It’s Valentine’s Day and I planned to hang out with my mom but she got called into work. So, it’s just me and Ms. Charlotte. The two of us are protesting “V” Day by watching the most unromantic movies we can find. Halfway though Friday the Thirteenth, there’s a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Jay.”

My heart races and my hands go cold. It’s been a few days since Julian gave Marcus an ultimatum. He said he needed to talk things over with the team and would let me know what he decided. I guess this is it.

I walk over and open the door. He stands there looking beyond sexy with shades and a heart-shaped box.

“These are for you.”

“Is this the Guardian’s way of saying, ‘Get lost, we found Julian, we don’t need you?” I say as I move aside and let him in.

“Nothing’s been decided yet.”

“Well, I know Ameana would love for me to be gone. But what about the twins?”

“They love you, Em. But they are very focused on the mission.”

“And you?”

“C’mon, baby girl. You know how I do: I’m faithful to the end. But that Triplex has to be found. Nothing can get in the way of that.”

“I’m screwed,” I sigh.

I open the box of chocolate and shove three pieces into my mouth almost all at once.

“Chew, Emmy.”

“Don’t start with me. I’m trying to deal here,” I say plopping down of the sofa. He sits beside me.

“It’s been hard, huh?”

I shove another piece of chocolate into my mouth. I slide down on to the sofa until the top half of my body is on Jay’s lap. He gently strokes my hair. It reminds me of Reese. He had held me this way after I had kissed Marcus in the car. We sat right here and he told me his Core. I miss him.

“How is it?”

“I’m eating too fast to tell. Where are the others?”

“You mean Marcus?”

“Yeah.”

“He and Ameana are going out tonight.”

“Is there a new lead?”

“No.”

“Oh, it’s a Valentine thing?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“It’s no big deal,” I lie.

A short while later, Jay is gone and so is a whole pound of chocolate. Don’t judge me. I really needed it. I head into my room and get under the covers. I don’t know who I’m fooling.

There is no way I can sleep. I love Jay very much, but I wish he hadn’t told me about Marcus’ evening plans. I wish I had never asked. But I couldn’t help it. I wanted to know.

Now I feel bad. And the thing about feeling bad is that once you get started, it’s hard to stop. Soon I start to think about what a wonderful time Marcus is having with her. And that if he says I have to sit out the rest of the mission, I won’t have any contact with him at all.

Even as I am putting on my sneakers and heading out the door to spy on them, I tell myself it’s a bad idea. I tell myself that whatever I find when I get to the Guardian’s home will upset me. It doesn’t matter. I have to go.

I fly out the door and see Rio standing there waiting for me. His flaming hair makes his eyes sparkle.

“C’mon, I’ll give you a ride,” he says.

“You’re not gonna talk me out of it?”

“Could I?”

“No.”

“Then, no.” We get into Jay’s favorite car, Siren.

Once we are on our way, Rio turns to me.

“Can I ask you a question?” he says.

“No, I don’t know why I’m going over to the house and no, I have no idea what I’m going to say to him.”

“This isn’t about that.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Where did Ameana take you the night of your birthday after you two left the house?”

“We didn’t go anywhere,” I say, knowing that it’s pointless.

“No need to lie to a guy who knows what you feel before you do.”

“Alright. She took me to the Golden Gate Bridge.”

“Why?”

“To tell me to stay away from Marcus.”

“And look how well that worked.”

“This is all so easy for you. You know what everyone is thinking already. Me, I have to work without waves. I have to figure out how I feel on my own.”

“You know what you’re feeling, Em. Desperation isn’t a hard emotion to identify, waves or no waves.”

“You think I’m desperate?”

“Yes.”

“Then I must be.”

“I didn’t know, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry about what?”

“Sorry, I hurt you so deeply just now.”

“Whatever, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. And I should be more understanding.”

“Are angels supposed to be understanding?”

“Ideally.”

“Oh.”

“Did she hurt you?”

“Ameana? No. She just tried to scare me.”

“Did it work?”

“Yes and no.”

“Usually she can be very persuasive.”

“Has she ever persuaded you to do anything?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sure she didn’t persuade you to do anything that you wouldn’t have done anyway because it was the right thing.”

“Angels don’t always do the right thing.”

“Then what separates you guys from us?”

“Expectations.”

“Whose?”

“Omnis’.”

“What does he expect of you?’

“Everything.”

“Are you able to deliver?”

“Mostly.”

“I can’t imagine you failing at anything.”

“Actually, I fail at most things. You’re just not paying attention.”

“I shouldn’t be doing this, huh?” I ask him.

“No.”

“I can turn around.”

“You won’t.”

“No, I won’t.”

Rio stays in the car and I run out to the house. As I walk up the stairs I see him. He’s helping Ameana with her coat. She doesn’t notice that I’m there. She hugs him tightly. She’s facing away from me while Marcus and I lock eyes.

Without speaking out loud, I tell him everything with one sincere, pleading glance.

Marcus, choose me. Choose the path that is perilous and leads to certain annihilation because it’s also the path that leads to me. They can’t understand that we are powerless to stop what we have for each other. But we know. We know that if we don’t bend to the will of this love, it will break us.

He looks back at me and I read the answer in his eyes.

Go away, Emmy. Please, go away.

I cover my mouth with my hand. I run out of the house and onto the sidewalk. I try to get my body to stop shaking but I can’t. My body doesn’t take commands from me anymore. It doesn’t trust me. My heart gave itself over to my crazy, outlandish desires, and now it’s broken. I’m broken. I can’t imagine being whole again after this kind of rejection.

Someone help me. Please.

“You are not the only one who needs help,” a boy who’s about five or six years old says to me. I’m paralyzed with heartbreak and don’t understand what he’s talking about.

“I’m talking about Rio. Look over there,” he says. I turn and follow his gaze. Sure enough, Rio is in the car doubled over in pain.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Your pain is too much for him. You are only feeling one emotion right now and it is so deep and so all-consuming, it radiates beyond what the Guardian can handle. In short, Emmy, you’re killing him.”

“What do I do?”

“I could tell you to stop hurting but it would be pointless, not to mention rude.”

Who the hell is this kid?

“I’m the Sage, my dear.”

“You’re the Sage? Then help him.”

“He needs you to feel something else or get as far away from him as you can. Let us take a walk,” he says.

I follow him down the block. I keep looking back at Rio and I think the distance is helping.

“How is your father?” he asks.

“I don’t have one.”

“Ah, youth. So full rage and righteous indication.”

“I don’t care if you are a thousand years old and all-knowing. Stay out of this!”

“You’re like Marcus: full of fire.”

“I don’t want to hear about Marcus. I hate him.”

“I think Rio would beg to differ. As would Ameana and the rest of them, for that matter.”

“Yeah, well. That was before. Now I just want him to go back where he came from and leave me the hell alone.”

“Wish it were that easy.”

“It is. I hate him. And I will stay as far away from him as I can.”

“You’ve tried that many times before, have you not?”

“Yeah, but this time it’s different.”

“We shall see.”

“Why did you make that stupid prediction about my being the end of him? You messed everything up.”

“Well, I suppose I could have lied to him and told him that everything would go as he had planned.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Emerson Hope, who exactly do you think I am? Do you think that I was chosen simply by luck? I have handled cycle after cycle of Guardians. I arm them with information that will enable them to fight the evil that threatens your very existence. I’m not here to help you with your love life.”

“I can’t stop wanting him, needing him. But he could care less.”

“Cruel, is it not, ignoring how one feels?”

“It hurts so bad. I can’t take it.”

“I suspect Ameana is right: you are stronger than you know.”

“I’m not. I can’t take this. Marcus, Julian, the Triplex. I just want it all to stop.”

I sob and the waves hit me over and over again. I need a tissue but I don’t have one.

He takes out a small new pack of tissues. They’re the brand I like.

“I know, Emmy. That is why I got them,” he says. I study him for the first time. His power amazes me.

“Thank you, I try,” he says.

“You can really read minds and tell the future.”

“Yes.”

“I’m really going to end his life, little ol’ me?”

“Look what you did to Rio.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Your intent is not in question. You have a good heart.”

“It doesn’t change anything, does it?”

“Not in the least.”

The Sage went to check on Rio and told me to take some time to think about what he said. I told him I couldn’t be alone, but he assured me that I would not be attacked tonight. So, thanks to the Sage this is the first time I’ve actually been alone in months.

I head to the public library on Forty Second Street and Fifth Ave. I spend a few hours reading my favorite passages from various books. Then I head home.

My eyes are fixed on the floor because I feel like a complete loser. I’m a few yards away when I spot someone standing in the front of my building. I can’t really make the guy out, but I think it’s the janitor’s son, Eric. He’s nice enough, but I’m in no mood to talk. I put my head down and hope that my demeanor will tell him to skip the pleasant banter.

“Hi” he says.

I look up. It’s not Eric. It’s Marcus. He stands in front of me with his hands in his pockets and his tie loosened around his neck. He has been running his hands through his hair. His eyes are wild, deeply penetrating. I’m feeling too many things all at once. But the one feeling that prevails is that of being drained.

“I don’t have it in me to go another round with you. Please let me go home,” I say to him.

“I need to say this to you. When I’m done, you can go home and never talk to me again if you want, okay?”

I don’t answer I just shrug slightly and wait for him to say his piece.

“I broke things off with Ameana.”

“What, why?”

He pauses then speaks again, with painful honesty.

“When the Sage told me that you would be the end of me, I thought the answer was simple: I just stay away from you. But that hasn’t helped because my every waking thought is of you. And since I don’t sleep, my every thought is of you.”

“And when I saw you tonight outside the house, I was so angry. I was angry because I didn’t feel true happiness until I saw you standing there. It was only then that I realized I had spent my day praying that you would come see me.”

“You rejected me.”

“I tried to. Omnis knows I tried. But I don’t care anymore. You can be the end of me. So long as I get to hold you, none of it matters.”

“Marcus, you can’t die for me.”

He walks up to me. We’re inches apart.

“When I heard the twins’ Core, I thought no death could ever be worse. But I was wrong.”

“Wrong how?”

“There is a worse death, Emmy. There’s the death that comes when I watch you walk away from me. The death that comes when I can’t hold you and tell you that I love more than anyone should ever love.”

“But the Sage said—”

“I don’t give a damn what he said. Not being with you is killing me. I can’t do it anymore. Please, don’t make me.”

He strokes my cheek with the palm of his hand.

“I’m scared,” I confess.

He leans in to kiss me. And even though it’s what I want with every fiber of my being, I pull away. He looks into my eyes sadly.

“It’s too late, isn’t it?”

Before I can answer him, the twins and Jay fly down to us. We know something is wrong because they fly down with no concern for who is or isn’t around.

“What is it?” Marcus asks his team.

“It’s Rio, he saw Onyx,” Miku says on her brother’s behalf. Marcus turns to Rio with frustration.

“Look, I can’t deal with this right now—”

“’It was a bus filled with kids, twenty seven of them,” Rio says gravely.

“Aw, man. I’m sorry. When did they die?”

“They didn’t. I saved them. I saved them all.”

And before it could sink in what Rio had done, lightning cracks above. Clouds gather in the once clear night sky and turn a macabre shade of crimson.

A plane above us has been halted in midflight. The man walking his dog a block away is on pause, as is the dog. Across the street, a lady stands at the kitchen window near a running faucet. Both she and the running water have been rendered motionless. Aside from us, every living thing is frozen.

Rio bows his head before his leader.

“I’m sorry,” Rio says.

His apology is drowned out by the earth-shattering sound of three cloaked figures parting the bloody sky as they descend wrathfully upon us…