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With an exaggerated groan Penny helped heft Trent up to his feet. She heard her name and turned, her face doing little to hide her shock at the state Stacey was in. She swore under her breath. When did she start running a daycare? Fortunately, Odessa was there working part-time. Penny was almost used to the woman’s uncanny ability to seemingly appear next to Penny whenever she glanced away. Almost. She still jumped and dropped a hand to her bag, but it relaxed upon recognition.

[color=goldenrod]“Hey, be careful about warming him too quickly,”[/color] said Penny. Stacey wouldn’t really be able to play with chilblains. She glanced at Stacey and gave him an affirmative nod with a confident smile, [color=goldenrod]“Don’t worry. You’re going to be okay. We are all going to be o”—[/color]a building exploded and wiped the smile right off of her face—[color=goldenrod]”kay.”[/color]

Penny turned her head to avoid getting the dust in her eyes and happened to catch sight of her friends just in time for Hagan to activate his barrier. It was wrong. Her stomach sank as the sight of it filled her with a familiar dread that visited her almost every night. A whirlwind of dust swallowed them whole, and when it settled the Apparition was wailing. It was one of the most awful sounds Penny had ever heard. She steeled herself and fished out a handful of change before thinking the better of it. She massaged her temple. The shriek had drummed up her migraine yet again so that it rapidly pulsed with pain as if set to the bassline of a techno beat. 

“Get out of here,” said Odessa.

[color=goldenrod]”But—”[/color]

“[i]All[/i] of you.”

Penny returned Odessa’s stare with an unblinking one of her own, and then winced as the thing cried out again. Damn it. She’d give Odessa this one. Penny felt like even with having one of her arms tied behind her back she could still help take this thing out, but there was more to worry about than a grudge match. Besides, her friends knew what they were doing. They could handle themselves. 

[color=goldenrod]“C’mon, let’s go,”[/color] she said, turning her back on the standoff and looking for a place they could hole up while Odessa and the others got all of the glory. Penny rolled her eyes as she heard Finley speak up from behind her. That thing had easily sunk a cruise ship. Hiding behind a car wouldn’t stop—another scream kicked her right in the skull. God, why won’t that thing shut up? Penny shot an angry look over her shoulder and then let out a choking noise as if she had just been stabbed in the gut. It sure felt like that way. Her eyes welled up and as they reflected the geyser of Caelea’s blood lacerating the sky. 

Her arms dropped to her side dead. She never even had a chance to draw. The knife in her gut twisted and shot a numbness through her body as she watched her friend get split in two, yet somehow her feet shuffled forward on their own. It was like they were drawn to the carnage. A simple protest wouldn’t stop them, and anybody stupid enough to touch her would get a sharp elbow. Smoke threaded between the two halves and made it one, Caelea’s body twisting and jerking unnaturally as it sewed itself back together. A huff escaped Penny’s throat as that thing fucking dared to smile at them. Hagan flipped out. Zoey froze. Odessa hid. 

Penny stopped. She had felt something tickle her fingertips. It was the felt tip of a marker. She didn’t know when she had grabbed it, but she had drawn on herself. What was the plan here? Judging by the glyphs, it had been a stupid plan. She was between the two groups now, meaning that Penny was close enough to see from the look on Odessa’s face that she was fucking up and not far enough away from Hagan’s rampage to truly be safe. The thing that was once Caelea continued to grin, only it wasn’t grinning. It was baring its teeth. Penny realized she had been baring her teeth, too.

So that was it. She had planned to kill it. She could, too, although she might not walk out of the fight. It disgusted her. Not the thing that was once Caelea, but the fact that she would kill it with there being a shadow of a doubt on whether Caelea could possibly still be in there somehow. Hagan had come back. Zoey had come back. Maybe Caelea could come back. It was a stupid, childish thought. An impossibility, really. She still had to consider it. Penny took a step back, and then she shouted a singular command. It worked for all of the strangers, really, but she meant it only for that fucking thing that was once her friend. She really hoped it would understand her, and she really hoped Caelea would forgive her for not being able to do what she should do. The second Penny shouted was the second her tears finally burst free. 

Penny had yelled, [color=goldenrod][b]“RUN!”[/b][/color]