by Pia Philip
“You took some real damage,” He said as he stood up and gently helped her off the floor. Talk about stating the obvious. Alex looked over at where the others where, the scene had not changed. Leaning heavily on Michael, she limped over to them furious. Sam was the first to notice them coming. He took one look at Alex’s dress and his face drained off all the color.
“What the- Alex are you okay!” he cried as he ran over to them. He took the hem of her dress and dragged it up carelessly. She let out a yelp of pain as it brushed her wound. “What happened?”
“What do you mean what happened!” Michael bellowed, “You let her go fight the Manticore by herself! What were you thinking! Did I mention it was a Manticore!”
Alex didn’t know what a Manticore was but by the way Michaels face consorted in a mixture of Anger and Fear she knew it was nothing to be easily dealt with. Just the thought of it coming back stronger and angrier made her shudder with fear.
“What were the council thinking sending a Manticore in here, don’t they want any survivors, seriously it’s just as bad as Black Midnight Dragon,” Lewis said as he descended from his hiding place. Alex glared at the coward. At least she know now what it was meant by ‘Create Comrades not friends’ if all her friends were like him, she would prefer her chances alone. Imagine making plans and then him chickening out at the last moment. It could cost you your life. She glowered at him.
“We didn’t notice okay? Next time you should alert us,” Zack said agitated that he had missed the fight. Right then and there Alex wanted to punch his face down to a pulp, the jerk!
“We’ll maybe if you two had shrunk both your egos and stopped arguing for a few moments then you probably of heard me screaming when I saw it FLYING ABOVE US!” She shouted, never in her life was she angrier than now. Sam knew that whenever she got angry it was like King Kong on a war path. She was very destructive but there was no way in hell that she was letting Sam off the hook. The one time she tried to tell him something important he completely ignored her.
“And you! I tried telling you when I first spotted it but what did you do? You practically told me to get lost with your eyes!” she growled as she pointed her finger at Sam, there was guilt in his eyes, but she wasn’t done yet, “Just because I may not be the smartest does not mean I haven’t got brains okay, I knew where it was coming from and no one even listened to me, do not expect me to come to you for help any time soon!”
“And you Lewis! Don’t even get me started on you!” she growled at him anger radiating through every pore in her body, the poor boy was shaking in his boots, “you saw the Manticore but you didn’t come out and help me. I’m okay with that, because it was a pretty scary thing, but what really gets to me is that you didn’t even try to tell the others you just went and hid, not only do I know classify you an official Coward, but also a complete and utter idiot!”
She heaved as she tried to catch her breath, she was still furious at them and her rage was not going to go away quickly she was certain, she felt another stab in her side and doubled over in pain. She didn’t know how but the wound was starting to bleed again. Sam took a step towards her but she glared at him, daring him to take another step towards her, instead she got Michael to help her, he took her to the broken fountain and washed out the wound clean. She took the hem of her dress which was shredded and ripped out a strip handing it to Michael who rapped it tightly around her waist like a bandage of some sort.
“You calmed down a bit?” he asked as he led her back to the others, She nodded in a huff, then he addressed the others, “ we need to change hiding places, Alex wounded its eyes but it’ll be back soon, and I don’t want to be in the same place waiting to get eaten alive.”
There was a murmur of agreement as everyone averted their eyes up to the sky, checking to see if it had come back, Alex however was thinking of way to make the battlefield even. she limped over to where she had carefully hid the Crolonian, she wasn’t sure if she should open it there in front of almost complete strangers, but she did need to have some kind of advantage. She weighed the pros and cons before deciding to wait till the right moment. She had to remember, Comrades not friends.
They walked in complete silence, everyone too scared to talk to Alex in case she started shouting at them again or, and her ego also went into acceleration at the thought, since Michael told them how she had injured the Manticore, they were suddenly scared of her strength. The last one she severely doubted. They came upon a street on which there was several crumbling houses, however she did not think that they had fallen due to old age. They walked up to the closest one and entered. It was probably one of the best places to hide; it offered shelter from the weather and from the Manticore’s beady eyes. The house stank like rotting flesh, the smell of decapitation made her retch, her eyes stung from the smoke that still seemed to linger although she was pretty sure the fire had happened a while ago.
“What time is it?” She asked suddenly as she remembered that they only had to stay with the beast for five hours before the people in charge of the inhuman listing came and took the Manticore away.
“Twenty-five past one,” Sam replied as he read her thoughts, “we’ve got just over three hours left.”
She groaned to herself, her body was exhausted from the fighting and the walking and the shouting. The one thing she wanted more than anything right now was her nice warm Manchester United bed. She spotted a chair in the far corner of the room, and limped towards it. It was the only thing in the room that seemed to have escaped the fire. She dropped into it and sighed before shuffling away from the view of the others. She didn’t want anyone to know about her Crolonian, she had a sneaky suspicion that it wouldn’t be in her possession for very long if they found out about it. She gently unfolded it and laid it on her lap. She stared at the cover her eyes drifting towards the symbol as per usual, she didn’t know why but it fascinated her. She peered at the writing on the symbol; it wasn’t that of anything she had ever seen before, not even in the Crolonian itself, yet it seemed familiar. She stopped as she remembered her dream, the wall had the exact same design on it, it must mean something, and something important. She needed to find out what it was, it was some sort of secret that she knew about but just couldn’t remember. The thought that she knew something yet her brain refused to function was frustrating. “This was my mum’s fault, if she had raised me up knowing about all this Angel stuff, I would’ve actually stood a chance”. Just as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she repented. Her mother had raised her up single handedly, she had worked several jobs to support them while she was young, before she finally managed to persuade her to go to university and get her degree. The person she should really be blaming was her father. How dare he show up out of the blue and expect her to be all daddy, I missed you so much, let me follow your orders and do all your evil doings for you, please,’ she snorted at the idea. There was no way in hell she would ever say that. She remembered the image of her father, his wings and the tattoos. Those spiral images that ran from one side of his body to the other. She screwed her eyes as she tried to remember every detail. She looked at the symbol on the cover and her mouth dropped open. She could not believe she didn’t notice it before, actually yes she could. She couldn’t believe Sam hadn’t seen it though. She screwed her eyes then tilted her head to the side. Sure enough she was right. What appeared to be random squiggles on the symbol were random squiggles until you put them together. They seemed to create an image. What image she had no idea but she had an idea of how to find out, but first things first, they needed to make it to the Academy. She turned the Crolonian over so that she could wrap it carefully and tightly into the shawl when she saw the back, when she saw a symbol. No ‘The’ symbol. Her symbol. Underneath was a paragraph or so of writing.
An Angelonian must be created, of both light and shadows to cast a different eye of judgment. Wear a cloak of decievment but never falter from your chosen path. Be brave, don’t cower at ease, keep your head high and i
gnore the bees. Create a wall to shield from those you mistrust but never forget who your real friends are. Wear the crest you have in pride because once your job is done, wear does your future lie.
She blinked in confusion what had she just read. Alex reread the passage several times but was still confused. She needs someone whose brain was good around deciphering hidden messages in the most simplest form, or vice versa. She wrapped the Crolonian carefully and tucked it under her arm before getting up and limping back to the others. She wasn’t missed; she gave a sigh of relief, before realizing both Sam and Michael were staring at her. She was suddenly very self-conscious; she tugged at her dress then felt her hair and face, before turning around to see what they were staring at. Finally her temper got the better of her.
“What!” she glared, “Stop staring at me,”
“Sorry, I just can’t get over the fact that you injured the Manticore, I mean like I was surprised, “Michael said sheepishly as he scratched his head.
“What just because I’m a girl you take me to be weak?” Alex scowled, “I’m probably stronger than most of the boys I know.”
“No- it’s not that,” Michael stammered trying to fix his mistake of wording but Alex was already in a bad mood and she stomped away, silently screaming at every step that she took.
“You need to calm down Alex,” Sam said as he approached her. He put his hand on her shoulder but pulled it away as she flinched. She was still in pain from the last injury, “Seriously how many wounds have you got now.”
“Shut up and listen to me,” She growled as she took Sam’s arm and guided him into another room that was in a slightly better condition than the other one, “I’ve just had a major breakthrough.”
“In?” Sam asked lost. He didn’t seem to understand what she was talking about so she took out the Crolonian and showed him the writing and told him her theory on the ruins in the symbol. He took the book and stared at the symbol moving his neck in various positions and pulling the most ridicules faces, it was a struggle for Alex not to laugh.
“How did you figure it out?” he asked astonished at her discovery, she was going to say her hidden talent was finding hidden stuff because she was a secret genius in the hiding, but thought better of it because it would seem like she was going on about what happened at the square so she just smiled for she was not one to keep a grudge.
“I already know how to find out about the image but do you know what the riddle means?” She asked Sam, Instead. If anyone knew about it would be Sam for certain.
“Sorry, I’ll have to think about it, it’s really complicated, what’s your idea then?” he asked as he put his arms around her gently, she was really happy that things were back to normal between them. The little charade back there made them even and told them how much danger they were actually in. She leant into his warm chest and explained.
She figured that if they go to the Academy they would probably have a big library and they could search up on stuff like this, and they could read into the Crolonian with depths. They could learn the history and what the riddle meant easier that way plus, they would constantly be guarded at the Academy because it was a school so her father’s men couldn’t get to her without fighting off everyone else. She thought it was an ingenious plan and it even got applaud from Sam.
“Guess you’re not as stupid as you act,” He smiled at her playfully. She gently pushed his belly as she giggled in happiness. Happiness that was soon ripped away from her by the shriek she heard literally seconds later. Alex looked at Sam confused before it hit her.
The Manticore was back.
They half ran, half limped towards the others, they were in hiding. The Manticore hadn’t seen them yet but it had landed in the street outside. She risked a glance at it and her face drained of its color. She started shaking with fear.
“Alex? Are you okay?” Sam asked as he felt her vibrating against him. He swirled to face her and saw her face, he followed her gaze. She heard him take a sharp breath before spinning round to the others.
“He’s being controlled by the Dark side,” he explained to them quickly in a hushed voice, “He’s got the symbol across his back now, I don’t know if it was there before but by the way Alex reacted I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.
We’ve got to do something to get out of here alive.”
Chapter 11
“Oh my god.” Lewis stammered as he started shaking in fear, “we are so dead, do you think we should call the council for help?”
“You can do that?” Alex asked in surprise. She didn’t think you could make contact with anyone that was in the council and ask for help.
“Yeah, but only for emergency’s, not life or death situations,” Zack said as he growled at Lewis, “I don’t think this would qualify.”
“You don’t think this would qualify!” Michael hissed at him, “The monster we are fighting has been taken over by the dark side, I think that does make it an emergency; you know perfectly well we shouldn’t handle anything to do with the dark side.”
With that, he whipped out a cell and punched in some random numbers before walking out of earshot. She glared at Zack, the guy probably had a mirror or a cut out and stood in front of it telling himself how great he was. He probably had a bigger ego than Max.
Max.
The thought of him made her stomach tie in a not. Alex wasn’t sure if he was in the arena looking for them or even if he was still alive. Sam tightened his grip on her a little pulling her closer.
“It’s going to be alright, you’re going to be fine, I won’t ignore you now, I won’t let out of my sight or my arms,” he said into her hair, he rested his chin on her head and she leaned back against him, deeper into his embrace. Alex felt a surge of warmth and felt protected as the Manticore started moving towards the upper part of the street. Michael came back looking flushed but with a smile on his face.
“I explained the predicament to the head and he said that we weren’t supposed to get a Manticore and that we did the right thing to phone them when we saw the mark,” he explained, “They’ll be here in 10 minutes.
“Wait, if we weren’t supposed to get the Manticore what was we supposed to get?” Zack asked, he was in a huff because they were going to have to finish their initiation early.
“The furies or a chimera I’m not sure,” Michael replied, it wasn’t the answer Zack was hoping for. He went into a silent tantrum going on about how at the Academy we were going to have to tell everyone what we fought to get into there, and if they told everyone they fought the furious or just a plain chimera they would get laughed at out there.
“A chimera isn’t that easy to beat you know,” Alex scowled, “ I got most of my wounds from fighting a chimera yesterday so I would appreciate it if you didn’t make light of them, but that could be because it was also marked.”
A shriek interrupted the silence like a siren. Everything that had not been bolted to the ground vibrated. For a moment Alex thought it was an earth quake but there was no way earthquakes could happen in a land of Angels she was sure and earthquakes didn’t shriek. Only one other thing shrieked like that. The Manticore was back and by the sound of it, it was after blood. They all limped over to the door and peeked out, that proved to be a bad idea. They came face to nose with the Manticore. Its beady eyes were glued on Alex’s; she knew she was done for. Sam grabbed her and ducked as a paw swiped the space were they had just been standing. Everyone evacuated the building and into open space. They needed enough room if they were going to fight the demon. Zack instantly took control; he fingered some signals to Lewis who ran in the opposite direction. Probably cracked his pants. The Manticore turned its head and spotted Alex, before she could react, it was pounding down the street like a stray cat would for food.
“It’s after me!” Alex cried as she turned and ran with as much speed as her injuries would allow. She wasn’t very fast, she spun round and saw that it was less than 5 feet behind her. That was when she spotted Michael, “Michael,
attack from behind, Sam left and Zack right!”
She had barely got those words out of her mouth when she spotted claws. She instinctively did a back handspring twisting her body in such an angle it pulled every muscle in her stomach and she couldn’t help but cry out in pain but she couldn’t stop. If she stopped she would be dead and it would be all over.
Alex jumped and grabbed a claw as it came down horizontally. She swung one leg over and balanced with the other before making a dash for it once again. This time she had barely made it to its shoulder when it tried to shake her off. When that didn’t work it started hacking at its own arm as it tried to get to her. Alex hung on with as much strength as she could muster and dodged the few scratches and blows that came her way. She wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. That was when she remembered the necklace her mum gave her. She grabbed it and rubbed it between her index and thumb, hoping and wishing for a miracle. She could feel warmth radiating from the necklace, almost like her hands had a mind of their own; they grabbed a handful of the beast’s hair and tugged at it roughly. The Manticore started to lean on one side, it was losing balance. Using this to her advantage, Alex tightened her grip on the tuffs of hair and jumped down, dragging the Manticore down with her. She wasn’t stupid though, Alex knew it would be back up in almost no time. Time; that was something she badly needed but wasn’t likely to get, she just had to work with what she got. Alex spotted a gigantic rock with a sharp edge to her right she grabbed it then climbed up the Manticore’s body, it was already regaining its focus, and it would be up in five seconds ten maximum. She bolted towards its face; she wasn’t sure where to hit it so she started slamming it down everywhere. She kept her eyes closed and tilted her head away; Alex didn’t like the whole idea of stoning someone. There was a giant shudder in which she dropped the stone and she fell off the Manticore body and hit solid ground with a thud. Sam was at her side almost instantly, whatever had just happened; he would explain it to her in detail later that was an unspoken promise.