listen closely

8

{Shelby}

An alarm starts going off.
"What does that mean?" Callum looks around.
"I don't think it's anything good," He says, "Nope, dark movement down the westward towns."
"That's not good," Shelby looks at the projected map, "They're coming in through here, so if we come through here we can cut them off before they reach another town."
"You know why the odds aren't in our favor? Because they have millions of soldiers and we have peaceful villages." Callum says, "If we're gonna do that we need everyone, so unless you can Em and Lizzie back here, we're gonna die." I wrap my hand around my necklace.
"Em, we need you," I say
"I'm in the middle of something," Em says
"There's an attack and it's just Callum and me here."
"I'll be back in a second." Em sighs.

"What's going on?" Lizzie appears next to me.
"There some Chasers coming down the trail," Em says, "We need to cut them off before they get to the next town."
"How many towns have they already gotten to?"
"Three."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"We did," I say, "Three times."
"Look at this," Someone says, "I told you they would come."
"It's a trap."
"Really? I thought it was a party." Em says
"It can be a party if you want it to." One of the figures holds out their hand, a glowing ball forms in their palm. "Hello Savior, how're you?" Em steps in front of me.
"Oh come on," The other figure says, "We just want to have a little fun. We won't hurt anyone." They hold out their hand, everything starts glowing faintly.
"Look at that energy," They laugh, "She's one of us." Liam and Will look at each other for a minute.
"Look, the little prince came to join us too," A crown floats over Scott's head. "Good haul today, the queen will be pleased to have her son back." A dome forms around us. Liam hits the side of the dome but nothing happens.
"Grase," Will says, "What are you doing?"
"Took you long enough." One of them pulls off their mask. Half of his face is covered in metal and his eyes glow red. "Hey guys, it's been a while..."
"Grase what are you doing?" Will repeats, "Come on, we're your friends."
"You were," The other person pulls off their mask. Her eyes are glowing purple while black stars float around her. "And then we realized that the word 'friend' didn't mean anything to you guys, you just want power." She glares at Scott.
"Look, we-"
"We don't need an explanation," Graser says, "We have our own people now." Scott grabs the crown that the floating in half and pulls it in half, his eyes glow.
"Scott-" He slams his hand against the side of the dome, it shatters around us and disappears.
"I still have the powers of a prince, my magic is stronger than both of yours combined," Scott says, "You think you're so powerful? I could wipe you, and all your friends out with one finger. Remember that next time you destroy a town or kill someone. In the final battle, I will come after you two personally and make you pay for everything you've destroyed." Lauren and Graser take a step back. "And in the end, it will be me standing there laughing while you two have nowhere to go." Scott's eyes stop glowing, "You can tell my mom that I'm fine. Go." Both of them nod and disappear.
"Damn Scott," Callum says, "That was intense."
"Yeah," I say, "It was kinda scary." Scott doesn't say anything. "So uh, who are they?"
"Lauren and Graser? They used to be part of the Elite, but while trying to get Will out of a based we got separated and we thought they died." Lizzie says, "I guess they didn't."

"Lizzie, can I talk to you?" Lizzie pulls a tray out of the oven.
"Sure, what is it?" She pokes a cookie and sighs. "Does this seem baked long enough?" She hands me a cookie. I take a bite.
"No." I say, "That's not what I wanted to talk about."
"Right, sorry." She says, "What's up?" She puts the tray back in.
"Em is thinking about leaving and she doesn't want to tell you," I say
"What? She can't leave, we need her." Lizzie takes off her apron and sighs.
"She says she needs to help her people."
"She is," Lizzie says, "And we need her here."
"I told her that," I say, "She's still leaving." Lizzie walks over to our bedroom door.
"Em? We need to talk." There's no response. Lizzie walks over to the table, the map appears. "She's not on here," Lizzie searches the map again, "She's already gone."