Lilith, or the White Flame Reborn

Chapter three

The aura

Rusty opened the door and a thick cloud of smoke erupted from it, spreading to the corridor. The room was bare, except for a few wooden ritual artefacts and a great fire burning in the centre in a large stone hearth. An old Native American was sitting cross-legged in front of it, his back to the pupils. He was wearing an old, worn out leathery tunic and a long feather crown, and he was wrapped in an embroidered blanket made out of buffalo skin. An old carved calumet was in his hand and a dozen incense sticks were burning in each corner of the room.

'You may enter,' the old man said slowly. 'Come in and sit down by the fire,' he added monotonously, then he resumed humming.

The pupils walked to the fire and sat around it. Lilith sat at the back, her eyes set on the old man's face, which seemed to be carved out of wood. The teacher himself was as still as a statue. His dark eyes were deep set, but a sparkle burned inside them that even his wrinkled red skin could not hide. As the children gathered round him, he stopped humming and puffed.

'Mmmmmmh,' he whispered. 'Much power I sense in you. Much power indeed.'

He scanned the assembly without moving his head. His eyes sparkled and he puffed.

'Yes,' he said. 'You may go now.'

The pupils were quiet. Aldo got up first and walked to the door, followed by the shy first years trying to be as silent as possible. Lilith stood up last and saw his statue-like face turn as he watched her go. His eyes opened a bit more and she felt his gaze try to pierce her mind. She had had no intention of challenging the old wizard, she hadn't given the mere thought to this idea. However, now that she was facing him, she began fighting against his reading her mind, fighting with all her strength. Maybe she wanted to see how much time she could hold, certainly she was no match for him. Was she?

Lilith lost contact with reality at once. The old bare room vanished, replaced by an utter emptiness. Squando was still there, but he was no longer the age-less huddled up figure he had been back in the room. He was now young and tall but his dark, sparkling eyes were the same. Instead of the long crown, he wore a single feather on his head and he no longer held his calumet, but a tomahawk. Lilith too looked different. She was not this skinny young girl anymore, but a grown up woman, tall and slender. Her ashen hair was down to her knee and she wore a dark-blue war tunic. The glass-like wand was shining in her hand and her eyes were burning like white fire.

Young Squando looked her in the eyes, his head slightly tilted. He dropped his tomahawk and held out his left hand towards her. Lilith's mind was split up: one half of her wanted to drop her wand and take his hand; but the other was commanding her to raise the wand and kill the man. A simple curse would do it. Two words and she would be through with this wretched pagan. But Lilith knew exactly what curse she was referring to. The worst of all. The killing curse.

'No!' Lilith thought. She clutched her wand so tight that it hurt her hand. Do not submit. Do not give up. The icy pain stabbed and spread to her whole body as she fought with all her might to dominate the evil upsurge rising in her heart. She fought and fought again, and little by little, the darkness left her. She dropped her wand; her vision blurred and she saw no more.

***

The children had all followed the prefects and they were already halfway down the corridor when Aldo noticed that Lilith was missing.

'Rusty, wait,' he said. 'There's still a girl inside.'

They waited for several minutes. Finally, Aldo lost patience.

'What is she doing?' he asked. 'I'll go check it out. Wait for me.'

He went back to the door and stepped in. At once, the dazzling light burned his eyes and he had to shield them with his arm. The fire had burst and it burned as high as the ceiling itself like a whirling fire pillar. Squando was still sitting as he always did, but a shining golden aura was flowing from him. He had turned away from the fire and was facing Lilith, his calumet lying on the floor before him. Lilith was standing a few yards away, surrounded herself by an aura, a frightening mix of white and black interwoven flames, twisting and screaming as they fought each other.

Aldo got closer, making his way painfully because of the heat and the light. The tall girl was holding her wand tight in her hand. Her eyes had slid out of focus and she was trembling all over. The boy tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but he had barely touched the aura that a burning pain shot through his left arm and made him step back. The two colours were still fighting each other but neither the black nor the white seemed to get the upper hand.

'Black and white,' he thought. 'Like her hair.'

He had never seen anything like it, and then, he tasted fear as he never thought he would in his entire life. It just couldn't be happening. He was going to wake up. It couldn't be real. He wanted to turn back and run away from here, run away from them.

The whirling aura around Lilith shone brighter and brighter and then burst violently. The wand clattered on the floor and the girl collapsed. The flame pillar disappeared and turned back into Squando's perpetual fire. The old man opened his eyes and turned to Aldo. He took up his calumet, stood up and pointed it at the boy.

'Obliviate!' he whispered.

'A memory charm!' Aldo thought at once, but it was too late.

His mind emptied immediately. He shook his head and blinked his eyes. The room looked exactly as it had always did. Nothing special seemed to have happened, which made him wonder why his left arm felt so numb. Then his eyes fell on Lilith lying unconscious on the floor and he sprung forward to kneel by her side.

'Lilith! Are you OK?' he asked. 'Professor, what happened?'

Squando pointed his calumet at an old wooden mask hanging on the wall.

'The girl has been very brave,' he said with his usual dull voice 'She looked at the forbidden mask and defied it. Unfortunately it won.'

The old man looked towards the corridor and closed his eyes.

'You may go,' his voice directly erupted inside the mind of the prefect waiting outside.

'What?' Rusty exclaimed. 'But, Professor-'

'Do not worry and go. I will handle things here.'

Rusty wanted to protest, but there was nothing he could do. He knew just too well how stubborn Squando was: once he had made up his mind, there was no way you could make him change it.

'All right Professor,' he whispered. 'Follow me, everyone.'

Angelina was standing last in the group and she was dying to know what was happening inside. What was the matter with this silly girl? And what about her brother? The group was already going away and she still hesitated. If she peeped in and was caught, she would have disobeyed a teacher and she knew better than to do that on her first day. She turned away reluctantly and hurried to catch up with the others.

Inside the classroom, Aldo had helped Lilith sit up, letting her lean against his arm. She was still unconscious.

'Mister Mingus,' Squando said calmly. 'You will take this young girl to the hospital wing as soon as the others have departed.'

Aldo nodded. He put his left arm under her knees, ready to lift her up, but then he remembered the dropped wand and held out his hand to take it.

'Do not touch this wand!' Squando's voice broke, slightly less steady than usual. He got closer to the girl and took her life-less hand in his. Using it as a tool, he took up the wand and put it safely back in her pocket.

'Now you can go. Make haste.'

Aldo stood up, lifting the light girl easily and walked to the door. It opened in front of him, but instead of walking out, he turned back to the old Native who had sat down next to his fire, turning back into his statue-like self.

'Professor?' Aldo asked.

'Yes?'

'Could I ask you a question?'

'You may,' Squando said, his voice dull.

'Why...' he hesitated. 'Why neither you nor I can touch Lilith's wand.'

The old shaman puffed.

'Your question holds its answer in itself. Now go.'

Aldo nodded and left the room. He reached the stairs and walked down to the ground floor, stopping several time along the way to put back Lilith's long black hair back over her chest: it kept falling down, sweeping the floor as it dangled down her life-less head. She had never cut it her whole life. Finally, after he had stopped three times, he wound the long hair round his neck like a thick scarf. The girl had a heady smell which seemed to spread to his whole body. He liked it. It reminded him of a forest after a heavy rain. Finally, he reached the ground floor and entered the corridor leading to the hospital wing.

Footsteps aroused as Aldo moved forward into the corridor and he made out Mister Sobuco's tall and broad silhouette walking towards him. As he came closer, Aldo could make out his familiar long white hair flowing free behind his back, his wise and clear brown eyes and his strong jaw.

'Ah!' Sobuco exclaimed as he saw Aldo. 'Mister Mingus! Professor Squando just warned me! I'll take care of her, thank you.'

They were now facing each other. Aldo looked up into Sobuco's eyes.

'I can handle this, Mister Sobuco,' he answered haughtily. 'I usually like to finish what I begin.'

Sobuco frowned and then smiled.

'You haven't changed a bit, have you?' he paused. 'Aldebaran Mingus... You're just like your father.'

Aldo's face remained still.

'Very well,' Sobuco said. 'I'll have a bed ready then.'

He looked down on the boy and disapparated.

'Old fool!' Aldo spat.

He went up to the hospital wing and found the door open, waiting for him to walk in.

'Come in and set her down on this bed,' Sobuco said.

Aldo crossed the great room and set Lilith down upon it. He looked at her pale, life-less face and shivered.

'Should I go and warn her friends?' he asked.

'Yes,' the healer answered. 'Good idea. If you know where to find them.'

'I will manage,' he assured, 'but I won't be able to resume my lead of the first years' visit.'

'Don't worry about that,' Sobuco said, examining Lilith. 'It is just for this kind of accidents that we put two prefects with each group. Go and find them. She will be very cold when she wakes up and it will take all the support she can get to warm her up.'

Aldo nodded and went out.

'Silly girl,' he thought, striding along the corridor.

And yet, Aldo knew that there was something wrong about all this, something big, but he just couldn't see what. What was this "forbidden mask" business? He had never heard of such a thing. Surely, had Squando had something that dangerous hung in his classroom, he would have warned them earlier on. Obviously, it would have struck other students in four years. The Nishi twins at the very least: they were so curious, they must have touched and asked about every single thing in this castle. It just didn't feel right. As for the wand... What was wrong with it? He smirked recalling Squando's answer to his question. It was exactly what he had been expecting; a riddle.

His thinking had led him up to the Great Hall's open door. He stepped out in the bright sunlight, and gazed around, shielding his eyes with his hand. There were many students outside, lying in the shade of the trees or walking about and laughing in the sun. He noticed a crowd gathered a little farther and went towards it. On his way, he walked past a group of students, whom he recognized as the Snowy Owls, a Quidditch team, passing a quaffle to each other, as well as several people he knew who greeted him and waved.

As he got closer, Aldo heard the cheers of the crowd and the sound of wood clattering against wood which made him understand what it was all about. The Twins were up again with one of their groovy combat demo. They loved it, defying each other and fighting in the middle of an over-excited crowd of their fellow students. This time, they were fighting with their broomsticks.

Aldo noticed a boy he knew at the back of the crowd and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy turned round and smiled.

'Hello, Aldo! How's life?' he asked.

'Hello, John,' Aldo answered quickly. 'Have you seen Blue and the others?'

'Yep. They're over there,' he said pointing at a tall, remote tree near the eastern wall.

'I should have known,' Aldo said. 'Thank you.'

'Anytime!' John smiled, but Aldo was already gone. John gave a shrug, turned back to the fight and roared with the others as Ishiko, the girl, jumped over her brother Eiji using her broomstick as a pole.

Aldo hurried up to the tree and finally saw his friends after a few minutes' walk. Anton was lying in the shade, his whole length spread on to the grass with Blue and Ginger either side of him, making them look like a strange giant cross.

Anton raised his head and smiled.

'Hey!' he said cheerfully. 'How're ya, bro?'

They sat up.

'I think I already told you to forget me with your "bro"!' Aldo snapped.

'Excusez-moi!' Anton laughed, but apparently, his friend was not in the mood for jokes: Ginger and Blue laughed but Aldo looked as grave as ever.

'What is it?' Blue asked, getting worried.

Aldo rubbed his eyes and faced them.

'Something happened to Lilith.'

***

Someone knocked on the door. Sobuco put away his glasses and his copy of "Dancing with Demons" and sighed. He stood up and went to the door.

'What is it?' he asked.

'We are Lilith's friends, we want to see her!' Blue's panting voice shouted.

Sobuco opened the door to let them in. They were out of breath with the running they had just made.

As soon as Aldo had told them that something had happened to Lilith, the three of them had sprung to their feet and overwhelmed him with questions. He had shut them up and explained the little he knew, but they kept interrupting him with 'what's this forbidden mask rubbish?' or 'that's old Squando, all right!' until he had reached the end of his tale. They had run to the hospital wing at once.

'Come in,' Sobuco said. Aldo entered last and Sobuco frowned. 'Do you need something, Mister Mingus?'

'Yes,' he answered heatedly. 'I need to see if she's alright.'

'We are grateful you brought her all the way here, Mister Mingus, but now your business is over.'

'My business here is as over as theirs,' he snapped, glaring at the old healer.

'He's right, sir', Blue said calmly. She made an imploring look at Aldo, asking him to calm down.

Sobuco turned to face her and frowned.

'All right then,' he sighed. He looked Aldo in the eyes and his hard stare followed him as the boy crossed the hospital wing to Lilith's bed, which was now hidden behind a thick green curtain.

'Old creep!' Aldo whispered.

'You'll get detention for that, Mingus,' Sobuco said calmly putting on his thin spectacles. 'And be thankful that I don't get this prefect badge off you right away.'

Aldo was furious. He caught up with his friends, seething. Blue opened the curtain and screamed as she found herself facing a huge dark shape. Anton grabbed her arm and pulled her away, hiding her behind him. Aldo sprung next to him, wand at the ready but then he realised what it was.

'Stardust!' he let out.

Blue peeped in from behind Anton's back and sighed with relief. The Centaur was sitting - or maybe lying - on the cold floor, his four horse legs bent underneath him. He had one hand on Lilith's forehead and the other was holding her left hand.

'Hello, visitors,' Stardust said slowly.

'Wow, Stardust!' Blue gasped. 'You scared the hell outa me!'

'I am deeply sorry, Miss Jôl,' he said, bowing his head.

'It's OK,' she said. 'How is she?'

She went to the other side of the bed and held Lilith's right hand.

'Not much better, I would say,' he declared. 'This mask is very dangerous.'

'What is this mask rubbish?' Ginger asked aggressively.

'Aye!' Anton said. 'I can't believe this...' he hesitated, 'goddamn... voodoo thing has been here for all these years without a single person gettin' hurt!'

'He's right,' Aldo said. 'How is it Professor Squando never told us to stay away from it? There are dozens of dangerous items in this castle, but we are told which one as soon as we get here!'

'The girl,' Stardust explained calmly, 'certainly had a will to defy the power of the mask. It is only when it is challenged that it shows up its power. We never thought a student would go and challenge it. That is why we did not warn you so that hot-tempered people,' - he turned to Aldo - 'would not get hurt trying to prove anything.'

The four friends glanced at each other. They new perfectly well, and Aldo first of all, how hot-tempered and challenging Lilith could be when she let her feelings possess her. It all made sense.

'I will leave you with her,' Stardust said, standing up. 'Farewell.'

He opened the curtain, walked to the door and left. Aldo glanced at Sobuco and closed the curtain.

'What was he doing here?' he asked, whispering.

'Don't tell me you have a problem with Stardust as well, now!' Ginger whispered, fed up.

'No!' Aldo said, keeping his voice down. 'Stardust is sound, what I meant is that it's not his job at all!'

'You're right,' Anton said.

The two others nodded.

'I'm telling you,' Aldo warned, 'there's something wrong about all this.'

'What do you mean?' Blue asked.

'I'm not sure, but...' He turned his back on them and folded his arms, 'something happened up there.'

'What?' Ginger asked, getting weary of all this.

'I don't know, OK!' Aldo shouted, facing them again.

'Sshhhhh!'

They remained silent for a while. Aldo stood, lost in his thoughts, biting his thumbnail.

'We must trust Professor Squando on this one, Aldo,' Blue said gently. 'If he says-'

But Aldo paid no attention. While biting his thumbnail, he had felt that the touch of his skin wasn't as it should be and as he opened his hand, he goggled.

'Hey Mingus,' Blue started, angered, 'you could at least pa-'

'If nothing happened,' Aldo cut off, 'how do you guys explain this?'

He held out his hand to show that his fingertips were burnt. The three others stared at them in disbelief.

'What da hell...' Anton said.

'Are you sure you didn't burn yourself when we ate or something?' Ginger asked hopefully, but it only made Aldo frown dangerously.

'Of course I'm sure,' he assured. 'Squando must have taken something out of my memory. I remember feeling my arm go numb at some point in the classroom, but it's all blurred.'

'O'right, Mingus,' Anton said. 'Tell us all you can remember about what happened up there.'

Aldo opened his mouth, but Lilith moaned and moved. Blue knelt down and clutched her hand. Lilith opened her eyes.

'We'll talk about it later on,' Aldo whispered. Anton nodded.

'Hey,' Blue said as Lilith's eyes fell on her. 'How d'you feel?'

'Not too good,' she said.

'Are you cold?' Aldo asked.

'No,' she answered. 'I'm hot.'

'Well no wonder with so many blankets,' Blue laughed nervously.

'And I'm hungry too,' she said. 'What happened to me?'

'We were counting on you to clear that up,' Aldo said.

Lilith swallowed.

'I remember...' she hesitated. 'I remember Professor Squando's classroom. He said that he sensed much power in us.'

'Hey!' Ginger exclaimed indignantly. 'He never told us that!'

'Shut up, Ginger,' Aldo said. 'Go on, Lilith.'

The girl tried to focus harder.

'I remember everyone standing up and leaving. I was last to stand up. I looked at Squando on my way out. He turned to look at me. His eyes flashed and... and...'

Her four friends held their breath.

'I don't remember...' she whispered. She felt tears well up in her eyes but she held them back. Something had happened up there, she was sure of it, something terrible.

'Do you remember where I could have got this?' Aldo asked showing her his burned fingertips. She stared at it and her eyes widened. Violent images suddenly flared up in her mind.

Fire.

Pain.

Cold.

Heat.

Death.

'Noooo!' she cried out in pain. She held her head in her hands, shrieking as the images flashed again.

Fire.

A dragon blowing on a battlefield.

Pain.

The moans and tears of the wounded.

Cold.

A tall woman with a whitish aura.

Heat.

The flames of the innocent flesh burning around her.

Death.

Her own wand striking people down with green bolts of lightning.

And the laughter. Mirthless and cruel.

'No! No!' she screamed.

The images were pounding in her brain like blood rushing through her veins.

Pain.

Fire.

Cold.

Heat.

Pain.

Fire.

... Death.

A heart-rending cry issued from her mouth, and a whirling aura burst from her at once that sent her four friends hurtling to the ground. The twisting white and black flames roused, twisting and blending with one another.

The scream made Sobuco's blood run cold. Never before had he heard anything so fierce and violent. He got up, took out his wand and rushed to the bed. The students were lying on their back, shielding their eyes and faces from the tremendous strength of the aura that had already torn the bed apart. The girl was hovering a few feet above the ground.

'Oh my God!' Sobuco cried. He raised his wand with a trembling hand. 'St-Stupefy!' The red bolt flashed from his wand and hit the back of Lilith's head, stunning her. The aura vanished and the girl fell down on the remnants of the wrecked bed.

Sobuco backed away from the girl and leant against the wall, gasping for breath. He stared at the wreckage with disbelief. Who in the world could this girl be? He himself, Pedro Sobuco, well-known Quidditch player, respected healer and brave enemy of all the dark arts was scared to death by a twelve years old girl. What kind of power could be burning inside this frail body?