In her room, Makenna found herself holding Crusader again. With her blinds still covered by the curtains, she sat on her bed, the sword in her lap. What was going on? Why couldn't she edge away from Crusader? It was glued to her.
When Makenna lifted her head, her eyes caught the heart of her room, and she told herself, "I can't believe I'm doing this." And she couldn't.
Makenna stood from her bed and stepped into the heart. She took deep breaths and tightly clutched Crusader's hilt with both hands. From there, an image of Poseidon appeared before her, and she lunged at it. Makenna ended up practicing all the moves Ethelinda had tried to teach her on Coutarine. Crusader's magic, though, seemed a little off. It didn't escape the blade with each move like before.
Warmth flowed through Makenna's body as she gripped Crusader's hilt and continued to practice. She practiced in silence, but in her head, lots of thoughts were swirling around. One was, I don't know why I am doing this, but this feels right.
The image of Poseidon remained. Makenna hurried toward it and acted out numerous thrusts.
Just before she could act out one more thrust, Makenna's door opened, and a familiar voice echoed throughout her room: "Wh-What are you doing?" Ash, Silvey, and Evelyn had finally found Makenna's room.
Makenna's eyes widened, and she tossed Crusader under her bed, standing before it. "Ash! No-Nothing! I was just messing around!"
Ash, Silvey, and Evelyn, though, had already seen the sword. They sauntered into the room, and Silvey headed toward Makenna.
"Silvey," she softly spoke. Just seeing the fairy dog, a few of Makenna's worries faded away.
Silvey plopped down before Makenna and waited for her to pet her.
She kneeled and scratched her behind her long, straight ears. When she looked up, her eyes landed on Ash, and she scoffed. "Why are you still here?"
"It's because you've got something of his," Evelyn explained.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Makenna asked, although a part of her lit up in seeing another fairy sprite. "What do I have?"
Stopping before her, Evelyn bowed and elucidated, "I am Evelyn, the fairy sprite you were supposed to seek out yesterday, but you left before I could talk to you. If it wasn't for those gnarly bees, then I may have caught you before you did. In terms of Ash, I believe you have his sword."
It was at that moment that Makenna knew she had screwed up. Ethelinda tricked her. She told her to keep the scroll and sword, only to get dragged into this mess all over again. Perhaps, though, she could find a way to get herself out of it for good this time? If she returned the stupid scroll and sword, then the magical beings could leave her and find somebody else to conquer The Mincing.
With those thoughts swirling in her head like an ice cream sundae, Makenna cracked a small, sneaky smile. "All right. If you insist, I will return the sword and scroll."
Evelyn and Silvey turned on suspicious faces while Makenna headed toward her bed.
Annoyed and angry, she dragged Crusader and the scroll out, including Crusader's scabbard, and prepared to return them, but something stopped her: a feeling. An instinct. Her fairy instincts were again telling her not to give up. Makenna tried to ignore them and furrowed her brows. Approaching Ash, she held the scroll out to him and said, "First things first, Ash, here's the scroll."
Ash stared confusedly at the piece of paper.
"This is the scroll the Wizard Fairy wanted us to find," Makenna explained. "Don't you remember?"
Though he didn't, Ash went ahead and took the scroll, but his memory didn't return at its touch.
Evelyn soon landed on his shoulder and rested her hand on his scratched-up cheek. She waved her free hand and said, "The scroll is not what he needs, Miss Delling. Crusader is. All you need to do is return her, and old Ash will be back."
Makenna couldn't, though. Crusader had once again glued herself to her. It was as if Crusader herself did not want to leave her.
Makenna's face changed from angry to upset, and she peered gloomily down at the sword.
Silvey soon approached her right side and glanced into her face.
Evelyn held out her tiny hand and gestured. "Come on, young'un. Let's not wait for the dolphins to grow. Ash needs Crusader."
Makenna almost returned Crusader that round, but stopped herself an inch away from Ash's hand. She knew what his, Silvey, and Evelyn's dirty trick was and yelled, "I can't! You can't keep pulling me into a battle I can't win! I don't give a bull shark about this anymore! Yeah, I said it! Find somebody else to do your dirty work!" Aside from the annoyance, the feeling inside her was too great. No matter how hard she tried, she could not give up Crusader.
As quick as a flash, Makenna snatched up Crusader's scabbard and put it on. She slipped the sword into it and shoved past Ash and Evelyn, knocking Ash's glasses clean off his face.
Makenna sprinted out of her room, crying, and stormed down the staircase to the kitchen.
Mr. Delling, who sat at the table again reading his newspaper, saw her and said, "Oh, hey, Makenna! Where're you off to?"
"To the crab dock!" Makenna shouted. She passed him without meeting his eyes. "I can't stand hanging around magical beings who want to kill me!" She threw open the front door and sprinted down the staircase as fast as her legs could carry her.
Back in her room, Evelyn and Silvey met eyes.
Ash picked up his glasses and wiped them off.
Silvey jogged to where Makenna had thrown her necklaces and picked them up in her mouth. Once she had them, she joined Ash and Evelyn, and they piled out of the room.
As they started down the hallway, Evelyn glanced at the fairy dog and said, "She's the one, Silvey. Her destiny lies with both the Human and Magic Worlds. She is the next heir after Selene."
***
Seabrook Island was beautiful that day. The palm trees and moss danced in the breeze, but Makenna refused to admire the scenery. She just wanted to get the heck away from magical beings who told her she was the one destined to save the Human and Magic Worlds.
With Crusader bouncing gently on her back, Makenna ran on the road beside the Gator Pond and passed the same bench she sat at with Peter Nelson the year before, when she thought he loved her. Makenna had lost everything in the last couple of days: Raeven, Tracey, Ash, etc., and wasn't going to let things get worse. The only way to do that, though, was to avoid the battle against Poseidon.
While she ran, Makenna tripped on her dress and fell into the road. She scraped her hands and one knee, but ignored the burning and quickly stood. As Makenna crept further away from the pond, a few alligators watched her, as well as some egrets, storks, and herons. It wasn't long until a flock of seagulls and herons zoomed by her, causing her hair to wave.
Makenna picked up her pace. She wasn't going to let the magical creeps pull her into a war she couldn't win, but that also planted another question in her brain: Why did she refuse to give up Crusader if she knew she couldn't?
Makenna ran so fast that it was no surprise she had to stop and take a breather at the end of the Gator Pond. Collapsing onto the silent road, she reached for her chest and inhaled.
Two alligators crept out of the pond and wobbled toward her. Strangely, they were much larger than the average alligator, but they weren't crocodiles. As they moved closer to Makenna, they growled and showed their sword-like teeth, dripping with saliva.
Makenna, still trying to catch her breath, heard them and gasped. Whirling around, her eyes widened.
The alligators swished their tails, growling again.
"Ahh!" Makenna screeched, falling onto her bum. "What do you alligators want? I do not have chicken legs! My brother's the one with them!"
The gators ignored her and kept creeping up on her.
Makena leaped to her feet and turned to run, but was forced to stop when another monster-sized alligator appeared and headed toward her. If her day couldn't get any worse, alligators now surrounded Makenna.
Silvey, Ash, and Evelyn soon emerged from around the corner, a fair distance from Makenna, and Ash's jaw dropped. "Makenna!"
"Makenna!" Silvey yelled after him. She and Ash sprinted toward her and the alligator minions.
While they ran, Ash yelled, "Leave her alone! Makenna!"
Evelyn stayed behind and thoughtfully scratched her chin.
Makenna's first instinct was to grab Crusader. She held her before her, yelling, "Back! Stay back! Find lunch somewhere else!" However, she tripped on her dress again and fell onto her bum for the second time. When she looked up from rubbing it, one of the gator's faces was an inch away from hers.
It opened its long jaw. Saliva dripped onto Makenna's knees and dress.
Her eyes again widened, and she silently yelped. Remembering Ethelinda's training, she thrusted Crusader forward. Amazingly, the familiar beam of light shot out of the sword's blade and threw the alligator closest to her back.
The gator crashed into the Gator Pond's grass and rolled into the water.
Makenna merely stared. Did she really do that?
Ethelinda's words echoed in her brain: "Throw your personality into the fight like what you did with the Devil's Heir. The battle will shift from hard to easy very fast." Would it? Even though Makenna faced the risk of being chewed up into tiny pieces by the gators, she had to try. She cleared her mind and calmed herself. Okay, she just had to be herself. She couldn't copy Ash and Tracey's fighting styles. She had her own.
Makenna lowered Crusader. Like what she did with the Heir, she closed her eyes and positioned herself in first position. Makenna started dancing much faster than before, incorporating many different ballet moves. With every twirl, magic exploded from Crusader's blade and crashed into the alligators.
Ash and Silvey screeched to a stop. Both their jaws dropped, and Silvey told herself, "She's throwing her personality into the fight, just like with the Devil's Heir!"
Makenna couldn't help but smile. Who knew fighting against three monster alligators could be so much fun? Dancing toward the Gator Pond, she picked herself up from the ground and summoned a huge wave behind her.
Once airborne, Makenna tossed Crusader on top of the wave and leaped onto the blade, ordering it to approach the alligators. As it did, she buried herself in the massive wall of water. Once it reached them, the wave danced around the alligators like a flittering fly. It moved so fast that they lost their bearings and became dizzy.
Within a matter of seconds, Makenna's wave swamped the gators and tossed them into the sky like they were three huge rag dolls. As they fell toward the road, she rode Crusader to the crest of the wave and acted out an air reverse as well as a big air. They, together, threw themselves out of its watery wall and landed on the road.
Makenna picked up Crusader with her feet and tossed her into her hands again. When she touched the road's concrete, she changed her smile to a serious face and took deep breaths, holding the sword out to the right. Sweat fountained down her forehead and neck while she waited for movement to come from the wave's remnants.
The gators dragged themselves out of the water and limped toward Makenna in a babyish formation.
She remembered the spell Ash used against the Kraken's mirage and attempted to mimic it. Tossing Crusader to the ground, she put her feet together and stood up straight. Blue and pink magic surrounded Makenna. She moved her hands toward her head and crossed them before each other a few times. Lowering them, she held her arms straight out, and a large, dark gray raincloud appeared over the alligators' heads.
Makenna punched at the cloud with her scraped and bleeding fist. At her command, a lightning bolt escaped it (it was blue and pink) and exploded before the three alligators.
They were thrown into the sky for the second time and crashed into the woods on the other side of the Gator Pond. When they hit the trees, there was a great blast of light. Then, just like that, the alligators disappeared.
Makenna was exhausted after the fight and flopped onto her butt in the road beside Crusader, inhaling. She tried to recover from the horror she had just faced, but the image of the alligator's sword-like teeth just inches from her neck replayed itself over and over in her head.
Now that things had calmed down, Ash and Silvey sprinted toward Makenna again.
Evelyn, still floating, smiled and crossed her arms. To herself, she said, "I knew she could do it. I knew Makenna could perform her very first Special Spell."
Makenna saw Ash and Silvey and examined her scraped-up, bleeding hands and knee. She pulled her dress down on her knee and hid her hands behind her back.
Ash was the first to reach her. Kneeling, he clutched his own knee and asked, "Are-Are you all-all right?"
Makenna quickly nodded and answered, "Yes! What makes you think I'm not, Ash scum?"
Ash ignored her rude response and grabbed her arms. He pulled her hands before him and examined the scraps.
Makenna flinched and said shakily, "I-I fell."
"Loo-Looks that way-way, ye-yes," Ash explained. "The-These scraps don't look too-too bad. As-As brave as you-you are, young-young lady, tha-that does not make you invincible."
"Young lady? My name is Makenna. Why are you calling me 'young lady' all of a sudden?"
"We-Well, I feel ba-bad call-calling ya-ya by your re-real name when I bare-barely know ya."
"What are you talking about? You do know me! You saved me from the Kraken's mirage and went with me when the Wizard Fairy gave us a clue to where the scroll was!"
"I-I did?"
"Yes! Oh, Ash, what is wrong with you? Why are you stuttering so much? Does it have to do with your concussion?"
"That's the main reason, yes," explained Evelyn. "Please don't be hard on him, Miss Delling. He's trying to learn how to speak again."
"Speak again? Why? He was talking fine before the Devil knocked him out. How is it that he all of a sudden can't speak properly?"
Evelyn hesitated and then shook her head, answering, "I can't tell you right now, Miss Delling."
"What? Why?" Makenna stared, but Evelyn said nothing more.
It wasn't long until silence jumped between the fairy, fairy sprite, fairy dog, and Ash, as everybody was lost in their own thoughts.