The Protagonists

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Annalise

The girl, Annalise Dakota, solemnly stood beside the broken, mourning boy, Sam Lowe, as he fell to his knees, sobbing into his hands in dysphoria. Annalise had a hand to her mouth, not knowing what to do or say. Sure, she had been able to reassure Sam multiple times before, but that time...that time was different. Beforehand, he was paranoid his best friend was going to forget him, or his best friend was going to die; but then, his best friend did die-Annalise could not figure out how to comfort Sam. Joel, being just as awkward, remained silent and still as well, not knowing how to aid him. Annalise could tell, with her father being a psychiatrist and such, that Joel felt somber and heartbroken about Maya being gone as well-those two had seemed quite close, no matter how long they had known each other. Merten, like the others, was upset as well-it was all mainly for Maya, who she practically treated like a granddaughter, but she still felt solemn for Oliver's death, even if she hardly knew him; he was an Intellectual like her nonetheless.

"I'm so sorry," she finally said softly, badly wanting to break the silence between the remaining, alive four. "Especially for you, Sam," she whispered, placing a reassuring hand on his back as he sobbed some more. "I know how close you and Oliver were. And for you, Merten," she looked up at Merten, who then had tears slowly falling down her elderly, wrinkled cheeks, "for I know how much you loved Maya. She was like a grandchild to you."

"Yes," Merten replied, being the only one to reply to Annalise's heartfelt, emotional message. "Now I have only one grandchild left. I have you three of course, but I do not know you all well enough to consider you my grandchildren."

"Who's your last grandchild?" Annalise puzzled, as she was the only one emotionally-stable enough to clearly reply. Deep in her mind, Annalise knew exactly who Merten's last, remaining "grandchild" was. Of course, Annalise's thought was completely correct, as Merten's sorrowful response was, "Iris Rhodes is my last granddaughter."

Everyone, even Sam, looked up immediately, their eyes wide. "She may be an Antagonist," Merten explained, tears still falling down her cheeks, "but I am not the Protagonists' leader-I'm the Intellectuals' leader. I do not pick a side; I belong to both sides. Before, I trusted both the Protagonists and the Antagonists, since one granddaughter was in one group and the other was with the other. Now, however..." Her voice trailed off as she looked back down at Maya's lifeless body. "Now I do not have a grandchild committed with the Protagonists."

"So what are you saying?" Joel asked, wiping his nose.

"I'm saying..." Merten took a deep, long breath to calm herself down. "I'm saying that I have to join the Antagonists. I know that what they do is wrong sometimes, but Iris is the leader and she is my only grandchild left. I can't lose her-she is family."

"So you're joining the other side?" Sam yelled angrily, standing up. Annalise was instantly by his side, pressing her head on his shoulder in hopes to calm him down-it worked, but only slightly. Merten looked guilty, but she nodded. "Yes," she replied, "I'm joining 'the other side'. I love you three so much and I hope that in the future, I can consider you all to be my new grandchildren, but for now, this is goodbye. We will not face each other in battle; I will make sure of that. I will just be there to protect Iris, not to harm anyone else."

"You can't go!" Joel cried, standing up as well. "You're the only one of us that can do the spells and charms and such! We can't do any of that-we don't know what we're doing in this world!"

Merten nodded and snapped her fingers with her left hand, holding out her right hand to catch something. Instantly, two different rings appeared in her palm: a pink-gemmed one and a yellow-gemmed one. She briskly bent down to Maya's body and gently pulled off the baby blue-gemmed ring on her finger-she cautiously handed it to Joel. Annalise gratefully took the pink one and Sam irritably took the yellow one. "Spells aren't that difficult," Merten reassured, sending each individual person a convincing smile. "You just think of what you want to do and hold your hand out. It's really not much more than that."

Annalise, Joel, and Sam nodded, each sliding their ring on their finger. "I must go now," Merten said, smiling solemnly. "Farewell, my new Protagonists. Although you may believe that you know nothing and that you are all cowards," Sam shrugged, blatantly agreeing with her, "you will save this world. You will all fight bravely and heroically. You," she pointed directly at Oliver, "for losing your best friend. You," she pointed to Annalise, "for fighting for what's right. And you," her finger finally rested on Joel, trembling slightly, "for wanting to be the hero. I believe in all of you. I want you all to remember the two that fought hard with you at the beginning though; I want you to always remember Maya Rhodes and Oliver Davis."