Two months later, Willow had completed her studies with Victor. They all passed the final test he gave them. He decided they were ready to try to invade King Banderon's castle. Willow was ready to get her vengeance for her parents' deaths.

The four of them walked to the stables and saddled their horses. Willow saddled Starfire, and the others saddled their horses. Willow asked, "What are we going to do with our horses when we get there?"

"We are going to put them in the stables with the servants' horses. Now, let's all hold hands so that we don't lose each other when we transport ourselves. We will transport ourselves to the forest outside the city where no one will see us appear," Victor said.

They all stood their horses in a line and held hands. Victor stood on the outside and held Rose's hand. Rose then held Lillithia's hand, and Lillithia held hands with Willow. Willow's heart pounded with anticipation as she thought about what they were going to do. Victor held his wand high above his head and said, "We imagine we are standing in the forest outside Ethermoor City. Now time and space shall make it so!"

The island became a white blur. Willow saw tall trees come into view, and they found themselves standing in the middle of a forest. "How far are we from the city?" she asked.

"We are several miles from the city gate. I have marked some of the trees with knife cuttings to mark a path there. No one knows what they mean but me," Victor replied. He pointed to an oak tree with a large gash in its trunk. "This is the sign you look for on the tree trunks. I know the way to the city by now."

Willow thought it was odd that a doctor who lived in the city would have needed to find his way to the city by marking trees. She had never been to Ethermoor City, but knew that the Centrarius Way was the major road that connected all the principalities in the kingdom to the capitol.

"Did you make these markings when you lived in the city?" Willow asked.

Victor appeared to be caught off guard by the question. "No, I transported myself here a few nights ago and made them. That way, we wouldn't get lost when we came," Victor said. "Oh, and I almost forgot. You three are going to need these when going into the city and walking into the castle." He opened his bag and pulled out three small boxes. "Shapeshifter pendants. The police are probably still looking for the three of you, and you will need these to get in the palace without anyone recognizing you." Victor handed each woman a box. Willow opened her box and saw a small golden necklace with a half-moon pendant.

"These were made with the fur of a shapeshifter embedded into the pendant. They will enable you to change into whatever form you wish." Willow, Rosaria, and Lillithia put their necklaces on. Rosaria suddenly transformed into a red-haired woman with blue eyes, and Lillithia shifted into a blonde woman with green eyes. Willow shifted into a woman with black curly hair.

"I will introduce the three of you under fake names so that no one will know your real names. Willow, your name will be Tara. Rosaria, your name will be Cynthia. Lillithia, you will be Danielle," Victor said.

As they walked, the cold and imposing walls that surrounded the capitol came into view. There were even guards patrolling the top of the wall. Willow felt a stab of homesickness in her heart as she thought about the quaintness of Fernhollow.

Someday, I will be able to go back there and tell everyone about how I helped overthrow the unjust government, she thought.

They all walked through the imposing archway that led into the city. Willow was shocked at the number of homeless people sitting under the archway. An elderly woman approached her and held out a cup. She had a terrible sore on her face that spread over her left cheek. "Can you spare me some money?" the woman asked.

"I don't have any money, but I do have some medicine that can help that sore on your face," Willow said.

She always carried some of her mother's healing potions around with her in case she should encounter someone who needed them. The woman closed her eyes, shook her head, and said, "Nothing can cure it. I lost my job because my employer thought it might be contagious. Doctors bled me dry of money searching for a cure, and now I am out begging for money on the street as a result."

"Here." She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of skin cure. "Can I pour some of this on it?" Willow asked.

The woman shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, it can't hurt. The sore only grows and gets worse."

Willow opened the bottle and poured the liquid on the sore. A cloud of white smoke emitted from the wound, drawing the stares of bystanders. Seconds later, the cloud dissipated, leaving healthy skin in place of the open sore. The other beggars approached her and gasped at the sight of the woman's healed skin.

The woman looked around in wonderment. "Do you have a mirror?" she asked Willow.

"I don't, but there is a reflective window over there," Willow said as she pointed at a window.

The woman ran over to the window. She gasped, and tears welled up in her eyes when she saw that her sore had been healed over by healthy skin. "Oh, thank you so much! What is your name, dear?"

"Willow Nightshade. What is yours?" Willow replied.

"Marcy!" the woman replied.

Oh no! I forgot to use my fake name! Willow thought.

"How did you do it?" someone asked. A large crowd was starting to gather around Willow.

Victor suddenly grabbed her arm and whisked her away from the crowd. "You can heal as many people as you want later, but we must keep quiet about our abilities for now. I don't want you exposing yourself to the king and ruining our plans!" Victor said through gritted teeth.

They walked through the crowd. They came to a rather rundown, nondescript-looking building that had a sign hanging over the door that said "Inn."

"Here. No one will suspect us if we are staying here!" Victor said.

"Aren't we going to the palace now?" Willow asked.

Victor grabbed her arm, and the two ducked inside the rundown building. He whispered, "What are you thinking being so loud about this?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Willow stammered.

There were just some things that she thought he was making up as they were going. Even though they planned their trip very well, she had never been to Ethermoor City, and upon arriving there, she realized there were a few things they had not discussed back at the castle.

"Do not say anything until we are all away from people. There are some things we need to discuss right before going to the palace. We are going there at night. Don't say any more until we are all in private," Victor said.

He walked up to the front desk and paid for one room in the inn. "Here you go. Room 158 is on the second floor," the innkeeper said as she handed a set of keys to Victor. Willow knew better than to ask him why they were only going to have one room when there were four of them. They went out of the inn and got Rosaria and Lillithia. The three women followed Victor upstairs.

"We are going to go there at night so that we can kill him while he is sleeping. You know, catch him off guard!" Victor said.

"How are we going to get into the palace?" Willow asked.

"I used to be his physician. I have connections at the palace who can help us get in." Victor said.

"How come you didn't poison him when he was your patient?" Willow asked.

Victor turned to her and laughed. "They would have suspected me, and I wasn't ready. I could not have protected myself. Magic had not returned yet."

Willow still thought it was odd that he did not kill him then.

"Now, the three of you will be introduced as my students who are studying alchemy and pharmacy with me. Also, they called me by my middle name, Halvor, since there are other people named Victor who work at the palace and no one else is named Halvor. The people at the palace call all the people named Victor by their middle names. That way, we know which Victor is being addressed.

"We are going at ten o'clock at night, because that is when the king goes off to bed. We will wait until a time we know for certain he is probably asleep to begin our attack."

At 9:30 p.m., they began making their way toward the castle. They walked up to the castle gate, and Victor pulled an identification card out of his bag. He showed it to the guard, and the guard opened the gate to let them in. Victor led the way to the servants' stables, and they locked their horses inside. Willow was extremely nervous but excited about what they were planning to do. She couldn't help but notice the way people scowled at Victor, and thought it was rather strange. She brushed it off. Oh well, it wouldn't matter after tonight.

Victor led them through the servant's entrance. "Good evening, Halvor," another servant said.

"Good evening, James," Victor said. "These are my students Tara Millerson, Cynthia Harrison, and her sister, Danielle Harrison. They are studying alchemy and pharmacy with me.

"I will show the four of you to my study," he said to the women. They walked through the halls and climbed up the servants' stairwell to the fifth floor. They opened the door and walked into a hallway.

They came to a small door. Victor opened the door, which led to a spiral staircase. When they got to the top of the stairs, they entered a room that had a telescope in the center of it, pointing out a window. Willow wondered why a doctor would have a telescope in his lab, or that he would have a lab in a place that wasn't his permanent office, for that matter.

She decided not to ask him about it until after they had done what they came to do. They each opened their bags and pulled out the small boxes that their suits of armor were in. Before they had left, they'd shrunk their armor down so small that the suits would fit mice. That way, they could sneak the armor around the castle and the city without anyone seeing it. Willow opened her box, pointed her wand at the armor, and said, "Grow and expand, your time for use is at hand!" A light shot out of the end of her wand and hit the armor. The armor grew until it reached its normal size.

Willow and the others suited up. They watched the clock in anticipation of their assassination attempt. Willow spent the time reading her ancestor's books. Then, 1 a.m. finally came. Willow hoped the assassination would go exactly how they'd practiced it many times back on Enchantica. Willow, being the best swordsman of the group, was going to assassinate King Banderon.

Victor showed Willow to Banderon's room. Rosaria and Lillithia ran off to another part of the castle to distract the guards. Willow opened the door and crept inside.

"Aren't you coming with me?" Willow whispered.

"I will stand out here and watch for trouble," Victor said. In a way, Willow was happy that she would be facing Banderon alone. It was going to feel wonderful to be the one to kill him after his unfair laws killed her parents.

She quietly closed the door and pulled her sword out of her sword belt. She lit her left hand up and saw Banderon lying in his bed, snoring very loudly. A cold chill ran down her spine when she recognized him as the exact same man she had seen in the vision she'd had while fighting Lillithia the first day she was on the island. Willow decided to take the risk of being caught and wake the man up. She desperately wanted to confront him about what he had done to her parents.

Willow placed her hand on him and shook him. He awoke with a start and looked at her, bleary-eyed. "What?" His eyes grew wide with terror, and he sat bolt upright in his bed at the sight of Willow's glowing hand. Willow was thrilled to see the monster cowering in fear at the sight of magic. "Wha-What?" he stammered as he tried to point at her hand.

"My name is Willow Nightshade. You killed my parents, Garrison and Andaria Nightshade, because you have something against people practicing sorcery in Ethermoor!" Willow spat.

"GUARDS!" Banderon hollered.

Victor, when are you going to come in and help me? Willow thought nervously.

It was either now or never. Willow held her left hand high into the air and threw a lightning bolt at Banderon, striking him right in the heart. The lightning made terrible burns on his skin, and the man slumped over in his bed. His eyes were glassy, and Willow could see that he was now dead.

A fire erupted as the electricity singed the bedsheets. Willow conjured a raincloud in the room to put the fire out and prevent it from spreading. A surge of emotion flooded her as she realized that she had just killed the man who was responsible for her parents' deaths.

She heard the thunder of many feet running down the hall. Willow looked around for an escape, but there were no windows in Banderon's room that she could float out of. Suddenly the door burst open, and several palace guards ran inside. Willow was shocked. Victor was supposed to be watching for the guards!

Willow stuck her left hand out in front of her and shot a lightning bolt out of her fingertips, striking one of the guards dead.

She kicked another man in his stomach and stabbed him in the chest with her sword. She struck all the remaining guards in the chest with her lightning, killing them.

Willow ran out the door and still did not see Victor anywhere! She ran down the hall and down the servants' stairwell. Willow heard some footsteps coming toward her on the stairs. She heard what sounded like a massive group of people running from behind her. Willow raced down the stairs and saw an unarmed elderly servant running toward her. "Don't strike me! I have a note written by your mother!" he yelled as he held his hands up. Willow looked at his right hand, and much to her shock, she saw a note written in her mother's handwriting! "Say nothing!" the man hissed as he handed the note to her. The sound of the soldiers' footsteps grew closer.

Willow folded the note up and put it in her pocket. She ran out the door at the bottom of the stairwell. Black dust rained down around her, and she fell to the ground. Her sword fell out of her right hand and clanged loudly as it hit the stone floor. She saw Lillithia, Rosaria, and Victor standing with the crowd of guards standing at the door of the stairwell as if they were among the guards, not distracting them. They had also shifted back into their natural forms.

"Oh, thank goodness you caught her!" Rosaria squealed. She picked Willow's sword up off the ground. Willow could not believe what she was hearing. The three people she thought were her friends were working with the palace guards to trap her!

"Imagine, she could have killed the rest of us nobles!" Lillithia chimed.

Us nobles? Willow thought. If the guards hadn't drugged her, her head would have been spinning. She suddenly shifted back into her natural form in her weakened state.

Willow felt a needle pierce through her skin, and then everything went dark.

The guards picked up Willow's body and carried it into the dungeon.

"This is a thoroughly dangerous criminal and a sorceress! DO NOT let her out of your sight!" Victor ordered. He took her wand out of her holster, yanked her shifter pendant off her neck, and locked the cell door.

He, Rosaria, and Lillithia walked out of the dungeon. "What will we do when she wakes up?" Rosaria asked. "You've seen what kind of magic that sorceress is capable of!"

"I've seen what she is capable of doing to you, not me! Don't forget who I am!" Victor spat.

"I don't want to take the risk of her waking up and trying to get payback for us having tricked her this whole time!" Rosaria screamed. She ran down to the dungeon. Much to her utter shock, Willow was gone. Several guards lay dead in the dungeon, and the cell was empty! Its door swung wildly on its hinges.

She turned around, and to her horror, she saw the strange spectral woman who had approached Willow when they were practicing the transporter spell on the island! She stared Rosaria right in the eye.

"You . . . you again!" Rosaria stammered. The creature let out a horrific scream and grabbed Rosaria's right hand. Her hand suddenly froze, and it became so numb from the cold that she couldn't move it. The creature yanked Willow's sword out of her hand and vanished.

Rosaria's heart leaped into her throat. Willow possessed very dangerous sorceress powers, and she was loose. Rosaria ran back upstairs and found Victor. "She has murdered all the guards and escaped!"

Victor's eyes narrowed. "That's impossible! Iron fluid injections are enough to knock a sorceress unconscious for a day!"

The two of them ran down the steps, and Victor was shocked by the sight that met his eyes. Sure enough, the guards were all dead, and the cell door was open.

Victor and Rosaria searched all over the dungeon but did not find her. Victor also noticed that Willow's wand was missing out of his holster. They both ran back upstairs and organized a search party to search the castle for Willow. When morning broke, Willow still hadn't been found.

When Willow woke up, she was lying in bed. "Ah, good morning!" a woman's voice said. Willow looked around in total confusion. She saw an elderly woman standing beside her bed. "It's been a while, and a lot has happened here since you were locked in the castle dungeon."

"I was in a dungeon?" Willow asked.

She looked around and noticed that she was lying in a bed in a bedroom inside a small house. "Yes, you have been unconscious for a day. My husband, a castle servant, said that they drugged you with iron," the woman replied.

"How . . . but?" Willow stammered, gazing around at her surroundings.

The woman smiled and said, "You have a lot of allies on your side, especially since you showed such kindness to the poor when you arrived in Ethermoor City. Word spread."

Willow thought about the man who'd handed her the note that her mother had written. Willow tried to stick her hand in her pants pocket but discovered that she was wearing nightclothes.

"Um, a man gave me an important note when I was in the castle," Willow said.

"Open the nightstand drawer."

Willow opened the drawer and saw her mother's note. Her heart raced as she picked it up. It certainly was her mother's handwriting. "How did he get this?"

"He cleans the palace archives room. The note was put there. Halvor took it back to the palace after your arrest. When my husband heard that Willow Nightshade was in the city, he took it out of the archives, intending to find you and give it back to you," the woman said. "Some of Banderon's men tried to find the Pyraxia Library, but they stumbled around in the mountain range and froze to death. That's what our grandson told us." She chuckled.

The directions read,

"Here is the way to the Pyraxia Library and the Pyraxia Vault, which are both located in the Celexia Mountain Range. Look for these two rock formations. Snow covers both of the doorways. To melt the snow away from the door, stick your hand in the snow and say, 'Florida.' The snow will melt away, revealing a door. The second magic word to open the door is 'Please.' Use these words when opening both the door to the vault and the door to the library."

Willow remembered that when they were practicing the transporter spell, she had traveled to a snow-covered mountain range when a part of her wanted to find the library her mother had told her about. She didn't remember her mother saying anything to her about a vault. Then, she realized that she had left the conch shell and her mother's books in Victor's study.

A perplexed expression came across the woman's face. "Tell me, do you know anything about a conch shell?"

"Yes!" Willow replied.

The woman stood up and walked out of the room. She returned seconds later, carrying Willow's bag and her sword! "How did your husband get my things?" Willow gasped. She remembered seeing Rosaria pick up her sword. She didn't think Rosaria would have just given it to a palace servant.

"It wasn't him who gave it to me. I had this odd dream last night, right before my husband and one of the dungeon guards brought you to our house. The ghost of a woman came to me, and she told me I was to give you this bag and this sword! I thought it was a dream. My husband woke me up after he brought you here. I saw the bag sitting on my nightstand, and the sword was propped up next to it."

Willow looked through the bag. Sure enough, both of her ancestor's journals and the conch shell were there! But who in the world would have given her bag back to her? "Thank you so much! These two diaries are family heirlooms! My father gave me this sword!" Willow said, smiling.

She saw a stick lying in the bottom of the bag that looked like her wand, but it had lost all of its silver-and-gold luster and was just a brown stick. Willow looked down and noticed that her shifter necklace was gone. She remembered Victor yanking it off her neck after he threw her in the jail.

"Was she able to retrieve my necklace?"

"I didn't see a necklace with your things."the woman replied. Willow searched the bag for it, but could not find it. "My name is Marian, by the way, and my husband, Nicholas, is the one who handed you the paper in the stairwell. He and a dungeon guard named Xavier snuck you out of the palace."

"My name is Willow Nightshade. What happened to Victor? Or Halvor, as he was known by at the palace."

The woman closed her eyes and shook her head. "He is our king now. Banderon had no heirs, and since he was the king's most trusted advisor, Banderon promised to make him king when he died." She walked out of the room and returned with a newspaper. "King Assassinated!" was the headline.

The article read:

"At 1 a.m., King Banderon was murdered by a sorceress named Willow Nightshade. King Banderon's advisor, Halvor, and Princess Desdemona Thiregan of Nimudor and Princess Ambrosia Wyvorn of Frohadon caught her after the attack. She has since disappeared from the palace. If you have information on the whereabouts of this woman, please inform King Halvor immediately. She has long, curly brown hair and green eyes."

Willow was thankful there was only a vague description of her appearance and no drawing of her. She read in another article that Halvor's coronation was to be a week from that day.

"Princess Ambrosia and Princess Desdemona?" Willow asked, angry. She remembered hearing Rosaria referring to herself as "us nobles." Being that Willow had never ventured outside Aralin before, she had no idea what the members of the nobility looked like. She had only seen the Prince and Princess of Aralin, and only on rare occasions.

"I knew them as Lillithia and Rosaria. Which one was which?" Willow asked.

"My husband will have to tell you. He has seen them around the palace from time to time on state business," Marian said.

Willow tried to wrap her head around everything that had happened to her. She felt sick. "Those creatures wanted to trick me into thinking they wanted to help me get vengeance on Banderon for my parents' deaths, but they just wanted me to kill Banderon so that no one would suspect them of murder and Halvor could become king!" Willow growled. She seethed with anger so much that she shook.

"How in the world did you think that creature wanted to help you?" Marian asked.

"I . . . he taught me magic! He really did! He acted like he wanted to help me!" Willow whimpered.

"Did he teach you dark magic? Because that's how he helped catch your parents! Certain people are trying to help warn the sorcerers about him!" Marian said with a deadly expression on her face. Willow was speechless. "He was hired to help King Banderon kill sorcerers. He has this formula that police mixed with apothecary medicines to determine if they contained fairy magic or not."

"How do you know all this?" Willow asked.

"My son-in-law is named Tyrus Firedorn, and he is a Knowledge Sorcerer. His best friend was a man named Damian Anderson. Damian was murdered the night before your arrest."

Marian took a breath and continued. "Several Knowledge Sorcerers have secured positions within the Ethermoorian Police force to investigate a series of odd deaths. All of the victims were either lunatics or apothecaries. When he went to discuss the progress of the investigations with the king, Halvor, thinking he was just another non-magical person working for the government, gave him a briefcase full of the formula he'd used to track down sorcerers and sorceresses, and explained what he did with it. They found Damian dead outside the city two weeks later."

"How long has Halvor been working at the palace?" Willow asked. He had told her that he was a retired doctor, but she'd found out that was not true.

"He has been there for four months," Marian said.

"So, how did he work at the palace and teach me, Lillithia, and Rosaria magic all at the same time?" Willow asked.

"He came at night," Marian replied.

He came at night, Willow thought. All this time, she had believed that Victor was going for a walk at night on an island. That was the explanation that Rosaria and Lillithia gave for why he wasn't around the castle at night. Willow never thought he was leaving the island. Then, it dawned on her that the transporter spell enabled him to travel anywhere he wanted in seconds.

"I never saw him sleep during the day. How was he able to stay awake all day and all night?" Willow asked.

"Perhaps he cast a spell on himself to keep himself awake all that time. Or perhaps he's immortal and doesn't need to sleep," Marian said. Then, she looked around as if to make sure that no one was watching them. "Some think he might be Tareth returning to Ethermoor. The strange killings started after the boom in the sky two months ago. All the witnesses describe the murderers as blue-and-white ghost-like creatures. The victims were all found to be sorcerers and sorceresses, which means the creatures might be Faeblood Wraiths. When their corpses were found, all the victims, including Damian, had the same horrific expression on their faces."

Willow remembered that Riordan had questioned her about strange deaths. "That's ridiculous. Tareth has been dead for five hundred years!"

Marian raised her eyebrows and said, "He is not dead. Zadelia imprisoned him on the island of Valroth. Tareth is immortal! You can believe what you want about the Tareth part; it is only a theory."

Willow heard a timer go off in some other part of the house. "Sounds like breakfast is ready!" Marian said. Willow heard someone banging pots and pans around in the kitchen.

"This isn't the first time a member of our family has rescued you. Our grandson Riordan helped you escape from jail. He wrote to us about you, and that's how we knew your name. When we heard that a woman named Willow Nightshade had helped heal a woman, we had to try to find you," Marian said. Willow was absolutely shocked at the revelation.

Willow saw the servant who had handed her the directions to the Pyraxia Library appear in the doorway. He smiled and said, "Oh, I see you are finally awake!"

Willow smiled and said, "Yes, I am! Thank you for saving me!"

"You're welcome. I knew I had to," the man replied, smiling.

"I will leave you to get dressed. There are some dresses and a hooded cloak in the wardrobe that I bought you when you were sleeping," Marian said as she pointed at a wardrobe.

She walked out of the room, and Willow looked in the wardrobe.

Willow still did not believe that Victor was Tareth. She thought that was making quite a stretch. Willow looked in the wardrobe and saw five dresses inside.

She heard the sound of someone opening a window. Willow turned and saw Starfire's head poking through the window doors! Yet again, her trusty horse had found her! "Starfire!" Willow shouted. She ran over and stroked her horse's nose. "I'm sorry, girl. They arrested me again." Starfire whinnied and trotted around in a circle.

Willow was so thankful for all this family had done for her. She looked outside and saw that the house sat in a forest. It was not in Ethermoor City.

Willow got dressed and walked out to the kitchen. She saw Marian and Nicholas sitting at a table. The scent of pastries wafted through the air, and she saw a pile of cinnamon rolls sitting on a plate in the center of the table.

"I can't thank you enough for saving me," Willow said to Marian's husband.

"You're welcome, young lady. My name is Nicholas," he said.

"Willow Nightshade." She shook hands with him, then sat down at the table. "How did you get my horse here?"

"That horse ran into our pasture last night. We don't know where she came from," Marian said.

"She's my horse, and she was locked in the servants' stables at the castle when Victor snuck us in," Willow replied. She picked up one of the cinnamon rolls off the plate and put it in her mouth. It was one of the most delicious things she had ever eaten. "This is so good!"

Marian's cheeks turned pink. "Why, thank you! I own the Sweet Town Bakery in the city.

"How far is the city from here?" Willow asked.

"It's about two miles from here to the city gate," Marian replied.

Willow then turned to Nicholas and asked, "Which one of those women is Princess Ambrosia, and which is Princess Desdemona? I knew them as Rosaria and Lillithia."

"Princess Ambrosia is the blonde one, and Princess Desdemona is the black-haired one," Nicholas said.

So Rosaria was Princess Ambrosia's fake name, and Lillithia was Princess Desdemona's, Willow thought, taking note of who was who.

After they ate breakfast, Willow took Starfire for a ride around the meadow. She saw a large red macaw fly overhead. It landed on the kitchen windowsill of the house. "Mango Mail! Mango Mail! Mango Mail! Thank you for choosing Mango Mail! Ten Galdorians for overnight; fifteen Galdorians for two-day mail! Best rates in the business, and no one beats our competitive prices!" it squawked loudly. Willow, unable to take the racket any longer, rode Starfire up to the cottage. Marian opened the window and untied the letter from its talon.

She unrolled the letter, read it to herself, and said, "Willow, this letter concerns you." She paid the parrot with an apple, which it gnawed at heartily.

Who would be writing a letter about me? Willow wondered.

"You'd better come inside and look at it, just to be safe. You don't know who might be lurking around," Marian warned. Willow walked inside. Marian handed her the letter.

It read,

Dear Grandmother,

I hope Willow is doing better. Please keep writing to me to inform me of her condition. I am currently on my way to Hallowdorn because I received information that the police caught another sorceress named Angelina Nightengale. She is presently in jail there awaiting her trial.

Sincerely,

Riordan Firedorn

"How far is this village from here?" Willow asked.

"About a two-day walk. My husband and I go there sometimes," Marian said.

"I need to go try to help this sorceress!" Willow said. She was not about to see another one of her kind harmed in any way.

"The authorities are looking for you!" Marian hissed.

"I am sorry, but I really must go and help her," Willow pleaded.

"Make sure you wear that hooded cloak I bought you! That way, you can keep the hood pulled down over your face, and perhaps no one will recognize you."

Willow put the cloak on.

"Here. Tie this around your mouth to keep your face hidden," Marian said. She handed Willow a handkerchief, and Willow tied it around her face, leaving just her eyes visible. She walked outside, saddled Starfire, waved the wand over her head three times, and said the transporter spell. The wand sputtered, and a puff of pink smoke burst from the tip. Nothing happened. It was as if the wand had died or something. She recited the transporter spell without the wand. Still, nothing happened.

Willow walked back into the house and asked Marian, "Can you give me directions to Hallowdorn?" Marian drew them out on a paper and handed them to her. Willow looked at the directions and put them in her pocket. She took off down the road toward the village of Hallowdorn.

After Victor, Ambrosia, and Desdemona searched the palace for Willow, they decided to go back and search the island of Enchantica for her. "I don't understand where she could have gone to," Ambrosia said. "She couldn't have used her wand. After all, you took it from her, and you yourself said that the wood her wand was carved from would die if she left Enchantica Island."

"Well, one of the wraiths that I have particular difficulty controlling might have taken it out of my holster! The one thing that we can take comfort in is knowing that the wand is dead, and she probably can't use it to cast any spells. Your wands are made of plain wood that I coated with my brand of varnish to make them look like a Rainbowflower wand and do magic as well," Victor said as he opened a trunk.

"You have trouble controlling one of the wraiths?" Rosaria asked, curious. He had never told her that he had difficulty controlling any of them.

"Yes. A female one with black hair. I don't know why she is so hard to control!" He sighed.

Victor stood in the middle of the library, waved his wand, and said, "Shrinkaro Millameterus!" All the books flew off the shelves, shrunk down so small that they were nearly invisible, and flew into the trunk. The globe, bottles of potions, and canisters of powder shrunk and flew into the trunk. When the trunk lid slammed shut, the room was barren.

Victor smiled and said, "We must celebrate our victory over King Banderon with a special drink I prepared myself!" The three of them walked into the dining room. Victor walked out of the room and returned, holding a bottle of black liquid.

Two goblets were already sitting on the table. "This is something I prepared for this day. I want to thank the two of you noblewomen for helping me ascend to the throne and bring magic back to Ethermoor," he said.

"That archaeology professor from Aralin University brought magic back," Ambrosia said.

"You keep your mouth shut!" Victor scowled at her. "And I shall rule from the throne of Ethermoor! But this time, I shall not repeat the same mistake in not sharing my immortality with my followers. Drink up!" He uncorked the bottle and poured the liquid into the goblets. "Drink up!"

Ambrosia and Desdemona were unsure of this, but they picked up the goblets anyway. They put the cups to their lips and drank the liquid. It tasted like hot cinnamon, and when they swallowed it, they felt as if their bodies had lit on fire. The pain was so horrific that they both doubled over and fell on the ground. It disappeared as suddenly as it started.

Desdemona stood up and yelled, "What did you try to do? Poison us?"

Victor smiled and said, "No, I just gave you a little reward for helping me. I gave you immortality."

Desdemona and Ambrosia could hardly believe it. "You made us . . . immortal?" Desdemona stammered.

"Something I should have done with my previous students all those centuries ago. Go get knives and check for yourselves!" Victor said, smiling.

The two women ran into the kitchen and got knives out of the drawers. Ambrosia, too scared to believe him, barely cut her hand. Only a small drop of blood trickled out. Then, she saw a bright light shine forth from the wound, and it closed immediately. "What?" She gasped.

Desdemona was a little braver. She stabbed her hand all the way through with her knife and pulled it out. Pain seared through her hand. As soon as she had pulled the knife out, a bright light shone from the wound. As soon as it was gone, the wound had healed. "Eureka!" Desdemona shouted.

"Now the two of you are ready to go to Mount Pyraxia with me. Your immortality will suit you very much when we go to Tristan's vault and steal the rings of the fairy king and queen of the Azodar Forest. For now, let's go back to the castle and unpack.

As soon as Victor had moved his entire library to the castle and unpacked, they used the transporter spell to transport themselves to Mount Pyraxia. Now that he knew what to look for to find the entrance, he could picture it in his mind, and they could transport themselves there.