In my agitation, the light shot from my hand, hitting the ground with the sizzle of lightening. Chloe screamed, a loud, sharp sound, which grabbed the attention of Lex and the others. Turning quickly, I saw both Lex and Nira on cell phones, as the rest of the group tied up the other wolves with ropes they’d gotten out of one of the other SUV’s I guessed. None of that looked good, I was sure, if Chloe were even paying attention to it. She hadn’t taken her wide eyes off of me.
“You haven’t been drugged. You feel normal, right?” I argued. “You saw my magic, in the infinity symbol. I know you did. I did that. No drugs. I promise. What those men gave you, who are not associated with me at all, those were just harmless drugs to make you sleep. They didn’t alter your mind. Please believe me.”
Chloe looked at my hands a minute, inspecting them. I didn’t know what she was looking for, but I gave her a second, especially since she was calm, as in not yelling though her lips were still a greyish color. I hoped she wouldn’t pass out again.
“I don’t know what to think. Some men took me. They put something over my mouth and I blanked out. The next thing I know I woke up with him, and I saw you light up like some freakin’ torch. Yet, one minute there was an animal, and the next a light, a horrible bright light, and then you. You naked. I’ve lost my mind. My friend Christina standing out in the open naked. Whatever they put over my mouth killed brain cells. I’m insane. Call someone. Take me away. Put me away. Just get me the hell out of here,” Chloe begged.
“Chloe, you are not insane. It would be an easier explanation, but you are not. I don’t know what to say or do. But, if we were going to hurt you, don’t you think we would have by now? And, I know I’ve been a horrible friend these past few months, honestly trying to protect you from all of this, but please, after all the years of friendship we have shared, can’t you just trust me? Let me explain where I have been, what’s been happening to me?”
“I just can’t.” she cried out, but softly this time. As real tears spilled from her eyes, breaking my heart, Chloe begged in a quiet voice, “Why can’t you just let me go?”
“I don’t want to lose you,” I said.
I reached into my pocket for Chloe’s necklace, holding it out for her. The first rays of sun hit the silver, creating a magic show of its own. I couldn’t help but to smile, to hope that this made a difference.
“You were still wearing this when they took you, using you as bait to get to me. You wore it all of this time despite our distance. You held onto our friendship then, please, I’m begging you, hold onto it now. Trust in me. I unfortunately have more to show you, and so much more to explain.”
The three of us sat there in silence a few moments. The sounds from the parking lot and field of werewolves being tied up by a bunch of naked men and clothed vampires were all that could be heard along with some talk we couldn’t make out. I hoped Chloe wasn’t paying attention to all of that. My friend stared at the necklace dangling from my hand, though she made no move to take it back.
“I’m the same person, Chloe. The same person you have always known. I just have these unexplainable powers. I have this energy that runs through me. I can move things with it. I can do many things. I don’t hurt people with it,” I said, though the lie in those words caught in my throat like acid. “The men who took you have been after me. They want to use my magic. They have been ruthless, doing whatever they could to get to me including taking you. I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to say it.”
“Magic is something out of one of your books, Christina. Not real. It can’t be… Why are they tying up animals?” Chloe finally asked in a shaky voice, looking past the necklace to the parking lot.
“Those are wolves. And while I hate to throw more of the impossible at you, those wolves are the men that took you, the ones after me. They are just sleeping. They wanted to hurt us but I stopped it. I used this magic to put them to sleep. We are only tying them up to stop the violence, to try to explain to them that we can help them.”
Chloe just shook her head a few times before saying, “You are talking insane. I… I just don’t know what to do with any of it. I just want to go. You keep saying you are my friend, so please just let me go.”