Chapter Eighteen

"He…He aided in killing your parents?" I asked again, just to see if I had heard Melanie right. She nodded, looking down with her eyes wide.

"He told the hunters where we lived. Apparently, someone had told him where we lived, which was pretty impossible. We all changed our appearances when we moved to a new place. We were so careful." Melanie's voice was completely helpless sounding, and she looked different at that time. Then, the sky immediately had turned gray, and it looked like our surroundings were fading away. Eventually, we came to a river bank.

"Alexander is toying with us again," Evra growled. Melanie got a frantic look on her face as she looked at the river. When she was about to say something, though, an invisible force pushed her in. I was about to shout Melanie's name, when Evra was pushed in.

"What in the name of-" My sentence was cut off when a force had knocked me into the river as well. As I hit the water, I felt as if all of the air had been knocked out of me. I opened my eyes and saw Melanie and Evra struggling. The water was freezing cold, and a force seemed to be keeping us down.

"Alexander is trying to keep us down!" I heard Melanie say, in my mind (telepathy, remember?).

"Mel," Evra thought, "Could you lift us up out of here?"

"No. It's extremely cold down here," Melanie thought, "My powers won't work. Besides, I can't push through the top of the water." We all then tried to push through the top, but none of us could. Evra, being part land snake, couldn't hold his breath any longer, and he had started to pass out.

"Evra!" Melanie and I both shouted in unison as we rushed over to him. Melanie got to him before he completely reached the bottom, and she held him in her arms.

"Darren," she shouted over to me, "we can't stay down here much longer!"

"I know, Melanie. But, what are we going to do?" I replied, swimming over to her. Melanie's hand suddenly went down to her sword, which was in a scabbard.

"I know how…" She gave Evra to me and told me to swim a short distance behind her, and to never get too close until we're out of the water. I followed her orders, and stayed a short distance away from her, Evra slung over my shoulder. Melanie got to the surface and sliced the invisible force with her sword. As it came down in shreds, she sheathed her sword and reached out with her hand. Feeling slightly light-headed, I accepted her hand and she dragged all of us up onto the surface. Both of us gasping, she flung us as far away from the river as she could. She then went up to Evra and put her hands over him.

"Dehydras," she gasped slightly. She then forced the constricting water out of him. As Evra gasped, now conscious, Melanie sighed happily and grabbed both of us in her embrace.

"Thank the gods that we all are alright," she gasped. We both hugged her back, Evra looking the slightest bit grateful that he became unconscious.

"How much more of this do we have to take?" I whispered.

"Not much more. I expect to be done with Melanie really soon," said a newly arrived Alexander, who had come out from the shadows. Melanie's back stiffened at the sound of his voice, and she had started reaching for her sword the moment he arrived. She jumped up and ran at him with her sword, determined to slice him directly in half. Alexander reached out with one hand and he made a fist. Melanie then fell to the ground, writhing in pain and gasping for air, as if something was constricting her airways. Alexander walked up to her and kneeled next to her, grabbing the sword from her hand. He then sheathed it and smiled wickedly.

"I know that you don't enjoy being restricted, Melanie. But, your demise will come soon enough." As Evra and I had started to stand up, Alexander looked up at us and smirked.

"Oh, I almost forgot about you two," he said, extending his arm and making a fist again. Evra and I immediately dropped, the feeling of lightheadedness creeping back into me. My eyes were closing as I heard Alexander speak.

"Don't worry. Everything will be over shortly.