“So, where is he?” Marcus asks.
She reaches inside her chest and comes out with a flat coin-like clear glass.
“The info is in this Plate. It will only appear for you, Sweets,” she says to him.
“Thank you.”
We all turn to go. She calls after us.
“That’s it? You guys are leaving? No, stay and play awhile. I have new toys.”
“We need to get going,” Ameana says.
“Okay, but just one dance. Please?” she says.
“Okay, then, who do you wanna dance with?” Marcus asks.
“Well I would say you but that situation looks…complicated.”
“Trust,” Jay adds.
“I’m game, Arden,” Rio says, leading Arden to the dance floor.
“Sweet,” she says, taking his hand.
“I could use a dance,” Miku says as she follows them.
We all file out the way we came. Once we are out of the room, the music overpowers us again.
We make it out to the crowded dance floor where the number of people seems to have grown. The music bounces off the walls as does the lights.
A slow song comes on. It’s the kind that requires very un-angel like movement of your hips.
Rio and Arden have no problem doing just that. Jay has found a girl with which to dance. Actually, he has found three.
There’s a handsome guy with gold dreadlocks holding Miku from behind as she moves her hips to the beat.
Marcus stands in front of me. The body heat from the other dancer’s bodies engulfs us.
“You wanna dance?”
I can’t believe I said that, but what the hell, right?
“I would Em, but we really have to go,” he says with regret in his eyes.
“Okay.” Disappointed, I turn and make my way towards the door.
Then, a few steps later, I turn to see if we are all still together. And there, entwined in the middle of the dance floor, is Ameana and my boyfriend.
They move in sync like waves in the ocean; like heat from an undying flame.
They move like…like…a couple.
***************************************
CHAPTER TEN: MONSTERS
The ride back home is quiet. Marcus tells us the location of the Witness but I’m not paying attention. I’m just looking out the window. It looks like we’re in for yet another gray April day.
The clouds hover above us, as Scarlett goes tearing down the road. Normally, I scold Jay for driving so fast, but right now, the faster the better. I just want to go home.
Once we arrive, Marcus walks me to the door and runs down the team’s next move.
“We can’t just go pick up the Witness. Both Akons and The Hun will be waiting for us. We’ll think of something in the next few hours.
Once we have a plan, we can go get him. That’ll also give you a chance to go to school. I know you think it’s stupid to still care about that stuff. But I don’t want you to fail sophomore year because of us.”
“Are you still in love with Ameana?”
“What?”
“Don’t make me repeat it.”
“No.”
“Then why did you dance with her and not me?”
“Arden pushed us together. I said ‘no’ but she’s not familiar with that term. I think she just gets a kick out of two Guardians together.”
“No, I think you do.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means make up your damn mind. Do you want me or do you want her? I just need you to make a decision because I can’t take it anymore.”
“If I love her, than why am I with you?”
“You’re with me? How am I supposed to know that?”
“I’m sorry if I don’t have time to buy flowers or take you to the movies. But in case you’ve forgotten, we’re a little busy trying to save the world.”
“Forgotten? I watched my friend’s insides get spilled onto the ground. I was tortured. No, I haven’t forgotten.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“The problem is, I’m putting all the world in danger, including my family, for a guy who doesn’t tell me anything.”
“You didn’t tell me you were having nightmares.”
“What? How did you know about that? Did Rio—”
“—No, it wasn’t him. I watch you sometimes.”
“When?”
“When you’re asleep.”
“You use a ‘No-see’ Snap and take a Port to my room?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you that? The Twins are already watching me. Why can’t I get a moment to myself?”
“I know it’s—”
“—Wrong, Marcus. It’s wrong to spy on me like that. What do you think I’m doing at night? Working for the other side?”
“No.”
“Do you think the Akons will somehow get past The Twins and Jay?”
“No.”
“Then why Marcus?”
“Because I want to see as much of you as I can before…”
“Before what?”
“Worst-case scenario, the world ends. Then I will never see you again. Best-case scenario, we save the world, I go back to the Bridge and never see you again. Either way, I lose you. That’s why I stopped trying to fight my feelings for you.”
“Marcus…”
“I’d rather have a little of you than nothing. Besides most of the time we’re being hunted or fired at. Having your life threatened all the time makes you stress out. But when you’re asleep, you look peaceful. I like the way peace looks on you.”
On one hand, I could just kill him for spying. But on the other hand, I didn’t even think of what it would mean if we did save the world. He’s right. Either way, we lose.
“If you want me to stop looking in on you, I will,” he says quietly.
“You don’t have to; I guess.”
“It’s been kind of fun.”
“You’re such a pervert.”
“I always wait until I know you’re tucked in and under the covers,” he vows.
“So you say.”
“No, really. The fun part is trying to figure out how long it will take you walk in your sleep.”
“What? I don’t do that.”
“Yeah, you do. But only around your room. The first time you did it, it freaked me out. I thought Chaos had somehow gotten a hold of you and was controlling your mind.”
“How do you know he wasn’t?”
“Rio didn’t see his wave, and I’m sure Chaos wouldn’t use his powers just to make you clean up your room.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Yeah, you do. You line and reline all your books. Then you sit at the windowsill and look out into the sky.”
“You find that fun?”
“Yeah, until the nightmares came; then you stopped sleepwalking. It’s like even in your dreams, you were too afraid to leave the bed.”
“It always feels so real.”
“I hated watching you lay there like that. I’ve come close to waking you but I didn’t want to. I kept thinking you’d tell me what you’ve been dreaming about but you never did.”
“They scare me.”
“Yeah, I know. You should have told me. Not because I’m the leader but because you’re my girl and I want to help.”
“There’s no way you can help. No one can make them go away.”
“Maybe if you talked about it.”
“Maybe…”
“Hey, are you sleepy at all?”
“No.”
“Good, let’s go.”
Moments later, we are up in the air headed for the Green Mountains in Vermont. It’s his favorite place to think. It is a long, beautiful, wide ridge of peaks than span for miles.
“Can we get something to eat? I’m starving.”
“Man, I keep forgetting to feed you.”
“A human girl’s gotta eat.”
“You got it.”
&n
bsp; We stop off at a 7-11, where I get a turkey and Swiss sandwich, hot apple spice tea and a piece of double chocolate cake.
When we land on the mountain, Marcus sits alongside me. We look out onto the mountain range that stretches out before us.
“It looks like it goes on forever,” I say to him.
“I love this place. I’ve been everywhere on this Earth but I always come back here. After the Council came down, I was here a lot”
“Have you made a decision yet?”
“About which one of my teammates will die? No.”
“Maybe there’s a way around it.”
“The Council won’t settle for anything less after what Rio did.”
“Jay thinks it’s going to be him. Is he right?”
“Don’t change the subject. We came here so you could tell me about your dream.”
I take a long sip of tea. And tell him about the red claw and Sara chasing me.
“It wasn’t your fault. You have to start believing that, Em.”
“Tell that to my subconscious. It seems to have a mind of its own.”
“The Pawn would have killed her regardless.”
“I know, but it’s hard to see her fall to the ground every night. And every night, I fail to save her. Do you know what I mean?”
“All too well. When you lost Sara and went into that depression, I felt like I had lost you. You wouldn’t talk. You wouldn’t get out of bed. It was like you were dead. And I know that had I gotten there sooner, it would have never happened. You’ve become the most important thing in my life. That scares me.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t protect you from the evil we’re about to encounter. I can try to keep you safe, but in the process, you will witness things that will make your nightmare about Sara seem childish. I’m sorry. Am I scaring you?”
“It’s okay. I need to hear this.”
“Yeah, but not now, all you need to do is eat,” he says, trying to keep the growing concern from his voice.
“You want some?” I ask.
“No thanks.”
“I know food is a Collector and that once you eat, you’ll literally get pulled into the memory of the last time you had that food. But would that be so bad? You don’t have any good chocolate cake memories you can leap into?”
“I’ve never had food as an Angel because I don’t wish to go back to my life as a human.”
“Why?”
“Eat, Emmy. It’s been hours since you had anything at all. Also, these mountains can make you dizzy if you’re not at full-strength.”
I would like to push the subject further, but just then my stomach growls.
I devour the sandwich, then the tea. But I take my time with the cake.
I dip my fingers into the frosting, swirl it around and hold it up to his lips.
“Do you want me to disappear that badly?”
“No, I just want to share this with you.”
I’ve never been too good at flirting, but suddenly I’m getting the hang of it. Maybe it’s the fresh mountain air. Maybe it’s the chocolate. Either way, I actually get Marcus to suck the frosting off my finger.
Then he disappears. I wonder at what point in his human life he flashes back to. It will be sometime when he had chocolate frosting. I hope it’s a fun memory that he’s pulled into, maybe his birthday party.
It’s been only about three minutes or so, but it feels longer. Just when I start to panic at the thought of being stuck on this mountain, he reappears.
“Was is a good memory?”
“Yeah,” he says, unable to look me in the eye.
“You got pulled into a bad memory, didn’t you? I shouldn’t have made you taste it. You hate Collectors. I’m sorry.”
“No big deal. It’s not like it’s as bad as the Twins’ memories. Emmy, no one on earth should ever have to face that kind of death. It was so vicious and so…bloody. No wonder they can’t eat anything.”
“Have they ever tried drinking just water? Surely water can’t hold bad memories.”
“They Spread, which means everything, including water, takes them back to their grisly deaths.”
“Honestly, Marcus, how bad was it?”
“Their deaths made the paper in four continents.”
“Wow, that sucks.”
“Yeah, mine isn’t half as bad.”
“Will you tell me about it, please?”
I take his hand.
“I was never really pissed-off that I died. What got to me was that I died because of how someone else lived.”
Before he continues, he looks out onto the mountain range. His voice is pained and soft. In his mind, he had left me on the mountain and was travelling back in time. Back when he was human and the world wasn’t his problem.
“I died because of a man I had never met; his name was Andy Wavermen. Andy’s wife was having an affair. But Andy was blissfully blind to his wife’s activities until he came home early one day and found her in bed with his brother.”
“Andy raged at his wife and her lover. He threw things at them and threatened to kill them both. They tried to explain but Andy was beyond reason. He chased them out of the house with a knife. They got in the car and drove off.”
“Andy threw some more things around. A little while later, he found that he was done with rage. He now needed to feel nothing. So he drank. A lot. Then he decided to get in his car, shotgun in hand, and head to his brother’s house.”
“Andy was so drunk everything on the road became a stream of slow-moving lights and flashes. He saw the red light in front of him but by the time he got his foot to push on the brake, it was too late. Andy had plowed into a white car with a woman and her son.”
“My mom and I were in the car coming back from the grocery store. I turned my head and saw a car coming at us full-force. Then wham, just like that, we were hit. It was like watching a movie on a very shaky camera. Then everything went black.”
“When I woke up, I was in the hospital and my Mom was in surgery. She had broken legs, ribs and back. Me, I was fine. It was unbelievable. There wasn’t a scratch on me. Yeah, I felt sore for weeks but other than that, I was fine.”
“My dad and I spent over a year visiting my Mom. It became a way of life. He’d go to work and I would go school. Then we’d meet up at the hospital. It’s funny how things can change. Our life before the accident was so…normal.”
“I lived in Aspen, Colorado with my parents. I had a disgustingly normal life. We had money but we weren’t the richest people in our neighborhood. My mom stayed at home and my dad owned his own architectural firm. They were planning on having more kids but they got used to it being just the three of us and decided to leave it that way.”
“I went to a good school, hung out with friends, and played way too many video games. When my friends and I wanted to get wild, we’d ‘paper homes, make prank calls, and set off fire alarms at school. That was our definition of wild.”
“Then it all changed. Instead of hanging out, I became a regular at the hospital. I thought she was going to be there forever. My dad tried to be strong but I could tell it was weighing on him. He kept telling me everything was going to be fine. That’s when you know adults are lying; when they say everything is going to be fine. That means a kid should panic.”
“But after nearly six months, my mom was well enough to come home. She’d healed well enough but her back hurt all the time. The pills she was taking for the pain weren’t working. After a few weeks of taking them, they became ineffective. She went to the doctor and he gave her stronger meds but soon they too stopped working. She couldn’t function.”
“I would hear her moaning every day. It was torture. Then I’d look at myself in the mirror and hate that I didn’t have a scratch on me. I wished I had suffered some injury too, so that my mom wouldn’t be going through this alone.”
“Then a friend of hers, Jill, came by to see her one day. She suggested my mom see her doctor. My mom declined b
ecause everyone knew that Jill was addicted to prescription drugs and that her doctor was her supplier.”
“But then my mom’s doctors wouldn’t prescribe any more pain pills. So, after two days in agony, my mom went to see Jill’s doctor. He gave her meds that made her better. I wanted to nominate him for sainthood.”
“But then a few months later, they too stopped working. She went back to him. He sent me out of the room and talked to her alone. Then ours lives changed again.”
“I found her in the bathroom shooting up heroin two weeks later. I was so shocked the only thing I could do was stand there. Then she cried. She begged me not to tell my dad. She said that she was only going to do it once to get rid of the pain. I said okay, because I couldn’t stand the thought that I was getting in the way of the relief she so desperately needed.”
“But she didn’t stop. She got deeper and deeper into it. Soon she was shooting up all the time. I told her that I was going to tell my father but by then she no longer cared. Looking back, my dad knew, he just didn’t want to face it. So he spent all his time at work. He would put in ten-hour days so that he wouldn’t have to face what was happening.”
“Then the time came when we could no longer ignore it. My mom didn’t eat anymore. She didn’t talk to us anymore. All she did was give into the delirium in her head, a paradise of her own making. And when it began to fade away, she’d get high to get it back again.”
“They call it ‘chasing the dragon.’ The user just keeps trying to get back the euphoria of that first high. I read as much as I could on drug use. Like reading about it would somehow make it easier for me to accept. Or at the very least, help me understand, so that I could, in turn, help her.”
“But my dad and I couldn’t do it alone. We took her to rehab. She stayed for three hours then snuck out. She begged and pleaded but we made her go back. She stayed for three months. When we pulled up to the rehab center to pick her up, she looked so beautiful. She had gained some weight. Her cheeks had filled in. There was light in her eyes that we hadn’t seen in over a year and a half. I had my Mom back. I was so…happy. ”
“It was like some monster had taken my mother and there was nothing I could do to get her back. But then somehow, we had fought the monster and won. We got her back. She would be okay. That meant that we all would be okay as well. It was over. The nightmare was finally over.”