Chapter Twenty-Four

I followed Gabriel as he turned again and again. He seemed to know his way around the palace expertly. I trusted his direction, his innate ability, but I knew that even without him I would have found Avalon. There was not a part inside of me that was not conscience of his nearness.

Titans were everywhere, around corners, at the end of hallways; they pursued us with every step. I used magic as fast and as fiercely as I could. Gabriel was a skilled warrior, his priestly robes flowed out from behind him as we ran, and magic lead the way from his fingertips.

“How quickly can you take someone's magic?” he questioned loudly over his shoulder.

“Pretty fast,” I yelled back, throwing out more magic and missing a Titan by just an inch. I hit the marble wall instead with shocking force, sending shrapnel soaring and debris littering the hallway. I picked up the same debris with my magic in a whirlwind of energy and buried the Titan in a heavy heap of rubble. It wouldn't keep him for long, but it would buy us some time.

“When we get to Avalon, I have no doubt his cell will be Guarded by at least a dozen guards,” he continued to yell over his shoulder, while dialing a number on his cell phone simultaneously. “It would be best if you took all of their magic at once and immediately. That would be our best chance for survival.”

“Sure,” I replied confidently, inwardly freaking the hell out. A dozen Guards? At once? Immediately? Who was he kidding?

“Eden, I'm serious!” he shouted back, “If you cannot do it, we will never leave that prison cell.”

“I'll try,” I promised back, and then amended my words, “I'll do my best.”

“Then do it now!” he ordered and we rounded one last corner, finally entering the dungeon part of the palace.

Fifteen Titan Guards stood, ready and waiting for us in front of a long, dark hallway with wooden doors, evenly spaced, lining the right side of the corridor. I skidded to a stop, a little off balance, waving my arms and trying to stand tall. Gabriel stepped behind me waiting for my magic to take over. The Guards, however were not thrown off and immediately started to use their magic either against us or with objects against us. I dodged out of the way, by diving back behind the wall, landing on Gabriel who had the same idea.

“I thought you were going to take their magic!” he questioned me. The sound of the walls crashing around us was incredibly noisy and I struggled to hear anything.

“It's just not that easy!” I defended myself, throwing my hands over my head to protect myself from falling or flying debris.

“Make it that easy!” He shook my shoulders, forcing me to pay attention, his orange eyes flashing with unhurried intensity.

I leaned my head back against what was left of the destroyed wall and concentrated. I had to pull their magic, all fifteen of their magics. But I didn't have to be facing them. So I focused on the violent energy circulating around the room and began to draw it to myself. I couldn't count the individual magic I was stealing, so I continued feeling out the rest of the room, searching for more.

When I was confident that I was draining the room sufficiently, I stood up and nodded to Gabriel. We walked around the corner this time to find weakened Titans struggling to hold on to their power. All fifteen of them had taken a knee, begging me with their eyes to stop. They knew what was coming, they knew the fate that awaited them and that whatever whispered rumors they heard were true.

I wanted to have compassion on them, to find the bits of humanity that still resided in my soul and remember mercy, but my eyes flickered to the first, locked door behind the weakening Guards and I remembered Avalon. I couldn't be kind to men who would willingly torture my brother and turn their heads from tyranny.

I stomped my foot in anger, taking the last remnants of magic from the room and rendering the men unconscious with one collective blow. I tried to stand up straighter, to revel in momentary victory, but I was suddenly tired. Fifteen magics at once turned into the opposite of strength. I was suddenly weak, and frail. My body buzzed with the frantic energy of the newly acquired magic. All of a sudden, I felt as I did before I knew I was magical, before I knew what to do with my energy. I was too inundated with electricity to function. I needed release,and hoped Avalon's prison cell would be room enough to expel the excess energy.

I stumbled backwards, and Gabriel was there to catch me, “Are you all right?” he asked, pushing me forward, without waiting for a response.

“I'm fine, open the door,” I commanded, sending a powerful burst of magic down the long hallway. The back wall exploded into a million pieces, breaking a hole into an atrium of sorts. I felt better, not completely myself, but put together enough that I wasn't afraid of hurting Avalon.

Gabriel forced the prison door open with his shoulder and then tumbled through to the other side with me on his heels. I stopped short however, finding my brother in front of me and barely alive.

He sat in a wooden chair, with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles bound to the legs of the chair. His head drooped forward and I couldn't tell if he was conscious or not. His shoulder length hair was blood-soaked and matted to his head. His body trembled in agonized weakness, his chest heaving unevenly with the effort to breath. His green-ink tattoos stood off his pallid skin in stark contrast, their intricate lines raised from his body as if God created his veins in the shapes of Avalon's choosing.

“Avalon?” I asked carefully, quietly. The sight of so much suffering made me ill.

He lifted his head so that I could just see one swollen, black and blue eye, dripping with blood and making his face nearly unrecognizable. His one shoulder still sagged, like it had the night he was taken from the farm and his clothes were soaked with dried blood.

The stench of the room was almost unbearable, but even worse was Avalon. He was broken and beaten and I could hardly bare to look at him, let alone believe that I let this happen to him for weeks and had done nothing tangible to help him.

I ran to him, kneeling at his feet, afraid to touch him. Carefully, I lifted my hands to his face, cradling his swollen head and matted hair gently, afraid that I would break him completely with the smallest of movements.

Tears flowed freely from my eyes, my spirit and will broken at the sight of him. How could anyone allow such cruelty? I knew that Lucan was evil; I watched how he had easily taken my grandfather's life.

But this was different. This was torture and suffering at a level I could not comprehend.

I thought of Sebastian, my own prisoner, how I felt guilty for not offering a change of clothes. Yet he was fed, accommodated and treated with respect. This was inhumane. Lucan truly was a monster.

My magic moved aggressively next to my brother, longing for him, longing to be divided again between us. But I couldn't even fathom attempting that inevitable failure with him in this state. First, I was determined to heal him. Then, I could conquer trying to give him his magic back.

“I knew you would come,” he whispered through ragged, broken breaths, but I hushed him, knowing I could fix at least the physical damage.

I sent the blue smoke out with purpose, wrapping Avalon in its wispy tufts and turning everything in the room to blue. I felt the healing magic work at his scarred appendages and wounded body. It wove its way around his legs, healing the skin on his ankles and then to his wrists that were raw, to his shoulder that was dislocated and to his back that was etched in scars from countless unanswered questions or small signs of rebellion. His face slowly began to reform into the shape I remembered, and the swelling, gradually began to decrease.

The smoke helped him sit up straighter, feel his muscles again, and find purpose again. I heard the sickening, crunching of bones and saw the inflamed areas of his face, squirt with abused liquid. He was coming to himself again in the gentlest way possible, but still the healing process was agonizing.

“So that's what it does,” he laughed in short bursts of strained whispers, finding the smoke amusing. Only, Avalon.

Gabriel ripped off the restraints from his wrists and then the shackles from his ankles with his magic and Avalon stood up a strong and determined man. His eyes remained tired, but I knew that was only because he didn't have his magic back. That would change as soon as I could get him out of here.

“We have to go, we have to leave now!” I whispered fiercely, pulling on his hand.

“Of course,” he agreed and Gabriel walked from the room first, surveying our escape route and nodding his head. We followed Gabriel, the hallways feeling empty. Something was wrong, I could feel it, but I didn't have time to analyze now. I had to get Avalon as far from the palace as I could, and my magic still wasn't under control. I pretended to be all right, but my magic buzzed uncomfortably underneath my skin and I was dizzy with the effort to keep it contained.

Gabriel was on his phone again, texting frantically the instructions to set the bombs off. From his confidence, I had to believe that the explosives were set and we were just waiting for the scattered teams to push ignite.

I grasped Avalon's hand, pulling him with me as we ran through the solitary hallways waiting for the inevitable fight. I couldn't help but feel the nagging sensation at the back of my neck that something was wrong, there should be Titans, there should be explosions. Everything felt like slow motion and my heart was pounding wildly against my chest in suspense.

We exited a hallway into another corridor, but it was at least one I remembered. We were not far from the doors, not far from exiting the palace, we were almost there. Gabriel slowed his run however, and I felt the room fill with magic that was not mine. Magic that I recognized, magic that I wanted so desperately to forget.

Kiran walked through the opposite side of the corridor, surrounded by Guards on every side. I expected a hundred different emotions to play out on his face, but relief was not one of them. He walked purposely towards me, stopping just short and smiling.

“You're Ok,” he whispered, making the moment surprisingly awkward.

“I'm fine,” I grunted, battle ready and wondering if I was physically able to absorb anymore magic today. My intuition told me I wasn't, but my urgency to leave this palace with my brother was bound and determined.

“Give me Avalon and you'll be able to escape,” Kiran insisted, taking a step forward and holding out his hand expectantly.

“No!” I replied adamantly, “There is no way in hell I would leave him here with you, I'm taking him with me!” I shoved Avalon forcefully behind me as if I were a shield of protection.

“You will never get out of here with him like this. You've healed him, now give him to me. I won't let my father torture him anymore,” Kiran promised, his tone turning to stern.

“No! I don't think you get it, I'm taking him with me!” I half shouted, frustrated with the roadblock and my untimely weakness.

“My father is waiting on the other side of those doors with two-hundred Titan Guards. You cannot fight them alone, now give me your brother so that you can escape. Eden, I give you my word, now that I am healthy, I will not let anything happen to him.”

“Your word means nothing to me!” I screamed at full volume, tired of playing games.

“Eden, he's right,” Avalon interrupted, letting go of my hand and walking to my side. “I am just going to slow you down.”

“We have a plan Avalon.... we just need to get out of here, like now.” I didn't want to explain to Avalon that the palace was loaded with explosives and about ready to implode in front of Kiran, but if he didn't start moving with me now, I would have to.

“Eden, he will be safe with me.” Kiran took a step forward, holding my eyes and begging me to believe him.

“We have to go,” Gabriel said seriously, glancing between his phone and the exit.

“I don't believe you,” I answered Kiran, grasping Avalon's hand again and pushing past Kiran.

“Let her go,” Kiran demanded of his Guard, and they moved out of the way.

Gabriel led the way through the arched palace doors, into the afternoon sunlight and a courtyard filled with Titan Guards. He slowed to a stop, stepping in front of me, and me in front of Avalon.

“I am very curious to know how you did that,” Lucan walked forward from the center of his Guards, gesturing to Avalon. “The same way you healed my son, I suppose.”

“Something like that,” I growled.

“Is that the reason my Caves no longer work?” he pressed. I tilted my chin in defiance, wondering if he understood what happened anymore than I did. “I hate to see you rush off so soon, Eden. We were just about to offer you a room,” Lucan snickered, his lips curving into a cruel smile.

“How thoughtful of you....” I mumbled surveying the courtyard for a way out.

I heard the palace doors open, Kiran and his Guards filled in the places behind us, completing the circle of our enemies. Gabriel tilted his head impatiently and I felt his anxiety. The bombs would be going off any second; I needed to get Avalon out of here before we were caught up in the explosions. There was no way Avalon could survive.

My arm jerked sporadically, the electric build-up was getting out of control. There was a high-pitched ringing sound in my ears and my vision narrowed into a tunnel. I was seconds from passing out, there was no time left to wait, I had to act now.

I sent a forceful burst of magic forward, creating an explosion of my own and sending ten Guards soaring from the impact. I felt a little better, but it hadn't been enough to calm my frayed nerves. I rushed forward, Gabriel and Avalon on my heels, expelling as much magic as I could in short bursts, but nothing was helping. The buzzing grew more frantic, my blood was unbearably hot, and my hearing hardly recovered.

Titans surrounded us on every side, there was nowhere to go, no way out, but I was relentless. I made it this far, there would be no stopping my escape. Rationally, it shouldn't have even made sense that the other side of the palace walls were safety, the Titans would have pursued us to the ends of the earth.

It felt like progress though and so I continued fighting and pushing my way towards the exit. I wasn't unscathed, my head was bleeding and I was filthy from the fighting and debris of the palace, but I couldn't feel pain, I couldn't feel anything but the panicked magic pulsing through my veins.

And then the explosions started, from the back of the palace making their way towards us in rapid succession before anyone could turn their head and understand what the sound was or where it started from. The courtyard suddenly filled with blinding light and ear-splitting roars.

I turned back to Avalon, his fingers slipping from my hold as we were propelled in opposite directions. He was sucked back into the inferno and I was flying through the air towards the stone walls that surrounded the palace grounds. I felt my throat burn from the screaming, but I couldn't hear anything other than the palace being ripped apart from the inside.

In that moment, I knew I had lost my brother; that he would find his sweet freedom in the middle of a bomb I might as well have placed there and ignited myself. Everything happened in slow motion, I seemed to be in the air forever, even through the hysteria and danger, the magic inside of me still fought to take my consciousness, but I refused to take my eyes off my brother.

I was losing awareness, but some small part of me realized I wasn't imagining the slow motion, someone had time-slowed the events. As Avalon fell through the air, into the roaring inferno, Kiran was suddenly there, tackling his body mid-air to the ground and shielding Avalon from the danger around him.

I felt the momentary realization that Kiran saved my brother's life but then I was lost to the frenzied magic and sent into violent unconsciousness.