THE POSSESSED BLADE
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Nothing more than heavy breaths and anxious pants could be heard in the cavern as Olivia charged toward her terrified friends. Under the dim lighting, the blade of the large knife glimmered in her hand as she threatened them all with it. With every step Olivia took forward, they backed away slowly, worried they would trigger an angry lurch.

"Olivia, please. Put it down," Ace waved his hands pleadingly in front of him. He was the only one who hadn't stepped backward severely– he couldn't. Not when Olivia was trapped in her own head like this.

"Be careful," Nancy whispered from a few feet behind him. She was tempted to step closer, to try to help, but she knew if anyone could handle this, it was Ace. She didn't want to interfere or make it worse.

"It's okay." He glanced back to give the others a reassuring glance. Taking in a shaky breath, he twisted his head back around to Olivia. He wasn't expecting her arm to be raised as she staggered forward in an angry rush.

"Watch out!" Bess cried, urging her best friend to back away. Her heart almost stopped, seeing how close the knife had gotten to his chest. Ace had dodged her swing successfully, but not without tripping over his feet and sliding back onto the ground.

He moaned as his tailbone slammed against the hard floor, leaving him in shattering pain. Wincing, he forced himself to ignore it upon seeing Olivia move toward him. With his hands beneath him, he shuffled backward, dragging himself against the dust-clad floor and away from Olivia who stared at him with nothing but a dead cold glare in her eyes.

"Olivia, stop! You're going to hurt him!" Nancy called, jumping forward and courageously forcing her hand onto Olivia's shoulder and pulling her back. Before Olivia had the chance to spin around and attack her, Nancy sped backward, avoiding the knife as she swung it forward.

She turned back around to Ace who was the closest to her, sitting on the floor helplessly. His eyes were wide and timid, begging for her to snap out of it, to wake up. And although what remained of Olivia's mind inside her body was trying with all her might to stop, she continued to inch closer to Ace, her knuckles turning white with how tightly they were wrapped around the neck of the blade.

"Livvie... Liv, it's me," he pleaded. "This isn't you– I know it's not. I need-" his voice hitched in his throat when she swung the knife forward again, but he shuffled backward in time to avoid it. "I need you to wake up." She swung again, a low growl escaping her lips as she continued to follow him. His stomach tightened when he felt his back slam against the wall, and there was nowhere else for him to go. "Liv, please." Ace tried to search in her eyes for any sign of her, any part of her that he might be able to connect to. He tried to reach her soul through her eyes, but it wasn't there. What if he'd never get her back?

"No!" Bess cried when Olivia jumped forward, faster and with more momentum this time. The dagger in her hand aimed directly for Ace's head as it lunged forward, prepared to penetrate him.

She let out a strangled cry when tight arms suddenly wrapped around her torso from behind her and lifted her up from the ground. She thrashed around in Nick's hold, begging to be released.

"Are you okay?" George slid onto her knees and attended to Ace. He nodded shakily, letting out a breath he had been holding for what felt like hours. "What the Hell is wrong with her?!" She turned to Olivia and gave her a harsh look.

"It's not her fault," he grunted, using the muscles in his arms to push him up onto his feet.

"Guys, I can't hold her back much longer," Nick announced through a strained breath. The vein in his forehead popped out as Olivia continued to kick her legs in the air with inhumane screams and pleas for release.

With an elbow to his gut, Nick doubled over in pain, dropping Olivia from his grasp. Before she could run toward anyone with the knife held intimidatingly in her hand, Ace sprinted forward and tackled her to the ground. They landed on the floor with a loud thump, Ace lying over her body. His arms pinned her arms down, and Nancy hurried forward to kick the knife out of her hold. It made an unpleasant screeching noise as it glided across the floor like nails on a chalkboard, and Olivia screamed through gritted teeth as she tried to break free from Ace.

"Olivia, it's me!" he yelled, trying to make eye contact but her eyes were closed tightly while threw her head in different directions. Her face began to redden the more she struggled underneath him. "Calm down. Look at me!" he said louder, begging for her attention. "Look me in the eyes!" She hissed as she stopped thrashing her head around. Their facial features aligned, but her eyes remained shut as she begged for freedom. "Livvie, look at me. Please." The fragile crack in his voice sent a strange sensation through her chest, and although she was desperate to regain hold of her knife and escape from Ace's imprisonment, she felt tempted to open her eyes.

Their eyes locked, and Ace could have sworn he had seen a twinge of recognition in her eyes. He was certain that through whatever fit of rage she was trapped in, she could see him– she could feel his presence, could feel his heartbeat and his soul begging for her to come back.

The shimmer of remembrance in her eye flickered and her brows furrowed deeply. She spun her head from side to side to make out where she was– what was going on, and why Ace was pinning her to the ground. Why her heart was racing and why her friends all stared at her in horror. "Wh-what?" She whispered when she noticed the large knife only inches away from her hand, and through her strained brain, she managed to put two and two together.

Her chin and lip quivered and she couldn't contain the soft whimper that passed her lips as she returned her gaze to Ace. His heart squeezed upon seeing her eyes fill with tears and her face scrunch up as quiet sobs left her mouth. "Hey, it's okay..." He quickly tucked a hand under her head and pulled her up into a sitting position. She only shook her head in disagreement and cried harder, her throat hurting with the rough sobs that left it. "You're okay." He pressed his chin over her head that was tucked into his neck as he cradled her in his arms.

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Ace's legs were heavy as he plodded along the hardwood floors, running a hand over his face. Bone-tired was an understatement– he felt that at any moment, his legs would stop moving or his brain would stop functioning. After the events of the day, he wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic or mortified. Between having found out how to stop the curse, and Olivia being what seemed like possessed, neither Ace nor their other friends could figure out how to feel.

The moment his bare feet met with the carpeted floors of Olivia's room, he stopped in his tracks. "Livvie?" he called out after scanning the room and not seeing her in the messy bed illuminated by the moon shining through the window. His head snapped to the right at the sound of a sniffle, and he directed his walk toward the ensuite bathroom of the dark room. "Can I come in?" He pushed down on the handle, but the door only pushed open by an inch, blocked by Olivia who had her back pressed against the door.

"I'm taking a shower." Her voice was nasal and when she sniffled again it was clear why.

"Then why are you sitting on the floor with no water running?" Ace almost felt guilty about his sass, though minimal. He just wanted Olivia to open up.

"Go away, Ace," she begged, her voice cracking.

He leaned his back against the door and shook his head, although she couldn't see him. "I'm gonna wait out here until you're ready, okay?" He said gently before sliding down the door until his bottom hit the ground. Stretching his legs out, he rested his head backward and closed his eyes.

"Just go to sleep."

"Not without you next to me," he deadpanned, voice firm and promising, making Olivia scrunch her face up and squeeze her eyes as more tears fell.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a knife again and actually hurt you this time." Her words were like bullets of guilt to his chest. He had to clench his fists to stop himself from getting frustrated.

"No, that wasn't your fault," Ace sighed, raking his hand through his hair in exasperation. "None of this is. And you can blame yourself all you want and try to push me away all you want, but I'm not leaving this door until you come out or let me in."

When the room went quiet, Ace frowned and turned his head to press his ear against the door. When he heard an audible shuffle through the door from directly behind him, to the left he hurried to his feet and cautiously put his hand on the doorknob. "I'm coming in..." he announced, pushing the door open.

He only opened it wide enough to fit him through, worried that he would hit Olivia if he pushed it any further. Slowly, he stepped past the doorframe and ignored his worn-out appearance in the mirror above the sink before curling around the door to find Olivia.

His heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces when he saw her cowering in the corner of the bathroom with her face buried in her knees that were curled up to her chest. Her jeans were matted with dust and dirt from the secret chamber, and the sleeves of Ace's hoodie which she was wearing were stained with wet tears. "Livvie," he cooed, kneeling down so he could level with her. "No one thinks what happened down there was your fault." He tucked his index finger under her chin and lifted her head up, revealing her damp and dark eyebags and snot-covered upper lip.

"Doesn't change the f-fact that I'm losing my mind like my aunt did." Her breaths hitched between her words as she struggled to fill her lungs with enough air. "And that- that I'm gonna die like she did."

"I'm not gonna let that happen, I promise you." He picked up her hands with his and pressed a gentle kiss over one of them. "Tomorrow we're going to figure out where those bones are, and we're gonna end this."

"How do you know we're not going to look in the wrong place, or- or we're not gonna go there to find that the bones are missing? Huh? How can you be so sure?" She snapped, shaking her head. She couldn't get her hopes up– not when there was such a high chance of them being let down.

"Because you have five people here who care about you and will do everything they can to fix this," Ace declared with full confidence, although he was using all his strength to keep his voice from cracking and to try his best not to break eye contact with her. "But if we're gonna do this tomorrow, you need to rest, alright?" He bounced onto his feet and held his hands out again for Olivia to take.

"Thanks," she croaked while Ace dipped his arm underneath hers and wrapped it around her waist to support her as they walked toward the big bed. He carefully let go of her once she was seated at the edge of the bed. He avoided looking at her, worried that seeing her shoulders slumped and head hanging tiredly would set him off.

He quickly pulled away toward the vanity drawers and pulled out a pair of Olivia's pajamas before dropping them onto the bed beside her. Gripping onto the cotton hem of the hoodie she was wearing, he practically battled with her limp arms to pull it over her shoulders. Without the hoodie on, she was left bare, shivering. It wasn't too cold in the house, especially not after they'd turned most of the fireplaces on for forty minutes before the others had gone to sleep. But it was a combination of the cold and her exhaustion that left her trembling as she sat there half-naked.

Her teeth almost began to clatter before Ace picked up her long-sleeve pajama shirt and slipped her hands through the armholes. He gripped onto the hem again, pulling it over her bare chest and stomach. "Here..." Wrapping his arm around her back, he pulled her up to her feet. Her knees almost buckled once he let go to slip his fingers under the waistband of her trousers. He pulled them down, revealing her lacey pink underwear before he allowed her to sit back down onto the bed.

Olivia tried her best to cooperate although every muscle in her body burned, and she lifted her legs into the air so Ace could slide the trousers on. She propped her hands on the bed behind her so she could lift herself up so he could slip the pants on all the way up. Then he motioned for her to move toward the head of the bed, where he pulled the comforter out from under her and covered her legs with it before joining her in the bed.

"That wasn't so bad, huh?" Ace tried to sound cheerful, but his voice was hoarse and his eyes were sunken. He leaned against the headboard of the bed and wrapped his arm around Olivia, pulling her head onto his chest.

"It was embarrassing," she deadpanned, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Not if I care about you," he retorted, pulling her hand off her face upon seeing how aggressively she was fisting her eyes. He used his thumb to wipe her tears, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"Even after that?" She sniffled, unable to believe him even if he promised.

"Maybe even more, because of that."

"Are you a masochist?" she giggled, and Ace rolled his eyes before tightening his grip on her and squeezing her in his arms. Olivia smiled softly to herself and turned onto her side with her back towards Ace whose arm was still wrapped around her. He followed her actions and turned to his side so Olivia's back was pressed against him.

They lay like that for several moments, until Olivia's breathing had steadied. Despite her clear physical comfort and soft breaths though, Ace could still sense her eyes were open, her mind running like a train on an endless track. He could feel her heartbeat and the pain that came with each thump. "What are you thinking about?" he whispered, his breath hot against her neck.

Olivia adjusted her head on her pillow and let out a shaky breath. "Sometimes..." She closed her eyes. "When I wake up, everything feels off. My skin is crawling and there's just this..." she paused as a shiver ran down her spine and goosebumps covered her arms. "This weird tingling in my hands and arms and legs and it seeps its way into my chest. I want it to go away. I want it to stop. But I can never make it stop." Tears seeped through her closed eyes and eyelashes, before dropping down onto the pillow and Ace's arm.

"We'll make it stop. All of it." With the arm that was over her body, she pulled her in closer to him and searched for her hand over the sheets. He intertwined his fingers with hers and caressed her cold skin with his thumb. "I promise."

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