(Content/trigger warnings for this chapter: self-hatred)
--Ranya--
Bones clacked and crashed above me as I narrowly ducked. Their arms tangled together, giving me time to stoop under a pair of legs and race to the door.
The Fear Angels had soon untangled themselves and were after me. Before I'd made it to the hall, they were two steps from the door.
I couldn't outrun them. So what could I do? I threw my flag, and a couple of Fear Angels stumbled over it and crashed, but the others lifted them to their feet, and they kept going.
I listened to the clacking elsewhere in the building, trying to decipher where in this maze of a school I could run. Intersections crossed intersections and crossed more intersections, so I had to be careful where I was visible. I clearly couldn't hear all of the Fear Angels, though, because I couldn't hear many, and I'd seen more earlier. Great.
And something sounded off. A different kind of clattering started up. Something harder, and slightly louder, and almost mingled with a voice.
Something else was in this building.
I dove around a nearby corner at the last minute and rolled to my feet. That seemed to be something heroes did—roll to their feet. I was a little wobbly, but the Fear Angels couldn't slow down in time and crashed into the wall and each other, sprawling into a pile. I took this chance to sprint as fast as I could to the left in the nearest intersection.
But the creatures were up in seconds, and quickly regained their ground. I listened again for the location of other Fear Angels, and heard the warped sound coming closer to me. Great.
I suddenly halted my pace and dropped to the ground. The Fear Angels barreled past me at their speed, almost falling over as they tried to stop themselves, and I took this chance to spring up and dart into the nearest classroom.
The room was a mess—and not just the usual cracks and leaks. Desks had been upended into a collective jagged sculpture in the middle of the room; ten whole boxes of pencils had been knocked onto the floor, their contents rolling all over; and paralyzed bodies were everywhere in ragged piles. With how many there were, this had to be near where the attack had begun. I nearly tripped over an arm bent in an unhealthy position as I grabbed a pencil and threw it into the hall. It clattered, and I ducked behind the desks.
Clattering sprinted past the door.
When I was sure they were gone, I sighed. I can't defeat them right now... I need a way to get people out. But I heard no screams or pounding of human shoes against the floors. Had the Fear Angels really paralyzed everyone else in the building already?
I cursed myself. No one was left. I shouldn't have run in here.
But I again focused on the warped clattering sound. The Guardians probably didn't know about whatever that was. I could figure it out.
I listened for the other skeletal creatures. I had to avoid them as best I could—I didn't know how often my tricks would work.
It was difficult to tell the exact locations of the Fear Angels, but I could at least tell approximately how close they were to me.
The warped sound grew louder—nearer.
I crept back to the classroom door, stepping over arms and pencils and weaving around desks. Once I'd made it, I poked my head into the hall. I looked to the left, then the right. So far, the path was clear.
I sneaked down the hall with almost exaggeratedly slow movements. I couldn't risk the Fear Angels finding me. At every intersection, I checked for any creatures walking along them.
Slowly, I made my way through the halls toward the moving warped sound. But as I poked my head around the next intersection, an unmoving Fear Angel stared straight at me.
I spun and tore down the hall as it quickly gained on me. I dropped to the ground, but it easily slowed its momentum and turned just a few feet ahead as I leaped to my feet and tore back down the hall. I nearly crashed into the corner as I turned at the intersection.
The caved-in wall near the cafeteria was just up ahead. But the warped sound was so loud its source was probably just around the next couple of intersections. I didn't want to actually run into that thing—just observe. I'd have to be quick.
I ducked and rolled under the caved-in section of the wall.
The Fear Angel ducked as well, but it had to slow. I sprinted as quickly as I could around the intersection with the intent of darting into a classroom as fast as possible, but what I saw turning into the hall under a flickering light made me pause.
...What?
"Die!" Dakota shouted as she flicked her wrist, and a surging purple bolt streaked out of it into a normal Fear Angel's skull. The creature glowed a faint purple, and then its wings erupted into thick black smoke as its bones split apart and clattered to the ground. I ducked and concealed myself in a doorway from the Fear Angel behind me.
"Die!" Dakota shouted at that creature, and as the purple bolt sank into its skull, it too glowed purple, then burst.
The smoke from the previous Fear Angel faded.
A trail of piles of bones lay in Dakota's wake. Her fingers smoked nearly the same shade of purple as the streaks in her hair. The flickering light above only half-illuminated the Fear Angel bones and bright colors in Dakota's hair and clothing, but I could see her eyes were narrowed as if with purpose.
I opened my mouth, but her eyes widened as she probably took in my presence. Then she spun and dashed off down the hall.
I raced after her and shouted between puffs, "Hey! Please! I want to talk!"
Dakota wasn't much faster than I, but she'd had a head start. She tore around a corner.
"Die!" she shouted, and then again. When I rounded the corner, black smoke clouded the air, and bones were scattered across the floor. I almost tripped over them.
I reached the intersection and kept going.
I caught a flash of purple a few intersections straight ahead, and I spun and turned down the left hall. As I reached the next junction, two Fear Angels raced from one of the ends toward me. I cursed myself and pushed to run faster toward Dakota. But it wasn't enough.
One's fingers nearly caught my hair as I turned the last second around a corner. The creatures slammed into the wall but soon recovered and crossed the distance between us.
They stretched their long hands toward me. Within a second, I knew they'd be close enough to brush my back. I ducked and dropped to the ground, but these two quickly stopped behind me. As I tried to roll away, one stretched its hands toward me and—
"Die!"
A purple bolt crackled through the air and hit the Fear Angel in the chest. As the other tried to pull it away, the one right behind me burst to black smoke and bones. "Die!" Dakota shouted, and the Fear Angel erupted too.
As the haze cleared, Dakota stood in the nearest intersection, her fingers smoking.
"Thank you!" I said. She actually helped me for once!
"Why are you following me? What do you want?" she asked. But she didn't give me a chance to explain as she took off.
I rushed after her, and said through heavy pants and the smoke, my legs burning, "Six years ago, my sister's Guardian Angel told me that one day, I would have to take what I wanted from my sister or she would die." Dakota swerved around a corner. I pushed myself to go faster and followed. "Yesterday she was chosen to become a Guardian—one of the spirits who fight the Nightmare King Pitch Black—which I really want to be."
A Fear Angel turned into an intersection, and Dakota shot a surging purple streak into its head. "Die!" It burst.
"Pitch said that once she turns into a spirit, he'll kill her," I continued. "So I need to become a Guardian and defeat him instead. I don't have any powers like my sister, or combat training, or any good weapons. I need your help." I rounded another corner and stood at an intersection with no Dakota in sight. I listened for footsteps. Left? Right? Forward? I couldn't tell. But I didn't have time to think—she was getting farther away from me by the second. I took the left path. "Pitch is even working with the Watcher. I wasn't supposed to tell you any of this, but you have powers! Can you please help me?"
I turned a corner and nearly smacked into her. Three Fear Angels were charging toward us. Maybe she couldn't deal with this many at once? With a flick of her wrist and an, "Attack your species," just as they were about to reach us, the closest one turned on the others, shooting out its hands to paralyze and block them. The others' jaws fell open in what looked like fear.
"So, you can control people?" I said. She backed toward the attacking Fear Angel, her eyes narrowed. "Look—I'm sorry if I hurt you somehow. Is that why you avoid me? I didn't mean it, if I did. But I need your help. My sister's life is in danger."
Dakota opened her mouth. But then a guttural shriek sounded behind her, and she turned. I couldn't see much at first because of the massive black wings blocking our view, but soon a thick white mist poured around the Fear Angel.
It wasn't the usual Windshallow mist. It was foreign. Invasive. Forming in it were creatures—ones with spiny backs, and sharp teeth, and bones jutting from their skin. They whispered strange, guttural words between their forked tongues.
As it overtook the Fear Angel, its bones and feathers vanished into the air.
Part of me that was intrigued by this mystery tried to stay, but the more instinctual part of me screamed to run.
Dakota dashed down the hall in long strides, and I darted after. I wouldn't lose her—even in this. But soon a less caved-in wall than the one by the cafeteria blocked my view of her turn, and I didn't have time to listen.
The mist encroached on my elbows and feet, and where it touched my clothes, patches vanished. I pushed myself to go faster—avoid it touching my skin. Adrenaline poured through my veins, and for the first time since coming in this school, my chest and arms really tightened in fear.
I swerved into a classroom and shut the half-broken door as if that would keep the mist out. It went right through, and the door vanished.
The mist creatures' words suddenly turned to English. "The figure in the Windshallow mist is always present somewhere on Earth, but she can only be seen in the mist."
I raced over to the window and fumbled with the sash lock—stiff with grime. The mist was now a second away from my back. I threw the window up and leaped to the snow right beneath, sprinting away into the nearby sparse pine forest.
Fog still enveloped Windshallow. The air had stopped shimmering, but jabbed at my bare skin in cold stabs. I looked behind me. The white mist pressed against the window, but it didn't rush out. Guttural shrieks pierced the air. Fortunately, none of them sounded human.
"But Pitch wouldn't kill his own creations like that..." I muttered to myself. "This doesn't make any sense."
The white mist vanished—dissipated into the air.
As far as I could see, at least.
I glanced around for Tooth. I hadn't seen or heard her since I escaped—no twittering of wings or shiny feathers darting through the air.
But I have to find Dakota. I could use her help.
A low thrumming sounded above me, and I looked up and immediately darted and crouched behind a thick, gnarly tree.
A large group of Fear Angels had just descended upon and around the school.
(A/N: Vote, comment, and follow to boost my mood!)