Thursday, June 13, 2030. “Wake up, Lindsay.” I wake up to Xena and Spock sticking their noses into my face and licking my cheeks. “Good morning, Xena, Spock.” I sit up suddenly. “What time is it?” I look at my phone. 7:00. I get up out of bed, remembering that we go on our VA Beach trip today in a few hours. “I can’t believe I forgot to pack. I’ve been so distracted with all this magic business.” Before I even think about getting breakfast, I dig my suitcase out of my closet and put 36 hours of fresh clothes, my sunscreen, beach towel, and a nice outfit for dinner into my suitcase, and then I put my backup swimsuit, a solid black one-piece, on under my shorts and T-Shirt. I bring my packed suitcase downstairs and place it by the front door where some of the other suitcases are sat. “Good morning, Lindsay.” “Good morning, Grandma. Are you excited for our trip?” “Yeah. Glad that it finally feels like summer again.” The weather channel is giving their report. “Sunny skies with a high of 90º F for the Chesapeake and greater Richmond areas. Certainly, a relief from the rain and wind of the past several days.” “Let’s go to traffic.” The traffic report says there should be little to no trouble on the drive to VA Beach. “Good. It’s hot and there should be no trouble on the way.” Looking outside, I see only a few puddles in the front yard as testament to the past few days’ rain. “Weird. It’s like all that rain never happened.” “Yeah. Well, today and tomorrow is just for us and our family to enjoy.” “You’re right, Grandma.” The others come downstairs with the last of the suitcases. “Good morning, ladies.” “Good morning, Dad.” “Good morning, Hon.” “You guys all packed?” “Yep.” “I can’t wait. The weather is finally cooperating.” “Come on, let’s eat and finish getting ready. Our hotel expects us to be there between 10 and 11am, so we need to leave between 8:30 and 9.” “Pretty soon.” “Yep.” We eat various fruits and vegetables for breakfast and then go to the bathrooms to finish getting ready. After I finish brushing my teeth and washing my face, I pack my toiletry bag and place it in my suitcase downstairs. TJ and I sit down in front of the TV, waiting for the others to finish. It’s 8:25 in the morning. “So, how much treasure will you take from the caves this year?” “Probably no more than how much I took last year, or the year before.” The caves in question are like the biome rooms in the broom closet in that they’re largely isolated from the reality that mortals see. I don’t know exactly how or why they exist, but they do. They contain great troves where many minerals and gemstones grow and can be harvested. Why, I also don’t know. The others, one-by-one, come downstairs and sit in the living room. “All right. Time for a final check. Sunscreen.” “Check” echoes around six times. “Bathing suits.” We all affirm “Check” for each item Grandma lists off, be they beach towels, toiletries, fresh clothes, etc. “Well. It’s 8:30, so we better get on the road if we’re going to make our reservation on time.” Lyral will take care of the animals and the house while we’re gone and will enforce the boon. “Have a great time!” “We will!” We all walk out the door carrying our suitcases and place them in the trunks of Mom’s and Dad’s cars. Grandma, Mom, and I get into Bloo, which is Mom’s sky blue 2025 Ford Escape while TJ, Dad, and Grandpa get into Dad’s red station wagon. Both Mom and Dad enter the address of the hotel into Google Maps, and we pull out of our semicircular driveway onto Mountain Road, and then to Rte. 54.
As we’re approaching the wall of trees just west of the train station, with the high school just on the other side, I remark to Mom: “That was where you saw that weird ice, right?” “Yep.” “Lyral is covering my beat for today, right?” “Yep. Don’t worry about the town. I’m sure Lyral has everything under control.” As we ascend the hill, I look up to try and see if there are any new anomalous ice formations embedded in the branches, but there are none that I can see. Looking back on previous years’ trips to VA Beach and by extension, the hidden caves, I can say that the caves and the beach were the best parts, in addition to the seafood and hotel service. Mom’s car has a TV facing the back seats, so I turn it on and select the episode “Hyacinth is Alarmed” from Keeping Up Appearances. “TJ?” “Yeah?” “Did you put on the TV in Dad’s car yet?” “Yeah. Hyacinth is Alarmed?” “Yep. 3, 2, 1. Play.” We both press play simultaneously as our cars merge onto I-95 southbound, and we enjoy Hyacinth’s quirks and Richard’s stress as he tries to keep up the facade of having remembered their wedding anniversary. Normally our VA Beach trips last for at least two full days near the ocean, but this year’s trip only involves one overnight in the city because of the rain. Otherwise, we would have spent the normal amount of time there. Nevertheless, we will try to enjoy ourselves today. I can feel TJ laughing as Richard, coming home from the pub, is freaking out over the alarm code and again as the darn thing with its QE2 horn sounds off through their house. TJ and I Mega-LOL as Hyacinth goes off on him about forgetting the date of their wedding. “Richard Bouquet! You forgot the date of our wedding!” “Y’all having fun back there?” “Yeah.” “Good.” We approach a sign saying that there will be a slight delay in reaching VA Beach by about 20 minutes. “Don’t worry. The hotel has a one-hour grace period for arrival and check-in, so if we get there by 11:00, we shouldn’t lose our reservation.” “TJ?” “Yeah?” “Whaddya wanna watch next?” “I dunno. Whaddya wanna watch next?” “How about Duck Amuck?” “Sure.” We go to YouTube, search Duck Amuck, and play the full video. We both LOL 😂 at Bugs trolling Daffy and Daffy getting all pissed off, especially when Bugs draws him as the silly screwball creature. “Remember the trip from two years ago when Dad and Grandpa got sunburns that made them almost as red as lobsters?” “Oh, yeah. They were blistering and peeling like onions crossed with burnt bread. We were out buying several tubes of aloe vera and rubbing it all over their backs and shoulders.” This was despite them using sunscreen, but we did spend that whole day in the sun. We had amazing crab cakes for dinner that night, though. I remember another time when I fell asleep on my beach towel, and I woke up 10 minutes later with my legs buried in sand and covering my towel. “Tee hee.” “I see how you are, little boy.” For over the next hour, we watched cat memes like the precious Gollum cats and “Go back to bed. This doesn’t concern you” and funny videos like Bart Simpson’s “Testing” and Simpsons ”3D.” After laughing our tails off at GBtBTDCY for the thousandth time, we arrived at our beachfront hotel. “Finally. I thought we’d be meming for all eternity.” “You two check us in while we carry the stuff.” Mom and Dad go inside the lobby to check us in while the rest of us unload our stuff as the hotel valet parks the cars. “I can’t believe we’re finally here.” “For sure.” I get my suitcase out of the trunk of Mom’s car and lug it into the lobby. “We’re going to be in room 612.” “Is that one of the big fancy Gold-tier suites that costs $800 a night?” “Yep. With four beds, 2 bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a balcony overlooking the ocean.” “Sweet.” We get on two different elevators and walk to our room. “Here we are.” “Wow.” Just as the name suggests, the room is largely gold in color, but not so much that it drowns out everything else. The bedding is white with gold thread details on the edges. I choose the bed closest to the kitchenette and unpack my beach towel. “Ready for the beach, y’all?” “Lunch first, now.” “Yes, Mom.” TJ and I put away our stuff. “Where will we go for lunch?” “I heard that a new seafood place opened on the water. I thought we’d try out their lunch menu.” “Good.” We all get our stuff put away and leave our suite.
As we walk out of the hotel at 11:15 am, we take in the warm sun and soft sands. “I think the place is just down the street. This way.” We walk three blocks down the street, and we find the restaurant to be in a boat. We walk on board the floating restaurant through a mesh screen with magnetic closure and are seated in a big booth near the window. “This is beautiful.” “It is.” I look at the menu and choose the clam chowder as does TJ while the adults choose dishes like tuna sandwiches and salmon and pesto butter. The boat is gently rocking as the water moves beneath it. The windows are open to the outside to let the breeze and saline air in, but each aperture is covered with a fine mesh screen, likely to keep seagulls, flies, and other nuisance creatures out. A waiter comes to us and asks us what we want to drink, and we all order water. “I can’t wait to get to the beach today.” “I know. I have this book I’ve been waiting to read on the beach for weeks.” The waiter comes back with our water and asks for our lunch order. Grandma and Grandpa order salmon with pesto butter, Mom and Dad order tuna sandwiches, and TJ and I order clam chowder. “Very well. Your food should be ready in 45 minutes.” “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.”
Meanwhile, the Crawfords are at home, Buck and Ida tending to the chickens and Binky frying up eggs for lunch, and the boys playing around in the woods. Billy wanders off from his brothers, unknowingly crossing the family’s property line. Standing before the boy is a large tree with unnatural blue-black bark and no leaves or blooms. Near the base is a large hole in the trunk where sits a large black hexagonal quartz-like crystal protruding from inside, something he’d never seen in that area before. Billy then, for whatever reason, touches the black stone, which transfers a dark substance into his right arm. The boy shouts in pain and the disturbed crystal emits a loud, ear-splitting screech, and Billy falls on the ground near the dark tree in a swoon.
I hear the screech in my head while in-my-head talking about the crystal caves with TJ while out-loud talking about lunch with Grandpa. “Did anyone hear that screech?” “No. Why?” “I thought I heard this loud screech.” “A seagull?” “No. Something unclean is at work.” “The Black Mist?” “Something like it.” “Where?” “I don’t know. Should one of us go back home?” “No. Lyral can handle it.” “Poor Lyral. I almost feel guilty going on vacation and leaving her alone.”
Silo and Kyle, now wondering where their little brother is, are alerted by the noise, and following its direction, they find him lying unconscious nearby the dark tree. “Billy!” They shake him but he remains in his coma-like sleep. Silo picks him up and they run him back to their house. “Mom! Dad!” “Grandma! Billy’s hurt!” “What happened?!” “He’s got this stuff in his arm!” “Let me look!” They lay him across their grandmother’s lap as she dons the Wanderer’s Mask. “It doesn’t look like an animal bite.” “Where’d you find him?!” “By this weird tree just outside the property line. It was this weird blue-black color, and it had this big black crystal thing growing out of a hole in the trunk near the bottom. I guess he touched it and it must have given him something toxic.” “Silo, run to Lindsay’s house!” “But they’re on vacation!” “Get Lyral! She might be able to help! And Kyle, get my book from the basement!” Silo runs to our house and rapidly rings the silver bell by the back door, summoning the sentinel to them. “Lyral! Help! Billy’s hurt!” Kyle retrieves Ida’s book. “What’s happening?” “Billy’s hurt. It looks like he touched something harmful.” “Show me.” Silo runs back home, Lyral following him in her snowy owl form. They arrive back where Kyle holds Billy across his lap, Buck and Binky trying to rouse the boy while Ida flips through her book, looking for the solution. “What did he touch?” “There was this weird tree just outside the property line that was a weird blue-black color, and it had this big black crystal thing growing out of a hole in the trunk near the bottom. I guess it poisoned him when he touched it.” “Why would he do something like that?” “I don’t know. You would think that after that disaster of a camping trip, he would’ve known better than to touch something unnatural.” “Whatever you said he touched, it has begun poisoning him.” “Well, get it out of him!” “I must stay with him. Silo, Kyle.” “Yes?” “Go into our house and go down to the basement. Go through the game room and into the temple. Take a pitcher-full of water from the font and the jar of dried rose petals and bring it back here. I will mix it together.” The boys run into our basement and grab exactly what Lyral said to grab and run back to their land. At the same time, Ida takes another deer femur, carves healing sigils into it, and cuts off the end. “Here.” “Thank you.” She mixes up the dried petals, deer marrow, and water into a paste, chews it, and spits it out and rubs it on Billy’s arm, chanting in the old immortal tongue, which to mortal ears resembles church latin, calling on the ancestors to cleanse the poison from his body. Ida chants in the language of her goddess ancestor as she draws a circle around Billy. Ida finishes chanting, produces a bottle, and collects the dark substance in it as the poultice applied to Billy’s arm purges it from his body and he wakes up from the swoon. “What’s going on?” Buck and Binky embrace the boy. “We thought we lost you!” “What happened?” “That thing you touched, it poisoned you, but Lyral and Grandma saved you.” “You two! Take me to this dark tree.” “I know where it is.” “No, Billy. Go inside with Grandma.” Lyral and I, along with Buck and Binky, follow the older boys to where they found Billy and the dark tree. Upon seeing the unnatural object, Lyral feels a cold chill run abruptly through her body. Buck and Binky use their phones to take photos of the dark tree and its crystal ‘heart’. Regaining her nerve, she smites the dark tree with a splash of star water, the black crystal that poisoned Billy emitting an even louder screech as it shatters, the dark tree withering into a twisted tangle of blue-black wood which blows away into dust as the wind touches it, the mortals being pushed back by the force of the noise and the shock of its destruction.
I hear the even louder screech. “What was that?!” “I hope Lyral is alright.” “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Thank you, Lyral.” “What do we do if more of these things appear, whatever they are?” “Should we start warning others in town about these dark trees, so they don’t get poisoned?” “Share the pictures with the police, they’ll put out an all-points bulletin in case any more of these dark trees appear. They’ll tell people not to touch them. I’ll go in whatever form I choose to destroy them.” “Thank you.” Ida then places a warding sigil at the site that floats in the air, emitting a calming aura and producing a wall of energy along the property line extending into the woods.
“Here we are.” The waiter brings us our lunch. “Thank y’all.”
At 12:15, we wrap up eating lunch. “Well, that was a nice lunch.” “Yes, it was.” “Now we can go to the beach.” “Yes!” TJ and I ran back in the direction of our hotel. “Hey! Wait for us!” We get back to our hotel room, grab our beach stuff, and go down to the beach in front of the hotel. We set up our stuff about 20 feet from the water and after applying more sunscreen, I lay down on my stomach, sunning my back, listening to the sound of the waves. After a few minutes, I feel particles of sand hitting my legs and sprinkling on my back. “Little boy!” TJ’s giggle is contagious and spreads to me as I chase him into the water, us splashing back and forth, tit-for-tat. For about half an hour, we build sandcastles and collect seashells. “Caves?” “Yep.” We go back into the water and start swimming towards the first wharf to the north of our hotel. In this wharf there is a tunnel and underwater, we go straight upwards, the water changing from salty and clouded, to fresh and clear. We come up to air and are greeted by a cave lined with crystals and lit by torches, much like the corridor in the second-floor closet at home. One can collect as many gemstones as they desire and place them in large sacks made of gold and silver velvet that we conjure from our amulets. My favorites are amethysts, all forms of quartz, and especially quartz that has flecks of gold and silver within. TJ’s favorites are green minerals like emeralds. “Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for!” I rise out of the hole, carrying TJ to the solid cave floor. I follow the torches into a tunnel lined by various forms of quartz, mainly amethyst. Conjuring my sack, I begin collecting all the quartzes I can find. Most of the crystals I harvest come in geodes and clusters. In the center of the chamber, is a small pool of the purest water and in the center of the pit is a large, round, flower-like cluster of clear, smoky, rose, and amethyst quartz with flecks of gold and silver scattered throughout, roughly the size of a large peony, with each of the crystals positioned like they were petals. In the center was a small, perfect sphere of clear quartz with gold and silver inclusions that emits a soft light that permeates the whole flower. I pick up the flower from its spot and lift it into the air, perhaps for the first time. Telekinetically removing all the water from it, I carry it to where I find TJ scooping armfulls of green gems and gold into his bag. “TJ, look what I found among the quartzes!” I show him the quartz flower and his eyes widen in wonder 😲. “Woah. That’s a big rock. I wonder why we didn’t find it before when we were here?” “Well, the rooms here tend to shift and change, so it’s never the same from one year to another. Maybe it was my year to find it. What have you found?” “Just more emeralds and gold like last year.” TJ struggles to lift his bag and I hold it open. “Wow. I think you got more this time than last year.” “Yeah. A lot more gold.” There was indeed more gold than crystals in his bag. I also have gold and silver nuggets in my bag, as well as diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, garnets, topazes, aquamarines, turquoises, pearls, opals, copper, platinum, jades, lapis lazuli, moonstones, and sunstones. I place the crystal flower in my bag. “Ready to go?” “Yeah. I don’t want to miss too much sun.” We use the power of our amulets to conceal our bags of treasure from the sight of mortals before we exit the cave the same way we entered, swimming back down into the salt water and the ocean. We surface, wave to the adults, who wave back, and spend the next four hours playing around in the water with the others until the sun hovers above the western horizon. “Y’all getting hungry?” “Yeah” echoes several times. “Well, let’s go in and wash up. Should we order takeout? There’s a Panda Express and a Papa Murphy’s nearby.” “Panda Express!” echoes around. We gather up our stuff and go back to our hotel room where Mom orders us dinner from the nearby Panda Express using her DoorDash app. Meanwhile, I telekinetically remove the hitchhiking sand particles from our hair and clothes and deposit them into the bathroom trash before anyone gets in the shower. “Five minutes per person, okay?” “Yeah” echoes around the room. Grandma and Grandpa shower first, then Dad, then TJ, and then me. Mom stays out to watch for the DoorDash guy with our dinner. As I come out of the shower, Mom enters our suite carrying our dinner. “Yay!” I scramble to dry off, telekinetically removing all the excess water from myself, especially my thick, curly hair, and then I get my Grumpy Cat pajamas on. “Here’s yours, honey.” “Thanks, Mom.” “You’re welcome.” I open my chicken fried rice with green beans and crab Rangoon and dig in as we watch a movie from the suite’s collection under the TV. We chose The Incredibles.
Meanwhile, back at the Crawfords’ house, Lyral is staying with them after what happened to Billy, whose arm was healed by her poultice and incantation, and is still shaken by the incident. “There were so many voices.” “What do you mean?” “After I touched it, after it stung me, there were so many voices. First whispering, then shouting, and then screeching. She said, ‘you will pay for withholding Our Champion.’” This gave Kyle chills like the dark tree gave to Lyral and he hugged his little brother, hoping that nothing would actually happen. They go to bed, Kyle looking pensively in the direction of the destroyed dark tree. We finish The Incredibles and tuck ourselves in and go lights out. I go to sleep thinking about the beautiful crystal flower I found today, and I begin to dream of the movie we watched, loving the memes.
Friday: 06/14/2030. After an indeterminate time of sleeping, I find myself back at home, which at first, isn’t strange as many of my ordinary dreams would take place at home. It then abruptly turns dark as the clouds turn this wicked green color. The wind turns from a gentle summer breeze to a loud maelstrom of chaos and confusion. Everyone in town is screaming in terror, running from what I realize is the Darkness herself, the black mist. “You dare to touch my people!” “They will pay for withholding Our Champion!” “You will depart this land and not return as long as the deathless ones dwell in this world!” Enraged beyond all comprehension, she emits a loud, ear-splitting screech like the one she made after our first encounter. The landscape around me begins disintegrating in the high winds. I try to hold everything down and steady but I feel it all lifting away. I beg the ancestors to help me protect my home. “Not all is lost, but a few shall soon be found in faraway places of Creation.” “Who?!” I look up and the Darkness is locked in combat with a bright purple-silver light. Lightning flashes across the sky and I wake up abruptly. I am relieved to be back in the dimly lit hotel room but annoyed to be covered in sweat 😓 and needing to go to the bathroom. “You ok?” “Yeah, I just need to use the bathroom.” Mom nods and lays back down as I get up and go to the bathroom. The little clock says it’s 3:33 am. I go quickly. I just need to think about this new vision. I wash up and take out the crystal flower and hold it, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, running my fingers along the petals, staring at the sphere in the center. I am then surrounded by an ethereal voice of a young woman singing in the tongue of the deathless people, singing of beauty and splendor even I’ve never seen in this world.
“Leaves of gold and silver blooms grace the apple trees.
The Sun glints through their boughs like flames, fanned as the wind breathes.
The flowers shine like the full Moon, guardian of the night.
The fruit so sweet none can refuse, gift of the Divine.”
Her voice fades as someone knocks on the bathroom door. “Are you alright in there?” I snap out of my daze, stash the flower away, and open the door. “Yeah. I just had a nightmare and needed to think about it. What time is it?” “Time for me to use the bathroom.” “Sorry.” Mom enters the bathroom and I go back to bed. Looking at my phone, I see that it’s 6:30. That crystal flower took almost three hours from me. The curtained windows facing the Atlantic are letting in the first light of dawn. With the volume all the way down, I play Bejeweled 3 on my phone until the others wake up and start getting dressed for breakfast. I put on my nice outfit for breakfast and begin packing up my stuff because we check out at 9:30.
After breakfast, we check-out of our hotel room, pack our stuff in our cars, and leave for home. In the car, I think deeply about what happened earlier this morning: my nightmare, the mist saying we were going to “pay for withholding her Champion”, and that other voice, the purple-silver light, saying “a few shall soon be found in faraway places of Creation.” What does that mean? Is it related to the loud screeches I heard yesterday? Then there’s the question of the song I heard after gazing into the center of the crystal flower. I think about it some more and I realize that it sounds like the voice that cried “Help me, sister!” back during the first dream-fight with the Darkness after our failed camping trip. “Linsday?” “Yeah?” “Are you ok? You seem troubled.” “It was just a really scary dream that I had.” “What was it about?” “Some bad thunderstorms or something. And of course, the black mist was there, doing her usual thing, corrupting dreamscapes. Speaking of doom and gloom and all that good stuff.” “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you’re still worried, maybe write it down in your journal later. Most dreams have no bearing on the waking world.” “Yeah.” I sit back and try to sleep again, still feeling tired from waking up so early. I try to imagine the sight that inspired the lady to sing of apple trees with such supernatural qualities as gold leaves and silver flowers and fruit so sweet that none can refuse their taste. The song is comforting, but also mysterious. Who created it? And why did it manifest through the crystal flower? I hear the strains of the song in my mind, and they carry me to sleep. I wake up to TJ shaking me. “We’re home, sleeping beauty.” I get up and out of the car to grab my stuff and put it inside. “You catch up on sleep, Sparky?” “Yeah. Just felt like sleeping.” I finish putting my stuff away, change into something comfortable, and write down what I saw and felt in my journal. As I write the last sentence, I get a text from Kyle.
I go downstairs and find Mom and Dad looking at invoices from their HVAC business. “Hey.” “Hey.” “Kyle texted me. He said he had something I should see. May I go over for a bit?” “Sure. Just be back in time for lunch.” “Ok.” I walk over to Kyle’s house and meet him by the rusty old iron plow. “What is it?” A look of dread comes over his face. “What’s wrong, Kyle?” “You better come with me.” He leads me to a spot on the edge of his property where sits a shriveled dark husk, the warding sigil still floating over it. “What’s this?” “It was a strange tree that Billy found here yesterday. It had this big black crystal growing out of a hole in the trunk. It had no leaves or other growths, and it was this blue-black color. We never saw it before yesterday. When Billy touched the crystal, the tree screeched, and it put something toxic in him.” “I heard a screech yesterday.” “From VA Beach?” “Yeah.” “We got Lyral and she and Grandma took whatever it was that was poisoning him out of him and she destroyed the tree. Billy also said something last night about how we “will pay for withholding Our Champion.”” “That’s what I heard in my nightmare last night! I also heard a second screech.” “It screeched when Lyral destroyed it.” “It did.” “Lyral! How’s Billy doing?” “He’s fine. What’s this about “paying for withholding champions”?” “I had a dream last night, Lyral. I heard her saying that we would pay for withholding her Champion.” “Billy said something about that last night, too.” “I have never heard of mortals and immortals having related dreams. When Ida and I cleansed him, we placed whatever was poisoning him into a jar. It’s in our basement.” “What have you learned?” Lyral’s expression matched Kyle’s in its sense of dread. “Before I destroyed it, they took some pictures. I told them to show them to the police so that if any more of them show up, they can tell people not to touch them and so the immortal on duty can destroy them. How was your vacation, Lindsay?” “With the exception of the nightmare, it went great.” Lunch rolls around and so I go back home while Lyral stays to guard the Crawfords considering her learning what the Darkness spoke to Billy in his delirium. Grandma is out on her beat, and I go into my forest room where I conjure up my bag of treasures, pouring it out in the grotto near the doorway, and setting the crystal flower on a stone table. In the immortal tongue, I sing out loud the song I heard from the flower and in response, the wind picks up and the trees sway gently. After I finish sorting my haul from the caves, I go back into the house and watch Doctor Who the whole afternoon while eating grilled cheese. I get chills at the scene in “The Lodger” where Craig touches the ‘stain’ on his ceiling and gets poisoned by the substance like Billy was when he touched the dark tree. Xena and Spock get on my lap and ask about my vacation. “It was good. I found this beautiful crystal flower in the caves and had a great time at the beach, though I had this intense nightmare.” “About what?” “Some storm and her saying we were going to “pay for withholding her Champion.” “What Champion? The dark tree?” “The boon protects the property from invasion, doesn’t it?” “Of course, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else in the area is safe.”
8:00 pm. Billy is still asleep in bed, the mark still fading from his wrist. Sitting beside him in a rocking chair, Ida is thumbing through her book until she comes to Chapter 5: Remedies for Poisoning by Malefic Forces. On the blank page, she takes the bottle of the substance that poisoned Billy and places a drop of it onto the page. “What in the Goddess’ name is this thing?” The book replies with the following:
“This is a weapon of the Dark Tree used to mark targets for abduction to her domain on another planet in the Milky Way Galaxy.”
“Will any more of these things appear here?”
“Yes. You must warn others in town not to touch them. Any mortal who is stung by these crystals could face a fate worse than death if not treated using the marrow of the White Stag, star water, and crushed flower petals of an Imperial Apple Tree.”
“An Imperial Apple Tree? What is that? And where would I get one of those?”
Previous Episode: Rainy Days.
Next Episode: The Storm.
