Silvery-Edged Black Cloud

“Hey, Melody, how yah feeling?” Alison asks, sitting at the end of my hospital bed.

“Ugh, what happened?” I say, trying to sit up, but she pushed me back.

“Shh, he’s sleeping,” Alison says, nodding toward where Kevin sat. “Josh started a fight with Kevin once he heard you kissed him. You tried to stop it, and Josh slapped you. Kevin went at him. Words were exchanged, Josh called you a worthless whore. He also punched you hard enough to knock you out.”

“Wait … I’m in the hospital —”

“Uncle John, Aunt Maggie, and Momma have been taking care of you,” Alison says, smiling. “Aunt Maggie is Uncle Joseph’s wife. Jake’s mom.”

“Oh,” I say tiredly, groggily. “Who’s Jake, Al? Why does Melissa act like he’s some ex-boyfriend of yours?”

Alison face went beat-red as she looked away. “Jake was supposed to be my husband. It’s a Witch-thing, Melody. He was just to keep the line going.”

“Oh,” I say, uncomfortably. “So … you two would’ve —”

“Not married. Just sex,” Alison sighs, looking away. “It’s sorta like a one-night-stand kind of thing. Except we’d be doing it every night.”

“Ew,” I say, scrunching up my nose. “Why him, though?”

“He’s the most powerful warlock. Don’t worry. We’re not related biologically,” Alison says, smiling at me. “We were best friends for awhile. Just before I died we had been dating.”

“He must be pretty heartbroken.”

“What? Me? I’m nothing special.”

“Alison! You’re beautiful, nice, funny, smart, and just about every boy’s dream,” I say, smiling at her. “You never care about people who haven’t earned it. You’re the most loyal and dedicated person I’ve ever met! I mean, I seriously don’t blame Donovan for being so hung up on you.”

“Well, either way, my family was totally okay with Martin,” Alison says, rolling her eyes. “Although, I’m not sure if Jake knows that I’m married.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because earlier he asked about my ring.”

“Oh,” I say uncomfortably. I look around the room, trying to think of something to talk about. This is a truly uncomfortable silence, that I desperately wanted to break.

“Uncle John says that you need to rest, Mel,” Alison says quietly. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“Why? Doesn’t he have to lead the rest of Lightning?”

“Chris took over.”

“Oh,” I say tiredly. I lie my head back on the bed, slowly falling back asleep.

♠ ♣ ♠

When I woke up again, Kevin’s face was inches from mine. Freaked me out, alright.

“What are you doing?” I ask as calmly as possible. You know, considering the fact that his face is inches away.

“Umm … waiting for you to wake up,” he says, leaning back. “Alison said that you woke up earlier.”

“Mhmm,” I say, eyeing him suspiciously. “Have you been here the entire time?”

“Pssh, no,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I still have to lead Lightning.”

Not from what I hear, I think, looking at him suspiciously. I decide to let it go. I suddenly remembered why I was here. Looking away from his silvery-golden eyes, I say quietly, “I’m sorry about Josh.”

“I should be the one saying sorry. He’s my little brother. I should’ve knocked some sense into him sooner.” He gives me one of those famous half-smiles. “Then maybe you wouldn’t be here.”

“Yeah, I never knew someone could hit that hard,” I say, rolling my eyes. “But if I hadn’t opened my big mouth then Alison wouldn’t have screamed it to the entire world and more.”

“Is that what set him off? He watched me kiss you when you nearly died ten years ago!”

“No … there was more,” I say sheepishly, feeling my cheeks tuen bright red. “A lot more.”

“Mind sharing?”

I look around, trying to find some way to change the topic. Luckily, John walked in, saving me from further embarressment.

“Ah, good. You’re up,” he says, smiling in that polite, friendly way that doctors always do. “How’s your head? Josh did some pretty bad damage to you.”

“Complete with your own hospital room,” Kevin says sarcastically. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Umm … because I’m sure he’s not kidding, here’s my phone number,” John says, handing me a slip of paper.

“By the time I call you, he would’ve already murdered Josh,” I say, rolling my eyes. “His father is Superman.”

“No. His name was Joseph.”

“Your dad named you after himself?”

“And Katharina named her son after me. What’s his middle name?”

“Joshua. Joseph Joshua Jones,” John says, rolling his eyes. “Well, just a couple bruises and scars. Oh, and your left arm is broken.”

“I thought all he did was punch me!” I say, trying to sit up before Kevin pushes me back on the bed. He stares me down, making me stay put. “How did he break my arm?”

“He stompted on your arm while you were out,” Kevin mutters.

“Here’s a perscription to help with the pain,” John says, handing me the piece of paper. “You’ll be able to leave sometime today.”

♠ ♣ ♠

“C’mon, Melody, you won’t feel a thing!” Mirabelle says, reaching for my broken arm. I duck, running a little bit away from her.

“No. It’ll look too suspicious if I go to school without a scratch,” I say stubbornly, rolling my eyes. “Everyone knows about the fight.”

“She’s right. Everyone’s starting to get suspicious about me. Uncle Joseph can only distract people for so long,” Alison says sadly. “Melissa’s been bugging me about Jake, too.”

“I really wanna kill her the more you talk about her,” I say, grimacing. “And you need to tell him sooner or later.”

“He knows, Mel. Remember? Most powerful warlock?”

“Oh, yeah. But I was still high with pain-killers.”

“Can you feel your arm?”

“No. I think I took too many. I’m really loopy.”

“Momma! Scarlett set the house on fire again!” Mary whines, running to her mother’s side. “I tried to stop it like you taught me —”

“Marilynn, relax. Jesse’s taking care of it,” Alison says in her patient, motherly voice. “And if he doesn’t then he can go live with his dad.”

“He’s not putting out the fire, is he?” I ask, rolling my eyes.

“Nope. He’s out of it with blood-cravings. If Donovan doesn’t get off his lazy ass and start helping Jesse, I think I’ll have to steal Kevin’s stakes.”

“To kill Donovan?”

“No. To make sure Kevin doesn’t kill Jesse. What would killing Donovan solve?” Alison says, rolling her eyes. “Don’t say it, Kevin.”

“But he’s basically the source of our problems,” Kevin says, rolling his eyes. “Killing him would be a vast improvement.”

“No,” Alison growls, standing up, the old flames back in her raven-feather eyes. “We don’t kill him. They’re coming.”

“Who?” I ask curiously.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” she snaps fiercely. “He’s an ally. We need him.”

“Mind sharing what our threat is?” Kevin’s defenses were up. We all were aware of what happens when Alison’s like this.

“The Holy Devil has risen!” Alison growls. “The Holy Devil is among us! They brought us together for a reason! They have five Guardians.”

“The legends only mentioned four.”

“They saved a life. That makes the Fifth Guardian eternally loyal to the Holy Devil,” Alison growls, looking around once before storming off.

“The Witch is right, you know,” Raine says, rolling her eyes. “A little melodramatic, though. Think she’s the Fifth Guardian?”

“How could you be so sure?” I highly doubted any knowledge Raine had of Alison.

“I dunno. She just seemed like she knew this ‘Fifth Guardian’ a little too well.”

“Alison knows all. She’s the Witch of Hecate.”

“No duh, Sherlock,” Raine says sarcastically. “Kenna told me the Prophecies of Witches.”

“Kenna’s a witch?”

“Kinda, sorta. Her great-great-great non-related aunt is one. Her name was a miss Estelle Jones.”

“Alison’s grandma,” I say immediately. “Katharina. Alison said that was the last name she used before she died at the beginning of the twentieth century.”

“Katharina said she’d live for five hundred years,” Kevin says, looking up.

“Alison said something about a weakened spirit,” I say, rolling my eyes. “She died alongside her beloved Guardian and husband, Harvey Vincet James.”

“Who was probably reincarnated into Martin,” Raine says, smirking with confidence.

I happily wiped that short-lived joyfulness off her face, saying, “Nope. David. He’s her Guardian.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Her soulmate wasn’t born yet.”

“Then why did she marry Harvey?”

“Who do you know who’s over five-hundred years old and has an unhealthy obsession with Katharina?”

“Joseph,” Raine says automatically.

“According to the state of Kentucky, my name is Kevin Joseph Nathanson,” he says, rolling his eyes gravely. “Not Joseph Leonard Nathanson.”

I pull out the pad and paper I had taken to carrying around, writing that down. Hey, I’m still Kevin’s personal Sherlock Holmes. They gave me odd looks, which I silently replied with an ignorant smile. “What?”

“What were you doing?”

“Umm … research for a history report,” I lie sheepishly, feeling my cheeks turn bright red. “Well, look at the time! I think I’m late!”

“For what?” Kevin asks, skeptical.

“For … what day is it?”

“Saturday.”

“Crap. I’m late for cheer-practice,” I say, flying away quickly.