"Come on!", Kari Donovan shouted as she bounded out of the RV, seemingly oblivious to her current state of undress. The blonde reporter was currently wearing her housecoat and slippers as she had just gotten out of bed a few moments ago. "We've got a story to cover!" Behind her, Peter Ramsey grabbed his camera and followed. Snowball brought up the rear.
It was just after midnight in Pineboro, New York. Peter and Kari were an investigative reporting team working for 'Supernatural America', a syndicated television show that covered things that 'go bump in the night'. News of a haunted house had drawn them to Pineboro and the Croft Manor. The old estate sat on the outskirts of town and was readily avoided by the local population.
Interviews with the townsfolk had revealed the strange story of this house. First Willie Boyd related his odd encounter at the Croft House way back in 1919. Edna Partridge told a story from her high school days in the spring of '53. Each one believed that they had seen something, but what they could not hope to explain.
As usual, Peter had the answers. Unlike Kari, Peter was a true believer in the supernatural. He concluded that a prominent figure in both stories was a being known only as the Purple Phlox. Reputedly the Phlox was a force for the good and ethical use of magic who could burn those who did evil with a purple flame. Even better he was centuries old.
Kari thought it was nonsense, but that didn't dampen Peter's enthusiasm one bit. They drove their RV out to the Croft Manor and explored the house by day. Nothing of interest was found, but neither one expected to locate any solid evidence. Kari because she believed that ghosts and goblins were nothing but the product of an overworked imagination. Peter because he knew that such specters and apparitions only came out at night.
And so, despite Kari's skepticism, Peter set up his equipment to watch the house that night. Figuring that this was yet another wild goose chase, Kari turned in for the evening leaving Peter to wait for the ghouls to show up.
Much to Kari's surprise, Peter's too, not that he would admit it, something was happening inside the Croft House! A brilliant white light was emanated from the structure's interior! Perhaps they were finally going to come face to face with the supernatural! Peter's faith was finally going to be rewarded.
In her excitement, Kari dashed out of the RV dressed in her sleeping garments. Peter made no objection as he picked up his camera and chased after the reporter. Snowball, Kari's jet-black tabby, followed after the humans, seemingly as interested in what was going on as they were.
The summer night was warm as the reporters advanced on the Croft Manor. A soft breeze could be felt and the sound of rustling leaves and creaking branches filled the night. Owls could be heard hooting off in the distance, along with the songs of innumerable crickets.
Kari reached the front porch and bounded up the steps without a second thought. Snowball rapidly caught up to her, but Kari paid the feline no attention. She was far too engrossed with whatever was going on inside the house to notice the cat.
Peter had slowed down long enough to sling his camera over his shoulder, run through his checks, and then start filming. He too had no clue as to what was going on, but whatever it was he wanted to capture it on film. This footage was going to be priceless!
Reaching the front door, Kari flung it open and advanced inside. She shielded her eyes at first, until they could adjust to the bright light. There was a fierce wind inside the house, much more powerful than what she had felt outside. Dust and debris were blown about the room on this strong wind. It was even hard to hear over the howling of the wind.
As Kari looked about, the brightness began to slowly fade, the wind died down, and she could make out some details. She spotted two figures within the bright light. At least, she thought it was two as the one closest to her suddenly seemed to melt away, leaving behind only a small pile of ash that was rapidly blown away by the wind. It all seemed surreal to Kari.
The other, more distant, figure collapsed to the floor with a realistic thud. Kari couldn't tell if it was due to an injury or simply from exhaustion. Tentatively, Kari moved towards this figure intent upon getting an interview.
The brightness had faded enough that Kari could make out details. Lying on the dirty floor before her was a man dressed in a bizarre purple outfit. A dark purple cloak obscured most of the man's body and he was laying facing away from her. But what Kari could make out was a skintight outfit of patchwork purple of varying shades.
"Oh my sweet lord," Kari whispered to herself, coming to a stop in shock. "There really is a Purple Phlox!"
The reporter's mind tried to accept this fact, but was having great difficulty. The figure before her was as Edna Partridge described him from back in 1953. But how was this possible? That was thirty-three years ago! According to Peter, the Purple Phlox, or a succession of Purple Phlox's, had been around for centuries.
Snowball peered at the strange figure from behind Kari's ankles, equally unsure just what was going on. The feline arched its back, its hair standing on end. Whatever was going on, Snowball decided that he didn't like it! A hiss of displeasure followed.
"Major cool!", Peter announced as he zoomed in on this scene. "Kari, my girl, we have hit the big time!"
"Right. We've got a story to report." Kari moved forward once more overcoming her own shock, closing on the prone man. "Excuse me--? Could I have a moment of your time?"
The man on the floor shifted, turning to face Kari. As his face came into view, previously having been obscured by the hooded cloak, Kari screamed in terror! The man's face was on fire! Kari could barely make out the Phlox's true face through the flames. It was as if the purple flames had been superimposed over his normal features.
"Oh, man!", Peter muttered as he filmed. "What a special effect!"
Regaining her composure, Kari moved closer to the Purple Phlox. "Excuse me, Mister Phlox, sir, but could I have a word with you?"
"It-- all-- makes-- sense-- now," the Purple Phlox uttered in a normal sounding man's voice. "You-- saved-- me--, child. Thank-- you." Every word seemed to be a great effort to the Purple Phlox, as if he was expending the last of his energy. The Phlox's voice crackled as if under some unknown strain. It sounded like the voice of an old man.
That announcement caught Kari totally off guard. "What are you talking about? How did I save you?" The reporter bent her knees, lowering herself closer to the Phlox.
"Not-- much-- time. Wish-- I-- could-- explain."
The Phlox reached forward to Kari with his right hand. It locked tightly around her left wrist. "Let go of me!"
But the Phlox did not let go. Instead, Kari could feel a tingling in her arm from where the strange man was holding her. That tingling started to travel up her arm and rapidly covered her entire body.
"What are you doing to me?", Kari shouted, fear thick in her voice. "Stop it!"
The Phlox spoke once more, each word even more difficult than before. "Just-- finishing-- what-- I--..."
All at once it stopped. The tingling in Kari's body faded and the Phlox let her go. The purple clad man collapsed to the floor once more and did not move.
Now free of the Phlox's grip, Kari scrambled backwards as fast as she could. She tripped over Snowball, causing the cat to mew loudly in protest from being stepped on. Kari continued to scramble back until she hit the wall of the room. Her breath was coming hard and she nearly hyperventilated.
"You okay, Kari?", Peter asked as he side-stepped towards her. He continued to keep his camera focused on the Purple Phlox. By now the bright light was gone. Other than the light from his camera, the sole illumination in the room was the purple flames on the man's face.
"I don't know," Kari answered in a very confused voice. She glanced at the wrist the Phlox had held. It appeared undamaged, not even a bruise. Her focus then turned towards the unmoving body on the floor. "Is he--? Is he dead?"
Peter gave no answer, but slowly stepped forward gingerly, filming all the while. The cameraman hadn't advanced more than two steps when suddenly a purplish flame erupted around the body. In seconds the Purple Phlox's body had burned away leaving behind ashes that quickly dispersed in the gentle breeze. Awestruck, Peter lowered the camera from his shoulder. For one of the few times in his life, he couldn't think of anything to say.
"That's not possible...", Kari uttered, breaking the silence. This whole ordeal was making her doubt her own sanity. "Just not possible."
"Magical fire doesn't have to follow the rules of science," Peter simply explained. "I think this incident is over." Peter looked around the now dark and silent room. The only remaining light was coming from his camera. Even the strange wind had now faded.
"What was that all about? What did we just witness?" For once in their partnership, Kari wished that Peter would have some explanation for what they had just seen. No matter how far-fetched it was.
"I honestly don't know." Peter offered his hand to Kari, pulling her back to her feet. With a wide grin he added, "But I did capture it all on film."
"I thought you said you filmed what happened?", Kari asked, not concealing the annoyance in her voice. Less than half an hour after their bizarre encounter with the Purple Phlox, the reporters were back in their trailer. Peter removed the tape from his camera, rewound it, and was now playing it back. However, only snow was appearing on the monitor.
Snowball looked on half-heartedly from a distant countertop. The feline was more concerned in bathing himself then what his human companions were doing.
"I did! It was a brand new tape." Concern etching his brow, Peter fast-forwarded the tape but still all that was being shown was snow. Finally, the interference faded to reveal a dark Croft House. The camera panned around the darkened room and stopped on Kari, who was on the floor in front of the wall.
"That's after all the bizarre stuff happened!", Kari complained, pointing at the monitor. "Why didn't we get the Phlox on tape?"
"I don't know!", Peter shot back, not even trying to conceal his confusion and anger. "Obviously, there was some sort of interference that erased the tape. Once all that white light was gone the tape worked fine."
Inspiration struck Peter and he rapidly rose from the tape editing station and returned to the controls of his surveillance equipment. He quickly scanned through the readings. "A-HA!"
Much slower, Kari followed Peter and arrived there as he made his discovery. "A-ha, what?"
"Whatever that white light was, it was accompanied by an intense magnetic field. Something like an EM pulse." Upon seeing that Kari did not comprehend what he was getting at, Peter explained further. "Powerful EM pulses can destroy sensitive electronics and erase stored data. What we encountered was something strong enough to screw up our equipment, but weak enough not to destroy them. All my sensors went blank during the episode. Apparently, the closer they were to the house, the more affected they were. Once the light was gone, everything started working normal again."
"Which still leaves us with nothing," Kari complained. "We're back to square one."
"But we saw it," Peter answered excitedly. "We just witnessed the story of the year. The story of the century!"
"Yeah, but we have no proof of it. Just our word for it. If we tried to report this story, the only place it would show up would be in the supermarket tabloids. No one is going to take us seriously without hard evidence. This night might as well never happened."
Disappointed, Kari started towards her bedroom. She paused long enough to place her hand on Peter's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know how much this means to you."
Peter reached up, putting his hand on top of hers. "We came close." With a goofy grin he added, "And there's always tomorrow night!"
Kari sighed, shook her head, and retired for the evening.
Peter watched as Kari disappeared into her room, a look of concern on his face. Kari was such a lovely woman that her looks sometimes took his breath away. Unfortunately, she seemed oblivious to his affection for her. After all, she was the tough reporter looking to make it in the news racket. And he, well, Peter was just an eccentric cameraman. Nothing really special to look at.
Their partnership worked because of their radically different approaches to covering stories. Peter was eager to accept unbelievable occurrences, while Kari was always looking for the manipulator hiding behind the curtain. Pushing their relationship-- their partnership in the direction of romance seemed like a doomed idea to Peter. He would have to be content to desire her from afar.
But such thoughts did not fill Peter's mind on this night. No, something very strange had occurred during their encounter with the Purple Phlox. Peter couldn't help but think that the brief contact that Kari had with the Phlox held far more meaning than the last words of a dying man. Kari had complained about a tingling sensation, but also stated that it disappeared quickly. All his other queries about Kari's physical condition were casually shrugged off.
"I'm fine", Kari would state defiantly.
Peter let the matter end at that. He tried hard not to pester Kari. But still, what if that Phlox's touch had done something to Kari? Could it be possession? Was that how the Phlox survived all these centuries? By transferring his soul from host to host like some kind of parasite?
The strange purple-clad man did say that Kari had freed him... Could it be that by transferring into her, the old Purple Phlox was now free of this invading spirit? And if this was true, what could Peter do against Kari if she really was possessed?
"No, no, you're just letting your imagination run wild," Peter thought, trying to shake that idea out of his head. "Making a mountain out of a mole hill." Still, keeping an eye on Kari for the next several days seemed a prudent course of action.
Turning back to his control console, Peter ran checks on his surveillance equipment. The devices seemed to be back in working order. Apparently the white light that accompanied the Phlox had blinded his equipment. Perhaps if he moved them further away from the house, seemingly the source of the interference, then he might actually record something.
"Come on, Snowball," Peter said to the feline. The cat perked up at the sound of his name. "We've got work to do."
Peter stepped out the RV, Snowball eyeing the man as he departed. The cat stared at the open doorway for a second and then curled up and fell to sleep.
"Suit yourself," Peter muttered as he proceed in his task. Cats. Who could figure them out?
The next several hours passed quickly as Peter carried out his task of re-aligning his surveillance equipment. More remote cameras were added at different locations. They were trained on the interior of the Croft Manor, just in case something else weird would happen. It was just a gut feeling, but Peter suspected that the Croft Manor and the Purple Phlox weren't done with them just yet. No matter how the situation appeared at the moment.
Exhausted, Peter climbed back into the RV. It was after 3 AM by now. Peter brewed up a pot of coffee to help keep him going. He ran through his system checks one more time. Doing it once was tedious enough, but twice in one day was pushing even his limits.
"There. The stage is set. All we need is a star." Satisfied that his new alignment would not be foiled as easily as the first, Peter unfolded his bed and collapsed into it. Sleep came easily for the tired cameraman.
"Huh? What?" Peter awoke with a start. A purplish light was moving through the RV. Peter turned and rose fast enough to see the purplish light depart the RV and head out into the Pineboro night. Rolling out of bed, Peter grabbed his glasses and took a gulp of his, now quite cold, coffee. A quick glance at the clock told him that it was 4:48 AM.
Peter spied the purplish light through the RV's windows. Even stranger the light was coming from Kari! "Okay...", Peter muttered as he tried to figure out just what in the world was going on. Maybe he was right-- Kari was possessed!!
Rushing out of the trailer, Peter ran after the slowly moving Kari. Pulling alongside of Kari, Peter was shocked to find that the strange purple flames that they had seen on the Purple Phlox now covered her face. And like the Phlox, those flames were not strong enough to completely obscure her features. Through the flames, Peter could see that Kari's eyes were open, but did not blink. It was as if Kari's head was the top of a flaming purple candle!
"She's in a trance," Peter silently surmised. It was a logical deduction, as Kari hadn't bothered to put her housecoat and slippers on as she had earlier this evening. The reporter was dressed in her sleeping clothes, essentially a night shirt and bottoms. She was barefoot.
"What should I do?" Peter cringed when he realized that he had spoken aloud. He knew that it was generally a bad idea to wake a sleepwalker. How about one seemingly possessed by some strange power? That seemed like an even worse idea.
Kari reached the steps of the Croft Manor and climbed them at her steady pace. The light from the flames that danced on her head was bright enough to illuminate the immediate area. Peter followed as close as he dared.
"I've got to do something!", he finally concluded. Reaching forward, Peter grabbed Kari's hand and spoke to her.
"Kari! Snap out of it!"
Kari came to a stop and turned to look at Peter. He found the image of flaming red eyes over her lovely blue orbs to be very unnerving.
"Do not interfere," Kari simply announced firmly. "My task is vital." Kari turned away and continued to walk forward. However, Peter refused to let go of her hand.
"Just what is this task?", Peter questioned. "What have you done to Kari?"
A flash of purple flame erupted around the part of Kari's hand that Peter had a hold on, causing him to let her go. "Yeow!", he screamed in pain as he felt his hand burning. Holding his hand between his other arm and chest, Peter tried to comfort his injured extremity. Daring a look, Peter found that his hand was free of any burns or blisters.
"The flames of the Purple Phlox only burn those who would do evil," Peter said to himself in relief. "They just must scare the dickens out of us good folks."
Obliviously, Kari continued forward and entered the house. The throbbing in his hand fading, Peter joined up with Kari once more. He stepped into the old Croft Manor and came to a stop. A look of awe etched on his face, Peter scanned the large room, stunned. The chamber was not the same as he remembered it!
Somehow, the room had been restored. Elegant wall paper was now on the formerly bare walls. Oil lamps provided the room with illumination and a fire was burning in the fireplace. The furnishings were relics from an era gone by, seemingly dating back to the 1700's. But each piece was in pristine condition as if it had just been built the day before. A large circular rug covered most of the floor. Varnished floorboards could be seen in the areas not covered by the rug.
Looking closer, Peter noticed a few strange details to this seemingly normal Victorian scene. The oil lamp holders appeared to be stylized serpents, each coiled about itself with the lamp emerging from the serpent's mouth. The mantle on the fireplace also held odd carvings and strange symbols that seemingly moved. The feet of the furniture resembled the limbs of animals more than chair supports. Almost claw-like in appearance.
Kari didn't pay any attention to the chamber and continued to walk forward in a slow gait. Peter remained in the doorway, taking in the odd scene. However, as Kari stepped out of the room, a sudden and strange metamorphosis occurred. Starting at the front door, the features in the room rapidly changed, falling back into the state that Peter remembered. In moments, the wallpaper was gone, the fireplace empty save for ashes, and the furniture rotted away into unrecognizable debris.
"Kari!", Peter yelled as he ran after his partner. The next room appeared much like the first in what must have been its original, unblemished state. Seemingly, as Kari moved through the house, the rooms changed with her. Once she was gone, they reverted to their ruined state. "What the hell is going on here!?"
"Do not interfere," Kari repeated as she continued to walk through the house.
"I got the message the first time", Peter answered, recalling the strange burning pain in his hand. "What have you done with Kari?"
"She is-- asleep," the voice of whatever was controlling Kari answered. "She has been chosen. Our mission is vital."
"What mission? Why have you chosen Kari?"
"No more questions," Kari stated. Her hand flashed before Peter's face in an odd gesture. "No more interference."
Peter tried to respond, but found that he couldn't. His lips could move, but no sound would come forth! Try as hard as he may, Peter was unable to utter a single word.
Helplessly, Peter watched as Kari set about whatever task had been given to her. He was allowed to follow and watch, but was unable to touch Kari or speak. Kari climbed the now grand staircase to the upper floor of the Croft Manor. To his immense surprise, Kari didn't pause on this level and continued on up to the third level of the house.
"Wait a minute!", Peter thought in realization. "There isn't a third floor to this place!" Their exploration during the afternoon had proven this to be true. The Croft Manor had only two stories. But now, inexplicably, Kari was climbing the steps to a third floor that did not previously exist! Peter rushed after Kari, fearful that these mysterious new steps would disappear if she got too far ahead of him.
The stairs came out into a huge hallway, measuring some 25' x 30' in size. Even stranger, the ceiling was nearly twenty feet overhead. Somehow, this huge chamber now existed in a part of the house that really wasn't there. It made Peter's head hurt to think about it.
Kari remained impassive in her trance-like state. She paid no heed to any of the wonders that made Peter stop in awe. The decor remained a constant. Seemingly elegant on the surface, but slightly disturbing and eccentric when looked at intently. "Kari was definitely right in her assessment of this place-- 'Early American Creepy'!"
Peter continued to follow Kari. There was little else that he could do since she denied him speech. Touching her again was likely to invite another, maybe more serious burn, so all Peter could do was watch and hope that whatever was controlling Kari would release her after this mysterious task was completed.
Entering into an equally large chamber off of this monstrous hallway, Kari seemingly reached her destination. The room reminded Peter of a laboratory, but one from the 17th century, not the present day. Bookcases filled with books and scrolls lined the walls, many of which looked ancient.
"The knowledge in those books could be beyond value!", Peter realized to himself. "The information they contain would be like finding the Library of Alexandria intact!" While the knowledge of the occult those tomes contained fascinated Peter, he tried to focus his attention on Kari. She moved through the chamber, past many workbenches filled with a wide variety of equipment some of which Peter could identify. Much of it was beyond his understanding.
Finally, Kari came to a stop. She scanned the contents of the workbench before her. What she was searching for, Peter had not a clue. Finally, she shuffled some papers aside and produced what Peter guessed to be a piece of chalk. That didn't seem particularly special.
Turning, Kari retraced her steps out of the chamber and into the hallway beyond. Peter kept pace with her colleague. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped on this strange floor of the house while a possessed Kari was loose on the outside! For a moment, Peter considered taking a memento of this strange place. But ultimately he decided against it. It was better to not get the force controlling Kari any angrier at him then it already was.
Upon reaching the front room of the house once more, Kari came to a stop. She spoke strange words and made more odd gestures before her. Seemingly in response to her commands, the furniture in the room slid off to the sides of the room. The carpet rolled up of its own accord.
The center of the room now clear, Kari bent down and started to draw odd symbols on the floor using the chalk she had acquired from the lab. The elaborate drawing took nearly twenty minutes to complete.
"It's a ward of some kind," Peter thought to himself as the work unfolded before him. He had seen drawings of such magic circles in the tomes that he had managed to locate. "But to do what? Protect from whom?"
Kari started with a large, sweeping circle, some twelve feet wide. Inside this, she drew another circle, but only ten feet wide and an equal distance from the first circle. Kari filled the space between the two circles with many strange sigils and drawings. Finishing her drawing, Kari placed a twenty-pointed star inside the inner circle.
Peter watched quietly as this was happening. Not like he had a choice in the matter. Mentally, he tried to put into place where the Purple Phlox had appeared in the room. "If I'm remembering this right, the Phlox will not appear inside that circle, but just outside it. Then that circle must be for whoever-- or whatever, that other figure was."
"But that doesn't make any sense," Peter tried to rationalize. After all, the Phlox and whomever he was fighting were already gone. Both turned to ash and dispersed on the wind. What was the point of all of this?
"They're moving forward in time!", Peter realized in a bolt of clarity. "The Purple Phlox and his enemy have been moving in time all along and they appear in this house every so often! That would explain what happened in 1919, 1953, and earlier this evening. Explain how the same beings could be involved in such strange happenings decades apart!"
"The Phlox is using Kari to set a trap for his enemy! They both must be moving into the future, so that when Kari draws this circle in their past, our present, it will be waiting for them when they next appear. The Phlox really isn't dead! Their turning into ash must be part of the effect that throws them into the future."
Hope blossomed inside of Peter. Sure, Kari was being used and manipulated, but apparently for a good end. That made Peter feel better. The mysterious Purple Phlox was living up to his billing of being on the side of good.
Kari stood up, and slowly circled the drawing she had made on the floor as if inspecting it. Seemingly satisfied, Kari stepped away from the ward. She took several steps and then collapsed to the floor, the purple flame effect fading from her head.
"Kari!", Peter yelled and rushed to his partner's side. Down on his knees, Peter examined Kari to make sure she was okay. It was barely an afterthought when he realized that he could speak out loud once more. Gently, Peter lifted Kari into his arms and carried her back to the RV.
Looking back, Peter could see the Croft Manor seemingly restored to its run down state. "I was right," he mumbled to himself. "This place isn't done with us yet."
"I didn't believe you when you said I was out sleepwalking with purple flames on my head," Kari told Peter as they sat before the film editing equipment. As usual, Snowball was curled up on her lap. "But I don't know how I can argue with this." The blond reporter gestured towards the monitor. It held the frozen image of Kari's late night trek into the Croft Manor, Peter following her.
It was almost noon by the time both Peter and Kari rose from their sleep. Not surprising given just how long each had been up the night before. Peter had wrestled with the moral dilemma of whether to tell Kari what had happened the night before. He finally decided that honesty was the best policy. That and the fact that his reconfigured surveillance equipment had captured the incident on tape. While the cameras didn't record every single thing that happened, it did show Kari going into the house and occasionally her moving through the rooms.
"It's incredible," Kari concluded, not really knowing what to think. Her own memories of the night before were a complete blank. Kari thought that Peter was playing an elaborate joke on her at first, but couldn't deny the images that she was seeing. "I doubt that I'm going to mention being possessed on my resume."
"It would make an incredible story," Peter stated. "But, I will understand your desire to keep this quiet. No one would believe it anyway."
"What do we do now?"
Peter raised his hand to his chin to consider. "If my theory is right, all we have to do is wait until the Purple Phlox appears again and then all this should be over."
"So all we can do is wait..." Kari's voice trailed off as she spoke. The reporter made no secret that she was more than a little bit scared about what had happened. What if this wasn't a one time deal?
The day passed slowly for the reporters. They tried to finish up their report on the Croft House, but that now seemingly had no real meaning or importance to them. They had explored the house again during the afternoon and found it to be the same as they first found it. Run down and dirty. There was no trace of the strange symbol Kari had drawn the night before, nor was there any indication that a third floor existed to the house.
The tension picked up at nightfall. So far the Phlox had only appeared at night. At least in those appearances that they knew of. Most likely there were other appearances over the years, but no one had been around to notice them or the viewer kept the incident a personal secret. Small wonder the people of Pineboro thought the house to be haunted. In a strange sense, it was.
Calmly the reporters sat around their dinner table, just waiting. Neither one had any idea just how long this was going to take. After all, if the Phlox was moving in time, then they could be reappear tonight, next week, next month, next year, or next decade. But somehow neither one believed it was going to take that long. Kari could almost feel that tonight was going to be the night.
As the clock struck midnight, a burst of white light came from the Croft Mansion. Peter and Kari exchanged glances. "This is it," Peter stated.
"Let's get this over with." Kari rose and made her way to the Croft Manor at a quick pace. Snowball bounded behind her while Peter and his camera brought up the rear once more.
The reporters climbed the stairs to the house once more, shielding their eyes from the bright light. The pair circled the room to be closer to where they figured the Phlox was going to appear. Sure enough, two figures could be made out in the bright light. The Purple Phlox, crystal-headed staff in hand, appeared first.
The Phlox was immediately aware of the pair's presence. "You again!", he yelled, pointing an accusing finger towards Kari and Peter. The Phlox's fiery red eyes seemed to grow darker in his anger. Like his first encounter with the reporters, the Phlox's facial features could barely be seen beneath his flaming face. "Are you trying to destroy me?!"
The reporters shared a puzzled glance. This was not what they expected!
"I don't know what you are planning, but by all that's holy, I will stop you!" Angrily, the Phlox pointed his staff towards the startled reporters!
