Sticks and Stones

by Alexie Aaron

  “Have you come to the same conclusion, to kill them?”

  “Before I saw you, yes. But now we have another solution. Mass hypnosis.”

  Lucifer’s eyes flashed, and he smiled slowly.

  “You’re the only one strong enough to do this. We could take them to one of the old copper mines I saw on my way here. You could erase their memories to before Sean attacked the sentry. Enos and I could find them and tell them, and the rangers, that they were subdued by bad fog, aka gasses from the mines. Since it’s a natural occurrence in an old-growth forest, we could suggest that warning signs be put out that will warn future hikers from walking through this area.”

  “It could work.”

  “It will work,” Mia insisted.

  “What’s in it for me?” Lucifer asked.

  “What do you want?”

  “You were supposed to be shocked,” Lucifer said. “I don’t have anything.”

  Mia waited.

  “I still don’t have anything. Can I get back to you?”

  “Ah, a favor. I’m trying to see who would owe you the favor. Twenty billionaires, Angelo, Soren, or me?”

  “The favor will be owed by us,” Sten said from the doorway.

  Lucifer looked over at Sten and nodded. “Is there still copper in those mines?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you mine them from beneath and send the copper via the demon ley line?”

  “Yes. We have been mining on and off.”

  “I’ll send a representative, and he can negotiate a deal. No, Mia, I’m not making slaves out of this society. Mbengar will no doubt broker the deal.”

  “Are you sure you’re not reading my mind?” Mia teased.

  “Shall we do this?” Lucifer asked, ignoring the barb.

  “In the dark? How about first light?” Mia suggested. “I’m trashed from healing.”

  “Are you going to make those kids’ parents wait through another night?” Lucifer asked. “How evil are you?”

  “Fine.”

  Sten nodded and left to start preparations to move the prisoners.

  Lucifer stared at Mia. “Fine, doesn’t mean fine, does it?”

  Mia’s eyes twinkled.

  “I bet you’re wondering how I knew you were here?” Lucifer asked, not breaking eye contact.

  “Yes.”

  “Murphy and Altair were in Hell eating. They’re here if you want to say hi.”

  “You brought them with you?”

  “Yes. We barely arrived and your farmer was feeling up the trees. Mia, come right to Hell when you die. He’s just going to leave you for a beech.”

  Mia giggled. She stopped and looked down.

  “We’re always going to be on either side of the fence,” Lucifer said. “I’m too far gone to control my depravity, and you’re too full of grace to allow me to fully enjoy being with you.”

  Mia looked up. “Do we have to be adversaries?”

  “I think so. If we all got along, you’d have to go and fetch The Balance. I imagine you could do it. But what’s done is done.”

  “I fear so.”

  Lucifer smiled. “When you have had enough of trying your best, being betrayed by beings you have saved and admired, come and see me,” he said and walked out.

  Mia gathered her and Enos’s stuff. She put on dry socks and stuck another pair in her pocket. Once she had her shoes tied, she stopped and tied them again, hearing Nicholai’s voice in her head. Altair was waiting for her outside.

  “Hello, I heard you were here,” Mia said, reaching out and hugging her friend.

  “Did everything go alright in there?” Altair asked.

  “Yes,” Mia said and told Altair their plan. “Have you seen Enos?”

  “Stephen is sobering him up. He had a bit too much of whatever was in that pipe he had a death grip on.”

  “He really did well, don’t hold that against him.”

  “How did you persuade Lucifer not to kill the kids?”

  “We found the solution together. Sten finalized the deal.”

  “I sense you’re sad.”

  “Just tired. Healing and reading teenagers took a lot out of me.”

  “There’s more…”

  “Yes. Can we leave it for another time?” Mia asked.

  “Of course. I’m sure you’d rather talk to Baxter.”

  “No. I just need time to sort out my feelings. Baxter isn’t your enemy…”

  “Technically, he is,” Altair said.

  Mia put her hand on her heart. “You’ll always be here. Even when you leave me, you’re always here. I miss you when you’re gone. It hurts when you leave. Baxter never leaves.”

  Altair didn’t want to force the issue. “I’m sorry, but I see you in two ways, the child and the woman. I know you have a path you must follow, and it hurts me when you hurt. But living is more than bluebells and bubbles. It’s thorns and scraped knees. It hurts me when you don’t listen to me, even when I’m wrong. I leave to protect you from me, and me from you. Does that make any sense?”

  “Actually, it does,” Mia said. “I won’t need Baxter forever. I’m learning, evolving, and trying my best to be human when, in reality, I’m just a machine.”

  “I curse the day you learned of your past. Shane did you no favors.”

  “Shane Shivers, I haven’t thought about him in a while - which is surprising, since there are times when I just want to walk through a portal and exist before all of you fell and fucked up this world.”

  “You wouldn’t like it, no flushing toilets.”

  Mia smiled. “You’re right.”

  Altair picked up Enos’s pack and went with Mia in search of Enos and Murphy. He worried that Mia’s momentary wish of being in the world before the fall of the angels had more to do with Lucifer and less to do with he and the rest of the fallen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  In the command post outside of Ms. Carter’s home, Mike brought Audrey up to speed by having her watch Mia and Ms. Carter on film. He had to admit that Mia had charmed the woman. He thought Mia could only do that to men. He’d seen it, felt it, and now rejected it. He was happy with Gates. She was available and interested in him. She shared her life and her body with Mike without reservation. Gates was his savior.

  “Thanks for coming in. Ted was supposed to stay the night, but something happened to Mia.”

  “She had a popup mission with Enos,” Audrey told him. “Ted needed to be at home with the kids.”

  “How come I know nothing? I suppose Burt is in the loop,” Mike complained.

  “Burt’s been there for Ted and Mia,” Cid said evenly.

  “What are you getting at, Garrett?” Mike challenged.

  “You have abandoned Brian. You were his reading buddy. You gave him dollars for no good reason. You were the bachelor uncle who enriched his life. Was that just to get closer to Mia?”

  “I beg your pardon.”

  “Excuse me for butting in,” Audrey prefaced. “Cid, Mike isn’t cruel enough to use a child.”

  “Cruel enough? You think I’m cruel?” Mike asked.

  “Yes,” Audrey and Cid answered together.

  “Grumpy maybe.”

  “No, that’s Burt’s excuse,” Audrey said. “You’re cruel and mean. You may have been able to assimilate into non-nerd culture, but you share the same cruel mean trait.”

  “Hey now, we’re not all cruel and mean,” Cid said.

  “Ted admits it. He told Mia he needs it sometimes to survive dealing with people who only see him as someone they can use.”

  “It’s armor,” Cid said. “We take it off when we’re with loved ones. For the record, nerds are not mean. We just seem mean.”

  “Back to Mike,” Audrey said. “Whatever went on between you and Mia is your private business. I suspect you’ve been put in positions where your honor was tested again and again. Mia was all over the place for a while. When she
started to get her shit together and other beings had more of her attention, you changed.”

  “It’s just not that simple,” Mike dismissed. “Let’s get back to work. I’m bored talking about Mia.”

  ~

  Ted popped open an energy drink and nervously tapped a pencil on the desktop.

  “Please stop,” Jake said. “You’re no drummer.”

  “How long has it been since you heard from Mia?”

  “Five minutes longer than the last time you asked me,” Jake replied. “There are still places on earth where satellite phones don’t work. I am monitoring her cell phone, the ranger station, and the dark web.”

  “Altair is still not back with Murphy,” Ted said. “What if I blew everything up with my worrying and Mia is a permanent resident of Hell right now?”

  “I imagine she’s a little pissed at you for butting in,” Jake said.

  Static filled the speakers.

  “Mia back on the air looking for Jake, over.”

  “Ted and Jake here, pumpkin,” Ted said.

  “You’re up late on a school night,” Mia said.

  “I was worried,” Ted admitted.

  “Everything is sorted. I will have lots to tell you when I get back. I think tomorrow afternoon, evening at the latest. Go to bed, but, Jake, please stay on. I need you to contact the rangers and send them to these coordinates.”

  Ted sat back and listened to Mia and Jake talk. He could hear the fatigue in her voice, but she still had enough energy to tell Jake off a few times.

  “Why give you ten minutes and make the call?” Jake questioned.

  “Because it takes time to… nevermind! Ten minutes! You do know how to tell time, don’t you?”

  “I know you kept us waiting for hours upon hours,” Jake complained.

  Mia sighed. “I’m sorry. I have to go off air now. I’ll call as soon as I can. Bye,” she said and disconnected.

  The demons had led the teens and their teachers to the copper mines. They were instructed to sit in a circle.

  Lucifer arrived and tossed a ball of red fire in the middle, and as it burned out, it created a smoke that had the teens and their teachers dropping off to sleep. He then visited their minds and replaced the time they were prisoners with dreams each of them could appreciate. He then nodded to Mia before he disappeared.

  Mia and Enos walked over to the group and began shaking them awake.

  Nathan Brier woke up coughing. A concerned face hovered over him.

  “Are you alright?” Mia asked.

  “What?”

  “Why are you sleeping out here?” Mia asked. “Are you doing demonic rituals?”

  Enos couldn’t help smiling and added, “I think they were doing mushrooms.”

  “What day is it?” Prescott asked.

  “Four-thirty, Tuesday morning,” Mia said, looking at her phone. “We just left our campsite. We were hoping to see the meteor shower, but it’s too overcast.”

  “We’ve been asleep for days,” Kash said. “I just turned on my iPhone, and my mother has sent me thirty-five texts!”

  “Kash, you were supposed to leave your phone on the bus,” Nathan said. “Hand it over.”

  “Maybe you ought to call the rangers,” Mia suggested. “Dear, do you have the number? Nevermind, I’ll have Jake do it. Damn, I forgot it’s the middle of the night.”

  Enos helped each boy off the cold ground. “You all smell funny. Maybe you should get your stuff - where is your stuff? Were you robbed?”

  “It was just supposed to be a day hike,” Nathan said. He took Kash’s phone and dialed the dean of his department. “I think we were overcome with gas. I’ll get the kids checked out. I’ll let you know as soon as I know where they are taking us. I don’t know,” he said, hung up, and tossed the phone back to Kash. “Call your mother, she has a heart condition.”

  Mia and Enos sat on the hill and watched the chaos until the rangers arrived and they made their report. Mia and Enos were questioned about where their vehicle was.

  “We were dropped off. We’d like to finish our hike before Enos’s best man picks us up.”

  “Who’s Jake?” one of the rangers asked.

  “My asshole brother,” Enos said. “I hope he wasn’t rude.”

  “He just sounded tired.”

  “Why all the fuss?” Mia asked.

  “They’ve been missing for days. If you hadn’t come across them, we may be not be celebrating.”

  “They smell funny. The whole area smells bad,” Mia said, wrinkling her nose. “It smells like rotten eggs. I’m no expert, but it smells like an industrial complex instead of a wilderness.”

  The ranger nodded. “Folks, forgive me, but maybe you ought to call your ride and have him come sooner. Get yourselves checked out at the hospital. Your husband looks a little high.”

  Mia wiggled her finger and Enos bent down. She looked into his eyes. “Damn, you’re right.”

  Enos and Mia started to leave. Nathan ran over to get their phone number. Mia gave them one Jake would be answering. “Why do you need this?”

  “I think the school’s lawyers are going to call for you to sign a hush paper or whatever the legal term is?”

  “Why?”

  “I think they’d like to make all of this disappear. They’re probably going to offer you some money.”

  “Oh dear, that’s remuneration for a good deed,” Mia said.

  “You could donate it,” Nathan suggested.

  “Fine. Now if you will excuse us, Enos and I have to fly.”

  Enos coughed.

  “Run, we have to run.”

  “Thank you for your assistance.”

  “Just being neighbors,” Mia said.

  They walked away from the scene and down the path a ways. Altair and Murphy caught up to them.

  “How’d we do?”

  “You sounded way too perky,” Altair said.

  “I was acting.”

  “Don’t act. You’re bad at it,” Altair said.

  “Mia, you did fine,” Murphy said. “A little dumb mixed with a lot of spark.”

  Enos patted Mia on the back. “I think I’m still high. Can we wait to fly back, maybe get some breakfast somewhere?”

  “Pancakes, I want pancakes!” Mia said, clapping her hands together.

  Murphy tapped his chin. “I think they serve pancakes in Hell.”

  “About that, thanks for getting Lucifer involved,” Mia said. “Aside from him, I only know two beings who can mass hypnotize like that. One is Roumain and the other is Michael.”

  Murphy was checking out the jukebox while Mia was devouring a plate of flapjacks and sausages. Enos was keeping up with her. Altair poured a measure of whiskey into his coffee and pushed the food around his plate. They had to wait until seven for the diner to open but were rewarded with great food.

  “Where are you folks from?” the waitress asked, refilling their coffees.

  Mia’s mouth was full, and Enos was still buzzed.

  “Chicago,” Altair answered. “My brother and his wife were backpacking, hence the voracious appetites.”

  “I heard a group of kids got lost.”

  “I heard they were gassed,” Mia said. “That’s why our trip was cut short. Swamp gas is nothing to play around with.”

  “There’s a lot of peculiar things that go on up here during hunting season,” the waitress said.

  The jukebox turned on, causing all of them to jump.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” the waitress said as Patsy Kline sang her heart out. “I didn’t think that thing still worked.”

  ~

  Mia and Enos landed on the penthouse’s upper deck. They walked down the steps and peered around the corner.

  “Angelo’s in there with Nicholai,” Enos said. “How do my eyes look?”

  “Back to normal. If either of them says anything, blame the caffeine in the coffee or the lack of sleep,�
�� Mia advised.

  Enos tapped on the door before opening it.

  Angelo smiled.

  Nicholai scowled.

  Mia excused herself to use the bathroom.

  “Chicken,” Enos said in her head.

  Mia washed her face, collected her thoughts, and did her best to untangle her hair. She walked out to an empty apartment. Nicholai was yelling at Enos on the patio, and Angelo was nowhere to be seen.

  Mia swallowed hard and headed for the door.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Victor warned.

  “Where did you come from?” Mia asked. “Not that it’s not good to see you. Where’s Angelo, and what’s going on out there?”

  “I arrived just after you did. Angelo is out there somewhere. Nicholai is lecturing Enos.”

  “Why? He did everything right.”

  “From your perspective.”

  “He accompanied me on a diplomatic mission and helped me to save twenty children and two adults.”

  “You were supposed to scout the situation out and report back.”

  “Yikes. But we didn’t have a chance… Wait, we did. Crap.” Mia told him about encountering the sentry and not seeing the kids until they were taken to the village. “So, we really did have to go to the village,” she justified.

  Victor pointed to a chair. “Sit.”

  Mia did.

  “I heard you quit my flock.”

  “I quit Warrior Flock because Nicholai was treating me like a… like a…”

  “Child?” Victor asked. “You are a child.”

  “I’m a fucking general,” Mia growled. “I have distinguished myself in battle. I will not be talked down to, spanked, smacked, and bullied.”

  Victor sighed. “You used to be a general. You resigned. Mia, this seems to be a habit with you.”

  “You have to be kidding.”

  “Show me your wings.”

  “Why?”

  “I heard you tossed my wings.”

  “You heard wrong. I used the feathers to patch Michael’s so he could fly to safety. I overdid it and…” She got up and brought her wings out.