Part Three: Chaos [POV Detected: Jules Smith, Jay]

[POV Detected: Jules Smith, Jay]

Avi’s standing, Eagle’s alive, and I have a huge cut on my side that hurts like hell. No one’s noticed yet, which is fine by me. I want to see where this is going. I hear Peri mutter something.

“What was that?” I ask her quietly.

Noticing my attention, she jerks her head up. “Oh, nothing,” she replies softly. She’s lying. I frown.

“Tell me,” I say with an edge to my voice.

Peri doesn’t reply. She looks up to the sky apprehensively.

“Peri…” What isn’t she telling me?

“It was nothing,” she murmurs.

“Okay, geez,” I mutter, turning back toward the others.

“What now?” Darknight asks, staring at Avi, who is dancing around in the center of the battle ring. I’m about to answer when I hear the woosh of air I’ve come to connect to the arrival of either Swift or Incitatus. In this case, it’s Incitatus. Who is the last person I want to see right now.

Darknight’s obviously thinking the same thing, because he mutters “Sunt cognati mihi?” Which means ‘are you kidding me’ in Latin. Incitatus slides to a stop next to Avi, who scowls and steps back toward the treeline.

“Not so fast,” I growl, trapping him in ice up to his neck. “You’re staying here.” Avi groans, but doesn’t try to escape. I turn to see Darknight trying to send darkness skeins at Incantatus, but something is repelling them. I see her onyx-black armour and put two and two together. “You can’t use darkness against her,” I tell Darknight.

“She’s right,” Incantatus crows. “You can’t touch me!”

“Maybe not with darkness,” Darknight growls, “but you forgot about light.” Incitatus looks scared for a second, then confused, then she regains her composure. I see Darknight close his eyes, concentrating. Then I gasp. Light pools in his palms. He becomes a beacon of light, almost too bright to look at. Eagle is smiling, basking in his light like, well an eagle would on a sunny day. Incitatus steps back, staring. Then Darknight shoves his hands out toward her, and a stream of light envelopes her, connecting them.

Incitatus cries out as streams of… something… are pulled out of her and through the light. She grows weaker as Darknight grows stronger, until suddenly the light goes out and Incantatus falls to the ground. She’s ten yards away, but Darknight is standing in front of her in a second. He… he took her speed powers… I turn my attention to the scene in front of me. I can see Peri’s eyes widen and an eyebrow go up. “What the flakon mute…”

Darknight reaches a hand over Incantatus’s head, and a stream of light falls over her. He gave back her power. Why?

“Leave,” Darknight says, voice dangerously quiet. “Leave, and never come back.” Incitatus nods, then stands and flees, quickly becoming a blur on the horizon.

The group is silent for a moment. “You should use that more often,” Peri says, breaking the silence. Darknight grins, but I can see that using the light took a lot out of him. He looks asleep on his feet. Suddenly everything is surrounded by black dots. My wounds… the scratch on my forehead and the cut on my side… I’ve lost too much blood. Darkling looks worried.

“Are you alright?” He asks, but it sounds like we’re underwater. The black dots cover my vision and I fall to the ground.

[End Jay POV]