Dancing With Monsters (5 page)

“
Nessa, the mission,” I
reminded her, and tried to calm her anger. “Let it go.” Her eyes
flickered at me; she wasn’t letting it go, and reached for her
small leather whip.

About as quick as a lightning strike,
Nessa had her whip wrapped around Malachi’s feet. He landed with a
thud, face first. Nessa took the paper sack and shoved it in his
face.

“
We are trying to make a
better world for ourselves and for the future of the monster race.
And you add to the trash that’s we are trying to clean up. Whose
side are you on anyway?”

Malachi spit out the leaves that had
gotten into his mouth as he sat up and unwrapped his feet. His face
was red, and his eyes slightly glowed. Nessa planted her scowling
face into his.

“
It’s just a paper sack,”
Malachi stood up. “You should calm down before you break a blood
vessel, half-size.”

Nessa tightened her fist.

We were wasting time, and my
credibility as a leader was slowly crumbling. Uncle Hes wanted me
to be a leader, and gave me this opportunity that he could have
easily given to someone else. I could hear his displeased voice
already. I had to do something, otherwise this would never
cease.

“
Stop!” I yelled as a few
leaves fell around us from the vibration of my voice. “We don’t
have time to argue about littering, who’s right, and who’s wrong.
Malachi, don’t liter because you are leaving a trail for someone to
stumble on. We need to be quiet and move as quickly as we can.
There is a lot at risk here, not only for us, but for humans as
well as monsters.”

I got two sorrowful and embarrassed
looks. I think they finally understand the importance of this
mission, and I hoped I didn’t have to remind them again.

Quietly and with a quicker pace, we
walked through the pathless forest that was truly magnificent. This
would be a place Ezra would like. She liked nature and found the
peace and quiet comforting. I had taken her to the gardens of
Duneloc, but they were nothing like this. I looked up at the tall
trees that framed the blue-violet sky through their barren and
wildly twisted branches. Yes, she would like this, but I’d never
get to hear her say it.

Suddenly, a gust of wind stirred up
what leaves had already fallen and plucked the remaining from the
limbs. Through the blizzard of leaves, I saw someone standing in
front of me. She was dressed in a purple gown that moved like mist
around her. Her eyes were soft and locked with mine.

“
Ezra,” I said her name as
I gazed at her.

“
Your thoughts can bring
me closer to you.” The wind caught her dark hair as the leaves
became entangled in it. “You can bring me back my love.” Her voice
whispered around me.

“
Seth, are you alright?”
Nessa asked as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

I looked at her and then back at where
Ezra had stood.

“
Yeah, fine,” I looked at
the map. “Let’s keep moving.”

We stood in a clearing and the line
one the map had stopped moving. The landscape showed no signs of a
door, portal, or anything resembling the passage that angels had
used centuries ago. The map said otherwise.

“
Are you sure that the map
lead us to the right location?” Malachi asked as he stood beside me
and gazed at the map.

“
The line hasn’t moved and
is a flashing dot now.” Malachi, I knew, couldn’t see the blinking
dot that stated we had arrived at the portal, so I rolled it up and
looked around.

“
Then it must be here
somewhere.”

“
Yeah, but where?” He
asked.

“
Here!” Nessa
exclaimed.

Malachi and I went over to where she
was on hands and knees pushing back leaves and grass to reveal a
stone ledge. We helped Nessa clear off several stones that looked
like white marble and cut in perfect squares. It was about the
width of a set of double doors and looked to only be the threshold
of a once magnificent door.

“
This looks like this
hasn’t been used in a long time.” Nessa said with dirt smeared on
her cheeks. “I thought your uncle said it was used not too long
ago.”

I ran my foot along the edge of the
stones. It had been buried for some time, and left to turn into
ruins. Something wasn’t right about this.

“
Do you think the map lead
us to the right place?” Malachi questioned.

I bent down and ran my fingers over
the beautiful stones. My fingertips tingled. “We’re in the right
place.” I looked over my shoulder at Malachi. “We just have to
reveal it.”

“
Reveal it?” Nessa
questioned. “How are we going to do that? Magic? We are just
monsters, not magicians.”

I unrolled the map hoping to find a
clue.

“
How do you know that it
needs to be revealed? Maybe your uncle was wrong and the portal was
destroyed and buried.” Malachi stood beside me glancing at me and
then the map.

“
No, I don’t know why, but
I know we are here and just have to find a way to work it. The
angels were good at hiding things of importance. Do you think they
would have the portal all lit up with a signage and
all?”

Malachi shrugged his shoulders. “I
guess not, makes sense.”

“
Uncle Hes always said the
important things are hidden where least expected.”

I looked at the map trying to decipher
the lettering written under the detailed drawing of the door. It
was written in the language of the angels. Why didn’t my uncle tell
me what to do when I got here? Surly he knew that the portal had to
be revealed and I had no idea how to.

“
Can you make anything
out?” Nessa asked coming over and stood on my other
side.

“
No,” I said,
frustrated.

“
It’s in the language of
the angels.” Nessa looked closer at the map.

“
Yeah, I know, and none of
it makes sense. I can’t read a word of it.”

“
It says the word blood a
lot,” Nessa said, as she gazed at it.

“
You can read it? Where
did you learn to do that?” Malachi asked surprised.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Here and
there. I went on the road with a gypsy a few times, and they knew
the language really good. I tried to get them to teach me, but they
wouldn’t so I tried to learn what I could.” She looked back at the
map. “Blood of my blood is the dominate saying, and it’s hard to
read the rest.” She looked up at me. “There’s a warning there too.
It’s that mark right there.” She pointed at a line with two lines
intersecting it at the top.

“
Blood of my blood,” I
repeated out loud, and then several times in my head.

Uncle Hes said that a lot to me. He
always said that I had a lot of his blood in me—we were alike in
many ways. He had seen the angel portal before, and used it. Why
didn’t he tell me how to use it?

Blood of my blood.
Those words meant something, but what did they
mean in the workings of the portal.

“
Angels are bound by
blood.” Nessa spouted off like she was reading from a book. “That’s
what the gypsies always said. They were obsessed with them, and
know many things about angels.”

I rolled up the map, and walked over
to the stones. I gazed down at them wondering if I should chant,
cast a spell or jump on them as I’m casting a spell and
chanting.

“
Angels were always doing
things with their blood—like bonding, and it was even used to
immortalize humans and even monsters. There are actually many
fables about them that the gypsies know.” Nessa bent down beside me
and ran her fingers over the white marble stained by years from
being underground.

“
Blood of my blood,” It
finally dawned on me. I looked over at Malachi. “Do you have your
dagger?” I asked as his eyes widened.

“
Yeah, but what are you
going to do with it?”

“
I know what to do.” He
handed it over to me.

“
If you’re going to do a
blood sacrifice, let’s use Nessa.”

“
Hey,” she said in
protest.

“
It’s my knife,” he
replied teasingly.

“
There’s going to be no
sacrifice, but only a little bit of my blood.” I slid the knife
across my palm and let a few drops fall onto the white stones. “I
hope this works.” I whispered under my breath as Malachi and Nessa
watched.

At first, nothing happened, and then
suddenly, a ghostly image of an archway formed overhead. Silver and
white lines curled around intricately through each other until the
arch was complete. The white, marble stones we had uncovered, shone
with the same brilliance as the arch. It was a delicate looking
structure of silver vines and white marble. In the open part of the
portal that would had been the door, reflected back at us like a
giant mirror. We gazed at it in awe, and I wondered what to do
next.

“
How do we go through it?”
Malachi asked Nessa.

“
I don’t know. I haven’t
been through many angel portals before.”

I walked up to it and tried to peer
past the mirrored image of the forest behind me. But I couldn’t. I
then looked at myself and placed my fingers on the surface of the
mirror to test it. It was solid—there was no going through it. I
started to lower my hand when I felt something warm, almost like I
was touching someone else’s hand. I pressed my fingers harder to
the surface as a murky image began to form behind it. It was a face
surrounded by long dark hair. Gentle eyes gazed steadily into mine
as if asking me to come closer. Her face became more defined, and I
could clearly see it was Ezra.

“
Come with me now,” she
whispered as a screeching sound, like angry birds, echoed behind
her.

“
Seth, get away from her!”
Nessa yelled as she charged towards us only to be swooped up by a
white and silver figure that looked like it was wrapped in
sheets.

I could hear her scream, but couldn’t
remove my eyes from Ezra’s.

“
Don’t look at them, look
at me. We can be together here.”

I laced my fingers through hers
ignoring the yells and screams of Nessa and Malachi. I tried to
pull away knowing this wasn’t right, but she had me in a trance
that I couldn’t resist.

“
Seth, they’re glass
people!” Malachi yelled behind me. “We have to get out of here, and
away from the portal!”

Glass people were demons as far as
monsters were concerned, and they sometimes worked for angels. This
was the portal to take us to earth, but it was guarded by glass
people, and also by Ezra, the love I couldn’t let go no matter what
spell or mark was used.

3

April

“
She’s an angel,” I looked
at Ben, “an actual angel?”

“
Not the kind of angel
that humans have painted for centuries. There are many kinds, but
Yolanda is an earth angel. She can travel to different realms, and
is in the class of guardian angels of humans.”

I ran my fingers through my hair
trying to absorb everything.

“
Yolanda, she’s an angel,”
I repeated what Ben had explained. “But she smoked a
cigarette.”

Ben chuckled. “Yes, they can do
that.”

“
And she came for a muffin
recipe?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Ben’s face paled. “It’s no ordinary
recipe, and one that I wished I never created. Sometimes an artist
doesn’t know that they are creating masterpieces with the element
of fire, and Yolanda is trying to keep me from getting
burned.”

I looked at Ben’s kitchen with every
possible utensil in it, hundreds of spices displayed like
knick-knacks on the rack that hung on the wall, and fancy stainless
steel appliances. He liked to cook, but what kind of recipe did he
create that was so important.

“
That must be some special
muffin recipe.” I gazed steadily at him hoping he’d
elaborate.

“
Yes, it is, and that’s
why Yolanda took it.” He walked into the kitchen. “Let’s finish
breakfast, and we’ll talk more about this later.” Ben smiled as he
tried to pacify me.

“
No,” I raised my voice.
“I want to know what this is all about now!” I demanded as Ben
looked at me with his brown eyes and shoved in a forkful of hash
browns into his mouth. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my
insides. “A week ago I was at an institution called Sunrise Acres.
I was there because my mom gave me up when I was four, and I have
been in countless foster homes since then. But no matter where I
went, the darkness followed me. I thought I was crazy, then I met
you and you…I don’t know how to explain this and I know to trust a
stranger is insane, but my insides tell me that I should.” Ben
looked away then back at me with sympathy. “I want to know
everything because I deserve to, and you have the answers to my
entire past.”

I finally had the answers in front of
me, and I didn’t want to take it slow. I revealed something about
myself to Ben hoping he’d do the same.