The Secrets of Elderville

Theo wakes to bright rays of sunlight shining in through his window. As he rubs the sleepiness out of his eyes, he starts to recount his nightmares from last night. He dreamt of Jessa and mother transforming into giant wasps, his mother holding a silver staff with a blue gem at the top of it, but then the gem slowly bled into a red shade, his mother and Jessa both grasp the staff and point it at the elder tree, a beam of red light shot at the tree, creating a flame. It was as if he could feel the hot flame all over his body. He shivers, feeling as if a rock was in the pit of his stomach. Why was he so nervous? He thought. It was just a nightmare and nothing more.

As Theo headed out of his hollow to Nail’s for the day, he notices down the hall, Rose tip toeing around a corner, he quickly follows her. He sneaks up behind her, lightly tapping her shoulder. She jumps into the air, “Oh my elder! Theo!” she said in a hushed voice. “Don’t scare me like that!” Rose quickly looked over her left and right shoulder, making sure no one had heard her. “What are you doing here? You know we’re not allowed down this hall. This is towards the guard’s rooms,” Theo says, leaning over, looking past Rose down the dimly lit hallway. A chill ran through him, the same chill he felt thinking about that nightmare. Rose straightens her back, “I am on a mission, if you must know. I swear there is something wrong with the guards. They look more and more yellow every day, as if they are sick. But yesterday, I’ve noticed they’ve started buzzing slightly and twitching.”

Rose begins to tip toe again down the hall. Theo stands for a moment, hesitant and scared, but then follows his stupid little sister down the hall. As they approach the first door, Theo puts a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Let’s go back. We’re going to be late for Nails and then he’s going to report it back to mother and then she’ll hound us with questions about what we were doing.” Rose knocks his hand off and slowly opens the door. The stench hit them in the face with such force that it caused them to stumble back. They both clutch their noses and enter, “What is that putrid smell? And what is all this yellow gunk?” Theo pokes at it with his wand, but it sticks to the end of it like glue. He tried to smack it off, but it would not come off. “Aw man, come on Rose. We’re breaking so many rules right now, and I need to get this gunk off my wand! Look the blue paint is already chipping off the end. Come on Rose, please.” But Rose hushes him as she approaches one of the bunk beds, which to Theo’s sudden realization, had been slightly buzzing this whole time. As Rose begins to lift the cover, out shoots from it like lightning, “A WASP!” Theo and Rose shout in unison. The wasp darts at them, pointing its sharp stinger at them, but they dodge it just in time. It crashes into the wall of the hollow, buzzing furiously, stuck to the wall. Rose and Theo stare at it as it reaches for them, still buzzing. Rose begins to step forward, but Theo stands in front of her. “No way, you are not getting close to that thing! We must go tell mother immediately,” Theo takes Rose’s hand trying to drag her to the window, but she will not move. “No, look at it. Look at its wings, Theo,” She steps towards it again. Theo takes notice of its wings; it was not wasp wings it had but wanderer wings. The intricate design and shade were the exact same as the other wanderer guards. “Theo we cannot go to mother about this. For I’m afraid this is her doing.”

Rose reached out to the wasp wanting to comfort it, she could almost feel its fear. Theo stops her again, grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the window. “Theo! No! We must help him!” Theo did not stop until they were at the very last branch of the tree, in front of Nail’s hollow. Rose kept fighting to go back up, clawing at his hand on her arm, “Rose! Enough! I don’t know what that thing was up there, but it is beyond our help. We can do nothing for it!” He grabs both of her shoulders and shakes them. Rose stops and stares over his shoulder, Theo releases her and turns around.

Nail is standing in the entrance of his hollow with his weapon from the old wasp wars, his legendary nail. He hobbles towards them, using the nail as a cane, stopping in front of Rose. He pulls out a piece of crumpled up paper and quill, he turns Theo around and uses his back to write on the piece of paper. He hands the paper to Rose, she reads, “Danger?” Rose nods her head at him, pointing up. “In the first guards’ room to the left, we found a wasp there. He tried to attack us but got stuck in the wall. But I don’t think it’s a normal wasp, Nail. It’s like a mix of a wanderer and a wasp. It seemed frightened,” Rose holds a hand to her heart, remembering the feeling of pure terror. Nail motions at them to stay. Then nods his head and flies up towards the guard’s hollow. Theo and Rose stare after him, “I hope he doesn’t hurt it” Rose squeezes her hands together. Theo shakes his head, “I hope it doesn’t hurt him.”

Within 20 minutes, they see Nail flying back down towards them. As he lands on the branch, Rose rushes at him, “did you kill it?” Nail shrugs his shoulders and stretches his hand out for the paper and quill that Theo still held. They see him write, “Gone. No wasp. Only the stinger left.” Then Nail pulls out the large wasp stinger from his bag. Rose, wide-eyed, shrinks away from it, Theo immediately touches it, his eyes gleaming. “Woah, a real wasp stinger. Can I have it?” Nail shakes his head, putting it back in his bag. He turns his back to them and enters his hollow. Theo and Rose follow him, “I’ll make some tea,” Rose begins putting water into a kettle. Theo watches Nail as he starts to tie a piece of string around the stinger, and then starts to write a letter. Nail rolls up the letter and ties it to the stinger. He motions again for Theo and Rose to stay and exits the hollow. Theo and Rose follow him out, watching him fly off the branch and away from the elder tree. “Where in the world could he be going?” Rose squints her eyes as the sun starts to rise in the sky. “No idea, but it better be somewhere to get some help, cause we’re going to need it.”

Corny lay asleep in his favorite nest, in his favorite tree. He picked it specifically because it was between Opal’s tree and the elder kingdom. It is where he has rested for years, so that he could be within reach of either wanderer. Whether it’s Nail with news to give to Opal or Opal to give news to Nail.

Corny opened his eyes to sounds of a rapid knocking on his head, he knew it was Nail this time. “Ah hello my raggedy Nail, what news do you bring, eh?” Nail pulls from his bag a rolled-up letter, and attached to it, a wasp stinger. Corny’s eyes opened wide, his beak dropping open, letting slip a tiny “hoo”. Nail snaps his fingers to break the trance Corny was in and pushes the letter and stinger towards him. Corny shook out his feathers and flapped his wings quickly lifting him up. He carefully takes the letter from Nail. “Don’t worry I’ll get this to Opal lick-ity split!” and off he went at the speed of light. Nail stares after Corny, worry filled his face. He glances down at his leg, staring at his old war wound, his knee starting to ache, his whole body was beginning to feel run down. He rubs it, sighing deeply and then slowly turning away and back towards Elderville.

“Okay so you didn’t really take to Tai Chi, so instead you’re going to learn how to fight with a weapon. I’ve laid out several different weapons on this table, choose one and we’ll see if it’s the right fit for you.” Matteo moves to the side of the table as Jessa approaches the many weapons. Her hand gravitates towards a dagger, with a black and red handle. “I like this one, it’s pretty,” Matteo sighs, “You can’t choose based on if it’s pretty or not. You need to choose whether you can wield it in a fight.” Jessa lays the dagger back down and picks up a bow instead. “Ah the bow and arrow, my personal favorite. Very useful for all kinds of things. Battle and hunting, or if you’re just really bored you can shoot at targets for fun.” Matteo takes Jessa’s hand, leading her to the arrows and targets.

Jessa picks up an arrow, aiming it towards the target. Matteo clicks his tongue, “You’re doing it all wrong. Ya gotta position your arms like this,” he stands behind her, pressing his body against hers. Jessa’s face began to blush, she bites her lip, pressing herself into him. He brushes her hair from her neck, she could feel his hot breath. Jessa turns her head to look at him, they both start to lean into each other.

“Oh, well, well. Didn’t know you two were in here, am I interrupting a special moment?” Jessa and Matteo break apart turning to see Hawk, leaning against the hollow entry with a devilish smirk on their face. Jessa suddenly aims the bow and arrow at Hawk, Matteo freezes. “Jessa stop, they’re just trying to get in your head. Don’t give in.” Hawk is unfazed by this; they start to walk slowly towards Jessa. Jessa is startled by this, not a hint of fear on their face. Hawk stops dead in front of the arrow pointed directly at their face, lifting their hand to Jessa’s hand. “Honey, if you wanted to shoot me, I would be lying dead on the floor back there. Put it down before you get hurt,” Jessa lowers the bow and arrow, with Hawk’s hand still touching hers. Jessa began to feel the butterflies in her stomach again, she jerked her body back from them. Hawk smirks at her, giving her a wink and spins on their heel to turn around, flipping their long magenta hair in her face once again. Jessa picks up a whiff of their perfume, strawberries and honey.

After practicing some archery, Matteo and Jessa head up to the gathering hollow for lunch, standing in line for today’s chicken and dumplings. Jessa takes a deep breath in, smelling the food, but instead she smells dirt and rotten onions. She looks down and sees Beans staring up at her, “oh hey there Beans, what cha doing just staring at me all weirdly for?” Beans hands her a rolled-up letter, then gets in line for lunch. Jessa unrolls the paper, Matteo leans over her head and reads it out loud, “Opal wants both of us to go to her immediately? Aw man, I was just about to get some of Selene’s famous chicken and dumplings!” Jessa rolls her eyes, picks up two bowls of the soup, hands one to Matteo and starts for Opal’s hollow with Matteo following behind, eating his bowl at the same time.

When they arrive to Opal’s hollow, they’re surprised to see Corny’s eye peaking in through the window, along with Lily, Hawk, and one other tall male wanderer who Jessa had not met yet. Opal appears from around the mail tube, arms crossed and a serious expression on her face. “Jessa, Matteo good, you’re here. I can begin to explain the reason I called you all here.” Opal ushers everyone to circle around her, but before she can open her mouth, the tall wanderer speaks, “is this bad news or good news? Cause the suspense is killing me.” Opal sighs deeply, “I’m sorry to say Captain Vlad but this is very bad news. I’ve received a warning from Elderville, along with this.” Opal walks to her desk, opening the drawer and revealing the wasp stinger. Everyone froze where they stood, eyes wide with fear. Jessa walks towards Opal, taking the stinger from her, “what did the warning say, who sent it?” Opal gave the letter to her, Jessa takes it, her hands trembling. It read: “The evil wasp king has succeeded in mutating the villagers of Elderville into his minions of wasps. I’m afraid the time to fight is now, gather your wanderers and ready them for the war to come. I will see you soon Opie. ~ Nail “

Jessa drops the paper, feeling like her heart has jumped into her throat. “Opal I’m not ready,” Jessa could begin to feel the sting of tears in her eyes. Opal walks towards her, opening her arms. But Jessa stepped back, shaking her head, “No, no amount of comforting is going to make me ready. I still have so much to learn; I can’t defeat the wasp king yet. I’m not ready, I-…” Jessa flees the hollow and out the window, knocking into Corny. “Jessa, you can do-…” Corny starts to say, but Jessa won’t hear it. She flies up towards the top of the tree, sobbing intensely. Opal stands in the middle of the circle, everyone standing silently. Matteo makes a move to go after Jessa, but Hawk puts a hand on his chest.

“You heard her, no amount of comforting is going to help her. So maybe she needs a little stern pep talk. Leave it all to me,” before anyone can protest, Hawk darts out of the window. “Where’d the little princess go Corny?” He points up to the tree. “Please be gentle with her Hawk, I know how aggressive you can get. She’s going through a lot right now,” Hawk rolls their eyes. “Yeah, well a lot of people are going through a lot right now. She’s not the only one who’s got problems, like her village for instance.” Hawk flies after Jessa, once at the top of the tree, they spot her on a branch, curled up in a ball, crying.

“Get up, your village needs you.” Hawk lands next to her on the branch, “Go away Hawk, I’ve had enough of your bull shit,” Jessa turns her scrunched up body away from them. “Woah there, you’re gonna have to pay the swear toll, princess,” Hawk bounces down onto the branch, making the entire branch bounce, swinging their legs. “Ya know if I had a family, and they were in danger I would do anything to make sure that they were safe. And I hear you’ve got a brother and sister over there waiting for you to do just that. So how about you stop whining and get your ass up and save them.” Jessa lifts her head up, looking back at them, “If you had a family? What happened to yours?” Hawk waves their hand, “long story, I’ll tell you about it after the war, deal?” Jessa turns her body back around to face them. “Why are you helping me? I thought you hated me for stealing Matteo from you?” Hawk bursts into laughter, almost falling off the branch. “Dude, I hate Matteo, he was a terrible boyfriend. I just like messing with people. And I figured out that I liked the female gaze way more than the male.” Jessa stretches out her legs, copying Hawk. “How did you figure it out? Like what made you realize?” Hawk smiles, “I just felt more sexually attracted to girls than boys. Then again, I am still attracted to the boys from time to time. But none of the boys here are worthy of my time.” Jessa looked at them out of the corner of her eye, “And what about the girls? Are there any here worth your time?” Hawk turns their head, and they lock eyes with her. They smile, “yeah maybe one or two have caught my attention,” Hawk brushes their leg against Jessa’s. Jessa could feel the butterflies again, only it felt like they were trying to escape through her mouth this time.

They sit there for a while, watching the cars drive by on the street below. “Oh look, Delilah’s home,” Hawk points their finger at the red car pulling into the driveway. They watch Delilah rush into her house, “wonder what she’s in a hurry about?” Hawk says. Jessa flies down to Opal’s hollow, Hawk following her close behind. Everyone is still there, sitting spread out over the hollow.

When Jessa and Hawk enter, everyone stands. But before anyone can say anything, something shoots up in the mail tube. Opal rushes to open the paper inside, rapidly scanning it. She then runs to her desk and begins to write. “Opal what did Delilah write? What’s going on?” Jessa tries to read over Opal’s shoulder, but Opal rolls up the paper, sending it down the mail tube. Jessa shouts, “Opal enough secrets! Tell me what’s happening?!” Opal turns to Jessa, the silence deafening. “Delilah found something crucial to help aid us in our fight, something to help you Jessa. Come with me now.” Opal takes Jessa’s hand, leading her out of the hollow window, but then halting to turn back to the group, “Oh and everyone else, tell the others that it’s time to start preparing for war. But maybe do it after they’re all done eating lunch.”

Jessa and Opal sit on the coffee table and watch as Delilah paces back and forth in her living room, her hands repeatedly running through her long, burnt orange hair. Opal lets out a frustrated sigh, “Come on Delilah, what is it? What’s this crucial thing you found that will help us?” Delilah halts in the middle of the room, staring at Opal. She takes a seat on the couch across from them, breathing deeply, she seemed slightly nervous about something. Jessa then sighs, crossing her arms, “Delilah, will you please tell us what’s going on?” Delilah stands up again, “Okay, okay so I don’t have the crucial thing that can help us BUT!” she holds her hand up before Jessa and Opal could protest. “But I know where it is, we just need to go get it, but I can’t do it by myself.” Opal’s wings twitch, “Go on.” Delilah smirks, “Well you know my job at the museum, right? We just got in a shipment of new artifacts. I was helping unpack them and setting them up in the new exhibit when I came across something that had a familiar symbol on it.” She dug in her pants pocket to pull out a folded-up piece of paper. The paper had the maiden, mother and crone symbol shaded onto it. Jessa and Opal gasp, jumping up from their seats. “What was the symbol on?” Opal takes the piece of paper from her. “It was on this old dagger. I read the plaque that’ll be displayed under it, and it said long ago, the dagger had been embedded with a spell to ensure that anyone who wielded it could cut down their enemies without fail.” Opal tears her eyes away from the paper, “I remember reading about this dagger in the elderville record hollow. How do we get it? What do we need to do?”

Delilah grabs her phone, pulling up a picture of the museum. “See that side door there? I’ll park my car right there, and we’ll head in through there. I’ll distract the guard, while you two sneak into the back rooms where they keep all the artifacts that haven’t been displayed yet. The dagger shouldn’t be too heavy for you if there’s two, although it might help even more if there was a third.” Before Opal could say anything, they hear a voice shout from the staircase, “count me in!” Matteo comes flying towards them. “Matteo! Were you eavesdropping? We’ve talked about that.” Matteo shrugs, “yeah but you were going to ask me anyway though, right?” Opal and Jessa smile, nodding their heads.

Jessa, Opal, Matteo and Delilah head out to the museum in Delilah’s car. While Opal and Delilah discuss the plan up front, in the back of the car Matteo grabs Jessa’s waste and pulls her in close. “Hey, I know this might be scary for you but don’t worry, I’ll look out for you.” He moves his head in to kiss her, but something inside Jessa told her to step back. Matteo looks at her with confusion, Jessa could see the hurt in his eyes, without thinking she lies, “I don’t feel right kissing in front of Opal.” Matteo gives a weak smile, nods his head and kisses her hand softly. What is wrong with me? Jessa thought, why didn’t I want him to kiss me? I thought I liked him. I do like him but-, a vision of Hawk popped into her mind, their beautiful green eyes staring at her. The butterflies reared their beautiful wings again in her stomach. Before she could dive deeper into thought, the car lurched to a stop. “We’re here,” Delilah says, turning her head to the back of the car. “Everyone remember the plan?” All three nod their heads and fly towards Delilah, sliding into her denim jacket pocket.

Delilah enters the side door and immediately sees the night security guard, sitting at his desk playing a Nintendo switch. “Hey there Eddie, what game are you playing tonight?” Startled, Eddie tumbles out of his chair and then stands up straight, hiding his switch behind him. “What game?” Delilah giggles, and takes off her jacket, setting it on a chair directly by the back storage room door which was conveniently cracked open. An accident Delilah made earlier when clocking out three hours ago, “So Edd, can I call you Edd? How long have you been working here? I know you’re fairly new.” Eddie straightens his tie, “We-well, I’ve been working the night shift since Ben left. So about 3 months now,” Delilah nods her head, glancing behind him to see three little wings entering the storage room. She sucks in a quick breath, trying to think of other things to distract Eddie.

While Delilah distracts the guard, Jessa and Opal stare at Matteo as he attempts to lift the dagger from a display case all by himself, assuring them that he had enough strength for all three of them and not to worry. But they were running out of time and fast, Jessa sighs and darts for the dagger with Opal following behind. They gently lift the dagger, thinking they have succeeded, when suddenly a shrill alarm started blaring, along with bright red lights blinking. All three simultaneously drop the dagger back on the display. Opal pulls out her wand, instructing the other two to do the same, “On the count of one, repeat this spell, ‘restringimento’, okay?” Opal counts down, “three…..two…..ONE! RESTRINGIMENTO!” Their wands shoot out yellow beams, towards the dagger, and in the blink of an eye the dagger shrinks down to the size of a peanut, the alarm began again. Opal quickly shoots a deafening spell at the alarm bell. Jessa grabs the dagger and sticks it in her bag, as they rush to hide behind a tall statue. Not two seconds go by when the guard and Delilah burst into the room, Delilah pulling on the guard’s jacket. “See, what did I tell you? That alarm has been faulty for years. An ant could’ve set it off, now come on back to the desk and tell me more about that game where guys are falling or whatever.” Eddie, with a confused expression on his face, slowly turns back around and out the door with Delilah.

The three of them take a collective sigh of relief. Opal starts towards the door, when Matteo gasps suddenly. “Look! The dagger! It’s glowing red!” Jessa opens her bag, and her eyes marvel at the dagger, realizing her hand had been holding it the entire time. She holds it up, so they all could see, but Jessa notices the only one who wasn’t amazed was her aunt. Opal’s eyes were filled with fear, as she stared at not only the dagger but at Jessa herself. “Opal? What is it?” Opal shakes her head, motioning for the door, “Come on, we have to get out of here. Delilah can only distract the guard for so long.” They successfully slid back into Delilah’s jacket pocket, then signaled to Delilah that the mission was done.

End of Chapter Eight.