Flames and Starlight

48🌘

Peter

Caius stood just a few feet away from us, staring at us with those nightmare-fueled eyes that spoke of evil intentions.

We had to get out of here. Now.

I quickly shapeshifted back into my human form, channeled the magic inside of me, and summoned the teleportation spell to get us all out of there. A bright, golden light emitted from my hands but it went out in the blink of an eye. I cursed and tried again. Kendrick shifted back into his human form and tried the spell as well but it didn't work. What the hell was going on?

"That won't work, hybrids," Caius said in that eerie, otherworldly voice as he started to slowly advance towards us.

"Fly!" I shouted.

Everyone, even Alison, shifted into the first birds we could think of and took to the sky, flying as far as possible. . .Only to find ourselves back where we were just seconds before.

"It's not going to be that easy," Caius snickered.

We tried to fly again. We were in the sky one second, then dragged back down to sit in front of Caius's feet. 

"I suggest you save your strength," Caius taunted. "There's no use escaping. You're under my grip."

Ms. Cremer suddenly shapeshifted back into a wolf and lunged at Caius, snarling, her teeth bare and ready to tear him apart, moving too fast for either of us to stop her.

"GRANDMA NO!" Derek, Alison, and Laura screamed in unison but it was too late, Alison scrambling to shift back into her human. She immediately cried out and clutched her stomach, almost falling to her knees but still kept trying to run after her grandmother.

Caius merely lifted his hand and Ms. Cremer was frozen in the air, still in mid-leap, her lips drawn back in the deadly snarl.

"Now Kimberly," Caius said with mock disappointment. "As an elder, you should be the one leading by example, but clearly, you don't. I'll do your grandchildren a favor and remove all the bad influence from their lives." 

"Let her go!" Derek screamed and started to lunge forward, his lips drawn back in a deadly snarl.

"Derek stop!" Alison screamed but it was too late. 

Caius flicked his other hand and Derek was sent crashing through the air. He struck back first against one of the nearby trees, a sickening crunch filling the air.

"Derek!" Laura cried out and started to run towards him, but she was suddenly tossed through the air and landed hard on the ground, sliding across the ground several feet before eventually coming to a halt.

"Laura!" Ruben and I ran towards her, but she leaped back to her feet, growling viciously, her eyes crimson red with pure fury.

"Let her go!" she screamed at him.

Caius just smirked at her.

"Let her go or I swear I will rip you apart!" she screamed again.

Caius tutted and shook his head. He looked at Ms. Cremer, a disapproving expression on his face. "See, Kimberly, this is what I was talking about being a bad influence. Such impulsive grandchildren you've been raising. Perhaps I should remove the bad influence once and for all."

Before I could even take another breath, Ms. Cremer disappeared, a scattering of ashes falling to the ground like snow.

For what felt like hours, everything seemed to be frozen in place. Nothing moved, except for the scattering ashes that were once Kim Cremer.