The Keeper

Duodeviginti: Trapped

After we finished eating, Astrea led us into the room located off the library. She sat behind her old desk, staring at us and drumming her fingertips on the wood.

“I want to be sure that I understand your true and sincere intent,” she said.

Delph and I glanced at each other.

I spoke up. “I thought I made that clear enough. We mean to get through the Quag. The three of us, including Harry Two of course,” I added, scratching his ear.

She looked at Delph. “And you?”

“Like Vega Jane said. We want the truth. Done with all the lies, ain’t we?”

Astrea nodded and drew out the sticklike thing she had used to bring Delph here. I could now see that it wasn’t clear. It was actually made of crystal.

“What is that?” I asked.

“My wand. It is a necessary element to perform magic.”

I said slowly, “I did magic sort of back in Wormwood, but I had no wand.”

“You mean with the Elemental or the chain,” she said.

“No, I made a window that Morrigone destroyed put itself back together.”

“Indeed?” said Astrea, looking quite interested by this.

“Why would I be able to do that?” I asked.

“If power runs down the line, it touches all in that line.”

“My parents couldn’t perform magic,” I said emphatically.

“And how do you know they couldn’t?” she asked.

“Well, they never did.”

“That is not the same thing as being unable to.”

“If my parents were powerful, why would they have been in the Care?”

“Maybe the fact that they were powerful caused them to end up in the Care.”

My brows knitted together as I thought over this strange possibility. “Are you saying their power made them sick?”

“No, I’m saying that their power made them dangerous to others.”

As the meaning of her words sunk in, I rose on quivering legs, my face flushed, my chest swelling with fierce emotions. “Are you...?” I faltered. I made another attempt. “Do you mean to say...?” Again, I could not finish. Delph reached over and put a supportive hand on my shoulder.

Astrea said, “That they were cursed to prevent them from escaping Wormwood? Yes, that is exactly what I mean.”

My eyes flashed. “Morrigone! She’s the only one that could have done it.”

“I agree,” she said so casually that my suspicions soared.

“And you knew about it!” I yelled.

“Of course I knew about it,” she replied so calmly that I wanted to hit her. “Our goal was to stop anyone from leaving Wormwood.”

“So you had Morrigone curse my parents into... into... what they became?”

“I saw what she did.”

“You could have stopped it, then,” I pointed out heatedly.

“But I did not want your parents to use their power to escape.”

Now I pounced. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. “So then, why are you helping us to escape the Quag?” I demanded.

“Who said that I was?” she replied instantly.

Suddenly, I read all in her look. How I had so misjudged her I didn’t know.

Delph gave voice to what I was thinking.

He leapt up, grabbed my arm and yelled, “Run, Vega Jane.”

Before I could even rise from my chair, she pointed her wand at Delph and said, “Elevata.”

Delph soared up into the air, stopping right before he hit the ceiling. She gave her wand a bit of a wiggle and he spun upside down.

I stood, my eyes wide and my heart racing. “Stop that!” I screamed. “Don’t hurt him. I’m the reason we’re here. Leave Delph alone. Please!”

Astrea flicked the wand downward, uttered one word, “Descente,” and Delph turned right side up and fell heavily into the chair.

Astrea laid her wand upon the desk and stared at both of us expectantly.

“I may not be what I once was, but let me assure you, my powers are still far beyond your comprehension.” She paused, and I knew what she said next would have monumental impact on us. I was not mistaken.

She said, “You shall remain here in my custody.”

“For how long?” I snapped, though I well knew the answer.

“For the rest of your lives,” she said calmly. “It gives me no great pleasure to do this. You are obviously brave, and your motives are genuine and deeply felt, I’m sure.”

“But?” I exclaimed.

“But as Keeper of the Quag, I have a job to do, and I mean to do it. Now, you will have the run of the cottage and the land inside the dome.”

“And if we try to get past the dome?” Delph asked.

Despite him asking the question, Astrea’s gaze held on me. Her eyes seemed to swell to match the size of the room. “Not pleasant,” she said. “A’tall.”

I really couldn’t believe what was happening. We had escaped Thorne and his bloody kingdom only to be imprisoned once more by this cow! And while Thorne was dangerous, he wasn’t magical. Astrea, to my mind, was a hundred times more formidable than the git Thorne.

Astrea rose, and without another word, she left the room.

I slumped back in my chair. Delph, however, remained rigid in his.

“She is a sorely tried female,” he observed.

“She’s sorely tried? What about us? We’re going to be here until we’re bloody well dead.”

“Lot of sorrow in her, Vega. Easy to see.”

“I think she’s evil!”

“She’s not like Thorne. He woulda just killed us and put our bones on his wall. Not keep us fed with a roof over our heads.”

I supposed Delph was right about this, though our bones would end up here eventually, I thought miserably. “Well, Astrea said we had the run of the cottage and the land inside the dome.”

“So what do we do with that?” asked Delph.

“We are not staying here, Delph. Thorne couldn’t stop us and neither will Astrea Prine. We are escaping this place.”

“Okay, but how do we do that?”

“I say we start with Archie.”