Fragility Unearthed Read online

  Chase got up from his seat and sat down next to me in the open one Dex had vacated. “So. My sister. Love having her. But I think I distinctly told you to let her rest in peace.”

  “Right.” I sipped my Sprite. “But considering you were missing and she was appearing to me screaming her head off, I decided her orders trumped yours.”

  He sighed dramatically. “Actually”—he side hugged me up against him—“thanks for bringing her back, Kendall. I didn’t realize how much I needed her.”

  “You’re welcome.” It seemed perfectly normal to have Mary with us. I glanced over as she laughed at something Chase said and then whispered to Annika. “I like your girlfriend.”

  Chase nodded. “Me too. A whole lot. I can’t believe she stuck around for four months and waited.”

  “You’re worth it. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” He gently knocked my head with his hand. “Congratulations on finally doing what you should have done years ago.”

  I giggled. “Backhanded compliment much?”

  He got up and maneuvered his way back to Annika, who greeted him with a kiss. Love was in the air.

  “All right.” Henry threw a fortune cookie at me. “Bride opens hers first. Then the groom because I guess he has to. Then the rest of us.”

  Malcolm cleared his throat. “Is this the etiquette for wedding celebrations at Chinese food restaurants? I didn’t read the rules.”

  Henry nodded dramatically. “That’s why you keep me around. To remind you of these important things.”

  Everyone hurrahed again. I glanced around the restaurant. None of the other patrons seemed bothered by the noise we were making. I was glad. This was fun, but I didn’t want to be a nuisance.

  “All right.” I broke open my fortune cookie. “Let’s see what my fortune says, shall we?” I stared down at the words, and for a second I couldn’t believe what I read.

  Kendall, you all need to run. Now. Michael.

  I jumped to my feet. “Everyone out. Now. Don’t question me. Just go. Out of the restaurant now.”

  They didn’t argue. Everyone dashed around. Malcolm had my sons, and before I could react, Block had Molly over his shoulder. Henry carried baby Jack, and we all ran for the exits. We were dining and dashing.

  I hung back. I needed to make sure everyone got outside unharmed.

  “Kendall,” Malcolm called to me as he made it out the door. “Get your ass moving.”

  As I watched, all the people in the room stood. The white lights which covered their bodies, showing their souls, went out all at once. What was happening? How was it happening? Why was it happening?

  “Surprise, lightbringer.” My father stepped out of the kitchen. “I’ve changed the rules. From now on, you won’t know who is good and who is so beautifully bad.” He grinned. “Congratulations on your wedding. I’m so excited for you.”

  I did a quick headcount. There were fifty people in the restaurant, and who knew how many more were in the kitchen. All of them were taken over. The Shadows were winning. And we had no way to stop them. They made fires, and they came up from their dimension.

  We couldn’t stop them.

  “I don’t want you to fight Michael’s battle. It’s really such a shame. I’ll tell you what. You give me Michael and the Others, and I’ll leave you alone. You can go on with your life as long as any human alive can, and you’ll be as safe as anyone else. I’ll spare your children. All I want is Michael.”

  I wanted to break his nose, and then I felt terrible for even having the thought. That was my father’s beloved face. “Even if I had Michael, I wouldn’t give him to you.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know. He sent you down here like babies. Give me the phoenix, Kendall, and you’ll give me Michael.”

  What?

  Hands hauled me backwards. Malcolm. “What did I tell you about making deals with bad guys?”

  “I wasn’t dealing.” I let him take me from the restaurant. The Master had shown his power and confused me at the same time. Michael had warned me in a fortune cookie to run.

  I was married to Malcolm. He was alive.

  It had been a strange day all over.

  ***

  I woke up after a few hours sleeping and went in search of my new husband. I found him out on back on the porch with Chase. They were both drinking beer. I leaned against the door to the porch. “You left our wedding bed to hang out with Chase?”

  Chase smirked. “Can’t beat the company.”

  Malcolm grinned at me. “Neither of us can sleep. Maybe we’ve had an abundance.”

  I sat on his lap. It was so nice to be there. So warm, so safe. So solid. “I woke up and thought maybe you’d found a better option.” I winked at him.

  “Crazy woman. We were just saying that we can’t stay here indefinitely and wait while the world burns and the shadows win over and over. Tomorrow is our game changer day. Listen, we need you to fight. You’re the lightbringer. I’d like to lock you up, but I promised never to do that. So we’re going to go fighting. And you’re going to stay back as much as possible and take care of yourself and our baby.”

  I cuddled into him. “Okay.” I would be fine with him taking the lead. I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do.

  If Malcolm wanted to lead for a while, he could have at it.

  Michael came to me in my dream. He sat on a tree limb that had fallen down. The moon was huge behind him. In front of him, a campfire burned brightly. He looked up at me, a sullen look on his face.

  “Did you understand what he said to you?” He kicked a rock into the fire.

  “I understand you didn’t want me in the restaurant to hear what I did. That’s why you told us to run. Tell me the truth; could I make this go away for us if I gave them the phoenix? You could be here instead of me.”

  His eyes were tired. “Believe it or not, I’m not a coward. I would fight this battle if it were possible. But it’s not because I’m dead and have been for a million years. If I were to set an actual foot on this world and face that shadow myself, the world would end. I’ve done what I can to save Earth. You have all the tools you need Kendall. Can you fight? Tomorrow?”

  “I think you’re going to have to do better than that. Start talking Michael. Now.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  He scratched his head. “Wouldn’t you rather wake up and be with your new husband?”

  I tapped my foot. “I think I am right where I need to be. Start talking.”

  Michael waved his hand at the sky. “There are many places in the universe. Places that look like your Earth, places that don’t. People who resemble you and some who do not. You’ve seen my true face. I am not human.”

  “That much I guessed.” I sat next to him. “Regular humans can’t steal souls from death. So you’re what, exactly?”

  “You would call me an alien. I come from another planet. There are many places that hold life. Dimensions of them.”

  I took a deep breath. I knew they were aliens. I’d always said they weren’t angels, but to hear him confess that he was, in fact, an alien, well, it kind of blew my mind. I took a deep breath. “Please go on.”

  “I was born a million years ago. Or maybe more. Like your Earth, our planet was a learning planet. These creatures, these shadows, they came, and they destroyed.”

  I held out my hand, and he stopped talking. “You have a question?”

  “The shadows are aliens too?”

  He rubbed his chin. “Some of them are. The shadows, they live in another dimension. A bad one. A horrible place. They took from my planet. They took from others. They’ll take from yours. I like your Hitler description. It works. We had our own Hitlers. They come; they destroy. When they die, they go to the shadows.”

  “And when they took over your home, your planet, they killed?”

  “Everyone. They took it over. My planet is gone. I died in the onslaught. I was like you, Kendall. Well, sort of. I didn’t
have a female to keep me company. I had my brothers. You have met all of them.”

  The Others. They’d taken Archangel names.

  “You died. How are you here? Why are you here?”

  He rubbed his eyes. “Before we died, we pooled our power. You may someday be able to do it too but not soon enough, I’m afraid. We closed the portal to our world, trapped those who hadn’t made it out inside. Spoiled their plans. They immediately started plotting, began to take evil souls from every dimension. We can’t let go until they’re destroyed. We made a promise to ourselves. In the beginning, we tried to intervene and ended up making things worse. Our energies are not compatible to all planets.” He pointed at me. “We found people with energies like our own, who could do extraordinary things. We were too late to save ourselves and our people. You are our last hope to do anything. We’re all almost gone. We cannot interfere too much. Or, at least, more than we have. We destroy things. That’s why Rafael had to leave. His energy can’t be here anymore after what he did.”

  “You made sure we had our powers, and then you played odds to see how we could best use them. Michael”—I had to continue to call him that. He’d always be that name to me—“we don’t know how to win. Can we win?”

  He took my hand. “Of course you can. We put all the energy we could muster, anything we could spare, into the phoenix. One more life for all of you. You were brilliant to use it backwards with Troy. I didn’t correctly calculate him.”

  I raised my hand to stop him. “Maybe it’s fair to say we don’t adequately compute into your statistics.”

  “Fair enough. Know this, if I could give you step-by-step directions, I would. The Master has shown himself. He was trapped during our encounter. He never made it onto our planet. Destroy him, and the others will fall.”

  I shuddered. “He has my father.”

  Michael shook his head. “You’ll notice Gabriel is not here. His last gift to you. He took your father and removed him from the clutches of the Master. He’s no longer in his body. He’s moved on with your mother. Gabriel is dead because he used his energy to save your father.”

  “Maybe I’ll send him on.” I shook my head. I was having a hard time processing all of it. “What are ghosts? Are they also aliens?”

  Michael shook his head. “Ghosts are ghosts. They’re always what you suspected them to be. I don’t know any more of what happens to them than you do. I’ve kept my spirit here to keep you all alive. What happens to me next is news to me.”

  “Rafael said he’d see me when I died.” I distinctly remembered him saying that, right after he faded away.

  Michael stared at the fire. “He didn’t know what would happen to him anymore than I do. He had faith, belief. More than I do. But he didn’t know.”

  I sucked in a breath. Intellectually, I understood it was good news. But that meant I would never be getting my father back. My mother was gone and so was my father. I couldn’t help my tears, and Michael said nothing, offering me no false comfort when there was none to give. My parents were gone.

  Eventually, I sucked in my grief enough to let him continue.

  “I’m sorry you lost Gabriel.”

  He nodded once. “It was time. We’re fading. Know this. You can call me with the phoenix. You can bring me to you. That will mean the end of your Earth. I will bring the end. I will battle the Master. But it will be the end.”

  “O-kay. Count on me not doing that.”

  “You can plug them back up. If you can stop the fissure, the hole will all blow up.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “And how do I do that?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s different here. You have every bit of skill I can give you. Within the next year, it will end or they will win. All I know is there is never a victory without sacrifice.”

  I woke up.

  Malcolm shifted me in his arms. “You okay?”

  “No. I was speaking with Michael.” I rubbed my eyes. “It’ll wait til morning.”

  I was cold. Freezing in such a way that even Malcolm couldn’t make me warm. I scooted out of my new husband’s arms, and without a backwards glance to either him or Chase, I made my way to my bedroom. Victoria had three extra blankets at the top of the closet. I grabbed them and spread them out on the bed over my own comforter.

  Malcolm appeared next to me. “Bad conversation?”

  I dug under the blankets. “My father is gone. Gabriel helped him. I have all the answers we wanted. Michael was, for once, very forthcoming.”

  He crawled in next to me. “Shall I repeat my question?”

  “No.” I shook my head. Michael’s last words haunted me. Sacrifice. Who would I have to lose next? My parents were both gone. “You can’t die. Okay?”

  He furrowed his eyebrows. “He really scared you.”

  “Can you just hold me like you’re never going to let me go? Cliché as it may sound?”

  He tugged me, blankets and everything, into his arms. “Whatever you need, whenever you need it.”

  “They were people like us. On another planet. This happened to them. They lost. They plotted. Found us. They’re trying to see that we don’t lose. It’s only Michael left, and I don’t know for how long. Their energy … it can’t be here. It’ll destroy everything. But they can be brought here with the phoenix.”

  Malcolm rubbed my back. “Slow down. I’m listening.”

  I hadn’t realized I’d been rushing. “I’m sorry. Everyone has been here for me, but with you gone … I’ve had to rely on my own council a lot. I’m not used to sharing things the second I hear them.”

  I heard him suck in his breath. “I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head, wishing I could take back the words. “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t say them to make you feel guilty about things you couldn’t control. Listen, the gist of this is that we have to take down the Master and plug the hole. Everything else is nothing. It doesn’t matter if we take down Top Hat. It doesn’t matter how many of them we hit with light. The Master or this is over. The hole or we don’t stand a chance. We have a year. Maybe.”

  He rubbed my back lightly. “Then we get it done in a year. We get it done for your kids. For the one we are having. For this whole planet. And then we ride off into the sunset. We love each other. The people in our lives. You’re my wife. Miracles can come true.”

  I stroked the side of his face. “The world feels cold. It always did. Colder, maybe. I can’t explain.”

  “You’re afraid. You’ve been brave for months. Searching for me. Pregnant and wondering if you were going to have this baby alone. You haven’t gotten to be scared. That’s all it is.”

  I pressed my forehead to his chest. “Michael did not beat the Master. They lost. He says he gave us every tool. But he himself didn’t succeed.”

  “What’s the worst that happens here?” He kissed my lips lightly. “We die. We know what that is like, sort of. We don’t get hijacked by the Others. We meet somewhere else.”

  I blinked rapidly. How could he sound so blasé? “We don’t actually know what happens next. Maybe nothing. We die. The kids die before they even live. Pain.”

  “I said worst case. We’re going to be fine. I’m going to see to it.” He brushed my hair off my forehead. “Can you sleep?”

  “Maybe.” It was fifty-fifty at best with me these days. “I don’t want to conk out and have another pow-pow with Michael.”

  He kissed my temple. “Fair enough. Michael, stay out of her head. You’re going to close your eyes and not dream. When you wake up, I’ll still be here. Not in Troy’s house. We’ll work on what will be our twofold plan to plug the hole and get the Master. We’re not doomed. It’s not over.”

  “Out of the two of us, I never thought you’d be the optimist.”

  “You made me one. You remembered me. You picked me. You married me.”

  I groaned. “Stop acting like I did you a favor. You forgave me for forgetting. You picked me. You married me. You’re giving me a baby I never thought to
have. You came back from being cursed.”

  Malcolm laughed. “Okay, we’ll both be grateful to each other. I guess maybe that’s called love. You have to tell me. I’ve only ever had your love.” He kissed my fingers. “What would you have done if we’d not been shot? What do you think we both would have done?”

  “We’re playing ‘what if?’”

  He nodded. “Why not?”

  “I think we would have driven off in my parents’ van together. That would have been kidnapping you, so that might have proved to be a big, giant nightmare.”

  The light through the window showed Malcolm’s strong features. His eyes were hooded. Out of the two of us, he was the more tired.

  “Let’s assume we got away with it. They didn’t devote much effort to me in the foster system. Let’s pretend I got away with running off with you.”

  I toyed with his shirt, pinching it between my fingers. “We’d probably be driving around in their van taking over their job.”

  “You think you would have lived in the van?”

  “With you? I’d have done anything you wanted.” He had always been mine.

  We lay in the dark silently. I tried to picture the two of us driving around in the green van. It was hard to picture. He was right. Even before my death and rebirth I hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of spending the rest of my life in the van.

  His breathing changed. Malcolm had fallen asleep, and he had no covers because I was hoarding them all. With a swing of my arms, I covered him up.

  A tapping on the door caught my attention but didn’t disturb Malcolm. I jumped from the bed and opened it slowly.

  Levi stood in the hallway. He extended his hand. “I’m sorry. Your honeymoon.” I supposed he was right. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Really, what a shitty honeymoon. I would have laughed, but Levi’s eyes were huge. “I can’t say what I need to. Other than saying I did something. But I can show you. Suddenly, I can show you.”