Wake Up, Witch

Chapter 34

"I have a lot of other tricks up my sleeve, Katz. It's a shame you won't get to see all of them," I said with a dramatic sigh before completely putting him to sleep. He dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

I couldn't risk it. Once they snapped out of the dream, a daydreamer could easily overpower me, especially someone like Katz.

"What's happening?" Akira's cold question echoed around the dense forest.

I faced him and Tiff, unfazed. They were the least of my worries because I already knew their answer. "I'm going to give you two a choice. You can turn around and walk back to the camp where Nalani and Alistair are waiting. Or you can continue down this path and go home."

"Neither is a good choice, to be honest," Tiff said.

"And what about you?" Akira asked, a scowl on his face. "What choice are you making?"

"You're coming back, aren't you?" Tiff stared at the sleeping Katz. "Then why bother stopping him?"

"He would have tried to kill us, anyway. Or trade us for freedom."

"You don't know that."

I said with a shrug. "Maybe that's why I can't kill him."

"Why?" Akira asked. "Why go back?"

A good question. One I couldn't really answer with the full truth. "I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Then I'm coming with you," Tiff said. "I want to find Lexie."

"Akira?" I asked, eyeing the young man.

He stiffly nodded.

"You're going back to your sister?"

His jaw tightened. "I'm coming with you."

"And wait for the right moment to betray me?" I asked. "No, thank you."

His eyes hardened at my words. "They killed my parents."

"You mean the vampires? I'm one of them."

"The Saints," he ground out. "They manipulated their people. Used their gifts for their own mad ambitions. And if we don't stop them, they'll do the same to my sister."

"What makes you think I want to stop them? I have my selfish reasons for going back. Being a hero is not one of them."

Akira scoffed. "But we can be of use to each other."

I looked him long in the eye. "Let me be honest. I don't think you can save your sister. She's eagerly serving the Saints. Believes in the society they've created."

"She can still be saved."

"We can discuss your sister some other time," I dismissed, eyes jumping from him to Tiff, then back. "We'll be constantly on the run. Hunted."

Tiff swallowed. Akira remained unfazed. "Not if we get rid of the halo's spell."

"You think you can do that?"

He shared a look with Tiff before he faced me again. "I have theories."

"He just doesn't have the right tools to start," Tiff said. "During our studies, they constantly encouraged us to find weaknesses around the halo technology. Akira submitted three theses, and one of them made him an apostle. They're integrating his findings on an upcoming halo upgrade soon."

"What does that mean?"

"That we have to help him develop his thesis and destroy our halos before the upgrade."

"You've never tested your thesis?" I asked Akira.

"They don't really let us do that. They do it in a controlled environment," Tiff replied for him. "But Akira being Akira, he wanted to know if his theory is true."