* * * *
Leaving Sasuke after our spirit—or rather, physical—training with Sir Albion that night, I cut through the quadrangle to head out of school. It was already twenty past eight when I dragged my aching feet past the closed general office near the entrance. The sun had set a few hours ago, and the school was quiet and empty, aside from the brightly lit student hostels.
Comforted by the calm and silence, I paused and wearily gulped down a deep breath of cool air. I’d just gone through a rough day, and it was dreadful to think it wasn’t over yet. Other than the usual homework load, a one thousand words essay on ‘respect’ was also due in Ms. Psychotic’s pigeonhole before first period tomorrow morning.
How was I supposed to come up with one thousand words’ worth of bullshit? I groaned. I was so damn tired, the only thing I could think about was sleep—was that really too much to ask for?
Sighing resignedly, I took one final deep breath then carried on out the school. Complaining wouldn’t get me anywhere; I might as well get things over and done with.
“Averie?” Someone I’d never expected to initiate a conversation with me appeared from behind a pillar as I came to the sheltered walkway leading to the main gates.
“Asa?” I walked up to the boy, completely bemused.
“Can I ask you a favour?” he began uncertainly, his expression almost nervous.
“Okay,” I agreed without hesitation. “I’ll help if I can.” I wasn’t sure why, but I was incapable of refusing Asa. I had enough problems on my hands at home that I usually avoided hassles in school, but I couldn’t stop myself from getting involved in this. Finding out why this boy was being bullied had been added to my to-do list the day I’d entered Black Gold.
“Would you visit my mum with me?” he mumbled, not meeting my eyes.
“Your mum?”
“Her grave, I mean,” he explained.
My eyes widened. Didn’t he have family he could go to at times like this? His sister was definitely out of the question, but what about his dad, or his brother, or even his grandfather?
“This time, I—I couldn’t find the courage to go alone.”
“Okay, sure,” I said, even though I didn’t understand his last sentence. He gave me a fleeting, tight-lipped smile. “When are we going?”
“Now.” An intense crimson light blasted out of Asa as he took my hand, and, before I could brace myself for the teleportation, he zapped us out of Black Gold and into a small graveyard.
My legs turned to jelly when we landed right in front of one of the few tombstones around us—all of them grand and well maintained. I was starting to get a little freaked out a little; being somewhere dead people lay resting was something I’d never wanted to experience at night. Not to mention the spine-chilling whirring sound in the background. I knew it was just the wind and the insects, but it was still really eerie.
“I’m sorry it’s so dark, but Niigata is only an hour ahead of Singapore,” he said apologetically then fell silent, staring ahead at the grave before us.
Niigata... It sounded like some place in Japan, if I wasn’t mistaken.
I glanced around uneasily and saw the photograph on the headstone. Bending down to get a better look at it—the only illumination here was the faint, yellow light of a single lamppost several steps from us—I realised Asa took after his mother so much that they actually looked like the same person. They had youthful, ethereal faces in small, oval frames; subtle yet beatific smiles on thin, pretty lips; straight, Asian hair in the same shade of black—and it reminded me of my own undeniable resemblance to my mother.
I scanned the golden carvings on the stone. They were mostly Japanese characters—clearly, I was right about us being in Japan—but I also identified several familiar English letters in the middle. The gravestone read: Shizuka Savant. Her maiden name was also there…she’d been born Morikawa Shizuka, and she’d passed away four years ago—on this date.
That’s why Asa had come to visit. Today was the anniversary of his mother’s death.
Five minutes had probably passed before Asa spoke again, his eyes still fixed on his mother’s grave. “You know Acacia’s my sister, don’t you? I figure everyone at school knows.”
“Erm, yes,” I said, “but only because Sir Albion told me. In a way.”
“It’s only natural that she detests me. I don’t hold it against her, so there’s no need for you to stand up for me and get yourself—and your friends—into unnecessary trouble at school.”
“What do you mean by my friends?” I asked urgently. “Other than you, I’ve only spoken to two other people in Black Gold—Chastity and Sasuke. Has Acacia done something to them?”
“Tuesday after school, I saw my sister and a couple of other girls cornering Chastity near the school garden. Not only did they call her names, they pushed her to the ground, and tossed her books into the pond before leaving. Her hands were bleeding”—so Chaste hadn’t tripped and fallen accidentally that day—“but I didn’t step up to help her. It would only get her into more trouble.”
I felt my face tighten as fury stirred wildly inside me. “How childish can your sister get?” I said heatedly. First thing tomorrow, I would confront Acacia and make her apologise to Chaste. “Bullying is the most childish act ever. I can’t believe she’s eighteen. Even at eight years old, I knew it wasn’t right to bully.”
“When people are hurt, they hardly care what’s right and wrong. Everyone needs to vent their frustration somewhere, and some people are too blinded by their own pain to care where they aim it,” he explained maturely—far too maturely for a twelve-year-old boy.
“Why is she hurt?” I asked tetchily. As far as I was concerned, being in pain didn’t give you the right to do anything—especially if other people were involved. Being in pain didn’t give my father the right to neglect me. Being in pain didn’t give Acacia the right to take things out on her younger brother and make trouble for someone as innocent as Chaste.
“My sister and I shared the same mother. My brother has a different mother—a French lady.”
Okay, the Savant family tree was giving me a serious headache. Who was whose mother and who was whose father again?
“Simply put, Atward has the same father as Acacia, and I had the same mother as her,” Asa said, as though he’d read my mind. “My brother and I have no blood relation at all.”
“Okay…Atward is the son of Alary and a Frenchwoman. Acacia is the daughter of Alary and Shizuka. And you’re the son of Shizuka and another man. That’s basically it, right?” I put together every piece of scattered information and finally got a clearer picture of the situation. “Go on.”
“My mum died when I was eight. Road accident. Happened on our way to the aquarium. Only I survived, because I had angel blood in me.” He paused for a minute then said in a whisper, “I asked her to bring me.”
“But that wasn’t your fault.”
“Alary and Acacia have never gotten over my mother’s death. They’ve never liked me. At the beginning of the year, Acacia found out about everything and that was when she really lost it.”
I frowned. “What did she find out?”
“She overheard Alary’s arguments with Sir Albion, and found out that my biological father raped our mother in one of his many efforts to get even with my granddad and fathered me.” Hearing that, I felt a twinge of sympathy for Acacia; what had happened to her mother had to be very hard to come to terms with. “The truth about my parentage has always been kept a secret from Acacia and me. Even now, the adults think we don’t know a thing,” he said evenly.
“Aren’t you angry?” I asked in absolute bewilderment.
“Not really,” he replied calmly, and I almost burst with frustration.
“The Savants kept everything from you. Don’t you think you deserve the truth? Aren’t you mad that you’re involved in all this bullshit left behind by your parents?” I demanded. How could this boy, so much younger than I was, be so sens
ible and level-headed about this? If it were me, I would definitely be angry. I would be very angry.
“Getting angry doesn’t solve anything. And besides, there are enough angry people around without adding to the mess.”
I felt like shouting, Yes, it doesn’t solve anything, but how do you not get angry when you’re faced with such an unjust situation? But I said, “So you’re just going to put up with Acacia’s resentment?”
“Yeah,” he said without thinking, and my limit blew.
“You don’t have to!” I shouted, louder than I’d intended. “You don’t have to take everything on your shoulders. What happened was the stupid rapist’s—” Asa winced, ever so slightly, at the word, and I regretted using it as soon as I let it slip. “—fault. You don’t have to deal with your sister’s nonsense.”
“She’s nasty to me because she loves our mum. She can’t stand the thought that her mother is dead, and I can’t get myself to blame her for that, can I?” He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. “Besides, her resentment actually makes me feel better...it’s the least I can do.”
Eyes round with pure astonishment, I watched Asa intently. This time, I was honestly thrown aback. This boy…he put me to shame. Not only was he a sensible kid, he could forgive so freaking easily.
“My granddad told you about the archangels, didn’t he?” he carried on to say.
“Yeah. He gave an entire lecture about spiritual power. He said Archangel Gabriel fathered me. He also mentioned about Lucifer, and how he was about to make a comeback. Speaking of that, we aren’t supposed to go out of Singapore, are we?”
“No, we aren’t supposed to, but don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong.”
“How are you so sure?”
“If anything happens, I can get us back to Singapore at once.”
“Okay. So, what about the archangels?” I prompted, hoping our storytelling session would end ASAP. I didn’t know how, but the creepy humming sound seemed to be getting louder.
“My real dad is Lucifer.”
“What?” I cried out, as shock thrilled through me.
“My real dad is Lucifer,” he repeated, gaze still focused on his mother’s grave.
“Lucifer raped your mum as revenge against Sir Albion?”
“She was unlucky to have run into him when she was visiting her parents here in their hometown, Niigata, thirteen years ago. Everyone thought Lucifer was a goner, but apparently not. He left my mum alive to tell the tale.”
“Okay… Shouldn’t you be siding with Lucifer now that you know he’s your real dad?” I said, warily. Asa was the son of a dark angel after all. Maybe I should start treading around him more carefully just to play safe.
“No, I have to stay with the Savants. I’m a critical pawn in this game, and my granddad knows that. No matter how decadent Lucifer has become, he would probably still want his own son back, which is my granddad kept me, despite Alary’s demands for my abortion. He’s hoping I’ll be useful when the time for negotiation with Lucifer comes.” He looked to me. “The rest of the nephilims are critical, too. That’s why my granddad is teaching you and Sasuke to manage your spiritual abilities, so you might be of use. Unfortunately, we haven’t got a clue what Lucifer is playing at, so it’s hard to prepare.”
“Gosh. This is so complicated,” I sighed, as Asa swivelled back to the grave. “And now that you’re finally willing to speak to me, I suppose that we are friends now?” I asked hopefully.
“No,” he refused flatly. “I just wanted you to hear me out so that you’d have a clearer picture of our circumstances. I’m hoping it will help you judge better and make wiser decisions in the future.”
Was he saying that I hadn’t been making wise decisions so far? I fumed inwardly. If he was referring to me going up Acacia then yes, it wasn’t wise, but I was only trying to make friends—with him.
Asa finally turned away from the grave. “Thanks for coming with me, anyway. Let’s go ba—” A blindingly bright blue light erupted in the sky, and something huge slammed into us, knocking us sideways. We crashed to the concrete path on each side of the grave.
“What was that?” I groaned, pushing myself into a sitting position and turning to the source of the collision.
A large white man with scary-looking muscles was standing where we’d just been. The man, who was in all black—trousers and a shirt with both sleeves sloppily rolled up—wasn’t looking at either of us; his gaze was trained on the tomb.
Shit.
My stomach lurched with fear.
Could he be Lucifer?
I jumped to my feet. “Who are you?” I demanded in a bold voice despite the shock and terror pulsing through my veins.
“He’s my dad,” said Asa faintly.
For a minute, I looked between him and the man. Which dad he was talking about—Alary Savant or Lucifer?—but after a moment of observation, the answer became obvious. The man’s appearance and expression told me he was the less dangerous dad of the two. He looked too much like Sir Albion—the same squarish jawline and deep-set eyes—and the grief written on his face was clear.
I sighed with relief. He was Alary Savant.
“What are you doing here?” asked Alary without shifting his line of sight, so I had no idea who he was speaking to.
I turned to Asa for a hint, but he was still sprawled on the path, staring down at it fixedly.
“I asked you a question,” Alary repeated as he stepped toward Asa, every word smoking with fury. He looked so livid yet broken at the same time. He must have really loved Shizuka.
My sympathy went out to him, but Asa was also—very much—a victim here. He was, in fact, the most innocent party in the aftermath of Shizuka’s unfortunate death, which had been the result of Lucifer’s quest for revenge.
Lucifer...
To think he didn’t even have any idea how much his son was suffering because of his wrongdoings—it pissed me off so, so much.
“I just thought I should pay Mum a visit...” said Asa in a voice fainter than before.
A sinking sensation choked me. His plight tore hard at my chest. That barren look on his face—it was an expression someone his age shouldn’t even have known...let alone possessed. It was an expression I was familiar with.
“Haven’t I told you not to come before her ever?” Alary clutched Asa’s shirt, wrenched him to his feet, and punched him in the face without holding back. The sound of the impact was sickening.
“Hey!” I yelled, racing over to them. Next to massive Alary, Asa’s pint-sized body felt even smaller and more insubstantial. “What do you think you’re doing?” I seized his arm before he could take another swing at the poor kid. Apparently, Alary could be quite the dangerous dad as well.
And God did he smell like my father—all booze and tobacco. Seriously, do all adults solve their problems with alcohol and sticks of paper stuffed with thousands of toxic substances?
Nostrils flaring, he flung me aside effortlessly. “Who the hell are you?”
I hit the rough concrete again, skinning my elbows this time. Brushing sand off my wounds, I winced. The graze site on my right elbow looked pretty bad. Jeez—did this have to happen right after my wrist had healed?
“Just go away,” said Alary irritably, shoving Asa to the ground next to me, then returned to Shizuka’s resting place. “She’ll never forgive you. Nobody will ever forgive you.”
“Are you all right?” I asked Asa.
The reply I got was a quick zap back to school. “Are you all right?” Asa asked me back. The edge of his lips was bruised and bleeding from Alary’s punch. “I’m so sorry for getting you hurt, Averie—I didn’t expect my dad to show up this late. I—I’ve always managed to...to avoid…” His voice trailed off; he was fighting back tears.
Blinking hard against the stinging in my own eyes, I stepped forward and pulled him into a hug.
It was clear to me now. I couldn’t stay out of his problems because I saw myself in him. Tha
t look in his eyes—it was the same helplessness I’d been feeling since my mum left.
“It’s okay to cry. I won’t tell.” I held Asa tight, comforting him as tears poured down his face.