by Jen L. Grey
"But my dad was next in line." I don't understand what's going on. Is my dad special, too?
"Oh, god no." She shakes her head and laughs. "He never had a chance at being a council member. We only appeased him because of the family lineage. We have to keep up appearances. We are the only ones with powers like ours and we keep an eye on all reaper towns for people who show special abilities."
"But what makes us so special?" All my life I was taught my power was wrong and should be hidden and here she's telling me it makes me special.
"Because not only can we take a life." Her hand tightens on my shoulder and a wild gleam enters her eye. "We can restore it. If that's not power, what is? And you will become one of us if you figure out how to survive all of this."
I'm not sure if that's a threat or a promise. What does she mean by if I can figure out how to survive? In all reality, that's all I'm trying to do. "My goal is to survive and to do what's best for everyone."
Her grip loosens. "Good, that's what we want." She pats my arm and grins. "Now let me teach you a technique that shall aid you in survival."
This is something that would have aided me in the Angel Realm, but I bite my tongue. "I'm all ears."
She heads over to the couch and sits. "Come sit next to me."
Not wanting to but not seeing another way around it, I head over and take the spot next to her.
"When someone puts a block on a person or object, they are obscuring your view of the object itself as if you're looking down on it." She raises her hand and points down to the ground as if we're viewing the object from up above.
"You know what, when I locate things, that is how I see them." I had never thought of that before. "I do see it from a bird’s eye view."
"That's how we all to do it at first." She nods and leans toward me. "It's the easiest and thus the way that comes to us, naturally. We don't have to worry about needing another way to do it unless we run into an issue of being blocked."
All this information was right here all along, but they wouldn't give it to me. It would have made growing up a lot easier if I had their assistance then.
"So, when you lock in on an item and you realize something is hindering you from viewing it, then you have to go about viewing it a different way." She closes her eyes and holds out her hand. "Instead of picturing the item down below you, imagine it right beside you." She moves her hand in between us on the couch cushion and turns her head facing it. "Now you can't imagine it below eye level, so you have to raise the imagine up so it's even with your gaze." She raises her hand to where when she opens her eyes, it will be looking straight at the side of fingers. "Once you do that, you should be able to see past the block."
"That's it?" It almost seems too simple.
"It is." She drops her hands and opens her eyes. "It's an illusion spell and this gets us around that. It's about manipulating the reality we need in order to get our objective accomplished."
The manipulation piece doesn't surprise me one bit. "Okay, that seems simple enough in theory. It's just implementing it in practice."
"Now we practice." She grins."
Several hours later, Margaret turns to me after I practice seeing past a blocked book located in the mansion's library. "I think you’ve got it."
If that’s the case, I wonder where the stone is. Granted, I already know who has it, but I don’t know their location. I need to find it before Damien or the council does, and I'm curious if I can do it anyways. I close my eyes and focus on the crystal.
When it pops up in my mind, I lift the image up to where I visualize it at eye level. If I thought the crystal was pretty before, it's mesmerizing now. I can see the actual pulses of lightning flashing through the stone and the chocolate glow almost puts me into a trance. Just as Margaret explained, the stone appears in the box I had seen Brad put it into.
Wow, this works. Before now, it would just pull up blank. I pull back on the image and find it's in a dark room in some building right outside this city. Hot damn, that is freaking amazing, but then my heart drops. I have no excuse for not telling her where all the artifacts are. This is going to be fun.
This is where I have to stand my ground. The angel’s words once again resonate with me. My choice was made when I left there without the Angel’s Breath, so there is no going back. These artifacts are powerful and not just anyone should have control over them. If the council were to use them for their own selfish intent, then there is no telling what can happen to the world as we know it. I take a deep breath and turn to her. This is when I stand my ground. "What do you intend to use the stone for?"
She's leaning against a bookcase, tapping her fingertips to her lips as she watches me. "You should know the council puts the needs of their people first, so my intentions should always be known." She lowers her arm and tilts her head. "Where is the Angel's Breath, Christina?"
And here is the moment that I change my role. I will not cower down any longer. "It's in a safe place where nothing bad can happen."
"So, it's still in the Angel Realm?" Her eyes narrow.
"Yes, I told you that." That is true, I just left out the part where I willingly left it there.
"All right." She crosses her arms and lifts her chin. "Where is the Earth Crystal?"
I take a deep breath and lift my shoulders. "It's in a safe place."
"And where exactly is that?" Her tone is getting loud and angry.
"It's not here and around others that don't want to use it." How's that for vague and for once being on the side that knows a little more than the others.
Her nostrils flare and she glowers at me. "If you don't tell me right this instant, I will have your parents killed at once."
There is the threat I've been both waiting on and dreading. The leverage she has against me. Will I be the cause of my parent's death?
Chapter Twenty
I hold her gaze and force myself not to flinch. "Do what you have to do." The words cut like a blade as they pass through my throat and mouth. But what's most shocking is I find I do mean them. "If that's what it takes for me to feel like I'm doing the right thing for many, if not millions, then I'll carry that guilt."
Margaret's mouth drops open and her eyes widen. "Now that was unexpected." Then her smile spreads across her face and she comes over and wraps an arm around my neck. "But a good surprise."
A cold chill shivers through me at her touch. I don't like it and want to step away from her fast. However, her being happy with me right now is better than just a few minutes ago. Maybe my parents might make it out of this alive. "You're happy I won't tell you where the artifacts are?"
"No." She steps away from me and runs her fingers through her hair. "But you didn't cower like you always do. You stood some ground."
"I just don't understand why you need these artifacts now and so fast?" My life was semi-normal for me, and then bam. Now I'm searching for these blasted things all the time with a demon on my heels.
"Oh, we've needed them for a while, but didn't have a way to find them." She glances at the back door for a moment and then back at me. "But then we found out the extent of your gifts and knew we finally had a way."
"What do you mean?" My parents hid my gifts, so they should have been clueless of them all together.
"We knew you were special." She paces around the small area in front of me. "My husband has a knack for finding those with abilities, but we didn't know how strong you were until Selena told us what happened on your first solo assignment."
"But you guys threatened me." I don't understand.
"Because we knew nothing about you and you were a weakling with no idea how to use your power." She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "We needed your help. It was embarrassing, but after today, you've come so far. Maybe you might be able to turn this all around after all." She motions toward the door. "Come on. I want to show you something."
I follow behind her as we go up the stairs. I have no clue where she is taking me, but she's being muc
h more forthcoming than normal, so I'm willing to take whatever she'll give me at this point.
When we reach the top, she turns left which is the opposite direction than normal. We head back to the very end of the hallway where it turns dark and dusty and there is a door.
She stops and turns to me. "No one is allowed back here expect for the council. You are the first one that's been back here beyond one of us." She takes a step toward me and glares directly in my eyes. "What you see in here is to be kept secret and not shared with anyone. If this gets out to the public at large, it will cause mass hysteria. Do you understand?"
Now this is a first. I'm being let in on secrets. "Of course. My lips will remain sealed."
"Good." She turns and opens the door. "This is going to make you understand everything."
There is a large hallway and at the end the room is lit. We walk down to the room, and when we get there, I miss a step when I see the room is full of mirrors at every angle. It's not a large room ... or at least I don't think it is. But there are at least twenty or twenty-five mirrors placed through the entire room. The first portion of the mirrors are encased with gold, while the last ten are silver.
"What is with all the mirrors?" I mean there are a limited number of ways to look at yourself, right?
She laughs. "You're about to see and understand everything. Please take a step out."
What the hell does that mean? I take a step out and look in the first mirror and almost lose my breath. It was me on my tenth birthday, the night my parents got mad at me for locating my target with my abilities. I watch my younger self take the picture wanting to tell her no, don't do it, but when this version used my power my parents didn't scold her. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but my Dad bent down and hugged her, taking the address grinning. How did this version of me get parents like that?
Not able to help myself, I look at the next mirror. It was one day when Beth and I were hanging out at school at lunch. We were in the cafeteria when one of the girls who always picked on me walked up. She whispered something in my ear and instead of melting down like I did in school, I stood up and got in her face. I stood my ground and the girl looked down and walked off.
I turn around and my eyes land on another mirror. This one showed me and my parents dressed up at one of the council balls downtown. We were walking in together and instead of the forced grins we used to wear to these events, they looked genuine. The council was there, and Margaret stepped forward and greeted me with a huge hug when we approached. There were three extra seats at the Council table for the dinner portion of the night.
"You were always meant for greatness." Margaret's tone is soft and her hand rests on my shoulder. "And obviously we were meant to be friends."
"Why are they showing these things?" I don't understand. Why didn't I have these opportunities? Why did my parents have to be unsupportive instead?
"This is what could have happened if your parents weren't determined to keep up appearances of the social norm." She sighs and squeezes my shoulder. "You have so much potential, but they thought it would lessen your family in our eyes. Had they known it would have done the opposite, well I'm sure they would have flaunted it, but what's done is done. So now we try to teach you in a short amount of time what we could have taught you in almost ten years when those abilities revealed themselves."
"So that's why I'm here?" Is she that cruel? To show me what I will never have.
"Oh, dear, no." She places a hand on her chest. "Not at all. This is the real reason why we're here." She motions toward the mirrors lined with silver against the far wall. "This will explain everything about the artifacts."
As we approach them, we head toward the larger one in the very back that was partially hidden. It has a large, thick silver border and on the top, it has a large, thick arch rising up. When we stand in front, the mirror reflects back, but not our own image.
The view is one of a land that is run down and desolate. The ground is all dirt and there are dead trees hanging down or uprooted. The houses that once appeared to have been standing are almost crumbled and the ground is broken and cracked. There are a few people out, but they are skin and bones and stumble as they walk. "What is this?"
"This is our city." Margaret frowns and shakes her head. "This is what we are trying to prevent and why we need the artifacts."
There is no way this could be here, but as I lean in closer, I notice the all too familiar dark stone from this mansion. "Oh my god. What could cause this?"
"Well, we aren't sure to be honest." She reaches out and touches the mirror. "But we've figured out someone is stealing souls. We aren't sure how, but they are taking them." She drops her hand and sighs. "And they are keeping them which is throwing everything off balance. Each day it's getting a little worse and soon it's going to tip the balance, so things will start progressing towards this."
"Wait, if they aren't being returned then they can't be reused." So, this isn't just affecting Earth.
"Now you're getting it." She turns to me and rubs her arms. "This will happen on every dimension. Whoever is stealing these souls is creating a whole universal disaster."
"How far away is this future? I mean it can't be soon, right?" It can't be too soon. Nothing outside indicates this is imminent so we should have plenty of time to figure this all out.
"Well, we've known about it for two years now. That's one of the reasons we did the mass reaping two years ago." She turns back to the mirror and just stares at the depressing future it depicts in front of us. "We had hoped we could figure it all out and resolve the matter then." She looks down at the ground and shakes her head. "Little did we know so much would go wrong, but it also was to prepare us for this."
I hate when they do this; don't give me a straight freaking answer. "Can you just give me a straight answer, please."
She turns to me with concern in her eyes and her forehead creased. "Yes. There was another reason for the mass reaping in case the main one of resolving the problem didn't work out. This future." She points to the mirror. "Is now only about three years from now. As it becomes closer, we will have to deal with more uncomfortable situations and more mass reapings. So, it was also to figure out how to work together as a team to vanquish together since we all normally work independently. The next step, if we can't get the artifacts quick enough, will be working with other reaper cities and towns that we don't come in contact with often."
Wow, this is a big deal. We can't have our future like that, but I still don't trust the council with the artifacts. And who the hell is stealing all these souls and why? "Did you ever figure out who is taking all the souls?" Beth comes to mind. What the angel showed me of her stuck in that room trying to get out will stay stuck in my mind until I can figure out a way to free her.
"We did." She nods, and she raises an eyebrow. "It's the demon that has been staying around you."
"What?" There is no way. I would have recognized him. "He was there that night?"
"He was." She leans back and crosses her arms. "He took many souls that night, including one that is important to your cause."
Has Damien been playing me long before he found me searching for the Earth Crystal?
Chapter Twenty-One
I can't believe all of this has been going on longer than I even realized. Maybe Damien was right in a way. I better smarten up if I want to survive. I'm tired of seeing just what the others want me to see.
"I'm sorry he's had you fooled for so long, dear." Margaret grimaces and pouts. "That's one reason why I shared all this information with you. It's time you knew what we're up against, so you won't fight us so hard."
For some reason, I have a hard time believing that. "I appreciate you letting me know what's going on. I'm tired of always being in the dark with things."
"It was time." She smiles, even though it doesn't meet her eyes. "You know we could help protect the artifacts. I know you said they were somewhere safe, but we could keep them well guarded here. We have
the resources."
No, that's not going to happen on my watch. I still don't trust them. The Elders share information when it benefits them. She was losing control of me and trying to win me over. I still believe they have their own self-interest at heart, but proclaim it is that of the reapers as a whole. But now my dilemma is do I be honest or try to play some sort of game with her myself. At the end of the day, I don't want to be anything like them so honesty wins. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to decline."
"Excuse me?" Her jaw clenches and her tone is raspy.
"I'm not sure of your intentions." I shrug, and this reaction just proves it even more. "Yours or the overall councils."
"I just showed you them." She jerks her hands toward the mirror once again.
"No, you showed me what the future is supposed to look like." How is showing me a mirror with the future proving to me their intentions? "That doesn't prove anything beyond that."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Her hands shake, and she stomps her feet.
"Look, the artifacts are extremely powerful and everything about the council has always felt wrong to me." I've always dreaded coming to this place and being around them.
She snarls and takes a step toward me. "Remember who you are talking to. I can make you nothing and fast. Don't get confused when I said you could have become something." She gets in my face and her fragrance almost knocks me down. She smells super sweet. "At the end of the day, we get to decide if you're worthy or not, so it's in your best interest to stay on our best side. So why don't you learn your place and just listen to what I say like everyone else?"
And this right here proves everything I suspected. It's all about them and they should never have access to the artifacts. "I'm sorry, I guess I'll just be nothing then." I take a step toward her, even though there isn't any room, it causes her to take a step back. I'm tired of being bullied. "I will not be giving any artifacts to you."
