Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “So the Triplex wouldn’t be in a holy place like a church?”

  “Nor will it be in a casino or a politician’s office. That’s it. That’s all the info I know.”

  “The Akons could kill you for helping me. This is very brave of you.”

  “If I were really brave, I’d run back there and help you.”

  “You can still come with me. I’ll protect you.”

  “I’m sure you would. When you were fighting with me earlier, I notice you have a great right hook.”

  “I’ll tell them what you told me as soon as I have a chance.” I smile and rush off. Things are even more chaotic. Marcus picks up War and hurls him at Chaos. The two crash into an empty store front, flattening it completely. They flee the scene with Marcus furiously on their tail.

  Marcus catches up to them. War screams and begs to die because of what he sees reflected in Marcus’ eyes. Marcus holds him there longer. War begs again to have his life taken; before his wish can be granted, Chaos attacks Marcus from behind.

  “Emmy, look out.”

  I didn’t even see it coming. I whip my head around in time to see the daggers make their way to me. The person who warned me was Jay. I wanted to thank him but there would be no time. Fear has me frozen in place. I close my eyes. Please, don’t let this hurt too much.

  I open my eyes. I’m sitting on the floor, a block away from all the action. Nothing has happened. There is no blood. No sharp unrelenting pain. I’m in the arms of an angel. I smile gratefully when I see who it is.

  “Are you sorry it’s not him who saved you?”

  “No, I’m glad it’s you, Reese.” I hold him tightly and wrap my arms around him.

  “I’m into saving pretty girls,” he says pulling me back to look into my face.

  I thought I saw him wince, but I must have been mistaken because now he’s grinning like a kid. A tingle goes down my spine. I move in closer and kiss him with slow, building passion. He kisses me back with intense longing. His hair starts to glow. It’s like a beam of light was shining on his head. I pull away suddenly. Why is his hair illuminated? Is it some kind of angel alarm? I had seen Ameana’s hair glow before but this was even brighter. What did it mean? I was about to ask him when I see Rage in the air, sending a fireball straight at us.

  “Reese, Blink. Blink now.”

  I close my eyes and open them again. I am in the same spot. I can’t take my eyes off the fire coming for us. In that moment a soft wind blows past me and lifts me up off the ground.

  I look up and Jay has snatched me out of the way just in time. He puts me down on the ground and goes back to fight Rage. Ameana joins in and redirects the latest fireball back at Rage. He ducks and the ball hits Chaos.

  Chaos doesn’t move in time and the flames catch his arms and spread. Frenzy helps him put them out and then launches a bolt of electricity at Ameana. Miku sings softly to Frenzy, causing him to misdirect the bolt and send it into the building behind me. Every single window shatters into millions of pieces, all of which are headed for me. Marcus swoops in and grabs me just as the rain of glass falls.

  As Marcus takes off into the air with me, War attacks him. The acid War spews latches onto Marcus’ wings, burning and eating away at them. He howls in pain and loosens his grip on me. I slip out of his hands and down to the ground below. I don’t even have time to scream as the wind whips around me. It’s a twenty-story drop, and I’m falling fast.

  Marcus ignores the searing pain in his wings and dives down to catch me. Just as we make contact, War attacks him again causing him lose his balance. He drops me again. The fall is inevitable now. I’m going to hit the ground.

  But just when I think I’m dead and it’s all over, someone catches me. I’m only a few feet from the ground. Relief washes over me. I look up into Marcus’ face. It’s not him. He isn’t the one that stopped my fall, it’s War.

  “Let’s go have a little talk,” he says as he throws me to the ground. I cry out as my body hits the ground. I hadn’t been high enough for the fall to be life-threatening, but I feel something snap. I roll over and over until I hit a row of trash cans.

  I try to get up but a sharp pain in my rib cage wouldn’t allow me to. I know what I broke—a rib. That is the only thing that makes sense. My side is in so much pain I can barely see straight. It hurts to breathe, but I need to get up before War comes back.

  “Where are you going? We haven’t had our talk,” he says a few feet away from me. I look up in the air and Marcus is trying to fly down to me. But Rage is keeping him busy by trying to torch him.

  “Your boyfriend is busy. This is between us,” War says venomously.

  I use the side of the trash can to pull myself up. It hurts so bad I’m gasping just from standing upright. Digging around furiously in the trash can, I find a broken mirror. I pull out the longest piece I can find and hold it like a knife.

  War sees my weapon and laughs.

  “You’re the funniest human I’ve encountered. I’ll tell you what. I like you. I won’t spray you. I’ll just dismember you. How does that sound?”

  “Don’t be a punk. You want me, come get me,” I bark.

  I’m holding the weapon so hard it cuts into the palm of my hand. Blood travels down to my wrist. It swirls around my arm and falls drop by drop onto the ground. I can’t feel the pain of the cut. I can’t even feel my side aching anymore. I’m just pissed off now, and I’m tired of being tortured and pushed around.

  “You come near me and I’ll kill you.” My voice trembles with a mixture of fear and rage. But it’s mostly rage. I know he will tear me apart, but damned if I’ll let him do it without a fight.

  He lunges at me and I attack him with the mirror. I slash and cut through the air. I make contact with his body several times. He tries to stop me by reaching for my hand, but I am too quick. The whole thing is more annoying to him than hurtful. The only injury I’ve caused is mostly to myself. The glass cuts deeper and deeper into my hand. The slashes that I have made on War are all but scrape on his steel-like body.

  “I’m done playing.” He lunges at me again. I don’t move out of the way in time. I go flying backwards and hit the ground. The weapon slips out of my hand. Pain spreads down my body. War is on top of me. He wraps his hands around my throat and squeezes.

  “I’m trying to kill you quickly. Keep struggling and I will make it slow. And trust me—you don’t want that.”

  I kick and scream trying to get him off me. I am finally able to reach the piece of broken mirror that I dropped. I take it and plunge it into his shoulder blade.

  “You bitch,” he shouts.

  I use this momentary distraction to crawl away from him. He pulls out the glass from his shoulder like it’s a toothpick. He looks at me with murder in his eyes. Everything about him is looming and sinister. He charges toward me like an enraged bull. I can’t get away fast enough. He picks me up and throws me into the trash cans.

  My head hits the sidewalk. It feels like my brain is being shaken inside my skull. I land on the side with the broken rib. I am crying so hard from the pain that I can’t hear anything else going on. War comes towards me again. I close my eyes. I don’t want his face to be that last thing I see before I die.

  He takes my hand and hovers over me. I totally lose it and yell so loud it comes out like a shrill.

  “Get away from me. Get away from me!” I punch, kick and scream, all with my eyes closed.

  He gathers my hands inside his to stop me from attacking him.

  “Emmy, stop it. It’s me.” I open my eyes and Marcus’ face is looking back at me. I glance over his shoulder and see War flying away. There isn’t one Akon to be found anywhere. The street is eerily quiet. The Akons had wisely decided to flee.

  I look back at Marcus and burst into tears. He takes me into his chest and wraps his arms around me.

  “It’s over.”

  “They tortured me.”

  “I know.”

  “I tried to fight them
but they’re so strong …”

  “I know, Em. It’s over.” Marcus kisses me on my forehead. He holds me patiently and lets me cry. It’s minutes before I stop shaking. Finally, I grow quiet. He looks into my face. He’s stricken by sadness and grief.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask. He touches the bruises and cuts on my face. His touch is light and charged with longing and regret.

  “Can I ask you to do something I have no right to ask for?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I hold you a little longer?”

  “Yes.”

  He holds me tighter. We lie there on the ground. But that’s okay. All the places that are bruised and broken in my body don’t hurt anymore. Or maybe they do and I just don’t care. Because for the next few moments, I get to be with him. For the next few moments, no one is keeping us apart.

  From the corner of my eye, I see Ameana looking in on us from a building nearby. Half of her body is hidden, but I can see her face clearly. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling but I think her heart is breaking. I’m sure she’ll be coming over to us. I should make him let me go. But I can’t.

  Just a few more minutes with him, please.

  She doesn’t come over. She stands there taking in the situation. Marcus can’t stop looking at me. I can’t stop looking at Ameana, who can’t stop looking at Marcus.

  “We should go,” I tell him softly. He nods reluctantly and helps me up. Just then I flash back to the last guy who saved my life a few moments ago.

  “We have to go find Reese. I think something’s wrong with him.”

  “What is it?” Marcus says fully alert and ready to attack.

  “He Blinked in time to save me from Mayhem’s daggers, but then his hair started glowing.”

  “His hair was glowing?”

  “Yeah. Oh, no. What does that mean? Is he in danger?”

  “That’s not what makes an angel’s hair glow.” He’s upset or maybe even suspicious, but I don’t know why.

  “Oh, what does it mean then, because he was almost illuminated.”

  “What were you and Reese doing when his hair was Shining?”

  “Talking.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I can’t believe Reese would do this to me.”

  “You’re losing me here.”

  “Reese kissed you.”

  “How did you...?”

  “It’s what makes our hair glow.”

  “So, he’s okay?”

  “Not when I’m done with him. Why would he kiss you? He knows that you and I are …”

  “What are we, Marcus? We have nothing between us.”

  “What?”

  “You told me to find someone else. You said you weren’t going to leave Ameana. So don’t get mad at Reese for wanting to be with me.”

  “You can’t be with him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I—you and I—”

  “All we have at the end of the day are feelings you won’t commit to. Oh, and a crazy girlfriend. Not to mention a kid who warned you about me. What am I suppose to do, Marcus? How long can I pine for you?”

  “You think this is easy for me? How could you let him kiss you?”

  “He didn’t kiss me, I kissed him.”

  “You kissed him?” he says, sounding hurt and betrayed.

  “Don’t you dare give me that wounded look. You have a girlfriend and you’re mad at me for having a love interest?”

  “Oh, so now Reese is a love interest?”

  “You are not an option for me. You have told me that in every single way possible. You’re the one who’s walking away from us, so don’t you go blaming Reese. You made the choice to stay with her, and I’m making a choice too.”

  “You’re choosing Reese? Is it really that easy for you to give yourself away?”

  I slap him, hard. I would have punched him but my hands are too sore to make a fist. He looks at me as if the slap hurt. There is no way I can actually inflict pain on him. At least not the physical kind.

  “I don’t freaking believe this crap. You hit me for Reese? Is he really that important to you?”

  “You have no right to talk to me the way you just did. You have no idea what I have been through in the past few hours.”

  “You? I wanted to kill the whole council. I just wanted to go up there and take them all out because they wouldn’t let us strike until the holiday was over. Do you know what it was like to think that Rage made some Runner hurt you, or worse, kill you? What would I do then? How am I supposed to function without you?” he shouts.

  “You better learn to deal, Marcus, because that’s what you told me to do the night you chose Ameana.”

  I’m livid and resent being made to feel badly for acting like the single girl I am. He looks directly at me and speaks softer now; he’s deeply hurt.

  “How could you kiss him?”

  “How could you kiss her?”

  “Aargh!” He kicks the trash can so hard it goes flying down the street and gets embedded into wall.

  “I need to talk to Reese,” he says as he marches ahead of me.

  “What? No. You leave him alone.”

  “He warns me to stay away from you. They all do. Then all of sudden, he wants you? He can’t keep his hands off of you?”

  “You don’t own me or Reese. You can’t tell us what to do.”

  “Maybe not you, but I can damn sure tell him what to do.”

  “This has nothing to do with the mission. Leave him alone. I told you, I think he’s hurt.”

  “His hair Shining doesn’t mean he’s hurt.”

  “It’s not just that. When Rage threw the fireball at us, I told Reese to Blink and he didn’t.”

  Just then Jay Glides over to us.

  I run over to him. I’m grateful to be talking to someone who’s rational right now.

  “Jay, Reese is hurt.”

  “He’s not hurt, he’s dead.”

  ***

  We find out that when Reese had saved me from Mayhem, he wasn’t able to Blink quickly enough. He was stabbed by one of Mayhem’s daggers. The twins told me that the moment Reese died, the Para angels were the first to know. A funeral for an angel is called a Passing. Before we even inspected Reese’s body to be sure he was dead, almost every Para knew a Passing would be taking place. They would all attend.

  I didn’t understand why Reese had never said he was hurt. I think back to our conversation. He never once mentioned that he had been attacked. Miku said he probably didn’t say anything because he knew we didn’t have time to save him.

  Marcus picks up Reese’s body with care. He tried to be strong. He cradles Reese in his arms. He says it is his job was to take the body to Nepal for the funeral. Jay comes up to him and says he would be the one to carry his friend. No one argues. Jay takes Reese and flies into the air.

  Marcus tells us what is going to happen. He and Jay would take the body to the Himalayas and wait for the Paras to come. Once everyone came on the mountains, Jay would give the body to a Para.

  She would then travel down to the deepest point of Earth and give Reese’s soul to Atourum. His body would break apart on the journey; only Reese’s soul would remain. When she gets as close to the house of fire as an angel can, she will hand off Reese’s soul. There, it will die among the flames.

  Marcus says we don’t have to go with them. We pay no attention to him; we all go. That’s what family does. Marcus takes off into the air behind Jay. Ameana follows after him. Rio picks me up and the twins and I take to the air. It was the first time I had a flight where I didn’t concentrate on not looking down. I could only look at my fallen friend. We fly wordlessly toward the Himalayas in South Asia. I don’t know how long it took because time doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

  Jay lands on the highest peak of the widespread mountain range. He sits on the edge of the peak but won’t lay Reese’s body down on the ground. We all land silently beside
him. We spread out but remain close. We want Jay to have a moment alone. He doesn’t say anything, lost deep in thought.

  I remember the guy who joined me at the lunch table on my first day back at school after finding out about the Triplex. Jay fit in so well. He was easygoing, charming and hopeful. That guy seems so far from the Jay I see right now. He holds Reese and looks out onto the vast mountain range. His face is more serious and sorrowful than I’ve ever seen it.

  I’m freezing and the height is making me lightheaded. I hate being human at that moment because I don’t want to concentrate on my weaknesses. I want to focus on Reese. I’m going to miss him. He tried to tell me that he had feelings for me, but I never picked up on it. How could I have been so blind? But try as I may to focus on Reese, my teeth won’t stop chattering. Damn it.

  Rio feels me radiating whatever color means “I’m freezing.” He comes over silently and spreads his wings around me. I am instantly warmer as he shields the wind from me. We all sit on the mountain. We don’t know how long it will take the Paras to come. No one wants to ask because no one wants to break the silence. We all feel like we’re intruding on Jay’s grief.

  As the only human, I’m the only one who shows tears. But I know they all feel the devastating loss of one of their own. As the sun sinks into the horizon, all you can see is our silhouette.

  The first Para that comes dances gracefully out of the sky and lands effortlessly a few mountains away from us. He looks like a star descending. It was beautiful and painful because we all knew what they were there for. But why had he not come close to us? I began to understand within the next few moments.

  Paras descend from the sky in groups of twos and threes to start. But soon they were in groups as large as 40 or 50. They all spread out along the mountain range. There are so many of them that they take up the length of the Himalayas. It looks like a line of lights swirling down the mountain range. But they aren’t lights. They are angels who have all come to say good bye.

  Ground Walkers and Travelers arrive after all the Paras have taken a spot along the mountain range. They come in large groups as well. But unlike the Paras, the GW and Travelers fly to the peak we are on. They hover in front of Jay as he holds Reese’s body.