Chapter 26

When the worm burst out of the ground everyone converged on it. Megan kept loading and reloading her crossbow faster than she had ever done before. But to her horror she noticed with her keen eye sight that the bolts weren't penetrating the worm's tough hide. They were bouncing off uselessly.

Kelly was standing on the other side of the worm and Megan could see that even with her preternatural aim, strength and speed her daggers were having no affect either. Megan felt like crying when she saw Xander standing directly in the path of the worm duel wielding his sigs firing as fast as lightening emptying cartridge after cartridge, and yet it didn't deter the worm from his path.

It was moving surprisingly fast on land as well and heading straight for a furiously retreating Marley, but fortunately for all concerned it was not fast enough. That's when it flew up in the air again and dove into the ground. She was going to scream with frustration, but then she noticed that it was leaving sand waves in its wake. It was moving at such a shallow depth that was making it remarkably easy to track it.

Zach look she screamed in her head, pointing at the waves that somehow almost caught up with Marley.

Zach yelled to everyone in their heads, its hide is impervious to melee weapons. Anyone with magic wield it and the others aim for its mouth.

Just then the worm came out of the ground and sprang over Zach's head to get at CJ. Zach did a matrix bend and slide under its mouth and swiftly slashed with his sword just barely catching the corner of its mouth near its first row of teeth. Droplets of red rained down on him when all of a sudden green slime came flying out of the beast's mouth, but there was not time for Zach to roll out of the way.

Lauren used her fae speed to shield Zach from the venom attack. She moved faster than lightning to his location across the sand and threw up a round blue glowing shield approximately eight feet in diameter in front of him.

Zach turned and looked at her his eyes big as saucer he must have thought he was done for.

Thanks Lauren, he said, guys keep hitting him with everything you got. We have to keep him on the surface. Don't let it dive; it's too fast.

I've got a plan. When it went over me and opened it maw I saw its venom sack and behind that its heart. If we can somehow pierce its heart from its mouth without piercing the venom sack we can kill it and save the venom.

It may be impervious to us from the outside but it isn't inside. Kelly you're designed to never miss can you hit it? Zach thought excitedly.

What's the clearance past the venom sack on all sides? Kelly thought while she continued to throw her daggers at the beast.

Possibly an inch Zach said give or take.

No can do! My smallest daggers width is one and a half inches an arrow or a bolt could do it. Kelly looked to Connor and Megan then.

Megan hand began to shake at the idea of it. Could she make that kind of shot on the fly? She doubted it very much. Connor couldn't do it with his arrows. The fletching of an arrow was too wide, her crossbow bolts had a smaller fletching though, It would have to be her.

I-I-I've got a better chance considering the clearance. Megan stammered in her head, but I'd need a steady target.

I've got it Travis said from next to the beast.

No way Brah! Kyle yelled, diving for his foster brother.

But it was too late Trav had already grabbed the worm around the neck closest to its mouth, fortunately for him he turned his entire body to stone before making contact, but that didn't stop his clothes from melting off him with a sickly acid smell.

If you're going to do something please do it fast Trav strained.

At that moment Marley showed up out of nowhere kicking up dirt as she came to a complete stop and put a very green looking CJ down next to her then unceremoniously picked up Megan and threw her on her back.

When Marley got a look at Megan's scared face she said: you got this girl and joked on the way over let's finish this thing. I'm beginning to feel a bit like the town bike and everyone laughed in her head which was surprisingly not weird. It helped her calm down.

The worm was spewing venom like mad and writhing in Travis's arm like his life depended on it, which it did, so yeah.

Lauren said in her head: I've been counting the intervals between spit and I think you have a five second window.

You think? Great! Megan thought make an impossible shot in an impossible amount of time and do it staring down the maw of an acid spitting worm. Some days it just wasn't worth getting out of bed.

There was a chorus of encouragements from her friends when Marley dropped her gently behind a shield that Lauren had made.

Get ready Zach urged.

Megan thought: give me a second I need to steady my hand.

They could all hear Travis grunting as he strained to hold on, she knew she didn't have time and she could see Kyle standing nearby doing an impatient little dance, you know the ones that are usually accompanied by 'come on, come on, get it over with' statements.

He wasn't saying it, but he might as well have been. On top of that everyone had moved in close, so if the thing got away from Travis they were all goners at this distance, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

Megan ejected that thought from her head as she closed her eyes urging herself to think of something calming. She breathed again and pictured the first time Cam kissed her. They were both fourteen. She had just become Enlightened a few months before and Cam had been a real Godsend talking her through her strange new world. They'd been spending so much time together, and she had thought that he just wanted to be friends. That day on the beach had been the best. When she said she had to go, he'd reached for her before she could and grabbed her spinning her on her heels right into his arms. It was her first kiss, her first time a guy held her like he never wanted to let her go, and it felt so exciting and romantic, but it also felt like home. He felt like her home, he was home.

Megan opened her eyes with a smile on face and got into position, her heart beating steadily in her chest. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth and raised her arm to take aim. She could see the venom sack at the back of the worm's mouth behind its dozens of rows of teeth. It was such a deep red it was almost purple and behind that almost hidden sat its pink heart beating out a panicked rhythm.

She watched the sack draw back in the center and open up in the middle like a flower about to bloom but instead of a stigma it contained green glowing liquid. It built up then as she watched the sack draw back even more before the worm released its venom on the shield directly in front of her.

Megan took aim and Lauren dropped the shield as soon as the venom dissipated. Time stood still then and all she heard was the steady grunts of Travis as he strained to hold the worm even more still than before.

An eerie calm took over her as she squeezed the trigger, the bolt soared from her crossbow and arced through the air faster than the human eyes could follow. That's a human eye though she could track it just fine with her preternatural sight. It was right on target as long as Travis didn't move in the next second.

She squealed with glee when she saw that her aim was true, it flew right past the retracting venom sack and sailed right into the left side of the creature heart. Its struggle stopped instantly.

She'd done it; she killed the beast.

Three things happened in that very second: 1) The entire gang erupted into ruckus applause and cheers and whistles, needless to say they celebrated wholeheartedly. 2) Travis sagged to the ground and Kyle dove in to drag him away before the worm could roll on his prostrated form, and threw his button up shirt over his exposed crotch. And 3) a small crowd of people started slow-clapping -- in that caustic way that really shitty people do -- from behind them.

Everyone turned then to see Liam and his crew looking revoltingly smug about God knew what.

She'd be loathed to admit it later but everyone jumped --undignified or not they did. He was the last person they had expected to see, especially here.

Lauren stepped forward then seeming to be in a daze. It was her first time seeing him after he admitted to being her brother and she went to go to him involuntarily but Zach stepped in to stop her.

Guys Megan thought with an eye roll, as Zach thrust Lauren's tiny frame behind him.

She sighed sadly, if Cam was here he'd be trying to do the same thing, and she'd have to poke him with her crutch to remind him that she can take care of herself, but he wasn't, so she was going to have to make sure to get the venom home to him.

Liam, Lauren's half blood Fae brother's crew stood around him like they were on the set of entourage. Whitey the Icelandic Ice Elemental stood next to him in a white polo shirt and light grey slacks, Red the red eyed Xaphan demon was there in a mini-skirt, dock martins that laced right up to her knees, and a mesh top that showed off her deeply tanned skin and red lace bra, the Blue/Silver haired Filipina Aswang equally barely dressed in a skin tight dress and flats stood next to the Nubian Dogir who was just wearing sneakers and cargo pants.

Megan took a moment then to thank God they left the berserkers home or her and her friends wouldn't have stood a chance.

Liam stepped forward then and said in a flat baritone, "I think you have something of mine." Zach stepped forward too, his face red with rage. It looked like he still had a score to settle with him about nearly killing Lauren at the Yule Ball.

"Liam, "Lauren called her voice hitching in the back of her throat. "You don't need to do this. I can help you," she pleaded.

"Really," he smirked and cocked one eyebrow at her snarkily, "with what exactly?" he asked. I've got some laundry that needs doing if you're dead set on being helpful."

His hateful words made his hateful crew laugh, which made her hate them even more, especially when she saw Lauren reaction to his words. She looked crestfallen at the tone of his voice.

Still she went to move towards her evil brother, but Zach threw his arm up to prevent it. Lauren gave him a hard stare, though until he let her pass. She rushed to him then and threw herself into her brother's arms with tears in her eyes, but he just grabbed her arms to thrust her away and laughed cruelly.

"Usually the girls that throw themselves at me are far better looking," he said to a chorus of laughter from his horrible crew. Everyone else just sucked in a shocked breath.

She wiped her eyes fiercely, "what's wrong with you? Don't you know who I am? I'm your twin sister Liam; it's me Lauren."

"I know who you are," he said with contempt. "I suggest you return to your boyfriend, before I decide to make an example of you again."

Quinn actually started to make a low but loud guttural growl in the back of his throat.

Which made Liam laugh mirthlessly, "Oh looks like you have a revelry for your affections. Surprising, I would think it would be difficult for you to get the interest of one let alone two guys, but you know what they say love is blind." He said snottily as he looked her up and down with distain.

"Maybe she puts out?" the cruel Xaphan demon suggested.

"Ooooh," the dogir, let out a guttural growl, "In that case," he said with a deep timbre, "I'll have a taste. He looked to Quinn and Zach as he said it and added, "Don't worry boys you can have her back after I'm done. She'll be ruined for anyone else, but that's not my problem," he said while he examined his nails.

Lauren looked mortified. Her face was blood red and her eyes were darting back and forth between her brother and Zach. Who was now looking like killing him was the only option that was swirling through his head.

That was it Quinn exploded into a coyote -- snarling and growling. Megan shivered when she saw him. He was seriously pissed, but not to be outdone, Zach flew at Liam.

That's when it happened everyone of them was on the move and had picked a target. She was going to get a piece of that Xaphan Bitch for saying what she said about her friend if it was the last thing she did.

That's when it happen. That's when Liam waved his hand with a slight gesture not breathing a word and none of them could move.

They were frozen in a spell while his hateful crew laughed heartily.

His crew continued to advance on them, but Liam just said, "uh, uh ,uh and chastising them like children, he cooed, "come back here we don't have time to play today. Don't worry though I'm sure there'll plenty of other chances to show these losers what they're up against.

"Thanks, by the way little sister," Liam spoke to Lauren directly.

"For what," she said, struggling in his hold while she mutter counter-spell after counter-spell to no avail.

"For killing the worm for me, of course," he sniffed, "I couldn't do it directly or affect its outcome, because I'd made a trust-me-knot pact with him that if broken would have killed me instead. He feigned sadness at the idea. "I just had to trust that you useless do-gooders would take care of it for me and I was right."

"Whatever you need the worm for I don't care," Megan called out, "just please leave the venom sack," she begged.

"Oooh . . . what do we have here," Liam said seeming to see her for the first time. He sauntered over to her and said "me likey," and grabbed a fist full of her hair to sniff it dramatically. "You smell like selkie though. Where is your boy toy today?" he asked

Megan features became cold as ice and she stared him down without flinching. Even when he tugged her hair painfully.

"Oh . . . This one has spirit. Let me see if I can make you forget your lame-ass boyfriend." He kissed her then hard on the mouth grinding his teeth into her lips mercilessly. She refused to cry out, her eyes remained open the entire time just waiting for her moment, but she could see her friends struggling madly to break free from his hold.

When he pulled away from her and laughed cruelly, she spit in his face, which earned her a back hand across her cheek. It stung like a mother fucker, but still she said nothing.

He looked like he wanted to kill her for a moment, but then he regained his composure or what passed for it in his sick little mind and laughed.

"Oh," he said, "I'm going to like playing with you once your selkie's dead."

That shocked her, he knew about Cam specifically, not just the half bloods, but Cam too. What was his end game? He talked about a pact with the worm had he set this all up from the start?

Megan wanted to cry, but she wouldn't do it in front of these bastards-- that was for damn sure. She could barely think straight though with all her friends asking her if she was all right inside her head.

"I'm sorry," she called out before she could stop herself," what do I have to do for the venom sack? She had to try. Cameron was worth more than her pride.

Liam just snickered and said, "I have a sack for you, but it's not in the worm."

And his whole crew lost it. Like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

Megan looked up then her eyes blue steel and ground out through clenched teeth, "if he dies I'm coming for you and I will never stop." And she could have frozen the desert with the ice in her voice.

"Ooooooh," Liam cooed, "Now that's something to look forward to," he did a overdramatized shiver and said," stop it you're making me all tingly now," which made his crew laugh again.

Fuck, Meg thought as one fat tear streaked down her face. Please don't see, please don't see as the other one swam in her lower lash threatening to fall too, but sometimes none of or wishes come true.

He hadn't missed a trick, he watched it course down her sand covered face. It must have left quite the visible trail too, because he actually squealed like a twelve year old girl and reached his finger out catching it before it hit the dry sand floor. He brought it up to his mouth then and sucked it back dramatically before saying, "Yum! tasty!"

When he turned away he starting whistling while the worm floated over to him and his crew.

Megan, just kept growling," you're dead, do you hear my asshole. You're so dead.

But he just opened a port door and watched his sick friends through before walking calmly through himself whistling all the while.

As the portal closed her crew fell to the ground noisily from where they were dangling and she picked herself up tears of rage in her eyes. With her body vibrating in anger, she bellowed one more time, "You're dead. I'm going to kill you myself," before all her friends converged on her to take her in their arms.

Author's Note:

I just found out the first book in the Haven High Series, Enlightened has won the IC Universe Best New Book of the Year Award.

https://www.wattpad.com/481903492-2017-ic-universe-awards-judging-winners

****************** THANKS FOR READING********************

I hope you all liked this chapter -- ooohhh Liam is so dead if Megan gets her hands on him.  How are they going to save Cameron now?

Without the worms venom he'll surely die. Will the gang find a way to save him?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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