Archangel

Chapter 7

Ben listened to what Nyx had told him and waited, a few hours later Johnny walked past wearing nothing but a pink ski suit around his waist. He called out to Sue and Reed who had walked passed Ben's room a few minutes earlier to tell him about dinner.

            "Payback... Sure hope Nyx knows what she was doing." Ben chuckled as he dialed Johnny's number.

            "Ben, Ben!" Johnny started running in before hearing his phone. "Never mind I'll show you in a second!"

            Ben laughed again as Johnny left; that was Storm though, he never paid attention to details. Of course if he'd seen the phone in his hand Johnny could've thought he was just calling Debbie. A loud shout came from the hallway and Johnny ran back into the room.

            "Who did this?" Johnny demanded as he held up a malfunctioning phone.

            "Password not accepted." The robotic voice repeated.

            Sue and Reed came into the room and helped calm him down. "We can figure that out later. Right now we need to figure out what to do with your... condition."

            "What condition?" Ben asked as he glanced from Johnny to Reed.

            Johnny snapped his fingers and a flame appeared. "I literally caught fire earlier!"

            Ben watched as he snapped his fingers again and the flame disappeared. Sue took the cell phone from him and started going through passwords Nyx might've used while Reed kept glancing around.

            "Have you seen Nyx?" Reed asked them. "We shouldn't wander around incase the cloud affected us like it did Johnny."

            "She came to say I was going to pay for making fun of Ben." Johnny replied.

            Ben cleared his throat nervously and making eye contact with Reed. "She left with Victor."

            "She what?" Reed glared at him. "And you let her!"

            "Guys we just need to calm down." Sue suggested.

            "Why didn't you stop her?"

            "You know very well Nyx doesn't like to be ordered around."

            Johnny smirked and sarcastically patted Reed's shoulder for comfort. "Yeah besides your sister's a big girl. Let her make her own choices... maybe she'll get burned and learn her lesson."

            "You are not burning her Johnny!" Sue exclaimed.

            Nyx laughed as she walked into the room. "I'd like to see him try. What's your brother going to do? Hold a lighter in my face?"

            Reed shoved his sister against the wall and she winced in pain. "We aren't supposed to leave the hospital."

            "I was just looking for you g-"

            "Don't lie to use. Ben told me you went with Victor." Nyx shot Ben a betrayed look from over Reed's shoulder.

            She pushed him away and fixed the jacket she was wearing. "So what? I can do what I want."

            "We have to be on the safe side for now." He said while calming down. "The cosmic storm gave Johnny some sort of flame powers."

            Nyx glanced over at Johnny and he snapped his finger to show off his new ability. "I think I'm safe."

            "You can't be certain."

            "Yeah I can be... look." Nyx sighed and took off the jacket to reveal her black wings sticking out of slits in her t-shirt.

            They all looked at them in amazement mixed with shock. Sue was the first to speak after a minute of silence had passed. "When did this happen?"

            "I don't know. I woke up with them."

            Reed reached out his hand and ran his fingers down one of the golden streaks. "Are they metal?"

            "The gold feathers are." Nyx's gaze hardened. "Victor said it was because of the metal ring I was wearing."

            "Ring?"

            Nyx didn't say anymore, she didn't have to ether; Reed glanced down at her hand and saw the ring Victor had given her.

            "Sweet... you know I'll be able to fly too!" Johnny boasted as he examined her wings.

            "You can't fly!" Sue argued. "Besides, Reed's going to fix this so we're all better aren't you Reed."

            "I want to study them first... then-"

            Nyx glared at him and made her wings open slightly. "I am not going to become a lab experiment!"

            They continued a new argument until Ben cleared his throat. "Uh, do you mind not fighting in my room? I still have to get ready for dinner."

            They turned to him as he motioned to the hospital garments he was still wearing.

            "Right... sorry Ben." Reed apologized.

            Nyx just left while he was distracted and thought back to her time with Victor as she sat down and watched TV. He had been different, more tired, than she remembered. Of course she knew he didn't like the scar that ruined his look, but she'd assured him that he still looked fine. Of course it didn't take long for him to find out about her wings, Nyx had expected him to treat her like a stranger or have her leave but to her surprise he had marveled them. Then there was the electricity, no, not the romantic kind, she really had gotten shocked when he touched the gold on her wings and again when he kissed her. Of course she managed to hide that but like everything she could only hide for so long.