Trust From Within - Book 3 Daughter of a Monster Series

Chapter 38- Voids of Black and Golden Lights

"Stop! Stacy, you don't need to do this!" Regina screams, eyes screwed shut, hands grasping at her thick curls. Dad spasms again before the light drains from his eyes and he collapses to the ground. "Please! Stacy, this isn't about us anymore! What you're about to do has irreversible consequences!"

"You underestimate me, Regina. You haven't seen me in years, you think I haven't grown?" Stacy retorts, fists clenching in concentration. Regina lets out a cry of her own, and Dad's back arches away from the ground, muscles tensing, teeth grinding and a bitten off scream can be heard throughout the clearing.

The sound finally gets my legs moving, and I allow my magic to wash over me, protecting me from Stacy's eyes as I approach Dad. Right as I reach him, I watch in horror as his eyes roll back in his head, and Stacy appears beside him. She looks me dead in the eyes before shoving me back, her magic curling around mine briefly, but I instantly feel the effect that her smokey magic had. I know I'm visible again, and lying on the ground, helpless to stop the witch as she grabs Dad around the throat, her claw like nails digging into the sides of his neck.

"No! Dad!" I cry out, reaching for him, clumsily clambering to my feet. But, surprisingly, it's Cole that grabs me around the waist, holding me back and away from the blonde that has my Dad in her grasp. "DAD!"

"I'm sorry, Jade, please," Cole murmurs in my ear, arms tightening around my waist when I renew my struggles.

"She's hurting him Cole, she's gonna destroy him!"

"She'll hurt you too. She won't hesitate to kill you," he replies in my ear.

"We're not going to let her hurt him, Jade. You know that," Nate's voice says into my head, and I glance over to see him standing beside an uninjured Cameron in human form. I rip my eyes away from him and back onto Dad again.

The clearing is deadly silent, everyone is watching as Stacy brings an unconscious Dad up in front of her, his body hanging over the edge of the outcropping she is standing on, smoke and mist flowing all around her, keeping us back. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Karn and Tara watching in horror, Karn's eyes dazed, but their unmistakable terror chokes me. Cameron has pulled Liam and Gaby into each of his sides, all three of them watching in sullen silence. Regina still has her eyes closed, but the grip she has on her hair is starting to relax incrementally.

Pink starts to surround Dad, the smoke swallowing him up, spiraling around his limp body. Stacy starts chanting something, the smoke spreading over the ground at the same time. Cole lets out a grunt as I start to struggle again, but shining ropes circle my wrists, pulling on them gently to restrain me. I can also feel when his magic truly joins in, the feeling of it wrapping around mine familiar and slightly calming. But it isn't enough. Not when I can't feel his magic anymore.

"LET HIM GO YOU CRAZY BITCH!" I scream, continuing to thrash in my cousin's arms.

Suddenly, I'm held by different arms, a familiar smell that instantaneously calms my magic more, and a low growl in my ear that has me falling silent for a moment. "I've got you Jade, but you need to calm down. Hurting yourself, or Cole, or me isn't going to help your dad. Take a deep breath, we'll figure something out."

A burst of brighter pink pulses through the smoke like a shock wave, starting from Stacy and running through the magic from her, outwards. A darkness starts swirling behind Dad, pink surrounding the edges of it. I can just make out the glowing specks that seem to be in the blackness, the small golden sparks growing slowly as the darkness spreads. The gold grows and grows, and as I watch it I feel my legs go wobbly where I stand.

Colour drains from Dad's face and he's roughly tossed aside, body colliding heavily with the ground. My eyes turn back to the growing darkness and the ever expanding golden lights. Eventually, they form human shaped things, and as we wait in horrified silence for longer, different features and colours become apparent.