“Stella, no one blames you for what happened. You don’t have to defend your actions. We just want to understand the chain of events.” My dad’s voice was gentle, but firm. The rich, melodic sound soothed my frayed nerves.
“Alright,” I agreed. I swallowed against the scratchy dryness of my throat and pushed on. “So, they ended up on the roof of the shed and then Seven appeared.” My eyes darted to Seth’s and I watched his face become a mask of obscurity; he wasn’t going to let me read him. He was hiding whatever he felt from me, and that stung. I knew he cared and would be as honest with me as he could, but I saw that he had secrets, things he wouldn’t share with me no matter how close we got. “She wasn’t alone. Saul and another one of the Fallen were there. I guess they were her backup? But maybe, now that I look back, they might have also been her babysitters too. Because she, I don’t know, she seemed…. off. Even for her.”
Jupiter chuckled at that and then mumbled something in a different language. I couldn’t speak Jupiter-ese but it sounded like a string of curses. However, he could have been reciting the Pledge of Allegiance for all I knew.
I continued, “She threatened me; we had words. I was preparing to fight her. I don’t know why I hadn’t yet. I think I thought she would reveal something? She seemed so unstable, I just kept waiting for her to fall apart. She slapped me, but that was it. And then Aliah showed up.
I can’t tell you if the whole thing was planned or not. I don’t know if Aliah sent Seven or if he came to collect her; it could have easily been either scenario. He took Seven back, though, and then gave Saul and the other guy a kill order. That’s when I took off. I tried to get away, or at least as far away from humans as possible. And Saul met me in the air. When we landed it was just him and me. I don’t know what happened to Aliah, Seven or that other guy. The last thing I remember is Seth, Seth saving me.”
Silence fell around us and tension filled the room. There were so many unanswered questions floating around. I didn’t think anyone knew where to begin or how to start.
“Did Seven seem scared?” asked Seth.
And along with my hurting muscles, my chest pain increased tenfold after his careful question. His voice was broken and hollow; he wasn’t even trying to hide his pain anymore.
“Yes,” I whispered. “And confused. But then she would switch, and she would be completely Fallen. The only time she seemed at all consistent was when Aliah was there, but it wasn’t a good kind of consistent. She was so… fragile around him. He has her mind so twisted up, Seth, I’m not sure she knows up from down- not really.”
Seth ran two hands roughly over his face and turned to stare out the window. He hated his sister, but at the same time he loved her. How could he not?
Sure, she was a deranged psychopath, but she was still his sister.
And Aliah was basically his uncle.
Ugh. Seth. My heart just continued to splinter for him and all this frustrating trauma.
“Aliah wanted you dead?” Jupiter changed the subject. “It was a direct order?”
“Yes,” I nodded. I forced my fear and panic to shut down and focused on answering the questions. I became clinical. I had to. If I didn’t shut off my emotions, this hysteria would swallow me. Never before had I felt so helpless. “He wanted me dead. I’m actually kind of amazed he hasn’t come after me sooner.”
“Well, he’s been busy,” Nate sighed. He sounded tired.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s causing problems everywhere, Stella,” Serena explained. She ran a hand through her fiery orange hair and looked up at me from the floor. She was ethereal, even as she stretched out in a mess of my dirty clothes and school papers. Her long limbs were elegant and willowy, and her warrior’s frame seemed too big for my small room. She continued, “We’ve almost called in reinforcements several times. He’s hitting us everywhere. They have more forces here than they’ve ever had.”
“But how?” My eyes darted back between Serena, Jupiter and my parents. How could they have kept this from me?
“Earth is the last living planet,” Serena shrugged. “They don’t have to spread out their armies anymore. They can send them all here.”
“But how are they getting through?” I demanded. “We don’t have to spread out our army either. They shouldn’t be able to get on the planet!” I was adamant and exhausted. This fight would never end. I knew that, but why did it have to start so early? Why couldn’t they have waited until I was better prepared?
Although, obviously I knew why they hadn’t waited.
“We’re not exactly sure,” Jupiter said carefully but I read the text that wasn’t spoken aloud.
“The Council?” I demanded to know. “Do you think it’s the traitor in the Council?”
There was a heavy silence as my blunt question was digested. Stars and Angels didn’t just talk about the Council of Elders this way. They were treated with absolute respect and their authority was basically unquestioned law. To suspect there was a traitor in their midst was the most serious allegation one could bring, and to talk about it flippantly was not acceptable. If an accusation was made and turned out to be false, the accuser would be stripped of his title and job, and returned to the lowest level of Heaven for the rest of his days. Not exactly the worst punishment in the world, except if you were a born fighter. You could easily go crazy by being taken out of the field, or worse, become Fallen.
“Yes, we think so,” Nate admitted quietly.
“So what are you going to do? How are you going to approach the Council, if the traitor is already apart of them?”
“We’re not,” Serena answered quietly. “At least not yet. We’re going to focus on destroying Aliah. And then we will decide from there. Right now he’s our biggest threat. And chances are the name of the traitor has not been uttered outside of Aliah’s head. A conspiracy this big would take an incredible amount of silence. If we could take out Aliah, then all we would have to do is wait. The defector will make a move at some point. We wait for him to out himself and then we trap him. But Aliah comes first.”
“And with him, Seven,” Seth announced. I couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question and apparently nobody else could either, because nobody answered him.
“So you’re hunting Aliah?” I asked in an effort to change the subject.
“Yes,” Serena confirmed. “Now, more than ever.”
“And as soon as you’re ready we will use you and Seth as backup. The more we have on our side the better,” Nate explained.
“Good,” I agreed.
“And we’re not going to leave you alone at practices or games anymore. Someone will always be with you,” my dad informed me. “We won’t let that happen again.” Seth started to say something but my dad cut him off. “Son, it’s not your fault. There is something going on, something that keeps us from hearing or feeling each other. So we’re going to take away the risk of being caught alone.”
I hated the idea of being followed around by anyone other than Seth. But I understood the need, especially after almost losing my head thing.
“What did you tell the school?” I asked out of pure curiosity. I knew my parents would only lie in an extreme case, but this kind of seemed like an extreme case to me. And it wasn’t like they could exactly tell the truth about why I had suddenly disappeared.
“We said you got suddenly sick, and called your dad to pick you up,” my mom admitted. “You’ve been absent the last two days because you’re not over it.”
“Your coach was really worried about you,” my dad took over. “She called after you didn’t return to practice and your mom came up with the story then.”