Make Quiet Things Heard

Chapter 49 : It's Me Guys. I'm Back (Ep. 13|Part 2)

Hope's POV

Me and Kai make our way to the armory just outside the school."That smells old" Kai says as soon as he opens the door.
"Wow, wow, wow. This doesn't seem like much of a spot for a powerful magical artifact." He says when we walk in.
"Neither does a stuffed elephant." I reply.
"That's very good." He chuckles.
"Dr. Saltzman hid what we need in one of these crates, so... Look for the Salvatore logo." I say and walk towards a crate. 
"It's a good thing there's not, like, 400 crates in here." he laughs going to another set of crates in the other direction. When he's not looking I quietly snap a piece of wood from a crate."
"Eeny, meeny, miny, crate. When you say Salvatore logo, you mean, like, that thing with the "S" and the squiggle?" he asks searching through one of the crates.

I throw the piece of wood at him but it stops mid-air when Kai raises his hand stopping it from penetrating his back with magic. He turns around and looks at me menacingly. "And so it begins." he rushes to me but I quickly cast a shield spell and he flies back from the impact. I magically levitate of the crates and throw it down at him, which he easily blocks with a counterspell. "Nice try." I launch myself forward and punch him in the face and trip him from beside and he falls to the ground, grunting. That was too easy. "You could have blocked that."
"Yeah, you're right. I-I just wanted you to think you were doing a good job." he chuckles. "You're not trying to beat me." I observed. He pushes himself off the ground and sits on the floor, nonchalant about the whole situation.

"Oh, no. No, not for a... a few more minutes. Because right now, Alyssa Chang is performing a spell that will sever my connection to the prison world. And since that place was created for me, once she's done..." he trails off.
"The world will disappear. Along with everyone inside of it." I finish his sentence, my voice breaking. "Oops." I snap and spell to chain Kai to a pillar.
"Thanks so much for the villain monologue. I'll deal with you later." I say with rage and turn to leave.
"Hey, before you go rushing off, there's something you should probably know." Kai says. I really want to rush out and head to the school. But I stay back for a little while to hear what he was to say.
"I compelled what's-his- name. Who's with, uh, you know, your boyfriend, curly-hair? Lando. There it is. That's thanks to you."

"As we sit here chatting, they're headed east, away from the school, into the woods, walking straight into the path of a golden arrow." he says. "You're lying." I say, rattled walking closer to him.
"You know, for once, I'm not. I guess we'll find out if that prophecy's really true." what am I going to do? I can't choose between people's lives.
"Oh, you can stop doing the math in your head. You'll never make it to both places in time. You can't save them all. So, you, uh... you have a little choice to make.  Who's it gonna be?" he asks. Who do I choose? I run out of the armory and into the woods. I'm at the center of everything. On my right is Josie and the Saltzmans. On my left is Landon. This is so frustrating. But... But I have to save to go to the Saltzmans. It's three lives against one. I run to the school repeating a mantra in my head. "I'm doing the right thing."

***

I hastily search the whole school starting at the cell Alyssa was previously in, and I find Alyssa at the grand hall. Inside the Council meeting room. She was sitting on the floor, in the center of a blood circle, holding a knife in the process of cutting Kai's connection to the prison world. "Don't!" I shout as I rush to her but I slam into her barrier spell. "You really are a basic witch."
"Alyssa, please." I beg my voice shaking.
"I don't want them back. Not now, not ever." she states firmly. I don't want to piss her off, so I try my best to calm myself down to convince her to stop.
"If you finish that spell, you'll kill them all." I say. I see Alyssa falter.
"You're lying. He didn't say anything about that. You're only saying that because of your precious Josie."