The Forgotten Zodiac

Rush stared at her. "No, Eve. You can't take me. You may be a Naga, you can be as powerful as the Phantom...but once they reduce me to the mind of a beast...you can't take me on. You can't." He looked terribly upset and worried, squeezing her hand gently. "Byrne...Byrne is here too. He's their...plan B. If Sylas doesn't work, they're trying something else..." He looked so terribly distraught.

Eve frowned deeply. "I'll... try to think of something," she said quietly. "I hope no harm befalls the boy... or you, despite your words," she said, squeezing his hand in return.

Rush sighed and closed his eyes, leaning against the wall with Eve's hand held tightly in his. Then a voice called from the hallway Rush was in, and the chimera backed up and darted off, back to the side of his master.

"Bye..." Manny said quietly, taking Eve's hand in his again.

Eve gripped Manny's hand in her own and sighed, closing her eyes. "We'll get out, Manny. You can be sure of it," she assured.

((You can go to someone else now.))

"Welcome back," Reetah greeted.

"Bermuda!" Sylas was on his feet again, obviously. "Thank goodness you're okay...when Verolen came back without you, I was scared you had been captured again or something..."

"Israel? Israel!" Arachne, who had been given crutches, hobbled forward and paused, holding her hands out for her dear friend. Happy tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm so happy to see you again, at last...and little Verdi! Oh, Verdi, you little bundle of cuteness..."

Bermuda smiled at the group, then glanced up as L'arc came over.

"Have any trouble?" he asked quietly. The nereid hesitated a moment, then shook his head.

"Not much, no. The witches were a huge help," he said. L'arc smiled and nodded, glad that the Oceanid prince was unscathed.

Israel took Arachne's hands and held them for a moment, smiling, then pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you again, princess," he said quietly, only just loud enough for her to hear. He pulled back slightly, grinning as he looked at her. He paused for another moment, then asked "Where's Verolen?"

"He's in our room," Arachne blinked. "A witch girl suddenly showed up here. She was crying about being terribly lost, poor child...she has some sort of big guy with her, Verolen is trying to talk to him, but he doesn't really seem capable of much speech..." She pushed her face into Israel's shirt, smiling slightly. "I missed you, Israel..."

Bermuda glanced over at Arachne as he heard her words. "Oh, I'll go take care of her," he said, walking off to go find the little witch. "I'll send Verolen in, Israel!" he called. The siren smiled at that, then hugged Arachne again.

Nana was in the hallway, just outside the sanctuary. She was staring at the doors, enticed by the ebb and flow of the magics within. She wasn't moving to go in, thankfully. She clearly wasn't as reckless as the other witches. It was clear that she was still crying, though. She looked dreadful, indeed...

She looked up at Bermuda as he approached. Instantly, she looked afraid. "I wasn't going to take anything!" She yelped. "I didn't go in, I swear! I know these things are important to the Manaketes, I wasn't going to touch them..."

"It's all right. I believe you," Bermuda said, kneeling beside her. He glanced up and down the hallway, looking around, before calling "Verolen! I brought Israel and Verdi! They're in the main hall, and Israel wants to see you!" he called.

Verolen poked his head out of a door nearby. Horace wandered out, looking bored, but he lightened up a bit when Nana rushed towards him, hiding behind the larger man fearfully. She somehow managed to climb up onto his shoulders, getting comfortable there while hugging the back of his head.

"There you are," Horace looked up at her.

"So you CAN talk!" Verolen huffed.

"He doesn't like talking to strangers..." Nana frowned at him. "And neither do I. I wanna go home!"

Bermuda smiled at Nana. "You're free to go or stay. Thank you for your help in finding the others," he said.

Israel had picked up Arachne and was carrying her around, seemily just happy to be around her again.

Nana pouted at him, then sighed. "I can't teleport again for a little while. I don't know why the spell rebounded...my magic is all clogged up, too, it's very uncomfortable..." She looked around, then frowned. She pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket, examining the signatures she had gotten. "Ela Wethe...bah, I didn't even look before. UGH," Nana settled her forehead against the top of Horace's head.

"What about who?" Verolen frowned.

"There's a certain spell that us witches try to avoid. It kills our magic for a period of time if we use any spells near it. So my teleportation spell not only rebounded, but it backfired..." Nana sighed, sounding much more intelligent than the age she appeared. She was starting to look upset, too. "We can track who all knows it. Ela Wethe is one of them, for some reason. No idea why...but whatever..."

"There, there," Horace reached up and patted her head. "You'll be okay."

"Yes, Horace, I will..." She smiled. "I'll just have to stick around with these people for awhile..." She looked down at Verolen and Bermuda. "Hi. My name is Nana, and this is Horace. I'm a witch, and this is my guardian."

"Nice to meet you." Verolen shrugged. "You probably know who we are already, considering..."

Arachne smiled and wrapped her arms around Israel's neck to make it easier. "Oh, Israel...I missed you soooo much."

Bermuda nodded, smiling at Nana. "If you like," he began, "I could try and have Adahre restore your magic. I think he can do something like that, but... he's not been awake for very long, so it may take a few minutes. But I believe he can do it, with my help," he offered.

Israel let out a soft, happy bird trill, wrapping his wings around the little demoness. "I missed you, too."

Nana blinked at him, then slowly nodded. "Yes, I'd like that." She murmured. She still hugged tightly Horace's head, but he didn't seem to care.

Verolen blinked at him, then inspected him full circle. "Oh. A puppet."

"MY puppet," Nana shooed him away with her foot. "This man came to us witches hoping for immortality. So Makke gave it to him, then gave him to me. He's my guardian now."

"He's a soulless corpse. I would say 'don't get attached', but..."

"MINE!" Nana hissed.

Arachne leaned up and gave Israel a soft kiss on his cheek, then rested her head against his shoulder. "I wanted to go look for you. Several times, I wanted to go off on my own again and find you for myself. But I...I can't do that anymore." She looked down at the stump where her foot had once been. "Stupid humans..."

"Yours, got it," Bermuda said, offering the little witch a gentle smile. "Would you like to come meet the others, then, while we wait for Adahre to get ready?" he asked. He looked over at Verolen. "Israel's waiting to see you," he said.

Israel tilted his head against hers. "It's okay. I was having a good time," he said. "Ela was very kind, and Verdi and I got to be in plays. I got to be the bad guy. I was going to be a prince in the new show, but..."

Nana sighed, then thought carefully. "Yes. Okay, we'll go meet them. We'll go say hello, right, Horace?"

"Yes," Horace agreed. "I can say hello."

"Good," Nana nodded. "Lead the way, then. Horace will follow."

"Arachne was very quiet for a few minutes. "Did you like it?" She asked softly. "Did you like being in the plays?"

Bermuda smiled and nodded, then headed off down the hallway. "Come on, Verolen!" he called.

Israel hesitated before answering. "...yes. I liked it a lot," he said.

Verolen followed. Like a dog of some kind, Horace had to be ordered to follow, but he did it at Nana's command. Off they went down the hall, a little train of people and puppet.

Arachne didn't seem to upset yet. "Were you happy there...?"

Israel slowly nodded. "Yes, it was a good place to be. But... I missed you a lot. I really wanted to see you and your brother again, and so did Verdi. We couldn't decide what we really wanted to do, but... Bermuda kind of made the decision for us," he said.