“Do you always have to make the same stupid entrance?” asked the Geezer.
“It gets boring before you’ve even started,” commented Saya, gliding through the pools of light falling in from the windows. “Since you’re in here all the time, can’t you at least think of something new?”
“The only time I’m awake is when you’re in here, you stupid little faerie!” the skeleton yammered, teeth clattering together, as it jumped down and rattled towards them.
“What’s that thing?” asked Leah, eyebrows knitted together over disgusted eyes.
“Thing?!” roared the skeleton, arms coming up to twist his head around to stare at Leah, apparently speechless by the thirteen-year-old girl buried in books, gazing at him with no sparing of skepticism.
“Yes, thing, as you are most obviously not alive.”
The skeleton gaped at her, jaw falling off its skull and skittering across the floor to stop at the Geezer’s feet.
“Leah, this is Julius, the creator of the Sibelnu. Julius, re-hinge your jaw before I chuck it at the rest of your skull. These are Rowan and the hooligan-with-no-name. Be nice, he can toss us out of here if he wants too.” The Geezer, using the head of his cane like a putter, launched the jaw back at Julius, who caught it without much effort, re-hinging it with a sickening crack.
“Thank you. Ah, lovely madam, would you do me the honor of telling me your full name?”
Leah’s eyebrows all but jumped off her head.
“Are you hitting on me?” she asked, and Rowan burst into laughter, stifling his humor in an old book and snorting between his teeth.
“What does that mean, oh fair maiden Leah?”
“Julius was born hundreds of years ago,” muttered the Geezer under his breath to Leah, who looked thunderstruck. “It wasn’t unusual for people to be married before they turned fifteen, in his original time.”
“Oooh.” More loudly, and with a mad glint in her eye, “Uh, nothing, uh, Julius. Tell me how you came to make the Sibelnu?”
Julius thrust his ribcage out, as a pompous youth would puff out his chest.
“I was thirteen at the time the Great Sage Parselan-“
“Never heard of him,” interrupted Sherman.
“Then you have a malformed education,” replied Julius evenly, causing Sherman’s face to grow magenta. “Anyway, Parselan created the half-time known as Reflection, but it was I who realized that it was like…”
He continued to chatter on about how he had made the Sibelnu and how Parselan, his master, had written most of the books on the shelves, but to Leah it faded to a yawn-inducing drone of “my skills blah blah blah Master Parselan blah blah blah Sibelnu blah blah blah….”
Sherman, after the Geezer noticed that steam had been gathering for almost a minute, pointed him towards the abandoned clay, and whispered, “If it makes you feel better, he was this stupid when I first came in here.”
“How long ago was that?” hissed Sherman.
“Quite a while ago. Now, if you please, we have about-“the Geezer squinted at the Sibelnu. “Forty-five non-burned minutes before this place partially collapses from time relapse.”
“So we’re sitting ducks to this freak?” hissed Sherman, out of the corner of his mouth, eyes glaring daggers at Julius. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“No, sorry. Which is why“-the Geezer tapped Sherman on the head with his cane-“you have got to get to work...”
Rowan was sneaking glances at Julius and the swiftly-dozing Leah and felt boredom well up inside him.
“When are we going back?” he asked, flicking the pages of his book back and forth with his recently-acquired spell, trying to avoid the temptation of levitating a vial of some vile green liquid and sending it right into the back of Julius’ skull…
His eye twitched, catching the Geezer’s.
“Just as soon as Sherman can make me a satisfactory Purification Jar…ah, that’s perfect!” he nodded to the lumpy mess in Sherman’s hands.
“Leaving? So soon?” asked Julius, his rant on “the hardness of tree elemental persuasion” (whatever that meant) abruptly sliding to an ungraceful stop.
“Yes! Yes! Oh, thank you, sweet mother! We’re getting out!” sang Saya, corkscrewing through the air, knocking the vial of green goop to the floor. “Whoops! Sorry, Frank…”
“That’s all right, Saya. It’s only umaguma extract.”
“So soon?” repeated Julius. His face showed no emotion – magic skeletons do not have eyebrows to raise or lips to purse- though his creaky voice held an echo of anger. “But, Lady Leah, you’ve only just arrived!”
“Correction: you’ve only just arrived,” pointed out Leah, standing up quickly and sending books flying. “We’ve been here for like forever and a few extra, um, petals or whatever. We really must get back.”
“But I haven’t told you about how I got trapped in here!” whined Julius, more than a little anger definitely in his tone. Several glass bottles shattered on the other side of the room as another wave of light came in.
“Oh, great,” mumbled the Geezer, eyes focusing on the far window. “Julius, the naga are having a fit at the fact that these kids got into the Tarantula Cove, the Lockezan apparently has an issue with the way I water the pansies and Mekare wants me out of the Lockegeo position, so will you please stop acting as though you’re two years old and let us out of here?”
His answer was another pulse of light, all the books’ pages beginning to go back and forth in the magic that was quickly filling up the place.
“Leave Leah here,” said Julius, with all seriousness. “And I will let the rest of you pass from the Sibelnu’s dimension.”
“Saya, could you take care of this, please?” asked the Geezer, a wicked smile twisting his gnarled mouth.
“With all pleasure, Frank. Kids, listen to Frank here, he’s done stupid things like this before.” Saya smiled sweetly and soared through the air until she was eye-level with Leah, right in front of her face. “This won’t hurt a bit, but don’t try to fight it, hmmkay?”
With that, she slammed her tiny fists into Leah’s forehead, went right through her head and started furiously for the nearest window, holding a small gray thing in her hands.
“Sees ya on the other side!” she shouted, diving out of the window. Leah sat there, apparently unconscious. Her normally green eyes had turned a dark, muddy color, only a colored void.
“Wait! What have you done to my-“
“Out the windows! NOW!”
The stone walls were beginning to crumble, shedding sand onto the heads of those present.
Rowan actually cackled with delight as he left Julius to the collapsing Reflection, falling back down into the emptiness of light.
***
The Geezer poked his head out of a chest several feet from the wardrobe, one hand holding the lid open.
“Clear!” he shouted to the light below him as he clambered out, back cracking ominously. Leah scrambled up after him, looking woozy, Saya on her shoulder. Saya dived quickly into her bucket.
“Julius or the naga,” she muttered, after surfacing. “Gee, I wonder which one I’d take over the other.”
“Naga,” said Leah. “No competition.”
“I’m off to call F.B.I.. Take your time down here, but you’ve still got work to do.”
“The government?” asked Rowan, the last out, with all disbelief.
“No, F.B.I., not the F.B.I.. You’ll meet them before the naga get a chance at my hide.”
_______________
The humblest of apologies and thanks for your patience with my WB, my inconsistent updating scheme and general sloppiness. Forgive me, please.
Ok.
really bad part, but I was just so freaking tired of Sibelnu, so I thought of Julius - who, BTW, I intended as a much nicer character- who was bonded to the Sun Bane, controlling Reflection.
:sings:
F.B.I.!!!!!!!!!!!!
I haven't even written F.B.I. yet and I LOVE them!
Teehee- something for you to look forward too, and something to fill up the remaining days 'til Lockemet comes back!
I've got so many ideas for this story!
Saya is one kick-butt little changeling, I can tell you! BWAHAHAHHA!
~Sumi
I love that guy already. (erm, is that a good thing? 
I'm sorry!!
