Ashes of Fire (#1)

Chapter 12: The Bursting Truth

Essie’s POV

            “Gemini!” Alex calls out.

            I am still in a daze. I think about how I can actually survive with that painful sting that Gemini injected. The room passes through my eyes; it is certainly classy, sophisticated and neat. But most of all, it is clearly not that nasty giant birdcage anymore.

            “Yes, I know, the blood—“ Gemini enters the room and eventually drop the towels that he carries.

            I remain silent. Silence is gold they say.

            “Y-you’re alive! She’s alive! Essie’s ali—“ he then clears his throat in embarrassment. “I mean, hello my name is Gemini Redwine. I know you don’t remember me.”

            “I know. Gemini Redwine. Alex Lipton. How could I forget,” I sigh.

            Both of them suddenly look at me in utter horror. Their looks snap me. Wait, how do I remember everything? I look down at my feet; inhaling the classic wood scent slowly. My breathing too gets shaky.

            “How do you remember?” Alex asks.

            “How do you get in here?” I throw back another question.

            “It’s a long story,” he waves a hand.

            “Alex is right. It’s great to have your memory back, but where there’s a light, there’s a shadow. There must be something wrong with it,” Gemini backs up Alex.

            The door suddenly slams. Ruby, of course. Her hair is now in a bun, looking as neat as always. She fixes her black tie and set a formal smile upon her thin lips.

            “Oh, the Laser Girl’s awake,” she beams. “Have you explained everything to her?” Ruby adds.

            “No.” Ruby gives Gemini a blood-shot in return. “She remembers everything.”

            “What?” Ruby quickly glares down at me. I stop my exhaling while focusing to hold my breath with her eyes wondering around my face. She sighs loudly. “I want to see your wings,” she finalizes.

            “Wings? I don’t—“ My words are cut by Gemini’s nod as if to assure me that I do have wings. “Well...” I force my eyes shut and focus to popping the wings out of my back. It doesn’t work. I hold my breath and picture my wings climbing out of my back. Then, I feel some kind of power crawling out from my body. I open my eyes again and see three of them look as surprise as I am. But it’s a different kind of surprise.

            “Oh, Essie,” her voice softens. I search for any sarcasm in her eyes, but there are none. This is very rare to have her voice softens over me. “Gemini,” she orders.

            Gemini slowly walks towards me and brush his hands gently into both of my shoulders. He half-drag my clueless self to the corner of the room where there’s a small oval mirror that hangs. The wooden floor compliantly groans over my footsteps as I walk towards it. Gemini stop in front of it, I hit the brake of my footsteps and focus my blurry eyes into the mirror like a camera lens. “No,” I mutter. My wings... it’s not like the others. One is black, but the other one is made of lasers.

            I twirl to see their reactions over it. I am a half witch and a half Black Warrior. “We can discuss about it later, we don’t have much time,” Ruby breaks the ice. “I have both bad news and good news.”

            “Bad news first,” Gemini insist. I look side to side as if I’m about to rob something. I never want to hear any bad news from Ruby, because I’m positive it’ll be really bad.

            “The Holy Warriors find our shelter,” Ruby states. Gemini’s eyes fix on Ruby, but he drifts it away to me. I look up and make an eye contact; looking nervous. But then Alex raises a finger. He chants a pack of ‘waits’.

            “Aunt Judith, of course! That little psycho!” Alex face reddens in rage.  I can see his nostrils flare as his chest pumps to exhale. “She knows about Black Warriors fetching Essie away. And she apparently knows about these things more than I do.”

            “I know her, she’s one of the Holy Warriors,” Ruby throws another fact.

            Out of all people, why Aunt Judith? My mind flies to the worst scenarios that she can creates.

            “How about the good news?” Gemini cuts.

            “The good news: we have her.”

A/N: *cool music background* boomshakalaka!!