Emma fumbled with the lock on the back door to Abigail's house, trying to be as quiet as possible. Michael and Wilamena stood behind her, both holding their breath with anticipation.
Everyone else - Jake, Beetles, and Abigail - were asleep. It was the dead of night, so it was natural for them to sleep. In fact, the children should have been asleep too. Only instead, they were sneaking out of the house, something they felt bad about because Abigail had been so kind to them. But it was necessary if they were going to rescue Kate.
Emma and Michael had made the plan as soon as they had a moment alone. They had faked going to bed, when really they had packed anything and everything useful, from bobby-pins to a dagger, into Michael's bag. Soon before they planned to leave, Wilamena had come and guessed what they were doing. She had said they weren't doing it without her and that she was coming to help.
Now they simply had to make it out the back door without alerting Gabriel, who was keeping watch by the front door. That was a difficult task, what, with how alert and experienced the warrior was.
Emma finished unlocking the door, and slowly opened it hoping beyond hope that it didn't creak. Once it was opened, she let out a silent exhale and tiptoed through, Michael and Wilamena on her heels.
Soon they were through the door and had shut it, and were making a beeline for the street. As they speedwalked away from the house, they thought they were in the clear. Until they heard, "where do you three think you're going?"
As one, the three turned to see Rafe's ghost standing there, arms crossed, brow furrowed. Michael and Wilamena fidgeted, mumbling something about fresh air. But Emma looked Rafe directly in the eyes as though daring him to stop her, and said, "we're going to rescue Kate."
"That's what I thought," Rafe replied, "and do you have any sort of plan for this?"
"Actually, we had an idea on how to take down the magical shields so we could get in," Michael commented.
"I'm all ears," Rafe said.
"Emma and I have magic, strong magic, and maybe the combined force of our power could make the shield's magic short circuit," Michael explained.
"That's a good theory," Rafe admitted, "but you can't control your power yet. How do you know you won't just get yourselves hurt?"
"That's a risk we're willing to take!" Emma snapped, getting frustrated. Her sister was in danger for goodness sakes, they didn't have time to just sit around talking, "we're going to save Kate and you can either let us go or we'll make you get out of our way!"
"Or I could go with you," Rafe said, taking them all by surprise.
He continued, "I know the place, and I could help you keep your magic under control. Face it, bringing me along is the best way for this plan of yours to work."
"You... you really wanna help us?" Michael stammered.
"Of course I do," Rafe answered, "I love Kate. I would do anything to save her. And because I love her, and she loves you, I will do whatever it takes to protect you."
Michael and Emma exchanged looks. They could tell Rafe was being absolutely sincere, and for all the conflict between them in the past, they could really use his help.
"So it's the four of us then?" Wilamena questioned.
Michael shrugged, "I suppose so."
"Great," Emma turned back and began waking toward the road, "now let's go get Kate back!"
...............
As they reached the mansion, they kept to the shadows, keeping on watch for any of the Dire Magnus's sinister monsters guarding the building. They could see a few screechers lurking by the front door, but other than that, the Dire Magnus seemed to be relying on his shields to protect his hideout.
Rafe looked to the two young Wibberlys, "you ready for this?"
"I guess," Michael murmured.
At the same time, Emma said, "as I'll ever be."
Rafe turned to Wilamena, "keep watch while we do this." Then, he placed his hands on the siblings' shoulders and thought of Kate, the magical link once again forming between the three who loved her most.
His eyes closing, Rafe pictured the shields of magic around the mansion and knew Michael and Emma were thinking of it as well. And then he felt it, the staticky barrier that would kill all seeking to cross it without permission. He felt it's deadly energy. And he focused on bringing it down.
He felt Emma and Michael's raw, slightly unstable power being unlocked, and directed its force towards the shield, causing cracks and fizzing instability in the spell. Triumphant, Rafe pushed their magic forward harder. Just a bit more and the shield would come down.
Meanwhile, Wilamena watched the force of these threes' powerful magic in awe. Each figure had an aura around them. Michael's was a brilliant red and orange, Emma's a cool and bold purplish blue. Rafe's was the same emerald green as his eyes and all three radiated the electric feeling of pure magic. It was like the sparks that shot from the Wibberlys hands earlier, only more controlled and far stronger without the ritual dimming it.
Their collective power pulsed once more and it was enough to cause the final break in the shoeld that they needed. The pagoda holding it up cracked and unraveled, the deadly spell fading fast.
Emma opened her eyes as she felt the shield's destruction. They had done it, Michael's plan had worked. Their magic faded and Rafe removed his hands from the siblings' shoulders. A faint smile had even appeared on Michael's face as the four heroes reveled in their success.
But the moment didn't last, and the next challenge was already on its way. The guard screechers had spotted the auras of magic and upon getting closer, realized the enemy was hear. They begun to scream, startling the intruders.
Wilamena and Michael's arms shot out, wrapping around each other in terror. Emma shivered at the horrible sound. And Rafe looked to the front door where dozens more screechers and imps were streaming out, ready for a fight, ready to keep them all out of the mansion.
"We're going to have to fight our way in, aren't we?" Emma whispered.
Rafe nodded, "now that they know we're here, we have no other choice."
"Thought so," the girl replied, "Michael, pass me that dagger. No one is standing between me and my sister, not tonight."
The four flew from the bushes, using their smaller sizes and speed to their advantage. Emma launched herself at two imps, fighting tooth and claw like she used to at the orphanage. Her dagger sliced the stomach of one as the other scratched at her arms. She let out a growl, trying to show that she was not afraid, and cut him too. She didn't feel guilty. These were some of the worst monsters there were. They wanted to hurt and kill her family. To protect the ones she loved, Emma would fight them all.
Rafe weaves in an out of the throng of monsters in a way only a ghost could, trying to distract them and keep them from the others. It wasn't going too well but he had to make an attempt. Though their blades could not cut him, they could cut everyone he was allied with, everyone he had promised to protect. Rafe could not let that happen.
Wilamena, though she didn't have any way to turn into a dragon, was actually fighting fairly well. She was surefooted and nimble and was able to dodge around the screechers, trying to steal a weapon from one of them. Though she appeared delicate, Wilamena had taken a few self defense lesson from the best fighter in her elf clan, Captain Anton. She knew enough to protect herself.
Michael wasn't doing too good. He was a good leader when it came to inspiring people to have hope and to keep battling, but he was a dreadful fighter. As soon as the initial adrenaline rush of bursting from the bushes faded, he had been grabbed by a screecher. Now, as he tried to kick his way free, he thought that perhaps this was the end. He could feel bony hands of the monster pressing into him and he hated that this might be the last thing he ever felt. He had miscalculated, his plan had failed, and now not only would they not get to rescue Kate, but he would meet his end. Trying to block the tears that threatened to fall, he shut his eyes tight.
Only he didn't die. Instead he felt a flash of heat and the screecher being shoved off him, hit by a fireball of all things. Michael looked for the source and spotted it quickly. Abigail, her hand alight with magical fire, sitting in a wheel chair (the battle would have been too hard for her standing up) eyes blazing with determination. Behind her stood Jake and Beetles, as well as the ghost of Gabriel. Michael let out a cry of relief. His friends had come to join the fight.
"I don't know what you children were thinking-" Gabriel began.
"Look, we know it was reckless," Emma cut him off as she plunged her knife into a screecher's leg, "but we had to save Kate! And we did pretty good, we got the shield down."
"And then you got an army to attack you," Gabriel pointed out.
"And you can scold us for that later, but right now, we have a battle to win," Emma yelled.
"I suppose it is now or never thanks to you kids," Abigail grumbled, but despite that she was feeling a surge of adrenaline. This was her city and it had been for over one hundred years. It was time the Dire Magnus's evil was kicked out of it once and for all.
Jake, Beetles, Emma, Michael, Abigail, Gabriel, and Rafe all readied themselves for the next wave of monsters. They would win this battle and they would save Kate. They had to.
United in this goal, the heroes launched themselves into the fight as the screechers unleashed their vicious war cry.
A/N: here we are, the first big battle, shit has gone down and will continue to go down.
Also, this is so random but fuzzy socks may be the best invention ever, I love them so much.