Chapter Twelve:

True Fear

As soon as I dropped Kayce, she disappeared. I smiled and wiped some of the blood out of my eye, now that I had the time, and then held out my palm and set it on fire so I could see where the door was. If it weren't for my fire, I wouldn't see my hand in front of my face. Yet, as I searched, there was no door.

The hell is this…? I wondered.

"Joan!"

I turned and saw Lance. "Lance!" I exclaimed, smiling. "How'd you get away from your dad? Wait…" I looked at him, and realized he just seemed a bit too bright. "Where's Kayce?"

"Kayce?" Lance repeated as he took a few steps toward me. "You killed her. Remember? You nearly died."

"Of course I remember! Where's our daughter?"

Lance arched an eyebrow, and then smiled and held me close. "You probably took a bad hit, Jo. We don't have a daughter."

My heart dropped. I pushed Lance off of me and held him at arm's length. "What're you talking about? We have a goddamn three-year-old! Where's Kayce?"

I heard a sound behind me and turned. Before me was what seemed like an army of people dressed formally in black, but when I looked back at Lance, he wasn't there. My hands were gripping air.

I stepped back into the army of people and bumped into a few. My eyes were wild as I searched for a way out of the crowd. As I finally got out, I bumped into a wooden box and clutched it tightly to get my balance back.

"They say that it was her mother's fault," someone said behind me. "Poor kid. Her mother was too dangerous for her own good. You can barely recognize the body."

"I guess that's what happens when you can't control powers like those," another person said.

That's when I realized that I wasn't holding onto a box. It was an open casket.

And Kayce was inside.

My knees buckled and tears flowed out of my eyes. My heart all but stopped, and the next thing I knew I was running. I was running towards Kayce, who was running away from God knows what.

"Kayce!" I screamed.

She stopped and looked back at me. I tried to tell her to come to me, but the shadows chasing her caught her. I heard her terrified scream, and I tried to get to her faster, but I started falling into the tried to move. My heart was pounding in my chest uncontrollably, and my hands and legs were shaking.

I looked up and saw Lance hanging from the wall, a spear in his chest. Beside him was Kayce, pale, with dried blood all over her. I shut my eyes tightly and covered my head, defeat, sadness and exhaustion taking over.

"Once, your other self, Kayce, was your greatest fear," a voice said throughout the chamber. "Now it is losing those close to you. It has always been in the back of your mind, but you cannot escape it."

"Why're you showing me this?" I snapped. "I live with this fear every day, so why d'you have to show me this?"

Someone grasped my arm and lifted me to my feet. "You never knew defeat. You were a fighter, when you weren't a mother. Fear changes people. Don't let it change you. Remember that there is always a choice, and though you probably won't be there to save everyone, and you may lose much, you can always choose."

I wiped my eyes, and the person disappeared. So did the visions. Shaken but not deterred, I saw the exit and ran out into the next chamber. I found myself on the edge of a cliff, with a similar cliff nearly thirty yards away. I almost activated my powers to fly when someone grabbed my shoulder.

"Dana?" I muttered, confused.

"You can't use your powers here. If you do, then I'll never get over." She grabbed my arm. "We've got to get across together."

"How? There's no bridge…"

She smiled weakly. "It's a test of choice and faith."

I looked over the chasm and saw a bunch of people getting mugged. My first instinct was to start flying fast, but I had Dana with me…

"What d'you mean, 'never get over'?" I asked.

"Just what I say." Dana suddenly looked sad. "Please, Joan. We haven't really agreed in the past, but we can both change that."

I have to help those people! My mind screamed. But Dana… I can't leave her! If I get her across, she can help me with those guys, but it's gotta be fast!

I grabbed her hand. "C'mon, Dana! Let's go. Together."

We quickly went across, practically floating through the air, but it felt solid underneath my feet. We reached the other side quick enough, and then Dana drew the guns she'd had when she worked for Moya Jones and started shooting the muggers in the hands and knees.

I brought up a fist and smashed it right into the jaw of one of the muggers, and suddenly the scene before me changed. It was a door; the door that led to where Lance, Kayce, Dana, Joanna, Helen, Violet, Alec and Cole were. I clenched a fist and touched the door gently, but instantly fell to my knees as a rush of energy whipped in and out of my body. I knew immediately that my powers were gone, and I had no doubt that Alec, Cole, Connor and his lackey's powers were gone as well.

"Fight as a normal person, huh?" I remarked. "No problem. I don't wanna burn the inscriptions on the walls anyway."

I put a hand on the wound on my head and wiped the rest of the blood off. No blood was going to get in my eye during this fight, or I'd be in serious trouble. Then I rolled my shoulders and took a deep breath. I was already terrified because of the visions, but I knew I could do this. I had to.

"Everyone…" I muttered as I started to open the doors. "I'm coming for you. I swear I'm gonna save you."