Chapter Thirty
“Paige, what are you doing here?”
“Well I saw what happened in the Café so I followed you outside to taunt you.” Paige said dropping the rock to the side. “That’s when I saw you talking to Heather. I was going to leave you guys be until I saw your face. You look terrified and I couldn’t understand why you would be scared of Heather. Something didn’t feel right in my gut, so I followed you guys out here. What the hell is going on? Why is Heather trying to kill you?”
“You didn’t hear what we were talking about?”
“I tried to, but I was too far away. I wanted to keep some distance between us just in case Heather detected me. When I saw her backing you up to the river, that’s when I knew I had to take action. No matter how much I dislike you, I couldn’t stand by and watch you get killed.”
I felt tears come to my eyes as I smiled. Reaching out, I pulled Paige into a tight hug. “Thank you so much Paige. You’re the best!”
“Ew!” Paige said struggling against me. She pulled away from the hug. “Are you trying to make me sick to my stomach? Now because of you, I’ll have to get rabies shots.” While her words may have been harsh, there was a tiny smile in her eyes and around her lips as she looked at me. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Gladly.”
We took a step away when we heard, “Not so fast.”
Turning around we saw that Heather was back conscious and that she had the gun again. I mentally kicked myself. I forgot to get the gun. Blood ran down Heather’s head staining her face. I saw her eyes take in Paige as they narrowed with anger.
“Heather, let Paige go. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Girl, I’m not leaving you out here with crazy.” Paige whispered to me.
“Don’t worry.” Heather said smiling, blood coating her teeth. “No one is leaving.”
Before I could say anything else, there was a loud pop. Everything began to slow as I turned from Heather’s evil smile to look at Paige. Paige’s mouth had formed an “o”. Her hands clutched her stomach as her body paled.
“Paige!” I cried. Paige made eye contact with me. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end collapsed on the ground unconscious. I went to go to her, but out the corner of my eye, I saw Heather raised the gun towards me. As I stared into her eyes, I realized, she no longer cared about the painting. She knew like I did that the guards would have heard that shot despite the fact that it was thundering. There was no way she was going to make it out of the woods without being caught. The painting was useless to her now. She had lost her brother, the only family she had left. She no longer had anything to lose, which made her very dangerous.
Heather’s hand squeeze the trigger as another loud popping sound vibrated the air. The bullet flew out the gun towards me as I ducked. It landed in the tree behind me, shooting splinters from the bark to the ground.
I turned my attention to Heather who was staring at where the bullet had flown past me into the tree. Taking advantage of her unawareness, I charged at her. Heather gave me a look of shock as I ran for her. The two of us collided with the ground as Heather landed with a grunt. The gun flew out of her hands to somewhere in the bush of the forest. I pulled my arm back before sending it forward, making my fist collide with the side of Heather’s cheek. She let out a groan of pain as I followed behind it with another fist of fury. I threw another fist at Heather who this time dodged it. Heather threw her head forward with insane speed as it knocked against mine. I heard a ringing in my ears as a pounding drum thumped in my head. Groaning, I fell over and clutched my bleeding head in pain. Heather stood up and walked over to me sending a kick to my stomach. I groaned out balling over now trying to protect my stomach. She sent two more kicks into my stomach, and I had to wonder was I ever going to make it out of the woods alive today.
Through the pain from my head, stomach, and the blurriness in my eyes, I watched as Heather’s foot came towards me again. I quickly reached up and caught it before she could do anymore damage to my abdomen area. Remembering the moves Kerry had taught us in case we ran into trouble for the mission—I twisted Heather’s foot slightly, enjoying the slight crack side of it breaking. However, that didn’t slow Heather.
As she went towards the ground, her other foot came around to kick my face that was slowly rising up from the ground. I fell back onto the ground feeling an even more intense pain than before. Heather landed on the ground beside me clutching her foot. She hopped up limping on her broke foot and came towards me. Her foot didn’t seem to hurt her as bad as I thought because she sent it aiming towards my face. I rolled out the way just in time as her foot collided with the ground sending her howling. Taking advantage of her slight pain, I swooped my foot around under hers legs and sent her to the ground. She fell towards the ground, her head bouncing off the ground as it connected with it.
I got up to make my way towards the clearing as she rolled across the ground. My face was hurting and I’m sure it was covered in blood. As I limped towards the closing, I felt myself being pulled back by my hair. I caught myself as I stumbled back enough to cause me to fall. Turning quickly, I ducked the fist Heather threw at me. By the breeze that followed, I knew I would have ended up in some serious pain.
“Give up Autumn. You and I both know you’re no match for me.” Heather hissed.
I sent my foot up making the heel of my boot connect with her nose. I took in the slight satisfaction of seeing blood run down from what I was now certain was a broken nose. “You’re right about one thing Heather. I’m not a match for you. I’m better than you.”
“We’ll see about that.” She cried through her bloody face.
The two of our hands continued to connect with each other and for a moment I had the upper hand. That was until I stumbled over a jarred rock in the ground. I went over into the grass and I hoped there wasn’t a snake hidden in the slight pile of leaves. Once again my head had taken another hit of pain and it would be a miracle that I will still be able to use my brain after this.
I blinked open my eyes to see Heather standing above me, the thrown away gun now back in its owners hands.
“Not so tough now.” She sneered down at me. “Any last words.”
“Yeah, go to hell.”
Heather aimed the gun as I waited for death to come to me. However, there was a sudden change of events. A blur flew past my eyes as I watched Heather fall to the ground. I sat up quickly as I watched her tumbled with someone on the ground. I couldn’t see who it was from the back, but I could tell it was a guy. I wondered if it was one of the guards.
My questioned was answered when Heather tossed her opponent over so I could see their face. Oh my God. It was Micah! What was he doing out here? I didn’t really care. All I know was that he was tumbling with that maniac and she was going to end up killing him.
Micah got the advantage back and he was now on top of a squirming Heather. Micah went to go grab her when Heather sent a foot into his chest. His body flew back and collided with a tree behind him as he sunk down.
Rage filled me as I felt a sudden burning rush go through my body. Without realizing, my hands had moved on their own and formed and outward position. The burning rush shot from the pit up my stomach and out my hands. A small black ball of light hovered in my hands growing darker and larger. Once it was completely filled, the ball shot from my hands. Heather turned around in surprised, her mouth outstretched as the light hit her. The light thrust her body backwards until she collided into a tree. Her arm came out and clutched the spot on her chest where the light had hit her. It was like déjà vu all over again. Heather’s body shook similar to the way Mark’s shook. Her mouth kept opening and closing as she made a wheezing sound. The color of her skin began to change and I could hear the sound of her bones breaking. Glancing up at me, tears swarmed her eyes as her mouth formed to move. Staring in her eyes, I could see the real
ization finally hit her. She now knew that I had the powers from the painting. I was a beholder. I thought she may have been upset at the realization, but she smiled. The smile wasn’t one of evil, it was one of peace. She seemed happy that I had the powers. Her smile dropped as her body tensed with shock, and then she crumbled to the ground.
I stared at Heather’s still body. She was dead. I’d killed her. I’d used my power, and I’d killed her. Yuri was right. We all had dark powers.
Micah gave a groan as I finally snapped out of it and made my way over to help him up.
“Micah, are you okay.”
“I’m fine.” He assured me. Grabbing my face in his hands he stared into my eyes. “Are you okay?”
His eyes didn’t portray that he had seen what I’d done. The knock Heather had given him had put him out. I reached up to grasp his hand as I said, “As good as I’m going to be.”
Micah released a sigh and pulled me close to him. He rocked me in his arms as the two of us stared down at a dead Heather. From far away I could hear the sound of an alarm blaring and knew that the school was on lockdown. The guards would be here any minute. My eyes scanned the woods and landed on Paige’s body.
“Paige!” I made my over to her body as I sat down beside her, pulling her body closer to me. Micah came to sit down beside her as I cried. I prayed that Paige would be alright.
The sound of boots got closer as Micah and I both tensed. We knew not to make any sudden movements that might send the guards shooting at us. As it were they broke from both sides of the trail guns raised.
“On the ground now!”
Micah and I both got on the ground. The guards came forward and peered down at us. They stared at Paige’s body and then over at Heather’s body. One of the guards made his way over to check Heather’s pulse. He kneeled beside her for a minute before he confirmed what I already knew. “She’s dead.”
Another guard that had been checking Paige’s pulse stood up and yelled. “She’s still alive. Get an ambulance out here now!”
The ambulance arrived as Paige was loaded on to it. Headmaster Blake also had made her way into the forest. She took one look at the scene and marched over to us. Standing above us she snarled. “You two are coming with me.”
After we were treated for our injuries, Micah and I had been questioned over and over about what happened in the woods. I told all the truth that I could, omitting the parts about me stealing the painting from the Louvre. Instead I told them how Heather had become obsessed with me. Thanks to Heather giving me her whole life story instead of just plain shooting me, I had enough stuff to back up my story. I hid the part about Heather and Mark being related. If I told them that detail, it would spark a further investigation that would eventually link me to the painting. The guards weren’t that satisfied with everything that I gave them, they assumed I knew more. But since Heather fingerprints were the only ones on the gun, they had to end up letting us go. They were still stumped on how Heather died, but was already assuming it had to be from natural causes.
When we left the office, Micah pulled me into a hug and I let him. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be over. I loved him. I finally came to realize this that moment in the woods when I thought Heather would kill him. It felt as if someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t breathe. It was the same way my father had explained his love for my mother. It was the same way I felt for Micah.
Pulling away from the hug, I stared up at Micah. “What were you doing out here?”
“I kept debating with myself on whether or not I should let our relationship end. I decided on the latter. I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer. So I went to your dorm. Yuri claimed she hadn’t seen you since earlier and asked me if everything was alright. At that time, I assured her that everything was. It wasn’t until I was leaving your dorm that I heard the first shot. A bad feeling went over me and I knew that you were in trouble. Another shot fired so I rushed out there and that’s when I saw Paige on the ground, and you Heather wrestling around. You guys were rolling so close to the river that I swear my heart stopped for a second.”
His voiced cracked at the end as I grabbed his arms and tightened them around me. I rubbed his back soothingly even though I knew he thought that I should be the one being comforted. He proved me right by moving by slowly enough to grab my hands.
“I should have intervened earlier. Maybe Heather would still be alive. I’m happy that you were handling yourself. But then again you always handled things yourself. I shouldn’t be surprised. I just, when she grabbed the gun the second time, I couldn’t stand there.”
“It’s okay Micah. “ I said my voice hoarse. “It’s all over.”
“No it’s not. I owe you the truth. You were right. I lied to you about my past. The truth is Headmaster Blake, she’s my stepmom.”
“What?”
“She’s my aunt. My dad left my mom for another woman when I was fourteen. He married her and the two of them skipped town cutting all ties with us. My mom became so heartbroken by my dad’s betrayal that she tried to kill herself.”
“Oh God, Micah I’m sorry.”
“The courts deemed my mom unfit to take care of me so I was sent to live with my aunt, and my mom was sent away to a psychiatric hospital. My aunt believed image was more important than family, so she sent me away to the farthest boarding school she could. Only she didn’t count on me acting out and getting expelled. By the time I was seventeen, my aunt had taken enough of me and decided it was best if I go to a school where she could keep an eye out on me, only she didn’t want anyone to know about her troublemaker nephew. She’s the one that came up with the story about the Bareli situation.”
“When I got here, I spotted Paige. She seemed like the perfect person to get mixed up with and cause trouble at school. I had a full proof plan, and then I bumped into you. You might not believe me, but I became taken by you. I knew you were bad for me and my plan, so I tried to keep away from you. Only it ended up backfiring and more than anything I wanted to be near you. I wanted to tell you the truth about the story, but I knew how you felt about being lied to. I just decided when the time was right, I would tell you and hopefully you’d understand. But you found out anyhow. ”
I stared at Micah. I could tell this must have really tormented him. “I’m not happy that you lied to me. In fact, I was hurt. But now that you’re telling me, I can understand why you did it. I just can’t believe that Headmaster Blake is treating you like this. I mean I knew she could be cruel, but not to her own relatives.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Micah and I stayed out a little bit longer working out our problems. I still didn’t fully trust him, and I was sure that he was still keeping secrets, but I decided to let it go. I had my own secrets, so how could I fault him. We were once again together and the air between us felt smoother.