Page 14 of Unbroken

I blow out a breath and go into full little brother mode. “Yeah, your crazy-ass Soul Tethers are trying to exact their revenge on me. Mi, I woke up with Ty’s knife at my throat and then Trys threatened to take my soul. My soul, Micah. Who the hell are these guys? I mean, at least Rodyn apologized for his brothers by dragging them out of my room each morning.” I wave my arms around hysterically, my voice climbing higher and higher with each sentence.

“Wait, you said each morning? How long has this been going on?” Micah’s face is as unreadable as a stone statue, and I frown at my sister. She thinks this is funny. I know her all too well. Her lips begin to wobble, the first sign of an all-out gut busting laugh. My own lips turn up at the sight, and before I know it, we are both cracking up. I laugh so hard tears start to sting the back of my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I watch her doubled over, her feet stamping the floor as she lets go.

“I’m sorry, Panda. I really am, but you—"

I huff and cross my arms over my chest. I am no longer amused. “Since the moment I woke up, every morning I’ve received a threat from one of the twins. Eventually Ty stopped, but Trys was relentless until two days ago when you finally woke. So, I guess I should say thanks for not kicking the bucket.” As soon as I said the last part, I mentally kick myself because none of this is funny. I could have lost the last important person in my life.

Micah straightens, my words, although said in jest, sobered both of us. She holds her arms open to me and I go to her. We cross the room so fast we collide. I’m taller than my sister but in this moment, I feel like the little boy who followed his big sister around like a shadow. I lift her up and hold her tight as her head hits my chest.

“I’m so sorry, Mi. So sorry. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I thought I was stronger. I was a prisoner in my own body.” My voice breaks and I am not afraid to let my tears fall, especially not in front of her.

“No. No. Don’t do that,” she says, her voice muffled from being crushed to my chest. Micah pats my back and I slide her back down to the floor. She grabs my face between her hands and gives me the look. The stern, no bullshit look; eyes hard, laser focused on me, despite her tear-streaked cheeks. “You don’t get to blame yourself. You didn’t hurt me, Michael did. You were not the man fighting me in that clearing, it was him. You will not let this eat you up. I need you. I need you to pull it together. Pull it together for me because you and I are going to end this.” She drops her hands and steps away from me, wiping away her tears as she walks around me and further into the room.

I watch her go, pulling my shirt up to my face to quickly wipe away my tears before I cross over to the armchairs in the middle of the room. Micah flops down on one and I join her, taking the seat across from her. She sighs. “I want to say I’m sorry I hurt you too. I thought I killed you. You were there lying still on your back. You weren’t breathing, I. . .I—"

“You didn’t hurt me. Well, I have one hell of a scar but, Mi, you saved me. I would have rather died than continue being Michael’s marionette. I have so many blank spots in my memory, Micah. I’ve done so many things against my will. Bryelle.” I blow out a breath as she looks up at me in question. Every time I replay the moment in my head it makes me cringe to know that my thoughts were not my own, especially when it was initiated by Michael. It was a violation of my body and hers.

“Bryelle?” she asks, and I can’t help but smile picturing her face in my mind. I am worried about her, worried that Michael will use her to punish me. If he figures out I’m alive, that is.

“A very new person in my life. I wanted to introduce her to you, Mom and Dad,” I say as I drop my head into my hands and continue. “Mi, you have to understand the hold he has on us. I can only equate it to being a sleeper spy without a trigger word or action to make you do your handler’s dirty deeds. I woke in the middle of having—”, I swallow, not wanting to talk about my sex life with my sister.

“You woke up to what?” Micah asks, urging me to continue as she sits on the edge of her seat, her face scrunched in concern.

“Having sex with her, Micah. Fuck. I slowly gained awareness at the end of it. It shouldn’t have happened the way it did, and then it got all weird. I made her leave, well, he made me make her leave, like she was just a booty call. Like she meant nothing to me.” I groan, wanting to punch something, anything, to take my mind off the mess that is my life. Bryelle will probably never look at me the same again. I wouldn’t blame her. That’s if Michael’s not using her as well. We were all there the night we attacked HellNight Academy. I lost her in the mayhem, and I don’t even know if she’s alive. Micah grabs my hands and gives it a squeeze.

“I’m sorry Marcus. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I—”

“How could you have been there? You just told me not to blame myself. Practice what you preach here, Mi. I am willing to bottle up my emotional trauma for now to harden my heart for the fight to come. We have to help them, Micah.” My words are almost pleading at the end. I know my sister’s strength. She is powerful. When we were kids, I didn’t understand why my father made her hide it. My sister is a Nephilim and if we stand a chance of liberating the Light Guardians, I will need her. “Micah—we have to help Mom too.”

Micah drops my hands and sits back on the chair. “She wants me dead, Marcus. How do I save someone who wanted to have me killed? My mother. Our mother. Who let me go to HellNight Academy to die? She knew I would defy her wishes; she knew I would leave, she banked on it.” She slaps her knee in anger and points a finger directly at me. “As far as I’m concerned, she can rot in the deepest, darkest circle of hell.” Micah crosses her arms over her chest and turns away from me. I understand how she feels, the day I found out my mother’s plan for Micah, I was furious, disgusted, how could she be so heartless. Her own flesh and blood so easily disposed of.

As hard as this is, I have to say it. “You don’t mean that, Mi. You know deep down that you want no harm to come to her.” I keep my voice calm, there is no point in us both getting hyped up.

“I mean it, Panda. I should leave her to suffer—“

“You didn’t see her bloody and mangled, chained to the fucking wall of her office. She was beaten, broken, and bound, Mi. Barely alive, and I stood there like a mannequin, and did nothing. I could do nothing. Does she deserve my pity? Hell no. I heard her say she wanted you dead. I want nothing to do with her. But she is my mother, and your mother too. I can’t let her die by his hand.” I wipe my hands down my face and stand, but Micah still doesn’t look at me, lost in her own thoughts. I don’t move as I wait for her to see reason, to see that our job is to save them all—not a few, but all of them.

She clears her throat. I know she is battling her own emotions and she doesn’t want me to see her struggle. But I am here for whatever decision she makes. I will follow my sister’s lead. We don’t always agree, but if I have to make it my own mission to free our mother, then I will. Perhaps I should tell Bishop.

“He told me to save them all. To save her. . . How could I not do what is asked of me? So much to bear. . .it’s too much.” She looks up at me as if I can answer her question when I have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about.

“Mi, who told you to—"

“God,” she says simply, like it’s just an everyday occurrence to have a chat with God.

Well, I guess I need to sit again, because I am floored. “God,” I point my index finger up as I say it to confirm what she said, “told you to do this? When Micah? Have you told Bishop? Your Tethers, your Mates?” I am rattling off questions because the first thing I wanted to ask the Archangel Uriel days ago was where was God? How could he allow this to happen under his watch?

Micah stares at something in the distance as she starts to speak. “I thought I was dead. I woke in a place I thought might be Purgatory, but I was alone. I walked and walked searching for other people, but then I stumbled upon God. Well, he found me.” She chuckles humorlessly. “He told me he knows exactly what Michael and Lucifer are up to. He is aware of all the suffering, and that it was he who was keeping the world to rights. But he’s tired of it, Marcus. He’s ready to end us all, including them. A total reset button would be pushed. At least that’s what I got from his words. If I don’t shut Michael down, war will spread, and there will be absolute chaos on Earth. He told me I have to fix this, that I have what I need to do it. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, Panda. I almost killed you when I blasted you with Angel fire. How in hell can I free all the Light Guardians and the Archangels?”

“Then we help you get there. Whatever it takes.” I stand, feeling renewed. If this is her mandate, then I am ready. Ultimately, I’m a soldier, it is my life’s calling to protect Humanity. I unzip the black hoodie I am wearing and hold out my arms for her to see. The red tank top I’m wearing underneath makes me feel vulnerable, exposed. My Enochian tattoos are black now, broken phrases and letters are down my arm. I don’t feel their power anymore. I can’t call on portals, and my sword is just a sword now. Being a Light Guardian is all I know, a warrior first, a Warlock second, I am not defenseless. I’ll have to find new purpose for my life alongside my sister. “This is who I am now, no longer a Light Guardian. I am a Warlock, a Warrior. We will do this together, just like you said.”

Micah stands to face me. Reaching out her hands she grabs my arms and scans my tattoos. “My Angel Fire completely rearranged them. When Mom came to HellNight Academy, Michael had control of her in the Headmistresses office, I got angry and hit her in the chest with my Angel Fire, the connection between her and Michael was lost. I can only assume that I rearranged her tattoos as well. Yours were exactly like hers.” She looks up as I nod my head, then continues. “I have to find a way to target them all at once, like a giant bolt of lightning striking their tattoos. It will cut Michael’s connection to them instantly, without knocking them out. This is my theory. But how?” She drops my arms and I get a rush of excitement at the prospect of taking the fight to them. Micah is pacing and I wait, watching her think it through. Then she turns.

“I think it’s time we had a chat with Bishop and Rook. Lucifer too. . . although.” She pauses at the mention of Lucifer’s name, and I just stand there stunned. She says his name so casually, like it’s no big deal, then she turns to me. “It’s time I figured out how to use all this supercharged power running through my veins. I’m not going to sit around and wait for Michael to come at us unawares ever again. I know it won’t happen overnight and I hope he thinks we are both dead, it will buy us some time. We are going to take the fight to Caelum, away from Humanities eyes. This game they’ve been playing so carelessly ends now.” She turns and marches for my door with determination and I follow eagerly, glad to finally have a plan of some kind. Then she stops and sighs, her shoulders slump forward, visually deflating.

“Mi?” I close the distance between us, unsure of the sudden change in her demeanor. She turns to face me with tears in her eyes.

“First, we need to say goodbye to our dad,” she says as she grabs my hand and pulls me through the doorway behind her.

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