"What the? Elsa? Did you just say fire time?"
"MewMewMew!" She was already gone from her spot and charging toward the girl as the translation seemed to flood in my mind. "Evil. Burn now!"
I couldn't even stop my familiar as she raced to tackle her target. Jax seemed to notice, his eyes first noticing me at the end of the hall before he sighed and pushed the girl to the side as Elsa jumped to send out a stream of fire his way.
"Shit!" I cursed but Jax's eyes bled to black and the flames moved around him until they were a spinning tornado around his body and began to extinguish seconds later. I took the opportunity to run to where he stood before grabbing Elsa before she could charge at the girl on the floor.
Elsa?! Why did you do that?"
Elsa blinked before she looked up at me. "MewMew!"
Run away!
With a poof she was gone, which left me and Jaxsin staring at one another before looking over to the girl on the floor.
"Look who the cat dragged in," she huffed. "Literally."
I decided to ignore her as I looked back at Jaxsin. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be in the crowd."
Jaxsin didn't say anything as he took a step forward and put his hands on my hips. Without missing a beat, we were kissing in greeting before he gave me a soft pucker on my lips. "Figured I'd see you and Connor off."
"Is Connor the only one left in the locker room?"
"Ya. The rest are chilling in the waiting sector."
"Okay." I gave him a sweet smile before I turned my head to the girl, who was just staring at us. "Did you need something?"
"Yes! Why else would I be sitting here? And you!" She paused to point at Jaxsin. "You pushed me!"
"Saved you from being burned to a crisp, but if you want to ignore that, then you don't need to waste my quality time," he huffed and suddenly had me in his arms and tugged me right into the locker room.
"Jax-" I couldn't finish as he slammed the door shut, turned the lock, and moved to set me on the nearest bench.
Connor was closing his locker as he stared at us in confusion.
"Hello to you too?" he greeted. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well, I was going to change, but that was interrupted with Elsa trying to kill this cheerleader chick."
"She has bad vibes," Jaxsin announced as he pulled out his phone. "Familiars don't attack random people with inextinguishable fire."
"That's not the first time," I announced, which caught their attention. "She's done it before. When she and her professor came to register for the competition. I don't know her name or which school she's a part of."
"We'll find out shortly anyway," Connor concluded. "Let's go out together. Brianne, you need to change."
"Right," I replied, and we moved to the door. Connor unlocked it and went out first before Jax and I, but the hall was completely empty.
"She's gone," I muttered.
"As if that ain't suspicious at all," Connor muttered as Jax made a call.
"Professor Phoenix. Ya, something is up. Can you look into a short blond chick who's on one of the cheer squads? She tried to confront Brianne, but Elsa came out of nowhere and tried to ignite her on fire. Ya. Alright. Brianne just needs to change, and we'll be there."
"I'll be quick," I assured them before I reached the door.
"DON'T OPEN IT!"
We all looked to the left - and my eyes were as wide as saucers as I took in not one, but two Elijahs at the end of the hall. My hands were already on the door, and suddenly I felt the spike of magic coming from the other side.
"Brianne!" Jax and Connor screamed, but all I could do was brace myself as the power shot outward.
Something grabbed me as our bodies soared back - and suddenly everything was muffled as I could hear screams and alarms going off far, far away.
My consciousness was suddenly fading fast, but I felt Marianna's presence.
I'll handle the storm.
~CONNOR~
* * *
My arms hooked around Brianne while my magic rushed to wrap around the entire area like a dome. The last-minute shock of the two identical twins at the end of the hall was then overridden by the blast that shook the entire building as we crashed through walls.
I groaned at the heavy impact that felt like it was coming from all around, but the world finally stilled as screams and alarms went off from far away.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I forced my eyes to open. My pounding headache was nothing in comparison to the shrill screams in the distance that made me realize we had to be under attack. I immediately looked for Jax, who was next to me. He groaned and slowly put his hand to his temple.
"Well fuck," he cursed. "Brianne."
"She's okay," I voiced and looked down at Brianne, who was unconscious but breathing.
If I'd been even a second late, the impact would have surely killed her. I couldn't grasp what that blast was, but it was more than just a bomb.
"Fuck. We need to get help," Jax groaned as he slowly sat up. "Ugh...my head." He seriously looked in pain, which made me frown before I reached out for his chin. Moving his face in my direction, I noticed the wound on his left temple that had blood dripping down the side of his face.
"You'll be okay," I voiced.
"Gotta be if we're going to get Bri out of here."
"How the hell are we getting out of...well, rubble?" I questioned as I tried to see what was outside of the protective barrier I kept around us. I couldn't afford to let go of it, just in case were in the middle of a pile of rubble.
I noticed a stream of light coming from above us, before the very barrier of mine began to freeze.
"What the fuck?" I questioned and quickly pulled Brianne into my lap before tugging Jax closer to me. He followed my gaze and frowned as the bubble was literally freezing up until we were in a thick ball of ice.
"Someone's helping us."
I looked back to Jax to see his eyes were black and his energy was completely different.
"Did Jax pass out?"
"That blast wasn't normal," he countered. "It's like it was made to bring the darkness out."
"Bring the darkness out?" I questioned, but we were suddenly shaken out of whatever spot we were in as the ball of ice began to levitate to the right.
We braced for impact as we floated into a space of flickering light. All we could do was huddle closer and prepare to attack as something began to hammer through the ice until it shattered.
Jaxsin was in front of me with his fist of black flames an inch from another palm that was protecting Elijah's face.
I gawked at the sight as I took in the two Elijahs. One of them had vivid silver locks with multiple colored highlights that glowed softly, while the other had dark blue hair with silver highlights. Their dark blue eyes were identical, like everything else but their hair.
The darker-haired Elijah was protecting the silver-haired one, but just seeing both of them in one spot was a simple mind fuck.
"Elijah?" I questioned, and their eyes moved over to acknowledge me before lowering to Brianne.
They simultaneously frowned, before the dark-haired Elijah spoke. "We're not enemies right now," he muttered before he looked my way. "We need to wake Brianne now."