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down, rolling peppers across the ground to each one of our feet.
“Kaylin let your family fight their own.” I heard a voice speak through my thoughts.
It sounded like Lore, but I was probably hallucinating again. I glanced over to Lore who was faced down in the bag of food. I closed my eyes and whispered in my head, “Lore?” I asked myself.
“Yes.”
I shook my head and looked to him as he gazed up once and turned his attention back down. “How are you doing this?”
“I’m strong here. I have power I didn’t even know I had, this included. But you have to let your family fight their own battles. It’s the only way we’re making it out of here.”
I shut my eyes and moved away from my family as they breathed in and out, still bunched together. I picked up five peppers sprawled against the cold cement; one for me, one for my mother, Annabelle, Mable and Ethan, who were shaking vigorously.
“It’s going to be okay.” I said wrapping his fingers around the pepper. “Fight with your father, he’ll help you.”
I could tell Ethan’s confidence was filled with fright and despair. This eight year old boy was about to fight against something that could kill him, something that I promised I wouldn’t let happen. I wasn’t going to let this happen.
“I’ve never been in a real fight,” he whispered, his voice shaking.
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I knelt down, pulling him gently towards me. “What you’re going to be fighting, it’s visible. Your father will watch you, he won’t let anything happen to you, and I won’t either.”
His small fingers were still closed around the pepper as I walked away with my blade in hand. I found my place at an isolated wall, keeping all the Enchanted in my sights as I held the red pepper in my hands. Here we go.
I swallowed hard while I watched the cobalt worm reappear, squirming out of the hollow hole that was carved into the pepper. I dropped it as it fully inched out, freezing from the head all the way to its tail.
I saw that all the creatures were now visible and legitimate; serpents, eels, reptiles, all coloured blue. It was like I just entered a death cavern.
Turning back to the frozen monster in front of me, I realized it had doubled in size. Sorry, what? I did NOT sign up for this. My eyes widened as I held out my blade, lighting it on fire. I took out another dagger and placed both in front of me as it wiggled its pointed teeth, fat lumps of blue slid off its tongue. I heard grunts and shrieks coming from everyone as they fought their own creature, but like Lore said, I had to fight my own.
A growl escaped the mouth of the worm as it leaped on top of me, biting my shoulder. I yelped in pain, jabbing at its side with both blades as it growled and rolled off me. I got up, running my hands over the blue slime covered on the top of my clothes. The parts of my hand that came in contact with the slime started to burn; I bit my lip, healing my arm as quickly as I could. It took the pain away momentarily, but the worm turned over, lurking
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for my scent. Quickly, I scraped the liquid off my arms and prepared for the next fight.
It moved slower now, blue goo rapidly gushing out of where I had cut it. I charged for it, decking out its attempt to bite me and slid underneath its mouth, slicing off the front of its body. I slammed down hard against the dark ground, scanning out the two halves of the worm as something began to slide out underneath the creature. A head slithered out, attaching itself to the rest of the body, striking towards me.
With my arm still torn up, I was taken off guard as it pushed me into the wall, thwacking its teeth in my face. The heavy force prevented me from moving, as liquid blasted in my face. I managed to pull my arm out of its grip, slicing its side and used my other hand to bash through its skull. Lying on the ground I flamed my hand and shot fire at the creature, burning the last parts of it that were left. The worm faded into blue ashes and disappeared. I couldn’t help my breaths, the wounds all over me burning.
I turned around and caught sight of Ethan battling against what appeared to be a blue lizard with horns. I ran to him, stabbing hallucinations that got in my way and plummeted onto its back, piercing my blade between its eyes. Ethan’s expression looked horrified, his violet eyes glowing with sadness and fear. His hand was cut with four slivers of claw marks, blood trickling down to his Persil knife.
“Are you good?” I rushed to him, checking his hand.
He shook his head and ran to the serpent that Paul
was fighting, screeching loudly with his knife in the air.
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“Ethan, no!” I yelled stumbling after him, but it was
too late.
Ethan sliced down through the serpents’ stomach, and made his way upwards. Paul, driven with shock, took Ethan by the hand and passed quickly around the dead creature. Paralyzed on the ground, it was impossible to shake my surprise; Ethan,eight year old sweet Ethan, murdered a creature of impenetrable size.
I found my mother who was now alongside Mable with Annabelle, two dead animals rested up against the walls. Sage and Beth finished off a dark eel and Nate, Marrow, Liz and Lore emerged from four dead brutes, cleaning their blades. I held my wound as the blood slowly dried through the spaces of my finger. Nate spotted me and darted to my side, helping me up.
“I’m okay.” My voice shaky, as I came into his embrace.
His lips curved into a smile, his dimples showing as I glanced up.
“You’ve never not been okay,” he breathed, arms still secure around my waist. For the first time, I finally admitted to myself that I wanted to stay in his arms and keep him close to me, and never let him go. His blonde strands of hair fell to my cheek, the perfect shade of blue eyes glared at me on top of his high and tightened cheekbones.
Then just like that, a growl escaped through the air and I only heard screams.
“Kaylin, watch out!”
The next thing I knew, my body was against the ground with Nate standing tall, his hand against my stomach as if he had pushed me down. I felt his fingers
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tremble as droplets of red liquid began to fell to my face. If it was a creature, the blood would have been blue. But this wasn’t a creature’s blood, this was Nate’s.
Chapter 11
“Nate!” I yelled, moving off of the ground.
Nate fell back against the wall, one hand around his neck, and the other drooped against the cement. His eyes were open, his knife glowed electric blue as it rattled inside a navy winged creature, lifeless. Did Nate just save my life?
I swallowed hard staring at him, then to Marrow whose face was flooded with disbelief and panic. Quickly scrambling towards him, I took hold of his hand and removed it from his neck. My eyes widened as I watched red and blue liquid ooze out of his neck. I placed my fingers to it and pulled away quickly as a shock of pain seared through me; it was venom.
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“Nate,” I couldn’t say anything else. I didn’t know what I could say.
He saved my life. The boy whom I was destined to be with, the boy who fought alongside me, he saved my life. A warm emotion rose through me and I caught myself in a daze. Could I escape destiny? I knew now that I couldn’t, and I didn’t want to. From the moment we met, and I felt connected to him. Did I love him, or was I enamoured with the fact he saved my life? I couldn’t think this way. Stop it Kaylin, he’s dying in front of you.
“Kaylin, are you okay?” He asked, his voice broken. Are you serious? He was always the first to ask me if I was okay.
“You almost got your neck torn out and you’re asking if I’m okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” he calmly responded.
I couldn’t control the rush of emotions rushing through me. I leaned my forehead against his and closed my eyes, my lips eager to touch his. I felt comfortable, not kissing him, but close to him. I didn’t care if anyone saw us, I only saw him. His hand travelled to my waist as our noses touched. His lips brushed mine but I knew I couldn’t let i
t happen, not now. I had to stop and get him healed or this would be selfish of me.
His eyes faded into light blue as he smiled, releasing my waist and straightening up against the wall. I heard footsteps behind me; Liz, Lore and Marrow. I caught sight of my mother, eyeing me with compassion and acceptance. Stepping beside her, she held my arm without saying a word. Everyone watched as Liz took hold of her son's’ neck and pushed it forward, Lore’s hand shimmering blue as he pressed it into Nate’s wound. His face hardened
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with pain as he bit down on his lip, breathing heavily. Marrow held tight of Nate’s shoulders and stared at his parents with concern; Lore removed his hand and smiled as Nate sat up, feeling the new scar across his skin.
“What did you do?” He asked in amazement.
Lore held tight of his wife’s hand. “We cleansed the venom Nate,” Liz exhaled. “It was only the venom that stopped you from healing, so once it was taken out, the wound healed.”
His eyes narrowed as he felt his neck once more. “But you can’t do that.” He stuttered.
“We can here,” she smiled.
Nate glanced at Marrow who put both hands to his face, expressionless. He got up, turning his direction to me.
“Thank you,” Nate nodded.
Lore placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it, glancing down at his forearm. I glanced down at my mine as well and saw that all the lines began to swerve in a different direction, a different path. It actually worked.
“Is this the way out?” Paul asked, looking too, at his arm.
Lore nodded briskly. “I believe so.” He glanced down at his arm once more, as blinking blue light beamed. “We better hurry, there’s something coming.”
In a rush, everyone followed Lore to the right of the path, breathlessly running until a stop. Peering over Devon’s shoulder, a dark wave of water flashed above the ground.
“You can’t be serious,” Marrow complained. “We have to swim?”
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I swallowed and moved in front of my brother, gazing forward to see a familiar stone wall on the other side, a platform. The more I looked, the further the distance of the water became.
“The Enchantress knows we’re here,” Lore spoke. “Let’s start swimming before she comes up with any other plans.”
The water was cold as I dipped my finger through; my sensor mark blinking red as I peered downwards beneath the dark waves. Blue figures surfaced through the reflection as I gasped out, reeling my body backwards.
“Lore we can’t go through this, there are things in there.” I pointed to the water.
Lore didn’t seem surprised at all. His eyes shut as he began to juggle a ball of crystal blue dust, tracing an arrow with two stars pointing directly at the shaded waters. The water began to sizzle and turned the darkness into light blue, freezing the water until the point of the platform.
“Underneath us are water serpents; they coil their bodies around your ankles and pull you down, only releasing you until you have no more breath left.” He rubbed his palms against the side of his pants and grabbed his wife.
“They drown you?” Annabelle asked with fear.
He nodded and stepped forward, slowly and carefully placing one foot onto the ice.
“We have to run, the ice won’t hold for long.”
I glanced over to my family, Devon holding on to my two sisters, Paul latched on to my mother and Ethan,
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Marrow sticking with Liz and Beth and Sage hand in hand. Nate moved beside me and held my arm. Before I knew it, Lore began to sprint with Liz in hand, Marrow shortly behind them, followed by the rest of us Enchanted. Nate and I were last, jumping onto the ice seconds before it melted into the darkness of the water. Run Kaylin, just keep running.
Vigorously racing, I heard a scream and recognized it in milliseconds. It was in slow motion when it happened; Annabelle had slipped off of Devon’s grip, falling behind and into the water.
“Annabelle!” I screamed, my lungs retracting air.
The sensor mark began to flash repeatedly. I didn’t care about anyone else. Taking only a second, I dove in after her, the blinking cross illuminating the dark waters. I could see the ice had melted completely above me, everyone standing at the platform peering down. All I could hear were bubbled voices. Annabelle, please.
“Nate, don’t.” Liz.
“She’s my sister, I’m going to go after her. They’re both my sisters.” Devon.
I held my breath watching a blurred vision of Annabelle’s arms waving frantically as she was being dragged down, deeper and deeper.
***
My arms swam through the water faster than anything I have ever done in my entire life. My sensor mark began to flash, as I felt three water serpents tightening around my ankles. The force pulled me downwards as air escaped my mouth, choking me with
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every tug. I couldn’t breathe anymore, I couldn’t do anything. Functioning was not in my books.
Fire, heat, help...
My father. My father was with me, although, my thoughts were drowning just like my body. The only energy that I had left, I used to find Annabelle who was no longer in my sights anymore. I could feel my lungs slowly giving out, and my heart breaking. You tried. This is where you die.
I closed my eyes and faced the fact that this was it. I was struggling, but I began to fade. It wasn’t so painful anymore.
The last thing I saw was my tattoo burn red, then my whole body turned into fire, rushing through every part of me as I slowly regained air and strength.
What is happening to you?
The serpents who were attached to my legs floated away lifeless, burnt.
I continued to find Annabelle.
I swam deeper, harder until I saw red curls floating and two serpents feasting away at her ankles. I wanted so badly to scream.
Touch...
I heard my father’s voice say. I swam down and held tight of the serpents lodged around my sisters ankles as they released grip and slid into the darkness below us. I wrapped my hands around Annabelle’s neck, feeling no pulse as I swam harder up ahead, and the light became clearer.
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My head rose out of the water and into the air as I placed her body on to the platform, jumping over the stone in breaths.
My drenched clothes weren’t my problem right now. I bent down to my sister, ignoring every side comment there was and pushed hard on her stomach, her tender rib cage against my palm. I pushed; rapidly I pushed again and again, but nothing. There’s nothing left.
I nestled my head on her heart and tried again, placing my mouth on top of hers, exhaling breaths. I rose and tried again as Devon drew me away from her.
“Ann! Ann!” I called holding back tears. No, no, no please no, please God no.
“Ann...”
My mother rested her head on Annabelle’s lifeless corpse.
“Ann!” I called to myself, burying my face in my hands.
I had nothing.
I was nothing.
I felt my heart breaking, as if I couldn’t breathe anymore. I felt like vines had strangled my neck and cut off all of my circulation.
This was the end of me, I felt useless. My sister was gone.
Her red hair, the wet cloth clinging to her skin, her porcelain face; my sister was dead. I couldn’t save her, no matter how hard I tried. I dedicated my life to protecting her, and now she was gone. I couldn’t save her and I couldn’t save my father. Who could I save? Kaylin.
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“Annabelle, Ann, come back to me, please, please…” I choked out, leaning in the circle of Devon’s arms as he cradled my head.
I pushed away from him, unable to stop the tears from flowing down my face. Lore whispered something to my mother, pulling Mable away as she cried, kicking and screaming.
Devon released his grip on me and stood up. “Put my sister down.” He demanded.
“Devon, we have to.” Lore said quietly.
***
Nate was struggling to make me stand, his arms linked around my back as he lifted me up to sit on his legs. Annabelle’s body was no longer in sight. My face was now dried with tears as I shivered against Nate. Even his body heat wasn’t enough to fill the coldness inside my heart. My fingers began to spark flames as I glanced one last time at the water and buried my face in his chest, wishing it was me instead of Ann. My mother, also red eyed with tears, removed a blanket from the bag and wrapped it around Nate and I.
I was never going to see Annabelle again. I thought about her smile, her eyes, over and over again until I just couldn’t anymore. All of these thoughts of her,
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being by my side since the beginning, faded and disappeared in a single flash. I felt like I lost myself, all sense of control and I wanted to jump in after her again, even knowing there was no point to retrieve her dead body. It should have been me. I let you down.
“Kaylin,” Nate breathed, his chest rising against my shaking core. He tugged tighter at the blanket around my skin and pulled me close. “Kaylin, I’m sorry.”
Sorry. I should be sorry; I let her slip away in a split second. If I just went in earlier, I could have saved her. I could have. It wasn’t Nate’s fault; he was already near the platform when she had slipped. The waves would have taken him out if he was just one step on the ice.
“It’s going to be okay, I promise you – are you okay?” He asked weary.
For the first time in a long time, I re-thought my answer and shook my head.
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