Wings Of Choice (Joel Pimentel)

49 - One Sold

"Something is wrong, bro. I swear. One moment I was in the room trying to find your phone. Then I was on the floor beaten up to death by my own cousin." Erick says in the car, his hands on the back of his head as he tried to understand the whole thing.

Chris is taking him out somewhere to help him clear his mind. "I know, bro. I know." Chris says, eyes on the road as he speeds to the place they're going.

They get to a quiet, empty road far from the palace. Chris pulled over, and get out from the car, slamming the door behind him as he screamed his lungs out.

Erick rushes out from the car to get him. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" he asks, trying to hold Chris up from losing himself.

Chris stops and rubs his face with his hands. "I'm sorry, Erick. I really am. I shouldn't have done that." he says in brittle voice.

"Done what?!" Erick asks, almost screaming.

Chris leans his back against the car. "I did it. I put that hex bag in your pocket so that Cass will be drawn to you. And that necklace I gave to her. I replaced the stone with a spelled one." he confessed.

Erick was looking at him in disbelief. He then clutches Chris's collar. "Why did you do it?" he asks, holding his fist tight.

Chris doesn't mind getting hit by Erick. He just needs to get it out of his chest. He's going to tell Erick everything. About Jodi and Mara. Erick might not believe him but they can ask Finn to undo the spell. This is what I should've done in the first place. He tells himself. But it was too late.

Suddenly Mara appears behind Erick, making Chris's eyes widened in fear. "Didn't I tell you not to do things other than I ordered you to?" she says, staring at him with no emotion in her eyes.

"And who the hell are you?" Erick asks as he turns around, ready to charge on her but stops when Lucas appears with Jodi behind him. "You!" Erick screams, pointing at him. "What is this, Chris?" he turns his head on Chris.

Mara shook her head. "Shut up, skinny boy." she says, snapping her fingers. Erick suddenly fainted, but Lucas grabs him before he falls to the ground.

"Here is your girl." Lucas says, pushing Jodi towards Chris.

Chris pulls Jodi into his arms and hugs her before he tells her to get into the car. "What are you going to do with him? You said you just wanted to talk to him." he says to Mara.

Mara chuckles, looking at the unconscious Erick. "Well, we are going to talk to him. In private." she replies. "Thank you for your work, Chris. You almost blew everything up but luckily I'm way smarter than you are." she says with devilish grin.

She turns around with Lucas, but Chris can't let them take his cousin away. "You're not going to take him with you." he screams, letting out his wings to hit the two in front of him.

Mara turns around and let out her wings, making Chris confused. "Confused, right?" Mara smirks at him. She then swings her wing against him, making Chris thrown onto his car. "Let's go." she took off with Lucas and Erick.

They took Erick to Lucian's palace. Lucas drops Erick in front of Lucian, as if he's presenting a gift. "One down, two to go." Mara says smiling.

Lucian calls his servants in. "Take him to the room." he tells them. "Like you said, two more to go." he smiles at Mara.

---

Kat takes Finn to the living hall, where Joel is surrounded by the others that are trying to hold him down. "Finn has something to tell us." Kat says, letting Finn makes his way towards Joel.

He let out his hand and shows Joel the necklace he took from Cassandra. "It's the stone." he says, before turning his head on Kat. "Can you explain to them? I don't want to think about it." he asks her.

Kat nods. She took a step forward and tells everyone that the stone makes the wearer appears more sexually appearing. "There must be something on Erick as well. This thing only works one way." she adds.

After listening to what Kat said, Samia drops her face on Zabdiel's arm. "I should've believe him when he said it wasn't him." she cries.

"Where did she gets this thing from?" Joel asks. His eyes turns red, filled with anger.

Kat looks at Finn and swallow the lump in her throat before she answers. "Chris." she says, making everyone surprised.

"So he was stalling when he talked to me earlier." Joel starts to see things more clearly. Except for why Chris did it. That is still unclear. "Where is he?" he asks, standing up from his seat.

"I saw him taking Erick to his room just now." Samia answers. "He's gone, dude. They are gone. I saw them going out." Richard adds.

Joel screams his anger out and kicks the coffee table in front of him. "Where's Cass?" he asks Kat.

"Still in your room." she answers.

"Find Chris, now! God knows where he's taking Erick after what he has done." Joel commands the others. "I need to talk to Cass." his voice softened as he walks back to his room.

Joel knocks on the door of his bedroom and opens it slowly. Cassandra stands up from the bed immediately when she sees him. "I'll go to Kat's room." she says avoiding his gaze.

Joel steps in and shut the door behind him. "Don't. Finn told me everything. It's not your fault." he says, making his way to approach her.

Cassandra drops to the bed. "Not Erick's either." she says, burying her head in her hands. "What's happening, Joel? Why would Chris do that to us?" she asks, starting to tear up again.

"I don't know, Cass. I really don't." Joel sits beside her and pulls her closer to him. She continues crying on his chest.

"I should've known something was wrong when he goes out too frequently lately. But I didn't pay attention." Joel says in disappointment.