Chapter Eleven: No Longer Lost

WHIT

I parked the car on the road beside the church and got out with Wisty, Emmet, Byron, Ross, and Janine to attend the memorial service. Emmet and Ross were garbed in navy blue suits and matching ties, whereas the ones Byron and I wore were black. Wisty and Janine had both shown up in a dark dress. We went over the sidewalk, through the yard, and into the church which was pretty crowded by the time we arrived. This was a memorial organized for three kids at once; therefore I wasn't surprised to see that this many people had come to attend.

The pews were filling up by friends of the deceased, families of the friends, neighbours, and acquaintances, who chatted amongst themselves in low voices. The six of us took our seats in the very first row next to the families and relatives of the three dead kids.

At the front of the church, three catafalques were placed beside one another with several feet between them. The kids' bodies lay on top of each, with the boy in the middle and the two little girls on either side. I saw that the one on the left before us was occupied by Bettina Alexandra Gannon, who had been a good friend of Wisty's and whom the undertaker had clothed in a plain baby pink dress.

As I looked around, I spotted Anna and Elsa coming through the entrance. Anna was in a lemon-chiffon dress and Elsa donned an ivory one.

"The Queen and Princess of Arendelle are here," I told the others, who also turned their heads to look in their direction.

Anna waved at us when she caught sight of where we were. She and Elsa made their way down the nave and took their seats on the pew behind us.

"Hey! I didn't know you two were coming," I greeted them.

"Of course we were," said Elsa. "I was the one who got you and Wisty to open the portals. It was because of me that the Lost Ones came out and killed those three poor kids. The least I can do for them is to pay them my respect."

Anna admitted, "It was my fault too. If I wasn't trapped in Shadowland, Elsa wouldn't have to get me out, and those kids," she turned to Wisty, "including your friend Bettina, would still be alive. You know, I was thinking maybe I could say a few words of kindness for each of them, if everyone here's okay with that."

"They will be. You're welcomed to," said Byron.

The service began twenty minutes later. Eulogies and prayers were offered by family members, relatives, and friends—including us—to each of the three dead people in turn. We recounted warm remembrances and anecdotes, and shared stories about the deceased. Anna also went up to the podium and gave them a short speech of kindness, followed by Elsa. Afterwards I went up to the kids' families and relatives to express to them my condolences, and Wisty and the rest of my friends did the same. Meanwhile, the undertakers removed the bodies from the catafalques and carefully placed them within wooden caskets. People laid beautiful flowers around the bodies, with a bunch of them also clutched over their chests.

Everyone went outside to the cemetery surrounding the church for the funeral, where graves had already been dug up and prepared in separate areas. Wisty, Anna, Elsa, my friends, and I stood next to Bettina's station along with all her beloved. After her casket was put to rest, the father of the little girl initiated the burial ceremony by depositing a shovel of earth into the grave. Her mother, her siblings, her grandparents, and the rest of us followed, taking our turns.

"Bettina was such a brave little girl. She didn't deserve to die," said Wisty mournfully after the funeral was over. "I'm going to miss her."

I put an arm around her shoulders in comfort and said quietly, "We should've given Pearl Marie a proper burial too, you know." Wisty, who was sniffing, could only nod in response. "Bettina Alexandra Gannon will be well remembered," I added.

Elsa and Anna were going to head home on their own, so I returned to the car with the others and drove away from the church. Janine sat beside me while Wisty and the boys sat in the back. I went around a roundabout and steered towards the third exit. There was a traffic jam on the opposite lane of the highway.

Wisty leaned forward and said, "Spending the morning at a funeral got me in a sorrowful mood."

"Then how about you and I go and do some shopping? That will lighten you up," suggested Janine brightly.

Wisty replied, "Great idea!"

I asked, "I'll drop you guys off at the shopping centre?"

Janine said, "That would be brilliant."

"What will you be doing in the meantime?" Wisty asked me.

I answered, "I have a foolball match at six, so I'm gonna head to the central stadium to practice. Be there to watch me kick the Demon's ass."

"I will."

"Oh and, Whit, word of advice: don't get overly cocky," Janine said wryly.

"Yeah, you did lose a game to Heath slash Pearce once," reminded Wisty.

I asked, "While we're on the subject of Pearce…what's he doing today?"

"Rambling around in a world liberated from The One's brutal totalitarian regime, and getting a taste of a wonderful life of creativity, imagination, and freedom," Wisty smiled. "He's staying on the western outskirts of the City. It's one of the places he's most familiar with."

"Whatever." I shrugged dismissively, glancing at her from the rear view mirror. "Just make sure you keep him in line, Wist. You're the only one here who can."

"Don't worry. I'm on it. He doesn't have any reason not to behave."

Wisty had been firm on annihilating Pearce since he set foot in the Overworld two days ago, but her talk with him yesterday morning caused her to have a change of heart completely. She set him free, secretly made out with him in my basement—except I discovered that little secret by accidentally walking in on them—and apprised me that she believed he had changed. She told me she loved him, that she could handle him, and that she was willing to give him a chance to start over. She agreed with what Anna, Byron, and Celia said, decided to allow him to stay in the City, and instructed me to leave him be. This sudden dramatic turn of event was so unbelievable and strange that it almost made me wonder whether Pearce had put some sort of spell on her. That creep somehow managed to wrap my sister around his little finger with the work of his charm, and I didn't like that one bit. Wisty was blind and reckless when it came to relationships. I could only hope that she knew what she was doing, that she wasn't making the wrong choice like she did so many times before. I loved Wisty, and I'd do everything to protect her from any threats and dangers that come her way, but sometimes it was best to just let her make her own decisions. I wasn't entirely convinced that Pearce could truly be redeemed, but if Wisty and everyone else believed that he could, I might as well listen to them. It would be useless not to. I had to admit I was tired of fighting the same old enemy as well.

"So Byron, what do you make of my sister falling in love with her former nemesis?" I asked in a loud and casual tone. I didn't have to turn around to know the glowers I was receiving from Wisty.

Byron pondered before saying, "As long as Wisty is happy with him, I'm perfectly fine with them being together. Besides, I already have Elise. Therefore I have no intention of vying with Pearce for your affection."

"Can we please not get into the drama of my love life right now?" begged Wisty. "In the last three months, I didn't have either of you by my side, and I actually did pretty fine on my own."

I laughed with Byron. "All right then, no more relationship talk," I said. I glanced at my other Resistance friends behind me. "So…Emmet, Ross, you guys got any plans for the afternoon?"

Emmet said, "Ross and I wanted to go and see a movie that was released just yesterday."

Ross added, "We're really excited!"

Buildings began to press in around us. I drove past an elementary school and turned a corner into an alley.

Janine sat up straighter in her seat and looked out the window. "Have any of you noticed that there's no one out on the streets? The whole City is quiet all of a sudden. Where are all the people?"

I scanned the scenery outside and, true enough, she was right. I spotted no pedestrians, and ours was the only car travelling down the street. I had never seen this City so empty. How queer.

"Back on the highway, there was a heavy traffic jam on the opposite lane. Now it's as if all the cars and people have vanished," Janine continued.

"Maybe everyone is indoors," Byron speculated.

"This is so strange." I heard Ross mutter.

A man suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the road in front of me about twenty yards away. He outstretched his hand with his palm up, and that was all I managed to glimpse before my vehicle jerked violently upwards and did a three hundred and sixty degrees flip. The world was spinning. I lost my grip on the steering wheel. My body crashed against the door, my head bumped the ceiling, and then I felt myself slamming into Janine. The car rammed into the side of a building half a second before it was upright again. I heard the sickening crunch of metal on concrete and the deafening sound of the glass windows shattering on my side. The noise was loud enough to crack my head in two. The ear-splitting screams coming from Byron, Wisty, and Ross only deteriorated the effect. The tires hit the ground with a terrific thud, the impact nearly knocking me breathless.

I instantaneously turned to my friends. They were alive. I let out a huge breath of relief. "Are you guys okay?" I shouted.

Janine's hand clung to the gear changer. She let go of it, picked a shard of glass from her dark brown curls, and nodded, "We're fine."

"What was that?!" cried Byron.

I corrected, "Not what, who."

We climbed out of the wreckage that was my car. I turned back to the place where I saw the man, who hadn't moved from his position, and walked towards him. He was dressed in a burgundy and grey basket check casual shirt and dark blue jeans. He was several inches taller than me and skinny, with pale skin and sandy hair.

He took a few proud steps in our direction with a friendly smile written on his face. He threw out his arms on either side of him and said, "Greetings, Whitford and Wisteria Allgood! Long time no see! I trust that you remember me?"

He looked so familiar. It took me half a minute to place who he was. When it hit me, my jaw dropped open in shock, and my eyes widened to the shape of tennis balls.

I whispered in disbelief, "Jonathan?"

"HOORAY!" the guy cheered enthusiastically. "I knew you'd remember!"

Jonathan was our friend once. A few years back, he had taken me and Wisty on a tour of the City of Progress, the N.O stronghold. Sasha, Margo, Emmet, Janine, my sister, and I were planning to break a bunch of kids out of the New Order Reformatory—aka the Overworld Prison amongst people living in Freeland. After our team saved the captured kids, we found out that Jonathan was a traitor in our midst who had been working for the New Order the entire time. He spied on Wisty and me and sold us to the Matron, Judge Ezekiel Unger, and The One, betraying one of our most important missions.

Wisty turned Judge Unger into a big, ugly roach, I recalled, causing Jonathan to run off with the Matron and the rest of the security specialists, afraid that they would be next. Jonathan was scared of my sister's powers back then, but now he looked intrepid. I briefly encountered him in Shadowland while I was searching for Celia with the dog Feffer. He had become a Lost One.

But he wasn't Lost anymore. Somehow he turned human again.

Wisty jerked her thumb at the car. "You could've killed us!" she bawled.

He shook his head and made a face. "Nah. There are much more exciting ways to kill you than smacking your car against a building. That was just the first step," he sneered.

"Is this you taking your revenge on us for defeating The One?" demanded Wisty. "It certainly took you long enough."

I began, "You were a Lost One. I saw you in Shadowland. How are you—?"

"—human again?" he finished my question. "I got here through one of the portals that I'm guessing you and your sister opened. I devoured a human soul and then I was able to live again!"

"You what?!" shouted Emmet.

"Pearce gave the Undead the power to do that, in case you didn't know," said Jonathan.

"We knew." Wisty's voice was full of hatred.

He was the Lost who killed one of those three poor kids. "Whose soul did you consume?" I was dreading the answer, but I had to know.

"Good question, Whit!" he said. He stroked his chin in deep thought. "Hmm…I think it belonged to Bettina Alexandra Gannon."

Wisty was about to lose it. "Bettina?!" she shrieked. "You devoured the soul of an innocent little girl?"

"Was she special to you, Wisty? How could I have known? I had to target someone. If it wasn't her, it would've been either the boy or the other girl," he said casually.

Nausea began to overwhelm me. I heard Byron groan in disgust from behind.

I turned to my friends accusingly. "You guys watched as this creature—," I gestured to Jonathan, "—ate a little girl, and did nothing about it? I thought you took care of every Lost One who tried to get to the City!"

"I didn't even see this one escape, I swear!" Ross shouted despairingly. "I thought we handled all the Undead too."

Emmet said defensively, "We did everything we could!"

"How many more of you in the Overworld are there?" I inquired of Jonathan.

"Just me," he shrugged his shoulders and answered. "After an eternity of living in Shadowland, I spent the last two days in the City in hiding; recovering and lying low. Oh, and look," he motioned his thumbs at his shirt, "I also bought new clothes!"

If Jonathan had really consumed a human soul, then it meant that he was immortal and invincible. Only God knew what kind of power he possessed. Wisty and I wouldn't stand a chance against him. I glanced at her. She was trying to be brave and strong, but I could tell deep down she was just as frightened as I was.

Jonathan continued, "Anyway, my purpose in the Overworld is to obviously kill the famous Allgood witch and wizard. But the question is: how? I'm immortal, and more powerful than you can possibly imagine. My magic is stronger than the both of yours combined."

Oh, really? Shall we put that to the test? I stopped the thought from passing from lips, though.

"I can end the two of you with merely a simple sweeping motion of my hands, but that would be too easy," he explained. "Instead, I'm going to be kind by making your deaths epic in order to show the citizens of your heroism. So how about we have a go at each other first? I always did enjoy a good fight." He eyed the others before adding, "However, I'd rather not have your friends intervene. That'll be like cheating. The fight should be just between the two of you and me."

Byron stepped in, "Whether you remove us or not, you'll still have the magicians and the people to answer to. Together they will destroy you."

The traitor only laughed in response. He stuck out a finger at us. "Yeah, about that: I don't think so." He pointed to his feet on the ground and said, "Do you see the area where I'm standing? I ordered everyone within a three mile radius from here to quit whatever business they're attending to and move outside the boundary. Surely you guys must have noticed the traffic jam on the highways and the emptiness of the streets surrounding you?"

"We did," said Janine.

I asked, "You gave the people an order and they just listened?"

"I used mind control to get them to move out, actually, and the method seemed to have worked pretty well! I don't want the citizens' involvement in our combat, nor do I have any desire to see them get hurt—at least not today. Therefore I temporarily evacuated them in order to use this part of the City as a 'battleground.' Like I said, Whit and Wisty Allgood, the fight will just be you two against me," Jonathan explained.

His mind control working successfully on this large a number of people was another reminder of how extremely formidable he was. Still, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and reflect on the normal person he had been. This renegade had fled from Wisty like a coward the last time I saw him in the Overworld, but give him a little magic power and he thought he could conquer the world. I'm going to blame Pearce for this, I thought.

Jonathan closed his eyes in concentration for a few seconds, then instantly opened them again, and I watched as Emmet, Ross, Byron, and Janine were thrown by a magical force against the side of the buildings lining the alley. Emmet and Ross collided to my left and Byron and Janine to my right, the impact knocking each of them unconscious.

Jonathan was able to do that just with his mind! How much worse could this get?

I ran towards Byron and Janine, prepared to heal them with magic in whichever way I could. When I reached the sidewalk, however, my body struck an invisible wall that knocked me a few steps backwards. What on earth…? I raised my fist and pounded at the air in front of me, and sure enough, there was an unseen barrier separating me from my friends who lay sprawled on the ground.

I turned back to Jonathan furiously, who shook his head and warned, "I wouldn't, Whit. In fact, I prefer them better like this."

Wisty asked with a hint of desperation in her voice, "Why are you doing this, Jonathan? What could you possibly hope to achieve by obliterating us?"

He replied, "Well, by killing this City's leaders, I'm removing the two most dangerous threats in the Overworld, which will lessen the forces of opposition against my next task."

"Which is…?" asked Wisty.

"To open the portals—something I should have no problem with since my magic is so unbelievably powerful—and bring back all the Lost Ones. There will be a feast of souls in the City, and then my invincible friends will join me to rule."

I shivered. I felt as if a hundred spiders were crawling all over my skin.

"It's what The One Who Is The One would've wanted, and even though he's gone now, I still believe in him."

"You will never succeed," my sister affirmed. "I forbid it!"

Wisty extended her hand and crackling green electricity travelled from her palm towards Jonathan. Jonathan held up his arm instantaneously and blocked it with the back of his hand. He dashed to a street lamp, pulled it with superhuman strength from its fixed position on the ground, and then threw it at my sister. I darted in front of her to quickly shield her. With my mind, I stopped the object in midair just a few inches from my face before I sent it spinning in reverse back in Jonathan's direction. When it reached him, the fiend brought his arm in a savage downward motion and knocked the street lamp with incredible force to the ground, creating bumps on the road surface and a large indentation in the gravel.

Jonathan vanished in a puff of grey smoke then reappeared right before me. He punched my left cheekbone and then delivered a backhanded crack across my jaw, the second blow making me reel. Before I could fully gain my balance, he struck my chest, causing me to fly several metres backwards. My body hit the gravel hard. I felt like my spine had exploded.

I wiped the blood from my left cheek with my shoulder sleeve and forced myself back up, just in time to see Wisty magically igniting Jonathan's whole body on fire. Jonathan lifted his head up slightly in concentration, opened his arms out to either side of him, and extinguished the flames in seconds. They left no trace of burns on his pale skin. He was unharmed.

That fire could've killed him and burnt him to death, and yet he was immune to it! Uh-oh, I thought, fear clutching at my heart with cold fingers, we have a problem.

Wisty appeared to be even more stupefied than I was. Then, Jonathan aimed a purple electrical beam at her before she had the chance to recover from this appalling fact. It bashed her chest full force, hurling her into the sky. I watched in horror as her shuddering body surrounded by purple light hit the ground and then rolled before coming to a stop.

"Wisty!" I called.

I rushed to her side in a flash and went to my knees. I gently touched my fingers to her wrist, and sighed in relief when I felt the rhythmic pulse. She may be stunned unconscious by the beam, but she was still alive. With my hands hovering over her chest, I summoned a wave of white healing energy. It wasn't until I felt the M leave my fingertips and course into every part of her body that I knew she would be okay, albeit it would still be a while before she woke up.

That bastard is gonna pay for this, I thought, standing up. I grinded my teeth and turned furiously back to Jonathan. I will tear you apart limb by limb.

I recalled a poem from the old journal Dad gave me—the same one I stumbled upon while Wisty and I were fleeing from the clutches of the N.O goons a few years ago—and recited it in my head. It instantly turned into a spell, and the next thing I knew I was morphing. My skin was replaced by black-and-orange-and-white fur, my hands and feet turned into paws, my teeth elongated and sharpened, a new pair of ears grew from atop my broad skull, whiskers formed on my muzzle, and a tail appeared behind me. I had transformed into a tiger.

With my teeth bared into a snarl, I charged forward and pounced on my prey. Jonathan was as agile as a monkey. He bent down low and leapt under me in the opposite direction, landing on the gravel and then rolling a few metres before swiftly standing back up. I span around and pushed off on my hind legs to lunge at him again. Unfortunately, he already anticipated this, and did a backwards somersault high up in the air as if unbound by gravity. He landed steadily on his feet on the road behind me.

Frustration began to eat at me. Jonathan was treating this like it was a game of tag, and I couldn't believe that I was the one losing.

I decided to go for another tactic. Instead of pouncing on him this time, I teleported and appeared in front of him. I sank my canines into his abdomen without hesitation, pushing him to the ground and using my incisors to tear savagely at his flesh. Jonathan shrieked in pain and writhed under my grip in agony, but I refused to stop, not until he was in two pieces. Somehow amidst his torment he managed to press his knees against my stomach and kick me with brutal strength off of him. I licked the blood from my carnassials and muzzle and stood up again on all fours, feeling satisfied at seeing the huge deep wound I made on his abdomen. But I noticed that it was beginning to close in on itself. It got smaller and smaller. The spilled blood was flowing back into his mending vessels and his muscle cells were regenerating. I could not believe it: he was healing!

After watching in horror as the last trace of his wound had vanished, Jonathan got back to his feet and grinned at me like a Cheshire cat. The lower front of his shirt was torn to shreds and hanging in tatters, and apparently that was all the damage I did to him.

We have a very serious problem, I thought again, the cold fingers of fear returning and tightening its clutch around my heart.

My shape-shifting spell faded away and I transformed back into my human self.

Jonathan rubbed his completely-healed abdomen and said amusingly, "That hurts! But I have to admit it was good fun!" He walked around and collected several rocks that were scattered on the road. "Are you any good at dodgeball, Whit?" he asked me conversationally as if we hadn't been fighting just now.

"Pretty good," I answered.

"Then let's see if you're ready for this." He took one of the rocks he collected and threw it in my direction. The rock seemed to be rapidly increasing in size like magic as it flew towards me, until it grew as big as the studying chair in my room. I moved away as fast as lighting, and the stone hit the side of a building, penetrating a large hole in its wall. If I was one second later, I would've been smashed to a bloody pulp.

"Phew! That was close!" exclaimed Wisty beside me. I couldn't be happier to see her awake.

I nodded, "Yeah."

We were standing in the middle of road. By then, Jonathan had another rock ready. He flung it at us. I dodged right at the same time as Wisty darted left. The gigantic stone knocked down a traffic light instead.

"Split up!" I yelled. Wisty nodded in agreement. She sprinted down the alley away from Jonathan while I ran and turned a corner into a wider street.

Let's see who you choose to target now, Jonathan, I thought: the witch or the wizard? Just then, a stone of enormous size soared over my head and crashed into a nearby diner, and I took it that meant the latter.

I tore through street after street past houses and markets and leisure centres and museums, dodging my enemy's constant attacks without stopping for a rest. The damaged buildings from previous battles that we had worked so hard to repair in the last three months were now being wrecked in a matter of minutes. This feels like the N.O aerial bombardment all over again, I brooded.

After another while of running, I came across a medium-sized courtyard. Various trees and shrubs were planted in different areas. A tall fountain spray ringed by red-and-yellow dahlias was located in the middle. Wisty was already there a few moments before me.

"I thought Jonathan would chase after me, since I'm the deadlier magician here, you know," she said when I approached her.

"I guess he wanted to eliminate me first before having fun dealing with you," I responded.

I spotted the rest of my friends entering the courtyard and jogging toward us. Hadn't the invisible wall Jonathan created prevented me from reaching and healing them? "Hey, how did you guys get past the magical barrier?" I inquired.

Byron said, "You must've weakened Jonathan when you bit him as a tiger, which probably weakened the barrier along with him."

"We figured you need our help," said Janine.

Jonathan appeared in a puff of grey smoke about twenty yards away. He glanced from Emmet to Ross and then to Byron and Janine, and said with a sigh, his voice startling them all, "And here I thought I've gotten rid of the pesky little flies."

"Leave the City alone!" Janine yelled commandingly.

He shook his head defiantly. "I've left it alone for too long already. It's about time for me to make a couple of…adjustments."

I remarked, "By the way, your aiming is terrible."

"Tell you what, why don't I kill you all together and get this over with?" said Jonathan impatiently. He materialized a cluster of bronze spiked balls, like those attached to the club by a chain in morning stars that I'd only seen in films. They hovered above him in the air. He smiled, "I guarantee that these will hit its targets." Then with a gesture of his arms, the spiked balls arced toward us speedily.

A man with white-blonde hair suddenly rushed in front of us. He outstretched his arms and directed beams of red light at the balls, and they exploded into a shower of gold sparks.

The wizard came to our rescue! For the first time in my life, I was glad that he was here.

Jonathan glared at him scornfully and jeered, "Dick move, Pearce! You were supposed to accomplish The One's mission, to help me eradicate the witch and wizard. Yet you chose to side with them instead, how imbecilic of you!"

"The Undead turned against me and tried to feast on my flesh. You were one of them. As a result of the treachery of your kind, Jonathan, I've decided not to help you. I'm done with the Lost and I'm done with The One! My father's mission be damned!" bellowed Pearce.

Jonathan snickered, "It doesn't matter. I don't need your help anyway. I'm powerful enough to do this on my own."

"You're forgetting who gave you that power," hissed Pearce. "You were Lost. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have been able to devour a human soul and live. I made you in my image, but I can also take that gift away from you."

"You mean you can kill him?" Wisty asked.

Pearce answered without taking his gaze off of Jonathan, "I know exactly how to kill him." He then addressed the guy, "I'd be careful if I were you."

Without another word, Jonathan swept the back of his left hand as if shooing away a fly. His magic caused Pearce to crash against the bricks of a nearby house, the brutal force creating a hollow in the wall. Pearce collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

Jonathan returned his attention to me and sighed, "He's such a nuisance, isn't he, Whit?"

"Go to hell!" I spat.

"It's where you belong," Emmet said in assent.

"Whit, Wisty," Byron spoke, "The magic that you both possess becomes greater when it passes through others. If we join our power to yours, we might be strong enough to defeat him."

Janine nodded. "We have to do it together." She offered me her hand. "Take my hand."

I smiled at her and did so. Wisty took my other hand, followed by Byron and then Emmet. Ross fell in next to Janine on my other side. We stood in a row and faced Jonathan.

Jonathan didn't look the least bit frightened. "I don't think combining your power will work," he snorted.

I responded, "You're about to find out." Then I shouted to my friends, "NOW!"

Blue electricity shot from each of our chests at once. It hit Jonathan like a tidal wave. Our combined energy was destructive and stupendous. The magic coursing through me was the most incredible thing I've ever experienced. It was so powerful that it was overwhelming me. The force slammed our enemy against the wall of a building. The electricity surrounded Jonathan's whole body until all I could make out was a bright blue, convulsing figure…but somehow the figure managed to regain his strength. Jonathan began to push forward against the force of our electrical energy, but very slowly, as if he was lugging a heavy loaded baggage train. I was flabbergasted. Power like this would've been able to kill someone, and yet Jonathan was pushing his way against it!

This is so not happening, I thought in horror. I started to panic.

"Push harder!" screamed Wisty.

With new determination, I summoned more of my M and focused all my strength into driving Jonathan backwards. In my mind, I pictured his heart going arrhythmic and then stopping. The others were trying to do the same, but our effort was futile. He was too strong.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed Anna, Elsa, and Olaf arriving, running over to us. Hope gathered within me. Anna quickly took Ross's hand as Elsa's joined Emmet's. Olaf grabbed Anna's hand. Immediately I felt a surge of power. The electricity shooting out from their chests struck Jonathan, making him stagger a few metres back. But before long he was teetering toward us again. Fighting back proved to be harder for him than it had been a minute ago, but he was doing it successfully all the same.

I cried, "We need more juice!"

"There is no more!" Byron shouted.

Despite our electricity attacking him, Jonathan continued to make his way forward. He was going to reach us any time soon.

"The power…it's too much!" It was Emmet's voice. "I don't think I can take this anymore!"

My forehead and neck was coated in sweat. I was beginning to feel a little dizzy myself from using my magic for so long. My body was weakening, but I yelled at my friend encouragingly anyway, "Keep going, Emmet!" We have to.

It went on like this for another while, with opposing forces propelling against each other, both trying to overcome one another. I was getting more and more tired with every passing minute.

I…MUST…HANG…ON!

Just when I was about to collapse, Pearce stepped between me and Wisty in the nick of time. I was so focused on fighting Jonathan that I almost forgot he was here. He took each of us by the hand to join his strength to ours. I felt my energy refreshing, my magic rejuvenating. I was no longer tired or struggling from the effort. It was like Pearce had refuelled our near-empty tanks. The bright blue figure of Jonathan spasmed violently. I watched as he flew a long distance away from us and crashed onto the ground. We waited for our fallen enemy to get up, and when he didn't, we stopped the energy from flowing out of us and released each others' hands to break our connection. We gathered to take a closer look.

"He's still breathing," said Wisty.

Jonathan stirred. He turned his head slightly. His eyelids fluttered. He was regaining consciousness fast. I didn't think I had any juice left in me to keep fighting.

Anna spoke to me urgently, "Whit, conjure a sword! Hurry, before he wakes up!"

I asked with curiosity, "What do you need a sword for?"

"Just hurry!"

I willed myself to produce a two-handed greatsword with the magic I had left in me. The weapon was heavy, but Anna wielded it skilfully as if she had been using it her entire life. She went to stand next to Jonathan, raised her arms over her head, and then brought the blade down on his neck with all her weight. The rest of us stepped back in shock, all except for Pearce.

"Anna—" Elsa gasped, but she stopped and winced as her sister swung the sword downwards a second time. The blade was red with Jonathan's blood and bright red spatters covered her lemon-chiffon dress. Anna finally managed to chop off his head with a grunt on the third swing. A pool of blood poured from the stump of his neck and began to spread over the ground.

Anna wiped away the spatters from her forehead with the back of her hand and exhaled. "There. He shouldn't trouble you anymore," she said to us.

Elsa was staring at Anna in astonishment. "Anna, I can't—I can't believe you have it in you to—to do something like that," she stammered. "It's so…unlike you."

"Well, surviving in Shadowland toughened me up, I guess," she said with a shrug, not meeting Elsa's eyes.

"Chopping his head off is not going to kill him. He'll just come back," disclosed Pearce.

Come back? I was not processing this, but then I looked down at Jonathan's corpse, and what Pearce said made sense. His severed head was moving on its own. I watched dumbfounded as it reassembled with his neck, connecting back on together. The sight of it was so revolting that I wanted to vomit. I had to put a hand on Janine's shoulder to prevent myself from fainting.

Pearce said, "You need to go for the heart."

When the head was fully in place, Jonathan breathed in and opened his eyes. But before he could sit up Pearce instantly dashed towards him, plunged his hand into his chest, and pulled out his beating heart. His hand was red up to the wrist and the organ he held was dripping dark blood. I spotted triumph in Pearce's eyes as he looked at the heart. With an evil smirk, he squeezed it and turned it into ashes. They scattered and the faint wind blew them away. Jonathan's corpse crumbled into a mass of ashes as well which were then ignited by purple flames.

Pearce gazed at the fire with a grin on his face. He was totally enjoying this. To him, this was like watching some kind of outstanding, phenomenal show. "Now he is dead," he told us.

Olaf stared at the remainder of Jonathan in wonder. "Now he is dead!" he echoed.

The ashes were blackening beneath the burning flames.

Pearce turned around and walked away from us to exit the courtyard without another word. Wisty, Anna, Byron, Emmet, Olaf, Elsa, Ross, Janine, and I followed, not for once looking back.