Chapter 8 – You Can't Escape
The Quartet, or what was left of it, got up and ran across the library with their friends, trying to escape Alex's stare.
"Listen Quartet! I've come to keep my word, and none of you will stop me, since Dantalion has already done and excellent job of destroying The Artist" The way he said Jordan's name almost made Patch turn around and start throwing fire balls at Alex, since he said it as if it was as gross as vomit. Patch realized he was better off just hiding for now. "And since The Titan so easily gave over Dantalion's power of invisibility, he can help me destroy you, as soon as I'm finished with his new body."
This caused everyone to stop and stare at Patch. "What is he talking about?" they all seemed to ask silently.
"Well, since none of you seem to have the courage to step out and face me, I will have to be going now, but I will be hexing the doors, so anyone who tried to open them will get a very unpleasant surprise." They heard the doors close, and then a flash of red light, and when they peeked around a few isles of shelves, they saw the doors were completely covers in thorns.
"Well this is just perfect. Now we're stuck in here until he comes back, " said Brady.
"What was talking about Patch? He said you gave over Dantalion's power of invisibility. When did you do that?" Jamie looked at him, and then they all looked at him.
"I have no idea…they only thing I've given to him was…" Then it hit him. It must have been the huge emerald, the one the appeared after Jordan died. "The only thing I've given to him was that huge emerald that appeared after Jordan died, but I touched it, and I never turned invisible."
"Well then boys and girls, lets not waste our time in here crying. There are too many questions floating around right now, and we're in a library. Let's see if there's a spell or charm to get us out of here, and see what we can find about Alex and Dantalion.
Jamie, Darby, and I will look for a way out of here, and Brady, Patch, and Amber can look for more on the two of them." Everyone stared at Emily as she took control, and then as if someone hit an eject button, they all flew up in search of their assignments.
Two hours later, Patch grabbed the eighth book he had found. He has found a total of 15 on the Castle, the Quartet, Alex and Dantalion, and not to mention a few on their powers. Brady and Amber had found about the same amount of books. They were all sitting there, reading anything and everything. Brady had cut away some of the thorns and turned them into paper, and grew out some of the thorns to the length of a pen. Unfortunately, he found that the thorns grew back on the door, so they were still caught in the library. He went to one of the oldest sections, and they were all in a weird language that none of them knew. He took the ink off the pages and turned the cover into a jar, and put the ink inside of it. Then they all started taking notes.
After Brady gave them their supplies, Jamie, Darby, and Emily started in on their research as well. They looked up about thorns, hexes, spells, anything that might help. Finally Darby couldn't take it anymore, and started focusing her frustration on the thorns. They started to burn and wither away, and then they grew back. So she kept burning them until she was over it. Then she went back to the table and went on researching like never had ever happened. "I would hate to see her when she was really angry…" said Emily. Then she jumped up as her paper caught fire. Darby started laughing.
"You could have hurt me!" Emily half laughed-half yelled. Then she sat down, still laughing. Then Emily waved her hands, and the ash particles flew away out the window. Then she stood up and ran to the window. She stuck her head out, and looked around. Then she came back to the table while Jamie had her nose buried in a book. She stared at them, then she screamed out "STOP!" Then all jumped and looked at her. When she was sure she had their attention, she told them about the windows. She told them that if there was a way to make a walkway around the castle, they could sneak out the window instead of through the door.
Unfortunately, Patch and Co.'s assignment wasn't so easy. Patch found a few references to Alex and Dantalion, but nothing else. He was about to give up when the news that they might be able to get out perked him up. Then he struck gold. He showed the entry to others.
"Alexander the Shade, his most popular alias, has showed up in history numerous times. His most famous appearance was with the Morgana Quartet, of Castle Morgana. Along with his most trusted demon, Dantalion, he reeked havoc on the entire West Coast of Europe. The Quarter raged war with him, known as the War of Gems, due to the magic used in the battle was mainly focused around powers inside of precious gem stones. Each member of the Quartet had their own powers, but along with these powers, they had the Morgana Gems. Holding extreme power themselves, they were Alexander's true mission. Combined with Dantalion, his own strength, and the gems, he could beat the Quartet…or so he thought. In the Battle of Dragon's Eye, he was proved wrong. The Quartet beat him, and reclaimed the gems, which had been stolen in the Siege of Morgana Castle only days before. Around two weeks after the Battle of Dragon's Eye, he returned Morgana Castle during a feast celebrating his defeat. Once again he was beaten, but he made a vow before he was destroyed. A vow that he would return and destroy the Quartet, along with the protectors of the gems, a sorcerer and two sorceresses, later known as the Morgana Trio, after joining the Quartet at Morgana Castle. The true mystery behind this tale is what happened after Alexander's defeat. Dantalion was rumored to have disappeared, and only the Artist, as he was called, seemed to notice. After searching for the beast for years, he was, once again rumored, to have found it. Stealing its powers, and keeping them hidden. No one has ever found them or Dantalion since. Some say he "swallowed" them, or in a more modern term, absorbed them as his own…"
They we cut off from their reading by a large crashing sound, and then the sound of Alex's voice.
"I'm back, are you read you ready to face me Quartet? Or am I going to forced to lock the doors again?"
Emily silently looked the window and guided them out. She whispered to Brady what she needed done, and he enlarged the window sill to let them out. They crawled out and headed toward Patch's balcony, at least what they hoped was Patch's balcony. Then the whole ledge shook. Patch looked back to see the most horrible thing. Emily was hanging from the ledge, and Alex was holding his next fireball in his hand.
"Titan, if you don't come back now, she dies…"
That's when everything went wrong.
Emily looked at Alex, and then in a flash he went flying across the room. Emily started to fall to the ground, hundreds of feet below.
"Stop," Patch said, as he threw the ball towards the falling friend. She stopped in midair, about one hundred feet from the sea's raging surface.
"That was close," she screamed up at him, "Now go help the others!"
Patch shook his head.
"No, you're coming with me Emily." He pointed his hand at her, and she raised up slowly. Finally she was on the ledge with him. They both crawled to the balcony, where the rest of their friends stood coaching them on. Once they were all on the balcony, the all headed for the door. Patch threw it open and stuck his head out of the door.
"There's no sign of him, but that doesn't mean much anymore, now that he has that invisibility power. We need to get back to the library and learn more about those crystals, not to mention Alex."
"You're right Patch, but one problem," said Brady, "the library is locked by those thorns. I don't know about you, but I don't really look good as shish-ka-bob. How do you plan on getting in?"
"With a little help from Jordan," he said, staring at them. Jamie and Amber, who were closer to him and knew him better, could tell he had a plan, while the others stared at him in disbelief.
"But…but Jordan is dead, Patch. How do you plan on pulling that off?"
"With this," he said, pulling a folded, yellow paper from his pocket. "I found this in the library when I was researching. I figured it would work, in case we needed the whole quartet back at once."
He handed it to Jamie.
"To Cross the Divide," she read softly. "You're bring him back from the dead? Patch, I don't know, do you really think this is possible? I mean…wow…we could get Jordan back?" She started crying as she talked.
"I don't know if we'd get him back, but he'd be here long enough for a certain purpose, according to what this spell says. Anyone object to doing this?"
No one objected, that was until Amber heard that they needed the blood of the person, or a close relative.
"Amber, c'mon! Don't you want to see him? All I need is a few drops! I mean think about it! Brady can heal you with his power when we're done!"
After about ten more minutes, Amber finally agreed.
They gather the necessary ingredients, while Jamie watched Alex from her mirror. He was still out cold in the library. They all knew though, unfortunately, that it wouldn't last.
They all sat in a circle. The herbs has been cut and grounded up, and then dumped in a small silk bag. The potion they had had to brew up boiling quietly in a small cauldron in front of them. Patch waved his hand, and the five white candles around the cauldron ignited into fire.
Then they all began to chant as Darby poured the powdered herbs into the cauldron. Patch couldn't help but laugh as she shot up and started freaking out after the "boom" from the cauldron blasted through the room.
They continued to chant the same few lines over and over.
Spirit on the other side,
Five candles we have set aside.
To light you journey back to here,
Until your mission is crystal clear.
Once you goal is complete,
Return to your rest, quiet and neat.
A few little white lights started to circle the candles, but never left the small circle the candles formed. They shined brighter and brighter, until they took the form of a human body.
They all stared, as Jordan's body took form, wearing the same clothes as he had been when he had been attacked, only they weren't bloody anymore.
"Hey," he said, 'I was starting to wonder if you guys would find me a way to get back down here. I have so much to tell you. Alex is…"
"We know, he's evil!" said Emily.
"Well, yes, but I was going more along the lines of he's on his way here now, so would someone PLEASE get me out of here, so we can hide?"
Patch blew out the candles, and the white lights holding Jordan up slowly disappeared, and Jordan was flung onto the bed.
"Wow…that was uncomfortable."
"Hey Jordan, how about helping us out and telling us how far away he is, since you can't die, and we can." Patch said, as he put all the supplies away, so Alex couldn't tell what spell they had performed.
"Umm, he's about two minutes away. I'd recommend running, a.s.a.p."
"Thank you."
Then they all got up and ran out of the room. Patch led them toward the library, hoping his plan would work.
Once they all got there, Patch told them his plan.
"I think what we need to do is overpower the thorns. Give them so much juice that they short circuit, and stop recovering.
Patch gave his example by aiming a constant blast of fire at the door. Jamie jumped in with a constant blast of water, then Amber with lightning. Jordan threw in a blast of energy sucking vines, and Emily aimed her thoughts on the thorns withering away. Brady grinded the thorns with his power, and then finally Darby took all the frustration from the group, and threw in the final kick needed to blast away the thorns. In a fiery blast, the middle caught on fire, and burnt out to the ends of the vines.
"Quick, everyone inside, before they start all over again." Jordan shouted, before running inside. As soon as they were all in, he had an idea.
"Jordan, help me, I got an idea."
He told him his plan. Jordan got on his knees, and then a green glow came out of his hands. He put them on the ground, and a huge, new bush of thorns grew. Then he put his hands on the thorns, and lit them on fire.
"Spiked fire, never end,
Not until your master commands"
The thorns instantly ceased burning, and just stood there, on fire.
"That should keep Alex busy for a little while." Patch said.
"We'll see," said Jamie, "due to the fact that he'll be rounding the corned any moment now."
And just as she finished her sentence, Alex stepped out from behind the corner, and after a few seconds, so did a large, shiny, black dragon, with blood red eyes. But what got the Quartets attention was the fact that the dragon disappeared, except for its eyes, which remained locked on them, and they floated through the thorns.
"I guess the power of invisibility is more then it's cracked up to be." Jordan said.
And with that, Dantalion reformed, and opened his mouth, and at the back of his throat, the Quartet saw a small glow getting larger and larger.
"Goodbye Quartet, I do hope you've enjoyed your stay at Castle Morgana, because you won't be coming back…"
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