25
“So that means you’re—”
“A demon? Of course. But I doubt I could have come right out and told one of Heaven’s finest without repercussions.”
He stepped forward and I stepped back, a reflexive dance of repulsion and fear.
“Besides, if I had told you, you never would’ve trusted me. And I needed you to trust me. If you had, then maybe things would have been better. They wouldn’t have to go this way.”
A flapping of wings filled the air as crows descended on the parking lot in front of me, beside me, behind me. Wafts of purple smoke arose, revealing an army of demons watching Seth’s every move. Beside him, the demon that had tried to attack me in the music room appeared, and on his other side the dark-haired beauty that had kissed Griffin.
“You set me up. All these things that happened—the terrible things—were just a way to get closer to me. You even fought off your own kind. But for what?”
“I told you. A war is coming, and one day it will ravage this earth. It will devour all of humankind as a final match between the angels and the demons, and right now we need all the assistance we can get.”
Seth’s red eyes burned through me as he stepped closer. I tried to back up again, but demons blocked my way, keeping me for him.
“I will never join you.” I crossed my arms and stood my ground, hoping Seth would back down, but he only moved closer, invading my space.
“I don’t think you understand. It’s not all that bad. Choosing to serve our Lord is not a choice between good and evil, it is a choice to be yourself and enjoy the world as it is. No one will stop you from interfering with humans. There are no punishments, no rules, only that you enjoy the pleasures of humanity.”
“Only renounce where I’ve come from, who I serve, and my home.”
“My sweet Arianna, don’t you realize that time is ticking way too quickly for you now? You searched for something good and true here. True love. I did everything to stop you, but still you’re here with him. And true love’s kiss hasn’t broken your curse. Nothing you’ve done has been good enough for them to take you back. It doesn’t have to end this way. You’re still an angel—at least partly—for the next few hours. Before the clock runs out, you can choose to serve a stronger power. Use that free will of yours to make a different choice.”
“Arianna?” Griffin’s voice yelled from behind, his footsteps pounding hard in our direction.
I turned. “Griffin, go back inside.”
But he’d run too quickly to heed my warning and was already at my side. Seth snapped his fingers and two demons grabbed him by the arms, holding him back.
“What’s going on, Ari?”
“We’ve just moved the party outside,” Seth said. “Want to play?”
“Leave him alone,” I shouted, shoving Seth in the chest and knocking him back a few feet.
He smirked and straightened himself, fixing the cuffs on his sleeves. “Well, that wasn’t very divine of you, now was it?”
More footsteps. I turned my head toward them as another demon grabbed hold of Chloe and she yelped.
“Looks like you’ve got some true-blue friends here. Did you ever think that maybe they were the ones holding you down?”
“Maybe if you had a few decent friends, you wouldn’t be so evil.”
Seth laughed and his army chuckled along with him. He snapped his fingers again and the entire group fell silent. Then he marched directly in front of me until his breath fell on my cheeks.
“You had your chance.” He ran his hand along my arm, goosebumps pebbling across my skin as the fear of what might happen flashed through me. “We could have been so great together. We could have ruled this pathetic town. You’d have been the perfect queen to my beloved kingdom. But I needed you to choose. I needed you to make the choice to serve Hell.”
“Don’t touch me.” I ripped my arm away.
Seth’s lips curled into an amused smile. He walked back toward the dumpster and squared his shoulders to face me. “Maybe it will be easier if we get rid of a few of these obstacles.” He glanced quickly at Griffin and then Chloe. He placed his hands in front of him a few inches apart, palm open to palm, and closed his eyes. Sparks of red and silver exploded between his hands, building and building into an orb that rotated hypnotically between his fingers. He widened his hands as the orb grew. The sparks brightened in intensity and fury.
Seth whipped his eyes open. “Normally I’d let you pick who you wanted to lose first, but tonight, all dressed up like this, I’m feeling like a gentleman. So I guess it’s ladies first.”
He pivoted in Chloe’s direction and pulled his elbow back. The orb flowed with his hand.
“No!” I screamed and ran toward her, jumping the last few feet to knock her out of the way. The orb landed squarely in my chest.
My entire body writhed and twitched as my flesh jolted with electricity. Incredible burning. Shouting voices dropped away in the distance against the loud ringing in my ears. Then everything brightened, lights filtering in. White, pure light streamed around, as if it were the middle of the day. And then as quickly as it began, the pain stopped.
26
My hand smacked the marble floor. The sound reverberated into the air as a cold jolt shot through my knees. The downy softness of feathers brushed the backs of my arms, surrounding me, hiding me from the outside, until I caught my breath and chose to stand.
“The doubtful Arianna has returned.”
Raguel stood before me, his arms outstretched. The blue radiance emanating around him was nearly blinding after seven days without its brilliance.
“You mean, that’s it? It’s over?”
Raguel walked forward and placed his hands on my biceps. A blissful feeling spread over my body from where his fingers touched my skin. The gold tips of his feathers shone brightly as they brushed up against my stark white ones.
“Yes, my child. And with hardly any time to spare.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
Raguel laughed. “You finally demonstrated that you understood the human condition. The feeling of love, unconditional. You sacrificed yourself to save that girl because you cared for her. You put the safety of those humans above your own. You exercised your free will for something bigger than yourself, for no reward, but risking dire consequence. You have proven yourself, and now you may return to the Kingdom of Heaven as you so rightfully deserve.”
“Are you saying this was all just a test? That you sent the demons to follow me? To threaten my friends?”
“Of course not. We don’t negotiate with their kind. That threat was very real and will be swiftly dealt with. All of this has been on your own.”
I shirked out of Raguel’s grip and paced up and down the hall. Other angels looked on, not daring to speak, only whisper.
The scene played out in my head—the danger we had all been in only moments before. But with me gone, what would happen to Chloe and Griffin? I doubted that missing the chance to capture an angel would go unrevenged.
“Why do you look so upset? I would think that reclaiming your wings would make you more grateful.”
“But what about my friends? The danger was real, and the demons are working on their own orders. What will happen to them?”
Raguel’s face fell and he turned his back. His wings curled over his shoulders. “I suspect they will die.”
“Suspect? You never guess at anything. You know. They are still in danger, aren’t they?”
He refused to turn, but I stormed around to face him as the truth burned bright across his red-tinged cheeks.
“You can’t let that happen. You have to save them.”
“You know I can’t interfere like that. It is not how free will works.”
“They wouldn’t have chosen to go out there if it wasn’t for me. We’ve already interfered. We need to fix this.”
Raguel shook his head and reached out his hand toward me. “Arianna . . .”
&nb
sp; “Don’t.” I raced to the far end of the hall and ripped open the great wooden doors, but before I could take a step out of the court, Raguel’s hand appeared at my waist and turned me around.
“What are you doing?”
“You know exactly what I’m doing. If you won’t help them, then I will.”
“Have you learned nothing? Interfering in the lives of mortals is what brought us to this position in the first place. Don’t continue to make the same mistakes.”
“This would not be a mistake. And I would be willing to pay any price for my actions.”
A hot flood of tears streamed down my face, and I rubbed them with the back of my arm. His expression melted. The stern, steely glare softened, and his lip twitched as his composure wavered.
“You don’t know what you’re asking. A second offense would not be let off so easy. The consequences would be much more permanent.”
“Then do it. Send me back. Give me the chance to save them.”
“This wouldn’t be a temporary fix, Arianna. I don’t think you fully understand what you’re asking me to do.”
“But I do. Make me human, Raguel. Please.”
Tears filled in the corners of his eyes, but he willed them down, his resolve always much stronger than mine. He placed his hands on the sides of my face and laid a small chaste kiss on my left temple. He let out a deep sigh then turned and glided to the front of the court.
“Very well. As you have requested, shall it be done.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Raguel raised his hands to the sky. His wings stretched out, looking bigger than I had ever seen.
“Wait—” I shouted, and Raguel reverted to normal size. “I need something first. Chloe’s mother. I promised, if I returned, that I would find her and tell her that Chloe is sorry.”
“You’ll waste your last breaths as an angel on this human?” His laughter boomed through the court, a choir of angels joining him.
“Of course. That’s what friends do.”
His eyebrows raised as a knowing smile graced his lips. “Then the message shall be delivered. I wish you luck, Arianna.”
Raguel nodded his head solemnly and the heavens began to spin. Light, color, warmth, all in a familiar vortex as I started to slip away. I gripped the edges of my wings, knowing it was the last time I would feel the comfort of their softness between my fingers. The light dimmed, closing in around me, and I waited for the trauma as I began to fall. Maybe I’d made a mistake. Maybe I didn’t need to do this. But as the light faded faster, my heart swelled, knowing this was what I truly wanted. Chloe and Griffin needed me to save them from Seth, but I needed them even more. I wanted to be human with them. I just hoped I wasn’t too late. I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek until nothing remained but darkness.
27
Pain.
Seth’s blast knocked me straight in the chest. The moment of impact. Back to the exact second Raguel had ripped me out of this world and back into my own. Dropped back here as if I hadn’t missed a beat.
The magic burrowed under my ribs, spreading toxic through my bloodstream and out into my limbs. I screamed—I think I did—unable to feel my vocal chords stretch and rip but hearing the sound echo all around me. I fell to the ground, arms twitching, as the poison took hold.
“No!” Griffin yelled, but he seemed far away and distant.
Seth stood over me, glaring down at my writhing body on the pavement. His face appeared to smile but with the haze over my vision, I wasn’t certain.
“I told you to take the easy way. I never wanted it to come to this.”
Suddenly my back arched off the ground. A searing heat ripped through me, battling against the pain.
“What the hell?” Seth stepped back but not quickly enough. The spot Seth had hit—the bullet hole of hate—began to glow. White and blue light streamed out in thick beams illuminating the night. The faraway scream echoed again.
I tried to sit up, but the force pushed me back down. The heat bubbling in my blood intensified, burning all Seth had shot at me and repurposing it into light. He grunted as the beam widened, brushing over him and several of his front-line demons. The agonizing shrieks scarred my eardrums and I grabbed the sides of my head, half expecting it to explode from pressure. Feet pounded pavement—the rest of the minions smart enough to run.
The heat kept building and building, my pulse pounding unnaturally in time until it finally bubbled over, a band of sonic white ripping across the parking lot and disappearing into the world. My body collapsed. My elbows and shoulders scraped the concrete, adding to the sharp agony still lingering in my bones.
Griffin rushed over, the smell of apples hovering above me, his face sharpening in my watery view as he inched his face closer to mine.
“Ari, are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” But I was alive. A small miracle after facing Seth’s firepower. At least Raguel had given me one last gift for letting me go.
His face moved in and out of focus and he put his hand on my cheek, the warmth of his palm easing a fraction of the ache. “Stay with me, Ari. It’s going to be okay. I won’t lose you now.”
I leaned into his touch, begging for it to hold me together. My mind raced as my eyes flickered around, waiting for another face that never came.
“Chloe?”
Griffin didn’t speak. Instead he nodded toward the space behind me.
I turned my head, every muscle begging me to stop, but I needed to know. Five feet away Chloe lay on the dirty ground.
“Chloe!”
I rolled onto my stomach and dragged my body the distance between us until I could wrap my hands around hers. Griffin rushed over and placed his fingers at the base of her neck.
“She’s breathing.”
The weak rise and fall of her chest was the only thing that kept the pain at bay.
“And there’s a pulse.” Griffin pulled his phone from his pocket. “I need an ambulance. Right away. Faraway High in the back of the parking lot. Hurry.”
Voices surrounded us. Questions asked. All combinations of shock—the chaos finally reaching everyone inside and bringing the crowd to us.
I gripped Chloe’s hand tighter and inched forward to rest my head on her chest. “You can’t leave me, Chloe. I promise I won’t leave you. Ever. But you can’t leave me. I need you. I can’t do this without you.”
High-pitched sirens wailed between the buildings. People rushed to lift me as I struggled to fight them off. I wouldn’t leave her. I said I wouldn’t leave her.
Pain pulsed through me, over and over and over, but I held tight to her hand.
“Back up. Back up.” A loud commanding voice yelled in the background as white-shirted medics encircled us.
“It’s going to be okay,” the voice said.
“But . . .” I tried to argue, but the words never came. Just dark, black pain.
28
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The noise pulled me toward it, gradually getting louder as my head started to clear. I forced my eyes open against the weight of my eyelids. Angry florescent lights greeted my sore retinas. Itchy cotton and not-so-subtle hints of bleach surrounded me. And the beeping. The constant beeping. I pushed up on my elbows, my raw skin burning against the mattress, my head swirling with pain and confusion.
“Easy.” Griffin’s face appeared beside me, his hands on my shoulders helping me back down. “The doctors say you’re going to need your rest.”
He let go of my shoulder and brushed his finger across my cheek, sending a pleasant tingle down my back, a release from all the painful ones shooting around my skeletal system.
“So, I’m alive?”
He chuckled, his dark red lips smiling. I loved that smile. I hoped I would always see him smiling, never the panic I saw on his face when Seth had attacked.
“Yes, and you don’t know how relieved I am to know that.”
I slid my hand up and caught his near my face, twisting my
fingers with his. “I’m pretty happy about it too.”
His gaze softened. The waves in his eyes no longer pounded the shore, just a blue expanse of peace glittering in the sun. He leaned over and pressed his lips against mine, the sweet taste of him a temporary balm against my ailments.
“Please don’t tell me I have to watch you guys. Maybe I’d rather still be unconscious.” Chloe’s voice rang from across the room. I turned my head and Griffin stepped out of the way. From her own uncomfortable bed, in her own uncomfortable gown, Chloe sat looking over at us with a playful grin.
“You’re okay?” I blurted and tried to push myself up again. The vertigo overtook me, and Griffin settled me back down.
“Of course. You’d miss me too much.”
“Yeah, I would.”
I wanted to jump from my bed and run across the room and squeeze her until she couldn’t breathe, but that would have to wait. There were too many things we needed to discuss with far fewer witnesses. Near the window, Stephen sat in a blue chair, his arms crossed and his head hung in sleep.
“Griffin, would you mind going to get me some water?”
“Anything. But don’t think you’re getting out of explaining to me what happened.” He glanced over at Chloe and back at me, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead before exiting into the hallway.
“Are you really okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I am. All thanks to you.” A dark expression fell over her face. “But it’s Sunday. If you’re still here that means . . .”
“I’m not an angel anymore.” I stretched my arm over my back and traced my shoulder blade with my fingers. No scars. No marks. As if my wings had never been there. “Yup. Definitely a human.”
Kingdom of Salt and Sirens Page 105