Chapter 54

Stephanie walked into the cave, her eyes staring in complete darkness. The entrance to the cave was small with shrubs and trees all around since they had to go deep into the forest toward the back of the vampire settlement. They had to bend before they could enter which made there to be little light penetrating.

"It's so dark," Stephanie complained, standing in one spot since she could not see anything.

Macy walked toward the Orb, and said some spells and it brightened up, illuminating the whole place.

Stephanie's eyes widened in awe as she looked at the orb. It wasn't that big but not that small either, it was medium.

It was placed carefully on a stand, looking so blue and magical.

"Wow." She remarked, smiling at it.

Macy looked at her and nodded. "It was the one thing I was able to get. My sister doesn't even know of its existence."

"Does it have a name?" Stephanie asked.

"The orb of light. According to my mom, it was gifted to my family by powerful people. Don't really understand much of it, and I don't really know how to use it."

"Can't you talk to it?" Stephanie asked, even though it sound stupid. She was only trying her luck.

"Through spells, yeah. That's the language it seems to understand." Macy explained.

Stephanie walked toward it. "So what are we gonna do? How is it gonna help us since you don't know the spells?"

Macy shrugged. "No idea. I've been working on one thing or the other."

Stephanie nodded and bent, her eyes still looking at it in awe, the necklace she was wearing dangling from her neck.

All of a sudden, the orb showed more light which made Stephanie wince and looked away.

Macy walked toward it in confusion and blinked seeing the necklace Stephanie was wearing was magnetized toward it. "Stephanie! The necklace!"

Stephanie looked at the necklace and straightened up. The orb going back to average. She looked at the necklace and back at the orb. "What does that mean?"

Macy shook her head. "Don't know but we have to understand why? Take the necklace off."

Stephanie nodded and unclasped it. She gave it to Macy who took it and placed it closer to the orb. They waited for a reaction but nothing.

They were both confused.

"Why...why isn't it working?" Stephanie asked feeling frustrated.

Macy shook her head and gave it back to her. "I'm as confused as you."

Stephanie sighed and took it. Immediately after, the orb brightened once again causing the both of them to look away.

"Oh my God, it worked again!" Stephanie exclaimed.

Macy nodded. "Okay, place it on the orb."

Stephanie nodded, squinting her eyes since the light was too much to stare at. She placed the necklace on the orb, though she somehow thought it will slide and fall since it was spherical but it glued.

And as it did, the light went down a little and they walked backward away from it, wondering what will happen next.

"You know when I said I recognized the pendant from somewhere..."

Stephanie glanced at her and they stop going backward. "Did you say it?"

Macy narrowed her eyes in thought. "I think so but anyways, the pentagram symbol is on the orb. That was where I saw it."

Stephanie gaped and looked at her. "So what should we make of it? The pendant and orb are one?"

"They probably come from the same place. Obviously, rather. I think that is where Amelia comes from."

They instinctively looked at the orb and saw it spiraling continuously. They were in awe wondering what will happen next. It went on for like twenty seconds and it stopped, their mouth fell open as they saw Amelia sitting on a couch holding a grimoire, with Xander and one other person in it.

Someone who Macy knew.

"I hope Richard finds Finn and brings him back," Amelia said since she was missing him already. It just feels as if he disappeared into thin air.

"Don't worry. He'll find him but now we need to focus on how to find Bethany." Xander asserted.

Macy and Steph looked at each other in confusion. Bethany is missing or what?

Xander was going through the bestiary, looking for the name Xondra while Amelia and Katherine were looking at the grimoire.

"This is weird. Xondras are faceless creatures. Why would faceless creatures need Bethany? What do they want her for?" Katherine asked even though she knows no one knows the answer to it.

"Why are they even faceless? What happened to their faces?" Amelia inquired.

The book left Amelia's hands and levitated. It flipped twice and dropped back on her hands. It made Macy gasp in surprise. "It's the grimoire, Stephanie. That's the grimoire that belonged to my great-grandmother."

Stephanie just nodded.

"Okay. Xondras are..."

"Cursed creatures. They were cursed." Xander interrupted Katherine, getting there at last.

"It says here they were cursed by the...Light? Didn't really give many details." Xander continued, looking at Katherine and Amelia. "Is there any history of Xondras there?"

They both nodded. "The Light as you said. They cursed the Xondras for a crime committed against their clan." Amelia made it known.

Katherine took the book. "You know what? Let's start all over again. Let's see everything about the Xondras and why they got cursed."

They nodded in agreement while Katherine flipped the page backward.

Katherine's eyebrow raised as her eyes scanned through it. "The Xondras are hired, killers and thieves. They're criminals."

Xander chuckled. "Okay, that said it all. The question is what did they do to the Light people that they ended up being cursed?"

"And that kind of curse isn't uttered by a mere witch. It had to have come from someone extraordinarily powerful. No mere witch can utter a curse as such." Katherine laid out.

"So then we should know who the Light is? They're the ones who cursed the Xondras." Amelia suggested.

"I don't think that's any of our business," Xander stated.

"It could help us understand why they took Bethany. There's a reason for every..." Amelia pursed and looked at the grimoire. She took it from Katherine. "Um, is there a way for the Xondras to lift the curse?"

Amelia made sure she wasn't holding the pages so it flipped on her hands and arrived at a page. It contained ingredients for powerful magic.

Katherine chuckled and shook her head. "This is dark magic."