Journey to Jahennah: Chapter Six

Lila was so distracted by the thought of Ziyadah knowing where her family was, she hardly noticed her surroundings. She only had time to register the beautiful reds and purples before she fell, very suddenly, onto the soft carpet of the basement.

Without missing a beat, Orva recited an incantation and ran her hand over the face of the clock. Ten seconds later, the face went red. It was sealed. Lila scrambled to her feet and promptly fell over again, black spots appearing in front of her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Kenji said, pulling her up again.

Lila nodded. The black dots gradually disappeared.

“Tortaris is time-warped,” Orva said, “time goes forwards and backwards at the same time. Your ‘hours’ with me were only about three minutes in this world and your body has to readjust to the normality of time.”

“Why is it time-warped?” Kenji asked curiously.

“The warp the limits our magic,” she replied, “We cannot fully use our power in a time-warped environment, so Ebony placed one on Tortaris, and presumably on Jahennah as well.” She grinned. “I can already feel the effects lifting.”

Orva stretched her arms wide and rolled her shoulders, then clicked her fingers. Lila’s favourite armchair turned into an alpaca. Lila and Kenji jumped back in surprise and laughed, then ran to pet the fluffy animal in front of them. She clicked them again. A tiny glass ornament shaped like an owl spread its wings and zoomed around the room, swooping low so they had to duck. A third click made the table in the corner spring to life and tap-dance around the room.

The three of them fell about laughing at the sight of it all. Then, Lila gasped.

“Stop!” she whispered, “My family will hear us!”

Orva clapped her hands and everything returned to normal. They fell silent and listened carefully. Not a sound was heard from the rest of the house. The unease Lila had felt when she found out Ziyadah knew her grandfather’s address returned. There were eight people upstairs; they should have been able to hear something.

Lila rushed to the door, a thousand unspeakable images running through her mind. What if Ebony had kidnapped her family? Or worse, killed them? Her heart leapt into her throat and, shaking violently, she grabbed the handle and opened the door. She screamed.

Ava stood there, frozen, a tiny fist raised as if she were about to knock. She was completely still, not a hair moving, not a blink or a quiver. Lila dropped to her knees and took Ava’s face in her hands. Her skin was cold and hard as if made of marble.

“What’s happened to her?”

Kenji’s high-pitched question wasn’t answered immediately. Through tears, Orva leaned down and gazed into Ava's glassy eyes.

“She’s been Calcified,” she croaked. “Turned to stone.”

“Is it reversible?” Kenji asked, his voice still shrill. Lila’s stomach lurched.

“Yes,” Orva replied hesitantly. “There is an antidote, a plant called Gorrefen. But it is extremely rare; it’s almost impossible to find and even harder to grow. It would take too long. The only other way is for Ebony to either die, which would lift the curse, or for her to reverse the spell.”

Lila felt sick. She might get her sister back but the only ways to do so seemed impossible.

She kissed Ava on the forehead. Then, dragging her gaze away from the sweet statue, she took the stairs two at a time, pausing at the top to listen for anything out of the ordinary. There was too much nothing in the air. Lila tiptoed down the hall, barely daring to breathe, hopping lightly over the creaky floorboard. She grew more agitated as she moved closer to the living room. The longer she was upstairs, the less likely it seemed that Ebony was still in the house. But it also meant she knew what would be waiting for her.

Lila stepped into the living room. Everyone was sat where they had been when she and Kenji had left for the basement: her mum and two aunts had their heads together; her great-uncle sat next to her grandfather, watching him sadly; her uncles clutched mugs on rickety stools. But no heads turned when she walked in. No voices asked her why her face was ghostly white, or why she was crying softly. Her mother didn’t put a comforting arm around her shoulder and her grandfather didn't smile his special Grandpa smile.

Like Ava, each person was frozen in place, mid-conversation, sipping tea, staring out the window, all completely still. Lila crossed to her grandfather and perched on the armrest, taking his hand in hers and stroking it, trying to put some warmth back into it.

She didn’t move when she heard footsteps. A small part of her hoped it was Ava. A bigger part of her hoped it was Ebony. She wanted to look into the eyes of the witch that did this and cause her so much pain that she wouldn’t be able to breathe. Because that was what Ebony had done to her.

A sharp crack made her jump and she turned to see Kenji’s apologetic face and a broken pencil on the floor. Orva stood in the doorway behind him. Lila said nothing and turned back to her grandfather. After a moment, she felt Kenji’s hand on her shoulder, silently comforting her, for what could he possibly have said to make this better?

A sudden gasp made Lila jump to her feet and hurry over to Orva, who was cradling the hand that she had just pulled away from Lila’s mother’s cheek. Jet-black letters had appeared on her palm, smouldering as if she had been struck with a poker:

Until she returns. IIIV

A message from Ebony.

“What does it mean?” Lila asked, trembling and staring so hard at the words they started to blur. Was the message about her?

“I think-” Orva replied shakily, “-I think she means me. I think it means that your family will remain Calcified until I go back through the portal to Tortaris.”

Lila stayed silent. She stared at her mother’s lifeless face. She thought of curious little Ava who had simply wanted to see what her big sister was doing. Was this the choice to be made? Orva or her family?

It should have been an easy decision; yesterday, she didn’t even know Orva existed. But what would it mean for Orva, for the mythics, for Tortaris if the centaur went back? Lila sat in the closest empty chair and stared at the floor, unable to look at anyone around her. What kind of a decision was this for a child to make? How were the lives of so many in the hands of a twelve-year-old girl and her best friend?

She lifted her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. What awaited her? What awaited her family? Death at the hands of a madwoman with powers beyond her imagination? Even the thought of it made Lila feel like her heart was being ripped apart. She couldn’t let it happen. But letting Orva go back to Tortaris wasn’t going to stop it.

“Lila,” she said, moving next to her and stroking her hair lightly. “It’s okay. I can go back. There will be other chances to find Jahennah. I’ve dealt with Ebony before, I can deal with her ag-”

“No,” Lila said firmly, releasing her legs, standing up and looking into Orva’s lovely face. “This is bigger than my family. You’re not safe with Ebony terrorising Tortaris, and my family is not safe if she knows where they are. Even if you did go back, there’s no guarantee she’d leave us alone.”

“We’ve got to stop her,” agreed Kenji. He grinned at Orva, who smiled back gratefully.

Lila ran her fingers over her mother’s marbled hair, thinking.

“We need to put them somewhere safe,” she muttered, more to herself than the others.

“Could we make a Pod?” Kenji asked.

Orva hesitated.

“We could,” she said, “but if Ebony comes back here, she’s powerful enough to eventually find it. Back in Tortaris, she was looking for traces of magic before she set the Griffin Brothers’ house on fire. The Pod should be undetectable, but we mustn’t underestimate her. If she did manage to get her hands on one, her power and strength might break that enchantment and endanger your family.”

“So, we need to put them somewhere Ebony would never think to look,” Kenji said, “Surely that could be anywhere in the world?”

Orva shook her head. “Wherever we leave them, someone needs to know they’re there and understand what is happening.”

“But Ebony wiped everyone’s memories centuries ago,” Lila said worriedly, “Nobody knows what’s happening.”

“Well actually,” Orva said, “There is someone. Someone who knows about the portal to Tortaris. Someone who understands the dangers we face.”

She moved to the clock wall and stared at the ticking faces.

“We’ll take them to the clockmaker.”