Chapter 16

Quinn morphed into a coyote in mid leap and tore up the parking lot in his haste, Donnie took on his cat form too knowing he could run faster that way, and those who think that a house cat can't be dangerous, have obviously never gone up against one. He knew from firsthand experience -- from working at the shelter -- they could be downright deadly if cornered. Ray shifted as well into a dragon and started flying just above the useless parking lights. Ryan the powerful Jinn kept turning into smoke and drifting with the high winds, but he wasn't able to keep that form for more than 30 seconds. It was enough however to have him waiting for them at the front entrance.

Megan seeing him already there called her Sea horse Midnight with a loud whistle and he met her half way to the school. She vaulted on to his back without missing a stride. She had her crossbow up and ready to fire before they even breached the lot. As she galloped past Cameron she reached her arm out and, grabbing a hold of him, swung him up on the back of her massive stead. Brenna was using her Shaman magic to leap in long bounds using her magical staff like a pogo stick. She'd leap and before she could land she'd strike the ground with her staff and go flying again. Marley grabbed Olivia too and threw her on her back before speeding ahead of them all . . . almost -- no one was a fast as Lauren when she used her Fae speed.

Not having any speed or supernatural animals can suck sometimes. He and Kyle made up the rear of their quickly advancing army of misfits with Xander, Kelly, CJ and Connor in front of them. Even though Zach led their rear vanguard, he was probably going nuts over the fact that he wasn't in front of them all, his first instinct was always to protect them, but without his wings he was no faster than anyone else. Too bad he couldn't call them out at will. So far he had only been able to summon them when someone's death was imminent.

He and Kyle were the last to make it to the front door, like he mentioned earlier Mountain Trolls aren't built for running: climbing, punching through solid rock, turning to stone, and even lifting incredibly heavy things sure, but not moving fast.

Zach, just gave them the silent signal to advance on the front door, when out of nowhere, one of the council guards came crashing though it; quickly followed by a gargantuan human cloaked in a bear skin and wearing a boar's head helmet. The out of control fighter was hyper ventilating, foaming at the mouth, and howling like an animal. He was dual wielding a spiked club and an axe. Lauren went to rush to the guard's aid but Zach stopped her.

Their fight wasn't with the berserkers. In their frenzied fit of rage they would be a terrible foe. If they didn't engage them they might just slip their notice until they got to the library where they could do the most good.

The Berserkers were aptly named; the ancient Norse warriors were created centuries ago using powerful hunting magic. By cloaking themselves in the skin of the animal they killed they were imbued with their strength, fierceness and speed, but when an ancient druid infused the harmless magic with a powerful blood curse, they were transformed into an unstoppable force. Now whoever controlled the hoard could guarantee victory over their foes. Once the horde is unleashed they will never stop until every one of their enemies is slain. Lord knows how Liam managed to get control of them.

The kids snuck past the frenzied fighter, but only because, he only had eyes for one thing: the still breathing council guard at the foot of the stairs.

Megan did not dismount to enter the school instead she threw here crutches in a holster she had made for them that rested on her back and her massive steed cleared the steps in one leap.

The rest of the gang followed her in. Luckily for Megan the school was over a century old and low ceilings were not apart of the original design. Mermaid and Kelpie could move freely through the rampage that was happening in their hallowed halls. That was the only word suitable for what he was seeing. The berserkers were going head to head with the council guards. The guards were fighting for their very lives, but Liam and his psycho gang were nowhere to be seen which could mean only one thing; they were already at the barrier to the magical wing.

The kids raced through the chaos towards the stairs to find the majority of the guards fighting there. There were groups of three and four council guards each fighting with a single Beserker, yet they were still losing. There was a port door open on a far wall and more and more guard's men and woman poured through. Travis sadly noticed that they were putting up a valiant fight but that wasn't enough to turn the tides.

Thank heavens it was the weekend or the school would have been filled with the Night School students and he just didn't want to think of what might have happened.

Then his thoughts were interrupted when the newly ported guards noticed them and mistook them for members of Liam's crew, advancing on them. Zach held up his hand and must have spoken inside their heads because they turned and began to advance on the ancient Norse fighters again.

Good thing Lauren had performed her new magic spell before they portalled over to the school because he could hear Zach's next words inside his head. It had been a very convenient spell when they went up against the deathworm he hoped it would be as helpful in defeating Liam.

He heard Zach growl in his head before his voice came through, "Guys Liam's already through the barrier everyone with speed get to the library door and do everything you can to keep him out.

Half their gang disappeared in the blink of an eye while he and the others rushed to their aid.

Once he got to the library, it was a huge relief to see that at some point the school had put up a third barrier to the library or perhaps it had always been there, and they just didn't know it. Regardless Liam and his crew were fighting off the members of his gang even as they rammed the magical barrier with something even Travis could not believe.

The barrier was being rammed by the dead deathworm. In death it had hardened into a battering ram.

Liam or one of his crew had spelled it to ram the barrier over and over again until it broke through. And it would break through he had no doubt about it. Each time it made contact with the glowing moss green amorphous liquid in the door, red hairline fractures would appear from the point of contact and would spread out across the nebulous membrane. And each time the ram struck the cracks spread further.

Lauren spoke in his head next, "Oh my God. I get it now!"

Travis marveled that she could actually think of anything while going head to head with her brother's crew, yet here she was zooming around the room throwing up shields to stop the fire balls and ice spears from injuring or killing her friends.

It was silent for a moment before Megan thought," Get what?" She was galloping back and forth down the hallway firing off her iron and silver bolts as fast as she could.

Lauren continued, "I get why Liam enticed the worm to San Francisco to siphon the magic out of the half bloods. He intended to use the deathworms body to ram the barrier all along."

"But how does a dead deathworm help him get through anyway?" Marley thought, while she raced around Lily the blue haired crew member. She was striking at her and providing a protective cover for Liv and her whip.

The Aswang had taken on her bat form -- one that was three times the size of a human. Marley was finding it extremely hard to strike her even though she was faster than the creature, simply because each time the blue haired fiend turned she became as flat as a window pane. Marley would lunge and the Aswang would spin on the spot and she would just go flying by. The only time she could land a punch or kick with her knife boots and her brass knuckles was when Liv cracked her whip and distracted the cringing Aswang.

"Think about it guys," Lauren thought, "where did all the magic go? It was infused by the worm. He was storing it to last over his long hibernation period. He hadn't ingested it. So it's still in him. Liam's using all that stored magic against the barrier."

Travis dove out of the way just in time as a growling snarling ball of murderous rage rolled past. Quinn in his coyote form had the bigger, faster, and stronger Bash the Jackal shifter by the throat as they exchanged bloody bone breaking attacks with their sharp teeth and claws.

Lauren looked on in concern before speeding off to stop a fire ball from singeing Cameron who was in the process of throwing a potion grenade at the spinning Aswang.

It must have been a stun grenade because she immediately stopped spinning when hit by the bursting potion bottle. The gaseous blue smoke enveloped her and she went down on to her back. Marley dove for her then and landed on top of her. She used all her vampiric speed and strength to launch a series of blows that were too fast for the human eye to see. And thank god for their agimats because the Aswang looked like she was shocked she couldn't suck her life force.

Unless she could break free which he doubted, they successfully subdued one of their opponents that just left four more.

Zach muttered a curse and thought, "That's why he made the trust-me-knot pact. He was confident that we or the guards would kill it for him. Either way he wouldn't have broken the pack. Once we did his dirty work for him, he could just swoop in and steal his prize -- the means to get into the school."

Kelly growled in his head and spoke, "He just needed one last ingredient -- the magic night of opening -- to strengthen the deathworms magic even more."

Zach, Xander, Kelly, Donnie, Ryan and CJ were going head to head with Liam, and his shadowmen and doppelgangers. Every time Kelly and Xander the deadly demigods dispatched a shadow figure he created another. No matter how fast they could eliminate the magical constructs more appeared. Xander was dual wielding his rapid firing sig sauers, Kelly was pin wheeling her arms and tossing her throwing daggers with deadly accuracy.

Zach was hacking and slashing anything and everything that got in the way of his goal -- the grinning Liam. Ryan and CJ were giving Liam the most trouble. Ryan kept getting in close to try and possess the crazed lunatic and every time Liam tried to strike back he's turned to smoke, which just enraged the Fae. CJ was taking advantage of that distraction by trying to levitate the guy off the ground, and still they were barely a match for him.

Ray was literally fighting fire with fire in his dragon form. He had Fury, the red headed Xaphan Demon pinned down and was not only blocking her fire balls with his body but he was throwing them back at her. She didn't seem to mind the flames but the force of the blows were keeping her distracted from her goal of destroying his friends. They'd managed to subdue another opponent. That only left three more.

Frost, the white haired Ice Elemental was trying to come to her rescue but he was too busy fending off Brenna's magic she was wielding her spells as fast as her staff could conjure them. She was trying to provide cover for Connor so he could get close enough to touch him. If he could do that with Connor's power to command anyone, it would subdue another enemy --leaving them just two enemies left.

The snarling ball of animal fury rolled by again, when he realized that even though the jackal outweighed Quinn's coyote by fifty pounds he had the upper hand, he also realized they had a slim chance of winning.

He started to advance on Liam. Not caring one bit that he had no magical talent. He had his stone fists and if his friends gave him even one chance to get in close enough he'd knock him right the fuck out.

He was only halfway there when he heard Kyle's cry in his head: "LOOK! They've almost broken through! If we don't stop it it'll break through the barrier and the Ankh will be there's!"

Travis looked to where Kyle was pointing. The barrier was almost over taken. The fissures in the doorway were almost to the door frame. Kyle was working with Cam and Megan who were now standing back, throwing their projectiles at a safe distance. They were throwing everything they had at Liam in a bid to distract him long enough for one of the others to take him down.

Anything thrown at him however was just deflected with ease. The guy was inhumanly good.

But Kyle was right if someone didn't do something soon the barrier would be no more. He had to give his friends the chance to get the upper hand.

Travis didn't know where the idea came from but he was at the library doorway in the blink of an eye and timing his lunge between the ram and the barrier. He needed to slip between the two and turn to stone quicker than he'd ever done before, or lord knows what the ram would do to him.

He sent a prayer to the universe as he heard Kyle scream, "NO" in his head, but it was too late to worry he had already leapt in front of the ram.

If he could not quiet his mind and turn to stone before the ram swung magically back, he was done for.

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

I hope you all liked this chapter.

It looks like Liam and the his hateful crew might just win this battle.

The crew hope the council guards can keep the Berserkers busy or they a are screwed.

Poor Travis will he survive his attempt to stop them?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.