by Lola StVil
“If you don’t suck this poison out of her, right now, she’s gonna die!” he says.
“News flash, hotness, she’s human; soon they will all die,” the voice assures him.
“Yeah, I know. But right now, she’s my responsibility,” Kane replies.
“That’s rough. Does she know what happened to the last girl you were responsible for?”
“Frankie, eat,” he orders.
“I’m just saying, maybe you should let this poor girl die. If she’s involved with you in any way, she’s done for.”
“We’re not involved. I’m fulfilling a promise to someone. I just need her alive long enough to get her to the Alliance,” Kane clarifies.
“Well, I can’t eat. I’m not hungry,” she asserts.
“You need to feed on her poison. Now,” he orders.
“You males are all alike! ME! ME! Me! WELL I’VE GOT WANTS AND NEEDS TOO!” she says, somehow managing to shake the very ground I’m lying on. I use what remains of my strength and open my eyes. There’s a short, plump old lady with a hump and three teeth in her mouth standing a few feet away. She has on a gray, worn-out hooded cloak, and her face is full of hairy boils.
Great, with my luck she’ll offer me an apple and I will sleep for a century. But then again, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
I mumble to Kane, and he comes closer. I whisper something to him and he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “That’s not gonna work,” Kane snaps back at me. I glare at him, or at least I try. He sighs, shakes his head, and goes back to the witch.
“Alright, Frankie, the human thinks that there might be something on your mind—is there something you want to talk about?” Kane says impatiently.
“Well…maybe,” she says, shrugging as she turns away from him.
“Okay, what is it?” Kane asks, only seconds away from losing it.
“I’ve been seeing this troll for a while, and things have been getting kind of serious. Last night we got into an argument because he always puts work before me. How many villages can you pillage and plunder before you make time for your girlfriend? We got into this big argument and he…he called me…the ‘H’ word,” she says in a whisper.
“Frankie, what’s the ‘H’ word?” Kane asks.
“Hag…” Frankie says, clearly mortified.
“But you are a Ha—how could he? I’m sorry, Frankie. He had no right to say that,” Kane says, catching himself.
“Exactly! I’ve been cursed by my cruel and jealous older sister. If it weren’t for this curse, I would be…Beyoncé.”
“Beyoncé is not a witch,” Kane corrects her.
“No, she’s had no help from the magical community. It’s all just good genes. And good security; I tried to get a lock of her hair last year…there’s no getting past her bodyguards,” Frankie says, mostly to herself.
“Frankie, you don’t need to do any of that. You are fine the way you are—more than fine. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the troll comes begging for your forgiveness,” I mumble, afraid that we may be too late at this point.
“Really? Do you think so, human? What about you, Kane? Do you think I look good?” she says eagerly as she comes closer.
“NO! YOU’RE A FREAKING HAG! NOW GET OVER HERE AND FEAST ON THE POISON OR I SWEAR I’LL RIP YOUR DAMN TONGUE OUT AND FEED IT TO YOU!” Kane vows angrily. Frankie’s jaw drops, and her eyes widen in shock and dismay. She is clearly affronted. She wraps her cloak around her and disappears.
“No!” Kane yells, reaching out to stop her. It’s pointless; Frankie’s long gone.
“Shit!” Kane spits as he kicks the ground angrily.
“I see you still have a way with women,” someone says behind us. I can’t turn my head. But judging by the look on Kane’s face, it’s not someone he’s happy to see.
“Great, you’re here. Fix her,” he orders.
“It would be so amusing if we lived in a world where you gave me orders,” the female voice says.
“Can you fix her or not?” Kane asks. The figure comes closer and faces me. It’s a tall beautiful woman with blood red lips, sparkling hair as white as a blizzard, and high cheekbones that make her look regal. She’s wearing a fitted white gown bejeweled with crystals and something about her feels familiar—is it her eyes? Yes, I’ve seen those eyes before.
“Sadie?” I mutter.
“Shhh…it’s okay. You’re gonna be just fine,” she says as she kneels down before me and starts to speak in an ancient language. It sounds like a more complicated version of Latin. She places both hands just above my body and moves them in a series of graceful patterns, leaving behind a gray ‘smoke-’like film. She chants even harder until the gray smoke becomes red. She summons the crimson smoke towards her and sucks it up into the palm of her hand. I feel better instantly. Don’t get me wrong—I can’t run a marathon, but I can get up and maybe even walk.
“Go slow, sweetheart. It’s the first time you’ve been poisoned. It can take a lot out of you,” she says as she helps me sit up. I look over at Kane. I think I see relief in his eyes, but it could just as easily be that he’s annoyed.
“Sadie, is it really you?” I ask.
“Yes, it’s me,” she says with a smile. I pull her against me and hug her as tight as I can. I can feel her body tremble against mine; she’s as happy to see me as I am to see her.
“You’re not dead,” I announce as if she doesn’t already know that.
“No, but that body I used in the alley, the body you knew, is gone. I must say, I might actually miss it,” she confesses.
“Sadie, what’s going on?” I ask.
“How did you find us?” Kane says.
“Your watch, the one I gave you for your thirteenth birthday, has a tracker in it,” she says.
“I don’t get any of this. You were dead and now you’re…I was attacked…I was pushed out of a window.”
“Who pushed you?” she asks.
“Well…that’s not important. You’re alive!” I reply as I hug her again.
“Hey look, I hate to get in the way of this touching episode you two are having, but I need to talk to you, alone,” he tells Sadie.
“There’s no point. Atlas is a part of all of this now, and it’s best she be included,” Sadie says.
“Fine, whatever. You asked me to look out for Disney—the human—and I did. Now, I’m taking off,” he says as he starts to walk away.
“No, I asked that you get her to the Alliance. They are waiting for her,” Sadie says.
“When you say ‘they,’ you mean the team?” he asks in deep thought.
“Not ‘the team,’ Kane; your team. The one you disbanded,” she scolds.
“I’m not going back there. You’re here now. You can take her there yourself,” he says.
“I have business in Prague. You will take her there because you gave me your word. Is that clear?”
“I don’t take orders from you. I don’t take order from anyone. So fuck off,” he says, seething as he stomps away. She calmly calls after him.
“I know about “Mood Indigo.” The bar you’ve been trolling every night looking for witches crazy enough to agree to help you cast a forbidden spell,” she says.
“So what, you’re gonna turn me in? Angels aren’t barred from asking that spells be cast. It’s up to the witch to deny my request, and you know what, go ahead, let them come for me. Let them all come for me!” Kane declares.
“That would not be to my advantage, Kane. I know you would do anything to have that spell cast for you. But even if you did find a witch daring enough to get it done, she wouldn’t be successful. The ‘Dead Laugh’ is a spell only powerful witches can cast. A witch who is high ranking and can get around the whole ‘forbidden thing,’” she offers.
“You would cast the Dead Laugh spell for me?” he asks, turning back to face her.
“Yes, but only if you get her to the Alliance—safely.”
“Word has already gotten out that she’s here. They know
that she’s the ‘first and the last.’ She’s as good as dead, and so is anyone who tries to shield her,” Kane says.
“Then I guess you have a decision to make—risk your life and help Atlas get to safety or go back the way you came. I guess the question is this, Kane: how far are you willing to go to talk to the woman you love one more time?”
***
Kane does not agree to stay out loud, but he stays put as Sadie helps me to my feet. She whisks her hand lazily and I am suddenly wearing new clothes. She says it’s unwise to be out in the open, and she whisks her hand again and we are inside a cave with a roaring fire that’s suspended in midair. We sit on the ground, and Sadie says I need one more thing before we start—she hands me a tan satin pouch that’s about a foot wide and tells me to think of the food I would like to eat and say it out loud.
“I’m not hungry,” I reply.
“You are. Your body is still in too much shock to tell you, but trust me, you are. Now, think of something,” she says as she goes outside to scour the area one last time to make sure we are alone.
“What do you want, a menu of all the local restaurants? Use the damn Kerr and get something to eat,” Kane says.
I’m guessing this pouch thing is the “Kerr” he’s talking about. I close my eyes and think about a chicken sandwich. But out loud I say, “Chicken.” Suddenly, a big live chicken springs from the pouch and runs around the cave. Kane is laughing at me.
“That’s not funny. It’s my first time,” I scold.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” he says suggestively.
“That’s not what I—you’re such a dick!” I shout. We both catch my mistake at the same time—I am holding the pouch in my lap. And I just had a visual of my last statement. Does that means there’s a…body part inside the pouch?
“Relax, Princess, it can only bring you things that are edible,” he says, clearly enjoying my predicament. Just then, Sadie enters the cave and saves Kane’s life, because I swear I was just about to strangle him. She says we don’t have a lot of time, so she takes a big breath and begins the story.
“Before there was time or space, there was Orah, a celestial being with infinite power and capabilities. Orah created two children to help him rule over his vast galaxy. He created them from parts of himself. He touched fingers to his temple, and a long stream of mystic energy poured from his head and formed his eldest son, Arken.
“Arken was a brilliant boy with infinite knowledge. But he was very lonely, so his father created a second son named Nyten. Nyten was created from Orah’s biceps; he was sheer strength and force. The family often got along, but whenever there was strife that resulted in anger and bitterness, Orah would pull that emotion from his children and cast it down to the underworld.
“That is how he inadvertently created ‘the dark place,’ otherwise known as hell. There, demons and other vile creatures lurked. They wanted to feast on Orah’s life force and use it to take over the world. In order to protect his family, Orah touched his soul and created winged creatures with brilliant powers, calling them ‘Layaka,’ meaning angels. His final creation was humanity. Humans didn’t come from his mind, muscle, nor his soul; it was created from his heart,” she explains. I listen closely, fearing I might miss something.
“Okay, let me get this straight. So, Orah is a god?” I ask.
“Yes. The most powerful that ever was,” Sadie says.
“And he created two sons: Arken and Nyten. Then he created hell by ‘sucking out’ their hate, jealously, and rage and then casting those emotions down to Earth. And by doing this he accidentally ends up creating hell. Where horrible spirits and foul creatures live,” I reply.
“Yes. Orah doesn’t know every aspect of the future. He did not know what he was making until it was too late,” Sadie says.
“So because there’s no therapist in the cosmos to solve their family drama, some of us get to burn in hell. So far, I’m not impressed with this guy,” I inform them.
“Just wait,” Kane warns me.
“Orah created his sons, then he made hell. Then to deal with the screw-up, he made angels. And lastly, he made humans because he’s an old softy,” Kane says bitterly.
“Okay, I’m with you. What happened next?” I ask.
“Over time, Orah grew more and more intrigued with humans. He marveled at their innocence and their ability to hope even in the darkest of times. He ended up spending most of his time on Earth, studying them. On one of his many trips to Earth, Orah took human form and visited a village; the inhabitants treated him with warmth and kindness. At the end of his visit, to thank them, he poured a single drop of his power into the once dried well of the village. Orah did this so that the well would always be full.
“But he underestimated his own power. The drop was so potent it gave the villagers advanced problem-solving skills and allowed for them to make great strides in areas such as math, the arts, and the written language. But for a few select groups of humans, it did even more than that. It allowed them to tap into a small fraction of Orah’s mystic energy.
The village referred to them as ‘Shadows,’ what has come to be known as supernatural. This community includes lycans, witches, shape-shifters, vampires, and other creatures.
“They were cast out of the village and scattered around the four corners of the Earth. However, over time they crept back into society, but only because they hid their powers. Hiding their mystic powers became essential to their survival. While Shadows are all around the world, there is a one central location they all call home.
It’s a large strip of land off the coast of Peru, called Quill.
“Arken thought it was a mistake to give a section of humanity—however small—any powers. In fact, he thought all of humanity was pretty much a big mistake and he started growing very concerned about his father’s interest in them. He begged his father to walk away from his ‘hobby’ of studying humans and focus on things concerning the galaxy.
“Orah would return to the cosmos but not nearly often enough; eventually, his vast kingdom was in danger of being over taken by the dark, all-powerful forces. Furious that his father was so distracted, Arken angrily blew a cold breath of air towards Earth, commonly referred to as the ice age. Orah was livid. He vowed to punish his son, but Arken defended his actions, saying his desire to eradicate the humans came from his wish to save his father from heartbreak.
“‘I see you looking down at your creation, gutted by the things they do; the way they treat each other. They are flawed—weak and cannot change their ways. With every passing moment they rip out yet another piece of your heart. It is only a matter of time before your love for the humans destroys you completely,’ Arken reasoned.
“‘They are flawed, but they are not without hope. There is something in them that strives to be better versions of themselves. I know why you love them, Father; they are innocent. They are worthy of life. You cannot give up on them,’ Nyten argued.
“‘It is true—perhaps humanity simply needs time to grow into themselves; time to gather a fuller understanding. They may yet value life,’ Orah reasoned.
“‘In order to get them to value life, you created death. And that has yet to have an impact. They waste every opportunity you give them. Perhaps it is time to end the human race, not out of cruelty but out of a fatherly mercy,’ Arken pushed.
“‘They do seem to cause each other a great deal of pain…’ Orah said reluctantly.
“‘Father, Arken is not thinking of you. He loathes the humans because you dote on them. They should not be wiped out for that reason. If Arken cared about what matters to you, he would endeavor to spend some time with the humans and get to know them before demanding their demise,’ Nyten pleaded. Orah agreed with his youngest son. He sent Arken to live on Earth among the humans.”
Kane sums up. “So the firstborn of the all-powerful god was having a tantrum and was upset that Daddy was spending more time with his new creation—the humans. So, like any spoiled brat, he p
itched a fit. He tried to destroy humanity like a little—”
“Kane, we don’t need your asides, thank you,” Sadie says.
“Actually, he’s not wrong. I mean seriously, to try and end humanity because daddy doesn’t kiss your boo-boo at night is crazy. If I did that every time my dad—the point is, this Arken guy’s…kind of a douche,” I reply, thinking out loud.
“I dislike you a little less right now,” Kane admits, catching my eye. I look away but not before a small smile spreads across my lips.
“As I was saying, Orah sent Arken down to Earth to get to know humanity,” Sadie says as she looks between Kane and me with a spark of curiosity.
“Sorry, Sadie. Go on,” I encourage.
“Orah had hoped that doing this would endear the humans to his son. Arken was not allowed to tell anyone who he was or tell them about his powers. For a long time he was miserable on Earth. He hated every single thing about it. But then something happened that would change Arken forever—one long summer, he found love.
“Her name was Alona. She was a petite young lady with soft brown eyes, a smile that could warm the coldest of nights, and she had the gift of finding good in even the wickedest of hearts. The two of them were inseparable. Arken had traveled the world before; in fact, he had seen the entire solar system. Yet the way Alona described the little things around them—with such wonder and awe—it was as if Arken was seeing them for the first time.
“They sat on the beach and he gazed at her as she marveled at the clear blue waters of Con Son Island, Vietnam. They headed to Pakistan, where she bet him she could carry a bushel of mangoes in the hem of her dress without his help. When both she and the mangoes tumbled down the hill, the couple laughed, then sat on the ground, bit into the fruit, and suckled on the sweet nectar.
“A few weeks later, they headed on a trip to Columbia, and they happened upon a small fishing village where the natives invited them to join them for dinner. They shared in a delicious feast of fresh fish, rich stews, and strong sugar-cane-flavored alcohol, or what the natives called ‘fire water.’
“Later that night, under a blanket of stars, Arken told Alona that he loved her. He told her that he wanted to be with her for all of eternity. She turned to him and gently took his face in her hand. She spoke in soft whisper.