by Jade Sánchez
“Tess! Tess!” I kept yelling, as it carried her away. I couldn’t let this thing, this monster, take Tess away. I conjured up a water ball and tossed it at him. It struck the thing right in the back, but it had no affect at all! I started to run after them, but he went even faster. I couldn’t let this thing get away.
I needed Tess.
She’s the last friend that I had, and I wasn’t going to let her get murdered too.
I started running like my life depended on it. Technically, Tess’s life depended on it. I was gaining on him; I was so close to them now, and so close to Tess.
I grabbed the back of his shirt and yelled, “Let her go, she didn’t do anything wrong!” He stopped and kicked me off his back. He then ran into a shop, taking Tess with him.
Even though I was already on the ground, I got on my knees. I now recognized what Tess last said to me. It was part of a song. When she said;
“If you cry I’ll wipe all of your tears. When you scream,
I’ll fight away all of your fears.”
It was part of a song by Evanescence called “My Immortal.”
I got up from the ground. I somehow knew Tess wasn’t dead. She would never leave me alone at a time like this.
I looked inside the window of the shop that Tess was being held in. I saw her, luckily alive, laying on a couch. If I could somehow get her out of there, I could save her life.
I was not going to let another soul die in my presence.
I couldn’t handle the weight of another dead person.
Chapter Twenty-Two Crawling
I peered inside the shop. There has to be a way to get in and out without being noticed, I thought to myself.
I looked inside for about a minute, trying to notice everything. Then, I saw an airshaft right above the couch that Tess was laying on. Score, I’d found a way to get in and out!
Even though I’m a total germ freak, I had to go. I picked a couple rocks up off the ground. I had a plan, and it was a good one.
I climbed onto the roof and found the shaft. My first thought was, why would a ventilation shaft go onto a roof? But I ignored the thought and went on with the plan.
I opened the shaft and got inside. I crawled in the dark, dusty shaft until I saw the light at the end.
I opened the shaft and saw Tess lying on the couch. She looked dead, but I could tell she was breathing. I didn’t have time to waste. I dropped the rock on her face, making her eyes jolt awake. She looked around for a minute, not knowing what had happened. I dropped another rock I’d brought (I only brought two, the second one just in case the first one didn’t work) on her leg. She looked up and saw me. Her first reaction was to wave her hands in a little dance.
Yeah, my friend is weird.
I put my feet through the shaft, as if I were about to jump in, like that was going to happen. I tapped my shoes together and Tess began to rise.
When she was halfway into the shaft, I heard someone yell, “She’s getting away!” Someone made a grab for her foot, but she was already in the shaft.
Tess slammed the vent shut. She was still kinda floating, so I tapped my shoes once more and she dropped down.
Tess turned and hugged me. “Maddy, you’re brilliant, that’s what you are!” She let go of me and said “Let’s get out of here.”
I started crawling out of the shaft and onto the roof. I helped Tess out of the shaft. We were safe, for now.
Chapter Twenty-Three Over the Edge
We closed the vent and ran over to the edge of the building. We stood up onto the ledge and looked over. On the count of three we both jumped off the roof at the same time. After landing safely onto the ground, we ran to the store window and looked into the shop. The buffoons were climbing into the vent shaft.
We looked at the map. We needed a better way to get to Idaho without breaking the law. I couldn’t think of anything, and neither could Tess.
I wasn’t going to walk all the way to Idaho. Not a chance. There were just too many risks.
“Do you have any ideas?” I asked Tess. “None that are legal, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied.
We had no other choice but to walk. So we looked at the map and started walking. We talked about school and how much of it that we’re missing, and how many unexcused tardies we must be getting.
It was getting dark now. The almost full moon was out, providing some decent light to walk in. All of a sudden it started raining. That helped our situation; not. Now we were miserable, and wet. Two very bad combinations.
We saw a forested area not far off so we sprinted to it, to take cover; figuring that maybe all the trees would keep most of the rain from getting to us, and also keep us out of sight from anyone who might be looking for us.
The woods were so dense that there was hardly any light from the moon getting through. There seemed to be a lot of giant trees that appeared to be dead, with no leaves or needles or anything. We kept trudging through the woods in the dead of night, trying not to pay attention to all the scary noises that were just beyond our sight.
Sounds pretty creepy right? A lot of bad things could happen in the woods in the dead of night.
Questions kept racing in my head. Didn’t Tess burn these woods the last time we went through them? What if we get kidnapped while we’re i n here? Why did those men take Tess?
As I walked on, I was getting tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. But we had to keep moving. We couldn’t risk being found.
A few minutes later, I found myself on the ground, being woken up by Tess. She was looking at me. “You ok?” she asked.
“Yeah, what happened?” I replied. “We were walking and you just fell asleep while walking.”
“Oops. I guess I’m just too tired to walk.”
Tess lent me hand, and helped me back up. “We have to keep going Maddy, we can’t risk being found,” she said when I was on my feet.
“I know, it’s just that I’m too tired,” I replied.
We heard something move in the bushes behind us. We turned around just as someone stumbled out of the bushes holding what appeared to be a gun.
Someone we’ve seen before!
Chapter Twenty-Four Revenge
It was Addie.
If you don’t remember who Addie is, she was the cop whose car Tess burned. She was a wreck. Her long blonde hair (that was surprisingly still on her head) was stained with blood. The left side of her face was burnt and looked a little crispy. Her whole right arm was burnt and red. Her right sleeve was shredded.
“How are you still alive?” Tess asked.
I was curious as well.
“I’m smarter than you might think. When the car was on fire, and you guys left, I used my right arm to get out. Unfortunately, my face went through a wall of flames and I burnt the left side of it. When I finally managed to get out, no one was there. I’ve been walking to the lab ever since.”
“How did you not die of hunger?” I asked.
“The reason I used my right arm to get out is because I shoot with my left. I’ve been killing and eating animals to survive. Now, I’m going to get my revenge.”
“How do you plan on doing that?” I asked, terrified of the answer.
“I’m going to kill her,” Addie said while pointing her gun at Tess.
Chapter Twenty-Five Battle to the Death
“Too bad I can’t use my gun since I ran out of bullets yesterday, defending myself against a timber wolf,” she said as she tossed it to the ground.
Tess and I stood there in shock. How would she kill Tess? It’s like trying to kill a vampire with a thumbtack, I thought to myself.
Tess stopped looking shocked and started looking serious. “Let the battle begin,” she said.
This was going to be a battle to the death.
I stood back about ten feet.
No way was I going to be caught in the middle of this battle and end up maiming myself, or worse.
Tess bowed and announced, “Good luck, and
like they say in the Hunger Games, May the odds be ever in your favor.”
Addie nodded back.
Tess set her hair and hands on fire. But this time the fire was bigger and brighter than ever before. Her hair and hands were white, the sign of truly hot fire. I was curious if it was even possible to be this close to a white fire.
Addie stumbled back and fell for a second, but got back up.
“I’m going to burn you until there is nothing left of you but ash,” Tess said.
So technically, she was going to cremate her while she was still alive. That was a pretty scary thought.
Tess could finish this with a single move but I knew she wasn’t going to. That’s not the way Tess works. She wanted Addie to suffer, and beg for mercy. That’s why Tess loved the game mercy. She never lost.
Addie charged at Tess.
A foolish mistake.
Tess grabbed her by the hand and threw her over her shoulder. Addie’s hand was charred after that. Even though she only made contact with Tess for but a few seconds, her hand was charred, and her left sleeve was aflame.
Even after that happened; Addie didn’t give in.
She charged towards Tess again. Did she even know what she was up against? This time Tess planned on toasting her. She took Addie by the shirt and threw her over her head, roasting Addie’s back.
“Have mercy…” Addie began crying. “… I only wanted you to feel the pain I went through.”
Tess held her hand up and paused. “You think you’ve had a rough time? We were kidnapped from our school and thrown into a van where we were starved. Then we went into a place where two of our friends were murdered. When we finally got away, we were caught again and thrown into a cage where we were tested on. Finally we got away again and that brings us here. So don’t tell us that you went through a lot.”
With the hand she was holding up, she shot white fire the size of a football out of her hands and right into Addie. Addie started to scream in pain, as she burned alive.
When there was nothing left of Addie except ash, (I was surprised the forest didn’t start on fire) I took a vile t h a t I had in my jacket, (I honestly don’t know why I had one) and put her ashes in it. I t h e n wrote on it:
Addie Xconveret: a cop who died in action. Tess put herself ground, and started to out, dropped to the cry out; “It was selfdefense; she was going to kill me. She didn’t deserve to die, but I couldn’t leave any evidence that I was the one that killed her.”
I put my arm around her. It will all be over soon, or so I hope.
Chapter Twenty-Six Hitch-hiking
We got up and started walking. That weird encounter wasn’t going to stop us from getting back home. No way.
A few minutes later we entered a city. I looked at s o m e o f t h e s i g n s . We were in Pittsburgh.
“If we hitch-hike somehow…” Tess began. “No, just no!” I replied. Hitchhiking was a scary thought.
All the stories I’ve heard about hitchhikers never end well. Either the hiker died, or the driver.
“Maybe if we could borrow someone’s phone, we could call home,” s he offered. That was actually a really good idea.
We went up to a nice looking man. He looked like he couldn’t do much harm.
But then again, looks can be deceiving.
Chapter Twenty-Seven The Stranger
Tess decided she would start off the conversation with this stranger. “Hello mister, we are lost and we can’t find our parents so we we’re wondering if we can borrow your cell phone to call them,” she asked.
Seemed like a legit excuse.
He stood there, leaned back on one of his legs, looked back and forth at me and Tess, scanning us head to toe for about a minute, scratching his hairy chin, thinking about it.
He rubbed his forehead and replied, “Sure. It’s in my car. Follow me.”
Tess and I looked at each other quizzically, and smiled. We were one step closer to getting home.
When we got to his car, I began to get cheerfully hopeful. He opened his back door, reached in, and started fumbling through a bag. After a few mumbling choice words to himself, he got his cell phone out, turned it on, and was about to give it to Tess, when there was a change in motion.
He grabbed Tess’s arm, and flung her into the backseat of his car. As soon as I realized what was happening, I tried to run, but he grabbed my arm and threw me into the car too. He slammed the door closed, wiggled the handle to make sure it was closed all the way, and went around to the other side of the car, and jumped into the driver’s seat.
I tried to open the car door, but it must have been on child-lock, or something. I started banging on the door; “Let us out!” I screamed. Tess pushed me back into my seat.
“Let’s see how well this door holds up while it’s on fire,” Tess said while raising her hand.
Just then, he turned around from the front seat and said, “This car is magic-proof.” Even after he said that, Tess tried to set the door on fire, but the sparks just wouldn’t come out.
“Who are you?” I asked, half yelling.
“I belong to a secret organization that helps people find magical beings. You two are very smart; you managed to escape twice. But not anymore because we’ve got you now.”
I sat still; we were in for it now, again. Tess didn’t give up though. That was one of the notso-good things about Tess. She didn’t know when to stop, or give in.
She started pounding on the windows. It kind of reminded me of when she pounded on the back doors of the van a few days ago, when we first got kidnapped.
“There has to be a way to break these windows!” Tess yelled while pounding on the windows even harder.
“They’re made of bulletproof glass,” the man announced.
Tess didn’t settle down even after his announcement. “We have gotten too far, and have been through too much to give up now,” she bellowed.
I put my hand on her shoulder. “Tess, it’s time to give in,” I told her.
She looked at her feet. “I know, but I don’t want to face defeat.”
Oh Tess, don’t worry. I have a plan.
Chapter Twenty-Eight Purple clay on the watch
We sat in the car, completely silent and still.
I started to develop my plan. I figured out that even if we get put into those anti-magic suits we could still use the magical powers in our feet. That means Tess could freeze people, and we could run away.
After I was pretty satisfied with my plan I asked the driver, “Where exactly are we going? We burned down both labs, you know.”
“We are going to North Dakota where we have a secret lab deep beneath the hills,” he replied.
I said, “So technically we’re going to Area 51.”
“You could call it that, even though that’s not accurate,” he replied.
I settled back down into my seat. This was going to be a long, boring ride.
I learned that after a while of being trapped, your imagination is crucial. If you don’t have imagination, you would be bored out of your mind. I couldn’t let that happen.
I noticed a small piece of purple clay on the floor of the car, next to my feet.
Trying not to be so obvious, I slowly bent over and picked it up. It was soft and warm. It felt kinda nice in my hand.
I drifted.
I used my imagination to create a story about this little piece of clay: I pretended that…
It used to be a large rock that lived at the top of a dead forest, and one day it rolled down the misty mountain, and plummeted off a jagged cliff. It landed on an even bigger rock and shattered into thousands of little balls of purple clay that landed on pocket watches in the river below. Suddenly, an eraser started erasing the water in synch to a humming sound.
Strange? At that moment I realized that Tess was humming a song that she loved.
I didn’t mind it, but she LOVED it and made me listen to it all the time.
I could tell what part she was on:
There’s just too much that time cannot erase! When you cried,
I'd wipe away all of your tears When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears And I held your hand through all of these years
Yeah, I know you might think it’s a good song, but it loses its touch after the tenth time of listening to it.
We kept on driving in complete silence. I was really bored, so I looked outside the window and tried to imagine myself sitting on a pocket watch going over a water fall and… It was getting dark, and I could barely hold my eyelids open. I couldn’t help myself, and fell asleep.
It might’ve been one of the stupidest mistakes of my life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine Nothing to Lose
I woke up to the smell of burning car. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the first time I smelt that smell.
My eyes shot awake. I looked over at Tess. Her hands were on fire. “Ha-ha! I out smarted the magic-proof car!” she cried.
The driver slammed on his brakes when she said, “Now let us go or I’ll burn you and your car to death!”
He thought about it for a second. Who would need to think about this decision? I saw him make a grab for the glass water bottle next to him. I tried to move it using my mind control, but failed to do so.
He used the bottle, and poured some water onto Tess; making her fists dry. Tess stood up as best as she could and looked at her fists. “How could that be? I didn’t put them out.”
“You powers are weak in here,” he replied.
Tess sat back down.
Well, that theory failed. Soaking wet, she felt like a failure. Yay for her! She crossed her arms and started to pout. She looked like a two year old.
Tess put the seat back; ready to take a nap. I didn’t do the same, even though I desperately wanted too. Instead, I asked a question that neither of us had asked. “What’s your name?”