17
Fire. Giant falcon. Dead bodies. Flying basketballs. Ivy with a sword. There was so much to take in; Heather just stood in the doorway, frazzled. She slowly blinked and tried to absorb the scene again.
The first thing she saw was the biggest falcon she had ever seen in her life. It took up half the gym! When it spread its wings to full length, one wing tip touched the basketball hoop on the far side and the other reached the mid-court line. Its dark yellow beak was the size of Heather. But its most terrifying attribute was its eyes. They weren’t animal eyes, black and beady. They were human eyes, with blue irises and small black pupils. It made the raptor look angry, powerful and vengeful.
The next thing she saw was the fire. All the bleachers, or what was left of them, were blazing. The basketball hoop closest to Heather was quickly going up in flames. Random basketballs were on fire, being flung through the air like flaming cannonballs.
To this day, that is one thing Heather never figured out. Who was throwing the flaming basketballs. All she knew was that they were there.
Then there was the most gruesome part: the bodies. Half of them were writhing in pain, and the other half looked as if they had been ripped to death by the falcon’s sharp talons. All of them were wearing navy blue basketball shorts and T-shirts saying “Sacramento High School Physical Education.” Heather cringed, trying to ignore them and the horrible stench of burning flesh.
And then there was Ivy. Standing in the middle of the pandemonium. She was wielding a sword, trying to defend herself from the tank-sized bird.
The falcon opened its beak and let out a deafening squawk, followed by a wall of fire aimed at Ivy, who was somehow able to scramble away. Well, at least that explained the fire.
Suddenly, something rammed into Heather from behind and she stumbled forward, barely stopping herself from falling. Heather whipped around, nerves on edge, and was shocked when she saw Belle standing there, mouth dropped open.
“Holy—“ Another giant squawk drowned out Belle’s next word. Heather could feel the intense heat of another blast of fire burning into her back.
“Belle, what are you doing here?!” Heather shouted over the noise.
Belle looked at her with wide eyes. “What . . . I mean, who . . . This . . .”
“You need to get out of here before you get hurt!” Or killed, she thought but decided not to say this out loud.
Bewildered, Belle stammered out, “That’s a big bird.”
Heather nodded. “Yeah, I know. And it breathes fire. But seriously, you need to—“ Heather faltered. “Wait, you can see all this?”
A flaming ball flew by Heather’s head and Belle yelped and jumped to the side as it zoomed past her. “Um, yeah.”
Confused, Heather stood there for a second. Belle should not have been able to see this.
“Hey!” A voice shouted behind Heather. She jumped, and turned around. Ivy was standing there, her sword in striking position and her face smeared with soot. The edges of her white tank top were burned and her perfect makeup was smeared with sweat. This was the first time Heather had ever seen Ivy look like less than a super model. “Are you just gonna stand there uselessly, or help?”
Heather thought this was pretty rude considering that Ivy hadn’t even let Heather connect with her, but she didn’t have time to digest it. Another wave of fire was rapidly approaching them.
Without thinking, Heather yelled, “Run!” Ivy jumped to the right, missing the flames by a fraction of an inch. Heather grabbed Belle and launched both of them to the left. She flopped on her stomach, smacking her chin on the hard gymnasium floor. Heather didn’t know how badly Belle was hurt; all she knew was that she heard a loud thump next to her, meaning Belle hadn’t gotten fried.
Heather’s entire jaw was throbbing, but that was the least of her problems. She stumbled up, dragging a groaning Belle up with her. Straight ahead, Heather noticed a door. She hoped it led to the locker room. Grabbing Belle by the waist, she staggered forward. Belle limped along, gripping her rib cage and leaning on Heather for support. An intense pain shot through Heather’s right knee whenever she stepped on that leg, but she just grimaced and continued on.
Reaching the door, she flung it open, and was relieved that her hunch was true. It was the entry to the girls’ locker room. What she wasn’t expecting to see was a huddle of terrified students and one overweight, cowering P.E. teacher.
She heard the click of the door behind her and let out a nervous giggle. Gently setting Belle down, Heather said, “Um, this whole situation will be resolved shortly. You can just, um, wait in here.” She gave the group an awkward thumbs-up and tried to muster a smile, sending jolts of pain through her jaw.
“Russia,” Belle choked out. She looked up at Heather with eyes dripping with fear. “I’m scared.”
Guilt stabbed Heather. She grasped Belle’s shoulder and smiled faintly. “It’ll be fine. I’ll get you guys out of here.” There was a loud explosion outside the doors, and Heather winced. She had to get out there and make sure Ivy wasn’t dead. She took one last glance at the group, and made a mental promise that she would get these people out. Heather turned around and raced out the doors into the craziness of the gym.
Leaning against the doors, she remembered something. Heather closed her eyes and connected to Jimba. When she opened them, her vision was dressed in gold and she was looking into the face of a very old, very wise man.
Damien! Heather thought, and heard Jimba echo her. We’ve got the Mordan. Do we have permission to kill him?
Damien’s milky blue eyes bored into her as if he were really there. “Are you sure it’s him?”
Heather paused. Well, he turned into a giant falcon and is currently burning down the gym, so I think so! Heather realized she was looking at the ground, and shifted her gaze upward so Jimba could see the damage. She heard her gasp, and Jimba’s panicked thoughts invaded Heather’s mind.
Jimba, shh. She was trying to concentrate, and Jimba was not helping.
Oh, sorry. She heard her apologize.
Damien sighed. “Make sure you get everyone out of there,” he said, his voice steady. “But, I give you permission.
Thanks, Damien, Heather thought. Damien nodded, and a sad smile played on his withered lips.
“Please come back alive,”She heard Jimba murmur, her voice thick with tears.
I promise. That was the second promise Heather had made today that she wasn’t sure she could keep.
Heather disconnected, and blinked back to the harsh reality in front of her. Damien’s voice ringing in her ears, she raced to the wall and yanked down the fire alarm. The shrill siren blared, and, outside the gym doors, she could hear bustling students file out of classrooms to their designated areas outside. Heather vaguely wondered why it hadn’t gone off before, but right now, she had a stubborn teenage girl and a fire-breathing falcon to deal with.
Mentally cursing herself, she realized she had left her dagger in her duffel that was currently sitting uselessly in Mrs. Anderson’s room.
“Heather!” She whipped around to see Ivy racing towards her. As if she had been reading her thoughts, Ivy tossed her a sword. Heather caught it by the hilt, and stared at Ivy.
“Where do you get these things?!” Heather yelled, noting that Ivy was still gripping her own.
“Does it matter?” Ivy snapped, wiping sweat off her forehead. Before Heather could formulate a response, Ivy whirled around, her sword swinging and slashing in the air as she advanced toward the bird. Heather had never held a sword before; it felt heavy in her hands compared to her light dagger.
“You coward! You’re just hiding behind your stupid eagle form ‘cuz you’re too scared to fight me one on one!” Ivy yelled.
“Oh, no,” Heather muttered. The falcon let out the loudest, most deafening squawk Heather had ever heard, anger burning in its cold, blue, humanoid eyes.
Note to self, Heather thought. Never mistake a falcon for an eagle.
And then, one of the most disturbing things Heather had ever seen happened. The falcon’s wings began to shorten. His head slowly shrunk. Feathers gave way to skin, and legs grew black skinny jeans. Converse sneakers with a thin strip of green on the bottom adorned its newly-transformed feet. The only thing that remained unchanged were its frigid, angry eyes that bored into a horrified Ivy. When the falcon-thing finished its transformation, all that remained was a teenage boy.
The boy had an almost gothic look to him. Shaggy black hair swept to the side, almost covering his hateful eyes. A thin ring of eyeliner surrounded those piercing, blue eyes. A black T-shirt with the name of a rock band Heather had never heard of before hung on his torso and thin rope bracelets adorned his wrists. Tattoos peeked out from the top of his shirt and from under the tip of his sleeve. Heather noted a detailed falcon tattoo on his collar bone. He was sending death rays through his eyes to Ivy.
“What did you just call me?” the boy boomed in a raspy voice. Ivy shrank back, immediately regretting her tactics. All of his attention was focused on Ivy, so Heather took the opportunity to also do something incredibly stupid.
Heather used a flaming basketball that burned just inches from her foot. She punted the ball at the boy, and it hit him square in the chest, igniting his T-shirt. The Falcon Boy screeched, swatting at the flames as his concentration on Ivy broke. Ivy took this as an opportunity. She threw down her sword, closed her eyes, and started looking blurry. Within seconds, she was completely invisible. Heather had no idea what her plan was, but she didn’t have time to ask. Falcon Boy had defused the flames, his T-shirt smoldering but still intact. And his hate-filled eyes were directed at her.
“Heather Marks,” he snarled. “The Time-Bearer.”
Heather said nothing, her sword drawn as he slowly advanced, a malicious smile spreading across his face.
“I’ve heard a lot about you! You killed my friend,” Falcon Boy glared.
Heather was taken aback. “Anirbas?” It hadn’t occurred to her that the Mordans knew each other and considered themselves friends. She tried to picture Anirbas and Falcon Boy laughing over a cup of coffee about different ways to kill Kidellians. She winced at the weird thought.
Falcon Boy nodded, freezing blue eyes never leaving Heather. “Felix Benedict. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Felix did a sarcastic half-bow, his right hand resting on his gut and his left hand swinging back. Heather noticed that his left hand flicked slightly, and suspicion coursed through her body. Felix stood back up and smiled coldly.
“You also ruined my shirt,” Felix glanced down, inspecting the damage before advancing another step closer. Heather’s eyes nervously flicked back and forth. Where the hell was Ivy?! “It’s okay, though. Amelianos will just buy me a new one.”
Heather’s mind suddenly flashed back to what Anirbas had said when they first met in the hotel. And Amelianos has sent me to kill you. Her thoughts raced. Who was this Amelianos person? And why was she bent on killing Heather?
Felix took another step closer, and he was now within an arm’s length of Heather. “We’ve been waiting centuries for you, Ms. Marks. You are a dangerous person.”
“Why? Because you’re afraid that I can connect with you guys? Find out all your secrets?” Heather snapped, sounding a lot more confident than she felt.
Felix chuckled. “Oh, honey, no. Your silly connections are the least of our problems when it comes to the Time-Bearer.”
“What are you talking about?” Heather asked, curiosity snaking through her body.
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so he hasn’t told you?”
Part of her wondered if this was just another ploy to distract her, as Anirbas had done. Another part was itching with curiosity at what he was talking about. She finally gave in. “Who? Who hasn’t told me something?”
Felix took another step closer, hands raised in defense, a smug smile playing on his lips. “Never mind, then. It isn’t my place to tell you. Apparently you and Damien aren’t as close as you thought.”
Heather blinked. Damien? Damien was keeping something from her? Something even more important than the connections with Mordans? Her head spun.
“I would’ve though by now--” Felix began, but all the anger, confusion, and fear that was pent up inside of Heather burst out. She punched Felix straight across the face, her fist making contact directly on his pale cheek. He made a grunting noise, bent over with his hand comforting his face as Heather shook her own hand out, throbbing from the hit.
“You talk too much,” Heather said, glaring at him. Felix stood back up, his cheek already burning red. His head tilted slightly to the side, he made a tutting sound with his tongue.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “Now I have to kill you.” With that, Felix yelled out a command in Latin, and tackled Heather. Her sword clattered uselessly on the floor next to her as she hit the ground hard. Within seconds, a swarm of birds came bursting through the doors, surrounding Heather and Felix as they wrestled. Birds were dive-bombing Heather, completely missing Felix. She could feel them stabbing her with their beaks, prodding at her skin. She just gritted her teeth and kept fighting Felix.
Suddenly, Felix was yanked off of Heather and tossed to the side. He yelled in surprise as Ivy materialized on top of him, her sword at his throat.
“Ivy!” Heather yelled in relief, the first time she’d ever been happy to see the snooty girl. Obviously, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
“You ruined my plan!” Ivy grunted back as she held a squirming Felix down and dodged birds.
“How was I supposed to know what that plan was?” Heather questioned, sounding exasperated as she searched for her sword.
“You’re the Time-Bearer! Aren’t you supposed to know everything?” She snapped.
Heather found her sword and sliced through several birds that were about to attack Ivy. She sighed. “For once, can we stop arguing and work together? We can go back to being enemies after we kill him.”
Before Ivy could respond, Felix finally managed to shove her off of him and leapt to his feet. “Not today, princess!” he snarled. His back facing Heather, he kicked Ivy in the ribcage, and Heather heard a guttural moan. Heather grabbed the back of Felix’s shirt with her free hand and yanked him backwards. He whirled around, eyes settling on Heather. She swung her sword, managing to hit a few birds, but missed Felix himself. She swung a few more times, but he was too fast. His movements were bird-like: fast, jerky, and sudden. He dodged Heather’s every attempt.
“Heather!” Ivy yelled. She had managed to get to her feet and was now fighting a pack of angry pigeons. “Slow him down.”
“Thanks for the helpful advice,” Heather muttered as she uselessly slashed the air.
“No, Heather!” Ivy said, pausing to look at Heather. “Slow. Him. Down.” She was trying to tell her something. But what? The only way she would be able to slow him down would be to slow down time. But, if she did that, she would slow down too. Unless . . .
It was a crazy idea. Heather had never tried it before. She didn’t even know if it would work! She swiped one more time, missing Felix completely. She realized it was her only hope.
Heather backed up a few steps, Felix following her. She gave Ivy a slight nod, hoping she knew what it meant, hoping she was right. Thankfully, Ivy understood.
“Hey, Eagle Face! Over here!” Ivy shouted. Felix froze, a murderous expression taking over his dark features. He whirled around.
“I. Am not. An EAGLE!” Felix bellowed before sprinting over to Ivy. Heather closed her eyes and cleared her mind completely. She could feel the pure energy pounding through her body. She imagined it flowing up towards her brain, giving her power to pull this off. Heather finally opened her eyes and the world was gold. Everything around her slowed down. She saw Ivy and Felix locked in battle, hardly moving. Fires raged around her, but it looked more like a painting than real life because she couldn’t even tell they were moving. The birds hung in the air, wings inching down and up.
Heather glanced down at her hand, anticipation coursing through her frame. She attempted wiggling her fingers, and gasped as she realized she could move at normal speed. Heather stepped forward, her body moving freely.
She laughed, and thrust her hand in the air in success. However, she could feel her energy rapidly draining. Heather wouldn’t be able to hold onto this for very long.
She scurried over to Felix and Ivy. Ivy had a triumphant look on her face as her sword slowly inched towards Felix, who had a very baffled facial expression. Heather wrapped one arm around Felix’s neck, and placed the other one, holding the sword, on his gut. Heather blinked, and released her hold on time. Pandemonium was resurrected all around her. Ivy finished her swing, missing Felix and Heather by centimeters. Before Felix could register what had happened, Heather closed her eyes and sliced her sword across his stomach. Felix screeched as he fell to his knees, warm sticky blood pouring out of his wound. Something flashed across his eyes, and Heather couldn’t tell if it was hate, sadness, or anger. But something foul was definitely there. He gasped for air, and slowly staggered to his feet. Heather’s sword, dripping with his blood, was ready in case she hadn’t gotten him deep enough. But he looked pretty weak to her.
He stumbled for the gymnasium door, but he never made it. As he was walking, he gave Heather and Ivy one more crazed look. “Beware! When the bell tolls thirteen, I shall strike.”
Heather and Ivy exchanged glances. Felix mumbled it once more. “When the bell tolls thirteen.” He then collapsed to the floor, his blood pooling around his body, and remained still.
How can a bell toll thirteen? Heather shook her head, perplexed. She figured it was some stupid trick to make her paranoid. She looked at Ivy. “Hey, thanks for, you know. Back there.”
Ivy shrugged. “Yeah well, everyone would hate me if I came back and you weren’t there. I wouldn’t mind it, though. You’re always getting in the way.”
Heather sighed. “Well, you wouldn’t be alive right now without me.”
“You wouldn’t be alive if I hadn’t told you what to do!” Ivy snapped.
Heather nodded, acknowledging the truth in Ivy’s statement. She glanced up and realized the birds had disappeared when Felix died.
“Just so you know, we’re still enemies. This whole ‘team-work’ crap doesn’t extend outside of killing Mordans,” said Ivy, folding her arms, the corners of her red lips slowly curling up in an attempt to hide a smile.
Heather grinned slightly at her as she surveyed the gym. “Yeah. I guess so.”