(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: self-hatred)
-Ranya-
I yanked the kitchen knife back out of my pocket—though I knew it wouldn't do anything—as a shadow glided across the wall.
Some people screamed. Others paled or froze. But most of all, their faces burned with anger—a broiling, red fury—though a few, unbelievers until the reactions of others proved otherwise, looked perplexed before their eyes snapped to the shadow.
Dakota's narrowed, her lips pulled into a snarl, and she, too, yanked out a knife. I looked at her directly—would we be able to pull off our plan now? She met my gaze and nodded. I glanced down at the chef's tool in my hand—would it be sharp enough?
"Say goodbye to your army, Ranya," Pitch purred from everywhere at once as his shadow melted into another, and as Dakota spun toward it, her braids whipping around. Then she stopped. Had he already teleported away?
Her shoulders went stiff, and her gaze shot me. "We need to go!" The lights flickered in uneven patterns like a dance of shadows. That was when I heard the thrum of wingbeats. Hundreds of them. Approaching rapidly. So rapidly they had reached hearing range just after Dakota sensed them.
My pendant warmed again; the danger had come. I cursed myself.
The people around me erupted in fearful shouts. They would be trapped.
"Fear Angels!"
"How many?"
"How did he find us?"
"Guys, we can't run; we have to fight!"
But after that last cry, some people stampeded for the stairs. I spun to join them. We weren't properly armed against Fear Angels, and they would surround us. "Upstairs!" I shouted.
But the creatures descended quicker. Within a second, they were clambering through the large window in the middle of the basement wall as I rushed up the stairs. Bones clattered against the floor above, and a skeletal head appeared hunched through the basement doorway, its eyes wide and hollow. In half a second, more appeared behind it.
People shrieked again as we skidded to a halt on the stairs. More shrieks, and many thuds, came from the basement. Gasps and cries of anguish.
"They're quick," I said, as if that would help.
"Attack Fear Angels!" came a cry from downstairs. We have to help her. She wouldn't last on her own against that many.
"Go back down the stairs!" I commanded.
Many people pounded after me, but some didn't. They stayed frozen, or recklessly charged forward. The Fear Angels focused on them first, and because of their sacrifice—intentional or not—the rest of us were able to make it back to the bottom of the stairs before the skeletal creatures gave us chase. People wailed as Fear Angels paralyzed their friends.
"My parents!" Lori cried as she charged the Fear Angels up the steps. Skeletal bones grazed her forehead. She collapsed hard on the wooden stairs.
A rush of adrenaline coursed through my arms. Protect the weak.
Near the staircase in the basement, one Fear Angel fought the rest, shooting its arms out and paralyzing the other creatures. Dakota stood behind it.
That was when I noticed all the paralyzed bodies already piled on the floor. The Fear Angels had already taken up most of the room, and evidently Dakota's creature couldn't keep that whole space secure. So many of the people who had stayed downstairs were paralyzed.
Everyone left was immediately squished around the bottom of the stairs, a smaller area that Dakota's Fear Angel could protect. Knife Girl gripped a knife so long I was unsure how she had hidden it in her clothes. One boy, a holey camo jacket slung over his shoulders, held a thick tome he had probably taken from the bookshelf. Another girl, whose yellow eyes that matched her pants were wide and shiny, held her bookbag in front of her. Some people stepped in front of others—probably their friends—and held out their arms.
I took a quick count. There were fifteen of us left. Fifteen out of forty-five.
I put my knife away, took off a boot, and prepared to try, however impossible, to distract Fear Angels and protect my classmates.
The creatures from upstairs barreled down toward us. I threw my shoe at their feet, making a couple stumble before quickly regaining their balance. I yanked off my other boot. One tiny girl screamed and struck the chest of the nearest Fear Angel with a heavy-looking wallet. The creature didn't stumble back, and all of them continued forward, even as I threw my other boot under their feet. Dakota glanced back from her place near the edge of the group and froze. We both knew there was no way she could help.
Knife Girl shoved her way to the back of the crowd, away from the creatures' reaching arms, as people fell and others shouted in grief. I threw my bookbag, but the Fear Angels just trampled over it. My classmates struck at the creatures with hard weapons, but those classmates and others soon collapsed paralyzed to the other bodies beneath.
Then all at once, aside from the one under Dakota's control, the Fear Angels halted. After a second, they spun and raced out where they had come from—climbing through windows and trekking back upstairs. The controlled one followed, still trying to paralyze the others.
Those of us humans remaining stood still, tears sailing down one girl's cheeks. I counted—five in all, including Dakota and I. And I had been able to do almost nothing about it.
Maybe the most unnerving thing about this was that even though he could have captured us all, Pitch let us live.
A dark shadow flitted across the wall. Dakota spun to it, but it vanished.
"What are you doing here, Pitch?" I spat and yanked out my knife again. Dakota jerked her own up in front of her.
"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?" Pitch pointed out. His voice thundered through the room. "I nearly killed you at your school, and yet you still try to oppose me."
"Of course I oppose your existence. What kind of decent human would I be if I didn't?"
Pitch growled. "But are you going to kill me?" The lights flickered like they were struggling in a chokehold. Dakota's gaze shot to the ceiling, but nothing appeared. Her eyes darted everywhere. Was he constantly moving around so she couldn't aim? "You think this little group is going to follow you? When has anyone ever followed you, Ranya?"
How did he know everyone hated me? Had the Watcher been spying? "Not you, that's for sure. Not weirdly stalking me at all."
"But do you think you can save your family, Ranya, as a human girl with no weapons or powers of her own?"
"Well, I didn't go into this expecting everyone to die. Except you. Then you can reunite with your wife."
The lights flickered again as Pitch snarled, a barely restrained sound. "You will learn, Ranya, that our fates are actually very intertwined."
As I opened my mouth for another insult, Dakota said, "He's gone."
(A/N: Happy birthday to everyone with the same birthday as me! (September 15th))
