Chapter Eighteen: Alphenberg
Rose directed her Thestral to the roof of the ruined mansion. A stone gazebo was placed on the roof. As soon as she and Al climbed off their backs, they flew to the ground to munch on grass. Rose spun around, taking it all in. Half the mansion was in ruins while the other half gleamed with magic. On the ground where prowling wolves, defending the castle. And in the stone gazebo was a shadow of a person. Rose crept forward, over to the entryway and peeked in. A hulking boy with brown hair, about thirteen, was watching the sky, his back towards Rose. Al hung back, letting his cousin do her thing.
The boy turned around and Rose stifled a gasp. It was Atwood, one of James's friends. Atwood's eyes saw Rose in the dark and he opened his mouth, no doubt about to yell for backup. Rose reacted quickly.
"STUPEFY!" she whispered, wand pointed at Atwood. His eyes rolled as the spell hit him and he slumped to the floor. Rose gestured to Al and they both ran into the circular room. Rose leaned over her victim and pulled off a white wolf pin, just like the one Twyla had shown her. As soon as Rose's fingers touched the cool metal, she heard a voice, a voice that had haunted her nightmares for a year.
"Stanton Atwood, James Potter will be up in a moment to relieve you. You are free to head back to your barracks after that," Asphodel's voice said in Rose's mind. She jumped and dropped the pin. Al gave her a confused look and Rose forced herself to calm down. They had to find Twyla.
"The pin's a communication device. Someone is coming up," Rose explained, not telling the whole truth. She knew if Al knew his brother was coming up then he would lose focus. "Put on Atwood's robes. I'm going to hide in the shadows outside, then stun him."
"Okay," Al answered and did as he was told. Rose went back out into the cold night and hid. Moments later, she heard footsteps. In front of the stone gazebo, a few feet away, was a rectangular hole with stairs that no doubt led to the school. Rose raised her wand in preparation and saw James appear. He walked closer and Rose began to lose her nerve when she saw his dark purple and white robes paired with his purple tie and white shoes. For the first time ever, his red hair was clipped short and styled. His face was chiseled and he seemed older.
"James?" Al called out when he saw his brother, his voice a mess of emotions. James froze and Rose cursed. An excited gleam had entered James's eye. His finger rose to the white wolf pin on his tie. When he touched it, it glowed white.
"Alpha, you're never going to-" James cried out eagerly. Rose stood up and flicked her wand.
"STUPEFY!" she exclaimed and James fell to the ground. Rose dashed forward and unpinned the wolf. Asphodel's voice was speaking.
"James?" she growled, annoyed. "James, are you still there?" Silence. "Another prank, I suppose. Don't do it again. And make sure to see me after your shift. Remember, your already on probation."
"James?" Al muttered, staring at his brother's unconscious form. Rose slipped the pin in her pocket and dragged James into the stone room. She rolled him on top of Atwood and took of James's robes, exchanging them for her own. Underneath of his robes, he wore a white shirt and dark purple pants. He really had gone over to the dark side.
"Al, I'm sorry, but we have to move fast," Rose told her cousin, her volume low. Al swallowed, nodded once, than looked at his cousin in purple.
"We'll be recognized," Al pointed out. Rose sighed and racked her wand through her frizzy red hair in frustration.
"We need to blend in," she muttered. As she said those words, a tingle raced down her scalp. In a flash of blue sparkles, Rose's hair become chestnut brown, sleek and shiny. It rested just under her shoulders. Al's eyes widened and Rose nearly screamed aloud when she saw the locks. "What the?"
"Maybe it has something to do with your ancestor," Al suggested. Rose's eyes widened as she looked at the tip of her wand. It was glowing blue. Sensing that Al was right, she tapped her face. Tingles raced down her skin and her eyebrows became brown and pointed. Her lips plumped up and her teeth shrank while her eyes turned brown and freckles sprinkled themselves on her cheeks.
"Do I look different?" Rose asked Al and spun around.
"I wouldn't know you if I didn't know you," Al admitted. Rose glanced at herself in the glass windows and saw that she still had the same facial structure. Riding high on her success, Rose tapped Al's face. His hair became short and brown while his eyebrows transformed to match. His eyes became big and brown, just like his brother's, while his cheeks thinned, making him look like Rose's brother.
"Well done, Rose," she congratulated herself, smiling. Then she grabbed her transformed cousin's wrist and dragged him outside and down the stairs into the mansion. "We have to hurry."
Rose raced down the stairs, searching the ceiling. She and Al passed a few students who didn't pay them a second glance. Finally, Rose found what she was looking for. A ventilation shaft in the newer part of the mansion. Rose levitated herself up, took off the cover, and shimmied in. Al climbed in after her and they set off.
"Do you know where we're going?" Al asked her as he spat out a cobweb he had run into.
"The middle. Twyla once told me that all the important stuff, like meetings and punishment, happen in the throne room in the middle of the mansion," Rose replied and crawled faster.
Soon, they arrived in the throne room. Its walls were circular and decorated with paintings of Albany surrounded by wizards and wolves. A white marble throne sat on a dais in the middle, right under the dome ceiling that was decorated with shiny white panels. Asphodel was seated on the step of the dais, her wolf ears sitting on her pale haired head, her pale blue eyes focused on the people in front of her. Twyla stood there, arms bound by rope with Rachel standing behind her, wand pointed at her back. Despite all of this, Twyla showed no fear.
"So, you think it's fun to communicate with people outside of Alphenberg?" Asphodel demanded, holding up the coin that Rose had given Twyla to stay in touch with.
"Alphenberg?" Al muttered, confused.
"The name of the school. Also Albany's last name," Rose whispered back and crept down an incline in the vents that led her to a flat part near the floor. She peeked out of a vent covering, watching the procedure.
"Answer me!" Asphodel yelled, her fists shaking with fury. Twyla just raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps you would like Rachel to demonstrate her displeasure with you again?" That's when Rose noticed the bleeding cuts and bruises on Twyla's dark skin. She had been tortured.
"I was only trying to get in touch with my little brother," Twyla lied. "He'll be starting Hogwarts next year and I wanted him to come here. But I think he may have lost his coin. They're part of a set, you know, and if I carve words into the coin's surface then his coin will become engraved as well."
"Rachel, does she have a brother?" Asphodel asked the brunette, who frowned and jabbed her wand into Twyla's back.
"Unfortunately, she does," Rachel growled. Asphodel's eyes narrowed as she looked at Twyla.
"You have an air of betrayal around you, Omega," Asphodel sneered and stepped of the dais, slinking towards her victim. "You've betrayed Alphenberg, I know it."
"Do you have any proof?" Twyla replied, voice calm, but her limbs were shaking. Rose gripped her wand but she was nervous. When would be the right time to intervene?
"No," Asphodel admitted and curled Twyla's dark locks around her pale fingers. "But I will. I haven't trusted you since the day you got here, Omega. You were always to close to the little snake. Mark my words, we will get the truth. Because I am calling on the Alpha Supreme!"
"What?" Rachel gasped in shock. Fear flashed in Twyla's eyes and Rose had a sudden suspicion on who the Alpha Supreme was. Asphodel walked back the dais and stood before the white marble throne, arms raised.
"Oh, great Alpha, our queen. Hear my call, hear my voice. I beg you, come and find the truth. Come and lead our wolf pack. I seek your wisdom, oh great one," Asphodel called out, her wand sending a blinding white light upwards, into the white dome. A clap of thunder shook the room and a familiar purple ghost appeared on the throne. Al grasped Rose's hand in fear.
"What?" Albany drawled. She was still as horrible as ever, with her crown of thorns and revealing robes. Her stormy purple form seemed to glow, casting the room in a dim purple light.
"Alpha Supreme, this Omega has been caught sending information out of Alphenberg. She claims to be recruiting her brother," Asphodel explained, kneeling before the ghost. But Albany wasn't listening. Her eyes were searching the room, looking for something only she could see. Suddenly, her eyes locked onto Rose and Al's hiding spot. Fear washed over them, cold as ice. Al's breath became panicky while Rose kicked him to shut up.
"Alpha, are you aware that you are being watched?" Albany whispered. Asphodel's pale eyebrows creased.
"My queen?" she asked, confused. Albany raised a purple arm and pointed at Rose and Al's hiding spot.
"Right there. The raven and the badger," Albany growled. Asphodel whirled around and cast a spell, causing the wall to blast open. Rose and Al were exposed as their disguises had faded. "Hello, old friends."
"What do you want, Albany?" Rose demanded as she stood, trying to look brave, but shaking on the inside. Albany laughed.
"I think the question should be, what do you want?" Albany replied, her lips in a smirk. She nodded towards Twyla, whose eyes had become very large. "Is this girl a friend of yours?"
"No. I would never be their friend, even if they begged," Twyla hurriedly replied. Albany smiled at her.
"Oh, darling, don't you know that I can detect a lie from a mile away?" Albany chuckled. "You were not communicating with your brother. My guess is that you were passing information to these two."
Dread filled Rose's stomach. They needed to get out of here. Her eyes began assessing every little thing, her brain going millions of miles a minute. Al was trying his best to keep it together but he was starting to crack. Albany had been a source of fear for a year and she had been the one who had corrupted his brother. Al wasn't ready to face her. He feared he never would be able to.
"Any last words?" Asphodel chuckled as she raised her wand, the resurrection stone in her other hand, ready to exchange a life for Albany's. "I think I'll start with your little spy." She turned toward Twyla and something snapped in Al. He had promise Hope that he would bring Twyla home safely and he wasn't about to let her down.
"No," Rose gasped and dug in her robes, searching for her wand.
"AVADA-" Asphodel began. Twyla backed up into Rachel who shoved her forward. Al dove towards Twyla and spread his arms wide. "KEDEVRA!" Green light shot forward.
"PROTEGO!" Al yelled and a giant yellow dome expanded over him and Twyla. The spell bounced off harmlessly. Asphodel growled in anger. Rose shut a stunning spell at Rachel and knocked her out. Albany screamed in anger while Asphodel advanced.
"We have to go!" Rose yelled and ran back to the vents. Twyla followed while Al lagged behind, still maintaining his shield. Asphodel ran after them while Albany shouted to her students to stop the intruders.
Rose called forward but quickly came to a steep incline that they wouldn't be able to climb. Asphodel was closing in, blasting a holes in the vents to find them.
"She's getting closer," Al muttered, the yellow shield shimmering around him. Rose screamed in frustration, flicking her wand, and suddenly the entire group was shot straight into the air, along the vents, and was spit onto the roof.
"Hurry up!" Rose yelled, not caring to gape over her awesome magical ability. She ran to the edge of the roof, bathed in the golden glow of sunrise, and whistled. The two Thestrals flew onto the roof and let out a shriek as Asphodel charged up onto the roof followed by Albany and most of the school. Al twirled his wand, strengthening his shield, buying his friends time.
"Go! I'll keep them occupied!" Al called to the girls. Rose nodded and helped Twyla onto a Thestral.
"I hate Thestrals," Twyla muttered as she felt the animal that she could not see. Rose climbed onto the other Thestral.
"Al, come on!" she yelled, watching as Albany's forces shot a rainbow of spells at her cousin. They all bounced off the shield, but Rose could tell he was struggling to keep it up. Al walked slowly backward and climbed one-handed onto Rose's Thestral. She nudged the animal and he took off into the sky, Twyla's following close behind.
"We did it!" Al cried out in victory, relieved to be leaving the ruined mansion. Just then, a beam of green light was shot into the sky and hit Twyla's Thestral. The animal squawked and died, then began to plummet towards the earth. Twyla screamed while Rose dove after her, trying to save her. But then Rachel swooped in on a broomstick, caught Twyla around the middle, and began to fly back to the mansion as Asphodel chased Al and Rose, vengeance in her eyes. She raised her wand but was blasted back by a blue jet of light. Rose turned and saw Professor Higglebottom flying towards them, riding a Hippogriff.
"We need to go!" she called to them. Al shook his head.
"We need to save Twyla," he protested.
"We can't!" Professor Higglebottom told him. "We don't have enough power."
"We can't leave her behind!" Al yelled. But the teacher ignored him, reached out and grabbed his and Rose's hand, then closed her eyes and apparated them back home.