The expedition headed on toward the collection of materials the sensor unit had detected. Silence reigned in the group as Mirta and Timmy worried, and Zing and Lucy fumed.
Mirta dropped back to walk beside her best friend. "You know Zing didn't mean it. She's just upset. It wasn't your fault. That spot looked good to me, too, and the Voice of Nature didn't warn me."
"Just keep that bug away from me, or I'm gonna squash her," Lucy said forcefully, never looking at Mirta.
Mirta stopped walking to stare at Lucy, and was left behind. Shaking her head, she hurried to catch up.
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The woods opened into a large clearing with a few trees scattered around. The grass was high, and the area had obviously been tended to in the past.
"We're here," announced Timmy, making adjustments to the scanner.
Brickwork and splintered wood that had been the remains of a house were nearly covered in vines. Nature had wasted no time in reclaiming what had been hers. The three of them put down their packs.
"Can either of you tell anything?" he asked, meaning what couldn't be picked up by the scanner.
Mirta closed her eyes and listened to the Voice of Nature. "There are some... um... snakes, I guess, hiding in the bricks. They should get out of our way, but be careful."
"The leftover dark magic is masking anything I might be able to find," said Lucy, concentrating as well.
Zing flew in a wide circle around the remains of the house. "There are ordinary insects here," she reported, "And most are harmless. Let me know if you get bitten; I'll probably be able to reverse the venom's effects."
Timmy walked around the remains, studying the scanner's readouts. He looked very serious while he did, and his three female companions stayed silent and watched. At last he looked over to them. "I find five distinct power sources here, and all seem to be buried. We're going to have to dig them up to find the bomb."
"Well, I can make up a powerful explosive potion," offered Lucy.
"But how accurate is it?" asked Timmy, "Can you pinpoint debris and remove it without damaging the power sources?"
"No, it's not selective..." she responded, "But I can also make up enough acid to make a big hole! No, on second thought, never mind. That will just dissolve what we want. I don't think I have anything else that can help."
"Then it's MY turn to be of use around here," said Mirta with a grin. With a circular gesture crossing her fingers over her head, she converted to Fairy form, the survival suit disappearing as she did. She flew up and over the remains of the house.
"Flora taught me this, but I'm not nearly as good with it as she is. You'd better stand back some," she said, and the others did, standing together with Zing landing on Timmy's left shoulder away from Lucy.
Mirta held out her arms, palms down, and closed her eyes. She concentrated, and an orange glow formed around her hands. Nothing happened. She continued to hold the pose, and a faint sheen of perspiration formed on her brow. The orange glow grew brighter.
"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself, trying harder.
Suddenly a faint rumble came from underground, and the brick and wood seemed to move slightly. Then in the middle of the ruins the ground broke open and thick roots emerged, heavy with dirt, and holding many manufactured objects.
"There," said Mirta, wiping her brow as she landed. "Hopefully what we want has been brought to the surface."
Timmy took a reading. "Good work!" he said, "I count all five power sources right there."
"So, let's see what we've got..." said Lucy. She gestured toward a mound of debris away from the house, the remains of a well, and water came up to the surface. It lifted and splashed over the roots and objects, washing them off. She was careful and no water hit the expedition's members.
"I didn't know you could do that!" said Mirta, staring at Lucy.
"Yeah," grinned the taller girl, "I found out this year I have an affinity for elemental water magic. It's only medium grade, though. No luck at all with the other elements."
Inspection of the objects brought to the surface proved most of them to be ordinary things. A monitor, some books, part of a chair, and some things partially melted and unrecognizable.
Timmy identified the five items of interest, and Mirta directed the roots to set them down carefully. Two proved to be ordinary large batteries used in dwellings not connected to centralized power sources found in cities. The database in the sensor unit identified the third as a safe box containing a radioactive element. That was quickly reburied.
The fourth thing was a blackened and charred sphere with wires emerging in several places. The power present in it was very low, and none of them had any idea what it was.
Lucy brought over some more water and cleaned off the fifth object. It was a three-sided equilateral pyramid about sixteen inches tall that glowed like translucent fire opal, with all the colors of the rainbow visible within it. It was brighter toward the center, deep within.
"I think we've found it," said Timmy in a low voice.
Lucy bit back a sarcastic reply. She too was awed to be in the presence of a device capable of destroying a planet.
Zing noticed something on it, and took a closer look. "Wow, the directions for using it are carved right into it."
"Let's get it back to the ship and get out of here," suggested Mirta. "I've a feeling we're about to overstay our welcome."
As small as it was, it proved to be too heavy to pick up. Witch and Fairy each tried a levitation spell, and that worked, but found out they couldn't move it very quickly, or for too long. They took turns bringing it with them while the other rested, but after about an hour of travel, they set it down again.
"I think this thing has an inertia spell on it, to make it hard to move," said Mirta, panting a bit.
"You're probably right," agreed Lucy.
The two consulted together for a few minutes, and worked out a way to move it. Light and dark magic simply cannot work together, so Mirta was forced to tap into her reserves of dark magic, since that's all Lucy had available. They cast the same levitation spell, and found it much easier going after that.
They came to a familiar spot, and at an unspoken agreement, stopped.
"Let's go farther south, then turn west," suggested Timmy, "I really don't want to go back under those trees again."
That was met with agreement by the others, and they moved away down another animal-created path.
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"Did you hear that?" asked Inez, as the three witches stood in their ship, watching through a spy-spell the thee students and Pixie as they traveled.
"Yeah, that will bring them to the river gorge in about twenty minutes, and that's a perfect place for an ambush"
replied Megan, studying a map.
"And now we know that thing is heavy, and it's going to take all three of us to get it here quickly," said Inez.
"Well, then, let's go scout out the area, and get ready!" said Zee, and all three laughed. Then they transported themselves away for the confrontation.