Crisanta Knight: To Death & Back Read online

  “Of course not,” Mauvrey responded. “But she knows about the Boar’s Mouth and the Great Lights Prophecy.”

  “I would expect as much,” he responded. He pivoted back toward me. “Since we still don’t know which of us is going to qualify as the Knight of the prophecy, you’re going to have to come with us as a prisoner. I’m sorry about this.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Well, I’m not sorry about this.”

  My pinned hands burst with light as I summoned my magic, retaining my focus and reining in my emotions like Liza had instructed. Such control was difficult around Alex and Mauvrey. My feelings toward them were vindictive and strong, and using my powers under such emotional influence tempted the dark, corruptible nature of my Pure Magic Disease. But I could control my rage much better now. Defeating Alex and Mauvrey may have been personal, but it was also business. And that was what I focused on.

  As my hands ignited with their golden flare, I concentrated on the trees closest to Mauvrey and Alex. I wanted them to come to life and swat my enemies away like irritating insects. But almost immediately after the magical aura sparked around my fingers, a horrifying pain shot up my arms.

  I winced. It was like someone had jabbed butter knives in my biceps and forks in my fists. My magic glow faded. When it did, so did the pain.

  Mauvrey smirked. “You are familiar with Stiltdegarths, are you not?” she asked. “Marvelous creatures. The Fairy Godmothers use their magic-reversing properties to remove powers from people. However, the blood of a Stiltdegarth works as a great agent for cancelling out magic. It is one of only three substances known to have that effect. Avalonian glass is quite rare. And Jacobee stone is hard to cut, so it is best for bigger projects like constructing prisons. Given your abilities, Arian cleverly had all our weapons forged in Stiltdegarth blood, including the wiring of my dual crossbow.”

  I strained against the arrows and wire pinning me down.

  “It does not matter how powerful you are,” Mauvrey continued, moving closer to me. “You will never be able to summon enough strength to use your magic when restrained by something forged in Stiltdegarth blood. The pain will be too great and your instinct will stop you every time.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement in the bushes surrounding the clearing and a flash of a powder blue cape.

  “I’ve said it before and I’ll said it again, Mauvrey,” I responded confidently. “I don’t need magic to beat you.”

  “You are trapped, Crisa,” Mauvrey said, rolling her eyes. “What, you have another wand up your sleeve?”

  “No, I have something better. Friends.”

  Mauvrey and Alex whipped their heads around to see Blue, Jason, and SJ emerge from the forest. The instant they did, I used my restraints to leverage my weight and launch both feet into the air, roughly kicking Mauvrey in the chest. She stumbled backward.

  SJ fired a silver portable potion. The orb exploded at Mauvrey’s feet, encasing her in a block of ice.

  Alex managed to jump out of the way, but Blue and Jason did not skip a beat. Blue threw a knife, which Alex ducked. My brother drew his sword in time to block a blow by Jason’s axe. SJ fired a lightning potion. Alex dove under Jason’s swing and avoided the bolt. She fired again and he rolled out of the way, somehow managing to block, parry, and kick Jason. Our heroic, long-time friend from Lord Channing’s School for Princes & Other Young Heroes continued to spar with my brother as SJ launched potions at him.

  “Need some help?” Blue asked, appearing by my side.

  “Yes, please. My magic doesn’t work on these things.” I nodded at the restraints holding me down.

  “Lucky for me, my kind of magic is much more powerful.”

  “What kind of magic is that?”

  Blue raised her trusty hunting knife. “The magic of brute force.”

  My friend wedged the sharp blade of her knife between my wrist and the wire. She braced one boot against the tree and yanked. The knife sliced through the restraint.

  Blue freed my other wrist as another lightning bolt erupted. Alex didn’t move out of the way in time for this one and he dropped to the ground. Jason rushed in. He twisted Alex’s arm behind his back and slammed one knee into my brother’s spine to hold him down.

  I stood in front of Alex. My brother met my gaze with an expression filled with nothing short of will and fire. I was familiar with that look. Good and evil aside, defiance was one thing we’d always had in common.

  Blue retrieved my spear and handed it to me. I returned it to wand form.

  “Crisa, what do you want us to do with him?” Jason asked.

  I felt coldness in my heart—the iciness that came when faced with someone you used to love, but who’d hurt you too much to ever be forgiven.

  Alex was working with the antagonists. Alex had betrayed my parents. Alex had attacked our home. Alex was dating Mauvrey. Alex was my enemy.

  “Let him go,” I said, the words escaping my lips before I thought better of them.

  In spite of what he was and what he’d done, one thing surpassed everything else: Alex was my brother.

  Jason thrust Alex against the dirt and stepped back, joining Blue and me.

  “Seriously? You’re just going to set him free?” Blue asked.

  “Not quite.” I gestured at the fourth member of our group. “SJ …”

  My friend drew back her slingshot. Before Alex could get to his feet, a silver portable potion exploded in front of him and encased him in his own block of ice.

  “Well, that’s appropriate,” Blue said as she gazed at the two chunks of frost. “An ice king for our school’s former ice queen.”

  It was funny. But I didn’t laugh. I didn’t feel like laughing.

  “Come on,” SJ said. “We must go. There are still many soldiers, and let us not forget Arian.”

  Like I could ever forget Arian.

  With one last glance at my brother—preserved like a handsome fossil for the time being—I turned and followed my friends through the woods. As we ran, Blue tilted her head in my direction.

  “We probably should’ve killed them. It would’ve been smarter,” she said.

  The words caught me so off guard that I tripped over a tree root. I picked up my pace to make up for the falter and studied my friend. Her eyes were full of pensive darkness.

  “That’s my brother, Blue.”

  “That’s our enemy, Crisa,” she said. “And villains like them don’t stay down. As long as they’re out there they’ll keep trying to kill us.” She gestured at herself, SJ, and Jason. “When you’re no longer useful, your brother will probably try to kill you too.”

  My stomach knotted as my friend’s words sunk in.

  A small part of me wondered if she was right. Arian, Mauvrey, Alex, and the countless other villains we’d encountered were relentless. It didn’t matter how often we beat them or escaped their clutches; they kept regrouping and attacking with greater force. It was what bad guys did. So was Blue’s assertion correct? Was it unwise to leave our enemies alive if they were just going to keep coming after us? Had I been wrong to let my relationship with Alex get in the way of my rational judgment?

  I shook my head at such dark thoughts. I didn’t know if Blue was right. But I also didn’t know if I had what it took to kill someone, let alone my own brother.

  e were the first to arrive at the cliff where we’d arranged to meet the others. It overlooked a massive span of Neverland’s forest, the ocean a thick line of gray in the distance. Dawn was breaking, but my resolve was getting stronger.

  As my three friends and I anxiously waited for the rest of our group, I pulled up the display on my Hole Tracker—the magic watch given to me by a White Rabbit named Harry. It was designed to display and lead the way to oncoming wormholes. Wormholes were dimensional tears that created portals from one enchanted realm to the next. The Hole Tracker projected a glowing, holographic map of Neverland. I spotted the desired wormhole, marked by a small, silver swirl of light. This
was the way out of Neverland we’d been planning on taking today. It would open in two and a half hours.

  Here’s to an early start to the day.

  Daniel emerged from the trees with Arthur and Peter right behind him. It was surprising to me how much the latter two looked alike. Arthur was in his mid thirties, extremely ripped, and had a much sharper jawline. But he had the same blond hair, thick brows, and blue eyes as Peter, and similar facial expressions too.

  “Where are the fairies?” SJ asked when they reached us. “We need their fairy dust to fly.”

  “They’re still defending the kids and the camp,” Peter said. “You’ll need another way to get out of here.”

  “I’ve got one,” I said. I knelt, placed my hand on the ground, and concentrated. In response, the edge of the cliff we were standing on broke free and floated upward. Most of my friends wobbled a tad, but everyone recovered their balance swiftly.

  “Are we making a run straight at the wormhole?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t think this means of transportation will get us very far,” I responded. “We just need to get away from here. We’ll worry about reaching the wormhole once we’re clear of the camp.”

  “Hopefully once those guys realize you’re gone, they’ll stop attacking,” Peter said, flying away from the levitating rock.

  “Wait, kid, you’re not coming with us?” Arthur asked.

  “The Lost Boys and Girls and fairies are my friends. I have to defend them.”

  Guilt and worry overpowered me. Those kids and fairies, as well as Dorothy and Peter, were my friends too. “We’ll stay then. Help you finish what we started,” I said. My magic glowed brighter as I began to lower us down.

  “No. You can’t save everyone, Crisa,” Peter said. “That’s not your responsibility. You have a bigger mission. You need to pick your battles.”

  “He’s right,” Blue said. “We need to beat Alex and Arian to Excalibur. The wormhole to Camelot opens in a couple of hours and we can’t miss it.”

  Every part of my instinct told me to stay and fight. It was completely opposite my nature to leave anyone behind. At the same time, our plan to leave was the best way to get the antagonists to abandon their assault on the camp.

  “Fine,” I said begrudgingly.

  I started to move our chunk of terrain again, but Arthur suddenly jumped off. He landed on the cliff and rolled to his feet. He may have been a full-grown adult, but the former king of Camelot had all the athleticism of a young hero in his prime.

  “What are you doing?” Jason asked.

  “What the kid said.” Arthur pulled a sword from a sheath on his back and gestured to Peter, his dusty blond hair catching the light of the sun appearing on the horizon. “Picking my battles. This place has been my home for seven years. I am not abandoning Peter or any of those children either. I’ll be fine. You five go.”

  “How can you tell us to leave when you’re going to stay? The antagonists are looking for you,” I argued. “If they capture you, they’re going to force you to complete the pledge of The Pentecostal Oath with Alex, which will put him one step closer to being able to claim Excalibur. You staying here completely defeats the purpose of us—”

  “Crisa,” Arthur interrupted. “No more arguing. I can stop these antagonists—with or without Excalibur. You have no idea what I’m capable of. And right now, you need to get a lead on them. If they see me, they won’t leave, and that will buy you a head start to Camelot.”

  “But—”

  “Crisa, do as I say. Go.”

  I didn’t usually follow orders. One, I didn’t like them. And two … well, actually it was just the one reason. But Arthur projected more authority than anyone I’d ever known. Between that and the trust and respect I had for him, I nodded.

  Arthur pointed his sword toward the swell of forest below. “Get to Camelot’s citadel. In the castle, you’ll find the Boar’s Mouth statue. The rest is up to you.”

  I was about to direct our piece of cliff to take us away, but then I split my magic focus like I’d been practicing and directed additional power into a few nearby trees. My forehead crinkled from the strain. Telepathic magic took a lot of my strength, but I was able to do it.

  Four trees glowed and sprung to life. Using their roots like feet, they took off into the forest to defend the camp.

  Arthur gave me a look.

  “What? I’m not allowed to pick more than one battle?” I said.

  The king smiled and shook his head in a way that reminded me of how my mother reacted when I was being stubborn. “You can’t help it, can you?”

  “Nope.” I turned to SJ. “Quick. Give them a Mark Two.”

  My friend swung the backpack off her shoulders and dug out one of our spare Mark Two magic compact mirrors. These nifty communication devices ran on the same kind of magic that Beauty & The Beast’s famous magic mirror did. They allowed you to contact anyone by speaking their name into the small looking glass within each compact.

  We’d found a stall pre-selling them when we were in the Emerald City so each of my friends had bought one, and we’d purchased a couple of extras just in case. We had already gifted a Mark Two to Dorothy. This was a good use of the other.

  “Just say one of our names and it will connect you to us,” SJ said, tossing Peter the Mark Two. “If it buzzes, answer.” Peter nodded.

  I took a final look at our two new friends. “I’ll bring Excalibur back to you,” I said to Arthur. “I promise.”

  With that, I knelt down to touch the stone and released a fresh charge of magic with my commands. Like a falling star we sped from the cliff ’s edge. The promise I’d made to Arthur glowed inside of me with as much ardency as my magic aura around the slice of terrain we rode away like a magic carpet.

  I didn’t know for certain that I was the Knight of the prophecy, but I believed it in the same way as when you’re little and you believe everything in life will be okay. It was a feeling rooted in optimism and heart.

  I had to keep this promise to Arthur. Although I felt like his role in this immediate story was done and it might be some time before we all saw each other again, I knew his character’s impact on our journey would resonate in the hard days to come. We were about to enter the world he left behind. We were headed for Camelot.

  I realized our magical ride was speeding up. I was losing control as my emotions flared. My friends and I crouched to keep from being thrown off. When we neared the tops of trees at the bottom of the canyon, I focused as best I could and ordered the slice of terrain to slow down. We needed to land; the strain of controlling this big chunk of earth was pulling at me and I didn’t think I could keep going. Using telepathic magic on those trees had drained me a bit, and I still felt somewhat woozy from getting shocked by Mauvrey’s electric gloves.

  I spotted an opening in the trees. It barely seemed wide enough for us to land, but it did the job. Following a bit of turbulence, we hit the ground roughly. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

  My hands stopped glowing and I wavered, feeling a little faint. It’d been a couple of days since I’d used my magic. Although my Pure Magic was powerful, I could only expel so much at once. If I pushed myself too hard, one of two things would happen: I’d run out of power and wouldn’t be able to use it for twenty-four hours (Magic Exhaustion) or I’d use more than I could handle and would die (Magic Burn Out).

  Ah, Pure Magic. Your caveats know no bounds.

  We dismounted our rocky ride and took a moment to compose ourselves in the silent enclosure of dawn-drenched trees. My friends were also adjusting to solid ground, so they didn’t notice how wobbly I was. Well, except for Daniel.

  “You tapped out?” Daniel asked.

  I glanced at him, startled. Then my eyes darted to my hands. They were trembling. I held up my right hand and focused. Golden light sparked off my fingertips.

  “No,” I answered. “Just tired.”

  I extinguished the glow. The magic needed time t
o rest. I huffed. It was sad how something that made me so incredibly powerful also made me so ridiculously vulnerable. Pure Magic came with so many rules, and Liza kept adding to the list:

  • Don’t power magic with emotion; the results might be stronger, but you could lose control.

  • Don’t use too much magic too often; you could exhaust yourself beyond repair.

  • Don’t reverse your abilities and take life away from things; it’s a bad road to go down.

  That last rule was the newest one. Originally Liza had stated that I couldn’t reverse my abilities and take life. Out of curiosity I’d tried on an enchanted piece of wood and been successful. When I told Liza, she divulged that the reason she hadn’t wanted me to do this wasn’t because I couldn’t do it, but because it increased my risk for turning dark.

  When carriers of Pure Magic Disease used their powers to inflict mortal harm, the dark and corrosive nature of Pure Magic took a greater hold on them. The more power utilized this way, the stronger that hold became. It was crossing a line—a Malice Line, as it was called. And whenever you crossed it, the control you had over your Pure Magic was weakened, giving your Pure Magic a chance to control you instead.

  Although I hadn’t meant to inflict harm when I’d deactivated that piece of wood, I had crossed the Malice Line. I had the power to give life, after all. And by definition, reversing that power meant that I would be taking life away. Which, to quote Liza, was “one of the darkest actions a person can take, and a form of power that no one should have.”

  Taking life from that piece of wood alone wasn’t going to make me wicked. But if I continued to cross the Malice Line, my already-low odds of avoiding the awful fate of Pure Magic Disease would decrease even more.

  In a way, I was glad to know this. I hadn’t put much thought into the philosophical and moral perspective when I’d taken life from that piece of wood, but I needed to be aware of the implications of using my powers just like I needed to be aware of everything I could do. I mean, I hadn’t known that I could take life until a few days ago. That was important information. What if I could extend my abilities to other situations too, but in good ways like …