Legend

Twenty-Seven

TWENTY-SEVEN

THERE HE STOOD, Legend, an invisible wind whipping against his mane, a silver sheen to his entire body, glowing in the still darkness. He looked like – and you really couldn’t describe it better than this – an angel. Never did he look more beautiful at this strangled, crucial moment.

I stared and could not tear my eyes away. The sight of Legend had seemed to have made me forget the scene of imminent danger behind me. There was something… something I needed to do… What was it?

Legend seemed to jog towards me. As he reached me, I stroked his glowing mane, feeling a strange tingling sensation beneath my fingertips. There came a strangled sort of shout of surprise from somewhere – I turned my head, to see that it came from Viola, who didn’t seem as much scared as she seemed relieved. Atala turned around to see what she was looking at, scowling. This brought me back to earth. Atala. Was Legend here to help me?

The expression on Atala’s face seemed to answer that question. She looked quite horrified. She slowly loosened her grip on Viola’s neck. “Not one of those beasts again…” she muttered, but she seemed, quite surprisingly, too scared to move.

Viola, on the other hand, looked in much better spirits. She gestured to Legend, as if he held all the answers. Well, he did look like he held all the answers. But it still seemed a little far-fetched – was I to suddenly gain the ability to talk to horses? I stroked his mane affectionately, hoping to somehow find something. Help me Legend, I thought, what do I do?

Then came an answer.

She will be Stunned by my presence for a while, a soft, silky voice seemed to say inside my head. But she is stronger than anticipated. The heart itself won’t be enough. You must wish for a talent.

Wish for a talent?

Remember the Talent book you had? Wish for a talent and use it against her. Then use the heart.

I waited for a further explanation but it didn’t come. The soothing, calming voice in my head was gone. Legend turned his head and almost seemed to look me in the eye and give a short nod. Reassuring as that felt, I was discombobulated. I just had to wish for a talent. Just wish. It seemed like defeating Atala was based heavily on willpower. So I thought of the powers. Not super-strength or levitation, not prophecy… But what else was there? I didn’t have the time to read all that information in the book.

Atala moved her head, and the rest of her body followed. I panicked. Fear gripped at my insides harder than ever before. Could she actually kill me? She seemed quite intent to do so at this moment.

Focus! I had to do this. The powers… the powers… She was getting closer…

Psychic-Telepathic?, Legend suggested.

My mind flashed back at the pages I’d read. Yes, psychic-telepathic was one of them. That way I could look into Atala’s past, or touch an object and see its past… Yes, I could distract her. I willed it with all my might. Amandla’s disappearance, which was always at the back of my head all through this but seemed so surreal that it did not affect me, suddenly flooded in as terrifyingly and unmistakably real. Tears began to flood down my cheeks. I didn’t know if I could save her, but I had to try. I had to. I willed hard in my heart to get the power, kill Atala…

And it felt as though a wave of magic flowed through my veins and into the heart of my very existence. It had to be the power. And I thought hard. I thought hard to look into Atala’s past…

A dark fireball whooshed straight past, almost grazing my left ear.

More followed suit, flying out from Atala’s large, wrinkle-free palms. I dodged them, with much more ease than I had expected – my instincts had kicked in. I was so close to defeating Atala, so close, I could feel it… But even as I kept trying to look into her past, nothing came.