Wishful Deviltry

Chapter Nineteen

    Karis and the others used the same trail that they walked down earlier to get back to the campus. The woods overlapping branches blocked the moon's light making it hard for any of them to see the trail. Typically Jessica or Dillon would be their guides after dark. They would use their sight power to navigate everybody down the trail, but with them staying at the beach in their inebriated state, they wouldn't have been much help anyway.
Titanium lead the group down the trail with Ethereal right behind him. Karis, Taren, and Kaleb walked together a couple feet behind from them, trying not to trip on any rocks or roots that were in the path. At one time Titanium stopped dead in his tracks to bend down and tie his waterproof boots when Ethereal ran right into his back. "Damn it, Ethereal! Stay off my ass."
"Well, if you would keep the same pace I wouldn't run into your ass. It is hard enough to see in the dark without you slamming on the brakes." Ethereal smarted back.
"Ethereal. You're getting on my last nerve. Now, pay attention!" Titanium barked.
If Karis had the energy she would have busted out laughing at their comical argument, but all she could think about at that moment was a nice, soft bed. She tried to replay all the events that had happened that night. The thoughts of Kaleb's kiss and the strange action of the pendent were at odds to be the most important thing on her mind. She was puzzled about why and what happened to her energy. Did the pendent on the necklace take her energy or did it give her energy to Kaleb.
Karis turned around to see Taren slowly making her way up the trail behind them. "Taren, everything okay back there? You've been awfully quiet."
"Aye, I am just keeping me distance from Ethereal so I won't eat the head off her. She is buggin me. For someone with the strength power she sure is a whiner, she is."
Karis giggled in agreement with Taren's statement. "Yeah, I think Titanium is trying his hardest not to punch her out and leave her to find her own way back."
"Ye know, that is a bold idea; we would definitely have some peace and quiet."
Karis laughed as she glanced at Kaleb from the corner of her eyes. He was studying the palm of his right hand like it was going to disappear any moment.
"What's wrong? Did you cut your hand or something?" Karis asked as she grabbed his hand to see what he was looking at. The palm of his hand was rough to the touch, but looked normal to Karis.
"Nothing is wrong. I think the burst of energy that I got has made my fingers tingle, that's all." Kaleb took his hand out of Karis's hand and shook it loosely. Then he repeatedly balled his hand into a tight fist and slowly opened his fingers to let them relax. "See, nothing to worry about. How 'bout you? Do you feel like you're getting your energy back?"
Karis stopped to catch her breath. Kaleb could see that she was still struggling to walk with no energy so he bent down and tried to pick up another large, thick stick for her to lean on. When nothing happened with his hands, Kaleb handed the stick to Karis. She smiled gingerly at him and started walking again using the walking stick to help her go up hills. She could still hear Titanium and Ethereal several feet in front of her on the trail arguing about which way to go. Karis ignored them as she focused on Kaleb.
"Yeah, I feel like my energy is starting to return to me, slowly. I just hate feeling like an eighty year old woman."
Kaleb threw his head back and laughed. "If you look like you do now at the age of eighty I would marry you tomorrow."
"Wait just a minute!" Karis started as she abruptly stopped and stared in front of them with wide eyes.
"Whoa, I was just kidding, Karis. Marriage is far from my mind at this point in time."
"Not you, goofy, did you hear that sound?" Karis said as she leaned her head to see if she could hear the noise again.
"Hear what?" Kaleb asked, cupping his ear with his hand, trying to hear what Karis was hearing. "What did it sound like?"
Karis tried to tune out all the other sounds but Titanium and Ethereal were arguing too loud about which way they should go when they got to a fork in the trail.
"Hey guys, can y'all shut up for a minute, I thought I heard something." Karis sputtered.
Titanium turned around when he heard Karis call out to them. Ethereal was still talking about how she was right and Titanium was wrong, until he place his hand on her shoulder to stop her walking and put his finger up to his mouth. "Shhhhh..... Listen."
Ethereal made a grunting sound like she was frustrated. "Don't shush me! I don't hear anything."
Titanium ignored her nagging and listened to the silence of the woods. All they could hear was the chirping from crickets and the croaks from frogs. When Titanium was satisfied that the noise was probably a deer or rabbit walking through the woods he grabbed Ethereal's arm and walked over to where Karis and Kaleb were standing. Taren walked up the trail behind them and joined the group.
Titanium had a serious look on his face as he spoke. "Okay guys, we need to stay closer to each other. There are wild animals out here and they will attack a single person, but if we stay in a group they'll be reluctant to attack us."
"Well, then maybe we should all go on a double date." Kaleb chuckled. "That way the one single person out of the group would get attacked by the wild animal. I say the girls should play paper, rock, scissors to see who the single person going to be."
Titanium glared at Kaleb with a look that was a cross between confusion and frustration. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You know. They'll attack a single person. Get it- A single person- Double date- Ha-Ha, funny- Joke." Kaleb rolled his eyes at all the confused looks he was getting. "Never mind, bad joke, I guess."
"That was a joke?" Ethereal smarted off. "Don't quit your day job blue eyes. You are definitely no comedian."
"Hey guys, be quite for a minute." Karis said in a low voice, listening for any odd sounds.
Ethereal made a noise that sounded like a small dog bark. "Don't tell me to shut up! I was just letting your boyfriend here know he is not funny."
"ETHEREAL! LISTEN!" Karis snapped.
"What? I don't hear anything." Ethereal said as she twirled a piece of her hair with her fingers. "I think you are just paranoid. Karis, are you afraid of the dark?"
"Wait a minute! Karis is right, I don't hear anything at all." Titanium started.
"Um, that was me who said I couldn't hear anything." Ethereal interrupted.
Titanium's face started to turn a scarlet color with anger. "No, that's not what I meant, I mean everything is quiet, even the....."
"Crickets and frogs!" Karis finished Titanium's sentence.
"Oh crap! That's not a good sign." Kaleb said in a half whisper. "What do we need to do?"
"We wait." Titanium replied. "To see what it is or if we get attacked."
"Great! Now I know what a worm on a fishing hook feels like." Kaleb backed up to Karis and stood behind her to make sure he could see any sudden movement that might come towards them. "The only difference is we don't know what is coming after us."
Titanium took his boot knife out of its sheath and tossed it to Ethereal, who caught the ivory handle in midair. She looked at Titanium with seriousness. "So, all the rumors at the school are true, something is after Karis and Kaleb, for real?"
"That's what we have been doing all along Ethereal, protecting them." Titanium said.
"Okay, I'm in, what's the plan?" Ethereal said twirling the knife skillfully in her hand.
Titanium's hand went straight for his two daggers in his shoulder holster without any hesitation. One he held backwards in his left hand where the blade rested on the back of his forearm for protection should he have to block an incoming blow and the other dagger he held in his right hand, ready to strike at anything that moved towards them.
"The plan is to get everybody back to the school in one piece. Let's wait here for a minute to see if anything unusual happens. Just be prepared for anything."
The group made a circle with their backs towards each other to make sure nothing could sneak up on them. Karis's heart felt like it was about to bust out of her chest as she waited for something to happen. Kaleb reach back and pulled something out of the back of his pants. It was so dark, Karis couldn't see what he was holding but she figured it might be a weapon of some kind. Taren bent down and picked up a sturdy stick that looked like a wishbone, and then she pulled the stretchy head band out of her hair to attach it to each side of the stick. When she finished it looked like a perfect sling shot. She grabbed some sharp rocks and stuffed them into her pocket except for one that she loaded it into the sling shot. She was ready to fire when she needed to. Everybody had weapon except Karis. The only weapon she had was the walking stick Kaleb gave her. Not much of a weapon she thought to herself. They all stood very still, listening for any movement around them. There was nothing. No noise at all.
Suddenly, someone jumped out from behind a tree, landed in front of Karis and yelled, "GOTCHA!"
Karis screamed as she threw her hands up in the air to cover her head. Kaleb then sprang into action and threw whatever he had in his hand towards the person. The person gasped and moved just in time for Kaleb's throwing knife to stick in a tree inches away from the persons head.
"HEY! Watch where you're throwing those things!" Said a familiar voice. The person yanked Kaleb's throwing knife out of the tree and walked up out of the shadows to the group. When the moon light hit the persons face, Karis saw it was Jessica. "If it wasn't for my sight power you would have killed me with this knife."
Titanium and Ethereal relaxed as Kenny and Dillon walked up behind Jessica.
"Aye, we found ye guys. We decided that we better go back to the school together. We don't need to get caught."
Titanium glared at Jessica. "Are you trying to get yourself hurt? Don't ever do that again! We thought you were a Scraper. The crickets and frog stopped making noise."
"They still aren't making any noise." Jessica interrupted Titanium before he could finish his lecture. "Listen."
Suddenly something grabbed Jessica from the dark shadows. She screamed as the thing drug her farther into the woods. She tried to stab whatever grabbed her with Kaleb's knife, but she wasn't fast enough.
"JESSICA!" Kenny yelled as he started running towards her voice when something fell on top of him. It pushed his body forward making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. Kenny threw up his hands before the thing jumped on top of him and an invisible force pushed it several feet away towards Titanium where he stabbed it in the heart with his dagger. Kenny bolted up and ran into the woods in the direction of Jessica's voice with Titanium right behind him.
Taren was wide eyed, looking around to see what was happening with her sling shot ready to fire. She looked over at her twin brother to make sure he was safe only to notice that he was fighting a Scraper with his bare hands. She loaded the sling shot she made with a sharp, pointed rock and pulled back the head band as far as she could then let go. The rock silently sailed through the air as it found its mark when it pierced into the creature's skull. It let out an ear piercing scream and turned towards Taren, staring at her with evil black eyes.
"Dillon, Run! I'll hold it off, go hide or get help!" Taren reached in her pocket to grab more rocks for the sling shot as the Scraper slowly dragged itself towards her. She raised the sling shot to aim again when someone jumped over her head and landed right in front of the Scraper. Lowering her sling shot she realized that it was Ethereal who was facing the creature head on.
"Ethereal! What are you doing?" Taren asked.
"Saving your butt, now go and help Karis and Kaleb get back to the school. Now!"
Ethereal struck at the Scraper with Titanium's knife slicing a three inch deep incision on its chest as she swiftly turned and sliced another gash across its back. Dark black blood started oozing from both of the wounds. The creature growled with anger as it swung its arm sideways hitting Ethereal in the back of the head. The blow made her fall to the ground. The knife she was holding was knocked out of her hand where it slid to a stop at Dillon's feet. Ethereal tried to stand up when creature reached down with its hand, grabbed Ethereal's hair and lifted her to her feet. Ethereal reached behind her and grabbed the Scraper's wrist with a hard grip, twisting her body that in return twisted the creatures arm at an odd angle. In one swift move she brought her elbow down hard on the creatures arm. She heard a loud crack as the Scraper screamed in pain. Seeing her chance, Ethereal kicked the creature in its knee, hyper-extending its leg which made the creature collapse, howling. Dillon bent down and picked up the knife, tossing it to Ethereal. She caught the handle of the knife in midair and before the Scraper could move, she drove the knife down into its head. The Scraper's body shuddered for a moment and then went still. The creature melted into black slime as Ethereal, with black blood sprayed in little dots all over her face, looked up at Dillon with her eyebrows pushed together. "Where is everybody?"