Chapter 16: Pawn Part 2

Chapter 16: Pawn Part 2

THIRD PERSON POV

“Greg!” Artea immediately stood up and attempted to block his view of the map and the items they were using. Rhett immediately assumed his smallest form and hid beneath the bed.

“Woah! It's just me! “Calm down,” Greg said as he tried to peer behind her sister, curious as to what she was trying to conceal. “All right, Greg. What are you doing here?” Artea asked , hoping to distract her younger brother and getting him out of her room.

“Nothing more than a desire to annoy you— Hey, I want to see” Greg was fighting for the right to see his sister's business. When he got between her legs, he discovered the map and the wedding ring.

He looked at Artea, puzzled, and asked, "What are you doing with Mom's ring?" “Don't worry about it, I'm just trying something.” Artea brushed off his stare and made up a lie.

“Do you have a floating lamp, light, or something?” Artea froze and regained her composure as he asked abruptly, recalling seeing a palm-sized light in her room facing his sister.

“No… It must be a trick of the light.” Artea cast a side glance at him and noticed her brother making a face; little did she know that Greg suspected her of lying but decided to act against it. After all, what evidence does he have?

‘It's his older sister; anything she does can't be THAT bad,' he reasoned as he walked out of his sister's room. Back in Artea's room, the fae and its master exhaled a sigh of relief because they didn’t get caught.

They continued, and all of their attempts failed, so they browsed for another 15 minutes. And Rhett had an epiphany. “I've got it!” Rhett exclaimed, and Artea shushed him.

“Why don't we use your blood?” Rhett proposed Artea gave him a considerate look. ”Even so, the book stated that it must be personal to the individual.” Artea showed him the entry from the book.

Rhett read the line, scowled, and proceeded to smack Artea across the face with his tiny hands. “Hey, hey!” What did I do now?” Artea tried to swat him away like a bug. “It read ‘something that biological is to the individual,' that must be why it wasn't working,” Rhett slapped her in the face with each word.

Artea let out a ‘O’, her latin was still terrible, and it cost them a lot of time. So they set the ring aside, and Artea cut her finger with her pocket knife, allowing the blood to fall onto the map's center.

She chanted the words again and nothing happened, no witchy-woo, They looked at each other again with their faces scowling. ”Let me try it” Rhett offered and Artea moved aside.

Rhett extended his hand to his master, who extended her palm; the fae placed his palm on his master's and chanted the words.…

ut quaeram magis in hominem

ostende mihi locum suum

The fae's glow was a little brighter, and the rushing sensation in Artea's veins was faint but present. They looked at the map that has her blood, and the blood soon began to move. They leaned closer to followed the stream…

Yoong…

Haigler Creek…

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest…

It came to a halt in the forest, hours away from their home. Artea slumped and considered her next move. She can't leave now because her brother will be suspicious, she could get lost in the forest, it's almost 9:30 PM, and a lot of things could go wrong.

~~~

She was in her car, driving to her destination with Rhett in the passenger seat. There was no traffic, they avoided it so they could arrive much faster. Bile was creeping up the back of her throat, and there is this feeling that she couldn’t shake.

They had passed Haigler Creek and were getting closer... closer to danger. She shouldn't be doing this; everything she does causes trouble, and each time she gets closer to the truth. A truth that would change her life forever, a truth that her mother would go to great lengths to keep her away from.

Every distance they travel, they both feel something that makes them uneasy. “Magic…” Rhett mumbled, feeling immense magic that made him tremble a little, worried about his master.

If his master dies, his memories will be lost, and he will be forced to hibernate until his new master is born. This magic was familiar to him, but he couldn't place it, when it happened, or who it belonged to. It must be from his previous life, and the fact that it is happening again makes him question their decisions.

They came to a halt at the edge of the forest, got out of the car, and stood for a few seconds. Brown eyes meets with Azure blue eyes. They nodded and walked into the woods.

While Rhett kept an eye on his master, Artea's senses were on high alert. As they neared the heart of the forest, the immense magic guided them closer to her mother.

They were now meters away from the heart of the forest, and the wind was different; it wasn't calming and still but raging and violent. This frightened Artea, so Rhett flew closer to her for protection..

ARRGGHHH

“Mom? Mom!” Artea bolted to the sound of her mom in pain, Rhett flying after her yelling at her to stop and think about it for a second. The girl's adrenaline was pumping through her veins like a drug, clouding her mind, and the fae’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

She didn't mind the branches scathing her skin as she pushed through the trees and plants with tenacity. She came to a halt as the energy and magic pushed her away.

She could see her mother fighting something, but the wind was making it difficult for her to focus entirely. “Mom! Mom!” Artea pleaded with her Mom to hear her voice; she wanted to go home with her Mom and live without these troubles following them.

Is this the price she must pay to enter this unknown world? She pushed through the wind and staggered forward, both her mother and the enemy pausing to look at the girl who had interrupted their fight.

All her efforts to keep her daughter away from this world had gone out the window as her mother stared wide-eyed at her daughter getting into this fight. Her breathing became strained as she considered the potential ramifications of Artea's presence and risk to Greg.

The mother was spacing out as she considered all the things that could go wrong, ”Mom! Look out!” When Artea saw the enemy swung a hand at her mother, she yelled.

When the enemy swung in her mother's direction, a force flung her to the side. They locked gazes; the girl who flung her mother has a brown eye and one black eye with no sclera visible, and half of her face has visible black veins down to her left arm.

Artea was taken aback by the girl's appearance, which appeared to be flawed, and the strange-looking girl lunged at her. Artea's pocket knife was in her hand, so she swung it at the girl's face instinctively.

Artea's face jerked to the side, revealing the wound and blood oozing from it, but when she looked again, the wound had begun to heal. She realized she had messed up and ran to her mother, but a hand grabbed her foot and yanked her back.

“AHHHH!!!!” Artea screamed when she couldn't reach her mother, who was unconscious on the ground with blood on her head. She rolled over and looked the girl in the eyes; when she noticed her raising her fist and the wind channeling force, she extended her right hand.

She attempted to use magic, feeling it run through her veins, the necklace glowed and burned, she attempted to use something to stop the attack or some kind of force to blast her back. The strange-looking girl was blasted away from the side just as she was about to release what she had.

Artea trembled as she looked to the source of the blast, and there stood Kane. Brown meets Hazel. Kane rushed over to her and helped the wobbly girl up. “Sh-she came after my Mom,” Artea was on the verge of tears, but she held back the tears.

'I can't cry. I can't cry right now,' she reasoned in her mind, leaving Kane to deal with the girl. Kelani noticed her friend's condition and immediately attended to her, "Kelani, please help my M-Mom," even though Artea is in shock, she wants her unconscious mother to be cared for.

Kelani and Krisana took the two women's hands in theirs and chanted a spell to teleport them to their car. Artea became dizzy after the spell because of the new teleporting sensation, and there was a sound blast and wails in the distance where they were previously at.

The lights and visible movements of the wind do not seem to be able to tear her tired eyes away. And then there was a huge surge of magic that made her want to cower back, but it was gone in the blink of an eye.

He let out s huge sigh of relief and she felt two small hand on her forehead, it was Rhett, doing his fae magic to let Artea feel peace and relaxation. She felt her eyes get drowsy and laid at the back seat of the car. Drifting into the darkness while the voices of the Vertrude siblings was fading in the background.

~~~

“Everything you touch you destroy”

~~~

A/n: Sorry for updating to long! We went on a vacation and I was too tired to write but I'll be updating every week! I'm also planning on having art visuals to put in the chapters but I'm not sure when.

Votes and comments are appreciated!