Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (26 page)

“So
many questions, so much fear. Y
ou must trust in your cause and follow your conscience
.
You are special because never before in history has a Defender been linked to a Watcher
.
You are linked by the Ophanim, and what the Ophanim links so does God, for the Ophanim is a piece of God’s power.
”

“Wait
, a Watcher? Do you mean Gabriel?
He wasn’t cast from heaven, he wasn’t punished
, he was reassigned
and this
is his destiny as well.”

“
’For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11”

That was the last thing I hear
d
the voice say, and I awoke with a jolt
.
For the first time in weeks I had an inkling of hope
.
Maybe I could do this, and maybe there was a happy ending out their for Gabriel and I af
ter all
.
Or maybe I couldn’t have been more wrong
.

Chapter 1
4

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
Revelation 6
: 5
-6

The clock along side my bed read
seven
a
.m. T
he Powers were going to make me late for school
.
I wonder if
the school secretary would believe that a
voice held my min
d captive so I couldn’t wake up
as an excuse for being late to school
?
Probably
best not to find out
.
I was really regretting not shower
ing
before bed last night
.
If I jumped into the shower for no more than thirty seconds, I might still be able to make homeroom
.
I was in the shower before the water had time to warm-up, but I needed a cold shower after the dream I had last night
.
I quickly lathered my hair with shampoo and brushed my teeth in the shower
.
I
launched myself out
,
toss
ing a towel around me, and rushed to my closet
.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and a random black sweater
.
I yanked
on
the clothes, pulled my converse sneakers on, and threw my hair into a ponytail
.
The clock along side
my be
d read
seven-ten
, I had five minutes to get to school
.
I grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl on the kitchen table, and hit the back door at almost a full out run
.
I took off down the sidewalk with my
messenger
bag flung over one shoulder
.
It was only Tuesday and I wa
s already having the week from h
ell, literally
.
As I rounded the corner and headed for school, Alex’s white Escalade came out of nowhere
,
ho
p
ping the curb and coming to a stop directly in front of me
.
The driver’s side door flew open and out stepped Alex, looking a little to
o
preppy to be taken seriously as the Antichrist
.
I fe
lt the need to tell him as much.
“Watch out there or you might wrinkle your khakis,” I mocked
.

He came to stand directly in front of me and reached u
p to grab my still wet ponytail.
“Show a little respect,” he all but spit the words into my face
.
“I know what you did last night, I don’t appreciate no
t
being invited to the party.”

“Then you know I have Michael on my side, you may as well pack up this little charade of yo
urs and go lick your wounds in h
ell,” I spat in his direction
.

He abruptly jerked his hand that was knotted in my hair, forcing my neck into an even more awkward position
.
“You think that defeating that slut is going to worry me
?
War has always been
a hotheaded fool
.
You did me a favor, now I don’t have to worry about her ruining everything.
”

I was really starting to regret not wearing my cross
.
In my rush this morning I ha
d forgotten all about putting it
back on, but th
ere was
still a
chance
.
I let my
bag slide from my shoulder and hit the sidewalk; I slowly reached into my jeans front pocket
,
praying that Alex wouldn’t notice the movement
.
Luckily in my rush this morning I had put on the same pair of jeans I had on last night, and sure enough in the front pocket there was my cross
.
I twisted the broken chain around my fingers, and yanked it from
my
pocket
,
shoving it in Alex’s direction
.
The cross came close to connecting with his face, and not only did the blaringly bright light explode as soon as it was freed from my pocket but the cross actually started to smoke as I shoved it in Alex’s direction
.
He abruptly released my hair
and pushed me away
.
T
he movement caught me
off balance and I tumbled to the ground
.

“You little bitch,” he hissed in my direction
.
“If you think that’s enough to stop me you’ve got another thing coming.
”
With that he slammed the door on his SUV, threw it into reverse
,
squealing t
he t
ires, and sped of
f
in the opposite direction
of
school
.
I guess when
you
’
r
e
class president, you
’
r
e
allowed
to be late
.

I picked myself up off the sidewalk, brushing tiny pebbles from my jeans
.
I reached up and fixed my ponytail where Alex had ripped it loose
.
I was definitely
going to be
late
to class now
.
I picked my
bag up off the ground, slung it over my shoulder and took a deep breath
.
Now that I was late, I may as well take my time…late was late
.
I knotted the chain o
f
my cross around my neck, not great but i
t would have to do
for now
.
I was not getting caught with
out it again.

“Only Tuesday,” I mumbled as I made my way to school
.

As I walked through the doors to school, I was struck with a strange sensation
.
Something was different, something felt off
.
The chaos that encompassed the entire school yesterday was completely gone today
.
As a matter of fact, even the normal
,
every
day chaos was gone
.
There was not one student in the hal
l, no one was wa
ndering late to class or
hanging outside the bathrooms with a
pass, there was no one. O
dd
.
I wal
ked into the main office to sign
in late
.
As I approached the counter
,
the secretary looked up from the papers on her desk,
and
if I didn’t know better I would say she looked scared
.
We made eye contact for a split second and then her attention shifted back to the papers on her desk
.
I finished signing in;
since this was my first offense it was only a warning
,
but next time I would be required to serve detention
.
No one cared if I was late because the class president, or the Antichrist as I affectionately referred to him, had accosted me on my way to school
.
Nope
,
even the chosen vessel of
Michael the archangel wasn’t free from detention, the purgatory of high school
.

I took my pass from the secretary without her looking up again, and made my way out of the office
.
First period had already started, so I was headed to my locker and then to anatomy
.
I was walking past the janitor’s closet on my way to my locker when an arm shot out and pulled me into the cramped closet
.
I blinked
,
trying to get my eyes to adjust to the much dimmer light
.
When my
eyes finally focused I saw Gabriel leaning against
the large sink across from me
.
He looked tired
.
He had on a pair of faded jeans
and a white turtle neck sweater.
I couldn’t help but picture the circle
of bruises I knew were wrapped
around his neck
.
The sweater might
have
hid the bruises, but there was no hiding the deep purple circles under his eyes
.

“You picked a hell of a day to be late, Michelle,” he mumbled
,
shaking his head
.

“Seriously, you do not want to know about the morning I’m having,” I retorted
,
crossing my arms over my chest
.

“Well I have quite a bit to fill you in on as well.
”
Before I could even tell him
about my
run in with Alex he said something that erased all other thoughts from my mind.

“I think I know who the next horseman is.
”

I stared at him in shocked awe
.
I thought I had had a rough morning; apparently I had no idea what I had missed
.
I remember
ed
the strange feeling I had when I had walked through the front doors this morning, something had been off
.

Gabriel took my silence as a cue to continue, “It
’
s P
rincipal Black.”

“What!” I shouted
.

Gabriel closed the distance between us quickly and clamped his hand down over my mouth
.
“
Shhh
, keep it down,” he whispered
.

We stood like that, still, qui
et
,
and
listening for what felt like five minutes
.
We both were
try
ing to find out if someone had heard
us;
if the door was going to be thrown open and we were going to be hauled off to the office to face the very person we
were talking about
.
Finally Gabriel decided it was safe and he removed his hand from over my mouth
.
“Sorry,” I whispered
.
“You surprised me.”

“You’ve missed the announcements, decrees, laws
,
whate
ver you want to call them, but P
rincipal Black has made quite a few changes.
”
I stared at him
,
impatiently waiting for him to fill in the blanks
.
He went on, “Apparently the school is facing major budge
t
cuts
.
Principal Black claims there isn’t enough money for the school to continue operating the way it has been
.
He’s cancelled all sporting events,
so
there’s
no more sports
.
He’s also made it mandatory for all students to stay and complete some sort of service for the school
.
He’s making it a requirement for graduation
.
He’s raised the cost of lunch in the cafeteria, but the one that’s making the most impact is he’s threatened to eliminate forty percent of the staff
.
He’s claiming that any teacher or staff member not enforcing the district policies will be eliminated on the
spot
.
He has the entire staff terrified they are going to lose their jobs.
”