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A splatter of blood landed on me as Theo dove for the balcony door. He perched himself on the wooden railing, looking over the side. We were at least thirty feet off the ground. If he jumped, he’d probably shatter a pelvis. Of course, his newly found powers to control the wind might help him land a bit more gracefully.
Theo was about to step off the edge of the railing when he was sucked backwards and across the hotel room, slamming into the wall. Leaving a Gorgon-sized crater in the busted drywall, he stumbled and attempted to right himself.
I spun around, searching for the source of the power that had yanked Theo so forcefully back into the room. My brother kneeled over Kit on the bed, Medusa’s dagger in his teeth.
A long thin line had been sliced into the child’s arm. Trails of blood rolled down his pale skin, blooming across the white comforter in a grisly red pattern. Kit’s yellow shirt had been torn open, and the mysterious symbols painted on the smooth skin of his stomach with blood.
“No! Nicky don’t!” I screamed.
He didn’t even look up from his work. In his hand was the pendant which normally hung on his chest. Kit’s blood dripped onto the amulet, soaking Nicky’s hand with the sticky red liquid. With a flick of his hand, Theo’s body lifted and crashed into the ceiling, dropping him with a thud on the floor.
The Gorgon growled, curses in English and languages I didn’t recognize tumbling out of his mouth. He bared his teeth, leaning forward on his thick arms, the muscles bulging along his biceps from the effort.
Nicky calmly took the dagger out of his mouth. “You shouldn’t have crossed me, Theo. We could’ve done great things together.” He held it out in the palm of his hand and it began to float upwards.
“Like you’re such a saint?” Theo spit. He wiped the back of his hand on his mouth, smearing blood across his lips. “You say you’re ridding the world of evil, but you enjoy the kill just as much. Admit it.”
Nicky remained tightlipped. He raised his chin an
d levitated the dagger even higher. I closed my eyes, waiting for the kill.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Gideon stepped out from behind the desk. The barrel of his gun was pointed at Nicky’s heart. “Put the dagger down. The SI is taking both of you into custody.”
Nicky shook his head. “I’m sorry, Agent Ward. That’s not an option.”
He dropped his hand to his side. At the same time, the dagger shot forward and buried itself deep into Theo’s chest cavity.
A loud roar ripped from his mouth. The city’s enchantment faltered, flashing back and forth to Theo’s true Gorgon form – his giant mass flickering like a projection on a movie screen.
Theo stumbled forward a step, clasping a hand around the dagger and pulling it out. A whirlwind began to whip around him. I jumped behind the desk with Gideon and watched as a mini tornado swept Theo up. It rolled his body in the air, and then dropped him to the ground in a heap.
His chest rose with one final inhale, pushing a stream of blood up through the hole the dagger had left behind. With a sigh, he rolled his head to one side and lay still. Even from my place behind the desk, I could see the once vivid blue eyes had turned glossy with death.
A dark gray color seeped into his skin, beginning at the tips of his fingers. The gray moved up his limbs until it covered every inch of his exposed skin. It took me a moment to realize that Theo was slowly turning into stone. I guess it made sense. Medusa had died in a similar fashion. It seemed fitting.
In the still of the room, Gideon jumped up again with his gun drawn. “Don’t move, Harris!”
Nicky didn’t waste time with niceties. He flicked his pointer finger and the gun spiraled out of Gideon’s hands. As he scrambled to retrieve it, Nicky walked calmly in the direction of the balcony, the pendant clutched in his hand. He was going to escape again.
“You can’t do this.” I stepped in front of him, barring the door. “You can’t keep this up. It’s wrong and you know it.”
“Out of my way, Little Bird.” Nicky raised himself up to his full height and looked down at me. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
“No one makes you do anything, Nicky. That’s what I’ve been saying all along. You can choose to be good.”
They were the words I’d stored up inside me for so long. The words I wanted so badly for him to hear.
“This thing you’re doing, this hunting down evil, it’s not right. You think you’re helping the world, but you’re just bypassing the systems we already have in place. You don’t have the right to hurt people. Just give yourself up.”
Nicky tilted his head to one side. In his eyes, I saw sympathy. “You don’t understand, Aya. This is my destiny. I have to fight for good.”
“No, I’m not letting you leave.”
I expanded my wings and stood my ground as he tried to brush past me. Our eyes met and we exchanged glares. A part of me still hated to see Nicky caught by the SI, but I knew it was time. My brother was never going to get better. He’d chosen his path and I’d chosen mine.
“You’d turn me in?” he asked. “Is that what you want? To see your brother in chains?”
I didn’t say anything, but he could read my answer in my desperate face. With a slight nod of understanding, he took a small step backwards. I kept my arms and wings extended out. It could be nothing but a trick. But, he didn’t make a run for it.
