The Ashes

"We're down to nine," Theo said, collapsing into Fiona's arms. Sweat stained his forehead, leaving his short, blond hair stuck to his scalp. He was breathing hard, short gasps of air barely filling his strained lungs.

"What?" Cleo rushed to his side. She racked her brain, trying to explain to herself what had happened. "Who died?"

"F-Franklin...he-" Theo coughed, crimson blood staining the white chalk of the magic circle. He gripped his chest, fingers digging into his shirt. "I don't know what happened, but...I found him dead next to the teleportation circle."

"But Professor Caspian, she-"

Theo coughed again, a pool of blood forming on the floor.

"Move." Anastasia shoved Cleo out of the way, taking a seat next to the blond boy. "He's going to die if he doesn't get treated soon." She shot a look at Cleo. "And as far as I know, healing isn't your strong suit."

Anastasia reached out a hand and tapped Theo three times: once on the right side of his chest, once on the left, and once on his stomach. Cleo watched in awe as the girl made a series of complicated hand motions, and the three points she had touched lit up in three different colors: purple, green, and white. The three lights shot up towards the sky before expanding to encase Theo in a cocoon of swirling colors. To finish the spell, Anastasia raised her slim fingers, tapping the left side of her chest with her right hand, and the right with her left. Then, she uncrossed his arms in unison, resting his right middle finger on the right side of his chest, and his left on his left. She slid them across her body to meet at the base of her neck, and she then drew her hands down towards her stomach.

The room exploded in light, blinding Cleo and Fiona. When the glow faded, Theo was examining his newly healed body.

"That was sick!" he exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

"I called upon the goddesses' blessing. I could never have healed you without it." She smiled, happy that he spell had worked.

"So that's what that weird hand motion was! So cool!" He paused, thinking for a moment before continuing. "You know, your magic feels very similar to Cecil's."

A small stream of blood dripped down the corner of Anastasia's mouth.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Theo quickly pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to his savior.

She waved him off. "I'm fine. I just bit my tongue, that's all."

"Oh...alright."

"It was Lola...it has to be her." Cleo looked up at the others. "She's the-"

"-Ash Witch."

Cleo was surprised that Fiona had finished her sentence. Out of the four people there, she never would have expected that Fiona knew who Lola Ashel was. "She was able to mess with the teleportation spell be-"

"because this," Fiona picked up Miss Caspian's discarded lump of chalk. "...is actually solidified ash, not chalk. Franklin had a lot of ash in his lungs as well."

"I never knew you were such a genius, Fiona." Theo hugged her affectionately.

"Yeah...I never knew..." Cleo whispered under her breath.

Suddenly, the door to the room was flung open, and a panting Azriel ran in, gasping for air. "Help...the others...they're fighting...her...near the gate..."

"Who's there?" Cleo asked, guiding Azriel to a stool.

"I think...Cecil, Grace...Constantine...and Professor Caspian. Lilith is there as well."

"Just six people?" Theo asked, furrowing his brow. "Where's the headmaster?"

"He's been diverted." Cleo sighed. "There's a certain poison that can cause even the most sentient creatures to go insane. The headmaster...is probably have a problem with Phoenix."

Theo ran his fingers to his hair. "But that doesn't explain where the other professors are."

"They have to guard the safe house. When there's a battle on campus, every teacher other than the headmaster and those involved must get as many students into the safe house as possible. Based on what we know, we can assume that Madeleine is there."

"If she's there, then Nathan's there, but what about Zeke?"

"Don't worry about him." Cleo rolled her eyes. "He's either floating around in a magic safety bubble or also in the safe house."

Azriel raised an eyebrow. "A magic safety bubble?"

Cleo waved her off. "Anyways, the witch won't let him die. He's too...important to her."

"So what do we do now?" asked Fiona.

"We split up. You two-" Cleo pointed to Azriel and Fiona. "Get to the safe house. It's below the student dorms." She looked at Anastasia. "You'll go help the headmaster with whatever he's dealing with, and Theo and I will go save the others. Got it?"

Everyone nodded, and the three groups split off to go do their respective tasks.

"When we get there," Cleo said, turning to Theo as they made their way to the academy gates. "Your job is to get Grace and Lilith to the safe house. I'll help the others."

"Why do I have to do that? Won't you be in danger?"

"Because he's the"

They stopped behind a bush to observe the battle. Cecil and Constantine were struggling, but Cleo could see that they were doing some damage. Lola's skirt was shredded into strips of fabric that were strewn about the ground. Grace was injured, and Lilith was trying her best to hold a shield against the young witch's pelting attacks. Meanwhile, Miss Caspian was trying to cast a restraining spell.

"That spell is going to take some time." Cleo tsked. "It's just like the novel. She doesn't want to hurt Lola."

Theo began marking out a simple invisibility spell on his left hand. "If I remember correctly, the Ash Witch battle had three phases. Be careful."

But when Cleo turned to respond, he was gone, invisibility spell complete. A moment later, Grace and Lilith disappeared as well. With the battle still in its first phase, Cleo decided to wait a bit longer. She would be more effective in phase two.

"Come on, come on..." she murmured.=

The Ash Witch battle consisted of three phases. The first phase was a simple fight-to-the-death, while the second and third phases were much more complicated. In phase two, Lola gouges out her eyes, relying on sound to attack. During the battle, it is revealed to the reader that her eyes were just enchanted lumps of ash that can be thrown as bombs to destroy her enemies. But out of the three phases, the scariest was, by far, the last one.

Cleo hoped that she could end the battle before Professor Caspian died.