by Lola StVil
“Oh my God, Biscuit, you gave us quite a scare there,” Adam says, half laughing and half crying as he hugs Sailor.
Tears run down Raven’s face as she squeezes Sailor’s hand and tells her she’s glad she’s okay. I’m not sure if she really is okay, but she’s okay for now and that will have to be enough. At least now Nexus is on the case, which means we might find a solution to all of this sooner rather than later.
I feel like I have a million things I need to say to Sailor, yet at the same time, I feel as though I’ve said everything I need to say to her in one single sentence. I love you.
It really does say it all, and I’ve announced it in front of her dad, Raven, and half a dozen total strangers. And I don’t care at all who knows it. She’s back. She’s safe. She’s alive. And I love her. Isn’t that all that matters?
I will move Heaven and Hell to be with this girl. I’ll fight all the gods and anyone else who stands in our way. I will fight to love her, fight to keep her dad safe. Because hearing her call for me when she was at her most vulnerable has finally convinced me that she feels this thing every bit as much as I do. That she too will be willing to fight for us. And knowing how stubborn she is, no doubt she will be the one who finds a way for us to be together.
I know I have to tell her about the gods’ ultimatum though. I should have told her sooner. I should have trusted her to find a way around their threats, but instead of letting her in and telling her how I really felt about her, I resisted my feelings because I didn’t want to compromise the mission. I should have known better.
I feel a tugging sensation on my hand and I snap out of my head and back into the room. Sailor smiles at me.
“I kind of wanted to hug my dad,” she says with a soft laugh, looking down at our hands.
I realize the tugging was her trying to get her hand free from my iron grip, and I release her hand with a muttered sorry. She hugs her dad tightly and she even gives Raven a quick hug. Okay, maybe she’s not quite back to normal, I can’t help but think.
“What happened?” she asks.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Adam says, glaring at the doctors, whom I had almost forgotten were still there.
“Maybe we should talk somewhere a little more private,” one of the doctors says, nodding towards the door.
He steps to the door and pulls it open. The nurses have already left and now his colleague steps out. Adam looks torn between finding out what the doctor has to say and staying by Sailor’s side. As the door opens, Nexus walks in, followed by the team. I notice Sunday is back on his body. He looks a little pale, but otherwise he seems okay. Nexus is using her invisibility enchantment again. It would be a bit much to try and explain to Adam what one of the substitute teachers from the school—a role Nexus has reluctantly taken to keep an eye on us around school—is doing here, but the team is visible again.
“Umm, you can’t all be in here,” the doctor says.
“Please let them stay, Dad,” Sailor whispers.
“It’s fine,” Adam says to the doctor. He turns his attention to the team. “Just don’t get her all worked up guys, okay?”
He gets a round of nods and then he gives Sailor another quick hug and heads towards the open door. Raven starts to follow Adam. He reaches the group and Mel gives him a quick hug.
Taken aback, he thanks her and says they will be right back.
“Raven?” Sailor says.
“Yes, dear,” she says.
She sounds nervous, like she’s waiting for Sailor to tear strips off her or something. I’m kind of waiting for the same thing.
“Thank you,” Sailor says with a smile.
“Fucking hell, how hard did she hit her head?” Jinx mutters.
Mel digs him in the ribs with her elbow and he rubs the spot and frowns at Mel. I can’t say I’m thrilled that he said it out loud, but I’m kind of wondering the same thing myself.
“For what?” Raven asks, clearly as confused as the rest of us.
This is it. The moment Sailor will strike her down with a cutting comment. She surprises me when, instead, she gives Raven a genuine smile.
“For being there for my dad. I know he couldn’t have done this alone. And well, I’m grateful that he didn’t have to. So thank you,” she says sincerely.
Raven steps towards Sailor and reaches out and strokes her hair back from her face.
“Where else would I be?” She smiles. “I really do have feelings for your dad, Sailor, and I think we could have something really special. With your permission I’d like to find out. And I’d like to get to know you better too. Maybe we could have a girl’s day out or something once you’re feeling better. I really would like us to be friends.”
Sailor frowns ever so slightly and her mouth puckers as she thinks about it. Her face breaks into a smile again and she nods her head.
“I’d like that too.” She smiles. “Perhaps we should start over.”
Raven nods, a delighted smile on her face. She goes to join Adam, who is standing in the doorway. I can see the relief on his face now that Sailor has come around to at least giving Raven a chance. Adam puts his arm around her and guides her out of the room. The doctor follows, pulling the door closed behind us.
Nexus appears, and Sailor jumps and then laughs.
“Cool trick,” she says.
“I’m full of them.” Nexus grins.
“So, Sails, how hard did you bang your head?” Jinx asks. “Because you sure seem to have come around to the hot teacher.”
Sailor rolls her eyes and waves his comments away.
“She can rot in hell for all I care. That was for my dad’s benefit.” She turns her attention to me. “We have a lot to talk about, but first, I need caffeine and food.”
I glance out the window, surprised to see it’s light, and I check my watch. It’s almost ten.
“I’ll make a Starbucks run,” Jinx offers.
“I knew you had to be useful for something.” Sailor smiles at him. “I’ll have the biggest caramel macchiato you can find.”
Jinx gives her a salute and heads out.
“We have to get that second Soul Gem and fast,” Sailor says. “Nexus, can you take Mel and Ya-Ya and try to find out how we can get down there safely please?”
Nexus nods and opens a portal, which the three of them step through.
“What about the rest of us?” I ask.
I’m vaguely aware I should be the one making these decisions, but Sailor seems to have a plan of action all worked out, and if she has everything covered, then who am I to stand in her way? She’s the one who experienced whatever the hell that was, not me, and that gives her a bit of slack to make a decision or two in my mind.
“Can you and Aziza nip down to the diner and grab me some breakfast? And make sure my dad goes to work. He’s due to start at eleven. He’ll want to stay here, but not only is it not necessary, it’ll just slow us down.”
“I want to stay with you,” I say. “Sunday can go with Aziza.”
Sailor shakes her head firmly and squeezes my hand.
“I appreciate that, but I need Sunday here right now. I want to go through what we saw with him. There’s stuff I can’t explain, and if he knows about it, it’ll make it much easier to explain it to you guys. Is that okay?”
I nod reluctantly. I guess it makes sense.
“If you need anything at all, call me,” I say.
Sailor nods.
“Right now, I need a bacon sandwich.” She grins.
I can’t help but laugh. It’s good to know that almost dying has done nothing to damage her appetite at least.
Sunday sits down on the edge of Sailor’s bed as Aziza and I head out. I catch a couple of Sailor’s words as the door closes, but I must be mistaken. She couldn’t have said what I thought she said. Because I thought she said she was seeing my family.
CHAPTER SIX: FAMILY SECRETS
Aziza and I walk ba
ck into Sailor’s hospital room. Jinx is already back and she’s sipping her large coffee. Her stomach rumbles as she smells the sandwich I’m carrying and I can’t help but laugh. I hand her the sandwich, and she tears into it like she hasn’t eaten for days.
“Oh my God, that’s so good,” she says around a big bite.
She takes another bite and washes it down with the coffee.
“So, did you and Sunday manage to make sense of everything?” I ask.
“To some extent,” Sunday replies. “There are still things we don’t really understand, but the dreams aren’t a threat. They’re the result of the first Soul Gem. The Gem is basically teaching Sailor all of the Avo history I tried and failed to teach her.”
“It wasn’t you who failed, Sunday.” Sailor smiles. “I’m not a great student at the best of times, and history was never my strong point.”
Sunday shrugs.
“Whatever. So do you want to start at the beginning?”
“Aren’t we going to wait for the others?” Sailor asks.
I shake my head. I need to know what’s going on with her.
“No. You can tell them later,” I say.
I see her face change and I frown.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
“I don’t want to go through it all again, Rye. This is bad enough to have to go through it now.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think,” I say. “I’ll get them back here.”
I send Nexus a message asking her to come back with the others. While we wait, Jinx winds Sailor up about her saying he was the hottest member of the team. Unfazed, she laughs along with him.
“You do realize that people who are doped up see the weirdest things, right Jinx?” She grins.
“I’m hurt. I really thought you were seeing the truth,” he pouts.
“I was,” she says, smiling in my direction.
I return her smile as Jinx makes fake retching sounds. Sailor rolls her eyes at his theatrics. She turns to me.
“Did you and Aziza convince my dad he has to go to work?” she asks.
I nod my head as a portal opens and Nexus, Mel, and Ya-Ya step into the room.
“I’ll tell you everything after this,” I say.
Mel goes to the corner of the room and drags a stack of chairs over. When everyone is seated, Sailor looks around at us all.
“I’ll start with what I saw before Sunday came to me,” she says.
She looks at me with a strange look, one I can’t quite read.
“I was in a room and a woman walked in. I didn’t recognize the room and I didn’t recognize the woman, but she told me she was your mom, Rye. She asked me to tell you she loves you and that she misses you and that she’s extremely proud of you,” Sailor says.
Now I know what the strange look was about. I smile at her, a pained smile. I want to thank her but I don’t trust myself to speak. Aziza reaches out and squeezes my shoulder and Sailor carries on.
“She said that she knew you loved me and that I just had to be patient.” Sailor smiles.
“She clearly hasn’t done her research on you then if she thought there was any chance of you being patient.” I laugh, finding my voice.
“Hey.” Sailor laughs. “That’s not fair. I can be patient when I want to be.”
“She just doesn’t want to be very often,” Aziza adds with a laugh.
Sailor shrugs.
“Yeah. I can’t really argue with that one,” she says.
She pauses for a moment and then she goes on.
“The conversation with your mom was the only bit that I could really make sense of. The rest of it was like broken fragments, flashes of things that didn’t fit together and didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Sunday has managed to figure some of it out though.
“I saw a girl. A child really. She had black hair and she was wearing a locket. A man was carrying her through the woods. The girl was clutching the locket like her life depended on it. She was crying. The cries of someone who is truly heartbroken, but I don’t know why. Before I could try to puzzle it out, the scene changed.
“There was a cabin in the woods. Not our cabin. One I’ve never seen before. There was a battle going on. At first I thought the gods and goddesses were fighting demons, but they weren’t. They were fighting each other. One of the gods cornered a goddess. He said something to her, and then he killed her. I feel like whatever he said would have told me what was going on and why they were fighting each other, but I couldn’t hear them. I couldn’t even hear the battle noises or the screams of the wounded. It was like watching the TV on mute.
“After that, there was a man. He had kind eyes, warm eyes. They were so familiar to me but I didn’t know the man. It was only when I woke up looking into your eyes, Rye, that I knew why they seemed so familiar to me. They were your eyes. I think the man was your father. He was saying something, and I got the impression it was something important, something I needed to hear. But it was like the sound was broken or something and I couldn’t make out what he was saying.”
She goes to say something else but I interrupt her.
“Wait. What do you mean that the sound was broken?” I ask.
“It was like talking on a cell phone when the reception is bad,” she says. “You know, like you catch a word here and there but the bulk of it is dropped?”
I nod my head. I know what she means.
“Did you get anything from it, Sunday? Maybe what he was saying would have made more sense to you and you could piece it together a bit more,” Ya-Ya says.
Sunday shakes his head.
“No. That was before I got in there,” he says.
“After the man stopped trying to talk to me, everything got dark. That’s when I started screaming I think, and when Sunday came into my dream. Well, it wasn’t really a dream, was it?”
“I think some of it was,” Sunday says.
“The darkness lifted a little and I could see a battle scene,” Sailor goes on. “Gods and goddesses were fighting the demons this time, but they were like no demons I’ve ever seen before. They were so strong, so powerful. They were cutting through the gods and goddesses like they weren’t even there.”
“I haven’t seen or even heard of any kind of demon like those,” Sunday adds.
“I ended up in the battle. I couldn’t fight the demons and I was getting attacked from every angle. That’s when I really started screaming. Every part of me was on fire, in agony, and I couldn’t do anything to stop them.”
“And I was powerless to help her,” Sunday adds. “It was like she said earlier. It’s like I was watching a movie. Except for me, it wasn’t muted. I could hear Sailor’s screams but I couldn’t get to her.”
“I was screaming for you, Rye. And then the man with your eyes, he pulled me out of the battle. The scene changed again and I was in the woods. I could hear the battle still raging, but I was far enough away from it that I felt reasonably safe. Your mom came to me again. She told me someone had betrayed them. One of the gods. That’s what gave the demons the extra powers, making them unbeatable. She said that’s why she had to do what she did.”
She trails off again and she looks at me with pain in her eyes.
“It’s okay, Sailor, you can say it,” I tell her, although part of me wishes she and I were alone and I could at least process whatever bomb she is going to drop on me before the rest of the team have to find out about it.
Sailor nods and goes on. Each word hits me like a fist.
“I saw another scene. Your parents went to check the Soul Gems were still there. They were, and that’s when your mom put in the fail-safe. The gems would only be released with the combination of a hair from the Paradox and a drop of blood from your family’s line.”
She trails off and shakes her head slightly.
“Do you want me to tell them?” Sunday asks quietly.
Sailor takes a deep breath and shakes her head agai
n.
“No. But thank you. Rye, your mom put in an extra fail-safe. The combination of my hair and your blood would only work to release the gems if …”
“If what, Sailor?” I prompt her.
She meets my eye and I see tears dancing on the surface of hers. A single one escapes her right eye and runs down her cheek. If she notices it, she doesn’t reach up to wipe it away.
“The gems would only be released if you were the last living member of your bloodline,” she says.
I take a moment to process her words. I know what she’s saying, but I can’t let myself believe it. I have to have misunderstood.
“But that means…”
I stop talking. I can’t bring myself to say the rest of the words, but Sailor reads them in my eyes. She nods sadly.
“Yes. I’m so sorry, Rye. Your parents knew they were going to die.”
CHAPTER SEVEN: TWIST OF FATE
I take a moment to really let those words sink in. I’m trying to decide how I feel about them, but the truth is, I just don’t know. I honestly don’t know if the revelation makes me feel more guilty or less guilty.
The one thing I do know is this is much more dangerous than any of us originally thought. Until now, the Horsemen have provided the real danger, while the Soul Gems have been a somewhat secondary concern. Now though, they’ve just been bumped up to the same level as the threat from the Horseman. If these gems fall into the wrong hands, not only will it kill Sailor, but it could end the world as easily as the Horsemen could. If the gems are able to release demons like the kind even Sunday has never come across, then this is bad.
I have to get this under control, and I have to do it now. I take a deep breath and stand up. I instantly feel calmer now I’m moving. I feel more like myself, like a leader, and it’s time to put the team to work.
“Nexus, can you and Mel go back to finding some way for us to enter that gate and get down the staircase safely,” I say.
“Got it,” Nexus says.
Mel looks surprised that I want her to go with Nexus but she nods her head in agreement.
