“No . . . no, I just thought I heard someone knocking on the door,” I lied.
“Well, thank you for opening the door,” Grandpa Odd said with a kindly wink. “You can help me carry the rest of these in.”
I glanced down to see he was carrying a crate of milk jugs. Before a grimace could light up my face, he thrust the crate into my hands and said, “Take those to the kitchen. Rachel needs them.”
I gaped, my mouth waving open and closed as he promptly turned around and grabbed another crate, intending to force my hand. Pain latched itself to my arm as I frowned.
I needed a new plan, I thought, entering the kitchen and placing the crate on an empty counter. I had to get out of there. Grandpa Odd might have been trying to help Rachel, but there were potentially lives at stake. I needed to get out of helping him.
“Only eight more out there,” Grandpa Odd informed me cheerfully.
“I have to go,” I said, shaking my head.
“Nonsense. How hard could it be for you to help an old man like me with his chores?”
“If they are your chores, I don’t see why I should help,” I grumbled. “I got to go. I, uh . . . forgot something at my house. For Gwen.”
“Ah, well, then you must hurry. ‘One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving,’ after all.” His eyes twinkled at me, almost accusingly. “If one such as Amy Carmichael said it, it must be true.”
Briefly stupefied, I just stared at him. “Er, yeah,” I agreed, and then pushed past him and hurried away, not even bothering to make sure Gwen—or Dante, or the mayor, or anyone else potentially involved in the whole situation—saw me.
As I pushed into the mark on my wrist, unleashing my transformation, I felt the weight of my dilemma momentarily leave me; yes, I had a monster to go battle, but I was going to have help with that. Escaping from Gwen, protecting Adam, hiding from Dante, and slipping by Stefano were all things I was still largely doing alone. Once I was free from them, I could really be myself.
Doing my superhero duty is starting to feel like an escape, I warned myself.
A moment later, I decided it was hardly my fault for feeling that way. There were twists and turns and problems all over. How could get this get any more complicated? I mean, Mikey’s dad had been hired by Stefano to protect the city. What would happen next? I wondered.
I’m never going to get used to surprises. The thought was both an observation and a promise as I hurried toward the looming battlefield ahead.
☼20☼
Confrontation
“The demon’s over there, by the observatory.” I pointed forward. “There’s an aura over it.” Studying it, I noticed the aura had little wisps of blue emanating around it. “Weird. It’s a little different than usual, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“What do you mean, different?” Elysian asked.
“I’m not sure how to explain it,” I said. It seemed similar to the rogue demon from before. “We’ll have to be careful.”
“Alright, we’ll get there,” Elysian said. He swept through the air with me on his back. I knew it wouldn’t be long before we arrived. I scanned the skies for signs of Starry Knight. “We’re going to pick up Aleia really quickly, too.”
“Okay. Just hurry.”
“I know where she’s staying,” Elysian said with a huff. “It’s on the way.”
“Alright, alright.”
Elysian glanced back at me, showing me the merest slip of a smirk as he asked, “So, who’s watching Gwen?”
“Come on, Elysian,” I grumbled, “don’t make me hurt you.”
“I was just curious.”
“Shut up.” I gave Elysian’s horns a ferocious tug. “Just don’t worry about it.”
“Did you call Mikey?”
“I told you to stop it,” I grumbled. “Come on, just get to the aura, would you?”
“I’m just trying to make you feel better, kid,” Elysian said.
“I’m not going to feel better by feeling worse,” I retorted. Gwen was going to have to wait; I had a feeling my “bathroom” excuse was going to be replaced. And while Mikey would have been helpful, on the off chance Dante didn’t follow me to the battle scene, I didn’t want them running into each other at Rachel’s.
I wondered if Jason was at work. I could text him, I thought. See if he would tell Gwen that my uncle or something was just rushed to the hospital.
Elysian dived and wove his way through the buildings before slowing down in front of a tall cathedral. Before I could ask, he nodded up to the small bell tower, where Aleia’s figure was waiting for us.
“Let’s go,” she called, jumping off her perch and landing behind me.
“Hang on,” I said.
Elysian found refuge in the clouds again, heading over toward the lake.
“The aura’s coming from Lakeview Observatory,” I told her.
Aleia nodded. “I see it as well.” She pulled out her crystal and considered it carefully, or as carefully as she could. Her blonde hair whipped back and forth across her face as she studied the small orb. “It looks like Starry Knight is already there,” she said.
I didn’t say anything; I knew anything I could say would only condemn me.
“What’s going on with them?” Elysian called back. “It’s been a good week since the last attack.”
“Who knows?” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s not like they’re on some kind of forty-hour work week.”
“It might have to do with the deal Starry Knight arranged with Orpheus,” Elysian pointed out.
“What deal?” Aleia asked.
“This could be a setup,” Elysian warned.
“It’s not,” I muttered back, even though I had to admit he could have been right. Not that it was likely. “We don’t—”
“What are you talking about?” Aleia interrupted. “What deal?”
Elysian responded while I fumed. “We heard Starry Knight had made a deal with Orpheus to trade the rest of the Sinisters for the kid.”
“Kid?”
“Hamilton.”
“Oh.” She narrowed her gaze as she thought about it. “I don’t think it’s likely.”
“Ha!” I scowled up at Elysian. “See? Even—”
“It’s not likely,” Aleia repeated. “But—”
“But what?”
“It’s possible, but not likely.”
Normally, I might have faltered, full of doubt and worry. But the memory of Starry Knight sitting next to me in the rain, watching over me as I slept, and holding my hand next to my heart, blazed into my mind.
I wanted answers. I wanted answers from her, and nothing would stop me this time, I vowed. “Let’s hurry, Elysian.”
He roared in response, and I felt the pressure of the wind increase drastically as we hurled toward the observatory.
As we approached, I could hear alarms going off, and the small staff and student workers were running out, heading for their cars or hurrying off in any direction.
Aleia jumped off Elysian’s back in front of a student. I was shocked to see it was Logan. What was he doing here? I wondered. Then I recalled this was his new office now.
“Please, sir. Tell us what happened,” Aleia implored.
Logan’s eyes flickered nervously to Elysian. “Uh, well . . . ”
“Logan,” I called down from Elysian’s back. “We need your help.”
“Wingdinger.” He took a deep breath. “I should have known you’d be here. Starry Knight is inside, fighting off one of those creatures—”
“The demons.”
“Right.” He took another steadying breath and then jolted as a loud explosion rang out from the building behind us. “Oh, no!” Logan jerked wildly in shock.
“Calm down,” I yelled. “I know it’s hard, but we need information. Can you tell us what happened?”
“Well, we were just working,” Logan told me. “We were just working and then there was a loud noise like that one, coming from the resea
rch lab. When we hurried up to see it, it began to attack us. We ran, and Starry Knight came, and then . . . ” He waved his hands wildly in the air, explaining how he and his coworkers managed to lock the research lab up, trapping the demon in with Starry Knight as they ran out the door.
“ . . . I didn’t think it was a bad idea,” he added. Another loud jolt behind him made him cringe. “But now I have a feeling our lab is getting destroyed. And it was just recently finished, too.”
“Can you take us inside?” I asked. “We could use your help to locate and destroy the monster more quickly.”
Logan faltered and sputtered, and then finally took a deep breath. “If it will help,” he decided. “I know you can protect me. I want to try to keep the lab together, too.”
“Okay,” I agreed, thinking it really was a shame Logan was smart, but surprisingly careless when it came to his own life. As much as I appreciated his trust, I didn’t think I would risk my life for a research lab. (But then again, I suppose I was doing that anyway to get to the demon monster.)
We rushed inside. Elysian transformed into his smaller self, and hopped up onto my shoulder.
“Here.” Logan slid his access card into the top research lab. The door blinked and opened, revealing a large room. A giant telescope and computer board stood out like an island in the middle of the room. The observatory’s rounded rooftop encased the machinery like a glass cover over a cake plate, and it was surrounded by a circular staircase leading to different doors.
Where was Starry Knight? There was no one in the room. I glanced over at Logan to see him pushing past Aleia on the other side of me. “Come this way,” he instructed.
Around the room we went, descending down the winding staircase. Another loud crash! resounded from below us, louder than before.
Logan pulled out his card again. “I sealed off the research lab,” he explained, “so it’s right here. You guys go in first.”
“Okay,” Elysian grumbled. “Just open the door, would you?”
“Elysian,” I hissed. “Be nice, won’t you?”
Logan swiped his card and scooted out of our way. Aleia and Elysian hurried forward.
“Thanks.” I offered my hand to Logan. “Go hide. We’ll protect you.”
“I will.” He took it, and instantly I saw his emotions flash across his face. Fear was there, mixed with relief, and a smidgen of hope. Before I let go of his hand, fierce determination took hold of him, and he added, “And whatever you do, don’t touch the meteorite in there.”
The demon monster behind me cried out, distracting me from asking Logan why he would be worried about such a thing. “Thanks,” I muttered, before hurrying into the strange room.
I didn’t have long to look around, but a cursory inspection of the lab made me think of the movies. Instruments ranging from centrifuges to microscopes to bulky, box-shaped apparatuses littered the counters, while books were opened and computers flashed with calculations. Though it looked like a small tornado had blown through the room, no permanent damage seemed to have been done. Of course, that was to me. I was hardly a scientist.
Starry Knight had the demon pinned down in the corner of the room. Looking at it, I was worried Krono’s brother had decided to make an appearance.
Rather than invisible, this demon monster was made of a ghost-like wispy sinew. Blackened eyes, hollow and horrifying, glared at Starry Knight, who had managed to pin it down between several arrows of light.
She stood over it with Aleia by her side, the two of them talking in hushed voices.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“It’s a fenfleal demon,” Aleia explained.
“A rogue?” I frowned, my earlier suspicions confirmed. “What was the monster after in here? Was he after Logan again?”
Starry Knight narrowed her gaze at me, her suspicion clear. I belatedly recalled she didn’t need to know I’d gone snooping after her, trying to get any information I could out of Logan.
“It doesn’t seem like it,” Aleia said, before either Starry Knight or myself could say anything else. She turned to Starry Knight. “What was he after?” she asked. “You were here faster than we were.”
I grumbled under my breath. Aleia didn’t need to remind her of that.
“You bound him with blood,” Elysian noticed.
“Yes, I did,” Starry Knight agreed.
“I thought you didn’t like that,” Aleia murmured.
“It’s easier to bind them down,” Starry Knight admitted, her lips pursed in irritation. “And that way I can question them.”
“Well?” Aleia asked. “What did he say?”
“He has asserted he is a demon, serving the Master of the Void,” Starry Knight said. “That’s all I got so far.”
“Alküzor,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone else. I was surprised they actually heard me. The silence in their stares was deafening.
“Yes,” Starry Knight finally confirmed.
“Let’s see what he wanted,” Aleia said. She turned to the fenfleal demon. “Tell us what you wanted.”
The monster roared in frustration. I pulled out my sword and held it to his throat.
“Tell us now,” I commanded.
The fenfleal demon seemed content to snarl. He raged against the arrows holding him down, but there was no evidence his effort made a difference.
Elysian growled. “Let me take care of him,” he offered, snorting out a small stream of smoke. “I can get him to cooperate.
“Wait,” I said. “Maybe I can do something.” I tucked my sword down into the scabbard at my side before reaching out a hand. With as little thinking as I could, I reached out and grabbed ahold of his arm.
The pain I had been trying to avoid contemplating raced through me; I pushed back against it, rationalizing that Starry Knight would be able to fix me up when we were done.
Emotions swirled around my hand at last. A mixture of pride, power, and determination all rushed past me. I grinned, pushing further up and further in with my power. “Tell me what you want,” I said, my teeth gritted together in pain.
Fire steadily burned more brightly around my arm.
“Kid, you’re killing him,” Elysian called out.
“Be careful!” Aleia added.
“I’ve got it,” I insisted. My eyes closed as my power wrapped around his heart and entered in. Darkness settled in and around me, as I was able to see his heart in my hand. I felt my own soul jerk in response, trying to escape before it could attack.
The single-mindedness, settling on a black chunk of rock, entered into my mind before my own power surged; heat seared into the demon’s body and burned through its heart.
I opened my eyes to see the demon’s essence swirling into a pool of power in my outstretched hand, before collapsing in on itself. I gasped. “Wow.”
“Are you okay?” Starry Knight’s question was brusque and sharp, bringing me back into the moment.
I glanced over at my audience. “He was thinking about a black rock . . . I’m guessing he wanted the meteorite. It’s here, isn’t it?” I asked.
“The meteorite?” Aleia asked.
“The one that slammed into the town last year,” I said. “Logan said it was being moved here from the college. It has to be here. The demon was thinking about it when my power . . . ” My voice trailed off. Did I kill him? Was he banished to another realm? I wasn’t sure how to phrase what had happened to the demon and not sound awkward.
“Yes,” Starry Knight said. “The meteorite is here.” She nodded to the glass case on the far side of the room, where the black rock from the demon’s vision resided. “He was in front of it when I got down here,” she said. “So that makes sense.”
“Why would he want it, though? It’s just a piece of rock,” Elysian said.
“It did quite a bit of damage to Apollo City,” I reminded him. “Construction wasn’t finished up until recently.”
“It was after the meteor came that the attacks began,” St
arry Knight said quietly. “It is possible he wanted it because of the people it killed.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Things that take life—things that draw blood—sometimes gain power through destruction.”
Aleia spoke up. “That’s possible. He could have wanted to use it for something of his own planning.”
“The day they tried to move it from its landing spot,” I recalled, “it caused an explosion.” The green eyes from Alora’s time pool came to the forefront of my mind. “And it held great evil.”
“We’ll have to keep tabs on it,” Starry Knight asserted. “Even if the Sinisters haven’t paid attention to it, it could only be a matter of time before they see it as a way to demoralize the public or cause further destruction.”
“Agreed.” Aleia nodded.
A moment of silence passed before Starry Knight swung around. “Well, if that’s everything,” she remarked, “I’ll take my leave.”
It was time to get my answers, I reminded myself. Do not let her get away without answering your questions. “How do you know Logan?” I asked. “You recognized him before, when the other demon attacked him. You knew he worked at the college and you know he’s been studying the meteorite.”
“Have you been watching the meteorite before this?” Aleia asked.
“No,” Starry Knight said, just a little too quickly. I didn’t have to touch her to see the hesitation and regret flutter off of her shoulders.
I remembered what Jason told me before, when I went to the college the first time. The mayor wanted updates about the meteorite. “Do you think SWORD knows about it?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t presume to know what SWORD is thinking,” Starry Knight assured me with a great deal of malice, “besides working toward their own benefit and power.” Her violet eyes narrowed at me. “And how I know the scientist here is my own business; I don’t intend on sharing it with you.”
Before I could object and remind her she was my ally now, she turned, spread her wings, and leapt off into the night.
“I was hoping she’d heal me before she left,” I muttered.
“We’ll see her again,” Aleia reminded me.
“A little more suffering won’t hurt you anyway,” Elysian added, too gleefully for me to refrain from kicking him.