39. Lukas
Lukas
Ididn’t move, my wand still in hand as I considered whether I could be quick enough to disarm him. My eyes locked onto the wand that threatened my entire world.
Arnold shoved the tip of his wand further into her neck, and she opened her mouth to cry out in pain.
I jolted, but kept my feet still, not wanting anything else to happen to her.
Tears were flowing rapidly down her face, a knife to my gut.
When she had gone to the library, I never imagined this.
When she’d been gone too long, I figured she'd gotten caught up in her books and I’d come to join her. And distract her.
Arnold was laughing. “The wand. Drop it. Not that you could even use it.” He was still laughing as he dug his wand into Elsie’s neck further. Carefully, I lowered my hand and dropped my wand to the floor.
Now, I was essentially useless in a fight against Arnold. Without my wand, I couldn’t perform any of the vital spells needed for combat.
“Let her go,” I growled, clenching my fists and taking a step forward. As soon as I moved, Arnold tightened his grip on Elsie, causing her face to twist in pain. I halted.
“That won’t be happening. Neither of you will leave this room. Elsie here is going to show me where a specific book is, and then I’ll be on my way.”
Elsie was giving me a look that I knew meant she wanted me to run, but there was no way in hell I was leaving her here. I forced myself to think, trying to find any possible way to fight him.
“Give me the book.” Arnold was pushing Elsie, wand still at her neck as he stayed behind her yet kept an eye on me. She turned to him and shook her head, refusing.
“Do I need to motivate you?”
I caught his intent a second before a spell flashed at me. I dove out of the way, picking up my wand as I did, the spell crashing into the door behind me and searing a burn into the wall.
I kept my eyes on Arnold, but stayed aware of Elsie.
She was sobbing silently, arm still in Arnold’s grip as he threw another spell at me.
I used my wand to deflect, but it didn’t work.
The spell grazed my shoulder just enough to burn, but it was the disarming spell that came next that sent my wand flying.
Now, I was up, diving around the spells Arnold sent, just trying to find a way to overtake him. Or at least to disarm him so that I could fight him hand-to-hand.
But his spells were coming too fast.
I dove behind a table, losing sight of Elsie momentarily.
“There’s only so long you can avoid this, Bristol. You and Elsie will both die here, so why not just get it over with?”
Anger fueled my moves. He would not be harming Elsie any further.
I grabbed a large book, sliding out from behind the table and narrowly missing Arnold’s next strike.
I threw the book as hard as I could at Arnold, hoping to catch him off guard just long enough to launch myself at him.
He easily used magic to knock the book off its path.
“Foolish boy.”
Something out the window of the library sparked hope in my veins. I just had to stall long enough.
As I moved around the room, I tried to wait just long enough that I barely missed getting hit. Arnold continued to move away from me, as if knowing that I would take any opportunity I could to tackle him. He kept Elsie at his side, his hand gripping her arm with bruising force.
Once I was close to the window, I inched toward it, hoping that Arnold wouldn’t notice until it was too late.
Remaining in front of the window, I waited for Arnold to prepare his strike.
As soon as the spell left his wand, I threw myself to the floor.
The resulting sound of glass shattering made a grin form on my face as I rolled out of the way just in time.
An entire team of enforcers jumped through the broken window, drawn by the explosion.
Spells flew as Arnold began attacking them, and they retaliated.
My heart sank as I realized he wasn’t letting go of Elsie, using her as a shield for himself.
Still, the enforcers were sending spells his way to stop him, and I watched as he deflected them or sent them back.
They couldn’t be casting spells at him so carelessly—Elsie would get caught in the crossfire.
I crawled on the floor, hoping to go unnoticed so that I could get to Elsie. A stray spell hit me in the arm, ripping my flesh open, and I bit my tongue to prevent myself from screaming in pain. I had to get to Elsie.
A spell exploded with a bright light, and Elsie’s body flung away from Arnold, landing only a few feet away from me. I rushed to her side, pulling her away as she remained silent, unconscious. There was a large gash in the space where her neck and shoulder met, blood oozing out of it.
“Gonna get you out of here. Hold on, Elsie,” I whispered to her, my voice barely audible over the commotion. I said it more to myself.
When I looked up from her, I saw Arnold in the corner, one hand covering a bloody wound on his shoulder while still casting spells to protect himself. Two enforcers were unconscious on the ground, despite their protective clothing. Two more enforcers closed in on Arnold.
“Enough!” a voice shouted just before a loud spell was performed, freezing Arnold in place. Arnold’s eyes moved frantically as he realized he was immobilized.
Calvin walked through the broken window, past the enforcers that were on the ground and the two that were standing. He was completely calm, his eyes flickering only once to me and Elsie. I pulled her up into my lap, clasping my hand over her wound to stop the bleeding.
“You’re done here, Arnold.”
With a flick of his head, Calvin directed the enforcers to take care of Arnold. As soon as they had his stiff body in magical cuffs, they dragged him out of the window to the truck that waited outside. I was so thankful that I’d seen them get out of their vehicle. The tracing potion had worked.
Calvin rushed over to us, his eyes filled with more emotion than I’d ever seen out of him.
“Sorry, I couldn’t stop them sooner. She shouldn’t have gotten hit.” He was already doing diagnostic spells on her, reading them faster than I could comprehend what I was looking at.
“She’s bleeding a lot.” Panic swelled in me as I pulled her closer, as though I could protect her still. But there was nothing I could do for her.
“The ambulance is on its way. She’s going to be okay,” Calvin assured me in a matter-of-fact tone. Already, he was performing quiet spells on her.
I stayed silent, my worry eating me alive.