Grunts and growls greeted me from the left. I turned my head to find Gareth and Liam locked in a fight. Gareth still held tight to the knife, but Liam ducked and dodged like a pro, avoiding the blade with each thrust. Both of them had their fangs bared.
I scrambled to my feet, magic at the ready to help Liam, when a shot to my shoulder ruined my aim so that the blast landed over Gareth’s head. I whipped around to find the bitch in leather on her feet, another evil smile taking up residence on her lips. “You will pay for that, fairy.”
I groaned inwardly as she crouched and circled me. I bobbed and weaved right along with her, keeping a fair distance. Thoughts whirred around in my head as I tried to think of what this crazy chick was, so that I could come up with a defense. Her eyes shone with a dark blue light that matched the glow of her hands when the truth finally hit me.
“You’re a pixie.” The revelation filled me with dread. Pixies and fairies were not on friendly terms. Hadn’t been for quite some time. Pixies didn’t take kindly to being ruled by the Fae Council of Elders in the Hidden Realm.
Her creepy smile widened and two pointed incisors lowered to touch her bottom lip. “Nyssa, the vampire pixie, to be exact.”
I swallowed hard, the dread spreading through me like a dark disease. Just what I needed. As if pixies weren’t annoying enough, this one was also a vampire. Lord and Lady, please tell me this isn’t happening.
“But…how were you able to touch the silver rod you shoved into Liam? Wouldn’t it have poisoned you?”
Nyssa shrugged her narrow shoulders. “My pixie metabolism gives me a higher tolerance for silver. Takes longer for it to affect me. Gave me enough time to do my job.”
A cry of pain to my left pulled my attention away from Nyssa briefly. A gash across Liam’s right cheek beaded with blood as Gareth laughed with triumph. “Give it up, Liam. You and your fairy are no match for us. Surrender and I’ll make sure you get to actually take the last sip of blood from her body after I’ve had my share.”
Gareth’s taunts only fueled Liam’s anger, and he lunged toward Gareth with a yell. A sarcastic chuckle from Nyssa brought my attention back to her. “Only a matter of time. Why not make it easy on yourself?”
“You wish,” I snapped out before my brain had a chance to catch up with my mouth. Nyssa hissed at me and launched another blast of magic that clipped my right shoulder and sent me hurling backward into a wall. The heel of my right shoe caught in my skirt and I went down hard in a tangle of limbs that probably resembled a life sized rag doll.
Pain radiated through every nerve ending as stars danced before my eyes. I blinked them away and managed to untangle my arms and legs. The heel of my right shoe lay beside my foot like a lone dead soldier. The sight made me tear up. Not my shoes!
Nyssa’s maniacal laughter filled my ears as I stared in disbelief at my mangled footwear. “This was too easy. I’m going to truly enjoy this.”
I glanced up in time to witness Nyssa rear her arm back, a ball of indigo magic seated solidly in her hand. Time slowed to a crawl as I snuck a sideways glance to my left. Liam and Gareth were snarling and hissing as they circled each other like angry cats on the hunt. I closed my eyes and braced myself for what could possibly be my last breath.
I just want this to be over. Just make it stop. Please, just make it stop.
I held my breath and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Silence.
One eye popped open, then the other. Instead of an electrifying ball of pixie magic searing into my flesh, what I got was a scene totally frozen in time. I blinked, pretty sure I was hallucinating. I peered around the hallway in disbelief. Nyssa was a statue, her arm locked and loaded with her fireball of death. Gareth was frozen in place, the knife thrust before him, mere inches from plunging into Liam’s gut. Liam’s face was contorted in rage as he lunged toward Gareth, oblivious to the silver blade a mere second from entering his stomach.
I kicked off my broken shoes and jumped to my feet. Blood pumped through my veins like an ocean current, leaving me lightheaded and bewildered. I tiptoed over to Nyssa and poked her arm with my finger. She didn’t move. In fact, it didn’t even feel like the air even stirred in the poorly lit hallway.
What in the name of all that’s holy is going on?
The answer I got was a blinding white light that bathed me in heat. It swallowed the hallway whole, making me clamp my eyes tightly shut or risk being blinded for life. I even covered my face with my hands, just to be safe.
Feeling the light recede, I risked a peek. Familiar blue eyes framed by blond lashes peered back at me, concern radiating from their depths. “Micah?”
Micah worked at Hell House, making sure each of us got schooling since we weren’t allowed to attend mortal schools yet. He also helped Danielle with just about anything she asked him too, even stuff other people could handle. I was convinced Danielle had a thing for the guy. In fact, I think the little love fest went both ways, if you know what I mean. But that didn’t explain what he was doing in the hallway.
Graceful footfalls brought Micah to stand in front of me. Funny how I’d never noticed before how he kind of glided across a room. Weird. “Sora, are you all right?”
Still reeling and pretty addled, I managed a nod. But Micah apparently needed reassurance, so he proceeded to check me over himself. Once satisfied, he took stock of the paused scene in the hallway. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not on my watch.”
I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to form words. When I attempted speech, nothing but incoherent gibberish came out. Micah gently laid his hands on my shoulders and gazed into my eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Sora. You can fix this.”
Confusion finally released its death grip on my voice. “What do you mean, I can fix this? I don’t know what exactly happened here, but I didn’t do it!” I didn’t mean to yell, but my words came out as shrill as shrill can get.
Micah actually winced. “Calm down. Getting upset makes your powers go haywire. Even more so since your control over them isn’t fully developed.” He sighed and glanced around the room once more. “I’m afraid I’ve been failing at my job.”
I frowned, my forehead crinkling. “I don’t get any of this. Why are you here, and why do you think I did this…this…whatever it is?”
Micah gently took both of my hands and held them up between us. Every one of my fingers glowed with pearlescent light that radiated outward from each palm. The light pulsed with each thud of my heart in a steady rhythm. “The full range of your powers is yet to be known to you, Sora. You’re so young. I hoped to have more time to teach you, to allow you to mature and enjoy being a kid awhile longer.” He glanced pointedly over at Nyssa, the blue of his eyes darkening. “But there are always others out there that thwart the best laid plans.”
I slipped my hands from Micah’s grasp and slowly turned them over and back. The light hadn’t faded one bit. I had no recollection of calling forth magic or keeping it held steady. Could I really have done this? My vision blurred as tears burned behind my eyes. The whole evening had just been too much for this teenage fairy to handle. My shoulders slumped as my head hung low in misery.
Micah tipped my chin up with the tip of his finger. “Don’t cry. Though it feels like this life will pull you under, have faith that you will never be given more than you can take. All you need to do is center yourself and everything will turn out as it should. I promise.”
A tear trickled down my cheek and I wiped it away. “How can you know that? And how can you make such a promise?”
Micah smiled wistfully and hugged me tightly. “There are many who love you and watch over you, Sora. You are never alone. And you are destined for great things.”
The warmth of his hug filled me with hope and gave me strength. I’d always gotten along with Micah all right, but I had never realized until this very moment that I had come to depend on him, too. He patted me on the back and released me from
his arms. “I came because I sensed you were in grave danger, but it appears I was mistaken. You don’t need me for this. You can make everything right. The power is within you.”
My strength faltered and panic raced in to replace it. “What? You’re leaving? You can’t leave! I don’t know what in the heck I’m doing!” He couldn’t just leave me with this mess!
“You are stronger than you know, Sora Starwind. Have faith in your abilities. Have faith in yourself. All of Heaven does.” He stepped away while my brain took its time processing what he’d just said.
Why would Heaven have faith in a kid like me? And why would Micah know if it did?
A nugget of truth wiggled its way into my chaotic thoughts. Micah was my teacher, a guardian that always wanted me to have faith. That had to mean…
My breath caught in my chest as I gaped at the gentle man. His blond hair shone with light as he smiled at me. I swear, the guy looked positively…angelic. The many times I’d felt this way about him slammed into me all at once. “Well I’ll be.” I’d always suspected there was more to Micah than anyone realized. I wondered if Danielle knew we had a heavenly resident in our midst.
Micah tugged the hem of his powder blue sweater over the waistband of his khakis. “Anything is possible with faith. That’s what gives us hope. And hope is…well, hope is everything.” He closed his eyes and clasped his hands in front of his body.
The light around Micah intensified until it became difficult to see him. I held my hand up in front of my face to shield my vision as he opened his eyes again. “Your father alone has enough belief in you to repel a thousand doubts. He’s convinced you’ll even get your own set of wings one day. Perhaps we’ll even get our wings together.” With a wink, the light brightened and with a flash, Micah disappeared. I was left blinking away spots once again.
What had he said? My father believed in me? My dead father?
I swallowed hard, not knowing whether to believe what I’d heard with my own ears or chock the whole thing up to one very vivid hallucination brought on by terror. Still, if Micah was an actual angel, maybe he had been in contact with my father. Hell House came with its own resident ghost-boy, so I already knew there was much beyond the physical plane. And who said that fairies, angels, spirits, and the whole paranormal lot weren’t ingredients in one large spiritual gumbo that connected all of creation?
That thought alone was enough to make my head explode, so I pushed all my internal ramblings to the side. But not before I peered over my shoulder, imagining a set of gossamer wings on my back. Wings meant power in the Hidden Realm. And if Micah was correct about me having stopped time with my magic, then I had power in spades. No wonder the Council of Elders had wanted my magic for themselves. A lot of things in my life suddenly made more sense. However, more questions also popped to the surface. Micah and I certainly needed a nice long chat about things. If I survived my first date, that was.
Remembering the issue at hand, I surveyed the scene in the hallway once more. I wondered how long they would stay frozen like this if I did nothing. Maybe I would have enough time to drag Liam away. Though tempting, that action would just delay the inevitable. Gareth would track us down again and the whole process would start over, probably with innocent people caught in the middle. No, I needed to set things straight once and for all. Hadn’t I already surpassed what I considered my own limits already this evening? What’s one more step?
I breathed deeply to compose and center myself, like Micah had suggested. My hands still glowed and even tingled a little, now that I had calmed my nerves a bit. I had to be able to do this. Micah believed in me. Apparently, Heaven even had faith in my abilities. So why did I have such a hard time believing in myself?
Because I’m a teenage girl, duh.
I snorted at my own internal humor. Mortal or not, self-esteem was a fairly elusive beast. I thought of Zoe and all that she had endured in her mortal life. She’d watched her stepdad beat her mother on a regular basis. That had to mess up a person. Not to mention the fact that said stepdad eventually beat Zoe to death as well. Bad mojo all around.
Even though I had dealt with a ton of issues regarding my mother, I still struggled on a daily basis. Because when it came right down to it, all I wanted was to belong somewhere. My friends at Hell House made me feel more at home than I ever had in the Hidden Realm. And now Liam added to that feeling, accepting me for who I was. I glanced over at him, a statue of pure anger, defending me with a ferocity that I’d only ever read about. People didn’t just go around doing that willy-nilly. He risked his life because he cared about me. Heck, he might even love me.
That thought brought me out of my head and back to my senses. If I wanted to find out where this relationship with Liam would lead, I’d have to get the lead out and take care of business.
Sensing the perfect opportunity to stack the odds in my favor, I stepped close to Nyssa. Placing my hands on her loaded arm, I pushed the stiff appendage until the hand holding the ball of magic curled inward, the ball aimed directly at her chest. Then I moved over to Gareth and Liam. I pried the knife out of Gareth’s hand, switching it to Liam’s. I closed his fingers firmly around the handle and aligned it to Gareth’s gut. Fitting, considering that before I’d frozen everyone, that pose had been Liam’s fate.
With a smirk of satisfaction, I brushed my hands off and moved back to where I had been before Operation Freeze Frame had taken effect. I closed my eyes and clenched my hands at my sides, reaching inward to sense the power I had called forth to stall time. Deep down inside I caught a faint flutter of something that pulsed, keeping time with my heartbeat. I latched onto the sensation and concentrated hard, coaxing the feeling to grow and fill me. It squirmed under my attempt at control and refused to be used at will, almost taunting me with its elusiveness. After a few more tries, I blew out a frustrated breath, my head pounding with the effort.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. If I’m responsible for this mess, then the least I can do is change everything back to normal.” I held my breath and tried again, my skull thudding like a base drum. No luck. “All powerful, my ass,” I muttered with disdain.
It was at that particular second that all hell broke loose.
Chapter Seven
Everything happened all at once, turning the hallway into chaos. Nyssa’s blue fireball landed firmly in the center of her chest. Her scream tore through the hallway and my eardrums as the acrid smell of burning flesh filled my nose. She collapsed to the ground in a heap just as Gareth’s pain-laden shout broke the sound barrier. The silver blade had entered his stomach smoothly, as if he were made of butter. It jutted out of his gut while he stared at it in disbelief, stumbling backward and into the wall. He slid down and landed on his butt.
Liam gaped at his hand, open-mouthed, not understanding what had just transpired. I noted that his fangs had receded. Though time had started up again, he remained frozen in place, his fingers still in front of him as if he still held the blade now embedded in Gareth. I watched his throat work a few beats while he swallowed, his brain processing things in slow motion. I was right there with him. I was a coiled mass of energy, frozen in place at the suddenness of events. I wasn’t at all sure how I’d set things in forward motion again, but I was thankful, nonetheless. Didn’t want to ask too many questions. Wouldn’t get any answers, anyway.
Liam tore his gaze away from his hand and glanced sharply over at me, creases etched deeply into his brow. I wanted desperately to smooth them away, but now was not the time or place. “What the hell just happened, Sora? One minute, I’m lunging at Gareth with the intent of strangling the life out of him. The next, he’s yelling because I stabbed him. How?”
I plastered what I hoped was an innocent expression on my face. “You must have taken the knife away from him. They always say that weapons are tricky and can be taken to use against you. Besides, in the heat of battle, things happen so fast, instinct takes over.”
Liam didn’t appear totally convinced, but he re
laxed some of the tension in his body. His hand dropped to his side. “Regardless, we need to get out of here.”
“Not just yet.” In my periphery, I had noticed Nyssa crawling over to where Gareth was slumped against the wall. Since one hand was clamped to her injured chest, she slowly pulled herself with the other one over to her fallen comrade, probably intending to remove the silver knife from its newly acquired home. “Don’t even think about it, Blondie.”
Nyssa froze, indigo blood leaking from between her fingers down the front of her bustier. The miniscule coverage meant her skin had taken most of the damage. Black burns rimmed the edge of the wound that still bubbled from heat. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Man, I’m sure glad that particular death-ball didn’t hit me.
She snarled at me, fangs and all. I heard Liam do the same. I glanced over and found his fangs had popped back out. Ugh. I rolled my eyes. “Geez, what is it with the fang-flashing, guys? You’re vampires. I get it. Now put the teeth away.”
Nyssa snarled again. The low rumble pittered off pathetically as her fangs disappeared. Liam’s teeth slid back into their hiding places silently as he stared at me, one speculative eyebrow arched. “Good. Now, let’s talk about how you and Gareth are going to vanish forever and leave us the hell alone.”
“Never.” Nyssa spat the word at me, hatred oozing from her very pores.
I made a big show of sighing. “You see, I was afraid of that. Crazies like you and Gareth, you guys have the tendency to get a little ‘one track’ with the obsessive psycho crap. So I have a proposal for you.” I stepped slowly toward Nyssa and crouched down in front of her. Up close her wound was even worse, the skin blackened and charred. The stench of her blood attacked my nose with a vengeance, making me stifle a gag. “You’re going to take your Spike reject here, and go far, far, away from me and my friends. If you come for us again, or I hear one peep about you hurting anyone, I’ll come after you, no holds barred.”
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