by Lola StVil
The area immediately in front of each Nuke is covered with a blaze of flames as they breathe their fiery breath out onto unsuspecting students.
Some of the students are fighting back, and powers fly, sometimes hitting their targets and sometimes not.
Many of them are in panic mode, hurt and afraid. The Nukes run at the students, their fangs bared, toxic spittle dripping from them and mingling with the blood of their victims.
The whole hallway is in total chaos and I don’t know what to do. On either side of me, the team bursts into action.
On my left, Ryder blows out a large gust of wind, which becomes a cyclone shape and instantly whips away two of the Nukes, freeing a particularly small girl, who looks up at him like he’s her new hero.
Ryder smiles back at the girl, distracted, while another Nuke lurks behind him baring its teeth, ready to attack.
On my right, Nix blasts streams of red light from his palms, aiming it at Nukes one at a time, careful not to hit any students. He turns his attention to the Nuke behind Ryder and blasts it with everything he’s got. The Nuke howls in pain, the cry dying in its throat as a low gurgle. It blows up into a splash of goo, flesh and fur all over the walls and lockers. Ryder looks behind him, then smirks at Nix when he realizes what just happened, getting back at it. I turn away quickly, afraid I might throw up.
Not a good look for their savior.
RJ appears to be trying to stare out the Nukes; when the Nukes lose interest and turn away, I realize what he’s doing; Any Nuke that meets his eyes stops biting and snarling and calmly walks away. He’s mind controlling them, calming them and sending them away.
Parker impresses me the most. As a healer, I expect her to hang back, but she doesn’t. She throws herself into the center of a group of Nukes and begins punching and kicking her way through them. I know their fur must be burning her hands as she smacks at them, but she either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
I spot a boy pinned to the ground by one of the Nukes. It growls, its hot breath coating his face as the fear spreads. He reaches up, trying to push it away, but his shoulders are pinned to the ground by its feet, the bulk of it firmly straddling his body. The nuke leans its mouth closer to his face as its drool drips just on his ear, burning the little flesh it makes contact with.
Its mouth opens wide, ready to blow out a burst of flames that will fry the boy’s face.
“Hey,” I shout, getting its attention.
It looks up. My purple eyes lock with its yellow eyes. This is my chance. I take a step forward and raise my palm, remembering everything my parents have taught me. I take a calming breath and clear my mind of thoughts.
I push and nothing happens. I take another breath, all too aware that the Nuke has lost interest in watching me and is moments away from toasting its prey. He looks at me with pleading eyes.
I try again. The Nuke growls low in its throat, and as I concentrate, the growl turns to a whimper. It looks up at me again, and before I know what’s happening, it pounces.
I feel its paws collide with my chest, knocking me to the floor. My head bangs off the tiles, but I barely feel it. This is it. It’s me against the beast, and I plan on taming it and my powers.
With a feral cry, I shove my hands onto its chest, ignoring the stinging pain. I push with everything I have and the Nuke flies into the air. I lift my head up and watch it crash into the wall. It slides down and stays down. Dazed.
I feel a wash of euphoria. I did it. The feeling doesn’t last long.
“Summit, Nix is down. Help me reach him,” Parker shouts across to me.
I look in the direction she’s pointing and see Nix unconscious on the floor, blood bubbling on his lips. He hasn’t got long if Parker can’t get to him. A group of Nukes, five in total, stand guard, as if they know we’re Nix’s only chance.
I hear another angry cry burst from my throat, and I thrust my palms towards them. At the same time, Ryder spots our predicament and comes to my side.
Three of the Nukes are blown to the side by his wind tunnel, and I’m pleased to note that the other two both fall to the ground, their breath wheezing through their throats as they struggle to breathe.
Parker throws herself on the ground by Nix’s body. She puts up a shield around them so she can heal him without interruption. She puts her hand out, and then an awful scream cuts through the air, making me wince. I turn in the direction of the scream.
Ryder turns too, but as he does, another Nuke pack comes at him from the left and I shout a quick warning.
I spot Cassidy. I can’t ignore a scream like that, regardless of how much I hate Cassidy. I start to jog over. Beside her, three Nukes form a tight circle, barking and snarling at something or someone in the center.
“Summit, thank God,” she breathes. “Quick, help, please.”
I make my way over to her. She cries out, “He was winning. He fought five of them off, but then these three just came from nowhere and they knocked him down. He’s not bitten yet.”
I see his face through the flashes of black and red fur as the Nukes tussle with each other viciously, each trying to get to their prey. Lucas.
“No!” I shout.
I raise my palm and nothing happens.
Not this again. Not now.
Silver warned me about this. He told me not to overdo it in the beginning or my powers would stop working until they had properly recharged.
Well screw that. Those Nukes aren’t getting Lucas.
With a strength I didn’t know I had, I bring up both palms and push with everything I have. I feel a searing pain run through the front of my head, but I keep going. I feel warmth on my face, wet warmth. My nose is bleeding.
I hear Cassidy gasp, but I don’t stop.
The Nukes pause, their snouts sniffing the air as if they can smell the danger. And then they explode. Cassidy screams again as she is covered in a huge burst of blood and intestines.
I hurry to Lucas’s side as he gets to his feet.
“Thanks,” he says.
His expression changes as he sees my face. He frowns in concern and reaches out to touch my cheek. His touch is a painful reminder that we can never be together. But I do take pleasure in seeing Cassidy storm away as he touches me.
“Your nose is bleeding. Are you hurt?” he asks.
“It’s nothing,” I say, wiping the blood away on my sleeve. I don’t want to tell him that I think I overdid it a bit and something had to give.
The truth is I feel drained, like I could sleep for a week, but I also feel empowered. A quick glance around me shows that the Nukes are gone.
“Summit, you did it! That was awesome!” Ryder yells with excitement.
There are injured bodies scattered everywhere, and we’re battered and bruised, but we won. And it feels good.
“Let Parker heal you,” Lucas says.
He’s all business again, but I still feel a warm glow that he’s concerned about me. I nod my agreement. The pain has gone and I can feel the flow of the blood slowing down, but I don’t want to argue with him now, not over this. I’ll let Parker do her thing.
“Where is she?” I ask as I look around.
I spot Nix back on his feet, but Parker isn’t beside him.
We all stand, looking all around us.
“No!” Ryder shouts, and he takes off.
I look where he’s heading just in time to see a Nuke dragging Parker’s unconscious body away…
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE “ANGEL” THING
In the short time that I have known Ryder, he’s been carefree and easygoing. I’ve never seen him like he is now—anxious and on edge. We all take turns reassuring him that we will find Parker, but it doesn’t help ease the pained expression on his face. The only person who comes close to reaching him is RJ. He doesn’t even say anything really; he just walks into the room and signals to Ryder that he gets how much his friend is hurting. He does this with a simple head nod, and soon Ryder calms down—at least enough to stop u
nclenching his fist.
Like all of us, Ryder is lamenting that fact that he was too late to save Parker. By the time he got to the door, the Nuke, and Parker along with it, was gone, and no one had any idea where they’d headed. RJ managed to calm Ryder down enough that he didn’t go running off on a mission that was doomed to fail.
Nix called Pryor, explaining what had happened. And now Ryder and I are back at Death’s house, listening to Pryor and Silver trying to offer comfort to East and Mel, Parker’s parents.
Mel isn’t saying much. She just cries silent tears. Her husband, a mammoth of a man with a bright red fedora perched on the top of his head, holds her hand tightly in his.
“Why her?” East asks for the third time. “Why Parker?”
He lets go of Mel’s hand and starts pacing the length of the room. Mel’s hand flops back to her side. Her tear-laden eyes follow East as he marches up and down.
“My mom will find out,” Pryor says again. “East, please, I know this is hard, but you have to calm down. We’ll get her back.”
I know it’s irrelevant, but suddenly, I turn to Ryder.
“Why would a Nuke take someone?” I ask.
He turns to the sound of my voice, and I see him register me sitting there.
“What?” he says. “Sorry, I was lost in my head.”
I nod. “Why would a Nuke take someone?” I repeat.
“Nukes usually belong to someone. A demon. They kind of keep them like pets, whatever you want to call them. And sometimes, they send them off to do their dirty work. I’m not sure why a demon would want Parker, but what happened definitely had demon written all over it.”
For the first time since Parker was taken, Ryder looks a bit like his old self again. The talking seems to be helping, so I carry on.
“So all we need to do is find out which demon owns those Nukes and then we can go and get her back. Right?”
“Right,” Ryder agrees. “Except I don’t think it will be us going for her.”
He gestures towards the four adults, who are still arguing back and forth amongst themselves.
“They’ll get her back,” he says.
I nod.
Pryor’s cell phone starts to ring and we all fall silent, watching as she answers it. She puts the call on loudspeaker. It’s Death.
“The Nuke that took Parker belongs to a demon named Torque. He’s well known in the Demon world as someone who will do anything if the price is right. The Shadow and Serpent group hired him. His mission was to kill Summit.”
Ryder and I exchange a glance at this news. Death goes on.
“I’ve contacted the Shadow and Serpent. Torque is under instruction to release Parker if we hand over Summit.”
“So, my daughter is being used as a hostage,” Mel says. There’s no accusation in her voice, just realization.
At the same time, Silver booms, “We are not handing Summit or anyone else over to those monsters.”
“I know that,” Death says. “That’s what I told them. I explained that Summit will be taking part in the quest and when it’s done, the impending evil will be quashed, but they don’t seem to think that we have any chance of winning this one.”
She hangs up.
“We’re not handing her over,” Silver says again.
“Of course you’re not,” Mel says. “Do you really think we would ask you to?”
East nods his agreement and Silver looks ashamed of himself, something I never expected to see.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
I turn to Ryder.
“I’m sorry too,” I say quietly. “It wasn’t Parker they wanted. It was me.”
“We’re a team, Summit. We fight as one and we stand together as one. Whichever one of you they took, it wouldn’t be anyone’s fault but the Shadow and Serpent’s. We’ll get her back, you said so yourself.”
I did say that, but I’m starting to have my doubts. Our parents aren’t exactly coming up with a plan. They are too busy arguing amongst themselves about the best course of action. The only thing they can seem to agree on is that they need to know where Torque’s lair is.
Ryder and I lapse back into silence as we listen to our parents. They are all talking at once and it’s impossible to know who might be right and who might be wrong.
I feel like I can’t take it anymore. They are wasting time arguing together when we could be spending that time finding Parker.
I am just about to yell at them all to shut up when Ryder elbows me gently in the ribs. When I look across to him, he nods to the door. I look up in time to see Pryor slip through it, her cell phone pressed to her ear.
The others haven’t noticed she’s left and I don’t think they’ll notice when I do the same. I point to my ear and then nod at the door, telling Ryder I’m going to go and listen. I think he understands.
I creep through the door as quietly and unobtrusively as I can. I can hear Pryor’s voice coming from Death’s bedroom and I edge closer.
“Yeah, Torque,” Pryor says. “His Nukes took East’s daughter, so if you have any idea where he is, that would be great.”
I strain my ears to hear the reply from the other end, but I can’t hear it at all.
“The underground station. I should have known. He’ll have a lair off the main track. Thanks, Miku, I owe you one.”
I realize with horror that she’s hanging up the call. I don’t have time to make it back into the room, so instead, I slip out of the front door. I just ease it shut before she’s out.
I think about the underground station. She didn’t specify which one, but there’s one not five minutes from here, and if I’m right in my guessing, it’s also the closest one to the school.
Ryder was right; we are a team, and I’m not about to let a member of my team get killed on my account while the grown-ups argue like children. My decision made, I hurry downstairs and out of the building. I will turn myself in to Torque and then he will let Parker leave.
Hang on, Parker, I’m coming, I think.
***
It’s only as I move away from the crowd at the station and slip unnoticed into a dark tunnel marked “Staff Only” that I start to question what I’m about to do.
What if I hand myself over and Torque doesn’t let Parker go soon enough for her to send help? Or what if he kills us both?
I can’t let my imagination run away with me. I have to do this. I have to. And not just because I feel responsible, but because Parker is my friend; she’s one of the team, and we stick together.
My mind made up, I walk along the darkened tunnel. It is lit only by emergency lighting, and the stark concrete walls are kept in shadow. I shudder at the thought of the rats that are no doubt scurrying around in those shadows.
And yes, I see the irony. I’m here to hand myself over to a demon willingly, yet the thought of a rat scares me.
I walk ahead, hoping that Miku gave Pryor good information and that my assumption about what I heard is right.
I come to a stop when the passage I’m following splits into two. What now?
I pause, trying to choose. It’s only when I step closer to the two new tunnels that I notice a smell wafting out of the right-hand one. The whole tunnel smells damp and kind of gross, but this smell is different.
It’s musky, sort of sickly sweet with the tiniest hint of wet dog. It’s the Nukes! I realize now that I could smell it in the school too, it just didn’t register properly until now. The smell makes my decision a bit easier.
I set off down the tunnel. I walk quickly, but try to keep my steps quiet too. It’s one thing handing yourself over, but it’s another getting caught because your feet are too loud!
The tunnel widens out and joins up with the track. I recognize the scrawled graffiti on the walls as a tiny bit of light filters in. I know where I am now. Trains actually run down this tunnel. Does that mean I’ve taken a wrong turn somehow?
I sniff the air. The smell is stronger than ever. I’m heading in the right directio
n. I continue to walk along, staying closer to the wall now there are actual tracks here.
I round a slight bend in the tunnel and there she is. Parker is lying on the cold, concrete floor, still unconscious. She is being guarded by five Nukes. I smile to myself. I don’t even need to hand myself over. I can take them.
I take another step and that’s when Torque appears, gliding out of the shadows with an eerie grace that someone of his size shouldn’t possess.
He’s well over six feet tall and he looks almost as wide. His bright red eyes glow in the gloom, casting a pinkish shadow over his face. I imagined demons would be ugly, their faces scarred and twisted, but they aren’t.
Or at least this one isn’t. He’s handsome in a mean kind of a way. His mouth is twisted into a smirk, showing his perfectly straight white teeth.
“Well, well,” he says in a deep, low voice. “If it isn’t the girl of the moment. Silver sick of you already, is he?”
I swallow and hope my voice comes out steadier than I feel.
“I’ve come for Parker,” I say.
“Have you now?”
I nod. “Let her go and you can have me instead. That’s what you really wanted anyway, wasn’t it?”
He belts out a deep belly laugh, which cuts off, replaced with a simmering anger.
“You dare to come here and try to make a deal with me!” he bellows.
He raises his hand and a bolt of black shoots out of it. I duck and it hits the wall behind my head. I know I’m in trouble when I see the armchair-sized lump of wall crash to the floor.
He fires at me again and I move quickly to the side. I raise my own palm and fire off a bolt of my own. I’m struck by the contrast of my lightness to his darkness, but now isn’t the time to get all poetic.
He deflects my shot easily and takes a step towards me. I resist the urge to take a step back. He can’t know how terrified I am.
He fires again, and I move to the other side, pressing myself against the wall. I’m not quick enough, and his power cuts into the side of my arm, sending an agonizing pain through my whole body.
I freeze, gritting my teeth against the pain. My breath comes in shallow pants as I reach up again and fire off my own power. It’s not enough. It’s still not back up to full strength after the battle at the school, and I am no match for Torque. He’s going to kill us both if I stay here.
