Eris showed no sign of relenting. She swatted her arm out again, this time managing to send Elysian flying into the road hard enough to leave a face-print. “Ugh,” he moaned.
Eris laughed before a flash of light blazed through the air.
I was wondering where Starry Knight had gone.
“Elysian!” Starry Knight called. “Alcyonë is here!”
“Switch!” Elysian agreed.
Well, he was certainly right about that, I thought. “Elysian!”
The changeling dragon looked vastly relieved to finally catch sight of me, finally stirring.
“What do we do?” I asked. I looked up at the huge and scary she-monster, slightly faltering. The demons seemed to be getting bigger and smarter.
“I need you to get up and move.” Starry Knight came up beside me. “Eris and Alcyonë are both here.”
“Who’s Alcyonë?” I asked.
“Watch where you're firing that!” Starry Knight called over to Elysian. She had narrowly missed the last burst of flames.
Recalling what Eris had revealed to me, I managed to stand up. “Don't bother to listen to her,” I rolled my eyes. “Go ahead and blast her if you need to.”
“Kid, as long as she's fighting these guys, it's probably best I don't fry her,” Elysian called back as he fended off Eris.
Elysian’s warming up to Starry Knight, I supposed. He’d been wary of her at the beginning, and still was, but he was willing to overlook the unknown in favor of her fighting skills. I, of course, hated her for reasons too certain for questioning. But I knew now, along with Elysian, she was at least a Starlight Warrior, like I was.
“I told you not to stay!” Starry Knight yelled at me.
“Hey!” I shouted back. “I’m not the one with the problem! Eris just told me that apparently I am your biggest weakness!”
“What?” Starry Knight flung around to face me. Her fists were clenched. “We don’t have time to discuss this! There’s a Sinister and her minion running around destroying things and looking for Soulfire–”
“Eris was just looking for our weaknesses! She told me so herself!” The wind and the sounds of the battle had faded as I glared at my so-called co-defender. “She said I was your biggest weakness. Is that true?”
Starry Knight left a lot to be desired. “I can’t talk about this now,” she said. “I . . . ” She opened her fists, palms up. Her eyes met mine tentatively; I wasn’t sure but her gaze seemed softened, tired. Worn. “You can at least understand why I didn’t want you fighting.”
“Yes, Wingdinger, she obviously doesn’t think you’re good enough for the job.”
Glancing around, it wasn’t hard for me to spot Alcyonë in her own flesh and blood. Alcyonë was one of the Seven Deadly Sinisters, and from what I’d been able to surmise, one of the more ambitious ones. Her skin was toned with a greenish shine, while her hair was pulled back in several braids.
“Alcyonë.” Starry Knight pulled out a fresh arrow. “Stay out of this!”
“Don’t worry,” Alcyonë remarked. “I’ll be leaving shortly. I only wanted to say hello to you again.” Her eyes narrowed. “After all, it’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it, Sister?”
Starry Knight released the arrow just as Alcyonë disappeared.
“You’re their sister?” I asked. Suddenly my anger was more than ready to boil over. My strength was back, my vision was clear, and my patience was gone. “What’s your problem, Starry Knight!? What else have you decided to keep to yourself?”
“It’s none of your business,” Starry Knight snapped. “It’s best if you stay out of it.”
“I’m already in it, and I frankly think you wouldn’t find me such a weakling if you were better about sharing information!”
“You’ve never listened to me before. What difference would it make if I did tell you the truth?”
“Oh, it would make a difference, and that’s what you’re so terrified of, isn’t it? That I would be a better warrior than you!”
“That! That right there is the reason you do fight so terribly,” Starry Knight insisted, pointing her finger in my chest. “You only think about yourself and how good you’re going to look.”
A loud thud interrupted us. Elysian landed on the ground behind us. He straightened up and blew whiffs of smoke from his nostrils. “You both need to stop. Eris is getting away.” He nodded to the demonic figure as she began pulling power from her miasmic field.
Starry Knight and I exchanged hard looks. We both narrowed our eyes before leaping into action. I ran up towards Eris while Starry Knight took to the skies, flying towards our foe.
Eris blocked her easily enough, letting Starry Knight’s power ricochet off of her clouds. I came at her next, ready to hit her with an energy blast.
Eris ducked under my power, and then slashed back at me, forcing me to fall back as she went after Starry Knight once more.
I was getting ready to try my attack run on the demon again when Starry Knight came crashing through the air and flew into a car parked on the side of the street.
“Ooh, that had to hurt,” I tried not to grin. The fall had smashed in the car roof and shattered all the windows. “She's going to have a lot of cuts.”
But it didn't seem to even faze her. She jumped right back up and started firing her arrows once more.
While my mouth dropped open in shock (and outrage), one of the arrows struck Eris in the leg. Eris cried out in pain as her leg started to dissipate. Eris continued to shriek in pain as she shrunk in size.
“Elysian, get her from the sky. I'll try to cut her down to size!” I cried.
Eris laughed. “That's hilarious,” she sneered at me. “You? You haven't put a nick in me at all yet. It's been just your friends who have managed to do any damage. You're not a threat at all to me. You'd best get out of here before you get hurt . . . like this!”
A small ball of light began to form in her hand. Before anything could stop her, she tossed it down in my direction.
I moved as fast as I could, but the bomb was getting bigger, coming closer . . . my legs stopped moving as fear, genuine fear, something which never really bothered me until this point, decided to make itself known . . .
“Kid!” Elysian shouted.
“No!” I cried as I brought up my arms in defense.
An ocean of warmth surrounded me and cascaded all around. But that was it. It was very anticlimactic as well.
“Huh?” I peeked out through my fingers tentatively.
Starry Knight was standing braced in front of me. She'd shot an arrow straight through the energy bomb, slicing the powerful attack in half and deflecting it around us. When the fog from the attack's damage had cleared, Eris was nowhere in sight.
Elysian flew down and landed softly next to me. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.
I nodded in reply; I was still looking at Starry Knight as she breathed deeply. I was having trouble thinking clearly, all of a sudden. My emotions were pulsating through me with increasing power and frequency; with every beat of my heart, the feeling grew, and I only felt a confusing mix of fear–but not the fear of death. It was fear infinitely and exponentially more potent.
The fear of losing something. Something . . . but what?
Eyeing Starry Knight, I suddenly wondered if it had to do with her.
She was standing now, mostly back to normal, although I had to say it was nice to see her sweat a bit. I was just thinking of asking her if she was okay when Elysian did it for me.
She looked wearily back at us. Her hair had been mostly blown free, and there was as much dirt on her clothes as on her body.
Some words finally found their way out of me. “I have connections with a doctor if you need help–” I started to tell her, but she shook her head fiercely.
It was then I realized that she was angry, not hurt. All the weariness disappeared from her face as she stood up.
Uh-oh. Here it comes.
“You should not be fightin
g.” Her words seemed to bite into my very soul. “You should not be fighting if you are just going to get in the way.”
“We managed to get rid of the monster–”
“That monster, as you call it, is still running free!” Starry Knight exclaimed, brushing herself off. “Eris has gone into hiding.”
“I don’t think it will take much to finish her, though,” Elysian murmured thoughtfully.
“Now I will have to find her all over again–”
“We, not you,” I corrected.
“No, just me. You can’t fight with me. You obviously have no real idea of what you're doing out there.”
“I would be a better fighter if you didn't insist on doing everything yourself!” I yelled back. “You're just a glory hog!” I stepped closer to her, hoping to intimidate her.
It was a lost cause. She merely arched her eyebrow at me. “You may have your own opinions, of course, but you're just an irresponsible fool!”
“Am not!”
“You are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too! You almost got all three of us killed because you insisted on fighting! If you’d stayed out of it, Eris wouldn’t have tried to kill you!”
“You didn't have to step in!”
“Yes I did!”
“Why?” I staunchly placed myself directly in her gaze; of all my questions, this was the one I wanted to know the most (this time, anyway). “No one was forcing you to protect your biggest weakness!”
A flicker of uncertainty flashed across her pretty face for just a split second. I swore I saw it.
“I wouldn’t let Eris win just so you'd be out of my way!” Starry Knight finally yelled as she glared back at me. “This is a waste of time. I have better things to do than argue with someone more concerned about his fame than his purpose.”
She turned, ready to go, and I was just about to celebrate when she sighed. It was a different sigh than I was used to.
“What?” I huffed.
“Eternity is an important matter,” she told me softly, her eyes meeting mine with a steady, sagely gaze. “It is not something to take lightly. It deserves every minute of serious consideration until you make your final decision.”
I felt the anger inside of me burn. What was she trying to do? Make me feel guilty or something?
I was even angrier as she took flight; I could barely limp away due to my injuries. And she was as graceful as always, even though she’d taken the blunt of the attack for me.
“Elysian,” I said softly. “Follow her. See if you can learn anything else about her.”
“Good idea,” Elysian agreed, transforming into a smaller version of his dragon self and heading off.
Yes, I thought. It was a good idea. I could keep tabs on Starry Knight and get rid of Elysian for the rest of my date with Gwen. If she was still at Rachel’s. Time had passed much more quickly than I would’ve liked. Still, though, it hadn’t been too long. I assured myself that despite everything, not much harm had come to the city.
It was only a few moments later, as I was heading back to Rachel’s, when I realized just how badly I’d blundered in letting Eris get away.
Walking up the streets near Shoreside Park, only a few blocks between the mall and Rachel’s, I stopped suddenly when I saw a familiar-looking body lying in the grass.
The mark on my wrist burned in familiar heat at the victim, who had just had her Soulfire stolen.
Staring up at me with blank eyes was none other than Samantha Carter.
☼10☼
More Fear
The walk home from Rachel’s was physically uneventful, but my mind was reeling from several blows.
I’d called the ambulance, anonymously, and let them know about Samantha’s body. And even though it was just Samantha, it was impossible for me to act like nothing had happened when I got back to Rachel’s Café. Gwen was appalled as much as worried after hearing the news of an attack, but when I sat down with her at Rachel’s, once more, I found I couldn’t pretend nothing had happened, not even for her.
I barely registered walking into my housing development, still stinging from Gwen’s reaction to my apparent apathy.
I’d managed to score another date with her, at least. We decided not to count this one. She wasn’t very nice about it, though. I knew I had a lot of making up to do with her, but I was just glad she was going to let me. My biggest fear during our conversation was that she wouldn’t be interested in pursuing a relationship anymore.
“Adam, watch where you’re going,” I muttered, reaching for my brother’s hand as he scuttled off into the neighbor’s yard.
“Hammonton.” He pouted and ran off, causing me to curse softly under my breath.
“You know, it’s not like I need this right now,” I called out to him as I began to follow him.
Despite everything, I felt a small smile creep on my face as I crept around the neighbor’s car and Adam scurried around the other way. I jumped out and grabbed him, proclaiming, “Gotcha!”
Adam giggled and twined his arms around my neck.
A rare moment of softness came over me as Adam clung to me. I didn’t always like being an older brother. But when I let him, Adam had a way of reminding me I couldn’t imagine life without him.
I hugged him back and smiled. “Let’s go home, Adam. Come on, we’re almost there.” I looked pointedly up the block to our house.
“Car.”
“Yes, there’s Cheryl’s car,” I agreed. Oh great, that meant she was home. I felt the irritation inside of me prickle once more.
“Car.”
“Yes, I know, Adam.” I sighed.
“Hey! What are you kids doing in my driveway?” I swung around abruptly at the voice.
A man was standing on the porch, looking at us with a stern expression on his face. For some reason, I thought he looked familiar. He was tall, with brown hair, and the black suit almost made me think we had stumbled onto his property just as he was leaving for a dinner date.
“Sorry, sir,” I replied. “I was just getting my brother.”
The man frowned, and a nagging memory in the back of my brain began screaming. I looked around and suddenly recalled this property had been up for sale for some time. Between the shiny car in the driveway and the angry man on the porch, I was able to guess someone had moved in.
I swept a more critical gaze over the car. It was a newer model, pristine and shiny in the cold winter atmosphere. Someone rich had moved in. “We’re leaving.”
The man pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. “All right then.”
Sunglasses? I thought. In the middle of winter? “Sure.”
I hurried back onto the sidewalk, still carrying Adam. I didn’t turn around but I heard the roar of a powerful engine and the squeal of tires, and I knew he was gone. Weird guy, I thought. But then, my family’s housing development had been made for the rich, and that usually meant we had to deal with sleazy salesmen as well as a few eccentrics.
Still, something about that guy made me nervous. I felt like I’d seen him before.
I forgot all my apprehension about the new neighborhood quack when we arrived at the house. I was determined to enter in as quietly as possible; Adam was not.
“Mom,” Adam called out.
“In here,” Cheryl replied semi-automatically from her study. “Hamilton, it’s about time you got home. School ended four hours ago.”
Well, hello to you too, Cheryl, I thought bitterly. “I was held up for a bit.”
Since I was expecting a reprimand, I was surprised when Cheryl said, “I’ve been waiting for you to get home. How was your day?” Before I could formulate a quick, meaningless reply of, “Fine,” to summarize the awful, bitter, loathing resentment I had for my day, she barreled onward. “You’ll never guess what assignment the mayor just gave me.”
“What?” I asked, putting Adam down behind her office desk.
Cheryl’s eyes lit up in excitement. “You’re loo
king at the prosecutor for the city in the case of Apollo City v. Flying Angels!”
I stared at her, my mind’s cloud of confusion slowly dispersing into pure fear and overwhelming hatred, and not just because she was drinking one of her special sugar-free diet drinks. “Flying Angels?” I repeated slowly, buying time to get my bearings.
“Oh, you know, those silly so-called superheroes running around town. The Wing King and Starlight Knight.”
Resentment was suddenly added to the already confusing mix of my emotions. Couldn’t my mother even get the names right?
She didn’t miss a beat, even as I was tongue-tied. “We’re going to hold them up on charges of city-wide endangerment and terrorism. Thank goodness for the Patriot Act, right?” Cheryl smiled, picking up Adam and smoothing down his hair. “Not only is this case going to get a lot of exposure for my career, but it’ll be good for you, too, Hamilton.”
I strongly disagreed with her, especially since she didn’t know I technically was on the opposing team. But curiosity got the better of me. “Why?” I asked, in what was hopefully an interesting and not weird-sounding voice.
“Stefano–Mayor Mills–mentioned to me today he wanted to have a part-time assistant working on the case with us, and he specifically asked me if you would be interested.”
“Me? Work for the mayor?” Funny, how those words, six months ago, would have made my day, even my week. Now they sent my spirits plummeting into a downward spiral.
“Yes. Wouldn’t that be great for your college application?” Cheryl beamed and all I felt was an instant sense of displacement.
Who was I, anyway? I was Hamilton Dinger, superstar athlete, genius, and charismatic leader. I succeeded at school, sports, and social niceties. I was on the fast-track to college, law school, and a career.
But then . . .
I was also Wingdinger, a fallen star, called to protect my city and save the day from any supernatural villainy. I didn’t understand a lot of the whys or the hows, or even the whats, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
All my life, I thought I was supposed to be sitting up at the prosecutor’s table with Cheryl, not sitting in the defendant’s chair.