Chapter 39 Confrontation

The door of her room blasted open, letting in a gust of chilling wind. Iris's head snapped towards it, fear recoiling inside. The ceiling was almost upon her. At that moment, a single person walked in, wearing the same hospital gown as her, bare foot on the cold floor. Iris's eyes stayed at the floor. There was ice, slowly making its way towards her. She swallowed, unable to shift from her place. The ice spread out from underneath, leaving her unharmed.

The cold felt good against her scraped knees. A sudden chill went up her body and she shivered, almost losing control. The debris fell. Iris gasped, staring up at the falling rocks. That instant, the temperature dropped and a quick layer of ice wrapped itself around them. They stopped, a few inches from her anxious blue eyes, floating above.

Iris breathed hard, her gaze not shifting from it till a hand appeared over her shoulder. She glanced to the side with a jerk. An older girl smiled at her. She had silver hair and eyes. Her skin was pale as snow and her lips were almost blue, as if frozen.

"Who… are you?" Iris asked.

"Aneira…" she pronounced it like a toddler would.

It took a few seconds before realization hit her. Iris widened her eyes, "You're the coma girl they found at Scarlet's hideout. You've been asleep for years…"

She just nodded, having fewer words in her vocabulary. She did not look even close to as zombie-like as before. Iris quickly crawled her way from under the frozen rubble and out into the corridor. She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm them up from touching the cold surface. There was barely any light in the corridor, yet the entire hall lit up from the reflections off of the ice. It was breathtaking, for a second, like being inside a castle made of ice.

Iris's breath fogged up in front of her as she made her way through. Aneira followed close behind, looking around for any openings. There were piles of large rubble blocking the exits. The entire waiting room had collapsed. Iris shook her head.

"There's no path…" she said, looking back at the corridor she just came from. She could see rubble blocking the other end. "I don't think we can get out…"

She shivered, wrapping her arms around her. Her feet had already gone numb from the cold. Aneira seemed unaffected, although the problem remained for both of them. They were trapped inside a collapsed structure with no way out. At this rate, one of them was going to freeze to death.

.

A thunderstorm seemed to be endlessly gathered over the school. It was noisy outside. Cheryl woke up to the sound of students walking past with loud chatter that traveled through the walls. She sat up straight, waiting for the guards to open the door to the classrooms. A couple of hours went by and nothing. Something felt very off. She walked up towards the wall to the neighboring classroom.

"Dan?" she knocked, almost expecting a reply. There was nothing.

All of a sudden, chatter ceased from outside. Cheryl could feel her heart sinking. She spun around, half expecting a monster to jump at her. Nothing happened. Her eyes fell over to the windows, almost jumped her heart out at the thing glued to it from the outside. A series of shadow hands stuck to the glass, scratching it to get inside. All of them, however, had luminous blue eyes.

"Dixon…" Cheryl gasped, rushing towards the windows. As she peered out, she could see a few students still lurking around somewhere in the distance. "What are you doing…?" she asked, confused, watching the Catters claw at the glass. She noticed cracks forming all around the edges.

That instant, someone tugged at her sleeve, pulling her back a few steps. Without a moment's delay, the shadows backed up and threw their tiny bodies at the glass from outside. The glass shattered. Cheryl quickly ducked down, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. Freedom, at long last. She looked to her side at the small shadow boy with pearl blue eyes that seemed all too familiar. She couldn't quite place it inside her head.

"Lady, let's go," the boy insisted. "He said to get out of here."

"You can talk! Wait, I know that voice!" Cheryl raised her eyebrows with shock. "You're the little Dixon from the shadow realm."

"I'm not really," the boy said with a straight face. "I am whatever Dixon needs me to be."

"Ahan," Cheryl replied, not fully understanding the gist of it.

She carefully climbed out the empty space where the window used to be. Glass shards crunched underneath her feet. The little boy followed her out, along with a few more Catters, neither of which looked like the one she'd just lost. She hurried over to the neighboring classroom, only to find the door still locked.

"Dan? You there?" she called, peeking in from the window. There was no one inside, which was strange since the door was still locked. Had there been a commotion she would've heard it.

"Unless… she took him," Cheryl whispered.

"Who are you talking about?" the little boy asked.

"A friend of mine," Cheryl looked down at him, pointing towards the empty classroom. "Did you see where they took him?"

The boy just shrugged.

There was a strange chill coming in from under the door. Cheryl felt it around her ankles. She backed away from it.

"He's still there…" she whispered, feeling an energy well up inside her stomach. She unleashed the sparks as she rocketed towards the door, only to bump her shoulder into it. There was a loud crack, and it did not come from the door.

"Are you crazy, lady?" the little boy was saying, staring down at her with judgmental eyes.

Cheryl held her breath as well as her left arm. It didn't quite feel dislocated, but pain shot up with every muscle she moved.

"It didn't even budge…." she whispered. "That's not normal…"

The little boy froze for a moment, as if his mind was somewhere else. A few seconds later, he spoke.

"He's very angry right now. He also says to step aside," the little boy spoke.

"He?" Cheryl eyed him with confusion, slowly moving out of the way.

The shadow boy held out his hand to the side. A small pickaxe materialized in his palm. He gripped it tightly and raised it over his head. When it came back down, he hit the door knob, knocking it out of the way. The door burst open with a gust of wind. Cheryl could hear voices from inside. She rushed in without a second's thought.

The little boy and the Catters quickly followed after.

That instant, the entire landscape changed. Cheryl found herself on a dry land with strangely lit skies. The gradient went from pink to green with clouds floating out of the horizon. Cold winds blew out from the door behind her, standing alone without any walls for support. She could see Dan several feet away arguing with Sara. Her look really was entirely different from Kendra. She had her blond hair braided behind her back and her red eyes were glued to him like that of a predator.

"No, Sara. You can't do this. You can't just kidnap people against their will," he was saying.

All of a sudden, her head snapped towards Cheryl. Cheryl almost jumped back from fright. The red eyes glowered at her with her teeth forming a straight line as she let out an inside growl.

"Why is she here again?" she spat.

"Cheryl! How'd you get here?" Dan asked, suddenly noticing her standing there. The shadow boy and the Catters quickly moved in to surround her protectively.

"We met with your sister," Cheryl started towards them. "She told us what you're trying to do."

"And? You're going to try to stop me?" Sara raised her eyebrows at her, folding her arms across her chest. Then she turned back towards Dan. "I want you and Rosa to stay with me forever. We'll have lots of fun together like we used to."

Dan was already shaking his head. "No. We can never have that. You don't belong here. You need to move on. Leave this place and don't bother anyone from now on."

Sara's eyes grew dark.

"Where's Rosa?" Cheryl demanded, taking brief steps towards her. Her head snapped in her direction all of a sudden, making her flinch.

"It's because you're in the picture…" she growled, eyes filled with hatred.

"No. It's because you sound ridiculous," Dan was saying but no one was listening to him anymore. Sara's hand went down to pull the hand mirror out of her boot. She held it up towards Cheryl, mirror facing her. It glowed in an ominous manner, white petrifying light emanated from it. They could hear shadows whispering from inside.

A skinny black arm crawled out of the glass, followed by the legs and a face where the stomach was supposed to be. It was another one of those disfigured shadow beings that did not belong anywhere. The Catters perked up their ears towards the thing, taking slow steady steps forward. The creature stood about seven feet tall.

Dan moved towards her but Sara quickly wrapped her arms around him in a protective hug. He pushed her away and she clawed at his face, throwing him to the ground.

"Do NOT make me mad!" she shouted at him, stepping on him with one foot over his chest. He gasped, having his back against the hard ground, struggling to breathe. "I could kill you and have you wander the realms just like I did. How about that? You'll finally understand what I had to go through ALL these years!"

There was nothing but hatred in her voice, even for Dan. She was like an angry spirit, out for revenge.

"Why did all of you get to live those comfortable lives while I… I was almost burned alive by the people here!" she complained, pressing harder with her foot on Dan's chest.

Cheryl backed away from the large beast heading towards her. The shadow boy rushed in ahead, followed by the Catters, clawing at the thing's face on its belly. The creature screeched and, with a singly swipe of its arm, it tore through two of the Catters at lightning speed. The little shadow boy dodged just in time, having still gotten a tear on one arm in the process.

"Get back, I'll handle this-" Cheryl was saying, only to be quickly interrupted.

"No! He says not to get close to this thing. It's one of the more dangerous shadows out there," the boy responded.

"Again he? Who is he?" Cheryl asked, confused.

"Really, lady? You don't know who I'm talking about?"

Cheryl paused to look at him for a second, then pursed her lips. Sparks flew out of her as she kicked the ground to jump up high into the sky.

"Stop!" the boy objected in a panic.

"I can't. I'm sorry," Cheryl simply responded, charging up sparks around her at an alarming rate till they engulfed her into a ball of lightning. The ball shot at the tall creature, hitting it right in the stomach face, pushing it back a few steps. The thing raised its arms as she ricocheted against the ground to fall back towards it. The claws came down, missing her by an inch. She was a second faster, pouncing at his back. Sparks discharged into the air, shocking him, making him falter back towards the edge of the plane.

Cheryl's feet skidded against the ground, kicking up dust clouds into the air. She charged up for the final blow but the creature recovered its balance too quickly. She launched herself towards it and it dodged, opening its mouth to grab onto her leg as she sprang past. For a second, her whole body jerked back from the force. Sharp sets of teeth pierced into her ankle. There was a loud crack followed by her screaming. The thing spun her around before letting go. Cheryl was thrown to the floor, rolling over with a trail of blood oozing from her foot.

She gritted her teeth as she lay there, one trembling hand reaching for her ankles.

"Cheryl!" Dan was shouting out, using all the force he could muster to shove Sara's foot off of him. He began to sit up when she quickly kicked him in the stomach, making him groan in pain. Before he could react much, another kick was sent flying towards his head. It knocked him out cold. His body fell sideways limply to the ground with a thud. More dust kicked up from underneath.

The creature drew closer.

Cheryl stared down at her foot that was completely twisted out of place, possibly revealing a broken ankle. There was no way she could walk. She gritted her teeth to hold back the pain, letting out a muffled sound. Her entire leg pounded with pain streaming up her ankle. Blood poured out of the wound, revealing her flesh from underneath.

The little shadow boy quickly stepped in between her and the creature casually strolling towards her. The thing had taken full blown hits to the stomach and yet not a single scratch.

"Do not go near it…" Cheryl whispered to the boy which was all the voice she could muster.

"I told you not to go near it," he retorted. "Why don't you listen?"

"Do you see anyone else around here who can fight?" Cheryl raised her voice, stopped to breathe a little more. "Did he expect me to just stand around and let that thing kill us? I'm tired of everyone underestimating me so much."

She pulled her leg back, swallowing the incoming scream as she rose to her feet. She wiped the dirt off her face while half spit some that had gotten into her mouth.

"You guys have no idea what I've had to do to survive…" she muttered to herself.

"Finish her already!" Sara was yelling from somewhere behind.

She limped toward the approaching creature, dragging her injured foot across the ground. Blood oozed out, leaving a trail of red that quickly seeped into the ground. The pain exceeded her as the nausea hit. She could see a blurred figure, standing tall ahead. It raised its claws and came at her in a flurry of motion.

Like a storm, she moved, slightly lifting up the injured leg. An electrical storm surged through her body, zapping towards the incoming danger. At that moment, she lifted off. A pain free sensation overtook her. Her body felt so light as if it wasn't even there. She launched herself right into the beast's mouth, only to flow through it like a current. The creature's body trembled from the electric shock.

She landed behind him, materializing into an electrical being. Her feet landed sturdily onto the ground, to her surprise. All physical pain subsided. She stared down at her hands made entirely from the current running through her. Confusion etched in her brain, unsure where her body disappeared to.

The beast didn't waste time contemplating the change. It easily recovered from the shock. Within seconds it spun around and thrust its claws right into her back. She gasped, watching them come out of her chest as if nothing happened. Again, there was no pain. She stood there, unaffected.