Kingdom Gone

WAX ON

"What are we doing here, Jason?"

I reach into the bag I'm carrying and toss her an apple. "Training time."

Circe looks at the apple, then up at me. "Training for what?"

I look up at the sky through the clearing in the forest canopy. "There's only about 2 hours left till sundown, so we'll just go over the basics for now."

Circe frowns. "Basics of what?"

"Fighting. You got the powers, but don't know how to use them. Plus there will be times that you'll need to fight for yourself, so it's better that you know how to hold your own."

She crosses her arms stubbornly. "I doubt I can learn how to do what you do in the month we have."

I toss the bag of supplies I got from town aside and get in a fighting stance. "I'll try to teach you how to combine your powers with your blows during combat, so you could eventually become a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield."

Circe looks me up and down, then copies my stance. "Do you really think we'll be fighting that much?"

I sigh. "I don't know. But I do know there's some powerful and dangerous people after our heads, and the better prepared we are, the higher chance we have of making it through this ordeal alive."

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Involving you in this." Circe drops her fists to her sides. "I'm so weak and inexperienced, which probably makes your job a hundred times harder. I really want to see my dad, my real dad, but . . . to do it I'm risking my life, and yours."

I put my hand on her shoulder and smile. "I think you underestimate what I'm capable of. I promise we will be on that lift by the end of month, and you will see your dad. So what If you're inexperienced?" I grab her wrists and hold them up. "Let's change that."

She looks down at her balled hands, then up into my eyes. She nods.

"Alrighty then." I get back into a fighting stance, and Circe does the same. "Time to become a badass."

* * *

Lightning flashes.

The sequence of events plays out once again. Nijah, Sam and I sprint across the dark room, I turn around to see Derek right behind me. I know what comes next. The gun, the blood.

Nearly every night it haunts me, showing me the highlights of that night. But not this time.

When the gun appears, I will my mind to make it stop, and for once, I am in control of the dream. I look around to see Nijah halfway out the window, Sam right behind her, and Derek lunging to save my life. Everyone frozen in time. With a thought, the darkness lessens, and the figure holding the gun is revealed. A tall man in a cloak that looks like mist flowing off his body. I will my 12 year old self to move, and walk over to the killer. His head is shrouded in a hood, dark like the room, hollow. I stare into the void that looks back, begging my mind to show me the face of the person who took my best friend's life. But nothing emerges. I should be able to remember his face with my perfect recall, but my mind won't allow it for some reason, making me live without the chance to avenging Derek. Dammit.

"Jason." The hooded figure whispers.

My body runs cold, the black mist of the cloak enveloping me.

"Jason." It calls, moving its hooded head within inches of mine, ready to swallow me into its void.

I open my eyes.

Circe's shaking my arm. "Jason?"

I know I'm covered in sweat, the sheets beneath me soaked. I look up at her face. "Trouble?"

She sighs and nods. "Arcadia's under attack."

* * *

The hotel room door doesn't budge.

"Shit. They must've locked it from the outside." By now we could hear the screams and gunshots from outside.

"Why would they lock us in?" Circe asks, pulling on the handle harder.

"To protect us. Or to keep us from intervening." I say, grabbing a metal clothes hanger out of the closet.

Circe steps aside. "Do your thing."

I untwist the hanger into its original shape, then bend it in half, and curl the end up into a hook. Sliding the end between the door and the frame, it catches on something heavy. With a yank, I pull the hanger up with everything I had, and even though the flimsy metal hanger bend the other direction, the pull was enough to knock whatever was holding the door closed out of place.

I pushed open the door and barreled down the hall to the exit, Circe right behind me. When we emerged on the main road once again, the air was filled with smoke, and a building down the street was dancing with flames, illuminating the entire street.

Soldiers fired rounds into the already half charred structure, Arcadians watching the scene through house windows or on the road, staring. A demented howl echoes off the town buildings, a single high pitched scream piercing the night.

"How are you going to save her?" Circe asks, looking ready to fight.

I shake my head, watching the dancing flames. "I can't fight that thing without my weapons, Circe. I think we're just going to have to sit this one out."

Circe's mouth hangs open. "Are you kidding me?"

"Yup." I laugh, picking up a large rock off the ground. "I'm going in. You stay here."

"But-"

"You learned the fighting basics, so now you think you're Bruce Lee or something. Sit tight, I'll save her."

"Who's Bruce-"

But I already took off running towards the house.