Jiwa

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I think there's more!" shouted Kelly. I whimpered and nodded. Instead of walking out, some of the Scarlet Guards had regained consciousness. Kelly and Devi had surrounded me to protect me from them. We were in the middle of fighting our way to the exit, but we weren't doing so hot.

"Melawan!" shouted Devi, raising her hands in front of her. An orange light shot from her palms and manifested into a huge avatar of herself, swinging a giant sword. It kinda reminded me of the huge spirit giants from The Legend of Korra.

"Devi! That's a Fifth-Year spell!" I exclaimed awestruck. Devi managed to turn around and smile.

"Devs, I need a little help!" called Kelly. Seeing Devi was occupied, I ran over to Kelly and knelt behind her.

"Whaddya need?" I said hurriedly. Kelly grimaced, but managed to whisper, "Paint!" I immediately understood. I stood up and glanced around the room. There, in the corner, lay an unfinished portrait of something, a project one of the Guards had been doing in their spare time.

I raised my hand and yelled, "Banyak!" The paint on the canvas shuddered, then sloshed back into the floor. I panicked and whipped back around.

"Kells...my magic..." Devi slumped to the ground across the room. But she somehow heard me and, sitting herself up, made eye contact and pointed a finger at me.

"Menolong," she gasped. I felt a familiar glow spread throughout my body. I breathed a sigh of relief and easily multiplied the amount of paint until the spell wore off and my magic was gone once again. I guided it into Kellys' range, then stepped back.

Kelly stood up, and with a roar, the Guards she was fighting stumbled backward. She raised her hands above her head. Her headband snapped and her Afro encircled her head untethered. Her eyes and hair began to glow as her powers grew.

Sensing what was about to happen, I ran and grabbed Devi, then huddled with her for safety. We watched in amazement and Kelly slowly rose off the ground.

"Lari!" She shouted. Paintballs spun in the air, slowly at first but picking up speed. Then, with a twist of her wrist, Kelly fired the paintballs straight at the guards. The force knocked some of them out.

"Pergi!" In a flash, more paint rose off the floor and shot straight at the men. They kept shooting, knocking the men over, and then bouncing off the wall. Devi made the oh wow face and I stared slack-jawed, muttering "Wahai, Kells" over and over.

The room looked like something from Splatoon; the walls and floor splattered in paint, the people covered in paint. No Inklings, though.

When Kelly finally drifted back to the ground and her eyes stopped glowing, she coughed and looked around the room in wonder.

"Kelly, that was amazing!" I squealed, running up and hugging her. She grinned tiredly and wrapped an arm around me. She wrapped the other around Devi, who walked up behind me and dutifully entered the hug.

"Now, Fiona - you said something about your magic?" said Kelly worriedly. I nodded sadly and held up my palms. To demonstrate, I tried swirling a bit of water in the air, but it didn't move. Devi sighed dejectedly as my palms gave no clue about how my magic had disappeared.

"Fiona, we have to get you to a hospital. The Med Wing at school ain't gonna cut it," said Kelly decidedly. Devi nodded her agreement.

"Alright, fine. However, only a few hospitals in this area can give me this kind of help. Magic help, I mean," I clarified. Devi smiled a bit, and said, "I think I could help ya with that."

~

We found ourselves in the waiting room of a huge underground hospital. I didn't question how we had gotten there, but my best guess was the Spirit of the Thing.