"What the fuck did you say to him?" Nyx yelled as she marched onto the porch, storming toward Julian. Alistair and Kismet rushed behind her. Their voices calling for her to wait up, to calm down, sounded distant though they were only a few steps apart.

Julian watched the empty sky. His mouth still hung open. Standing in the middle of the lawn, he almost looked small. The tall grass drowned him.

It didn't take Nyx long to close the distance. Fury boiled under her skin. All she'd heard from inside were raised voices and harsh tones. Kismet had sat there utterly silent and horrified.

"I'll find Angel," Kismet called, already hurrying across the lawn to the road.

Nyx Laser focused on Julian. She was only vaguely aware of Kismet sprinting off toward the sidewalk.

The fight sucked out of him. Julian slouched, hanging his head.

"What did you say?" Nyx demanded.

Julian looked up at her. Tears poured from his bloodshot eyes. Nyx nearly stumbled. Where she had expected rage, there was only grief. What was she supposed to do with that? His tears softened her own anger, if only a little. Alistair caught up to them and stood at her side. He towered over the older man.

"I need to tell you both something," Julian said, his voice hoarse and tired.

Nyx's heart thundered, lodged deep in her throat.

"You might want to sit down." He wiped a hand across his beard.

"Do you want to come in?" Alistair offered, much to Nyx's chagrin.

He can say what he has to say out here on the lawn for all I care.

Julian agreed, and the three returned to the living room. She sat with her brother on the couch while Julian hunched in the armchair. He dug out a cigarette and lit it, taking his time. Nyx's heart pounded. Her mind raced thinking of a thousand horrible possibilities. She picked at the hem of her flannel shirt, then realized it was Angel's and gripped tighter.

Isn't this the shirt we fought over in the shed? That feels like a lifetime ago.

They sat in silence as Julian repeated the tale of how Ivy had brought Angel as an egg to the island. He told them Angel was created in the basement laboratory deep within The Academy.

Nyx's stomach churned, gripping Alistair's fingers tight. The room grew dark. The orange lava lamp on the side table cast Julian's face in a faint glow. Normally, the limited light was soft, but now turned sour and sinister, like his skin was stained with blood.

"Why wouldn't you tell him?" Nyx asked when Julian finished speaking. Emotion rioted like a caged animal beating against the confines of her ribs.

Alistair blinked, breathless with shock.

Julian exhaled a long drag from his cigarette. "What good would it have done him?" He looked away, watching the smoke twist in the tangerine light. "It was too much. Too painful."

"For who?" Nyx snapped. "You? You hid from the truth and forced everyone to play along to save your fragile ego."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Julian growled, glaring at her. "The Academy used to be an R and D branch of the Gleodem government. Whoever made Angel would have been commissioned by them. They would have been doing it for a reason. Maybe they would want him back if they ever found out? Maybe they didn't stop what they were doing and got better at hiding it? How do we know this Operation Pomegranate isn't still a thing? I had to protect him and this island. If word ever got out, the consequences could be devastating."

"Do you think something like that would be possible? Ivy would lose her mind," Alistair said. "Would they really come after him?"

"Ivy losing her mind is exactly what I've been trying to avoid," said Julian, tapping the end of his cigarette into the ashtray on the coffee table. "I didn't know what had been done to him exactly, but I figured it must have been important. If whoever was in charge of this Operation Pomegranate discovered this is where their egg ended up, they might have tried to come for him. You can imagine how Ivy would respond. It was better to forget this ever happened."

"Better for you perhaps," said Nyx, glaring at Julian.

"I think Angel developing Ivy's powers changes things," Alistair said. "They must have used Ivy's DNA too. If she knew that, she might want to help him with his powers rather than hurt him."

"Would she be that sentimental?" Nyx asked, genuinely curious. Ivy's wrath was notorious, but her mercy had filled stadiums and crafted a religion. Anything was possible.

"She seemed to be at one time." Julian's eyes danced to the side. It was only for a moment, but there was some uncertainty there.

Nyx nibbled her lip, her stomach flipping. No matter what Angel chose, he was stuck. Hiding his powers would be painful, if it was possible at all, but revealing them could be so much worse than she had anticipated in the first place. After all this, Ivy was their only glimmer of hope - that is, if she would choose to help him. Perhaps Ivy would even protect him.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

How could we even ask for her help without risking everything?

"That was another reason I wanted to keep things quiet," Julian said, putting his hand over his mouth to think. He cleared his throat. "I was terrified she'd come back for him one day. Ember's insistence that he come here was the only reason she'd left Angel in the first place. When I found out he'd manifested these abilities, I felt for sure one way or another she'd come for him."

"Maybe she should," Nyx snapped. "He might be better off."

"He wouldn't get a choice," said Alistair, staring at his fists curled in his lap. "If she's coming to take him, or coming to kill him, either way, he wouldn't get an option."

Nyx's eyes widened as her blood ran cold.

Her mind surged, rifling through potential scenarios and outcomes.

There has to be a way to dig Angel out of this. If he were to be cornered, he'd do what anyone else would, and protect himself. Then he'd become like Ivy, and he made me promise... That wouldn't happen. No way. Even if he did have to defend himself, he'd never be like her.

Ivy's shimmering translucent skin haunted her mind's eye - so much like glass though she was anything but fragile.

"Angel isn't going to want to go to The Academy," said Alistair. "He won't want anything to do with Ivy and whatever grand schemes she'd cook up for him. It's not happening."

"Maybe she wouldn't try to control him?" Nyx asked. "Maybe he could learn and then carve his own path?"

Julian leaned forward and crushed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "There's no way she'd let him be normal. Not with those abilities. He's too useful not to train, and too dangerous to let free."

"At this point, hiding his abilities is only another kind of prison," Nyx argued. "He'll reveal them sooner or later -"

I wish I had realized this sooner.

"Maybe we should go look for him? Hmm?" Alistair interrupted with an edge to his voice. "Here's a thought - Maybe asking Angel about what's best for Angel might be the best course of action. Let's get him through this, then follow the rest as it comes." He got to his feet and gestured to the door. "Shall we?"

Nyx got off the couch. Panic set into the pit of her stomach, picturing Angel out there all alone. Kismet had a head start and Nyx hoped she had found him already. If her own heart was this torn, she could only imagine how he must be feeling.

How could they all hide this for so long? Not even Mom and Dad said a word.

They decided it would be better if Julian did not come with them. Instead, he agreed to wait at home. Nyx and Alistair headed out together to check Angel's house first. Only the street lamps lit their way. Static hung in the air, raising the hairs on her forearms. Thick clouds blanketed the sky, concealing the stars. A pressure promising rain pushed in from the ocean.

"Someone should have done something," said Nyx. "If Ivy or the Gleodem government, or whoever tries to come for him, I don't think anyone will protect him. Not when the risk is starting another war."

"Come on now," Alistair said, but uncertainty trembled in his voice. "I will. You will."

"What are we gonna do? Bite their ankles?" Nyx laughed and kicked a chunk of loose asphalt as if to serve as punctuation. "It's always come down to us."

"What about Kismet? She would help in a heartbeat," he said. "Hey, I see that look. Don't underestimate her. Telepathy can be intense, or was that jealousy I noticed?"

Nyx didn't want to admit the prickly feeling that had come over her at Alistair's suggestion. The more people willing to help Angel, the better. Still, this nasty little part of her insisted she needed to be the one to do it.

"No, not at all," she said.

They turned onto Angel's street. When they reached his cabin, there were no lights on. That didn't mean much. The front door was unlocked and they let themselves in, but the house was empty.

"Grub!" Alistair yelled repeatedly to no answer. He turned to Nyx. "We could try the beach?"

Her heart beat pure panic now. She could only nod in agreement. They left the house, heading the way they'd come. Nyx periodically glanced at the sky. Utterly empty. Not even the moon was visible through the thick clouds.

"His guitar was gone," said Alistair.

Nyx swallowed. Saliva scratched all the way down, painful around the lump in her throat.

"That could be a good sign," she said. Her voice was heavy. It seemed no matter how quickly they moved, they couldn't get to the beach fast enough. The stillness of the neighborhood was liminal, like she walked inside a dream.

Her hands curled into fists. The warm wind carried the smell of petrichor in from the sea. Nyx sighed. It was all spinning so fast out of control and she wanted nothing more than to pull it back in.

"I need to fix this," she said. Either speaking it out loud as a plea to the universe or a confession. Nyx wasn't sure which.

"All we can do is be there for him. I'm telling you, when you try to manage things it'll make it worse. Just being around helps more than you think."

They turned down another street, passing rows of cabins. Both walked as quickly as they could. Now they heard the waves grinding against the rocks. She tasted the tang of salt. Storm gray water peeked from behind the houses, stretching toward the horizon. The far off city lights of Happsburg twinkled, faint in the darkness.

"I'm not going to stand by and let anything happen to him," she said. "We're not kids anymore Alice."

"Neither is he. You gotta let him make his own choices."

She glared at him, her jaw clenched. Nyx began to argue, but Alistair cut her off.

"We'll be there for him like always, but he's gotta decide for himself how to handle this. He's gotta process this in his own way."

"His way is dangerous," Nyx snapped.

"We need to trust him," said Alistair. His voice hardened and he looked down at her with narrowed eyes. "Can you do that?"

"I don't think I can," she said. The revelation smacked her in the face. The words caught around the lump in her throat, sore like a thumb against bruised skin. "He hasn't given me much reason to."

Alistair sighed, but nodded slightly. "I get it. It's different for you. As a boyfriend, he hasn't been loyal, dependable or predictable. Nowhere close. But you gotta let go Nyx. Holy shit. Let the guy make his own decisions and if you don't like 'em, leave, but you can't control him and you can't shield him forever."

Nyx wanted to argue, but her brother was right. Tears bit the edges of her eyes, blurring her vision as she placed her feet on the rocks.

The secluded pocket of beach was empty. No one sat on the log. The fire pit was nothing but cold ash.

"Angel!" she screamed. There was no answer but the sloshing of the waves.

"Grub!"

Nyx looked up at her brother. The possibility that Angel may not even be on the island anymore crossed her mind.

What would happens then?

Alistair searched the shore for any sign of him. "Where the fuck is he?"

Only the sound of waves rolling against the rocks echoed a response.