eighteen: don't worry, it gets worse

.

.

.

Note: I apologize for the delay, but finishing this chapter has been the last thing on my mind. One of my coworkers was murdered last week, along with her daughter. They were wonderful, kind people who did nothing to deserve such a horrible ending. Please get help right away if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence.

.

.

.

Evil-Lyn's laughter was evil, of course, but not the kind of gleeful, mad cackle her erstwhile boss had always used; instead, her laugh was low and throaty and designed to mock. It was the laugh of someone who had just humiliated you in front of all your peers and who was enjoying the show. It was a laugh that intended to set your teeth on edge and your blood to boiling.

There had been a girl at court, when Teela was about twelve or so, who had delighted in making fun of her. She'd deployed exactly that same kind of laugh, and then as now, Teela had no defense against it. You couldn't dodge a laugh. You couldn't block it. You couldn't even really counterattack it. All you could do was stand there and seethe.

Evil-Lyn let her laughter trail off after a few moments. She stepped forward and posed, hip cocked to one side, hand resting delicately on it. Equal parts triumph and malice, she said, "Oh, don't look so pitiful, children. We aren't going to kill you… yet."

Teela knew that whatever her expression looked like, "pitiful" was not the word for it. Adora's face was best described as "murderous", and Adam -

- Adam looked like a prince.

A prince whose ancestor had handed Hordak his head, and who thought he could do the same.

"He-Man and the Masters know your plan," Adam declared. Standing straight. Sword ready. Voice ringing. Blue eyes blazing. "No matter what you do to us, they're going to stop you!"

Teela stared at him. Never mind that she needed to somehow coordinate their escape with Father (who was certainly nearby, ready to swoop in), while somehow making sure Adam stayed uninjured in the process… there was something tugging at her memory.

Adam didn't look like Adora right now. No. He looked like… he looked exactly like -

The minions surrounding the three of them started to laugh, and the thought vanished as she brought her staff up reflexively.

"I'd like to see 'em try!" Beast Man said, snorting and snuffling. "Not even Skeletor could -"

"No one asked you, oaf," Evil-Lyn snapped, cutting him off. Purple magic flared in her eyes and around her fingers, and Beast Man subsided with a growl, lips lifted over his fangs.

So he wasn't under Weaver's control. Teela did a quick scan; none of Skeletor's crew had the black eyes and blank faces that meant they had been thralled. Interesting. Maybe it had been unnecessary. Maybe it would have been too costly in terms of time or magic or both.

She turned her head, trying to see Shadow Weaver, who was still occupying the high ground with the very much thralled Count Marzo.

No movement, aside from the red-and-black robes blowing in the hot night air.

Danger buzzed up and down Teela's nerve endings nonetheless.

"As I was saying," Evil-Lyn said. Her scowl smoothed into back into smugness as she shifted her attention from Beast Man to Adam and Teela. "Eternia's cowardly prince and his dumb muscle will be useful bargaining chips."

"I'm not as dumb as you are," Teela countered. "You think Hordak's going to be grateful and give you a kingdom of your own, don't you? Ha!"

It was just a guess, but a good one, she thought, and judging by the way the witch's eyes narrowed, she was on the right track.

At Teela's shoulder, Adora added, "He doesn't like traitors."

"You should know, shouldn't you," Evil-Lyn purred, ignoring Teela altogether. "Force Captain Adora."

Adora said nothing.

Evil-Lyn glanced up, over their heads, no doubt at Shadow Weaver. It was the most momentary of distractions.

In that fraction of a second, Adora swung her blaster, pointing the weapon at Evil-Lyn - and fired.

If she'd been aiming at the witch's head, it was a failure, because the blast caught her high on the left shoulder. The impact knocked her off her feet, and she landed hard, crying out and clutching at the seared flesh.

And then it was on.

Adora spun, firing rapidly but precisely at the warriors. Teela was rushed by Trap-Jaw before she could push Adam behind her, and then she was focused on not getting squished by, say, a giant hand-clamp.

She hoped Adam was running.

Cannon fire strafed down from above, peppering the warriors and giving her a chance to bring her staff across Trap-Jaw's oversize jaw, dislocating it.

"Hey!" he yelled indignantly. Well. He tried to.

Teela used her staff as a lever and her hip as a fulcrum and flipped Trap-Jaw, always a fun move. He landed with a satisfying Oof! and she turned to greet the newcomer, calling out, "Father!"

Father released a volley of missiles that sent Two Bad and Stinkor scrambling for cover. "This way!" he ordered, making a sharp gesture.

There was a path through the rocks and a Wind Raider just visible at the far end of it. Perfect.

Teela looked around for Adam, who was… fighting Tri-Klops? And not doing a bad job. In fact, as she watched, he feinted with his sword, then came in fast with an elbow to Tri-Klops' visor. The lens cracked, and the casing crackled with electricity as something misfired. Tri-Klops dropped his own sword to grab at his damaged eyepiece, and Adam whirled around to face the next opponent.

Um. Okay. Since when -?

Something moved through the air, fast enough to whistle, and Teela leaped up just in time to avoid Whiplash's tail. He and Clawful loomed over her, and for a beat her eyes darted between the two as her brain scrambled to come up with a strategy.

And then running footfalls shook the ground and the two goons looked to their left, eyes widening in alarm, right before Ram-Man plowed into them. They went flying.

"Get outta here!" Ram-Man said to her, not unkindly.

Right. Good plan. Teela caught Adam by the arm and pulled. "Come on!" she shouted at Adora, who immediately left off firing and followed them at a run.

Father, Ram-Man, and Mekaneck were covering their escape, fighting the goons that had gotten back up. Of more concern were the magicians, none of whom had lifted a finger so far. Evil-Lyn was down, of course, and Skeletor and Count Marzo were puppets waiting for a command, but why wasn't Shadow Weaver doing anything?

They were a few yards from the Wind Raider when that question was answered.

Shadow Weaver appeared - or rather, shadows boiled up from the ground and solidified into the Horde sorceress. She stood there, arms outstretched, in between them and the Wind Raider.

Teela, Adam, and Adora came to a screeching halt.

"Adora," Weaver rasped. Her voice was low, and as gentle as rotting lungs could make it.

Adora shot her. She shot at her, anyway. The blaster bolt passed through Weaver harmlessly and pinged against the side of the Wind Raider.

"I knew… you would… find your way… to us," Weaver said. Her face was hidden in the dark recess of her hood, but the smile was unmistakable. "So clever. So capable."

"Leave her alone!" Adam yelled. He stepped in front of Adora, sword brandished, and Teela mirrored the action with her staff.

"You'll have to get through us first," she warned Shadow Weaver. Elders knew it would probably be the world's shortest fight, but she was determined to protect the other girl.

Weaver made a low hissing sound, but didn't otherwise respond to their comments. Instead, she pointed a clawed hand at Adora. "Lord Hordak… has need of you."

Adora gave a scream - a roar - full of anger and desperation. She fired the blaster twice more, to absolutely zero effect. Then she threw the weapon at Weaver. Also to zero effect.

Black energy began to gather around Shadow Weaver's hands. Teela knew what was coming; she'd seen it before, in her vision of Count Marzo's capture. She grabbed Adora's arm to pull her out of the way.

Stupid move. Just like laughter, you couldn't dodge magic that was aiming at you. It followed.

And to double the stupidity, Teela was still holding on to Adora when the spell struck.

It wasn't like being electrocuted. It was like falling unexpectedly into deep water in the middle of the night.

Dark. Cold. No way to find up or down.

I'm inside the spell, Teela thought. Was that even possible? She had no idea. It felt true, though.

Wherever she was, she was stuck fast: a bug in icy, black amber. The only light came from her body, which was glowing a faint whitish color.

And - there was another light. Pale gold. Flickering. Off to the side.

The darkness didn't want her to turn her head. She snarled and, with a huge effort, managed a fraction of an inch.

Enough to see that the pale gold light was radiating from Adora, and it was flickering because the darkness was wrapping greedy tendrils around her, trying to swallow her whole.

Adora was fighting against the tendrils with her entire being - twisting, kicking, ripping, flailing. Her mouth was open and she was obviously screaming, but Teela couldn't hear anything.

In the middle of her struggle, her blue eyes looked around and caught on Teela.

Fear.

Teela remembered sitting on a mountainside, watching that expression paint itself across the other girl's face. She knew that Adora was terrified of being controlled again, of losing herself, of being forced to do evil.

Adora was fighting for more than her life. She was fighting for her soul.

If only this was as simple as throwing a rope.

Though come to think of it - the other girl wasn't that far away. I could reach her with my staff, Teela thought, trying - and failing - to make a fist. I could pull her free.

The darkness seemed to know what she was planning, and pulled harder against her. But Teela had had just about enough of cold black ink telling her what to do. She strained to move her arm.

Come on! she thought. Stupid darkness - like it or not, I'm getting my staff!

And then her snake staff was somehow in her hand, and suddenly the faint glow coming off of her body got a lot brighter, and it changed from whitish to green.

Not a sickly green, like Weaver's skin. This green was the color of summer sun on grass, of trees in the deep woods. It was strong. It meant life.

Just as suddenly, Teela could move. The darkness slithered away from her as though her new green glow was scorching it, leaving her floating in gray fog.

"Adora!" she yelled. It echoed.

The tendrils had almost completely engulfed Adora; at her shout, the other girl rallied, wrenching one arm loose and stretching out her hand.

Teela swung her staff through the darkness; it hissed like venting steam and fled from the staff's arcing path. When Adora's searching fingers closed around the snake-head, the darkness positively screamed.

Gold light flared.

Adora got her other arm free and clutched the staff with both hands.

It was working. Teela was going to pull her out of the spell. She was going to save her friend -

NO!

The voice was raspy. Rusty. Furious.

Shadow Weaver's image appeared before Teela, hundreds of times larger than life size, the black of her robes blending into the sea of darkness so that only the red showed - and her malevolent, glowing eyes.

Teela recoiled, but she kept hold of her staff, and she kept dragging Adora, inch by inch, out of danger. "You can't have her!" she yelled at Weaver.

Little fool! came the response, along with a tidal wave of darkness that roared over Teela and left her numb and gasping. Her green glow was unsteady. Wobbling. Weak.

But she kept hold of her staff.

Seeing that, the witch made an incoherent sound of rage. One enormous, clawed hand reached out and snapped the staff in two, as though it were a twig.

The green glow vanished. Like turning off a light.

Teela drew a deep, shuddering breath and realized she was lying on the dirt next to Adora, who was being overtaken by the black energy of the spell.

She tried to rise, but her arms and legs were having trouble following orders, and she mostly just flopped around on the ground. And then Adam was there, hauling her up, getting his shoulders and back under her arm, supporting her weight.

"We gotta go," he said. Together they started a stumbling half-jog.

Away from the person who needed them most. Teela twisted around, trying to see over her shoulder. "Adora -"

"It's too late." Adam dragged her onward, towards the Wind Raider.

"No," Teela said, struggling to disentangle herself. Her knees immediately buckled when she tried to walk on her own, and Adam got her up again. "We have to - to help her -"

"I can't -" He broke off with a frustrated snarl. "We have to go."

Father reached them then, scooped her up like a baby, and deposited her in the back of the Wind Raider.

Adam jumped in behind the controls and they lifted off immediately. Teela craned her neck, not wanting to leave.

Because that was her friend down there, standing like a blank-faced statue while Shadow Weaver laid a cruel hand along the side of her face. Laughing an awful, wheezing laugh, air scraping across disintegrating lungs.

That was her friend, dragged down into darkness again.

Abandoned. Again.

"Go back! We can't leave her!" she said to Father, angry. The wind blew tiny grains of sand into her face; it stung and burned, and that was why her eyes were watering. That was why everything was getting fuzzy all of a sudden. She blinked hard.

Adora!

That hadn't been out loud. She shook her head, still blinking. Still fuzzy. And now her vision was going kind of… kind of dim...

Adora!

Teela blinked again, and she was standing at the foot of a large, stepped dais. Identical stone faces, mouths open in silent snarls, looked down from the circular walls. Everything glowed with a deep, bloody light.

The red room, Teela realized. The one in the Fright Zone.

So this was another vision. Oh joy.

Shadow Weaver stood a few paces away. Hands by her sides. Waiting.

And not just a vision, but a memory, since Shadow Weaver was definitely not in the Fright Zone right now.

A portal suddenly swirled open, black and purple and red, and a young woman in a plain, sensible dress and headscarf came staggering out. She fell to one knee, but kept hold of the blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms.

Weaver glided forward. "The disorientation… will pass. What is… the child's name?"

The young woman looked around wildly, making little panicked gasping noises as she took in her surroundings. "Where - the queen - where is -"

"Answer me," Weaver hissed.

The young woman flinched, clutching the bundle more tightly. It hiccuped and started to cry, the noise thin and high.

A baby. She was holding a baby.

Teela already knew how awful Shadow Weaver was, but this was a new low.

The young woman shushed the baby, joggling it against her shoulder, one hand cupping the back of its small head protectively. Its cries subsided into whimpers, then silence. The action seemed to give the baby's caregiver new courage. Her chin came up, and she got to her feet. "Her name is Princess Adora."

Princess.

Princess Adora.

Shadow Weaver hissed again, this time, it seemed, in pleasure. "You… now serve… Lord Hordak. You will care… for the child. He has… great plans… for her."

The caregiver stepped back. "I serve the rightful king and queen of Eternia."

That awful laugh. "But you… are not… on Eternia any longer."

Fear flickered over the caregiver's face, but she held firm. "Then I serve my princess."

Weaver raised her hand, black energy crackling around it. Then she paused. Perhaps she was figuring out - like Teela was - that if she thralled the caregiver, she'd have to tell the young woman what to do, and there was no way Shadow Weaver knew anything about raising a baby.

"It is… all the same," she rasped out. Then, abruptly, her head cocked to one side as though she was hearing something, and she began to turn towards where Teela was standing.

The baby cried.

And Teela was back in the Wind Raider, and a whole lot of things made sense.

"Adora!" she said.

"It's a great loss, but we didn't have much choice," Father said behind the controls. The muscle in his jaw jumped. "Shadow Weaver would have attacked us next. That wasn't a battle we could have won."

Teela shook her head, felt a little dizzy, and decided she should probably hold on to the side of the vehicle for a minute. She automatically scanned the horizon as she did so, and caught sight of Mekaneck and Ram-Man in the other Wind Raider nearby. Judging by the terrain, they were almost out of the Dark Hemisphere, which meant she'd been unconscious for a while. "No, that's not - Listen! Adora is what Hordak was waiting for."

Both Father and Adam said, "What?"

"She's our age, right?" Teela said, gesturing to herself and Adam. "And it was about sixteen years ago that the Horde starting conquering Etheria. The same time Hordak saved Skeletor. But why wait so many years since? Because Hordak wants Adora to lead his troops."

Father never liked a hypothesis without evidence. "Why?"

"She told me -" Teela hesitated, feeling like she was betraying a confidence, then plunged ahead "- she was supposed to kill the royal family. But I think she is the royal family. Princess Adora."

Adam said "What?" at the same time Father said, flatly, "That's not possible."

Teela folded her arms over her chest. "Not according to the vision I just had."

"But that would make her, what, my twin sister? Someone would've noticed if she'd disappeared. For sure Father and Mother would have said something." Adam's face was scrunched up in confusion and indignance. "I mean, you don't just forget your kid existed."

"I can't explain that," Teela said. "But I know what I heard. She's a princess of Eternia."

"And with the rest of the royal family gone, she would have a legitimate claim to the throne. Hordak could rule Eternia through her." Father held up one hand to forestall any celebrations from Teela. "I'm not entirely certain that I believe all of this. But it does explain why Hordak waited over sixteen years to open the portal to Despondos - as well as why Shadow Weaver allowed five of us to escape that trap."

"They only wanted Adora," Adam said. He punched one hand into the other, frustrated. "And we let them take her. Now Hordak's got all the cards."

"We need to -" Father began, but he was cut off by a telepathic voice that rang clear and true in everyone's minds at the same moment. A soft voice that echoed, like the rustle of feathers in a cavernous stone hall.

Masters! You must come to Castle Grayskull immediately!