The shields from Walter and Phinneas instantly began to flicker like a light bulb with a bad short. Melina knew that wasn’t good. Any moment now the demons would break the shields, and she would be vulnerable. She shot a frantic look at Walter, who simply nodded at her again.
Immediately she closed her eyes and thought of Henry. She knew she had to get to him. He was their only hope for destroying the demons. Her only hope for surviving. She felt the protective shields break around her just as she felt herself disappear. A couple of seconds later she reappeared right in front of Henry, the pain throughout her body returning with a vengeance.
She collapsed down to her knees and covered her face with her hands. W
hy are the powers still causing me so much pain?
“Melina? Where did you come from?”
Melina lifted her head in the direction of the familiar voice and saw a man standing over her. “Lee?”
Henry stepped forward and helped her stand back up. “I was just dropping him off at home. What’s wrong? Why did you teleport to me?”
“We need you. Now.” Melina tried to keep a calm composure, but it was somewhat difficult to do as she also tried to subdue the pain. “Adelia showed up and has somehow figured out how to put her protective shield around the demons.”
“Oh no,” said Henry. “We need to get back to the park.”
Melina nodded and then turned to Lee. “You need to get inside, Lee, and stay there. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She turned back around and made her way toward Henry.
“But wait,” Lee called out, causing Melina to stop and look back. “I didn’t get to tell you everything that I wanted to. I didn’t just want to thank you for helping me gain closure with my dad. I also wanted to thank you for helping me to learn to trust again.”
Melina looked at him curiously, waiting for him to elaborate.
Lee cleared his throat and continued. “After my dad left, I always had an issue with completely trusting people. I didn’t fully trust my employees, that’s why the store is failing. I didn’t fully trust my mom and sister, that’s why I never believed it when they tried to tell me how my dad really felt. And I didn’t fully trust you, until today. You never gave up trying to help me, and everything you’ve told me has turned out to be true. So I want to thank you for that and make sure you know that I trust you. Completely.”
Melina stared at him, her mouth open to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. She wasn’t sure what to say.
“Melina, we need to go,” said Henry as he laid his hand on her shoulder.
“Um, yeah. Yeah, we do,” she said, glancing back at him. She returned her gaze to Lee and said, “I’m sorry. We really need to go.”
“Wait,” Lee said as he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Isn’t there something I can do to help you?”
Melina looked down at his hand and then raised her eyes back up to meet his. “No, it’s too dangerous,” she said.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he held her gaze. “But I don’t want anything to happen to you either.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I know,” she said as she pulled her hand back from his. “But I’m sorry. I really have to go now.” Before Lee had an opportunity to respond, Melina spun around, grabbed Henry’s hand, and they both disappeared.
A second later they reappeared back in the park, but before they'd even had a chance to locate Walter and Phinneas, all three demons, still encircled in Adelia’s shield, ambushed them. As Henry crashed to the ground, Melina was sent rolling into a patch of prickly spruce trees. When she finally climbed her way out, she saw that Henry was relentlessly attacking all three demons by himself.
He had his own protective shield up now, and the light beams were shooting out from his hands so fast that they looked like two continuous streams of bright golden light. The shields around the demons were starting to flicker, but how long could Henry keep going? And even if he broke through the shields, he would still have to fight off the demons. Would he have enough strength left then?
She needed to do something to help him. But what? As she scanned the area around her, she spotted Walter and Phinneas over to her left, huddled together down on the ground. She started to run toward them, but as she was about to call out to them, she realized they weren’t huddled together. They were trying to pin Adelia to the ground.
Melina froze as she watched Adelia thrash her body around violently, her light blond hair flying around like crazy, her face full of rage. Knowing all too well that the rage was because of her, Melina refused to go any closer. Walter and Phinneas were already having some difficulty holding Adelia down, and the sight of Melina might just give her the extra boost of strength to break free.
Melina quickly turned on her heel, wanting to get out of Adelia’s range of sight and back to help Henry somehow, when she heard the demons ear-piercing shrieks. She looked up ahead of her and saw that the shields around the demons and Henry were both gone. Two of the demons pounced on Henry, hissing and clawing as they tackled him to the ground. The third demon, the one with the injured arm, headed right for her.
He came at her so fast she didn’t even have time to react. She was thrown onto the ground, her head hitting the hard earth with a loud
thump
. She winced at the pain as her skull began to throb. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw that everything around her was starting to blur together. She scanned her immediate area, trying to find the demon, but her eyes refused to focus on anything.
Then suddenly her chest was hit with an enormous pressure from what seemed to be some type of invisible object, instantly knocking the breath from her. She began to gasp for air as she frantically grabbed at her chest, trying to remove whatever was crushing her lungs. The pressure only became heavier, and her lungs suddenly felt like they were being squeezed. The familiar sensation jolted in Melina’s mind as she realized that the demon was taking her soul.
As she lay there on the ground, struggling to take in gulps of air, her thoughts immediately went to Walter, Phinneas, and Henry. No one would be able to help her now. They were all fighting their own battles, completely unaware of her predicament. She was going to have to save herself.
She tried to center her focus on how she needed help and protection, desperately trying to pull up her protective shield. A faint glow would appear for a brief moment, but her flailing around and gasping for air wouldn't allow her to produce anything more. She needed to break the demon's hold on her, even if it was just for a second. With all of the strength she could muster, she slowly managed to push herself up off the ground just in time to see Henry hurl a huge light ball from his hands and blow the two demons to pieces.
Henry started to run to Melina, and just when she thought she might be saved, she heard a loud scream to her left. She could only turn her head slightly, but it was enough for her to see Adelia running toward her. Walter and Phinneas were chasing after Adelia, but she had too much of a lead for them to stop her.
“Don’t stop!” Adelia shouted at the last surviving demon. “Kill her. Kill her!”
Walter and Phinneas were too far away to do anything, and as Melina looked over at Henry, she saw that he was as well. Fear and hopelessness instantly consumed her as she fell back to the ground, clutching at her throat. The squeezing sensation had moved up to her windpipe now, making it almost impossible to get any sort of breath. All of her surroundings started to spin, making everything grow blurrier and blurrier.
You’re going to die, Melina, if you don’t do something. No one is going to reach you in time. It’s all up to you. You’re going to have to save yourself. You don’t want to die. You can do it. Trust in yourself.
Just at that moment she thought of Lee. He trusted her. That was the key to it all. Walter had even said so. She needed to help him with his problem, but she also needed to gain his trust. His complete trust. And she had it. And now that she was accepting that fact, she felt the pain start to fade away.
A faint white glow began to emanate around her, and it didn’t disappear. The pressure that was now over her entire body began to lighten as well as the tightness on her throat and lungs. Her fear and hopelessness were immediately replaced with confidence and faith.
All of a sudden there was a massive explosion of bright white light all around her that seemed to illuminate the entire park. The last demon and Adelia, who was right next to her now, were blasted into the air and out of sight. She then saw Walter, Phinneas, and Henry all running toward her, but just as she tried to call out to them, they were blasted back as well. She screamed as she reached for them, but it only made things worse for her. Everything around her went black as she slumped back down to the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Wake up. Melina, please, wake up,” the voice said.
Melina coughed and rubbed her throat before easing herself up to a sitting position. She looked around and saw Walter, Phinneas, and Henry all gazing down at her. Her eyes stopped at Walter’s, asking him the question that was burning on her tongue.
“It’s over,” he replied as his lips formed into a small grin. “It’s all over.”
“I’m not going to die?”
“No,” said Walter, shaking his head.
A rush of different emotions hit her all at once — relief, happiness, shock, triumph. She started to laugh and cry as she looked around at everyone again. “It almost seems too good to be true!” she exclaimed as she pushed herself up from the ground and flung her arms around Walter’s neck. Even though she was still smiling, she began to cry even harder.
Walter gently hugged her back, and for the next few moments, no one said anything.
Melina finally stepped back and wiped away her tears. As she looked down at her leg, she noticed the scarf was gone and her wounds were healed. She lifted her eyes to Henry’s. He smiled and gave her a quick nod.
“Thank you, Henry. And to both of you as well,” she gestured at Walter and Phinneas, “for saving my life.”
“We just helped to protect you,” said Phinneas. “You saved yourself.”
“I did?” Melina asked, a hint of pride in her voice.
“Yes,” Walter said. “It seems like you have full control of your powers now… and then some.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
Phinneas stepped toward her and offered a hand to help her up off the ground. “Well, since you’re human, your emotions affect your powers and amplify them. I can only assume you were scared for your life and desperate to save yourself, so those desperate emotions doubled, even tripled, the power of your protective shield causing it to literally explode around you. Luckily for the three of us,” he said as he gestured to Walter, Henry, and himself, “we had a short warning window to bring our own protective shields up, but the last remaining demon and Adelia weren’t so fortunate.”
“You’re certain she’s gone?” Melina asked.
“Yes,” replied Phinneas. “I felt it. The other elders, Cecil and Helene, did as well. They came here briefly when you were still unconscious, and they appointed Walter as the new elder.”
Adelia was gone. Destroyed. Melina had never felt so relieved in her life. But then the last thing Phinneas said finally registered in her mind. “Walter, you’re an elder now? Does that mean you won’t be able to help me anymore?”
Walter shook his head and smiled. “I’ll always be available to help you, Melina. I doubt you’ll need me anymore, though. Are you sure that all of your pain is gone?”
“I’m pretty sure, yeah.”
“Maybe you should try out some of your powers real quick to be completely sure,” Walter said.
“Okay.” Melina closed her eyes and said in her mind that she wanted to teleport to the entrance of the park. Within a second she was there, and then in a couple more seconds she was standing back in front of Walter, Henry, and Phinneas.
“Any pain?” Walter asked.
“Well, it was completely gone before, but now there’s a little bit. It’s just in my head, though.”
Walter’s forehead creased as he raised his hand up to his chin. “Hmm. Well, you can’t exactly try your mindreading powers or see how a vision goes, seeing that there aren’t any other humans present, but try your shield out.”
Melina nodded. She didn’t have to exert any energy at all or be in a state of fear. Her light shield immediately burst out around her, and she was able to keep it up with ease. She kept it out for a few more seconds, and when she told herself to let it go, it disappeared just like that.
“How do you feel now,” asked Walter.
“It didn’t get any worse, but there’s still a slight amount of pain. It seems to be fading, though.”
Walter turned and looked at Phinneas. “What do you think that means?”
Phinneas shrugged as he looked at Melina. “We’ve never had a human survive the powers before, so I’m not one hundred percent sure. But since the intense, all-over–the-body pain is gone, I’d say you’re in the clear. The slight pain is probably your body still adjusting to your new abilities.”
Melina didn’t like that he wasn’t for sure, but then he'd been right when he'd said that they were in uncharted territory with her being the first one to survive the powers and the demons. The thought of her being the first survivor made her smile, even when she began to think of her parents. She knew they wouldn’t want her to be sad and continue to mourn their fate. Instead, something told her that they were proud of her and wanted her to use her new abilities to do some good in the world. With Walter’s help, and maybe even some assistance from the other elders, she knew she could make that possible.
She smiled again at the thought of the new direction her life was taking when Lee popped into her mind. She wanted to go and see him, but it looked as if it was getting late. Besides, Tessa would probably be upset if she didn’t see her first to let her know that everything was okay.
She was still thinking about when she should go to see Lee when Walter approached her and grabbed her hands in his.
“You are now the first of many more like you to come. From now on you’ll be able to help so many people, and you’ll learn to cherish your gift.” He squeezed her hands briefly. “I think you have a couple of people you would like to go and see now,” he said with a knowing smile, “so we shall leave you for now. You know how to reach us if you need anything.”