Empower

by Ashley Stambaugh

  Melina’s eyes were filled with tears again. His words reminded her of what Lee had told her—that she needed to accept all of herself. She knew they were both right, but she still couldn’t let go of her hesitation and fear.

  “But what if it makes me susceptible to being taken over by evil again?” She bit down on her lip as she stared over at Walter with eyes full of distress.

  He gave her a reassuring smile. “I know you’re scared, but I also think that you know, deep down, that you’re not going to be taken over by evil again. This is just how the demon powers are going to work in you. We all experience negative emotions, Melina. But it's what we do after the emotions arise that matters. We can act upon those negative feelings and let them control us, or we can feel them, acknowledge them, but then choose not to act on them. And instead of letting them control us, use them as motivation for something good.” He was silent for a moment then said, “You have to have the dark to see the light.”

  Melina sat quietly as his last words sunk in. She had never thought of it that way, but he was right. She had both light and dark in her, just like everyone else, but she just needed to make sure that her light always shone brighter.

  “That’s all we’re asking of you with your powers,” Phinneas said. “To try to harness those feelings and use them to do good. Do you think you can do that?”

  Melina nodded. “Yeah, I can try.”

  “Trying is great,” Walter said. “As long as you try, we can help you along the way.” He gave her a small wink. “Your friends aren’t your only support, you know.”

  “I know,” she said. She turned around and scanned over her store once more. She saw that the control panel to her alarm system had been smashed to pieces. One of the demons must’ve teleported into the store and destroyed it before the front window was broken. That would explain why the alarm never went off. “Well,” she said with a sigh. “It’s a good thing I had already decided to close for the weekend. I should probably close down all of next week, too. Who knows how long it will take me...” Her voice trailed off as she turned toward the back of the store and saw an ominous message written in large black letters plastered along the top of the wall.

  STAY OUT OF OUR WAY, OR YOU’LL REGRET IT.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Well,” Walter said as he and the rest of the angels walked up behind her. “So much for not making the demons suspicious.”

  Melina swallowed hard as she continued to stare up at the message. She hadn’t thought that simply being seen by the demons yesterday would cause them to react this way. They must really be nervous about something to feel so threatened.

  The last time she had received a warning like this there had been a consequence. The threat had come from Maura, and she had taken Lee’s soul and almost killed him. She wondered what the consequence to this was going to be. The demons had already done something to affect the souls of the three most important people in her life. What else could they do? Would they try to do something to her soul? Or was there something more they could do to her friends? Whichever it was, she wasn’t going to just sit back and let it happen.

  “The demons can threaten me all they want,” Melina said. “But it’s not going to make me give up on trying to stop them.”

  “And we’ll be there with you,” Walter said. “Right now, though, we’ll help you clean up this mess.”

  Melina waved her hand in the air. “You don’t have to do that. The only immediate needs are the front window and the alarm system. I’ve got a couple of people I can call when their stores open in a few hours.”

  “Melina, please, let us help you,” Helene said. “It’s too early to go out after the demons since there wouldn’t be enough people out for us to blend in with, so what else is there for us to do?” She gave her a small smile. “Why don’t you go back up to your apartment and get ready for the day. Then you can meet us back down here.”

  Melina opened her mouth to voice a rebuttal but then instantly shut it. The elder was right, and she didn’t want to argue right now. She gave Helene a simple nod and then made her way upstairs.

  After taking a long, hot shower to help calm her down, she quickly fixed her hair and put on some make-up. She dressed herself in a thick, black sweater and a pair of jeans and then headed into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. She grabbed the tallest mug she could find and changed the setting on the coffee maker to strong. It was going to be a long day.

  A few hours later, Melina was able to get a couple of repairmen to come and replace her front window and then another one to repair her alarm system. And even though she and the angels had been able to clean up the rest of the store, there was no fixing her busted bookshelves and the burnt and torn up books. It would take time to order more.

  Closing down her store until further notice didn’t bother her too much, though. She wanted to spend as much time as she could trying to stop the demons and save her friends.

  When the repairmen had left, she met Henry and all of the elder guiding angels back up in her apartment. “What should we do now?” she asked.

  “The demons are obviously feeling very threatened,” Phinneas said.

  “Just because they saw Helene and me watching them yesterday?” Melina asked. “Why would they feel so threatened by that?”

  “Our guess is that their plan is one that’s easier to figure out than what we think,” Phinneas said. “One that can be discovered just by watching them.”

  “So what are you thinking?” Melina looked around at all of the angels, waiting for a response.

  Cecil stepped forward and spoke in a loud, booming voice. “Helene told us that when you and her were out yesterday, the demons who were in their human forms were trying to blend in with the humans and seemed to just be watching them. Now, we know that they’re using our powers, so we’re thinking that they’re not just watching people. They’re listening to their thoughts.”

  “Then what about the demons who were hiding out in stealth mode in the alley?” Melina asked.

  “We're still not sure on that,” Phinneas said. “It seems that they were waiting for some type of signal from the other demons.”

  Melina nodded. “Yeah, they just up and vanished after one of the female demons shook her head no at them.”

  “What we need to figure out now is what would’ve happened if she had signaled them with a yes instead of a no,” Phinneas said and then turned toward Walter. “I need to go fill Victor in on our findings so far, but you said you wanted to go out with Melina today, right?”

  “Yes,” Walter said. “I’ll stay here and go with her.”

  “Good,” Phinneas said. “We should go for now.” He and Cecil and Helene all stepped into the center of the room, and in a burst of white light, they disappeared.

  After they were gone, Melina turned to Walter and Henry and gave them both a nervous look. “Do you really think we should go out looking for the demons right now?” she asked Walter.

  Walter’s forehead scrunched together as he tilted his head to the side. “I thought you weren’t scared by their threat. Is it bothering you? Or is there something else that’s troubling you?”

  Of course the threat bothered her, but it wasn’t exactly what was worrying her right then. “It’s just… well, Helene and I were spotted so easily by the demons out in broad daylight. I know it would be harder for us to see them in the dark, but it would also be harder for them to see us.”

  “I understand,” Walter said with a smile. “But they seem to be working during the day and night, and we need to try to get this all figured out as soon as we can.”

  Melina inhaled a deep breath and nodded.

  “And don’t worry about your emotions flaring up and amplifying your powers. I’m here with you now,” Walter said, “and I’ll help you learn to control it.”

  She turned to Henry. She knew that humans could only see him when he wanted them to see him, but he couldn’t hide from the Noxin demons. He couldn’t take a
human form and blend in with other people the way the guiding angels could, so the demons could always see him. “I know you can’t physically go with us since the demons would see you from a mile away, but can you please stay close by?”

  “Of course,” Henry said as he reached out and briefly placed his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry.”

  She gave him a grateful smile then looked back at Walter. “Shall we?”

  Melina and Walter searched around the city all morning, and while they certainly saw plenty of Noxin demons and even more angry people than the day before, they weren’t able to catch the demons in the act of actually doing anything to the people. They just seemed to be following the people who were still unaffected.

  The only thing she and Walter were having any luck with was not being noticed by the demons. They made sure to try to blend in with groups of people, but when there weren’t other people for them to hide amongst, they tried to keep moving and not stand still. By the time the noon hour rolled around, Melina was starting to become discouraged.

  “This is pointless,” she said as they continued to follow yet another group of demons. “I know we’ve figured out that they’re following people to hear their thoughts, but it doesn’t seem like they’re doing anything other than that.”

  “There’s a method to what they’re doing,” Walter said. “We just have to be patient.”

  “Patient?” Melina gave him an exasperated look. “I haven’t seen my friends in days, and the only reason I haven’t gone to check on any of them is because I know that I can’t help them until I know what the demons did to them. And what’s worse is I think we might be running out of time. The number of affected people seems to be growing by the day.” She paused. “What if… what if we don’t figure out what the demons are doing until it’s too late?”

  “Melina, we’re doing all that we can right now,” Walter said. “Being impatient isn’t going to make the demons suddenly do something to let us know what their plan is.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just frustrated. Cecil said that their plan might be a lot simpler than we think, but if that’s the case then why haven’t we seen anything to help us figure it out?”

  “Well,” Walter said as they continued to walk behind the demons. “Let’s think about what we know so far. Most of the demons are in their human forms because that’s the only way they can use the guiding angel powers. They’re working in groups—”

  “Which is odd,” Melina interjected. “I mean, you said that demons hardly ever work together, so why are they now?”

  “The only reason I can think of is because they have to for some reason.”

  “I wonder what that could be,” Melina said.

  Walter’s forehead scrunched together, but after only a few seconds his eyes widened in a sudden realization. “It’s the powers,” he said.

  “What?” Melina asked.

  “That’s why the demons have to work together,” he said. “We know that the guiding angel powers are weak in them, so they must have to work together to use them.”

  “I bet you’re right,” Melina said. “That makes a lot of sense.”

  Walter nodded. “So they’re in their human forms and working together in order to use the guiding angel powers. They also seem to be working during all hours of the day.”

  “I’m not so sure about that anymore,” Melina said. “When I saw Maura at Tessa’s house it was at night, and Tessa had just had a blackout.”

  “But I thought you said that Tessa also had a blackout at a coffee shop right before she came to your store one morning?”

  “She did,” Melina said. “But it was still somewhat dark out then.”

  She glanced up ahead at the demons and noticed that they had stopped. As she looked around to see why, she noticed two demons in their demonic forms lurking behind the corner of a building across the street. She grabbed Walter’s arm and yanked him into the nearest alleyway.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “They stopped,” she said and then gestured across the street. “Do you see the two demons in their demonic forms over there behind that building?”

  Walter shook his head.

  “That means they’re stealthed,” she said as she looked back at the group of demons in their human forms. There were two males and one female. “Let’s see if they signal to the ones across the street.”

  “We should listen in on the humans’ thoughts, too,” Walter said. “I bet that’s what determines if they give a yes or no signal.”

  Melina and Helene hadn’t thought of that, but it made perfect sense. She nodded and then leaned forward a bit as she tried to focus on the people’s thoughts. It was a small group of businessmen, all dressed in suits and long formal coats and carrying briefcases. Most of the thoughts coming from the men were not surprisingly business related—deadlines, meetings, stock figures, reports. Except for one.

  Melina homed in on the shortest man of the group. He was stocky and prematurely balding. He looked around nervously as he continually clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides.

  I’m going to get caught, the man thought. I just know it. His eyes darted back and forth between the other men he was with. They all probably know and are just waiting to out me at the meeting. What am I going to do? Despite the cold weather, the man wiped his hand across his forehead as if he were sweating.

  Then Melina saw it. The female demon looked across the street and nodded a yes at the two demons hiding behind the building. The female gave a slight gesture to the short, stocky man, and then she and the two male demons started to walk away.

  “Did you see that?” Melina asked Walter.

  He nodded. “What are the demons in stealth mode doing now?”

  “They’re just standing there,” she said as she looked across the street. “Staring at that short man.”

  As soon as the traffic light changed, the group of men crossed the street and walked into the building that the demons were hiding behind. Melina thought the demons were going to follow him into the building, but they didn’t.

  “Huh,” Melina said.

  “What is it?” Walter asked.

  “The demons aren’t going after that man,” she said. “They’re just standing there in the same spot. It almost seems like they’re waiting for something.”

  Walter stroked his chin. “I wonder…”

  Melina turned to him and looked at him expectantly.

  “With everything we’ve pieced together so far, I think that maybe the demons in their human forms only listen to people’s thoughts during the day, and then the ones in their demonic forms attack at night.”

  “That would be more in their character to do their dirty work in the dark,” Melina said. “But I still don’t get what listening to people’s thoughts has to do with whatever it is they’re doing to people’s souls.”

  “Well, we now know that they’re interested in troubled people,” Walter said. “It’s still not enough for us to figure anything out, but it’s a starting point.”

  They were targeting troubled people. Melina would never have thought that any of her friends were troubled, but they obviously were. She shook her head, ashamed of herself. How did she not know about any of their issues? What kind of a friend was she?

  “Melina, please don’t blame yourself,” Walter said.

  She looked over at him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I was still tuned in from listening to those men’s thoughts.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m just wondering if there might’ve been something I could’ve done to prevent my friends from being targets.”

  “Everyone has troubles,” Walter said. “So everyone’s a potential target. Some people just have bigger troubles than others, and it seems that the demons are going after them first.”

  Just then Melina saw a tall, slender woman with long golden hair step out of one of the stores across the street. “Tessa?” she said out loud as s
he watched her friend take off in the opposite direction. She was bundled up in a heavy winter coat, her golden curls were frizzy and disheveled, and she hardly had on any make-up. Quite the opposite of her usual sleek, put together look. Melina turned to Walter.

  “Go, help your friend,” he said, tilting his head in Tessa’s direction. “I’ll keep an eye on this man for the rest of the day, but if my theory is right, the demons won’t do anything to him until it starts to get dark out. I’ll come and find you again about that time.”

  “Okay.” She took one last glance at the stealthed demons across the street to make sure they still hadn’t noticed her. Once she felt safe, she stepped out of the concealment of the alleyway and took off after her friend.

  Tessa must’ve been walking pretty quickly because she was already a good distance ahead of her. Melina picked up her pace and finally caught up to her several blocks later.

  The last time Melina had seen Tessa, she had told her that she didn’t want her help and to leave her alone, so she needed to approach her friend carefully. Melina continued to follow her until she came to a stop at a crosswalk. She stepped up behind her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Tessa,” she said in a gentle voice.

  Tessa spun around and glared at her.

  Melina pulled back and let out a small gasp. Tessa’s eyes were solid black.

  She narrowed her eyes at Melina and said in a harsh tone, “Who are you?”

  Melina’s brow creased as she blinked in confusion. “Tess, it’s me. Melina.”

  Tessa’s expression softened a bit as she tilted her head and continued to stare at her. A few seconds later her scowl returned. She sneered at Melina and took off across the street. Melina instantly followed her.