The Angel

by Blaire Hammond

  ‘All the converted Enchanted are back to normal as well. After further investigation, Erine discovered that whatever Erebus had done to them, it was beyond just making them Wicked. He injected pure evil into them, mixed with Wicked blood. We don’t know what it was. Demon blood, perhaps? It would explain the need for Angel blood to counteract it. Or it could have just been the fact that it was the blood of the dead, which many suspect.

  He’s still looking into it, but everyone is back to their usual selves which is the main thing. Again, there are counselling services available to anyone, converted Enchanted or otherwise, to attend, so that’s been really amazing. It’s been helping us all move on, I think. It will take a long time though. You know, to forget.

  The good thing is that the Devils have gone back to their Hell, sulking after losing the war. The God’s are happy, back in their heavens too. They… well, they were pretty angry after Terian’s death. It was enough to fuel them onwards, ending the war for good. They still mourn those they lost, as we all do, but they are pleased to see peace here on Elixir again.

  The Mariadies have returned to their home as well. The Grand Court thanked them for their aid in the war, and they helped with the clean-up as best they could. Loki has promised to open a trade route with the Enchanted, and the Enchanted have promised to let them come train for any position with them that they please. They are welcomed in the Spirit World, whenever they desire, and Loki has made it clear that should anyone wish to come train with them in turn, they are free to do so.

  I suspect it will take time, just as it will with the Wicked, as with everything really, but it’s a start. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see them in our world again, fighting beside us and living next door. But all the Enchanted see them as the heroes they are, and they are slowly working towards opening their lives up to us again.

  The Casters and Creatures returned to Mist Roe last week too. The Grand Courts have promised to leave them in peace. They’ve told them the door is always open should they want to come live with the Enchanted, and the Casters have said they would be happy to accept anyone who would like to come live with them. Mist Roe is no longer protected in the way it was, opening it up more to us if we want to visit. The Grand Courts made it clear to everyone, though, that the land belonged to the Casters and Creatures and no one was to impose.

  The Casters appreciated that, but still, it’s been hard. They lost a few of their people, as we all did. But they also lost their chief.’

  Laura reached up, removing her mask as the memory of Megan’s death hit her full force.

  ‘Megan?’ She choked out, and began to cough uncontrollably.

  ‘Hey, hey. Take a breath. Here, here’s some more water,’ Stella said soothingly as she refilled Laura’s glass and gave her another sip.

  Tears rolled down Laura’s cheeks, not from the coughing but from the flashes of memory of her final moments. Of all who had been killed.

  ‘Who else?’ Laura asked as Stella placed the glass back on the bedside table.

  Stella helped Laura replace her breathing mask, then sat back in her chair, her face solemn.

  ‘Creshan didn’t make it. He died on the battle field. And so did Oscar.’

  Laura couldn’t hold back the tears that leaked down her temples and cheeks. She could still recall the moment when Oscar had dove in front of Caspian, taking a dagger straight to the heart. It pained her to know she’d survived an injury he too sustained. It was hardly fair. He still had so much life to live.

  Laura remembered Caspian’s shouts, his determination to protect the already dead body from the approaching Wicked. She couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling or going through.

  She tried to remove her mask again, but her hand fell to the bed, weakened by the coughing. Stella seemed to know what she wanted to ask, and her eyes welled with tears of her own.

  ‘Caspian’s taken it pretty hard. He needs time,’ she told Laura. ‘A lot of people died. The Mariadies, Casters and Creatures took their dead back to their homes to bid them farewell. The Wicked held their own service to say their goodbyes.

  The Enchanted will be having their burial soon as well. We managed to recover Robin’s body for Mitch, so he was able to bury him back home, and your mother has been laid to rest alongside your father. I’m sorry you couldn’t be there. But we just weren’t sure…’

  Laura’s fingers reached for Stella’s, and Stella took her hand again. She was sad, yes, but she was content. She’d said her goodbye’s to her mother and her father. She knew that somewhere, above, they were living together, as happy as they’d always been.

  ‘There’s something else…’ Stella began, biting her trembling lip, her usually bright blue eyes growing dull. ‘It’s, um. It’s Logan. He was injured in the battle.’

  Laura remembered that too. She squeezed her eyes shut, begging, praying, that he had survived.

  ‘He’s alive. But his leg- it’s bad. The Casters have tried to heal it, but there must have been poison on the weapon. They say that the only person strong enough to heal him would be the chief, for she can draw on the power of her ancestors as well. But Megan’s… Well, she can’t heal him, and the Casters have no chief for Megan never had a child,’ she paused, pressing her lips together, then said. ‘Logan’s probably going to lose his leg.’

  Laura knew the warm tears had returned, for they were sliding down her cheeks. She felt awful for her friend. For Grace. For everyone forced to watch as Logan struggled to come to terms with what was going to happen. He would never be a Guardian, a fighter, like he’d always dreamed.

  Stella sat there, quiet for a long while, the two of them gripping hands and allowing themselves to think through all that had occurred. Then, Stella let go of Laura’s fingers, and reached for something on the bedside table.

  ‘Megan left this for you, weeks ago. She asked her Casters to give it to you if anything ever happened to her. They passed it on to me and I’ve been holding on to it ever since.’

  Stella’s hand extended, a cream envelope grasped between her fingers. She laid it to rest on the bed beside Laura.

  ‘I’ll let you get some rest. I probably need to tell the others you’re awake. The Nurses will want to check on you soon too.’

  Laura glanced at the letter, then at Stella, knowing she was really leaving so Laura could read it in private. Laura managed a nod and smile through her mask.

  ‘I’m so glad to see that smile again.’ Stella told her kindly, then bent down and gave her a gentle hug.

  Laura was able to reach one arm around her, her weakened and aching limbs screaming in protest. But she allowed herself a moment, hugging the woman she’d come to love as much as a mother.

  ‘Thank you for everything,’ she whispered through her mask.

  Stella nodded into her shoulder, then straightened and left the room.

  Laura watched her go, then turned her gaze to the letter.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Acceptance

  Days passed, and still Laura couldn’t bring herself to read Megan’s letter. It sat on her bedside table, begging to be read. But she didn’t know what it would say, and that scared her.

  She knew she was being silly, and with each day she grew stronger and stronger, so she was sure she’d be able to handle it, but even so, it sat there, unopened.

  Laura was breathing on her own by the fourth day, and sitting up by the fifth. In that time, almost everyone had come to see her, telling her about what was happening in the outside world.

  Everyone, that was, except Drew. Grace told her he was just busy. That he would come as soon as he could. But Laura knew it was something more than that. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened the moment she had ended Erebus. Had she said something? Had Erebus managed to say something, pretending to be her?

  Laura tried to ignore the growing worry. He would come when he could, she told herself. She’d see him soon.

  Stella returned daily, checking on her and sitting wi
th her. On the sixth day, Laura told her about what had happened when she’d been in the coma. She told her about what she saw, and about what her mother had told her.

  Stella had been worried about Cara’s warning about Erebus too, but Laura knew they couldn’t dwell on it. All they could do was continue to unite the Spirit World, so that should he ever rise again as a Demon, they would be ready.

  For the time being, though, they had to live in the now. They couldn’t spend their days worrying about what could happen. Laura wouldn’t allow herself to live like that. She’d been given a second chance, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

  ~

  Gemma sat, knees folded beneath her, beside Mitch at Robin’s grave, listening to him talk to Robin. He told Robin about what had happened after his death, about being taken hostage in Alast, about killing Mr Stark, about the war and about Laura killing Erebus.

  Gemma knew Mitch needed it. It had been their first time visiting his grave since properly burying him after a group of Wicked discovered his body in Erebus’s hideout in Mount Bain. Gemma could see that simply being there, talking, was bringing Mitch peace.

  She didn’t speak, only rested quietly, allowing Mitch to say whatever he wanted to. He’d asked her to come, though. He’d told her he had wanted her to be there; that she was as much a part of him as Robin was, and he wanted Robin to see that.

  It warmed Gemma’s heart to hear that. To know she meant as much to Mitch as he’d come to mean to her. It was funny to think back on when they first met. On how she’d teased and mocked him. On how she’d distrusted him. How far they’d come!

  Gemma couldn’t imagine her life without Mitch in it anymore. She had never expected to find him, had never thought she could feel so strongly about someone after losing her parents. But Mitch had opened her heart again. He’d allowed her to learn to trust completely, and in turn, she’d become happier for it.

  She would still always struggle with her past, with the memory of her families’ betrayal, but she knew Mitch would be there for her through it all, just as she was there for him.

  ‘Your parents miss you,’ Mitch said. ‘We had a big family dinner, you know, like those one’s we all use to have, with the cousins and second cousins and third cousins and aunts and uncles and all that. Everyone was there. We all survived the war. I was sure I’d lose other family, but nope. We all made it through. Anyway, we came together, and we celebrated you. I know how much you hate attention, but I think even you would have loved this. It was fun. Really fun. And the number one thing everyone said was how proud of you they were. Well, that and how much we all miss you. But I’m sure you know that. You were probably there, glad we couldn’t see how red your face was,’ Mitch chuckled, trailing off, a smile on his lips. ‘I guess you’ve probably noticed by now that I’m not here alone,’ he said out of the blue.

  Gemma smiled a little as he glanced sideways at her.

  ‘You remember Gemma, right? Yeah, well. We’re kinda a thing now. I can just imagine you laughing at me. I mean, you always made fun of me when I denied liking her. Turns out you were right, as always. No need to grin too hard about it.’

  Gemma chuckled and Mitch reached an arm around her, drawing her into his side.

  ‘I miss you all the time, Robin. I never really told you enough how important you were to me, but I suspect you knew that regardless. Still, you’re my best friend. You always will be. And I hope you’re having a great time up there with all the Angels and Gods. Don’t party too hard, all right?’ Mitch laughed, eyes coming to rest back on Robin’s grave. ‘Well. We have to get back to Alast. We have the memorial today for everyone we lost in the war. But I’ll return soon, okay?’

  The two of them stood, each laying to rest their bundles of flowers on Robin’s grave. Mitch stared at the headstone for a moment, reading over the words written there.

  In loving memory of,

  Robin Larkin

  Brave. Kind. Selfless.

  Mitch had asked for those three words especially, because, as he’d told Gemma, Robin was all three of those things, and had been from the very beginning until the very end.

  Mitch took Gemma’s hand, and together, the two of them turned away, crossed the graveyard and headed for their car.

  ~

  Logan swallowed the tablets, trying to ignore the constant pain thrumming through his leg. It never left him. All it did was serve as a prominent reminder that soon, if the healers found no cure for the poison, he would lose it all together.

  Drew took his glass and placed it on the bedside table, sitting back down on the leather sofa in the corner of the room. Caspian stood by the window, peering down at Alast, taking in the bright day, though that sunniness surely did not reflect in his face.

  Stella and Leo were meeting with General Lain about the memorial, and Grace was sitting with Laura. Logan was one of the only one’s yet to see her thanks to his injury, though he’d sent notes back and forth through the others.

  The other one who was yet to visit her was Drew.

  Logan hadn’t asked why, though he’d wanted too many a times. Drew was a complicated person, but then again, he supposed everyone was complicated in their own way. You could never tell someone how to think or feel. That was up to them.

  He’d heard from the others how worried Laura was becoming. She’d been asking after Drew, and despite that, he still hadn’t gone to her.

  Caspian had been to see her. He said she’d talked with him for a long time. Laura was the only one so far that Caspian had opened up to about Oscar. Logan understood that, at least. Losing someone can be hard. Sometimes, you don’t even know your own feelings, let alone trying to put them into words for someone else.

  But Caspian had changed a little since talking to Laura. He was still struggling, still falling into long silences as he remembered, but he wasn’t so consumed by the grief as he had been.

  It would be a long while before he was able to move on, though. Logan knew that. Everyone at the Corin manor did. They’d all lost someone, and they all knew the battle that followed inside.

  ‘Have you heard anything recently?’ Drew asked, breaking Logan from his thoughts.

  He met Drew’s gaze, then Caspian’s who turned to look at him. He shook his head.

  ‘They still don’t know the poison,’ Logan replied.

  He supposed he was just as complicated as the rest of them. He himself hadn’t talked to anyone about how worried he was about losing his leg. If he did, he would never be a Guardian, a Force Member, a Warrior, none of it. There would be no more fighting, no more battles, no more protecting the Humans.

  ‘They’ll figure something out, surely. There can’t be that many poisons, can there?’ Drew asked.

  ‘I thought so too, but apparently there are,’ Logan replied.

  ‘No matter what happens, we’ll be here to help you. With technology these days, you’ll be back on your feet in no time,’ said Drew.

  ‘Yeah. I’m sure you’re right,’ Logan replied. Then, he thought better of it. To hell with hiding his thoughts. Where had that gotten him in the past? Alone, sad, desperate. No, he was not alone. He had friends who loved and cared about him. He would not conceal his thoughts. ‘Except, I’m scared.’

  Drew straightened a little, and Caspian moved to sit at the end of his bed.

  ‘I don’t want to lose my leg,’ Logan told them honestly.

  Drew moved closer, dragging a chair over so he was beside Logan.

  ‘I can’t tell you it won’t happen, because I just don’t know. But no matter what, you will walk again. There are so many new ideas being thrown about in our world and the Human world. Even if you lose your leg, we’ll find a way to make sure you’re still the same person you were before. And even if we couldn’t do anything at all, that wouldn’t change you,’ Drew told him.

  ‘Exactly,’ Caspian agreed, shoving his golden hair out of his face. ‘You’d still always be Logan. The best swordsman of the Corin Manor. You don’t need e
ither leg to be able to wield your weapon.’

  Logan smiled a little at that, and suddenly he was glad for speaking the truth in his heart. It showed how much his friends cared. And he felt better for it.

  ‘Okay, I’ve been honest. Now it’s your turns,’ Logan said.

  Caspian looked away and Drew started fiddling with the rug on Logan’s bed.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Caspian mumbled.

  ‘Yes you do. I know you’ve been talking to Laura, but you have us too. We’re all here for you, no matter what,’ Logan said firmly.

  Caspian glanced back at them, a sad expression on his face. Then he blinked and swallowed.

  ‘I miss him a lot. I mean, I thought we were going to have years to get to know each other. I didn’t even think of asking what his favourite colour was or who his childhood best friend was. I just assumed we had a whole future together, you know? And then- and then it was just all gone. Easy as that.’

  Caspian crossed his arms, leaning back against the end of the bed.

  ‘I just wish we’d had more time.’

  Drew reached across, resting a hand on his friends shoulder.

  ‘We do too. You deserved a lifetime together,’ he said quietly.

  ‘You really did,’ Logan agreed.

  ‘But he gave you something much more special than that. He gave you a chance to live. He gave you what you never thought you’d have before – a future. And he showed you how much you meant to him, because he was willing to die so you could live.’

  Caspian reached up, brushing away a stray tear, and swallowing again.

  ‘That means a lot to hear,’ he told them.

  They sat in silence for a moment, before Logan looked to Drew. Caspian did too, waiting for him to speak.

  With a forced sigh, he sat back down in the chair and leant his elbows on his knees, his head hanging in shame.

  ‘She asked me to forgive her. But how could she ever forgive me?’ He said, more so to himself then to them. ‘I was utterly useless, standing there. I had the dagger in my hand. I could have done it. But I didn’t. I just watched as she had to turn her own sword on herself and do it. How could she ever forgive me for letting her do that? For letting her be the one to end it? To put herself through so much pain and suffering?’ He shook his head. ‘I should have protected her better to start with. I’d strayed too far from her in the fight. I’d made it easy for Erebus to take her.’