by Lola StVil
“Try,” Pryor snaps.
“Well—” Before Diana can go further, Pry gets a call. She picks up the phone and speaks abruptly.
“What?” she says.
“Oh, sorry, Uncle Rage. I didn’t know it was—what?…When?…Are you sure?…We’re on our way,” she says, then she puts her cell away and looks back at me with deep concern.
“Pry, what is it? Is my dad okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, he’s fine, but the Face has been attacked,” she replies.
“Attacked by whom?” East pushes.
“Fate,” Pryor says.
“That makes no sense. Why would Fate do that?” Swoop wonders.
“Pry, is the Face okay?” I ask.
“No. She’s dead.”
We land in the alley across the street from Buy the Word bookstore just outside of Savannah, Georgia. On the way here, we were all silent. The Face got on our nerves, but she mattered to us. When the Guardians were stuck in the light, she looked after us, whether we wanted her to or not. The Face was pushy and judgmental as hell. But she was also courageous and loyal; that’s not an easy thing to find nowadays.
We enter the store and find Fate and my father standing over a table containing the Face’s corpse.
“What the hell happened?” East demands.
“Did you really kill her?” Pryor shouts at Fate.
“Yes, I did,” Fate says sadly as he looks over her body.
“Care to tell us why?” Swoop says, trying to control the shaking in her voice.
“Yeah, I got this,” my father says to Fate bitterly.
“Dad, what happened?” I ask.
“I came in here and found Fate in the middle of striking her down. I had my hands around his damn neck when he explained what was going on.”
“Which is?” Pryor replies.
“Mrs. Greenblatt decided to seek out some vital information, information that could only be obtained by accessing a hidden portal,” Fate informs us.
“Since Randy isn’t here, I’ll ask. What do you mean hidden portal?” East says.
“There are hidden pockets throughout the world. Some are the size of a cell phone while others are as large as a city. The maker of the portal hides sensitive information there or even beings. But to access them, you have to know the right coordinates, and if you are not the original maker of the Portal, you technically can only see the Portal after you are gone from this world.
“Normally Death would be able to help, but she’s busy helping Time keep Malakaro trapped. So Mrs. Greenblatt opted to drink a mixture called Lint; it simulates death. But in order to activate the mixture, you need to be struck after drinking it. That is what I was doing when the Akon entered,” Fate explains.
“So she’s not really dead?” Pryor asks.
“That’s just it—sometimes Lint works too well and it sucks the life from your body for real. So if this chick doesn’t wake up within the next three minutes…” Dad doesn’t finish his sentence.
“How could you let her drink it, knowing it could kill her?” East asks Fate.
“I did as she asked, and you will rethink your tone, young man,” Fate warns.
“The hell I will! She’s a pushy, overbearing nag, but she was our overbearing nag and now you got her killed!” East shouts.
“East, calm down. She may pull out of it,” Swoop says, taking his hand.
“And if she doesn’t? What the hell do we do then?” East spits.
“East, relax. She might be okay,” Diana replies.
“She lost her kid, her husband, and…just because she doesn’t have any family doesn’t mean you can treat her like she’s disposable. What kind of shit is that?” East challenges Fate.
“I’m going to overlook your insolence because I believe it comes from a good place. However, if I were you, I would stop talking—now,” Fate advises.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” East declares.
“No, but I can—East, stop talking,” Pryor orders.
“She could be dead and you don’t care,” East accuses.
“I do, but let’s just wait and see if she makes it before we lose it. Okay?” Pryor replies.
East shrugs his shoulders and focuses on the Face, who lies still on the table. Pry and I exchange a look of concern. We all hate the thought of losing the Face, but for East to react this way is unexpected to say the least.
“What’s inside the Portal she was trying to access?” I ask.
“We don’t know. That’s why she wanted to go and look,” Fate says.
“You may not know what’s inside the Portal, but something tells me you know who it belongs to,” Pryor asks.
“It belongs to Malakaro,” Fate replies.
“Malakaro has a hidden Portal and you never thought to tell us that?” Swoop says.
“We didn’t know until today. We had our suspicions, but it took a while to get confirmation,” Fate replies.
“You’re Fate. Why the hell don’t you know everything?” Dad accuses.
“That’s not the way it works. I know more than most but not everything and not all at once,” Fate says.
“That’s just a fancy way of saying you’re useless,” Dad counters.
“I’m sorry that my powers aren’t as impressive as yours. Omnis knows just how much the world needs a walking box of matches,” Fate says sardonically.
“You want to see what a ‘box of matches’ can do, you piece of sh—”
“Uncle Rage!” Pryor scolds.
“Guys, if the Face doesn’t wake up in the next five seconds, we’ve lost her,” Swoop says. The room grows instantly silent.
“C’mon…” East says under his breath as he takes her hand and squeezes it.
Four seconds…
We all look at the Face and hope to Omnis she didn’t just give her life to help us. The Face and I aren’t best friends by any means, but it would really suck to lose her.
Three…
When I think about her, I hear a series of lectures on how reckless the team has been, the many school assignments we’ve missed and, of course, my foul language.
Two…
East was right; the Face is a complete nag. She’s anal, talks too much, and gets into everyone’s business. She’d better make it out of this.
One…
There is no movement.
C’mon, you old bat, you have a million lectures left to give us. Wake the hell up!
“Great, she’s gone! Did you see that coming?” East says to Fate.
“Again, I don’t see everything,” Fate reminds him.
“She did this for us. We should have been here to stop her,” East rages.
“Fate, there has to be something you can do to get her back,” Pry pleads.
“You know there is nothing,” Fate replies.
“This is bullshit!” I snap. “Mr. Case…language,” someone whispers in a raspy voice. We look down at the table and the Face is sitting up slowly.
“You’re okay!” East says as he rushes past us and embraces her so hard he nearly knocks her back down. We aren’t the only ones taken off guard by East’s reaction. The Face is so shocked it takes her a few moments to hug him back. When East finishes embracing her, he turns and finds all of us looking at him.
“What? Mrs. Greenblatt and I co-parent; we share a cat. It binds us,” East says proudly.
We shake our heads and ignore East as we help the Face get to her feet. Fate hands her a glass of fizzy red liquid that appears in his hand out of thin air.
“Here, drink this. It will help get you back to full strength,” Fate says.
The Face takes it and gladly drains the glass. “Thank you. I thought you would have gone to take care of something else. That’s why I called someone. I thought I’d wake up alone,” she says to Fate.
“Barbara, I’d never walk away when you need me,” Fate says tenderly as he gazes into her eyes and strokes her hand.
Okay…
All of us loo
k away from the two of them because it feels like we are intruding on a very private moment. My dad clears his throat and asks the Face what she found hidden in the Portal.
“I found—nothing. Malakaro must have already cleared it out. It was empty,” she replies.
“You should have come told us about the Portal the moment you found out about it. You could have died,” Pryor scolds.
“Yes, I am aware. However, there is no telling what could have been in the Portal. That’s why Ragual and I wanted to look into it first,” the Face says.
Ragual? Since when was the Face on a first-name basis with Fate?
“I really appreciate what you tried to do for us, but this isn’t your fight. Malakaro is an issue for my team and me. We are supposed to take the risks and find a way to destroy him, not you, not my mom. So please back off and let us do our jobs,” Pry orders.
“You cannot do this alone. You know that,” the Face reminds her.
“I’m not alone. I have a team. The same team that has survived the Forest of Remains, Mercy Island, and took on an army of Egons. So stop treating us like we’re in grade school,” Pryor orders as she storms out of the store. The rest of the team start to go after her, but I signal to them that I will go.
Once outside, I find her with her head in her hands, looking up at the brooding, malicious sky. Her wings are flapping furiously behind her and her face is twisted in anger.
“You know they were just trying to help, right?” I ask.
“Keeping things from us isn’t helping. The odds are already stacked against us. I need to know everything so that I can find a way to stop Malakaro. When the Face, my mother, and Omnis knows who else keeps things from me, it just makes it worse.
“Everyone is saying, ‘Hey, Pry, be the hero. Save the world, like your dad taught you.’ But those same angels are hiding things from me. It’s like they’re throwing me off a cliff with my wings tied behind my back. ARGH! THAT SHIT MAKES NO SENSE TO ME!” she rages.
“I know, but you need to chill out because you’re forcing me to be the levelheaded one in this marriage, and you know that is not a good role for me,” I tease her.
“Maybe not, but so far, you’re doing pretty well,” she says, lowering her voice.
“Yeah, well, that’s because I’m cheating. The entire time you’re freaking out, I’m able to stay calm by thinking about my favorite place.”
“What’s your favorite place?” she asks.
I pull her close and whisper in her ear.
She bursts out laughing and playfully pushes me away. “You are so nasty,” she scolds with a big smile.
“You knew that when you married me,” I remind her.
“Hey, it’s kind of why I married you. Hey! I married you,” she says in wonder.
“Yeah, you did. And if you want to change your mind, you’re too late,” I reply as I pull her close yet again.
“No, I don’t want to undo it—ever,” she says, then she stands on the tips of her toes and kisses me passionately.
“I hate to interrupt, but I’m looking for my wife. Have you seen her?” Bex says as he lands a few yards away. Pryor and I pull apart and study the Kon. In the chaos of the Portal and the Face, I almost forgot the bomb that Diana dropped on us.
“So do you two know where she is?” Bex asks again.
Pryor looks up at him as if she’s trying to determine if aliens got ahold of his mind and body. He looks back at her, cool and collected, but I know the Kon enough to see past that. He’s still majorly pissed to see Pry and me together.
“Were the Paras able to get the humans to safety?” Pryor asks.
“Yes, we’ve evacuated New York City but not without casualties. And the demon world is taking advantage of the situation. We have our hands full. Have you been able to find anything that can help us destroy him, anything at all?” Bex asks.
“No,” Pryor says, lowering her head.
“Well, then by all means, keep kissing; that should solve everything,” Bex says snidely.
Before I know it, I’m charging at the Kon with fiery orbs in both hands. The Kon is already armed with Powerballs, and we are about to collide when Pry gets in between us.
“Aaden, go get Diana,” she instructs.
I hear her, but I don’t move because all I want right now is to smell burning Kon flesh. He glares back at me with rage in his eyes.
“Aaden, I don’t want to make this an order. Please,” she begs.
I reluctantly head back into the bookstore, where Bex’s and Pryor’s voices carry. We can hear everything they say—not sure if that’s good or bad right now.
“So is it true, you and Diana are married?” Pry asks, still in disbelief.
“Yeah.”
“That’s it? That’s all I get, Bex?” she demands.
“Yeah.”
“C’mon, are you kidding me? Why didn’t you tell me you got married?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you got married?” he counters pointedly.
Pry looks down at her wedding ring as if she forgot it was there and then she looks back up at her ex. “Aaden and I—”
“It doesn’t matter, Pry. We’re not together anymore, so it’s really none of my business. But just so we are clear, it’s not your business what I do with my life.”
“Please tell me this isn’t about us,” she pleads.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you getting with the girl that I spent most of the time disliking. And yes, we are good now, but you know Diana and I have a history.”
“You think everything is about you, but it’s not. I did what I did because it’s my damn life.”
“How is the Para world reacting to this news? I know they must be angry and looking to remove you.”
“The Paras know that as their king, I want the best for them. Diana is powerful in her own right. Bringing her into the castle allows us to tap into the demon world in a way we never have before. The Paras also know that Rage is a demon and he has since become an important part of our world. Why can’t their queen do the same?”
“So how long have you been practicing that speech in the mirror?” Pry asks.
“Whatever, just stay out of this,” Bex says dismissively as he starts walking away.
Pryor reaches out and breaks his stride. “Bex, I love you. I mean—not in a romantic way, but…hurting you was never the plan. I want you to be happy, I really do. Look, if you tell me you are in love with Diana, I’ll back off. Promise.”
“Love? Is that something I should strive for? Because if memory serves, it didn’t work out so well for me the last time.”
“Bex, I—”
“You know what’s really messed you up? You never once considered that I married Diana to help her son. It’s like Silver is the only guy you think is capable of being altruistic. Do you have any idea what could happen if it became known that Phoenix is Malakaro’s son?”
“No, I hadn’t. There’s been a lot going on,” she admits.
“Yeah, well, while you and Silver were off in wedded bliss, rumors were starting to surface about the former Kaster who may have hooked up with Malakaro. I married Diana so that no matter what happens, she and Nix have the protection of the Omari.”
“Oh, I get it,” she whispers almost to herself.
“So glad I could help untangle things for you,” the Kon replies bitterly.
“Bex…” she calls out as he starts to take off again.
He stops and looks back at her with a pained, sad expression. “What?” he says curtly.
She goes to tell him something but then thinks better of it. “Never mind.”
I turn to Diana, who has been listening quietly in the corner.
“You should go. The Kon is here to see you,” I tell my ex.
“Hey, where’s Fate and the Face?” I ask as Diana heads out the door.
“Judging by the heat coming off the two of them, in some alley get’n some,” Swoop says w
ith a mix of amusement and disgust.
“They went back to help Time and Death. I gotta take off too. I have a few leads, not sure if they’ll pan out though.”
“Okay, Dad…be careful,” I reply.
“Always. But before I go, I just want you and me to be clear on something,” he says.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Did you get married?” he asks.
Shit.
“Dad, with all the craziness going on, I—”
“Don’t finish that sentence, Aaden Grey. Your mother and I spent thousands of hours talking about your future. Getting married is important, serious shit. I have thought about it since you were no more than a marking on your mom’s palm. So the Kon better have it wrong.”
“Dad, it’s Pry. You love her.”
“Yes, and I would love to watch her get married to my only son. I can’t think of one reason why you would deny me that. Or why she would do that to her mother. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Dad, I—”
“Aaden, you and Carrot mean the world to me and Emmy. For the two of you to do this and not so much as call us…that shit really fucking hurts.” The Akon takes off into the air before I can stop him.
“Damn it!” I shout as I kick a stack of books across the room.
“I’ve never seen Uncle Rage so angry,” Swoop says.
“Great, and now my dad isn’t talking to me. Perfect. Yet another problem,” I reply, growing even more frustrated.
“I hate to add to the pile, but…” East says. His serious tone makes us all turn and give him our undivided attention.
“What is it?” Diana asks, standing in the doorway.
“The Face said she found nothing in Malakaro’s Portal—she lied.”
Diana signals for both Bex and Pryor to come back into the bookstore. As soon as they enter, East begins to explain. “First, I’m sorry for the lovefest with the Face. I was channeling Fate’s emotions. Man, that guy’s into her deep.”
“Never mind that, why do you think the Face is lying?” Pryor asks.
“I don’t have my dad’s powers. I can’t read your emotions like colored waves, but I take on emotions as if they were my own. Now because of how strongly Fate feels for the Face, it blocked all her feelings—except one.
