The picture to the side or above is of the nameless man
Nothing. There was no one in the bathroom.
"Now I feel stupid," I reply with relief.
"No you're not stupid. I heard it too," Ethan replies.
"This is even better. Like killing two birds with one stone," a masculine voice says behind us. We turn around so fast, my heart beating like a drum. I put up my shield right away and mind-link all the guards, plus my mom, dad, and Laura.
The man standing before us is so unfamiliar and familiar at the same. I look at him with confusion. My shield starts to go down slowly inch by inch. "Who are you?" I ask with venom in my tone. 'I have no idea how powerful this man is. I need all the power I can get' I mind-link Ethan, 'my mom was right about even the castle not being safe'
"I can hear your thoughts you know," the man replies, ignoring my question, "and I'm sorry to say, but they'll be here too late." He gives me an evil smirk. I can't tell Ethan my plan or he'll stop us before we even begin. The shield is already halfway down so I let it go completely. I grab Ethan's hand and teleport us as far as we can get away from him. As we land on some random street somewhere in the world or another dimension, realization comes to my mind.
"Ethan my mom wasn't in the castle when I went to your room. That man impersonated her when I got mind-linked."
"What are you talking about?" Ethan asks.
"This was all a trap. I shouldn't have went in your room," I say, mentally slapping myself. Then another thing dawned on me.
"How do I know you're not him?" I ask, with doubt in my voice.
"Mel you know it's me," Ethan says, feigning confusion, "remember we were holding hands when you teleported us out." I let go of his hand right then.
"You're not Ethan. What did you do to Ethan?" I demand, not letting my fear show.
"Yes Mel, I am. What makes you think I'm not?"
Ethan wouldn't ask that question. He wouldn't make me doubt myself.
'Mel! I'm still at the castle! Get away from him!' Ethan mind-links me.
'How do I know you're really Ethan?'
'Think of me. Conjure me.' I picture Ethan standing next to me. He appears right in that spot. The imposter growls. Ethan embraces me.
"And here I thought I killed you," he says, "I guess the fun is over now. Time to do this the hard way. " In a flash he turns back to his original self and is at my neck with a dagger. Ethan growls and before he could move, the man presses the dagger against my neck. I gasp in pain. This is not good.
"Nah ah ah, if you move I'll slit her throat. And that wouldn't be very good for you would it?" He asks and turns to me. How could the street be deserted at this time?
"Mel what's he talking about? I know he means more than what he's saying," Ethan asks, confusion and hurt written on his face.
"Awww, she didn't want you to worry," the man says sarcastically. I seriously want to kill him. "This is the type of relationship kids have these days." He sighs as if we're a huge disappointment. "Well I'm going to elaborate."
"Please. Don't, " I beg, tears coming to my eyes. Ethan can't know about this. He can't know the bad things about being a healer. The man pushes the dagger into my neck. I could feel blood trickling down my neck. Ethan stands there, having the pain of not being able to do anything.
"Don't hurt her," he begs.
"This is fun to watch." He then moves the dagger to my stomach. I try to teleport Ethan out of there, but my magic won't work. I try every form of magic and defense, but it won't work. I'm paralyzed as if he's using magic to keep me there. I guess training was pointless. He then proceeds to draw a line of blood, ripping my shirt in the process. I cry out with pain and drop on my hands and knees on the ground.
"You're not as strong as you think you are, now are you," he says.
"Why are you doing this?" Ethan asks, tears running down his face.
"To show you how vulnerable your girlfriend is."
"And now it's your turn," he says as the same time I scream, "Noo!" The man turns to me.
"Please don't hurt him. I'll tell him my secret. Please just don't hurt him," I beg.
"Very well. But don't even think of trying anything."
I wipe the tears off my face. "Remember when I said if we don't get out of here I'll die?" I ask Ethan.
"Yes I remember." He patiently waits for me to continue.
"Even though I can heal people, I can't heal myself. Only another white-lighter can heal me." I let this sink in. I just hope he doesn't say anything. Thankfully, he understands.
"Mel why did you hide that from me?"
"Because I was afraid you wouldn't let me do anything dangerous. Or let alone leave your side."
"You're right about not letting you leave my side, but Mel I wouldn't keep you from doing the things you love."
"OK we're done with all this mushy soppy stuff, I'm going to vomit. Now let's get on with the program shall we?"
Ethan turns to the monster and repeats my question from before, "Who are you and what do you want from Mel?"
"Right, the introductions. Always introductions when I'm in the process of killing." He sounded annoyed and starts pacing around. His confession about killing doesn't even faze me. I figured much.
"I am your enemy from since white-lighters existed."
"That still doesn't answer my question." I realize Ethan's stalling so that I can think up a plan. Once he's closer to Ethan than me, I initiate my plan.
"Impatient child. There's no point in telling you my name because you'll be dead by then." I take this time to teleport Ethan and conjure the guards. I use all my strength until I have none.
"Mel No!!," Ethan shouts as he slowly disappears. I smile sadly to him. 'I'm doing this to protect you' The guards appear one by one and immediately surround the man.
"He impersonates people," I warn the group. I feel energy return to my body. With the new found strength I have, I stand up straight and knee the man in the stomach, commencing the mini battle.
"Princess follow me," Jonah (head guard) says. He starts running and I follow. 'Finally I can move' We stop at an eerie looking building. I look at him, skeptical.
"It's a hideout," he explains. We walk inside and the door creeks. The place is empty. "For now why don't you focus on conjuring your dad so he can heal you," he says.
"How did you know?" I ask, shocked.
"The king entrusted me with the secret so that you will always have someone by your side who knows and can prevent anything from happening. Although I failed at that," he says while looking at my cut shirt and blood.
I shake my head, "It isn't your fault. He got in the castle unnoticed and I fell for the trap he set up."
"Focus on getting your dad. I'll keep watch." I do as he says. Ten seconds later dad finally appears. It took just 10 seconds to drain me again. I must be loosing a lot of blood.
Dad immediately engulfs me in a hug. I wince at the sudden action. He lets go of me and checks me for any injuries. I feel a sense of déjà-vu.
"What happened?" he asks me.
"There was a man in Ethan's room and I got scared. We didn't find anyone, but them suddenly he cornered us. I couldn't protect us with my shield or with anything at all as long as he was in close range. He also made me tell Ethan our secret."
"That's not good to hear. Can we trust him to keep the secret?"
"I sure hope so."
"Let me heal you," dad asks.
"No don't," I say quickly. Dad looks at me confused.
"Why not? You're loosing a lot of blood."
"If you heal me now it'll drain you. You need to keep your energy to teleport all of us out of here." I sit down at bench, too tired to stand.
"Good thinking. Jonah, go check if the battle is done. If they're done bring them all here. We leave right away."
"Dad who is that man?"
"I don't know honey. But we have to soon find out in case he escapes or tries to kill you again. You shouldn't have used all your energy. You know you could have just mind-linked me alone and let me teleport the others."
"I know I know, I wasn't thinking straight." My eyelids start to become heavy.
"How much blood have you lost?" Dad lifts up my shirt, "why didn't you tell me your practically bleeding to death?" he asks furious, "I'm going to kill that monster."
"Wait dad, don't. We're running out of time," as soon as I say that, the group finally arrives with the man all tied up.
"Let's go," dad says and grabs the man by the neck. Then he transports everyone out, one at a time. Once he's done transporting all the guards, he takes my hand and teleports us back home. I don't even want to know what'll happen to that man.
A/N
I had some time to quickly update this. More comng soon!