Disclaimer: Diadem: Worlds of Magic does NOT belong to me. It belongs to Peel and his publishers, currently Llewellyn Worldwide. I highly respect his work and am making no profit from this, nor do I intend for this piece of fan fiction to interfere with his profits.
Author's Note: Takes place sometime after Book of Nightmares and before Book of War
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Diadem: Book of Thoughts
CHAPTER 11: “Through The Looking Glass”
by Luna
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Score was standing in his old apartment, feeling disoriented. For a split second he thought he had seen his mother, but she was gone. He felt a strange sense of deja vu, as if he was reliving a moment, but one in which he could not fully recall.
Score walked through the kitchen towards the master bedroom. Each nook and cranny of the apartment was exactly as he remembered it. The door was closed and Score reached for the knob. His hand passed through the handle as if he were a ghost. “What?!” he cried out, swallowing his panic. He kept trying to grasp hold of the door knob, and each time his hand simply passed through it. It felt as if his hand was passing through air.
Feeling slightly scared but daring, Score tried to touch the door itself. His entire arm went through it. Taking a deep breath, Score walked through the rest of the way. “Weird,” he thought to himself. He looked around, but the room was empty. Again, everything was exactly as he remembered it from years past.
Frantically he searched the reminder of the small apartment, but his mother was nowhere to be found. The sound of a wooden chair scrapping against the linoleum floor brought Score’s attention back to the master bedroom.
He ran; the door was now open a small crack. Score walked through the door and found a six year old, dark haired boy standing on a chair. The child was rummaging through Bad Tony’s belongings. He paid no notice of Score’s entrance, but continued his search through the drawer.
Score felt frozen in place as he watched his younger self. Matt, as the boy was called then, finally found his prey. Tony’s gun was in the sock drawer, already loaded.
Matt held the gun in his hand, pointing it around the room saying “bang bang”, as if playing an imaginary game of cops and robbers.
“Put that down, you idiot!” Score yelled at him. Score reached out to grab the gun from his hands, but as before he passed right through him unperceived.
The door creaked open and startled the young Matt. The gun went off in his hand towards the unexpected sound. Score and Matt’s voices blended into a sad cacophony of screaming. Their mother lay on the floor, a pool of blood flowing from under her. Little Matt was crying and trying to revive his lifeless mother. Score ran from the room as if all the demons of hell were chasing him.
The moment he reached the exit to the apartment, Score heard a familiar voice inside his head.
*Score, can you hear me?*
*He-helaine?* his mental voice shook.
*Good, I was able to reach you. Listen carefully: You’re trapped in an illusion. As am I and Pixel. We need to work together or we’re never going to get free.*
Score clutched his head in his hands and tried to pull himself together. *Illusion? I don’t know about you, but I was sucked into Shanara’s mirror of past memories or something. How do I get out?*
Oracle appeared, silently as always, in front of Score. “This is no mirror magic. It is all an illusion by Morphos.”
“But…it was so real…” Score muttered, as the information sank in. He had some experience with illusion magic before, when he and Helaine were fighting to save Pixel on the living planet Zarathan. The planet tapped into the inner fears of Score and Helaine and brought them to life using magic.
Score’s shock soon receded into anger as he realized how badly he had been manipulated. Score screamed his fury and hurt at his unseen foe. “Morphos! Come out here you little bastard! I swear, I’m going to --”
*Score, calm down,* Pixel chimed in. *We need to break free. Oracle said all we have to do is concentrate. If we pool our powers we stand a chance of getting free.*
Score took a few deep breaths to steady his temper. He closed his eyes, and felt the connection between his friends via Helaine’s telepathic magic. Pixel’s aura and Helaine’s were clear to his senses. When Score opened his eyes, he found himself in the same corridor he had “left” moments before. Next to him were Helaine and Pixel, looking as pale and shaken as him. Score pushed aside the vision of his dead mother for a moment and concentrated on the task at hand.
“You two alright?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m okay. You?” responded Pixel.
Score gave a short nod. “Nothing that can’t be fixed once I pound Morphos into a bloody pulp!”
Pixel was surprised at Score’s aggressive attitude. He had never seen Score lose his temper this badly before. He wondered what personal nightmare Morphos made him live through. He turned to look at Helaine, who had remained quiet. She was examining her side with caution.
“It really was all an illusion,” she breathed. Her side was completely healthy and normal.
“Let’s not waste time,” Score snapped. “Morphos might try and spring another illusion trap on us.” Helaine instantly came to attention, surprised at Score’s sudden authoritative tone. Pixel reached for his ruby for one more try at locating Morphos.
“I have his position!” announced Pixel. “He’s in Shanara’s study.”
Score looked suspicious. “How come it’s working now?”
Pixel shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure. Morphos’ magic might have weakened after we broke his spell. He may no longer be able to block my finding power.”
Helaine shook her head in disagreement. “No, it’s to lure us in. His first plan failed. Now he’s setting up another trap. I feel more danger around us.”
“Trap or no trap, I’m going to kick his ass across the Diadem!” declared Score as he ran off towards the study. Helaine and Pixel were right behind him, trading worried looks; for Score to be this riled up for action they knew Morphos had hurt their friend worse than they could imagine.
Score burst into the study, followed closely behind by Helaine and Pixel. They stopped dead in the room, unsure of themselves. Before them was a boy of no more than ten years sitting comfortably in a chair, his feet were propped casually up on the desk.
‘‘So, you finally found me,’’ said the dark, blue-haired child. His voice cut through Helaine as she suppressed a shudder. She knew that voice from her nightmares.
The child took his feet off the desk to sit normally in the chair. His feet, which did not reach the ground, were kicking freely in a very innocent, childlike gesture. Morphos’ eyes narrowed as he examined them.
“Your hologram ruined all my fun,” he whined. A wicked smile formed on his childlike mouth, “but I know a better game to play. Come and catch me!’’ he taunted, vanishing.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
