Indigo's Been Possessed!

---Katherine---

"Ahh!" Indigo's scream rang out ahead. Right in front of us, Lucian's stallion stopped galloping. I yanked on the reins, stopping the horse so suddenly Ashley and I were almost thrown off the saddle.

"What's going on?" I called out. "What happened to Indigo?"

"I don't know!" Rachel turned around and answered. "I can't see anything anymore!"

To my dismay, the woods had darkened without us noticing. Lucian pulled his horse back, circling to a stop next to us. "Where are the others?" he whispered hoarsely. "And why is it so dark?"

"Guys, we're being trapped in," Ashley said in alarm. She fired a few spells in rapid succession into the air in front of us. They went through and disappeared with purple streaks. "Look at the darkness. It surrounded us. Whatever it is, it's not good."

Sure enough, it was as if black walls had surrounded us, with the darkness stretching in all directions. It wasn't pitch black, but the color bordering between midnight blue and jet black. It was dark enough so that we couldn't see anything except each other.

It was stifling. I felt like I would die of suffocation. Was everyone else not affected by this darkness? I nudged the horse Ashley and I were sharing and it moved forward until what appears to be the edge of the darkness. Stretching out my hand, I made the move to see if my hand will go through.

Shiiinng! A blade hacked through the darkness, almost cutting my arm in half. I retracted my arm as fast as I could and pulled out my own sword. "Ashley, hold on!" I yelled as I guided the horse back and prepared for a fight. The blade appeared again, slicing at the darkness. Slits appeared. Then the person who was holding the sword charged through the tattered veil of darkness and headed straight for me.

"Indigo?" I gaped, narrowly dodging her attack. She turned her horse around and charged at me again. I raised my sword and deflected her blow, surprised at how strong Indigo seemed to have become. Behind me, Ashley yelped as shudders ran through the horse, and her arms tightened around my waist to steady herself.

"K-Kath! Indigo's been possessed by the blue orb or something! Don't hurt her!" A frantic Aaron ran towards us, waving his arms. From the dirt on his clothes, I guessed that he had fallen off the horse.

Oh. That explained why Indigo was suddenly attacking me like she hated my guts. I wondered what she saw in the blue orb, and how I was pulled into it. Around us, the darkness retreated. I seemed to see wisps of blue at the edges of my vision, but I wasn't sure.

"Of course I won't hurt her!" I replied to Aaron as Indigo's blade nearly cut off my fingers. Turning back to Indigo, I called out, "Indigo, it's me, Katherine. Snap out of it!"

"I hate you!" was her shrill reply. I was surprised at how much the phrase hurt, even if I knew Indigo wasn't in her right mind. Her sword came crashing down at me again. "You useless, worthless, evil, boy-stealing—"

"Now wait a minute!" I interrupted Indigo's rant, my anger flaring out of nowhere. I raised my sword to meet hers in a shower of sparks, the force sending Ashley tumbling off the horse. Now I had more space to move around. "What do you mean, boy-stealing?! Who did I steal?!"

I knew I shouldn't take what Indigo was saying seriously. After all, she was still under the influence of the orb. Still, I couldn't help but let her words get to me.

Indigo's face turned slightly red as she realized her slip. "You know who!" she spluttered, retracting her sword and circling back for another thrust. I parried it aside easily. "It's always been you who hogs the spotlight, pretending to be someone you're not!"

"Excuse me?" I was shocked at Indigo's outburst. "I'm not like that!"

"Indigo, you're not yourself, don't fight anymore!" Rachel begged from where she was standing. "Katherine, don't listen to her! You know Indigo would never think of you that way!"

"Oh, yes I would! I've been holding it in for so long. It was so tiring to keep pretending that I liked you when I really didn't." Indigo was spitting venom with every word. She stalked towards me, sword outstretched. I stayed where I was, eyes narrowed.

I shouldn't engage in conflict. I shouldn't believe her. But whatever Indigo saw was derived from her innermost thoughts, so her words have a sliver of truth to them. I wanted to know what Indigo really thought of me.

"Really? Well then, Indigo, tell me the truth. Tell me what you really think of me!"

Indigo snorted. "You're such a stuck-up know-it-all, Katherine. Everything has to revolve around you. Back at the Academy, you wanted to be part of the 'popular' group and be known as one of the 'smart kids'. You were so desperate to be liked, Katherine. So desperate. Everyone could see that."

"Get to the point," I snapped. My face was heating up. Was I really like that? These things might not be true, but Indigo was saying it in front of my closest friends. What would they think of me?

"Gladly. It was 'brave Katherine' who defeated the Evil at the Academy. It was 'amazing Katherine' who defeated Old Henry. It was 'cool Katherine' who had the magical healing power." Indigo counted off the events on her fingers, placing extra disdain on my name.

"I brought you back from the dead!" I couldn't help but defend myself. Indigo waved that aside.

"Only because you had to. I bet you wanted me dead so that you could take over as leader of the group. Oh, wouldn't that be great, leader Katherine?"

"I never wanted to be the leader! You know I don't want to!" I protested. Indigo ignored me and continued her rant.

"You also had to play the part of the victim. Poor, weak Katherine who fainted every three days and got stabbed at every battle—"

"You think I wanted to get stabbed?!"

"—and yet somehow still won the brooch of Goldhedge when we all decided that we weren't going to interfere," Indigo finished, glaring at me. "So much for keeping a low profile. Now the entire world knows that we were at Goldhedge. No wonder an arrow was shot at you."

I was fuming. How could she? How could this girl, this—this insolent, disrespectful person that I once regarded as a close friend say these things to me? It was one thing for her to think these thoughts, but it was another thing for her to say them to my face. I was never like what she said!

"Did you want me to just let you die up there on stage, in front of all of Goldhedge?" I shot back. "If I remember correctly, you were thrown across the stage and Aaron was poisoned. If I didn't stop him, Eric could have very well killed both of you!"

"Aha! Saying it as if without you, we wouldn't survive! If you hadn't noticed, all of us are perfectly capable of combat, thank you very much! We all have other powers that you don't have. All you have is your oh-so-amazing sword skills. But what are you without your sword? Basically useless!" Indigo sneered.