by Lola StVil
My daughter…
I wanted to go with Pry to pick up Summit, but she said I needed to stay behind and get myself together. She may have a point. I have done nothing but pace and worry since she left. The Guardians and the Noru team have all come over to the house to keep an eye on me and to meet Summit. I told them that I was fine on my own, but they came anyway. In truth, I’m glad they are here.
“Damn it! I didn’t baby proof the stairs!” I reply as I dash over to the staircase.
“Aaden, you already put a Trimeter up there. It will recognize that Summit is a toddler and the barrier will automatically appear if she gets to the edge of the staircase. And she has wings, remember?” Dad says.
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” I reply as I swallow hard.
“Silver, chill out. You’re going to have a heart attack—and you don’t even have one,” Randy says.
“I’m fine—wait—did we baby proof the backyard?” I ask.
“YES!” everyone in the house says.
“What if something happened to them? What if some evil encountered them? What if they are lying in the street somewhere? What if—oh no! I need to go find them! How could I let them go alone? I have to go get them right now!” I shout frantically.
“Son, relax. There is no great evil anymore. Everything is fine. Carrot will be back with Winnie. And soon you will have your family,” Dad promises.
“How do you know that? What if something goes wrong? Something always goes wrong! Damn it! They could be in trouble right now!” I counter.
“They aren’t in trouble, Silver,” Bex says.
“How the hell do you know that, Kon?” I blurt out.
“Because they’re right behind you,” he replies with a sincere smile.
I turn around and see Pryor standing a few feet away, holding a bundle in her arms. I can see Summit’s gray wings peeking from the blanket. I should hurry to greet them, but I don’t. I just stand there, too afraid to move. Pryor has never looked more beautiful than she does right now. And she’s holding my daughter, my second chance. Yet I can’t move.
Diana comes up to me. She takes my hand and whispers in my ear. “Silver, it’s real. It won’t move away if you get closer. The Center is gone. The great evil is gone. And over there is what you have wanted all your life—a family. I have mine; now you go get yours,” she says as she gently nudges me to move.
I finally make my way towards them. I am inches away from everything I’ve ever wanted. Pryor smiles warmly and wipes tears away from my eyes, tears I didn’t realize I had shed.
“Aaden, this is your daughter, Summit Avery Case,” she says with a catch in her voice.
I look into the bundle and see my daughter for the first time. She has purple eyes and black hair with a few soft purple highlights. Her cheeks are full, and her rosy lips are open wide as she explores her surroundings.
Her beautiful eyes land on me for the first time. They glow with excitement. She looks at my wings and reaches for them. I bring them closer to her and she touches one with pure fascination. I laugh, and she recognizes the sound. She moves around excitedly as she reaches for me. I take her into my arms and cradle her. She’s so light it’s like holding on to air. She looks up at me, filled with wonder and enthusiasm. I lean in close to her and speak to her in a soft voice.
“Hi…I’m gonna teach you how to fly. I’m gonna show you how to get your mom to laugh when she’s down. I’ll show you how to protect yourself, and I’ll tell you all about your sister, Sparks. I’ve waited so long to meet you, Winnie…I promise to protect and love you every day of my life…oh crap, I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Aaden. I’m your dad.”
Six years later…
I wake up in the house that has officially become our home: Roslyn. The three-story modern estate, perched on the hill, is filled with the voices of our family. Even in the master bedroom, Pryor and I can hear them downstairs running around.
“Don’t you have to go downstairs and keep the peace?” I ask as I pull the comforter off her face.
“It’s your turn.” She groans as she goes back under the covers. I laugh at her and join her under there.
“Good morning,” I say with a big smile.
“I know you’re enjoying this. I’m exhausted. You should feel bad for me,” she says, shaking her head, pretending to be disappointed in me.
“I would feel bad if you were tired from a battle or day-to-day life as the First Noru, but I can’t feel bad for a woman who wakes up exhausted from girls’ night,” I tell her as I pull down the sheets. My wife is forced to face the sunlight.
“Argh! I knew I should have called it a night earlier,” she scolds herself.
“Why didn’t you?”
“It’s Diana’s fault. I’m telling you that girl can drink. I had everything under control until the strippers started to—”
“Strippers?” I ask.
“Did I say strippers? I’m so silly. I must still be half asleep,” she says as she leaps off the bed and heads for the shower.
“No you don’t, Mrs. Case! You left me here so you and the queen could go party!”
“Yes, but I was thinking about you the whole time,” she teases.
“Really?” I reply suspiciously.
“Oh well, except that one time when the stripper let us touch his—”
I don’t let her finish. I playfully tackle her back into bed. We end up wrestling and play fighting like we’re kids. She climbs on top of me and raises both arms in victory.
“Ain’t gonna be no rematch!” she says, doing an awful impression of the boxer in the movie Rocky. Her and Randy have moved on to classic movies, and so far that’s her favorite.
I flip her over and I use my secret weapon—my lips. I glide them across her midsection, where I know she’s ticklish. She squeals loudly and tries to defend herself. But she’s too busy laughing to retaliate, so she wisely decides to surrender.
“Okay, okay! You win!” she says.
“Good, now where did you and Diana actually go?” I ask.
“Oh, honey, I wasn’t kidding about the strip club. We actually did go, but it’s your fault,” she says.
“Oh, this ought to be good…” I reply, trying to suppress the laughter in me.
“Diana, Mel and I were having drinks and Bellamy had just finished her shift in the castle, so she joined us for girls’ night.”
“I’m waiting for the part where this is my fault,” I reply, daring her.
“Well, imagine my surprise when I discover that I am having drinks with the woman who my husband lost his virginity to,” she says, pretending to be hurt.
“She told you?” I ask.
“Yes, she did. Why didn’t you tell me you and Bellamy hooked up years ago?” she asks.
“It wasn’t my secret to tell. You know I’m not like that.”
“Well, either way, I was the injured party. I was so devastated that I had to drink and drink…”
“And go to a strip club?”
“There’s a lot of dancing at clubs like that and dancing is a form of exercise. It elevates your mood. And since I was so sad about everything, I was forced to go.”
“You have no shame! Next month, when it’s my turn to leave you with the kids…just know there will be payback,” I joke.
“Bring it on,” she says.
“Okay, seriously, you guys didn’t harass her, did you? I know how you, Diana and Mel can be once you three get together.”
“Are you kidding? Once Bellamy let it slip that she was the one who introduced you to the whole intimacy in bed thing…we brought her drinks—lots of drinks. We wanted to thank her.”
“Oh really?”
“Hell yes! I would give my life for that woman. I thank Omins every day for the things she taught you. Although according to her, you came by your talents naturally.”
“I need you to at least pretend to be ashamed.” I laugh.
“We’re all moms and we deserve to blo
w off some steam after missions and mom duty.”
“The last time you three went out, we needed to wipe an entire town of their memories,” I point out.
“Yeah, man, that was fun,” she says.
“Get over here!” I tease as I pull her into me. She drapes her arms around my shoulders and looks deeply into my eyes and kisses me tenderly. But behind the playfulness, I can see sadness creeping in her eyes. She looks away.
“Hey, how are you feeling about today?” I ask.
“Good…”
“Pry, your dad is being honored today. He’s having an entire school named after him—a school for angels, demons, Quo and a few select humans. That’s huge. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before.”
“I know. I think he would have been proud that his name is a part of a movement to better relations with other beings. It’s just…it’s still very hard to think about him. I miss him. I miss my dad so much. And my mom…I’m worried that today might make her more sad than anything else,” she admits.
“Hey, my dad would never let her go through this day alone. He’s coming and will be there the whole time. And you know the team will be there too. Then we’re going to do that thing that your dad always insisted you make us do—get some downtime.”
“You have something planned for after?” she asks.
“You know how we all keep saying we will get together and take the kids to the battle simulation town? Well, we’ve arranged it and we will head straight there when the ceremony is over.”
“That’s perfect! Thank you,” she says. We hear a loud bang downstairs, so we head down to the living room, where mixtures have been shattered and thrown everywhere. Standing in the middle of the mess is my daughter Summit.
She’s six years old, and while her gray wings are small, they are very strong for her age. She has purple eyes like her mother and grandmother. However, unlike the ones before her, Summit’s hair has gorgeous dark purple highlights. We thought they would fade over time, but we were wrong. The humans think her hair is dyed and they glare at me when I’m with her. They wonder why a parent would dye their kid’s hair at such a young age.
“Summit, what happened here?” Pryor asks.
“Um…there was an elephant with big wings…and, um…fire…and…a rock! And…um…I close my eyes and now I’m here,” she says, stringing her best lies together.
Pryor and I exchange a knowing glance and turn to the other culprit, our youngest daughter, Dylann.
We were surprised when Alexi came to us again. In fact, we were in a state of shock. We were in a battle with a gang of Egans who had begun to terrorize a city. We just got back after winning the battle to find Alexi on the windowsill.
We named her after the smartest angel we knew: Dylan. Her middle name is Key. It’s a tribute to our fallen team members. Dylann is three years old. She has gray wings, bright red curly hair and purple eyes like her mom. She has a habit of putting her finger up to her lips and asking that we be quiet while she thinks of what to say next. That usually means she’s about to lie and is trying to think up a good one.
Although they are very close, my daughters are radically different. Summit is more reflective and likes to take things in before she does anything. Dylann, on the other hand, is the take-charge one. They both have big hearts and have cared about humans from the very start. It’s not just humans, they both have affection for living things. Last month they both “staged” a project because they were unhappy with the way “Tim the Turtle” was being treated around the house.
“Mom, Tim should have his own island. So he can swim and stuff. This bowl is too small,” Summit pleaded.
“Winnie, honey, I know you want Tim to be happy, but trust me, he is,” Pryor replied.
“But look, he’s green. That’s not a happy color, Mommy!” Dylann said. We did our best to stop the revolt, but later that night the girls set Tim “free.” By flushing him down the toilet. The funeral was the next day, and yes, the team came.
Dylann, like her sister, has powers. So far she is able to summon whatever she sees and make it come to her. We went on a tour of New York City so they could learn about the human city they live in; Dylann loved the Statue of Liberty. So she tried to bring it home with her.
In addition to training her, her mom does yoga with her so she can learn to stay calm and control her emotions. That’s very important given her second ability—setting things on fire with just her mind. We’ve had to remodel the kitchen four times.
“Dylann, was there an elephant here? Is that who did this?” I ask.
“Shhhh, Daddy, I’m not ready to lie now. Hold on!” she says, thinking so hard she scrunches her forehead. At times like these my wife playfully reminds me how much I wanted kids.
The Marcus Cain Academy of Merit is a posh private school on the Upper East Side of New York City. It features a sprawling campus, a great hall, state-of-the-art library, and a training facility. Hundreds of angels and Quo come out to see Marcus being honored. The team is in the front row along with the Guardians. The security for this function is heavy. That happens when both the Kon and the queen are in attendance.
We are all seated in the front row, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Pryor points to Phoenix, who is walking towards us. He has dark hair, bright eyes and large wings. He is no doubt a handsome kid. He’s smart and resourceful too.
“Nix! Come sit by me,” Summit says.
“Me too!” Dylann declares. But Nix doesn’t sit next to them; he doesn’t even stop. That’s strange since he and my girls are best friends. He walks past his mom, Diana, and his stepdad, Bex. Nix takes a seat in the back by himself.
“What’s going on with him?” I whisper to Diana.
“Bex and I decided it was time he knew more about his father. We told him everything and he’s not doing so well,” she says sadly.
“Damn, you think he’s gonna be okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know, Silver. I’m trying to give him some space, but it’s hard. I just want to make it better, but I don’t know how,” Diana admits.
“Don’t worry, my Queen, I got this,” RJ says with a cocky grin as he struts over to Nix. RJ has been living with Jay and it shows. He’s a little older than the other kids, but they are all friends. RJ has Swoop’s high energy and charm. He gets on our nerves, but it’s hard to stay mad at him for too long.
“Don’t worry, he just needs some time with this. You know our son, he needs to find his own way through,” Bex says as he places a hand on his wife’s knee.
“Dad, can we go now? You said we were going to practice how to disarm an aslant,” Bex’s son says.
“Lucas, we will, but we have to stay here until the end. Then all of us will go together,” Bex says.
“Sweetheart, can you go cheer up your brother?” Diana says.
Lucas reluctantly agrees and goes over to Nix.
Lucas is Diana’s second son. He’s tall, has sandy blond hair, and already has girls in a daze. But what I like about him is that he is very much into the job of being the next king. He takes training seriously, even at his age. He’s like his dad that way.
Diana makes it her mission to ensure that Lucas and Nix have a childhood and don’t spend their whole lives training in a castle. That’s why she makes sure to have the boys come over to the house and play when we are not on a mission.
And when we are away, oftentimes Mrs. Maybelle will gather all the kids and bring them down to her house. Mrs. Maybelle is the only one we trust enough to watch over our kids. In the angel world, the Toren are feared, much like the way we are. But we have a greater handle on how are kids are treated than our parents before us.
But no matter what we do, being the child of a Noru is never easy. No one knows that better than East and Mel’s twins. They have similarities, but they are not identical. The girl’s name is Parker, she gets her brains from her mom, but her humor comes from Easton. Parker’s brother, Ryder, is skilled even for his age. Their powers ar
e still developing, so we don’t know yet what they can really do.
No matter how much power the twins will have one day, the one who is the most powerful is Summit. That also makes her the one in the most danger. And her being an Echo doesn’t help ease our minds at all. Bex offered to give us round-the-clock security, but we declined because we don’t want to draw any more attention than we already do.
No one is supposed to know she’s an Echo, so we don’t allow her to bring anything back to life. We only allow her to use her main power; the power she inherited from her great-grandfather “Trap.” She can blink once and take away someone’s ability to see, hear or even breathe.
The crowd starts to clap as Randy—the head of the Human Affairs Bureau—walks up to the podium. Randy is like another person. He has confidence with every step he takes. He’s single, but it’s by choice. It turns out helping to save the world gets you a lot of girls. In fact, I can’t remember the last time Randy didn’t have a date.
“And now let’s have a hand for the amazing councilwoman herself, Death!” Randy says. Dad takes her hand and walks her over to the podium. I look back at Winter and there is no jealousy in sight—mostly. She has had to accept that Emmy and Rage will be best friends for the rest of their lives. When Emmy speaks, her tone isn’t aching or even sad.
“Thank you for honoring my husband like this. But the truth is this isn’t just for him. Many lives have been lost in the past few years. Many sacrifices have been made. So this school, this monument to togetherness, is dedicated to Marcus and everyone who couldn’t be with us today.
“To be honest, sometimes being a Guardian sucked. It felt like no matter what you did, happiness never found its way to us. And when we had the Noru children, they too felt the strain of leadership. They too felt loss. And now their children, the Toren, are in for their own adventures. And I want them to know the same thing I want my Marcus to know: There is happiness out there. And in the end you will find it. If you don’t stop, if you fight with everything you have, you can find it.
