Chapter 37

Talon was a trickster.

What purpose did following us down the stairs like that serve? Why even pretend to be Logan? His reasons were always unclear and hidden behind a devious smile.

"It's so good to see you again, Rebecca! You've done well to embrace your friends finally. I guess now that you are working together, your wish has been fulfilled?" Talon snapped his fingers, and suddenly Rebecca's head dropped.

"Rebecca!? Are you alright?" I called out to her, but she didn't respond. But then her head started twitching. Like a marionette, her arms started moving on their own. "The best part about this is she's not even a shadow yet. Any damage done to her will be real damage done to the Rebecca you know." Talon was glaring at Fran, and his wicked smile seemed to get on her nerves.

Fran shouted, "Hey, crow man! You better focus because I'm not gonna hold back. From what I hear, Steven can heal wounds, so I'm not too worried about hurting you if I have to!" She punched her fist, and a shockwave spread around her. Her powers were glowing, and she started to float as her hair burst into flames and her eyes turned white. Electricity sparked around her.

Talon's eyes grew wide in slight surprise, but he quickly regained his signature smile. "Well... That's if you can even reach me!" He raised his arms up, and hundreds of shadowmen poured out of his shadow, instantly filling the space between him and me. Suddenly, there was a red haze over the shadowmen. Rebecca was boosting them with her powers.

"Fran, be careful! They're being boosted by Rebecca's powers!" The shadowmen pounced on Fran, and with their rage mode on, they were more like super elite undead. Fran was instantly surrounded, but she was able to hold them off well enough with her newfound powers. She shocked, burned, and blew away several shadows while also punching the ones close to her. They wouldn't go down in one punch, but Fran didn’t put her guard down.

I knew that I couldn’t fight off all of those shadows; I had to focus on Rebecca. I turned to her, and there I saw Leo crawling on the floor toward her. He was shouting at her.

"No, my queen, you mustn't succumb to the darkness! I know how it feels! It's comfortable; it feels like you are finally sealed off from all the heartache and pain in the world, but that's not right! You have to fight those feelings of wanting to run away! You have friends, people who love you! You can't let them fight this battle alone!"

I've never felt the dark power that Talon uses to cloud the brains of those he grants wishes to. I may never be able to feel that. But it seems like there is more to it than just absolute control. Leo was a shadow himself, and he came out of that. He must know what it’s like... Could it work though? Rebecca wasn’t changing, and I needed to make a choice. "Leo, stay back, I have to help her get her senses back!" The only way I know to get someone out of shadow mode is to wake them up forcefully. This wasn’t going to be fun.

I rushed forward and conjured the white whip that I had stolen from Talon. I flicked my wrist, and it wrapped around Rebecca's arms and body. She couldn't move freely, but I saw the faintest red glare fall to the ground. A rose shot up between Rebecca and my whip, then enlarged, loosening the grip of the whip. She did a backflip off the growing rose and faced me.

Leo shouted loudly above all the fighting, "She won't recognize you, Steven! Rebecca has a lot of pain and anger she's hiding right now! Please don't hurt her!" This kid was acting like he knew her, but didn’t they just meet today? It seems like Leo has known her for a long time now.

She shot seeds at me that grew into flowers 10x larger than your average rose. My abilities heightened my senses, though, and I was barely able to duck below the explosive growth. A thorn scratched my cheek, and a single drop of blood fell before my skin healed almost instantly. I didn’t have time to check on Fran, but I trusted she was okay. I could still hear her fighting, which was good news.

Leo jumped onto Rebecca's back while she wasn’t noticing. "Please, you have to hear us! We are here to help you!" She picked him up by his collar and just threw him on the ground, knocking the wind out of him. "Leo!" I quickly dashed and slid to where he was. I grabbed him and went invisible. Rebecca didn't have a sense strong enough to find me. She glared into the space I was just at. I began to heal Leo while I carried him to safety.

"Steven, I have an idea." He looked sad. "But I don't know if I can do it... She doesn’t really know me well enough for it to work..."

"Leo, whatever you have planned, you're probably the best person for the job. It seems like you know what she is going through. To be honest, I don’t know Rebecca much better than you do, but you seem to understand her more than I do. I'll distract her, and you try to make it work, alright?" Honestly, I didn’t know what he could do, but I couldn’t handle her on my own right now. I don’t even have any combat powers.

We needed to end this soon so we could help Fran!