Legend

Seven

SEVEN

 INSIDE THE WHOLE CAVE, up to the top with its jagged ceiling, there were those glass cages, all of them filled with those ghost-figures.

I looked at Amandla, who was trying to comfort me, but I was pretty sure, from the look she gave me, that it had freaked her out too. I was vaguely aware of footsteps approaching us but I couldn’t tell if it was real or not, since the sound was drowned by the screaming. Everything seemed to stay a moment, frozen in time.

Then Amandla yelled, “Kristen!” snapping me out of my trance. “Stop screaming! Calm down!” That’s when I realized I had been screaming non-stop the whole time. The other screaming sounds seemed to have stopped, but now it felt like there was a gaping hole in my gut. My throat dried up. I stopped, and somehow calmed down a little, when a tap on my shoulder released another shriek out from me.

…

“I don’t get it,” I said, because I really didn’t. “You’re saying that there is a witch who has trapped all these souls of girls to keep herself powerful and young?”

“Yes.” The hoarse voice answered. The woman who had tapped my shoulder was apparently the witch’s assistant, who was forced to work for the witch, as she captured all the souls of her loved ones. As far as I knew, her name was Viola and she had worked for the witch for years. Apparently, the witch is an immortal who has the power to capture the souls of girls so that she could look young and keep her powers.

“But why would she do that? I mean, would she lose her powers if she didn’t? Why would she do something like that?”

“Because she cares about no one but herself. She can only stay powerful and young if she consumes a girl’s heart every so often and keeps the soul trapped, or else she grows old and loses her powers.” Viola said, with a hint of anger in her voice.

This didn’t make sense.  I thought magic was only a myth, something little kids ‘wow’ed at or something created to make a book interesting, but…Could it be real?

“Consume a girl’s heart?” I wrinkled my nose at the thought. But soon, it was replaced with another. “But why are you telling me this?”

Viola turned around. “Because we need help. We need you to free us.” She continued lighting the candles in the inner ‘room’ of the cave we were in. Of course, it took some time to calm me down as Viola explained the basic situation. We had entered the ‘room’ through a back entrance, so that we didn’t have to go so close to the glass cages. We had calmed the whining Legend with another apple and tied him to a small tree.

“How?” I asked, still confused.

“One of you or someone close to you must be it.” She said, lost in thought. What? “Or else you wouldn’t have heard the screaming.”

“What ‘it’?  Everyone would’ve heard the screams.  They’re so loud.”

“No, only some can, and the souls only scream sometimes, or, only scream audibly sometimes. Like now, you can’t hear the screaming.” She put a candle on the table.

“Sometimes? Like when?” Amandla asked.

“I’m not sure, but they haven’t been screaming much until recently.” Viola sat down, still thinking.

“And you’re not bothered by it?” I wondered how long Viola had been here.

“I’m used to it. Anyway, they only scream when Atala isn’t here, which is weird.”

“Atala?”

“The witch.”

“Where is she now?” Amandla always knows which questions to ask, even if she is as clueless and confused and shocked as I am.

“Oh, I suppose she’s gone on an errand; usually she’s really busy at this time of the day.”She stretched her back, and I can tell you, it literally cracked. She looked like she was in her late sixties, or seventies. “She leaves me here because I can’t escape. If I step out of the area she allows me to be in, she is immediately informed, and can stop me with a lift of a finger wherever she is, and she knows that the souls can’t escape either. She is too powerful.”

Another thought hit me. “Why didn’t she eat your heart and trap your soul like the others?”

“She couldn’t.” Okay, this was really getting me confused. Seeing my expression, she answered, “That’s a whole other story. I was the ‘Hope’. Sort of like the chosen one. Only the Hope could stand a chance in beating Atala and freeing the souls, but I never found out how in time. But I’m too old now. There must be another new Hope now, so I can’t help. Atala can’t consume Hopes. I spent the last thirty years trying to find another Hope.” So she had been here for a long time.

“I think only Hopes and people closer to them can hear these screams. So, I think maybe one of you, or someone close to you, would be the next Hope. But I can’t be sure. Recently some people have visited me, which is certainly weird, but they were hikers or expedition stuff or hitchhikers or whatever they called themselves. But they didn’t hear the screams and you did so it seems like you do have something to do with the Hope.”  She looked up abruptly, and then jumped. “Oh, no. Atala is coming back soon. Come on, we’ve got to get you home.” The fear in her voice was palpable.

I looked at my watch: four forty-five. Oh no. I had to go soon; Zxander could have been walking home by now. “Okay. I should go now, too.”

“Right. Come tomorrow at the same time, if you can. I need to think this through, and then I might need to speak to you.”

We agreed and untied Legend, and Amandla and I jumped on. Right. Legend. Oops. I didn’t really ‘help’ him, like I told him I would. Oh well, the apples seemed to delight him, for now, at least.

As we said our good-byes, Viola eyed Legend curiously. “That’s a beautiful horse.” She stroked his silver mane. “You don’t get many silver horses. What’s his name?” She was a nice little old lady, I thought, when a sudden unnatural bright light appeared. Uh oh. I had a feeling that it was Atala coming.

“Legend.” I answered.

“Legend.” Viola tasted the word. Atala hadn’t appeared yet, but I knew she would, very soon. I kicked Legend hard as he cantered off. “Legend!” Viola cried, suddenly shocked, and as I turned back, I just caught a glimpse of her eyes widening.