Chapter 37: Gwendolen and the SAP Leader

They all just stared at the Fae Realm Prince.

It seemed like a stupid joke, but after some further contempt, they realized that it wasn't too idiotic of a theory. The only problem was that if it were true, that would glue all their current problems into one.

"So, let me get this straight," Othello told Marius. "You think that the SAP leader stole the Saturnium, she's gonna use Penna's need for her powers to get a day from her, and while Penna goes on a showdown with her dad and we go on war with the Raft villains, the witch's just gonna go back in time to erase Penna out of existence and we'll be doomed to live an alternate universe?"

"Were my words not clear?" Marius scowled.

"May I panic now?" Othello asked Dusk patiently. She gave him a small nod. Cue to him jumping off his rockets and gawking: "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" The moment he morphed into a parrot, Sparrowfire grabbed him by the tail feathers and slapped him back to gravity, causing Othello to turn back into human form.

"OK." Daylight put her hands in a praying form. "What if for now, we worry about how we can retrieve the Saturnium before the SAP leader uses it?"

"Sure, easy thing," Haya rolled her eyes. "It's not like we can just knock on the front door of the SAP. 'Hey, how's it going? We'll just take your Saturnium and go our merry way. Pay your waitresses!'"

"The SAP leader clearly doesn't want to make herself known." Evie looked at her mirror. "I keep trying to ask my mirror to reveal to me who the SAP leader is, but I only get a fogged image."

"No wonder." The Evil Queen looked at the mirror herself. "I forgot that Penna De Mort was the one who gave me my magic mirror in the first place. Knowing that her hated foe can easily see through the magical objects she makes, the SAP leader must have placed a fog spell. She really must not want De Mort or her allies to know what she's up to."

Marius groaned. He felt something tug his tunic and caught by the tail his pet Impius. He frowned at the creature as it chirped something at him. "You think that would work?" He asked.

"What's he saying?" Daylight stared as Marius let the white fluffy creature crawl around his shoulders.

"Something about crystal balls." He shrugged.

"Crystal balls...that's it!" Mal pounded her hands together. "Remember when we used Proserpine's crystal ball last year?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was it back when you guys thought our lives were some sort of reality TV show?" Sean scowled at her.

"Reality TV show?" Gehörnt looked confused.

"Last year those jackasses used one of Proserpine's crystal balls to watch what was going on with us on the Isle," Sean explained. "I still don't want to know what they saw me do."

"Like when you got seasick from riding a gondola on the Tarrian River?" Audrey joked. Sean poked out one of his tentacles, warning her to shut up.

"Look, Marius, your pet might be onto something!" Mal got up. "If we can use a crystal ball the same way we did last year, then we can probably see where the SAP are and what they are currently doing..."

"And perhaps see where they are holding the Saturnium, so that we can take it back before they put it to work!" Marius grinned. Murmurs of approval went throughout the room.

"Allow me to assist." Gehörnt got up and took a few steps before opening his mouth and releasing the most horrifying screech a dead creature would give. He lowered his head towards the ground and threw up a large mass of liquid redder than blood but stickier than blood, followed by the bones of countless corpses. The liquid and bones twisted together to create a bone column holding up a red crystal skull. "My father and I can see through crystal skulls with incantations just like the one of Proserpine Pitit Fi Anfèr. However, directly aiming for the SAP leader would reveal to her that we're spying on her..."

"Then let's use others from the SAP or..." An idea hit Marius. "Search for the Gwendolen girl."

"Why?" Minuit asked.

"A highly talented Muggle working at the Department of Mysteries disappears at the same time than the Saturnium? You don't think she just walked back to Canada, do you? I bet that if the SAP didn't kill her to ensure that she wouldn't spill out a word out, then they must have taken her with them."

"He might have a point!" Sparrowfire realized. "With her skills, Gwendolen could rival the Weird Cousins with her probability readings! I bet the SAP's making her read the stars to predict their futures!"

"In that case, Gehörnt, proceed." Ben waved at the demon. The latter nodded and cupped his hands over the skull's crown. "Dark spirits from within this corpse, show me whatever Gwendolen sees or hopes."

Red smoke erupted its way out of the skull's eyes and into the air, creating a mirror of swirling demons. Everyone looked as the colors roughly changed from a dark red to a light blue until things finally cleared up.

The mirror showed what appeared to be a dark room illuminated by a ceiling, which turned out to be a living planetarium. To think that this half dome represented every living organism, planet, and star that existed in the cosmos. The floor was a darkly lit carpet, and on it sat a girl in a Lotus position. With one hand, she actually managed to move around the 3D projections of the universe in order to have a better look before drawing the stuff down on a notepad.

"Enjoying the Cosmic Dome?" A familiar voice spoke up. Eventually, the Auradonian audience was doomed into seeing Chelsey Young coming out of the shadows and sitting next to the girl. A bowl of steaming soup, the Lao Mang Lone Soup, rested on her lap.

"Do tell!" The girl spoke up with eagerness. "This was so worth getting fired from my old job!"

"Great Celestia!" Dusk gasped.

"It's Gwendolen!" Sparrowfire said. "So she did join the SAP!"

"This is a whole lot more to my taste," Gwendolen said. "I get charged double of a telescope's price at the Ministry just because I'm a Muggle, but your boss let's me use the Cosmic Dome of her tower for free!" She flipped through her pages. "Six years worth of knowledge I managed to cover!"

Chelsey smirked and took a sip of her soup. "How odd it is. I'm actually enjoying listening to a mortal geeking out about astronomy."

"Probably because of what Hanlin told Fuar about your argument with your boss and her council."

This caused Chelsey to spit out her soup and clench her bowl. "Will Ghost boy ever shut his beak?"

"Is that a rhetorical question or are you asking me for what the stars say?" Gwendolen dragged a nearby star away until they could see a large circle of universal constellations and horoscopes. "Because at least one star in each of the 500 hundred constellations predict that Hanlin will break his leg in three hours."

Chelsey smirked. "I hope they say I'm the one who breaks his leg. Better yet, if I break his entire skeleton."

Some shivered at her sadism.

"Sorry." Gwendolen shook her head. "I can't guarantee that you'll be the one to do it."

"I thought the stars told you."

"Let me clear things up for you." Gwendolen waved her arms around the entire floating universe the Cosmic Dome was showing them. "Everything in life changes. The way the stars shine until they die, the way the planets move in circular motions and their moons orbit, the ways asteroids fly...Nothing is set in stone as we move and evolve. As things change, the stars don't tell me what will happen but what can happen based on the actions we make."

"Seriously?" Minuit arched her eyebrow as they watched. "That is so clichéd!"

"Shut up!" Brittany hissed. Meanwhile, Chelsey's face gave out a perplexed expression in the mirror. It was like a combination of frustration and pondering that made others wonder what she was wondering. Somehow, Gwendolen managed to read that expression. "There's a probability bothering you."

"Quite right you are," Chelsey said, keeping her body as stiff as a statue while the universe kept moving around them. "As you can imagine, fifteen hundred years can keep one immortal rather overconfident unless there are some...minor needles in the haystack that can bother you. Don't get me wrong, Ainsley, while I do admire the... head witch's ruthlessness, a rare gift among semi-mortals, and her talents in magic, I cannot help but be irritated by her overconfidence."

"I'll give you that," Gwendolen shrugged. She got up and stretched her arms. "I've only seen her for like an hour-actually, more like her eyes and silhouette... Honestly, is she such a mystery? I couldn't even see her fully except for her eyes."

Chelsey shuddered, actually shocking the Huns, who had never seen their deity shudder. "Don't remind me. I've never seen such sorcery! She can switch her eyes from blue to grey like snakeskin depending on how cruel she's feeling. My own father doesn't change into reptilian eyes until he morphs into a lizard, and even that witch's eyes creep him out!" She shook her head and got up, holding in her hands her now empty bowl of soup. "Any how, here's my concern. Based on what I've seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, our leader sees no obstacle in her plans, which would sound reassuring if it weren't for the fact that I think she's underestimating the Fa Realm Prince."

Marius stiffened. He knew what Chelsey Young was talking about. His mind went back to last night, when he and Bayen had eavesdropped the SAP leader and Chase Young. As if a fairy goblin hybrid will stop me! The words still echoed in his mind as if his brain cells were nothing but canyon walls echoing the villain's crowing. He's an insect compared to me. The Young Clan had a right to suspect him, but the SAP leader certainly did not know what she was thinking if her logic told her that Marius would do nothing to stop her from harming Penna.

Meanwhile, the Cosmic Dome cleared away, revealing the empty tall blue room the girls were in and the cylindrical platform they were in. The bright light coming from the opening at the dome's top revealed Gwendolen's full appearance as a gothic wearing a dark green shirt with lighter dark green circular flounce sleeves, military green pants with the similar flounce sleeves that reached her calves' top, lime green mules with a matching necklace. On her entire outfit, astronomical symbols were seen on her shoes, necklace, shirt pattern, and shaping the tears of her pants. Even with the light, her skin was pale, as if she had spent a year locked up inside a panic room without any sunlight contact, and the only thing about her that appeared to be natural was her dark hair, with dark blue dyes, cut into a spikey hairstyle that was brushed downward towards her shoulders. Just by looking at her, one could tell that she was a goth with weird tastes.

"I see your point." Gwendolen and Chelsey waited as a series of steps appeared from the walls of the platform, giving them a circular stairway towards the main ground. As they walked, they talked. "Unlike a benevolent leader like King Ben or a malevolent one like the Dark Lord, Prince Marius is by far more dangerous than the two morally speaking. Because he was born from both a hero and a villain, he does not try to convince people into changing nor does he corrupt them. He thinks that an individual's inner self does not need to be fully good or fully evil."

"Talk about a Pollyanna." Chelsey snorted as they reached the main ground and headed towards an opening.

"Except this Pollyanna isn't wrong."

Gwendolen's words froze both Chelsey and Marius.

"You've seen how he's dealing with the Penna De Mort crisis. While Auradon is torturing her into pushing towards a diabetic life of goodness and the other villains see her as nothing but a sack of darkness that can do nothing well for anyone, the Prince dearly loves her for both her good and evil side. He firmly sees the two sides merged together as one being, one Ying Yang based soul. The only things that keep his point of view from being a reality are the Dark Lord's possession over his daughter and the fact that Penna is unable to accept the fact that she can live as both good and evil.

"I don't guarantee any specific future, but the stars' probabilities are the following. If the Dark Lord doesn't manage to get Penna out of the way when he launches his army onto Auradon before your boss uses the Saturnium by the end of the week, it will be him who gets out of the way because she has gone over her denial. If Penna De Mort doesn't stop your boss from going back in time, then it will be the Fae Realm Prince who goes after your boss in a clash in between alternate timelines. And if neither side is victorious, then the space time continuum as we know and don't know it will be annihilated. Not even immortals like the gods, you, and your father will survive." Gwen took a deep breath. "So yeah, I highly advise that you tell your boss that if she wants to make sure that her plan fully prevails, she'd better get rid of Marius Bogfae faster than she can snap her fingers."

Marius felt like he had been impaled. This was a new experience for him, knowing that somebody had instantly saying he needed to be put out of the way. Granted, he had his first time with Amira Fattura telling Penna that she had to get rid of him, but this time, he was actually seeing the suggestion take place.

A series of lights exploded like stars in the hallway Chelsey and Gwendolen were in, forming to parallel glowing lines that illuminated the hallway. The lights themselves were actually crystal statues of Hindu gods that projected the blue lights, giving lighter room into the place. The hallway itself was taller than a cathedral and made of red stone carved to look like tree roots were growing their way out of the ceiling and towards the floor. The floor itself was made of the same stone, only when put together, they made an infinite list of Asian dialects, it was hard to read.

"I've seen a bunch of odd architecture throughout my life, but this is by far the creepiest," Gwendolen grimaced as they passed the rows of statues, each throwing a different expression while remaining with the same face.

"I know," Chelsey agreed. "First time I came here with my father, our disturbance got the best of us. The head witch's specialty in magic is usually seen as something foolish by everyone else on Earth, yet she and her husband manage to make it a devilish art form while staying evil. One of our cats learned that the hard way." By the time they reached a door, Chelsey stopped in her tracks to put her hands in a praying form. "May Joan rest in peace."

"One of the jungle cats that your dad enslaves was named Joan?"

"Joan of Arc herself. She just had to mistake my father and I for Burgundians, same mistake with the head witch, and the consequences were losing to the Young Clan, get turned into a cat, and get decapitated by the head witch respectively. She was still a good sparring leopard."

"Wasn't Joan of Arc burned to death by the English? Or maybe I wasn't paying enough attention in history class?" Gwendolen frowned.

Chelsey Young shook her head as she pushed the door open. "Ainsley, when you've lived as long as me, they always twist facts to avoid teaching kids the truth. Believe me, the facts they twisted to make everyone believe that women were inferior until the 1920s! That was some b..." Gwendolen covered Chelsey's mouth with her hand.

"And they will remain unknown!"

A strange, screeching sound was heard coming from outside. "That's weird," Mal said.

"Yeah, why does that sound so...familiar?" Ben agreed with her.

"I don't know. Maybe Monkey Fist's security system back on the Isle?" Jessie suggested casually. The others looked at her in shock. "What?"

"What the Hell is that noise?" Gwendolen Ainsley asked.

"Come on." Chelsey grabbed Gwendolen by the wrist, but before they could go further, the floor below them popped a trapdoor open. The girls ended up falling and sliding their way into black void until an opening came and fell butt-first onto the floor. "Great Dashi, that witch is gonna give me a buttock fracture if this keeps going on!"

"That witch had better hope not, Young."

Marius froze. "That voice... It's her!"

"He's right. It's the voice of the SAP leader!"

The Auradonian crowd was shocked, even Gehörnt was surprised that they would finally see the demon behind the monster.

Meanwhile, in the mirror, Gwendolen looked the most awed. The girls had been transported into a hall far larger wider than the Cosmic Dome. Much like the hallway they were last in, the hall was made of red stone, only this time the carvings represented animalistic warriors conquering humanity. The pillars holding up the Kathmandu shrine ceiling were quite terrifying, as they were made of crystal skulls (that appeared to be simian) and bones pilled up to make coiling monkey tails. Hanging on the walls were black-and-red tapestries of ancient, dark legends while the ceiling had both sapphire chandeliers and banners (that Dwight Barron identified as the SAP logo) suspending from the ceiling. At each end of the hall, large dining tables filled with banquets worthy of gods waited patiently for their seats to be occupied while at the heart, standing on its own levitated mountain, was a throne carved out of golden ember into a humanoid, monkey-faced deity in a Lotus position and its six arms wielding swords and torches.

"No..." The gasp came from Mulan when she saw the image from the mirror. "Anything but her!"

"You know who she is?" Marius asked. Before the famous warrior could say anything, the answer came itself from what they were seeing.

"Young, you're excused," the SAP leader's voice spoke from the silhouette sitting straight on the throne. "While I have a little chat with our guest, you go make sure that the others are ready for tonight's feast. We have much to celebrate."

Chelsey gave out a sadistic smirk and bowed to the mysterious sorceress. "Of course, your Ladyship." She gave a small wave to Gwendolen. "See you later, Ainsley."

"If I'm still alive..." Gwendolen grumbled. Then, as if like lightning, Chelsey Young slipped away into the shadows. A door opening and closing was heard, but none could see it. This left Gwendolen alone with the SAP leader. "So... nice lair," she tried to make conversation.

"Seriously?" Indimia pinched her nose. "That's the first thing you can say? 'Nice lair?'"

"That's the first thing you said when you came into De Mort's lair," Roedor pointed out before he was silenced.

"Glad you think so. It has been in my family for countless generations," the SAP leader said. "The best part of it? The ancient magic surrounding it protects it from unwanted visitors."

Gwendolen gulped. "I hope that the wanted visitors don't end up in a soup pot."

"Don't be ridiculous. Nobody here is a cannibal. Well, maybe the Young Clan towards dragons, but I highly doubt that you'll be killed for your flesh." Gwendolen sighed until the witch added: "I do, however, kill anyone who betrays me or stands as an obstacle. So please, don't try to exploit my hospitality."
The young girl blinked. "Hospitality? I thought I was just a privileged prisoner."

"If that were the case, I'd have kept you locked up in a cell with barely the triple amount of food garbage they eat on the Isle." The SAP leader's silhouette got up from her throne. "Unlike most 'evil wardens', especially the demonic pest, where have I gone foul with you? Three meals a day finer than any in the kingdoms, a fine suite with a warm bed, permitted access to my Cosmic Dome, and forbidding the rest of the SAP from using their magic on you despite their love to torment humans." She walked down the steps of her throne slowly. "I may be evil, but I don't give such hospitality to any plain prisoner. Heavens forbid, I usually don't allow mortals humans with no powers into my land. But then again, you're like my husband. Human, yes, but powerful, and in your case, with potential."

"Uh, thanks?"

Most of the Death Eater kids made a face at what they heard. You had to give it to them, with their background and the way they were raised, they were told to despise anyone who wasn't a pureblood wizard, and even though they were of the latter, they had never seen their own boss Penna De Mort give them credit for their magic, as she preferred to pamper other skilled kids who weren't even wizards. So just seeing another witch being nice to 'her prisoner' who wasn't even identified as a Mudblood can make you wonder.

"Enough talk on trivial necessities," the SAP leader said firmly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but one of my minions has overheard you and Young assuming that my plan might fail."

"What mi... the screeching!" Gwendolen gasped before she then started doing the math. "Hold on. Your simian hissing magic, the statues and carvings and your throne of Hanuman, pillars made of simian bones...I know you. You're Winterfields. Silvia Winterfields. The Simian Witch!"

"In the flesh and bones." The torches of her throne flared up, illuminating her full body and showing all the sight of the new devil.

For one, that evil woman was the definition after Penna of insane beauty. Her voice indicated that she could be close to her late forties, yet she still had the appearance and health of a young mid-twenties woman who just got out of college. She wore a purple and teal crossover of a ninja uniform and a revealing kimono exposing her tanned shoulders and graciously curved, slender legs. Her gloves were fingerless and reached up to her elbows, her knee-high heeled boots were open toed, and her large mass of hazel brown hair, tinted with a couple strands of aging gray hair, was pulled up by a royal sapphire and golden Indian headpiece and set loose into a giant braided ponytail that looked and even moved like a monkey's tail. Her natural colored lips were pursed together into a serious, but enjoyably wicked smirk, while her eyes were by far the most dangerous looking areas in her face: almond shape with sharp denim blue taints, yet when she blinked, they were impaled by two long, thin vertical scars that went from her eyebrows to the level of her nostrils. Even though the healing scars were gruesome, they still couldn't hide the beauty that was the witch herself.

"Gosh, I've heard of you and your cruelty," Gwendolen admitted before the Simian Witch, "but I kept thinking it was just one of those urban myths they kept locked up in the Records Archives of the Ministry of Magic!"

"Yes, I did have the misfortune of being required to register myself at the Office of Foreign Magical Spouses the moment after I was married to a British Muggle," the Simian Witch said with a sour frown, "but tragically, thanks to Ms You-Know-Who, I couldn't barely even live in my husband's castle!"

"What's the Office of Foreign Magical Spouses?" Ben quickly asked the messenger, who had quickly hid himself behind a table the moment he saw the Simian Witch in the mirror.

"It's part of the immigration branch in the Ministry of Magic," the messenger said. "When a foreign wizard gets married to another wizard or a Muggle from a specific country, they need to get registered at the office if they plan to relocate in the latter's home and get the local citizenship."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard the story," Gwendolen waved her hands. "No need to remind me of the story. Last I heard, you lose another chandelier everytime you get to the 'how I lost my son' story." She looked at the sapphire chandelier that hung above her menacingly. "Honestly, that is one good looking chandelier!"

"Yes, thank you for giving your sympathy to my furniture," the Simian Witch said drily and crossed her arms. As he watched this, Marius found himself rubbing his chin, trying to solve an odd puzzle. This is weird, he thought. Her dryness reminds me of someone...

"Now, about your pessimism towards my plan!" The Simian Witch poked a finger on Gwendolen's forehead, making the girl yelp as if the witch were poking her like a woodpecker with its beak rather than her finger.

"Hold your headpiece on, I never said it would fail!" She pushed the finger out of the way, which seemed to impress the witch. "How many times do I have to repeat it to you people? I don't guarantee any specific future! I'm not one of those Delphi Oracle, Weird Witches, or Kalandre seers who tell you you're gonna die while the good guys win or vice versa! I only read probabilities, which say what will possibly happen depending on what has already happened or that could happen!" Seeing as the Simian Witch gave her one of those deadpan 'you make no sense to me' looks, Gwendolen groaned in exasperation and pulled out of nowhere a chart with surprisingly realistic constellation versions of Marius Bogfae, the Simian Witch, Penna and others.

"OK, follow the pictures!" Gwendolen snapped. "You are the witch holding the Saturnium in your hands! Tomorrow, Penna De Mort wakes up, she decides on her option for turning evil, and the day after that, you come to her and you make a deal with her: help her gain back her powers, and in return, she gives you a day of her past, which you will use to activate the Saturnium to travel back in time. You see where I'm going so far, right?"

"Yes, and as you and I know, while the Auradonians and Isle villains will be too busy fighting the Dark Lord and his forces at the week's end, the SAP and I will remain here while I activate the Saturnium, and erase Penna De Mort from history, thus giving my brothers and sisters the vengeance we all desire, and me, the empire that my husband and I craved to give to our son." She snickered before getting serious. "But the insect?"

"Yeah, the insect." Gwendolen went through the sketches. "Probabilities all agree that unless Marius Bogfae is disposed off as soon as possible or if he dies in the battle, he'll be hunting you down to prevent you from victory. Even if you two have to battle until all alternate timelines and the space-time continuum are annihilated and we go back to the Big Bang, he won't rest until he saves her." Gwendolen crunched her chart back together and stuffed it into her pocket. "So yeah, knowing how most of the bad guys here crave for TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF DARKNESS, you'd better get rid of the prince." When she said 'ten thousand years of darkness', lightning cracked all over the ceiling, and distant sounds of power going off and unpleased shouts were heard.

"I see your point," the Simian Witch said. "But please, don't use the TTYD sentence in my home. It's taboo for my ancestors' spirits to hear the name of one the things they never got to accomplish." She snapped her fingers. The sound of invisible doors opening and closing came again. A giant muscular guard with monstrous marmoset arms and legs made of armor came in. Gwendolen gulped and backed away as slowly as she could.

"Homer, have Wardeth go to Auradon. Tell him that if he succeeds, he'll finally have the head his mother always wanted." The guard nodded, punched his chest, and walked back into the shadows, followed by the same noises.

"I thought your son didn't even know who you were," Gwendolen frowned.

The Simian Witch laughed, making her voice echo through the pillars, and patted Gwendolen on the head. "Don't be ridiculous. Wardeth is the son of Warmonga. Like you, he's not a wizard, but he was let in for his special talents. In his case, it's for his assassination talents."

Great. Now that meant that Marius would have to expect an assassin to come for his hide.

"So, since the stars never told me...who the heck is your son? Same question for your husband." Gwendolen asked.

"Perhaps you'd like a hint. Tell me, who do my insanely unique eyes remind you off?" The Simian Witch leaned close enough for Gwendolen to cringe in horror and disgust when the witch did exactly what Chelsey Young had described to her. Like a snake shedding skin, her eye colors literally changed, playing with value and saturation until the denim blue sharpness finally morphed into a gray nightmare.

A shadowy grey.

The light coming from the torches also gave away something she had on her bare left shoulder. A mark of villainy that looked too familiar to not be recognized.

"No way!"

"That can't be!"

"Impossible!"

"She's..." Marius lost his words.

"You're..." Gwendolen couldn't choke out the words.

"Yes," the Simian Witch sneered. "I, Silvia Winterfields, the Simian Witch and leader of the Sorcerers Against Penna, am also known as Lady Silvia Winterfields Montgomery Fiske. If I'm not being clear enough, I am married to Monkey Fist and I am truly the biological mother of Martin Fiske!"