Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter Forty-Four: Stalemate

VERA

Let me explain my abrupt disappearance there. Just when I thought Esther, Raelynn's second-in-command, couldn't get any more threatening, she did. I was watching out the window, and found myself watching Kieran's battle with Esther above all else. It appeared she was on the losing side, at first, and I wasn't that surprised, because I had never seen Kieran succumb to anyone but Raelynn.

The tide started to turn when Esther revealed an ability she never had before. She touched the ground, and immediately she became encased in rock, a moving statue, still as supple and agile as the original, but with an armour of stone. I vaguely remembered a lesson from the Community: the standard alphabet of magical abilities, if you would. N-Naturalist. The ability to connect with anything purely natural. That must have been what they meant.

I saw rock-Esther tunnel into the ground, merging with the rock, and appearing seconds later in the sea. Her body turned to water, reminiscent of Fea, Kieran's water sprite. Kieran's water attacks became useless at that point. I started to get worried then. 

Kieran had to start using his knife. It was a method of attack I had seen him take before, using dark energies that the knife seemed to channel or even produce. And since it wasn't natural, Esther couldn't take on its form. Still, her water form was pretty versatile. She was almost like a water sprite herself.

That was when I felt a twinge of unease, like something bad was about to happen. I couldn't perceive it clearly, but I knew it was looming. An instinct tugged at me more powerfully than any other, and I followed it.

*

I crash into Kieran and send him tumbling to the ground just as a wicked sharp projectile sails past. It would have skewered him. I roll off him and quickly realise he's not moving. He's alive, but it's as if he's completely paralysed. I turn to look at Esther, and throw up the strongest shield I know how.

She grins at me, flicking back her dark hair. Her magic presses on my shield, giving me excruciating pressure. She's stronger, more experienced, and resisting the force of her magic is like trying to withstand a tsunami. It erodes my shield, bit by bit, and I start to see spots. The effort it takes me is dizzyingly draining. Kieran is no help. He's still immobilised, from whatever spell Esther is trying to cast on me now.

"You wouldn't kill Kieran." I gasp. "Raelynn wouldn't allow you to."

Esther winks. "What Rae doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Their bond. You can't kill him."

"Well, we can test that."

My entire body feels like it's on fire. Any moment now, the shield is going to drop, and whatever magic Esther has used to completely paralyse Kieran will be thrown onto me. And then both of us will be dead.

And then, just when I think I'm about to be defeated, Esther's power withdraws. "What-" The dark fairy wheels around in shock even as I crumple in relief. Through black-spotted vision I make out Abby facing Esther, blue wings mirroring Esther's crimson. Esther stares at her for a moment. Then she starts to laugh, bitterly. 

"Abby." She says. "Of course. Of course it's you. Who else would it be? You know, you were always more fairy than pixie or elf. You've developed a Hidden Ability. And, of course, it has to be the perfect mirror of mine." Esther spits out a forced laugh and shakes her head. "Molecular immobilisation. And molecular telekinesis. One stops, one moves. That's the way it always has been, hasn't it? We're born to be pitted against each other. Since the very beginning. A fairy versus a pixie. Or are you just a pixie? What kind of pixie has a Hidden Ability? Are you sure you're not a fairy, Abigail? I mean, you even have a fairy as a mate."