The Angel Page 18

  So, after the seemingly long journey, she indeed kept pace with her brothers, intent on walking into that camp with her head held high.

  Her plan didn’t go quite as she’d hoped, however, for the moment she reached the first of the small tents, she broke into a run. Her body stung and pained her but she didn’t care. She pushed past her brothers and charged into the camp, searching wildly.

  ‘Stel, it’s okay. Calm down,’ Archer said from behind her, but she ignored him.

  ‘Hey, it’s okay. Follow me, their tent is over here,’ came Leo’s voice as he appeared beside her, calmly taking her hand and lacing her fingers with his.

  She gripped onto him for dear life as he led her through the camp full of gawking faces and bright eyes. They’d known about Leo’s mission to rescue her from Erebus. She guessed they hadn’t really expected his return, let alone hers.

  Before she knew it, a small grey tent came into view, and Leo led her towards it. The flaps that made up the door were shut, wavering slightly in the wind, and there were slight bulges in the fabric where Stella assumed something was pushed up against the canvas.

  Leo stopped at the entrance, peering across at her with his ocean blue eyes, and Stella paused with him. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a moment to calm the swell of nerves within her, then opened them and gave Leo a little nod, his sandy brown hair falling into his glasses.

  He smiled slightly at her, then reached out and pulled back the canvas door. He stepped inside first, knowing she needed him to, knowing she still wasn’t quite ready to see them despite how desperate she’d been, and she loved him for it.

  Gathering her strength, she followed after him, stepping inside to see her parents turning to investigate who had come into their tent uninvited.

  Her father saw her first, and his cry of surprise and relief shattered her. She broke down before she even had a chance to compose herself, the tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. Then both her mother and her father were hugging her, pulling her to them tightly as if unable to believe she were, indeed, real.

  Her mother wept into her shoulder and her father rubbed both of their backs as he hugged them to him. Stella only cried harder. Her parents had always been her rock of support. They’d been there for her throughout everything. When she’d first moved out, they’d come and visited her nearly daily to make sure she was okay. When she’d first met Leo, her mother had spoken with her for hours about him, letting her talk through everything. When she and Leo had been in their accident, her mum had been there by her hospital bed, refusing to leave her side. She and her father had held Stella’s hand as the news that she’d never have children was delivered. They’d hugged her as she’d wept, just as they were currently doing upon her return.

  And when the opportunity to move to the Corin Manor with Leo had risen, her mother had been the first to encourage her to go, knowing it was what she needed, understanding that she would finally have the chance to be the mother figure she’d always wanted to be but thought she’d never get the chance.

  It had been a long road, but her life had never and would never be complete without her parents, and having them in her arms, alive, safe, after everything they’d been through, was a different kind of relief.

  Stella felt her dad shift, and pulled back to see him looking across at Leo, who watched on with a warm smile on his face and tears in his eyes.

  ‘Thank you, son, for bringing her home,’ he choked out.

  Leo’s face reflected a look of surprise, and Stella understood why. He’d blamed himself for what had happened to her. He had been so sure her parents would blame him too. So for her father to so openly thanking him was a huge deal for Leo. It meant something to him, and it, Stella hoped, would be the first step in him forgiving himself for what happened. Because no one blamed him but himself.

  ‘Of course, sir,’ Leo said quietly.

  ‘Don’t be silly. You’ve been a part of this family for far too long to still be calling me sir. Please, call me dad.’

  Stella felt another wave of tears well up at her father’s words. They’d always been accepting of Leo, but it was also hard to see your little girl living her own life. She knew her parents loved Leo, but she suspected after what he’d done, they’d realised just what kind of a man he was. One that would do anything for their daughter.

  ‘Come here, dear,’ Stella’s mother said, waving Leo towards them.

  Leo took a cautious step, then another. Before he knew it, they were pulling him into a hug, and Stella laughed through her tears at his shock.

  There was a sound of the tent door opening and suddenly the four of them became eight as Stella’s brothers rushed in to join the mass hug. It was a moment Stella would cherish forever. A moment where, for the first time in a long while, her whole family was together again.

  Except, it hit her, her whole family wasn’t there. Her students weren’t there. She didn’t know where they were, what they were doing, if they were safe or even still alive. They were as much a part of her heart as her parents and brothers were. As Leo was. They were her children, in every sense of the word, and she loved them with everything she had. Which meant she had to find them.

  Still, for the time being, she allowed herself to soak in the moment with her parents and brothers. Because she knew she’d be bidding them goodbye soon enough. And she recognised that there was a very real chance that it would be a final goodbye.

  ~

  Fire still burned in the distance as Mitch, Gemma, Laura and Drew made their way cautiously across the empty battlefield. The ground had turned to mush and there were overturned carts, broken cars and destroyed buildings everywhere, some still burning, others simply smoking.

  It was heartbreaking to see, and Mitch wanted so badly to ignore his surroundings. But he had to keep his eyes trained on the area around them as they walked. They had to be sure no surviving Wicked were hiding out, waiting to attack.

  They were a part of the four groups to be sent out to locate an Enchanted to test the cure on. Oscar, Caspian, Logan and Grace were on another team. Obverse had rounded up a group of his creatures for another group, and the last had been made up of Casters and Mariadies.

  They’d set off not long after their meeting had adjourned, desperate to test the cure. They had to know if it worked, for if it did, that meant they could begin converting Enchanted back. It also meant they could start to build up their numbers again and, in turn, bring down the Wicked numbers.

  Nevertheless, it was going to be a difficult task, locating an Enchanted turned Wicked. They didn’t know who were turned and who weren’t. Their only chance was finding someone one of them knew to be Enchanted, thus allowing them to convince the converted to come back with them. They didn’t want to use force, but they would if they had to.

  After a small discussion, Mitch had told them he knew of a few Enchanted Force Members in the area that had been in Alast at the time of the invasion and had been caught up in the conversions. He wasn’t sure if they would have come back to Lastrala, but it was worth a try. Checking out their homes was the first plan, then they would decide what to do next depending on what they found out.

  They’d already visited two homes only to find them both destroyed. They’d encountered one Wicked as well, and after a frustrating attempt to reason with them in case they were a converted Enchanted, they’d ended up having to kill him.

  They were on their way to the third apartment. The only worrying matter was that it was close to the edge of the battlefield where the border of the land the Mariadies had taken back ended. They had to be careful and quiet, for they couldn’t risk being caught.

  ‘How far are we?’ Drew asked quietly as they continued to scan the area for any sign of movement.

  They kept to the shadows for the most part, staying out of the sun which hung high in the sky.

  ‘Take a right up here. It’s in the apartment building on the left,’ Mitch told them.

  ‘And if we don’t find a
nything?’ Gemma asked, her voice just above a whisper.

  Mitch knew she raised a valid question, but still, he didn’t have an answer for her. He wasn’t sure what they would have to do next.

  ‘We might have to cross the border,’ Laura said, beating him to it.

  ‘I don’t like that idea. Four against an Army isn’t great odds,’ Drew replied.

  ‘Well we wouldn’t be taking on the whole army, would we?’ Laura responded, shooting Drew a wry smile. ‘We only need one converted Enchanted. And we’re pretty good at sneaking around.’

  ‘True. But how do you expect to convince a Wicked to come with us? They could call for backup in an instant.’

  ‘If they do that, then we knock them out and run.’

  ‘We could just knock them out to start with,’ Gemma suggested, and Mitch snorted.

  ‘So much for trying to talk to them,’ he muttered.

  ‘Have you got a better idea?’ Gemma said over her shoulder, her dark brown eyes still scanning the buildings above them.

  Mitch knew he didn’t, but he replied anyway. ‘How are we going to get away carrying a knocked out Wicked between us that could wake up at any moment?’

  ‘Okay, okay. Let’s just get to this next place first, then decide what to do,’ Laura said, halting their discussion.

  ‘Unless we find what we need when we get there,’ Mitch added.

  ‘Sure, yes. Unless that,’ Laura replied, looking at Drew and Gemma, who returned her small smile.

  ‘Ye of little faith,’ Mitch said. ‘Take a right here.’

  They each peered around the corner, then took the right, checking in all directions for signs of life. They came up short. Besides the smell of smoke, the creaking of buildings and the constant flickering of flames, the world around them was dead.

  ‘It’s that one there,’ Mitch told them, indicating one of the few intact buildings on the street.

  Together, they checked both ways before sprinting across the road and diving back into the shadows. Debris was everywhere, and ash still rained down over them. It was a mess. Mitch wasn’t sure what would happen once the war was over. Human’s would be left homeless. Whole cities would be destroyed. It was going to be a huge undertaking, cleaning it all up. Unless Erebus won the war. Then, Mitch supposed, he wouldn’t care too much about what condition his countries were in.

  They crept along the street, reaching the apartment building they’d been aiming for. Mitch and Drew took one side of the building’s entrance while Gemma and Laura sprinted across and took the other side. They each passed through the shattered glass doors on their side of the building, stepping into the grand entrance hall.

  Before them was an enormous stair case coming down each side of the wall, creating almost a dome shape, and right in the centre was the reception desk. The computer was smashed on the floor and the desk chair had been thrown across the room. In addition, there were a number of marble stairs that had been smashed in. Vases and their flowers lay shattered and dead on the once polished marble floor, and the white, fur rug in the middle of the room was stained dark red with blood.

  ‘It smells awful in here,’ Gemma commented.

  ‘Like death,’ Laura whispered in response.

  Mitch agreed, ignoring the sickening feeling within him. He hated seeing the condition of the once beautiful apartment building. What about all the humans that lived there? Where were they? The Enchanted had told them to stay inside and they had patrolled the buildings. That’s what they’d been telling them all across the world. But it seemed the Enchanted looking after the buildings in the coastal city had been killed. Which probably meant the Humans had been taken hostage.

  ‘This is awful,’ Laura said as they began ascending the stairs.

  ‘Which room are we aiming for?’ Drew asked.

  ‘Apartment 18 he lived in. Second floor.’

  ‘Thank the Gods,’ Gemma muttered. ‘I don’t think I could take sixteen floors of this.’

  Mitch didn’t blame her, for as they rounded the corner, the four of them meeting at the top of the stairs, they discovered the first body. Many bodies had been disposed of, thanks to the Mariadies quick work once taking back the city, but still, not all had been collected yet, and it was upsetting to see the Enchanted woman, dead before them.

  She’d been young, in her mid-twenties at least, and her once long blond hair was stained with thick, red blood. Her skin was grey and her eyes stared up at nothing, bloodshot and unseeing.

  ‘Come on,’ Mitch said after a minute, noticing the distress on Laura’s face.

  He was sure Gemma and Drew were feeling it too.

  Laura shot him a grateful look, and the lot of them hurried to the door. They couldn’t take the elevator, since it wasn’t operating, but the stairwell was still perfectly fine, for the most part.

  They passed three more bodies on the way up, and Mitch began to realise that their chances of finding a converted Enchanted were slim.

  Nonetheless, they pressed on, leaving the first floor and reaching the second. They made their way down the hall, stopping every few moments to listen and glance around. All was still and quiet.

  ‘It’s just up here,’ Mitch said, indicating at the door on the left at the end of the hall.

  ‘Good. Let’s hurry up so we can get the hell out of here,’ said Gemma.

  They made it to the door. Mitch tried it, knowing that it would probably be locked. It was, and he looked across at the others frustrated. They didn’t want to make noise breaking it down in case there were Wicked hiding out and it attracted their attention, which meant they’d have to pick the lock. Luckily, Drew had great practice in such a job.

  ‘Step back and let the magic begin,’ Drew said sarcastically, pulling his kit from his pack and setting to work on the lock.

  One minuted passed, then two.

  ‘What’s taking so long?’ Mitch asked.

  ‘Yeah, what happened to your magic?’ Laura inquired teasingly.

  ‘I don’t know, it’s really stuck. There must be something in it,’ Drew grumbled, attempting a third go at it.

  ‘Here, let me try,’ Gemma said impatiently.

  Drew huffed and stood, stepping aside. In one swift movement, Gemma pulled her foot up and slammed it down into the door below the knob. The door flew open, smashing into the wall with a loud crash.

  ‘There. Let’s go.’

  ‘I thought we were trying to be careful!’ Drew said.

  ‘We did try that. It wasn’t working.’

  ‘Nice kick, Gem,’ Mitch said, unable to help himself. He was impressed. And also a little scared.

  ‘Well I could have done that,’ Drew grumbled, shoving his lock picks back into his pack and following Gemma inside.

  Mitch shook his head and stepped in after Laura, eyes snapping to attention. But he wasn’t fast enough. Out of nowhere, something shot out from the left, slamming into Gemma and sending her sprawling to the ground.

  Mitch pulled his sword free, ready to attack, but to his amazement, Laura was faster, and, it seemed, better suited for the job.

  Whoever had decked Gemma floated above her in the air, kicking and flaying about, attempting to gain purchase so they could stand back upright. Mitch saw the look on Laura’s face, she was straining a little to hold the complete weight of the Wicked.

  ‘Gemma!’ Mitch shouted, reaching a hand out for her.

  She gripped it, allowing him to pull her out from under the Wicked. He helped her to her feet, keeping an arm on her elbow as Laura let the snarling Wicked fall flat on the ground.

  The Wicked was up in an instant, and Mitch saw her face through her long, messy black hair.

  ‘It’s Maya!’ He said as Drew tugged his sword free, ready to drive it through her heart.

  They all froze for a moment, watching to see what the Wicked would do. The four of them had her surrounded, swords pointed at her.

  With a deep growl, she spun and launched herself at Drew, but again Laura wa
s ready for her. Mitch watched, stunned as she somehow managed to turn the air in front of the Wicked Witch into a blade, pressing it hard against the Witches neck and pulling her up short.

  Laura took a step around the Witch so she was beside Drew, who still had his own sword at the ready should anything go wrong.

  ‘Maya?’ Laura said quietly.

  The Witch stopped growling.

  Mitch came around so he was beside Laura.

  ‘Maya, I don’t know if you remember me, but we worked together on a case once. You came down to help out the Corin Force, remember? And you were assigned to Robin and I,’ a lump formed in his throat at the mention of his cousin, but he forced it back down. It wasn’t the time, no matter how much he missed his best friend. ‘You were so annoyed at first because you thought we were amateurs. But when we solved the case, you realised we weren’t as stupid as we looked,’ he added with a small laugh, hoping to jog even the slightest of memories.

  ‘Maya, we know what happened to you was awful. We know, deep down, you don’t want to be Wicked, no matter what lies Erebus is feeding you,’ Laura jumped in, telling the Wicked calmly.

  The Witches eyes watched them closely, but she remained still, face reflecting a look of anger and frustration at the blade of air pressed so close to her neck.

  ‘We can help you, Maya,’ Gemma said suddenly, appearing on the other side of Drew. ‘We have a cure. We can turn you back. Everything will go back to normal.’

  Mitch hated that they couldn’t be sure what they really had was a cure. The mad scientist, Erine, claimed it was the cure, but he hadn’t any proof. Mitch didn’t like making false promises. But still, they had to try. If they didn’t test the cure, how would they ever know?

  Maya stiffened slightly at the mention of the cure, and for a moment, Mitch worried she would try and escape. But then something in her eyes changed. The glazed over aspect to them started to dissipate and something began to register in her gaze.

  ‘Cure?’ She asked, her voice tight.

  ‘Yes,’ Laura nodded. ‘We’re pretty certain we’ve found a way to turn you back.’