Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 3.3

"What the heck is the orb of Phaedra?" I say.

Lily, Onyx sighs. Do you not know anything at all? The Orb of Phaedra is like the Orb of Ariadne, but the opposite. It is sealed with fire magic, and holds beings of ice.

"You thought the Orb of Ariadne was a myth at first," I accuse.

It was. I knew of the Orb of Phaedra, but there are many different stories about the Orb of Ariadne. Some say it was destroyed, others that it never existed. The Orb of Phaedra was made to imitate it.

"So why do we need another stupid orb?" I grumble.

I've had enough of orbs. I'll be happy if I never see another orb again.

Onyx sighs. Because, he says, it holds the rest of me.

"The rest of you? What in the name of Zilitron does that mean?"

What you see before you is not all of my energy, the cat tells me. The rest of it is locked inside the Orb of Phaedra. I was injured when the First Witch and I crash-landed on this planet, so I locked away much of my energy in order for it to heal. Without it, I cannot take my true form.

I think about this. "You took your true form when I turned to darkness," I remind him. "We battled."

That we did. I don't miss the hint of smugness in his voice. Safe in the Orb of Phaedra, my energy has healed enough for me to call upon it in limited circumstances. When our ship crashed a thousand years ago, the force shattered my energy. The particles did not want to stay together. They sought to drift across this planet. By sealing them in the orb, I kept them together until they no longer wished to flee each other. I took a smaller form with what energy remained - that of a handsome creature I spotted roaming this planet. It reminded me of my true form, and it was a sleek being, the colour of the night sky. The humans called it cattus.

"Is there a part of the First Witch still in the Orb of Phaedra?" I ask.

Onyx shakes his head. No. Amarat was also injured in the crash, but not as badly as I. Some of her energy did disperse upon impact, but she managed to preserve her physical form.

I close my eyes for a good minute. Part of Onyx is missing. The world is going to end and part of my cat is missing.

"Can we just...let it stay missing? You don't need all that energy, right? You're happy eating tuna and scratching up my couch."

Lily, there is a fire demon loose on this planet. I cannot fight him when I fit into a picnic basket.

Fine, fine. It's not like I was getting much sleep anyway.

"Where do we start searching? Do you have any idea who took it?"

There is no need to search, Onyx says. I know exactly where it is. It is in the Laran Valley, 'where the sun makes a dent'.

I fight the urge to strangle him. "If it's not missing," I say through gritted teeth, "what exactly is the problem? Just go and get it."

Onyx yawns, batting away a speck of dust that has drifted into his view. The problem, he says, is that it is a trap.

*

Me, Addy, Onyx and Maya are gathered in Addy's quarters. Addy taps away on her communications monitor, a frown plastered on her face.

"You might as well tell us what's going on," Ruby says to her. "You've been frowning at that thing for the last five minutes."

Addy sighs, snapping the monitor closed. "I'm messaging Hami," she tells us. "She doesn't want me to go with her to Mamauri. I want to be there for Ivy, but Hami's..." She scrunches her nose. "She's closed herself off to me. She doesn't want to discuss things with me anymore."

That doesn't seem too out of character for Queen Irine. She shut herself off from Addy in the past, when Addy's little sister died.

"She's upset right now," Maya reasons. "Things will change."

Addy's expression has turned downright miserable. "I don't know, Maya. It's like she resents me these days. She said none of this would have happened if I hadn't brought Lily to Mamauri with me."

Maya puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry she's being like that. But people do say all sorts of awful things when they're stressed out."

Addy bites her lip. "I can't stand her being angry at me."

Ruby hands her a cupcake. "Let her sulk. It's her own problem. We've got the cat and his orb to deal with."

Maya turns to Onyx. "Are you sure Scion took the Orb of Phaedra?" she asks.

Who else on this planet would know about it? It must be Scion. He wants to lure us to him.

"Why does he need us?" I say. "If there's that much power in the orb, he could just take it for himself. Or if he's unable to use it, he could just keep it hidden so you can't ever transform."

Yet that is the problem, Onyx counters. The orb is not hidden. I was able to track its energy with no problems. This is all too easy.

"How is he supposed to hide it when you can sense its energy?"

The same way he is hiding his own.

"Energy masking," I say. "But he can't mask his own energy. Someone else needs to do that for him. Do you think the fire demon is masking his energy?"

It is possible, Onyx reasons, but energy masking is not what I was referring to. I believe that, while Scion has escaped the Orb of Ariadne, he is not truly free. It is likely he is being held and seeks to trick us into freeing him. There is an old cave in the Laran Valley that was once used as a prison. The walls are coated in powdered illyrite, which blocks energy sensing.

"So Scion has two options for hiding the Orb of Phaedra's energy," Maya says. "Yet he's chosen not to use either of them. I agree with Onyx. This is all set up to lure us in."

"And if he's being held hostage, that's a motive," Ruby adds. "Lure us to him, then trick us into setting him free."

"Why are we assuming he's being held captive?" I throw up my hands in frustration. "Who would even be holding him captive?"

Ruby shrugs. "The same person who unsealed the Orb of Ariadne."

There's a heavy silence. Only a Phaedrean can unseal the Orb of Ariadne, and I'm the only Phaedrean left. Yet Onyx knew the orb would be unsealed, didn't he? He was sure of it. He knew there was someone else who could break its seal. Now he thinks that same someone is holding Scion and the fire demon captive.

I watch Onyx for signs of deception. He washes his tail with slow, careful licks. If my gaze bothers him, he shows no sign of it.

"Scion could be held captive in that cave prison," I say. "Or he and the fire demon could be free, masking each other's energy."

I do not think Scion could mask the energy of such a powerful being, Onyx counters. The demon could mask his, but not the other way around. The only explanation for the absence of the demon's energy signature is that they are both in the illyrite prison.

"Fine." I'll give him that one. They're in the prison then. Still, there are other things that don't make sense. "If they're both in prison, then who took the Orb of Phaedra?"

Onyx admires his newly-cleaned tail. Someone on the outside is working with them.

This is giving me a headache. I'm sure there's something Onyx isn't telling me. Why would someone set those two free and then keep them locked up anyway? There's a certainty to Onyx's words that goes beyond logic.

"At least we know the important bits," Addy says. "Scion and the fire demon are being held captive. They've somehow retrieved the Orb of Phaedra and are using it to lure us in so they can trick us into freeing them."

"But we do need the orb back," Ruby points out.

"Then there's only one way around this." Maya smirks. "We'll have to outsmart Scion."