Chapter 76: THE SPELL

“I woke up to the sound of Alda’s cry. She was still asleep, but seemed to be having a nightmare. 

“Alda, Alda, wake up.” 

“No, please!” The horror on her face had me shaking her awake. 

“Alda, are you okay?” I asked when I finally managed to wake her up. She looked at me in total confusion before flinching away in fear.

“Stay away from me.” Her voice had nothing but fear and anxiety in it. I was totally confused about what was happening to her. 

"Alda, what is going on?” I took a few steps towards her, but she stepped back immediately.

“Get away from me!!” She screamed, followed by a sob. I had to stop, or she would continue running away from me.

She hissed in pain, grabbing a hold of her neck while twisting her face in pain. I was horrified. I didn't know what to do. Is this a nightmare? What is going on?

“Leave me alone; you're hurting me!. Aaaah!!!” She groaned in pain.

"Alda, what is happening!?”

“Xender? Xender, is that you? Please help me; she is choking me.” She said this with her two hands still pressed tightly around her neck. I rushed towards her, immediately grabbing a hold of her hands and trying to get them away from her neck, but it was impossible.

I couldn't separate her hands from gripping her neck. Alda's eyes were beginning to close; she was losing consciousness.

“Alda, what is happening?” I was already panicking; I didn't know what to do.

“Get the stones,” she managed to say while trying to keep her hands away from her neck. But then again, I was confused. What stone?

“Stones?” I asked.

“Hurry, it’s in Alda’s handbag.” I rushed out into Alda’s room and paused at the door. Did she just say it was in Alda’s handbag? Why would Alda be referring to herself by her name? Unless she isn't Alda anymore?

I went inside Alda’s room and grabbed her handbag as I opened it. I saw three crystal-green stones. What are these, and where did Alda get them from?

I took out the stones and held them in my hand, staring at them. They looked just like those pair of eyes I used to see in Alda's eyes.

I quickly went back to my room and found her still struggling to control her hands. I was confused: is she Alda or someone else?

“Bring them to me, hurry,” she said. I quietly approached her as I stared at her green eyes, which kept reflecting the crystal stones the closer I got to her. I was on the verge of taking my last step when the stones shot out a blinding light with a force that had me flying to the other end of the room.

The last thing I remembered was my head colliding with something hard before everything went blank.

Alda's POV

I gasped immediately. I felt my hand come loose around my neck, and so did Siofra. We both sat on the floor, trying to get enough air into our lungs. I nearly died; Siofra was actually the one holding on for the both of us.

“What happened?” I managed to ask her.

“Not now, Alda; we need to check up on Xender.” It was only then that I noticed Xender lying on the floor of the room, motionless.

I could swear my heart jumped out of my chest. I crawled my way to him since my legs were weak and shaky. I couldn't see his face, so I pushed him over to review his face. His face was covered with blood, and so was the floor.

I began to panic; I couldn't even call out his name. I reached out to touch him, but my hands just froze in the middle of doing so.

“Alda Snap out of it; this is not the right time to have that look on your face. We can both panic later, but right now, Xender needs us.

Siofra's words snapped me a little bit back to the moment as I tried to remain strong even when I knew that my spirit had completely left my body. I watched as Siofra examined Xender.

“His wound is deep; I need to heal him, but I don't know if I can.” 

“What do you mean by that? You have to heal him, huh? You are a healer, so please heal him,” I said as a cry escaped my lips.

“I will try, but it might leave me at risk, and you know what that means.” She gave me a sad look, but I didn't care about my life or how much danger it might put Siofra and me in. I just wanted him to be okay.

“I don't care; just help him.” I held onto Xender's hand as Siofra kneeled besides him. She pressed her hand on Xender's head with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes again, they lit up; the crystal green light was so bright that it covered the whole room.

I had to cover my eyes from its reflection. When the light finally died out, I saw the stones that were once scattered around the floor floating in circles around Siofra, who was now staring out blankly like she saw a ghost.

I started feeling light-headed as the room began to spin in my eyes. I just got a hold of myself as I slumped to the floor.

“Alda, are you okay?” I could hear Siofra's voice, but my eyes were too heavy for me to open. When I finally forced them open, they couldn't focus on anything. Siofra's face was so blurry in my eyes that it took me seconds to be able to focus my eyes on her. Her nose was bleeding massively. 

“Come, let me help you off that floor.”

“Xender, what about Xender?” I weakly asked her.

“He's fine; I healed him, and he is resting.” She helped me to the couch, sitting on the left side of the room. 

“You are bleeding,” I told her.

“And so are you,” she replied, leaving me shocked. I reached out and grabbed the tissue on the desk as I wiped my nose with it. The once-white tissue paper turned bloody. It was only then that I started feeling the warm liquid running down my nose.

“What just happened to us?” I asked Siofra. She wasn't panicking like I was. She just sighed and sat besides me.

“My sister happened; I think she used a spell to try to eliminate the body that is keeping me alive, which is you.”

“What? Does that mean she figured out that you are in a different realm? How was she able to get to you even when you were in a different realm?”

“I don't know Alda, but I do know that a ritual can affect whoever it is being performed for, as long as the person performing the ritual has an item that belongs to you. And Alma is in the palace, which means she has access to all my belongings.

The spell she used was strong; I bet she took it from that black book Grandma was talking about.”

“Wait a minute; if she can get to you through your belongings, then that means we are both dead meat.”

“We aren't; every strong spell leaves not just the victim weak but also the performer, and Alma knows better. Let's just hope Elba is able to get that book before she can recover from the injuries she is going to sustain from this.”

“That still doesn't guarantee our safety. Siofra, look what we did to Xender. What if you didn't have your healing powers? What if Xender's injuries were worse than this?”

“Well, I'm guessing we are both lucky that I have my healing powers, or we will both be in big trouble.”

“What are we going to do? We need to see your grandmother; she is the only one who can tell us what to do.”

“I'm guessing we have to wait for our next portal.”

“You were able to control the power of the stones earlier; can't you do it again and open the portal?”

“I would have tried it if only I had my body with me, but trying it in your body could kill the both of us. Alma might be able to recover quickly, given how strong and powerful she is. 

I think we should keep our distance from Xender for the moment just for his safety.” I sighed when I heard what Siofra said.

I managed to walk my way to Xender, who seems to be sleeping soundly with no worries.

“What are we going to tell him if he asks us what happened?”

“Don't worry; to him, it's going to be a dream. We are the only ones who know what happened today. You need to get some sleep; it's just two in the morning. I will see you later.” Siofra said, heading for the door.

"Siofra,” I called after her. She stopped and faced me.

“Thank you for healing, Xender.”

“It's the least I could do; after all, I caused the problem.” She said that and left. I took a few pieces of tissue paper and wiped off the blood on the floor before flushing it down the toilet. Xender mustn't find out what happened, so I need to get rid of all the evidence. This is just driving me insane. How am I supposed to stay away from him?

Elba's POV

“Aah!!” She screamed and angrily tossed the book away. I just stood in the dark, staring at how frustrated she was.

“She has the stones; there is no way she could have survived that spell,” she said, chanting to herself. She is beginning to act like a psychopathic dark princess who wants to sacrifice everything just to seek a power that will consume her.

A power she can't handle, a power that I once seeked and nearly opened the gate of an entire dark army. An army of the shadows—once that gate is opened, there is no going back.

The sound of Alma coughing loudly snapped me out of the darkness I was taking myself into. 

“Blood? Why am I coughing blood? Aaah!!!!!” I had to cover my ears from the sound of her screams.

“I'm going to figure out where you are hiding, sister, and I am not going to be friendly when I do. I am going to rip your bone's off your fresh!!!” 

She is really pissed. She angrily stormed out of the room, leaving the book behind. Bingo, that's what I'm talking about. I love it when people make things easy for me.

Just wait until I get my powers. I will drag you back to the sea and turn you into a giant throne if I have to. It wouldn't be so bad to have a talking throne.

I walked out of the darkness and picked up the book. The book was open when I picked it up, and what I saw on that page made me realise that Alma might be a bigger problem than we thought.