Jim Armstrong and the Goblet's Curse

Chapter 30: We Make A Run For It

I took a moment to gather my bearings, clutching the purple bag of magical Sand tightly in my left, uninjured hand. Breathing heavily, I tucked the bag of Sand into my belt again, and after making sure it was secure, I grabbed Lumière and ran out to the other cavern.

Everyone was still fighting, as if nothing had even happened. Noah and Shea were still out, and Cecy wasn't moving either. It was only James left, fighting for his life. He was surrounded on all sides by Amour's men. Just because Kyle was gone, didn't mean that his presence wasn't still here. James was hacking at everything he could reach, but was still being overwhelmed. I knew I had to do something. Was it possible that I could freeze everything again? I'd never done it deliberately before, but I had to try.

"Stop," I said tentatively, but nothing happened. I tried again, louder, and bolder, this time imagining everything coming to a stop, everything coming to a standstill.

And it did.

Once again, everyone stopped everything. It was completely noiseless again, with nothing moving, not even the air. The sight the eerily silent, sometimes feeling unnatural. I located where everywhere was, and took a moment to think. I was pretty sure that I could move Noah and Cecy back to the elevator, and I would probably be able to get Shea do, if with some difficulty. The problem was going to be James.

I ran over to the elevator and hit the button, hoping and praying that the elevator would come down for us. Sure enough, the doors to the elevator slid open, revealing the interior. I ran over to Cecy, who was frozen in time with a bunch of people surrounding her. I grabbed her around her arms and pulled her into the elevator, then went to get Noah, and then Shea. After they were in the elevator, I surveyed James. I knew I couldn't move him on my own, so the only other option was to release my hold on him. But I didn't know if I could let him move without letting the others move either.

I would have to risk it. I mentally thought about releasing my hold, but nothing happened. My mind was clenched around time, and I needed to let it go. I mentally let time out of my grasp, and immediately, James and the people he was fighting sprang to life and continued their fight to the death, as if nothing at all had happened. As soon as they everybody started moving again, a knife flew by my shoulder, and I stumbled away from it. Someone charged at me and I badly swung Lumière at her, my left hand being less precise. She ducked under my blade and came at me with her own weapon. I deflected her blade and kicked her away, before spinning away from her, heading towards James.

He was fighting four people at once, while surrounded by even more people. I shouted for him, but before I could talk anymore, I was intercepted by three people, all of them wielding their weapons. I spun away from one, pushed another out of the way, and ducked under the third one's arm. James suddenly turned towards me. He must've known what I wanted him to do. He started fighting his way towards me.

"Go! I'm coming!" he yelled, diving away from a person trying to chop his arm off. I turned around to head back to the elevator, fighting my way through the crowd of murderous people. Almost as soon as I turned around however, I heard a pained yell. I whipped around again, and saw James fall to one knee, one hand pressed to the side of his head, as if someone was cleaving it open. All the people he had been fighting, surrounded him even closer.

"NO!" I shouted, pushing my way back through the crowd towards him. People turned to face me, but the majority of the crowd remained focused on James, who was now fully on the ground, hands clamped over his ears. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard him say, "get out of my head!" And I understood. Amour was messing around in James' head. James, having TourD'esprit, probably was easier to mess around with. Not to mention all the bad memories he had, that could most likely be used against him.

Many of the people were coming even closer, and most of them raised their weapons. I pushed through the crowd, shoving them out of the way and knocking their weapons out of their hands. I grabbed James and tried pulling him to his feet, but being James Delamir, he was almost impossible to move. I swung Lumière in all directions, trying to get them away from us. I yelled to James, trying to fend off all these people at once.

"James! Hey, listen to me, it's not real, whatever it is, it isn't real!" I yelled at him, and a blade caught my jeans and sliced a hole into them. I took a risk and half-turned towards James. I kicked him in the knee to get his attention, and when he looked up at me, I repeated myself.

"It's not real! It is not real!" I shouted, elbowing someone before feeling something sharp jab my shoulder. I stumbled backwards, but stayed on my feet. Behind me, with what seemed like great effort, James heaved himself to his feet, and grabbed my arm. Together, we barreled through the wall of people. We hurtled towards the elevator, Amour's minions at our heels. I could tell that Amour was still in James' mind from the look of intense concentration on his face,trying his best to block out the mental attacks, but was impressed by the effort he was using.

I guess he wasn't the best in the business for no reason.

We ran through the cavern, Amour's minions chasing after us. I swung Lumière behind me, trying to slow down the people behind us. A group cut us off from in front and we swerved around them, heading straight for the elevator doors. A hand grabbed my bleeding shoulder, but I threw it off with all my might and continued to run. We were so close, so close. Ten feet, five feet, three, two...

James and I ran into the elevator, slamming against the opposite wall from our joined momentum. As I stumbled back, James dove for the button to close the elevator doors, pushing it repeatedly.

"Come on, come on, COME ON!" he shouted as the doors finally closed ever so slowly, and just in time too. There were many resounding thumps as the bodies of Amour's minions slammed into the closed elevator doors, hopelessly trying to get inside.

As one, we let out sighs of relief and slumped down the walls of the elevator as it moved steadily upwards. We didn't speak, just breathed heavily from our mad dash to safety. I looked over at Noah, Cecy and Shea. All were breathing, but shallowly. I took the task of healing them, thinking it would be better for me to do it, seeing how James was pushing on the sides of his head, trying and failing to get Amour out. Before I could ask my question, James answered it.

"He should get out the further away we get from him," he said, ribbing his forehead. "If I'm too far, he loses his connection." I nodded, though I didn't think he saw. Then, I set to healing the other three.

After I finished healing them, and all three of them had sat up, the elevator came to an abrupt stop, and the doors slid open. As we slowly exited the god forsaken elevator, Cecy spoke, sighing.

"And none of that made any difference anyway," she said. "We still didn't get the Sand."

I stopped in my tracks. Hadn't I told them?

The others had stopped too, looking at me in concern.

"You okay, Jim?" Shea asked.

I stuttered. "Wait- wait, I guess I forgot to tell you," I took the purple bag of Sand out of my belt and held it up. "I got it. I got the Silver Sand." 

Hello friends! Hope you enjoyed that chapter, and if you did, make sure to comment and vote! And I hope you're feeling good, because Friday's coming, and that makes everyone feel good, right?

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