Chapter Twenty-Five: The Augury of the Dryad
"Lillian, I-"- Cornelia's heart went right up her throat as she opened the door and witnessed the scene in front of herself.
The old bedroom on the second floor wasn't occupied by Lillian. Lillian was nowhere to be seen, but obviously, she wasn't in their mother's room either, and their mother was getting dragged away by two men right through the window.
"Let go of her!"- Cornelia demanded and pounced on the back of her mother's hijacker right before they could flee the scene.
The other man turned around, surprised, and attempted to hit the blonde but she was too fast; she bit the man holding Elizabeth's body so hard he screamed and recoiled, as she dodged the other's hit and kicked him in the groin.
She had to learn to fend off without magic, especially since they didn't have that here; she was thankful to Caleb for ushering her to learn some things throughout the years.
Not that she was a martial arts master or anything. But she could as hell put up a good fight when she had to!
"Who are you, goons? Who sent you?"- Cornelia barked again, as she dragged her mother's body away from the window and grabbed the heavy candlestick from the end table before the man she had bit could reach her.
She hit him in the forehead with the heavy marble body, knocking him out could.
"I asked you something,"- Cornelia narrowed her eyes but flinched when the one still standing pulled out an athame from his belt.
"You're asking for it, wanderer!"- he hissed at her.
"I'm asking of you to keep your hands off my mother!"- Cornelia yelled loud enough to attract the attention of someone else.
Another female voice suddenly sounded from outside:
"Alister? What's happening, who's putting up a fight?"
That was all Cornelia needed to act up. With a huff, she relentlessly picked up the end table and launched it at the distracted Alister who gasped and managed to move aside last minute.
The end table shattered the glass of the window and Cornelia saw her chance to get the bastard away from her unsuspecting mother.
With a scream, she launched herself at him this time, making them both fall through the now unbarred casement.
Cornelia struggled to take a breath of air and slowly pushed herself up again after that cascade. It did hurt quite a bit, they had just had a fall from the second floor, but she had landed on top of the man, who now lay unconscious on the grass under her.
"Cornelia…"
Her mother's faint voice made her instantly man up and forget about her physical pains. Cornelia looked up in shock, only to see Elizabeth weakly leaning against the window's broken glass.
She had come to her senses after over a week of her two daughters keeping her strongly sedated with different herbs.
And it wasn't good. Not as long as they were still in Fanu, centuries back in time!
"Mom, don't move, you hit your head!"- the blonde quickly lied; she had to keep the situation under control. Where the hell were Lillian and her helpers!? "Lay back on the bed, I'll come right up!"
To Cornelia's terror, the man she had knocked out cold in the bedroom suddenly rose up and caught her unsuspecting, deluded mother from behind.
Elizabeth, who was still unable to make much of her surroundings didn't even scream or have much of a reaction, but her daughter did:
"LET go of my mother, you fucker!"
She attempted to rush back into the house through the main entrance but then remembered it was locked from the inside. How had the two men made it inside then!? Cornelia didn't have time; she threw herself on the hedge growing on the outer walls of the small house and started to climb back towards the wrecked window she had just taken a fall through.…
"Not another move! Or I'll have him hurt her! You don't want that, do you?"
Cornelia stopped dead in her tracks; the female voice she had heard earlier while fighting the intruders upstairs was now behind her. Ordering her. Threatening her mom…
Drenched in cold sweat, the Hale daughter turned around coming face to face with a young woman dressed in ordinary fashion, much like herself and most of the women in Fanu.
She was a beautiful young woman, perhaps even younger than her, with unruly light blonde bangs and big dark brown eyes.
"What do you want from us!?"- Cornelia hissed, stepping back on the ground.
From the corner of her eye, she could see the man holding her mother, who appeared to have passed out once again, waiting for further instructions from the young woman.
She was the leader of this assault. Cornelia needed to have her mother safe. Then she'd easily overpower the woman. But how was she supposed to do that with that other man up there, his athame in his hand and no magic at her disposal…
"Just to talk,"- the other woman replied in a thin but determined voice. She looked at Cornelia in full alert but also somewhat intrigued.
Cornelia was just angry and scared:
"Talk about what?"- she barked. "Who are you? Why were you trying to kidnap my mother!? Do you work for Violet or something?"
That was a wrong move. At the mention of Violet, the woman's features became more hostile. Cornelia bit her tongue as her opponent frowned:
"You're not from around here,"- she concluded. "And you know Violet…How? If you're an enemy of hers, then we must be on the same page. But I don't understand…You're not touched."
"Excuse m,"
"You're not her. There must be someone else living with you here, right? Do you have…a sister perhaps?"
Cornelia didn't know what to say. This woman from the past knew more about them than she was supposed to. She knew about Lillian. Edgar and Mildred had specifically said that only they were supposed to know. This could fuck up the course of time.
Violet's craziness is going to ruin their future and our present and who knows what else, Cornelia thought fervently. What could she do now to stop this?!
"No, my mother and I…our home caught fire and we lost everything. We had relatives here, in Fanu, but we couldn't find them, so we looked for someone to maybe take mercy on us and we found them…This couple,"
"The Kasnoffs?"- the other woman asked, holding her breath.
Cornelia frowned. Kasnoffs? Where had she heard that name before...
"I'm not sure…we don't know them, they knew our relatives. So, they offered us this house in exchange for some gardening work and left. Said they had important work to attend to. But they warned us about some mad woman Violet first, said to look out for her because she's dangerous….or whatever."- Cornelia finished her hastily-concocted story and tried to look as convincing as possible.
It was very important for this woman, whoever she was, obviously not a supporter of Violet's, to believe her. They had to stop the past from altering like that…If it wasn't too late already.
"Whatever reason the Kasnoffs may have had for offering you shelter it must surely be of selfish and nefarious nature,"- the unknown woman concluded in the end; it was obvious she didn't completely buy Cornelia's reasoning but they could both hear horses approaching in the distance.
The woman who had tried to take their mother by surprise was suddenly in a rush to flee the scene.
Lillian, Cornelia immediately thought.
"Come on, men, we have to get out of here!"
"Wait,"- Cornelia blinked in perplexity. The other woman had just knelt and used healing magic on the man she had knocked out through the window.
Even without her powers here, Cornelia could feel it, being a potent healer herself. This was some serious healing aura, even if a little bit faint, perhaps lacking a proper power source.
Meanwhile, the man that had been threatening Elizabeth up until a few moments ago abandoned her and jumped through the window, landing on his feet and hands.
"Wait, what? You're just leaving? You didn't tell me what this was all about, how are you going to leave just like that?"- Cornelia demanded. "I lied, OK?"- she huffed when she saw no other way.
"I shouldn't have…I shouldn't have come here to seek… I know you lied,"- the other blonde stopped her rambling for a second, focusing her eyes on Cornelia strictly. Then she focused her eyes on the broken window and repaired it with a spell.
"No common girl does the things you did, fighting two grown men at all costs and so skillfully…. You're a witch. But it doesn't matter; if we couldn't ambush you and use your mother as leverage, this mission becomes merely desperate and pernicious,"
"This mission aiming to do what?"- Cornelia insisted, catching her by the elbow.
The other woman looked on pins and needles but she didn't break free of her grip.
"Melinda, the Kasnoffs are coming,"- the man she had referred to as Alister whispered. "We have to vanish!"
Melinda…Cornelia's eyes betrayed her astonishment at that revelation. She knew who this was. That energy. Her healing powers. The then-Earth guardian was in front of her. Her very early predecessor, Melinda. Who, if one could trust Violet, and one couldn't ever completely, would very soon fail at protecting the then-Heart of Earth from Jane Warren, their ancestor?
Fanu was a place where too many key players were involved, now more than ever.
And Cornelia didn't like that. She didn't like how Violet played with the past, present, and future for the sake of her deluded desires… She was an absolute destructive psychopath who was willing to do anything to become the Heart of Earth.
"I have a sister,"- Cornelia admitted. "We're not from around here; we're not even supposed to be in this time,"
"If your sister's with the Kasnoffs, you can be sure that they're not looking out for your family's better good. "- Melinda said. A look of more than concern sealed on her face. "If the Kasnoffs summoned you from the future….Lord, I can only imagine what wickedness they're up to,"
"Nelia? What…what are you doing here?"
Less than five minutes later, Lillian had found her. The broken window had been repaired by Melinda's magic. Melinda and her men were gone but as Cornelia turned around she couldn't conceal her raging emotions.
Lillian frowned slightly, touching her sister's arm:
"Nelia? What's the matter? Why do you look so tense?"
Her sister blenched as she met her eyes. Lillian's were insightful. She gazed right into her soul. Cornelia knew that as confused and angry as she was, she had to play it cool.
She couldn't afford Lillian to realize that she is once again suspicious of her truth.
She spied Edgar and Mildred getting inside the house. The Kasnoffs, as Melinda had called them. Thank God for her and her magic; she had even unlocked the doors to win precedence for her. Cornelia knew she couldn't waste it.
"I didn't feel too hot, that's why I went out. I think it's just my period,"- she shrugged.
"Oh, shit,"- Lillian made a compassionate face. It was just such an excuse that one would hardly ever doubt. "I didn't think about that at all, there are no proper feminine hygiene products around here… Don't worry, I'll ask Mildred to use her magic to help with that. In the meantime, I'm sure they have some sort of concoctions to alleviate the cramps and all that. I mean, we are in a realm of herbs and flora."
"Thanks, Lilly,"- Cornelia smiled in response. Apparently, she could still be coyer around her baby sister and use things to her advantage when the situation called for it. "Say, where did you, Mildred, and Edgar vanish off to just like that? You didn't tell me you were going out?"
Lillian's face immediately dropped at that, confirming her sister's suspicions. At first, the older Hale thought she sounded guilty but as Lillian went on, she knew she was being earnest:
"We trekked the area, Nelia. You know that we have to try to get ahead of Violet in order for our stay here to be of any use and not harm…People of the Eye are making their way to Fanu. They know that the Heart of Earth is going to face changes soon. Serious changes. A monumental day is approaching and all parties are coming out of their lairs and holes, trying to reap the benefits."
That applies to Melinda as well, Cornelia thought. Ugh, she shouldn't have known about us being here! What was I even thinking? Regardless of what happened last time, things have to happen in a similar fashion again in order for our present to not be disrupted… But why do I feel as though I'm missing something?
"Violet has the upper hand."- Lillian's serious voice took her sister out of her thoughts. "Only we can stop her."
"Don't forget about whatever dark entity has her back,"- Cornelia reminded.
"Yes…"- Lillian murmured.
"I feel like this isn't its first try at corrupting the Heart of Earth. The so-called entity's."
"Huh?"- Lillian looked confused.
Cornelia shrugged only to regret being so open with her the minute it was said:
"No, I just feel like it originally tried and failed, that's why it's now using Violet's demented desire as a tool to obtain it. For itself. That's gotta be why you manifested that portkey painting too. To balance out Violet's presence here."
"So, you think that this dark thing wants to keep everything for itself and Violet doesn't even stand a chance?"- Lillian sought clarification.
Cornelia frowned. She felt strange in the lukewarm night but she nodded:
"Well, duh, don't you? After all, I'm sure that your two friends, the Kasnoffs keep you posted about what's been going on in Fanu, since you're not under her control!"
Cornelia gasped. Why had she just said that out loud?!
But Lillian was already pressed and not less shocked than her sister:
"How do you know they're Kasnoffs?!"
"Oh, so you do admit you lied to me again, huh? I had a little hope you'd give up the villain-evil mastermind-shit antics, but in my heart, I, unfortunately, doubted it!"- Cornelia fired.
She realized that it was unnatural. How suddenly all coyness was forsaken by the both of them and how they were confronting each other openly, not thinking it through, but she couldn't stop. Lillian seemed to be unable to either:
"Oh, please, Cornelia, just because I didn't tell you that they're Kasnoff doesn't mean that I had ulterior motives, and what did you mean when you said I'm not under 'her control'? Do you know something that you're keeping to yourself as well?"
"Yeah, why should I be transparent with someone who I can't trust?"- Cornelia sneered. "You spared me Edgar and Mildred's history. What does the Kasnoff name mean anyway? I've heard it somewhere-"
"They're the Eye's biggest opposers, they've been fighting each other for centuries, that's not the point!"- Lillian snapped, feeling compelled to answer yet get to the point fast. "Whose control did you speak of-"
"Azor's, you dweeb, the ugly root that hypnotized me when me and the girls were needed here. I thought you had my footsteps and history here studied and all that jazz!"
Cornelia lifted her chin up and folded her arms on her chest, looking down at her sister.
"The Degenerate Rose? You think she's the entity helping Violet?"- Lillian blinked, visibly surprised. "Why? Just because she almost destroys Fanu in the future-"
"…Shouldn't mean that she's responsible for what happened 300 years ago. Or now, actually, since we're back in that time period, I know,"- Cornelia rolled her eyes. "But I just… know it. I've been her thrall. I've defeated her. I can feel her even without my magic. It's like we have some sort of bond left. I can feel her energy pumping in every bit of the nature of Fanu."- the older Hale revealed to her sister's stunned face. "She's alive. I've been thinking about it for days now but I couldn't just tell, not Edgar and Mildred, especially, we don't want to change things-"
"Well, you could've told me!"- Lillian snapped. "God, If we know what we're up against we can be done here and-"
"But we're not up against Azor, Lillian, we have to let her run her course here in order to have any powers in the future. Don't you get it?"- Cornelia exclaimed. She had a headache as if the influence of some hard alcohol over her was weakening. "We have to take, Violet. She's her leverage. Lillian, I think I met-"
The hind that suddenly emerged from the forested area in the distance cut the sisters' conversations off. They gasped at first but the beautiful animal couldn't unsettle them for long with its soft reddish coat and deep knowing eyes. It actually reassured them, leaving them with newfound positivity and a clearer mind…
The animal made a few gentle paces around the two Hales before looking them in the eye one last time and fleeing back into the woods.
Both women were in awe, even after the hind was gone. There was something symbolic and special about the interaction it had just had with them, just by frisking around with its energy.
"Did you feel that? It was so…beautiful,"- Lillian exclaimed with a soft dreamy smile.
"Yeah,"- Cornelia mused, calm eyes lost in the distance. "…and sobering…"
And as all feelings washed over and the two came to their senses for real this time, both sisters couldn't explain what had compelled them to be so open and honest with what they knew and planned given neither had complete trust in the other.
"OK, whatever just happened,"- Cornelia decided to take the role of the manager, as it came naturally to her. "We have to shut up, toughen up and just stop Violet from being Azor's leverage and then get the hell back in our time before another major fuck-ups. We will also need,
"Jane."- her sister finished for her. "After she gets…the powers of Heart of Earth. Yeah, I've been working on that. I actually met her today,"
"Wait, really?"- Cornelia was taken aback but Lillian made her a sign to stay calm.
"Under a cloaked pretext, obvi. The event is coming, Cornelia. And we don't know what exactly happened in the past. But this past is the present now and we have to stop it from crippling the future. The one that we belong to, OK? It's not going to be easy but we can do it. Me and you."
Cornelia tested her with a glance before smiling again. This she believed in.
"Come on; let's go check on mom"
Not long after they were gone, Violet's twisted face appeared behind the invisible glamour spell. She had been here. Listening all along. She had even cast a truth spell from her grimoire but the two sisters hadn't spilled out their guts just enough.
"She met Jane Warren yet you didn't?"- she spoke to the air. "I thought you accompanied the little tramp?"
"She's a clever little tramp. She keeps us at a distance and is always watching her back…"
When the other glamour was lowered, Violet didn't turn to look at Edgar and Mildred's faces.
"We couldn't even catch a glimpse of that Jane Warren today. Tomorrow, perhaps-"- Edgar suggested but Violet cut him off:
"Tomorrow is the night. Halloween night. Tomorrow, Jane Warren will take over the powers of the Heart of Earth and we're actually losing, despite all our precedence."- she was breathing hard. "Because Melinda's Familiar liberated the sisters from my truth trap! Melinda sent it! She has met them,"
"Wha…the deer?"- Mildred gasped in shock, remembering the doe. "Are you certain-"
"More than certain, unfortunately."- Violet hissed, eventually turning around to face the pair. "Which means that she knows about you. About them. Now they know about you too, because mind you, the Earth guardian from your time will surely out you. The Kasnoffs."
"So, now what are we to do?"- Mildred and Edgar exchanged unsettled glances. "What?! The only reason we didn't dispose of the two girls is using them as a golden bridge to Jane Warren but if they and Melinda have met-"
"But if this Melinda is so ever-potent how will Jane Warren succeed at getting the powers from the Heart? Isn't the current Heart under her patronage?!"
"All Hallows' Eve always bends all mystic rules to a new extent. And Melinda? Let's just say that she isn't exactly favoring the Heart under her so-called patronage,"
A bitter smile spilled over Violet's lips as she patted the grimoire, she held close to her chest.
The grimoire the cover of which was marked by the Kasnoff family crest.
"There. Now no one can find the portal back to Heatherfield, Heahterfield from our time,"
"Unless someone decides to go for a Halloween dive. What?"- Irma shrugged at the pointed looks she received. "I'm kidding, obviously,"
She and her friends had finally been able to reach Fanu from the time in which Cornelia and her family had been sent to, with a magic bean and the Heart's help. Will had suggested hiding the portal in a small cave deep under the surface of the Cole Lake, a lake that was still there, just outside Heatherfield of their time.
Naturally, as it wasn't a small lake, it had survived for centuries.
The Cole Lake also happened to be near the border of Heatherfield's sister dimension – Fanu, a border between two cities where the elements meet, which can only be passed by special people. Special like the guardians of Kandrakar…
"We have less than 20 hours to stop Violet and whoever or whatever is helping her. Jane Warren, the Hales' predecessor, will get her powers tonight."- Caleb reminded.
"That might be…a challenge. Since we don't exactly have our powers here,"- Irma gulped.
She was right and they all knew it. They had started experiencing it the minute they reached olden Fanu. Their elemental powers were diminished to almost nothing because the Heart of Kandrakar and the current guardians, their predecessors, were already functioning in this time.
"We're very low on power,"- Will agreed, looking down at the Heart. It flickered faintly.
It wasn't completely stale, it could still do some things, like redirect the portal and possibly close it, but one thing was for sure- she and her guardians would not do good in a battle.
A battle involving magic.
"We only have Nerissa's magic, the Mage ring is not present here, in Fanu, like the Heart obviously is, that's why it's functioning. And her Seal-"
"The Hearts of Nimbus and Arkhanta are not anywhere near Earth in the late 1600s. I will guide you all. Do not worry."- Nerissa herself was quick to say and then, as if to prove her words, she changed up their clothes with magic to match what people in Fanu wore during those years, promising an easier blend-in for the group.
Hay Lin and Taranee and their advancing pregnancies hadn't tagged along for this mission, but Matt was here.
Will looked over her shoulder and saw him smiling at her, reassuringly on the way. It would take a lot of effort and time but eventually, they were going to have some sense of normalcy back. Despite everything that had happened on both fronts between them. She believed that…
"In olden days, Halloween marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts established this day over 2000 years ago; they believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred."- Nerissa narrated as she walked. "I studied some books on this specific time period in Fanu. There should be a big bonfire in the center of the city tonight."
"Where the main events are going to take place."- Caleb murmured. "I'm sure Cornelia and the others will be there too."
"Yes,"- his mother agreed. "We are going to be there too. But first, we have to find the Druid."
"We all know there is more than one truth to that; Halloween bends all laws, even those of magic, making it possible for even Hearts to be taken by force."- Will remarked. "So, it's logical. That's how Jane Warren will become the Heart."
"Exactly."
"The Druid?"- Irma sought clarification.
"A magical patron of sorts. Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Mother Earth deities. During the celebration, the locals are going to wear costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins."- Nerissa explained. "So will we… For a land like Fanu, especially dependent on the volatile natural world, this is of big importance. The Druid makes predictions mostly to comfort the common people during the darker months. Then re-lits the hearth fires from the sacred bonfire to help protect the crops during the coming winter. In Fanu's particular case, worship the Heart of Earth and actually make winter skip them, from my understanding."- Nerissa pursed her lips. "Specific trivia about Fanu and Jane Warren's future death is scarcely available, unlike the legends and lore. They barely left any texts after the assassinations to come,"
Everyone knew who "they" were without saying. The Eye of God, Earth magic's severest foes from the time of the Middle Ages…
The story of those fanatics was bloodier and darker than they had originally anticipated. Even Kandrakar disregarded them because of their common origins and avowed inferiority, especially to the guardians. But that could be a deceitful perception, regardless of its credibility.
Because against all odds, the Eye of God was responsible for Earth magic's infamous decrease. With the burning of Jane Warren that was to come in this timeline, they were going to diminish magic on Earth for over three centuries to come…
All until the raw powers of the Heart of Earth finally choose Lillian Hale as their rightful holder.
Will felt shivers down her spine as she reflected on all that. She found it more intimidating and discouraging than she wanted to admit. And to think that Violet was aiming to change up all this, fucking history up on the go, just to have this power in herself was even more daunting and mind-boggling.
"I'm sick of time-traveling,"- Irma huffed as if having read her friend's mind.
"Mom, you and Will go find the Druid,"- Caleb started handing out tasks; "Matt, Irma, and I will try to get a better idea of the layout and maybe talk to Cornelia before tonight."
"Absolutely not, Caleb, I'm the only one with sufficient magic,"- Nerissa argued instantly, ignoring Irma and Matt's nods. "And even I don't have all my powers!"
"I have access to some of my powers, the ones from your magic, not that of Lillian's."- Matt pointed out.
"It is the best power divide we can do right now,"- Will agreed. "Come on, Nerissa. Everyone's going to be fine, don't worry-"
Nerissa's eyes were unreadable for a second before she yielded, knowing that there was no time to lose:
"Fine. We will keep communicating through that old mental link we shared when you were my thrall."
Matt blenched barely visibly but nodded. He could do that.
"We will go to the Druid. You are not to do anything on your own, especially if it's going to be foolish. Violet's very dangerous and she's not alone here."
"We know what Kandrakar said, the damn entity and all that."- Irma nodded fervently. "We want to be over with this shit as much as the next guardian group betrayed by their friend's sister's-"
"Irma,"- Will rolled her eyes then focused them on Matt: "Be careful. All of you,"
"Sorry, babe. Don't worry about us. We will win this battle once and for all,"
Matt smiled at the redhead, taking her hand in his for a short while.
"Be heedful, Caleb,"- Nerissa insisted, stroking his cheek. In her chest, she could feel her heart tightening.
"You too."- Caleb nodded at both her and Will, holding his mother's gaze with a reassuring smile on his lips.
"You're going to do what?!" – Mildred was shocked as she watched Cornelia haste around Elizabeth Landon's bed.
It was very early in the morning. Her husband had gone out to prepare for the celebration and what was to come.
By now they both knew that the two Hale sisters were probably somewhat aware of their history but still, this decision of Cornelia seemed just…irrational.
"You heard me,"- the blonde insisted. "I'm going to wake up my mother."
"But you and Lillian both insisted she should be kept sedated, that she shouldn't be aware of her surroundings and what's going on! About magic-"- Mildred tried to reason with her but Cornelia was unshakable.
"Look, whatever's going to happen will happen tonight and we'll have to leave one way or another. Yes, Mildred, it's Halloween, I know what that means."
Mildred flinched and stared at the blue eyes in front of herself, her palms sweating, one reaching for a dagger hidden in the belt of her dress… But Cornelia didn't confront her. In fact, she flabbergasted her again:
"And after that woman tried to kidnap mom and use her as a bargaining chip, I don't want to risk it anymore. I don't want mom laying around, being vulnerable to Violet's attacks! Better have her follow us confused and with magic exposed to her than risking her life."
"S-someone tried to enter this house? To take your mother?"
Mildred looked at the young woman in trepidation. A big part of her saw this as an opportunity. Maybe Melinda hadn't had the chance to talk to the sisters. Maybe they didn't know that much yet. Maybe Violet was wrong and they had a bigger chance to win without any radical changes in the plan…
Cornelia sighed and sat on the bed:
"I didn't tell anyone. But yes, it happened while you three were out,"- she began. "I know you have trust in Lillian, you believe she'll be your savior and all that but I'm still not sure. And I don't know what to do,"- the Earth guardian shook her head, looking up into the woman's dilated eyes.
On the inside she smirked; Mildred had taken the bait. If she could play her and her husband before the sacred fire she had heard them discussing while eavesdropping the previous night…
"Lillian!"
Cornelia jumped up on her feet, outraged, watching Mildred's body slump unconscious to the ground.
"Wow, that felt honest,"- her younger sister, who had just knocked the older woman out with a heavy clay vase from behind remarked. "Maybe it still is, who knows? You're not sure about me, I deserve that."
"Why did you just do that?"- Cornelia cut her off, cross, pointing at Mildred and then the vase.
"Because we have no time to divide and conquer or whatever it was you believed you were doing."- Lillian rolled her eyes, putting the vase aside. "We hadn't put the pieces together before you heard them talk but as much as nature doesn't give it out, it is Halloween. Tonight, Jane Warren has to get the powers from the current Heart. We have zero time to waste!"
"So, what do you suggest we do with her now? Edgar will be back, you know!"
"Let him,"- Lillian smiled darkly. "Give me that stupid paste we use to keep mom asleep. I'll use it on Mildred, just in case, so she doesn't wake up soon."
Cornelia growled to herself but obliged.
"And then?"
"Then we'll tie her up, gag her and hide her body in the rain barrel on the roof,"- Lillian declared calmly as if she was retelling a cake recipe.
She had obviously given this some thought because after she put the paste under the woman's nose, she took her hand and rubbed the ring finger she had on.
"What are you doing now?"- Cornelia wanted to know before getting down on her knees to start fastening the ropes her sister threw at her from the wardrobe.
"Their wedding bands are charmed. They use them to talk to each other and perform small spells. I'm calling Edgar back home,"- Lillian explained before pulling the dagger from Mildred's belt.
"So that we can demand some answers from him before lathering him with the paste and go find Melinda ourselves,"- the young Hale concluded, firm eyes focused on the blade.
Cornelia didn't argue because, despite its violent nature, it was the better plan. She and Lillian hadn't had much time to discuss strategies last night between taking shifts to sleep, eavesdropping, and playing it cool in front of the Kasnoffs who had tried to keep throwing dust in their eyes.
Cornelia hated how she hadn't seen this coming earlier. Instead, she had spent days with these people, discussing plans against someone who they were probably in cahoots with.
Melinda's words echoed in her ears as she and her sister gagged Mildred and dragged her up to the rain barrels. Maybe she was right.
Maybe it wasn't Azor, the Degenerate Rose, or an evil entity at all, but the two Kasnoffs behind Violet's back all along.
Together, they had cooked up this plan, tricking Lillian they were on her side while actually being her enemies, taking her, her sister, and mother all together as hostages without them realizing.
But if that was the case, what had they waited for so long? Why not kill them once they had them go back in time with the damn painting when they no longer had their magic here?
Obviously, they had needed Lillian's immense power to manifest the time travel line at first but once they actually had them?
Cornelia couldn't keep thinking about all that because by the time she and her sister got down to the living room, Edgar was already there:
"Where is she?"- he wanted to know, his deep voice startling the two sisters. "Where's Mildred?"
The Hales exchanged glances. By his fast arrival, the minacious sitting pose in that chair, and his overall attitude, it was evident to both of them- he knew. Somehow, he was already aware of what they were trying to do and he was here to stop it one way or another, Lillian realized uneasily, spotting the arbalest behind the armchair…
"I'm going to be straightforward,"- the balding man declared, slowly standing up. "You're not going to make it out of here alive. She was too late. The Earth guardian,"- he hissed with a strange smile on his face. "We hid you too well. Do you think that after being able to protect the cause for over a week we shall let you slip on All Hallows' Eve?"- Edgar let out a guttural laugh watching the two sisters take a step back up the stairs. "Here is how it is going to be. You will tell me where my wife is. Then you will tell me all you know about Jane Warren. You met her yesterday and demanded us at a distance but now you will lead us to her if you want your family to remain alive!"
Lillian gave him a bitter but challenging smile:
"Is that so? Why? So that you can throw her in that nutjob Violet's hands and help her ruin our entire world? Think again, clown."
"The idea of the plan was much more elusive, you know, but it wasn't meant to be, by the Dryad's will."- the man shook his head.
Cornelia didn't let the arbalest he was reaching for right now away from her eyes…
"But now when we no longer have time and you become aware of certain truths, I'm afraid that we'll have to do it the bestial way-"
"Use that thing on us and you'll never see Mildred again,"- Cornelia shot. "Get back!"
But Edgar just laughed:
"How far away could you have possibly taken her in the five minutes it took me to come home? Yes, witches, I was waiting for you to call me on her behalf. I knew you would,"
"Don't pay attention to him, Nelia, he's desperate because he knows that only I can give him the information he needs for his boss."- Lillian narrowed her eyes. "They already tried to make me speak nicely a hundred times, now they'll try everything else but kill me, because if he doesn't get the answers Violet has tasked them with getting, she's going to kill him and Mildred herself."
"I may not kill you, but choose between killing your sister and mother I can, unless you give me the information I ask!"- Edgar said, though it was apparent he was failing at keeping his cool with every passing minute.
Cornelia estimated the situation. It was almost a stalemate. Unless they could take him down…
"Listen, Edgar, you're both long dead in my present that I will be going back to tonight, but if you'd like to be a widow from today on, be my guest, keep walking on my nerves,"- Lillian glared at him. "Drop Violet while you still can, buddy, her insanities will ruin your present too,"
For a moment it seemed as though he realized that. As if he hesitated. But then Edgar knelt down to take an arrow for his weapon…only to find all arrows replaced with flowers.
"How did you do that!?"
He didn't even have time to register his wife's charmed band on Lillian's finger. She had done that trick with its help…
Edgar couldn't confront her about it because he got caught in the big net they had just thrown at him, falling to the ground where Cornelia kicked him in the balls before he could use magic to escape.
"This is how,"- Lillian glowered at him after she pulled his charmed band away.
"Come on!"- Cornelia panted after she smeared the herbal paste under the raging man's nose. "We have to get mom and get out of here before Violet has decided to come herself. She's more powerful than us in this time-"
"Take his band. It has some magic in it,"- Lillian ushered, handing her sister the ring. "I know-"
"But she isn't more powerful than the three of us,"- a new voice interfered.
The two sisters turned around on high alert.
"Melinda?"- Cornelia exclaimed in relief when she recognized the new presence.
Melinda had entered the house through the main door with a reassuring smile on her face.
Cornelia and Lillian exchanged relieved looks before rushing up the stairs to take their mother and get ready. They had to leave with Melinda, the Earth guardian of this time. That way they were going to be a couple of steps ahead of Violet and another couple of steps closer to home.
Less than ten minutes later, they were all ready and in Melinda's carriage. Cornelia recognized Alister, one of the Earth guardian's helpers, navigating the two horses pulling the carriage in the front.
It was a beautiful day in the aways-green lands of Fanu. The sun was shining bright but a certain chill could be indeed felt in the air. Whether it was the "coming winter" or what was to come tonight, Cornelia realized that the gravest dangers hadn't yet passed them.
"The Kasnoffs are responsible for so many of our problems because of their fear. They fear the people who've found their way from the outside."- Melinda started her story soon enough. She looked through the window of the small carriage, a sad but pensive look on her face.
The Eye of God, Cornelia thought meeting her sister's eyes, knowing she thought the same.
"The Kasnoffs come from a powerful line of magic-users, most of them live in London, but Edgar and Mildred were sent here, by the Prodigium. In Fanu, thought the Prodigium didn't have the needed authority. The Prodigium is frankly-" (reference to chapter 12)
"A council of magic-users that operates most of magic on Earth, yeah, we know,"- Lillian interjected.
Melinda nodded:
"Oh, so they are still an important pillar in your time? Nevertheless, I shouldn't be asking that. The point is that they have no authority over Kandrakar matters; I'm a guardian of Kandrakar! But because of our guardian group suffering… change, we didn't oppose the Prodigium at the trial when it was decided to allow them in Fanu. Most of the important people in that council are related to the Kasnoff family either way. I knew that the Kasnoffs here, in Fanu, the home of the source of all Earth magic would at some point pose a threat. And they did; many times. Because the Kasnoffs are afraid and they do things, they do things they believe will alleviate situations when in fact they only make them more pernicious..."
Cornelia and Lillian exchanged looks again. Between them, Elizabeth was a little restless. Cornelia sighed and pulled out the paste that she despised at this point. She had used it on her mother so many times because of their bitch aunt who dragged them here.
"There's a new threat looming over our horizons. They called them the Eye. Witch hunters… A serious group of dangerous people who want to destroy magic is gaining ferocity."- Melinda closed her eyes. "The Kasnoffs are extremely afraid of them. All around the planet, they're doing foolish things, just like the witch hunters. When the hunters somehow made their way to Fanu, they went mad with fear. They challenged Kandrakar's decision, angering the Oracle. The Kasnoffs now had pretensions concerning the power of the Heart of Earth. They believed they have to have it under their patronage to fend off the threat. That is why the Oracle made me her chaperone here in Fanu. The Kasnoffs didn't accept that well. The same man and woman you were with conjured a powerful evil that they lost the reigns of. An evil that corrupted the Heart of Earth from within and will do with its great power as it wishes."
"Wait, what?"- Cornelia exclaimed. "Does that evil turn people into alienated-cold versions of themselves? She, I mean it-"
"Those who've encountered her haven't lived to tell,"- Melinda shook her head and the two sisters could see her fear. Sealed in her face. This evil was Azor, Cornelia decided. She was the evil conjured by the Kasnoffs. "But yes…some are touched by it. That's what I hoped you wouldn't be, and thankfully you are not. It rots them from the inside. The touch of that fiend. She was also touched. Mary…The girl holding the Heart of Earth, a girl Kandrakar has worked with, is no longer herself and nothing can lift the influence of the dark power that has her in its claws. Day after day, she's becoming more and more unstable and dangerous to not only the witch hunters but the entire Earth-"
"And where's Kandrakar in the entire story? Why aren't they interfering?"- Lillian asked before she could bite her tongue. Cornelia gave her a pointed look. They had to keep in mind they were here to keep things as they should happen not to help Melinda with ideas that could change history.
"I'm all that Kandrakar has right now,"- Melinda murmured. "In any event, I've known about you since the Dryad, my mentor, made a new prophecy. About you, about Violet. A future generation linked to the one I've chosen to become the new Heart of Earth would come. And you did come. It took me a while to find you because of the Kasnoffs' cloaking spell but now that I have and we have rendered them harmless, I can be free-spoken with you. I know your truth, lassies,"- the guardian looked at the two Hales. "Your roles in your time…you have to make sure you will keep them. That we keep our future and you do yours. We all want the same but Violet."
"But why did you say you needed our mother as leverage yesterday and acted as if we were another unknown party?"- Cornelia furrowed her brows. She could actually see what Melinda was saying be true. It made sense. Even the Universe created shortcuts for what was right and hindrances for what was wrong, and in this case, when Violet was selfishly risking the lives of so many, it only made sense.
"I was testing the waters yesterday, so to speak. I needed to open your eyes to the truth and your hearts to each other. My mentor sensed differences and tension between you that the Kasnoffs were using to keep you at their disposal."- Melinda explained. "That's why when I finally located the house, I sent you on a wild goose chase. You didn't meet with the real Jane Warren yesterday, Lillian."
"What?"- Lillian blinked in surprise.
"It was a doublet, to set things into motion. Violet came out of her hiding to meet the Kasnoffs and they cast a truth spell on you because of Lillian's refusal to let them in on where Jane Warren was and what they had talked about. After all, that is why they needed you, because it proved impossible for them to get to me and Jane Warren on their own and they counted on our meeting. But I was a step ahead of them thanks to my mentor, despite Violet helping them."- Melinda went on. "I sent my Familiar to liberate you of the spell before Violet and the Kasnoffs got anything they desired to hear but not before you both were more or less on the same page. This time without any doubt because times to be doubtful are over. The Dryad says so, and I do realize it myself, All Hallows' Eve is my last chance to save Earth magic. Our last chance."
Cornelia and Lillian looked at each other again and exchanged nods. Melinda was definitely telling the truth and the fact that she was up to date with the specifics around them already was going to be helpful. Together, they could actually exit this situation as winners.
"Look, Melinda, you've already done it once. Violet came to change that but we came along too, and we're not going to let her do that."- Lillian said in the end. "Tell us how you did it, I mean plan to do it and we will make it happen, the three of us!"
But before the Earth guardian could respond, the carriage stopped abruptly. Alister shouted before something grabbed him and pulled him up in the air. This was an assault attempt!
Melinda gasped and tried to get a hold of herself. Before she or the spooked sisters could react, a scourging energy beam went around the roof of the carriage and then it got literally removed from the top, like a lid from a can.
"They're here!"
Lillian was too stunned to speak.
"Matt?!"- Cornelia exclaimed and stared at Shagon at a loss for words.
Melinda let out a groan when the large Knight repelled her attack and before she could fire her light green energy again, someone had taken the reins and was skillfully guiding the startled horses to make a stop.
"Who are you, people?!"- Melinda screamed at the two men who had hijacked her carriage just like that.
"No time for introductions,"- Caleb turned around to say coldly just before Matt grabbed Melinda by the arms and pulled her away.
She screamed, but she wasn't going to give up without a fight.
At her command, strong roots sprouted out of the earth and bound themselves around Shagon's wings.
Another pair of roots attempted to overwhelm Caleb who swing at them with his sword; amid the commotion, no one seemed to hear Cornelia's protests and attempts at explaining the situation, because now the horses were galloping madly, frightened by all the sounds and the opening earth, and the carriage was moving at a tremendous speed, threatening to fall apart.
"CALEB, STOP IT, SHE'S FROM THE GOOD-"
Cornelia's words got stuck in her scream as she rolled back, and left behind the carriage, the back of which had given in.
"CORNELIA!"
"Shit!"- Matt, who was still following in the air, holding Melinda, gasped.
"MATT!"- Lillian, already spooked by her sister's fall, screamed when Melinda blasted at the winged Knight with her powers, knocking him down this time.
She managed to graciously fall right by Cornelia's side and heal her open wound as she simultaneously made the wilding horses stop.
But Caleb had already cut the animals' reins and ropes bounding the car to them; they stopped galloping, but it never stopped moving. Not until it went right between the horses and crashed into a big oak tree in the distance.
Thankfully, Caleb had managed to jump off with Lillian and Elizabeth before the collision.
"Step away from her!"- Caleb growled at Melinda who was still by Cornelia's body, cautiously studying her surroundings.
They had derailed to the side of the road near a large sunflower field. Alister was gone and her car was in pieces. These men threatened her and acted as if they knew the sisters.
What should I do?...
Melinda summoned her magic in her hand:
"No,"- she declared. "I will not let you ruin our chances of saving Earth magic!"
"Who are you?!"- Caleb spat, pointing his sword at her.
It was enchanted to cut through dark magic but this woman's magic wasn't that…
Caleb let out a yelp when her telekinesis disarmed him. He glared daggers at her:
"I ask the questions around here!"- Melinda raised her hand again. "Not another move!"
"Ugh, this is the Earth guardian of this time, Caleb, stop it! We were just talking about our strategy to defeat Violet!"- Lillian had left her mother under one tree and was finally up on her feet after the cascade, ready to talk about this mess.
"Why should I trust anything coming out of your brazen mouth?"- the man barked. "All I know is that you and your crazy aunt dragged Cornelia and Elizabeth through that painting! I know about Violet's intentions but I don't know anything about an Earth guardian! I want to talk to Cornelia right now!"
"If you hadn't thrown her out of the carriage and shattered it into pieces, maybe it would've happened faster!"- Lillian noted snidely. She endured the man's harsh glare. She knew he had a good reason to dislike her but there was no time for this right now.
Melinda, on the other hand, was conflicted. These interactions were puzzling her.
"Drop the attitude, you little b! You're still going to pay for all your crimes after this!"- Irma's loud voice echoed as she caught up with them, helping both Matt and Alister, who had been taken down during the fight that had broken out.
Finally, they were all calmer and together in one place. The group of three had found the Hales with a pre-made locator's potion, and Melinda and her jockey, who had been attacked because of misunderstanding the situation.
Cornelia was slowly coming back to her senses, thanks to the healing magic:
"You three are from the sisters' time?"- Melinda suggested.
"Yeah…"- Matt de-transformed and looked around himself. Her magic still had him a little dizzy.
"I'm the older sister's fiancé,"- Caleb announced and protectively pulled the still-awakening Cornelia next to himself.
"How did you come here?"- Lillian asked but everyone ignored her.
"Yeah, and you were saying you're the Earth guardian? Where are the other guardians?"
Melinda squirmed as if Irma's question punctured her heart like a bullet.
"Gone."- was her laconic comment.
Nerissa and Will came through the waterfall, dry thanks to the Seal's magic.
They found themselves in a large meadow, surrounded by hedges and bark, overgrown with wildflowers, as if inside a great tree. There was even a ceiling of wild vines and ivy covering almost the entire space.
The Dryad's Sanctuary was a very beautiful and magical place. Like the rest of Fanu.
"You've been permitted in my Sanctuary which means that you carry more significance and benignity than malice and cowardice."
The two women looked around themselves, unable to distinguish where the mystically elevated voice was coming from.
Nothing. Nothing in sight.
"Uhh...that's good to know,"- Will remarked, smirking at Nerissa who looked at her blankly, indifferent to the small jab at her.
"Dryad, we come to seek practical advice,"- Nerissa turned to the air. "We have come here from the future to stop Violet Martens, a future descendant of Jane Warren from changing the course of history and destroying our world's reality. But we need to know how…"
No answer followed.
"I'm sorry, but we're in a hurry, Dryad, if Violet succeeds tonight the results will be catastrophic,"- Will added, losing patience. "She's a miserable villain who's been rampaging for way too long now-"
Nerissa made her a discrete sign to stay quiet.
The leaves around them moved with an uncanny gush of the wind. A thousand different plants, as if all around the city-state, producing a thousand different sounds like a song of pure harmony. Will was in awe. If Hay Lin had been here, she would've been over the moon.
"I know all about you, guardians. I've already made a prophecy."- the invisible Dryad's rich voice interjected again. "Find my student. I believe that the rest of your comrades have already encountered her."
"Ok, that may be so but we have our concerns. Nerissa and I, we both feel something. The Heart of Kandrakar, though it's mostly not working in this time, feels it too,"- Will insisted, pulling the Heart out of her bosom. It sparkled gloomily. Darkly. Like she had never seen it sparkle before.
Will felt a lump up her throat. Something was going to happen. She knew it.
The Dryad made another long pause.
"All that is to know I've already predicted-"
"No, no you haven't, not to us!"- Nerissa snapped, losing her composure all of a sudden. That tension she was feeling was playing a symphony on her nerves.
Will caught her by the wrist, alarmed by what could follow.
The older woman sighed, a single wrinkle of worry twitching between her eyes before she relaxed her face and spoke again:
"Anyone permitted in your Sanctuary is entitled to an augury, yes? So, give us one."- she looked sternly in the distance. "Now."
"Wilhelmina, you're a strong and responsible leader, who has managed to uphold their position of Head-Guardian of Kandrakar far longer than most, as history shows. Many of your predecessors got overwhelmed, overpowered, or even utterly mastered by the burden of Xin Jing and needed a roll of the rooks, aid, or even incarceration,"- the Dryad sang in its whispery highs. "But not you. Not until about a year ago when your path was drastically changed against your will and you entered a period of your life where change might occur for the better or worse. You've gone against the flow. You may never be the same, Wilhelmina."
Will almost blenched at the last part. It sounded ominous. She knew what it was about though. Phobos…
"Nerissa."- the Dryad went on. "You. You almost didn't get to be here, in my Sanctuary. You gave in to darkness. Embraced it. Was on the verge of no return more than once. Villain, murderess, hero, or simply Kandrakar's darkest secret and most powerful weapon? A little bit of all that, I must say. Your flawed moral compass is only parried by your motherly love, but what if one day soon you're met with an impossible choice regarding that same love…"
Nerissa felt her insides swirl in a trance-like state but had to snap:
"No choice is impossible when my son is on the scale. I'll always choose him, that's not what we asked to know."
The Dryad didn't reply at once:
"You'd be surprised how the scales can be in equilibrium. Even for you,"- it added a laconic comment. A comment that didn't stand right with Nerissa.
"What mesmerizing readings. Like tarot."- she scoffed.
"Dryad, please. Why is the Heart feeling like this? Why are we feeling like this?"- Will spoke with a dry throat. "It can't be because of our individual destinies, it's something that's going to be here and only here. In Fanu-"
"That is correct,"- the Dryad almost sighed. "What you and the Heart of Kandrakar sense does mean something in particular. It means death."
Will gaped. That had been more straightforward than she had expected.
Nerissa's eyes went wide with terror.
"Whose death?"- the black-haired woman insisted as the redhead instinctively clutched her hand.
"A guardian's."