Well, finally I have another chapter. 

Sorry it's been so long. I've had an interesting/mostly awful month. (#boyssuck,butsodogirls) (#everdosomethingyoureallyreallyregret?) I'm also trying to re-write Three Tasks (btw, writing Videl as the villain is hard) and that's consuming a lot of time. Not to mention getting ready to go to college. Eep. 

New profile picture, YAAAAAY. I'm not sure why I change it so often.

I hope you like this chapter. I'm pretty sure it sucks, lol, I wrote it while watching The 100. PS, Highly recommend that show, 10/10. 

What's new in your lives? :) Miss y'all. Feel free to chat me up here, on Twitter, or on Tumblr. I like hearing about what you're up to. 

Please VOTE and COMMENT!

xoxo Sierra xoxo

Chapter Six:

Well this is just stupendous.

I spend the rest of the day either pacing in my room or running up and down the beach. Rani leaves mid afternoon to go back to Niriket, but not before finding me by the ocean.

"If you need me, just as Kyle. I will return your memories to you whenever you wish."

And then, he's gone.

The sun is just starting to set when I walk back to the house. The pink and orange rays reflect on the ocean like bars of color, and my bare feet drag on the sand.

I lick my lips, and my tongue accidentally runs across my fangs. I feel a prick of pain and curse inwardly. Having fangs is more annoying than you'd think.

A whirl of black mist appears beside me, and then Riyell is walking beside me. He's wearing perfectly ordinary Earth clothes today, and the only things that gives him away are his yellow eyes and edges of his fangs.

He looks worried. "Have you heard anything about the Woman of Antiquam?" he asks.

"You mean in the six hours I've communicated with you?" I ask. "No, but Rani seems to think it might be Baya too."

Riyell's frown deepens. "Is Rani still here?"

"No. He's gone."

"I lost track of Baya- or whoever it is- but I know she was heading your way. She wants something. She's been waiting, but literally has done nothing."

"What do you mean by 'heading my way'?" I demand.

"Literally, heading in your general direction." Riyell flicks his hair, which I really wish he wouldn't do because I hate stereotypes. "I lost her near the road."

"Where?"

"The road. I already said that. The long one that goes along the-"

" The damn Pacific Coast Highway?" I tear open the gate leading up from the gate to the house. "That thing goes all the way to Canada! Could you be a little more specific?"

I walk inside the kitchen, Riyell trailing behind me like a lost dog, to find Carolina and Elizabeth with their sleepover backpacks in hand. And also, Anthony is sitting at the counter, talking and (clumsily) signing about how he used to play baseball in high school.

"Where's Kyle and Emmaline?" I ask.

He swivels in the chair to face me. "Emmaline is at her clinic, and Kyle got called into the city by Mark. Some sort of mission going on.

I gesture in the general direction of the girls. "And where are they going?"

"Maddie's house," says Carolina. "Who's that?"

Right. I forgot about Riyell.

"Where are the boys?" I ask, ignoring the question.

"They're at the skating rink," says Carolina. "They're spending the night too. Bye, Victoire!"

She and Elizabeth, giggling about something (probably Riyell), walk out of the kitchen. I wait until I hear the front door slam and throw my purse on the couch. "Anthony, why the hell is everyone scattered to all four corners of the globe? And where is Arabella."

Anthony holds his hands up defensively. "It wasn't my fault, Wednesday. Ky just asked me to stick around until you're here, said the kids already had plans. And Arabella is with Agnes, who I'm told is the babysitter but clearly, I don't know everything around here."

"Well I'm back," I say. "So you can leave. Buh bye."

"Who's that?" he asks, pointing at Riyell. The Velah knight is currently inspecting a stack of magazines and cookbooks.

I drag him away from the table. "This is Riyell. Riyel, this is Anthony, the guy responsible for ruining my life."

"Nonsense," says Anthony. "I can't take all the credit when most of it belongs to you."

I flip him off and then pull Riyell out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Everyone is still in my room, for some reason. The reactions to my arrival are predictable: all eyes go straight to Riyell. Ajia squeaks and topples off my bed.

"Guys, this is Riyell," I say. "He's an Ardhigizan knight. Velah knight. Whatever. He's been stalking Baya, the witch who's been stalking me, and apparently, she's on her way here."

"I didn't say that," says Riyell. "I just said I think she's heading in your general direction. And why is your lantern glowing?"

"Because it's a lava lamp," I say impatiently. "When the hell is Baya going to get here?"

My window smashes open, scattering glass everywhere. Giovanna screams. Dean shouts and grabs me as we both fall, sheltering me from the shards. Ayaan panics and throws his arms around Ajia for dear life.

I feel blood on my arms from the glass that cut me despite Dean's protection. Leaning back against him, I groan.

But that's when I see the woman standing on the carpet.

Same ragged brown hair, same wild, wild violet eyes. Same wicked grin. Same dirty clothes. She looks like a patient in one of those insane asylums in horror movies, except very very nearby.

"I think I've given you enough time," she says in a sing-song voice. "Enough time, and you're still a little fool. But you're from them. You're all fools. All fools for not thinking I can be something powerful. My mistress showed me how to yield magic and finally, finally I can use it on you, you fool."

"Why," wonders Ayaan out loud. "Do villains always call their victims fool?"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, AYAAN!" I shout.

"What do you want from us?" asks Riyell. Unlike the rest of us, he seems to be completely unaffected by the glass. I don't see a single scratch on him.

The Woman of Antiquam- Baya- smiles. Then, she flings her arm to the side. Suddenly, Giovanna is thrown across the room, pinned to the wall by sheer force. She struggles, but Baya's invisible power is too much for her.

I lunge for Baya, but Dean holds me back. I'm about to scratch his eyes out so I can get to Gia, but that's when Anthony barges in the room.

"What the hell is- Giovanna!"

"Welcome!" Baya offers Anthony another toothy smile. "I'm so glad you're the one who came. I had a hard enough time getting rid of the rest of the little brats, but I forgot about you."

"Why'd you want to get rid of them?" I ask. "Let Giovanna go, and we'll talk."

"I much like her pinned against the wall," says Baya brightly. "Perhaps I should kill her. Perhaps I should rip out her throat, taste her blood. It would be a taste of revenge." Baya, still holding Giovanna against the wall with her invisible magic, walks to me. Leaning down, she tips my chin up.

I don't like my neck exposed, but I don't like showing that I'm afraid either. I glare into her purple eyes. They're almost... muddy-looking.

"Do you know how your pretty uncle killed my love?" she whispers.

"No," I say through clenched teeth. "I was in a coma at the time, you know, the one given to me by your lover. So I'd say we're even."

"He ripped through his throat," growls Baya. "He ripped through his throat, tearing at it, gushing down his hot blood like it was a drug. Videl relished in my love dying. He yearned for it for years."

"Oh yeah? Well Caomh killed my parents," I snap. Dean squeezes my arm like he's trying to tell me not to make Baya mad, but by the looks of it, both of us already are. "So I'm not too sad about Caomh dying. Though apparently you are."

Baya doesn't smile anymore. I try to remind myself that provoking Baya might end in Giovanna's death. As steadily as I can despite my rage, I ask, "What do you want from us?"

"I want to complete a spell by the new moon," says Baya. "It's a bit complicated, you see, and it requires certain elements. Seven portals, opened by seven drops of royal blood. Yours."

"Fine," I say. "Take my blood and get out."

Dean squeezes my arm again. At the word 'blood', Ayaan looks like he might faint.

"Not so simple, I'm afraid, otherwise you'd long be dead," says Baya. "You see, you are the one who needs to open the portals. Each one contains a gem, one from each shade of a rainbow. Find them all and give them to me, and you will live. Fail me, and all but you will die."

It seems simple, but even I know magic is more complicated than simple steps. "What's the spell you want completed?"

"Never you mind," says Baya cheerfully. From the robes of her tattered dress, she takes out a wooden engraved box and tosses it to me. It's carved with all sorts of shapes, but I'm a little bit too preoccupied to make them out. "Use this. It will lead the way to the first songs."

She crosses the room, then runs a single, dirty finger over Giovanna's freckled cheek. "If you want this pretty one- and the rest of them- to live, you will tell nobody. You will leave before the sun sets." She points at Riyell, who is in a predatory crouch, fangs bared and ready to attack. "You, dirty creature, can use the songs to take you to the portal. Do not wait. Each day over the new moon will mean one death." She looks over us like we're her audience, then waves cheerfully. "Have fun."

In a dramatic flurry of black mist, similar to a Velah's Jaunt, she vanishes. Instantly, Giovanna falls to the ground. Ajia and Ayaan hurry to her, Anthony close behind. Giovanna isn't crying, but her face is contorted in terror.

"Is she okay?" I ask. My voice is dull. All my emotions are swimming.

"I'm fine," says Giovanna weakly.

Anthony runs his fingers through his thick, dark hair. "This isn't good."

"We need to go," I say. "We have to."

"But Victoire," says Dean, "what about my parents? What about-"

"Dean, if we don't go, Baya is going to start killing people. I've heard enough about Caomh to know that his lover will do anything to get what she wants. Including kill. Caomh killed my father and ended up getting killed by his brother. Baya hates me. She won't care about killing one of you to get what she wants, because she's that level of fucked up." I let that sink in, then toss the box to Riyell. "Sniff it. What do you get from it with your super Velah senses?"

Riyell puts his nose to the box and inhales deeply. Then, he shakes his head. "I can perhaps use the scent to Jaunt us somewhere, but not if it won't open."

"There's a button on the side," says Ajia, who is holding Giovanna's hand. "Push it."

Riyell does. Instantly, a tinny tune echoes from the inside. It's light-hearted, fast and way too cheerful for the present situation.

"It's a nursery rhyme," says Ayaan. "But I don't remember-"

"Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater," says Anthony suddenly. His arms are crossed, his expression firm. "That's it. Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."

At his words, the latch switches open. I expected some sort of dancing toy, like every other music box, but instead, a light mist shimmers up from the center, glowing in the middle like an eye.

"It's a rudimentary portal," says Riyell. "But it will need an aspect to it to be able to open and send us through it."

"My blood," I say. "It needs my blood, like Baya said. The blood of the royal family of Ardhigiza."

"Wait, wait, wait," says Anthony. "You guys can't be serious about going through this portal, right? It could be a trap. It could lead us halfway to China, it could lead us to a remote little cave where she plans on killing us."

"If she wanted to kill us, then we'd already be dead, starting with Giovanna," I say. "We don't have a choice but to 'follow the songs' like the crazy bitch witch said. And we need to go right now, before Kyle and Emmaline get back."

"What happens when they do get back?" demands Dean. "They're going to get worried. For all we know, they still have communications up with Rani, and they'll bring him back from Niriket to stalk us, and then Baya will really give us hell."

"Rani could probably kill Baya in an instant," says Ajia.

"And you're sure you want to test that?" asks Anthony. "You sure you want to test the fact that Baya doesn't have eyes on us?"

"We're going," I say. "Wherever this portal takes us, we're going. Or at least I am. If any of you don't want to, then that's fine... except I'm pretty sure Baya will kill you so you don't tattle. But we have less than an hour to leave before Emmaline gets back from her shift. And Anthony, it looks like you're coming with us too. Let's go, and I don't want to hear anyone whining about it, because the alternative is you dying."

On my way out of my room to the hall closet, I hear Anthony muse out loud, "Is she always like this?"

"Yes," say Ajia, Giovanna, Dean, and Ayaan simultaneously. 

Please VOTE and COMMENT!

xoxo

Sierra