Kids/Teens Book Club discussion

Hi all,
Please check out this short chapter from my tween fantasy series,
THANKS!!
Zakk’s throat grew tighter. Barely able to breathe, sweat dripped from his brow.
“What…what did I do wrong?” He gasped, seeing only darkness. Invisible hands clamped around his neck. “Please… stop.” His limbs became heavy like lead weights. Knowing this to be the end, he managed to push out with a shallow breath, “I’m sorry.”
The vice around his throat loosened, discarding him like a crumpled tissue. Maybe an apology was all ‘it’ needed. Minutes passed, feeling like an eternity. All seemed quiet in the icy air. Zakk dare not move. Trying to collect his thoughts, attempting to regulate his breathing. Straining to catch a glimpse of his jailer but was unable to see past his own shadow. The presence watched, enjoying the show. Waves of emotions passed within; pain, loneliness, emptiness, dread, but most of all fear. Fear seeping in, like black ink coursing through every vein, devouring all consciousness. For the first time ever, Zakk felt totally alone. He knew if he could scream, no one would hear. If he tried to run, his legs would not aid him.
“Who are you?”
“Who am I? Who am I?” The voice somehow seemed strangely familiar, as it broke into a spine-chilling laughter.
“Don’t you know?” it mocked. “Look hard, deep into yourself. You know who I am. I am your darkest fear when you close your eyes. I lie in wait at your very core. Who am I?”
Zakk fiddled with the dull glass ring on his middle finger. It had belonged to his mother, just touching it reminded him of her warm smile, her golden silky hair, and the lullaby she sang to tuck him up each night.
“You’re the Witch Queen!” he realised. He’d waited so long for answers but still was not face-to-face with this cold-blooded murderer. “You killed my mother.”
“Clever, clever Zakky. Clever child,” she hissed. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”
Silence fell upon him. Aching with sadness, skin burning in anger. If he was about to die in this cave, he needed answers.
“Why her?”
“I should have ruled this world. I should have been queen. She was useless. I’ll do better. It should have been me at your father’s side. She never loved him.” Spitting out the words as if they were poison.
“But you did?” Zakk asked. “You loved my father?”
“Silly boy, silly little, Zakky. I do not love. It’s a weakness which eats you alive, swallows you whole then moves on to dessert.” Had she tasted this bitter pain? “I got sweet revenge on sad, cowardly Helen by pushing her into a D’rog pit. They tore into her like a yummy treat.”
Tears pushed under his eyelids. Unable to swallow, for the boulder-like lump blocking his windpipe.
“Tossed from one to the other, like a little raggedy doll,” she sang, with great malice.
Zakk, now broken, wept. No longer able to hold the tears at bay. Giving in to the despair, picturing his mother’s gruesome death. The Witch Queen poked a spindly leather finger into Zakk’s cheek. Her face still covered by a veil of darkness. Watching his tears run down her long, ugly finger, he noticed a very familiar glass ring at the end of it. Shaking in disbelief, he looked again, recognising his father’s ring. Time slowed. Sweat gushed over him like hot rain.
“Father!” he cried. “Father?” knowing the only response would be that of his own echoes chasing each other around the stone cave walls.
“He’s gone,” she said, stepping a little closer, he could just make out a pair of empty eyes. Searching them wildly for a hint of compassion, but there was none to be found. Like hard coal, these eyes were dead inside.
“No, no,” he pleaded, kneeling on the floor, arms clasping his chest.
“I will rule Zantar; it is meant to be. All will live in fear of my gaze upon them. I thought you might have been my biggest barrier. But as I look upon you, crying like an infant, I find you weak, boy. It will be easy to send you to join your parents. It’s only fair after all.”
The Witch Queen took a step back; he could see her boney outline as she held her hands aloft and chanted. Flames shot from her hands and bolted toward him. Vibrant reds and dancing oranges licked at his heels, engulfing him, he stumbled back. The chanting became more urgent. Zakk raised both hands to shield his eyes. This is it. I am finished. I couldn’t save my family, or my people. I am nothing.
At that moment, the air cooled. Opening an eye, feeling safe from the heat. A pure force of light shielded him, bringing the fire to a halt. Bizarrely, the force poured out from his mother’s ring, which now shone all the colours of the rainbow. In her own way, she still watched over him and protected him. Feeling the wrath of the Witch Queen sliding away. Strength glided back through his being once more. Slowly rising to his feet, feeling strangely confident. This new resolve seemed to anger the witch further. She tried once again to execute her enemy, throwing arrow upon arrow of flesh stripping fire, but to no avail. Her efforts bounced off the protective shield, like hail against a windowpane.
“Damn your wretched mother and your proud father. If I cannot kill you, I’ll make you wish I had.”
A high-pitched squeal, a flash of white light, and Zakk began to fall. Unable to feel his body or open his eyes. There were no sounds. The heartbeat pounding in his chest moments ago, fell deathly silent, and all went black.