A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!
This chapter is dedicated to NCD, your friendship and support truly means the world to me.
Chapter 11
Sparks of Hope
Imogen's heart had never raced so fast beneath her chest. The blood in her ears swirled with each life giving thud as she hid from sight with Ruby and Jadu closely behind, the three of them concealed behind a wall. Her back ached after its sudden collision with the stone when they nearly came face to face with Coldstone and Agatha. Her arm still extended across her pupil's shoulders as the witches scampered past, muttering curses under their breaths. When they passed unnoticed she removed her restraint and ushered the girls down the dungeon stairs.
Softly they made their way back down into the cool depths of the castle and past torches that illuminated the darkness. Ruby lifted one torch from its hold and marched in front, shining its flame into each nook and cranny. A single desk and chair sat in the centre with not a cobweb in sight which meant someone had been using the area frequently. Imogen took tentative steps through the cavern before hearing something chink against the stone. Kneeling down she lifted the innocent key into her fingertips before noticing drag marks through the dust that had been collecting there for centuries and followed its path. It led to another door that she tried to open. The knob refused to move no matter how much she turned, pulled or pushed. She tried to insert the key into the lock but found it refusing to enter, as if possessed by another spirit to refuse her orders. It was sealed shut and her fist collided against its wooden surface with a bang. Although she felt the pain spread through her fingers and make her knuckles numb she kept it there, wishing that she could channel the frustration she felt through the wood and will it to unlock.
"How are we going to get in there?" Jadu asked when Ruby smiled, earning Imogen's attention.
"I think I might have an idea. Whatever is stopping us from using magic, will it stop us from making potions?"
Imogen shrugged her shoulders, she had no idea whether it would work considering that Broomhead was obviously the figurehead of the entire operation and, generally speaking, when she was in charge there was little to no room for error. Perhaps it had been something she had overlooked, or perhaps Ruby was right and the barrier would only stop the casting of spells and enchantments but wouldn't stop the creation of potions.
"What are you thinking, Ruby?"
"An unlocking potion, but we'd need to find the key that fits this door. If it's been spelled shut than only a potion on the rightful key will be able to break its seal." Imogen found herself holding the cold key between her fingers, she held it forwards and the girls seemed to fill with a newfound excitement and energy. Smiles filled their features though nothing of the sort filled Imogen's. It seemed too easy, for that key to just be lying on the floor, as if left in a hurry and not put away properly, what if it was all a trap and Enid wasn't behind the door?
"I'm not sure about this," she admitted, "perhaps we should discuss this with Fenny and Gris first, just to be sure." Jadu and Ruby's smiles disappeared and Imogen felt guilty for robbing them of their glimmer of happiness but before she could rectify the situation yells of dismay and horror sounded down the stairwell, their voices echoing from the walls and magnifying as they came closer. The three ducked for cover, instantly finding a dark space to hide in while Ruby replaced the torch into a nearby holder, praying that no one would realise it hadn't been there before.
Broomhead stormed from the stairs and into the room before halting just before the door. She blasted the wood with magic before staring at the young girl before her, still clearly exhausted after her ordeal. Her hands had been bound by magic and her eyes were downcast, limbs too weak to try moving in protest.
"Where is it?!" She snarled, eyes narrow and body ready to pounce. Enid lifted her head, her eyelids blinking rapidly to try and keep themselves awake.
"I don't… know w-what y-your talking about," she sighed before Agatha and Millicent grabbed her forcefully by the arms and dragged her outside the confined space. She was forced to her knees which ached in protest.
"I am only going to ask you this one more time," Hecketty explained softly, lowering her tone but keeping her posture straight as a rod. "Where is the necklace?"
"I don't have it," Enid answered, earning herself a backhanded slap across the face that stung more than she expected it to. For an older witch she was still physically strong.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not," Enid replied, "I don't have it." With an order barked in their direction, Agatha and Coldstone searched the girls clothes, checking around her neck and her pockets for a possible hiding place. She kept her eyes forwards and somewhat unfocused until she saw a hand waving from beyond a curtain just behind Broomhead's imposing figure. Flat against the wall with a rather wry grin was Ruby and Enid tried her best not to smile. She darted her eyes towards the previous cell she had been kept in, doing so a few times to give Ruby the hint before she gave a thumbs up and disappeared.
The two witches backed away. "She's telling the truth, Hecketty," Coldstone announced still extremely confused with the purpose of the magical artefact in the first place and why it had turned Hecketty from a calculating and selfish manipulator to an anger fuelled dictator.
"Hate to say 'I told you so'," Enid smirked with a shallow laugh, infuriating Broomhead to the point where her wizened hands shook with uncontrollable anger. "Get her to her feet!" She demanded making the two do as they were told while Ruby slipped into the backroom as quietly and as quickly as possible. Hecketty stepped closer, her face mere inches away from Enid's and she felt the witch stare deep into her soul as if she was looking for something, for any sign of weakness. "You may appear tough and hard on the exterior, a joker, but I know the truth. Your grandmother always had the same sly qualities, the ability to take something too far, the audacity to try and break rules and codes of conduct when they suited her. Do you know what it made her in the end?"
Enid knew the word to respond with, she knew that she could have described her incredible respect for the woman who taught her more about herself and more about the magical realms than others who had been in her life had. To describe the shire power and strength of a woman as she passed away with family surrounding her bed side. But she knew that the witch couldn't help but continuing. "It made her weak and now you are in the exact same position. Although the necklace may protect you from darkness its powers will always carry a consequence and you, my dear, are nothing without it."
Enid's eyes flew open as Broomhead shot a direct beam of magic straight to her chest. It hit dead centre and instantly she felt her very heart starting to slow its rhythm. With each dulling beat her focus slowly faded and her eyes began to close. A flash of sparks exploded around the room before Enid saw nothing but darkness.
Mildred's body had never stayed so still. Her arms didn't move, her fingers didn't toy with her plats, her chest didn't rise or fall when she breathed. She just stood there, in silence, with the rest of the girls. Contemplating and trying to remember what had happened, trying to make sure that it had not all been a dream, that Miss Bat was really just a pile of black ashes on the stage before them and not the bubbly, flower-eating, energetic chanting mistress they all came to love.
All the plans the so called 'worst witch' was thinking of before vanished into a cloud of fog that filled her mind, preventing her from seeing anything except what lay directly before her eyes and even then she did not seem to comprehend or understand it all. One moment they were all enjoying themselves at the fire festival, were dancing and cheering and dining together inside a perfect celebration that Miss Bat herself had organised. And now, not only was Miss Bat dead and gone but all their chances of ever returning home or of seeing their teachers again were seemingly impossible as well.
Ethel, infamous for always having a witty remark to slap against another students face, stood in a stunned silence. Drusilla looked to her for answers, asking what they were going to do now but no one had an answer to the seemingly simple question. If they tried to escape they could very well be cursed with the same unspeakable fate.
Broomhead, Cackle and Coldstone cursed as they fell to the floor, their eyes momentarily blinded by the sparks that Ruby released from her fingertips. They tried desperately to restore their sight while Imogen and Jadu immerged from the shadows as quickly as lightning. Imogen scooped Enid into her arms while Jadu pulled Ruby along to the stairs, the necklace resting firmly in her hand.
"Go to the library," Imogen commanded quietly, leading the charge. "We'll hide underneath it where we first entered. Hopefully Broomhead and the others won't look there."
Jadu pushed open the door as they arrived and quickly lifted the trapdoor, allowing passage for Imogen, Enid and Ruby to follow. Once through she stepped inside and pulled the door back to its rightful position with a quiet click. Silence fell, the occupants of the small den waiting for the sounds of their followers. Muffled voices echoed from the halls, yells, shrieks and orders being barked. "Find them!" Broomhead's unmistakable voice bellowed, so loudly that it made Imogen jump slightly, thinking the cold hearted witch had appeared behind her from the shadows. Carefully she lowered Enid onto the table while the other girls moved objects around the space quietly. "Enid," Imogen spoke, trying to will the teen to open her eyes when the trapdoor opened suddenly. Every muscle in Imogen's body seized, she found herself frozen, her limbs too shocked to move. Jadu and Ruby both had faster reflexes, hiding themselves inside various corners of the darkened hall as shoes strode their way down the stairs.
"We couldn't find them," Fenella explained as she reached the basement floor, Griselda closely behind pulling the trapdoor shut. Sighs of relief filled the air. Their eyes landed on Enid. "What happened?"
"She was hit by a spell," Jadu explained while Imogen felt for the young girls pulse. It was there, barely beating below the surface of her skin. Her chest rose in shallow breaths. "We don't know how strong it was." Ruby stood aside, her hands shaking as they held a glowing piece of green between them.
"Ruby, what is that?"
The frightened young witch looked up before she snapped from her daze and handed it forwards. Fenella took it into her fingertips, her thumb wiped over the smooth surface of the gem as every textbook image of mythical stones echoed in her mind. "Where did you get this?"
"Enid had it," Ruby explained. "I don't know why but…all of a sudden I could use my magic when I held it." The mysterious rock glowed and Fenella felt a tingling sensation enter her fingers. She tried a simple spell to blow out a candle on the table across from them. It went out instantly making the teen smile. She passed the stone to Griselda and tried the same spell again on another candle, this time there was no reaction. Her magic was blocked once more. "Its Malachite," Imogen announced proudly, happy to have some sort of magical knowledge to share with her students. "Enid told me that it's a mystical stone that is supposed to protect whoever is wearing it."
"I remember studying it with Miss Cackle," Fenella added, "some stones help to protect or strengthen certain spells and enchantments."
"So you are saying that this stone is protecting whoever holds it from the spell that the school is under?" Imogen clarified and Fenella nodded, a smile spreading across her lips for the first time in what felt like days.
"Yes, and I know exactly what spell we need to cast next."
