Peace and Grace

19. The School is Falling!

We didn't even have the chance to split up - we were cornered by Lash, Speed, Penny and Julia.

"You guys are apart of this too." Will shakes his head.  "Why am I not surprised?"

"Go find Gwen," Warren tells him, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.  "We'll handle these clowns." 

Will nods and rushes off - smashing his way through the wall as a shortcut. 

Ethan took on Lash, Layla took on Penny, Warren took on Speed, and I was left with butterfly girl.

I faced her, slipping off my shoes and kicking them to the side. The cool floor under my bare feet helps ground me.

"You sure are weird," says Julia.

"So I've heard."

"The weird little witch," she taunts. 

"Thanks - I'll take that as a compliment."  I'm a whole mix of emotions - angry and sad about what happened to Aunt Jen and the other adults, frightened - so the energy when I cast it is multi-coloured. 

This clearly catches her off-guard, enough so that I use her moment of shock to launch a blast of energy towards her, with such force it sends her smashing through the wall. I wince - not exactly what I planned to do, but it worked.

In the next hall over I find Warren and Ethan, having taken care of both Lash and Speed. They're staring at where Julia crashed through the wall.

"Whoa!" cried Ethan.

"Not so graceful, Grace," says Warren.

"Not so peaceful either, Peace." I notice Speed sticking halfway out of the wall a ways down the hall, his clothes smoking a little, no doubt from Warren's pyrokinesis. 

"Nicely done." He raises his hand and I give him a high-five.

"Thanks, not bad yourself."

"You guys!" Layla races into the hall then, followed closely by Maj and Zach.  "We've got to do something! Gwen's disabling the anti-gravity device - the whole school is going to fall!

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No one needs to say it - we all know that if the school fell from this height, the impact would destroy everything and kill everyone. 

But, if we can cut the wire on the device, it'll reverse what Gwen has done.

Maj, much to her dismay, shrinks down into her guinea pig form - the tunnel is too small for a human to fit. If she crawls through and finds the generator and cuts the wire, then we have a chance at saving everyone. 

Layla, Warren, and I race to find Will to warn him. We find him still fighting Gwen/Royal Pain in the gym. So much for homecoming - all the decorations are destroyed. 

We arrive right as Royal Pain punches Will. There's a flash of electricity, and the punch is delivered  with such force it sends him smashing out the window. 

"NO!" screams Layla as he falls out of sight.  Gwen only chuckles. Layla charges towards her, but Warren and I hold her back.

"Surprised?" calls a familiar voice. Will hovers outside the smashed window.  "So am I!" Looks like he inherited both of his parents' powers, they were just late in displaying themselves. 

He swoops in, taking down a surprised Gwen and punching off her helmet, knocking her unconscious.

But we're too late - with a sudden lurch, we start plunging downwards. 

"The school is falling!" Layla shouts.

"I'm on it!" Will moves to fly out the window, but then stops and turns back.  "Naddie, do you think you can slow it down?"

"What?! Are you crazy?! I can barely lift - well, anything! Let alone the whole school!"

"You can do it, you're a hero, remember?" And with that he flies out the window to try and slow the school's plunge himself.

Now I'm panicking.  "Hey-" Warren holds my wrist.  "You've got this."

"Yeah Naddie, do your thing," encourages Layla.

I nod at their encouraging words.  I've got some of my friends here - I can do this.

I think.

I hope.

This time when I cast it, the energy is mostly orange - I'm nervous, I'm definitely nervous! Very nervous.  

Okay, not helping.  I close my eyes and  take a deep breath - I have to split my concentration various ways if I hope to cast the energy over the entire school.

My head is already spinning and I've barely begun 'doing my thing' - that's not a good sign. 

I dare open my eyes just a crack in order to see that the energy field has spread out around the school. Okay, that much is working.

The rush we feel as the school continues to plunge downwards slows some with Will and my combined efforts. 

I stumble, my mind a blur now. 

Concentrate, I tell myself. Concentrate... Keep going...

We're falling so fast we must be getting close to the ground by now...

Suddenly, everything goes dark.

(Cliffhanger! ;) Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) Only a couple of chapters left until the end!)