Halley trembled as the kids around the slide called out to her over and over again. "Halley~" one said in a coaxing tone, "Where are you?~" What was she thinking? Walking up to them like that. Was she an idiot? She had to be to do something as stupid as that. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Now look at the situation she was in. All because she thought she was big and bad. Those boys outside were the ones who were big and bad. Halley was small and brittle.
Sure, Halley was in trouble, but it wasn't her fault! It was those bad kids who started it by insulting Brandon. They shouldn't have said anything if they couldn't say it to his face, but Halley was now thinking she should've just ignored them and kept on walking- Bam! They had found her! She tried to think positive and calm herself down, but she couldn't stop shaking and her heart was beating faster than it ever had before.
Maybe they didn't find her? "Found you!" Guess not. A boy poked his head under the slide and into Halley's face, scaring the timid 10 year old. She tried to dash to the other side of the slide, but there was another boy there too. Halley decided to go back to her hiding place, but the boy grabbed her by her long, dark brown, curly hair and dragged her outside her refuge. She attempted to break the boy's grip, but there wasn't much she could do with those noodle arms of hers.
Regardless, she punched, kicked, bit, and pinched the boy until he threw her in front of the ringleader himself, Jason Rodgers. The tall, burly 12 year old, who was infamous for picking on magicians while being a dormant himself. Grandma had warned Halley and Brandon about dormants who were jealous of how special magicians were. "They hurt special kids like y'all for no reason at all," Halley remembered, "So do your best to stay away from them."
She was going to be in so much trouble when she got home, but she saved that thought for later as Jason smugly told her to beg for his forgiveness. She would've rather died. "Alright, whatever you want, Hall." He clapped his hands and pointed to two boys behind Halley. What was he planning? The faster she figured that out, the faster she could plan her method of escape.
There were 6 boys, plus the 2 dogs playing fetch with their master, 8. She couldn't possibly take them all on, so escaping was her only option. If Jason moved an inch to the right, she would've been able to squeeze through the gap and make a run for it into the forest. Yes! That was her only way out. With her plan in mind, she thought of ways to get Jason to move an inch towards her freedom.
She tried bluffing, saying if they didn't let her go, she would kill them all with her magic. Jason got up from his rock throne and walked up to her after hearing the threat. "You?" he asked, "Kill me?" She kept up the lie as he got closer and closer to her destination. Just half an inch more. That's it! He was almost there. "You two, grab her." Huh? Halley was hoisted off the ground from her arms as she realised her miscalculation. Jason always played dirty.
Halley's hope of escaping left her with every punch she took to the stomach. Grandma and Bran were going to be so mad at her, she thought as she slowly closed her eyes. "Uh-uh," Jason said while tapping her face until she opened her eyes. What did he want now? "You said you'd rather die than beg for my forgiveness, so pick your poised son." It's poison, you illiterate pig, but Halley didn't bother to correct him.
She looked up and saw Jason's pet dogs each holding something. One was holding a giant stick in his hand, and the other was holding something small she couldn't see from afar. She figured the smaller object would hurt less, so she chose it accordingly. Jason walked up to the boy as Halley dropped her head back down. She couldn't feel her stomach at all. She didn't think she had any broken bones or internal bleeding, though. Thank goodness.
She closed her eyes and imagined how angry Bran would look if he saw her being beat like a dog. He would be pissed, she giggled to herself, like really really pissed. Step, step. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Jason's worn shoes in front of her. They looked nothing like her new sneakers she got on her birthday. His were about to fall apart. Truth be told, she didn't hate Jason. Halley didn't hate anyone. No matter what anyone did to her, Halley couldn't bring herself to hate.
Whatever Jason was about to do to her, she just wanted him to get it over with so she could go home. He laughed at her command before lowering his closed hand in front of her face. Halley wondered what was in his hand as he slowly opened it. She felt her stomach turn inside out as she looked at the wriggly worm in his palm. She felt the food inside of her rush up her throat and out of her mouth.
"Eww!" all the boys exclaimed, and they even let go of her. She was too weak to run away, so she sat there panting, trying to forget the image of the foul creature in her head. "I guess it's true then," Jason said cynically, "You really can't handle worms, huh." She had always reacted this way to all larvae she had seen in her life. It wasn't just the worm's fault. She just felt nauseous every time she saw them, and now Jason knew her secret!
He ordered two of his other loyal minions to grab Halley as he inched the bug closer and closer to her face. She shut her eyes, praying for this torture to end. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to get yelled at by grandma and Brandon. Grandma! Bran! Brandon, help! "Halley!" Her eyes flew open at the sound of her twin's voice as he called out to her. Brandon! "Halley! What are you doing to my sister?" He and Reba stood a few meters away as he angrily questioned Jason.
"We're playing cops and robbers," Jason lied, "Halley, here lost, so we have to punish the robber." "Let her go!" Rebecca declared, but the bully refused. The 10 year old ran up to the bigger kid and tried to attack him, but he caught her leg and hoisted her off the ground. "That's all you got?" Jason asked before he threw her across the playground. "Get her, guys." The other boys then all started walking towards Reba as she lay helplessly on the ground.
Brandon threw a rock at Jason's head, pissing him off even more. "Why don't you come and get me you moronic nincompoops!" Brandon yelled, but Jason just laughed as he instructed the dogs holding Halley to go "take care" of him. Halley tried to run after them as soon as they let go, but Jason caught her and held her in an arm lock as he forced her to watch one of the boys approach her brother with the big stick from before.
No! Brandon behind you! She tried to warn him, but it was too late. Brandon fell to his knees after the blow to his head, but he was able to protect it somewhat as he curled up in a ball. The boy, however, persisted as he whacked Brandon with the stick over and over again. "This is all your fault." Jason whispered to Halley, "But I can make this all go away if you promise to disappear forever." Could he?
Halley looked up at the boy, who was clearly enjoying the scene of carnage. How could she believe he'll stop when he was relishing in the pain and suffering before his eyes? Jason looked down at her and didn't break eye contact as he whistled a special tune. All the kids stopped hurting Brandon, but they continued to hit Rebecca. "The sooner you leave, the sooner her pain stops." Halley had no choice. She had to leave in order to protect Reba and Bran. She had to- Thud.
Thud? They both looked to the boys around Rebecca and saw one of them had been knocked out cold. Thud. Thud. Two of them fell to the ground. "Ahh!" the last two bullies screamed as they ran away from the injured girl. Halley's eyes followed them as they ran outside the park, leaving Jason with only two dogs at his disposal. "You." Jason said gravely as Halley's eyes landed on a short 10 year old Britney.
The other two boys ran away at the sight of her, leaving the ringleader all alone. They had come for her. Halley was saved! Jason had other plans, though, as his grip around Halley's neck tightened as Britney got closer to him. "One step closer and I'll kill her." Brandon warned, but the silent Britney continued pressing on until she finally stopped and reached into her pocket. Halley heard Jason's heart about to beat out of his chest as she revealed the lizard in her jacket pocket.
Terrified, the boy pushed his hostage towards the little, harmless lizard before taking off himself. Halley tripped on her shoe as she fell towards Britney, but she caught her in time. "Are you okay?" she quietly asked, but Rebecca was in worse condition than she was. She ran over to her and started to heal her wounds, but the strong fifth grader tried to downplay her injuries. She was obviously trying to make her feel better, but it didn't help.
Britney dragged Brandon over as well, and Halley started to heal his wounds as her mind turned dark. They were injured trying to help her. This was all her fault. If she just kept her head down and ignored Jason's insults, this wouldn't have happened. She couldn't seem to do anything right. She was only causing problems for others. Jason's words lingered in her head as she was healing the two injured heroes.
Would it really be better if she just disappeared? She sure wouldn't cause so much trouble that way. "It's all your fault." a distorted voice said to Halley. No, it wasn't! The world started to morph and distort around her as she argued with the voice. "Just disappear." No, Brandon, Reba, Britney, everyone would be sad if she just disappeared. "You're a burden." No, she wasn't. She was getting stronger and helping a lot more too. "You're still too weak!"
Halley jumped up as she woke up from her nightmare. She sat up and looked at her phone. 02:34. Ugh. The nightmare had woken her up in the middle of the night. She hadn't had dreams like that in a long time, so she was slightly startled. The last time was the night before Kiara killed Chadwick and fell into the portal. The nightmares seemed to warn her of bad things before they happened, so what was this dream warning her about?
Brandon, Rebecca, and Britney risking their lives to save her? Halley's mind ran wild with theories and conclusions. Were they in danger because of her again? There was no way. It was just a dream. There was no way her dreams could warn her about the future. Right? Worried, Halley picked up her phone and tried calling Britney to make sure she was okay. Ring, ring, ring. The number you have dialed- What?
She tried one more time, and straight to voicemail. Next, she tried calling Brandon. Same thing. It was late, but Britney and Brandon didn't turn off their phones when they went to sleep. Maybe Kylian knew what was going on. Voicemail. Louis? Voicemail. Axel? Huh? The call didn't even go through. She checked his phone number 3 times over and three times she heard: The number you're trying to reach does not exist? What was going on?
Worried and desperate, Halley tried calling Rebecca. Ring. Please. Ring. Please, please. Ring. Reba, you have to pick up.
Was she also getting a bad feeling about all this? "Me? Not really." Wasn't she getting any warning messages from Apollo or something? "Apollo's not in Magiterra." What? How long had he been gone? "He just left a second ago, that's about an hour to you guys." An hour? Why did Brandon summon Apollo at 2 in the morning? "This dream seems to be distressing you, young magician." It was! That and this feeling of worry building up inside of her.
"I am linked to my brother the same way you are connected to yours. If there was something wrong with Apollo, I would be the first to know-" Huh? What was wrong? Why did she cut herself off? Artemis? "Apollo- he- he-" Something was wrong, wasn't it? Halley told her Magi to return to Magiterra to see what was wrong as she got ready to leave. "I'll be back as soon as I can." Halley wished her well as she slipped her shoes on and opened her door.
Rebecca! "I was just about to open the door." she whispered, "More importantly, where do you think you're going at 3 in the morning?" She was going to find the others. She was certain something was wrong, but Rebecca didn't believe her. "So you think they're all in mortal danger because they won't answer their phones at 3 in the morning and you had a nightmare?" Yes, it was hard to believe, but she just had to trust her. She had to.
She squeezed Rebecca's hand with her own and begged her to believe her, but she refused to go off such a hunch. "They're not in danger," she argued, "And I'm going to prove it to you." She quietly pulled her along down the hall of the dorm room. Where were they going? "If the guys are sleeping in their dorms, you're going to buy me food until your wallet goes dry." Halley happily hopped beside her as they snuck out of the girls' dorm and headed to the guys'.
*****
They stood behind the building and tried to spot Kylian's and Louis's windows, which just happened to be across the building from each other. Five floors. Five main classes. It was obvious how much the school valued their Class S students. They loved them so much that they placed their rooms on the top floor and made life that much harder for Rebecca and Halley.
Sneaking out of the dorm was one thing, but it was virtually impossible to sneak into the student residencies. Rebecca, however, wasn't new to the whole sneaking into the guys' dorms. She snuck into Bran's room all the time to scare him, so to her, it was child's play, but medium difficulty. She had always snuck in alone, and she never had to worry about Halley possibly falling from the window ledge.
"Follow me." she whispered to the doubtful twin, but Halley obediently followed behind anyway. "Step here then jump there." she pointed, so Halley stepped there and leaped over there, almost, just almost, falling over. "Good, now follow closely." Halley felt awfully familiar with these movements as she lightly stepped from ledge to ledge. It was a lot easier than she remembered, but she had never done this before. At least, she didn't think she did.
However, she felt as though something was missing. A factor that should've made the climb a lot harder than it was, but she couldn't be bothered to remember what it was as she and Rebecca got into Brandon's empty room. They looked around a bit, and it didn't seem like they even entered their dorm the night before. Did they go somewhere else instead of returning from the palace? Where could they be?
Even more worried, Halley rushed to the door, but Rebecca stopped her and reminded her they had just broken into the guys' dorms. "If we get caught, we're getting suspended, so be careful and quiet." Halley calmed down as she realized the situation she herself was in before proceeding down the hall with caution. Each floor was split into thirds for each Class level, but they didn't know Kylian's room number.
With 14 options to pick from in one hallway, Halley's confidence dropped and her anxiety skyrocketed. Was it this room? Or maybe that one? Perhaps the one down there? Ah! She didn't know, and neither did Reba. Luckily for them, however, they found William's room, they hoped. Rebecca soundproofed the door as Halley destroyed the lock and let themselves in. There, William was sleeping like a baby ... until Rebecca yelled in his ear.
The startled William ended up falling out of bed and looked up as he glared at the loud voice who woke him up. "What?" Rebecca asked him, "Do you wanna fight?" William slowly stood up, walked over to his desk, and opened a bottle of water before saying, "I hope you guys didn't break into my dorm just to pick a fight with me." They didn't. They needed his help to find the others. Halley feared they were in danger.
"Lou and Bran woke me up for the exact same thing an hour ago, but for Britney." he remarked. What? "They asked me to help them locate Britney. I guess they're not back yet." It had already been an hour. Something must've happened to them. Fed up, Rebecca said, "Halley, you need to stop! They're fine. You're just exaggerating a bad dream." How did she know they were fine? Why was her stomach doing somersaults if they were fine? Something was wrong!
"Could you please find them and help me calm her down?" Rebecca asked William, and he did so willingly, but it did seem like he just wanted them to leave. His eyes glowed jungle green and he leaned against his desk before suddenly standing up straight and saying, "Something's wrong with Louis." What? What was wrong? "I don't know. Britney, Kylian, and Brandon are all worried about him right now and I can't see his thoughts. Something about blood." What was going on? Where were they? What about Axel?
William closed his eyes tightly as he looked for Michaelangelo's thoughts, but he grabbed a shirt and went to his door. What was wrong? "A hypnotic is coming this way." A what? "Someone under a hypnosis." Rebecca explained, but how could William tell? "Their voices are all overlapped and distorted, symbolising the main voice trying to fight it and losing." They followed the prince out his dorm, and down the stairs to the faculty exit.
Once outside, they walked to the front of the buildings, following Wiliam's telepathy signal to the hypnotic. Axel? Michael was under hypnosis? Halley couldn't believe her eyes as Axel limped over to the three of them. "Guys!" he called out to them, and Halley rushed to his side. He seemed normal. What happened? "Richard Mustollini. He-he lured us into a trap." Where were the others? "They're still at the warehouse. I was the only one who escaped."
He was lying. The wounds on his body were ones Halley had seen before. Brandon and Louis often got into fights, and Kylian enjoyed sparring with him in gym class from time to time. Halley could tell when Louis was the one who had done the punching, and he didn't hold back with these ones. How was Axel still standing after taking such lethal blows anyway? He should've been dead considering Louis was using full power.
William, noticed right? Louis was the one who made these wounds, Halley thought. "Yea, he's definitely the hypnotic I was sensing." He was obviously trying to lead them into the same trap, but she wasn't sure how much damage he had done until Artemis gave her Apollo's only warning, "Beware Zeus." He couldn't get much else out as he was trying to hold his magic back from Brandon. Why would Bran be using that much magic in the first place?
Something fishy was definitely going on, and there was only one way they could figure it out. "Lead the way." Rebecca said to Axel, grinning, "Let's go save those idiots."
*****
Halley tried to figure out who put Axel under the hypnosis, and what he would do to them once they made it to the warehouse. Would he kill them? He must've had the power to if he was able to defeat Louis at full power. Louis! William mentioned he didn't hear or see his thoughts. Was he unconscious? Asleep? What if Axel had already … No! Halley forced herself to think positive as they rounded the last corner and got to the warehouse.
They hid behind the shipping containers as they tried to come up with a "plan" to save the others. "I can sense 4 people in there," William said, "Brandon, Kylian, Britney and a Class X." A Class X? Would they be able to defeat a Class X without Kiara's help? They didn't have much of a choice, so they planned to use a distraction to draw the Class X away, and save the other 3. After they did that, they could focus on finding Louis.
"By the way," Rebecca asked Axel, "Who did you say beat you up like this?" Halley turned to Axel and a chill ran down her spine as he said, "It was Richard. He's also probably the Class X William's sensing." How could he lie with a straight face? They're lives were on the line here! William had met Mustollini before, so he would be able to identify him. However, they were lucky it wasn't Mustollini they were dealing with yet.
Halley tried to figure out why Mustollini was doing all of this, and no matter which train of thought she picked she arrived at the same answer. The question then became: What did Richard Mustollini want with Kiara's power? She turned to Axel as he was "helping" William lay his trap, and Axel replied, "As the Dark Creator's magician, she's bound to be sought after. We're just unlucky we got caught in the crossfire."
Rebecca and Halley briefly made eye contact before she said, "I hope Louis's alright. Hopefully he hasn't lost too much blood." "If we get there in time," Axel reassured, "We should be able to save him." "Caught him." William projected into Halley's head before catching Axel's lie aloud. "I thought you said you were the only one who got injured." Now let's see what act the imposter put on.
Axel simply got up after being exposed and smiled at the three, who were all backing away from him. He raised his hand as the lightning bolts in his eyes exploded, but he set off William's trap by using so much power in one go. The three of them made a run for it towards the warehouse as another person attacked from above.
They dispersed themselves, taking a barrier from Rebecca as they went their separate ways, and hid behind more shipping containers. Halley heard the attacker land on the ground and begin talking to Axel. "Find them." he said, but Halley was just trying to figure out how to get to the warehouse and save Louis. She knew the barrier would protect her from any one attack, so she had one shot.
Her turquoise eyes glowed as Halley held her bow in front of her and two arrows in her mouth. She tied the cloth on the tip of one of her arrows above her waist and aimed the shot at the main door of the warehouse. A second. No, half a second. She had half a second to fire her second arrow at Axel and clear a path for William. She figured William would do something similar and clear a path for Rebecca, but there was no way for her to know what he was thinking. She had one shot and half a second.
One shot. Half a second. One shot. Half a second. She gathered up all her courage and shot her fist arrow, shattering the barrier around her. She reached for her second arrow as the string pulled her along on her turquoise plates of energy underneath her feet, and aimed for Axel's hand. Halley watched the arrow fly through Axel's hand and saw him turn around to face her. She grabbed the string as the bolt of lightning flew through the air, towards her, but she was able to cut the string, drop to the ground and make it into the warehouse as her arrow was destroyed
Inside, she saw a lady standing above her friends and fired another arrow at her. Halley was horrified when she saw the lady catch the arrow, but it left her open to attack as Britney swept her legs, dropping her to the ground. Her pearl eyes were the only thing Halley could see as she fought the Class X, but Britney's power wasn't enough. Halley ran over to Louis and stabilized him as Brandon helped her carry him outside.
The lady tried firing a pink energy blast at them, but Kylian blocked her attack and managed to trap her in a giant pillar of water before he and Brit made it out themselves. Outside, Rebecca and William were taking turns trapping the man in their barriers and vines. Every time he shattered a barrier, vines appeared and snaked around him until he cut those up as well. Their method of draining his energy was working. He was exhausted.
Halley, however, didn't have time to gawk. Louis had lost way too much blood and needed to get to a hospital ASAP! Britney led the way, with Kylian protecting their rear as Halley and Brandon pulled Louis along. As they were making their way through the maze of shipping containers, Halley watched as Rebecca put the man in his final barrier, and William wrapped him in layer upon layer of impenetrable vines until he was completely trapped inside.
"We did it!" Rebecca exclaimed, but something didn't sit right with Halley. The last time they fought Class Xs, it took all eight of them fighting to take one of them down, and they didn't even defeat Chadwick, Kiara did. How did two of them defeat two Class Xs each? Something wasn't adding up. Why would Michael leave them behind if they were this weak? Richard couldn't have underestimated them that much-
Boom. The warehouse blew up without any warning, and out of its flames walked that lady from before. Simultaneously, the sphere Rebecca and William made started to glow a milk white as it slowly crumbled open like a coconut. She should've known. It couldn't have been that easy to defeat Class Xs, after all. "Hey Natalie," the man called to his companion, "They almost got me, you know." Natalie laughed as she replied, "Well, you've always been weak, Maxwell."
Kylian lowered his arms as he released the water from the pier he had used to protect them from the blast as he and Britney turned to face Natalie once more. Rebecca's eyes began to glow their tangerine orange, and William's with his jungle green when they turned to face Maxwell. They all got the plan: protect Louis, Halley and Brandon and defeat Natalie & Maxwell. Halley turned to her twin and nodded to him as he nodded back with sunlight yellow eyes.
And they were off. Halley and Brandon made a run for it as Kylian caught Natalie's giant pink claw made of energy, and Britney sent her flying with a kick, away from them. Maxwell also tried to attack Halley with his milky white, razor sharp stars, but Rebecca caught them all in a shield and threw them right back at him. He jumped up to dodge the attack, so William sent his vines at him, forcing him back to the ground, where a vine threw a storage container at him.
He destroyed it, and looked peeved, but Halley and Brandon just kept going until they reached the alleyway where Axel had betrayed them. All the fighting was out of Halley and Brandon's sight as they kept moving with Louis. Halley's sixth sense began to tingle and she stopped, and turned to look the way she had come. "What's wrong?" Brandon asked. It was too quiet. "What are you talking about? Don't you hear all the noise from the fighting?"
She did, and it was too quiet. It didn't sound like two 2v1s were going on anymore. Someone was down. She knew it, deep inside of her. She turned back, leaving Louis with Brandon, but he protested her intervention. She had to go back- "I'll go back." he said, "You take care of Louis. He's safest with you." She knew he was, but she still couldn't shake that sense of someone else also needing her. Still, she let Brandon go back as she pressed on with Louis on her shoulder.
She kept on going, but a voice in her head kept telling her to go back. She couldn't! She needed to take care of Louis. He needed her!
What if someone else needed her too? What if one of them died because she wouldn't turn back? Ugh! The anxiety in Halley's head took control of her brain as she jumped high into the sky and landed on top of a shipping container. She placed Louis's body on her back, and apologized for his sagging feet as she jumped from container to container, back to the battlefield.
What was she doing? Carrying an injured person with her back to battle? Well, she couldn't leave him somewhere alone. She could've taken him to the hospital and gone back, but she feared she would've been too late. Halley jumped from container to container, hoping she would make it back in time, and luckily for her, she arrived in time to see everyone still fighting. William? Check. Brandon? Check. Britney? Check. Rebecca? Check. Kylian? Unconscious?!
What was happening? She had just glanced at everyone as they fought, but upon closer inspection, they were all losing their fights. William was holding his arm, Rebecca looked exhausted, Brandon had blood dripping down his face, and Britney was angry. Meanwhile, Maxwell and Natalie just laughed and taunted them and their efforts."Let's wrap this up, Nat." Maxwell said across the battlefield and she agreed. They knew they were about to win, but what could Halley do?
She jumped from her top container before her brain could give the order and headed straight for the most seriously injured person as her eyes glowed. She reached her hand out to pull Kylian to safety, but a blinding explosion sent her flying backwards through the air. She and Louis collided with the shipping container behind them, and he took the biggest hit as his body coughed out blood.
Halley looked up as the dust cleared in the empty shipping site, and she finally realized the power of Class X magicians. The abandoned pier was cleared of many outlying containers, and everyone except Halley was unconscious. Her and Britney. Natalie found her first and called out to her partner to alert him. "This one's still awake!" She pulled her up by her hair and Britney didn't have the strength left to fight back. "Doesn't she look like that Soo-young rat?" Maxwell asked.
T-they knew Britney's mom? "Now that you pointed it out, she really does," Natalie replied, "Hey, before you die, could you tell us if you know a nice weak lady named Park Soo-young?" Halley realized why they had lost in that moment. They were trying to capture them, while those Class Xs wanted to kill them. Britney must've also realized that as well. Was she scared to kill them in front of them? That had to be. Britney wasn't that weak.
"My mother is not weak!" Britney yelled at them. "Ooh, she's feisty," Maxwell exclaimed, "She should be more fun to play with than her weak mother." Was she holding back? Why? She had no need to? She was strong, unlike Halley. Britney could kill, so why didn't she? Why didn't she kill the people who attacked her friends and ridiculed her family? Why was she just lying there?! Get up, Britney! Get up!
As Halley screamed to her friend, Natalie and Maxwell turned to face her like a pack of lionesses spotting a baby gazelle. Their predator-like eyes numbed Halley's brain with fear as they threw Britney's head back to the ground and walked towards her. She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn't listen to her. She had to at least save Louis, but her arms didn't budge. She was frozen in fear. Fear of death.
Maxwell picked her up by her throat and Halley desperately reached for the floor below her as Natalie mocked and insulted her. Was this the end of her story? It couldn't be. She didn't even get to apologize to everyone for not following orders. To Kiara for doubting the amount of goodness inside of her. To Jebediah and Maya for always causing trouble and hurting others around her. She hadn't yet apologized for being a burden.
The world was slowly turning white as Halley stopped struggling. She didn't have the strength to. She felt her breath slipping away as she apologized to everyone for not being enough. She was sorry she couldn't have helped out more. Sorry she couldn't be of use. Sorry she couldn't even save Louis.
She closed her eyes, but suddenly felt her body drop to the ground below her. Her respiratory system kicked in as she gasped for air, but her mind was focused on the gleaming pearl eyed assassin before her.
Britney peered down at Maxwell, who's hand was underneath her foot, and Halley could sense the murderous intent in her eyes. It was Britney in front of her, she was sure of it, but she seemed different somehow. She seemed stronger? Natalie even tried kicking Britney while she was occupied with Maxwell, but she simply grabbed her foot in front of her face and crushed her ankle. She simultaneously crushed Maxwell's hand before they tried blasting her with magic.
Halley was sent flying backwards again by the shockwave and she directly hit her head on a metal container. She watched Britney disappear and reappear all over the place while fighting Maxwell and Natalie as her eyes slowly closed. She opened them and saw 4 year old Brandon crying in the middle of her old living room and approached him to help him. As she got closer, however, she saw feet next to him.
After the feet were legs. As she got closer and closer, the body lying on the floor beside her 4 year old twin brother brought back a forgotten trauma. She felt herself about to throw up at the image of her mother lying lifelessly on the floor. She became frozen in place before she got to the 4 year old and decided to just turn around and run away. The 4 year old then appeared right next to her and begged her to help him as tears streamed down his face.
She wanted to help him, she really did, but she was too afraid to even look at the body. How was she going to save a dead person anyway? She apologized to little Brandon, but when she looked down at the little boy, his tears were gone and large empty eyes replaced his usual brown ones. "Why?" his voice echoed as he seemed to stare into Halley's very soul, "Why won't you save mommy?" She couldn't, she didn't have the power to.
"Useless!" the boy's voice mixed and overlapped with the horrible distorted voice she had heard in her last dream. "Useless!" it called over and over again as the little boy's hand turned into worms. Halley immediately released his hand and backed away from him as his head began to turn into a pile of maggots as well. Petrified, Halley turned and tried running away from the boy, but there were more of him when she turned around.
She turned back, hoping to find a different way, but the corpse of her mother was right in front of her, and Halley screamed. "Why didn't you save me?!" it shrieked in a horrible voice, but Halley was able to run past her and away from the maggots and worms. She ran away and didn't dare to look back as she did, fearing more of her deepest phobias would come alive in this horrible nightmare of hers.
She just wanted it all to end. She just wanted to end it all, so she could go back and protect her friends with the little strength she had. She knew she was weak! She knew she was a burden! She knew she couldn't protect anyone, but she wasn't about to give up on them just like that! No matter how weak she was, how little power she had, she was going to protect her family and nothing was going to stop her.
Halley stopped running and turned to face the monsters behind her which had collided and merged into a giant wave of worms, maggots, and larvae. She felt her stomach turn at the sight, but she refused to move. She had to end this dream right then and there! The determined girl stood ready to take her fears on as Artemis appeared behind her and asked, "Do you want the power you long for? The power to save all you hold dear?"
She didn't think twice about it as she yelled out she wanted the power. Needed the power, and finally had the power.
Halley opened her eyes and saw Maxwell and Natalie holding Britney up between two pillars of light with a knife to her neck. Amazingly, she still had that same intent in her eyes Halley had seen before, and she finally understood why. Why she held back so much power. It was scary to hold that much power inside of her, but Halley didn't have time to be scared as she summoned her turquoise bow and a single arrow.
One shot.
She released the arrow and watched as it glided through the air at supersonic speed and took off Maxwell's arm. Natalie looked to her, leaving Britney with the opportunity to headbutt her before Halley's second shot freed her completely. Maxwell tried using his magic to attack Britney as she was facing Natalie, but Halley found herself grabbing his wrist and redirecting the direction of the blast before Maxwell could figure out what was going on.
Halley pulled his remaining arm behind his back and dropped him to his knees as two of her arrows flew around him until he was completely tied up. She then turned to Britney, who was about to rip Natalie's jaw off, and tied her up as well, stopping Britney from committing murder. "You haven't won!" Maxwell yelled, "This is only the beginning." What did he mean? Before he could explain to the two girls what he meant, Natalie stabbed him with her pink energy dagger before stabbing herself.
What were they planning for them to die rather than tell them what was to come? Halley wondered as she went over to everyone, healing all of them one by one.
Brandon woke up first and was livid with Halley for not taking Louis and leaving, but without her, he would be dead. Ungrateful brat! "I'm the ungrateful brat?" Brandon exclaimed, "At least I can listen to instructions." Whatever. Rebecca and Kylian looked around at the explosion and both of their faces turned white when they saw Maxwell and Natalie. "D-d-did y-you guys?" Reba asked, trembling, but they explained the situation quickly.
"If that's the case," William said, "Then we have to get to Michaelangelo first." They all agreed until everyone's attention shifted to the massive explosion on the other side of town. The palace!