Guardians: The Triplex (The Guardians Series, Book 4)

  “You were closed for days. You lost a lot of business,” Isabelle observes.

  “Oh well,” he says.

  The team exchanges a glance and decides to help Tony out. The Twins buy mixtures and Holders they don’t really need. Ameana buys Samson string, Jay and Isabelle look for something to purchase as well. Emmy takes my hand and we quietly sneak out of the shop and into the alley.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” I ask her again.

  “I think I need to sleep for a year but yeah, I’m fine.”

  “We survived it.”

  She bursts into tears so suddenly, it startles me.

  “Emmy, what is it?”

  “Nothing. I’m just so happy we made it. For a second there, I wasn’t so sure.”

  “So these are tears of happiness?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good, but I’m still not a fan of seeing you in tears. Happy or not.”

  “Sorry.”

  She wipes her face and holds on to me tightly.

  She asks me what caused her to end up on the side of the cliff. I fill her in on the flower and its effect. She scolds herself for doing something so reckless.

  “It’s okay, you were just trying to find something good in the middle of all the darkness that surrounded us. I can’t blame you for that,” I tell her.

  “Still, I’m done smelling flowers.”

  “Who did you see in your hallucination?”

  “Reese.”

  “Oh, but you looked sad. I would have thought seeing Reese again would have made you happy.”

  “Yeah, it did. But he started telling me stuff…”

  “What stuff?” I ask.

  “He told me how he kind of liked me.”

  “So Reese saw you as the girl that got away.”

  “I guess.”

  “What about you, is he the guy that got away from you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  I mean would the two of you be together now if he hadn’t died?

  “Never mind,” I say out loud.

  “Marcus, what is it?” she asks.

  “How often is Reese on your mind?”

  “We were friends.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “I think about him once in awhile.”

  “He kissed you.”

  “That was a long time ago. Anyway, he’s gone now.”

  “I don’t want to be the guy you settle for.”

  “Seriously Marcus? I was the one who made the first move. Do you remember that? Do you remember your ex smashing my head against the wall because I asked you out?”

  “Maybe you and Reese were…closer than you and I are,” I reply, looking away from her.

  She repositions herself so that she is right in front of me and there is no way to avoid eye contact with her. She places her hand on either side of my face.

  “Marcus, you and I can’t get any closer. You live in the spaces between my breath, my heartbeat and my thoughts.”

  “Are you sure no part of you wanted Reese?”

  “I’m your girl. Nothing, nothing will change that. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  “Good, now shut up and kiss me.”

  I do as I’m told. Jay and Isabelle exit the shop and find us kissing. Jay clears his throat, loudly.

  “Can we save the girl’s life before you make out with her?” he asks.

  “I think it’s romantic,” Isabelle replies.

  “Please, Marcus’s romance game is weak compared to mine,” Jay insists.

  “Oh, really?” she challenges.

  “Yeah, if you behave, I’ll show you what I mean.”

  “Are you asking me out again?” she says.

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m gonna need a solid yes or no.”

  I like this girl…

  Looking at Emmy, she too approves of Isabelle’s hard stand with Jay.

  “Okay, fine. I’m asking you. There. Happy?”

  “Yeah, you’re a real romantic, Jay,” Emmy mocks.

  He ignores her and addresses Isabelle.

  “So…what do you say?” he pushes.

  “Yes, I will go out with you.”

  “Yeah boy, I knew I was in there!” he shouts, as he takes her into his arms and lifts her up high in the air. Isabelle is completely caught off guard.

  “Okay, but you have to meet my family. We’re very close. And they have to like you,” she tells him.

  “Then you have to meet Siren, my car. And you best believe she has to approve of you,” Jay counters.

  “Again, Jay it’s not right to base your feelings on a car,” Emmy says, shaking her head.

  “Well, it depends on the car. Is it a V6 or V8?” she asks him. Jay doesn’t answer. He’s too taken aback by her question.

  “What’s the difference?” Emmy asks.

  “Simple: The V6 has six cylinders while the V8 has 8 cylinders. But while the V8 is stronger, it uses more far more gas. Now if you’re talking about an SUV, well, that’s different—”

  “You know cars?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s like we’re two halves of a whole baby!” he says to her proudly.

  Jay is officially off the market…

  “C’mon Emmy, let’s go get this Dy cast out of you cuz I got business to handle,” Jay says, looking suggestively at Isabelle.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” a sinister voice replies. We all look up and find Frenzy in the air. He’s surrounded by the three remaining Akons: Mayhem, Chaos, and their leader, Rage.

  The rest of the Guardians appear just as Frenzy shoots his first bolt of lightning. Fearful of what will happen if I leave her on the ground, I grab Emmy and take off into the sky. The Akons furiously follow. Jay tells Isabelle to make a break for it and head home but she refuses to leave.

  We’re now flying above Rockefeller Center where a massive Christmas tree has been erected. The holiday lights give the city a soft, warm glow. But the all the beauty is lost as Akons and Guardians battle for what each side knows could be the very last time.

  Frenzy throws a lightning bolt at Miku. It catches her off guard and she drops from the sky like a broken-winged bird. I place Emmy on the roof of a nearby skyscraper and dive to get Miku. I catch her just as she is about to hit the ground.

  Rage, focused on getting to Emmy, dives down into the skyscraper and blasts her full on with a fireball. I’m too far away to reach her. Rio gets there just in time to use his shield and block Rage’s attack.

  Ameana calls for the windshield wiper from a car below. It comes to her and she uses it as a makeshift knife. She sends it right at Frenzy’s chest. The speed it’s traveling makes it a lethal blow. Unfortunately, Frenzy turns away in time so the blow isn’t fatal, but it does puncture his right eye. Frenzy cries out in agony as he pulls the weapon from his eye socket. He curses, moans, and calls Ameana every name there ever was. Then he takes to the air to kill her.

  Meanwhile, I order Emmy to run but Rage blocks her path down the street. I try to rush over to her, only to have Mayhem’s dagger tear through my right leg. I pull out the blade before the poison has time to set in.

  Unfortunately though, the delay gives Rage a chance to attack Emmy. He leaps out and tackles her. They both fall to the ground.

  “Tonight you die, human,” Rage vows venomously. He pins her down on the floor, grabs her throat, and tries to squeeze the breath out of her. I’m about to take off and help her when Chaos sends a mob of holiday shoppers to slow me down. It works. The humans are pushing and kicking me with whatever they can find.

  Trying to stop them and not hurt any of them makes this a difficult obstacle. Normally with this many humans around, the Akons would never attack, but they are getting desperate. This is the last few days they have to obtain the Triplex.

  Miku manages to yank a few of them off me. Ameana sends some of them flying into the big Christmas tree. If we are any more aggressive, the humans will
be severely hurt.

  Isabelle goes over to Emmy as Rage is about to scoop her eyes out with his bare hands. She grabs a string of Christmas lights from the tree, ties it around Rage’s neck, and is able to yank him off of her. But Rage is far stronger and in seconds he manages to get out from Isabelle’s hold.

  Frenzy, fuming that Emmy has gotten away, blasts Jay with a series of lightning bolts. But Jay is too fast even for the lightning. When he is at a safe distance, Jay turns to Frenzy to gloat. But there is an unexpected look on the Akon’s face. Frenzy is looking down on the ground a few yards from me with a look of pure joy.

  Jay turns to see what Frenzy’s looking at: Isabelle is writhing in pain on the ground. One of the bolts hit her in the abdomen. Jay looks horrified.

  The Twins reassure him that they have Isabelle and they will shield her. Jay looks at Frenzy with renewed hatred. He Glides over to confront him. Ameana goes up to the roof to help Jay.

  “No, Frenzy will die by my hands,” Jay promises. Ameana wisely steps back.

  They two of them tackle each other and trade blows. The entire building shakes every time they collide. Eventually Frenzy gets the better of Jay and continues to pound on him. Not satisfied, Frenzy gets close to a lifeless Jay, stands over him and lifts his arms up to fire the final bolt of lightning.

  “I’m gonna remember this for rest of my life,” Frenzy says with a sneer.

  Jay, having only pretended to be immobile, springs up and Glides behind Frenzy with speed I didn’t know he was capable of. It takes Frenzy a few seconds to register that his victim now has the advantage.

  “You’re a bad boy, Frenzy, time to take your toys away” Jay says sweetly.

  He then grabs both of Frenzy’s hands, pulls his arms backwards, and pops them out of their sockets. The cry coming from Frenzy echoes throughout the city of New York. Jay plants his foot between Frenzy’s shoulder blades and literally rips both arms off. Frenzy dies instantly.

  Meanwhile, Chaos decides not only to send shoppers to attack us, but to mind control them into hurting themselves. We had to pry them away from oncoming traffic and rooftops. He does all of this just to keep us distracted.

  The only way to stop the crowd is to take Chaos out, but I can’t find him anywhere. I call out to the rest of the team and Rio tells me Chaos is half way down the street. Of course he is. That coward wants to keep a safe distance. I take to the air and find the little weasel.

  He doesn’t see me coming. He’s too focused on the anarchy he is causing. I grab him by the throat and hurl him through the wall of a nearby building. He tries to get up. I’m on him before he can get very far.

  I stand over him and reflect his worst fear back to him. He tries to break free of me but I’m much too strong for him. In all his jerky, wild movements, he accidently latches on to the Amulet around my neck. Then I make a mistake: I show him the Amulet matters.

  It was a simple gesture, I inhaled sharply. But while Chaos is a coward, he’s no fool. He knows that for some reason this Amulet is important but he doesn’t know why. He hurls the Amulet across the street.

  I run to retrieve it only to be stopped by Rage who gets to it first. Rage studies it and asks why it’s so important. I don’t answer.

  “See, that’s the problem. You don’t know how to communicate. You can really hurt a relationship. I bet that’s what happened with you and Ameana. Or wait, was it something else? Were you unable to satisfy her Marcus? Is that why you had to go to a human? You weren’t strong enough to handle a real Angel?” Rage says, trying to provoke me.

  “Rage, if you hand it over, I won’t kill you tonight. I promise.”

  “Big words for the guy whose guts I’m gonna make into BBQ.”

  “Rage, I really don’t want to tell you again. Hand over the Amulet.”

  “Why is this so important?”

  “You have until the count of three,” I warn him.

  “Well sure, I can hand it over; if you hand me the girl.”

  “Never gonna happen.”

  “So you would rather have the Amulet? Wow, then I definitely can’t give it back to you.”

  “One.”

  “Let me ask you something. When I carve your girlfriend’s eyes and scrape out the map, what should I do with her remains?”

  “Two.”

  “I got it! I’m gonna make her into confetti. You know, for the New Year’s Eve celebration. What do you think?”

  “Three.”

  “So what, Marcus? What are you gonna—” Before he can finish his sentence, Miku has latched herself on to him and is singing him a sweet melody. The song can’t kill Rage but it can inflict massive amounts of pain. Rage tries to stop himself from peeling his own skin off like all of Miku’s victims do when she sings to them.

  I grab the Amulet just as Rage forms a power ball. I warn Miku just in time; she lets go of him and takes off into the air. I turn as Chaos tries to flee the scene. I launch into the sky and pull him back down to the ground.

  “I wasn’t done with you yet,” I inform the Akon.

  I ram him up against the wall and whisper quietly in his ear.

  “You should never piss off a guy who knows all your fears.”

  Then I reflect his nightmares back to him. The magnitude of his fear causes him to tremble and weep openly. I think about the number of humans that Chaos has killed by taking control of their minds. That thought causes me to redouble my efforts. I am the last thing Chaos sees before his death.

  A block away, I spot Mayhem. His face is contorted in anger. I’m guessing he just learned from Rage that they are the only two Akons remaining. Mayhem looks around for a way to retaliate. Luckily, Emmy is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, there is another being near enough to him that he can exact his revenge on.

  Ameana Jones is about to die. There is no other way this can play out. There are no Guardians close enough to stop Mayhem’s attack. Ameana is too busy helping one of Chaos’s victims. She will not turn in time to see the daggers coming at her.

  Jay and I make eye contact, the blades are already midway to Ameana. The Twins look up and at once they come to the same conclusion I have: No one can stop Mayhem in time. Is it better that she doesn’t see it coming?

  Ameana props the human up against the wall. She then turns and finds her life, once again, at an end. But somehow, someone close to her stands in the way of the knives. Someone used their own body as a shield between him and Ameana’s doom.

  “Rage!” Ameana calls out, shocked, as the wounded Akon hits the ground. We all make our way towards them.

  Mayhem, as confused as the rest of us, charges towards Rage. He doesn’t get far. Rage sends a fireball into Mayhem’s chest. Mayhem dies instantly.

  Ameana goes over to the last surviving Akon. Rage has been stabbed once in the shoulder and twice on his right side.

  He signals for Ameana to come closer. She leans in and he whispers something in her ear. Then he struggles and pulls out a Port from his pocket. The Port unfolds itself. Rage slinks onto it and disappears.

  When we all reach Ameana, the shock had not worn off. She told us what the last remaining Akon whispered in her ear.

  “‘I did it because I love you. That doesn’t mean I’m good, it just means I’m weak.’”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MOST BEAUTIFUL

  After Jay says goodbye to Isabelle, we take off to Adam City. The journey is filled with reflective silence. The sight of an Akon risking his life for an Angel is something that has never taken place in the history of good and evil.

  It weighs heavily on the team’s mind, but the person it has the most effect on is Ameana. She looks distant and perplexed. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling. On one hand, Rage would murder her entire team with no hesitation if he ever got the chance. But on the other hand, the certainty with which he saved her life was nothing short of…Para-worthy selflessness.

  Rage’s actions aren’t the only reason for the thick silence. This is the moment we have all been wa
iting for. If everything goes right, we should be able to save both the world and Emmy. We’re standing on the brink of a long sought-after victory. It’s as if speaking will some how jinx all our efforts. So we fly in silence.

  So much has happened since we first landed on earth, I fear there will be yet another complication. But according to the sisters, all we have to do is hand over the Amulet. Then we get to save both the world and Emmy. It’s like winning the lotto. You know there is always a chance it could happen but when it actually does, you check the numbers a million times.

  We had no problem getting past the Tics. Lakom was standing by with a Port. We got on before they could start chasing us. Once inside the Temple, we’re greeted by the triplets.

  “I trust you were successful,” Chance says confidently.

  “We have it. But you need to cast the Dy out of Emmy first,” I order.

  “No, first you hand over the Amulet,” she insists.

  “That’s not how it works,” Ameana says.

  “Okay, guys, let’s all just calm down. Chance, you have our word. After you help Emmy, we’ll give you the Amulet,” Rio promises.

  “I think that sounds okay,” Charity says to her sisters.

  “Fine,” Choice agrees with great reluctance.

  A long dark table with restraints on the side, appears out of nowhere. They instruct Emmy to lie down. She looks over at me. I signal to her that it’s okay. She goes over to the table and lays across it.

  “What are you going to do to her?” I ask.

  “We’re going to insert this needle in her eye. There’s a mixture inside it that will break the map into hundreds of tiny specks. Then it will collect each speck individually and transfer them from the human’s eye into the tube,” Chance explains.

  The needle she’s using is as thin as an eyelash. Its tip is gold-colored and extends out into a long, thin translucent tube.

  “Is it going to hurt?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “You never said anything about pain,” I protest.

  “We’re trying to remove an item that’s been embedded inside her eyes for years. It’s deep in her cells. How could it not hurt?” Choice says testily.

  “We’re not gonna let you torture her,” Jay says.