The Secrets of Elderville
Chapter Nine:

Back in Nail’s hollow, Rose and Theo are cleaning up after dinner. Rose’s face full of worry after hearing the news from Nail of everything that’s been going on, Theo notices, nudging her shoulder, “hey it’s Jessa, our sister who has stood up to mother all our lives and our long-lost aunt who is a total badass and has gathered an army to fight. Plus, if you really think about it, we’re their spies. We can get them intel on the enemy and help them out.” Rose throws down the dish she was washing into the soapy filled sink. “Yes, the enemy! Who is our mother! But wait a minute, nope it’s actually an evil wasp INSIDE our mother! Whom we have known all our lives since BIRTH! So technically the wasp king IS our mother! WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO KILL OUR MOTHER, THEO!” Theo slaps his hand over her mouth. “Take a breath and try not to loudly reveal our plans to the enemy, who is, yes, our mother. But we’re just killing the wasp king in order to get our real mother back. Right?” Theo looks to Nail for help, Nail simply nods his head as he smokes on his long wooden pipe, blowing out big puffs of white clouds. “See? Our mother has not ever been our true mother. She’s trapped somewhere inside herself and we’ve gotta help her. So can you pull yourself together and be able to talk to mother like normal?” Rose sighs. She walks towards the many letters on Nail’s desk, reading a sentence in her aunt Opal’s handwriting, ‘Please give my love to my dear nieces and nephew, even though I’ve never met them, they are every bit as precious to me. I am preparing for the war to come and determined to get my sister back.’

“Nail, how long have you been writing to our aunt?” Nail pauses, holding the pipe to his lips, he then holds up his hand, “Two and one? Twenty-one years? Wow, that’s some dedication. And you’ve been delivering these messages to an owl named Corny? Is that why you have a book on great horned owls?” Nail nods his head, resuming his smoking. Theo approaches him, “say can I try that?” Nail shakes his head and writes on a piece of paper, ‘too young’. Rose giggles at Theo as he stomps away. Nail stands up and stretches, yawning very loudly, scratching his belly. Rose makes for the hollow entry, motioning for Theo to follow, “goodnight, Nail, we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” Nail waves goodbye as he slumps into his bed.

As Theo and Rose fly up towards their hollows, Rose can’t help but feel as though they’re being followed. She quickly glances behind them and sure enough she sees two figures flying behind them but cannot make out who. “Theo, someone’s following us,” Theo then glances behind him and sees the mysterious figures. As they both looked forward, prepared to fly faster, they halt to a stop, as three guards appear in front of them, they were slightly buzzing and twitching. Then the figures behind them halt, revealing to be two more guards. Theo grips his sister’s wrist, “what’s the meaning of this? Why are we being stopped?”

Behind the three guards, flies forward their mother, only she does not appear herself, her skin has the same yellow tint as the mutated guards before them. And her red eyes were glowing, “hello my darlings,” she says in a distorted voice, the tone sounding dark and demonic. “M-mother, what’s going on?” Rose squeaks out. She approaches Rose, softly grabbing her chin, “my dear, I think you know. You and your brother were spotted rushing out of one of the guard’s hollows earlier today. And then it was reported that Nail was quick to leave soon after and did not get back until just about three hours ago. My, what a sight you must have seen, what did you think of my beautiful creations?” She motioned to the guards, who were still buzzing and twitching.

Theo starts towards her, but Rose catches his arm, holding him back. “I think they’re disgusting, as are you! We know everything!” Theo screams. Rose sighs, closing her eyes. “So much for being spies,” she whispers under her breath. The wasp king gives them a wide smile, “oh you do, do you? Thank the elders, I was beginning to tire of keeping up the caring mother routine.”

She grabs both of their arms, laughing manically, flying towards her royal hollow. As they fly into her hollow, the same putrid smell hits their noses, but it is much stronger here. Rose and Theo gagged at the smell, the wasp king laughs some more, dropping them to the floor, which is covered in the yellow goo. “Better get used to this smell my darlings, for it will soon flood all throughout your dear little village. But sadly, you will not be here to see it, unless…” The wasp king goes to sit on his grand bed, staring at them. “Unless, what?” Theo says sarcastically, helping Rose to stand. The wasp king stands again and begins to slowly fly around them in a circle, “unless you join me, and become my true children. All you need to do is drink the potion to transform into a wasp.” Rose and Theo stare hard at the wasp king, their silence being their answer. “Very well, death it will be. But not yet, I’ve still got big plans for you two, yes big plans indeed.” He laughs again, picking them both up and launching them into a cage, locking it. “Jessa and Opal will stop you!” Theo yells at him. The wasp king slips the key on a string and proceeds to swallow it whole. “That is what I’m counting on you sniveling piles of lard,” he laughs once more as he exits the hollow.

Nail is suddenly woken by buzzing sounds. He opens his eyes to see two guards and the wasp king looking down at him. “Get up you disgusting old squirrel. I have a quest for you.” The wasp king grabs Nail by his squirrel pelt, forcing him to stand. “I understand that you’ve been sending letters to that sister, Opal, and that brat Jessa. Yes?” Nail stares up at him, anger filling his black eye. The wasp king bends over, smiling, “You’re going to send them a special message from their king,” one of the guards forces a rolled-up paper into Nail’s hands with words already written on them. “You will deliver it now,” the other guard forces Nail’s weapon in his hand, then both guards throw him out of the hollow. The wasp king steps out of the hollow, and crouches down beside Nail, “when you come back, I suppose it’ll be with that pathetic little army she’s put together. When I’ve won, I’ll finally rid this village of its filthy royal line once and for all.” Nail stands, with one last look at the wasp king, he flies off into the night, hearing the wasp’s laugh fade out the further he flew.

Jessa lay in her bed, holding the dagger up in the moonlight. It only glowed red once that first time she held it. No matter how hard she focused, she couldn’t get it to light up again. She set it down, jumped out of the bed and walked towards her window. Her mind is restless, her thoughts are filled with only two people, Matteo and Hawk. This is ridiculous. My village is in danger and I’m lying awake thinking about love. Jessa pauses, a confused look surfaces her face, hold on wait, love? Do I? And who? She starts to pace her room slowly, trying to solve the puzzle that is her heart. But it is unsolvable, she stops at the window again, staring at the waxing moon, when a voice from behind her speaks, “beautiful night, supposed to be a full moon soon,” Jessa spins around to see Opal leaning in her doorway, wearing a long silky, silver night gown, her silver hair loose and flowy.

“Opal what are you doing up?” She walks towards Jessa, “there was something I wanted to speak with you about.” Jessa could see her aunt’s face in the glow of the moonlight, replaceing that it too was full of worry. “Is it about the dagger glowing?” Opal nods her head, “you see, I’ve read about this dagger before. It was written that this dagger, if held in the right hands, glowed white. But held in the wrong hands, it glowed a blood red.” Jessa’s eyes widened, stepping back from her aunt, “then why did it glow red in my hand? Are you saying I’m evil?” Opal stepped toward Jessa, shaking her head, “no, of course not, but I’m worried that there might be a hint of evil.” Jessa looked at the dagger sitting on her bedside table, then looked to Opal. “What do I do now? I don’t understand this Opal, I thought it was supposed to help us.” Opal also looks at the dagger, then walks towards it, lifting it up. The dagger began to glow a bright white, Jessa gasps. Opal smiled sadly at it, “ah that’s what I figured.” Jessa was filled with even more confusion than before, she could feel this anger raging inside her, like a volcano ready to erupt. “What am I?!” She finally explodes, “you tell me I have a hint of evil in me? Yet I’m supposed to be the hero that saves Elderville?! How! When I’ve barely learned archery or any kind of spell casting! I haven’t even started my lessons with Selene or Lily. WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!” Tears started streaming down Jessa’s face.

Opal sets the dagger back down, walking towards her, “I’m going to tell you another secret and this is the last one, I swear.” She sits Jessa down on the bed, takes a deep breath, then the sentence runs out of her mouth, “The wasp king did the deed with your father, thus creating you and then later your sister and your brother. So, because of that, you and your siblings are half-…” Jessa puts her hand up, “no, no, no, no, no…. NO. You are not going to tell me that next part because I refuse to hear the words out loud.” Opal squeezes her eyes shut, then blurts out, “some of the evil magic from the wasp king resides in you!” she then buries her face in her hands. Jessa drops her head in defeat. She then lays back on her bed, “I don’t think I can take many more surprises.” Opal joins her, lying beside her. “I promise, I have nothing else to fess up about. That’s all the surprises I have in me. The next ones will be out of my control entirely.” Jessa giggles, as does Opal.

“I guess that explains one thing,” Jessa says after a couple minutes lying next to Opal. “Explains what?” Opal says, turning on her side to look at her, “it explains this rage I’ve had in me all my life, and if I’m pushed too far, I explode and I never understood why I had so much anger. Now I do.” Opal nods her head, “you might also get that rage from your mom, when we were kids, your mother had a short temper as well.” Jessa raises her eyebrows, “but has she ever wanted to…” Jessa’s mind flashes back to when she raised her arrow to Hawk. Opal nudges her, Jessa sits up, “did she ever want to kill someone?” Opal sits up too, putting a hand on Jessa’s back, “I’m not sure, maybe? Only she would know. I know I’ve felt like killing someone before, like the wasp king. But I haven’t felt like that towards anyone else.” Jessa sighs, “yeah then that explains that.”

Suddenly, something barrels into Jessa’s hollow through the window. Opal grabs the dagger, in the same swift movement, Jessa grabs her bow and arrow, pointing at whatever crashed in. They see the balled-up figure stand, but slightly crouched over, it steps forward. The moonlight reveals itself to be Nail, gasping for air, clutching a rolled-up paper. “Nail?” Opal and Jessa say simultaneously, then a big thud comes from the window, a big owl eye is peaking through. “Corny?! What’s going on?” Opal approaches Nail. “I don’t know! Nail wakes me up and then darts out of my nest and heads here,” Corny says also out of breath. Nail hands Opal the paper, Opal unrolls it and begins to read it out loud,

“Hello, my dear opal, I believe it’s time we meet, officially. Bring along the brat and your puny army. I do need more wasp minions, so if you’d like to volunteer, all are welcome to. Whether by choice or by force, you choose. I already have two new subjects ready to go, I think you know them. Better come quickly, they turn when the moon is full.

King of elderville”

Jessa couldn’t feel her legs, they felt like jelly, her heart raced like a hummingbird. She could hear her aunt’s voice, but it sounded so far away, the room looked like it was spinning, suddenly she was on the floor and the world went dark.

Visions of Rose and Theo surfaced in her mind, they’re trapped in a cage, she can hear their cries for help. Then their image became misty and all but evaporated from her sight. Huge red eyes replaced them, staring down at Jessa, then a huge grin, with teeth razor sharp. It opens its mouth and starts to chase her, Jessa started to run but was frozen. The eyes and mouth catch her, swallowing her whole. Everything goes dark again, except for a small white light, Jessa reaches for the light, hearing her aunt’s voice, “Jessa? Wake up, please,” Jessa opens her eyes to replace herself in a bed in the infirmary. “How’d I get here?” She looks around and sees Opal sitting on her bed next to her, Matteo and Nail standing behind her.

“You passed out from shock,” Opal says, petting Jessa’s hand, “Listen to me Jessa, we’re sending a team to retrieve Theo and Rose. We won’t let them get turned.” Jessa shoots up, but Matteo lays a hand on her shoulder, making her lay back down. “Easy there, you hit your head really hard when you fainted,” he then brushes a hair from her face. She waves it away, and sits back up again, “I need to go with them, I need to be the one to save them. They’re counting on me,” Jessa pleads to Opal. Opal shakes her head, “I’m so sorry, but you aren’t ready to face the wasp king. We cannot afford to lose you so close to the war,” Jessa could feel her whole face heating up. The anger bubbled inside her once again, erupting into a scorching spew of hatred, “WE CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE THEO AND ROSE EITHER. DON’T YOU WANT TO SAVE THEM? THEY’RE YOUR NIECE AND NEPHEW. DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT THEM? SOME AUNT YOU ARE! AND I KNOW THAT TREE LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND, I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE HE WOULD KEEP THEM. I’M FUCKING GOING AND NOBODY IS GOING TO STOP ME, GOT IT?!”

Everyone in the room went silent, then a tiny clapping started, they all looked to the window. Hawk is sitting on the window ledge, a smile on their face, still clapping, “Finally! I’ve been waiting for that fire to come out of ya, now when we leaving?” Opal stands up, waving her arms, “She cannot go, she hasn’t trained enough,” Hawk slides off the window, “then we’ll train her on the way, right Matteo?” Jessa looked from Hawk to Matteo, she did not realize she would be traveling with both of them. But she shakes the love thoughts away, there’s no time for that, she gets out of bed to stand but her legs still felt like jelly. She begins to fall but is caught by two pairs of hands, Matteo’s hands are holding her left arm, but it is Hawk’s hands that are holding her right. She stares into Hawk’s eyes, but is then pulled away by Matteo’s strong arms, “thanks Hawk but I got her.” Hawk drops Jessa’s arm, and she thought she could see a bit of pink in Hawk’s cheeks. But before she could get a good look, Hawk turns their body away from her. Matteo sits Jessa back down on the bed, then crouches in front of her, “are you sure you’re strong enough for the journey?” Jessa wouldn’t meet his eyes, because she knew, he knew that she wasn’t. He gently lifted her chin, his hazel eyes piercing hers. She frowns, building up her strength and then forces herself to stand. Still a bit wobbly but she succeeded, she exited the infirmary and towards her hollow to pack for the mission.

As Jessa headed for Opal’s hollow to say goodbye, she sees Selene the cook motion her over. “Selene! I’m so sorry we couldn’t practice spell casting,” Selene waved her hands, shooing the apology away, then took her by the arm and led her to the gathering hollow. Jessa entered the hollow and couldn’t believe her eyes, the entire hollow was there, yelling several different things, “goodbye Jessa!”, “come back soon Jessa!”, “be careful Jessa!”. Jessa felt an overwhelming sense of love from these wanderers she had only known for such a short amount of time. Tears started to slowly cascade down her face, but then she saw Lily in the middle of the group, also crying. Jessa takes her hands, guiding her away from the group, “Lily, I would like you to come as well. You’ve read all those books; you know much more about the nature of this world, and we’ll need your expertise on whatever we come across on the journey. Will you please come?” Lily squeezes her hands, then blurts out in the loudest possible volume, “OF COURSE I’LL COME WITH YOU, WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK ME SOONER?!” Jessa and Lily laugh, hugging each other.

All four of them stand in Opal’s hollow in a line, Opal sits at her table staring at them. “If you’re this insistent on going, you will be taking Captain Vlad with you. He is a skilled weapons expert; he can help you in your training Jessa. Along with you three as well, you need to brush up on your combat skills if you’re going to go on this mission.” They nod their heads in agreement, Opal continues, “as for me and our army, we will follow you a day behind, because when you need the backup and you WILL need backup, we will be there to assist, and the war will commence. Any questions?” No one spoke. But a dooming feeling started to cloud over the hollow, they all could sense the dark energy unfolding ahead, even though Elderville was hundreds of miles away.

“Alright, get going, but before that Jessa I would like to speak with you first.” Opal and Jessa go to the hollow window facing Delilah’s house. Opal points to it, “The staff Delilah possesses will help in bringing down the wasp king, but she must not use it until you and I are together in front of the wasp king, it is important that we use all three of our powers in unison.” Jessa scrunches up her face, “But-...” Opal cuts her off before she can ask, “I’m sorry I can’t explain it furthermore, but once it’s all over you’ll understand.”

Jessa hops on Corny’s back along with Hawk, Matteo and Lily. Captain Vlad insists that he can fly on his own, but Corny offered to carry him if he does get “too tuckered out.” Nail stays behind, exhausted from his journey.

They were about to take off when suddenly they heard a voice yell from below, “WAIT! TAKE THIS WITH YOU!” It was Delilah holding something tiny in the palm of her hand, Jessa flew down landing on her hand to pick up the old book with the maiden, the mother and crone symbol. “Opal shrank the book so you could study it on your journey,” Jessa picks up the book, sliding it into her satchel, “thank you, Delilah, I will see you soon and then after all this maybe we can sit down, and you could teach me how to make soap.” Delilah smiled sadly at Jessa, “yes, maybe.” Jessa takes the book and flies back to Corny, but as they flew away, she looked back at Delilah who appeared to be crying while Opal comforted her.

Jessa was about to ask Corny to turn around but then Hawk scooted closer to Jessa, wrapping their arms around her waist. Jessa unknowingly grips the sides of Matteo’s shirt, feeling her cheeks heat up and some tingling from below. Matteo put one hand onto hers and looked back at her, but noticed Hawk smirking at him, his eyes then focusing on their hands holding onto Jessa very tightly. He quickly dropped his hand, scooting forward away from Jessa. He did not speak for several hours though Jessa decided not to notice.

End of Chapter Nine.