Zarya spent the trip back to the stronghold trying to figure out how to tell the others. The Mysticons were certainly easier to tell than her mom, but that doesn't mean it Zarya wasn't absolutely dreading the talk. Arkayna had seen her parents get turned to statues right in front of her, and Zarya guessed that she wouldn't want to even think about losing family again. Piper was generally so happy, and Zarya hated any time that made her take that her take that away from her honorary little sister. And Em blamed herself for Zarya's initial curse, so hearing that it came back will make Em feel awful all over again. And telling the Mysticons would lead to them telling her mom and stepdad. After being separated for fifteen years, Zarya guessed that her mom would be devastated to learn of the curse afflicting Zarya.
Zarya thought about keeping it a secret. After all, Proxima was on the case. She could find a spell to hide the marks on her body, and pretend as though everything's fine. Zarya shook her head. Proxima was spending her day helping Zarya, so Zarya couldn't just carry on with her normal life. She had her own role in stopping the curse, which unfortunately meant telling her sister and closest friends what was happening to her.
Besides, the others were probably getting a little suspicious. She had been at the Astromancer Academy for almost five hours, and there was no way that the others would believe that either she or Kitty decided to shop for that long. Unless they believed that she or Kitty went to do something else after shopping, the long shopping trip would be suspicious.
As soon as she reached the stronghold, she saw Malvaron at the door, as though he was just about to leave.
"There you are," Malvaron. "You left your phone here. I was just going to look for you."
"Why?" Zarya asked. "What's going on?"
"Kymraw's on a crime spree in the Undercity," Malvaron said. "Apparently, she thinks that it will be easier to steal from there, as people won't be expecting it. The others are already there."
"Got it," Zarya said. She turned around and began running to her griffins, Choko following closely behind.
"Aren't you going to transform?" Malvaron called after her.
"I'll transform on the way there," Zarya called back. She knew that if Malvaron knew about the Life-drain spell, he wouldn't let her go. And while Kymraw was no where near the toughest criminal the Mysticons faced, Zarya still wanted to be there to help.
Choko chirped at. Zarya. "Slight change of plans. We'll tell the others after we defeat Kymraw."
Zarya transformed. While she knew that curse will be visible with her Mysticon outfit, she didn't care. She did plan on telling the Mysticons anyway. She just hoped that it didn't distract from their fight with Kymraw.
XXX
Meanwhile, Arkayna, Em, and Piper were fighting Kymraw's orcs. Most of the orcs have already been defeated, with only one more remaining out of the ten they had fought, Arkayna was still tired, though, and she could tell the others felt the same way. Considering that they still had to find Kymraw, she would have really appreciated a fourth person on their side.
"Where is Zarya?" Arkayna asked.
Em used her sword to fight off the last orc knocking him into the fountain at Scabbard Square. "I'm sure she'll get here soon."
"I hope so," Arkayna said. "We still have to find Kymraw."
Piper looked up at the skies. "I found her!" she cried out. A second later, tears formed in her eyes. "Oh no."
"What is it, Piper?" Em asked as she walked closer to the elf and looked in the direction that Piper was facing.
"Her arms," Piper said, her voice beginning to shake. "I...it looks like a life-drain spell."
As Zarya got closer, Arkayna and Em realized that Piper was right. There were thin purple lines on both of her arms.
"By the Hammer of Harmon," Em said.
Zarya landed, and the others rushed to her, "Sorry I'm late," Zarya said.
"Never mind that," Arkayna said as she grabbed Zarya's arm to take a closer look at it. "Who did this to you?"
"I'll explain later," Zarya said as she pulled her arm away. "Right now, don't we have some orcs and an ugly troll to take care of?"
"That doesn't matter right now," Em said.
"Oh, really?" A voice behind her asked.
The Mysticons turned around, and saw Kymraw standing in front of them. She was holding a large black bag over her shoulder.
"You may have chased off Kymraw's gang," Kymraw said as she dropped the bag she was holding. "But you cannot defeat Kymraw."
Zarya raised her bow and arrow, pointing it at Kymraw. "You think you're so tough?" Zarya asked. She shot an arrow, but it missed and landed helplessly on the ground.
Kymraw lunged towards Zarya, and Em quickly raised her energy shield as she ran in front of Zarya, blocking the attack. Em then grabbed her sword and swung it at Kymraw, knocking the troll backwards.
"Do your thing, hoopie!" Piper said just as she threw her golden hoop at Kymraw, The hoop hit Kymraw in the head, making her lose her balance.
Arkayna raised her staff, pointing it at Kymra. She shot a fireball at Kymra, knocking her down to the ground.
Zarya took aim at Kymra, firing her bow and arrow carefully, making sure the magic string was still attached to the arrow. It narrowly missed Kymraw.
"Haha, you miss," Kymraw said.
Zarya smirked as the arrow ricocheted off a pole and flew to the other side of Kymra. "Did I?" As soon as the arrow was close enough, Zarya used the string to tie up Kymraw.
Zarya smirked. "Did I?" She quickly grabbed the arrow, using that end of the string, along with the end that she was already holding, and tied Kymraw up. "Guess that wraps that up."
Arkayna grabbed her phone. "Guards, we have Kymraw tied up at Scabbard Square. Can you come get her?" There was a short pause. "Thank you." She hung up the phone and looked at the others. "The royal guards will be here soon."
Zarya smiled, but then cried out in pain as the curse spread throughout her body. The pain almost sent her on her knees, but Arkayna was there to steady her.
Piper looked at Zarya. "Now will you tell us what's going on?"
Zarya looked at Kymraw, and then at Piper as she regained her composure. "Not in front of her."
Em thought for a moment. "You two take care of Zarya. I'll wait for the guards, then meet you at the stronghold."
"Are you sure?" Arkayna asked.
"Someone has to stay with Kymraw," Em said. "Just keep me updated."
"Promise," Arkayna said. With that, she grabbed Zarya's wrists and dragged her out of Kymraw's earshot, with Piper following closely behind.
"Now will you tell us what's going on?" Piper asked.
Zarya sighed and told them about the curse, and how she went to Proxima for help. She decided to leave out the fact that the time it took to reverse the spell may have played a role in it coming back, as she didn't want them to wonder if it's their fault the curse returned. She hated the concern in her sisters' eyes. Tears were threatening to fall down Piper's face, and Arkayna looked as though she watched her parents being turned into statues again.
"We have to get to the stronghold," Arkayna said.