Awakening (Children of Angels) (30 page)

She laughed then, and it sounded alien to her - she hadn't laughed in so long. It stung at her throat, which seemed to be taking longer to heal than the rest of her. She must have
swallowed
the fire, for it to be so bad. A recollection of opening her mouth to scream as the fire took hold washed over her, and she forced the memories away, trying to focus. Thoughts of the fire still left her shaking.

“
Isn
’
t the whole point of fate that you
don
’
t
get a choice?
”
she scoffed, challenging him.

“
Oh Mia, so much to learn.
”

He was doing it again, acting like a know-it-all, and it infuriated her.

“
Well then
enlighten me!
”
she raged.

“
Fine!
”
Evan was losing patience now too, this was not going the way he had planned, not working out how he had pictured it in his head.
“
Y
ou have two choices, Mia. One is so side with us, the other is to fight us.
”

There was so much more to it than that, and he knew it. Now
he
was the one behaving like a sulky child, deliberately keeping information from her. He didn’t want to talk about this now. He wished he hadn't come. She laughed again.

“That’s it? That’s your great wisdom? That I can choose to side with a
you
, or I can fight against you? Well three guesses which I’m going to do, but since you're
so smart
I
think you’re only gonna need one.”

“
You can
’
t harm me here, Mia.
”
He spoke softly but there was menace behind his words.
“
Y
ou cannot hurt
anybody
while you are here. And if need be, I can bind you so that you can
’
t use any of your powers - not even your healing.
”
It was a quiet threat, but a very real one. Mia stared at him dumbfounded, he must surely have been bluffing? Leonara had never mentioned that he might be able to
block
her powers
…

As though he were reading her mind, although he was not, he began to answer her unspoken query.

“
You are in
my
world now, Mia.
I
make the rules here. My Truths are all that exist in this place, and it is only out of courtesy that I allow you to keep your powers - and indeed, your life.
”

He moved softly to her side, and looked out of the window at the expanse beyond. At that moment, looking at him in profile, the way he stood proudly, his regal demeanour, she had no trouble at all believing that he was the Prince of this land. Wherever this land may be. She looked out of the window, and could almost sense the pride emanating from Evan as he took it all in.

“
You control all this?
”
she asked incredulously.

“
Everything you see, everything in this room. Everything everyone around them sees - they only see only what I want them to.
”
He stopped then and looked down at her, he had already given away more than he had intended to. Still, she wouldn't be giving up his secrets.

“
I
’
ve never seen another soul for you
to
rule over
”
she scoffed, struggling to retain her attitude and keep from becoming awed by him. He was no different than her, she had to keep reminding herself, and if he could do all this, then she must be able to as well.

Although, having said that, he seemed to be able to stand and talk for long periods without becoming light-headed and faint, and without pain racking his body. She surreptitiously leaned against the wall, hoping he hadn't noticed her switching positions. He had noticed, but decided not to draw attention to it. It was good that she was wearing herself out, it meant she would be less difficult - or at least, easier to handle.

“
You have not seen another soul, Mia, because I did not
want
you to see another soul. And nor did I want any of these souls seeing you. I needed to be the one to speak with you, because I knew that you would not trust the others.
”

“
And you expect me to trust
your
word?
”
she asked, one eyebrow raised as she looked up at him.

He turned to face her.

“
I rather hoped you would. Since our two fates are inextricably linked, I
…
I just rather hoped you would.
”

Mia snorted, and turned to look out of the window again. Of course she wasn't going to trust him. He had proved himself wholly untrustworthy when he… She struggled to think of anything he had done. He had invaded her dreams, yes, but he had not done any actual harm, and professed to only want to speak to her. He had kept her behind a shield without warning her, causing her to incur horrendous injuries. But could she really blame him for that? She was the one who had unleashed her fury on
him
. He had fed her blood, and the thought still made her want to gag, but he had done it to save her life, that she was sure of, something in her knew that, now that she was close to him.

His power was inside her, and now that she was close to him, it sang out to the power still in his body, attracting it, almost as though it was trying to become whole again. And now, he was keeping her prisoner here, but to what end?

“
Do you know where we are, Mia?
”
he asked, his voice low again.

“
No.
”
She replied honestly, hoping that perhaps if she played along, she might find out where she was, perhaps figure out how she could escape.

“
We are in my kingdom. Yes, this room is just one isolated Truth, protected in so many layers that the finest trackers could not find you here. But out there, beyond the window, is the kingdom I grew up in. The kingdom I fight for. The place where my parents came into existence, the place where I was born and was raised and was trained.
”
He spoke with tenderness about his parents.

“
You mean
…
we
’
re in your realm? The realm that your people preside over?
”
she asked breathlessly.

He nodded, and turned to her with a small smile.

“
I suppose they must have at least told you the story then, of how we all came to be?”

Mia nodded, then looked back out over the land before her. A land that had been created just for the Angels. No, not the Angels, she reminded herself hastily -
the demons
. Suddenly, the twilight sky was no longer peaceful, it felt menacing and threatening, the glowing moons felt more like watchful eyes, and in her mind, the buildings below held all manner of ghouls and goblins, and the huge tower at the walls was a torture chamber. The walls themselves were not to keep armies out, they were to keep victims in. She stepped back from the window, and turned to look at Evan.

“
You
’
ve brought me to
Hell
?
”
she spluttered.

“
I prefer to call it
home
”
he replied with a wolfish grin.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

P
anic rose in Mia, and she knew that she had to find a way out. Her
mother may have betrayed the rest of their people, and come here to this dark place, but she would not. In that moment, something happened which caught both Evan and Mia off guard. The Truths protecting the room shattered into a million pieces, and both of them felt them break. Evan stared at Mia, who simply stared back.

He quickly realized that Mia must have had an extreme surge of power, but unusually, he had not felt it, and this frightened him. He knew that even the strongest Angels could not break
his
Truths, and it would have taken an army to get through them all at once - and an army he would have sensed. The only creature powerful enough to break through them all, besides himself, and to shield the effort, was the girl standing before him. Thankfully, it seemed that
she
didn't realize that she had been the one to do it. Hastily, he composed himself, and began to reconstruct the Truths, but in his heart, he knew it was too late. He felt anger building in himself, and cursed the girl silently.

Arduino was there in a flash, inside the room with them, and Evan felt a nauseating number of ripples as more and more arrived outside the room. They all knew that she was here now, they would want to make sure she stayed here - or else make sure they “extinguished” the threat altogether. Desperately, he looked to Arduino, who could do no more than look back at him solemnly.

“
I fear your efforts are wasted, sir. Her power was felt throughout this place. It was like a physical shock, my Lord, and instantly everyone knew what it was. Who it was,
”
he corrected, with a polite nod in Mia
’
s direction, “the only being to create a power wave like that is
you
sire, and we recognize your trace well. They knew it must be the other.”

Fists were hammering on the door now, the Truth he had reconstructed first was that which meant no-one could enter - he was too late to stop Arduino, but knew the old man would not harm him.

“
Has she agreed, sir?
”
He spoke to Evan politely, as though there was not a riot going on outside the door.
“
H
as she agreed not to fight?
”

“
No!
”
cried Mia huffily,
“
she
has not! And
she
is standing right here!
”

“
But madam! Surely Master Evan has explained to you - there are only two options here
…”
The old man began to address Mia, but before he could finish, the door exploded in a cloud of smoke and splinters of wood flew everywhere.

In the confusion as the dust swirled about, and people crashed through the door, she made a split second decision.

“
And I choose to fight!
”
she yelled above the noise.

Someone finally came to their senses to clear the dust with a Truth, and it settled as swiftly as though it were a blanket being dropped to the ground. The girl was gone.

Evan looked around the room, half hoping he had just missed her the first time he had looked. But they all felt it, the empty void which had just moments before been filled with her power. Evan hadn't thought she had enough energy in her to Shift, and at any rate, she could not have gotten very far. He sent out his power, sweeping the realm she had called ‘hell’, but found no trace of her, though he doubted she had had sufficient power to escape this place since it too was heavily protected by Truths - ones which remained very much intact and upheld by thousands of souls who called this place their home - still, he checked them thoroughly. Disheartened, he realized she had managed to shield herself from him – again.