Elemental Eclipse

🌻Chapter Eleven: Part Two; Double Double🌻

The twins approached the sentry, stopping in front of it unsure what to do from here.

"Well don't just stand there. Ask it a question, this invisibility spells got an expiration date." Atlas sighs.

"Oh okay... um... Sentry, tell us what happened in the mirror room, and we'll... uh tell Dean Goeffe how helpful you were!" Rachael says waiting for the sentry to respond, but it never comes.

"Fantastic..." Atlas sighs.

"Well, I'm out of ideas." Rachael sighs.

"I've got one. I know a moon spell that makes people more open to being talkative. Not sure if that applies to suits of armors, too, but worth a shot." Atlas shrugs, as she gently placed her hand on the sentry, her face contorting in concentration. "Go ahead ask it a question."

"Okay... Sentry tell us what happened in the mirror room." Rachael commands, sounding a bit unsure.

"That's not exactly a question, but okay..." Atlas mumbles as a light begins to emerge from inside its helmet.

It spoke with a deep voice that echoed throughout its armor. "Demonstrate thine knowledge and I will do so in kind. Search the crest of Penderghast past and what dost thou find? Before the Dryxmar came a creature most powerful and fierce. Speak forth its name and my defenses you will pierce."

"I think I heard something about the original Penderghast crest having a creature that devours its own tail on it?" Atlas says. "I can't remember the name of it though..."

Rachael thought back to the day she spent with Beckett in the library wracking her brain trying to remember what he had told her about the crest on his blazer. "Its an ouroboros!"

"Yeah, that's it." Atlas says, snapping her fingers, the name registering in her mind. "Didn't think you had it in you being new to the magickal word and all."

"I'm a fast learner." Rachael says, with a smile that Atlas found quite annoying if she was being honest.

"You are correct. Now, see through the eyes of another..." The sentry says, ominously, before the light in its helmet flashed a the brightest white light at the pair, blinding them.

The light faded into a scene depicting the four other Pend Pals flooding out of the Hall of Mirrors in panic.

"What happened in there?! How are we going to go after Rachael if all the mirrors are broken?" Griffin asks frantically.

"Why did all the mirrors shatter?! Was it because of the shadow monsters?" Shreya asks, looking around at the others for answers they don't have.

"Never mind why they shattered, why did she fall through the mirror like that?" Beckett asks, seeming the most calm out of everyone in the group, but the uncertainty on his face and his unkept appearance revealed otherwise.

"Aw he's worried about me..." Rachael giggles to herself quietly, earning a glare from Atlas before they both turned their attention back to the scene.

"Guy, relax. I'm sure Rachael's relying on us to stay calm." Zeph says, acknowledging everyone's panic and realize that for once in his life he would have to be the sane one.

"You're right. We're no help to anyone if we're running around like cockatrices with their head chopped off." Griffin agrees.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Zeph smiles.

"So what's the plan, then?! After we 'calm down' that is." Beckett asks letting his temper get the best of him, since anger was his default facade to cope with everything.

"Beckett, I need you to take a moment and think about your happy place, wherever that is. Probably the library. Take a deep breath. We need to be calm and focused if we're going to be of any use to Rachael." Zeph says, in a soothing yet cautious tone.

Beckett seemed to take his advice for a moment and letting his facade wash away to reveal the slightly more calm, but guilty and panicked version of himself. "Wait, wait, wait. Everyone shut up for a second. I can figure out why this happened, I know I can. Just let me think..."

"Beckett. It's okay. No one expects you to come up with a solution on your own." Shreya says gently, her big sister mode setting in.

"Shreya's right. I know you're worried about Rachael. We all are. But you don't want to over-" Griffin says, quickly getting cut off by Beckett's default defense to feeling any emotion other that pride.

"Don't waste your time worrying about me, both of you! We need to be thinking about her right now, not me!" Beckett huffs, the slight taste of metal spreading throughout the air in the wake of his outburst.

"I think we should go tell one of the professors about the mirror room. They'll know what to do." Griffin suggests.

"That's a terrible idea! What if they ask us how it happened?" Beckett responds quickly. "We can't give them a reason, and we're just students. They could end up blaming us. They'll find out about the room on their own, so let them. We're all safer that way."

"I don't think the professors will blame..." Zeph says, trying to stay in his lane, but attempting to reason with him at the same time.

One of the nearby sentries began to act up and the four students turned to look at it.

"The sentries! They see everything that goes on at Penderghast! They must know what happened in the mirror room!" Griffin says.

"Which means they might know what happened to Rachael!" Shreya adds.

"Hey, sentries! Why did the mirrors shatter like that?" Zeph asks walking closer to the one nearby them.

"We know not why mirrors shattered, but when opposing powers meet on the bridges between worlds, those bridges collapse." The sentry rumbles.

"Well it heard us, but uh... what the hell does any of that mean?" Zeph asks looking around at the others.

"Your guess is as good as mine. The sentries are enchanted to give answers, but not necessarily clear ones." Griffin sighs.

There conversation was interrupted by a professor's voice echoing throughout the hallway.

"Everyone if you could return to your dorms, please! This hallway is off-limits for the time being!" Professor Englund calls out to some students on the opposite end of the hall for them.

"We should get out of here. If we get caught or detained, we lose time we could be looking for Rachael." Beckett says, looking between the others presenting himself as calmly as possible. With that he turned and began walking off towards the Freshman dorms, not even waiting for anyone else to follow him, but they did.

The light slowly faded away and Rachael and Atlas found themselves back in the present.

"That is all there is to see." The sentry states plainly.

"I can't really see you, but thanks. That was really helpful." Rachael says politely, before turning to leave, noticing that the spell on Atlas was beginning to wear off. "Uh oh Spaghetti O's... our time is almost up. We have to go, now!"