"Cruel, is it not, ignoring how one feels?"
"It hurts so bad. I can"t take it."
"I suspect Ameana is right: you are stronger than you know."
"I"m not. I can"t take this. Marcus, Julian, the Triplex. I just want it all to stop."
I sob and the waves. .h.i.t me over and over again. I need a tissue but I don"t have one.
He takes out a small new pack of tissues. They"re the brand I like.
"I know, Emmy. That is why I got them," he says. I study him for the first time. His power amazes me.
"Thank you, I try," he says.
"You can really read minds and tell the future."
"Yes."
"I"m really going to end his life, little ol" me?"
"Look what you did to Rio."
"I didn"t mean to."
"Your intent is not in question. You have a good heart."
"It doesn"t change anything, does it?"
"Not in the least."
The Sage went to check on Rio and told me to take some time to think about what he said. I told him I couldn"t be alone, but he a.s.sured me that I would not be attacked tonight. So, thanks to the Sage this is the first time I"ve actually been alone in months.
I head to the public library on Forty Second Street and Fifth Ave. I spend a few hours reading my favorite pa.s.sages from various books. Then I head home.
My eyes are fixed on the floor because I feel like a complete loser. I"m a few yards away when I spot someone standing in the front of my building. I can"t really make the guy out, but I think it"s the janitor"s son, Eric. He"s nice enough, but I"m in no mood to talk. I put my head down and hope that my demeanor will tell him to skip the pleasant banter.
"Hi" he says.
I look up. It"s not Eric. It"s Marcus. He stands in front of me with his hands in his pockets and his tie loosened around his neck. He has been running his hands through his hair. His eyes are wild, deeply penetrating. I"m feeling too many things all at once. But the one feeling that prevails is that of being drained.
"I don"t have it in me to go another round with you. Please let me go home," I say to him.
"I need to say this to you. When I"m done, you can go home and never talk to me again if you want, okay?"
I don"t answer I just shrug slightly and wait for him to say his piece.
"I broke things off with Ameana."
"What, why?"
He pauses then speaks again, with painful honesty.
"When the Sage told me that you would be the end of me, I thought the answer was simple: I just stay away from you. But that hasn"t helped because my every waking thought is of you. And since I don"t sleep, my every thought is of you."
"And when I saw you tonight outside the house, I was so angry. I was angry because I didn"t feel true happiness until I saw you standing there. It was only then that I realized I had spent my day praying that you would come see me."
"You rejected me."
"I tried to. Omnis knows I tried. But I don"t care anymore. You can be the end of me. So long as I get to hold you, none of it matters."
"Marcus, you can"t die for me."
He walks up to me. We"re inches apart.
"When I heard the twins" Core, I thought no death could ever be worse. But I was wrong."
"Wrong how?"
"There is a worse death, Emmy. There"s the death that comes when I watch you walk away from me. The death that comes when I can"t hold you and tell you that I love more than anyone should ever love."
"But the Sage said-"
"I don"t give a d.a.m.n what he said. Not being with you is killing me. I can"t do it anymore. Please, don"t make me."
He strokes my cheek with the palm of his hand.
"I"m scared," I confess.
He leans in to kiss me. And even though it"s what I want with every fiber of my being, I pull away. He looks into my eyes sadly.
"It"s too late, isn"t it?"
Before I can answer him, the twins and Jay fly down to us. We know something is wrong because they fly down with no concern for who is or isn"t around.
"What is it?" Marcus asks his team.
"It"s Rio, he saw Onyx," Miku says on her brother"s behalf. Marcus turns to Rio with frustration.
"Look, I can"t deal with this right now-"
""It was a bus filled with kids, twenty seven of them," Rio says gravely.
"Aw, man. I"m sorry. When did they die?"
"They didn"t. I saved them. I saved them all."
And before it could sink in what Rio had done, lightning cracks above. Clouds gather in the once clear night sky and turn a macabre shade of crimson.
A plane above us has been halted in midflight. The man walking his dog a block away is on pause, as is the dog. Across the street, a lady stands at the kitchen window near a running faucet. Both she and the running water have been rendered motionless. Aside from us, every living thing is frozen.
Rio bows his head before his leader.
"I"m sorry," Rio says.
His apology is drowned out by the earth-shattering sound of three cloaked figures parting the b.l.o.o.d.y sky as they descend wrathfully upon us...
END OF BOOK ONE.
IN ADDITION TO BOOK 2 (OUT NOW).
PLEASE FIND "GURADIANS: SHORT STORIES" (BOOK 1) READERS WILL LEARN MORE ABOUT JULIAN, REESE AND FEMI!.
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