The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 4: The Pendant of Light

Chapter 16: The Pendants Go South

Chapter 16

     “This is the single, dumbest idea you kids have concocted since I’ve met you,” Teller said with a stone-faced expression.
     Echo and Rain Fox had gathered Teller, Jinx, Rider, Sky Heart, Dev, Rouge, and Sherman outside of the greenhouse at Hogwarts. Echo and Rain Fox were explaining the plan to the others. Some of them were not completely on board with it.
     “So you’re taking the kid who just broke his leg,” Sherman commented, “And not me?”
     “You need to stick around for Star and Iggy,” Echo told him, “You’re the only person who can make her potions.”
     “Teller can make them, too!” Sherman pointed out, “I can also leave instructions for Professor Slughorn to make the potions! Everything I learned about potions I learned from him!”
     “I’m sorry, Sherman,” Echo said, “I need you to stick around the students. Please do this.”
     “I’m not a babysitter!” Sherman pleaded.
     “Yeah,” Jinx added, “And I don’t need a babysitter. No offense, Rider.”
     “None taken, darlin’,” Rider said with a grin. “I have to agree with the others. It appears as though we’re getting the business end of the wand. No offense, Jinx.”
     “We didn’t think it wise to go down to the Isles with a big group,” Rain Fox spoke up, “And, honestly, Jinx, we didn’t know how you would feel about being in the thick of battle. You have been awfully quiet and reserved lately.”
     “Wow, guys,” Jinx said, “Good to know you think so highly of me.”
     “It ain’t like that, Jinxie,” Echo spoke, “You lost Hardstone and Shade. I didn’t know if you were up to going out and risking your life.”
     “No, I get it,” Jinx replied, “Jinx is fragile, she can’t handle being out there and doing something she’s been trained to do.”
     The group stood silent. No one had words to give to Jinx.
     No one except Rouge. “Stop being a big baby,” Rouge muttered.
     “Excuse me?” Jinx asked, turning to face him in his corner.
     “Stop being a baby,” Rouge repeated. “If you want to go and do something, then why don’t you? Shacklebolt asked you bunch of yahoos to stay here and keep an eye on the kids. Now you want to leave and find something that may not even be there, against his orders and wishes. You want to get out from under the protection of probably the most secure place in the whole world to go chase after phantoms in Easter’s old stomping grounds. You and Rider want to do something productive? Why don’t you go and give Anthony Downs and the homeys some help back home. I’m sure the cult Easter’s recruiting for is still giving them trouble. You want to go and sulk, then be my guest. All of this teenage angst is driving me dragon-dung crazy. Forgive me for speaking my mind, but count me out of this mad venture.”
     “You’re going, Rouge,” Echo said plainly. “We are going to find that Horcrux and then take the fight to Easter’s front door. But Rouge has a good idea. Anthony said that he needed some help back home. You two would be a lot of help. I know Talon was giving them some aid when he could but you guys are way stronger.”
     “I’m not allowed to go back home, remember?” Jinx pointed out.
     “Since when did you let the rules tell you what to do, Jinx?” Rain Fox asked.
     Jinx nodded with a grin. “Okay. I’ll be a team player. I don’t like it, but it would be nice to go back home. Besides, I haven’t seen Anthony for some time.”
     “I concur,” Rider said, “I’ll play along. Better than lollygagging around here, I must admit. But are you certain your journey south is worthy of such attention as to sneak beyond the Iron Bull’s scope and put you in his poor graces?”
     Echo and Rain Fox looked at one another. Neither one had a straight answer to give.
     “And you think his Horcrux is down there on some little islands none of us have visited?” Rouge added. “I just don’t think it’s a smart plan.”
     “For once,” Teller grunted, “The criminal and I share the same thought. We know nothing of Easter other than the stuff Master Wolf, Master Bullavin, and the others told us. We know he’s old. We know he’s recruiting for his cult of nutcases. We only speculate that he’s got a Horcrux. We are guessing that he’s from the Isles of Scilly. He hasn’t been seen in a long time now. He wasn’t at the Ministry when they attacked the place last time when Violet Cobra killed Gorn. The last person to see him was Star down in the Department of Mysteries. Since then he’s been on the lam. Whether he’s got any real connection to the Isles of Scilly or not is a matter of investigation, not a group of us going down there, knocking on doors and hoping we find something just on luck. We have nothing to go on. There’re a dozen or so islands down there; we don’t even know which one we’re supposed to check out. Does anyone even know anything about these islands other than what Lucius Malfoy mentioned?”
     “They used to be one large island, actually,” Sherman explained. “Many years ago, the Isles of Scilly used to be one single island that got broken up. It was called Ennor, as I recall, or something along that line. It got cursed or something; buggers, I can’t remember the tale very well. It was a refuge for displaced Atlanteans generations ago. Lots of merpeople there in those waters. Old sailors there, too. If there are any who can recall Easter then we’re bound to find them there. It will take time, but who knows? We’ll know more once we are down there.”
     “You’re not going, remember?” Rouge chuckled.
     “Oh, bedknobs and broomsticks!” Sherman shouted, “Bloody bugger off with you!”
     Rouge simply shook his head.
     “I know this is difficult, everyone,” Rain Fox began, “But once we get down there and put our ears to the tracks we’ll come across something, I’m sure of it.”
     “I agree,” Dev spoke up, “I don’t like it much, either, honestly, but with the Six Nations and the Ministries doing all that they can without yielding any results, we should do our part and see what we find.”
     “You’re just saying that because your girlfriend is going,” Rouge said.
     “She’s not my girlfriend anymore,” Dev said.
     Everyone’s eyes turned to Echo. She smiled and lifted her left hand to the group. She felt awkward but happy.
     “Merlin’s Beard!” Sherman shouted. “You’re engaged?”
     “He asked me tonight,” Echo mumbled.
     “Echo!” Rain Fox cheered, “That’s brilliant! I’m so happy for you!”
     “Congratulations,” Teller said with a smile.
     “A festive announcement,” Rider said, “And it is about time, you two lovebirds.”
     “Thanks, guys!” Echo said.
     Rouge folded his arms and leaned against the glass of the greenhouse. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
     “Nothing will change, for now,” Dev said, “But we won’t let our engagement get in the way of our mission. We are committed to seeing this through to the end.”
     “I still say this is dumb,” Teller said, “Running off in the middle of the night down to a place we don’t know and aren’t sure has any answers for us is a hare-brained scheme that sounds too risky to throw us into. Not to mention puts you two Pendant Bearers out there for Easter’s goons to try and snatch you up, or get their mitts on the Pendants.”
     “To be quite honest,” Rain Fox revealed, “I wouldn’t mind them coming out to play a little. Perhaps us getting out of here and out there in the open will draw Easter out as well. It might be an opportunity we could take advantage of.”
     Echo, Dev, and Rider nodded. “That’s not a bad notion, darlin’,” Rider admitted. “It can’t hurt to put out a little bait for them to try and nibble on.”
     “Be careful what you wish for,” Rouge warned. “You might catch a little more than you wanted, or worse.”
     Echo gave Rouge a glaring look. She shook her head at him.
     “When are we supposed to leave on this little escapade?” Teller asked.
     “As soon as possible,” Rain Fox replied, “As soon as the boat is ready. When can it be ready to sail, sis?”
     All eyes turned to Sky Heart. She was waving her wand around and conjuring little butterflies out of it absent-mindedly.
     “Ms. Cloudstorm?” Rider asked her.
     “Oh, I’m sorry,” Sky Heart said, looking up and smiling half-heartedly to the group, “I didn’t know if I was still using my Invisibility Charm or not.”
     “You were using an Invisibility Charm?” Sherman asked.
     “No, I wasn’t,” Sky Heart answered with a smirk. “Whatever you want, just go ahead and do it. But you’re not taking my boat without me.”
     “That’s why we asked you to go with us,” Echo said.
     “No one asked me anything!” Sky Heart spoke harshly, “You assumed I would go along with your plan willy-nilly. No one asked if I wanted to go along with this. You just made your plans and thought, ‘Well, we’re taking the boat, might as well take Sky Heart with us, she won’t mind at all.’ Am I right?”
     “That’s not it at all!” Rain Fox told her sister, “We want you to come!”
     “That’s rubbish!” Sky Heart retorted. “You and I both know that’s rubbish! Forget you lot! You want to ride on the boat then you know where to find me. I’m done sitting here as an afterthought.” She stormed off towards the boat house and the Black Lake.
     “Wait, sis!” Rain Fox shouted. She ran after her twin as fast as she could.
     “At least I’m not the only person not-so-thrilled about this dung-worthy mission,” Rouge said with a grin.
     “What is your deal?” Echo asked.
     “Nothing that concerns you, Kitten,” Rouge replied, “Nothing at all. I’ll go get my junk packed up.” Rouge walked away, a look of disinterest on his face.
     “Well,” Rider spoke, “I will read that as a sign of dismissal. Jinxie, darlin’, time we got our things and made haste across the Pond. I’m sure our old friend Anthony will be very appreciative of our company and our wand work.”
     “What?” Jinx asked with a chuckle. “What was that molasses you were spilling?”
     “What I said was,” Rider laughed, “Let’s get packed and get crackin’, shall we?”
     “You got it,” Jinx said.
     “The rest of us should do the same,” Dev spoke, “Sounds like we might have a long evening.”
     The group split up and went their respective ways. Rider and Jinx talked about how to smuggle themselves back into the Boston area. Teller walked the direction he had seen Rain Fox going. Sherman stood silent for a few seconds. He sighed his disappointment and mumbled a few curses to himself before leaving with his head down. Rouge walked towards the edge of the school grounds near the Dark Forest.
     Echo pulled Dev aside. “I’m going to have a few words with Rouge, okay?”
     Dev gave her a strange look. “You don’t have to let me know what you’re doing at every turn, Kitty,” he said to her, “I’ll be packing up our things, okay? Meet you at the boat?”
     “Sounds like a plan,” she smiled. She kissed him on the cheek and went to find Rouge. Dev walked back up to the school to pack his things.
     Echo walked around to see where Rouge had wandered to. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, thinking of where he could be. As if on cue, the Pendant of Darkness gave her the ability to see in the dark. To her, the night was as bright as day. She quickly spotted him, standing near the trees.
     Rouge was facing the direction of the Dark Forest. He had a handful of rocks and was tossing them lazily into the trees. He had his old red coat, his hair was a mess, and he had dirt under his fingernails. He reminded Echo of someone but she couldn’t quite put her finger on whom. He looked sad and angry as he kept tossing stones at the trees.
     “You might as well sneak up on me on a Hippogriff,” Rouge muttered, “Would be just as effective. They’re loud beasts, them ‘Griffs are. I heard the Magical Creatures teacher has a few around here.”
     “I heard that, too,” Echo said. “What is your deal?”
     Rouge kept facing the forest as Echo approached him. “My deal with what?” he asked.
     “You seemed pretty tense back there,” she told him.
     “I’m always tense,” Rouge chuckled, “I’m the bad guy, remember?”
     “Yeah, but you were extra-nasty tonight,” Echo said, “Especially to Jinx. Don’t you think she’s been through enough without you calling her a big baby?”
     “I’ve known Jinx Corryn longer than you’ve been around, Kitten,” Rouge grumbled. “I can handle her if I want to, and she can handle a little insult. She’s a lot tougher than you yahoos give her credit for.”
     “What’s with the attitude?” Echo asked.
     “I always have an attitude,” he replied.
     “Not like this,” she said. “Not like tonight. You really just want to stay behind? You want to stay here and do nothing?”
     Rouge kept throwing rocks at the trees. “Let me ask you something,” he began, “Why am I still here?”
     “What do you mean?” Echo asked.
     Rouge dropped all the stones in his hand and turned to face her. It startled Echo at first.
     “Why am I still around here? Why am I still following you around? It was almost a year ago, did you know that? It was a year ago when I asked you to help me find my brother. I told you I don’t beat around the bush; I tell it like it is. We got your mole out in the open and we stopped Easter and his band of idiots from taking over the Ministry here. Your brother is still out there with my brother. I talked to Cerulean and he ain’t coming home. He’s been brainwashed by Easter and whoever else is working his mind over. I’d say he was under the Imperius curse but I don’t even care anymore. Gash-Face is dead, you are engaged, and your little crew is heading down to probably get your butts handed to you while you play hide-and-seek with your lives looking for something you’re not even sure exists. You know what Horcruxes are now thanks to Uncle Malfoy so you don’t even need me around. So I ask again: Why am I still here?”
     “Because,” Echo began to say but paused. She took a moment before speaking again, trying to find a real answer to why Rouge was still there. “Because you promised Shade you would stick around and help me.”
     “No,” Rouge said, “What I told Shade was that I keep my promises. I kept my side of the promise: I’ve kept you alive. That was my part of the deal.”
     “That’s not what you promised him,” Echo told him. “You told him you’d help keep him alive.”
     “Guess I missed that one, too,” Rouge said gruffly. “Failed at bringing my brother home and failed to keep Shade alive. So I asked again: Why am I still here?”
     “What is this?” Echo asked exasperated, “Some kind of pity party for yourself?”
     “No, this is me telling it like it is and telling the truth. I failed to get my brother back home. The whole point of me coming along with you was to help you find your brother and help me find mine. That was an epic failure. I was supposed to do my part to keep Shade alive and I failed there, too. Epic failure number two. I was supposed to help keep you safe. That one, at least, I got right. You’re alive. Now you’re engaged, which means you’re not under my protection anymore: You’re under the French kid’s now. So here I am, the failure of this crew, disliked by everyone, stepped on at every turn by Melvin Teller and the rest, mistrusted and treated like a criminal, and you want me to tag along on yet another trek to somewhere we don’t know and, more than likely, somewhere we’re going to find either a lot of pain, a lot of misery, both, or worse. But guess what, Kitten? I’m going to go. Why? Because, honestly, I have nothing better to do. I hate this stupid school. Everyone’s so dang uptight one sneeze might snap their wand in two. The butterbeer’s alright but the firewhiskey is about the same as troll piss. The Iron Bull is scared for whatever reason, and I have no friends here. Hell, I ain’t got friends anywhere. The only person that I get along with is Rider and guess what? You’re sending him back to the States while I get to ride along on a dead man’s boat while we chase shadows and ghosts.”
     Echo shook her head. “Maybe you’re right,” she said, “I guess I’ve just gotten used to you being at my side. I didn’t know you never really wanted to be there.”
     “Don’t twist my words, Kitten,” Rouge said, “I never came because I cared about your brother or your mission or any of you sad sacks. I came because my brother means more to me than a hundred Shades or a thousand Jinxes. I lost that.”
     Echo took a long look at him. Though it was dark to his eyes, she could see his expressions as plain as day. He had a tear coming out of his left eye.
     Echo shook her head. “You’re really hurting, aren’t you?”
     Rouge huffed. “What?”
     “Stop, just stop,” she said, “Stop with this tough-guy junk, I’m not buying it. You’re upset because your brother ditched you for Easter. Guess what, tough guy? So did mine. I want you to go with me because, despite my better judgment, I still trust you more than some other people. Yeah, I kinda got used to you being nearby when I need you. But you know what? I want you to come along because out of everyone here, you’re the only person who knows what I’m going through. I want to kill my brother and save him at the same time. No one else here knows what that’s like. You feel like a failure? Sister Odelle, Nathan Knight, and Hardstone all died under my watch. My mother is still in a coma. And now I’m asking my friends to go with me on a boat ride I can’t guarantee we’ll all be coming back from. I got engaged tonight. I should be glowing with happiness and all those butterflies and stuff, but you know what, Rouge? I’m scared! I’m scared for everything! I’m scared Ceddy’s going to get hurt worse than today! I’m scared to lose any more people that I’m close to! I’m scared that Easter is going to find us and take back his Pendants! I’m scared for my friends and I can’t show them how scared I am because they’re all depending on me to help get them through this! I cried, dang it, I cried so bad when Shade died. Now here we are and I said yes to Ceddy because I’m so freakin’ afraid of losing him and never having a chance to tell him how much I love him. I hate this! I hate being this dang scared! I have a Magic Pendant that can see in the dark but can’t save my friends! How much of a failure do you think I am?”
     Rouge shook his head. “Look at you,” he mumbled, “I guess misery loves company.”
     “What?” she asked with tears in her eyes.
     “You want me to come along because you can’t tell your little kiddy friends that their favorite Kitten is scared. You think I’m holding a pity party? You have to care first to feel pity. Here’s what I’m telling you, Kitten: I don’t care anymore. I don’t give a rip about anything. My brother can sunburn in the Light for all I care. He can burn with the rest of the Embers. As for you yahoos, I don’t care about you, either. I’m done pretending like I care about you idiots. You treat me like leftovers from last week and then expect me to do what you tell me. Guess what: Party’s over. I’m done with this crap. Here’s how this is going to work: I’ll go along only because I want to rip someone apart and I’ll more than likely find that kind of action with you yahoos than I will trying to stick around here at the kiddy school. So I’ll go with you, Boss, but don’t expect me to be pleasant company.”
     “I don’t believe you, Rouge,” Echo said, “I know you probably don’t care about Rain Fox or the others-”
     “That’s not a ‘probably’, Kitten,” Rouge said. “That’s a definitely.”
     “- But I’d hope that you cared for me just a little.”
     Rouge looked at her with a blank expression. Then, suddenly, Rouge smiled. “Good for you,” he mumbled. “Too bad that ain’t a two-way path. I don’t care what happens from here on out. You can all go and die for all I care. There’s nothing for me here. There’s nothing for me anywhere.”
     “You don’t mean that,” Echo said with a little hurt.
     Rouge started to walk back to the school, leaving Echo standing near the trees and the pile of stones he dropped. “Whatever happens, happens. I’m sorry. I don’t know what you expect of me. My suggestion is not to expect anything out of me. I’m just here. I’m done. I don’t have friends, I don’t have family anymore. All I have left is my enemies; they’re the only things left that define me. So, yeah, I’ll fight along side you. I’ll fight your enemies as long as they are my enemies, too. I’ll follow you wherever you need me to go, Kitten, but only because I have nowhere else to go. I’ll see you at the boat.” He walked off slowly with his head held high, looking up at the stars.
     Echo stood bewildered. She felt a little angry at Rouge for his attitude but, overwhelmingly, she felt sorry for him. She didn’t have any words to comfort him, any thoughts to bring him up because in many ways he was right. Of everyone she had fought alongside he had earned her trust most, despite her first instinct to loathe him. She genuinely worried about him, but also worried whether bringing Rouge along would benefit or hurt their mission.