“I saw a girl. A child really. She had black hair and she was wearing a locket. A man was carrying her through the woods. The girl was clutching the locket like her life depended on it. She was crying. The cries of someone who is truly heartbroken, but I don’t know why. Before I could try to puzzle it out, the scene changed.
“There was a cabin in the woods. Not our cabin. One I’ve never seen before. There was a battle going on. At first I thought the gods and goddesses were fighting demons, but they weren’t. They were fighting each other. One of the gods cornered a goddess. He said something to her, and then he killed her. I feel like whatever he said would have told me what was going on and why they were fighting each other, but I couldn’t hear them. I couldn’t even hear the battle noises or the screams of the wounded. It was like watching the TV on mute.
“After that, there was a man. He had kind eyes, warm eyes. They were so familiar to me but I didn’t know the man. It was only when I woke up looking into your eyes, Rye, that I knew why they seemed so familiar to me. They were your eyes. I think the man was your father. He was saying something, and I got the impression it was something important, something I needed to hear. But it was like the sound was broken or something and I couldn’t make out what he was saying.”
She goes to say something else but I interrupt her.
“Wait. What do you mean that the sound was broken?” I ask.
“It was like talking on a cell phone when the reception is bad,” she says. “You know, like you catch a word here and there but the bulk of it is dropped?”
I nod my head. I know what she means.
“Did you get anything from it, Sunday? Maybe what he was saying would have made more sense to you and you could piece it together a bit more,” Ya-Ya says.
Sunday shakes his head.
“No. That was before I got in there,” he says.
“After the man stopped trying to talk to me, everything got dark. That’s when I started screaming I think, and when Sunday came into my dream. Well, it wasn’t really a dream, was it?”
“I think some of it was,” Sunday says.
“The darkness lifted a little and I could see a battle scene,” Sailor goes on. “Gods and goddesses were fighting the demons this time, but they were like no demons I’ve ever seen before. They were so strong, so powerful. They were cutting through the gods and goddesses like they weren’t even there.”
“I haven’t seen or even heard of any kind of demon like those,” Sunday adds.
“I ended up in the battle. I couldn’t fight the demons and I was getting attacked from every angle. That’s when I really started screaming. Every part of me was on fire, in agony, and I couldn’t do anything to stop them.”
“And I was powerless to help her,” Sunday adds. “It was like she said earlier. It’s like I was watching a movie. Except for me, it wasn’t muted. I could hear Sailor’s screams but I couldn’t get to her.”
“I was screaming for you, Rye. And then the man with your eyes, he pulled me out of the battle. The scene changed again and I was in the woods. I could hear the battle still raging, but I was far enough away from it that I felt reasonably safe. Your mom came to me again. She told me someone had betrayed them. One of the gods. That’s what gave the demons the extra powers, making them unbeatable. She said that’s why she had to do what she did.”
She trails off again and she looks at me with pain in her eyes.
“It’s okay, Sailor, you can say it,” I tell her, although part of me wishes she and I were alone and I could at least process whatever bomb she is going to drop on me before the rest of the team have to find out about it.
Sailor nods and goes on. Each word hits me like a fist.
“I saw another scene. Your parents went to check the Soul Gems were still there. They were, and that’s when your mom put in the fail-safe. The gems would only be released with the combination of a hair from the Paradox and a drop of blood from your family’s line.”
She trails off and shakes her head slightly.
“Do you want me to tell them?” Sunday asks quietly.
Sailor takes a deep breath and shakes her head again.
“No. But thank you. Rye, your mom put in an extra fail-safe. The combination of my hair and your blood would only work to release the gems if …”
“If what, Sailor?” I prompt her.
She meets my eye and I see tears dancing on the surface of hers. A single one escapes her right eye and runs down her cheek. If she notices it, she doesn’t reach up to wipe it away.
“The gems would only be released if you were the last living member of your bloodline,” she says.
I take a moment to process her words. I know what she’s saying, but I can’t let myself believe it. I have to have misunderstood.
“But that means…”
I stop talking. I can’t bring myself to say the rest of the words, but Sailor reads them in my eyes. She nods sadly.
“Yes. I’m so sorry, Rye. Your parents knew they were going to die.”
CHAPTER SEVEN: TWIST OF FATE
I take a moment to really let those words sink in. I’m trying to decide how I feel about them, but the truth is, I just don’t know. I honestly don’t know if the revelation makes me feel more guilty or less guilty.
The one thing
