Chapter 34

  - Micha -

  Standing before us was a giant rat demon. With nowhere to go because of Josh's injury, we were quickly running out of time.

  The rat demon standing before us hissed and bared his teeth. He looked as though he was getting ready to attack.

  Just then, Baby came out of nowhere, driving in a car and smming it into the rat. Seconds before hitting the rat, she jumped out of the moving vehicle.

  "That rat demon's not going to be down for long," Baby said. "Evan and James, you need to get Josh out of here as quickly as possible. Then come back to help us finish this fight."

  "How do you know my name?" Josh said with a confused look at Baby.

  "There's more that I know but you do not, and more information. As to what, that will have to come at a ter time." To simplify things, I am currently a guardian angel. My job here is to protect and train the waymakers, aiding them against the war between the spiritual and the humans." "We shall talk more another time. For now, get him out of here." Baby shouted at the boys.

  Just as the boys were getting ready to leave, a huge white Doberman came running over to Josh and grabbed him, throwing him on his back like a small child.

  "James and Evan, you stay here and help with the fight since I'm the fastest on this side of the group. I'll get him as far away from here as I can, and I'll come back to help."

  "Who the heck is this? Look at this dog; he is about 14 hands, or almost 5 feet. The size of a fully grown Icendic horse." Josh said with both fear and surprise.

  "Kid, I'm going to have to ask you to stop squirming up there; you're going to fall right off. I am Evans's guardian angel." "This is a form that I took as his house pet so I could stay incognito and help aid him with his training. I come in many sizes, and I can grow and shrink." "Just as Baby can and takes the form of a Pomeranian house pet to stay close to the girls."

  Duke took off with Josh gripping on his back for dear life.

  "Well, we at least still had decent numbers; it was five against one."

  "Then again, maybe I have spoken too soon." The giant rat began to emerge from behind the car. He was only knocked unconscious for a few minutes, just as Baby predicted. He screamed a loud screech that pierced our ears, almost causing them to bleed.

  It seems as though every rat from the city came running from behind and underneath him. The rat demon is calling them as if they were the king of the rats.

  "So here is an idea: if we split up within about a hundred feet from each other, we might be able to take out the small packs easier." Baby suggested.

  "This might be the only time you're going to hear me say I kind of wish Josh was here to burn these nasty vermin. I said as I kicked two rats off my foot.

  "I might not be able to burn them, but I can at least freeze them," said Beck as she froze the two that I just kicked off my leg.

  As we continue to fight for a few minutes. But the rge packs of rats surrounded us. "Their numbers just kept coming by the hundreds, if not thousands. There seems to be no end."

  "I might have to rethink our pn. The only way to stop the stampede is maybe to take down the boss." Baby said. "He's able to call them. So it is likely, once he's down, hopefully, then it'll just be a matter of cleaning up."

  "God, this is so gross. I hate rats. I said as I used my tessen to blow about 20 away."

  "I can agree with you there; I hate them almost as much as I do bugs. "Before moving to the city, that's why I used to have a cat," said Beck.

  "You know what, come to think of it, the rat came out from underneath a hole inside that building. There's still a small chunk of the building that looks like it is ready to fall and looks unstable." "If we find a way to lure it over there. I can use my ice ability to cause the rest of the rubble to shift and trap the rat," Beck said as she was running out of breath.

  "Good idea, Baby and Beck, you're on standby. I'll be the demon bait. James and Evan, you stay close to me in case anything goes south. I can use my tessen once I am close to blowing it a little further under the unstable debris." "This way, none of us are close enough by to get hurt when it comes crashing down."

  "That sounds like a great pn. Baby agreed.

  The sun had already started to rise, and we were running out of time. There was little time before our parents would wake up. Once home, they will start asking questions about where we had been. We needed to get the demon sin as quickly as possible.

  I nded some hits on the rat, throwing a couple of nearby rocks at it to catch its attention. I provoke it to attack me. The pn was working quite well, and it started running straight towards me. The rat was directly behind me, closing in the gap. I am so close, only a few feet from our targeted spot below the tottering rubble. The rat clipped the back of my ankle with its cws, causing me to fall.

  Thankfully, Evan saw the whole thing and was right there. He sliced off the tip of the giant rat's tail. This distracted it long enough for me to use my tessen to blow the creature in the direction of the building.

  "Now, Becky," I shouted.

  A giant ice path cut through the ground, forming a massive wall that pressed against the unstable piece of what was left of the building. It did its job; the weight countered the other side, shifting it where it fell and crashed into the giant rat demon.

  All of us seemed to wait a few seconds silently to make sure that it was actually dead. The other rats that we were fighting off started to scurry away.

  "The rats are leaving; that must mean... We did it; those damn things finally did! Evan shouted, kicking rocks toward

  "Do you think you're going to be okay with that cut there on your ankle?" Baby asked.

  "Yes, it is just a small scratch. See, I can even stand on it."

  "Well, that's good; one less person we have to carry out of here." Evan joked at Micah.

  "Hahaha... at least unlike your brother, I'm not dead weight!"

  "Right, I feel like he's gained a hundred pounds since we were kids. He was extra heavy to carry compared to previously."

  "I'm surprised Duke was able just to toss him on his back like he was a small child and take off with him," Evan said.

  "Yes, and I seem to come back at the right time, and you didn't need my help."

  "Oh, Duke, it's you.... My bad, we were just making some jokes back and forth."

  "It's all in good fun. In the meantime, that just tells me that I need to put more work into you since you seem to be so much weaker than me."

  "Hey, that's not fair. As a guardian angel, you're supposed to be way stronger, plus, aren't you like 40 years older than me or something?"

  Angels are more like thousands of years old. And pardon me, but I walk around in the body resembling a 35-year-old, thank you very much."

  "Oh, with you walking around with all your war wounds, I thought you were older."

  "Watch it, kiddo. Keep speaking with that tongue that way. You just might earn yourself a pair of wings yourself. You won't have to worry about being a waymaker, as you could just be the next trainer!"

  "Nope, nope, I'm good, sorry, I am very sorry," Evan said, shivering and with wide eyes. "

  We all started ughing at Evan. I spped him on the back.

  "All right, I think it's time for us to head home before our parents start asking questions. Another day saved. Or at least I should say the people were saved not so much for these buildings."

  "Unfortunately, there is some colteral damage, but what matters is that human lives are still intact. Buildings can be rebuilt, but human lives cannot be repced," Baby said with an encouraging voice.

  "You do have a point there. Thanks for the pep talk. Are you ready to head home?"

  "Yeah, let's get some rest before the sun comes up any further. Who knows what tomorrow has in store for us?"

  Once we got home, I had only slept for 5 hours when one of my arms went off. "It is in the middle of summer break, and we still have a month to go until school starts. Why in the world is my arm going off right now?" I looked over at my calendar.

  Today is the Renaissance Carnival, and my uncle volunteers to help out. Every year, they hold it at the old opera house theater, located outside the fairgrounds. It was a two-day event, both indoor and outdoor. My uncle likes to take some of his baked goods down there to earn some extra income. He does this before school starts because he wants to help my mother/his sister with my back-to-school needs.

  "I was going to have Kaysi and Becky help out, but I still don't think Kaysi's in a good position. I will go ahead and call Beck to see if she's awake yet," I told Baby that she woke up and was stretching.

  "At the very most, I can come with you guys and help you out." Baby said as she was wagging her tail.

  "You just want to go there because there are going to be people dressed in costume and you can walk around as yourself, don't you?"

  "You caught me!" Baby chuckled as she scratched her ear with her paw.

  "Plus, this gives me an opportunity to help all of you guys. In case something happens, I'll be super close by."

  "That is true; there seems to be a lot more demon activity going on."

  "Yes, and although you are doing better with controlling your inner demon, who knows what things may stir up?"

  "Thanks for the faith," I cackled. "I'll go ahead and give Beck a call."

  Seconds ter. "Well then, I guess it's Destiny," I said after I got off the phone with Becky. "Kaysi was already awake, and Becky thought it would be a good idea to bring Kaysi with her to get her out of the house and take a breather. She also said, "If Kaysi wants to help out, she could."

  "I think that would be a great idea; maybe something will jog her memory along the way as well."