A Tale of Traitors

Dalia--Part 2

          Dalia had asked why the man had taken her to the island, and he smiled softly before responding.
"There's something in this forest that is quiet but powerful." He said quite simply as his tentacles transformed into legs and he began to walk on the land. "Wait here."
She nodded obediently and waited for the chief to come back, finally at peace in the solitude. As she sat enjoying the water lap against her scales, she thought about her life and the things she had overcome. Dalia remembered her sister, who had raised her and was killed a few years before by the Mermaids. She thought about her parents and how she wished they could have loved her, at least for a moment, before they decided her life didn't matter to them. Shortly after she was born, they decided she wasn't worth it; maybe her newborn screech was too hideous for them, or maybe her eyes didn't shine brightly enough. Whatever it was that made them hate her had changed her life and her sister's. She pushed those thoughts away--their hatred was a memory to stop dwelling on. She let the time pass slowly by as she waited patiently for the chief to come back. The suns above pounded on her face, and she scooped up water and splashed it against her cheeks. The silence had finally begun to unnerve her, but she didn't want to alarm nearby enemies by making noise. Instead, she decided to sing a song whose words she had long forgotten, and made up her own in their stead. Perhaps it was a childhood nursery rhyme that her brain desired to recall, or maybe it was a song that everyone had sung at one point before it fell out of style and was forgotten forever. She sort of remembered it, though, and the more she sang the notes, the quicker the words came to her recollection, and she pieced together the chorus and verses, her powerful voice weighted with knowledge and desire. She quieted herself to a mere hum when she heard the footsteps of her chief approaching, and he wadded into the waves next to her. He carried a dark oak box under his arm that was tightly sealed and glowed with the subliminal mark of an enchanted object.
"What did you take?" Dalia asked curiously, observing the ornately carved container.
"Come around to the other side of the island," the chief responded, a touch of anxiety in his voice.
          Dalia could barely recall a time when she had heard the chief's voice as anxious as it was then. Her own nervousness heightened slightly as she recognized that this moment was important.
"Is there a reason you can't tell me here?" She whispered hoarsely.
"I don't want this information falling into the wrong hands, Dalia." He responded, his eyes stone cold and locked on her own.
"Chief--"
"Be silent for now. Wait and see where I bring you."
Her heart thudded when she saw it.

          I was reading in the girls' room about the places Willow had mentioned when my thinking was abruptly interrupted by someone's body slamming on the ground. I hurried to the basement, my sight blurry from getting up too fast. I could barely feel my feet touch the floor as I scurried down the stairs. I glanced at Queen and Willow. Queen was chuckling as she lay on the floor, her back against the concrete.
"Well done, Willow," Queen helped herself back to her feet. Then, she glanced at me. "Don't worry, we're just practicing some self defense moves."
I looked at Willow, who was pouring sweat and looked incredibly exhausted--literally the opposite of Queen.
"Break?" I mumbled.
"Sure," Queen turned to Willow. "Want water?"
"Yeah, thanks," she responded, collapsing in a chair as Queen went upstairs to get it. I sat across from Willow.
"Did you find any information?" She nodded to the book in my hand.
I pointed to the title of the chapter and passed it to her.
"I thought you said earlier that you didn't want to go back to Realm Five," she panted.
"I know where it is," I hated the sound of my own voice; it was completely hideous compared to what it had been back home.
"You mean the realm?" Willow asked quickly.
"The treasure."
For a second, she was silent.
"You know what we're looking for," her eyes widened. "Maybe we should go there first."
I smiled, but it faded as quickly as it came. I suppose she noticed the fear in my eyes.
"Why don't you want to go back home?" She asked cautiously. I refused to answer and reached for the book. She placed it back in my hand, and I walked away. That was the end of our conversation, and I did not wish for it to continue. I ran into Queen on the way up and told her what I had told the professor the night before.
"You're seriously saying you've been to this place?" Queen's eyes were wide.
"With the chief, yeah." I whispered.
"You did tell the professor this?" Queen took the book from my hands and examined the picture of the shipwreck.
"Of course. The chief knows to protect it. Its case is enchanted."
"Good, I'm glad he knows its value. How long do you think he can fight for it?"
"If the mermaids don't know yet, they'll find out soon. Our fighters are tough."
"Did you see the piece?" Queen grew more excited as she spoke.
"No."
"Just the box?"
I nodded.
"How do you know it's in there?"
"Chief doesn't lie."
"Everyone lies."
"No."
"Oh come on, we're about to chase these pieces across our universe. I know there's no way for you to know with absolute certainty if it's there but... if we get all that way with Willow--who's being chased by demons--and there's nothing in the box, it'll be a huge disappointment."
"I know."
"You're sure about this?"
"Professor is."
"Okay," she smiled. "Did he say when we should leave?"
"One or two days, I think. I told him the full story this morning... he may want to leave sooner..." I quieted my voice so that Syrnafin wouldn't hear me while he walked passed.
"I think it'll only get more dangerous the longer we stay," Queen whispered back, eyeing the window behind me. "Especially since Willow's spell was broken, anyone could be on her tail."
"Are you scared?"
"Naw," Queen laughed. "It takes a lot more than some average assassin and a couple of demons to scare--"
The power moaned and gave out, the lights giving one last flicker before releasing sparks.
          Before we registered what was happening, Syrnafin and some of his followers flung to cover the windows and doors in every room, chanting spells that were incredibly powerful. They flung the brown curtains closed and chanted louder and louder.
"What's going on?" Queen yelled angrily.
"I'm not sure," Adrianna yelled back between spells. "Something's out there and it got to our power grid--that means anything could enter at any minute."
"It broke the spells you had in place?" Queen roared.
I glanced toward the basement door. Queen went off to see if she could help with the enchanting, but I went after Willow. I heard the steps creak under my feet as I crept slowly down the stairs and listened closely.
"Willow," I said as loudly as I could muster, which really wasn't very loud. The sound of rushing feet flooded the ceiling and caused trace amounts of dust to fall from the highest crevices and rain down on us. "Willow." I said again, waiting for a response. When I didn't hear one, I hurried down and anxiously peered into the room, though I couldn't see. I cautiously walked between the equipment and shot back when I almost stepped on her. Willow was laying on the ground clutching her head. My heart leapt as I realized that the Shadow Catcher was probably in the process of being shattered--would that have anything to do with the power outage? Would I be the only one dealing with this issue?
"D--" she tried to speak but cringed in pain.
"Focus, Willow," I said calmly, crouching down next to her, knowing there was nothing I could do to help. "Just a little while longer, they're working on helping you."
Everything in her was trying to say something.
"What's wrong?" I asked like an idiot. I knew she wouldn't be able to tell me, and that was probably what she was upset about. "Just one more minute."
"I--hate--" she said between breaths and winced once more, "being--WEAK."
"You're not."
"Yes--"
"No. You're strong. Right now you just need a little help."
She didn't respond. We sat in silence for another three and a half minutes until the lights came back on, and she let go of her head.
"Hurts?" I mumbled.
"Not now. Thanks for being here." She smiled with a slight blush of humiliation.
"It's okay to need help. Not weak." I nodded.
"Sure," she tried to pull herself to her feet but only succeeded in sitting upright.
"DEE! WILLOW!" Queen's monstrous voice pounded in my ears as she raced downstairs. "You guys good?"
"Yeah," Willow nodded, struggling but succeeding to stand upon shaky legs.
"What's wrong with you?" Queen raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing," she responded with complete calmness.
"Well, then, get upstairs. The professor wants everyone to talk about the power outage." She darted upstairs, and Willow soon followed. She paused when she lost her breath, so I took her arm and helped her back up. All she needed to do was ask, but since she didn't, I supposed I would help her anyway. I think everyone needs a little help, no matter if they're a chosen warrior or not. When we reached the last stair, I pushed her ahead of me so that no one would have to see I had helped her. I figured her pride would be slightly damaged if others saw she couldn't even walk on her own. I could understand why she would think she was weak, but in reality she was just vulnerable and needed support. She was still strong, she just needed to remember who she was and take some time to grow and learn. My thoughts were cloudy in my mind. I wished I could put into words some of the things I was thinking. Perhaps I could have told her some of this and made her feel better about herself. However, I could not find the words or the voice to say so. If her flaw was pride, I suppose mine was fear. I blamed this on the human body I was trapped in. Anyways.
          Although we discussed what had caused the power outage, no one really knew what had happened. It couldn't have been an Average--they're not special enough to see through our magic--so it must have been something supernatural. Maybe it was the spirits, but Willow's Shadow Catcher was still operating. Maybe it was the assassin, as he could have tracked down our location through the professor. However, there was no way to be sure what had happened, so we decided to let time tell what was going on. Over the next twenty-four hours, we experienced eleven power outages, each one gradually getting longer than the last. Willow endured more and more pain and had to go through two more Shadow Catchers. She didn't let the pain get her hopes down, and between the outages she still trained and practiced her spells. Although she had needed help at first, she gradually learned from her mistakes and got back up when she fell down in failure. I think it was her persistence that really got to me; there, in the trials and through the pain, her bold heart shone brighter than the sun through the clouds on a rainy day. The day was hard and long, but at least we got one more night in the safe house. We constantly woke throughout the night to the sound of feet pounding through the halls and the loud chants of protective spells. Willow repeatedly awoke in cold sweats, sometimes being unable to breathe. Queen didn't wake, but I did every time; she was still being affected by the power outage and the shattering of the Shadow Catchers. She later informed me that Helena Magdalena had begun to come to her in more frequent and terrifying dreams which she couldn't remember after waking. She said she remembered seeing some of her greatest fears come true, with the promise that one day, if Tormod was overthrown, it would never be as anyone pictured it. There would be great pain and sorrow involved. This came as no surprise to her, but it did seem to shake her up.
          "Dee," Queen shook me until my eyes fluttered open and I whipped around. "Dee, get up. Something's wrong. Listen."
I listened and heard nothing but silence. I shook my head.
"It's too quiet," Queen insisted, turning to wake Willow too. "Willow, get up."
"Why is it so quiet?" Willow asked, surprisingly alert. Queen turned to me and rose an eyebrow.
"I think something's wrong," she said once more. "Let's go check it out. You coming?"
I nodded. We took our swords off from the wall by the door and slowly exited, the wooden oak floorboards creaking under our weight as we made our way to the living room. The door to every room was wide open--no one was in Syrnafin's room, or the professor's. None of the fellow Shadow Weepers were in their rooms. All that remained were weapons strewn across the floors. No blood was spilled upon the floor, none stained into the carpet. It was as if everyone had vanished except for us. My anxiety heightened as it had when the chief showed me the secret box that day years ago. Queen was leading, I was in the middle, and Willow was behind me. The only sounds were that of our footsteps and breathing; the lights were off, but sunlight streamed lazily through the half-closed curtains. The spell had inevitably been broken, and the age of the building in the human world was starting to show through the dust that soaked into the air and seeped into our lungs. I fought against my own body so I wouldn't sneeze. I wouldn't be the one to alert any possible enemies to our position by an eruption of sudden noise in the stillness. After slowly going through the whole house, we ended up in the living room. Everyone's bodies were piled in there, some on top of others. My heart thudded violently as we entered, seeing the faces of all our friends and allies under the windows which they struggled to protect. Queen hurried forth and tore a dart out of Bob's chest; no matter how much they had fought before, she was still worried about him. She looked at the tip of the dart and whispered to me,
"It's not fatal, but they'll be out cold for a few hours. Whoever is here wants something or someone specific."
"Willow," I turned to give her the news, but she was across the room, her arms around--

No, no, no, no, no...