BLACKOUT; JR [1]

10.5

Andy was in the lead, and we followed him back into the workshop. The black haired boy came to a halt at a workbench, and carefully placed the talisman's individual pieces onto the surface. "Did they come in here?" Jake asked him, to which he shook his head quickly.

"No, this is a detour." He explained, moving the fragments around in a desperate attempt to put it back together correctly. "We need to try and make that thing run from us." Trying to make myself useful, I searched for the superglue. I had no idea if this would actually work, but it was worth a shot. I threw the bottle to Andy when he was satisfied with the order of broken sections. Jake stopped him before he could permanently bind the object that way for all eternity.

He shooed Andy's hand out of the way before rearranging the separate pieces. "It was like this, I'm sure." He said, taking his hands away to look at the finished product.

"That doesn't look right to me, Jake." I shook my head, pointing at two specific pieces on the bench.

"I don't know what to do!" Andy exclaimed, shaking the bottle frantically. Sam's mind was elsewhere as he scavenged for something in his back pocket. He revealed a folded sheet of paper, and when he opened it, he sighed.

"Cool your jets, the demon made me draw it." He told us, shoving the slightly scrunched sheet of paper in Andy's face. He put it on the table, opening it right up and smoothing it out so the entire pattern was visible. He smiled in accomplishment, and swapped the pieces around so they were in the correct order. Andy then glued the segments together, which caused us to hover over the object with magical properties, waiting for it to glow. After a few seconds, we accepted that nothing was going to happen, and we took off to find Felix. We hurried to the second workshop building, hoping Felix was inside. Sam called out his name a couple of times, but got no response. He then pulled back a curtain, and then our search was over. "Didn't you hear me?" Sam asked him, clearly annoyed that he didn't reply. Felix stood, a sarcastic expression taking over his face.

"You're not exactly my most trusted friend at the moment, are you?"

Sam held up his arm, letting the freshly repaired talisman swing from his hand. "Will this change your mind?" He asked, raising his eyebrows knowingly. Felix was obviously impressed, and he snatched it from the boy happily.

"You got it back." He mumbled, examining the cracks that carried through to the middle of the small object. His face dropped slightly, and his left eyebrow quirked. "Why is it sticky?"

"That's probably the glue." Andy explained, very nonchalant about the previously broken pendant. Before any of us could explain further, Mia stormed into the garage, her face still holding no emotion. She instantly ran for any sort of weapon, and the closest thing to her was a hose. Felix tired not to show his fear as he took a step closer to her, his arm outstretched with the talisman dangling from his hand.

"Divinity of the elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire." He paused, his eyes darting down to the magical object that hung from the string wrapped around his fingertips. "I invoke thee." Even as he finished reciting, that talisman didn't glow. A second passed, and Felix's demeanour shifted. "What did you guys do?" He snapped, shaking the pendant in hopes that would make it work. Mia, who was now smiling, took off toward Felix. She looked like she was about to strangle Felix with that hose, but luckily for us, she didn't get the chance to. Sam had taken the room's fire extinguisher, and had directed its contents all over the possessed girl. She paused, but wasn't startled. I didn't have enough time to study her face, but I imagined that it looked plain, simply irritated at our attempts to slow her down and potentially stop her. I was the first to run out of the room, but I hadn't the faintest idea of where to go. Sam overtook me, informing us that he knew a place we could hide. "Let's make a run for Phoebe's!" Felix suggested, letting us take a breather in the school garage.

"We won't even make it across the road, Felix." Jake replied, shaking his head wildly.

"We have to keep going, she'll catch us!" I yelled, pointing at the door we'd just run through. As Felix was the closest to me, I started tugging on his arm.

"Not if we catch her first." Sam's voice caused me to finally notice the strange look on his face, thoughtful. Without really explaining the plan, he directed us all into one of the cars that was settled in the room. It was a tight fit, but we managed. I squeezed my eyes shit as I heard somebody walk in, and by listening to the sound of their stride, I could tell it was Mia. Then there was the distinct sound of a chain rattling, like she'd picked it up. I opened my eyes when I sensed her walk past the car, and I knew we were still a secret to her. Sam popped open the door when she stomped into the back room, and we all climbed out of the vehicle. Still silent, we crept around to the other side of the second car and watched the girl walk out. She paused, snapping her head back and forth, sensing our presence. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jake's arm move. Very carefully, he picked up a spanner that lay on the ground beside his foot. He and Sam shared a look, and then Jake threw the metal object to the other side of the room. The sound of the tool colliding with the wall caused Mia's entire top half to turn and search for the disturbance. Sam ushered us forward, pushing us toward the garage door. It took us too long to realise that the door was jammed, costing us valuable seconds of escape time. When the crash of Sam's body gave us away, our diversion had been wasted. Mia turned, now stalking toward us. Andy and Jake had started to crawl through the open space underneath the hatch, making me realise that it was our only way out. Sam was distracting the demon while we escaped, which I found pretty noble. Seeing as Felix was the one Mia was after, I was set on letting him leave before me. But he had other ideas, and practically forced me under the door against my protests.

"Jake would never forgive me if I let something bad happen to you." I felt hand's on my arms, pulling me outside. Felix had started making his way out just as I was dragged away from the door. "She's got my legs, help me!" He screamed, the entire bottom half of his body disappearing back into the garage. Andy, Jake and I dashed forward, pulling on Felix's arms and shoulders, trying to haul him to safety. Sam was still inside, but his voice was as clear as if he were standing right next to me.

"Lose the pants!" Felix did as he was instructed, and when he slipped out of his jeans, the resisting force had vanished. The impact of him easily sliding toward us nearly made me fall over, but his weight stopped me from doing so. Suddenly, the door to the garage slammed shut, and we were faced with a new problem. Sam was still inside, now trapped in there with Mia. The four of us ran around the building, our destination being the only other door to the school garage. I was relieved to see Sam standing outside, forcefully sliding the second door shut. The entryway was locked down by the time we reached him, the handle chained to a pole. "I can't leave Mia." Sam said, throwing Felix his pants. Before he could put them back on, he started retreating.

"I'll go with you." I announced, almost leaping toward him. Jake's hold on my wrist stopped me from approaching Sam, and he shook his head at me.

"You go with them." He said, his face seeming softer than his voice. He signalled to Felix and Andy, who were already leaving me behind. "I'll stay." No other words were spoken before I ran after the two boys, feeling like I'd left my heart behind me.