“Ameana’s right,” Miku says.
“There is no way to skip the second stage. It’s the most important. We need to know why Marcus began down this road. It’s the only way we can help him back.”
“How long will it take?” the Mood Ring asks.
“As soon as your team tells me what the Break was, I can have my friend make the Replay. We will then get it in front of Marcus.”
Help Marcus get in touch with his feelings? What the hell is this? Oprah?
I should kill the Healer for making me sit through this crap.
Why can’t they just give up on the Tic already?
The team gathered and they all agreed that the Break was when the Sage blew up nearly every living Angel. So the Healer had his friend make the Replay. The apple-size glass globe depicted the night the Sage blew everything up.
They showed it to Marcus and it had no effect whatsoever.
So much for the Oprah “Aha” moment.
The team tried again to think of a reason that Marcus went completely nuts. They thought maybe the Break was when Marcus broke down the door and found that the Sage had betrayed them.
The made the Replay to reenact that moment. They showed it to Marcus and again, it had no effect.
“This is crazy, we’re not getting anywhere,” Jay says.
“What if Marcus’s Break had nothing to do with the attack?” Rio asks.
“You mean something else derailed Marcus this badly?” Miku asks her brother.
“Yes. I remember reading his wave a few months ago. It was around the time we were all set to leave earth. His waves were insane with pain.”
“This is before the Quo attack?” Ameana asks.
“Yes,” the Mood Ring confirms.
He then goes over to the Healer and speaks so only he will hear. Then the Healer smiles in agreement and goes off to make yet another Replay.
The Mood Ring wouldn’t tell them what he thought the Break was. He said they would know soon enough if he was right or not. In the meantime, Emmy would not leave Marcus’s side.
Since he was no longer violent, they allowed her to stay with him.
Now the Tic cries out in fear and terror every few minutes. It’s like someone is burning him alive. The Healer told the team that his body is damaging itself in hopes of stopping the pain that comes from no longer getting the CP.
Marcus screams and moans for hours on end. The human cries right alongside him.
See what I mean? She’s crazy. Why the hell is she crying? She’s not the one in pain. I meanreally, shut up.
She talks to him as if he can make out what she is saying. She tells him how much he means to her and how she will never give up on him. She even tries to joke with him by reminding him of all the times they argued when he first got to earth. She goes so far as to mention something about her cat.
Who the hell snaps out of an addiction to go see a cat?
Late at night when the ex-First Guardian is hoarse from screaming in pain, he moans softly as his body shakes. He reminds me of a wounded dog by the side of the road. It would be much more humane to run it over and put it out of its misery.
Something I would love to help them do…
One night, the Tic goes completely silent. The human fears he may be dead. She takes his head in her hands and yells at him.
“Marcus Cane, you die and I swear to Omnis, I’ll kill you!” she vows.
He remains silent.
“Marcus, don’t you die; you don’t get to leave me again.” She breathes heavily and shakes the crap out of him.
“Don’t die. Don’t die. Please. Please…” she sobs wildly and places his head on her chest. She sits there for several minutes and repeats this phrase over and over again.
“I know you’re in there. I know you’re in there.” Finally the Tic groans softly.
She’s so relieved, she bursts out crying again.
Man, this chick must be dehydrated.
Just then the Healer appears on a Port and hands them the new Replay. He places it in front of Marcus and the team. Suddenly a scene from their past is being played out inside the glass globe.
“Hi guys,” Emmy says. Her voice is soft and slightly hoarse.
Everyone greets her except Ameana. Emmy turns her attention towards Marcus.
“I was gonna check on you but I thought you needed space,” he says.
“No need to check up on me,” Emmy replies.
“Yeah I know, I just…I’m glad you’re okay. Look if you want to talk…”
“I don’t need to talk. I just needed to stop off and give you this.”She hands Marcus a glass casing with red liquid inside it.
“You’re giving me my Rah back?” he asks.
“Yes. You’ll need it for…”
“Wait. You don’t have to give it back to me right now.”
“Yeah, I do…”
She extends her hand once again. He takes it from her. She heads out the door.
“Emmy…” he calls.
She stops but doesn’t turn around. I can tell by the way he flinches slightly that her last words tohim seem to cut him deeply.
“Goodbye, Marcus.”
When the Tic gets to the end of the Replay, he moans like someone stabbed him in the gut with a dozen blades.
Emmy looks on in horror and utter disbelief.
“Oh no, he turned to CP after I gave him his Rah back. That’s the Break. That means it’s my fault Marcus is a Tic…”
CHAPTER SEVEN:
SEEKING THE IMPOSSIBLE
For the first time in weeks the human steps away from the Tic. She looks lost and consumed with guilt. I don’t get it but I think Miku does. She goes over to her and tells her it’s time she got some air. Emmy reluctantly follows Miku to the roof. I can follow their conversation but since the Mind Tracker is linked to my thoughts about Ameana and Ameana remains downstairs, the signal is weak. The picture goes blurry at times.
When the two step out onto the roof, the human is shocked to see just how high up they are. She looks around the brightly lit skyline and marvels at the skyscrapers.
“Where are we?” she asks Miku.
“Our location changes very often. But for the time being, we’re in the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai.”
Emmy makes the mistake of looking down from the tower. She gasps and quickly holds on to Miku.
“How high up are we?” she asks.
“Let’s just say whatever falls off this tower is gone for good.”
“It’s at least seventy stories,” the human guesses.
“Closer to ninety.”
Emmy exhales deeply.
“Are you okay?” Miku asks.
“Yeah. It’s not the height of the tower, although I will never look down again.”
“It’s about Marcus and the Break?”
“It’s all because of me that this is happening,” Emmy tells her on the verge of tears.
“No, it’s not,” Miku says firmly.
“How can you say that? You saw the Replay. When I gave him his Rah back, it broke him.”
“Marcus is not a child. He made his own decisions. You didn’t drag him to get CP. You didn’t force feed it to him and you certainly didn’t tell him to become addicted.”
“If I didn’t give him his Rah back—”
“—You saw him kissing another girl Emmy, what were you supposed to do? Give him a big hug and kiss? You did what any self-respecting girl would do. You sent his cheating behind packing.”
“Yeah and look what’s happened.”
“Emmy, I would have done the same thing you did. I would have given him his Rah back. Then I would break a few of his bones, but that’s just me.”
“Okay, you’re right,” she says mostly trying to convince herself. She takes a deep breath and Miku hugs her.
“Marcus is going to be okay, right?” Miku asks.
I’m thrown, and judging from the look on the human’s face, she is too. Miku doesn’t strike me
as a soft kind of girl. She’s strong. She was Redd for crying out loud. Why is she looking so vulnerable and weak now?
“Pretty, Marcus is going to make it,” Emmy promises.
“How are you so sure?”
“If he doesn’t make it, I’ll kill him,” she jokes. They both burst out laughing but it’s a joyless laugh; the kind of laughter that is meant to replace sadness but fails.
Chicks: so emotional.
“Hey, Em, can I ask you something?” Miku says.
“Sure.”
“What do you think of Jay?”
“What do you mean? He’s Jay. Hot, fun, flirtatious…Jay.”
“Yeah,” she says bashfully as she turns away. Emmy studies her, and then her jaw drops.
“You have a thing for Jay?” she asks.
“Shhh! No! I mean…I don’t know.”
“Okay…”
Emmy patiently waits for Miku to get her thoughts together.
“Okay, well…we used to make out and stuff.”
“When was this?”
“In the light, before we came to earth.”
“Wow, was it serious?”
“No, it was…fun. But then we decided to stop because we were about to start the mission and neither of us wanted to be distracted.”
“And now?”
“Now…since Isabelle died, he’s had some rough moments. And I was there for him. You know, like a friend. Then one night we were out looking for Marcus, and we started talking…”
“And?”
“And talking led to comforting and comforting led to kissing. Then kissing led to--”
“--Led to what?” she says hardly able to contain herself.
“You can guess what kissing led to Emmy,” Miku says rolling her eyes.
“Wow, you guys would have cute Guardian babies.”
“Emmy!”
“Oh sorry.”
“Anyway, it wasn’t like it was before.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jay has always been one of my closest friends. But when we were together that night, I started wanting him to be…more.”
“Would it be so wrong if you guys gave it a shot?”
“First off, you know Jay isn’t really a ‘one Angel’ kind of guy.”
“I think Isabelle changed that.”
“And then there’s Isabelle.”
“Miku, she’s gone.”
“But not from his heart. He really fell for her. That doesn’t go away just because she died. In fact, he may love her now more than he ever did before.”
“Yeah, that can really suck.”
“But the biggest problem is Rio.”
“Why? Rio loves Jay.”
“Yes, he does. He loves that Jay is a fun, car-lover, Angel chaser. But the very reasons he loves Jay are the reasons he would never be okay with me dating him.”
“How have you been able to hide your wave from him?”
“No guy wants to read his sister’s purple “horny” wave.”
“That’s true. But now that you have feelings for Jay, can’t he read that?”
“Since I turned into Redd, it’s been harder for him to read my subtle emotions.”
“Did you ask him how he felt about you?” Emmy asks her.
No wonder these fools can’t save the world; they’re too busy starring in the Angel version of “The Young & the Restless.”
“No. What if that night was just a way for him to push Isabelle out of his mind?” Miku replies.
“What if he’s kissing you because he likes you?” the human pushes.
“Our friendship is so important to me. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“I get that…”
“Should I just wait for these feelings to go away?”
“You are asking the wrong girl,” Emmy says smiling a little.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Why didn’t you talk to Ameana about this?”
“She has her own dating issues.”
“Something going on with her and Wolf?”
“There is no Wolf. She broke up with him to go out with her new guy, Rage.” Emmy is about to say something about me that I’m sure will make me want to kill her more than I normally do. So I wisely leave her with the stupid shocked expression on her face and turn the Mind Tracker to face a different angle.
The Tracker takes me back to the rest of the Guardians still in the living room. But this time, they have company.
What the hell is he doing back?
“Ameana, I need to see you. Now,” the hippie says.
She is baffled by his entrance and his tone. He doesn’t sound like the laid back, calm idiot he normally does. Ameana ponders his request for a second and then takes him to her room.
Really? She’s just gonna let him order her around like that? If it was me, she’d send me flying tothe other side of the damn world.
“Wolf, I’m sorry but we don’t have time—”
“—Make time.”
She is about to counter but then thinks better of it.
“Okay, what is it?” she asks forcing herself to stay calm.
“Really? You have no idea what this conversation is about?”
“I know I hurt you. I’m sorry. I really am, but we can’t get into this right now.”
“I didn’t come to tell you that you hurt me because I think you know that already.”
“Okay then, what is it?”
“I came to tell you that I get it.”
“Get what?”
“You and Rage.”
Huh?
“What about him?” she asks the hippie.
“I get that you see something in him.”
“I do.”
“And it doesn’t matter if it’s really there or not. The point is you can see it. And that’s why you’re attracted to it. It’s light in a very dark soul.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she says, shifting her weight. She isn’t comfortable digging into her feelings.
Wolf doesn’t let that stop him.
“I want you to know that I meditated on it and I get that you feel you love him.”
“Thank you.”
“I also want you to know something else--I don’t give a damn what you feel for Rage. I love you and I am not giving up on us.”
ARGH! This hippie has got to be freaking kidding me!
I set the rest of my motel on fire and head out. There are a bunch of humans running around screaming for their lives. I wish they would all just shut the hell up. If I wanted to burn them, I would have set them on fire personally.
Instead, I torched just the one lousy floor. And I didn’t even block the fire exits.
Man, I’m getting soft.
As soon as I hit the street, I pull out my cell and text her. I was going to call but I was afraid I would go off on her. And knowing her, she’d go off on me and then we’d be fighting. But by texting her, I can control how I react.
“Have not seen U N weeks” I text.
“Been crazy. Will come by soon”
“When?”
“Soon”
“Soon is not a date”
“is that ur way of say’n U miss me?”
“That’s my way of say’n it been weeks”
“Work stuff. Tlk soon”
“Stop say’n that”
“Best I can do”
“What R U do’n right now?”
“Tlking 2 a friend. Gotta go”
“Who is the friend?”
“Thomas, don’t B that guy”
“What guy?”
“ ‘acts like a mom’ guy”
“I can’t ask who U R w/?”
“U can. But I gave U an ans. so take it”
“Even if U R lying?”
“Im not”
“It’s been weeks...”
“I miss u 2”
I read her last text and decide not to reply. There’s nothing left to say. I guess she’s okay with the fact that we have bee
n apart all this time.
And in the time we’ve been apart, she’s spent it with both of her exes. I mean what is a guysupposed to think? And why didn’t she say that she was talking to the hippie?
I don’t even remember going to Hun’s Market. All I know is a few hours later, that’s where I ended up. I walk into the vast warehouse that happens to be in New York City this week. The market is filled with Sellers, demons and of course, Cravens.
Cravens are thought to be demons without powers. That’s so not the case. They are actually hard as hell to fight because Cravens are Neutralizers. When they are around they take away other demon’s powers. They are also Pleasure Seekers. They know exactly what each person in the market desires.
Bastards.
Before I can even say a word, the Craven sends me over to table ten. I walk past a slew of Sellers with tables containing dark mixtures and evil contraptions. Once at table ten, I find a female Seller with a mole on her left check and too much make up.
“The Craven sent me,” I tell her.
“I guess she thinks I have what you need. My name is May.”
“Yeah, I don’t really care. What are you selling?”
She looks down at her table filled with mixtures and smiles at me.
“Many of my mixtures cause removal of feelings. That is to say, if you use it on someone, they will forget they ever loved anyone but you. Is there someone you wish to do this to?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She hands me a small blue-black-colored vial.
“Does it have any side effects?” I ask.
“The victim may lose his or her powers.”
“What?”
“What does she need her powers for? You look like a strong demon. In fact, you kind of look like Rage,” she says slyly.
I glare at her as if I can see deep inside her worthless soul. I know that even with the Sage’s promise to protect me, any demon would gladly take me out if it meant they would get the chance to brag about having taken out the First Akon.
“You thinking about alerting the Market?” I ask with a chill in my voice.
She shakes her head “No.”
“You’re much smarter than you look. I like that.”
“You can have the mixture, free of charge,” she says, trying to stop the shaking in her voice.
“No, I don’t want to mess with her powers.”