The demons and other monsters hissed and growled as they closed in on us. I felt Christina grab my hand and that kind of set me off. I raised my hands in the air with fake surrender before the others could join us on the terrace.
"Alright!" I shouted, "Alright, fine Jonathan. We'll have it your way."
I placed both knives on the ground as every initiate and all of my friends stared at me shocked. I stood with my hands in the air and readied my surprise.
"But, one last thing," I said as the demons lowered their weapons and Jonathan relaxed, "Tu mihi scortillum."
I reached into the duat in a millisecond. My friends probably thought it was some black pipe until I cranked the pump and blasted the demons. The shotgun blast threw some demons back and disintegrated others. Christina struck the enemies with a vengeance; drowning demons with tsunamis of pool water. I shot two more times before the others charged them and I had to toss my shotgun back in the duat and resummon my knives. I was a blur: cutting, stabbing, rolling, no demon could catch me. The residents of the 21st Nome fought back to back until we were down to one target. Jonathan. We encircled him and I saw him judging his survival chances of jumping off the terrace. He hissed like a snake and brought out a wand and staff. Me and my friends, maybe 200 people in all, also brought out our weapons. But before any of us could strike, Christina ran forward like a lightning bolt and did something to Jonathan which I couldn't see then she sprinted back to my side. She was fast when she needed to be. And I watched, delightedly, as Christina sheathed her blood soaked tomahawk while Jonathan's head slowly slid off his neck. It rolled off the terrace along with Jonathan's body and we all stared at Christina.
She smiled and closed her eyes, "That felt great, Amy."
Carter's eyes were wide but he said, "Uh, hey Zia, Sadie, Walt, Jake, Christina, we've got to be in that place with that thing and those guys."
Jaz helped out, "Hey, initiates we should, uh, go inside and leave these guys be."
They all shuffled away awkwardly and Sadie went to work on the portal. All of us stared at Christina, who was cleaning her tomahawk with the pool water.
"That was...really unexpected," I said slowly as I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, "But damn that was cool."
"Christina, I think I owe you my life," Zia said smiling, "I don't know what would've happened to me."
Christina bowed her head, "I probably shouldn't have killed hi-"
"I would've roasted him," Zia confirmed.
"I would've slit his throat," Carter added.
"I would've hung him," I said.
"Oh," Christina muttered.
"Hey nerds!" Sadie shouted in front of the swirling sand portal, "Portal to the Grand Canyon, ready to bloody go. So come on!" And she jumped through.
I grabbed Christina's hand and guided her through the vortex of sand.
Whereas Brooklyn was rainy and dark, the Grand Canyon was hot. Apparently, Sadie had kind of blind fired with the portal and hadn't really anchored it anywhere specific. There was the darkness of the duat and then a jolt as the sunlight hit us full force. I staggered backwards only to find a glass divider between me and a plummet into the canyon. I looked around to find we were on a glass observation deck which curved out into the canyon. I turned to my friends who were all enjoying the view as they walked towards the exit. Once we were inside, we entered a gift shop with a bunch of tacky "Native American" stuff. We got a map and sat at a coffee table near the back of the store.
"Hey, Jake," Christina said, "You recognize this stuff?" She gestured around to the Native American gifts and I smiled and nodded.
"I remember back on the Rez-" I started but Carter cut me off.
"Wait, how do you know so much about Native Americans?" He asked curiously.
I waved away the question, "Not important. Now, where the hell would you hide a base in the Grand Canyon?"
That seemed to be the Million-dollar question, really. I traced a finger down the map and thought to myself, 'No way are we going to find anything.'
"Well," Zia said thoughtfully, "Could we try to use a spell or something to trace magic use? If we were down at the bottom, of course."
I didn't say anything but I got up and exited the place. The others followed me as I went to the edge of the cliff. Without thinking, I sprinted to the edge, pushing aside tourists and opening up my angel wings. I heard Sadie try to call me back but I ignored her. Like a total sociopath, I jumped, spreading out my wings, catching the wind and flying. Best feeling in the world, by far. I found a little indentation in the canyon's side and stood there.
People yelled and took pictures of a kid in the Grand Canyon. Me, of course. I smiled and waved at my friends, then dove down farther to the bottom. When I hit the hot, rocky bottom, I looked up at a kite, a falcon, and a red-tailed hawk spiraling down towards me. They landed beside me and turned into Carter and Sadie. Sadie laughed and high-fived me as Carter shook his head smiling. A few moments, I watched as a vulture circled down to us and dropped Zia. Of course, Carter caught her and they stared at each other smiling before they kissed. Sadie laughed before elbowing me.
"How do you wager Walt and Christina are going to get down here?" She said, looking up. I gestured my hand up to wait and then I crouched and sprung up with a huge flap of my wings. I flew straight to the top then landed on the ledge. Tourists backed up murmuring and I grabbed the front of Christina's shirt and then did the same for Walt and then I threw myself over the ledge, dragging them with me. Christina screamed and Walt swore at me three times before I landed staggeringly at the edge of the canyon with both of them. They both stared at me with a look of exasperation and awe as I laughed.
"This'll be fun!" I yelled, loud enough to be heard in Brooklyn and Gabriel screamed out.
It was going to be a blast.
