Kingdom Keepers II(65)

“Go!” he called out to Amanda.

“No. I’m staying.”

Maleficent drew her scrawny hands toward her face, her fingers twitching, her lips bubbling with an incantation. Finn could sense a spell coming, but he would not allow himself to fear it. Even his frustration with Amanda for not listening had to be ignored. He would be no help to her if Maleficent’s spell affected him as well.

“You have a powerful master,” Finn called down the hall. He watched as Maleficent’s face became rubbery with surprise and wrinkled with concern.

“You know nothing of my master,” came the reply.

“More than you think. Is it control over the Animal Kingdom that Chernabog wants?”

Maleficent cringed at mention of the name; it was as if Finn had spoken a sacred secret. She curled her hands into a tight ball, and Finn could feel it coming.

“Look out!” he shouted at Amanda. He turned to warn her.

Amanda was gone. Vanished. No longer by his side.

Maleficent hurled a blinding ball of energy down the hall. About the size of a softball, it spun through the air, throwing off sparks like a tiny, blazing sun, and looked as if it would burn up anything in its path.

“Duck!” said Amanda’s voice.

Finn glanced up to see her floating horizontally near the ceiling.

“DUCK!” she repeated.

But it was too late for Finn to duck. The burning ball arrived and passed right through him. It exploded at the end of the hall, hitting a tile wall and erupting into a cloud of black smoke that rose to the ceiling. The smoke crept toward a blinking sensor mounted in the ceiling.

“But how…?” he muttered.

Amanda, still floating, said, “I told you Jez and I had unusual abilities.”

“You can fly?”

“Not exactly. I can levitate.” She sank then, and returned to her feet.

Finn knew this discussion would have to wait until later.

Maleficent twisted her ugly fingers. A cage of blue-white lines surrounded Finn and Amanda.

Finn wasn’t scared of the laser cage. His DHI stepped right through it, coming closer to Maleficent. Amanda floated off her feet and swam through the air, slipping through a gap between the electric bars. She sank back to the floor.

“Or is it the other way around?” Finn called out to Maleficent. “Is it that the Animal Kingdom controls him, and you’re going to ‘save’ Chernabog? To free him! His powers are limited here. Is that it?”

Maleficent took a step back, away from Finn. It was the first time he’d ever sensed an ounce of retreat in her. He savored the moment.

By gloating, he briefly lost his DHI.

“My master’s powers are anything but limited,” she said. “Just you wait!”

She threw an arrow of flame at Finn. His cherishing Maleficent’s retreat had cost him more than half his DHI. He was now half kid, half light. And as he turned his back against the oncoming arrow, he unknowingly offered her his mortal half Seeing this, Amanda leaped in front of him.

The arrow struck her in the chest and was totally absorbed. Her arms and legs glowed as she sank to the floor.

Maleficent grinned an evil grin.

“Looks like your girlfriend shouldn’t play with fire,” Maleficent said.

Amanda lay unconscious on the floor at Finn’s feet, a burn mark on her shirt. His fear removed him from his DHI state and exposed him to Maleficent’s powers.

But something else overcame him—a wild, pent-up anger that he could no longer control. He charged the witch.

A wide-eyed Maleficent seemed to sense her situation. As her lips muttered another incantation, she was too late.

Finn hit her with a body block, his momentum slamming her against the wall and pinning her there. He brought his hands to her throat.

Her skin was ice cold.

He said, “Release her this instant. You bring her back…or so help me…” He tightened his grip. Her cold skin was like nothing he’d ever felt.

Maleficent’s sickly green skin turned yellow. He was choking the life from her. She had no voice. No incantations.

“RELEASE AMANDA!!” Finn shouted, holding the wild panther at bay with his voice. He tightened his grip. Maleficent’s eyes bulged. She waved her hand.

Amanda coughed and sat up, coming back to consciousness.

“Are you all right?” Finn asked.

Amanda coughed hard but nodded.

Finn squeezed even tighter. “Tell Chernabog it’s over,” he said. “He will never regain his power. The Overtakers are through.”

He threw her to the floor, turned, and ran, grabbing Amanda by the hand just as the smoke reached the smoke alarm.

“You saved my life,” Amanda said, clinging to his arm. “Maleficent was scared of you!”