Radiant

Chapter Five

My soul? What on earth was Scarlet talking about? What was so special about me and my locket?

Scarlet noticed the perplexed look on my face, and gave another one of her devilish smiles.

"You really don't know, do you? Oh well, at least it makes this much easier for me. Devin, make sure that she stays still for this."

Devin began to approach me ever so slowly, with that stupid grin on his face. I wanted to slap him for it, but then I had a better idea. If I could time this just right, I could get out of this...

"Come on birthday girl, don't make this harder than it should be."

Just as he was inches away from grabbing me, I kicked him straight in the balls. He screamed in pain and backed up a little towards Scarlet. As soon as she was right behind him, I kicked Devin again, but this time in the chest. That kick managed to send him straight backwards, knocking into Scarlet and sending them both straight to the ground. Scarlet was crushed under Devin's body, and she let out a big gasp, as if all her breath had been pushed out of her. Obviously neither of them had expected me to do that, which was exactly what I wanted. I jumped over their limp bodies and ran as fast as I could to my parents' room. Thank goodness that I had taken track and self-defense classes last year. It definitely helped for this situation.

I was so close to their room that I almost managed to call for them. Almost.

"MOM! DAD-"

At that exact moment someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me away from the door. I was so close... why hadn't mom or dad heard anything?

The person who had caught me began to lift me up off the ground. I still couldn't see who it was since I was facing the other direction.

"PUT ME DOWN!!! MOM!!! DAD!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!"

The person who was holding me began to chuckle. I struggled to try to see who it was, but I was being faced the other direction by force.

"Now, now. You don't want to make a scene, do you?"

"I don't care! Just let go of me!!!"

"Hmm... as you wish."

The stranger picked me up over his head, and I finally managed to catch a glimpse of who it was. Brody. I'd remember that curly red mess of hair anywhere. It was Scarlet's boyfriend. How could he have gotten here? He wasn't even with her when she got here!

After he lifted me over his head, he pulled back slightly and threw me. Literally threw me, and without even a lot of effort. He'd thrown me with so much force that once I hit the wall, I felt one of the bones in my legs shatter. I didn't even feel the pain until a few minutes, and once it came, it came in waves, each more painful than the one before. I shrieked at the horrible sensation spreading throughout my leg and my body.

"See what happens when you don't cooperate, Tamie? You should've been smart and stayed right where you were, instead of trying to escape like a fool."

I couldn't even reply to Brody. All that came out of me were small gasps and tiny whimpers. I probably looked pathetic.

"Well, well. Not so strong now, are ya?"

I slowly turned my head to see who had said that. It was Devin who'd said it, and Scarlet was right next to him. She had a big bruise on the side of her face. And she didn't look happy about it.

"Do you know...how...HUMILIATING that was?? Being crushed by my own SERVANT???"

I didn't know exactly what she meant by that, But that seemed to be the least of my worries. Right now, it looked like she wanted to murder me. There was a fire in her eyes, a fire made entirely of rage. It did not look like she was in a talking mood, much less try to convince her to not do anything to me.

"I was going to take it easy on you before you did that, but you just lost your chance," She stated angrily.

I tried to ask her what she was planning on doing, but I was still in too much pain to speak.

She looked at me and gave me a twisted smile. "Hurts, doesn't it? Good. But I suppose I might as well tell you what I really am... or better yet! How about I show you? All of you, back up! I need enough space!"

With that, Devin and Brody backed up, along with a bunch of other so-called "friends" that had come to the party, and somehow made it upstairs without me seeing them.

"Look at me, Tamila! I want you know my true appearance before I get rid of you!"

And with that statement, Scarlet began to glow. Not metaphorically because of her usual popular girl look, but actually glowing.

She immediately hunched over and groaned, as if what she was doing was hurting her, but then her head snapped right back up, wearing the most insane-looking smile I'd ever seen on a person. She started screaming, an unearthly scream that a human would be physically incapable of doing. Then, she was growing, getting taller. Her hair changed from regular red to a blindingly bright version of the same shade. Her eyes switched from normal hazel brown to emerald green, and appeared to be in the shape of slits, like a cat's eye. And finally, two full-size wings came out of her back. They were also green, with scales that sparkled and shimmered. They looked an awful lot like...dragon wings???

In fact, she could pass off being one, just with slightly more human features.

"Ahh, that feels so much better," She finally said. "Now, where was I? Oh, right. I was just about to kill you."

***

I'd always thought of Scarlet as "otherworldly", but this was just ridiculous. She really was some sort of monster. But even though she looked completely different, she went and stared at herself in a mirror that we had a little farther down the upstairs hallway. She was admiring herself. Sheesh, once a diva, always a diva, I thought.

She walked towards me again, and grabbed my face with her claws (yes, for some reason, her nails were claws now. Go figure.). She had a sort of hungry gleam in her eyes, the kind of look that someone would give if they saw their favorite food in the world. I did not like that she was looking at me as if I were tasty.

"Let's see, where should I start? Should I take your pretty locket first? Or suck the life out of you in the most painful way possible?"

I gulped, and trickles of sweat began to run down the side of my face. Neither of those seemed like a good idea to me, and I had already promised my parents that I wouldn't let anything happen to the locket. If Scarlet got ahold of it...

"You seem to be attached to that locket, so how about I take it?"

She reached down to take it, and with all the strength I had left, I grabbed her hand and pushed it away.

"No... you can't... take it..." I said.

"Ha! you barely even have the strength to speak! Don't bother trying to fight me, or I will kill you first," She hissed.

It was all over now. There was nothing I could do to stop her from taking my locket and then killing me. I'm sorry, mom and dad. I couldn't keep my promise...

Tears streamed down my face as I thought of my parents. I was really never going to see them again until they passed away as well...

All of a sudden, I watched as an arrow came out of nowhere and struck Scarlet right in the back. She screeched as blood oozed out from where she was shot.

"How dare you come into our house, and try to hurt our daughter!!!"

I quickly turned my face in the direction of the voice that spoke. It was mom, and dad. They were both wearing outfits that I had never seen before; It looked like armor, made out of steel. Mom was wearing it with a skirt, while dad wore his with some sort of dressy-looking pants. They both had serious and cold expressions on their faces, and their eyes were both glaring furiously at Scarlet and the rest of her friends. It looked as if there were a fire dancing in their eyes, much angrier than the look that Scarlet had given me. They also seemed a bit dirty and beat-up, as if they had already been fighting something before they had gotten to where I was.

Mom... Dad... You're really here!