"Oh, and there is no TV or radio.
"But-. Okay, fine," I mumble bitterly.
"I left your present in the living room. After you open it, come and give it to me."
"Why?"
"You"ll see," she says mysteriously.
I walk into the living room and on the coffee table is a gift the size of a shoe box. It is wrapped in dark blue paper with confetti printed on it. I tear it open.
"Oh, no," I moan in misery. It"s the new iPod I had wanted. I never mentioned it to her. But I"m sure she must have seen the look on my face when the commercial would come on. It holds five thousand more CDs than the one I have now. It plays movies, videos and has like a billion games. I"m in h.e.l.l. How could I not use it knowing it was right here in my own house? Why is my mother doing this me? Maybe she and the council have gotten together to torture me.
"Bring it over here, miss," she calls out. I walk back into the kitchen and think maybe I can salvage things and get her to let me use my present.
"Mom, this is so nice. Please, please, let me have it."
"Hand it over." She extends her hand.
"You already brought it, Mom, what"s the use of keeping it from me. Please?"
"Now." I hand the box over to her and go back to my room.
By the time I get to school I am inconsolable. Rio sees me in the hallway and says something about the dangerous waves of females. Whatever. I am in no mood.
Everyone is talking about the party just like I thought they would. Now every other kid that sees me in the hall asks me to "save them." It"s humiliating.
"I"m surprised you"re here, Em," Jay says.
"Why?"
"The way you p.i.s.sed off Meana last night? I thought that was a wrap for you. I was waiting for the call to ID your body," Jay jokes.
Marcus clenches his Jaw. He hates any kind of joke where I end up getting hurt. Especially because his girl had thrown me into the wall once already.
"I"m fine. No need to ID anything."
"So, Meana just took you home last night? She didn"t play dodge those knives with you or anything?"
"No."
"Wow, Meana, good for you," Jay mocks. I don"t want them to know about the bridge. It has nothing to do with them. It"s just between Ameana and me.
"Look, you guys, I"m sorry about last night. I was...out of line. You guys went to a lot of trouble, and I ruined the party."
"It"s okay, but next time you"re on clean-up duty," Rio says.
"There won"t be a next time. I"m grounded."
"Why?"
"My mom found out I was drinking when she came to my room last night and found my clothes reeking of alcohol so, I"m out for the count."
"For how long?"
"Two months."
"That"s not gonna work. We have to leave the country and we can"t let you stay here by yourself," Marcus says.
"Where are you guys going?"
"I"ll tell everyone the plan back at the house."
"I can take you home and when the coast is clear, the rest of us will come to you," Miku says.
"Okay, but first I need to talk to Ameana," I say casually. She looks up at me, surprised by my request. They all look a little taken aback.
"Sure, that cla.s.sroom is empty. You guys go talk in there and we"ll stay here."
"What is it?" she asks.
"I didn"t tell anyone about last night because I think that you were right. I do need to let him go. Not because I couldn"t have him, but because the Sage thinks it"s what"s best for him."
"You think you could actually take him from me?"
"I didn"t ask you here to talk about Marcus. I don"t know what your Core is. I don"t know what horrors happened in your life. And I don"t care. The next time you put my life in danger on purpose again, you better have the b.a.l.l.s to kill me right then and there. Because if you don"t, I will come after you."
"And what will you do?"
"Whatever I have to. I don"t care if I have to get Omnis himself to come down. I will. Because angel or no angel, I will not be bullied."
"You think you can threaten me?
"I"m not afraid to go to the house of fire."
"Good, "cause I"m not afraid to send you there."
My mom was not joking about my punishment. When I get home, she had taken my stereo, TV, and something far more valuable-my books.
"Oh, c"mon," I moan in frustration. Aargh! I should have hidden a few books where she wouldn"t think to look. d.a.m.n it. My mom had learned years ago that I was more than okay with missing out on TV. I could even suffer without my radio for a day or two. But my heart was in my books. She took all the good ones. The ones I read repeatedly and have all but memorized. All my favorite authors had been taken hostage.
I look around the shelves in my room to survey the damage. It"s worse than I thought. She had taken all things Shakespeare, Hawthorne and Faulkner. Then just as I am recovering from the great wrong that has been committed against me, I spot a gaping hole where there was once a huge collection. I go over to the bookcase across from my bed.
"She took Harry Potter? The woman is ruthless."
"Emmy, I"m off," she calls out to me.
"You"re telling me."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
"Come say good bye."
I drag myself off the bed and out to the front door where she stands.
"Okay, bye," I say. She smiles at my doomed expression.
"The Harry Potter thing really hurt, huh?"
"You couldn"t leave me even one?"
"No."
"Because you hate me and want me to suffer."
"Yes, that"s it. It"s not because I love you and want you to make better choices. Nope, that"s not it at all." Sarcasm. Great.
She smiles sadly and kisses me on the forehead.
"I"ll be back before you get up. And remember to take the pills the doctor gave you for your wrist."
"Yeah, yeah I will." She turns to go then looks back at me.
"I love you, piglet. I"m only doing what"s best for you." She leaves and closes the door behind her.
A few minutes later the angels come up to see me.
"You"ve changed since you"ve been in the big house Em," Jay jokes.
"Ha, Ha. Just sit down and make sure you leave everything the way you found it. I don"t want her knowing I had people over."
"Mommy got you on lock, huh?" Ameana jokes. Suddenly everyone thinks they"re so d.a.m.n funny.
"Can we just get on with the business at hand?"
Marcus takes the hint and starts the meeting.
"We intercepted a Runner high on the food chain and found out where the Akons are keeping Julian," he says in his "all business" tone.
"Where?"
"In a small village in Togo, West Africa."
"They are keeping him there because of the amount of evil that surrounds the area. The humans there are in the midst of a civil war. It"s b.l.o.o.d.y and absolutely without point. That means the Akons will have the advantage because, unlike them, we can not kill the humans should they get in our way"
"And they will," Miku says, almost to herself.
"Absolutely. It does not matter that we aren"t interested in their war. They will aim to kill any and all of us if they get the chance."
"How did the Akons get the locals to let them stash Julian there?"
"Money."
"Other Angels have tried to cross that area. It"s a no-fly zone. They have to walk right into the midst of everything," Rio adds.
"How many Angels have tried to get through?" I ask.
"Over the years, hundreds."
"How many made it?"
"None."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: REVERSAL OF FORTUNE.
A little while later, we land in Togo, West Africa, on the rain forest floor. The ground is muddy and reeks of decay. I hear buzzing and hissing from different animals around me. The humidity wraps itself around me like a cloak.
Vines swing across from tree to tree. Various creepy crawly things use them as a kind of bridge to get from one tree to the next. The plants lower on the ground start shaking near my foot. I pray that nothing jumps out with more legs than me. I think I feel something crawl on me, but I hope I"m wrong.
"Human, do not move." I stay frozen as a beautiful African man appears out of nowhere and swiftly swats something off my back. A black animal goes flying off of me. I jump even though I know the creature is already gone.
"What the h.e.l.l was that?" I ask him.
"A scorpion."
"Aargh!"
"Not the killing kind. Only paralysis would have occurred," he says.
"Good to know."
He smiles at me. His skin is darker than Ameana"s. It"s absolutely stunning. His teeth are bright and his eyes are shades darker than the forest floor. His body is lean and seems to stretch up like the branches around us. His accent is a mixture of French and some kind of African language. What ever it is, it sounds like music. Everything he says has a melody to it.
"Marcus, it is good to see you." He extends his hand.