"TORMENTOR!!!" Magnolia shrieked. She turned and dissolved back into the tree.

I spun around in the water to the best of my ability. And what I saw made me gasp in fear.

For, barreling towards us at top speed was...something very strange.

It was maroon and scaly, with long leathery bat wings. It had two twisted horns stinking up out of it's tall, angular face, and a mouth like a slit in a sheet of paper. It's limbs were long and sinewy.

In short, it looked like a human combined with a snake and a bat. With horns.

Sophie screamed. I didn't blame her. The only reason I wasn't screaming was because terror had stolen all sound from my chest.

Suddenly, a hand grasped my wrist and yanked backwards. I suddenly found myself pressed against Magnolia's roots next to Sophie with Audrey's hands clutching our wrists. "We need to stick together," she whispered.

At that moment, the creature stopped in mid-air, unfolding its wings to their full length. It opened its slit of a mouth, revealing pointed teeth and a forked tongue. It made a long, hissing noise, and I wondered if it was laughing at us.
Slowly, I transformed back to human and crawled up onto Magnolia's thick roots. "Sorry, Magnolia," I whispered. I shivered from the usual chilly wind that comes with releasing a transformation.

Sophie crawled up on the other side of Audrey. We stared at the thing in front of us, which was definitely laughing.
Then it opened its eyes and looked straight at me.

It's eyes were the most disgusting color I've ever seen. They were a deep red mixed with a murky brown, creating a color that reminded me of something I made when I was little, a drink mix of chocolate milk and Kool-aid. I thought that since both were delicious, they would be better together.

I suddenly felt a surge of guilt. I wished I hadn't thought of that memory. That had been one of the times my mother had gotten really mad at me, because when the chocolate milk/ Kool-aid turned out to be disgusting, I poured it out on the floor. That hadn't gone over too well.

The guilt rose as I remembered my mother. I still hadn't written her back. A thought struck me, hard as a baseball to the face: What if I died? What if something happened on this
impossible quest of ours and I couldn't make it back? It was actually probable that I wouldn't. A sob escaped my mouth.

The tormentor's eyes began to burn with a greater intensity, worming its way into my very soul. Guilt washed over me, thick and cold. It clutched my heart and filled my stomach, solidifying there. I felt like I was about to throw up. I'm a horrible daughter. I'm going to die, and the last thing my family will remember of me is my crying face as Ms. Catalona drove me away.

Ms. Catalona. Mrs. Simone. The school. The school that we had turned and fled from when they needed us most. We were cowards! We were horrible people! Tears began streaming down my face, and the pressure in my chest grew to be almost unbearable. Unable to help myself, I fell to my knees. Why was I even alive? What right did I, the worst person of earth, to live?

A sound to my left shook me out of my thoughts. It was a sob. A single, heart-wrenching, sob. And then a gasp of pain.

Then a scream of anguish.

I stared in awe at Audrey, down on her hands and knees, tears coursing down her face. She looked as if she was struggling intensely, but simply couldn't hold back the grief she felt.
My tears began to dry on my face.
Audrey. I had never seen her cry, not once yet. And yet here she was, down on the ground, in utter misery.

And then she spoke.

"Sierra," she whispered, choking, "kill me. Please. It would be better f-for everyone. Sierra, you're my friend," she pleaded, her voice breaking, "kill me, please."

I felt like every word she said was encasing me in rock, hard, think, and dark. Of all the people, I would never think Audrey would say this. Audrey, who was so sure of herself. Audrey, who never once backed down from a challenge. Audrey, the warrior.

And then, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

Slowly, I lifted my head. My neck muscles felt like they were made out of lead, but slowly, I lifted it. And then my arms moved. Then, my legs. My muscles shaking, I struggled to stand.

And then I did. And I looked the tormentor straight in the eye.

"Stop," I said, my voice surprisingly clear. "I know what you're doing. You're making us feel guilty. That's your power isn't it? To find people's innermost guilts, and make them stronger. Well, congratulations. It worked." It's eyes narrowed, and it cocked its head to the left. "You look confused," I guessed. "Wondering why I'm still standing I suppose. Well then, I'll have you know that I'm done with you. I am done with guilt. Because when guilt reduces one of the most amazing people I've ever met to tears, makes them fall to the ground and beg for death?" My eyes narrowed. "That is when you've crossed the line."

I turned to Audrey. "Audrey No-Name, a girl with so much passion, so much ferocity, so much love, should never be in this position," I declared. "She doesn't deserve it." I turned to the Tormentor. "She doesn't deserve guilt. She doesn't deserve you. She is so much better than that."

And as I spoke that, I knew, to the very core of my being, that it was true. And that truth filled me up to the brim with bravery, deep as an ocean, and strength, strong as a mountain.

Bravery. Strength. Truth.

And with that, I turned into a warrior, battle axe in hand. The Tormentor recoiled and hissed.

Suddenly, Sophie was at my side, a bow and quiver of arrows slung over her shoulders. She gave me a smile, the biggest I had ever seen on her, and readied an arrow on her bow.

"Guilt is powerful," I said smiling. "But truth? That's stronger."

And I threw my battle axe.