Milayna

by Michelle K. Pickett

  The second guy jabbed me in the gut. The air whooshed from my lungs. While I was trying to recover from the hit, he hit me hard across the injured side of my face. Stars lit up in front of my eyes. I stumbled backward. My legs wobbled. My entire body hurt from the constant fighting and for a second, a tiny part of my mind wanted to give up. Just let what would happen… happen.

  Get it together. Stop being a freakin’ baby. Fight!

  And I did. I jabbed him in the side and gave a quick uppercut to the chin. Grabbing his arms, I tried to knee him in the crotch, but he recovered in time and threw me off him, punching me in the rib cage. I was sure I heard a crunch. The pain was blinding, and I couldn’t stifle the scream that ripped from my mouth.

  I heard one of the gym doors bang against the wall. Chay ran into the gym. I heard him tackle one of Azazel’s homies. I didn’t have time to look and see which one. My new bestie was advancing on me.

  I watched him move around me. Protecting my side with one arm, I held the other ready for the block.

  Expecting a blow to the face, his hands were raised to protect it. I punched his crotch several times in quick succession as hard as I could. He bent over, howling in pain. I locked my foot around the back of his leg and pushed him hard against the chest. He fell to the ground, his head bouncing off the gym floor once, like a deflated basketball.

  I looked across the room at Jake. He pulled a small dagger from the waistband of his jeans. He watched Muriel while he turned the knife over and over in his hand. He tilted his head to the side, his expression thoughtful. The sunlight streaming through the windows glinted off the metallic blade.

  “Muriel!” I screamed, but she was busy fighting a short, fat guy. He looked innocent enough, with his mop of curly, blond hair and deep dimples, but he was strong and faster than he looked. Muriel was struggling to keep up with his constant attacks.

  Jake’s gaze flicked to mine when I screamed Muriel’s name. He bounced the dagger in his palm a few times and smirked at me before returning his gaze to Muriel. This time, his expression had purpose. He was focused.

  I was too far away to get to Jake before he rushed Muriel. If I didn’t do something, I knew he was going to hurt her. Jake had lost all his morals. He was the personification of evil. It was hard to believe he was the same person who fought alongside us just days before.

  He moved toward Muriel. A sneer marred his face. His denim-blue eyes that I’d always loved were clouded with hate. Evil. He was going to stab Muriel. I had no doubt, and I was too far away to do anything to help her. Bile rose in the back of my throat, and I swallowed it down. It burned a trail to my stomach. Panic bubbled inside me and glued me in place. For several precious seconds I stood watching, doing nothing, my head void of any thought as I watched the events unfold in front of me. My heart banged against my chest so hard and fast that I couldn’t breathe. Muriel was going to die, and I had a front-row seat. My hands started to shake. Sweat slithered down my spine and pooled at the base of my back.

  I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe… Oh my… Muriel…

  A strong wind blew through the gym and hit me. I stumbled. It knocked the panic out of me and forced me to move. My eyes darted around the gym, and my head bounced ideas around like someone was dribbling a basketball inside my skull. I searched for a way to help Muriel. Turning in a circle, I looked for anything I could use as a weapon.

  Telekinesis.

  “How?” I said through clenched teeth. “I’ve never made it happen on my own.”

  I have the power. Telekinesis. I can do it. I’ve done it, but I don’t know how I did it! Information that would come in handy right about now. I need to kiss Chay to make it work!

  I focused on the dagger, envisioning it flying from Jake’s hand to mine. I tried to empty my mind—no small feat, considering that we were being attacked. Concentrating as hard as I could, I visualized the knife flying out of Jake’s hand. I watched him run toward Muriel.

  A strong jolt ran through my body, the kind you got when you stuck your tongue on the end of a nine-volt battery times ten. I shuddered, my hands started to tremble, and adrenaline-filled blood pulsed through my veins at an incredible rate. I could feel it run against the sides of my veins, throbbing as it pushed its way through my body.

  I focused all my energy on the dagger. He raised it above Muriel, and my gaze locked on it. I watched as he lowered it toward Muriel’s back. Reaching out my hand, I focused harder. The knife vibrated in his hand. I concentrated even harder. The vibration got stronger. Just as the tip pricked Muriel’s back, it flew backward. I caught it as it whizzed by my head. Obviously, judging by the close proximity of the knife to my face, my aim needed some work.

  Jake roared in anger. Realizing their defeat when they lost the dagger and giving me a way to protect myself from Hell’s demons, the Evils ran out of the gym. Jake glared at me, his face contorted in an ugly sneer. “This isn’t over, Milayna,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “I’m counting on it.” My eyes locked on his. We stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, but was more likely a few seconds. He looked away first, the first sign of weakness he’d shown since the battles began. I was getting stronger. And we both knew it.

  ***

  “You did it?” my dad asked with a huge smile when Chay brought me home.

  “Yeah.” I was still amazed it’d worked.

  “How?” Drew asked.

  The news of the attack spread quickly throughout the group, and everyone had congregated in my small kitchen.

  “I don’t know. I just imagined the knife flying from his hand to mine. I concentrated on the image… and it just did.”

  “You know what this is, right? I mean, everybody realizes what she’s done.” Chay looked at me, his eyes soft. He reached out and trailed a finger down the side of my face.

  “I just got us a kickass, demon-killing dagger is what I’ve done.” I laughed when Chay chuckled.

  “Keep it with you at all times, Milayna. Keep it on you. Not in your book bag, not in your purse. Keep it on you. We’ll get you a sheath to carry it in. Maybe one that fits around your ankle where it won’t be noticeable. I want you to have it whenever and wherever you are,” my dad said. He turned the knife over and over in his hand.

  “It sure is pretty for a dagger made from the coals of Hell.” Muriel watched my dad roll it in his hand.

  The dagger had a medium-length blade. A person would have to be close to their attacker to use it. The blade was engraved with a beautifully intricate design. But as pretty as the blade was, the handle was extraordinary. It was gold and embedded with small gemstones. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds glistened in the light and created rainbows on the ceiling and walls.

  I didn’t think something so beautiful could come from the bowels of a place as wretched as Hell.

  ***

  Two days until my birthday.

  Chay came over Sunday for a study date. It turned out to be more date than studying, which was fine with both of us. We sat on the back deck with our books covering the patio table. Charts and lab notes were everywhere. Pens and pencils lay unused next to them while we talked about everything except Azazel.

  “What are you going to do after graduation?” I asked him. The thought that after high school our paths might lead us in different directions stole my breath, like someone was physically sucking it out of my lungs and I couldn’t fill them again.

  It was then, I knew. I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself, or anyone else, but I knew. Chay was the air I breathed. The reason my world turned. Why I got out of bed early on the weekends, even after I repeatedly told him weekends were for sleeping in. The reason the stars twinkled in the night sky and the sun woke up every morning. The reason I wanted to beat Azazel. Because Chay was my reason—I could tackle anything.

  “College.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked that answer. Of course I wanted him to go to college; I just didn’t want him to l
eave.

  “Where?” I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

  He looked at the sky, and I watched the colors in his eyes change from blue to green. “Here for starters. I’ll do my first two years of standard courses here, and then I’ll decide where to transfer, if I transfer at all. And you?” He looked down at our hands, our fingers threaded together. He gently rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand.

  I let out the breath I was holding. That was my plan too, and I smiled. We’d go to the same college, at least for two years. “The same.”

  “I was hoping that was your answer.” He leaned over the table and kissed the tip of my nose.

  “Hey, you wanna get out of here? We aren’t getting any studying done anyway. Let’s go do something.” I shoved my junk in my book bag.

  “A movie?”

  “Sounds good. Let me tell my parents.” I ran in the house and asked my parents if I could go. Naturally, they said yes. According to them, Chay was the next best thing since the invention of the wheel. I agreed with them wholeheartedly.

  We got into Chay’s car. He put the key into the ignition, and the motor roared to life. I looked around.

  “Hey, you cleaned,” I said with a laugh. The fast food cups were gone from the front seat, and the burger wrappers had been picked up. The floor had been vacuumed and the dash wiped off. Then I looked in the backseat. The fast food cups were thrown haphazardly on the floor covered by the wadded-up burger wrappers. The floor hadn’t been vacuumed, and nothing had been wiped off.

  “Yeah.” He winked. “It’s as clean as a hospital operating room.”

  “I can see. Very neat and tidy.” I nodded, trying to hide my smile.

  We picked a movie and got comfy in the theater’s reclining seats. While we waited for it to start, we guessed the trivia questions flashing on the screen by unscrambling the letters to find the answer. Every time I answered before Chay, he’d pelt me with popcorn.

  “I can’t help it that you’re slow!” I laughed so hard I snorted.

  “Okay, Ms. Piggy.”

  I looked at him. “Did you just refer to me as a pig?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

  “Um… it’s because you snorted… I was jok—”

  I started laughing again. “You’re so gullible. But seriously, watch the pig jokes.” I laughed so much that my sides hurt. And Chay threw so much popcorn at me that it piled up in my lap. I stood up, and it rained popcorn all over the theater floor.

  The lights dimmed and the previews started. That was when I saw little red arms in the empty seat in front of me. The seat rocked back and forth, reclining and then straightening, then reclining again, followed by a high-pitched squeal of delight. Damn hobgoblins.

  “What are you doing here?” I pulled the seat down and looked in the eyes of the pudgy imp who was making my life a living hell.

  “We’re on a date.”

  “You weren’t invited,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “We thought you’d want to know about your mother.”

  The blood slowed in my veins and a ringing filled my ears. “What about her? You’d better not have touched my mother. She has nothing to do with this. I will see red splatters on the road with my tire tracks on them from where I’ve run you down if you’ve touched one hair on her head.”

  “You’ll see.” It smiled at me.

  My stomach tightened so hard that I jerked back and my elbow knocked my pop out of its holder.

  “I told you. The vision is already starting. See you at home, Milayna.” He giggled and disappeared with a small puff of smoke.

  My head started to pound. I shot out of the seat, the reclining back hitting me when it flew forward. “I need to go home.”

  “Milayna, they’re just trying to scare you. Will it make you feel better if you call?”

  “No, no, I’m having a vision. I need to get out of here.” My hands started shaking, and the cold fingers of fear ran down my spine. I tripped trying to get out of the dark theater, stumbling on the stairs leading up to the exit.

  “Are you okay, miss?” an attendant asked.

  “She’s just not feeling well.” Chay helped me up the stairs and into the hallway.

  My head pounded. My vision faded in and out. The ugly burgundy-and-gray carpeting on the theater’s floor turned fuzzy, and a flash of my mother entered my vision. As soon as I saw her, the vision left and I saw the matted, dirty carpeting again.

  “Take me home.” I leaned on Chay for support. My hand fisted in his shirt. “Please.”

  ‘You might as well switch now before it’s too late. Or too late for the ones you love. The ones you love. The ones you love.’ Shayla’s words rolled over and over in my head. I couldn’t focus on anything else. What if I was too late? What if Azazel hurt my mom? I sucked in a breath to keep from crying and held it until my lungs burned. How could I forgive myself if my mom was hurt because of me? I couldn’t. Azazel knew the guilt would eat me alive, little by little, like worms feasting on a corpse. ‘Too late for the ones you love.’

  Chay sped all the way to my house, talking on his cell phone. First, he called my dad, made sure everything was all right, and told him about my vision. Then he called his father and finally, he called the group. They met us when we arrived.

  It wasn’t long before the Evils and their demi-demon home fries showed up. I was still in the middle of a vision. My mother was all I saw. I couldn’t tell what was going to happen or where. I just knew she was in danger. I could feel it in my bones. They were too cold. I could feel them under my skin like an ice-sculpture skeleton. The rest of me was overly hot, and sweat covered my skin and pooled under my hair.

  The hobgoblins ran around me, skipping and singing in their shrill voices, in a language I didn’t understand and really didn’t care to. The friendly goblin grabbed my leg and tried to crawl up it. I kicked him off. Scarface growled, and his eyes turned black.

  I held my pounding head in my hands, made my way to the swing on the deck, and fell onto it. The red midget climbed up and sat next to me, his stumpy legs kicking back and forth, trying to make the swing move.

  My mother. Standing at the window.

  The goblin next to me was getting annoyed that the swing wasn’t moving. He stood up, his temper flaring. I reached out and pushed him off so hard he went flying across the deck. That didn’t help his mood.

  She’s looking outside. There’s screaming. Hobgoblins are running through the house.

  My vision came and went as the images played through my head.

  “Fight it, Milayna. Your mother’s fine,” Chay’s dad said. “I’m going to stay with her.”

  A demon. He reaches out and touches her shoulder.

  “Milayna, you need to fight the vision.”

  “I can’t, Mr. Roberts!” I fisted my fingers in my hair and pulled until it hurt. “The images keep coming. I can’t get them to stop.” My voice shook with barely controlled tears. Fear, panic, and rage swirled through me as the vision bombarded my senses. I didn’t know which emotion I felt the most, which would take over, but something bubbled under my skin, ready to burst free.

  “It’s not real. The goblins are forcing a vision on you so you’re unable to protect yourself. You have to fight it.” My dad squatted in front of me. “You’re stronger than the vision. Fight it.”

  A demon… No! It’s not real… it’s not real.

  “A demon is in the house!” I cried. “Dad, a demon—”

  “Milayna,” he said in calm, soothing tones, “the house is protected. Even if there is a demon inside, its power is drained.”

  Yes! There’s a demon… no, it’s not real. It’s not real.

  “Fight it, Milayna. The house is protected.” I could hear the fight. I knew Chay and the others were taking on the group of Evils by themselves.

  Fight it! Okay, okay, I can do this. It isn’t real.

  My head pounded, and my stomach clenched. I couldn’t erase the images that flashed in my
head. “Where’s Mr. Roberts?”

  “In the house.” My dad’s voice.

  “Chay?” I whispered.

  “He’s in the yard.” My dad cleared his throat.

  My mother. A demon. Hobgoblins running through the house… on the counter tops… on the table…

  “No! It’s not real!” I lifted my head and shook off the effects of the vision. My head pounded and the images still played out in my mind, but I had to help my group. I couldn’t sit there and do nothing. Chay’s dad was with my mom. She was fine.

  Can I trust him?

  I trusted Chay. I had to trust his dad.

  I stood up and fought the vision.

  It’s not real.

  I ran down the steps of the deck and into the fight. Jen was trying to fight off two demi-demons. I picked one and slammed into him. The more the vision attacked me, the harder I fought.

  He turned and threw a punch. I saw it coming at me in the freaky slo-mo thing I had. Blocking it, I kicked him in the side. He tried to jab me, and I stepped to the side. He swung and missed, stumbling forward from the momentum. I used his moment of weakness to kick him on the side of his head. He went down. No major damage done, but he wouldn’t get up anytime soon.

  Demon. Looking at my mother.

  My gaze swung to the house. My mother was standing at the window, watching the fight.

  Demon. Looking out of the window. I can see the fight through its eyes.

  I watched the window. There was nothing there. No demon. Just my mother.

  It’s not real. It’s not real.

  I turned and a fist hit me in the jaw. Stunned, it took me a second to recuperate, and I barely had time to block his next swing.

  Jake.

  I blocked the next two jabs he threw. Why didn’t his swings come in slow motion like everyone else’s? My freaky-magic-mojo didn’t work on him.

  Demon. Reaching out to grab my mother. No! It’s not real.

  Jake kicked me in the side and brought my thoughts back to the issue at hand. Getting my ass kicked, literally. The next kick I was ready for and grabbed his leg. I twisted it, and he fell with a grunt facedown on the ground. I stepped between his shoulder blades and pushed him down into the moist dirt.