Convulsion

✿ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰɪꜰᴛᴇᴇɴ ✿

Lily 

"Give me the Gem!" I turn around to face the crowd of students behind us and to my dismay, nearly all the seats are filled. Closer to the front there's a girl, speedily heading towards us as she runs down the stairs two at a time. She's the one who yelled for the Gem, and the same girl from earlier. The one who bumped into Richard and called him a "cutie" before walking off. I freeze when I notice she's holding a knife in her hand, and she's getting even closer. I turn to see what Steve and Richard are going to do, but they aren't moving at all. They're both frozen in place, focused too much on the girl.

"Brittany?" Steve yells, jumping off the stage. I move to Richard's side.

"Who's that?" I ask.

"The Damsel." He mutters a few curses, holding out an arm in front of my chest, and then stepping in front of me altogether. "She must have been wearing a Cryptic of some sort." I peek out from behind his shoulder, moving my braid behind my shoulder so that I can see better.

"Give me the Gem!" Brittany commands again, holding her knife up in the air so that everyone can see it. I watch as she slowly spins around in her short, frilly black and gray dress. Her blonde hair isn't in a bun anymore, instead it's resting around her face in pretty waves all the way to her chest. Brittany keeps spinning, the knife up in the air. Soon the students start to realize what's actually going on, some screaming and others running. Most of them are running thankfully, ditching their seats and retreating for cover.

A girl tries to run past Brittany but she grabs her and puts her in a headlock, pressing the knife against her neck. The girl screams, and so do the students close by, but Brittany whispers something to her, so the girl stops thrashing. She yells at the students that are still close to her, and they run off. Whoever Brittany is, I guess she's focusing less on "killing them all" like her leader said and is more focused on "getting the Gem." She wants me.

"I'm not fooled that easily, petty girl. Show yourself." She's almost to the bottom of one of the stairway she's on, one of the many that are in this huge amphitheater. But she's on the one that's directly in the middle, the one straight ahead of us. "I can see you, you know that right?" She flings the knife at us, and I immediately flatten myself against Richard's back. I feel a rush of wind as the knife passes, and when I peek out again I notice there's a tiny tear in the sleeve of Richard's tunic.

"Watch it!" I yell. I walk away from my Richard. I'm not going to be the cause of anyone else's death if I can help it. I didn't know Celeste, but she died trying to protect the Gloaming from getting to us. She died trying to keep the Gloaming from getting to my necklace, from getting to me. She's dead because of it, and I can't let anyone else die for the same reason. I jump off of the stage, starting to walk towards Brittany.

Steve leaps in front of me, grabbing my arm and pulling me back right before I can go up the steps. He pulls me backwards so that I'm behind him, making me groan. Why do I have to be hidden? I can handle myself. Sure, I don't know how to use my fancy powers like these two, but I'm sure I can do something. Richard jumps off the stage, his feet pounding as he lands as he comes to stand in front of me as well. I can tell he's looking around, trying to find any other threats that might be in the room. Ideas start to pop into my head, and I go through them all. Maybe I can stall for him.

"Stay back!" Steve yells, thrusting an arm towards Brittany. Her arm flies backwards, and the girl that was in the headlock screams, her black hair flying out behind her as she lifts up her long red dress, running towards us. She's free. Even though some of the student's uniforms match each other in color, it's like everyone has altered their clothes so that nobody is the same. The girl keeps screaming until she's shoved herself between Steve and Richard, but she yelps again when she sees me standing behind them too. She's actually quite pretty, with a clear complexion, wide, sparkling eyes, and raven black waves of shiny hair that reach her shoulders. Steve and Richard look back at us, but then step closer together to try and block both the girl and I from view. The girl's eyes are still quite wide, and her breathing is too fast.