Hello, y'all. Okay, here it is, the penultimate chapter of this story! How exciting, right?

chyp: Gratefulness.

mythica: Hey there! I did have a good break. Did you? I hope you enjoyed hanging out with your company! They were very nice people; you're lucky to be so close. Anyway, thanx for reading as usual. And my characters aren't that low-level to conjure toilets and junk! Pull it together for the 2006!

James unfroze. He examined his surroundings and screamed in a fit of rage from having been frozen by Wesley. He immediately went downstairs, thinking that his brothers would be hiding there. His altered manner of thinking voided all logical reasoning. All he could feel was anger and destruction. He waved his hand forcefully, causing the basement door to fly off its hinges.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he said slyly. "You can't hide from me forever."

He walked down the stairs and was taken aback as he saw a woman standing before him, writing something in the Book of Light. They both seemed surprised upon seeing each other, and for a moment they stood there, perplexed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You're not supposed to be here," the woman answered.

"You're trying to steal the Book," James concluded.

"No," she said, grabbing the Book of Light. "I've only come to restore it."

"You have no right to touch what doesn't belong to you!" James bellowed as his eyes became completely dark.

He waved his hand and the woman went flying into the air, slamming into a wall. With a flick of his finger, the Book of Light rose into the air and flew towards him. As he caught it, though, a bright light shone as James was magically repelled from it. The woman saw this and held out her hands. The Book of Light suddenly disappeared from in front of James and reappeared in her own hands. She stood up and approached James slowly.

He raised his arm again, but this time she was quicker. She vanished out of the way and reappeared behind him. She tapped him on the shoulder and as he turned around, she kicked him in the groin. He fell to the floor immediately, writing in pain. She gestured toward him and he disappeared, only to reappear in a chair with ropes binding his hands and feet and a blindfold covering his eyes. She walked up to him, ignoring his whimpering, and blew a handful of what appeared to be powder into his face.

"When you wake up," she said in a wispy voice, "you will have no memory of ever having seen me tonight. Your last memory will be just before you came into the basement."

James' cries of pain slowly subsided as he fell into a deep sleep. The woman replaced the Book of Light on its pedestal and soon was gone from the room.

Wesley reached out and froze Dr. Gilkeson just as he hit the ground. He ran and joined Matthew, who was pulling the paper out of his pocket. They quickly read what was scribbled on it.

"Reverse the Demonic Flame's polarity.
Instill within it moral humanity,
And contact with evil will cause insanity."

The Demonic Flame seemed to fight with itself as it slowly changed shades from red to white. Meanwhile, Dr. Gilkeson broke out of Wesley's freeze and stood to his feet, breathing heavily. He motioned and the five other students surrounded the two brothers. With his back to the flame, Dr. Gilkeson laughed maniacally.

"It ends now," he said as he raised his hands into the air.

He began chanting again in the same tongue he had been speaking earlier. The flames, now white, roared from their post and engulfed him at his call. Instead of giving him power, they seemed to be taking it away as Dr. Gilkeson yelled in pain. The flames began to literally sear his flesh, blackening it as it began to slowly bubble. Wesley covered his nose as the undesirable stench of melting skin filled the air. The students all collapsed to the ground as a reddish aura shot from their bodies into the flame.

Afterwards, the flame died completely and disappeared, having served its purpose. Matthew and Wesley quickly tended to the students, who were coming to but had no idea what had happened to them or why they were where they were.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Matthew said as Wesley tugged at his shirt. "What is it?"