“We are, we are!” Ignatius assured her. “Though it will prove to be next to impossible. The Gnomes are secret keepers who'd die before they'd unlock the vault for us."
"What are our other options?" Maria asked. "We're desperate here."
"I know, I know, have no worries. We will figure it out. I just wanted you to get a look at Dominion. The place where you came from," Gramps said.
Maria’s heart thundered in her chest. She couldn’t say why, but she was scared. Home? How crazy this all is, she thought. I’ll never get used to any of it.
“Where is it?” she found herself asking.
“Through the trees,” Ignatius replied. “If the sun was out, you’d be able to see it. Well…what’s left of it.” He looked down at the ground, the smile quickly vanishing from his face.
Maria crossed over to him and put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” she soothed. “We will get them back.”
“I know we will,” Gramps nodded. “I know.”
“This sentimentality is great and all,” Tabby interrupted, “and I don’t mean to be rude, but can we maybe, possibly get out of this forest?”
Gramps smiled warmly. “You must’ve read my mind, Tabitha!”
Claire snickered. “ ‘Tabitha’.”
“Can it,” Tabby ordered.
“Come, come,” Gramps directed, “I shall be your tour guide today, but be wary; the closer we get to the Dark Forest, the closer we get to danger.”
Maria tapped the bottom of her sword’s hilt. “I’ve got this.”
Gramps smiled. “Now, Maria, don’t get cocky. You must remain humble.”
She nodded.
“And, Sherlock! Leave that poor Raffin alone!” Gramps boomed.
Sherlock jumped at the sound of his voice, and turned his head in their direction, his eyes catching a glint of moonlight from one of the two moons.
Two moons, Maria mused. How crazy.
All of it was crazy, though—she had at least accepted that.
“Come over here!” Gramps demanded.
His head down, eyes flickering up, Sherlock trotted over to the rest of them. Maria heard a squeaking coming from the spot Sherlock had just left, quickly followed by a rustling as the Raffin fled into the nearby brush.
“What is a Raffin?” Tabby asked. “Is it…dangerous?”
“Oh, heavens no!” Gramps said. “Well…erm, only if you don’t tickle their bellies or offer them food.”
I certainly wasn’t planning on tickling the little son of a bitch, Sherlock said. I was offering him to myself as food.
Maria glared at Sherlock, who flinched away from her death stare. “What did I say about eating things?”
You said don’t eat any Gnomes! A Raffin isn’t a Gnome!
“I said don’t pee on any Gnomes,” Maria corrected him.
So…I can eat them?
“NO!”
“Hush, now,” Gramps said. “There will be no eating of or peeing on any magical creatures.” He turned matter-of-factly and headed for the opposite side of the clearing. There was no way Gramps could've heard Sherlock's thoughts, only Maria could, but sometimes he was just good like that.
Claire shook her head. “I never thought we’d have to be reminded of that rule.” She gave an exasperated glance in Sherlock’s direction.
“Yeah,” Tabby agreed, “seems like something like that would be pretty self-explanatory.”
Maria walked past them, smiling. “With Sherlock, you never know,” she teased.
Sherlock looked up at Claire and Tabby and did his best to smile, which was pretty unsettling, as it looked a lot like he was baring his fangs at them.
They all followed Ignatius into the dense forest beyond.
Maria clutched the music box, which was inside her satchel, to her chest, and thought she felt an odd buzzing beneath the canvas material.
A warning…
They saw the village about five minutes later, though Maria wasn’t sure if five minutes had passed or five years. Time seemed to work differently on Oriceran.
Gramps stopped short on the edge of the forest. Maria stopped behind him, and not long after, the rest of the group stopped as well.
Gramps brought a hand up to his chest and moaned.
“Gramps?” Maria asked.
He moaned again.
Maria walked next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. “It’s all right,” she said softly.
But she knew it was far from all right; the village of Dominion, the place Ignatius Mangood had once fought for, was in ruins.
The gates were blackened, weathered by war and age. Buildings stood half-destroyed, the ground scorched. Maria thought she could still smell the fire.
I thought the Arachnids took it over? Sherlock asked, startling Maria. He put his head up into the air and sniffed deeply a few times. I don’t smell any of those freaks nearby.
Maria told Gramps what Sherlock had said.
Gramps nodded. “Typical of them.” He shook his head. “They take over a place, destroy it, and leave it to the weeds when it has served its purpose.”
Maria wasn’t surprised to see that Gramps had tears in his eyes.
Claire came up on Maria’s right. “You all right?” she asked Maria.
Maria nodded, but it was a lie. Seeing Gramps like that had shaken her. He was always so happy, and now he was broken-hearted; someone as wonderful as Ignatius Apple didn’t deserve that. Ever.
“Do you want to look around?” she asked Gramps.
“Oh…I don’t know.”
“It might help,” Maria offered, but then the thought of seeing the skeletons of the people he had lived amongst and protected crossed her mind, and she wasn’t so sure.
Gramps suddenly perked up. “You know, you’re right, Maria. It would do me good. And I’ve always wanted you to see the place where you came from.”
“Me too,” Maria answered. She returned his smile through her fresh doubts.
“We’re actually going in there?” Tabby shuddered.
“I’m with Tab on this one,” Claire agreed.
Likewise, Sherlock added. Never thought I’d agree with them…
“Oh, it will be fine; the Arachnids are gone. Besides, we have Maria Apple on our side,” Gramps said, still smiling.
Maria nodded and patted the hilt of the sheathed sword that hung on her hip.
“I won’t let anyone or anything mess with us,” she assured them.
“That’s my girl,” Gramps commended, then he muttered something under his breath, and sparks began to flicker off his fingers, lighting the dark path ahead of them.
“Great, now all the weird creatures are going to
