Tower of the Watchful Eye

Chapter 2

"Oh, Lizard," Vanessa said in a sing-song voice, "come out come out, wherever you are."

The sound of chairs and tables scraping against the floor drew closer and closer. During my time in hiding, I still hadn't figured out a plan on how to get out of this mess.

If I knew them correctly, Todd would be waiting for me to run so he could ensnare me with the plants. Greg would be watching over everything and Vanessa would either be trying to flush me out or Mind Control me into walking into the opening.

Her shadow grew larger and larger on the wall and I could feel her searching for my mind. I had learned a long time ago some tricks to keep your mind invisible but it took a lot of effort to maintain. An idea sprung to mind and I waited for her to get closer.

"You can't keep up your shield forever," Vanessa continued. "I'm going to break through."

As she walked behind the bookcase I was using as my hiding space, I dropped my mental shield and felt for her mind. When she felt the shield drop, she turned to me and smiled. I felt her reach out with all her power and slipped into her mind and planted my Illusion. Her mind seized control of me and I was brought to my feet.

"Now, walk to..." she said as she stretched out her arm towards me. She stopped and stared at her fingers in shock. In reality nothing was wrong with them; to her they had become a lot bigger. In fact, in her mind, she had gained a ton of weight.

While she looked at her body in shock, I broke free from her mental hold. Her face twisted in pain and she grabbed her head with both hands. "Get out of my head," she screeched.

I held out my hand and launched a Pulse at her that knocked her off her feet. I ran past her and continued along the row of bookcases, trying to use them as cover from Greg and Todd.

She screamed and I looked over my shoulder to see that she had launched a Pulse at me. The Pulse bounced off the magical wards on the bookcases as it drew near me. The massive energy made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I dove to the ground, twisting around so I could launch a Pulse back at her.

Her magic had sailed over me and my returning attack bounced off the nearest bookcase and charged right at Vanessa. She threw up a shield but the force of the Pulse knocked her back and she hit her head on a bookcase. She landed on the ground hard and didn't move. The energy reading from her mind said that she had only been knocked unconscious.

I picked myself up off the ground and rounded around the bookcase, heading for the door. I spotted a vine from one of Tom's plants racing towards me and dodged it but my foot was ensnared by another vine I hadn't seen from behind.

Why did Tom need so many plants?

The vine lifted me off the ground and hung me upside down. I tried to kick myself free as another vine wrapped itself around my hand. I stopped struggling to think as the vines carried me back to Greg and Todd.

"I've got you now," Greg smiled. "Just what did you do to Vanessa?"

"She was tired, so she took a nap," I answered while my mind raced.

Greg looked at Todd and Todd left quickly to look for her. If they revived her I was done. I pushed some power into my tangled hand and lit the vine on fire. The vine snapped where the fire burnt through and the plant shriveled up from the attack.

Sorry, Tom.

Greg raised both his hands at me and I quickly twisted towards my feet and launched a small Fireball at the vine. The vine released me and I dropped to the floor before Greg's stream of ice could freeze the area.