The warlock snarls at Victor and spits out some blood. “The hell with this,” he says, taking a dagger from his jacket. He tries swinging and stabbing Victor, who dodges every move. Leo runs over to help. The warlock spots Leo and then tosses another dagger from behind his back. Leo’s side gets sliced open as the blade passes by him. Leo drops down to his knee, holding his side.
Victor watches as Leo drops to the ground. He slowly turns back to the warlock, snarling aggressively. “Thatwas a big mistake.”
Victor’s eyes turnblack.
The warlock panics and tosses two more daggers. Victor barely moves as the daggers miss. Victor starts to stalk toward the warlock; the warlock’s eyes are filled with terror. He keeps throwing daggers, and each one passes by Victor.
The warlock tries to stab Victor in the collar, but Victor grabs his arm, inches away from being struck. The warlock then surprises Victor by thrusting his last dagger into Victor’s side. Victor reacts quickly and uses his free arm to knock the warlock’s hand away, causing the blade to fly several feet away. Before the dagger touches the ground, Victor uses his magic to catch it and pull it back.
Without skipping a beat, when the dagger reaches Victor’s hand, Victor thrusts it into the side of the warlock’s head. The warlock’s body goes limp. Victor drops the warlock’s arm but is still holding the warlock up by the dagger. Victor closes his black-filled eyes and takes a deep breath as if absorbing thewarlock’s power and soul. He opens his eyes and notices the warlock’s eyes have turned completely black.
“Victor?” Leo mentions as he tries to walk over to him. Victor turns and sees Leo. Leo and Chiyo are startled by Victor’s eyes. “Victor,” Leo carefully points to Victor, “your eyes.”
Victor notices Leo is hurt. His expression turns to worry, and he lets go of the dagger, allowing the warlock to fall to the ground. Victor rushes over to Leo to see the damage. Victor doesn’t say anything as tears start to appear. He looks into Leo’s eyes, but Leo can’t return the stare. Victor gently touches Leo’s injury, causing Leo’s body to jolt from the pain. Victor retracts his hand quickly but still studies the gash in Leo’s side.
“Victor! Leo! Chiyo!” Akisha shouts as she and Madame Jeanette run over to them. Victor turns his head, causing them to stop in their tracks when they see his black eyes.
“Oh,chéri,what in the name ofGran Maîtrehave you done?” Madame Jeanette says in a low voice.
Victor does not respond and then looks back at Leo’s wound. He slowly moves his hand towards the damage. Leo flinches before Victor touches it.
Madame Jeanette cautiously walks over. “Victor, let me take–”
Victor lifts his hand in the air, cutting Madame Jeanette off mid-sentence. He takes his hand and hovers it over Leo’s wound. A few seconds later, a dim glow of silver appears. Victor slowly moves his hand back and forth along the injury. As he does, the wound starts to heal. After a few passes, the gash is gone.
Victor smiles and then looks back at Leo, who still can’t make eye contact. He looks around, and everyone around him seems worried because his eyes have not returned to normal. When he looks back at Leo, his eyes return to normal, then roll to the back of his head.
“Victor!” Leo cries as he catches Victor before he falls to the ground.
Chapter Twenty- Five
Victor wakes up leaning against a tree and notices he’s back in the glowing forest. He looks down and sees he’s again in the platinum-silver suit. As he looks up at the tree, he doesn’t recognize its animals and fruit. Victor looks over to the side and sees a glowing blue stream. He stands up, dusts himself off, and heads toward the creek. When he walks up to the bank, he looks down but doesn’t see his reflection. There doesn’t seem to be any reflection. He follows the direction the stream is flowing and spots that it leads somewhere.
A small building appears in the distance after following the bank for about a mile. It’s familiar; could it be the house he saw before? He continues to walk, watching the building get closer. The closer he gets, the more he recognizes it.
“Am I . . . home?”he says to himself. Victor stops and wonders how he’s speaking without moving his lips. He shrugs his shoulders and continues walking to the building.
As before, the building starts to move away when he gets closer. After a few attempts, he decides to stop.“What if I go around it?”He turns to walk around, but the building moves along with him. He goes the other way, and so does the building. Victor doesn’t know how to react to the situation. He decides to sit down and try to come up with a solution.
“If I can’t go toward it, and I can’t go around it, then how am I supposed to get inside?”
“You’re not supposed to go inside, Victor,”a mysterious but familiar voice comments.
Victor looks around.“Who’s there?”He doesn’t see anyone.
“I don’t think Grandma would be happy if she found out what you just did. So, let’s not tell her,”the voice says.
“What did I do?”Victor keeps looking around, but no one is in sight. He stands back up and notices a tree that wasn’t there before.
He walks over to the tree and looks up, gently placing his hand on the trunk.“I used to climb this tree.”
“That’s right, and you almost broke your arm. You loved to try to climb all the way to the top, but the branches weren’t strong enough,”the voice tells Victor.
“You . . . You sound familiar. Do I know you?”Victor asks the voice.
“Of course you do. I am your mother.”
Victor snaps back around. He sees a glowing figure that is as tall as he is. He can’t make out the face, but he can see a female figure in a flowy, brilliant white dress. She has the same dark, wavy hair as Victor’s that falls onto her shoulders. He walks closer to the figure, and her face starts to clear. As he steps closer, his eyes begin to tear up. He brings his hands up and cups her face.
