To the Falls

by Heather Renee

  “You were using dark magic to do bad things to good people,” I said. “You didn’t think that was going to be a problem? Of course the Elders would stop you.”

  “Oh, little girl,” Damien snickered. “There was a problem long before I decided to use dark magic. The Elders were afraid of me from the day I was born. They tried to find any reason take my magic away. Instead of letting me in, they pushed me away and left me no choice but to use dark magic.” His smile became sinister. “Now all of that history is neither here nor there. Let’s discuss the now.”

  “And which part of the now would you like to discuss?” Jordan snapped. “Your demise by us children or something else?”

  “I really do love that smart mouth of yours. I think I will keep you,” Damien taunted. “You’ll see my ways eventually. Say goodbye to your Meraki while you still can.”

  Damien started twisting his hand around and the wind increased around us. I lost visibility as the dirt kicked up and Damien made his own tornado around us with the Earth. I had a tight grip on Lucas’s hand and then he was jerked away from me.

  “Make it rain to clear the dust,” Strix said to me.

  I called to the water once again and it poured rain. Within seconds, the dirt settled back down and only rain was left to whip around in the wind. I looked around for Lucas and saw Damien had him dangling in the air. There was nothing holding Lucas up, so Damien must have used some sort of magic to hold him there.

  I let out a small cry but knew I had to think quickly for Lucas. I couldn’t lose it right now.

  Lucas’s head was hanging so that his chin rested on his chest. I couldn’t see his eyes to tell if he was awake or not. I couldn’t see any part of him moving and I was furious.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” I growled out. “Now you’ve made me really upset.”

  Damien started to say something, but I didn’t give him time. I called for the water again and instead of rain, I directed it back to Damien and froze him solid. He stood there in a block of ice with his mouth open and eyes narrowed. As soon as Damien was completely frozen, Lucas fell to the ground in a heap.

  “Lucas,” I called out as I ran to him. “Wake up baby. I need you to help me. I can’t do this without you.”

  I rolled him over and swept my hands over his face. His skin was turning pale and his breathing was shallow.

  “Strix, what do I do?” I cried out.

  “Place your hands on Lucas’s chest,” Strix said. “Gather all of that love you feel for him and merge it with your magic then send it straight into his body.”

  I quickly did as Strix said. I remembered first opening my eyes and seeing Lucas’s face, the first note he left on my pillow, the way he has believed in me since the beginning. I sent that love out to Lucas and pushed as much light and goodness into him as possible.

  I held my breath and waited. Nothing was happening. Lucas lay on the ground lifeless. I let out a sob and lay across his chest. He couldn’t be gone. This was not happening.

  Damn it Fates, you better bring him back to me.

  “Kali,” Jordan said softly next to me.

  I didn’t want to hear the sympathetic tone in her voice. I blocked her out and continued to sob while holding on tight to Lucas. Someone grabbed my arm and I tightened my grip on Lucas. They couldn’t make me leave him.

  “I can’t breathe, blue eyes. You need to loosen your hold,” Lucas said.

  “Cheese and rice,” I cried harder. “I thought I lost you.”

  Lucas held on to me and I thanked the Fates for listening to me. My chest was a bundle of anxiety. I could hardly breathe myself. He was okay. Everything was going to be fine.

  “It’s alright. I’m right here,” Lucas whispered. “We need to get up. It’s not over yet.”

  “You can’t ever do that to me again,” I loosened my hold so we could sit up. “I couldn’t handle the thought of you being gone.”

  I looked over at Ryan and Lela to check on them and it didn’t look good. Lela was much like I just was and leaning over Ryan and his skin was turning an ashy shade of blue. I wished I could do something, but I knew I couldn’t and that frustrated the hell out of me.

  “Strix, I need you,” I said mentally to him. “Is there anything you can do for Ryan?”

  “I’m sorry Kaliah,” he said. “There is nothing I can do. Lela needs to do as you did with Lucas and hope for the best.”

  I glanced at Damien. He was still frozen in the block of ice I made, but it was melting faster than I liked. I pulled Lucas up and dragged him with me to Lela. I wasn’t letting him out of my sight after all that.

  “Lela, sit up for a minute,” I said softly as I kneeled. “Did you see what happened to Lucas?”

  “Yes.” She looked up at Lucas, eyes filled with tears. “Are you okay?”

  “I am,” Lucas said with a slight smile.

  “We need you to try to do the same thing for Ryan that I did for Lucas,” I told her. “We don’t have much time left and we need both of you to defeat Damien.”

  I talked Lela through what she needed to do and stood back up. When I turned around, the top half of Damien was unfrozen, but his hands were still stuck at his sides so he couldn’t use magic just yet.

  If looks could kill, we’d all be six feet under.

  “Hurry Lela,” I said before Damien started attacking.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Damien broke free from the ice with a furious roar. He shook his long hair out and turned toward me. Damien’s hands shot out in front him and he sent a black orb flying out at me. I froze, certain the orb was about to hit me, but Jordan was quick and put a shield up in front of me.

  The orb sizzled against the shield and then disappeared. My hands shook and I turned back to Jordan.

  “Thank you,” I nodded.

  “Anytime, friend,” Jordan said.

  That was close. I tried to shake the moment off quickly. Damien wasn’t going to give me time to recover from the close call.

  “That’s enough,” Damien bellowed. “You can’t defeat me, so give up now and most of your deaths will be painless.”

  Damien’s eyes narrowed on me again and I knew if we lost, my death would not be painless.

  “Ryan’s coming around,” Strix said. “You’ll have to fight Damien for now until Ryan can fully wake.”

  Damien was stalking toward us. I grabbed Lucas’s hand and reconnected our magic since the connection had been lost when he was hurt. I gathered his magic within me before focusing on Damien. I did as I had when we broke the barrier in the forest and pushed the magic out in the fog-like stream.

  The fog hit Damien in the center of his chest, but barely slowed him down. He gave me a sinister smile and laughed manically. Damien gathered his own magic and threw it back at us. I was ready this time with my own shield, but had no idea the impact would be so severe.

  The shields held for us but we were all knocked on our asses.

  “Get up, you worthless Guardians,” Damien sneered. “At least make this a challenge for me.”

  Lela and Ryan were getting up as well, and I knew it was time. We wouldn’t survive too many more of those dark orbs before our energy was completely done for.

  I called on the water surrounding us once again. When I connected with the water, it gave me a boost. As long as I could keep Damien’s dark orbs away from us, we would be fine.

  I made another swirling water tornado to separate us from Damien while everyone got into position.

  “You guys okay?” I said to Lela and Ryan.

  “We’ll be fine,” Ryan said. “Ready whenever you are.”

  I nodded and mentally called out to Strix.

  “Anything else I should know before we do this?” I asked.

  “The only thing you need to know is that you can do this,” Strix said. “Even if you feel like you will not succeed, have faith that the Fates will be there for you.”

  I knew Strix was right. We could do this, but I hoped it di
dn’t come with any significant losses to us.

  “I think we’ve had enough pleasantries for now,” Damien said as he broke through the spinning water. “What do you think?”

  Damien turned toward Oliver and Tiana and shot an orb at them. It was a dark blue color and bounced right off Oliver’s shield. Oliver smirked at Damien and then shot off a white orb of his own and hit Damien in the shoulder.

  “You’ll pay for that, boy,” Damien growled. “You’ll pay for it by watching me torture your Meraki by the time this is all done.”

  Damien rolled his shoulder and pulled at his shirt. His shirt was burned as well as the skin underneath and it looked like charcoal. Oliver could really pack a punch, I was impressed. Oliver wasn’t done, though.

  I watched as Oliver created another orb and I saw the fury in his eyes. The first orb Oliver had sent at Damien was defensive. I knew this next one was going to be revenge. He sent the second orb flying toward Damien and it smacked him in the other shoulder.

  “That was for Tiana,” Oliver spit out. “You won’t get another chance to have your hands on her.”

  Damien growled out, but gave up on Oliver for now and turned to Jordan and Kane. I was certain he was testing all of us to see who he needed to be worried about most when it came down it. He knew he was outnumbered, but if he could pick us off one by one, he might have had a chance. Damien was smarter than I originally gave him credit for.

  “I really don’t want to hurt you,” Damien’s voice was like a smooth caress. “I’ve grown fond of your smart mouth. Last chance to come willingly and save yourself the pain you’ll soon feel if you fight me. I’ll even let you bring the boy if you both behave.”

  I couldn’t suppress the laugh that escaped my lips at the look of disgust that crossed Jordan’s face. She would never go willingly. That girl was as stubborn as an ox.

  “In your dreams, you deranged piece of --” Kane cut Jordan off before she pissed off Damien more than necessary.

  “Someone put a muzzle on that girl before she gets herself killed,” Tiana called out.

  I couldn’t help it. I let a small laugh out again. I often did that to make situations less tense and I probably needed to work to controlling the urge to laugh when I was nervous, because it didn’t look like Damien appreciated my laughter.

  Damien then turned to Lucas and me, and I’d never been so terrified in my life. Damien’s eyes were pitch black and his glare made me want to hide behind Lucas. I didn’t, though. I stood my ground and hoped Damien couldn’t see my knees shaking.

  I was certain at any moment my heart was going to bust right through my chest, it was pounding so hard. I took a deep breath and all thoughts of laughter were gone.

  “You think this is funny?” Damien snarled. “There is nothing funny about this situation. Your world is about to die along with you and your friends. I’ve been locked away for many years and that gave me ample time to plan my revenge. There is nothing you can do that will prevent me from succeeding,” Damien leaned forward and bellowed. “You are not strong enough to defeat me.”

  Damien was partially right. I was not strong enough to stop him, but with Lucas and the others, we would do this.

  “We have to tire him out more,” Lucas whispered in my ear. “I’m going to drop our shield and we need to hit him as many times as we can before he recovers.”

  I quite liked hiding behind the shields and wasn’t ready to engage with Damien, but I wasn’t ever going to be ready. We just needed to get it done. I could see the exhaustion in Lucas’s eyes and knew the sooner we finished this, the better.

  I nodded to Lucas and gathered a tight bundle of magic within me. I saw Oliver and Jordan nod to us as well when I glanced around. The three of them had fought together before and I hoped they knew what we were doing.

  “Now!” Lucas called out.

  As soon as he did, I pushed all the magic I’d collected out of me and gave it everything I had. As soon as the first shot left me, I started on another orb. Lela and Ryan caught on quickly to Lucas’s plan and got in their own hits as well.

  “Make that orb full of light and goodness,” Strix whispered to me. “Damien has enough hatred in him. Send him something that will catch him by surprise.”

  I did as Strix instructed and thought of all the good things in my life and how much love I was lucky enough to have. I sent that love and the goodness it offered into the orb and watched as it turned warm yellow color.

  Lucas looked down at what I was doing and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

  I didn’t have time to explain. Damien turned toward me and Lucas again and I threw the orb as hard as I could at the center of Damien’s chest.

  When the orb hit him, Damien’s head snapped back and he let out a scream of pain. His hands gripped at his chest as he tried to figure out what was happening to him.

  I looked around to the others and everyone was in position. There was no more waiting.

  “Time to give Damien something he’s been missing for a long time,” I called out. “Hit him with every ounce of light magic you can.”

  We were going to kill him with kindness.

  Everyone gathered their own magic and threw everything they had into the stream we had aimed at Damien. The intensity of the magic crackling through the air was all-consuming. Each of the Meraki pairs were connected and with our paired magic, Damien wouldn’t stand a chance.

  My grip on Lucas’s hand was numbing, but the power that flowed between was incredible. It was pure and powerful and full of goodness.

  Damien was screaming obscenities and wailing but he couldn’t move. We had him surrounded from, so, it was impossible for him to do anything except stand there and take the magic we shot at him. His skin turned stark white and his eyes changed from onyx black to gray.

  It was working. We were really going to finish this.

  “Hang in there,” I called out to everyone. “It’s working, but we can’t let up yet.”

  I knew if I was feeling drained, everyone else was too, but we were so close. Strix flew down and landed on my shoulder. I instantly felt the boost in power he provided and heard Lucas gasp. He must have felt it too.

  Damien was attempting to send dark magic back out to us, but nothing could penetrate the amount of goodness we were sending his way. Damien opened his mouth to scream something else, but all that came out was white light. Beams of light started coming out from all over his body and I gave it one last big push.

  The final surge I had to give was so much, it knocked me and Lucas to the ground. We fell to our knees but didn’t break the connection. Strix was helping as much as he could and I knew without a doubt that if he hadn’t been here, the amount of magic needed to defeat Damien would have been too much for us.

  “Kali,” Jordan called out. “You guys okay?”

  “We’re fine,” I said. “Don’t stop!”

  Damien let out one final bellow. His back was arched and his head hung back as his scream was lost within the light penetrating him. His body was trembling and if I was seeing it correctly, there was cracks forming all over his skin.

  I was about to ask Lucas what I was seeing when Damien exploded into gray ash, there was absolutely nothing left of him. I stood there in shock, staring at the empty space where Damien stood moments ago. I glanced to Lucas and back to where Damien had been, with my eyes wide open.

  “We did it,” Jordan shouted. “We kicked that bastard’s ass!”

  I turned back to Lucas and the smile on his face was larger than I had ever seen before. I could see the exhaustion in his eyes, but I could also see his relief that we had all survived. We had beat Damien. We were still kneeling on the ground and I leaned into him. I didn’t have the strength to get up just yet.

  “Not to take away from the excitement,” Tiana said. “but what happened? Why did he just disappear?”

  “His soul was so dark that it couldn’t handle the amount of light magic we drowned him in,” Lucas said as he wrapped
his arms around me. “Had there been any good left in him, he wouldn’t have turned to ash. His soul was destroyed and he can’t move on to any other worlds without a soul, so he just doesn’t exist anymore.”

  “Good riddance,” Jordan said with a huge smile on her face. “Puts an extra pep in my step knowing he is nothing but a pile of ash now.”

  “Can we get out of here now?” Ryan asked. Lela was leaning on him, just like I was with Lucas.

  “Let me check the forest before you head back,” Strix said to me. “I want to make sure Abram isn’t lingering anywhere waiting to try and finish what Damien couldn’t.”

  I put my hand up to my shoulder for Strix to step on and pulled him to my chest. His white feathers were so soft and he emitted so much positive energy. I gave him a small squeeze and said my thanks before he left. We never could have done this without him.

  “Strix is going to fly over and check our route home,” I said. “He wants to make sure there was no back-up plan and that Abram’s not waiting in the shadows.”

  “Look,” Lela said. “The Falls are running again.”

  We all turned toward the Falls and sure enough, the drizzle that was there when we arrived was now a couple feet wide and the pool of water at the bottom was starting to fill again. The water was turning back to its normal vibrant color of blue and life was seeping back into the plants surrounding the Falls.

  The pool of water would fill and funnel to the stream that ran through the forest and into Arvata. Once the stream was filled, the magic in the water would soak into ground wherever it went, giving life back to Arvata.

  I snuggled deeper into Lucas and let out a deep breath. Everything was going to be okay. We had faith in the Fates and they didn’t steer us wrong. The road to get here might not have been easy, but it was all worth it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Falls were even more beautiful than I had dreamed. Even though they weren’t gushing at their full potential, the beauty shone through brightly. The water was calling to me, so I stood up and left Lucas’s side so I could walk closer and touch the water.