The Fallen Ones

by Katelyn Campbell

CHAPTER 24

  Ilyana:

  As soon as we make it back to the apartments I give Levi a bear-hug goodnight and head to my room to undress for the night. I can see some of my boxes have already arrived so I quickly open the first one labeled “clothes” and pull out the first tank top and pair of sweat pants I see. I pull my hair back into a loose pony tail and grab my running shoes. After all that happened tonight, I’m not willing to trust Guinevere for a minute. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but tonight’s the night. I am going to get Kailand out of that cave and anyone who gets in my way is going to pay. I’m relieved to see the living room and kitchen lights are all out and I hear some serious snoring coming from the guest bedroom. I quietly step out into the hallway of the main apartment building after checking both ways and determining that the coast is clear. I reach the stair case and no sooner than I go to open the door do I hear the apartment door behind me shutting. I stifle a gasp and look up into the face of an infuriated Ephraim. “Really, Ilyana? They put you under house arrest and literally the first chance you get you sneak out, and in a hot pink pair of sweat pants that are bedazzled across your ass?” I gasp and grab my butt in embarrassment, I would NEVER pick out pants like this for myself, he growls under his breath “I’m sure your brave escape won’t be noticed by anyone!”

  I prepare to defend myself but then something catches my attention “So you are saying that I should’ve put on darker colors, maybe a hat or camo shirt if I wanted to sneak out successfully?” I describe his outfit in full detail and feel a smug smile spread across my face as I realize I won this battle, he speaks up “Okay fine, then where are we going?” unfortunately that’s not at all what I was expecting from him. But I am too stubborn to back down and still feel too guilty to lie to him “Well, I don’t know where you are going, but I am going to the caves, I don’t trust Guinevere at all and we need to take action before she does!” I continue walking and push my way through the doors and start running for the gates in hopes of escaping before anyone catches a glimpse of my bedazzled rear-end.

  I make it outside the gates in no time and stop behind the wall to allow myself a chance to get my bearings when I hear Ephraim stop beside me “Why are we stopping now? Don’t you have a prison to break into?” I try my hardest not to answer but quickly realize my sense of direction is no match for the pitch black night sky overhead and then I get an idea. I’ve been trying to keep my powers in, maybe I could focus them out some – like a tracking device. I stretch my powers forward as much as possible in search of that warm, yellow aura that surround Kailand “Bingo! It’s that way.” I point up ahead and look to Ephraims face for confirmation and see a look of surprise on his face “How did you even know to do that?” I shrug my shoulders and explain that it just felt right. He looks a little perplexed at first but it doesn’t take long for his walls to come back up “Well, after you then.” He says stoically.

  We run for what feels like an eternity but in reality was probably only a half hour, before heading into the cave on the beach, I attempt to walk around outside and see if there is any better way of accessing the prison. I’m at a complete loss. So I head directly into the cave and as soon as I pass through the entrance I see the prison come to life “Alright, it’s time to go, Kailand!” he looks confused for a moment “Time to go? How is that even possible? This kind of thing takes time to plan and no offense, but I really don’t think you are strong enough for all of that yet.” His words frustrate me but I can’t blame him for being completely honest and it serves as motivation “Well, Kailand! I don’t have a clue how I am going to get you out. But the elders know about you now so we really don’t have time to figure it out.” He rushes up from where he is sitting, Ephraim is pacing like a caged dog behind me “He’s right Ilyana, this takes planning and I don’t have a good feeling about doing this right now.” I am surprised that he would display that much doubt so openly “Well, then maybe you should head back and sneak off to wherever you were heading to before you decided to babysit me for the evening.” He scoffs at me and pushes on “Seriously, Ilyana! We know you are powerful. We know you want to rescue your boyfriend, hell even I want to help rescue them after what I witnessed tonight with the counsel! But do you seriously think that you can free them by sheer force of will?” I refuse to let his words get to me. Just find the right angle, this is just like any other puzzle I’ve ever done in my life, I can figure it out if I just put in the right amount of effort.

  “So you’re just going to ignore me then while you stare at the wall like it’s going to reveal some new answer to you?” I stop what I am doing and turn to face Ephraim, I can feel tears about to break but I refuse to let them fall in front of him “Ephraim, you don’t understand, I just can’t let them stay here another night! This all feels wrong and I know that time is running out!” just then I hear a new voice speak up from behind me “The girls is right! You two should be ashamed of yourself, just look at the power rolling off of her, she’s the answer to the prophecies.” Kailand nearly gasps as he looks into the face of the old woman who’s hair he was so gently brushing when I found him that first day “I thought I’d lost you! We were wrong Ephraim, she can do this.” I face Kailand and don’t allow myself any further time to think about what just happened, I press my hands against the wall, I shut my eyes and bite my lip and push all the power I can possibly muster up into the wall. I have never felt such a huge surge all at once and I am shocked when my body starts to literally hum with power. I open my eyes and look at the wall to see that nothing has budged but the entire wall is pulsing with a bright blue light. The display catches me off guard so I stop pushing my powers just long enough to appraise what is happening around me, through the prison walls I can see Kailand against the far back wall positioning himself protectively in front of the other captives and I glance at Ephraim and see him squatting down and bracing his body against the wall on the opposite side of the cave with his hands covering both of his ears.

  When Ephraim realizes I’ve stopped he springs up and begins to charge me “Are you completely mad? You just announced your presence to the whole damn island! Good luck breaking anyone out now!” I look back at Kailand and catch a concerned look on his face “I’m so sorry, I had no clue! I just know we need to do something now! What else could I have done?” Ephraims arms go slack at his side as he considers what I just said, I hear Kailand speak up behind me “I’ve never seen power like that from a single being. I didn’t even know you had that much in you. You need to go. If that couldn’t break through these walls then nothing can, but you could be in a world of trouble if you get caught trying to…” His breath catches and I notice he is no longer looking at me but staring behind me. I turn around slowly and see that Ephraim is already bracing himself for an attack. After weeks of out-running them, I should’ve known they would catch up to me.

  There are at least a dozen of the demons standing less than 10 feet away from us right now. I try to think of everything that Levi and Ephraim have taught me in training and brace myself for what I realize will probably be my death. For a long time no one says anything and then one moves towards Ephraim in a way that I can only describe as slithering, and regards him carefully “I would have expected you to be smarter than this. You bring a newborn Nephilim to the compound and let her play with power outside of your walls. Bad for you, but good for me.” The creature begins to slide his hands over Ephraims neck and slowly lift him off the ground. “No, you will not harm him! That was the deal!” I look over and see Alya talking to Guinevere calmly.

  I can’t even keep silent anymore “Alya, what are you doing? You can’t possibly be on her side after seeing her prance in here like she is friends with these beasts!” I wait for a response that I realize isn’t coming. For a moment it feels like time is suspended while we all wait to see who will make the first move. The creature that had Ephraim off the ground is now slowly lowering him at Guinevere’s nod and he speaks up again as he looks at me “Kill the girl, I’
ll handle this mutt.” The remaining creatures begin to charge me, I hear Kailand kicking the walls, catch site of Ephraim throwing the beast off of him in a desperate attempt to help me and see Alya shaking as tears fall out of her eyes “I’m sorry Ilyana, I’m so sorry!” This moment is too much for me. I feel my body begin to shake with nauseating levels of power as I begin to fight the beasts before me. I brought nothing more than a pocket knife and it’s not even enough to fight them. One of the beasts lunges towards me in an attempt to knock me over and before I have a chance to realize what I am doing I grab onto his neck and feel it snap beneath the force of my arms. I am shocked by how easily it gave under my force and struggle to hold back the vomit that is forming in the back of my throat as I am covered in silver fluids from his body as another beasts charges me, this time it catches me by surprise and takes me to the ground, I grapple as good as I can and try to find an advantage – any advantage I might have over this disgusting creature. He pounds his fist into my stomach and I feel the other beasts follow suit and begin to kick my back, I cry out and look over just in time to see Ephraims body go limp while Guinevere commands the beast that was holding him, the sight is too much for me to take in. My body goes completely numb, I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel the blood trickling down my face, the bile in the back of my throat, I don’t feel the hands and feet that are clawing at every part of my body, threatening to rip me apart, all I feel is fear for my friend and disgust at our own kind sitting back and allowing this to happen.

  Before I can even form a cohesive thought, I let out all the power I have ever had in me, the sheer force of it going through my body is enough to make me feel like I am going to explode and I let out a scream as I feel the blood boiling beneath underneath my skin. I see cracks forming in the body of the creature closest to my face just before he ruptures in front of me, after all of his pieces crash to the walls and ground around me like a broken mirror, I see complete and utter destruction. I see various scattered body parts from all the creatures that were just assaulting me. I see their disgusting fluids leaking all around the ground and I see light beginning to come in from the entrance of the cave. It doesn’t take me long to notice the absence of Alya, Guinevere and even Ephraim. The thought of what I may have just done to one of my only allies is enough to finally bring the tears out that I had been holding in. I turn to face the prisoners and see Kailand running full speed towards me, no wall, no invisible barrier, I feel a small smile pull at the corner of my mouth as the room around me goes dark and I hear the angel in front of me calling my name as he reaches forward to catch me.