The Gods Among Us

Chapter 42: The Big Reveal

Lafayette:

Appearing in a puff of black smoke, I drop down on one of the rafters in the church's ceiling. From high above, I can see A still on the ground. He's curled into a ball. A sizzling, smoking, shaking ball on the church's floor. Sitting in one of the church's pews, not too far is Moses.

"He's keeping a close eye on A," I think, silently walking on top of the rafter. As I walk along the wooden rafter, I realize something.

"I'm walking with my knees crouched down and my hands at my side. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah. Ezio Auditore. From Assassin's Creed. Man. Who would have guessed all those times playing video games with Matt would have come in handy?"

As I keep walking along the rafter, I stop when I'm right above Moses.

"I can't attack Moses. He's one of my friends, and even if he isn't, Jacob and everyone else would hate me if I did attack him. Also, he's one of us and not an enemy. Unlike A. Who is an enemy. That I'm rescuing. From a friend. Okay. My head is starting to hurt."

Feeling a slight headache, I shake it off and look back down.

"Moses is watching over A," I think, "I could easily teleport A out of here but to do that, I need to reach him. And I rather do that without Moses knowing I was me who teleported him away. I need to distract him."

I look down at my own feet.

"Thank you, Matt," I say after an idea sparks in my head.

Spotting the confession booth, I bring up one of my hands. Wiggling my fingers while making circles with my hand, I make myself a magical smoke bomb.

Winding my arm up, I throw the smoke bomb at the confession booth. My smoke bombs hit the curtain, going through it before exploding and unleashing a thick, black smoke cloud. The black smoke spread out from beneath the curtain, and it doesn't take Moses very long to see it.

"Ahh," Moses says, jumping up from his seat. "What in the world?"

Running out from between the pews, Moses runs over to the confession booth and examines the smoke. He grabs and pushes open the curtain and the second he does, a wave of black smoke hits him right in the face.

Moses screams as he backs away from the confession booth.

"Sorry Moses," I say, still watching from above. "I'll be sure to clean your clothes afterward."

Still watching as Moses coughs, he waves his hand and pushes the smoke back. While he does this, I jump down and teleport to A.

"Lafayette," A says, still sizzling as I put my hands on him. "What--What are you--"

"Shh," I say, putting my finger against my mouth. "Be quiet. I'm in enough trouble already, and the last thing I need is for Moses to see me helping you."

"Help me," A repeats. "Wait, Moses? You know that man over there? How? And--And you teleported! Just now! You teleported! You have powers too! Wait. Was it you? Were you...that shadow person? That explains it. That explains why you stopped fighting me at the gas station and took Alieen away! That explains why you stopped fighting when Alieen told us to stop! It was you! It was all you!"

"A please," I say. I turn around and luckily, Moses is still distracted by the smoke. "A, please. Stop talking! I'm trying to help you here!"

"Help me," A yells back. "You tried to kill me over and over again! Why would I--"

"Because Alieen is my friend," I say, cutting A off. "At least, I think she still is. And right now, I think what Alieen need is to see you."

A looks right at me. He looks at me as my words sink in. I can see the gears in his head turn as he still tries to make sense of everything. I turn around again and see the black smoke flying out.