The Angel world heard about our victory moments after it happened. It was the first piece of good news angels have had since Malakaro made his presence known. Our victory helped them feel encouraged in the midst of all the evil that had surfaced recently. Angels all over were toasting our names in bars, singing our praises on social media and gossip blogs were tripping over themselves to interview us.

From New York, The Face had arranged for us to have the entire fifth floor of the hospital to ourselves. She made sure no one was allowed to see us. The angel media hovered just outside our windows for days.

All of us were able to get help for our injuries, but Pryor and East were hurt far worse than the rest of us. It took six days and three different Healers to fix her. Harm had shattered her nose, collarbone, ribs, and nearly most of her right side. And the venom in Manic’s teeth poisoned East. Luckily Key got to him and was able to slow down the poison. We were in India for nearly a week before Key approved us to fly.

Randy was torn between horror at what happened and absolute joy. On one hand, he was so scared he had lost Pryor, he scolded her for hours for drawing the Fight or Flight line. One the other hand, he thought she was really badass for what she did.

“Randy, I’m sorry about Oden. But I promise we won’t let anything happen to you,” she assured him.

“Pry, are you kidding? You killed a super demon with the bone from his own wing! I will never doubt you. Ever,” he said as he jokingly bowed down at her feet.

Randy wasn’t the only one who was happy. Although the team was injured, everyone was in great spirits. It was the first time we truly had to work as a team and it went very well. We were able to put everything aside and work as a team. Better still, we showed the Kasters why it was a bad idea to take us on. And although repairing the bridge was proving more difficult than anyone thought it’d be, at least the Guardian children can handle themselves until their parents returned.

When we get back to New York, The Face is waiting to scold us for a number of infractions. Frankly, I’ve learned to zone her out. Looking at the group, they’ve learned to do the same thing. The fact is we did manage to get rid of a Kaster, and even The Face has to admit we did a good job. Or more importantly, Pryor did.

Yet, I could swear under that stern expression, The Face is relieved to see that we are all still alive. But I could be wrong because once again, she sends us to detention. It doesn’t matter that we fought Kasters and were victorious. What mattered was that we missed a week of school.

The next day, as we head home after the first day of detention, Randy announces that he’s in charge of lights for the big event.

“What event?” Pryor asks.

“The ‘Have a Heart’ dance,” he says.

“I don’t think we’re going to that,” Key says.

“Like hell. I’m there,” Swoop says.

“Make that two,” East confirms.

“Really, a dance?” Bex says disapprovingly.

“C’mon, Bear. It’ll be fun. And The Face said we should blend in. What better way to do that than to go to a dance with other humans? Please?” Key says as she snuggles up to her boyfriend.

“Well count me out,” Pryor says.

“We’re raising money for the American Heart Association. All the proceeds go to help fund heart disease research. Are you really going to opt out? I mean, is that the angel thing to do?” East says, teasing her.

“East is right. That doesn’t sound very angel-like at all,” Randy adds.

“Oh no...” Pryor says, rolling her eyes.

“We’re putting on this laser light show display at the dance. I designed it. But if you won’t support a friend...” Randy says with a melodramatic sigh.  

“Okay, okay, take the ‘guilt blade’ out from my back already,” Pryor says.

In the end, everyone decides they’ll go and support the chosen charity. Well, everyone but me. I promised I would buy a ticket so they could get the cash, but I wasn’t into dances. Pryor looks at me and before I can gauge her expression, she looks away.

A few days later, while in class, The Face calls out all our names on the loudspeaker and instructs us to be in her office promptly. It’s been ten minutes since we gathered in front of her and she has yet to say a word. She just stares off into space pensively while fiddling with her collar. 

“Mrs. Greenblatt, you wanted to see us?” Key reminds her gently.

“What? Oh yes, yes, I did,” she says, looking out at us.

She turns towards Pryor and a quick flash of regret appears on her face. Before any of us can comment, the look disappears as quickly as it came. She clears her throat, straightens up her already perfect posture, and speaks with a forced “official” tone.

“Fate left me with a Pandora box for your team,” The Face says. 

“What’s that?” Randy asks his best friend.

“It’s a box that reveals secrets, but on a timetable predetermined by the being that created it. Pandora boxes usually hold bad news, hence the name,” Pryor replies.

“How does it work?”

“There is a specific time and date the box is set to open; only the creator of the box knows exactly when that time will be. And when it does, a secret is revealed. In this case, I was told that while the box belongs to your team, I was to guard it and reveal information when prompted,” The Face says.

“Why didn’t Fate just tell us what we needed to know when he was here on Earth?” Pryor asks.

“As you know, Fate does not know everything. The pattern of life is simply too vast. Only glimpses into what is to come,” The Face reminds her.

“When did fate give you the Pandora box?” Swoop asks.

“The day Pryor enrolled in school here; it just opened up this morning.”

“You knew there was bad news coming and you didn’t tell her?” Bex snaps.

“A Pandora box doesn’t always hold bad news..” she replies.

“So this one has good news?” Pryor asks.

“No, it doesn’t,” she admits.

“Naturally,” East quips.

“So what is it? What was the message in the box?”

“First I should explain something,” she begins.

We all look over at each other, certain of one thing: whatever she is about to say will suck in so many ways.

“We found out what Malakaro is after: it’s a force whose existence would destroy Omnis,” The Face says with an expression even more serious than usual.

“What are you talking about? There is no force stronger than Omnis, right?” Randy says.

“No. Not one force. But there is a combined force that can obliterate Omnis and life as we know it. When Malakaro and the Alago join forces...it all ends.”

“The Alago, who or what is that?” Key asks.

“Mrs. Greenblatt, please start from the top and don’t leave out anything,” Randy says.

“As I’m sure you’ve been told, Randy, Paras are among the most powerful of angels. But in addition, many of them are scientists, creating most of the mixtures that we use and enjoy today. The most celebrated in the field S&D, that’s Science and Discovery, is a Para by the name of Pinter Gable,” she informs him.

“Pinter’s a legend. He invented The Holder, to keep beings trapped. The Triplex to hide things in plain sight, and—”

“—Coy; Angel alcohol. He invented that. And that’s why I’m grateful,” Swoop reminds Bex.

“I bet you are,” East teases.

“Yes, we’ve all heard of Pinter,” Key says.

“He died from injuries he sustained in a lab accident, just as he was about to create his ten thousandth mixture,” Pryor confirms.

“That’s what most angels believe, but the truth is a little different,” The Face confesses.

“Of course it is. All the ‘powers that be’ do is withhold the truth,” I snap.

“There was a good reason for not revealing the real story of Pinter,” she replies.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I reply sarcastically. 

“I can appreciate the difficulty you and the team are facing, but your tone needs to change, Mr. Case,” she challenges.

“Mrs. Greenblatt, he’s sorry. Can you just continue?” Pryor says.

The Face looks over at me and presses her lips tightly in disapproval. Thankfully though, she continues her story.

“Pinter did finish his ten thousandth creation. In fact it’s the reason he died,” The Face informs us.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Pinter was always more of a scientist than he was an angel. He had an insatiable curiosity and was absolutely obsessed with two things: one of them being the study of evil. And the other being a woman he loved, known to us only as the Blue Rose,” The Face says.

“In what way was he obsessed with evil?” Swoop wonders.

“He thought if he could get inside the mind of evil, he could study and understand it. That understanding would lead to conquering evil once and for all,” she replies.

“How did he plan to do that?” Randy asks.

“Pinter decided to study humans because unlike angels and demons, humans are not born good or bad. That means if they are evil it’s because they choose to welcome darkness. The fact that a human made that choice fascinated Pinter. It helped to further convince him that humans were the perfect specimens to study. So Pinter devised an ingenious method to gather evil and research it.”

“How was he able to do that?” Key inquires.

“He sought out dying dictators, mass murderers, and child abusers. They were the worst humanity had to offer and could give him the most insight into darkness.”

“What did he do once he found them?” Swoop asks.

“He distilled their essence into a mixture he created called Rye. He started to combine Rye with other powerful elements. He did this because he wanted to create an evil that was more powerful than Omnis. He thought he would drink the Rye mixture and then he would be able to understand evil because it would be inside him.”

“How did this Rye mixture work?” Randy asks.

“Once it’s administered, the being takes on the dark sprit of the original human it was distilled from. In other words, if Pinter drank the Rye of a murderer, he would suddenly have an inexplicable need to kill.”

“He really didn’t see how dangerous his experiment was?” Pryor asks.

“As I said before, he was obsessed. In fact, Pinter was not happy with the darkness that came from just one vial of Rye. It was not strong enough,” The Face says, shaking her head in dismay.

“An overachieving mad scientist. Perfect,” Bex spits.

“In many ways, yes. He combined the Rye vials together. It worked; the Rye had enough power to take on Omnis. However, when Pinter drank it, it nearly killed him. The mixtures became unstable and his experiments failed.”

“That’s good, right?” Randy asks.

“Yes, but Pinter was a very determined Para. After many failed attempts to ingest Rye, Pinter finally realized his mistake. It wasn’t the mixture that was unstable but rather it was too strong for one being alone. He learned that there is no one force to rival Omnis; evil needed a partner. Pinter referred to this ‘perfect partner’ as the Alago.” 

“I so don’t like where this is going,” Bex says.

“Yeah, same here,” Pryor confirms.

“Okay, so what happened?” I push.

“Pinter desperately sought out beings who were daring and curious enough to drink the Rye and become the Alago: the perfect partner to evil. When Omnis found out, he was furious. But Pinter insisted he was doing it for the greater good and that the Rye would someday put an end to evil everywhere.”

“Omnis wasn’t buying it,” I guess out loud.

“No, he sent the Omari to destroy all the vials of Rye Pinter had created and to capture the scientist. But when they got there, Pinter had fled, taking five of the strongest Rye vials with him.”

“Did the Omari catch up with them?” Swoop asks.

“Knowing the Omari, yeah they did,” I reply.

“Aaden is correct. The Omari always find the being they are hunting. But in this case they found him too late. He had already added Nor to the five vials of Rye,” The Face says.

“He added Nor to it? Are you freaking kidding me?” I shout.

“What’s Nor?” Randy asks as he studies our troubled faces.

“Nor is another creation by Pinter. It makes objects indestructible,” The Face says.

“So what did Omnis do?” I ask.

“Omnis was certain that Pinter had lost touch with what it meant to be an angel. And that he had let his curiosity overrule him. He knew that if given enough time, Pinter would find a being to share the Rye with and thereby create two evil forces that would become anti-Omnis.”

“Omnis couldn’t find a way to destroy the five vials of Rye?” Randy asks.

“You have to understand. Pinter was celebrated and looked up to among Paras. Even if Omnis could have destroyed the Rye vials, it would have been a sign of disrespect. So instead, Omnis had the five vials hidden around the human world where they would be most difficult to find.”

“Yes, but if Pinter was as determined as you say, he would have looked for the Rye vials regardless,” Key says.

“Exactly. You see, Omnis took care of the first problem by hiding the five vials, but just to make sure Pinter’s experiment never took off, he added a meter to the Rye vials before he had them hidden.”

“What does a meter do?” the human asks.

“It can identify you,” Swoop says.

“So even if Pinter found the five Rye mixtures, the only being that could drink the other half would be the being that Omnis designated when he inserted the meter inside the vials. Or it would not work,” The Face informs us.

“So Omnis couldn’t destroy the vials but he found a way to alter it so that only a certain being could drink it and become the Alago?” Bex asks.

“Not just that being but anyone in that being’s bloodline,” she corrects him.

“I don’t understand. Why would Omnis pick any being at all if that being could bring about his demise?” Key asks.

“Omnis could not take away from the Rye mixture because Nor protected its original contents. But he could add elements to it. So he added a meter so that the only being that could drink the other half of the mixture was a being Pinter would never sacrifice. Someone Pinter loved.”

“The Blue Rose can drink the Rye mixture,” Pryor guesses.

“Exactly,” The Face confirms.

“So Omnis made it so that only Blue Rose could be the Alago. Clever bastard,” I reply begrudgingly.

“Blue Rose or any one of her descendants” The Face tells us.

“Pinter just went along with this?” Randy asks.

“He didn’t know about it until the vials were all hidden. When he found out that only the woman he loves could be sacrificed to achieve his lifelong dream, he killed himself by leaping off Tamara Falls Mountain. It was only later that we learned of his contract with the Guardians,” The Face announces.

“Pinter turned to the Guardians?” Pryor asks.

“Not the team your parents were a part of, but a much earlier team, before their time. Pinter trusted Guardians. He loved that they were once humans who died painful deaths before their time. He felt that gave them more understanding than angels who were born with wings, like Paras. And since Rye was his creation, he was able to dictate what should happen in his absence. So he drew up a binding contract with three conditions to protect his dream and his love.”

“What was in the contract?” Bex probes.

“Pinter was worried that if anyone knew who the Blue Rose was, they would hunt her and her family for generations. So before he died he placed a marking on the woman he loved. That marking is of course that of an actual blue rose. The first condition was the marking only appears to First Guardians and their heirs.”

“So Pryor is the only one who can see the blue rose marking the Blue Rose descendant?” I ask.

“Since Pryor’s father, who is the current First Guardian, is in the light, yes Pryor is the only one who can identify the heir of the Blue Rose. Sam would have been able to as well if he...”

She doesn’t finish her thought. She sees Pryor wince slightly and knows it’s better to let the statement go unsaid.

“But Malakaro can tell who the Blue Rose descendant is too since he’s also Marcus’s child, right?” Bex says.

“Yes. That brings us to the second condition in the contract Pinter had with the Guardians. No matter how twisted his reasoning was, Pinter truly was trying to help good win out over evil. So he admitted to having added a meter of his own to the Rye.”

“Okay, so what exactly is the second condition in the contract?” I ask.

“Only a First Guardian or their heirs can drink the first half of the Rye mixture. He reasoned a First Guardian would have noble intentions. He never conceived of—”

“My brother,” Pryor realizes.

“Yes, Malakaro can do what the other evils before him couldn’t. He can find the five Rye vials because he’s heir to a First Guardian,” Pryor says with growing alarm.

“That’s crazy. What do we do? How do we stop him?” Key says, in full panic.

“Where are the Rye vials?” We need to get to them first!” Bex says, jumping up from his seat.

“I agree with the Para, we need to go, now!” I add as we all head for the door.

“Stopping Malakaro from getting the five vials is going to be next to impossible. He’s already stronger than you. Each vial he finds, he will ingest half of it and gain more power,” The Face says.

“Well, what are we supposed to do? We can’t just stand here and wait for the end to come,” Pryor barks.

“That brings us to the third condition: Only the First Guardian or their heir can kill the Blue Rose descendant. Pinter knew that a Guardian would only kill the Blue Rose descendant as a last resort,” The Face says.

“Wait! I got it. Pinter trusted the Guardians and had a contract with them and it has three rules: Only a Guardian can drink the first half of the mixture, only a Guardian can see the Blue Rose sign on the heir, and only a Guardian can kill the Blue Rose descendant if it came down to that,” Randy says, proud of himself.

We all turn to look at him, baffled by his need to repeat what The Face just said.

“Hey, humans need time to process, okay?” he says defensively.

“What happens once Malakaro and Alago meet?” Pryor asks.

“The existence of the two together will bring about the end. Omnis dies as does all of civilization.”

“Okay, so we find the Blue Rose descendant and convince her or him not to drink the mixture and become the Alago, right?” Pryor says.

“No, Ms. Cane. According to the message Fate left in the box, you are to find the heir and kill them before Malakaro gets to the five Rye vials.” 

“What? But the Blue Rose descendant could be some innocent angel who didn’t do anything wrong,” East protests.

“Yes but they will once they drink the mixture,” The Face promises.

“We’re not killing an innocent angel,” Key informs her.

“She’s right. We can just find this Blue Rose descendant and tell them not to drink the mixture. That could work,” Swoop says.

“If it did work, then there would be no need for Fate to warn you to kill them. For whatever reason, the Blue Rose descendant will drink the Rye and become the Alago. And when that happens, Omnis himself won’t be able to save us,” The Face replies gravely.

“You really want us to kill a fellow angel?” Key asks.

“We don’t even know if the Blue Rose was an angel. The woman Pinter loved could have been Quo. It was common to hide an affair with a half angel, half human in those days,” The Face reminds us.

“So we could be off to kill a Quo. Is that supposed to make us feel better?” East asks, clearly on edge.

“As a fellow Quo, I can understand your anger. But the fact is we have no idea what race the Blue Rose was. Pinter never revealed that to anyone. There was never a need for anyone to look for her until now,” The Face says.

“Pryor, you have to say something. We can’t just go off and kill someone who didn’t do anything wrong,” Key pleads. 

“Correction, hasn’t done anything wrong yet,” The Face replies.

Pryor looks out at us, she’s in deep thought. It feels like the whole world has stopped and is awaiting her answer. She exchanges a look of concern with me. Then she addresses Mrs. Greenblatt.

“Our job is to protect humans at all cost. If the Blue Rose descendant partnering up with Malakaro causes the end of all human life then we have to stop it.”

“Pryor!” the twins shout in unison.

“I’m sorry, guys, but we don’t have a choice. Whoever this angel or Quo heir is...we will find them and kill them. ”