And then I looked at Stefano, and I knew why. Mercy could only be granted to those who actually felt remorse for their actions, and when harm was stopped, it was a gift to those who were under the tyranny of the unmerciful.
As Stefano stood up and righted his throne, his pride and pomp returning, I had to wonder, as I returned to the world of reality around us, if I’d saved the right person.
☼14☼
Across Dreams
I felt better about Stefano when my eyes opened and adjusted to the environment with which I was most familiar. Before, he had been restless and shaking; when I glanced at him, he seemed to have calmed down quite a lot. Upon reentry into reality, I saw Elysian and Aleia standing over me as I held onto Stefano’s arm. I dropped it unceremoniously.
“Are you okay?” Aleia asked. “We were concerned.”
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice raw against the gradient of the atmosphere. What was it about this plane of existence that just seemed so oppressive sometimes?
“What happened?” Elysian asked. “Did you capture Elektra?”
“You don’t see her here still, do you?” I retorted.
“Time has yet to resume,” Aleia said. “I imagine we’ve been here several moments, but the world will pass over it.”
“That might be a good thing,” I said, gesturing down to the sweaty but still man beside me. “Mayor Mills is silent, thanks to Elektra’s defeat.” I reached into my pocket, where Elektra’s crystal now resided, and pulled it out.
“You did get it,” Aleia said. “Great work.”
“It wasn’t easy,” I said, recalling the pain. “She actually seemed sorry for her actions when I bested her.”
“She might have just been sorry for getting caught,” Aleia said, glancing pointedly over at Elysian. “A lot of people struggle with that.”
Elysian frowned at her, before sniffing resentfully at her insinuations.
“You two should stuff it,” Elysian argued.
“I was just pointing out that it’s a common problem,” Aleia murmured.
“I can well imagine that,” I said, thinking of the time Mrs. Smithe had given me a detention for playing my Game Pac in class. Glancing at Elysian, I added, “The first part, I mean, not the part about Elysian having issues.”
It suddenly hit me that because of my detention, I was able to meet Raiya. Sort of, I mentally corrected myself. She was there. I’d seen her, in passing, for the first time, even though I’d missed her and all she meant for my life at the time.
“I miss her now,” I admitted aloud.
“You mean Raiya?” Aleia said, ducking free of Elysian’s mutterings, as she turned to me.
“Of course,” I said. I playfully tossed Elektra’s crystal up into the air and caught it. “I wish I could tell her we only need Asteropy now. She would be happy to hear that.”
“You know she’s in your heart,” Aleia said, taking my hand and placing it over my chest, right up to where I could feel my heart beat.
My fingertips grazed the area where Elektra had attacked me moments earlier. It was still raw with traces of lingering pain. “It’s hardly the same,” I said. “She’s been gone for close to a month now.”
“We’ll see her soon,” Elysian said. “When we go up with St. Brendan.”
“I know.” I sighed. “It’s just that this is a victory for us, for our mission. We’re supposed to capture the Sinisters, and once we do that we’ll be done with all this superhero stuff.”
Aleia gave me a quizzical expression. “Are you that eager to be done with our work?” she said.
“Shouldn’t I be?” I asked. “It’s not like the Sinisters are doing anyone any favors, rampaging around the town, trying to get people’s souls and stuff. And there’s got to be more to this life than just chasing the bad guys around and saving the world.”
“You won’t save the world,” Aleia told me, her voice uncharacteristically blunt. “You will help the world, it is true, but capturing these beings so intent on destruction and demoralization is not your final calling. There are other battles that you will face, Hamilton—battles of the heart and inside the human soul.”
She nodded toward me. “Even in your own heart.”
I had a feeling Aleia was warning me that the battles I wanted to run away from were going to be mere warm-ups for the ones I wanted to run toward.
I didn’t really know what to say to that.
Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to worry about a response.
Time’s power resumed, and I felt my body and my inner self struggle to slide back into its same rhythm.
“Ow,” I muttered, making sure my knees didn’t buckle and my balance wasn’t lost. “That’s going to get old.” I brightened a moment later. “Good thing St. Brendan will be here the next time Alora’s power stalls.”
“Where did you hear that?” Elysian asked, shaking his own scaly skin at the bristling effect of Time’s power.
“Grandpa Odd told me,” I said.
“And you believe him?”
“He’s Raiya’s mentor, in addition to being her grandfather. I guess he would know some things like that.”
Elysian snorted, and we must have looked like we were going to prepare for another one of our arguments because Aleia stepped between us.
“Let’s hope that it is true,” she said, “since there’s no way to know if he will come sooner. And if we leave when Time is stopped, we might be able to get to Alora so I can fix the time stream for us, so no one will miss us while we’re gone.”
“That would be an advantage,” I said. I still had to take my detention for vanishing from school in the middle day from before, and I didn’t really want to earn any more.
“Aw … ” Stefano moaned loudly as his eyes blinked open. His hands grappled for something to latch onto as he began to shake. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“Mayor Mills?” I asked tentatively.
His hand found my arm. “You! You’re one of those superheroes,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Help me, help me. One of the monsters. She was … attacking me … didn’t realize it was … I need you to help me, please … ”
I glowered at him. “If I help you, will you stop blackmailing Cecil?”
Stefano’s eyes went wide. “How do you know about that?” he sputtered, before getting angry and “correcting” himself. “I mean, that’s a terrible thing to say, young man, especially when you don’t have proof … ”
I sighed. “I suppose we have to help him anyway,” I said to Aleia, who nodded.
“I’m afraid so,” she agreed.
“I want my lawyer,” Stefano said. He grabbed his chest with his arm, a pained expression on his face.
Classic heart attack signs, I thought grimly.
“You need a hospital,” I corrected. “You’re shaking and you’re having chest pains. You need to go to a doctor.”
“I confess nothing,” he insisted.
I was strongly tempted to slap him before I turned to Elysian. “Elysian, can you fly with him on your back?”
Elysian made a face, but he moved to help Aleia and me as we lifted him up. Aleia held onto him from behind, while I promised to fly beside them and steady him.
It wasn’t long before we dropped him off at the hospital, but it felt like forever before I retrieved a screaming Adam from Mary and Grandpa Odd, found my way to my room, and flopped down on my bed to find sleep.
*☼*
It had been a long time since I had dreams of another realm.
I suspected it had to do with the fact that I was more willing to accept my destiny, to believe that what was happening with my life was a good thing, and to act on it when circumstances demanded.
But even though it had been some time since the last time my mind was transported to another world, I immediately recognized the instant mix of fear and frustration that encapsulated me.
So, where am I going now? Maybe back to Raiya’s star
so I can watch it supernova again? Or am I off to see Orpheus, or Asteropy, or the new leader of the Sinisters?
I was, in all fairness, used to getting the worst and used to disappointment, even at the best.
So I was surprised to see glimpses of the world beyond this one—the beauty and majesty of the heavens, the seas of space-time; it was the cosmic home of the Stars. The place had passed me by as I rode with St. Brendan on the Meallán.
I looked down to see my superhero self; I had transformed and I was flying through the realm beyond Time.
From the shining beauty of the Field of Lights, the quiet burning of bright Stars, the Reborns, to the compelling complexity of the unliving, the scars of the supernovas, and the pervasive design of the fabric of time—all of it rang with astounding clarity in my dream.
I would have liked to believe that nothing was so beautiful as the sight of Starry Knight as she sailed on in the starlight. But I knew I would be lying.
Elysian once said that he found the ride to Alora’s Star depressing, because he knew that in all the goodness of his surroundings he failed to live up to that standard.
It was clear as day to me, as I looked on Starry Knight, that he probably had a point.
Raiya, even in her transformed outfit, with her determined focus, looked tired and worn. The light in her eyes, the vibrancy of springtime violets, seemed dulled and dim against the sparkling gems in the surrounding atmosphere.
I still wanted to be with her.
Maybe I am with her, I thought. This could be a nice dream, couldn’t it? Not everything that happened in my dreams happened in real life.
A disquieting sensation shot through me. I recognized where we were.
Raiya set her boots down on the ground at one of the bases of Aleia’s star. She seemed nervous, almost; I watched in amusement as she squared her shoulders and folded her wings back. She didn’t seem to see me as I stepped down behind her.
I looked up at the tree, the one that grew from the center, with the roots wrapped around the River of Life, with its creepy water, red on sight, but red and clear when picked up. There were crystals running through it, full of memory bubbles.
I wonder where St. Brendan is? I glanced around, looking for any sign of the Meallán or any possible cosmic surfers out on the horizons beyond me.
Turning back, I was surprised to see Raiya was already disappearing into the heart of the Aleia’s star.
“Hey!” I called. “Wait for me.”
I hurried up to her.
Everything was the same as before; the waterfall running from the tree, and all around, like a strange, wooden heart of sorts. I could even see the same rocks as before, with Folly and Foolishness, the two unliving, cursed to remain sealed by Aleia’s blood.
They were muttering to themselves as I walked by, making comments as they watched, along with me, as Starry Knight made her way to the nearby stream.
“It’s about time. I was beginning to wonder.” Folly chuckled.
“It doesn’t matter,” Foolishness replied. “We’re still trapped here.”
“Not for long. Once the Star of Memory is taken care of, we will be free, as Draco promised.”
I stopped. “What did you say?” I asked.
Neither of them seemed to notice I was there.
“What’re you planning?” I asked, swiping at them. My hand went right through.
I glanced down at my hands and saw they were transparent, like a ghost; was that what I was? Could they see me?
Could Raiya even see me?
“Raiya!” I called.
I turned back to see her—with a handful of water.
“No!” I stomped forward. “Stop!”
She didn’t seem to hear me.
Elysian and Aleia had warned me about drinking from the River of Life without permission. It would grant immortal life, but it was a cursed life—immortality Raiya might have wanted, since her whole point in coming here was to regain her standing as a Star.
“Stop, Raiya!” I called again.
This time she stilled. “Almeisan?” Her eyes went wide as she turned around and finally saw me.
“Yes, it’s me,” I said, stepping forward. My feet disappeared into the river as I stepped out to meet her, even though I felt nothing of the water.
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re here?”
“Yes,” I said, exasperated. “And good thing, too. You were about to condemn yourself. Please don’t scare me like that.”
“What are you talking about?” Raiya asked. “I was told that if I drank some of the water from the River of Life, I would get a new wish.”
“Did Alora tell you that?” I shook my head. “Elysian told me that if you drink this water, you’ll get immortal life, but you’ll be damned.”
“I … I was told this is the only way to get what I want,” she said carefully. “A way to live forever without being damned by Adonaias.”
“Well, that’s true, in some ways,” I said. “But this way, you’re just damning yourself, rather than owning up to your choices.”
She just gaped at me, her eyes fearful and confused.
“Please, come out of the water.” I reached out to take hold of her arm. Shock struck me a second later. I couldn’t touch her.
“How do I know you’re real?” she asked, suddenly suspicious. “And that this isn’t some kind of trick?”
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to distrust me? After all the times you’ve withheld information from me?”
“Prove to me it’s you.”
“Well, I know that your Star name is Astraiya,” I said, listing off some of the things I knew about her. I had to stop her from drinking the bloody water at all costs. “You make the best mocha in town, Rachel is your best friend, and you promised your ornery grandfather that you wouldn’t tell me that he’s from the Celestial Kingdom, too.”
“What? I never told you that.”
“Well, that’s part of the point. You didn’t tell me, but he did, after Time’s power stopped and stalled time on Earth,” I told her. “I caught him at a strange moment, I guess you could say.”
“Time’s power stopped?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No. That seems pretty serious.” Raiya thought about it. “You could still be an illusion, designed to test me.”
“Trust has always been a terrible test for you,” I snapped. “Especially when it comes to trusting me.” I threw up my hands, frustrated. “Ugh, I can’t believe I missed you! You’re so irritating sometimes.”
But even as I said it, I knew I was lying. My eyes fell to her lips, even as I felt nothing but annoyed by her perpetual doubt.
I was about to rant some more when she smiled and laughed.
“Okay, I know it’s you,” Raiya said, still laughing. She reached out for me this time; I felt a sinking feeling of disappointment as her body passed through mine. “I wonder why I can’t feel you?”
“I’m dreaming,” I told her. “I’m lucky that I can talk with you. I’ve never had dreams where I was physically present with others before, like this.”
“I guess you’re not actually here,” Raiya conceded. “But I’m glad we can talk. I’ve missed you, too.”
“You must’ve missed me, clearly,” I said, gesturing toward the river. “You’ve forgotten all I’ve taught you about semantics and political language, by the looks of it, and you were almost lost because of it.”
“You can’t blame me for being somewhat careless,” Raiya said. “I’m trying to save myself here.”
“And that right there just goes to show you just how careless you were,” I replied. “You can’t save yourself. You know it, I know it, even Elysian knew it! He knew that he was fallen the moment he took this water to Draco.”
“Draco?”
“His brother,” I said with a shrug. “He doesn’t like to talk about what happened.”
“I thought Draco was unable to do much because he was captured,” Raiya s
aid. “Isn’t he the one around Alora’s star?”
“Well, that’s his skin,” I said. “Elysian told me he’s actually on Earth now, somewhere. He thinks that Draco is the one who took over leading the Sinisters after I fried Orpheus, because he knows how to escape detection from Alora.”
A stricken expression suddenly came over Raiya’s face. “I see.”
“What?” I asked. “What is it? Tell me.”
“He might be right,” Raiya said, as her face fell into her hands. She slumped over onto the ground and fell onto her knees.
I reached for her again, still unable to touch her. Helplessness overtook me. How could I comfort her if I couldn’t even touch her?
“Tell me,” I said. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know for sure,” Raiya admitted. Her voice was still sad. “And I don’t want to be betrayed.”
“I’m not trying to betray you,” I insisted.
“I didn’t mean you,” she promised. “I’ll need proof.”
“Can I help you at all?” I asked. “We—Aleia, Elysian, and me—are all waiting on St. Brendan right now. We lost contact with Alora a while ago.”
“Aleia can’t communicate with her?”
“Her time crystal ball thing was … well, it dissolved,” I said, still not entirely sure what had happened. “Can you tell me what happened when you arrived at Alora’s?”
“Orpheus and I arrived, and I gave Alora the Sinisters.”
“Did you give her the meteorite, too?” I asked.
“What?” She frowned. “No. We don’t have it. Isn’t it back at Lakeview?”
“It was stolen,” I told her. “Logan was quite upset about it.”
Despite her shock, she gave me a half-hearted smile. “He would be,” she said. “Do they know who did it?”
“No.” I looked down at my palms. “I thought maybe you took it, actually.”
“Why would I take the meteorite?” She wrinkled her nose in disdain. “I don’t need the reminder of my failure before my fall. I knew I had to protect it, in case other … ”
I nodded as realization dawned in her eyes. “In case other demons or monsters wanted to try to use it to hurt others,” I finished.