BANG! Stacy sat up. Still half asleep, she slowly got to her feet. "What's that sound?" Lily asked. "I don't know," she replied. Jake stood up. "Well," he said, "we should leave."
As soon as he said that, a tornado of gray mist spun its way to the throne in the middle of the room. It transformed into a woman, no doubt the Queen of Gray mist, Theresa herself. Lily stepped forward. "Hello, Theresa," she said calmly. Stacy could tell she was tempted to lunge at the queen and attack with her sword. But she knew better. A sword and dagger weren't going to do much against pure magic. "Ah," Theresa said. "Let me give you some light."
A sphere of blazing gray light appeared in the queen's hand. Theresa's face was regally beautiful, with dark brown hair and a cold smile that made Lily shudder. Judging from the murderous look in her eyes, she wasn't the type of queen with a boisterous attitude. She was in a simple purple gown and wore a sapphire necklace.
She smiled coldly. "Hello, Lily." "How's your day?" "Very good, thank you very much." Jake coughed. "Uh, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but are you two, like, school chums or something?" Theresa glared at him with malice. "Shut up, you imbecile. I have better things to do than talking to a brainless elf." The queen sent a gray misty lion at Jake, which vaporized within five feet. "Hey, lady," he protested. "You've had a bad day, and all that, so why don't you let us go?" "Silence, you fool!" Theresa hissed.
Faster than Stacy could blink, gray mist arched like lightning at Jake's sword, breaking it in half like it was made of tissue paper. Two seconds later more mist slammed into him, sending him crashing into the nearest wall. "OW!" he complained. Theresa studied her hands with satisfaction. "My powers are growing," she noted. "Which means ..."
She turned towards the palace doors, and Stacy saw that the chains once binding the doors together were now weakly held with a thin, twisted piece of metal chain. Theresa thrust out her hands and a haze of gray raced at the doors, shattering the chains. She smiled. "Which means that I am almost free. I thank you, Lily, for being so slow coming here."
Stacy swallowed. She waited for Theresa to strike them down or open the palace doors, but the queen didn't move. "Aren't you supposed to be, like, running out through the doors to claim the universe?" she asked. Theresa laughed. "The doors are still closed. I still have to break one more lock. But I do not have the power to achieve my goal. The lock is made of magic." "She's right," Lily said.
Stacy glanced at the doors. Sure enough, there was another haze covering the doors like a transparent blanket. "Then why are we here, anyway?" she demanded. "Don't let her get to the doors," Jake muttered.
Theresa shrugged. "How would you stop me?" Lily drew her sword. The queen sighed. "If you wish, then I will fight you." She sent a torrent of gray mist at Lily, who yelped and rolled to one side. "You are braver than most," Theresa mused. "I'm braver than you, butt face!" Lily yelled.
Unfortunately, that must've hurt the queen's feelings because she snarled and spread her hands. "Duck!" Stacy shouted.
Here's the thing with the word duck: many people confuse the bird duck with the term that means get down, you idiot! Because of this, Lily ended up looking at her feet, perplexed, instead of hugging the floor. Stacy tackled her as a mist bomb exploded over their heads.
The queen rose out of her throne. "Surrender to me!" she shrieked. "Not happening, Theresa," Stacy grumbled. Another bomb flew at their faces. Before they could actually duck, it detonated, making Stacy fall backward. The queen launched two more bombs at Jake, who was struggling to stay on his feet. Lily intercepted them, whacking them with her sword so they flew right back at Theresa.
"Ack!" Theresa stretched her hands out in front of her, creating a force field so the bombs exploded harmlessly. She glared at her with pure hate. "You're making me waste my energy!" she complained. "Good!" Stacy said. "WHAT?"
Lily pounced and sliced Theresa's throne in half. The queen growled. "You may be winning this war," she said, "but I will have revenge. Already your loved ones are falling in my grasp." Lily raised her dagger, but Jake looked up. "What do you mean?" he asked. Theresa flicked her fingers, making a screen. In it, Lily saw two elves - Parker and Oneida - walking through a tunnel. I don't know about this, Parker, Oneida said. I know he's here, Parker replied. A gray light flashed at the end of the tunnel. There he is! Parker said. He herded his little sister towards the gray light. Stacy watched as Parker's face, set with confidence, suddenly paled. Oneida screamed, and the video dissipated.
"No," Jake said."That can't be, they were in the war, fighting." Theresa gave him a look offake sympathy. "Oh, don't worry. That footage was from two hours ago." "Two hours?" Jake demanded. The queendidn't answer. Instead, another video popped up on the screen - Tara's mother,racing up a flight of stairs in the city, heading for a sound: Tara screamingfor help. The images changed again, showing a sweet little girl that Stacythought no one would ever think of harming - Sandra, her little sister. As shewatched in horror, Sandra wandered through an empty hallway. In front of her, Stacysaw a misty gray version of herself, laughing and leading her deeper downthrough the corridor. Sandra, giggling, ran forward to hug her, and the screenvanished altogether.