Authors: Marianne Curley
I run for the door.
Jordan charges after me and grabs my arm. ‘You can’t go out there. The horses will be OK. Gabriel will take care of them.’
We hear Shadow shriek – a horrifying sound that horses almost never make. I clasp my hand over my mouth to swallow the scream lodged in my own throat. Then both horses take off on a wild gallop towards the river. ‘I’m going, Jordan. I can calm them while Gabriel goes after the dark forces.’
He spins me round, putting himself between the door and me. I give him
that
look and he lifts his hands into the air. ‘I know. I know you’re stronger than me. Tonight you’re gonna have to use that strength to get through this door.’
The fear in his eyes gives me pause, and it’s in this pause I hear Shadow’s frantic, distressed squeal. I rush to the window to see him galloping up from the river. ‘He’s coming back.’
‘And Elsa’s not far behind. Look,’ he says.
I lean on the glass and see Shadow heading straight for me again. ‘Stop, Shadow,
stop
!’ But he doesn’t. I step back from the glass, but he keeps coming. ‘Slow down,’ I whisper. ‘Baby, please stop.’
‘Come on, boy,’ Jordan joins in.
Helpless, we watch Shadow gallop at full speed across the big yard like a bird escaping its cage for the first time.
Stop. Shadow, please stop. Please, baby, stop!
I want to turn away, shut my eyes, save myself the pain of seeing him smash into this solid glass wall, but I can’t do that to him. It would be like abandoning him when he needs me most. We’re best friends who have stood by each other all our lives.
So I keep still and silent, eyes open, tears streaking down my face, and wait.
Gabriel appears in the air beside him, looking like Pegasus with his wings outstretched and radiant white light beaming out of his body. Flying alongside, he reaches his hand out and touches Shadow’s neck. Immediately, Shadow begins to slow down, digging his hoofs into the ground, churning up clods of grass and soil. But he’s still too close.
Jordan wraps his arms around me from behind. ‘It’s OK,’ he murmurs. ‘It’s going to be OK.’
We watch together as Shadow hits the wall, his head and long neck forced sideways, his solid chest flush against the glass directly in front of us. Amazingly, as he takes a step backwards, raises and shakes his head, he appears unhurt. He blows hot air out of his lips and nose, which condenses into frost on the cold glass. I lift my hand and his eyes follow it, proof that somehow – quite inexplicably – he
can
see, or at least
feel
where I am. ‘I’m here, baby. I’m here,’ I croon, ‘and I’m never
ever
going to leave you.’
Still holding me, Jordan murmurs, ‘Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.’
I shake my head, fighting back another wave of tears and wishing I could rub behind Shadow’s ears and put my face in his mane and smell his goodness. ‘If I go anywhere I will take him with me.
That
is my promise to Shadow.’
Gabriel’s still-glowing palm glides with a feather-light touch across Shadow’s neck and down to his pounding heart. He’s checking Shadow for injuries. His hand stays over his chest until Shadow’s heart finally calms down. Then Gabriel turns to the glass wall and nods. He’s OK. I release a long breath in relief.
Gabriel’s impeccable white wings sway behind him as he moves to Elsa to check her out next. Seeming satisfied, he turns to face the glass once more and salutes me with two fingers to his forehead before leading the horses back to the stables.
Jordan and I sit on kitchen stools and wait for Gabriel to return. I get restless and start pacing while Jordan downs a second mug of hot chocolate.
‘Gabriel was amazing tonight,’ he says.
‘Yeah, he was incredible.’
‘Well, he is an angel.’
And it occurs to me that I am too! Somehow I just know it and this feeling is coming from somewhere deep inside my core. A red haze appears before my eyes. I try to brush it away with my hand like I would if a wad of hair fell across my eyes. But it doesn’t go away.
Gabriel finally comes in. We inundate him with questions. He looks weary and lifts both hands in the air. ‘As you saw, the horses were extremely disturbed, but they’re fine now. They’re safe.’ He plonks down on to a stool opposite us. ‘I’m confident the dark forces won’t return tonight.’
‘What happened out there, Gabriel?’ I ask. ‘I thought the stables were as safe as the house.’
He takes the glass of water I offer him, downs it, and motions for another.
‘The internal mechanisms on all the locks were seared as if someone took a blow torch to them. I don’t know how they did it, but I’ve changed them now so they will only open with the touch of your hands.’
‘Gabriel, why would the dark forces want to hurt my horses? They were trying to lure me outside, weren’t they?’
‘I believe so.’ Annoyingly, he doesn’t elaborate.
But I need answers. ‘You’ve been watching them for weeks now, how is it that you still know so little about them?’
‘I understand your concerns, Ebony, but the best I can do right now is update the Brothers with the information I’ve gathered, so they can assist me in figuring this out.’
Jordan strokes my arm. ‘Take it easy, Ebony. Shadow and Elsa are safe now.’
‘I know that!’ I practically screech at him. The red haze is turning purple at the edges and my heart is beating in overdrive. I don’t like the sensations coming over me. I like to stay in control and this feels like I’m losing it. It’s then I notice both Jordan and Gabriel holding on to things, while their hair whips around their faces.
On some level it should occur to me to wonder why it’s windy in a house with no windows and no open doors, but I’m exhausted and don’t pay the thought much attention until Gabriel walks round, turns me to face him and takes my shoulders in his hands. ‘Ebony, take a deep breath. Your powers are untried. We don’t know how strong you are yet, but apparently your emotions trigger them.’
‘Yeah,’ Jordan cuts in, ‘like when you’re angry and about to explode.’
‘Pardon me?’
‘He’s right,’ Gabriel says. ‘Your powers could quite pos-sibly blow this roof off.’
He’s saying I made this wind happen. Just like I did a few weeks ago in the living room.
I am an angel!
And no one gets to tell me that I’m not!
OK, so I don’t have wings, I’m not as tall, or as beautiful, and my eyes are pale, but I can make wind inside a closed room, I can trash a room full of furniture and I can feel something powerful brewing inside me, pushing up from the centre of my core, pulsing through my veins, and pushing at my skin with an urgent need to escape.
They’re both staring at me. I probably look wild and freakish, but I don’t care. I just have one thing to say to them: ‘Nathaneal did not make a mistake.’
23
Ebony is amazing. She’s standing in the doorway to the dining room in the middle of a wind she created that’s blowing her incredible long hair, the reddest I’ve seen it, around her shoulders. Her normally violet eyes are vivid purple. Her skin has a golden glow. She seems taller than usual, if that’s possible. And her confidence, her self-assuredness, is stronger than I’ve seen it before.
She looks like a goddess.
‘How do I turn it off?’ she asks Gabe.
He walks up to her with a big smile on his face and lightly grips her upper arms. ‘Think calm, gentle thoughts.’ He shrugs. ‘Think of me.’
She laughs a little, then closes her eyes, and pretty soon the wind disappears.
‘Way to go!’ I call out, forcing a happy grin. In reality, Ebony’s surging confidence and belief in her angelic origins is bad news for me. Skinner is not going to like my next report.
I’m gonna have to change my plan – again.
‘So what
are
those dark forces?’ Ebony asks Gabe, oblivious to my plotting against her happiness. ‘Demons?’
‘Possibly, but they have abilities beyond what demons and even what most angels can do. They don’t appear connected to Prince Luca, though I’m sure he’s involved somehow. I just don’t know in what way yet.’
My mood starts to plummet. I recognise the signs – a sense of approaching gloominess that descends over me like a second skin. A feeling that I’m losing control, that I can’t cope, that I’m a loser, and all alone in a hostile world.
It always happens when my plans don’t work out. Huh! When do they ever? ‘You don’t sound too sure of yourself, Gabe.’
‘Unfortunately, I’m not, Jordan. What I do know is that this powerful dark force hasn’t finished evolving. In only three weeks it’s become two almost identical entities, and they’re violent, constantly hungry, destructive, and don’t belong on the Earth. Their stench is still intense but receding. And I suspect they don’t feel pain.’
‘So they have no weaknesses,’ I snigger. ‘Great.’
‘Why do they radiate to me?’ Ebony asks, returning to the bench to sit beside me. Her eyes narrow as she looks me over and asks softly, ‘Are you OK?’
I nod while Gabe answers her question. ‘I’m working on that, my lady. In the meantime you will need to be vigilant – both of you.’ His eyes flick to me. ‘These forces can think for themselves, and they’re growing smarter every day as they become more human or angel in shape.’
He walks to the wall and peers into the yard. ‘It’s as if they’re trying to become one of us.’
‘Seriously, Gabe, that can’t be good.’
‘With eight billion humans to hide amongst, no, Jordan, that’s not good at all.’
‘What are you going to do about them?’
The angel takes a deep breath before he turns round. ‘According to what I’ve witnessed these past weeks, taking into account how rapidly they’re evolving, their indiscriminate ravaging of Earth, their increasing understanding of mortal life, the possibility of entering unnoticed into a human community one day, and the way they appear focused on Ebony –’ he shakes his head – ‘I’m left with only one option.’
‘Destroy them!’ I roar, smashing my palms together. When they both glare at me, I shrug. ‘What else is there?’
‘Destroying them is not a simple task, Jordan. It will require careful observation to avoid collateral damage. Angels are accountable for every act that affects human life.’
‘Or its environs,’ Ebony adds.
‘That’s right, and if we can’t identify their elemental life force, we can’t know what will happen when we destroy them.’
‘You think they could blow up?’ I ask.
Ebony suggests, ‘Or leak bacteria or disease.’
‘Until we know more, anything is conceivable, including the prospect that
nothing
can kill them.’
‘Man!’
‘Once I’m able to capture one, or take a sample of their cells, I’ll know precisely what we’re dealing with and how to eradicate them from this world. It’s the plan that offers the most protection to humans.’
I ask, ‘How long will it take to catch one?’
Gabriel scoffs, ‘Finding their base is like searching for a pebble in an ocean.’
‘Dude, if I can help, tell me what to do. I’m in. I’ll be your assistant, whatever you want.’
Those penetrating blue eyes bore into me from across the bench. ‘Until Ebony is trained to use her powers safely your job is to protect her. That’s all.’
‘I
know
that.’ I say through clenched teeth, staring back at the angel and trying not to flinch. This cocky dude needs to reassess his attitude. It stinks.
‘So what about you?’ I ask. ‘Can you handle these dark forces on your own?’ I scoff loudly. ‘No offence, Gabe, but if you can’t find where they sleep, and can’t keep up when they’re awake, how are you going to catch them, or hold on to one long enough to extract its cells?’
The angel replies, ‘Tomorrow I bring reinforcements.’
24
The weeks pass, sometimes in a blur, other times so slowly I think time is moving backwards. Nathaneal has been gone now for seven weeks, and it’s moments like this, as I look up at the stars from my bed just before dawn, that are hardest. I have to keep busy to stop from thinking about the dangerous place he’s in, whether he’s been hurt and suffering injuries in whatever task he is nominated to do. And the longer it takes, the more I go crazy thinking someone else is making him smile the way he used to with me, someone like the stunning angel Jezelle, the one he hand-picked first for his team.
And no matter how much I ask, Gabriel refuses to tell me anything more. When I ask about my parents, he always promises he’ll let me know as soon as he has information. But there’s still no word.
He’s worried about the dark forces’ rapid development. He says they now resemble ancient warrior angels from the first rebellion. The two figures are now four, and they’ve grown an exterior shell shaped to their bodies that he suspects to be titanium armour. They have gold hair. Two have bright green eyes, the other two yellow. Their skin is more natural-looking these days, but occasionally he still spots a lightning flash of raw energy.