Chapter 15

Kevin was at his side in an instant.  After checking him over, Kevin was relieved to find that it was only exhaustion that had made Brian collapse.  Even though he had said that the woman wouldn't be able to do anything to him, Kevin knew he had to be protected somehow.  Maybe he could make that force field again and put it around Brian.  He held his hands over Brian, not exactly certain how to proceed, but again the tingling came over him as though his powers knew what he wanted.  It felt a little different this time, but a good different. Kevin closed his eyes, took a deep breath and could almost see what he wanted.  The energy discharge wasn't rough like last time; now it was almost like a river of warm light.  Opening his eyes, Kevin saw the dark blue and silver field form a protective egg around his cousin.  There was some white crackling in it too, he noticed.  He had no idea what that meant, but Brian was safe and that was all that mattered.

With one last look at the sleeping figure, Kevin raced across Brian's bridge and barely made it before it faded away.  He dodged a bolt of lightning and made it to AJ's side. "Thought y'all might like some help."

AJ only had time to grunt before he shoved Kevin out of the way to avoid being electrocuted.

"No amount of help will save you," Nerezza said with a scornful laugh. "You will belong to me!"

Nick spared a moment to whisper, "She's weaker, thanks to that light." He darted away, but Kevin quickly followed, throwing up a force field to avoid another attack. "Where'd it come from anyway?"

"Brian."

A startled blue-eyed gaze whipped to him. "What are you talking about?"

Kevin was about to reply when Nerezza lifted a large chunk of rubble into the air and hurled it at the two.  Not having much time to react, Kevin lifted his hands and the field was up at once.  But the force of her throw and the combined speed and weight of the rubble were too much for his new power, slamming against the force field with such ferocity that Kevin was thrown backward, taking Nick down with him.

An amused cackle reached his ears. "Is that all you could do?  Was that your best?  My, you are weaker than I expected."

Kevin helped Nick to his feet. "We've got to do something," he whispered.

"Duh.  Got any ideas?"

The immediate idea was to get out of the line of fire to avoid being incinerated.  Dismayingly, no other ideas came to mind as the five comrades battled with the lady of darkness.

"Fools," she cackled. "Not even your combined strength can beat me!  I will have you as my servants, or you will be destroyed."

Clarity slammed into Nick as suddenly as if he'd met with a brick wall.  Combined strength. The combined amulets!  But was it possible?  He dashed to Zanell's side dodging Nerezza's attacks and countering with a few of his own.

"Zanell, your father said it was possible to combine the amulets.  Do you know how?"

She shook her head. "I've been trying to remember, but - "

Nick lifted his shield to block Nerezza's attack.  But her strength sent him flying backward, hitting the ground hard.

"Give up!" she shrieked. "You are obviously far weaker than I expected.  But join me as Brian did, and you can become stronger than your greatest dreams."

"Brian was tricked!" Kevin shouted. "You won't do the same to us."

"Fools," Nerezza reprimanded as she hovered over them. "You don't have the power to defeat me.  You are incomplete."

Zanell exhaled sharply and gripped Nick's arm.  "What is it?" he asked.

The princess dropped her voice to the barest whisper. "She's right.  We don't have Brian's amulet on this plane.  I left it in my room back in the physical plane."

Oh, crud. "Then, we can't combine them..."

"Until we have it."

Nick groaned, then dashed over to Howie who had managed to find some small cover behind a piece of rubble.

"Howie, we have a problem."

"Tell me something I don't know," Howie shot back as he took aim with the crossbow Brian had given him just moments before he'd passed out.

"We need Brian's amulet."

Howie froze, turned his gaze on the blond. "Tell me you're joking."

Nick shook his head.

"We don't have it?" he demanded. "How could we not have it?"

"Zanell left it behind."

Howie groaned. "So we're in trouble."

"We need his amulet," Nick reiterated, leaning closer. "There's no other way to defeat her."

Howie eyed him carefully.

"Someone has to go back and get it," Nick began.

"And I'm the psychic of the group," Howie finished, his heart dropping to his feet. "I can't leave you guys vulnerable like that."

"It's our only chance."

"Suppose something happens and I can't get back to you," Howie proposed. "Or that woman does defeat you and you can't get back."

Those were fears Nick did not want to face.  But as he glanced at the other three, he realized, "It's a risk we have to take, Howie.  We'll lose if we don't have it to combine against her.  Get that amulet."

Howie sighed heavily. "See you in a few, then."

Nick blinked, and Howie was gone.

~~@~~

Howie snapped into consciousness at once. Of course she forgot the amulet, he grumbled.  Stumbling to his feet, Howie made his way over the unconscious bodies of his friends to the doorway.  He turned left and found Zanell's room at the end of the hall.  Too far away from danger, his cloudy mind processed. Needs to move closer.

After nearly a minute of frantic searching, Howie found the amulet under her pillow.  Clutching it tight to his chest, he raced back to Brian's room.  Nothing had changed physically, so far as he could tell.  Quickly, he knelt back in his place and took Brian and AJ's hands, closed his eyes and entered the astral plane.

The darkness whipped and whirled at him, sensing that he had brought more power to fight the Lady of Darkness.  But Howie fought back - he couldn't leave the others helpless.

Up ahead. Light and darkness raging in a battle.

His vision cleared and showed him AJ struggling back to his feet, Kevin standing over him with a force field against Nerezza.  Nick and Zanell were side by side, trying to attack together.  Across the chasm, Brian's form lay still beneath the protective shell Kevin had created for him.

"I've got it!" he shouted, racing toward his companions.

Nerezza shrieked in anger, sending a blast of energy all around her and knocking all her enemies to the ground. "I will not be defeated!"

Kevin risked a glance at Howie and grinned. "Better get used to disappointment, your ladyship," he replied as Howie slipped Brian's amulet around his neck next to his own. "We won't be defeated either.  We work as a team, and we'll defeat you as a team."

At once the two amulets around Howie's neck began to glow a bright red light, joined swiftly by the others.  The crossbow - which had disappeared at Howie's exit - reappeared in his hands, glowing brighter than before.  He could feel the power pulsing through it and into his body, collecting the power of the amulets.

A hand on his shoulder.  Nick and Zanell had joined them.  Nerezza's next few attacks were easily blocked by Kevin's force field and the shield Brian had sent to Nick.  For the first time, Nerezza looked worried.

The power was nearly overwhelming.  Howie felt not quite in control of his limbs, as if the combined power of the amulets was lifting his arms and the crossbow, until they were level with Nerezza.  A final surge and the power blasted outward, nearly sending Howie to the ground.

An explosion of light and dark filled the astral plane; Kevin had to shield his eyes from the intensity from the brightness that had doubled after the light Brian had sent, but he wasn't deaf to Nerezza's eardrum-splitting shriek.  The ground rumbled; instinctively he threw out his hands to keep himself from falling toward the chasm.  The chasm... it was closing!  Gradually, the brightness faded and Kevin spotted the others slowly regain their feet.  AJ glanced at Nick, Howie at Zanell.  A loud whoop of triumph and the five of them began slapping each other on the back, embracing each other.

Suddenly Kevin remembered; "Brian!"

He was on his feet immediately, racing to the fallen figure.  Kevin knelt beside him and reached out a hand, the field he had placed around Brian dissolving.  Kevin touched his shoulder, but he didn't move.

"Brian, wake up.  It's over."

He heard several pairs of feet running toward him, but he kept his gaze on Brian.  After a moment, Brian inhaled deeply, and then slowly opened his eyes.

"Kevin?"

"It's over," he repeated. "She's gone."

He blinked and sat up slowly. "Gone?"

AJ knelt beside them. "It was incredible, B.  Howie had to go back and get your amulet, but once he got back, the amulets combined their powers and we found ourselves filled with so much energy and power that I felt like I was going to explode.  We took her down.  She's gone."

Brian sighed, his eyes closing and face relaxing with immense relief.

Zanell leaned close to his ear and whispered, "You're free at last, Brian.  You can go home."

"Home." He opened his eyes and frowned. "I've made such a mess there."

"Whatever happened, we'll all be there to help you," Nick promised.

Brian glanced from Nick to Kevin.  Kevin realized he wanted to know if everyone would be there to help him.  He nodded. "Like I'm going to leave you alone after this?"

Brian smirked.

Howie bent down and held out his hand. "You ready to get out of here?"

Brian paused a moment, then, his face set with determination, he nodded and gripped Howie's hand.

~~~^*@*^~~~

Opening his eyes, Kevin realized that he was staring at blue carpet.  Blue carpet?  He lifted his head off the floor and looked around.  They were in Brian's room at the base.  Howie was by the bed, sound asleep on his back.  Zanell was next to him, even in sleep holding hands with Nick, who was snoring like a bear.  AJ, surprisingly, had a pillow under his head.  He must have woken up long enough to grab a pillow and fall right back to sleep.  Brian... Kevin pushed himself up onto his elbow and looked at the figure under the quilt.  He was on his stomach, one hand gripping his pillow.  Kevin smiled.  He looked relaxed, at peace.

Free.

Satisfied that everyone was all right, Kevin crawled over to the cabinet that AJ had left open and grabbed another pillow.  As he sank down onto it, he sighed, happy to be home, glad that it was over at last.