Chapter 10
Zara and Zack had collected Sandra, Darryl, Gail, Howie, Paula, Ingrid, and Quinn. Assuming it was enough, they were now headed for the Dark Side's building…and no one was there.
"They must be preparing to do the ritual," said Zara, "Which means there's a chance Cici hasn't gotten back yet. Come on!" She led them into the building. "Spread out." They did. She took the cellar. She walked in…and noticed the cage and the injured coyote girl inside. "Trinity?"
Trinity whimpered and looked back at her.
Zara sighed. "What'd they do to you?"
Trinity whimpered again and crouched down in a corner, still chained to the wall.
Zara then saw the lead pipe lying in the corner. She grabbed it and went over to the lock. She hit the lock with the pipe, breaking it open. "Stronger than I look. And feel." She shrugged and tossed the pipe aside before going into the cage. She started trying to let Trinity out.
"W-Who are you?"
"Let's just say I'm a friend."
Trinity then got a good look at her. Her eyes widened and she backed into the corner.
"What's wrong?"
"Y-You did this to me…"
Zara realized what she was talking about. "I brought you in here?"
"Locked me up…put me in chains…tortured me…killed my brother."
Zara started breathing faster. "Oh boy…I killed Orion?"
Trinity nodded, whimpering.
Zara shook her head. "No, that wasn't me."
Trinity calmed down a little.
"It wasn't me who did that. Get it through to your head, Zara!" She took a deep breath. She looked back at Trinity. "Hold on a second. I'm gonna get you out of this." She went back up the stairs and poked her head out the door. "Pst! Ingrid!"
Ingrid came up to her. "What—whoa!"
Zara pulled her down the stairs and up to Trinity. "Get her out."
Ingrid nodded and went over there. She stared at the lock on the chains and aimed as hard as she could so as not to hit Trinity… Finally, her heat vision turned on and the chains melted off. She helped up Trinity. "Come on, let's get you out of here." She helped her up the stairs with Zara and they met the others in the halls.
"Alright, everyone, the Dark Side must be somewhere," said Zara, "I mean, there's probably a specific place where they need to do this ritual…" Her eyes widened. She recognized the building. It was the old warehouse where the Dark Side had first been staying. There must have been a reason they picked the new place… "And I think I know where." She led them off.
In the real reality…
The gang was back at the hideout, gathering their weapons to assemble against the Dark Side.
Kyra grabbed a COMM unit and hooked it up to her watch. With one beep, it was hooked up. She started handing them to the others. "We need to stay in contact in case the Dark Side decides to split up. After all, the moon is going down and at least 5 of their recruits are Vamps." She finally came to Xavier.
Xavier looked at her. "Are you sure?"
"Only those whose intentions are pure…"
Xavier took it. He reluctantly hooked it up to his watch. Beep. He looked at Kyra.
Kyra smiled. "Welcome to the team."
Xavier smiled.
"Let's head out."
Meanwhile, Cici came into the Dark Side's building and tossed the Stone over to Deirdre, who caught it easily.
Deirdre examined it.
Wake came up and took it. "I'll mess with it, thank you very much." She examined it. "Let's get to it."
In Zara's reality…
Deirdre took the Stone from Cici. "Good work, C."
Cici smiled.
Deirdre tossed it to Ashton, who put it in a box and locked the box shut. "Now let's do this thing."
Wake stepped onto a pedestal and knelt down on it. She placed her hands on the platform and a dark light shaped like a pentagram burned through it. "I, Wake, daughter of evil, call forth my brothers and sisters, that we should ascend to the surface realm…and conquer it…and destroy it."
In the real reality…
Wake walked around her room, inspecting the pentagram carved on the floor. "Deirdre? Do you wanna do the honors?" She tossed the Stone to her.
Deirdre looked at it. She half-smiled. "Why don't we let Zack do it?" She handed it to him.
Zack looked at it. He prepared to make the wish—
An arrow zoomed by and knocked the stone from his hands.
He looked and saw Kyra standing there with a crossbow. "You know, you have impeccable aim."
"I know. That's what allows me to do this." She, without looking, aimed and fired at Astrid, hitting her in the chest with the bolt.
Astrid took out the arrow and smirked. "That was amazing! It was like an inch off the target! But still…" She snapped the arrow. "…missed me!"
"Meant to."
Astrid realized what that meant. She whirled around and grabbed Ace's Sword before he could strike her. She head-butted him, knocking him back.
Ace held up the Sword and moved again…
In Zara's reality…
"…the darkness shall rise—"
Darryl knocked the door down.
Wake stopped her chanting and turned to look at him.
Zara walked forward with Zack.
Wake smirked. "Kill them."
The fight started.
In the real reality…
Valerie and Willis were facing off.
"Why are you doing this, Val?" Willis asked her.
Valerie scoffed. "Will, don't you get it? You're on the losing side. Plus…I feel like I belong here."
"Can't trust your feelings, Val."
"'Cause it's not my power?"
"'Cause it'll tear you apart. That satisfaction you got when you killed that guy? Was it worth it the first night you couldn't sleep?"
Valerie looked at him. She tore her gaze away from him. He was right. "You can't control me, you know."
"I'm not trying to."
"Just back off!" She drew her claws and jumped at him.
He instantly bent what light was in the room to blind her and struck her with a burst of electricity, knocking her through the wall. Wait…"through" it? He looked around.
She jumped out of the wall behind him and tackled him.
Jake pinned Arra to the wall.
"This isn't you, Jake."
"What does it matter anymore?"
"I care about you too much to let you just give in to them. You have a soul, Wake doesn't. She's a hell-spawn!"
"Are, don't you get it?" He pushed her against the wall and let go of her.
"Do you?"
"When Wake rises, she's gonna give the Dark Side the second-in-command position. Don't you wanna be in charge here?"
"How do you know she's gonna follow through? How do you know she won't just discard you when she's at full power and has no need for you? I don't wanna see you die—"
"Just leave me alone!" He inadvertently manipulated the air atoms around her, depriving her temporarily of oxygen. He noticed this and forced himself to push the unused oxygen against her, knocking her into the corner. He stared at her and raced off.
Arra got up, gasping for breath. She looked where he'd been standing to see that he wasn't there. She sighed and collapsed on the floor.
In Zara's reality…
Zara and Zack collapsed in a corner.
"We can't keep fighting, Zack," Zara said.
"We have to, Zar."
"Zack, both of us are mortals in this reality. We can't—"
"You were always the one pushing me to keep on. Well, now I'm telling you that we can do this!" To reinforce his point, he slammed his fist against the table they were next to and knocked off the box on it, making the box fall to the floor. This broke the lock. The Stone fell out.
Zara saw it. She grabbed it. "The Stone…"
Zack knew what that meant. "Careful! You only have one wish."
Zara looked at him.
"You know…if you word it right, you can go home and still save me and this world. Just wish yourself back to your old world and take me with you."
Zara looked at him… "No."
In the real reality…
Kyra looked at the battle ensuing around her. She didn't see the Stone. Her friends were going down. They were losing.
In Zara's reality…
"What do you mean 'no'?" Zack asked her.
"I mean no. I love you, I do. But…it's much more than that…"
In the real reality…
Kyra raced over to Ace. "We have to fall out! We're all gonna die…"
With Zara…
"…I know we can save you and stop Wake. But to do that…it's almost like I need you to be evil."
With Kyra…
"We have to go now!" Kyra started to lead the others out—
Zack slammed the door shut and locked it…
With Zara…
"You're what's holding me together…I can't live without you…but you have to trust me on this."
With Kyra…
Zack started to get his knife out—
Priscilla tackled him…making the knife pierce her…
Claire saw this and raced over. As Zack pushed Priscilla off, she jumped him…making him push her into the wall with the knife…
With Zara…
"Besides, we may need you on the team, but we're gonna get more recruits. I just gotta learn to get used to the idea that you can come back…but this isn't the way. You can't just wish something the way you want it. I should know about that by now."
With Kyra…
Duck and Zack were in a fight while the others started to go back to fighting the Dark Side. Zack grabbed him and pushed him into the wall, knocking him out. He grabbed him by the throat…
With Zara…
"This fight isn't something we can win, with or without you. But it's not something they can win either. One soldier doesn't end a war. I need you…but I need my friends back, too, and we're not gonna get that if you go all kooky again."
With Kyra…
Deirdre grabbed Nathan and handed him to Loraine…
With Zara…
"This world's gonna fall apart if one of us gets too into the fight. So we really need each other holding each other down."
With Kyra…
Meredith grabbed Lexi…
Ashton grabbed Ace…
Josephine got at Trinity…
Astrid took down Gail…
With Zara…
"I can't take you back with me anyway, it might take our powers—no. It's my wish, I make the decisions…" She held up the Stone…
With Kyra…
Wake made her way over to Kyra and grabbed her…
With Zara…
"And I want everything to be exactly the way it was!"
With Kyra…
Kyra started to fall to the ground, dying—
Kyra's eyes snapped open. She looked around.
The gang was back in the hideout.
Duck looked around.
Raina, Uma, and Harry were at the door.
Ace and Lexi looked at each other.
Tech and Orion grabbed Trinity.
Howie looked at Gail, nervously.
Kyra opened the door and Xavier walked in. He looked at her. He remembered, too. She looked at Nathan. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Zara." She raced off and down the hall at top speed. She came to Zara's room and opened the door quickly… "Zara!" She looked around the room. Zara wasn't there. She sighed, sadly. She turned around… "AAHH!"
Zara smiled. "Did you miss me that much?"
Kyra smiled.
The 2 hugged.
Xavier raced up to her.
Zara looked at him and her eyes widened.
Kyra noticed this. "It's OK, he's with us."
Xavier smiled. "What'd you do?"
Zara slowly half-smiled.
Xavier sighed. "You didn't take Zack back, did you?"
"I couldn't. I've recently learned how dangerous a wish can be…and I'd probably have to give all you guys up if I took him back."
"Oh, Zar…" Kyra squeezed her tighter.
"Kyra…no…oxygen!"
"Oh, sorry!" Kyra pushed her off.
"Is Duck OK?"
Duck quacked up to her. "Just fine."
"Aw…" Zara hugged him. As soon as the others started loading into the hall, she let go.
Back with the Dark Side…
Wake opened her eyes. She scoffed and got up from the floor.
Deirdre looked at her. "What happened?"
"It's that stinking wish-granter. She drives me crazy. I mean…she doesn't even think we're so close to finishing the ritual." She cackled.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Yay! I finished it really fast, didn't I? Uh oh, the ritual's almost over! Can they stop it? You'll have to keep reading to find out... (ominous music plays) Bye!