Once she saw them, Katie couldn’t stop seeing the dead bodies. Only a handful belonged to Nayara’s army, but the rest were the citizens of Oasi. Katie felt responsible, and if they had only arrived a day earlier, they could have prevented this.
Though the guilt flooded through her, Katie never stopped running. She turned another corner and nearly slipped on the slick ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw a glimpse of Sabrina. She was catching up quickly.
Katie willed herself to run faster. She didn’t know how her body could take it. She was beyond being out of breath. The searing pains in her sides vanished and her heart beat so fast she could barely feel it.
She was running along the river now. She saw three figures ahead of her. One was Tyson, who was quickly running towards the other two, though limping. She couldn’t recognize the others.
Tyson was badly hurt.
He wasn’t supposed to be a part of this. But she couldn’t really blame him. Neither was she.
As she approached, she could see that Koran was being beaten over and over. Katie yelled and arched her hands over her head.
Water leaped from the river and turned into a ball that froze solid and hit the man in the head. He toppled over. Koran was freed, but he too fell to the floor.
Koran staggered to his feet again. His nose was bleeding and was covered in bruises on his face.
Katie raced towards him to help but was hit in the head with a hard stone. She tripped over her own feet and crashed to the floor, scraping her arms as she slid. Sabrina jumped on Katie and pulled her hair back.
Katie screamed and attempted to pull Sabrina’s hands off. Tyson was running towards her.
“Sabrina.”
Everyone turned to look who had spoken. It was Queen Nayara. Her gray skin and white hair looked intimidating in the early morning sunlight. Her blue eyes were so cold, Katie felt as if she had been frozen. Each step she took felt silent. Her left hand was held slightly up, her arm slightly twisted as if she were holding something.
Sabrina released Katie but was immediately shoved to the ground by Tyson. Sabrina instantly found her feet and swung a kick high enough to meet Tyson in the face. Tyson spun in the air once and hit the ground face down.
The Queen had reached the scene. Koran ran over to Katie and Tyson’s side. Ariah joined Nayara and Sabrina.
“I know you,” spat Sabrina at a still face-down Tyson. “You’re that human from Earth. You don’t belong here.”
Nayara gazed down at Tyson, her eyes gleaming in amusement.
“A human from Earth, huh?” she whispered. It wasn’t a question. “Did you think that you could survive this world? Even if you weren’t killed, this planet has a way of eradicating that which doesn’t belong.”
Tyson clenched his fists. Slowly he managed to stand back up. He turned around to face Nayara.
“Leave him alone,” snapped Katie.
“Oh, I’m not going to touch him,” replied the Queen. “His filth and the like do not deserve my hand.”
Katie heard a loud horn. The horn that Artemus had told her about. The ship was ready to leave.
“You’d better be quick boarding that ship. If you’re still here when I’m finished, I will end you,” warned the Queen. “But you have little importance to me right now.”
Katie looked back. There was a ship headed their way.
Nayara glared down at Tyson again.
When she spoke, Nayara sounded disdainful. “Ariah, come with me. We’re going into the palace. Sabrina, secure the city. I gave them their chance. If there are any survivors, make sure they don’t stay that way.”
Sabrina nodded.
“But first,” said the Queen. “Banish him. But leave the others. They have no consequence with us at this moment.”
The Queen and Ariah walked away, leaving behind a chilling presence. Sabrina smiled maliciously.
“Say your goodbyes.”
“No!” screamed an anguished Katie. She put herself in front of Tyson. Koran did the same. Katie did not know what the Queen meant by “banish,” but she did not care to find out.
Sabrina laughed. She lunged at them. Koran blocked her first hit but was not fast enough to deflect the second. Koran was hit in the chest and thrown aside.
Katie summoned water from the river. It came faster than expected and Katie almost lost control of it, something that Sabrina noticed.
“You’re still weak as ever,” tormented Sabrina. The water splashed Sabrina’s face but did no damage. Sabrina chuckled. She drew out a small dagger.
“Exilu,” Sabrina mumbled. The dagger turned into a charcoal sword.
Katie widened her eyes in fear, but she didn’t plan to move. Sabrina swung the sword at Katie. Instinctively, Katie yelled and ducked. She accidentally hit Tyson who fell to the ground on his chest. Water flung out from the river and turned to ice, smacking Sabrina in the face. But it was too late.
Ignoring the pain, Sabrina wielded the sword over her head. She took that moment while Katie was still ducked down and forced the sword down, aimed at Tyson.
Tyson didn’t have time to react. He was barely getting up when the sword pierced his back and tore through his chest. His yells reverberated loudly until his body thinned to smoke and disappeared, leaving no trace.
It all happened so fast.
Katie screamed. Sabrina smiled, and having accomplished what she was to do, she ran back into the city. Another girl ran from one of Nayara’s ships and joined her.
“Tyson!” Katie screamed.
“Tyson!”
Her voice cracked, and she choked on saliva. There was no Tyson to answer her. There was no body of Tyson’s for Katie to scream at. Katie kept screaming, crying
