by Oxford, Rain
“I’ve read about boxes like this, so she probably had also,” Darwin said. “Once she figured out where it was and what it was, blood is kind of a given. Gale must already have amulet. He’ll either come to us or tell us where he is. He wants your power.”
“Either way, we need to get as far away from the school as we can. We also need a defense.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, we reached the burn field. I handed a box of chalk to Henry and emptied the backpack we brought of supplies while Darwin picked out a magic circle of protection from one of his books. Although Vincent’s book probably had the best defensive spells, it was missing. Henry started drawing the symbols as I lit the candles, but then Darwin scolded me and put out particular candles, all the while complaining that I didn’t pay attention in class.
The nine-foot wide circle had to be started in a certain direction and all the symbols inside had to be perfect, which was why Henry did it. In addition to that, he had to draw an outer circle around it, creating a six-inch space between the inner and outer circle, which he drew more symbols in. This spell also required five candles, each representing one of the elements and meeting the points of a pentagram, which Henry also drew inside the inner circle.
“This is specifically designed to be held by three people, so we have to stay inside. Even one toe outside by any of us can break the circle,” Darwin said.
“How are we supposed to kill Gale if we have to stay in the circle?” Henry asked.
Darwin glared at him. “You asked me for a defense, not an offense.”
“Don’t fight. We need an opening, and we need to be protected while we look for one. If Gale is smart, he’s going to bring Len, Kristen, and Conner to fight us. Once he has our power, he’ll try to kill us quickly.”
“So the circle will protect our magic?” Henry asked.
“If Devon is powerful enough,” Darwin answered.
“Thanks.” I really need all the pressure on me. “We need to set a trap. With the sword against Gale, we had a chance. I don’t know what we can do against the amulet.”
“Maybe we should get Hunt,” Darwin suggested.
“He’s trying to keep Krechea from getting the key. Besides, Gale has the amulet now. If he gets Hunt’s or Vincent’s power, we’re screwed. Not to mention he can get their keys if he kills them, and the last thing we need is for Gale to have access to other worlds.”
“Other worlds?” Henry asked.
“I’ll explain later.” Henry finished drawing. “Now what?” I asked. Darwin handed me the book to read the ritual myself. I rolled my eyes because none of it was in English.
“I’m going to say the words. You visualize being in a bubble that nothing can penetrate.” He took the book back and started on the incantation, which was not in English. I did as he asked and imagined a bubble like a force field around the circle. “You can stop now,” he said a few minutes later.
“That’s it? It’s protecting us?”
“Until one of us crosses that line. How do we know Gale’s not going after Hunt, Vincent, and Langril?” Darwin asked.
“He’s going after us,” Henry said.
My instincts fired up too late. Darwin’s sharp gasp and Henry’s low growl made me turn. Gale was there with his hand around Amelia’s arm. She was crying, obviously terrified.
“Well, don’t I feel welcome. Come out of the circle, Devon, and I’ll let her go.”
“You wouldn’t let her go.” Amelia was powerful, no matter how sweet-natured she was, and he wouldn’t waste the opportunity to take her ability.
“Fine. Come out of the circle, or I’ll slit her throat.” He yanked on her arm until she fell at his feet. Before she could try to get out of the way, he grabbed her by the hair, pulled out a knife, and pressed it to her throat. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound.
“No!” Darwin screamed. I grabbed him by his left arm and Henry grabbed him by his right barely in time to stop him from crossing the chalk line of the circle. He struggled.
“Stop! It’s a trap!” I said, knowing full well that wouldn’t matter to him. The blue in his irises bled out, leaving them the actual color of blood. The more he struggled to break free, the darker his hair became until it was as dark red.
“It isn’t real! It’s an illusion!” Henry said.
That got through to him and he finally stopped fighting us. “Really?”
Gale laughed and Amelia vanished. “It’s true. I already killed the little fae. So, he was right; you can see through illusions. In that case, you know this is real.”
Addison appeared. Unlike the fake Amelia, she wasn’t crying. If anything, she looked angry. The glowing rings around her wrists, ankles, and neck must have prevented her from running away, since she was a good six feet away from Gale.
I glanced at Henry, whose expression was stoic, and he nodded, telling me it wasn’t an illusion.
I needed to think. “Why did you go after Hunt, Vincent, and Langril before you had the amulet?” I asked to buy time. I knew then that choosing the sword had been the right choice. Even though slowing time was exactly what I needed right then, the amulet would have stolen its power and it would have just been a long stick. Instead, I had chosen the sword which, sans magic, was still a sword.
Gale scoffed. “I have no interest in those wizards.”
“I thought I was slipping a few days ago, because I couldn’t figure out what the victims all had in common. When we got a visit telling us to bring the amulet to you, I knew there had to be someone helping you. But no, Astrid didn’t make sense, either. Why those students? And Watson. Watson was in the perfect position to attack Hunt if he were possessed. Then you got Jackson and I knew for sure. It isn’t one person connecting the victims but three. Astrid was already investigating students, so you used her to find those who had the most contact with Hunt, Vincent, and Langril. When Len attacked at Darwin’s test, you had just missed Hunt and Vincent.” Langril tricked them into thinking he had the key in order to get them out of there. He might have saved their lives.
Gale laughed. “What a convoluted adventure you had. I had nothing to do with it; I just cursed those whose blood, hair, or nails Astrid brought me. If you want to know why those three were targeted, you’ll have to ask him.”
“Him who?”
“He said you would know his name, and to tell you that he would be waiting for when your shadows cross again.”
Krechea.
“Why did the students and Watson have to burn when you could control Astrid just fine?”
“He didn’t need to possess Astrid to control her. It was the act of his shadow walkers trying to possess the others that killed them. If the students were strong enough to handle the heat, they wouldn’t have had to die.”
“But the possessed golems were cold, not hot, so why did the students burn up?”
“I don’t know anything about the golems. Why would I care?”
“The golems didn’t have soul,” Darwin said. “It was probably due to that.”
“Now, enough chatting. I waited long enough to destroy you three.”
I felt the psychic release of the circle breaking at the same time I saw the flash of Gale’s knife in the sunlight. Instead of the blade sinking into Addison’s neck, Henry, in his jaguar form, took it in the chest.
I reached out with my mind, pushing pain at Gale, but his mind was blocked. I raised the sword, intentionally letting anger fuel my attack, and was surprised when the fire of the candles around me grew about three feet. The blade of the sword glowed again. Maybe it was my instincts, maybe desperation, but I thought that a flaming sword should actually be flaming, so I ran the blade through the fire. To my shock, it caught.
Darwin rushed forward to pull the dagger out of Henry and I used the distraction to attack Gale. I struck faster than I thought I could, but Gale’s magic was faster; my blade reflected off an invisible force of energy. He laughed and I felt the underwater s
ensation of the amulet’s effect again.
Addie cried out, clutching the glowing band around her throat as each of them tightened. Henry shifted into his person form so that both he and Darwin could try to break the band that was strangling her. Henry was bleeding profusely.
I saw Gale move from the corner of my eye and something invisible struck me hard enough to throw me about five feet, where I landed on my back. Fortunately, I hadn’t let go of my sword. I got to my feet despite the nausea and attacked. When I struck at Gale again, I encountered the same unseen force field, but the sword burned brighter.
It wasn’t affected by the amulet!
“Where is Astrid?” I asked, still hoping to buy enough time to come up with a strong plan. I tried to reach out with my power, but it didn’t respond.
“Oh, don’t be so cliché.”
“We defeated you last time thanks to the amulet,” Darwin said, still struggling with the band around Addie’s throat. “You don’t think we’ll kick your ass again?”
“I learn from my mistakes, Darwin.” He motioned at my roommates and the air felt charged right before both Darwin and Henry shifted uncontrollably into their beast forms. “Attack Devon,” he told Henry. The jaguar snarled and growled at Gale as he turned invisible.
I knew Henry was strong, but he wasn’t immune to my powers. Just like when John controlled his mind, he approached me slowly. This wasn’t him hunting his prey or defending himself. He would kill me because he had to, but he would take his time with it until the last instant, when his strike would be lightning fast.
I could feel him circling me, no doubt calculating the exact speed and angle to attack at. My instincts warned me it was coming. I swung the sword. I knew he could dodge it easily, but I hoped it would buy me a few seconds to come up with another plan. Anything.
Then, just as fast as Henry, Darwin attacked, but it wasn’t me he tackled. Henry’s camouflage faded when Darwin landed on top of him. The wolf was smaller, but he was big enough that Henry landed on his back several feet away from the impact of the wolf’s initial attack. The jaguar struck like a snake, missing only because of the wolf’s smaller size and impressive agility. Darwin tried to bite the jaguar’s throat, only to retreat with deep scratches down his chest.
This was Gale’s plan. He couldn’t control Darwin’s mind, so he used Darwin’s dominant wolf nature. He made Henry attack me knowing that Darwin’s wolf would defend me, resulting in them trying to kill each other.
I tried again to use my powers. Nothing happened.
I struck at Gale with the sword again, but it wasn’t the force field that stopped me this time. Astrid appeared right in front of me, causing me stop the swing by driving the sword down into the rocks. “Hello, Devon,” she said. She had a certain grin when she was thinking dark thoughts. I had recognized it for what it was when we were kids, but it was somehow worse in the light of day.
“It’s daylight.” Her skin didn’t blemish. In fact, she was gorgeous.
“So?” She knew.
She knew why she could be out in daylight. “Get out of my way.” I shot her before and I would shoot her again if she hurt someone I cared about, but not when she was under someone else’s control.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Devon.”
“Bring me that sword,” Gale barked.
I started to draw the sword back when pain shot all the way up to my shoulder. The sword fell and Astrid picked it up calmly. Henry, whose teeth were deep into my arm, slammed me to the ground with a simple jerk of his head. Getting thrashed around by an invisible cat was not a story I planned to share.
I barely got my left arm up in time to block his teeth from sinking into my throat. Fortunately, he didn’t have his saber fangs, because I couldn’t imagine I would fare well against those. A startled shout made even Henry pause. It was almost amusing that my blood wasn’t invisible as it dripped from his unseen mouth.
Darwin had shifted back into his person form at some point, still with red hair and eyes, and was struggling to help Addie again. He wasn’t the one who had shouted. Henry let me go and we both turned to see Gale. The sword was at his feet and his right hand blackened before disintegrating into ash. The shock and horror on his face was comedic.
He scrambled to pull the amulet out of his shirt and clutched it desperately. “Heal!” The lost limb did not obey.
Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes. “Let me do it.” She took the amulet from his hand, snapping the chain around his neck, and I instantly felt my power return to me. Henry appeared and shifted back into his person form.
“What are you waiting for?! Heal it!” Gale shrieked.
Astrid frowned thoughtfully. “You know, I could do that, but it seems I’ve been under the control of a lot of men lately. I’m going to have to think about it for a while.”
“You traitor!”
Astrid laughed. “That I am. Did you really think any amount of magic in this world would make me betray Devon?”
“You brought me the amulet!”
“I gave you the rope to hang yourself with. If you had any sense at all, you would have run as far away as you could to build your strength and gather an army the moment I gave you the amulet. I knew better, though. That’s why you were Felicity’s pet and then Krechea’s pet after her.”
Infuriated, he lunged at her, ready to die trying to wrestle the amulet away. She threw the amulet to Darwin and vanished.
“No!” Henry yelled as Darwin caught it. At that moment, something very subtle about Darwin changed. It wasn’t enough to point it out, but it made my skin crawl. Everything fell silent, as if the birds were holding their breaths. Even the wind stilled.
The bands around Addie’s neck, wrists, and ankles disintegrated and then she disappeared. When I tried to stand, Henry pushed me back down. He was staring at Darwin like a goldfish that just met a shark. “What’s wrong?” I didn’t know if he saw something I didn’t, but I trusted Darwin.
“Darwin is the last person we want to have the amulet,” he said, slowly and softly as if he didn’t want Darwin noticing us. “That was why I never told you where it was.”
“What? Why?”
“Because he knows how to use it.”
Darwin grinned. My instincts warned me to keep my mouth shut.
Gale wasn’t as wise. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I’m glad you asked,” Darwin said. His voice was deeper and his accent was completely gone. “Let’s see… I could tear out all your organs and make you eat them until you die a very gory death. I always thought that would be interesting to know; how many of what organs you could eat. I could string you up and slit your throat like a pig, since you loved doing that with your victims. I could put you in a dark box and make you relive their deaths for all of eternity.”
“You knew he would go completely insane if he got the amulet?” I whispered to Henry. He nodded. “Then why the hell did you suggest he use it to pass his test?”
“I knew he was not a throwback and I hoped a fake amulet would give him confidence. He never touched the real one before. If he takes your power with the amulet, he can use your visions and mind control… he could take the magic from every person on Earth at once.”
Darwin was still detailing all of his gory options. “Of course, that wouldn’t save your current victims. It may be Krechea’s power that you used to kill them, but you are still the one that must die. How to do it, though… This is too good an opportunity to spoil. I could take the powers of everyone in this school and make you and the wizard council suffer. I could even make a game of it; I could leave you without magic, money, or memories and send the council to hunt you down like a rabbit. The council member who kills you will get to live in a dungeon cell while the others are all killed. I could make them compete, and the losing member will die horribly.”
“Darwin–” Henry clamped his hand over my mouth to shut me up.
Darwin’s eyes met Henry’s and he glared. “Go
away, Henry. You’re not important.”
Henry collapsed. Panicked, I checked for a pulse. He was just unconscious. “Henry is our friend.”
Darwin shrugged. “That doesn’t make him important.”
“Don’t kill Gale.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need you either, Devon, so you should mind how you speak to me.”
“Oh, trust me, I am.” I stood. “But I know that when you let go of the amulet, you’re going to wake up and be the Darwin I know. The same one who organized a student rally to ban butter and margarine from the kitchen.”
“It didn’t work.”
“But you didn’t care, because you got everyone working for a cause. If you kill Gale, that will be with you forever. Every life you take will weigh on your soul for eternity. Every time you hear of a death, every time someone’s face shows guilt, every time you close your eyes to sleep, you’ll think about it.”
“So?”
“Let me do it.”
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because I’ll still be able to look myself in the mirror in the mornings. I already killed John.” I didn’t want to be the one to kill Gale, but I didn’t want Darwin to bear that burden.
“You’d really do it to save me from it?” he asked thoughtfully. “Alright then. He ran off the second you spoke.”
I turned to see that Gale was gone. “Shit.”
“No worries. He’s got no magic.” Darwin made a gesture of spreading something with his arms and the trees in a straight line were flattened. A moment later, I heard Gale’s screams. He flew through the air as if carried by a giant and landed hard in front of me. I picked up my sword, which was no longer on fire.
“This feels like I’m cheating.”
“It won’t for long. I don’t want to retain his power, so I’m going to lock it in the amulet, but I have to do it before you kill him. He won’t have his magic, but I won’t be able to hold him down for you.”
“I’ll be quick.” Gale stopped screaming, though his face was red from the pain and the exertion of his failed escape. As I stood over him and pointed the sword at his chest, he calmed down. “I thought you would beg for mercy,” I said.