Chapter 13: Riley and Alex

"Duck!"

Once again Alyssa dropped to the ground and rolled to the side. The minotaur's axe then arced around the area where her forehead had been seconds ago.

"Thanks, Ian!" she called. The thautamerge gave her a nod in turn, then turned around just in time to defend himself from an airborne hammer of a frost giant.

Ian's eyes suddenly became dangerous slits as the shards of what was once a hammer blew away. "Sestiva," he growled.

His sister only offered a cruel grin. "Ian," she flashed back. While his voice had been deep and not amused like a lion, hers was precise and venomous, like a snake.

He said nothing more. He knew ice wouldn't work on her since it was her primary school as well. So if he couldn't fight her with ice-

Ian traced a red symbol and let loose a blazing phoenix.

-he'd fight her with fire.

Sestiva's eyes enlarged as she hurled herself to the side, the tips of the flaming wings grazing her blue robes and leaving a mark. She let out a cry of deep annoyance and glared at Ian.

"I bought that for about 10,000 gold, you know!" Her voice was very shrill. "You'll pay for this!"

With that, she crudely fashioned an ice symbol- due to her not focusing, it disintegrated to a clump of ash. It gave Ian the perfect opportunity to follow up his spell with another one- this time a roaring fire dragon that made the phoenix look like a mouse.

She rolled this way and that, dodging every last one of the fire dragon's puffs. For a split second she stopped to send a blast of ice at the dragon's mouth before leaping out of the way once more. Finally she ran around the dragon, began to make her way up its red scales, and plunged her sword into its back.

Ian was quick to ready another spell now that Sestiva had bested this one, but she was quicker. She jumped off the quickly disintegrating dragon with a casual grace, ran up to Ian and plunged her sword into his shoulder.

He screamed as if his nerves were on fire. Alyssa gave a frightened cry. Sestiva withdrew her sword, leaving her brother to fall. Blood cascaded out of his shoulder like a waterfall, his head beginning to roll around.

"Ian!" Alyssa fled to his side and gripped him hard. She looked up briefly to flash a very unflattering insult to Sestiva.

Her noses flared up, then Alyssa saw what was coming a second before it did. Sestiva's foot connected hard with Alyssa's nose, sending her rolling across the room and giving another cry of pain. Her back slammed not against the wall- but with a wrist that had attempted to ease her connection a bit- she swore she heard something snap, along with a small hill coming out of her wrist. The diviner howled in pain.

Sestiva then surveyed the room briefly to admire her handiwork. Nick, unconscious. Ian, stabbed. Alyssa, broken wrist. The only one able to fight in the room was that pyromancer, Jacob.

Against her and Valdus combined, she knew that the odds weren't exactly impressive.

And from the way Jacob gulped, so did he.

Grace was steadily growing frantic.

The monitor of her laptop illuminated her face in a multicolored light, making the darkness around her even blacker than it already was. Her eyes poured over the screen avidly, darting back and forth. She murmured various things to herself as her fingers flew across the thin keyboard.

The plan looked like it was going smoothly- at first. Bit by bit, she heard the group's cries of pain, followed by them going down, one by one. First Nick, then Ian, now Alyssa.

Were Valdus and Sestiva really that powerful?

Without warning, a siren erupted out of her laptop's speakers. Her eyes bugged, now searching for what the heck was going on-

Then those very eyes widened.

"No," she breathed to herself. "It can't be…"

She had to do something!

All at once Grace activated her microphone, fingers seeding sweat and slipping over the surface. "Guys! Level 10 threat approaching! I repeat, Level 10 threat! Get yourselves out of there!"

Her vision fled to her computer again-

"Especially you, Riley! It's approaching you! You're dead if you don't get out of there RIGHT NOW!"

Riley barely managed to swallow a lump. Alex, her childhood crush, was standing right in front of her… as an enemy.

"Alex."

"Riley." While her voice was sad, his voice was inquiring. "So. You're a wizard?"

She did nothing but nod.

"According to them, I am the last theurgist."

"They're correct."

She said nothing to that. She felt like she couldn't say anything without melting down into a puddle.

But somehow, she was able to restrain herself. "You're stealing that stone."

"Correction- the stone belongs to me. You're the criminals."

"So you were a wizard all along?" Riley wanted to say something more- anything to show how ridiculous it was that it would pass by her just like that- but the words were tangled in her throat.

"Yeah. You got that right."

"And you're working with Valdus and Sestiva."

"You're right again." Alex sighed and looked up to the ceiling as if asking it for guidance. Then, as if deciding that said answer was unsatisfactory, he looked down and stared at her right in the eye. "Look, I've known you a little beforehand, so I'm not keen on fighting you. But, should push come to shove-"

Suddenly he whipped his wand out of his jacket and pointed it at her chest unflinchingly. His eyes became as impenetrable as steel. A new column of fear rose in Riley.

"-Then make no hesitation, I will." Alex no longer held the inquiring, somewhat sympathetic tone. Now it dressed into a cold, ruthless one. "I am not an enemy you want. Now go. You don't know the half of what you're dealing with."

For some reason, this did nothing but give birth to a flame of anger inside her. This was no longer her childhood crush- this was her enemy. She understood that now.

"As a matter of fact, Alex Zelenski, I do know what I'm dealing with!" She was surprised to hear her voice go to an extreme she didn't know it had. "Don't you dare underestimate me!"

If this were a book that Riley liked to read, then this would have been the part where she took the enemy by surprise and unleashed a devastating bit of power. Which was what she was expecting as she gathered that same magical energy inside her, flowing out of her wand so it could take the form of a leprechaun.

But to her horror, Alex swatted it aside with his wand like he would a fly. Before she could react, he darted to her and quickly slammed her against the wall, wand to her neck. All she could see was his face, barely an inch apart. She could even feel his breath against her skin.

"Again. You don't want me as your enemy."

Riley forced herself to bite back fear. "What is that stone, anyways? What does it do?" she snarled.

"Like you're in a position to be interrogating me."

"Then at least tell me why you're with the two of them, you moron!" Riley shoved Alex as forcibly as she could and straightened.

Alex opened his mouth to say something, probably a retort, but it changed into an answer. His tone didn't change with it. "Because there's someone I deeply care about! Someone I want to save!"

"Well there's-"

Then she stopped. The realization slowly dawned on her face.

"You're… trying to save Sabrina as well, aren't you?"

For once, Alex said nothing to that.

That was all the answer she needed.

Suddenly she regretted calling him a moron.

"And you… you like her, don't you?" The words were almost a whisper.

"Pretty much."

"But you don't have to be with them in order to bring her back!" she blurted. "Alyssa said that since I'm a theurgist I can bring back the dead once I get to that point-"

"What?" Alex whirled on his heels and stared at her. "Hate to break it you, but this Alyssa person is obviously lying. There is no ordinary magic that can bring back the dead!"

Riley froze for a long moment. Alyssa was… lying to her?

Then she reprimanded herself. She couldn't let him know that he had gotten to her. So she erected her face and shot back, "Well, if my- if my way isn't gonna work, what makes you so sure that your way will?!"

"Because my way isn't ordinary magic." Suddenly his face seemed dark- sinister, almost. "Like I said- you don't know what you're dealing with."

A new voice nearly made her ears explode before she could respond to that. "Guys! Level 10 threat approaching! I repeat, Level 10 threat! Get yourselves out of there! Especially you, Riley! It's approaching you! You're dead if you don't get out of there RIGHT NOW!"

Suddenly Riley remembered what Grace had said about Level 10 threats.

Her face lost all color.

It was as if all time had stopped just for that one moment. Riley did nothing, thought nothing, she barely even breathed, Grace's words continually ringing in her ears.

Level 10 threat… get yourselves out of there… you're dead…

Abruptly Riley broke into a run. But someone blocked the entryway right as she did.

"Going somewhere?"