“Now I am,” Starry Knight remarked as she sat up, rubbing her now-sore face and trying to smooth down her hair. She looked over at me and then around at our prison. “What did I miss?”
I snorted. “We were captured by some knock-off version of the FBI. It’s this police-kind of service–”
“I know what the FBI is,” Starry Knight interrupted smoothly enough.
“I didn’t know that,” I muttered under my breath before filling her in on the details of SWORD and all I could gather. I didn’t tell her my best friend’s dad was the one in charge of holding us captive, but I figured I could let that slide.
“And so anyway, we’re stuck in this prison. And we’re not getting out until they say we can.”
“What would they want with you, anyway? I thought you’d quit.”
The words were softly spoken, but I still felt the sharp snap behind them. I folded my arms across my chest. “I didn’t quit,” I asserted.
Starry Knight cocked her eyebrow.
I shrugged. “I just . . . took a vacation for a while, that’s all.”
Her response was one of hard silence before she said, “You should have stayed away. You wouldn’t be here if you had just given up.”
“Why did you want me to quit so bad?”
The words hung in the air for a long moment before Starry Knight responded. “It is not easy, you know.”
“The whole saving the world thing? Yeah, I know it’s not easy.”
She narrowed her eyes. “But you just don’t get it.”
I frowned. “What exactly am I supposed to get?”
Starry Knight sighed and stood up. She waved around her arm, and a second later, her bow appeared.
That was kinda cool, I admitted reluctantly. So she can pull it out of thin air. I’d been half-wondering where it had gone.
She looked back at me. “This is the Bow of Righteousness. I got it when I accepted my destiny as a Starlight Warrior. It has the power to hit any mark I choose, slice down any foe, and increase my own power a hundredfold.”
I looked at the bow. It was a beautifully carved weapon, I had to admit. Not that I would want it for myself or anything.
“It was freely given to me to wield, but it is costly.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. She’d told me something like that before.
“I mean, that it’s not always a convenient thing,” Starry Knight said. “I know it’s the right thing to do. But it can be very inconvenient to me when they attack. And there are other complications in the matter as well.” She looked down at me and I had a feeling she was talking about me.
I was shocked at this, not because it was amazing to me Starry Knight didn’t always like fighting the bad guys, but because it made her sound as normal as I was. (Well, about as normal as an average human anyway.)
“Sacrifice is necessary. But it does not come naturally. It is hard to make the right choice to act on what you believe, to suffer for the sake of righteousness. To have faith your pain is not meaningless or ignored.” There was a layered look in her eyes as she plucked her bowstring, as though a hundred different moments from her life were being relived.
She glanced over at me and the hardened look returned. “And then you come along, like it’s a game or something to you. People’s souls are on the line, and you think it’s all about you and your image, or competing against me. And then you think you can quit just like that, and nothing bad could possibly happen!”
Ouch. That stung.
But it didn’t really slow me down any (of course). “Hey, that’s not fair!” I snapped back. “I don’t have the luxury you did. I didn’t get a chance to choose this. It was thrown on me and I had to just go with it.”
“Everyone has a choice,” Starry Knight huffed. “You just can’t live with some decisions.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I asked, incredulously.
“A mistake once made cannot be taken back. There is no free atonement for this.”
I figured I’d had a rough enough night that it was okay to not clearly remember what the word ‘atonement’ meant. I was just about to tell her off when I recalled how I’d felt, holding her. Kissing her.
I sighed. “All right. I’m sorry.”
From her reaction, I might as well have hit her across the face. She swiveled around and gaped at me with a half-annoyed, half-shocked look on her face. I had to restrain myself from laughing.
Finally, she closed her mouth and straightened up. “You shouldn’t apologize to me.” And I wondered at that, because all of a sudden, she seemed content. Like that had been what she’d wanted all along. (Women!)
I sighed and stood up, wincing a bit as my back tingled with the memory of being electrocuted like I was a stray cow or something. “Look, Starry Knight,” I began, and instantly her eyes filled with wariness. I scratched my head, almost nervously. It had been a long time since I’d tried to explain myself (let alone felt I should). To anyone.
What else should I say? I looked back up at her eyes, and while they were still resistant, I could also sense the hesitation in her. And then there was a push of confidence from my heart; suddenly, I needed to say what I’d been thinking, deep in my heart, about this matter.
“I didn’t choose this; it was something that chose me. And now I have decided to choose it, too. I didn’t like it or want it or believe it at first. But now I do. I thought it was a punishment, but I see now that it was actually a gift.” I really did want another chance.
For a long moment, Starry Knight did not say anything, but just looked at me. Finally, she took a deep breath. “You’re hurt, aren’t you?”
Okay, just completely change the subject now, I thought, irritated. But I was tired of trying to explain myself to her anyway, so I just shrugged. “I just got tasered, that’s all. It’s nothing like it was last time with all the blood. Hey, what’re you doing?”
She’d come up to me while I’d been talking and had placed her hands on my shoulders. I fidgeted a bit, before I asked again, “What are you doing?”
A soft glow began to leak from her hands and flow into my body. A second later, it was gone. Then a moment passed, and Starry Knight looked up at me and shrugged. “I have healing powers,” she explained. “All stars have a special power, even fallen stars.”
Ah, just what I wanted. Another reason to hate you. But I smiled at her regardless, because for some reason I found it funny. No wonder she’d been able to take on a lot. She’d had supernatural help. In an ironic sort of way, anyway, I thought.
She gave me a small smile back; I felt a rush of what felt like surprise.
Something inside me broke. I reached out almost involuntarily and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Who are you?”
“Huh?” Starry Knight was just a bit caught off guard and did not move, as though she was unable to decide what to do.
I felt my fingers tighten against the bare skin of her arm. I had wanted to know this from the first day I’d met her. “Who are you? Who are you really? I feel like I know you, but I just can’t . . . . Tell me who you are!”
Boy, hope that didn’t sound desperate, my mind briefly thought. But I did want to know. No, I needed to know.
I had to know who she was, and what that made me. I stared into her violet eyes hard, as though I was searching for an answer hidden deep down, far beneath the surface of those bewitching eyes. Those eyes so lovely, yet so terrifying to me.
“Yes, that would be the million dollar question,” a voice called out from the other side of the cell. Footsteps against the stone floor echoed quietly as the figure came closer. “In fact, there are many people who would like to know just that.”
Starry Knight shoved free of my grasp as she turned her full attention on the newcomer.
Frustration ate at me. I really never was going to get any answers out of her, was I? “What do you want now?”
Dante grinned devilishly. “Hey, can’t we be friends about this?”
/> “Sorry. Friends don’t let friends be thrown in prison,” I muttered back.
“We’re not your enemies,” Starry Knight spoke up.
“Prove it,” Dante challenged. “Are you interested in making a deal?”
“I don’t want to make a deal with you. You already haven’t kept some promises you’ve made,” I shot back, still angry I’d been interrupted earlier. “Get us out of here.”
“Now, now, don’t be so uptight,” Dante said through gritted teeth. “You can hardly blame us. After all, you’ve both caused millions of dollars’ worth of construction damage.”
“So? That’s supposed to be good in this economy. Creates jobs, right?” I remarked.
“I was right about you. You are a troublemaker.”
“Enough,” Starry Knight said. “You are still under the jurisdiction of the United States. You have yet to read us our rights.”
“SWORD is not under any jurisdiction. We are not obligated specifically to America, nor any particular government or system. We are a private, international company contracted by countries and businesses of different influences who want to ensure their safety on a more . . . shall we say, ambiguous level?”
“So you’re like a Global Mafia?” I asked. Again, it was more of a knee-jerk reaction.
“I guess you could call it that.” Dante lost his smile. “Good guys and bad guys are for political storylines, ad campaigns, fairy tales, and Super Bowl commercials. This is just business, and we are in the business of power. Controlling it, squashing it, redistributing it. Doing whatever needs to be done without the hassle of moral injunctions, patriotic pride, or financial fingerprints.”
“If you can’t tell the difference between yourself and the bad guys, then you’re most likely already one of them.” Starry Knight frowned.
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Several people want answers, and they are paying me good money to get them out of you.”
“No one is going to believe us when we say we are doing this for their protection,” I remarked. “Let alone you.”
Dante laughed. “True enough. Faith is a silly foundation for any game, and this is far more than a game. Facts are the only thing that will take you where you want to go, and controlling the facts means you control the players.”
“What ever happened to doing the right thing?” Starry Knight muttered.
“The right thing is not always the best thing.” Dante’s eyes glimmered darkly. “You and those monsters have been running–or flying–around this city for too long. You’ve cost many people their lives or their livelihoods. It’s time to give us some answers. You have two choices. You can refuse, and you will be incarcerated, just like your other friend, or you can answer our questions–all of our questions–to your full knowledge.”
“What other friend?” I asked, suspiciously.
“That monster from that high school,” Dante informed him. “He’s, or I guess, it’s, useless.”
I felt as though something invisible had struck me. Surely he doesn’t mean Mikey.
“How dare you!” Starry Knight lashed out. Her arms reached through the bars and tried to grasp at Dante’s trite-looking black jacket. “He was a human being!”
“He was an unearthly creature from Hell,” Dante reminded her, “Who had managed to put quite a few people in the hospital.”
“He was confused! He didn’t know what he was doing!” Starry Knight yelled back, anger and sorrow interlaced in the tone of her voice. “You have some nerve calling us monsters! Who do you think you are, to decide whether or not someone should live?”
“Justice does not look at emotions, girl,” Dante spat back at her. “Justice is blind to all but the facts.”
“Justice is not blind to the truth, only to the illusions of deceit!” Starry Knight snapped. She was so upset, I wondered why she just didn’t pull out her bow and shoot him. I would’ve.
Dante pulled back from her frantic attacks and shook his head. “Cute, but it does not alter the terms of our commitment to our contractors.”
“So you’re going to kill your own son?” I said the words out loud and didn’t realize it until Starry Knight and Dante both sent me the same confused look.
“I don’t have a son,” Dante finally spoke up a moment later.
Hesitation overcame me. Dare I play the ace up my sleeve? “You did once,” I said. “You’re Dante Salyards. You have a son. His name is Mikey, and he was the one who became that monster at Central’s swim meet.”
Surely I’d rattled him with that. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” Dante insisted.
“Sir.”
All three of us were momentarily distracted as a new agent walked into the door.
I hope they’re not going to play ‘good agent, bad agent’ with us, I thought almost humorously. I watched as the new agent pulled Dante aside, whispered something in his ear, and then walked away again. Dante sighed before turning back to face us. “You got lucky,” he told us. “I have an emergency to deal with. More of your friends.”
He headed out of the door, calm as ever. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back later.”
I watched as he left and decided I really didn’t like Mikey’s dad. Not that he’d been any prize before, but now, for sure, I hated the guy. I turned back to see Starry Knight was clenching her fists in anger. Her eyes snapped open, firm with resolve. “We have to go and save him,” she said.
“We?”
“Yes, ‘we!’”
“You mean that you want me to fight with you?” I was trying to sound innocent even though I knew I was baiting her on purpose; I wanted her to admit she wanted me to join her.
“If you don’t come, you will be fighting with me,” she huffed as she held up her bow.
“Come on, that’s not what I meant.”
Starry Knight sighed. “Now is not the time for this.”
“Yes it is!” I insisted. “If we are going to fight together, it’s going to be a mutual decision.” I held out my hand. “Allies?”
She held her ground, and then looked away.
I could hardly believe she was being this reluctant about it. Wasn’t she the one a moment ago who demanded I come along with her to go and see if we could save Mikey? Did she really still doubt me? I held out my hand further and said, “I promise I won’t give up again. You have my word. I know this is the right thing to do.”
Starry Knight looked back. “Your word will bind you,” she warned. “You will not escape such a promise without punishment. And you will only be free if I release you from your promise.”
“Well, we both know that you won’t have a problem with that,” I reminded her.
A fleeting smile appeared on her face. “Yes, I guess that’s true,” Starry Knight agreed. She reached out and took my hand. “All right. I accept.”
I smiled happily. Finally, she had accepted me. It’s about time!
“But that doesn’t mean I have to like you.” She dropped my hand and began to contemplate the bars again.
“Oh, believe me, I don’t like you either.” I agreed. “But I do want to get out of here.”
Taking the hint, Starry Knight slashed her bow through the bars, causing a bright light to break free from her weapon and a small explosion to ensue.
I was just about to tell her she might have been a tad excessive when I heard her murmur, “I guess my full power’s back.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
Her cheeks flushed over red. “Nothing. Let’s just go.”
I didn’t push the issue as we began to jog down the long, seemingly endless hallway. I figured I’d made her annoyed enough because I’d held us up from going to save Mikey.
As I hurried beside Starry Knight, I thought about asking her about what the plan was when we found Mikey. But as I looked over at her, I was overcome with another question. Did she remember our kiss? Unconsciously, I trailed my fingers over my mouth, thinking once more of how she’d tasted.
Get
a grip, Dinger, I chastised myself. It’s Starry Knight, not Gwen.
Oh, great. Thinking about Gwen was absolutely no help. What was I going to say to her? Was I supposed to say anything to her? How could I even begin to bring this up? ‘Sorry, Gwen, I had to kiss another girl in order to prevent the city from being blown to bits by a supernova-type explosion?’ As excuses went, I don’t think she would buy it, let alone excuse it.
Fortunately, my unfortunate squabble with myself was postponed at Starry Knight’s interruption.
“Look,” Starry Knight interrupted. “What is that?”
Following her direction, I looked over to see nothing out of the ordinary. Until I saw a tiny, lizard-like shadow creeping alongside the wall. “Elysian.”
The small beady eyes of my changeling dragon squinted and focused on me. Even in his smaller animal phase, I could tell he was frowning. “Kid,” Elysian said more out of annoyance than acknowledgement. “I thought you’d quit.”
“I’ve been getting that a lot today.” I rolled my eyes.
“So you’ve decided to come back all of sudden?” Elysian’s narrowed eyes remained skeptical as he began to transform to his regular, smaller dragon form.
“Don’t start taking bets, Elysian,” Starry Knight remarked, her tone sullen. “He promised me he would not quit this time.” She glanced back at me. “Come on. We have to get going.”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we headed?” Elysian asked.
As we all started down the next hall, I lagged behind a bit, letting Starry Knight take the lead the way while I kept pace with Elysian. “We’re looking for Mikey.”
Elysian, staring fixedly straight ahead, nodded. “Yes. The one who likes the math teacher.”
“No, that’s Simon.” I sighed. “Geez, you are just as bad as my parents, getting my friends all mixed up.”
“You don’t know any of my family or friends, either,” Elysian grumbled.
“I wasn’t aware you had either,” I snapped back. “Ugh, I don’t have time to argue with you right now. Do you think you could smell him out or something?”
“I’m a dragon, not a dog!”