by Lola St. Vil
“It was a few days after we came to Earth. You went out of your way to make sure I knew what an awful boyfriend I was being to Ameana. You read my wave and you knew I had feelings for Emmy. I was trying to fight those feelings and instead of help me, you just condemned me, every chance you got.
“I was chasing a Demon who we thought could lead us to Julian. I caught up to him somewhere around West Virginia. He led me into a trap. He had called for back up and they ambushed me. There were at least half a dozen of them. I had dropped my cell and there was no way to contact you guys.
“They ganged up on me. Everywhere I went there were power balls headed straight for me. One of them managed to hit my left wing and that sent me flying to the other side of the bridge. Seeing that I was hurt, one of them rushed over to me to finish the job. He made the mistake of getting to close to me; I reflected his fear back to him. He cried like a baby. He was so distraught he didn’t even realize he was falling off the bridge. The others came after me. I managed to take all of them out. But in the final moments of the last Demon’s life, he somehow latched on to me as he was going over the side of the bridge."
“That’s when I realized my wings were more damaged than I thought. I was able to shake the Demon loose but I couldn’t pull myself up. Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw a being take flight and land a few yards away.
“The being was too far away for me to make out anything but the outline of their wings. I couldn’t even tell what color they were. The being just stood there, watching me. I was confused; if it was a Demon, he would have killed me. If it was an Angel, he would have saved me. So, who would just stand there, looking at me clinging on for dear life?
“The figure watched for several minutes, then flew away. It took me nearly an hour to pull myself up. When I finally did, I had this sick feeling that I knew the being that had appeared on the bridge.
“That night I got back to the house, everyone had had their hands full with Emmy and the Akons. But you were off somewhere, hunting down Demons you said. I asked if you didn’t read my wave and you said you were having trouble with your powers that night. Then you said you wanted some alone time and you flew away.
“Every Angel moves their wings in a different pattern. The difference is slight, but it’s there. I had several minutes to watch the being on the bridge. I was sure I had seen it before but I couldn’t place it. Then back at the house, I watched you take to the sky. That’s when I remembered where I had seen that pattern before. It was you, out on the bridge.
“I tried to come up with an explanation. I even made myself believe that I had somehow dreamed the stranger on the bridge. I lied to myself because I needed to know that no matter how much you disagreed with me, we were still family. Friends. Team mates.”
“Marcus, we are,” he replies.
“YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!!!” I roar, unable to stop myself.
I force myself to lower my voice. But what my tone is lacking in sound, it makes up for in firmness. I look at Rio and ask what I have dreaded asking him since that night.
“I know it was you. You saw I was going to lose my life and you did nothing. Just tell me, why? Why were you okay with me dying?”
“How do you know it—”
“—Don’t!” I caution him.
“Marcus, it’s…”
“I just want to know why,” I push.
He still can’t bring himself to look me in the eye.
“You tell me why you did that and in the next sixty seconds and you can lead this team.” Silence.
I wait. I know he won’t tell me. But for some reason, I need him to try. I need him to explain what I had never been able to figure out.
This couldn’t just be about Ameana. If Rio felt so strongly about her, then he would have goneafter Ameana when we broke up.
Silence.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m hoping it’s an excuse I couldn’t think of. Like some kind of Rio clone. Or, maybe I was mistaken and what looked like Rio standing still was really him thinking of the best way to help me.
Yeah, I know that makes no sense. But when one of your closest friends decides to let you dangleoff of a bridge, very little makes since at all.
Silence.
Furious, I shake my head and address him in an irate whisper.
“That’s what I thought. You want to lead but you can’t do that with ‘paper’ wings. You need to be willing to grow a set of steel wings. That means if you wanted me to die you should have pushed me. Or sucked up what ever school boy emotions you had and saved me."
“Instead you just stood there, like a punk, and did nothing. You can never lead this team. You don’t have what it takes. But don’t worry; I’ll call on you when I have a job that suits your capabilities, like helping school children cross a busy intersection.”
“Marcus—”
“—I swear if we didn’t need you to help fight this war and put the Shoma back together…”
“Look, you don’t understand—”
“—Save it! Our friendship is done. As far as this team is concerned, you question even so much as the color of my shirt and you’re out!” I glare at him bitterly and storm off.
“Your wings are gonna snap off if you keep flapping them so hard,” she cautions me.
I turn around and find her looking at me.
“Emmy, I thought you went to sleep.”
“Yeah, it turns out when you’re only four Fire Swans away from war, sleep isn’t an option.”
“Three Fire Swans away from war,” I correct her.
She looks up the sky and finds that another Fire Sawn has begun circling our shield.
“Oh, is that what’s causing your wings to go into overdrive?”
“No, everyone has instructions. They know where they are supposed to be when the last Fire Swan takes to the air.”
“Then what is it?”
“I just ran into Rio and of course he wanted to chew me about something. Never mind that, I’m glad you’re here,” I confide to her.
I look into her eyes and she looks down towards the ground.
“Are you ever gonna look me in the eye again?” I ask.
She shrugs. I step towards her, she steps back. I didn’t expect that after the interaction we had earlier.
“Okay, I know this is hard but I’ve had the worst night. Emmy, I really need you right now.”
“I’m trying,” she whispers.
“Well try looking in my eyes.”
“I can’t.”
“So, that’s it? We’re done?”
“No, I just…”
“You just, what? Emmy, we talked about this. You knew what was gonna happen. You were okay with it,” I remind her.
“I was never okay with you making love to someone else!”
“Fine, but you agreed.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And you also vowed not to let that come between us.”
“Yeah, I know but—”
“—but what?”
“I need time.”
“Emmy, the only people who can stop us from being together are you and I. I hated what I had to do to get the army. I hated what it did to you, and to us. But it’s done. And we need to get past it.”
“You say that like its easy. Like you and Bianca split an ice cream sundae or something. You slept with her. The two of you had an orgasm. Or maybe it was more than one. I don’t know.” I hope to Omnis I’m wrong about the direction this conversation is going to take…
“How many orgasms did you have with her?”
I hate being right.
“Emmy, I’m really not in the mood to do this with you right now,” I warn her.
“It’s a simple question. I can handle it,” she lies.
“Don’t do this; not tonight, okay?” I say in the calmest voice I can summon.
“That means you two had, like, multiple ones, right? You guys were just having orgasms left and right, huh?” She accuses bitterly.
“We had what was needed to make the Exchange.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t try to be diplomatic with me. Tell me the truth: who had the first orgasm, her or you?” She asks.
“Are you serious?”
“I need to know.”
“Need to know what?”
“I need to know what happened that night.”
“You said you didn’t want to know. You made me promise not to tell you.”
“Well, I changed my mind. I want to know what the two of you did.”
“Trust me, you don’t,” I snap.
“Why don’t you want to tell me? Is it because you enjoyed it so much? Of course you enjoyed it; she’s gorgeous. She’s probably highly skilled and limber. So, how limber is she?” I’m trembling with anger. I know whatever I say to her next will make things worse. So, I wisely shake my head and start to walk away.
“Marcus, wait!” She calls after me.
“What?”
“You’re right. I did say I didn’t want to know, but that was before…”
“Before what?”
“Before I had to stand there and watch the contract turn to stone. Marcus, I knew the exact moment you two…how am I supposed to be okay with that?”
“You know why the Exchange had to happen.”
“Yes, but what I don’t know is how was it for you? I mean, did you even think about me?”
“No, Emmy, I didn’t think about you at all. I just went in there and screwed her brains out. You never even occurred to me,” I reply with disdain.
“Marcus, this is serious.”
“No, what’s serious is the fact that we are outnumbered, even with the Foundation by our side. What’s serious is the fact that in a few hours, there will be dead bodies sprawled out all over this mountain range.”
“You want to be happy and to swallow this situation up whole. But it’s hard. I want you to give me some time.”
“Okay, take it.”
“You’re mad at me?”
“I’m not mad, I’m exhausted. No matter what I do, it’s not good enough. I’m not a good enough boyfriend for you. I’m damn sure not going to be a good husband, and as far as being a leader…maybe if I had stayed focused, we wouldn’t be in this war.”
“What do you mean stayed focused? Are you talking about us?”
“I gotta get back…”
“Are you regretting that we’re together?”
“Are we together? Because back at your apartment we talked about this and we vowed we’d get through this and now you ‘need time.’”
“What’s wrong with needing some time?”
“WE DON’T HAVE IT!!!” I snap.
“Fiancée,” she replies softly.
“What?”
“You called yourself my boyfriend. You’re my fiancée,” she corrects me.
“Wow, really? That’s all you got from what I just said to you?” She’s about to reply when something in the air catches her eye. I follow her stare.
“There’s another Fire Swan. I’ve never seen a silver one before,” she says, looking up at the sky.
“That’s not a Fire Swan,” I inform her.
“Then what is it?”
At the precise moment, Miku runs out and shouts from the top of her lungs. Her voice is overflowing with excitement.
“Oh my Omnis, it’s an Alexi!”
Miku jumps up and down like a kid. Soon, Angels, Quo and the team all come out to see what’s going on. They look up and see the incredibly beautiful, silver glowing bird in the sky. The Alexi cuts through the air with the precision of the Omari and the grace of a Para. The sight of the Alexi causes some of the Angels to clap and cheer.
“Okay, can we pause for a moment to do a Q&A with the human please?” Emmy begs, unable to take her eyes off Alexi.
“Alexis are immortal. It can’t be hurt or killed,” I inform her.
“Okay; is it on our side?” She asked, fearful of the answer.
“It’s not like that,” I try to explain.
“What Marcus means is that when you see Alexi appear, it means only one thing,” Miku explains.
“What?” She asks.
“Someone is pregnant.”
CHAPTER NINE:
THE HANDOVER
I know there will be a ton of questions coming from Emmy so I try to get ahead of it and inform her because I know she hates being left in the dark.
“An Alexi will fly over to the female who’s expecting.”
“You mean like a stork?” She asks, laughing.
“Yeah, except this stork seeks out the mother and nearly kills her,” Rage says.
“Okay, wait. Start from the beginning. How does the Alexi know someone is pregnant?”
“A baby Angel is called a Sib. When the Sib forms inside the Angel, it emanates a series of sounds that can only heard by an Alexi. The bird will then seek out the Sib,” Rio replies.
“Okay, so the bird knows where the Sib or baby Angel is - then what?”
“Then, the Alexi will swoop down and land next to the female that’s pregnant.” I don’t need to be Rio to know that Emmy is panicking. Her eyes widen with terror and anger. She looks at me and I’m fairly certain if she had wings, it would be causing a giant twister right now. She leans in and whispers to me in deadly, ominous tone.
“Marcus Cane, I swear to Omnis , if the Alexi lands ANYWHERE near Bianca—”
“—Emmy, the Alexi is not going looking for Bianca,” I assure her.
“Well then, who is she looking for?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not looking for her.”
“How do you know?” She says, refusing to let the issue go.
“I used a Tam. So relax, okay?” I whisper back.
Finally, Emmy takes a breath and starts to blink again. I have never seen her so on the edge before. We look up at the sky and the Alexi is headed straight for us.
“Can it get past our shield?” Emmy wonders.
“Alexis are immortal. They can get through anything: Fire, Holders, Shields…they’re unstoppable,” Rio tells her.
“They just spring up out of nowhere?” She asks as we watch the bird make graceful loops up and down the sky.
“What happens when the Alexi lands?” Emmy asks him.
“Then the female has only a few minutes to get comfortable and try to handle what will be the most painful moments of her life,” Ameana replies.
“What does the Alexi do to her?”
“The Angel lies flat on the ground with her arms out on either side of her. The Alexi lands on top of her chest, and then it opens its beak and emanates a laser beam right into the center of her chest. Although the pain starts with the cutting, the agony really begins after the Sib has been pulled out. That’s when the Alexi will suck up nearly all of the Angel’s soul. That process is called the Handover.”
“Can’t that kill the angel?”
“Yes, some have died.”
“So, why does the Alexi have to suck out the Angel’s soul?”
“It’s what the Sib needs in order to survive the journey to Noni.”
“What’s Noni?”
“It’s a field of crystal cocoon on the outskirts of Daraquin. The Alexis take all the Sibs there. They drop them into an empty cocoon and they begin to feed off the mother’s soul, since the Sib and the mother are then connected.”
“So, she just lies down and lets a bird peck her soul out?”
“It’s more than that, baby girl; Alexis are nicknamed ‘Surgeons.’ They cut you open with precision and never make mistakes,” Jay tells her.
“Then, why do some Angels die?” She challenges Jay.
“Because they can’t stop until the Sib has had its fill. Even if the mother is dying, the Alexi will continue.”
“That sounds so crazy,” she replies, filled with concern.
“Actually, it’s kind of like humans. But instead of being connected to the newborn by an umbilical cord, it’s connected by an invisibl
e thread they share. The more the Angel’s soul gets replenished, the bigger and happier the Sib will be in the cocoon,” Miku tells her as she studies the Alexi’s every move.
“What happens if the mother dies during the Handover?” Emmy asks.
“The Alexi will go to Noni and drop off the newborn. But since the mother has died, the baby will have nothing to feed from. It, too, will eventually disappear.”
“Baby Angels just disappear and go away forever?”
“Yes, if the soul has nothing to feed on, it will perish. Every once in, like, a thousand cycles there are stories of Sib feeding on the father’s soul but it’s rare, since the father’s soul is not as potent as the mother’s. So, the Sib dies anyway.”
“How do they know it died?”
“There are symbols that appear on the mother’s hand during the time the baby is in Noni. It’s called Kaidan. When the Kaidan is complete, it will glow - that means the Sib is ready to be out in the world.”
“Then the Alexi brings the baby to them?”
“No, the mother and father will then go to Noni, where the mother would then place her hand on the crystal cocoon. That pattern in her hand will then match up with the one on the cocoon and the Sib will fly to the mother.”
“That’s just like when Tony Tone makes a key out of a pattern?”
“Exactly. When the pattern, or Kaidan, is done, it glows. The more complicated the pattern, the more powerful the child will be. Some beings are so powerful that their Kaidan runs from the mother’s fingers to her forearm.”
“So, no matter what species, child birth is always complicated and painful?”
“It’s more than just that. The mother has to preserve as much of her soul as possible since she is sharing her soul with another being. That is why Angels generally don’t come to Earth when they have a Sib in Noni. Earth can deteriorate our souls after awhile,” Miku explains.
“Wait, what happens now there is no light to go to?” Emmy asks her.
“That’s why not everyone is happy seeing the Alexi take flight. There is nowhere for the mother to recuperate, since the light is all but gone. She has to stay here and hope she can maintain enough soul to keep both her and the Sib alive.”
“So even if she survives the Handover, she could lack the soul she needs to nourish the baby?”
