by Lola StVil
“Well, here I am. It might be hard to place me; I’m the one you Kasters are always shooting at,” I quip.
“I remember. Usually, you’re fighting back,” she reminds me.
“Well, you know. A girl’s gotta protect herself,” I reply lamely.
“I suppose so.”
“Do you need anything else?” I ask.
“Silver.”
Naturally.
“I’ll go get him for you,” I say out loud.
“Can I ask you something?” she says.
“I love prolonging awkward moments so…yes, ask me anything.”
“How is Silver?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I know he hates talking about stuff. He’s a master at hiding what’s going on. I’m sure he’s heard about his father by now so I was wondering if maybe he told you how he’s feeling—I mean how he’s really feeling.”
I didn’t expect that question. The sincerity in her voice throws me. I was sure when I came in that I would be greeted with more “demon-like” attitude. Instead she is genuinely concerned about him.
“He doesn’t really open up much,” I confess.
“I know, what the hell is that about? It’s like ‘Dude, spit that shit out already,’” she says.
“Exactly!”
“Of course the guys you want to stay quiet can’t ever shut up,” she says to herself.
I laughed before I could catch myself. Wait; am I having a moment with a Kaster???
“I can tell how you feel about him because the mention of his name makes you smile. It’s kind of pathetic,” she says.
“Um...thanks?”
“No judgments; just saying.”
“Okay, well this has been fun, but I have to get downstairs.”
“Pryor.”
“Yeah.”
“Let him go.”
“Excuse me?”
“Silver’s only staying with this team out of some misguided notion of duty to you. He doesn’t belong in your world. He’s no angel. Believe me.”
“Has he said he wants to leave the team?” I ask.
“He doesn’t need to say it. He left once already. He came back because you needed him. Now, I need him.”
“If he wants out of the team, then all he has to do is say so and I will let him go,” I promise her.
“The First Noru may let go of her second in command, but what about Pryor? Can you let go of ‘Aaden’ and accept who he really is?”
“I’ve known Aaden all my life. I know better than anyone who he is.”
“The Aaden you knew was a kid. He took flying lessons with his dad, hung out with his team, and believed every lie Omnis ever told.”
“What’s your point?” I snap.
“My point is Aaden’s dead. Silver is a grown man who has gone through actual grown-up shit. I mean, let’s be serious. You’re barely twelve years old. What are you going to do with a grown man?”
“Aaden is more than the bad things that happen to him. And he is not going to live in the dark void just to keep you company. He’s better than that. He’ll find his way back to us.”
“You mean back to you,” she counters.
“I came to check on you and I did so, I’m done,” I reply as I head for the door.
“You can’t help him. You’re too good. You are denying his demon half and that is who he is now. That’s who he will always be. And unlike you, I love him for it. I don’t want to change him.”
“That’s crap. You see in Aaden what you want to see. You think you can get him to be evil so you’ll have company, but that’s not gonna happen. So you better do your recruiting somewhere else.”
“I’m not the one who put him in the White Room and tortured him. The Center did that. And like it or not, they changed him.”
“White room?”
“He didn’t tell you about that? I guess he only shares that kind of stuff with fellow demons.”
“Whatever, just heal quickly so you can get the hell out of my damn house.”
“Look, I’m not trying to be a bitch. Maybe Silver would have been a nice little angel, but now he’s a demon and you better adjust.”
It’s all I can do not to throttle her. I head out of the room and try in vain to control my temper. I’m so blind with fury I don’t even realize Aaden is in front of me until I bump into him.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks.
“Your girlfriend is such a--argh!”
“She’s not—just tell me what happened,” he replies.
“It’s not important. What’s the White Room?” I ask, looking into his eyes.
“What? Who brought that up?” he asks, clearly upset.
“Ruin. She said the White Room changed you.”
“She had no right to—damn it!”
“Aaden, talk to me. Please. What’s the White Room?”
“I can’t talk about that,” he insists.
“You can’t talk about it with me but you can talk about it with her. I get it. She’s your girl. But I thought we were friends. I thought we told each other things.”
“We do.”
“No, we don’t. In fact, according to you we aren’t even your family. Do you know how much it hurt to hear you say that?”
“Pryor, what do you want from me?”
“I want you to be the Noru I grew up with.”
“He’s gone, Pry. And no one is more sorry about that than me…”
Before I can respond, Randy and the rest of the team hurry up the steps.
“We found an object the Movatu would do anything to have in their possession,” Swoop says, overjoyed as she embraces Aaden.
“They’ve been looking for this thing cycle after cycle according to my research. Once we find it, we can exchange it for passage through their territory,” Randy adds.
“Seriously?” Aaden says in disbelief.
“Yes, but there’s just one small problem,” East says.
“What is it?”
“The object they are looking for…doesn’t exist.”
CHAPTER SEVEN: GEEK SPEAK
Before we go further into details about what the team found, I have East set up a Tri-meter outside of Ruin’s room. It’s a device that alerts us if a demon enters or leaves the room. I know Ruin tried to save Uncle Rage, but she is still a demon and we need to keep an eye on her. I was expecting Aaden to object, but thankfully he didn’t. We head down to the kitchen, where Randy explains to us what he found.
“Okay, so I’ve been doing a ton of research on the four elements, or the Movatu as they are known in your world. They hate just about everyone. They are cold and very removed or so others have said about them. They control all the elements and live forever. So I thought, okay, they are like soulless robots.
“Then thanks to Swoop’s contact, I was able to hack into their computers, and I found like thousands of searches for things that made no sense. Things that if they really hated humans and angels, they should have no interest in,” Randy concludes.
“What kind of things?” Aaden asks.
“They bought a first edition of The complete works of Shakespeare, The life and times of Lord Byron, and The Biography of the Bronte sisters.”
“The Movatu are into romance writers?” Aaden pushes.
“That makes no sense,” East says.
“Exactly. I was missing something but I didn’t know what. Then last night I was watching a rerun of Star Trek: Next Generation and that’s when it hit me—Q,” he says excitedly.
We all look back at him, confused.
“ ‘Q’ from Star Trek: Next generation and Deep Space Nine.”
“Randy, we don’t speak nerd,” Swoop says.
“I speak a little ‘geek,’ but not enough to follow what he’s saying,” East jokes with Swoop.
“Fine, I’ll explain, but after this thing is over, you guys are getting the Sci-Fi channel,” he insists.
“Fine, for now can you just give us the ner
d-free version?” Bex says.
“Okay, so ‘Q’ is a character that has like all these amazing powers. Yet he’s obsessed with humanity. He can’t connect with them and so he toys with them like a cat would a mouse before killing it,” Randy replies.
“So you’re saying while the Movatu hate everyone, they also long to understand everyone,” Key says.
“Yes, and they have a power that most angels have ignored because it’s not super awesome. They can Mine.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that. But I don’t know how that works,” Key admits.
“Well, I do,” Randy says proudly.
This is the first time he knows something about our world that we don’t. We are hanging on his every word and he enjoys that. But what he’s totally getting into is having Key look at him with such deep interest and admiration.
“Mining is the ability to absorb a feeling through an object or being. So if they were curious about courage for example, they would endeavor to get their hands on the sword of the most courageous being.”
“Okay, but how does that help us?” I ask.
“According to their Google searches, Amazon purchase history, and Netflix queue, the Movatu are now obsessed with love.”
“Why would they even care about that?” Bex asks.
“Because they don’t know how to love. They have no real concept of love. So they are trying to seek out its true nature. I’ve seen it a million times in Sci-Fi films. And it’s usually their search for love that becomes their undoing,” Randy says, getting more and more excited.
“Let’s say you’re right and they are seeking to ‘Mine’ love, how would they go about it and again how does that help us?” Aaden says, growing frustrated.
“I think whatever objects they’ve found haven’t been strong enough. They bought artifacts from auction houses having to do with major love stories. Yet they still continue to search,” Randy replies.
“I get it, so if we can find an ultimate symbol of love, we could trade it in exchange for passage through their territory,” Swoop says.
“How did you ever come up with that? Randy, you’re a genius!” Key says, kissing him on the cheek.
Randy waves off her affection as if it’s nothing, but the blood gathering on his cheeks betrays him. He tries to control his goofy smile but is unable to. Bex looks on shaking his head slightly.
“So what is the symbol or artifact that we’re going to give them and where do we find it?” Aaden asks.
“That’s just it. The greatest love story ever told has to be Romeo and Juliet, right?” Randy asks.
“Makes sense,” Bex replies.
“Then we have a problem. How can we get an artifact from a fictional story?” he replies.
“Romeo and Juliet weren’t fictional, Randy.” I correct him.
“You’re kidding. Romeo and Juliet was a real story?” he asks in disbelief.
“Okay, so you are open to the fact that we can fly and that you’re the Blue Rose heir but you can’t believe that two twelve-year-olds would be stupid enough to throw their lives way?” Aaden asks.
“That’s how you interpret their story?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“Yeah. They’re idiots who thought that their love could change things. I mean it’s okay since they were so young. But c’mon, you don’t honestly believe that love conquers all crap, right?” Aaden asks.
I don’t know why his words piss me off but they do. It’s like he’s saying love can’t win. Now, I’m not a full-on romantic but give me a break. Love wins sometimes.
Right?
“Whatever,” I say out loud, shaking my head.
He’s taken aback by my reaction.
“Hey, I love an uncomfortable moment laced with ‘unspoken emotion’ just as much as the next guy but can we get on with it?” East says.
“Yeah, sorry,” I reply as Aaden and I exchange an uneasy glance.
“Anyway, in the story Juliet drinks fake poison and pretends to be dead. Romeo thinks she’s actually dead and drinks real poison. She wakes up and sees this, and stabs herself with a dagger, am I right?” Randy says.
“That’s the way I’ve always heard it,” Key replies.
“So we need to find something having to do with the two lovers. The vial of poison or the dagger, hell a piece of her gown, whatever,” Randy says.
“There are a few antique dealers my family has worked with before, maybe they might be able to help,” Bex says.
“Before we do that, we need to make sure that Randy’s theory is right. If it’s not then we waste time, time we don’t have,” Aaden says.
“I’m way ahead of you. I posted on the auction site the Movatu frequent. I said I have the ultimate artifact symbolizing true love. And I am willing to part with it for the right price,” Randy says.
“And?” Aaden pushes.
“Nothing yet.”
“Damn it!”
“But it’s only been a few hours. I think when they read my ad they’ll contact us. I’m sure this is what they want,” Randy assures him.
“And what if you’re wrong? What if all this ‘Tomb Raider’ artifact bullshit doesn’t work out? Where the hell does that leave my father?” he barks.
“I know how hard it is--”
“No you don’t!” Aaden corrects me.
“We want to help your father, we love him too. But I have to think about the team. That’s what Uncle Rage would have wanted. That’s what I’m doing—trying to be a good leader!” I counter in disbelief.
“Well congratulations, you are a great leader, Pryor. But somewhere along the way you might try and be a good friend.”
“What? Aaden, I’m a great friend to you.”
“Bullshit! If we were friends you wouldn’t be forcing me to waste my time watching Randy play ‘Indiana Jones’ while my father’s being put to death!”
“Why are you acting like I’m enjoying this?” I ask.
“I don’t know, maybe you are. Maybe Sam’s death hurt you so much you want someone else to feel as empty and broken as you do!” he accuses.
As soon as he says it I can see he regrets it, but it’s too late. It feels like his words have seared into my flesh. It burns. The pain spreads. I look back at Aaden, hurt and astonished that he would say what he said to me. Sam’s death is a void I would never wish on anyone. And to think the being who is supposed to know me best thinks that I am cruel and selfish enough to wish my grief on him.
I don’t reply to Aaden. I’m not sure if walking away is the right move as the leader, but I do it anyway. And as I head for the front door, I hear Randy scolding him.
“You’re scared for your father’s life. We. Get. It. But guess what? Treating her like shit won’t get him out of the forest,” Randy snaps.
I don’t hear the rest of it because I rush across the street. I can’t bear to be in the same space as Aaden right now. I sit on the bench of the small park across the street from our house. Thankfully there are very few people around.
I sigh heavily as I feel the weight of everything for the first time: Sam’s murder, my parents being trapped in the light, Uncle Rage facing death, having a demon in my house, a second in command who doubts my every move, a best friend who fears I’ll take his life, and a psycho half brother who won’t stop until everyone I love is gone…
The stress comes in the form of a severe migraine. I rub my temples repeatedly and try to think calm thoughts. Getting headaches almost never happens to angels, but most angels don’t deal with this stuff. I continue to run my temple and close my eyes. I feel his presence. He followed me and that’s very sweet, but I really need to be alone.
“Randy, please just give me three minutes to myself, okay?” I ask with my eyes still closed.
“It’s not Randy…”
I open my eyes and find Aaden standing above me.
“Round two will have to wait. I just don’t have it in me,” I confess.
“Can I sit next to you?” he asks.
“Sure,” I reply, drained.
He sits alongside me and remains silent for a few moments. When he speaks again, his tone is soft and reflective.