Chapter 12

The next day…

In Anasala…

"Wow," said Wendy. She clapped her hands together. "Well, maybe it could still work."

Ryan looked at her. He was stuck in a robe-like, Shakespearean-era costume. "In what world?" He zapped it off and threw it on the ground, trading it for his Loonakids uniform. "I'm starting to think this is payback for calling Karen a mindless hamster."

"You'd be surprised how many Witches get offended by that insult," said Daniella.

"Who wouldn't get offended by that insult?" asked Wendy, not noticing Sarah looking over her brother's shoulder and widening her eyes, "I mean, just plain calling them mindless is gonna effect the—" She cut herself off when she saw everyone else but Ryan was looking in awe at something behind him. She and Ryan both turned to look and saw Kelly standing there in a magnificent white gown.

"See?" Ryan said, "Carmen has no problem with Kelly!"

Kelly smiled and walked closer. "Totally beats that first dress they gave me, huh?"

Sophie smiled. "So, Kelly, when are we gonna be meeting that friend you and Ryan were talking about?"

Jupiter came up behind Kelly. "Boo!"

Kelly shrieked and whirled around. "Jupiter! What are you doing out of the hall?"

"I'm getting out like you said."

"Oh, I did say that, didn't I?"

"You also said you'd introduce me to your family."

"Oh, they're right here!"

"Doesn't seem that crazy to me," said Wendy.

Jupiter pointed at Kelly.

"Right."

Jupiter smiled.

"Right," said Kelly, "Uh…Ace and Lexi Bunny and their kids, Nadine, Benny, and Lucy; Danger and Wendy Duck and their son, Jack; Rev and Daniella Runner and their son, Robert; and my mom, dad, and siblings, Ryan, Sarah, and Michael."

"Slightly confusing."

"You have no idea."

Jupiter smiled again.

"Well, better go help Brad and Shaya with crowd control," Ryan said, taking the rest of them off.

When they were all gone, Kelly faced Jupiter. "So how do I look?"

"Like a princess," Jupiter answered, smiling.

Kelly stopped smiling. "I kind of already am a princess."

Jupiter stopped smiling, too. "Let me rephrase that: like a queen. Or better yet, like an angel."

Kelly suddenly got an urge to look at herself and looked in the mirror on the wall. She saw that her dress was sparkling gold and she had a golden halo and wings. She scoffed. "Very funny." Jupiter smiled back and waved her hand, disbanding the illusion. Kelly folded her arms. "Why do you do that?"

Jupiter half-smiled. "Do what?"

"You do a spell for every little thing. The lights exploding, what you just did with my dress…it's like you do a spell every single time your emotions cha—" She then remembered what she'd read in the "Big Book of Spells"… "You have a kid, don't you?"

Jupiter slowly stopped smiling entirely. "How do you know about that?"

"Well…I read that if a Witch gave birth before she was tortured—"

"Alabaster…my son…no one knew about him. Married underage with a child behind everyone's backs." She started crying. "Then Mars came…tried to kill us…I had to hide him." Kelly gave her a sympathetic look. "I cast a spell on him. In 5 more years, he'll reappear in your world. I have to get out of here and find him when he does before something happens."

"That's why you need a Witch to break your delirium…so you can leave this state and search for your son."

Jupiter wiped away her tears and nodded. "Yeah."

Kelly got an idea. Oh…come on…please let my powers work right this time… She focused and let the vibes flow and knew what would break her. She smiled. "I think I have an idea. Get in that room!" Jupiter nodded and hid in the nearby empty bedroom. Kelly turned around. "Hey, Mars!"

Mars flew in and landed on the floor in front of her. "What do you want?"

"I think you need to meet someone." She opened a door.

Mars sighed and stepped through the door. "This better be good—OH BOY!"

"Oh, so you do remember Jupiter?" Kelly asked.

"Mars…" Jupiter looked at the crow.

Mars looked at Kelly. "Hey, don't lock me in a room with her!"

Kelly looked thoughtful for a second. "Hmm, didn't think of that. Much better idea than just closing the door. Buh-bye!" She closed and locked the door.

"Wait!" Mars called.

Kelly zapped the door shut, making sure only Jupiter could open it. "This ought to be good."

Meanwhile…

Haven was in the dungeon. My own sister…I should've gone after her instead… She then realized something. Maybe I still can… She looked through the bars of her cell and into the room. A safe hidden in the paneling held a jar containing all magic suspended by the Council. If she could get out and find and open that safe, she could take her magic back. She started plotting. There had to be some way she could squeeze through the bars…wait a minute…squeeze through the bars… She braced herself. The bars had to be at least 5 inches apart, it was gonna be a tight fit without magic. She got up from the cot and walked over to the bars that appeared to be farthest apart. She stuck her arm through the bars and pushed the bars farther back to squeeze through. Finally, she was out. She massaged herself. Huh, that was easy. She started to walk off but stopped. A little too easy… Suddenly, she was hit with a surge of energy. No wonder it was so easy to get out, anyone who did would be hit with a weakening spell and forced back in! She started to run off. When she was struck again, she felt herself being pulled back. She fought the force off and ran up to the wall the safe was on. Continuing to fight against the energy coming against her, she finally found the safe. She opened it but was hit with a stronger energy blast and fell to the ground. She slowly fought her way up and took the jar from the safe. Before another energy surge could hit her, she took the cork from the jar's neck and let out enough energy to shut down the spell. All of the original energy ran back into the jar and took the energy from the energy surges with it. Haven sucked in some of the energy and put the cork back on the bottleneck. She smiled. "That's better."

Back in the courtyard…

2 hours later…

Kelly and Ryan were back with the group, still getting ready for the coronation.

Suddenly, Jupiter ran up. "Kelly!" Kelly faced her. "Thank you so much for letting me get that out of my system! It's been bugging me for years!"

Kelly smiled. "That bad?"

"Are you kidding? I have been holding it in for 5 years and it felt amazing to just take it out on him for 2 hours!"

Ryan smiled. "Explanation?"

"Long story," Kelly told her brother.

"I think we have time."

Kelly looked around. Everyone else was out there, but no one was paying attention to them. "OK then. Wait, first, where's Mars?"

Jupiter slowly turned around to reveal that Mars was coming out of the castle, limping and constantly blinking and barely moving one wing. He coughed and fell onto a stair.

Kelly held back a giggle. "Alright, you are great."

Jupiter smiled.

"Alright," said Kelly, turning back to her family, "See, what happened was—"

Before she could start… BOOM! Everyone turned to see that a magic blast had erupted from the castle and now all the windows and doors were closing and locking by themselves. Someone had penetrated the castle's defenses!

Kelly and Ryan ran for the door.

"Wait!" Karen and Carmen both tried to stop them.

Before they could, Kelly and Ryan slammed into the magically sealed doors and bouncing off. They barely avoided falling down the stairs.

"The old magic lock trick," said Karen.

"Yeah, works on us every time," said Carmen.

Karen looked at her sister. "Well, it's worked on you and Wendy—"

"Hey, I never was as bad as you 2!" Wendy snapped.

"Are you kidding me? You totally—"

"NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Kelly and Ryan both snapped.

Amanda tried to open one of the windows. "Oh no. Haven must have gotten out and gotten her magic back."

Arielle came up. "And in doing so, she locked us out of the castle. It can only be opened from the inside now!"

DING! Kelly got an idea. "From the inside, you say?" She looked at Robert, who smiled back.

"Your magic can't penetrate a spell like this," Penelope corrected.

"Now who said anything about using magic?" Robert asked. He started to back up. "Give me some space, I may need a running start." They all complied and made a path for him. He backed up to the fountain. "Brace yourselves. I'm going in." He ran for it…and rebounded off the doors. He clutched his beak in pain.

Daniella ran up to her son. "I guess magic blood is enough."

"I hate being a Warlock!"

Duck realized something. "Wait a minute! I'm a mortal!" Duck ran up to them. "Brace yourselves, I'm going in!" He quacked. He reappeared on the other side of the door. "Yes! It worked!" He ran over to the door. "Alright, just gotta open this…" He touched the doorknob and was knocked back by a surge of energy.

"I'm the rightful queen of Anasala and no one is taking that away from me!"

"OK, I get it!" Duck got up from the floor and got an idea. "Aha!" He pulled up a fire egg. "Steady…and fire! Ha, sometimes I even humor myself." He threw the egg at the doors, blasting the knobs off from both sides before kicking the doors open.

"Nice work, Duck!" Kelly commented. She ran in. "Alright, now we just have to find her…"

Joy walked in last. Suddenly, a dark force overcame her. She stepped back a few steps. Suddenly, it pushed her forward and made her scream.

Everyone faced her.

Amanda ran up to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's Haven." Joy bent her head back and groaned. "She's in the North Tower…"

Kelly didn't need to hear anymore. She ran for it.

"Kelly, wait!" Sophie called after her daughter. She raced after her, everyone else but Amanda and Joy following.

Kelly raced to the tower and up a staircase.

"Kelly!" Ryan stopped his sister.

She whirled around to face him. "We have to do something to stop her, Rye!"

"By doing what?"

"We have to at least try here! Lives are in danger!"

Suddenly, they were all being pulled as the staircase moved.

"What's happening?" asked Lexi.

"The staircases in the towers change," Carmen explained, "But we still have a problem here!"

"A problem we need to resolve," said Jupiter, "Which means Kelly needs to do something."

"Thank you!" Kelly said as the staircase settled, "I've gotta do something!" She kept running.

Ryan grabbed her arm to stop her. "No, you're not."

"Ryan—"

"Not without us."

Kelly looked at her brother and smiled. They nodded at each other and kept going.

Haven was just on the top staircase. She heard everything. She growled at them and reached the top of the tower. She walked onto the roof of the tower. She looked at the bottleneck jar. "I can't believe it. I'm holding, in the palm of my hand, the jar that contains the essence of the magic of every punished Witch and Warlock in Anasala and Acmetropolis. With this much power…I'll be capable of so much more than just the queen of Anasala." She prepared to open the jar to suck in more power when…

"Haven!"

Haven whirled around to see the Loonakids (not in their uniforms, I might point out) and the Loonatics and Arielle and her court (minus Amanda and Joy still, but plus Jupiter and Mars) standing there ready to fight her. "Oh, look, the gang's all here. I guess you managed to open the portal."

"Permanently, thank you," said Kelly, "You gotta at least give the 'Halflings' credit for that."

Arielle stepped forward. "Listen, Haven. There's dark magic in that jar. If you get your hands on it—"

"Don't you remember, sis? I already did."

Arielle looked at her sister in confusion.

* Flashback *

Haven was a lot younger, as were Arielle and Brad. Arielle had recently been offered to take the throne and Haven was very happy for her sister. She'd wanted the throne herself but at least someone in the family got to it.

While the family was touring the castle, they stopped in one hallway. Haven was tired and bored and had nothing to do while the others were talking, so she looked around the hall and noticed one door they hadn't opened. She walked over there when no one was looking and zapped it. The door showed a sign that said "dungeon." She looked back at her family. Still distracted. She opened the door and walked in. She looked around. It seemed fairly empty. She put herself against the wall as she started to sneak around a corner and stopped when she felt something strange on the wall… She looked and saw a safe hidden in the wood paneling. I don't think that's supposed to be there… She looked back into the hallway. Her family was still distracted. She slowly and quietly began to figure out the combination to open the safe. Finally, she opened it. She half-smiled, just out of curiosity and opened the door to reveal a jar. That's it? A stupid jar? She pulled out the jar and opened it. Suddenly, she was bombarded by a dark, mystical energy. She was pushed back several steps by the force of it. She closed the jar again and put it back. She closed the door and re-locked it. Suddenly, the energy overcame her. As she walked back into the hallway, she looked long and hard at her sister. As she closed the door, she thought…what right did her sister have to take her dream from her? She had been planning for years to take the throne and her own sister stole right from under her? No! She wouldn't stand for it! She stormed over there.

"So if Arielle takes the throne," her mom said, "then Brad can be the steward, Shaya can be the lady-in-waiting when and if they get married, and Haven can…"

"Be the cook!" Arielle exclaimed, "They did say they needed one and she always has been good at cooking."

"Not a bad idea, Arielle."

Haven stared at them, angrily. First, they give the throne away to someone who was in love, then they make her a dumb old cook?

Her mom looked at her and she looked normal. "What do you say, Haven? Sounds good?"

Haven smiled. "Totally." As soon as they looked away, she looked at her sister, clenching her fists in an attempt to keep herself from zapping her to the other side of the planet…she had to do something… So decades later, when Arielle and her fiancée decided to leave the throne, she began to plot against her successors… Curiosity killed the cook.

* End Flashback *

Arielle was shocked. So that's what had happened to her sister to make her so evil? And taking away her magic hadn't fixed it? If she'd been exposed to dark magic, wouldn't the 2 magicks have blended inside her and the evil have been sucked right out when she took her magic? What had happened to make the evil stay? "That can't be right…"

"Believe it. It's what happened."

"No, I mean it can't be right because you wouldn't still be evil if it were. The dark magic should've blended with your magic and left you when I took your magic."

Now why does that sound familiar? Tech pondered. He than remembered. The biotech parasite! "That's just it! The 2 magicks did blend! And when they did, it stuck to her soul, not her mind! Her magic left her, but the dark magic turned her into a dark sorceress and it's not leaving now until it wants to leave!"

"Wow, the mortal actually got it," said Haven.

"So did the crow!" Mars called, racing over to her, "What do you say we team up?"

"Mars!" Karen snapped, "You'll only get stuck as a bird that much longer!"

"Not if we out-power you!" Mars snapped back. He turned back to Haven. "Think about it! If you give me my power back and turn me back to normal, the 2 of us together would be unbeatable!"

Haven looked at the jar and thought about it. Slowly, she started to smile. "Or…"

"'Or'?"

"Or I could have all the power!" She held up the jar, ready to open it and suck in everything.

"Now wait a minute—"

"You can't stop me. You're just a stupid bird. And you will be for the next…what, 700 years? Now if I take all the power and don't bother with a 'partner' who's likely to turn on me, I'll be unbeatable and finally get the crown like I've wanted since…well, before I could talk basically."

Mars glared at her. "Or…"

"'Or'?"

"Or I could take advantage of being 'just a stupid bird' and peck your eyes out!" He started pecking her toes.

"Ow!" She zapped him back into Kelly, who knocked over Ryan in turn.

Jupiter zapped Haven back to stop her from attacking while she helped Kelly but underestimated her newly-reawakened strength and in the process, knocked her back far enough to make her hit the wall and involuntarily zap a giant hunk of the rock across the roof.

The rock, unfortunately, headed straight for Duck. "Mommy!" He quacked away, making the rock hit the wall behind him and burst into pieces. Again unfortunately, he didn't bother to calculate where he was quacking to in his panic and landed on Haven, making her drop the jar off the roof.

The jar fell to the ground and broke in pieces, releasing all the magic. The magic flowed back up to where it started from—the roof of the tower. It surrounded everyone until all they saw was a burst of bright white light (I don't even know if the rhyme was intended that time) until the whole world went black…