Chapter 6
In the quiet English countryside, a small hole filled with light started to open up in the ground. A few sheep started towards the hole, making noise in curiosity as they observed it before a dog came over. He barked at the sheep and started to guide them away from the hole before going over to it to investigate for himself. He sniffed at the opening hole, watching it grow several times its size before barking at it repeatedly. With a gust of wind, the five teens were ejected from it, flying up into the air and landing hard on the ground. Well, four of them at least. Before she could hit the ground, Sialei’s wings came out and she used them to gently land on her feet.
“Ow,” Maddie groaned out, rubbing her backside. “You think if it’s gonna get us to where we need to go, it’d be a little more gentle.”
“Need some help,” said Sialei with a smile as she extended a hand to Maddie as everyone else got up. She took Sialei’s hand and let the fairy help her stand up.
“That was nothing,” said Evan as he jumped up like nothing had happened and they weren’t in a completely different company. “You should’ve seen when Jacob Dawson knocked me on my ass.”
“I did Evan,” Maddie replied in a flat tone as the portal closed up. “You literally drag me to every single one of your games. Last time I said I didn’t want to go you threw me over your shoulder.”
“Come on, it was against the Stein Lake Raptors,” he replied defensively as Kozui went and picked up the map.
“Uh guys,” he said with a frown, “I don’t think the map brought us to the piece of the Tower. Just to Enlang.”
“England,” Evan corrected as every walked towards Evan to look. “The country is called England.”
“Kozui is right about our location from the piece and that is all that matters,” said Leo. “We’re close to the piece, but not close enough.” On the map, the dot that showed their location and the dot that showed where the piece was were a centimeter or two away. “How far is that?”
“Well I’d say a few miles at least,” said Evan, pulling out his phone. “Looks like there’s a small town, maybe even small enough to be a village, called Brook Cross that’s on the way. Maybe we can figure out what the hell it is we’re looking for there. It’s on the way.” Maddie’s stomach growled as her whole face went red. “And maybe we can get some food.”
“Shut up,” she retorted. “I’ve been sleeping for two days! I’m hungry!”
“And we’ll get some food,” said Evan. “Luckily I still have my wallet, but they might not take US currency.”
“Then what are we waiting for,” said Kozui as he started walking, holding the map. “Let’s get going!”
“Can I please have the map,” said Maddie, holding out a hand. “It doesn’t feel right to have you hold it. I’m the guide, I should be holding it.” He looked at her for a moment.
“Well, if it’s that important to you,” he said with a grin as he handed it to her, “then lead the way Maddie!” She smiled and turned, looking at the map.
“Evan, which way is southwest,” she asked, turning to her brother.
“Thataway,” he said, pointing. “I bet if we high tail it we can get there before dark. It was late morning where we were, but it’s already late afternoon here.”
“Then let’s go,” said Sialei with a smile as they all started to walk off.
General Spring floated in the sky, watching as they started to walk off.
“If I follow them then they’ll lead me right to the piece,” she said with a smirk. “Just as long as I make sure…” She trailed of after a moment, her eyes starting to glow softly as she thought she heard a voice.
“Come find me,” it said in the sweetest, most gentle voice.
“Is that the piece,” she asked herself, floating towards it, past the group, who didn’t seem to notice her. They were all too focused on the map as she went by.
After passing over a few more farms and a small town, she came upon the ruins of a farmhouse. She gently landed on the ground, the voice gone as she looked around.
“There isn’t anyone here,” she grumbled out as she looked around with clenched fists. “How am I supposed to find the piece among all this rubble?” She sighed and held up a hand, earth spilling out from her jacket. “Watch me, and make sure to alert me if they manage to find us.” The Haranti just silently went outside, unable to speak to her. She focused on searching for the piece, moving aside the shattered wood and broken objects. It looked and smelled like the place hadn’t been touched in centuries.
After she moved a fallen beam, she noticed a glowing sphere sitting in a fireplace. The sphere looked like it was made from pure light and radiated warmth, like the comforting hug of a mother.
“This has to be it,” she said softly. “It’s warm, like it’s radiating life itself.” She looked around. “I honestly don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to touch it. It’s just floating there. Surely I can grab it and not wait for those brats.” She slowly reached for it, gently placing a hand on the sphere and picking it up with a smirk. “See, it might be sealed for now but I’m sure Lord Damien can break it.” She sat down with a soft sigh. “It feels so nice… warm and-” She gasped as the light started to crawl up her arm from where she was holding it. She threw it down on the ground and started to hyperventilate, grabbing her arm right where it had stopped. After a few moments the light faded away. She closed her eyes, concentrating hard as tendrils of darkness extended from the cutoff, slowly forming into a new hand. She sighed in relief, clenching and unclenching the new fist. “So that’s it. It thinks it can do its job on me. No wonder it was calling to me…” She looked back at the glowing orb. “So this is why Lord Damien can’t find it on his own either. It’s so pure and light. His dark magic wouldn’t be able to detect it.” She made a sound of displeasure and stepped away from it further. “Well then the Haranti will just have to keep everyone else busy while Maddie takes away this barrier. Then I can steal the piece!”
Maddie sighed as they kept walking.
“How long have we been walking for,” she whined. Evan checked the time on his phone before grinning.
“About 2 hours,” he replied. “Come on, already getting tired?”
“I’ve never walked this much before,” she snapped back. “Not unless we’ve got Aunt Cam visiting, or if we’re over at her home.”
“Who’s Aunt Cam,” asked Sialei.
“She’s a friend of our mom’s,” Maddie replied. “We grew up with her so we’ve always called her our aunt even though we’re not actually biologically related. She’s old and a real health nut. She has a salad with every meal and exercises all the time. She loves it when we’re over because that means that she can go on walks.”
“Why doesn’t she just go herself,” asked Leo with a ‘tsk’. “Seems like a waste of time to wait for other people to come over in order to do things you like.”
“She’s blind numbnuts,” Evan replied with a flat tone. “She kinda can’t just leave the house to go wherever she wants without risking getting lost.”
“Technically she could go with Uncle Daniel,” said Maddie. “That’s her husband, but he’s in a wheelchair. She does go with him sometimes but not everywhere has sidewalks. They have this nature path really close to their house but since it’s a nature path it’s not exactly wheelchair friendly.”
“We usually visit a lot in the summertime and go on a lot of walks with her,” added Evan. “Not to mention she is the best cook and baker. She makes eating healthy taste good!”
“Sounds like my kind of person,” said Kozui with his trademark grin. “ Maybe we can meet her! If she’s blind it’s not like she can see us!”
“Oh she’ll probably come visit us,” said Maddie. “She usually does during the summer. I mean she doesn’t live too far but it’s far enough that she’ll need a day clear to get here if she wants to spend a decent amount of time with us. Like an hour away from Marston driving right?” She turned to her brother, who nodded in agreement as he looked at his phone.
“Yeah sounds about right,” he said as he put his phone away.
“How far away is an hour,” asked Kozui. “I thought it was how you measured time but it measures distance?”
“No,” said Maddie. “In America we like to know how long you’re traveling for to get somewhere, so when someone asks how far something is, we give them an estimate of how long it would take to get there.”
“Why not tell them how many taren shen it takes,” asked Leo.
“Why would you give such an inaccurate measurement? The length of time it takes to get somewhere can vary a lot.”
“It’s just easier,” said Evan. “Like how the town was about 5 hours from where we started. We’re gonna be coming up a road soon though, and that should lead us straight into town.”
“That’s good,” said Sialei, “but my feet are getting a little sore too. Any chance I could fly the rest of the way? You said no one could see me but there’s no one here to see me.”
“I… suppose,” Maddie said after a moment, “but be careful, okay?”
“I will be,” she said with a laugh as she started to fly into the air, hovering a foot or so higher above the ground. “I’ve been doing this for years. I’ll be fine. Hiding things here in Earth is probably just like hiding things on Adulia.”
“Can I switch forms too,” asked Kozui excitedly. “It’d be so much faster in my other form! I have like my whole body to move!”
“Are your feet tired,” asked Leo.
“Well, no,” he admitted.
“Then no,” Leo snapped. “We’re trying not to blow our cover. We already looked strange enough on Adulia, let alone in Earth. None of our kind exists here.”
“But your transformation and mine are the least noticeable,” he whined. “You’re a regular looking lion and I just look like a giant snake to most people!”
“That’s on Adulia,” Leo countered. “We don’t know what kind of strange animals they have here!”
“We… have snakes and lions you guys,” said Maddie with a sigh as she lowered the map. “You know I had always imagined being involved with a story I loved but this… wasn’t how I imagined it at all.”
“You know what,” said Sialei as her wings vanished and she gently landed on the ground, “I’m just gonna walk to avoid an argument.”
“Good idea,” said Maddie as she raised the map back up. “We’re not any closer to the piece according to this map.”
“Well it’s a big map,” Kozui said as he looked over her shoulder. “Any noticeable movement will be hard to mark.”
“I guess,” she said, trailing off. “I just… feel like I’m forgetting something.”
“If it’s the pets don’t worry,” said Evan. “I went ahead and texted Sabine an hour ago and asked her to feed them and let Winchester out. She can do it for the next three days.” He smiled. “Hopefully we’ll be home before then.”
“Let’s hope,” said Maddie. “If that stupid map sent us here it better be sending us home.”
“Don’t worry,” said Sialei with a smile as she put a hand on Maddie’s shoulder before remembering she didn’t like to be touched and pulled it away. “Ceteha would not make such a faulty system that sends us somewhere and doesn’t send us back!”
“I’m not even sure if I believe she’s real,” said Maddie. “I mean I’m still not sure you guys are real.”
“I could punch you to prove it,” Kozui joked as he held up a fist. “If it doesn’t hurt then we go poof and you’re back at your house! If it hurts we’re here and you’re stuck with us!”
“No thanks,” she said in a total deadpan before turning towards her brother. “I thought you said we’d be coming up on a road.”
“We’re almost there,” said Evan as he pointed, putting his phone away. “It’s right up ahead.”
“Oh thank GOD,” she said with a sigh of relief. “How much further is the town after that?”
“About 3 hours,” said Evan. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll survive all the way to Brook Cross.”
As they came upon the small town, Evan had his sleeping sister on his back as he carried her.
“Pushover,” Leo muttered as he looked at Evan, who simply shrugged.
“Looks like we’re here,” said Sialei as Maddie snored.
“Poor girl,” said Kozui as he looked at her. “She’s probably still drained from that Haranti. I wonder how she managed to free their soul.”
“Probably something to do with her role as a guide like she said,” said Leo. “Or maybe Ahe wanted to talk again.”
“Can spirits just do that,” asked Evan, a worried expression on his face as he attempted to look back at his sister. “Put people to sleep and stuff?”
“Oh yeah,” he replied. “If they’re powerful they can do just about anything they want to people. Granted, they can’t physically touch or hurt people, but they can make them see things, hear things that aren’t there. Putting someone to sleep is easy for any spirit though, but for them it takes a whole lot of focus to put them to sleep and keep them there.”
“Or maybe she’s just tired,” said Sialei. “She’s not used to all of this like we are. I mean, how often have we gone on an adventure looking for something? Remember the shattered mural?” Leo and Kozui both nodded. “We do things like this all the time. Maddie doesn’t. Most people don’t, but we do, and this could just be more energy than she’s used to spending.”
“Yeah, Maddie’s never been active,” said Evan. “I mean she used to be really active as a kid. She’d run around making mud pies and trying to get me to go to the park and make sand castle with her in the sand box. She’d bring bottles of water and we’d make the best stuff. She also loved climbing on the monkey bars and playing.”
“Sounds like a great childhood,” said Kozui. “Why’d she stop being so active?”
“Kids are cruel,” he replied with a shrug. “That’s really all I could say. It’s Maddie’s story not mine.”
“Fair enough,” said Sialei as she looked at Maddie. “She looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping.”
“At least she’s shut up and isn’t whining,” Leo commented as they walked through the roads into the town, which looked rather old fashioned, like a 16th century village. “This place looks more like what we’re used to.”
“This place looks weird,” said Evan as he looked around, a semi worried and suspicious look on his face. “Not just talking about the buildings. No one’s even looking our way. They’re not talking to us or looking at us or anything. It’s like we’re not even here. Kinda creepy.”
“Maybe it’s because we look so strange,” suggested Kozui. “As a kid I was taught not to stare at people who looked different since I hated it when I was younger.”
“It’s more than that,” said Sialei. “It’s like we don’t even exist.” She frowned and closed her eyes, muttering under her breath. “It’s weird. Did I make the cloaking spell too strong? I mean I had to make it incredibly powerful to keep Damien from spying but maybe that gave it more intensity than it should’ve.”
“That’s probably it,” said Kozui. “Your magic is really strong and it always has been. Maybe you should tone down the spell a bit.”
“Okay.” She gently put a hand on Maddie and closed her eyes. Before she could start the spell Leo grabbed her hand.
“We should wait,” said Leo. “It wouldn’t do us any good to just show up in the middle of the town. We would really freak people out, especially with our appearances. Let’s just wait until we get into the inn, if they have one.” He made a noise of annoyance. “Not like I can read any of these stupid signs.”
“There’s one up ahead,” said Evan as he motioned his head towards it. “But this place is weird. I don’t know if I wanna stay the night. They have a modern road but everything else seems pretty old fashioned. I haven’t even seen one person with a phone or any cars. Maybe they’re Amish. Wait, do Amish people even exist outside of the US?”
“No idea what Ah-meesh people are,” said Sialei, “but I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She put a hand on Maddie’s back. “I’m ready to lower the intensity of the spell when we get inside. But that might make it easier for Damien to spy on us, or at least Maddie and that could be dangerous. Anything that we know he’ll know.”
“Well you can always fluctuate the intensity,” said Kozui. “It might be draining but it could work.”
“Then what happens if we get in a fight,” asked Leo. “You still have to use your energy to control magic. It’s not like the universe does everything for you. If she’s constantly spending energy fixing the spell over and over then we’ll have a problem, especially if General Spring shows back up again.”
“What’s she the general of,” Kozui wondered aloud. “Generals run armies but does Damien even have his armies anymore?”
“Does it matter,” said Evan as they came up on the door. “What actually matters is the General Spring almost killed my sister, and that she works for Damien. That’s really all that matters. Now can someone please open the door?” Sialei opened it for him. “Thank you.”
“Hullo loves,” said a woman dressed in older attire. She stood behind a counter, the entrance to the inn looking lot a restaurant. “I hardly get many young people in here often, and it’s a little early for our seasonal rush to start, but what kind of a person turns away business? Did ye forget ye costumes?”
“What did she say,” asked Sialei with an unsure expression, her face flat with annoyance and distaste.
“Costumes,” repeated Evan. “She asked about our costumes.”
“What’s a caw-stum,” asked Kozui. “It sounds really weird and gross. I don’t think I like that word.”
“Well for one you’re pronouncing it wrong,” said Evan, “and for two it’s just like a disguise except everyone knows it’s fake. It’s something people do for fun, you know? Sometimes they do it for work and other such things, and we also have a holiday revolving around costumes and candy.”
“Why on Adulia would you make an entire holiday around that concept,” asked Sialei with a mix of curiosity and disgust on her face at the concept. “That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“It’s a long story,” said Evan, “but I think I’ve figured this place out. It’s like one of those Ren Fairs, or a place that mocks older times! I thought you had to pay to get in, but that explains why they were ignoring us. They’re supposed to pretend modern things don’t exist, so some people act as if they can’t see people with modern stuff. Or, maybe it’s because we haven’t paid yet. Maybe they’ve got this weird thing going on where you gotta pay to interact with people, which sounds dumb but capitalism.”
“Young man,” said the woman, “I cannot understand the conversation ye be having with ye friends, but if ye weren’t expecting for this place to be old then why did ye come?”
“Oh no,” said Evan with a wave of his hand, “we totally were! Sorry, my friends are from… Poland, they only speak Polish so I have to translate for them!”
“At least he’s quick thinking,” said Leo. “What is a Paw-Land?”
“I can keep translating for you,” said Evan, “but it’d be a lot of trouble. We didn’t mean to come here anyway. This was a complete accident. We were actually just passing through. Our car broke down while on our way to visit my uncle, and while we don’t really have any intent to stay long term, since it’s getting dark out do you mind if we spend the night? We’ll pay full price.”
“He’s a really smooth liar,” Kozui noted. “I wonder where he learned to lie so well.”
“I’m… not sure I want to know the answer to that,” Sialei replied in a smiling deadpan. “I feel like that’s just something we aren’t meant to know.”
“You’re lucky,” said the woman with a twinkle in her eyes. “You don’t have to pay to enter this place, you just have to pay per an attraction. If you all pay as a group it’ll be much cheaper. Groups of three or more only pay 125 pounds, but individually it’s about 40 pounds per a person, and you have 5 people. I would say that’d be quite expensive for a group of four!”
“Five,” said Evan as he turned. “My sister got tired.”
“It must’ve been hard carrying such a big girl,” said the woman in amazement, making Evan’s eye twitch. “Let me get you a set of room keys. There’ll be one big bed in each room and one small couch, so you can share two rooms.”
“Yeah whatever,” said Evan as he turned towards Leo and Kozui. “Can one of you take Maddie?”
“Sure,” said Kozui as he put his arms behind his back. Evan ever so carefully shifted Maddie until she was sleeping peacefully on Kozui’s back. Evan dug into his pockets and pulled out his wallet.
“Do you take cards,” he asked in a flat voice as he pulled out a credit card, “or is this one of those so authentic you don’t take anything but cash kind of places?”
“We take everything,” she replied with a chuckle as she reached under the counter, grabbing a tablet and taking the card. She ran it through and handed it back to him, along with two keys. “Your rooms are on the first floor, rooms 22 A and 23 A. Have a nice evening dears! Dinner is in an hour.”
“Okay,” he said curtly, putting the card away and taking the keys. “Let’s go. Maddie and Sialei can share a room and us guys will take another.” The C3 looked back and forth at each other before following him, wondering just what had upset him so much.