Page 15 of Indecent

He was in the Rink. The disco ball’s lights twinkled around the room. He could smell the rubber floor mats, coffee, and pizza. Papers and laptops were scattered across the ancient air hockey table, and the multicolored lights over the training area gleamed.

They were all there. All his friends. Nicolas was in Ashmedai’s arms by the table. Talon, Alex, and Ira were on the sofa. Wolf sat on the armrest by Ira. Malachi and Luke were side by side in a pair of folding chairs. Nathan sat on a stool at the table, poking at a laptop, and Storm leaned on the table beside him. Valac was in an armchair, and Julian was on the floor at Valac’s feet, leaning against his legs. Shadrach and Isaac were by the snack bar while Shadrach mixed himself a drink.

“I mean, if it had to happen to anybody, it was better that it was him, right?” Talon said.

“Absolutely,” Alex said earnestly, threading their fingers together. “He didn’t have someone like the rest of us. He wasn’t immortal like us, so he was going to die eventually, anyway. Better him than any of us. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you behind or watching you die.”

“I hate to say it,” Nicolas said in a way that suggested he didn’t hate to say it at all, “but you’re right. Danny didn’t have anybody special he was leaving behind. If anybody had to take that fall, I’m glad it was him.”

Pain lanced through Daniel. “Wait, what?” he croaked. “Nic, you don’t mean that.”

“Yes,” Ashmedai rasped, one black, clawed hand caressing Nicolas’s jaw. “Better him than you.”

“Ashmedai,” Daniel protested. “Stop it, you guys.”

“It’s not like I ever had any visions about him,” Ira said, shrugging. “I knew he wouldn’t be around long.”

Daniel gaped. “That’s…”

True. It was probably true. If Daniel was supposed to be there in the future, Ira would have known it. Maybe he’d even known Daniel would die, but he couldn’t very well tell him that. If he’d known, he might have tried to change things, and changing something could have wrecked everything. Better to let him die than risk that, right?

“It’s not fair,” he breathed. “Please, Nic, please say something. Maybe I didn’t have a partner, but I had you. You’re my brother. You’re the one I left behind. Why won’t you say anything?” He reached out to grab Nicolas and shake him until he acknowledged Daniel, but his hands went right through him.

Daniel staggered, gasping sharply. He wheeled around⁠—

A ghastly figure with black holes for eyes and jagged teeth lunged at him. He screamed, jerking back, and fell.

He landed in water. For one terrifying moment, he didn’t know which way was up. Kicking, flailing, he got his feet under him and broke through the surface, sputtering. Bright sunlight blinded him.

“Daniel Joaquin, move your ass!”

Was that…? Daniel shook the water from his face, and yes, that was his dad standing on the lake’s dock. A handful of other paladin parents were on the shore, watching. Right, they’d come here for a training exercise. There were other teens around him, all swimming as hard as they could, pushing past each other, shoving each other under the water to get a leg up on the competition.

Daniel threw himself into the fray, heart pounding in his breast. He didn’t want to do this, but letting Dad down would be worse. Hands with too-sharp nails scrabbled at his limbs. An elbow landed in his back, and he swallowed a gulp of murky lake water. Before he could raise his head, another body landed on him, pushing him completely under. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping they would move and trying not to panic.

When he opened his eyes under the water, that face was there with its gaping black eyes and cruel looking teeth. Strong, bony fingers wrapped around his wrists, dragging him deeper into the water. He opened his mouth to scream⁠—

He was dry. Sunlight beamed down on the guild’s carefully manicured courtyard. Daniel heaved for breath, leaning against the wooden post in front of him as relief swept through him. It was gone. A bad dream, maybe. He was safe at HQ again.

“I hereby sentence you to twenty lashes for treason,” Commander Sloan’s voice rang out, and Daniel’s eyes sprang open, stomach bottoming out in terror.

The wooden post. He tried to move, but his hands were shackled in place around it. His shirt had been cut down the back.

“Wait. No!” He yanked at his hands, but the shackles held fast. “No, you can’t!”

A sinister laugh filled the air—one that wasn’t there on the day he actually received these lashes.

“Let me go!”

Pain shot up his back as the whip landed. He cried out.

When he opened his eyes, they landed on Nicolas. He was standing with their old squad, pointing and laughing.

“Nic, help me!”

“You deserve this, little brother!” Nicolas called, grinning. “Give him another, Commander!”

The whip scored against his back again, and Daniel gritted his teeth.