Chapter 34
“Got it!” Hero exclaimed as the gooey substance turned from green to a dark purple. He stared at the substance as he asked me, “Any weapons around the house?”
Before I could answer, Ayden spoke. “There’s no need for that. I remember seeing a spell that would put an invisible bubble around us, acting as a shield.”
Hero took his eyes off the goo and stared at Ayden, narrowing his eyes. It was obvious that Hero didn’t want the weapons to defend himself.
He wanted to hurt Benji.
“Any kitchen utensils or cookware could be used as a weapon,” I suggested.
And I let him.
“Pepper,” Ayden hissed, then glared at Hero. “This isn’t a good idea.”
Hero opened one of the kitchen drawers, but Ayden pushed it back in. “I won’t let you.”
“Are you defending him?” Hero eyes pierced through Ayden’s soul. “After what he put all three of us through?”
“I don’t want to see you in jail,” Ayden seethed, keeping his hand on the drawer.
Hero scoffed. “Like you care.”
Ayden sucked his teeth. “Think about Peps. Don’t do this.”
Hero softened his gaze a bit. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”
Ayden held both of his hands out, expecting us to hold onto them. We did, and Ayden closed his eyes, reciting the spell in the Sivad language. Hero looked astonished at Ayden’s perfect pronunciation.
Ayden patted Hero’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
The three of us rushed to the locked door. Hero poured the dark purple goo onto the doorknob. There was a slight glow.
“I’ll go in,” I whispered, slowly turning the doorknob. “Guard the door.”
It took me a few seconds to adjust to the brightness of the room. Blake was laying in a starfish position on his bed, blood dripping from his face. Benji stood over him, tracing his index finger over the pages of the book.
When he noticed me standing there, he accidentally knocked over a potion that was on a small tray placed on top of the bed, shattering it to pieces.
Benji turned the panic on his face into a wide grin. “You can’t save him.”
“What did you do?” I asked, keeping my distance.
“He is in a coma-state.” He turned to Blake. “But he is aware of his surroundings. He can even hear us right now.”
“Reverse it.”
“There’s no known reversion spell for this.”
I gulped. “You’re lying.” I turned to look at Hero and Ayden, hoping one of them would tell him he’s lying or wrong. “Isn’t he?”
Ayden stared at the floor, while Hero stared at Benji, clenching his jaw. I turned back to Benji, who didn’t seem to have an ounce of empathy.
“You’re sick,” I spat with tears in my eyes. “You used me and practically killed my brother.”
“Once again, he’s not your brother.” Benji stepped closer, but Hero gave him a glare that made him stop in his tracks.
He lightly chuckled. “A brother wouldn’t blame his sister for doing crazy things when in love.
” He paused. “Ayden’s lucky to have me, y’know.
I embraced his jealous side. He loved my plan, so don’t think he’s just a poor little victim. ”
“Is this about Violet?” Hero asked.
Benji bursted out laughing. “Heavens, no. He’s—”
Gay.
Ayden shook his head subtly, gesturing for Benji to cut it out.
“Aww,” Benji said sarcastically. “I guess we wouldn’t want that out there, huh?”
“Please,” Ayden said, practically begging. “Don’t tell him.”
Benji grinned the widest grin I’d ever seen. He loved the power he had over Ayden. It was sickening.
“Don’t say it, Benji,” I warned. “Or I’ll share your secret to everyone at school.”
“Oh, the fact that I’m a germophobe?” Benji said casually. “Thanks to this handy-dandy book, I don’t have to deal with that flaw of mine anymore, or any problem for that matter.”
“There’s a spell for that?” I asked. “Why didn’t your parents teach you that one?”
“He wouldn’t know it unless his parents got taught it,” Ayden answered.
Benji slightly nodded, then changed the subject back. “I guess this isn’t the right place to share Ayden’s secret, anyway.” He shrugged, then looked at me. “Even if you knew what I was going to say, I bet you don’t know why he was jealous in the first place, right?”
What was the ‘right place’ to share that?
“It’s not my business.”
“Oh, but it is.” Benji grinned.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to know.”
“You will, eventually.”
What did he mean by that?
Benji stared at Blake’s body. “You technically killed him, y’know?”
“You tricked me.”
“You fell for it, you naive girl.”
“And you’re an idiot for thinking Hero knew a thing about the book being stolen,” I countered, and Ayden shuffled his feet. “His ancestors’ stole it, not him.”
“And I’m getting revenge for my ancestors.”
I scoffed. “The cops will lock you away for this.”
“By showing them a language they can’t even understand?” He cocked his head. “Ayden’s DNA would be found on Blake’s body too, y’know? It’d be your word against mine.”
“Screw you!” Ayden breezed past me and punched his cousin in the face. “I’m sick and tired of you treating me like trash!”
Blood flew out of Benji’s mouth before he wiped it and stared at his cousin with hatred. Ayden didn’t deserve that look. He didn’t deserve any of it. He was a sweet boy, one who deserved love. Especially from his own family.
I shifted my gaze to my family. Blake. I rushed over to Blake’s side and shook his motionless body, hoping he would wake up. At the end of the day, he was still my brother. I hated him, but he was my brother that I hated.
The sound of someone falling to the floor made me gasp and turn around.
Ayden had punched Benji again, this time knocking him unconscious.
He turned around frantically, then spotted the book and grabbed it, holding it close to his chest. “Let’s destroy the book and make sure he never gets ahold of it ever again. ”
Hero’s eyes widened, then hardened. “Don’t you dare.” He scurried over to Ayden, attempting to take the book out of his hands.
The book was flipped open as they began to play tug-of-war with it, its binding starting to rip apart. The two of them fell backwards onto the floor as it fully ripped in half.
Hero stared at half of the book in his hands, speechless. Ayden ran out of the room, straight towards the fireplace in the living room, and threw the half he had into the fire.
Hero sprinted after him and watched as the fire disintegrated the pages of the book. He exhaled, tears rolling down his cheek. He then glanced back at me, remembering all of the bad things the book had done.
I nodded. Sniffling, Hero stepped closer to the fireplace and threw the remainder of the book into the fireplace.
“You did the right thing,” Ayden whispered.
Hero stared at Ayden for a moment. “I forgive you,” he murmured.
Ayden eyes widened. “For— for what?”
“Everything.”
Tears started to form from Ayden’s eye sockets. “I forgive you too, Ro.”
Hero pulled Ayden into a hug. I lightly chuckled through my own tears. Seeing my best friends hug each other again felt so surreal. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming. I pinched myself to make sure—ouch, nope, not dreaming. Hero and Ayden were finally friends again.
The two of them turned to look at me, each extending an arm for a group hug. I smiled and joined the hug.
All three of us had completely forgotten about Benji in that moment, but that didn’t last long.
He had woken up.
“What have you done?!” he screamed as he realized what we had done with the book. He pushed past us to get to the fireplace. “You idiots!” Kneeling down in front of the fireplace, he watched as the pages went up in flames.