The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (11 page)

Leo relaxed once
Tom had left, and within seconds of his disappearance, Stella was herding
everyone back to the taxi bus. Now that they knew where the riddle was they
just had to solve it, find the map, and see if it knew where Laura’s mother was.
  As they crossed the grass, Laura fell in step with Caspian.
  ‘I wanted to ask you something… about my dream,’ she said.
  ‘Sure, what is it?’
  ‘The sacrifice that the man mentioned. Where you give up your mortality. What
does that all mean?’
  Caspian was hesitant, but answered her, ‘if you give up your life to the
Gods, promising to serve as an angel of heaven for all eternity before it is
your time to die, then they will agree to use their power and forces to protect
he or she the person is sacrificing themselves for. They will not be harmed by
anyone or anything.’
  ‘Do many people do that?’ Laura asked, stunned.
Caspian shook his head, a lock of his blond hair falling into his eyes, ‘no
there aren’t a lot of people willing to give up their life for someone else.’
  He pushed the hair from his face.
  ‘And my mother was going to do just that,’ Laura mumbled.
  They loaded into the taxi bus, ‘are you going to tell Stella about the
dream?’ Caspian whispered to Laura.
  ‘I will tonight, when it’s quiet.’
  The taxi started and they were off.
  ‘From what this brochure says, the country cottages on the outskirts of Bran
are mostly unoccupied due to the expenses and upkeep required, hmm,
interesting,’ Stella read aloud as they reached the outer edge of the city.
  ‘Where the hell does she keep getting those brochures from?’ Drew asked,
glancing around the bus, his eyes resting on Leo.
  He raised his hands defensively, ‘hey don’t look at me, I have nothing to do
with it!’
  ‘But you can do something about it, can you not?’ Gemma inquired, sweetly.
  All six faces were staring at him as Stella read on in the background.
  ‘Leo, it’s killing us,’ Logan moaned.
  Grace agreed, ‘another day of this and it
will
kill us.’
  ‘Alright, alright I’ll steal them from her bag while she’s sleeping.’
  ‘Good man. Always looking out for us,’ Logan said winking at him.
  Leo rolled his eyes, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose,
‘you guys are going to be the death of me.’
  ‘The brochures will be.’ Drew said.
  ‘Are you listening to me?’ Stella called from the front seat, clearly
frustrated.
  They turned in sync, facing the front.
  ‘Yes honey!’ Leo called back. ‘The death of me, I tell you,’ he muttered to
himself.

‘Are you
going to activate the Invisibility Charm?’ Gemma asked Stella as they piled out
of the taxi.
  They stood before a small cottage a number of miles from the city. Leo paid
the driver, asking him to be back in an hour to pick them up.
  ‘Shhh!’ Stella hissed as the taxi drove off.
  Gemma rolled her eyes, ‘please, no one is around, the taxi is gone, its
fine.’
  Stella huffed, ‘no, we won’t be activating them, we will do a sweep of the
area to
ensure
no one is around and then go about our business.’
  Laura and her companions observed the cottage and surrounding area. Running
along the front of the house was a cobblestone path, and in the distance they
could see that the light bush surrounding them became much thicker. Dead flower
beds and overgrown weeds covered the edge of the house, and the long grass was
brown, crackling under their feet as they crossed the yard. They uncovered a
cracked concrete path beneath the overgrown lawn that wound its way up a hill
towards a cluster of eerie sheds.
  ‘Stella and I will take the inside, Drew, you and Caspian can check the backyard.
Logan, Grace and Gemma search the sheds down that road. We need to make sure
the place is completely deserted before we seek out the riddle,’ Leo said and
they each moved towards their designated destinations.
  ‘What about me?’ Laura piped up awkwardly.
  Leo looked horrified with himself, ‘sorry Laura! Follow Drew and Caspian,
they can show you how a sweep is done.’
  Laura dashed after Caspian and Drew as they made their way down the side of
the cottage. The backyard was in worse shape than the front. The fence
encircling the cottage had fallen down and was rotting underneath a mountain of
weeds and dirt. The flower beds were barely noticeable and there were wildly
overgrown hedges to their left. Laura shifted her gaze to Drew and Caspian who stood
meters apart, observing the forest before them.
  ‘Do you smell that?’ Drew asked quietly, looking sideways at Caspian.
  Laura sniffed the air, catching the scent of burnt grass mixed with something
almost metallic like.
  Caspian nodded, pulling a blade from under his pant leg. ‘Think they are
here?’
  Drew followed suit. ‘Possibly. Or not far gone.’
  Laura didn’t understand the exchange. All of a sudden she heard a rustle and
out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hedges shift slightly. She turned
abruptly to see a flicker of movement within the bracken and squinted, unable
to determine if it was her imagination or not.
  There was no breeze. In fact, it was dead quiet. Eerily quiet.
  ‘Guys…’ Laura whispered as she was hit with the revolting stench of burning
flesh.
  Drew turned to Laura, and in that moment, the hidden creature pounced.

‘Do you
think the riddle will be here?’ Gemma asked as they circled the group of sheds,
ensuring no one was hanging around outside.
  ‘Maybe. Although, part of me thinks that Tom may have already found it and is
just leading us on a wild goose chase,’ Grace answered.
  ‘Yeah he had that untrustworthy look about him didn’t he?’ Logan said,
pulling a torch from his backpack. ‘He certainly didn’t seem to mind hitting on
Stella in front of her own husband.’ He switched the torch on as they entered
the first shed and were instantly hit with the stench of metal. Random bits and
pieces of machinery lined the dirt floor, and at the back of the dark, odorous
room was a huge sliding door.
  After assuring themselves that the shed was empty, they carefully climbed the
stairs, Logan and Gemma waiting patiently as the door squeaked open under
Grace’s force. Logan shone the torch inside, sweeping it across the room,
ensuring it was safe to enter. The place was dirty, musky, and the wooden
floorboards were rotting underfoot. Cobwebs hung from the high ceiling, and no
light was emitted in the room save a few holes in the ceiling and walls.
  ‘Ladies first,’ Logan said, stepping back and ushering the girls inside.
  ‘Smartarse,’ Gemma grumbled, stepping over the threshold, pulling a small
penlight torch from her belt and switched it on.
  Grace entered, then paused to wait for Logan to pass her before reaching into
his bag and whipping out another torch for herself.
  ‘Hey, that’s my spare!’ He said.
  ‘And is this not a moment when a spare is needed?’ She grinned and shone the
light around the room.
  ‘Don’t lose it,’ he warned.
  ‘If I do I promise to buy you another one,’ she swore, placing a hand over
her heart.
  Gemma tuned out the chatter as she shone her light over the room. There
wasn’t a lot in there, a couple of chairs and a large work bench. Some wooden
cupboards that were rotting away, like everything else seemed to be, and a few
odd tools lying about. And there was another door. She crossed the room,
heading straight for it. She tugged it open. Immediately her hand flew to her
nose as she gasped with shock.
  A gush of wind blew through her hair and sunlight poured in through the door,
but that wasn’t what bothered her. There was a horrid smell; one that she was
familiar with. She doubled over as bile rose in her throat, the putrid stench
of rotting flesh filling her nostrils. The memories came flooding back. The
blood. The growls. The screams. The horror.
  ‘Gemma, hey are you alright?’ Grace wheezed as she caught a whiff of the
smell. ‘Logan, get over here,’ she shouted.
  Logan hurried towards them, and Gemma saw as he caught sight of something out
of the corner of his eye.
  Something black with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth was closing in on them.
  ‘Get out of the doorway.’ Logan said firmly as he drew his dagger from his
bag. ‘Get out of the way, now!’

Stella
pushed the door open a fraction, pausing to listen for any noise. She and Leo
were welcomed with nothing. Shoving it the rest of the way open, the two of
them stepped inside. The house was musky, but it wasn’t dark. They were in the
lounge room, but there was no furniture to indicate what the people who last
lived there were like.
  ‘This place is very dull,’ Stella remarked as they continued on into the kitchen.
  A passageway lead off to the left and to their right was a closed door.
  ‘I’ll check out the passageway, you take the door,’ Leo offered, moving
carefully down the hall.
  As she was edging towards the door, Stella pulled her dagger from her belt,
hidden under her clothes. She tightened her hold on the hilt, placing her free
hand on the cold brass handle. In one swift motion she twisted the knob and
ripped the door open, looking from left to right. It was the laundry, and it
was empty. 
  She sighed heavily and turned to seek out her husband.
  She located him in the bathroom, standing over the bathtub, staring intently
at something.
  ‘Leo?’ She said, frowning as she rested a shaky hand on his shoulder.
  ‘Look.’
  He stepped aside and Stella peered into the tub.
  ‘Oh my god,’ she gasped as she stared down at the sizzling black charcoal. Black
blood dripped from the sides of the slick white tub and she could see small
flecks of red where the fire was still ablaze.
  Leo’s eyes rested on Stella’s, ‘Goblins.’

‘Drew!’
screamed Laura, and she dove for him, pushing him to the ground with as much
force as she could muster. She fell fast and Drew caught her before she landed hard
on top of him. Caspian was there in a flash, dagger slashing at the creature.
Laura managed to roll over and Drew was up in an instant, aiding Caspian in the
fight.
  They worked together, anticipating each other’s moves and distracting the
creature to give the other the upper hand. Laura had never seen anyone work together
in such harmony.
  The creature ducked a blow from Caspian, darting sharply around him. In doing
so, it caught sight of Laura and twisted its ghastly head sideways, advancing
on her.
  A scream tore from her throat.
  The creature’s face was mutated beyond recognition, burnt shreds of skin hung
from its charcoal body, and fiery red flames ran through the crevasses in its
charcoal skin. Two huge black orbs stared down at her, and a thick snake-like
tongue licked its razor sharp teeth as a revolting black liquid dripped from
its mouth. The sickening smell of burnt flesh surrounded her and bile rose in her
throat as she stared up at the monster.
  ‘Laura!’ Caspian shouted and she sprang to life, scrambling backwards as
Caspian dove in front of her, driving his dagger into the creatures arm. It
staggered backwards, and growled, angered now. It slashed at Drew with one of
its silver clawed stumps but Drew was too quick, and sprung backwards, whirling
around it, distracting it for a moment and giving Caspian the opening he
needed. He sunk the dagger into its back, twisting and dragging it down its
spine before ripping it from the creatures flesh. It howled in pain and turned
to Caspian, advancing on him, this time giving Drew the opportunity to drive
his blade into the heart of the hideous monster.
  Black liquid spurted from the wound as Drew wrenched his blade free. For a
moment, the creature was stunned.
  Then, in one clean slice, Caspian decapitated it with his dagger. Both boys
turned from the monster and dove to the ground, covering their faces. The body
dropped to the earth and burst into flames. Laura scrambled back with a squeal
as the flames died down quickly, leaving a pile of ash behind.
  ‘Hey, are you alright?’ Caspian asked, rushing to Laura’s side and helping
her up from the ground.
  She allowed him to lift her, leaning on him heavily as she stared at the
measly remains of the monster. A gust of wind blew past her, scattering the ash
across the grass.
  ‘What the hell was that?’ She asked as she steadied herself and looked from
Caspian to Drew, who was cleaning his blade on the lawn.
  ‘That was a Goblin.’ Caspian answered
  Laura was speechless.
  Finally she managed to ask why it had burst into flames.
  ‘The fire begins to consume them, first entering their veins and running
through them, burning them from the inside out. That is why they smell and look
like charcoal and burnt skin. When you kill a Goblin the flame inside them
bursts, finishing them off.’
  Suddenly Stella and Leo tumbled through the back door of the cottage, rushing
to their side, ‘is everyone all right?’ Stella gasped and her eyes came to rest
on what was left of the pile of ash.
  ‘We’re fine,’ Caspian answered as Drew stood, fastening his blade under his
pant leg.
  ‘We found Goblin remains in the bathtub. It must have been trying to dull the
fire with water,’ Leo said peering from Caspian to Drew, ‘we heard the howls
but when we came to the door it was jarred shut. Took a few hard hits before we
got it open.’
  ‘What about the other door?’ Drew questioned, looking at the flustered
adults.
  ‘That was the weird thing, it was like when we left the bathroom the whole
cottage had been flipped around. The door we entered was suddenly on this side,
and the kitchen was at the other side of the house.’
  ‘Dark Magic?’ Caspian asked.
  ‘Possibly.’
  ‘We should head around the front and meet the others,’ Stella said, and she
and Leo turned, studying the yard around them carefully to ensure there would
be no more surprise attacks, before jogging back around the side of the house.
  Caspian turned to Laura, ‘you all right now?’
  ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ she smiled appreciatively.
  ‘Come on, we better follow Stell,’ he said as he secured his dagger in his
belt before hurrying off after Stella and Leo.
  Laura hesitated, glancing over at Drew. She was shocked to find him watching
her, his green eyes ablaze.
  ‘That was quite a save,’ he said, although, for the first time since she had
met him, he was not trying to be funny, nor was he smiling.
  She didn’t know what to say.
  His stare hardened, ‘you could have been hurt.’
  ‘So could have you.’
  ‘But I had a weapon to defend myself with. If it had gotten a hold of you it would
have ripped you to shreds or burnt you to death.’
  She glared at him, ‘It was a split second reaction. I’m sorry. Next time I
won’t bother,’ she snapped, storming past him and after Caspian.
  As she rounded the corner, a spine-chilling scream rip through the still air.
And she was suddenly sprinting for the sheds.

Gemma’s eyes
locked on the monster of her nightmares and before she could think, she let out
a blood curdling scream. Grace shoved Gemma out of the doorway and glanced
sideways at Logan with his blades in hand, ready to fight. She dropped the
flashlight, spinning fast on her heal and coming face to face with a Goblin,
fire coursing through its veins and black blood dripping from its mouth. One
touch would burn her skin.
It sprung at her.
  She screamed and recoiled, bumping Gemma further out of the way. She
instinctively threw her hands up to protect her face as it slashed at her arm.
A pain like nothing she had ever felt before shot through her entire body and she
gritted her teeth, forcing herself to hold back a cry. It raised its stump to
slash at her again and suddenly Logan was in front of her with his sword at the
ready. He propelled her backwards with one hand as he swung his blade at the
Goblin with his other, slicing the clawed hand clean off.
  A horrific screech filled the air as the Goblin staggered backwards, giving
Logan enough room to soar through the doorway past the beast and dart up behind
it, sinking his sword into its black and dragging it through its flesh. It’s
howls echoed throughout the sheds as it turned to Logan, swinging its remaining
stump at him.
  He was fast in his movements and light on his feet as he managed to dodge his
enemy’s attack. The Goblin was quick though, spinning in the opposite direction
and snatching at Logan’s sword. There was a sudden shriek as it lurched
sideways, rotating clumsily towards the shed door. Grace stood, legs apart,
fiercely staring down the creature.
  Logan’s eyes flickered to the Goblins back, catching sight of Grace’s dagger sticking
from its flesh. The Goblin snarled as Logan danced around it, and with one
harsh blow, he drove the blade into its chest. He pulled back, retreating as
the monster blew up in flames. The screeches coming from its mouth split the
air and in a matter of moments the flames had disappeared, leaving a pile of
ash behind.
  Logan didn’t give the remains a second glance as he flew up the ramp to Gemma
and Grace. Grace and Logan lifted a crying Gemma up off the ground and, both
with an arm around her shoulders, helped her back through the shed, Grace whispering
reassuring words to her. Stella, Leo, Laura, Caspian and Drew were all
sprinting down the road as they reached the gravel.

‘What
happened?’ Stella puffed, seeing Gemma in a crumpled mess between the two
teens.
  ‘Goblin attack. She’s in shock. She hasn’t been faced with one since that
night,’ Grace answered and Stella immediately wrapped her arms around Gemma,
allowing her to cry into her shoulder.
  She ran her fingers through her hair, soothing her with words of
encouragement.
  Laura had never seen Gemma in such a state, and she felt awful for her.
Whatever it was that she had been through had definitely left a mark in her
life, and not a good one. Someone suddenly shouldered past her. It was Drew.
  ‘My god Grace are you okay?’ He asked, pulling her in to a hug of his own, ‘I
thought that was you screaming.’
  ‘It’s okay, I’m okay,’ Grace said, hugging her twin tightly.
 ‘Two attacks in one place,’ Caspian said, ‘that’s rare. Goblins don’t usually
travel together.’
  ‘You were attacked too?’ Logan asked.
  ‘Yeah, just outside of the cottage,’ he answered.
  ‘The only time Goblins work together are when they are following a leader,
evidently promising to reward them with their old body should they do as
they’re asked,’ Leo thought aloud.
  ‘So you think someone asked them to guard the riddle to the map?’ asked Drew,
pulling away from his sister but keeping a firm arm around her shoulders.
  ‘Tom would have told us if he had trouble with Goblins,’ said Stella.
  Gemma’s sobs had turned into quiet sniffles as she listened to what was being
said.
  ‘So they must have been planted here recently,’ Caspian spoke slowly as he
thought it through.
  ‘But why?’ Concern filled Grace’s face.
  Gemma raised her head, wiping her eyes as Stella looked out at the others,
‘It seems far from coincidental that as soon as we start searching for the maps,
the place is suddenly guarded by Goblins. I’ll bet the other riddle locations
across the globe are guarded as well, to keep us away. Whoever took Cara really
doesn’t want to be found.’
  ‘Or interfered with,’ Laura added.
  They all looked at her.
  ‘Well, they obviously have a plan that must be pretty serious if they are
going to this extent. The only thing that confuses me is that if they took my
mother to lure me to them as we supposedly thought, then why would they make it
so hard for me to get to them? I don’t think they want me. Well, not yet
anyway. So they’re trying to slow us down, but not stop us. And my mother is
the bait to keep us coming.’
  ‘But surely if they didn’t need you yet they would have just waited until the
time was right.’ Leo mumbled.
  The memory of Laura’s mother hurrying down the alleyway with the man she now
realised was most likely her father appeared in her mind.
  ‘I think they’re searching for something. And I think she has the ability to
help find it, all the while still leading me to them,’ Laura said suddenly.
  ‘Like what?’ Caspian questioned, frowning, and then realisation dawned on
him. ‘Your dream?’
  She nodded.
  ‘What dream?’ Leo asked furrowing his brow.
  ‘I had another dream. One about my mother going to a man named Kane’s house
in this dark alleyway. She was asking him for a Charm to protect me with and he
said there was nothing he could find to help me. He then told her she could
sacrifice herself to the Gods for me and then I ran but she heard me and chased
after me. She used the Memory Charm to hide that night’s events from my mind.’
  Stella sucked in a breath and looked across at Leo, ‘she’s been dealing in
the Black Market?’
  Leo closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with frustration, ‘what has Cara
gotten herself into.’
  Laura remembered a vital piece of information that she had completely
disregarded beforehand, ‘she had a black
‘W’
on her wrist.’
  Stella shook her head in disbelief.
  ‘So maybe she has Charm that they need?’ Grace suggested.
  Logan frowned, ‘why not get the charm themselves?’
  ‘Too much time trying to find something to trade with. They probably thought
it was easier to kidnap someone with access to the Charm, and since Cara is
Laura’s mother anyway, they assumed that they could kill two birds with one
stone,’ Caspian rationalized.
  ‘Look, I think right now we need to go get the riddle, find the map, and then
decide what to do based on what the map tells us. If we can find Cara, maybe we
can get her back and put an end to their plans before they realise we’ve caught
up with them already.’ Stella said then added sternly. ‘Let’s get moving. I
don’t want us to wait around here longer then we need to. They could be sending
reinforcements.’
  They agreed and made their way back to the cottage.

Logan slowed
Grace down so that they were out of earshot.
  ‘Are you sure you’re okay? That Goblin was really close to you.’
  Grace nodded, ‘Thank you for jumping in front of me like that.’
  Logan itched to reach out and draw her into a hug. His heart was still racing
with adrenalin and fright. ‘Any time,’ he smiled weakly.

‘Why are we
here?’ Caspian asked as they clambered through the front door to find they were
now in the bedroom.
  ‘This is very confusing,’ Stella said looking around.
  Leo rubbed his chin, ‘definitely a Charm of some sort.’
  ‘A Changing Charm, I’m guessing.’ Logan said.
  They left the bedroom, fanning out in the passageway, Gemma trailing at the
back, Grace holding her hand to keep her calm. Stella turned the handle of
another door, peeking inside.
  ‘Well, I found the Library,’ she said, her eyes sweeping across the small
wooden room filled with empty shelves.
  ‘I thought Tom said it was carved in stone?’ Caspian questioned peering
around Stella.
  ‘It must be the Changing Charm. We’ll have to look over the walls and see if
it’s visible,’ Leo said and began inspecting them innocently.
  Everyone spread out, feeling the walls for words that may have been carved
into them. As silly as it must have appeared, it proved to be affective. Not
long after starting, Caspian called from the right corner to say he had found
four lines of words carved into the wood.
  Once they had all assembled around him a series of sighs and groans rippled
through the group. The words were carved that roughly that they were barely
readable.
  ‘Well…’ Logan huffed as they watched Leo kneel and run his hands over the lettering.
  ‘I can’t understand it even a bit,’ he finally alleged.
  Laura crouched and raised her hand to the letters, hoping she may have some
luck. She agreed with Leo. They were past readable.
  ‘That one looks a bit like an ‘N’ doesn’t it?’ Grace asked, pointing to one
of the letters.
  Laura examined it closely, ‘it looks almost back to front.’ She mumbled, and
then she gasped, ‘back to front! The message is written back to front, like if
it were on a window so you could read it on the other side!’
  ‘Why the hell would they do that?’ Drew exclaimed, ‘these walls aren’t see
through, we can’t just go around the other side and read it.’
  He was still mad, Laura could tell. Mad about her saving him, and probably
mad about the danger his sister had been in. But as Laura watched for a moment
longer than she should have, she could see the worry and fright in his emerald
eyes. He raised them, catching her stare.
  She quickly broke it off, ‘uh, I think it is the Charm. It’s changing
everything.’
  ‘Should we leave and come back to allow it to change?’ Logan offered.
  ‘No, we can’t risk losing the riddle now that we have finally found it,’
Stella answered firmly.
  ‘Then how do we read it?’ Grace inquired.
Laura had always been good at thinking outside the box, finding the answers to
problems that others were too busy thinking through the obvious possibilities
to. And thanks to this ability, an idea came to mind.
  ‘Does anyone have a piece of paper?’ she asked.
  Logan pulled a blank sheet from his bag. Taking it, she held it up over the riddle,
and, using a firm press with her fingers, pushed the paper into the marks,
making sure to cover every word, every line carved, every little dot. When she
was finished, Logan passed her a pencil as she turned the sheet over. She lightly
shaded over the words, the indentations in the page becoming visible.
  Laura grinned as she slowly made her way down the page. It had worked. She
finished the last letter and passed the pencil back to Logan. Leo reached for
the paper, looking it over.
  ‘Well, now we just have to work out what it means.’ Caspian said, analysing
it over Leo’s shoulder.
  Leo opened his mouth and read aloud: