Prophecy

The Replacement

"What are we doing? We need to talk to him, I have to get my book back!" Quinn yells as soon as we stop moving and are pushed up against a wall, trying to get away from the crowd.

"We will, but right now, he's in the middle of a fight! Unless you want to jump in there with him and just start asking questions be my guest!" I shout back. Quinn sighs and chews on her cheek, I can see how badly she wants to talk to him, how badly she wants her book back.

"Wait! He's the one who took your book?" asks James.

Quinn and I both nod. He looks back at the fight, James, I notice, is just tall enough to see over everybody.

"Who's he fighting?" Quinn asks, she's even shorter than me and has no chance of seeing what's going on.

"He's kinda hidden, but he's big, I know that. Oh, wait...." He drifts off.

"What?" I say, dreading what he sees.

"Umm, do you have Mr. Wilkie for math?"

I'm confused, what does this have to do with anything, but I tell him anyway. "Yeah..."

"Did he ever show you pictures of his son? The one who almost became an Olympian for weight lifting?"

I finally see where James was going, Mr. Wilkie did show the class the pictures. And he was huge. It looked like his muscles were going to rip open and his blood vessel were going to pop. It was almost disgusting how much muscle he had, how defined they were.

"Yeah...."

"Oh no," Quinn says, catching on to the fact that it wasn't good.

I didn't get a very good look at Ashton, but from what I got he wasn't giant, he was just big. His shoulders wide and the muscles on his arms defined. But if what James was saying was true, he had no chance.

The announcers voice comes on again, louder and sharper than before, I look at the wall and realize we are standing right next to a speaker.

"Our next fight, ladies and gentlemen, is between two men who have both had a rough going in the past, but has pushed through. Please welcome to the ring, the man the size of a god, Havoc!" the crowed cheers again, a few people whistle.  "And the one who doesn't know when to quit, Taurus!" More cheers from the crowd, not as loud, but still there.

"He better not die...I want my book back," Quinn mutters.

There's a bell noise, one that reminds me of boxing, and then the crowd erupts with shouts. They yell at the fighters, telling them to 'bash him in' and 'crush his skull' along with very colorful swearing.

"The fight is starting." James says, standing on his toes to get a better view.

"Yeah," I mumble. "I figured."

For the most part, I can't hear anything from the fight, people shout at not only the fighters but at each other too, money gets passed around over peoples heads, but every once in a while the crowd gets quiet enough so that I can hear something. Grunts mostly, but also the sickening sound of crushing bone.

"And there's first blood," James grimaces.

"Ugh." I look over at Quinn, she has her head in her hands, her dark hair falling around her face.

"Wait--oh."

I focus back on James, "What now?"

"No, no, no," he glances at me then back at the fight, "It's a good 'oh', a surprised, happy 'oh'." He sees the confusion on my face and continues. "Ashton's winning."

I turn towards the crowd and the fight.

"What?" Quinn asks, hope lining her voice. I try to jump, to see the fight, but all I get are glimpses. Blood and sweat and swinging limbs.

"The other guy," James says quickly, "He's big but he's not very fast. Ashton is, he's good." His eyes widen, "Really good."

"Well what's happening now? Is he still winning?" Quinn is frantic, standing on her toes and trying to move through the crowd to see even though she has no hope.

"I--I think so. But he's slowing down, the big guy got a good hit in right to his ribs, probably cracked or even broke a few."

"He just needs to knock him out though right?" I ask.

James nods, "I think so."

We stand and wait, I watch James' expressions, trying to discern something from them, but he reveals nothing. Quinn paces in the little space she has and chews on her cheek, obviously upset she can't see the action. I know how much this book means to her, it's all she has left of her birth parents, even though she could never get the book open in the first place. It has a lock, like a child's diary, only larger. And she never dared to break it.

There's just one thing that doesn't make sense; why would Ashton want it? It's only a book.

James' hand grabs mine, his grip tight. I look down at our clasped fingers then up at him. "He did it. Ashton won." He doesn't look at me when he talks, the crowd cheers and the referee's voice booms through the room again.

"Our winner!"

James looks at me now, grinning and I try to smile back, but I'm afraid it came out a bit awkward. James blushes and releases my hand. Quinn runs up beside me, grabbing my arm at the elbow and pulling.

"Come on. We have to go now."

I follow her as she pulls me through the crowd, leading us from one side of the room to the other. I catch glimpses of her face, small but determined, eyes fixed on something just in front of her. Looking over her head I see what she sees, Ashton, his back turned to us. As we near, Quinn releases me and grabs Ashton's arm instead.

He turns around surprised and I hold in a gasp when I see him. His face is swollen, his lip split in two places, there's a cut on his temple, and one on his eye is already turning purple.

"You," he says, and when he talks new blood leaks from his lips.

"Yes," Quinn says swallowing hard, trying to mask the sympathy towards him. "Me. And I--I want my book back. I know you took it."

Ashton takes in a breath, it's shaky and shallow and painful, I think back to what James said, that he could have cracked or broken ribs.

"Quinn," I say gently, "He's hurt, maybe--"

"No. I already helped him once and he stole from me. He stole the one thing that actually belonged to me," her voice is hard and set.

Ashton takes a step towards her and I can see Quinn fighting to stand her ground, "It wasn't only yours to begin with."