Then he noticed Necrolai standing in a clearing.

"Give Madison back!" Nick ordered

Suddenly a platform appeared and he saw that Madison was laying on it, her body moved as if she were in a seriously bad nightmare

"What did you do to her"? Nick dismounted his Mystic Racer and came forward to her

"Just showed her what her worst fear was," Necrolai laughed cruelly

"Oh, you will pay for this!" Nick said wrathfully "Lift the spell you put on her!"

" I cannot remove this spell myself… only light magic can remove this spell and I do not perform light magic!"

"Yeah, but Udonna does!" Nick lifted Madison gently and she barely struggled at all, but her face seemed distressed to Nick who really hoped Udonna could lift the curse on Madison.

He arrived at Rootcore to find Udonna, Clare and Vida waiting for him he supposed Xander and Chip had gone back to work so that Toby wouldn't be completely without employees.

"Udonna…" Nick was upset and Udonna realized what Koragg had done

"Bring her here, this is not going to be an easy spell to undo." Udonna's typically calm nature was disrupted and Nick and Vida both knew that it wasn't good.

Udonna went to work trying to figure out which spell was used and asked Nick and Vida to leave, but neither budged.

"Go on you two… I will take care of her"

"No, I am not leaving my sister!" Vida said

"I don't want to leave Madison either, I want to be here when she wakes up" Nick said

Udonna looked at Nick and Vida, both of them wanted to be there for Madison for one reason they loved her.

"Okay, you can stay" Udonna said realizing she wasn't getting them out of Rootcore without Madison "but only if you are willing to wait and let me work in peace"

"We will, we promise" Nick said

"Vida?"

"I promise"

Nick and Vida went to studying their incantations to pass the time and it seemed like it was forever before Udonna got Madison's nightmares to end and she went into a comfortable sleep to which she would wake from naturally in a few moments.

"I have done what I can, she will wake in about half an hour" Udonna said in exhaustion

"Okay, thank you Udonna"

"Oh, you do not have to thank me, I was not going to let Madison live in her worst nightmares any longer than I had to" Udonna said

Nick walked over and lifted Madison back into his arms and Vida watched him a little to intently for his liking.

"Vida, I never asked you why you're so defensive of Mattie"

"It's a long story involving her first boyfriend… she thought she had a good guy, but I knew he was doing her wrong… he cheated with several girls and even tried to ask me out, while he was dating Mattie!" Vida said, "I told her and she confronted him and… well let's just say he wished he hadn't tried to ask me out"

Vida didn't mention that the other guy had hurt Madison; she figured it was up to her sister to give Nick that information.

About ten minutes later Madison started to wake up and realized she was in Nick's arms, what he had said early wasn't true… had she only been dreaming, she was in Rootcore being held by Nick and Vida was nearby, just didn't know she was awake yet.

Nick felt Madison move in his arms and looked down and found her awake.

"How are you feeling?" he asked

She didn't respond and Nick knew that she was confused and felt they needed privacy; he wanted to let her know what had happened without interruptions, even from Vida who had just noticed that Madison was awake and approached them quickly.

"Mattie!"

"Vida?" Madison was seriously confused "what happened?"

"You were trapped in your own worst nightmare"

"Oh" Madison sat up from Nick's embrace and looked at them "Why did you two stay and Xander and Chip leave"

"They had to work, but they wanted me to tell them when we found you" Vida said "by the way I need to call Xander and tell him that you're awake." Vida walked away and pulled out her morpher and dialed a few numbers and began to speak with Xander Bly, who could drive her up a wall faster than anyone else she knew.

"Mattie, I wanted to tell you something, I'm sorry about what happened today… if I could have stopped this I would have"

"Really?"

"Yes, I hate that you're this upset right now" he hugged her and she returned it hesitantly "I love you, Madison" he confessed in her ear "and I know they hurt you and I just want you to be happy…"

Clare felt awkward at being close enough to hear Nick's every word and moved herself to a spot where she could no longer hear to sweep the floor. Udonna smiled warmly as she watched Nick with Madison, she couldn't hear his whispered words to Madison, but she figured by Madison's calming down she knew exactly what he said to her.

"Udonna, what do you think of them?" Clare asked

"What ever do you mean child?"

"What do you think of them as a couple?"

"They seem good together" Udonna observed almost motherly, "I think he will be really good for her"

"Mattie, I wanted to ask you one thing, your sister told me about your first boyfriend, what did he do to you that would cause her to become protective of you"

Madison slipped from Nick's embrace. "He had been cheating on me with several other girls and even asked my sister out on a date. I didn't believe her until I went to his house and caught him in bed with another girl… believe me, that was crushing… but that wasn't the worst part" Madison paused to collect herself "I confronted him the next day to break up with him and he punched me, in the face!" Tears fell down her cheeks "Vida saw it and could have killed him…"

"What exactly threw Vida's temper, I mean, I know she has a bad temper and all, but she usually only threatens limbs not life!"

"He broke my nose, but her anger towards him was building since she saw him making out with another girl when he wouldn't even kiss me"

Nick placed his arms around Madison's waist from behind tenderly, "I'm sorry about what you've been through, Mattie, but I want you to know, that I am not like him and I'm willing to do almost anything to prove that"

Vida couldn't hide her concern for her sister, her ex-boyfriend had broken Madison's heart, and he had left a large mess for Nick Russle to clean up, would he clean it, or make it worse, Vida had no way to know, and was uncomfortable just watching her sister get involved with another new guy to Briarwood. Vida didn't realize Madison had someone who was truly willing to take care of her.

To Be Continued…


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