Chapter 12: Saving London

The battle on the upper deck didn't last long. At first, Max toyed with the pirates, turning them into various animals and objects like he'd done before. When one of the men nearly managed to stab him in the back, the fun ended and Max got serious. He spun around and summonded a gyser from between the wooden planks of the deck that completely surrounded his assailant in a wall of water. A split second later, the water was frozen solid, the man trapped inside. Max then drop kicked the block of ice which exploded sending large chucks and glass-like shards flying into the other men. The men who were behind him and weren't hit by the flying ice rushed forward. As Max spun to face them, he thrust his hands forward and a bolt of lightening burst out hitting the closest pirate and then spreading out like a web to all the others. The young wizard surveyed the area, his head spinning. Everything had happened so quickly that he hadn't had time to even think. All of it had come to him naturally, like walking or breathing. He was overwhelmed and for that brief moment, he thought he might pass out. All of the men on this deck were incapacitated, most either unconcious or dead, but Max knew he wasn't finished. He needed to find London. He looked around and found the nearest pirate who was still alive and awake. The man was lying on top of a broken table, impaled on one of its legs. He was groaning in pain and gasping for breath. Max almost felt sorry for the man.

"Where did they take London Tipton?" Max asked. The man said nothing at first. He only groaned in pain as he looked up at Max almost defiantly. "Tell me!"

The man spit at Max, a combination of saliva and blood and forced an evil smile. "Go to hell."

Max put his foot on the man's chest and grabbed the peice of broken table leg. "Tell me where she is," he said. The menacing tone and serious expression on the boy's face made the smile disappear from the pirate's lips, but still he said nothing. When Max was sure the man wasn't going to talk, he slowly twisted the peice of wood and pressed it downward stabbing it a little farther into the man's chest. "TELL ME!"

"I don't know!" the man wailed in pain.

"LIAR!" Max twisted hard and stabbed deeper. The man screamed in pain.

"She's in the ship's control room! Please! Please stop!" the man begged.

"Now see? Was that hard?" Max asked.

When Max opened the door to the control room, he saw London bound and gagged in a chair with a single guard. She had been crying and when she saw him, she tried to scream for help behind the duct tape. The guard pointed his gun just inches from her head.

"Don't move," the man said. "I kill her."

"Let her go," Max said. "It's over." He started to move forward, but the man yelled at him.

"I said, don't move!"

"I'm going to give you one more chance. Let her go and walk away," Max warned.

The man laughed, "What is little boy going to do? Huh?"

"I warned you," Max said. He leaped into action toward the man, but as soon as he did, the man pulled the trigger. Max closed his eyes and yelled out, "NO!" He kept his eyes pressed together. For the first time since returning to the ship, he was afraid. Afraid of what he might see if he opened his eyes. Afraid he'd failed and London was dead. His body tightened up in anticipation of the next shot being aimed at him. But the shot never came. After several tense seconds of silence, Max opened his eyes, slowly. London and the pirate were still there, but they were both frozen in place. Max cautiously moved closer and, upon closer inspection, realized that they weren't actually frozen, they were just moving EXTREMELY slowly. As close to still as is possible and still be moving. A bullet was in mid-air just inches from London's head. Max wasn't sure if he'd slowed down time or sped up himself, but it didn't really matter.

He started by untying London, carefully removing the ropes and duct tape. He lifted her as best as he could out of the chair, and dragged her across the room to safety. He couldn't hold her up for long, she was bigger than him after all, so he ended up seating her on the floor with her back against the wall. Then he went back to the pirate. Lucky for Max, the chair London had been tied to was an office chair with wheels on it. He rolled it around behind the pirate and pushed the man into it in a sitting position. Then, he took the ropes that had been holding London and tied the man to the chair and duct taped his mouth. For a moment, he considered positioning the man's head into the path of the bullet that was still suspended in the air, but decided against it. He'd seen enough death for one day.

Once he was sure the man wouldn't be able to escape from the chair, Max snatched the bullet out of the air and stuck it in his pocket. Then, he closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could until he heard London screaming his name. He opened his eyes just in time to brace himself for her jumping into his arms. Her momentum almost knocked him to the floor, but he was able to catch himself and return her hug. She was crying again and he could feel her tears soaking his shirt. He didn't mind that she was squeezing him so tight he almost couldn't breath. He whispered to her, "It's okay. You're safe now. Everything's going to be okay."

(Author's Note: I know it's been a LONG time, but I'm back! I've got a new job so I've got more time to write. Expect more frequent updates. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We're almost to the end of this story. Please read and review.)