Nick's POV
When I woke up, I was bound in chains once again, just like we had been at the campground. I still don't understand what's going on. I could understand why Clara did all of this but why Beth? She was just the innocent new girl in school.
"Ready for play time Nicky?" Beth said in a demonic voice, coming out of the shadows with a dagger. I looked around to see everyone else in the room with me.
"Guys we need to do something!" I scream, they don't move. Beth just laughs at my stupidity. "They can't hear or see you. Except Wren." She waves her hand to reveal Wren across the room in full vamp mode.
"Don't you dare hurt him. I'll kill you!" She growls, Beth chuckles. "If you think you can kill me you're hilarious. I'll just make Casey come back again with the snap of my fingers."
"It was you? You were the Royal that made her Casey. And she started to remember that day you came back didn't she? When she was unconscious, you put your hands on her head. You erased her memory!"
"And I brought Casey back. All it takes is the snap of my fingers. You see, I am not a werewolf." She chuckles evilly, I shake my head confused.
"Then what are you?" Wren questions angrily, Beth smirks and starts speaking Latin. All of a sudden Piper and Kyle could see us. Kyle was unconscious, I think he's dead. And it's all because of her. But why Kyle?
"A witch? But how?" I ask, she glared at me again. "I was born a witch, as was Clara. But as a witch I can shape shift into anything I want and manipulate that beings powers."
"I still don't understand why Kyle? Why did you kill him?" Piper screams with tears rolling down her face. "That's simple. He started to find things out, he was onto me the minute vampy here opened her mouth screaming at me. And once he found out about Will, well that was a done deal."
I looked over at Wren, she was only getting more angry. Fireballs were starting to form in her hands and her eyes were slowly turning black.
"Why Will? Why any of us? Clara I could understand, but you? Why?" I ask angrily, she laughs evilly but Piper looked like she was putting two and two together.
"You're sisters aren't you?"
"What? That's impossible, if Clara has a sister I would know." Wren shakes her head, Beth smirks. "Just like if you had a sister you would know right? We're supposed to be a family!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You, me and Clara all have one thing in common. That's because we are sisters separated at birth. I grew up in this academy with my adopted family who were monsters. After some snooping, I found my file which said that I had two other sisters so I went out to find you girls but I could only talk to Clara because you wouldn't give me the time of day. Clara and I got close and I found out that she didn't have a good life either, but then she told me all about you and your perfect little life and I hated that, but there was nothing I could do."
"What the hell are you talking about? My mother died in labor, she didn't have any other kids because I would know. And I didn't give you the time of day? What are you talking about? I met you on the bus going to the camp!" Wren shouts, Beth shakes her head. "No. We met way before that. I met you all the night you decided to get high and I went to greet you but you ignored me so I saw who you really were, a spoiled crackhead bitch."
"That's a little much. We were high that night, I probably thought you were a puppy or something. That's not a reason to get revenge-"
"It wasn't then, but once I found out Clara was dead I brought her back to life and she told me everything about you and your friends, and I did some digging and found out that each of you was connected to a loved one's death so our plan was perfect, up until Kyle here had to go and ruin everything!" Beth shouts angrily, her voice sounding demonic.
"But why turn us all into monsters? Why bring us into a world we know nothing about?" I ask, Beth shakes her head. "Well that is simple. Each of you basically killed your loved ones, except Kyle and Nick which is why their abilities are what they are. Piper, you're the healer because you couldn't heal yourself from the emotional wound of your boyfriends death. Grayson was the werewolf because his strength and stupidity led to the death of his girlfriend. Kyle is the psychic because he couldn't see his sister's death so now he's forced to see the deaths of innocents. Nick, you're the protector because you failed to protect both Clara and Wren. And finally my sister, you're the vampire because your anger and addiction to alcohol led to the death of your brother and Clara, so we turned you into a blood craving monster."
"What about Grayson? Why did you kill him!" Wren growled, Beth's smirk only grew wider. "Collateral damage. I did love him, but he found out too much when we left you guys. There was no baby, I just had to make him believe there was so that he would be on my side. But once I told him everything, he proved himself to be worthless and valued your lives more, so I killed him. Easy peasy."
"Easy peasy?! He was a great guy! He was loyal and in love with you and you killed him. I should've killed you when I had the chance." I grunt angrily, Beth just chuckles. "Well Nicky, I'm afraid I'm untouchable. Especially because you'll be dead pretty soon."
"Oh really? And why is that? We killed your little Royal worshippers so there's not really much you can do now." Wren taunts, I glare at her and shake my head as Beth turns around to face her.
"I'd be careful what you say around me Wren. I can make Casey come back within a matter of seconds and it'll be just like it was during your training. I'll make you kill them slowly and watch them die."
"I got rid of Casey for good-"
"That's what you think." Beth snaps her fingers, Wren stops crying and puts a devilish smirk on her face. That's when I knew she was gone.
"Now tell me, why did you kill Grayson?"
"I...Didn't." Wren struggles to make out, Beth snaps her fingers again. "I said, why did you kill him?"
"Because he was a nuisance and he was going to ruin everything!" She growls, Beth smiles. "Excellent. See, my little minion is doing so good!"
"I'm not your minion, nor am I your slave. Get that straight and we'll be on the same page." Beth walks over to Wren and pats her on the head. "Good minion!" Wren goes to bite her but Beth shakes her head and snaps her fingers.
"You follow my orders Casey. We don't want a repeat of your training do we?"
"No. But I think this reminds me of the time you attempted to get rid of me but I ratted you out and ruined your little plan. That was great, don't ya think?" Beth shakes her head and growls at Wren.
"You ruined everything. We were in this together but you went and betrayed me-"
"Casey was in until I found out that you were the one that tortured me as part of my training. Making me rip everyone I love to shreds just because of the monster you turned me into. Even for a person as soulless and damaged as me, that made me feel pain. So if you think for one second that I'm going to help you, you're dead wrong. Well, mostly dead." She started chanting in Latin which got her out of her chains. Beth looked taken back.
"How did you-"
"Another thing I picked up from your little bag of tricks. You may have thought that Casey was on your side the whole time but that's only what she wanted you to think. And there's plenty more where that came from so bring it on bitch." That's when I realized that Wren finally did it. She outsmarted the greater evil. She tapped into Casey's memories and figured out things that can hurt Beth.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm more powerful then you'll ever be, so if you want your boyfriend here to survive I suggest you back up." Beth snapped her fingers and brought back her dagger, holding it up to my throat.
"Don't crack Wren. Whatever she does to me, nothing will stop our love. Keep fighting." She tightens her grip on the knife, pressing it tighter against my throat. Tears start strolling down Wren's face. "I can't let her hurt you-"
"Wren. I love you, and nothing will ever change that. Do what you have to do in order to fight. I love you so mu-"
Wren's POV
I watched as she slit his throat. The amount of pain and anger that was running through my body is indescribable. "NO!" I could feel my body heating up. Fireballs were forming in my hands and I felt myself changing, but this time it feels different. This change feels like nothing I've ever felt.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" My voice sounded demonic, but I didn't even care. I want blood. I want nothing more than to scatter her brains across the walls of this place.
"Aw look who it is, the big bad princess here to save the day!" Beth mocks, I glare at her and throw a fireball. It hits her arm, but she quickly heals.
She speeds up and presses me against the wall, holding me by the neck. "I could kill you right now, you know that right?" She says with a chuckle, I sigh. "Don't give up Wren. Think of everything she's done!"
Flashes of the past six years go through my head.
"Oh come on Wren don't be a baby! It's fake anyways." Piper teases, I roll my eyes. "I'm not a baby, I'm just afraid!"
"That means you're a baby." Kyle replied with a chuckle, I glare at him. "Okay fine I'll do it but I swear if some freaky shit happens then I'm going to wring my hands around your neck and choke you to death." I reply, sitting in the circle as everyone puts two fingers on the Quijia board.
"Is there any spirit here that is trying to contact us?" Kyle guides, nothing happens. "See I told you it's a bunch of bullshit." The minute Piper said that the piece moved to yes.
"No, someone is moving their fingers." Piper says apprehensively, I shake my head. "This is real. Trust me." I reply anxiously.
"Spirit, what is your name?" Kyle asks, the piece moves and we try to figure out what it says.
"C. L. A. R. A" Kyle reads. Everyone looks up at me, I shake my head. "You guys are trying to freak me out. Clara if this really is you that we are talking to tonight, what was my mothers maiden name?" I made sure that it was a question none of them knew the answer to and it moved.
"Ophelia?" I took my fingers off the board and started freaking out. "That was it, we really are talking to Clara!" At that point tears were streaming down my face.
"Clara why are you contacting us right now?" Kyle questions, the piece moves to spell out danger. "Danger? What is that supposed to mean?" Beth questions, I wipe my tears.
"I don't like this, can we please just say goodbye and put the board away?" Piper asks, freaking out. "No, I want to know!"
"Kyle get over yourself! Wren is hysterical in tears, Beth looks like she's in a trance, Piper is freaking out and frankly I am getting a little worried myself so please can we stop?" Nick snaps, Kyle says goodbye to the board and Nick tries to calm me down.
"How are you doing Wren?" Nick asks, as I am curled up in a ball on my bed crying. "It's all my fault." I mumble.
"What happened to her was not your fault-"
"Yes it was. I wish I could take it back. I want her back!"
—
"What the hell is your problem?!" I shouted angrily while pushing him, he shook his head.
"My problem is that this is all some big prank! It has to be! This all has to be some sick and twisted prank because there is no way we are actually stranded here and there is no way that Ethan is dead! This all is a prank-"
"No Nick, it's not. The explosion happened, our friends are dead and so are our teachers and we have to cope with the fact that we made it out alive no matter how hard we tried to help them back in there." I put my hand on his shoulder in attempts to show sympathy but he pushed it off.
"See this is exactly the reason we broke up! You're letting your emotions turn to anger and that is going to kill you one day!"
"Well maybe I want to die! It should've been me not him! It was my party and now all of those people are dead because of ME! So don't you dare try to tell me that it's okay because it's not! They are all dead because of me! I killed them! It was my party! He was the only family I had left and now he's gone too." He broke down into tears to a point where he fell on the ground and I was cradling him.
"It's all my fault." He cried, I stroked his hair and cradled him like I used to when he was upset. "Shh it's going to be okay Nicky. It's all going to work out, we are going to get out of here and we are going to be okay. You just have to breathe, it is going to be okay. I am here for you." I replied softly while kissing his head, which made his heart rate slow down a little. He grabbed my hand and I intertwined our fingers.
"I'm not going anywhere Nicky, I'm here for you and I always will be. Just breathe, everything is going to be okay." I said while continuing to run my fingers through his hair with my other hand, which made him calm down.
—
"Go ahead Piper, touch it." Future Wren said, Piper walked up to touch the forcefield and was launched five feet away.
"Piper!" Wren screams, future Piper chuckles. "She can heal, that's why we asked her to do it. As for you, well you have to be very careful because the tiniest spark can burn you to pieces."
"But that doesn't make any sense, Wren got burned and severely hurt from the fire. How come that didn't kill her?" I ask our future selves, future Wren takes out a pocket knife and slits her wrist. I was about to scream, but future Piper started to cry and Wren's wound healed.
"Oh I get it now! Part of Piper's ability is that she can heal others, and since she cried on Wren and her tears went into Wren's wound, she healed her. This makes so much sense now!"
"All three of you are linked. You can manipulate three of the elements. Beth, you can manipulate earth. Piper, you can manipulate air. And Wren, you can manipulate fire. We are here to teach you about your abilities before it happens." Future Wren says, sounding vague.
"Before what happens?" Piper questions, walking back over to us. All of a sudden the wind picks up and a storm starts brewing. Piper, Wren and my future self look at each other uneasily.
"We have to do this fast. We don't have much time!" My future self says apprehensively, the three of us look at her and shake our hands. "Why not?"
"Because it's starting. And from what I remember, we only have a couple days before things go bad. You must be prepared, otherwise time will repeat itself. We need to start. Now."
—
I was tired, dehydrated, and quite literally was going insane. That's when I finally had enough. I ran outside and started screaming. "OKAY YOU BITCH! I KNOW YOU ARE WATCHING ME! YOU TOOK AWAY EVERYTHING I LOVED THERE IS NOTHING NORE YOU CAN TAKE AWAY. SO COME AND GET ME BITCH!"
—
"Go to hell." I spat angrily, she chuckles. "The only one going to hell after this is you Wren. Especially after everything you've done. You've stolen, lied, and even worse murdered. You left me to die and I'm gonna make sure you pay.
Quid mali sit bonum et quid boni faciam Laurenfeel senex est mortuus, et omnis dolor frigus." She waver her hands around and a blue mist appeared. That's when I started screaming in pain.
It felt like my insides were being ripped out limb by limb. I was bleeding from the inside out. I'm dying. She's killing me.
"Clara...Stop."
"Now why in the hell would I show you any mercy after what you did? You killed me!" She shouts, twisting her psychological knife further into my heart.
"I didn't mean to-"
"You were drunk just like you always were. But the emotional pain and suffering you had to go through to get here was worth the wait. You don't understand why I hate you so much do you?" I shake my head, she makes the pain stop by snapping her fingers.
"Well let me fill you in. You always got everything you wanted. You got head cheerleader, you had an awesome stepmom, you got good grades, you even had a great boyfriend. Yet you complained about it all!"
"Is that what you think? That my life was perfect? How do you call unintentionally killing those you love, getting raped and pregnant at fourteen, and becoming an alcoholic perfect?" I snap angrily, she chuckles.
"You deserved everything you got." I glare at her. "How can you say that? You were my best friend-"
"I was your doormat! You knew I liked Nick but you went for him anyways! So that night when he kissed me, I was happier than words could even describe. But then you found out and it turned to hell."
"How would you have liked me to react seeing my boyfriend kiss my best friend? Would you like me to be happy about it? Of course I had the right to be angry-"
"You didn't have to get in the car that day!" She screams, tears start rolling down my face. "I regret that mistake every single day of my life! You have no idea what I was going through. And If you didn't show up at my brother's game then the accident wouldn't have happened! Everyone would still be alive, I would be a bitter piece of shit and you would have gotten your way."
—-
"Dominic Carter, Ethan Carter, Bethany Johnson, Lauren Underwood, Piper Richards, Grayson Samuels, Kyle Lawrence."
"What are you talking about? We're right here!" Piper shouts, pushing our principal. He doesn't budge. "It's like they can't see us-"
"That is because they can't. The spell Miss Bennet put on you all became permanent which makes you creatures that don't actually exist therefore nobody can see or hear you." A guy in a white cloak says mysteriously. We all jump when we see him.
"Who the hell are you?" Gray shouts. He was scared, we all were. And if we knew it was going to be years before we were able to talk again, we would've spent our time saying goodbye.
"I am part of the Royals. We are a league that teaches those with abilities to fight. You six have been enrolled." All of a sudden, other men and women in white cloaks appeared behind us and grabbed us.
———
"You can't hide from it forever Lauren. You need to embrace it!"
"Embrace it? You did this to me! I was perfectly fine before I got to this stupid academy. Where are my friends? I need to talk to them." I felt myself changing. This is not good.
"You're friends are gone. And I'm afraid you'll never see them again. Are you okay with that Casey?" Mr. Sanderson snapped his fingers and automatically I felt a power overcome me. I felt more confident. I felt more capable to do anything than I've ever felt in my life. But what scares me the most is that I feel angry and invigorated at the same time.
"Let's rock this bitch!" I never say that. What's going on?
——
Kyle looks between Nick and I. "I'm gonna give you two some time to talk." Kyle closed the door behind him and walked back upstairs. Nick walked up to me, wiped my tears, and gave me a hug. I could hear his heartbeat. I could smell his blood...No. get out now Wren.
"I'm sorry." I pushed away from him and ran up to a room. I'm guessing this is mine because it doesn't have any stuff in it but I don't know since I've only been in this house as Casey but frankly I don't care. I need a place to sit down and cry.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door.
"Wren, can I come in?" It was Nick. Based off of the fact that his voice cracked I could tell he was on the verge of crying and that only made me feel worse. I didn't respond, I just hugged my pillow tighter and crawled up into a ball on the bed. He opened the door and closed it behind him.
"Wren please talk to me. What's wrong?" As he sat down on the bed, he placed his hand on my back. I couldn't even look at him.
"I can't." That was all I could say.
"Please Wren. Let me in-"
"Don't you think I want to? All I want to do is wrap my arms around you and kiss you and feel you but I can't. The academy messed me up more than anyone. They made Casey and that petrifies me because any minute I can turn back into her. I can hear your heartbeat, I can smell your blood, and I have to fight off the constant urge to bite you while all I wanna do is feel you again and I can't." I finally turned over to face him, he was looking at me with a look of sympathy. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"When I woke up at the academy I was alone in my room. I had no roommate for six years and the Royals preyed on my fear. They used holographic stimulators to help me control my powers, but then they brought blood into the equation and that's how Casey came to life. It turns out that even though Clara wanted me dead, she didn't want me to live with the burden of blood lust... Eventually the academy used Casey to their advantage. They made me kill innocent people and I couldn't do anything about it because Casey was the one taking the wheel. They preyed on my weaknesses because they claimed it would make me stronger when in reality it only made me more emotionally unstable. And eventually they used magic to cloak themselves to look like all of you and one by one they made me kill. It was awful!"
He grabbed my hands and stroked them with his thumbs. "Look at me Wren." I reluctantly looked up at him to see that he had tears in his eyes as well. "I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to protect you. I love you, and nothing is ever going to change that. I will love you until the day I die and trust me that will not be for a long time. We are going to beat this, I promise. We're stronger together than apart, let me help you."
Seeing him so genuine reminds me of how we were back in high school before any of this started. When I was with him I was able to forget about everything bad that happened in my life and I was able to let go. He makes me feel safe, and that is something that I want to feel all of the time.
I didn't say anything, instead I let actions speak louder than words. My immediate instinct was to kiss him. But kissing led to a little more and he stopped me.
"Are you sure about this? I don't want you to feel pressured or like I'm doing this to distract you-"
"Nicky. I'm sure. I love you." I initiated the kiss this time, and before I knew it clothes were coming off and things were happening.
—-
"Will don't-"
"NO! This isn't how it's supposed to be! This isn't you mom!" He screams, I throw Piper into the corner and walk over to the boy and Nick. "I told you to go, now you're gonna regret it." I grab the boy by the neck and start choking him.
"Wren Stop." I smirk, making my grip on his neck becomes harder. "I didn't want it to come to this." He chokes out. He raises his hand to her shoulder, making me go flying into the corner.
"Bring it on little witch." I flung him into the wall, making sure that every time he hit the wall it would hurt more. "I told you to stay away. Say hello to Grayson for me."
"YOU'RE KILLING YOUR SON!" Nick screams at the top of his lungs, I look at him uneasily. "I don't have a son."
"He's from the future. The Royals took him as a baby and have been keeping him here ever since. By killing him right now you will kill yourself. You're pregnant Wren. Please don't kill our son." Tears start to form in my eyes. "Our son?" Nick nods, I smile.
"Come back to me Wren. Get rid of Casey for good so we can raise this baby." I shut my eyes and opened then back up again. I need to fight this.
"Dad?" Will said weakly, we both ran over to him. He was bleeding from the head, it's bad. "Piper help! Please!" She ran over to the both of us, and glared at me.
"Why should I help you?"
"Please! He's dying!" I scream with tears rolling down my face. Piper sighs and bends down to touch Will. She puts her hands on Will's head and closes her eyes. When she opened them Will was still bleeding.
"It's not working!" A tear falls down Piper's face. I shake my head. "No. It has to work! Please try again!"
Piper places her hands on his head once again and close her eyes. Nothing happened. He's dying. "No! No please don't die! I'm so sorry!" I cry into his shoulders, he shakes his head.
"It's okay...I just...wanted to...save...you." He started fading away and that is when I realized that he was really gone. I started to cry, but most of all I was angry. Angry at Clara for making me this way, angry at myself for letting this all happen, but mostly angry at the Royals because they turned me into Casey.
"Wren-"
"No. Nothing you say can fix this. I just killed our son out of cold blood. I deserve to die!" I cry, Piper shakes her head. "No. It wasn't you Wren it was Casey, the Royals hexed us somehow. The Royals created Casey, so they killed him not you. It's not your fault-"
"Yes it is. I allowed myself to be in that situation. I thought we got rid of her for good! I'm so angry!" Fire started building up in my hands, Piper and Nick shared a worried glance.
"Then take that anger and use it to fight the Royals. They're the reason Will is dead. They created Casey, not you. We need to stand together and fight for Will. Please Wren." My sadness was turning into anger. After a few minutes of tears, I knew I had to collect myself.
"You're right. The Royals have one thing coming for them and that's death. Game on." I got up and started flinging things across each hallway.
"YOU WANTED US YOU BASTARDS! COME AND FIGHT SON OF A BITCH!" There was a flash of light that came from the other end of the corridors. It was a group of the Royals, all of them in dark cloaks with red eyes.
The three of us looked at each other and smirked. Wren made fireballs with her hands and smirked wider. "Game on."
——-
I grabbed the hand Beth was using to choke me and I twisted it hard enough to break it. When I heard the snap, I knew I was successful.
I'm not going down without a fight.
"Bring it on bitch."