The Son of Light Book 1: Rebirth (2 page)

Karl’s mouth hung open as Trent and Engel gave her a dirty look. Seth sat looking out his window, ignoring everything.

“Cállate perra!” snapped Karl.
Shut up bitch!

Engel rolled down his window.

“Fuck you! Crusty-ass bitch!” Engel hollered.

Seth rolled his eyes.

“Engel, sit down!” ordered Nick reaching over to grab him.

“Dang Faggot-Nigger-Mexicans!” the woman hollered back.

Even though he hated hearing the lady throw racist slurs at his friends, Nick had to calm them down. But before he could pull him down, Engel unbuttoned his pants, pulled down his briefs and aimed his butt at the lady.

“Fuck you!” Engel and Karl shouted together, flipping the bird.

The car sped off, leaving the truck behind, and Engel sat back down pulling his pants up.

“Karl seriously! Slow down!” demanded Nick.

“Can you believe that bitch?” asked Engel looking around to the others.

“Did you forget the pledge you all made? She was rude, but that’s no excuse to…”

“I live to moon.” Engel sang interrupting him. “I will moon with all my heart. I will moon till the end of time.”

Nick shook his head as Engel and the others laughed.

About ten minutes later the Cadillac swayed and stopped into a colorful parking lot. Karl jumped out of the driver seat overwhelmed with joy.

“God that was awesome! I told you this car was fucking badass, yeah?”

Nick got out feeling very nauseous. He turned and saw the others had the same problem. He rounded on Karl, his lips tight.

“Are you crazy? Don’t ever do that shit again! Next time, I’m driving!”

But then he felt Karl’s clammy hands around the sides of his face.

“Pero, you can’t deny that was some epic shit, bro,” said Karl in a hashed voice.

Looking even more crazed than before, Karl hugged himself, laughing madly. Trent quickly shook him causing him to stop. Engel smirked.

Seth tugged at Nick’s shirt. “Let it go,” he said calmly.

Nick shook his head, allowing Seth to pull him away with the others at their heels. They approached a sign that read: Welcome to the City of Pasag. It had a map of the entire city and a star pin pointing to their current location. They were in the parking lot section. To their right contained the Church of the Pink Doves and a few stores, each of a different color. To the right of the large church was a walkway that led to the Plaza of Pasag.

“Oh good. The plaza is not too far,” said Nick.

“You’ve never been here, have you?” asked Engel.

“No,” said Nick bluntly.

“Then why the hell…?”

“Cus it’s a nice, quiet, peaceful city that’s why. Now shut up,” said Nick, lazily giving Engel a purple nurple.

“Boy! I will cut you,” said Engel, flinching away and smirking.

The boys made their way to the busy and brightly colored two-leveled plaza. There were stores of all kinds: clothing stores, jewelry stores, home appliances, video game stores, and bookstores. They walked in and out of whichever store caught their attention, buying clothes and accessories.

Oftentimes, as he kept an eye on the other boys, Nick noticed Engel trying to distance himself from Karl. Every time Karl tried to kiss him or hold his hand, Engel moved away. Engel said very little to anyone as they walked.

There was a massive AMC theater at the very end of the second level. Around it were many restaurants filled with people chatting and joking with one another. The sent of freshly cooked steaks, pies, and grilled chicken made their mouths water as they walked.

They looked at the latest video games at the GameStop, enjoying their new purchases. Trent loved his new Halloween themed shades as he took the chance to pose in front of every mirror his came across. Engel had chosen new lip piercings, hot pink hair dye, black nail polish, three new beanies, and three pairs of skinny jeans from Hot Topic. When he tried getting Karl’s opinion on his lip piercing and one of his new beanies, he’d call to him.

Karl would just tell him that it looked good, without actually looking at him. Then Engel would get upset and nag him. Nick always enjoyed listening to them bicker with each other because they were like an old couple.

Karl had gotten a 10lb bag of whey protein and pre-workout supplements from the fitness store, and a new iPod from the Apple store. Nick and Seth didn’t buy anything. For Nick, just being able to buy his friends all those things made him happy. But for Seth not to want anything, Nick realized, was odd, especially considering it was his birthday celebration.

Once they were done with their shopping, Nick and Engel sat at a square table in the food court while the others ordered food. Nick glanced over at Engel.

“You okay?”

Engel shrugged. Nick hoped that the conversation between Seth and Karl would have been forgotten by now. Hopefully, Seth wouldn’t bring the topic up again.

“Seth was just curious, he didn’t mean…”

“I know.” said Engel, calmly.

Nick paused for a moment, and then went on.

“Listen, this isn’t just about Seth, this is about you and Karl.”

Engel looked puzzled.

“I know you’re leaving.”

Engel looked surprised.

“Your mom told you, huh?”

Nick nodded.

“You’re a good friend, Nick, and I am so grateful for all your family has done for me. But I just want a normal life for a while. I want to see more of the world and maybe start a family, ya know?”

“I understand. But there’s always a place for you at the guild.”

Nick waited for him to say something, but Engel remained quiet. Then the other boys approached the table with two small pizzas, three double bacon cheeseburgers, fries, sushi, a salad, and cups of water. Trent sat in between Nick and Engel while Seth sat next to Karl. Nick relaxed as he watched his friends attack their food like wild animals. He felt sorry for the food.

“So your parents gave you the money or did Nick?” Seth suddenly asked.

Nick saw Karl stop eating and began to panic.

“Seth, leave it alone,” Nick, asked politely.

“Es okay,” said Karl. “I used to be rich like Nick. Mis padres gave me cars, expensive clothes, boats, even my own jet.”

Karl looked at Engel.

“Pero when they learned about me and Engel, they screamed at me and disowned me. Engel taught me how to survive on the streets.”

Nick glanced at Engel, who was trying to ignore the story.

“We lied and stole. Engel let old men…use him while I stole their wallets,” said Karl, looking ashamed.

Engel stopped eating.

“No amount of good can erase what we’ve done, but Mrs. Suzuki is giving us that chance. I want to show mi familia what it means to be a good person,” said Karl, with a little anger in his voice.

Engel suddenly stood up.

“We need more fries!” he said, storming away.

Karl went after him as the others sat in silence. Nick let out a huge sigh and looked at Seth, who had an emotionless expression.

“So. Enjoying your yourself?” asked Nick, trying to lighten the mood.

Seth remind silent.

“I know you hate birthdays, but I really wanted to do this for you.”

Seth still didn’t say anything. Finally, he saw Seth smile. Nick had been worried how he would take the surprise party. He figured if he just forced Seth into it, he wouldn’t say no. And he was right; Seth seemed to be enjoying himself, despite the blown up birthday cake, the crazy truck driver, and Engel being upset.

“I have another gift for you in New York…” he said, glancing at Seth.

He waited for Seth to ask him what it was, but Seth remained silent. In fact, his smile suddenly vanished. Nick hesitated to speak again and Seth went back to eating his salad. Nick sighed. Then he heard Engel shouting.

“There they are! Those nigger faggots!” a woman’s voice shouted.

“Fuck off lady!” shouted Engel.

He turned and saw Engel and Karl arguing with the crazy truck driver and a short older woman in the middle of the food court. The older woman was dressed in white and violet robes with a pink dove on her chest. She had short thinning black hair and wore heavy make-up, which didn’t hide the many wrinkles on her face. She stood stiffly next to the crazy truck driver whose face was still twisted with fury as two girl toddlers stood at her side. Nick rushed over with Seth and Trent at his heels.

“What’s wrong?” asked Nick.

“This lady won’t leave us alone!” bellowed Engel.

“Oh my dear boy, you are not welcomed in our city.” The old lady said in a sweet girlish voice.

“Have them arrested! Have them arrested! They threatened to kill me and insulted my children!” the middle aged women hollered.

“What are you talking about?” asked Nick.

“You are the fags who almost killed my niece, Lara, and her children. That was your car that came into the parking lot,” she said sweetly.

Engel’s eyes popped open, and Nick felt the urge to slap her, but he remained calm.

“My name is Alla Ivanov, Dove mother of the Doves of Christ. We have certain rules in our city that everyone must obey, darling. Those who don’t, well…” said Alla, smiling and revealing the gap in her teeth.

Nick saw her glance over her shoulder as two large men in the same robes began heading their way. He could see the anger boiling up in Engel, Karl and Trent. He had to get them away before things went really bad.

“We’ve confiscated your car for the time being. I invite all of you to visit our church,” she turned to Nick. Her sweet voice made nails on a chalkboard sound pleasant.

“What!?” shouted Engel.

“Perhaps we will ma’am. I am very sorry for our behavior. Please forgive us,” Nick said politely.

He gestured to his friends to follow him back to their table. But then Alla grabbed Engel’s arm.

“I heard your friend here talking about his sinful lifestyle too!”

Engel and the other boys stared at her.

“I’ve seen your kind before, boy. You were trying to seduce this young man weren’t you?” asked Alla, pointing to Karl.

She stared right into Karl’s eyes and said, “It’s alright dear. He won’t bother you anymore.”

“They’re both fags I bet,” laughed Lara.

“We can help you at our church,” said Alla pleasantly.

Engel started moving towards her, clenching his fists, but Nick jumped between them and very lightly pushed Engel away.

“Excuse me ma’am, we really have to be going,” said Nick with a slight bow.

He and the others headed back to their table. Engel’s eyes were watery.

“Calm down. It’s over now,” said Nick softly.

Suddenly, Engel broke away from them, walking as fast as he could. Before Nick could move, he heard Alla’s voice again.

“Take them.”

Nick turned and saw the large men rushing towards them. He hesitated. Maybe he could reason with them, pay whatever fines she was going to give them and be done with it. But then a loud bang echoed throughout the entire city. Nick looked between the tall men and saw purple lightening striking down near the church in the other section.

He looked at the top of the mega church in the distance and froze. He saw a red-cloaked figure standing on the massive cross above the church. He blinked and the figure was gone.
No,
he thought
. It couldn’t be him, not here.
Maybe he was seeing things.

Then lightning struck the theater and the stores, shattering every window around them. The theater began to crumble above the dozens of people under it. Nick saw Karl sprint past him, shooting a transparent energy wave at the falling pieces of the building. The pieces disintegrated, turning to dust that rained down on the people.

Panic and screams began to spread as more purple lighting struck down, breaking all the buildings apart. The boys split up to help the terrified people. Nick saw Alla and her niece fall back over the rails. He sprinted towards them with Trent close behind.

He seized Alla as Trent held Lara and pulled them to safety. Nick looked around for his other friends until his eyes met the same red-cloaked figure in the distance that, like last time, was gone the moment he blinked.
It couldn’t be him
, he thought again.

“Thank you, dear! Thank you!” said Alla still terrified.

Nick nodded and stood up, scanning the area for his friends. He spotted them by the restaurants, helping people to the lower level.

“Everyone this way!” shouted Seth.

“No. The parking lot and the main gates are too far, make an opening here,” shouted Engel, pointing at a wall.

But none of the people listened to them. Nick started making his way to them until he felt the ground shake under his feet. Moments later, there was another loud bang followed by a flash. The entire second level of the plaza exploded throwing everyone into the air.