Of Wolves and Dragons: Artifacts-Book Two

Chapter Three

-Isaac POV-

I wake up in the middle of the night feeling empty. My arms are empty. I lift my head up still feeling sleepy but see no one in my room.

“Victoria?” I call out but there is no answer.

I look around the room and see her standing with her back turned to me.

(What the hell?)

“Victoria?” I call to her again but she doesn’t answer.

I get up and walk over to her. She stands looking like she’s in a trance staring at a chair where she has that ugly statue she asked us about before.

“Vic?” I lift my hand to her and caress her cheek.

She doesn’t even glance at me. Her eyes look dilated. I stand in front of her and cup her face feeling a little panicked.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I ask her.

I tap her face and thank god she starts to come out of it.

“Baby?” I ask.

“What?” She asks confused.

“Vic, you were... well I don’t know what you were doing. You were just standing there and wouldn’t say a thing.”

“Really? I don’t remember a thing.” She says.

“You don’t remember getting up?” I ask her.

She shakes her head.

“Ok, come back to bed.” I help her back in bed.

She falls asleep but I am puzzled.

“Maybe she should see a doctor tomorrow.”

The next day she gets up as if nothing ever happened and looks completely like herself.

(Maybe I’m just reading too much into it.)

We get ready and head downstairs to the cafeteria.

“Hey!.” We hear Holly say.

“Holly, about time you got back.” Marina says.

“Yea, I went on vacation with my parents and it was a disaster, we arrived yesterday.” Holly says.

She and Abel sit with us at our table. I look around the room and people stare at us like they always do. I really don't care what anyone thinks but I hate how they always look at my Victoria. She is the sweetest thing ever.

I watch her as she talks with her friends and although I am admiring her like I always do, I find her a bit strange right now.

“So, how was your winter break?” Holly asks.

“I spent it with Nolan's family, it was great.” Marina says.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I hear Luke ask Victoria.

Vic just stares at the table next to us.

“When we got attacked that time, she turned into a dragon.” I hear the people at the table next to us whisper.

Victoria turns her face facing forward and she looks different, her eyes are like they were last night.

“Vic?” I ask.

Suddenly the table next to us ignites in fire. The people on it back away and start to run out the door, screaming.

“Holy s**t!!” Marina yells. We all back away from all the tables as every single one of them starts to ignite one by one but Victoria makes no attempt to move. She just stares at the distance like she’s in a trance again.

“Vic, get up!” I say. I pull her up and take her with me and she seems to come out of it.

That guy from yesterday, Zachary, does a spell and quenches all of the fires out. But it’s too late, the fire sprinklers turn on.

“What the hell happened?” Luke asks. We all quickly back away from the room.

“I think a witch might have pulled a prank, maybe?” Holly says not really sounding sure.

“That must be a powerful witch.” Zachary says.

I look at Victoria and I know it was her. I have her in my arms, both of us wet. She looks up at me confused.

“What happened?” She asks.

“I, don’t know.” I say because I really don’t.

Zachary looks at her curiously. “You don’t seem right.” He mumbles.

“Aright students nothing to see, go change as we figure out what happened here. Don't be late for your classes.” A teacher says ushering us away.

The day goes by and Victoria seems to get worst. More distracted. When we were in P.E. the teacher had to stop the class because the wind was too violent today which was odd. Then what really made me concerned was when we went to the library, books just started flying out of the shelves all around us. We all backed away but she acted just like in the cafeteria with the fires. She just sat in her chair with the books flying around her.

“Isaac, what's wrong with her?” Luke asks.

I shake my head not knowing what to say but clearly, we need to talk to someone.

“Take her upstairs, let her rest.” I say to him and start to walk to the headmaster's office.

When I get there, the headmaster is coming out of his office.

“Oh, perfect, you were the one I needed to talk to.” He says.

“About?” I ask.

“You know.” He says.

I go into his office and see Zachary sitting there with Mrs. Adams, his aunt, standing next to him. The headmaster sits on his chair and looks at me.

“What has been going on with Victoria?” He asks.

“I don’t know but she’s not herself.” I say.

I don’t know what to do in this situation so I tell him everything that has happened today.

“Does this sound familiar in any way to either of you?” The headmaster asks both Zachary and Mrs. Adams.

“Yes but there are many possibilities of what it could be.” Mrs. Adams says.

“So, you all also think that there is something wrong with her.” I say.

“Well, I am really good at reading auras and hers today was different than when I met her yesterday.” Zachary says.

“Did anything new happened, anything odd?” The headmaster asks.

“Besides what I have told you, not that I know of but, we should probably ask Luke. Maybe he knows of something.” I say.

They all nod. We all start to head upstairs but we are met with Marina along the way.

“Hey, Luke told me to come and get you. He said that Vic wasn’t feeling too well.” She says.

I nod and head up quickly with everyone following me. When we get to the door Luke flies out of the room breaking the door in the process. We all stop in our tracks shocked.

“What the f**k?!” I shout.

Luke groans getting up.

“What the f**k happened?” I ask angrily.

He points to the room. “Vic... “

I head inside and everything is flying, the furniture is levitating and going in circles. In the middle of all of it Victoria is levitating, her eyes are completely black and her expression is blank. Like she’s a ghost.

“VICTORIA!” I shout trying to get her attention but she doesn't move a muscle.

“What the f**k is going on Isaac?” Luke asks now next to me.

“That is a possession!” Mrs. Adams says.

“What?!” Luke and I are shocked.

“Zachary, you know what to do.” Mrs. Adams says and Zachary nods.

“I need purified salt and sage.” Zach says to the headmaster and Marina who looks horrified as she looks at Victoria. The headmaster nods and runs out.

Mrs. Adams then looks at us. “When Zach is ready, we need to distract her away from him.”

Luke and I look at each other and nod.

When the headmaster comes back with the items, he hands them to Zach. Zach then walks to Victoria’s back dodging everything that comes flying to him. Everyone else tries to get Vic's attention. Luke gets slammed to the wall over and over while I get hit by a flying armchair and go flying straight to the wall. Unfortunately, the same happens to everyone else.

While we keep Victoria’s attention, Zach burns the sage and the smoke starts to lead him through the room. He goes into Victoria's room and after a minute he comes out with that statue Vic had in his hand. He then takes the purified salt and sprinkles it on the totem as he chants a spell.

"Hagalaz Kano Othila Puca"

The totem's eyes light up a green light and then they go dull. Victoria falls unconscious to the ground along with all the debris that was flying.

Luke and I run to her. I take her in my arms and check for a pulse and quickly find it. I breathe in relief.

“Let me see that!” The headmaster takes the statue that Zach was holding in his hands.

He looks at it and his face goes grim. “It can’t be.”

Mrs. Abraham’s face turns to shock. “What? But how is that possible. The vault is surrounded by wards and spells, we would have known.”

“Where is the rest of this statue?” He looks at Zach.

“That’s all I found.” Zach says.

“This is supposed to be attached to two other statues.” The headmaster mumbles he then looks at Vic. “I’ll have the nurse come to see her.” He says leaving the room.

“Wait, is it over? Is she ok now?” Luke asks.

“She should return to normal now. The spirit has been bound back to the item.” Mrs. Adams says before she leaves.

I pick Victoria up but we all stand there looking at each other.

“That was scary.” Marina says.

“Zach, thanks.” I say.

He nods deep in thought. “How did she end up with that thing anyway?” He mumbles.

I look at Luke and he looks at Victoria with concern. I take her to her room and we both stay with her the rest of the night.