Book of Oneshots

A Dark Plot Twist

"Wake up, Delgado. Are you sure you want to do this? It might not be what you're looking for." Willy puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

I look at him, his wide, caring blue eyes suddenly unsure. My real name is Alyssa Delgado, but Willy always calls me by my last name. I have wanted nothing more than to kill the murderer of my family and friends for five years. I've finally found his lair, and now Willy wants to have second thoughts? He found me a few days after my village was burned to the ground, wandering around, hungry and cold, with nowhere to go. His parents took me in, raising me as their own, training me, until I left to find Inferno, the monster who destroyed my entire life. Willy decided to go with me, to make sure I stayed safe; I allowed him to come, but I didn't expect him to give up at the last minute. Since when is Willy such a coward?

"You can stay out here if you want," I spit, shoving his hand off of me, "but I'm going in there."

"Whoa, wait! Who said I'm staying out here? I just want to make sure you know what's going to happen once we go inside. There's no backing out."

"If I was afraid, I would've backed out a long time ago, Willy." I growl, yanking the door open. I take a deep breath, anticipating Inferno's last breath, and step inside.

Inferno's lair is huge, dark, and cold. Willy follows me deeper and deeper into this labyrinth of a cavern, and I slowly get lost, but I don't care. We can find our way out later; right now, my only priority is getting to Inferno. During the walk, I pull my mask over my mouth and nose, so that I can breathe through any smoke Inferno might make, and slide my night vision goggles down over my eyes.

I stop at the entrance to a large room, holding only a throne made of bones. My lip curls in disgust: this is his throne room. I stalk in, Willy close on my heels, and stop right in front of Inferno, a dark hood over his face so that I can only see glowing red eyes.

"Welcome, puny mortal, to my home," Inferno spreads his arms wide, like I'm supposed to be impressed by this cold cavern.

"Do you know who I am?" I ask evenly.

Willy places a hand on my shoulder again, sensing my barely concealed rage.

Inferno wilts a little, as though he's actually upset. "Unfortunately, no. Who are you?"

I crack my knuckles. "I'm the one who's village you destroyed. The one who's family you killed. My mother, my father, my brother."

He sucks in air through his teeth. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, sweetheart."

"You know what? It doesn't even matter. I'm going to kill you anyway." I take out a knife from my belt and use it to scratch my eyebrow, casually, yet anyone could sense the underlying threat.

Inferno shakes his head. "I don't think so, sweetheart. See, I can't be killed."

I bark a laugh devoid of amusement. "Oh, we'll see, all right."

I stretch my muscles and bounce on the balls of my feet as Inferno rises from his throne. He shoots a flame at me from his hand, which I duck to avoid. Willy yelps as his sleeve catches on fire.

"Delgado!" He whimpers.

I shake my head; why did I bring him? He's useless. Either he's going to get himself killed or I'm going to kill myself trying to keep him out of danger. Apparently, Willy thinks the same thing, because he crouches behind a nearby boulder, concealing himself from sight.

I stand up straight again, glaring at Inferno. He shoots another flame at me, from closer, and I jump and flip over him, landing on his shoulders. I try to stab him in his chest, but he grabs my arm and yanks me over his head, dropping me to the ground; I hit my head on the very boulder Willy is hiding behind, and my vision explodes.

Inferno laughs. "Is that the best you've got? Wake up, kid!"

I growl and get on my feet, shaking my head to rid my vision of the black spots. As Inferno tries to grab me again, I duck under his legs and kick him forward, causing him to fall on his face. Despite my situation, I have to fight to smother a laugh. Inferno rises and turns; I raise an eyebrow at him. He runs at me. I fake left and go right, but he grabs me and throws me across the throne room, knocking off my goggles and mask. Great. I get up and brandish my knife, preparing to keep fighting, never mind my spinning head. When Inferno sees my face, he freezes.

"Alyssa? Ally?" He says softly.

My heart stops. There is only one person who's ever called me that. Inferno pulls back his hood and I see . . . my brother.

"Jake?" Sure enough, once his eyes stop glowing, he is still my brother. Tall, skinny, bright green eyes, and messy hair. "What — how are you alive?"

We run towards each other and hug, jumping up and down in a circle.

"What are you doing here?"

"Where have you been?"

"Are you all right?"

"I thought you were dead!"

"I'm so happy to see you!"

"Me too! Wait. No I'm not." I disentangle myself from him, and I remember. "You burned home. You killed our parents, our friends . . . Why?"

"What? No I didn't! How could I do that? Come to think of it, how could you do it?" Jacob looks at me accusingly.

"I — what?" I'm confused. What is he trying to do?

"How could you burn down our village? Why wouldn't you just go to the medicine man like we told you?" Jacob frowns at me, looking centuries old.

"I . . . burned our village?" I ask slowly, still confused.

Jake nods. "We sent you to the medicine man, and you got mad at us. Once you left, you started locking all the doors in the village. Then, you . . . you let go. I was able to get underground, but Mom and Dad . . . why, Ally?"

I'm shaking my head. "No. No way. How could I burn our village if you're the one with fire powers?"

"What? I don't have fire powers, Ally. You do. Wake up. You were born with it, and Mom and Dad couldn't heal you." Jacob takes a step toward me. I hadn't noticed I'd backed up.

"No. No, no, no! That's not true! Willy!" I call wildly, whirling around. "Come on, we're leaving!"

Willy pokes his head out from behind the boulder. "No way, Delgado. I promised I'd come with you, only if you promised not to burn me. You said you had control of your powers."

That stuns me. "I — I burned you?"

Willy nods solemnly. "It still hurts, too."

I fall to my knees. I burned my home. I killed my parents. Not some stranger, not my brother. Me. Jacob comes up to me, crouches in front of me and puts his hands on my shoulders, ducking his head so he can look into my eyes.

"Ally, look at me. It's okay. Just wake up. I'm right here. You'll be okay. Wake up." He says soothingly.

"Why do you keep saying that?" I ask sharply, glaring at him.

"Ally, wake up!" He shouts at me.

I gasp as my eyes open, landing on Jacob looking down at me, crying.

"Jake?" I say groggily. What just happened?

"Ally! Thank goodness! I thought I lost you!" Jake pulls me up off a hard bed into his warm arms, squeezing me.

"What — what happened?" I ask, looking around.

"You were in a coma for two years."