The Angel

by Blaire Hammond

  ‘Drew, again, you’re not gay,’ Caspian retorted. ‘Just because I am doesn’t mean I’m going to like every guy I meet.’

  ‘Fine, whatever, I get it. I’m not your type. At least someone here thinks I’m handsome, right Laura?’

  He watched as Laura turned away from him, linking arms with Caspian and hastening off to dinner.

  ‘Whatever you say,’ she called over her shoulder.

  ‘Rude. Would you at least say I’m cute?’ He shouted after them, hurrying to catch up.

  They both ignored him.

  ~

  Grace settled down beside Logan in their bed, nudging him with her elbow.

  ‘Hmm?’ He asked, rolling over so he could see her face.

  ‘I haven’t seen you all day. Are you… okay?’ She asked quietly.

  She hadn’t seen him during the battle, but she’d heard that one of the Creatures from his group had been killed. She had missed him for dinner even, as he, Gemma and Mitch had been reporting on what happened to Obverse and Megan. He’d gone straight to bed afterwards, and Grace worried that something else had happened.

  Logan’s eyes watched her, bleary and blinking. He sat up a little, head resting against the bed head.

  ‘I’m okay. It was just a long day.’

  Grace could see he was holding something back, but she also knew him well enough to know when not to press him. He wasn’t ready to talk about it, and she understood that. The things they’d seen in the battle… the things they’d done… she wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about it herself.

  She peered around the dark room. They’d taken up residence in one of the few hotels that was still mostly intact. Fitting thousands of people and creatures into only three hotels had been quite a task, so doubling up became necessary. Some still slept on the ships.

  Grace gazed back at Logan, at the distant look in his eyes. She reached out a hand, lacing her fingers through his. He glanced across at her, a grim but grateful smile on his lips.

  ‘From now on, I want to request that we stay together. I don’t want to go into another fight knowing you’re out there somewhere,’ he said quietly.

  Grace understood what he was saying. While she’d battled the Wicked, her mind had permanently been on Logan, on where was, on if he was okay.

  She nodded lightly to him.

  He squeezed her hand. ‘Thank you. I know you can handle yourself just fine. You’re a great fighter. But I just don’t want to be worrying about losing you…’ He trailed off.

  Grace knew what he meant, and she felt the same. She rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling down against him. They would not go through the war alone.

  ‘No matter what happens, I want you to know, I love you Grace. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.’

  Grace’s heart pace quickened, but she didn’t dare look up at him for fear of breaking down. Part of her wanted to tell him not to say such things. They would survive. It would all be okay. But she knew deep down, in the dark depths of her soul, that it was a promise she simply could not make.

  ‘I love you too, okay? Never forget that,’ she whispered back to him.

  He reached his arms around her, hugging her to him, and together, they drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

  ~

  Erebus marched down the long hall to his office. His plans had been falling apart, and his anger and frustration had been taking over. But, at last, all was back on track. The Devils had agreed that it was their time to rise, and Erebus knew that with their help, they would tip the war in his direction.

  In addition, he’d found his Sorcerer, and not only was she willing to help, but she’d been determined to come back with him instantly so she was ready for any moment when her assistance might be required.

  The Wicked had reported a sighting of Laura in Lastrala upon his return, so he knew where he had to send the Devils. Once he had the girl, he could finally have all the power he required. Not only that, but he would have access to the Gods. Calling upon them through the girl’s power would open a connection with them, allowing the Devils the opportunity they needed to gain access to them and their Heavens.

  Once the Devils had Heaven and Hell, they would be satisfied and his promise to them would be fulfilled, allowing him to move forward with Elixir. Then, with them out of the way, he would finally be able to take over the world, as he’d always desired, as he’d always planned.

  He laughed to himself. Yes, all was falling into place indeed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Believe And Receive

  The wind was cool against Leo’s face as he walked the length of the ships deck. It barely seemed like much time had passed at all since they’d left Stella’s parents, but already they’d been at sea for a week and were closing in on Lastrala. They’d heard that a number of coastal cities at the tip had been secured by a team of warriors, and Leo couldn’t deny the wonder he felt at who could possibly have been behind it.

  They’d decided it would be worthwhile heading there to meet up with the team working on safeguarding Lastrala again. He was keen to see if they could help in any way. In addition, Leo still worried for Stella, who while she insisted she was well enough to fight, he knew she was still feeling the aches and pains of her ordeal. He hoped taking her into a safer part of the battle would keep her from risking further injury.

  It looked as though they weren’t the only ones with the idea of heading to Lastrala’s tip. Several Enchanted ships met them on the way, heading in the same direction, interested in seeing the warriors that had battled hundreds of Wicked in a matter of days. In addition to that, it seemed as though a number of smaller islands around Lastrala had already been wrestled back into the Enchanted’s hands. They had been transformed into refugee camps for the Humans to escape to, and thus many other Enchanted they met on the journey were hurrying down to lend a hand in keeping the Humans safe. After their long trip, they were closing in on Lastrala, and it seemed they would reach land by midday.

  ‘It’s cold out here,’ Stella said, wandering up beside him.

  Leo glanced across at his wife, reaching an arm out and pulling her into his side.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ He asked lightly.

  ‘Good. No pain today, I think it’s finally subsiding.’

  Leo was pleased to hear that. Since her rescue, she’d been struggling with regaining use of her hand. It wasn’t her main sword hand, but it was still difficult to simply return to how things had been before. She had a way to go before she would be able to fight as she once had.

  ‘Not far now?’ She asked.

  Leo nodded against her hair, simply enjoying the feeling of being able to hug her to him.

  ‘I hope we can help,’ she commented.

  They hadn’t brought many Enchanted with them, only Stella’s brothers and a few who had made a last minute decision to come along. But they had quickly become a fleet of ships all heading for Lastrala, so Leo didn’t feel as empty handed as he initially had.

  His only concern had been Wicked Ships targeting them, but it appeared as though the Enchanted had fortified the waters around Lastrala too, for they were met with no troubles.

  ‘If we can rescue all of Lastrala, do you think this thing will come to an end?’ Stella asked after a while.

  Leo had wondered about that himself. He knew that if they managed to wrestle Lastrala out of Erebus’s grasp, then it would be a huge blow. But even so, there was much to do with many countries that remained under his influence.

  ‘I don’t know. These warriors have been doing a good job, but it’s still taken them over a week to flush the Wicked from this coast. It will be a long time before we rid all of Lastrala of the Wicked. And who knows what state or position we will be in by then. We might be so run down or exhausted that we simply can’t keep fighting. Or we might never beat them. Or maybe, if we’re lucky, they might surrender. But it’s hard to say.’

  Stella sighed. ‘It seems like it will never end. Is th
is going to be our lives from now on? Running, fighting, constantly scared?’

  Leo hugged his wife tighter. ‘I hope not.’

  The sun was high in the sky when they docked. They’d passed through a line of Enchanted ships that guarded the coast, which explained why they hadn’t been met with any Wicked forces, and after informing them of their intentions to lend a hand, had sailed through. As they reached the harbor and anchored, an Enchanted with the title of General Lain came to greet them, explaining the situation and thanking them for their assistance. He also warned them that they were not the only ones fighting against the Wicked in the war, so not to be alarmed by some of the Creatures in the city.

  Leo wasn’t sure what to make of that, he didn’t quite understand what the General meant. At least, until he and Stella followed the older man into town, passing by a group of animals that… well they were a mixture of many different types of animals really. A lion body with a bird head and large hooves for feet. A snake body with a lizard head and shaggy hair. A dog’s body with a large spider looking head and spiked horns down its back. They were creatures he’d never seen before in his life, and had the General not explained that they were on the Enchanted’s side, he would have been inclined to fight them.

  He restrained, and waved nervously when they all turned and greeted him with a smile or nod of the head. It was a bizarre moment, and he hoped to ask the General where they had come from and who the animals were when they had a moment alone.

  ‘We’ve managed to secure nine surrounding cities up and down the coast so far. Today was our first day sending teams out into the land to start pushing Wicked back out to the seas. It’s been quite a fight so far, but there have been many more casualties on their side than ours,’ the General explained as he led them through the city, pointing out the various set ups like the hospital, the weapons building, the training ring, the sleeping quarters and, to Leo’s surprise, the cure clinic.

  ‘Cure clinic?’ Stella asked before he could himself.

  ‘Yes, we have a scientist working on curing the Humans that have been converted to Enchanted. He’s already created something for the Enchanted, and we’ve managed to capture and successfully turn back over four hundred converted Enchanted so far. The secret was Angel blood balanced with a number of other ingredients, and surprisingly, barely more than a drop of the cure is needed in order to change the Converted back. He’s a bit stumped on the Humans, but we have many Humans working willingly with him to find a way to turn them back.’

  Leo was shocked at the news. He hadn’t yet heard anything about a cure being found, and the fact that it had not only been discovered, but was being administered already, was incredible. It was a kick to the guts that there were Humans that were being experimented on still, but knowing that the scientist was working on undoing that too, put his mind at ease.

  ‘We have eight teams returning tonight, they’ll be swapped out with our next lot. We try to have a number of teams out at a time, but enough here to hold the fort. I’ll be going out tonight, but I’m sure Loki can take over in explaining everything to you and showing you around. Once you’ve unpacked and had a chance to rest from your journey we can assign you positions,’ General Lain told them.

  Leo was amazed at the set-up, at all that had been achieved in a few short weeks. Perhaps he’d been wrong in his grim outlook of the future. Maybe they could take back all of Lastrala soon.

  ‘Here’s the most recently cleared Hotel. You can bring your people here to rest up. We’ll have the supper tents open from six so come down, get something to eat and meet more of the teams.’

  Leo nodded at the General, shaking his hand in thanks. He and Stella hurried back to their ship to unpack their things and gather everyone before leading them to the hotel and assigning everyone rooms, all the while passing on the information the General had given to them.

  Leo let Stella rest for a while in the room, knowing she would be in desperate need of a proper sleep after spending a week on a thin mattress, and wandered about the city, scoping out where everything was and introducing himself to a number of the Enchanted. There were many of the strange animals about, and other people covered in tattoos. He’d never seen their kind before, he wondered if they were Humans. The fact that they had battle gear on, however, threw him.

  Soon, night began to fall and he made his way back to the hotel to check on Stella. She was already up and ready to go when he arrived at their door, and the two of them headed down to the supper tent. They fell in with a group of Enchanted who filled them in on a number of the battles and how the war was going. They told them of the Humans and how many had already been rescued and moved off to one of the islands for safety.

  Leo was listening intently, digging into his soup, when there was a loud cheer from behind him and Enchanted started rising from their seats. He turned, peering over his shoulder. He couldn’t see much through the people standing and shouting or raising their cups.

  ‘What is it?’ Stella asked.

  Leo stood, turning to get a better look. He could see a number of Enchanted, creatures and tattooed people approaching. They must have been the teams returning from the battle. Then, there was a flicker of golden hair in the night. He rose up higher on his toes to get a better look, and his eyes widened in shock.

  ‘Stel, get up!’ He said quickly, helping her from her seat.

  ‘Leo, what’s wrong?’ She asked, concerned.

  But Leo didn’t answer her – couldn’t. His heart was hammering in his chest, taking away his ability to form a coherent sentence. He simply grasped her hand and took off, weaving his way through the people. He emerged through a gap at the front, and there they were. All of them. Caspian, Drew, Laura, Grace, Gemma, Mitch, Logan and Oscar. They wore their weapons with pride, and their battle gear was stained with sweat, dirt and blood, but Leo didn’t care.

  Stella cried out and the two of them were running for their students – their children.

  Someone else yelled something, and then there were shouts of delight and joy and tears of relief as the two of them collided with their students. He couldn’t believe it. He could hardly believe that somehow, through the power of hope, they were led back to their students, only to find them all alive.

  Leo couldn’t hold in the tears that covered his cheeks. He was in shock and disbelief. He hadn’t expected to see them, but the moment he had, it was as if everything clicked into place. The people with the tattoos were the Mariadies. Of course they were – Oscar must have convinced them to help. The Enchanted must have been drawn together by them, creating an unstoppable force.

  Laura too must have found help in the creatures. Perhaps they were the ones who had given her answers about her power. He would have to ask, but in the moment, he simply didn’t care, for he was back with his whole family again, and nothing would tear them apart.

  ~

  Stella couldn’t hold in the constant stream of tears that flooded from her eyes and down her cheeks. Even after an hour of talking with her students, hearing about their journeys, of Caspian and Oscar convincing the Mariadies to come help and finding Erine who was able to cure the Enchanted. Of Laura and Gemma, who found the Casters, who were like Laura, and taught her to use her gift. Of the Creatures who came with them to fight. Of Mitch, Grace, Logan and Drew who tracked down Mr Stark and killed him, then rescued over a hundred Humans and sailed them to safety.

  She was so proud of them. So proud of the things they had each done and the hand that they’d played in bringing everyone together to fight in the war. She couldn’t believe they were all there, sitting in front of her. She hadn’t known she’d find them in Lastrala. She hadn’t a single idea of where to even begin searching for them. But somehow, a force above must have subconsciously led them back to one another. There was no other explanation for it. They were meant to be together; all of them.

  After a time, it was Leo and Stella’s turn to share their story of what had happened after the portal had closed, lock
ing them in Alast. Leo took over telling most of the story, but Stella spoke quietly when she told them of Erebus taking her hostage and torturing her.

  Grace and Laura sat either side of her, hugging her and holding her hands, and she could see the shock and pain in all her students faces as she relayed some of what happened. She couldn’t tell them everything. She didn’t really want to re-live it herself, let alone have them picture it. Regardless, she wasn’t going to hide anything from them, so she told them what she could, then allowed Leo to take back over as he told them how he managed to track her down.

  She could hear the pain in his voice when he told them the truth he’d discovered of his mother, and what his father had done to help them escape. It was still a raw spot for him, Stella knew that. He hadn’t yet had the chance to come to terms with it, and she suspected it would be a while before he would be able to. There was still much to do yet.

  They talked long into the night, her students telling them of the current state of the war and what they knew of Erebus. They hadn’t heard much from him, which was about right. He always had his Wicked do his dirty work.

  Listening to her students speak, Stella couldn’t dull the respect she felt for each of them. They’d been forced to grow up so fast. Losing their parents at such young ages in such brutal ways was bound to do that, but seeing how that had shaped them to be the strong, resilient, Enchanted that they were brought her such immense feelings of pride and happiness. It was a strange happiness – for she would never have wanted her students to face the things they were forced to at such a young age – but it was a happiness that allowed her to trust that her students were capable and that they knew what they were doing.

  After a time, Stella noticed a number of her students beginning to nod off. She knew they’d come back from the battle, and that they needed rest, so she insisted that they head up to their beds to rest.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Grace had asked, gripping her hand.

  Stella had nodded. ‘We’ll be here in the morning. We can talk more then, and you can show us around the rest of the set up. Plus, I’m sure Archer and the others will be happy to see you.’