"Hi mom, you ready. It's time to kick some demon ass. The bets still running" Sky called out to me.
"Oh yeah, I'm ready, ready to win" i say smirking at the end
This bet, we run it each year, whoever takes out the most demons can ask anything of each LunaThorn. One year, Shadow was forced to sing country music on top of the Eiffel Tower at top volume. That was the year Kei won. By far the one i will not let win is Ayato, he has, lets say, a dirty mind. He has respect but can...lack restraint. I'll leave it at that.
"Dusk, we need to talk about the mission" Jack sternly tells me with his eyebrows pointed so i note his serious tone. "I know it's been a while, and a memory you want to forget, but New York needs help, demons only we can defeat have been sighted and are causing trouble"
...I take a breath, a short and sharp one, in it each one of my memories is brought back inside by clouded head, remember the emerald chain my daughter wears... His daughter. The father she chose not to meet. "I understand. Our duty before emotion attached to our pasts, i wont lose sight of that vow."
"Thank you" Jack whispers softly, trying not to startle my busy head.
"I will go and let Skylar know, we have to pack as well, it wont take long though. I wonder how she will react, I'll have t-"
"You wont have to do anything mom, i can keep sane, don't worry. I don't mind if he knows or not, we'll come back here afterwards and he'll be gone again, that's how i want it. I wont forgive how he betrayed your spirit." Skylar came as she gracefully swooped down from the ceiling beam she must have been drowning on again.
Jack made the call that it was time to leave as this was between mother and daughter. Although in a way, everyone here Sky sees as her family, hundreds of year old brothers and a sister. As do i.
I need to tell her that she comes first, to make sure she isn't giving up any of her life for me. "Sky, what If you like him when you meet him, even if he doesn't know who you are, you do. I don't want to you to live with that."
"if he asks, we can tell him. But I'd rather not. I can see the way you gaze into the sky at night, how you long to reach something beyond what you can see. You can hide it, but the impossible reach of that star still hurts you, i love you, i can see it. He wont figure it out anyway, I'm eighteen, its pretty impossible...
... anyway, I've noticed, in all these big cities we've been to. The lights cover up the stars, the depth in space i love to reach, the city hides it, i can't love a place like that. Shrouding a beautiful scatter of stars, the spirit i belong to is weaker there." She sighs a sad smile at the loss of nature.
"I know, while were there lets paint... lots of stars and dreams like we have back here, fill the canvas with them. Her face brightens to a wide and forward smile. Then she's up the beams again and gone leaving a shout of "I'll be packed in ten".
"Not everyone has the speed rune Skylar..." i yell after her realising i need at least half an hour to find my stuff in this palace.
1 hour later...
"Alright fire, portal us up" Ayato charms.
"Does that actually make grammatical sense" I wonder out loud
"Hey fire don't burn to bright, don't want to singe my 200 years older than you worth of treasured knowledge" he obnoxiously states.
"170 years older, roughly. Do the math, not that I'm too sure" Seeing as we all have immortality, we kinda gave up counting the years, more like rounded them near to where we think we are. I mean, Jack is on 900, Silver's on 800, who in what realm or dimension has the time or determination to squeeze and squash that many candles on a cake. All I know is that we have a big party each century for each birthday. That lowers the costs a little bit. Not that money matters.
With all of the jobs we have taken on as mercenaries over 900 years, and keeping it all in one account for everyone, we are literally millionaires. When we make it into the billions, we donate the exceeding amount to orphanages and animal trusts. To save those who escaped us as best as we can. All of us have lost over the years, so it was agreed that that would raise everyone's heavy heart a little.
I use my stele to draw the portal rune directed inside the institute. "Hey, i wonder, would it be fun to come down from every angle rather than knocking on the front door..." i see a cumulative series of smirks and that gives the answer.
You see, as i can create runes, mine are also a little more powerful and can do what others can't. With one portal, i can drop people off in different places and angles, good for infiltration missions.
With the golden gleam of dancing light, a circle is carved into the realms of reality, crackling sounds of splitting shards that trace the edges, a dark abyss leading to a limbo word, and a simple step in front is the place i grew up. Where i can find Simon, hug Izzy, Smile to Alec and Magnus once more, and recognise those golden eyes i see every day in my daughter. How their similarity pains me. Her soft golden glance, his dominating presence, father and daughter. My foolish past.
What do i do when i see them again, Izzy let me go, But I left the others. I left no smile, no voice for them to remember. I've already forgotten theirs, its been eighteen years. All i can remember is his, why his. I want the warm welcoming voice of my best friend, not the Dirty cheater. I want the smile of the great Magnus, not the smirk of the golden hawk. I want the warmth of Alec, his reassuring words. I want Izzy's advice, her talks, so why are they all going blurry i my head, why can i only remember the last one, the one where she broke my spirit, and broke herself doing it? All the fear, why now? Can't Jace just let me be. "Jace". That's the first time I've said his name aloud in years, it had stutter on the 'J'. I spoke it like starlight into the portal, right where he is. Probably beside another girl, one he kept by him, one he loved, unlike me.