Chapter 13: Time

Disclaimer: I'm just mucking around in the world. I don't own it, sadly. Diane Duane does.

Author's Note: I am really really sorry for how long this has taken. I don't know if I've ever written a dramatic climax for a story like this before, so I was kind of dreading it, to be honest. I can do buildup, I can do setting and character development and stuff, but having stuff actually happen for an exciting and satisfying climax is hard. I had things that I wanted to happen that I wasn't sure I would be able to make work. Finally, though, I had to bite the bullet and write it already. Thank you all for your patience, and please don't be too harsh on me! Critiques are very welcome, because otherwise I won't improve!

"That may be," came Carl's voice, tight and low. "I probably have run out of time. But the least I can do is make it difficult for you."

The Lone Power lifted a perfectly manicured eyebrow eloquently and rolled his eyes. "The little wizard thinks he can save the world all by himself. How heroic."

"Or buy time," the boy replied reasonably. His face was pale and drawn and he was trembling from the effort of keeping the fire at bay and the shields up.

"Wizards," It scoffed, talking about the creatures into which the One had stored power in the same tone that one might describe foot fungus. "You'll be more use to the world if you save yourself now."

"And abandon Josh? Not a chance!"

"Of course not. How silly of me. The little hero nobly stands guard over his fallen friend. I don't even have to do anything; you're young and powerful, but even you will soon...burn out." It had a wicked, wolflike grin on Its face. "Which makes it so easy for me. I just wait until you go up in smoke, and Josh is mine anyway. He wasn't quite as boring as you, you know. At least he was clever enough to survive his Ordeal. But I paid him back for that." The fallen Power's eyes hooded over, glinting gleefully at the rage that Carl tried so hard to hide. "Revenge might be petty, but in that case it was delicious—"

Suddenly the Lone Power was knocked backwards by a growling, snarling mass of lean muscle and glossy fur. Her normally perked ears were flat against her skull. Teeth bared, she lunged for the throat of the man who had hurt her Master—

—and was promptly thrown backwards, landing hard on her side. She rose again, hackles bristling, lips curling back to display an impressive set of teeth.

Tom, Mr. Kolibri, and Jacob Grogan emerged from the flames, looking grim but determined. Carl stared at them. "But...Tom...how did you...?" He couldn't even finish the question, but stood there with his mouth agape.

Tom Swale didn't take the time to answer, but instead blasted the Power with a bolt of light that hissed through the air. It hit, and the creator of entropy fell with an exclamation of pain. Then It too stood again, the sneer gone, the only expression on Its face a snarl of pure, unadulterated hatred. "You'll pay dearly for that, wizardling," It hissed through clenched teeth.

"Of course I will." His voice was bold, though quiet from exhaustion. "But not before you do!" With that he sent another sizzling bolt across the room, advancing on the Lone One and drawing from reserves of strength he didn't know he had, distracting It from Jacob Grogan and Mr. Kolibri, who were kneeling next to the former's brother and desperately checking for a pulse. Tom shot a look at Carl and suddenly grinned. "Close your mouth, love, you look like a fish."

Carl closed his mouth with a muffled click of his teeth and shook his head at the quip. "Only you could joke at a time like this," he groused. But seeing his partner after such an impossibly short time had given him hope; he redoubled his efforts at controlling the fire that was licking at the wooden support beams.

The Lone Power gave them a glare that was black with rage, then turned his head and noticed for the first time the attempts to revive Josh. Tom caught the glance and desperately shot another bolt of light at the nemesis of Life, but It shook it off and made as if to throw something at the prone boy and the people tending to him. Mr. Kolibri! Tom warned him mentally, and the teacher looked up and shielded the three in the nick of time. The ball of nothing that the Fallen had thrown exploded on impact, leaving the Advisory looking shaken. The Power screamed with rage and drew his hand back again. Feeling ill, Tom new the shield wouldn't hold this time; there was too much power in one of those weapons. It would kill all three of them on the spot.

Without warning both Tilly and Jacob threw themselves at the Lone One, this time bringing It down. She had clamped her teeth in Its throat and started to shake her head furiously, while he pummeled It as hard as he could with his fists. A second later they were both thrown backwards, landing with a sickening crunch and a high, pained whimper. "No!" Tom and Carl yelled, while Rick cried out in horrified disbelief.

They did not get up.

But Josh did. "You," he said in a cold, hard voice, "will not take them away from me!" With a venomous glare he pulled himself to his full height, his eyes sparkling with fury. "You will take nothing else from me, do you hear? Not my life, not my wizardry, not by brother, and NOT MY DOG!"

Tom and Carl could only stare, speechless. Never had they imagined that the slight, good-tempered, raven-haired boy could descend into such a chilling rage. Even the Lone Power looked stunned and slightly frightened. "You know what?" he continued, hands clenched into fists. "You wanted to play with fire? Fine. We'll play." The boy opened his hands and spoke a few sharp syllables. White-hot flames funneled from the inferno and to his palms, then shot directly for the Lone One, who recoiled with a scream of pain. Tom looked over at Josh and saw that tears were trickling down his cheeks, patterning the soot and sweat with relatively clear tracks. But his voice was unwavering. "I know you'll still be everywhere, all the time, wherever I go and whatever I do. But for now, you will leave us alone!" He punctuated the last word with another bolt of fire. "I'm sick and tired of being terrified that you'll find me again," Josh declared, advancing on the Lone Power.

Did It actually...cower?

He can't keep that up much longer, Carl said desperately to Tom. What do we do, how do we help?

Tom thought a moment, then replied tersely, We can give him power.

Bullshit. We're drained as it is.

Look around you! Play 'find the energy source,' O great pyromancer! Tom snapped back, then looked at his partner apologetically.

Carl's mouth had formed a little "o" of surprise. "We'll need time," he said aloud.

Mr. Kolibri walked over to them on shaky legs. "What are you thinking of?"

"We'll draw energy from the fire and give it to Josh," Tom said grimly.

Alarmed, Rick exclaimed, "Are you mental? That could kill him!"

"We don't really have much of a choice," Carl retorted. "He's fading. If he doesn't beat the Lone Power soon we won't stand a chance and he'll die anyway."

The Advisory got a far-away look on his face, then a second later turned to the two young partners. His expression was determined and serene. "The spell that gives the most time needs beryl." Appearing to be almost in a trance, he removed his tiny platinum-and-emerald ring and set it on the ground. Rick smiled slightly, as if bemused by the workings of the universe, and said, "Build the spell. I'll take the power. Please don't argue."

"But—" Tom started to protest.

"I'll be fine," the physics teacher reassured them in the Speech. "Just do it. Please." That same odd smile remained on his face as he started drawing up the diagram around the ring. Each with their own misgivings, Carl and Tom nevertheless helped construct the spell, swiftly writing in the parameters. Looking at it was frightening, because one side of it was terrifyingly open-ended; but at this point they didn't have the option of going back and tinkering with it. All three of them started to read. The flames quieted once more, Josh and the Lone One paused in their frantic struggle to annihilate the other...even the creaking of the timbers ceased to listen to the spell that was being woven. The energy from the fire, in the form of light and heat, swiftly suffused Mr. Kolibri's form, making him shine like a miniature sun in the midst of all the soot. The Lone Power's expression was one of shock and a little fear, while Josh looked on in undisguised horror.

With one last syllable the power transfer was tied off, and sounds resumed. But it was quieter than before. The flames were noticeably lower and more subdued. Rick wasted no time; still glowing, standing carefully as if he was overflowing, he said a sharp word in the Speech that brought the creator of death right in front of him. Then he clasped It by the shoulders and repeated the spell for the missile of light, putting all the power he could muster behind it.

With a bloodcurdling scream the Lone One went up in flames.

"You recognize this type of spell, don't you?" he said quietly, sadly, to the burning form he still grasped, to keep It from wreaking more destruction even as this facet was being destroyed. "It was the last one Mary used on you, twenty-two years ago. The last one she ever used. You were happy about that, weren't you? You gave us the chance to fall in love, only to kill her months later."

"You'll die!" came the screech from the Power. "You'll die if you don't let go of me!"

"True." The glow was finally fading. Rick Kolibri's legs gave out as he made one last shield, trapping It inside a bubble to burn into nothingness.

Tom ran over to his teacher and fellow wizard. He wanted to comfort him, to thank him and praise him; but the first thing that came out of his mouth was "You lied to us! You said you'd be fine, and you could've died!"

The man slowly turned his head to his student and rasped quietly, still wearing the smile, "I didn't lie. If I'd died I would've gone to Timeheart and been with my Mary again. I had nothing to lose. But you boys, and Josh—" he coughed weakly. Blood tinged the corners of his mouth, and he grimaced, but continued. "You have your whole lives to live."

Carl looked on in alarm at the flecks of blood. "Are you going to live? D'you need me to heal you?"

Mr. Kolibri shook his head. "I don't know. And no, it's a side effect of that much power. Direct wizardry would only make it worse."

Now Tom spoke up. "Will you be okay to teleport?"

"It probably won't change the outcome." He winced. "It'll hurt, but it's better than showing up on the bus like this."

Carl nodded, then caught sight of Joshua. The younger boy was standing and looking with numb shock at his brother and his beloved dog. Neither was stirring. The sophomore nudged his partner and gestured to their friend. Tom nodded and made his way over to him, carefully draping an arm around his shoulder. All of a sudden Josh Grogan just sagged; he finally broke into wild tears, collapsing against Tom. "They s-saved me," he sobbed, hiccuping slightly. "Th-they saved me and I d-d-di-didn't d-do anything f-f-f-or them..."

Tom hugged his friend to him to comfort the boy. But Josh showed no sign of recovering, content to wallow in his own grief for the moment. So he shook him by the shoulders; when Josh showed no response, he said, "Josh, kiddo, listen...hey, buddy, listen to me, come on, stop crying a minute..." Joshua would have none of it. Instead he wept all the more. So, with a sigh, Tom lifted his hand and delivered him a resounding slap across the cheek.

That shut him up. The dark-haired boy looked at him in disbelief, raising his own hand to touch his stinging face. "Wh-what was that for?"

The blonde freshman raised his eyebrows and smirked. "You might want to check if they're actually, y'know, dead before you get all inconsolable." A whine of agreement came from near Josh's feet.

"Tilly? Tilly—! Oh my God...! I'm so sorry, girl, I love you so much...you were so brave, I saw you, you saved my life. Are you okay? I didn't want you caught up in this, oh, I'm so so so so sorry!"

"Master needed help. Don't do that again, you bring me with you all the time, ALL the time. Chest hurts, head hurts. Master, don't be sorry, you brought me home and fed me and petted me and played with me, love you too!" Tilly began washing his face with her long pink tongue, snuffling and whining in his ear on occasion, making sure her Master was safe.

Josh, in turn, ruffled her ears and submitted to the doggy kisses, gently petting her to avoid hurting her more. "Don't worry, girl. You'll be going everywhere with me if I can help it. You landed pretty hard, huh? I'll fix you up when I can, Tilly, but right now I'm tired. Tomorrow, okay, girl? And if I forget, you tell me, okay? You probably broke a couple of ribs there. Oh, Tilly, you're such a brave girl." He stood up with a smile. When she whined at him, he told her, "Girl, I'll pet you again really soon, but I have to see if Jake's okay. He saved me too, you know. Come on, don't look at me like that! Soon, real soon. I promise."

When Josh reached his brother, Jacob's gray eyes were already open and he was struggling to sit up. With a strangled sob the younger of the two knelt and hugged the nonwizard. Hard. "Jake. Thank you. I love you so much. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you were always there for me and trying to protect me and I never wanted you to get hurt, and I know it was all really hard on you. It wasn't your fault, none of it was ever your fault, and if I'd lost you before I'd gotten to tell you that I'dve been so angry at you that I'd have dragged your ass back from heaven just so I could chuck you out the window..."

Jacob Grogan started to laugh. "Since when did my kid brother get so talkative? And curse? And Jesus, easy, not so tight, Joshling, I'm kinda sore—"

Josh swiftly loosened his grip. "Sorry. Sorry. I guess Tom and Carl've been bad influences on me."

At the mention of their names Jacob turned his head to look at the two partners. Carl met his gaze evenly and squarely. After a moment of hesitation so did Tom. Josh sighed. "C'mon, Jakey. You don't have to love them, or even like 'em. But they're my friends. They're also wizards, and they saved me by bringing you."

Jacob was still looking at them with no little distaste.

"Look, Jacob, I'm not trying to corrupt anyone," said Tom with a huff of laughter. "I don't expect you to join the rainbow dancing fairy brigade or anything. Just...please leave me alone in the hallways?"

Josh and Carl looked nonplussed. "'Rainbow dancing fairy brigade'? Really?" asked the latter in disbelief. "Gee, thanks. So that's what I've joined. Great. Now all I need are tights, a tutu, maybe a glittery pair of wings?"

Josh grinned at Jacob's horrorstruck expression, then sobered. "Jake, let go of it, it's doing nobody any good. There's not even a reason for it. I was raped by the Lone Power, not a gay man. It just likes to cause as much pain as possible. And I was particularly annoying to It."

He still didn't look convinced. Tom was relishing the thought of seeing Jacob's homophobic idiocy being put to rest, though, so he said, "Grogan, just smile and nod."

"But—"

"Smile and nod!" Josh and Tom said in unison.

Jacob Grogan grimaced and nodded.

Carl smiled. "Close enough."

And—wonder of wonders—not a cliffhanger! Le gasp! I wasn't sure I could still do it. ;) Please let me know how you liked this chapter. If enough of you have critiques I might tweak it later on. The same things will probably happen, but I'll see if I can polish up the action and stuff. So anyway. Yeah. :D The climax is finally DONE! There will probably be only one or two more chapters in this thing. Two or three if you count the epilogue I have planned.