by Lola StVil
I don’t know what I was expecting after my tirade. Maybe I expected Aaden to furiously shout back at me or to break something. But he does neither of those things. Instead, he looks at me with a severe expression. When he speaks, his tone isn’t loud and commanding. Instead it’s quiet and controlled. There’s a mix of fury and disappointment that cuts deeper into me than any blade could.
“Are you finished?” he asks.
I remain silent. I have never seen him so angry and so wounded before. He nods slowly to himself and starts to make his way back inside. I call out his name, but my voice dies within my throat. I quickly place myself between him and the door, blocking the entrance.
“Move,” he says in a lethal voice.
“Wait, I didn’t mean…”
“Move.”
“Aaden, I’m sorry I freaked out.”
“I will not ask again,” he warns.
His murderous glare leaves no room for misinterpretation; his voice, although soft, trembles with rage. I do the only thing I can; I step out of the demon’s way.
I can’t bring myself to go back into the apartment just yet. I lean on the side of the building, close my eyes, and try to gather myself.
“That bad, huh?” someone says.
“Key!”
She smiles brightly and embraces me. She looks better than she has in weeks. Her long hair flows down her back gracefully. Her bright eyes and smile light up her already perfect face.
“How’s Ruin?” she asks.
“She’s being looked at by Luna.”
“I’ve heard of her. She’s really good.”
“I’ve heard.”
“So…I didn’t get all the details. Why did Ruin pass out?” Key asks.
I explain what happened in the school. Key listens carefully until I’m done.
“So, now Aaden is walking around acting like I did this on purpose.”
“Did you?” she wonders.
“What?”
“Look, Pry. I get it. She’s about to have a child with the guy you lost your virginity to. That’s tough.”
“How did you know that? Did Randy say something?”
“C’mon, Pry. Swoop and the others have been texting me from the moment I left. And really, after the torture you withstood in the Center, you deserved to have a little fun.”
“It wasn’t about having fun. Well, not just about that. We made love. It was real and special and it mattered to me.”
“Did Silver say it didn’t matter to him?”
“No, but he might as well have. He came out here and accused me of trying to make Ruin sick.”
“If the baby was gone, wouldn’t that solve all your problems?”
“Are you seriously suggesting I would harm a child so I could have Aaden?”
“I’m saying you love Silver the way I loved Bex. And the thought of that love being taken away can make you do some seriously messed-up things.”
“Key, I didn’t do this on purpose.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“I wouldn’t harm an innocent being. You know that.”
“I’m not saying you set out to make it happen, but somewhere inside you must have known what your words could possibly do to her. And yet you said them anyway.”
“If you’re right, then this is my fault. And Ruin could lose this child. Aaden would never forgive me. I’d never forgive myself. What kind of angel am I?”
“Hey, don’t look at me. I poisoned my ex,” she jokes.
I smile despite myself, and she embraces me.
“I missed you,” I reply once we pull apart.
“Same here.”
“How did you know we were here?” I ask.
“My cousin told me,” she says.
“Shhh, you can’t say anything. East doesn’t know your uncle was his dad.”
“Swoop told me. So when exactly is Winter going to tell him?”
“She needs to do it soon or I will.”
“I can’t believe she kept that from him. How messed up is that?”
“I think she feels she was doing what was best. Or at least that’s what she told me.”
“It doesn’t matter. Once my mother gets back from the light and learns that her brother had a son and Winter kept it from everyone, she’s gonna go nuclear.”
“I hope not. I mean no offense, but when your mom gets mad, people die. And I would rather avoid that.”
“Tell me about it. My mom’s alter ego has been in check for all my life, but that doesn’t mean ‘Redd’ is ever really gone,” Key reminds me.
Key’s mom, Miku, is normally a very cool angel. She is sweet, easy to talk to, and loves to joke around and shop. She’s the perfect “mom” and “friend” combo. But when she lost her twin brother, Rio, an alter ego showed up. The alter’s name is Redd.
Redd was so brutal that the mere mention of her name brought fear and panic to angel and demon alike. She had no allegiance to any side, good or bad. Redd’s only mission was to destroy everything, and she nearly did. By the time Redd was under control, many lives were lost. Even now there are places Miku walks into and angels will step back, fearful to get in her way.
Redd’s wings were completely crimson. And when Miku was able to regain control and repress Redd, her wings went back to white. However, as Miku still feels so guilty about the deaths she caused, the tips of her wings remain scarlet colored.
The twins hate the way angels react to their mom. Growing up, it was really hard for them to make friends outside of the team. Other angels were always afraid that if they did something to displease the twins, Redd would appear and eviscerate them.
In fact, “Redd” is now a term in our world and has been since before I was born. Angels and demons will say things to each other like “I had a Redd weekend.” That means that chaos occurred and blood was spilled. Or an angel will say to another “I broke up with him, and he got all Redd on me,” meaning they parted ways from someone and that being became violent and unreasonable.
Needless to say, the twins hate that expression. Swoop used to get into lots of fights at school because the angels in her class would use that word. Key spent much of her time trying to stop Swoop from beating the hell out of her classmates. Miku always tried to comfort the girls and let them know that the comments didn’t bother her. She joked that because she used to be Redd, she never has to wait in line at the department store.
“Maybe you guys can downplay the whole thing. I mean, East has always been family to you, even before you new you were actually related. Maybe that will calm your mom down,” I suggest.
“Normally, yes, but when it comes to my mom and my uncle Rio—”
“Pry, Luna just came out of the room. There’s a complication with Ruin,” Randy says.
Randy looks over and sees Key standing next to me. He beams as they exchange greetings. We all go back inside Luna’s apartment. The team is too engrossed in what Luna is about to say to give Key a proper “hello.” All eyes are on Luna, especially Aaden’s. Judging by the dark expression on his face, he’s on the brink of losing it.
“Luna, please just tell us, is Diana okay?” he asks.
“Whatever she experienced before this caused her great distress, and as you know, that is really bad for the baby. As I examined the demon—”
“Diana. Her name is Diana,” Aaden snaps.
“Fine, as I examined Diana, her markings began to fade even further.”
Aaden gasps as if someone rammed a fireball right into his chest. He hangs his head and places his hand on his waist. East places a hand on his shoulder. Swoop stands beside him and gently rubs his forearm.
“Luna, are the markings gone? Is my daughter dead?” he asks once he summons the courage to look up again.
The pain in his voice breaks my heart. I would do anything to take that hurt from him, but there’s nothing I can do.
“I gave her a powerful mixture to fool her body into thinking she is truly blissf
ul. It’s started working. The markings began to reappear. The baby is responding and thriving,” Luna says.
“Wait, so she’s okay? She’s all right?” Aaden asks, desperately latching on to Luna’s hand.
“She was, but now…”
“But now what? What happened?” asks Bex, who up until now has been staring at Key.
“The mixture I gave her should work perfectly, except sometime in the last year, Diana injected an herb-based tonic. I didn’t know that at the time. The mixture I gave her does not go well with herb-based tonics. In fact, it can be fatal.”
“You gave her something that made her better only to have it turn around and most likely kill her?” Aaden shouts.
“I didn’t know she’d had the tonic until she started convulsing. I managed to sedate her, and I have a mixture that can reverse the effects of the reaction she’s having.”
“Then give it to her,” I shout.
“I can’t, not until I know which tonic she took.”
“What difference does it make?” Randy asks.
“Every tonic has its own elements. If Ruin took a tonic to stop feeling sorrow, for example, then she would need to take the antidote to that specific tonic. But if we give her the antidote for a tonic that she hasn’t taken, it will only kill her faster,” Key explains.
“The young Healer is right. We have to know exactly which tonic Diana took in order to cure her. I have a reference book here with all the tonics ever created,” Luna says.
“Fine, look through it and figure out which one she took,” Aaden says.
“We have to provide Diana with a cure within the next twenty minutes or both her and your daughter will die,” Luna says.
“That’s not gonna happen,” I inform her.
“How many tonics are there? Ten, twenty, fifty? We can help you sort through them all,” East says, going over to look at the book Luna’s holding.
“About four thousand, give or take,” Luna replies.
We all look at her, beside ourselves. She smiles sadly as she signals towards the row of bookshelves along the walls.
“The book I’m holding is one of many. There is just too much to go through. We’ll run out of time,” Luna replies.
“No! This can’t happen. Do you hear me? I won’t lose them!” Aaden says as he frantically pores through the books.
“Is there any way to narrow it down?” Bex asks.
“No. Most tonics cause convulsions. That doesn’t tell us anything,” Key says.
“Are there any other symptoms?” Randy asks.
“No, and again, we’re short on time.”
“There was no other sign at all?” Key says.
“No, just the markings on her body from the baby and the shaking caused when the mixture I gave her came in contact with the tonic. Oh, and the bruise under her wrist,” Luna replies.
“Wait, what bruise?” Swoop asks.
“It’s nothing; she must have gotten hurt in battle,” Luna says.
Without warning, Swoop rushes inside the examination room, where Ruin lies unconscious. We all follow her and watch as she looks at Ruin’s wrist. She finds a round, bluish gray patch of skin that has a faint arch over it.
“It kind of looks like an eye,” East says.
“I think it’s just a rash,” Bex replies.
“No, it’s not,” Swoop says, deep in thought.
“Bird, what do you know?” Aaden asks.
“This is what happens when you drink the kind of tonic Ruin did. It leaves a patch of your skin blue. It goes away but always comes back,” Swoop replies.
“You know what tonic she took?” I ask.
“How do you know?” Bex asks.
“Because it’s the same one I took. Mine appears on my stomach.”
“Bird, what’s the name of the tonic?” Aaden begs.
“Dazzle,” Swoop says as she looks over at her older twin sadly.
Key looks back at Swoop and is completely horrified. Luna gasps in disbelief and drops the book she was holding.
“Do you have a cure for this ‘Dazzle’ tonic thing?” Aaden asks.
“Yes, yes…” Luna says, unable to take her eyes off of Swoop.
“Luna, c’mon, hurry!” Aaden shouts.
Luna manages to break away from Swoop’s eyes and starts to gather the necessary ingredients to heal Ruin. Meanwhile Key grabs Swoop by her hand and yanks her back out to the waiting room. The rest of us, unsure of what just happened, follow the twins.
“You took Dazzle?” Key says, brimming with rage.
Swoop looks back at her and swallows hard, but doesn’t say anything.
“Okay, what are we missing here? Swoop, what’s ‘Dazzle’?” I ask.
“It’s a tonic,” she says with a weak voice.
“What does it do?” Randy asks.
“It’s a liquid that reacts badly to certain creatures. It confuses them when they drink it,” she says.
“What creatures?” East asks.
“Don’t beat around the bush, Swoop. Tell them what Dazzle does,” Key demands.
“It messes with the internal navigation of the Alexi bird. Normally the Alexi finds the pregnant woman, cuts into her, and takes the seed. The Alexi then flies away to place the seed in the light, where it will grow until it’s ready to be with its mother.
“There’s no way to stop the Alexi from coming to you once you’re pregnant, but a few women can sense that they are about to get a visit from the Alexi. If that’s the case, she can drink Dazzle, a tonic that confuses the bird.
“Once Alexi cuts into her and tries to suck the seed out, it will also take in the Dazzle that’s in the woman’s bloodstream. It’s like giving alcohol to a bird. It will be ‘drunk’ and disoriented. It will take the Alexi twenty-four hours to remember where it is and where it needs to go. By then the seed will have perished. I drank Dazzle and ensured that the Alexi would never get to the light on time.”
“Swoop, are you saying…”
“Yes, Randy, my fun-loving, out-all-night, party-going little sister had what you humans call an abortion.”
“I’m not going to talk about this with you or anyone else,” Swoop warns, growing angry.
“You are out of your damn mind if you think you can just spring this on us and walk away!” Key vows.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Swoop says as she starts to head for the door.
“The hell you don’t!” Key says, grabbing her.
“Get off of me!” Swoop yells as she pushes her sister away.
Our jaws drop as a simple push from Swoop causes Key to go backwards through the air. Before I can take in what’s happening, the whole team is hurled into the air, along with everything in Luna’s apartment.
I look outside the window just in time to see Kill, the leader of the Kasters, order his minion Wrath to increase the size of the vortex he created. There is no time to counterattack or even react. The only thing we can do is prepare for oblivion…
Chapter Five:
Wrath
I smash a hole in the wall and insert my hands inside it to keep from flying into the void. But the force of Wrath’s vortex is so strong my body is completely sideways, with only my hands anchoring me. The wind whips around us furiously, and the team tries desperately to hold on to whatever is near them.
The angel who is having the hardest time hanging on is Luna. She has one hand on the frame of the shattered window and the other is latched on to Ruin’s unconscious body. Aaden begs Luna to hold on as he tries to make his way over to her, but before he can reach them, Luna loses her grip. Ruin’s body heads straight towards the center of the vortex.
“NO!” Aaden screams.
I search for a way to stop Wrath and close the vortex before Ruin gets sucked in. This is nearly impossible because Wrath is too far away. And even if I could get to him, I would need to use the palm of my hand in order to pull the life force out of his body.
Fuck!
Ruin
is now seconds away from being gone forever, and none of us are able to stop Wrath’s vortex. I search the debris of random household items swirling past me and spot a large framed mirror. An idea comes to me. It’s not the safest one I’ve had, but it’s the only thing I can think of at the moment.
With only a fraction of a second left to save Ruin, I let go of the wall that is holding me, and immediately the void begins to pull me inside it. Now free to use my palm, I aim my powers at the mirror floating towards me.
The surge of dark energy from my palm hits the mirror, rebounds across the room, and lands right in the center of Wrath’s chest. Since I didn’t strike Wrath directly, he doesn’t die, but he does get knocked to the ground, which causes him to lose control of the void. It closes up and we all go crashing to the ground.
Aaden makes a mad dash towards Ruin. He signals to us that she’s alive and then orders Luna to get her to safety. Luna grabs hold of Ruin and takes off into the sky. Pissed that we’re still alive, Kill chases after Luna and sends a fireball straight for them. Luna manages to duck just in time, but in doing so, she loses her grip on Ruin. And once again the female Kaster is headed to her death.
Aaden takes to the sky and catches her just as she is about to hit the ground. East calls for Aaden to look out, but it’s too late. Kill tackles him from behind and hurls him across what remains of Luna’s apartment.
Aaden is about to send a silver fireball towards Kill, but Bex warns him that he could also hit Ruin in the process. Aaden has no choice but to wait until he is closer to Kill to take a shot at him. But judging from the distance, he will not get there in time to stop Kill from setting Ruin and his baby on fire. The rest of us are even farther away, so there is nothing we can do in time to help.
Kill looks down at his former teammate and readies his fireball. He’s about to strike when he sees the markings on her arms. His expression is shock, followed by what I can only describe as hurt, then deep disgust.
The astonishment of finding out that Ruin is pregnant causes Kill to pause. And although it’s only a few seconds, that pause allows Aaden to bridge the distance between the two of them. While the two grapple with each other, Swoop leaps across the room and grabs Ruin. She hands her off to Luna, who promptly takes her and tries to fly away.
