Chapter 30 – Terror in the Vault
The ghost eventually settled on a more sedate pace but it continued to circle above, seemingly having been trapped in the ceramic pot for some time and was enjoying their new found freedom. But now it was zooming about slower Phenix and the others finally had chance to get a good look at it and could see it was a ghost of a young girl. Though her clothes were badly torn and shredded and most alarmingly one side of her face looked like it was horribly scarred or even had possibly melted somehow.
"Who are you?" the ghost screeched, finally noticing them staring up at her and she sailed down to face them.
"Er… I'm Phenix and this is…."
"How did you get here?" the ghost interrupted before Phenix could finishing introducing his sister and Charlie.
"We managed to get into the vault and got past the obstacles," Phenix said, trying hard not to stare at the ghost's disfigured face.
"Where is he?" the ghost shouted now in a demanding manner.
"Where's who? Phenix asked. "Do you mean Caleb?"
"Yes that backstabbing little toad," the ghost fumed with loathing. "Where is he?"
"I'm not sure, he's around here somewhere," Phenix replied as he looked around the chamber as if expecting Caleb to be standing somewhere in sight. "Wait, who are you? Are you Penny?"
"Yes I am," the ghost replied, a little surprised that he knew her name.
"He told us about you, I mean what happen to you," Phenix said sounding melancholy.
"Did he really? I bet he didn't tell you everything," Penny retorted with anger in her voice as he continued to float in front of them all.
"He said the dragon got you," Phenix replied and now realised why her face looked like that, as a result of the dragon burning her.
"Well that's not the whole story," she huffed.
"It's not?" a confused Phenix said.
"No he left me in there with that dragon to die. Didn't even bother to help," Penny fumed and flew up in the air as if needing to release some of her pent up anger before coming back down to them again. "But I managed to crawl into here before the door closed but then he still refused to help. He just left me to die slowly on the floor because he wanted all the treasure for himself. Only he hadn't realised that without the rest of us he couldn't leave. So when I came back as a ghost I made sure to make his life a misery."
"If you're a ghost why didn't you ever leave the vault and let someone know what had happened to you and the others?" Phia asked, still stood behind her brother and Penny looked directly at her.
"Because when they built this vault they must have used some spell or enchantment to stop even ghosts passing through the walls. I couldn't get out even if I wanted to."
"So what were you doing in that pot?" Phenix asked, even though he could pretty much guess the answer seeing as she had been seemingly trapped in there.
"He put me in there. After several years of me taunting him day and night he had enough and found a way to silence me. That pot had the same sort of enchantment that is on this whole vault. I've been stuck in there for years but then just now I heard voices and started banging against the side of the pot hoping someone would hear me. How long have I been down here by the way?"
"Sixty years," Charlie answered when Phenix had seemed hesitant to tell her the truth of how long it had been.
"Sixty years? Seems like much longer being in that pot," Penny raged.
"Why would he do that to you? Weren't you friends?" Phia asked and she watched Penny's expression grow even angrier.
"We weren't friends! None of us were!" Penny seethed before she took a pause to calm herself down. "It was Caleb who convinced us all. Told us that it required someone from each house to open the vault. We all believed he wanted to share the treasure with us but we were so wrong. He didn't care what happened to us. He didn't bother to help Anna and Naveen when the Dark Elves started attacking but the stupid fool didn't realise he still needed us to get out again."
As Phenix thought about Penny and the other two students who had lost their lives getting into the vault he realised how lucky he and his friends had all been to get through safely. Now all he wanted to do was get out of there. He didn't care about any of the treasure. All that mattered now was getting everyone out."
"Come on lets go find the others," Phenix said.
"Look you need to get out of here and not let him come with you," Penny said but it sounded more like a threat than a suggestion. "He's been down here so long, reading all these books and using all these magical devices he's found. You have no idea what sort of magic he's capable of now. He lost his head being stuck in here alone for all these years. Who knows what he'd do when he gets out."
"But we need him to get out don't we?" Phenix asked.
"Why? Oh I see there's only three of you. Did one of your friends not make it past the challenges? Were they in Slytherin?" Penny asked as she looked between them all.
"No we all made it through fine," Phenix replied. "There's actually five of us but the other two are off helping…" he said but then stopped as a horrible feeling came over him and the ghost of Penny could see the worry in his eyes.
"You three are from Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw right?"
"Yes that's right," Phia said, answering for Phenix who seemed to have lost his voice and couldn't speak.
"Then he doesn't need the other two. He's going to use one of them to help him leave," Penny said in despair.
"What do you mean help him leave?" Phenix asked anxiously. "I thought we needed someone from every house?"
"I don't mean leave the vault. I mean leave the mirror," Penny said.
"What do you mean?" Phenix asked again, confused about what was actually going on.
"He can't leave this vault while part of him is still in that mirror. He needs someone to take his place," Penny began to explain.
"You mean…" Phenix said as he began to think in his head of what Penny was actually saying and a feeling of dread and horror came over him.
"Someone has to go in the mirror. It's a Mirror of Youth. It keeps you young but you have to look in it every day. Though it can't be moved from this vault. Whoever put it here put a spell on it to stop it being removed. They obviously thought the mirror was too dangerous for certain people to get their hands on it," Penny said.
"So why does someone have to take his place?" Charlie asked as he stepped forward to stand beside Phenix and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to offer him some comfort as he could tell he was now filled with worry and unable to speak as he processed all the information. "Why can't the piece of him that's in their just leave?"
"Because then he would suddenly age sixty years in an instant and it would probably kill him, his body wouldn't be able to cope. But if he can put someone else in the mirror he will take all their youth and they will become old like the version of him in the mirror,"
"Come on we need to find the others," Phenix said frantically, not wanting to waste a moment longer and turned to leave.
"Wait. You need to destroy the mirror," Penny called out.
"How do we do that?" Phenix asked as he turned to face her again.
"You need to pierce the glass with a unicorn's horn."
"And where are we supposed to get one of those?" Phenix asked desperately.
"Don't worry there's one around here. I'll help you find it," Penny said, glad to finally get the chance to pay Caleb back for leaving her to die.
"OK Charlie and Phia you help Penny look for it and as soon as you find it, destroy the mirror. I'm going to get the others."
"Hang on," Charlie called out after him and Phenix turned back as Charlie stepped towards him.
"Be careful. We have no idea what this Caleb is capable of," Charlie said as he once again took both of Phenix's hands in his.
"Don't worry I will," Phenix replied as he looked deep into Charlie's eyes. "I've got a date to look forward to. There's nothing that is going to stop me getting out of this vault."
Charlie let go of Phenix's hand and immediately put his arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug, seemingly not wanting to let go.
"When you guys have finished we need to save the others," Phia said, interrupting their tender moment and the boys eventually let go of each other.
Without wasting a second longer Phenix set off in a sprint through the chamber as Penny guided the others to where she thought the unicorn horn might be.
"Jack?! Kyle?!" Phenix shouted out frantically as he searched between piles and piles of treasure, his voice echoing and having not realised the chamber was as big as it was.
He began to get disorientated with every mound of treasure looking like the last and he didn't know where he had looked already. Where could they be?
He then heard a noise and instinctively ran towards it to only find Charlie and Phia scrambling up a heap of gold looking for the horn with Penny flying overhead.
Phenix realised if Caleb really was planning to send one of his friends into the mirror then the most likely place they would be was by it. But he couldn't remember now where the mirror was.
Seeing Charlie and Phia on top of the mound of gold gave him an idea and he quickly clambered up the nearest pile to get a better view of the chamber. As he looked around in all directions he finally spotted the mirror and to his horror Jack and Kyle were walking straight towards it unsuspectingly with Caleb beside them.
"Jack?! Kyle!" he furiously shouted and despite his voice carrying through the chamber neither of them seemed to hear him.
"Jack?! Kyle?!" he shouted again even louder still with all his might but they still didn't seem to hear him. Had Caleb placed some sort of noise blocking charm around them?
Phenix wasted no time and leaped down the side of the pile of gold, almost falling flat on his face as the gold coins and nuggets slipped under his feet. He quickly regained his balance and sprinted off through the cavern as fast as he could in the direction of his friends.
Dread filled Phenix as he ran, hoping he wouldn't get to them too late. When he had spotted them before they hadn't been far from the mirror. How easy was it for Caleb to do what was necessary to switch the part of him that was inside the mirror with one of them? Would they even realise what was happening? Would they try and fight it?
These thoughts in Phenix's mind spurred him to run faster as he rounded the corner and could see his friends with Caleb in sight.
"Get away from him!" he shouted through panted breaths as he ran but still they didn't seem to hear him and they had their backs towards him so they couldn't see him either.
He just hoped one of them would happen to turn around and see him but he could see them all looking intently at the mirror.
As he ran Phenix reached into his pocket and grabbed his wand. Without even stopping he thrust his wand in front of him.
"Stupefy!" he yelled and a flash of red light shot from his wand but it didn't reach its target.
The flash of scarlet hit an invisible barrier that shimmered and seemed to light the whole cavern. The only saving grace was this sudden burst of light made Jack and Kyle turn around to see where it had come from.
In the distance they saw Phenix frantically running towards them, his wand pointed at them and apparently shouting though they could hear no sound coming from him.
Caleb too had seen Phenix heading right for them in a state of panic and instantly realised he most of known what he was planning to do.
"Oh no it must be the hobgoblin, he must have woken it up," Caleb said, thinking on his feet.
"The what?" Jack said, still staring at Phenix as he continued to run towards them with fear in his eyes.
"It lives in the chamber. Usually it leaves me alone as long as I don't disturb it. I should have warned you about it," Caleb lied as he reached out to grab Jack and tried to pull him towards him. "Quick come with me."
Phenix saw Caleb take hold of his friend in the distance and wielded his wand again even though he knew it wouldn't penetrate the barrier Caleb had put around them.
"Stupefy!"
Again the chamber lit up as the bolt of red light collided with the invisible barrier, leaving Caleb unharmed. But at least it made Jack pull away from him as he wondered why Phenix was firing in their direction if he was running away from a hobgoblin as Caleb had said.
Caleb knew the Phenix wasn't going to stop and the barrier he had created was only good against magic. Eventually Phenix would walk straight through it and then it would be three against one and he would have no chance of performing the magic to free himself from the mirror.
While Jack and Kyle were distracted watching Phenix, Caleb pulled out his own wand.
"Petrificus Totalus," he uttered with his wand pointed at Jack who instantly fell to the floor with a thud.
Phenix yelled out in horror but still Kyle heard no sound from him as he turned to Caleb, who now had his wand pointed at Phenix.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The jet of green light shot from Caleb's wand and it broke the barrier that had been protecting him and it headed straight for Phenix, who saw it coming at him.
Instinctively Phenix dived out of the way, landing behind a large stone chest as the curse struck a pile of gold behind where he had just been stood, causing a huge explosion as gold scattered everywhere.
Kyle now knew the danger wasn't a hobgoblin. It was Caleb and he immediately went to grab his wand but as soon as he had it in his hand Caleb had turned on him.
"Expelliarmus!" Caleb cried out and Kyle's wand flew across the chamber before he turned back to where Phenix had been.
Phenix was still covering his head as gold rained down all around him but knew he couldn't waste any time and quickly went to get up. But as soon as his head bobbed above the stone chest he was behind, he saw flashes of light in the distance and ducked down again as Caleb bombarded a string of curses at him.
Kyle turned to run with Caleb distracted taking aim at Phenix, but Caleb saw him out the corner of his eye and spun around.
Caleb cracked his wand at Kyle like he was holding a lion tamer's whip before pulling back and suddenly Kyle found his legs buckling underneath him and he fell face first to the floor and was being dragged backwards towards Caleb. Kyle desperately scrabbled at the ground, trying to get a hold and stop himself being hauled along but he couldn't get a grip on anything.
With Kyle now at his feet Caleb let off another wave of curses in Phenix's direction to keep him at bay before grabbing his victim, having decided that Kyle would make the better person to switch with. Once Kyle was trapped in the mirror the others would have no choice but to work with him to get out of the vault whether they liked it on not as they wouldn't be able to leave without someone from Slytherin to help unlock the door. And he had no problem with killing Phenix if he continued to try and stop him as he still had Jack as the member of Hufflepuff required.
Kyle scrambled to get up off the ground but before he could Caleb had stepped on his back and forced him back to the ground.
"Incarcerous," Caleb commanded and thin cords shot from his wand and began wrapping themselves tightly around Kyle so he couldn't move any more.
With another flick of his wand Kyle was now floating in the air and slowly moving towards the mirror as Caleb kept one eye on the chamber, waiting for Phenix to emerge again.
Phenix had managed to move from behind the stone chest, having crawled carefully along the floor and was now positioned behind a large, ornate cabinet and had got to his feet. He hoped Caleb was still expecting him to pop up from behind the chest, so with his wand firmly in hand he spun around the side of the cabinet and unleashed rapid succession of curses at him.
The chamber lit up as Caleb fired back and Phenix had to dive for cover once again as the cabinet he had been behind smashed to pieces when one of Caleb's curses hit it.
Caleb knew Phenix was not going to give up so he let Kyle fall to the floor and left him where he was, knowing he was so tightly bound and wouldn't be going anywhere and strode towards where Phenix had last fired from.
Phenix ran across the chamber from his cover behind a stack of gold as Caleb began firing curses at him again and managed to get to the safety behind a large golden statue of a menacing looking wizard. He took a second to catch his breath and mentally prepare himself.
The chamber seemed deathly quiet now, he couldn't even hear any footsteps. Had Caleb moved from where Phenix last saw him? Phenix pictured the scene in his mind and where he thought Caleb would be. He adjusted his grip on his wand and after one last deep breath he spun around the statue and saw Caleb in the distance with his wand pointed right at him but Phenix didn't waste a second.
"Stupefy!" he shouted, sending a curse flying towards Caleb, who had no trouble in blocking it and it rebounded off into the chamber.
"Mortiferum!" Caleb yelled in response and a bolt of seemingly black light shot from his wand right back at Phenix.
Phenix quickly went to cast a shield charm but he wasn't quick enough and the black bolt hit him directly in the chest and he toppled over backwards as a searing pain passed through his whole body.
"NOOOO!" a girls' voice yelled behind Caleb and he turned to see Phia standing there, looking on in horror as her brother collapsed to the ground.
Phia began to rush towards her stricken brother as Caleb lifted his wand, intending to use a binding spell on her to stop anyone else interfering with him performing the spell needed to free himself from the mirror so he could finally leave the vault. But then he spotted someone else in the distance who was running. Only this person wasn't running towards him, they were running towards the mirror. He then spotted something large held in the person's hand and knew exactly what they were doing.
Caleb now frantically pointed his wand at the red haired boy as he sprinted across the cavern and unleashed a curse at him, which just missed and sent a pile of gold and jewels cascading everywhere.
Caleb quickly went to aim a second curse but the boy was now leaping forward with what looked like a twisted wooden stake held out in front of him. Before Caleb could unleash the curse the unicorn's horn collided with the mirror's glass and pierced straight through it. Charlie was sent flying backwards as a great hurricane like force burst out of the mirror and began to fill the chamber and rushed towards Caleb.
Caleb screamed in agony as the whirlwind surrounded him. His wand was blown clean from his hand and he fell to his knees as all the energy in his body seemed to be sucked out of him. He looked down at his hands and could see the colour begin to fade from his skin and they grew thin and bony. He tried to touch his face but it no longer felt like flesh that covered it, instead it felt like a hollow skull and Caleb collapsed to the floor as the whirlwind continued to howl around him before it disappeared completely, leaving behind a pile of dust, torn fabric and bones where Caleb had once been.
Phia was still running towards her brother and Charlie quickly picked himself up from the floor where he had landed and ran to Phenix too.
As soon as he got to him he could see blood pouring from his chest. Phia was already desperately trying to stop the bleeding, pressing her hands against the wound but the blood continued to trickle out.
Charlie fell to the floor beside Phenix and lifted him up into a sitting position, with him sat behind him and held him there as he grabbed his wand from his pocket.
"Lift his jumper up," Charlie said to Phia, who's hands were now covered in blood and shaking.
Phia lifted up her brother's jumper to reveal a massive laceration across his chest.
"Episkey," Charlie uttered with his wand pointed at the wound but it continued to bleed.
"Nothings happening," Phia said desperately as Charlie tried the spell again but still the blood continued to pour out of Phenix.
"It's not working," Charlie raged as he looked down at Phenix trembling in his arms. "He must have used some sort of dark curse. I don't know how to stop the bleeding."
Charlie put down his wand and wrapped his other arm around Phenix tightly and pulled him as close to him as he could.
"It's going to be alright Phenix, just stay with me," Charlie whispered into his ear as tears began to run down his face.
Phia was back trying to apply pressure to her brother's chest, but the blood continued to seep out through her fingers. She looked up to Charlie as if expecting him to have some sort of solution but he looked back just as helpless as she was.
Charlie held his face against Phenix's with his arms still tightly around him as Phenix tried to turn to look back at him.
"Everything's going to be ok," Charlie whispered to Phenix again as Phenix managed a faint smile back at him and reached out with his hand and touched Charlie's face.
Phenix's fingers felt cold against Charlie's skin but then his hand fell back to the floor and his body went limp in Charlie's arms.