The Curse of Windsor Castle

Chapter Twenty-three

    This time, instead of a maze, there was a deadly obstacle course.

    "Great." Tamara looked up in exasperation. "There's no way we'll survive this. You win, Mortis. Go rule the world. You obviously deserve it if you can come up with these impossible tasks."

"Tara," Rose said. "What if Mortis doesn't want to take over the world?"

    "That's ridiculous," Amy scoffed. "All villains ever want to do is take over the world."

"Says who?" asked Rose.

"In whatever holy guide book villains use," Amy said.

"And you know this how?" Rose smiled.

"As an aspiring villain, myself, I've taken it upon myself to learn every law of villainy imaginable."

    Rose then remembered the rest of her dream and the warning her father had given her, why it was so important that they got to the chairs first. It would be the only way she would ever go to Kalaad is if she used the chairs before Nuntius Mortis. Rose considered sharing this information with Amy and Tara but decided against it. It wasn't because she was being selfish, but that didn't seem like the kind of information that should have been shared with others.

    "If we want to make it out alive, then only one of us should go to get Alice," Tamara said.

    "Good idea," Rose nodded. "I think Tamara should go. You can take my sword."

    "Wait, why me?" Tamara protested.

    "Because you're the smartest, most amazing person in the world," Amy said. "And also, Rose and I don't want to die."

    "You two are the- nevermind, I'll do it," Tamara reluctantly agreed. "But if I die, I'm haunting the two of you until you die."

    "Agreed," Rose said. "Now get moving."

    Tamara sighed and analyzed the death trap. The first obstacle was a swinging ax. If the blade ever made contact with her neck, her head would be sliced off cleanly. The next was a flamethrower, but Tamara could tell this was no ordinary fire. Most likely, it was the same fire Vesterka had summoned. Finally, there was a pool of bubbling acid. If so much as a drop landed on her clothes, Tamara knew she would get more than just a third-degree burn. She took a deep breath. Alright Tamara, you can do it!

Tamara took off at a sprint, ducking under the swinging ax. She then mentally prepared herself for the flamethrower. Tamara held up her boomerang on one side of her face and Rose's sword on the other side and hastily ran through the fire. She could smell her singed hair and knew that her face was probably scalded as well, but that was the last of her worries. Last was the acid pool. Tamara turned to where the younger girls had covered their eyes with their hands"Great, how am I supposed to get passed this?"

    Rose and Amy spread their fingers apart and looked at each other anxiously.

    "Do you think she could use your sword as a floatie?" Amy asked.

    "Don't be ridiculous, Amy," Tamara dismissed the idea. "There's no way my sword can hold her weight. It wouldn't follow the laws of physics."

"Tara, I don't know if you know this, but nothing that's happened this entire year follows the laws of physics," Rose said.

    "And how else is she supposed to get over the pool of death?" Amy added.

    "Okay, here goes nothing." Tamara placed the sword in the acid. She could see the metal start to smoke as the acid started eating it away. Tamara closed her eyes and tried to remember what the instructor in Santa Barbara had told her when she had gone surfing. Remember to distribute your weight equally. Don't let one leg hold up too much of you. She then stepped onto the sword which was deteriorating rapidly.

Tamara leaned forward gently and to her surprise, she started to move; the sword was holding her up well. "How am I doing that?" She asked out loud.

"Magic?" Amy shrugged.

Tamara reached the edge of the pool and quickly jumped off. She could now see that the sword was completely destroyed. "No use taking it." Rose was not going to be happy. She could feel Rose glaring at her without even looking.

Tamara saw Alice curled up in a corned. She lifted the girl up and started walking. Thankfully, the obstacle course was gone, revealing a shocked Amy and an angry Rose.

"What happened to my sword?" Rose grabbed her sister's wrist.

"Careful," Tamara whispered. "I might drop Alice."

"I don't care about Alice. My sword is gone," Rose seethed

    "You should have expected that, Rose. What else did you think would happen, when you gave Tara your sword?" Amy said.

"But now how am I supposed to defend myself?" Rose asked.

    "Knowing Nuntius Mortis' weird and twisted nature, he probably has a new sword for you," Tamara said. "It probably looks just like your old one."

"I guess."

This time, the girls didn't emerge from the Tower of London. Instead, they came out arrived at the same square that they found the chair. "Our location must be controlled by Vesterka," Rose said.

"I think our location could be controlled by any magician. First Kampe, now Vesterka," Tara pointed out.

"Now we have to spend money on flights, instead of other things. I'm missing the cheap way of travelling. Boom and we're there." Amy snapped her fingers.

"Amy, you're missing the point. You and I are magicians. Does this mean we could control our own location?" Rose asked.

"And then we don't have to spend money on air tickets," Amy smiled in realization. "We could snap our fingers and boom, Costa Rica."

"Or Greece," Rose suggested.

"Anyway," Tamara interrupted before the girls could get distracted. "Do you want to spend one more day in France?"

Rose shook her head. "I want to go home.

Amy nodded. "Me too."

Tamara hailed a cab and the trio sped off.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to miss France," Amy sighed as she packed up the last of her belongings.

"I know right," Rose said. "We have so many stories to tell Mum; Tara leaving us, Tara getting kidnapped. Amy and I going to Nantes ourselves, Tara surfing on acid to get Alice."

"I don't think you should tell Mum any of that. If you do, she'll kill me," Tamara laughed nervously.

Rose stared at her sister. "You actually think I would tell Mum?"

    Tamara shrugged. "I don't know. Your sense of humor is very confusing."

"Tell me about it," Amy said.

"Shut up, Amy." Rose laughed.