Chapter Ten: Free At Last

Carmen felt Russell's heinous command clamp on to her, turning her into a puppet. No! She thought, resisting. I can't…I won't do this!

The power of the Finder's Spell throbbed in her hands. I could turn it against him, Carmen thought with sudden inspiration. I could…

Her thoughts were cut off by Russell's laughter. "Nice try," he rasped, amused. "You can't turn my own power against me! Now quit stalling and KILL THE MORTAL!"

Carmen tried to stop her legs from propelling her forward to where Two-Bit was still standing. "Why are you standing there? MOVE!" she shrieked at him.

"I would if I could!" Two-Bit yelled. "He cast a spell and I'm turning into a statue!" It was only then that Carmen noticed that his feet were glowing fiery like the flames of a fire, and the soles of Two-Bit's sneakers were melting.

She watched as Two-Bit cast every spell he could remember with his switchblade wand, and, it seemed to Carmen, even made some up on the spot. But Russell's grip held fast. Two-Bit was trapped.

Carmen, meanwhile, was struggling with herself. The red-hot murder scalded her fingertips, itching to get out, but Carmen wouldn't let them. She had that much control left.

She was sweating with the effort of keeping control. Bright lights flashed before her eyes and she couldn't breathe. She was about to pass out, she knew. She sank to her knees, head pounding and chest aching from the constant struggle. She wanted so badly to be able to give in, but she couldn't. She wouldn't.

An idea hit her. She couldn't very well kill Two-Bit if she wasn't conscious to do it. She summoned what little energy she had left to whisper the idea to his thoughts. As she entered his mind, she found that he had been entertaining the same notion.

She lifted her head slightly. He was staring intensely at her. She nodded in agreement. Two-Bit raised his switchblade…

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Russell roared and the switchblade shattered in Two-Bit's hand. He groaned aloud. Russell must have gained enough power to read their thoughts.

"Yes, mortal, I have," Russell snarled. "Carmen! Stop struggling!" he roared.

From her spot on the floor, Carmen slumped forward immediately. "Get up," Russell commanded coldly. Carmen did so.

It seemed to Two-Bit that she was in a trance of some sort. Like her body was there, but she really wasn't.

What happened next happened so fast and was so incredibly unbelievable that Two-Bit would wonder for years to come what really happened.

Carmen walked towards him perfectly normally and stood just inches from his face. She's like a zombie, Two-Bit thought. She wasn't breathing, or moving, or blinking. She had the deadest expression Two-Bit had ever seen.

"Kill him already," Russell ordered impatiently. A wave of panic washed over Two-Bit. Carmen raised her hands, red with evil power…

A gust of wind blew rapidly through. It was like a tornado; unanticipated, unwanted, ripping up everything in sight, uncaring about the damage it left behind. Just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

Carmen's eyes closed and she collapsed with a soft sigh. Two-Bit caught her reflexively before she hit the ground. The redness had faded from her hands. She seemed to be in a deep, peaceful sleep.

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Carmen had let go of herself when Two-Bit's wand shattered. She had let go of everything and become free.

She was detached, floating miles above anything else. For a moment she let herself drift…

Then all the presently occurring events came back to her in one fell swoop. Okay, good feelings gone, she thought remorsefully. But at least now she had the power to do what she had to.

Right now, she knew, her body was a puppet in Russell's control. She was, essentially, a golem, a creature made from the earth that has no mind of its own, who does whatever its master commands.

Carmen raised a storm of her rage. Rage at never being truly free, at Mordred for using her for his evil, at Twyla for being such a stupid fairy, at Russell for making her do this to Two-Bit, but mostly to herself, for having taken this all lying down like a doormat, when the answer was so obvious. It had been right in front of her all along.

She set the storm loose. It tore through the house, tearing up everything. In the chaos, she whispered to herself the spell she had known all along.

The curse lifted off her, taking with it her servitude and returning her liberty. Carmen settled in her body and collapsed, exhausted. Free at last, were her final thoughts before succumbing to sleep. Free at last.

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"What? No!" Mordred shouted. He was the first to figure out what had happened. He could feel Carmen's sorcery, taken by force of the curse, unwrapping itself from his grasp and slipping away, back to its rightful owner.

Azure was the next to figure it out. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. "Yes," she whispered. "I knew you could do it, baby."

Mordred now rounded on her, face contorted with rage. "You!" he spat. "You knew all along, didn't you! You knew the solution all along, but you could never tell her directly because she had to break the curse herself!"

Mordred was very pleased with himself for having figured out how Carmen had broken the curse, and enraged that she had broken the curse and that Azure had been helping her all along.

"It was the lullaby, wasn't it?" he said quietly and dangerously. "That lullaby you used to sing to her…that was the solution all along, wasn't it." His rage only doubled when Azure pressed her lips together and said nothing.

"You shall pay for this!" he bellowed, turning all his power on her. "Help me, boy! She is the reason my daughter has defeated you again!"

Russell seemed to consider Mordred's words for a moment. Then he, too, began focusing his energy on Azure.

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"No!" Two-Bit shouted, struggling in vain against the hold on his feet. Why wasn't she fighting back? Oh, if only I had my switchblade, he thought viciously.

He watched helplessly as the evil wizard and his apprentice drained their power on Azure, who collapsed and lay still.

The Finder's Spell having been exhausted of what magic it held, Russell and Mordred were human again. Being human doesn't make them any better looking, though, Two-Bit thought.

"Our work here is done. We are victorious," Mordred said disdainfully. "Come, Russell." With that, he vanished.

Russell gave Two-Bit one last wicked grin and vanished as well. Two-Bit wished he could wring Russell's neck.

When Russell vanished, Two-Bit's feet were mobile again and he promptly fell forward.

"Owwww! Watch it!" someone complained.

"Sorry," Two-Bit apologized automatically. Wait a minute, he thought. I know that voice…

"Carmen?" he exclaimed, standing up in a hurry and holding out a hand to help her up.

"What happened?" she asked carefully, looking around. "Where did Mordred and Russell go?"

"They vanished," Two-Bit said heavily. "They're gone."

But Carmen wasn't listening anymore. "Where's Mom?" she asked, looking around. Then she spotted Azure, crumpled on the floor in a heap.

"Mom," she said, her voice already breaking. She ran over and kneeled over, taking her mother's hand in her own. "Mom, please get up. Please, get up."

It broke Two-Bit's heart to see this. Swallowing hard, he turned and walked outside into the chill of night. The sun had set. He knew Carmen would join him when she was ready.

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"Mom," Carmen whispered, her voice cracking from the effort not to cry. "Mom, answer me," she pleaded.

But there was no answer. There was only the sound of the wind rushing through the trees outside, of cars zooming past, of someone's wind chimes jingling. And, above all, the silence of death was deafening.

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