“Kinda weird…” Lee said.
Nick didn’t reply, focusing straight ahead where the cloud swirled fiercely and this time with a purpose. A huge formation moved forward to meet them. The same formation Nick had seen in the doomed aircraft. A face, only this time gargantuan. Looking directly at them. Challenging them to keep coming. As if it recognised Nick from their previous encounter several hours ago. Maybe, whatever this thing was, it was angered it had been robbed of another dead body. And here Nick was, back, to cheat death a second time. The great mouth opened, and the wind around the plane bellowed like a beast.
“I seen some shit in my day…but never like this…” Lee said.
Nick lurched the plane sideways and just dodged the tendrils of smoke shooting out at them to try to grip the plane just as they had the previous doomed airliner. “Hang on!” Nick yelled.
*
“I don’t understand. How?” Alex asked.
“You are the last of a lost line of maidens entrusted with extraordinary powers in order to provide hope to the innocent people that would look up to you.”
“But that’s just it. I haven’t. Who did I save? The girl and the car was a freak accident. I was lucky. Hell, I tried to save Lauren from Ryan and I couldn’t even do that. She suffered because of him. If it wasn’t for Nick, I would’ve lost Michelle. And Nick…” Alex shook her head. “Some hero I am. I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong girl.”
“I haven’t. Your powers have been inside you for your entire life. It is only recently they have begun to surface. Just as those long before you.”
“I have powers?”
“Only some of which you have yet discovered.”
Alex glanced down, absorbing the information. “So…what can I do?”
Masonian held up a hand. “Soon. First, you must know how you come to be here. The dangers you’ve faced and the ones that will wait for you. Starting with the sky above us. You only know some of the truth. Those that love you have kept it hidden out of necessity. A dark presence descended upon this city, searching for its enemy. Searching for the one that could defeat it. It was searching for you. The Valkyrie that had unwittingly summoned it.”
“Wait, what? I summoned it? How?”
“By using your powers. Shall I show you?”
Alex nodded as Masonian strode forward with an outstretched hand, and with a flash, Alex found herself surrounded by flames and smoke. She jumped and covered her face but realised the flames carried no heat. She glanced sideways to find Masonian standing calmly next to her. Alex was saved from asking where she was as a crash silenced her. A werewolf had just burst into the room. One she recognised. One she had grown to adore.
Nick.
“No…why are you making me watch this?”
“Watch…” he replied.
Nick rushed forward to where Michelle, Nathaniel, and yes, Alex were. The ceiling crumbled down as the room shook. Alex knew the big explosion was a second away. She wanted to scream for Nick to get out, but it was then that time seemed to slow down. Way down. It stopped. Alex’s other version turned around and faced Nick. Her eyes glowing the same colour as in the mirror in the motel room: rich gold. This version of Alex was the only thing that moved and did so over to Nick. Everything else had stood still. The fire around them had gone to a blistering yellow colour. The explosion, the thing that ultimately destroyed the house, was happening right then but time had stopped it right at the point of destruction.
With her golden eyes locked on to Nick, as the Alpha, she extended her hand to gently caress his face. “You’ve been so brave…” she said in a voice that echoed around the room. It carried no weight yet was full of kindness and calmness. “It is not your time yet, sweetheart. You have many more battles to face. I cannot help you, not with all of them, but…” She went on tip toe and kissed his frozen lips, using her thumb to stroke him with a gesture he couldn’t feel. “You will not die today.”
With that Nick was grabbed by her and flung through the broken wall behind them so he sailed far out, dropping into the water. Eyes still gold, Alex grabbed, the both still frozen, Michelle and Nathaniel, and holding on to them, leapt from the window as easy as you like.
The house around them shimmered away and suddenly they were back in the cave. Alex couldn’t speak from the tightness in her throat which she tried desperately to ignore or swallow down. Her fingers shook as both hands found their way to her mouth and nose. She breathed in hard and blew out slowly. “Was that a trick?”
She cringed as she yelled, but every emotion was running through her. She didn’t want to be let down. She didn’t want to be devastated again but when that barest snippet of hope entered her heart, she wanted more than anything to hold on to it.
“No, Alexandra. It was no trick; it was the truth. You say you are no hero, but you’ve gone for so long thinking he saved your life. You saved his. You saved all of them, but this was the night you awakened that dark force. It was that act where your powers surfaced for the first time.”
Alex continued looking at him over the hands pressing into her face. She heard him, the last line but she wanted him to say other words. Just two more. Her body felt flushed. Her eyes stung.
“He lives,” Masonian
