Author's Note: I think I'm getting sick. Sorry this update is late. School and not feeling well, you see.
Purple baby cameo courtesy of Poof. Heh, heh. I hope this chapter doesn't suck.
Chapter Thirteen: Over and Underhill
The wand had no effect anymore. He knew they'd recharged them before their capture a day ago (it already felt like months ago) and they ought to respond. The being had ceased speaking, although its attentiveness lingered. Cosmo had the un-shakeable sensation he was being watched and he shuddered, shaking the wands until he thought he was going to wrench his arm out of its socket. His throat constricted; he stuffed the wands in his front pocket and bolted down the hallway.
His hair shouldn't be like this. He shouldn't be watched by a malevolent being that was, even as he ran in a vain attempt to evade it, skimming his memories and selecting ones at random. He couldn't think with the mental invasion and didn't dare stop. He hoped he could outrun it, though it was impossible to outrun what he'd invited in. In the olden times, faeries used to have to be invited inside homes before they could enter. Maybe this was like this. Maybe if he revoked the invitation, the thing had to leave. Maybe once it left, everything would be back to normal. What would Wanda do?
"Go away!" he yelled. "I don't want you here! Go away!"
The being didn't budge an inch.
"Go away! I revoke my invitation! You can't come in here!" he said. His throat's constriction made it harder and harder to speak. "I'll…I'll find cold iron!"
Iron didn't hurt him anymore, but maybe it'd hurt this thing. He didn't have any in the castle, but maybe he could poof some up. He stared at his wand and willed it to produce a horseshoe. It remained limp and he growled, shaking it and ignoring the tears burning the corners of his eyes.
"Go away, go away!" he screamed. "I didn't mean it! I don't want your power! Go away! Leave me alone!"
He tripped and saw in his mind's eye Wanda's hurt and pain every time they fought, back to the very beginning. The being inhaled and its breath rattled in Cosmo's ears; it left him feeling like a shell, lips quivering, and he whimpered. He still had its energy, true, but he no longer had the drive to move. It had fed off his emotions. That was the only possible explanation. And the only creatures that could do that were very bad, very evil things.
"Wanda…" He jumped to his feet. He had to keep this thing from getting to Timmy and Wanda. Feet pounding on the polished floor, he dashed at the drawbridge and shifted into a fish with the wands tucked into the nether space they always went when they weren't needed. Once he reached Timmy and Wanda, he'd give Wanda her wand back and the being would go away.
Cosmo always ran to safety, to protection, and to try to defend what was his. Surely once he reached his family everything would be all right again. Wanda would call him an idiot, Timmy would yell at him, and then it'd be back to the way things were.
Time passed. Wanda wasn't sure how much exactly, but nightfall must have come. The cold iron resonated in her bones and she barely had enough energy to toss her head from side to side. So much of the mortal world contained iron and she had long since forgotten what it was like to be sensitive to it. Now, to be encased in it and stripped of her protections, she experienced another violent cramp, doubled over, and groaned. Tears prickled her eyes and she missed Cosmo, Timmy, and the fish bowl. Hell, she missed Timmy's parents, if it meant a return to normalcy.
A bright spot appeared and her hands weren't steady enough to raise them to shield her eyes. Doombringer scoffed and, using a fish net, she scooped Wanda out and dumped her on the floor. Wanda heard a grate being moved into place, presumably over her prison, and she panted, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Once free from the prison, the horrible iron no longer affected her and she slowly regained her strength. She lifted her head and stared at her captor.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Oh, now you're willing to work with me," Doombringer said, smiling. Wanda glared. She pushed herself to her feet and swayed, missing her wand. The headache answering to Cosmo continued unabated and she had to wonder what foolish thing her husband had done now. What foolish thing could he be capable of doing while they were all stuck down here?
"Simple exercises tonight, Wandita," Doombringer said and Wanda froze. Juandissimo's nickname for her. A hard little ball formed in her stomach and her insides went cold. This woman should not know anything about them, much less the depth of information she possessed. Doombringer grabbed Wanda by the collar and she saw her fear reflected in the human's eyes. She shut them tightly and shuddered.
"Good," she whispered. "I knew you weren't stupid."
"What do you think I can do after being trapped in a hole all day with iron on every side and a butterfly net?" she hissed. "I haven't eaten-"
"No, but you did throw up," Doombringer scoffed. "Does it hurt, little fairy? Too bad."
"People like you are the reason Jorgen wipes minds," she replied. She might have been afraid, but she still had fire in her. Under ordinary circumstances- ah, but these were not ordinary circumstances.
"And people like me are the reason the faerie race almost went extinct in the Middle Ages," Doombringer shot back and Wanda flinched.
"We drove your two courts underground and hunted every last one we could find," she said, smiling insanely. "Unfortunately, the dark powers resonating within your 'anti fairies' were not exactly what we had in mind. They're not the true dark powers we seek."
" 'We'?" Wanda replied. "Who else is working with you?"
Doombringer blinked, brought back from her reverie. "I meant the collective 'we'. My ancestors have always hunted fairies. My uncle told me once about how he had captured a fairy and listened to its screams while he slowly killed it."
Wanda blanched and reached for the wand she didn't have. Doombringer snorted and dumped her back into the fish net, then wrapped it tightly around her. The fish net, like butterfly nets, repelled magic, and Doombringer swung her back and forth as she carried her into another laboratory room. She didn't trouble to keep Wanda from smacking into the door as it slid open.
The small room was equipped with a table upon which Doombringer dumped the fairy, a single chair, and two glass panes. Puzzled, Wanda rolled over in the net and stared at them. They didn't reflect her; one showed her anti self and the other showed a baby with purple eyes and hair. Upon closer inspection, the baby waved at her and then vanished, giggling.
Doombringer wasn't watching. She had walked into an adjoining room and set up a projector, which displayed an apple on the blank wall above Wanda's head. Doombringer huffed, heels clicking on the floor, and removed the net. Free of it, she looked around; aside from the small inset door and the one from which they had entered, there were no other entrances into the room. Where the projector had a tiny insert, there was also what looked like a double-sided mirror. This prompted Wanda to look again at the second glass pane, identical to the first, and the baby resurfaced. Wanda's heart ached and she wasn't sure why.
"Your goal for tonight is to conjure something from either the projector or the glass panes into reality," Doombringer said. "It need not last longer than a few minutes. The very act of creating is it all you must do."
Wanda barked a humorless laugh. "I don't know how to do that."
"You shifted without a wand," Doombringer said and smiled maliciously. "You changed Cosmo's form without one either. Figure it out."
Doombringer retreated behind the second door and Wanda tried to dispel distracting thoughts, like wishing she could blast Doombringer into the wall. The baby wouldn't be helpful and she didn't want to bring it, if it were real and not a desperate figment of her imagination, into this room. Her anti self was also dangerous, in a controlled stupidity way, and she didn't want Doombringer to grab any other fairies, light or dark.
The projector had switched from an apple to Timmy's fish bowl. Wanda's stomach turned and she set her lips obstinately. This time, she cast her gaze upon the glass panes and hoped for a better resolution.
Cosmo was running in the panes and she jumped, startled. "Oh, oh my…"
"What is it?" Doombringer snarled. The panes were no longer showing her abstract pictures. Cosmo was actually dashing through the Turners' household and upending Timmy's mom in a quest to get to the door. In a dog form, his fur had black highlights and his tail had a black tip. For a split second, he looked up and straight at her.
"Cosmo…" she breathed.
She wanted him, but she didn't want him here. Unfortunately, she was now drawn to the pane and couldn't look away. Her fingers splayed on each side and she thought of the scrying glass, an old magick trick they'd ceased years ago. It occasionally resurfaced- as it had when Timmy wished he lived at the carnival and they had given him the mirror.
A shadow surrounded his body and mixed with his aura. Cosmo, usually light and good, had a bright green aura projecting warmth and vitality. The warmth was breaking down and moments where he ought to be sure of himself, he faltered and the shadows amassed. Every time he stopped, the darkness eclipsing him intensified and her heart clenched.
"Cosmo, no!" she cried involuntarily and Doombringer was at her shoulder.
"I can't see anything," Doombringer snarled.
Wanda realized what Cosmo had not. Her whole body tensed and she snapped, "You idiot! Don't bring it here!"
"What the hell are you seeing?" Doombringer snarled and grabbed the glass. In her hands, it went blank. Doombringer froze, stared at the mirror and then at Wanda, and flung the pane carelessly upon the floor. It remained intact and Doombringer glared.
"You've failed," she said. "I know you saw something and you kept him from me."
Shaking, terrified Cosmo had been corrupted and worried what the being might do to them, she barely registered the woman's words. Her teeth chattered and she hugged herself. Doombringer scooped her back up into the net and tied it tightly.
"Juandissimo will be disappointed," Doombringer snapped. She slammed Wanda into the wall on the way out and she saw double. Wanda's heart pounded in her chest. She didn't notice Doombringer dumping her back into her prison or the sensation of hot pokers slamming into her skin. In her mind's eye, all she could see was Cosmo, darkness eating away his beautiful light powers, and rushing to the enemy to bring her exactly what she wanted.