Unseen

Chapter 22

"But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit." (Jude 1:20)

Eloise crouched down behind a huge crate on the top floor of the church.  She was waiting for a demon to come, then she would set off the trap.  But it wasn't a demon who came, it was Xale.

She heard him come up the stairs.  When he reached the top, she almost came out of her hiding spot to embrace him, but then she realized he had been brainwashed.  His eyes had turned dark.

He spotted Eloise and ran towards her, pulling the lava gauntlet out of his belt.  The one she had made for him.  Eloise teleported away, nearly missing the shot.  The crate set on fire beside her, so she ran to the side, missing the fire narrowly.

"Xale, come on," she protested.  "You just had to fight me, didn't you?"

Xale didn't seem to hear what she was saying.  He just kept firing at her and she kept teleporting away.

"Out of everyone here of course I have to be the one to fight you," Eloise grumbled, teleporting behind Xale.  He turned around and fired at her, but she ducked.

"X, I'm sorry I couldn't save you!  You saved me, but I couldn't return the favour," Eloise rambled, heartbroken that Xale had been brainwashed and didn't seem to hear her or remember her or anything.  "I'm so sorry!"

Eloise teleported away and then hurled a spare ninja star at him.  She thought it would distract him, but it hit Xale's forehead instead, knocking him out.

She rushed over to him. 

"X! X!" she cried, shaking his shoulders.  "X, I'm sorry!  Are you okay?" 

Xale's eyes fluttered open.  "El?" he whispered, weakly.  Eloise grinned.

"You're okay!" she cried.  Xale sat up and Elosie pulled him into a hug.

"I am," he responded softly, thinking about what Kayta had said to him about her earlier.  "Thank you."

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"Isss sssomeonnee therree?" a demon hissed, startling Milly.  It morphed into a shadow, slipped under the door, and then morphed back into a demon inside the bathroom.

"What are you doing here?" Milly cried, unable to think straight.

"I'vvee founndd youu noww," the demon smiled evilly.

The last thing Milly remembered was the demon running at her with full force, before everything black.

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"Is that Milly?" Star asked, looking out the window and pointing to a demon holding someone in a net.

Jen looked out the window.  "No!  The demons must have found her!"

"Quickly!  We gotta go save her!" Star urged, and they ran out the entrance to the church.

"Where are you guys going?" Ley spotted them.

"Milly!" Jem cried.  Ley's eyes widened after seeing Jem's distraught face.  He immediately figured out what was going on.

"Ashim, I'll be right back," he called, before following Star and Jem out of the church.

"There she is!" Star pointed. 

"Whyy helloo therree," the demon hissed.  Jem stomped a foot on the ground.

"Let her go!" he cried.

"Iff youu leavvee thhee chhuurrcchh," the demon replied.

"Never!" Star shouted.

"Put her down!" Ley yelled.

"Iff youu sssayy sssoo," the demon chuckled, then dropped the net from the church steeple.

"MILLY!" Jem yelled as she fell from the sky landing on the ground with a sickening crunch. "NO!"

The three of them rushed over to her and quickly untangled her from the net.  She laid unconscious on the grass as her friends panicked around her.

"Quick, do you know CPR?" Ley asked.

"No!" Star and Jem responded at the same time.

"How could she have survived that fall?" Jem complained.  "How could she still be alive?"

"What do we do?" Star panicked.  "What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?"

And suddenly, a tiny voice whispered in her mind.  Pray.  Star hesitated, God never seemed to answer her prayers, but she didn't know what else to do.  Star put her hands together and closed her eyes.

"Um... hello? It's Star, if you don't know who I am. Um, can you heal my friend Milly? A demon dropped her from the church steeple. She might be dead, but I hope she isn't. Can you please save her? Um, thanks. Oh, Amen! Amen!"

"What are you doing?" Ley asked her as she stood up again.

"I was praying.  But nothing seemed to happen," Star sighed, dejected.

Suddenly, Milly's eyes fluttered open and she sat up.  "Guys?" she asked weakly.  "What happened?"

Everyone's mouth dropped open. 

"It worked!" Star cried, jumping up and dancing around.  "My prayer worked!  My prayer worked!"

Jem gave Milly a tight bear hug.  "You're alive!" he cried.  "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not dead, that's for sure," Milly commented, still confused as to why everyone was celebrating.  "Can someone please fill me in?"

"The demon captured you and dropped you from up there," Ley pointed to the church steeple.

"What?  Really?  How am I alive?" she exclaimed.

"That's what I said!  But Star prayed something and you sat up," Jem explained.

"Yeah, what did you say in your prayer, Star?" Ley turned to face her.

"I'm not entirely sure," Star confessed.  Milly stood up.

"Let's go back inside, we are getting all wet," Milly observed.  The three of them had completely forgotten it was pouring rain outside.  Jem nodded and the four of them ran back into the church.