Is she looking at you?

Kalli didn’t answer as she did her best not to exist. The sound was growing louder, echoing through the hall. It came from everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.

The creature in the room didn’t move. Glowing red eyes seemed to home in on Kalli. She shuddered and I felt it. It’s looking at me, Mel. What do I do?

I stood.

I’m coming!

No, don’t! Her voice screamed in my ear. Kalli didn’t move a muscle as she faced off with the silent figure. The sounds in the background became a shrill wailing that reminded me of something.

Kalli took a deep breath to steady herself. I don’t think it sees me. It knows something is off but it can’t detect me.

What are those noises?

Kalli shuddered as the sounds continued in the background. I don’t know but it’s creeping me out.

It felt like an eternity before anything changed. Finally, the eyes turned away from Kalli and a hoarse voice croaked. “Keep it down out there.”

The wailing got louder like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum before stopping completely. Kalli and I looked around in hopes of seeing what was making the noise only to be greeted with nothing but shadows.

A few seconds later, she stepped into the room. From inside I was able to get a better idea of what caught Kalli’s attention. Flasks and vials lined one wall. Rows of vials and beakers that wouldn’t have been out of place in a meth lab took up half of the room.

It was further apparent that the creature, an old crone as it turned out, didn’t see us as she ignored the intruder in the room completely. I wanted to inspect her but was unable to do so through Kalli’s eyes.

She tiptoed her way through the room over to the workstation with the table with the vials. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Also, if I try to pick anything up, she will notice.

Look. There are some notes on the other end. Can you read what they say?

Kalli made her way down the table, closer to the crone. The old woman had retreated to the far end of the room where there was a cage with something inside. I squinted my eyes, wanting a better look but Kalli was focused on notes.

Kalli, look over there. There’s a cage. What is that?

Kalli looked up and gave a soundless shriek. It was a person.

That can’t be!

It was Raverly, and it was moving. Kalli shook her head in disbelief. That’s impossible. He died. We saw his spirit. You took him back to Earth, right?

That’s right. What did you do with his body?

She covered her mouth. It was buried. I’m positive.

We watched in horror as the crone poked and prodded Rave’s body. It uttered an inhuman groan and sat up, causing us both to scream. The crone crooned. “Good. Gather your strength. Soon enough you will lead my army and finish the work that my useless child started. You will make a lovely pet, my puppet.”

You need to get out of there, right now.

I wasn’t sure what we were witnessing but there had to be a better way to get an antidote. Kalli shook her head, reaching down to grab the notes. If I can just get this without her noticing.

I sat there on the throne in the middle of the forest and prayed for good luck. Kalli gently lifted the parchments and tipped them into her bag. The crone was still whispering something to Rave in the cage and didn’t seem to notice.

Emboldened by her success, Kalli went after the vials next. She was on her fourth one when the crone reacted. “There! Intruder! Someone is in the keep. Come quick my pets, sniff them out!”

The wailing was back in full force as the darkness melted off of the walls and took shape. With the shadows peeled from the walls, light that had previously been banished bled into the room. It suddenly made sense why it was as dark as it was in the basement. Wraiths materialized by the dozen and suddenly the room was filled with them.

While they still couldn’t sense Kalli, there were so many wraiths that it was only a matter of time before one of them got lucky.

Screw this! I’m coming.

I was determined not to make the same mistake I made with Stephanie. Folding mana around me, I willed myself to Kalli’s side. The toilet and I appeared in front of her.

She groaned despite herself. Really, Melvin? You had to bring that thing?

It was an accident. I had to come rescue you!

Kalli’s outrage overpowered her fear. I told you to get rid of it!

While they still couldn’t see Kalli, the wraiths had no problem at all seeing me. All I could do was throw myself in front of her as they converged on us.

Then all hell broke loose. The number of shadows in the room doubled as more dark figures emerged to clash with the wraiths. A gravelly voice that sounded familiar said, “Pretenders shall be banished from the darkness. You shall not lay a single claw on our dark master.”

On the other side of the sea of darkness, the hag pointed at me. “You! How dare you invade my sanctum! I will have you for my collection!”

I backed into Kalli as the hag stomped toward me.

Did you get everything you need? I think it’s time for us to get the heck out of here.

Kalli nodded emphatically. Go go go go!

I folded mana over us, trying to leave the toilet behind this time. Just before we stepped into the void, I felt something grasp my tunic. Then we were standing in the vacant throne room of Celestea castle. Only we weren’t alone. The crone came along for the ride.

In the light, she looked even older and more decrepit than she had in the dark. Hunched over almost in half, she wore a black cowl and had warts all over her face. She glared daggers at us as we backed away from here. “You must be confident to think that you can defeat me, even without my minions.”

“Who are you?” I asked, not knowing what else to say.

“Hah!” The crone replied with a sneer. “You come to my home and claim to not know who I am?”

Then I remembered that I wanted to inspect her.

Name

Altara Vestara

Class

Puppetmaster

Level

93

Affection Level

Hostile

Vestara? Where had I heard that name before? I blinked at her. “You’re related to Alariel! Are you Mardella’s mother?”

Altara cackled. “Mother-in-law. What a disappointment she turned out to be. Defeated by a whelp. Tell me, how did you manage to best her?”

"I, uh…” I stuttered, unsure how to answer the question. “She just escaped.”

The latter part was true, except it hadn’t been Mardella that fled. It was Malric. Altara pressed her advantage. “That woman wouldn’t have needed to flee from you, child. What are you hiding?”

Kalli had her eyes closed as she concentrated her mana into the castle around us. I wasn’t sure what she was doing but I decided to keep talking to give her time. “She was scared of my potential as a manipulator. I almost deleted her.”

“Child.” She sighed, taking a step toward me. “Do not play games with me. I know all about manipulators as well as that bloodline you possess. While it is true that you have great potential, you are still just a boy. If you want to live long enough to realize it, you had best respect your elders. Now, we are going to return to my keep and…”

Suddenly, a panel on the wall slid open behind the throne, revealing two suits of armor about twice the size of a normal human.

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

With every step they made the throne room shook around us. Kalli opened an eye and said, “I’ve activated the castle’s defenses. Do you think you can defeat ancient magic?”

Altara hesitated, watching the automatons as they lumbered toward her. Then she looked up at me. “Well played, manipulator. You may have saved yourself this time, but mark my words. You will be mine.”

Then, in a flash of darkness, she was gone. Kalli heaved a sigh of relief and concentrated. The automatons turned and thundered back to their resting places. Just then, the doors to the throne room burst open and Celestea entered, accompanied by a dozen guards. “Melvin! What is the meaning of this? Why are you in here by yourself? And how did you activate the royal protectors?”

“By myself?” I mumbled.

Then I remembered that Kalli was still ghosted. I quickly opened her menu to remedy the situation. Celestea gasped when she appeared out of nowhere.

Kalli glared at me before walking over to her mom. “Sorry, Mother. We were trying to find the antidote and accidentally brought an evil woman back with us. I had to call the guardians to make her leave.”

“Did you have any luck?” Celestea asked, moving over to the throne to have a seat.

Kalli reached for her bag. “Right! I forgot about that. I did manage to get some things before we were attacked.”

The first thing she produced was the notes I had seen. We looked them over together.

23-13-4452

+02:02:09

More progress has been made on the reanimation process. I will bring him back for certain this time. All that is needed is an emissary to reclaim his soul from the other side. Several vessels have been selected as potential hosts.

VK

23-27-4452

+01:09:27

The shadow nation is slowly expanding. Coverage of Celestea is roughly 80%. The child does well to hide our endeavors from the high house.

Plans for Luna may soon yield fruit.

VK

25-01-4452

+07:11:09

All is lost. The manipulator is beyond our grasp once again. Plans for expansion have been halted pending location of the child. The only hope is that one of the specimens may yet yield fruit. Only time will tell.

VK

I sighed heavily when I realized that none of the letters had anything to do with poison. Then Kalli pulled a handful of vials from her bag. She managed to grab four different liquids in all. One of these might be the poison. Should we show them to Jorvais and see what he thinks?

The problem was we forgot to invite Maya to the group to arrange for a ride back to the high house. I turned to Celestea and asked, “Does the Queendom have any airships?”

Celestea looked at me like I had grown a second head. “Airships require high-level wind or gravity magic. It isn’t something you can just buy with money. The captain usually provides the necessary magic for the ship to stay aloft.”

I rubbed my chin as I thought about it. “I need to take a close look next time I see it.”

Kalli smirked at me. You want to make one. Don’t you?

Well, I can use wind magic after all? How hard can it be?

She shrugged. I don’t know. You had better be careful though. It would hurt if you crashed.

Scrapping that idea, I decided to check in with Kiki and Alariel.

Hey guys, we just made it back from the castle.

Alariel answered first. Did you find an antidote? I forgot to mention but the basement is probably a good place to look.

Too late. Kalli explained. That was the first place I looked. There were hundreds of those wraith things down there and a scary old lady.

Then I remembered the most gruesome detail.

They had Raverly’s body down there. How did they get their hands on his corpse? And why were they reanimating it?

What? Kiki asked, sounding on edge.

Alariel sounded slightly agitated as she asked, Are you sure that’s what you saw, and who is this old lady? I know all of the servants there and none of them are old.

I’m just telling you what I saw. She teleported with us when we escaped too. Then she teleported away when Kalli activated the castle. Her name is Altara Vestara.

Alariel shrieked, showing rare emotion. That’s impossible! Grandmother is dead. I saw her body at the funeral. She’s been dead most of my life.

Kalli replied, trying her best to soothe her. I saw her in person as well as her menu. That is her name and she is very old. I don’t know what to tell you about the funeral. Do you think they faked it?

Alariel sounded shaken when she replied. I don’t know. I need to go to the castle and see for myself.

Kiki quickly added. I’ll go with you.

No! Alariel gasped, taking a few quick breaths to calm herself. If what Melvin says is true, it isn’t safe for non-family.

I am family! Kiki barked.

Alariel sighed. Not like this. While you are family, there may still be some in my family that don’t accept you. I can’t run the risk of them doing something. I need to get to the bottom of this on my own.

Kiki growled. Do I need to remind you what my bloodline is and what it means? I may not have reached my full potential but you aren’t allowed to play the ‘my family is more powerful than yours is’ card because we both know that isn’t true.

Let’s take this discussion private. Alariel said in a voice just above a whisper. Melvin, I’m sorry we can’t be of more assistance right now. As you can see, we now have some things to sort out.

Kalli replied for me. Don’t worry about it. I hope you work everything out. Please let us know that you are safe after you visit the castle.

Alariel chuckled. Don’t worry. It’s my home. I’ll be fine.

We’ll be fine. Kiki corrected.

Then the chat was silent.

What now? Kalli asked in mate chat.

Let’s ask Lavender about the poison. We didn’t bring it up the last time we saw her.