The Circle

The Circle - Chapter Eleven

Eleven:

"First we need to break down this wall. April, can you perform the same spell as before?" Caleb tried to create the best action-plan possible in a short space of time.

"I can try."

"You can. When we get in there, send in the lights and Jinx, you get the guys out of here as quickly as you can, the same way we came in."

"Can do."

"April, you need to command the lights out of here so that Jinx can follow them. Then we need to reverse the Hex," Caleb stared into April's piercing green eyes, his authority and mystery giving her butterflies in her stomach, stopping her from slipping away from sanity once again. Why did he have this effect? It was terrifying yet additively exhilarating and without noticing, her fears gradually slipped away.

"Stand back Loretta and keep everyone as far away from the wall as possible!" April called into the hostages, her eyes still locked on Caleb. "I need to burn down the wall!"

"What!" Loretta shrieked. "Burn down the wall? Daddy will go mad!"

"We haven't got time for this," April yelled back fiercely. "Just do it before I ruin your shoes in the process."

A scatter was heard from behind the wall as the Loretta stood back, shielding Alex and Claudia, blood staining her bare legs as it leaked from Alex’s side like a river and she squeezed her eyes shut against the horror.

April muttered the spell, chanting in Latin and casting the burning flames onto the wall holding her friends. Not before long the wall singed to the ground and inside, gathered in a helpless ball on the floor, Alex Field, Loretta Antonio and Claudia Webster appeared through a screen of subsiding smoke. The rescue team bustled in and instantly picked Loretta and Claudia from the ground. Claudia Webster was barely moving and a glazed look occupied her frightened eyes, her curly blonde hair standing on end as if she had been electrocuted.

"They said they were going to kill us," she murmured as April heaved her gently from the floor and supported her under the shoulder.

"Who? Who said they would kill you?"

"The hooded people."

Jinx thundered meaningfully towards Alex as her eyes flickered with devastated rage. Whipping the sack off his face she took in his features as she crumpled to the ground next to him, tears lining her wide eyes.

“What happened to you?” she stroked his cheek gently and felt cold sweat against her finger tips as his eyes darted feverishly beneath closed lids. Folding the sack into a square, she used it to the stem the rush of blood from his rib cage that continued to flow, flooding them both in a puddle of black. One lonesome tear fell against her knees as she sucked in deeply and turned toward April. “He’s conscious.”

An ear-splitting grumble echoed through the walls and the building shook violently against it. The force was so great that the walls cracked under the pressure and the floor-boards buckled, sending everyone flying onto the sticky ground. It wasn't long before the shaking stopped but by the time it did, Claudia had fallen into shock and Alex was still unmoveable and getting them out of the house without having to carry them was becoming a glaring problem. There was no way Jinx could carry them herself.

"Claudia, listen to me," April grabbed Claudia's face as she slumped lifelessly. "You have to follow Jinx, she's going to get you out of here but you need to snap out of it."

Claudia's eyes remained glazed over.

"She can't hear me," April despaired. "She's gone into shock."