Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (20 page)

Finally
,
after what seemed like a morning spent on the Jerry Springer show of dysfunctional relationships, I was headed to lunch
.
I still wasn’t sur
e what I wanted to ask him more;
how do we stop Scarlett, why did my cross glow, or what the hell had happened between us
?

As mixed up as my head was it wa
s nothing compared to how empty my stomach
was
.
I was really regretting skipping breakfast
.
The end of the world, with two servants of Satan roaming the halls
,
and all I could think about was how good the pizza smelled today
.
One of the many downfalls to being human, I still had to eat even in the
midst
of the apocalypse
.
I hurried to get in line, and quickly grabbed a slice of cheese pizza and
a chocolate
milk
.
I shoved my lunch money into the
lunch lady’
s hand and made a beeline for my usual table, the one I had just recently begun to share with Gabriel
.
I plopped down, sliding my tray across the table, and settled
myself across
from Gabriel
,
who was already seated and unpacking his brown bag lunch
.
I took a deep breath
and opened my milk carton,
trying to organize my thoughts into a logical stream of questions, but Gabriel beat me to it
.

“I guess we should talk about what occurred in the lady’s room earlier.
”
I had yet to find my
voice so instead I took a large
, glorious
bite from my pizza and simply shook my head
.
I heard him take a deep breath and then launch into what he had to say
.
“The most simple
of events
to explain is your cross,” he began
.
“
A
s a religious relic it glows in the face of any evil that is directly threatening you
.
It won’t glow if you’re simply just around evil, it will only glow if that evil has
the
intention of hurting you
.
The cross will help protect you, but it isn’t a means of defeating the threat.
”

My head was spinning a little from the influx of information, but his words struck a cord in my brain
.
It isn’t a means of defeating anyone
;
I still had to defeat these things and I had no idea how I was going to do it
.
Suddenly the delicious pizza tasted like ash in my mouth
.

“How do we defeat them?
”
I managed to ask as I choke
d the pizza
down
.

“First of all, we do not defeat them, you do
.
I am only he
r
e
as a guide, when the time comes you’ll have other guidance to help you defeat the horsemen.
”
His statement seemed to make him uncomfortable, unable to meet my eyes
.

“What’s wrong
?
What aren’t you telling me?
”
I demanded
.

“
I
t
’
s
just so frustrating
,
Michelle
.
For centuries I was the voice of the prophets
.
I was God’s choice for all crucial information that needed to be bestowed to earthly vessels, and now I know almost nothing
.
The few powers I have retained seem superficial and
useless
in helping you
.
In all those hundreds of years, I had never felt the way about a vessel that I feel for you now
.
You are so important to me, and I w
ould do anything
to keep you safe, but here I am
helpless
.
It
’
s so frustrating!” he finished with a loud bang of his fist on the cafeteria
table
.
Several students from nearby looked over at us quizzically, and I gave an uneasy smile in
their direction
.
Hopefully they would
mind their own business and chal
k our display up to the same confrontational spark that
was a
ffecting most of the student body
.

I reached across the table and laid my hand atop his fist
.
He looked up from the table and finally met my eyes
.
As always
,
those piercing ice colored eyes sent a chill straight to my bones and I had to physically restrain myself from shivering
.  “Gabriel, i
f God had turned his back on your cause I don’t think you would retain any of your former gifts
.
The fact that you disobeyed him and the result was being ban
ished to Earth and not sent to h
ell shows that he still wants you to succeed
.
I have faith that when the time comes, we’ll figure out what needs to be done.
”
I squeezed his hand reassuringly and smiled
.
I was proud of myself that the words came out sounding self-assured and confident because the truth was on the inside I was a ball of nerves, I really wanted to crawl under the lunch table and cry
.

My words seemed to have helped because the worry creases on his forehead eased and the tension in his hand relaxed
.
“I’m suppose
d
to be the brave one,” he teased
.

I smiled at him, relieved that he was relieved
.
The exchan
ge must have given me
more confidence than I realized because next thing I knew I was blurting
out, “
So what exactly did happen in the hall between you and Scarlett?
”

The relief that just moments ago was clear on his face quickly disappeared back into the worry lines on his forehead
.
“The red horseman is typically portrayed in the Bible as the bringer of war
.
Now most people think of war as what happens on the battlefield
often caused by political or geographical disputes, but as Scarlett has shown us
there are more types of war tha
n on the battlefield
.
Apparently, she
is here to bring war in
another way, jealousy
.
She is pitting the male population against the female population
.
She is feeding off the hormones of your peers and using their lust and jealousy against them
.
You don’t have to be a
prophet
to be aware of how violently lover’s quarrels can end.
”

As usual
,
my sense of humor couldn’t let this opportunity
pass, no
matter how ill timed
.
I smiled across the table.
“So you
’
r
e
telling me Pat
Benatar
was right all along?
”

Gabr
iel tilted his head to the side.
“Excuse, me?”

“Love is a Battlefield!
”
I giggled. “Heartache to heartache we stand?
”

“I’m not familiar with the reference,” he replied
,
shaking his head
.
He was clearly not amused with my joke
.

“Well trust me, it was funny,
”
I retorted a little defensively
.
“You still haven’t explained what you were doing with her in the hallway,
”
I reminded him with a slightly self-righteous crossing of my arms
.

He
sigh
ed
loudly, again
.
Was this some new habit he had picked up
?
“Well, just like Alex has identified you and I as enemies who need to be eliminated, Scarlett is aware of us as well
.
Except her weapon is her own sexuality, and her plan was to separate us and then overpower you when you were alone
.
She wanted you to see what you saw
.
She was counting on your jealous reaction to weaken us
.
Only what you saw was not what you thought you saw
.
She was
forcing herself on me.” H
e reached back across the table and grabbed my hand
,
forcing me to uncross my arms
.
“You have to believe me
.
”

I looked into that painfully handsome face and straight into those amazing eyes, and I believed him
.
Call m
e
gullible, call me a fool, but I bought what he was saying hook, line, and sinker
.
“Fine, I believe you
.
Now what?
”

“Good,” he smiled at me still holding my hand
.
“First things first, I need to limit the amount of time you
’
r
e
out of my sight
.
If she wants us separat
ed, then she must have a plan,
so we can’t be separated
.
Second, we can’t avoid her
.
In order to defeat her,
there needs to be a confrontation, so we seek her out.
”

Just then the loud rin
ging of the bell interrupted our
conversation
.
I looked up at the clock
,
amazed at how quickly the lunch period had gone past
.
Gabriel was standing and beginning to gather our trash in order to throw it away on our way out of the cafeteria
.
I stood reluctant
ly and grabbed my tray,
to return it to the cafeteria ladies on our way out the door
.

Gabriel came to stand next to me so our shoulders touched
.
“But firs
t we need to get to British Lit,
” he teased with a smile
.
It was hard to care about Shakespeare when the world around you
was
crumbling into nothingness
.

On our way to class Gabriel held my hand
.
T
he touch felt good, reassuring
.
We also passed two screaming matches between couples, one locker being punched, and a mass of girls huddled around one crying cheerleader
.
The
proverbial shit was really starting to hit the fan
.
We made it to class in one piece though
and slid
into our usual seats
;
me sitting in the front row and Gabriel sitting directly behind
me
.
I tried desperately hard to focus on Mr. Brown’s lesson, and it really was interesting
.
We were reading Macbeth and the parallels between Lady Macbeth and Scarlett were startling to say the least, but someho
w I couldn’t picture Scarlett l
osing her mind over the metaphorical blood on her hands
.
Rather than screaming “out, out damn spot
”
I could see her standing back and laughing at the destruction that lay in her wake
.

Just when I thought I was finally focusing on Mr. Brown’s lecture I felt Gabriel’s hand reach up and gently sweep my ponytail off my neck and over my shoulder
.
I froze at
the touch
.
He had caught me off guard, but it had felt nice
.
I then felt him lightly drag his fingers along the short hair
s
at the base of my ponytail
, w
h
ere they had escaped my hair tie
.
What little focus I had
on the topic of Macbeth vanished with an almost audible poof
.
I was careful not to show signs of my distraction, but I was completely focused on his fingers gingerly playing with my hair
.
Then
he
lightly bl
e
w on the back of my neck, ever so slightly
,
till the ha
ir tickled along the base of my
neck
.
My arms immediately broke out in goose bumps and it took ever
y
ounce of self-control I had not to lean back and melt into his touch
.
He was being so damn distracting. I know passing British Lit was the least of our concerns right now, but he could at least pretend to pay attention.
Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to remain in my seat facing forward any longer
,
the bell
rang
.