Dancing With Monsters (25 page)

“
What are you going to do?
Go and ask her for it or just take it from her?” Nessa and I stood
behind a giant pillar. “They don’t even want us in the room with
them. Mostly it’s those two archangels that don’t, and they keep
barking laws and regulations at everyone.” She peeked at them as
the morning sun filtered through the openness of the building.
“They’ve sealed this area and are trying to get more archangels
here. That’s what their portal is for. Your uncle and his team
ignored Isaiah and Edan, and are trying to use the portal Eveie
used. But it’s starting to web shut, and I know whatever exactly
that is, isn’t good.”

“
I need you to go and talk
to Isaiah and Edan while I get the stone from Yolanda.” I gazed
down at Nessa as the sun illuminated her nearly white hair. She’d
look almost like an angel if her face wasn’t scrunched up with
confusion.

“
What?” She asked shaking
her head. “What am I supposed to talk to them about? I suppose I
could have them repeat a few laws I didn’t understand or if there
were anymore that might interest me in why I shouldn’t be here, and
the possibility of being put in confinement.” She crossed her
arms.

“
I need a diversion to get
the stone away from Yoloanda, and use it to enter the portal. If
you keep them busy, then all I have to worry about is getting the
lightstone and going through the portal. And I’m fast enough to do
it.”

“
Rusul is like a brick
wall,” she said, glancing at him and then at me. “Can you bust
through a brick wall?”

I drew in a deep breath. “For Malachi
and Ezra, and, April,” I looked at him as my heart raced, “I
can.”

Nessa assessed the room with me.
“Well, if we’re going to do this, we need to move.” She walked out
into the room, and towards the two archangels.

She acted impressed with the portal
and asked questions about it as Isaiah asked her several times to
go away and stand back. Nessa had a charm to her, but I knew that
charm would wear thin if I didn’t act now.

I focused on Yolanda. Delicately, she
held the lightstone in her hand and in front of her as it caught
the rays of light. Fragmented beams of light radiated from it. I
watched her handle it as I gazed at it like a hungered beast
waiting to take over another beast’s fresh kill. The stone was
meant for me, and I wasn’t sure if it was destiny, fate, or
instinct, but I felt drawn to it.

I kept my eyes on the stone as I
snatched it quickly from Yolanda. Too surprised, Yolanda didn’t
have time to react as I charged towards the portal with my
outstretched arm that held the lightstone firmly clenched in my
palm. The portal began to hum, and without warning, light exploded
as if a dam holding back gallons of water gushed to the floor and
filled the air. Uncle Hes, Rusul, and Ayil were knocked and pinned
to the ground surrounded by the tendrils of light.

I didn’t look at their faces as I
walked with unblinking eyes towards the portal and entered
it.

With my arm still taunt and held out
in front of me, I walked through the blinding light. I felt the
pull the stone had on my hand, and if I would’ve let it go, it
would easily fly from my hand. I kept my grip on it until the
tension faded and I was standing on a grassy hill with black
mountains in the distance.

“
Let go of me!” demanded a
voice behind me.

I turned around, and sprawled out
between the tall blades of grass was Edan and Nessa. My stomach
dropped as now I knew I had to be responsible for not only Nessa,
but Edan as well. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“
Ouch!” Nessa yelled as
Edan got up and Nessa rubbed her ankle.

“
What in all the ages are
you doing? You can’t do what you just did without consequence.”
Edan, who was nearly as tall as me, stood with glaring
eyes.

I didn’t have time to argue and shook
my head at him as I helped Nessa to her feet.

“
Are you alright?” I asked
her.

“
I would be if
Archie-the-Angel here wouldn’t have stepped on my foot.” Gingerly
she touched it. “I think it is worse.”

“
I’m reporting this and
keeping track of everything that you do.” Edan pulled out a small
notebook and a tiny pencil from the spiral binding that held it
together.

I grabbed it from his hand, and
crumpled it in my fist as I glared at him.

“
We are in the Shadowlands
with three demons here holding what could possibly be the demise of
not only Iethia, but as many worlds as they want. You will listen
to me, write nothing down, and do as you’re told if you want to get
out alive.”

“
You don’t understand,
monster,” Edan leaned closer to me and glared at me in all of his
whiteness. “I’m an archangel, and—”

I grabbed him by the neck and shoved
him into the smooth, black granite portal frame that stood out like
a half-buried picture frame in the ground. Glaring into Edan’s
surprised eyes; I slid his body against the cool stone until his
feet were slightly off the ground.

“
I don’t care if you are
the head archangel,” I said as Edan struggled to undo my grip
around him. “You will listen to me if you want to get out alive or
die—either by my hand or a demon. Understand?”

Gasping for air, and with a slightly
red face, Edan agreed with a slight nod and a blink of his eyes. I
let him down, and turned my attention to Nessa.

“
You and Edan will stay
here next to the portal,” I said as Nessa tried to stand on her
slightly twisted ankle. “You will guard the portal and protect
Nessa.” I pointed at Edan and warned him with my glowing
eyes.

He nodded his head as he rubbed his
neck that was beginning to bruise. His mouth twitched with words of
protest, I’m sure, but never spoke them as he glared his
warning.

“
The council will hear
about this—don’t think they won’t,” Edan finally said as I stood
next to Nessa.

“
You have to be
alive
to tell them your
version first,” I replied as something materialized in the portal
that caught my eye.

I pushed Edan out of the way and
looked at the portal that ghostly reflected the green landscape
behind me and the room back at Shangri-La. The two places overlaid
one another. I tried to see what was going on back in the portal
room at Shangri-La, but the two images were slowly fading.
Suddenly, an image formed through the swirling silver that was
consuming it. It was Uncle Hes and he looked at me and smiled, then
was gone.

“
Well, what are you
waiting for?” Eden asked. “You’re just staring into the portal. I
thought you were going to be the hero-of-the-day.”

I pulled a sheathed dagger from pocket
and tossed it towards Nessa. “If anyone comes besides me, or if
Archie gets a little too annoying, kill them both.” I turned and
sped off not hearing whatever Edan had to say in
protest.

The landscape was beautiful, and I
couldn’t see how demons could have created something breathtaking.
The gentle sloping hills were covered in a carpet of green grass,
the delicate wildflowers that danced in the wind crowned the knolls
in their colorful glory for miles. The black mountains glinted with
silver as the sun bathed me in warmth.

I stopped running, and caught my
breath. This couldn’t be created by demons, and I didn’t know how
vast the Shadowlands were since I’ve only seen fragments of it
through Ezra. It was easy to get lost in the beauty that mesmerized
me in this lands now controlled by demons. But where were they?
They could be anywhere, and even had portaled to another area
entirely.

I stood on top a hill overlooking the
vastness of the lands before me and I felt I was trying to find a
needle in a haystack.

“
You shouldn’t stay in the
open,” a voice of a young child said behind me.

I turned to see a girl no older than
nine or ten with black hair and pale skin looking up at me with
blue eyes. She was dressed in a long, blue dress and had a number
of necklaces of tiny shells around her neck. She nervously rolled
the purple and blue shells on one of the necklaces between her
fingers.

I took a step towards her as she ran
down the hill.

“
Wait!” I yelled as I
followed her down the steep incline and towards a forest that
suddenly sprouted with a groan from the ground it sprung
from.

Dirt and debris fell from the newly
grown trees that shook and swayed into place. The girl ran into the
forest that was like a giant, green curtain swallowing her whole. I
ran in after her, and pushed back the whipping limbs that were like
springs being released from the rich, black soil in this newly born
forest.

She was small, quick and darted
through the trees like a tiny rabbit. I lost sight of her a few
times, but could hear the rattling of her necklaces as she
ran.

“
I’m not going to hurt
you!” I yelled as the forest thickened with trees and grey rocks
jetted out of the ground between the towering trees.

She kept running as fast as she could
until she crested over a small hill and disappeared. I followed
her, and nearly fell into a rushing stream with colorful rocks
protruding out of the sparkling water that caught the sun and
glistened like jewels in a river of silver. The girl stood at the
edge of the stream and looked at me over her shoulder.

“
I didn’t want Eos to see
me or see you,” she said in a calm voice as I stood nearly winded
from running after her. “My name is Ella, and I’m Eveie’s
daughter.”

Eveie’s Daughter?

She turned and extended her hand
towards me. Confused and unsure if I should touch her or not, I
nodded my head. “My name is Seth,” I said as she took off one of
her necklaces.

“
Here, you’ll need this to
walk in my lands.” She handed me a string of blue shells that were
pointed at one end and rounded at the other.

“
These are your lands?” I
questioned not sure if I was talking to a demon, soul or something
else.

“
My mother said I could
play in them and make them however I wanted to them to be,” Ella
said proudly with a raise of her chin.

“
They’re magnificent.
However did you make them?” I asked trying to appease Ella and
learn all I could from her.

She looked around at them, and smiled
with pride. “My mother gave me magic so I could make the lands I
like. She likes them too and said she would walk in the gardens
with me later.” She smiled at me. “Put your necklace on and come
play with me before Eos finds out.” She stepped into the ankle-deep
stream. “I like water.” She gazed down at it as I put on the
necklace.

“
Who’s Eos?” I
asked.

Her eyes shot to me as she put a
finger to her mouth. “Don’t say her name too much or she’ll come.
They are busy with the girl and boy that I can’t play with. I don’t
get to play with hardly anyone.” Ella kicked at the water with
crossed arms.

It was April and Malachi. I wanted to
ask her desperately if they were still alive and what was going on,
but I knew she wouldn’t be able to answer those questions, but she
could lead me to them.

“
I’d love to meet your
mother and maybe I can persuade her to let us all play together in
the lands you made.” I smiled at her as a flicker of agreement
casted over her face, and she slipped her tiny hand in
mine.

Immediately, I could sense something
familiar about her. Was she a human or monster? I couldn’t
tell.

“
You won’t get to play
with any of them, monster,” a voice said behind me.

I turned to see Eveie glaring at me
with her blue eyes, scale-covered arms crossed and tapping her foot
on the ground.

“
That is until I get done
with you.” She smiled as I reached for my dagger and threw it
towards her as Ella screamed.

April

“
Malachi,” I whispered his
name. “Malachi,” I repeated with no response.

Eveie and Eos had left suddenly
leaving Malachi and me alone. They moved us to a cage with silver
bars that reminded me of a fancy birdcage. The terrain was littered
with grey rocks and surrounded in a lavender sky. It reminded me of
pictures of the moon’s surface with its barren, grey
landscape.

I had tried to loosen the lock on the
door, and even bend the bars in hopes of slipping between them, but
it was too strong even though it looked delicate and I should have
been able to easily twist it with my fingers.

“
Malachi, we have to get
out of here.” I knelt beside him as he stared blankly in front of
me.

Eos had simply stared into his eyes
rendering him into almost like a zombie. If we were going to
escape, now was our chance. I tried the bars again. It was useless
and I was just wasting time and energy.

“
You can wake him,”
said a voice—Ezra’s voice—in my head.

I knew she was with me, and just like
a pretty knickknack sitting quietly on a shelf, so was Ezra inside
of me. I felt her strength since I did my second Taking on her. Our
thoughts, feelings and personalities were beginning to blend and
bind as one. I wasn’t scared of it or felt it wrong. In fact, for
the first time in my life, I felt complete like I had suddenly
grown another arm or leg that had been amputated and miraculously
regrown.