Mortal (17 page)

Olga watched them in silence and then
shook her head. "But you are wrong—there is another who possesses
the magic."

"Really," said David, raising his
eyebrows. "Well now, your royal witchness, who is this person? Will
they be as delightful as you?"

The old witch raised her hand and
pointed to Kara.

"Her."

D
avid twirled his finger next to his head and mouthed,
crazy
.

This was a disaster. Kara rubbed her
temples. She could feel a major migraine coming.

"Olga, I don’t have any magic skills—I
can’t even do a decent card trick. I’m just a normal teenage girl,
with nothing special—except maybe that I’m on duty with the
guardian angel legion. But I swear to you—I don’t know anything
about magic."

"You’re elemental," said the witch.
Her yellow eye twitched as she watched Kara intensely.

Kara’s blood froze. She forced her
lips to move. "What did you say?"

The witch smiled, and Kara noticed she
only had one decayed front tooth.

"You’re an elemental. I can see it
plainly. Shut up, Henry, it’s my time to speak. It’s all over you,
girlie. I’ve never met one with so much of it—how
curious..."

Kara frowned. The Fay sisters had said
something of the sort, too.

"I don’t know what you mean
by
elemental
. I
know that I have elemental essence in me. It’s what sets me apart
from the other guardian angels—why most of them hate me, really.
But I don’t have any special powers as a mortal."

Olga stabbed her in the chest with her
staff.

"But you do, girlie. You just don’t
know it."

David folded his arms over his chest.
"Am I the only one who’s confused here? Are you sure you’re cooking
soup in that thing? What’s the witch talking about, Kara? Does this
make sense to you?"

Kara met David’s confused
expression, but she couldn’t answer him. It
was
making sense to her.

Olga ignored David and spoke only to
Kara. "You know I speak the truth. You felt it before; when you
were hanging from the chains—you were trying to summon it. It is
why Shadow Cave opened up to you and let you pass—and why it let
the spirit walkers pass without destroying them."

Kara shook her head even though she
felt part of what Olga was saying was true. "You’re wrong, Olga. I
don’t have any magic. I don’t know any spells, I can’t possibly be
a witch."

"You’re not a witch, girlie," laughed
Olga. Wisps of thin hair swayed on the top of her balding
head.

"You’re an elemental. And
elementals have a different kind of magic, a natural magic—a magic
that comes from the earth. It has nothing to do with incantations
and spells. It is nature’s
energy
. It is the flow of mother
earth’s
power
."

David whistled loudly. "Whoa—that
sounds wicked. I’d love to get some of that. I never thought
witches could be so hot."

He smiled mischievously at Kara. "Can
you curse me, sweet lady?"

Kara shot him a dirty look, and he
pretended to seal his lips with his fingers.

Olga poked her in the stomach again,
hard.

"Listen girlie, you
are
elemental. Nature’s
strength lies within you. You have the power to manipulate the
energies, to summon mother earth’s power."

The witch leaned on her
staff, her yellow eye fixed on Kara. "You have the ability to feel
and control these energies.
Elementals
are very rare and extremely powerful.
You’ve admitted to having this power as a spirit
walker—"

"
Yes, but,
it’s not the same—"

"
It is the
same!" Olga raised her voice and hit Kara in the chest once again
with her staff. "You are as elemental in spirit as you are in life.
That doesn’t change. You cannot change what you are—and that is,
an
elemental
, a
unique child of our mother earth."

Kara’s head was spinning—an elemental
in life as in death. Somehow, she believed the witch. It made
sense. The energy she sensed as an angel was also in her mortal
body, dormant and waiting to be awakened. Could it really be true?
Suddenly, she didn’t feel so weak anymore. Her elemental power was
still in her—she just had to figure out how to tap into
it.

She looked down at the pendant and
took it in her hand. It was cool and light. "Then...I take it
you’re not coming with us. Am I right?"

Olga leaned on her staff again, as
though it took all of her energy just to speak.

"If I leave these parts, I will die.
I’ve only lived so long because the woods and the caves have
protected me all these years. These wretched bones of mine would
disintegrate if I stepped out. Even if I wanted to help you, I
couldn’t."

She bent closer to Kara. Her yellow
eye twitched. "The Dark warlock is an evil creature, and if what
you tell me is true, and he has risen from the dead, then you have
a difficult and dangerous enemy on your hands. He will summon
devilish powers from the darkness of the dead. His magic will be
great and his servants plentiful. He knows I am a threat. Soon he
will be coming for me—and you—you must leave now,
girlie."

She pushed Kara with her staff. "He
doesn’t know about you—and it’s best that we keep it that way until
the time is right. Off you go..."

Kara knocked the staff away with her
hand.

"But will you be safe? Can you protect
yourself from him if he comes for you?"

She felt a sudden sadness for Olga and
a need to protect her. She reminded Kara of her grandmother. She
was old and frail. Kara didn’t want anything bad to happen to her,
even if she had almost killed her friends. The old witch was
starting to grow on her, even Henry.

Olga ignored the question and pointed
to the pendant.

"This is a witch’s rune pendant of
protection and elemental power. The pendant will energize and
empower the magical intentions of their wearer. Earth, air, fire,
water—the key to elemental power—these symbols are the mark of an
elemental. The pendant will help you draw your powers and protect
you against the Dark warlock."

"But how do I draw and use these
powers?

The earth shook under Kara’s
feet.

A ball of liquid green fire fell from
the sky and exploded in the clearing, setting the ground and trees
ablaze. An earsplitting screech came from the trees, as though they
were screaming in pain. Kara’s chest tightened. She could almost
feel their suffering as they burned. The green flames snaked up the
trees and cast an eerie emerald glow on the clearing.

Bill and Will jumped up and brandished
their weapons, a wild look in their yellow eyes.

"He has found me," said Olga, her gown
flapped in a gust of wind as a yellow aura radiated from her skin.
She turned to Kara. "There’s no time. Listen to me and do exactly
as I say."

Kara nodded and did her best to focus
on Olga’s face and not the green fire that threatened to burn
her.

"You must destroy the Dark
warlock
only
on
the winter solstice—when the light half of the year is being turned
over to the dark half. He will use the power of the souls he’s
collected already to raise
other
dark warlocks and devils. This is what he’s been
planning all along—to bring back the brethren. If he succeeds, he
will bend the mortal world to his will. You must stop him. You
cannot allow the solstice ritual to happen!"

The trees moaned, and Kara shivered.
She couldn’t move.

"But how do I do that? How do I stop
him?" she yelled over the roar of the flames. "I don’t know where
the ritual will be!"

"He will be at the exact same place
where he and his followers were destroyed a hundred and fifty years
ago—look for Cleopatra’s Needle, there you will find the entrance
to the Warlock’s lair."

"I have to go to Egypt?"

Olga’s staff emitted a yellow color
until it was completely covered. Even for an old witch, she looked
dangerous and powerful. "New York city."

Kara just stared at her. "You’re
joking, right?"

The old witch ignored her.

"Search the tunnels beneath the great
city. You need to seek out the old fool, Gideon. He’s the only one
who can help you now—you must do as he says.
Understand?"

"But New York City is enormous. How
can I find one old man?"

Olga’s gaze went past Kara to the
woods beyond. "Go to the tunnels. The pendant will guide you. Let
the power flow naturally—it’ll come to you."

"What? Seriously?" Kara stared at the
green fire snaking its way towards her feet. "What kind of an
answer is that? Olga, you need to give me more to go
on—"

"You must get out of here, quickly!"
said Olga.

The heat of the flames burned Kara’s
face. The smoke stung her eyes.

"But what about you? Are you going to
be okay?" she said in between coughs.

Another ball of liquid fire crashed
into the clearing. But this time it crashed into Olga’s cottage.
Within seconds the small cottage was enveloped in green flames. The
rock trolls ran out and stood protectively around their
mother.

Olga grabbed her staff with both
hands. "I’ll be fine—you must get out of here. This is warlock
fire. The flames will kill you and your spirit walkers. If you
value their lives, then get them out of here. I can take care of
myself. Go back through the cave. Quickly, go now!"

"But—"

A great ball of green fire exploded at
the base of Olga’s cauldron. But instead of a blazing fire, a dozen
frog-like creatures the size of adult bears sprouted from the
flames. Their eyes glowed red, and a loud rumbling noise echoed in
their throats. Gleaming symbols and runes covered their dark green
slimy skin.

The rock trolls wielded their weapons
and charged.

One of the creatures opened its maw.
It was filled with rows of shark teeth, and it spat a green
substance that hit Will in the chest and face.

He screamed in agony as a cloud of
vapors coiled around his body. The green substance ate at his rock
hide like some sort of acid, leaving holes and exposing his
insides. Blood dripped from his charred face and chest. He fell to
his knees, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he keeled
over.

Bill screamed madly and ran into the
wall of frog-creatures. He sliced the creature that killed his
brother in half with one giant stroke of his battle-axe. As he
turned, two more creatures leaped at him, and again he hacked them
in half with his axe.

Dark blood splattered his face. Like a
madman, he thrashed and slashed at the creatures, avenging his
brother. But there were too many—the creatures attacked again, and
Bill disappeared under a tangle of green limbs. She heard him
scream and that was the last she saw of him.

More balls of liquid fire burst on the
ground around Kara. More evil frog-like creatures sprouted from the
flames, their red eyes searching for their next kill. They saw Kara
and her friends, and in a great leap they soared through the air
towards them—

A blast of yellow light hit the
creatures in their chests, and they exploded into a cloud of green
dust. The particles floated in the air and settled to the ground
like falling ash.

Olga held her staff high above her
head.

"Is that all you’ve got, warlock?" She
called out into the green flames around her.

She hit her staff on the ground.
Yellow whirlwinds thrashed forward and extinguished the green
fires. "You warlocks are all the same. Always letting the help
fight your battles. Show yourself, you coward!"

Another pulse of yellow energy flashed
from Olga’s staff and blasted more of the frog-creatures into piles
of dust. Olga started to chant. Her single eye blazed in yellow, as
though there was a fire inside.

"Kara, we have to get out of here."
David grabbed Kara’s arm and pulled her towards him. "I don’t feel
like getting eaten by giant frogs, and Peter’s in no condition to
fight. And I seriously doubt we can fight these things—we have to
get back to Horizon. Now."

Peter lay crumpled in Jenny’s arms,
his essence nearly drained out of him. He looked dead
already.

Kara saw the terror in Jenny’s
face.

She turned to David, "You’re right,
let’s get out of here. Grab Peter and we’ll make a run for it.
Jenny, can you run?"

Jenny helped Peter onto David’s back.
Her angel essence glowed through the many gashes on her chest and
face. "Yeah, I can run, but not for long. My M-suit’s on its last
legs."

With Peter secured on David’s back,
Kara ran from the clearing and headed towards the last of the
forest that wasn’t engulfed in flames. She stood in front of a wall
of black trees. Where was the cave? She couldn’t see past the
branches. The woods were thick and impenetrable—it would take hours
just to get through a few feet. She could hear the battle behind
her. She started to panic.