I had. “I saw my father as a young boy when I was sitting in a church,” I said.
He nodded. “Very good. Your talents are maturing. Your ability to recall and react to the shared memories of your entire family has infinite value in our fight against the demon forces. And as such, we would like you to join the Abbey.”
“The Abbey?” The one place I had no interest in whatsoever. The place that killed both of my parents.
“Yes. As you know, the Abbey is an elite group of extraordinary humans. They all have heightened abilities that enable them to see more, know more, and do more. If you choose to join, we will teach you how to harness your powers, and then send you around the world on special missions. We have urgent needs in Paris right now, as well as Barcelona, Johannesburg, and of course Rome.”
Paris? Rome? The idea of exploring amazing cities with Gavin did sound appealing . . .
“What kind of missions?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you too much until you are part of the program. But suffice it to say, we are facing a global crisis. We have dozens of projects that could use your attention, Maren. We are anxious to get you settled in at the Abbey immediately, paired with your new angel—”
“My new angel?” I interrupted, far too passionately. I took a breath and chose my next words carefully. “I already work with an angel.”
“Yes, we know about Gavin. Fine Warrior, but for this type of work, you need an Archangel. We have one of the best to guide you—”
“I don’t want a new angel,” I interrupted again. “I like Gavin. I trust him. I won’t take another one.” I knew I sounded like a pouty five-year-old, but I didn’t care. There was no way I would be permanently separated from Gavin.
“Of course you like Gavin, Maren. The system is designed that way. Angels were purposefully created with characteristics that humans find appealing and trustworthy. But you will find these same qualities in your new angel.”
“No, I won’t,” I answered, “because I’m not getting a new angel. If being in the Abbey means I need a new angel, then I’m sorry, I have to decline.”
“Decline?” The angels collectively arched their necks at me, making them even taller and more menacing. “I don’t believe we’ve ever had anyone refuse a divine request.”
Maybe it was because I’d been in the room too long, under their observation for what felt like forever. Maybe it was because I was tired of always having to say goodbye. But for whatever reason, I started to get mad. I wasn’t going to have one more thing—one more person—taken away from me. As I spoke, my voice got louder, until it was bordering on hysterical.
“Yes, that’s right, I decline. I can’t do it. It’s too much. I’ve been through too much. I’m sorry to refuse a divine request and all, but what about my requests? What about my request not to lose both of my parents? What about my request not to have my life turned upside down? To just be a normal teenage girl? Which is hard enough without demons and date rape drugs and dark tunnels, by the way! I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to find someone else. I just want to go back home and live my life—or whatever you can call this whole mess I’ve inherited—the best I can. I’m sorry, but no.”
After I finished my dramatic speech, the angel sat quietly for a few minutes. I wondered if I was in trouble, if he would force me to go, or if somehow Gavin would be punished because of my stubbornness.
Surprisingly, when he spoke, the angel’s words were colored with a kindness that instantly melted the anger off my heart. “You make excellent points, young Maren. Perhaps we have asked too much of you. We respect your free will, and accept your decision, but know that the invitation will remain open to you, should you ever decide to take it. You may return home as soon as you wish. Gavin will escort you. Go in peace with our blessings.”
Less than five minutes later, I was walking back to my room, dazed by the whole encounter. I’d expected them to protest, to try to convince me, or at least to give me a lecture about talking back. Even though I’d gotten what I wanted—to return home with Gavin—I was uneasy about how easily I’d gotten it. One tiny tantrum and I was dismissed? Rewarded even?
Those angels would make terrible parents, I decided. Any self-respecting teenager would walk all over them.
CHAPTER 29
When I burst back into my room, I was startled to find a girl sitting on Hunter’s bed. She had wavy, jet-black hair, luminous violet eyes, and midnight-colored skin.
“Hi, I’m Gia, your new roommate,” she said, leaping up to shake my hand. I was a bit taken aback by her voice; for some reason, I hadn’t expected a British accent. It was slightly more lyrical than Hunter’s, and sounded wonderful. I was also a little surprised by Gia’s appearance. She had the sweetest face, which made her spicy attire all the more shocking. She was wearing overstated black eye makeup and an even more over-the-top black party dress; the top was a corset made of crisscrossed ribbons, and the bottom was a poufy tutu. Paired with this were shiny black boots, huge, sparkly earrings, and a headband with an oversized leopard-print bow. She looked like a ballerina who’d escaped from juvenile detention.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, “but I’m actually leaving.”
“You are? That sucks.” She looked disappointed.
I walked to the dresser and started packing my own little bunch of belongings. I couldn’t believe I’d just watched Hunter do the same thing. I started to feel a little heartsick, and resolved that I would get out of the room as quickly as possible. I refused to get to know Gia. I couldn’t make friends with one more person I had to say good-bye to.
Gia, however, had other plans. She followed me and plopped herself on my bed, watching me pack. “So, what are you in for?”
“In for?” I asked.
“Yeah, how come you’re down here at Maggie?”
“Oh, I came for an angel assignment. Not mine. I was helping somebody else,” I said. “What about you?”
“I’m kind of grounded. I was out partying too much, I guess, and a whole freakin’ pack of demons came after me. My superiors thought it best if I disappeared for a while.”
I stopped packing and looked at her. I noticed she was wearing the Tudor rose necklace. I wondered if she was an orphan because of the terrible agency as well.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “And it’s not a terrible place. I actually work at the Abbey.”
“I . . . I didn’t . . .”
“No, it’s okay. I can see why you’d think that. And I really do know what you’re thinking. It’s sort of my gift.”
Crap!
“See, you just thought crap right there.” She smirked.
“Um, can you turn that off? Like, can you stop listening to my thoughts?”
“I wish I could, believe me. Why do you think I go out to loud clubs as much as possible? I can’t stand hearing most of it!”
“Yeah, I guess that would suck,” I said.
“You have no idea! People think about the lamest things: what someone said about them, who has the best shoes, how much they hate their boss . . . and that’s just the girls. The boys . . . You should be seriously glad you can’t hear what boys are thinking!”
I thought about Anders in the cascade house. I had a feeling I knew what he was thinking, and it made me sick. I couldn’t wait to get home, deliver the antidote, and watch Gavin annihilate him.
“If you needed to get away, why didn’t you go home with a Guardian angel or something?” I asked.
“It’s not practical, since you have to be home by sunset. Sunset’s usually when my work begins. And I like angels and all, but they’re really not that much fun, always telling you what you’re not supposed to do. I know I’m undercover, but I don’t see the harm in having a good time while I’m working. What’s so bad about snogging a bit? I mean, a kiss is just a kiss, right?”
The memory of Gavin kissing me sent a shiver through my body. “So you, um, kiss a lot of guys for your job, then?” I
said, clearing my throat and trying to clear my mind.
“I’ve kissed my fair share to get information,” she answered, then grinned at me wickedly. “But I’m not as bad as you! I’ve never made out with an angel!”
“I . . . I did not!” I lied, before I realized she could tell I was lying.
She chuckled, leaning back against my pillow. “Yeah, right. You’re playing a dangerous game. I love it!”
“Dangerous? Why is it dangerous?”
“It’s majorly against the rules, falling for an angel. If they find out, they’ll reassign him. Wow, that’s almost a Greek tragedy—girl likes angel boy, but if she acts on it, she’ll lose him forever. You’re really screwed!” She was enjoying this far too much. I was not amused.
“I’m glad you find this so funny,” I snapped. “I can tell you’ve never been in love before. I feel sorry for you, actually.”
She shot upright. “Wait a minute? You love him? You do! You love him! Oh my gosh! Does he love you?” She bit her lip, waiting for my answer.
“Yes,” I said, tentatively. “He does. Why?”
“Jiminy Christmas,” she exhaled. “I thought you were just messing around, but if you two are really in love . . . What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you really love him, you’re not going to be able to hide it, and if they find out, they’ll separate you—really separate you. It’s not like a guy who just moves to another city. He’ll vanish. You’ll never see him again. I’ve seen it happen. It’s horrible.”
“When did you see it happen?”
“One of my previous roommates fell in love with her Guardian. He got reassigned to another girl, and my friend just fell apart. She couldn’t take being without him.”
“What happened to her?” I felt my chest tightening a bit.
“She joined up with a demon gang, if you can believe it. Talk about opposites, huh? She was angry at the Angel Council, and I think she wanted to get back at them or something. Terrible decision, if you ask me. She was a great girl, but now . . .” Gia trailed off, leaving the girl’s fate to my imagination.
I smacked on my backpack, trying to flatten it, perhaps a bit too violently. “Well, that’s not going to happen to me.”
“It’s a hard choice,” Gia said. “Love or duty. I’m not sure what I would choose.”
“I don’t have to pick one,” I said. “I’m just going home, and things are just . . . just going to work out.” I could tell from Gia’s face that she didn’t think so, but thankfully, she kept her opinions to herself. Which actually made me more nervous than when she was telling me off.
“Where’s home?” she asked.
“Aviemore, Scotland,” I answered immediately.
Images of my new home swirled in my brain: the misty Highlands, my grandparents’ cozy house, snuggling under a blanket in my attic room in the rain. I missed it. I missed the people there too: my adorable grandfather, my buttoned-down grandmother, bubbly Jo . . . They all seemed so far away, like a dream. A dream! My dream about Jo! I started packing faster.
“You know, your dreams are a gift, Maren, even though they don’t seem like it,” Gia said. “They are meant to show you things so that when they happen, you’re better prepared. I’ve known a couple of girls with your particular talent.”
I looked up, rattled by Gia’s random comment, until I remembered that she could hear my thoughts. “Prepare me? All they do is convince me of my helplessness. And my guilt.”
“Guilt?” Now she frowned. “That’s rubbish. You bear no responsibility for what you see. Only what you do with it.”
“Or don’t do,” I sulked. Like with my mom.
“You really don’t think you had anything to do with your mother dying, do you?” Gia asked. Again, I was shocked. Being in the same room with a mind reader is a crazy head trip. Literally.
“I dreamed about it and I didn’t warn her,” I said, the heat of shame creeping up my cheeks.
“Maren, if you ran around trying to warn everyone who appeared in your nightmares, they’d lock you up and throw away the key.”
“Thanks.” I smiled weakly. “I feel so much better now.”
“Chin up,” she said. “Things will get better. You’ll see. And you have that handsome angel of yours to hook up with, in any case.”
“Shut up!” I threw a sock at her. She laughed.
“Here,” she said, taking off her necklace and handing it to me. “You’re going to need one of these.”
I wondered if the rose necklaces were regularly traded among Abbey girls. I’d just given mine to Hunter, and here I was getting a replacement from Gia. I slipped it over my head.
“For luck?” I said.
“No,” she stated. “For Anders. You use it against that manky rotter when you see him.”
How did she know about Anders? Oh yeah, I’d been thinking about him and the maze and Gavin murdering him . . . How exactly is a flower necklace supposed to help me against a demon?
“You’ll figure it out,” she said. “You always do.” I hoped she was right. Right about Anders, and wrong about Gavin.
Gavin. Being separated from him made me restless, like a wild animal locked in a cage. I had to see him. Immediately. I had to leave.
I grabbed my bag, thanked Gia, and left Magnificat the same way I’d come: running.
CHAPTER 30
As I got closer to Exodus, waves of excitement and anticipation washed over me with every step. If I didn’t calm down, I could jeopardize Gavin’s and my ability to be together. No one could know about our love . . . at least, not yet. I forced myself to slow to a nice, respectable walk. I took a deep breath and rounded the corner to the bridge.
Gavin was standing in the middle, next to the fiery guards, waiting. For me. He’d folded his hands in front of him, which emphasized his broad shoulders. His hair was tousled, as usual. He was even more beautiful than I remembered. He smiled when he saw me, a polite smile, but as I came closer, I saw that his eyes were shining.
“Miss Maren,” he said in a formal voice, as I stopped in front of him.
“Hello,” I said. I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from smiling too widely.
We climbed the ramp toward the ceiling as properly as any human girl and Guardian angel ever did.
The Exodus ramp ended at an unassuming wooden door. Gavin held it open for me, and we crossed into a small, dingy room filled with oily mechanical cogs, belts, and rotating wheels. A long pipe suspended from the ceiling through a slot in the floor above us swung back and forth with a clicking noise. On it, a metal canister was mounted near the bottom, its top covered in pennies.
I stopped walking. The room felt familiar somehow, but unlike in the bog, it wasn’t because I’d been there before. Not even in my dreams.
“They change the number of pennies on the pendulum every day to keep the clock running within four-fifths of a second,” I blurted out.
Gavin eyed me. “How did you know we were in a clock?”
“Good guess?” I shrugged. The truth was I had no idea where we were. I quickly realized the sudden knowledge must be an ancestral memory. I wondered who from my family had been in here before . . . and why.
Gavin was staring at me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “At least, I can’t put my finger on it. I adore you, you know, but there’s something else. Something special about you, Maren.”
“Yeah, ‘Special Ed,’” I quipped.
“No, I mean it. You have a light. There’s an aura about you. You were meant for something amazing.” He beamed. Does anyone give out better compliments? My heart lit my face.
“Come on,” he said. “We’re almost out.”
I followed him down a short hallway, to a large door with a cathedral-peaked top cut horizontally by a heavy metal bar. He shoved on it, and cool, fresh air hit my face. We emerged onto a four-lane bridge stuffed with pedestrians and
traffic. Gavin strode quickly ahead, and I jogged to keep up. He seemed determined to put as much distance between us and Magnificat as he could.
As we crossed the bridge, I looked down at the churning muddy water below.
“Is it the River Thames?” I asked. Gavin nodded.
Deafening chimes rose above the city noise as giant bells rang a familiar tune: BONG, BONG, BONG. I glanced over my shoulder for the first time, to see where we’d come from.
Big Ben, the iconic London clock tower, rose behind me. No freakin’ way.
Gavin grabbed my hand, and we broke into a run.
Once we were off the bridge, Gavin pulled me into a bright red telephone box. The glass windows were completely covered with faded stickers and advertisements, allowing the booth to be both bright and private.
“We made it,” he breathed, smiling at me. My heart thumped against my ribcage.
“I know,” I answered. “Barely.”
“I was so worried about you,” he said.
“I was worried about you,” I countered.
“Och, I’m fine.” He grinned. “Except for not being able to see you. That was bloody murder.”
“I kept my promise. I stayed alive,” I said. “Thanks to Alfred.”
“Thank you,” he whispered. His blue eyes blazed, sending shivers down my back. He leaned toward me. I sucked in my breath. The walls of the phone booth shuddered. Someone was banging on the door.
“Hurry up in there!” a male voice hollered. Who still uses a payphone?
Gavin retreated with a smirk. “I guess we have company. We’d better get going. We need to get the antidote back to Aviemore and Jo. I just wanted to take a second to tell you I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” I said, scooting around to open the door. Hearing Jo’s name had dropped a lump of guilt in my gut. What kind of terrible person even thinks about making out in a phone booth when her friend is dying? Maybe Rielly was right. Maybe I was bad for him.
I wondered what I would do if I had to choose between being with him and saving my friend. Thankfully, I didn’t have to. Yet.
Toward a Secret Sky Page 24