Midnight Metamorphosis
Page 20
“She’s a perfect match for us!” He smiled slightly, backed up and then flung himself across the trench of water to the other side, landing in a perfect roll. He stood up, and I gasped in horror. We were separated by only a few yards of grass and stone.
Devon and I, our hands still clasped and burning from the heat of our rings combining energy, breathed heavily. There didn’t seem to be enough air. The wind that had been whipping our clothes and hair had calmed until it was completely still.
The meadow was enrobed in silence. The sounds of birds crying had died. We were alone with this mad Daïmon.
All of a sudden, I felt movement in my pocket. Just a slight twitch, and then an ice cold fire raced down my leg. I placed my left hand on top of the small lump in my pants and remember that Obsidian marble I had found where I had first seen my mother and Gran. It was ice cold against my leg. Cold with power. I placed my hand in my pocket, as Avdar started to speak.
“That was admirable.” Avdar said as he looked at the devastation in the field. The grass, no longer green, was dry and yellow all of its life energy stored inside Devon and me. The ground was pitted with holes and stones. Amidst the rubble were black marks, where Daïmonids had been eliminated. Their energy leaving behind a scorch in the earth as they died.
Devon, still holding my hand, took a slight step in front of me and addressed Avdar. As he started speaking, his power flew into me with a whoosh and I stood dazed. I heard his voice in my head, speaking into my mind at the same time he spoke to Avdar. “I have a plan,” his voice said. “I think I can trap Avdar using my Mesmer powers.”
I gasped in horror. “No!” I said to him, gripping the back of his shirt as he stood in front of me.
“You need more time to grow. To learn your new powers.” He said. “If I fail, I know you’ll fight to get me back.”
He spoke with a cocky confidence that I had learned meant he wasn’t going to listen to me.
There’s a big problem with this plan, I thought. I’m not sure what my powers even are, and who is going to help me learn how to use them? “Devon, don’t do this. Don’t let him take you.” I said anxiously, tears welling up in my eyes.
“I will fight. I promise you!” he thought at her. “Look at my eyes and you’ll know if it’s me, or Avdar,” he said quickly.
Devon squeezed my hand, and I started to pay attention to what he was saying to Avdar. My grip on his hand tightened in horror.
“If I agree to go with you, to let you take my body, will you leave Avery alone?” My hand burned against Devon’s and I glanced down, surprised they weren’t glowing. All of a sudden, the pulsing power stopped. Devon dropped my hand and stood directly in front of Avdar.
I felt dizzy with all of this power rushing through me and didn’t hear Avdar’s reply. I raised my head, shaking it slowly, realizing what Devon had done. He had given me everything. All of his power, save the Mesmer talent that I couldn’t take from him. He was sacrificing himself, and even as he gave himself to Avdar, he didn’t give him an ounce of our power.
I shot forward, “Devon, no!” I tried to push my way around him, but stumbled, the cold fire in my leg an agony I could no longer ignore. I went to one knee, reaching out to touch the back of his leg.
He looked back at me longingly, then squared his shoulders and stepped into Avdar.
With one hand to the ground, I pushed myself up while reaching into my pocket with my other hand to grab onto the obsidian marble. As I took it out of my pocket and transferred it to my right hand, it touched my ring. The combined power both cold and hot shot through me.
In a daze, I stared at Devon’s back. His hand was flicking the air at his side. A warm haze filled the air between us. I heard him humming, and then lightning struck the earth with a crack. That haze turned into fire rushing between us, and Devon slowly turned around. Flames whipped up making his face glow red, his blonde hair gently moving with the heat.
His eyes were no longer blue, they were a bright orange red: Avdar’s eyes were staring back at me from within Devon’s body. I sobbed in disbelief. He failed!
I took a step back in horror.
“Stupid boy, to believe that I would give you up?” He chuckled, then frowned slightly. He flung a hand toward me and I stumbled from the push of air but didn’t feel any heat or wetness. He looked at the ground and growled, trying to do something with his hands. Only a few small pebbles rose into the air and then dropped weakly back into the ground. He looked at the ring on his hands. It was now a dull lifeless nickel color, the vibrancy of its power, gone. He yelled and advanced towards me, reaching out. “You’ve stolen my power!” He raged.
He wrapped his hands around my neck and started to squeeze. The air left my lungs, but the power that was inside me rose up, Devon’s power, and with a yell, I shoved hard against him, making him release me. I will not give up! I thought, determined to fight. To fight for Devon, and my friends. I took a shaky breath and thought, No, I am fighting for everyone!
I took a deep breath and took a step towards him, my left hand clenched around the burning cold obsidian marble, my right hand tight against the heat of my ring. I threw both hands forward and shot a stream of golden fire towards him, enveloping him in a cage of obsidian flames.
Power streaked out of me racing towards a small grove of Aspen, and I singled out one tree. That stream of golden fire fed that tree until it grew three times larger than the others, flashing through the seasons, passing decades in a matter of seconds.
The spring leaves fading into summer green, then fall yellow, until the leaves dropped to the ground. Cycle after cycle, the leaves changed and the tree grew in height. The leaves gathered in a mound at the base of the tree that grew higher in seconds, with each turn of the seasons.
Avdar, in Devon’s body, grew enraged behind his cage of Obsidian fire and screamed obscenities. He grabbed onto the bars of flame, yelling when his hands burned. Devon’s hands, I thought heatedly. But he didn’t have the power to break through them.
The tree stopped growing, but its leaves still waved in the wind of power I fed into it.
My mind flashed through scenes of everything I’d been through this year, my mother’s death, the cross country ride alone, Brenna opening her home to me, my new friends at school, my training and friendship with Cole, my emerging feelings for Devon, all of the fights with the Daïmonids, Cole’s death, and culminating with this battle against Avdar. I was furious.
A bright white light enrobed my body, my eyes rolling back in my head. I saw words scrolling through my brain and in a voice that was not my own, I began to chant:
While this battle is over
The war has just begun
The prophecy of power combined
Has been born.
He who does not belong
Has been captured
He who does not belong
Carries peace within him
Darkness and peace will reside here
Until the time has come to fight again
Good will fight against evil
And the Reign of Peace will begin.
Power shot from my body into Avdar’s, capturing him in a white light. He screamed loud and long as he was carried by this white light towards the large Aspen tree where he lay spread eagle against the trunk. The power holding him pinned against it, until he slowly faded, merging with the wood, the branches of the tree wrapping around him, caging him in.
As the power subsided, my eyes opened and I looked at the tree, now petrified, its branches still wrapped around its heart. Through the branches I could see a scorch mark on the trunk in the shape of an eye.
As I stared, the blue eye blinked once, then turned orange red.
My eyes opened to the early morning sunlight glinting on the dew covered soccer field.
Acknowledgements and thanks
I have had so much help and encouragement in writing this book. First I would like to thank the Finish the Damn Book club mentored by Cherry A
dair. It really gave me the impetus to finish this damn book!
My family have been huge supporters listening to me and reading with enthusiasm. I couldn’t have done this without my husband, Derry. He gave me encouragement when I was down and helped me see my vision through. Without his IT skills I would’ve been lost. Love you tons!
And to you, my readers… Thank you so much for reading Midnight Metamorphosis! This book was several years in the making and has meant a lot to me. I would love it if you would leave a review on your favorite retailer site.
Connect with me on Twitter: @debkehoe or on Facebook: DeborahEKehoe.