December 20th 2022 5:00 P.M.

I watched as Tarik left the house.  I worried for him.  I glanced towards Marcia and thanked her for their friendship.  I couldn’t believe that they had kept it for as long as they had.  It was unbelievable!  I just hope he will get home okay.  He is like the son I never had.  I will always love him with all of my being.  I have watched over him since he was born and have laughed and cried with him.  I don’t know what I would do if he died.

“He will be okay.” Finn said to me. “He is a survivor that one.  He has saved me more times than I can count.  Of course, then he was always in danger after that.”

I smiled grimly, “I know.  If he is in trouble, I will know and I will have my revenge on whoever causes him any harm!”

“Can you teach me Magyk?” Finn asked shyly.  “I have wanted to learn because of Tarik.  He always seems so relaxed and like he doesn't have a care in the world whenever he does Magyk.  I just want to be able to feel like that too.  I want to feel like I am important and actually have a purpose in life.  I want to feel like I am needed, like they can’t do something without me.”

Marcia looked at Finn with surprise in her eyes.  She had never known that he thought of himself in that way.  Now that she thought about it, it seemed as though he had been different recently and she thought, maybe that’s why.

I looked at him with wide eyes, surprised that he would ask, “Why should I do that?  Give me a reason and I may think to teach you.  The last person I taught became the demon king and I will not let anything like that happen again.  I know you may think that you are not wanted or loved but it is the exact opposite, Finn.  Everyone loves you.  You are the kindest, most likable, loveable person I know and don’t you forget it!”

“I can be of use.” Finn said hopefully.  “I won’t turn out like the demon king.  I promise you that Ms. Jenna.  Thank you, I really appreciate that.”

Marcia said, “You won’t turn out like that.  People love you just as you are and if you learn Magyk you would still be the same Finn I am talking to now.  The same Finn that we all know and love.”

Finn smiled so big that I just had to change my mind.  I looked at him with an expression that seemed to scare him.  My eyes softened, “Fine.  I have decided to teach you the Magyk of visions.  You would be able to disguise yourself as someone completely different or be able to make monsters appear or even make flowers bloom with visions.”

“Please let me learn.  I really want to learn.” Finn pleaded with me.  “I just want to be useful!”

“I will teach you but if you turn out like my last student, I will do everything that I can to stop you.” I said.

A Few Minutes Before

“Andrew, is he dead?” Victoria asked me.  “Please say that he will live.  We can’t lose him yet!  I can’t lose him yet.”

“No, he will rest.” I said.  “Remind him of the situation.  I would hate to have to kill him.  He is too good for that.  It really would be a shame if he had to die.  It really would.”

“Fine.” Victoria said.

“Thank you.” I said as I exited the room and left the house.

I walked along the road, feeling as though something was missing.  It felt like I was being torn from the inside out but I had no idea as to why.  I guess it must have been my mom appearing in my memories again.  She had been dead for a while but it was still sad to think about her.  I have wondered for a while as to what she thought about my actions while attempting to bring her back from the dead.

AIEEEEEEE! The town's danger alarms went off.  My head snapped to one side as I turned to see which way the sirens were pointing.  They were pointing in one direction.  Towards Jenna’s house.  I started to run in that direction before the harsh wind came.

The wind tore at me, trying to make me lose my footing and fly away, but I wasn’t having it.  I walked through the wind as it tried to blow me away.  It was obviously an enchanted wind for it spun and spun and spun around me.  I could smell the faint tint of burnt leaves within the wind and instantly knew that Jenna was trying to hide something.  Her Magyk smell was burnt leaves and that would be something that I will never forget.  It is so unforgettable, it almost got rid of my Magyk smell, snake.

Present Time

“Tarik.  TARIK!  Wake up!” Victoria was shaking me trying to get me off of the floor and to wake me up. “Tasha, Tasha.  Get up here now!  Help me get Tarik back to Jenna.  He is injured again and I need help!”

Tasha and Maya both ran in at the same time.  I was barely able to open my eyes.  I saw Tasha and reached out, barely able to move my arm.  I tried to speak, “Tasha.” I whispered.  “I need Coulter.  I need Coulter.” I said as I closed my eyes again.  “He is the only person who can help me in this current situation.  Please, Tasha.  Help me.”

“I can’t.  I can’t.  It isn’t that easy Tarik.  He is a bad person.  He tried to kill you, remember?” Tasha said.  “He tried to kill you with those horrible death hands of his.  You would be dead if it wasn’t for Victoria.”

I managed a small smile as my eyes opened again, “No, Tasha, he saved me.” I said before resting my head on the floor and closing my eyes again.

“Oh, Tarik.” Tasha said sadly before her gaze hardened, “You can be so thick headed!  I can’t do this for you!”

“He did though!  I saw it happen.  If he hadn’t been there then Tarik wouldn’t be here today.” Victoria said.

I smiled.  “Just take me to him please Tasha.  Please just do this one thing for me.  It has been a rather rough day, see?”

“If you don’t want to take him then I will.” Victoria said.  “I can see that Tarik has little over a week left at this rate.  It is written on his wrist, see?”

Tasha looked really worried. “If you wish to do so, I will make no attempt to stop you sister.  But be warned, if he does something, I will know and I will hit the man with everything I have.”

I looked up as my eyes flashed with worry. “A little over a week you say?  You shouldn’t even try to touch Coulter, Tasha.  That is a bad thing just waiting to happen.”

“Yes.  A little over a week is all you have in this condition, brother.” Victoria said.

Maya walked into the room and said, “Coulter?”

“I will do whatever it takes to keep my family together.” She told me.  “Even go up against Coulter with nobody on my side.”

“Then you have to take me to him or at least get him to come here.” I told her.  “Please do this one thing for me.”

“As you wish.” Maya said.

“Thank you Maya.” I said.  “Just bring him over here and whatever you do, do not let the man touch you.  His touch brings death to whatever he touches.  It is irreversible as well, you cannot recover.”

“Exactly why I didn’t want you to talk to him.” Tasha muttered quietly.  “He can kill you so easily and you want him to help you.”

“What was that Tasha?” I turned towards her. “I am not ready to get impatient with you right now so if you have something important to say just say it.” I looked at her, daring her to repeat what she had just said.

“Lets just all..calm..down.” Monte entered the room.  “We will force ourselves apart if we continue like this, you know.  Our family has protected this town for many generations and now we are going to break it apart because Tarik needs Coulter?”

“Monte?  What are you doing here?” I asked. “You were supposed to be in here but you weren’t.  Why?  Why would you do that to me and leave me alone with Andrew?  Why?  How could you do that to me?  I was so scared that something had happened to you or that Andrew had done something to you.  Why?”

“I brought someone you may wish to see.” He said as he backed quickly out of the room.  “Come in.”

As he backed out of the room to make way for the new person I struggled to see them.  I kept looking but still couldn’t manage to see them.  I saw a person walk in with gloves on both of his hands.  One of his gloved hands rested on Andrew’s shoulder and I recoiled from them before shrieking in pain.

“Don’t move.” A very deep voice said.  “You will only make your pain worse if you move.  I will try to heal you but if I am to do that then you cannot move at all or my touch could kill you instead of heal you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank God it’s you.  I need help, old friend.  Make sure not to kill the boy though please.” I said as I watched Andrew's face turn red.  “Just don’t kill him yet, please.  I don’t know exactly what to do but I don’t need him gone just yet.”

“I said don’t move sonny.  Just hold still.  I can’t help you if you don’t stay still.  Believe it or not I am going to completely cure you.  I just need you to be honest with me or my touch will kill you.” Coulter stepped into view as he released his hold on Andrew's arm. “Tell me, what has been going on between the two of you.” He asked as he looked first at Andrew then back at me.

“Absolutely nothing.” Andrew said definitely.  “I have never done anything to him at all.”

“That isn’t true.  As I said, be honest and my touch will not kill you.” Coulter responded with an edge in his voice.  “If you are honest my touch will heal both of you but if even one of you says a lie then it will kill you.”

“He used me.” I said. “He used me all the time.  I want someone to take him away.  I want nothing to do with him but I am somehow attached to him now.  I can’t get away from him no matter how much I try.  It’s like a magnet is pulling us together and I can’t even move.  I wish so much to be rid of him but he can’t even give me that.”

Andrew stared at me as his face grew red with anger. “I did no such thing!  I would never do that to anyone!  I have never done that and will never do that to anyone!”

I released my vision spells again for everyone to see.  Andrew recoiled and tried to leave but Coulter caught his arm and dragged him back into the room before he said, “You have one minute to talk before I take my gloves off boy.  I suggest you speak fast and truthfully or you may not live to see another day.  You cannot tell just how serious I am, just ask all the others in here.”

Andrew paled, “Fine,” he said as he rushed through, “I practiced my Magyk on him, my father taught me Magyk and so I chose him to practice it on.  He was always the perfect one so I wanted to make him no longer perfect.  I hated him because he is the best student in our grade other than Marcia.  They are our two best students.  So whenever I practiced my Magyk on him that was me getting revenge on him for being better than me.  Him being better than me always made me so insecure within my own body.  I didn’t even want to go to school.  I still don’t feel bad about it.  Especially whenever I started to punch him too.  Now that was satisfying.”

Everyone in the room except for me looked at Andrew in horror.  Coulter started to remove his gloves.

“Fine.” Andrew got nervous, “I also made him practice his Magyk on others.  I made him practice it on Tasha, his favorite little sister.  I didn’t give him a choice.  I was going to dispose of her if he didn’t.  She was also too perfect to be around.”

I started to cry as I listened to Andrew, “There’s more.” I rasped.

Andrew looked at me with anger written across his face, “Fine.  I also made him so tired that he fell asleep on the floor.  He often woke up wondering what was wrong.  I would always lie.”

“There were many things wrong with what you did Andrew.  I won’t let you anywhere near me ever again.” I said.

“You don’t have a choice.  You don’t have a choice.” He said as he tried to move away but failed.  “Because of what you did we are bound together for life.  You cannot get away from it just as it doesn’t let me get away from you.”

Coulter had managed to remove one of his gloves.  He barely touched Andrew as he turned.  Andrew turned back to me and attempted to speak. “Why?  Why would you do this to me?  Why?  We could have done great things together.” He said as he collapsed.  “We could have changed the world for the better!”  He added as an afterthought,  “And we could also have gotten rid of the binding contract.”

I looked at him, my gaze hardened and I turned away from him.  I saw his body barely moving from the corner of my eye.  I couldn’t bring myself to keep looking away so I forced myself to look over at him as he slowly died.  He was slowly aging right before my eyes.  I knew what I had to do before I registered what it would cost if I did it.  I had to pass my life force on to Andrew so that he could live but in return that would mean that I had to sacrifice myself for him to live.

I dragged myself towards him and grabbed hold of both of his hands.  In my mind I saw my life force going into Andrew and hesitated for one second.  I could distantly hear Coulter yelling at me to stop but I didn't. I had made up my mind.  As my life force went into Andrew I could feel myself dying.  Whenever I finished I was barely holding on to life.  I felt myself slowly drifting away.  I wanted to stay with my sisters but I couldn’t.  I had already made my choice.

“You shouldn’t have done that Tarik.  You really should not have done that.” Andrew said.

“Yet I did it anyway.” I whispered softly. “If you care about people, no matter what they have done to you, it is the right thing to do.  Remember that guys.  Remember that and don’t forget what I have done for you all today.  Remember me and don't you forget it.  I will do my best to come back but I make no promises.”

“Hold on, Tarik.  Jenna is on her way.” Coulter said as he moved his hands and opened a Portal through which Jenna walked through with her pot and materials.  She hurried over to me as she set her stuff down next to me.

“Do promises really mean nothing anymore Tarik?  You said you would be fine and back in half an hour.  HALF AN HOUR!” Jenna said.  “People have no respect for promises anymore and I hate that!”

I laughed softly.

“It was my fault Jenna.” Andrew said.

“I should have known.  I will deal with you later.” Jenna said as Andrew nodded and stepped back. “We shall have a little fun in your memories!  We will see what evil ideas have been going through your mind that Tarik has told us about.  Let’s see what is going on in that evil little brain of yours.”

Andrew looked at her, shocked before his expression quickly turned to nervousness.  He seemed really tense but decided against running away.  He must have realized that between another death and having a memory search, the memory search was better.  The memory search could bring back painful memories but that is the most it would do.  There was no pain involved whatsoever.

“Don’t do that to him, mom.” I said.  “Just leave him be for now please.  Please don’t do anything to him just yet.  He really hasn’t done anything wrong other than,” I thought for a minute until I defeatedly said, “everything.”

Jenna looked at Andrew as she said, “Exactly, Tarik.  He has done anything and everything wrong.  Well, I suppose we could do it later.  After I fix you up yet again.  Andrew was the root cause of all of this, no?”

“Hmm.  I guess so.” I said.  I gave up trying to change her mind because once she makes up her mind it will not change.  “I wish you luck though, he is a hard one to catch and I am pretty far out of it right now.”

“Well!” Jenna said as her eyes sparkled. “Let’s do this.  Let’s fix you up my son!”

“Thank you…so much.” I said as my head crashed to the floor because I couldn’t hold it up anymore.

Jenna looked at me with worry, “As always, anytime.”