Gifted

Part 22: The Edge of New Croix

We followed Mackenzie all the way to the edge of the city and towards a huge forest. I had not been outside the city in years. I wondered how all of us could have traveled so far in such a short time, and how none of us felt tired. I supposed that it was all a part of Alice's magic, like the way other people never seemed to notice us when we were with her. We were soon trekking at full speed through the forest in search for our demon. The moon was full and it illuminated our path.

"Stay by me. We're getting closer." Mackenzie said. "None of you have weapons and Jordan, your ability won't do much good since there are no people around here other than us that you can control. Just stick with Alice and let me handle this." she said.

"Alright!" said Jordan.

"Yeah!" I said. We finally came to the edge of the forest and the trees dissolved into a flowery meadow with white flowers that glowed like silver in the moonlight.

"There it is!" shouted Mackenzie. "That's the Aerico." The shadowy figure smiled in the distance. It bent over and slashed at some flowers with his claws. The petals blew into the wind and into the night. It focused its attention on us and I felt my heart stop.

"Creepy!" Jordan exclaimed.

"Good luck!" I said to Mackenzie.

"Thanks!" she said then dashed at the shadow at full speed. The battle turned into a whirl of explosions from Mackenzie's force fields and the shadow slashing its claws. The air was filled with a storm of white petals that had been ripped from the innocent flowers in the explosions. Mackenzie was fast, but the shadow was faster. Dark claws slashed at Mackenzie and she fell to the flower covered ground bleeding heavily. The white flowers beneath Mackenzie were dyed red with her blood. Jordan, Alice and I watched from the sidelines.

"Mackenzie! Try using your forcefield ability for defense as well!" Jordan shouted.

"Good idea!" Mackenzie called back.

The demon lunged again and this time, instead of dodging it, Mackenzie made a shield of power. The demon hit the shield and fell back in pain. Mackenzie smiled. Mackenzie and the demon repeated the same dance four times before the demon began to fall back.

"Oh no you don't!" Mackenzie shouted. "You're not gonna escape!" Mackenzie formed a forcefield around the demon, entrapping it. The demon snarled and banged it's fist against the power field but couldn't break through.

"She's captured it!" Jordan cried.

"Now it's time to end this!" Mackenzie said. "I promised my friends a show!" she yelled. "I can now show off my ultimate power," she shouted. "Implosion!" She cried. And with that, the forcefield that had surrounded the demon exploded from within and the demon trapped inside roared one last time. As the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the demon, just Mackenzie standing proudly with pure white petals gently falling from the sky like snowflakes.

"I don't believe it. She actually beat that thing." Jordan said. I was speechless.