Chapter Thirty-One
The Sacrifice
I STOOD ON the front lawn of Burbank High School holding Austin’s hand as Orville, wearing a black T-shirt with an image of a black hole made of tiny red dots set in the middle of a large Z, the symbol of Zid’dra, lead a group of Plebes marching in two lines behind him down Third Street. They stopped in front of the school.
“Plebeians!” Orville shouted. “Hail Zid’dra! We are Destrùjantus! Hail!”
The stone-faced plebs shouted back, “Destrùjantus contraco Allégansa!”
“March! March!” Orville shouted to the two dozen Plebs dressed all in black, looking like soldiers ready for war.
“Shit, Kangy,” I whispered, “they called themselves destrùjantus! That means they are warriors for the coven.”
“Aye,” Austin replied, “but for who?”
“Zid’dra,” I said softly, thinking back to the terrible dream of Devlina the night before.
“This isn’t good, Eli.”
“I know.”
LA was a tinderbox, ready to explode.
Orville stepped back to allow the Plebs to march up the steps into BHS single file.
Orville paused, turned to me, and said, “Your time is numbered, Fruitlomary!”
Austin growled, “Fuck you, Orville.”
Orville launched for Austin, who came out swinging. A melee broke out, fists flying, legs kicking, until several teachers intervened and pulled us apart.
Soon, we were all in Principal Dustaffeson’s office. She glared at Orville. He had shaved his head. He had tattoos on his neck—pentagrams, the large Z symbolizing the coven, and the numbers 666.
“Are you part of a gang, Orville?” She looked at him suspiciously.
He resembled a white supremacist.
“You could say,” Orville said, sprawled out in the hard, plastic chair, a smirk on his face.
“Associating with gangs is forbidden here.”
Orville sniggered. “You can’t stop me or my Plebes. We answer to a more powerful authority than you.”
“Who would that be?” Principal Dustaffeson asked wearily.
“None of your business, doll face.”
“Excuse me?” Principal Dustaffeson said.
Orville settled into his chair, grinning mischievously.
“You better act right, son, you understand me?” Principal Dustaffeson snapped. I looked at her. I had never seen her mad like this before.
“What were you and those boys planning?”
“Showing solidarity with our new patron.”
“And that is?”
“You don’t need to know, hon.”
“Orville, call me hon again, and you’ll be suspended.”
Orville made a pouty face. “Sawry.”
“Why did you call Elijah names?”
“I don’t remember.” Orville snickered. “Maybe, because he’s richer than God and we don’t like God.”
Austin’s neck turned red. He was trying to control his temper.
“Orville, we don’t use language like that here. And dress appropriately. No black shirts and jeans and boots. Got it?”
He stood up. “Fuck you.”
“That’s it, you’re suspended!”
Orville stormed to her door, then turned.
“This ain’t over, Delomary.”
Austin launched out of his chair.
“What you going to do, lover boy?”
“Don’t test me. I can destroy you!”
Orville laughed and skulked outside.
Principal Dustaffeson stared at Austin and me, worry etched across her face.
She stood from her chair. “Let me know if there’s any more trouble, okay?” she said, showing us to the door, before returning to her desk and picking up the phone.
*
TWO TENSE WEEKS later, the sky was overcast, clouds shaded deep black, gray, and streaks of red covered the City of Angels. The first storm of the season headed to Southern California.
“The first Atmospheric River, folks,” the jovial weatherperson on the news said from the TV in the breakfast room. “Bring an umbrella and batten down the hatches, Angelenos!”
The first rainstorm of the season was a big deal in the dry desert of Los Angeles. On TV, they had team coverage all over LA. Stationed near the LA River, at Santa Monica, up in the San Gabriel Mountains, out in Palm Springs, and on the Grapevine.
The city waited for nature to unleash her fury on the mountains and valleys.
“Slow down when you drive, as the first rain brings out the oil on the freeways,” the TV anchored warned, “which makes it treacherous to drive, especially with rain.”
“Be safe, boys,” Mom whispered at breakfast, clutching her neck, fear and worry emanating off her.
“Sunny can give you all a ride home after school. That’s when it’s supposed to rain,” Sean said. “He’s an expert at driving in inclement weather. And this looks like it’ll be a doozy of a storm.”
A few hours later, I was on the tennis courts at school gathering loose balls after tennis class. We each took turns cleaning up after class. Everyone else was gone, even Austin, who left early for a dentist appointment.
I watched the clouds, ready to open up and drown Southern California at any moment. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that something was going to happen. Something terrible. My heart pounded. My face flushed. My emergency pill was in my backpack in my locker.
Just.
In.
Case.
Stay calm, Eli. Stay calm. Count backwards from twenty as Arnulfo taught you.
I wished we had session. I was like a pressure cooker with the safety valve blocked. I needed to fall apart in his office, so Arnulfo could put me together again, better than before. He was like that, with the patience and dexterity to put together the five thousand pieces comprising the puzzle of my life.
Someone whistled. I looked around, seeing only the oleander bushes lining the courts.
Was I hearing things?
“Stop taking medicine if you suddenly have fear or start seeing things,” the label warned.
Puxhàredo. Was the medicine working against me? No, that was not possible. I was so much better now. No more dreams of dying. No more fear of every little thing.
A drop of rain hit my head.
Puxhàredo.
“Hey, asshole.”
My eyes turned skyward. Orville stood on top of the chain-link fence behind the bushes around the courts.
The chain-link fence wasn’t strong enough to hold the weight of a boy built like a refrigerator such as Orville.
He floated above the fence, his body glowing with a strange light.
I watched him. “What are you doing up there?”
“Havin’ fun.” The red and orange light flickered around him, casting shadows on his face making his features look more exaggerated and frightening.
“Little bitch!”
“That’s not my name, Orville.”
“Yeah, it is. You’re an asshole and a fag.”
“Don’t call me a fag,” I shouted. “You know I can leap up there and battle you. Wanna watch me?”
Orville snickered. “Relax, we don’t care that you like boys.”
“We?”
“Me and my homeboy.”
“Jesus?” I squeaked. I hoped. The reality was too terrifying.
“NO!” Orville shouted.
Rain fell on both of us.
“Jesus can’t do what my Lord can do.”
“Like, um, make it rain in Southern California?”
Orville cackled, dancing several inches above the length of the top of the chain-link fence. “You’re so sarcastic. And a bitch. Fucking Delomary. Richer than God.” He laughed mockingly.
“I’ve always hated you and your fucking family,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because you’re fucking rich, and I live in a fucking trailer down by the railroad tracks.”
Was there a trailer park in Burbank?
“Yes, there is, asshole, right behind the power plant. Everyone gets cancer in the trailer park. My mom did last year. She died.”
Rain poured on me. I was getting soaked, but I couldn’t seem to move.
“We petitioned City Hall to do something to help us. But your fucking family intervened. Apparently, your family owns a share of the municipal power plant.”
“That’s not true.”
“You saying I lie, bitch?”
I cast my eyes down. My body quivered from the cold.
“Yeah, look down, you fucking pussy.”
“I didn’t know about that. If I had, I would have helped.”
He snickered. “No, you wouldn’t. You are too busy being this fucking victim.”
“I'm not.”
“You are. You rich kids. Like Blair and them Patricians,” Orville said, “have everything, live this perfect life, and you still whine and mope and act like the world is against you.”
“You know nothing about my life, Orville.”
“I know.” He snickered. “And I don’t care. I hate you, bitch.”
I struggled to see, as the rain was drenching me. Orville was perfectly dry.
“Do you think it was an accident you lost that marathon? Tripped?”
“What?”
He laughed. “My homeboy did that.”
“I…uh…I know…”
“Yeah, he’s so fucking powerful, Elijah, you don’t even realize.”
“I understand.”
“Yeah, well, he was the one who made sure it rained so much last year to make you miserable. We were hoping you’d off yourself.”
“Shut up!” I cried.
“Yeah.” Orville did somersaults along the top of the fence. “He’s been trying to destroy you. And you know why? Because you are pathetic. You make a big scene coming out. Force us to see you play the victim. Poor little rich boy. Fuck that.”
“Why are you saying all these things?”
“Because…because I fucking hate you and I know we are getting even.”
“Even?”
“My lord, you’re fucking dense. That skank you’ve been scheming with is getting her just desserts as we speak, and soon, so will you, tu desi mortarets!”
“What are you talking about?”
He mimicked me and laughed.
“Devlina Du Vel,” he said. “My Lord’s First Wife. The arrogant bitch. She thinks she owns my Lord. But he is what he is. And he owes no one anything. Love? Fuck that. No one loves him because he loves no one.”
Thunder rumbled. Orville smiled at the sky.
I gulped.
Puxhàredo.
I started to cry. I guess crying was progress. Arnulfo told me to feel my emotions. Damn medicine helped with that. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
A flash of light momentarily blinded me. A second later, a shadow fell toward me.
Orville.
And then I was knocked unconscious.
*
THUNDER RUMBLED OVERHEAD. Why did it seem to rain whenever bad shit happened to me? I opened my eyes. My head hurt. My eyes scanned the room. Lightning flashed in the cracked skylights overhead. Water trickled from the broken skylights and holes in the ceiling, splashing onto the uneven concrete floor next to me. I glanced up at the corroded metal ceiling and rusted steel beams supporting the ceiling. Blackness swirled around me, punctuated occasionally by bursts of lightning. My pulse quickened. Panic gripped my body. White light lit up the squares of glass in the ceiling. Thunder growled. Two red dots danced in the darkness. The odor of sulfur filled the air.
Puxhàredo.
Puxhàredo.
Puxhàredo.
Rain thumped high above me. Thunder grumbled. Sobbing sounded from nearby. My heart began to beat faster. My emergency pill was…in my backpack in my locker at BHS.
Crap.
Crap.
Crap.
The whimpering continued. My heart broke. I looked around. A figure slumped against the cold, damp concrete floor in a cage. I picked myself up and walked toward the cage. My head throbbed; my ankle burned.
I gulped. No. Fucking no. This can’t be happening. How the fuck did this happen…to him? Maybe I deserve this; maybe it’s time that I paid the price for all the terrible things my family did, but surely not him. What did he do?
Fuck. I need something to break open the lock? I have to help him. I feel him slipping away. I feel the gravity dissolving around him. I don’t want to spin out into the cold, dark depths of open space. The Excelà. Fuck, I can’t be the only gay boy in the universe again. I have to do something for him. For Austin.
“There’s nothing you can do for him,” a deep voice boomed in my head.
“He will be dead soon. What a fool. Love. It’s the most terrible thing God ever created.”
I looked around. There was no one with us. Just me and Austin.
I fell to the floor. “Austin, can you hear me?”
Austin’s body squirmed. His eyes, partially obscured by his wet hair, met mine. He smiled faintly.
“I fought so hard, love,” he moaned.
I tried to hold back the tears. “What happened?”
“He came looking for you. But I stopped him…”
“But why, Austin? I don’t want you to get hurt for me.” Fat tears streamed down my face.
“I love you, Eli.”
“Kangy, no, you don’t understand…”
“The most powerful Coaugelus are united with their Encantreinus. And no matter what those treasonous Estàntus did to you, you’ll always be an Encantreino. My Encantreino. I have to protect you.”
He screeched and moaned in agony. There was blood on the floor near him.
Red.
Hot.
Fury enveloped me. My amulet burned my skin. I rose to my feet, clenching my fists.
“Who the fuck did this? Show yourself!” I yelled.
Laughter, cruel and menacing, echoed through the vaulted space.
“Sum Coa Imperiatoro deo Oscuriment, Iunio.”
Zid’dra, of course.
“I am here to settle a score, boy.”
Suddenly, my tears stopped. “Where the puxhàredo hell are you, demon king?”
“Here!”
Lightning flashed in the skylights above. For a split second, a bizarre-looking creature composed of a flowing, spewing tar-like substance, with two dots for eyes made of orange and red flames appeared in the darkness.
“What the fuck are you supposed to be?” Why am I amused? This isn’t the time to laugh.
Lightning flashed and thunder reverberated nearby.
“You dare mock me, the Lord of—”
“Flies?” I said. “Why the fuck does it smell like dirty socks?”
“Shut up!” Lightning flickered in the skylights. Zid’dra lifted an appendage made of flowing tar. Austin shrieked. My stomach dropped.
“Stop acting the fool, Iunio, or do you want him dead?”
“No, stop, please…”
Cruel laughter echoed as lightning lit up the skylights.
“I thought so.”
Thunder boomed in the distance. A fucking atmospheric river, rain rumbled on the galvanized-steel roof overhead.
“What do you want?” I murmured.
“You. Elijah. The great-great-grandson of the Queen of Queens. The Áuqala. You must die.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I have to balance out nature.”
“What do you mean?”
“You being here. Alive. Your mother—she did this.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She joined your powers to my wife.”
“So?”
“That’s a no-no. We don’t like that.”
“We?”
“The Áuqala and me.”
“What does my great-great-grandmother have to do with this?”
“She's one part of the universe. I am the other. The yin and yang. Light and Dark. We bring balance to the order of things.”
“But what does that have to do with me?”
“My wife. She told you. She wants to destroy me,” Zid’dra said.
He was speaking in English and the Dark Language simultaneously. An unseen chorus of voices filled the room with cruel glee. Austin screamed in pain. My heart broke in two.
“I do what has to be done. If no one kills the deer, then deer keep multiplying until they destroy their ecosystem. The Shimmering creates. I destroy. It’s my job. Only, no one worships me.”
“Devlina did.”
“She’s a fool. She fell in love with me, but I never promised her I would be hers only. I am not faithful like that. God is faith. I am fear.”
“But Zid’dra—”
“Your Filthiness!” Zid’dra commanded.
“Yes, Your Filthiness,” I repeated. “You don’t have to do this. It was all a mistake. Mom was angry, upset with my dad. She made a mistake using Malac Malactańena and resurrecting Devlina from where she was entombed by the Alliance after the battle on Old Earth. Surely you can forgive?”
Zid’dra shuddered, bits of steaming tar flying off his head.
“I don’t forgive.”
“I implore you—”
“Enough!” Zid’dra’s voice deepened, the floor trembled, and thunder roared overhead.
“Now, enough with these distractions. It is time for the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?”
“Where I kill you,” Zid’dra said. “So many times, I have come close to destroying you, and now I will fulfill my oath.”
“Oath.”
“To purify the universe. Of you. And once you are gone, then I will continue to rid the world of your family. And the Alliance. The Áuqala is too powerful; it is time for me to squash her. And return things to the natural order, with darkness and fear and monsters in charge.”
Puxhàredo.
Puxhàredo. Panic gripped me. My heart was in my throat. Cold tendrils of fear wound their way like vines up my legs, slowly squeezing my body. Shit, I was going to have a panic attack. It was barreling toward me. After dodging death multiple times, this was it. I couldn’t stop it. I was going to die. What will happen to Little Ocho and my skateboard? Damn. Shit. Puxhàredo.
An image of Dirk Delomary, lying in bed, eyes half-closed, whispering to Evangeline who huddled over him as he said his last words: Nunma in Viacadeimo. I am not a victim. I had come a long way since the day of that kiss on Lake Shasta. I didn’t need any pill to stop the panic attack.
“No,” I said, staring at the oozing tar man. “Let’s rumble!”
“You think you can battle me?” Zid’dra hooted, gas rising from his head.
I centered myself as Máurso taught me, bowing to Zid’dra, then putting up my fists in front of my face.
“Potentzea, imdentro, potentzea exancto.”
“Power inside me, power outside me.” A feeble, golden light flickered around me, brightening the vast, ruined foundry. Rain pounded the roof.
I was going to battle Zid’dra, if it was the last thing I did. Last summer, Mom and I watched a movie about a young family in their RV in the desert near Joshua Tree. A gang of motorcycle hoodlums attacked them. As the bikers beat her husband viciously, the woman collapsed to the floor inside the RV, crying, sobbing. Mom screamed, “Get up! Get a knife! Fight for your man, your family! Don’t die a victim!”
Watching that movie summed up who Mom was raised to be—a fighter. She was determined to do what she thought was right. She had married a man she loved, and then when he walked out on her, on us, she picked up the pieces and carried on. Shit happened to her. Things went terribly wrong. She was taken prisoner and carried off to Old Earth by Devlina. I didn’t cry. I was determined to bring her home. I did that. Nunma in Viacadeimo. Mom came back different. I was different. We changed, we had to. Life was about moving forward, no matter what. Mom had progressed. I did too. We were moving together now. “Elijah, do you understand that when the shit hits the fan, you have two choices: you give up and collapse on the floor and sob, or you stand up and you fight. And if you fail, well, you have to know you made a choice. This world loves victims. But let’s embrace being heroes.”
“Even if you die?”
“You have to take a chance; you have to stand up to fear, self-loathing, and doubt. You have to reach inside and be bigger than those monsters.”
Those monsters rattled around inside my head. I was bigger than Zid’dra. I was bigger than him because a kiss on a lake had opened a key to my soul. And out of the door stepped a new boy—no, a man. He could do anything he put his mind to. I leaned down. “I love you, Kangy,” I said, then summoned golden orbs of flames and played with them in my hands.
“Want to play with my balls?”
Zid’dra gagged. “Iunio, mal!”
I tossed the balls at him. Zid’dra ducked. The golden lights flickered out behind him.
I pulled out my PlasmX, the pink light glowing weakly in the dark space. Zid’dra extended a hand, snatching my PlasmX. He snapped his wrist. My PlasmX shattered, little pink stars filling the air and dissolving into the atmosphere. I strained to summon more magic; nothing worked. Was I out of magic? Puxhàredo!
The chorus began taunting me. Zid’dra was cackling. “You are nothing, Elijah Delomary. You don’t even exist anymore!”
Unexpectedly, a door behind me was kicked open. I turned to face fucking Blair Winchester in a black leather motorcycle suit, her hair pulled back off her face.
“Hiya, Elijah,” she said, chewing gum and looking entirely ferocious.
“Blair, what are you doing here?”
“Maybe Damien’s rubbed off on me. Maybe the Alliance isn’t so bad. Maybe our families can work things out. Maybe I can help save the universe.”
I broke down. “Blair, I think I love you!”
“I know, honey. Of course, you do. Look at me. Look at you.”
“Still gay.”
“I have a boyfriend. Jesus, Elijah!”
“Who the fuck are you, iunia!”
“Blair Fucking Winchester. I am filthy rich and so much better than the likes of you. Huh. Do you have a titanium card? No, you don’t because you’re nothing more than a blob of crap, and I am a fierce woman!”
Zid’dra snarled. “Get out of here, you little gnat. I am going to do my job and destroy that red-haired freak.”
“Not on my watch,” Blair roared, then snapped her gum. “Get the fuck away from my man, beelzebub!”
Zid’dra and I both watched her. This was fricking insane.
Blair, in heels, clicked swiftly across the room carrying what looked like a giant water blaster.
I eyed Austin, who was still whimpering. Blair’s eyes followed mine to the cage.
“Is that Austin? Fuck, is he okay?”
I shook my head.
“Fuck this.” Blair walked over to the bubbling-tar man.
“You bitch!” she said before pumping her weapon and unleashing a clear liquid all over the bubbling tar creature.
Zid’dra hissed and shrieked. His gooey tar-like body convulsed. He was livid.
Lightning flashed; thunder crashed overhead.
“What the fuck is that?” I whispered as Blair kept pumping water on Zid’dra, snapping her gum, and tapping her left foot.
“Holy water, what else? Hurry. Help Austin.”
“Okay.”
A moment later, the water blaster was empty, so she released it and mustered pink balls of energy with her hands, then lobbed them at Zid’dra. He batted them with a tarry appendage. She conjured a thousand doves to swarm and beat him with their white wings. I scanned the room, lightning flashed—there was a hammer! While Blair used magic to battle Zid’dra, I banged the lock with all my might.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Thud. The lock landed on the cold concrete floor. I rushed inside and kneeled beside Austin.
“Kangy.”
He muttered, “Eli, love…”
I pulled off my amulet. It was warm to the touch. I wrapped it around Austin’s neck. It shone with a pulsing pink light.
“Kangy?”
His eyes opened. “Eli, love, you came. I didn’t want you to. This was a setup to get you. To kill you.”
I began to weep. My tears fell onto Austin’s hand. He grasped for me. “Eli, leave me. Save yourself.”
“No, Kangy…”
“Elijah, if you die, the darkness wins, the Alliance could fail…”
“Kangy, please.”
“Eli, save yourself.”
“Elijah! I’m running out of juice. Do what you have to do,” Blair yelled over to me.
Light flashed, followed by thunder, and then a sickening eruption. Blair shrieked. I was knocked down. I rolled onto my back. Fuck saving myself. I had to save Austin. He was all that mattered. He was pure love. He had sacrificed so much for me; at all costs, Austin must live. Maybe that was what Dirk meant, long ago, as the breath left his lungs. He was not a victim because he chose life and love after the struggles of his youth. And I chose to save Austin. He was worth it. He would make the world better. He would bring light to the darkness.
I scampered out of the crumbling building and rushed into the wind and rain. I looked around frantically. There was an old, beat-up pay phone hanging on the wall. I picked up the phone. How do I use this? Where’s the touch screen? Shit. Okay, well, shit. I’ll just dial some numbers.
Please work.
Please work.
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“My boyfriend—he’s hurt. We’re at Forman Steel on Magnolia Boulevard. Please send an ambulance.”
“They’re on their way.”
I hung up and rushed inside. Blair was nowhere to be seen. The tar blob had turned into a quivering mass of black points, hovering in the center of the room. Strange chanting filled the room. A sickly, green light danced on the rusted steel walls and beams above.
“It’s time. Stop fighting this.” Zid’dra’s deep voice hummed, “Devlina has been dealt with. Balance will come. The Alliance will finally fall. Magicals will falter. Ordinaries will perish. The coven will grow stronger. The lion will devour the lamb. Order will be returned to the universe. Humanity is meant to fail, Elijah. Don’t you comprehend?”
I was desperate. My mind raced to Mom and Barn and Tory and the Kangs and all my friends.
Blair. She helped me! Fuck. Austin. He was dying. He needed help.
The chanting grew louder. The walls quaked. Sickness crept up my esophagus. I bit my lower lip to stop it.
Shit. Shit.
Puxhàredo.
And, after a moment, peace enveloped me. I was right. For the first time in my life, I had clarity. Everything was going to be okay. I began walking toward Zid’dra.
“Eli! No!”
I walked toward the cone of black dots in the center of the room.
“Keep coming, Iunio! Death is your only choice. Death is wonderful. The Alliance must fail; humanity must fall. Balance and order must be restored to the universe.”
I sluggishly trudged forward. I had to do this for Austin. He would live and rise up stronger than ever, and he would battle the darkness, and he would shimmer. I needed to purify myself. I had to let go so that balance was restored to the universe. Austin would do that. For me.
A blaze of lightning lit the skylights above. I saw a silhouette. I heard stilettos on the concrete. Thunder rumbled overhead.
“You have to live, Elijah.”
“Devlina?”
Devlina, or rather a thousand tiny square-shaped tiles in a mosaic resembling her form, walked toward me, holding a ball of iridescent red light. I backed away.
“What are you doing?”
She observed the ball of light.
“It’s the only way.”
“I don’t understand.”
“For you to live.”
“What do you mean?”
“Asshole over there wants to kill you. He already destroyed most of me, but I know a way so you can survive.”
I watched Austin. He can—no, I can’t bear the idea of leaving him. Alone. All alone.
Zid’dra beckoned. “Come to me and restore balance, Elijah,” his voice instructed. “It’s the only way, iunio.”
No, I couldn’t let that happen. I looked at Devlina.
“What are you going to do?”
“Save you; destroy myself.”
“You are willing to do something to save me, even if you don’t survive?” I said to Devlina
She shrugged. There were tears in her eyes.
“I’ve grown to love you, kid.”
I stopped breathing for a second. I was baffled.
“Devlina, you only do things for yourself.”
She snickered. “Not anymore, I guess.”
This was colossal. Unbelievable.
“Devlina, could it be you’ve changed?”
She shrugged again. “I doubt it. I mean, I’m only doing this for you and lover boy. I can’t stand the idea of you two being separated. True love. That’s what I see. It’s what I wanted…”
The thousand tiles composing her body reassembled and her hands wiped her eyes.
“Are you crying?”
“Fuck you, Elijah.”
“You’ve gone soft, Devlina.”
“I fucking know. It’s you and your damn goody-two-shoes ways. Always helping people. Worrying about others. Fuck, you gave up your powers to save your familiar. That messed with me so much. I cried for days. I inverted myself and transformed to pure carbon and sank into the ground and leeched through the rocks and clay and mud and existed there in agony. I’ll never understand why I felt that way after you did that. You gave up power to save someone you love.”
“I can’t help it; it’s who I am.”
“I can help it, yet here we are. I’m going to do this… I love you, kid.”
“I love you too, Devlina.”
“You’re like the son I’ve always wanted.”
She was looking into my soul. We had a connection.
“I have to do this. To save you.” She glared at Zid’dra. He had reverted to a gurgling creature made of tar, laughing manically, and spilling gasoline all over the floor.
“Elijah, you have to know something. You have great power. I lusted for power, but I was searching for something that doesn’t exist. Hard power. No one follows a bully. You have soft power.”
“Soft power.”
“Your friends,” she said. “They love you. Boxey—he followed your lead because he loved you. Your family loves you. People listen to you. You will rule the entire world with your soft power. You can be what I can never be. A true leader. One whom the whole universe will follow because you love. Love is all that matters.”
She turned her attention to Austin. “And Austin—he loves you unconditionally. No matter what.” She yelled at Zid’dra, “Fuck you, pookie! You suck!”
“Don’t call me pookie!”
Devlina turned back to me, her eyes filled with hurt. “I just wanted to be loved. That’s all.” She groaned. “You can be the fulfillment of my dreams. Do you understand?”
I waggled and gazed at the floating red orb of light.
“You have to trust me.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know you are. I won’t hurt you.”
“How do I know that?”
“Faith. It’s what God has. You trust in him or her or whatever it is. Trust me.”
I nodded.
“I trust you.”
“Close your eyes, son.”
I shut my eyes.
Devlina said, “I love you, and I want Austin to live.”
“But Devlina…”
I opened my eyes. Abruptly, she screeched and heaved the red orb at me. The red ball sped toward me connecting with my chest. The light absorbed into my shirt and then everything went black.
A terrible explosion surrounded me. I was flying through a great void of frigid space.
The Excelà. My body was pulled in every direction. I was ripping apart and spinning around and around and around in the great and vast blackness. All the pieces of me were tumbling down and falling deeper into a void.
And then, white light exploded into the black night. I opened my eyes. I was in Joshua Tree, seated on an outcropping of rocks. I shook my arms and kicked my legs. I was alive.
I spotted Áurmiddo sitting next to me. We were staring up at Cassiopeia.
“True Colors” played from a red speaker. Áurmiddo reached for my hand.
“You have to live. Don’t you understand?”
I shook my head. I was muddled, my head filled with fog.
“It’s about the universe and gravity and love.”
“I don’t understand, Áurmiddo.”
“I was the key.”
“To what?” I examined his brown eyes.
“To the universe.”
“But why?”
“So, you could become who you are destined to be.”
“What does that mean?” I looked at him. I was incensed. “You didn’t love me?”
He smiled. “Of course, I did. But now, looking back, I know that when I kissed you, it opened you up to the universe.”
“I loved you.”
“You love Austin.” He laughed. “I have a boyfriend now. Ours was puppy love, Elicêo.”
“I hate puppy love. I was in love with you.”
“You’re in love with Austin now and he adores you, and he keeps the light in you burning. Don’t you see? They tried to douse it over and over again, but it can’t be extinguished.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You have to go back. Be with Austin. I’ll be in Minerva. You can visit me. But you have to go back to Earth.”
“Perhaps I don’t want to.”
“You have to. You think you’re alive, but you’re not.”
“I’m not alive?”
“You’re like a thousand tiles making up a mosaic.”
“Yeah, well maybe then it’s easier to be like this, a void, an Excelà. Nothing. No expectations. Nada. Rien.”
“No, this is nothing. You have to be something. You’ve become a man, Elijah. You’re no longer the scared boy living someone else’s life.”
“I’m not strong enough to pick myself up and go on.”
He grinned. “You are. Don’t you know that? You’ve always been strong, but you thought you were weak. How many things did you overcome? How many times did you live when you should have died? You are powerful. Remember that.”
“I’m not.”
I was crying.
“You are, Elijah. You are the great-great-grandson of our Glorious Queen of Queens. The bearer of light, the One Who Shimmers. You will always be powerful.”
“I’m not powerful, Áurmiddo. I broke. I mean, I fell apart. I’m on medicine right now.”
He held my hand. “Sometimes, you have to break to be reborn. Without destruction, there can be no creation.
“You need to go to that light. Be who you are meant to be.”
A lighted red door appeared in the middle of the sand, next to a Joshua tree.
“Go to the door. Be with Austin. Be with your family. For me. But more importantly, for you.”
“How do you know all this, Áurmiddo?”
He grinned. “I’ve been following you. On my scimitar. I’ve seen everything. Well, nothing too personal.”
I looked up at Cassiopeia burning in the night sky.
“I’m frightened.”
“Trust me.” He smiled. “You can trust people who love you, Eli. Don’t you know that by now? Your mom, Austin, your aunts, the Kangs, your friends. Even that silly Blair girl. She loves you.”
I sighed.
“She helped me.”
He laughed. “I know. I never anticipated that.”
“And Devlina.”
“She sacrificed herself for you,” he said. “Don’t you understand? People who love you will do anything for you. That’s how you know you’re loved. And a lot of people love you dearly. Even Devlina. And when you are loved, you can move mountains. That is real magic. Real power. They say that to be strong people have to fear you, but they are wrong. Love is power. Love is the law.”
I broke down crying.
“Devlina sacrificed herself for me…”
He squeezed my shoulders.
“Go, Elijah, now, before it’s too late.”
I noticed the light fading as the door began to swing shut. I stood.
“Áurmiddo. Thank you. I mean…”
He laughed. “Go, now. Email me, Elicêo!”
I ran toward the door and squeezed through just in time as it closed behind me.