Kinetics: In Search of Willow Read Free Page B

into?
    Something sparked in the distance. A
light. I ran forward, not entirely sure that I wouldn't fall into
nothingness. I could feel a heat at my back. The fire beast was
bubbling back up from the darkness. I could hear its vicious
whispers rising.
    The closer I got to the light, the
more I realized it wasn't just a light. It was a person. It was
Willow. She stood reaching her arm out toward me. She
glowed.
    -Be
strong,-  echoed her voice in my
mind. - It's an illusion. It can't
hurt you.-
    "Willow," I gasped, clasping her
outstretched hand.
    The darkness evaporated, and I was in
the hallway again, standing in front of Willow and clasping her
hand.
    Willow was on her knees, but she was
looking past me at the other girl. She let go of my
hand.
    The girl gritted her teeth and
screamed in frustration.
    "You need to stop," Willow said to
her. "You don't need to do this."
    "Who are you to tell me what I need to
do?" the girl shouted. The others still stuck in illusions gasped
and screamed.
    "You're hurting people, Laura!" Willow
pushed herself to her feet, never letting her gaze waver from the
girl.
    The girl, Laura, sobbed.
    "They hurt me first. It's my turn."
She stamped her foot, and the whole school shuddered.
    Suddenly, all around us
monsters made of black slime, glistening like an oil slick, began
welling up from cracks in the floor.
    They were huge
salamander-like, with bulbous limbs and dripping claws. Their teeth
and eyes were molten red, glowing with the light of a waking
volcano.
    The kids on the floor began emerging
from their personal nightmares only to enter the one we were all
sharing.
    Willow didn't break eye contact with
Laura, but instead reached out and grabbed my hand
again.
    Her fingers were slick with sweat. I
squeezed them tightly, hoping some of the strength she had given me
would pass back to her.
    "Willow, what is this?" I
whispered.
    I could see tears forming at the
corners of her eyes.
    "When this is all over, Eugene, I'll
explain everything. But for now, trust that I know what I'm
doing."
    I had never seen her serious about
anything but her schoolwork. Everything else was a joke or a
game.
    "What can I do?" I asked.
    "Don't let go," she whispered,
squeezing my hand. She closed her eyes.
    Cries from the slime monsters pierced
the air as they crawled out of the floor, joining the shouts and
screams of the students on the floor. The monsters filled the
entire space of the hallway within seconds.
    Willow squeezed my hand, and she
suddenly began dragging me away from Laura, through an emergency
exit and out into what should have been the front lawn of the
school.
    The wall of fire surrounding the
school burned even taller and brighter. It roared and reached
toward us like grasping hands. Dark smoke spilled
upwards.
    Willow didn't let me stand there long
before she was dragging me toward the fire.
    I screamed in protest.
    "It's not real!" she shouted before
dragging me with her into the fire.
    I expected heat. I expected to feel
the pain of my skin burning off.
    But I felt neither.
    We landed hard on the other side,
rolling across the grass. I touched my chest and hair, expecting
them to be on fire, but I was fine.
    Willow scrambled up and pulled me to
my feet.
    The fire was gone and the school
looked like it did every other day. No fire or slime monsters
trawling every surface. The blue sky wasn't tainted with smoke, but
instead lazy white clouds passed overhead.
    "Where'd it go?" I asked,
shocked.
    "You can only see it from inside her
sphere."
    Willow turned to look back at the
school.
    "Um…Sphere?"
    “ It’s the area she can
influence.”
    I had more questions than answers, and
my whole perception of Willow was beginning to change.
    She clutched at her hair, loosening it
from the braid that had come partially undone.
    "I know this is all confusing, but I
promise I'll explain later. Come on." She took my hand and led me
quickly across the lawn.
    "Who is she?" I asked, breathless, as
we ran.
    "Her