Welcome to Almusilaa

Chapter Twenty

I'm going to be busy later so I decided to post early :) only one chapter to go!

"What?" I asked.

"Hold up, what's this edix anime stuff? Is it bad?" Nicole asked.

"It's disease that slowly drains a warlock of their powers, until it eventually kills them. Conveniently, it has no cure." Charlie explained.

"Is it painful?" Grace asked.

"Don't mind that, what happens if our only ticket out of these bodies dies?" Cooper asked.

"We are stuck in these bodies forever." Nicole said.

"Or until we die of old age. How long do cats generally live again?" Cooper asked morbidly.

"Stop, this isn't helping," I said. "What do we do?" I pleaded as I looked at Dr Sheppard.

"You'll need to give her what she wants." He said.

"Tomorrow we tell the council what is going on and plead they listen." Abigail said with a hopeless look. We knew what was going to happen. We knew what the answer would be. I looked at Charlie. Charlie nodded.

"I'll look for any other way to do this. You guys go back to the gala. You might as well enjoy yourselves." Abigail said.

"Actually, I think we should go back to our room. I don't think any of us are in the partying mood right now." Charlie said.

We bid our goodbyes, leaving them flipping through ancient books. We walked passed the party and back towards the hotel.

The streets were practically empty since most people were at the gala so it was safe to talk.

"What are we going to do?" Cooper asked.

"We're going to grab the violin, then we're going to take Sam to his mother and get your bodies back." Charlie said.

The hotel staff were surprised to see us back so fast. We went back to our room. Charlie and Lauren changed into more comfortable clothes and helped us out of ours before grabbing the violin and sitting on the couch with the violin on the coffee table. They had opened the case. The shiny spruce of the violin reflecting the orange light of the sunset coming through the cracks of the blinds. Charlie then pulled out her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Nicole asked.

"Lee." Charlie answered. In seconds Lee answered.

"Hey Charlie, what's going on?" He asked. Charlie had put him on speakerphone so everyone could hear him loud and clear.

Charlie explained what we were doing. "So how do you do the finding spell?" She asked.

"Really Charlie? We learned this when we were fourteen." Lee said. He sighed. "Okay, close your eyes and reach out with your magic." He said. Charlie closed her eyes and the sweet smell of magic filled the air.

"Then you grab the violin with your magic, not lifting it up, just holding it." He said through the phone.

"Okay."

"Good, reach inside it. You should feel some resistance. That's the essence of the person." He said. Charlie frowned in concentration.

"Uh, is it supposed to be glowing?" Charlie asked. I looked and I didn't see anything.

"Yes, now there should a thread coming off of the mass. Follow that." Lee said. "Good luck." And with that, he hung up.

With her eyes still closed, Charlie picked up the violin and began walking towards the door. Lauren opened the door and gently grabbed Charlie's arm, guiding her. We followed closely behind.