Chapter Thirteen: Hope
'Come on, Madison, you're almost here…" someone was saying. Madison twisted and turned, trying to get out of his bindings. All around was darkness, but the light was getting brighter.
'I'm coming!" He tried to yell, but it came out as more of a whisper. He struggled some more, and his struggling intensified when the light started to fade away. "Wait…" He called desperately. "I'm coming…" He could barely hear his own voice, and knew that they couldn't either.
When the light was about to leave completely, he relaxed and his struggles stopped. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad on the other side, he thought. No more pain, or suffering. Yes, he thought, smiling to himself, it would be good to be there.
Then the darkness lit up with a pink light, and a soothing voice said, "Madison you've got to hold on, we need you back here." Madison started struggling again, but still not as hard as he had at first. "Angelique?" He asked hopefully. "Please stay…" He whispered. The pink light brightened a tiny bit, and Madison found it much easier to stay.
"He'll be alright," Healer Josephine announced to the relief of all present. Dugger was their, sitting calmly in a reclining chair. Chanteau had been pacing back and forth, the remnants of tears still on her face. The headmaster was there, as was Cada. Hannah had been ordered to stay in her house, or she would have come as well.
And Angelique. She was standing over Madison, her hands on his head, her eyes closed, in the trance required to bring a mind-link between two people. Josephine said it was the best way to keep Madison alive for the moment, until she could use some more powerful healing. A mind link could only be used between two people with a great bond, and Angelique had been the only one available who could have done it. Now that Seth was dead.
Seth's death was the cause of Chanteau's tears. How she had hated it when, after hearing that her two best friends had gone missing into the mushroom forest, Cada had come back into the school, with Madison's bloodied body floating beside him, and Seth's nowhere in sight. Then she had heard that Seth was a vampire.
How it must feel for Madison, she thought. Then she realized that Madison wasn't able to think at all, and that he might never be able to again. She cried even more at this, off in her bed. Then, wiping the tears away, she had come up to the Healer's Ward.
And off in the far bed of the Healer's ward, not known to anyone but Cada and Coko, was Marit. She had fallen onto a jut of flat rock not far from the top of the chasm, but Seth had been sent even farther. Not all that far, though. About thirty feet down he had been skewered by a stalagmite.
She had been seriously wounded by Madison and his sword. She would bear those scars for the rest of her life. But what bothered her was that she had killed someone. Even though Seth had been a creature of evil, she had never killed anyone before. This had been her first.
'I don't blame you,'A voice inside her head told her. She instinctively knew that it was from inside her head, and didn't bother to look around. 'Who are you?' She asked with her thoughts.
'I am Hope,' the voice told her. The voice was so fulfilling to listen to, its tones full of warmth and happiness. She thought the voice sounded strangely familiar… And then she placed it. That voice couldn't belong to anyone else.
'Are you- I mean were you, Seth?' She asked. 'I was,' the voice told her sounding pleased that she had figured out who he had been so quickly. 'I killed you,' Marit stated dumbly, not believing that Seth could still be here. 'I know. And I'm glad you did.' Marit nodded to herself.
'Hope, why are you still here?' She asked of the spirit. 'Madison and I made a magical bond that our spirits would leave this plane at the same time. I'm waiting for him.' Marit nodded in comprehension. 'So that's why you aren't like a normal ghost?' She asked. 'Right,' Hope responded, confirming her thoughts. At this time, their internal conversation was interrupted.
"You might need to break the mind-bond before Angelique goes insane," Josephine commented. Coko nodded, and went over to the girl, shaking her softly out of her meditative state. "Will he be alright?" She asked Coko anxiously. He nodded and spoke soothingly. "You need to get some rest. A mind link can take a lot out of a person. I'm amazed that you held it as long as you did."
"He needed me," She explained, too tired to look pleased with herself. Coko gestured at the bed just next to Madison's. "You can sleep here, if you want." Angelique nodded, took one last look at Madison, then crawled into the bed next to his.
Coko cleared his throat. "I need to have a talk with Madison. Alone." All of the younger people complied, as did Cada. However, Josephine was totally against it. "You can't talk to him yet!" She nearly yelled, "He's not fully recovered." Coko sighed and nodded. "I know. But he'll make it." Josephine looked as if she would keep arguing, but bit her lip and left.
Coko drew his wand and pointed it at Madison's sleeping form. "Enervate," He said. Madison's eyes snapped open, first going to Coko, but then to the back of his head. Coko looked confused, and had his wand pointing at Madison in case anything happened.
After a short while, his eyes came back around. "What happened after I blacked out?" he asked, in a calm, detached, and unemotional voice. This bothered Coko slightly, but he answered the question. "Professor Cada found you and was able to bring you back." Madison nodded, and peered around the room.
"What's Marit doing here?" He asked, still keeping his voice quiet and unemotional. "She seemed to have fallen onto a platform jutting out of the chasm wall not far down," Coko explained. "Seth, however," He said, trying to incite some emotion, "fell down and was impaled upon a stalagmite."
Coko watched Madison's reaction carefully, looking for any hint of emotion. None came. "I know," The young wizard told Coko. Coko was a bit taken aback. "How?" He asked. Madison waved the question away, and asked one of his own. "Is there going to be a funeral?"
Coko shrugged. "That brings me to the second thing. Most of his family was killed by some of Raven's followers tonight." Madison accepted the news nonchalantly. Coko continued, growing ever more worried about Madison's attitude. "So whether or not we recover his body and have a funeral is up to you and Chanteau."
Madison shook his head. "Hope says the body should stay there." Coko looked a bit confused. "Who is Hope?" He asked. "Seth's good spirit." Coko nodded. "And can he talk to me?" He asked. Madison shook his head. "Only to people he was close to. Along with Marit there, since she was the one who killed him." The Headmaster asked another question. "Why is he still here?" Madison replied, "Me and him made a magical pact that our spirits won't leave earth without each other." The headmaster nodded.
"How's your arm?" Coko asked, getting out of his chair and going over to a cabinet. "It's okay," Madison replied. "Still can't do much of anything with it. Luckily for me it was my bad arm." Coko nodded, and came away from the cabinet, holding a potion for better sleep.
"What is the extent of my injury?" Madison asked. The headmaster sighed. "Six broken ribs, quite a bit of blood loss, and a punctured lung." Madison nodded, but Coko wasn't finished. "And a bit of emotion."
Madison's glare snapped straight up to the headmaster. "Don't annoy me, old man. That's one emotion I have left." He told him. "I'm not taking your potion. I need to think." Coko nodded wearily and moved back to the cabinet. "About what?" He asked.
He could feel Madison's glare boring into his back. "My plan of action." When Coko turned around, Madison's eyes were rolled back into his head, talking with Hope. The spirit's name brought a smile to the Headmaster's lips. There would always be hope.