by Lola StVil
“What?”
“Emmy, let go,” he repeats.
Confused, I look up. Reese is gone. The pond is gone. And so is the ground beneath me.
I am now dangling several feet in the air, alongside the cliff. The red lake roars at me from below as if to say, “The Vsk eagerly awaits you.”
The only thing that stands between me and a mangled death is a tree branch that’s getting weaker by the moment. I open my mouth to scream but the sound gets caught in my throat fearing it will somehow cause the branch to break.
Marcus begins his climb down the cliff to rescue me. From above, I see the team looking down at me, horrified. They order me to hold on and not look down. I want to do as they say but my fingers are sweaty making it hard to maintain a good grip on the branch.
The wind laughs in my ear and whistles a tune dedicated to my demise. I silently beg the branch to ignore the wind and hold steady.
“I’m almost there. Don’t let go,” he begs me.
I look up and he’s climbing down to me as fast as he can, but it’s not fast enough. The branch snaps and I plummet to my death…
BOOK II
MARCUS CANE
“She walks in Beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes…”
----Lord Byron
CHAPTER TWELVE: THE GAME
Rio approaches me a few minutes after Emmy leaves me standing on the edge of the cliff. I know he’s reading my Wave and sometimes I wish I could turn him off.
“What?” I snap.
“I thought I’d check on you before you used your fist to take down the mountain. So, what’s up?”
“Well, about five minutes ago, my girlfriend handed me a miniature Spiderman action figure and made me promise to kill her.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her sure, no problem,” I reply harshly. “How could she ask that of me?”
“I don’t think that’s what’s pissing you off.”
“Okay, then why am I pissed?”
“Because you realize she’s right. The entire human race matters more than just one person. Even if that person is the girl you love.”
“Does your power ever irritate you? Because right now it’s annoying the hell out of me.”
“You have no idea.”
“The more she pushes for me to take her life if we don’t get the Amulet, the more I want to fight for her. How is it fair to destroy someone so self-sacrificing?”
“Marcus, there may be a way to get into the castle without having to go into the Lake,” Isabelle calls out to me.
I rush off and follow her into the cave. We pass Emmy and Jay who seem intent on watching our every move. Isabelle has listed several books that mention an entrance into the castle. Jay is right, that girl reads too much.
But she’s also the reason we may actually get inside of Kairo’s castle; that makes her more than okay in my book.
“There was a researcher friend of mine who wrote a book about the relationship between Kairo and his mother. In it he states that although the two are estranged, they often think alike.”
“So, he might have modeled Pyron after Difi?” I ask.
“Not in an obvious way, but like Lucy, Kairo would have made sure that if he was ever in danger…”
“He had more than one exit,” I reply, finishing her thought.
We scour her well-written notes in search of more clues. She looks across the cave to where Jay and Emmy sit studying us.
“Is he always like this?” she asks me while eyeing Jay.
“Like what?”
“Nice.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess everyone is at first.”
“No, Jay’s the real deal.”
“How come he doesn’t have a girl?”
“He’s not really into commitment.”
“Oh.”
I can actually feel her disappointment fill the space between us.
“Every guy isn’t a ‘commitment guy’ at first, Isabelle. Then we find a girl who is worth it and we don’t mind being committed. In fact, we insist.”
“I just got my Rah back. I don’t want to give it away to someone who’s not serious.”
“The Rah is just a tangible thing. That comes last.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I have seen the way you two look at each other. Your heart’s gone already. It’s just a matter of time until you hand him your Rah. That’s the bad part about it.”
“What’s bad about taking your time?”
“Nothing, normally. But given the duties that go along with being a Guardian, I’m not sure a long courtship is realistic.”
“So you think I should just jump in and be with Jay?”
“I think I wasted a lot of time fighting what I felt for Emmy. In the end all I did was piss off my ex and lose precious time.”
“There’s all sorts of stuff about you guys in the Splash. I’m not really sure what to believe.”
“It’s up to you but the Splash isn’t with us everyday. I’m with Jay most of the time and believe me when I tell you, if he cares about you, then he’s in a hundred percent.”
She looks over at him as if deliberating on whether or not he’s worth taking a chance on. She doesn’t tell me what she decides but from the small smile she’s suppressing, I would say Jay has a good shot.
When we actually find a possible way into the castle, Emmy and Jay tell us we should let the team recharge. Normally, we wouldn’t need to do that as much as we have been, but being here, so close to Kairo, we have to work harder not to let evil in. That requires us to recharge more and more.
So Miku is keeping watch outside the cave while everyone rests. I’m about ten minutes into recharging when I hear Tony-Tone call out my name. I am awake instantly. Right away I see what the cause for alarm is: Emmy is standing in the middle of the cave, eyes open, talking to someone that’s not there.
I rush over and call out her name. She doesn’t respond. It’s as if she doesn’t even know I’m there. By now the rest of the team is up. Isabelle calls out Emmy’s name, too but Emmy ignores her. After snapping her fingers in front of Emmy’s face a few times, Isabelle looks over at me.
“What is it? Why isn’t she responding?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Does she normally sleep walk?”
“No, not that I’ve seen.”
Watching my girl have a full-on conversation with someone who isn’t really there is freaking me out. I shake her gently but it does nothing to break her out of whatever is happening to her.
“Did she accidently drink some kind of mixture?” I ask Tony.
“I didn’t bring anything that could have this effect.” Tony says.
“Just give her something to make her wake up,” I demand.
“No. If we don’t know what’s causing her hallucinations, we shouldn’t try to treat her. Mixing the wrong mixtures together causes brain damage in humans,” Isabelle informs us.
“We need to know what she did today,” Jay says.
“She woke up from almost being eaten alive, she interacted with the team, smelled a flower, we talked on top of the cliff…then she came back inside the cave,” I recount.
“Tell me about the flower,” Isabelle says.
“I don’t know it was just some stupid flower. It had white and black dots. I kept thinking ‘it’s so like Emmy to find some good in this Omnis-forsaken place.’”
“What she found wasn’t good at all. The flower you’re describing is called DD: The Deadly Desire rose.”
“What does it do besides making her act crazy?” I ask.
“Once she inhaled its scent, it went inside her. Now its letting her play out her desires. But no matter what the desire is, the ending will always be death. It’s the kind of flower t
hat Kairo would have a whole garden of.”
“How do we snap her out of it?”
“You don’t. You have to let it play out.”
“No! I’m not gonna let Emmy stay inside some crazy dream world,” I protest.
“Isabelle is right. I know a few Sellers who make a killing harvesting the DD’s. You can’t wake up from it. You can only hope that you wake up on your own before…ya know,” Tony adds.
I watch helpless as Emmy takes of her sneakers and walks out into the forest. The team is right beside me. I keep calling out to her although they tell me it’s useless.
Who is she talking to in her dream? What’s happening? Why does she look blissfully happy one minutes and worried the next?
Emmy makes her way towards the edge of the cliff. I stand in her way so she doesn’t go over. Whoever she’s talking to in her mind, just made her feel sad again. She turns away from the cliff and starts to head back to the cave.
Isabelle signals to me that that’s a good sign; Emmy may be pulling herself out of it.
Then without the slightest warning, she turns back and leaps off the side of the cliff. It takes a full second for us realize what Emmy has just done. Everything in me wanted to look down and see what happened; at the same time, I dreaded looking over the edge.
She can’t be gone. Not like this…
I look over the side and she’s hanging on by a branch. The team is talking to me but I can’t hear them. All I know it that I have to go down and get her before she falls. Everything that ever mattered to me was hanging on by a thin branch.
I start to descend down the cliff. I curse Kairo a million times for putting a Vsk at the bottom of the Lake and a force field in the air. I can’t wait to get this guy. I don’t give a damn how the Council punishes me.
I’m only a few feet away from her when I hear the sound of wood snapping. It’s followed by an earth-shattering cry from below. Emmy has fallen.
There is absolutely no way to explain what I’m feeling when I see her in freefall. It’s like someone took the sky away. Nothing makes sense. I don’t reflect on the right course of action. I don’t stop to consult with the team.
I immediately jump after her. I would rather die knowing I tried to save her than live knowing I didn’t.
* * *
As soon as I hit the water, the Vsk churns the lake in a funnel-like motion. It pulls me under with its powerful undercurrent. It is almost impossible to see anything other than swirls of discarded Angel and human body parts. But if I can somehow spot Emmy, maybe I can get her far enough away so that she can escape. I know the likelihood that she has survived this far is small but I can’t give up on her.
The strength of the Vsk nearly pulls my wings apart. I’m going deeper and deeper into the darkness. I fight to keep from being dragged to the floor of the lake where a mangled future awaits me.
I just need to stay alive long enough to find her.
I swim as far as I can and still no sight of Emmy. I turn the opposite direction and swim out, no sign of her. Finally, I can no longer avoid the Vsk. It pulls me into its center. I’m sucked up into darkness too deep to be natural.
Suddenly, the darkness lifts and I’ve been washed up on to the center of some kind of platform. Kairo has built the Lake with a sublevel that emptiness out into the center of his castle.
Emmy stands wet and shivering a few feet away. I rush over to her, she latches on to me tightly.
“You know what? That really warms my heart. Well, if I had one,” someone says.
I turn and find Kairo a few yards away from me. He isn’t what I was expecting. There are no hideous markings on him. He isn’t horribly disfigured and doesn’t have eyes that swirl with dark abyss. If anything, most people would consider him attractive.
Kairo is about 6’2. He has mid-length hair, cut into spiky layers. He wears black knee-high leather boots and a button-down red velvet jacket that reaches the floor. He has on dark makeup that accentuate his eyes and red lips. He looks more like a Goth rocker than the son of evil.
I run up to strike him only to be violently thrown to the floor by a force field. That’s when I notice Kairo holding a cane-shaped “liquid” that stands a few inches off the ground.
“That cane is called a Loop. A Loop is a master key. It controls everything on this side of the force field. Kairo can come in but we can’t go out,” I inform Emmy in a whisper.
“We have to get the Loop away from him.”
“It won’t matter. It will only work in Kairo’s hand. It won’t recognize anyone else’s,” I reply.
Emmy and I exchange worried looks as Kairo enjoys the sight of his new prisoners trying to figure a way out.
“You need to let us out Kairo,” I order him.
“I’m hurt that you would take that kind of attitude with me. After all, I saved you and the human. Didn’t I?” he asks.
“I’m sure you did it because you’re a great guy,” I retort.
His laugh echoes in the vast castle.
“First, I would like to welcome you to my home. It seems to me that you have gone to a lot of trouble to see me. I didn’t want you two to come all this way only to be chewed up by the Vsk. No, that’s for everyday beings. Not for my favorite pair of lovers.”
Emmy and I are taken aback that he knows who we are.
“Oh yes, I have broken some Splashes. This Angel/human love affair is making news everywhere. It seems you two have been a real pain to Lucy.”
“You need to let her go, Kairo,” I order him.
“Would you like to know more about the Castle Relinque?”
“Let us out!” Emmy shouts.
“If you look around you’ll find some of my most valuable treasures. I think killing with powers or a mixture is too easy. I like the human way: Contact with the body,” he says pleasantly.
Emmy and I survey the vast room and discover it’s a murder’s museum. There’s a lengthy display of knives, swords, and torture devices mounted on the wall.
Emmy signals for me to look at the throne Kairo sits on. It’s a collection of bones that have been bound together to form the morbid center piece of Kairo’s lair. He notices Emmy staring at it.
“Do you like my throne? I had a devil of a time putting it together. Alas, I had a lot of help from humans and Angels alike,” he says smugly.
As he talks, I notice a thick silver necklace with a pendant around his neck. It has the same pattern as that in the book of fairytales. I signal to Emmy and she agrees; Kairo is wearing the Amulet we came for.
“You want to fight me, fine. But Emmy has noting to do with this,” I protest.
“Actually, she is really the only thing that concerns me. See, it’s been a long time since I played with a human.”
“Don’t you touch her!” I shout, placing Emmy protectively behind me.
“She came to my house and now I get to play with her.”
“You touch her and I swear to Omnis, I will kill you,” I vow.
“Even if you could, my death would be met by yours. The Council would have to make it up to Lucy if her son was killed by an Angel. You know that.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, I sense something very “hero–like” about you. I hate that,” he says.
“Kairo, she’s human; there’s no sport in killing her.”
“Killing her? What do you take me for? I don’t just kill like a common everyday Demon. My dear friend, I am an artist.”
“That means you find ways to make people suffer,” Emmy accuses.
“That means if killing people was an actual product, Akons, Demons, Runners would all be PCs. I, dear girl, am a Mac. I kill with Power. Precision. Style.”
I turn to Emmy and assure her that I will find a way to get her out. She nods but I can see panic behind her eyes.
“What is it that you came for?” Kairo asks.
“You have something that doesn’t belong
to you,” I reply.
“I have several things that don’t belong to me. Let’s see I have skulls, ribs, fingers…you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“The Amulet.”
“Oh, this?” he says innocently.
“Yes.”
“I knew it had to be important but I never knew why. It was given to me by a Pawn who tried to con me with fake weeping oil. When I found him, he gave me everything he owned. But when it came to this Amulet, he actually tired to keep me from taking it. I promised him that if he handed it over peacefully, I wouldn’t kill him. I believe one of the spines glued to the base of my throne is his,” he says, looking around to see where he had glued the Pawn’s remains.
“You give me the Amulet and we’ll leave you alone,” I inform him.
“Said the Angel behind the force field,” Kairo muses.
“I came for the Amulet. I’m going to get it,” I promise him.
“I like you, Guardian. In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret most people don’t know about me: I’m kind of a geek.”
“Yeah, I got that from the PC reference,” I retort.
“I mean, I love puzzles. In fact, I have three for you today. And if you and your human solve all three, I will let you choose which blade I fillet your girlfriend with.”
“We’re not here to play games, Kairo,”
“Well, that’s good because while this is a game for me, it’s incredibly serious for you.”
Kairo points the Loop at Emmy and a glass box springs up from the floor and encases her.
“No! Let me be in the box. I’ll go in the box. Not her. Leave her alone, you freak!” I protest.
He laughs heartily as he looks on. Emmy examines her glass prison anxiously. She bangs on it repeatedly. I run over to her and try to smash it. I hit the glass with every ounce of strength I have. It has absolutely no impact.
“Here’s the deal, Guardian. Your girl is being stripped of oxygen. She can only survive three minutes, at which point, parts of the brain will begin to die. Read the clues engraved on the glass, solve the riddle, and save her.”
“Why would you do this?” Emmy screams at Kairo.
“Because dear, killing outright gets old. When you have the answer, Guardian, just call it out. By the way, you get three guesses. Every time you guess wrong, the air depletes faster.”
