Blue Monday

Chapter 8 - Something About You

***GIDEON***

Annie and Jasmine seem pretty evenly matched for a minute or so, but then eventually, she pulls back on her dark attack. The effect is kind of like in tug-o-war - as Annie ducks away from Jasmine's light beam, it soars out and hits another big tree, then Jasmine is pulled forward by her own power. She ends up face-planting on the side of the tree, then clinging to it as it falls down.

Annie then turns around, towards the curved row of trees behind which we're all hiding, and calls out one name. "Gideon Cabrera?"

I freeze and immediately hide behind the tree. What would an archangel want with me? And a dark archangel at that, too. (Heh, if Luca were here, he'd probably challenge me to say that three times fast. "Dark archangel," I mean.)

"Gideon Cabrera!" Annie repeats. "Come with me, please. I need to get you to safety."

I poke my head out from behind the tree again, just in time to see some of Jasmine's men - or archangels, I guess - trying to sneak up on Annie. "Look out!" I yell at her.

Annie spins around in midair. "Whoa!" she cries. "Don't be sneaky, boys." I don't see exactly what she does next, but two seconds later, her would-be attackers are blasted backwards by dark energy, and they land high up in another row of trees. "Cowards."

To one side, Jasmine stirs and rises back into the air. "Leave!" she yells to her men. "This dark bitch is mine!"

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me," Annie says, charging up another dark blast.

"You, my dear, have been hanging around in the Prime Universe too long," Jasmine says, putting her hands together. The ball of light forming between them becomes so bright, I have to shield my eyes even when I'm not looking at it. It's like a miniature sun.

"Tsk, tsk," Annie says, wagging her finger at Jasmine. "Naughty children shouldn't play with fire."

"This is more than just measly mortal fire," Jasmine hisses.

"Close enough," Annie says. "And speaking of mortals..." She waves one hand, and as I look in the same direction she's looking in, I see her Midnight Daydream bandmates step into view, all wearing big steampunk-looking goggles with black lenses. I'm guessing those protect their eyes from Jasmine's light. It reminds me of the time I once got to look at a solar eclipse through a welder's mask, and all I saw was the eerie green glow of a tiny crescent moon.

All four of them surprise Jasmine's remaining men with regular elemental attacks - one of each type. They all end up on the ground, either unconscious or twitching and moaning in pain.

"Now, where were we?" Annie says to Jasmine. "Oh yeah. I just told you it's too late. We have the Breakers. You'll never get them now."

"To which I say you're bluffing," Jasmine says. "But I have no proof against you, so I'll take your word for it and leave you alone. For now."

"That's right," Annie says. "Now run along." She waves her hands lazily at Jasmine, who spreads her white wings and takes off, heading north.

She then turns towards me. "There you are, Gideon," she says, lowering herself down to the ground. "Come with me."

I point in Jasmine's direction - right now, she's just a tiny speck way off in the distance. "Not until you tell me what that was all about."

"While we're on the move," Annie says, looking around the clearing. "I'm pretty sure now our cover's blown, there's no point playing this gig anymore."