Magics: Escape (Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-One

"HEY!" Chase yelled at top volume, charging toward the door angrily. Linda and Kai were right behind him as he lunged up the steps and pounded on the door. "What do you think you're doing?! She's with us! Let her out! Or better yet, let the rest of us in!" 

The door swung open quickly again, and Chase almost punched a stocky, middle-aged man with tanned skin, thick and curly brown hair that reached his shoulders, and a small, stubbly beard. He looked like he was very much capable of blocking Chase's punch, if Chase had even tried. He was thickset and average height. His eyes, which were so brown they looked almost black, were locked on Kai. 

Before Kai could even begin to feel unsettled about why the man looked so angry at him, the man charged forward. Kai threw up his arms in a defense position, but the man veered around him, grabbed one of his wrists on the way and pulled it behind Kai's back. He then shoved Kai down with brute strength, planting one knee on his lower back and holding his left arm behind him in a painful position. 

Kai's face was pushed against the gravel painfully so that he could see in front of him but not behind, but his legs were free. He tried to kick them up and hit the man in the back, but before he could, the man placed his shin over Kai's legs, pinning them down. 

"WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Chase screamed, bounding toward the man angrily. He tossed the backpack aside and continued to advance toward the man, but stopped suddenly with a look of shock. 

The pressure on his legs and back was abruptly gone, but the man's hand was still firmly locked on Kai's arm. So when the man was yanked back by a force that was unknown to Kai, pain flared through his arm and up into his bad shoulder. 

He bit back a cry of pain, but the man's hand slipped away, and Kai was able to stand and whip around. What he found shocked him more than the man tackling him.

Abby had her legs wrapped around the man's neck, crossed at the ankles. Her hands were gripped firmly on his wrists, holding them beside his head so he couldn't pry her legs free. The frown on her face was the scariest part of it all. 

"Wow," Linda said, and Kai realized she'd been about to do something too. She was in a stance that showed that she was about to punch the guy in the face. "That was not what I was expecting. I thought you were going to run in front of Chase and say something about handling this peacefully." 

"He attacked my boyfriend," Abby spat, her voice as sharp as icicles. "NO ONE is allowed to attack my boyfriend." She squeezed her legs tighter, glaring blades down at the man, who was not even trying to break free. 

"Boyfriend," he repeated, his voice low and throaty, slightly hoarse from the pressure on his neck. "That creature is your boyfriend?" 

"Bad idea," Chase said at the same time Abby screamed "CREATURE?!"

Everyone cringed, but the man raised his dark eyebrows up at Abby. "I hope you realize that you're boyfriend is a Dark," he said dryly. "He's come here for something I cannot give him." 

"No," Linda said suddenly, crossing her arms and glaring at the downed man. "We are not his hostages. We are his friends, thank you very much. The one that's currently got you in a lock is his girlfriend. Nice to meet you," she added with as much sarcasm as she could put in her voice. 

The man directed his gaze to Linda and raised one eyebrow, but only for a moment. "Ah," he said, studying her up and down. "A telepath, I presume?" He raised his eyebrows again as Linda undoubtedly answered in his head. 

"Also, my telepathy comes with telekinesis," she informed him. "So I could have thrown you into your own house and trapped you in a chair, but Abby beat me. I'm Linda, by the way. This is Chase, Gabriel, Abby, the one you took in the house with you is Amy, and the one you tackled is Kai, our friend." 

Amy chose that moment to emerge from the house, rubbing her wrist with a frown directed at the man. "Not cool, dude," she said gruffly.

"Prove to me that I can trust this boy," the man said roughly. 

"Well, for starters," Abby said harshly, "he's my boyfriend. Do you think I'd be in a relationship with an evil dark? Secondly, he's saved our lives more than once. Thirdly, he's a kind and sweet and amazing boy, and you shouldn't have JUMPED TO CONCLUSIONS BEFORE ATTACKING HIM." 

Kai stood rubbing his throbbing arm, not finding the courage to frown at the man. This guy was strong, stubborn, and obviously deteremined to keep Darks away from his house. But why did he have the gem? 

"I still don't trust him, not even all of you," the man conluded, frowning at Chase, who was standing with his arms crossed and a small smirk on his face, obviously proud of his sister for taking down such a man. "But please let me up." 

"What makes you think I trust you?" Abby said sternly. "You just tackled Kai. How do I know you're not going to do it again?" She adjusted her position slightly, and the man grunted. 

"You have my word, girl," he said roughly. "I won't do anything to any of you, unless you do something to me. Come inside and discuss why you're here, staring at my house." 

Abby frowned for a moment, considering, then released his wrists and uncrossed her legs. She slid off of him and stood, brushing off her jeans and shifting her weight from one foot to another. 

Kai backed away as the man stood up, rubbing his neck and shooting a slightly impressed look at Abby. "Come on," he said, gesturing with his free hand toward the doorway, where Amy was standing. "You all have some explaining to do." 

Chase frowned harshly at the man. "Don't ever do anything like that again, to any of us." 

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Unless I have to." He disappeared into his house, followed shortly by Linda and Gabriel, who exchanged confused and wary looks. They disappeared as well.

Chase walked over to Amy, who had turned toward the doorway again. "You alright?" 

"Yeah," she replied with a shrug of her right shoulder. "He's got a good grip, I'll give him that." 

Kai silently agreed, pushing back the throbbing pain in his shoulder. He fell into step with Abby, who was beginning to look like herself again. 

"That was awesome," he breathed in awe, unable to take his eyes off her blue ones. 

She glanced up at him and gave him an embarrassed smile. "Thanks... I guess. He just... made me angry. I mean, he shouldn't have attacked you like that. ... It was nothing, really."

Kai could hardly hear what she was saying. His stomach was doing flips, and his face was undoubtedly red. He suddenly respected his girlfriend a whole lot more. 

"It wasn't nothing," Kai said to her, trying to calm the butterflies in his stomach. "It was incredible." 

She blushed a little, and Kai smiled. 

He was pretty sure he couldn't love Abby any more than he did. 

~

This chappy is kind of short, and sorry if it's choppy, but HOLY HAPPINESS 

I was so excited to put this guy in there!! He's so freaking boss

You'll find out his name in the next chapter

But yo, I love him XD.

What do y'all think? 

He's one of my older OCs that I made up when I was like seven, but I'm changing him up a bit. 

I'll give you more details on his old character in the next chappy!

Peace!!~~~