FREED (Angels and Gargoyles Book 2) (13 page)

Happiness. Dylan had always known what it meant, but had never really understood it until now.

“Why would you want to give all that up?” Dylan asked as the memories faded away.

Joanna sat back, pulling her feet up onto her chair so that she could wrap her arms around her knees. “It became too dangerous for Jimmy. Our enemies wanted to use our relationship to control him. He wouldn’t let me leave, wouldn’t even consider the idea of Johnny and I going into hiding. He was determined to keep us all together no matter what the danger. He always told me, ‘We live a family, we die a family.’”

“Sounds like something he would say,” Dylan told her as she recalled some of the things Jimmy had said to the resistance. “Did he know what you are?”

Joanna’s head came up slightly, her chin pointing at Dylan almost like an accusing finger. “Do you?”

“I don’t think he knew,” Dylan said, avoiding the question. “He doesn’t trust anyone he thinks is different. Even Davida, even though I think the two of them…” She stopped, realizing that what she was about to say might be emotionally painful for Joanna.

“They’re together,” Joanna finished for her. “You’re as easy to read as I am, Dylan.”

That caught Dylan’s attention. She had never thought about what she might be revealing to others who had gifts like hers. “You can see my thoughts?”

“Just like you saw mine. That’s the way it works.”

“Why?”

Joanna shrugged. “I don’t know. Never really thought about it before.”

Dylan sat back, a sense of exhaustion washing over her. “Why am I here?” she finally asked.

“I needed to talk to you.”

“About Wyatt?”

Joanna bit her lip as she tugged her legs tighter against her chest. “I wish things were that simple,” she said. “But you are the center of a lot of attention right now. And I need to make sure you are going to make the right choices.”

“And what would those be?”

She didn’t respond right away. She seemed lost in her thoughts, but she wasn’t opening them to Dylan’s inspection. It seemed Joanna could pick and choose what she wanted to reveal and what she wanted to hide. Dylan wondered if she could do the same.

If it really mattered.

“Have they explained to you about the war that began all of this?”

Dylan nodded. “Most of it. How the humans were fighting over something no one seems to really understand and the angels got involved.”

“The angels were supposed to come down here and smooth things over, to help those who were already watching over the humans, keeping them safe. But the angels who were here all along had come to the conclusion long ago that the humans were no longer worth saving.”

“Luc and Lily.”

“Yes.”

Dylan sipped her tea again. “I’ve met them.”

Joanna didn’t seem surprised. “They should have stopped the war before it got so out of hand. By the time the rest of the angels came, things were already too far gone. There was no way to end the war without completely devastating one group of humans over another. It was Luc and Lily’s idea to just let the war go on without interference.”

“But not everyone agreed.”

“The gargoyles were fighting themselves weak to protect as many humans as they could. And the angels who came as reinforcement…some chose the gargoyle point of view. Others chose Luc and Lily’s. Others returned to Heaven to wait for the Father’s interference.”

“What do the angels want from me?”

Joanna’s eyebrows rose. “What makes you think we want anything from you?”

“I’m here.”

A slow smile crossed Joanna’s face, touching everything but her eyes. “You are a smart one.”

“So…”

“No,” Joanna said. “First, there are other things—”

Frustration burst through Dylan. She was tired of being told to wait, that there were other things to talk about. She was tired of all of this nonsense. She wanted answers.

“There is nothing else!”

Dylan stood up, nearly knocking over the chair she had been sitting in. She charged toward a long sofa sitting at the back of the room and then back to the table, her hands shaking as she tried to form the words she wanted to say…words she hoped would convey the deep frustration that was beginning to make her breath come in quick, stuttering sobs.

“Lily wants me because she thinks I can cure her illness. She wants to become strong again so that she and Luc can annihilate the humans and destroy the gargoyles that have been fighting on their side.

“The gargoyles want me because they think I have powers that even I’m not sure I have, and, if I did, don’t know how to use. They think with me on their side, they could crush Luc and Lily, especially if they can keep me from her. The only problem with that plan is that the gargoyles want me dead when everything is said and done.”

She turned and looked at Joanna, stopping her frantic pacing so that she could study a face that was more familiar than it should have been.

“So, tell me what the angels want.”

Joanna stood. Her body began to glow a soft, pure blue. It was like looking into the perfect flame of a campfire that was beginning to go out. And then wings, long and beautiful, that same pure blue, stretched out in the narrow room, each point brushing the walls on either side of the room as they flexed.

“We want to teach you.”

Dylan needed a few minutes. Joanna said she understood. Dylan wasn’t sure it mattered.

She walked out of the building, the bright morning sunlight burning her eyes for a moment. The angel—at least, she thought that was what he was—who had brought her to this place was nowhere to be seen. But she suspected if she tried to run toward that tall, enclosed city he would come after her. Instead, she walked to the lake. Water. Always something she had never really thought about before. In the last few weeks, however, it had become everything. It was a lifesaving liquid that kept her from dying of dehydration. It was a lake where she first met Wyatt. And it was another lake where she met Stiles.

She crouched down and picked up a few stones. She thought about Sam and how he had thrown stones into the stream that night. She hoped he was safe.

She closed her eyes, pressing fingers to both her temples. She concentrated on Sam, but like before, nothing happened. She couldn’t even feel him. Normally when she did this…but again, she had only done it a few times, and it was almost always with Wyatt.

So she began to focus on him instead. She pictured his face the way she had seen it the last time they were together. His jaw tight with emotion, his eyes a darker blue than normal. He hadn’t wanted her to go. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because he didn’t trust Sam. She knew it was important to him that she stay safe simply because it was what his father expected. Or maybe it was because of that kiss…

The moment the thought moved in her mind, she couldn’t help but remember the feel of his hands on her back, of his lips on hers.

And that was what brought him to her.

She could see him walking on grass. He was still north of where she had gone with Sam. And he was alone. Where was Ellie? And Carver and Bobby? Where was Davida? She had promised to catch up with them if they kept traveling east. Why hadn’t she caught up yet? Was she all right?

She watched as he walked for a few minutes, these thoughts spinning around in her head. And then he stopped, as though he thought he had heard something. He looked around, turning in a full circle, before he began walking again.

Be careful,
she thought.

He stopped again. “Dylan?” he asked. And then he shook his head and began to walk again.

Surprise pulled Dylan back a little, blocked her vision of him. She opened her eyes, the brightness of the sun striking her blind for a second. She moved into a sitting position, dropped her hands into her lap, and closed her eyes again. After a few minutes of concentration, of again reliving those few moments alone with Wyatt behind the wall of boxes, she could see him once more.

Where are you?

Like before, he stopped walking and looked around. “Dylan?” he asked again.

It’s me.

“Where are you?”

I don’t know. Far away.

He ran his fingers through his hair, his forehead wrinkled with a frown of confusion. “How can I hear you?”

I don’t know,
she repeated.

Can you hear me?
he asked without using his lips.

Yes.

Are you safe?
he asked as he began to walk again, his hands buried deep in his front pockets, as he often did when he was concentrating.

I think so,
she said, trying not to think of his mother. She didn’t know how this worked, but she didn’t want him to see what she had seen without some sort of warning.

I saw Stiles last night,
Wyatt told her.
He said you and Sam got separated.

Did he? Does he know where Sam is?

A picture filled her mind, Sam, his face bruised, but alive and well. Relief rushed through her so quickly it surprised her. Wyatt reacted, too, missing a step in his steady tread. He didn’t stop, but the image suddenly disappeared.

Where is everyone?
Dylan asked.

Wyatt dragged his fingers through his hair a second time before tucking his fingers back into his jeans.
Left them at a ruin north of here. Stiles took Sam there, too.

And Davida?

She hasn’t caught up yet.

That wasn’t right. Dylan didn’t understand how Davida couldn’t have caught up with them yet. They had moved quickly, but not so quickly a person alone, without Ellie dragging them down, wouldn’t have caught up. If she had walked dawn to dusk, she should have caught up with them by now.

Dylan couldn’t shake the idea that something was wrong.

I’m sure she’s fine,
Wyatt said.

Where are you?

Stiles told me you were just west of here. I’m on my way there.

How did Stiles...?
She began to ask a question she knew Wyatt would not know the answer to, so she stopped. She simply told him,
I’m not there anymore.

Wyatt stopped walking. He shook his head, that frustrated pinch that was becoming familiar on his lips. She wished she was physically there with him, wished she could smooth those wrinkles from his forehead, his cheeks. And then thoughts of Sam threatened to intrude.

“Wyatt,” she whispered.

What do you want me to do?
he asked, giving her control for the first time.

Go back,
she said.
Stay with the others. I’ll find you.

She watched as he rolled his head, staring up into the sky as his movements ceased. Finally, he nodded and turned a little, the movement so graceful it made her feel as though she were watching something unique, something beautiful.

Will you tell me where you are?

I don’t know,
she said, somewhat regretfully. She tried to send him an image, a snapshot of the lake, but she wasn’t sure it worked. She was trying so hard to keep a wall around her memories of Joanna that she was not sure how well she was communicating what she wanted. All of this was still too new.

Come to me again,
he said as the edges of the vision began to disintegrate.

“I will,” Dylan said aloud as she opened her eyes.

That was one promise she was convinced she would be able to keep.

Joanna was waiting quietly on the couch when Dylan walked back inside. She hesitated a moment, but only a moment. She settled on the couch beside Joanna and laid back, let exhaustion float through her.

“You should rest before we do this,” Joanna said. “Repair your shoulder.”

Dylan ran a hand over her shoulder, the one that had popped when Ichabod grabbed her under that tree. She had forgotten about it. The pain was like a distant memory, playing at the corners of her mind, but not really the focus. But when Joanna mentioned it, it suddenly began to ache.

“It’s not bad,” she said.

“You can heal yourself.”

It was a statement, not a question. Dylan felt like it was a test. She looked at Joanna for a second, and then she ran her hand over the shoulder and felt the pain dissipate. It was like sand falling through her fingers the way it sifted away. Just gone.

“You’ll eventually be able to do it instantly, the moment the injury takes place,” Joanna said.

Dylan remembered the scratches on her face from the tree. They had healed instantly, but they were small wounds. A dislocated shoulder was bigger.

“I don’t know about something like this—”

“That’s part of what I want to teach you.” Joanna stood and held out her hand to Dylan. “Come on, I’ll show you to your bedroom.”

“I can’t stay,” Dylan said.

Joanna studied her face for a moment. “You have so much you need to understand.”