The twins bring along a bottle of Coy from a Seller in the area. I eat the hot dog but pass up the Coy, since I don’t like the taste. The team is taken with Bailey. She is as engaging as she is energetic. Rio whispers to me that Rage isn’t radiating hate or anger; and while he’s not blissful, he does not altogether hate being called ‘Uncle Ray.’
Finally, Bailey falls asleep. Rage places her onto the small cot in the corner. He lies her down and she curls up into the fetal position. It’s one of the few times we have seen her without her shield up. She wakes up briefly and talks to Rage for over ten minutes.
“What did she say?” Marcus asks.
“The mouse asked questions,” Rage replies, shaking his head.
“Questions about what?” Miku asks.
“Everything. Where did the sky come from? Why is an elephant grey? Can you race a butterfly? How do they make candy? Where is ‘Dora the Explorer’s house? Can we go? Why not?” Rage recalls.
“I need someone’s jacket,” Rage says bashfully.
“Why?” Ameana asks handing him hers.
Rage mumbles something that we can’t make out. Then he folds the jacket into a square, goes over to where Bailey is sleeping and places it beside her.
“What did you need with the jacket?” She asks again.
“I needed to make a bed for the stupid rabbit, okay?” He snaps.
“You made a bed for her stuffed doll?” Ameana asks.
“I kind of promised her,” he says, avoiding eye contact.
Ameana simply says okay. But we can see that she is battling the urge to go “aww” and embrace him. Meanwhile, we are trying not to make jokes; Ameana glares at us as a warning. I look around and, surprisingly enough, everyone is in pretty good spirits, considering.
Later, I ask Ameana if Rage could place a fire ball inside the stove so I could heat up some water. Ameana, not my biggest fan, is reluctant to do anything for me. But she reconsiders and has Rage place a small fire ball under the stove that would other wise been useless.
As the pot of water boils, I thank The Twins for getting me peppermint tea a few hours before. I remember the last time I had peppermint tea; it was in the Sage’s home. Back when I thought he was on our side.
It’s amazing how wrong we were.
At the meeting, the team came up with a plan. Instead of going to the Demons, they will have the Demons come to us. Once they are in our area, we will use Miku to take out the first wave.
Marcus contacts Winter and gets her to spread the info about our location to Sage. She tells us they should be here any minute.
When the Demons reach our location, they are baffled that the team isn’t out and ready to fight. The only one awaiting them is a small framed female angel. The Demons are so cocky; I can feel their smugness from where I am in the cabin. There are hundreds of them, with more coming every minute, to get the Lyris and the only thing that stands in their way is one girl.
It’s only when the Demons get close do they see the red tips of her wings and realizes it’s Miku.
That’s when they start to panic. They shout out to the others to retreat because she’s going to sing. But it’s too late. We all put in our ear plugs as Miku begins her serenade.
As she sings, she makes the Demons carve into their skin as if it’s a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s raining Demon blood and Miku is having the time of her life. She takes off and follows the Demons that are far enough away for the song to try and escape. She cuts them off and sings until the black blood flows like a spring. It’s demon carnage; beautiful.
Marcus texts Miku and signals to her that she can go help Wolf at the camp. Once she takes off, the Demons that remain swoop down on the cabin. They are met by the Guardians, who proceed to attack them without hesitation.
I nervously look on from the window of the cabin. Meanwhile, Rage complains about not being able to take off. I remind him about what will happen if Bailey is unhappy.
“How do you know my leaving will make her cry?” He asks.
“Move away from her, two feet,” I tell him.
He does so and Bailey’s eyes begin to fill with tears.
“Dam—darn it,” he says, correcting himself midsentence.
The sight of Rage trying to not to curse is beyond funny. He shakes his head and looks over at Bailey.
“You’re gonna have to learn to be without me. I’m not a babysitter. I’m an Akon,” he says to her firmly.
“I Akon,” she repeats equally firm.
She wants so much to be like him that she has taken the same no nonsense stance Rage does. He shakes his head in disbelief. She shakes her head, too.
“Come on, we need to hide you,” The First Akon says as the battle outside rages on.
“Hide and seek?” Bailey asks.
“Yeah, something like that.”
While he takes her into the backroom to hide her, I peek out the window and instantly wish I hadn’t. A Demon grabs Ameana by the hair, whirls her around and flings her into the side of the mountain. Ameana crashes and slides down and is about to hit the ground.
Thankfully, Jay appears in time to catch her. I’m glad Rage didn’t see it; he would have taken off at top speeds to kill the Demon. Then Bailey would cry and it would just get worse from there.
But there’s no need for Rage to worry, because Ameana soon takes off like a rocket and finds the Demon who threw her. She calls for his eyes to come to her. I had never seen her do that before.
The Demon’s eyes pop out of their sockets and float on over to Ameana.
She shakes them in her hands like they are a set of dice. She hurls them down on to the ground below. The newly blinded Demon is livid. But all the fury in the world doesn’t help him to find Ameana. When he gets close to her location, she dropkicks him and sends him flying to his death below.
Meanwhile, a few yards over, Marcus is at the center of a circle of determined Demons, being beaten to death.
“Jay!” I shout desperately.
However, Jay is busy with a mob of Demons all his own. I look back at Marcus and curse myself for not having wings.
“Ameana, help him!” I shout at the top of my lungs.
It turns out my panic is unnecessary. One by one, the Demons are thrown out of the circle with broken bodies. The First Guardian doesn’t need any help. The circle of Demons is no match for his brute strength. He rams through them, punching, kicking and reflecting back their fears. He is a marvel in the air.
I’m so busy admiring how skilled my fiancée is, I don’t notice the Believers until Rage pulls on my shirt. He signals for me to look toward the side of the mountain and, dear Omnis, I’m sorry I did.
There is an endless stream of Believers climbing up along side the mountain. It’s as if they are an army of ants and we’re the picnic food. As soon as they land at the top, they launch power balls our way. We duck; the power balls go over our heads and land at the other side of the cabin. The walls begin to collapse.
Rage and I run to go get Bailey. He had placed her under the bed where she had gotten comfortable, playing with Boo-Boo. When Rage pulls her out, she takes his hand and invites him to play tea party with her.
Rage says he will play later. He then lets go of her hand, knowing it will make her raise her shield. She does exactly that. Now that she is protected, he tells me to take her out back and keep her calm. Although Bailey trusts no-one but Rage, she does know us well enough now that we can get her to follow us. I take her to the opening of a nearby cave we scouted earlier.
Bailey, upset about being separated from Rage, begins to cry. I start to sing her favorite song.
She quiets down and the ground beneath us stops shaking. I have never been so happy to sing about a spider.
I take a peek out of the cave at the battle in the sky and on the ground. Bailey peeks out too. She sees Rage fighting numerous Believers with multiple fire balls. Excited, Bailey jumps up and down shouting, “Go, Ray, go!”
As impress
ive as Rage’s skills are, there are far too many Believers for him to take on alone. He is quickly losing the upper hand. I turn to Bailey and ask her a vital question.
“Can you promise to stay here for me?”
“Okay,” she says.
Something in her voice tells me she’s not sure she can stick to her promise.
“Bailey, if you stay here, Ray will give you candy,” I vow.
“Ray give candy?”
“Yes.”
“Can I have two candy?” She asks, as she sticks out two of her little fingers at me, her eyes wide in anticipation.
“Three candy,” I promise.
“Three? Yes!” She says, hardly able to stand still.
“Remember, you have to stay here, okay?”
She says yes now with a renewed resolve. She turns to Boo-Boo and fills him in on the plan.
“Boo-Boo stay, okay?” She says authoritatively to the rabbit. They ‘both’ look back at me with certainty. Staying in the cave is now their only mission in life.
By the time I run out to help Rage, he’s being mobbed by a bunch of Believers who have him pinned to the ground. One of them is a woman; she stands over Rage, sucking the life out of him, literally. I look around anxiously for something to attack the Believers with.
Seriously, Emmy, how many times do you have to be in a battle to remember to carry a weaponwith you? I mean, really, this is like mission number five hundred and ten; you still walk aroundwith nothing in your hands. Argh!
I shake my head, irritated with myself. Would it have killed me to remember to put a switch blade in my back pocket or something?
Then I have a thought and dash back inside what’s left of the cabin. I grab the nearest rag, wrap it around my hands, and pick up the scalding pot of water. I run out and throw the pot of water at the life sucking Believer.
She doesn’t melt like the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, but she does scream her head off as parts of her skin slide off her body like tender meat sliding off the bone. Shocked, she places her hand on her face to see how much of it is still left; very little.
Rage uses the distraction I’ve provided him to summon up a fire ball and roast the other Believers who had held him down. That is the good part. The bad part is I now have a Believer, who looks like a walking open wound, determined to kill me.
Her left eye drips down the side of her face. She looks like a living, breathing nuclear accident. I can actually see the bones protruding where there once was flesh. It’s then I realize that Rage’s fire balls aren’t just hot, they’re supernaturally so.
The Believer’s anger far surpasses her pain. She should have been on the ground writhing in agony but her hatred of me keeps her standing. She raises what’s left of her palm and starts to pull the life out of me.
It feels like I’m being sucked up inside a giant back hole. The more of me it takes in the less useful my body is. Only a few seconds under her power and my legs give out. I fall down to my knees. Then my arms, face muscles and fingers go numb.
There’s a coldness invading my body. She’s only a few seconds away from rendering me completely without sensation. I try to fight back but her pull is too strong.
Just when I’m about to black out, I feel the life slowly draining back into my body. I look and Rio is blocking her with his shield. She swears at him and doubles her efforts. But Rage launches another fire ball and ends her in one swift motion.
Rio helps me to my feet. I thank him and run back to check on Bailey. Before I can get to the cave, I see Winter pop up on a Port. At the same time, a Demon, who we had thought was dead, uses his last breath to launch a power ball at her.
Rio spots the Demon at the same time as I do. Knowing that his shield will not work so long as he is that close to Winter, I shout at him not to block the attack. But Rio doesn’t hesitate; he leaps out in front of her.
The power ball hits him right in his chest. Rio collapses on to the ground. The Demon who attacked him grins and dies on the spot. I run over to Rio. Winter, gets there first. The power ball has torn his chest wide open.
The blood rushes out of him quickly. His face is drained of color and his wings lie eerily still.
Winter takes off her jacket and tries to stop the bleeding. Within seconds, the jacket is soaked with the Guardian’s blood.
“I’m so sorry,” Winter says over and over again as she bursts into tears.
Rio shakes his head as if to tell her there’s no reason to be sorry.
“Your sister can heal you right?” She asks desperately.
“I already texted her; she’s on her way,” Ameana vows.
Rio looks at us with sad eyes.
“She won’t make it,” he whispers.
“Yes, she will,” Marcus replies as he steps closer to examine Rio.
“I’m sorry about Virginia. Virginia is who I never wanted to be,” Rio replies.
I think that Rio may be delirious but Marcus seems to understand what he’s saying.
“You can make it up to me later,” Marcus replies.
“Forgive me?” Rio asks.
“No, that’s something for someone who’s about to die and you’re not,” Marcus promises him.
“Forgive me,” he repeats.
“Don’t think about that now,” Marcus tells him.
“Yo, you know you can’t die so just stop being dramatic. You’re gonna be fine,” Jay adds.
“She’s gonna need you,” he says to Jay.
Jay knows Rio is referring to Miku. He can’t bring himself to look at his friend, so he turns away. We all look at each other in silent panic. I call Miku. There’s no answer. I’m sure she’s too busy trying to get here to pick up.
“Stop acting like this is the end. You’ve been healed a million times. Miku is on her way. You’ve hardly broken any bones,” Ameana replies.
“Liar,” he says.
“Rio, please stop talking like it’s the end,” I beg him.
“Marcus, forgive me,” he asks again.
“No,” Marcus replies stubbornly, knowing that forgiving Rio would be like telling him its okay for him to die.
“Please.”
Marcus looks his friend over. The pool of blood is ubiquitous. We’re all soaked in it. Marcus looks at me, pained. He silently asks me what he should do. I look at Rio’s now completely colorless face and then nod to Marcus with tear stained cheeks.
“Yes, I forgive you,” he says sorrowfully.
Rio smiles a little. Then he looks towards Winter. She takes his hand and kisses it.
“I can read you without my powers now. I know what you’re feeling. And no, I don’t,” he whispers.
“Don’t what?” She asks.
“Regret my actions.”
She cries hard and his hand on heart.
“Rio, don’t go,” I plead.
“Miku is here! I see her. She’s only a few yards out! Hang on!”Ameana says filled with relief.
We look up at Ameana with regret. She looks down on the ground and sees that Rio is no longer smiling; the boy who never got to really live dies with his eyes open.
“How could I survive a power ball attack but Rio die from it?” I ask.
“Power balls are only as powerful as the person throwing them; Demons are stronger than Quo” Marcus replies.
Miku arrives mere seconds later. She flies down, pushes past us and takes her brother in her arms. She calls out her brother’s name but he does not respond. She touches him in hopes of being able to heal him. It does not work. She looks down at Rio and begs him to wake up. The grief in her voice causes everyone that can cry to weep openly.
When Miku looks up at us, it’s not what we expect. Miku isn’t sad or grieving. She’s enraged.
Her voice is filled with wrath and fury. Her eyes have turned into black pools of soullessness.
She speaks with the all the venom of Lucy herself.
“WHO LET HIM DIE?” She screams.
We look at each other in a tot
al state of alarm.
Oh no…
“Winter, get out of here,” Marcus says orders, never taking his eyes off of Miku.
Winter disappears on the Port just as Miku’s wings start to change color. She takes to the air and screeches down at us with rage unlike any we’ve encountered.
“WHO LET HIM DIE???” She demands.
The blood soaked wings, the soulless eyes, the words dripping with malice and the promise of violence, this means only one thing: Redd has returned…
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR:
LETTING GO
Redd looms in the air, looking down at us. Her hair flies furiously behind her. Her blood-colored wings have expanded to nearly twice the size of Miku’s. Her nails have grown to the length of claws. I look in her face and find darkness swirling where her eyes once were.
“Pretty, you have to fight it. You can’t Turn on us now,” Marcus orders her.
“Miku, don’t do this,” I beg.
Jay and Ameana call out to her as well, but she does not respond. She simply looks down at us and awaits an answer.
“Rio died, it’s no one’s fault,” Ameana says, trying to reason with her.
“We need to go up and get her,” Jay pleads to Marcus.
“I don’t want to make any sudden movements and make her go on the attack,” he replies.
“That’s great, Guardian, but how are we going to stop them from moving?” Rage says signaling to the hoard of Demons headed our way. There are so many we can no longer make out the sky. It’s just waves and waves of Demons.
“Redd, no one is at fault, please, we need Miku back,” Jay shouts.
The Demons get closer and closer to us. Miku does not pay attention to the multitude of evil about to surround her. One Demon, eager to attack, hurls a power ball at her from half a mile away. The power ball sinks into Redd’s skin without causing the slightest damage.
Up until that moment, Redd isn’t sure what she wants to do. But when the power ball hits her, it helps her set a goal—death to everyone.
Calmly, Redd turns to face the slew of Demons coming for her.