Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “Yeah, and aside from Daver, the strongest is Wilson. He looks like the Hulk on extra steroids. That’s who there’ll send for you,” Jay confirms.

  “Alright, just play on their weakness. Jay, you take Daver. Miku, take Hudson. He has a problem underestimating girls,” I say.

  “You got it.”

  “Reese and Rio, you take the other two as a team. They’re new players. They don’t trust each other yet. We can use that.”

  The announcer blows his whistle and we’re off and running. Right away Daver kicks the ball in hopes of finding the crack that will split it open. But the ball doesn’t crack. It gets catapulted across the field, and we go after it.

  Miku shoots the ball over to Jay who head-butts it to Rio. Rio kicks the ball right into the goalie, but Daver intersects. The ball goes flying in the other direction. Rio and Jay collide in the air trying to stop the ball with their chests. They crash to the ground but were able to stop the ball.

  Jay gets up and kicks the ball over to me. I dive for it and manage to throw it back to Miku. Daver intercepts and kicks it toward our goalie. Reese tries to block the ball but misses it by a split second. The ball goes in. Travelers have thirty three points and we have zero. The crowd cheers for the Travelers, but some are booing. I guess a few people are on our side after all.

  Among a series of fancy foot work, Jay and Daver stand out. They block the ball from reaching the other’s goalie several times. There are a number of near misses. Hudson was watching Miku and he didn’t think she was a match for him. But where Miku is small she is also very agile. She moves like lightning and was able to slide between his legs and send the ball soaring.

  I leap into action as soon as the ball is within reach. I run with it as Daver and two others tried to steal the ball. I quickly dodge them and kick the ball toward the goalie. Hudson stops it with his whole body. Dust rises up in the air like a thick fog as his body careens into the ground.

  His teammates kick the ball in the opposite direction. Daver gets control. He kicks it behind him in a dazzling display of footwork. The ball is headed towards the goal with no one there to intercept it. Suddenly Jay appears and blocks it with his chest. The referee blows the whistle and holds up a yellow card, signaling we are in violation of the rules.

  The only rule in Runner Ball is that no powers or wings are to be used until the Runner has been set free. The referee charged Jay with a violation because he thought Jay had gotten there in time to stop the ball by gliding. I knew Jay would argue so I went over to stop him. It did no good to argue with the referee.

  “I told you man I didn’t glide,” Jay shouts.

  “I know what I saw, Guardian,” the ref shouts back.

  “If I did glide you wouldn’t have been able to see me, you idiot.”

  “I saw you cheat.”

  “I didn’t cheat.” He and the ref had been getting closer together the more they talked and were now toe-to-toe.

  “You glide, that’s a penalty. You glide one more time and you’re out of the game.”

  “Man, screw you.”

  “Walk away Guardian,” he warns.

  Rio and I come just in time. We tell him to be cool and let it go. He was angry but under control. The game resumed.

  As soon as the whistle blows, Daver kicks the ball and the Runner is cracked free. The crowd was going crazy. Now the real action was starting.

  It was just like we thought. The Runner had been given a Brawn Snap. He was beyond strong. Everyone that approached him he was able to throw across the field. I was eager to take him, but the other team guarded me closely so I couldn’t help out my team.

  The Runner dashes across the field. Jay and Rio catch him but he throws them off of him and onto the ground. The whole field shook. The crowd is on its feet and shouting . The sound is deafening.

  I looked up and see my teammates in the air trying to subdue the Runner. I make a run for it, but Daver is on my tail. I fake a left into the air then made a quick right. Before he can catch me, I am at Jay’s side. Daver and Hudson follow. They have the power to summon lightning and earthquakes.

  We were under attack from heaven and earth. Jay glides behind Hudson to stop him from making the ground shake. Miku flies over to help. Rio had caught the Runner but was having difficulty staying on him because he was so strong.

  Daver sends a bolt of lightning to injure the Runner so that even if we get him into the goalie, we would lose. But the bolt misses the Runner and goes straight to me. My body trembles and falls to the ground. The crowd gasps as I hit the floor. A time-out is called because I had not moved after the first three seconds of having been hit.

  The ref comes over. He asks if I am able to go on. I look up and see Emmy standing next to him. How did she get on the field?

  “I don’t give a damn about your rules. He could have been killed,” she shouts, highly pissed.

  “You have to get off the field,” the ref says.

  “Make me.”

  I begin to move out of fear that she might start a fight with the poor ref.

  “You see, he’s moving. He’s fine. Now go back up there and sit down,” the ref says.

  “No, I’m staying on the sidelines and if the other team pulls something like that again, they’ll have to deal with me,” she declares.

  “Who are you?”

  “Never mind that. Just don’t mess with me.” And with that, she goes to the sidelines.

  The crowd is buzzing. Who was the girl on the field? She didn’t act like a Ground Walker. Why didn’t she have any wings? Had they been stripped? Some of them recognized her from the Splash. It only took seconds for word to spread that a human was defending me. Great. This is just great.

  I get up. Jay shakes his head. The whistle blows and we only have two more minutes left to stop the Runner. While we were in time-out the Runner was frozen by the ref, who has the power to suspend movement.

  Everyone on my team knew they had to let me get another crack at the Runner. They surround the other players and keep them busy. I aim for the Runner. He made the mistake of looking up and I am able to catch his eyes. I reflect a quick flash and the fear he feels paralyzes him for a few seconds. That was enough time for me to jump down on him and attack.

  Hudson shoots another bolt of lightning. This time I am able to dodge it. I snatch the Runner before the bolt hits him. That kind of voltage would surely kill him. He tries to make a break for it, but I hold on to him.

  Daver makes a last-ditch effort to snatch the Runner away, but Rio puts up his wings as shields. Daver can’t get past. Time is running out for us to get the Runner into the goalie. A Traveler angel, called a Counter, hangs in the air like a clock. He starts upright. By the time he is upside down we have just 10 seconds left to make a play.

  The Counter made his final move; he was now fully upside down. The crowd started counting: ten … nine … eight. I see Jay out of the corner of my eye. I throw the Runner to him. The Runner was weak but still moving; a reaper, who is a rookie, would have killed him. But Jay knows how to hold a human without killing him.

  The crowd continues to count: five … four … three … Jay throws the Runner into the goalie. Daver hurls his whole body to try and stop the Runner from landing. The Runner was just slightly out of his reach. And as the crowd shouts two … one … the Runner is in the goalie, alive and well. The crowd cheers. Everyone stands up. We fly around the field, hollering like fools.

  ***

  The feelings of joy and euphoria last all the way back home. We talk about every moment of the game over and over again. How close Jay had come to being ejected from the game. How the Brawn Snap had been a very lucky guess by our team.

  But the subject that kept coming up was Emmy’s stand-off with the ref. She doesn’t want to talk about it. She says she hates Runner Ball and it was stupid for us to put ourselves in danger like that.

  Everyone asks her why she was so concerned that something would have happened to me. They ask if sh
e thought I was hurt that easily. She says she would have gotten up to defend who ever had been hit with the bolt of lightning. They don’t really buy it. I think it was because she worked so hard to sound casual about the whole thing.

  “I’ll take you home,” I say.

  “No, Jay or Reese can do it,” she says.

  That hurts a little. But I know it is part of her trying to grant my wish. Still, it isn’t easy to watch her choose other guys to take her home, even if they are my family.

  When I land on the roof of the house, Miku is waiting for me.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  “When are you gonna give her her wings back?”

  “When she deserves them.”

  “Is she being punished by the First Guardian or by her boyfriend?”

  “Don’t you care about Emmy?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Well, Meana almost killed her.”

  “Please, Marcus. If Ameana meant to kill Emmy, she would have been dead. That girl’s aim is flawless. She was just mad.”

  “That doesn’t give her the right to do what she did. She hurt someone, and she has to pay.”

  “When do you pay for the hurt you’ve caused?”

  ***

  We didn’t see Ameana for the rest of the weekend. Rio wouldn’t tell me what color she was radiating. He would only say that she wasn’t in danger. If she wanted to act like a child and disappear for days, then fine. I wasn’t going to spend my Triweekend looking for her.

  The next day, we pick up Emmy and go Soul Diving. I explained all of the rules to her. She thought it sounded even worse than Runner Ball. She asked how we could be so stupid as to play with ours souls like that. The thing is, no one ever thinks that they are the one whose wings are gonna fail.

  We take her to the top of Tamera Falls. We had to bring an oxygen tank for her. Rio had to stay wrapped around her most of the time because of the cold. As much as she claimed she hated Soul Diving, she couldn’t help but look when one of us would take a leap. She looked from between the spaces of her fingers, but she looked.

  She held her breath until the angels flew back up and were safely on the mountain. There were twenty-something of us, including three Paras. I tell Emmy to make sure she keeps her eyes open to see them dive.

  “Why?” she asks.

  “They are amazing. It’s like they aren’t even falling,” I say.

  “He’s right, Em. When they dive, it’s hot. Not as hot as what I can do, but it’s still kind of nice.” Jay says.

  She took our advice and watched when the Paras flew. They don’t go two at a time—all three go together. They don’t care who wins or loses. They just dive because they like it. Competition means nothing to them. They consider that a baser instinct that only newer angels have.

  They approach the edge and fall straight down in unison. It was so controlled, so graceful, that the others on the mountain start clapping. Minutes later, the Paras are back on the mountain. They look so put-together, like they had just gone for a walk down the street as opposed to jumping off the side of a mountain.

  When it’s our turn, Emmy has a fit. She says it’s crazy and that we need to have our heads examined. She wouldn’t stop carrying on about how dangerous it is. Finally, Jay promises that he would jump only once. But she says she can’t bear to see what happens. He makes her close her eyes for real this time.

  Then he and Daver stood next to each other. They were always going at it in some way: diving against each other, battling at Runner Ball, or trying to out-fly each other.

  They jump. Emmy keeps her eyes closed. She keeps asking if it is over. Finally, Jay walks up to her.

  “Girl, open your eyes,” he says.

  “Are you in one piece?” she asks.

  “One fine piece.”

  “Did anyone die?”

  “Nah,” he says. She opens her eyes.

  “Who won?”

  “What’s my name?” he boasts.

  Just then, Reese comes up to us.

  “Jay, this girl back here needs a reason to jump. Come show her your face,” he jokes.

  “Hate’n. Just hate’n.”

  “Can I jump?” Emmy asks.

  “No,” I say flatly.

  “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t bring anything to scrape your body off the side of the mountain with,” I say.

  “I’m going,” Miku says as she lines up against a Traveler girl. They jump and Miku comes up at least a minute before the Traveler.

  “Wow, Miku. You did great,” Emmy says.

  “It’s a gift,” she says proudly.

  “Are you talking to me again?” Emmy asks her friend.

  “I never stopped talking to you, Emmy.”

  “C’mon. For a while there I was as welcome as the plague.”

  “You tried to steal my friend’s boyfriend. How should I be?”

  “Yeah, I get it. But she tried to kill me.”

  “Yeah, a little, I guess.”

  “I understand if you’re too mad to be my friend anymore. But I miss you. I don’t have anyone to help me talk Marcus out of fixing me up.”

  “Fix you up with who?”

  “Henry.”

  “The guy who has a name for every one of his body parts?”

  “Yeah.” They both make a sound of displeasure and laugh. Apparently Henry was a bad idea in Miku’s mind as well.

  After the first few times, Emmy felt better about us diving and was able to watch with her eyes open. Although, she still let out a little yelp when we reached the edge and fell over.

  By the end of the night she is cheering us on. Most of us won our rounds except for Rio, whose mind seems to be on something else. He comes up to me and says that he saw onyx. Someone was climbing the mountain and wouldn’t make it.

  “I could go get them,” he says.

  “No, just let it be.”

  “He’s only a few seconds away.”

  “It’s not about the distance.”

  “This is crap, Marcus. We can save him.”

  “So, every time, Rio? We have to have this discussion every time?”

  “It’s a matter of life and death and you don’t even have the time to talk it over? What, too busy with your love life to do anything else?”

  “I’m tired of having the same argument with you over and over again. This is ridiculous! You can’t save a soul that was meant to die.”

  “You know what’s ridiculous? You as a First Guardian,” he says sarcastically as he jumps off the mountain.

  “I’ll go get him,” Jay says and takes off.

  “I’m so sick of this crap. I don’t make the rules. Why can’t he understand that?”

  “Why can’t he save just this one person?” Emmy asks.

  “Because that is against the rules. And even if it wasn’t, it would never be just one person. Rio has to save everyone. That’s how he got here in the first damn place.”

  Just then I look up and realize that Miku has been standing there.

  “I’m sorry. I just meant—”

  “Whatever, Marcus. You’re right. If my brother hadn’t tried to save me, he would still be alive.”

  She takes off into the air.

  Just then two angels land next us on the mountain. It was a guy with a girl in his arms— my girl.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask her.

  “This is Terrance. He’s a Traveler and he was kind enough to give me a ride,” she says pleasantly. Miku comes back at once when she realizes the angel on the Traveler’s back is her friend.

  “Mimi, I thought you were gonna meet me back at home,” Miku says nervously. I turn and look at Emmy. I can tell she is scared but trying not to let it show. It can’t be easy knowing that your life is in danger every second that a certain someone is around.

  I had taken Ameana’s wings and powers, but the girl was bad all by herself. She has had extensive training in self-defense. She has studied the human body and kno
ws where to strike to inflict the most pain. And she has an air about her that says she is not to be toyed with.

  “Meana, come on. Let’s go get Snaps. I hear there’s a good shop around here,” Jay says.

  “Maybe later. Hi, everyone,” she says to the crowd. Everyone smiles politely but they were waiting for a show. Everyone knew about the showdown that had happened before between Meana and Emmy. Most just couldn’t believe their luck: they were around for what they hoped would be round two.

  They never would have let them actually fight. They are angels, after all. But I’m guessing they would let it go as far as they could before Omnis punished all of us. By then Emmy would be a wave of dust of the side of the mountain. And I couldn’t allow that.

  “Hello, Emmy,” Meana says nicely.

  “Hi,” she says in barely a whisper.

  “Look, I didn’t come to pick a fight or anything. I’m cool. I just came to dive,” she says as she walks toward the edge of the mountain. I follow her.

  “You can’t jump—you have no wings.”

  “Well I guess you better give them back to me then,” she says, daring me not to.

  “I will not be forced into giving you what you have yet to earn.”

  “Well, I’ll just have to leap and hope a net appears.”

  Then without wings or power of any kind, Ameana jumps off the side of the mountain. The crowd gasps loudly. I was already halfway down the mountain after her. I cut through the air with every ounce of power I have.

  She was falling steadily a few feet below me. She looks like a bird after the hunter first shoots it down. In a matter of seconds she would land straight on the Port.

  I will my wings to stay to my side. I don’t care if I hit the Port. I would rather go faster than she and get there before she does. That way I could break her fall. The Port can only take one person at a time. I either save her or go instead of her. I could not, and would not, lose her.

  Just when we are about even, I realize that that was as close to saving her as I was gonna get. We could be even but I would never pass her. The others dove in after us, but there is nothing they can do to help. The only one who can save her is me. But I’m not close enough.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, the bird was no longer falling. She had tricked the hunter. She was taking flight. Ameana had sprouted wings and was pulling up. I am stunned. I am seconds from the Port when I come back to my senses and pull my wings out.