What was it like being lied to?
It was feeling a cigarette butt scorch one's skin as someone else dug the burning tobacco into some place vulnerable. It was being cut into; not in the sense of someone ripping flesh apart, but just poking you with the point enough to make you bleed. You recovered from both injuries, but they left marks. They left dents in one's wall of security.
They put Grey a bit on edge.
She wandered to the library where everyone most likely assembled around their chosen reading table. For her, they would wait. She found more interest in the tip of Namjoon's hunting knife than in being punctual to their meeting. Her fingers grazed the length of the blade, enjoyed the smoothness. It was such a pretty thing used for such a lethal purpose. And maybe that's what she was. A lovely thing that, with just enough force behind it, became capable of defying the odds.
The library was silent when she entered, eight heads swiveled in her direction. Behind every eye passed a silent judgment, most of them passive or indifferent. She did not care. Sighing, she slid Namjoon's knife back into her boot and gently placed herself at the last seat which happened to be beside the head of the table. Vanity regarded her kindly. Grey did not acknowledge her.
"Let's begin," Grey said, smiling mirthlessly.
"Actually," Luca said, "We are going on a field trip. You might want to put on a coat."
"Where to?"
"The cemetery mausoleum where you took those pictures. Seeing the passage in person will make it easier for Vanity and I to translate the message." Luca's tail swished back and forth excitedly.
Vanity said, "I'm glad to finally join you all on this next part of the journey. It was dreadful being so close but so far for so many years."
All the angels grinned. At least, all the ones that could be in attendance. Grey wished Jin were here so that could sneak him an eyeroll and not be persecuted for it.
Luca bowed, her head laying between her two front paws as though she were stretching her back. "Our Queen, it is wonderful having you. As we serve one another, we will serve you as well with our utmost respect."
Grey coughed lightly, training her eyes at a bookshelf on the opposite end of the library. Everyone turned to her, confusion marring their superhuman features.
"What?" Grey asked, furrowing her brows in concern.
Yoongi crossed his arms. "Do you have something to say?"
She grinned. "I'm just glad our numbers have grown. We'll be prepared for anything. I look forward to whatever comes next."
Yoongi frowned, narrowing his gaze onto Grey. "Anything else?"
"Sure," Grey said. She turned in her seat to Vanity and said, "I don't feel sympathy for liars. I also don't rejoice in their revival."
Grey stood from her seat, the scorching attention bringing a blush to her cheeks. She pushed her chair back in softly, almost daring someone to speak up. When they did not, a smug smile spread against her lips.
"My respect is yours to earn. I don't serve a Queen. I don't bow to anyone."
:::
What is an 11-letter word meaning "unsuitable or inconvenient, especially as to time?"
Namjoon's pencil tapped against the crossword puzzle. He bit his lip--a useful trick that helped him magically come up with answers. A little more than half of the words on the page had been filled in, but he needed this one next since he preferred to write his guesses in chronological order.
Today's crossword was not difficult. It just so happened that each time he read the term's criteria, he blanked. His circuits were shorting. The wheels in his head stalled. Something blocked them.
Had it been this morning's incident?
Two dialectical forces clashed as soon as Grey and Vanity met eyes. A fusion of the supposedly morally perfect and the morally gray. Goodness with so many strings and complications attached that the innocence had been removed completely. The human girl held her own against the golden eyes that crafted the impossible. And not only did she hold her own, she advanced. If the Queen did not owe her so much, Grey might have been dead at that table.
But, the girl lived and made her way to the cemetery with the rest of the group. She established her place in their hierarchy. She capitalized on her presence and it's importance. Namjoon was proud, and if Jin could have seen it, he would have been too. Grey was becoming the little warrior, maybe monster, they trained her to be.
Sighing, the Intellect slipped off his glasses and leaned back against his chair. He was spent, but someone had to take charge of the next initiative. Her.
A cold wind blew into the kitchen at the same time the girl stepped inside.
Her long, black hair had been tied half up half down. An oversized blue sweater that could have been long enough to double as a dress fell to the middle of her thighs. Her movement was silent in her house slippers. But, her eyes...
Dark brown but murderously cold. Numb to the splendor of the penthouse, maybe the splendor of him as she cut him a glare sidelong.
Namjoon tapped his pencil against the crossword again. "Look who came out of her room."
Amelia ignored him, fluttering her long lashes and proceeding to the kitchen island without so much as a response. She peered into the fruit bowl. Unsatisfied, she began to stare at the cabinets and the door to the pantry. Surprisingly, she stayed where she was, not approaching ay of their storage compartments.
"There are honey butter chips in the pantry. If you don't want those, there's also seaweed and waffle snacks," Namjoon said.
Amelia mumbled something under her breath, glancing at the ceiling.
Namjoon blinked indifferently. "What was that?"
"Do not act like you know me." Amelia finally stared at him. Finally drank him in. A lot of the rage Namjoon discovered there seemed familiar.
"Are you afraid of me?" he asked.
She flipped her hair. "I want nothing to do with you. You can keep Grey too."
"I am not Grey's keeper. I am not your keeper either."
Amelia rolled her eyes. "Yes, please attempt more reverse psychology. Make me feel free in this prison like I actually have a choice in any of this."
Namjoon shrugged. "I will always give you a choice. You are free to leave whenever you would like."
She remained planted firm in the kitchen, tapping her foot impatiently. "I can't."
"It's hard looking at this city the same way," Namjoon said. "I know."
"Oh," Amelia scoffed, "you know?"
"Wait." He furrowed his brows in bewilderment, scratching the back of his head. "I forgot. To you, I'm stupid."
She quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not taking it back."
"You don't have to," he said. "By your logic, I know nothing about you but you know everything about me."
Amelia opened her mouth to protest, but thought against it.
"Fine," she said. "I may be illogical, but so is your existence. Whatever you are."
"Clever." He smiled humorlessly, standing and sauntering to the other side of the island where he could wholly face her. He made sure his movements were slow so that he would not scare her away.
He said, "Do you know what I am?"
She raised her chin. "I don't care."
"Tell me what I am."
She glared. "The pest that knocks every morning and every evening even when I've told him a thousand times, maybe more, that I want to be left alone."
He pursed his lips. "If I am a pest, can you answer one question for me?"
She crossed her arms.
He asked, "Why did you call for me last night?"
Her dangerously sharp gaze softened.
He remembered hearing it like he would most likely remember all of her words. Her faint voice traveled just a few meters outside her door while he sat in the living room and kept himself up with a drink. He had walked to her room and knocked in response. She said nothing else for the remainder of the evening.
And she said nothing now. She only stared, seeming ready to chew his head off.
"If you really want me to stay away, all you have to do is say so to my face."
Silence blanketed the kitchen.
He went back to his spot by the windows and grabbed his pencil and crossword.
"I guess there's our answer," he said.
Amelia settled for grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. Almost through clenched teeth she asked, "Where are the others?"
"Out for the afternoon. Would you like me to send them a message for you?"
Amelia rubbed the apple on her sweater to clean it off. "Yeah. Tell them I like you the least."
"That means a part of you likes me, you know."
Amelia chuckled dryly. "It has jokes."
:::
Morning fog rolled over the cemetery's grounds. A thin coat of mist covered Grey's boots and anyone a few feet behind her. To the naked eye, the human girl appeared to be followed by several ghosts.
She halted at the foot of the stone structure, it's grandeur just as alluring as when she first discovered it. And when she turned, she realized her entourage was not as close behind as she expected. They stayed a few meters back, all of them circling the perimeter.
Grey said, "Getting cold feet?"
Taehyung's hands were suspended midair as he felt through the cloud cover. Jimin frowned at his feet. Yoongi and Hoseok stood with their hands in their pockets. Jungkook couldn't stop examining the mausoleum.
Nico and Vanity were further back than the five of them.
Nico said, "We cannot go in."
Grey stalked to the line they formed and walked past them, not feeling even a shift in the wind.
"Why not?"
She waved her arms about, hopping from one side to the other of their barrier while he explained. "My brother's presence is very strong. I feel it embracing both Vanity and I, but it shrinks away from us too. I think, because we have Fallen, it will not allow us to pass."
"So he put up wards to keep all of you out?"
"Look who's learning the terminology," Hoseok quipped. Grey smiled.
Nico shrugged. "Yes, and no. It is not intentional. A ward that keeps the Fallen out simply includes all that fall under that category."
"Not quite," Vanity said. "I've been inside."
"How?" Taehyung adjusted the knot of his black bandana.
"Like recognizes like. Rowan's power felt his body's presence and created an opening for both Solis and Aelith to slip through when they figured out the book's location."
Nico sighed. "Then that body makes Solis far more formidable than we thought."
Grey brought her coat further about her shoulders. "He's not the only one with an advantage," she said, backtracking until she was close enough to lean on one of the rotted pillars. "You're forgetting about the fact that I can do the same thing as him."
Jungkook pointed to Grey and asked Nico, "But how is that possible?"
"She has a pure heart," Vanity chimed. Grey's smile dropped. "We bestow blessings upon those willing to make sacrifices."
"I have yet to receive one from you," Grey muttered.
"Grey," Nico barked, "now is not the time, please."
Vanity rested a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Let her vent."
"You're so gracious, Your Majesty," Grey said sarcastically. "Thank you for allowing me to express my feelings."
"That's enough," Yoongi snapped.
Grey glared at him, her neck craning back in reproach. "I take orders now?"
Taehyung scowled at Yoongi. "Don't talk to her like that."
"You going to stop me?" Yoongi lowered his voice, the warning tone unmistakable.
Jimin stood between them, slowly shifting into a fighting stance in case he needed to be the wall that prevented calamity. Jungkook inched closer almost imperceptibly.
Taehyung growled. A wolf's growl, not a man's. "Don't make me an offer I can't refuse."
"If you win, I'll buy you a new bone."
Taehyung lunged, Jimin used both hands to shove him back at the same time that Hoseok swept in front of the Wraith. Jungkook became a third wall in the very center, both arms outstretched in case he needed to leap either way.
A crack of lightning, swift yet blinding, struck the ground before Grey's feet. The girl fell back. The quarreling angels paused to stare at the blast. It disappeared in a flash, no thunder following in it's wake, only Nico's resonant voice.
"We came here for the passage. Don't forget that."
Grey picked herself up, dusting wet leaves and mud from her jeans. While everyone else straightened and returned to order, she wiped the corner of her eyes. She hated being reprimanded. And from Yoongi of all people? He was the one that taught her to use her voice in the first place. The sting of betrayal only worsened when he wouldn't look at her. And it became another chink in her very fine, very thin armor.
Swallowing her pride, she pivoted on her heel and bound up the mausoleum steps. The inside was incredibly humid. Drops of morning dew dripped from the glass ceiling. Blood stains the color of rust dotted the wall where she'd used the stone as support to stand up so long ago. She'd cut herself on those dying rose bushes outside. The scar had healed, but it seemed like those markings would never go away.
Still etched onto the tomb's surface was the prayer. She swept off some damp leaves and read the text in her head. Then, she read it aloud, hoping her voice carried far enough.
When she finished, she stood in the threshold. Her heart swelled when she noticed Yoongi watching her every move. But as her emotions grew larger, so did this new vulnerability. A small tinge of resentment accompanied those butterflies, the insecurity providing layers to this disagreement between them that she did not wish to explore. She ignored the Wraith, finding Nico amongst their crowd.
"Did you get that?"
The Second King nodded. "To the pure of heart, I bear my gifts. Heaven and her eternal flame. To my sons I bestow the earth trodden beneath our feet. This part in particular garners my attention."
"What about it?" Hoseok scratched the top of his head.
"It sounds like a will," Grey said. They all looked at her, their scorned heroine. "Humans write them before they die to give out what they have."
"It makes sense," Jungkook said, pacing back and forth. "Grey gets to walk inside because of her heart."
"I highly doubt we came all the way out here for us to figure out something so obvious," Taehyung said, kicking his foot up against a tree. "Rowan wouldn't write that unless the gifts were extreme."
"Heaven and the eternal flame are pretty special," Jimin commented.
"She can't hold the eternal flame," Vanity said. "No matter how pure. It'd light her up like a match. And she can't own a piece of Heaven."
Jungkook gasped. "Then it's the actual gifts!"
Yoongi frowned. "Elaborate."
The Assassin stopped pacing. "When we fell, a few artifacts fell with us. The Amulet, for example. It's a piece of the Eternal Realm. A gift to whoever can wear it. Gatekeeper was a gift to Rowan. It's been split into several pieces, several gifts!"
"I'm not following," Hoseok said.
Jungkook grinned a boyish, rabbit-like grin. "Grey can grab the pieces of Rowan's sword. She can grab heavenly artifacts!"
Grey furrowed her brows. "Me?"
Nico's eyes widened. "Typically, any heavenly artifact is too strong for a human. It kills them upon contact."
"But a human with a pure heart that's known to share the same holy essence as one of our very own... she could do it." Vanity nodded, a slow smile dancing across her full lips.
"Any one of us can," Grey said. "You guys are all angels."
The Queen said, "But we've forfeited our innocence by falling from the sky. You, on the other hand, have loads of it. Technically, in the eyes of Heaven you're holier than all of us."
"Heaven does not reward the Fallen or the wicked. They frown upon them. But she does exalt people like you," Nico explained. "If this is correct, then none of us can hold the pieces to the sword. Only a pure heart bearer."
"So, you're telling me... that I'm the only one that can touch Rowan's sword?"
"That is exactly what we are telling you," Nico said. "For us to find Gatekeeper, you must be--"
"The key," Vanity said.
Grey should have been used to this by now. Every time she escaped one responsibility, another one knocked her off her feet. She should have handled this in stride, seen it coming. But it felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. This catastrophe never ended. This was a dream she'd never wake from.
The members of a fallen kingdom beheld her openly, with such hope in their gaze that the cemetery brightened. The presence of cold bodies and abrupt ends dissipated. It actually felt like everything happened for a reason; their collective visions of having wings again seduced the angels into high faith.
But that was too much pressure to put onto one person. Too much pressure for one vulnerable, fragile, scorned heroine, indeed.
In the blink of an eye, she became the martyr. A human-born savior. More than she'd ever been worth in her entire life.
"You can't do this without me?" she asked.
Their expressions said enough.
The move was hers to make. She held the power yet again. She prayed not to mess it up.
Grey said, "What's the next step?"
"Opening the book."
:::
Once that leather-bound journal opened, things would never be the same.
They already weren't, Grey realized, when the angels almost brawled amidst sodden graves. The ride home had been tense, no one quite acknowledging one another for fear of setting off a landmine. Yoongi and Taehyung never made eye contact. Jimin and Jungkook remained poised to spring into action. Nico spoke in short, clipped sentences to Grey and Vanity just observed from a distance--which irked the human girl further. Even Hoseok stared out the window.
She was so glad to be out of that stuffy car and back in the penthouse elevator, where she could finally focus on the other things that mattered. The other changes. The new lovely development of her behavior, her body.
Her foot tapped against the elevator floor, her fingertips drummed against her leg. She needed to come clean about it, and soon.
As much as she wanted to keep this secret, it was one that she figured would have consequences if left unaddressed. Because that energy she'd felt when she'd first woken up after the Ruby Courtyard battle hadn't yet gone away. Instead, she was invigorated. Refreshed. Sensitive to the minute details.
The chrome doors opened, each of them filing out slowly. Namjoon perked at their arrival, putting down his newspaper. The leader smiled at first, then let his face fall as the tension wafted to his seat.
"Everything alright?" Namjoon asked.
Hoseok smiled weakly. "We're all a little drained. Did anything happen while we were gone?"
Grey asked, "Did Jin wake up?"
Namjoon pressed his lips into a thin line. "No and no."
"How's Amelia?"
Namjoon shrugged, "Fine. She's in her roo--"
"I'm right here," the other girl said, diving around the corner of the hallway to confront the entire group. Most of the angels stopped. Especially Vanity, who seemed like she'd really seen Amelia for the first time. The girl physically jumped back at the sight of the Queen, sidling to the far end of the living room where the golden lady was completely out of reach. To Grey she said, "Can we talk?"
"Uhh," Grey nervously glanced from the Queen to her best friend, "sure. Maybe later."
"This can't wait," Amelia replied.
"Please," Grey said, hooking her arm around the person she'd wanted to chat with for a while. Taehyung froze at her touch. "It'll just be a second."
"Grey, don't do this to me. Not in front of everyone else."
Grey tugged Taehyung towards the staircase. "We will talk, I just need five minutes. Hold on, okay?"
Without hearing her best friend's response, Grey bolted towards her room with Tae behind her. Every second of putting Amelia off hurt, and when Grey was shaking so much she could barely open her door, Taehyung put a warm hand on her shoulder.
"You owe it to her to open up."
"I know," Grey breathed, finally getting a good grip on the handle. "I will, but I need you to see this first."
The door opened. Grey stormed to her bedroom with the Beast on her heels.
When they arrived, Taehyung halted. Her anxiety from the morning returned. To get it through her system, she paced near her bed.
"How?" he asked.
Grey shook her head. "I don't know."
"B-but," he raised an eyebrow, "you're so petite."
"I'm maybe two inches shorter than you," she scoffed.
"You're still so cute and compact. I never imagined you could put a hole in the wall."
Grey forced herself to stare at the splintered wood, chipped plaster, and debris on the floor. The hole was truly the size of her fist, and maybe a little larger, because she could fit her entire wrist into it. She'd done it again and again after it happened, wondering how her red knuckles punctured what was supposed to be one of the most solid structures.
"I got upset this morning thinking of Vanity," she confessed. "She just makes my blood boil."
"Vanity was wrong for leading you on, I agree. But if you can do this when you're mad, I wonder what you can do when you're furious."
She sighed. "I never want to find out. Promise me this stays between you and I."
He tore his concentration from the wall to smile at her. "I promise."
Seriously? He wasn't afraid? Concerned?
She mumbled under her breath. "That was easier than I thought."
"Am I supposed to lecture you for being a badass?"
She shoved his shoulder. "Taehyung! This isn't a miracle. I think something's wrong with me. I felt it at Vanity's and I still feel it."
He held his hands up defensively and sat on the bed. "Fine, we won't celebrate, yet. Tell me how you feel?"
"Energetic," she gushed, "I never run out of energy. The punch didn't even hurt. I wanted to punch something else."
"Why didn't you?"
She furrowed her brows. "I like my room very much, and I respect my furniture. That's irrelevant. I just need help. And if there's anyone that would know what to do..."
It would be the wolf, who ate, breathed, and lived in adrenaline.
He stood from the bed, his square smile lessening her worry drastically. "I'll get people to fix this. In the meantime, try not to get so angry. If you have an energy burst, let me know. We'll handle it."
"Ugh! Thank you!" She crashed into him, enveloping him in a hug. "What do you think it is?"
He rested his chin on the top of her head. "You're welcome. I think someone unlocked her heaven sent abilities."
She looked up at him, still in his arms. "You're treating me like I just lost a tooth or something."
He chuckled. "I'm excited for you."
While she loved his warmth and his scent, she took a step back. He was still a wild card, and she was still dealing with the fact that their futures revolved around her. It was unfair that these things had to come between them, but priorities were priorities.
Taehyung rubbed her arm. "We're going to try to open the book soon. Get to the library when you're ready."
"Yeah, alright. Let me handle Amelia first."
:::
(A/N) Nice reader,
Welcome back to Part III! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring for you, it's not how I imagined kicking things off but I also realized there are a lot of issues in this group that the characters can't help but address. They're not much of a team as you can see.
Next chapter; opening the book, best friend versus best friend, Vanity? I mean relationships are suffering right now, ya'll. Lol, send help to this broken home.
Thank you for reading!
Next release: 10/17 (October 17th)
With love,
M