It's exactly the way she left it. There's a book laying face down her nightstand. Her robe is thrown carelessly across the bed; the result of being late for work. Her flowery scent lingers in the room. And in my mind, I hear her voice.

"Piglet, have you seen the TV remote? I swear, this time I didn't walk off with it...You found it where...in the freezer? Guess I did walk off with it!"

Then she would laugh. Her laugh had a melody to it. I look around the room as if she'll enter at any moment. She doesn't.

I sob loudly and sit down on her bed. I pull her robe up to my face. I smell her lilac soap in the fabric. I cry for a few moments and then make myself to pull it together.

"Mom, I'm going away for awhile. I will do everything I can to come back to you. But if I don't, I just want you to know that no girl ever had a better Mom. You loved me and never once regretted having me. I will hold onto that with my dying breath. Thank you."

I can feel myself about to seriously breakdown now. So I head out the door to avoid falling completely apart. But before I go, I turn around and tell her one more thing.

"He loves me, Mom. He really loves

me. Can you believe it?" I laugh. And she "laughs." Slowly I exit but decide to leave the door open.

"Where you laughing?" he asks.

"Yeah, it's...nothing," I say, shaking my head. I pick up Ms. Charlotte. We leave her with Ben and his mom. Before we go, I hug Ben extra tight. His mom looks on.

"Em, you're gonna see him in a few days when you get back from your uncle's," she says, laughing.

"Yeah, I know. I just can't get over how big he's gotten."

"Kids do that. When you have your own in a few years, you'll see what I mean."

Yeah, in a few years...

As we head out of my building I tell Marcus how surprised I am he didn't try to get me to stay behind.

"Has that ever worked?" he asks.

"Nope."

"Well, I'm learning."

Once outside, we find Isabelle, Tony-Tone, Wolf and the team all waiting on us.

Jay looks disgruntled.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"He's all out of black stones," Isabelle volunteers. I cover my giggle with a fake cough.

Marcus brings us out of our jovial mood with a warning: "The Sage has predicted that at least one of us won't make it back. So now is the time if any of you want to stay behind," Marcus offers.

Everyone looks at each other. Some were worried, some excited (Isabelle), but most of us were focused. Marcus takes that as a sign that everyone is ready and willing. He looks at me as if he needs to be a.s.sured. That almost never happens. I flash him my biggest smile.

"We're ready," I a.s.sure him. It works. When he speaks again, the First Guardian is confident and in charge.

"Pyron is just outside of Germany. It's not a long trip but with the wings, it can be tricky, so be careful. Rio take Tony. I'll take Emmy. Let's go."

We take to the air and head to the place that, for at least one of us, will be our doom.

CHAPTER NINE: GOOD FOR THE SOUL.

Marcus makes us land in a clearing a few miles into a forest. Once on the ground, I ask where we are and, as usual, "Wiki" Jay fills in the blanks.

"We're in the Black Forest in Southwest Germany. Pyron is up ahead."

"Seriously, how do you know this stuff?" I ask.

"Well, if you give people a chance, they might surprise you," he says pointedly at Isabelle. She rolls her eyes and looks away.

"We shouldn't fly into Pyron. We don't want Kairo to know we're here," Marcus says.

"Righteous," Wolf agrees.

As we begin walking along the path, Isabelle cautions us against touching anything. She warns that Kairo could have a number of traps laid out for unwanted guests.

The Black Forest is filled with dense trees, birds and creepy crawling things that make me wish I wore a longer jacket. A few minutes later we come to the opening of an ominous looking path that leads up the hill. There's a message written of the ground in what I hope is animal blood.

"Leave Hope Here"

The team informs me that the message is written in universal text. That means it is written in the language that the viewer of the message was born speaking. So if I spoke German, the message would have appeared to me in German.

"I swear, you Angels get all the great stuff: you get superpowers, speak every language, and you age like a minute every thousand years," I say, mostly to myself.

"Yeah, but we don't get cable," Miku counters with smile.

"Is anyone else wondering about the message on the ground?" Tony asks nervously.

"Seems clear; we're doomed," Rio says, clearly teasing him.

"And this doesn't worry anyone?"

"Tony, dude, if you need to meditate, we can wait," Wolf offers.

"No we can't!" Ameana says in disbelief.

"Why won't you let him achieve inner peace?"

Ameana's jaw drops. She is too beside herself to talk. For the first time since I've known her, she is actually rendered speechless.

Jay whispers to Rio, "Yo, I know we're about to get killed by the son of all evil, but this right here, hilarious."

Rio can't help but smile at Wolf and Ameana who are now both in need of calming meditation.

"Tony, nothing is going to happen to you," Marcus says.

Tony is about to reply when we walk into a patch of fog so dense it's impossible to see more than a foot ahead. I look back and the path has all but disappeared into the fog.

"Everyone stay close," Marcus orders as he surveys the area.

"From what I've read, once we get past this area, the castle should be up ahead," Isabelle offers.

"My illumination as a Para should be able to penetrate through this but it isn't. This fog isn't natural," Wolf says.

"Nothing here is," Miku adds.

I can understand what she means. We're surrounded by trees, each one more menacing than the last. Some of the tree trunks resemble mangled human faces screaming in agony. A few of them have been split open to reveal a gaping maw. Some of them stand curved and twisted like an evil witch's gnarled fingers.

Pyron Field has been drained of all color. The landscape is a maze of morose grays and malevolent blacks. Dread, despair and doom cling to every tree branch. The only thing alive and thriving is bloodcurdling fear and unrelenting sorrow. It's like Edger Allen Poe and Sylvia Plath gave birth to a son and we're stuck inside his mind. "You know it has a name" Isabelle offers.

"What has a name?" I ask.

"The castle. Everyone just calls it 'castle' but the actual name is Castle Relinque. It means 'Abandon.'"

"Hey, I'm sure Kairo doesn't practice his smile in the mirror, he might be your type," Jay offers.

Isabelle never gets a chance to reply because all of a sudden, Tony's scream fills the air. We all turn and find him on the ground being squeezed to death by an enormous, translucent python.

"Stop moving!" Isabelle begs him. But the panic and horror in Tony's eyes tell me he's not going to take her advice. Sure enough, Tony wrestles even harder. Marcus goes to attack the snake.

"No! It's a Pity Snake. It feeds on confessions. If you attack it, it'll spilt itself in two and kill Tony faster."

Tony's screaming grows louder. The snake is more than half around him. He's no longer able to move the lower half of his body.

"Tony he's looking for a deep, dark confession. You have to give it to him or he's going to kill you," Isabelle shouts.

Tony's eyes are tearing up. He's too scared to even talk. Let alone make a soul-crushing confession. He makes sounds and mumbles but doesn't form any actual words.

"Tony, say something!" Ameana pushes.

But Tony is held in the grip of fear and unable to talk. The snake inches higher. It squeezes Tony's chest and now has him completely immobile.

"If he doesn't confess, he's going to die," Isabelle tells us.

"I think I saw a Touch plant somewhere around here," Wolf says.

"That's perfect! Go find it and cut the liquid from its roots."

"How will that help?" I ask.

"The liquid from the root of the Touch plant is paralyzing. The snake will be immobilized for a few seconds. That's enough time to get Tony out."

"Ameana go with Wolf to find the plant," Marcus orders.

The two of them take off quickly and disappear into the fog. I turn my attention back to Tony whose face has now turned a ghoulish shade of blue. Blood seeps out of his nose as the snake coils itself around Tony's neck.

He's not going to survive...

"I cheated on a math test once," I shout over at him. Everyone looks back at me. I don't care. I won't let anyone else die. If I have to get Tony to fess up to save his life, then that's what I'll do.

"I met a guy online once. He asked for my pic and I was afraid he'd think I was ugly so I sent him someone else's picture."

Then I saw it. Tony let a little bit of hope in. He parted his lips but he just couldn't get the words out. I pushed myself to give him one last confession; one that I was hoping to take to my grave.

"I planned to kill myself so I could be with my mom."

I can't bring myself to look at Marcus's face. I focus on the Seller. Tony chokes out five words that would untimely save his life.

"I killed my best friend."

The words give life to a small ma.s.s of dark energy. It hovers in the air and the snake greedily swallows it. As soon as it does, it uncoils itself from Tony and slithers away. The team runs over to Tony, who is coughing and having a hard time controlling his breathing.

Wolf and Ameana come back just in time to see Tony being helped to his feet. He takes a bottle of water out from his knapsack and drinks. Everyone is watching him. He turns to us and for the first time ever, Tony isn't up for talking.

"Can we go now?" he asks harshly. Tony has never raised his voice to the team. Seeing him so uneasy and upset throws all of us off. Instead of moving, we all stand still looking at him.

"WHAT?" he shouts.

No one says a word. He looks down at the ground, leans on a tree and drinks from the bottled water once again. When he speaks, it's not the Tony we all know. His tone is reflective and filled with regret.

"Back when I was human, my best friend Anderson and I hung out together everyday. We had been friends since we were kids. He was smart; book smart. He pushed me to try harder in school but I just wasn't gifted academically. No, my gift was talking people into things. I could sell sand to the desert.

"I owed some guys a few grand for some 'not-so-wise' bets I had made. They weren't very understanding when I couldn't pay. They hired some low lives to come to my apartment and 'take care of me. '

"Anderson had come down from school to see me. He knew where my spare key was hidden, so he let himself in. When the guys came, they thought he was me and they beat him to death. Crazy thing is, he didn't even want to come down that weekend. But my gift is talking people into things..."

There's more Tony wants to say. But judging from the tight grip he has on the water bottle, it would take a hundred Pity Snakes to get it out of him. Marcus goes over to Tony, places a hand on his shoulder and says, "We need to keep moving."

Tony nods quickly and follows the team as they walk ahead. A few minutes later, he comes over to me and thanks me for helping him.