Adelaide looked at James, her anxiety clear on her face. He squeezed her hand gently before leading her out the door after Christoph. The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon, with a faint glow remnant in the sky. Once outside, she saw Gisela and Morgen waiting impatiently, while Frederick and Cora bickered behind them.
"So where do we do this?" Adelaide asked them, shoving her hands in the pocket of her jacket to hide her slight tremors. She felt the obvodid that Stefan gave her, the clear glass cool against her skin. She wondered if it worked the way he said it did, and if it did, how would he be able to help them?
"There's an old shrine in the woods nearby," Cora answered quickly, stepping forward, "it should have enough privacy."
Adelaide nodded, following behind them as they led a march towards the train station structure. She analyzed their every movement and word, looking for any signs of suspicion. She wondered why they needed privacy, what Cora had in the tote bag on her shoulder, why Gisela and Morgen needed to attend as well. Her thoughts must have been all over her face, because once they entered the forest, she felt his hand in hers.
"Hey, it's going to be fine, okay?" He told her, squeezing her hand gently, "I promise."
Adelaide smiled back at him, resisting the urge to tell him she didn't trust his judgement. She knew he cared about her and wouldn't hurt her on purpose, but she wasn't sure he was able to see the flaws of the people who'd raised him.
"It's not too far now." Frederick told them assertively as he led the way through the woods. James and Adelaide stood near the back, analyzing everyone in front of them. She started to wonder if she really had been tricked by Stefan. They hadn't done anything out of the ordinary to hint that they might be up to something.
"Adelaide, dear," Cora fell back to walk in step with Adelaide, "you still have that key with you, yes?"
"Of course." Adelaide answered, patting the key that was tied around her neck. Cora smiled and held a hand out, asking her for the key. Adelaide hesitated, glancing towards Christoph ahead of them. He nodded his head, urging her to trust Cora.
"What are you going to do with it?" Adelaide asked, doing her best to make her voice sound curious rather than cautious. Cora shrugged her shoulders and smiled again.
"Oh you can have it back after, of course. I have to take the magic from the key and combine it with your current magic, and then the ritual will be complete! Should be rather simple." Cora explained, waving her hands frantically as she spoke. Adelaide hoped it would be as simple as she described, and reluctantly removed the key from around her neck. She placed it gently in Cora's hand, and the second she let go Cora's fingers clamped around the key.
"Thanks, dear," Cora smiled at her again, throwing her hands in the air in excitement as they stepped out of the woods and into a clearing with a large stone boulder, "oh look, we're here!"
The boulder sloped gently, creating a raised platform in the middle of a clearing in the trees. There were other smaller rocks placed around the boulder in a circle, and there were chalk symbols drawn on every rock and scattered across the boulder. Adelaide didn't couldn't read them, but she assumed it was Czech.
"Adelaide, you'll be up here." Frederick wasted no time once they arrived. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto the platform, positioning her in the middle. He quickly hopped off the side to stand next to the others, leaving Adelaide alone and on display.
"How does this work?" Adelaide questioned, looking around at the words and symbols underneath her feet, "what's going to happen?"
"It's a pretty simple spell," Morgen told her, crossing his arms over his chest, "Cora will recite it, and the moon will help power the transition."
"If it's so simple then why is this kind of magic nearly extinct?"
No one answered James, or even acknowledged his question. Adelaide turned to look at him, where he stood on the edge of the clearing. He looked as panicked as she felt. Adelaide turned away from him when Cora stepped onto the platform, taking a step towards her.
"I'm just going to need to collect some blood, dear." Cora told her so calmly, Adelaide thought she had misheard her. But Cora set her tote down, pulling out some rusty metal bowls and a collection of candles.
"Wait, what?" Adelaide asked in a panic. Cora started to place candles around her in a circle, their wicks magically lighting as soon as she placed them down. She placed one of the bowls on either side of Adelaide, and laid the key down at her feet.
"Well it is blood magic, Adelaide. Of course we need blood." Gisela spoke from the side, her palms crossed in front of her as she watched. Adelaide remembered Stefan's words, and the scars running across his chest. The feeling in her stomach started to grow, yelling at her until she felt nauseous.
"Don't worry Adelaide, it's for a good cause," Cora told her with another smile, but this time it looked twisted. She held her hand up, taking a step towards Adelaide, who watched her cautiously.
"Can we just wait a second," Adelaide felt her breath quicken, but when she went to take a step away from Cora her feet wouldn't move. She looked down at her boots, tugging and pulling as hard as she could, but they wouldn't budge, "what's happening? I'm not-"
Adelaide's sentence was cut off when Cora flicked her wrist towards her. A gasp escaped her mouth when she felt her palms start to burn. She looked down at her hands and saw deep, jagged gashes on her hands. It wasn't until she saw the blood start to fall into the bowls on the ground next to her that she felt the pain shoot up her arm.
"This will go much smoother if you stay still." Cora told her before she started to chant in an ancient language.
She was frozen in place, unable to move her feet or her body as blood poured from her palms. Adelaide knew there was going to be blood involved, but everything was happening too fast. She knew she needed to get out of there before it got any worse, but her voice felt trapped in her throat, and she couldn't tell if it was from shock or Cora's spell.
Adelaide looked at Christoph at the base of the boulder, expecting him to do something or say something. He looked uncomfortable at the pain on her face, but he didn't move. He avoided her gaze, once again blindly trusting that his father and Ellora were honest and good.
Cora continued muttering words under her breath, holding her hands in the air as she rocked in place. The candle flames grew two feet high, bouncing dangerously close to Adelaide's legs. The bowls next to her feet were slowly filling with her blood, but the more Cora chanted the faster her blood ran and filed up the bowls. Adelaide hoped that the two small bowls were the extent they would need for the ritual.
The bowls by her feet were overflowing, and Cora's voice was getting louder and louder. The key in front of her feet started to float, spinning around in the air as Cora raised her arms toward the sky. Mirroring the keys ascension, Adelaide felt her own feet start to lift from the ground.
Her head started to feel dizzy, and her vision blurred, but Adelaide willed herself to stay conscious. Worse than her physical pain, every sense in her body was telling her to run. This felt wrong, and she was sure something bad was going to happen. She put all her strength into her fingers, inching her way to her jacket pocket.
Cora's body suddenly shook, and she yelled out the last line of the spell. She extended her hands towards Adelaide, and the key that was floating in front of her shot towards her at lightning speed. Before she could process the object speeding towards her, the dull end of the key impaled her stomach. The impact left Adelaide out of breath, and her shirt started to soak with blood. But that was nothing compared to the pain that erupted throughout her entire body.
As soon as the key touched her, Adelaide let out a blood curdling shriek, and she fell out of the air, collapsing onto the ground. The key burned a dazzling white before disappearing into the air. Adelaide's body burned from the inside out, as if every cell in her body was being ripped open. The pain she'd felt in her hands moments before was just a paper cut in comparison.
Adelaide writhed in pain on the cold stone, wishing for the pain to stop. She hoped she would pass out, like people in movies when they're in too much pain, but she felt the opposite. Her senses were on high alert. She heard every noise around her as Christoph yelled and cursed, and Frederick barked commands at Cora. She saw the moon with 3D vision, full and bright in the sky above her. Adelaide felt like felt the cool, rough stone against her finger tips, and the warm pool of blood forming underneath her.
"Adelaide!" She heard James shouting from the side of the platform, and heard footsteps as he and Christoph moved to check on her.
"Stop!" Frederick's booming voice silenced the entire field, and everyone froze in place, "Is it done, Cora?"
"Yes. She has all of her magic now." Cora answered after a moment of staring down at Adelaide. She blinked her eyes to get rid of her blurry vision, and watched as Cora turned her head to make eye contact with Gisela.
"Proceed."
With the simple command from the Ellora sibling, Adelaide felt her body fly into the air. She was back floating above the platform, and the flames had grown three times their previous size. Cora began chanting again, and fresh cuts appeared on her wrists as more blood ran down her arms and pooled below her. Adelaide finally found out her voice and let out a cry of pain as fresh cuts appeared on her wrists. Blood ran in streams down her arms and pooled below her.
"What are you doing? You said she has her magic back!" Christoph protested from below, "you're going to kill her!"
"Yes and the life of one is worth saving the lives of thousands, son." Frederick told him in a bored voice. He shot a hand out towards Christoph, who went flying off of the boulder and hit his back against a nearby tree. Vines appeared out of the ground and trapped him against the tree.
"Let me go!" Christoph struggled against the vines, yelling and cursing at his father. Adelaide's eyes shifted to James, who sat at the edge of the clearing, horrified at the scene that had gone downhill way too quickly. They made eye contact, and she willed him to get as far away from there as possible. Luckily, he got the message. No one had paid attention to him the entire time, and no one noticed him slip away into the forest in search of help.
In the same moment, Adelaide put all her focus into wiggling her fingers in her pocket. She felt the cool glass of the obvodid, and used all her strength to crush it in her palm. She had no way of knowing if it worked, but she had to hope that James and Stefan would find a way to get there.
"It's not enough, Cora," Frederick urged from the side of the boulder. He nodded his head at the witch, "you know what you need to do."
Cora glanced at him, before turning back to Adelaide. She had a flash of regret cross her face, but she shook her head and her face turned cold. With another flick of her wrist, Adelaide felt the burning pain travel up from her hands and wrists all the way up her arms and to her shoulders. A whimper left her mouth as gashes appeared up and down her arms. Her t-shirt started to soak through as they appeared on her stomach and chest.
"I know you don't understand our reasoning, Adelaide," Gisela spoke from the sidelines, watching Frederick restrain his son and Cora recite the spell over Adelaide, "but know that we are doing what we must to keep our people safe."
Adelaide sent her a glare, wishing her body hadn't been frozen in place so she could do more.
"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten," Gisela yelled up to Adelaide, "your magic will be used to fulfill your destiny and protect the people of Ellora."
"Fuck...you..." Adelaide spat out, her voice hoarse and her breath raspy. She could barely speak, and her breathing was labored and shallow. Cora ignored her, and continued chanting.
Soon, Frederick had joined her and the wind started to pick up around them. Adelaide was rapidly losing blood, and her vision was going blurry. She was sure she was seconds from passing out, when suddenly Frederick and Cora recited a line of the spell loudly, and the candle flames erupted again. She felt the breath in her lungs disappear, and her body floated higher in the air, her back arching in pain.
As quickly as her breath had disappeared, it suddenly came rushing back. Her body collapsed onto the ground once again. The chanting stopped, the candles blew out, and for a brief moment, the clearing was silent. Adelaide struggled to adjust in the darkness, trying to push herself to her feet. She managed to sit up on her knees before she grew weak again.
Once she had adjusted, Adelaide saw why everything had stopped. Frederick and Cora had been thrown from the platform, and were scrambling to their feet on the other side of the clearing. Christoph wasn't tangled up in vines anymore, and was sprinting towards his father, his face red with rage.
Adelaide saw Gisela and Morgen turn towards the other side of the clearing, and she turned her head to see what they were looking at. Stefan, Lorenzo, and James stood on the edge of the forest. They all looked very pissed off.
Stefan moved first, sprinting at an inhuman speed towards Gisela. Lorenzo followed suit, hurtling towards Morgen. The siblings planted their feet, bracing for a fight.
"Adelaide, oh my god," James appeared at her side, crouching next to her. He looked around at the blood surrounding her, his eyes full of panic. He searched for a source but couldn't find just one. He looked at her with desperation, "tell me what to do."
Adelaide breathed heavy, her body collapsing into him as she tried to stay upright. She couldn't think straight, let alone form words. Her body was starting to go numb, and her head was beyond logical words.
Behind them, the sound of Cora's chanting started again. Adelaide felt her throat close up again as Cora tried to continue the ritual. James jerked his head around, glaring at the witch and jumping to his feet. He didn't have magic, but he'd been in his fair share of fights, and he wasn't above hitting a woman if that woman was trying to hurt his sister.
Adelaide let out a whimper as she saw James run towards Cora, shoving her so hard she fell on her back in the grass. Adelaide felt her lungs fill with air as she drew in a sharp breath. The witch had stopped chanting as she yelped in pain, but she flicked her wrist effortlessly and threw James to the side. He scrambled to his feet, refusing to let Cora get to his sister.
Next to their scramble Adelaide saw Christoph and Frederick in a battle that happened so quickly she could barely see who did what. Punches were thrown, eruptions of light came from both of them, and legs flew in the air wildly as they fought. Christoph was angry, and moved with so much force. But Frederick was calculated and strategic, and that seemed to be in his favor.
A cry of pain from behind her made Adelaide turn her head. Gisela and Morgen were powerful, old, and experienced; and they had defended against Lorenzo and Stefan easily. Morgen had Lorenzo on the ground, slowly crushing him to death with only the force of his gaze.
Gisela stood perfectly still next to him, not moving an inch as she fought with Stefan. They hurled objects at one another and fire erupted randomly around the clearing. Eventually, Gisela caught Stefan off guard and she sent him flying through the air.
He landed a few feet from her on the stone platform, rolling over in pain as the wind was knocked out of him. Adelaide leaned up on her elbows to see if he was okay, and she made eye contact with his stormy eyes. Stefan looked at her as if he hadn't realized she was there, which he probably hadn't as he was so focused on Gisela. He looked at the pool of blood in front of her, and scrambled over to her.
"Oh my god..." Stefan breathed, his eyes wide as he took in her injuries. He kneeled next to her, searching for some way he could stop her bleeding.
Adelaide wanted to scream, to tell him to leave her and do something to help the others, but nothing came out. She heard Frederick and Christoph yelling at each other behind her, and she heard Lorenzo screaming in pain as Morgen crushed his chest. James howled behind her when Cora sent a tree branch flying towards him, hitting him in the back of the head.
Stefan leaned over her, picking up her wrist gently and tearing off a part of his unbuttoned shirt to tie around her palm. It seemed stupid to try and stop her hand from bleeding when there were countless other wounds bleeding profusely, but he didn't have many other options. Adelaide whimpered when he tightened the fabric, but he didn't seem to notice.
Over his shoulder, Adelaide saw movement and a flash of blonde. She sat up quickly, searching for Gisela's signature hair. She had stepped up onto the platform, inching up behind Stefan. She held her hand high in the air, and a pale blue ball formed in her palm. Her face was pulled into a scowl as she directed all of her strength at Stefan
"No!" Adelaide shrieked as Gisela thrust her hand towards Stefan. Adelaide felt every sense in her body erupt. Every noise in the clearing was amplified, and she heard the cries of everyone around her, fighting to protect her and the others Ellora had hurt. The light of Gisela's magic was blinding, but Adelaide still saw the satisfied smirk forming on her face as she thought she won.
Adelaide moved at lightning speed, ignoring the painful protests of her injuries. She shoved Stefan away from her, jumping to her feet and throwing herself in front of Gisela's magic. Adelaide closed her eyes and screamed, letting out every frustration, fear, and ounce of pain she had in her.
"Gisela!"
Adelaide opened her eyes when she heard Morgen's scream. Gisela had fallen to the ground, and Adelaide felt her own body give out beneath her. Morgen was quick to his sister's side. He looked at Adelaide, and then back down at his sister who was unconscious in his arms. Within a second, the two disappeared, teleporting to safety.
The rest of the clearing stopped at the interruption. Christoph was on the ground, with his father's foot on his throat. When Frederick heard Morgen's cries he looked up, distracted, and Christoph took the opportunity to grab his foot and twist, sending Frederick flying face first into the ground. Christoph scrambled to his feet, ready for another round.
Frederick didn't bother sticking around. As soon as he saw he was outnumbered, he disappeared just like the Ellora siblings. Cora quickly followed suit, leaving James out of breath and bruised on the ground.
Adelaide felt her mind start to slip once the threat of imminent danger was gone. Stefan's face appeared above her, speaking words that she couldn't understand. She could hear other noises around her, but everything was growing fuzzy.
She couldn't feel her arms or legs anymore, and her vision was going in and out. She thought she heard Christoph saying her name, but everything sounded like it was underwater. Adelaide felt Stefan's hands brush hair out of her face, and the last thing she saw before her eyes closed were stormy grey eyes.