The Mortal Fringe (28 page)

Tristan laughs, I can see a couple of
tears fall from his eyes and wet his pale skin. I smile too, but I
don't know why.

"John, the name was John."

"Sorry, I didn't…" I literally don't
know what to say now, I must look ridiculous trying to hide myself
from him, inside a car.

"It's quite alright, it's not usual in
within Gods.”

The rest of the trip is mostly silent,
with some spontaneous comments about me and Elizabeth, about
Barcelona and how we got to know each other. Although Tristan is
clearly more interested on how I managed to get over the fact that
she was going to be claiming my soul. He is very respectful about
it and tries not to mention it much, to avoid awkwardness between
us.

By the time we get to Indianapolis
there's a feeling of festivity that I have hardly seen before in my
life. The streets are full of people and the short drive to the
stadium turns into an epic journey; our own little Odyssey. Tristan
manages to park the car somewhere near the stadium, something very
unusual. I guess it has something to do with some of his abilities.
Tristan pulls out a couple of Giant's shirts and we lose ourselves
with the crowd.

We enter the stadium following the
thousands of people in front of us, and as we do I notice how the
sky starts to turn black. Suddenly I don't feel so lucky and not at
all optimistic about this.

Dark clouds cover the city, like a
terrifying omen.

CHAPTER 40

Thunder. I can't say if it's real or
if it's only happening in my head. Tristan looks anxious, he looks
up to the sky and I know he thinks that is not from natural doing.
We are sitting on our seats, surrounded by thousands of people
screaming and yelling at the screens, waiting for the players to
come out to the field. It's too bad neither of us feel the same way
as they do, so enthusiastic about what they are about to see, so
naïve to think that there is nothing more to be worried about, that
the world has no barriers within itself. But they are wrong. I know
it, but what can I do? Obviously telling them about all this other
side of what they know is out of the question. I just remain on my
seat, pretending to be extremely happy as I follow Tristan's eyes,
deconstructing the whole place.

"Are we ok?" I ask,
nervously.

"Unknown."

For once I would like to be like him,
able to express so much and yet so little, using nothing but a
single word.

The game is about to start, the
irritating and enthusiastic voice of the reporters fill my ears and
the music starts to play. The Giants are introduced and the stadium
bursts into wild screaming. Everyone around me stands up to add
emphasis to their yelling. I try to do the same, although it's
clear that I am not an expert on the subject and I am mainly a
misfit here. So is Tristan, who does not even bother to stand up,
he remains seated with her hands on his lap and his vision fixed on
the field. He does not blink, nor breathe, he does not even move.
People look at him and I can't do anything else but jump on him and
shake his whole body while shouting to the players, alongside the
rest of the stadium.

"That is not appropriate" he says. "We
need to focus on your protection."

"Look around, if you want to come out
of here alive you better join the crowd. If not, either they kill
us both or whoever is looking for us won't have much trouble to
find us."

"Good reasoning.”

He claps while sitting and moving his
body from side to side and then the other.

"Ok, bad idea, just shout with them,
no need to move."

He nods, I can't believe I am teaching
a God about something I know nothing about.

We wait for a couple more minutes; the
New England Patriots are already on the field. Both teams seem to
be heating up tensions, teasing the immense ton. The game starts
and the shouting gets even louder. I can hardly see the ball; the
people in front of me are standing up and are blocking my vision.
Well, at least they hide us both.

By the end of the first half I know I
have missed a lot of the game, luckily for me, as I am not a
diehard fan of sports I don't feel too frustrated for not having
been able to follow the thing, or match, I should think, just in
case someone over here can sense that I am not into football. I
have more important things to think about, although I must admit
that the happiness from the people around me is helping me to take
all those thoughts away.

I am also feeling more and more
distant from danger because I am meeting people every waking
second. All of them try to teach me about the game, in order to be
able to follow it, but I am so into other things that I can't keep
up with all the information. The only thing that I remember when
the first half ends is that the Patriots are leading the game 9-10,
and since I am seating on the Giants part of the stadium, and
wearing their shirt, I try to be as angry and mad as the rest of
them. Tristan joins the screaming and two seconds later everyone is
talking to him, as if he was the friendliest person in the world.
Oddly enough, he manages to sound perfectly human.

Suddenly, the lights go off and I feel
the rain over me. Silence all over the stadium. Some music starts
in a matter of seconds.

"This is going to be fun, isn't it?"
The familiar female voice gives me chills.

I turn my head. Mal is sitting right
behind me, smiling as always and clapping alongside the rest of the
multitude.

I turn back to the field, wishing that
I did not just see her. I see the mud on the grown, the lights
pointing right at it, the rain pouring and the stands around
it.

After all, it all was meant to
be.

Tristan stands up and puts himself
between me and Mal. Everyone around us looks at the situation with
some hesitation. No one knows what to do.

"Please Tristan, move
away."

"I won't."

Mal breaks into hysterical laughter
again.

"You don't want me to hurt you, do
you?" She caresses his face. "Come on, for old times?"

"Stay away."

"You know I would have let you keep
John, right? I wish I had been around."

Tristan bursts out with
fury.

"Shut up!" he throws her in the air.
She flies as Tristan leads her with his hands. Mal goes over the
edge of the stadium and disappears.

The people sitting near us start
screaming, they are all terrified for what they have just seen.
Tristan turns to me, breathing harshly.

"Run!"

I do as he says and disappear into the
crowd. The half time show is starting and the music is so loud that
the screaming is easily confused by excitement. I can feel Tristan
right next to me all the time although I can't see anything. My
only goal is to keep running and disappear into the darkness of the
night.

But I fail.

A terrible force pulls me from the
ground ant throws me into the field.

I lie on my back. The wet floor is
turning into mud and I can hardly move. I can see Mal approaching
me with her green eyes fixed on mine.

I can't escape from
destiny.

She is here, still laughing. She
cleans the little bruise that she got from Tristan's attack, and
then gets on her knees to look take an even closer look at me, her
prey.

"Aren't you familiar with
this?"

I look around, I am. She bends over me
and the only thing I can see is her deep, stabbing green
eyes.

And so my dream begins.

CHAPTER 41

I am freezing.

My back is soaking wet. Mal rips my
body with her green eyes and I can't move, terror is paralyzing me.
She moves her hand and throws me to one of the corners of the
stadium.

I hit my head so hard that I almost
black out. I try to open my eyes but I can't. I can only bring my
hands to cover the bruise on the back of my head and try not to
scream. The lights are on whoever is performing the half show, so
no one can see me dying here. Mal comes back and grabs me by the
neck. She tries to rise me from the ground but something hits her
back. She only frowns her forehead and goes back to smile
again.

"I said, stay away."

Tristan has found me.

Mal does as he says and drops me to
the ground. My dizziness makes it impossible for me to distinguish
which of the two shadows I see in front of me is Mal, and which is
Tristan. I try to stand up but I can't, my legs won't hold me, not
like this.

"Tristan, Tristan, Tristan… I thought
you would have manners!" She punches him on his stomach and throws
him away from us. "Never hit a lady."

He comes back; he teleports and
appears in front of me, covering my wounded body with his
own.

"You are going to be
alright."

"Please, don't lie to him" She hits
him again, but this time she does not throw him away, he remains
where he is. Protecting me.

"Trust me" he says. I do, I don't need
to say it. "Grab my hand."

I do as he says and he teleports us,
not too far away. I still can hear the half time show.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"Underneath the stadium. It might buy
us some time" he is exhausted. He can hardly stand on his feet.
"Come on" he grabs me and takes me away, looking for shelter.
Looking around as if he was expecting something.

"Tristan, I can't go on with this" I
am ashamed of myself for saying it, but it is the way I feel. My
body is broken and I have no more hope, no more strength to go
on.

He drops me on the floor and punches
me on the face.

"You are not going to give up, you
understand? You are not!" his screaming hits me harder than the
punch. I nod, trembling. "Let's go."

We keep moving, and for a while it
seems like we have lost her. But it is not too long until we hear
the fearless laughter behind us.

"Tell me, what are you planning on
doing after your failed attempt to run away?"

Tristan lets me go, he looks at me
smiling. Confident of himself.

"Fight back, of course" He uses his
remaining strength to get all the benches and pipes on the air and
a vivid fire covers them instantly. Tristan throws them against
Mal, who was clearly not expecting it.

There's water pouring from everywhere
and the woman is throwing all her power against Tristan's. He is
not giving up and fights her with everything he can
find.

Fire and water clashing together as
Tristan and Mal fight to the death, if they could so easily die.
The flames, coming from Tristan's mind, surround the body of their
adversary, but Mal seems to be too powerful for that. She won't be
bended, she is not going to be defeated so easily, or so her green
eyes tell me.

I stand up and pick up a highly
wrecked pipe that has fallen right by my side. It is broken in half
and one of the ends is really point and sharp. I make my way
through the falling water and persisting flames of the eternal
fight, and before Mal notices me I stab her with the pointy end of
my rage. She screams so loudly that I fall to the ground. She turns
back and her eyes burn with fury.

"End of the game" She says.

She rises her hand and with it Tristan
loses his balance. Mal makes a quick move and throws him against
the wall, where more than ten broken pipes meet him, breaking his
body and hanging him from the wall. As a war trophy.

"Tristan!" I scream trying to run to
him.

"I'm alright, fly!" he screams while
trying to free himself.

The way back is totally destroyed, the
flames and water have turned it into an impossible path. And no
matter how hard I try I will never be able to fool Mal all by
myself. So, instead of running away, I turn around and face
her.

"Look at this, we got a brave
boy."

I say nothing. She does not deserve an
answer, not from me, not from anyone. That is the one way to beat
evil, to look at it in the eye and let it know that you are not
weak.

"I don't like this attitude of yours,
Alexander. After all, I haven't done anything to you… have I?" she
smiles "Don't take it personal, I can take care of those bruises in
a moment, do you want me to?"

I hear her question as a proposal for
a deal. She wants me to join her, to give Elizabeth to her just
like that. But that is not going to happen, I can feel Tristan
thinking the same, so for the first time I look at those eyes and
draw a smile on my face.

"Go to hell."

"Dear boy, have you not realized yet?
I went there, and made it mine" She grabs my neck again and we
disappear.

Teleporting is different with her, my
whole body aches and the unbearable cold is killing me. When we
reappear, my whole body freezes again, the smart smile on my face
disappears. We are twenty feet over the stadium.