Chapter 21

"Asa'Morana," she said boldly as she stared into the mirror. "A name for the whole world to fear. I will hold the secrets to life and death in my hand, in my mind, and nobody will take them away from me!" She released a cackle that had been mounting for hours. She pressed her hand firmly against the mirror in the room and it depressed with a click, before sliding up inside the wall, out of sight. She watched her face until it disappeared.

"Now, let me see." The woman grasped an empty test tube, retrieved a piece of wood from the beaker which held pieces of roughly cut wood, and removed a sharp knife from the inside of her sleeve. She depressed one of the walls of the compartment and took out a large bundle of candles, tied together with raffia. She smiled dangerously. "More work today- no rest for the wicked," She ranted as she closed the wall again. She flicked her hair back over her shoulders, taking the tools of her trade out into the garden. She collected a piece of Ivy charcoal and freshened up her pentagram, before setting up the candles. While she did this, she began to chant under her breath softly; hardly even aware of what she was doing. Her eyes half closed in the rapture of releasing her pent-up magic, her face flushed with excitement. She gently stepped within her pentagram and closed it with the charcoal. She began to light the candles in order of placement, all the while elation from her liberated magic singing through her veins. Finally, she seated herself within the centre of the star, rough wood in her left hand, carving knife in her right. She closed her bright eyes and began to travel the paths of darkness, sliding into the lay lines of the earth, feeling the tug of souls around her on every side.

She opened the eyes of her soul, able to see the beautiful auras of the souls where she was. She could never be quite sure where she was geographically, because the ways of the spirit were never as that of the physical. She observed the closed eyes of all the swirling auras around her. Finally, she found a soul coloured deep blue with strands of silver echoing in it. Perfect, she exulted to herself, the very colour I'm missing from my rainbow.

Gently, she outstretched her own soul arm, seeing the deep, angry, blood red swirling violently around her, and the threads of bitter green, ripples of dark black. She stroked the aura before her, gently coaxing it away from the body it had resided in for so long. Come with me, she said lovingly, and I'll show you things you never imagined…

Suddenly, the eyes of the deep blue aura snapped open, blazing out pure silver light. Asa'Morana pulled her arm back, jolted back, pulling her magic around her. The eyes turned their blazing gaze on her, and she felt herself known. She could feel herself quivering, and was aware only dimly of the whimpering noises she was making.

Away from me, demon, the soul-voice snarled, its bright silver eye-light flashing red before returning to its normal silver. Asa'Morana stood as a rabbit before headlights; spotted, and suddenly unable to get away. You have no balance- you have no right to be roaming these highways. Return to where you came from, and do not bother me again. I have no time for this. Then the entire soul disappeared from before her spirit-eyes, and she felt herself jolted to her body again.

Asa'Morana sat shaking in the centre of her pentagram, sweating, and feeling the bruises at her pressure points beginning, from being so brutally thrown back into her body. She was sure that the soul she had encountered knew exactly what pain she would be in for the next few days, and would take advantage of it. She sat quaking in the pentagram in the dying light of the day, feeling the heat stealing from her body. She reluctantly looked down at her hands, and saw that in her vial, stoppered with a perfectly carved skull, a sluggish, dark green mist was collected. Asa'Morana shrieked and threw the vial out of pentagram, her magical shield destroying the vial and stopper on the way through. The dark green mist began to creep along the inner wall of the shield, unable to escape. It encircled the walls, blocking her from all sight, then began to seep down towards her. Asa'Morana shrieked, and for the first time in her life, felt true fear.

But the fear was nothing beside the pain.

~*~

Lianna jolted. Adrienne stared at her.

The blonde girl jolted again.

"Oh, dear," Ruth said softly from her vantage point of the chair, "I think that her soul has been released from its cage. The people over at the Auror place were going to unstopper their vials today- that's why I'm still here. Hold onto my shoulders, dear," Ruth walked over to the bed Lianna was seated upon, before she leaned into Lianna's face, and Adrienne had to quickly grab the woman's shoulders so that she didn't smash face-first into her sister. Adrienne watched in fascination for moments as Ruth's eyes burned into her sister's. It almost seemed as though there were an optic connection; Adrienne could see lights burning their way between bodies.

But moments turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours, and Adrienne's arms began to ache desperately. Ruth's arms began to feel cold, and her eyes began to dim slightly. Adrienne thought desperately about what to do, and eventually reached over for her own Pepper Up potion which was sitting on the table beside the bed and using the spoon to push some into the older woman's mouth. Adrienne then swallowed some herself, and, though her arms still ached, and her back hurt, her mind began to awake a little.

Finally, after an hour and a half, Ruth shook herself and leaned back.

"Damn and damn!" she swore, wringing her hands. Adrienne peered into her sister's eyes, but saw nothing but the blankness that had been there before. She looked to Ruth.

"Too far away. She was obviously tangled in a lay-line. It's carried her half-way across the world. I don't know anyone who can find her now. It's up to her to make her way home. All we can do is look after her body for her." Ruth stared at the ground, somehow believing that this was her fault, that she had failed. Adrienne placed a hand on Ruth's arm, feeling her arm quiver with the effort of moving it and smiling inwardly at it.

"She's strong, Ruth. She'll find her way home to us. Right now, we've got to find her father."

"Why, Adrienne? If she's free, why do we still need her father?" Ruth's eyes seemed distant, lost in tears.

"I don't know exactly; I just know that if Lianna asked me to get her father for her, I would go to the ends of the earth to find him for her- and she asked." Adrienne looked out the window at the birds frolicking in the trees, knowing that she would never be able to reclaim her innocence- no, her naivety- now.

Somehow, it didn't faze her.

~*~

A/N: Another chapter- thankyou so much to all my reviewers! You guys are awesome.

*kitten