The Power Within (13 page)

Gabriella gasped and bolted upright. “He's awake!” she shouted.

The web of electricity blazed with a brightness so intense that Gabriella had to cover her face. Then, all at once, it vanished. Even the massive lightning bolt that Darren had been sending into the sky evaporated. There was a tremendous crash as thousands of books hit the floor. The witches and warlocks in the room woke up, scrambling to form a defense.

Gabriella got to her feet. “Where is—” she started to say, her voice uncertain. Then she saw it: a pair of eyes, glowing red from across the room. Gabriella
remembered where she had seen eyes like that before: in her kitchen, when three warlocks had shown up in pursuit of Circe's Compass. Tía Rosa had incapacitated two of them, but the third managed to cast a powerful spell. When he did, his eyes had glowed red—just the like the pair across the library.

Then, to her horror, Gabriella saw another pair of glowing red eyes.

And another.

And another.

A faint light spilled across the room as curses zinged through the air, ricocheting off the shelves. Gabriella reached out and grabbed Fiona's and Mack's hands and then dragged them down to the floor. “Stay low,” she said urgently.

“What's going on?” Fiona asked.

“It's the Horn of Power,” Gabriella explained. “That's why the warlocks kidnapped Darren and Jai and the others. They were harnessing their powers to repair it.”

“No!” Fiona said. “Where . . . ?”

“It's there,” Gabriella said, lifting her head just high enough to see the horn in the middle of the room, still
on the floor beside the cracked pedestal. She could see, too, the First Four in action—Mr. Kimura, in
kitsune
form, was creating individual prisons of flames around each warlock. As a werewolf, Ms. Therian was on the attack, and Sefu had transformed into a hyena and was using his incredible strength to smash anything in his path. Yara, though still a human, had her head thrown back, and she was . . .
singing
the most exquisite melody that Gabriella had ever heard, and all the warlocks near her had fallen to the floor, writhing in pain.

“We'd better follow their lead,” Mack said, gesturing to the First Four. “Let's transform and get the horn.”

“But—” Fiona began.

“Don't worry, Fiona, we'll protect you,” Mack interrupted her.

“Thanks,” she said. “What I was going to say, though, is what about Darren?”

Gabriella glanced up again. How had she missed it before? On one side of the pedestal, Darren stood locked in battle with a tall, thin warlock. Looking back later, Gabriella wouldn't understand why just the sight of the man filled her with terror. He wasn't much to look at,
dressed all in black, but there was something about his long fingers, pressed together, that gave her chills.

Or maybe it was just the malicious glee shining in his terrible red eyes . . .

And Darren . . .

Poor Darren . . .

He was trying
so
hard; even from a distance Gabriella could see that he was shaking from head to toe, channeling every last ounce of energy into his fingertips, where faint sparks crackled. It was obvious to Gabriella that he was trying to summon one more bolt of lightning, to stop the strange thin man in his tracks.

He doesn't have it in him,
Gabriella thought suddenly, remembering how tired Darren had been, even in his dream.
He's been fighting these warlocks for so long, using all his energy, all his power. . . .

Worst of all, the thin man seemed to know that too. He wasn't doing anything to even try to stop Darren. He just stood there, smiling his mocking smile, as if he enjoyed Darren's struggle.

As if it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

That was all it took for Gabriella's fear to be replaced
by a flame of rage.
That's
my
friend,
she thought angrily as she transformed into a jaguar. Mack was already in his
kitsune
form, and together, they shielded Fiona as they tried to cross the room, dodging curses and spells and terrible incantations.

Stay strong, Darren,
Gabriella thought to him.
We're coming!

Stop . . . Jasper . . .
was all he could manage, and it was enough. Besides, Gabriella wanted him to save whatever strength he had left.

She had a feeling he was going to need it.

The sparks at Darren's fingers were growing fainter, fainter, fainter . . . and at the same time, his legs seemed to quiver unsteadily, as if he were about to fall.

Hurry!
Gabriella thought to Fiona and Mack as they pressed forward.

They made it just in time.

Because Darren did fall; he collapsed, actually, but Fiona was ready for him. Somehow, she caught him and pulled him to safety. At least, that's what Gabriella hoped Fiona had been able to do. She couldn't think about it. Not now, not when she and Mack were all that stood between the thin man—Jasper—and the Horn of Power.

My, my.

It took Gabriella a moment to realize that Jasper's voice had slipped into her own thoughts.

Wasn't that a sight to behold?
Jasper thought to her, his words sticky with sarcasm.
Very noble. Very touching.

Mack used his powers to conjure up a small fireball, which he lobbed at the man. Jasper didn't even flinch as he dodged the blast, which fell to the ground in a smoldering heap of ashes behind him.

Gabriella's eyes never left Jasper's pinched, unpleasant face as she leaped at him, claws gleaming in the moonlight. She managed a small swipe that left him clutching his side.

Gabriella grinned and readied herself for another attack, but suddenly, she was gripped by an intense pain. A wound the same as the one she'd given Jasper appeared on her own side.

Mack!
she thought to her friend.
He's using some kind of spell—any hit will bounce right back at you. We need the First Four to break it. There's no way we can take him on our own.

Jasper seemed to realize that the kids had discovered
the spell. With a smile he walked past them to the pedestal, where the Horn of Power, now gleaming and fully repaired, lay.

Around them, the battle was dying down as Ms. Therian, Sefu, Mr. Kimura, and Yara bested the warlocks and witches, one by one.
That's the last of them,
Gabriella thought to Mack.

But even as the First Four approached, Jasper only grinned. His eyes gleamed, then glowed, as red as blood.

No!
Gabriella thought. She lunged forward, but it was too late.

At that very moment, Jasper and the Horn of Power disappeared in a plume of toxic, choking smoke that spiraled into the sky.

Darren's face twitched; his eyes opened, and he blinked. He wasn't quite sure where he was, but familiar faces slowly came into focus: Mom on his left side, Dad on his right, and Ray perched at the end of the bed.

Another dream,
Darren thought, grimacing. That was the only explanation as to why his whole family would be together like this. His meandering dreams before had led him through some of his most powerful memories: Christmas traditions, the annual family beach trip, and then the terrible talk with Mom and Dad about their divorce. And now . . . they were all in . . . a hospital? Darren had never been in the hospital before, so
that didn't make sense. But then again, dreams usually didn't. Darren tried to figure it out, but his mind felt so drained. No, wait.
All
of him felt drained. His arms, his legs, even his head felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.

Darren glanced around warily, waiting for Gabriella to burst into the room in her
nahual
form. Then he tried to sit up. Mom and Dad reached for him at the same time—Mom's hand on his forearm; Dad's hand on his shoulder. That's when Darren realized he wasn't dreaming, after all. Nothing could be more real than their touch.

“Easy, champ,” Dad said in a quiet voice. “You need your rest.”

Darren sank back down onto the pillow. Just then, he heard a mechanical noise as the upper part of the bed began to rise up.

Ray, grinning mischievously, held up a small remote control. “You've hit the big-time, D,” he joked. “This place has it all! Your own TV, a remote-controlled bed, and even room service. Though I can't say I would recommend the food.”

Darren cracked a smile. “Very funny,” he replied. “But seriously . . . why am I here? What happened?”

Mom and Dad exchanged a glance. “You collapsed during football practice, sweetie,” Mom explained. “Don't worry, though; the doctors say you're going to be just fine. It's just a mild case of dehydration and exhaustion.”

“Enough to give us quite a scare, though,” Dad added.

Football practice?
Darren thought. He tried to think back— Yes, he remembered practice now, and the urgent phone call from Fiona. Then there was . . . nothing. A gaping hole in his memory.

Suddenly, it all came rushing back: The library. The chairs. The wristband. Jai. Jasper.

The Horn of Power.

Did the warlock fix it?
Darren wondered urgently. He tried to sit up again, but his father's grip was too strong.

“Please, Darren,” Dad said with an unusual note of pleading in his voice. “You've
got
to rest.”

But Darren barely heard him.
Where are they?
he wondered wildly, glancing around again for Fiona, for
Mack, for Gabriella, for the First Four—for
anyone
who could tell him what had
really
happened.

Then Darren forced himself to take a deep breath.
Jasper and his crew wouldn't exactly drop me off at New Brighton Memorial Hospital,
he reminded himself.
If I'm here, that means I'm safe. So, the other Changers must be safe too.
He would just have to be patient until they could tell him everything.

“We heard you were crushing it on the field,” Ray was saying. “I know I told you exercise can help with stress, but seriously, D, you can't get so carried away.”

“You've been through so much this week,” Mom said gently. “Are you ready to talk now?”

You have no idea,
Darren thought. But that heavy sense of dread that had overwhelmed him for days seemed somehow lighter. And when he tried to keep his mouth shut, the strangest thing happened: the words came all on their own.

“Everything is awful,” he began. “I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling. All the time, I feel so—so—so sad and angry and—and
betrayed.
It feels like everything is ruined. And I hate feeling like this. I
hate
it.”

“That's our fault,” Dad spoke up. “Your mother and I take full responsibility. We should've done a better job talking to you and Ray about the problems we were having. It was wrong to keep it from you and then just spring the divorce on you like that.”

“It's hard, sometimes, to remember just how grown up you two are,” Mom chimed in. “I still think it's our job to protect you boys, but this time, our attempts to protect you just made things worse.” Then she sighed and squeezed Darren's hand. But he wasn't done yet.

“We used to be so happy,” Darren continued. “And now it's just . . . gone. Over. What if we're never happy like that again? Everything's changing, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.”

“One thing isn't changing,” Dad said firmly. He looked directly into Darren's eyes. “The love your mother and I have for you boys can
never
change.
Ever.
”

“And we will always be a family,” Mom said, “even though Dad and I won't be married or live together anymore. You and Ray will always come first for us. We're going through a hard time right now—all of us—but
we're tough. We'll survive this and be even stronger than we were before.”

“This isn't the end of our happiness,” Dad said. “I promise you, Darren, that we are going to make more happy memories—sometimes apart, and sometimes, even together.”

“Holidays, birthdays, graduations,” Mom said, ticking each one off on her fingers. “Dad and I don't want to miss anything. It's true that our family is going to look different from the way it was. And that will take some getting used to—for all of us.”

Darren and Ray exchanged a glance.

“Time heals,” Mom continued. “It really does. There will come a day when you suddenly realize things don't seem quite so awful. Your father and I will always be here for you, no matter what. And nothing can change that.”

Her words gave Darren the courage to say what he'd been thinking.