The Noru 2 : The Last Akon (The Noru Series, Book 2)

by Lola StVil

  “I know we don’t have to; I want to.”

  “Yeah but…I don’t.”

  “Seriously?” she says, laughing freely as she leans in for a kiss once again.

  “I mean it, Diana. We can’t…” he says, stepping away.

  “I know you aren’t afraid of public displays of affection. Remember when we woke up stark naked in the display window at Macy’s?”

  “Yeah, I do.” He smiles slightly.

  “So what’s the problem?”

  He looks at her but doesn’t reply.

  “Silver, I know how you feel about me. This stone measures love. The more you love me, the more the darkness gets taken away from it. And look, now it’s completely white. That means you love me.”

  He looks at the stone around her neck. He grazes the side of her face with his hand and looks into her eyes.

  “The stone is right. I do love you, but what the stone doesn’t reveal is exactly what kind of love it is.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me,” she demands.

  “I love you but I am not in love with you. You matter to me, more than you could possible know. I want you to be safe and happy but…”

  “But not with you, because you want the redhead.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Malakaro told me you could never love me. He said there’s no hope for us and that I had risked everything for nothing. He was right,” Ruin replies.

  “No, Diana, he was wrong. There is hope for you.”

  “But not for us right? There is no hope at all for you and me, is that right?”

  “I—”

  “Do not bullshit me. I risked everything for you. For us. I lost my wings. I lost my team. I have NOTHING!!!!” She rages.

  “I know. I thought you understood that—”

  “Oh I understand. I understand more than you could possibly know. You think that somehow pretending to be an angel will make you one, but you’re wrong. I’ve seen the spark that killing ignites in you. I’ve seen you after you set fire to whatever belonged to The Center. You are evil to your core and I love that about you; she doesn’t.”

  “I told you I didn’t enjoy doing those things.”

  “Lie all you want; and for what? So the redhead can be with you? Okay, let’s say she walks out here and says she loves you and wants to be with you, then what?”

  “I don’t know,” he snaps.

  “You know exactly what will happen if you two get together. You can’t have her. Do you understand that? YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HER!”

  ******

  A few moments later Ruin storms past me and stomps upstairs. Aaden comes walking down the hall and finds me standing there.

  “So now you’re spying on me?” he asks.

  “I told you I don’t trust Ruin.”

  “And what about me? Do you trust me?”

  “You knew about Key and you never said a word,” I remind him.

  “Yeah, guess you can’t trust me; it’s a good thing we’re not friends then,” he says snidely.

  “Guys, we think we found the dagger!” Swoop shouts.

  Aaden and I quickly head to the living room, where everyone has gathered (minus a demon).

  “How did you guys find it?” I ask.

  “With Bex’s Para connections and Randy’s hacking, it was easy,” Swoop says.

  “Great, which museum is it in?” I ask.

  “Hang on…” Randy says as he scours the multiple open windows on his browser.

  “It’s not in a museum. It’s since been acquired by an angel who is said to be very paranoid and offbeat. It says here, he was so worried of being robbed, he hid most of his valuable belongings.” Randy reads off the screen.

  “Are you saying they don’t know where the stupid dagger is?” Aaden says impatiently.

  “Hang on, still reading,” Randy says.

  Aaden looks like he’ll lose it at any second. All of us understand where he’s coming from. The fact is if we have to search for this dagger, we may not get to the forest in time to save his father.

  “Randy!” Aaden shouts.

  “Okay, hold on…I’m looking…the location of the dagger is…”

  “Randy, hurry!” Key says.

  “Yes! I found it,” Randy says excitedly.

  We all cheer for him and exchange looks of relief.

  “Okay, where is the dagger?” Aaden asks.

  Randy continues to read from the computer screen.

  “It has the exact location right here. It’s someplace called…The Cave of Nor.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Aaden says as he smashes the wall in with his foot. That section of the wall caves in instantly.

  I can’t blame him for being so angry. Out of all the places to hide something, the Cave of Nor is the worst. Randy turns away from the screen and looks over at us. Our faces are filled with worry and dread.

  “What? The Cave of Nor is bad?” Randy asks.

  We don’t reply. We just continue to look at him with reluctance and concern.

  “C’mon, how bad can it be?” he pushes.

  “They have fire swans. Huge birds that shoot flames hot enough to melt the wings off our backs. They also have Sho-Ku: creatures that take a pleasing shape to lure you closer and then split you open and feast on your insides when you do,” Bex says.

  “Oh, I see. And let me guess; hundreds of angels have died in the cave?” Randy says.

  “No, they haven’t,” I reply.

  “What, thousands of angels have died?” Randy asks, growing even more concerned.

  “Damn…” East says with regret.

  “Guys, come on! Tell me how many angels have died going into this cave?” Randy demands.

  “None.”

  “I don’t get it?” Randy says.

  “The cave has Bitters, creatures that feed on powers. We’d never make it out,” Bex says.

  “So who’s going inside this cave of guaranteed death?” Randy asks.

  “You.”

  CHAPTER TEN: I DO DANGER ALL THE TIME

  “Randy, we’re not saying that you should go into the cave,” I clarify moments later.

  “Exactly. It’s much too dangerous,” Key agrees.

  “Sending you in would be a really bad idea,” Bex adds.

  “You’re the sweetest nerd candy ever, but really this isn’t your problem,” Swoop says.

  “There are things in that cave that could kill you outright and it would be stupid to even think of sending you in,” I tell him.

  “We could put him in a Holder. That way he’d be protected,” Aaden says desperately.

  “He’d need to be out of the Holder in order to grab the dagger. Once he does that…” Swoop says.

  “Maybe we can find some kind of mixture to—”

  “To do what, Aaden? We can’t send Randy down a cave where angels fear entering,” I reply.

  “I’ll do it,” Randy says in a shaky voice.

  “What?” East says, shocked.

  “I’ll go down the cave and get the dagger. I can do it,” Randy says, trying to sound casual.

  “Randy, no! You can’t go in there,” I say as I walk over to him.

  “Pry is right. Randy, thanks for volunteering, really. But I can’t ask that of you. It’s not fair,” Aaden says.

  “Maybe we can try and find another artifact, one that’s far less dangerous to locate,” Key suggests.

  “We don’t have time for that and anyway the Movatu want the dagger; they won’t settle for less,” Aaden replies.

  “Then what are you going to do?” Randy asks Aaden.

  “It’s officially midnight. I now have only twenty-four hours before my father is killed. I’m going to hand myself over to Malakaro,” Aaden says with resolve.

  “Aaden, you can’t do that!” the twins say in unison.

  “I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE. HE’S GOING TO DIE, DO YOU GET THAT?”

  He turns around and walks towards the front door. I call out
his name, he stops, and then turns to face me. When he speaks, his voice fills with certainty.

  “Look, if you want to take my powers away, then fine. If you want to kick me off the team, that’s fine too. But I can’t let him die.”

  “You’re father’s not going to die; I’m going to save him,” Randy says, brimming with confidence.

  “Randy, you don’t have to do this,” I reply.

  “I know that, Pry. Look, I’m not thrilled about going into a cave with creepy crawly deadly things that want to dissect me. But we have to be realistic: We don’t have a choice.”

  “Randy, you have no training,” Key says.

  “We don’t have time for that. You guys just fill me in on what I can expect inside the cave. And I’ll try my best not to panic. Okay?”

  “Randy, are you sure about this?” I ask.

  “In the movies the reluctant hero always needs to be pushed into doing things and somehow it always works out for him.”

  “THIS IS NOT A MOVIE, RANDY! YOU COULD DIE!” I shout, losing patience.

  “I KNOW!” He blares back at me.

  I lower my head in frustration and Randy reaches out to me.

  “Carrot, I have always wanted to be the brave one. I’ve sat back my whole life and daydreamed about helping someone in an epic way. This is my chance. This is my moment and I want to help,” Randy pleads.

  “You could die. I can’t lose you, Randy, I just can’t,” I reply, trying to keep my emotions in check.

  “That’s just it, Pry, I could die but Rage will die if we don’t help. And I want to help. I want to do this. Please, let me do this.” Randy begs.

  I look around the room and the rest of the team reluctantly nods in approval. They don’t want Randy to go inside the cave anymore than I do, but Randy is right: We really don’t have a choice at this point.

  “Fine, Randy will go inside the Cave of Nor,” I announce with great trepidation.

  “Okay, let’s go right now,” Randy says.

  “No, we should wait for daylight,” Bex warns.

  “We’re short on time,” Randy replies.

  “Bex is right; the area around the cave is surrounded by nocturnal creatures we do not want to encounter. We should wait for first light,” Aaden says.

  “That’s in four hours. That’s enough time to get you briefed on what you can probably expect inside the cave,” Bex says.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” Randy replies.

  For the next half hour the team provides as much detail as they can about the cave. While no angel has ever been inside the Cave of Nor, there are similar caves in the area that have been explored by us. So we make an educated guess as to what Randy may encounter.

  The team also tells him what to do should he be attacked by any of the creatures inside the cave. Aaden demonstrates the best ways for Randy to protect himself, including when to be still and when to fight back.

  “What about the Fire Swans?” Randy asks.

  “They are said to be in the deepest part of the cave. Hopefully we find what we need before they even know you are there. But just in case, we’ll give you a shield to protect you against the fire,” Swoop says.

  While the team takes care of Randy, Key signals for Bex to go off with her and speak in private. I head upstairs to look in on our “guest.” I also leave because the more I hear about the danger in the cave, the harder it is for me to allow Randy to go.

  I open the door and look in on Ruin and find her resting quietly. As much as she gets to me, I could see the hurt in her face when Aaden said he wasn’t into her in that way. I want to feel bad for her, but she makes it hard.

  I close the door behind me and begin to make my way downstairs. That’s when I hear voices coming from the bedroom next door. It’s Key and Bex. I guess she managed to get him to talk to her. Although I’m not sure this is the way she wanted the conversation to go.

  “You’re just going to pretend like I don’t exist anymore?” Key says.

  “I don’t know what you want from me,” Bex replies, sounding very cross.

  “I want you to say you understand why I did what I did,” she replies.

  “You want me to understand why you tried to kill me?”

  “No, I was trying to get answers. I needed to know if you had feelings for Pry. It was killing me.”

  “I told you I have never done anything with Pry.”

  “But that doesn’t mean you don’t want her.”

  “I am with you because that’s where I want to be. I have been faithful to you; I have never strayed. Why is that not enough?” Bex replies.

  “I know what I did was wrong. I’m sorry, Bear, I am.”

  “You should have come to me.”

  “You would never have admitted it,” Key says.

  “Admit what? I haven’t done anything wrong. And guess what, even if I did, you trying to poison me isn’t the way to go about fixing things.”

  “You’re my world, Bex. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “You took the easy way out and you relied on a mixture. You should have talked to me. But you didn’t have any faith in me or in us. And now neither do I.”

  “How can I have faith when you are taking mixtures and hiding that from me? What mixture did you take and why?” she demands.

  “Seriously, after everything you put me through tonight you are going to stand there and demand answers?” he shouts.

  “So it’s true. You are feeling guilty because you like Pry,” she accuses.

  “You are freaking unbelievable!”

  “Then tell me! Tell me why you took the mixture. What were you trying to suppress?”

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you. You lost that right when you nearly killed me.”

  “Don’t you dare make me out to be the only one who’s wrong in this. You used a mixture and I demand to know why.”

  “Get out of my way!” Bex says.

  “No, I’m not moving until you tell me what you were trying to suppress. Never mind, I know what it is. It’s Pryor; it’s always been Pryor and I’m sick of it!”

  “I wasn’t suppressing the guilt of wanting another girl. I was trying to suppress…”

  “Trying to suppress what? Damn it, Bex, just say it!”

  “I was trying to suppress regret,” Bex says in a softer tone.

  “Regret for what?” she pushes.

  “A year ago an angel committed murder. It was a cold and ruthless act and the Omari were going after him. When they caught him, they asked that he be sent to this place called The Center. Because I’m next in line to be king of Paras, my vote counted more than most. In fact, they were all split on what should be done with the angel. I signed off on him being transferred from the regular prison and sent off to The Center,” Bex explains.

  “You sent Silver to The Center?” she asks.

  What? I thought he was suppressing “regret” because he was falling out of love with Key or maybe falling in love with someone else. But I never suspected this. Bex sent Aaden to The Center?

  “Bex, how could you do that?” Key says as if reading my mind.

  “I didn’t know that the angel in question was Silver. By the time I did, it was too late to stop it from happening,” Bex says.

  “Oh My Omnis, you can’t tell Silver, he will seriously lose it,” Key cautions.

  “We don’t even know what happened at The Center. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as Silver makes it out to be,” Bex says.

  “Why don’t you just find out what really goes on there? You’re the next Kon, the next future king of Paras, they have to tell you what goes on there,” Key says.

  “I don’t want to know what happened.”

  “Of course not, because then you’d have to live with what you allowed to happen to Silver,” Key concludes.

  “Damn him! Why the hell did he kill five humans?” Bex rants.

  “There must have been a good reason.”

  “That’s crap, Key, and you know it! I’m
a Para. I couldn’t just allow him to kill. I had to send him there. Silver did the crime and I shouldn’t feel bad with where he ended up.”