by Lola StVil
“If it was the redhead that saved you, would you be acting like this? Would you be out here scolding her for helping you?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s an angel--that’s what they do.”
“No! What angels do is smile in your face then torture the shit out of you and give you nightmares. You know what? I risked a lot to save you, so however this conversation ends, it needs to start with ‘thank you.’”
“Thank you,” he replies.
“Whatever, Silver, screw you,” she says as she starts to walk away.
He runs after her and turns her towards him.
“Wait, I mean it. Thank you,” he says sincerely.
He pulls her towards him and embraces her tightly. At first she’s too taken aback to return his affection. But slowly she embraces him back. She closes her eyes and takes in the moment.
“It’s no big deal.” She lies.
“Why did you save everyone else?” he asks.
“If they died, you’d just be all sad and human-like, so I thought what the hell, I’ll save your stupid team too.”
“Well, thank you again. My father means everything to me, and I know sometimes I rant about him but...” Aaden tells her.
“Yeah, I know how that goes.”
“Diana, we need to talk about the Rah,” he says carefully.
“You can go get it and give it to me after your dad wakes up,” she says.
“I’m not giving you my Rah,” he says.
“We had a deal. I sent out a Null.”
“I know you did. But you can also cancel our contract.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because it’s not right to force me to give you my Rah because you have feelings for me.”
“You arrogant asshole!”
“Then why do you want my Rah?”
“You don’t get it, do you? You can’t control yourself around her. She will end your life.”
“I can control myself; I don’t need your help with Pryor,” he replies.
“Bullshit, Silver. I saw the two of you going at it.”
“What? You were spying on me?”
“Yes!”
“You have no right to do that.”
“So I’m supposed to just watch you place your life in danger?”
“I told you I have it under control,” he insists.
“The hell you do. I was on a Port outside your room; you damn near fucked her.”
“Stop talking about her like that. She’s not some cheap lay. She’s not some worthless piece of ass.”
“You mean like me, right?”
“What?”
“Is that what you were going to say? Pryor is not cheap and worthless like me?”
“Diana, I would never say that about you.”
“I give up my team, I give up my wings, and I give up the life I’ve come to know. And you still only see her? Who was there when you were too terrified to close your eyes and Recharge? Who held you when you were trembling from fear, going out of your mind thinking they were coming after you?”
“Diana, you know you’re important to me,” he says.
“I don’t want to be important to you. I want to be the one you love, the one you choose. And I should be. I’m the one that held you. I’m the one that saved you. I’m the one who knows all the awful, dark places you’ve been. And I sent down a light for you. I don’t have pretty white wings and I am a demon to everyone else, but damn it, Silver, if being an angel means saving someone, I was an angel for you.”
“Yes, you were. I will never deny that.”
“My grandmother would burn herself on the stove all the time after she started getting sick. It was my job to look after her because she couldn’t do it herself. I couldn’t save her. But I won’t fail this time. I will save you from yourself, like it or not.”
“Diana, don’t do this,” he shouts.
She doesn’t reply, she just surveys the area and sees the streets are nearly empty. She then pulls out what looks like a flash drive. It unravels to reveal a Port.
“Diana, you can’t do this.” He swears.
“I want your Rah by the end of the day, Silver. Do not make me come for it,” she warns as she disappears.
**********
“Is she really not going to give him back his Rah?” East asks back in the waiting room a few moments later.
“How is Silver being with Pry bad for him?” Swoop asks.
“I have no idea, but I’m sure he won’t tell me anything. He loves keeping me in the dark. He keeps everyone at bay except Ruin. She knows everything and now she has his Rah,” I reply.
“You don’t think he wants her to have it, do you? I mean, you heard them argue,” Swoop says.
“Yeah, I did. But the fact is, Ruin and Aaden are in a relationship. Maybe not a healthy one, but they have a bond. You heard her; she was there for him. He may not want to admit it, but maybe they do belong together…” I reply distantly.
“Hey, um…can we go somewhere and talk?” Randy asks in a shy voice.
“You two go ahead. We’ll text you when we get news from the Healers,” East says.
I ask Randy where he wants to talk and he picks Hawaii of all places. So I fly him over to Maui. We land on a small mountain overlooking the water. I had never been to Hawaii before; it’s as beautiful as the humans say.
The sky is a brilliant shade of blue with hints of gold and pink throughout. The soft breeze goes by us, bringing along the scent of flowers and summer. The aqua colored water sweeps across the sand in a calm and soothing rhythm. The sun’s rays hit the sand giving it a sparkling diamond-like effect.
“Why’d you want to come here?” I ask him.
“My mom loved Hawaii. It’s all she could talk about when she wasn’t daydreaming about a singing career,” Randy says.
“It’s beautiful,” I reply.
We sit for a while in silence, just looking out at the waves.
“So from one to ten, how big of an ass was I back in the forest?” Randy asks.
“A hundred and fifteen,” I reply.
“Wow, that’s bad.”
“I don’t get it. You got all ‘super macho’ on me. I mean really, what the hell?” I reply.
“I’m never gonna be the guy who makes a touchdown and wins the game for the team. I’m never gonna get the girl or have people look up to me. I’m just some guy with too many comic books and too many daydreams. But then this angel thing happened and I thought maybe I was meant to be more. Imagine my surprise when it turns out I wasn’t. I’m just meant to watch the action and not take part in it. Yay for being part of the audience,” he says sarcastically.
“I get it, Randy, I really do.”
“No you don’t. You’ve never wanted to be someone else.”
“That’s not true. I wanted to be—never mind.”
“Wait, what were you going to say?” he pushes.
“Don’t laugh, okay?”
“Promise.”
“I want to be Ruin.”
“What? How could—”
“Wait! Not the evil demon part. The part that gets to be in Aaden’s heart and mind. The part of her that he opens up to.”
“So you wish you could be somewhat like Ruin?”
“Yeah, she’s the kind of girl who walks in the room and the guys…I just think it would be nice to know some of the stuff that she does,” I reply lamely.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I’m guessing she could give a class on seduction, confidence, and landing a guy. Me, I can give a class on the best way to get demon guts off your boots.”
“Seltzer water and lemon?” Randy guesses.
“Nope; dish soap and vinegar. Gets it right out,” I reply.
We share a laugh then grow silent again.
“I’m sorry I hit you,” I tell him.
“You should be. You hit hard.”
“Not really.
If I wanted to hit you for real, well you wouldn’t be here to complain about it. You’d be dead,” I tell him.
“Well, thanks for holding back,” he says with playful sarcasm.
“Hey, you’re lucky I was the one that hit you. If you delayed us another second, Aaden was gonna knock you out and believe me, it’s much better to get hit by me,” I assure him.
“You’re probably right. Look ,Pry, I’m sorry I got in the way.”
“I know. Look, Randy, you matter to us. Not just me, all of us. And we don’t want to leave you out, but if you become a liability…”
“I know, I know. I won’t get in the way anymore. It’s just that I want to help. I want to be a freaking hero. There, I said it. I want to save someone,” he admits bravely.
“When I first attended human school I wanted to disappear, but then I met you and you made me laugh. You sang to me. You saved me that first day and you’ve been saving me ever since.”
“That’s different. I promise you one day, I really am going to save everyone,” he says.
“Fine, just don’t risk anyone’s life in doing so.”
“I get that now. To be a hero, you should be the only one who’s losing something.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, but I guess that’s enough for now,” I reply as I put my head on his shoulder.
“Can I say something that you might hate me for?” he asks.
“Go for it.”
“I know it sucks that Ruin has Silver’s Rah but I think it’s a good thing.”
“Because of the supposed danger I pose to him?” I ask.
“Not just that. Think about it. Malakaro let Ruin go because he wanted her to learn that there is no such thing as hope. When Aaden told her he didn’t love her, she was pissed but she didn’t go back to Malakaro. Silver asked her why she was in the forest. But I think he asked the wrong question.”
“What’s the right question?”
“Why hasn’t Ruin returned to Malakaro?”
“You have a theory?” I ask.
“Yeah, Silver. He’s her reason.”
“And if it wasn’t for her feelings for Aaden…”
“She’d be off with Malakaro right now,” Randy says.
“I know, but having her around could be dangerous,” I reply.
“Not as dangerous as it would be to lose track of her. Seriously, Ruin knows a lot about this team. Isn’t it better she be near so we can keep an eye on her? I mean, do we really want Ruin and Malakaro together?”
“If you’re right and Ruin is trying to find something to hold on to then—”
“Then Silver’s Rah is the only thing that stands between her and true evil…”
*******
We get back to the clinic a short while later. Randy apologizes to East, Aaden, and Swoop for his behavior. The team graciously accepts. One of the Healers enters the waiting room and tells us that Key is awake. Relief floods the room. The Healer tells us they’ll have an update on the other patients shortly.
“Can we see her?” Swoop asks.
“Yes, but only for a few minutes; she needs to rest,” the Healer replies.
We start to make our way towards Key’s room when Aaden takes me aside and says he needs to have a word with me. I signal to the rest of the team that they should go in without me. They agree and leave Aaden and I in the waiting room alone.
“Listen…about my Rah,” he begins.
“What about it?” I ask.
“I didn’t give it to her…I needed her help and this was the only way,” he replies.
“Okay,” I reply simply.
“You overheard us, didn’t you?” he asks.
“Yeah, we all did.”
“And now you want to know why she thinks it’s dangerous for us to be together,” he guesses.
“No, I don’t,” I lie.
“You don’t?”
“Aaden, I have asked you a million times to share what’s going on with you and a million times you have refused. I can take a hint—finally,” I reply as I start to head for Key’s room.
“Pry, it’s not like that. There are things I can’t get into,” he says, blocking the entrance to Key’s room.
“I’m not asking you to get in to them. So we’re good.”
“Don’t do that, don’t shut me out.”
“Aaden, are you being serious right now? I have not gotten a straight answer from you ever since you got back. You keep things from me, from the team. You have some sick, twisted connection to a demon and now she’s gonna have your Rah. How dare you accuse me of shutting you out?” I demand.
“I don’t want to argue, Pry, I really don’t.”
“Good, because this argument is over.”
“I’m trying to protect you. I know you don’t see it but I am.”
“Protecting me means making out with me and then discarding me like a used tissue?” I snap.
“HEY, YOU THINK I ACTUALLY WANTED TO STOP KISSING YOU? ALL I DO IS THINK ABOUT KISSING YOU.”
“I won’t let you do this to me, not here and not now.”
“Do what?” he asks.
“Confuse me with this bullshit. You want me but you can’t kiss me. You save me but you can’t check in on me. I’m tired of this game. Do you get that? So do me a favor and stop saying one thing and doing the opposite.”
“Pry, I’m not trying to play with your mind, okay? The reason why Diana said what she said was—”
“I DON’T CARE! I DON’T CARE. I.DON’T.CARE. GET IT? I OFFICIALLY DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT WHAT IS OR ISN’T GOING ON WITH YOU AND YOUR FLAVOR OF THE DAY!”
“Pry…” He looks back at me, deeply wounded.
“Every time I fall for your pretty eyes and words, it ends up hurting me. If you care about me at all, if you ever really cared about me—just stay away from me. Please.”
“Okay, I will,” he says softly.
He moves out of my way. I start to head into the room when the Healer enters the waiting room and asks to speak with all of us. We all enter Key’s room.
“Is Bex okay?” she asks with a weak voice.
“He sustained a serious head wound,” the Healer says.
“The Byelle rammed him into a tree,” Swoop replies miserably.
“But he’s a Para, so he’s very strong. We’ve given him a mixture that should heal him, but he’ll feel out of it for a while.”
“Okay, that’s great. What about Uncle Rage?” I ask.
“The demon is another matter,” the Healer begins.
“What do you mean, what’s wrong with my dad?” Aaden asks, on edge.
“The Byelle attack was severe,” the Healer says.
“Okay…” Aaden replies, close to losing it.
“He’s bleeding into his skull.”
“Then stop it! Why can’t you stop it?” Aaden says, freaking out.
“Silver, let her talk,” Swoop says, gently taking his hand.
“Sorry,” Aaden replies.
“As I was saying before, he is bleeding into his skull. There are two things we can do. We can give him a very powerful mixture that can stop the bleeding and restore him back to health. It’s called Gayle. It can save his life.”
“Okay, so give it to him,” I push.
“That’s just it; all it does is save his life. It will take away everything else.”
“I don’t understand,” Aaden says.
“Gayle is a mixture that takes every ounce of power from the patient and uses it to heal them. But when they are healed, they do not get that power back. If Rage takes Gayle, when he wakes up he’ll do so with no powers and no memory.”
“And if he doesn’t take it?” I ask.
“If he doesn’t take it within the next hour, he could die. Now, there are cases where patients have pulled through on their own.”
“What’s the chance that he’ll recover on his own?” I ask.
“Roughly ten percent.”
“What? No, that’s not fa
ir!” Swoop shouts.
