Chapter 14

Amy woke up at around nine in the morning, but when she looked for Christina she couldn't see her anywhere in the room. She looked to the nightstand and saw that the amulet was also gone. She got up and made her way down to the kitchen. Lisa, Lauren and Dani were all there preparing various things for breakfast. 'Have you guys seen Christina?' Amy asked.

'No, we thought she was still asleep.' Dani said.

'She's not, I stayed with her last night but she was gone when I woke up.' Amy told them.

'Where's Kath?' Amy asked.

'Right here.' Katherine said as she walked into the kitchen.

'Have you seen Christina?' Lisa asked.

'No, why?' Katherine asked, concerned.

'I can't find her, or the amulet.' Amy told them. Just then, there was a loud crash and the house shook, rattling the glasses and plates in the cupboards.

'What was that?' Lauren asked.

'Christina.' Amy said.

'It came from the basement.' Lisa said as they all made their way downstairs. When they got down there they saw their sister hauling herself up from the floor. She was covered in dust and there was a small cut down the side of her jaw.

'Christina!' Dani yelled. 'What the hell?'

'Sorry.' Christina mumbled, brushing herself down.

'What are you doing?' Amy asked. They looked to the far end of the room and saw several targets lined up. A few of them had holes in them, some Christina had hit straight on, others not so much.

'Practicing.' Christina told them. 'I cast a noise cancelling spell but it must have worn off, sorry.'

'Stop apologising.' Lisa said walking up to her. Lisa took Christina's face in her hands. 'You're cut.'

'I'm fine.' Christina said, shrugging out of her grasp. Amy was studying her movements, looking at her eyes.

'What time did you come down here?' Katherine asked.

'I'm not sure, around four maybe.' Christina told them.

'So you didn't get any sleep at all?' Dani asked.

'Don't think so.' Christina said. She turned to face the targets again and began to focus when Amy got in her face. 'Aimes, what are you doing?'

'You can't ask me to stay with you and then leave.' Amy said angrily.

'What's the big deal, you were asleep.'

'I thought I was asleep with my big sister safely next to me but oh no, she was down here trying to blow herself up.' Amy was almost shouting at this point.

'Okay, why don't we calm down.' Lauren tried to interject.

'No, I want to know what the hell she was thinking.' Amy said. 'What if something had gone really wrong and we couldn't hear it because of your noise cancelling spell? Huh?' Amy asked. Christina looked at her with tired eyes but she continued. 'What if you blew the house up with us in it? What if you killed yourself and we had no idea until one of us came down here and found your mangled corpse by accident!'

'Amy.' Lisa said gently. 'Enough.' Amy took a breath and walked away from Christina and back up the stairs. She stopped on the stairs and turned back to them. Christina was facing away from her.

'It's that damn amulet. I don't care if it defeats Belial or whoever, at the moment it's killing my sister and I want her back.' There was a moment of silence after she left. Christina was breathing heavily and wiped a tear away before anyone could see it.

'She has a point.' Dani said quietly.

'Not now Dani.' Katherine pleaded before turning to her big sister. 'Christina.' Katherine gently touched her arm but she recoiled back.

'No, she's right.' Christina said. 'But I can't stop now. I need to get this right.'

'Let us help you then.' Lisa said. 'Tell us what we can do.' Christina turned to them and took a deep breath.

'That's the problem, I don't know what you can do.' She shrugged. 'I don't even know what I'm doing but I need to do something.'

'Guys.' Lauren said. 'Look.' She pointed to the amulet. They looked and saw a tiny swirl of blue. It wasn't much, but it was there.

'You must be doing something right.' Katherine smiled.

'Doesn't feel like it.' Christina said, rubbing the back of her neck. 'I need to talk to Amy.' Christina said, walking past them and up the stairs. She got to about the third one and stopped. She felt like she had stood up to fast and had to grab the bannister to stop from falling.

'You alright?' Dani asked.

'Fine.' Christina said, composing herself and leaving up the stairs.

Christina turned into the living room and she saw her sister sitting with her notebook, scribbling furiously. 'I hope that's not about me.' Christina said, causing Amy to look up at her and close the book.

'Not all of it.' Amy said. 'Some of it's about that.' She pointed to the amulet. Christina sighed and lifted the necklace over her head. She put it down on the sideboard and then went to sit next to Amy. 'You didn't have to take it off.' Amy said quietly.

'I'm sorry, okay. I know I've been weird.' Christina said.

'You've been more than just weird, you've been a completely different person.'

'I'll be back to normal soon, I promise.' Christina said.

'How can you be sure?' Amy asked.

'Well, there's only two ways this ends realistically. We win and I can take off the amulet for good, or Belial kills us all and then I won't need to worry.' Christina was grinning slightly.

'No, you don't get to do that.' Amy said.

'Do what?' Christina shrugged.

'Make a stupid joke about serious stuff and expect me to forgive you.'

'You have though, haven't you.' Christina nudged her shoulder.

'Yes I have, and I'm sorry I yelled.'

'It's okay, I need yelling at once in a while.' Christina said.

'See, you've literally just taken that thing off and you're already more yourself.' Amy said.

'It'll be off for good soon. We just need to find Belial and stop him. For mum if not for anyone else.'

'Yeah, for mum.' Amy said, pulling Christina in for a hug. Katherine came into the room a moment later and smiled.

'Awww have you made up?' She said.

'We have.' Amy confirmed. Just as the window behind them exploded inwards. Amy and Christina were thrown forwards whilst Katherine landed on her back from the force of the explosion. Dani, Lisa and Lauren all ran into the room.

'Shit!' Lisa yelled, trying to lift Katherine to her feet. 'You okay?'

'Yeah.' Katherine confirmed. 'Amy, Chris?'

'We're okay.' Amy said, as she and Christina got to their feet.

'What was that?' Dani asked. But they didn't have time to respond. The room began to get darker, and a thin fog was creeping towards them along the floor.

'He came cloaked in foggy cold darkness.' Katherine mumbled. 'Guys, it's him, Belial is here.' Another explosion rocked the building, shaking pictures from the walls and tipping over dining room chairs.

'He's trying to get through the barrier.' Lisa said.

'I think he's doing more than trying.' Lauren said as the fog began to lift. Christina and Amy had joined them at the back of the room as the fog swirled into a large ball, and then into a lifelike form. Christina felt for the amulet but remembered she had taken it off. It was on the table right where Belial was forming and she knew she couldn't let him get it.

'Damn it.' She said, before leaving the group and charging towards the table.

'Christina!' Dani yelled. Belial formed just as Christina made it to the table. She grabbed the amulet just as his cold bony had came out of the fog and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her from the ground. His face formed in front of her eyes and she was staring into the same dark pits of despair from that night long ago.

'Hello.' He whispered. 'You're making this too easy.' He said, as he threw Christina across the room, her back slamming into the wall. She managed to keep hold of the amulet but the hit had stunned her.

'Chris!' Lauren yelled, turning Belial's focus back to them.

'Hello girls.' He smiled. 'It's been a long time.' He saw Lisa begin to pull something from her pocket, a potion vial, and before she could throw it he sent an invisible wall towards them. It hit the potion as Lisa threw it and exploded on impact. The wall closed in around them until they were stuck in an invisible box. Dani slammed her fists against it but they were trapped.

'No, no...' Katherine whispered. 'Christina!' She called, also banging to try and get her attention. Christina lifted her head from the floor slightly. She saw her sisters and she saw Belial, he was slithering through the air over to her. She sat up and put her the amulet back around her neck before putting her back to the wall.

'Chris, you need to get out of here!' Amy told her. But Christina wasn't listening. She pushed up from the wall and made it to her feet, the amulet glowing.

'You think that piece of jewellery can defeat me?' Belial asked. 'You're even more delusional than your mother was.'

'Don't talk about her.' Christina said.

'At least she was smart enough to kill herself before I could get my hands on her powers.' Belial was getting nearer so Christina started moving along the wall towards her sisters. 'So, how do you want to do this Christina? I don't have to kill you, or your sisters, but I will need your powers.'

'No chance.' Christina said firmly. Belial smiled and waved his hand. An athame appeared.

'All I have to do is stab you with this and it will suck the power out of you.' He told her. 'Or you can prick your finger on it for me, like sleeping beauty.' He smiled. 'And we can all go on with our lives.'

'You're not getting my powers Belial.' Christina said.

'We'll see about that.' He said. Suddenly, he threw the athame towards Christina. She heard someone shriek as she dove out of the way. The athame stuck in the wall behind where she was standing moments ago. Christina looked up at it from where she was on the floor, as Belial held his hand out to it. The athame shook in the wall before returning quickly into the palm of his hand.

'Alright then.' Belial said. 'How about this.' He turned to the rest of the girls and made a closing motion with his fist. 'Will you trade your powers for the lives of all of your sisters?' Christina's eyes widened and she turned to look at them. They were having trouble breathing.

'Kath, what's happening?' Christina asked.

'The air... He's... suffocating.' She said, grasping at her throat.

'Stop it.' Christina shouted at him. 'Stop it right now!'

'Powers, Christina.' He held the athame out to her.

'You can't... Chris.' Lisa said, trying to breathe calmly.

'You have to, or they die.' Belial hissed.

'No one is dying, except you.' Christina said as she focused all of her energy towards Belial. A stream of energy in red, orange and blue shot towards him and he had to use both hands to block it. The rest of the girls gasped for breath as the oxygen came back to them. Belial started using fire to combat Christina's energy, he was strong.

'You won't win Christina, even with that amulet.' Belial said, moving towards her.

'Neither will you.' She said, gritting her teeth. 'If I die, you die with me.' She said, forcing more energy towards him. Her eyes were shimmering and changing colour rapidly, her nose was bleeding and blood was also coming out of one of her ears.

'Christina, stop!' Lauren called. Christina turned to look at them.

'She can't stop.' Belial said, grinning. 'The amulet won't let her.' He looked intrigued. 'I've never seen it like this with anyone before.' He said before swiftly moving out of the path of Christina's energy and shooting an energy ball of his own directly towards her. It hit her square in the chest and she flew backwards crashing through their glass table.

'No! Chris!' Dani yelled. It was no use as Christina was out cold. Belial was making his way over to her.

'Stay away from her!' Amy called with no luck.

'If you touch her I swear to God!' Lisa yelled, kicking the invisible barrier. Belial was taking no notice of them as he bent down beside her. He touched the amulet but it shocked him, he was unable to take it from her. He traced one long finger across her cheekbone before turning back to the girls.

'I have a new idea.' He smiled, before turning himself and Christina into fog. And just like that they were both gone. The invisible barrier disappeared and Dani fell forwards from where she was leaning on it.