Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

59 - Autumn

I wake up when Naomi sets her hand on my arm. She looks at me and smiles a little sadly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Maybe," I say.  Then, my memory comes back. I look at her, blinking the sleep away from my eyes. "Did you ever find any signs?"

"Yes," she says.

My heart stops. "What?"

"It's the tree in the back of the old woman's yard. One of them," she says. "I don't know which one, though."

"What do I have to do?" I ask.

"Come with us, we all are going to the house. We will figure this out together, Elders be damned."

"Okay," I say. I get up and get dressed, and then the two of us  go downstairs. I walk down the hall, Naomi following me, and we reach the front room of the house.

"Are you okay?" Arlo asks as we reach the front room.

"Probably, probably not. I don't know. Let's go, girls."

When we reach the building, and head to the backyard, I see a figure standing in front of a tree. And standing there, with a ball of fire in his hand, is Gabriel. He looks at me and smiles.

"I found your tree," he says.

And then he throws fire at the tree he stood before.

I run forward, screaming, "No!"

Gabriel grabs me before I can reach the tree, which is now wreathed in flames around its base. I scream and struggle against Gabriel's tight hold.

"No, let her go!" Emma shouts.

Suddenly, there is a flash of bright purple light. Gabriel lets go of me, and I stumble back from him, and run towards the tree, my shadows burst from me, engulfing Gabriel's flames in my shadows.

I reach the tree, and then I start to try and put out the fire, but it doesn't seem to do anything. I scramble towards the fence and try to think of how to get through this, as I need water. Or ice, but if I had that, Dylan would be here.

I look up at the tree, and as the flames climb higher, I realize what I have to do. I have to use my power to destroy this tree, tearing it apart. So I take a deep breath, center myself, and I strike the tree with my shadows in full force.

The tree literally explodes, and it just shatters inward, and collapses to ash and bark and tree chunks. Then, there is a flash of light and I am knocked onto my back.

Arlo and Emma run over and help me up. I see Gabriel standing there, and he smiles at me.

"Did you think it was that easy?"

Arlo steps in between me and Gabriel, her furious blue eyes locked on Gabriel. "Come on, Gabriel. This isn't a game, we are just looking for Dylan."

"Of course, of course. You have to find Dylan. It is all for him, isn't it?" Gabriel asks.

"Shut up, Gabriel. This is not the time for you to be cryptic. Where is Dylan?" I ask.

He sighs. "Very well."

He then throws fire at the biggest tree, the one where I saw the cocoon like thing inside the tree. My heart sinks, and Gabriel laughs and then vanishes into nothing.

I run over to the tree, and when I reach the tree, it is now fully engulfed in flames. I look at the others. "What do we do now?"

"I dont know," says Emma.

Naomi wheels over to us, and she holds her hands up into the air, and I watch as the bark shifts and peels back under her power. She smiles.

"Being telekinetic is helpful," she says

I watch as the bark is pulled back away from the center of the tree, and then I step back from the tree as the flames seem to be pulled back from the burnt tree, and then she lifts it up, placing the tree on the ground feet away from us.

I run over to the tree, and my heart nearly stops when I see that it is Dylan. He's somehow trapped in this tree, and Gabriel showed us which one when he burned them. But as I dig at the bark, and Arlo and Emma and Naomi all start to dig at the bark too, I start to wonder if maybe Freya shouldn't be the one on watch. She could likely help with this a lot more than I can.

"Maybe Freya should help," I suggest.

"Maybe. Or maybe this is the wrong tree, too," Emma says.

I shake my head. "I'm pretty sure he's trapped in the tree somehow. We gotta get him out, now."

She nods. "Okay. Arlo, Naomi, use your powers on this tree. We gotta dig Dylan out of the tree."

"What a weird sentence," says Arlo.

"Is it?" Naomi asks. "I don't know if I can, though. I —"

I look at Naomi, who now has a nosebleed.

"We need to get him out, yes, but my nose is bleeding."

I look at Arlo. "What is your power?"

"Light. Purple light."

"Can you help me tear away at the bark?" I ask her.

"Yes," she says. She holds her hands up to her mouth and blows into her hands. A purple spark ignites in her hands, and she presses it against the bark. And I let my shadows free. There's a flash of light, and then, nothing.