Chapter 18

PRUE

" P rue, stop." Grayson's voice is clearly panicked as I stand there in front of Cole and let him size me up. I glance back at him.

"He is manipulating your energy so that you're drawn to him." I glance back at him and he takes a step towards me.

Except Cole isn't. I know it and Cole knows it. He was trying to, but as soon as the guys called him out on it he stopped. What is even weirder is I could recognize it this time around, that tug to just step forward, to just keep going and it definitely wasn't coursing through me anymore. Marissa steps aside and Emmett comes around the other side of the couch, trying to get to me.

"No, he isn't." My voice is surprisingly calm and everyone turns to look at me.

"Prue." Emmett warns.

"I'm not." Cole confirms what I already knew and there is a satisfied look on his face that I picked that up. He folds his arms across his chest and begins rocking back and forth ever so slightly.

"What do you want?" I ask and take a step forward.

"This." And before I can move out of his way, his hands are on me grabbing my upper arms.He stops rocking and yanks me even closer to him and then chaos erupts around us.

I don't know what Marissa does, but she walks up to Emmett and pinches the back of his neck in a way that makes him fall to the ground.

Grayson runs forward but out of nowhere two other guys are there, now blocking me and Cole from Grayson. They're on top of Grayson holding him back, and the one guy lands a punch into the side of Grayson's ribs, and I watch as the color drains from his face.

The panic floods my system but I try to keep it at bay, my head feeling clearer and more in control than it ever has. I didn't just walk up to Cole without a plan.

I can feel him pushing his magic into me, wrapping it around me and I let him.

"Prue-" Grayson shouts and then he is punched again. "He will erase your existence."

"Shut him up." Cole orders and I glance back and flinch as the guy in front of Grayson knocks him out.

I can feel what Grayson was desperate to tell me, it is as if Cole is undoing all the little threads that make up my existence.

I focus back on him.

"Why?" I croak out.

"If you don't exist it will solve a lot of my problems."

"What do you get out of this?" My throat starts to close up as the oxygen in my body seems to be drying out.That coldness seeps into me again.

"This will be quick," he ignores me, he won't keep my gaze at all. "Marissa, are you ready?"

She turns back to us and walks away from Emmett's crumbled form on the floor.

Cole's grip on me is excruciatingly tight but his mental hold on me is something else. His energy burns into me and with each push I can feel as he unravels a part of me, and that part turns to ice.

I try to push back mentally, tapping into my magic, it comes to the surface but doesn't quite bend in the way I want it too. I know I haven't been able to control it, I know my best shot at getting out of here completely unharmed are both unconscious on the ground. But I wanted this, I wanted to feel Cole's power, get a sense for it. I want to know how to fight back against him. But I underestimated his power, his grip on me tightens but I feel faint and like I'm not quite here.

Real panic sets in. I was an idiot for thinking I could do this, for thinking I could use my power against him and get some answers.

"Prudence." It's a growl and I look back to see Grayson getting off the floor, Emmett is stirring too.

"Do something." He orders. My mind goes back to our earlier evening before Cole and Marissa pitched up, the easiness of it, the laughter. The carefree feeling of it all and something in me snaps.

I push back hard. Pulling my magic up, I lock eyes with Cole.

"What do you want?" I gasp out and as I do, I will my magic to wrap around his, I can see the streams and I urge them to constrict him.

Cole's eyes widen.

"What do you want?" I snap out again. I'm completely in control now. I look around me and will the energy to make everything stop. I don't know how I know, but I know I can do this. . And it's like everyone freezes.

Cole is trying to wrestle control back from me, his grip tightens even more on my arm. Right now in this exact moment, there is just me and Cole and our power. It dances together, and I can feel the destruction we will cause if we don't keep it under control, one slip up and we will unravel everything.

I shove against Cole's power, using what Grayson taught me when he showed me how to push back and then I lean into Cole. I want to see what Cole wants, I want to see why Cole is after me.I want to feel it, I think about how I could pick up on what Emmett and I could have been if our parents had gotten together. I think about how I could feel the other potential time streams, and I take that sensation and apply it towards Cole wanting to know what his potential is.

It hits me hard, Cole wants one thing, and one thing only. I push further. I am starting to feel ungrounded.

"Get out of my head."

"I'm not in your head." Technically I am not, I'm just using his will to entertain my own.

"You know what I mean."

"Shut up." I snap with anger this time and it's enough that I completely overpower him, he crumples to the ground and everything he was holding back breaks and rushes into me. It's harrowing. He is overtaken by his thoughts. Marissa, power, darkness. Marissa, power, darkness. I want it to stop, I want him to stop.

My power pushes out of me again, and it isn't fully in my control this time. I see my silver streams and they wrap around everything and everyone in the bowling alley. And slowly everyone freezes, for real this time, there isn't a sign of movement.

Well, that is everyone except Marissa, the time stream around her is green and it isn't shaped like everyone's else's, it's like a protective tornado around her and even though I reach for it with my magic, my stream won't wrap around hers. I don't' understand it.

She comes over to me, I'm dropped to my knees now, Cole is blurry but frozen, standing above me, I try to pull my magic back from him because I am unraveling him.I glance around, visceral fear wraps around me, I am unraveling everyone.

"Stop!" I yell at myself. "Stop Prue." I know I sound unhinged, but I am desperate to gain a semblance of control.

Marissa crouches down next to me. Her hazel eyes pull my attention. She seems completely unflustered by what is going on around her. She tucks a piece of hair behind my ear.

"You're in control, Prue. Don't let anything or anyone ever make you feel otherwise. Not even yourself." Her words resonate deep within me. I have control. I can be in control.

I gasp. I fall back onto my hands and close my eyes, three deep breaths and try to ground myself and slowly I pull all my power back. When I open my eyes, Marissa is standing above me, her hazel eyes still on me, her blonde hair framing her face perfectly.

"Smart girl." She says.

I don't have time to respond because Grayson is in front of me, he bends down and grabs my arm pulling me up.

He looks around, everyone is confused, and Cole is barely conscious.

"Let's go." His cold fingers wrap around mine and he pulls me away.

"Always a fucking pleasure seeing you." Emmett says to Marissa who laughs. He is rubbing the back of his neck.

Grayson doesn't let go of my hand, but I turn back to look at Marissa, no one knows, no one is any wiser that she wasn't affected, that my magic didn't touch her. I notice her nod at me and then she turns around, focusing back on Cole.

What the hell just happened?