THRIVE: Book One

Chapter 105- Whatever It Takes

As I watch my hair fall to the ground, I feel distant from myself. I close my eyes as Victoria cuts the last section free, and as I hear her step away, I gently touched the side of my head, feeling the short hairs that remained in place. I gently brush my long hair on the other side forward from behind my ear, letting it hang in front of my face.

"Are you sure about this?" she asks calmly as she sets the blade down and picks up her etching tools.

"Just do it." I stare forward blankly "I've been missing my old tattoos anyway, I'm just extending this one. If it breaks the hex, it's worth it." I explain. Victoria sighs as she kneels beside me, gently tilting my head to the side.

"I'm surprised you trust me enough to do this, it's been centuries since I last used this technique." she laughs quietly as she begins. It hurt, but I easily ignore the pain. It was nothing compared to what had been done to me earlier tonight.

"How long is this going to take?" Alice asks as she admires Victoria's work.

"I'm not sure, but since we still don't have a solid plan, we have some time to kill," Victoria states. I glance across the room and look at Chris, who was sitting calmly as Isobel etches the serpentine crest into his forehead. We both knew we would be useless against Justin if we're still under his control, and this was the best way to permanently break his ancient spells.

"Let's look at the facts and go from there." Carmen begins "Justin is Gael. Last time we attempted to seal him in his body before his death, it didn't work. This time, we not only need to capture him, we need to block him from ever using his abilities again." she explains.

"Even if we manage to catch him, how are we going to kill him?" Cameron asks. Suddenly, we all stare at him, and the severity of the situation sunk in.

"Oh god," Amy says nervously "I didn't even think about that part. We've had to do some crazy things in the past but..."

"Never in this lifetime did I ever think I would have to kill someone." Brian sighs "But he has to be stopped, I don't think that we have a choice." he explains. We all sit in silence for a minute, trying to process the idea of it.

"I'll do whatever it takes to keep you all safe," I state. Victoria suddenly stops and looks around at everyone.

"Whatever it takes," she says solemnly.

"Not just for us, but for the people he wants to steal from their lives back home," Carmen adds. Chloe looks at her and grins as she continues on Chris' forehead.

"We have to do this, but if we don't go about it the right way, it won't matter in the long run." Chloe begins "Viki, that ritual didn't work last time. Do you have any idea what went wrong?" she asks. Victoria slowly exhales as she continues focusing on my head.

"I followed every step precisely how it was written, if it didn't work, it's because he's too well connected to his spirit," she explains sadly.

"I watched her work on it for hours and double-checked everything. There's no way the error was on our end." Chris explains as he winces in pain.

"Shit, then what are we gonna do this time?" Carmen asks nervously "I don't know if there were any spells more powerful that involved spiritually locking someone." she sighs.

"Hey guys, can I ask you something?" Lily speaks up, and we all turn our attention to her. She had been sitting on top of a cage in the corner. "Maybe you're going about this the wrong way. I know that you think that sealing him up with a spell is the way to go, but what if instead of relying on a spell and questioning if it actually worked, we fight his soul at the source?" she explains. Suddenly we all freeze and stare at her. As she looks across our faces, she seems flustered "I'm sorry, was that a dumb idea?" she asks, embarrassed. Chloe suddenly set down her tools and stands up, slowly walking over to Lily, who looks increasingly nervous. As Chloe stands in front of her, she pulls her into her arms and hugs her tightly.

"Lolani, you're a fucking genius." she states excitedly as she lets her go "If we can capture him, we can go into his mind space. The being you interact with inside the gate is the embodiment of your soul, and if you kill it there, it would die for good," she explains as she goes back to Chris.

"Hold on a second, last time we went through this you said that it was too dangerous. We didn't go with that plan since we knew how well-connected he is with his inner self. It's far too risky, if you kill him in there he would die, but if he kills you, you're gone for good." Carmen explains worriedly.

"Carmen makes a good point, Iker told us that you and Serene together wouldn't have been enough to conquer his mind." Chris sighs as he glances up at Chloe's hand while she finished the emblem "As much as I hate how cocky he is, I can't help but think that he was right." he states. Chloe takes a rag and wipes away the excess blood and ink from his face before backing away.

"He may have been stronger back then, but we have grown since the last time we put up with this bullshit," Chloe states as she glanced at all of us. "We have done multiple full dives and survived, we know how to navigate the mindspace now, and aside from that, we're far more in touch with ourselves than ever." she explains as she smiles at Victoria.

"I'll burn him alive again without even blinking." Victoria states as she tilts my head back "He may have power, but so do we. Alice, you literally caused a hurricane without even trying once. Once you finally learned how to channel that power, you became amazing at working with the forces of nature." she explains.

"Maybe, but I haven't been back long and am too rusty. I'm not sure if I can do enough without practice." Alice sighs.

"Sis, it's practically muscle memory. Just go with your gut and you'll be fine. That's what I did." Victoria states.

"If we're going to battle inside his mindspace, I want in." I state "He may have been able to control me before, but I know that deep down the last thing he wants to do is kill me. We can use that to our advantage."

"No, no way in hell am I letting you get anywhere near that monster," Cameron states in frustration as he comes over to me.

"That is not your decision." I state "I know you're trying to protect me, but I'm willing to put my life on the line to stop him from ruining others. If he brings more people here, he'll become unstoppable again. Even after he died, we all know what his influence caused last time." I explain, glancing over at Brian.

"Val, we can't risk you sacrificing your soul to him." Brian sighs.

"She won't be alone." Chloe states "I can navigate the gate, Victoria has the fire, Alice has the forces of nature, and Val is clever and strong. We've got this." she explains, trying to reason with them.

"No way in hell," Carmen states as she stands up and slowly steps across the room.

"Sweetie, we have to-" Chloe begins but is interrupted.

"Let me finish," Carmen says angrily. "No way in hell am I letting you go in without me. The more we have on our side, the greater the chance we win this fight," she states. I glance at her skeptically, but she looks determined as ever to fight.

"Carmen, you've seen the gate, you know how dangerous it is. How do you plan to defend yourself if you get attacked by him?" Victoria asks worriedly. Suddenly, Carmen jumped up and pounds into the ground on her hands and knees, causing the rocky floor to ripple, shaking the cages, and knocking us around. As she lifts her hands and stands back up, we all stare at her in disbelief.

"Wicked," Cameron says in awe.

"When the hell did you plan to clue us in about this?" Chris asks, sounding anxious.

"Sweetie, how long have you been able to do that?" Chloe asks, astounded by what she had just seen.

"There's really not a lot to do around here, so I've been studying, same as you," Carmen winks as she brushes herself off.

"Color me impressed." I say as I start to laugh "Okay, you're in." I watch as Amy looks around the room at the cracked floor, terrifyingly impressed by her sister's ability.

"Wow," Amy states "Just, wow," she says in disbelief.

"Before we do anything else, does anyone else have some secret ability they would like to share with the class?" Lily asks as she looks over all of us "No? Okay, then let's figure out how to trap him."