Pryor tried to forget that she would have to kill an innocent angel or Quo by focusing on the dance. Even though she wasn’t going, it was the perfect distraction. The girls on the team have fashion fever. While all their attention is on shopping and celebrating our first win as a team, I have other things on my mind.

In the past few days the nightmares have been getting worse. I hardly Recharge anymore and it’s wearing on me. There’s also the matter of finding myself in a place worse than hell every time I close my eyes. That’s why I need to speak to East.

I find him a few blocks away from school, doing what he normally does: charming a group of girls. Some of them are angels and some are human. As I walk up to him, the girls are fixed on me. The female angel’s wings start to flap uncontrollably. The humans around wonder where the sudden gust of wind is coming from.

“You’re Silver,” one of the female angels says as she stands up.

“Yeah, hey,” I reply, not sure what else to say.

“I’m Mandy,” she says.

“Ah...okay. Hey, East, can I talk to you for a sec?” I ask.

“Be right back, ladies,” East says as we take off down the street.

“Bye, Silver!” the girl whose name I already forgot yells out.

Once East and I are alone, I address him.

“Hey, can you wipe my mind again?”

“Oh c’mon, Silver, you know it nearly killed you last time,” East replies.

“We have to try again,” I insist.

“Look, I know that whatever happened to you was really hardcore. But I can’t do it anyway.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” I plead.

“Well, I’m not willing to risk your life trying.”

“It’s my life, East, not yours. I decide if the risk is worth taking,” I remind him.

“You’re right; it’s your life, Silver. But it’s my power and I’m not using it on you.”

“What are you so afraid of?” I bark at him impatiently.

“For one thing, your father is a high-ranking demon and I really don’t want to piss him off by killing his only son. Another thing: I don’t want Pryor to go all ‘Kill Bill’ on me if I accidentally end the life of the guy she—look, aside from everything else, I don’t want to hurt my friend,” he explains.

Completely frustrated and exhausted, I place my hands behind my neck and let the weight pull my head down. I sigh heavily then lean against the wall of the building behind me.

“Listen, have you tried just talking about it?” East says.

I glare at him. He holds out his hand as if to say, “I surrender.”

“Okay, just hear me out,” he says.

“Fine,” I reply.

“Maybe talking about it will help you move on.”

“East, that’s easy for you to say. You have the best power in the world. You can make people forget the awful crap that happens to them,” I reply.

“Yeah, but the things that happen to me I’m stuck with. Don’t you get that? I know how much it sucks to want to remove a memory from your head. I can’t Mind wipe myself,” he reminds me.

“Oh, and what happened that’s so bad that you want to forget it?” I ask sardonically.

“You know what, screw you and your tone. You’re not the only one with problems. You don’t think I want to erase most of the stuff that goes on in my family?” he asks.

“I know you and your sister don’t get along, but—”

“My sister? You think she’s my biggest problem? I have a father who doesn’t hate me or love me because he doesn’t even see me,” East snaps.

“I know things aren’t that great at home,” I reply.

“It’s gotten worse. It’s like I did something to him that I don’t know about. And whatever I did, it’s something he will make me pay for until the end of time.”

“C’mon, man. You didn’t do anything. Your dad’s an asshole, plain and simple.”

“Your dad wasn’t. Every training session, and every parent teacher conference, he attended. And when it was held in the light and we weren’t allowed to come, he’d wait at the Pathway for you. He cares about you. We care about you.”

“I’m just trying to deal with this, okay?” I reply.

“No, you’re not trying to deal. You’re trying to forget. There’s a difference. Talk about it to someone.”

“I DON’T NEED TO TELL ANYONE WHAT HAPPENED!” I shout.

“No, but maybe we need to hear it,” he counters.

“Forget I came to you,” I say as I start to walk away.

“Silver!” East shouts.

I turn and look back at him. He speaks in a pained voice. 

“Everyone’s broken; some are just better at hiding the cracks...”

An hour later, after getting back to the house, I hear someone knock on my door. I run to open it, hoping East changed his mind and he was going to help me. However, the being behind the door isn’t East; it’s Pryor.

“Can I come in?” she asks.

“Yeah, sure,” I reply as I step out of the way and let her enter.

“I’m frustrated and lost,” she admits right off.

“I know Sam being gone hurts—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about you. Aaden, you really helped me in Ireland. And I want to help you in return, but it’s impossible when you’re not showing me the whole picture,” she says, unable to hide the strain in her voice.

“You don’t have to help me in return. I didn’t do it so that you could repay me,” I tell her.

“I know you didn’t, but I still want to—never mind. I know you have your reasons and they might be good ones but at the end of the day...it just puts a lot of space between us. Is that what you want?” she asks, sounding hurt.

“No, it’s not what I want.”

“Then what do you want?” she asks.

You. Always. You.

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” I say out loud.

“Ruin knows more about your life than I do. I guess it’s different because she used to be your girl and I’m just your friend, but still...it’s really hard.”

“I’m not trying to make it hard, I swear..”

“Yeah, okay,” she says simply as she looks out the window.

She’s disappointed; I can tell by the way she avoids my eyes. I want to take her in my arms and tell her everything that’s happened.

Then tell her, you idiot.

No, I can’t. It’s better for her if she doesn’t know about the The Center and what they did to me.

Bullshit, Aaden. You don’t want to tell her about what they did to you because then you’d have to tell her what you had to do to make them stop. You’d have to admit what you gave up so you could be free again. And once she knows, she’ll never look at you the same way again...

“You deserve all the pieces, Pry, you really do,” I reply lamely.

She doesn’t reply. That’s her way of saying it’s not enough. She needs information and she’s tired of the excuses. I’d feel the same way if I were her.

“I didn’t kill the humans,” I confess for the first time.

“Of course you didn’t. But what happened that night?” she asks, now facing me.

“You have to promise not to tell anyone. Promise.”

“I would never betray your confidence, you know that..”

“Yeah, I do,” I reply, looking into her warm eyes.

“So...what happened?”

“It was a little over a year ago and I had just gotten in this stupid argument with my dad. He was worried because I was skipping school and shit. But I didn’t care about any of it. I had just learned how my mom died. I always thought it was on a mission but I didn’t know it had to do with the Paras. Anyway, I was angry at...everyone. So I tried my best to be a pain in the ass and I was good at it.

“I would go to bars, drink, and try to find a way to stop missing her. I mean I never even met my mom so how is it I missed her so much? I found a little relief in drinking Coy, so I did. That’s what I was doing that night, sitting at this bar drinking Coy. I had finally had enough and left out the back exit. That’s when I heard something in the alley.

“I went to see what was happing, thinking it was just some drunken humans getting into a fight over something stupid. I was wrong, they weren’t arguing over a thing, they were arguing over a person. Some girl lay on the ground, passed out. I couldn’t make out her face; it was too dark.

“One guy was on top of her with his pants down and the others were arguing over who’d get to be on top of her next. I ran over and threw the guy off of her. They all came at me. I broke a few arms and threw some punches; nothing permanent.

“Then I went to tend to the girl. I used the light from my cell to inspect her face and make sure those bastards hadn’t hit her. That’s when I realized I knew her. I shook her over and over again. I was confused because she was an angel yet she had no wings. “After a few moments she started to wake up. She was so out of it, it took her a while to realize it was me.

“It turns out she was taking this new drug that hit the market called Wednesday. It’s more powerful than other drugs. So powerful in fact, it takes away your powers and your wings as a temporary side effect. She asked me what happened and I told her.

“Did they do anything to me.” she asked.

“I didn’t need to answer the question. She looked down at the stain on her skirt and knew the answer. The crazy thing is, had she not taken the drug, her body would have defended itself. Entering inside her could have killed the human since her soul is powerful. But the drug weakened her system and made it just as fragile as a human’s body. Once she understood what took place, she lost it. She killed the humans so fast; there was no stopping her. 

“Then we saw the Paras flying overhead. We knew that no matter how wrong the humans had been, she’d be the one they’d punish. So I told her to go and I would take care of it. She wanted to stay and face the Paras, but I said ‘no.’ She had already been through so much; I didn’t think it was fair she get in trouble on top of that. Besides, if the Paras knew, soon everyone would too. And she’d already been violated enough. So, she reluctantly flew away and then Paras came...”

“Aaden...” Pryor says as she studies my face.

“Don’t give me that look,” I reply.

“What look?” she asks.

“The one that says you’re proud of me.”

“Why not? I am.”

“I had to take the blame. The truth is if I had passed on the few glasses of Coy, I would have been in the alley sooner and I could have stopped it. Better yet, if I wasn’t so wrapped in my own crap, I could have seen what was going on with her and helped her. She was my friend. I should have seen it.”

“You can’t always tell. Who is this girl? Some angel you see in passing, I bet. How were you supposed to know?” Pryor asks.

“She’s not someone I see in passing.”

“How well do you know this girl?” Pryor inquires.

“Well...”

“Aaden—”

“Please don’t ask me who she is. It’s not fair to her that others find out,” I beg.

“I’m not going to judge her.”

“I know, but I promised her, Pry.”

“Okay, fine, but you have to tell the Paras what really happened. Even if you don’t say who it is you were protecting.”

“They won’t believe me.”

“Aaden, you can’t keep taking the blame for something you didn’t do.”

“It’s done and over with, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay. Everyone in the Angel world thinks that you’re a killer,” she reminds me.

“I don’t care what they think.”

“This is crazy! You have to tell them the truth.”

“No, I don’t. The fact is if I weren’t half demon, they wouldn’t have jumped to the conclusions they did. Being part demon is not a crime, and I’m tired of having to defend myself. It’s bullshit.”

“Fine, you won’t defend yourself, then I will,” she says as she heads for the door.

I take off after her and block her exit.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“I’m gonna tell the Paras they are wrong about you.”

“You can’t do that,” I tell her.

“Why the hell not?”

“They won’t believe you. And if by chance they do, then they will go after the girl and I won’t let that happen.”

“Protecting this girl’s name shouldn’t mean sacrificing yours,” she pleads.

“I told you, I don’t give a damn about what they think of me,” I snap.

“Well I do. They can’t do this to you. I’m going to make things right, so get out of my way,” she demands.

I move aside; she places her hand on the doorknob and opens it.

“Pry, you said you were missing pieces. So I gave you a piece of me. Please don’t betray that. I have no one else to give myself to.”

She sighs heavily, slowly closes the door and turns to face me. 

“Thank you,” I say.

She nods slightly and leans back against the door. I can see in her eyes just how concerned she is about me. It matters to her that I’ve been wrongly accused. She believed I was innocent even before I told her the whole story. Her misplaced faith in me makes me love her even more than I did before.

Love?

Yeah, I love this girl. And even though a few moments after doing what I’m about to do, I’ll be in agony, I’m going to do it anyway. She’s worth it.

“I lied before, when I said I didn’t know what I wanted. I know exactly what I want. I just don’t know if it’s what you—fuck it,” I say as I lean forward to kiss her.

She pulls away. I step back, fearing I have misjudged the entire situation.

Shit!

“I’m sorry, I thought...” I begin.

Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!

“I really thought that you wanted to...”

Argh!

I turn away from her and mentally bang my head against the wall for being so damn stupid.

“I do want to kiss you. I’m just not sure how,” she says hesitantly. 

I turn to her and watch as silver angel blood gathers on her cheeks. She’s blushing.

“Pryor, am I your first kiss?” I ask carefully.

She bites her lower lip, looks off to the side and shrugs.

“Oh,” is all I can think to say.

“This is so embarrassing. I better go,” she says as she lowers her head and goes for the door.

“No, wait.”

She stops and turns back towards me, but her head is still down. I lean in and whisper softly in her ear.

“When you’re kissing the right person, there’s no way to do it wrong.”

She looks at me. She’s so damn beautiful.

“You don’t have to if you’re not ready,” I assure her.

“I’m ready. What do I do?” she asks.

“Whatever you want.”

She gets up on her toes so that we are close in height. She leans in and places her lips on mine. Making contact with any part of her body excites me to the point of complete delirium. I know in a few moments I will suffer unbelievable pain for kissing her, but I don’t care.

Having our lips pressed against each other sends thousand-watt lightning-like surges of pleasure over my body. I feel the same things I did when I dove off my first mountain: carefree, blissful, and filled with wonder.

Yet for all the emotions that are zipping through me, we really are just pressing our lips together. Never has doing so little made me feel so much. If I died having only pressed my lips against hers, I’d consider it a good death.

But Pryor has never been one to settle. The same furious fire that rages within her when she is in battle shows itself here. She wants more. She parts her lips and seeks to explore my mouth by her tongue. Her touch is so enthralling it ignites my powers. The flames dance wildly in the palm of my hand causing her to have to pull away.

“My powers have never done that before,” I confess, already craving more of her touch.

“Mine too,” she says, signaling for me to look across the room at the windowsill.

All the plants in the room are dead.

“You killed the plants?” I ask.

“Yeah, I guess I had my palm out,” she says with a nervous laugh.

I join her and then take her hand in mine. Strange, but I feel the same surge I felt kissing her even though it’s just hand holding. 

“Um...maybe we should stop here,” she says.

“You’re right. For the sake of plants everywhere,” I reply.

She grins brightly and we interlock both of our hands together.

“So...was your first kiss okay?” I ask.

“Better that I ever thought kissing you could be.”

“You’ve thought about us being together like this?”

“Only every minute of every day,” she says, pretending to be casual. 

I smile despite myself.

“Listen, I have to go,” she says.

“Oh, yeah. Sure,” I reply as I reluctantly let go of her hand.

She opens the door but then turns back to look at me.

“I know the dance is lame, but it’s for a good cause. Do you want to go with me?” she says.

“Hell yeah.”

As she closes the door behind her, she flashes me a smile. Then I have a thought that makes me damn near lightheaded.

Pryor Cane may love me too...

The agony that came after I kissed Pryor came later than I thought it would. But when it showed up, it made up for its lateness with its sheer strength. The cracks on my chest had moved another six inches. I was suffering so much on the floor of my room, my body shut down and I passed out for several hours.

When I wake up, I’m bruised all over. I take a long scalding hot shower. And even as I inspect the scars on my chest, I know I would take the punishment that comes with kissing Pryor all over again. This was the best day of my life by far.

My good mood is shaken when I step out of the shower and remember I have nothing to wear for this stupid dance. Normally I would never agree to that but really I don’t care where we go. I don’t even care that I could be in the same pain later since we’ll probably kiss again.

I get to kiss her again...

Thank you, Omnis. 

I text East and he sends me the address of a shop he goes to. I warn him it better not have suits and crap. He promises I’ll find something I like. I head outside and make my way towards the store.

Once inside the store, I’m sorry to say they did have a bunch of ties and junk. But they also have a few things that aren’t stupid. As I sort through the shirts on the rack, a woman in her late sixties with a kind expression and a black fedora, comes by me and proceeds to look as well.

“I think this would be a nice color for you,” she says, holding up a royal blue shirt.

“Oh, I’ll try it. Thanks,” I reply, although I have no intention on buying what she picked out.

“I’m actually not sure what I’m looking for,” I admit.

“I know what you’re looking for: a reminder,” she says.

“A what?”

“When human children have something they need to remember, a red string is placed on the tip of their finger. Silver, think of me as your red string,” she says.

She continues to sort through the racks. Every time she blinks, the item she looks at changes color. It appears she can manipulate objects with her mind. I stare at the Quo woman and demand to know who sent her.

“I’m here because The Center felt they needed to remind you to stay away from the First Noru,” she says.

A wave of terror passes through me. My hands start to shake and standing becomes a task I will not be able to perform for long. Despite that, I keep my voice calm and controlled. I refuse to let the twisted witch know how much her presence affects me.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I tell her.

“I think we both know that’s not true.”

“Pryor and I aren’t together. We’re just on the same team, that’s all,” I insist.

“Well, we’ll see won’t we? The moment the carving on your chest reaches just above where a human heart would be...”

“Yeah, I know: if it gets that far, I go back to The Center,” I spit venomously.

“We feel that going back may have lost its sting, Mr. Case. So, together with the Paras, we have been forced to add an incentive to ensure you behave.”

“What the hell do you mean?” I demand.

“I mean if you allow the marking on your chest to reach the final point, we’ll not only take you to The Center, we’ll take Pryor too.”