Across Worlds - Chapter 33 Part 4

The fog was coming in even faster now, filling up the space between her and the others. She had told it to stop when it reached her feet so a wall of fog climbed to the ceiling in front of her. Dorrin, Rhys and Seth vanished behind the wall of fog. Akis turned to Sam.

“Hold on to that locket with your life. Get out of the building, it’ll be clear outside.”

“Did you take all of this from outside?” He asked incredulously. He wasn’t even looking at her, the fog had his attention. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Focus. Take the locket outside. I’m gonna get Seth and meet you out there.”

“Akia!” Rhys’s voice bellowed through the fog. Her heart beat faster.

“How are you gonna find him?” Sam asked.

“Trust me,” she said, throwing his words back at him. “I’ll find him.” She said it so confidently that she almost believed herself. The fog had successfully cut them off from the enemy, but it also cut them off from Seth. She’d have to fight to get him out of there. Sweat was forming on her forehead and she couldn’t stop fidgeting her fingers.

It’ll work. Get going. She told herself. Pulling Sam into a hug, she put her lips close to his ear. “Be careful. Dorrin is unpredictable. We don’t know what he can do.” Sam nodded and pulled away. After stuffing the locket back in his pocket, he dashed off into the fog.

Akia took a few breaths to calm her nerves before following him. It was a strange sensation, not knowing where you’re going. She could see a very short distance in front of her, but it didn’t make her feel any better. She was still walking blind. How was she going to find Seth in this? All she had thought about when conjuring it was breaking herself off from Dorrin and Rhys. Emotions had clouded her mind. If she had taken the time to think it out she would’ve come up with a much more effective spell.

She felt stupid as she walked, hands stretched out as far as they could go. She’d run into something eventually. Just a few moments later, she rammed into a wall. The wallpaper in front of her was different from the one that lined the dining room. It wasn’t even wallpaper, it was paint. She had reached the barrier. Seth had been just inside the barrier, she remembered. She’d make it to him in no time.

One hand on the wall, she walked towards, what she hoped was, the left side of the restaurant. When there was no more wall for her fingers to touch, she stopped. She had two options: keep walking and hope to reach the other side of the opening or find out exactly where Seth was. Both were equally as dangerous as she could lose her way or alert them to her whereabouts, but she had to do something. She had to take the risk. She called out Seth’s name.

There was no response. She waited. And then she heard him.

“I’m here!” he called out, his voice not too far from where she was. She started off again, taking care to walk straight until she could reach the other side of the barrier. The second her hand rested on it, someone gripped her wrist. She tried to pull away, but they held tight. With a single yank, the person stumbled forward right into her. It was Seth. She sighed with relief as she caught him.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she snapped. “Come on, we have to get out of here. Just follow me and don’t stop.” She turned and started through the archway towards the front of the restaurant, but she was held back when Seth didn’t move. “What the hell, Seth? Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“He’s got me,” Seth cried. “Get him off me!” Akia didn’t know which man Seth was talking about, but it didn’t take her long to find out.

“You’re not taking him until I get that locket,” Rhys growled. “Let go of him and get rid of this stupid fog. I’m about to—"

Akia shut his voice out and closed her eyes. Focusing on the area behind Seth, she conjured thought of buzzing bugs and terrible hot nights. She could almost smell the sweat dripping down Rhys’s neck, a very unpleasant smell, and see him swatting desperately at the wave of bees bearing down on him. And then she really did hear the buzzing. She snapped her eyes open. The spell was done.

When Rhys’s grip slackened on Seth, she pulled Seth along the wall and through the archway. All the time spent at the restaurant had burned a map into her subconscious. She didn’t need her sight to know where she was going.

“That enough!” Dorrin roared through the fog. It disappeared in a second. Her vision was clear and she saw they weren’t far from the door. Sam was standing there waiting for them. She wanted to look back to see what had happened, but she knew she couldn’t risk it. She sprinted out of the building and right into Sam’s arms.

“We don’t have much time,” Sam whispered, looking over her shoulder. Seth was standing next to them, looking back at the building. He rocked from one foot to the other. “There’s no time to teach him how to transport. We’ll have to do it for him. Dorrin doesn’t look all too pleased. The sooner the better.”

She couldn’t help it. Curiosity washed over her and she turned to look back. Dorrin was staring her down while Rhys swatted at the bees still attacking him. Dorrin snapped his fingers and the bees disappeared. Her jaw dropped when she saw that Rhys was unharmed. All in one spell, Dorrin was able to get rid of the bees and heal any wounds. Whatever his magic was, it was more than she could hope to contest. They had to get out.

“Come on,” she said, holding out her hands to the boys. Sam took one while Seth tentatively held the other. She closed her eyes, focusing on Headquarters. The big metal building filled her mind, becoming more real by the second. She felt Sam’s mind connect – she knew it well – but she didn’t feel Seth’s. Concentrating, she pushed the image toward him. She felt his mind, but it was weak. She felt his confusion, his nervousness, his… fear; utter, terrifying fear. The feeling snaked its way into her mind and clouded the vision of Headquarters. Her eyes flew open and she cried out in frustration. But she stopped when she realized what Seth was so terrified of.

The ground was shaking. Akia had never experienced an earthquake before, but she knew that this was what it felt like. Her legs shook and she could barely keep her balance. She gave in and dropped to the ground. Her eyes darted to what was left of the buildings around her. Already splintered pieces came raining down. Some of the less stable walls fell. It was like watching her life crumble to the ground. Again.

She stared down Dorrin trying to figure out how he did it. She didn’t know the spell he was using. Magicians couldn’t control the ground. They could manipulate things around them, but not the actual rocks beneath them.

Sam cried out her name. She turned to see him backing away from them, his eyes locked on the ground. She saw it too, the ground disappearing. It looked like it was eating itself, toppling beneath the surface. It wasn’t too wide, but it kept growing longer by the second. She watched as it stretched down a block in both directions.

She turned back to face Dorrin. She had to do something fast. If only she could get him to lose focus, to stop the spell. There was only one way that she knew of to do that. She had never done the spell before and she hadn’t planned on it. There was a first time for everything.

She channeled the pain of the spell: limbs on fire, splintering bones, nails to the head. It seemed like the place to start. The spell wasn’t anything that they taught in school or during training. She had no idea what would happen if she did it wrong. Fire, snapping bones, nails; she gathered it all in her mind until it was too much for her to handle. It was overwhelming her. The pain was spreading through her mind, threatening to move to her own bones. Was this always what it was like to cast a torture spell? It took longer than she liked, but Dorrin’s image popped into her mind. Akia saw him lying on the ground, screaming.

The ground suddenly stopped shaking, the world was silent, the fog unmoving. And then the screams started, making her cringe. She remembered all too well what it felt like to have the spell used on her. All she could think about were the times when she had been under the spell. It wasn’t anything she wanted to remember.

She couldn’t catch her breath. Each gasp she took was just as difficult as the last. Her chest was tight, her throat dry. She had just used a torture spell, a spell used to purposefully harm someone and cause them pain. That wasn’t her. No matter who Dorrin was, she wouldn’t have ever wished for him to feel that kind of pain. Yet there she was, watching him suffer.

She turned away quickly, not wanting to watch anymore. The ground had stopped shaking, but the ground was still open. For some reason, she had hoped the ground would close again. Of course it wouldn’t have worked that way. Stopping the spell was possible; reversing its effect was a monster all its own.

“Seth, we need to jump over to where Sam is,” she said.

The boy looked at her in horror. “What?”

“Jump over to the other side,” she repeated, saying each word deliberately. “We can’t transport unless we’re together. Look, it’s not that far across, just looks like it. We can make it. On three.” Seth nodded, nerves dominating his expression. Akia felt just as nervous as he looked. There was a chance they wouldn’t make it across, she knew that. But they had to get across. So they would make it.

She took a deep breath as she grabbed Seth’s hand. She started counting, “One… two… three!” She took of running, but something wrapped around her ankle and she fell to the ground. She looked back to see a rope attached to her. Raising her gaze slightly, she saw Rhys holding the other end. Of course it was him. Seth’s hand slipped from hers and she watched Seth leap through the air. She held her breath, but didn’t need to worry much as he landed safely beside Sam. They both looked at her expectedly.

“Go!” she yelled. “Just go! I’ll get back by myself.”

“Stop them!” Dorrin yelled from behind him. When had he recovered from the spell? His screams had stopped, obviously, but she didn’t remember hearing him go silent. She really had to start paying more attention.

By the time the words were out of Dorrin’s mouth, the boys were gone. Akia grinned. The locket and Seth had made it back safely. Now she just had to get herself home. But first she had to deal with Dorrin and Rhys.

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 1,930