Devil in Disguise (Kai Parker)

Chapter Twelve: How she lost her life

12.25 AM, May 10th, 1994

Lori was dead. Alex was dead. Joey was dead. Harry was dead. Jo had lost her spleen, and was about to betray her own flesh and blood. Lukas and Olivia were never going to be the same again. It was all Kai’s fault.

But the girl couldn’t help feeling that their plan was wrong.

She fidgeted with her watch as she saw Jo and Kai approach each other. It was dark in the woods, though her watch told her it was only 12.25 AM. Three minutes until the eclipse hit, and the twin merge would begin. Kai had gotten his wish; he was going to merge with Jo. Or so he thought.

"The power of the eclipse will merge us as one." Jo started, from the centre of the clearing. The Gemini Coven were gathered around her, entrapping the two twins in a circle. The girl, not being an official member of the coven, stood off to one side, watching with a mix of apprehension and fascination. "You know what to say?"

Kai rolled his eyes, "Been practising my whole life."

She bit her lip, wringing her watch nervously and half-hoping he would look up and notice how edgy she was. Maybe then he’d realise something was off. But the boy was too absorbed in the prospect of all his dreams coming true to look away from Jo.

They clasped hands. Both of them were still covered in blood, although Jo’s injury had been healed long ago, by her father. Kai thought it was because she wanted to save her magic, to give her a better shot of winning the merge ceremony. It wasn’t that hard a conclusion to jump to – Jo had never been as strong as her brother – but it wasn’t the reality. "Sanguanem, disimellus. Sanguanem, generis. Flax." they both chanted, with a note of finality on the last Latin word.

Nothing happened.

Jo was the first to open her eyes. She feigned shock, looking around the group of witches and warlocks shiftily. Kai furrowed his eyebrows, and said, "I don’t feel anything."

She shook her head mutely, and re-arranged her grip on his hands. With a note of desperation in Kai’s voice now, they both started to chant again. Once again, nothing happened.

"Josette," he said ominously, through gritted teeth. "Josette, what did you do? Why can’t I feel your magic?"

Jo had gotten rid of it. Hidden it in the knife that took out her spleen. This whole thing was a hoax, to put him in one of the coven’s prisons. A prison where he wouldn’t age, couldn’t die, and would probably never escape from.

There was a roar of oncoming wind, and he dropped Jo’s hands like they burned him. Looking as scared as the girl had ever seen him, he watched the circle of witches. "Why aren’t they saying anything…?" he muttered, "They should be saying something. They should be saying something, right? We’re merging, this should all be a bigger deal!"

His sister said nothing. None of the witches in the circle said anything. The girl was nearly sobbing with the need to do something, but she couldn’t. There wasn’t anything she could do.

"SANGUANEM, FELIO!" came a voice from outside the circle, and Joshua Parker broke through the audience. There was a golden contraption in his hand that simply oozed magic, and as it whirred Kai fell to the floor, screaming. The sound went through the girl like a bullet. ‘ACCRIALIC, ABETO!’ Joshua chanted, "SANGUENEM FELIO!"

Kai clutched his head, rolling on the floor, in total agony. The girl shuddered at the sight, and, in that same wild desperation that drove her to kissing him, pushed through the crowd, kicking and knocking over anyone that refused to move, until she was kneeling by Kai’s head.