Sorcery (Louis Tomlinson)

liii. Leap of Faith

Waiting for Lou to wake up was agonizing, so the rest of us decided to come up with some kind of plan should Allister still be in the Sanctuary.

"We could just wait out here, surely he's going to come back. We could attack then." Imani suggested, which sounded good to everyone else. We could ambush Allister and finish this once and for all. 

Apparently when Allister came to the Sanctuary, he had strapped an electric collar on Imani, took Harry, Kaguya, and Louis, and tied the rest up to stay out of the way. All that the other boys knew was that Louis was already unconscious when he had been brought back to the room, so they had no idea what had happened with their other two friends.

Imani was quickly getting everyone loose while I struggled with Louis' chains. His were different than the others', refusing to unlock or break apart. I wondered if maybe the chains were similar to the healing curses Dad had told me about a long time ago; maybe Allister was the only one who could break them.

After a few failed attempts at breaking the chains, I sighed in frustration and was fully prepared to take my sword out of its scabbard just to see if that would work. I restrained myself though, and my spirits instantly lifted when I heard a soft groan from my boyfriend in front of me as he shifted around.

I hugged Louis tight from joy, an exuberant smile on my face as I realized we had the upper hand now against Nox. I had built the barrier, Nox couldn't get in, and now Lou would keep the ones inside already from getting far. We won.

"We're safe now, Lou. Nox can't get in, we're safe now." I leaned up to kiss him as his eyes scrunched together and his fists raised to rub over them. His lips were hesitant against mine, almost like he was too shocked to register doing anything else.

"W-we're safe now? Nox can't get us?" Louis mumbled in disbelief as he tried pulling at the chains, my lips kissing his again in comfort.

"Yes Louis, we're safe. No one can hurt us anymore." I smiled at him, brushing my fingertips over his still closed eyes, wishing to see his sparkling blue eyes. "You can open your eyes, it's safe."

My hand was taken in Louis' grasp, pulling it away from his eyes.

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, Mira." Louis said, confusing me. His eyes opened, and I froze when I saw red irises staring into mine. What was going on?

"W-what?" I stuttered, taking a step back, but Louis' grip on my wrist prevented me from getting too far.

"Poor little protector...you thought you had saved everyone. You thought you kept Nox out." Louis smirked at me, red alarms flaring inside my head when it wasn't friendly. "Unfortunately, Nox is already inside your barrier. I mean, I'm already inside your boyfriend's head."

I gasped and tried yanking my hand out of Louis' strong grip, tears forming at I realized the worst had happened.

It was Allister. Louis had been possessed by Allister.

"Don't be scared, little niece." Allister smiled, tears spilling over my cheeks as I watched Louis' body obey his every command and all too easily break his metal chains and begin to stand. "Louis is still here."

Allister pointed to Louis' head before chuckling. "I mean, his soul won't be alive much longer so long as I'm in here, but at least you'll share his last moments. Isn't that touching?"

"Let go of me!" I screamed as I pulled away from Allister's grasp and stumbled back a few steps, my heart sinking as I watched Louis' features transform into an expression of hurt before Allister rolled his red eyes.