A Window To A Soul

Chapter 40: Cal

The last building fell, and then he stopped. He was looking at us menacingly, despite the fact that he had no eyes. Della was shaking, and I could feel it. She was squeezing my hand for comfort.

But I had a plan, even though I was unbelievably scared. One wrong move and we could both die, leaving Oden as the victor. Della whispered to me. "What are you planning, Cal?"

I whispered back to her, not taking Oden out of my sight. "Just trust me, Della."

She nodded at me and I looked forward. I took a deep breath and reached into my pocket. It's time. I grabbed the mini remote control and pressed the only button on it. And then I waited. Oden stepped forward. "Have you given up already, Cal Madden?"

I shook my head. "No. I haven't even gotten started." I said it just as hundreds of soldiers with big guns ran up and circled around Oden. He looked around at them in surprise. Della tensed up even more and I looked at her comfortingly. "It's going to be okay, Della."

She looked back at me. "I hope this works."

I nodded. "Yeah, me too."

One of the soldiers in front of Oden yelled out at him. "Stand down!" But he didn't listen. Instead, Oden lifted his palms at the people in front of him. That same guy yelled out to the other soldiers. "FIRE!" With that, all the soldiers started firing at Oden, attempting to kill him first.

But as I believed deep down, it didn't work. The bullets fell to the ground at the second of contact, leaving Oden unharmed, and the soldiers vulnerable. Oden wasn't able to be killed with bullets. I especially realized that when the soldier's bodies started to drop, one by one, heads exploded.

My legs felt like they were about to give up as I started to panic. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Why did I think it would work? I looked at Della and she looked at me. We both nodded to each other in agreement. And then we both bolted. We ran to our left, making our way for the woods that were on the side of the city.

I didn't dare look behind me because I knew that Oden would not be too far behind us. Why had I let him get so close? I could see the trees getting bigger as we ran toward them. As we got under the trees, I heard the branches above us cracking. Della pulled me away and I fell to the ground. I immediately got up after a large branch fell.

I wondered to myself why Oden wasn't just killing us right here. I glanced back at him and saw him even closer than before. He had a dagger in his hand. I remembered a fact that I had learned about Elliott a long time ago. He loved daggers. All of his bodyguards carried them.

I felt like everything was against me. I felt like this was where I was going to die. Right here, right now. I fell to the ground, quickly getting up. A tree fell down in front of us. I grabbed Della's wrist and pulled her back, out of the tree's range.

We turned and started running again, only for two trees to smash into each other, blocking our path. We turned to the other side and tried to go that way, but the same thing happened, the trees fell and blocked us. We inevitably turned back to Oden who was right in front of us.

Oden was holding his dagger in his right hand with it facing out. He had a wicked smile on his face, like he was imagining what it would be like to tear through our skin. It made me shudder.

I grabbed Della's hand and looked around for an escape, even though I knew that this was it. This is where we die. And nothing I do can stop it. I closed my eyes and looked down. This is it.

But as if it were a beacon of hope in physical form, I saw a bright light through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and looked at Della. Her marking was glowing. I looked at Oden. He was looking at her furiously. He lifted his dagger in both hands and lunged at her. I was ready to block her with my own body, except he stopped moving. It was like something had grabbed him from behind.

Oden was trying with all of his might to get free, but whatever- whoever- was holding him back, was not letting go. Oden seemed to be getting more and more desperate to kill Della. But just as he started moving forward again, stumbling, as if he were just dropped on the ground.

Then he looked back up at Della and lunged forward again, but this time he bursted into light, beams coming from his eyes and mouth, and then ripping out of him until he exploded into what seemed like ash.

The light from Della's marking dimmed until it was completely gone. It was Juda. He had helped again. Della looked at me with worry. "That was the last time, Cal. We can't rely on him anymore."