Anagha Baheti

“You want to save the broadcast station, don’t you?” Midnight shook his head in her mind. She sent back a soft yes. “Of course you do. How would the city stay afloat without the millions of dollars the Zakura family launder during the after-hours?”

“Hey, it is not my job to judge people. They may be despicable humans, but the lives of many outweigh those of a few.”

“Ugh! Why are you so predictable? You make me believe I was happier in the shadow realm. The shadows trying to break me was infinitely more interesting than partnering with you.”

She crouched. Litch began to talk about the family he held hostage. She jumped as high as she could, and her dark wings took to the air.

“I am not trying to commit a hate crime here. There is tons of local blood on my hands. This family being immigrants is a total coincidence. In my defence, the man does look local. And my men picked him up from a woodworking shop in the Upper East. You don’t see many immigrants in the Upper East.”

Sjena froze mid-air.

Midnight laughed out loud in her mind.

“There is a non-zero probability that the man held hostage on the Sun Bridge is your father. The question is, does he have your mother as well? Your sister? Your husband? What about Sonho? We did drop him off at daycare, but what if Litch picked him up? I told you we needed a more secure place to keep your offspring.”

She was shivering now. Midnight sent her an image of him patting her head, then commanded the shadows to carry them to the bridge. Sjena muttered something about plunging Midnight deep into Litch’s chest if something were to happen to her family. Midnight revelled at the prospect.

The shadows spread out and pulled her up in the air. It would have been easier if Sjena was in any condition to navigate. But she was a deer in headlights, so Midnight wrapped the shadows as strings around her body and made her his puppet.

On the bridge, the family was huddled together, bidding their goodbyes, faking bravery as they awaited their imminent demise. Sjena’s son, Sonho, had snot running down his nose as he cried and called out for his mother.

Sjena’s heart tore out of her body.

Midnight commanded the shadows to stab his tail into the bomb strapped to Sonho’s chest. As the tip penetrated the hard exterior, the explosive power inside slammed into Midnight like the force of a waterfall and he hungrily drank in every single drop. He then commanded the shadows to stab him into each bomb one by one. The incoming power strengthened his control over the shadows. He could almost see through their eyes, almost feel through their fingertips. He wiped the tears off Sonho’s eyes.

As he licked off the last remains of explosive materials from the last of the bombs, in the distance, a building blew off. The shadows spread out and protected Sjena’s family.

A wave of relief washed over Sjena. She thanked Midnight, then slowly carried her family to safety, two at a time. She wanted to hug them, she wanted to cry, but Midnight reminded her that she couldn’t expose her identity any more than she already had. So, she left them in the care of the police.

Wings, black as the night, spread out and pulled her off the ground towards the site of the blast. For the next four hours, she helped the other heroes pull people out of the rubble. Correct as her decision had been, she couldn’t bear to count the lives she had sacrificed to save her blood. After she was dismissed for the night, she flew to a cave at the edge of the city. She sometimes used the space to rest and recover before heading back home.

“So, what happens now that you have broken your sacred contract? Is the Academy coming for you?”

“I need to surrender myself to the police. There will be a hearing where I will have a chance to explain myself.”

“Promise me you will pass me over to another after you mess this up and land yourself in jail. Honestly, even the shadow realm would be a better fate than being confined into a cell for years.”

“You seem to have a lot of faith in me.”

“I have been with you too long.”