R: Ultra Evolution
Book 18: Stop the Clocks
20 minutes after returning from No Mercy
The club had just got back from the event, but there was no time to relax, as in the medical bay, Maddy was still struggling and lashing out wildly at everyone in sight, the rose on the verge of making her completely feral as her eyes flashed out of control. 'Take me to Messiah!' She then howled loud enough for people three streets away to hear her. Because of this behaviour, nobody was able to get near her to calm her down.
Freja initially tried to duck below her, but got scratched in the head for her troubles. Sakura tried using a long hooked pole to deliver what was needed, only for the item to be smacked wildly into a wall and start to splinter. Blair tried bridging over using her lengthy arms and back, only to quickly find that even in this wild state, Maddy was able to turn her body and swipe directly at her, cutting Blair's mouth in the process.
As everyone else attempted to get close to no avail, Astrid stepped back several inches, and cleared everyone out of the way, before running towards Maddy, and as a swipe came in, she rolled under it in perfect time, only to then reverse her roll halfway, slipping her well-built 13st body right through the gap between Maddy's arms like they were a limbo pole, and grabbing onto Maddy's hands.
As she continued to struggle, Astrid shouted to Sakura. 'NOW!' Sakura hastened towards them, holding a sharp syringe, and as Astrid softly told Maddy 'Don't worry, everything will be ok, we just need to do this for your own safety.' Maddy was too powerful though, and the fallen Alpha managed to force her left wrist free, before throwing a swipe with sharp nails and a tensed hand towards her friend, who held her hands up in fear, only to then look over them and see Maddy's arm fall around a centimetre from her face, as Sakura withdrew the syringe.
After everyone took time to recompose themselves, Rio came over to them. 'You both alright?' 'Yeah, just about' a shaken Astrid told them in response. 'Sorry I couldn't help.' 'Look, if she catches you in the head… we can't lose anybody else. Besides, you've been doing brilliantly leading us all. We've only got Maddy back because of you.' Rio laughed to herself at this, but responded 'Technically speaking, it's only because of you and Blair being in the situation, Jana for holding Rhydian back, and Freja for being a really convincing Rhydian.'
She then turned to Sakura. 'Right, how long do we have before she wakes up?' 'That anaesthetic lasts about three hours before the patient starts to wake up. The bigger issue is from what Alric and Emma have both told me, with the signs Maddy's exhibiting, we've got about 4½ hours until she's beyond the point of no return.' Realising how slim their time was, Rio immediately sprung into action. 'Spread the word, snap meeting, three minutes.' 'Aye-aye' was the return, and Sakura immediately went to tell everyone not present.
Four minutes later, everyone was gathered in the hall when Rio walked out, with a piece of paper in her hand. 'We have limited time to reverse the damage they've done to Maddy, so everyone's going to have to pull together just this one time. I don't care who you don't like, why you don't like them, because this isn't about any of us, this is about Maddy! So listen up, I don't have the time to repeat myself.'
'Kris, Dakota, Denny, Donny, you're working with Tee, your job is to recall the entirety of the Faustian spell, and using that knowledge, deciphering the correct reversal for the spell. You're going to be in the war room. Astrid, Blair, Lydia, it's your job to burn the cross, and while it is still burning, you need to recite the correct reversal for the spell. Now the weather outside is (looks out of the window at pouring rain and gusting winds) not great, it's a little bit monsoon-y, but that's why I've got the three of you on the job, I think that between you you'll work out something. And Freja and Belle, you're both going to be operating as extra security for Maddy, because like it or not, you can't avoid each other forever. Right, if that's all clear, get going.'
As the meeting concluded, Freja made a point of going straight over to Phil and Hannah, who were around as extra help. 'Hi, I um… wanted to apologise for taking Sky.' 'Is that why you wanted us to bring him?' She nodded in response. 'I saw the way she was staring at him at the convention, and I just thought that it might be our only chance to save her: if she saw Rhydian threatening him, it might break his influence over her, but it didn't work as well as I thought.'
What she was expecting was a lot of trouble. What wasn't expected was for them both to smile, and Hannah to put her arm around her. 'Well thank you, you did a brilliant job.' 'This is what I told you about your identity, you have thoughts that nobody else does. Nobody thought of that, apart from you. You saw what we didn't.' Holding back her emotions, Freja politely responded 'Thank you.'
As she went to leave though, Phil called her back. 'Just one slight thing - could you tell us next time?' 'You would have said no.' 'We wouldn't, we would have come with you. You were very lucky that nobody caught you.' 'I know, I just didn't think you'd agree, and I had to do something.' Phil smiled again, and brought her close. 'You, missus, have grown so much. And when she's back properly, Maddy will see that as well.' Finally breaking, Freja cried. 'I just caused so much trouble for her.' 'And now you're making things right. But we've all got a job to do here.'
4hr 25min to go
In the war room
The crew in the war room were all busy trying to reverse the spell. 'So she was saying Maddy's soul belonged to her, right?' 'Yeah, it was something about the fates claiming her soul, ruling her life' 'Let's just focus on the first bit for now' Kris told her, annoying Dakota. 'Just let the girl speak.' 'I'm trying to work it out piece by piece, Tee can write whatever else she thinks of down.' 'I am still here, you know.' 'Yeah, sorry' Kris responded, before they continued discussing the words.
'So what were the exact words then?' 'That's what I'm telling you, I can't remember, I was stood with this long hood over my head.' 'That's not helping though, you told us you can remember everything' Kris snapped in interruption, before continuing to raise his voice in sheer frustration, a side of him that most hadn't seen before. 'Look, I know the pressure's not on you, but we all want Maddy back and this is the only way, so we need you to remember the exact words.'
Tee responded by banging her head on the desk, and huffing with her hands on her forehead in frustration. 'I can't remember, it was something along the lines of "I offer this to the fates and claim this soul", but I don't remember the way it was put, just… give me a few minutes.' 'We don't have a few minutes, that's the point' Kris told her, before Dakota gave a controversial opinion of her own.
'Do we really need her back? Like, this was all her doing, what if she just wanted to be away from all of us, surely we should think of that, and we've all been putting ourselves in danger, and for what - to save someone who voluntarily put herself in a situation? We should be focusing on the future, and just because she's some special Alpha wolf, why does she have to be the future of us?'
As everyone looked around, Kris almost leapt over the table in anger. 'Say that to our faces, Maddy is our friend, she put herself in that situation because she was trying to protect all of us from a rampant witch, and she would have won but for a corrupt company ganging up on her. You might not care about her, but all of us do. So if you've not got any interest in helping, why don't you just go and fuck off back to New Zealand?'
Striking back and unintimidated, Dakota got right into Kris' face. 'Because I've got as much right to be here as anybody. You can bully Tee all you like, but she had the right idea by quitting when Maddy took over, because it's just one drama after another with her, everyone thinks she's the greatest leader in the history of leaders, but she isn't, she's just a spoiled brat who couldn't lead us out of a situation and now we're all having to bend over backwards to save her.'
The idea of nepotism is one that had been popular once, but by now most members of the Renegades had long since stopped considering that a possibility, as Kris was happy to explain. 'She had to fight so hard for that position, she was a temp twice, the first time because we all thought Hannah was dead, she was forced into that position with no experience, only to then be told she was having it taken away from her for no reason. She fought so hard for all of us all the time, she was proud of every single one of us, and now you think we should just leave her to go feral?'
Calmly and indignantly, Dakota responded 'Well yeah.' 'Not happening. Easy solution - either you help us with this, or you piss off and don't come back.' 'Yeah, well why don't you piss off and go and lick her backside if you like her that much, I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't mind, let's face it she's spending more time playing babysitter than actually helping anybody out here isn't she? You know, doing the job MADDY should be doing if she hadn't been so stupid as to get captured.'
As Kris and Dakota continued squabbling, Denny quietly signalled for Tee to come and talk with him. 'I'm sorry about Dakota, I don't agree with what she thinks.' 'I'm not going to have a go at you because she's being a total knob.' 'Hannah does this hypnotherapy, she told us that it's how she got information from Jessica 9 weeks ago. That might help your memory?' Thinking about it, and with her word as her bond, Tee nodded. 'If you can ask Hannah, and she agrees, I'll do it. Because I want Maddy to get better, nobody deserves to be like that.'
3hr 30min to go
Leaving the base
Astrid and Blair had their hands full, trying to steer the cross through the narrow doorways of the base. This was task enough, and not helping even slightly, was Lydia, barking out orders. 'Astrid left, Astrid left.' 'Yeah, heard you the first time' Astrid grumbled in response while trying to steer the hefty cross around to fit through the doors into the foyer. As it wouldn't quite fit, Lydia then shouted 'Blair down, Blair down.' 'I'm sorry Lydia' she responded while being crushed by the bulk of the 46lbs cross 'I can't just shorten my legs, and if I crouch, it's gonna brain me.'
'Please, never try being English again' Lydia told her, annoying Blair. 'Please, I'm more English than you, I was born in Manchester, you were born in fuckin' Tenerife. Now are you going to help with this?' 'I am doing, I'm telling you which direction to go in because you both ignored me when I told you that one of you should face the other way.' 'Has it ever occurred to you that we might not be able to see, we've got a huge wooden cross on our shoulders, if anything it should be you under here instead of Astrid.'
'And why's that?' Pulling a finger to her mouth, Blair snarkily responded with 'Let's see, you're someone who's perfectly healthy, she's someone who has an ongoing neck issue and suffers from periodic numbness in her hand, you can put the rest together.' 'You're talking like she's one moment from paralysis, yet she's perfectly fine when she's doing anything else. If you ask me it smells more of laziness than anything.'
As she finally manoeuvred the cross through the door well, Astrid struck back. 'If this cross wasn't important, it would be over your head right now. And I appreciate the concern Blair, but if I was that bad, I wouldn't have volunteered to lift this thing. Besides, it helps to have two people of the same height.' 'We're not the same height Astrid, leave it out, I'm a good 3 inches taller.' 'You're absolutely not, it was almost even last time.' 'Well next time take your boots off before we measure.'
Several minutes later, and making significant progress now after more than an hour, the Varsity Club alumni had managed to squeeze the cross out of the heavy metal doors at the front of the warehouse-like base, and started lowering it down onto the thick wooden mounting created for it, while being lashed by rain flying sideways through the air like miniature jet planes striking them continuously. Lydia though, was still being "helpful", by complaining about not being listened to.
'We could have had this done half an hour ago if you'd have been listening to me.' 'We were listening' Blair responded through gritted teeth. 'We had no choice but to listen.' 'It's just like nobody would listen to me when I told them Belle was bad news' 'We're not going there.' Astrid then pointed out 'If you start that again, I've got plenty of dirty laundry of yours to share. I'm sure you remember our little chat the other week.' This was enough to cease Lydia's complaining, and she started giving instructions again.
'Blair, a step to your right. Left sorry, I meant left.' 'Which one is it?' 'Left. One step to your left. Right Astrid, half a step back, and lower your right shoulder.' As she did this, Lydia crouched to observe the positioning. 'Blair, baby step forwards and to your left. Literally the tiniest step you can imagine.' 'That's what a baby step is' she responded sassily, and followed the instruction. 'Blair, lower your left shoulder.' She did so slowly, and the cross slid into the holder perfectly.
Blair then reached into one of the pockets of her belt, and withdrew the box of matches that were in there, before striking one alight, as Lydia asked 'Why do you have matches in there anyway?' 'Oh, that was Astrid's idea, she was going to immolate Akiza if we'd lost to her' Blair casually responded, before Astrid calmly added 'Worst case scenario obviously, just to buy us some time, I'm sure they had some fire extinguishers there.'
As soon as the match met the wood though, it just extinguished itself in the terrible weather. 'Well that went well' Lydia commented, before Astrid took over, and struck matches in frustration one after the other, only for them all to blow out almost immediately upon flaring up though. 'How the hell are we supposed to light anything out here?' Blair then told her to 'Light it underneath the horizontal bit', and Astrid followed suit, but this only succeeded in charring the wood slightly before the rain and wind made the fire disappear into mere embers.
2hrs 50min to go,
In the medical bay
Belle and Freja were stood back to back in the doorway to the medical bay, Maddy still sleeping with an agonised look on her face as the rose controlling her sapped what little remained of her mind, Sakura constantly monitoring her vital signs to ensure that there were no added complications from being heavily sedated. After over an hour of standing silently next to each other, Belle finally spoke.
'I can never apologise enough for not telling you what I was doing, I didn't want to be wrong and drag you down with me. And if I left a note' 'I would have come after you, you told me. Because it doesn't matter what I do, people will still never trust me, they'll tell anybody else before they'll tell me.' 'I only told one person, Blair told Rio. And I only told Blair because I didn't want you all to suddenly kill me.'
'Everyone just expects me to be happy go lucky and everything go back to normal, but I just can't' Freja told her coldly. 'I can't forgive you for what you did because you made me think I had to fight against my two best friends, if Astrid hadn't have supported me while she was broken, I wouldn't have been able to take it. I want to forgive you, but I just can't do that. All I can do is try to do that, but I don't know if that's ever going to happen.'
Belle nodded, and admitted her expectations. 'I wouldn't expect you to forgive me, I was hoping you would, but I can't expect you to. I just have to deal with the fact that I did what I did, and our relationship isn't ever going to be what it was, you're never going to be friends like that with me again and I'll have to rebuild things without you.' Freja wiped a building tear away hearing this, being desperate to offer forgiveness but also aware of the weakness that suggested.
In the condo, Canada
Rhydian was steaming with rage, having spent all morning since returning from No Mercy throwing furniture around Akiza's apartment. After ruminating for a good hour, he got back up, paced around, punched a wall, and kicked the sofa he had just been sat on, before he growled, squared up to Akiza, and pointed his finger into her face, berating her for her failure and unwise challenge.
'This… this is all your fault! You're the one who caused all of this, you're the one who let your mouth go wild and challenge them when we could have just waited until the spell was sealed, you're the one who got impatient, YOU'RE the one who lost MY fiance back to those… idiots, those idiots who think they're right even though they're not! Those… bastards who dare to take MY PROPERTY away from me! Well let me tell you, you're going to get her back for me, you're going to fix this situation or else there will be consequences, and you really… really (gritting his teeth) don't want that. I'm going out.'
As Rhydian stormed away to calm himself down, Akiza got straight on the phone to her co-conspirator. 'Claude, where the hell were you?' 'Some peg-leg smacked me with a wrench, I spent the entire day in hospital.' 'Yeah, well I hope your little stay in the ER was worth it, because now Claude's wrecking absolutely everything, and threatening me. We have to find a way to draw her back in.'
'Easy, I'll just share the pictures that you shared with me, put them online somewhere and blackmail her into returning, if she doesn't come back to you voluntarily then I'll just knock the little slut out and drag her back to you.' 'How STUPID are you!?' Akiza exclaimed in return. 'She's 18, if you do that you'll probably be arrested for having kid porn or something, and that's the last thing either of us need.' 'Meet up with me later, we'll thrash this out.' Frustrated, Akiza agreed. 'Fine, but you'd better have come up with something by then.'
2hrs to go
Outside the base
The weather was continuing to play havoc with the attempts to light the cross, while Lydia put in what could be generously described as a minimal effort to try and get a fire burning, a fact which wasn't lost on the Varsity Club with her. 'Could you try and put in some actual effort Lydia, we need to get this lighted.' 'It's not my fault, trying to light this thing out here in this weather, it's just not going to happen.'
Astrid then nervously looked at her watch. 'Come on Lyds, we've got less than two hours for all of this now.' 'Well don't blame me, Maddy got herself in this situation, and I don't understand how I'm supposed to get this fire lit when it's storming like fuck out here. Surely somewhere, someone's got to have some firelighters or something like that? There's got to be something at least, because this just isn't catching at all.'
This seemed to get the cogs turning in Blair's head. 'I think I have an idea, but I need to go to the kitchen to do it. Are you two ok here if I nip back in there?' 'Sure, but if you're drying your hair, we're going to report it' Lydia responded. 'Trust me, no intention of doing that, I just need to find something in there.' Blair then dashed in, and raided the kitchen cupboards, leaving items strewn all over the units. Eventually, she saw what she was after right at the back, and grasped the bag, before returning outside.'
1hr 35min to go
in a meeting room
With the medical office unavailable, the meeting room was the setting for the hypnotherapy session, with an incredibly surprised Hannah walking in to find Tee sat on the desks. 'You have permission to do what you need to, just… don't try and take control of me.' 'No intention of doing, that's not what this is for. So how this is going to work is that I'm going to put you under a trance, and then ask you to journey back to the day Maddy was converted, and recall every single detail that is deep within your long-term memory, maybe even memories that you thought were lost. If at any time you can't continue, just say and I will bring you out. Understand?'
As Tee nodded at her in agreement, Hannah showed Phil sat in the corner with his trusty laptop. 'Phil is in here, he is only going to be writing down what you say while journeying back, other than that he is not going to be here. Is that ok with you?' She nodded again. 'Right, so when you're ready, just say the word, and we will begin.' After taking a deep breath, Tee stated 'Ready', and Hannah swung the pendulum. 'Tee, watch the pendulum go back and forth, and you will find your eyelids feeling very heavy. Do not fight this feeling, because we are going to explore your memory.'
As Tee fell into a slumber, Hannah began the questions. 'Take me back to Toronto, Canada, on the day that Akiza hypnotised Maddy. Tell me what you can see.' 'A church… an abandoned church, a cross, there are two roses on it. Maddy's chained to the cross, the chains are anchored into the wall.' 'Are you there?' 'I'm there, Lukas is there, Akiza is there.' 'What happens on that day?' 'Maddy's trance wears off, she wakes up, Akiza asks me to slit her wrists so Maddy could drink her blood to complete a contract.'
'Good. Now transport your memories to Maddy drinking Akiza's blood. Can you see it?' Tee started to look severely uncomfortable here, reliving something which, being under Akiza's thrall the first time, was now being seen in an entirely new light. 'Maddy is bleeding, she's been beaten by Lukas, again and again. He wants to beat her to death, I remind him what Akiza wants Maddy for. Akiza goes to leave the room, and "I'm ready".'
'Is this Maddy who's ready?' A pained Tee nodded in response. 'Maddy says "I'm ready", Akiza brings the cup of blood over, and Maddy drinks the cup in one go. She's untied from the cross, just stands there, like she's already in a trance. Blood smeared all across her face, there's blood everywhere, she's just stood there, staring at us, we're in robes with hoods, we turn to watch her, Akiza casts an enchantment.'
Realising this was what they were after, Hannah signalled to Phil to be ready. 'Can you recall the words she used?' After a pause, Tee spoke the words they had been waiting to hear, in a voice not dissimilar to Akiza's. 'May the fates hear me now as I claim this soul, make her life mine to rule. She accepted the offer of blood to bind us as one, she has made her choice and now the Faustian may take place. Maddy's eyes flash from red to gold, red to gold, they glow red, and fade, hazel but distant.'
Hannah then looked over at Phil. 'Written it all down.' She then leant over down Tee's ear. 'I am now going to count back from 5 to 1. When I reach 1, the trance will be reversed, and you will be able to wake up, you will return to your time and place. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.' As soon as she said "1", Tee's eyelids started fluttering, and after a couple of minutes of regaining her sense of self, she woke up.
'Did you get what you need?' 'You were absolutely perfect, thank you. You gave us more than we needed, now we can get cracking with reversing this.' 'If it's ok, I'm just going to stay here for a while.' He nodded back to her. 'You've provided us with everything we should need.' As he walked away, Hannah echoed his sentiments. 'Take as long as you need here, and thank you for cooperating.' 'You know, maybe you're not all as bad as I'd convinced myself.'
1hr 17mins to go
In the war room
As Kris and Dakota were still staring daggers at each other, Donny and Denny trying to calm them down, Phil walked in, carrying his laptop. 'Get anything?' 'Worked a treat. The words used were "May the fates hear me now as I claim this soul, make her life mine to rule. She accepted the offer of blood to bind us as one, she has made her choice and now the Faustian may take place". Now we just need to get on with reversing it.'
Everyone then got on with writing down their interpretations of how it should be reversed, but it quickly became apparent that nobody could agree on the wording. 'So we start with destiny hearing us as we reclaim the soul' Kris confidently stated, but this was shot down by Dakota immediately. 'No, it needs to be the reverse, that's just us doing what Akiza did. So it's going to be something about whims talking to us.'
'That sounds ridiculous.' 'So does a blood bound contract and a magical spell, but here we are.' Denny then slid his suggestion over to Dakota. 'May destiny hear us as we reverse this trance, make her life her own to control. That doesn't sound right either, no offence, but it just doesn't.' They then noticed Donny with his sunglasses back on, irking Dakota. 'Donny, you realise it's not a fashion show?' 'Yeah yeah, helps the old concentration.'
As he finished his writing, Donny read it out for everyone. 'May the fates hear us now as we free this soul, make her life be free from rule.' Nobody looked convinced by this, and they then started having a debate on who was likely to be right. 'So it's not going to be the fates because we need some kind of reverse of that.' Kris told him, before the Vegas loudmouth responded with 'Yeah, well how's that "destiny", surely you wrote them because they're all the same thing?'
'I mean yeah, but' 'So if I'm wrong on that, we're all wrong by your logic. And all this talk of "reclaiming" the soul, we're not trying to put her under someone else's control.' This logic struck a chord with Phil, who nodded along. 'He's got a point.' 'Go on then, what's your suggestion?' 'I put "May the gods of choice hear our prayer, and make this soul's life hers to rule.' 'That sounds… not great to be honest.'
As the debate continued to rage with five different ideas, Donny suddenly had a suggestion. 'Gonna speak to Rio, because I know who can help us.' As everyone looked interested, he had a somewhat surprising name. 'Belle.' 'But she wasn't there on that day' 'No duh Koti, but has everyone forgotten that she's got an A Level in English Literature? I'm sure they did some poetry or creative writing there.'
This surprised Dakota immensely. 'She's got A Levels?' 'Yeah, going to Uni in a few months. Not that you'd know considering you spent most of your time since you arrived spreading rumours about her and trying to get her kicked out' Kris responded, as Donny stood up sharply. 'Back in a couple.' As soon as he left the room, he encountered Rio coming to check on them. 'Hey boss' 'Told you to call me Rio' 'Sorry, Rio, any chance we can borrow Belle for a few to help us with this?' 'I mean if you're taking over her place, yeah.' 'Sure.' 'She's just at the medical bay.' He gave her a thumbs up and cheeky smile, before surging away.
57 minutes to go
In the medical bay
As Donny arrived, Belle and Freja were still trying to make awkward conversation. 'So are you and Lydia still getting on?' 'I guess, she's still overbearing but I suppose her heart's in the right place at least, and she stood by me throughout what I went through.' 'Well I'm glad you had her and Astrid.' Donny then coughed to get their attention. 'What's up?' 'Belle, we was wondering if we could have you in the war room for a few minutes? I'll take over here.' Shocked, she looked over at Freja. 'You ok on your own?' Before she could answer, he pointed out 'I'm swapping with you.'
As he took her place on security, she rushed off, hurriedly tying her hair up and looping it back inwards as she did so. Walking into the room, she tucked her loose wisps behind her ears, and got straight to work. 'Right, you wanted me?' Phil brought her in to explain the situation. 'We've hit a bit of an impasse: we know the words of the spell now, but we're struggling to work out the precise way of reversing it. Donny said you've got an English A Level, so you might be able to help.'
As she took a look at it, she responded to him saying 'Well as far as I remember they didn't have a Magical Spells unit in my A Level, although that might have been the unit I missed while I was being sent to prison before my sentence was changed, so I'll see what I can do. What are we working with?' 'You've got the spell there, and everyone's been working out their own individual thoughts on what the reverse might be, except typically, nobody can agree.'
Belle hovered around, taking a quick look at everybody's ideas, before circling back, and taking Phil and Donny's ideas, before overlaying them onto each other briefly, and then leaning over to write down her idea. As she finished, she shook her head, and passed it over to Phil. 'I'm sorry, my handwriting's terrible, used to be good when I was in school.' Phil read through her suggestion, and then passed it along to everyone else.
'Right, we need to decide which one we're going to try first.' Immediately, Dakota put her hand up. 'I think Belle's is the best we got, I'm not sure it's entirely correct, but it's the closest at least.' Denny nodded to her, as she said 'He agrees, I don't know why he isn't using his words bro', chirping at her little brother as she did. Kris then got up, and patted Belle on the back. 'I trust you.' 'I'm glad somebody does.' 'Right, let's move out.'
48mins to go
Outside the base
As Kris and Dakota emerged outside, their chosen incantation in hand, they found a bizarre sight as Blair was loading the soaked cross with dry tortilla chips, while a confused Astrid questioned her. 'Blair, you know I'd never question you without reason.' 'Obviously.' 'So please don't take it the wrong way when I say, what the hell are you doing?' 'Look, I didn't have any molotov cocktails to throw at it, and I read somewhere that dry tortilla chips can be used to set wet wood on fire, it's a bit like dry twigs except we don't have any of those.'
Once she had made sure that the chips were spread out, Blair struck the last match left in the box, and then took a breath, before lobbing it onto the cheap snack, causing the entire cross to erupt into a swell of flames, as Blair screamed in delight. 'Get… the fuck… in there! I told you didn't I, I told you that would work!' Astrid then noticed Dakota stood next to them. 'You got it?' 'Courtesy of Belle.' Astrid stood in front of the flaming cross, and hair flapping in the wind while being battered by the rain, she spoke clearly and confidently.
'May the fates hear me now as I free this soul, make her life her own to rule. She offers blood for the acceptance as one, her choice was forced upon her, and now the Faustian must be relinquished!' As she stated this powerfully, the burning of the cross intensified, flaming strong and bright as Astrid stepped back, exhausted. 'Please let this work, I pray to whichever god will listen, please let this work.'
40 minutes to go
In the medical bay
While the fire raged outside, Freja was keeping watch out of the window, with Jana taking her place in the guard position, when she saw Maddy's eyes twitch, and she woke up, still glassy eyed but no longer hostile. 'Where am I? I don't remember… where am I?' Cautiously, Freja approached her. 'Maddy, it's Freja. We rescued you from Akiza, she was hurting you, but we need you to give us a cup of your blood, and then let us give you a little injection to break the enchantment.' Seemingly understanding in her confused state, Maddy slowly lifted her arm up. 'If a cup of blood helps, I'll do it.'
Sakura then approached, but Freja held her back. 'I'll do it.' She took a sharp scalpel, and getting Donny to hold the pre-prepared cup out, she slit Maddy's left arm just slightly with a 2cm incision, with blood streaming out from it steadily. As soon as the cup was filled almost to the brim, she took a nearby bandage, and wrapped it tightly around the arm, before applying pressure to it, as Donny took the cup outside.
Sakura then came towards them with the syringe. 'Just a quick little thing now. How's the bleeding Freja?' 'Already slowing, I think I missed the artery.' 'Good job.' 'You're the one who told me where to cut.' Sakura then gently held Maddy's head to the side as the bleeding from her arm slowed, and injected the full load of the rescue serum into her. There was an immediate response as Maddy thrashed about for a moment, but just as Freja was about to call for more help, she stopped, and her eyes started to regain the long-since lost light. 'I think it's working!'
Meanwhile, Donny delivered the blood to Rio, who looked around her. 'Who wants to do it then?' After a pause, it was Astrid who stated 'It should be the person who made this all possible, the person who led us through this entire nightmare, the person who made sure we got Maddy back - you.' Surprised but aware of the time ticking, Rio placed the blood at the makeshift altar, and then made a proclamation to it, with a surprise.
'My name is Riana Kastle, Priestess of the Barian Empire and President of the Renegades, the servants of the great god Icaron. We wish for our brave and mighty Alpha Maddy to be freed from the shackles of the Faustian Bargain that was imposed on her. Under the law of equivalent exchange, we must give up an equal power. As the cost was imposed for the reward of incredible destructive power, I give up my Barian birthright, strip myself of that destructive power so that the payment may be made.'
She then symbolically threw a fleur-de-lis necklace (representing the power she was giving up), before standing back. After a few seconds, the fire intensified, and glowed equal parts red, orange and green, before fizzling out entirely, as the blood evaporated in the heat of the roaring fire, and Blair checked on the Interim president, who was breathing heavily. 'You ok?' She smiled at her, and responded 'Never better. Maddy's power can still do so much good, mine only led to destruction and pain. It's a perfect payment.'
As they walked back in, Freja approached them. 'Shouldn't you be' Rio then noticed a big smile on her face. 'It's going to be ok' she told them all, before starting to babble, trying to get as much information out as possible. Her eyes, they started going back to normal. Is that it now?' 'Hopefully, I don't think there's much more to do. She passed out again?' 'Yeah, she offered the blood voluntarily, but the look when she did, it's almost like she wasn't even there.' 'The spell was still clinging on. We'll just wait and see.'
Two hours later
Freja sat at Maddy's bedside, reading the legends to her like a bedtime story, hoping upon hope that she would eventually wake up and all would be as it once was. 'And then the great Alpha told her enemies "there is no room for hate in this world. Your hate will only lead to your destruction, you should embrace your enemies' differences and learn from their successes as well as their failures".' As she did, a soft Geordie voice murmured 'I could listen to this all day. When did you have such a lovely voice?'
Shocked, Freja dropped the book with its thudding on the floor picking up the attention of a recuperating Rio outside the door. 'Maddy, are you… awake?' 'It sounds like it' she muttered, causing the twin to pick her seat up, and move it to the other side of the bed, as she saw Maddy, half asleep but smiling kindly. 'Hello stranger.' Still unable to believe it, she tested the now-awake Alpha. 'Who am I?' 'Freja Jenna McKinna, born September 23rd 1991 in Tenerife, Dyslexic but tells nobody, and wishes people knew her for more than having piercing blue eyes which look pretty gorgeous today.'
Embarrassed, she blushed as Maddy weakly laughed. 'Do you remember anything that happens?' 'After the whole drinking blood fiasco, not really. I remember you though, that's the important bit.' Delighted, Freja almost launched herself off the chair, hugging Maddy around the neck while crying. 'I really thought we'd lost you forever!' 'Hey, you don't get rid of me that easy!' As they continued to celebrate, Rio watched on from the doorway, tears in her own eyes. 'Trust me Maddy, as long as I have any say in it, you're never going to have to relive what happened in that time.'
Next time: Maddy starts to recover from her ordeal, while Phil has choice words for Myka, and Emma struggles to hide the truth. R: Ultra Evolution Book 19: A Broken Rose
