Chapter XXV

LUCINDA ARCHED A BROW as her gaze met Joey's. Eyeing her from head to toe, she said, "Were you expecting some witch?"

"A perfect description if you ask me," Chase said with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

She held her head high and simpered. "It's good to see you too, Chase."

"Lucinda!" Jacob's gruff voice caught her attention. "E's out of time. Can you help her?"

Lucinda glanced up at Michelle as she replied, "Of course." Hurriedly, she dropped to the ground next to Jacob and rested a hand on his shoulder telling him to move. When he did, she hovered a hand over E's chest and they glowed a deep magenta. Closing her eyes, Lucinda swept her hands back in forth from E's thighs to her shoulders like they were gliding across water.

She continued this motion for what seemed like several minutes, and Joey stepped closer to get a better look at the scene. She watched as the black veins covering E's body lifted from her flesh into the air like black dust, and she stopped convulsing. Lucinda swirled her hands around like they were caressing some invisible ball and the dust dispersed.

Joey hadn't realized that she had been leaning in close when she lurched back in startlement as E's eyes popped open with a loud gasp.

Michelle's bow, which had still been aimed at Lucinda, quickly turned down towards the lavender haired girl on the ground.

Jacob let out a sigh of relief as he scooped his wife up in his arms and hugged her tight. E pushed away from him, her hand resting on his chest as she struggled to catch her breath. "What happened?" Her voice was soft and it cracked. Twisting her head away from him, she took note of the surrounding crowd. "Who—"

"You tried to freakin' eat me!" Bellamy exploded, again pulling against Nathan's grasp.

"Let him go!" Thomas made his way through the others to Nathan, and Nathan shot Michelle a quick glance. When Michelle nodded, he released Bellamy and he and Thomas gave each other a manly embrace with a pat on the back.

Joey glanced back down at E, who stared at Bellamy in disgust with a hand over her heart. "Eat you?"

Jacob help up the pelirk. "You were hit with this."

E's shoulders dropped as she let out a soft, "Oh." She then gripped the pelirk and examined it shortly before tossing it away.

"You seriously don't remember anything?" Ella asked, speaking up with a look of puzzlement and shock bending her brow.

"No," E responded gently with a shake of her head. "None of it." She looked back at her husband. "What did I become?" She spoke low enough that Joey was sure she was intending for only Jacob to hear.

He sighed before giving her an answer. "A Quipser." The color instantly drained from her face and her eyes widened.

"Become?" Joey repeated loud enough that everyone looked her way. Everyone except Michelle, who had also been listening.

Reluctantly, E returned her gaze. "I'm a shapeshifter," she replied, barely audible.

"A what?" Joey glanced over to find Alex's wrinkled brow.

"I can shift ... my shape." E glanced from her husband back to Alex. "I'm not sure how that's confusing."

"But why a Quipser?" Michelle asked, impatiently. "There wouldn't be a need to take that form unless you were purposefully trying to hurt someone."

"No!" E shouted. "I would never!" She clambered to her feet with the help of Jacob. "It must've been the poison." She grasped his hand in a firm grip, and leaned against him to keep her balance. "A Quipser was the last creature we saw. The poison must've changed me into the most recent beast on my mind."

"One of those monsters killed our friend," Jacob spat lowly, anger etched into his chiseled face, but it quickly faded and he looked towards his wife. "But it's a good thing we've had our fair share of these beasts, or else I wouldn't have known how to stop you."

"Guys, a little help!"

Joey's heart lurched at the voice and she felt her heart beat quicken. Turning her head to the side, she found Rufus and Brutus both kneeled on the ground. One pinned David's arms to the ground while the other held his feet, and David shook with violent convulsions. "No, no, no!"

She twirled around until she found the redhead at the back of the crowd standing on a slightly elevated piece of land, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed. Michelle remained by her side with what looked like the tip of one of the twins longswords resting against Lucinda's back. "Fix him," Joey commanded, storming her direction.

Lucinda arched a brow and chuckled. "Darling, I have no idea who you are. Did you think you could just come barge onto my doorstep and expect me to cure your friend?"

Joey's eyes teared with desperation. "Please," she begged. "You're the only hope he's got."

"So, it seems," came Lucinda deadpan response. She winced and glared at Michelle who pricked her skin with the tip of the sword. "Sorry, but I thought I made myself clear." Lucinda shot her gaze back towards Joey. "Any friend of Michelle's is an enemy of mine. She should've told you that."

"But he'll die!" screamed Ella who had also come to her brother's aid.

Lucinda stared at the young girl for a good few seconds before giving a soft shrug and blankly replied, "Then let him die." Her Scottish tone made her words sound as harsh as she probably meant them to.

Anger coursed through Joey's veins. She took a giant stomp forward, and energy surged through her hands. Her daggers appeared, and she stated, "I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Whoa! What is this?" Jacob released E's hand as he took a couple steps towards Lucinda, but before he could get very far, Chase appeared in front of him blocking his path. Jacob skeptically glanced from Chase to Lucinda. "Lucinda, do you know these people?"

"Do we know her?" Nathan balled his hands into fists so tightly that the veins in his muscular forearms popped out, and through gritted teeth he yelled, "She let my brother die!"

"Ah!" Lucinda clasped her hands together with a disturbing look of delight in her eyes. "Well, Timothy always was the one to get us into trouble. If you ask me, I did us a favor letting him die."

Nathan shouted as he raced forward, but even with his speed he couldn't reach her. In a blink, Michelle rolled backwards down the small hill landing in a pool of water, and Lucinda's hand was outstretched, her palm directly in front of Nathan's chest as he remained inches from her. The tips of her fingers bent ever so slightly, and Nathan's body tensed and contorted. Nathan let out a loud scream as his face twisted in pain, and he fell to his knees gasping for air.

"I suggest you leave," Lucinda continued, "before the Holmes find themselves childless."

Joey's heart raced and she froze as she glanced back and forth from Lucinda, to Nathan, to Michelle. Anyone could tell that there was something between Michelle and Nathan, and she feared that Michelle would give up on David to save her friend.

Michelle tightened her grip on the hilt of the longsword as she pushed herself out of the water. "Let him go, Lucinda!"

"Or what?" Lucinda nagged. "You're going to kill me?" She smirked. "If I die, so does he." Drawing her fingers into a fist, Nathan suddenly collapsed to the mud in silence. Her gaze drifted towards David, and she shrugged. "But what's one more dead body, right?"

"No, no! Please!" Michelle begged, throwing her weapon aside.

Joey's brow creased in shock and confusion. She hadn't know Michelle for long, but nothing about her struck Joey as being a fearful person, but that look in her eyes ... She was frightened, and acted like she had been replaced by a completely different person.

"We've already lost enough friends." Her voice came out soft as her eyes pleaded for his release. "Let him go, and we will leave."

Lucinda stared longingly at Michelle, like something Michelle had said hit her deep, and she slowly relaxed her grip. Nathan gasped for air and sprang to all fours. He rubbed his neck, coughing uncontrollably, as Michelle grabbed him under the arms, and dragged him away from Lucinda's feet.

Joey shook her head unable to believe what had happened. All this way, with the intention of making Lucinda do what they asked, and Michelle walked away the moment Lucinda proved to be powerful. Well, after seeing what Lucinda could do with the poison, Joey was determined to make her reconsider.

Feeling her blood boil, Joey flipped her daggers around in her hands until the point faced the ground, and she gripped the hilts in white-knuckled fists. She raised her arm into the air and shouted as she dashed towards Lucinda. Lucinda's eyes shot open and she swept an arm over her face for protection. In that moment, Joey's dagger made contact with Lucinda's arm, and she felt the tug on her blade as it entered her flesh, but before she got off anymore slices, something stung her leg as it wrapped itself around her pants. With a quick tug, her foot pulled behind her and her stomach and palms slapped the muddy terrain. Unexpectedly, tiny shards of electricity shot through her bones and she cried out.

"Hey! Let her go!" Joey craned her neck and forced her squinted eyes open to find Thomas shove Jacob, who's golden rope was tied around her leg. Jacob reared back his free hand, the rope in that grasp following, in a threat to bind Thomas when a shrill voice echoed the air.

"Enough!" Joey, gritting her teeth and shaking from the electricity in her veins, slowly turned her head up and eyed Lucinda who was being aided by E. "Jacob, let her go!"

"But, Lucinda, she—"

"I said let her go!" Lucinda growled.

The rope vanished from her leg, but Joey panted on the ground withering from the jolts she still felt. She grimaced and moaned as she rolled onto her back, and Lucinda towered over her, blood dripping from the gash in her arm onto Joey's cheek. "You're fiery, I'll give you that, but your outburst won't help you save him." She looked up and twisted her head around. "Jacob, Evangeline ... come on."

Pushing herself up on her elbows, Joey glared at Lucinda through fading vision as the three walked away. "No ... wait!" her voice cracked. A sudden ball of fire zipped over her head, and she clenched her eyes shut as she turned her head away. Confused, she blinked to clear her blurred vision, and found herself in a cloud of smoke.

"I didn't lose my sister for this!"Alex shouted, and the smoke quickly cleared. Joey glanced back as another ball of fire grew in the palm of his hand, and he reared back his arm ready to launch it. "I won't lose my best friend too. You will heal him, or we have ways of making you."

Lucinda whirled around in anger. "Is that so, boy?" She threw her hands outward at hips length, her palms facing the sky, and slowly rose them higher into the air. Water from the bowls in the earth rose above their heads and made one big ball of water. Thrusting her hands towards Alex, the water followed and he was thrown backwards by the crashing wave and pinned to the ground.

"Alex!" Kathleen shouted.

The water crept up his legs and torso as he squirmed, eventually forming around his head, cutting off his oxygen as he laid there drowning. He flung his head from side to side trying to shake himself free, but the water stayed put. His body began to glow a vibrant orange, and the water bubbled and steamed but even his ability wasn't enough to cause it to evaporate.

"Did you really think poison was all I could control?" Lucinda asked with a sly grin. "Blood, water, poison. If it moves like a stream then it belongs to me."

Michelle whipped out an arrow, and nocked it against her bow as she aimed it towards Lucinda. "I've had enough of this, Lucinda."

The redhead eyed her. "We've been down this road before."

This time, Michelle didn't back away but gave a snicker. "Yeah, but I have one more trick up my sleeve." Her eyes ventured past Lucinda, and Brianna took a step forward. Her hand flew to her temple as her eyes narrowed in on Lucinda.

Lucinda quickly held her hands up in surrender. "Alright, wait!" The water surrounding Alex's body parted down his sides and mixed with the muddy water. He rolled over, vomiting water as he coughed, and Kathleen patted his back.

"Smart choice," Michelle continued with a smile.

"I see you've had time to master your ability," Lucinda said, her eyes aimed at Brianna. "A pity really that you couldn't have done the same for Timothy."

As Brianna's glare wavered, Lucinda's gaze drifted down towards Joey who had yet felt the strength to stand return. Lucinda smirked, and it sent a chill down Joey's spine. "You've impressed me. I will heal the boy." Her demeanor changed drastically as she gazed up into the trees with wide eyes and her face paled. "But not here."

Joey's arms shook under her weight, and Michelle's soft whisper made her blood run cold. "We're not alone."