The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 11

"Here!" The voice said.

Waverly halted at the foot of a cedar tree. She recognized it to be the home of one of Cassiope's flowery friends. A spirit named Tona.

"Here? What is here?" She asked, walking around the tree in search of anything special, but there was nothing.

Suddenly, as if in trance, she reached up to touch the tree trunk. It absorbed her into itself. The next second, she found herself standing in a familiar location.

The Repelling Earth.

She looked up, unable to see past the constant fog that always hung around the trees and obscured the sky from view. The forest was not as dark because fireflies swarmed in thousands, lighting up tree trunks and branches, the forest floor and the cave where Diarmaid and Dermot had led her through the last time.

She looked down at wet, white flowers under her feet and noticed two things at once; the vines of the Repelling Earth did not repel her as usual, and strange looking shapes were drifting out of the flowers.

Waverly moved backwards until she collided with the stone wall. She watched in fright as the shapes, which were actually just water inside the flowers, took form to resemble people that had no faces. It was like witnessing water come to life. She tried to count the strange things, but more kept coming. Her head clouded over with fog and anxiety. The watery things resembled petite women with colorless straw-like hair of water. They floated midair and twined with one another then reformed back into women. This action kept repeating even while they spoke.

"Welcome, daughter of the moon." One said, but Waverly did not know which had truly spoken.

She placed a hand on her chest, exhaled in relief and moved away from the wall. "Oh, good! You know my mother. Usually, that is a sign that I am either about to get some warning or into big trouble."

A fit of giggles escaped from the women. "We are Eyér Virga."

Waverly raised an eyebrow then gasped in recongnition. "Holy crabapples! You are water spirits, I mean – air spirits, um. . . which are you?"

"Air, water and fire, and every Element known and unknown to have existed since before the dawn of time." One said.

"Wait, what? Known and unkno— What are you talking about?"

"We are here to deliver a message."

"Wow. I did not see that coming." Waverly stated dryly. "If you were going to give me a message, why did you not just tell it to me back in my room rather than bring me all the way to The Repelling Earth?"

"Our powers are strongest near Mother Earth."

"Juniper or Nalie?"

"You must entwine your fingers in our hair."

Waverly blinked. "What?"

"Do so and receive the message we have for you."

She paused. "I thought you would tell me the message."

The spirits advanced altogether, and she took a cautious step backward. "Wait, all of you? Why not just one person?"

"But we are just one." Came the answer.

Waverly squinted as the spirits collided then reformed and repeated the action. "Alright, fine."

She lifted a finger and reached for their straw-like hair. A good number of them lashed around her fingers and she winced in pain. The sensation was the same as being dragged down a thousand hot coals and then into the icy coldness that was the Eyer Virga.