Chapter Twenty Four – Battle, Fight, Die?

“That explains her bipolar personality,” Katie announces.

“You know, I thought the same thing,” I say to my best friend. We’ve been down here long enough for me to explain a few of my newfound abilities. It’s easier for Katie to accept it since I could show her. With Xander, he had to trust me; Katie got proof. Too bad they both had to be kidnapped first.

“I knew there was something off about you,” another voice pops up. Xan, Katie and I turn to see Ryan start to rouse. He holds the back of his head where dried blood has caked part of his shoulder length hair. “Mama Ivy asked about you the night of the bonfire. She said you seemed familiar. How do you even know her? And why’d she call you Emily?”

“Um… She’s… She’s my sister.” His mouth starts to protest the logic of that but I interrupt. “Long story. No time. Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

Xander helps Ryan stand with his good arm and Katie and I scope the stairs. There were footsteps above but we haven’t heard anything since. It’s a good chance they’re still up there. But what else can we do? I refuse to be the sitting duck.

“Wait,” Ryan calls while Katie and I take the first few stairs. “I’m not leaving without my sister.”

The four of us look back to the small mass of girl sleeping in the corner. Brenda is in no way of being dainty but Ryan’s right. We can’t leave her. I just don’t know how we’re getting her up the stairs.

“Katie?”

“Don’t look at me. I’ve got no strength for myself!”

I grumble and move my best friend out of the way. Brenda is curled into a ball, peacefully asleep. My hands pause on her temple, gently searching the outer layers of her thoughts for the reason she’s still not up.

There’s darkness and only that is visible. A steady high-pitched heart monitor beeps a steady pace and her apparent family talks to her comfortingly. I hear Ryan’s childish voice too, reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears. My energy draws back to the cellar.

“Has she ever been knocked unconscious or something?”

“Yeah,” Ryan says with some distant pain. “When she was six, we had these horse-riding lessons and she fell from her saddle. She was out for a couple of days.”

“That’s the memory she’s trapped in,” I tell him quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Ryan unhooks his arm from Xan and limps over to his sister. He brushes her dark brown hair across her forehead. It’s painful to watch.

“Can’t you use your voodoo magic stuff to wake her,” Katie pipes in. “I mean, it’s not hard to guess you woke Xander too. What did you do to get him awake?”

For the first time, I’m glad it’s dark down here. I’d hate for Katie to see the blush on my face. The red gets more vibrant along with the pit in my stomach sinking lower when I feel Xan’s embarrassed energy too. My hand rubs my hot face. Oh my god, he remembers how he woke up.

“I don’t know,” I lie. “But I’ll carry Brenda, piggyback her up the stairs. No biggie.”

Ryan helps me situate his sister on my back and I lift with all my might. This 13 year old is not as heavy as I thought but this will be difficult. When I get out of this, I need to remember to work out more. I inhale and nod to the others.

“Now or never.”

Steps have never been more terrifying in my life. They creak under the weight of me and the comatose girl on my back. Xander and Ryan have the same problem but they move up as quiet as they can. Katie is the real issue. Being the most able body, she’s told to take the lead but she takes forever with her legs numb from fear. I’d help her with the calming technique me and Trevor were starting to work on last week but I’m dealing with too much already. She needs to man up like any normal girl would.

“What if it’s locked,” Katie whispers as she barely touches the door handle. My stern eyes turn her back around. The knob twists easily under her fingers and she cracks the door an inch. My heart pounds harder. “I don’t see anyone,” she continues.

“Keep going,” Xan urges. Katie opens the door a few more inches. Not being able to be on these stairs longer than necessary, I quick push her with my shoulder and climb the rest of the steps. The kitchen, where the stairs exit to, is empty. The guys follow us out of the cellar and search the area with our eyes. I was expecting more of a battle.

“Battle’s such an old fashioned word.”

The four of us snap our heads to Tammy leaning on the doorway behind us. Ivette stands beside her, tall with sophistication. Tammy chuckles at my struggle to keep Brenda up but my sister hushes her. Her grey-spotted hand flicks toward my friends.

“Let them see,” Ivette orders. My eyes widen as five witches and Demons appear in front of us as if out of thin air. Katie screams and rams into Xander. His shoulder takes the blow pretty hard but he wraps his arm around her anyway. I stare angrily at my sister and Tamara who stands beside her. “Don’t you remember how much fun we had with this party trick? Spencings are so easily fooled.”

My eyes narrow. Ivette’s face relaxes as she realizes what I’m trying desperately to hide. The only protection I had, my amber bracelet, was unwisely left downstairs.

“You can’t remember,” she answers for me. “Any of it. You don’t know how powerful we were!”

Gail, we’re coming!

I stifle a scream at hearing Trevor’s belated reply. What great timing. My head throbs with his voice but that’s nothing compared to the defeat that Ivette and Tammy heard it too.

“He won’t be here in time to stop us,” Tammy states. “Besides, I know just how small they are. They’re too weak to even feel us planning this. Even mama dearest.”

The two other Demons and one Witch laugh along softly. I recognize the one grey woman. She was the one that took a chunk out of my shoulder. The Demon Susan winks her ice blue eye and makes a pretend bite at me. Her lips purse in triumph at the fact I turn away. I never want to relive that pain.

“We shouldn’t overestimate their numbers,” Ivette stops the laughter. Her face has turned serious. In another of her gestures, we are all grabbed by her henchmen. My hold on Brenda is released as the Demon man throws the girl over his shoulder and takes Katie’s arm. I’m taken by Susan who purrs sickeningly into my ear.

The young woman with pastel purple hair looks into the air. I feel it too. A static of something hums in our ears which makes Ivette throw an inquisitive look to Tamara.

“They know something important is to happen,” she tells her leader. “All witches should be feeling this soon. Tonight we will succeed.”

I gasp as I finally realize why Tammy is so important to Ivette; my sister has lost her psychic abilities. That’s why she is so dependent on her. Ivette smirks and draws closer until she towers over me with the heeled boots she wears.

“Let them go,” I shout, pulling unsuccessfully away from Susan. “They have nothing to do with this. If you’re going to kill all the Spencings anyway then let them go home to their families.”

“Let them go,” Ivette repeats in a fit of fake hysterics. “Did I forget to tell you? We need four sacrifices of non-mystic blood along with our own. Your friends here will do nicely.”

My eyes widen and I shout until my voice is raw. Xander, Ryan, Brenda and Katie are pulled away unwillingly into the living room. I scream for them and they scream right back. It’s only now starting to sink in how real this is. I fight harder to get out of Susan’s grip but she’s stronger. The years of planning, the time and effort put into this; today’s ritual is what my sisters and I have been waiting for.

“Well then, Emily,” Ivette starts. “Let me show you what our revolution has stirred. The Witches are rising and are waiting for us. Time to end this in the place you chose all those years ago.”

My lungs freeze. “The Ledge?”

“The Ledge.”

And so our journey starts. Ivette leads the way, obviously the one in control. A large paper bag sways in her right hand but for the life of me I have no idea what it is. My curiosity checks it out but my powers are blocked, probably by Tammy. I walk along grudgingly.

The sun has set and as each second passes, the sky grows darker. My friends trail behind us still fighting off their handlers periodically. It isn’t long before we’re in the dark of the trees. The moon rises above us, only a crescent. There’s nothing special about today. Why is this happening now?

“Give me a moment alone with my sister,” Ivette commands. The Witches and Demons look to one another but obey. Susan hands me roughly over and blows me a kiss before leaving. Her smug attitude makes my skin crawl.

“Gail,” Katie whines, fighting her way back to me. The Demon man holding her lets her go only to be taken by Susan instead. Katie cries out for me but I can’t do anything for her. My furious stare turns to Ivette.

“What do you want?”

Ivette’s expression softens and I finally see traces of her old self. If Demons have emotions tenfold then she must be extremely upset. I still don’t take her lightly.

“You will wear this,” she says. Holding the paper bag, she pulls out a familiar piece of headwear: the amber tiara. It appears that I’m not the only one Tammy has been fooling. Ivette’s hands place the thing on my head but I stop her, ready to hurl it through the branches. “The others must not know you oppose us. You must wear this!”

“Why? Would they be too afraid to follow you if they knew there was someone who didn’t agree?”

“No,” she replies quietly. A look of remorse darkened her eyes. “If they know you are not with us, they will kill you without hesitation. They’ve already tried with Lisa but I convinced them she still believes. And the Phoenix inside you believes us too. Don’t fight the Blessing.”

Death and this time for real. My bottom lip quivers. I’d always imagine my death going out in a struggle, fighting for what’s right until the end. Now I don’t know how to imagine it. It’s all too real, like saying you’d be so much smarter than the people in horror movies but then you find yourself playing in an abandon building just because your best friend says it’ll be fun. Katie and I were almost arrested but it was worth it to have that memory. Here’s another, scarier movie moment in my strange life. So do I fight for the Spencings or for my existence?

“I still care for you sister, you must remember that,” Ivette interjects into my thoughts. She adjusts the tiara on my dreadlocks then lets her hand trace my face around the studs I’m still proudly wearing. One by one they receive her cold touch. “I love you and Lisa and Stephanie more than anyone else. Nothing can sever our sibling love. It was us against the world and it always will be.”

“Ivette,” I beg her. “Don’t make me do this.”

Her stare toughens again and her grip reattaches to my arm over my spider web elbow. There is nothing more said as she pulls me through the trees. Up and up, closer and closer.

The fence has been pulled down. And by that I mean ripped. Chunks of dirt are scattered across the diamond wires we walk over from the poles that were dragged out of the earth. The path is much easier here to follow than the one at the hole that was a few yards away.

That’s when it hits me; I am going to see my sisters. All four of us will be together again. My pace quickens, making Ivette drop her hold. Just a few more yards and…

I gasp. At least 15 other people have gathered and more start to arrive even now. They enter from the trees and from the path as we had. Witches and Demons alike. I don’t see my friends anywhere but there is one Nymph with her back turned to me that I’m anxious to see. It could only be Lisa. I race toward her, the crowd making way for the only Phoenix to attend. I can feel the Blessing power here now. Ivette follows.

As I reach the woman clad only in leaves, my voice leaves me. The only word I manage is a simple name in the form of a question. “Lisa?”

In a way that looks painful, Lisa turns to face me. I’ve never seen a Nymph this close before. Her hair falls to her waist in loose rings which remind me of vines. They’re messy but structured and beautifully woven together. Her eyes still have the amber we all did but now with more tints of green. Her skin has yellowed but in a way that doesn’t look right. She seems sick but that can’t stop me from wrapping my arms around her with fervor.

“I missed you so much,” I whisper into Lisa’s ear. My grasp tightens but I don’t feel her reciprocate. “Lisa?”

“Please,” my sister begs. Her face turns away from me and I find my youngest sister sitting gracefully on one of the rocks by the edge of the cliff. Stephanie. “Let me hold her. That’s all I ask. I won’t run again.”

Not two legged like Priya out of the water, Stephanie smiles in my direction. Her bronze, slimy tail flips in fluid motions, faster as if to say she were happy to see me. But she says nothing. Steph releases her hold on Lisa who crumbles onto my body.

“Thank God,” she moans. Lisa embraces me, her motions normal once again. I stare at my little sister with horror in knowing this is what our family has become. Steph is upset but mostly scared underneath it all. I can feel it hidden by a layer of anger at Lisa for not continuing our plan.

Then the thought hits me. Mermaids can only control water in their swimming form which is why her tail has not changed back to her human legs. I glance behind her to find a trail of water rising from the ocean in a majestic way. That explains why she hasn’t dried out yet.

“Stephanie, why?” Again, my youngest sister doesn’t answer. She instead points to her throat where four slits adorn each side.

Everything about her seems to have decomposed and softened like a corpse held under water for far too long. Her skin is sickly blue covered with layers of seaweed that look attached to her body. It’s not as picturesque as we thought she would turn out but there’s a wicked sense of magnificence in there somewhere. I would find it more beautiful if her powers weren’t keeping Lisa under strict control. I glare at Ivette.

“Us against the world, huh? So why is it Lisa can’t choose her own path?”

“I said I love you more than anything else,” Ivette tells me off. “And if I have to force you to make the world a better place for us then so be it.”

I’ve never hated her more than I have now. My eyes turn to the crowd where more Witches arrive with each second. Marco stands front and center, stationed loyally next to his girlfriend. He kisses her lavender hair gently and takes her hand. But the one I’m surprised about most is the man standing next to them.

His hands are folded over a cane, leaning on it with a morose hunch in his posture. Where the other Witches wait excitedly, he waits anxious and scared. I feel defeated, thinking he was a nice guy. His green-grey eyes gaze at the floor, seeing nothing. Carter was never someone I would’ve expected to be a Witch supremacist but here he is, just another disappointment added to the list.

“Bring out the four Spencings,” Ivette’s voice thunders over the crowd. My eyes snap to the trees everyone seems to be looking at. I’m guessing we’ve all arrived. Ivette lifts her chin parallel with the floor, loving the power she has.

Katie, Ryan, Xander and the now awakened Brenda are pushed in a line, tied together by chains around their waists. The Witches spit at them, yelling cruel words. My heart beats faster and I look to Lisa. She feels as hopeless in this situation as I do.

“It’s time to eradicate those who find us as monsters. It’s time to be the monsters they fear,” Ivette whispers to herself, barely loud enough for me to hear. I tear my eyes from the savage crowd to her gloating face.

“You’re insane.”

“Yes,” she agrees happily. Her cackling laugh resonates off the rock behind her and in the growing crowd. “I haven’t changed. You’re never sane, even when you leave the ward. Too bad neither of you could see it but once you’re labeled, you’re labeled for life. And for me? I guess I’m lucky to be labeled for life and death.”

Her gaze trails to the side and my eyes connect with Xander’s. He’s frightened, more afraid than I’ve ever seen him be. The prophecy is here.

God help us all.