The Wraith of a Snowy Sea
Draft_3
By: Chase L. Currie
Zendaya sat beside Elizabeth on the rowboat as they pushed
deeper into the Lighting Bug Swamps, to the witch’s house. She wasn’t sure this
was going to work out well, but either
did the others which only added to her dismay. Apparently, Spencer missed a
dinner that Circe put on for him many years ago, leading Zendaya to question how
old the Captain was? No could or wanted to get her an answer.
This
Circe, one of the most powerful witches of the sea, was in love with Spencer,
something he knew and used to his full advantage for a quest. The Pirate King,
Circe quickly found out wasn’t in love with her at all and vowed to kill him if
she ever saw him again.
Which
explain why everyone thought it was a bad
idea to even try to ask her for help.
Twiggy
wasn’t very happy with the idea of going to see a mad witch for help. He didn’t
want to be changed into something unnatural. Then Elizabeth quickly
pointed out if Circe was going to change anyone into something unnatural it
would be Spencer and suddenly the thief was fine with going to see her.
The rowboat was getting closer with the lantern
leading the way when the boat stopped dead in its track.
“This
isn’t good,” Spencer said before the sea beast lifted them into the air with
massive tentacles. They all moved, but
the black and green tentacles ripped the wood apart like paper standing against
a freshly sharpened blade. They all
started to fall into the nasty water, but
the endless tentacles caught them squeezing the air from their lungs.
Zendaya
tried to scream from the pain but the monster squeezed with enough might to
silence the cries. She wanted to fight back, but
the beast was far too strong for anyone
of them to act. She glanced around to see the other having the same problem.
“You
are very brave,” a smooth voice said from the night, “or very stupid, Spencer.”
One of
the tentacle lower Spencer in front of a tall squirrel dressed in white stained
by the swamp with deep brown fur and powerful red eyes. She had her paw on her
hip and a scowl on her face.
“Hi,
Circe,” Spencer said through the hard squeeze. “You are looking lovely
tonight.”
“I’m
going to turn your bones into glue,” she said with a grin.
“That
sounds painful,” he said with a playful
smile.
“It
will be because you will be alive for
most of it.”
“Of
course,” Spencer said, “but before you do that can you help this lovely girl
find the killer of her father? A killer who uses
a wraith, I might add.”
“A
wraith, huh?” Circe asked looking over at Zendaya, who was nodding hard.
Zendaya
sat in the old hut with the swamp water under the floor. She glanced around the
room with the moss growing on the walls and over the skulls collected on from
years passed. The witch poured each of
them a cup of tea as they all sat at the table.
Elizabeth
and Twiggy started to drink the hot tea while Spencer stared at it unsure if he
should drink or not.
Zendaya
picked up the tea but wasn’t sure she trusted the witch either. She waited for
a moment to see what happened to the
others before drinking it herself. They seem fine, and the tea was strongly mixed with sugar and berries. It was
good.
In
fact, it was the best tea she had ever had before in her life. She drank it
quickly.
“I have
missed your tea,” Elizabeth said with a big smile on her face.
“I have
missed your company,” Circe said to Elizabeth. “I wasn’t going to kill you.”
Elizabeth
smirked at her. “I know that.”
“You
were just going to hurt me, right?” Spencer asked.
“Still
thinking about it,” Circe said with a wink at him. “Now, tell me about this wraith,” Zendaya told her everything that had
happened to her and her father on the ship.
“I have
always wanted to summon one,” the witch said, “but it takes a lot of magic to
do so.”
“How
much magic?” Spencer asked.
“Too
much,” she said. “So much it could kill a Spellcrafter like me or take years off my life.”
Spencer's eyebrow
shot up, and he asked, “Could there be
more than one Spellcrafter summoning it?”
“No,”
she said shaking her head, “that’s not how the spell works.”
“How do
you know that?” Spencer asked.
“I once
had the spell,” She told him.
“Then
any idea who could summon it?” Zendaya asked.
“Well,”
Circe said standing up heading for a cabinet. She opens it and then pulled a
small bag out of it. “There is a Spellcrafter named Nightshade, who lives in
Wellstone, that could have summoned the wraith.”
She
placed the bag in the middle of the table. In the bag was a small duck skull
with a black rudy embedded in it.
“He is
the leader of the Nightwalkers Guild,” She told them, “and he has the power to
do it.”
“But
why would he do it?” Zendaya asked. “My father did nothing wrong to him.”
“That
you know of a child,” Circe said. “Your
father didn’t tell you everything about his life.”
“Yes,
yes, he did,” Zendaya protested.
“Oh,
really?” Circe asked. “Did you know your father was a close friend of mine? We
even had a few moments of love together.”
Zendaya
didn’t say a word and looked away with a locked jaw.
“He got
me this skull,” the witch said. “It was a lovely gift.”
Zendaya
stared at the duck skull wondering what it did, but
Circe said, “And now you can take it to Nightshade to buy your way into his
good grace and find your revenge for your father.”
“Thank
you,” Zendaya mumble.
“Just
make whoever did this pay,” Circe said.
“We
will,” Spencer told her taking the skull. They all stood up heading for the
door.
“And
Spencer,” Circe said with a harsh smiled, “if I ever see you again ---”
“I
know, I know,” he said opening the door, “you’ll kill me.”
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