by Lola St. Vil
Marcus is banging so hard the tower is shaking but it does nothing to the barrier. The only good news is that I’m going to black out soon from the pain. I know that because everything around me is starting to dim.
“No, you don’t human,” Lucy says as she shoves a mixture into my blood-filled mouth.
“This will keep you alive and hurting, just the way I want you,” she says as she pours more of the dark liquid down my throat.
I shake my head from side to side but she is too strong and is able to get the mixture into me. Now the blackness will never come and my agony will never end, I realize as tears fill my eyes.
No, don’t think like that. You can get past this pain.
But it’s not just the pain that makes me cry; it’s seeing what this is doing to Marcus. It’s destroying him right before my eyes.
“And now I think I desire a leg bone or maybe a heart…” Lucy says.
She waves her hand and I start screaming, knowing I can’t take any more agony.
“No! Stop. Okay, okay. I’ll put it together,” Marcus says.
“No, don’t,” I beg him.
He looks over at me and mouths the words, “I’m sorry.”
He then places the floating Alphas in the order they belong and puts them together.
The Shoma begins to glow and the sign of the Council starts to appear.
“Oh and this is for killing my son, Cairo. I never liked him but he was mine,” Lucy says as she waves her hand again and instantly my arm snaps and dangles at my side.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I howl.
Lucy waves her hand and I drop to the floor, the barrier is now gone.
Marcus rushes to my side. Lucy is a few yards away chanting something to a black box.
There’s a small dark swirl coming from inside it. I should just give in to the pain and cry on Marcus’ shoulders. I should give up but I can’t.
I think about my mom laying on the floor with her heart cut open, Rio dying on the mountain top, Mouse being attacked and killed by Lucy’s demons, and Sara; Lucy’s first victim. My friend…
“Marcus…can’t let her win…can’t let…Shoma assemble….kill her,” I gasp.
“I couldn’t let her hurt you anymore,” he admits.
“I know, I know,” I look over at the Shoma, it’s illuminated halfway.
“We have to…before…” I start but can’t finish.
“If you distract her, I can try and take the Shoma apart before it’s fully formed. Can you do that?” he asks.
I shake my head and tell him I have a plan.
Lucy is so consumed with the softball size dark twister; she pays no attention to Marcus and I. In fact, she doesn’t even notice that he’s left the room.
“Why don’t you kill me already,” I call out.
It hurts to talk or move my mouth at all but I have decided to stop listening to pain. I never like what it has to say.
“I want you and your Guardian around to see the end of the world. You’ve earned it,” she says as she chants over and over to the Nycren.
I look over and the Shoma is a little more than halfway lit. Soon the Council will be formed.
“Do you ever ask why he chose you?” I ask her.
She turns to me, curious.
“Atourum, Omnis had millions of Angels he could have chosen. Why did he pick you to become darkness? Why not someone else?”
“Omnis picked me because he knew I was the strongest.”
“Actually, I think he picked you because you were the closest to the darkness. You were the weakest Angel. You were weak then and you’re weak now. That explains why Cairo was such a pansy.”
Without warning, she transforms into a mammoth, six-headed serpent-like creature with wings. She leaps toward me, smashing demolished parts of the tower as she moves. I had no idea what she would become but I knew enough to get the hell out of the way.
She whips around again and goes to attack once more. This time I pull the frame out of my pocket using my one good arm.
“My mother says hello,” I shout to her.
I press the button below the picture frame I had Tony make for me. The frame is a portal just like the one in Bianca’s apartment. Soon the tower is invaded by Raw Sives.
Normally a Sive wouldn’t go for a demon because they have no soul for the Sive to feed on. But Marcus allowed me to cut him and let some soul seep out from him and onto the floor. The same floor Lucy is slithering on.
The Sives think Lucy has a soul and they will dig until they find it. Lucy cries out as she tries to manage the sea of Sives that engulfs her. I know it won’t destroy her. But all we need is for her to be distracted. And right now, she is so I signal to Marcus that it’s time.
Rage comes flying through the window and hurls power balls at Lucy with Aaden’s help.
Jay Glides around the massive serpent and Marcus wrestles and pins it to the ground. I press the button so that the Sives can return to the picture frame as Miku sings directly into Lucy’s ear, and with the combined effort of the team Lucy cries out as she explodes into a ball of black smoke and maggots.
Relief washes over us as we realize we have just killed Atourum. I look over to the Shoma and it is seconds away from being completely illuminated. The new Council is about to take form.
“Um…guys, are you seeing this?” Miku asks.
We turn and follow her stare. The Nycren has been growing. It is now the size of half a sea-like size tornado of evil and it’s heading straight for the Shoma.
Everything around us is flying in the air, the tower is rocking and about to fall. And in a matter of seconds, the Shoma will bring about a new Council. The Nycren will then take control of the Council.
“We can’t let the Nycren get into the Shoma,” I shout over the roar of the funnel.
“Lucy already activated it. It has to go into something,” Rage yells back.
“I’ll take it in,” Marcus says.
“No, I’ll do it,” Jay says.
“Guys hurry, it has to go into one of us or it will go into the Council,” Miku shouts.
“Nope, it can’t go into any of you, you have powers. It will tap into your powers in order to survive,” I yell.
“Whatever is gonna happen, it needs to happen now,” Jay says.
“It needs to go into a being with no power. A being that can easily be killed,” I say to Marcus.
The Shoma is now fully formed. The symbol of the Council is completely illuminated.
The Nycren, sensing the Shoma contains great power, leaps toward it.
“Marcus, I love you,” I say as I jump in front of the Nycren just in time to intercept it.
The Nycren seeps into me and takes over.
“EMMY, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Marcus begs.
I can no longer see anything. All I do is feel. And I feel a sweeping sense of rage.
I want to destroy everything and everyone. I ache for blood and violence. There’s a whitenoise buzzing around me, telling me to kill, kill, and kill.
I have no leg, no arms, no face; nothing. I am not human anymore. I am a swirling vortexof death and I want to kill. Kill. Kill.
Yet there’s someone standing before me. I know him but I can’t remember how I knowhim. He has wings. He’s an Angel. Must kill. Kill .Kill.
But I love him…
Love? Love? Love?
Kill. Kill. Kill.
There’s a battle inside the vortex that I have become. I want to help the being before meand yet I want to destroy him.
“You’re my heartbeat. How can I be away from you?”
Who said that?
I did. I said that to him.
Marcus.
Yes…Marcus.
For one moment I am able to think clearly and remember who I am.
“Marcus, you have to kill me.”
“No, I won’t. I won’t.”
“I am the weakest here. I’m your best shot at destroying the Nycren. Kill me.”
“No!
The Paras said the Nycren could be turned into good. If anyone can do that, it’s you,” Rage calls out.
“The Paras were wrong. I’m inside it. I know what it feels and it can’t…good…only evil…and more…evil.”
Suddenly I can’t make them out anymore. I’m back to the evil thoughts and the rage.
Kill everyone. Burn. Break. Make them bleed. Kill. Kill. Kill.
I feel something split the vortex in half. There’s wetness around me. My body is returning. The whirlwind has died down. I have arms, legs: a body.
I’m on the floor. The wetness is coming from me. It’s red. It’s thick and sticks to the floor. It hurts. I look up at him. The one who stabbed me. The Angel. My Angel.
“You were worth all of it,” I whisper as I look into his crestfallen eyes.
His name is Marcus. I remember now. His name is Marcus and I love him.
Just as I am about to close my eyes and finally give into death, I see a blue flash. It may be the last of the Nycren leaving my body.
I didn’t think I’d ever actually die. He’s going to be so sad, my Angel…
CHAPTER TWENTY‐ONE:
LIFE IN THE ZOO
(MARCUS)
It’s been twenty-five days since her death. Things have been happening around me that I don’t care about. For one thing, the Shoma did not bring about an instant Council like we thought. Instead it chose a courageous Para, imprinted a glowing blue symbol of the Council into his forehead, gave him unimaginable powers, and turned him into Time.
His name is Endu. He had saved thousands of humans during the Goumy take over. So, the Shoma rewarded him by making him one of the three most powerful forces on earth and in the light. The Shoma now has to pick two more Paras or Originals to form the new Council.
The Angel world is consumed with the process of the Shoma. The Splash reports on every detail. They have a list of the top twelve possible Paras and Originals they think will be chosen to be the new Council. Since the position is the most powerful in the world, it’s likely that the most powerful Angels among us will be chosen.
As the First Guardian, I was supposed go into the light with my team to greet the new Council member but I blew it off. I have blown everything off to stay with her. In fact the only time I leave her gravesite is to feed her cat, Ms. Charlotte.
I can’t process that she’s gone. It’s just something my mind and heart will never take in.
The only way I can survive is to tell myself she’s away somewhere and will be back. I hate lying to myself but I hate the truth more. Knowing she’s in limbo and that there is no way of getting her back, makes being alive torture.
After everything she has done to save humanity, she deserved better than to end up in a place we can’t reach. I play the final moments of her life in my head repeatedly. Was there anything I could have done differently? Was there any way I could have saved her?
The team comes to the cemetery to see me all the time. They try to convince me to go on with my life. But there simply is no life for me now. There is nothing for me.
They point out that I’m only growing weaker on earth but it doesn’t matter to me.
In truth, nothing matters anymore. I rarely Recharge, fly or even talk to anyone. I just sit beside her grave and love her. It’s my job. Since I met her it was my job to love her and I will do that until the end.
We had her buried next to her mom. Her funeral was beautiful. The Paras came, as did the Originals. In fact Angels from all over the world came to say good-bye even though she was “just” a human.
The Splash put her in the front page and thanked her for her help in putting the light back together. Every Angel wore purple for a week after her death to honor her. And when the last piece of the light came together, allowing Angels to once again go into the light, a slew of Paras in purple danced across the sky to commemorate what she helped make possible.
I stand in the cemetery and look down at her headstone. I read what’s written on it for the millionth time.
“Emerson Hope Baxter
A woman whose love & courage
helped us get home”
I talk to her like I have been doing since the day she died. It hurts more than I can possibly say but I have to talk to her. She’s all I have. And even if she’s gone from the human world, she’s still the center of mine.
“Hey, you’ll never guess who came back: Tony! He’s an Angel now. Don’t get me wrong; he’s still…Tony, but now with wings. He keeps trying to make a mixture that will help me get over you. He means well but he drives me crazy.
“I went to see Ms. Charlotte today, she misses you. She purrs when I come to the door then she gives me this look like she’s disappointed I’m not you. But she’s okay. Ben is taking good care of her. He’s teaching her how to be a sidekick. He’s a great kid.
“Speaking of kids…Aaden is doing very well. The Paras brought him down from Noni. Rage placed his hands on the glass where Aaden was kept. The pattern on his hand matched perfectly with the one on the glass. So Aaden’s cocoon opened up. We all watched as he came out; he was just a little silver ball. That’s right, his wings are silver.
“Emmy, he’s so powerful, we can’t believe it. Sibs are sensitive to light when they’re first born. So when Rage placed Aaden in the palm of his hand, Aaden looked up and didn’t like the sun so he used his little finger to reposition the clouds to block it!
“Ameana would be so proud. Her son is going to be more powerful than any of us. That being the case, the Paras are worried, naturally. They watch Rage and Aaden all the time but Rage doesn’t care. He’s putting everything into being a good dad.
“And Miku was on the operating table about to have the procedure when Jay bursts in and says, ‘Get the hell off my girl.’ So the surgery is out. But a Healer friend of Julian’s created a pill that suppresses Miku’s dark side without affecting her powers. She’s so happy now; they both are.
“I checked on your father. He’s okay considering everything that’s happened. I thought he’d be furious with me for not saving you; I needed him to be. But he just looked at me when he found out and remained silent. It’s like he was empty. He had lost Femi and now you. Julian is broken in ways that can’t be fixed.
“And me? I’m…I’m pissed. How could you leave me, baby? What am I supposed to do without you? How do I survive without you? You’re the strongest person I have ever met; you can’t be gone. You can’t be gone.”
The headstone looks back at me with cruel silence. It’s been drizzling throughout the day but now thanks to my emotions, it’s starting to rain harder.
“I didn’t start to live until I died and met you. And now you’re gone. I’m sorry I killed you baby. I’m so, so, sorry,” I tell her.
The rain intensifies. It now comes with lightning and thunder. I have to get my emotions under control in order to slow down the rain but I can’t. It rains for the next four days…
I don’t know how long I have been lying on the ground in front of her grave. Time makes no difference to me. I may have been here for hours or for weeks, I can’t be sure. But when I look up I see them gathered around me.
“The Shoma has chosen the second Council member: Raguel, he’s an Original. A blue light flashed and the symbol appeared on him. He is now Fate,” Miku says to me.
I don’t reply. I have nothing to say about the new Council because I am not interested in Angel business at all anymore. Other beings have tried to engage me. The Splash called me; Mia, the new Queen of Paras; and even the Originals have reached out. I didn’t want to be bothered so I tossed my cell in the ocean.
They were all calling to congratulate the team and have us attend ceremony after ceremony celebrating our achievements. We are being talked about, written and praised every minute of the day. I told the team they could go if they wanted to but none of them went to any of the parties.
Miku calls me out once again.
“Marcus, did you read the list of who qualified to be
chosen as a Council member?” Miku asks.
“Miku, don’t,” Jay cautions her.
“What is it? Let me guess: the Shoma includes the Guardians in its selection process,” I joke bitterly.
“You should read the criteria,” Miku says.
“Pretty, I don’t care what you need to have to be a member of the Council. I don’t even want to be an Angel right now,” I snap.
I turn my focus to Aaden. He looks like he’s a few months old by human standards. His metallic colored wings flap behind him as he plays an intense game of “peek-a-boo” with me from behind Rage’s shoulder.
His flying is unsteady. It’s hard for him to stay level but given he’s only a few days out of Noni, he is far more advanced than other Sibs. He disappears behind his father then reappears again. I pretend to be mystified by his “disappearing” act. He giggles uncontrollably.
He wants to show off for me so he summons up a fireball the size of a marble and throws it near me. He sets the grass on fire; a small fire.
“Aaden, daddy said no, it’s not fire time,” Rage scolds patiently.
“Not fire time?” Aaden asks.
While flying steady takes time, learning to speak is the easiest thing for Sibs to pick up. In fact, they learn every language about a month after they are born.
“That’s right, it’s not fire time,” Rage repeats, amused.
“Is it time now?” Aaden asks.
I smile at the Sib and admire his persistence. He has his father’s dark hair; his mother’s eyes and her stunning beauty.
“No, not now,” Rage says shaking his head and smiling.
“Okay; Uncle Jay do it, please,” Aaden pleads.
“Alright yo, but just one time,” Jay says, unable to say no to the Sib’s charming tone.
Jay Glides around the cemetery at top speeds causing a whirlwind around us. Aaden’s eyes widen in delight. He flaps his wings and stubby little hands uncontrollably.
Soon the winds get to be too strong for him. He holds on to his dad’s neck fearing the wind will blow him away. Yet when Jay is done, Aaden begs him to do it again. Miku scoops Aaden up from Rage’s shoulders and plays with him while the guys try and talk me into leaving earth.
