Gifted

Part 53: Rivals

Jordan followed Casper all the way down to the beach. It was late at night in the middle of the week, so no one was around to witness their battle.

"There's nobody around to hold us back now." Casper said. He bared his fists at Jordan. "Come at me." he dared. Jordan was ready to lift her fists when I called to her.

"Jordan! Wait! Don't fight!" I yelled, running towards her along the sandy beach. Alice followed closely behind me. She was the one who had warned me about Jordan's encounter. "This is pointless and stupid! You're both hunters!"

"Nora! Mind your own business!" Jordan snapped. I was surprised. She had never spoken to me like that before in all the years I had known her.

"But..." I began, but Casper cut me off.

"Nora, you're so nosy. I don't remember you being like that before all of this. I guess people change." he said.

"What about you, Casper?" I heard Mr. Matthews coming from behind me. I wondered why his timing was always so perfect.

"What do you mean?" Casper asked him.

"Don't you remember what we discussed? Didn't you promise me you wouldn't harm Jordan Ark?"

"She started it!" Casper shouted defensively.

"Then you should have ended it instead of egging it on like you did." Mr. Matthews said.

"Whatever." Casper said. "I'm still gonna kick your ass!" he called to Jordan.

"You will not lay a hand on her." Mr. Matthews scolded. Casper fell silent.

"Jordan, are you ok?" I asked her as I put my hand on her shoulder. She shook me off furiously.

"Don't act like I couldn't take him by myself!" she said. "You're always treating me like I'm weak and I don't know what I'm doing!" She grasped the necklace that contained the dragon scale and held the scale in both of her palms. She closed her eyes and the scale began to glow. My heart pounded and I started to sweat as I panicked. I knew what was happening. She was summoning Ala. I raced towards her and grabbed the scale from her. I tore it from her neck and raced towards the sea and cast it into the waves.

"Crap!" Jordan exclaimed.

"This isn't good." Mr. Matthews said. Casper was silent.

"Why the hell did you do that for, Nora?" Jordan shouted at me.

"I'm sorry! I just didn't want you to bring a demon into this!" I tried to explain myself. Suddenly, Jordan started choking. To my horror, she fell to the ground, and drool poured from her mouth as she tried to gasp for air, but her lungs seemed to fail her.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" I asked in a panic as I held my suffocating friend. "Jordan? Jordan!" I called to her as she passed out in my arms. Her skin was turning a pale blue.

"That was such a foolish thing to do, Nora." Alice said as she inched closer to us. "Why would you throw away you're friend's soul like that?"

"What the hell do you mean?" I asked her. I was so sick of Alice knowing so much more than she was telling us. She was smiling as if nothing was going on. Casper raced over to us and checked Jordan's pulse. Her chest wasn't moving up and down. She was no longer breathing.

"Anything?" I asked him. He shook his head sadly.

"Alice," Casper said addressing Alice angrily. "What the fuck is going on?" he asked. Alice continued to smile calmly. Her expression sent shivers down my spine. "Jordan looks like she just drowned!" Casper yelled.

"But that's impossible!" I cried as I shook my friend who now appeared to be dead. "Jordan! Wake up! Jordan!"

"When a demon hunter forms a bond with a demon, in Jordan's case it was with Ala, then the demon hunter's soul is taken from the demon hunter's body and put into a physical form. It is like an agreement between the demon and the hunter."

"What does that mean?" Casper asked.

"Wake up, Jordan! Wake up!" I continued to shake her. Nothing prevailed. Alice shook her head.

"Nora, that's not Jordan. That's only her body." Alice explained. "You threw Jordan's soul into the ocean and she drowned." Alice explained. Mr. Matthews took off his glasses and his shirt and dove into the ocean. "Jordan's body is still Jordan, but her soul is separate now to make the contract between her and Ala easier." Mr. Matthews swam towards the bottom. He searched for the glowing scale. It was dark everywhere else and I hadn't thrown it too far so it wasn't extremely difficult to find. "After the demon hunter completes her ultimate goal, or her 'soul's greatest wish' the soul is consumed by the demon that is allied with the hunter. That's why the soul is put into a physical form." Mr. Matthews found the scale and grabbed it. It was glowing a pale shade of blue. He held onto it tightly as he swam up towards the surface. "The demon hunter touches her soul whenever she needs the demon to perform a service for her. It can be anything that her soul desires, but it is all a part of the contract. In the end, everything comes with a price." Alice continued to explain as I saw Mr. Matthews rise to the surface to gasp for air, and begin to paddle back to shore. "When a human makes a contract with me, I ensure that they use their souls to the best of their ability and make them more powerful by bringing out the best in their powers. When a demon sees a powerful soul like a hunter's, one with enhanced abilities, naturally, they become willing to work to satisfy their own appetites. Demon hunter souls are like a delicacy for demons as apposed to regular human souls." Alice explained.

Casper raced towards her and grabbed her by the neck.

"You bitch! You never explained that to Jordan when she made the contract! How the hell was she supposed to know that she was gonna end up as demon chow?" Casper accused her.

"That would have posed some problems." Alice said as she remained completely calm. "I wanted her dreams to come true, that's all. I thought if she knew what it would entail to reach her goals, she would have given up without even trying. I was thinking about her the whole time." Alice said. "As long as she keeps her soul close to her and makes sure it doesn't get damaged, she's practically invincible. The demon will make sure her prey is nice and healthy until the day she feeds. Isn't giving up your soul for a happy life worth it? We all die in the end. Everyone sinks into oblivion. This way, however, her life can be filled with victories and granted wishes. The demon Ala is not a parasite. She and Jordan share a symbiotic relationship!" Alice happily explained. I felt sick.

"That's terrible!" I cried. Tears fell from my eyes as I held my cold dead friend in my arms.

"It always baffles me when hunters react this way. They always do when I tell them the truth." Alice said. "Why does it even matter where your soul ends up when you die? The ending is the same for everyone, numbness and nothingness."

Mr. Matthews approached us, soaked in saltwater. He picked up his glasses and dried them off with his now sand covered shirt and put them back on. He handed me Jordan's soul. Jordan stirred and gasped for air. Her eyes shot open and the color and warmth immediately returned to her cheeks. Mr. Matthews knelt beside Casper and me as Jordan came to. Jordan looked around confused at all of us.

"What happened?" she asked breathlessly. In that moment, I had no idea how I was supposed to explain the horrible truth to my friend about her own destiny that she had made for herself.