Winter Is Coming (Book Three of the Lynn Saga)

Chapter Nineteen

Kyle and Lyle came out of the maze, panting.

"Guys, we made it," Kyle said, "even though we hit a dead end fifty times."

Lyle walked over to Calvin. "Um, is everything okay?" He looked at the mountain, staring at the clouds above, which had an arrow pointing at the mountain.

"Holy crap," Kyle started, "we're going to battle on a mountain."

Everyone began to relax again, all looking towards me. After all, I was the leader.

Even though I didn't feel like one.

"So, Lynn," Nicole said bitterly, "what do we do now?"

I stopped, looking down at the grass as I tried to think. We could practice using shields... no, that's stupid. Come on, Lynn, where did all of your good ideas go?!

Suddenly, an idea came to mind. I grinned, looking at my army.

"We're going to practice like we'd never practiced before!" In my mind, I could picture our side of the battle defeating Aspen's. The glory, the fame, the fortune, the safety of my friends-

"But we never really have practiced before," Nicole interrupted, glaring.

Lyle scoffed. "Way to ruin the moment, lady."

I sighed, realizing that Nicole was right. Before the first battle, we practiced a bit, but not much. Almost everyone already knew how to fight. Prior to the second battle, we were too busy to practice a lot.

But this time, we were going to be ready to fight.

Everyone split off into different groups. Ivy, Flora, Jenna, Calvin, Peter, and Nicole went further to the beach, working on their battle skills. Ella, Adam, Faith, and Autumn headed to an area close to the ruins. I wasn't sure what they were doing, but I think they were working on their magic. Kyle, Lyle, Lyra, Athylla, Krystal, Ash, and Char formed in a circle around a tree in the forest. Kyle put on a spell to make the tree look like a Demon, and they went one at a time, attacking the trunk. Willow, Raina, Raven, Ivan, Red, and Midnight went further to the west, heading towards the cliffs. I think they were working on defense, but I couldn't be too sure. Xavier and I decided to join Midnight's group.

"It would be good to get to know the two newbies," I had said before we walked over.

While strolling, Xavier and I talked. We hadn't talk talked since... well, I don't know.

"I was thinking that, after we win the battle, we could get a small house by the sea, like the one you told me about," he explained, holding my hand.

I smiled. "You mean Calvin and Nicole's old house?"

"Yeah. Whatever happened to it?"

"I don't really remember. Oh, wait, I think Carrie destroyed it afterwards."

"Oh, I guess."

We were now closer to the group, so close that I could see exactly what they were doing. There were two lines that faced each other with a two yard gap between them.

Raven nodded her head towards us, breathing Blue Fire at the sky, which was basically fire but freezing.

After getting everyone's attention, Raven looked at Xavier and I, staring at us like she didn't know who we were.

"Hi," Ivan welcomed to us, walking forward on his four light brown legs. "So, basically, one of us does something to the other at that guy has to block it somehow," he finished in a bored sounding tone, even though he didn't mean to. "We made two lines – one faces the other groups and one faces the cliffs. The one facing the other groups are the ones blocking."

Xavier shrugged, then got behind Raina, going in the blocking line. I went over and got in the back behind Willow, watching the other groups in the distance.

Midnight went up against Red first, firing a Locking Spell, which makes it so someone can't move their limbs. Red swung his spear at it, hitting the spell. The blasting red light poofed into nothingness, disappearing quickly. The two went to the end of their lines, putting Ivan and Raven at the front.

Raven breathed Ice Fire down onto Ivan, who twirled his spear in front of him so fast it was a blur. Acting at a shield, the spinning spear blocked the fire, which vaporized just as the Locking Spell had.

Next came Willow and Raina. Willow put her wand in the air and vines burst from the ground, flying towards Raina. With the flick of her wand, she shot out a bolt of white lightning, which struck the vines, turning them black and limp. Raina did a little curtsy, then skipped to the end of the line.

With a simple spell, I got rid of the vines as Xavier stepped up, ready to block. Since I knew he was going to be one of the ones that would fight Aspen, I gave him a hard spell to block.

The Sorrow Curse – the spell that puts horrible images of sad things in the victim's head.

Thrusting my arm forward, I watched as a dark blue light blew so fast at Xavier that he didn't have enough time to block it.

As it hit his body, I watched as his pupils grew to fill the white space in his eyes, just big black eyes. His lips turned redder, like someone had put some lipstick on him. His whole body was shivering as if he was in a room of ice. Xavier fell to the ground, mumbling things.

"Lynn... don't..." he whispered, twitching. "Please... Lynn, think for a second..."

I bent down on my knees, leaning over at Xavier. "Xavier! I'm sorry!"

Everyone made a circle around us, no one knowing what to do. Ivan kept saying that he was going to die, until I told him to shut up. I didn't need any more anxiety than I already had.

"LYNN!!!" he screamed. His voice sounded as if he was falling off a tall building, going on until he passed out.

"Xavier!" I cried, falling to the ground next to him. His eyes and lips slowly turned to normal as the curse faded away. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

I shouldn't have cast the curse, I thought, crying. He could die now. Lots of people have died after the Sorrow Curse – about 37% or something. I might've lost him forever, and all because I wanted to challenge him. All because of me.

Suddenly, I heard the familiar sound of a Sprite flying. Belle floated down in front of us, back to the beach.

She said the last thing I thought she would ever say.

"I'm sorry."