Ace's POV
I barely nod at Angela when she greets me. I stand there waiting for her to leave, but instead she smiles at me and says the most destructive thing after Eternity's recent words to me, "Oh, Ace, where is that nice pretty girl you brought with you?"
I feel like I had swallowed a million rocks, "She...she won't be coming around any time soon," Somehow, that sentence contains every bit of despair I feel. Angela smiles wistfully, "That's a shame." Don't I know it? I wait till she gets out before I sink into the bedside chair and let out a deep pained breath as it digs into my already exhausted muscles. My eyes are glued to my mother's unmoving form. Some days, I feel like I wanna shake her awake, because maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with this pressing guilt anymore. Maybe then, my mistake won't have such a terrible effect; my failure to protect her—both of them—all three of them—from him wouldn't haunt me every single day. But then, I'm scared of what she will think of me when she wakes up and finds out about everything I've done. How could she ever look at me again? If even Eternity, who has always seen the good in me, can't bear the sight of me anymore. What will my mother think when she finds out I have finally given in to my father's darkness? That I have accepted his blood money?
"You have always wanted me to quit playing around, find a girl and fall in love, and I never listened to you because I didn't want anyone else I care about involved with him. I couldn't have him hurting anyone else like he hurt Aria, mom. And you. And yet, he somehow managed to hurt the girl I fall in love with even before I even met her. How ironic is that?" The smile on my face is anything but happy. I fidget with the bandage wrapping my hand, the still tender skin stinging a bit. "I never wanted Eternity to find out this way. I tell myself that I was only searching for the right time to tell her, but I know that is a load of crap I say to make myself feel better. I am a coward, and I was scared because I knew she was going to be so disgusted with me she would leave me and never come back. And I thought I could keep her, shield her from all this, because maybe, just maybe, the luck that made me meet her would spare me a bit more. I could be happy and not have my moment of despair wreck everything I built with her." I finish bitterly, words feeling like venom on my tongue. I was a fool for thinking I could have happiness while my father—no, not father. Gene donor—is still alive. I'm staring at my mom's face, visualizing what she looks like with her eyes open and her lips turned up in a smile, worried that someday that image might slip away from me, when I hear a very quiet sigh.
I look over my shoulder to see if someone's is standing, finding no one, and then I feel a very faint grip on my hand, holding for a fraction of a second before it goes limp again. My hands are in my hair, my eyes studying her face for any sign of her earlier movement; nothing. I shoot up to my feet. Run to the door. "Angela! Call the doctor in here!"
The next minutes are a hazy blur as doctors and nurses crowd around her, monitor her heart, search for signs of her coming back. I'm gaping, my back pressed against the wall is the only thing holding me up, and I don't dare hope, don't dare allow myself a sliver of it till I know it won't be crushed down. My heart is racing in my chest, and next thing I know, the room is fading out, the voices and heart and I'm clearing my mind, taking deep breath, as my mother's hospital room fades and the setting of the new vision slowly replaces it.
I'm in the backyard of a house I don't recognize, watching as a guy with a familiar build sneaks in through the back door. He has a mask on, completely obscuring his face. My eyes follow his movement, darting around and searching for any sign that could help me figure out where I am. He reaches the kitchen, and starts looking around for something, his eyes finally settling on the microwave. He stumbles his way toward it, breathing heavily; his entire profile oozes anxiety. He eerily reminds me of myself the day I snuck into the Reeds' penthouse a whole lifetime ago. I start panicking when he moves the cursor on the microwave, setting it to 500 degrees. I may not be a housewife; my experience with the kitchen is pretty limited to instant stuff and scrambled eggs, but I have enough sense to know that setting that temperature when it is empty is a recipe for disaster. Realization hits me. He is going to blow up the house! I watch with disgust as the bastard runs out of the house, right when I glimpse a few letters scattered on the kitchen counter. I squint at the small letters, and I only have the time to read the name 'Evangeline Reed' before I am snapped away from it and following the criminal outside. Angel! I screwed up again and now Eternity is gonna lose the only mother figure she's ever had, all because I didn't stay away from her. Because I was too weak to walk away, and now she is gonna pay for my stupidity. They promised to kill anyone I tell; I should have know. As if I haven't hurt Eternity enough! Figuring I don't have much time left, I quickly put my panic aside and focus on the mailbox, thanking heavens that a watch is attached to it. 4/15/14, 10 p.m. Shit! That is tomorrow! I glance back at the guy who has now joined with three more people, all of them wearing dark hoodies and masks, completely covering their identity. What the fuck? Just how many people does it take to set a house on fire?! They nod at each other before each one pulls out a bottle and starts spilling it on the front porch. Gasoline?! Are you kidding me?! The bastard couldn't be satisfied with just the microwave blowing the house to tiny little pieces could he?! I am filled with a hatred like no other, an unrelenting fury urging me to spill that gas on him. One of them, a guy, takes out a lighter, moves a few steps back, and stares a bit wistfully at the house. They now no longer have their backs to me, and one of them reaches and rips her mask off, her blonde hair tumbling down and falling past her shoulders, her bright green eyes staring ahead emotionlessly.
Ivory.
I am about to let out a string of very colorful insults, when the guy holding the lighter flicks it open and throws it at the house, before all of them run away from the house and disappear into an alley just as the house explodes into a million pieces with a horrible booming noise.
I slide down to the floor as the vision ends. The doctors are still around my mother's bed, shouting instructions I don't understand; I am too blinded by my anger to decipher their words as I reach for my phone and dial Ivy's number. How could she jus betray her best friend like that? After knowing everything Eternity went through?! And she even chose a fire to do it! Hell, maybe my dad did. Only he would stoop that low, but not lower than that bitch that let him buy her off. I wonder what she is getting out of it. It goes straight to voicemail, so I try again. Glancing at my mother, I hesitate about leaving her for a second. What if something happen when I am not here? But my mind wanders to Eternity. No, I lost a mother because of that man. She will not be subjected to the same fate if I can do something about. When Ivy's number goes to voicemail again, I tell her to meet me at the Little Owl in a flat monotonous voice, before hanging up. I notice a missed call from Eternity, and my heart falls. She knows. She must have called while I was talking to Ivy. I call her back immediately, wanting to see if she is okay, to tell her that I am not gonna let her lose to a fire again. She doesn't pick up, and I stand up, about to press call again. The minute I am on my feet though, a horrible wave of dizziness rips through me, and I taste bile and feel terrible agony as another vision comes forth.
***
I'm clutching my side as I wait in front of the diner. I have never had two visions in a row before. The bleeding incited by the second vision has long stopped, but the pain hasn't. I should probably clean it up, but right now the physical pain is a very welcomed distraction from what I am feeling on the inside. I don't know what to do to fix this mess. I don't know how to stop him, how to defend— She walks up to me with a small smile, as if everything is right in the world. As if she isn't about to set fire to a house and kill the woman who has been nothing but kind to her. A second look at her though alerts me to the bags under her eyes. Part of me wants to give her the benefit of doubt, that maybe she is not much different from me. Maybe he backed her into a corner too, and if so then who am I to judge really? But that part of me is small and easy to ignore, easy to overwhelm by the part of me who will protect Eternity no matter what.
"Look, Ace, if this is about Eternity—" I cut her off by gripping her arm, and she looks up at me with surprise. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I spit out, "How could you even do this?!" She shakes her head at me, not getting it. "Tell me something, Ivy, how much is he paying you to do his dirty work? Or isn't he paying you at all? Maybe you are just doing this for pleasure!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" She tries to rip her arm out of my grasp, but I hold on, and she winces. "No one is paying me to do anything!"
"So you just up and decided to set Angel's house on fire?!" I see the color drain from her cheeks. "So it is true."
"The vision came through." She says.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"You weren't supposed to know it is me. How the hell did you know? My face was covered." She gasps out loud. "Oh my god! That means Eternity knows too! Oh god." My eyes narrow at her, "That is what you are worried about? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"We never wanted it to go this way," She mumbles then glares at me, "And honestly you are one to judge! At least we are doing this to help!"
"We? Who the fuck is 'we'?" She looks up at me, eyes wide. "Ivy. Spit it out or I swear to god my father won't be what you have to worry about. I will."
"Fine!" She throws her hands up, "But let's go inside; I'm thirsty. Come on; you can keep yelling when we sit down. I probably deserve it anyway." My anger doesn't diminish as we take a booth inside and Ivy orders a smoothie. The waitress turns to see if I want something and I shake my head, my hands balled into fists at the table. The minute she leaves, I cross my arms over my chest and raise an eye brow to signal for Ivy to speak. She pauses for a moment, then says the one thing I haven't been expecting.
See, I could have handled a 'Your father is paying me', or a 'Eternity deserves it', but I couldn't handle, "There is no fire." She says so quickly I can barely decipher her words. Her eyes shut immediately. "Well, not actually."
"Ivy," I say in a warning tone.
"Okay fine! Look, this had nothing to do with your...umm, dad. I have never even met him, okay? A neat piece of work from what I hear, by the way though, did you know that?" She clears her throat, "All that you just saw is actually pretty hypothetical. We had to do some serious plotting and yeah for a while we actually meant it, but that was only so that we could establish a real threat that would invoke your vision."
"There you go with the 'we' again."
"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard setting a house on fire on your own, you know."
"Ivy," I warn again. I think back to the familiar guy I saw in the kitchen, and my eyes widen, "Is Nolan in with you on this?"
She bites her lip, "And Scott, and Haley."
"The day he asked me to crash at his house..."
"I had snuck in and took the files you had on Angel."
"Do you have any idea what kind of mess you got yourself into? Have you even tried to think about the consequences of what you are about to do?
"I am saving your relationship, dumbass!" She sighed, "We are sick of watching you two self-destruct, so we're doing something about it. Look, you screwed up big time. And I am not taking sides, but I want Eternity to be happy, and the happiest she has ever been, was when she was with you. This whole fire thing was a way for us to bring you two together, not that I was planning for you to find out. And since we are on this, how did you find out?"
"You took off your mask." I say flatly.
"Why the hell would I do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe a small part of you felt guilty about manipulating your best friend and putting her through even more psychological terror," I glare at her, emphasizing my words. "Visions are easily swayed by intentions I guess."
She looks away and shuts her eyes tightly. Finally, she turns to me, "Show up at Angel's house tomorrow, Ace. Plead your case; I have a feeling there is more to that deal you are not letting on, and I am not expecting you to tell me, so go tell Eternity. Tell her everything. Tell her how you feel."
"She knows how I feel about her." I shrug.
She glares at me and before I know it, she smacks my shoulder, "Ugh! Seriously! She knows?! What is with guys always thinking we are mind readers?! Go tell her yourself, dumbass! She is not gonna guess your undying love on her own. We need to hear it." She gets up from her seat, "Jeez, dense much?" She finishes her smoothie before she leaves, and I contemplate everything she says. If Eternity saw what I have seen in the vision and knows it is Ivy, I can only begin to imagine the betrayal she must be feeling right now, which is why I have to be her for her. But that is not the only reason I will be going. I am ending the mess I started with my father once and for all, even if I have to go down with him.
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