The Stars Below, page 7
part #4 of Vega Jane Series
I said, “This can make you feel better.”
He coughed some more but wouldn’t look at me.
I drew even closer.
“Can you look at me?”
John didn’t move.
I walked past and turned to look at him.
He was bent over, rocking back and forth.
I held up the Adder Stone and waved it over him, thinking good thoughts.
To my shock, he continued to cough and rock.
I looked down at the Stone. What was going on?
I knelt down in front of the boy.
“John. Can you hear me?”
He nodded.
“Can I see your hand?”
He slowly held out his right hand. On it I could see the faint traces of the mark of the three hooks.
I slowly let go of it.
His fingers reached out and touched my ring.
As I felt his skin slide against mine, it sent shivers down my spine.
“John, can you look at me?”
He slowly lifted his head.
And I received the greatest shock of my life.
My brother, John, was staring back at me.
I leapt back and gasped, “John!” I felt the tears roll down my face. “John, it’s me, Vega.”
I went to hug him. “It’s me.”
My arms wrapped around him.
And the next moment I was clinging to air.
And I was no longer in the cottage. I was standing by the forest with Harry Two next to me.
I looked around in amazement. And then I stared down at my hands. Hands that had just been about to wrap around my brother.
He was gone. I was breathing so hard that I could barely stand.
What had just happened? How was any of this possible? Had I been hallucinating?
I felt something behind me and turned to stare.
It was the old woman.
“Where is John? Where is my brother?” I called out.
She didn’t answer me.
The hairs on my arms started to rise, something I never took as a good sign.
I looked back at Harry Two. My dog was no longer staring out across the woods. His full attention was on the woman. He gave off a low growl, and I saw his hackles rise. He bared his fangs.
I also never took that as a good sign.
“Stay, Harry Two,” I whispered. “Stay.”
I turned back and drew closer to the woman.
I remembered to turn my ring around so that I would become invisible.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
She just stared at me. I mean she was looking directly at me though she couldn’t possibly see me!
The next moment I had catapulted into the air, pulling Harry Two with me by virtue of the magical tether.
There were so many spells shooting at where we had just been standing that they seemed to blur together into one massive blast of light.
I leveled out and zipped forward, pulling Harry Two toward me and buckling him into his harness. We soared over the forest as spells hurled skyward. I rolled and banked and dove and rose to avoid them.
What the Hel was going on? How could they see me? And where was my brother?
I tapped my leg and said, “Pass-pusay.”
The vision of Empyrean was firmly in my mind.
I expected my feet and Harry Two’s paws to land on the solid stone porch of my ancestral home and to be safe from this nightmare.
That did not happen.
The fear seized up in my throat. I felt frozen even though I was hurtling along at an incredible velocity.
I tapped my leg again and again and said the words over and over.
“Pass-pusay. Pass-pusay.”
A spell shot right over my head.
I looked behind me, and my spirits dropped right through the dirt.
Endemen, Necro’s most trusted fighter, was right behind me along with at least twenty Maladons in pinstripe suits and bowler hats.
I shot a glance at my hand where the mark of the three hooks was. Maladons, we had found, could trace us through that mark. That’s why I wore the glove that Alice Adronis had given me, because it prevented the Maladons from tracking me that way.
Then I looked at the ring of invisibility that had once belonged to my grandfather, who had, in turn, been given it by Colin Sonnet, Petra’s ancestor.
It had given me protection for so long that I really took it for granted.
But now, as I looked down at it, I was horrified.
My ring was glowing a dull red. It had never done that. I looked back over my shoulder at the oncoming Maladons.
It was clear.
They could see me!
Then I thought back to the creature before the fire. It had touched my finger.
No, it had touched my ring. And somehow disabled its power.
I smacked my leg with my wand again and muttered the incantation, “Pass-pusay.”
Again, nothing happened.
How could they stop my incantation?
Another spell struck, and Harry Two howled.
I looked down at him as he hung limply from the harness.
“Harry Two. No!”
At the same instant, I felt the very air around me commence to harden, just like it had done back at Maladon Castle.
I was panicking now because I knew that this must mean Necro was somewhere nearby. I was unafraid of Endemen because I had bested him before. But Necro was a different matter altogether.
And now he was going to kill me.
That must be how the Pass-pusay incantation had been stopped.
I found it harder and harder to breathe.
I felt my body growing limp.
So this was how it was going to end.
I stroked the limp Harry Two’s ear.
I’m sorry, Harry Two. I’m so sorry for being so bloody stupid.
I was at a point now where I could no longer stay in the air. I felt myself flip over, and then I was in a long, steep dive.
The only result would be impact with the ground. And that would be that.
I closed my eyes and said my good-byes.
Good-bye, Delph. Please forgive me for leaving you. And do your best. Good-bye, Petra. Take care of Delph. And beat the Maladons to dust. Good-bye …
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the streak of light heading my way.
I knew that this had to be a killing spell. They were taking no chances apparently that the collision with the ground would do me in.
I braced myself for impact.
And then it struck me.
And I was gone.
THE SENSE OF falling this time was beyond anything I had ever felt. Even when I was first learning to fly with Destin and had my share of hard encounters with the dirt after tumbling from lofty heights.
But when I finally stopped dropping, there was no hard collision with the ground.
I opened my eyes and looked around.
I felt Harry Two’s body lying on top of me.
“Harry Two!”
He just hung limply in his harness.
A hand passed in front of me, reached out to my dog and rubbed something against his fur.
I looked wildly around to see who it could be. But it was dark; all I could glimpse was a silhouette.
“Who are —” I flinched when I saw a wand tip appear and tap the spot where the hand had touched my dog.
I was about to pull my wand, when I felt something. I felt something absolutely wonderful.
Harry Two was moving. I could hear his heartbeats against my chest.
“Harry Two! You’re alive!”
He licked my face, and I hugged him.
And then every single part of me froze as if I had been struck by the Paralycto spell.
“M … Mum?”
My mother, Helen Jane, was staring back at me as she slowly lowered her wand.
I had not seen her for over three years. And she looked like she had aged twenty. I barely recognized her. Yet it was my mother.
Her fingers graced my cheek.
“Vega, thank the Steeples that you are unharmed.”
I sat up and unbuckled Harry Two.
Then I stood on shaky legs, held out my arms and hugged my mother so tightly I thought we might both burst.
I felt her thin, strong arms hug me back. I buried my nose in her hair and breathed in her scent. I started to sob. And she did too. We both stood there shaking together for I don’t know how long.
When we drew apart, I took her in fully, as she did me.
“You saved my life,” I said. I looked at her wand. “The Rejoinda spell?”
She gave a teary smile and nodded. “Slightly modified. It was born of necessity,” she added.
“Someone told me all magic is born from that.”
Then I realized what was missing.
“Where’s Dad?”
Her smile faded. “Come. I will take you to him. It’s not far.”
She held out her hand, which I immediately took. I was now taller and physically stronger than my mother. But it was as though I was once more a little girl reaching out for her mother to guide her.
I glanced at the back of her hand and saw the mark of the three hooks.
“The Maladons can track you that way,” I warned.
“They can no more,” she said. “We turned the link upon itself such that the trace creates a confusion incantation only in a Maladon. That allows us to take distinct advantage. It was your father who thought of it.”
“That is quite clever,” I said admiringly, thinking that my grandfather Virgil had done something very similar to overcome the challenges of his mark.
Harry Two trailed behind us.
“How did you save Harry Two?” I asked. “I have a magical healing stone, but I had no chance to use it.”
“Healing herbs paired with a bit of magic did the trick,” she said. “Where separately they would have failed.”
“Was that also born out of necessity?”
“Everything here is, Vega. Everything.”
“So, is Dad okay?”
I felt my entire body tremble as I asked this.
“Let’s just wait until we get there, Vega.”
I did not take this as good news. The euphoria I had felt at finding my mother was fading to despair.
“How did you know I was even near you?” I asked.
“Crystilado magnifica,” she replied. “The Maladons keep coming back to this area, so I maintain a constant watch. I saw them appear earlier. They went to that cottage and did something to the old woman who lives there. Then I saw the Bowler Hats show up. They only come around when something significant is about to happen. So I kept watching.” Her hand twitched inside mine. “That’s when I saw you in peril.” She paused and said, “He is nearby.”
“You mean Necro?” I said.
She nodded.
I thought about this. “I did not think he ever left Maladon Castle.”
“I didn’t think that he did either,” she said.
“You’ve been there?”
“To see it. But not to go inside.”
As we were walking, I said, “Shouldn’t we be prepared for the Maladons to follow us?”
“I have taken precautions,” she said. “We are safe, for now.”
“Even against Necro?”
“Powerful as he is, he is not infallible,” she replied in a firm tone. This boosted my spirits considerably.
I squeezed her hand, not believing my good fortune at having been reunited with her at last.
“I have been looking for you and Dad,” I said. “Ever since you left Wormwood.”
I hesitated as anger swelled up inside me. I quickly pushed it back down. Now was not the time to bring up my parents abandoning me and my brother back in Wormwood. I’m sure there was a good explanation.
“We have been looking for Virgil,” she said. “We had no idea that you were here, Vega. I was never more stunned in my life than when I saw you tonight.”
I nodded and said in a shaky voice, “Virgil is dead. Killed by Necro.”
My mother stopped walking and simply stood there staring out into the darkness. I felt the pulse in her hand start to race.
“Virgil is dead?”
“Yes. He told me he was never able to find you.”
She started walking again and pulled me along.
Before I could say anything else, we had passed over a rise in the ground and she stopped.
Down below, there was a little glen, but that was all.
“Is Dad somewhere around here?”
She nodded.
She waved her wand, and the air in front of us seemed to shimmy. We passed through what felt like a barrier.
“Boundary incantations,” explained my mother as I nodded in understanding.
Revealed in front of us was a small shack with a curl of smoke escaping from its stone chimney.
She moved her wand again, and the door opened.
She walked through and beckoned me to follow.
I did so.
And screamed.
I was looking down at this … thing lying on a cot. It was not much bigger than a newborn with a head half again larger than it should have been for the size of the body. It was very pale, and its appendages were bent and twisted. It was quietly sobbing.
Though it was hideous to look at, I could not help but feel sorry for the piteous creature.
“What is that wretched thing?” I asked my mother.
“That wretched thing,” she said, “is your father.”
I DON’T REALLY REMEMBER transporting my mother and father to Empyrean. I know that my feet hit the front steps. I know that my wand opened the door. I know that we were greeted by Delph, Petra, Astrea and many others.
And all the while I carried in my arms, and wrapped in a blanket, my father.
Dropping my cloak on the floor and telling the others I would explain fully later, I took him and my mother to an upstairs bedroom. I laid my father on the bed and looked down at him.
“What happened?” I gasped. I had been too shocked to ask when I first found out this pitiable creature was Hector Jane.
My mother sat on the side of the bed and gently rubbed her husband’s forehead with her hand.
“We were surprised by a group of Maladons. We fought our way clear, but as we were escaping, two Maladons sent spells at us. Before they hit your father, they collided and their mingled magic struck him.” She cast her gaze down at the little bundle on the bed. “And this was the result.”
“When did it happen?”
“Two months ago.” She shook her head in misery. “I have tried everything I could think of to bring your father back, but nothing has worked. At least he is still alive. Which gives us a chance of restoring him to what he was.”
I had a sudden thought. I took the Adder Stone from my pocket.
“As I said, this is a healing stone. It has the magical power of a sorceress embedded inside it. It might help.”
I waved it over my father and thought absolutely good thoughts. And though we both stared at him anxiously, absolutely nothing happened.
“It was a worthy try, Vega.”
I nodded and put the Stone back in my pocket.
My mother looked around in wonder. “What a beautiful place this is.”
I quickly explained to her about Empyrean.
“You are safe here,” I said. “Both of you. And we will do whatever we can to try and bring Dad back to what he was.”
She nodded but said nothing.
I studied my mother more closely. After having lost her so long ago, and after searching for her ever since, it was unfathomable to me that she was sitting on a bed in Empyrean while I stood next to her. It was almost as if we had never been apart. But when I looked down at my wretched father, it was quickly apparent that we had been separated for far too long.
My mind wandered back to the days in Wormwood. John was still a child, and I was not yet ten. We had a good life. We all lived in our home and I had not yet started work.
I still went to Learning back then, and my parents would walk us there every morning and return in the evening to take us home. My fingers would interlace with either my mother’s or my father’s. They would ask what we had learned that day, and I would do the answering. My brother was still painfully shy and would simply stare at his too-large feet and nibble on whatever snack our parents had brought us. I would rail against what we were being taught, or rather what we were not being taught, for even back then I was suspicious that much about our history was being kept from us.
My mother would listen carefully while my father would snatch anxious glances at the both of us. She could have told me to stop asking such questions, but she never did. Instead, she had said, “Keep raising your hand and keep asking, Vega. That is the only way you will ever get answers.”
And I had. Right up until the time they kicked me out.
We would spend the evening cooking our last meal of the day together in the tiny kitchen, which, back then, seemed as big as Empyrean’s to me. My mother was quite a fine cook, and though we hadn’t much in the way of coin to buy the food they sold on the High Street, we ate very well indeed.
And then our happiness had been blasted away when my parents were struck down by a curse from Morrigone and placed in the Care.
I leaned into her. “Mother, it’s so good to have you back. I can’t believe you’re really here.”
My mother smiled at me. “I can hardly believe it either, Vega, my dear, sweet child. Though you are clearly no longer a child. You are a woman.” She looked me over. “And if I had to hazard a guess, you have grown into a fine sorceress and warrior.”
“I’ve had my share of battles.”
“Who leads you?” she asked.
I was a bit taken aback by her query, but then I supposed it was certainly a fair one. My mother had no idea about what had taken place with me.
“I am the leader,” I said.
She looked at me, clearly surprised. “Indeed?”
I suddenly felt my face redden. Had she supposed a man was in charge?
“Yes. I fought my way across the Quag with Delph and my dog, Harry Two, after escaping from Wormwood. Then I fought my way through this place. I have personally killed over a hundred Maladons,” I added for good measure.
