Monachi: Masters of Water and Fire (9 page)

It was part of a song by Evanescence called
“My Immortal.”
I
got
up
from
the
ground.
I
somehow
knew Tess wasn’t dead. She would never leave
me alone at a time like this.
I looked inside the window of the shop
that Tess was being held in. I saw her, luckily
alive,
laying on a
couch. If I could somehow
get her out of there, I could save her life.
I was not going to let another soul die in
my presence.
I
couldn’t
handle
the
weight
of
another
dead person.

I peered inside the shop.
There has to be a
way
to
get
in
and out without being noticed,
I
thought to myself.

I
looked
inside
for
about
a
minute,
trying to
notice
everything.
Then,
I
saw
an
airshaft
right
above
the
couch
that
Tess
was
laying on. Score, I’d found a way to get in and
out!

Even
though
I’m
a total
germ freak,
I
had to go. I picked a couple rocks up off the
ground. I had a plan, and it was a good one.

I
climbed
onto
the
roof
and
found
the
shaft.
My
first
thought
was,
why
would
a
ventilation shaft go onto a roof?
But I ignored the
thought and went on with the plan.

I
opened the
shaft
and
got
inside.
I
crawled in the dark, dusty shaft until I saw the
light at the end.

I
didn’t
have
time
to
waste.
I
dropped
the rock on her face, making her eyes jolt awake.
She looked around for a minute, not knowing
what had happened. I dropped another rock I’d
brought (I only brought two, the second one just
in case the first one didn’t work) on her leg. She
looked up and saw me. Her first reaction was to
wave her hands in a little dance.

Yeah, my friend is weird.
I put my feet through the shaft, as
if
I
were about to jump in, like that was going to
happen.
I
tapped
my
shoes
together and Tess
began to rise.
When she was halfway into the shaft, I
heard
someone
yell, “She’s
getting
away!”
Someone
made
a grab
for
her
foot,
but
she
was already in the shaft.
Tess slammed the vent shut. She was still
kinda floating, so I tapped my shoes once more
and she dropped down.
Tess
turned and
hugged
me. “Maddy,
you’re brilliant, that’s what you are!” She let go
of me and said “Let’s get out of here.”
I
started
crawling
out
of the
shaft
and
onto the roof. I helped Tess out of the shaft.
We were safe, for now.

We
closed
the
vent and ran over to the
edge of the building. We stood up onto the ledge
and looked over. On the count of three we both
jumped off the roof at the same time. After
landing safely onto the ground, we ran to the
store window and
looked into the shop. The
buffoons were climbing into the vent shaft.

We looked at the map. We needed a better
way to get to Idaho without breaking the law. I
couldn’t
think of
anything,
and neither could
Tess.

I
wasn’t
going to
walk all
the
way to
Idaho. Not a chance. There were just too many
risks.

“None that are legal, if that’s what you’re
asking,” she replied.
We had no other choice but to walk. So
we
looked
at
the
map
and
started
walking.
We talked about school and how much of it that
we’re missing, and how many unexcused tardies
we must be getting.
It was getting dark now. The almost full
moon was out, providing some decent light to
walk in. All of a sudden it started raining. That
helped
our
situation;
not.
Now
we
were
miserable, and wet. Two very bad combinations.
We saw a forested area not far off so we
sprinted to it, to take cover; figuring that maybe
all the trees would keep most of the rain from
getting to us, and also keep us out of sight from
anyone who might be looking for us.
The woods were so dense that there was
hardly any light from the moon getting through.
There seemed to be a lot of giant trees
that
appeared to be dead, with no leaves or needles or
anything. We kept trudging through the woods
in the dead of night, trying not to pay attention
to all the scary noises that were just beyond our
sight.
Sounds pretty creepy right? A lot of bad
things could happen in the woods in the dead of
night.
Questions kept racing in my head.
Didn’t
Tess burn these woods the last time we went through
them? What
if we get kidnapped
while we’re
i n
here? Why did those men take Tess?

As
I
walked
on,
I
was
getting
tired.
I
could barely keep my eyes open. But we had to
keep moving. We couldn’t risk being found.

A few minutes later, I found myself on
the ground, being woken up by
Tess. She was
looking at me. “You ok?” she asked.

“We were walking and you just fell asleep
while walking.”
“Oops.
I
guess
I’m
just
too
tired
to
walk.”
Tess lent me hand, and helped me back
up. “We have to keep going Maddy, we can’t
risk being found,” she said when I was on my
feet.
“I
know,
it’s
just
that
I’m
too
tired,”
I
replied.
We heard something move in the bushes
behind us. We turned around just as someone
stumbled
out
of
the
bushes
holding
what
appeared to be a gun.
Someone we’ve seen before!

It was Addie.
If you don’t remember who Addie is, she
was the cop whose car Tess burned. She was a
wreck.
Her
long
blonde
hair
(that
was
surprisingly still on her head) was stained with
blood. The left side of her face was burnt and
looked a little crispy. Her whole right arm was
burnt and red. Her right sleeve was shredded.
“How are you still alive?” Tess asked.
I was curious as well.
“I’m
smarter
than
you
might
think.
When the car was on fire, and you guys left, I
used
my
right arm
to
get
out.
Unfortunately,
my face went through a wall of flames and I
burnt
the
left
side
of
it.
When
I
finally
managed
to
get out, no
one
was
there.
I’ve
been walking to the lab ever since.”
“How did you not die of hunger?” I asked.
“The reason I used my right arm to get
out is because I shoot with my left. I’ve been
killing and eating animals to survive. Now, I’m
going to get my revenge.”
“How do you plan on doing that?” I asked,
terrified of the answer.
“I’m going to kill her,” Addie said while
pointing her gun at Tess.

“Too bad I can’t use my gun since I ran
out
of
bullets
yesterday,
defending
myself
against a timber wolf,” she said as she tossed it to
the ground.

How would she kill Tess? It’s like trying to
kill a vampire with a thumbtack,
I thought to myself.
Tess stopped looking shocked and started
looking serious. “Let the battle begin,” she said.
This was going to be a battle to the death.
I stood back about ten feet.
No way was I going to be caught in the
middle of this battle and end up maiming myself,
or worse.
Tess bowed and announced, “Good luck,
and like they say in the Hunger Games,
May the
odds be ever in your favor.
”
Addie nodded back.
Tess set her hair and hands on fire. But
this time the fire was bigger and brighter than
ever before. Her hair and hands were white, the
sign of truly hot fire. I was curious if
it
was
even possible to be this close to a white fire.
Addie stumbled back and fell for a second,
but got back up.
“I’m
going to burn
you
until
there
is
nothing left of you but ash,” Tess said.
So technically, she was going to cremate
her while she was still alive. That was a pretty
scary thought.
Tess could finish this with a single move
but I knew she wasn’t going to. That’s not the
way Tess works. She wanted Addie to suffer, and
beg for mercy. That’s why Tess loved the game
mercy. She never lost.
Addie charged at Tess.
A foolish mistake.
Tess grabbed her by the hand and threw
her over her shoulder. Addie’s hand was charred
after that. Even though she only made contact
with Tess for but a few seconds, her hand was
charred, and her left sleeve was aflame.
Even
after
that
happened; Addie
didn’t
give in.
She charged towards Tess again. Did she
even know what she was up against? This time
Tess planned on toasting her. She took Addie
by
the
shirt
and
threw
her
over
her
head,
roasting Addie’s back.
“Have mercy…” Addie began crying. “…
I only wanted you
to
feel
the
pain
I
went
through.”
Tess held her hand up and paused. “You
think
you’ve
had
a
rough
time?
We were
kidnapped from our school and thrown into
a
van
where
we
were
starved. Then
we went
into a
place
where
two
of
our
friends were
murdered. When we finally got away, we were
caught again and thrown into a cage where we
were tested on. Finally we got away again and
that brings
us here. So don’t tell us that you
went through a lot.”
With the hand she was holding up, she
shot white fire the size of a football out of her
hands and right into Addie. Addie started to
scream in pain, as she burned alive.
When there was nothing left of Addie
except
ash, (I was surprised the forest didn’t
start on fire) I took a vile t h a t
I had in my
jacket, (I honestly don’t know why I had one)
and put her ashes in it. I t h e n wrote on it:

Tess
put
herself
ground,
and
started
to
out, dropped to the
cry out; “It
was selfdefense; she
was going to kill me. She didn’t
deserve to die, but I couldn’t leave any evidence
that I was the one that killed her.”

We got up and started walking. That weird
encounter wasn’t going to stop us from getting
back home. No way.

A few minutes later we entered a city. I
looked at s o m e
o f
t h e
s i g n s . We
were
in
Pittsburgh.