Into the Light

143

I couldn't stop myself from wondering what it was going to feel like for a spirit to shoot through me, like a weapon. I had no clue but I did know that it was going to hurt like a bitch. "Good," Ash replied. "Now, after that first hit, I need you to join Sam and Katrina. While Anna and I are shooting spirits at her open soul, you three will be shooting energy balls at her solid form. Aim for her head, her heart,her gut, and especially her feet. These are her weak points. Every witch, no matter how powerful, has to use the energy around her. Whether it is spirit energy or earth energy. Her feet allow her to stay connected to the flow of energy from the ground. If you disrupt that connection, she won't be as powerful. That does not mean that you can stop, if you manage to knock her off of her feet. Keep shooting at her other weak points. Got it?" We all nodded and sat there in silence, waiting for the next instructions. The food that I had eaten was starting to feel heavy in my stomach. Like a ball of lead, that wanted to come back up. "From this point, the Coven will join in with their own spells and forms of attack. We don't stop. That is very important for you to understand. No matter what, you do NOT stop unless I tell you too. If something happens to me, you don't stop until the High Priestess tells you too." "Stop that, Ash," Barbie spoke up. "Nothing is going to happen to you." He smiled at her, but I noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm sure I'll be fine, love. This is just a 'what if' scenario. You know that I like to be thorough," he replied. I was getting the feeling that there was something that he wasn't telling the rest of us. "Ash," I spoke up. His eyes found mine. "You're not planning on doing anything stupid are you? Like sacrificing yourself, or something equally dumb?" "Now, why would I do something like that?" he asked, not really answering my question. "Come on, eat up. We still need time to perfect our talents and I'm sure that you all would like a shower." I pushed my half eaten plate of food away and stood up with the rest of my friends. Ash's eyes followed us, as he remained seating. "We need to go back to the room to get a shower," I replied, meeting Sam's gaze. "Our clothes are there." He nodded and rubbed his chin. "Maybe we should practice more first, before we go take a shower. No point in getting clean, just to automatically get sweaty again." "Good point," I mused. "You ladies okay with that?" Anna and Katrina exchanged a look, but they both nodded. "I feel nasty though, so can we make this as fast as possible?" Kat asked. Ash stood up and nodded. "I can help with that. Let's go." We followed him, single file, out into the yard, on the other side of his home, back through the woods onto the slightly beaten down path. After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived back at the clearing. I didn't feel as optimistic as I had the day before. Not with the weight of tonight bearing down on me. We were practicing throwing energy balls, to fight off a super powerful witch who stole souls, and wanted to control the world. It sounded like a script to a really bad  horror flick. What even was my life anymore? I stole a kiss from Anna and walked with Sam and Kat over to the other side of the clearing. We started out slow, like the day before, but gained our strength a lot quicker. Before long, we were blasting entire holes into the middle of tree trunks. "Daaaamn, do you see that shit?" Sam exclaimed, with a bright smile on his face. I smiled back, faking it, but not really feeling it. "Yeah brother, we're gonna kick her ass!" I exclaimed. Katrina just rolled her eyes and grinned. I could see the nervousness in her eyes though. Sam did too, apparently, because he pulled her into his arms. "Hey, we're going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to you," he said, quietly. She smiled up at him and lay her hand on his chest. "I know. It's not me I'm worried about. It's you guys. You're going to be closer to this than I am. I'll have people all around protecting me, but you two won't. Anna won't." "Nothing is going to happen to Anna," I interjected, with my voice coming out a little harsher than I meant. "I won't let it." Kat sighed and gave me a sad smile. "I know that you want to believe that and I hope it's true. But I know you guys. You're not going to sit back and let someone else protect you. If anything happens to where you think that Anna or myself is in danger, then you're going to throw yourselves in front of it." I raised my eyebrows and met Sam's gaze, without saying a word. Kat was right, but I wasn't going to admit it and put even more stress on her. Sam looked away and cleared his throat. "I promise that I won't put myself in any unnecessary danger. Okay? Feel better?" he asked, tilting her chin up with his knuckles. Again, that same sad smile crossed her face. "Yeah, sure," she replied, unconvincingly. Sam sighed and leaned down to kiss her, before pulling away. "I guess we should get back to it." I glanced over to where Anna was still practicing with Ash. It looked like she, or they, had torn up half the damn forest on their side. "Jesuuus," I breathed out, taking in the scene. Trees were mangled, with their limbs intertwining with each other, and their roots ripped out of the soil. It was like the after scene of a tornado or something. Ash looked up and met my gaze, like he could hear me. He waved and shouted across the clearing. "She's kicking ass, right?!" I nodded and gave him a thumbs up. I blew Anna a kiss and looked away. My heart felt heavy in my chest and the food that I had eaten earlier was starting to make that lead ball in my stomach again. I had a bad feeling about tonight...but it was just nerves. I was scared and I had a right to be. I was scared that something was going to happen to the girl I loved. The girl that I had just found, after waiting what felt like forever.