Lakeview Academy

Chapter 78: Booker

"Excuse me?" I ask. "What do you mean he took your power?"

Rose turned around and sat on her bed. "He stabbed me and took my power. I saw my blood be drained from me. The last thing I remember was him absorbing my power and giving my blood back. He said he was "Taking back what was taken from him." I've never felt this bad."

"How do you feel?" Emily asked.

"Funny enough, like death. I feel so weak. Like a part of me was taken away. I can still do necro magic but nowhere near what I could do as a Prime. I don't know why he didn't just kill me."

"Who knows? Jessie isn't exactly the rational type," Adrian said. 

Rose laughed. 

"What's funny?" I ask.

"Just thinking about how I ended up in another cage because of my power. I don't know why you guys are here, but there's no way he'll let you go."

"Sorry to interrupt but have you seen our friend? His name is Blake, and he was wearing a Lakeview uniform when I last saw him," Emily asked.

"There are a lot of Lakeview mages down here," Rose said as she brought her knees to her chest. 

I was going to ask something else when Emily took off down the hall. "Em!" I ran after her until she paused in front of a cell. Her eyes widened as she saw Blake sitting on the cell bed with his back turned to us. "Blake?"

Blake's head slowly turned towards us. "You're not real. Go away."

"What? Buddy, it's us. We're here to get you out," I say as I try to open the cell door. "Em, can you freeze this?" I take a step back as Emily puts her hands on the bars. Ice starts to coat the bars, and I kick it with all my strength. Shattering it into small pieces. "Come on, Blake, let's-" Before I could finish, a gust of wind sent me flying back into the hallway and into a wall. 

Emily's head turns to Blake as he starts to stand. His eyes fixated on me. "I'm not falling for it again," Blake said, walking toward me. "You're one of them. I-I won't let you hurt me anymore."

"Blake!" I shout as his hand shoots out and sharp rocks shoot out of the ground. I barely dodged out of the way before they skewered me. 

"Blake, stop, it's me! Booker!" I say, but it was no use. Blake kept trying to impale me. The sound of footsteps running towards us caught me off guard. A jagged piece of rock cut my side as I moved out of the way of another. Blood started to seep through my shirt. 

"Is that him?" Adrian asked as he knelt beside me and placed his hand over my wound. I watched as my wound started to close. 

"Yeah, but something's wrong," I say.

Emily used her power to send a whirlwind toward Blake, who sent one of his own. Canceling it. "My friends will come. They will," Blake said, grasping at his head and shaking it. "They haven't forgotten about me. Jessie was wrong."

Emily inched closer to him. "Blake, we're here. Look at me." He looked at her with fear and confusion in his eyes. "It's me, Emily. I'm so so sorry you had to stay here as long as you did. We would never abandon you. Booker and I care too much to leave you behind."

"Em...ily?" Blake asked. "No! This is...a trick."

"It's not! Blake, please. It's us," Emily said with tears in her eyes. "It's us."Strong wind blasted from Blake's body as he let out a scream. He dropped to his knees and dug his fingers into the sides of his head as if he was trying to keep something from getting out. However, Emily wasn't going to let that stop her. She pushed herself forward as she directed the strong air currents away. Her clothes started to rip as she got closer. 

"Em!" I shout over the raging winds. But she wasn't listening. She reached to where Blake was crumbling on the ground and hugged him. He tried to fight her off, but she wouldn't let go. The wind started to calm down as he gave in to her embrace. Blake looked at her and sobbed. 

Emily placed her hand on the back of his head and let him cry into her shoulder. "It's okay, Blake. It's okay."