Zeke was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself as he overanalyzed every detail of the idea.
“Seeing the Diagnostician’s brilliance up close, what a treat,” Isaac said.
The excited comment made Zeke halt and stare at Isaac, realizing he completely forgot about his existence at some point; no wonder he was feeling somewhat in control. The bowl-cut lunatic still needed to be dealt with so that he could get to his mother and start the last procedure.
“Now, since you’ve decided to be difficult, I’ll have to resort to forceful measures then…”
“What does that mean?”
Isaac fought against his rubbery restraints and brought his hands together in front of his chest. “Vistrea,” he cited calmly.
An intense white glow emitted from Isaac, forcing Zeke to cower and shield his eyes. Angelic choirs sang for a moment, then the light dissipated.
The arteries snapped loudly, and then Zeke looked back at Isaac. He was clad in an open, white robe with gold patterns all over. A white gold mask covered the lower half of his face, and a large gold cross hung from the side of his beaded belt.
Isaac held his hand out, and a staff appeared in a burst of light. It had a giant eyeball on top.
He looked like a priest from one of his role-playing video games, Zeke thought to himself.
A reverberating clap was made, and Isaac’s body emitted a white light and then vanished.
After the impressive magic trick, Zeke blinked and peered through the grid of veins and arteries. Isaac was nowhere to be found.
“Maybe I can convince Violet to help tweak the insolent parts of your mind,” that horrible, recognizable hoarse voice said from behind.
Zeke whipped around and backed away from Isaac.
Nonchalantly, Isaac ducked under an artery and moved up to Zeke. “That insolence is keeping you from realizing your destiny. Helping the universe,” he said, moving his hand across his glinting mask. “But no, there’s no guarantee she would do that…”
There was no time to think. Thinking leads to inactivity. He couldn’t let it take over. Zeke charged at Isaac.
He only managed two steps.
A golden wheel took shape and encircled Isaac.
Zeke screamed as he pulled back and tripped over an artery. His nape bounced off another, and then he was on the grass, lying on his stomach. He gaped up at the wheel that spun around Isaac sideways and slowly as multicolored eyes opened around the giant rims.
The divine visage was terrifyingly beautiful, Zeke thought and found himself shoving back the overwhelming urge to deify and venerate Isaac, to grovel and plead to not be smitten out of existence in return.
Zeke looked away from Isaac and raised his hand in front.
“You have power, Hezekiah, but you and I are nowhere near the same level.”
Zeke gulped, and his heart began its usual routine of frantic rhythms. “I am going to stop you here and now.”
“Well, if you truly intend to kill, then it’s only fair that I teach you how to do it properly. There’s still more about magic that you need to learn.”
With his body trembling, Zeke forced himself to lower his hand and look back at Isaac. “I’m not going to kill you, Isaac!” The wheel’s overpowering beauty took effect immediately. Zeke stayed strong and stared at it.
“You think you can stop me without killing me?” Isaac said. He took several steps toward Zeke, his wheel moving alongside him.
Zeke grabbed an artery and pulled himself back to his feet.
Holes mushroomed on the veins and arteries. Zeke watched the holes increase until the veins and arteries dematerialized altogether. Not a single trace of them left behind.
Isaac heaved a heavy sigh. “You need to keep concentration, Hezekiah,” he said like a disappointed teacher. “Listen, this won’t work. I need to try something else.” He extended his hand to the side and started to wag his finger stump.
Ugo flashed into the wondrous garden clearing.
Zeke blinked and pinched the corner of his eyes, doubting their correct functioning. He checked again, and Ugo was still there, clad in his sapient Healer’s Garb, and he wasn’t alone. AJ and Naomi were behind him, gripping onto the back of his jet-black robe. They were all covered in bits, muck, and slime.
Ugo had his hand around Isaac’s newly reattached pinky finger.
Isaac turned to Ugo and said, “I’m glad you took good care of my finger, my fellow Brother of the Tainted Generation.”
Like any sane person, Ugo let go of the finger and stepped away from the mentally ill Healer alongside AJ and Naomi. First, there was fear and confusion on their faces, and then curious awe as they gaped at the divine wheel in silence.
Without taking a moment to scrutinize his finger, Isaac turned back to Zeke. “Your brother—our brother defeated my Anathemia. Blessed is he!”
“I knew it!” Naomi announced, pointing her finger at Isaac. “You are an angel.”
“No, little one, I am not.”
“Wait, did you say ‘my Anathemia’?” AJ asked.
“Yes! It’s a summon of my own creation!” Isaac declared. He looked down at his pinky finger. “Good thing the girls grabbed onto you when it started glowing. Good instincts! Now everybody is here!”
Ugo turned to Zeke. “What’s going on here?”
Zeke pulled down his mask. “He didn’t bring us here to help Mom,” he said, scowling at Isaac.
“Why?” Naomi asked.
“He had an agenda of his own from the start,” Zeke started. “This was all just for me to activate my Healer’s Garb and help him open a door with an Amalgamate Spell.”
“Oh, don’t leave out the part where I almost choked you to death, Hezekiah—”
A curved lightning bolt silenced him.
It slashed through the wheel's rim and cut through Isaac’s shirt, cleaving his chest open. The wheel vanished entirely as Isaac soared and slammed into a tree with the top of his head.
Isaac plonked to the grass on his side.
The others stared at a fuming Ugo without interrupting the intensifying silence. He was glaring at Isaac, hand equipped with the blue surgical knife pointed down to the side. Murder was on his mind and scrawled in his electricity-flickering eyes.
Zeke ran to Isaac and kneeled beside him. Blood leaked from the laceration on his chest and stained his once stainless white robe. He pressed two fingers on Isaac’s wrist. A slight pumping motion was made.
“He’s alive,” Zeke said.
“Cabron!” Ugo barked.
Zeke pushed Isaac onto his back and examined the wound.
“He’ll be fine,” Ugo said. “I doubt that’ll be all that it would take to keep him down.”
Zeke got up and looked back at Ugo, realizing he was right. Besides, the Healer’s Garb has regenerative capabilities, he remembered. He committed a great transgression on his personal code and walked away from someone needing medical attention.
“Can we even find the Puritas Flor here?” AJ asked.
Zeke shook his head as he approached them. “He lied about that, but I have an idea.”
“Really?” Ugo uttered with a smile, anticipating the best from his brother.
“Yeah,” Zeke said. He put on a steely look. This was the one thing that no one could criticize him over, not even himself. When it came to medicine, there was no need for self-doubt, even if it was related to the supernatural. It was medicine all the same. Sure, he made mistakes, but most of those mistakes stemmed from him desperately trying to prove himself and everybody wrong. None of that was of importance. What was important was saving his mother, and no ulterior motive was attached to it. “The only reason why the microorganism is surviving in Mom’s brain is because of her soul’s purity,” he said with conviction. “Isaac said it himself that radical devotees were the most usual victims of the virus. All people with high purity levels. So, all we need to do is decrease the purity levels of my mother’s soul to a percentage low enough…”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“For the virus to die out on its own,” AJ finished.
“Okay, it’s a straightforward answer,” Ugo said, “but how can we do it?”
“Maybe Naomi can help with that,” AJ suggested.
All eyes fell on the small, doe-eyed creature.
“How?” Naomi asked.
“You’re half-demon, right?” AJ added. “So, you can use that to lower purity, right?”
“How would I do that…?”
“Bleeding into her mouth or something?” Ugo said. He looked over at Zeke. “You think that would work?”
“I’m not sure…” Zeke answered.
“Where did you get that coat, Zeke?” Naomi asked, gesturing to his Healer’s Garb.
The other two eyed Zeke, and then Ugo’s eyes popped out. He exclaimed, “Is that your Healer’s Garb?”
“Um.” Zeke looked down at the dark green garment that was over his regular attire. “Yeah. This is it. It creates blood vessels.”
“Cool,” Ugo said, nodding and smiling from ear to ear.
“Congratulations, Zeke,” Naomi said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. “I really wish it would’ve happened under… happier circumstances.”
There was clearly an opening to say something, and Zeke wanted to, but that ugly part within kept him from speaking.
It told him that maybe it was okay for Naomi to feel bad, at least a little.
He made a slight smirk, which he immediately got rid of when he remembered her circumstances. Why did his brain constantly do that? Filter out facts to justify his negative emotions, from the scalding hatred to the caustic envy.
“This reminds me,” AJ said, cutting off Zeke’s thoughts. “I was reading an article the other day about gourmet dishes made from chicken feathers,” AJ said.
“What?” Ugo asked while giving her a skeptical look.
“Humans can’t digest feathers, but they are mostly made of keratin, which is a protein found in nails and hair and composed of healthy amino acids,” AJ explained. “By using acid hydrolysis, they’re making feathers edible.”
“Great,” Ugo said and groaned. “Now eating feathers is going to be a trend.”
“Naomi’s feathers have different colors; maybe the darkest ones are purely demonic, and if Mrs. Morata eats them, then maybe it can make her purity levels plummet. This is just an idea. It might be totally stupid.”
Zeke's mind was shot back to that windy afternoon on the docks, where Violet fought valiantly against Nananiel. A key moment replayed in his mind over and over. Violet feeding feathers to the Netherchimera.
“He loves angel feathers. Composed of so much yummy, concentrated purity,” she said.
Zeke blinked rapidly and returned to reality.
“I say we just use blood and see what happens,” Ugo said.
“You’re a genius,” Zeke said.
“Thanks!” Ugo said happily.
“Not you. I meant AJ,” Zeke corrected. “I’m not too hopeful on the blood idea, I dunno, it seems dangerous, and then there’s the fact that Naomi has angel blood in her as well, so that means she has angelic cells, too, and the last thing we need is more of those in Mom. According to Violet, angelic feathers are a source of purity, so AJ’s idea could have credibility. The demonic part may have the opposite of purity.” He looked at Naomi. “Your wings. Your feathers. We need them, Naomi.”
“Wait, didn’t you guys cut off her wings?” AJ mentioned.
Zeke and Ugo’s faces went blank. Silence filled the air. AJ rubbed her forehead and averted her eyes.
“Oh yeahhhh…” the brothers drawled as they slowly tilted their heads upward.
“But angels can regrow their wings! Don’t worry, I can do it!” Naomi said eagerly. “Just give me a moment.”
She walked away from them, stood in the center of the clearing, raised her fists, squeezed them shut, and then closed her eyes. Her expression relaxed, and she looked to be at peace.
Zeke smiled. Watching an angel sprouting its wings will always be something to get excited over, no matter the occasion.
Nothing happened.
Naomi opened one eye and immediately closed it once she caught a glimpse of the ogling trio.
“Are you sure you can do it, Naomi?” AJ asked.
“Yes! Just give me a moment!” Naomi urged.
Naomi hunched over and stretched her arms to the side. Her fists clenched tighter, and her expression creased.
More nothing.
She gave out a muffled scream and started messing up her long, wavy hair. “Come on! Please!” she pleaded.
“Okay, this isn’t going to work. We need to come up with another idea,” Zeke said, ready to move on.
“We could check the hospital for feathers,” Ugo said.
“So, we’re going to have to go all the way back to the cathedral, huh,” AJ said.
“No, please let me be the one to help!” Naomi said with desperate eyes.
“It’s okay. You can’t regrow your wings, Naomi,” Zeke said.
“Yes, I can! Just wait a little longer! We shouldn’t waste time looking for feathers in the hospital!”
“Naomi, it’s probably not even your fault. This may be because of Ugo’s knife.” Zeke argued. He approached her. “We never apologized for what we did to you…”
“There is nothing to apologize for!” Naomi said, raising fists to her cheeks and throwing them back down. “You saved my life. I’m the one who needs to apologize. I need to keep apologizing for what I’m putting you through!” Her big eyes were already welling up as her brows furrowed. “I wasn’t useful to you in figuring out how to save your mother, nor was I when it came to fighting that monster. I haven’t done anything from the moment I landed in that building! Please, please, please, please let me prove my worth!”
“Naomi, you don’t have to do that,” Ugo reassured.
“Yes, I do!” Naomi’s gaze fell to the grass. “Stop pitying me as if I were a complete weakling...”
“That’s not what I was trying to…” Ugo trailed off. Words suddenly became unavailable to him.
“Maybe I am,” Naomi continued. Then, her head raised in an instant, and tremors spread across her frame. “I’m turning myself in.”
“No, you’re not,” Zeke said assertively.
“Your mother doesn’t deserve to die because of an abomination like me.”
“Don’t call yourself that!” AJ snapped.
“It’s what I am!” Naomi snapped back. Her lip quivered as she struggled to utter any more words. “My… existence is a crime. My essence is sacrilegious. I am a walking, breathing blasphemy who deserves to be locked in a cage.”
“Do you really think you belong in a cage, Naomi?” Zeke said, stepping toward her.
“Yes,” she croaked and stepped back.
“Why? Just because you’re half-demon, half-angel?”
“I have to pay for what they did. That is the meaning of my existence. Repenting for their sins. It’s my punishment for being born.”
“That is bullshit!” His scream resonated powerfully through the garden like a commanding beast.
After the explosive burst, Zeke took a moment to catch his breath as he studied the sorrow and fear on Naomi’s face. He couldn’t help but feel guilty. “That is bullshit,” The Diagnostician said again in a calmer, lower tone. Zeke chewed his tongue in his mouth and sank into a sea of thought, and he encountered something that was both funny and frustrating; he had failed to realize the moment she shared her real identity.
He and Naomi were the same.
She was paying for a crime that had nothing to do with her, just like him with his dad. Why should she be punished for something that was out of her control? We can’t choose our fathers, we can’t choose our mothers, and we can’t choose our parents. Naomi was dealt with the worst-case scenario any being could ask for when it came to a shitty legacy. Zeke took another step toward Naomi, and she backed away accordingly, so he took another one, this time by swinging his arm forward and looping it around her from behind.
He pulled her in for a hug. She didn’t resist, just shook and whimpered, perhaps due to the shame of wanting to be hugged. The guilt of feeling that she deserved to be consoled. “Don’t say stuff like that. It’s not your fault,” he said directly into her ear. He released her and gazed into her watery, blue eyes. “I know how you feel. My father has been a criminal since he was a teenager. He once ran the biggest underground crime organization in Indiana, even making way in other states and countries. He was known for being ruthless, violent, and selfish. He dealt with mostly drugs, and because of that, thousands of kids were getting dope on the streets. There was a time when there was a full-blown drug epidemic, and he was the reason. Then there’s the fact that he served as a role model for many young people who became notorious drug dealers who deal to this day. I don’t know if my dad has ever murdered anyone or not, but I don’t doubt he has.
“People judged me for what my dad did, and most people just assume that I have some of his evil inside me, or all of it. I get it. Feeling that just existing makes you a criminal, but that’s not true. You telling us what you are proves that you’re not evil. You risked putting the whole universe in danger just to do that. You don’t need to prove yourself to anyone, Naomi.” Zeke’s expression crumpled slightly in woe. “I’m sorry for being mean to you. It was out of line. You didn’t deserve that.
Naomi sniffled and rubbed her eye.
“I’m sorry, too,” AJ said. “I understand how it feels to be treated like an outsider. I outgrew everyone around me very early on, and I could never really connect with other girls. I was lucky to find Violet and Zeke.”
Ugo looked over to AJ. “What about me—?”
“But you were alone the whole time,” AJ continued, ignoring Ugo throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, Naomi, I didn’t realize that you were going through so much pain yourself. It hurts to be alone and feel different from everyone around you, but feeling different doesn’t always have to hurt. With the right group of people, that pain can go away. A group of other outsiders like us.”
Naomi sniffled again and gave out a strained laugh. “You guys are way too nice. This… feels... I never had this many people being nice to me at once,” she said in a shaky voice. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped away as many as she could and mumbled, “It’s hard to explain how it feels when you say things like that. I don’t know if I deserve to be happy with what you said.”
“Of course you deserve it, Naomi,” Zeke said. “You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be free.”
“You’re a really good doctor, Zeke,” she mumbled. “You know how to deal with all sorts of pain…”
His heart made a strange sensation. Zeke reached a new conclusion about the colossal mess that was his being. He understood what his biggest problem was. He looked at Ugo, AJ, and then around, trying to locate where Isaac was.
Zeke stopped and just focused on Naomi.
It wasn’t cowardice or anxiety… His biggest problem was the lack of empathy. He put his hand over his calm heart and made a promise to himself to attempt to understand others before letting jealousy take over.
Zeke looked down at his chest and smiled. Then he raised his head to beam at Naomi.
His expression turned grim.
The towering, unscathed zealot stood behind Naomi and raised two fingers high into the air.
“When did you get up—?” Ugo cried.
Isaac hit Naomi on the top of her head. She gave out a soft cry and pouted.
Ugo hoisted his knife for another slash. Isaac dashed to him and gripped
his wrist before he could attack.
It was a pitiful sight. Ugo was putting in immense effort to free himself from the grip, while Isaac was visibly not using even a sliver of that effort to keep him in place. “Now, now, I won’t be letting you get another hit.”
Ugo bared his teeth. “Cabron!” He hissed and then spat in his face.
Isaac turned back to Zeke, smiling as the saliva spilled down his mug. “You’re smart enough to realize what I’ve just done, right?”
Zeke’s eyes widened. “We’ve gotta get Naomi back to the hospital!”
The sky exploded. It was far too late.