The Club

Thirty- Five

I shot up gasping for breath as I felt like I just got suckered punch right in the gut. I felt beads of sweat running down as I try to catch my breath as I grabbed onto my chest. I felt hands wrapped around me and words being spoken, but they sounded so mumbled that I couldn’t hear them clearly. I just can’t think clearly. All I can think right now is everything that I just heard and learned. Joz. He’s back in hell and is being tortured in the pit of fire, and honestly it’s my fault. If I just listened to him and just learned to control and use his magic, then he wouldn’t be gone. We wouldn’t be suffering. I did this to us because I was too afraid to learn. Now I’m stuck with his older brother and we have to save him. But, the question is how? How will we save Joz from the pit of fire and out of the underworld?
I slowly let out a breath as I look up and stare at everyone who’s staring back at me with worry. I then look around and realized that we are in the middle of the woods. It’s the middle of the night, and there’s a fire going to keep us warm. After finding out about the fire pit and that Joz is being burned repeatedly in there. I feel a little uncomfortable being next to this fire. I swallow nervously and just realized on how parched I feel. I lick my lips trying to get some moisture on them, but it doesn’t really work. My friends seem to have figured out that I’m thirsty as one of them gets up and a moment later comes back with a water bottle. I look up to see who it was and saw that it was Hector. My eyes widen seeing him here and I quickly look around to see where Grimshaw and the other members of the club are.
“Grim and the others aren’t here.” Hector spoke up like he knew what I was thinking.
“Wh-what happened to them? Do you know that he’s been lying to you?” I ask quickly looking at Hector.
“Yes. Him and Tynan already tried attacking us and take you. But, we already stopped them.” Hector tells me but he looks pained about something.
“He’s hiding something.” Naberius spoke up in my mind.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask shifting my position so I can look at all of them.
I noticed that they all have this weird look in their eyes. I couldn’t pinpoint on the why though. I open the bottle and drank half of the bottled water as I wait for one of them to answer me. When none of them spoke up though, then I look away from them in annoyance. I then look around the area again, and I could sense that someone else was here. The scent though, was very familiar, and it made my chest tighten as I realized what they are hiding from me. He was here. I don’t know how or why, but he was here.
“Joz.” I whispered.
“He’s gone Lonnie.” Hector quietly answers making me snap my head towards him.
“He was here. I can sense his scent, his magic. How is that possible?” I ask feeling the tears fall.
“He came to see you Lonnie. He wanted to tell you everything. The truths that you deserve to know. But, he was hiding something from us so we made him tell us so he ran out of time.” Hector tells me truthfully.
“He was here? In person?” I ask so conflicted and upset as more tears fell.
“He wanted to stay.” Finn spoke up scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
“But he couldn’t.” Iridiana spoke up next.
I look away from them both as every emotion I’m feeling right now wanted to burst out. He was here. I could’ve seen him out here in the real world instead of just in my mind. But, because I’m stupid I ruined our chances. I got him sent down in the underworld and put into that pit of fire. He’s doom if Naberius and I can’t save him in time. I can’t let him suffer because of me. I won’t let him get tortured by someone who he calls his lord. I will save him, and we can be together again. He can teach me how to use and control his magic, just like how he promised. Then everything will be okay.
“You need to rest Lonnie. Don’t worry about it too much.” Hector says making me look over at him.
“Rest? I don’t need rest. I need to save Joz and get him back.” I retort.
“What?” Finn and Iridiana ask at the same time.
“Joz was there when I first came to with magic, and he tried to help me control them. But I didn’t listen. Now, it’s my turn to help him and get him out of that pit of fire.” I nearly growled with determination.
“How did you know he was in the pit of fire?” Hector asks shock.
“Because now I have someone else to help me get him back. Together we will save and bring Joz back.” I tell him honestly not wanting to lie to my friends.
“You made a deal with a demon?” Finn realized.
“Oh Lonnie! Why would you do such a thing?” Iridiana asks standing up and stepping away from me.
“Deals with demons and getting stuck with a demon because of a ritual are two different things Lonnie.” Hector tells me seriously.
“It can be more dangerous.” Finn tells me.
“More dangerous? How about extremely dangerous and no one should even think about making deals with demons.” Iridiana retorts seriously. 
Hector and Finn turned and looked at her with blank faces which made her shut up, and she turned away from us awkwardly. Deals with demons. I’ve never thought my life would come to this, but I have to save Joz. I owe him that much. I could have prevented all of this, but I didn’t listen to him and now we are in this predicament. It’s all of my fault, and now I need to fix my mistake. I need to learn to control this power if I want to help Naberius save Joz. We still have a goal. We still have to stop the ritual, and we are running out of time. I need to learn to control something, and I have no choice now but to ask Naberius for help in that compartment. I just hope he will actually help me, but maybe he will consider it will help his brother.
I just want this whole thing over with and without Joz here. I lost some of my confidence that he helped me gain. I just hope we can save him quickly and then together we can stop everything. I need this to end soon. I just want my life back, but will I ever get it back how it was before? I have no parents. I have magic now, and know of demons existence now. I have friends who does black magic and a friend who does light magic. I have enemies who does black magic and want to raise the devil himself. My life isn’t normal anymore. There’s nothing to go back to now. When this is all over with. I don’t know what to do or where to go. All my friends will go back to their homes and with their families. But me? I will have nowhere to go, and nobody to stay with. So much has happened, and it’s so unfair.