Dr. Stine’s fingers
trembled as they reached for the obsolete battery pack next to
Angelique’s heart. When he tugged on it gently, blood oozed from
the edges of the pack. He paused, removed the cork from the healing
potion’s flask, and poured some of the red fluid on Angelique’s
skin. It bubbled like hydrogen peroxide. He filled his lungs with
air, tightened his grip on the battery pack, and said, “I hope this
doesn’t hurt too much.”
***
Thirty minutes later, Dr.
Stine smiled while Angelique curled into a fetal position and slept
on a bed of leaves. He hoped the procedure wouldn’t cause an
infection. He didn’t like switching out battery packs in the
wilderness. After he installed the replacement pack, he wiped up
the excess blood with a torn rag. He washed the rag in the stream
until he felt confident that all traces of blood were gone. Then he
tossed the rag over the edge of the cliff and watched it drape
across the upper limb of an oak tree.
“
I hope there aren’t any
predators nearby,” Dr. Stine said. He stared at the rag while he
hugged Persephone. He relaxed when he smelled the scent of her
jasmine perfume.
Angelique opened her eyes
and lifted her head. She moaned and touched her chest. Pain
radiated up into her shoulder. When it subsided, she rose to a
sitting position and coughed. Dr. Stine stepped away from the edge
of the cliff and strolled toward her. He bent his knees and placed
the palm of his hand on her forehead. He smiled when he didn’t
detect a fever.
“
How do you feel?” he
asked. He examined the pupils of her eyes and her skin’s
hue.
“
There’s some pain and
discomfort. Other than that, I feel fine,” she said. She winced
when pain raced beneath her collarbone.
“
It’s normal. The pain will
go away eventually. You need more rest,” Dr. Stine said.
“
Does that mean we’re going
to camp here until she feels better?” Alexander said.
“
Yes. I don’t want her to
strain herself. I think we can afford to extend her recovery time
by an hour or so,” Dr. Stine said. He reached into his pocket and
smiled when he touched the other two battery packs. He pushed them
aside and removed the flasks of holy water. Dr. Stine realized that
too many items caused his pocket to bulge and stretch.
“
Persephone, could you
please put these in your satchel?” Dr. Stine asked. He handed the
flasks of holy water to her. She held them up and examined them in
the sunlight.
Persephone opened her
satchel and shoved the flasks into a pair of empty grooves. Then
she leaned toward Dr. Stine and said: “Holy water might not be
enough to defeat Polinus. I’ve heard rumors that he’s immune to
everything.”
“
Well, we’ll cross that
bridge when we get to it. Right now, we need to get to the top of
this mountain. Hopefully, there won’t be too many obstacles,” Dr.
Stine said.
“
Tell us another story
about Xavier, Dr. Stine. Surely he’s not evil and ruthless because
you laughed at him when he almost drowned near the waterfall. There
must be more to it than that,” Angelique said. She propped herself
up on her left elbow.
“
Can I tell them about how
we met, Persephone? Or do you prefer to keep it private? I don’t
want to make you feel uncomfortable,” Dr. Stine said.
Persephone frowned and a
ladder of wrinkles creased her forehead. She glanced toward
Angelique and Alexander. She sighed and said: “It’s okay. You can
tell them.”
“
This should be
interesting,” Alexander said. He sat cross-legged in front of the
campfire.
“
Xavier and Persephone were
once engaged to be married. But all of that changed when I rescued
Persephone from a Cyclops. It’s amazing how fate can guide people
down a different path,” Dr. Stine said. Then he stared at the sky
and told them about when…
***
…
he used to climb the
low-hanging branches of an oak tree and watch Persephone’s balcony,
which extended from the second level of her family’s palace. A
fragrant scent flowed from the white flowers of jasmine vines,
which climbed trellises on both sides of the balcony’s French
doors. Tree sap covered Dr. Stine’s hands while he scooted across a
thick, sturdy tree branch. When Persephone opened the French doors
and stepped onto the balcony, he stopped moving, felt his pulse
throb in his wrists, and bit his tongue.
Persephone strolled to the
left side of the balcony and buried her face in the palms of her
hands. She wept softly. Moments later, a man emerged from her
bedroom, approached her from behind, and placed his hands on her
shoulders. The man wore black gloves, a purple cape,
charcoal-colored body armor, and midnight-blue greaves. Thick,
bushy eyebrows arched above the narrow slits of his eyes. His long,
black beard, which he’d twisted into a spiral, dropped to the
middle of his chest. Persephone gasped when the man forced her to
turn around. She tried to pull away from him, but he pressed his
lips against her mouth. She squirmed while his tongue jabbed into
the back of her throat.
“
Don’t you love me anymore,
Persephone? We’re supposed to be married in two weeks! You’re not
behaving the way a fiancée should,” the man said. He slapped her on
her buttocks with his left hand. Persephone pulled away and
screamed in revulsion.
“
I’m worried about you,
Xavier. You’re obsessed with books about black magic and the
occult. All you talk about is how much you despise King Bosc and
Dr. Stine. How can I marry a man who is consumed with so
much…hatred?” she said.
Xavier cracked his knuckles
and exhaled a roar of laughter. He removed a glowing sword from a
leather sheath and held it high into the air. She held her hands in
front of her eyes and stepped backward. When the small of her back
pressed against one of the vine-covered trellises, she dropped to
her knees and groveled against white flowers and green
leaves.
“
You should
respect
me, Persephone. I’m going to be your husband and you need to act
like my wife. I don’t appreciate the way you criticize me and
question my behavior. I’ve always treated you like a queen, haven’t
I?” Xavier said. Plate armor clanked and leather creaked while he
strolled toward her. He shoved the sword back into its
sheath.
“
My parents will disown me
if they find out about your fascination with the occult. They won’t
tolerate negative behavior. They expect my husband to be honorable,
trustworthy, and pure. Your desire to destroy people and practice
sorcery will ruin our marriage! I don’t understand what happened to
the man I fell in love with!” Persephone said.
Their conversation ended
abruptly. Startled birds took flight when several trees toppled in
the forest. The ground rumbled and glass rattled in the frames of
Persephone’s windows. Xavier stepped away from his fiancée and
glanced at the ground. A huge Cyclops swatted an oak tree to the
side and lumbered toward the balcony. A wide grin caused the
Cyclops’ lips to peel away from the decayed remnants of his teeth.
White puss oozed from festering lesions on the Cyclops’ legs and
arms. Torn, brown rags, which covered the giant’s groin and upper
torso, fluttered in a strong gust of wind. White larvae and hyper
fleas infested the matted mess of the Cyclops’ tangled
hair.
Xavier yanked his sword
free of its leather sheath. Xavier chanted the words of a spell,
causing green flames to sizzle along the edges of the weapon. He
thrust the sword into the air, and a trail of lime-colored light
radiated into the sky. The Cyclops laughed and peered over the edge
of the balcony. The pupil of the giant’s eye adapted to the change
in light while he focused his attention on Persephone.
“
She looks like a pretty
doll! I’ll take her home with me!” the Cyclops said.
“
If you touch her, I’ll
slay you where you stand!” Xavier yelled. He lunged forward and
thrust the tip of his sword toward the Cyclops’ eye. The Cyclops
sidestepped the blow, exhaled a roar of fury, and smacked Xavier’s
upper torso with his left hand. Xavier stumbled backward, fell on
his tailbone, and dropped the sword. It whirled across the
cobblestone floor of the balcony before it impacted the base of the
French doors.
“
Help me, Xavier! Do
something!” Persephone screamed.
Xavier straightened his
legs and got to his feet. He watched the Cyclops’ hand wrap around
Persephone’s waist and pluck her from the balcony’s floor. Her
fists hammered the Cyclops’ fingers and her teeth bit his wrist.
Persephone’s legs flailed while she tried to kick the giant’s
blinking eye. Xavier bolted across the balcony, stumbled toward the
French doors, and retrieved his sword. He spun on his feet, raised
the sword above his head, and charged toward the Cyclops. The giant
laughed, kissed Persephone on her forehead, and lumbered toward the
woods. Oaks and elms tumbled to the ground while the Cyclops fled
into the forest. Xavier ran to the edge of the balcony and
screamed. He cursed at the Cyclops, lifted his hands into the air,
and whistled three times.
Moments later, a giant
vampire bat descended from the sky. The creature’s red eyes blinked
against the sun’s harsh glare. Its large wings flapped and created
a brisk gust of wind. Xavier shoved his sword into a leather
sheath, climbed onto the bat’s back, and grabbed thick folds of
skin and hair. “Find the Cyclops, Polinus! Follow his path and take
me to Persephone!” After Polinus soared into the air and glided
above the trail of fallen trees, Dr. Stine jumped to the ground and
ran to his hovercraft.
Dr. Stine activated the
hovercraft’s engines, pushed the joystick forward, and lifted the
vessel into the air. It soared above Persephone’s balcony before
Dr. Stine steered it to the right and guided it toward splintered
trees and deep footprints. Moments later, he watched the
silhouettes of Xavier and Polinus appear in front of him. Dr. Stine
yanked the hovercraft’s joystick sharply to the right. The vehicle
climbed above the treetops of the forest, flew in a semicircle
above a pterodactyl’s nests, and glided toward a large barrier made
of splintered trees with sharpened tips.
“
I arrived before Xavier!
Polinus must be getting weak in his old age!” Dr. Stine
said.
He powered the hovercraft
down, listened to its engines shut off, and hid the vehicle behind
a cluster of elm trees. He tiptoed toward a pair of towering, oak
doors, which interrupted the fence line on the southern end of the
Cyclops’ fortress. Dr. Stine located a gap between the doors and
listened to ogres grunt and cheer. He peeked through the gap and
watched the Cyclops fasten ropes to Persephone’s wrists and tie her
to the framework of an elevated pedestal. She writhed, screamed,
and begged for someone to rescue her.
Dr. Stine removed a flask
from the pocket of his silver robe and plucked the cork from its
opening. He pressed the flask against his lips and drank a creamy,
white fluid. Moments later, he held his left hand in front of his
face. The palm of his hand and his fingers gradually became
transparent. After he became invisible, Dr. Stine realized he’d
need to take off his clothes. He stripped down and hid his clothes
between a large boulder and the fence. Then he pushed on the left
door and smiled when it swung inward. Several ogres turned around
when they heard the door’s hinges squeak. When they didn’t see an
intruder, they started gnawing on the flesh of a roasted pig, which
turned over and over on a skewer above a pit of fire. Next to the
pit, a wooden pedestal rose from a pile of animals’ bones.
Persephone grunted and moaned while she struggled to free herself
from thick, heavy ropes. The Cyclops dropped to the ground and fell
asleep next to the pedestal. The thick, fleshy folds of his eyelid
covered his eye while he snored. The Cyclops’ head tilted to the
side, only inches away from the pedestal.
While the ogres enjoyed
their feast, Dr. Stine walked across the compound and ascended six
wooden steps, which provided access to the top of the pedestal. Dr.
Stine cringed when the wood creaked beneath his weight. He glanced
over his shoulder and watched two of the ogres drop bloody, seared
pork onto the ground. The ogres’ ears twitched and their eyes
widened. They wiped strands of intestines, chunks of muscle, and
drops of blood from their muzzles. When they didn’t hear the wood
creak again, they picked up their food and resumed their feast. Dr.
Stine gasped when two of the ogres ripped the pig’s head off of its
neck and plunged their fists down its throat.
After he reached the top of
the pedestal, Dr. Stine stepped toward Persephone and whispered in
her ear: “Don’t be alarmed. My name is Dr. Laurent Stine. I’m here
to rescue you. Please be very quiet!”
Persephone giggled when she
felt Dr. Stine’s skin brush against her arms and hands. She blushed
when his fingers grazed the back of her thin gown. While he removed
the ropes from her wrists, his warm breath tickled her ear lobes
and the side of her neck. Even though he was invisible, an image
formed in her mind of what he looked like. After the ropes dropped
to the dusty floorboards of the pedestal, Persephone tried to kiss
him but failed when her lips failed to touch his invisible
skin.
“
I’m not sure how much
longer I’ll remain invisible. We need to get out of here without
being noticed by the ogres. And try to be quiet! I don’t want the
Cyclops to wake up!”