***
Kaitlyn sat on the shoreline watching everyone else inch their way slowly across the narrow bridge.
Ronan reached out as they got to the invisible wall. His hand ran over the barrier. “It’s still here,” he told them. “Now what?”
Wren shrugged, looking to Kevan, who was behind her. “What do you think?” she asked.
“Honestly, I thought that this would work, so I don’t have a clue.” Kevan admitted.
Kaitlyn pushed to her feet, pacing as she waited for someone to make a move, to do anything. Finally she had had enough. “You have to work together!” she shouted at them.
“Work together?” Wren yelled back at her. “What does that mean?”
“Work together, join hands, I don’t know!” Kaitlyn shouted, as she was in a full-on self-pity party. “Now you want my help, I’m good enough to help figure out the clue, just not good enough to join you.”
“Kaitlyn, you’re not helping!” Kevan yelled at her twin, as they all suddenly froze, when they heard, then felt the bridge shift ever so slightly. “Oh crap.”
“Grab the person in front of you!” Marcus roared, as he took control, and grabbed Leila’s waist with his hand. Kira floated down so that she was touching both of them, voicing a squeak of warning, as the bridge shifted again.
Marcus threw out another order. “Ronan, now push against it.”
Ronan reached out with his hands, and pushed against solid air. This time there was a change. He felt a flow of power within them, as they pushed with him, giving him an extra strength. Resting his shoulder on the wall, he pushed again. He felt it shift, and he glanced over his shoulder. “It moved.”
“Good everyone keep pushing,” Marcus ordered. He took a quick peek, and what he saw alarmed him. The water around them was bubbling, and rocks on the outer edges of the bridge were rolling into the water.
“We need to hurry, people!” he told them, as he pushed into Leila, only this time he sensed something different. Gone was the small woman standing in front of him. Leila’s own power lent her the strength to take everything that the group was about to put into her.
They grunted and groaned, as they worked together in unison, a team trying to get an obstacle out of their way, and then, just when hope began to fade the wall shifted and gave way, and they tumbled one over another onto the far end of the bridge.
Kaitlyn’s yell of warning ripped through them, as they looked back to the other shore to see Kaitlyn pointing at the back side of the bridge collapsing like a row of dominos into the water.
“Get off the bridge, now!” Marcus shouted out, as he picked up Leila, and ran towards the other shoreline. When the wall shut down, the bridge lost cohesion, and started falling apart. They scrambled to keep ahead of the collapse; with a last spurt of energy they leapt onto the island, becoming a pile of bodies watching the last rocks splash down to rubble.
“Is everyone okay?” Kevan asked, as she took Marcus’ offered hand, pulling her to her feet.
“Bumps and bruises, but for the most part, we all seem to be fine,” Marcus informed her.
“How are we supposed to get off here now?” Ronan questioned. Kevan moved away from them, waving to the worried Kaitlyn on the other side.
“One thing at a time,” she told him, as she turned towards the middle of the island. “First things first, we came for the grimoire, and that is what we need to concentrate on.” She checked around her, until she spotted Leila staring at the grimoire in utter fascination, which made her suddenly worried. “Leila?”
Leila smiled at Kevan when she saw the fear in her face. “It’s okay, I’m alright.”
“Are you sure? It’s taken control before,” Kevan asked warily.
“Yes it did, but that was when it thought that I was here to harm it. It now understands that I am here to protect it.”
“Okay,” Kevan said warily, as she glanced towards the book that sat on the stone table in the center of the island, and she had a flash. “Hey, does this remind you of that Indiana Jones movie?” she asked, gaining several weak chuckles of laughter.
“You and your television and movie references.” Marcus shook his head.
“Well it does, and I am a bit concerned about fiction becoming reality in my life. But we need to move on,” she told him. “What next?”
“What do your directions say?” Wren asked, as she turned to look at Kaitlyn watching them from the other side of the water. “Kaitlyn, what does the next part of the clue say?”
“Oh, now you want my help?” Kaitlyn whined.
“Kaitlyn Cameron, tell her what she wants to know!” Marcus roared with frustration.
“Fine,” Kaitlyn said with a pout. “They must all work together to shine the way through the darkness.”
“We got that part,” Wren informed her.
“Look, do you want my help or not?” Kaitlyn flung at her.
“Actually, I don’t, but you know the clue, so stop your pouting, and tell us what we need to know, so that we can get the hell out this place!” Wren griped. “Now if you are done with the pout, would you please tell us what comes next?”
“Don’t believe the lies!” Kaitlyn shouted at her.
“I’m not lying!” Wren shouted back at her.
“It’s the next part of the directions.” Kaitlyn crossed her arms with a smug look.
“Oh, sorry, please continue,” Wren asked politely.
“Don’t believe the lies, trust in the truth, and know that you can do what has been set in front of you.”
“Don’t believe the lies, trust in the truth,” Wren repeated. “What lies?”
Leila wasn’t listening to them anymore. She couldn’t resist the lure of the grimoire. She moved with the pull, and was feet away when Kevan spotted her.
“Leila?” Kevan questioned, as she moved to stop her from leaving them; they had to figure this out. A wall of flame sprung up just as Leila crossed the fire line, separating her from her fellow questers. Kevan jumped back to avoid being burned. Leila glanced back to them when Kevan called her again as she moved towards the firewall, only to have it flare larger and brighter.
“Kevan, it’s okay,” Leila assured her. “It won’t hurt me; it’s a part of me.”
“Leila, it’s a part of you that you have never dealt with before. You even admitted that it could be dangerous,” Kevan tried to reason with her.
“Not to me,” Leila informed her. “Kevan, I have to do this on my own. I have to see if I can resist the temptation of the power. My ancestor couldn’t; I need to prove that I am strong enough to do this.”
“But we’re here to help you,” Kevan pleaded with her. “Let us help.”
“No, Kevan, I can’t thank you enough, all of you, for everything that you have done for me. But understand this is something that only I can do. I have to prove that I am the right person for the job,” Leila pleaded with Kevan to understand, and as much as she wanted help, she knew that she had to do this on her own. “Trust me, please.”
Kevan stepped back from the fire, her eyes never leaving Leila. “I do trust you, Leila!” Kevan stated with absolute confidence. “You can do this, I know that you can.”
Leila smiled and nodded, as she whispered thank you to Kevan, before she turned back to face the stone table, and the book that lay upon it.