Guardians: The Girl (The Guardians Series, Book 1)(40)
“Where’s Emmy?” I ask.
“She’s fine,” he spits out.
“What’s up? What’s going on?” Miku asks.
He looks at me like he wants to rip my throat out.
“Jay, what’s up?” I put my hands on his shoulders. He shrugs them off.
“Back off me,” he says.
“Jay what’s up?”
He speaks in a cold and unforgiving voice.
“I want a yes or a no answer to this question. And don’t you lie to me, Marcus. Did the Sage see you Turn and this mission failing?”
“What?” the twins bark at the same time.
“Answer the question, Marcus.”
“No, Marcus would have told us if the Sage had said that,” Miku says with certainty.
“Marcus?” Rio asks.
They are all looking at me. Jay is frozen in anger and disgust.
“Listen guys—”
“Did the Sage say that to you?” Jay asks accusingly.
“Jay, calm down,” Ameana says.
“Answer me,” he shouts, ignoring everyone else.
“Yes.”
Their reactions ranged from anger to hopelessness.
“How could you not tell us?” Jay asks.
“I was going to when the time was right.”
“And when was that, Marcus? When New York was littered with bodies?”
“I was planning on telling you.”
“How dare you keep that from us,” Miku shouts.
“You knew this whole time? I knew you had a secret but I thought it was… How could you not tell us?” Rio says dumfounded.
“It’s not a big deal. We’ll figure it out.”
“We? Man, bump that. You decide to hold out on us and now you sayin’ ‘we’ like we’re all a team?”
“We are a team.”
“No, we ain’t. If we were, I wouldn’t have to hear this crap from a bunch of Travelers. It’s all over the damn Splash. Had I not overheard it, we never would have known.”
“I was gonna tell you.”
“That’s a damn lie. You weren’t gonna tell us nothing.”
“Just because the Sage thinks it can happen, doesn’t mean it will. You guys know me. I would never Turn; I would never betray my team.”
“The Sage is never wrong; we’re screwed,” Miku says, almost to herself.
“You’ve known about this the whole time?” Rio asks.
“What else did he say?” Miku demands.
“He said that Emmy will somehow bring about the end of me.”
“Perfect. That’s freakin’ perfect!” Jay’s words are full of venom and sarcasm.
“Just because the Sage says it doesn’t make it a fact. Jay, it’s not true.”
Ameana speaks in a calm voice. “Look, I don’t agree with what Marcus did. But he has a right to make that decision. He’s our leader and we have to follow him.”
“Follow this,” Jay says crudely as he takes off into the air.
We all leap into the air after him, except Ameana. We were calling out his name and arguing loudly back and forth. We didn’t even realize Reese had Blinked onto the roof.
“Did you hear what I said?” Reese blares like a mad man. We all turn to face him. He repeats what we didn’t hear the first time. He says two words that change everything:
“Emmy’s gone.”
BOOK THREE: EMMY
“I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker
And in short, I was afraid….”
—T.S. Eliot
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DECEPTION
“Emmy, just stop defending him,” Reese said to me. Only an hour ago, Jay had dragged me out of the Marley concert and back to the Guardians’ home.
When we arrived, I convinced Jay to break a Splash so I could read it, just for fun. It was a big mistake.
There in bold print was the Sage’s warning that Marcus would betray his team and that I would somehow be the end of him.
All at once they started to lose it. They felt angry and blindsided, that is, everyone but Ameana. I had a feeling she already knew about it.
When Marcus comes home, he’s going to be greeted by a mob of very pissed-off Angels. I wanted to be there for him, but Reese Blinked me away.
“Reese, calm down. There’s no way Marcus is Turning. And I’m sure the reason he didn’t say anything is because he didn’t want you to worry. It must have been so hard for him to have to hide it from you guys.”
And for the first time since I met him, Reese yelled at me.
“Hard for him? You’re actually worried about him?”
“Reese I—”
“No. I have always been on your side, but this is ridiculous. People are going to die and all you can think about is putting more energy into a guy that doesn’t want you, it’s pathetic.”
I ran. Fast. I heard him call my name, but I didn’t stop.
I went upstairs to my apartment and locked the door.
When I got to my room, he was standing there.
“Go away,” I snapped.
“Just wanted to let you know that it’s just me watching you tonight.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.” He went towards the door.
“You really think I’m pathetic?”
“Emmy, if the Sage is right—which he always is—billions of people will die.”
“Why do you keep saying people will die, over and over like I don’t know?”
“We want you to understand what’s at stake.”
“I know, and I’m doing my best not to freak out, run down the street naked yelling, The end is here!”
“Naked, huh?”
“Reese.”
“Sorry, just had a mental image. I’m an angel, I’m not dead.”
“Yeah, how exactly does that work?”
“End of the world and that’s what you want to know about—angels and sex?”
“Yeah,” I said jokingly. He didn’t return my smile. The current situation weighed heavily on him. He sat down on my bed and lowered his head. I went over to him.
“Why don’t you go back to the house and sort this out?”
“I can’t leave you alone.”
“I’m gonna babysit my neighbor’s son, Ben. Nothing’s gonna happened to me.”
“No, I can’t leave you alone.”
“Marcus won’t care. He’s too busy with Ameana.”
“Now that was a whole 10 seconds.”
“What?”
“You didn’t mention his name for ten seconds. That was kind of nice.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means there are other guys in the world and they deserve a chance with you.”
He moved in close and kissed me, parting my lips with his tongue. His kiss was tender but firm. It was so unexpected I couldn’t even think. A few seconds passed, but it seemed like our kiss was in slow motion.
He pulled away when he was done. My mouth was still open from shock. Reese kissed me. I didn’t really know what to do with that. He was Reese, my friend. But that kiss was nice. It tingled down my spine. What does that mean?
“Em? Are you in there?” Reese asked.
“Yeah,” was all I could manage to say.
“I should have asked before I…. Are you mad?”
“No….”
“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, waiting, to kiss you.”
“Reese….”
Before I could think of what else to say, he Blinked away.
I sighed. This is getting way too complicated. Luckily for me, I had to babysit Ben tonight, so at least I had something to distract me.
I knocked on the door and his Mom opened up for me. As she rushed out, she thanked me and said Ben was in his room. I locked the door behind her and went looking for him. I saw his sweet face down the hall by his room.
“Hey, where’s my hug?” I ask him.
He ran toward me with a big smile. As we hugged, he took out a Taser and shocked me. I hit the floor hard. The last thing I saw was my favorite four-year-old transforming into a grown man.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: INTRODUCTIONS
I wake up on a cold floor. My teeth won’t stop chattering. I open my eyes and everything is blurry. I then shut and try opening them once again. My vision clears up. I’m in a large room with windows high above the floor. Rats scurry across the floor. I’m scared of rats. But I have a feeling they’re the least of my problems.
I sit up and groan. My head feels heavy. I cough repeatedly. The windows are all broken. It’s a loft-type space. I get up and to go to the windows to get a better idea of where I am. After taking a few steps, something pulls me back. I look down. My right leg has been tied to a pole with Samson string.
For the next few minutes I try like hell to untie it. I know all about Samson String and how only the person who tied it can untie it. I don’t care. It’s cold. I’m scared and desperate and will try anything. It’s hopeless. Every time I untie it, the string reties itself, even more knotted than before.
I look in my coat pocket. My cell phone, keys and money are gone. I zip up my coat and blow into my hands to stay warm. Looking around it’s hard to see what else is in the room because the lighting is so poor. If I call out whoever took me will know that I’m up and they will come in. But I don’t know what else to do. The cold is unbearable.