The Second Level

Chapter Twenty One-Edina

A guard grabbed me just as I ripped open a box of money and stuff two handfuls of one hundred dollar bills into my pockets. His grip felt so much like the grip of the others who had grabbed me back at Headquarters. Over the past couple days, my reflexes had become sharper and faster. 

The moment the guard touched my waist, I kicked out behind me and kneed him in his male area and then elbowed him in the chest. He released me as he doubled over, and I sprinted toward Naomi. Four guards had converged onto her and, though she was fighting, their combined power was too much. Not for long, though. 

I raced behind one of the guards and kicked him in the back. His hands dropped from Naomi. Naomi had freed herself from the others. We ran toward the hole we had came through, the guards chasing after us. Naomi slid out in front and pushed a large crate in front of the hole so that we could get out quickly. 

"Go!" I screamed at Naomi. "If I can't get out, at least you will."

"No!" she screamed right back. "We leave together or not at all!" My heart swelled at the loyalty of my friend. Maybe being loyal to your comrades was something they taught at Headquarters. Maybe that was how Naomi was to everyone. It still felt good to have someone care that much about you.

We both leaped up onto the box to get onto higher ground and drew our swords. We stood back to back, fighting the guards that were charging at us. 

Naomi used both her blade and her powers, swiftly incorporating them into little jumps and sidesteps that kept the swords swinging at her from killing her. She created swirling winds that knocked Lynches off their feet, heavy hail and sleet that hit them in the heads, and lightning bolts that, while not hitting our enemies, hit close enough that they were thrown back into the maze of boxes. 

Along with swiping and hitting(only with the flat of my sword as to knock out instead of kill our enemies), I chucked fire ball after fire ball at the Lynches. Since they weren't immune to fire, the small balls made them leap backwards in fear. 

Alex, though, didn't seem to have the same fear as the others. The traitorous Fairy scrambled up onto the box. Naomi quickly took care of him by punching him in the nose. Screeching in pain, Alex fell off the crate. 

"Out!" commanded Naomi. I didn't have to be told twice. Throwing a wall of fire that burns three feet high and would keep the Lynches away for a while, I pulled myself out of the cave. Naomi followed two steps behind. 

The moment we hit fresh air, Naomi grabbed my hand and pulled me off the side of the cave. Instead of falling, we rose into the air and flew as fast as possible. Glancing behind me, I saw that my fire had spread onto the rock and flames flew up. At least a few Lynches were probably dead. 

That though didn't make me feel as good as it probably should have. Yes, they wanted to kill us. But they were also living things. It made me fell horrible that I was responsible for their death. 

"I know," Naomi said. "It's always hard to think that you actually killed something, even if it wants to kill you."

"Yeah. I know it shouldn't, but it does." Naomi didn't answer, and we flew in silence for a minute or two. 

"I just can't believe Alex would do that," she finally said. "He was always horrible, but I never thought he would actually betray us." The far-off and distracted tone Naomi used made me believe that she did not want an answer, so I kept silent. "Did you get any money?" 

With my free hand, I patted my pockets before answering to make sure my money was still there. Seeing it was, I answered. "I got a good bit of cash. Probably around two thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bills."