Chapter 244: Annie and ke


    Annie stared at the pretty, spinning dark, and breathed. "Holes in the world," she heard herself say. Like holes cut in a ck curtain letting in moonlight, swirling and swirling and swirling.


    "Stay together!" she heard Mason say. Why should he say such a thing? Of course they were together. ke was back and he''d never leave again, and pretty soon when things were right he''d blow a gentle breeze through her mind, and she''d sleep so wonderfully again.


    Then a terrible, screeching sound filled the air and Annie''s whole body clenched in fear. She saw shes of dying students, screaming monsters and bloody halls. She focused her eyes and saw different monsters climbing from the holes in the world, their mouths filled with teeth, their bodies twisted and horrible.


    Her heart pounded and she squeezed her fingers tightly on her axe, no idea what to do.


    <em>Don''t give in</em>, she thought, staring at the beautiful, red button in the corner of her vision that made everything better.


    All she had to do was focus. To go clickety click. The solution to every problem a moment’s effort away—a power called Frenzy that took away her fear, took away her thoughts. It took away everything and made her strong.


    But then it would end, and everything woulde rushing back like it was all new again. For a perfect moment she''d be free and forget, her treacherous mind trapped like a wild dog in a metal cage. But it was harder to be imprisoned when you knew what freedom was. Better to forget, better to embrace her cage and never think beyond it, never think she could ever be free again.


    "Annie, I need your help." ke''s wonderful voice drifted through her mind. "Can you protect me while I cast?"


    "Yes," she said and smiled, meeting his beautiful blue eyes. Her mind screamed <em>no, no, no, don''t risk it, don''t push it.</em> But her mouth said yes, and she took her axe and stood between the only person who cared about her in the world, and anything that meant him harm.


    The monstrous creature wasn''t alone. One, then two more stepped from nothing, hissing with terrible sounds like that fake t-rex from the museum when she was a girl. Annie covered her eyes and screamed. She heard skittering, too,ing closer all the time. Little legs, wed feet, iron bristles scraping, scraping.


    The others were fighting now. The amazing Becky, who Annie wished she could be, was putting herself in danger without even a weapon to strike with. Nassau''s terrifying patron was sshing goo and blood and smiling, always smiling, only happy when he was killing, the frightening wolf and the other-worldly creature fighting at his side.


    They were so brave. So strong. Annie wished she could be like them without her button. But she couldn''t. All she could do was think about blood and screaming, and a different world where she went to school and sat with her friends and talked about boys and the lives they''d all one day have.


    Gone. All gone.


    Reced by darkness and terror and nightmares. <em>Wee to the new world, Annie</em>, she thought, maybe still screaming. But salvation and release was just a click away. All her problems solved. A transformation into everything her friends needed. No more fear or weakness. No more Annie the frightened little girl, the crazy kid they’d found in the woods.


    Just the other thing. The thing that was needed.


    She pushed the button.


    * * *


    ke almost lost control of his channel. The ‘Ettercap’ scrambled past his construct, huge mouth opening wide to mp down on the closest thing. Which was ke’s handsome face.


    His Psionic Shield would protect him. Probably. Though he could maybe still be swallowed...


    His very active non-partitioned mind frantically looked for some kind of answer, and he was about to try activating Telekinesis while <em>also</em> channeling, which seemed not entirely wise but maybe better than getting consumed entirely by a giant, ugly…


    Annie screamed and leapt at the creature''s side, axe twirling and smashing into the side of the Ettercap''s head with a dull, wet thud. It screeched and swiped at her with its spindly arms, vicious w spraying blood from the girl''s side.


    Then ke''s channel finished. Arcane power burst from his hands as True Making enhanced with a still-mysterious, but obviously working Duality of Ambition. It formed an arcane, defender construct at least twelve feet tall, and ke couldn’t help but grin.


    The supercharged construct charged instantly, grabbing the ettercap by the throat, magic ring as its arcane burn sparked and sizzled. The creature squealed and shook, desperately trying to remove the giant hand closed around its neck as its flesh roasted in seconds.


    It had taken a quarter of his mana, but ke didn''t mind. He recovered quickly. And watching the ettercap p uselessly at the construct''s arms and gape like a fish was a truly rewarding experience.


    "Help them, my dear," ke said to Annie, "I''ve got this one now."


    He nced at the little redhead, though, and realized his words no longer mattered. Her eyes were wide and veined as she chopped into the ettercap''s leg, then ripped it off with her bare hands. ke winced and considered using his Mental Influence, but it didn''t work well until she''d calmed a little, and he was rather busy for the moment…


    Mason had another ettercap well in hand, as did Becky, but she needed someone to actually <em>kill</em> hers.


    ke sent his one remaining permanent construct to assist her, remembering the undead goblin cowering on the ground.


    "I don''t suppose you can do anything useful?" he asked, not surprised when the thing just kept cowering. He winced at a terrible popping sound, which was followed immediately by an even worse slop as his defender threw the headless ettercap to the ground. Annie was still hitting it on the ground.


    "Kill the other one," ke said with a sigh, his defender stomping and crashing across the cavern towards Becky. It had a good five minutes left, which seemed to be about four minutes longer than necessary.


    ke mostly just watched the fighting now, thinking things were fairly well sorted. As he began to wonder exactly where the summoner was and when it would make its appearance, little hairs rose on back of his neck.


    Whether it was luck or intuition or insight, ke wasn''t really sure, but when he felt the overwhelming instinct to duck, he didn''t fight it.


    A violent force flew above him. Something wide and white and filled with energy spread out and hissed across the cavern. ke watched as what appeared to be a giant web covered everything and everyone but him and the cowering goblin.


    ke looked back towards the source and saw a spider as tall as his defender. It had at least six different eyes with different colors and shapes, two of its huge legs raised to reveal a wide, gaping hole of a maw still dripping with web-like strands. Annie waspletely covered in the webbing, struggling to rise as the spider raced towards her.


    ke cried out and clutched his demonic ne, running forward, still not sure what else to do. His constructs wereing, but too slowly. Arcane st was far too slow. And the spider was toorge to move…but maybe…


    At thest moment ke seized Annie with Telekinesis and pulled her towards him.


    The spider''s legs smashed into the floor where she''d been, each ''foot'' opening to reveal a spike at least a foot long. It looked up at ke with several eyes, and waves of heat and arcane energy struck him as quick as thought.


    He screamed as the second prated straight through his shield. His right arm went numb, and he threw himself aside with Telekinesis, pulling Annie along as he yanked them both towards some nearby rocks. He''d judged the distance well and lost sight of the spider behind them, rising to look at his arm, which hung uselessly at his side.


    "I''m alright," he mostly told himself, trying to pull some of the webbing off Annie one handed as the girl struggled to break free. He heard the spider''s cking leg-spikesing closer, his heart practically keeping rhythm.


    Apparently they''d vastly underestimated the thing. But his spells were too slow to do much now except maybe flee again. He pulled at Annie and tried not to fall down screaming at the growing painncing through his arm.


    The others woulde. That was all he could think as he failed to pull off the stick webbing. Mason was close. Mason woulde...


    <hr>