Chapter 17: Cliff

Up to this point, everything had seemed so distant to Addie. Now though, she had to face reality. Even checking on Rob had just been a way to distance herself from the upcoming confrontation. It was time, and there would be no more delays.

She crept back through the crawl space, again being so silent not even a mouse would hear her. Still holding Squishy tightly against her chest, Addie began exploring the manor. First, she confirmed there was no one in the kitchen by looking through the cracks between the wall boards as well as using her spatial sense. Just as she had seen before, no servants moved about. Addie even thought she saw some unwashed dishes in the sink, a travesty Addie’s mother would never allow in normal circumstances.

Moving on, Addie kept walking through the servant’s quarters, checking for any signs of life. There was nothing— no one. Addie’s mind almost broke at that realization. What if Christena sacrificed everyone in the village to fuel her spell? What if even Rob had been sacrificed in Christena’s crazy plan? Addie’s thoughts spiraled down a dark path. The only thing keeping her from despair was her tiny hope that her father was still alive. If she saved him, everything would be alright. He would know what to do.

Beyond the servants’ quarters, Addie checked Christena’s office and even continued past back to the main entryway and staircase. She didn’t find a single sign of life on the entire first floor. Addie did have a small hope that Christena would be in her office by herself, leaving her dad unguarded. But no, she wasn’t that lucky.

Moving up in the top floors unseen would be easy, due to how the crawlspaces connected throughout the manor, but Addie decided against exploring up there. If the whole house followed the same pattern as the kitchen; it would be a waste of time. Exploring empty rooms would be pointless.

Addie did have a small ember of hope that her mother was hiding somewhere up there, but she tried not to think about that too much. The consequences of being wrong were too heavy. If she could just save her dad, he would easily be able to protect everyone else, Addie’s mom included.

She brought her thoughts back to the present. She didn’t hesitate back in the forest, and she would stop hesitating now, too. Christena started all of this in the basement, it only made sense that was where she intended to finish her ritual, too.

***

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***

Once Addie and Squishy made it to the part of the crawl space adjacent to the basement entrance, they again had to step into Realmspace. They teleported out from the wall and landed just in front of the basement door. They wouldn’t be able to continue through the walls from this point onward since the basement didn’t have a crawlspace due to being underground.

Just like she had at the beginning of the week, Addie again crept down the curling, candlelit staircase into the basement, trailing her hand against the rough brick stone as she walked down. Her heart beat faster, pounding out against her ribs, and she started breathing heavier, almost hyperventilating. She could do this. Addie tried to squash the fear that rose against her chest; she tried to take away its power over her. It didn’t work. Her legs trembled and her nerves ate away at her mind.

“I can do this,” Addie’s thoughts rang out so loud within her mind she thought maybe Squishy overheard them.

This was the moment she had been building toward. All the magic practice in the forest gave her at least some level of confidence. Now, she would save her dad. Surely, if she could survive an Aurwolf, a giant deer, and escape from that witch, she could do this, too.

Addie remembered back to her flight from the wolf, and how she got better with her spatial sense. She thought about the willpower she mustered up to fight off the witch’s influence. She remembered how she learned to traverse Realmspace to avoid the rain.

So then, why was it so hard to turn the corner? Surely, her dad was around the bend. She could save him. But her arms trembled. Her legs felt weak. She froze in the stairwell, not able to take another step forward. Her breaths came quickly, and it felt like her magic was so far away.

Just a few steps from her final goal, Addie sat down. Her eyes focused on the final bend as if staring would somehow solve all of her problems, her gaze narrowing until the only thing she could see was that bend.

But then, Squishy nudged at Addie’s hands, moving them out of her lap. With her hands out of the way, he rested his head directly into her lap and looked up at her with his starry, twinkling eyes.

Finally taken out of her panic, Addie looked down at her bonded partner, truly staring into the depths of his eyes. Behind them she saw a distant galaxy, the black sclera of dotted with twinkling stars, each one unique and so impermanent. Each star would shine for a moment, and then go out, only to be replaced by a new star in a slightly different spot, the middle of his eyes, his pupils, glowing a bright blue.

“You will not be alone.” Squishy’s words were simple, but they were enough.

She would not be alone.

***

Finally, with new courage and determination, Addie peeked her head out and around from that final bend of the spiral stairs. She could just barely see into the room beyond, and what she saw made her gasp. She unconsciously squeezed Squishy tighter against her chest with excitement. Her dad was alive.

The tiny moment of relief lasted only for a moment, her nerves once again surfacing and overwhelming her. If her father was still alive, that meant that Addie still had more to lose. She had to save him. They would save him, together.

Impossibly, her father’s figure seemed to be both in the middle of a movement and completely still. Addie could only see her dad’s torso, the rest of him seeming to meld into the grey stone bricks of the basement floor, the floor seeming to eat him. Her father’s mouth rounded open as if in the middle of a shout, and his hands seemed to be straining hard against the floor, his hands nearly white with effort. On her father’s shoulder, Dorple shone with an ethereal bright blue light. Neither of them was moving, seemingly locked into a sort of frozen stasis, delaying the moment the floor would finish absorbing them.

They weren’t alone. Christena seemed to be pointing, also mid-shout, right at Addie’s dad. She too, appeared to be frozen. Along the far wall, Fluffy, Christena’s orange Slyfox, was stuck mid-leap against the far wall with a trail of blue streaming behind her. The whole room stood frozen in time. Even the burning candles seemed more like a static painting than a living fire.

Addie knew her dad was powerful; there was no such thing as a ‘weak’ Area Lord. But to be able to stop time? She had no idea anyone could do that. It seemed impossible. Sure, she knew her father had control over ice and snow, thanks to Dorple, but freezing time? Impossible.

A jolt of fear ran through Addie as she observed Fluffy. The small Slyfox’s eyes seemed to be ever so slightly shifting towards her. They moved so slowly that Addie first thought she might be mistaken, like one of those creepy, ‘illusion’ paintings, but no, she felt certain now. Fluffy was definitely beginning to move her eyes up toward Addie. Perhaps time wasn’t frozen, maybe it was just so slow as to appear frozen.

That meant Addie actually did have a time limit. On one hand, she couldn’t dawdle here forever praying for help or a miracle. On the other hand, it wasn’t like her dad would be consumed in the next few seconds. Addie and Squishy at least had some time to come up with a plan.

Fluffy seemed aware of the pair’s presence, so any plans made now needed to keep that in mind. The time slow field seemed to be stronger closer to its origin point. Fluffy was at the edge of the room and thus seemed to be moving, even if only slightly.

On the other hand, Christena was almost right next to Dorple’s magic, so she still hadn’t moved in the slightest. Maybe Addie could still evade Christena with her being none the wiser. But she realized a moment later that seemed unlikely. If Christena and Fluffy were anything like Addie was with Squishy, they could talk to each other at the speed of thought. Fluffy might have already alerted Christena, even.

All of these thoughts ran through Addie’s mind in what felt like just a few moments. Her first thought was that she didn’t have to act immediately— that fact brought both relief and stress. The urgency she felt egging her on, pushing her to act quickly and save her dad warred against her desire to take her time and strategize. As long as she didn’t take action, she didn’t have to worry about failure. At the same time, if she waited too long, it would mean the end of someone she loved. The complicated emotions rolled around in her chest, squeezing her tight with inaction.

Addie examined the doorway directly in front of her, now seeing a sort of blue shimmer. An icy pane separated the stairwell from the basement, a crystalline blue surface, nearly unnoticeable because it was almost completely transparent.

“That is the same creature I once faced and defeated while trying to reach you those few days ago,” Squishy said, pointing his nose towards Fluffy.

“And you just let Fluffy escape?!” Addie nearly shouted out her thoughts, “Now we might have to fight her again!”

“I realize our current predicament is unideal, but I stand by my actions. Attacking a surrendered foe would be despicable, dishonorable, anathema to my soul,” Squishy defended.

Addie huffed but relented. She liked Squishy for how he was, but some frustration still lingered though. If Squishy had finished off Fluffy before... Well, perhaps best not to dwell on it. That would only stress her out more.

Now that Addie had fully examined the basement, she backed up a bit, no longer straining her head to peer around into the room, think it’d be better if Fluffy couldn’t see her. She sat down a few steps up the stairwell, out of sight, and placed Squishy back into her lap. She didn’t want to just rush in there. She needed time to think.

Maybe, if she was lucky, the time-slow effect would only work on those already in the room. Perhaps, it would be as easy as walking over to her frozen dad and punting him into Realmspace. She kind of doubted it, though.

Addie sat for what felt like another fifteen minutes, trying to wrap her head around the situation. Ultimately, she felt that she was just stalling. She didn’t have much more to think about.

Having read her thoughts up to this moment, Squishy gave Addie a nod, “I believe in us,” he declared, “I already defeated that poofy-tailed creature before. What is a second time? Remember what I told you when we first united— Hesitation is defeat. Act with surety, believe we will win and we shall. Hold it in your mind. You are not alone. Fight alongside me. Fight to be victorious.”

Addie huffed a tiny self-deprecating chuckle, “You’re right,” She responded through her thoughts, “I need to focus and stop being so nervous. We can do this.”

She slapped her cheeks twice in an attempt to hype herself up. “You can do this,” she whispered to herself again. She stood up on shaky legs and gently put Squishy down on the floor. She felt slightly more confident with Squishy’s pep talk, and he was right about at least one thing: Addie no longer had to be alone. She could lean on Squishy, and he would support her.

This tiny, scaled panther was her little warrior— powerful of body and spirit. Knowing he had defeated Fluffy before gave Addie hope.

Yet, she didn’t feel ready to take those first steps into the room. She was still afraid of failure. She didn’t just want to save her dad, she wanted to save the whole village— even that strange witch. And yet, Addie’s body still didn’t want to move. But, despite all of her feelings and hesitations, she took a step forward.

Her feet clomped down the staircase, causing her heart to pound harder— each heartbeat in rhythm with her steps down. Once she got to the bottom of the stairwell, she faced the oncoming barrier. She looked down at Squishy standing on the floor next to her, to which he gave her a nod along with a feeling of determination across their bond. He was ready; Addie hoped she was, too.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying one last time to get over her nerves. When her eyes opened, the almost unnoticeable translucent blue barrier stood between her and her father. She just needed to take one more step past the barrier.

Once again, she muttered under her breath, “I can do this.”

Squishy looked up at Addie’s face before replying, “No, we can do this,” he emphasized.

Addie smiled at him with genuine warmth in response to his correction. This time, she spoke with confidence, “You’re right, we can do this.” Some of her nervous energy for what she was about to do slid off her, but it didn’t vanish completely. She shook her hands at her side as if to throw off any lingering doubts and wiped her sweaty palms off against her pajama pants.

In lockstep, Addie and Squishy stepped past the barrier, together.