QUICK SMALL UPDATE CAUSE I FELT LIKE WRITING AND LEAVING YOU GUYS ON A CLIFF HANGER OKAY BYE!
I pulled off my helmet and placed it on the seat of my Vespa before joining Toby on the short walk up to the museum front.
"Think she'll still be here?" I gave Toby a confused look as we reached the entry to the heart of the museum.
"Why wouldn't she? Remember when she said she was just going to have a low profile? I trust her. She's not even associating with anyone that she knew from the Order. Even Strickler she's been telling to fuck off. Where else would be she but here?"
"I don't know? Running away from what's left of the Order? Maybe even Gunmar?" Toby shrugged for a moment before gifting me a confused look. "Wait. Do you think the changelings even know that he's out? Or at least in the prophecies that he would be?"
"I have no clue." I stopped for a moment before reaching out and pushing open the main doors. "But no matter what, Nomura said she would be staying in Arcadia. With or without Gunmar's servents being around." I turned my attention back into the museum only to be greeted by a mess of a scene. I looked over toward Toby for a second in disbelief before looking back into the museum to see the scattered array of broken vase pieces and fallen statues and paintings. It looked as if a struggle had occurred in the area. That, or at least an accident.
"What the fuck?" I turned my attention back toward Toby before pulling him along with me as I made my way toward my Vespa once more.
"We need to find Strickler. If they found Nomura, there's no telling what they will do to the rest of the former Order members." I grabbed my helmet off of the Vespa seat once more as Toby started talking to himself a little.
"Just gotta stay calm. Everything is gonna be alright. We still got Strickler to go to. Just gotta be calm."
"Strickler!" Toby and I knocked on the door of our former history teacher's door like madmen. "Mr. Strickler!"
"Hold your horses! I'll be there in a moment!" We heard the man yell from the other side, but my best friend and I continued pounding on the door nonetheless until the changeling appeared before us in his normal form. "Eclipse. Tobias. What gives me the unpleasure of seeing you this evening?" I opened my mouth to give a simple explanation of the situation, but Toby beat me to the punch as he rambled out everything at once.
"Nomura's missing and we think the Order might have something to do with it and we think Claire might be possessed because of the prophecy cause she's really sick outside of none of her physical test coming back with everything and the museum is a mess I should have said that earlier but Gunmar is out and we need all the help we can get so help us, Jesus." I raised an eyebrow at Toby's reaction as I slipped my hands into my jacket's pockets.
"Nice way of staying calm, Tobes." Strickler looked between us for a moment before stepping away from his door and gesturing into his house.
"Come in boys. If what you say is true, there is a lot we must speak about." We followed him wordlessly before he shut the door slowly behind us. "Can I get you two anything while you're here? Potions? Blades? Maybe even water?"
"With what you last did to Dr. L's drink? Can you blame me when I say 'Fuck no'?" I expected the changeling to gift us with a glare or some kind of negative response after Toby's words fell from his lips, but he instead gifted us with a sorrowful look instead as Toby and I took our places on his couch. "So what can you tell about what's going on here? Does Gunmar know what the hell is going on or are we in the clear somewhat at the moment?"
"Well, for starters Tobias, Gunmar and his army know more than what you believe." Strickler turned away from us for a moment as he grabbed a cup of tea from off the kitchen counter. His free hand fiddling with the teabag string as he continued speaking. "They know of the essence residing within Miss Nuñez. They know of the possibilities that can arise if something goes wrong with her." He sat down on the sofa across from us before crossing his right leg over his knee. "But they also know that they have no hand in this affair with her and Morgana." I raised an eyebrow at that last remark as I leaned forward.
"Morgana? As in Morgana La Fey? Claire was looking into the name when these nightmares of hers started to appear, but she said she couldn't find anything beyond Arthurian legends."
"Precisely." I only grew more confused as Strickler uncrossed his legs and placed his tea on the coffee table before him. "You're a smart boy, Mr. Lake. I'm sure you started to put the dots together. I'm sure Claire must have by now to some degree. Merlin. Arthur. Morgana. They are all the original reasons the Amulet of Daylight and the Eclipse Crystal were ever made. King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, his runaway apprentice of darkness Morgana. Each very much real. Each very much far from mere legends." He folded his hands into his lap before crossing his right leg over his left once more. "This being that is possessing Miss. Nuñez as we speak is Morgana herself. The Pale Lady. The Mother of Monsters."
"Whoa whoa whoa." I stopped Strickler from speaking as I remembered something from when Nomura and I were locked in the Darklands prison together. "The same Pale Lady that Nomura would curse at? Kinda like in the same way as humans say 'For the love of God' kinda thing?"
"Well of course. She is our creator after all. Much like how your kind believes this God is your creator." Toby jumped in at this point as he seemed to have enough of our dilly-dallying.
"Okay, enough of trying to get me to have a religious and or moral crisis. How is this Pale Lady bullshit tied to all of this? How is she possessing Claire?"
"Well," Strickler grabbed his cup as if he had all the time in the world before bringing it up to his lips and taking a sip. "She wields the staff of Morgana. A staff is tied to a witch's or wizard's soul and being. Destroying their staff is like destroying them. Using their staff, especially at its full potential of magic, can be dangerous and opens a link between the original user and the current one. That is if the original user is still living."
"This some Oujia board shit." Toby stated that calmly as I shot him a glare.
"Seriously?"
"What?! I'm not wrong."
"Honestly, I thought I taught you two well enough for you to each understand the concepts of Arthurian legends and tie up the loose ends already, but I guess not." Strickler sipped his tea once more. This time with a smirk accompanying his movements. He lowered his cup from his lips once more as he gave us a curious look. "What symptoms does she have? Sickness? Fever? Nightmares, you already said."
"Well, she's been sick for a little while since she made this big portal to help us all escape from Gunmar." I rubbed at my left bicep for a moment before continuing. "But she's been having nightmares for about a week now. At least from what she told me. She's been hearing voices when she's alone. Especially when she's surrounded by people, but not really with someone, ya know? She's passed out already too."
"We might be just in time then, boys." Strickler raised to his feet before grabbing his cup and heading to the kitchen. "Give me a minute to grab some supplies and we can head out to aid our little sorcerous." I felt anxious as I saw Strickler throw out his teabag and place his cup in his kitchen sink.
"What kind of supplies do you need? It can't be that difficult to have an exorcism, right? At least not in a way that can hurt her?"
I held the chains gently in my hands as we rode within Strickler's call to Claire's house.
"Maybe I should keep my mouth shut more often."
"Ya got that now, dude?" I rolled my eyes at Toby as I anxiously glanced outside of the passenger side window.
"So what's the plan here? Tie Claire up and force her to be exorcised?"
"Well," Strickler spoke as he kept his hands tight on the steering wheel. "As long as she hasn't lost her willpower to Morgana yet, that is."
"What happens then?" I looked over toward the changeling as he kept his eyes firmly on the road. "Is that what the prophecy meant by her possibly losing herself?"
"Of course." The changeling spoke with a very matter-of-fact tone as he continued. "Even if Claire can't feel it yet or understand it completely, she and Morgana are slowly, but surely becoming one. The more magic she uses, the more they become connected. Each day that passes, the better chance Morgana will completely possess her."
"What needs to happen for that to occur? For Claire to get actually, ya know? Possessed?" Strickler glared out of his review mirror at Toby who interrupted his little speech before answering the smaller boy.
"I was getting to that part." The man sighed for a moment before returning his full attention to the road. "Morgana's will appear before her when she's at her weakest physically. That way she can't fight her back. Preferably when she's alone." Strickler took a turn near Claire's house before glancing over toward me. "Which reminds me, do you know if she's alone today or not?"
"Last I knew her mom was going to be out tonight with her dad for some fundraiser. They were gonna leave her alone while resting with Enrique since Not-Enrique hasn't been too troublesome since Claire's been sick." Strickler's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as his next statement fell from his lips.
"He's grown attached. How disgusting." I watched as his hand tightened around the wheel for a moment before taking the last turn. "I knew he was weak."
"Says the one that fell in love with a human." Toby's voice perked up as Strickler let out a low growl. "What? Thought no one would notice how defeated you look with Dr. L said she wanted nothing to do with your ass when she woke back up? You really did like her, didn't you, Mr. S?"
"Keep talking Mr. Domzalski, and you'll be the one chained up."
"Wait," I came to a sudden realization as Strickler came to a stop in front of Claire's vehicle-less house. "How did you know where Claire lives? Isn't that, I don't know, against school conduct without reasoning? Like, I understand why you knew where I lived, you came over as an evaluation kinda thing originally, but Claire? That's not adding up."
"Her parents asked me to come over a little while ago while Claire was out. They wanted to speak to me about her grades falling slightly. They were noted that she wasn't as rested as she normally was a few months prior. They were worried about her." I gave Strickler a confused look for what felt like the hundredth time today as he switched off the engine and pocketed his keys.
"And you said?"
"I said that it was normal for someone of her age after a younger sibling is born since they might feel as if they are being replaced in a way. Even if the child is already a year or two old, it could occur."
"But that's not-."
"Exactly." Strickler excited the vehicle before I could question him further, so I stumbled out of the car with chains still in hand.
"So you protected her? Why? I thought we were thorns in your sides." Strickler stopped for a moment at the hood of the car before making his way over toward me with a rather emotionless look on his face.
"Did I ever tell you how much I enjoyed you as a student, Jim?" I tilted my head to the side as Strickler continued. "You were much like me with I was a young changeling. Ambitious. Strong-willed. Smart, even though you were not willing to express it at the time." I felt an annoyed look take over my face as I cut the changeling off in the middle of his explanation.
"Where are you going with this?" Strickler sighed for a moment before reaching out and placing his hands on my shoulders.
"I see myself in you. You had potential. Potential that could only be released when given just the right push. One I thought I could provide." I saw a small smile appear on his mouth as I felt his hands squeeze my shoulders. "Not to become a soldier or a part of the order, but to see the worth that you carried. Pale Lady knows I needed it at your age." I looked up at the changeling speechlessly as his hands dropped from my shoulders. "You're much more than you believe, Jim. Prophecy or not."
"Stupid. Seatbelt!" Strickler and I glanced over toward Toby who has finally immerged from the vehicle. "Sorry. What I miss?" I looked back over toward Strickler who just chuckled a little at the interruption before taking the chains from my hands and swinging them over his left shoulder.
"Nothing, Tobias. Nothing at all." The taller being brought his attention back toward me before grabbing his keys out and handing them to me. "Grab the back from the trunk of my car, will you? It has everything else we need." I gave him a simple nod before making my way toward the truck of the car and doing as he told me so. All while Toby made a small comment.
"We're performing an exorcism in the middle of the spring. Couldn't Claire like, get possessed closer to the fall? It would make a lot more sense then." I rolled my eyes at Toby before grabbing the bag and closing the trunk once more.
"Not the time, Tobes. We've got a Claire to save." I looked over toward the now looming aura her house was gifting us from the front yard. The small amount of fog coming in slowly only added to the eerie nature that was already building as we stood there. I swallowed hard as I tightened my grip on the bag's handle as my free hand went up and grasped the crystal laying on my chest.
Let's just hope we're not too late.