The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) (11 page)

‘S
ince when did you become the big brother figure?’ I asked, nudging him to try to lighten up his mood.

‘I don’t really know
. I guess us special and unique people should stick together.’

He did
have a point, so I didn’t bother arguing with him about it. We hadn’t moved yet, and it suddenly occurred to me that Michel was probably just as lost as I was.

‘Y
ou don’t have any idea where to go, do you?’ I asked.

‘N
ope, not a clue.’ He chuckled to himself, and I looked around to see the sky darkening, so I started to glow a little more brightly.

We both
sat on the cold ground in silence. I could feel the cold autumn breeze sweeping through the forest, and I wasn’t wearing much, so I wrapped my arms around myself to keep warm.

‘A
re you cold?’ Michel asked, and his voice seemed to echo through the forest.

‘Just
a little.’ I shivered as a gush of wind rustled through the trees.

‘H
ere. Take my jacket.’ He took off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders.

‘Thanks
.’ I smiled at him and he smiled back. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, so I didn’t feel too bad for taking his jacket.

‘Summer, can you hear me?’
Amanda said to me, and I stood up straight away.

‘Summer
, everything ok?’ Michel asked, and I quickly shushed him so that I could hear Amanda.

‘
Yes, I need help. I am lost in the forest. Can you get a locating fairy to find me, please?’
I was getting really cold. I was shivering, even though I had Michel’s jacket on. My legs were frozen because I was wearing shorts.

‘
Doing it now. Someone is on their way.’
I sat tight for a while, and finally I saw a light in the distance.

‘S
ummer, where are you?’ Lauren’s voice was loud in the stillness.

‘Michel
, you have to go.’ I turned, shrugged off his jacket, and gave it to him.

‘S
ee you later,’ With that, he vanished.

‘I am here!
’ I yelled. I was still glowing, and I pushed to make it brighter so they could see me.

‘S
ummer, what are you doing this far in the woods at night? I don’t mind you going for a run in the morning, but at night-’ She stopped when she noticed the picnic basket in my hands. ‘Summer, did Ethan leave you by yourself?’ she asked as she gave me a jacket. We started walking back to the house.

‘Y
es, he had to leave. After the picnic, we fell asleep, and his parents were coming, and he just took off, leaving me alone. Asshole.’ I murmured the last part under my breath. She looked at me like she had no idea about the picnic. Great. Ethan had told me that Lauren knew all about our plans this afternoon.

‘You two are not allowed out for two
weeks, and no more early morning runs, you got it?’ I sighed. When we got back to the house, I took a shower and got dressed for bed.  When I came out of the shower, Amanda was already asleep. I lied in bed, but I could not get to sleep, so I got up and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Once I finished my glass, I went to bed and had no trouble falling sleep.

The air was still cool, and I knew that it would be a cold winter this year
. There was still a thin layer of snow settling on the ground. I must have been running, because I was out of breath. I was crouching down, getting ready to attack, only I had no lambos in either of my hands. The wind raged through my hair. I could hear the voices whispering my name. I also heard a dominating voice call out my name, but I didn’t call back, as it would give away where I was. I stayed crouched, waiting until I heard the dominant voice scream. I got up and ran towards the voice. I heard something coming behind me. They had found us.

I suddenly woke up, jolted back into reality
by Lauren, who was dressed in training gear. ‘Summer, ready for training?’

I moaned
. Another day of torture, trying to move things, attempting to control the weather, and just trying to figure out how to use my powers intentionally. I closed my eyes, hoping she would give me more time to sleep. Unlike Ethan, Lauren had no patience, and she immediately began dragging me through the house in my pajamas.

‘O
k, Lauren, please stop, I will get dressed!’ I could hear people laughing at me as Lauren pulled me through the house.

‘N
o way, because you will go right back to sleep. I told you the first time, and I did warn you.’

I huffed as we made our way outside
. It was not early morning, but early enough that a fair bit of people were outside practicing. Lauren finally let go, but when I tried to go back inside, she stopped me.

‘F
ine, fine.’ I followed her, barefoot and wearing pink princess boxers with a singlet. Lucky for me, I’d worn a bra to bed, otherwise the situation would have been infinitely more embarrassing.

‘O
k, so today we continue where we left off.’ I could hear everyone laughing at how ridiculous I looked. Even without a mirror, I knew my normally neat hair was probably a tangled mess. Great. I really wanted everyone to see me with my hair looking like a bird’s nest.

‘S
ummer, I need you to try and move the bottle,’ Lauren sad, oblivious to my embarrassment.

‘M
ove it? I sure will move it. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get dressed.’ She raised her eyebrows at my attitude, but it was her fault I was feeling grumpy.

I tried
several times to move the bottle, but nothing worked.

‘S
ummer, you are not even trying!’ Lauren yelled at me.

‘N
ot trying? Not trying! Don’t you dare say I am not trying! I am trying harder than you think!’ It came out with way more attitude than I’d intended. I knew Lauren hated it when people were smart with her.

‘M
aybe, Summer, if you spent less time with Ethan or people from school, you might be able to concentrate better. Your father always had his head in the right place.’ There it was- it was like she knew just what buttons to push to get me in a pissed-off mood.

I
wasn’t thinking, so I grabbed a lambo and threw it at her. It caught her by surprise, which was a first. I could hear people gasping, horrified at what I’d just done, but I didn’t apologize. Lauren threw a lambo at me, but I was faster than her and managed to catch it. I could see that most of the other fairies from the house were clustering around us, watching fearfully. People were no longer laughing about my pajamas- they were too shocked that I’d had the nerve to throw a lambo at Lauren.

‘I am ashamed of you
, Summer. Your father would never do such a thing! I bet he is ashamed of you, too!’ There she went again. I grew a blue light and threw it at her, but she caught it, to my surprise.

‘I am stronger then you think
, Summer, so don’t even bother.’ Lauren was hitting all the wrong buttons today. I looked around and saw a spear in the distance. I raised my hand at it, and with my mind, threw it at Lauren. At the same time, I grew a blue light and threw that at her, too.
Let’s see if she can defend herself from a double attack,
I thought. Just like I’d expected, she stopped the spear, but she didn’t have enough time to stop the blue light coming her way. It hit her, and she fell back with a small yelp, but recovered quickly. I felt a sharp pain in my mind as she stood, glaring at me. I dropped to all fours, and had my hands on my head, trying to stop the pressure building up inside my skull.

‘You want a fight
, Summer? I’ll give you a fight.’ She was pushing in my head harder.

‘Y
ou bitch,’ I ground out through my teeth. The pain was killing me. She was invading my thoughts and pushing on them so hard that I thought my head was going to explode from the agony.

‘STO
P!’ I screamed, both in my head and out loud. She pulled out of my head, leaving me on the floor, panting and covered in sweat.

‘I warned you
,’ she said, but I was not done with Lauren today. I knew I should have left it, but something inside me snapped. I pulled together all my thoughts and power as I lay on the ground. I got up and moved my hand to the side, and like that, Lauren went flying across the lawn. I heard people gasp, and I fell to the ground again. Lauren was in my mind, pushing it even harder. My hands were on my head. I tried to fight it, but it didn’t work. Lauren was winning, and looking very smug. I had always heard that Lauren’s punishment was hard, but I never imagined this. I heard someone tell Lauren to stop, but she kept pushing. I screamed out in pain as she invaded my mind and my deepest thoughts.

‘T
his is a lesson for anyone who tries to take me on, without it being friendly or for practice.’ She was walking over to me, and for a moment I was paralyzed in fear as I was reminded of the time Lucy had moved towards me in the same way. She had stalked over to me,
wanting to rip my heart out of my chest with her bare hands. I tried to move, but the pain was just too much. Lauren
kept pushing harder and harder into my head. I tried to reach out to Amanda, but the pain radiated through my spine right down to my very last toe.

‘S
ummer, that is not going to work. At the amount of power I am putting in, no normal fairy would be able to survive. Because you are a pure fairy, I need to put more power so you feel the punishment.’ She still did not stop. My vision was getting blurry. I knew she had taken it too far, and yet her demon had still not been released. How was she doing it?

‘Lauren
, stop!’ I screamed, but she just put more pressure on my head.

‘For a pure fairy
, you’re very weak,’ she whispered in my ear as she pushed deeper into my mind.

‘Lauren
, stop! She is just a child!’ I heard someone cry out in the crowd. The pushing stopped. My vision was still blurry, but I managed to sit up. I could tell that everyone was scared, but for some reason she did not scare me, so I did a brave thing- I got up and yelled.

‘Y
ou bitch! You could have killed me!’

E
veryone’s mouth dropped open, because no one else would have had the courage to say that, after what happened to me. Also, I don’t think many people had heard me curse before.

Lauren
stormed right up to my face. I grew two lambos, just in case, but she just stared me down and then walked back to the house. I knew my legs could not hold me much longer, and I fell to the ground. I leaned my head against a tree as everyone stood silently around me, amazed.

I
t was a while before people rushed over to me, where I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

‘S
ummer, can you hear me?’ Shannon was the first person to reach me. ‘Summer, listen to me, we are getting you help, but no one wants to go inside. Help will be here soon. I will try my best.’ Shannon placed her hands on both sides of my head. She was trying to heal me, but nothing  was working.

‘Shannon
, stop. You are wearing yourself out, and it’s not working.’ I blacked out again. I was trying to fight to stay awake, but it was hard with the constant pounding in my head.

‘S
ummer, Amanda said you need to try to heal yourself.’ Shannon was still with me. I placed my hand on my head. I felt power run through me and into my head. I screamed as I felt my healing power begin to take effect. When I stopped, I blacked out again.

‘S
ummer, don’t go to sleep, ok? Stay awake,’ Shannon was telling me. I opened my eyes. My head no longer hurt, but I wanted to sleep. Somehow I knew nobody was going in the house for a while, so I was stuck outside in my pajamas for the time being.

‘I am ok
. The pain is gone,’ I spoke up finally. I saw most of the people had gone.

‘T
hat is good to know.’ Shannon could see I was looking around.  ‘Most people went back inside, because Lauren has got herself under control. Amanda’s gone looking for help, but you can tell her it is no longer needed.’ She smiled at me. I’d never talked to Shannon before, but then again, I hardly talked to anyone at the house besides Lauren, Amanda and Ethan.

‘T
hank you for staying with me,’ I said.

‘Amanda
, I am alright,’
I said in my head. It hurt a little, but not as bad as before.

‘
Ok, good. I am on my way back.’ 

‘Shannon
, if you don’t mind, I would like some time alone.’ I said it politely, even though I was in a really shitty mood.

‘I understand
.’ We both got up, but I went for a walk and she went back to the house.

I didn’t
get far before I could feel Michel’s presence. ‘Nice PJs,’ he said.

I looked around for him but could not find him
anywhere.

‘Michel
, shut up. I don’t want to play games. I am in a shitty mood.’ I did another circle, looking for him.