Taylor

I watched in horror as my girlfriend transformed into a giant wolf. However, I didn’t have time to admire her as Mandy rushed down towards me, where Angel’s mom lay bleeding. 

“I have to get her to the hospital. I can stop the bleeding for a little while, but I can’t heal her,” Mandy said as she picked up Mrs. Avery. Then she melted the pole at both ends just before her body. Picking her up, Mandy took off and headed towards the hospital. I hoped that she would be okay. She didn’t deserve to die. With Mrs. Avery out of the fight, I turned my attention back to the battle. 

The storm around Angel and the giant seemed to pick up. If it continued, it threatened to start causing damage to the entire town. I ran towards the giant, trying to use my powers to freeze him, hoping to make things easy for Angel, but it was as if my abilities were just bouncing off him. There was something strange about his body. It didn’t look like skin. Walking over towards the arm that Angel cut off, I confirmed what I had thought. His body was made up of crystal I had never seen before. It was as if it wasn’t even from earth. 

Turning back to Angel, I watched as she lunged at the giant, though he threw her against the ground. I almost lost my balance as the ground shook with the weight of her body. I wanted to run to her. to help her, but this thing was just too big for me. Unfortunately, it looked as though she would be the only one who could defeat him. I still wanted to help, so as much as I wanted to watch the fight, I started running towards the buildings that had been damaged. I did my best to remove debris, hoping to find survivors. 

Going from building to building, I did my best to get the living out of the wreckage. I could hear the fight behind me, but I needed to focus on the task at hand. Then Ashley appeared before me, coming through her rift. With her, she brought Stone Skin and Esme. 

“We heard about the battle. Is there anything that we can do?” she asked, looking around. She covered her mouth as she saw the dead bodies lying on the ground. It was almost too much for me to bear to see. I could only speculate how she felt seeing it for the first time. It wasn’t like we hadn’t seen death before, but nothing like this.

“I am trying to find and rescue any survivors I can find. I wish there were something I could do for the dead, but right now, I want to save the living,” I said. She nodded, and Esme and Stone Skin split up. Ashley stayed in the middle of the street and opened a rift. As people were found, they were directed towards Ashley’s rift. I went searching again. I was about halfway up the block when I saw Emily. She was standing on the sidewalk in terror as she looked down the street towards all the carnage. Despite how I felt, I needed to get her to safety. I ran up to her and grabbed her by the arm. 

“What are you doing, freak? Let go of me,” Emily demanded as she tried to jerk her arm out of my hand. I used my power to lock her arm in my hand. 

“I am saving your life. You are an ungrateful, privileged, discriminating bigot. If it wasn’t for my parents, you would have been in the foster system, and yet, they choose you over their own daughters because of something we couldn’t control. And yet here I am, risking my life to make sure that you are safe. How bout a damn thank you,” I said, though I knew she would thank me. Her eyes widened as she realized that she couldn’t move her arm, but she reluctantly followed. 

As we got close to the rift, the ground shook again. Looking up towards the fighting, I saw Angel standing on top of the giant as she seemed to absorb energy rays. However, it didn’t last long as two of the giants’ fists connected with her face and side. She toppled over, smashing another building in the process. I knew that she would be devastated by the destruction she and the giant were causing when she was back to normal. Then I remembered that I was dragging Emily towards the rift. 

“Do we really have to save her?” Ashley asked when we got close to her. Despite how I felt, and despite my sister’s feelings, she was still a person.

“Yes, we can’t base our actions on hers. We are not murderers,” I said before shoving Emily through the rift. 

“That should be the last of them,” Stone Skin said as he led about twenty people through the rift. 

“Same for me,” Esme said, leading a few more people with her, including a couple who were being dragged via her webbing. I looked at her curiously. 

“They didn’t have a lot of nice things to say and tried to refuse to be rescued, so naturally, I had to do what needed to be done,” Esme said as she threw the two through the rift. I could only imagine what some of the people on the other side would think. With everyone out of the wreckage, I turned my attention back towards the battle. It seemed that Angel had gotten the upper hand, removing two more of the giants’ arms. It was a grizzly sight, to say the least. 

Angel was about to attack the giant again when the giant lifted her off the ground and threw her. She flew through the air, unable to adjust herself in time as she crashed into the tower. The entire building was demolished. 

“Is this the power of a goddess? You just remind me of an oversized puppy. Come on now, my master can’t really think that you are that much of a threat,” the giant said, taunting Angel. I watched as Angel got up, pieces of debris hanging from her fur. Then she lifted her wings as lightning and energy passed through them. Her body began to glow until she was almost as bright as the moon in the sky. I could feel my own energy being drained as she continued. Then without warning, a barrage of beams of light shot out of her wings. They almost looked like her arrows, each beam piercing the giant’s body. He fell to the ground. Shards of crystal filled the air.

As he kneeled there, Angel walked up to the giant and bit into his head. I turned away, as I did not want to see what was about to happen. I heard the sound of grinding and then two thuds. I knew what had happened, but I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to have that image in my mind. Slowly I turned around as I felt Angels closing in on me. She began to shrink and return to her usual self. As she did, she began to fall. Running as close as I could, I caught her, lowering her to the ground. She looked different. She still had ears and a tail, but the rest of her looked like she did with the necklace.

Soon after, Mandy returned with Joey. I handed Angel over to Mandy as Joey picked me up. They flew us to the hospital. When we got there, Angel was taken to the E.R, while I was taken to the waiting room. I was so worried about Angel and her mom. What was going to happen to them? As I sat there, with no one else paying attention to me, I burst into tears. I didn’t know how Angel would recover from what had happened, especially if her mom died.

After about an hour, the doctor walked in and sat by me. It was never good when they did this. It meant that something bad had happened. I braced myself as he sighed. “I have some good news, and some bad news. I’ll start off with the good news. Your friend is going to be fine, she is just beyond exhausted. We will keep her here over night. And.. now the bad news. Your friends mom…. Im sorry but she didn’t make it. We did everything we could, but the damage was to extensive, and she lost too much blood,” the doctor said before offering me a hug. I shook my head. It wasn’t me that was going to need the comforting. After this, Angel would probably disappear. It is what I would do if I lost someone I loved. 

A little while later, the doctor came back saying that Angel was awake if I wanted to go see her. I didn’t know what I was going to say to her. But I know that she had to find out what happened. Slowly I made my way to her room. She looked so fragile compared to how she normally looked. I could tell that something was wrong, but I couldn’t let her find out what happened from anyone else. Despite my feelings, I walked over and sat by her. 

“Hey, you, your looking as beautiful as ever,” Angel said smiling weakly. She reached for my hand, which I too. Then I looked down at her, trying not to cry. 

“Angel… I have something to tell you.”