Between Hope and Death
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: Most characters belong to the magnificent authoress, Diana Wynne Jones. I just borrowed them for a while.
Claimer: I only own Wyn, Aidan, evil Kamania and Chris Aprilian, Lady Kachioin (and her village), Miss Coca, Mr. Calypso, Professor Weph, Life, Death, and Apocalypse. I can't believe I've been forgetting to put Rhys up here!!! *sigh* Ok, I own Rhys Jenkins too.
Chapter 8: In Which Wyn Waits for the Battle Against Apocalypse
Wyn gave a cheerless sigh. 'This waiting is weighing down on my spirit,' she thought sadly. She watched as Rhys attempted to achieve a spell. He wasn't so little anymore; a toddler of two he could walk and talk somewhat. Wyn always felt horribly old around him and often wondered how she was going to coop with him as a teenager. He wasn't too literate yet, but Wyn knew he would be someday and then he would take after the rest of them and be extremely good in something or other.
Wyn had a feeling his talent would be art, but she wasn't absolutely positive yet. He would often sit for hours coloring and drawing tiny doodles that weren't exactly masterpieces, but they weren't bad for his age.
At the moment, Rhys was trying to do a small levitating charm. He was aiming to move one of his favorite crayons with the enchantment, but so far he had only succeeded in making the crayon wobble slightly were it lay. 'You can do it, Rhys,' Wyn encouraged silently. She observed his last few attempts at making the crayon move. He lifted his arms up somewhat and the crayon lifted about a centimeter off the ground. He moved his hands up higher, but the crayon only vibrated and came back down. This time it was Rhys turn to sigh and he gave Wyn a gloomy look.
"Crayon did not fly," he mumbled dejectedly.
"Don't worry, Rhys. You'll make that crayon fly soon," Wyn said positively. She hated to see him down, and the truth was she knew he was doing exceptionally well for a two year old. She went back to brooding over the prospect of stopping Apocalypse from destroying everything. 'I just hope I can do this…' she thought.
She gazed at Rhys's messy raven colored locks and her fears melted away to some extent. He had gone back to trying to levitate the crayon and was scrunching his face up with the effort it took him to do the spell. 'We can do this Rhys. I just know it!' Wyn thought.
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The Maiden sighed. 'Death wants me to meet her and I'm stuck in SCHOOL!' she yelled internally. She gazed at her teacher and groaned this time. Miss Coca wasn't her teacher anymore naturally; she was eighteen now after all and at a different school.
She glanced sideways at Aidan who sat beside her. He met her gaze and she almost laughed at his expression. Aidan these days was quite the mischievous student. He may have behaved and done the assignments, but that didn't necessarily mean he looked like the model scholar. No, Aidan's hair was the opposite of Rhys's and yet he still managed to look like he was big trouble. He also had a calm gaze that could either intimidate you or relieve you now. At the moment he was giving her a gentle yet mocking look that said quite clearly 'Can I please leave? I'm dying of boredom unlike some undereducated students.'
Wyn threw back an amused yet dark look and turned back to her teacher, Professor Weph. She was a middle-aged woman that had far too much jewelry on. She had on numerous shabby beaded necklaces on over her drab gray business blouse and skirt and two gigantic gold hoops on each ear. She had a small twist of pale blond hair on the back of her head and rather large gold-framed spectacles atop her nose.
She was currently drawing a diagram of a pentacle on the blackboard at the front of the classroom and its history. This would have been fascinating to many people, but it wasn't very interesting to a couple of wizards that had used a pentacle in their spells so many time they just thought of it as a normal everyday thing.
"This is the highest level of magic at any school I know of," Wyn whispered to Aidan.
"True, but this is seven year old stuff," Aidan replied.
"Well we can't all be born in magic filled families," Wyn mumbled.
Aidan shrugged and was about to say something in response before they heard a booming crash.
Clank-BOOM! Aidan and Wyn heard and they turned to see the walls shaking. The outside wall collapsed and something crawled inside. Several students screamed and shouted in confusion.
Wyn gripped the back of her seat hard in a mixture of fear and anticipation. 'Damnation, what the heck is that?!' she pondered furiously. She watched as the debris cleared and a creature of nightmares appeared. It was huge and long brown hairs covered its entire body. Somehow a sixth sense born of being the Maiden told her it was a beast called a Sifrai, or forest demon.
Wyn pounced off her chair and bounded down the rows of seats to the front of classroom where the Sifrai was making its way. She raised one glowing hand and prepared to yell out an enchantment to hinder the monster's movements. That was when the Sifrai's eyes flashed with the light of everything Apocalypse and Wyn found herself totally immobilized. Her body was frozen to the spot and she knew if this was what happened against an indirect attack from Apocalypse that she didn't have a chance of winning the war against the Final Shadows. The Sifrai reached down and gripped her with its powerful fist. Wyn gasped as her breath whooshed out of her and her lungs cried for more air. The last thing she saw before she passed out was Aidan running towards her and the glint of Apocalypse's dark amused gaze.
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A/N: Can you say 'cliffhanger?' *laughs evilly*
Hehe. Just kidding. I was as surprised as you probably were at the ending of this chapter. It just dragged me along.
A/N 2: Anyway, you'd better review or …um…
Wyn: -_-;; She'll think of something eventually.
Me: *sigh* Oh be quiet!
A/N 3: REVIEW!!!!! Bye. ^_____^