"Tommy," I say tentatively, taking a step back. "Where's Ellen?"
He chuckles as he snaps his fingers and the lights snap on throughout the gym, lighting it up one beam of light at a time. "Ellen? She's fine. She's not the one I'm after."
"Well, I'm here now," I breathe out slowly, and it feels like there's a tangle of wires tightening in my chest. "I'm the one you're after, right?" He just stands there, crossing his arms over his chest as he smirks at me. "Why are you doing this?" I yell at him suddenly. "Because I didn't want to kiss you? Grow up." I turn back towards the gym doors to leave when a ring of fire forms around me. I breathe out, pushing a wind gust through the gym, and the fire goes out.
"What was that?" I demand. "Your magic's not good enough for that."
"You stupid girl," he says. "Although I guess you're in good company, given as how no one else has seemed to notice me. Well, besides Grabby, he's been onto me from the start. But I suppose that's only been because of you."
"Because of me?" I echo. How would he even know about Professor Grabiner's feelings for me?
"This is getting boring, and you're so very, very lost little girl," he sighs. "Really, is my glamor that perfect? I mean, I had been practicing it for years, but I thought that someone would have seen through it by now. I guess not. I managed to even throw Professor Potsdam off my trail. Nobody would expect cute, innocent little Tommy of any wrongdoing."
I shake my head in confusion. "So, if you're not Tommy, what did you do with him?"
"You're asking the wrong question," he says. "If I'm not Tommy then I'm…"
I hesitate. If he's not Tommy, who else would want to kiss me? Who else would want to hurt me? Who else is there? "I have no idea who you are," I yell, spreading my arms around. "So just show your face and let's get done with this."
"As you wish." He snaps his fingers, and I blink as the glamor fades. The wings, the blue skin, the flowing red hair….
"Damien?" I ask, my jaw dropping. "You can't be here. The wards-"
"Don't really work," he says with a laugh. "Yeah, can you believe it? I tried to get on campus one day and then just, poof." He snaps his fingers. "Just walked right in. And that's when I started crafting my plan."
"Crafting your plan?" I ask blankly. "What do I have to do with anything?"
"You rejected me," he yells. "I thought I was doing everything right. I thought I was making you fall in love with me. And then suddenly I find out you're married to Grabby." He shakes his head. "You would choose that old English sack of crap over me? After how he treated me all these years?"
Wait, married? He seems to see the look on my face. I feel the itching sensation in the back of my head again, but my heart is pumping in my chest and I'm too focused to lose control now.
"At first I just wanted your soul, but after you would choose him over me? No, that wasn't going to work. So I had to tip things into my favor. And then I thought, how great would it be, if I made you fall in love with me as someone else, and then I'd get you to give me your soul? Grabby wouldn't have protected you, he'd lose his magic…it was perfect karma." I stare at him in shock. This can't be happening. "But the real question was how to make you fall in love with me? You wouldn't, not with you and Grumpy getting all close and cuddly….you looked so happy, so I just…" He wipes his hands in the air. "Took that all away. It was great, really. I didn't even realize until you started digging into things that if you kissed me it could break your vows and then – poof! You'd die, he'd lose his magic. Either way, I think I'd be pretty happy with the results."
"The book on memory spells," I yell. "You left that in the library for me. To taunt me. You did that to me."
"And then I got to watch you cry in my arms about losing your parents," he said. "That was such a win-win for me, you have no idea."
"Well, it didn't work," I snap. "I didn't forget Hieronymous. I forgot…that we were married, and now that you've told me, you can take down the shield."
"I could," he shrugs. "But I won't."
"You want to make a deal?" I ask. "Take down the shield. Let me separate from him so that he's not a part of this anymore. Then you can deal with me directly. He's not a part of this."
"Did I not mention how he tormented me for four years?" Damien yells. "This is as much about punishing him as it is you. I watched you both suffer, and really, your whole I-love-you-but-I-can't-be-with-you thing was adorable, it was cute, for a while, but now I think it's about time I just killed you both."
I stand my ground. "Tell me how to take down the memory shield. And then maybe I'll make it easy for you."
"I don't want you to make it easy," he snaps. "But I can tell you one way. You could kill me."
I scrunch up my nose. "Kill you? It can't really be that simple."
"I'm the one holding it in place," he spreads his arms. "And it was cute watching you throwing yourself at the wall again and again, trying to get through, but I made sure to stay close to you, made sure to keep it in place, until it just got to be too much fun watching you destroy yourself from the inside out."
"I'm going to kill you," I say quietly. "I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to get my memories back, and I'm going to make you pay for-" His laughter cuts me off.
"That's all very cute and all, but I'm stronger than you," he says. "I've had more training than you. I can turn your insides to your outsides right now, but I'm waiting for someone else to get here first."
"Someone else?" I blink before I realize that I sent a message to Hieronymous, telling him where I was going. Oh no.
Suddenly there's a flash of light and I stumble a few paces backwards as something big and bright smashes into Damien from the side. I turn to look and see Hieronymous standing there, his face flushed with anger. "It's about time you showed up," Damien says, pulling down his shield.
"Oh, I've been here the whole time," he says darkly. "Tori, get out of here."
"I think you might have a little trouble trying to teleport out of here," Damien warns. "This whole gym is warded, the doors are sealed: no one's getting in, or out."
"How do you even have the power for that?" Hieronymous asks.
"I've been spending a lot of time between here and the Otherworld lately," he says. "In fact, maybe I should take your wife there. That would be fantastic, wouldn't it? Now you can watch two of the women you love die there."
"Only one problem with that-" I say, teleporting behind him. I use push object, causing him to stumble forward between us. "-we're not the ones who are going to die." Unfortunately my push isn't as strong as I would like it to be, and he swings his arm out, causing me to fly sideways, and I go sprawling across the gym floor.
"Come behind me," Hieronymous yells. "Now." I don't wait. I immediately teleport behind him. He holds his arm up and I can feel an immense heat wave as fire spins around us. Woah. I press myself into his back, wrapping my arms around his middle. I remember back during the Thunder Dance, I had seen seniors spin fire, but he wasn't just spinning little orbs of flame like they were. This was a wave of fire, swirling around him, so thick that I couldn't see Damien through them. Suddenly, I hear Hieronymous' voice in my head.
Tori, when I say so, shield us.
Will it be strong enough-?
Now, Tori, do it.
I close my eyes and concentrate and pull a shield over us as a wave of fire comes crashing down all around us. I can't see, but I feel an oppressive heat on all sides. Is he filling the gym with it? I can feel myself weakening, but I still feel the heat and so I keep the shield going for as long as I can, my arms clenched tightly around his middle.
"Tori, you can let go now," he says quietly, and I blink as I open my eyes. The fire is gone, and it's just the two of us in the gym. I quickly let go of him as I step back and look around.
"Where is he?" I ask uncertainly.
"I'm not sure," Hieronymous looks from side to side. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," I breathe. I can still feel the power emanating off of him like a heat wave as I look him up and down. "That was hot."
"Really?" he asks as he spins around, searching for Damien. "Now?"
"Well, sorry, but I can't exactly help-" Suddenly I feel something grab me and I go flying to the side in a rush as Damien grabs me and teleports me halfway across the gym. He's holding me by the nape of my neck, and I squirm and kick my feet as Damien holds me in the air in front of him.
Hieronymous holds out his hand, but doesn't do anything. "Yeah, that's what I thought," Damien says as he lowers me slightly towards him. I can feel his tongue jut out and lick the side of my cheek, and I squirm away in revulsion. "Mm," he says, holding me out again as if offering me to Hieronymous. "You want a taste?"
"You are such a creep," I mutter. I swing one of my legs back into his side, but he acts like he doesn't even feel it.
Hieronymous just shoot him or something I'll be fine.
Tori I'm not going to risk-
"You really hate this right now, don't you?" Damien asks, shaking me lightly. "You, weak and helpless, and your lover-boy unable to do anything to save you."
"I don't know about that," I say, and suddenly Hieronymous teleports behind him, shooting him in the back with some spell in one quick move.
As Damien loosens his grip on me, I pull an energy ball into my hand and punch him in the side of the face with it, making him stumble backwards.
"I'm not going to be the damsel in distress, you asshole," I say. He starts to get up and I quickly teleport away from him, keeping my distance. I'm usually decent at close-distance fighting, but I had only done it in the dungeons on monsters, never on a trained opponent who was much stronger than me, and maybe at least as strong as Hieronymous.
Damien flings something in my direction and I jump and roll to avoid it. I pause for a moment and watch as Hieronymous and Damien trade blows back and forth. Hieronymous isn't dodging at all, he's simply casting and shielding, casting and shielding. He looks completely focused, completely in his element. His lips are moving and it looks like he is chanting something under his breath. I want to help, I want to attack too, but I don't want to break his focus and I need to conserve my magic. Hieronymous is much, much stronger than me. He can do this…
…I think. The only thing that concerns me is that Damien doesn't look like he's having a difficult time of things at all. He's too slow to block all of Hieronymous' spells, but they don't look like they're doing much damage to him at all. He must have inhaled some serious kind of Otherworld magic, because it looks like Hieronymous' spells aren't having any effect on him. I don't want to break his concentration, but-
Hieronymous, look at him. You're not hurting him. We need a new plan.
Tori, you need to go. This isn't your battle.
Like hell it isn't. Suddenly, I'm angry. Not my battle? Damien stole my memories. He took the past seven months of my life away from me. Everything he had done, he did it to me. Hieronymous suffered the consequences of it through me, but he didn't lose his memories. He didn't lose that part of himself. He doesn't know.
Suddenly, I'm angry enough to cast, and I take the time that Damien is distracted to channel a fireball in his direction. I put everything I have into it, and then release it in his direction. It hits him in the side, and he was so focused on blocking Hieronymous' attacks, that he didn't even notice it. He falls to the ground, although he has time to shield Hieronymous' next attack as it comes, and he teleports directly in front of me as he gets to his feet.
"Tori," Hieronymous yells. "Get behind me."
I close my eyes as Damien throws a flash of light my way, and end up behind Hieronymous. "We need to teleport," I say quickly. "If we can't get out, we can at least get around."
"No, you just need to focus on getting out of here," he says under his breath.
"Two against one," I say. "I'll keep him distracted. You're stronger than me, I keep his firepower aimed at me, you wear him down."
"Tori-" he says, but I run out a little ways from him into the center of the gym.
"You think I'd ever really like you?" I yell at him. "Why would I like you? You're an idiot. I mean, seriously, no wonder Angela dumped you in front of everybody. Why would she be seen-" I throw myself to the floor and roll as he throws a fireball in my direction. I roll to the side, the edges of my hoodie burned.
Okay, way too close.
I sense something else coming towards me and I throw up my shield, only for the force to knock me backwards. My chin scrapes against the floor, and I struggle to sit up as yet another thing flies in my direction.
"Tori-" Hieronymous tries to get in front of me, but as he's teleporting over, Damien holds out both hands and Hieronymous suddenly appears on the other side of the gym, bound against the walls, his hands on either side of his head.
"Let him go," I yell. I send a blast in Damien's direction. It hits him in the shoulder and he flinches.
"Oww, that hurt," he says sarcastically. Hieronymous has started to chant something under his breath. "Oh, no you don't." Suddenly Hieronymous flinches as his voice is caught in his throat. If he can't move, if he can't speak, then he can't cast-
"Well," Damien smiles at me. "Now is the part where he's going to watch you die."
I gulp. Oh shit.