“Don’t worry, Angela.” I held her tighter as another fireball slammed into the wings. “We can beat these guys. We just gotta work together. And as for that other Starling… well, we can worry about him after we beat Ray and Zack. How long can your wings hold up?”
“Pretty much forever, I think. As long as I have my stone and keep up my concentration.”
Another fireball rocked us backwards.
“Okay,” I said. “What we need to do is get one of their stones away from them. Once you get it, throw it as far as you can. Should be enough to take his powers away.”
She nodded. “Probably easier to take Ray’s first. You know, since we can actually see him.”
“Agreed. And then we should be able to handle Zack with the two of us against him.”
“Yeah, so how are we going to take Ray’s stone away?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
Chapter 39
Ray
I formed a fireball the size of a love sac, the biggest I’d ever formed. I held it above my head and tossed it at New Girl and Stoner. It smashed into her glass-looking wings with a loud pop, knocking them back a few hundred yards. A moment later, after the flames died out, her wings reappeared looking completely unscathed. I flew toward them.
“Yo! Ray!” It was Invisiguy, somewhere to my right. “That’s obviously not working!”
“Well, do you have any better ideas?” I asked, annoyed.
He didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised.
“I’ve got one,” I said. “How about you go head-butt it about fifty times with your thick invisi-skull and see if it’ll make a dent.”
I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his glare on me, shooting daggers at me with his eyes.
“If we don’t keep attacking her force field,” I continued, “then they’ll just fly away, and we’ll have to chase them across the state. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to do that.”
“Keep throwing your stupid fireballs then!” Invisiguy said, now somewhere above me.
I already had one between my hands the size of a beach ball, ready to try something different. I threw the fireball above my head like I would serve a volleyball. I flew up to it during its ascent and clawed out a small baseball-sized fireball in my left hand and clawed out another one in my right. I spun, throwing the small fireballs side-armed, one after the other. Before they reached her shield, I clawed out two more fireballs and threw those as well. I kept spinning, throwing as many small fireballs as I could at once.
The effect was awesome. It sounded and looked like the grand finale of a fireworks show. Each fireball exploded like a grenade when they collided with her wings. My hope was that the sheer volume of fireballs would frighten New Girl into dropping her wings, but what she did instead was unexpected.
New Girl and Stoner began flying directly toward me, still within the protection of her wings, flying against the barrage of fireballs I kept throwing at them. I threw the fireballs harder, hoping to knock them backwards, but they kept charging toward me.
Just as the last fireball got deflected off the side of her shield, New Girl opened her wings just a tad, forming a small slit in her force field. Out of the slit flew Stoner with his arms extended like Superman. I swung a fist, trying to punch him midflight, but he got me first, right in the jaw.
The force of the punch knocked me downwards, but I caught myself before hitting the ground. I flew back up toward Stoner, but he wasn’t there. He’d flown back inside the protection of New Girl’s wings. That twerp scurried off like a little coward!
“You wimp!” I yelled. “You don’t get any free punches, Stoner! Stop acting like a wuss and come out of there and fight me like a man!”
I could see stoner through New Girl’s force field, standing there with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. “Come get me!” he said, though I mostly read his lips because his voice was muffled through her wings.
“Fine!” I flew right up to the force field, a few feet away, and extended both of my red-hot palms toward it. With a shout, I summoned fire to shoot out of my hands, like two flamethrowers at point-blank. The force of the flames pushed me backward, so I had to redirect my flying powers behind me to push me forward, cancelling out my movement. The fire, red, orange and yellow, completely surrounded New Girl’s ball of protection. Her wings didn’t get knocked back, which meant that she was pushing against me. I focused on the part of her wings directly in front of me, trying to cut my way through her force field.
“Yo! Ray!”
I turned to the voice to my left, thinking it was Invisiguy, but was shocked to see Stoner hovering above me, his shoes level with my face. How in the…
He kicked me. Right in the nose! As if my head were a soccer ball!
My head whipped backwards, my body following close behind. The fire on my hands died out completely as I brought them up to cup my face. The pain was excruciating! I think he broke my nose!
I dropped out of the sky and broke through something made out of metal and then landed on asphalt on my back with a crunch.
I didn’t move. My whole body hurt, but mostly my nose. I just held it, trying to stifle the pain.
I lay somewhere in the city. Bright lights were above me. A gas station? I’d broken through the overhead metal canopy above the gas pumps. I heard several people nearby scream and run. I hadn’t noticed that our fight had moved so far from Trotting Park.
I realized what’d happened. While I was shooting flames at the front of New Girl’s wings, she must’ve opened a slit in the back, and that’s how Stoner got out and kicked me while I was distracted.
I felt blood oozing out my nose and into my mouth. Gross! I sat up and tried wiping the blood off of me, but it just kept coming.
Whoosh!
The sound made me look up. Stoner hovered a foot above me, looking down at me with his glowing eyes.
I opened my mouth to say something like “Lucky shot!”, but got cut off as he bent down and stuffed his hands down my pockets.
“WHOA!” was the only word that came out of me. I wasn’t expecting him to suddenly get all frisky! I kindled my powers in the First Degree and shoved him away from me.
When he pulled back, my eyes widened. He held my red Star Stone in his hand!
He turned away from me and leaned back as if he were about to throw it to the next state.
“NO!” I shouted as I pushed myself to my feet. I wasn’t going to stop him in time!
Suddenly, Stoner got knocked backwards, my stone falling from his grip and dropping onto the gasoline-stained concrete at my feet.
I couldn’t believe it! It was Invisiguy! Er… Scorpio. He’d tackled Stoner just before he threw my stone away. Way to go, Scorpio! I thanked him mentally as I snatched up my stone and put it back in my pocket, feeling so relieved with it there!
I turned toward Scorpio and Stoner. Stoner lay on his back on the corner of the gas station, looking half conscious. The station’s price sign—outrageous prices by the way—teetered and came crashing into the street, causing cars to swerve and stop. Scorpio must’ve pushed Stoner right through the metal sign.
I couldn’t see Scorpio, of course, but he spoke up in front of me, causing me to start. “I’ve got his Star Stone,” he said. “Be right back.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he flew off with a whooshing sound. Okay….
I looked up at the hole in the gas station canopy, guessing that Scorpio flew through it. I noticed a crowd of people surrounding the gas station, keeping their distance, but daring to get close enough to see what was going on. I could hear police sirens and helicopters in the distance, unsure if they were approaching or not.
I lowered my gaze to Stoner. He sat up, dazed and hurt. He looked weak, powerless. I wiped some blood off of my nose and strode toward him.
Chapter 40
Michael
That one hurt.
I groaned as I sat up, my ribs, back, and head throbbing. My bo
ttom lip was very swollen. We were so close! We’d almost taken the advantage by removing Ray’s powers, but Zack stopped me!
I looked up. Ray walked toward me, looking angry. He had blood all over his face and bare chest. His nose looked broken, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
I tried surging my powers and pushing myself to my feet, but I gasped at the pain that suddenly sucked at my gut. I immediately turned off my powers and stumbled to my knees. The pain stopped and I felt overwhelmingly exhausted.
My powers! Gone! Zack took my stone!
Panic gripped at my chest. I looked up again at Ray, breathing hard from the exertion of using my powers without my stone. He’d reignited the flames on his hands. The sound was surprisingly loud, like two welders hard at work.
He stood above me, his red-glowing eyes narrowed on me. I didn’t move. There was no point. Without my powers I couldn’t outrun Ray.
He brought his right hand back, preparing to give me a final, fiery backhand. I turned away from him and cringed, anticipating more pain and probably death.
But nothing happened. I opened my eyes and looked up at him.
Ray still held his hand back, the fire illuminating his face, but didn’t strike. His expression was hard to read.
His hesitation cost him. I blinked and Ray was gone!
In his place stood Angela, her glass-looking wings surrounding the both of us. I heard a crash to my right. Across the street and through Angela’s wings, I saw a man-sized hole right through the middle of a Mexican restaurant. People flooded out of the restaurant, screaming. Angela had swiped Ray across the street with her wings. It was too fast for me to see without my powers.
“Are you okay?” Angela asked, looking concerned and helping me to my feet.
“Well, Ray almost killed me,” I said. “Oh, and Zack took my stone. So, no. I’m not okay.”
“He took your stone?” She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. Her white-glowing eyes darted back and forth as she took in the information. “Michael, this isn’t good. This…” She looked up at me. “I can find your stone! I bet your cousin took it to Mark back at that abandoned building! I know where he is!”
“The other Starling? Why would he want my stone?”
“I don’t know, but I’m telling you, we have got to get it away from him! Somehow, Mark knows more about Starlings than even my dad. He might even know how to destroy your stone, and we don’t really know what that could do to you!”
We didn’t know, but feared the worst. Would it kill me if my stone were destroyed? “No, Angela, we’ve got to run!” I said. “You can’t face Zack and Ray alone!”
“I can handle them—they can’t get through my wings.”
“No! Don’t go risking your life for me!”
“I’ll be risking your life if I don’t do anything!”
“But they could kill you!”
“And Mark could kill you!”
“Angela—”
“Michael!” She grabbed my hands and gripped them firmly. “I… I care too much for you! I can’t lose you!”
I blinked, finding it hard to argue with her. We both basically had the same argument anyways.
“If there’s a chance that I can keep Mark from crushing your stone…” she said, “then I’m taking it!
I shook my head. “I don’t want—there’s Ray!”
She turned around to see Ray emerge out of the hole in the Mexican restaurant, his hands on fire, a frustrated snarl on his face. Clusters of people who stood around watching took a good look at Ray and ran.
“I can’t take you with me, Michael” Angela said while watching Ray through her wings from across the street. “I’ve got to hide you!”
“What—”
My words were caught in my throat as my world became a blur. In a flash, we were somewhere else. My head was spinning from the rush. I think Angela had picked me up and ran me a few blocks away from Ray. I leaned against a nearby wall to balm the queasiness. So this is how normal people feel when they get moved around at super speed.
I took in my surroundings. We were next to Dan’s Barber Shop. I’d never heard of it, but that’s what the sign said. There was a five-foot wall of bushes around the entrance of the closed shop that made it a great hiding spot. The street wasn’t very busy either, so the lack of headlights made it pretty dark.
“Stay here,” Angela ordered. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus on her. “I’ll be right back with your stone.”
“But—”
She bent her knees and launched into the air; the blast wave from her jump toppled me over. I realized just how many bruises I had as I hit the sidewalk. Angela soared high into the air, shifted her direction toward Trotting Park, and disappeared over the buildings.
“Be safe,” I said softly to the sky, feeling grateful and mad at her at the same time for leaving me here. I lowered my eyes and scanned the street corner where Angela’d dropped me off. The sidewalks were free of pedestrians and only a couple cars passed by with their headlights on.
I looked at my scraped hands and sighed. No stone. No powers. No way to help. “Well, now what?”
Chapter 41
Ray
I stood in the air, high above the city, watching for any movement. New Girl had given me the slip. She probably wanted to get Stoner out of the way since he was powerless now. I could’ve killed him. The thought made me tremble. I can’t believe it; I almost killed him.
I had joked about killing people just to get my way as a god, but it wasn’t funny anymore. This was very serious. I almost murdered a guy, and that left me unsettled. I tried to shake off the feeling.
Movement in the distance caught my attention. “There you are,” I said. New Girl flew fast over the city and it looked like she was heading toward the abandoned horse racing track. Why was she going there? Hadn’t she just escaped from there? Maybe she wanted to defeat Mark for some reason. I didn’t like him at the moment, but I did need him to teach me the Third Degree, so she needed to be stopped.
I exploded into motion, flying hard to cut her off before getting to Mark’s hideout. Just as our paths crossed, I chucked a basketball-sized fireball at her. She noticed it just in time and brought up her wings to block it. The fireball was meant to just stop her, and it worked. I hovered in the air between her and the hideout, my arms folded, letting her know that she would have to get through me first.
She wasn’t in the mood to chat. Without hesitating, she flew at me at an upward angle, trying to go over my head. I quickly summoned a fireball and flung it at her. She blocked it, of course, with her annoying wings, and this time she didn’t let it slow her down.
I flew after her, cutting her off again, and this time I took the time to form a much larger fireball and toss it at her. When she blocked it, the blow was powerful enough to knock her backwards, away from the hideout.
As soon as New Girl stopped her backward motion, she immediately rocketed to the side, trying to go around me. She was certainly persistent in going to the hideout, but I wouldn’t let her.
I threw a slew of fireballs at her as fast as I could. Each one crashed into her force field, knocking her back a ways, but she would keep on pushing forward, never toward me, but around. I was definitely slowing her down, but the truth was she was making gradual progress toward the hideout. I needed to come up with another idea to stop her.
We were probably a little over a mile or two away from the hideout. The city’s lights burned brightly below us, but I noticed some other lights nearby above us. Helicopters. A few helicopters aimed their spotlights at New Girl and I, and the pilots seemed to be keeping their distance. Probably because of all the explosions of my fireballs hitting her force field wings.
No time to think about them. I need to stop New Girl somehow. Suddenly, I understood how all of my linemen felt while trying to defend their quarter back. I felt bad for all the times I gave them a hard time or blamed them for getting me sacked. It’s a tough job.
>
Whoosh!
“Need some help?”
I looked to my left and saw nobody. “Invisguy!” I said.
“Seriously?” he said. “You finally call me Scorpio like ten minutes ago, but not now?”
“You took too long. Did you stop to get an invisible manicure or something?”
I imagined him rolling his eyes. I summoned another fireball and chucked it at New Girl. She dodged it, so I had to move closer to the hideout and to cut her off and throw another fireball. This one hit her wings and knocked her back.
“I was talking with Mark,” Invisiguy said, obviously flying with me as I fought New Girl. “He has Orion’s Star Stone and told me that we need to kill him now.”
I paused. “Kill Stoner?”
“Yep.” Invisiguy’s tone creeped me out. “I didn’t want to at first, but Mark said it’s the only way to ensure that Michael will never abuse his powers again. And he won’t teach us the Third Degree if we don’t.”
“Seriously?” Something felt off about this. And not just the whole killing-Stoner thing. Something about Mark.
“Yep. But first things first. We’ve got to stop Angela.”
Michael
A black car screeched to a stop beside the sidewalk. The driver door opened and Dad leaned out of the car. “Michael, get in!”
I didn’t hesitate. I ran around to the passenger side and jumped in, just as the car lurched back into motion.
“Thanks, Dad!” I said, feeling grateful to be moving somewhat fast again.
“Don’t mention it. Okay, you said on the phone that you would fill me in as soon as I picked you up, so, I’m ready. Fill me in. You said you were in trouble…”
Dad drove swiftly; his eyes looked intense behind his glasses. He still wore his pin stripe suit and bowtie.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ve got to tell you something crazy, Dad.”
Orion: A Heroic Novel Page 26