-Mason-

We all turned in surprise to see an intense green glow floating above a nearby river, the harsh outline of a person in the midst of the light. I shared a look with Beckham before we made our way to the front of the group to inspect the issue. It - whatever or whoever it was - wasn't moving at all, almost frozen in the air. The only reason we knew it was there was the incessant crackling sound coming from within the cloud of light.

"What is it?" Isaac asked.

"A human," Meila sighed.

"Then how is it floating?" Grace asked in a meek voice. Jaycen walked in front of her, as if blocking her from the unknown danger.

"Is it alive?" He wondered aloud, pulling out his journal and quill with an inquisitive look. He was obviously still suspicious of the thing, but also ready to write down observations at a moment's notice - as always.

"Yes," Meila answered quickly. "Can't you hear that?"

"I think we can all hear it," Beckham said irritably. "But what does it mean?"

Before anyone could answer him, however, the light flashed bright white, revealing the teenage boy within.

"Link?" I asked quietly.

"You insolent children," a voice boomed from him, quite surely not his own. "You are marching to your deaths. The only true way to get her back is to kill your dreams... Quite literally."

At that, the voice gave a dark laugh. The light faltered and the crackling intensified, as if the possession was becoming too much... But it soon went back to normal. Link's eyes snapped open and locked in on me.

Kill... Kill... Kill him...

The thoughts weren't my own, but they were definitely in my head. I thanked whatever gods were listening that I had a strong mind block on myself. I pushed against the opposing force, keeping my mind pure as Link's eyes bore into mine. They threatened to pull me under in a hypnotic spell; of course. How could I forget that Link's power was hypnotism?

"Don't make eye contact!" I warned with a loud cry.

Unfortunately, in the confusion, Chanson and Grace looked the one direction they shouldn't have - straight at Link. Their faces went blank, and they turned toward Beckham and me.

"Kill him..." They chanted together.

It reminded me of that terrible movie with the creepy twins, basically the plotline for most horror movies. I took a nervous step backward, ready to run, until I realized they were both after Beckham. Why?

It happened in slow motion, Chanson and Grace attacking him. They walked up ever so slowly, then jumped at the very last minute. Without weapons, they relied on their own strength to take him down, and pounced like tigers on their prey.

A war cry sounded from my right, and a figure shot out in front of Beckham, a glinting sword protecting him from the hypnotized fiends. Jaycen. There was something different in his eyes, true heroism, as if it were his duty to protect Beckham. Odd, I thought. Beckham doesn't like Jaycen at all, yet he's the first person to come to his aid.

I reminded myself that now was not the time to psychoanalyze. Since I understood Chanson's mind much better than Grace's, I got into it easily and began persuading him to stop. The voice from Link's hypnotism, still inhuman and not his, was much stronger than my persuasion. However, I tapped into Chanson's jealousy and switched the target to Link. The hypnotism was feeding off of his jealousy, but had left it unprotected.

As Chanson turned on Link, he broke the spell. Chanson blinked, looking around in confusion. He wouldn't remember what happened; the biggest difference between Link's power and mine besides brute force. Jaycen was fending Grace off, carefully striking back as if his sword were a shield.

Beckham simply stood, too stunned to move. His eyes were wide, torn between watching his sister's attack or Jaycen's defense. I couldn't blame him; from his perspective, this must be completely backwards.

I took a peek inside Grace's mind. The hypnotism was feeding off of her longing for a relationship with Beckham, and anger she kept well hidden. I winced from the pain of battling the demon of a voice, but the spell was suddenly and clumsily dropped. Grace collapsed on the ground, and Jaycen caught her. A cry of pain caught my attention, and I saw the light around Link wink out and drop him.

"Link!" Isaac shouted. He was falling straight into the burning river.

"Hold on," Meila said calmly, waving her hand and catching Link in the air. He dropped instead on the riverbank, exhausted.

I rushed over. "Is he okay?"

"He will be," Cowyn sighed. "That was a lot of magic for a human to carry at once. Imagine unlocking your potential, but ten times worse."

Isaac checked for a pulse, and sighed in relief when he found one. Link's eyes fluttered open, bloodshot and watery.

"I- I don't-" He stopped, seeing Beckham. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what-"

"That evil display was Karma's doing, not yours," Jaycen said with a weak smile, helping Grace stand back up. He walked over and lent a hand to Link. "We do not hold you accountable for your actions."

"Thanks..." Link said, warily taking his hand to get up.

"That was Karma?" Chanson asked.

"I believe so, yes. He must have taken possession over Link's mind, forcing him to turn on us and turn us against each other." Jaycen explained, scribbling once again in his notebook. His sword was back at his side, hanging in a sheath from his belt.

"Why would he want us to kill Beck?" Grace asked quietly.

"The riddle, of course."

"What riddle?"

"Did you not hear his warning?" Jaycen asked. "He explained that he would return Laelyn if we would kill our dreams. Dreams, if I am not mistaken, are Beckham's power, yes?"

"Um, yeah," Beckham answered. "Why me though?"

"You are the leader of the Descendants."

"Right."

"So... The king just wants Beckham? How does that make any sense?" I asked. "I thought he wanted us all dead."

"He does," Link said. "But he can't kill you."

"Then why are we worried?" Chanson asked. "We could just leave."

"He can still kill Link and Laelyn," I reminded. "Right?"

"Right," Jaycen agreed. "They are Karma's obstacles. If he kills them, he can kill us. The intriguing part of this is that he has not killed either of them. There must be a reason."

"He's way too overpowered. Why would he keep them alive?" I asked.

"That, I do not know."

"You know literally everything else, but not this?" Beckham asked, exasperated. "She's in trouble. As far as I'm concerned, Karma could kill her at any second. We can't waste time thinking about why he hasn't already, or waiting for him to kill her. That's just sick."

"I agree," I sighed. "But if there's a specific reason, we don't want to do anything that might put her life in danger."

"You mean more danger than it's already in?"

"I get that you're worried, but so am I. We can't get reckless now."

"What would you know? You barely even know her, you're not as worried as you should be."

"I knew her pretty well, and from what I've heard, she's not much different in your dimension. Everyone who's immune seems to have the same personality in each dimension, and either way I want her safe. We were really close."

"So close that you immediately attacked us in that alley?"

"I didn't hurt her! I was trying to get you both away from Link and Alyrica. They didn't really like you in my dimension, remember?"

"As interesting as this is, I'm going to assume it's wasting time," Chanson interrupted. "We have to find Laelyn, whether she's in danger or not. I miss her."

"Don't even st-" Beckham began, but I cut in before he could get angrier.

"Good point. Meila, which way to Karma?" I asked with a nervous laugh.

She smiled. "We're almost to the labyrinth."

I shared a look with Beckham, then turned back to Meila. "The labyrinth?"

"Well duh, it's not just a straight shot to the throne. That would be so boring! So, it's a fun little labyrinth!"

"I think we're all sick of labyrinths," Cowyn groaned.

"It'll be fun! Follow me," she grinned, leading the way once more.

Author's Note!

I'm baaaaaack! XD Honestly though, it's been sevenever. 

Anyways, this chapter was kinda crazy, huh? It took a long time to write just because of the dialogue and action (I suck at writing action scenes, I'm so sorry), but I'm hoping it's good enough for now. The editing stage for this book should be fuuuun. *please note immense sarcasm*

Hope you guys liked it, and I can't wait for the next chapter! Love you guys, thanks for reading ^_^

Savy