“We?” Rio and Miku say at the same time.
“Yes. My friend was killed by a Pawn sent out by Lucy. My family stands to lose their lives and I will not allow that. So, I am going to do everything I can in order to help you guys save the world.”
“Okay, well let’s—”
She cuts me off. “First, I have three conditions.”
“What are they?” Jay says.
“One, I want to be told everything there is to know about angels and the world you guys live in. I want nothing left out. I should know everything from what kind of angels there are to what a Snap or whatever it’s called is.”
“Okay, that’s something we can do,” I say.
“Good. The next thing is that I want you guys to take me everywhere you go. If you guys are fighting, then I want to be right there helping. No more leaving me in English to diagram sentences while you guys fight for me and my family.”
“No,” I say flatly.
“Why not?”
“You’ll get hurt or worse.”
“You guys can protect me. I’ll be fine.”
“No.”
“Marcus, just hear her out,” Ameana says.
“There is nothing to hear out. I’m not risking her life so that she can have ringside seats to a battle.”
“When you guys have to look after me at my house, you guys are a man or two short. Think about it. If I’m with you then everyone can help. Why should any of you have to babysit me? Wouldn’t you rather I came along and hid somewhere instead of wasting precious manpower watching me at home?”
“She does have a point,” Reese says.
“No, no way. That’s not happening.”
“We could put her in a Holder so that they couldn’t get at her,” Jay suggests.
“No,” I say again.
“What’s a Holder?” she asks. Reese tells her.
“So, it could protect me when you guys are fighting. That’s perfect.”
“There are ways around a Holder. At least for Lucy there is. The answer is no,” I say once again.
“Marcus, I promise I won’t do anything stupid. I’ll just stay inside the bubble thing way off into the corner. I won’t get hurt.”
“No, and that’s final!”
She walks up to me and looks deeply into my eyes. I look into hers and see it—the sadness that had overtaken her. She could just as easily slip back into the void she had just left. A wave of dread washes over me. I realize what I have to do, and don’t like it at all. But it’s the only way to keep her from being pulled under again.
“Please, Marcus,” she begs.
A dull pain sits in my chest as I give in to what she wants.
“Okay.”
She is so excited, she hugs me and wraps her hands tightly around me. “Thank you,” she says over my shoulder.
“What’s the third condition?” Reese asks after seeing Meana get tense as she watched us hug.
Emmy looks like she is uncertain, but she lets me go, takes a deep breath, and lets it out.
“I learned from Sara’s death that anything can happen. There are no guarantees. So, you should go after what you want.”
“Emmy, no” Rio warns her.
He is reading her wave. Whatever she is radiating is causing Rio to look both agitated and alarmed.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“I didn’t want to do this behind anyone’s back. I mean that would be worse, you know?” she pleads sincerely to the entire room.
“I want Marcus to take me on a date.”
Nobody saw it coming. Before anyone of us could react, Ameana had thrown Emmy against the wall so hard that every painting on the wall fell down. Jay was on Ameana in a flash. He holds her back. We all run to Emmy, who had slid down the wall and onto the floor. She gasps and feels the back of her head with her fingers. When she holds her hand in front of her, there is blood.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“No!” she shoots back.
“Rio?” I call.
“She’s in pain, but she’ll live.”
“Blink her to the ER. Ameana, roof. Now,” I order.
Reese Blinks her out of the room. I dash up to the roof, Ameana right behind me. I am so enraged I wanted to hit something. My jaw clenches. My fists ball up and my wings flap furiously against the night air.
“Do you have any idea what you just did?” I rage.
“She had no right to ask you that.”
“You can’t go around trying to kill humans.”
“But you can go around falling in love with them?”
“Turn around. Now.”
She looks at me coldly and turns away so the back of her head is facing me. At the base of her skull is a thumb print pattern that glowed. It is called a Deck. Once it is pressed, the angel will be stripped of their wings and powers.
Every Angel has a Deck. But each type of angel has their own rules about who could and could not press their Desk. For Guardians, only three beings can strip an angel of her powers— Omnis, the council, and the First Guardian, me.
I put my hand at the center of the Deck. The glow started to fade from it. Ameana flinched. It hurt to be void of any amount of light. She wasn’t in bad pain, but it was enough pain to make her hands shake. I held my thumb there until the light completely went out of her Deck. I look up. Her wings are gone.
**
I fly to hospital where Reese had Blinked Emmy. She is sitting on the bed with her eyes closed, holding an ice pack to the back of her head. The doctor had gone out to look in on another patient.
“How’s your head?”
“Fine. Your girlfriend throws like a human,” she jokes.
“She could have killed you. That wasn’t very smart.”
“I’m not really known for doing the smart thing. Why should today be any different?”
“Why did ask for me to take you out?”
“Do all angels ask questions they already know the answers to?”
“You’re making this very hard.”
“Making it hard? What, like it didn’t come that way?”
“What’s wrong with you? This is serious. I had to strip Ameana of her powers.”
“She has no more powers?”
“Not until I give them back to her.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I never thought I’d have to.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been difficult.”
“You think?” I snap.
“Hey, I didn’t tell her to hit me.”
“You asked me out in front of everyone.”
“So I should have done it in private?”
“You shouldn’t have done it at all.”
“Because you’d say no?”
“Because I’m with someone else. We had this discussion 48 hours ago, remember?”
“Yeah, I think it went something like ‘Hey, I love you. Now get away from me, I’m with Xena, Warrior Angel.’”
“Meana is a good angel.”
“I can tell. There were three or so nails in the wall and she didn’t impale me on any of them. She’s a gem.”
“This is very hard for her.”
“How is it for you?”
I sigh, rub my neck roughly, and look down at the floor.
“I see,” she says.
“You can’t do that again. Ever.”
“Piss off Ameana or ask you out?”
“Both.”
“Don’t I get a chance to convince you to choose me?”
“You couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing you could say could get me to love you more than I already do.”
“If you want me that bad why don’t you fight to have me?” she shouts.
I don’t answer. Angrily, she shakes her head.
“You said that I should fight for people I love. Well, I’m fighting for you,” she roars.
“I can’t be with you.”
“Because of Ameana?”
“Because you will be the end of me.”
“What?” she says, taken aback.
“The Sage is our guide. He has lived on Earth for thousands of years. He says that you will in some way destroy me and make me betray my team.”
“I don’t understand. Why would he say that? You would never betray anyone.”
“I tried to bring that to his attention, but you’ll find he’s a little sure of himself. It can happen when you have never been wrong.”
“Never?”
“Not once.”
“He is this time. You wouldn’t betray anyone, ever.”
“How can you know that?”
“How can you not? You have issues, but none of them is lack of loyalty.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“So, being with me will lead to the end of you?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me.”
“I. Don’t. Know.”
“You shouldn’t be around me.”
“Where did you want me to take you had we gone out? I’m guessing Spain, Paris or Florence maybe?”
“To the Park.”
“That’s it? The Park? Nothing more?
“I’d be with you. What more could there be?”
“It’s late. I should take you home.”
“Reese will take me.” I was going to argue but she looks at me and I understand then that she is giving me what I asked for: Ameana. She wasn’t going to fight for me anymore.
“I’ll go get Reese.” I open the door and as I head out.