Okay, Chapter 15. Wow. Crazy. I've come far, frens.
So I know it's hard to see these posts because of how I've arranged them (you have to go 'backwards') and just so you know, if you sign up to follow me by email, you'll receive an email every time I post. I'll try and fix the stuff for you anyway, though. :]
Be prepared.
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CHAPTER 15
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Ellah taught Marcy how to play cat’s cradle while they waited. She knew several other string games as well, and passed them on to her granddaughter. Marcy became quite good at making Jacob’s Ladder.
In the middle of teaching her how to make a figure that looked like the Eiffel Tower, Ellah suddenly froze.
“What’s--” Marcy began.
“Sh!” her grandmother shushed her. “We’re landing.” Sure enough, it felt like they were descending. Peeking out the window, the duo saw a large forest directly below the ship.
“He’s not going to land on the trees, is he?” asked Marcy, confused.
“No, look.” Ellah pointed. “There’s a clearing over there. Hang on,” she said, looking worried. “Matt has to get out of the ship when he lands…which means…”
“He has to come through here!” Marcy finished. “We have to hide!”
“In the boxes!”
“Why can’t you do an invisibility spell?”
“Too risky! Hurry!” Ellah threw open the lids of several boxes and hopped into a big one. “That one should fit you!”
Marcy struggled into the box. The wood poked her skin. “What about the tops?” she whispered frantically.
“Got it!” The wooden lids quickly floated over to their boxes and lowered themselves down. There was barely enough light showing through the cracks for Marcy to see the slats in front of her.
It would be terrible if I was claustrophobic. Good thing I’m not. But I know for sure I’ll have some splinters when I get out. Gah. This stupid silver onzie thing is not helping! I want that outfit that Jenny made me. She rearranged herself so she could peek through the little cracks and waited for Matt to come in.
She didn’t have to wait long. Matt strolled into the room with full confidence. Maybe Ellah was wrong--maybe he doesn’t know we’re in here, thought Marcy. A line of people followed him. The witches and wizards were bound and gagged with a thick strand of gold light. Marcy searched for Alex, trying to peer through the small crack. Where is he?
Matt pressed a button on the wall, opening the landing door. He turned to the company. “You will follow me, making no resistance and behaving. I’ve already made an example of Onev. I’d hate to do that to any of you. So I shall be nice to you, and you shall be nice to me. Deal?” He waited for a reply, then smiled and slapped his head. “Oh, silly me. You can’t say anything, because you’re gagged. I’ll take your silence as a chorus of agreement. Come along now.” He strode out of the ship, the witches and wizards following him.
Where’s Alex? Is he okay? Marcy counted the witches and wizards as they went by her small line of vision. 13 people and--Alex! He was connected to the line of light on the end. His head was bowed. He looked defeated. She couldn’t help it. “Don’t worry!” she whispered, knowing that someone could hear her and give her away. Alex’s head snapped up. He searched the room as he walked toward the door, trying to find the source of the voice. Marcy wished she could say more, but it was too risky.
But Alex had apparently heard her message, and perked up. He walked confidently now, head held high. That’s the spirit! thought Marcy happily. We’re going to get you out of here.
As Alex exited the ship, the door began to close. “Get out! Out!” Ellah announced, popping out of her box and running toward the door.
“What is it with us and dashing through closing doors?” complained Marcy as she darted out behind her.
“Must be bad luck.” Ellah inspected their surroundings. They were in a clearing, just like they had seen from inside the ship. The first thing that Marcy noticed was the trees.
“The trees…they’re blue!” All of the trees were a shade of blue. Some had dark navy blue trunks and sky blue leaves. Others had light trunks and dark leaves. “This is so weird!” she exclaimed, turning around and around to look at all the strange colors.
“Well, what did you expect? We’re on a planet that has a well that grants you the greatest desire of your heart!” Ellah shrugged. “Did you think that it would be normal?”
“I guess so!” she laughed. “Wow, though. Oh! Can I change really quickly? I’m so tired of wearing this Unologian onzie.” Marcy picked at the silvery suit.
Her grandmother nodded. “Go ahead. I don’t blame you. Those things are creepy and also just too much like Unologe for me.”
Relieved, she stepped into the ship and quickly changed into the outfit that Jenny had made her. Wow, she thought as she dressed, that seems like ages ago. What was it, this morning?
“How long has it been since I met you in Jenny’s kitchen, Ellah?” she asked as she emerged from the ship, now clothed in the comfortable leggings, skirt, and blouse. She pushed the headband back further on her head.
“Well…” Ellah scratched her head. “It’s hard to say. Realistically it would only be maybe six to eight hours, but we’ve traveled through several time zones in the past few hours and in some places the ‘normal’ time is whacked out…so I’d say maybe more like sixteen hours. Follow me while we talk.”
Marcy gasped. “No way!” She caught up to her grandmother and they walked side by side through the blue forest. “And I haven’t even been hungry that much!” Contrary to what she said, her stomach abruptly rumbled. “Oh. Scratch that.”
Chuckling, Ellah reached into a messenger bag that Marcy hadn’t seen before and pulled out a package. “Eat this. It’s travelling food--I always carry some with me. Only a few bites will fill you up.”
Quickly unwrapping the brown paper cover, she pulled out a sandwich. It looked like peanut butter and jelly on plain white bread. “This is travelling food?” she said incredulously. “It looks so normal!”
“Darling, there is no longer a normal.” Ellah smiled at her. “You must remember now that nothing is as it seems.”
Without warning, a yell rang out into the trees. “NO!” A streak of blue light appeared in the distance, getting closer, weaving around blue trunks. Marcy saw it coming straight toward her. The thought flashed in her mind that if she didn’t move, the light would kill her--but she didn’t have enough time to move out of the way. She was barely able to think before Ellah swiftly shoved her to the side. As if in slow motion, Marcy watched her absorb the blue light with her body. Electricity ran up and down her grandmother’s arms, and her eyes rolled back in her head. She collapsed to the forest floor next to Marcy.
Her heart beating rapidly, she scrambled over to Ellah. “Ellah!” she cried. “Ellah are you okay? Talk to me Ellah!” Immediately, she put her ear to her chest. Marcy didn’t hear a heartbeat. Beginning to cry, she lifted her up, sitting down cross-legged on the ground. She delicately raised her grandmother’s head into her lap. Marcy saw her face through a blur of tears. Ellah’s eyes were closed and she was limp. Placing her fingers on her neck, Marcy felt for a pulse. There was none. “Please, talk to me! Don’t be gone! Not yet!” She wept, hugging her face to the one in her arms.
Marcy didn’t know how long she sat there, with her grandmother’s head in her lap, crying and hugging her. It could have been days, or it could have been minutes. Time didn’t matter any more. When the fountains of tears finally dried up, Ellah’s black jumpsuit was thoroughly wet and Marcy was thoroughly tired. One more time, she checked for a pulse, this time on her wrist. It was no use.
Her grandmother was gone.
“But…but I only met you sixteen hours ago,” Marcy sobbed.
“I know.” Matt’s British accented voice sounded through the trees. He stepped out from behind one of them, looking sympathetic. “Life is hard. Bold people make sacrifices. I’m glad I banked on that.” He wiped away a pretend tear.
Marcy stared at him for a moment. She couldn’t think straight--she was in shock. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I really don’t want you to die yet,” he answered matter-of-factly. “I think you might be useful later on--powerful, too. Look who’s your parents!” He laughed. Marcy tried not to throw up. “With the proper training you could be very, very useful in ruling the world. We could even do it side by side, dominating the universe father-daughter style!”
“I’d rather die,” she said numbly. She heard a dull hum in her ears.
“No, you wouldn’t,” her father stated. “Anyway, I knew that if I fired a lightning bolt at you, Ellah would sacrifice herself for you, and that would both eliminate her as a potential threat and also make you even more emotionally unstable, wallowing in the fact that everyone in your family is messed up or…” He paused, smiling sinisterly. “Dead.”
“A pretty risky bet, don’t you think?” As what had happened and what he was saying began to sink in, Marcy put all her energy into keeping her face unreadable. Can’t let him see that it worked. Can’t. Let. Him. See. Oh Ellah! “What if Ellah didn’t see it in time and I was killed?”
Matt shrugged. “Like I said, good thing I banked on that not being the case.” He adopted the air of a man speaking to a young child. “When you get older, my dear, you learn a lot about people and what they’re like. And if you’re wise, you’ll use that knowledge against them.” He crooked a finger. “Come on. If you come quietly, no one will get hurt and we can get this over with quickly.”
“Fine.” If I try to make a run for it, he might kill me or threaten to kill Alex if I don’t stay. There’s nothing to do but follow him. Nothing is worth it now anyway, because Ellah is gone. She felt nothing but shock.
“Hurry up, my darling daughter. We don’t have all day.”
“Am I just going to leave my dead grandmother lying in the middle of a forest?” Marcy asked, stressing the tragic part of the sentence and trying not to cry.
Her father rolled his eyes. “Yes, you are. Make it snappy.”
Slowly, she lifted Ellah’s head off of her lap. She lay her down on the lush grass, spreading out her raven hair over the leaves. Blinking back tears, Marcy folded her grandmother’s hands and placed them on her chest, then smoothed out her black jumpsuit. The threads that were woven to look like waterfalls shimmered and seemed to rearrange themselves to tumble in waves over her still sides. The forest had gone eerily silent. Marcy stood up, still looking down at Ellah. Matt sighed and tapped his foot. “Waiting,” he said impatiently.
The earth began to barely vibrate. What now? Are we on a cave? Is it going to collapse? Marcy panicked.
Vines poked up from the ground beside Ellah and wove themselves over her body. Marcy watched with a confused awe. The vines grew thicker, twisting with each other until she couldn’t see Ellah any more. Then they sprouted flowers--beautiful dark black roses, covering the small mound of vines. The green vines peeked out from under the roses in spots of color. Creaking, the vines and flowers abruptly stopped growing. Right above where Ellah’s head lay, a rose grew above the others, slowly unfolding. This one was not black.
Marcy gasped. It was a rainbow rose, each petal a different color, vibrant and exquisite. She felt a tear slipping down her cheek. Just like her house…
All of this happened within the space of thirty seconds.
Matt looked furious. “I know you didn’t do that, but…” He snarled and grabbed her arm, yanking her behind him. “Gah! We’ve wasted too much time already.”
“Hey! You’re hurting me!” Marcy protested. Her voice cracked and she felt a sob coming up her throat.
“Like I care!” he retorted.
The sob escaped and she let it. She wiped the tears out of her eyes with her other arm. When she brought her arm down, it was smeared with black from her makeup. Angrily, she scrubbed it all off, wiping her arm on her skirt.
Stopping, Matt whispered something and the line of his captives appeared in front of them. “Invisibility spell, before you ask,” he stated. “You’ve seen one before, I suppose, from Ellah. Old coot,” he muttered.
Marcy couldn’t help it any longer. She kicked his shin. “Stupid, terrible, horrible murderer!” she yelled. “You killed my grandma--you killed your own mother-in-law!” She aimed for his stomach and kicked again, but her foot connected with somewhere below her original target. Matt doubled over in pain.
“Ah!” he groaned, clutching his lower stomach. Straightening, he fixed his eyes on Marcy and tightened his grip on her arm. His face was twisted with pain and rage. Marcy cried out in agony as he cut off the circulation in her arm. “You…will pay…for that!” he gasped, twisting it.
Jerking her over to the back of the line, Matt took hold of a strand of light from Alex’s bonds and pulled it to her. He tied her hands and gagged her like the rest, making sure that the bonds were tight. She could hardly breathe through the gag and nearly choked, but didn’t even notice the discomfort. All she could think of was Ellah was gone.
“There,” he snarled, finishing up her restraints. “That should keep you in order. If you put one toe out of line, missy, I won’t hesitate to kill you, too.” He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. Marcy saw him mouthing something that looked like ‘stay calm.’ Opening his eyes, he smiled maliciously. “You’re not worth all this trouble. People who get in my way are disposed of, as you can see by what just happened.
“Now, if there’s no more funny business then I can get on to the Well with no more inconveniences,” Matt snapped. He jerked on the rope of light and the line of magicians began to slowly tromp forward.
An inconvenience? seethed Marcy. That’s all your mother-in-law was, an inconvenience? She clamped her jaw angrily on the gag. I guess that’s all I am too, just an inconvenience. Well, you’ll find I always take revenge on people who hurt me. Oh, Ellah! Ellah, you’re gone! You’re gone! I’ll never see you again!
She stared blankly at the back of Alex’s head. Silently, she wept while they tread through the woods. Her thoughts were filled of the little time she had spent with her grandmother. It was hard to cry with a gag.
And still, all she could do was walk.
It took a while for her to completely accept that Ellah was gone.
When she got over the initial shock, she realized that Matt had led them through the lapis lazuli forest, which gradually changed into a completely green forest. Her thoughts were scatterbrained. Ellah! Have to keep it together--my grandmother is gone--gotta distract myself--oh Ellah!
In an attempt to keep her mind off of replaying Ellah’s death, Marcy counted the different shades of green in the forest. There were different shades of green trunks and twelve shades of leaves. After the trees kept repeating themselves and her mind wandered back to her grandmother, she tried taking a closer look at the wizards and witches that her father had captured. Maybe that will do the trick.
There were several races represented in the crew. She saw an African woman who she identified as Shellie. Shellie wore a brightly colored kenga which Marcy remembered seeing at the Convention. One of the men in line appeared to be Asian, though she couldn’t tell for certain from the back. He has that weird ponytail they wear on the back of their head, though, she thought. Yeah, he’s probably Asian. He must be old, too, because most of the wacky ponytail is grey. Ellah was old, but she must have dyed her hair…and there’s that Dylian guy--he looks like a nerd. Look at those suspenders! She noted a rather short man with a small red mohawk and black circle earrings inside his lobes. He looked like another punk-rocker. Wonder if he and Rick could start a band? she pondered as she chewed the rope of light. It was cold and hurt her teeth. They could call it ‘The Weirdo Wizards’ or something. I wonder what kind of music Ellah liked?
She knew there were thirteen people not counting herself and Alex, but she couldn’t see any others over Alex’s head. Marcy sighed. Oh, Ellah. When will this end?
My first death scene :3 aaww, I want to frame it on my wall.
Did you like it?
Please, please tell me what you thought of it. Did I need to draw it out? Did I describe it well enough? This is pretty important. It was very hard to write. And I didn't name the chapter with anything to do with it so there would be no clue. I'm sneaky.
Please tell me what you think! More shall come!
~~Zoë Wingfeather
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