While you weren't looking

“Kella, stop.”

Jaxon grabbed his sister’s arm, breaking her from her spell.

“You have to stop, Kella.”

Glaring at her brother, Kella wrenched her arm free and raised her hand back towards the door. The pounding outside was incessant, growing to a thunderous roar as Kella’s spell guttered. Hiding in this half rotten warehouse had been a fool’s hope. The beasts would breach the door soon. She could not falter.

“I have to keep the barrier up, Jaxon. There is no choice here. They get in and we die.”

“It’s killing you.” His pleading was falling on deaf ears. He may be the older sibling, but ever since Kella had come into her magic, she had become the protector.

“Better me than you,” she muttered between gritted teeth. She was in pain. The magic was taking more than she had to give and it would take until there was nothing left. With a whimper, Kella dropped to her knees but her hand remained raised, the gesture holding the barrier in place.

“Please,” Jaxon begged.

Kella’s shoulders slumped, her hands dropping to the dirt floor. “There’s only one other way. Gerard…”

“No!” Jaxon cut her off. “You don’t use anything he’s shown you.”

“Gerard said that…”

“No. That man is a manipulative liar. Nothing good comes from him and there’s always a price to pay.”

Gerard had latched onto Kella the moment she had shown signs of magic, whispering things into her ear. He had crawled out of the darkest corners of the city to worm his way into Kella’s bright soul. The old healer, Kella’s mentor, had tried to teach his sister the best way to wield her magic, but Gerard was always creeping in the shadows, spewing his poison into her mind. Jaxon hated everything about the man, from his watery eyes to his blackened and broken teeth. His entire presence oozed corruption, but somehow he had dug his claws in.

Kella ignored her brother, pushing her fingers into the dirt as she tried to block out the banging and growling on the other side of the door.

“Trust me, Jaxon. It’ll be alright.”

Closing her eyes, Kella felt for the power that magic needed. Her own aura was dull, but she could feel the threads through the dirt. She could almost see the shimmers as they flowed through the soil. The beasts beyond were thick with it and it slipped from their cores and into the earth like flowing currents. Kella grabbed onto them, as Gerard had shown her, and pulled with all her might, dragging their essence into herself, making their power her own.

Kella had never gone this far. She had touched the threads but never pulled. The rush of power was intoxicating. Pulling harder and harder, she drained the beasts beyond the door, felt their hearts stop and the bodies fall. Panting, she let go.

Jaxon was quiet behind her. He was angry at her for using her power this way even if it saved their lives, but the beasts were dead. Kella pushed to her feet and opened the door to find the hollowed out shells that had threatened them only seconds before.

“We’re safe, Jaxon.” Kella turned to look at her brother, her smile wide and triumphant. “Jaxon?”

Her triumph slid from her face. Jaxon lay in the dirt, his once tanned skin ashen and sunken, clinging to his bones like weathered parchment.

“No.” The word was tight, as though there was not enough breath in her lungs to speak. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Dust plumed about them as Kella fell to her knees, pulling her brother’s empty body into her arms. Anguish ripped from her throat, over and over in unending peels of sorrow until, her throat raw, she could scream no longer. But the tears still fell, splashing down on Jaxon’s hollowed face.

“I can fix this,” she said to no one. “I can fix this.”

Kella dug her fingers back into the soil. The city was infested with the beasts. Many of them had come in from the forest. She would find them and pull from them all, sucking every one of them dry and feeding it all into Jaxon. She would fix this.

The threads twisted and flowed, some faint and others strong. She gathered them all and pulled, feeling each one snap as the energy depleted. Kella began wrapping them about her brother, pouring in everything she gathered into his corpse. His body plumped as the life force filled his muscles and put moisture back into his skin, but he did not wake. She pushed more in. More and more, but he did not wake. His heart would not beat. His lungs would not draw breath. He was an empty shell, and Kella did not know how to put him back together.

Kella dropped the remaining power, letting it leach back to its owners. It was no use to her now. But she would find someone. She would find Gerard. He would help her.

Leaving Jaxon where he lay, Kella made her way out into the city. Gerard was usually by the docks. She would look there first. He would help her.

She saw him sitting in his usual spot amongst barrels and discarded nets, oblivious to the stink of fish. He grinned as she approached. He would help her.

“Magnificent,” he said, waving his hand about.

Kella had not noticed. She had not seen. Bodies lay everywhere, having dropped where they stood. Beast and human alike. Each one a husk.

“You have to help Jaxon.” She couldn’t think beyond that. It was all that mattered.

“Oh?” His expression was far too pleased.

“He’s… He needs help.”

“He’s dead.”

“No. He’s…”

“Dead.” His smile widened, showing his broken, blackened teeth.

Her heart plummeted, a leaden weight in her chest. They had warned her, and she hadn’t listened. Jaxon was her fault. These people were her fault. And Gerard was smiling. Rage bloomed in Kella’s chest. Gerard had done this. He had wanted this for her. Now, he would join them.

Kella reached for his essence, but rage blinded her. She did not realise the oiliness of his life force. Nor did she understand as it enveloped her own and took her over.