Wish Upon the Stars 499

The rope was more useful than expected, honestly. I could feel it  grip tightly when it was wrapped around my waist, and knowing it  wouldn't come off even if the knot came undone was kind of comforting.  Of course, the people trying to cross made it hard to focus on that  comfort.

Once the rope was affixed, I triggered State of  Grace and Ripple Running. After checking with everyone, I got a running  start and leapt out over the chasm, my foot slamming down on one of the  pieces of debris. My overlay snapped into focus, and I stared ahead,  using it to confirm which direction to go. Some of the arrows were gold  (only a few), and some were black, but there were no white arrows.

I  wasn't sure exactly what those indicated, but I was guessing good, bad,  and neutral. I didn't waste any time jumping to the next piece, then  the one after, following the golden arrow showing my the proper path.  Behind me, I heard the others trying to leap as fast as possible after  me, desperately aiming to keep up before the first one dropped.

Sadly,  it wasn't to be. There was a jerk on the line, and I had to steady  myself to hold on as the floor went out from under one of us. I turned  my head briefly to see Jessie hanging over the chasm, being dragged down  into the dark by some unseen force. Abel, who was ahead of her, had his  rope around his midsection and was trying to drag her back up, while  holding up a trail of lubricated space behind him.

Cursing,  he leapt to the next step, making her swing helplessly, but was forced  to leave her there and keep going lest he fall in with her. To her  credit, my tiny blonde friend wasn't shrieking or begging to be pulled  up, though she had her eyes closed and was muttering something I  couldn't hear.

Abel  continued on, and I was forced to turn away so I could keep going  blazing the trail. We were about halfway across at this point, but the  delay to check on them cost me valuable time, and Callie, who was right  behind me, had already caught up to my platform, so I was forced to grab  her hand and jump with her to the next one once I found it. Abel  continued to make good time, even dragging Jessie, and was consistently  releasing his spatial power as he went.

One  of the big issues with crossing was Randall. And I DID mean big. The  huge bear was much to large to drag the way we were doing for Jessie, OR  to fit on the platforms. Abel was creating a lubricated space tunnel  like he used in combat to move nearly instantly between two points. He  was making a path for Randall so the big bear didn't have to be left  behind on the other side of the moat.

Picking  out the right target with my overlay, I leapt again, Callie with me,  but my Danger Sense suddenly triggered midair. My foot slammed down on  nothing as I used the already triggered Ripple Running for the first  time, shoving myself sideways and pushing Callie out of the way of a  nasty looking barbed arrow as it flashed through where her head had  been.

Whipping  my own around, I caught sight of a distant hooded figure drawing back a  massive compound bow, another dangerous looking arrow on the string.

I  considered my options. I could stop that person, or I could avoid the  shots. If I stopped them in circumstances like this I was pretty sure  they would die, but I wasn't confident they would shoot at me next time  and not one of the others. Grimacing at the necessity, I triggered Pit  of Despair on the piece of debris beneath their feet. The platform  dissolved into dust beneath them and they plummeted through into the  depths of the chasm below, barely having time to scream.

Landing  on the next platform, I kicked off again, noting that a lot of the  other robed figures were steering clear of me now. I wasn't complaining,  it just meant less people I had to kill.

Despite  them shooting at us, I regretted having to take out the bowman. If it  had just been me I might have chosen to dodge, but with Jessie's life  LITERALLY on the line and Callie hand in hand with me, I couldn't afford  to take chances. There'd been no other option.

Finally,  we reached the other side of the chasm, everyone managing to make it to  the safety of hard packed dirt. When Abel arrived, the rest of us  grabbed his rope and hauled Jessie up, while he used his spatial passage  to pull Randall over while he could still hold it. The big bear cam  streaking across, landing next to us, and Jessie flung her arms around  him and squeezed in relief and happiness, clearly releasing some of the  tension accrued from her time dangling on a string.

"Everyone  ok?" I asked lightly, my tone belying the fact that I had just straight  up murdered someone. It wasn't my first kill, but somehow dropping the  ground out from under someone at range seemed more...ruthless, than  killing someone who was all up in your face trying to crush your skull.

Callie  reached down and took my hand, squeezing it tightly as she smiled up at  me. "We're all fine. Thanks to you. You saved my ass out there."

Forcing  a chuckle, I just shrugged. "It's fine, you'll be saving mine soon  enough I'm sure. You know how I get into trouble. We should get going  and try to find the others. I'm hoping Mel found Chelsea or Gabe, the  thought of the three of them out solo worries me, even if my sister can  take care of herself and Gabe is a total monster."

To  be fair, Mel was pretty scary too, but she wasn't at the same level as  the other two in my head. Chelsea was a straight up monster in combat,  at least based on what I'd seen of her. She could keep up with a Master  and go toe to toe with Callen, who scared the shit out of me, and who  Gabe really respected. Mel was strong, but she didn't play at that  level. She also wasn't as big a target though, so maybe that was ok.

Bethy  bounced in place. "Oh! I can look for them!" She reached up for the  dark shawl she was wearing over her current black ballgown (who knew  when she'd changed) and whirled it up and around her head. Darkness flew  from the shawl as she screamed. "FLY MY MINIONS! FIND ME MY QUARRY!"  And a fucking TORRENT of flying squirrels spilled from the dark,  swooping out over the nearby forest and spreading in every direction.

"Did you...turn them into that shawl?" I asked, noticing the thing was gone.

She  shrugged. "I can turn me into bats, and we already decided they were  bats, so I can obviously turn them into stuff too. Plus that shawl was  super cute right?" She glanced down at herself. "It goes perfectly with  this dress. I totally want to show Tracey and Ada. Or Gabe." She pouted.  "That big jerk. He's never around to appreciate my outfits anymore. I  hope my tree bats find him."

My  melancholy and guilt receded slightly, blown apart by Bethy's  absurdity, as I tried and failed to stop from cracking up at her antics.  Callie was nodding. "Magic squirrel clothes are definitely cool. I  wonder if you could use that power on Biscuit."

Bethy  looked skeptical. "He doesn't have wings though. He's like a land bat."  She paused thoughtfully. "I guess I could be land bats if I wanted.  Which means I can tame land bats. Maybe I could teach him to have wings?  That seems more useful." She looked down at her feet. "Poptarts,  Donuts, come out for mommy, I'm going to teach you how to fly. We can  use this big hole."

"NO!"  Shouted every person in the group as she turned to the chasm. She  jumped, giving us all a hurt look. "I mean...we don't have time for  that." I said desperately. "You should do it somewhere else. When we  aren't busy."

"I  guess." She said sulkily. "Fine, you two can stay in. I'll teach you to  fly later. It's going to be fun." She got a pensive look on her face.  "If I can give you wings then you'd basically be bats. Does that mean I  could turn into a swarm of tiny winged kitties? That sounds so cute!"

I  almost cut her off, but honestly I kind of wanted to see that. I was  going to convince her to try, but Callie elbowed me in the ribs, glaring  at me for getting off track. I cleared my throat. "Right, that sounds  like an interesting question for later. For now can you like...contact  the squirrels? See through their eyes or something?"

She  just snorted. "Of course. What kind of vampire can't use their  familiars to view things from a distance. Hold on a sec." Her eyes began  to blaze a creepy red and she stared off into the middle distance,  clearly looking at something none of us could see.

Off  in the distance I could see the gliding forms of squirrels swooping  back and forth, some circling, some flying away. It took maybe fifteen  minutes before Bethy squealed with delight, jumping up and down and  clapping in excitement. "I found one! No wait, two. That red mask girl  who is always hanging out with Axel. She's with the girl with the cool  black and white hair!"

"Chelsea  and Mel?" I asked in surprise. Apparently Mel had found and grouped up  with my sister, which was a great outcome for both of them. "Do you see  Gabe?"

She  shook her head slowly. "I'll keep looking. They're about ten miles that  way." She pointed diagonally through the forest. Apparently they'd  managed the crossing.

"I'll  take Callen and Callie and go meet up with them." I said firmly. "Abel,  stay with the others, we can move faster in a small group, and Chelsea  will be more comfortable if Callen comes. We'll be right back, but if  anything happens have Randall roar as loud as he can and we can turn  around."

My  mentor snorted. "I can babysit a bunch of teenagers and a bear. Besides  the vampire is here, so if I need backup I should be fine." He glared at  her in annoyance. "Assuming she notices my pleas for help, since she  can't seem to remember my NAME!"

"Sorry,  what did you say Andrew?" Bethy said politely. "I got distracted. But  don't worry Shane. I'll make sure everyone is ok, and Alex can help me  out if I need it."

Abel gritted his teeth, glaring at her. "You're obviously doing this on purpose! Those weren't even the same name."

Bethy  gave him a sympathetic look. "It's ok Andy, I'm sure you'll do  something memorable soon. Just keep trying to be interesting. I believe  in you." I had to physically step between them because I was worried  Abel would fling himself at her and try to choke the life out of her,  and Bethy wasn't someone Abel could afford to piss of, no matter how  hilariously she was baiting him.

After  making sure my teacher wasn't going to take a swing at the vampire  princess, I bid my goodbyes to everyone along with Callie and my  sister's bodyguard and we headed of in the direction Bethy had pointed  us. I wanted to get the group back together as quickly as humanly  possible. Whatever the BMP assholes were planning, I doubted it was  pleasant, and if we wanted to get out of here alive I was pretty sure  stopping them was our best bet. And we needed to do it soon.