Golden Stars

Chapter Twenty-Two: We Finally do Some Usefull Stuff

Harry Potter POV:

We walked into Vladimir's secret lair just to find all of our friends unconscious on the ground, with a lot of stone snakes.

Wait, what? I thought as I saw them.

The room looked pretty creepy, with minimal light and dark marble floors. But the snakes just added to the vibe of the place.

"So snakes were the extreme danger Sophie warned us about?" Fitz asked.

"Looks like it," said Dex, nodding to a pile of them on the floor.

"But it also looks like they saved themselves before we could help them," sighed Biana.

"Sophie probably inflicted the whole room, and passed out," Hermione predicted. "Would explain why our friends are on the floor too,"

"Maybe we should cast spells on the snakes in case they get up," suggested Fitz.

"Good idea," Ron agreed.

So we all went and cast spells on all the snakes, and finished at the perfect timing, when our friends were starting to get up.

But unfortunately, the first person to get up was Glimmer.

"What happened..?" Glimmer said drowsily. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. "The Moonlark used her perfect abilities to knock us all out, didn't she?"

"Yeah," I said awkwardly.

Glimmer sighed, "As always her plan worked, but failed,"

I had no idea what that meant. But luckily, the others started to get up.

"Foster used her powers?" asked Keefe, getting up.

"Yes, I did," replied Sophie, stirring.

"Good idea though," said Tam, rising. He slowly shook Linh, waking her up too.

"But how do we find Vladimir now?" asked Biana, examining the sheer brick walls of the chamber.

"He's probably just in another room," predicted Dex.

"But there's no door," said Ron.

"Does that mean we all are stuck here?" asked Glimmer. "I notice that the door we entered from has disappeared,"

I looked behind me just to find that the door had indeed disappeared.

"Maybe it's invisible," said Keefe, "Or like a secret door that blends into the walls or something,"

"If that's the case," said Biana, "I think I may have found it,"

We all ran over to the wall Biana was pointing to, to see what she had found.

"Here," she said, pointing to a thin crack in the wall. "I think there is some sort of scroll inside,"

I wonder why Vladimir chose a place like this. I thought. Does he travel outside in secret?

Tam reached into the seam and pulled out a small piece of parchment.

"Read it," I told him.

"Never resting, never still, moving without sound from hill to hill, it does not run, walk or trot, all is cold where it is not," read Tam.

"I think it's a riddle," said Linh. "Does anyone know the answer?"

We all stood in silence and thought for a moment. A minute later, Hermione knew the answer.

"Oh," she said. "I know," she took the paper from Tam's hands. "The sun. The answer is the sun,"

Just as she said that, the familiar, green, stupid mysterious symbol appeared on the wall, and the wall opened up, showing a long, dark, hallway.

"Do you think that clue will help us to find him in this... base of challenges or whatever sort of secret hideout this is?" asked Dex.

"Probably," I said. "Maybe it's a challenge and a clue in the same thing,"

"Oooh, smart," said Keefe. "Vlad is going to have a hard time getting rid of us!"

"Well," said Fitz, "Let's go then," he stepped into the hallway, and we all followed inside.

"Wait," said Sophie, "How are we going to know which ways to go? What if it branches out and is some sort of maze?"

Glimmer rolled her eyes, and stuck out her wand. We all watched her as she said; "Point me to Vladimir's base," The wand's tip glowed, and soon, the wand pulled Glimmer in the right direction. "Come on, then!" She called us.

So we all went after her, watching the old, worn down magical torches on the sides of the congested hallway light up as we walked in the direction the wand pointed us to. We all began conversing with each other as we ran, Dex showing Biana a gadget, Linh arguing with Tam, Ron asking Hermione how she was so smart, and Keefe talking to Sophie with an 'i'm about to say something crazy at this crazy time because i feel like it' look.

How is everyone so calm about this? I thought, looking around at everybody. Or am I just scared for no reason?

"Sophie," I said, catching up to her. "Do you have all the artifacts we collected, in case we need them?"

"I have the stone, and you guys have the books, but nothing else," she replied.

"Then maybe I can summon them here," I said. I pulled out my wand. "Accio Map of the Oracle!" But as I said those words, they felt blocked, and I felt like I had to use a lot of my energy to get them over here, to the base. I stumbled as the Map flew into my hands.

"Are you okay?" asked Keefe, who was still walking next to Sophie.

"Yeah," I replied, straightening up again. "It's just that there's something about this place that makes me feel trapped and makes my magic less powerful,"

"I've felt that too," said Sophie, "It's like Vladimir is trapped in here or something,"

"I think we've arrived," said Glimmer's bored voice. The room that we had walked into had no door, but was another annoying circular room, but it looked even more worn down than the last one. The floor was all rotted, cracked wood, and there was only one light in the room, which was a flickering torch at one end of the room.

I hope this is where Vladimir is, I thought.

"Are we in the right place?" asked Fitz, "I don't see any sorcerers anywhere," He gestured to the room.

"I-I'm not sure," said Sophie, "But this is where Di took us all,"

"I knew we couldn't trust that ghost," muttered Glimmer.

"This could just be another challenge," said Dex.

"Right," agreed Biana, "But we just have to solve whatever type of challenge this is."

"So then what is this?" asked Tam, shaking his bangs out of his eyes.

"I think we have to find another secret door or something," said Keefe, "That would explain why this room is so dull, and dark, and creepy,"

"I do think this is a challenge," said Sophie, "But I don't think we have to find something again," she took a breath. But just as she did, she screamed as something got a hold on her ankles, and fell into the darkness.