The Flames of Hope Ch 14

Chapter 14~The Dark Side
After Ceto returned back to the lake, the fog that had been blocking our way earlier had lifted and by sunrise, we were on our way to see Atlas. I was in the back just sort of relaxing after the constant fights and days of driving. I watched as Ruff and Tuff fought each other, each claiming that the arm rest between their seats was theirs. Megan was up front with a map trying to direct Gear to the fastest route to Atlas. As far as I could tell, we only had a few days left before all the gods had been captured, but I was more worried about our friends locked up somewhere.

“Are we there yet?” Will said, half joking before leaning back in his chair and letting out a long sigh. Gear simply gave him a dirty look in the rear view mirror that Will was unable to see. Malcolm was sharpening his arrows while Sarah watched him in fascination. She was young, but she seemed to be talented in her own right. However from what I had seen when fighting the Earthborn, archery was not one of her strong points. We were about to cross the border into Nebraska after driving all night when Gear yelled into the back.

“Alright everyone, I’m tired so we’re pulling over at the next rest town and switching places,” he called before letting out a yawn. It didn’t take long before we saw an exit sign and pulled off to rest and gather up some supplies. Most of us headed for the local grocery store, but Kat, Sarah, Will, and I were drawn to this little shop of around the corner. It kind of reminded me of Spencers with its selection of merchandise. There was a toy that would make farting sounds when you pulled its finger and T-shirts with sayings on them that could be considered inappropriate. As I looked around I wondered why Sarah had followed us in here until I saw her playing with the Plasma Lamps. She would press her fingers to the globe and the strands of electricity would react to her finger tips.

“Can I help you with something?” asked a woman who had come from the back of the store. She had on a dark leather jacket over a white shirt with designs on it that made it look like she wasn’t wearing a shirt at all. Much like her jacket, her jeans were also made from leather and they stretched into her large black combat boots. She looked pretty intimidating and I just waved my hand and told her I was just browsing. She continued to watch us from her spot behind the counter and it was kind of freaking me out. I was so focused on her that I rounded the corner and accidentally bumped into Will.

“Watch where you’re going!” he yelled at me before playing with some kind of gadget. It seemed a bit out of character, so I backed up a bit and bumped into Kat. She turned around and I could tell instantly that she was completely awake.

“Hey, get out of my face!” she yelled before pushing me away. This made me mad as it was a simple mistake.

“What did I do?!” I yelled back and before long we started a shouting match. Will soon joined in our quickly growing fight.

“Just because you got the prophecy, you are no leader!” Will yelled.

“At least I can use my powers,” I spat back. I wasn’t sure what was coming over me, but I felt like taking everything in the store.

“What are you three doing?” Sarah asked as she walked over. She looked down and saw Will grab a figurine from a shelf and quickly place it in his pocket. “You can’t take that, its stealing.”

“Oh who cares?” Will said in response. I had to agree with him and started looking around the store for something I wanted.

“Shut up Blondie,” Kat said before going off in her own direction. I could hear the girl behind the counter laugh, but I didn’t really care that much. She began following the three of us around, pointing out items that would make great gifts for pranks. I laughed as she pointed to an old fashioned whoopee cushion. Sarah pulled at my arm to try and get my attention, but I pushed her away and she went falling backward into a pile of bumper stickers. I watched her on the ground as a tear started forming I her eyes. I felt kind of bad, but Kat and Will just laughed at her misfortune.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked between sobs as she looked at the three of us.

“There is nothing wrong with them,” said the counter girl as she wrapped her arms around us. “They are simply accepting their inner evil, that’s all. It is so much fun to turn over to the dark side, I mean look how happy they are. You could be just like them. I find the evil inside a person and draw it to the open. Everyone has a bit of evil in them; jealousy, anger, being envious of another’s talent. I feed off these things. You have a little envy inside of you yourself, let’s take a look.”

The counter girl then moved in front of us and reached her hand to Sarah. Sarah let out a small squeal and her hair began to glow with a bright light. The counter girl yelled back in pain and I felt a small pain inside myself. I turned around to shield my eyes from the light and looked down at my shadow. Then, a dark figure began climbing out of my shadow and flew into the air and dissolved in the light. I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I looked around and the same thing had happened to Kat and Will. Then the light faded and I rubbed my eyes trying to make the flashes clear from my sight.

“What happened,” Will asked, a bit bewildered.

“She did,” Sarah said as I walked over and helped her up. We turned to look at the woman now on the floor of the shop, gasping for breath as if she had been hurt. “Who are you?” Sarah asked and her hair still had a bight of light illuminating the area.

“Kakia, the spirit of vice and moral badness. Monsters didn’t seem to be able to handle your little group so I figured I’d either turn you evil or let you fight each other. I would have gotten away with it to if it wasn’t for you meddling kids,” she said. “Until next time I guess.”

In a flash of light she vanished along with the rest of the store.

“I’m sorry Sarah,” I said to her still holding her up as I noticed what I had done. When she fell, she had gotten a cut on her arm and I knew it was my fault.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said, as if reading my mind. “It was none of your faults,” she said looking at Kat and Will, who were also having a hard time looking directly at her, but it was more from being ashamed than the light that was slowly fading from her figure. She sang a few notes and the cut began to glow a faint light before it sealed itself up and nothing was left but a bit of dried blood.

“About what she said about being envious, it is because you want to be like Malcolm?” I asked.

“He is so good with an arrow, I’d like to do that at well but it never seems to go right. He is like a big brother to me so I look up to him and want to be like him,” she said as we headed to the others.

“But you have your own power. I mean you just chased off a spirit of evil and you didn’t even lift a finger,” Kat joked. “Plus, if I ever need a night light, I want you to be nearby.”

We all laughed at this and soon met up with everyone who had bags and bags of food. Gear pulled at a switch on the dashboard and a BBQ set up folded out of the side of the van and we all sat down to have a big lunch.

Author's Note
Kind of a filler chapter, but I haven't written in awhile and wanted to get back into the swing of things while giving characters I haven't really focused on some time to shine (no pun intended).

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive