Toffee's Trick

Chapter 35

"So, Toffee kidnapped Marco to use against me. He told me he'd kill Marco if I didn't destroy my wand, so I performed the whispering spell-"

She ignored Moon's gasp of horror.

"-and the wand was disabled. But Toffee didn't let Marco go."

It was the Diaz's turn to gasp.
Star continued.

"When Toffee sent me home again, I went to Tom for help. He made a transport potion which took us to Toffee's castle. It took about a week to prepare, which explains Marco's starvation. When we arrived we offered Toffee his finger in return for Marco."

River clapped a hand to his mouth and Moon gasped,

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, Star?! Giving Toffee his finger back... he could've returned to full power! Where did you even get his finger?"

Star looked disgruntled.

"Give me a little credit, Mother," she said cooly. "I not just a pretty blonde girl with an ass that won't quit. I had a plan. You see, in this modern day and age we have something called 'Plasticine'. I cleverly fashioned a perfect resemblance of the severed finger using Plasticine. This fooled Toffee for long enough, and he explained that he wanted to do away with Marco because he..."

This was the part Star had not been looking forward to telling, especially with her parents listening to the tale.

"He is... My source of magic."

"Huh?" Asked Mr and Mrs Diaz.

"What?" River spluttered.

"What?" Moon screeched. "Star- a princess's magic should stem from faith in her family and her kingdom!"

"It used to," said Star, smiling at Marco, who blushed. "Anyway, it was all going okay until I realised that he had blood on his fingers when he returned from Marco's cell."

Mr Diaz gasped again.

"Toffee realised the finger was a fake. He went crazy and told us that Marco was dead. Tom ...blew him up."

Tom grinned sheepishly, his cheeks pink.

"I did, I did do that," he said, quietly proud of himself.

"So then we ran through the castle looking for Marco," Star continued. "When we found him, Toffee had stabbed him, and we brought him here as soon as possible. While he was being fixed up, I returned to the castle and retrieved my wand, fixing it along the way. But the real problem was that Toffee had impressed the the dagger he used to stab Marco with dark magic. Now- this is where things get a little complicated, so pay attention."

Star paused to draw breath, then said,

"A while ago, Marco broke his arm. I tried to fix it using magic, but accidently used some dark magic in the spell. This took form as the monster arm. Now- we disabled it for a while, but the darkness was still there.

"The dark magic Toffee added gave the monster strength, and it took over while Marco was recovering: it attacked and killed two people. But we subdued it and later, because Marco is linked very closely to my magic, he was able to summon me and I found that Toffee was possessing Marco temporarily using his dark magic.

"He told me that before Marco could get better, I had to get rid of my dark magic in him, and that even if we got all the dark magic out of him, he would still have to deal with his human injuries like being stabbed and starved and having a broken arm and stuff. When Toffee left, I knew I had to get rid of my dark magic using something from me, and that brings us up to Tom telling you guys that I was going to do something crazy. Actually, all I did was prick my finger and put my blood on forehead," Star said, panting slightly.

Silence filled the room, heavy and shocked.

Marco spoke first. His voice was low, terrified... ashamed.

"I... I killed... two people?"

Star's head turned to him so fast she clicked her neck.

"No!" She cried. "No, it wasn't you. That was the monster arm! You were fighting it, remember? You couldn't control it. D- don't you remember?" She asked doubtfully, remembering all too well the look of horror on Marco's face as the arm attacked those men.

Marco screwed up his face in concentration.

"I... no, I don't remember any of it- only, seeing your face. I was tied up and I could see your face. That's it... that's all I remember."

"Hold up," Tom said. "All you did was put your blood on him, Star?"

"Yeh, why?"

"That wouldn't've worked, would it?" He asked incredulously. They all looked at him. "Well- obviously it did work," he said quickly, flushing, "but- we actually had to feed Toffee to Marco. I thought you had to ingest it or something, it had to actually be in your system."

"Huh," Star said, scowling at Tom, not wanting him to know about her intimate moment with Marco. "Say, Tom, not to change the subject, but what was that you were telling me earlier about... what was it? Adding demon to the mix by crying in the potion you fed Marco?"

Tom coloured even darker and scowled directly at Star.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm sure the worst he'll get is a couple of horns."

"What?!" Said Star.

"WHAT?!?" Said Marco.

"Yeah, no biggie- it's something that happens to humans when they ingest demon tears. It sometimes gives them... side effects. Don't worry about it."