Torn

by Ashley Stambaugh

  "That happened so quickly," he said. "I thought if she had become a Fallen then it would make it even harder to find her."

  Phinneas nodded. "It will. But when the stone glows that only means it was able to detect her presence. Locating her will be a bit more difficult.”

  "Our main question has been answered, though," said Walter. "She's still here."

  Phinneas swallowed hard. "Yes, she is. But now we need to try to find out where she is."

  "Let's try again then," said Walter.

  Phinneas nodded again and replaced his hand on top of the stone. They kept at it for the rest of the afternoon, but all they could get the stone to do was glow a little. As night began to fall, they were about to take a break when all of a sudden the stone's illumination started to intensify.

  "We're getting somewhere," Phinneas said excitedly. "The stone's trying to find her. We have to keep at it."

  "Whatever it takes," said Walter.

  For the rest of the night they continued their search, and as the hours passed into daylight, the stone's illumination slowly intensified. But no matter how much brighter it became, it never started to pulse. It wasn't until they both started to think of Adelia as a fallen angel and tried to picture her in that form that they had any success.

  "Keep a hold of your image," Phinneas whispered to Walter. "It's only a faint pulse, and we don't want to lose it."

  Walter focused as hard as he could on the image in his mind when suddenly it was replaced by another one. The new image was dark and blurry, and at first he couldn't make anything out. The blurriness eventually started to fade away, and as the image became more clear, the first thing he saw was Adelia.

  She appeared ragged and weak, and was surrounded by a faint black aura. He gazed around, trying to find something to tell him where she was, but all he could make out was that she was standing next to another woman. The woman was tall and pale with long black hair flowing down the back of her dark red coat. Walter had never seen this woman before, but she appeared to be quite chummy with Adelia. He tried again to make out any familiar land marks, but a second later the image was gone.

  "No!" he yelled and then opened his eyes to look at Phinneas.

  "Were you able to make out where she was?" Phinneas asked.

  "No," replied Walter. "Were you?"

  Phinneas shook his head. "I wonder who that other woman was."

  Walter shrugged. "I've never seen her before."

  "Well," said Phinneas, "we may not know where she is, but we know she's still here and that she's a Fallen. We need to go and tell Melina."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Melina and the others were still gathered around her living room when there came a soft knock on her door. Everyone stopped talking as she hopped up from the couch and rushed over to answer it. When she opened the door, there stood Walter.

  "Walter, hi. Please come in." She ushered him in through the door and then escorted him into the living room. "We've all been waiting for you to return. Where's Phinneas?"

  "He's back with Cecil and Helene discussing a few things with them," he said.

  "Does that mean you have some news for us?" Melina sat back down next to Lee as she eagerly awaited his response.

  "Yes," said Walter, and then he paused to clear his throat. "Adelia wasn't destroyed by your exploding light shield. She's still here, and she's become a Fallen, just like we suspected."

  Melina let out a small gasp as she clutched Lee's arm. "Were you able to find her location?"

  Walter shook his head. "We weren't able to recognize the surroundings. But we did see that she was with a dark-haired woman who was rather pale and dressed in a dark red coat."

  Melina's eyes filled with terror as the color in her cheeks quickly faded away. "Oh no."

  "What?" asked Walter.

  "The dark-haired woman is Maura," said Melina. "I know it is. Adelia is still working with her. And if she's still working with her, then she might be here in the city." She shook her head as she looked down at the floor. "This isn’t good."

  "Whoa, calm down," said Walter. "We don't know that for sure. Adelia could be anywhere."

  "No," she said. "You don't understand. I had another run-in with Maura yesterday, and she told me I was going to regret my decision to try to fight the demon powers. I'm scared just thinking about what Maura might do, but now that Adelia's back in the picture… Who knows what they'll both try to do to me."

  "Melina, you can't let them scare you," said Tessa.

  "She's right," Lee said as he gave her hand a light squeeze.

  Melina looked back and forth between them. "Are you kidding me? Maura is the most powerful Noxin demon there is, and Adelia used to be the most powerful guiding angel in existence."

  "Remember," said Walter, "this type of reaction is exactly what Maura wants. You haven’t even started to try to bring your angel powers back yet, and she's already given you a road block by instilling even more fear in you. And Tessa and Lee are only trying to do what you asked them to do—believe in you. Now you need to start believing in yourself and get rid of all this fear and doubt.

  "Maura may have threatened you, and hearing that Adelia's still here has only added to your fear, I'm sure. But you have the support of all of your friends. Dean and I have our light shields to help protect you until you get yours to come back, and Henry and Merrick are on high alert. Maura may try to thwart your plans, but we won't let her harm you."

  Melina took in a deep breath and then let out a long exhale. "You're right," she said, nodding her head. "I told myself I wasn't going to let Maura get to me anymore, yet here I am, letting it happen again."

  "No one said this was going to be easy," said Walter. "But we're all here to help. And I think the sooner we get started the better." He paused and then gazed around the room. "I'm not sure we'll need everyone to come with us, though."

  "I'll stay here and take care of the store," Gwen said as she gave Melina a soft smile. "I think that would be the best way for me to help."

  "Thank you," said Melina.

  "Carl won't be in today," said Tessa, "so maybe I should stay here to help Gwen. You go out with Walter, Dean, and Lee, and then I can go tomorrow so Lee can attend to things at his store."

  Lee nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan."

  "Okay then," said Melina. "Let's get going."

  After everyone gathered up their coats, they all headed downstairs. Gwen and Tessa each gave Melina a quick hug and then went to open the bookstore. Melina pulled the hood of her coat up and slid her sunglasses on before exiting through the back door. Walter, Lee, and Dean all followed her.

  "Where should we start?" Melina asked as she turned to look at Walter.

  "Well," he said, "I thought we might just walk around this part of town first. That way if something happened, we wouldn't be too far away from your place. There are plenty of different stores for us to go into, and it's a busy enough area that we could also walk around outside for a while. That is, if you won't get too cold."

  "I'll be fine," she said as she pulled her hood down farther around her face. "I don't feel the cold much now that I have these demon powers. I'm more worried about these two." She pointed between Lee and Dean.

  "My coat's plenty warm," said Lee.

  "Mine too," Dean said. "Don't worry about us."

  "All right then," said Walter. "Let's go." He turned around and started off down the back alley toward the street.

  Melina nodded and then followed after him. Lee came up beside her, and when Dean did the same on her other side, he quickly grabbed a hold of her hand. She smiled a little and then gave his hand a soft squeeze.

  As they turned the corner, Melina saw a large crowd of people up and down the sidewalk. At first she was surprised at the amount of people who were already out and about so early in the morning. Then she remembered it was Monday, and a lot of people were trying to get to work. She clenched Lee's hand and took in a deep breath.

  When they c
ame upon the first few people, she instinctively shied away from them as she lowered her head and hunched her shoulders. She was still scared of how the demon powers would make her react, but Walter was quick to remind her not to be.

  He glanced over his shoulder and said, "This isn't going to work if you don't try. I know you're scared, but you're going to have to jump in head first."

  She raised her head back up. "I know but…"

  Walter stopped abruptly and turned around to face her. "No excuses. I know you're scared of how the demon powers make you feel and how they make you react to certain interactions with others, but you've got to push through this if you want your angel powers to come back. Yes, you might cause a few scenes. Yes, you might yell at and try to hurt other people. And yes, Maura may try to keep you from letting the good in you win. But that's what we're here for," he said as he gestured to himself and the other two men. "I'll keep repeating it if that's what it takes, but we're here to help you. We'll try to keep your outbursts under control, we won't let you hurt anyone, and we won't let anyone or anything hurt you."

  Melina held his gaze for a few seconds and then gave him a quick nod. He was right. She was going to have to tough through it.

  They spent the rest of the morning going in and out of various shops and buildings and walking around outside. Melina tried in vain to hear at least one person's thoughts, but she had no luck. And her few attempts at having a vision by purposely running into people only resulted in rude comments and a slight outburst from herself that Walter and Lee quickly handled. By the time the noon hour approached, she was physically and emotionally drained and was beyond frustrated with herself.

  "Maybe we should take a breather," said Walter. "Is there someplace nearby where we could stop for you all to eat lunch?" He turned around and started to scan the immediate area.

  "Yeah," Melina said. "There's a small sandwich shop up here on the right."

  Walter looked back at her. "Good. Let's go inside, and we'll sit at a corner table way in the back. And while we're there, if you feel up to it, you can try to work on reading people's thoughts again. Does that sound okay?"

  She nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good."

  They entered through the front door of the sandwich shop and took a table in a back corner.

  Melina sighed as she lowered her hood and pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. "I don't understand why none of this is working."

  "Remember," Walter said, leaning over to her. "Don't doubt that you can do this, and don't fear the reaction you may have. It's what's holding your angel powers back."

  She nodded her head and then gazed around the room. There were several other people in the shop, but not too big of a crowd. Maybe she should try again. As she closed her eyes, she tried her best to suppress her fear and doubt and focused as hard as she could on the woman sitting closest to them.

  Short brown hair, olive skin, white turtleneck sweater, khaki pants…

  She continued to list off as many details about the woman that she could, but it didn't help her to hear any of her thoughts. Maybe it was because the woman was reading a book and she wasn't having any thoughts. Melina opened her eyes and went on to the next person. There was an old man sitting by himself, drinking coffee as he gazed around the room. She would almost bet that he was thinking about something. She quickly closed her eyes again and focused on the man.

  Wispy gray hair, stocky build, dark red sweater, black slacks…

  Again there was nothing. Melina opened her eyes and let out a frustrated groan.

  "Calm down," said Walter.

  "I'm trying to," she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard to bring my angel powers back since they seem to be trying to come back on their own anyway. I thought that once I started to work with them and actively tried to bring them back then it would just happen. We've worked all morning and… nothing."

  "I think it's going to take some time," said Walter. "Take a short break and try again. Do you want me to get you something to eat or drink?"

  She shook her head. "I can get it," she said and then looked over at Lee and Dean. "Do you guys know what you want yet?"

  "Not yet," said Dean as he scanned over the menu.

  "Me either," said Lee. "Go ahead. We'll order ours when we're ready."

  "Okay." She stood up from her chair and slowly walked up to the front counter. There were a couple of people waiting to order, so she stopped behind the last woman and took her place in line. As she stood there, she tried to think of what she could do to speed up the process of bringing her angel powers back. She desperately wanted to get rid of these evil feelings and wanted to be able to help people again.

  As she looked up at the woman standing in front of her, she decided to try for a vision one more time. She threw herself forward, and as her shoulder bumped into the woman's back, she closed her eyes, hoping a vision would pop into her head, but nothing happened. The only reaction she received was a slight gasp from the woman.

  Melina opened her eyes as the woman turned around. "I'm so sorry," she said, trying to act as if she'd accidentally fallen into her.

  "Oh, it's okay," the woman said as she gave her a small smile and then turned back around.

  Melina sighed. Trying to force a vision didn't work, just like it hadn't worked earlier. She briefly rubbed her forehead and then spun around and headed toward the door. She needed some fresh air. Once she stepped outside, she put her sunglasses and hood back in place and then walked around to the side alley and leaned back against the brick building. A few seconds later, Walter, Lee, and Dean were all outside with her.

  "Are you all right?" Lee asked as he approached her.

  She shrugged. "I needed some fresh air to clear my head."

  Lee nodded as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

  "You know," she said. "I think I've doubted my ability to use my angel powers from the beginning. After I gained control of them, I wanted so badly to do something my parents would've been proud of and help people. But I've only managed to help one person." She let out a short laugh and then shook her head.

  "Melina," said Walter in a soft voice, "you've only been able to help one person. It's not your fault that guiding angels were already at work when you've come across other people in need." He paused for a moment and then said, "You don't give yourself enough credit. You did a wonderful job with that young girl you helped, and now you need to start believing in yourself more."

  Melina took in a deep breath and then slowly nodded her head. She started to look around the alleyway, and as her eyes began to wander, she caught sight of something moving in the shadows. Her brow creased as she leaned forward, trying to get a better look. As her eyes began to focus, she was able to make out a pair of glowing red eyes. There was a Noxin demon trying to conceal itself in the darkness at the end of the alley.

  She continued to stare at the demon when Walter suddenly asked, "Is something wrong?"

  "There's a Noxin demon," she whispered, trying hard to not move her lips.

  "Where?" asked Walter. "I don't sense one."

  "He's hiding in the shadows," she said a little louder, still not taking her eyes off the demon.

  "I don't see anything," said Walter.

  "Me either," Lee and Dean said together.

  "He's at the end of the alleyway, and he's…" Her voice trailed off as she started to back away. "He's coming this way."

  Just as the words left Melina's mouth, the demon growled and lunged forward. At first she thought he was coming at her, but she quickly realized the demon was going after Lee.

  "No!" she screamed as she threw herself between him and the demon. She lifted her arms up in front of her face and squinted her eyes shut, bracing for the impact, when all of a sudden a bright white light shone around her. At first she thought it was Walter or Dean, but as she opened her eyes she saw that it was coming from her. Her light shield had returned.

  She looked over at the demon and glared at him as she focuse
d all of her strength on keeping up her shield. She didn't know why he had gone after Lee, but he wasn't going to harm either of them. And if he had been sent by Maura, she hoped he would return to her with the message. The demon glared back at her and then disappeared in a whirl of black smoke.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Melina let down her light shield and then turned around to face Lee. "You all right?" she asked, breathing hard.

  "Thanks to you, yeah," he said, seeming a bit flustered. "But how'd you get your light shield to come back?"

  "I don't know," she said, still trying to control her breathing. "Maybe it was my emotions. Once I realized the demon was lunging at you, all I could think about was how much I wanted to protect you." She turned to look at Walter who had a strange expression in his face. "What? You don't think that could be the reason?"

  He shook his head. "No no, it makes perfect sense. I think your emotions might also be accountable for how you were able to see that demon while he was in stealth mode."

  Her eyebrows scrunched together. "What? No. That demon wasn't stealthed. He was just hiding in the shadows."

  "Melina," Walter said, cutting her off. "I couldn't sense him until he went to attack Lee. Trust me, he was in stealth mode."

  "But… I don't understand," she said.

  "It's just like what happened with the burning touch ability," Walter said. "Your angel powers reversed the demon power of stealth and made it so you can detect others in stealth."

  Her jaw hung open as she took in what Walter had just told her. She could now see Noxin demons when they were in stealth mode. Several seconds passed before she spoke again. "But how are my emotions responsible?"

  "It's your desire to help others," he said. "When you healed your own burn marks, it was because you were concerned about Dean and wanted to help him. When you healed Lee's burns, it was because you were trying to help him, too. Right before you saw that stealthed demon, you were talking about how much you wanted to use your angel powers to help others. And when your light shield came back, it was because you were trying to help protect Lee. These were all genuine moments when you had blocked out all of your fear, and the only thing that was on your mind was your desire to help someone else."