Chapter 24 - Demons From The Past

Art by NeverCatchMe 

Later that day, I carefully opened Vanessa's door, hoping that she was okay after everything that had happened. I found her sitting in a chair, bawling and stuffing spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream into her mouth. "Go away, Jay!" she shouted as I entered the room.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"What do you think?" she shouted. "I just found out that Declan is actually Captain Fedora, and he's cheating on me! Do you think I'm okay?!"

As Vanessa ate another spoonful of ice cream, I said, "Calm down, Vanessa. Everything's going to be fine."

"Are you kidding me?" Vanessa said as she held the carton of ice cream closer to her. "My whole life is ruined, and that's the best you can come up with?"

Why is Vanessa still yelling at me? I wondered. I didn't do anything wrong. Of course, that wasn't true. I had kept a crucial piece of information from her, and if I had simply told her that her boyfriend was Captain Fedora, then we might have been able to avoid this whole situation. "Listen, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier that Declan was Captain Fedora..." I said.

"Wait, what?" Vanessa shouted. "You knew that Declan was Captain Fedora, and you didn't tell me?!"

"I was afraid that you'd be mad at me!" I said.

"I'm even more mad that you never told me about it!" Vanessa exclaimed. "Did you know that Declan was hooking up with Percy behind my back too?"

"No, I had no idea until today," I said.

"I still can't believe you, Jay," Vanessa said as she started crying again. "You knew about Captain Fedora's secret identity all along, and you never told any of us."

"I'm sorry," I said, and I meant it. Hopefully, Vanessa would be able to forgive me.

"Do all of the men in my life have to betray me?" Vanessa asked. "At this rate, Terry's going to turn out to be an alien trying to take over the planet or something like that."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" I said.

"Just go away, Jay!" Vanessa shouted. "Why are you even here anyways?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," I said.

"My life is ruined, so I'm doing pretty terribly right now," Vanessa said, still sobbing. "Thanks for asking."

"I also wanted to let you know that Ellen wants you to feed the Jersey Devils today," I said.

"You can do that if you want," Vanessa said. "I'm not doing anything today. I refuse to let this day torture me any more."

Admittedly, I deserved a much worse punishment for what I had done than feeding the Jersey Devils, but I didn't want to argue with Vanessa any more. I left the room, closed the door, and went to the lab to feed the Jersey Devils without Vanessa.

When I got there, I tossed some leftover food towards the Jersey Devils, but my heart wasn't in it. Under the bright lights of Carmen's lab, my mind drifted back to my time at the Academy, just like it always did. Before long, I was lost within a particularly painful memory from my time there.

A few days after my fourteenth birthday, I lay on the courtyard grass with Harper by my side. "Did you hear about what Julian did last week?" she asked me.

"Not yet," I said. I never cared much about the Academy gossip, but Harper enjoyed it, and besides, it was always good to know what was going on in the world of superhumans.

"Apparently he tried to escape in the middle of his math class," Harper said. "It didn't work, of course. He had kind of a stupid reason for wanting to escape though."

"Why did he want to escape?" I asked.

"He wanted to see the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie," Harper said.

"That's ridiculous," I said. "He's a superhero - why would he want to see a movie about superheroes that badly?"

"It doesn't make sense," Harper said. "Even if he did want to see the movie that badly, he could have waited until the weekend."

"Nobody really leaves the Academy on weekends though," I said.

"That's true, but at least he wouldn't have gotten in trouble," Harper said. "Sanjana gave him a week in Solitary Confinement."

"That seems harsh," I said.

"I agree," Harper said. "This place may be miserable, but at least there are people like you to make it better, Jay."

She turned to me and smiled, and my heart nearly skipped a beat. At last, I mustered up the courage to say what I had wanted to say for a long time. "Harper, I've been meaning to ask you something," I said.

"What is it?" Harper asked.

"Do you want to go out with me?" I asked. There was still a little piece of trepidation left in my voice, but most of my nervousness had faded. I was nearly certain as to what Harper's response would be.

"Jay, I'm flattered, but I'd rather that we just stay friends," Harper said. "I like you a lot, but I just can't think of you in that way. You're my best friend."

She gave me a small smile, the kind that made me fall for her just a little bit more than I already had, as I processed what she had just said. I'd rather that we just stay friends, I repeated in my head. I fought to keep myself from bursting into tears in front of her as she lay on the grass, oblivious. How could I have misread the situation this badly?

"I...I understand, Harper," I said.

"I'm glad," Harper said. "I was worried that you would be upset."

"I'm not upset," I lied.

"Great," Harper said as she gave me a hug. She then looked at her phone and said, "It's almost time for social studies. We should probably head to class."

"You're right," I said, and we both walked to class together.

My heart was broken, and I had nobody to share my pain with. Harper was out of the question, and the only other real friend I had at the Academy was Dean, and he was gone, thanks to the scientists on the Research Floor. My sorrow built up inside of me, and every time I passed Harper in the halls or talked to her during meals, a piece of me shattered again.

The next day, I passed Harper on the way to Telekinesis - the Academy's last-ditch effort in trying to discover my powers. So far, it was blatantly obvious that I didn't have that particular power, but Sanjana insisted that I needed to stay in the class for at least another week. She stopped in the middle of the hallway and said, "Hi Jay. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," I said, looking into her beautiful hazel eyes.

"I'm glad to hear that," Harper said. "Listen, I'm sorry if I upset you yesterday. I just don't feel that way about you. It's nothing against you personally - I'm sure you'd make a great boyfriend for some other girl someday."

This was the last thing that I wanted to hear. Couldn't Harper see that everything would be better if we just pretended that I had never asked her out? "It's fine, Harper," I said.

"You seem kind of gloomy today," Harper said.

"I told you, Harper!" I shouted. "I'm okay!" A strange sort of electricity surged through me, and I immediately knew what it was. My classmates talked about it all the time, and every one of the teachers and scientists had told me that it would come eventually. My powers had finally emerged.

Harper's eyes widened, as if she could see the change that was going on within me. "What's going on, Jay?" she asked.

I tried to respond, but I couldn't. I was already losing whatever tenuous control I had over my powers. Afraid of what would happen, I tried to back away from Harper, but it was no use. I couldn't fight my own superpowers, no matter how hard I tried.

Harper screamed and then slumped backwards onto the ground. The other students backed away from the scene, revealing her body laying lifeless on the ground. Her beautiful eyes were fixated on the ceiling, and although she was still alive, something was obviously wrong. I collapsed on the ground alongside her and began to cry.

"Jay Sasaki, what have you done?" I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Sanjana standing over me.

"I don't know," I said, still crying over whatever it was that I had done. I didn't know what was going on, but I did know that I had somehow made a huge mistake. Worst of all, I had done something terrible to Harper.

"I'll go fetch Dr. Rosenberg," one student volunteered, even though Dr. Rosenberg was the last person that I wanted to see at that moment.

While everyone else waited for Dr. Rosenberg, I held Harper in my arms. "I'm sorry," I whispered to her, still unsure of what exactly had happened.

Dr. Rosenberg arrived only a few minutes later, and he immediately yanked me away from Harper. I howled as two other scientists carried Harper away to some unknown fate. However, I was quickly distracted. My hand was beginning to transform into some sort of demonic limb, complete with claws. I screamed again as horns grew out of my head, and wings sprouted from my back.

Just as quickly, the horns and wings disappeared, and I transformed back into a human. As Dr. Rosenberg led me towards the Research Floor, I went back and forth, going from a human to a demon back into a human again. The transformations were freaking me out, but Dr. Rosenberg didn't seem fazed. It was as if he already knew that this would happen.

When we arrived on the Research Floor, Sanjana was there, waiting for me. "What the hell just happened?" I asked Dr. Rosenberg and Sanjana, hoping that someone would have an answer for me.

"Relax, Jay," Sanjana said. "You need to breathe first."

I took a deep breath, but it was no use. Tears still ran down my face, and I still felt just as panicked as I had before. "Just tell me how Harper's doing," I said. Neither person said anything, so I shouted, "Tell me something!"

"Dr. Rosenberg, have you figured out his powers yet?" Sanjana asked, ignoring my pleas.

"Jay has the rare and dangerous power of soul stealing," Dr. Rosenberg said. "There have been a few recorded instances of this power, but none in San Urbano until Jay came along."

"Wait, what?" I said. "I can steal souls?! Is that what I did to Harper? Is she okay?"

"Don't worry about Ms. Knight right now," Sanjana said to me, refusing to answer any of my other questions. "Dr. Rosenberg, how can we explain the shapeshifting if his only power is soul stealing?"

"Harper Knight had the powers of shapeshifting and flight, so he must have acquired those powers when he stole her soul," Dr. Rosenberg said. "I suspect that he acquired a less powerful version of Harper's powers though. I'm not sure of the full extent of his powers yet, but he only appears to be able to shift into a demon."

Sanjana wrote a few things down and then asked, "How are we going to keep this sort of thing from happening again?"

"It's quite simple," Dr. Rosenberg said. "We're going to have to keep Jay far away from the other students until he learns to control his powers." He looked towards me, and upon seeing the fearful expression on my face, he said, "Solitary Confinement."

Those words were enough to snap me back into the present. One of the Jersey Devils next to me let out a scream, and I wondered how long I had been standing there, lost in my own mind. I tossed the Devils a few more scraps of food and once they looked satisfied, I wandered to another part of the lab, where Harper was lying on top of a cot, still staring at the ceiling.

"I'll make this right, Harper," I whispered to her, even though I doubted that she could hear me. At the very least, talking to her made me feel a little better.

There had to be a way to fix my mistake. If Carmen could return Terry's soul, then she could do the same for Harper. At last, I might be able to make this right.