Wolf Woes

Chapter 3: In The Cell (pt 2)

Freya walked into the cellar carrying one of three trays of food. Marcel followed Freya carrying the second. Keelin follow Marcel carrying the third, and Alaric followed Keelin carrying an urn. Freya and Keelin handed their trays to MG and Penelope, then Freya went to open Hope cell door, allowing Marcel to bring in her tray. He sat her tray down on the desk, then pulled Hope into a big hug.

"I missed you kid," he said.

She hugged him tighter. "I missed you too." She let go and asked, "Is Landon okay?"

"Yeah. He's a tough kid," Marcel said. "For the record, I approve."

"Oh... Landon and I aren't... Well we might have been... He's not my boyfriend," Hope fumbled.

Marcel chuckled.

Alaric walked into the cell and handed the urn to Hope. She carefully took the urn and studied it. "It looks Egyptian."

"It is," Freya confirmed. "We've traced its origins back to around 500 BCE."

Hope looked up at Freya in surprise. "That's over a millennium before the knife was created."

"We're starting to think the keys were randomly selected," Alaric said.

"But the Necromancer said the knife's creator had a lot to say about Malivore," Hope said.

"They might have known about Malivore, but we're thinking the knife is just a knife," Freya said.

"Landon's mother told Marcel some information that contradicts what we originally believed. The knife isn't what sends the monsters to Malivore. There is a portal in Georgia that sends them to Malivore."

"A pit of tar is what she called it," Marcel added. "She worked for years tracking monsters and returning them to a place called The Triad. They would then drop the monster into the pit. Once the monster absorbed then it was wiped from everyone's mind."

"Did she come back with you?"

"No," Marcel said, then looked to Alaric. "I think you should hear it from him. It's his story to tell, not mine."

"Okay," Hope said hesitantly.

Freya stepped up to the cell bars. "We know that there is an earthly access point to Malivore. We know where it is. We know that they are still hunting down supernatural beings."

"You want to close the pit?" Hope asked.

Alaric placed his hand on Hope's shoulders. "Malivore creatures have been inside the walls of this school. They've seen who lives here. It's only a matter of time before The Triad realize it as well and send agents after you."

"We still don't know who the puppet master behind all the monsters is. For all we know, shutting down the pit won't top them. They will still be coming after this." She shook the urn as she spoke.

Alaric took the urn that Hope was shaking. "That's why we are also going to come up with a way to destroy this thing."

"Yeah, because that worked so well on the knife," she snarked.

"We'll figure something out," Alaric assured her.

Penelope, who had been quietly eating her food as the other talked, set her tray on the floor and stood up. She walked into the cell, and silently asked to see the urn. She looked it over. "It's magic right? Whatever makes this thing the key, is magic at its core. Why don't you have JoJo and Lizzie siphon the magic from it?"

"We though about that," Freya started.

"But I don't want to risk my daughters becoming the key themselves," Alaric finished.

Penelope gave Hope the perfect idea. One she couldn't believe she hadn't thought about before. She took the urn and smiled widely at it. "She didn't say they had to keep the magic." She looked up at Alaric. "They can siphon the magic out and put it into something that can never be moved."

Alaric opened his mouth to object but closed it just as quickly. He looked at Freya with a why didn't we think of that look, then looked back at Hope. "Like what?"

"Like the school, or a mountain, or another dimension," Hope rattled off, excitedly. For the first time since Landon stole the knife, she was hopefully for an end to the drama. "It doesn't matter what it is, just so long as it can never get to Malivore. Then we can figure out who is pulling the strings and shut the portal down."

"What if there are more than one portal?" MG asked, causing the group to turn to the vampire. "It just seems a little odd that the portal to Malivore be here in the states. I mean, dragons aren't common among Indigenous culture and with the few tribes that have mentioned dragons, it is more bird-like than reptilian. No... Dragons are more common among Asian and European cultures."

"Make your point nerd boy," Penelope snarked.

"I think his point is..." Hope butted in. "After capturing the creature, they would have to bring it to the states to put it in the pit. It isn't just one dragon they captured. They don't exist anymore. Malivore agents wiped entire species from the world. That would be a lot of traveling to the states. The Necromancer was killed in France, which is where the gargoyle protected the knife in the fourteenth century."

"And the arachnid is from Greek mythology, and the word dragon comes from the Greek word draconta."

"The Dryad was local, but she said there were many of them," Alaric said.

"We have to go on the assumption that every mythical creature we have every read about is real," Hope said. "MG's right. It makes sense for there to be more than one pit of despair."

"Or..." Penelope inserted. "And this is going to sound crazy, but is it possible the portal is moveable?"

Everyone turned to face Freya. "I'm not sure. I suppose theoretically it could be possible. God knows you all have been dealing with the impossible. I think we should keep both options open for now. We'll research possible locations, while figuring out the best place to put the key's magic once the twins remove it from the urn."

"We'll work on the portal, while you continue to work on Hope," Alaric told them. "Eat first though, and act like normal kids."

"Yes, normal kids just researching why our friend is wolfing out and traveling miles from school," Penelope said dryly.

MG snickered, which caused Hope to smile.

"Yeah. Like that," Alaric said, as he pointed back a forth between MG and Hope. He and Marcel exited the cell, which allowed Freya to spell the door shut again.

Alaric was the last to leave, but before he did, he turned to the kids and said, "Exams start tomorrow. No one is excluded." He left before he could hear Penelope complain.

"Of course, we still have to take the stupid test," she grumbled. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite, which could only be described as aggravated.

Hope sat down at her desk and began eating her food. The three of them took time off from their research to just talk like normal teens for a little while. Hope found herself enjoying something as simple as talking about upcoming exams. For just a little while she forgot that there was a mystery involving her wolf side. She forgot that there were monsters attacking every other day. She forgot that she was a one of a kind being. She even forgot that she was locked in a cell for a little while.

It was nice to just be a normal person with normal friends and normal problems. She wished it could be like this all the time.