face was cracked beyond repair. She'd become a shattered doll. Black tears pooled in her eyes, and every so often, one escaped and trailed down her face. The strings loosened. Five swans lay around her with their eyes closed and their heads on the ground. For a moment, the yellow hue to her eyes began to disappear. Self-loathing returned to her shattered face.
Behind her, a villager cried out in anger. Mina spun around on her heels, hands outstretched. Her actions did nothing to scare the villager. He shouted and with a raised pitchfork, ran towards her.
The villager never stopped himself as he charged down his path.
Not a spark of magic left Mina's fingers. She growled.
Blood gurgled on the man's lips as he finally stopped running.
Mina's child hand had pierced through the man's chest; he tumbled lifelessly to the ground as Mina yanked back in surprise, a human heart damp and wet in her hand.
"My- Good God above," croaked Gabriel van Helsing.
"I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to!" Mina insisted through her rapid breaths, soon her gasps became stricken with emotion. "I- I- I'm sorry, I-"
"You are sorry that you must face the consequences of your actions." There was no sympathy in Gabriel's voice as he straightened his posture. Warren watched as Gabriel recollected himself. His thoughts were written all over his face, and who could blame him? He'd watched his only child, his pride and joy, pull a heart from a man's chest. "Mina- Mina you killed this man. You killed dozens of your kin, and you are only sorry that you were caught."
Tears threatened to burst through the bloodstains on Mina's face, but no tears came as she looked up at her father, "That's not true, it's not. I shouldn't have-"
"You should have listened to me, to your aunts and uncles. We wanted what was best for you! You were chosen above all others! I loved you, I loved you more than anything in the world. You are- you were my daughter."
"I still am your child, look at me! I may be a witch, but I am still your daughter. I can fix this, please, I'm sorry."
Warren flinched away from the sight of Gabriel's unforgiving face. There was nothing he could do to rationalize the situation. Nothing he could do the help. Gabriel's voice was a knife dragging across a steel pole as he continued to speak, "You were a Seelie. You were my daughter, but now you are a monster. You are not my child."
A shriek of hatred cut through the battle. Mina's yellow eyes burned with hatred. She scrambled to her feet. With the blood an cracks marring her skin, Mina did look like a monster. Her little hands balled into two bloody fists. Gabriel did not step back as Mina seethed with pure bitter rage.
"That's not true," Mina took a halting step forwards. "You take that back right now."
"Bring back those that you killed," Gabriel shot back. He held his ground, no doubt preparing for a short lived battle with Mina.
Mina darted forwards, but instead of mauling Gabriel for his words, she veered to the right towards Crow's tree stump body and the fighting Seelies. The protective spell Fae had woven around the Odette had begun to splinter under Sayre's onslaught. Roots had sprung from the stump's arms to slowly crush the small barrier. Warren could only watch in horror as Mina yanked Sayre's locket away from the tree stump.
The Odette continued chanting despite the fear in her voice.
Triumphantly, Mina raised the locket into the air. She'd been there when Sayre cursed the locket, but no curse was going to stop her from using the black magic within her grasp. Fae began screaming. The pressure of holding the magical barrier was too much for her.
Sayre was winning. She was winning and she knew it.
Wind picked up around Mina's feet as the Odile's unchained power coursed through her.
"Trap those who seek to do harm within the lake, trap them and stop them," chanted the Odette, her voice no louder than a whisper. "Trap them, stop them, keep us safe. Please, please keep us safe. We give- we give-"
"Take our magic! Take it!" Puck howled, he'd gotten himself trapped in one of Rothbart's most malicious spells.
It didn't take much effort on Rothbart's part to turn Puck into a swan too.
Subtle lines of pure golden light began to spiral through the grass.
"To me! Bring the locket to-" But Sayre's words went unfinished.
Warren hadn't noticed the strings around Mina's wrists go completely taut. He hadn't notice Crow use his mighty tree branch hands to yank away the two threads that connected him to Sayre. Crow threw himself at Sayre, thrusting his hands into her ribcage with a disturbingly wet snap.
"Fool," she spat, not a single drop of blood appearing on her dress. Her ghastly face cracked into victory. "You're a fool, you knew that never would have worked."
The Odette's pleading finally stopped. She heaved in loud gasps of breath, "The locket is not within your grasp."
All of the arrogance fled from Sayre's broken face, "You're bluffing. It's right here! It's dangling from your precious Odile!"
But it wasn't. The locket had fallen from Mina's grip. It lay in the grass, glistening with drops of blood.
Drops of Mina's blood.
She wobbled on her feet as she turned to face Sayre. Bits of bone stuck out from two gaping holes in her chest. Mina's chin was slick with crimson, tears cut through the bloodstains on her face. The strings on her wrists had gone slack. Her fingers tentatively touched her wounds. Mina started at her bloodstained hands, struggling to rationalize that the blood was hers.
And she was dying.
Warren rushed to catch Mina as she fell, even though he knew that any attempt he made would ultimately be futile. Her blood caught in her mouth as she began to choke. There was no sympathy on Gabriel's face as he scooped up Sayre's locket with a handkerchief. He stepped over Mina's bleeding body.
"I..." She grimaced. Lines of agony intermingled with the slowly vanishing cracks. Mina struggled to get to her feet again, but to no avail. She tried again and again, "I... I hate you. I hate you!"
For a moment, Gabriel froze. He was turned away from Mina, but every muscle in his body had immediately filled with tension. Warren scowled at Gabriel's back, he had the power in his hand to seal up Mina's wounds and give her a chance to redeem herself. But he never looked back. He only stood frozen on the spot.
"The binding spell! Hurry!" Fae shouted, splintering Gabriel's indecisive moment into a billion pieces.
"I, Gabriel van Helsing, do voluntarily sacrifice my magic to stop the works of Goody Sayre, her son, Siegfried Von Rothbart, and Mina van Helsing," His voice cut through the storm filled air. The whorls of golden light attached to the few still standing Seelies began to snake their way to those Gabriel had called upon.
The light began to cocoon around Sayre first.
Her mouth opened in violent protest, but the light drowned her entire figure before she could shout a spell to escape. Her companions too were encompassed in the pure light.
Inhuman screaming filled the air as the figures of Sayre, John, and Rothbart swatted at their skin. John fell to the ground as he tried to scratch off the light eating away his magical abilities.
The last thing pulsing through Mina's eyes before the light swallowed her up was loathing. Hatred. Hatred for those who had abandoned her. She lay lifeless in the grass as the light washed over her head. It left her far quicker than the others.
Her eyes stared out at her father. He chose to ignore Mina's bloody corpse.
"It won't be long now, their magic will be gone and we'll have the few remaining villagers hang them from that pine tree. Their souls will be bound to the lake, the Odette's chant worked," chirped Fae.
Warren labeled her as a prick, acting so callus and calm after the deaths of nearly half the people at the lake.
The Odette clutched the Grymory to her body as she gazed over the fallen. Crow's tree body lay unmoving, eight of the original twelve Seelies had turned into swans, Sayre and the others still writhed in the grass doused in light. "It won't be enough. You must tell the man in charge to throw their corpses into the lake. We cannot risk them coming back to inhabit their bodies."
"There won't be any trouble asking for volunteers for that job," Gabriel said, gesturing to the new wave of villagers, who'd come armed with their own impromptu weapons. "They'll all be thirsting for blood."
"It was clever of Sayre to link herself to Mina," Fae did not look at her corpse. "Mina took the damage so Sayre could continue on towards her goal."
"Mina and the Odile must follow the same fate."
"They would even if you disagreed. It is the way of things."
Ever so slowly, the light began to unwind itself from Sayre, John, and Rothbart. The villagers took in the carnage with disgust. One had the audacity to poke Mina's torn body with a stick. Gabriel still hadn't acknowledged her death.
Sayre, freed from the magic draining cocoon, forced herself up onto her hands and knees. Her body convulsed as she retched black blood into the grass. Gabriel, Fae, and the villagers formed a tight circle around the three murderers.
"Get up!" Snarled a man carrying a large bible, "Get up you servant of Satan!"
"I don't like your tone," Sayre growled back. She threw her hand up, likely intending to snap the priest in half. No magic came.
"Prepare nooses," Gabriel instructed, gesturing to the crowd of villagers. "We've all seen this woman summon up allies of the devil to slaughter members of our community."
"I deserve a trial! We all do!"
The priest held up his hand to stop the four men readying several ropes. He arched an eyebrow, "If you insist. We will hold trial upon this ground we stand on. Do you know your commandments?"
Sayre did not.
"Have you come to church within the last month?"
Sayre did not.
"Why is your son not baptised?"
She had no answers for the priest until he asked her, John, and Rothbart if they had conversed with the devil.
They all vehemently declared the black magics they'd practiced.
"Your trial is complete," the priest said. He motioned for the men to continue tying nooses. "You are all guilty of witchcraft! Guilty of murder and stealing and all matters of sins! There is no salvation for you on earth, and for that, you will all hang."
"Hang us?!" John burst out as a pair of villagers yanked him to his feet. "You're all fools, every single one of you. We'll be back, we'll be back and we'll take revenge!"
Warren's head burst with an idea, "Crow, hey Crow, what's the date?"
Your date or the date at this moment right now?
"This moment, right here, right now."
July 20th, 1666. Why do you ask?
"Let me do the math really quick," Warren said, counting on his knuckles to figure out first how many days were in the month of June, and then counting to thirty on his fingers. "Huh, well I'll be."
Care to tell me what you've managed to think of?
Sayre and the two men were marched over towards a tall pine tree fitted with three nooses. Three barrels sat beneath each rope, one for Sayre. One for John. One for Rothbart. It was obviously difficult for them to clamber onto the barrels with their restrained hands. The nooses all went around their necks.
"May the grace of God..." began the priest as he launched into a prayer for the people watching.
"July 20th is exactly thirty days after this year's summer solstice," Warren pointed out. Watching as the priest slowly tromped through his speech about goodness and the righteousness of killing witches. "Sayre's plan has something to do with rising 300 years after her death."
Technically it would be 350 years, Crow corrected. And how did you come by this?
"I think I saw Sayre when I, um, went swimming in the pool. She told me I'd have thirty days after summer solstice to stop her before everything fell apart."
"Any last words?" The priest asked the accused.
"This is really uncomfortable, my neck hurts," answered John.
"May you wake up covered in maggots," Rothbart stuck his chin up and out.
The villagers, and Warren, waited in anticipation for Sayre's last words.
"I curse the Seelies and Unseelies," Sayre snarled. "I curse your kind. Your magic will grow dim with human filth, and only accessed because of filth. You'll all rot! All of you! I curse you to turn into the beasts of the earth and-"
"Kick the barrels!" yelled the priest.
The men standing behind Sayre, John, and Rothbart heaved up their legs and shoved the barrels out from under the accused as fast as they could. The ropes tightened immediately, a discordant rush of snapping next filled the lake. The corpses of Sayre, John, and Rothbart swayed in the wind like strange fruit from a tree.
Sayre was right, her curse followed them through the years.
"Think her words have anything to do with the lack of Seelies and Unseelies in our modern day?"
There's no question about it.
Warren scratched the back of his head. A new weight dragged his soul down. He watched as Gabriel helped untie the three corpses from the hanging tree. The villagers mulled about aimlessly, oblivious to the carnage. The priest from before watched as the corpses dropped to the ground, his bible still locked in his grip. He was soon joined by Gabriel.
"To think such wickedness was running amok in our town," the priest murmured.
"And to think we nearly executed Goody Alman. She's an innocent, I'm sure of it," Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. "The devil works hard."
"That he does. There is no room for Goody Sayre in our graveyard, I dare not allow her to be buried on hallowed ground and risk granting her spirit power over the dead."
"Leave then in the lake then. This place will be tainted for years to come."
"And your daughter?" The priest gestures to Mina's lifeless corpse. "I never thought her to be a witch too."
Gabriel did not look at his daughter's remains, "Mina is no child of mine. She shall join Sayre and the others in the lake's depths."
Nobody was there to mourn for Mina
Certainly not Gabriel. He was eager to toss the bodies into the lake. Eager to wash away their stains. In fact, he carried Sayre's corpse out along the lake's rickety dock and tossed the body in. Sayre floated for a moment before an unseen force dragged her down below the water's surface. Rothbart and John joined her not long after. Fae threw in Mina's bloody corpse. Crow's tree stump body joined the others in their watery grave.
No Seelie, swan or not, stopped the Odette when she joined the entourage. She lingered at the edge of the dock. Gabriel and Fae stood behind her, poised to spring after her in case she too decided to join the deceased.
"Don't hover so," the Odette murmured. "It makes me uncomfortable."
"Imagine we are not here then," Gabriel countered, turning his hardened glare to the ripples in the lake.
"This book can never be found," both Fae and Gabriel nodded as the Odette continued to speak. "We can never allow this to happen again."
"And what of those who- those who-" Gabriel began, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Instead, he gestured to the Seelies who'd been turned into swans.
"What are we to do with them?" Fae finished, her eyes lingering on the swan that had once been Puck. "Gabriel has no magic left, and I am too weak."
"They will become the guardians of this prison cell." The Odette nodded. "They knew what they were getting themselves into."
"And what do we do about Sayre's curse?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes, "It's just a string of words, nothing more, nothing less. The moment we begin fearing simple words will mean the deaths of thousands."
"I wouldn't be so reckless, words can have plenty of power."
"I had the power to stop this, we should have acted sooner. Sayre has ruined this world for us all."
"Those who have changed forms will stay, just as they said the would," the Odette towards the nine Seelie swans. "Do not be afraid, I will sacrifice the Grymory to the lake. It will become a sanctuary for our kind should Sayre's curse come to haunt us."
Neither Fae nor Gabriel moved to stop the Odette as she murmured 'please accept our contribution' under her breath. The Odette unceremoniously dropped the Grymory.
It too sank to the bottom in a ripple of escaping magic, just like the corpses that had come before it.
No water came to whisk Warren to the next scene. Instead, the lake slowly began to wash away the bloody bodies. It cleansed the lake. The site of so much carnage was slowly eroding under the water's gentle persistency. The last of the puzzle pieces had been revealed. All there was to do now put the pieces together. But it seemed so... Anticlimactic.
"Is this it?" He asked, waiting for something big and dramatic to happen.
You near the end of your journey here, yes, but I believe that there is something more for us to learn. There is no predicting what will come next, Crow scratched his mushroom head as the water began to eat away the grass. This has to be happening for some reason. Something important.
Soon Warren and Crow were once again suspended in a realm made of crystal blue water. The finality of watching Mina's lonely death and the sacrifice of the Grymory clashed together in Warren's heart. His feeling were becoming more and more discordant with each passing moment. Sayre had used Mina to her advantage and dragged her to a water soaked Hell with her.
Had Dale found the same fate? Was he stuck with Sayre and the others too?
A new panic coursed through his blood as he struggled to remember his conversation with Ophelia by the naiad pond. She'd talked about bargaining her time away to find out more about Dale. But did she find anything? Was Dale safe?
How much time had passed outside of the lake?
Warren pushed his hair back with both hands. No, no, no, he couldn't afford to think like that. Had Sayre escaped during his time away? There was also the matter of the hours he'd bartered away. He wasn't quite sure what would come because of that.
A familiar sludge feeling returned.
The same disgusting, bone-rotting slime that Warren first experienced when he saw those witchy yellow eyes returned.
Don't acknowledge her or- Crow began, his voice rising in frustration.
A jolt of pain cracked through Warren's knees as he found himself on hard ground again. Warren yelped, he'd crumbled into the grassy shore beside the lake. The sky was still a twilight purple, the air still crackled with magic. Strangers bounded left and right. Nine swans glided on the lake. Warren pulled his senses back to him, taking in as much as he could just in case a new enemy had arrived.
Sayre and the others could be lurking anywhere, he realized. They could be waiting to pounce on him and rip him to shreds. Warren shoved himself back up to his feet. Nobody else could be seen. There were only magical creatures and several different woodland animals. Crow was in the grass, jumping up and down waving his arms. Warren picked him up, and shoved him into the pockets of his jeans.
Silver mist began to pour over the lake. It wasn't thick or menacing, only wispy and timid. Warren whipped around, trying to find the source of the sudden mist. The mist curled upwards around an apparition. As the specter stepped into view, Warren frowned. It approached him, one foot in front of the other.
A small girl in a stark white dress stood in front of him. Her eyes were yellow, similar to the swans on the lake. But that was all Warren could make of her features. The little girl wore an intricate fox mask.
"You aren't allowed here," the little girl snipped. "I don't want you to stay here."
"Tragic," Warren countered, pushing Crow back into his pocket.
The fox masked girl shrugged, and pulled up a wildflower, "You did come far though, I'll admit that. But you can't leave. Not yet. I found you first so I get a boon, not Crow though. He doesn't take boons."
"Why are you here? Why am I still here?"
"Because you've come to the last gate. There's been no charge as you've seen, but now there's a toll, and I'm here to collect your dues."
Warren hadn't expected that he'd have to face a final gatekeeper. He didn't expect to be met by a masked little girl demanding a payment. The end seemed to have come too quickly now that it presented itself so openly. The little girl held out her hand, beckoning for Warren to pay the price and escape.
"What is the cost?"
The girl's hand dropped as she thought for a moment, "Time. I want time."
"How so? What will you do with my time?" Warren stepped away from the girl, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
"Something. I cannot leave here, I'm not sure yet."
Crow shifted in Warren's pocket, This is Fox. Usually she demands memories as payment.
"And you'll let me go if I give you a few of my hours?"
Fox nodded.
"How does three sound?"
"I would prefer nine."
"And I'd prefer three."
Don't aggravate her...
"Wait," Warren said, cursing himself for caving on a deal. "I'll give you five of my hours. Sound like a deal?"
"You'd better keep your word," Fox held out a hand to shake. "I'll leave you with a signature of purchase. Take my hand."
Against his better judgement, Warren shook hands with Fox.
And then it all went black.
Mina's tragic story now comes to an end.
Special thank you to Fairygirl22! You're so supportive and I'm really grateful for that! Another thank you goes out to sapphiradi! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, and I will do my very best to clean up my run-ons (that's my fatal flaws), my current concern is getting the story written as quickly as possible so it'll always be there, even if I run short of inspiration! (Also you should all check out sappiradi's fanfiction Change, which focuses around Eve from Dragonwatch! She also has a story out for the Five Kingdoms series. I'm telling you guys, this gal is a very talented writer!)
As always, leave a review!
-Nacho