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“Thank you. ” Raziel leaned against the desk. “Well, I think I’m up-to-date now,” he said, falsely cheery. “Why did you come to see me?”
Joanna stared at him; her aura was now a murky grey. Raziel wondered if he’d overdone it, and then she roused herself and sat up weakly. “Well, I – I know we were supposed to wait until the angels came for us, but…something’s happened. You see, Miranda’s been talking. ”
Raziel’s eyes narrowed. “Go on. ”
Joanna swallowed. “Usually she just sits in her chair and dreams. But last week she started speaking – as if she were talking to someone I couldn’t see. ”
“Last week?” Raziel said sharply.
Joanna flushed. “It took time to find someone who could stay with Miranda – and of course I couldn’t trust anyone else to come here with this message. I didn’t like the sound of what she was saying at all. It – it sounded traitorous. ”
Raziel struggled to keep his voice controlled. “What was she saying?”
“I wrote it down afterwards, so I wouldn’t forget. ” Joanna fumbled in her handbag; she handed him a folded piece of paper anxiously.
Raziel’s eyebrows rose as he scanned the neatly written passage:
Miranda seemed to be talking to someone. At the very end, she said his name: Alex. They seemed to be planning something. Miranda said it might be better if people weren’t confused by the angels any more. She sounded like she was somewhere else, because she talked about the “Miranda by the lake” and said that wasn’t her. She mentioned a gate and said that Raziel was the only one who knew it was there, but that she could show it to this Alex to help him get home. And that when Willow tried to link to the “energy field”, she’d need to do it in Pawntucket.
Shock and understanding roared through Raziel. Some part of Miranda was still cognizant, and existed in the angels’ world. And Kylar had been there with her. How? How had he gotten across to their world?
Enraged, Raziel resisted the urge to crumple the paper into a tiny ball. He’d destroyed all the known gates – yet if this information was accurate, he’d missed something vital. His plan to gain control of Willow flashed back to him. Yes, and none too soon, if she knew how to use the angelic energy field. If he didn’t act quickly, she’d destroy them all.
Fortunately, his next move would not be one she’d expect.
Raziel folded the paper and ran his fingernail sharply along its crease. “Where did you say Miranda is being kept again?”
Joanna had been studying the photo of Willow on his desk, her mouth tight with disapproval. She looked up. “We’re in a cabin maybe a hundred miles from here, right up in the mountains – on one of those remote lakes that doesn’t even have a name. And I don’t mean to complain, but it’s very difficult to get to, I’m afraid. The roads are—”
“Perhaps you would wait in the outer office,” interrupted Raziel, reaching for his cell.
“Oh! Yes, of course. ” She got up hastily.
Raziel was already hitting a button on speed dial. A voice answered.
“It’s time,” Raziel said as Joanna disappeared through the door. He reached for the photo of Willow and tapped it against the desk.
Bascal sounded instantly awake. “For the attack?”
“Precisely. ” Raziel glanced at the clock: 3. 17. “It’s to begin at six a. m. exactly. I want that town decimated. There’s a gate there; find it and destroy it – spare no one except the girl. She’s to be captured alive, unless she gets to the gate and tries to open it. Kill her immediately in that case. ”
“Oh?” Bascal’s voice was wary.
“She can control our world’s energy field,” snapped Raziel. “It’s what Paschar’s vision meant. ”
Bascal’s tone turned deadly. “Don’t worry. She won’t get away with it. ”
Raziel was still holding the photo of Willow as he hung up. He gave a hard smile as he studied the girl’s radiant face. Oh, I’ve got a surprise for you, my daughter, he thought. I’ve finally found the way to control you.
IN A WAY, MY FIFTH-GRADE classroom was exactly like I remembered: the battered paperbacks on top of the art supply cupboard, the whiteboard at the front of the room. Someone had written Pawntucket Tigers STILL Know How to Roar! on it – with a drawing of a tiger attacking an angel.
But all the desks were gone. Sleeping bags clustered on the carpet, as if this were a giant slumber party. I lay in one without moving, fists pressed against my forehead as I tried scanning the town mentally, street by street.
I’d done this a hundred times now, and there was nothing – but was that because I couldn’t find the gate this way, or because there wasn’t anything to sense? Mom, where is it? I pleaded. No answer.
“Are you awake?” Nina whispered from the next sleeping bag.
I swallowed hard and opened my eyes. “Yeah. ”
“I can’t sleep either,” she said softly. “Do you think Alex would mind if we got back to work early?”
It doesn’t matter if he minds or not, I wanted to say; I stopped myself. Searching the town these last two days had given me far too much time to think about Alex: relentless thoughts had pounded at my skull until I was sick of them, battered by them.
“Yes, I think he’d mind,” I said finally.
I could feel Nina trying to decide whether to say something about Alex and me; I was relieved when she didn’t. She cleared her throat. “So, I’ve been wondering something. You know how you told me last night that you and Seb can teach people to manipulate their auras?”
I nodded. “I know, but there’s no time for that here – it takes people months to learn aura work. ”
“Okay, but…can’t you do it?”
I frowned as I turned my head towards her. “What do you mean?”
Her voice was hesitant. “Well, if everyone’s energy really is reaching out for you, then couldn’t you sort of…I don’t know; use that to grab hold of all our auras when the angels attack? If you could make them really small, so that the angels can’t catch hold…”
She trailed off when I didn’t answer. “Forget it. ” She tried to laugh. “Grasping at Straws 101. ”
“No, wait!” I was remembering once when Seb and I’d been under attack. He’d done the same thing: grasped both our auras and drawn them so close to our bodies they couldn’t be seen.
Could I do it – on such a major scale?
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I – I guess it’s possible. ” All at once my heart was pounding. I reached out with my mind…but found that I didn’t even know where to begin. How was I supposed to grasp hold of a whole town?
A few frustrating minutes later I opened my eyes. “Did it work?” Nina whispered.
I hated the catch of hope in her voice; it was bad enough that my own hope had faded. “No. I’m sorry. ”
Suddenly I couldn’t stand it any more – I unzipped the sleeping bag and slid out. I still had my clothes on; I started pulling on my shoes.
“Nina, look – go be with Jonah, okay? Please. I want you to. ” I’d seen them in the corridor together earlier – Jonah touching Nina’s face. The look in both their eyes had been so uncomplicated it had wrenched my heart.
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