Monica's P.O.V.
The next hour goes by surprisingly very quickly and one by one, each of us has been zapped by the scientists to our places. I'm one of the last ones to go and my heart is beating louder than it did when Ashton and I first kissed. Oh, how I wish I could see him right now.
Shaking my head, I grab the necessary items for this mission (we were told to leave all of our belongings in the building since they have taken extra measures to make sure the structure stays standing) and step between the scientists, slipping my wand in my right hand gripper and readjusting the earpiece. Both of them take my arms and with a jump into white space, we land a few seconds later at an open grassy plain on the outskirts of Sydney. Wind and rain whip all around us and I try to look up to see the storm, but it's a little hard when this weather doesn't permit it, although what I do see is a bit scary.
"Alright, Monica!" Dr. Burnett yells over the harsh wind. "Do you see that break in the clouds to the east?"
I shift my head and body to the desired direction and squint my eyes at the storm. "Yeah!"
"When the wall cloud appears directly over your head, that's when we will tell all of you to shoot! We have placed each of you in the direct path where everything should line up!" he informs.
"Okay!" I answer. Dr. Jones manually twists me to face the north, where my wand will eventually connect with everyone else. That's when I realize I'm at the southern tip of the circle, if that makes sense.
Dr. Burnett points his wand at my shoes and recites the spell to make them heavier, which I instantly feel once the jinx hits. Dr. Jones, on the other hand, puts an invisible shield around me and I take in a deep breath.
"You ready?" Dr. Burnett asks with a small smile. I just give him a look and he chuckles. "Good luck!"
"You, too!" I reply and watch them zap right before my eyes, leaving me alone in this disastrous storm.
Michael's P.O.V.
Video games usually help me clear my mind of thoughts that I don't want to think about, but so far the one I'm playing isn't doing me justice. The love of my life is sacrificing herself in the storm that's howling outside and I'm so fucking scared right now. I might not have shown it before but damn, do I feel it now.
Entering in the kitchen, I open the fridge and pull out a can of soda, glancing at the clock as I do so. 6:33. Monica said the eye isn't coming until 7:04 and I'm curious as to how much damage there is so far, so hopefully soon I can walk out and see. My mom put a protective spell around our house so I have no worries about us, but a little part of me is worried about the rest of this town. Growing up hearing stories about the Acerbus Procella can really screw with your mind, especially when you don't know which is true and what will actually happen.
Suddenly, the front door bursts open and someone rushes inside. I peer around the corner into the hallway to see Ashton drenched in water with the most panicked expression on his face.
"Dude, we gotta go!" he declares, staring at me.
"What? Go where?" I question.
"To find Monica! I'm not leaving her alone out there!" Ashton shouts. "And you're the only one who can help me because I don't know the first step to finding her."
"Are you insane?! It's a fucking nightmare outside!" I convey.
"I know it is and that's why we need to be there with her!"
"Ashton, she's one of the strongest Galaxies in the universe. She can do this! She's had a shit ton of training on it in the past month and we all believe in her," I say, trying to talk some sense into him.
He pauses and I can hear his breaths slowing down. "Fine. If you won't help me find her, I'll do it myself." He turns around and opens the front door, bracing himself as the storm blasts in the house. I watch him struggle to take the step on the porch and walk back outside.
Honestly, I would love to be with Monica right now, but the risks are very high and Ashton doesn't know what he's getting himself into. This is a severe magical storm and he doesn't have the equipment or training to do this. Then it hits me: none of us need Ashton to die on us. I'm not leaving him to go on this journey alone.
"Ashton, wait!" I holler, thankful that he hasn't shut the door yet. He lets the wind push him inside and finally manages to close it. "I'm coming with."
"Really?!" he exclaims, his face lighting up.
"I can't believe I'm doing this, but yes. Let me just grab some things and then we can go," I reply. "By the way, how'd you get here?"
"I stole my mum's car," he mutters.
"Dude, seriously?" I question, smiling. Wow, I didn't think Ashton was that kind of a guy and I'm impressed, especially since he doesn't even have his license yet.
"Yeah," he shrugs.
"How the fuck did you drive through this storm?"
"It wasn't easy," Ashton admits.
"Wow, you're much different than I thought. A good different," I add and he looks at me with the widest grin on his face.
I head upstairs and gather as many things that I think I might need, but not too much stuff in case the car becomes damaged or flies away and I won't be able to retrieve them. My parents are around the house somewhere, but I don't bother looking for them or explaining what's going on because I know what they'd say and this isn't the time for that. Descending the stairs, I meet with Ashton and before we go, I try and locate Monica by phone.
"Shit, her phone's in the training building, which doesn't make sense because she should be outside by now," I relay, staring at my screen. Ashton lets out a frustrated breath and I close my phone, not knowing what to do now.
"Do you know the general area of where she is?" he asks.
"No idea. She didn't know where she was going to be placed," I inform. I take a seat on the couch and feel my wand shift in my jacket, my eyes opening wide. Scrambling to take it out, I say, "I am such an idiot."
"What? What is it?" Ashton questions, walking over by me.
"Our wands have micro chips in them which we can use as a locator," I explain. Pointing it at a blank space on the wall, I ask for the GPS system and my wand acts as a projector, displaying a lighted map of Australia. "Find Monica Ferguson."
The map spins and dives into Sydney, getting closer and closer to a specific spot. It finally stops and a blinking green dot is shown in a park on the south side of our city.
"Oh, my God, that'll take us forever to get there. Do you know where that is?" I interrogate Ashton. He shakes his head no. "Okay, well, my cousin actually lives on that street over there, so I can zap us to that street and we can drive over to Monica."
"Sounds good," he replies.
I slip my wand back in my jacket and recollect my stuff, accidentally bumping into Ashton as I turn around since he's just standing there.
"What are you doing? We gotta go," I ask.
"Didn't you say you were going to zap us?" he responds.
I sigh. "We have to get in the car first."
"Oh, right," he mumbles and races to the door, me following in his footsteps. With our combined strength, we open up the door and run outside in the storm. Since the door is too hard to shut, I use my wand to close it and we make our way to the car, climbing right in. We take a moment to calm ourselves down and I briefly educate him on zapping before putting a hand on the car and a hand on him. I don't think I've ever thought or wanted a destination to zap to more than this one right now.
Monica's P.O.V.
I've been standing in this spot for about ten minutes and already I just want this to be over with. The wind is really annoying me and the rain is hurting my face with each drop feeling like knives. I was almost killed by a gutter when it flew at me, giving me a heart attack, but it bounced off of the shield. I have never been this frightened before.
"Not much longer now," Dr. Burnett notifies us through our earpieces. Everyone is in their places and we're just waiting for the right time. I can see the edge of the eye coming and as it nears, I'm prepping myself for what I have to do. My heart is literally about to burst from pounding so hard and I'm wondering if I might pass out from how much blood it's creating.
"Monica!" a faint voice shouts in the distance and I would recognize that voice anywhere. No fucking way.
Turning my head to the sound, I observe two figures fighting their way through the storm to get to me. I already figured out one of them is Michael from the shouting and as they get closer, I identify the other one as Ashton. You have no idea how glad I am to see them, but...
"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" I yell.
"We couldn't sit inside and stay safe when we knew you were out here!" Michael responds as Ashton runs into the shield and rebounds off of it.
"What the hell?" he curses in confusion.
"It's a shield! Hold out your hands so I can pull you in!" I instruct. The only way objects can get inside a shield is if the person already inside drags them in. Things can go out without a problem but coming in is the issue and I'm definitely not leaving them unprotected, even if it's only for a few minutes.
"Both of you need to go home right now!" I command.
"Not without you!" Ashton replies.
"Ashton, I have to do this! You know that!" I say.
"About two more minutes, get ready," Dr. Jones speaks. I look up at the sky and notice the wall cloud is almost above us. Great.
"Guys, I love you, but please go home!" I plead.
"I'm not leaving!" Ashton declares, his eyes piercing as he looks in mine. I hold the contact for a moment before turning to Michael.
"Mikey, please!" I beg. "Make him go! I'll be fine!"
Suddenly, from behind the guys, I spot a giant piece of wood zooming towards us and it hits the shield with a loud thud, causing Michael and Ashton to duck and freak out.
"One minute, get into position," Dr. Jones warns.
Hesitating on what to do, I face the storm again and watch the wall cloud, raising my wand up at the sky. I erase all thoughts from my mind and focus on the spell and defeating this storm, regardless of my two favorite people being out here with me. As the wall cloud comes closer, the wind and rain die down a little bit, making me feel more comfortable. Dr. Jones begins counting down and time seems to stand still with each number until the final one hits.
"Emarcesco Pluvia!" I recite the spell with such force that I'm surprised at how blue my streak is, looking straight up at the wall cloud above me. Out of the corners of my eyes, I see a few other streaks and it reminds me of the surprise exercise the scientists had for us last week in training. But now it's the real thing.
This storm is putting on a true fight. My strength is slowly draining as I feel the storm resisting our spells, although the wall cloud is full of blue streaks that look like continuous lightning. The wind and rain pick up again and that's when I realize that the Acerbus Procella is shrinking because the clouds are coming to the center.
"It's working! Keep going! Damian, a little more power!" one of the scientists yells. I'm not sure which scientist it is but their encouraging words are hard to follow when the wind wants to push me over. Thankfully for the foot weigh spell, I don't move an inch, unless you count my upper body. One second I'm hunched over and the next I'm looking like I'm about to do the limbo. My arm is also becoming sore and it's taking everything I've got to keep it up. It only just started and I'm already tired. Wow, I'm so out of shape.
This continues on for the next several minutes. I don't know what the guys are doing behind me since I can't hear anything with the wind howling in my ears and I'm concentrating hard. Little by little, the storm is making its way to its core, our wands slowly moving downwards as we follow the wall cloud to the center. Eventually the edge of the Acerbus Procella is visible to me and I notice blue sky appearing behind it.
"Almost! Just a little more!" someone bellows into the earpiece.
Using what energy I have left, I watch as the storm shrinks to the shape of a cloud ring. I can fully see everybody's spells now and the storm is turning from gray to white, still decreasing in size. Finally, after what seems like forever, the sun is shining, no rain is pouring down, no cloud is in sight, and the Acerbus Procella is no more.
Our spells collide at the point of contact and the force catches me off guard, almost knocking me over. I quickly stop my magic and lower my hands, resting them on my knees and taking in deep breaths. The scientists are celebrating and screaming into the earpieces and their happiness makes me smile.
Suddenly, a loud boom! goes off in the direction of the point of contact and the ground begins shaking. A large crack starts running through the earth right towards us and I try to move as best as I can to my boys, but I don't know the counter spell for my feet and I can't even take a step. Luckily, Ashton grabs me and is able to pull me away from the crack just in time.
Everything seems to be in slow motion once I look up. The crack is now dividing us and Michael and is growing. My brain isn't functioning right and I don't have time to figure out a plan, so I watch helplessly as my best friend attempts to jump, but it's too wide. His hand hits the edge of the crack from the inside, but he's unable to hold on and disappears from my view.
"MICHAEL!"
______________________
I've been waiting to write this chapter for a long time. No lie. I've had this idea since the very beginning of this story and I'm so excited to finally have it written and posted for you!
BTW, with the pictures, the one on the right is how I imagine the storm cloud even though it's not in the right location (it's on a beach but ironically, the city in the back is actually Sydney), and the other one is depicting Monica but I totally forgot about having her hair back and wearing grippers (oops). But these are just to give you a general idea, so the details aren't that important.
Rachel :)