Ch. 36

Ch. 36

“Medeleck, keep trying. We’ll get out of here soon enough,” Susan encouraged. They were trapped inside a small crevice in the wall, and things weren’t looking too good. Every time Medeleck tried to forge a way out, broken rocks kept tumbling back down to replace the ones he had smashed.

“I don’t see you trying,” Medeleck said sourly.

“Honey, you know I can’t. I’ll make the entire crevice cave in! You have to do it,” Susan warned.

Medeleck thought for a moment, then said, “You know, if you smash them out, and I stop the others from coming down, we can get out of this place.”

“You’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that before? On the count of three. One . . . Two . . . Three!” Susan said. With her sword she smashed the rocks outward and Medeleck ran to the opening, stopping the other rocks from falling down.

“Susan, you have to move! I can’t stay like this for very long, I hope you know!” Medeleck yelled.

“One second!” Susan yelled back. Without wasting another moment, she grabbed a tapestry that was hanging on the wall and darted out of the room. Medeleck scrambled out after her.

“What were you doing back there that took so long?!”

“I grabbed a tapestry. I have a spell that can make it fly. We’ll be able to find the others easier this way. Let’s go. We have a lot of work to do,” Susan said solemnly. She brushed off her sleeve and started walking, opening her locked.

Medeleck stood, dumbstruck, but soon he asked, “What do you mean by ‘we have a lot of work to do?’”

“I mean we can’t just sit here. The others could be hurt. And I’m worried about my mother.”

“You’re worried about your mother? Why? Hasn’t she been trying to kill us for over a thousand years, ever since I proposed to you?” Medeleck asked, also standing up.

“She wasn’t acting like herself. She just said she loved a human. A human, Medeleck. Show me Bodoleck,” Susan said calmly into the locket.

Bodoleck appeared in the frame. He was kneeling next to Anna, who appeared to be unconscious.

“Oh no. We have to find them. It looks like they’re in the gallery. Let’s go,” said Susan. She turned to the tapestry and said, “Esir, teprac, esir.”

“They looked like there were in some bad shape,” Medeleck commented as they flew to the gallery.

And they were. Bodoleck barely had a scratch on him, but Anna was unconscious. Bodoleck was hysterical as he cried, “Anna? Anna, please wake up. Anna!” He put his head in his hands and wept, losing all composition and maturity he had.

Anna was alive, but barely. She had lost a lot of blood from a cut in her arm. She was still breathing, but it was shallow. Her heart was beating, but, again, it was slow. Her vital signs were fading.

“Bodoleck!” came a voice. He turned to se his brother standing behind him with Susan floating on a carpet nearby.

“Bodoleck, we have to go and find the others. There’s no time to waste,” said Medeleck. Bodoleck simply nodded and pocked up Anna. They walked over to the carpet and flew off.

* * * * *

Veripema and Mason were still floating in her bubble, but there were both still conscious and had sustained no injuries as far as they could tell.

“Mason, what happened to me?” Veripema asked, dazed.

“I don’t know. But you look different. Very different. Your eyes are black, and your hair is snow white. Look. Your skin is as pale as mine now, too. I can’t believe this is happening to me, of all people,” Mason said, also dazed.

Veripema chuckled and said, “I can believe it. The only reason you’re here is because the book fell into your possession. If it didn’t, you would be living happily in Prague, oblivious to anything that was happening here, like to many others.”

“I just have one question. And please don’t lie to me about any of this. I have a right to know these things. How do you fit into all of this?” Mason asked.

Veripema sighed and said, “I’m the daughter of the masterminds behind all of this. They sent me to Prague to get the book, but since getting it from my niece, Rosemary, was going to be difficult, I came to you. Mason, I love you. Nothing will change that.”

Just then, the bubble evaporated, and they fell to the floor. They saw something flying in the distance. When it got closer, they saw that it was Susan, Medeleck, Bodoleck and a sleeping Anna on a tapestry.

“Mom?” Susan asked. They were levitating next to them now. Without saying anything, Veripema jumped on. Perplexed, Mason followed her. In silence, they rode off.

* * * * *

“It looks like our plan is going well, darling,” said Miss Darkness. Lord Batwings grinned, and nodded his head.

“But I am worried about Margaret. What will happen to her in the fight?” Miss Darkness asked. She looked behind her at a glowing bottle filled with a strange type of water. The contents were obscured by the shadows surrounding it.

Lord Batwings thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know. We have to be careful to avoid her. But we still have to be ready. We must make sure Rosemary doesn’t get away.”

“What about Veripema?”

“We’ll deal with her later. Just because she’s different, that doesn’t mean she’ll leave us. But she will be punished for not killing the human,” Lord Batwings said calmly.

* * * * *

“Where’s Sarah, Leginivo, Rosemary, and Michael?” Mason asked, proud of himself for remembering the names.

Susan sighed. “I don’t know. But we’re looking for Sarah and Leginivo first. They’re-”

“Susan! Down here!” they heard a small voice call. They looked down and saw Sarah and Leginivo waving up to them from amidst the ruins.

Susan lowered the tapestry, and they stumbled on.

“We’re so tired. We had to fight a griffon. Where’s Rosemary? And Michael?” Sarah asked. Her skin was still glowing, but it was so faint that the others couldn’t even till.

“We still have to find them. Veripema has gone through a huge transformation, and Anna is unconscious,” said Medeleck.

They then stayed silent as they searched the rest of the castle.