Chapter XXXV

ALEX BELLOWED A LAUGH, and collided into David's shoulder. Joey stifled a laugh side-eyeing the two boys as the girls chimed in with laughter.

"It's true!" David defended. "It was huge!"

"Right," Alex chuckled, patting David's shoulder. "I've seen the spiders down here in the Slums. They're no bigger then my thumb, but my whole hand?" Again he giggled. "Don't be such a girl, David."

David punched Alex in the arm. "I am not! Tell them, Ella!"

Ella raised her hands. "Whoa, I'm staying outta this."

"Oh, come on, guys!" The clinking of metal sounded from an alley way, and Joey stopped as the others continued past her. "You have to believe me! I don't have those fancy phones like you do for proof." David's voice grew distant as they walked on without her.

She squinted as she gazed into the darkness of the alley, but nothing moved or made another noise. Waving it off, she stood straight and took a step, but realized something was missing. Glancing from left to right, her pulse unexpectedly quickened noticing that David and the others were nowhere in sight. "Guys?"

Her skin crawled as she slowly began her trudge down the dirt street of the Slums. It was dark—which wasn't unusually—but something about the silence made it more eerie. She swallowed her fear and looked up as her only source of light, an overhead streetlamp, began blinking obstructing her view of the path.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice echoing in the shadows. Her heart lurched as something scraped against the dirt, and she quickly twirled around. "Who-who's there?" her voice shook.

Once again she had to squint to peer through the night to see the shadowed figure standing at the top of the small incline. The streetlamp continued its blinking and as the figure stepped closer, the light hit him and she let out a sigh in relief. "Oh! David. It's only you." She placed a hand over her heart, feeling its rapid beat. "Don't scare me like that!" She lowered her hand and looked around. "Where'd everybody go? Got tired of them giving you grief about that spider, aye?" she joked and let out a quick chuckle, but David didn't respond.

A quick flash from the lamp made her instantly realize that David didn't look like his normal self. Especially not the one she had been talking to just a minute ago. Instead of his brown hair, it was now frosted with blonde, his entire eyeball was engulfed in a neon blue, condensation poured from his body like the midst at the bottom of a waterfall, and clasped tightly in his fist was a long, glistening sword made entirely of ice.

"You ... you have an ability?"

He took a few more steps forward, and the sword screeched loudly as he dragged it beside him on the ground.

Joey's mouth dropped open and she quickly backed away. "What are you doing?" Her throat tightened. "This isn't funny, David!" Seeing he wasn't going to stop his advance, she turned around to escape but was blocked by another unrecognizable figure who's body burst to life in a bright flame. She gasped. "Alex?" She frantically glanced between the two boys. "Y-y-you have to help me." Staring at David, she backed up closer to Alex's side. "I don't know what's gotten into him. He's—" She jumped and stepped to the side as a ball of fire sparked to life in Alex's hand. Together, in sync, the boys strode towards her.

"What's wrong with you?" Her heart felt like it would implode in fear. "I'm your friend! Is this some kinda sick prank?" Warm tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "Well, I ain't laughing!"

"Monster!" the boys chanted in unison.

Her eyes widened and her tongue caught in her throat as a bead of sweat dripped down her temple. "What ... what did you say?" her words barely came out in a whisper.

"Monster!" they chimed again, only this time louder.

She shook her head slowly, unable to tell if she had actually moved or not as her body went numb. "No. You don't mean that."

Neither of the boys seemed coherent enough to stop, and she knew the only thing she could do was run. Quickly twisting to her left, she headed for an alleyway in-between two apartment buildings, but just as she ran into the shadows overcasted by the walkway above, she rammed up against something hard. She fell to the ground on her rear, her palms slapped the dirt taking most of the impact, and she looked up to find that she had run into Kathleen.

Joey opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted, "Monster!" Kathleen's word automatically synced with the boys. She took a step forward, the skin around her hands and arms tightening and lengthening into points.

Joey scooted backwards to avoid a stab. She gripped the dirt below her fingers in a fist, and clenched her eyes shut. "I'm sorry!" she shouted before opening her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I wanted to protect you!" She scooted further away. "I'm not a monster, I'm your friend!"

"Monster!"

She scurried to her feet and took off down the slope towards her apartment. Dread overpowered her as she found Heather standing on the doorstep, vines twirled around her arms as she approached Joey, and she, too, was chanting the word.

Joey shook her head. "I didn't choose my ability!" she defended. "Why am I a monster for being something I didn't choose?!"

"Monster!"

She swung back around as the others approached, and Jenny step around her brother with an electric green transparent wolf at her side. Even through its see-through body, Joey could see the drool hanging from its rabid mouth, and its soulless eyes pierced her. Like the rest, Jenny repeated the word right along with them.

Joey had nothing more to say and her shoulders sagged. The horror she had been traumatized by her entire life was finally unfolding. Over and over her friends screamed the word. They thought of her as nothing more than a monster in need of extinction. Unexpectedly, they charged.

She turned to run but there was no where to go. Her apartment was the last on the street, and Heather blocked that path. Twirling in a circle until she found the one clear street, she took a step, but in the blink of an eye, Ella was suddenly in front of her face.

Ella pushed herself up onto her tip-toes, but even then her eyes only came up to Joey's chin. "Monster," the young girl spat, hatred thickening her tone. "You should've told us what you were!"

Joey was taken back by her words as confusion washed over her expression. "What I am?" She scanned the faces of her friends. "This isn't about my ability?"

"Monster!" they all shouted.

"What do you mean?" she pleaded, looking back down at Ella. "What am I?" Ella balled a hand into a fist and slammed it straight into Joey's nose.

Joey was able to keep her balance even though she teetered, but she clenched her nose tightly, feeling the gush of blood ooze from her nostrils. She released a gut-wrenching cry of pain as she felt a sharp stab to her side, and something hot seared the skin of her back as a thick vine wrapped around her neck. With a quick tug, she collapsed to her back and was pinned to the ground by more vines wrapping around her wrists and ankles. Jagged teeth gnawed on her leg, and she screamed at the top of her lungs as her friends wrecked havoc on her body.

"Please! Stop!" She turned her head aside and, between Alex's legs, she found a small engraving in the brick of the apartment building. "Always rely on your friends," it read.

An image flashed in her mind of Mr. Magnus, bruised and bloody, on the aircraft seat in front of her and she gasped.

Through teary eyes, she looked up as David towered over her, and he raised his blade, aiming it above her heart. Any second now, and he would plunge its icy bite into her chest. "This ... This isn't real."

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LUCINDA WAS SUDDENLY THROWN several feet back, her back slamming against the closest tree. She collapsed to the ground landing on her side and she panted. Evangeline and Jacob ran to assist her and both gripped her under the arm trying to help her into a sitting position.

"What happened?" Thomas asked, springing to his feet. "Something went wrong?"

Lucinda's arms quaked beneath her weight, and she shook her head. "The dream state her mind was placed in has become too strong for me to reach." She sucked in a breath as her eyes slid up to meet his. "I can't pull her out."

A lump formed in Thomas's throat as he slowly knelt back down beside Joey. He gripped the hem of his shirt and tenderly wiped the blood away from her nose that had suddenly started.

"So ..." Bellamy's tender voice hit his ears. "She's going to die."