Phantom Shadows

Chapter 7

A week went by of training at Nikolas's place for both me and Dex and although we were telling mum where we were going, we could tell she was getting both frustrated and concerned at our always being late home. One night when we came home at almost 10p.m. she was sitting on the couch, reading her book.

"You missed dinner." She said, blankly.

"Yea sorry, studying really hard at the Bellemore's again. We ate dinner there." I told her. She put her book down and walked over to us.

"I'm going to ask you both a question and I want you to answer honestly." We both nodded.

"Of course." Dex said.

"Are you doing drugs?" This was that moment that I felt like I needed to freeze and go get a drink just so I could spit it out in a dramatic fashion.

"What? Where on earth did you get that idea?" I asked her.

"You're always gone and when you do finally come home, you're all red and wheezy." Mum looked ashamed of us already.

"No, mum, it's nothing like that, trust me." Dex piped up again. "I mean sometimes when we're leaving the Bellemore's we run around their front yard and mess around. That's probably it." Even Dex could tell that wasn't going to work. Mum looked really suspicious.

"Look, I want to trust you, but I just don't think I can at the moment. Until further notice, you are both grounded." She sighed.

"What?!" Dex and I chorused.

"I'm sorry but until you can prove you're trustworthy then this is what's going to happen." We both looked at her, completely in shock. "I want you home straight away after school and you're not to go anywhere on weekends. And that is final. Now go to bed." She turned around and headed down to her bedroom where dad was already asleep. Dex and I looked at each other in defeat and trudged up the stairs. When I arrived in my room, I closed the door and flopped on my bed.

"Thea? You there?" Dex asked through the wall that both our bedheads touched.

"Yea Dex," I sighed, "What's up?"

"Well, I mean, what's the point of all this training if we're grounded and can't actually fight?" Dex sounded lost. He'd been so excited to finally fight actual Phantoms and now he was stuck here.

"I don't know, baby brother, but we will one day, I promise." I rolled over onto my side.

"Um, Thea? Can you check your phone please?" Dex's tone had suddenly changed from upset to confused and concerned. I pulled my phone from my bag and saw 3 texts from Nikolas.

"Ace, we need you tonight. Up for your first fight?"

"C'mon Ace, we really need you. Please see this."

They were the normal ones. It was the last one that concerned me.

"Look out you window, Ace. Please."

I put my phone back down and got up and wandered over to my window, pulling the curtains open. When I looked down I saw Nikolas standing below, all bloodied and bruised. I also saw Esme in a similar state looking up at Dex who had his head out his window as well.

"Thank god. We need your help." Niko said with raspy breaths.

"We're kinda grounded." Dex answered, looking ashamed.

"Well screw that. This is the biggest attack in a while and we need backup. We need Thea's powers." Esme replied, a pleading look in her eyes.

"I don't even know what my powers are properly yet. How can I use them to help you?" I told them. We hadn't really focused on powers yet, more just fighting.

"Well we can help you. Please Ace, help us." Nikolas's eyes joined with mine and the calm of his deep brown eyes almost hypnotized me, they always have.

"Fine." I sighed. "You coming Dex?" I looked over at my baby brother.

"You think I'd miss this? Hell yea I'm coming." His toothy grin spread from ear to ear.

"Ok now jump down." Niko yelled out. My eyes widened. "Trust me." I nodded and grabbed my phone from the table and tucked it in my pocket before climbing onto my windowsill and slipping down. Dex followed suit and, as promised, Nikolas caught us both perfectly. He pulled the small golden sword out of bag and passed it to me then gave Dex the silver one I had used my first day.

"Are you sure about this?" I looked at the sword. "I mean this is the one I had in our vision."

"That sword was forged by your bloodline, a woman from long, long ago, it works best in your hands and you're more likely to get hurt if not using it." I swung the blade and I must admit, it just felt right.

"Now, about my powers?" I asked Niko as Esme helped Dex with his sword.

"They're used as sort of a disintegrator." A confused look spread over my face. "Yea ok. Um... well all our swords and arrows and stuff, they have this thing in them that basically disintegrates the Phantoms. You have almost a built in one. That thing you did the day you followed us to the woods, when you put your arms in that X shape, that's what does it."

"Ok then. And that kills them?" I asked.

"Yep." He replied. "Now," He turned to Dex and Esme, "You ready?" They nodded. He turned back to me. "You?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I smirked. The four of us took off into the woods. After a couple of minutes, we came across Alec and Moxie fighting off a whole bunch of Phantoms.

"Took your bloody time." Moxie huffed between killing Phantoms.

"Sorry." I apologized as I ran up to one of the Phantoms and slashing it across the chest and watching it dissolve. Two more ran at me and I did the same thing. Just as my confidence started to rise, a rather tall Phantom, taller than the rest, ran at me and knocked my sword from my hand. It swung its arm down to strike, but I raised my arms, just as I did on that first day, and it completely dissolved. I smiled and grabbed my sword before swing kicking the Phantom behind me and stabbing it through the heart.