Catastrophic

Chapter Fourteen

    Bryony starts to work at the window, and although she tries to be silent, let’s just say that for the first time, I actually found something Bryony’s not good at. Even if the alarms were broken, we would still get busted just by the ears of the town.

    She’s taking an awful lot of time hammering on the window, and I chastise her for it. She shoots me a death glare that’s only semi scary, and goes back to her work with grunts in between.

    “Seriously though,” I confront her, “why is this taking too long?” It should have been just one swing and KA-BOOM!, just like the movies.

    “I have two predictions,” she confesses. “The first one is that this glass is the remnants of Superman, only ten times stronger and is impossible to defeat. The other is that an evil villain cast a ward over all entrances of this bathroom in order to keep out the heroine.” I have a feeling the second one comes the closest.  

    “Then how do we get in?” The only entrances to the bathroom are the door, the Throne, the skylight, and a window, and all four are most likely guarded.

    “Last resort. Ready to blast this spell down?”

    Why, it would be my pleasure. I grab the hammer and―for lack of a better term―download it onto the object. The idea just came to me to be perfectly honest. I had never heard of magic in this case. With all my might, I bring the hammer home, and a surge of energy flow throughout me. The window bursts open silently, and I swing myself inside. Landing in a crouch, I check the other three possible entrances and hope they are eliminated of her magic. I nod up to Bryony, who jumps inside just as the alarm goes off.

    “To the Throne! Now!” she screeches, although she was expecting the noise to come. We rush into the handicap stall and sprint through the meadow to the Throne. I leap onto the chair, and scooch over hurriedly for Bryony to jump on.

    “I’m not coming with you,” she whispers from a few feet away. Disbelief floods through me, and I would much rather believe that I’m going mad than to know that the person beside me, my instructor and friend, is leaving me to face my perils on my own.

    “You can’t just do that! Not after everything I still have to learn! I’ll never defeat Emilia without you!” With that, I start to whimper and plead, but I don’t get off the Throne. I knew this would happen one day. I just didn’t want to admit it.

    “You’ll have to learn by yourself. I would have taught you so much more if I had had the time, but I’m afraid we were cut short. You can do this. This is your adventure, not mine.”

    “I’m not going to say goodbye,” I indefinitely confide. “Not after you’ve been so nice and helpful to me.”

    With a flair of her nostrils, she indignantly and regretfully mutters, “Then I’ll do it for you.” Lightning couldn’t compare to her reflexes as she reached out and slammed her hand down on the button. The dizziness that overwhelms me gives me just one more sight of the police as they handcuff Bryony and take her away, and at that moment, I really believe that all hope is lost for little ol’ Kassandra Talm.  

    Meadows stream out before me with groupings of bright flowers patched here and there. On any other day, the meadows would have been ideal, but now as I’m overcome with failure, they sicken me. I storm out of my seat and stomp over to the closest grouping. Violent passion takes over, and I rip out the flowers. With a satisfied smirk, I imagine bringing terror to Emilia as I crush the delicate petals in my one hand.

    I spot the camp a little ways ahead. In my fairly blind hurt, I manage to foresee that going to camp right away is not in my best interest. To make them believe in me, I’ve got to have proof. To get proof, I’ve got to stay low.