Young Writers Society

"Something's not right here..." Valeri frowned. "So either Malacoda has a very elaborate front for his evil schemes, or Josephinzo was wrong and Malacoda is just a normal guy...?"

They looked at another picture of Khalil and Malacoda holding hands on the beach. "It seems like Khalil and Malacoda are just a regular couple."

Dawn muttered, "Now I feel bad about trespassing in their home..."

Vendetta groaned. “This doesn’t make any sense! Why is Josephinzo so obsessed with Khalil? Why does Malacoda or Cody look so normal?” They took a deep breath. “We need to talk to Josephinzo. Maybe we got the wrong person.”

Dusk scoffed. “I don’t imagine there’s a lot of people named Malacoda.”

"That wizard better have some answers for us." Valeri stepped back into the living room and entered the portal, Amalthea on their shoulder and Dawn humming beside her.

The V siblings arrived back in Josephinzo's room. The wizard was scribbling something madly, and the ingredients they had brought earlier were scattered on the desk. Guy and the other WANNABES were nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Josephinzo? We have some questions for you."

Josephinzo whirled around. “What? What do you want?” He blinked at them. “Oh, Chosen Ones! How was your quest?” His hands were covered in ink and his eye kept twitching. His cloak was strapped to the coatrack in the corner.

Vendetta nervously laughed, all of the pictures of Khalil making them even more understandable. “Not so well.”

"Malacoda's home was completely normal." Valeri fixed the wizard with a hard stare. "And we found pictures of this same person--" she gestured at the photos of Khalil on the walls-- "with Malacoda. As in, married. Which begs the question: why exactly do you have so many photos of Khalil?"

Josephinzo scowled. "That's none of your business. And you must have gone to the wrong place. Of course Malacoda wouldn't make his evil deeds obvious! Look harder."

The cloak flapped feebly from the coatrack.

“Why is your coat imprisoned on your coat rack?” Vendetta reached out to free it.

Josephinzo slapped their hand away. “Don’t touch it!” He growled. “Look, you’re the chosen ones! It is your job to find out how to defeat Malacoda! I don’t care if you have to interrogate him. But don’t ask me to do your job for you.”

Vendetta wilted, sending a last glance to the cloak.

"Look, I didn't even want to be a Chosen One in the first place. So it might be good for you to show some gratitude, Knockoff Dumbledore. We literally spent days assembling these weapons and going on errands for you!" Valeri propped her hands on her hips and glared at the wizard.

Josephinzo straightened his back. "How... dare... you say that." He made as if to stand up from his desk, then glanced back at the potion-in-progress. "Hmph. I don't have time to deal with you now, children. But you're the ones who should be grateful for such an opportunity to aid the Wonderful Wizard and defeat Malacoda the Dark Sun! So go and finish your quest." With that, he swiveled back around and started muttering something about potions and emotions.

"Fine then. Maybe Malacoda will actually have some answers for us. Let's go, Vendetta."

Vendetta nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go. Clearly, The Great Josephinzo isn’t so great at answering questions.” They threw down the portal again and stomped through. “Malacoda, please be willing to answer some questions.”

Vendetta stepped through into a plant section of a Castle Depot. There was a man dressed in all black inspecting the leaves of a tomato plant. “Excuse me, Malacoda!”

The man cringed. “Yes?”

"We have a couple questions for you."

The man turned to look at them. "I'm sorry. Who are you?" Malacoda's face looked haggard, and Valeri frowned. This guy was clearly either sick or exhausted... there was no way they could be the Dark Sun. Or if he was, it didn't look like he could currently handle anything as strenuous as leading a dead army.

"I'm Valeri, and this is Vendetta. Our sword and bow over here are Dawn and Dusk."

Malacoda's eyes widened in something that looked like recognition. "O-oh. How did you find those weapons-- uh, never mind. Just ask your question and leave. It's probably best for you not to be seen interacting with me."

“We want to ask you about the wizard Josephinzo.”

Malacoda froze. “That’s a stupid name. I’ve never heard of it.”

“Well, he’s heard of you. And he has it out for you.” Dusk sighed. “Badly.”

Malacoda laughed. “That’s almost every person on the planet. You need to be a lot more specific.”

"Well, Josephinzo's a rude wizard who pretty much burst into our apartment, called us the Chosen Ones, and sent us on a bunch of quests to get Dawn and Dusk. We also did some errands for him. Ugh. Anyways, he says that we're supposed to defeat Malacoda the Dark Sun or something." Valeri scoffed. "But the wizard refused to give us any helpful information, so we decided to ask you instead. You are Malacoda, right?"

"Oh. Just call me Cody." Cody frowned a little. "That sounds quite extreme... Could you describe this wizard's appearance, perhaps?"

Dusk scoffed. “Think Dumbledore going through a mid-life crisis. He asked us to get a mermaid fang for this potion-“

Cody shot backwards. “Mermaid fang? Is he-“ He smoothed the top of his hair. “Is he making a love potion?”

Vendetta cocked their head to tho side. “Love potion?”

"Is that what you both were whispering about, Dawn and Dusk?" Valeri glanced at the magical weapons.

"Yes... well, I wanted to give Josephinzo the benefit of the doubt, but the most common use of mermaid fangs is for love potions..." Dawn glowed faintly. "But they're quite unethical."

“Obviously! They’re love potions.” Vendetta started pacing. “Is he trying to use it on you, Cody? As a way to control you?”

He shook his. “No. If Josephinzo is who I think he is, there’s only one person he would ever use it on. Khalil.”

“Your husband? But isn’t he dead?”

"That's what Josephinzo and all the newspapers are saying," Valeri added.

Cody grimaced. "I desperately hope not... He's missing, but I am doing my absolute best to find him."

"So... you're not the one who killed Khalil."

Cody looked horrified. "Of course not! I love xem!"

"Sorry, just making sure. A-anyways... why do you think Josephinzo's got such a grudge against you?"