Flash of Light

Chapter Twelve

Miles and I both took off to the stairs and inevitably my own fear. As we reached the snakes, I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. Miles smacked the first one that jumped out at us while I copied the move on the second one.

"Is this your fear?" Miles huffed hitting a snake that went for his ankle.

"Yeah," I said panting. Pulling out my own crystal, I hit the next attacking snake. The gem gave off a gold flash and caused the snake to disappear. Miles and I kept up the attack until only one was left. Through the fight, I realized my fear was slightly fading.

And then the last one bit my wrist.

A burning pain shot through my arm as I slashed at it, creating another ghost. Ignoring the pain, I rushed up the stairs quickly with Miles only a few steps behind. A some point, Sirius had disappeared back into the hallway he had come out of. Looking down at my wrist, I could see my veins glowing a bright red color through my torn jacket. The bite mark was surrounded by bruises that stung to the touch. Holding back a pained noise, I turned to face Miles.

"How do you want to handle this?" I asked.

"I'd want to say help the others first, but we need to go after him. He looks like he's getting stronger. We need to get him now." He took a deep breath before continuing. "How's your arm? I saw that the snake got you."

"Hurts but I'll live."

"Let's go then," he stated. Any of the dolls around us were quickly destroyed as we made our way to the doorway to the hall we needed to go down. A single light flickered at the end of the hallway next to the huge entrance of the dim library.

"Of course we need to go into a creepy place to fight from our lives," I mumbled. The storm outside started to worsen, and the fighting behind us faded away as we crept through the dark hall. We both took a deep breath, prepared for the worst to happen beyond the large doors. Silently, we entered the room. Rows of shelves filled with books towered over us. A set of stairs passed a small opening led back down to the first floor.

"I can take the first floor," I offered while gesturing to the maze of shelves the staircase led down to.

"No. You're injured Richard. We should, and we are, going to stay together," Miles declared with no room for argument.

"How sweet Carter. You always cared for your friends above all else," Sirius said in a mocking tone. A black mist shot behind us, slamming the doors closed. As they closed, they hit Miles' left arm that wasn't out of the way. The heavy door slammed closed; the bang sound echoing throughout the whole library. Both of us moved into defensive positions, looking around to find where the voice had come from. I felt eyes on us as Miles and I switched places to protect each others' injured sides - my right and his left. A dark figure attacked from our right which Miles managed to hit with his stick. Another one ran at us which I attacked while Miles hit the third that sprung at us from the darkness. Unfortunately, we had moved further from the doors than we had intended which caused the fourth attack to come from behind us. As we dodged, we ended up separated, what we didn't want to happen. More of the figures poured out from between the shelves to join the fight which split us apart more and more. Claws scratched down my body as the figures grew clearer to show that they were some kind of wolf or large dog. After what feels like forever, the wolves decreased in number as I attacked them back.

"Richard!" I whipped my head around just in time to see Sirius and Miles fighting. The distraction was enough for one of the wolves to get too close. Pain raced through my back as claws ripped through my skin from my right shoulder to left hip. Blood dripped from my wound and soaked into my clothes. The wolves around me disappeared as I collapsed on the ground, trapping my good arm underneath me.