Chapter 130: _ Oh, Junie
Heidi screams at the brutal mutilation of the poor Moon Blessed who died when he was just this—this close to escaping back home.
And just like that, they’re down to the last handful.
Morgan. Grayson. Andre. Val. Heidi. And Junie who is cowering inside her shield, eyes still darting with anguish.
Grayson steps into the center, blood is on his chest and his blade is still humming with energy. He turns to Heidi, his voice sharp as command steel. "Heidi. Take them. Jump through now. We’ll cover you."
Heidi’s heart aches at the thought of risking Morgan and Grayson while she and her friends leave. Those assholes are actually trying to risk themselves for them.
Oh, who would have thought?
Her instinct screams for her to argue, stay, and fight at their side even though she’s seen how powerful they are to know they can handle themselves. But one glance at the swarm pressing in, at the dozens of demons still hungry for their flesh tells her this is the only chance.
She nods. "Andre! Val! Junie! With me!"
Andre is bleeding from a cut on his cheek and gives a sharp nod. Val swipes blood from her glasses, teeth clenched. She meets Andre’s gaze and together, they sprint.
Andre and Val hurl themselves through the portal, swallowed by blinding light.
Whew!
Heidi turns, reaching a trembling hand toward Junie. "Come on! It’s time!"
But to her surprise, Junie doesn’t move.
She shakes her head slowly, tears streaking down her dirt-smeared face. "I can’t, Heidi. If the rune’s gone... if I try, it’ll shred me."
"W-what?" Heidi’s lips shake, unable to believe her ears as the realization of Junie’s words sinks in.
She watches her friend back away, shield shimmering faintly around her. "Heidi, if I jump and it tears me apart..." Her voice splinters. She bites down hard, shaking her head. "I’m not brave enough. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry."
"You don’t know that!" Heidi screams, throat ripping. "Don’t you dare give up on me! Please, Junie!"
Junie only shakes her head. "No... I-I’m sorry."
Tears blur Heidi’s eyes. "No! Don’t you dare! Don’t you leave me here with this..."
The latter continues to stumble back, her shield flickering faintly. "I can’t take the chance. I—I’m not ready to die like that. Like an animal, Heidi. No."
Her backward steps carry her deeper into the labyrinth. Every inch of distance she puts between them cuts into Heidi. Her heart aches so badly, she feels like the portal is trying to cut it into pieces.
"No! Don’t you dare leave me! JUNIE!"
Junie sobs, whispering across the space between them. "Find a way to get me out of here, Heidi. Promise me."
"Junie!" Heidi screams, voice breaking, reaching so far her arm feels like it might snap. "JUNIE!"
But Junie only shakes her head, tears running down her cheeks as she vanishes into the darkness of the labyrinth, shield glowing faintly around her shrinking form.
Heidi’s chest is shredded open. The grief is raw and unbearable. She collapses to her knees, hands clawing at the dirt. Her chest feels like it’s been ripped open. She can’t breathe. She can’t...
"Heidi!" Grayson roars in a thunderous voice. He’s surrounded by demons with blades that are flashing as he carves them down. "Now! It’s now or never!"
Demons continue to crash around them with those deafening snarls of theirs. Morgan and Grayson carve them down in a frenzy, blades flashing, bodies dropping like cut wheat. But even the twins can’t hold them forever.
"We need to leave NOW!" Her wolf hollers inside of her, snapping her into her senses.
Tears blur her sight. With a final, shuddering scream for Junie, Heidi pushes herself up and sprints toward the portal.
The light swallows her.
For a moment, it feels like being torn in two. Her body is shredded, rebuilt, ripped again. Her wolf howls inside her, fighting to hold on as the portal devours and spits her back out.
And then...
She stumbles, falling onto solid ground.
Cool air fills her lungs. The smell of blood is gone and is replaced with the crisp scent of grass, candle wax, and the musk of a thousand wolves.
She looks up... and sucks in her breath.
She’s in the academy courtyard and she’s not alone.
The space is filled with every student, every teacher, and every staff member. Hundreds of eyes stare at her, wide and shocked. The courtyard is filled with fluttering banners. Healers kneel over the battered survivors who came before her.
Only sixteen. Out of one hundred.
Heidi staggers to her feet, her body aching, her face is streaked with blood and tears. The silence is deafening. She looks on and all she can see are the murderers who sent them into the labyrinth.
For all she cares, the demons didn’t kill those kids, the school did. The demons didn’t hold Junie back, the rune restriction given by the school did. She is about to yell over the silence when the applause comes..
It starts with one, then another, until the sound rises into a thunderous roar of clapping and shouting, echoing through the stone halls.
They cheer. For them. For the seventeen who returned from hell.
The Omega Moon Blessed, those who hadn’t been strong enough to go, press forward, tears streaming down their faces as they see what their peers have been reduced to, leaving them wondering what fate awaits those of them who had been spared from the hell.
Maybe a greater hell?
Regardless, the air is filled with grief and joy and disbelief all tangled together.
A teacher stumbles forward. "Is... is that all of you?" she asks desperately, scanning the thinning crowd of arrivals. "Only sixteen?"
Heidi swallows hard. What were you expecting when you sent us into that hellish place? She wants to yell it so hard, the teacher’s head jerks back.
However, the portal ripples again, and out steps Morgan and Grayson side by side. Their weapons are gone and blood is still dripping down their arms. Unlike the Moon Blessed who carries nothing but grief in their eyes, the twins’ are burning with triumph.
The crowd gasps at the sight. The Bellamy Twins in the labyrinth?!