Outcast (25 page)

I’d never heard her talk like this before. But even stranger was the inevitable conclusion she was driving toward which was…

“So…you want me to lead my army?” I asked, seriously surprised.

“If you had asked my permission first, then I absolutely would have refused. And now, hearing all of this, I wish I’d just taken us all far away and forgotten all about my parents and their stupid request.”

I’d never heard Mother insult her parents before. It was shocking.

“But now, after hearing your plan, and how skilled you are, how there is a possibility of returning this town to the one I grew up in and loved…”

“I really don’t like guns,” interrupted Daddy.

“I know, Daddy. But there isn’t any other way to do this,” I said looking back at him.

“You have a week until the ceremony,” continued Mother. “Invite your friends over here, and they can shoot on the property. I’d like to make sure everyone is using proper safety measures.”

“Okay,” I replied, still in shock. “And you really are cool with this kind of civil disobedience?” It seemed pretty unbelievable she would be.

My mother sighed. “Riley, all your life, have I ever made you conform to anything you didn’t want to be?”

I thought about it for a moment. She did like to push my boundaries…but make me? “No.”

“No. I still wish you dressed a bit better, but I’ve never made you wear anything you didn’t want to, just gave really strong hints what might work, like the dress last night.” I rolled my eyes, and she waved the issue away with a delicate hand. “That isn’t important right now. My point is, honey, I go to luncheons, I go to parties, I go to the Church of the Angels so you don’t have to. So you can live your life relatively free of the judgment I know is in this town.”

I was shaken. I’d always just seen her as someone who cared a little too much what others thought of her. Suddenly I saw it all in a very different light. She wanted to ensure that nothing got in the way of me achieving my goals, even if it meant doing things she didn’t want to do.

“And your idea, though a little unorthodox, actually makes a lot of sense. All the work you’ve put into training shows me that you understand how difficult the task will be. Of course, there’s also the simple fact that Pastor Warren is a fool, and it would be nice to see him taken down a notch.” She smiled at me, and I smiled back.

“Okay,” I said. I never thought in a million years my mother would be the one convincing me to do this, but I really appreciated that she had. “So for the next week, I’ll just put Gabe out of my mind…” I knew even as I said it, it would be impossible. “And we’ll focus on the plan.”

I heard Daddy sigh sadly, and I turned to him once more. “It’s okay, Daddy, we’re being very safe. And we aren’t actually killing anything. From what I can tell, killing Gabe as a Thrall is what allowed him to come back to life as a human.”

“I suppose.”

I stood up and went to him, bent over, and gave him a big hug. “You can help us choose the most advantageous positions in the park if you want,” I said, hoping if I involved him, he’d feel a bit better.

But he stayed glum and just said, “If you’d like.”

Our issues seemed to be sort of resolved now, and we were all really quiet, just sitting there. There was so much still to digest, so much to try to make sense of. And right now I had to make plans, call up the team, get them to come here tomorrow.

“I’m going to go to bed,” I said. “I’ve got a lot to do, and I’m tired.”

My parents nodded. It wasn’t like they weren’t aware of that. I think also they wanted some time alone, to deal with everything that had happened between just the two of them. I wasn’t the only person who had had a massive revelation that night.

I gave them each a kiss and went upstairs. I made my phone calls, tried my best to explain the new plans, and what had happened to Gabe without bursting into tears. I didn’t bother sharing with any of them the Nephilim thing. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about that yet, and I sure as heck didn’t need anyone else’s opinions on the subject. And then I got ready for bed, turned on my fan, and climbed in under the thin top sheet.

I lay there utterly exhausted. I’d never felt so tired in my life. I couldn’t help but hear my mother’s voice in my head, talking about my giving up because of a boy. I was really concerned that maybe she was right, but at the same time it felt horrible. It wasn’t just that Gabe had left, it was how he’d done it. A note? A stupid note? But she had a point. Here I was, lying in bed, and all I could think about was him. I’d just discovered I was a warrior half-angel, and all I wanted was the boy who’d kissed me on the swing back in my life.

Which one? My mind asked me.

I didn’t have the heart to answer it.

I curled up onto my side and let the tears flow freely again. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried this much. I wished none of this had happened, I wished I’d never shot Gabe, I wished we’d never met. Then I wouldn’t be dealing with all of this shit now. No armies to lead. No hearts broken. Just a normal, boring life.

But I’d still be a half-angel.

And there it was. Even if this year hadn’t happened this way, there is no way I would ever have lived a normal life. And after all this was over, I still wouldn’t get to. I was different. Not in the way that everyone is different from everyone, or how I’d always thought I was a little freakish compared with everyone else I knew. I was actually different from almost everyone else on the planet. I wondered if there was any kind of support group for Nephilim or anything.

The idea of meeting others like me was just one thought too many and seriously overwhelming. Quickly I reached over and turned off my reading lamp. If only I could turn off my brain as easily. It was hours before I managed to fall asleep, and even then the thoughts continued through my subconscious, making for a restless and disturbed night.

The week went by like a shot, an appropriate simile considering. At first it was really weird moving training to my parents’ place, but it actually wound up being pretty great. We had a lot more room here to work, and Daddy had tweaked the skeet shooter to get it to shoot totally different arcs, really challenging us again. He’d also gone to the park where the fair grounds were in the midst of being put together and took a survey of the best spots for the team. We were lucky that the town would be in a pretty confined area. This meant we knew how much ground we’d have to cover.

“There’s going to be a Ferris wheel this year, and bumper cars,” Daddy reported back. “And those are being set up a bit farther outside the normal area, but once it gets close to the Taking, everyone’s meant to congregate around the stage to listen to Pastor Warren, so it should still work out.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” I said, and gave him a smile.

“I’ve actually drawn a map…” he continued, and opened up the briefcase he used when working at Tulane. I laughed. “What?” he asked as he pulled out a large piece of paper.

“Nothing, it’s just really nice how much you want to help out,” I replied.

“Well, of course I want to help out,” he said, and he spread out the map in front of us on the dining room table. “The best positions would have to be the following…” And he showed us the different options. It was obvious he’d put in a lot of thought and made several calculations involving the possible angle of the targets, which I’d just assumed was up, but to Daddy there were a few more possibilities.

“This is great, Mr. Carver,” said Curtis, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

“Damn great!” added Wild Frank.

“Frank,” said Daddy, turning to him. “I told the sheriff that you’d be having dinner with us on the night of the Taking, that we’d be in charge of making sure you didn’t go gun-crazy, so make sure to come by here first before heading down to the grounds.”

“That’s awesome, Daddy!” I said. I’d totally forgotten about Wild Frank’s guards for the night.

“Dave, you’re a damn fine bastard, you know that?” said Wild Frank, sounding a little emotional.

“I didn’t know that, but thank you,” replied Daddy. “And, honey,” said Daddy, turning to me, “your Mother and I have come to a decision. We’re going to stay home.”

“What?” They had to come, I needed their support.

“We won’t be any use to you, and your Mother is really nervous about all of this. To be honest, Honey, we’re concerned that if anything went wrong, we’d try to help you, and we’d get in the way.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Those creatures might lash out at you, and you’ve all trained for this, but we haven’t. We’d want to help, but we wouldn’t be able to…we decided we’d rather feel helpless at home than be a danger to you all. Can you understand that?”

I couldn’t really. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

I nodded. I had resigned myself to doing this without Gabe, but I’d kind of replaced him with my parents. Now that they weren’t going to be there either…my god. I’d really be on my own.

No. I looked at my team watching the conversation, not alone.

“Okay. I get it,” I said. Daddy leaned over and gave me a side hug.

Mother entered with a tray of sandwiches then, and we pushed the map aside for lunch. Really, it had been pretty wonderful having my parents helping us out. I kind of regretted not having asked them sooner, except of course that if I had they probably would have not only said no, but locked me up in my room just in case. Everything had happened just as it was supposed to.

Everything?

Even Gabe leaving had its own importance in the series of events that had followed. If he hadn’t left I’d have never run into the forest, and I probably would never have had that talk with the guardian. I’d have been too distracted by Gabe.

But maybe there still could have been a way. Maybe we would still have been at this point with him around. I didn’t think it was right to just excuse Gabe’s bad behavior. Over the week, my sadness over missing him had slowly turned to rage at how he’d left. It was useful, really, making me keener than ever to kick some angel—or rather Thrall—butt.

When the day finally arrived, though, I found myself far from pumped up. Mostly I just felt terrified, and I think it showed when the team arrived late in the afternoon for a final meeting and last training session.

“You okay?” asked Father Peter coming over to me in the living room, as the others gathered around the map one last time on the dining room table.

“I’m a little nervous,” I said.

“Well, you look more than a little nervous.”

“Okay, terrified.”

“We’re ready for this, Riley, and it will work.” He stood facing me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You think so?”

“I have faith.”

“Well, yes, you would…”

“But Riley, even if you don’t,” he continued, bringing up his other hand to my other shoulder, “you need to pretend. I know you like to be one hundred percent honest, but you’ve got to lead this team, and they need to know that you know this will work.”

“But what if it doesn’t?”

“Riley.”

“Okay,” I said. “Okay. I’ll fake it.”

We joined the gang at the table. When they noticed me, they all stopped talking and stood upright. It was uncomfortable, them all just looking at me like that.

“You guys excited?” I asked, forcing a smile.

“Not really,” replied Lacy. “My stomach’s in knots. I couldn’t eat anything today.”

“Yeah, I know. This is pretty big. I’m nervous too.” I glanced over at Father Peter who gave me a look. “But that’s to be expected. We’ve got a solid plan, guys. Our training has paid off, our skills are amazing now.” I really wanted to tell them what my guardian had told me, that because I’d chosen them and worked with them, they were better at this than they had any idea they were. But I couldn’t. Because I was still keeping that half-angel thing to myself. “We can do this. It might have seemed like a crazy idea at first, but I’m telling you guys, if my parents are helping us, that means there’s something very logical about it.”

That got a small laugh, and they seemed to relax. “Not only can we do this, we will do this. We’ll know exactly where the creatures are because everyone in the town will be in one place. They like to show off, the creatures, so they’ll make sure we get a good chance to see them. And when we do…”

“We blow those bastards out of the sky!” finished Wild Frank.

“Damn right we will!” I said and laughed.

“Okay,” said John clapping his hands together, “great pep talk, Riley, but we’ve got one more training session to get in, and then we’ve gotta get some rest before we meet up.”

“Right,” I replied, “then let’s get going.”

Our final training session was only two hours. We didn’t want to overtire ourselves. But besides that, more time just wasn’t necessary. They were fantastic, all of them. And I wasn’t that bad either. We finished off the session back inside the cool house with a light dinner that my mother left for us to enjoy. She and Daddy had gone into town to make a final inspection of the fair grounds. We were all pretty relaxed and happy and chatting up a storm, which is why we didn’t hear the door at first.

But I heard the knock the second time and excused myself from the table.

“Amber?” I said when I opened the door. I stepped outside quickly, even though it was pretty obvious from the number of cars in the drive that I wasn’t alone. “What are you doing here?”

Amber looked even paler than usual, her freckles so clear you could play connect the dots with them.

“I…” She looked like she was about to faint.

“Here, Amber, sit down,” I said, guiding her to the edge of the porch. She did, and I sat next to her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she muttered. Then she looked up at me with a look of total desperation in her eyes. “Riley, I just found out something, and I had to tell you.”

“What is it?”

She took a stuttered breath. “So I went to the church…”

“Church of the Angels?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I went early because Pastor Warren said he wanted to make sure I chose the right dress for tonight. I’ll be up on stage with the family because of me and Brett, and we have to look right.”

“Okay…” Still sounded creepy to me.

“So I went early and went inside to find him, and he wasn’t anywhere in the main hall so I thought he was probably downstairs . . .”

“There’s a downstairs?”

“It’s not much, a little kitchen, a small room for his office. And sure enough, I heard his voice, but I thought it sounded like he was talking to someone, so I didn’t go in. I wasn’t sure if I should.”

“Okay.”

“So I waited outside and sort of listened, and then I heard a voice, and it sounded like Gabe’s voice, and I thought that didn’t make sense…”

“What?” I asked her quickly. “What did you just say?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I was thinking like, what’s he doing here? He doesn’t like this stuff. So I really carefully opened the door a little bit, just a little bit, and peeked inside. And I saw that it was Gabe, and he was…” She was visibly upset now. “Riley, he was all tied up. And…and…he was all bruised, and just as I was wondering what had happened, I saw Pastor Warren hit him, like really hard, across the face.”

“Amber…”

“And I made a noise, and Pastor Warren heard, and so I ran upstairs, and I didn’t know what to do. I guess I should have gone home, but I know y’all are such good friends, and I didn’t think you knew about it, and I thought I should tell you.”

I was already on my feet heading toward the door. She turned and called the last bit out after me. Without even looking back at her, I opened the door and stepped inside, slamming it behind me.

“Gabe’s been taken by Pastor Warren. He’s at the church, being held there and beaten, and I’m going to rescue him,” I announced to the team.

“What are you talking about?” asked Father Peter.

“I don’t know how it happened, but for some reason Pastor Warren has him, and I’ve got to save him.”

“Well, yeah, of course, and we’ll help,” said Daniel. Everyone else stood up in a rush.

“No, no. We can’t all go. We have to start taking positions so that we don’t look suspicious to the police. You guys need to get home, change, get everything together, and meet. I’ll do this.”

“You can’t do this on your own,” said Lacy.

“I can. Trust me, you’ve no idea what I’m capable of.” Okay, so I didn’t know what I was capable of either, but I knew I was one of the Nephilim and that meant I had talents.

“Let me go with you,” said Father Peter, his voice sounding shaky. “I don’t need to go home first, and I am one of the least suspicious of any of you. I can show up at any time.”

I looked at him, and though he looked a little scared, I did like the idea of at least one other person with me. “Okay. You can come. But the rest of you, stick to the plan.”

Everyone else nodded reluctantly, and my heart warmed to see how much they cared, about me, about Gabe.

“Oh, and someone’s got to take Amber home. She’s sitting outside.”

“I guess I’ll have to,” said Lacy. “She’ll think it’s weird that I’m here with you, but even weirder that the Alexanders are. And Frank’s sticking around here as his alibi.”

“Thanks, Lacy,” I said a little too coldly. She looked at me funny, but then gathered up her stuff and went to meet Amber.

She had to leave first, so that Amber wouldn’t see everyone else pile out of the house. The rest of us watched as she pulled out of our driveway and onto the main road, and then we all went outside. I hopped into my mother’s car with Father Peter in the passenger seat.

“Riley,” said Curtis coming to the window, “take your shotgun.”

“I’m not about to shoot Pastor Warren,” I replied, aghast.

“No, in case you don’t have time to get back before the ceremony. Keep it in your trunk.”

I nodded, that made a bit more sense. Curtis fetched it from the house and stowed it in the back. Then I looked at the rest of them standing at my window.

“I’m sorry I have to rush off like this. And I might not be able to meet up with you guys in time and everything, so if I don’t show, everyone take their signal from Curtis.”

“It’s okay. You just save Gabe,” said Daniel.

“Oh, I will.” I turned over the engine, and we were off down the drive in a cloud of dust.

“Riley, please don’t do anything stupid,” said Father Peter, and I raced down the street.

“I won’t, Father, I won’t,” I replied. I really had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew whatever it would turn out to be, even I’d be surprised by it. I turned left sharply and then right again.

“Well…just take care of yourself.”

“You know, Father, I’m more worried about the bigger danger.”

“The bigger danger?”

“Well, Pastor Warren can’t be holding Gabe prisoner just because he doesn’t like the way he dresses. He’s gotta know something. And there’s very few people who know what we know, so I’m thinking there’s someone on our team that we can’t trust, and that’s not good.” I didn’t mention who I really suspected. After all, there was one person in our team who really enjoyed a good gossip. Whose parents were very close friends with the pastor. Who even though she had agreed to be my friend, maybe hadn’t actually meant it.

“I hadn’t considered that,” replied Father Peter.

“So we’ve got to keep our eyes open tonight, Father. Things may be a lot more complicated than we’ve anticipated.”

We were on Main Street now, almost through town. We passed the fair grounds, and I really hoped my parents wouldn’t notice their car whiz by. They approved of shooting down Thralls, but I didn’t think they’d approve of a rescue mission that sent their daughter into the basement of a malevolent pastor.

Soon we were through town, and the tower of the church was in plain sight. I slowed and stopped around a hundred meters from the entrance where the front door was hidden from view by the brush. I opened the door.

“Please be careful, Riley,” said Father Peter. I could tell he was now seriously second-guessing my decision.