Chapter 103: The Real Sage

CASSIE'S POV

Sage number 2 stepped closer. "Cassie, I'm gonna need you to step behind me so I can finish this one off. More of her will still show up, you know?"

I stared at her.

"Would you just get over here? I don't have time for this, I still need to find my damn way out of this... place." She raised one eyebrow at me. "Unless... You're just another one of the distractions set up to keep me from leaving."

"I'm not here to keep you from leaving. I came here to get you out." I say as a matter of fact.

"If that is true, then get over here and stop making me talk too much!" She said with gritted teeth.

And there it was. My mind being made up.

I moved cautiously. I stepped around Violent Sage and went straight to Sage 2 then I stood beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

"Hey, angry bird, I think you're the one who's lying between the two of you," I said to Violent Sage. Surprised my voice didn’t shake. "You, are the imposter." I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her reaction.

Violent Sage’s face suddenly twisted. The tears she was shedding stopped instantly. In their place was pure, boiling rage.

Ahh, there it is. The facade coming off.

"YOU BITCH! I'm gonna fucking Kill You!" she hissed.

"A-ha! I knew it! I knew you were the fake one," I said, clicking my tongue.

Sage 2 didn’t say anything else. She just lifted both her hands in the air.

Violent Sage rose up in the air like she was suspended by an invisible wire. The dark mist around her fists dying down.

"Stay out of my head! And out of my way!" Sage 2 yelled out and Violent Sage screamed in pain.

The voice that came out of her changed into a deeper octave and suddenly didn't sound human anymore. The dark mist first exploded out of her skin then her body arched backwards and then, she exploded.

Black blood and water and black mist spilled and went everywhere.

I threw my arm up on instinct to cover my face but it was late. The Icky warmth splattered across my face, my neck, my shirt. I gagged and turned away, my heart speeding so hard I thought it would crack my chest open.

When I opened my eyes, there was nothing left. Just ripples. And black liquid drops on the rocks.

Then arms came around me and yanked me into a hug so tight.

I stiffened for half a second before I relaxed into the hug.

This was Sage. The real one.

She was trembling against me and had her face buried in my shoulder.

"I can't believe how glad I am to see you. I thought I was going to be a goner in here and no one was going to ever come for me," she whispered into my hair.

All the adrenaline crashed out of me at once and I hugged her back.

"Of course someone was going to come for you," I said, my voice muffled against her. "Don't worry. I'm here now. And I'm going to get you out."

She pulled back to look at me. Her eyes were red from crying.

"You look... Pretty beaten," she said, with a shaky laugh. "What happened to your face?" She asked me.

"I got punched by you," I said flatly. "Hard."

Her eyes went wide. Then she winced. "Ugh sorry about that. In my defense, it wasn’t me."

"Yeah I just figured," I said. I checked her over quickly. She also had bruises on her face, wrists and cuts on her arms as well. "How long have you been fighting off, you know... You?" I asked her.

"Ever since I woke up to find myself here. I thought I was imagining it at first but once their punches landed on me, I knew i was in for a tough fight here."

"Whoa," I breathed out. "It must have been pretty scary for you," I said.

"Yeah. It is. I had to dig deep inside of me to unlock my other magic to help myself out."

"Yeah, about that... You're gonna have to explain it properly to me when we're out of here, you know." I say and folded my arms.

She pursed her lips and nodded slightly.

I let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Well... Atleast we're both okay now."

"We’re not okay," she said. "We’re still in this hellish mind trap of mine. And sooner or later, another one of me will show up to ruin the moment."

"Right," I said, wiping blood off my cheek with my sleeve. "Right. Mind trap. Exit. We gotta find that exit next."

I turned to the lagoon. The water was still flowing.

"Exit? And how do you suppose we find that?" She asked. "Because trust me, I've searched everywhere on this little island and didn't see any sign of an exit, anywhere."

Sage came to stand next to me.

"The exit isn’t exactly supposed to be simple to find," I said. "It can get tricky and we just... need to think it through, and look for the unlikely things in unlikely places." I breathed out. "The thing keeping you here tries to make you scared of something. And that something usually leads us to the exit we're looking for."

"So tell me, what scares you the most here?" I asked her.

"Apart from facing and fighting off my evil doppelgangers, pretty much nothing," Sage shrugged. "Although there is this one spot around here that kind of freaks me out a little," She said.

"Perfect. Show me," I say to her.

We started walking along the edge of the water, keeping our eyes out for anything that could come out to stop us.

My feet hurt. My shoulder hurt. My jaw definitely hurt. But I had to suck the pain in until my work was done.

"So what exactly have been happening at school all these while?" Stage asked as we walked.

I filled her in about everything that's happened so far.

How they've been unconscious for weeks now and The Voreth taking over their bodies.

And of course I didn't leave out the best parts about the Dragon, Snowman, Trolls and Hurricane. Even the volcano.

She didn't believe any of it.

~

We walked in quiet for a bit after a while. The waterfalls falling rapidly on all sides.

"There," Sage said, stopping.

Ahead of us, was where two streams met, the water was flowing upwards instead of down. Defying all laws of gravity. Rising up into a circle, leaving an opening of a wall of water in between.

"Could that be the unlikely exit you're talking about?" Sage asked.

"Yeah," I said. "It could be it. But there's only one way to find out. We have to jump up high together. With a gravity like that, if one of us hesitates, it can pull us back down."

She nodded but looked skeptical. "But what about that wall of water in between. What if it's just more water inside of it?" She asked me.

"I don't know what's on the other side of it. Wanna find out?" I held out my palms.

"Sure why not." She shook her head, taking my hand in hers. "If we ever successfully get out of here, don't ever tell anyone we held hands, understand?"

"My lips are sealed," I said and chuckled.

We stopped at the very edge. The cool breeze coming off from the water was chilling and it felt almost magnetic.

Sage looked at me. "You really sure about this?"

"Hell no," I said honestly. "But we’re doing it anyway."

She laughed awkwardly. It was obvious she was scared but is trying to hide it.

Her fingers were cold, but her grip was solid on mine.

"On three?" I asked.

"On three," she agreed, breathing out slowly.

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three—"

We jumped up as high as we could and once our fingertips touched the wall of water, we were swallowed in upside down into a void of endless bottomless water.

The Lagoon and island disappeared right behind us.

~