Ch. 6 – When Nothing is Right

Patch came running through the doorway. The need to say a spell was gone, since the ashes of the doors were still lying at the base.

Alex was waiting in the foyer.

"Where is the Artist?" he said, his eyes expanding when he didn't see Jordan.

"His name is Jordan, not 'The Artist', and he's…" Patch couldn't finish. All he did was hand over the dagger and the emerald, and then with a blast of fire, he was gone.

Patch was up in his room, or at least what was left of his room. He started throwing fire balls everywhere.

Then, after about ten minutes of listening to the noise, Jamie showed up, irritated by her growing headache. After dodging a few fireballs herself, she splashed some water on his hand, hoping it would cool him down. It didn't.

Jamie's headache was at full power. She couldn't take it, and the power just "slipped." A huge wave of water flooded the room, complements of Dani and Jamie's headache. Patch was stunned, and this time, it did the trick.

After she composed herself, Jamie fixed the room to its original appearance, except everything was in a shade of blue. Patch was quick to fix that.

"What do you want, Jamie?" said Patch, only half as angry as he sounded.

"Well, besides the major headache you caused me," she began, as she cleaned up one of the last puddles, "you're trashing the place. What are you doing? Jordan will be ok…"

But the look in his eyes told Jamie everything. Jordan wouldn't be ok, because it was too late. He was gone.

"Where is he?" she asked?

"I'm not sure. After you left, he disappeared, and the only thing left was a huge emerald the size of my fist. Well, that and the dagger."

Jamie started to tear up, but stopped herself.

"I'm not going to cry right now, because we have another problem. Amber's missing. When we got back to the castle, she ran off, and I couldn't find her anywhere. I've tried sensing her, and she's still alive, but that's basically all I'm getting. I'm scared for her safety. Patch, please help me find her."

"Okay, calm down, I'll help, although I'm not really worried, because she probably just needs some alone time. I know I would."

A pillar of water shot up out of the air, engulfing Jamie, and then she was gone. Patch sensed where she went, and found that Jamie was in her room. He didn't worry about her; he knew she could handle Jordan's death.

"Dani, help me. I think if you help me with your powers, I can sense her better than Jamie." There was no answer. "Dani! Answer me!"

"What do you want, child! I'm busy thinking out your next task." He sounded very angry, and he seemed to be in pain.

"Dani, what's up with you? Ever since the arrival of the new students, you've been freaking out a lot. What's up?"

Patch felt like a knife had been thrown at him. He, without his consent, was twisted around, and faced the mirror. A scaly, dragon faced monster looked at him, shadowing his on reflection. He could see his eyes, behind the dragons, and they were slowly disappearing.

"Listen to me. I am in control, and you obey me. You awakened me, and you signed over you freedom. Do you understand?"

Patch was so stunned; he didn't say a single word.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

Fire roared up from the base of the mirror's reflection, and the dragon was gone. In its place was Patch's face.

Amber was shattered. She had lost her family, and now her cousin. She had no one anymore. After she got back in the castle, a little voice started talking to her. It got louder and louder, and it wouldn't leave her alone. It seemed angry, like she had hurt it. Finally she couldn't take it anymore, and she talked to it. It led her to what appeared to be a library, and it wanted her to read a spell. She did as it told her, with the promise of Jordan coming back. She knew from where he had been hit that he wasn't going to make it.

After she stabbed the book, and it burnt away, she had a huge headache. The power was so great, so great that she lost control of her stomach, and threw up on the floor. She was still in pain. The pain became so intense, that she didn't notice the dagger that she used to stab the book was the same as the one that had taken Jordan's life.

Patch gave up trying to talk to Dani. For one thing, it scared the heck out of him, and second, he was worried about Amber. He sensed her pain, but couldn't find her location. Once again, with a burst of fire, he was gone.

Jamie sensed the pain as well. She was even more nervous, but it was eased after Patch showed up, and they talked some more.

"Let's ask Alex. We could search the whole castle, but she could be in trouble before we find her," said Patch.

"Seriously, Patch, he scares me. You said he didn't act any different when you told him Jordan was…" she couldn't bring herself to say it, "that. I mean, whenever I'm around him, I feel as if he's hiding something from us. Don't you feel that way, too?"

"Now that I think about it, you're right, I do feel that way when I'm around him."

"And when I'm around Dani as well," he thought to himself. "But he knows a lot more about this kind of stuff then we do, even if he is hiding something. We need to find him, and quick."

"How, I don't even remember him telling us how to contact him."

"With the ravens, that's how." Patch said matter-of-factly. He walked over to the balcony, and pictured the raven he had seen on his first day. Within a matter of seconds, it was in front of him.

"Jamie, I need a pen and paper." She grabbed some, and he wrote a note.

Patch tired it to the raven's leg with the order to take it to Alex McCormick, and as fast as it had shown up, it was gone.

Patch walked back into the room.

"So anyways Jamie…Jamie? What's wrong? Are you ok? Jamie wake up!"

Jamie slowly slipped away from consciousness. She was in her room at her old house. She looked around.

"What's…what's going on?" she said, a little confused. "Where am I?"

Then the memory slipped, and she was back at the castle. Patch was leaning over her.

"What happened?" he asked. He looked worried, and he looked like he had scared, too.

"I don't know. One minute I was here, the next I was in my old room. Then I was back here. What's happening to me, Patch?"

"I don't know Jamie…and I don't like it. I think we need to get Amber, and get out of this place until we get answers, because this is starting to get dangerous."

Just as he finished talking, there was a pecking sound at the door. Patch turned around, and he saw what it was. It was the raven he had sent to look for Alex. He opened the balcony door. The raven looked at him. Then it held out its leg. Patch took the paper, and read it.

"I can't find him."

That was all it said. Jamie looked at Patch, and when Patch saw her gaze, he handed it to her; she read it. She set it down, and then she began to cry.

"What's wrong?" Patch asked.

"It's just so confusing. We need him, and he isn't anywhere to be found. Amber is missing, I haven't even talked to the new students, and … oh I just wish we had never given up on our families, and just stayed the way we were!"

Patch could tell Jamie was angry. He didn't say anything, he just watched her. Then he had an idea.

"Jamie, that's it!" He waited for her reply. There was none. "We can talk to the new students. Maybe they can help us with finding Amber and Alex."

They got up, and walked out the door. Jamie got Emily and Patch got Brady, but when they got to Darby's room, they didn't find anyone.

"Where could she be?" asked Emily.

"I don't know. What about…"

Brady was cut off before he could finish. Something got knocked over in Amber's room. They rushed in to find Darby scrambling to get on the bed. Patch rushed in and grabbed her arm to steady her.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

Darby stuttered at first, but she began talking. "I was talking to Amber, when I had a vision. Your friend Jordan, is that him name? He was in trouble, and I told her to go quick and find him. Then I guess I passed out, because I woke up, knocked over that lamp trying to get up, and then you all rushed in. What happened since I passed out?"

Patch told her the story, and she was stunned. She said she was sorry for their loss. They nodded, and then Patch asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Can you help us find Amber so we can help her?

"I'll do my best." She said.

Then the group set into finding their missing comrade and figure out what was happening to them, before they all went mad.