Helia woke up early the next morning. He was worried about Flora and wanted to see how she slept. He knocked on her door, no response. Figuring she was still asleep he gently opened the door to peer inside. He noticed the room change, but just figured Flora did it. He looked at Flora's bed and saw that it didn't even look like it had been slept in. Helia walked downstairs and saw that she was neither in the kitchen or the sitting room. He was now getting extremely worried. In one last effort Helia went to the beach. Hoping that Flora had just gone for a morning stroll.
Helia found two sets of footprints, one belonging to a girl and another belonging to a man, on the beach. He followed them and saw that they disappeared into the ocean.
"Oh no!" Helia ran back into the house. Yelling at the top of his lungs, "Guys! Guys wake up."
Sky, Brandon, Layla, and Musa walked out rubbing their eyes.
"What is it Helia?" Musa yawned.
"Flora has disappeared! I think someone took her!"
A little later, everyone was downstairs in the sitting room.
"Okay Helia, tell us what's going on." Layla refused to sit down. She was standing with her hands on her hips.
Helia let out a loud sigh. Once again he would have to talk about his cousin. "Flora has been having nightmares the past couple of nights. So we called Ms. Faragonda to see what she thought. It turned out to be the work of an evil sorcerer known as the Prince of Darkness. We don't know why, but he has taken Flora."
"Why didn't you tell us? We could have help to protect her." Nabu said.
"Sorry guys. Faragonda told us not to say anything until we were absolutely positive about this. And Flora and I agreed. We didn't want to ruin your vacation."
"You know that wouldn't matter to us. All we care about is Flora's safety." Tecna said kindly.
"I know you guys are absolutely right. And I am totally sorry. I have failed Flora." Helia had his head in his hands. He couldn't look everyone in the eyes.
Riven came and sat next to Helia. "Helia, you haven't failed. Don't you worry we will get her back in no time at all." He put his hand on Helia's shoulder in reassurance.
"Hey, do you think this Prince was the reason for Flora's drastic change in style?" Stella asked.
Helia looked at her. He had never thought of that, but it would make sense. "You may be right. Now we need to talk to Faragonda and my uncle. They will know where the prince is and why he might want Flora."
Orion's Castle…
"Wh…where am I?" Flora woke up and saw that she was in a strange bed in a strange room. Then she remembered the night before. She remembered going to the beach and meeting Orion. He had promised to help her stop the nightmares. She looked around the room. It was a large room that looked like she was in a palace or castle of some kind. It had black walls and the bed covers were a deep violet color. It was very dark, with a fire on the opposite side of the room being the only source of light. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Good morning Flora. I hope that you had a good nights sleep."
Flora realized that she had been asleep and did not have any nightmares. "Why yes, actually I did. Thank you. Whatever you did seem to have worked."
"I am glad. But I am sorry to inform you that the spell was only temporality. But I have made potion that will stop the nightmares permanently." He waved his hand, motioning a servant to come in. She was holding a tray with a large goblet. Orion took the goblet and stretched it towards Flora. "Drink this and everything will be as it should."
Flora took the cup. She looked in to see an odd color liquid and it was actually bubbling a little. It smelled of mint and sage. Hesitant to drink the mysterious liquid she looked at Orion, who was smiling at her. He had been telling the truth so far. He said that he could stop the nightmares and he did. He had even taken her to a room to sleep. She smiled back and drank the liquid in one gulp.
She had to force herself to keep it down, but she had drunk every last drop. Then the room started spinning and everything went dark.