CHAPTER 2:
THE KNIFE BEARER
The family of four was standing in the same location when misty Dementor like things that started circling around them. Selena counted off around 40, but the odd thing was that neither Anthony nor Fiona could see the creatures. They ran right through them and kept going, beckoning their parent to follow.
"Phoinex, what are they?" Asked a worried Selena.
"Dementors maybe? I dunno."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." They took out their wands and aimed carefully before shouting "Expecto Patronum!" A ghost-like lion form came out of Selena's want and a panther from Phoinex's. They charged around the group of Dementor things and they all backed away before fleeing away into the other parts of the city. The two adults ran to their children and acted as if nothing had happened.
"Mum, why'd you and dad do that?" Asked Anthony.
"What? You really don't see them, do you? There's some kind of Dementor here and we had to make them go away."
"Why can't we see them?"
"I don't know. We'll find out. Where's your sister?"
"She's waiting in a café." The two parents followed their son to a small green café with cups and plates at the counter as if people had suddenly just left. They climber up a flight of stairs where they found Fiona playing with a girl about her age, with red hair.
"Fiona, hun, who's this?" Question Phoinex.
"This is Maya. She lives here."
"Well, hello Maya. Where are your parents?"
"Dead."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Can you tell me what the creatures in this city are?" Selena asked.
"Specters. They eat adults consciousness so they left dead and alive at the same time, which is worse then dying."
"Thank you for telling me."
"You're welcome." Fiona's daemon, Orion, was an ermine looking at her side.
"Oh, Maya, one more thing, why can't children see these 'Specters'?"
"No one really knows. We just can't."
"Oh… Well, thank you again." Maya smiled innocently. Phoinex and Selena walked back downstairs and sat at a table.
"What do we do from here?" Selena started.
"I'm not sure. I suppose we find the knife."
"Ask it."
"Ask what?"
"You know very well what I mean." A grin spread across Phoinex's face as he took the velvet-covered alethiometer out of his pocket. He unfolded it and spun the needle around certain symbols asking: Where can I find the knife? The answer came easier then any of the other times: Ask the child.
Phoinex simply said, "Ask the child."
"Maya?"
"Well, I don't think our children know about this knife unless they have secret lives we don't know about…." Selena glared in a ya-real-funny kind of face before they went back up to the second story.
"Maya, do you know anything about a knife? A special knife." Questioned Phoinex. Maya's face instantly filled with guilt and the other four knew the answer so Anthony just said, "Best tell us, or we'll either force of torture you into saying it." She looked away. Phoinex looked in his pocket for his wand, but instead, his hand came across the veritaserum bottle. As he took it out, coils sprung out from behind him and tied up Maya. Selena had used her wand. Carefully he opened her mouth and dropped a drop into it.
"Wha's that, dad?" Fiona said while petting the now cat formed Orion.
"Some veritaserum I forgot to give back to Snape. Ok, Maya, tell me all you know of this special knife."
"One of the other kids older brother has it."
"Where is he?" Inquired Selena.
"In the Torre Degli Angeli."
"Where's that?"
"City center."
"Thank you. Anthony, Fiona, come along." She grabbed Fiona's hand and led her away back downstairs, soon followed by her husband and son. Out onto the street, she took them, where they wandered around in search of the Torre Degli Angeli. Anthony was the one to see it, high above the other buildings. The family had split up, and he was supposed to call his parents, but the curiosity was too great and so he found himself at the door with his daemon, Stelmaria, quivering.
"Please, don't go!" She quivered.
"Oh, why not?"
"I have a bad feeling about this…." Anthony peaked through a crack in the door and felt a shiver of fear.
"Let's go with Fi."
"I don't think that will help."
"Yes, it will. It'll calm you down a bit." He turned, with her in her wolf cub form in his arms, and they quickly found Fiona, four streets over. Together they walked back to the tower and into it, shaking with fear every second. Orion changed into a tiger, and Stelmaria into a bear. Anthony led them up a flight of stairs where they found a room that had a young man, no older then 20, swishing a dagger like think through the air.
"Is he dancing?" Asked Fiona.
"Maybe. Or maybe he's just crazy." Replied Anthony. They moved along and came to another flight of stairs that took them to the tower roof where they found a greenhouse with a man tied up inside. His hair was a matted black and his clothes were faded and dirty.
"Umm… Sir? Are you ok?" Started Anthony. The man groaned. "What's your name?" He groaned again before saying, "Kalibar Oweington."
"Well, hello Mr. Oweington." Greeted Fiona, with a bit of fear in her voice. Anthony took out his wand and muttered a charm that removed the ropes binding Kalibar.
"Who's the man downstairs?" He asked.
"Jonathan Parley. He took the knife from me to keep the Specters away."
"He's moving that knife around in the air."
"The fool. He'll never open a way into another world."
"Is that the special knife?"
"Oh, yes indeed. A very special knife. The Subtle Knife. You're not from around here, are ya?"
"No, sir." Said Fiona meekly. Jonathan then came running upstairs, having heard the echo of the conversation.
"Who are you? And why'd you untie him?!" He barked.
"I'm…" Anthony thought for a moment and realized he couldn't reveal his real name, so he lied. "Mitchell Belling, and this is my cousin Lisa. We untied him because he was in pain."
"That's not a good excuse. Get outta here now, the both of you, before I hurt you." Their daemons were now small animals in their owners pockets, keeping out of sight.
"We're not leaving him. He's our uncle."
"Aww… Ain't that nice? I'll have to keep you hear now, too." He pounced at Anthony, knife at hand, and slashed at his, but missed. Anthony aimed his wand but dropped it from a cut he got on his hand. It was bleeding freely now and he had to put in inside his robe sleeve. With his free hand he aimed and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" A flash of light and Jonathan was instantly paralyzed, as stiff as a board. Fiona ran over and pushed him down the stairs as Anthony picked up the dropped subtle knife in his left hand. Fiona ran over to him.
"Oh, Anthony…" She quivered, as she pulled up his right sleeve. His thumb and the finger next to it were gone. In their place were two crimson stumps. This was the cut he had felt. Kalibar Oweington was coming over to them now, glaring at Anthony's bloody hands.
"Follow me, boy, and bring the knife." He ordered. Back onto the second floor, into an old dusty room with a bookshelf on each wall and a sink with a cabinet under it in the corner.
Kalibar walked over to the sink and started looking through a drawer, while Fiona and Anthony sat at a circular table in the middle of the room. Fiona conjured a cloth and started dabbing it on the finger stubs. Kalibar walked over and handed her an ointment. She started spreading it and said, "There must be a potion or a spell that can fix this…"
"Oh, no. You shouldn't undo it. It's the symbol of the knife bearer." Said Kalibar.
"The what? What's the knife bearer?" Asked Fiona, while cleaning Anthony's hand.
"I am- or was, the bearer of the subtle knife on behalf of the guild." He raised his right arm to them and they saw he had the same missing fingers. "You're the new bearer. Now quick, get up. I need to show you how to use it."
"Use it? And what's the hurry?" Asked Anthony, raising his eyebrows.
"Without it the Specters will get me. That knife there keeps the darn things away. Anyway, Do you know what it does?"
"Umm… well, yes."
"Alright then. Raise it up in your hand and concentrate. Become relaxed. Become the tip of the knife. Move it around in the air and look for snags." This was the first time Anthony had looked at the knife. Its blade was around 8-inches long with a charcoal stained rosewood handle. He did what he was told within a few minutes.
"This doesn't look very special."
"Oh, it was thousands of years a go. The knife bearer then, Will Parry, broke the knife accidentally from some influence an enemy gave him. Okay, now cut a square with the snag." He moved the knife slowly to the right and formed a square. Amazingly, it made a window that led into a warm meadow.
"Good, good. To close it, out the knife to the edge and try pinching it closed." Anthony tried it and it really did work.
"Thank you… I guess." Muttered Anthony.
"Go off now."
"What are you going to do without the knife?" Asked Fiona, a tone of worry.
"Poison myself."
"Oh no! Why? Come with us instead!"
"No, I'd rather just poison myself instead of being killed by those bloody Specters. Now, go on." Anthony and Fiona glanced at him firmly one last time before going out the door and out of the Torre Degli Angeli.