Emerald

Chapter Eighteen- Confrontation

All of my friends looked at "Shawn" in awe. I knew something had to have been wrong. Shawn got jealous whenever I hung out with any other guys, even Matt. So why would he have put us in a room together? He would never have put us up to dangerous challenges, too. He always put himself in front of others and would take the dangers on his own. So why would he put us up with deadly challenges?

"I asked you a question!" I yelled in anger and disgust. "What do you want?". Suddenly, "Shawn" transformed into the way Shadow looked when I remembered her last; a girl with an evil aura. She snickered as she circled around us.

"I just wanted to send you on a little mission, that's all." Her voice dripped with venom. "I wanted to meet you and your little friends."

"You've already met me! Now let them go! They have nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, they've got everything to do with this! One of you will die so the rest can go free. I just need to decide which one of you is the most threatening to see who to get rid of." Just as she said that four cages dropped from the ceiling which trapped each of us in one. My cage was the furthest away from the other three, so I was secluded from my friends. "But my decision is mostly pointing toward you."

Two more cages dropped from the ceiling, each with one person in it. The one to my left held a woman with long, raven colored hair. She was skinny and pale as if she had not eaten in days.

"Mom!" I screamed to the cage. The lady turned around to reveal the beautiful, but sickly face of my mother. She looked so weak. Then, I looked to the cage on my right. It held a boy with curly, brown hair. I knew who it was right away.

"Shawn!" I yelled. He looked back at me to reveal another sickly face of one of my loved ones. "What did you do to them?"

"I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago. Killing our mother was just the beginning. When I heard of the prophecy, I knew I somehow had to find this 'lover' of yours. I didn't think you were alive, so I found a boy that best matched the description that I was told." she responded.

"What was the description?" I asked, shaking. She smirked at me.

"A young man with ringlets of brown, deep, love-filled eyes, selfless, kind, and hopelessly in love with a young woman. Turns out I did end up finding the right boy. I came to him in a dream and told him I could give him anything, even eternal love. He just had to do me a few favors. He agreed and I transported him here. I...don't keep my promises very well,"

"You've become a bad girl, Midnight," weakly whispered my mom. She must have begun to remember everything. Shadow only glared at her.

"I know that, but I'm not Midnight. I'm Shadow, you horrible woman! You tried to take everything from me, so took everything you had, too,"

"What are you talking about?" yelled Rose. I had completely forgotten my friends were still there! Shadow looked her way as her eyes began to turn completely black. Just like with Leonardo Da Vinci, Rose's eyes turned the same color, too.

"Stop!" I yelled. I was finally letting my anger lose. My fists were clenched up into balls and I felt heat radiating all around me. I opened my eyes to see that I was glowing green. I smirked at the power I felt. I felt invincible! I gathered a green spark in my hand, once again, and set it up to one of the cage's bars. The cage began to melt as I made my way out of it.

I created more sparks and cast them against the other five cages. They all melted on impact and let my loved ones free. Rose's eyes were back to normal as if nothing had happened. Ari ran to Shawn and I ran to my mom. They both looked close to death and all I could do was cry. I held both of their hands and cried.

Little did I know that a tear slipped down each of my arms and landed on their hands. When I opened my eyes back up, I saw that the green light had gone down and a golden light illuminated the room. I stood up in awe as I saw a figure come down and touch my mom's forehead. She immediately perked up and sat up, breathing heavily. It did the same for Shawn.

"Phoenix!" I yelled as the light died down. I saw Phoenix there, in all her glory and solid form. I ran to hug her, but she disappeared just as quickly as she appeared. I sighed and ran to my mom and Shawn, embracing them both.

"I'm so proud of you, little gem."

"Thank you, Emmy-girl."

"You go, Em!"

"That's the Emerald we know and love!" Those were just some of the things my friends and family shouted at me as they hugged me tighter than I ever thought was possible.

"Wait!" I yelled and stood up, turning towards the throne. "I still have something to take care of first." I began to walk towards the throne on which Shadow was sitting.

"Shawn, come here, now!" she yelled and Shawn ran over. His eyes were the same black that Shadow's was before. Mind control...

She handed him a sword and threw one to me. "Let's see if you can bear to battle your lover-boy." She snickered.

I backed up slowly as Shawn came towards me with his sharp sword. I had my sword held up at the same height, preparing to battle.

"Begin!" yelled Shadow. Shawn lunged his sword toward me, but I managed to do a backbend to avoid it. It was a good thing I look those fencing lessons when I was younger. When I got back up, our swords began to clash with each other, one dominant over the other, then switching. I managed to swipe his arm with my sword, but he seemed not to notice and still fought. He swiped low, but I jumped high enough so he couldn't cut me. I landed on a rock in the cave-like throne room and began to clash my sword against his, once more.

He seemed to be losing energy, and fast. I, unfortunately, took this opportunity to knock the sword out of his hand and hit his head with the hilt of mine. He fell down, knocked out quite quickly. I walked past him and toward Shadow who had a surprised expression on her evil features.

"It's over. Now, let us go before I slit your throat," I said as I held the point of my sword to her neck. She laughed at me and held out her palm. I was pushed against the wall by an unknown force. When I hit the wall, I could feel the breath get knocked right out of me. I fell to the ground to catch my breath.

Footsteps and banging were heard and seemed to be getting louder as I slowly began to sit up. I looked around to see my mom and friends, except for Shawn, back in cages. Looking up, I saw Shadow with a smirk on her face and a dagger in her hand. She lifted me by my neck as my back skidded across the rough wall.

"Lover-boy, come here," she commanded. Shawn quickly came to her side and she handed him the dagger. She dropped me to the ground as I held my throat, catching my breath again. I looked up with tears in my eyes as I heard two words I never wanted to hear;

"Finish her."