As one, Vendetta’s Stormclouds let out a piercing screech and charged. Johnathan wrenched his gaze away from Zoe as she walked away and focused on his own predicament. He was completely unarmed with no magic, facing off against four charging Stormclouds. Tyler had been right to run. What was he thinking? How could he help Kelviana fight these things when he couldn’t even touch them without getting burned? The last few times he had been in this situation he had completely frozen up. But Kelviana was hurt, had almost no magic left, and couldn’t fly. She was nearly as helpless against these things as he was and it was his fault. He had to help somehow.
The Stormclouds reached them and the time for thinking was over. Kelviana sliced out with her sword and the first Stormcloud dissolved into thin air. The other three didn’t slow at all, seemingly undisturbed by the loss of their comrade. Two of them focused on Kelviana, circling her and lashing out with their tendrils like they were whips as she sliced and hacked at them. The third set its sights on Johnathan. It reached out for him with a smoky tendril and he jumped out of the way, the tendril missing him by inches. Another tendril whipped towards him as the creature flew past and it grazed his shoulder, leaving a stinging welt where it had touched him. The Stormcloud turned in the air and flew back towards him. He set his feet, ready to jump again, and caught sight of Kelviana as she fought against the other two. One of them already seemed to be missing several tendrils and the other was leaking smoke from its side. Kelviana was sweating heavily and breathing hard even though they had only been fighting for a few moments. They had to end this quickly, but Johnathan had no idea how.
He jumped to the side again as the Stormcloud reached him, but it anticipated this and adjusted its angle of flight. It wrapped two of its tendrils around his upper arm and he cried out in pain as the smoke burned his skin, even through the sleeve of his hoodie. Kelviana cried out and sliced her sword through the tendrils, freeing him as the Stormcloud drew back, screaming in rage. The other two Stormclouds managed to get their tendrils around her, pinning her arms to her side and causing her to drop the sword. Johnathan scooped it up with his uninjured arm and swiped it through one of the creatures holding her, but the sword had no effect. He might as well have been trying to slay campfire smoke.
“Give it to me!” Kelviana grunted, sweat running down her face. “It only works if you have magic.”
Johnathan dodged away from the remaining Stormcloud that was still attacking him, getting burned on his back and legs in the process, then lunged closer to her again, pressing the sword back into her hand. She awkwardly swiped at the tendrils binding her and managed to slice a few. Johnathan was forced away as his pursuer charged again. He dodged around the shrub they had been hiding behind, buying him a second or two to think as the Stormcloud tried to reach him from behind the bush.
Despite her magic sword, Kelviana wasn’t fairing much better than him. She had managed to free herself from the Stormclouds, and one of them had lost all its tendrils, rendering it pretty much useless, but the other one was still harrying her relentlessly and she was rapidly losing strength. Every swing she took seemed weaker and slower than the last, and the Stormcloud easily avoided her strikes.
A cry of frustration that sounded like Vendetta’s came from behind him and he turned toward his house to see what it was. Before he could see anything, however, the Stormcloud managed to get around the bush and wrap a fiery hot tendril around his waist. The pain was so intense that all thoughts of Zoe or Kelviana or the noise from his house were driven from his mind. He cried out and instinctively tried to push the tendril away, only to burn his hands as a result. He pulled them back and tried wriggling out of the Stormcloud’s grasp, but it only wrapped another tendril around his torso and held on tighter. The pain nearly overwhelmed him and he felt his world going black once again.
“Hey!” shouted Tyler’s voice from the direction of his house. “Let him go!”
The Stormcloud turned towards Tyler but did not loosen its grip. Johnathan forced himself to stay awake regardless of the relief that unconsciousness offered to bring. He saw Tyler running back towards him, holding something dark and oddly shaped in his hand. Zoe was right behind him, her hands glowing green. Despite his pain and current predicament Johnathan smiled with relief. She had somehow broken free from Vendetta’s spell. The Stormcloud let out a fierce cry of rage and Zoe pointed her arms at it. A moment later it dissolved into thin air as a cloud of green dust engulfed them both. More green dust flew past him as he sank to his knees, grasping his stomach where the worst of the pain was concentrated. Zoe gave him a worried look as she ran by, shooting more green dust from her palms. A Stormcloud screamed behind him, but he barely heard it. Tyler came up and grabbed him as he began to wobble dizzily, despite already being on his knees.
“Hang in there, Little John,” he said.
“I thought you ran off,” said Johnathan. His stomach hurt terribly and he could tell he was burned in at least half a dozen other places as well, but he thought he could manage to stay conscious this time.
“Nowhere to run to,” Tyler said with a shrug. “So I figured I should try to help.” Johnathan chuckled then immediately regretted it as new waves of pain radiated out from his burned stomach. He closed his eyes tight as his muscles spasmed.
“Kid, you’re either crazy stupid or crazy brave,” Kelviana said as she came up beside him, limping and leaning on Zoe for support. Her clothes were ripped in several places and her normally tightly braided hair was coming loose. Most of the flowers that were woven into it had fallen out or wilted. She knelt down and examined his wounds. “The burns aren’t as bad as last night’s, but they’re bad enough.” She sighed as her blue dust began to glow bright enough for him to see. “This is growing rather tiresome, you know? We’ve only known each other for twelve hours and this is the third time I’ve had to heal you.” She looked back at Zoe. “Is getting hurt a habit of his?”
Zoe smiled half-heartedly and shook her head. “No. That’s usually my job.”
Kelviana chuckled, then coughed a few times. Her dust flared brighter and a moment later some of it left her and swirled about Jonathan, leaving soothing relief wherever it touched him. The dust was not nearly as bright as he had seen before and after a short time Kelviana sat down, breathing hard. Another wilted flower fell from her hair. “Sorry, kid. That’s the best I can do for now.”
“Thank you,” said Johnathan, looking at his arms. The welts were all still there, but the pain was nearly gone. He smiled up at Zoe, who was standing a few steps back, looking worried. “You got away again, huh?”
“Thanks to Ty,” she said, looking at the ground. Her hair fell over her face, covering her eyes. “He distracted Vendetta, which gave me a chance to break free from her spell.” She hugged herself and shivered. “It’s awful, being under someone else’s control like that. I knew what was happening but couldn’t do anything about it.” Johnathan’s smile faded. She was usually such a fierce fighter, never backing down no matter who she was up against, that he almost could have thought she was a different person at that moment.
Tyler grinned and Johnathan wasn’t sure if he wasn’t picking up on the mood of the moment or was just trying to lighten it. Tyler held up the odd-shaped object he had been holding. It was their dad’s old slingshot. “I remembered seeing this in your garage earlier,” he said. “Vendetta didn’t much like getting peppered with bird pellets.”
“Hah!” Kelviana laughed, though it was weak and made her cough. “That’s good thinking kid. You keep that thing handy.”
“Where is Vendetta, anyway?” asked Johnathan, looking around.
“I hit one of her wings and she flew off,” Tyler said. “I think I punctured it.”
“Wing injuries can be serious,” said Kelviana. “I’m surprised she was able to fly at all. It doesn’t take much damage to ground us, honestly. She’ll be out of commission for a few days at least.”
“We’ll be long gone by then,” said Zoe, looking back at the garage.
“Right,” said Kelviana, grunting and trying to stand up. She flopped back onto the ground, panting. “We need to get you kids out of here. I never would have allowed you in if I had known that Acrimony was aware of the portal already.”
“Do you have enough magic left after healing me?” asked Johnathan.
“No, but your sister does,” she said.
“I can’t do something like that,” Zoe said. “I don’t even know how I’m doing what I already do.”
“Sure you can,” said Kelviana. “It’s as easy as flying. I’ll walk you through it. Now someone help me up.” Jonathan tried to get up to help her but he was so stiff and sore from his own injuries that he could barely move. Zoe wound up helping Kelviana while Tyler pulled Johnathan up, reminding him just how strong Tyler really was.
They slowly started across the last few lawns separating them from their home. Kelviana was even worse off than Johnathan and had to lean on Zoe’s arm for support. The two of them were whispering back and forth like they were suddenly best friends. He shook his head. Girls were strange sometimes, even mythical ones. “You saved me again,” he said to Tyler, putting voice to what was really on his mind. Kelviana, Zoe, and even Tyler had all managed to find effective ways of fighting Vendetta and her smoke creatures. All he’d managed to do so far was keep getting himself hurt. He was beginning to feel like the useless tag-along on this adventure.
“Well, you know…” Tyler replied. “Zoe would be devastated if anything happened to you.”
“You like her, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. She’s pretty cool, and a fantastic rider.”
Jonathan stopped and looked Tyler in the eyes. “I mean, you like her, don’t you?”
Tyler’s cheeks turned slightly red. “So what if I do? You gonna pound me or something?”
Jonathan grinned. “If you had asked me yesterday I would have said ‘yeah’. But today?” He shrugged. “I dunno. Now it’s just a ‘maybe’. Save my life a few more times, then we’ll see where we’re at.”
Tyler looked taken aback slightly and was silent for a moment, then he laughed and punched Johnathan’s shoulder. It wasn’t very hard, but it still hurt. Johnathan tried not to wince. “You’re all right, Little John. You’re still a geek, but you’re all right. You did good today. You’ve got some real guts, you know?”
“I don’t know,” said Johnathan, looking away. “Kelviana’s right. You keep having to save me and she keeps having to heal me up afterward.”
“But you still faced those things unarmed. Even I wasn't willing to do that. You’ve got a special kind of crazy in you. Don’t lose it.” He paused for a moment and gave Johnathan a serious look. “And don’t tell anyone I ever said that, capisce?”
Johnathan grinned. “You got it.” Ahead of them Kelviana and Zoe reached the garage and stepped inside. A few moments later Johnathan and Tyler followed and found them standing in the middle of the floor, staring at the empty spot where the mirror used to be. Most of the rest of the garage was clean as well, the mess of opened and half-empty packing boxes and other miscellaneous junk that usually cluttered up the space was gone. Only a few of the oldest items remained – the stuff that hadn’t been moved in years since it lay buried and forgotten beneath everything else. Johnathan stared in disbelief, his mind not wanting to process what he was seeing – or more specifically, what he was not seeing.
“Where is it?” asked Tyler.
“It was here a few minutes ago,” said Zoe, looking very confused. Tyler nodded his agreement.
“It’s been moved, or worse, destroyed,” said Kelviana, suddenly looking very tired. “There’s no way to know for sure from this side. Either way, the result is the same.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“But… the cars… and Mom…” Johnathan stammered. He turned back to look at the driveway and noticed that the cars were gone now. He tried to remember when they had disappeared, but couldn’t.
“Illusions,” Kelviana said. “Made by Chrysanthemum. Only an active portal reflects your world in real-time, remember? She probably got here and found the portal was already closed, then made the illusions to draw you in.”
“Well, it worked…” Johnathan said, feeling numb.
“So, we’re stuck here?” asked Zoe, turning very pale.
Tyler laughed a short, harsh, joyless laugh. “Figures,” he said, then turned and strode out of the room.
“Hey! Wait!” said Johnathan. “Where are you going?”
“Home!” he called back. “Not that it matters,” he muttered as he disappeared around the corner.
“This explains why Chrysanthemum gave up so easily,” said Kelviana, mostly to herself. “I was wondering about that. She knew that no matter what, you wouldn’t be going anywhere. The ball is completely in her court now.”
“I can’t live here,” said Zoe, shaking her head. “I can’t. I-I’ve got school, and a race coming up, and my friends, and Mom and Dad, and - and - and I just can’t.” Her voice was quickly rising and getting frantic and tears were forming in her eyes. Johnathan just kept staring at the empty spot on the floor. Was this really it? There had to be another way back to Earth, didn’t there?
“So that’s it?” he said eventually. “There’s no way to open it from here?”
Kelviana shook her head. “We need an open portal, and portals are only made on your side.”
“There’s no other way to get to Earth?” asked Zoe.
“Not that I know of,” said Kelviana, looking very pale.
“What do we do now?” asked Johnathan. “Do we just spend the rest of our lives here hiding from Vendetta and Acrimony?”
“I don’t know!” barked Kelviana. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, swaying a bit. “I don’t know,” she said again more gently. “I need some time to… time to… to think…” she trailed off and groaned quietly, covering her face with her hands. All of a sudden her legs gave out and she fell to the floor before Johnathan could catch her.
“Kelviana!” he cried, dropping to the floor beside her. He rolled her tiny frame over so she was facing him, careful not to bend her wings too badly. He expected them to feel thin and fragile, but they were surprisingly thick and durable, like green leaves from a strong and healthy tree. Her eyes were closed and her face was dripping with sweat. Her skin felt hot and damp, even through her shirt. He propped her head on his lap and the last few yellow flowers fell from her hair. They were all wilted. She moaned but did not open her eyes. “She’s burning up,” he said to Zoe. “She needs water.”
Zoe ran over to the shop sink in the back of the garage, next to the washer and dryer. She turned the faucet handle but nothing came out. “Just like the park,” she said. “No water.”
“Try the bug-out box,” Johnathan said, suddenly glad that Dad had insisted on putting together an emergency stash a few years ago. It had been stacked away in a corner and promptly forgotten about, but that meant it should still be sitting there in this world. Zoe rushed over to it and pushed a box of junk aside, then threw open the lid. She reached in and pulled out a gallon-sized water bottle. She ran back over and handed it to him as she knelt beside him and the unconscious fey.
Johnathan twisted the lid off the bottle and carefully dribbled a little water onto Kelviana’s lips. Her mouth moved and her tongue lapped it up, but she still didn’t wake. He suddenly realized that he was insanely thirsty and took a swig of his own before handing it to Zoe, who gratefully took a drink as well. “I need a rag or something,” Johnathan said, wiping his mouth as his mind raced with all the first-aid he had learned during the few years he had tried out the Boy Scouts. “She needs to cool off.”
Zoe jumped up and ran back over to the bug-out box. “How about paper towels?” she asked, holding up a roll.
“Sure,” he said. She ran back over and handed them to him. He ripped off a few squares and folded them into one larger and thicker square. He poured some water onto it and the paper soaked it up eagerly. He placed it on her forehead, still dripping, then ripped open her shirt sleeve. The bandage underneath was soaked with sweat and he could see that the skin beneath was very red. Carefully he untied it and examined the wound beneath. It was badly swollen and filled with ugly green puss. Despite being unconscious Kelviana winced when he poured a little water over it. He looked up at Zoe. “It’s badly infected,” he said. “We can try using the first-aid kit, but this is a magical injury on a magical creature – I have no idea if the normal rules even apply. Do you think you could…?” he wasn’t sure how to word his question, but she understood his meaning.
“Are you kidding?” she asked, her worry getting replaced with irritation.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said, panic building up inside. “We have to try something. She could be dying for all I know.” He couldn’t even tell if Kelviana’s dust was still surrounding her anymore. Was it already too late?
Zoe looked down at Kelviana and sighed. “Alright. I’ll try. But I have no idea what I’m doing.” She glared at him for a moment. “And I don’t like it.”
“I know,” he said. “Dryad magic might not even be able to heal like fey magic does anyway.” She gave him a withering look but didn’t reply, then closed her eyes and held her hands out over Kelviana. Johnathan watched with bated breath, not knowing what to expect. After about a minute of nothing happening Zoe huffed and dropped her hands.
“This is ridiculous,” she said with a scowl. “I’m just a kid, not a dryad, no matter what this fairy keeps saying.”
“Then how did you destroy those Stormclouds?” asked Johnathan.
“I keep telling you, I don’t know!” she said, whirling on him. “Just drop it, already. I’m not some silly magical tree spirit and you’re not a storybook hero. We’re just a couple of kids who need to get home, and right now that looks like it’s not going to be happening, so I’d say we have some bigger problems to deal with.”
“Yeah,” said Johnathan, anger replacing his panic. A gentle breeze from outside blew some old newspaper ads across the floor. “Like the fact that our only hope of getting home is lying here sick and probably dying? I can’t help her. But you might be able to if you’d actually try.”
“I am trying,” said Zoe with another huff. The breeze grew stronger and stirred her hair. “I don’t want her to die any more than you do, but I don’t know how any of this works,” she said as she brushed her hair out of her face.
“You have to feel it, silly,” said a tiny, giggling voice from behind them. Jonathan and Zoe both spun around. Jonathan got ready to throw himself between Kelviana and whatever new danger had just arrived while Zoe’s hands instantly began to glow green. “Yes! Like that!” said the voice with another giggle.
“Who…?” Jonathan began, looking around to try and see who was speaking, but the garage was empty.
“Who’s there?” demanded Zoe. The tiny voice giggled and a lock of Zoe’s hair pulled itself straight out, yanking her head back slightly. “OW!” she cried, pulling it back down, green dust trailing behind her hand as it moved. “Hey! Knock that off!”
“You’re leaking magic,” said the voice, now seeming to come from behind Johnathan somewhere. “You shouldn’t waste it.” There was another giggle and a box of Christmas ornaments fell off one of the top shelves.
“Come on,” Johnathan said, relaxing a tiny bit. It seemed that their mysterious guest wasn’t much interested in attacking them, at least not right away. Zoe’s hands returned to normal. “Stop causing trouble and show yourself. Who are you?”
“Aella,” said the voice as if that explained everything.
“Our friend is hurt badly,” said Johnathan, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. “Can you help her?”
“Nope,” said the voice, coming from behind Zoe now. “Only fey can heal like that.” It moved to somewhere up in the rafters. “A dryad could cleanse the wound.”
“And what are you?” asked Zoe.
“A sylph, silly,” giggled Aella from right behind Johnathan’s head, making him flinch. “You’re not a real dryad, are you?” the tiny voice said. “A real dryad would know better than to try healing a wound like that.” Another lock of Zoe’s hair seemed to pull itself.
Zoe slapped at the air and her hair fell back as Aella’s giggles flew off. “I’m a human, not a dryad,” she said. “And stop that. It hurts.”
“I’d worry more about the fey,” said Aella. “Her magic’s nearly gone.”
Zoe blinked and looked down at Kelviana, worry replacing irritation on her face. “What do I do?” she asked. Johnathan noticed her hands beginning to glow again.
“Purify the wound, silly,” said Aella as if it were obvious. A vague white figure appeared, hovering above Kelviana’s shoulder, and as he watched the figure settled down on Kelviana’s arm and took on a more solid appearance. It looked like a tiny woman, only about four inches tall, wearing a long flowing white dress that seemed to move in a wind all its own. Her wings were long and translucent, with thin veins running their length and spiderwebbing out to the edges like a dragonfly’s. Her skin was white, but far too white, with something of a pearlescent shine about it. Her waist-length hair was blonde and loose, blowing in the same non-existent breeze that stirred her dress. Aella bent over and examined Kelviana’s wound closely, then wrinkled up her nose. “Someone put a nasty hex in there,” she said, then looked at Zoe and grinned.
Zoe frowned down at the little sylph. “And how am I supposed to ‘purify’ it?”
“With your magic, of course,” she looked up at Johnathan. “Dryads aren’t always the smartest nymphs, you know,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“If you call me a dryad one more time I swear I’ll squash you like a bug,” growled Zoe.
“Ha!” Aella scoffed. “Fat chance of that happening. If bats can’t catch me there’s no way you can.” She turned her nose up and disappeared.
“Just ignore her,” said Johnathan. “Your hands are glowing, you know?”
Zoe looked down and her eyes widened with surprise. She held her hands up and turned them about, looking at them from all sides. “I don’t even know how I’m doing this right now,” she said. “It’s not like I flip a switch or anything.”
“Maybe it’s like breathing. Don’t decide to do it, just try to… to…” Johnathan paused, not quite sure what he wanted to say. “I don’t know. Just feel what you want to do.”
“Thanks,” Zoe said sarcastically. “That was about as useful as the sylph’s advice.”
“It was the best advice,” said Aella’s voice. She seemed to be in the bug-out box now. “It’s not my fault you’re not smart enough to follow it. Is this food in here? How can you humans eat this stuff?”
“By putting it in our mouths and chewing it,” said Johnathan irritably. He turned back to Zoe. “I don’t know then,” he said, his worry for Kelviana was making him edgy. “You’re the magic twin, not me.”
“That’s worse than calling me a dryad,” said Zoe, rolling her eyes at him. “It’s not like I wanted any of this,” she added under her breath.
“Well, we’d both be Acrimony’s prisoners right now if it hadn’t happened.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Zoe as she pursed her lips. She furrowed her brows and stared at Kelviana’s injured shoulder, then placed a hand over the festering wound. Green dust flowed from her hand and wrapped around the fey’s shoulder like a bandage. “I think that’s all I have to do,” she said, looking and sounding uncertain. She pulled her hand away and it stopped glowing. The green dust remained on Kelviana’s shoulder. “It feels right, at least.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Johnathan. Kelviana’s fever hadn’t gone down any, though she did seem to be resting more peacefully now.
“What do you think this is, magic?” said Aella with a giggle as she reappeared on Kelviana’s shoulder. “Give it some time to work.” She was munching on what looked like a piece of granola bar. Johnathan’s stomach growled as he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since the night before. Zoe must have been even hungrier since she had missed out on dinner. Aella examined the magic bandage and nodded in approval then flew off to explore some more boxes.
“So you and Kelviana have a truce now?” Johnathan said after a few moments of awkward silence, more to give them something to talk about while waiting than anything else.
“What makes you say that?” asked Zoe, settling down cross-legged beside him.
“The two of you were whispering like BFFs just before we got here. What were you talking about?”
“None of your business,” said Zoe.
“You were talking about me, weren’t you?”
“As if,” scoffed Zoe. “Not everything has to be about you, you know.”
“Then what?” asked Johnathan. He hadn’t been all that interested before, but now his curiosity was burning.
“You and Ty were just as bad. Tell me what you were whispering about and then I’ll tell you.”
“Forget it,” said Johnathan. “Keep your secrets then.” The last thing he wanted was to tell her that Tyler liked her as more than just a friend.
“I will,” she said with a satisfied smile. “And by the way, this isn’t the olden days. I don’t need you to approve of my boyfriends.” Johnathan stared at her in shock and her smile grew wider. “Kelviana heard you. Fey have excellent hearing,” she said. “It’s the big ears.”
“Yeah,” groaned Kelviana. “And you two are hurting mine. Try to keep it down, will ya?”
Johnathan breathed a deep sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized just how tense he had been until that moment. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I just told you,” she said with another groan as she moved her head from side to side on his lap, trying to get more comfortable. “My ears hurt.”
Aella flew over and landed on Kelviana’s shoulder. She lifted the magic bandage – Johnathan wasn’t sure how that worked, since it was made of dust – and nodded her approval once again. “It looks clean,” she pronounced. “Good work, little dryad,” she said. Zoe swatted at her and she flew off, giggling. Kelviana watched for a moment then groaned again, placing a hand over her eyes.
“Don’t tell me we picked up a sylph,” she moaned, then uncovered one eye and looked up at Johnathan. “You should have just let me die, kid. It would have been more merciful.”
Johnathan looked at Zoe, hoping Kelviana wasn’t actually serious. Zoe looked back, a hint of worry on her face. Somewhere up in the rafters, Aella giggled again.
END OF PART FIVE