I crawled toward Mom, released her once more. "How did you do that, Macy?"

Color me surprised. Mom was impressed? "I don't know. Right now, we have to get out of here."

We shuffled along on a ledge narrower than our feet. We faced the wall of rock and used the cracks and crevices to get us to Grendel and Jilla. Took more time than I wanted but once our feet were on solid ground, we rushed over to them. They lay unconscious having been zapped by Mordok.

"What have you always told me Grendel?" Mom asked as she supported his weight.

"Not to engage," he said. He sounded as if he swallowed a bunch of tiny pebbles.

"And?"

"I am not perfect," he grumbled.

I supported Jilla who limped, her left leg cut open and bleeding. "Neither am I. Who knew he was such a sore loser?"

"He hasn't lost," Jilla said, dashing what little hope I had. "I can sense him even now."

"Rats, I was hoping that was it." We paced ourselves getting back to the hut at slower than normal walking speed. Inside the hut, Mom set about in taking care of Jilla's leg and Grendel's concussion.

I swallowed a gallon of nectar juice. Revived, I helped Mom wrap the cloth around Jilla's leg. Guilt warred in me, seeing them injured like this. I should have never come back to Alluvia. My cup began rattling on the table. It toppled off and smashed into pieces. "What the hell?"

"Mordok," Mom said. "He's returned."

"Why does he keep getting the upper hand?" I groaned.

"Go down below,. Run to the place from where you portaled last," Mom ordered. "The rest of us will hold him off as long as we can."

"I'm not leaving you."

"I do not have time to argue with you about this. He is coming. Our magic is more powerful than yours."

"I did just knock him off his pedestal."

"Let her fight," Grendel said. "We need her."

"Very well. If anything happens to you--" Mom left the rest of the comment hanging. I jumped into her arms and hugged her tight.

"Nothing will happen to me so long as I have you, Grendel and Jilla by my side."

"Let me go. We need to plan."

"You're so sentimental Mom." I released her with a chuckle. Really, did I want her to be any other way?

We rushed out of the hut toward the clearing where Jilla said she sensed him to be. Why there of all places? Did the surroundings of the clearing hold a great significance to him? "Why here?"

"The ground has special magical properties that anchors his magic," Jilla explained. We stopped short of entering. Mordok was nowhere to be seen, yet even I could feel his presence. A cold, clammy, sulfuric presence. 

"Is he here? I sense him but I can't see him."

"He is recharging," Jilla answered. 

"Good. Then we'll get the upper hand for once."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Something scientific. Do you have any more vines?"

We constructed a net, Jilla and Mom doing the weaving. I used the tree branches to fashion a crude pully system. With the net high up in the trees, we proceeded with caution. "Where is he?"

The answer came from Mordok himself. The four of us were knocked off our feet by such force our backs cracked against the tree trunks. We were held fast once again. Gray tendrils appeared out of nowhere sealing us each to a tree. "Ugh. Disgusting." There were no words to describe the sensation of creeping cold tendrils that exuded a bucket of mucus or some Alluvian equivalent. Like being inside someone's nose.

Focus. 

I had managed to manipulate the rocks to emit an earthquake. Thus far, rocks did my bidding. Sort of. But would the tree? I dug my fingers into the rough bark. The response was immediate. The tree shook from side to side as if a great gale force wind the size of a hurricane had suddenly come up. "Sorry," I whispered to the tree in case it was sentient.

"Who are you saying sorry to?" Mom asked.

"The tree."

"Trees are just trees in this world Macy. Get a grip."

"I'm trying to." I couldn't seem to do anything more than make the tree move. I eyed my family, equally helplessly trapped. This was my family and I couldn't do anything to save them.

A sardonic chuckle emerged first then Mordok revealed himself. He stood in the exact center of the clearing. He chuckled with mirth at our inability to move. Guffawed over the pitiful way I tried to defeat him. My fingers twitched, they tingled, and sparked. Mordok was too busy laughing to notice. 

"You should see yourselves," he gloated. "Trussed up like Juntans waiting to be butchered. But not just yet. I shall have some fun with you first."

"Here comes the monologue."

"Be silent, young one. Treat the one who has defeated with respect."

"Yes, your royal highness."

"I prefer Grand Sorcerer, but that will do."

"I was being sarcastic," I said. "But then you wouldn't know about that would you?"

"Cease speaking at once! You have no manners. Were you brought up in a stable?"

"I was born in San Francisco." Really, I ought to be shutting up.

"Come here, child."

I was released all at once. I dropped down into the dirt on my hands and knees. Before he could bring me closer, I dug my hands into the dirt. i didn't know what the hell I was doing but I had to do something.

If I could shake a whole cavern with my anti-magic think of what I could with the ground. Earthquakes are caused by shifting in tectonic plates in our world. What could cause an earthquake in Alluvia? Magic. I imagined the ground loosening, shifting, moving apart. Roots tearing, dirt falling into a deep chasm, trees toppling. I imagined it all. 

The ground started with a little tremor then grew in strength. The tremors increased until my jaws clattered in my mouth. It wasn't enough to affect Mordok. Not yet. I went deeper, concentrating all I had in me. Think about earthquakes. What did they feel like? Five years ago, I had been in a coffee shop when a sizable earthquake shook San Francisco. Stuff fell off the shelves. I couldn't keep my balance. It felt as if my feet were going in two different directions. Light poles toppled over, glass shattered. 

I summoned the entire experience into my hands. The fear, the awe and the panic I felt that day. I stood in the doorway of a restaurant and an awning fell on me. Talk about freaking out. I screamed and yelled and had a panic attack right there. I channeled it all into the ground. I couldn't feel the magic anymore but judging from the way the ground rocked back and forth it was working.

I worked my hands deeper down to my elbows. I hoped it would be enough. I ideally wanted to knock Mordok off his feet long enough to deploy the net. "Come on, work," I grunted, my mouth full of dirt. I spit it out turning my head to face Mordok. He was down on his knees but it wasn't enough.

I imagined a crack being created underneath him. I imagined another one going all the way to the river to induce a small tsunami. Birds took flight and animals thundered out of the forest. They were afraid which was a good sign because clearly my anti-magic worked on them. "Fall down, old man. Come on, you can do it."

Boulders thrust up out of the river. The ground folded in on itself like paper. "Now!" I whispered to the ground. It happened all at once. A mini tsunami descended on Mordok. The boulders fell around him sealing him in. The ground split apart and he dropped through the chasm. He was trapped from the waist down. With his magic temporarily subdued, I was free to get up and cut the vines. The net descended and secured him in the chasm by weighted stones.

The tendrils released Mom, Jilla and Grendel. "Got him," I said, helping Mom to her feet. "Use your magic."

"I think your magic was more than sufficient," Mom said. She was right. Mordok wasn't going anywhere.

"Go," Grendel said. "We'll take care of Mordok."

"Come, Macy. We have limited time as it is."

We ran toward the location of the Portal from earth. "By all means, run," Mordok shouted. "I will find you no matter where you go. You are a beacon to which I can locate you anytime, anywhere."

"What does he mean by that?"

"I am not certain. We must hurry."

We jumped through and landed on the other side. Twenty guards with twenty guns shoved in our faces. "Hello to you too," I quipped.

"Oh, Macy, I feel so sorry for you," Celia said, shoving her way past the guards. "You just could not stand to see me so successful could you? You had to horn in and grab your fifteen minutes of fame."

I got to my feet, dirt trickling off my hands in big clumps. Celia eyed the dirt. "You made it, did you not? Tell me," she demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She took hold of my arms. Alluvian dirt. I couldn't deny I'd been somewhere else but I'll be damned if I tell her about Alluvia. "This is proof." Insanely, she snapped her fingers. "Bag!" she shouted. Her lab assistants scrambled to obey bumping into each other in their haste. She literally scraped some dirt off of me and into the bag and sealed it. "Take this to the lab at once. Do not, I repeat, do not, do anything with it until I get there. Clear?" The red haired lab assistant nodded nervously. "You may go."

"You're cracked. Oh, my God, you're just like--" I stopped short of saying his name. Could it be possible? Nah. Mordok didn't seem the type to procreate.

"Yes?"

"A narcissistic with delusions of godhood," I finished lamely.

"I'm hardly delusional." She stepped closer to Mom. "I do not know you."

"Leave her alone."

Celia's interest peaked. "She is of importance to you, no? Who is she Macy?"

Beside me, Mom was casting warning glances at me not to say anything so I said nothing. Celia quickly brought out a knife and aimed it at Mom's throat. "Who is she? Tell me or I will spill her blood right here."

"My mother," I blurted. "Don't hurt her."

"Your mother? And she came with you from that other place? Fascinating. Put them in the cell until I decide what to do with the two of you."

A mishappened lump was on one of the cots in the cell. The figure rolled over when the door slammed. Her eyes, clouded at first, cleared when she saw me. "Macy!" She jumped off the cot and clung to me, sobbing.