La Dolce Vita
By Seniya
I is for Illusion
Part 1
It is our illusions that create the world
Didier Cauwelaert
It was late in the afternoon by the time the girls tumbled out of the latest portal in the Heatherfield Cemetery. The sun was a dull gold orb against a bloody sky, which was slightly hidden by thick, grey clouds. A cold wind whipped across the graveyard, hissing when the marble ornaments blocked its path.
"I thought we were supposed to get out by the school!" Cornelia was terrified and nervous, but of course, the only emotion she let escape was annoyance.
Will frowned back at her, "I can't always get them to open where I want – "
"Oh for God's sake!" She huffed, her thin golden hair whipping against her alabaster skin in the pre-evening breeze, "You can't ever do anything right!" Then, she stormed off.
"See what happens what you don't eat three meals a day." Irma muttered from next to Will. The brunette was visibly shivering in her less than appropriate tank top, Bermuda shorts and paper thin hoodie, and her teeth chattered when she tried to smirk.
Will's frown only deepened.
By now Caleb had also joined the conversation, "where is she going?"
"The school," Irma said, and then sighed, "I just want you all to hear it here first. I doubt Elyon is the missing Princess, and even if she was, that girl couldn't burst a grape in a fruit fight in Welch's backyard."
The portal disappeared with little more than a hum, and Will pushed the sword back into its guitar case before slinging it over her shoulder. "We should probably get YanLin and tell her what's going on."
"Fun," Irma replied, but followed Will along the winding path towards the street anyway. "Hey, does it seem extra quiet today to you?"
Will shrugged her small shoulders in reply, "we're in a cemetery. It is not a cultural hub." But she had noticed it too. No birds chirping, no children running across the back of the church, daring each other to go further into the graveyard, maybe to the edge of the forest. When they strolled past the church, there was no excited yapping, not even a stanza of "Swing Low" from the youth choir who practiced after school almost on a daily basis.
However, it was not until the three stepped onto the sidewalk that they saw it: dozens of bodies, motionless atop of the sidewalk and into the street. A car horn honked from up the road where they could see that someone had run headfirst into an oak tree.
"Oh my God!" Irma breathed, rushing forward to check a little girl who was crumpled under her tricycle. "Are they dead?"
Caleb had joined her, pressing his quick fingers against the child's neck, but she remained still. The sight claimed whatever heat may have remained. Will swallowed to remove the thick lump that had lodged itself in her throat. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears as her thoughts jumped to her mother – was she ok?
"She is asleep." Caleb, looking uncertain, placed the girl back on the side walk, but removed her tricycle from between her legs.
"Asleep?" Will echoed, watching the other bodies that littered the streets.
"D-Do you think Cedric did this?" Irma must have been thinking about her parents too and her little brother, because the fear that reached out from behind her eyes seemed to banish all doubt about the identity of their new teacher.
"He is not known for spells. Although, perhaps on Earth he could have."
"Do you think the whole town is like this?" Irma asked, but Caleb didn't seem to know what to say.
"We have to go to YanLin – she'll –"
It was the broken howl that came from behind the group that snapped them out of their reverie. Caleb had already sprung into action, pushing Will behind him and brandishing a knife. He needn't have worried because the sound was only Hay Lin.
Her face was covered in greasy tears which had dampened her sweater and hands. When she spoke, it was in a horrible sob-choked song of a voice, "I-I … Nana … is dead."
"What?" Irma rushed forward, "YanLin can't die! She can't!"Indeed, of all the things that had ever happened to them (parallel worlds, giant snake men and bug children included), this seemed the most impossible.
"She isn't dead." The others turned towards the newest voice, sickly calm despite the turmoil that seemed imminent. "She's asleep," said Taranee, "everyone in Heatherfield is asleep, except for us because we're guardians. The spell or whatever, didn't work on us."
Cornelia had seen the piles of still bodies (they were terribly hard to miss), collapsed in various positions all across the town. The baker was draped across a dozen of his cupcakes, struck down as he went to push them into the display window beneath the cash register. There was a jogger and her dog – she was sprawled on top of the asphalt but the yellow lab was not. It barked and howled to an unresponsive mistress, trapped by the firm grip on his leash that hadn't loosened in sleep.
Children were particularly eerie to see, hundreds of them were littered across the walkway up to the Elementary School, caught mid-run as they started to rush home.
She had started running after she saw that. Cornelia was quite fast, years of tennis had made her body as taunt as any professional athlete. Still, even as her legs pumped and her arms brushed her side, she couldn't banish the thought that it wasn't enough. She should have transformed! What could she do like this!
Cornelia was not one to feel helpless. Vulnerability was not something she understood or embraced and that was why, more than any other reason, that run to Heatherfield High was the longest fifteen minutes of her life.
"Elyon!" The halls and gardens of the High School were much like those next door. People were crumpled everywhere, hanging like cobwebs against a forgotten ceiling. They clung to the stairs and caught between doorways and tumbled out of lockers. "Elyon!"
Her voice travelled all throughout the quiet halls, darting into rooms before springing back out to echo in her ears. "Dammit! Elyon!"
But she knew the truth before she ever set foot into classroom in the High School, before she ever touched every blonde head she saw. Elyon wasn't there.
"It happened very fast. Everyone just dropped like flies," Taranee snapped her fingers for emphasis, startling Hay Lin who was latched onto her Grandmother's side like a fifth limb. They had come back to the Silver Dragon, and set up a pow wow in the fancier dining room with the exclusion of Irma, who had run home to check on her family (which was, of course the normal thing to do).
Will hadn't. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she found her mother sprawled across their tacky velvet sofa with her stories on. So she avoided the situation to the best of her ability and sat across the wooden table with Taranee and Caleb, forcing her erratic thoughts into a plan.
"If Cedric is responsible, this is a diversion." Caleb looked as though he would give anything to get away from the table. It was too still for him, too passive. While the world was collapsing around him he should not be standing still in the midst of it. "We would do well to ignore it."
"How can we ignore the fact that our town is asleep?" Taranee, who enjoyed arguing for the sake of arguments, relished in the fact that Caleb made a contrary remark every three minutes.
"If Cedric is who cast the spell, it would be broken on his death."
"And if he is not." She raised her dark eyebrows.
"Then we can return to find the true cause. It is not like they are going anywhere."
Hay Lin howled again. She had propped her grandmother up in a lounge chair, but Yan Lin who was at least one hundred years old did not have the youth to look young even in her sleep. She looked as though she'd rise at any second and begin scolding Will for tracking in mud on her fancier dining room (which had been used to entertain the governor in the eighties).
"Stop it!" Will mumbled finally, shaking herself from thoughts of her mother, "We can't fight Cedric anyways. And if he's got Elyon, he probably took her to her brother who we definitely cannot beat."
Irma returned a moment later, looking like a shell of her former self. Her eyes were red around the edges but no one had the lack of social sense to mention it. "Cornelia is coming." She mumbled.
True enough, Cornelia, disheveled and very, very pale, walked in only seconds after. She didn't say anything, but after the flood of still bodies across the town, no one had really expected her to find Elyon.
There were a few moments of silence that Irma felt obligated to break, even in her depression. "That awkward moment when your best friend turns out to be a princess of an alternate universe." She sniffled at the end and no one laughed. Finally, Hay Lin whined what everyone was thinking, "what are we going to do?"
It was as though a ton of bricks had fallen on Will's shoulders. She was already too tiny, hunched over in the corner, her neck sloping downwards as she stared at her distorted shadow on the table. She felt every eye on her, waiting for her answer but when the sound came they wished it hadn't. "There's nothing we can do for Elyon right now. We can't storm the castle, we can't get her back. Not yet."
"That is shit Will!" Cornelia screamed, she was already on her feet waving her finger accusingly. "What the hell do you mean, not yet? He could kill her by the time you've pulled your act together!"
"Getting ourselves killed won't help anyone Cornelia." Will said, and to her credit, she did not falter. "Right now we have to fix this … We have to wake Yan Lin up at least because we can't do this on our own."
"You mean you can't do this on your own." Cornelia snapped, she had started pacing, and Will was almost relieved to note that the eyes had decided to follow her instead. "I don't know who made you leader anyways! What, you think because you have that stupid sword you can tell me what to do! Well, you can't!"
"We can vote." Hay Lin chirped, but Cornelia rebuffed that as well. "We are not putting my friend's life to a vote!"
"Well, what do you wanna do Cornflake! Because if you didn't realize, we can't help your bff if we're snake food!" Irma snapped, "Besides, Elyon is not more important than everyone else in this town."
The blonde was about to respond, but Caleb's chipped tone cut her off. "Arguing amongst yourselves will not help anyone. This spell is a distraction … but one you cannot ignore." He watched Cornelia with solemn jade eyes, "I would not worry about your friend, if Cedric has not killed her already, he will not."
It was a small comfort, if any, but Cornelia didn't argue the point any longer. Elyon was either dead already, or beyond her reach. Her throat clogged up and her eyes stung but she refused to cry. Instead, she stomped out of the room.
"I can see now why no one wanted me to join this sorority." Taranee joked, but the silence continued. Awkwardly, she cleared her throat, "So," she turned to Will, "I take it you're in charge. What are we doing about this spell?"
"Um," Will bit her lip. She wished Yan Lin were here or Lucia but that was stupid. She was used to doing things by herself. It was something she prided herself on – of course she didn't usually have the fate of a thousand people on her back. "Hay Lin, maybe one of your Nana's spellbooks has something."
"I-I'll check," She cast a longing glance towards her grandmother, choked back a sob and then hustled into the basement.
"We should all help her check, it will go faster." Taranee put in, trying to be helpful. "I could google."
"You're an asset to our team," Irma droned. "I'll help Hay Lin look."
"Yeah," Will stood as well, "I'll come too." But Caleb stopped her. "I know you don't know what you are doing." He said in a low voice, "but you cannot wait too long. Even if Phobos does not kill his sister the mere fact that he has her is troubling."
"Don't you think I know that?" Will hissed, her eyes darted to Taranee and Irma, who were watching intently.
He ignored her. "It is also interesting that he went through all of this trouble to distract you." He seemed to be thinking out loud.
"Caleb, duh," she had a few choice words for him, really she'd had them for months and they were inching out of her lips when he surprised her by saying, "You will never conquer your enemies if you do not believe you can." He turned and left, following Cornelia, which made sense, since he was probably the only one she would maim right now.
Will stared at her sneakers for a little while after that, until Irma cleared her throat and mentioned that the entire town was frozen. "Right, let's go."
Elyon woke up without remembering having fallen asleep. It was a strange feeling, the confusion mixed with panic that infiltrated her drugged mind while the darkness around her dissipated. She realized that she was on a bed – and not her own. The terror swiftly overtook everything else as she took in the massive wooden bed with its elaborate burgundy canopy. The silk sheets draped across her body matched the canopy, which matched the drapes that hung in front of long windows built into thick stone walls.
There were torches on the walls, and thick tapestries and furs covered every inch of stone.
She definitely wasn't in North Carolina anymore.
The last thing she remembered was being at school, with Mr. Ames. Her heart dropped, did he bring her here? Adrenaline circled through her limbs as she scrambled out of the bed. She was still in her school clothes … whoever had brought her here hadn't even bothered to take off her shoes. With trembling hands she fumbled in her pockets and pulled out her cell phone.
Dead.
The desire to run was strong. It was the only thing Elyon could feel besides the sensation of heat evacuating her limbs. She tried to swallow but found that her mouth was dry. She didn't know what to do. So Elyon crawled under the bed.
The little blonde might have shivered there for the entire night, but eventually, someone else entered the room. From her vantage point, among the dust balls and cooing insects, she saw two pairs of feet come in.
The voices she heard were crystal clear, but she only recognized one. "S-She was-s right here s-s-ire."
"Cedric, I haven't the time!" The accent was strange, the voice was weak – but Elyon couldn't fear the voice. Something, something, in it was familiar.
"No … wait my Lord." It took four steps and before Elyon could react, she was pulled from her hiding place (collar first) by Mr. Ames.
Tears were streaming down her face by now, and she couldn't stop herself from trembling. "L-Let m-me g-go." Her stammer had worsened considerably. She shut her eyes as tight as she could and sobbed.
"There is no need to fear us child." It was the second speaker's voice. It had a strange effect on her, and slowly, she stopped crying. "That's better."
One eye eased open, and she watched the two men, both handsome, immaculate and blonde. "W-Why d-did y-y-ou b-bring m-me h-he … h-here."
"This is where you belong child." Mr. Ames released his grip on her collar, although he didn't move too far away, as though he was still unconvinced that she would run. He needn't have worried. She was too transfixed by the handsome blonde man in front of her. His crystal clear blue eyes and white blonde hair were just like hers.
"This is your home, Princess."
Despite having three pairs of eyes roaming the pages of at least four dozen books, it was Taranee and the internet chat that found an answer to the problem first. She walked into the basement, brandishing the pages of her research, much like she might have done if this were a Literature assignment.
"There are two options." She smirked, "the first is that he put something like a sleeping potion in the water supply or food and everyone ingested it and it fell asleep. Unlikely, so I crossed that one out. The second option is that he made a deal with an otherworldly entity."
"What kind of entity?" Irma asked.
"Like the God of dreams, Morpheus. That's my guess."
"Great." Will frowned, "are you sure it wasn't something else?"
"It's either the potion or you need to bribe Morpheus, as far as I can tell." She leaned against the wall. "Have you ever summoned a God before?" This question was directed towards Hay Lin.
"My Grandmother did … once." The Asian girl moved over to the bookshelf and plucked a tiny brown book from among the other tomes. "It was hard though. You had to do a chant and make some symbols in the ground and she did a sacrifice."
"I really miss the days when all I had to do after school was my nails." Irma grumbled.
"Well we're in a restaurant so the dead animals will be easy." Will slammed the text she'd been searching close. "We'd better get to the cemetery then. That's where your grandma usually does her voodoo right?"
"It's not voodoo." Hay Lin said, but admitted that they should head to the graveyard.
"Irma, get Cornelia and Caleb. We've got to hurry."
"This isn't going to work." Cornelia obviously moody, sat with her arms folded on a nearby tombstone, frowning. It was late into the night and the moon was already halfway into the sky. Irma (who was already pissed that Cornelia was the only one who hadn't helped drag the cauldron or the pounds of ingredients across town) had to be physically restrained by Will from jumping over and strangling the blonde.
Taranee and Hay Lin were in deep discussions about the seal they had drawn on the rigid dirt floor. Apparently, Taranee thought one of the loops wasn't loopy enough or something.
Caleb had been put in charge of the sacrifice, which was really only chicken feet, beef quarters and vegetable stock thrown together in a bucket. He'd already asked if he could have it for the rebel children when they were finished.
Finally, when all the loops were looped and the "sacrifice" was deemed acceptable, Hay Lin began the chant.
"I conjure Thee, O Ancestor of the Gods! I summon Thee, Creature of Darkness, by the Works of Darkness!"
Cornelia snorted, "for God's sake!"
"Shut up Corndog!" Irma snapped, "Don't we need to hold hands?"
Hay Lin stopped. "Yeah, maybe that would help." And they formed a circle, which Cornelia only joined when Caleb offered her his hand. Then, the chant began again. "I conjure Thee, O Ancestor of the Gods! I summon Thee, Creature of Darkness, by the Works of Darkness!"
That was all they heard, all they knew, before the ground fell away beneath them, and they tumbled into darkness.
Author: I'm back. This chapter I'm very excited about, so much so that I rewrote this about three times before I was satisfied. Admittedly, I've been a little distracted, I got a new kitten and I discovered the Hunger Games trilogy. The next section is the real action. I was gonna do a little more here, but I think the sequence will be better if done in the next part.
Without giving too much away, basically, the girls will be tormented by their worst nightmares. Hmm, wonder what that could be. Reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading!