“Yes, it is.” I nodded. “I also agree with you, about wanting to know what you want to do. I was practically born wanting to be a lawyer.”
“You’ve been looking for justice all your life, huh?” Rachel asked. There was a smile on her face as she said it, and I knew she was teasing me.
She was right, of course. I had literally been looking for justice all my life, to the point where I’d fallen in love with its living incarnate.
“I guess so,” I finally replied. I tightened my grip on my cup as I finished the cupcake. “This was great, as usual, Rachel.”
“Thanks!” She glowed contentedly.
“I’m going to go check in on Raiya,” I said, “but I might want seconds before I leave.”
“Don’t you always?” Rachel laughed and waved as she picked up my dishes and carried them into the kitchen.
I hurried up the stairs and knocked on Raiya’s door. After a moment of silence, I twisted the knob, surprised to see it was unlocked, and peeked in.
“Raiya?”
It took me less than a moment to realize why she hadn’t answered. She was painting as she listened to music.
I was surprised to hear her sing. Her voice was soft and deep, a comforting alto rather than a smooth soprano. Observing her even further, watching her frown and examine each stroke of her brush, and smile when she was satisfied, I couldn’t help but think she would make a good mother.
I came up beside her, standing beside a familiar case, the one I recognized from the school play last year; it was, as usual, stuffed with different paints and supplies.
Leaning over, I placed a quiet kiss on her cheek. I felt a rush of guilt when she pulled back, stirring her out of her song.
“You can keep going,” I said. “I’ll wait for you.”
“I need to stop, don’t worry,” she said. Raiya pushed her canvas away as she sat up, already grabbing at my coffee cup. “I have stuff I need to get done today besides this.”
“I like it,” I said, gesturing toward the painting. It was full of colors, separated by thick, hard lines, reminding me of a stained glass window. At the center of it was nothing but light, as darkness and shadows crinkled all around. “What is it?”
“A neo-expressionist supernova.”
“You know, I was just going to guess that.” I grinned. I didn’t know much about art, but I knew how to tease her. “I think you’ve captured it perfectly.”
From her expression, I knew Raiya could tell I was bantering. “Thanks, but it’s far from done.”
“Are you sure you want to stop?” I asked. “I know you like to do this stuff.”
She shook her head, pushing her long hair back from her face as she sipped my coffee. “It’s fine.”
“Alright.”
I watched as she put the rest of her supplies up, before she flopped down on her bed and reached for her shoes.
“What are you doing here?” She smirked. “Have you come to apologize, by any chance?”
“Not really,” I said. “But I can fake one, if you’d like.” I decided not to turn the tables on her by asking if she wanted to apologize to me. Her arrow might have pierced Draco, but it could’ve been a better shot. She would’ve defeated him, and we could have been on our merry way to a normal date night instead of worrying about SWORD and Draco’s next moves.
She distracted me as she swirled the coffee around in the cup. “Stubborn.” She sighed. “I should’ve guessed.”
“I came to tell you about Martha,” I said. “I got some information from her about SWORD.”
“She told you about them?” Raiya’s eyes sparked with instant surprise.
“Well, sort of. I was looking for information on Otherworld, Inc., the company Dante said he worked for, and she told me it’s a new company. There’s reason to believe it’s a front.”
“She told you this?”
“I asked her to help,” I explained. “I thought it was a good idea—”
Raiya stopped me. “What?!”
“Come on. I told you she used to work for them. She told me that herself.”
“Still, that doesn’t mean that you have her go snooping around for us. It could be dangerous.”
“I’d say it’s more dangerous for them than it is for her,” I remarked. “This is Martha, after all. She can be terrifying if she doesn’t like you.”
“But—”
“Just let me tell you what I know,” I said, trying to hold in my irritation. How many times is she going to interrupt me?
“Fine.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked at me expectantly.
“She told me that Otherworld was a new company, set up this year, and its mailing address is in the Time Tower, same as the Skarmastad Foundation.”
“Is that it?”
“Well, she confirmed Dante’s the lead on the project,” I said.
“So Otherworld is a fake company,” Raiya repeated, “and Dante is heading the situation here in the city? That’s all?”
“That’s all,” I said.
“It’s not that much,” Raiya said.
“Hey, it’s more than I’ve been able to find in the last several months, looking through Cheryl’s files and scanning through the city payouts.”
“It still doesn’t seem worth it to ask Mrs. Smithe to risk her safety for.”
“She agreed to it, didn’t she? That’s something,” I argued. “Besides, now we know that Dante’s leading up a smaller force here. We don’t need to worry about SWORD so much.”
“Just because Otherworld is a new and smaller company doesn’t mean they don’t have other forces stationed here,” Raiya pointed out. “That’s precisely why it should be a concern.”
Anger washed over me, and I gave up trying to stay above its dark water. “It’s hardly a concern when compared to your ancient grandfather-turned-immortal-dragon, especially since you can’t take him down.”
“You really want me to destroy my own grandfather?” Raiya asked.
“That’s not a fair question,” I said.
She shot up out of her seat. “You’re not being fair, either!”
“I think it’s still a legitimate question. We need to be able to make sure we can do our job.”
“That’s not our only concern,” Raiya snapped back. “We have to make sure that the people we protect are okay, too. And that’s why I’m angry about Mrs. Smithe helping us out!”
“It was her choice,” I replied.
“Yes, but you can’t live with some decisions!” Raiya shouted.
The door to her room squeaked open. We jumped back, stepping apart from each other.
It was Elysian.
He sighed as he saw us. “Oh, great,” he said. “I’ve either arrived in the middle of one of your make-out sessions or you’ve been arguing.”
Raiya’s cheeks burned red, matching, I suspected, my own. “We were not making out,” I grumbled.
“I was going to bet on that,” he said, “given the volume of your discussion, but it’s still fifty-fifty, knowing you two.”
“What brings you here, Elysian?” Raiya asked. “Besides, of course, Rachel’s baking?”
“Hey, Jason’s getting pretty good, too.” Elysian scoffed. “No one seemed to mind me taking his burnt cookies.”
I glared at him. “You know, Cheryl’s been getting onto me about my bills,” I said. “That’s partially your fault.”
“It is not my fault, however, that you have a job and your mother still pays your credit card bills,” Elysian replied. Before I could retaliate on a more physical level, he added, “What’s the big deal? She can afford it, and it’s not like you pay anything either.”
“Just stop it,” Raiya said, turning to me. “Rachel uses you as a test subject more often than not, and for Jason’s stuff, too. Your tab here will always be manageable.”
“I’d rather it be non-existent than manageable,” I bit back.
“You just can’t stop, can you?” She rolled her ey
es at me. “You know, I’ve known you now for over a year, and you still do that. Don’t you think that’s a bit immature?”
“Not if I’m right!”
Elysian let out a loud roar before our conversation could devolve any further. “If you could stop for a moment, I have some news.”
Raiya frowned. “Fine. But hurry up. I have somewhere to I need to be.”
“Alright,” Elysian agreed. “I was headed over here—”
“Where do you need to be today?” I asked. “Your GED’s not until this weekend.”
“I have an appointment,” she muttered.
“Excuse me,” Elysian called. “Hello? Big news, anyone?”
I gave up on Raiya; she was obviously still angry with me. “Fine. What is it?”
“Mikey’s out of the hospital,” Elysian said. “I saw him walking through Shoreside Park just now while I was on my way over here.”
“You didn’t stop him?” I asked.
“Why would I?” Elysian snorted. “He’s your friend, not mine.”
Raiya sighed and stood up. “Why don’t you two go and talk to him?” she said. “See if you can find out why Dante discharged him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Cheryl’s deadline for the Flying Angels case expires soon. He probably got out because she’s not going to get an extension, so he’s safe from her.”
“You should still go and check.”
“Maybe I should,” I said, “but that might put his safety at risk.”
“Well, it’s so good to see you’re working on that maturity already, Humdinger,” Raiya retorted. “I’ll see you later.”
She sidestepped me and waltzed through the door, determined not to say anything else.
I glanced over at Elysian, who was frowning. “She’s got a point,” he admitted.
“Shut up.”
“See? You have a problem.”
“You’re going to have some problems, too, if you keep it up,” I warned. “You’re lucky I’m more concerned about Mikey now.”
“So we’re going to go see him?” Elysian asked.
“Yes. Right now.”
“Aw, I was hoping for a cookie before we left.”
I sighed. It was times like these that I missed Aleia. She had her soft spots, but she was good at getting us going.
No wonder Raiya thinks I have a maturity problem. Look who I’m hanging out with.
☼7☼
SWORD’s Play
It didn’t take Elysian and me long to spot Mikey. Shoreside Park was just across the street and down a bit from Rachel’s.
“Mikey!” I called out to him, but he didn’t seem to hear me. “Geez, you’d think after all that time he spent by himself he’d be glad to see his friends.”
“Are you still his friend?” Elysian asked.
“Uh, well, I … I guess that’s the question to ask,” I admitted. “I haven’t seen him since January.”
“Nice,” Elysian muttered.
“Hey, I’ve been busy,” I reminded him. “The assistant mayor’s a slave driver, school was still going on, I was studying for the SATs, and we all had to work on finding Draco.”
“So tell me, how many times did you go to all-night gamer parties?”
The all-too-innocent look on his face made me frown. “Shut up.”
“Come on, boss, don’t be such a fascist,” Elysian teased. “You need someone to keep you in line. That’s why you have me. And that’s why you argue with Starry Knight as often as you do.”
“She’s not always right,” I insisted.
“It’s better that you both keep each other in line, then,” he said. “Personally, I don’t think we would get along as well as we do if I had to do all the work by myself. It’s too much work and you get too angry with people who try to correct you.”
My fists clenched. “I hate you,” I muttered under my breath.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing,” I grunted. “Nothing that matters. We’re here to see Mikey. That’s what … ” My voice trailed off as I realized I didn’t know where he was.
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “Great! We lost him.”
“You should’ve been paying better attention,” Elysian told me.
I grabbed him by the scruff of his miniaturized dragon neck. “Are you kidding me?” I nearly screamed. “You were supposed to be paying attention, too!”
He jostled himself free of my grip. “There’s no need to punish me for your problems. Go transform,” he barked. “I’ll take to the skies and search for him there.”
I watched Elysian take off, before I grabbed my phone and called him. There’s no use doing something the hard way if you can avoid it.
I only groaned when the call went right to voicemail. “I can’t believe he doesn’t have his phone on him,” I muttered, before I ducked into a nearby wooded area.
Once I was out of sight, I pressed the mark on my wrist and felt the power blossom out inside of me. Energy charged through me, spurting out like lightning through my blood.
My wings fluttered wide open, and I took off. Flying with wings of fire never ceased to amaze me.
Up ahead of me, Elysian was spiraling in and out of the cloud cover, beckoning me to follow. “This way!” he called, before heading down to the ground.
I hurried to follow him, but I began to slow down when I finally caught sight of Mikey again.
He walked into the Time Tower.
Considering what I’d learned about Otherworld, and how the Skarmastad Foundation owned the building, I felt a distinct sense of reluctance as I stepped down onto the earth once more.
Elysian hovered beside me, slinking down to his smaller size. “Well?” he asked as he settled onto my shoulder.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I can’t imagine why he would be here.”
“Maybe he’s meeting Dante,” Elysian suggested.
“That makes sense,” I said. “Okay. Let’s go. If nothing else, we can see what Dante knows about Draco and his connection to the Skarmastad Foundation.”
As we walked inside the building, I realized there weren’t a lot of people around; hardly any passersby, hardly any people nearby at all.
It’s the perfect set up for Dante to meet Mikey, I thought.
“Hello there, Wingdinger.”
Speaking of which …
Dante stood, leaning casually against the far wall as he looked at me. His goatee had grown more, since the last time I saw him, I noticed.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” he intoned, and instantly I knew something was wrong.
“Boss,” Elysian whispered. “This is—”
“Yep,” I said. “A set up. For us.”
“Where’s Starry Knight?” Dante asked as more SWORD agents began to peel away from the shadows.
“She’s got things to do,” I said, uneasily. I was beginning to see why Raiya didn’t trust them. Besides the whole “being captured” by them the first time we met thing, too. “What do you want?”
“It’s not what I want,” he said as he began to saunter over to us. “It’s what Apollo City wants. Assistant Mayor Dunbrooke has given the D. A. a time limit, and we’ve been instructed to assist her in getting you to cooperate.”
Dante glanced over his shoulder. “My son has been kind enough to help us in getting your attention.”
“Mikey?” My gaze shot to him as I realized he’d been standing behind Dante.
Mikey stepped forward, hesitant but still determined.
What in the world is going on?!
“What did you do?” I whispered.
Mikey came and stood beside me. “Come on, give me a break. Grandpa Odd came to visit me in the hospital,” he told me. “He said SWORD had reached out to you, that you could heal all the people with the sickness, including Gwen, but you weren’t willing to help out.”
“Oh, Mikey … ” I could’ve cheerfully shot him. And myself. I was the one, after all, who did not visit him, and I didn’t
tell him about Grandpa Odd’s true identity.
Elysian snorted, sending sparks flying. “This is Draco’s game,” he said, voicing my thoughts.
Mikey ignored him. “When Dad came to the hospital, I asked him about it. He said we could try to get you to cooperate if I helped out.”
“They needed you. They used you!” I shook my head. “All that time in the hospital and you’ve gone soft-headed. They tricked you.”
Mikey frowned. “I’m just trying to get people back to their normal lives,” he said bitterly. “I know I would feel much better if Gwen was better.”
“You’re an idiot,” I said. “You just gave up on life because you couldn’t have things go your way?” I grabbed his arm, making Dante step forward menacingly. Great. They’ve managed to bond over making me the bad guy.
While I dropped Mikey’s arm, I didn’t stop glaring at him. “I told you I would take care of things on my own. Starry Knight and I are working on it. We’re so close.”
“Well, these guys can get you closer,” Mikey said. “That’s what Grandpa told me.”
“He’s not your real grandpa,” I hissed. “He’s the enemy!”
“Well, it’s too late,” he said. “Dad’s here, and they need your help.”
“Don’t you know ‘needing help’ is code for—wait, what?” I sputtered. “Why did you call him ‘Dad?’ You don’t even like him.”
“He’s the only one who came to visit me and didn’t seem to think it was a chore,” Mikey said. He shrugged, suddenly very uncomfortable. I didn’t even have to read his emotions to see it. “Besides, he is my dad, after all.”
Oh, great.
I closed my eyes, and it was just as well that I did. I barely saw Mikey get tasered, before I was tasered, and Elysian tried to fight off the other guards.
*☼*
I woke up, probably hours later, groggy and grunting in pain. I was cold, and I was alone.
A rush of recognition and fear flooded through me. This had happened before, at SWORD’s black site by the marina, where I was dragged off after I stopped Starry Knight’s supernova.
Same as last time, I was still cold, and my wings were still able to cushion me from the hardwood floor. Not too many things were different this time around; I knew for certain I was in another location. Looking around at the near-empty office-like room I was in, I estimated I was in the Time Tower still.