December 20th 2022 8:30 P.M.

“No way!” Marcia said. “You will never be my brother!  Tarik isn’t family but if this is true he is more of a brother to me than you will ever be!  You will only ever be a lying, gross, despicable, human being.  You mean nothing to any of us!  Least of all to me!  I want you out of all of our lives because none of us care anything about you at all!”

“You and Tarik both can’t get away from any of this and you know it.  You cannot get away from me.” Andrew said.  “Especially since you are gold and I am silver.  That means that as the Magyk twins, we are forced to stay together.”

“We can actually get away from you.” Marcia said.  “We can put a spell around the house to keep you out.”

“Yes we can.” I said as I tried to get up.  Jenna reached down and helped me up.  She supported me so that I wouldn’t fall down as I said, “You are done doing this to us Andrew.  You are done I say!”

“You aren’t going to leave anytime soon, Tarik.  We will have some fun shall we?  Let's practice some Magyk!” Andrew said as he backed up and forced me to have to back up too because we were about to practice our Magyk. “Ready to have some fun?” Andrew asked as he raised his eyebrows. “I’m not going to give you much time, you know.  Whatever happens, they all love you dearly.  Maybe I will finally be able to rule the world!”

“No.  No.  No.  We cannot do this right now and we will never do this again.” I said as we continued to circle each other.  “I am not strong enough.” I pause, “Wait, rule the world?”

“Oh yes we can!” Laughed Andrew as his fingers lit up gold. “We can do it now!”  Andrew paused, “You really think that I care?”

“Absolutely not!” I yelled.

His fingers were so golden that I knew what was coming.  I knew the effects of the beam would be quite harsh if I couldn’t defend against it.  So I waited and watched.  I stood still and watched for the moment whenever there would be a bright flash of gold so that I could defend myself.  I watched and as his fingers gave off a bright flash of gold I moved my hands in front of my body in an intricate pattern.  As the energy came towards me a shield formed and sent the bolt right back to Andrew.

“You should have thought about this before you attacked me when I was well.  You should have attacked whenever I was weak and unable to fly.” I said as I rose off the ground and hovered in the air.

“Hahahahaha!  You learned it!  You mastered Flyte!” Jenna said.  “I never thought anyone I knew other than Rufus would be able to do that!  Maybe it's good that he is your dad because you have his genes of Flyte!”

I looked at Jenna before turning back to Andrew.  “You know, Andrew, it isn’t right what you have done.  I must admit though,” Andrew smiled, “Some of it was fun along the way.  Now we are here, at the end!  You will not touch me again!”

Andrew glared at me before nodding his head as his fingers lit up gold.  The beam of light hit me and I barely registered that I was screaming.  Andrew kept the beam of light on me for quite some time before it faded away and he smiled sadly.  I could tell that he hadn’t wanted to do that but that he thought it was for the greater good.  The energy was all over my body but by then I had stopped screaming.  I moved my hands and the golden energy flowed into me before I unleashed a river of light towards Andrew.

“Marcia!  Catch the light!  Aim it at the center of Andrew's forehead!  NOW!” I screamed at her as the river of energy continued to pour out of my body.  “Don’t let it leave his forehead, Marcia.” I warned her.

Marcia ran in front of the light, her hands glowing silver, as she grabbed it and directed it to the center of Andrew’s forehead.  Marcia held the beam in place and didn’t let it move from the center of Andrew’s forehead.

“Don’t do this.  Don’t kill him.  Don’t become like Andrew and his kind.” Coulter interrupted. “Trust me.  You will regret it for the rest of your life if you kill him, Tarik and Marcia.  It really isn’t worth the pain.”

“Don’t bother me, Coulter.  I have made up my mind.” I said. “This way he isn’t going anywhere.”

“Tarik,” Jenna tried, “Please, let me.  Let me take care of him,I can erase his memories and start him on a new path with a new life.”

“No.  Never.  I have to do this on my own.  Now clear out!” I said as a shield formed around myself, Marcia, and Andrew to prevent anyone from coming in.

“Tarik!” Jenna, Coulter, Maya, Monte, Victoria, and Tasha all screamed at once.

“You know Tarik, it doesn’t have to be this way.  You can stop.” Marcia told me.

“I don’t feel so well.” I muttered as I fell forward and the beam disappeared.  I fell down to the ground and lay there, stunned.  I had fallen for probably not the last time that day and was getting kind of tired of it.  If no one could bother to help me then I would just lay there and die.  I didn’t really care at that point anymore.

“No.  No.  No.  No.  The fire will burn him from the inside out.  There is no cure for this.” Jenna said as my shield fell apart and she ran to me.

“Yes there is.” Tasha said. “Here, let me.  I will stop the fire from killing him but he might drown from the water if no one helps me.  Can anyone help?”

Jenna stepped back to give Tasha some room.  Tasha stood still but her eyes moved everywhere.  I will need help.  “Who is strong enough to help me?” Tasha asked.

“I can’t.  There is a strong chance that the effort would kill me.” Maya said.  “My heart wouldn’t hold up long enough for me to finish the procedure.  I wish I could but I won’t be much use if I am dead or dying.”

“I shouldn’t.  It will give me health issues and possibly kill me as well.” Victoria said sadly.  “I wouldn’t be able to breathe as I did the procedure.”

“I can.” A deep voice said.

Everyone turned around and saw a tall boy with orange brown hair in the doorway.  He was watched by all of us as he stepped through the doorway.  A girl stepped through right behind him.

“I can as well.” The girl said.

Tasha looked at them both as they said together, “We can do it.”

“Fine.” Tasha said to the girl.  She waved them over.

“You both put your hands on my shoulders.  Both of them.” They did as she asked.  “Just be careful, not too much power or you will overload my Aura.” Tasha said.

The boy said, “Let me help both you and your brother.  One hand on you and the other on your brother.  I can help you and him at the same time.  Hopefully that will have a better effect.”

“I guess that’s fine.” Tasha said.  “Once again though, not too much power please.”

“Then let's get to it.” The boy said as he pushed his energy into Tasha and myself.

Tasha gasped as she said, “This power.  I have only seen it once before.  Wait, who is that,” Tasha couldn’t find words.

“Never you mind.” The boy said.

“I think it is important though.” Tasha said, “So we will continue this discussion soon.”

The boy was silent as he kept his hand on Tasha’s shoulder and the other on mine. Then he said, “Let's get this done.  I have things to do.”  He said this as purple Magyk started to come off of him like water.

The girl reached out and put her hands on Tasha’s shoulders and poured her energy into the boy and Tasha.  Tasha stretched her arms out over me and her orange Magyk poured over me which mixed with the girls red and the boys purple.  The Magyk condensed into a little ball that Tasha directed into my mouth.  As soon as I swallowed it it exploded; water flowed through my entire body.  All of the fires in my body instantly went out.  I had so much water inside of me that I felt as if I was going to explode.  I started coughing but there was nothing to cough up, for the water had already gone.

“He will be fine.  Let’s go, Paige.” the boy said.

“Okay.” Paige said. “I will be in the hall.  Bye, Tasha.  I will see you soon.”

“Don’t go, guys!  Stay here with us!” Tasha said, “Please.  We are stuck here until we can figure out what to do next.  We may very well need your help.”

The boy looked at her closely before looking at Paige who nodded slightly.  He turned back to Tasha and said, “Alright, we will stay.” He put his hand on my head to see if I was hot. “He is really burning up.  He needs to be watched over until he wakes up.”

“He.  Was.  On.  Fire.” Paige said. “Burning from the inside out!  He would have quite literally burst into flames if we hadn't stopped it.  He would be completely dead, burned from the inside out, Malachi.  Of course he is going to be burning up!”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” I groaned as I lay on the floor, still unconscious.

“Oh no.  He is going to blow up isn’t he.” the boy said.  “That sounded like a sound he would make before he was about to blow up.”

“He shouldn’t, buddy.  This is just him coping with the stress on his body.” Jenna said to the boy.

“Hmm.  I see.” The boy said as he stood up. “I will watch over him and you can go into the other room and rest.”

“At least let me stay too then, friend.” Tasha said.

The boy stared at her, as if trying to find some flaw, but he couldn’t.  So he looked at her before he sighed, sat back down, and said, without turning around, “Fine.  If you wish to stay, you can.  However, let me warn you; if you see something you don’t want to, leave immediately.  Understand, Tasha?”

“Understood, Malachi.” Tasha said.

“Good.” Malachi said. “The rest of you can go now.  See you soon.”

“Stay safe.” Jenna said as she exited the room behind everyone else before closing the door softly behind them, leaving Malachi and Tasha sitting next to each other in the quiet room.

***

“What happens now?” asked Monte.

“We wait.” Jenna said.

And so they waited.

“How are we supposed to just sit here and wait?” Marcia asked, “Tarik could be dying and we are just sitting here doing nothing?”

“They need their time.  Malachi and Tasha are very important people to Tarik, they need to be there.” Jenna replied.

“And we aren’t?” Marcia asked. “We are best friends!”

“At this point, he needs to be around them both, I can’t explain it but together, they have extreme power.” Jenna said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t agree with that.” Marcia said, “We can’t not be best friends.”

“You are still best friends.  There is something between them and Paige as well that just makes them all so powerful whenever they are around each other.  They heal quickly whenever they are close as well.  That is why they need to be there.” Jenna smiled.

“Oh…I see.” Marcia looked down with an expression of sadness written all over her face.

“It’s okay, you know.” Jenna said to her. “I hope you know that he loves you so much.”

“I know.” Marcia replied. “I just wish that could at some point be me, you know?”

“I know, but the world is crazy and gives people whatever it wants.” Jenna said. “It obviously wanted all of them to have Magyk so it therefore gave it to them.  They are special in so many ways.  I can’t even begin to touch the surface.”

“I see, so they are all more Magykal than me.” Marcia said. “I see how it is.  The world chose them.  Mother Nature chose them over me.”

“Don’t think of it like that, Marcia.” Jenna said crossly, “Think of it as you have more chances to prove yourself and earn it whereas they had no choice.  It was just given to them without a choice.”

“Ohh…I see.” Marcia said as she looked at her silver medallion. “Mother Nature has plans for me yet!”

***

Tasha and Malachi were sitting in the quiet room.  Malachi glanced at Tasha as he smiled and said, “Are you and Andrew…”

“No!” Tasha exclaimed before she realized her mistake, “I mean no.  Of course not.  Not after everything he has done to us.”

“Are you sure?  Tarik has told me a lot about you two.  He seems really concerned about it.” Malachi responded. “He seems to think that you two have been a thing for quite some time.  I don’t believe it because I know you have better taste but I don’t know what to think at this point.”

“Why would he be concerned about it?  He doesn’t even like me or his other sisters very much.” Tasha said coldly. “I do like someone else.” She calmed down as she lay her head on Malachi’s shoulder.

“I can disagree with that statement.  He is concerned because he loves you, Tasha.  He knows what Andrew can do and,” Malachi lowered his voice, “he knows that you are a part of it and it breaks his heart.”

Tasha looked down.  She stared at the floor as if she could kill it. “So you believe that I have something to do with causing my own death?  Something to do with the death of my sisters and almost the death of two of my brothers and all of my friends?”

“No.  I don’t.” Malachi sighed, “I think your brother is growing paranoid.  We all love him but,” he looked at me, “he is a little much sometimes.  I think he believes that Andrew is trying to corrupt you and turn you against him.” Malachi looks at Tasha with a look of pain, “he thinks we all will go against him.”

“Hmm.” Tasha sounded unhappy as she said, “He is wrong.  We would all do nothing to him, who made him think like that?”

“I sure hope so.” He said. “I sure wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you because you made the wrong decision.  It was all Andrew,” Malachi says as he presses his hands together, “It has always been Andrew.”

“You don’t believe me.” Tasha said as she looked at him sadly. “You will never believe me, will you?”

“Tasha,” Malachi started, “You don't understand.  You could never understand.  What Tarik and I have, it’s special, not unlike Paige and yourself.  You, your brother, Paige, and myself are all connected in more ways than we can even begin to count.” He sighed, “Even so, we have so many issues between the four of us that I have no idea how we are still together unless it is just because of our good friendships and dedication and commitment to each other.”

Tasha remained silent as she listened carefully to Malachi.

“Whenever Tarik was found to be gay, almost no one accepted him at all.  The only reason that he was accepted again was when he went and pretended to be straight again.  Everyone knows that he isn’t straight though, yet everyone still respects him.  He is so easy to like and is a good friend, but we all make mistakes.  Nobody is ever perfect, Tasha, and we are no exception to that.”

“Yes.” Tasha said.

Malachi sighed again, “The poor thing has been through so much.  He really needs some help, Tasha.”

“He doesn’t need any help!” Tasha snapped at Malachi.

Malachi glanced down at me and stayed silent before turning to look out the window.

“I guess he might need a little help.” Tasha relented.  Tasha thought that Malachi was being rather mean but he had a point.

“I know.  That’s why I said that.” He replied.

Tasha sighed before turning to look out the window.  She looked out at the blue sky and figured out that it wasn’t blue anymore.  It was dark black because of all of the smoke rising from the school.  She gasped, “I know.”

“So, you have changed.” I said. “Oh, what torture.” I said sarcastically. “You didn’t think that I wouldn’t find out about this, did you?  I always find out.”

“Tarik.” Tasha’s voice was full of ice. “You know naught what you speak of.”

“I think I do.” I whispered back to her before turning to look at the other person in the room.  As I laid eyes on him I stared at him in shock then embarrassment and then happiness. “You.” I said.

“Are you feeling okay?” Malachi asked as he looked anywhere but at me.  He seemed embarrassed that I had said something to him but he really didn’t need to be.

“Feeling fine enough, thank you.” I said.

Malachi nodded. “You should drink this.  It will help with the pain.” He said as he held out a shake.

“Many thanks.” I took it from him and started to try to drink from it.  My hand was shaking so much that I couldn’t even hold it steady.  Tasha reached out to help me but Malachi grabbed it first and said, “I can help you.”

“Thank you.” I said.

“Drink up.” Tasha said. “We have a lot ahead of us brother.”