by Lola StVil
“Randy, it’s okay. We’ll talk later. For now, can you go and update the team for me, please?” I ask, taking his hand and guiding him towards the Port. He reluctantly gets on to go back home.
“You really are the best thing that’s happened to my daughter. Thank you for being so fearless. I am honored to know you, Randy,” Dad calls out after him. A smile forms on my best friend’s face just as he disappears from view.
“How long have you known Randy was the Blue Rose?” he asks as soon as we’re alone.
“How long have you known that my mom was dying?” I counter.
“We were in the light; it’s not like I could have reached out and told you.”
“You came down to Earth and you said nothing! You were never planning on telling me,” I challenge.
“I came down here to tell you, but I couldn’t because I was too busy having to pry you off of furniture.”
“I said I was sorry, okay? Can we move on now?”
“No, Pry, we can’t move on because you’re not sorry.”
“You’re right, I’m not! Dad, when I was dancing up on that bar, it felt great. For a few minutes I wasn’t the girl who lost her kid brother, or the girl who would someday have to choose between saving the world and killing her best friend.
“And best of all, I wasn’t the girl who was stupid enough to think Aaden actually cared about her. Dad, I wasn’t trying to disgrace this family or ruin my team. I was trying to stop the pain from eating me alive.”
“How could someone screw up so bad?” he says.
“Dad, I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t talking about you, Pry, I was talking about me,” he says as he comes over to me and takes my hand. “I came down here as the First Guardian and I should have come as your dad.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, honey, it’s not. Your mom and I have missed you so much. And I have wanted to do this since the day we first got stuck in the light.” He pulls me in and hugs me tightly.
I didn’t realize how much I missed my dad until he held me. I missed the certainty, strength, and compassion that come with his embrace. I battled all sorts of evil, but in the back of my mind, I always knew that if I got in real trouble, I could count on my dad to help me. I don’t know what I would do without him. He starts to pull away, but I hold on tighter.
“No, I’m not ready,” I confess as I hold onto him. When I finally let go, he brushes a stray hair from my face. Even when he’s in full “pissed-off First Guardian” mode, I know he loves me.
“Dad, what are we going to do about Mom? I know Randy can’t reveal himself, but how are we going to save her?”
“After talking with Rage, I sought out a Healer friend. Once I gave him all the information, he was able to confirm what Jason said. The only way to save her is to use the eye.”
“That’s it? Did you find out anything else?” I ask.
“Yes. There’s something Mrs. Greenblatt didn’t tell you about the Blue Rose.”
Great, the Face is hiding something from us. What else is new?
“What is it, Dad?”
“Randy can’t be forced to drink the vial. He has to do it willingly. He has to want to become the source of all evil.”
“OHMYOMNIS!” I shout as I get on the phone to call Randy.
“Pry, honey, put the phone down.”
“Why? This is great news! Dad, Randy would never turn evil. That means he can reveal who he is and Malakaro can’t force him to drink the vial. We can save Mom.”
“Anyone can turn evil with enough incentive,” he says gently.
“No, not Randy.”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe Randy can’t be corrupted, but that won’t stop Jason from trying. He will kill every single person in Randy’s life if that’s what it takes. It’s best that he know nothing about Randy whatsoever.”
“Then what now? Do we start looking through old journals? Could there be something online? Maybe your Healer friend could help us,” I suggest.
“Pry, there is no way out of this, sweetheart. The only move we can make is to hand over Randy, and we will not do that.”
“Then tell me what to do, Dad, because I am freaking out! I can’t take not being able to help Mom. I can’t. So please help me, help me.” I latch on to his chest and sob openly.
“All we can do now is what your mom would have wanted us to do, talk.”
“No, talking can wait. We have to save her.”
“Pryor, I would go to the ends of the earth to save your mother. She is the love of my life. But sometimes you can’t save the ones you love. But at least I’m here now, looking after the thing she loves the most in this world, our daughter.”
“It can’t end like this for her, it just can’t,” I beg.
“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” he lies.
“You can stay here if you want, but I will go out and find a way to help my mom,” I reply, pulling away from him.
“You want to help, honey? Then start by talking to me. That’s what she wants. She wants to know that when she’s gone, you and I will still look out for each other. Believe me, Pry, I can’t even begin to think of life without her. But what would be even more devastating is losing Emmy and my last child all at the same time.”
“You’re not gonna lose me, Dad.”
“We lost your brother. It hurts with every second that passes. We are about to lose your Mom, and you’re spinning out of control. My family is slipping away…”
He sits down on the edge of my bed and hangs his head. I see something in his eyes I have never seen before: exhaustion and defeat. That’s when I start to really understand; my father has spent all this time in the light being a rock for my mom and keeping his team together. He never got a chance to grieve the loss of his son. And now he won’t get a chance to grieve for his wife because his teenage daughter is so out of control, he fears she’ll go off the deep end.
Damn…
I sit down next to him and place my hand in his. I then rest my head on his shoulders and wait while he does in my room what he wasn’t able to do in the light—mourn.
“Daddy, how do I help you? What can I do?” I plead.
“Talk to me. I’m caught up on what happened, but I have no idea how you feel about the things that have happened. Tell me what’s hurting you. Let me go back into the light knowing that my daughter and I are still close.”
“We are.”
“Are we? I’m not the First Guardian right now, Reesie. I’m your father. Please, baby, talk to me.”
“You sound like Mom,” I reply with a smile.
“That’s how I know I’m doing the right thing.”
“I’m not really sure where to start,” I admit.
“Anywhere you want.”
“Okay. While you were gone, I found love. Then, I lost it…”
Chapter Eight:
We Got This
The fact is, even if everything was okay with my mom, it would be hard to talk about my personal life with my dad. When he was on Earth, I didn’t have a personal life. I had Randy and school. Now, there’s so much more to me. So right off the bat, this conversation is slow and awkward.
Some parts are easier to discuss than others. When I tell him about the first year Aaden joined the team, it is effortless. That’s because I am recounting things as a leader would to another leader. But when we get to the subject of Aaden as my former boyfriend, it gets hard to open up. Dad senses that and waits patiently for me to continue.
“Aaden and I, we were…together,” I say in a small voice.
“You mean together?” Dad says gently.
“Yeah. Are you mad?” I reply, biting my lower lip, waiting for the scolding of my life.
“Was he kind to you?” Dad asks.
“Yes.”
“And he didn’t pressure you?”
“No,” I assure him.
“Then I’m not mad.”
“Honestly?”
“W
ell, I wish you’d held off, but I think all dads want their daughters to hold off. It’s our nature. But I’m glad your first time was with someone who treated you right,” he admits.
“In the end, it didn’t matter. He broke up with me.”
“I’m sorry, Reesie.”
“He said it was so that he could be a better dad to Sparks,” I reply.
“You don’t believe him?”
“How could I? Dad, it was just way too easy for him to toss me out of his life like I was trash. How can you love someone and tell them to go away? Who does that?” I plead.
“I did,” he says.
“When?”
“Back when your mom and I were dating. I loved her more than anything in the world, but I was being a jerk. I pushed her away instead of holding on tightly, which is what I should have done.”
“What did Mom do when you sent her away?”
“The best thing someone can do when someone sends you away—go.”
“What happened?”
“As soon as she left, I knew I had made a mistake, but I let her go anyway.”
“Why?”
“Sometimes the right person comes at the wrong time,” he says.
“You think that’s what’s going on with Aaden and me?”
“I think fatherhood is scary and he panicked. I think he cares about you more than even he realizes. Just because you two aren’t together now doesn’t mean it won’t happen sometime down the line, honey,” Dad says.
“No, it won’t happen,” I vow.
“You’d never take him back?”
“No. He made promises to me and he broke them. He said that he loved me and then…” I can’t go on because a wave of sadness washes over me, making it difficult to continue.
Dad reaches out and places his hand on the side of my face. I rarely cry in front of anyone, yet here I am weeping openly before him.
“I know you’re in pain, Pry, and I know it seems impossible to do, but you need to let the situation play itself out.”
“Dad, he hasn’t contacted me in six months. Not one call, text, or messenger bird—nothing. I love him so much; I could never stay away from him that long. The fact that he could means…” I shake my head and stop speaking.
“Pry, talk to me, honey. What does it mean to you that Aaden has stayed away?”
“It means I’m just another girl to him. It means I’m stupid because I actually thought that I was special,” I reply as I pull away from my dad’s hold.
“Pryor Reese Cane, you know better than to go looking for your worth in someone or something else. You are special without Aaden, without your powers, and even without your wings. Sweetheart, you can’t truly love Aaden until you love yourself. You know that.”
“I want to be strong like you, but I don’t feel special, Dad. I feel defective. Like something is wrong with me because I couldn’t hold on to the love Aaden gave me.”
“That’s not true. Aaden had his hands full and he made a decision. It’s not a reflection on you. He’s a guy, we make bad mistakes, often. You can cry if that’s what you need to do. It hurts; you have every right to do that. But, honey, you can’t let someone walk away with your entire sense of self.
“You had a life before Aaden. You had a team before him and you were loved before him. You will get love regardless of who you are dating. The love will come from your family, your team, and most importantly, Pry, that love needs to come from you.”
“Dad, it’s so hard. It hurts all the time.”
“That’s why you have a team. You need to lean on them. They are family. Do you have any idea how many times Uncle Jay and Aunt Miku had to put up with my personal issues? I screwed things up with your mom a lot, but the team was always there for me. That’s what a team does. So don’t push them away.”
“They’ll think I’m weak if I break down in front of them,” I remind him.
“You are not weak for falling in love, honey. Leaders fall in love all the time. What makes you weak is refusing to let anyone else inside when love ends. It takes an incredible amount of strength to open up and talk to others when you are this hurt. But that is what you need to do in order to work through it. And make no mistake about it, Pry, you can’t fly over this heartbreak. You can’t go under it; all you can do is go through it.”
We didn’t just talk about Aaden. We spoke about the team as a whole. He complimented the way we come together when we face evil. I recounted the battles we fought and what was going through my mind when I killed the first Kaster demon. He marveled at Diana’s capacity for good and Randy’s bravery. I told him about Key’s battle with drugs and he tells me he spoke to her when he first landed.
“Jay and Miku gave me a message for the twins. I think that will help Key stay away from drugs. Swoop too. Has it been hard for her to find her place on the team?” Dad asks.
“She’s not there yet. She keeps a lot of secrets, but I think she’ll trust more in time,” I reply.
“Secrets will pull your team apart. Make sure to handle them before they become a real issue,” he warns.
“I know that. But I also know it would be much better if Swoop comes to us on her own. She has an ex-boyfriend she won’t reveal to us,” I explain.
“Could this guy be harmless?”
“Not the way she’s reacting to my request for his identity.”
“What are you thinking?” Dad wonders.
“I’m thinking it may be a demon.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time,” he says.
“Some demons are okay. I mean, look at Diana,” I reply.
“Diana and Rage are rare, honey. It would be a mistake to think a demon turning good is an everyday occurrence. And you have to try to keep Diana on the right path every day. She has been evil for some time; that doesn’t just go away.”
“I know; losing Sparks really hurt her, and I don’t know how to help,” I admit.
“She is feeling like life isn’t worth living. You have to give her a reason to fight that feeling.”
“How?”
“C’mon, First Noru, she’s a member of your team. Think about what she’s lacking right now and help her get it. A team is only as strong as its individual members. Don’t just sit back and wait for them to figure things out. This is your team, help them the same way they will help you,” Dad encourages.
“Okay, I think I can do that. Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Is Uncle Rage really with Easton’s mom?”
“He’s not with anyone. He won’t let himself get that close to anyone. But I think the two of them could work.”
“Do I tell Easton?” I ask.
“That’s up to you, but remember, Easton is just starting to come into his own as a Noru. The powers are still new to him and you need to be gentle.”
“I will. I guess that covers everyone on the team,” I reply.
“Not everyone. Tell me what’s going on with the Kon,” he says.
“Bex is off the team; it’s better this way. He has leadership tasks to perform for the Paras, and in the end, it’s best if he stays with them. Although he still helps out the team.”
“I’m up to date on the official story. What I’m asking for is the unofficial one.”
“What do you mean, Dad?”
“Pry, I know what a guy looks like when he’s falling hard for a girl on his team. Bex has had feelings for you since the first day of training.”
“You knew about that?”
“Why do you think Aaden never got along with him? It’s hard to be friends with a guy who’s in love with the same girl you are.”
“I had no idea,” I confess.
“Maybe not back then, but you do now. The question is, how do you feel about him?”
“I like him, a lot. But it probably won’t work out.”
“Why not?”
I’ve seen his little brother naked on the side of a mountain.
&nb
sp; “It’s just a feeling I have,” I reply out loud.
It doesn’t matter how close my dad and I get, I can never tell him about Hunter and me. And even if I could, what would be the point?
“Do you think our team will ever be as good as yours?” I dare ask.
“No, you will be better. I have no doubt of that,” he says with a smile.
My dad and I continue to talk all night. When we get to the subject of Sam, my stomach knots up and my hands are icy to the touch. I knew this would be the hardest part of the night. Talking about my little brother’s murder could devastate both my dad and me. And at first it is just as difficult as I thought it would be.
I have to describe what I saw when I walked into the house and found Sam’s body. I hate to do it, but I can see from the look on my dad’s face, he needs to know exactly what happened. The more details I give him, the more he wants to know, the deeper his grief goes. I want to stop and have mercy on us both, but he encourages me to keep going.
Things start to look really bleak for the both of us. That is until I ask him about his favorite memory of Sam. That’s when we both start exchanging Sam stories. I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way, we went from mourning Sam to celebrating his short life. As the sun comes up, Dad and I are discussing Sam’s ability to make my mom forget to be angry when he did something wrong. He’d just flash his big eyes and my mom couldn’t help but let him off the hook.
“I think that was Sam’s real talent, getting himself out of trouble,” I tell Dad.
“Yeah, remember when he moved the house down the block?” Dad says as he starts laughing. I join in, unable to contain myself. My cell phone rings, and as I pick up, I’m still laughing.
“Hi, Key…wait, what? Calm down and tell me what happened,” I reply.
I listen intently for a few moments; I hang up the phone and bolt towards the door.
“Pry, what is it? What’s wrong?” Dad asks as he heads over to me.
“Randy is going to surrender himself to Malakaro.”
We both take off into the sky. We arrive just in time to watch Randy get off his Port, burst into the bar, and come face-to-face with the darkest evil the world has ever seen.
