by Dima Zales
Ground Walkers and Travelers arrive after all the Paras have taken a spot along the mountain range. They come in large groups as well. But unlike the Paras, the GW and Travelers fly to the peak we are on. They hover in front of Jay as he holds Reese’s body.
Each one of them gracefully summons a feather from their third coats. The feathers fly away from them and hover a few inches above the ground in front of Jay. After hundreds of feathers have been thrown to the ground, Jay places Reese’s body on the pile of floating feathers. The feathers carry Reese’s body gently to the middle of the mountain range.
A Para begins to sing. It is like Miku’s melody because it is haunting. But there is no darkness in it. It is heartbreakingly beautiful; it is impossible not to weep. It isn’t in English. I think it is Arabic. I can’t be sure. I don’t know how her voice reaches everyone. It’s as if she has a built-in microphone.
I think a different Para from each range is singing. I remember being told that they are often in tune with each other. As Reese’s body hovers in the air on a bed of feathers, I look into his face. He looks peaceful and calm. I remember the boy who learned the poem. He wanted so much to say it to the girl he loved. He had been denied that, twice.
Out of the sky I see the prettiest angel I have ever seen, a Para angel who could actually rival Ameana in beauty. She has long locks of hair that seems almost translucent. Her face is smooth and bright. Her eyes sparkle and her wings are the largest I’ve ever seen. They are almost twice as wide as the others. I am so mesmerized by her, Rio can’t help but watch me. He whispers in my ear to satisfy my curiosity.
“Her name is Rahell. She’s the oldest Taker. A Taker is a Para angel whose job it is to take an angel to Atourum when they die in battle,” Rio explains.
Beside Rahell was a male Para. He carried a small boy, the same boy who was in Jamaica. I’m guessing he’s the Sage, from what Reese told me of him not too long ago. The little boy is brought up to Reese’s floating body.
“He’s ready, Jayden,” the Sage says. I didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Rio helps me out again. “The feathers that Reese’s body floats on is called the Reef. It will only carry him away when everyone who loves him has accepted his death. Otherwise the Reef will stay where it is. Sometimes a loved one can’t let go so the Reef just stays there, hovering with the body in midair. If a body stays on the Reef too long, Atourum will come up and claim the soul he’s won in battle. It’s horrible to watch. It’s best to let the Reef go with the Taker. She will personally guide it down all the way to the gates fire.”
The Para set the Sage down on the ground in front of Jay. The Reef remains hovering in the middle of the mountain range a few yards beyond our grasp. The Sage looks sadly into Jay’s eyes. Jay looks back, pleadingly.
“Jayden, it is time. You must.”
The weight of sorrow causes Jay to bow his head and hunch his shoulders. The Sage waits patiently. A few moments later, the Reef starts to move. The Taker, Rahell, follows alongside Reese’s body as it sails across the air. Every mountain peak that the Taker and Reese’s body fly by, the angels bow their heads. It looks like a wave of white light on the surface of the ocean as the sun strikes it.
The Taker carries the Reef further and further away from us. Soon, all we can see is two specks moving in the air; when they are almost out of our sight, the Taker starts to descend. She is headed to the house of fire with my friend. I cry quietly beside the twins.
After a moment, the angels start taking off from the mountain. They leave as they came: gracefully and respectfully. Soon there is no one left but us. We sit for hours on the edge of the mountain where we last saw our friend.
16
Now we are in the car headed back to New York City. It’s only a few minutes after sunrise. Marcus insisted that I be taken to the ER to get checked out.
The doctor said that I had fractured a rib and needed stitches for my hand. He gave me aspirin and told me to get some rest. On the way home, Rio told me that they searched my building and found Ben. He had been given something to make him sleep.
We pull up to my building. My body feels so heavy. The walk to my door looks miles long. I guess I’m more drained than I thought. Marcus walks me to the front door. He tells me not to trust a single soul. He even had Rio scan my mother before he let me go up to my apartment.
“You sure you want to go to school?” Marcus asks.
“Yeah, I don’t want to be home alone.”
“Okay, one of us will pick you up in a few hours.”
“Is Jay coming to school?”
“He may not want to, but we all need to hear what you have to say.”
“Oh.” He’s on autopilot right now. He can’t look me in the eye. He is trying to hide the sadness that’s there.
“What is it?”
“I didn’t want to say it in front of everyone. I mean not the part about me anyway.”
“I don’t have time for this. Are you going to tell us or not?”
He’s tired and frustrated in addition to sad. I don’t want to add to that, so I go along with it.
“Yeah, okay, I will. Later today.” He turns to go away.
“Marcus,” I call out. He turns back. Ameana looks on from the car window.
“I’m sorry about Reese.”
He can’t bring himself to say anything. He nods quickly and walks back to the car. The twins get out of the back seat. They would be watching me for the next few hours.
I walk in and the apartment is silent. It feels so good to be back home. The heat is on so the apartment is warm and toasty. After I check on my mom, I head into my room. Right away I flash back to just hours ago when Reese was in here.
I’ve watched you pine for Marcus and it’s kind of been killing me.
Oh.
I just wanted you to know that there are other angels. Angels who have been wanting to kiss you.
Later, back at the house, we all sit in the living room. I don’t want it to be like this. I don’t feel like being exposed to all of them, but I am all out of time. So I take a deep breath and tell them about what Tony told me and how I was a product of a rape. They all listen silently. When I’m done, I apologize for taking so long to tell them.
“Rio, Miku hit the net. We need to find her dad,” Marcus instructs.
“Why?” I ask.
“He’s the key Emmy. We have to find him and tear his life apart until we find what we’re looking for.”
“He’s not important. I’ve never even met him before.”
“That doesn’t matter. He’s the evil in the equation. Why didn’t you tell us before?” Rio asks.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was supposed to split myself open for you guys to explore. And in case you all forgot, I was busy being tortured.”
“He just means that this is a very important clue to where we can locate the Triplex,” Miku says, defending her brother.
“We know it couldn’t have been easy for you. But your father raped your mom. That has nothing to do with who you are,” Ameana says.
“That has everything to do with it,” I snap.
“Let’s get back to what Tony said. If he’s right about the council, what places do we know the Triplex won’t be in?” Marcus asks in his official voice.
“That takes out buildings where politics are conducted; they’re usually a dwelling for evil,” Miku says.
“That also takes out bars, clubs and law firms. They usually have a high level of evil as well,” Rio adds.
“That also rules out mosques, temples or any place of worship. Those are filled with hope and goodness. Lucy would not have access to the Triplex there,” Marcus says.
“What does that leave us with?” Ameana asks.
“Schools, hospitals, libraries…” Marcus answers.
“The twins can research police records around the time your mom was attacked,” Jay says.
“How?”
“We know a few sites we ca
n hack into,” they say together as they disappear down the hallway and into Miku’s room.
“They know how to do that?”
“They were able to do that before they were angels. Now they’re even better at it,” Jay says.
“You guys won’t find him. I looked for him once.”
“Why?” Jay asks.
“I wanted to get back at him for what he did to my mom. I didn’t even have a plan. It didn’t matter because I couldn’t find him, and neither will the twins.”
“They won’t look into his life; they’ll look into your mom’s life. Sometimes to find evil, you have to focus on its victims,” Marcus adds.
“I don’t want to see him.”
“You don’t have to. This can be just us. One of us will stay with you,” Ameana says.
“He hurt my mom and I don’t see why he gets to walk around scot-free. I hate him.”
“Jay said you were going with him to the mission. Go ahead. We’ll get started on your father’s background in the meantime,” Marcus offers.
“Yeah, let me get my jacket. Be right back.” He Glides off and goes into his room.
“Thank you for sharing that with us. We know it was hard, but it really did help. Now we have a lead. And we may have a lead on Julian,” Marcus volunteers.
“We were going to check it out ourselves but then the Akons took you. So, as soon as we get a lead on your father, we’ll split up, find Julian and get your father,” Marcus says.
“Can you stop calling him that?”
“What do you want me to call him?”
“I don’t care. Just stop calling him that.”
“When we find X, and Julian, we should know everything,” Ameana adds.
“I’m gonna check on Jay,” I say heading down the hall toward his room. How long did it take to get a jacket? This guy could go around the world in eight seconds. What could be taking him so long walk a few feet?
“Hey, Jay, what’s the hold—”
I find him in Reese’s room. The room is filled with fishing magazines and books of poems. There’s a drawing of a family by his bed. It’s two grown-ups and two girls. I close the door and walk over to the frame where Jay is standing. I look on with him.
“Was this his family?” I ask.
“Yeah, we don’t get to take photos with us, so we get someone to draw them the way we remember them. It’s as close to them as we can get. He loved this picture. He could look at it for hours. I knew he’d be daydreaming about the last fishing trip they took. That was Reese’s favorite collector.”
“I remember. He kept disappearing that night I came to dinner. I was having mini heart attacks.” I start laughing as I recall how odd it was the first time I saw them eat collectors.
“Why were you worried?”
“I kept thinking you guys were going to disappear and never come back. But I was so relieved because no matter how long he was gone, he always came back.”
“Not this time,” he says sadly.
“You know what you need, a party.”
Normally I would never even suggest such a thing. But I think it would go a long way in cheering Jay up.
“What are we celebrating?”
“This Saturday is February first. I’ll be sixteen.”
“You only get one of those. Trust me,” he says.
“So we’re gonna throw a party. It can be a happy birthday kind of thing but also a good bye to Reese. Not that the funeral wasn’t nice, but you know Reese would rather be surrounded by girls. ”
A broad smile spreads across his face. Miku learns of our plans a few minutes later. She goes to work planning it along with Jay. By the time I leave the house, the small party has become a huge bash. I was afraid of that.
There are kids at this party that I have never even seen before. But to Jay and Miku’s credit, they managed to get in a few kids that I could talk to. Much to my surprise, I’m having a pretty okay time.
That is, until I hear some girls talking about what a great couple Marcus and Ameana make. Why does hearing that make me so profoundly sad? Why can’t I turn off these feelings?
I go into Jay’s room to get my coat and take a walk. Once inside I see the piles of coats spread out on the bed. Sticking out of a dark thick leather jacket is small bottle of unopened vodka. Jay knew that someone would bring alcohol, and Marcus made him convince everyone that they would not drink at all tonight. So whoever it is that brought this won’t even try to drink it or even offer it to anyone.
I take a deep breath and turn to leave when I make the mistake of looking out the window again. Damn it. I slump down on the bed. The great feeling I had is gone. I turn over on my side, and facing me like a beacon of temptation is the bottle of vodka that Jay had forgotten to throw out. I take it and hold it up to the light. I crack open the seal. The smell is awful and overpowering. I’m drinking to forget. I can’t imagine how people drink this crap for pleasure. Well, enough thinking. Let’s hope this works.
After a few gulps, things start looking kind of funny. Like nothing is really balanced. I walk back into the party. “Hey, guess what?” I shout at the top of my lungs.
“What?” The crowd shouts.
“It’s my birthday!” I dance and spin around with no sense of control. The kids start cheering and laughing. I shout at them to be quiet and I make another announcement.
“I am gonna save you all.” They look at me with confusion. I start pointing to individual students and telling them that I am going to save them. When someone in the crowd asks me what I was saving them from, I said a guy named Art. He wanted to cook them with fire. But I would stop that from happening. They all play along with my bizarre proclamation.
“How are you gonna save us?” someone from the crowd yells.
“I’m gonna save you with this.” I hold up a long powerful sword like the one from Lord of the Rings. Only what I thought was a powerful sword turns out to be a carrot stick from the veggie platter Miku had ordered. Everyone laughs at me. I keep screaming at them over and over again to shut up.
The angels come for me, but I pull away and get on top of the table in the living room. Among the crowd stands Marcus and his love.
“Everyone make room for the great Marcus and Mimi. They are so in love, they kiss all the time like this.” I kiss and make out with the air, then burst out laughing. No one else thinks it is funny.
“Emmy, stop it,” Marcus scolds from below.
“Shut up. You can’t me tell anything.” Wait that wasn’t what I wanted to say. There was something wrong with that last sentence. Why are all my words slurred? And why are things in slow motion?
“Hey, do you guys know what they are? They’re Guardians.”
“Everyone out. Now.” The students all rush for the exit.
“Get down,” he orders me.
While I am not looking, Rio comes from behind and pulls me off the table.
“Get off me. It’s my birthday.
Everyone has gone home. The twins are on clean-up duty. Jay looks in his room to make sure he didn’t miss any other bottles of alcohol. It’s just me and the couple. Oh, joy!
I get low to the ground. That’s the only way the spinning will stop. Marcus comes down to the floor where I am. He whispers something in my ear softly.
“You don’t have to work so hard to let me know that you are hurting. I know, Em. I know.”
Tears now fall without hesitation. He holds me steadily and patiently.
“That’s it?” Ameana says incredulously.
“Everything is fine now,” Rio says.
“Like hell,” Ameana snaps.
“Mimi, calm down,” Miku says gently.
“I don’t believe this.”
“C’mon, Meana.. The past few days have been really hard on her.”
“And Marcus makes it all better, is that it?”
“This isn’t about us, Mimi.”
“No, it’s about what’s best for this team. And the best thing is to
focus on Julian and find out everything we can about his last cycle with Femi. We don’t even need Emmy anymore.”
“We don’t know that she isn’t a part of this anymore. We can’t exclude her.”
“No, Marcus, you can’t exclude her. Every time I turn around you’re holding her. And then you make me out to be the jealous girlfriend. I’m getting really sick of it.”
“She just found out everything in life she believed to be true has all been a lie. Can you understand that?”
“Yes, I can understand that very well. I used to think that I mattered to you more than anything in the world, but now I have to constantly reevaluate that thought.”
“I can’t do this tonight. I’m gonna take her home.”
“Why does it have to be you?”
“I don’t care who it is. I don’t have time for this petty crap. I just want someone to get her cleaned up and take her home.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Why you?”
“What’s the matter, Marcus—you don’t trust her with me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Good, because I have to trust her with you all the time; it would be good to get a little of that trust back. Give her to me. I’ll take her home.”
There is silence. A moment later, I feel myself being picked up and lifted off the ground. I don’t need to open my eyes to see who is holding me. I would know Ameana’s scent anywhere. It smells like what a perfect sunrise would smell like. It’s the scent of wrath, power and impossible beauty. It’s alluring and impossible to duplicate. I tried at many perfume stores. Even her scent is one of a kind. Why had they let her take me home? She’ll “accidently” drop me into the Hudson River.
I think I passed out because everything went black. I’m not sure for how long. At least I didn’t throw up. Now that’s something to be proud of. I look around and I’m not sure where I am. As the haze begins to clear up, I can make out dark sky and cold metal beneath me. Ameana hovers above me.