Chapter 244: Annie and Blake

Chapter 244: Annie and Blake

Annie stared at the pretty, spinning dark, and breathed. "Holes in the world," she heard herself say. Like holes cut in a black curtain letting in moonlight, swirling and swirling and swirling.

"Stay together!" she heard Mason say. Why should he say such a thing? Of course they were together. Blake was back and he'd never leave again, and pretty soon when things were right he'd blow a gentle breeze through her mind, and she'd sleep so wonderfully again.

Then a terrible, screeching sound filled the air and Annie's whole body clenched in fear. She saw flashes of dying students, screaming monsters and bloody halls. She focused her eyes and saw different monsters climbing from the holes in the world, their mouths filled with teeth, their bodies twisted and horrible.

Her heart pounded and she squeezed her fingers tightly on her axe, no idea what to do.

Don't give in, she thought, staring at the beautiful, red button in the corner of her vision that made everything better.

All she had to do was focus. To go clickety click. The solution to every problem a moment’s effort away—a power called Frenzy that took away her fear, took away her thoughts. It took away everything and made her strong.

But then it would end, and everything would come rushing back like it was all new again. For a perfect moment she'd be free and forget, her treacherous mind trapped like a wild dog in a metal cage. But it was harder to be imprisoned when you knew what freedom was. Better to forget, better to embrace her cage and never think beyond it, never think she could ever be free again.

"Annie, I need your help." Blake's wonderful voice drifted through her mind. "Can you protect me while I cast?"

"Yes," she said and smiled, meeting his beautiful blue eyes. Her mind screamed no, no, no, don't risk it, don't push it. But her mouth said yes, and she took her axe and stood between the only person who cared about her in the world, and anything that meant him harm.

The monstrous creature wasn't alone. One, then two more stepped from nothing, hissing with terrible sounds like that fake t-rex from the museum when she was a girl. Annie covered her eyes and screamed. She heard skittering, too, coming closer all the time. Little legs, clawed feet, iron bristles scraping, scraping.

The others were fighting now. The amazing Becky, who Annie wished she could be, was putting herself in danger without even a weapon to strike with. Nassau's terrifying patron was splashing goo and blood and smiling, always smiling, only happy when he was killing, the frightening wolf and the other-worldly creature fighting at his side.

They were so brave. So strong. Annie wished she could be like them without her button. But she couldn't. All she could do was think about blood and screaming, and a different world where she went to school and sat with her friends and talked about boys and the lives they'd all one day have.

Gone. All gone.

Blake sent his one remaining permanent construct to assist her, remembering the undead goblin cowering on the ground.

"I don't suppose you can do anything useful?" he asked, not surprised when the thing just kept cowering. He winced at a terrible popping sound, which was followed immediately by an even worse slop as his defender threw the headless ettercap to the ground. Annie was still hitting it on the ground.

"Kill the other one," Blake said with a sigh, his defender stomping and crashing across the cavern towards Becky. It had a good five minutes left, which seemed to be about four minutes longer than necessary.

Blake mostly just watched the fighting now, thinking things were fairly well sorted. As he began to wonder exactly where the summoner was and when it would make its appearance, little hairs rose on back of his neck.

Whether it was luck or intuition or insight, Blake wasn't really sure, but when he felt the overwhelming instinct to duck, he didn't fight it.

A violent force flew above him. Something wide and white and filled with energy spread out and hissed across the cavern. Blake watched as what appeared to be a giant web covered everything and everyone but him and the cowering goblin.

Blake looked back towards the source and saw a spider as tall as his defender. It had at least six different eyes with different colors and shapes, two of its huge legs raised to reveal a wide, gaping hole of a maw still dripping with web-like strands. Annie was completely covered in the webbing, struggling to rise as the spider raced towards her.

Blake cried out and clutched his demonic necklace, running forward, still not sure what else to do. His constructs were coming, but too slowly. Arcane Blast was far too slow. And the spider was too large to move...but maybe...

At the last moment Blake seized Annie with Telekinesis and pulled her towards him.

The spider's legs smashed into the floor where she'd been, each 'foot' opening to reveal a spike at least a foot long. It looked up at Blake with several eyes, and waves of heat and arcane energy struck him as quick as thought.

He screamed as the second penetrated straight through his shield. His right arm went numb, and he threw himself aside with Telekinesis, pulling Annie along as he yanked them both towards some nearby rocks. He'd judged the distance well and lost sight of the spider behind them, rising to look at his arm, which hung uselessly at his side.

"I'm alright," he mostly told himself, trying to pull some of the webbing off Annie one handed as the girl struggled to break free. He heard the spider's clacking leg-spikes coming closer, his heart practically keeping rhythm.

Apparently they'd vastly underestimated the thing. But his spells were too slow to do much now except maybe flee again. He pulled at Annie and tried not to fall down screaming at the growing pain lancing through his arm.

The others would come. That was all he could think as he failed to pull off the stick webbing. Mason was close. Mason would come...