NOELLE’S POV,
I hear Gabriel call my name somewhere in a distant place of my mind, but I can’t take my eyes off Hades. I stare at him and then I realize what is wrong, Donna is standing next to him, and she is also smiling at me. Shivers go through my body, and I want to scream to Gabriel that something is wrong, but I can’t speak. The amulet around my neck starts to get warm and levitates me up in the air. It feels like something is trying to pull my insides out of me. I start screaming from pain and I can see purple light flowing out of me into Hades. I keep screaming until the pain stops and the last of the light flows out of me. I fall back into the ground hard and my body shakes from the impact.
For some reason no one from Dandion seems to know what is going on because all around me is darkness. The only thing I can see is Hades and Donna smiling at me. Hades makes a tiny flame of purple fire in his hands and starts laughing.
“NNOOOOOOOOOO,” I scream, and I put out my hand to shoot fire at him but nothing happens. It doesn’t matter what I think or do, no magic comes out of me. Tears of anger run down my cheek when I realize I walked right into a trap again and now Hades has stolen my powers. Hades gives me one last cruel smile before disappearing into the darkness. He says to Donna, “Finish it.”
Donna walks to me and looks down at me with disgust. “Why? I helped you,” I shout.
She laughs, “Nothing personal dear. My husband took all my kindness and hope with him to the afterlife.”
“Why did you teach me magic then?” I ask
She rolls her eyes, “Hades needed all your potential powers for his plan, so I was just helping him prepare the lamb for slaughter.”
I bite my lip angry and try to get up, I will not die without a fight! I am no lamb!
Donna looks at me amused and just when she gets ready to burn me alive something flies through the darkness. A big bolt of lightning hits Donna and she gets thrown out of sight. Gabriel quickly takes me into his arms and shoots into the sky.
We shoot out of the darkness that covers the whole Under Realm army and go over the wall. He softly puts me down and I am immediately surrounded by my friends.
“What happened?” Holly asks worriedly.
I ball my fists, “When I left Donna, she gave me the amulet from my parents I lost. She told me she found it. But it was a trap they used it to steal my powers.”
Everybody is silent and looks shocked until Luna says, “That changes nothing. Everyone get back to your positions and let’s be the fierce leaders our people deserve. Show them no fear and let’s fight even if it is the last thing we do!”
I get some last worried looks before they all quickly go back to their positions to see what Hades will do with my powers. Gabriel sits down on his knees and asks, “Are you okay my love?” and he puts his hand on my stomach, “Are you both okay?”
I nod trying to hold back tears, “Ow Gabriel, I ruined it again. I am so sorry.”
He takes me into his arms, “Shhh it’s alright. Wanting to see the best in people is not a bad quality Noelle. It just means the world we live in now is wrong in so many ways. Besides, the fight is far from over yet.”
He gives me a soft kiss on my forehead, and we go stand at the wall to look at what is going to happen. The darkness slowly clears, and we can see Hades opening up some kind of portal. I am assuming he could only open this portal with my powers. As the portal grows bigger the grounds start to shake. 4 men on horses slowly appear through the portal and I know immediately it is pestilence, war, famine, and death. Hades has brought the apocalypse by opening a portal to the deepest pits of hell itself. After the 4 horsemen, many creatures follow, giants made of stone, enormous creatures with horns made of fire, and flying dinosaurs’ birds with black scales.
I look at Gabriel and he looks just as worried as I feel. I quickly shake away the fear and take a battle stance. I might not have the magic anymore, but I can still fight. I will show our people they don’t have to be afraid but just fight with courage. I take one of the swords with light magic and climb onto Thorn his back. I fly above the wall so all the people can see me. With a fierce look in my eyes, I shout to the leaders, “This is it, the moment we have waited for. Let’s show them this is our world and they do not belong here. Let’s send those fuckers back to Hell!”
Holly screams, “ANGELS READY.”
Angus commands his armies, “ARCHERS, CATAPULTS READY.”
Gabriel takes his place on Dagahra next to me and shouts, “DRAGONS AND MASTERS READY.”
I look at the Under Realm army which reaches as far as my eyes can see. I look at the dark humans, demons, 4 horsemen, and all the creatures from hell. I put my sword forward and Thorn shoots towards the enemy. I can hear everyone behind me follow as I scream, ” ATTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.”