WfW - the Negative half - Unicorn Farm 27

As I wrote yesterday. Delores'  prompts did not speak to me at all. But then, after having written a  chapter of my story, I just had to write a bit more, and the first half of the prompts - the negative ones - all fit the story.

1. blasted
2. withered
3. derelict
4. broken
5. chained
6. ground


We just continue right where we laid off yesterday. Maybe tomorrow or later a new chapter will be written, containing all the positive words. 

1. fresh,
2. growing,
3. alive,
4. active,
5. hope,
6. dreams.



Kai handed Sandra the folder. "Fonts de Jouvences" she read, "That place is called 'The fountain of youth'. So very phony." She held her wand over the paper, and it quivered like a hungry dog. Then black smoke sprang from the tip.
"Yup, suggestive paper. Heidi get me some brandy, 6 small glasses and a copper plate - and a teaspoon."
Sandra placed the folder in the middle of the table on the copper plate, "Kveik!" she commanded. The folder burst into multicoloured, almost hypnotic flames. When they had burned down, Sandra ground the paper with the spoon, poured a small amount of brandy in each of the six glasses, and put a pinch of the still hot ashes into each of them. She distributed the glasses and raised her own: "Skilum!" she said, and emptied her glass. Kai, Tue and Lis were quick to follow her example, but Susan and Heidi looked at her with distrust. Normally they were forbidden to touch alcohol, and now Sandra bade them drink it.
"Oh, go on and drink it!" she said with a stern look. "That small amount won't hurt you!"  They raised their glasses and drank. It tasted awful. It burned, it scorched their throat. Susan started coughing. and Heidi looked as if she was choking. Tue and Lis did not look happy either, their faces were drawn and their mouths clenched tight. But Susan felt her mind clearing.
"Thank you, my love!" Kai said. "You have broken the chains that held me. I am now the master of my own mind again."
"Oh what a perfectly awful thing to do. Is this what happened to my parents with the invitation to Unicorn Farm?" Susan asked.
"No, or rather at least not as forcefully. Gilvi and I only used a mild suggestion, they still were free to say 'no' if they wanted to."
"Boy, I'm glad to hear that. I hate that magic gives us such power over other peoples' mind."
"Yes this was bad." Sandra said. "It was black magic. I hope that we're the only ones having studied that folder closely, but I fear not." We'll have to convene all the teachers here tonight.

"No." Susan exclaimed. "Do not call Torben. He's in league with the owner of the Fontes-whatever place. Remember what we said about the person on that blasted folder being the villain in the movie? Wait a sec."  She ran upstairs and got her folder: "Look at this!" she said as she pulled the photo from her folder and threw it at the table. "This is the owner, and Torben shaking his hand."
Sandra snatched the photo and stared at it for a second, then she passed it on to Kai. "What is this? Where do that photo come from? What more do you know? Now is the time to tell everything!" Sandra looked more angry than any of the children ever had seen her. Heidi cowered in fear, and a tear rolled from her eyes. Susan took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Oh Heidi, I'm not angry at you, but at that ... idiot there." she said pointing at the photo in Kai's hands.
Lis began telling the story from an end. Beginning way back with things Sandra and Kai had heard before; their suspicion that David was doing things he should not have been able to. She told the story of the derelict powerhouse where the withered fronds had hidden them while they watched Torben and David brewing up the strange potions. She told of Helge's part in their adventure and the happenings at Unicorn farm. Then Tue took over;  telling abut their useless tracking of Torben at the railway station. and adding more details to the strange Christmas party at the Unicorn farm. "I wonder why nothing came off it," Tue said. "I think personally that it was some kind of alibi and test run. Maybe those fumes installed some false memories in the rest of the teachers"
Then Susan rose, opened her folder and told about Stellan and his photos, "... and then Percy warned me, that he was a bad man!"
"Percy?" Sandra asked, "who is he?"
"Percy is not a he, she's a she. Her real name is Persephone, and she is a ghost in my home."
"Persephone? A girl, a bit taller than you. Long, flowing hair, big eyes, rather shy?"  Susan nodded, and Sandra went on. "I once knew a girl like that. And Persephone is not exactly a common name. It could very well be the same girl. She was my friend for a time, we lived next to one another, then she moved to your town. We wrote letters at least once a week, and she even visited me a couple of times. I think she was a witch as well, although we didn't  speak about it. Then one day my letters returned, unopened. I never found out what happened."
Susan looked up: "She told me, her mother would not answer her questions about that man, whom she - the mother - called very bad. Now I'm speculating. Maybe that man killed Percy ...  I don't think she realized she was dead until long after the fact. And her mother did not answer, because she never heard her questions at all. I don't know anything, but it fits."
"Everything fits if you try hard enough. Could you please go home and persuade Percy to come here tonight?" Sandra asked.
"Now?" Susan asked. "But ... I mean ...  my parents. What if they're at home? They are going to ask a zillion questions if I suddenly come home, and I have to go back to the Unicorn Farm to use the portal."
"Tue can 'port with you there and go with you home as well." Kai said. Then he can go and see if they're at home or not. Your parents are much more apt to remember Lis or Heidi, than Tue, girls' parents are just that way until the girls get old enough for boyfriends."