Chapter 62
In the Living World
Frost's sleigh stopped in front of an imposing building that had probably seen better days. Or maybe it looked vaguely crumbling only because snow covered its every horizontal, diagonal and in some points even vertical surface. In the snow, though, there was a sequence of recent footprints.
- Your friends must have gone in. - said Frost, frowning.
He knocked on the door, but the person who opened wasn't the one he expected.
- Stormy! - exclaimed Stella, happy.
- Look who's there. - said the witch, less enthusiast but relieved.
Flora and Cassandra appeared behind her. Once Francesca introduced them to Frost, he asked them where the mistress of the house was.
- Somewhere, running from a nightmare. - Stormy answered.
He sighed.
- We really must find a better dreamkeeper. Vera's father was a great mage and a good person, but his daughter… her father's death had a devastating effect on her mind. - he said, almost saying sorry for her behavior.
- If I may give you a suggestion, I think you'd find a great keeper among the giants. - said Cassandra.
Frost seemed surprised.
- Giants? It has never happened before, but it might work. Would you please help me to put some dreams on the sleigh? I had to take them from Vera, but… -
- Of course. - said the girls.
They found out the "dreamkeeper" had prepared four trunks full of bottles for Frost, who however prepared two more himself.
- You'll need these to pay the journey to the portal. - he said while Musa secured the last trunk on the sleigh.
- Pay who? - asked Flora.
- The portal to your world is outside my territory, I couldn't reach it. But your ride found us already. - explained Frost, pointing at a teal dot in the sky, vaguely resembling a dragon.
It flew in circles not far from them, high up in the sky.
Frost urged the girls to transform and fly behind him, following the dragon (the sleigh was full of trunks). It didn't make sense to the girls, but they didn't have many options and Frost had proven to be reliable.
- I should take them to Atlantis? Who do you think I am? This is a pirate ship, not an oceanic carriage! I brought you Quetzal's message, and that was our deal! -
- And for that you were paid! Now I offer you two more trunks of dreams to take these ladies to Atlantis and help them find their friends! -
- Do you know how you get to Atlantis? Through the Pillars of Hercules! And you pay the toll there, the half-sardines are perfectly able to sink even a pirate ship! Two trunks are too little, I should use them to pay to get in and out of the Mediterranean Sea! -
Mage Frost thought quietly. Falkenburg was right, in that case his profit was nonexistent. And profit was all he worked for.
- I'll give you two more trunks when you come back. - he proposed.
The ghost seemed pleased.
- Now we're talking! But I want three trunks. -
While the two sealed the deal, the girls told each other their adventures. They were disappointed when they found out that they still had no idea about where the others were: they had already been lucky to find themselves there, they couldn't hope for more luck.
- The only thing that comes to my mind is to try and call Desirè. - said Maria, - Andrea had only your number, but maybe her phone works too. -
- I can try. - Cassandra said, looking for her friend's phone number.
- It's really weird that they couldn't reach even Tecna. - Stella pointed out.
Usually, Tecna could get her gadgets to work in any condition and she didn't like that situation at all.
- We don't know if something happened to her. - Aisha reassured her, - Maybe she just fell in the water like us and her phone got damaged. -
- It's working! - Cassandra exulted when Desirè answered the call.
- Damn, taking for granted that phones wouldn't work because people wear armors was a mistake. - was the first thing the witch said.
- Desy! Where are you? Are you alone? - Maria asked.
- We're in Spain, South-East. The city's called Sagunto. I'm with Lzzy and Darcy... - she hesitated for a second, - Darcy is sick. She spoke too long with the ghosts and now we don't know what to do. We're in jail and can't really go out and get some food, and I don't think they'll give us anything. I think they're setting up a pyre. - Seeing her friends' fear, Desirè rushed to reassure them. - They won't lay a finger on us, no worries. It's just, we don't know where to go. Where are you guys? -
- Off the cost of Norway, if I got that straight. - answered Francesca.
Desirè whistled. That was quite the trip.
- Hey, have you heard from Icy and the others? - Stormy asked.
- Yeah, Icy and Lzzy can talk telepathically. She's with Bloom and Tecna in some catacombs in Rome, the ghosts said that's the only portal that always opens. -
- Okay, listen, try to get to the sea. We're on the Flying Dutchman, which will take us to Atlantis… If the captain accepts the payment, that is. - said Cassandra, glancing at the pirate and the mage, who were now arguing about the dimensions of the dreams of the three trunks.
- Wasn't it a ghost pirate? - Desirè asked, perplexed.
- Apparently his name is Falkenburg. - Rebecca replied.
- And he's helping us. -
- Seems so. -
Desirè didn't look convinced, but she didn't ask more. Cassandra ended the call, in fear of consuming the battery already half gone, and she noticed that Scar was looking at them.
- I know we're on a ghost ship and you have magic, but what the hell was that? - he asked.
§§
Lzzy watched Desirè close the call, more worried than when she began talking with Cassandra. She held Darcy closer to her, trying to keep her warm in her sleep. Despite the hours going by nobody checked in on their cell, although they heard movement in the corridor, in front of the cells of other prisoners.
- Any ideas? - Desirè asked.
- I just know that we must be absolutely sure of where we go once we're out of here. Darcy is too weak, we can't afford hesitations. - replied Lzzy.
- With her knocked out, getting out will be harder. - observed Desirè.
- But not impossible. We just have to find out which way to go. -
- We could ask the other prisoners which way the sea is... -
- What then? They could tell the guards where we're going. We're faster when flying, but I don't know how far we can get with Darcy like this. -
Desirè began walking in circles, looking for a solution. They didn't want to hurt anyone, they just wanted to go their own way. It would've been much easier if nobody had seen them fall on the square's ground and being arrested by the soldiers.
- Lzzy, I have an idea. -
Lzzy stopped trying to understand if Darcy had a fever and looked at her, waiting.
§§
The thick wooden door that closed the entrance to the catacombs was viciously unhinged. In its place, an ice frame running on the corridor's sides and a witch too impatient to wait for Bloom or Tecna to elaborate a less destructive method to open the door. The two fairies didn't argue about the door's sudden departure: they had fought Icy long enough to understand when she lost her mind and, even if it wasn't one of those moments, she was pretty close to that point.
They had easily found the key, a small, extremely detailed reproduction of the mirror in the monastery, slightly bigger than the skulls it was stuck between, but getting out had required much longer than what they imagined. The catacombs were huge, a true labyrinth. And they had an efficient system of air conducts, which had thrown off Tecna's scan. So it wasn't hard for them to imagine when and why the witch's patience had run out, or how much she needed to breathe air that smelled of grass, pine and living things.
Icy didn't wait for her eyes to get used to the light of sundown to go out. She almost run out, without seeing clearly where she was going, until she found herself in a clover field. Her sight still hazy, she fell to the ground, taking deep breaths. Below here there were four floors of galleries full of dead bodies laying down like she was. But she was above, in the living world. At least for a while more.
Bloom walked up to her, holding the little stone sculpture, and sat down next to her, while Tecna looked around. They were on a hill, the catacombs must have been abandoned because a variety of Mediterranean vegetation grew in wild spots all around, together with maritime pines. Under the hill they could see a city, with a river running through it. Rome.
- We could try to get to the river before the sun goes down and understand which way the sea is. - said Tecna.
Lzzy had already informed them of the Flying Dutchman. That and their escape plan was also part of why Icy was restless.
- We could try to get to the sea and find a safe place to wait for a ghost ship. - replied the witch, not entirely sarcastic.
- It can be dangerous at night. - Tecna casually objected.
They didn't have a proper safe option, in any case.
- Near the sea there are less wild animals and less humans trying to arrest us. - replied Bloom with the same indifference.
- Let's go on as long as we can then. - concluded Tecna.
§§
Meanwhile in Magix, Xavier had gotten his nose out of his books to follow the news channel. The Lake had been evacuated without accidents and luckily there hadn't been problems in the city either. However, there was concern for the numerous lodges scattered around the mountains, hard to reach, and for the magical creatures of the forest.
His guests followed the news with attention, glancing furtively at the windows of the living room every now and then. Snow hadn't yet reached them, although it was over well over fifty centimeters high.
They were waiting to have some good news before calling Cassandra again, but they were starting to think there weren't going to be. After six hours the spell that brought the storm didn't seem to give in and they still didn't know how to get them out.
Around the fourth hour Donnie had started sobbing and went to his room, where Andrea followed him to comfort him. He didn't want to lose his sister and his friends right after finding them. He wanted to hug Stormy again, to talk with her, to have dinner together the night of the Lantern Festival. He wanted to share with her, with Icy and with Darcy what he had become, what was now part of his world, he didn't want to tell them goodbye.
When he left the living room Arejay turned the other way, clenching his fists. He understood his pain, or at least he thought he did. Lzzy had never been so far form him. They grew up together, they faced anything together, and it hurt to not be able to watch her back anymore now that he was a man and not a child, now that he was a grown-up and he could do everything in their world. In that world, instead, he could do little to nothing. At that thought he had uselessly punched the wall, making Aire lose control over her tears, which began falling down from her eyes in big drops.
She was sitting on a couch next to Alec, who stayed at a distance until that moment in order not to annoy her. He offered her a napkin, which she took without a word. She dried her face, but didn't stop crying. She was scared. Scared for her friends, trapped in a parallel universe. Scared for Henna and Yami, trapped as well in Alfea, closest refuge for the evacuated students. Scared for her family, trapped in the city by the storm. Scared for herself, because she knew it was all too big for her and that she could do nothing for anyone. And she hated those messy hiccups of hers, she hated the tears on her face and the eyes that burned and the throat that hurt. But thinking that she hated all those things she cried harder and felt them more, and at some point she had had enough and had moved closer to Alec, grabbing his hand.
- Hug me, idiot. - she had sobbed.
- Aire... -
- Just do it! I'm happy you came, at least I don't have to worry about you too! You're always around when there's trouble and maybe if we stop seeing each other there will be less trouble… But I don't want to stop going out with you even if you're unbearable and egocentric. -
Alec at that point had freed his hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, without saying anything. Even though she had stopped crying, Aire hadn't moved away, hadn't insulted him or threatened him with metamorphosis spells. She hadn't said a thing. She was busy thinking of a way to be useful. It was too weird that the portal opened right when Givelian had left the girls alone and she had the same suspect as Stormy. She remembered that when Alec had denounced her for her intrusion to the ball at the beginning of the year, Griffin had hinted to Council members who wanted to get rid of the Trix and she knew that Stormy suspected of Givelian. Stormy was impulsive and easily angered, but not stupid, she had to have a reason to think that. If only she could get into the monastery or get close enough to Givelian...