The next day, when Patricia returned, the first thing that she did was ask about Alchimia. So, the three had recounted the events of the past few days. She was horrified when she found out that they had been out of bed three nights in a row ("If you had been caught!") but disappointed that they hadn't found out anything about Alchimia.
"I've been to the Restricted Section as well, but –" she began, when Adi cut her short.
"Wait what? The Restricted Section? How'd you get in there? Don't you need a signed note from a teacher or something?"
"I used a HidDen,"
"A what?"
"You know,
"Let them that wish to harm me not see,
For HidDen I shall be,"
There was a stunned silence.
"Is that an actual spell?" Procus asked, surprised at the odd phrasing.
"Yes, and you're going to have to learn a lot of them if you want to master the Helix," She replied, busying herself with a heavy, yellowing and perfectly ancient book in her bag.
"Here, read through this and memorize the Enchantments inside," She insisted, shoving the book into Procus' hands, who immediately sagged under the weight. "I've got to get to get to the library,"
"You just came back barely an hour ago!" Adi called after her already disappearing figure.
"Well, might as well get started on this," Vignesh said, trying to lift the book from Procus' grasp. "Wow, this is heavy,"
They laid it out on the common-room table and began poring over the many, many Enchantments. They were all quite complicated. Procus soon realized that he would never be able to memorize all of them, so he got a parchment and quill to take them down. Each time he wrote one down, he carefully tore the part that was written on off the parchment, folded it and put it in a pouch that he had taken along with the parchment. After what felt like forever, the pouch was full, and they had finished poring over the many Enchantments. Rubbing their sore eyes, they headed to Dave's cabin to enjoy the last day of their holidays.
Soon after they finished telling Dave about the Sword, the Helix and the Enchantment, there was a knock at the door. Vignesh, who was sitting by the window, looked out and informed them, "Patricia,"
Dave opened the door to let her in. The first thing she did was show them another, thicker, heavier and more yellowing book than the last one.
"Look at this. It's all about Helixes,"
Procus looked at the tiny text and instantly regretted having the Helix. With a sigh, he peered closer at the page that Patricia had pointed out.
The most powerful of all ancient artefacts, a Power Helix grants the owner many powers. Most of these powers depend on the gems embedded in the solid gold of the Helix. Many, many centuries ago, there were millions of them. However, now, there are only three left in the world. They are, by name, the Eht Ytinu Xileh, the Latnemele Xileh and the Eht Rewop Xileh. In the Eht Ytinu Xileh, six gems are embedded, namely a sapphire, a clear topaz, an aquamarine, an amethyst, a ruby and an opal; in the Eht Latnemele Xileh are a jasper, a topaz, a pearl, a jade and a star fragment. The Eht Rewop Xileh is a special Helix in which only one gem is embedded. This gem is known as a merger gem. It contains the power of all 18 gems merged into one. It does not, however, possess the power of a zircon. A list of the gems that can possibly be embedded in a Helix are as follows.
1. Sapphire – Mind reading
2. Clear topaz – Invisibility
3. Amethyst – Protection
4. Diamond – Purity
5. Star1 – Infinite power/Wind energy*
6. Pearl – Sea energy
7. Ruby – Courage/Fire energy*
8. Jasper – Earth energy
9. Jade – Nature energy
10. Topaz – Electricity
11. Emerald – Abundance
12. Amber – Healing
13. Azurite – Prophecy
14. Chrysocolla – Wisdom
15. Quartz – Doubles power of a spell
16. Aquamarine – Communication
17. Opal – Reversing spells
18. Zircon2 – Making ideas real
*= In cases where two powers are listed, the powers will differ depending on the user's needs.
1 =Though star is not an actual gemstone, it has abundant power that allows its inclusion in this list.
2=Only certain zircons have magical potential. They are called True Zircons. Most of them were destroyed in the Great Fire, but some may still be in existence.
"What does it mean by some True Zircons may still be in existence? How?" Adi questioned, pointing out the last sentence of the of the page.
"Shouldn't we just test the gems out first to confirm this?" Vignesh asked simultaneously.
"But who even gave me this?" Procus wondered out loud at literally the same time.
"But there's more," Patricia overrode them excitedly, "The engravings on the inner side of a Helix reveal the name of the first owner of a Helix. What's written on yours, Procus?"
Procus slipped the Helix off his arm. He had taken to wearing it wherever he went. It just felt right.
Running his finger along the inner spirals of the Helix, he looked for the engraving that he had found Christmas night.
"Sinegve Fidelitas…" he read out loud, trailing off uncertainly.
"Sinegve Fidelitas…" Patricia echoed, "That's Satiledif Evgenis spelt backwards,"
"Blimey… does that mean that the Helix was first Evgenis'?" Dave voiced the conclusion that everyone had reached.
"So that means that… what does it mean?" Adi began, then broke off, confused.
"It means," Patricia explained impatiently, "that the Helix is rightfully Procus' because he inherited it. It must have been passed down through the family,"
"But how did Evgenis even get a hold of the Helix in the first place?" Procus asked no one in particular.
"Well," Dave began unexpectedly, "there is a rumor, almost as old as the school itself, that the Great Fire in which the Helixes were destroyed, was originally planned by Sadillac Ravikumar. Satiledif, who discovered the plan, immediately set out to attempt to protect as many Helixes as possible. He was too late, however. He could only save three Helixes, including his own, as well one Zircon Circlet.
"After the Great Fire, Satiledif confronted and accused Sadillac in front of the other founders. This led to duel. Satiledif, being the most famous duelist of that time, defeated Sadillac. Ravikumar, furious and disgusted by his loss, left the castle, and was never seen again,"
A silence lay over the five as they tried to process this new information.
"Well," Patricia said suddenly, in a sharp, business-like tone, "either way, the Helix is here now. So, have you memorized the Enchantments?"
"Err…" Procus stalled, fingering the pouch around his neck, in which were the many spells on paper.
"I'll take that as a no," Patricia sighed.
"Well, not 'no' per se," Procus started, opening the pouch around his neck and pulling out a piece of parchment, which happened to be a Powerflash. He had many of those, as the ability of firing a powerful burst of electricity at something by just throwing a scrap of parchment was one he'd rather have at his disposal than not, "Like, look at this,"
Suddenly, Procus flicked his wrist throwing the piece out the open window. The second it was out the window, it transformed into a huge, whiteish-yellow burst of unmistakable power. Before it could hit anything, Procus flicked his wrist inwards again, recalling it. As u-turned and rushed back towards him, it transformed back into parchment, which Procus quickly stuffed back into the pouch.
"Well, that's one way to do it," Patricia chuckled. "But it should be like this,"
She drew her wand and flicked it. An equally powerful blast fired from her wand and roared out of the window, straight on course for the ShapeShifter, who today was a giant albatross. It squawked and flapped desperately to avoid the Powerflash. Quickly, Patricia sent another spell at the Powerflash, stopping it.
Procus stared on.
"Try it," Vignesh suggested.
So, with Patricia and her satisfied smirk watching him, he drew his wand and tried to remember the command for a Powerflash. What was it again? Sparactus, Spartus, Sparactulas; oh, that was it.
The second he said it, a more powerful blast than the last two flew out the window. Even from a distance, its voltage sent shivers down Procus' spine. It was heading straight for ShapeShifter, who was now a peregrine falcon. Seeing the Flash, it squawked in terror again, flapping its powerful wings faster and faster. Suddenly, it went into a spectacular dive, heading straight for the lake by the cabin, changing into a sea serpent in mid-air. In horror, Procus cried out the only spell he could think of.
"Encasius!"
A clear, magical bubble formed around the ShapeShifter, shielding it. When the Powerflash hit, it seemed to be absorbed into the shield. For a moment, the bubble fizzed with electricity, then splintered and shattered.
The five in the cabin stared as the ShapeShifter cautiously poked his head out of the water, checking for danger. Once it felt safe, it turned into an otter and lazily paddling around the lake.
***
Bidding Dave farewell, the four headed to the common-room. At least, Adi, Vignesh and Patricia did. Procus headed to a secluded part of the grounds to practice with the Helix. However, when practicing dangerously powerful magic, one should stay well away from curious ShapeShifters with death wishes. Seeing as Procus had literally no control over the Helix, a fireball with a mind of its own decided to attack the ShapeShifter. Believing it to be a game, the ShapeShifter batted the fireball back to Procus with its tail.
Instinctively, Procus dodged out of the way. The fireball careened past him, bouncing off a tree and heading towards Procus again. Desperately, he fumbled with the Helix, trying to use the ruby to reverse the spell.
Wait… reversing spells… the opal! Closing his eyes, Procus smacked his hand down on the Helix a second before the fireball hit.
Like on Halloween night, Procus waited for his end, sure that his attempt at defending himself had failed. He could fell the blistering heat of the fireball but didn't feel like he was being engulfed in flames. Slowly, hesitantly he opened his eyes.
The fireball hovered, barely a hair's breadth away from his nose, in the air, enveloped by a shimmering purple aura. Procus had no idea what had happened. The last thing that he could remember doing was smashing his hand down on the Helix. The Helix… Procus' fingers ran over the gems in the Helix. The ruby, the opal, the sapphire, the clear topaz, the aquamarine… all felt cold to the touch. But wait… the amethyst was warm; and getting more so by the moment. He thought of the amethyst's power. Protection, wasn't it?
Soon, Procus managed to put two and two together. When he had smacked the Helix, he had meant to hit the opal. But he must have missed and hit the amethyst instead. The amethyst's power was that of protection. And protect him was exactly what it had done. His fingers paused over the opal. It could reverse spells, couldn't it? Unsure, he pointed to the fireball and tapped the opal.
The fireball vanished. Only the purple aura remained.
Procus flicked his wrist upwards, like he had seen Foong do. The aura disappeared, as did the glow of the amethyst. Procus practiced a bit more with the Helix and the spells, then exhausted, headed back to the common-room.
When he tried to remove the Helix, he discovered something new and rather unpleasant. No matter how hard he pulled, it would not come off him. He might as well have tried to pull off his skin. After a while of endless tugging, an idea came to him. Drawing his wand, he incanted, "Comm – argh!"
Before he could fully pronounce the incantation, his arm seemed to attempt to jump on his wand.
"No, no, stop! Off, OFF!" he roared at nothing in particular.
To his surprise, the Helix immediately jumped off him and rolled onto his bedside table immediately, the gems glinting in the light of his lamp.
"What in the name of Merlin's –" Procus began, then stopped as he heard the clatter of footsteps coming up the steps.
"Disappear," Procus muttered to the Helix, hoping it would obey like it had done previously, "and don't reappear until I tell you to,"
It was instantly invisible. When Procus felt for it, he was relieved that it was still there.
Adi burst into the dormitory, closely followed by Vignesh.
"Oh, thank Dumbledore that it's just you two," Procus said, relieved. "Reappear,"
When he said this to what looked, to Adi and Vignesh, like thin air, Adi and Vignesh both thought that he had lost his marbles.
"What are you –" Adi began, bemused, then abruptly stopped when the Helix reappeared.
"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left was that?" Vignesh asked, confused.
"The Helix," Procus explained, stuffing it into his bedside table's drawers, "as it happens, obeys my commands,"
"Come again?" Adi said, still bewildered.
"Sit down, you're gonna want to hear this," Procus told them.
Soon, he was telling them, in vivid detail, all that had happened.
"Is it just me, or are you getting more and more powerful by the day?" Vignesh grumped, slightly jealous.
"How can you even sustain that level of magic without killing yourself?" Adi cried.
"Well, there could be a reason," Vignesh said slowly.
"You don't mean…" Adi said, his voice hushed.
"Yes. The prophecy," Vignesh declared.
"Erm, can someone please explain what this 'prophecy' thing is?" Procus pleaded, bewildered.
"Twelve years before today, on New Year, a prophecy was made. It said that in that year, while the power of the Darkest One grew, a seventh son of a seventh son will be born and will end the Darkest One's reign. And it happened. Hardly anyone knew what had happened, but one day, he just disappeared. My dad knew. He told me. You-Know-Who had attacked the Evgenises and killed four of their seven children. Then, he killed Nikhil and Shweta Evgenis. Finally, he turned his wand on the triplets that were left. One of them was the seventh Evgenis son. Nikhil Evgenis himself was a seventh son. Detecting the seventh immediately, You-Know-Who turned his wand on him. However, the seventh apparently had some kind of shield around him, for You-Know-Who's curse rebounded on him, killing him. The triplets escaped unscathed; and were sent to be cared for. One went to a wizarding family. The second went to a random Kin family. And the third was sent to the Evgenis's Kin relatives. Their memories were erased. Seventh sons of seventh sons always have powerful magical energy,"
A silence lay over the three after Adi spoke.
"I already know that I'm one of the triplets, but I might or might not be the seventh son," Procus thought out loud.
"Oh, come off it!" Adi burst out, "You're obviously him. Look at what you can do! And the Helix works for you, doesn't it!"
"That doesn't mean anything. I bet that it would work for anyone," Procus tried to reason.
"Oh really?" Vignesh asked slyly.
"Try it, if you're so confident,"
"Sure,"
Procus took the Helix out of his bedside table's drawer and tossed it to Vignesh. Oddly, it repelled and boomeranged straight back to Procus, who caught it. Puzzled, he threw it at Vignesh again, who stood with his arms crossed, smirking. It just boomeranged straight back. Next, he threw it Adi, with equally unsuccessful results. Truly bewildered, he held it in his hand and approached Adi. Some invisible force held Procus back.
"Told you so," Adi said, smirking as well. "The Helixes should only work for their true owners,"
"Fine," Procus gave up and went to bed, stowing away the Helix.
***
"That thing is really powerful," Patricia commented after the three had told her about what had happened after breakfast in the common-room the next day. "And I won't be surprised if Procus is the seventh son,"
Procus growled. He didn't want to be a seventh son! He just wanted a normal life!
Procus' train of thought was interrupted when there was a commotion near the Darkflight. Procus and the others went to look.
Some people were laughing at whatever they were watching. As Procus came to the front, he saw Alen John, red in the face, bunny-hopping through the common-room. His legs looked like they were locked together again. Procus groaned. Why did people like to pick on Alen?
"What happened?" Procus asked after he, Adi, Vignesh and Patricia had helped into a seat.
"Was it Affan again? Or maybe Kyae!" Adi guessed simultaneously.
Alen took a minute a minute to catch his breath, then panted, "It was Affan again. He was pissed off about something again. He looked weird as well. Like, his eyes were red, and he was parchment-white,"
Procus felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. So Alen had seen it too. That meant he wasn't imagining it.
"He saw me, then flung a curse at me and sauntered off. I tried to block it, but the spell was too powerful. I had to bunny-hop all the way up here again," Alen finished with a groan.
"Here, let me help you," Procus offered, undoing the curse on Alen.
"Thanks," Alen said shakily, "I'm going to lie down for a bit,"
After he left, Procus saw something white on the chair where Alen had been. Picking it up, he saw that it was a chocolate frog card. Suddenly, he let out a shout, interrupting Vignesh's bad-mouthing of Affan.
"I found her!" He shouted, excited beyond words.
"What?"
Procus ignored Adi.
"Magna Foong is the current Headmistress of Angsanian Towers School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and the Chief Advisor to the Asian Ministry of Magic. Miss Foong is particularly famous for her triumph over Potenam Esurentias, her discovery of the ThunderBird and her work on alchemy with her partner, Vita Alchimia!" He read off the card in his hand.
Out of the blue, Patricia let out a piercing shriek and ran to the girls' dormitory.
"Err…" Adi said.
"Yeah, that was weird," Vignesh finished for him.
"Very weird," Procus agreed.
In a few minutes, Patricia reappeared with a with a thick, leather-bound volume.
"Look at this!" she said, thrusting the book in their faces. The musty smell of yellowing pages filled Procus' nostrils, making him gag. Tiny black letters and words were all he could see.
"I didn't even think of looking here! Look, look! Vita Alchimia is the only known maker of the Stone of Power!" she declared. Then, seeing the bewildered looks on their faces, she clicked her tongue, exasperated. "Honestly, don't any of you read?"
"Erm, yes, we do. But only when we absolutely need to. Like in life-or-death situations, such as Kiew's homework," Procus said. Patricia just rolled her eyes.
"The Stone of Power," she explained irritably, "is a condensed form of pure magic. It grants the holder immortality and power beyond what a star fragment would. It is said that it will also enhance the powers of the people around the holder. So far, only one person has been able to create one. And that person is Vita Alchimia, who celebrated her five hundred and twenty-first birthday this year,"
"No wonder Kiew wants to steal it," Adi said, "anyone would want it!"
Patricia arched her brows, disbelieving.
"We're not still going on about that are we?" Patricia sighed.
"Yes, we are!" Vignesh argued, "Kiew tried to steal it, and that's that,"
"I wouldn't count on it,"
"Why don't we head down to Dave's hut to check on the egg?" Procus overrode, breaking up the argument.
***
When they were about twenty paces away from the hut, they heard an odd noise. A half-growl, half-roar was issuing from the hut. Fearfully, Procus looked around at the others and drew his wand. Cautiously, they approached the cabin, wands at the ready. Procus paused before knocking on the door. Did he want to do this? Well, it wasn't like he had a choice. With a trembling hand, he knocked sharply on the door three times.
"It's always open!" came Dave's call from inside.
The four burst through the door, wands blazing and (for Procus at least) Helixes at the ready.