Authors: Micheal Kostura
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hector
The day after his meeting with the Council, Hector decided to finally take Damon on a tour of the Pit. He had already shown him all of the important spots around when Allison suddenly shadow jumped in front of them.
“Hector, Damon, let’s go!” She shouts.
“What’s going on? Don’t tell me the Void are invading again.” Hector says as he rushes over to his teammate.
“Worse.” She says. “Just grab on and come with.”
“You always have to be so difficult.” He mumbles. Nevertheless, he and Damon both comply and grab onto her shoulders.
And then they dip into the same shadow that Allison had emerged from.
* * *
“You’re leaving the Pit?” Hector shouts in disbelief. He didn’t want to believe what he had just heard- but it was impossible to deny what was right in front of his eyes.
Nick stood awkwardly, looking at his feet as he fiddled with the straps of his backpack. The young Walker grins sheepishly. “Yeah. I need to just get away from all of this. I need to have some time to myself, to you know… readjust to my new life.”
Hector shakes his head. “But you’re coming back, right? You’re not going to just leave us, are you?”
His teammate laughs. Hector could tell that their was no real emotion behind it, but he knew better than to expect his friend to be happy after all that has happened to him. Nick looks at Hector and smiles. “Of course I am, you dummy. I’m still a Shadow Walker. But I’m also half human. I’m not as used to this stress as you guys might be. Two weeks ago the biggest problem I had to worry about was getting home on time. Now I have to worry about preventing genocide.”
Allison laughs lightly. “But wouldn’t you be safer here in the Pit? Back on earth the Void are everywhere, I don’t think it’d be smart for you to go there by yourself.”
“And he isn’t.” Isaac says. He puts his arm around Nick’s shoulders and smiles. “I’m going to watch over him.”
“You’re leaving us too?” Hector asks. “Oh god, you can’t just leave me here to deal with Allison.”
“Hey!” She shouts as she punches Hector in the shoulder. “If anything, I’m the one who's going to be putting up with you.”
Everybody laughs, even Nick. Even though Hector was reluctant to see his friend leave him, he knew deep down that it was the best choice for Nick. After all, he probably had friends back in the human world as well. And on top of that, he would still need to complete his upcoming senior year of high school.
He looks at Nick and holds his hand out. “Promise you’re going to come back to the Pit?”
“I put it on my life as a Shadow Walker.” His teammate replies as the two of them shake hands. A moment of silence passes between the group, and then Isaac sighs.
“Alright, I know what everybody’s thinking.” He says sarcastically. “We can’t call ourselves a
real
team if we don’t have at least one official group hug session. Everybody give Nick some love.”
Nicks face contorts in a pained expression as his teammates quickly surround him. He holds his hand up as the four draw near. “I swear- I will freeze all of you if you come any closer.”
Allison lunges forward and wraps her arms around the unwilling boy, then Isaac jumps in, followed by Damon, and then finally Hector wraps his arms around his teammates backs.
“You guys are so embarrassing.” Nick says.
Hector agreed, but it would have been against his nature to care. He knew that Nick wouldn’t say it out loud, but the boy was hurting inside. He needed all of the love and support he could get in order for him to recover from the loss of his mother. And for that reason, Hector didn’t care who was watching or how ridiculous his group looked. They were a team- and they would do whatever they needed to support each other.
“You know you can always come back here if you get bored.” Hector says as he pulls away from the hug. The rest of the group slowly lets go of their teammate, who now had watery eyes.
“I know. Thank you guys so much.” Nick says. He turns to Isaac and grins. “I think we should leave before I start bawling like a baby.”
Isaac nods. The captain places his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Ready when you are.”
The group doesn’t say another word. Nick smiles as he waves the three of them goodbye. And then he and Isaac disappear into the shadow at their feet. Hector’s gut immediately drops once the two of them are gone. It was depressing seeing two of his friends just leave on such short notice after all that they had been through together.
The only thing that kept his mood up was the fact that he would have Allison and Damon to keep him company in the Pit. Two weeks ago, Hector had no friends at all. And now he had four that he could trust with his life. And for that, he couldn’t be any more grateful.
* * *
Hector was just laying down on his couch, enjoying the movie he had on, when Damon sits up straight with a panicked expression on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?” Hector asks. Unfortunately for him, his question is quickly answered as a cloud of purple smoke suddenly forms in front of the tv. The smoke quickly takes the shape of a woman, but doesn’t solidify the way it usually did for the Void. But even though she was made of smoke, Hector could still clearly make out the details of the woman.
Her skin was a light shade of purple, her lips only slightly darker than that. Her hair was as black as night and her eyes looked as if she could cut a building in half just by glaring at it. She had on an extravagant white dress that dragged along the floor.
Needless to say, Hector thought she was beautiful.
But Damon seemed much more worried about the random Void’s appearance than Hector. He scoots back as far as possible into the couch and shakes his head. “Mom…” His voice begins wavering with every syllable. “What are you doing here mother?”
“Mom?” Hector shouts. He quickly jumps over the back of the couch to gains some distance from the Queen of the Void. He needed to go, but he couldn’t just let Damon get kidnapped yet again. He knew that he didn’t stand a chance against the Queen, so he would just have to cause a distraction. He begins reaching into his pocket to get the silver stone that could summon his wolves. But he stops dead in his tracks once the Queen begins laughing.
“Don’t act so anxious, boy. This is simply a projection.”
Hector’s nerves almost instantly relax. Just to make sure that he truly was safe, he picks up an empty pop can and throws it at the Queen of the Void. Sure enough, it passes right through the smoke, which quickly reforms to its original state. Hector let’s out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness, I thought I was a goner.”
“Such an ignorant child.” The Queen says scowling. She turns to look at Damon with a look of disappointment. “You betrayed me to stay with the likes of him?”
With no second thoughts, Hector laughs directly at the most powerful Void to ever exist. “The likes of me? You mean the only guy who has the power to stop you? Yeah- I think he found a pretty good guy to deal with his psychotic mother.”
The Queen’s face contorts as if she caught whiff of something repungant. It was obvious to Hector that she didn’t think anyone had the willpower to talk back to her. Unfortunately for her, she was now face to face with the biggest trash talker in the Pit.
She begins to chuckle, which quickly turns into a full on witch-esque cackle. If anyone else had done such a thing, Hector would have been creeped out. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the laugh fit her perfectly. She smiles a wicked smile and shakes her head. “You truly are crazy, Hector Avern. Are you incapable of feeling fear? You read what was in Lydia Walker’s book, but you show no signs of worry or panic.”
“I don’t care about any of that stuff.” Hector says flatly. “The only thing I care about is putting an end to you.”
“Then you better pray that you can truly get your hands on Serena’s ring. You may have the confidence to start a war with me, but do you truly believe that you have the power to win it? You Walkers are all fools if you think that I’ll just let you get Serena’s ring and then come into my homeland to take my head. Valus will not allow such a thing to happen. And of course, unbeknownst to you Walkers, one of your own will soon be joining our side. That should make for quite an interesting reveal.”
“What are you talking about?” Hector asks, as he reaches and grabs a handful of chips.
“Power- true power- can be enticing. Don’t go thinking that you two are the only unique hybrids in existence. A new species is being created as we speak.” She turns her attention to Damon once again. “And as for you my son, I will no longer show you forgiveness nor try to bring you back to my side. If you’re lucky, Valus will kill you before I get the chance to do it myself.”
Hector points at the Queen and throws a handful of chips at her. “Don’t you threaten him! I don’t care how strong you are- I‘m going to get Serena’s ring, and then I’m going to walk into the Void- find you- and kick your ass! And I won’t have to worry about Valus. Nick is going to kick his ass for me!”
The Queen cackles once again, though this time there is a hint of anger in her laugh. She looks up at the ceiling and speaks as if god himself was listening to their conversation. “Are you watching? He thinks that this is something he can survive!” She looks back at Hector with a mix of disgust and amusement. “I can’t wait to see you try, Avern. If you somehow manage to survive long enough to make it to the Void, then just remember that you’ll be stepping into my territory. And if that day ever comes, know that you have just written yourself a death wish- along with one for every person whom you hold dear.”
The Queen’s projection suddenly goes out of focus. The smoke quickly loses its defined shape and disappears into thin air.
“Hector!” Damon shouts as he turns around and punches the Walkers shoulder.
“What?” Hector says with a playful smile plastered across his face.
“You are the only person
stupid
enough to piss off the Queen of the Void. Did you know that?”
“Really? She was angry? I thought she was actually pretty friendly for the Queen of a bloodthirsty race.”
Damon shakes his head. “No joking around- this is bad! She
really
hates you now. What if she-”
Hector interrupts Damon by pulling him in close enough to feel his breath. “I don’t care what she does to
me
. She threatened to hurt all of my friends, so there’s no way that I can back down now. If I don’t believe in myself, then I won’t really be able to accomplish anything. Isn’t that right?” He pushes away and casually jumps back onto the couch.
Damon sighs. A minute of silence passes before he speaks again. “What was in the book that you read? Don’t act like it’s nothing either. My mother knows about it, and the Council members were acting very frightened by it.”
“Oh.” Hector says flatly. He knew what everyone was afraid of, but he honestly didn’t care. “It wasn’t important for anything that we’re going through right now.”
“Hector just tell me!” Damon says pleadingly.
Hector sighs and whips his head back and forth in frustration. He didn’t want to hear Damon complain anymore, and deep down he also didn’t want to be the only one of his friends who knew what was in the book. He unwillingly begins to recite the passage from Lydia’s book to the best of his memory.
“They sent me a confirmation that they’ve been watching us. I don’t know exactly what they want, but they responded to the message that I left in the castle. The place seems like it was set up as some sort of beacon for them. Serena got one as well, and I think that we’re on the brink of something incredible. To think that we’ve been right the whole time- there really is a fifth kind.”
Damon looks at Hector with wide eyes. “No way, you couldn’t mean that…”
As soon as Damon trails off, a glowing white light suddenly begins shimmering in between the two of them. Hector tenses up, worried that he was about to get into another shouting match with the Void Queen.
But instead, the light slowly fades away. And when it’s gone a single piece of silver paper rest on the couch. Damon and Hector look at each other in awe, and then Hector scrambles to pick up the piece of paper.
“Don’t hog it, I want to see what it says too!” Damon barks.
He sighs and scoots over close enough so that the two of them could read the mysterious note together. And the message that was on the page sent chills up Hector’s spine.
DEAR MR. AVERN,
WE’RE STILL WATCHING YOU
ON THE EIGHTH OF MAY
TWELVE GO INTO SERENA’S GAME
HOWEVER
ONLY SEVEN WILL SURVIVE
CHOOSE WISELY
-END-