Chapter 19
Arianna returned home from a day of school that had felt as if it had been doubled in length and went to the couch immediately. She needed to sit, needed a period of time to process all of it. Her day, the last few days, had lingered like a never-ending nightmare. The only bright spot had been Desmond’s return, their time together. That had been heaven-sent. He was heaven-sent. The rest had been horrendous. Her school day hadn’t been any different. Minutes had dragged and had felt like hours. She’d felt as if her time at Hallowed Hills High School would never end. When finally the last bell of the day had rung just after three o’clock, she had to force herself to keep from springing from her seat and sprinting out the front door to her car. Fortunately, her will was strong and she’d done neither. Both would have drawn attention to her, attention she did not want. She’d grabbed her books and walked at the same pace as the rest of her classmates, praying all the while that she would avoid Scott, George and the others.
Of course, she had not avoided running into any of them. She’d seen and spoken briefly with Paul and Chris near the cafeteria and had bumped into Meg and Kit in the ladies’ room. Each encounter had been awkward. Everyone had spoken to her in the same tones they’d always used, relaxed, friendly, and nonchalant, nothing had been out of the ordinary; nothing on the surface, at least. But they’d looked at her differently, warily, accusingly. It was clear that if they did not know for sure already she was behind Jess and Josh’s disappearance, they strongly suspected her. The tension, particularly between Meg, Kit and herself, had been so thick, she could have cut it with a knife. She’d never wanted to stop mid-stream while relieving herself as badly as she had when she’d sensed Meg and Kit’s presence enter the ladies’ room. Their energy had been laden with hostility and distrust. It had practically entered on its own, as separate entities, ahead of them. Her only advantage had been, and still was, that no one knew she was the Sola other than Desmond and Agnon. No one else knew, not Scott, not George, no one. So as Paul, Chris, Meg and Kit had plastered phony smiles on their faces and had laughed and joked as usual, they’d been completely unaware of the fact that Arianna had practically heard their thoughts.
Her powers were growing rapidly, more rapidly than she’d ever dreamed possible, and on more than one occasion during the day, she’d sworn she had heard the thoughts of others when she’d concentrated hard enough. She’d unintentionally read the mind of a handful of human beings and had been shocked when it had happened. For a moment, she’d been certain she’d finally gone crazy. She was about to try out her new skill on Beth at her locker at the end of the day, but when she’d seen George’s pasty face bobbing along above the sea of other faces walking out of the school, she’d known her powers would lapse. She’d also known Scott would be at his side, and she’d been right. She’d quickly grabbed her belongings and was about to make a run for it when she’d found herself face to face with a very smug Scott. He’d slid her a sly, half-smile, the facial equivalent of a raised middle finger. She’d wanted to slap him, had actually contemplated doing it for a fleeting moment, then had remembered Desmond and had reconsidered. To her surprise, Scott had not said a word to her. He’d stood there, threatening her wordlessly, with his Herman Munster sidekick hanging on him like an ugly, oversized corpse-purse. She’d smiled at him, as pleasantly as she could possibly smile then made her way out of the building.
Now, as she stood in the living room replaying the few, but odd, interactions she’d had with Scott and his coven, she realized nearly a half-hour passed and wondered where the hell Desmond was. He’d promised her he would not leave her. She began to wonder whether something had happened.
Her eyes scanned the living room and kitchen area before she marched into her bedroom.
“Desmond?” she called quietly and reached out with all her senses, searching for him.
When she did not feel him, she began to panic. Where was he? He would never leave her, not without a good reason, a threat to her life.
“Desmond?” she called out again and felt her heart speed frantically.
She stepped into the bathroom and flipped the light switch on. She knew he was not in there, the room had been dark, but she had held out hope that perhaps he’d been in the shower and hadn’t heard her.
“Oh god, Desmond,” she said to herself. “Where are you?”
She was about to turn when a voice startled her.
“Right here,” Desmond said softly and she heard a small scream sound from her.
“Holy shit Desmond!” she jumped.
“You screamed like a little girl,” he smiled, but his smile did not reach his eyes, and his skin was unusually pale.
“No, I didn’t and what’s wrong?” she wasted no time getting to the point. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Arianna considered her statement and their supernatural powers. “Wait, did you see a ghost?” she asked and was serious. With the rate at which her powers were multiplying, she would not be surprised it that were next.
“Arianna, they’re planning it for tomorrow morning,” he said and it took her a moment to realize what he was talking about.
“They’re what?” she fumbled. “Tomorrow morning? How do you know? You heard them planning at school today?”
Too many questions swam in her brain, around and around in dizzying laps.
“I heard my father. I saw him today,” Desmond said, pain etched in is features.
“Your father was at school today?”
“No, I went to him,” he admitted and dropped his eyes to his feet.
“You left me?” she accused him.
“No, well yes, but you were in your car driving home. Scott had waited in the parking lot. He and the others had gathered by his car and threw snowballs at each other as they laughed about how epic tomorrow would be.”
“Huh,” she huffed. “Sounds just like a scene Norman Rockwell would paint. Instead of Girl at the Mirror, the title would be Psychos at School.”
“They plan to kill the entire student body tomorrow at the end of first period. Actually, they expect you to kill everyone at the end of first period,” he said and met her stunned gaze.
Arianna’s lungs burned and her mouth had gone dry. She could not speak, could not find the words to describe how she was feeling, the horror.
“What?” she managed to whisper, her voice hoarse.
“When I left you, I went to Scott’s house. My father was there. He and the six in the coven went over the details after he and Scott had a little run-in. Arianna, they think you are going to kill all the kids at school and that when you do it, it will be felt around the world by every witch and warlock just as it had been felt when you killed Howard Kane. Only this time, the act will be a signal for all the others to begin their attack on mankind. It will begin the war against humanity.”
The room tilted violently and Arianna staggered out of the bathroom to her bedroom. The sudden need to sit pressed her.
“Desmond, this is crazy. This can’t be real,” she said in a trembling voice.
Desmond rushed to her side. She felt his warm hands rest on her shoulders. “Are there really that many of us that Agnon thinks we can overthrow humanity?” she asked feebly.
“The prophecy says that when you initiate the war, your powers will have matured and all of our powers will grow, that a handful of us will be able to overtake cities, that we will be unstoppable.”
Arianna’s mind struggled to understand the words he was speaking. Five witches would be capable of overtaking a city. It seemed impossible. Countless cities existed on the planet, cities that would fall. And she was slated to begin all of it, begin the chaos. She could not wrap her brain around it all. She felt as if she were floating, hovering over her body and listening, as it all unfolded like a hideous nightmare she could not wake from.
“Do you believe it? Do you believe the pr
ophecy, Desmond?” she heard herself ask him.
“No,” he said and tipped her chin up so that she looked at him. “What my father believes, what he’s preparing the others for, is nonsense. It’s not what I believed my whole life and I don’t believe it now. I don’t believe you will kill innocent people, now or ever.”
“No, I won’t,” she said and felt strengthened by his faith in her. Of course, the urge to kill innocents did not exist within her, it never had. She would have gleefully joined in with Scott, Jess and Josh at the party in the woods if it had. But she was not like them. And she never would be. Still, a question nagged at her. She wondered how all of the prophecy nonsense had come to pass, how she became involved in it. Of all the supernatural beings on the planet, what force decided she was the one, the Sola? She wanted to ask Desmond, but was afraid of the answer she would hear. Instead, she settled on one only slightly less complicated. “Why is everyone so convinced that I will do this? Why do they believe I will join in this mass slaughter tomorrow?”
“Honestly Arianna, I do not know the answer to that question,” Desmond answered and looked as confused as she felt. “All I do know is that we need to stop the attack on the school. It cannot happen,” he said firmly and his eyes had hardened with his words.
Arianna agreed, and there was only one solution that came to mind. “Let’s go now,” she said determinedly. “Let’s go to Scott’s house and kill them now before they ever have a chance to set foot on campus tomorrow morning.”
“I thought of that too, believe me. That would be the simplest way. But there are other witches involved, others who have been recruited for this day, for their cause. They are a part of it. I don’t know who they are. They were not named.”
“Then what do we do?” she asked, desperation seeping from her veins.
“The only option we have that I can see is to stop it as it happens.”
“What, so we’re going to wait until tomorrow?” Arianna asked incredulously. “That sounds way too dangerous.”
“I know. I agree. But what other choice do we have? If we go now, we risk running into more of our kind than we can handle at once, and with powers that are unknown to us. I don’t know about you, but I think that puts us in more danger than picking them off one by one tomorrow morning.”
Arianna did not know what the hell she thought. She just knew the attack must never happen. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she agreed with him halfheartedly.
“They are planning to lock everyone in the school after the first bell rings and everyone is in their first-period class. When the bell rings to end first period, it will begin.”
“So we have a little more than forty minutes in between to stop them, is that what you’re saying?” she asked dejectedly.
She wished she could close her eyes and will it away, will all of the madness away. But she could not.
“Yes, and hopefully we will be able to stop them without being seen,” he said.
She had not considered the fact that they needed to be careful for reasons beyond general safety. The task before them grew increasingly difficult with each detail that was revealed.
“What is going to happen? What do we do?” she asked.
“We’re going to have to kill them all, and if my father is there, we are going to have to kill him, too. Actually, you will have to kill him,” Desmond spat.
“Me? Why me?”
“His powers are too strong. Mine are hardly a match for him. But you, you have untapped powers that will surpass his and mine combined. You will have to release them, though. You will have to be the Sola, just as you were with Howard Kane.”
She remembered the transformation when she’d killed Kane. However, the change had been spontaneous. Intense emotions had fueled it. Loss, grief, pain unlike any she’d experienced until that point had spawned a veritable fire within her. She wondered whether she could do it a second time; unleash the great beast that slept within her. But with Desmond at risk, all doubt left her. She would be able to. She would not risk losing him ever. She would let her love for him be the catalyst. Her profound love for Desmond would spark the Sola’s return.
Though her spirits were lifted somewhat by the confidence she was feeling, one factor remained.
“What about George?” she asked. “He can block my power.”
“He is just a teenager by mortal years and extremely young and inexperienced by warlock years. He cannot stop us both. I will place myself behind him, teleport there without him ever knowing, and take him out first,” Desmond promised, and by the resolute set of his jaw, Arianna did not doubt he would deliver.
Arianna felt the weight of the world resting squarely on her shoulders. The task ahead of her was insurmountable. She was terrified of the responsibility.
“Don’t be afraid, Arianna,” Desmond whispered as if he’d heard her thoughts. “You can do this. You will do this. You will lead everyone as they were truly meant to be led. Stopping this attack will show our kind the truth. It will show them the true meaning of the prophecy.”
His words, his faith in her, touched a part of her that had never been touched before. He believed in her unwaveringly. He saw in her what no one else had ever seen. He saw goodness and strength. He saw his present as well as their future, together. Desmond was her beacon, the light that guided her in dark waters.
She did not bother responding to him verbally. Words were incapable of conveying all that she felt for him. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He pulled her close to him, so close that she felt the steady beat of his heart. The sound of it, along with the heat of his body, sent a wave of relief over her. It washed away her fear and doubt, and she allowed her body to fall into his. She pulled back briefly, just long enough to gaze into his eyes. They were matching pools of tropical water, warm, clear, bottomless. She found herself lost in them.
“I love you,” he said and brought his forehead to hers.
“I love you, too,” she breathed.
“We will survive this,” he promised her.
She hoped both of them would, and knew she would sacrifice her life for him. But she would not allow him to do the same for her.
Yes, you will survive this, she thought as she smiled and nodded at him.
He closed the small distance between them and drew her against his chest again. He sunk back slowly until his back rested against the pillows. They spent the remainder of the night wrapped in each other’s arms as they lay in her bed. They clung to each other and the fleeting feeling of safety, fighting sleep, for as long as they could.