The Secrets of Elderville

“What in the elder-living hell are you talking about?! What certain doom? Elderville seems fine, I haven’t sensed anything amiss for the twenty-one years I’ve lived there!” She pauses, oh right, I’m twenty-one now. Jessa shakes the thought away, quickly rising from her seat and begins to pace her aunt’s hollow. Opal dashes to the tube and picks up the piece of paper that had shot up earlier from the human lady. Her eyes rapidly scanning the paper, Opal then rolls it up, turning to Jessa she says, “Listen to me Jessa, the only reason you haven’t noticed anything wrong is because it was being hidden from you and your siblings,” she goes to a desk to pick up a quill and paper, speedily scribbling down something. Jessa stares as her aunt then runs to the opening of the hollow and whistles. Suddenly Cornelius’ eye peaks through the hollow. “You called?” Opal waves the paper in front of his eye, “Oh! Right, right will do miss Opal,” he sticks his beak in and carefully takes the paper out of her hand. “Thanks, Corny!”, Opal turns back to face her niece, as Corny flies away; noticing Jessa’s confused reaction, she continues “ok, what I’m about to reveal to you is going to feel like a ton of acorns hitting you in the face but I need to be blunt and come right out and say it,” Opal takes a deep breath in, “ Your mother, my sister, is….well she’s evil.” Silence.

Afraid that she went into shock, Opal steps towards Jessa when suddenly bursts of laughter bubble out of her mouth. Catching her breath, Jessa says “well that’s extreme! I mean my mother can be bossy and unfair at times but evil?” Jessa begins laughing again. Opal walks towards her and grabs Jessa’s arms, “she is evil, she is being possessed by the old wasp king, there I said it!” releasing her arms, Opal walks to her desk and slumps onto it. Jessa, unable to fully process what her aunt has told her, stands befuddled.

Collecting her thoughts, Jessa asks, “But how? He’s been dead for years,” she walks towards Opal, sitting down in the chair next to the desk. Opal turns her body to Jessa, she looks down at her hands and sighs, “When your mother and I were kids, we used to sneak into the record hollow after the village went to sleep and read as many books as we could. One night, we came to realize we had read almost every single book, except one. This one book was sealed up by the first elderville king with powerful magic; legend said that the first king trapped the soul of the wasp king inside the book, for the king wanted the wasp to suffer. He felt that the wasp king should be punished for all the lives he stole. I didn’t want to touch the thing but your mother, the overachiever, had to know if the legend was true, so she opened it. She’s very skilled in enchantments, a few swishes and flicks with her wand and some words and bam! It opens. A red smoke poured out and engulfed Isobel, I was unable to see her. Once the smoke cleared, Isobel is frozen, staring at the book with a blank expression, her green eyes flooded with the color of blood red. I asked her if she was alright, and she said she was fine but after that night her whole character changed. We used to talk all the time, gossiping about boys or showing each other new enchantments we had learned that day,” Opal stops and smiles, then furrowing her brow, she continues, “she started closing herself off from everyone, never leaving her hollow. Ordering the royal helpers to fetch her books or food, sometimes I would see them crying after leaving her. I knew I had to do something, so I told mother, your grandmother. She was calm when I told her, and immediately knew what to do. Mother would send word to Nail to research any enchantments that would extract a soul from a body, because the first elderville king had burned any books containing soul extracting, fearing the spell fall into the wrong hands someday. Nail must have searched mountain to mountain, but he had no luck in finding a lead. Then a day came where I was to be wed to an awful wanderer who was older than I, your father. Mother and I knew there was no way I was marrying him so I left, but I promised her I would find a way to bring Isobel back. And I’m going to do just that, with your magic, we can get her back Jessa!” Grinning, Opal stares at Jessa who stares at her lap, unsure of what to do or say. All this time her mother has been an old angry wasp, pretending to be a caring mother and Queen? But was she caring or was she, she paused, was HE only acting like he cared to keep up the act?

Jessa gasps and turns her gaze towards her aunt. “What do I do? How do I save her? Wait, hold on, she or no, he hasn’t done anything horrible to the village nor the people, at least not from what I’ve seen,” Opal sighs and lays her hand on Jessa’s shoulder, “Because he hid it from you, I told you this already.” Opal jumps from her desk and flies straight towards a high shelf, picking up a stack of letters with the royal seal, “your grandmother, she told me everything. She kept a close eye on Isobel and every decision she ever made. Isobel aka Wasp King decided to marry your father and then had you, Theo and Rose, and then poisoned him.”

Jessa’s eyes widened, “he killed my father?” she lifted her hand to her mouth, in shock. Her mother had told her he died from illness, yet her mother isn’t her mother, feeling dizzy from all this information Jessa rests her head in her hands. Opal continued, “After your father’s death, wanderers all over the village had started to go missing, and of course the queen wasn’t too quick to investigate it. Soon thirty-three out of seven hundred wanderers had vanished, mother finally perked up enough courage to sneak into Isobel’s hollow to try and find any clues as to where all the wanderers had gone. Searching the desk, she found transfiguration enchantments and drawings of wanderers forming into wasps,” Jessa drops her hands from her face to look at Opal, “you’re telling me that the Wasp King is turning my people into wasps?!” Opal hands her the letters, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Mother wrote it all down, risking her life every day. Jessa stared at her grandmother’s letters, lifting her hand and tracing the words with her finger, feeling an ache in her chest. A sentence mentioning Jessa’s name catches her attention; it read “Our dear Jessa’s magical skills are growing stronger and have decided that she may be the solution to our problems,” Jessa sets the letters carefully on the desk next to Opal. “But I’m not even that good at flying, my wings are still in their second stage of growth! How can I defeat my mo- I mean the Wasp King! With my powers? How!” Jessa could feel her heartbeat quicken and the room began to spin, she clutches the chair, tears forming in her eyes. It’s no use trying to calm down now as the tears start to fall onto her rosy cheeks.

Opal swiftly crouches down in front of Jessa, grabbing her hands, she stares into her eyes. “Calm yourself, breathe Jessa, breathe,” Jessa shakes her head, “I-I can’t he-help it,” blubbering now, her body trembling. Opal lifts her hands and rests them on Jessa’s cheeks, “Listen to me, are you listening?” Jessa nods her head, “Make a list, right now, make a list of everything you see, everything you hear, everything you can feel and everything you can smell. Name at least five things each and say it out loud, will you do that for me?” Opal wipes a tear from her cheek and waits. Jessa takes a deep breath, “Paper, uh-uhm, lights, ah a uh yellow st-stick,” Opal giggles, “a pencil,” Jessa cracks a smile, “oh.”

“Do you feel better?” Opal asks. Jessa shrugs, sniffling, then shaking her head no. “No but I am calmer, thank you.” Opal grabs a cloth from her bed, offering it to her, “You’re welcome, I know this is all a little overwhelming.” Jessa scoffs, “a little? Try a lot!” wiping her face, she lowers the cloth, looking down at it. “Aunt Opal, I’m not powerful enough to stop him,” Now it’s Opals turn to scoff, “Honey, you don’t even know what you’re capable of. It’s time you know who your ancestors were. Isobel never told you about them?” Jessa shakes her head no, “No? Course not, because that jerk Wasp King doesn’t want you to know since you’re a direct descendant of his enemy. The wanderer who entrapped him inside that dusty old book,” Opal arches her eyebrow, waiting for it to click in her niece’s head, then Jessa’s mouth drops open, “You mean...”

“Yep,” Opal grins from pointed ear to pointed ear.

“But which…”

“Your mother’s side, my side of the family, duh! How do you think your mother could’ve opened that book? Only the first king’s blood line can undo that type of magic. Like I said, your mother was and still is a very skilled enchantress, and that power has been passed down to you.”

“Okay like I said, I’m still in my second stage of wing growth. It’s been two years and nothing! Just look at them! They’re so small on my body,” Opal squints at Jessa’s wings and begins to examine them. After five minutes of poking and prodding her wings, Opal dashes up, flying to her highest shelf in her hollow. Retrieving a small worn-out book, she floats back down, setting the book on her desk. Jessa reads the title, ‘Wing Enchantments’. Opal flips through the book until she lands on the desired page. “Ah hah! Alright now sit very, very still,” reaching her hand down to her leg, she picks up a silver wand, hanging from a strap fastened to her right thigh. Opal begins to twirl her wand towards Jessa’s wings and utters three words, “Crescita delle ali!” A spark zapped from her wand to Jessa’s wings, feeling a shock, she could begin to feel her wings grow. “What did you do?!” Opal slams the book closed, smiling. “I just undid the spell that I can only assume the Wasp King put on you to slow down your wing growth,” she then rests her hands on each hip, sticking out her chest in a proud like manner. “He did that to me? I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with me! It’s been him! That horrible, no-good bug!” Opal laughs. “Well go ahead and check out your new wings! My mirror’s around the mail tube.” Jessa gives her aunt a quizzical look, “Mirror? Mail tube?” Opal rolls her eyes, “I’ll teach you human words later, now go on!”

As Theo serves Nail the mystery slop Rose and him had prepared, he pauses, letting the green slimy goo drip from the wooden spoon that hovered above Nail’s bowl. Theo wanted to wait and see if Nail really wanted to consume this snot gumbo. To his surprise, Nail nods his head in approval, and Theo pours it in his bowl, the goo making a plop noise. Theo leaves Nail to his booger soup, joining Rose, who now sits by the neatly stacked books, reading a book called ‘All about the Aquilegia Caerulea’. Finally resting his legs from all that cooking and cleaning, Theo sits in the chair across from his sister, reading the title of the book she has, “All about what now?” Rose lowers her book, obviously annoyed by the interruption, “Aquilegia Caerulea, moron. Also known as the Colorado blue columbine.”

“Well excuse me for not knowing long, boring words!” Rose hushes him and continues to read. But Theo cannot help himself, he whispers “what am I supposed to do in this hollow? There’s nothing but books and human junk,” he stares at his sister, waiting for an answer. Suddenly a paper appears in front of his face, the list Nail wrote out. Attached to the paper was Nail himself, he lifts his finger to the fourth demand.

4. Clean after meal

Theo sighs and glances over his shoulder at the mess of dishes in the wash basin. “Rose put that book down, I’m not cleaning those dishes by myself,” Rose slams the book shut and darts herself over to the dishes in a flash. “I’ll wash, you dry” she says as she picks up the soap flakes and wash cloth. As slow as a slug, Theo rises from the chair and leisurely walks to the dishes, picking up a cloth as well. Rose watches her brother out of the corner of her eye, as she finishes her third dish and onto the next, Theo finishes drying his first dish. “Theo if you don’t pick up the pace soon, I’m going to leave you alone in this hollow with him. Because as you can see, I’m almost done,” Theo lazily looks to his left, surveying his sister’s huge dish pile which in a matter of minutes was reduced to two dirty dishes and a fork, he then turns his eyes to his side of the sink which was now full of washed dishes. Not wanting to be left alone with Nail and his weird silent staring, Theo begins to dry off the dishes so fast it was as if his life depended on it.

After about ten minutes, Rose and Theo slowly took in the hard work they had done, in what was once an absolute messy hollow, to a now somewhat livable one. Feeling a sharp pain at their ankles, they turn to see Nail poking them both with the sticks they saw him sharpening earlier. He had one stick in each hand, he had prepared them to make sure they left in a quick manner. “How rude! Not even a thank you?!” Rose huffed, feeling the stick poke her again, “Unbelievable! Alright! We are leaving!”

Theo and Rose make it back to the upper level of the elder tree, just in time for third gathering. As they entered the gathering hall, every single wanderer’s attention drew to them. An uproar of whispers began, as they took their seats at the center table. But as soon as they started, they all stopped at once. To Theo and Rose, they knew that meant mother had arrived, floating down, with her glowing long blonde hair falling over her shoulders, her golden crown shined under the glow of the fireflies flying above them. Sliding gracefully into her seat, she smoothed down her flowing sage green gown.

Directing her attention to the village now, “Welcome back, the sun is setting on another glorious day in our beautiful elder tree. Eat and fill your tummies, for tomorrow is filled with unexpected wonders and you must build your strength for the hard work ahead.” Theo and Rose stick their faces in their plates of food, hoping to avoid eye contact with their mother, when suddenly a voice from the crowd of wanderers speaks out, “where is my son, Ember?! I notified your royal guards two weeks ago and I have heard nothing back! Have you found him or not?!” Rose glances between the male wanderer and her mother.

Isobel rises from her seat, “My dear subject, we are doing everything to find your son. But there is no sign of him anywhere. We’re afraid a great horned owl may have taken him. One was spotted last night; I believe our dear princess Jessa has also been taken by this beast. I’ve decided to send out some of my top trained guards to search for our missing wanderers,” the wanderer still obviously upset, sits back down with a grunt. But then another brave wanderer shouts from the other side of the wasp nest, “my daughters have been missing for months and your guards haven’t told me anything! No clues?! No trace of my babies?! How could they disappear! I want answers!” then as if on cue, more and more wanderers began to shout about their lost loved ones. A husband, a girlfriend, a friend, even grandparents. Isobel stares at the crowd with a blank expression. Unfazed by the deafening noise that became increasingly louder and louder from the distressed crowd. In a swift like motion, the queen pulls her wand from her sleeve, pointing it toward the ceiling. A bright yellow light appears from the tip of the wand, the light growing brighter, blinding all the villagers as well as silencing their outraged voices; Theo and Rose shield their eyes, blinded by their mother’s powers. The wanderers go silent in unison, they take their seats, one by one, mingling with each other once again like normal. They were smiling, eating, even laughing. It was as if they had completely forgotten what they were mad about.

Rose turns to look at her mother, “Mother, may I ask what that spell was?” Theo’s eyes widen, “Spell? That was a spell?! I just thought she made a big ball of light to distract everyone!” Isobel smiles, returning her wand to her sleeve. “That’s what the light is meant to do. To grab hold of the one’s attention but while they are distracted, they are enchanted with a mood changing spell. It switches their moods to whatever the caster wants them to feel. Masking their true feelings.”

Rose and Theo are shocked by the queen’s spell. Rose nervously asks, “But mother, what about everyone’s family members? Their friends? Are we going to search for them?” The queen smiles, slowly walking towards Rose and Theo. She carefully lays each hand on their heads and lowers her head until she’s eye level with them. Her eyes focused upon both of their worried gazes and says, “Let me worry about the village while you two worry about filling your bellies and then heading back to your hollows to rest for the days to come. You’ve still got many more days of helping Nail.” Isobel then exits the nest quickly, without announcing the end of the third gathering, followed by her guards whose skin, Rose noticed, was a faint yellow shade. Were they sick? Rose wondered. Quite odd if all four of her guards were all sick. Rose makes a quick note in her head to ask Nail if he had any books on illnesses.

Stepping in front of the mirror, Jessa takes in her new wings. They were finally taller than her and heavier. The weight felt as if she had two heavy bags attached to her back. She turned to view how she looked from the side and gasped at the shade of her wings. They were shimmery, no that’s not the right word. They were iridescent. Especially when the light hit them just right.

Gleaming with joy she ran back around the mail tube to hug attack Opal. They fall to the floor bubbling with laughter. “I guess you like ’em?” Opal says. “Like them? I love them! Opal you are the bee’s knees!” She hugs her aunt once more. “I cannot thank you enough! But…” Jessa’s thoughts now focus on the situation at hand. “How do I defeat the wasp king on my own? He’s got years and years of built-up strength and magic,” Opal grabs her niece’s hand, “We train.”

End of Chapter Four.