“You two are doing pretty good, considering.”
“Yeah, considering I’m his mistress.”
“It’s different for you, Emmy. You know Marcus loves you. Jay doesn’t…I mean he’s not…you know.”
“Maybe he is, but he’s not ready to say it out loud,” I offer.
“No, Rio would have picked up on something. My brother can be a little blinded when it comes to me, but if Jay were in love with me, he’d know. No, it’s clear; Jay doesn’t want me. So help me, how do I stop wanting him?”
I reach over and embrace her tightly. I’ve never seen Miku lacking in confidence. I know how she feels. The first few months Marcus and I met, all I did was try not to love him. And well, we all know how that worked out.
“Look, when we get back from this mission, we’ll have a ‘Love Lost Bonfire,” I inform her.
“What is that?”
“It’s where we hang out, eat ice cream and burn something of Jay’s.’”
“Oh, I like that!”
“We can set his favorite car, Siren, on fire!” I joke.
“Yes!” Miku replies joyfully.
She knows I’m joking, but for a moment, it helps pull her out of her misery. The moment passes quickly. Miku’s face is back to being sorrowful.
“What is it?” I ask.
“We’re looking for a power that may not exist and the Goumy are ripping this planet apart as we speak. All kidding aside, Emmy, we might not make it back…”
Miku and I head out to the waiting room to meet up with the team. On our way, we pass a group of shocked doctors. I can understand their reaction. A few hours ago I was in a coma, on the edge of death, and now, not only am I awake, but my hair has come back and has a new shine to it.
I wonder if I can use the mixture as a shampoo. Seriously, my hair has never looked sohealthy…
When Ameana sees Miku coming towards her she mutters under her breath.
“Did you ladies have enough girl time?” She asks resentfully.
“It was nothing, Mimi, we just talked,” Miku replies.
“We used to talk. Now, it’s all business.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Yes, Miku, it is. Ever since Thomas and I got together you’ve been pulling away from me. If you don’t want to be friends anymore, just say so.”
“I do want to be friends, but I don’t know how to be friends with a Demon’s girlfriend,” Miku snaps.
Damn, I was hoping they wouldn’t head down the ‘Demon boyfriend’ path in their argument,now things are about to get messy.
“Guys, we need to stay quiet. It’s a hospital,” Rio reminds them, trying to stop the situation before it gets worse.
“So that’s all I am now, some Demon’s girlfriend?” Ameana asks Miku, ignoring Rio completely.
“Well…yeah.”
“How can you say that, Pretty?” Ameana wonders.
“Just because Rage was able to get into your pants doesn’t mean he can get into our hearts.”
“You’re not even giving him a chance!” Ameana snaps, frustrated.
“A chance to do what? Kill more Pawns?”
“He saved Marcus when we were in Tess,” she reminds Miku.
“Yes, but only hours before he killed a human,” she counters.
“He was a Pawn!” Ameana objects.
“So what? He has a soul and your boyfriend killed him.”
“Why are you being like this?”
“I want you to wake up. You can’t date Rage. He has no heart. Literally!” Miku shouts.
“You can’t tell me who I should and shouldn’t date.”
“I’m looking out for you.”
“Maybe it’s time you started looking out for yourself; because falling for Jay is a bad idea.”
“What’s wrong with Jay?” Miku replies, offended.
Jay and the rest of the guys are wise enough to remain silent.
“Nothing. He’ll make a great boyfriend when - and if - he ever grows up!”
“I would rather date a guy who has a playful side than a guy who sets people on fire.”
“He is trying to change,” Ameana roars.
“I’m sure that’s of great comfort to the Pawn’s family,” Miku mocks.
“Marcus fell for the human and put all of us in danger. You were fine with that. But now, I’m with the guy who saved my life and that’s a problem?”
“I never said it was okay for Marcus and Emmy to get together. Marcus did what he wanted,” Miku tells her.
“And I’m doing what I want,” Ameana challenges.
“You’re letting your heart make a fool out of you.”
“Me? You’re in love with a guy who commits more to cars than he does girlfriends. He’s a bad gamble and you know it.”
“It doesn’t matter what happens with me and Jay because in the end, I’m pretty sure he won’t set me on fire!”
“Of course not; he won’t stick around long enough to light the match.” Someone interrupts the argument by clearing their throat. We all look towards the direction the sounds came from and find Julian standing a few feet away.
“I hate to interrupt this think tank here, but I need to speak to my daughter—alone,” Julian says.
“Now isn’t a good time. We’re about to leave,” I reply.
“So, the end is here and I can’t get three minutes with my only child?”
“The Plate isn’t here yet, Em. You have a few minutes,” Marcus replies.
I shrug, place my hands in my pockets and follow Julian down the hallway.
“Are you alright?” He asks.
“Yes, the mixture worked, as you can see.”
“I just wanted to make sure.”
“Um…thanks,” I reply.
I have no idea what to say to him. I’ve spent years hating him and now we’re supposed to bond or something. I don’t know. Sometimes, I want to get along with him, but that gets hard because he’s always trying to split me and Marcus up.
Like we need any more help in that area.
“How did you get hurt in the first place?” He asks.
“You know, mission stuff,” I reply avoiding his eyes.
“What happened?” He pushes.
“I got hit by a power ball,” I say, trying to some nonchalant about it. As if getting hit by a giant ball of energy was an everyday occurrence.
“Marcus let you on the battlefield?” Julian rages.
“No, it was an accident.”
“That’s crazy, Emmy. You could have died!”
“Yes, but I didn’t, so can we move on?”
“Move on? Your boyfriend allowed the Goumy to get out. There is no moving on. There’s just the end. And since it’s here, I want to spend the final hours with my family.”
“Julian, it’s not the end. We’ll figure something out. That’s what we’re working on right now.”
“The team has an idea?”
“No, I do. But I’m not sure it will work.”
“Wow, you’re so much like her,” he says, studying my face.
“Who?”
“Your mom. Like you, she just didn’t know how to give up.” Anytime anyone brings my mom up in conversation I feel a pool of ice form in the bottom of my stomach. It brings with it a dull ache that never goes away. Then, I almost always end up crying because I miss her so much.
I don’t want to cry in front of Julian, or anyone else for that matter. I start to walk away but he calls out after me.
“I just want to get to know you before it all ends,” he pleads.
“It’s not going to end. We won’t let it,” I assure him.
“I love you,” he says softly.
It turns out the one in tears isn’t me; it’s Julian.
“I know I should have been there and I wasn’t. But please, know I love you more than my life.” The tears fall down his face, he looks down at the floor and heads to the elevator.
Damn, what am I supposed to say?
/> “Julian!” I call out.
He looks up as he walks into the elevator.
“When this is over, maybe we can…talk and stuff.”
‘Talk and stuff?’ Lame, Emmy.
But it made him smile, a little. And given the events of the past few hours, a little smile is all we can hope for.
When I walk back to the waiting room, the team is silent. The tension between Miku and Ameana is heavy in the air. But it pales compared to the wave of hatred bouncing back and forth between Rage and Miku. Jay is trying not to look at Miku and Rio is standing as far away as he can from Jay.
“If we survive this, you guys really need some kind of team spirit building or something,” I whisper to Marcus.
He sighs heavily and shakes his head.
“How’d it go with your father?” He asks.
“He cried and I feel like crap.”
“It’s gonna take time.”
“You mean the one thing we don’t have?”
He smiles sadly and pulls me close to him. Mercifully, the shadow servant arrives and brings a Plate for Marcus. It’s a flat, round, coin-like object that gathers and forms a message. Marcus holds it in the palm of his hand and tells us to get ready; we’re headed for La Rinconada, a small city on the out skirts of Peru. Once there, we will find the oldest Original Para, Raphael.
Whatever tension was built back in the hospital waiting room, takes a back seat to the sight of the colossal destruction going on down below. People are screaming and running for their lives, while trying to protect their loved ones. We had to stop five times to rescue people trapped in collapsed buildings, fires or drowning in the flash floods.
Finally, after we help a family of four whose car had been trapped in a sink hole, Marcus makes the difficult decision not to stop anymore for anyone.
“So, we’re not gonna help these people?” Rio asks.
“We can’t keep stopping. We have to get to Raphael,” Marcus reasons.
“So, we just fly over them like it’s nothing?”
“You can stay here and save a few dozen people or you can go with us to save billions. Up to you,” Marcus says, clearly losing patience.
Marcus, no longer waiting on Rio, takes off into the sky with me. The rest of the team follows. For a moment, I fear Rio isn’t coming with us. But a few minutes later, he takes to the sky.
Things have never been this bleak before. There’s the devastation below, the tension with the team and now the sky itself seems to be against us. We are flying in the midst of severe lightning and thunder. The dark clouds are spitting at us in the form of massive hail. The wind seems to be actively fighting us. More than once the team has had to dive and loop around to avoid being hit or swallowed up by unnaturally high twisters.
From the corner of my eye, I see Jay, in full panic mode.
I look over to see what has him so terrified. His wings are disappearing and then reappearing in rapid succession. I turn to Marcus and point to Jay and by that time, Jay’s wings are no longer blinking in and out. They have disappeared altogether. Jay is plummeting at top speed towards certain death.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:
THE LYRIS
Marcus can’t make it to Jay in time with me in his arms. He signals to the rest of the team and they dive after Jay. However, Jay is falling too fast for them to catch up. Ameana attempts to redirect Jay’s body, but just as she motions to her hand, lightning crackles in the sky and hits Jay in the chest.
Before the lightning hit him, Jay was flailing his arms and legs furiously. He looked like a bird caught in a wind tunnel. But now he looks more like a paper bag in the wind. He is at the mercy of the elements.
Ameana tries to redirect Jay again, this time she’s successful and sends him towards the hillside of the town below. Unfortunately, when Jay hits the side of the hill, he’s picked up by one of a dozen cyclones in the area. The wrathful wind whips him around like fruit in a blender. When it finally drops him, Jay is motionless on the ground at an unnatural angle. I’m sure he’s broken a few bones, or worse…
When we land, we race to Jay’s side. His face is twisted in pain. His wings are gone and his eyes are closed.
Please, don’t let him die, Omnis…
“Rio,” Marcus calls out.
Rio reads Jay’s waves at least two or three times. Marcus pushes for him to tell us what he sees. “He’s not dead, but he will be soon if we don’t get him help. His wave is fading,” Rio continues.
Miku lets out a gasp as if someone has punched her in her chest; hard. She kneels beside Jay and takes his hand. The worry etched on her face makes me want to console her. Rio studies his sister carefully. He’s taken off guard by how deeply Jay’s condition affects her. Marcus looks around the small town in the valley below us and makes a decision.
“According to the information on the Plate, Raphael’s home should be on top of the mountains, just a few miles from here. He might be able to help Jay.” Ameana uses her power to suspend Jay’s body into the air. She controls him as we take off into the sky once more. I look over at Miku and give her an encouraging sign. It’s hard to do when Jay is seems all but dead.
We arrive at a modest house etched near the top of the mountain. It looks like it has no more than two rooms and is nearly falling apart.
“Raphael is the oldest and most powerful Original Para. It’s said that he’s the most powerful Angel in the universe. He’s the closest thing to Omnis on Earth. We need to be careful how we address him,” Marcus warns us.
“So, should we bow or something?” I ask nervously.
“No, but we do have to show respect and be gracious,” he replies.
“I don’t care if he’s Omnis himself; can we go in already? Jay’s fading,” Miku says marching up to the house.
We exchange worried looks and follow Miku to the house of the almighty Raphael. Much to our surprise, the door is unlocked. Miku slowly pushes it open.
Raphael’s home looks more like the inside closet of a gadget junkie than the home of a mighty Angel. All around the room there are video games, gadgets and, well, just about anything Apple ever created. It’s nerd heaven.
At the center of the room sits an Original Para, illuminating brighter than any I have seen before.
He sits with his back to us, his wings flapping gracefully in the air. He faces a huge flat screen plasma TV. I turn to Marcus to see if maybe I missed something.
“Um…is the most powerful Para in the universe playing Grand Theft Auto?” I ask.
“No, he’s playing Grand Theft Auto 5, ” the Para says, not bothering to turn towards us.
We exchange a look of utter confusion.
“Are you Raphael?” Marcus asks.
“Damn it, where’d that cop come from?!” He screams at the TV.
“Look, are you Raphael or not?” Rio asks.
“I am.”
“We need your help,” Ameana replies.
“Are we sure it’s him and not his dorky teenaged son?” Rage says.
Marcus glares at him for being rude. Rage shrugs his shoulders. Miku shakes her head signaling she’s had enough.
“Hey, ‘Big Bang Theory,’ our friend is dying, so get off your ass and help him!” She demands.
“I’m starting to like your friend,” Rage mumbles to Ameana.
Raphael puts down his remote and hovers above us. He begins to glow even brighter in the air. He studies Miku closely with a stern expression.
“Are you Redd?” he asks.
“Not yet, but keep pushing,” she warns.
From the look on his face, I’m pretty certain he’s going to strike her down or do something equally awful. Rio must feel the same because he steps in front of Miku so that he can block whatever is coming. What comes is something none of us expected.
“Oh my Omnis, you’re Redd; you’re, like, my idol!!!” Raphael says.
Raphael grabs Miku’s hands as if he’s meeting a rock star and has dreamed of this moment for years. He
rushes to the table in the corner where comic books are piled high. He hands her a dozen of them and begs her to sign it.
“They make Redd comic books?” I ask.
“Apparently,” Rage replies.
“It’s rare, but yes. Ever since you turned, you’ve been the rage of collectors like me. And now, I have you right here. Man, the guys aren’t gonna believe this,” Raphael gushes.
“What guys?” Miku asks.
“The ones on Redd’s chat room!”
“You guys are celebrating someone who killed humans?” Miku asked, disgusted.
“No, it’s more than that. You’re the anti-hero. You didn’t want to do what you did but The Council pushed you too far,” he says, sounding animated and over the top.
“Okay, whatever, can you help our friend please?” She asks.
“Oh yes, sorry, sorry. Para duties come first, unfortunately. What’s wrong with him?” He asks.
“We were flying and suddenly his wings began to disappear.” Raphael lifts Jay’s body high in the air and effortlessly turns him three hundred and sixty degrees in the air as he studies him.
For several minutes, we hold our breath as Raphael examines Jay in the air. A series of small power balls emanate from the Para’s fingers. The mini power balls enter Jay’s eyes, nose and mouth. They whiz in and out of him. When they are done, they return to the palm of Raphael's hand. He studies the mini power ball with interest. He then turns his attention back to us.
“So, which one of you is this Guardian he’s in love with?”
We all stare at him blankly. He shows us the power balls that have now turned bluish gray.
“These are Seekers. They look for foreign objects in Angels. And based on the tint of blue, your friend has ingested a fair amount of Gentum.”
“What is that?” I ask.
“It’s a neat little mixture that makes you think you are no longer in love with the person you’re in love with. The only problem is that it’s a lie. And sooner or later, you need more Gentum to keep from feeling. And the more you take, the more it affects your body.”
“Is he okay?” I ask.
“No, but he’ll be fine soon,” the Para replies.