Chapter Sixteen: Casualties

Chanteau hummed as she washed up, getting ready for the new day. Thankfully her parents were not forcing her to go to France this year. Her adopted family was certainly nice, but she didn't like being over there where she could only understand a fifth of what was being said.

There came a loud crashing sound from downstairs, but Chanteau put it off as her dad dropping a pot. He was so clumsy, she told herself absently. In truth, her thoughts were on Madison, and what he was doing over the summer. Probably not enjoying himself, she thought darkly.

In her time away from Madison so far, she had come to one conclusion. He needed to enjoy himself instead of spending all his time in books and learning spells far too powerful for his age. She knew how he felt about the upcoming war, and agreed with him to an extent, but she would not sit by and let him waste the twenty remaining years of his life. She had already planned a speech for when she saw him back at Salem.

She walked down a few flights of stairs in the mansion her family lived in, then stopped with horror. This couldn't be happening!

Her adopted father was sprawled across the floor, a large hole in the front of his chest, blood everywhere. She could hear her who she assumed to be her mother still battling whoever it was who was attacking them, then heard a roar of pain as her mother fell. Chanteau shook her head in disbelief, as if all this was a bad dream, but nonetheless ran up the stairs to retrieve her wand. She, for the second time that morning, saw something she didn't expect.

Hope was violently yanked out of his conversation with Marit, and it was very painful, he decided. The airplane setting faded away, and for a moment he was neither with Marit nor wherever he was being pulled to. Then, with another violently painful jerk, one he didn't bother resisting, he was pulled to wherever he was going.

Hope looked around at the new setting. Rolling hills of the softest grass were around as far as his eyes could see. The sky was a perfect blue color. Though Hope would have always denied liking a place like this, the only thing he could see fitting to say was, "Paradise…" He didn't know just how accurate that statement was.

Simply put, there was nothing Hope would have liked to do more than stay here. However, something seemed to draw him in a particular direction. He shrugged, then, when he didn't feel anything, looked down at his non-existent body, and chuckled. He was a bit relieved to know that he could still speak.

He started heading in the direction that seemed to be pulling him. Hope was not disappointed in this decision. After a while the plains ended into a great sea, that, to his immense joy, he found he could move over. The water was the most beautiful he had ever seen. It was almost completely clear, yet he could not see the bottom. This place is endless.

After a while the ocean ended and he came to a forest of the largest trees he had ever seen, with the greenest leaves. After a while of walking through the forest, he felt he was coming close to his destination. And then he saw where it was.

The pleasant forest ended abruptly, and turned into a forest of twisted blackened trees that seemed to exude evil. Hope was reluctant to approach any further, until something made it unbearable not too. Then he saw the floating orb of white light that was hovering in between the two worlds.

"Are we in the afterlife?" Hope asked, finally figuring it out. "Yes, we are,"

Chanteau saw herself sleeping in the bed, or an exact copy, she wasn't sure. It certainly looked like her. Her hand went up to touch her cheek, just to make sure she was there, and that this wasn't a dream. She wasn't there.

Then, she realized what was happening. This was a warning; if she could wake herself up she could stop the attack on her parents. Strangely, with her realization, everything turned to black and white, but, so concentrated was she on getting back to her body, she didn't notice.

Something seemed to be holding her back from waking herself up, some invisible force. She strained against it, using all her body mind, and soul to push herself closer to her body, but it was excruciatingly slow, and by the time she got there her parents would be dead…. With this thought she redoubled her efforts.

"So, we're here to discuss which side I go on?" Hope was slightly annoyed at the globe that it didn't move to indicate anything, but just replied. "No, that has already been decided." Hope tried to ask the next question silently, but did not succeed in the slightest. "So, which side will it be?"

"You will be informed after we take care of your current dilemma. You used a powerful magic charm to stay in the world. Tell me of the nature of this." The globe ordered. Hope sighed, and did so. "We magically swore not to leave the earth without each other."

The orb didn't reply for a moment. "Well, do you want to stay here, or go back?" Hope was a little taken aback by the question. He started to look around at the nice half of the world, but suddenly his vision was cut off, and he couldn't pull up any memories of the place, besides the fact that he had traveled and his conversation.

Must be so that I won't base my decision on what I've seen here," Hope mused. There was no question about his decision, however. What he could remember was that the place he had been in was so wonderful, and how bad the world was. "Of course I want to go back."

His vision flew back, and the orb sounded pleased with his choice. "Now, go," it told him, someone has need of your aid."

Chanteau kept forcing herself to move forward, but it was growing much more difficult with all the despairing thoughts she couldn't help but thinking. Then something faded into her vision, and her concentration was completely broken.

It was Seth, standing next to her bed. She then jumped forwards to pull him into a hug, and the barrier was gone. Seth was smirking, and hugged her back, before pushing her away, if reluctantly. "I'll be around for a while," he told her, wiping a tear from her cheek. "It's you who you need to be paying attention to," he said, pointing down into the bed With this, he faded into the sleeping Chanteau's body.

Her hand went straight to the wand lying on her bedside table. She stood up and started racing downstairs, when she heard a familiar crash. Oh no, she thought, I didn't wake up in time.

Chanteau came down and saw a scene different than what she had the first time. She couldn't move as she watched it happen. Her father staggered back, then fell to the carpet, how he had been when she had come down here the first time. This time though, she had her wand, and was quite ready to kill whoever it was who had killed her father.

She came down to the floor her father was lying on, and passed over him without another glance, her anger overriding her grief. When she looked into the kitchen, she was momentarily stunned.

Blood was everywhere, and so were the bodies. Her mother, and several other people whom she didn't recognize. Some had been visibly killed, but others showed no sign of death, a sure sign of the most powerful unforgivable curse. However, her attention was drawn to the three remaining combatants.

She instantly recognized one of them. That ponytail was impossible to mistake. He was trading spells with one of the other two, and the other, a dark robed man, was taking aim at Madison with his wand. Chanteau yelled out, "EXPELLIARMUS," pointing her wand at the one Madison was unaware of.

The man's wand flew out of his hand, though no blast of anger energy blasted him backwards as Chanteau had hoped. It didn't matter though, when Madison finished off his current opponent, and whirled around. It was at this point Chanteau realized that Madison was wandless as well as his opponent.

Madison pointed his hand, palm first, at the man, and yelled out, "REDUCTO!" The beam of energy came out his hand and struck the man in the neck, instantly dropping him. Madison fell to the ground of lack of energy, and, still in shock, Chanteau rushed over to support him.

When she got to him he found the energy to stand, and return her hug. "It'll be okay, don't worry," Chanteau started crying into his shoulder. His hands rubbed circles around her back. Though Madison's words were comforting, she couldn't help but notice something different about the way he was speaking.

It wasn't lack of emotion, though the tone didn't hold much of that. Then she realized what it was. Madison was in shock too.

She raised her head and brought it down back to Madison's shoulder. She recognized Madison's parents lying bloodily on the ground.