He lay down on the nearest bench. It certainly wasn’t as comfortable as a hotel room, but it was much better than sleeping in the gutter.
Edward ignored the hungry grumbling of his stomach as he pulled the big overcoat up to his neck. The hard bench was cushioned somewhat by the new wings on his back, and after scooting around a little he curled up on his side in a fairly comfortable position.
He stared into the darkness, watching as the occasional beam from a passing car’s headlights illuminated his surroundings. It was hard to fall asleep in such a strange place.
As he lay there, staring into the darkness, his mind raced anxiously with possibilities, shattering his momentary feeling of safety. What if somebody showed up at the train to throw him out? What if he couldn’t find a way to Oregon? Would he be stuck, living on the streets in Los Angeles? Maybe he should have just stayed with Mr. Spines.
Edward felt sick to his stomach. Whether it was from hunger or fear, he couldn’t tell.
He wondered what would happen when his aunt saw his wings for the first time. Would she think he was a monster?
He rolled on his back, trying to get more comfortable. The ceiling of the train had writing scratched on it. He stared at the scrawled hearts and initials, wondering who put them there.
Edward felt a renewed surge of loneliness.
Closing his eyes, he was surprised to find that his eyelashes were wet. No point in crying,he thought. Never solved anything. Nobody is here to feel sorry for you. You’re on your own, just like always.
But in spite of his best efforts, it was a very long time before the tears stopped and he finally fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
HENRY AND LILITH
“Wake up, son. The conductor’ll be along any minute.”
Edward woke with a start to find someone shaking him gently. He sat up quickly. Beams of sunlight poured through the windows of the train, and the sounds of traffic rumbled outside. It was morning, and there were passengers on the train!
“Take it easy. We’re not gonna hurt ya,” said a blue-eyed older man wearing a straw boater and sporting a handlebar mustache. The man must have been who woke him. Behind him was a woman in a high-collared dress who also had pale-blue eyes and a small, pointed nose.
She indicated Edward with the point of her parasol. “What’s wrong with him, Henry? Is he a mute?” she asked in a loud whisper. Edward tried to speak, but found his lips locked in a hopeless stutter.
“I-I-I w-was juh-just t-tuh-trying to guh-get some sleep,” he managed. “I d-duh-didn’t steal anything!”
“Nobody said you did, son,” Henry said with a smile. “All I’m saying is that the conductor is on his way over, and unless you have a ticket he’s probably gonna ask you to leave.”
Edward’s heart pounded as he saw a tall conductor taking tickets in the car in front of them. On the street outside he saw several other people waiting to board, each of them holding a small red ticket.
He stood up and was about to exit the car when the conductor noticed him. “Hey you, what do you think you’re doing? Where’s your ticket?”
Edward stared at his scowling face, unable to think of a reply. He stood, rooted to the spot, petrified. Suddenly he heard Henry’s voice next to him say, “It’s all right, Mister, he’s with us. I forgot to pay at the window.”
The conductor accepted the nickel that Henry offered him with a suspicious look. Then he turned away and motioned for the others in line to board the train.
“Th-thanks,” Edward mumbled gratefully. The man grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. As he did, his hand made contact with the back of Edward’s wing hidden beneath the overcoat. A flash of surprise crossed Henry’s face.
The train suddenly lurched forward, slowly making its way up the long hill. Henry and his wife were whispering quietly as Edward politely stared out the window. Feeling self-conscious, he adjusted the overcoat, making certain that it covered his shoulders. After a moment, Henry spoke in a casual tone.
“I guess we should introduce ourselves,” Henry finally said with a grin. “My name’s Henry Asmoday and this is my wife Lilith. We’re down here on vacation, visiting from Salem.”
Edward’s heart skipped a beat as he shook the man’s outstretched hand. “I’m Edward. Um, did y-you say you w-were from Salem?”
“Yep. Salem, Oregon. Prettiest little city in the Northwest. Why d’you ask?”
Edward knew that was his chance. It was a gamble, but the people seemed honest and friendly. He didn’t want to spend another terrifying night trying to sleep in Los Angeles. Maybe there was a chance that this couple could offer him a ride back up to Portland.
“I-I’m from Portland,” he ventured.
“You don’t say,” said Henry with a look of surprise. He turned to his wife. “Well I’ll be. The boy says he’s from Portland, dear.”
Lilith offered him a wide smile. Edward noticed that her teeth were exceptionally white and pretty. “And what are you doing so far from home, Edward?” she asked.
Edward paused before replying. He couldn’t possibly tell these normal, down-to-earth people all that had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours. They would think he was insane.
He quickly thought of a lie. “I, uh, was h-here with my cousin b-but we got separated. I l-lost my train ticket home and didn’t know wh-what to do.”
Henry studied him quietly for a moment. Then he said, “And what did this cousin of yours look like? Maybe we’ve seen him.”
Edward tried to make the lie sound as convincing as he could. Not too many details, he warned himself. Keep it simple. He knew that the secret to a good lie was not to be caught up in too much elaboration. It would be too difficult for him to keep track of what he had said. And if they asked too many questions, the whole thing could fall apart.
“He’s t-tall like me. Av-average looking,” he said, trying to look Henry straight in the eye. As he did, he noticed how unusual the man’s eyes were. They were so pale blue that they were almost colorless.
“Well, I haven’t seen him,” Henry said thoughtfully with a slow shake of his head. “You seen anyone like that, Lil?”
Lilith shook her head no, still giving Edward the wide smile.
“Say, I have an idea,” Henry said, giving his knee a small slap. “We’re heading back home this afternoon. You want to ride along with us, Edward? We’ve got room in the back of the car.”
It was exactly what Edward had been hoping to hear. He nodded, excited by the offer.
“Th-that would be great, thanks!” he said happily.
“Let’s have him for lunch,” Lilith said, giving Edward an appraising look. “The poor boy looks half-starved already.”
Henry nodded and grinned at him. “How ’bout it, son? Would you like to join us? We were going to have a picnic at a great spot we know of a little north of the city.”
Edward couldn’t believe his luck. If it hadn’t been for the kindly couple coming along now, at just the right time, he would have been completely lost.
He smiled gratefully at them and said, “I c-can’t thank you enough.”
The train reached the top of the hill and shuddered to a stop. As the three of them stood up to exit, Lilith waved her gloved hand in a gentle motion through the air, almost as if she were conducting an invisible orchestra. Edward heard her singing a soft melody to herself. It was strange, and he couldn’t be sure that he hadn’t imagined it, but the air seemed to shimmer around them for the briefest second as she sang.
After finishing the light tune, she turned to her husband and smiled.
“Let’s hit the road. I’m starving.”
Chapter Thirteen
HARP
“I can’t smell him anymore,” Sariel said. The ermine had her nose close to the sidewalk at the top of the hill, just outside the deserted Angel’s Flight train station.
“He was here recently, I’m sure of it. But it’s like he completely disappeared. There’s no scent at
all.”
Mr. Spines rubbed his forehead anxiously. It had taken all last night and most of the day to track the boy all the way from Union station.
Spines knew that Los Angeles could be a dangerous place for mortals. The crime-ridden streets weren’t anything like the tranquil Oregon logging towns, most of which were filled with simple country folk. But it wasn’t the mortal dangers that worried him about Los Angeles. It was the capital city for the Jackal’s forces, and that made it a deadly place for Guardians to visit. Groundlings were everywhere, masquerading as humans. If one of them discovered what Edward was, the boy didn’t stand a chance.
A flapping of wings caused him to look
up. Artemis soared into view, his bulky form
silhouetted against the late-afternoon sun.
“Well?” Spines asked.
“Nothing, sir,” Artemis said breathlessly. The big toad flopped to the ground. “I must have followed a dozen trolley cars but none of them had Edward inside of them. Oooh,” he moaned. “I’ve never had to fly so far with these stupid reptile wings. They feel like they’re gonna fall off.”
“Well maybe if you weren’t stuffing your face all the time, you’d have had an easier time of it,” Sariel said, shooting Artemis an imperious look. “It’s no wonder I’m the one that has to do everything around here. You’re useless.”
“Well, you’re nothing but a stuck-up sewer rat,” Artemis fired back. “You should see how ugly you look. At least I can lose weight.”
“Take it back!”
“Make me!”
Mr. Spines paced in front of the train station, trying to ignore the heated exchange between his two apprentices. Since the Fall, Sariel had grown increasingly arrogant, and Artemis was a glutton. The Corruption was working its slow poison. They couldn’t avoid the Jackal’s influences forever. If Spines’s plan with Edward failed, they would all soon turn into full-fledged Groundlings. They would lose their ability to feel anything but the same twisted feelings of revenge and hatred that motivated the Jackal. Every thought would be a desire to inflict harm rather than to protect. The flickering candle of good that still burned in their hearts would be snuffed out forever.
Mr. Spines sighed and scratched his stubbly cheek. The situation with Edward was more serious than he had feared. The fact that his scent had gone cold could mean only one thing. Groundlings were experts at avoiding detection. If one of them had Edward and didn’t want anyone to follow, they could erase any sign that they’d ever been there. There was only one way to track Edward now, and Spines was reluctant to use it.
He stared up at the long stretch of railroad tracks that led up the hill and faded into the darkness, thinking about the price of what he was about to do. He was a fallen Guardian, and Songs of Power were forbidden to him now. This was because, for a Guardian, a Song of Power was magic itself. It could do anything from finding a lost treasure to fortifying the singer with magical armor. Simple tunes did simple things, but there was a higher sort of song, called an Aria, that took a lifetime to master and could accomplish tremendous feats of power.
That was why the Jackal had forbidden all of the Guardians’ songs. And the penalty for singing them was proportional to the power of the song. If a fallen Guardian sung an Aria, it would release a wave of corruption so tremendous that the singer could die a very painful death.
But Melchior wasn’t even sure that his voice could sing one anymore. The consequence of botching up a song that was as powerful as he intended to sing was terrible. He could get away with singing the simple ones in his corrupted state, but to sing an Aria in his fallen form was nothing short of suicidal.
He fidgeted with his pocket watch, opening and closing the lid repeatedly with several sharp clicks. Then, after a long moment, he turned to Sariel and said quietly, “I need my harp.”
Sariel’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”
Spines sighed. “You heard what I said, young one.”
Artemis and Sariel exchanged a nervous glance. Their master had not used his harp since the Fall. He had told them repeatedly how dangerous it would be to use it and had warned them never to touch it.
“But Melchior,” Artemis whined. “You said we shouldn’t—”
“I know exactly what I said, Artemis,” Mr. Spines said firmly. “But this is what must be done. It’s the only way.” Mr. Spines reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small sphere.
The sphere was made of perfectly smooth wood. On the top of the globe was a strange-looking letter, Melchior’s Guardian symbol, burned into its surface. Mr. Spines raised the globe and spoke an ancient word.
“Sisma.”
A golden seam appeared around the circumference of the wooden ball. Then the two halves suddenly split open, revealing something that looked like a tiny, glowing pebble hidden inside of it. Mr. Spines carefully removed the glowing speck. He raised it to his stubbly lips and breathed on it. The pebble glowed brightly for a moment before fading. Then the magical stone changed shape, growing into something strange and wonderful. Where the tiny speck of light had been sitting before was now an ornately carved, compact harp.
Spines lifted the instrument and gave the
strings an experimental strum. A sound like a
beautiful chorus of birds filled the air on the
darkened city street.
Still in tune, he mused. The ermine
and the toad looked on, their eyes wide with
apprehension.
“I’m going to try to sing the Song of
Retrieval,” Spines began, his fingers moving
gently up and down the harp strings. “It will
summon a hunter who will track Edward down.
When it appears, you must get on its back and
hold on. Don’t let go! If you lose your grip and
fall off, the hunter will disappear and there’s no
way I’ll be able to summon it again.”
He reached into a pouch at his belt and
handed Sariel the Oroborus.
“Use this if you have to defend yourselves. I don’t know where Edward is or what’s happened to him, but I fear the worst. After you set him free, meet me back at the house on Bunker Hill.”
“But you’re coming with us, right?” Artemis asked anxiously.
Spines lowered the harp and gave him a serious look. “I’ll have to stay here and give the song its power. I won’t stop singing until the hunter gives me the signal that he’s found the boy.” He hesitated before continuing. “I may not see you again. As I’ve told you before, the consequences for singing a forbidden song are serious.”
Both creatures nodded gravely. They knew that what their master was about to do could destroy him, and they felt terrified at the prospect of losing him. Melchior was the closest thing to a father the two creatures had. They had been only minor Guardians when they fell, and were still young.
Spines knelt down beside them and gave each of them a slight embrace. “It’s not over yet,” he said. “If there weren’t any hope, then I wouldn’t be doing this.”
The two creatures nodded silently again, like small children being reassured by a loving parent. Mr. Spines smiled gently and rose to his feet. He lifted the harp and began working his fingers back and forth along the strings.
Once again, beautiful notes filled the air around them. Melchior smiled, feeling a surge of joy in spite of the fearfully dangerous thing he was about to do. It had been too long since he’d made this kind of music. He hadn’t realized until now just how much he missed being a Guardian.
If it hadn’t been for her, he would still be in the Woodbine. He would still be a Guardian. Had it been worth it? He glanced at the small band of white gold that encircled the index finger of his left hand. Yes, it had been worth it. He knew it without a doubt. He would have done it again a thousand times over.
But the most important thing now was that sheneeded him to get the boy. The boy was the key to everything.
You can do this. He gritted his teeth. He felt the pain start to build in his forearms. His fingers burned but he forced them to continue to strum the silver strings. It won’t last forever, he assured himself. I just have to keep playing no matter what happens.
Then he lifted his head to the stars and began to sing.
Chapter Fourteen
DINNER
Edward sat in the back of the Model A Ford, enjoying the luxurious feel of the leather seat beneath him as they puttered down the busy Los Angeles street. He gazed outside of the small, glass window to the beautiful buildings and the newly planted palm trees, glad to finally be heading home.
Henry and Lilith had offered him a piece of saltwater taffy to chew on the way to their picnic. He was enjoying the cool sweetness, happy for the first time in ages. He was on his way back to Oregon. Everything was going to work out all right. No more Foundry, no more Scruggs, no more Spines, and no more running. He would get to his aunt and explain what had happened and everything would be sorted out.
“How you doing back there, Ed?
Comfortable?” Henry called back over his
shoulder.
“Yeah, great!” Edward said without the slightest hint of a stutter. “This is sure a neat car. I’ve never been in one like this before!”
“She’s a beaut all right,” Henry said proudly. “I bought her off some rube down in Santa Monica for a song. The chump didn’t know what he had.” He patted the dashboard affectionately. “She might be a few years old, but she still runs like a champ.”
“How much farther to the picnic spot?” Edward asked eagerly. It seemed like they’d been driving forever. He’d finished the taffy and was starting to feel really hungry.
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