The Legend of the Eight: The Gifted

24: The Traitor

TWENTY-FOUR: THE TRAITOR
MARCH 1
NICOLE BRADLEY

GREEN LIGHTNING FLASHED ACROSS THE sky and each time it did, it brought more Dark Wizards with it. They gathered in the yard, surrounding the property in a circle with a twenty-foot radius between them and the house.

Nicole's heart raced faster than she ever thought imaginable and the Eight rushed around the house, gathering every weapon and magical artifact they found.

But not Nicole. She stood in the living room—remarkably still—listening to the booms of lightning and the whistling wind. Even if she'd tried to help the others, she didn't know what to look for.

In a matter of moments, they'd gone from screaming at each other to planning their survival. She couldn't believe the fight got as bad as it did. But emotions were high and tensions higher. Now they were forced to put it all aside and come together to fight whatever waited for them outside. But Nicole didn't know the first thing about Darks. She had no idea how they'd ever survive.

"Nicole!" shouted Logan, snapping her out of the daze. He was standing in front of her with his arms full of grimoires and a bunch of artifacts she couldn't begin to identify. He nudged her with his elbow. "Come on. We have to move!"

Nicole nodded numbly and then moved through the house, until she found Kate in the library. She was on the floor, fumbling with the landline in an attempt to contact her parents.

"Work," she murmured quietly, holding the phone to her ear. "Come on. Work!"

"There's dozens of them out there," Nicole told her, talking about the Darks on the lawn as if Kate wasn't already aware. "What are we supposed to do? Hide out inside and hope they don't break in?"

"They're keeping a barrier between them and the house," Kate said and redialed the number but didn't seem to be having any luck. "Bartemius must have warned them about the protection spell. That's probably what's keeping them out."

"How soon until they figure out a way around that?" Nicole asked, the panic returning. "If they get in... They'll kill us. They'll kill all of us."

Kate tried the phone again and when it didn't work, she slammed it on the ground so hard that the buttons popped off and rolled under the couch.

"Damn it," she cursed and dropped her head into her hands where she began to cry. "We're trapped. We're trapped in some creepy old house and any minute now the Darks will break in and kill all of us."

But Nicole shook her head and sniffled. "No. No way. This is not how this ends. We came here to be safe and if we can't be safe, we're going to fight."

Kate lifted her head. "Fight?"

"She's right."

Wil entered the library with powerful strides and behind her came the rest of the Eight. She dropped a grimoire on the floor by their feet and then glared at Nicole, clearly still upset about before.

"Annoying. But right."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked. "Do you have a plan?"

Wil scoffed. "God no. But Liam does."

Liam stepped into the center of the library and picked up the grimoire, flipping to one page in particular. "There's too many of them out there," he said of the Darks. "We're outnumbered."

"Which is why we're going to cut down that number," Wil said, jumping right to it. "Even the playing field, you know?"

"Wil, you're talking about murder."