Unforgettable (OLD COPY DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 37

I can't...I can't breathe.

I am infinitely aware of the pain as Mrs. Nox watches me squirm, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. It's like hot copper wires are being pulled through my veins, my heart aching with every heartbeat.

I can feel my body shutting down as I try to gasp in a desperate breath of air but no oxygen passes my lips. I fall to my knees as the pain behind my eyes doubles to the point they might pop. There is a freight train rattling through the inside of my brain and it's tearing me apart from the inside out.

I can faintly see Indigo and Connor from the corner of my eye, their gazes on me but not seeing me.

Fight.

I remember Indigo's words to me at one time, when she was teaching me to defend myself after Finn's murder.

"Fight me!" her shout from so long ago pierces through the haze that is settling over me.

A memory of her rabbit familiar flickers into focus and I think back to that day, the cold rain sprinkling down from the sky into our tiny backyard as I tried to best her in defending myself.

"You have to fight like your life is depending on it," the ice pick that she had thrown at me was no more than a few inches from my face.

I am fighting.

"Because I might not always be there to protect you," she had warned.

I just hadn't expected it to come so soon.

I try to rise to my feet, my head abruptly heavy, the pressure bearing down on me like a slab of concrete. My heart aches as it hammers in my chest, the pain intensifying as it feels like my lungs are seizing.

Fight.

I stagger to my knees, the muscles in my legs and neck pulling taut as they threaten to snap.

There's a sudden crash of thunder that booms in my ears and I am blinded by white light as I struggle to my feet. I clamp my eyes shut against the light before I dare to open them. Clayton is no longer next to Indigo but nonetheless I don't dare let my guard down.

A ward crackles to life in my palms, the magic rushing through my veins as goose-bumps prickle along my arms and I am bathed in blue light. I shield myself, the air shimmering as I survey what's happened.

Clayton has disappeared and in his place there is a ring of charred wood on the dock where he was standing. I can still see tendrils of smoke rolling off of the blackened wood as a shout catches my attention and I look up.

A bolt of silver light streaks over my head and I duck as I turn to watch where it goes. Mrs. Nox yells in surprise as she casts a ward, the bolt violently ricocheting off of the shield as it streaks away into the water, the black waves illuminated in white.

Another bolt of light quickly succeeds the first as the shield cracks and Mrs. Nox is thrown backwards down the dock as her arms flail uselessly.

"Kara!"

I jolt as I recognize Ava's voice as she sprints out of the darkness with Shawn hard on her heels and I let my shield dissipate. She doesn't stop when she gets to me, instead, she continues past me and runs for Indigo and Connor, who are still kneeling on the dock, their arms splayed toward the sky as the runes continue to do their work.

Fear thrills through me as I take a step in her direction but suddenly can't as I'm face to face with an invisible wall that my forehead connects with. I look up just in time to see that Mrs. Nox has gotten back to her feet, her teeth bared in a snarl as the air around her ripples with power.