Roll of the Dice

Chapter 14

Izzy groaned as her phone buzzed on her nightstand. Around her, she could hear groaning from her roommate. She grunted in response, signaling that she was going to handle it. She slowly reached out, her fingers maneuvering their way over her nightstand, before grabbing her phone. With one open eye she checked and found that she had a text message from Lily: Get up, arriving in ten minutes.

Izzy groaned again and rolled onto her back. Apparently, there was no rest for heroes. After a few minutes of silently lying in bed, she got up. In the dim light of the room, Izzy dressed silently. She shuffled out and quietly walked down the hall. The door to the toddler room was ajar. From inside, she could hear the soft sounds of breathing. She opened the door slightly and poked her head inside. She glared angrily at the perverse imitation of Liam sleeping across the room. She would save Liam, even if it killed her.

Silently she left and shuffled into the kitchen. Peggy wasn't up yet to make breakfast, so, she made herself a piece of toast and wrote a note, explaining where she was going. By the time she had finished the note and her toast Lily was gently knocking on the door. Izzy opened the door and slipped on her sandals.

"Alright, let's go," Izzy mumbled and left.

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE ONLY HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE TO STOP THE RITUAL?" Chris yelled at Amadan.

"Well, with the success of the last two rituals each opened up two ley lines," Amadan explained calmly. "That means that in order to finish the ritual they need to open only one more ley line."

"This is bad, very bad!" Nic snapped, as he paced the basement. "And with our luck we'll probably lose the last one as well." He crossed his arms and angrily took a seat.

"Don't give up so easily! You don't know that," Izzy said.

"Yes, I do Izzy. If you haven't noticed every time we go to the battle the other side seems to be one step ahead of us. I bet they have a spy working for them," Nic replied angrily.

"I bet it's Amadan," Tanya said, rising to her feet.

"If it were me, you would already be dead," he replied calmly. Slowly, he got to his feet and began to approach Tanya. "I could easily kill you all if I was still under the Master's influence."

Sensing tension, Lily jumped to her feet and stood between Tanya and Amadan, raising her hands to stop them. "Let's not get at each other's throats," Lily said.

"Lily's right," Lucas said. "Even if they have a spy or a mole, or whatever, we should work together to figure out how to find them and get rid of them."

"Not to mention we have to prepare for the next attack," Chris added. "Which will be when Amadan?" He asked.

"Well, the last ritual was supposed to take place tonight. But we inflicted massive damage on them last night, which will push it. I'm guessing in order to recover and resupply, they won't do it until next Friday," Amadan explained.

"Finally, some good news," Nic said, throwing his arms into the air.

"Good, that will also allow us to resupply and rest up. And make a solid plan," Chris said.

"Now Nic you mentioned that you had something to say," Amadan said.

There was silence in the room. All eyes turned to Nic, who seemed to be lost in thought. He slouched his shoulders, as if there were weights holding him down. His head lowered. His hands squeezed together. He no longer looked like the same, perky, Nic they all knew.