Mystique Hollow was really different this time around. When Charlie, Angel, and Louis crossed over to the other side of the bridge there was no glittering theme park or enchanting world that the girl had seen many times before. This time it was a deep and dark forest, one that was misty and trees twisted into creepy forms and they could hear random shrieks that didn't resemble one of any creature they were familiar with. Poor Charlie and Angel could feel their courage waver with each step they took and each time they saw a tree that looked like some monster reaching out to grab them. But the knowledge that there were friends and family here counting on them, allowed them to press forward.
"So do you know where we're going?" Charlie asked Louis, hoping a conversation would distract her from the scary atmosphere.
"Yes. We're going to Alastor's bureau." The owl answered.
"Where's that?"
"It's probably the safest place in all of Mystique Hollow. It's the only place where Levana's power can't reach because there are no mirrors there. It's also where all the toys who weren't corrupted reside."
"Corrupted toys?"
"The toys she didn't twist and turn into nasty creations. The ones that still follow their true purpose."
"Which is?"
"To love children. As you've probably already read in the book, this world really was intended to be a place for unloved and unhappy children. But then Levana got her hands on it and turned it from a sanctuary to a trap."
"How was she even able to do it?"
"She and the toy maker a.k.a Issac Coleman, were brother and sister, and something in their bloodline, and to this day no one knows, caused them to be born with incredible abilities. For Issac it was creation, for her it was transformation. Unfortunately these two also happened to have been born during the 1600's, a time where folks would pretty much hang anyone who was different out of fear of witchcraft. Although in Levana's case, I can't say I'd blame them."
"Wait a minute, you're telling me this broad lived during the 1600's?" Angel said in disbelief. "Just how old is she?"
"400 to be exact."
"But that's impossible, nobody can live that long."
"Not unless they made a deal with hell, which she did no doubt."
"But what about Issac? Did he live that long before he died?"
"No." The owl sighed. "He died in 1647, from a hanging which she set him up for."
"She did that to her own brother? Well...Then again considering what he did to her children-"
"Wait a minute, what did she tell you about him exactly?"
"She told me that he took her real children away from her after proving her an unfit mother just because she was single, poor, and had taken many lovers. And that he later abused them to death."
"That's a lie!" Louis cried furiously. "Levana was the abusive one. She treated those children like they were pets, something for her to own. To be a master over. To just amuse her. She also used them to gain sympathy from the church and the townsfolk. Issac on the other hand loved them like they were his own. In fact he secretly used his gifts to build this world and these toys for them. To make them happy. How he adored all the children in the town but none more so than his nieces and nephews. And they loved him, loved him more than their own mother and she noticed it. She became jealous, couldn't stand the fact that her own children preferred him over her. She turned physically abusive."
"And nobody did anything to stop her?" Charlie asked.
"Issac tried to tell everyone but they didn't believe him. They thought he was crazy and Levana was very good at coming off as charming and caring."
"What about the children? Did they ever say anything?"
"No but Elizabeth, the oldest child, would rebel against Levana. She was always trying to convince her brothers and sisters to run away with her. To go live with their uncle, but Ruth, Simon, Willy, and little Mary were too afraid and the second oldest Abigail was too blinded by her desperate need to earn Levana's love to see the truth. Elizabeth and Abigail would fight constantly over what was best for them, and when Jacob Ludlow came into the picture things really turned dark."
"Who was he?"
"Jacob Ludlow was Issac's young apprentice. He and Elizabeth were in love and when she was sixteen, he asked Levana for permission to court her daughter. That was the final straw. Levana felt that her brother was trying to take her children away from her and that they had betrayed her by loving other people. So one night she..."
The owl started to wince in pain, as if recollecting a horrible memory.
"She locked the children in the house and set fire to it. Issac saw the smoke and managed to get there in time to save Mary but Abigail, Ruth, Simon, and Willy were already gone."
If Charlie and Angel weren't utterly terrified to the core before then they were now. They just couldn't believe what Louis had said. A mother purposely killing her own children. Actually burning to death the very people she carried inside her stomach for nine months, then brought into this world, and raised. She really was the devil.
"What..." Charlie said trying to control her heart rate. "What happened to Elizabeth?"
"She wasn't there that night." Louis explained further. "She had sneaked out to spend the night with Jacob. She came back the next morning to find most of her entire family destroyed. As if killing her brothers and sisters weren't enough, Levana framed her uncle for the murder and convinced the townsfolk he did it by exposing his secret powers. They hanged him. That witch had fooled everyone, everyone except Elizabeth. She knew without a doubt her mother had slaughtered those children, so she took Mary and ran off with Jacob. Levana chased after them but the clever girl had brought along the toys her uncle made her and they stalled that witch, long enough for the three to escape. Levana never saw Elizabeth or Mary again. But as you know that wasn't the end of her madness. After that she took control of Issac's work and used it to steal other people's children to replace the family she ruined. For years children vanished from the town without a trace and no one knew why. But then Issac's toys that remained untainted, found a way to slow her down."
"How?"
"One night, as Levana was getting older, they witnessed her make a pact with a demon in which she would trade her soul for immortality. Using this information to their advantage, they swiped holy water from the church and began to dig a river beneath the bridge that boarded between this world and the real world. Then upon pouring holy water into the river, it made it impossible for anyone lacking a soul to cross the bridge. Thus trapping her in that world forever."
"So that's why she never leaves that place."
"That's why no one she lured here can leave either. Your eyes and your hearts are the gateways to your soul and once you give them up, you can't cross the bridge anymore than she can."
"Does that rule apply even if the river dries up?"
"Pretty much. Even if the water evaporates, the holy liquid has already been absorbed into the soil and rocks. It's permanently blessed."
"Well it's nice to know that at the very least, she'll never ever get out. But neither will Vaggie, Molly, Alastor, or any other victim over there."
"They can if you can find their eyes and Molly's heart. That's their only chance."
Suddenly Louis became stiff and slowly turned his head, as he was sensing for something.
"What is it?" Charlie asked.
"I hear something. I think it might be one of her spies."
"What we do?"
"You two are going to have to be on your own for a while. I'll catch that spy and see what it knows."
"Wait you can't just leave us alone like this." Angel said. "I'm new here, I don't know anything about this place."
"And you're the only one who knows where Alastor and Octavia are." Charlie added. "We can't find them without you."
"Not necessarily. Do you still have the crystal he gave you?"
"Yes."
"Use that."
"How?"
"Tell it where you want to go and it'll lead the way."
"But-"
However the owl had flown off silently, leaving the teenagers alone. Charlie then reached inside her bag and pulled out the crystal she had brought.
"I'd like to find Octavia. Please."
After that the glistening sphere dropped from her hand and started to slowly roll along a path in the forest. Charlie and Angel followed it, feeling both amazed and frightened by everything around them.
"I really don't like this Charlie. I mean I had a feeling that we were dealing with someone psycho, but this goes beyond psycho. This a woman who killed her pwn children."
"I know." Charlie was still trembling from hearing such awful news. "How can any person even bring themselves to do that? It just seems so impossible."
"And you know what's really scaring me about all this?"
"What?"
"If she's capable of burning her own children to death, what do you think she'll do to other people's children? To Vaggie? Molly? To us?"
"I don't wanna think about it. I really don't."
She kept her attention on the crystal yet she still conversed with Angel to keep her fear under control.
"At least Octavia is safe. I don't know what in the world I'd do if Levana ever found her. Vaggie's always been able to hold her own but Via is hardly more than a baby. Oh she must be so scared right now."
"Her? What about me? I haven't been this scared since I sneaked into that R-Rated killer doll movie when I was twelve. A couldn't go near toys for a month."
"You know between you and me, I think that genre of horror is getting kind of old. I mean it's always the same story, doll gets possessed by something evil and it kills people. At this point it's kind of getting boring."
"I just hope these toys that your friend Alastor has aren't like the ones in those movies."
"I doubt it. Remember what Louis said, these toys love children and if I know my childhood lore, toys who love children will protect them at any cost."
"I'm sorry, childhood lore? What is that supposed to be?"
"When I was a kid I used to be scared to go to bed cause I thought monsters were in my closet. To get me to go to sleep my parents would tell me that my toys would protect me from the monsters. Now I'm pretty sure my toys don't come to life, but I think that story nought be true for some of the toys around here."
"Well just to be safe, I'm keeping this gun on me. I've seen enough movies to know what living toys are capable of."
"Um Angel."
"Yes?"
"I hate to scare you anymore than you are but don't guns usually fail to kill the evil dolls in those movies?"
Angel turned pale in the face.
"Why did you have to tell me that?"
"Sorry."