Chapter Status: Edited.
Ryder throws Anna across the room and she lands with a loud thud against the wall, being held there by his magic. Nic shouts in protest, standing up to save the girl he still dearly loves, but is instead pushed away with a simple hand movement. Ryder laughs wickedly as Anna struggles for air.
"Ah, you have no idea how much I've wanted to do this, frankly just messing with people gets boring fast. Murder on the other hand, that never gets old," he laughs.
He makes the space between his thumb and his fingers smaller, tightening the invisible grip around Anna's neck. She gasps, trying to speak, but she cannot form any words.
"Let her breathe! Please!" Nic begs, his forehead bleeding from where he had collided with the stone wall.
Ryder rolls his eyes and completely unclenches his hand, making Anna fall to the floor, taking in heavy breaths.
"Now speak, for if this is all just a waste of time I will kill your little boyfriend over there first and make you watch," he spits.
Anna gulps, she had never met someone so sinister, so evil, and although the chances of her words helping him are slim, she has to try. For Tahlia's sake.
"You don't have to do this, we can help you," she pleads, and again, Ryder rolls his eyes. He lifts his hand up to choke her again but she is quick to speak, "please, just listen to me," she begs.
He lowers his hand and nods his head, signalling her to continue, an irritated look on his face.
"Murder is not the answer to all of this, we can help you be good. Your destiny said you'd be evil, not that you'd be evil forever," she tries to talk some sense into him, but instead, he just scoffs.
"You know nothing of being evil, of what caused me to be evil," he spits.
Nic then stands up shakily and speaks, "your father, he was evil, he deserved what he got, but me, Anna, Tahlia, and everyone else in this town, we don't deserve this. And you didn't deserve what happened to you."
For a moment, he thinks he sees weakness in Ryder's eyes, a flicker of hope, but it disappears within milliseconds. Although Nic knows it is most likely his blurred imagination, he chooses to cling onto the hope that maybe everything will be okay.
"You two, this whole town, you're all filled with hope, but me? I'm far from kind, my hope was drained from me more than 20 years ago. My parents put me through this, and it is them that will receive the punishment."
Suddenly, Anna is back in the air.
"And because this was all a waste of time, you will also receive your punishment," he laughs manically and turns to face Nic.
Somehow, Anna Nic are forced against the wall, a knife appearing in Ryder's hand. His breath smells of rotten eggs, but that is the least of Nic's worries. He closes his eyes, trying not to pay attention to Anna's screams and hoping the pain will be quick. But seconds later, Ryder's yell snaps Nic out of his thoughts.
Before him, Tahlia and Sandy stand there, Sandy helping a collapsed Anna to her feet, and Tahlia standing with her back to him. Anger boils in her eyes as she looks at Ryder, who is now on the floor, rubbing his head, her teeth gritted.
"No one hurts my friends," she growls.
Her eyes almost seem black in her moment of anger. Ryder laughs and waves his hand, Tahlia flies backwards and lands right next to Nic. Nic quickly looks at her, asking her if she is okay, but she does not pay attention to him. And when he sees what she is staring at, he understands why. Anna is unconscious on the other side of the room, her head hanging down, blood where her head hit the wall.
Ryder has Sandy under one arm, they would have assumed she would use her magic to get away. That is when Nic sees Ryder's hand inside of her chest, clinging onto her heart, if she makes any sudden moves, she is as good as dead. Nic and Tahlia both slowly stand up, their hands in front of them, slightly raised to assure him neither will try to attack.
"Nic, go check on Anna," Tahlia says.
He nods and slowly, with his body facing Ryder, walks over to where Anna lays unconscious. He drops to his knees and he leans his ear close to her lips where she is faintly breathing. He looks up at Tahlia in worry.
"Ryder, let Sandy go so she can take Anna to the hospital," Tahlia demands slowly, her tone of voice a warning.
"Without something on my end? No thanks, next offer," he lifts his free hand lightly to keep Sandy in his grasp.
"I'll make you a deal, let them go and I'll stay," she says confidently, not seeming afraid in the least.
Sandy shakes her head, Nic looking at her as though she is an idiot, but Ryder smirks.
"That seems like an offer I can't refuse, but first, we must create a bond of promise," he says, pulling his hand out of Sandy chest.
Sandy lets out a breath she had not realised she was holding and immediately feels better. She is too weak and in shock to use her magic, but she is not going to let Tahlia do this.
"Sandy, don't," Tahlia says serious, seeming to sense what her motives were.
Sandy looks at her in worry, but steps back and follows her orders, Tahlia knows what she is doing. Tahlia then looks back at Ryder.
"I promise I won't use my magic to hurt you whilst I'm your hostage, and I shall tell no lies. But as soon as you let me go, the bond is lifted," Tahlia says, stepping closer.
She holds her hand up, a white bolt of energy in the shape of an infinity sign appearing above her palm. Ryder waves his hand and the white light flies to him and creates a knot in his palm. It then splits in half, hitting Tahlia in the chest, she flinches for a moment, but just as quickly as the pain arrived, it was gone. She looks back up at Sandy, who is frozen in fear, and Nic and Anna, Nic eye's focused on Anna's body.
"Why were you hurting them?" she asks suddenly.
Ryder laughs and clicks his knuckles.
"They'll tell you in due time, but for now your friends should leave before I change my mind," he looks at Sandy threateningly, but she does not seem intimidated.
"Not without, Tahlia," she says strongly, stepping forward.
"Sandy, you need to get Anna out of here, I'll be okay," Tahlia tries to reassure her.
Ryder then grabs her shoulder and looks into her eyes, his pupils dilating by 6 times its usual size. Sandy's eyes briefly look at Tahlia, she nods, and Sandy allows her iris' to turn black, she cannot let Ryder know she is his cousin.
"Go, and don't come back," he hisses.
Sandy nods, pretending to be under a trance, before walking over to Nic and Anna. She waves her hand, and the three disappear, leaving Tahlia and Ryder alone.
"One more thing, let Dr Hopper go, I have some place else we can discuss matters," Tahlia says sternly, not showing, nor feeling, any fear.
Ryder rolls his eyes before waving his hand, "done, now, where's this other place?"
Tahlia does not bother asking how Ryder uncontrolled Dr Hopper from such a distance, knowing the explanation will take too long, and frankly does matter at this point. She waves her hand and they reappear at Tahlia's grandmother's house.
"Where are we?" he questions, looking around the old styled lounge room.
The room has yellow, flower patterned couches, an 80's TV placed in the corner, with framed pictures and paintings hanging on the lavender coloured walls.
"At our grandmother's house, she died last year, Aaron and Matt won't come back here until dark," she shrugs.
It is only just past midday, who knew so much could happen in a matter of hours?
"Now, what do you want to know?" she asks, taking a seat on the yellow recliner.
Ryder grabs a wooden chair and sits right in front of her.
"How did you and the other one find me?" he asks first, not bothering to say Sandy's name.
Ignoring the anger she feels, she stays calm and answers the question.
"Granny told us that Dr Hopper seemed strange, it was pretty obvious where you were staying after that," she replies simply, not wanting to get on his bad side.
"How did you know I would let your friends go in exchange for you?" he then asks.
"You want to break me so you can defeat me," she shrugs.
He pretty much explained that during his confession a few days ago.
"Why can't I read your mind?" he narrows his eyes as he looks into hers.
"You forgot to take the potion with you," she replies.
She knows that as soon as Sandy gives the others word of what happened, they will go straight to the hospital and Anna and Nic will be given the potion.
"What's your plan to defeat me?"
He leans back in his chair.
"We have a secret weapon," she shrugs, also leaning back slightly with her arms rested on the armrests.
He narrows his eyes and leans forwards again, "what is your secret weapon?" he asks, anger seeping into every word.
Tahlia leans forward as well, her elbows resting on her thighs, and she smirks.
"It's a secret."
He yells in frustration and a few of the frames fall to the ground.
"What? I'm not lying," she says innoncently, "and obviously whatever Anna and Nic know is valuable. Once I'm out of here you're pretty much destroyed, why don't you give up?" she adds, sitting up.
Ryder laughs, "I can do whatever I want to your friends whilst you're my hostage and you can't do anything to stop me. I'll kill anyone your precious friends tell the secret to, including your little siblings. You made a promise, remember?" he replies, mimicking her taunting tone, and her face is rid of the smirk.
In seconds, Tahlia is stood over him, a knife that she had been eyeing now in her hand, against his throat.
"Another move and you're as good as dead, Johnson," she warns.
He stays still, but his face is never drained of that evil smirk.
"How about we make another deal?" he suggests, raising one of his eyes.
Tahlia does not let her guard down, still staring at him with cold steel against his neck with glaring eyes. She does not reply, but the look on her face tells him to continue."
I won't hurt your friends or you family, in exchange for one thing," he offers.
Tahlia looks at him suspiciously, seeming to be thinking about his offer.
"What?" she asks.
He smirks, "you and me, fair battle, middle of town tomorrow afternoon. If I win, I get control of the town, if I lose, the town is safe," he says.
The deal seems simple enough, but Tahlia still has one more question.
"How do we know who loses?"
Something so dark and evil covers his face, so terrifying that Tahlia nearly drops the knife right then. And the word that leaves his mouth mixed with the laugh of a serial killer after makes her shiver.
"Death."
++++
"Ryder has her?" Henry asks worriedly.
He paces back and forth in the hospital room whilst biting his nails worriedly.
"How are we supposed to get her back?"
"We can't, he said he'll let her go later, we can't risk anyone getting hurt," Nic says seriously.
He looks back at Anna who is still unconscious, but he can tell she is healing as the colour slowly comes back.
"He's right, Henry, he's probably just getting information out of her,she's strong, she'll be okay," Caleb says, more trying to reassure himself than Henry.
Chloe takes a hold of his hand and smiles supportively at him, noticing the worry in his voice.
"How is she going to be okay if she has no magic?" he spits.
"Because I know what I'm doing."
Tahlia appears in the doorway, and Sandy stands up, hugging her tightly.
"Thank god you're okay," she pulls away and begins to examine her, "did he hurt you? Did you escape? Oh god, does he know the plan?"
"No, no, and no, but there is some bad news," she admits, her eyes scanning over the group.
She then looks at Anna, walking over to her, worry on her face, but the worry is not as noticeable as it once was. It is obvious she is holding back her emotions.
"But we need to wait until Anna wakes up, it's only fair."
June then stands up, she has tears in her eyes, she does not say anything before hugging her older sister. She knows if she speaks she will sob, it is evident she knows that whatever Tahlia and Ryder discussed is going to put her in danger. Tahlia hugs back just as tightly, trying to reassure her sister that everything will be okay, but her shaky breaths, that were only obvious to June, gives it all away.
When they pull away, Anna begins to stir, and everyone instantly crowds around her. When she opens her eyes, she looks around and groans.
"Wow."
Everyone steps back except Tahlia and Nic. Nic holding onto her hand, but when Anna quickly glances at it, he immediately let's go and scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Are you okay?" Tahlia asks softly.
Anna manages a painful smile, "yeah, thanks for getting us out of there," she says weakly.
Tahlia decides not to mention anything in front of Anna at that point, she is too weak and in too much pain to hear what she needs to tell her.
"Hey, you need to have some of this potion, do you think you can sit up?" Tahlia requests softly, not wanting her to do anything that might cause her pain.
Anna manages a weak nod and uses all of her strength to sit in an upright position. Tahlia looks at Chloe, of who immediately stands back up and walks over to them. She places her backpack, that she had been wearing, next to Anna's leg and pulls out a book.
She then pulls out two drink bottles, "this one has the potion in it," she says, handing Anna a purple drink bottle.
Tahlia can see the faint shadow of the liquid, which barely reaches a fifth of the bottle.
"And this one has some of that healing drink Tahlia's mum made, I asked for some in case of an emergency," she says sheepishly before handing Anna a full black drink bottle.
"Thank you," Anna says thankfully before drinking the potion and taking a sip of the healing drink.
"We need to go back to my house to discuss things, Nic, you stay with Anna, I'll explain everything to you guys when she's feeling better," Tahlia says.
Anna frowns, wondering what there could be to discuss, obviously Ryder, but what did he do when she was knocked out? She does not dwell on the thought for too long, already feeling a headache coming on, and she takes another sip of the drink.
"If you need another batch just text me and I'll get some for you," Chloe says before they all leave the room, leaving Nic and Anna alone.
"What did Ryder do?" Anna asks Nic softly.
He sighs and shakes his head, "you don't need to think right now, go have some rest, I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."
++++
When they arrive back at the house, Tahlia tells her parents that they need more of those healing drinks. So, they leave the house to go find some of the golden flowers, leaving them alone. Tahlia stays quiet as they all sit down at the table, Tahlia sitting at the far end so everyone can see her. She sighs quietly before looking up and seeing their eyes.
"Ryder and I made a deal," she starts.
Everyone instantly begins to protest, but she stays silent, waiting for the protests to stop.
"Let her finish!" Henry snaps,
Everyone mumbles an angered "okay," before looking back at her. She sends Henry a small nod and a thank you smile before looking around.
"You may think there are other options, but frankly we're running short. So, Ryder and I will be having a battle of sorts tomorrow afternoon."
Instantly, more outrage.
"What? You can't do that!"
"He'll kill you!"
"What will he do if he wins?"
Tahlia holds up her hand and everyone shuts up, "ask questions one at a time, please," she requests.
She first looks to the person to her right, June.
"Do you have to fight him?" she asks worriedly.
Tahlia sighs, "if I don't he will hurt you all, I can't let him do that," she answers honestly.
June goes to object, but Tahlia holds out her hand and June closes her mouth. She then nods her head to Matt, who sits beside her.
"Do you think you're prepared to face him?" he wonders.
Tahlia thinks for a moment, "I do," is all she says before looking at Henry.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"At this point, let Ryder and I face each other, and if something goes wrong, protect the town."
She then looks at Sandy, who sits directly opposite her, at the other end of the table.
"What will happen to you if he wins?"
It was the question they are all wondering, but none wanted to ask, fearing the answer.
Tahlia looks down, "if he wins, I'm dead."
No one says anything, too shocked and worried to speak.
"How do you plan to stop him?" Aaron asks.
"I'll just be as powerful as I can possibly be, if I'm in dire need, Sandy may need to step in," she looks at Sandy.
Sandy sits up straight and nods, she is their secret weapon after all.
"I can help, name anything you need me to find and I'll do it," Chloe says confidently.
"Find anything you can about reversing dark magic, maybe something about the ancient tongue," Tahlia requests.
Chloe nods, and Tahlia then looks at Caleb. He is the only one that has not spoken the entire time. Feeling everyone's eyes on him, he looks up, looking as though he may cry.
"Don't fight him... I can't lose you," his voice cracks.
Tahlia feels as though a knife has stabbed her heart, not knowing how to answer, she looks down, and Caleb stands up.
"I told you we should have killed him earlier," he says, his voice emotionless, but his face painted with them.
He then storms upstairs, and no one speaks until they hear him slam his door shut.
"I'll speak to him," Chloe offers.
Tahlia does not look at her, but she nods slightly, and so Chloe jogs upstairs. When she reaches his door, she looks at it hesitantly before knocking. She does not receive a reply, so she opens it herself, first only peeking in, but once she sees him lying on his bed, she steps in fully. She looks at him in sympathy whilst shutting the door, and then Caleb speaks.
"Don't look at me like that, I don't like being pitied."
His eyes never leave the ceiling, his voice a monotone.
Chloe laughs lightly, "you're exactly like your sister," she says.
She instantly sees the faint smile that appears on his solemn face.
"I like that, frankly, she's my hero," he admits.
He then sits up and looks at her, it is then she sees that he had actually cried, even for only a second, before she arrived.
"That's why I don't want to lose her," his voice cracks yet again, and Chloe quickly sits down.
She hugs him as he shakes, trying to hold back his tears, and she whispers sweet nothings to calm him down. When she pulls away, she looks into his eyes.
"Your sister is brave, she's strong, and she'll make it through this, she always does."
She can see Caleb calm down. His eyes then flicker to her lips for a moment, and Chloe feels the breath catch in her throat as he leans forwards and presses his lips against her. The kiss only lasts a moment before Caleb looks away, a nervous blush on his cheeks. They both laugh awkwardly, Caleb looking at his sheets, and Chloe looking at the floor. When they look back at each other, Caleb nervously bites his bottom lip and Chloe swoons. Sure, she had briefly wondered of her feelings, but never to so much extent.
Caleb then coughs, "um, so, I was thinking, maybe, if you know, you want to, after this whole thing is over, did you, uh, wanna go see a movie sometime?" he rambles, nerves clear in his tone.
Chloe laughs lightly, a new courage soaring in her, and she kisses his cheek, he blushes again, looking down.
"Of course," she smiles.
Even though Caleb is swooning, he cannot help but wonder if this movie date will ever come. For if his sister gets hurt, or a worse fate, that he does not even want to think about, were to be bestowed on her, he would never be the same. And everything he once felt would completely disappear.
A/N: man look at me, updating like everyday hell yeah!
I'm back home now, and I'm so obsessed with writing this that I can't seem to stop lmao. It's nearing 11 pm, I'll go to bed soon, but I want to write more, it's about to get intense ;)
QOTD: Chloe and Caleb like each other! Thoughts?
AOTD: shipped it since the start, I was originally going to get Chloe and Matt together then I decided otherwise lmao. Also, it'd be weird now since my name's Chloe and I'm sort of, half friends with this guy named Matt at my work (came up with the character almost two years before I met him tho).
Also, I finished the Miss Peregrine's Home series literally 5 minutes ago, and if you ever get the chance to read the books, plEASE DO. I didn't want it to be over, and frankly, I am still not ready to accept it's over. But hey, at least I get to start reading Heroes of Olympus now, heck yeah!
anyway, gonna go write some more lmao see ya !
~ chloe x
Word Count: 3623.