Chapter 232: Like a Shockwave
Nina
Enzo’s face was as white as a sheet when I turned around to look at him. We all knew that Richard was going to die, but Enzo seemed completely out of it- and for good reason, of course. Even though Enzo and Richard had their differences, he was still Enzo’s father.
I wished that I could comfort Enzo during those moments, but I couldn’t. Because as I looked at Enzo’s pale, shaking face, I felt my phone buzz. I pulled it out, my eyes widening as I saw Lori’s text on the screen.
They had seen Selena outside. She was coming, and we needed to get out of here before she caught us.
“Enzo,” I said, storming up to him and grabbing his wrists. It pained me to force him to move now when he was in shock, but it had to be done. “Lori texted me. Selena is coming. We have to go now.”
Enzo’s eyes snapped back to reality, and recognition flashed across his face. He nodded before rushing over to Richard’s bed and scooping him up. I heard Richard mumble Enzo’s name, and Enzo responded with some words of comfort, but I stood by the door with Luke to give them some privacy.
We made our way through the corridors, back down the stairs and
then through the maze once more. Luke led the way with Enzo carrying Richard at the back, and the three of us moved quickly through the dark mansion. Finally, we pushed our way back out into the cool night, and made a run for it across the road to where Matt, Lori, and Jessica were waiting.
But when we arrived, my worst fears had become a reality.
Matt, Lori, and Jessica laid limp op the ground. Standing over them, dressed in dark cloaks, were Selena and the witch.
Selena slowly looked up at me as we approached. Her eyes were wide and full of insanity as they glinted in the moonlight, and the haggard old witch stood behind her like a minion.
“Hello, sister,” Selena said in a sing- song voice. “Fancy seeing you here.”
A gasp caught in my throat as I stared in shock down at my friends. I didn’t see any blood, but they weren’t moving.
“What did you do to them?!” I shouted, balling my hands up into fists. I started to storm toward Selena, but she casually put her hand up and that somehow caused me to stumble backwards, as though an invisible force was holding me back.
“Shh,” she said, flashing me a toothy grin. “They’ll be fine. They’re just sleeping.”
Suddenly, Matt stepped forward. He still had Richard’s frail body in his arms. “What do you want, Selena? What do you want from us?”10
Selena chuckled. It was a low, sinister chuckle; the kind that I only ever heard in horror movies. I couldn’t fathom that there was a real person who was actually like that, let alone the fact that she was standing right in front of me.
Then, Selena shrugged. Her face fell. “1 want you, Enzo.” Her voice was now low and even. “I want you to come with me and be my mate. And I don’t want you to ever even think about her again.” She pointed at me then.
But I wasn’t convinced. Selena had much more sinister intentions than simply wanting a boy to love her. I knew that secretly, she wanted me out of the picture because I posed a threat in more ways than just love. She knew that I was destined to kill her, and she also knew that she couldn’t kill me unless she also wanted to die. Either
both of us needed to live, or neither of us could live.
As Enzo and Selena stared at one another, I felt Luke subtly nudge my arm. I slowly slid my gaze over to him without turning my head, then saw him nod his head toward Matt, Lori, and Jessica. They were beginning to wake up, which meant that I could open a portal and get us all out of here. Then, I looked down at Luke’s hands. He was slowly, subtly creating symbols with his hands and muttering something under his breath. I wouldn’t have known that he was even saying anything if it weren’t for the fact that I was close enough to see his lips ever so slightly moving.
He was putting his hex on Selena, which would give us our opportunity to escape.
“And if I do go with you?” Enzo said, somehow oblivious to our opportunity here; or maybe he was just trying to stall. I couldn’t tell if he was even clear headed enough with his father’s current state to think about stalling Selena.
“If you come with me, I can save your father,” Selena replied with a toothy grin. “And I’ll let all of your friends go.”
I knew that she was lying, but I wasn’t so sure if Enzo realized it. He was too out of it because of his father, and I realized now that the false promise that his father and the rest of us could live if he listened to Selena was
clouding his judgment. But I wasn’t worried; as they spoke, as my friends slowly began to wake up and as Luke discreetly put his hex on Selena, I was also slowly and subtly opening a portal. I didn’t use the formation that Luke taught me, but somehow I knew that it would work regardless. It must have been true after all that I possessed greater powers than I ever realized. Enzo began to set his father down. My eyes widened.
“Enzo.” Richard’s voice was hardly more than a croak. I was surprised that he was even remotely conscious as to what was going on, and it seemed that Selena was as well judging from the way that her face drained of all color. Richard then slowly shook his head. He didn’t need to speak, but as he looked up at Enzo, his face conveyed everything that needed to be said. He was telling Enzo not to trust Selena.
“Get them!” Selena suddenly shouted, her voice shrill and angry. She pointed at Enzo and Richard, and the witch began to charge at them.
I didn’t know what happened next. It was as though something instinctual took over me, and I lunged forward with only one goal in mind.
I screamed. But it wasn’t just a scream. It was like a shockwave, and it was so powerful that it threw both Selena and the witch up into the air and backwards several feet, sending them to the forest floor a ways away. My friends stared at me with wide eyes, but it didn’t matter. During that time, the portal had not only opened but Matt, Lori, and Jessica had woken up more, and I ran over to them.
The witch and Selena scrambled to their feet, dazed from the loud boom caused by my shockwave. I hurriedly helped my friends get up along with Luke’s help, and ushered them through the portal. With each of my friends that leaped through the rapidly closing portal, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.
Selena was close now. Enzo, still carrying Richard, ran over to me. Luke leaped through, and now it was only Enzo and I. Enzo gestured for me to go first, but I wasn’t going to give him a chance to stay behind and fall for Selena’s tricks. Gritting my teeth, I shoved him as hard as I could, and he and Richard disappeared.
Selena grabbed my wrist, screeching, and caused me to fall to the ground. I wrenched myself away, kicking her as hard as I could, and felt a bit of satisfaction as my shoe met her jaw. Then, scrambling backwards on the forest floor, I just barely managed to fully squeeze through the portal right before the witch’s hand clamped around my ankle.
