Kate opened her mouth, and nothing could have prepared Chihiro for what happened. Several people screamed. Kate's eyes widened in horror, her mouth still open from the sentence she has never said, and Chihiro heard The Voice.
"Watashi to kite."
Chihiro understood perfectly, and so did Desdemona, Riddle, and Steve. Looking around wildly for The Voice, Chihiro gave a startle as The Voice spoke again.
"Chihiro, Desdemona, Riddle, Steve."
"No! You won't take them!" Kate yelled, hysterical.
Only another phrase answered her, another phrase from The Voice.
"Morieris Manibus."
The wind roared. Everything blacked out. A silver light was growing from amidst the black mass, and shrill, unearthly music was coming from inside the ball of light, and as it reached such a pitch that Chihiro thought her eardrums would explode, it all stopped.
Kate was lying upon the floor, her eyes open and glassy. She was dead.
"Patentibus."
The doors of the Hall swung open, creaking slightly, to reveal The Voice.
A young woman stood in the doorway, her wand still raised. She had silvery blond hair that fell to her waist, midnight-blue eyes that melted smoothly into capri at the rim of her irises, a pale heart-shaped face, and was dressed in a black hooded robe with silver runes and symbols printed upon it. She spoke again, "Chihiro, Desdemona, Riddle, Steve. Come with me. Take your magical items."
The four immediately squeezed out of line, coming to a halt in front of the woman.
"My name is Skye. I would like to tell all of you-" she surveyed the crowd in the hall, all of whom were backing away from her-" that the Cursed Ghost has returned."
"I would like you all to put yourselves on high alert. Come, we shall go now." she beckoned to Chihiro and the others, who glanced at each other before following her out of the hall.
Skye brought them up to the battlements, where a huge crystal bubble sat waiting for them. Skye approached it, and with a flick of her wand, a second, smaller bubble erupted from the larger one, and carried them, one by one, into the crystalline mass.
"Um...Madam...Skye?" Riddle was the first one to speak, "Where are you taking us, and why did you kill Kate? Does this happen to be related somehow to...Meganne?"
He seemed to be choosing his words extra carefully, out of fear at what he had just seen, thought Chihiro, and to her surprise, Skye smiled and spoke in a voice quite different from what they had just heard, it was soft, and much more human.
"Indeed, young Riddle. You are very gifted in magic, and I believe that you would make an excellent seer. We are going to her castle, and I believe that she alone would be able to destroy the Ghost, and save Wisdom Spring. The wizarding world does not play by the law."
The crystal sphere touched down gently on the ground, and dissolved into shining mist. The sun was shining down upon them, and Chihiro, freed of worry, smiled with relief. "Cmon," she muttered to Desdemona.
Looming out at them and gleaming in the sunlight, was a magnificent gate. As they got closer, Chihiro saw that it was carved out of a solid chunk of black marble, and was engraved, just like Skye's robes, with all kinds of strange symbols and ancient runes. A few feet behind, Riddle was staring at the runes and muttering to himself.
The castle was built out of huge bricks of white marble, engraved with patterns with gold. There were several towers, a moat and drawbridge and a large oaken door.
Skye reached into her cloak and drew out a large diamond. She then tapped three times with her wand upon a certain spot on the door, and a small portion of the wood simply melted away, leaving a space for the diamond.
Skye inserted the diamond into the opening, bending ever so slightly to show black ankle boots with a small, supportive heel and silver decorative swirls. Straightening back up, she stood back, and gestured for them to do the same.
The diamond sank slowly into the wood, and as the tip vanished, the doors began to creak open slowly. It was an enchantment of Monica, Meganne's grandmother's, and prevented cases like magical robbery from happening. The enchantment cannot be broken, nor can the diamond be recreated, and thus was the most important defence system of the entire castle.
The doors have finally swung all the way open, and they could see the blurred outline of a large hall in the darkness. As the last person, Steve entered the hall, the doors began to close. Now, they were standing to complete darkness.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed on. There was a large dome, with a clear crystal basin carved with strange symbols and runes, containing some silvery, translucent liquid. Skye walked towards the dome, and passed through it as if it was made by air. The liquid in the basin floated hazily into the air, and twisted into the letters:
Skye Evangeline
Skye raised a hand, and a bubble carried her up, out of the dome, so that she was floating one or two inches above it. She beckoned for them to do the same.
One by one, they stepped through the dome, and saw the liquid, in turn, twist into the following names:
Chihiro Akimoto
Desdemona Chang Ying Ming
Riddle Lee Nian Zhen
Steve Oliver Evans
As the last person, Riddle, was lifted into the air by the bubble, they all floated down, and before their very eyes, the scenery of the hall changed.
They were standing at the foot of a magnificent staircase, carved out of black diamond and spiralling up to the second landing. Various maps inscribed with gold were upon the white marble walls, and off to one side was a small crystal chamber, with a large crystal ball on a silver pedestal inside. A figure dressed in a black robe was walking down, and as the figure threw back it's hood, Chihiro saw her face.
Is this chapter-length okay?
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The Cat Left Behind
FantasyYuki-Onna was Japanese. The only reason for her to be in Wisdom Spring is that her mother, Minako, had died mysteriously in their old home in Kumamoto and nobody there would talk to her family anymore, because they feared that Minako is a witch. An...
