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Chapter XI: Endings
Jonathan didn’t move for a few minutes as he listened for any indication of what had occurred, but after a couple tense moments of hearing nothing but the deafening silence, he was worried. Jonathan slowly sat up and looked around at the devastation that used to be a beautiful room. His eyes did a quick scan for the Shadow and found nothing except a dying circle of fire on the other side of the room. His heart clenched painfully in his chest; where were the girls?! He turned his head carefully to the side, trying to avoid aggravating the pounding between his temples, but when he saw Kesia and Afton lying on the ground, his headache increased tenfold.
Jonathan groaned as the pain engulfed his mind and threatened to send him back into unconsciousness. He had no idea what had been done to him, but no matter what it was, he didn’t think it had been necessarily good. Nothing good caused this much frickin’ pain. He shut his eyes and tried to drive the pain away; he had to get to the girls. He had to know if they were okay.
Gradually, the pain faded slightly and Jonathan opened his eyes again. He took a deep breath and gingerly shifted his weight so that he was on his hands and knees; then he crawled over to Kesia and Afton. Crossing the ten foot gulf that separated him from the girls took a lot longer than he would’ve liked, but his head just wasn’t cooperating. Every time he tried to hurry, black spots started to darken his vision. He couldn’t afford to pass out again, at least not until he knew if Kesia and Afton were all right.
After what felt like forever, he made it to them and slowly lowered himself into a sitting position in front of where their two heads laid. They were far too pale as far as Jonathan was concerned, but he could hear their faint breathing. They were alive! He carefully leaned forward. “Kesia, Afton, wake up. Come on, wake up!” he whispered vehemently.
His words did nothing. Jonathan laid a hand on each of their shoulders and started to shake them. “Wake up!” he said more forcefully, but was soon rewarded with another wave of pain. He quickly pulled his hands back and clutched his aching head. This wasn’t good. And that’s when he heard footsteps; someone else was in the room. Jonathan’s breath caught in his throat as he slowly lowered his hands. “No,” he whispered the second he saw the person and quickly tried to move away, but his strength failed and he fell onto his back unable to go any further.
“Please don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt any of you; I’ve done too much as it is, and for that I’m sorry.” Del replied and started to move towards Mr. Shelby.
Jonathan didn’t take kindly to her presence, and when she started walking towards him, he once again tried desperately to move. He knew that she was quite capable of duplicity. Hell, she had fooled both he and Kesia about her true intentions for a couple of months. There was no way he was about to trust her so easily now. “No,” he repeated weakly as he scooted back a few inches, but his sudden movement brought with it another wave of pain. He groaned and laid his head back on the mercifully cool marble floor; he was trapped and there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Del stopped when she heard Mr. Shelby’s soft plea, but seconds later, he went limp and dropped his head to the floor in obvious pain. She couldn’t just stand there anymore. Deliah hurried over to his side and knelt beside him. “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.
Jonathan opened his eyes and looked at her wildly, saying nothing. The pain was too great for him to do anything.
“I’m sorry, please accept my apologies,” Del whispered desperately. The accusation she saw in his eyes struck a blow right to her heart. She never should’ve listened to Brenna and Shane. They had gotten mixed up with the wrong thing this time, and now she was in the thick of it too. “Let me help you.” She wanted to correct at least some of the wrongs that she had helped create. She bent down and laid a cool hand on Mr. Shelby’s forehead but pulled it back only seconds later. From what she could tell he was quite literally burning up. She’d never known anyone to have such a high fever, and now that she was faced with one, she was scared of what might happen. All she knew was that he couldn’t stay like that for long or he’d die, and she didn’t want to add a death to her already burdened conscience. “Oh, God!” she gasped and started to move away from the man she saw only as Mr. Shelby. What was she supposed to do?
Jonathan’s eyes tracked Del’s every move. He didn’t know what he would actually do if she did anything to either Kesia or Afton, but at least he would keep track of her. However, Del’s reaction right now worried him deeply. She actually seemed to be genuinely upset by something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what that something might be. Del looked distracted for the moment, so he used this opportunity to try to sit up again. He was no use lying on his back that was for sure. He lifted a listless hand to support his head and slowly began to shift his weight so he could sit up. He got halfway into a sitting position when two things happened: agony ripped through his mind and Del came back to her senses. In response to the first one, he did the only thing that seemed plausible…he screamed.
Del watched, horrified, as Mr. Shelby let out a painful scream and sank back to the floor. She hurried back over to him, fearing that he was unconscious, but as she leaned over him, his eyes flew open and fixed their glazed gaze on her. “Are you okay?” she asked lamely.
“What does it look like?” Jonathan murmured harshly. He needed to get back to Afton and Kesia; they needed to be woken, but he couldn’t find the strength to move again. He let out a long breath and closed his eyes again in exhaustion. Maybe he should just sleep it off. Sleep sounded like a really good idea right now; it wasn’t like he could do anything else even if he tried.
Del saw his eyes fall shut and started to panic as his breathing became much shallower. “Wake up!” she screamed and slapped his face. She had the feeling that he shouldn’t sleep right now. Unfortunately, she got no response from Mr. Shelby, but she did hear an intake of breath from a few feet away. Del jumped to her feet in shock and spun around just in time to see Kesia and Afton sitting up. At least for the time being they were facing the other way, so she remained unseen. Del quickly started edging towards the door; she had seen what they had done to the Shadow and definitely did not want their anger or powers focused on her. It was best just to get out of the way; they could take care of Mr. Shelby now that they were awake.
Kesia smiled slightly and shrugged. “It seems so,” she replied rather cryptically and ran a hand through her unruly brown hair. It had been a very long day, and it was hard to believe even now that all of this was over.
“Yeah, it does,” Afton said and looked around the room. She saw the quickly dying circle of fire and looked at Kesia, “They’ve escaped.”
Kesia nodded and carefully got to her feet. Afton followed suit and the two of them walked over to the glowing embers. Afton made a sweeping motion with her hand and the fire went out completely as the embers scattered around the room and sizzled as they struck the remaining puddles of water. “They can’t go too far; after all, we do go to school with them. We’ll have ample opportunity to talk to all three of them later; they can’t run to the Shadow anymore,” Kesia replied and started at the scorched circle aimlessly.
Afton smiled and put an arm around Kesia’s shoulders. “Let’s go see about Jonathan, Kes,” Afton whispered as she remembered the state of their friend.
Kesia would have fallen if Afton hadn’t been there supporting her; she’d forgotten about Jonathan. “Oh, God!” she cried and quickly turned around. She started walking in his direction when she saw Del and stopped dead in her tracks. “YOU!” she yelled and mentally seized Deliah’s arm, but physically, Kesia got no closer to her betrayer.
Afton quickly moved next to her friend and looked at Del, hate shining in her eyes. “What are you doing here?” she spat.
Del looked like she wanted to vanish, but Kesia wasn’t about to let her get away. She tightened her grip slightly and Del let out a low moan. “Well, do tell,” Kesia hissed.
Deliah glanced at the two of them before lowering her eyes to the floor. How was she supposed to explain the situation to them? It wasn’t like she hadn’t willingly done most of the things she’d done, so she couldn’t lie and say she was innocent, but if she didn’t say just that, she feared that Kesia might resort to rather drastic measures. “I’m sorry,” Del whispered. It was all she could think of to say.
Kesia’s eyes narrowed. “Sorry? You’re sorry? Del, you were willing to watch me die!” she yelled and took a single step towards Del. “Sorry isn’t good enough. I know how much you like lies.”
Del looked up at Kesia, fear shining in her eyes. “I didn’t lie about everything, Kesia; I did come to respect and even befriend you, but it wasn’t enough to get me out of my commitment. I regret a lot of what I’ve done, and I won’t say I didn’t know what I was doing because I did, but now that I look back, I know that I never should’ve been fooled into believing that what we were doing was right. There’s no excuse for what I’ve done so all I ask for now is your forgiveness. I came back here to help you; I didn’t know if you were still alive. Brenna and Shane fled the second they saw that the Shadow was destroyed, and I went with them initially before I realized that my heart was no longer with them; it never had been apparently,” Deliah explained flatly.
Afton felt Kesia move and grabbed her wrist tightly to keep her for going over to Del. She didn’t trust the girl, and she didn’t want Kesia anywhere near her whether it was to talk or fight. It was best just to stay away from people like that completely. “Kesia, we have other matters to attend to,” Afton advised; she was talking about Jonathan.
Kesia acknowledged Afton’s statement by glancing at Jonathan’s pale form. She shook off Afton’s hand and hurried over to him, ignoring Del’s confession for the time being, but she didn’t release the girl yet. Afton dropped to the ground on the other side of Jonathan and looked at Kesia. “Any ideas?” she asked.
Kesia didn’t answer her. Instead she laid her left hand on his forehead and took his hand in her other one. Kesia closed her eyes and bent over his inert form. She didn’t know if she had enough strength to heal the injuries she felt in his mind, but she had to try; she wasn’t going to let him die. Kesia felt Afton rise and stand behind her.
Afton put her hands on Kesia’s shoulders and lent her friend some of her strength; she knew what Kesia had planned, and she knew it was necessary to save Jonathan.
Kesia focused her thoughts inward and gathered all of the powers she possessed, pulling on some of Afton’s as well. When she finished with that, she sent it out in healing waves at Jonathan. His body jerked once as the waves first hit him, then he calmed as a light began to spread from Afton and Kesia to Jonathan in a continuous wave that washed over all of them.
Del stumbled slightly as she felt Kesia lose control but she didn’t run. She stood and watched in amazement as light soon engulfed the three of them.
The light lasted for about twenty minutes and when it finished, Kesia sank into unconsciousness once again. Afton fell to the ground as well but didn’t pass out; Kesia hadn’t drawn out too much of her energy. She gently repositioned Kesia so that she lay in a more comfortable position on the floor next to Jonathan. Afton telepathically reached out and scanned Jonathan’s mind, looking for any sign that their powers had worked, and what she encountered made her extremely happy. His mind had been healed; they had succeeded. Then she sent her scan over Kesia to make sure that her friend was okay and immediately sensed an immense exhaustion. Afton smiled slightly and lifted her eyes. The smile fell from her face as she saw Del standing only feet away from the door. She quickly got to her feet, but once there, she started to sway. She stumbled over towards the wall near Del and watched the girl warily.
“Are you okay?” Del asked, concerned. True she was also worried about what Afton had in mind, but she didn’t look like she was capable of doing much harm at the moment; hell, she could barely stand.
“Must you mock me?” Afton asked shortly and took a faltering step towards Del. She had to get that girl out of here; she didn’t know how much longer she would be conscious and the last thing she wanted was to have all of them lying vulnerable in a room with their enemy. She took another step and started to fall.
Del launched herself forward and caught Afton before she could hit the ground. She gingerly lowered the taller girl to the ground and started to stand again; she didn’t want to encroach on Afton’s space for too long. Del was about to step again when she felt a hand latch onto her ankle. She started and stared at Afton’s pale face in fear.
“Why?” Afton whispered.
“I told you; I want to help,” Del replied evenly. She didn’t really know what to make of Afton’s question.
Afton closed her eyes for a moment and mentally reached out to Del. She scanned the girl’s mind and did indeed find genuine concern. She opened her eyes again and looked at Del, “Please stay then…just in case,” Afton whispered as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Del looked down at the girl that she had hated and felt her heart jump. Afton had forgiven her! She made sure that Afton was in a comfortable position and hurried over to check on Jonathan and Kesia. She watched the two of them for a few minutes before she noticed them stir.
Kesia’s and Jonathan’s eyes opened at the same time, but for the moment, neither one saw Del standing protectively behind them; all they could think about was each other. Jonathan carefully rolled over, amazed that the pain in his head was gone and looked into Kesia’s deep hazel eyes. He was immensely relieved that she was okay after all that had happened today. He brushed a stray piece of hair off her face. “I love you,” he whispered as he bent down and kissed her for the first time.
Kesia’s eyes widened slightly before she returned the kiss. When Jonathan pulled back, Kesia was smiling. “I love you, too,” she said and gently touched his bruised face.
Jonathan returned her smile and sat up a little more, and that’s when he noticed Del standing only a few feet away, smiling. He started and quickly got all the way to his feet, standing between Kesia and Del. “What are you still doing here?” he asked flatly.
Del took a quick step back and was stopped by a steadying had as she tripped and almost fell. She spun around only to find herself face-to-face with Afton. “Oh,” Del gasped and looked back at Jonathan. What was she going to do now?
“Jonathan, it’s good to see you well,” Afton said softly, trying to placate him. She could fell that he was really quite pissed at the moment.
“What’s going on, Afton?” he wasn’t about to let the subject change.
“Del’s fine,” Afton replied simply.
“What?!”
“I saw her soul Jonathan; she’s truly sorry. I asked her to stay,” Afton clarified.
Jonathan closed his eyes. “I don’t believe I’m hearing this,” he mumbled.
”Me either,” Kesia said quietly as she stood beside Jonathan. She hung onto his arm to keep standing.
“Kesia, search her,” Afton whispered as she looked at her friend.
Kesia closed her eyes and mentally reached out for Del. When she had tried to read Del before all she had encountered was a kind of mental block, likely put in by the Shadow itself, but now Kesia got in easily. And what she sensed was indeed a real sense of concern and respect for all of them. Del had changed, or if you wanted to look at it in a different light, she was back to being herself free of both Brenna and the darkness. Kesia opened her eyes and looked at Del; forgiveness wasn’t going to be easy, but it was something that she had to do for all of their sakes. She turned to Jonathan for a moment and took strength from his kind eyes before focusing on Deliah again. Kesia took a deep breath and spoke, “I believe you, Del, and though I don’t like it, in some ways I understand why you did the things you did. I can’t say I ever would’ve have done the same thing, but all that is over now. The Shadow is gone and what is done is done,” she paused; this next part was the hardest. She had been betrayed by Del and almost destroyed as a result, but like she had just said, the past was over and gone. “I forgive you, Deliah,” she said softly, “but it may take awhile for me to accept that.”
Del looked at Kesia in shock; she’d never logically expected that Kesia would ever forgive her for what she’d done. “Are you sure?” she asked meekly.
Afton shook her head in exasperation and lightly slapped Del’s shoulder. “You’re never supposed to question a good thing!” Afton said almost jovially. She knew Kesia had resolved to do this and that her friend wasn’t about to retract her statement, but it was fun giving Del a little fright.
Del paled slightly, but Kesia quickly eased her fears with a smile. “I’m sure,” she whispered and leaned back into Jonathan’s arms.
Afton smiled broadly and slapped Del on the back. “Well, then, that’s settled. I say we should all get some rest, you especially Kesia. I hate to tell you, but you look like crap,” Afton said, trying to lighten the mood. Things were going to be okay now; she was sure of it. There might even be room for Del in their little group after awhile; they just had to give Kesia some more time. Betrayal wasn’t an easy thing to get over, but no matter, they’d be seeing each other in class every day.
Kesia’s smile grew with Afton’s words. She sighed and sank further into Jonathan’s protective embrace. Things were definitely looking up, and their trials were finally over.
