“For you to get in touch with the resistance, the first thing you’re going to need is this.” Alondra touched the palm of her right hand with her left index finger and a spherical object materialized before her. It was the size of a tennis ball but made of red and white crystal and whose facets reflected more light than they absorbed. Sarah recognized it right away.

“An Orvium? Now, that’s something I haven’t seen in ages!” she said.

“Yes. There aren’t many left that still work, but I’ve always been a collector,” Alondra noted.

“What is it?” Lila asked. Unlike her mother, she had never seen such an object or even heard of its name, but she could sense the ancient power flickering within.

“An old communication device used by witches during the Dark Ages. Each crystal resonates at a specific magic frequency that can only be picked up by others. Most of them were destroyed around the 15th century, but a handful remained,” Sarah replied. “I had the pleasure of using one during my time in the Council.”

“And now, you’ll get to do it again,” Alondra sent the object floating towards her. The Orvium was lighter than it seemed, and it responded differently to non-magical and magical creatures. To the former, it was always cold, no more than an elaborate paperweight to display on a luxurious desk, but to the latter, it was warm, and filled with memories of times long gone. If one were to stare at it long enough and try to attune to it, you could pick up lingering fragments of its many historical achievements. It wasn’t advised to do so, though.

“Why not?” Lila asked.

“You can get lost in those fragments,” Alondra bit her upper lip. “Each Orvium is like a miniature black hole at its core. It will suck you in if you’re not focused.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“They have to be. They were designed to not be tampered with or have their communications intercepted. That makes them perfect for this type of scenario.”

“How does it work?” Lila picked up the object from her mother’s hands and iridescent sparks ran through her fingers.

“You think of the message you want to send, it absorbs it, and sends it across the frequency it has been synched with. Then, you wait for a reply that will be known only to you. You’ll hear it in your brain, not through your ears. Be warned that the first time that it happens can be a bit... disorienting.”

“Disorienting how?”

It was Sarah’s time to reply as she recalled her very own experience and the lingering effects of it. “Think of sea sickness but a thousand times worse. The Orvium resonates deep and makes you lose balance and concentration in one fell swoop. You’re going to feel like shit for a while.”

“This keeps getting better and better...” Lila sighed. “And this is the only way to make contact?”

“For everyone’s protection, yes,” Alondra said. “You need to assume that all official channels are being monitored, and we can’t risk that. Now that Tabitha is on the move, she’s not screwing around. It would be foolish to not do the same. Just keep your wits about you and you should have no problems.”

“This is going to be worse than teleporting all over the place, won’t it?”

“Oh, much worse! Our ancestors believed in magic through pain and discomfort. If it doesn’t hurt, it’s not real.”

“I can make the connection for you, if you’d like, Lila. After all, I do have more experience than you with this sort of artifact.,” Sarah declared.

“Sarah, I know you mean well, but this is not the time to go all mother hen on your daughter. She needs to experience this for herself if she’s to grow,” Alondra said.

“She’s right,” Lila said, holding the Orvium close to her chest. “I’ll do it. I want to do it. For Penelope.”

“For Penelope then,” Sarah took a few steps back and Alondra did the same. “You’ll need some space to yourself to make the connection. Just think about what you’re looking for and what you hope to accomplish and let it take it away from you. For a while, it will be as if you’re being pulled from every direction, so keep your focus on that singular desire, the reason you’re doing this. That’s how you get the message across and don’t get torn apart by the magic inside. Feel the pain but don’t give in to it, okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Lila said, quivering. It wasn’t hesitation but a momentary lapse of judgment. Danger would always follow her around now and this was just another obstacle in her journey of deliverance and self-preservation. Somewhere out there, there were people who hated Tabitha Blackwood as much as she did, men and women with secrets and the knowledge to rescue her beloved friend from the influence of the sign of the evil. She had endured so much pain already. This was not going to be the one thing to break her.

“Go for it when you’re ready, then.” Alondra shielded the room once more and glanced at Sarah who was more nervous than she would ever let know. Lila’s anger and disappointment toward her were still fresh, a stone weight on her heart and peace of mind. If anything else happened on her watch, she would never forgive herself.

Lila heeded the advice of the older witch and held the mystical device between her hands. The heat burning from within was getting more intense as she cleared her head and thought,

“If you’re listening, I need your help. Please! I need your help.”

It was a simple thought, a message easy enough to understand. Now, it was not the time for grand gestures or heartbreaking speeches, only an ordinary plea straight from the heart The Orvium would know. Whatever primordial energy fueled the communication device had the power to recognize a good intention from a deceiving one. Lila’s thoughts opened up in sepulchral silence and were sucked into the burning black hole at the center of the crystal, The transmission had begun.

Along with the message went the feeling behind it, an echo of all her desires and frustrations. A single word can contain an entire universe and she had used four. In that long moment where everything could be destroyed in a heartbeat, “I need your help” was the most important sentence in human history. The vortex spiraled outward and then started sucking again, raging inside the inside the crystal prison as if it no longer wished to be contained. It sensed her lingering anguish, her resolve to make things right, and also her thirst for vengeance, an unwavering appetite that would not be satisfied until the diabolical woman hailing from Europe was stopped and destroyed. Tabitha’s actions were the opposite of everything that was right and just. She deserved to suffer as much as all the persons whose life she had torn apart already.

Lila continued to hold on to the crystal ball, every facet exploding in crimson red flames. The message was going through but it was no longer pure and selfless. Dark feelings crept in, shadows of death and destruction as intense as the evil she wanted to thwart. The young witch’s hands were on fire but she felt no pain... yet.

“The Orvium is pulling her in!” Sarah exclaimed, her lips a living mess of nervousness and fear. “We need to break the connection right now.”

“No!” Alondra grabbed her by the wrist. “You need to let her do this on her own. Breathe, Sarah. She’s strong. Stronger than I was at her age. She’ll remain whole, trust me!”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not. Look! Look at your daughter not with a mother’s eyes, but a warrior’s. Look at her!”

Sarah’s nails pressed against Alondra’s tender flesh but not enough to draw blood. The temperature in the room had increased since Lila had begun relaying her message across the hidden frequencies of magic. Fire was all over her body, with the flames alternating between a deep red and pure transparency. Like everyone else, Lila had an inclination for both order and chaos, two sides of the same coin that needed one another one to exist. Now, they were both being revealed and what would have destroyed a simpler soul in the blink of an eye, was but a mild irritation instead of a death sentence waiting to happen.

“Look at all that potential,” Alondra marveled at the overwhelming spectacle before their eyes. “The Orvium senses it all but it can’t capture it. You’ve got nothing to fear.”

Lila’s soul was caught in a whirlwind of emotion, every fiber of her being demanding peace and justice. For a moment, she was inside the black hole and smiled at the vastness but, just as quickly as she got there, she was pulled out and voices from the unknown sang to her.

“We hear you,” they said. “If help is what you need, help is what you’ll get. Come.”

Images flashed inside her brain. Dark waters... the moonlight reflected on them... not a single strip of land in sight... followed by numbers, coordinates falling like rain and extinguishing the flames around her. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she lost contact with the object. Instead of falling to the ground, the Orvium defied gravity and floated on its own for a few seconds before returning to Alondra’s hands. Lila’s legs faltered and she landed on a velvet chair, coughing water from her lungs. The connection had been severed and she was still in one piece.

“Fuck!” she blurted, her lips covered in cold droplets. “That was intense!”

“Are you okay?” Sarah ran to her, a healing spell on the ready for any hidden injuries she might have sustained.

“Yeah,” Lila huffed. “It worked. It worked!”

“Did you get a response?” Alondra queried, producing a large metal box to hold the ancient device.

“Yes. They’ve agreed to meet us.”

“Where?” Sarah caressed her daughter’s hand.

“I’m not sure. Somewhere in the Atlantic. They sent coordinates through the Orvium. I think we’re supposed to follow them, the sooner the better.” Lila tried to stand up.

“Not so fast!” Sarah admonished her. “We’re not playing this song and dance again. Take a deep breath and rest for a bit. It takes a lot of practice to master the Orvium. We need to make sure there aren’t any repercussions.”

“For once, I agree with your mother,” Alondra said, replacing the metal box with a glass filled with a bubbling purple liquid. “Drink this. It smells like shit but it should help ease the sickness-like effect.”

“What’s in it?” Lila asked, the nauseating stench coming from the top of the glass making her eyes water.

“Nothing but horrible things that do wonders to your body and soul. It’s an old family recipe. You’ll hate it, but you’ll thank me later. Drink.”

“Sure. Why not?” Lila took the glass to herself but was forced to cover her nose before attempting to drink its contents. Not only it smelled like shit, it tasted like putrefaction as well, with globular chunks floating inside that were too revolting to describe let alone gaze at. Lila swallowed her pride and everything else with it, a revolting yet satisfying concoction she would never forget.

“Yummy, right?” Alondra laughed.

“Don’t even joke about it. Does it get any better?”

“It grows on you over time.”

“For real?”

“Nah! I’m just messing with you. It will be always awful no matter what, but at least it works.”

Lila emptied the glass and burped, her body eager to forget that such a nasty product was now flowing inside it. “Never again,” she said.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sarah continued to monitor her vital signs. “For a moment, it seemed like we were going to lose you.”

“Are you for real?”

“Yes.”

“That’s funny, That wasn’t my experience at all.”

“What did you feel then? Everyone’s first time with an Orvium hits differently except for the nausea that comes after.”

“It was like an out-of-body experience but I was in full control of it. All my thoughts floated inside the black hole and then I was back here. How were those things even created?”

“That’s a mystery no one can explain. Some believe my family had something to do with it back in the day, but I never found evidence to support it,” Alondra concluded. “I think it’s for the best that we don’T know. It adds to the allure.”

Lila stretched her arms and wiggled her fingers and toes to fend off the encroaching revulsion. Alondra’s family recipe was making her skin crawl, cold shivers on her forehead and the back of her neck. She resisted the thought of vomiting and sank deeper into the chair while she recovered her strength.

“We need to get out of here,” she said. “Every second we waste gets Penelope closer to oblivion. Come on, Mom. Leave me be, please!”

“Okay. If you’re sure you can handle it...” Sarah helped her stand up and kissed her forehead.

“I have no choice but to.”

“I wish you a safe journey then,” Alondra said. “This has been a most enlightening experience.”

“You should come with us. I’m sure your expertise will also prove useful in this battle.”

Alondra laughed and covered her mouth with her right hand. “Oh, no, dear. We all have our roles to play and this is mine for now. I’ll hold the fort in my way and, besides, I have a party downstairs I should be getting back to before my toys wake up.”

“Will you be returning them home safe and sound after that?” Sarah asked.

“Of course. I don’t want them running around and trashing my property when they’re aware of what’s happening. Humans are an absolute drag to deal with when they’re not drugged. Silence will do all the talking when they’re long gone. Promise me one thing, though.”

“What?” Lila smiled at her.

“Don’t appear uninvited again and when you put some sense in that witch’s head, remember who put you on the right path.”

“You’re a strange woman, Alondra, but I enjoyed meeting you. Should we ever fight again, know that I’ll give you the beating of a lifetime.”

“I’ll be looking forward to that, Lila. Good luck!”

“Mom...” Lila whispered the coordinates in Sarah’s ear. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on tight.”

The two women held hands and faded across Space and Time once more, destiny closer than ever.

* * *

Lila and Sarah floated over a vast stretch of liquid stillness as if the world below was dead instead of brimming with life. Their visages were bathed in white and silver moonlight.

“Well, here we are,” Lila declared.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Sarah asked.

“Positive. These were the coordinates I saw in my mind before the connection went silent. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s nothing! I just find it curious that of all the places in the world where we could meet, these witches and warlocks chose a random place in the middle of The Bermuda Triangle!”

“Hey, it’s perfect to keep humans away with all the legends and stories about this place!”

“I suppose you’re right. Now what?”

“I guess we wait for something to happen.”

“Not for long, I hope. I don’t like being stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

Sarah’s prayers were answered the moment she finished the sentence. A bright orange light illuminated the icy Atlantic waters. Something was rising from the depths of the ocean to meet them.

((to be continued))