Sins 39
They finished their plans as Tyler pulled into the driveway to Caleb's house. Max had ducked down in the back of the truck and stayed there. The boys got out of the car and headed for the door. Most of their plans involved the element of surprise. Which meant Max was a last minute addition to the party. She held her breath as they disappeared into the house.
She said a silent prayer to any deity that would listen to her and climbed out the back door of the car on the side facing away from the house. She used Caleb's landscaping to sneak across the lawn. Climbed a trellis to the second floor and went in through a balcony door.
She could hear voices downstairs, two of which she recognized and one other she did not. She passed by the bed and noticed someone was on it. She cautiously approached it. It was Sarah and she was tied to the bed. Max checked the bonds to see if they were enchanted. She swore, she couldn't free the girl without alerting Chase. So she left her there and snuck across the hall.
The voices were arguing now and Max felt a surge of power that meant one of the parties had used. Max swallowed hoping it wasn't one of them getting killed. She was sneaking around the room and she tripped on something on the floor. She silently swore and looked at what she tripped on. It was Caleb and he was staked down to the floor. His head forcibly held in the direction of Sarah's room. Then Max spotted another bed that was also in his line of sight.
Max put her hands over her mouth to keep the string of swear words in her mouth. She could guess what Caleb had been forced to watch and it was horrible. She longed to reach out and touch him but didn't know what kind of protections Chase had on him. "Get out of here, run Max, he'll kill you," he whispered through cracked lips "shush," she hissed. "Stay quiet I'll be right back" said Max she snuck down the hall ignoring his advice. She had no intention of running now; she was too pissed to do that.
She was heading for the stairs when she spotted Pogues hair she looked sideways to see Kate staked to a wall, she was bleeding and Max hoped she was still alive. It only served to steel her resolve. She heard Chase tell Reid to say goodbye to Tyler. She disregarded her original plan and went with improvisation.
She pulled power as she came down the stairs. She spotted the one person in the room she didn't recognize and hit him with as much power as she could muster. The boy had the opportunity to look shocked before he was flying across the room and through a wall into the kitchen across the table and into the small greenhouse on the side of the kitchen.
"Free the others, if they can run tell them to, hurry," said Max. She headed for where Chase had gone. Tyler headed for Pogue and started freeing him. Reid freed Kate and set her on one of the sofas. Then they both headed upstairs. They were halfway up the stairs when Max flew backwards into the room "go!" she ordered and got back up. They didn't hesitate and did as she asked. even though Reid wanted to stay and help her. They found Caleb first and Tyler found the girls. Reid worked frantically to free Caleb.
"Where's Max?" Caleb hissed "keeping Chase busy" said Reid. Caleb swore "can you stand?" said Reid. Caleb nodded and hobbled after Reid who was heading to help Tyler. The sounds of breaking furniture and glass were coming from downstairs. As well as the sound of a firefight.
It was all Tyler could do to keep from throwing up at the sight of the two women. Chase was a monster and he hoped Max was kicking his ass. Reid helped him with the last of it. The three boys helped the women stand and helped them get out of the room and down the hallway. They were in no condition to go out the window where Max had climbed in so they headed for the stairs.
"Who are you?" Chase asked Max again. She ignored him, let him wonder she reasoned. He threw another energy ball and Max caught it and dissipated it in her hands. Chase grew pissed. He glanced back into the other room. "They'll never make it out of here alive" said Chase. Max smiled wickedly "you won't either" she promised.
Chase was getting frustrated everything he tried she had a counter for. She shouldn't even be able to use. He changed his tactics and he decided to try spiders, let's see how she likes bugs he thought.
He opened his mouth like he intended to scream and threw his hands out. Spiders crawled out of his sleeves and out of his mouth moving in a line towards her. Max stood her ground, spiders didn't bother her usually. Of course these weren't ordinary spiders.
Max concentrated instead of wasting her energy on a creation spell that would kill these spiders; she concentrated instead on changing them. Laying the spell down as a barrier between her and Chase. The spiders crawled across the barrier and Chase started to crow in triumph. He abruptly stopped when his creations changed into butterflies and flew away.
He snarled in frustration "who are you?" he yelled. Max smiled at his rage "your replacement" she answered. He threw another energy ball and it passed through her barrier. Instead of a fiery blast hitting her she got pelted with roses "you know you really suck at this" said Max
Chase screamed in rage and threw more energy into his creations, seeking to blast her barrier down with shear power. Max calmly stood there while her opponent vented his fury impotently on her shield."is that the best you can do?" she taunted. Behind her Caleb and the boys were getting the girls out of the house.
Chase saw Caleb and Pogue carrying Kate out the door and screamed in rage. He had plans for them damn it. "You will pay for your interference whoever you are," said Chase "wow did you get that off a b flick?" teased Max.
Chase responded by hitting the barrier again, Max changed it at the last minute and stepped sideways. The barrier partially collapsed or looked like it did. Chase mistaking his success for victory strode forward. Intent on finishing her off, he didn't see until it was too late.
The barrier was now surrounding him. When he did notice it he foolishly tried striking it again. It closed tighter and Chase stumbled backwards he fell over the sofa it disrupted the spell and he crawled away from her trap. "Clever very clever but not clever enough" said Chase.
Instead of summoning a magical attack like Max had expected him to do he tackled her. She flew backwards over the sofa and through the sliding glass doors, which led to the pool area. He hit her in the face twice and Max tried to block him once.
He managed to connect a few times and then she kicked him off. He hit the lounge chair behind him and it fell over.
She regained her feet and shook her head. The asshole hit hard, so he wanted to play that way, did he? Max was no stranger to a fight. So when Chase lunged for her midsection she sidestepped and kicked his rear as he passed. Knocking him into the other lounge chair. Which fell into the water with him still entangled in it.
Then Max did something stupid she looked over the edge. Chase grabbed her foot and pulled her into the water. He grabbed her under the surface and tried to hold her under the water. Hoping she would panic and drown. Max hit him in the eye and gained the surface in time to take a breath before he pulled her under again. She clawed and bit and kicked Chase everywhere she could. He refused to let go, so she tried another tactic. She played dead essentially.
She stopped fighting and acted like she was drowning.
Praying the boy would fall for it before she really did.
He held her until she thought she really would drown. Then he let go and climbed out looked down at her floating in the water and walked back in the house.
Meanwhile Max was using her power to literally breathe like a fish. She waited until she felt the water pressure change indicating he had gotten out of the pool. Then she headed for the surface. Dropping the spell as she breached the surface. She gulped in air in draughts and swam to the edge of the pool. Chase had his back to the pool and was about to attack the fleeing prisoners.
Max was pissed not only had he tried to kill her but he was still trying to kill everyone else. She formed her barrier again leaving two small holes in the top and bottom. Then she threw it and at the same time she reached out with the power and grabbed Chase pulling him off of his feet and backwards. Chase hit the barrier and it closed on him right before he hit the water. Max climbed out of the pool and watched as the barrier sank with Chase trapped inside. It resembled a glass box and was rapidly filling with water as it sank. Chase was trying to break it again. Max sat on the side of the pool and watched the box sink to the bottom.
She watched as Chase struggled against the barrier trying to break out of it before he drowned.
She was still sitting by the pool when Caleb and the others hobbled out to her side. She was sitting by the pool watching Chase in his glass cage. He had stopped struggling a long time ago but she had played dead too.
Caleb went towards the upturned lounge and Max absently righted it for him. The others took seats around the pool. "Max, he's dead," said Caleb. "I want to be sure," said Max. "Are you planning on staying out here all night?' said an older woman that Max assumed was Caleb's mother.
"If necessary" said Max. Max looked around the room at the assembled group. Every one of them was hurt in some way. "Where's Pogue?" asked Max. "He went with Reid to take Kate to the hospital, there going to say it was a car accident" said Caleb "what about the wreckage?" said Max "Tyler's' handling that" said Caleb.
"Shouldn't the rest of you go to the hospital?" said Max "and claim our injuries as what?" said Caleb "I don't know a home invasion gone wrong" said Max.
"Then how will we explain him?" said Sarah.
Her voice was cracked and sore sounding. "Self defense he was one of the robbers" said Max. "Don't worry about it there won't be anything to explain when we're done with him" said Caleb. Her brother sounded cold and it sent a shiver down Max's spine.
"Should we pull him out or wait?' said Max "wait" said Caleb "we need to make sure he wasn't doing what I did" said Max. Max stood up, "step away from the ladder please Sarah" said Max. Then she concentrated and the water began to bubble and steam rolled off its surface.
Max was boiling the pool she stepped a little closer but not too close and stopped after a few minutes. She waited for the steam to clear before she went closer. "Be careful," said Caleb.
Max looked down at Chase. He had moved in the box. His mouth was now open in a silent scream and his skin was blistered and red.
Max insisted on sleeping by the pool until morning. She wouldn't trust that he was dead until he was buried.