Chapter 36

Nolan

       Every step I took was making me feel even more exhausted, and it definitely didn't help that Cheryl was pulling me along and making me walk even faster.

       I should have asked Ryder if he could drive me home. I never should have been out on my own.

       "Would you walk a little faster?" Cheryl asked, pulling on my arm.

       I didn't even reply since it took too much energy to even talk. I just wanted this pain and exhaustion to end, but I was not looking forward to the trade off. Dirk was going to be back with his team, and they were only going to try taking us down yet again

       We got to the alleyway before the others did, so we had to wait for them to show up. With each passing minute, Cheryl was getting more impatient, occasionally scoffing as she looked at her watch.

       "Would you calm down?" Janelle asked. "They're going to make the trade off. Just be patient."

       "Oh, shut up," Cheryl said. "I don't trust them. They're probably planning something."

       If I had the energy, I would have sassed her then and there. She was one to talk. Their team was the masters of doing the complete opposite of what was planned with the Protectors, like all showing up to Dirk and Jerome's meeting.

       I just hoped the Protectors knew not to trust Cheryl and planned something just in case.

       As soon as they showed up, the pain all around my body was starting to fade, but the exhaustion was still there. That was when I noticed Jerome was with them, and Mae was helping him walk since he looked how I felt.

       Dirk, on the other hand, had a huge smirk on his face.

       I wanted to punch his face.

       Ryder, who was the one pulling Dirk along, wanted to punch Dirk too.

       Mainly because he said, "Dirk, I swear, I am this close to punching you in the face if you don't wipe that smirk off."

       "Oh, sorry," Dirk said. "This is my winning smirk. I wear it when my team is obviously beating yours."

       "Yeah, you might be free, but us Protectors are going to come out on top in the end," Ryder said. 

       Dirk snorted. "Yeah, right. You couldn't even keep the Protector part of the Two Souls prophecy safe."

       Ryder twisted Dirk's arm, causing him to cry out in pain. "Oh, sorry," Ryder said. "Did that hurt?"

       "Just make the damn trade," Dirk said.

       "Yes, so give us Dirk," Cheryl said.

       "Do you seriously think we're that dumb?" Alan asked. "You give us Nolan first if you want Dirk."

       "Who's to say you won't give us Dirk as soon as you get Nolan?" Cheryl asked.

       "Who's to say you won't give us Nolan as soon as you get Dirk?" Alan asked. "Us Protectors keep our word. You give us Nolan, you get Dirk. That was the deal. You, however, are a lot more untrustworthy and are known for breaking your word."

       "Well, you're going to have to trust us," Cheryl said.

       "Trust you?" Ryder asked. "When Dirk wanted to meet with Jerome alone, you all showed up. You're all trying to convert supernaturals onto your side to take us Protectors down when all we do is protector supernaturals and humans. So sorry for being a little wary."

       "I'm starting to lose my patience and trust me, you don't want to see me with my patience gone," Cheryl said.

       "Oh, we're so scared," Ryder said sarcastically. "You can say whatever you want, but you're not getting Dirk until we get Nolan first."

       I didn't know how long they were going to argue for, but the more time that went by, the more the pain and exhaustion was fading.

       ...Unless that was my siblings' plan; to keep stalling so Jerome and I could get stronger again.

       "Okay, fine," Cheryl said. "Here, take your brother."

       Cheryl pushed me forward and because I was weak, I would have fallen over if Jerome didn't hurry over to catch me.

       Then again, I would have fallen over if I wasn't weak because I don't have the best balance.

       "Are you okay?" Jerome asked.

       "Yeah, I think so," I said. "You?"

       "Yeah," Jerome said, helping me stand up straight.

       Well, upright at least because I couldn't do anything straight. 

       "There, now give us Dirk," Cheryl said.

       "A deal is a deal," Ryder said. "And us Protectors actually know how to keep one." He then pushed Dirk towards Cheryl.

       If I was Ryder, I would have stuck out my foot in front of Dirk to make him trip and fall on his face.

       "Cheryl, take the rope off from around my wrists," Dirk said.

       "What?" Cheryl asked.

       "Just do it, now."

       Cheryl untied the rope that was wrapped around Dirk's wrists and as soon as he was free, he sent a ball of magic towards us. Jerome reacted quickly and held up his hands to stop it, but Dirk was still pushing it towards us. Jerome was trying to push it back, but I knew he didn't have the energy to do so.

       "Nolan, I need your help," Jerome said, his arms starting to shake.

       "What? How?" I asked. "I'm not a sorcerer."

       "Remember the prophecy?" Jerome asked. "Trust me on this. Just grab my hand."

       I grabbed his hand as soon as I remembered exactly what Jerome was talking about. Together, the sorcerer and the Protector could be very powerful.

       Holding his hand was all it took since my energy was being transferred to his.

       Jerome was able to push the magic back to Dirk, knocking all of them to the ground. However, the force was quite powerful that it knocked the rest of us to the ground too. I ended up hitting the wall behind us before falling to the ground. I began to feel a bit lightheaded, but the pain I felt was nothing compared to when I was separated from Jerome.

       Dirk's team recovered faster than us, and he quickly made a portal before they all left.

       Jerome went over to me and helped me stand up, putting his arm around me so I wouldn't lose my balance.

       "I told you guys," Orchid said. "I told you that we should have put the magic binding handcuffs on Dirk but no. You thought you could all handle it."

       "They would have left either way," Alan said.

       "Yeah, and they could have hurt us if Jerome didn't react fast enough, or if he was a lot weaker," Orchid said. "When will you and Ryder ever stop going into the missions too confidently? Trust me, it's sometimes better to plan things out."

       "Blah blah blah," Alan said. "Who cares? We got Nolan back, didn't we?"

       "You just ignored everything I said," Orchid said. "I'm honestly not even surprised." Orchid then looked over at me. "Hey, are you okay?"

       "Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit lightheaded," I said, placing my hand to my head. "And I feel a bit weird."

       "Of course you do," Alan said. "You're still a bit weak from that stupid prophecy."

       "No, not from that," I said. "I don't know, it just feels like something is swirling around inside of me."

       "I can check that out for you," Jerome said. "You know, once we get back to the HQ and I have most of my energy back."

       I nodded before we headed back to the HQ.

       By taking Jerome's portal, even though I told him we could just walk back and save his energy.

       As soon as we walked into the HQ, Grandpa, Tulip, and Dad all gave me a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe now," Dad said. "Never go out on your own again, okay?"

       "Don't worry, I won't," I said. I was never going to make that mistake again.

       "Grandpa, do you have anything in the infirmary that can help Nolan out?" Orchid said. "He said he feels something weird inside of him swirling around, and Jerome can check it out, but he has to wait for his energy to be regained and it's best to do it as soon as possible."

       "Yeah, if there's a machine that could do it, it would be a huge relief," Jerome said. "I don't know how long it would take me to regain most of my energy."

       "Of course there's something," Grandpa said before gesturing for me to follow him. Jerome came as well so he could rest on the infirmary bed.

       I hadn't been to the infirmary much since the only time I was really injured was during the right in the forest, so I didn't notice the circular platform on the other end of the infirmary. Grandpa told me to stand on it and stay as still as I could. As soon as I did, he started up the machine and rings around the platform began to rise as it started scanning me.

       After reaching a bit above my height, it lowered back to the platform before beeping once. Grandpa then went to the computer beside it to look at the results, but we had to wait a bit for it to render.

       Once it did, Grandpa called Jerome over. "Do those results look familiar to you?" he asked.

       "No way," Jerome said. "I mean, yeah, it does, but... I just don't see how it's possible."

       "No, not again," I said. "Don't have any secret communication with each other. I don't like being left out so just skip to the chase and tell me what's going on."

       "I think something happened when we were in the alley," Jerome said. "When Dirk sent the magic towards us, and you had to help me push it back by holding my hand. Because these are the exact same results a sorcerer would get. As in right now, there's magic inside of you. Sorcerer magic."

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:O ScAnDoLoUs

Lol and my spam update is all done because I have to work on Spotlight now. I did good though. Not too many distractions