Revelation (Blood of Angels Book 1)

by Paula Arwen Owen

  Des jumped to her feet, turning to see the same view on all sides. The whole city was burning, great sparks of fire leaping from the tall spires of shining skyscrapers, dancing sinister circles in the air. She watched their mirrored windows popping one by one, the lethal shards of glass exploding in clouds of sparkling light. Rolling dark clouds of smoke poured out from every black orifice that was once a window, blanketing the streets, cloaking the city in their grasp.

  A rush of air blew her hair across her face and she felt a presence behind her. Terror overwhelmed her and she stood frozen as something cold and sharp pressed into her back.

  “The fire is within,” a rough voice hissed, and the thing shook its head, making a soft rattling noise like shifting scales.

  She woke with a start to the sound of a plastic cup filled with coins rattling by her ear. Clutching her bag, she drew in a long ragged breath and looked out the window. The sun was still shining, the skyline stood unchanged. She could see the reflection of the homeless man in the thick glass, holding his cup out and staring at her with a disturbing intensity, reminiscent of the preacher from last night.

  “I see you.” His voice was a trembling whisper, and his hand shook, making the cup rattle again. She tried to ignore him, but he leaned towards her until the smell of unwashed skin permeated her nostrils.

  “I see you,” he repeated.

  There was a slight rustle as a young man in an army green jacket slid into the seat next to her. He looked up at the homeless man who had fixed his glare on him.

  “Oh, sorry, was this seat taken?” He winked at Des as the man mumbled a curse and backed off, moving down the subway car.

  “Um, thanks.” Des found herself staring up at his eyes, a strange shade of sea green. His deep red hair was carefully arranged in tousled spikes, hiding glimpses of the silver studs in his ears.

  “Do you always attract such handsome men?” he asked.

  Des gave a short laugh. “Yeah, all the time.”

  “I meant me of course.”

  She frowned, trying to convey she was not in the mood for flirting.

  “Just kidding,” he said. “Are you always this serious?”

  “Are you always this nosy?” she shot back.

  “Jeez, sorry I asked.”

  They sat in silence as the train rolled toward the end of the bridge, picking up speed as they entered the tunnel, the line of bright sun through the windows getting thinner and thinner until the train plunged into darkness.

  “Hey.” He leaned towards her as the screech of train wheels filled the air. “I want to show you something.”

  She raised an eyebrow as he pointed out the window towards the dark walls racing by. Small lights set into the walls flashed by, leaving lines of light etched into her vision.

  “It’s a subway tunnel,” she said, unimpressed.

  “Look closer.” His shoulder brushed against hers, and she felt a strange tingle at his touch. She peered through the window and caught a flash of colorful graffiti under one of the lights. Maybe he was an artist, and that was his tag.

  She started to ask when something else morphed out of the shadows, something full of sinew and bone that kept pace with the speeding train. Something with unnatural eyes that pierced the gloom and teeth that glowed long and white before they faded back into the soot black walls.

  “What the hell was that?” Des jumped back from the window as the stranger’s arm braced against her side. The tunnel opened up as the square blue pillars of Grand Street flashed by, the signs coming into focus as they pulled into the station.

  “You already know, Desdemona.” He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as his breath whispered softly against it.

  She almost fell backward as he rose and headed towards the door among a mob of people.

  “Wait!” She got up to follow but he was quick, and the doors were already closing. Her hand fell to the seat beside her and closed over a thick bronze coin. It looked ancient and out of place on the bright orange seat.

  “I’m still dreaming,” she muttered to herself. But the coin felt real and solid, and the train was filled with the normal rush hour crowd. She slipped the coin in her pocket, wondering how he knew her name.

  School is Hell

  Des didn’t notice the group up ahead until she heard Allie’s harsh laugh. She had spent the rest of her train ride and the uphill trek to school trying to make sense of what she had seen and convincing herself that she hadn’t seen it.

  She usually avoided her classmates by going in a side door or by getting there late, but she was headed right towards them now. Becky and Josh leaned against the brick wall of her high school, idly blowing out cigarette smoke, while Allie laughed at her own joke, her voice as abrasive as the red facade behind her.

  The building loomed overhead, its turrets and narrow windows reminiscent of the armory it once was. Now it was home to a select number of students from different boroughs who had passed the lengthy entrance exam. That meant they were all supposed to be smart, although she had a hard time believing it when dealing with the trio ahead of her.

  “Hey Des,” called Josh.

  “Hey Des!” echoed the two girls next to him.

  Des mumbled a quick hi and kept walking until a cigarette butt bounced off her shoulder and landed at her feet. She turned to glare at Becky.

  “Just checking if you burn,” Becky sneered at her.

  “I think the test for a witch is dunking them in water.” Allie reached down for her water bottle, and Des moved back.

  “I’m not a witch, idiot. If I was you wouldn’t be smiling right now.”

  “Oh, I’m so scared!” Josh raised his voice to a high pitch and pretended to hide behind Becky.

  Des turned her back on them and stomped off to the forbidding metal doors, their laughter following her inside. Waving to the security guard, she hurried up the stairs and to her first class.

  Mr. Sanchez was writing on the chalkboard, underlining every other word with a great sweeping flourish of the chalk. He turned around and tapped the powdery stick on his desk right as Des slid into one of the hard plastic chairs.

  She flipped open her textbook, catching Rachel’s mimicry of the teacher from the corner of her eye. She smirked, smoothing the pages down with her fingers.

  “Is something funny, Desdemona?” Mr. Sanchez was looking at her, waiting for a response. She shook her head and looked down at her book, her cheeks flaming. Somewhere to her left she could hear Rachel chuckling under her breath.

  “Maybe you thought I didn’t notice you slip in the door?” Des tried to look smaller in her chair.

  “So,” he gestured towards the scrawled lines on the board that formed a simple timeline. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell us about the People’s Crusade.”

  “Um,” she flipped through her book as if the right answer would suddenly appear.

  Mr. Sanchez frowned and looked around the room. “Did anyone read their homework assignment?” His eyes settled on a long-haired girl across the room who was trying very hard to avoid his gaze.

  “How about you, May?”

  The petite girl hunched over her book, her straight jet-black hair framing her round face and trailing across her desk and down the sides. Her eyes flew open wide at the mention of her name, and her head jerked up. A deep and painful blush spread across her cheeks until her entire face glowed red. Her doe eyes darted back and forth in panic, pleading for an escape.

  The prolonged silence in the room began to fill with small, cruel giggles. Des was afraid the girl would start to cry.

  “The People’s Crusade,” Des blurted out, “was one of the first crusades. The peasants joined in and massacred a lot of people. They killed all the Jews.” The rest of the room forgot about May and switched their focus to Des.

  Mr. Sanchez stared at her for a moment, then nodded. Des gave May a quick smile, but she didn’t acknowledge it, only stared down at her books again.

  “Correct,” he said. �
��They did end up killing a great many people, not only Jews, but Muslims, Gypsies, and any Heathens,” he made his fingers into quotation marks. “Do we know what a Heathen is?”

  “A witch,” someone called out, and Des felt a foot pushed against her chair.

  “Well, yes, anyone who did not follow their religion and their God. Religious tolerance was not a strong point in those times. You have to understand, this was a holy war to them. They believed it their divine duty to save people by teaching them their religion. Unfortunately, those who refused were often put to death.”

  “Didn’t the Heathens do the same thing to the Christians?” A girl in a white sweater had her hand raised as she called out her question.

  “Excellent point,” Mr. Sanchez pointed a finger in the air as if to illustrate his words. “Christianity itself has often been persecuted. And as we know, the holy land these religions share has been fought over for millennia. The Crusades were as much about politics and territory as religion.”

  Des doodled in her notebook as the teacher went on about politics in the Middle East, drawing little faces, one with wavy black hair, one with spiky red. Two mysterious guys in two days, flirting with her on the subway. What would her mom say?

  Her drawings continued, morphing into sharp toothed demons and winged monsters. The thing in the tunnel had to be some sort of hallucination, brought on by her earlier dream. Dreaming of monsters was nothing new for her, but the burning city and its cryptic message all felt so real. She glanced at Rachel, wondering if she should tell her about it, but caught her turning away from her gaze to whisper in Kyle’s ear. Kyle snickered and looked over at May, who seemed oblivious to the surrounding room.

  Nice, Des thought, making fun of the shy girl. Sometimes Rachel reminded her too much of people like Allie and Becky, no matter how different she proclaimed herself to be.

  By lunchtime Des had checked her phone about a hundred times, but still nothing from Adrian. Was he having second thoughts? She chewed her bottom lip as she walked down the hallway with her black and silver lunchbox. Small groups were forming by the lockers, the cold autumn wind chasing everyone inside to eat. The hallway was preferential to the cafeteria, and everyone had their spot. Rachel and Kyle sat in their corner with two plates of pizza.

  “You didn’t get any for me?” Des said, motioning to the pizza.

  Rachel looked at her with narrowed eyes.

  “Oh hey, I kind of forgot you existed. Disappearing on us and all last night.”

  “What?” Des exclaimed. “You’re the one who left me behind!”

  Rachel took a bite of pizza and chewed it thoughtfully.

  “It seems to me that you’re looking for some new friends. Good luck with that.”

  “What are you talking about?” Des felt an ominous knot form in her stomach as she looked to Kyle in confusion. He was studying his food as if it was a piece of fine art, his long bangs covering his face.

  “Kyle,” Des began, but he didn’t look up. “Rachel, don’t be…”

  “Buh bye now,” Rachel dismissed her with her fingers. Des stood frozen in place until Rachel raised her voice loud enough for the whole hallway to hear. “I said bye, as in I don’t want you here in my space.”

  Des took a step backward, fighting back tears. Her hands began to shake and all the heat rushed to her face, leaving the rest of her body frigid. She had a powerful urge to run, but at the same time she wanted to bend over and curl up into a ball. Taking a shaky breath, she turned and willed her feet to take her down the hallway to the stairs, anywhere but here.

  She stared straight ahead and tried to ignore the muffled laughter coming from every corner of the hallway. The short walk felt excruciatingly slow, but she had almost made it to the stairs when a familiar voice saying unfamiliar words stopped her.

  “Hey Des.” Josh lounged against his locker surrounded by his pack of friends. “Those guys are idiots, I’m glad you dumped them.”

  Des looked over at him in astonishment, not sure what to make of that. Was he actually trying to be nice?

  “Why don’t you come to lunch with us today?”

  Des blinked, trying to determine if he was serious. The last thing she wanted to do was sit with Josh and his friends, but the invitation might keep others from making her life even more miserable. Being friendless in high school was not an easy thing.

  “Really?” she said.

  Josh’s face held its composure for only a moment longer, and then it was engulfed in a cruel, raucous laugh.

  “She thought you were serious!” cried one of his friends, smacking his shoulder hysterically.

  Des stood immobile as her face radiated scarlet.

  “Good one Josh,” someone else called out.

  Des didn’t dare turn to face the rest of the hallway as the fits of laughter continued around her. Her wide eyes stayed focused on Josh, slowly imprinting each contortion of his features in her mind. If only she could burn that smile away, destroy that pretty face…

  “What are you staring at freak,” cut in his first partner in crime. “Get outta here.”

  Des broke her gaze and bolted towards the stairs, slamming the heavy doors open. The doors hit the wall with an echoing bang, blotting out the laughter for only an instant. She stumbled down the stairs and crashed through the doors on the first floor, running down to the end of the hallway. The first floor was home to the elementary school and the library, which meant the corridors were usually empty. Collapsing against a tiny clouded window in the corner, she let the tears come.

  As she let out the anger and fear and shame, she realized that this feeling wasn’t new. She never did belong, even within her own misfit circle of friends. She always tried to fit in somewhere, to be what people wanted, but she always seemed to fall short. Maybe it was time to stop trying.

  “Are you ok?” a timid voice startled her out of her misery. Des turned to see a slim Korean girl sitting cross-legged behind her, holding a half-eaten tuna sandwich in her slender hands. She recognized her from History class, the doe-eyed girl she had tried to save from embarrassment.

  “I… I didn’t see you there,” Des said, trying to subtly wipe the dark streaks of mascara from around her eyes.

  “Yeah, that happens a lot,” May sighed. “I’m quite forgettable.”

  “No, I didn’t mean…” she slid down the wall to sit on the cold floor. “You know, my friends seem to have forgotten me too.”

  “Really?” May sounded genuinely surprised. “I didn’t think that happens to other people.”

  “Yeah.” Des pulled out a tissue for her sniffling nose. “So, do you always eat down here?”

  May nodded. “Why are you down here?”

  Des thought for a minute. “My friends…” she said slowly “are no longer my friends.”

  “Oh.” May looked down at her sandwich. “People are cruel. Sometimes I imagine a world without people. Wiped clean like a carcass picked spotless of all its rotted flesh.”

  Des looked over at her in surprise, but May didn’t seem to notice. She picked up her sandwich and held it out with a slight smile. “Do you want some tuna? You’re not eating your lunch.”

  “Thanks, but I guess I’m not hungry.”

  They sat in silence for a few minutes, May chewing her lunch happily while Des tried to decide what to do now. The thought of sitting in another classroom with Rachel or Josh made her feel ill. She had to get out of this brick prison. She stood up abruptly, making her head spin slightly.

  “Where are you going?” May asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Wait, I’ll come too!” May started gathering up her bags, and Des waved a hand at her as she headed to the stairs that led to the back doors.

  “No, you should go to class.”

  May followed her but faltered as they got to the doors. “You don’t want me to come?” she whispered.

  “No, I just don’t want you to get in trouble... I just want, I need…” she felt her phon
e buzz in her pocket as she pushed the doors open, and nearly collided with someone on the other side.

  “Layla!”

  The tall blonde placed a hand on her shoulder. Her hand seemed too delicate to have such a forceful grip.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Des went to take a step forward, but Layla didn’t budge. She noticed her normally perfect hair was coming out of the feathery clips that adorned it, the feathers shedding small bits of fluff down onto her shoulders. The sunlight glinted off a gold necklace peeking out from her shirt, a strange round charm hanging from the chain. “Are you ok?”

  Layla laughed and her grip relaxed a little.

  “My sweet girl, don’t worry about me.”

  Sam stood to the side, and he tipped his hat in greeting, but his gaze was fixed behind her. Des turned to see May staring at him wide eyed, a faint blush tinging her cheeks.

  “May,” she said. “You should get to class.”

  “As should you,” said Layla.

  “I’m free next period.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it’s so.” Des was getting annoyed with her questions. Who did she think she was, her mother? She shrugged her shoulder to dislodge her hand.

  “Well, all right.” Layla let her pass and ushered May inside. The door clicked closed and Des stood alone in the scattered sunshine. Sam had disappeared down the street. She pulled out her phone and nearly dropped it as she saw the three numbers glowing on the screen, but the message following it made her stomach flutter.

  It’s been 666 minutes since I saw you last. I can’t wait until next time, my fair devil star.

  Des typed quickly before she could change her mind.

  How about right now? Meet me on the N line.

  Graves End

  By the time she got to Graves End station, Des was rethinking her choice of where to meet. It was the first place she thought of as she had stood outside in the glaring sun, her secret spot full of shade and leaves and not another living soul. She had never shared it with someone else before.