Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (41 page)

I mentally prepped myself
.
This had to be done, no matter how bad I didn’t want to d
o it, and then I thought of my f
ather
.
My dead f
ather and the red ruin that had been his face under that sheet
.
My blood again boiled with rage, but this time I steeled myself to think my actions through
.
I ran at him
,
glowing cross in hand,
and
I was ready when he swung the scythe towards me
.
I ducked and r
olled, his blow missed
me completely and
I was
more than a little amazed that I had pulled
it
off in this dress
.

I landed at his feet, but before he could again raise the scythe in my direction, I shot to my feet and clasped the cross to his face
.
It began to smoke and smolder, the white light erupting even brighter
.
I involuntarily closed my eyes against the brightness, and quietly prayed, well sort of
.
What I actually thoug
ht was, “
God, Michael, anyone
…
n
ow would be a great time for some help
.
”
The
cross
blazed
even brighter and I felt the radiance spread into my hand, down my arm, and
throughout
my body
.
I opened my eyes and found myself glowing, much like the cross did
.

Death fell to his knees, his head til
t
ed back towards the ceiling
and his cloudy eyes staring unseeingly up
.
He continued to slouch further to the floor, and I leaned over him refusing to
let
the cross slip from its place on his face
.
The scythe fell from his hands, and I heard a booming
voice
inside my head echo, “Use it
and finish
him.
”

I pulled the cross back from his face, but I continued to glow in a blinding white aura
.
I reached for the scythe
,
and before Death’s body could slump completely to the floor
,
I swung
.
The scythe sliced through the air with a whoosh
,
connecting perfectly with Mr. Kelley’s neck
.
The scythe was sharp and passed
easily through his neck
.
At first nothing happened, then a small red line began to ooze around his neck, then the line began to run and drip br
ight red, finally his head slid
to one side and hit the floor with a thump
.
Blood sprang from his neck and sprayed across my face and hands as his body followed his head and hit the floor with a thud
.

The room was suddenly filled with bright light, but not from me
.
It was like a nuclear flash and then it was gone
.
My arm burned and ached
.
When the blazing white light had faded, I opened my eyes
.
I looked down at my arm, were I had been marked with the tattoo of the Michael sword
.
I had gotten so use
d
to looking at
it
I
almost
forgo
t it was there
.
Now
, crossing over the sword and
forming an “x” on my forearm
,
was the tattooed
i
mage of a scythe
.
I rubbed my arm,
it was tender and sore but
t
he image didn’t bu
dge
.

I looked around the room, scanning to see the disaster that we had created
.
To my astonishment, the room looked as if nothing had happened
.
Mr. Kelley’s body was gone; there was no pool of
blood where his severed head ha
d fallen
.
I looked down at my dress,
sadly
I was still sprayed with blood across my chest and neck and hands
.
All the secretaries’ papers
,
passes
, and even her phone had
been returned to her desk where they belonged
.
I looked around
,
searching, but Mrs. Still
’s
body had disappeared as well
.
I guessed that she wasn’t just unconscious after all
.

I glanced back
,
looking for Gabriel, who
lay
slouched
o
n the floor
.
The perfect white of his tux shirt
was
smudged with black soot from the fog that had enveloped him
.
I raced to his side and rolled him over into my lap
.
I stared down into his face
,
smudged and streaked with black soot as if he had escaped a burning house
.
I ran my hand down his che
e
k
,
attempting to wipe the soot from his face,
but
all I succeeded i
n doing was wiping the blood that
coated my hands onto him
.
Now
,
in addition to the black soot he also had a red streak running down his face
.
A small splash hit his chee
k and rolled down to his chin
.
I
realized
I was crying
.
I wiped at my own face in disgust, it seemed like all I ever did anymore was cry
.
I fel
t a hand reach up and cup the sid
e of my face, and I gasped
.
I looked down to see Gabriel staring back up at me
.
“It
’
s okay to cry
,
Michelle, it
’s
okay.
”

I collapsed forward o
nto his chest and let out a cho
ked sob
.
Thank God, we had survived another Horseman
.
With that thought the realization that
yet
another Horseman was still down in th
e gym se
t me on alert
.
I shot back up and looked into Gabriel’s confused face
.
“We have to get out of here
.
If Principal Black realizes that Mr. Kelley failed he’ll be down here looking for us, and I don’t think I have it in me to confront another Horseman tonight.
”

Gabriel nodded and rolled of
f
my lap and began to stand
.
“Then let
’
s sneak out of here before he can notice we’re gone.
”

We made our way towards the f
ront entrance of the school, which
was now dark and
unlit
since all the students had entered the dance through the gym entrance
.
E
xi
t
ing
the school
we
head
ed
to
ward
the sidewalk, since it was a few short blocks to Gabriel’s house
.
I looked at the two of us, him looking like an escapee from a
fire with blood smeared across his face, and me with a tattered and torn dress
, a spray of blood across my chest and face,
and
my hair tumbling into my face
.
We couldn’t chance walking home down the sidewalk, someone might see us, and that would definitely result in a call to the police
.
I pulled Gabriel across the parking lot and towards the trees
.
We were going to have to make our way home out of plain sight, or risk having to try to explain why we both looked like we had narrowly escaped death
. O
f
course that was exactly what had happened but I don’t think the cops would buy that story
.

Chapter 22

2 Chronicles 15:7 “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

We arrived ho
m
e
,
somehow managing to remain unnoticed
.
We dr
a
g
ged
ourselves up the steps to the bathroom
.
I was really starting to feel sore, and I could tell fro
m
the way Gabriel was m
o
vi
n
g he felt the same
.
We stumbled into the bathroom and stared at our reflections in the mirror
.
It was far worse tha
n I had even imagined
.
Under the bright bathroom lights you could full
y see
how brutal we both looked
.
I simply
shook my head and walked over to start the shower
.
Quickly enough steam began to fill the room, and Gabriel being the gentleman that he was allowed me to take the first shower
.
When I was finished I went into the bedroom and put on my favorite pair of plaid flannel pajamas, and Gabriel took his turn in the shower
.

The adrenaline had left my body, leaving me exhausted and sore
.
I climbed under the
mountain
of warm, soft blankets and waited for Gabriel to be done with his shower
.
It wasn’t long till he exited the bathroom in a cloud of steam
,
a towel
wrapped firmly around his hips
.
I admired his broad shoulders and narrow waist
.
The muscles
in his back and arms glistened
like white
porcelain
from the shower
.
He grabbed a few articles of
clothing
from the dresser and again went back into the bathroom
.

I rolled over and began to think of the events of tonight
.
On
the one hand the good news was we knew who all our enemies were now, and two
of
the four had been dealt with
.
The bad news
…
I had no idea
when or where our remaining
foes w
ere going to choose to attack
.
I felt the bed move as Gabriel c
limbed in
bed beside me
,
drap
ing
his arm over me as he settled
.

“Why do you think Alex
,
o
r
even
Principal Black
,
have never attacked us here
?
When we’re sleeping
?
It can’t be that hard to figure out w
h
ere you live,” I asked.

Gabriel was silent for a moment and I th
ought he wasn’t going to answer.
“I don’t think they can or they would have.
”

That was not the definitive answer I was looking for
.
I was hoping that there was some angel-demon loophole
that prevented the minions of h
ell from entering our home, but the best Gabriel could answer was he didn’t think they could
.
Not comforting
.

“I know I’ve asked you this before, but why is this happening here, in a high school
?
Seems a little small scale for an apocalypse.”

I heard him let out a deep sigh.
“I don’t really know
,
Michelle
.
Maybe that’s the very reason why
no one would expect it
.
Most great biblical events don’t seem epic in their time; it’s over centuries that their legend turns t
hem into larger-than-
life
events
.
J
esus
was the son of a carpenter,
Muhammad was a trader,
the
tower of Babel was about fifty feet tall.
”