Soul Riders | Star Stable

Transformation | Chapter 28

Linda, Lisa, and Anne  galloped down the hill to Alex, who lay motionless on the ground. The horses slipped a few times due to the slick conditions; it was dangerous for them to ride so fast in such bad weather.

Nicole had orange fire dancing in her palms with a terrifying smile on her face. She opened her arms wide to the approaching Soul Riders.

"Don't act like you stand a chance against me, I could kill you all in a second!" Nicole yelled at them with eyes that glowed like embers.

"Then why not go ahead and do it?" Anne bravely inquired.

"Where's the fun in that? I need you to feel pain," Nicole answered, "I need you to know how much it hurts to have this power ripping you apart from the inside." Nicole's smile faltered as she whispered," it hurts so bad," but her voice was drowned out by the raging wind and rain surrounding them. 

A frozen wind blew into the Soul Riders' faces, disorienting them as snowflakes began falling. Linda knew that Nicole had no control over her power, that she could end up her hurting herself just as badly in the process of hurting them. 

Linda shouted over the howling wind, "pay attention to her eyes! They predict what power she is going to use!"

Suddenly the wind stopped and it felt like being in the eye of a hurricane. A deadly calm filled the space and Nicole crackled with energy waiting to be released. 

"Give my regards to Aideen when you meet her in the afterlife, I can't say I'm sorry for wiping the existence of the soul riders off the face of the earth." 

Nicole exploded with purple light and the Soul Riders flew back into the air. 

Anne's body lay in the mud, she tried to get up but her body was too exhausted to try. She looked over and saw Linda kneeling over and spitting mud out of her mouth, and further behind her was Lisa and then Alex who were both disoriented and dizzy.

"Back away before I make you regret coming any closer," Nicole sneered at someone emerging from the darkness. 

"I have no idea what's happening here or who's in the wrong but I think you need to stop," a feminine voice answered. Anne tried to figure out where it was coming from as her senses slowly came back to her.

A roaring fire broke out and Anne could feel the intense heat. She watched as Nicole pushed the wall of flames at the approaching figure. Anne grimaced expecting to hear the screams of someone burning alive but instead, a flash of pink light deflected the flames from touching the now appearing girl. Anne sighed with relief, one of the Soul Riders must have deflected it. 

"Anne," she felt a hand on her shoulder, "are you okay?"

No, she was definitely not okay, but she recognized Linda's voice and looked up.

A groan came out as she pushed herself up. Linda's face came into view and someone else, Lisa. Linda was supporting Lisa who got another gash on her knee. They had all fallen off their horses. The horses were miraculously unharmed, Anne remembered hearing about how the horses could shield themselves from ill intentions. Alex was lying not too far away, her head rose up and her hands reached forward to push herself up. The Soul Riders would never give up. Anne, Linda, and Lisa watched as Alex dragged herself over the muddy ground and pushed herself up. 

"This ends now," Alex said in a hoarse voice as she looked at Nicole.

They all nodded.

Nicole was approaching the girl on the paint horse who had appeared out of the darkness and hadn't turned into ash. The soul riders surrounded Nicole, one on each side of her. Each of them unleashed whatever power was left in them. Linda channeled the light of the moon, and the light that came from her hand looked like sliver moonbeams that could almost outshine the sun. Lisa had her eyes clenched as she focused on whatever was left in her at Nicole, a warm glow tinged with pink escaped from her hands. Alex sent crackling blue energy into Nicole. And Anne had an open palm extended with a blinding ray of sunlight that radiated heat and power. The space filled with light so blinding they all closed their eyes. A ball of light enshrouded Nicole at the center and dispersed as she fell to her knees. The sunrise broke through the dark clouds overhead and cleared away the storm surrounding them. When the Soul Riders stopped pouring their power and energy into Nicole a light still emanated from the center. When it began dimming a black powder was swept up and carried away by the wind. The Soul Riders glanced at each other, as they believed Nicole was reduced to dust.

The light dimmed and as Alex got up she felt strangely light. She looked to where Nicole was standing just seconds before to see a girl curled in on herself lying in the grass. It was Nicole. The rider on the paint horse dismounted and began walking towards her. 

"Stop you don't know what your doing! Don't help her idiot!" Alex shouted at the girl. 

The girl stopped and shot a glare back at Alex, "don't bother telling me what to do. Oh, and by the way, my name is Mae, not idiot."

Mae approached Nicole and leaned on her knees as she offered her a hand to get up. The Soul Riders watched as a shaky hand reached up and wrapped around Mae's fingers. Mae and Nicole stood up slowly, Nicole leaned against Mae for support and smiled sadly at them all. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I am so, so sorry." 

"Let's get you to a hospital, can you mount my horse?" Mae asked kindly.

"No we can't bring her to a hospital," Alex answered stiffly.

"Why not?" Mae asked skeptically.

"Because-" Alex stopped as she was cut off by Linda.

"Because the hospital is quite far away from us but there is a nearby clinic we can go to," Linda added.

They could not let Mae know anything, after Nicole is taken care of, Linda thought, Mae could have a cup of tea and refresh her memory. Or in other words, forget it.

Mae nodded and helped the fragile Nicole into the saddle. The Soul Riders silently agreed that in Nicole's current state she would no longer be a threat to them. The Soul Riders heaved themselves onto their horses and lead the way to Valedale.

Nicole clung to Mae as they rode beside Linda. Mae looked at the rising sun and spoke aloud, "I kind of need to go."

Lisa, Anne, and Alex who were riding ahead stopped to look back at Mae in surprise. 

"As you can see from my hoodie, I need to go back to camp. I'm going to be in so much trouble already, I really need to go."

"All of us are too tired to take Nicole on one of our horses. You need to help us. I'm sure you can talk things out with your camp," Linda suggested.

Mae started shaking her head, "no I don't I can this time, they will probably send me home. This isn't even my horse what are they going to think when they find me and peanut missing. Ugh, my life sucks ." 

"Your life sucks? I can't remember the last time I ate!" Alex shouted.

A moment of silence settled through the group before they all burst out laughing.