by C. Gockel
The roar of the explosion, right behind us, tells us we won’t be able to get enough distance before it catches up with us. The group and I exchange a look of pure fear and terror. Without needing to communicate, we all know the only course of action: duck under anything we can find.
The only thing around us is a run-down house with a series of tattered canoes attached to it. The wave of fire and pressure that has been ruthlessly pursuing us is now seconds away from landing on top of us and killing us all.
I leap into one of the canoes, turn it over so that it is shielding me, and I brace myself. The rest of the group follows my lead. Three seconds later, just as we take cover, the wave hits on top of us and lets out an earth-shattering roar as it engulfs everything around it. The explosion rings out to all of Thailand.
The floating market is at peace no more...
We crawl out from under the rubble and debris. There are small fires blazing around the homes, plants, and canoes. All around us the humans are running for their lives, confused and fearing more terror is yet to come.
I am weak with relief when I see that everyone in the group is relatively okay. The Holder that was protecting Randy held up, although it did send him flying several feet in the air. I pick up my Holder; it turns back into a bracelet. Randy is set free.
“Randy, are you okay?” Key asks.
“How. Awesome. Was. That?” he replies, wide-eyed.
“Yup, the human is just fine,” East says.
“I can’t believe it! That was such a rush! I LOVE THIS!!!!” Randy says, too excited to stand still.
“Randy, you realize you were just thrown several thousand feet in the air by a raging inferno, right?” East asks him.
“A thousand feet huh? Wow, that’s pretty...high. I don’t know if—” Randy faints immediately.
It takes about fifteen minutes for Randy to wake up. When he does, he finds the group and I looking down at him.
“What happened?” he asks.
“You fainted,” Bex says.
“Oh. Was it a manly kind of faint? You know, the kind the hero does after he’s overcome overwhelming odds?” Randy asks, filled with hope as he looks towards Key.
“Yes, it’s the kind of fainting heroes do—after they discover the pretty dress for the ball they bought has a rip in it,” East says.
“Very funny. Anyway, I’m better now, so please help me up,” he says.
I give him a hand and he stands on his own, although he looks pale and not quite his natural color.
“What you did was so cool, Pry. You knew you couldn’t stop the bomb so you destroyed the path where it was headed; genius,” Randy gushes.
The whole team avoids eye contact with me. Randy looks around at them, confused.
“What is it? Why aren’t you guys happy? We just stopped the demons from going to the light,” Randy says.
“Yes, we did. But I closed the Pathway,” I reply softly.
“So?”
“So, no demons can enter, but no angel can exit.”
“I don’t get it,” Randy admits.
“What Pryor wants to say is that the angels who could protect us, like our parents and the Council, are stuck in the light with no way to come back,” Swoop replies.
“Wait. Pryor, you mean...?”
“Yes, Randy; we are alone.”
7
Flesh & Fools
“So you feel that The First Noru’s actions were not motivated by a desire to save her parents as she would have us believe, but from her subconscious need to punish them for not telling her about her connection to the new evil?” the interviewer asks.
“Exactly, Robin. Pryor isn’t thinking about the bigger picture. She’s only fourteen and she can only fixate on her emotions. She destroyed the Pathway because of her unresolved anger at her parents.”
“So you’re saying there was no plot to destroy the Pathway by the new evil?” the interviewer pushes.
“None at all.”
“So what happens now, Dr. Monroe?”
“Well, now the unruly group is going to have to deal with what their selfish leader has done. I mean, really think about it: The only ones who could have protected the Noru until they came into their full powers are gone. It’s very likely Pryor Cane has doomed not only herself but her whole team...”
“Thank you, Dr. Monroe. When they come back, they may be doomed but they are always at the forefront of fashion. Next on ‘Up!’ The top ten outfits worn by the Noru twins this year. And how you can get their look for less.”
“Turn it off,” I instruct Randy.
“Sorry, I just can’t believe you guys have your own channel,” he says as he turns the TV off.
“The ‘Up!’ Network; all crap, all the time,” East replies.
Earlier, we dropped Donavan off at his house. He was so shaken by the loss of his dad, we had to stay with him until the rest of his family arrived. Afterwards, Swoop suggested we stop to find out the latest on the Pathway explosion. We ended up here, at an electronics store, just outside London.
It had only been a few hours since the Pathway blew up, but everyone in the Angel world knows, thanks to blogs, Twitter, and TV. Someone even has footage up on YouTube already.
While the media is mostly uninformative crap, we did learn something: It will take some time before the Pathway can be rebuilt since most of the Paras who had built it were stuck in the light. And the Pathway can’t be constructed from above.
“So when I just press ‘00’ on the TV the station comes up?” Randy asks.
“Yeah, you have to know it’s there to see it—just like with our wings,” Key replies.
“How did they know so quickly?” Randy wonders.
“Well, when you screw up in the Angel world, it takes no time for everyone to find out,” I reply as I head out of the store in utter misery.
“Pry, it wasn’t your fault. You saved everyone in the light,” Randy reminds me as the group follows me out.
“What I did was separate my friends from their parents,” I reply.
“East’s mom is still on earth,” Key says.
“That’s right. So if any of you want meatloaf with a side of ‘why can’t you be more like your sister,’ come see me,” East adds.
“No thanks. I’m usually full from the bottomless bowl of ‘Your sister is perfect’ stew that’s always being served at my house. It keeps me pretty full most of the time,” Swoop says.
“Mom and Dad don’t think I’m perfect. And the reason they are always on you is because you need to be more responsible,” Key says.
“Again, what’s wrong with living in the moment?” Swoop insists.
“Isn’t that what people say right before they stumble into an all-night chapel in Las Vegas?” Bex asks East.
“Followed by the inevitable question, first thing in the morning: Who are you again?” East jokes; they share a laugh.
“Face it, Swoop, you could use a little structure,” Key says gently.
“Why, so I could be like you and have designated underwear for the dates of the week?” she teases.
“She does that?” East asks Swoop.
“Yup. Monday panties, Tuesday panties...”
“I’m not that neurotic. I can be just as wild as you,” Key counters.
“What are you gonna do? Wear Friday panties on Saturday? Shocking,” Swoop replies as she places one hand on her chest and the other over her mouth, as if shocked.
“Leave my girl alone, Swoop. She knows how to live in the moment. Just yesterday she had a sneeze that was only planned two weeks in advance,” Bex says.
“Oh, okay Bear, keep it up and you’ll never get close enough to even look at my calendar,” she says, calling her boyfriend by the playful nickname she gave him years ago.
“EXCUSE ME! WILL YOU GUYS STOP JOKING? I DESTORYED THE DAMN PATHWAY!!!” I blurt out.
“We know,” East says softly.
“This is bad, guys,” I plead.
“W
e know,” Swoop confirms.
“I put us all in even more danger.”
“We. Know,” Key says.
“Why aren’t you guys pissed?” I ask.
“Pry, we hate that it happened but...”
“Key’s right. We lost our parents for a few days or maybe even a few weeks. But if you didn’t do what you did, we’d lose them forever,” Swoop agrees.
“The media acts like I wanted this to happen,” I reply.
“The media blows. You did the right thing,” East says.
“Yes, but you guys should still be worried,” I remind them.
“We are, very much so. But given what you have to do when we get home, we figured we should keep our worries to ourselves for the moment,” Key says.
“Oh Omnis! I forgot,” I say, mostly to myself.
“What is it?” Randy asks.
“Sam; I have to tell Sam our parents can’t come home. Randy, how do I do that without breaking his heart?”
Once back in New York City, we head straight to my house. I try to brace myself. We enter the living room and find Sam rolling around on the floor laughing helplessly with his babysitter. Suddenly the task that felt hard to do before, feels impossible now.
Sam and the sitter make silly faces and try to outdo each other. The babysitter is a grown-up but in a very loose sense of the word. In fact, Sam may be far more mature than his sitter.
“Hi,” I call out from the doorway, trying to sound upbeat.
“Pryor!” Sam calls out as soon as he sees me.
He runs up to me, still laughing and gleeful. Tony comes up to us, he’s smiling but behind his eyes, there’s sadness there. He’s heard the news.
“I didn’t know Sam’s sitter was an angel,” Randy whispers to me.
“His name is Tony-tone. He used to be a Seller. That’s a human who lived a pretty corrupt life on earth but died doing something selfless. They get to live over and over again until they do enough good to become an angel or enough bad to go into Difi, the house of fire. Most Sellers spend their many lives on earth as less-than-reputable pawnshop owners,” I inform him.
“So Tony became an angel?” he asks.
“After many, many, many attempts,” East replies.
The plump, kind-faced angel smiles at me. The only thing brighter than his smile is his cabana-inspired shirt with palm trees and coconuts.
“Tony, did you hear about...” I ask.
He nods, mouths the words “I’m sorry,” and signals to me that Sam doesn’t yet know.
“We played chess and Tony cheated,” Sam says.
“Hey, hey, I’m old; old angels get three turns at a time,” Tony lies.
Sam keeps laughing. That’s when I look at Tony suspiciously.
“You let him have Snap chips before bed, didn’t you?” I ask.
“Only half a bag,” Tony replies.
“Before you ask, human, Snaps are treats that give angels a burst of power for a few moments,” Bex says.
“The Paras have since made kiddie Snaps that don’t give powers but simulates an emotion. They come in chips, bubble gum, and all kind of goodies, right Sam?” Key asks.
“Yeah, and they have ice cream now too!” he replies.
“But you’re not supposed to have any before bed, are you?” East inquires.
Sam smiles at him and shakes his head “no.”
“What flavor did you have?” Swoop asks.
“Silly-Goof.”
“Well that explains the look on your face; that’s the best one,” she replies.
“How much did you really have?” I ask.
“Two bags,” Sam says.
He quickly places his hand over his mouth, shocked he had let the truth slip.
“Tony!” I scold.
“I’m sorry. But who can resist that face?” Tony replies.
“Are you mad at me?” Sam asks.
“No, sweetie,” I assure him.
“Yay! Pry, where’s Mom and Dad?”
I don’t answer. I would give anything not to be in this moment. Sam asks once again. I pick him up, take him over to the steps where my mom always takes me. I have him sit on my lap while I search for a way to explain what’s happened.
“Mom and Dad are still in the light,” I explain carefully.
“When are they coming back?” he asks.
“I don’t know. They went up and some bad guys tried to use the Pathway to hurt them. So I destroyed the Pathway. That way Mom and Dad are safe.”
“Okay, but when are they coming back?”
“They aren’t coming back—for now. As soon as they figure out how to fix the Pathway, they’ll be back.”
“So tomorrow?”
“It might take a little longer than that,” I admit.
“But it’s almost story time. Mom has to tell me a story.”
“I’ll tell you a story, okay?”
“No! I don’t want you. I want Mommy!” he cries.
Huge droplets of tears overflow in his eyes and spill over. Sometimes I wish we were like other angels; they can’t cry. But for some reason Norus can; although I myself think it’s a waste of time and have yet to cry.
Sam jumps from my lap and runs away from me. I stand up and call out after him, but he refuses to stop. He runs upstairs to his room and slams the door.
“Sam!” I call out again as I head upstairs.
I knock on the door but he won’t let me in.
“Sam, please, I want to talk to you.”
“No; you made Mommy go away.”
“I didn’t have a choice...”
“I hate you!” he yells.
“Let us try,” Key says as she comes up the steps.
I shake my head and allow her to knock. After a few moments, Key convinces Sam to let her come in by promising she’ll take him to a Snap shop where he can get anything he wants. I head downstairs and leave Sam to her, knowing how good she is with him.
I walk past the group and head out the door.
I want to take off but I’m not even sure where I would go. So instead I sit on the front steps of my house and look out at the sky. I hear the door open behind me. I don’t bother to look up.
“Randy, I need a minute alone, okay?”
“It’s not Randy,” he says.
I turn and find the last being I expected standing above me.
This is perfect. Just perfect.
“Bex, I can’t do this right now. So if you want to yell at me, put it on your schedule for later. Or better yet just throw a Powerball at me and get it over with.”
“The human was right; blowing up the Pathway was genius,” he replies.
“What is this, sarcasm?”
“No, it’s not.”
I look up at him and there is no mocking, sardonic glare on his face. His expression is like his voice, sincere. He sits down beside me.
“My brother hates me,” I confide to him.
“Sam will be fine. He has everything he needs; he has you,” Bex replies.
“Really? Because a few hours ago, I was the worst thing that could happen to anyone.”
“I know I’ve been...hard on you.”
“You’ve been a complete Tool,” I correct him.
“A little.”
“I know me leaving the group sucked but—”
“See that’s just it: you didn’t just leave the group, you left me,” Bex replies, unable to look me in the eye.
“What do you mean?”
“Pry, we used to train together long after the others were off Recharging because everyone expected more from us. You have to lead the Norus and I will someday have to lead the Paras. We were in this together. And the night before the Atu was to take place, we talked, do you remember?” he asks.
“Yeah, I was nervous about leading and you helped me get over it.”
“I thought I did too but then you didn’t show up. I’ve spent the last year wondering what I could have said the night before to scare you. You didn’
t show up to the Atu because I failed to help you. Seeing you just reminds me of that.”
“Bex, the night before the Atu, everything was fine. Really, you did help me.”
“Then why didn’t you show up? Please, Pry, what happened?”
“I was reading from the Muse. I got to page eighty-seven and I freaked out. You didn’t fail me, Bex. I failed myself.”
“What was on page eighty-seven?”
“It doesn’t matter. The point is I am the one to blame, not you, so please—”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m free now, right?” Randy asks in the doorway.
“What?” Bex replies.
“Well, not to be insensitive or anything but now that Death is stuck in the light, that means I get to live right?” Randy asks hopefully.
“Randy, I’m sorry but that’s not how it works. Death, Time, and Fate still work in the light,” I reply.
“Oh, okay...” he says sadly as he heads back into the house.
Bex and I follow him inside. Key comes from upstairs and tells us she was able to get Sam to Recharge. I thank her and ask if he’s okay.
“Not now, but in time I think he’ll come around,” she replies.
“Least he has time,” Randy says under his breath.
I return my focus to Randy, who hangs his head and slumps down on the sofa.
“Randy, don’t worry. We’ll figure out a way to save you,” I vow.
“How? We don’t even know where to find Oden,” he replies.
“Oden, the demon?” Tony asks.
“You know him?” I ask.
“Yeah, horrible demon; great client though. Back when I was a Seller I could always count on him to buy a few poisonous vials, pain elixirs, or PTC. Otherwise referred to as Portable torture chambers.”
“Do you know where we can find him?”
“Well, yeah he’s always hanging out at—never mind,” Tony says.
“Tony. C’mon, spill,” Swoop pushes.
“No, no, no. Oden is not a demon you should mess around with. Your parents wouldn’t like it. I can’t tell you,” Tony says firmly.
“Tony, if we don’t find him, Randy will die,” Key informs him.
We go on to explain Randy’s situation. After a while Tony agrees to tell us where Oden’s hangout is but only if we promise to call him for help if we should need it. We didn’t want to point out to Tony that we are more powerful than him. It would have been rude.
