Chapter 21 The Senseve

Daniel was able to follow the footprints for only a short distance before he came across hard, glassy ice. His footing became precarious. Finally, he pulled off one shoe and then another and hoping that he had the right spell; he waved his hand with several jerks and mentally said, CLAVEUS DURESCO. At once his shoes developed knobby spikes. He found it much easier traveling as he dug into the ice.

Daniel followed the curve of the street past little storefronts and fountains. He remembered the entrance to the gardens and the sled hill and stood beneath the elephant tusks where he had met Veronica and Ron's uncles. He listened to the wind and snow howling down the empty corridors of the city. Ice stung his face as he wandered from street to street.

Listening carefully, he could hear a clicking ahead of him. It was not the wind. "It had to be Jonas," he thought, "climbing or scrabbling over the ice. But where?" he wondered. To his right, the pond that had been the Venetian canal, was now open water and spreading. It no longer held to its' sculptured curves, but was now a jagged, cracked river. Various bridges that once spanned the canal were collapsed and looked like old ruins, frozen in transparent ice..

The Grecian pantheon with its avenue of frozen statutes still stood with its steps winding to the temple. It's sign, 'The Temple to The Stars' had fallen at the foot of the stairs. Each corner of the Carnivale seemed to present a shade, a ghost of the former structure. The whole Carnivale resembled an icy graveyard. Daniel wandered from street to street hoping to catch a glimpse or smell of Jonas. He stopped and turned in a circle feeling hopeless and frustrated..

"I can't follow him," Daniel thought. "He's like Berdache. If I try to read him and he doesn't want me too, I won't be able to. I've got to try and figure this one out myself."

Suddenly there was a sharp cry, almost bark that came from around a bend. His heart thumping, Daniel ran all out towards the sound. There in front of him, struggling in terror, was Lupin in his wolf body. The wolf tried crossing a pathway, the ice was too thin and he now clawed desperately at the water's edge.

Daniel threw himself to the ground and crawled on all fours. Pulling off his robe, he tossed the end to the wolf who gnashed at it with his teeth. Daniel knew there was no humanness present, only wolf and a wolf who was both frightened and dangerous.

Pulling out his wand, Daniel flicked, "Wingardium Leviosa." The wolf slowly drifted up from the water, levitated by the spell. It screamed in it's struggle against the force of the spell. And, then, suddenly, from the east a shaft of piercing yellow light ricocheted off an ice tower and struck the wolf. With a gasp, it began to transform. Daniel held the wand as steady as he could laying on the ground. He didn't want the wolf to touch the ground before the transformation was fully completed.

"Mr. Lupin!" Danny pulled the wet cloak from the ice and threw it around the shivering naked man.

"Don't you think it's time you called me Remus, Danny. You just saved my life." Remus Lupin said through chattering teeth. "Here, give me your wand for a moment before I freeze to death." With a few flicks and swishes Lupin had covered himself with clothes. He gave the wand a complicated motion and warmed himself.

"What were you doing?" Daniel asked.

"I suppose I was following you so I could have dinner." Lupin said and shuddered. He looked at Danny. "And what are you doing?"

Daniel summarized the events of the night. "I can't find the entrance to the cave and I can't find Jonas. He's just too good at blocking my senses. I mean he was my teacher, he's an Adept, maybe even a High Senseve.."

"He may have been your teacher Danny but that doesn't mean you can't find him. Your good, too." Danny looked at him with frustration. Lupin shook his head. "Believe me, Danny. No one has ever discovered that I was a werewolf as fast as you did. If you can do that, you can find Jonas."

They stood quietly. Lupin started to hand him his wand. Daniel shook his head. ""Keep it. Our people don't use wands much. I want to try and allow myself to be open. Let's say, I lead the way and you watch behind us." Daniel stood up.

Lupin nodded, respectfully.

Daniel sat looking around the small courtyard where they sat. He noticed the sun was now heaving itself over the horizon and the night shadows were shortening. Here and there were small oblong circles where the ice had melted slightly and then refroze. Daniel realized with a sudden throbbing of joy that they were footprints. They were Jonas' footprints. His body heat had melted the ice enough to form shallow imprints. None that a normal person would have been able to detect. Daniel dropped to a crouch and sniffed the ground. He ran low, following the scent and the prints before the sun melted them away. Lupin followed him, silently.

There, Daniel thought, Jonas stopped. He choose a direction and then came back and moved that way. Daniel smelled the ice and searched it with his eyes. There appeared to be small particles of dirt, not ground into the ice, laying on top. Kneeling down on the ice, his cheek pressed against it, Daniel sighted along the line of prints. They pointed towards the center of the Carnivale.

Daniel followed, the prints circled briefly a few times and then changed directions. He knew almost immediately when he came upon the magnificent horse carousel that his search had ended. The sun shone on it with such intensity it almost blinded them. Daniel climbed aboard the revolving circular platform and searched around each rearing stallion. Then, he saw the leaf. Once attached to the bottom of Jonas' shoe, it now lay on the ground, half-buried. Instinctively, Daniel knew what to do. He concentrated and said the spell: CONVERTO. The carousel made a revolution and a hole .

"Here. See." Daniel pointed out the thumb-size leaf to Lupin. The hole looked like a circular slide going down under the lake. "This is the opening."

"I don't know, Danny," Lupin said looking worried. "You could go down there and find yourself in open water under the lake or something. And, believe it or not, I can't teach you the bubble head charm in two minutes so you won't drown. I think I should go first."

"You have to trust me, Professor. I know what's down there and you don't. Besides, his trail might not end here. Can you follow him?" Daniel was begging Lupin with his eyes and he went on, "Listen, Jonas went down there and if I don't get to my mother first, she'll be dead." Daniel took his cloak off and handed it to Lupin. "Stay here. Veronica and Ron went to find my Harry. They'll at least find Hermione and bring her here and they need to know how to find the entrance. Will you do that?"

Lupin studied him for a long time. "Daniel, I want you to know that I've known some very courageous people in my life. Your father was one and you're another." Lupin nodded. "I'll wait for twenty minutes. If you're not back, I'm right behind you."

Daniel nodded and turned. The hole was a dark blue ice. "Here goes." He jumped.

Daniel slid faster and faster along the tunnel, trying to streamline his body to not make any noise. At any other time, he would have whooped with joy. It was a lot like skimming over treetops on a broom. He sped along the tube with no obvious means of locomotion. He realized later that if he had gotten into trouble along the way he would never have been able to recover. In some places the ice was so thin he could see oddly moving grotesque shapes swim by on the other side of the transparent ice.

Daniel emerged in the lagoon's cove and slid out on his bottom on the dock. A dark shape was already climbing the stairs. There were no lights on in the little rooms above the way they had been when he Dream Walked. Cracks in the ceiling allowed light and fresh air down from the surface and turned the scene into a dim, gray, shadowy, tomb.

"Mother. Watch out! Jonas is here!" he shouted. The sounds reverberated off the walls of the cavern. "Jonas, if you kill her you will never have the talisman!" The figure high on the steps stopped. "I'll destroy it. Do you hear me?" Daniel searched his pockets and touched the metal square that seemed very hot to the touch.

"Don't Daniel, he is jostumal (harmful to you). He'll kill you." A small voice came from the many windowed cave wall. It was his mothers'.

"He won't, Mother," Daniel called, "Will you Jonas?" He pulled the square necklace from his pocket and held it up. "I've got it. Look. See." It sparkled briefly in a stray beam of light. He knew it didn't matter that the light was so dim, Jonas would see it and recognize it immediately even if he was almost to the top of the steps.

The figure that had first appeared to be a single person, split and became two. A struggle was taking place and then there was silence, and to him a feeling of dread crept up his back.

"Well, well, Daniel." The voice was high pitched and feminine. Jonas had transformed to his alternate self, the woman. "Let us make a little deal. Put the talisman on the ground and step to the end of the dock." The figures started down the stairs. Daniel had been right, there were two figures.

He looked behind him at the cold blue waters lapping at the iced dock. A wall of ice closed off the only exit to the lagoon with only the small hole of the tunnel opening out onto the dock. Daniel stepped back one step and heard a noise in the tunnel he had just exited. Someone was coming. All he had to do was stall for time.

Then he took another step back.

"Daniel, don't trust him." His mother's muffled voice called and was quickly stifled.

"No, no, Daniel, you dunce. Leave the talisman on the ground." The figures descended the long jagged stone stairway very slowly.

Daniel took another step back. He knew that Jonas was holding his mother hostage. "I don't think so Jonas. If I leave this on the ground you'll just kill my mother and then me. I have to know that you'll leave once I give it to you."

The noise in the tunnel was growing louder.

Suddenly, two feet appeared from the tunnel and Daniel swayed as his heels hit the end of the dock. His father emerged, wand in hand. He landed on his weak leg and remained partially kneeling. His head reeled towards Daniel and then in the other direction taking in the scene.

"Drop the wand, Mr. Potter." One of the two people spoke as they neared the bottom of the steps.

Harry once again glanced over at Daniel holding the talisman high in the air and standing inches from the deep icy pool of open water and then at Jonas. "Why should we? We have the amulet."

" And I have your wife. I can smell the stink of fear on you, Potter." The voices spoke together as one. "The great Harry Potter!" The voices were sarcastic. "Isn't that what you think, Daniel? Of course it is. Remember? You told me how you detest this man, didn't you?" The figures stepped down a step. "And, why shouldn't he, Potter?"

Daniel didn't respond. He could feel his heels at the edge of the pier. He balanced on the balls of his feet gripping the talisman tightly in his hand. "I am your friend, your brother, Daniel." The voice silkily simpered. " He is 'Gadje!'" The voice continued, "I have been more of a father to you then he has ever been. Which will you choose?" The voice echoed until it grew quiet in the chamber. Impatient, the voice went on, "Don't be a stupid, boy! Give me the talisman and I will set you and your mother free." The voice was stern and louder. "You know I'm telling the truth, if you are a Senseve at all."

Harry looked quickly at Daniel and shouted up to Jonas'. "I never wanted Daniel to be trained by you. You were cruel. You tried to crush his spirit until he had no self esteem. You made him doubt himself." Harry's voice grew bitter. "Did you do it because I was his father?" Harry's became angry. "Answer me, as long as you're telling the truth!"

Evidently it was too much to keep up a lie. Daniel could hear a small chuckle that perhaps was beyond Harry's hearing. "Partly." Jonas answered lightly. "His mother should never have married outside the tribe. She should have been banned when she married you. And, then, she had a Gadje son. An abomination!" The muffled female voice sounded disgusted. "But, I saw the advantages, you know." The tone of his voice sounded evil.

The figures emerged into a thin beam of light. "He was born a Senseve, although not a very good one. I thought to use him later." The figures that walked towards them had the face of his mother. They were identical. "And now he can serve a purpose." The eyes turned to him. "If you choose to be with me, Daniel, I will make you a High Senseve. I will make you more famous than even your father. Isn't that what you want? Aren't you tired of walking in his shadow?" The woman speaking that had his mother's face was sneering at him.

Daniel swallowed hard and looked at his father who stood waving his wand between the two women. Harry spoke to him, "Si khohaimo may pachivaloaro chachimo (sometimes there are lies more believable than truth)." Daniel understood.

"Go ahead, Harry, kill me." called one Jonas/Nadya. The other taunted, "No, kill me."

Daniel held the talisman up so that Jonas could see it clearly. He chose his words carefully, "Harry, let me give it to her."

"No, Daniel." Harry said, still unable to make a move. His face changed enough for Daniel to know that he had heard and understood the underlying message.

"Oh, but I think he will, Harry. Put your wand down or I will kill your wife and then your son." Both women's lips curled into a heinous smile. Both women pulled wands from their robes. "Put it down." They pointed towards the ground in unison.

Harry dropped his wand.

Both Jonas'/Nadya's walked past Harry pointing their respective wands at his chest. They reached for the talisman with the left hand and their wands held in their right. Daniel drew it in tightly toward his chest, concentrating as hard as he could.

Suddenly a hand was on him. It was Jonas, transformed to look like his mother. He sensed the difference in looks and smell and in the voice. "This one, father! This one!"

The locket was yanked out of his grasp and he found himself falling slowly backward, the necklace chain sliding between his fingers. Jonas had pushed him.

To his surprise, the chain remained tangled in his hand and he realized that it grew taut. Then, the woman came tumbling in after him, her hand also twisted in the chain.

Together they dropped down into the freezing cold water. Daniel's mouth opened in surprise and he swallowed. Seconds before the blackness enclosed him, he saw the horror struck face of the transformed Jonas, his mouth opened in a scream, as he reached for his chest. A huge icicle had been plunged into it and blood was inking the waters black.

They sank rapidly, chained together by the golden chain twisted about their wrists.

"Koi Shanas Kerwashi? (where were you today?)," Daniel sputtered to his father. His lungs burned and he was trying to suck in air.

"Jal a drom ( traveling the road)," was his father's reply. Harry leaned over him dripping water into his eyes, he was holding Daniel's head. His mother released from Jonas' charm the moment Harry had plunged the icicle into his heart, knelt beside her husband. Harry had jumped into the water immediately after Daniel and Jonas had gone under.

"Yanel, tu jivdo? (do you live)," she asked holding his hand, her face twisted in agony.

"Va Daj ( Yes, mother)," Daniel gasped.