A/N: Finally posted another chapter! Hope you don't mind if it's a long one. I owe you something after so much time has passed and I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know if there's anything I need to fix or if any part of the chapter is confusing. I really tried to both drop hints and build suspense.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for patiently waiting for this update. You guys are the best!

Chapter Nine

~We're Off to See the Keeper~

It was about two hours before we finally hit traffic.

It felt surreal to be back in the real world. Like I'd been away for fifty years instead of one week. The McDonald's golden arches, the large, bright billboards, and especially the typical insane drivers of New York were assaulting my senses from every direction. It was both welcoming and unnerving.

We were no longer surrounded by the Geas that protected us back at Magdalan, but totally exposed.

I turned to Aion, pushing the thought away. "Right, so where are we supposed to be going?"

He didn't even hear me as he stared out of his window with his mouth hanging open in total shock. He looked like he'd just won the ultimate sweepstakes.

An all-expense paid trip to imminent danger complete with demons and a high probability of certain death (must bring your own weapons).

Rosette, however, looked as anxious as I did and hardly said a word. She kept patting her holsters as if to make sure her guns didn't suddenly disappear and leave her defenseless.

"Aion!" I said, impatiently now.

"What?"

"Where. Are. We. Going?" I stressed each word, so I knew he'd heard me, but he tapped his chin and pretended to be deep in thought.

"Train station," he answered finally. "We'll ditch the car and take a train into the city."

"After all the hell we went through to steal it?" Rosette cried incredulously.

I almost agreed with her on this point, now starting to feel uncomfortable in the Jetta we were cruising in.

Sister Kate's car—which we stole, if you remember.

I didn't even want to think about how ticked she must be right about now. Even if we did somehow manage to come out of this mission alive, she'd probably kill us the second we arrived back to camp.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Well, fine, let's keep the car, so Deckard can broadcast its license plate all over the freaking country. He'll never catch us that way!"

"Broadcast?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the road.

"You don't really think he's just going to let us leave camp. Hello? I'm the prime suspect, remember?"

"Then why don't you just take us to wherever you hid Mary so we can get this over with?" Rosette snapped.

I almost groaned, already knowing where this argument was headed.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Christopher? I didn't do anything," he growled through a clenched jaw.

Rosette scoffed. "Suuure, you didn't."

He whirled around in his seat to face her. "Then where's the proof, huh? Since you're so convinced," he spat.

"Father Deckard said there was evidence of you being responsible for—"

"Enough, you guys!" I yelled. "It's bad enough being stuck in a car with you two, but we need to come up with a plan now before Deckard does try to send his militia after us."

"Tell that to her," Aion grumbled, turning back in his seat with folded arms. He kicked the glove compartment.

I glanced at him through the corner of my eye and the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Anyway, there isn't any evidence…as far as Deckard told me."

Rosette's blue eyes narrowed dangerously at me through the rearview mirror.

"So you're taking his side?"

"No," I said, choosing my next words carefully. "I'm just saying that Deckard told me there wasn't any solid evidence aside from…suspicion."

She didn't look convinced in the slightest and pointedly turned her away to glare out her window. I could feel Aion giving me a surprised look, but, thankfully, he didn't say anything and started fishing around in the glove compartment. He found a crumpled subway map and I had to explain to him which line we'd be taking to get to nearest stop to the Empire State Building. Then he wanted me to explain the entire subway system to him now that he couldn't believe how all the routes intersected without any trains crashing. I did my best, but it's funny how it's almost impossible to explain things that are second nature. How could anyone who grew up in New York not know about the subway?

I almost felt sorry for him.

Yeah, yeah, I said it—so sue me.

We drove on to the sound of Aion flipping through nearly every radio station at least twice. First he'd been checking to see if any APB signal had been put out on us yet but then got distracted by Katy Perry's "Fireworks" song, belting it out in an annoying girly voice.

Rosette kept yelling for him to shut up but every now and then I caught her mouthing the words to herself in the rear view mirror, and started to smile. This almost could've been a fun road trip between friends if these guys could get along for more than five seconds. And if we weren't putting our lives in danger.

Daylight was breaking through when we pulled into a parking garage just a few blocks away from Penn Station.

"Wait, so you just grab a ticket before parking the car and then it charges you based on how long you were here? That's pretty awesome!" Aion exclaimed, his eyes brightening with genuine amazement as he grabbed his backpack.

A young couple getting out of their car shot him a funny look before strolling off in a fit of giggles. Rosette only rolled her eyes.

"No duh, Aion," she groaned, "don't tell us you've never used a parking garage before."

I half-expected him to get angry but instead he shook his head.

"I've only been to the city, like, three times as far as I can remember. It was always with Remington and we always had to use the meter thingy," he explained, examining the ticket with an impressed expression.

"Hold on…so you've left Magdalan only three times? In your whole life?" I blanched.

He only shrugged but still had an uncomfortable look on his face. Without another word, he marched on ahead of us. Rosette and I exchanged silent glances with each other before going after him.

Half-demon or not, that was still pretty harsh in my opinion. I couldn't even imagine being stuck in my own room for that long without going crazy. How could anyone force a kid to grow up so isolated just for being born the way he was?

It wasn't like Mr. Remington or Sister Kate were evil people—I'm sure I would've sensed it right off if they were—but the fact that they were ok with this didn't make any sense. For all I knew, maybe they were the ones who arranged the whole thing.

And then there's the way everybody's afraid of him, my mind chimed in.

Compared to the quiet, country surroundings back at camp, the noise of the city was overwhelming. It wasn't even rush hour yet but the streets were already humming with activity. I couldn't help but survey every corner and alleyway we walked by, carefully watching a businessman yell into his cellphone and the couple from before making kissing faces at each other. In my head, I heard Storm's voice booming:

Always be alert! Remember that demons can disguise themselves as humans so you never know when they'll strike.

I hated feeling this new sense of paranoia and having to be on guard all the time now. Not for the first time, I almost wished that I could forget all about demons and spiritual energy.

XxXxXxXxX

I didn't even expect the Empire State Building to be open at this time but it was already too late to stop Aion from strolling into the place like he owned it. His footsteps echoed throughout the cavernous lobby made of light panels and mural-covered walls as he approached the information desk at the other end of the walkway.

The man standing behind it seemed completely unaware of us even though he was staring straight ahead, still as a statue. Aion went right up to him and said,

"We're here to see the Keeper."

Rosette and I froze at this. What the heck was he thinking? We were both ready to make a run for it in case this guy tried to call security on us. From what I could see, there were only two of them marching around. Instead, he remained silent and unmoving for a long time, eyes glazed over.

"Do you have an appointment?" he finally asked. His tone was as flat as his expression.

Aion answered, "No, but we have something we think he'd be very interested in." With that, he swung his backpack off his shoulder carefully pulled out the parchment.

Life seemed to spark back into the man's eyes for the first time when Aion held up the parchment, but it disappeared just as quickly as a slight sneer curled his lips.

"Hmmm…unsurprising. You humans are always stealing from us, and then calling us monsters," he said softly, staring directly at Rosette and me.

I wasn't as defiant as her and soon averted my eyes to the ground. The main reason was that his eyes were piercing red just like Mr. Bedford's.

He eventually looked away and motioned to the far left end of the lobby. "Take the elevator all the way to the basement floor. He knows to expect you."

We followed the direction he'd pointed at and rounded the corner, coming to another long stretch of hallway lined with elevator doors on either side. We hopped over the row of turnstiles and hurried to the nearest elevator. No one moved or said anything right away and I knew without having to look at the others that they were feeling the same way I was.

God, what am I even doing here? I asked myself in that very moment. The whole time, I told myself it was to help find Mary, but now that I was seconds away from entering a demon's lair, that answer didn't seem good enough anymore.

Aion was closest to the buttons but before he even raised his hand to press one, the doors slid open. Rosette plunged herself inside first, I followed, and then Aion. The doors slid shut and the elevator lurched into motion, taking us down.

Still, none of us said a word until the elevator stopped with a ping. My stomach tightened as soon as the doors opened again but I couldn't even figure out if I was scared or impatient to get this over with. We stepped into a thick wall of blackness which swallowed us up in no time.

This darkness…there was something different about it that made it seem almost suffocating. Like it was alive and trying to pull you into a tight embrace to just lose yourself in. That, and I had no idea what we were even standing on. It didn't feel like the solid ground but it supported us as we took careful steps forward.

"Rats, no signal," I heard Rosette grumble.

Straining my eyes, I saw her clicking away at her glowing cell phone, which hardly affected the heavy shadows around us.

Then I heard Aion scoff beside me. "Well, of course not, Blondie. I doubt that demons have much use for bluetooth nowadays."

"Oh, shut up," Rosette hissed back. "I bet you don't even know what bluetooth does. Haven't you ever had a cell phone before?"

From the tone of her voice, I'm pretty sure she knew the answer to that jibe—and I did too.

Aion immediately froze and whipped around to face her. Even in this darkness, I could tell his body was practically trembling with anger and the tension weighed down between us.

"Look here," he growled. "Why don't you just shut the hell—"

"Guys!" I snapped, turning back to them. "Will both of you cut it out? This is stupid—"

"Then tell her to back off!" Aion argued.

"Who? Me?" Rosette said with mocking innocence. "I was just asking a simple question to our favorite half-demon here. He didn't have to take it so personal—"

"Your human devices will not help you here."

A soft, child-like voice came from right behind me that I jumped back. Rosette grunted and punched me in the shoulder when I stepped on her foot.

It was a little boy with a floating orb of white light hovering beside him and filled enough of the area that we could see each other's faces while the rest of our surroundings remained pitch black.

He looked paler than Azmaria, and no older than ten. He wore black slacks and suspenders over his white button-up shirt. There was a spine-chilling calmness in his red eyes, just barely hidden behind light chestnut bangs, which looked much older than all the adults in my life combined. He was a demon, for sure, but different from the other ones I had fought before.

"You were all very brave to come here…to my domain," he began, "Why have you sought me out? Did the human warriors send you to kill me?" He looked unimpressed even if one of us were to answer yes to his question.

He then sat down and folded his hands in his lap. If it was meant to be an invitation to join him, Aion took it first and set his backpack down as he lowered to the ground. I might have been seeing things, but the spot just under him seemed to ripple like a disturbed puddle of water.

"W-We only want t-to talk," he said shakily, holding out the parchment.

The Keeper snapped his fingers and the parchment floated out of Aion's hand and under the light orb. He took his time examining it, his expression unreadable all the while.

"What's that?" Rosette whispered, leaning in close enough that our shoulders touched.

"They're runes," I explained slowly. "They tell some kind of story with…er, unicorns, I guess."

She gave me an exasperated look, but nonetheless followed my lead as I carefully sat down just behind Aion. For the first time, the Keeper looked up from the parchment and let his eyes follow our every movement until we were still.

He spoke at last, now fixing his gaze on Aion.

"Of course you wouldn't understand such a text. You may look like a brethren, but you carry that foul human stench."

Aion stiffened and looked away, trying to hide any emotion. "Do you understand what it means then?" he barked.

The Keeper remained calm and only smiled until his dimples stopped right under his blank eyes. "But of course. I was the one who wrote it," he answered softly.

That caught my attention and I sat up straight, even more alert now to the conversation.

"You wrote the stories? The one about the wings too?" I dared to ask.

He nodded and folded the parchment in his lap. Aion didn't dare ask for it back.

"So…what's the point of this whole thing?" Rosette asked bluntly, though her voice sounded small.

"She asked me to write them for her many years ago," the Keeper answered.

"Who?" Aion asked.

"The Mother." The reply was simple, as if that summed it all up.

"Ok…whose mother?" I pressed.

"The Mother, foolish boy," the Keeper snapped, glaring at me for only a second. "Our mother…Queen Pandaemonium."

"Oh." That was all I could say as I let that information sink in. A demon queen. That already sounded like bad news despite the reverent tone in the demon's voice.

"Wh-Why? Why did she ask you to write them?" Aion questioned.

The Keeper let out a hollow laugh then hissed, "That very question is how I ended up here, halfbreed."

"What does that mean?"

"They cast me out because I had learned too much. I stay here…with my shadows…and slowly waste away."

"But…what was it? What did you learn?" Aion asked, almost breathlessly as he leaned in closer.

The Keeper only licked his lips and interlocked his fingers with each other. "My shadows tell me things, boy. Only whispers, but enough to keep me informed on the state of my brethren." He took a quiet breath and the floor started bubbling all around us like black, boiling water.

I couldn't stop the scream that jumped out of my throat but before I could even make my body move, the bubbling floor soon transformed into hundreds of tiny human figures, hurrying around like the New Yorkers just over our heads. I saw Rosette nervously run her hand through several of the figures, making them collapse back into the ground.

"You humans have multiplied beyond all expectations, killing my brethren like flies," the Keeper began again, "though…I can't blame you seeing at how repulsive they are. They're nothing like the older generations. We may be surviving in sheer numbers, but we are still dying. I only survive on the hope that we can restore our former glory…when Mother returns," he whispered next, "and what a glorious day that will be!"

"What do you mean 'when Mother returns'?" Aion demanded slowly. "Magdalan's records say that Pandaemonium was killed years ago by a special team of militia."

"Killed?" the Keeper laughed, indignantly. "Stupid halfbreed, she's sleeping…and waiting. Waiting for the right moment to wake up—for all the pieces to fall into the right places."

That statement hit all of us pretty hard.

A demon queen was one thing.

A demon queen coming back to life was in a whole other league.

Why would these monsters want their mother back in the first place? You'd think they'd have gotten used to not having someone telling them to brush their fangs before bed. And it wasn't like they couldn't survive without her. Being attacked at every corner was proof enough that they had found a way to keep multiplying their population.

I felt Rosette squeeze my arm and when I looked at her, she subtly jerked her head to the side. I silently followed the direction with my eyes and stared into the darkness. For a moment, I saw nothing but then the shadows bulged like something was trying to punch free from the other side. My eyes widened and then I felt it. A gently caress on the back of my neck. It only lasted a second before whatever it was quickly pulled back. The shadows were coming alive.

As soon as she released her grip on my arm, I inched my hand towards my backpack while keeping my eyes fixed on the Keeper.

"What pieces?" Aion asked next.

This time, the Keeper didn't answer him, making him sigh in frustration while raking his hand through his hair. In the meantime, I felt my fingers touch the cold metal of my sword handle. I silently prayed that Rosette had her guns ready.

Aion began mumbling to himself, having forgotten his conversation. "This doesn't make any friggin' sense…what pieces of Pandae"—then his whole upper body jerked—"The horns! Is that what you're talking about? That's what the story's about! Pandaemonium's horns are one of the pieces."

That made me pause just as my hand closed around the hilt of my sword.

"Hold on, if the horns are…are a piece of the queen…then her wings! Her wings from the other story!" I blurted.

"And if the demons need Pandaemonium's wings and horns, then Mary has to be their final piece!" Aion finished, whirling to look at me with a wild grin.

But before we could congratulate ourselves, two things happened at once. Rosette whipped out her gun and pointed it at the Keeper; and I felt that same touch from before slither around my neck.

"All right, Aion, you got what you came here for, now let's get the heck out of here," was the last thing I heard her say until all the air squeezed out of my throat.

My mind blanked instantly and I nearly let go of the sword handle to start prying at my neck as the grip tightened and started dragging me backwards.

"Guys!"

But without waiting for their help, I yanked out the handle and flicked my wrist. Desperate, I swung as far behind me as I could stretch. Whatever I hit instantly recoiled with a furious growl, letting me hit the floor gasping for air. My eyes were bleary but it didn't matter because everything had gone pitch black all around except for flashes of moving light, and all I could hear was shouting.

The next thing I knew, something grabbed my arm, heaved me to my feet, and shoved my bag into my chest.

"Chrono, move! Come on!" Aion shouted.

The glowing energy of my sword allowed me to see him slashing at every inch of blackness he could reach with his own sword.

Once my common sense kicked back in, I did the same and it felt like I was cutting through layers of thick velvet curtains that were trying to close in and suffocate me.

"Come on, Rosette! Shoot him! Get out of there!" Aion roared behind me.

I spun around and could barely make out the images ahead of me. Rosette still had her gun aimed point blank at the Keeper, who hadn't moved from his sitting position, but she wasn't shooting. She wasn't doing anything even when he began laughing as the shadows curled around her feet.

"Rosette!" I yelled. But she didn't hear me either.

I started to run towards her but something smacked me hard in the ribs and sent me crashing down. Instead, Aion dashed ahead and stabbed at the ground near her feet. The Keeper let out an angry cry and the shadows shrunk away from Rosette allowing Aion to grab her by the arm and drag her along as he ran. Clutching my stomach, I jumped to my feet and ran with them.

"How do we even get out of here?!" I cried.

"Relax! I can see in the dark better than you guys!" Aion yelled back. "Just keep swinging!"

I had no choice but to trust him on this one so I swung in every direction to keep the shadows from reaching us. It felt like hours had passed and my arms were starting to get tired even though adrenaline was the only thing keeping me running. I wanted to stop and let the shadows take me just for a minute so I could rest. Maybe I was hearing things but whispers began buzzing all around.

Give in…

Stop resisting the darkness…

They felt like gentle, almost inviting, melodies dancing around in my ear. My eyelids began to feel heavy and my feet slowed down. I had no idea where the others were so it wouldn't hurt to rest for a little bit.

A bright light hit me in the face, nearly blinding me. Then a pair of hands grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me towards it. The next thing I knew, I slammed right into a marble wall that jarred me awake.

"Jeez, what the hell was that, Furey?" I heard Rosette's demanding voice.

I turned around and slumped against the wall, painfully rubbing my face.

"The whispers…" I began groggily, though I wasn't sure how to explain it.

"Yeah, we heard 'em too," Aion said, "but you were almost as frozen as Blondie was just before."

Rosette jumped at this. "I did not freeze up!" she snapped.

Aion scoffed. "You had that guy right in your sight and didn't do a damn thi—"

He was cut off by the ping of the elevator as we reached the main floor. That's when I remembered that we hadn't escaped just yet.

The doors slid open right after I readied my sword and waiting for us on the other side were the two security guards.

But then something weird happened: their bodies melted only to reform into a swarm of shadowy vines that shot towards us at bullet-like speed. Aion didn't hesitate and dived at them, rearing his sword back. It looked like he'd only made two slashes, but it had to have been more because all of the vines were half their original lengths when they collapsed and sunk into the ground. I didn't have time to be shocked and relieved that hadn't happened to me the last time we fought, because we were all sprinting for the glass doors.

I spared a look over my shoulder and saw a wave of blackness emerge from the ground and surge after us.

"Look out!" I shouted, watching it loom in closer and closer.

The doors were just ahead and we were almost there…

Rosette raised her gun and with an explosive crack, fired at the doors causing the glass to shatter.

A cold whoosh of the morning air slapped against my face as soon as I felt stony pavement hitting against my heels. Because of the gunshot, it didn't take long for chaos to break out along the whole block with people screaming and running into each other on all sides. Aion and I hurried to deactivate our swords while Rosette shoved her gun out of sight.

"The subway!" she cried after nearly getting ran over by a lumbering bald guy.

We dashed down the stairs and into the corridor, ignoring the station guards' shouts for us to stop. We jumped the gates just as there was a rumbling just below followed by a metallic groan. Within the next five seconds, we were diving off the platform headfirst into the nearest train compartment.

I hit the floor with a loud thunk which made my head ring. Before I could even move, Aion and Rosette crashed on top of me.

"Oww…" I heard Rosette groaning.

"Jeez, get your knee out of my ribs, Blondie," Aion said, struggling to free himself.

The few people sitting in the compartment paid us no attention, which was one of the nice things about New York at a time like this: three teenagers running for their lives was not the strangest sight anyone could see. Once we had detangled ourselves from each other we each found empty seats.

For the first time, my life had slowed down enough for my brain to process everything that had just happened in the past several hours. Oh man. Running my hands over my face, I looked between the other two and felt like I was seeing them for the first time.

Aion was leaning back in his seat across from me and staring up vacantly at the ceiling while Rosette was staring down at her lap a few seats away and chewing on her bottom lip. Looking at her more closely though, I noticed her hands were shaking. I thought back to her standing in the shadows, frozen and oblivious to Aion's calls.

After a hard debate with myself, I scooted over to her until I was right next to her. If she noticed me, she didn't act like it.

"Uh, Rosette…" I cleared my throat, trying to think of something that might get her attention. "Are…are you ok?" I said, only to realize how stupid that question was.

I sat there awkwardly and waited for her answer, but she still didn't say anything.

"Look, Rosette…" I began, gingerly touching her shoulder.

But she shrugged my hand off like it had burned her and whipped her head around to glare at me.

"Get off, Furey. I'm fine!" she barked.

I felt my face flush and when I opened my mouth to argue, no words came out. Instead, I just clenched my jaw tight as I stood up.

"Whatever," I muttered, stomping back to my seat.

The rest of the train ride was dead silent and the rattling of tracks below put me in a comforting trance, thinking back to when I had taken the train the week before the last day of school to meet my mom at work and tell her I had to take summer classes. On top of that, I couldn't help entertain the thought of hopping off at the next stop to catch the first train home. Or maybe I could stop by Mr. Steiner's store and ask him how my mom was even though I knew it was all a waste of time. She wasn't worried about me because she had no idea what I was really doing right now. It was a weird kind of relief.

"Chrono!"

I jerked up to see Aion standing over me. The train had stopped moving and the compartment was empty.

"Let's go, man. This is the last stop," he said next

"Oh yeah…uh, right."

Rosette was already riding the escalator out of the platform and once she disappeared from our view, Aion was talking again.

"Can you believe her? All her big talk and she totally froze up back there. Don't let her get to you."

I only shrugged, pressing my lips tightly together. The last thing I cared about was Rosette Christopher being in a bad mood. She was the one who made us bring her along anyway, so she could run back to Magdalan for all I cared.

We had snuck through the emergency gate and headed out into the streets where the sun was up higher now and the air was already starting to warm up.

"So what now?" Aion asked, letting his eyes roam all over the streets and people.

"Breakfast," Rosette said simply with her hands on her hips.

I had to agree with her there. My stomach grumbled painfully to remind me that our last meal had been at camp and made me even more aware of everything I'd been through on an empty stomach. Aion didn't object either, so we began our search.

We must've passed at least six different Starbucks, all of which were crowded. I had to keep dragging Aion away from them while he kept begging for a white chocolate mocha cappuccino.

"Oh shut up, Aion!" Rosette cried, throwing her hands up. "We'll starve before we even get to the counter. And New York has just as many local cafes where we can talk without too many people around."

Before I could stop myself, I turned to look at her. "Are you a New Yorker?"

She glanced at me through the corner of her eye before focusing again on her search. "I'm in Upper Manhattan. Why?"

"Just wondering," I mumbled, then added, "I live in Lower Manhattan."

She nodded. "Joshua and I used to visit there on our own, but then my parents…"

"Yeah?"

"They thought it was too dangerous, so they stopped letting us go."

"Why?"

"Look! There's a café!" She pointed out one of the many entrances to a muddy-colored skyscraper lined with tall glass windows and brick pillars.

"Ugh! Finally!" Aion groaned, pushing past us to cross the street.

Rosette ran after him and our conversation ended there, leaving me at a loss for words. I had a feeling she wanted to say more, but she didn't meet my eyes again as if nothing had happened.

The smell of coffee hit me hard and right then, it was the best thing ever. The walls were made of the same brick on the outside and line with fake vines and various posters. There were a mix of small wooden tables and booths, most of which were empty. The few customers that were inside all seemed to be wearing tight jeans, bowties and thick-rimmed glasses.

After ordering at the counter, we all slid into the booth furthest in the back.

"Man…can we just, like, stay here forever?" Aion groaned, stretching out comfortably in his seat across from Rosette and me.

"Tell me about it," I agreed, letting my head hit the table.

Thank God we didn't have to wait long for our breakfasts, coffees, and orange juices. I had a huge plate of pancakes, eggs, and fruit salad that woke up my whole body with every bite. I didn't have to worry about looking like a total pig because Rosette was practically inhaling her food next to me; even Aion had to pause and watch in awe as she shoveled three full pancakes into her mouth without slowing down.

I thought she was going to eat her plate in her frenzy but she eventually did stop and patted her stomach as a wide grin stretched her face.

"Aaah, much better!" she exclaimed.

I just poured myself another cup of coffee and let my eyes wander over the café poster plastered right over our heads. It had a giant cruise ship in the center with a bunch of girls in bright green bikinis winking back at you.

ALLOW YOURSELF TO ESCAPE COMPLETELY…

Enjoy an amazing and peaceful 10-day cruise along the glorious Pacific Ocean!

Visit gorgeous islands like Honolulu, Kauai, and Maui!

"A cruise sounds perfect right about now," Rosette sighed wistfully, following my attention. "Much more sensible than this insane plan of yours."

"Aw, come on, Blondie. What could be more peaceful than a field trip to a demon's lair?" Aion said.

"I swear, if you call me that one more time—"

"Shut it, you guys." I held up my hands for emphasis.

"What?" They were both looking at me, but I was too busy staring at the poster as my thoughts went haywire.

A peaceful quest with demons…

Pandaemonium, the demon queen needing her body parts to come back to life…

Peaceful Waters…

Peaceful…

"The Pacific," I breathed, realization crashing down on me. "The Pacific! That's it!"

I nearly jumped out of my seat and snapped my head back to Rosette and Aion, who were looking at me just as blankly as the rest of the people in the restaurant. I was too excited to care as I leaned over the table and said in a low voice,

"Don't you guys get it? It's in the story. The Pacific Ocean is the Peaceful Waters! Pacific means peaceful!" I could see their eyes lighting up as they slowly processed my words.

"That's perfect," Aion breathed. "It's so freaking perfect. We have to get to the Pacific!"

"That's the west coast. How would we even get there? I mean—"

"Wait a minute!" Rosette protested, "I thought the plan was to just see that Keeper freak and go back to camp!"

"Are you kidding me? We finally have a lead and you just want to run back to camp like a scared little baby?" Aion shot back.

"We could tell Father Deckard, Remington, and Sister Kate what we know and then they'll—"

"Just lock me up and do nothing. Don't be stupid!" Aion's voice was starting to rise uncharacteristically.

"They won't do nothing. Remington will take care of it somehow, right, Chrono?" She whirled on me, eyes searching.

I met her gaze but then looked away. What could I say? I didn't want to have to keep taking sides between the two of them, but I didn't want to lie either. That wouldn't help us.

"I don't….I don't think they can help us," I said at last, sighing.

Rosette angrily slammed the table with her fist and her cup of coffee nearly fell over.

"Of course it was too much of me to expect that you would stop taking his side," she snapped.

"Will you back off?" I growled, my temper rising. "I'm not trying to take anyone's side. And it would help if you'd guys stop trying to force me to every time you both get pissy with each other." I wanted to enjoy the stunned looks on their faces, but instead took a deep breath. "All I'm saying is that….Deckard has pretty much taken over camp and Sister Kate and Mr. Remington are only allowed to do what he says. Even if we could explain all this to them, do you honestly believe that that guy is capable of suspecting anyone other than Aion?"

She actually seemed at a loss for words this time. "But…the Council sent him…" she argued weakly.

"Forget the Council and just answer me, Rosette. Do you really believe that, in your gut, Deckard even gives a tiny crap about what happens to camp the same way Mr. Remington and Sister Kate do?"

And that was when I knew I'd struck a chord. You didn't need vibes or whatever to be able to answer that one. With Deckard sitting in Sister Kate's chair, Magdalan just wasn't the same carefree place it had been when I first got there. It was all wrong and I was glad to be out here than back there.

A shrill melody made us all freeze in our seats. Finally, Rosette shakily reached into her pocket and pulled out her ringing cellphone.

"It's Joshua," she sighed, the tension in her whole body disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Aion and I relaxed too and moved in closer when she finally answered it.

"Holy crap, Rosette! I've been trying to reach you all morning!" Joshua screamed from the other line.

"Jeez, relax, Joshua, I'm sorry," Rosette grumbled. "Anyway, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? You and Chrono helped Aion escape. You broke out of camp and now you're practically wanted criminals too!"

"What? But why? I mean, we're coming right back!"

"The hell we are! I'm not going back to pris—"I just barely clamped my hand over Aion's mouth in time before more people started staring at us.

"So Chrono and Aion are with you right now?" I heard Joshua ask next.

"Yeah, we're all here even though those two idiots nearly got us killed by this Keeper freak."

"The Keeper who?" "Wait, hang on, Azmaria and Mr. Remington are here and—"

"Oooh, let me talk to Mr. Remington!"

The other side went quiet for a few seconds before Mr. Remington's familiar voice came through.

"Rosette, is that you?" he asked.

"Oh yes, Mr. Remington, it's me. It's such a comfort to hear your voice, sir, I—"

"Can you please put Chrono on the line for a minute?"

For a split second, Rosette's face looked as though he had just told her she had some horrible disease, then she gave me a dark look as she shoved her phone into my chest. I tried to ignore her as I raised the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Mr. Remington," I said.

"Chrono, what is this about the Keeper? Why would you do such a thing?" he snapped harshly.

I felt my stomach lurch at his tone and I almost didn't want to answer, as if he were looming over me right now.

"We were…trying to find clues about Mary. We thought he might know where she is."

"And what did you find out?"

"He said that…that the demons need her to bring back their queen….Pandaemonium."

Everything went so quiet, I thought the connection had been dropped.

"Uh, hello?"

"Are…are you sure?" Mr. Remington choked out. There was a shakiness in his voice that I'd never heard before.

I quickly explained what I could remember of the Keeper's words and as soon as I was done, he said,

"You all need to come back here right away. You need to speak with Father Deckard, Sister Kate, and myself about everything."

"That's what I've been trying tell them!" Rosette cried into the phone. That's when Aion snatched the phone away from us and put it to his ear.

When I looked at him, he wasn't angry but his expression was stiff and determined. "No, Remington. These guys can do whatever they want, but I'm not going back to Magdalan until I've cleared my name."

"Aion, please," Mr. Remington began. "I understand that this is a tough situation for you right now. I really do. But you have to come back so I can help you. Running away will only make things worse—"

"Going back to Magdalan will make things worse and you know it!" he snapped back. "No one cares about what I have to say and the more time we waste, the more likely it is that Mary's…"

I was glad he didn't finish that sentence.

Mr. Remington sighed, but didn't reply right away.

"San Francisco," Rosette cut in finally.

"What?" I said.

She took her phone back. "Mr. Remington, you've mentioned it several times. San Francisco is where Astral Line activity has always been the strongest. If those demons are trying bring this queen back that has to be where they would take Mary," she explained. "So that's where we're going next."

"Rosette, this is no game," Mr. Remington said, "it's not like training at camp and—"

"We understand the risks, sir, but like Aion said, we can't waste any more time. We can keep you posted on the way there, but we're going either way."

I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. I never thought I'd see the day when Rosette would stand up to Mr. Remington but she was dead serious.

"Well…since I can't change your minds, I can only ask that you all be careful," said Mr. Remington. "Turn off your cell phone but call again the minute you reach San Francisco. Father Deckard will soon put out an APB for all of you, so keep a low profile."

I breathed a sigh of relief, all the while listening to his instructions.

"And Aion, I know you stole my credit card," Mr. Remington said flatly, "so you'll have to take cash out now and buy your train tickets right away."

Rosette and I looked at him (she looked ready to pop a vein) and Aion gave us his most innocent-looking smile.

"Why the train though?" I asked. "It'd be faster to fly."

"There's less security on the Amtrak compared to the airport, Chrono. It may take you longer but that's your best option," Mr. Remington answered. "We better end this call now. Be on your guard at all times, understand?"

All of us said yes and a moment later, there was a click and the line went silent.

XxXxXxXxX

Following Mr. Remington's orders, we hurried to a public library and logged into one of the computers to buy our Amtrak tickets. While Aion was getting out cash from an ATM, Rosette and I were at the convenient store across the street, loading up on snacks and water bottles. I had just grabbed a mini-pack of Oreos when I heard her cellphone ring again.

"I thought you turned that thing off," I hissed at her, panicking.

She ignored me, pulling it out of her pocket. Her lips tightened and that tense look from before was back. But this time it didn't leave. She stared at the phone for another second before bringing it to her ear.

"H-Hello?" Her voice was small and shaky, which didn't sound like her at all.

I couldn't really hear the other person but it sounded like a man and he was yelling, which made her flinch. She turned her back to me and all I could hear was:

"I know…It's not like that! I can't, Dad, I—"

And then she angrily hung up the phone and threw it into her bag.

"Are you ok?" I asked awkwardly.

"Mind your own business!"

And then she marched to the front counter to pay for her stuff.

"What's her problem?" said Aion, coming up behind me. "Oh sweet! Cheetos!"

I didn't answer and as much as I wanted to blow it off as her acting the way she always did, I couldn't help but think that something was up. That phone call had seemed pretty messed up.

Looks like I'm not the only one with daddy issues…

Once we were all stocked up on supplies, we still had several hours to kill since our train didn't leave until night. Aion insisted on exploring as much of the city as possible and insisted on buying random junk from the souvenir shops. He did this until he got hungry and demanded we go to McDonald's where he bought nearly everything on the dollar menu.

"You need to save your money, idiot! We haven't even left New York yet!" Rosette barked at him.

"Ok, ok, Blondie. Just let me get the McFlurry and that's it."

"Ew! You're getting the M&M one? The Oreo flavor is a hundred times better."

I rolled my eyes at them—not for the first time—until I looked up at the flatscreen on the wall.

"In other news, a teenage suspect in a recent kidnapping has escaped custody and people are advised to be on the lookout for a white-haired 16-year-old"—that was when Aion's picture popped up beside the news reporter's head—"who we've just received word is travelling with two accomplices…"

I turned away from the screen and grabbed Aion and Rosette.

"Forget the McFlurry, guys, let's get out of here," I hissed, motioning to the TV.

One glance at it and they wasted no time in running out the door.

We eventually made it to the station where there were no TVs around and we could relax enough to eat our food.

The train pulled in at about nine o'clock when there was just a hint of daylight left in the sky. We found three empty seats, let the conductor scan our tickets, and then fell asleep as soon as the train started moving towards our first destination.