I sat on the edge of the bed with my head cradled in my hands. There was a pounding on my bedroom door that grew more and more violent with each passing second.
"Open the door, Valerie." Xavier jiggled my door knob. I thought the knob would've fallen right off by the amount of force he was using to push against the door, but it managed to stay on. He slammed his body against the door, trying to brake it down.
"Leave me alone, Xavier!" I yelled back, not willing to face him--not willing to face anyone. Jacob had left, but his words rang through my head like a nightmare on repeat. A single mission circulated in my mind: I had to rescue Eric.
Being an Enchantress has already taken so much away from me, I wasn't about to let it take away one of my best friend's too.
I scrambled towards my closet, discarding clothing into the air as I looked for the perfect outfit to put on. I eventually settled on black leggings and a longs sleeve shirt, tucking my hair into a beanie. A pile of clothes--that I had tossed out of my closet during my mindless rampage--accumulated on the floor of my room.
If what Jacob had told me was true, I was going to have to leave Bayside in two days....and I sure as hell am not going down without a fight.
"Valerie, if you don't open this god damn door in the next ten seconds, I'm going to break it down myself!" Xavier threatened. Each blow his fist made against the door made me cringe.
"Good luck with that!" I laughed to myself, grabbing my backpack as I started to fill it with things I'd need--flashlights, my cellphone-etc. I didn't really have a plan, all I knew was that I couldn't just sit here and do nothing while Eric rotted in a cell.
"Don't make me call Chase!" Xavier yelled, which caused me to pause. I took a deep breath, imagining how he'd react if he could see me right now. Would he be proud? Would be think I was an idiot? Probably a little bit of both.
"As if you'd actually want him here!" I replied, straining my voice.
"I have him on the phone right now." Xavier shot back.
"You're bluffing."
"Am I?"
I stood in silence, trying to figure out whether Xavier was testing me or not. The silence allowed me to hear the subtle dialing of a phone, and upon hearing that, my eyes shot wide open. I opened my bedroom door, and without even thinking it, I was able to manipulate the phone in Xavier's hands and toss it against the wall. It shattered to pieces, crumbling to the floor.
"Why the hell are you dressed like that?" Xavier gave me a good look over, standing in the open door way. His face was red with anger. He looked at his newly destroyed phone and added, "You're gonna pay to replace that."
"Xavier, you are not my Protector, you don't get to tell me what to do." I planted my hands on my hips and straightened my back as I talked to him, trying to appear larger and more intimidating.
"Does that mean I'm not allowed to care about you?" He narrowed his eyes at me, pushing me backwards as he forced his way into my bedroom. "What's all this?" He gestured to the backpack.
"You heard what Jacob said," I reminded him. "the Elders have Eric."
Xavier broke into laughter. "What's your grand plan? Do you think you're going to storm into the council room and when you demand to have your best friend back the Elders are just going to hand him over?" He rolled his eyes at me. "C'mon, Val, even I know you're not that stupid."
My hands tightened into fists. "Stop treating me like I'm a little kid."
"Then stop acting like one!" Xavier yelled into my face, standing only a couple inches from me. I was taken aback by his actions so I fell silent. Xavier took a deep breath of air and sighed, "Eric is a Lawless now. He is not the same person you remember him to be."
"You don't know that." I shook my head, refusing to believe his words. My anger bubbled again inside of me, and I could feel a flourish of energy traveling through my body as my emotions boiled over.
"He'd tear your throat out at the first chance he could get. He is one of them. Don't you remember what Lawless do? What they've already done to you?" He grabbed me by my wrist to hold up my arm where you could still see the faintest outline of where the Lawless's claw had dug into my skin. I yanked my wrist away from his iron grip.
"You don't know that!" I repeated, shoving Xavier backwards. My power radiated out of my finger tips, causing Xavier to fly backwards into the wall. His head banged against the wallpaper and his face fell into a stunned look of surprise.
My body trembled with guilt, fear, and anger. I stared at my hands in awe, wondering what kind of power I had waiting to be released inside of me. This why the Elders wanted me. They wanted to turn me into a weapon.
I felt like I was choking on air, and suddenly couldn't find a way to breathe. What would become of Jen if I left Bayside? And Quinn? She just lost her brother, and now she was going to lose me too. How could I leave them behind? I wanted to trust Jacob. Deep down, I know that going with him is the right thing to do. But how long can we hide from the Elders? From the Lawless?
Xavier's exhausted body rested against the wall. "I'm not going to let the Lawless take you away from me, too." His voice was coarse. "I can't lose another Enchantress." I could feel the pain in his voice. He had already failed once as a Protector, he couldn't make the same mistakes again.
"And I can't lose any more people that I care about." I said quietly. I reached for the flashlight that I had tucked into my backpack. "Which is why I have to do this." I finished, knocking Xavier over the head with the end of the flashlight, causing his body to slump over as it fell limp.
***
I had my backpack pulled tightly against me and was watching my feet as I made my way down the dark and empty street. Time wasn't on my side, and I knew that at any moment Xavier would wake up and go looking for me. Even worse than that, I feared of Chase showing up to thwart my plans.
I was absolutely crazy to think that I would be able to break Eric out of whatever prison the Elders were holding him in, but I also knew I was crazy to not do anything at all.
What's the point of having all these powers when you can't even help your friends?
Quinn was waiting for me on her driveway just like I asked. The night air was cold so she shivered in her light pajama bottoms and t-shirt. After knocking Xavier out, I texted Quinn to meet me outside her house. I figured that she had a right to know the truth about her brother--and the truth about me--before I disappeared from her life completely.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been calling all night since the lacrosse game, for all I knew you were dead! Eric's in the hospital, and the doctor's won't even let us see him! You have know idea what I've head to deal with for the past twenty four hours." She began to ramble on, her face ranging in emotions from sadness to anger. More guilt washed over me. This wasn't going to be easy to explain.
"Pull yourself together because what I'm about to say is important." I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. I had no more time to waste. Although I wanted to, I couldn't be gentle with this news I had to share.
"What is this about?" She sniffled, her nose was red and her eyes were bloodshot. "I don't have time for this, Val." Quinn shook her head, her blonde pony tail bouncing in the wind. "My parents are inside worried sick about Eric and I should be in there with them." I could see that her eyes were started to water. A single tear drizzle down her cheek, but she wiped it before it could fall past her nose. I hated to see her broken down like this. It was my fault that the Lawless were at the game in the first place. It was my fault that Eric was now one of them.
"That's why I'm here." I said, trying to find an easy way to phrase what I was about to tell her. Quinn's face perked up. I took a deep breath, already imagining how Chase was going to react when he figured out what I've done. "Remember how we agreed to always tell each other everything?" I breathed, my heart pounding in my chest. This was either going to go right or horrible wrong with no room in between.
"You're freaking me out." Quinn said, stepping back from me. "And it's cold out here, can't we go inside?" She pleaded with me, pouting her lips like a puppy-dog. Goosebumps lined her frail arms and she bounced in place to keep her body warm.
"Quinn, there's something I've been keeping from you lately." I admitted, not allowing the cold air to bother me.
"You're hooking up with Chase again?" She spat out automatically.
"What? No! Why would you even think that?" I paused and readjusted my thinking. "That's not important right now. What I'm trying to say is that--"
"Actually, that's exactly what she's been keeping from you." His sultry, deep voice interrupted us. My lip curled into a snarl and I squeezed my hands into fists as I turned to face Chase. He was standing a couple feet behind us, looking as handsome as ever with the wind blowing through his blonde locks and his tight fitting leather jacket hugging his bulging biceps. I wanted to scream at him, and throw him into the lamp post just like I had tossed Xavier into the wall. Chase approached us casually. Quinn raised an eyebrow in confusion, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to keep warm. He slung his arm around my shoulder and delivered his signature smirk. "Valerie and I are dating again." He told Quinn. He gave me a tight squeeze from behind, a little gesture that was meant to say, I am going to kill you for this. "Valerie was nervous about how you'd react to the news, and wanted to keep it a secret from you. After what happened at the lacrosse game, we figured that you deserved to know what was going on." Quinn didn't see to be fully buying this blatant lie, but she also didn't dismiss it either. Chase didn't give me a chance to object and he continued with, "It's totally freezing out here." He shivered. "You just had to insist on telling her tonight, didn't you, sweetie?" Chase smiled at me, giving me another tight squeeze. "You should probably get back to your family." He redirected his attention back towards Quinn. She stared at us in a little bit of awe and a little bit of disgust. "It's important that you're with them while your brother is at the hospital."
Quinn didn't say anything. She just looked at me, waiting for me to say something that would help clarify things but I was totally dumbstruck. "Text me later." She said, waving slightly as she headed inside.
The second Quinn stepped inside her house, I shoved Chase off of me. He had a bad bruise from where Xavier had hit him earlier--which I should've been happy about--but seeing him injured caused an unsettling pain to ripple in my scar. Chase spun me around and tugged on the backpack I had on. "What's in here, huh?" He yanked the backpack off of me. He laughed, pulling out the flashlight that I had stashed. "Planning on taking down the Elders with a flashlight? Good luck with that, sweetheart."
"Did you know about Eric?" I demanded to know. "Did you know what the Elders were doing to him?" I tried to keep my voice down since we were standing in the middle of the street, but it was a challenge. "Is that why you were trying to be nice to me? Did you think you could make me forget about it if I kissed you?" I spat at him in disgust.
"I didn't know." Chase replied through gritted teeth.
"And I'm supposed to just believe that?"
"Yes." He breathed.
"Why? Because you're my Protector?" I scoffed. "What have you done to protect me, Chase? As far as I can tell, you've only caused me more pain." Saying these words caused a stinging pain in my scar, but I chose to ignore it. "I could've stopped that Lawless on the field if you had taught me how to control my powers. It's your fault! It's your fault Eric is a monster!" I screamed, my emotions filling me with rage. I needed to blame him, because I couldn't face my own guilt. I was a coward, and blaming him for everything that happened was my easiest alternative. "Don't touch me." I warned him as he came towards me.
He stayed back, holding his hands out innocently. "Let's take this inside, okay? There's no point yelling out in the streets like this." He tried to reason with me, but I was no longer able to see reason. "Xavier told me what Jacob said. I didn't know what the Elders were planning. I would never allow them--"
I cut him off before he could finish. "You what? You would never allow them to hurt me? To use my powers as some sort of weapon? Don't lie, Chase. You are the Elder's little pet. You do whatever they tell you to do."
"That is not true."
"They told you to end our relationship and you did." I shot back as evidence.
"Things are a lot more complicated than just that."
"I bet they were the ones who made you date me in the first place." I realized. "Then when that backfired, I was forced to watch you make out with Rachel Ryder." I snarled. With every accusation and insult I shot at Chase, my scar hurt more and more. It was like my body was physically rejecting the anger I had towards him.
"It wasn't hard for you to find a replacement for me. I see the way you look at Xavier. I see how you two act when you're together."
I started to laugh. "Are you jealous or something?" I mocked him. I saw pain flash through his eyes, and through my scar. "He took you down pretty easily today, maybe I should just ask him to be my Protector." The suggestion caused my scar to sting so badly that I gasped in pain.
"Xavier doesn't actually care about you." He began to close the space between us. "You think a guy like him could ever be interested in a girl like you? He's only trying to get close to you to get revenge on me. He's trying to prove he is the better Protector, even though he's the one who got his Enchantress killed. You're just a pawn to him, a way for him to win back the good grace of the Elders."
My entire body swelled with power. I could feel it traveling through every inch of me until it reached my fingertips--where even I couldn't hold it back. I was surprised by the strength of my own power, as it was released without my own doing. A sort of forcefield rippled from me and caused Chase to fly backwards into the air and skid on the pavement twenty feet away. But I wasn't done just yet. My power was out of my control and I could no longer harness it. My elements are connected to my emotions and I wasn't able to control how I was feeling. The energy inside me needed a place to go, so I let it be released--without even the effort of using my hands.I could feel myself being drained of it, as a flash of lightning struck across the sky. I was jolted backwards by the lightning. Had I caused that? Was I supposed to be able to even do that?
The entire experience had exhausted me. It was like every inch of my power had escaped into the environment. I could feel my eyelids growing heavy and my body getting weak. I fell over limp, a trail of blood drizzling out of my nose. Valerie!" Chase ran to my side, grabbing my hand.
"What's happening to me?" I croaked. My hands were twitching and my scar was glowing dimly. My scar flickered like the light of a candle, glowing just barely, it looked like at any moment my light was going to completely blow out.
Chase lifted me gently off the ground so that he could cradle me in his arms. "It's be a long night." He sighed. My eyes were started to fully close. I no longer held the energy to keep myself awake. "Let's get you inside."