Chapter 29

The next morning was a somber one. No one had thought of a better plan during the night. Christina was standing in Wendy's back garden with her phone, looking down at her father's phone number before pressing call. He answered on the third ring. 'Hey, dad. It's me.'

'Christina?' He said. 'Everything okay?'

'Yeah, we think we have a way of defeating Abaddon.'

'That's great.' He said cheerfully.

'No, not really.' Christina said. 'I just wanted to call and say that I know you tried your best with us, and I'm sorry for not speaking to you for all those years.'

'Christina, where is this coming from?' He asked.

'Just please don't leave them again.' She said. 'When this is over, they'll need you.'

'What are you talking about?' He asked.

'I have to do something today and you might not see me again, so I want to make sure you won't leave. Promise me.' She said, holding back tears.

'Christina.' He said softly. 'What are you doing?'

'Dad, promise me.' She said.

'I promise, Chris. I promise.' He said with conviction.

'Thanks dad.' She let out a breath.

'Whatever it is you're doing, we can talk about it, there might be another…'

'Goodbye dad.' She cut off the phone and sobbed, leaning against the wall of the house.

Xxxxxx

They pulled up to a large open field, surrounded by trees on either side. The drive over was silent. Christina put her hand on the door handle but paused before she left the car. 'I love you guys.' She said. 'Stay here until it's over, okay?' She said. They nodded. Lauren and Dani were crying silently to themselves. Katherine's hands were turning white where she was gripping the steering wheel. Christina didn't get a response so she opened the door and went to get out. She felt Amy's hand on her arm, drawing her attention back to them.

'We love you too Chris.' She said gently. Christina smiled before leaving the car. They watched her walk out into the open field.

'This isn't right.' Lisa said, knees to her chest in the passengers seat. 'We shouldn't be letting her do this alone.' Katherine sat, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. Christina stopped walking about a minute later. She could still see their car in the distance. She lifted her head to the sky and took a deep breath, focusing as she started swirling blue in her hands. After a moment she started to direct the power back into the amulet. And her assumption was correct. Abaddon could feel what she was doing and appeared in front of her. He was flanked by Jack and the unknown female demon from Christina's vision.

'Stop!' He ordered Christina.

'Sorry, you didn't give me any other choice.' She smiled, generating more energy.

'Look.' Katherine pointed out of the window. 'He's here.'

'She looks like she's struggling.' Dani said. Christina's arms were shaking with power as it went back into the amulet.

'Screw this.' Lisa said, flinging open her door. The others followed suit, jumping from the car and running towards their sister.

'You don't know what you're doing.' He yelled, taking a step towards her.

'Yes I do.' She said, gritting her teeth and creating as much power as she could. After a while a blue orb appeared around her, the power growing.

'You're killing yourself.' He said before shooting power towards her. It hit her with great force, pushing her feet back through the grass a couple of steps. The others had reached her but were confronted by Jack and the other demon. Lisa threw a potion at Jack as he recoiled back. Dani flung her arm, sending the female demon backwards. But it only stunned her momentarily. She sent out a blast of power towards them. Dani threw her arm once again to deflect the energy but the force sent her flying backwards, landing on the ground with a thud. Amy threw a freezing potion, hoping to catch the demon off guard, but she turned and made the potion explode in mid-air.

'If you want the amulet you're going to have to come in here and take it from me.' Christina said, the bubble getting larger. Abaddon walked towards her, using what was left of his own amulet power and trying to blast his way through. It wasn't working. Only when he was almost on top of her did Christina released the bubble, allowing him to get closer to the amulet. He clasped his hand around it grinning, but when he looked at her face she was smiling too. The bubble closed up around them both until they were shrouded in blue. Lauren watched as the female demon shot some energy at Amy, hitting her on the shoulder and sending her flying back into the ground. Amy lay stunned as Lauren projected behind the demon, calling to her before projecting away and appearing again. The demon was momentarily confused, allowing Katherine to throw her potion. It hit the demon on the side of the head, exploding beside her skull causing her to retreat in agony.

Meanwhile Christina used every bit of energy she had, sending it into the amulet as Abaddon was holding it. Her eyes turned bluer than ever and her vision began to go blurry. With one final surge the energy broke free of containment and shot into the sky. Lisa was by Amy's side, Dani close behind on the ground and in some discomfort.

'Holy shit.' Lauren whispered, looking up as the energy flowed up above them. Katherine watched as the energy began to cascade back down towards their sister. Jack was being as brave as ever and running as fast as he could away from the power, forgetting all about his allegiance to Abaddon.

'Christina!' Katherine yelled, but the energy crashed down on top of them. Christina heard Abaddon's agonising screams as he was vanquished, turning into dust in front of her. The power wasn't stopping. She could feel it barrelling down on her and the weight was too much to bear. She heard the amulet crack on her chest and watched the blue fade from it. With one final pulse of energy the amulet was destroyed, sending a shock wave outwards for miles.

'Oh no!' Katherine said as the wave of blue came towards them. They were struck with the burst of energy and sent to the ground, Katherine was the closest to the blast and took the brunt of the impact. Dani tried to use her power to keep Katherine from being blown away, and succeeded in keeping her relatively close to them. Lauren had taken cover by a large rock, using it as an anchor, as she watched her sisters cling to the ground. She watched as the care was struck in the distance, flipping it onto it's side. After a moment passed there was nothing but silence.

'Everyone okay?' Lauren called.

'Yeah, I think so.' Dani said, standing with a hand across her wounded stomach. Lisa helped Amy up, her shoulder obviously dislocated but no other damage had been inflicted. Katherine stood up shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked across the field. The trees had been flattened and she could see a damaged barn in the distance. She scanned the area for another minute before she saw Christina laying about thirty feet away from them. 'Chris.' She said, sprinting over towards her. She could hear the others following but she threw herself the Christina's side. 'Amy!' She looked up and watched Amy take the same position on Christina's other side. Amy felt for a pulse with her uninjured arm, her brow furrowing in confusion.

'What is it Aimes?' Katherine asked.

'She's…. She's alive.' Amy confirmed.

'What?' Lauren let out a shaky breath.

'She has a pulse, she's alive.' Amy almost laughed.

'How is that possible?' Lisa asked.

'I have no idea.' Amy said. She put her hand on Christina's shoulder. 'She feels really weak, like all her energy is gone.'

'Look at her hair.' Lisa said, pointing to a blue streak running down the front of Christina's hair on the left side.

'Why isn't she waking up?' Dani asked, sitting on the ground heavily beside her.

'I have an idea.' Amy said. 'Lauren, put your hand on my shoulder.' She said.

'I don't want to hurt you.' Lauren said, concerned.

'Don't worry, it'll only be for a moment.' Amy assured her. Lauren did as she was told, putting her hand gently on Amy's shoulder. 'Everybody link up.' She said. They all took someones hand until Katherine was holding Christina's other one. 'We're going to power her up again.' Amy smiled and focused. After a moment their linked hands all began to glow a warm yellow, like Amy's before.

'It's so warm.' Lauren commented.

'It's healing.' Amy said. 'Hopefully it will help.' A few minutes passed until Christina's eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times, staring into the light.

'Is this heaven?' She asked groggily.

'No, Chris, this isn't heaven.' Amy said, smiling down at her.

'Did we win?' Christina asked.

'Yeah, we won.' Dani confirmed. 'You kicked his ass.' Christina laughed and attempted to sit up.

'I don't think you should move Chris.' Katherine said. 'You lost a lot of energy.'

'I'm okay.' She said, taking Amy's hand and using it to pull herself up. 'I'm okay.' She said again, realising that she wasn't dead.

'You're okay.' Amy confirmed.

'Is everyone else okay?' Cristina looked around at them, seeing various stances of pain and dirt on their clothes. 'I told you to stay in the car.' Christina reminded them.

'And we overruled you.' Dani smiled. 'Hey, we aren't perfect, but we are united.'

'Oh God, I wish I hadn't told you that.' Christina laughed with relief, handing her head, breathing heavily. Christina looked down at the cracked amulet. It was completely grey as she took it from over her head and held it in the palm of her hand.

'You did it.' Lauren said. 'You actually destroyed it.'

'No one will be able to use it for evil again.' Lisa added.

'No one will be able to use it for good either.' Christina said.

'It's okay, I think we still have a little bit left.' Katherine said, pointing to Christina's hair. She looked confused as she pulled it round to her face.

'Really? It dyed my hair.' She said.

'I think it did more than that.' Katherine said. 'You are the amulet now Chris.'

'You think so?' Christina asked.

'Only time will tell I guess.' Katherine smiled.

'We don't need to worry about that now.' Dani said. 'Can we please just go home, have some hot chocolate and watch a scary movie?'

'Sounds like a great plan to me.' Christina said, her smile faltering slightly. 'But I may need to speak to dad first.'

'Why?' Lauren asked.

'I kind of rang him before we left this morning. So I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm dead.'

'Chris!' Lisa said.

'I know, I know.' Christina said. 'Get me up and lets go.'

'Have fun explaining this plan to him Chris.' Amy said as she put an arm around Christina's waist.

'You're not going to help me?' Christina asked.

'No, this was your stupid idea.' Amy reminded her.

'A stupid idea that worked.' Christina said.

'It still almost got you killed.' Amy said. 'And for the record, I really wish you'd stop almost dying when we fight these guys.'

'I can't promise anything.' Christina said, grinning slightly.

'Erm, guys?' Dani stopped and looked at their car.

'Oh shit.' Lauren said. Their car was still on its side. 'Little problem.' Christina looked at the car before bursting into laughter. They all joined her moments later, sitting on the ground before calling Wendy to come and pick them up.

The end.