Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Twenty-Six- Music

Did anyone pick up on the fact that Willow's first and last days at Mount Justice both began in the medical wing?

March 23, 2016. 22:23
Happy Harbor.
~~Willow~~

Music swirled through my mind, humming in my ears. Emma may enjoy Owl City's pop music and lyrics, but I prefer the music by Adam Young's other pseudonym, Port Blue. Music on its own left so much to the imagination, allowing you to put your own words to the chords. It was beautiful.

I walked along the familiar streets of Happy Harbor, nodding at those I recognized from the every day walk to school in my youth.

The revving of a motorcycle caught my attention, and I turned  see who it was.

"Hey, Willow!"

"Hey Mal!" I grinned back at my old school friend and now-teammate.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the ground shook, rattled by some sort of explosion that left a ringing in my ears. I stumbled to the ground, scraping my knees and palms on the gravely sidewalk. I could barely feel the pain on my hands compared to the pain in my ears.

"-low? Willow!" After a minute or so, I could finally hear Mal yelling my name.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, what happened?" I asked. I shook my hand to get rid of the stinging and yawned to pop my ears.

Mal's face was one of disbelief and shock as he pointed towards the sea.

Mount Justice had gone up in a terrible, bright fireball.

Mal tapped the side of his helmet, "Duncan and Wildfire to Watchtower, Mount Justice is...gone! I-I mean, there's been an explosion! Send back-up, fast!" He implored.

"Get on!" He told me, jerking his thumb at the backseat of his bike. Without protest or thought for safety, I jumped on and he took off. We reached the mountain's remains in less than a minute to find it's remains still smouldering.

"Please don't let anyone be dead, please don't let anyone be dead!" I begged, throwing aside red-hot rocks with adrenaline fueling me. Connor, M'gann, Rachel, and Garfield all lived at the mountain, and Nightwing and Nightingale would be there, as usual. But who else? Finch was there for training with Emma, but who else had come while I was out?

"Emma! Connor!" I screamed, hoping, praying for an answer.

"Richard! Rachel! Garfield!" I screamed, throwing aside a few more rocks.

I caught sight of some sort of red fabric sticking out of the sand. For a second I thought it was a bit of Rachel or Gar's uniform. I dove at it, digging away like Wolf did with his humongous paws.

It wasn't Rachel or Garfield.

It was the angel. The angel tree-topper I'd given Emma for my first Christmas. She'd kept it at the mountain to share it with the team. How this porcelain, fragile thing had survived, I would never know.

Well, it didn't completely survive. It had landed in the sand, so it was mostly saved from cracking, but one arm was missing, only the wire frame of the golden-gossamer wings remained, and one of the eyes had fallen out, it's last sea-blue eye looking hauntingly like Emma's.

Emma. Emma, where was she?

"EMMA!" I screamed.

"Is anyone there!?" Mal asked before the echoes of my scream had even faded away.

Just when I thought that there wouldn't be an answer, there was a loud, familiar whirring sound. It was faint, but both Mal and I could hear it.

"Sphere!" I gasped.