“What’s wrong with him?” she cried.
Sabree’s final scream echoed inside my skull, even after his body exploded into dust. “Oh God!” I flew over and dropped to my knees. My fingers smeared the small mound of dust, still warm to the touch. “No, no.” I choked on a sob. “Not this…” Beside me, my sister trembled out of control, her gasps borderline on hyperventilation.
“You killed him! You dusted him just like you destroyed Turian and the others. You’re a freaking monster!” Her shoulders collapsed and her hands covered her face. Tears flowed with heaving sobs.
I refused to grasp the horrific truth. Sabree dead by my own hands—my explosive mind. My excuse sounded pathetic. “But he was hurting you. You never screamed like that before.” Explosive grief inflamed with the realization of the loss I’d suffer, stung my eyes, blurred my vision. Her fault for losing control of her emotions.
The ability to destroy at will had always troubled me, but the inability to control it terrified me. No idea how to turn it on or off, and because of blatant ignorance, I murdered my friend—my only friend. A flaming-hot tightness squeezed my throat. Too difficult to swallow, the giant lump blocked my airway. Ariane’s sobs continued; however, I listened beyond her weeping, to the two whispering heartbeats. All this time it was her unborn child, not one of the Fallen stalking us. Sabree would never see his daughter.
Something inside me snapped. A blind fury sliced the single thread of sanity I had barely clung to. I choked on it until I saw red—the same color I imagined my eyes to be. “You did this! You seduced him because you couldn’t have your way. Well, before we lose anyone else, let me grant your wish, dearest sister. Shall we go?” I held out a hand, the one bearing the amulet, my index finger curling to entice her closer.
Unable to speak between sobs, Ariane sucked on her fingers. Her eyes widened when realization struck her—I was deadly serious.
A blurred version of myself shot toward her, my speed shifting into overdrive. I grabbed her arm to make sure she couldn’t escape. I didn’t flinch when she slapped me in the face, my entire body numb. Before she struck again, I grabbed the other arm and pulled her closer, barely stepping on Sabree’s ashes.
Bereavement for my friend would have to wait. “I’ll take care of Sabree’s ashes later, Sis.” I spat the word Sis in the same way one cursed the foulest of four-letter words. My grimace twisted into a sneer when I faced her and spoke without emotion. “I vow to undo the wrong.”
“How? Sabree’s gone.” Ariane rocked on the balls of her feet. A sob caught her breath. “You made sure of that.”
Carefully, I brushed the hair from her eyes, my fingers light to the touch. “So did you.” I turned the dial on the amulet to open the portal. It didn’t matter whether Ariane refused to go or not. The time had come to conduct the tour she so desired. “Ready?” I grabbed her arm when she pitched sideways to pull away.
“Are you crazy? Let me go!” Ariane cringed when the room shuddered. Her eyes formed slits. “You wouldn’t dare!” She bared her teeth, lunged for my arm, and bit into my flesh.
“Easy! We’re just taking a quickie tour. One long enough to scratch your itch.” Was she fighting against me because of the unknown or because she feared my motive? Either way, she should be worried. Madness threatened to overtake reason. This time I cared less. Take me.
All four raven-black wings shot from my back as the portal window thundered and opened wide. I shoved her through the threshold. Before leaping in after her, I glanced at Sabree’s ashes, swirling on the floor in reaction to the vortex caused by the portal and blew him a kiss. “Bon voyage…” My eyes burned when I dove into the portal. The opening collapsed behind me.
As usual, it took a few flaps of my wings to orient myself inside the chaos of wormholes and vast emptiness. I focused on the beyond to listen for my sister’s telepathic screams. She’d alert the cherub piranhas or worse yet… a Dark One.
Never could I imagine a worst-case scenario than to be sucked inside the void of nothingness—lost forever. Yet, no matter how evil or troubled, no one deserved such a fate. Sabree’s death was as much her fault as it was my own. Her high-strung emotions had triggered my destruct mode—the ability violent and unmanageable. None of us had time to figure out how pregnancy might affect her. Ariane was more than just Fallen. Pregnancy hormones drove humans on the verge of madness never mind one of the anti-Fallen. Regardless, I would take her for a spin through the portal before the cherubs or Dark One intervened.
Nothing on Earth had prepared my sister for the alien environment I tossed her into, from known to unknown. My mind linked hers, intruded on her unmercifully, to the sensations that overwhelmed her on entry: ozone tickling her nose, her skin tingling, growing taut, and then her body sparkling as she exited the other side. A weightlessness engulfed Ariane as a force stronger than gravity launched her into the vastness. Vertigo, nausea, terror, and the sensation of falling overpowered her entire being.
Her body barreled toward the cosmic center. She screamed, but her cries echoed only between our connected minds. Equivalent to a shooting star, I flew nearly the speed of light to catch up with the electrical outline of my sister. I soared a few yards beyond and hovered in place, waiting for her flailing limbs to draw near. I grabbed her arm, and together, we flew toward the center of the universes.
Without an amulet of her own, she could not escape me. Funny, how fate ran its course. I paused over the wormhole that led to the Blood Sea world and spoke telepathically. “How does the saying go? Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” If only she knew what lay beyond this wormhole. “Tit for tat, huh, Sis? Ants versus portal piranhas, the blood sea monster? Yes, I figured it out.”
Ignoring her pleas, the two faint heart beats pulled my gaze to her belly. The faint outline of my niece, Sabree’s daughter, shone like a beacon of hope. A vision flashed. A blonde young lady fluttered around me until she morphed into a butterfly. The unborn child soothed my grief-filled soul. “That’s it then.”
Dark wings flapped resolutely as I continued on course away from the blood-filled world. Telepathic sobs replaced her protests. In response, my grip tightened into a sympathetic hug, our new destination homeward. “I never meant to hurt you. Never meant to kill Sabree.”
18
SPEED OF DARK
A.D. After death—in this case, Sabree’s—I’ve kept to myself. On my own, not to mention friendless. Maybe family-less as well if Ariane had her way. Living life utterly alone inflamed the lump that had made residence in my throat since the day Sabree died, since the day I almost sentenced Ariane to an interminable hell. She blamed only me. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the dreadful truth. I failed everyone, my unborn niece included.
After we returned from the portal, I sent Ariane into her townhouse, locked the door, and swept Sabree’s ashes into a hand-painted Navajo vase. To keep grief at bay, I buried my mind into researching the scrolls, which gave me a legit excuse to stay clear of Ariane and Abyss.
Their persecution greeted me every morning. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they would forever blame me for unleashing an ability I had never learned to control. I should’ve made it priority one. Master the ability to destroy at will, or at the very least, manage when and where to use it.
Never had such loss stricken me into immobility, but then, I had not been alive very long. Compared to the Fallen’s infinite lifespan, the clans considered me a fumbling toddler versus Sabree as a wise old wizard. Despite our differences, the two of us had shared good times.
“It’s my fault you’re dead, Sabree.” I spoke to the make-shift urn as if his soul could hear me. “I promise to right the wrong.” My gaze drifted to the night sky. When an email notification popped on the screen, I cursed the intrusion. Apparently, daily life continued without me.
The what-ifs that kept slumber at bay, raced through my mind. How would I bring Sabree back without altering the past and thus the present day? What the hell, h
istory probably went askew when I destroyed Turian the first time, or the second, third, or hundredth. Who knew anymore? I kicked the desk and missed. The trash can fell over instead.
Nothing mattered. Why waste time worrying about altered time? Like everyone else, I had no idea what the future held. However, still responsible, I intended to undo the wrong one way or another. A plot—my most phantasmal to date—was in the works to bring Sabree back.
A loud scoff broke the silence, startled by my own laughter that bounced off the walls. A feat more difficult than resurrecting Sabree without changing the future faced me. How would I justify or explain to him what happened? Perhaps tell him that he had died a heroic death. The downside, the lie might go to his head.
The plot replayed several times until nothing else that could go wrong came to mind. However, that did not mean everything would go as planned. Mr. Murphy Law always stepped in to give my bad luck a boost. So, by changing the present day without upsetting the past or future, step one had me traveling back in time seconds before I dusted Sabree, grab him, and return before Ariane knew what happened, leaving the past unchanged. If I took Sabree too soon, my sister would think her lover escaped death by misting. I slammed a fist onto the keyboard in search of a win-win outcome.
Tired eyes glanced around for answers until my gaze settled on the urn. Not always resourceful or lucky, Sabree endured heartbreaks, back-stabbing friends, clan wars, a gruesome beheading, and worst of all, being dusted by a friend, a cousin. None of the Fallen returned from being dusted. Sabree to dust, dust to Sabree.
I leapt off the chair. “Abso-bloody-lutely! Sabree, you’re a genius. I will replace your ashes with your living body. A fair trade, I might add.”
The neurons inside my brain fired off equal to a dozen rockets, lifting the fog as I gathered the items required for the jump into the past: his ashes, a large Ziploc bag, and a smoke bomb that would screen the illusion of the century. The need dire, I’d borrow a few newly synthesized Colton tabs from the lab. A mega dose.
My sister might condemn the theft, but at this point, who cared. Nothing that devastating. She could easily whip up another batch. Besides, this rescue mission entitled me to more than my fair share. The Colton tabs would empower me to travel faster than the speed of light although tough to measure. Perhaps, I’d conquer the speed of dark next. Cool it, lad, getting a wee bit too cocky.
3 3 3
Locked in my bedroom, ready to do battle, the mark on the calendar proclaimed today as bring Sabree back to life day. Doubt filled my mind. Why bother? Why bring him back? I had lost count of the times Sabree threatened, tortured, and belittled me, which meant one thing: too many to count. Yet, more often than not, he offered friendship to my secluded life. Although touched by a wee bit of lunatic fringe, I never considered myself evil. Devious perhaps, but in this situation, best to conceal the rescue until Sabree returned alive and kicking.
In my favor, and to keep her grief at bay, Ariane had lunged headfirst into her work, too preoccupied to bother with my idiosyncrasies. This gave me all the time and privacy needed to succeed. Armed with a smoke bomb, Sabree’s ashes in a Ziploc bag, a dose of Colton tabs, and my revved-up speed, success was inevitable. To appease my cautious nature, I had played out the exact scenario repeatedly with inanimate objects. After several mishaps of scattering fake ashes every time I lit the smoke bomb, I finally set the bomb off first and then dropped the ashes.
The switch might change the future, but not if I could help it. The exchange had to take place at the precise moment to make sure Ariane believed I dusted Sabree—his ashes the genuine article. Timing was crucial. No margin for error. In less than one coordinated and well-rehearsed second, moving faster than the eye could detect, I had to grab Sabree, ignite the smoke bomb, deposit the ashes, and leap into the future, seconds before I had originally left.
“Aye, simple enough,” I muttered to myself and scoffed. Any number of things could go wrong. I paced the room while massaging my scalp. Had this rescue already happened? Did my future self already make the switch? An enigmatic phenomenon, time comprised itself of rippling effects, infinite dimensions, and no sense of order. Time violated every rule other than its own. Whether the future was the past or vice versa? Thinking this way boggled my mind with incidental nonsense. Time to focus. Time to act.
To fuel up, I popped the Colton tabs into my mouth to supply me with more than a week’s worth of nourishment. My fingers adjusted the amulet to the arrow as I thought of the specific time before Sabree turned to dust.
The office faded from sight, replaced by the whirling vertigo. Within seconds, I slammed into my body from the past. One foot stepped on the other to prevent myself from tripping over my own feet. I cracked a devilish smile at the sight of Sabree. The bag of ashes tucked under my arm were hidden from view.
Sabree rushed Ariane with open arms. “Take it easy. I was only concerned for your safety.”
After jumping into my past body, I hoped to quell the emotional bullet aimed to go off. “No,” my voice whimpered. The couple froze when I collapsed onto the couch, tremulous emotions threatening to erupt. Stop! Too late. The destructive blast shot from my mind. My skull throbbed. The first time this happened, my initial hesitation might have been a sign that I had already experienced Sabree’s death. I shuddered at the thought.
Sabree fell to the floor, balled into a fetal position, screaming in agony.
His sobs drove Ariane to tears. “What’s wrong with him?” she cried, begging me for an answer.
“Stop!” How would I get Sabree out of here before he blew up into a dust ball? An inside switch rocketed my speed into motion. I tossed the smoke bomb next to his writhing form, scooped him over my shoulder, and tore open the bag of ashes in his place. With a free hand, I reset the amulet and recalled a future instance inside my bedroom. The vertigo rushed me, and in an instant, I slammed into my future self and fell to the floor on top of Sabree. Dust exploded everywhere.
“Bloody hell!” A few obscenities spewed between sneezes. Sabree had already begun the disintegration process a millisecond before I hauled him into the future. I released a breath as my blurred vision scanned the floor. The ashes had blown everywhere. At least I’d have another bagful as soon as the remains were vacuumed. Too bad, I couldn’t vacuum my senses as well. How arrogant of me to presume success on the first try.
An hour later, still pumped up from the overdose of Colton tablets, I readied myself for attempt number two. Unlike the first attempt—failing big time—I’d body-slam into my past self well before the uncontrolled mind bullet shot off, pretend to go off my rocker, grab Sabree, and set off the smoke bomb inside the bag so it would dissolve, saving time from having to open it. I paused. What if I had already failed the second attempt, third, or so on. For all I knew, this might have been the eighteenth time I tried to resurrect Sabree.
Snap out of it. The bizarre thoughts tossed from my mind, I tucked the bag under an arm, and set the amulet again, bracing myself. The physical world dissolved into the past. Again, I slammed into my past self and this time it twitched in a weird way. Without delay, I reined in the volcanic emotions.
Sabree rushed Ariane with open arms. “Take it easy. I was only concerned for your safety.”
I raised my voice to playact the part. “No! You’re hurting her.” The couple froze as I shot a wee bolt at Sabree, just enough to stun him with electricity. This time I stood my ground. No falling onto the couch as an emotional vegetable.
Sabree fell, balled into a fetal position, cursing the electric shocks.
“What’s wrong?” Ariane cried.
I’d get Sabree back if it took me a hundred attempts. Failure was not an acceptable option.
3 3 3
The electric charge prickling Sabree’s legs momentarily crippled him. Mercifully, the voltage ceased and free of pain, his body floated. He wondered if Brian had succeeded in killing him as he spiraled through a vortex of twinkling lights.
Da
rkness descended and the sensation of being compressed as if he dove thousands of feet underwater produced a pain unlike any he had experienced. The closer he flew toward the black hole at the end of the tunnel, the tighter every cell in his body squeezed. Sabree feared he would shrink to the size of a pea by the time he reached the end. Thunder deafened his ears. The vortex vanished and he slammed face first onto a hardwood floor.
Brian landed on top of him, rolled to one side, and crouched low with hands cupped over his knees. It looked like he was bracing himself for the end of the world by the way he held his breath and stared at him as if he would disappear any second.
Sabree also held his breath and tensed every muscle, stuck in limbo while he waited for fate to decide. When nothing happened, he scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off.
Still crouched on his hind legs, Brian fingered the dust. “My bad. Guess I didn’t vacuum all of you.” He chuckled. “Anyway, it seems like you’re going to stay in one piece this time.”
The toothy grin might have worried Sabree months ago, but he perceived the joy beaming from Brian as genuine. “What happened?” he uttered. His knees still wobbled. “Where’s Ariane?” He leaned on the nearest chair in wait of an answer and shot a glance at Brian when laughter filled his ears.
“I did it!” Brian jumped to his feet, lunged at Sabree, and hugged him tight, lifting him off his feet before letting go. “You’re real—but wait, stay, stay Fang! I’ll be right back.” Brian ran out of the office, leaving him behind.
Sabree glanced down at the scattered dust. Something set Brian into a whirlwind as if he had just woken from one of his insane dreams. No, scratch that. Something seemed out of place, stood out as wrong. Massaging his scalp, Sabree stepped into the hall in search of Ariane. Jumbled thoughts dulled his awareness. The mind-spinning tunnel ride and crash-landing in Brian’s bedroom disoriented his psyche. He took a shortcut to Ariane’s townhouse, bypassing Brian in the opposite hallway.
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