“Oh sure,” I agreed, more worried about hiding my disgust. There was a good reason I could never follow in Mark’s footprints, and it largely had to do with all the blood and bodily fluids he had to deal with at the hospital. I was glad when Starry Knight reached out and pressed her healing powers into Aleia’s cut. “Let me jot that down in my notes.”
“Kid, the least you could do is pretend to take things seriously.” Elysian appeared outside the window. He flew inside and came to rest (uncomfortably) on my shoulder.
“Well, I am seriously trying not to vomit at the moment,” I muttered back.
“Where’s Elektra?” Starry Knight interrupted.
“She requires more power to be sealed,” Aleia explained. “I couldn’t get her. She made her exit in dramatic fashion, as you can see.”
As I looked out the window again, I began to hear the stomping of several pairs of feet. Peering over the side of the balcony railing, I groaned. “Police . . . SWAT members, coming up.”
“Destroy Krono, and we’ll get out of here,” Aleia told me. “Use the Sealing Sword.”
“No problem,” I assured her, pulling out my sword. The gilded wings on the hilt fluttered as I freed it from my scabbard. “I will enjoy this,” I said, recalling how the monster had nearly choked me to death.
One powerful slash later, the wall was busted up a bit more, but the demon was gone.
Aleia pulled her dagger out of the wall. “Good work. Let’s head out. If you would be so kind, Elysian?”
Elysian smiled at Aleia. For all he was upset he’d been more or less replaced, he seemed to like her. I didn’t blame him; I liked her too. I already thought she was more informative than Starry Knight, and I’d only fought alongside Aleia once. And she was a pretty decent fighter, I thought. I could already see the fading outline of Elektra’s power from where Krono was sealed away into nothingness.
Thinking of that, I recalled I wanted some answers.
As Aleia climbed up on Elysian’s back, I turned to Starry Knight and grabbed her arm, then pulled her away. “Come with me for a moment.”
She sputtered, obviously upset. But I’d caught her by surprise, and while I knew the SWAT team making its way upstairs didn’t give me much time, I was going to take every second I got.
I pulled her away, dragging her through another set of doors, and even though he would have been helpful, I hoped Elysian didn’t decide to follow us.
“What are you doing?” Starry Knight finally managed to break free. We’d made it into another stairwell, and that was fine with me.
“I want to talk for a moment.”
“No. I’ve already said no.”
“I need to know what happened out there, if nothing else,” I said. “We’re allies now. You promised.”
This is where being the son of the city’s top lawyer really came in handy. Lull her in, and then get her to give me the answers I wanted. She sighed, giving in. “Fine.”
“Why did Elektra try to . . . I don’t even really know what she was doing.”
“Idiot. She was trying to take your Soulfire.”
“Why would she want it? There are plenty of humans who have more power than I do,” I said. “Elysian told me once that humans have more power than Stars because they can make choices or something.”
“They do,” Starry Knight agreed. The crisp tone told me she wasn’t happy about talking with me, but she would comply. I think it was some form of a compromise for her.
“So what’s so special about our Soulfire then? Or mine?”
A short moment passed before she answered. I could see her weighing out her answers, dividing the small amount she was going to give me from the whole truth. “Every human has a spirit, a will, a mind, and a heart—the last three making up the soul,” Starry Knight explained. “The spirit is separate from the soul in humans. In a Star, they are not. When a Sinister tries to take Soulfire inside of a Star, they take both the spirit and the soul. Together, they are known as Starsoul.”
“Why is it better to just have the soul then?”
“The spirit is either dead or alive, while the soul is eternal,” Starry Knight explained. “Dead spirits are dead; their fate is decided. Living spirits have a special power that protects them from corruption. But souls can still provide power.”
“How?”
“I don’t know how to explain it, exactly.” Starry Knight sighed. “Any emotions a person feels can provide power. Lost dreams, ambitions. Lost love.” She looked at me. “Regret.”
“So Elektra was trying to take my Soulfire out of my body.”
“Yes.”
“And then you brought me back.”
“Yes.”
I was just about to ask her about the kiss when she added, “And it’s a good thing, too. If Orpheus wants your Soulfire, we have to be very careful.”
“But he doesn’t. He wants me dead, according to what Elektra said.”
“We have to go,” Starry Knight interrupted. “I can hear the police coming this way.”
“I want more answers,” I insisted. “This can help me.”
“You shouldn’t even be fighting.” The words had a sharper tone to them, and I didn’t hold back, either.
“Look, I want to get better. I have gotten better!” I protested. “I’d be even better off if you were more willing to help me out.”
“Just stop.”
“No, we’re not going back to the beginning of all of our arguments. I promised you I would fight, and I’m going to do it.”
Starry Knight shook her head quickly. “I know you want to, and there’s nothing I can do about it. But I’d rather you stay out of it. The Sinisters are my responsibility. I’ll think of something. You don’t need to worry about them.”
“Why?” I demanded. “Or can’t you talk about that, either?”
“We have to go.”
“No, we have to settle this.”
She sighed. “Look . . . just trust me on this. You have to trust me.”
“Why should I?” I retorted
“Just . . . just trust me.”
I got angry with her when her eyes went soft, and the violet misted over just slightly enough for my breath to catch.
“Please.”
She’d pulled me in without my approval. And I hated her for that. “Oh, my pleasure,” I retorted sarcastically. “You—”
The doors a floor below us opened, and pairs of armored officers started coming up the stairs.
It really was the most inconvenient time for this, I thought bitterly.
“Stop where you are! Hands up!” one of the SWAT team officers called out.
Starry Knight grabbed me this time, and she led the way back to where Elysian and Aleia had taken off. Squeezing my hand, she leapt up and carried me with her through the broken window.
My own fingers tightened around hers. It was at that moment I secretly began to fear she had just as tight a grip on my heart as she did my hand.
I was so concerned with the idea of just that, I barely noticed Dante Salyards watching us, standing just outside the shadows of the Apollo City Time Tower. I might have said something, if I hadn’t caught sight of the time.
One look at the clock and I knew I had been right earlier. I was going to be late for work. In fact, my shift was over before I arrived to start it.
☼9☼
Questions
“So, what was that all about?”
I groaned. It’s not fair. I don’t feel like answering Elysian’s pesky questions right now.
“Come on, tell me.” Elysian was back down to his “travel size” form, looking more like an awkward lizard than a dragon. I ignored him until his claws sliced into me as he climbed up beside my ear.
“Hey! Watch it,” I snapped. “I don’t need to go to my party with my shirt full of holes. I have enough problems as it is.”
“So, I guess Starry Knight made you mad,” Elysian observed.
“What makes you think that??
?? I asked through gritted teeth.
“What else do you have to be mad about?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Maybe getting my soul ripped out of my body for one, or maybe because I missed work for another!”
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”
“Shut up.” I raked my fingers through my hair, more frustrated than anything else at the moment. “I’ll have to tell Cheryl and Mayor Mills something. I hope it will be enough so I don’t get fired.”
“City Hall was under attack today. I’m sure they aren’t going to punish you.”
“That is the only thing that comforts me at the moment,” I said with a huff. “Well, that and the fact that I don’t have to see Cheryl until later tonight. She’s working all day at her downtown offices, and even she doesn’t have the gall to embarrass me on my birthday at my own party. I hope.”
“You’re not going to go see her?” Elysian seemed surprised. “You might want to call her then.”
“Why?” I asked.
“To make sure she is safe.”
“Like I said, she was at her offices this morning. And it is a Saturday. Only a few people were in the building.”
“I wonder what caused Elektra to be there then.”
“Who knows? That other Sinister, Alcyonë, targeted Mikey for no real reason, it seems, other than he was convenient.”
“Is that what Mikey told you?”
I faltered in my steps. “Uh, well, we don’t really talk about it too much. I mean, of course he was jealous of me, and I can’t blame him for that—”
“I sure can,” Elysian muttered.
“—but I never did ask him how he’d managed to get sucked in by a Sinister.”
“Maybe you should ask him.”
“Maybe I will,” I agreed. “I don’t think anything Starry Knight told me is going to help me answer any of my questions.”
“What did she tell you?”
“Basically, Elektra was after my Soulfire, which I knew, and how it’s different from a human’s because of the spirit or something.”
“Hmm.” Elysian frowned. “Your spirit must be alive.”
“What?” I gaped. “Of course it’s alive. I’m alive.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” Elysian sighed. “Look, there’s a very specific function the Star spirit has, and that is access to the Celestial Kingdom. You can communicate with it directly.”
“Fat load of help that is,” I sneered. “You’d think they’d be more willing to talk to me.”
“You’re not really in the way of listening,” Elysian reminded me with a snort.
“Would you just go away?” I growled. I was more than glad to see Mikey was hurrying toward us. Thank goodness. I could use a distraction. “Hey, Mikey,” I called out, waving to my best friend.
“Now?” Elysian studied me for a moment. “Boy, Starry Knight must’ve really made you mad.”
“I don’t want to talk about it!”
“Dinger! I’m surprised to see you. We were just talking about your party.”
“‘We?’”
“Me, and Gwen and Jason and Rachel. They just left for your house. They’re going to get all the stuff set up.”
“Cool. I am definitely ready to party today,” I said with a grin as we turned down another block, heading toward my house.
“So I noticed I missed a good fight scene,” Mikey said. “It was on the news.”
“Already? Man, the media’s been getting better at finding us.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Mikey said. “I was in Rachel’s at the time and Grandpa Odd—he says hi by the way, and told me to say ‘Happy Bard-day’ to you, and, yes, that’s the actual pronunciation he used, not sure why—and he said the mayor had been making deals with those protesters who have been hanging around the building lately.”
“I saw them plenty of times,” I agreed. “Hopefully they’ll be gone now. It’s a nuisance to have them there.”
“That’s the whole point of ‘peaceful protests,’ Dinger,” Mikey reminded me.
“I didn’t see any today, though,” I recalled. “Maybe that was why the Sinister attacked. All those protestors. I’m sure some of them would give up their soul for better pay.”
“If the mayor was making deals with them, he probably only had a few people from the crowd,” Mikey said. “Some were hanging around when the police saw Elektra smash through the window and you and Starry Knight fly out. That’ll have the social media lighting up for a few days. I need to get a blog out on it.”
I paused. And then I just said it. “Are you sure you should be doing that?”
“I’m being careful,” he assured me. “I’m posting while I’m at school, so the traffic won’t identify it as me, personally.”
“Okay.” I thought about Dante, and I thought about SWORD. Dante knew it was Mikey they’d captured a few months ago when he was possessed. Since then, there was no sign they were going to pick Mikey back up, and I would think they’d have more critical things to do than pick up some random blogger. After all, there were millions of bloggers around Apollo City, and even more blogs.
Maybe Dante was trying to keep Mikey out of it? Maybe he didn’t know?
Ah, who knew anyway? I mused. There were a lot of unanswered questions at the moment. Probably built up from me ignoring most of them, I realized with a cringe.
But I looked over at Mikey again, and I decided to get some answers as we walked to my house for my birthday party. “So, Mikey, can I ask you some questions?”
“About what?”
“I’ve been thinking,” I started slowly, “that I need to start looking for answers. I was wondering if you could tell me about the Sinister who, uh, you know—”
“Borrowed my soul for a bit?” Mikey offered.
“Sure.”
“Well, I was upset when she came to see me, initially. And she offered me my hopes and dreams on a platter, pretty much, and didn’t tell me the specifics.”
I grinned. “So she was kind of like a car salesman?”
Mikey laughed. “Yeah, kind of.” But he frowned and said, “She did a good job, though. It was a slow build up, you know? I didn’t realize how far crazy I’d gone until it was too late, and I was about to give up entirely when you showed up.”
“I see,” I said neutrally.
“I read through some of the psychology behind how I felt afterward,” he admitted, catching my attention. I knew if Mikey studied up on something, it was big. He barely did anything for school, let alone research. In the last two years, the only thing I’d ever seen him take seriously was the topic of girls.
“ . . . But it was like an addiction and self-entrapment, all wrapped into one. Some of the articles likened it to an abusive relationship.”
“Sounds terrible,” I agreed. “And it looked terrible, too, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
Mikey shook his head. “I don’t like to think about it.”
“I can’t blame you there.”
A moment passed between us before Mikey glanced over at me. “So . . . you didn’t happen to get Starry Knight to agree to come to the party, did you?”
I laughed and immediately changed the subject. Between SWORD, the Sinisters, and Starry Knight, I’d had more than enough supernatural drama for the day.
☼10☼
Celebration
“So, how long have you and Gwen been going out now?”
“What?” I yelled back, unable to hear clearly over the crush of voices, music, and other media forms. I was talking with Via Delorosa, much to my despair, and her forever lackey, Laura, who was also Gwen’s best friend.
Laura smiled at me. “Via asked you how long you and Gwen have been dating now,” she said, enunciating her words. I might have thought she was teaching me English if I knew she wasn’t quite that terrible.
“About, uh, two months? Six weeks. Something like that,” I said back, almost regretting coming over to one of the small snack tables
in my backyard.
Via rolled her eyes. “You never were a thoughtful boyfriend,” she said. “You’re lucky Gwen is desperately in love with you.”
I narrowed my eyes at her for a second, before letting it go. Via and I had dated, tragically, and I didn’t regret dumping her. I had a feeling she specifically came to my party to find a way to make people care about that, more than to celebrate my birthday. “Yeah,” I agreed, “I’m glad Gwen doesn’t mind how inattentive to her I am.” It was supposed to be a sarcastic comeback, but guilt twisted through my stomach. It was probably truer than I’d have liked (especially if I was feeling guilty). “Why don’t you go see what Poncey’s up to?” I asked. “I hear he’s looking for a new girlfriend.”
Via laughed. Even in the muffled static of sound, my ears could hear her musical peals. “Oh, Dinger, you’re hilarious.” She patted my hand affectionately and said, “Gwen’s a lucky, lucky girl.”
Okay, I’m not sure what she means by that. I need to get out of here.
“I’m going to go check on the cake,” I said. “Excuse me.”
I’m instinctually quick-witted, so the cake idea came out of virtually nowhere, and I was glad for it. But it was a good idea, too, so I headed back inside the house to the kitchen.
On my way, I slapped high-fives with friends, waved to Gwen as she was chatting with some of our other classmates, complimented the band, and participated in one round of the Awkward Game, my favorite party pastime (I won). I posed for some photos and remarked on which social media tags to use.
But as I slid through the door, relief cloaked me, and I relaxed enough I noticed it. Was it possible to be uneasy at the idea of being comfortable?
I peeked up the stairs in the direction of my bedroom, wondering how Elysian was doing with all the people around and all the baked goods in the kitchen. I grinned at the thought of him sifting away some of the sweets. I should save him a couple, I decided.