We have all been summoned by Emerson. Two days have passed and she is back to her old self, for the most part. The loss of her friend did not leave her unchanged. She has an edge to her that she didn’t have before.

“I asked you all here so we could go over some things,” she says like she is addressing a board of investors. Her voice was strong and steady. Whatever it is she wanted, she was certain she would get it. Or at the very least, put up a good fight.

“First, thank you all for helping me get through Sara’s death. I know it set you guys off-track in terms of what you needed to do, and I really appreciate it.”

“No prob. We got you, baby girl,” Jay says.

“I know. But it really was hard and you guys could have like melted my brain or something to get me to talk, but you didn’t, so thank you.”

“We understand loss better than anyone, Emmy,” Reese says simply.

“And on that note, here are my conditions for helping you guys find the Triplex.”

“Conditions?” I say.

“Yeah, some things I need you guys to promise me before we can continue.”

“We?” Rio and Miku say at the same time.

“Yes. My friend was killed by a Pawn sent out by Lucy. My family stands to lose their lives and I will not allow that. So, I am going to do everything I can in order to help you guys save the world.”

“Okay, well let’s—”

She cuts me off. “First, I have three conditions.”

“What are they?” Jay says.

“One, I want to be told everything there is to know about angels and the world you guys live in. I want nothing left out. I should know everything from what kind of angels there are to what a Snap or whatever it’s called is.”

“Okay, that’s something we can do,” I say.

“Good. The next thing is that I want you guys to take me everywhere you go. If you guys are fighting, then I want to be right there helping. No more leaving me in English to diagram sentences while you guys fight for me and my family.”

“No,” I say flatly.

“Why not?”

“You’ll get hurt or worse.”

“You guys can protect me. I’ll be fine.”

“No.”

“Marcus, just hear her out,” Ameana says.

“There is nothing to hear out. I’m not risking her life so that she can have ringside seats to a battle.”

“When you guys have to look after me at my house, you guys are a man or two short. Think about it. If I’m with you then everyone can help. Why should any of you have to babysit me? Wouldn’t you rather I came along and hid somewhere instead of wasting precious manpower watching me at home?”

“She does have a point,” Reese says.

“No, no way. That’s not happening.”

“We could put her in a Holder so that they couldn’t get at her,” Jay suggests.

“No,” I say again.

“What’s a Holder?” she asks. Reese tells her.

“So, it could protect me when you guys are fighting. That’s perfect.”

“There are ways around a Holder. At least for Lucy there is. The answer is no,” I say once again.

“Marcus, I promise I won’t do anything stupid. I’ll just stay inside the bubble thing way off into the corner. I won’t get hurt.”

“No, and that’s final!”

She walks up to me and looks deeply into my eyes. I look into hers and see it—the sadness that had overtaken her. She could just as easily slip back into the void she had just left. A wave of dread washes over me. I realize what I have to do, and don’t like it at all. But it’s the only way to keep her from being pulled under again.

“Please, Marcus,” she begs.

A dull pain sits in my chest as I give in to what she wants.

“Okay.”

She is so excited, she hugs me and wraps her hands tightly around me. “Thank you,” she says over my shoulder.

“What’s the third condition?” Reese asks after seeing Meana get tense as she watched us hug.

Emmy looks like she is uncertain, but she lets me go, takes a deep breath, and lets it out.

“I learned from Sara’s death that anything can happen. There are no guarantees. So, you should go after what you want.”

“Emmy, no” Rio warns her.

He is reading her wave. Whatever she is radiating is causing Rio to look both agitated and alarmed.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“I didn’t want to do this behind anyone’s back. I mean that would be worse, you know?” she pleads sincerely to the entire room.

“I want Marcus to take me on a date.”

Nobody saw it coming. Before anyone of us could react, Ameana had thrown Emmy against the wall so hard that every painting on the wall fell down. Jay was on Ameana in a flash. He holds her back. We all run to Emmy, who had slid down the wall and onto the floor. She gasps and feels the back of her head with her fingers. When she holds her hand in front of her, there is blood.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“No!” she shoots back.

“Rio?” I call.

“She’s in pain, but she’ll live.”

“Blink her to the ER. Ameana, roof. Now,” I order.

Reese Blinks her out of the room. I dash up to the roof, Ameana right behind me. I am so enraged I wanted to hit something. My jaw clenches. My fists ball up and my wings flap furiously against the night air.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” I rage.

“She had no right to ask you that.”

“You can’t go around trying to kill humans.”

“But you can go around falling in love with them?”

“Turn around. Now.”

She looks at me coldly and turns away so the back of her head is facing me. At the base of her skull is a thumb print pattern that glowed. It is called a Deck. Once it is pressed, the angel will be stripped of their wings and powers.

Every Angel has a Deck. But each type of angel has their own rules about who could and could not press their Deck. For Guardians, only three beings can strip an angel of her powers— Omnis, the council, and the First Guardian, me.

I put my hand at the center of the Deck. The glow started to fade from it. Ameana flinched. It hurt to be void of any amount of light. She wasn’t in bad pain, but it was enough pain to make her hands shake. I held my thumb there until the light completely went out of her Deck. I look up. Her wings are gone.

I fly to hospital where Reese had Blinked Emmy. She is sitting on the bed with her eyes closed, holding an ice pack to the back of her head. The doctor had gone out to look in on another patient.

“How’s your head?”

“Fine. Your girlfriend throws like a human,” she jokes.

“She could have killed you. That wasn’t very smart.”

“I’m not really known for doing the smart thing. Why should today be any different?”

“Why did ask for me to take you out?”

“Do all angels ask questions they already know the answers to?”

“You’re making this very hard.”

“Making it hard? What, like it didn’t come that way?”

“What’s wrong with you? This is serious. I had to strip Ameana of her powers.”

“She has no more powers?”

“Not until I give them back to her.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I never thought I’d have to.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been difficult.”

“You think?” I snap.

“Hey, I didn’t tell her to hit me.”

“You asked me out in front of everyone.”

“So I should have done it in private?”

“You shouldn’t have done it at all.”

“Because you’d say no?”

“Because I’m with someone else. We had this discussion 48 hours ago, remember?”

“Yeah, I think it went something like ‘Hey, I love you. Now get away from me, I’m with Xena, Warrior Angel.’”

“Meana is a good angel.”

“I can tell. There were three or so nails in the wall and she didn’t impale me on any of them. She’s a gem.”

“This is very hard for her.”

“How is it for you?”

I sigh, rub my neck roughly, and look down at the floor.

“I see,” she says.

“You can’t do that again. Ever.”

“Piss off Ameana or ask you out?”

“Both.”

“Don’t I get a chance to convince you to choose me?”

“You couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Because nothing you could say could get me to love you more than I already do.”

“If you want me that bad why don’t you fight to have me?” she shouts.

I don’t answer. Angrily, she shakes her head.

“You said that I should fight for people I love. Well, I’m fighting for you,” she roars.

“I can’t be with you.”

“Because of Ameana?”

“Because you will be the end of me.”

“What?” she says, taken aback.

“The Sage is our guide. He has lived on Earth for thousands of years. He says that you will in some way destroy me and make me betray my team.”

“I don’t understand. Why would he say that? You would never betray anyone.”

“I tried to bring that to his attention, but you’ll find he’s a little sure of himself. It can happen when you have never been wrong.”

“Never?”

“Not once.”

“He is this time. You wouldn’t betray anyone, ever.”

“How can you know that?”

“How can you not? You have issues, but none of them is lack of loyalty.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“So, being with me will lead to the end of you?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Tell me.”

“I. Don’t. Know.”

“You shouldn’t be around me.”

“Where did you want me to take you had we gone out? I’m guessing Spain, Paris or Florence maybe?”

“To the Park.”

“That’s it? The Park? Nothing more?

“I’d be with you. What more could there be?”

“It’s late. I should take you home.”

“Reese will take me.” I was going to argue but she looks at me and I understand then that she is giving me what I asked for: Ameana. She wasn’t going to fight for me anymore.

“I’ll go get Reese.” I open the door and as I head out.

“Goodnight, Emerson.”

“Goodnight, Marcus.”

I decided to walk home because I didn’t feel like an angel. And I didn’t feel pure or close to Omnis.

When I get home, I find Ameana standing out front. She was wearing a long trendy black jacket and scarf. I walk right past her and up the stairs. Once in the house, I walk past her room and go right to mine. I shut the door.

From the window I can see her standing out front. She turns around and sees me. We stare at each other silently. A few hours ago we leaped across oceans. Now, only a few yards apart, the distance seems too great to cross.

The house was quiet in the morning. Reese and Jay weren’t having their usual banter. Miku and Rio weren’t fighting to ride shotgun in the car. Ameana hadn’t said a word to anyone. I left the house before them. I wasn’t going to give them a chance to ask a bunch of questions. Although I honestly don’t think they would have asked questions. Everyone pretty much let things be.

When I got to school I remembered that this weekend was Triweekend. Triweekend is a three-day celebration commemorating the birth of the council. It is the only holiday we have. Both sides are forbidden to attack each other for the next three days. It is supposed to be a time to reflect on the balance of good and evil. It is a time when we should be thanking Omnis for making up the council. Instead, we make it a party weekend. All weekend.

I see Jay and Reese in the hallway and call out to them.

“Hey, what you doing Triweekend?” I ask.

“Me and Reese are trying to figure out a good hiding spot for when Ameana finally loses it and somehow blows us all up,” Jay says.

“Yeah, I’m thinking it might be best to stay out of the house completely until the end of World War III,” Reese adds.

“Forget about that for now. I was thinking we’d play some Runner Ball,” I say.

“Hell yeah! When?” Jay asks.

“Let’s blow off the rest of the day.”

“Emmy has class. We can’t let her grades drop because of us,” Reese says sensibly.

“Alright, as soon as class is over, we’ll go look for a game,” I say.

“I heard the Paras are coming down here this weekend,” Jay says.

“No, way. They’d never come in a six-six-six year,” I say.

“I broke a Splash and they said it might be happening.”

“Since when did you start breaking Splashes?”

“You kidding? Some of the stuff they got in there is hilarious, man,” Jay replies.

“Did you read the one about the angel with the edible wings? That was crazy!” Reese adds.

“None of that stuff is true. You guys know that.”

“Yeah, that’s why it’s fun. You can’t take that stuff seriously. Except for the one article that called me sexy, that’s real talk.”

“Whatever,” Reese says, rolling his eyes.

“Look, we on for after school, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, are the girls coming?” Jay asks.

“Anybody who wants to can come,” I say.

“When are you gonna fix things?” Reese asks.

“Look, man, I did everything I could. I told Emmy I was with Mimi and that I wasn’t going to be with her. What else am I supposed to do? Ameana had no right to do what she did. I had to take her wings away.”

“When are you gonna give them back to her?” Jay wonders.

“When she starts acting like an angel and not like a jealous school girl.”

“So, you think she was the only one out of line?” Reese asks.

“No, Emmy was, too, but she doesn’t have any powers for me to take away, now does she?”

“Whatever you do, do it fast. The tension in the house is deep. A man can’t concentrate enough to get any cooking done,” Jay jokes.

“Let’s just go play ball, okay?”

“So rather than dealing with the many problems we have encountered, you’d rather go play Runner Ball like a juvenile delinquent?” Reese asks.

“Yeah.”

“I’m in.”

“I bet we could get in some Diving, too,” Jay adds.

“Hell, yeah. Tell the others when you see them,” I say, heading off to class.

I meet up with Rio in the lab. I ask him about playing Runner Ball after school.

“You really think that’s gonna help your problems?” he asks.

“Why can’t you just be cool and say yes?”

“I just think you need to figure some stuff out.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“That’s not for me to say.”

“That’s bull. You’re standing there like you are the freaking Sage and you’re judging me. If you are so much smarter than I am, tell me what to do.”

“First off, you shouldn’t be rolling Runners up in a ball and kicking them around like a damn school kid. Then maybe you can be a man about it and just tell Ameana that you want your Rah back.”

“Why are you so concerned about my girlfriend?”

“Well, someone should be. Now that you’ve stripped her of her powers, what is she supposed to do if they attack her?”

“It’s Triweekend. No one is going to attack anyone.”

“You drove her to do that, Marcus. You drove her to attack Emmy. How could you just think she would be okay with being disrespected like that?”

“I wasn’t the one who did it. I didn’t have any idea what the third condition was going to be.”

“You have to stop these games. It’s hurting her. It’s hurting both of them.”

“Rio, is there something you’d like to tell me about you and Ameana?”

“Yeah, I’m her friend. Maybe you should try that sometime.”

“Look, the guys want you to come and hang for Triweekend. You in or not?”

“No, thanks. I think I’d rather be a grown-up today. Try me tomorrow,” he says as we walk down the hall.

Just then Miku and Emmy came around the corner.

“How do you feel?” I ask Emmy.

“Okay, thanks.”

“You have to take her. I need to go recharge. I have been up all night. I need to go back in the car and get some quiet,” Miku says. Her tone was unfriendly and cool.

“Yeah, no problem,” I say.

She turns and walks down the hallway. Emmy calls out goodbye to Miku but she does not reply.

“She’s a little mad at me,” I say.

“Well, that’s something we have in common. I think she’s had it with me, too.”

“She isn’t upset with you. She’s just ticked off because I took Ameana’s wings away.”

“Did you really have to do that?”

“I had to. She injured a human who was in no way attacking her.”

“Okay, I didn’t touch her, but I could understand her being mad.”

“If you knew she was gonna be pissed, why did you do it?”

“Because you would have taken the same risk for me.”

“Emmy look—”

“Wait. I’m not asking to be with you. I’m just saying that last night I thought I would take the chance, but now I wouldn’t. It was wrong.”

“Alright, let’s just forget about it.”

“So, when are you gonna fill me in on all things angel?”

“Miku hasn’t been doing that?”

“Yeah, but I still have questions.”

“Okay, what do you need to know?”

For the rest of the day, we would meet between classes so I could answer all her questions. She wanted to know about everything. She listened carefully and asked really good questions. I was impressed with how much information she had retained.

“So, that’s the last question?” I ask.

“For now. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know,” she says.

“We are taking off for Triweekend.”

“The council’s holiday is this weekend?”

“Yeah, supposedly the Paras are gonna be there.”

“I thought they never come down here.”

“They will for Triweekend. Or so the Splash said, but you can’t really go by them.”

“The Splash?”

Shoot. I forgot to tell her that part. And I know all too well why I did. I explained about the gossip paper and how to read it.

“That sounds so cool. Can I break one?”

“It’s really just trash, Emmy. They never get anything right. As a matter of fact, they go out of their way to get things wrong.”

“What’s the big story now?”

“I didn’t break any this week.”

“Okay, let’s go get one and break it.”

“You have class.”

“Why do I get the feeling you are trying to hide something from me?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to protect me?”

“Yes, I do.”

“C’mon, Marcus. What’s in the Splash?”

“Gossip and innuendo.”

“Tell me. You said no more keeping things from me.”

“The big story is us.”

“The Guardians?”

“And you.”

“Me?”

“Well, yeah. You’re kind of big news.”

“Cause I’m the clue?”

“The clue who kissed me.”

“How did they know about that?”

“Traveler angels are sneaky. They eavesdrop on people all the time. Anyway, just forget about it, Emmy. Soon they’ll move on to another story.”

“Did Ameana see it?”

“Yeah.”

“So, she hates me?”

“You kissed her boyfriend, you asked him out in front of everyone and she lost her wings for attacking you. I don’t know if she hates you, but I wouldn’t be expecting a hug from her anytime soon.”

“You think I deserve all that’s happened to me, huh?”

“I think you deserve to be happy. I’m sure there is a guy who can help make that happen. Have you ever thought about Henry? He’s nice.”

“What are you doing?”

“What? You don’t like him? I had him checked out. He has a good heart and Rio says he likes you.”

“So, just like that I’m supposed to replace what I feel for you with another guy?”

“I want you to be happy.”

“You want this thing between us to go away so that I’m not hurting anymore.”

“Is that wrong?”

“You can’t get over me. What makes you think I can get over you?”

“Maybe you’re stronger than me.”

“Doubt it.”

“You shouldn’t be alone. You should be with someone. That way you’ll be happy.”

“You’re with someone—are you happy?”

“Not at the moment.”

“But you’re sure that’ll change soon?”

“Meana and I’ll work things out. We have to.”

“And if you don’t?”

“We will.”

“Is she talking to you?”

“No.”

“You talking to her?”

“No.”

“I’m gonna wait on the finding someone. ‘Cause I don’t think I could handle being as ‘happy’ as you and Ameana are.”

“Look, we have to live with the situation the way it is. We all have to deal. But that doesn’t mean that you can take shots at my relationship.”

“I don’t have to shoot at it Marcus, it’s already dead.”

“I am not leaving her.”

“Yeah, I got that part. And I see how well that’s working for you.”

“Go to class.”

She glares at me and goes inside. I lean on the wall and rub my temples to relieve some of the pressure but it doesn’t help; the pressure is all in my mind. Moments later Jay calls out my name.

“Marcus?”

“What’s up?”

“Why do you look like death is coming for you again?”

“I’m not that lucky.”

“Man, c’mon. Let it go. We gonna go play some Ball, do some Diving and take in the best concert in a century. It’s all good man.”

“Who’s playing this year?”

“Marley. Marley is back, man.”

“What? When?”

“I overheard a Traveler talking about it. He’s back for Triweekend.”

“We have to go see him.”

“Go see who?” Emmy asks as she walks out of class. I didn’t even realize the bell had rung.

“There’s a Triweekend concert down in Jamaica and we’re going.”

“We’re going to Jamaica?” she says, taking her voice two octaves higher than it needed to be.

“Yeah, Saturday night,” Jay says.

“I have never been to Jamaica.” She jumps up and down like she had won something.

“Well, we ‘bout to get it poppin. I ain’t missing this concert for nobody, son,” Jay says.

“Who’s performing?” Emmy asks.

“Marley,” I say.

“Marley who?” We look at her like she was clueless for asking.

“You mean…?” She is so shocked she can’t close her eyes.

“The very one.”

“How?”

“Every Triweekend, the council sends Para angels to entertain us. This year it’s Marley in Jamaica. The year before that was Selena,” Jay says.

“And we get to go? Seriously?”

“You know I don’t play when it comes to Reggae music. I would never make a joke about Marley.”

“Where are the others?” she asks.

“I don’t know if they’re coming. But I told everyone about it. But for right now, I need to play some ball. Let’s go,” Jay says.

“They know where to meet us if they want to come along,” I say. I hope in the back of my mind that the twins and Ameana would join us.

The meeting spot is an hour outside of New York City. Once a week, you could walk into a state park and find the outline of wings on a ball. It could be spray painted or drawn by hand. Wherever you saw the picture is where all the angels would gather to go to the ball field. We took the train upstate. I thought that would give time to whoever wanted to come along but was undecided.

When we get to the park, there is a Native American guy in his early twenties sitting on a boulder that had the Runner Ball sign. He spoke as we approached.

“Wow, Guardians in the house? This is gonna be good.”

“You Travel or inhabit?” Reese asks, not sure if he had wings behind him.

“Travel. I get the right news to the right people,” he says proudly.

Then he studies Emmy