It's been far too long since we've visited Elise. After all, this book began with her, and she has been on everyone's mind lately. No one would have disputed this except Elise, who had no idea people thought about her half as much as they did. Why should anyone bother to think about a twelve-year-old-hardly-anyone from the green fields of nowhere? She hadn't the faintest clue—not even the itsy-bitsiest clue.
Still, she had apparently been on the wolf spirit's mind, because not long after settling into her duties, and just moments after the bell, a snail (or something like a snail but bigger) took her aside and told her Akayuri requested for her presence.
It scared her, and before they took her away she made sure to tell Giada that, if she didn't return, to tell Dorothy she missed her. To Elise, this was the most important thing of all.
Through hallways hewn of dark chestnut, past great paintings of warriors in the wild, and beyond a gilded arch lay the great doors. With a heavy creak the doors opened. The guards ushered Elise inside, and then the doors shut tight.
Bang. Echo, echo...
The room had darker lights this time, and when she looked up at the many rows of statues, there on the red-carpeted stands, she couldn't find Akayuri. The figurines went on and on, on both sides. The shyest figures stood at the back in the shadows.
"Thank you for coming, Elise."
She jumped at the familiar, soothing voice. Akayuri rose from his haunches near the bottom row far to her right, and, stepping around a frozen warrior into the firelight, approached her with long, calm strides. His yellow eyes didn't blink as he crouched on the platform in front of her and turned his gaze on her. Neither his wolf ears nor tail moved.
"Did you know you should fear for your life?"
Elise braved his piercing gaze. When he raised his hand, however, she stepped back.
"It's not me you should fear." He pointed. "It's her..."
Seeing a glow behind her, Elise spun around. Swirling in a watery vortex she saw Dorothy, sitting on the ground in some dusty cellar, memorizing spells from her spellbook. Her brilliant red eyes scanned the page with unnatural efficiency. Her fair lips frowned.
"Fear Dorothy?" Elise gulped, her heart racing. "Why should I fear Dorothy?"
"She's not who you think she is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
In the vision, Dorothy continued her memorization. However, on her face, something had changed... Elise couldn't tell what.
"Do you see that?" She looked back at him, to see his finger indicating something beyond the vision. Elise looked and saw, on a pedestal near the door, a stone, ancient and very worn. "That is an immensely powerful seeing stone, given to me many thousands of years before the founding of this place. It sees through all disguises. It shines green in the presence of great earth deities... blue in the presence of legends from beneath the sea... white in the presence of angels. When you and your friends were brought before me, something happened that had not in many ages. It shone red."
Elise looked back at him.
"It shows red," he answered her regard, "in the presence of great evil."
"No!"
"A warning of a presence so dark it taints the world it walks on," he went on. "It is never mistaken."
"You're lying, to turn me against her, for some—some evil plan of your own!" Trembling now, she turned to the picture of Dorothy again. The witch had barely moved, but subtle things affected her appearance... something in the depths of her eyes...
"Has Dorothy ever said or done anything that frightened you, Elise? A look? A glance?" He paused, and let it sink in. "Has she ever done anything you couldn't explain? Shown you incredible powers... that hurt people?"
Elise's mind sped through everything that happened during her short life with the witch. So much of it happened so fast that she hadn't much time to reflect upon it... to remember... In the vision, Dorothy began to slow down. Her eyes showed less and less, like doors shutting over and over again, deeper and deeper inside.
"She's not what she appears to be. It's not safe for you to be with her anymore."
Slowly, Dorothy's eyes rolled up from the page. As if looking across a cloudy sea, she looked straight into Elise's eyes. Elise screamed.
Fainting, she collapsed into Akayuri's lap. "Have no fear," came the gentle voice above her. "I have found favor in you... I will protect you."
The girl could not defend herself as the man's soft hand rested on her forehead. As she slipped into unconsciousness, left upon her lips were the smallest words:
"My best friend...
"...Dorothy..."