The Secret of the Wicker Wand

Kohl Renshaw

The mermen stepped aside at the sight of Rebekah and Emma, allowing them to enter through the beautiful blue emerald palace doors.

Rebekah was shocked by the information Emma had just told her. She had been informed that her father had died on a plane crash that was headed for Mongolia.

Her father had traveled a lot, probably searching for the wand and meeting with other kingdom councils, Rebekah now realized.

She had been told that her father was the president of IKM, an insulation company.

IKM must've stood for Ice Kingdom of Magic. The secrets and lies and coverups were everywhere. Her father had lied to her about being a wizard, about being a kingdom leader, about his job, and so much more. That means he had also lied to her mother, his own wife.

This made rage burn inside of Rebekah. Why couldn't he just tell them? They were his own family! The surely weren't going to tell anybody else.

With a jolt, Rebekah realized that she was doing the exact same thing to her mother. Lying to her, and covering her magical powers, telling her she was at a boarding school.

Is this how the wizard world worked? Lying to your loved ones about who you are, even if it hurts them?

"I know it's a lot to take in," Emma said, bringing Rebekah out of her thoughts. "But your father died trying to find a way to bring peace to the kingdoms, he was a wonderful leader."

Rebekah nodded, trying her best to agree.

They entered the palace, and Rebekah gasped when they stepped through the threshold. The Great room of the palace was magnificent. The floor in front of her was glass, underneath it was a visible coral reef thriving with ocean life. The walls around her were a striking blue, and looked to be moving, like actual ocean waves.

The grand staircase was placed in the center of the room, two guards standing at its sides.

One of the mermen guards, a muscular guy with a fiery red tail, swam over to Rebekah and Emma.

He bowed to them, and Emma nodded curtly.

"What brings you to the kingdom of Pacifica today, Miss Marion?" The guard asked.

"We're here to speak with the Council of Water." Emma replied gracefully.

"Let me bring you upstairs. I will consult Kohl about this meeting, then call the council." The guard said, beckoning them to the beautiful staircase.

"Thank you, Maxim." Emma, bowed, and Maxim did the same.

As they made their way up the grand staircase, Rebekah couldn't help but admire every piece of artwork and architecture that the palace had.

The walls of the Great room, and of the halls at the top of the staircase were decorated with gorgeous paintings of mermen, of ocean life, and of the beautiful shore of the ocean as waves lapped into the shore.

Rebekah noticed one painting, that was off to the side. The painting was at least a square meter all around. In the painting, it depicted the earth, split into five sections, Earth, Fire, Ice, Water, and Air. The beautiful nature of each of the elements was painted into each of the sections.

But what surprised Rebekah, was what was in the middle.

In the middle of the painting, there stood a beautiful palace, bigger than any of the palaces of the Water and Ice Kingdoms.

The palace shone with all of the element prime colors, green, crimson, dark blue, white, and baby blue.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out. The kingdoms were once united, even sharing one palace.

Rebekah wondered, what could've caused them to break the peace? The unity seemed like a long lost dream now.

Rebekah turned to look at some of the the other exquisite paintings. There were many depictions of merpeople in the paintings, and Rebekah marveled at the exotic beauty of the creatures.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Maxim led them down a domed hallway, the glass walls revealing fish swimming all around, their vibrant colors reflecting onto the turquoise floor.

There was a door at the end of the hall, shimmering gold with the waves reflecting on its surface.

Maxim tapped his huge trident against the door, and it slid open slowly.

"Kohl, you have some visitors from the Ice Kingdom." Maxim hollered into the doorway.

"Please, come in." A deep voice said that must've belonged to Kohl.

Maxim led them into a colorful room, coral covering the aqua walls. A big desk was placed at the center of the room, and two chairs sat opposite the desk.

Sitting at the desk, was a man that looked to be in his forties, wearing a deep blue dress shirt at green tie. He had dark brown hair and sea green eyes. The man had an aura of friendliness, which was reflected by his warm smile that lit up his face when he spotted Emma.

"Good afternoon, Emma. I haven't seem you in a while." He greeted, then locked eyes with Rebekah, "Oh, and you must be Rebekah, John's daughter. Your similarities are striking."

He held out his hand, and Rebekah shook it. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Allor. My name is Kohl Renshaw, and I run this joint."

Rebekah smiled in response, and Kohl held out his hands, "Please, take a seat."

Rebekah and Emma sat down in the blue chairs, and Maxim stood behind.

"It is great to see you two. May I ask, what you have come here for?" Kohl asked.

"Rebekah has just been appointed leader of the Ice Kingdom," Emma started, "And we must deal with the issues at hand. The Earth Kingdom is getting very powerful, as you know, and we must find a way to subdue their power and stop these attacks, that could soon be a threat to the Air and Ice kingdoms as well. We plan to hold a meeting with our three allying kingdoms to discuss the issue, and would like to notify you of the time and place for the meeting."

Kohl considered this for a moment. "Where do you plan on holding this meeting?"

"We were hoping we could hold it in Atlantis, as the Earth and Fire kingdoms don't know of its location." Emma said.

"That is a good location. I think we should hold it in Atlantis city hall, on the 13 of January, at 12:00 in the afternoon, Eastern Time." Kohl suggested.

"I think that would be a good time. We will be sure to notify the Air Kingdom. Be sure to bring all of your Council members to the meeting." Emma finalized.

-------------------------------------

And here is the update! Sorry it took so long! Thank you guys for reading and voting!

Emma