by Annie Dalton
“So now what?” said Lola.
Reuben gave her a serene smile. “I guess we do what he says.”
Lola looked appalled. “Give the device to the evil de Winters! Are you crazy!”
A strange calm flowed into me, a welcome sign that my angel intuition had totally kicked in. “Reuben’s right,” I said. “Come on guys, we’re going to a party!”
We stole down the drive to the headmaster’s house, careful to keep in the shadows. As we got closer to the house, a terrible tiredness came over me. Like, ‘What is the point?’
There was no way we could pull this off alone - and no matter what anyone said, we were totally alone. With our tags out of action, we couldn’t even call home for back-up.
If the Agency really cared about us, they wouldn’t put us through this, I thought miserably. It’s simply too much responsibility. We’re just kids! We’re not even properly trained yet.
It was an effort just to keep walking by this time. It felt as if I had invisible stones in my pockets weighing me down.
Lola whispered, “Anyone else getting a PODS vibe?”
Reuben pulled a face. “Just a bit.”
Lola gave a low chuckle. “That’s a relief! For a moment, I thought I was having a major crack-up!”
My depression vanished like magic. “Totally,” I hissed. “I can’t believe I almost fell for that old doom ‘n despair routine!”
“Me neither. I suppose we should have expected it,” whispered Lola. “The de Winters might be human, but they’ve been in cahoots with the PODS since history began. This place must be saturated with evil vibes.”
“It is. You can feel it.” Reuben tapped his solar plexus. “But it’s so pretty here, you think you’re imagining it.”
We had almost reached the house. By this time, the atmosphere was totally hideous. Lola said it was like wading through evil cosmic treacle. Normally we’d use our tags to access extra angelic protection. Unfortunately this was not an option.
The house was absolutely ablaze with light. No-one had drawn the curtains, so we could see into the downstairs rooms. It was the most luxurious place I’d ever seen, like a celebrity’s house from a twenty-third century copy of Hello!
We slipped through a side entrance and crept stealthily up a velvety carpeted corridor. I heard chinks of crockery and a murmur of voices.
Passing an open door, we saw staff in uniforms bustling around a vast dining room, smoothing crisp tablecloths, buffing up silver and twitching at gorgeous flower arrangements, making everything perfect for the big party. And everything was indescribably perfect, yet something made me want to bolt out of that house and never come back. My mates obviously felt the same way, because at the same moment they grabbed hold of my hands.
“Ahh, that’s so touching. Excuse me while I puke,” said a mocking voice in my ear. Brice hadn’t gone away after all. He’d just made himself invisible.
“Are you trying to give me heart failure?” I snapped. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“You didn’t seriously think I’d trust my brother to a bunch of little halo polishers?” Brice inquired.
I was completely confused. “But you said your family would see you.”
“I said I couldn’t let myself be seen. My people might run with the PODS, but they don’t interact with the dead, sweetheart!”
“So if you’re here, why do you need us?” hissed Lola.
“I told you, Sanchez. We’re going to save Dom. My way.”
You can’t glare at someone who’s invisible, so I had to resort to sarcasm. “You just ooze charm, don’t you,” I said in disgust.
“Oh, he oozes,” said Lola scornfully. “But charm? I don’t think so.”
“Will you give the guy a break?” sighed Reuben.
“Hey, buddy, I can stand up for myself, you know!” objected Brice’s disembodied voice.
This was definitely the weirdest situation of my short angel career.
OK, so I admit I still haven’t quite finished reading The Angel Handbook, but I’ll bet good money it doesn’t say anything about the forces of Light actively chumming up with the forces of Darkness! But what choice did we have?
Exactly!
Following Brice’s whispered directions, we found our way to the foot of a seriously majestic staircase, identical to the ones that those old style Hollywood stars came dancing down in musicals. My Nan would have totally adored it.
Crouching on the bottom stair, looking more like orphan Annie than ever, was Lily. She sprang up in a panic. “Where’s Dave?”
“He got held up,” I said hastily. “Don’t worry, we’ve got the device.”
Poor Lily, she almost fainted with relief!
We followed her up the stairs.
As we reached the first floor, some beautifully dressed little kids went scampering happily across the landing and out of sight.
Peals of laughter came from one of the rooms. I could hear a hum of cultured voices as the international de Winters made polite small talk in all the major European languages.
Brice prodded me unpleasantly in the ribs.
“Hey, no physical contact, OK?” I warned.
“Stop being so coy, darling, and look through that door,” he hissed back. “There’s someone I want you to see.”
A woman sat with her back to us. I could see her upswept hair, long suntanned legs and an elegant hand gesturing as she talked. Wafts of expensive perfume drifted my way.
She looked amazingly stylish, yet even without my agency shades, I could tell there was something alarmingly wrong with this woman’s energy field.
She’s like this house, I thought. Lovely to look at. Totally deadly inside.
“That’s Laura de Winter.” Brice sounded coldly amused. “She’s my mother.”
I had the horrible feeling he’d just read my mind. “Oh,” I said, “She’s um, really…”
“Toxic?” he suggested. “Dad certainly thought so.”
“Oh yeah, and what was he like?” I burbled to cover my embarrassment.
“I have no idea,’ he said carelessly. “I hardly knew him. He was a scientist; a brilliant one apparently. The Family hired him to solve the time-device problem. They wanted to keep him keen, so they married him to Mum.”
“You’re kidding,” I breathed.
“Time goes by. Dad earns the Family’s trust, blah blah. They leak vital info about their dodgier activities. Dad doesn’t like what he hears and unwisely makes no attempt to hide his feelings. The de Winters decide he’s failed the Family loyalty test, so obviously he has to go.”
I gasped. “They killed him?”
“Good as. They faked a big scandal and Dad mysteriously disappeared. It happened just before I died. Dom doesn’t know a thing about it.”
“Well, I think your dad sounds great,” I said. “He totally stood up for his principles.”
“And a lot of good it did him,” Brice said bitterly.
I immediately started spinning romantic fantasies of reuniting Dom with his scientist dad. “Do you know where he is?” I asked.
“Will you just drop it?” Brice snapped. “The guy’s a loser. He works nights in some freaking laundry or something. Only the evil survive, haven’t you figured that out by now?”
I felt a flicker of pity. So that’s why Brice had such a warped attitude. He was scared to join the good guys, in case he ended up like his dad.
I saw my mates waiting for me at the end of the corridor and hurried to catch them up.
“Where did you get to, angel girl?” Reuben complained.
“She’s been fraternising with the enemy,” sniggered Brice.
“You wish,” I told him under my breath.
Lily tapped timidly at an ornate panelled door.
A cultured voice called, “Come!”
We followed Lily into an imposing boardroom.
I took in heavy draped curtains with ties of floppy gold rope, and a long table of dark wood, polished so brig
htly it looked exactly like glass. Around the table sat maybe fifteen or twenty people, presumably key members of the de Winter family. They were all of different ages and races, but their hungry expressions were identical; like they were just about to get what they wanted most for Christmas.
“Well, now,” said the same beautifully cultured voice. “This is a delightful surprise.”
“My uncle Jonas,” Brice hissed in my ear.
“Do you have to stand so close?” I muttered.
Then I saw Jonas de Winter and almost fainted. No wonder Dom had been so gobsmacked when he saw that medieval slave merchant. Jonas was the medieval guy’s total twin! It was just like Lola said - these gangsters had been causing mayhem on my planet since the dawn of history.
Dom stood beside his uncle, looking defiant.
The door opened again and his mother swept in, in a gale of lovely perfume. “Oh, these must be Dom’s little time-travellers!” she gushed. “What time do they come from again, Dominic?”
“You tell me, Mother,” he muttered. “Since you know so much.”
I felt Brice’s breath tickle my ear. “OK, darling, you’re on. This is your big moment. Just say exactly what I tell you.”
I felt unpleasantly like a PODS glove puppet, but I obediently said my lines: “We’ve brought the device, but we’re not handing it over until we’re convinced that Dominic is free to go.”
I don’t think I can have been very impressive because all the de Winters broke into tolerant smiles, like I was a little kid who was only playing at being grown-up.
“Free to go,” repeated Dom’s mother in a wondering tone. “But of course Dominic is free to go. What do you think we are, dear? Monsters?”
Jonas de Winter smiled. “Dom is free to leave this house any time he likes.” He slung a casual arm around his nephew, and it was like a creepy action replay of the merchant with Stephen. “Just out of curiosity, dear boy,” he said casually. “Where will you go?”
Dom’s next words blew everyone away, including Brice. “I’d like to go and live with my dad,” he said stiffly.
The atmosphere instantly dropped way below zero.
Laura de Winter’s beautiful face tightened like a mask. “Dominic, dear, I’m afraid you’re a little confused,” she said coldly. “Your father is dead, you know that.”
Dom looked disgusted. “You people are unbelievable. Did you seriously think I’d never find out about Dad?”
It seemed like Brice’s baby brother wasn’t quite so helpless and innocent as everybody thought.
There was a stunned silence.
“Well,” said Jonas de Winter at last. “If that’s the case, of course you must go to be with your father. We understand perfectly. Don’t we, Laura?” And he totally released Dom from his embrace. He actually held up his hands so we could see he wasn’t holding Dom against his will.
Dom strolled over to our side of the table. He was trying to act cool, but I saw him trembling with strain.
Jonas bared his teeth in a smile. “You see! All very civilised. But civilisation works both ways, my dears, so now you must keep your side of the bargain.”
“Give them the device and get Dom out of here,” Brice hissed.
I stared wildly round the room, trying to think of something, anything, which would get us out of this nightmare.
“Just do it, angel girl!” Brice threatened in my ear. “You’re supposed to be saving Dom, remember?”
I will, I will, I thought. Just as soon as I figure out how.
Because no matter what Brice said, I couldn’t do it his way. Think about it. Generations of evil de Winters snaking in and out of eternity, buying and selling human lives, wrecking my lovely blue-green planet. And I’m supposed to trust these characters with the sacred keys of history? I don’t think so!
If only our tags were still working, I thought desperately. We could send for Agency back-up, then we’d get these people sorted, no problem.
Then clear as day, I heard a voice inside my head.
It wasn’t Michael or Mr Allbright. It wasn’t anyone celestial, funnily enough. It was Des, my down-to-earth step-dad. I could actually see him, in my mind’s eye. He was sitting in his favourite armchair and he was smiling at me. “Melanie,” he said earnestly. “If you can’t make it, then you’ve just got to fake it, girl.”
I felt a prickle of excitement. My step-dad had a point. Wasn’t Mr Allbright always saying that imagination was a genuine angelic power? Then why not use it? If I imagined that I still had my personal hotline to the Agency, maybe it would come true?
Well, it was worth a shot. I felt furtively for my damaged tags.
Excuse me you guys, if you’re listening, I said silently. “We’re trapped somewhere in the twenty-third century and we have a major problem. We’ve got to stop the de Winters wrecking history but we totally don’t want to sacrifice this really great kid, Dominic. Please help us ASAP.
Did I feel a genuine tingle of angel electricity then, or was I just so desperate that I wanted to believe it?
Jonas de Winter’s voice was as smooth as ever. “The device, if you please.”
I made a major production out of it, slowly groping inside the wrong pocket of my jacket, then exploring the back pockets of my jeans.
“Don’t screw up now, sweetheart,” Brice warned. “My brother’s life is on the line here.”
The headmaster’s smile was becoming a little fixed. “I hope you aren’t playing games with me, young lady.”
That’s when I knew we’d finally run out of time. Not knowing what else to do, I miserably held out the device.
“Just push it across the table,” Jonas de Winter coaxed. “Nice and easy. No sudden moves.”
In agonising slow-mo I laid it on the table, and felt a collective quiver of excitement go through the de Winters.
My mates and I watched, hypnotised, as Jonas de Winter reached out his hand. I felt numb with horror. By the time this evil family had finished ransacking the past, Earth’s future would be totally in their hands.
It was Dom’s mother who unexpectedly broke the spell. “You silly boy,” she snapped at her son. “You could have had everything, yet you gave it all up to be with that fool.”
Dom went white with rage. Before anyone could stop him, he snatched up the device, frantically pressing keypads.
I heard Brice give a hiss of pure surprise.
Scribbles of neon light appeared in mid-air.
The de Winters looked oddly fascinated. But under their studied calm, it was obvious they were terrified.
“NOW!” yelled Reuben.
Angel martial-arts teachers say that when you’re in tune with the cosmos, you don’t have to think about your moves, you just spring effortlessly into action. And that’s exactly what we did.
For the first time in our training, my mates and I used angelic martial-arts skills on humans. Brice invisibly lent a helping hand. Dom and Lily also pitched in. There was a brief, though quite dramatic, struggle which I’m happy to say we won.
Minutes later we had them all neatly tied up with the pretty golden curtain ropes.
Against all the odds and with absolutely no back-up, unless you count that inspired advice from my lovely step-dad, we had done it. We’d simultaneously saved Dom and history!!
Reuben clapped Dom on the back. “Nice work, mate. Now give us that device, before someone really gets hurt.”
Dom shook his head. “No way! This is payback time.”
Uh-oh, I thought. My mates and I exchanged alarmed glances.
Dom had a weird sleepwalking expression, as if he couldn’t believe this was finally happening. “You know what I hate about you people?” he said to his trussed-up relatives, and I saw tears glittering in his eyes. “Your kids are just like cute little pets to you. You buy us expensive clothes, send us to be educated in your special Phoenix schools. And all the time, you’re filling our heads with your disgusting lies. I’ve been on to you for years, Uncle Jonas. And
you, Mum. You think you’ve been watching me, when all the time I’ve been watching you.”
“Dom, sweetie,” I said gently.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill them,” Dom told me earnestly. “I just want them to suffer, the way they’ve made people suffer for centuries. And now I’ve come up with the perfect punishment.”
He let out a nervous peal of laughter. “You thought it was hilarious, didn’t you? Funny little Dom, so naive, he’d actually use a powerful cosmic device to run some sad little time scam for pocket money. Yeah, right!”
“You little toad!” said Jonas in a startled voice. “You were running scientific trials all along!”
“Correct, Uncle Jonas! I was also getting an excellent education. I saw a kid succeed where the grown-ups had screwed up. In thirteenth-century France I saw a teenage boy inspire thousands of other kids to follow him, not out of fear or for money or because the de Winters were yanking their strings. But out of pure and utter love.”
“I’m sure that’s highly commendable, dear—” his mother interrupted.
“Just shut up and listen!” Dom yelled. He drew a shaky breath then went on in a quieter voice, “So I figured, hey, I get it! We really can have Heaven on Earth like everyone says. Except that Stephen made one big mistake. He forgot about the Dark side. But I won’t do that. I’ve been watching them operate my whole life. That’s why I had to perfect the device, so I can get rid of my family.”
“Dom,” said Lola. “Maybe, this isn’t—”
But Dom wasn’t listening. “The only thing is where to send you,” he pondered. “Personally I’d love to zap you all back to Marseilles and put you on your own ancestors’ slave ships. Poetic justice, don’t you think?” He gave another nervous laugh.
“But then it might be even more fun to zap you forwards, to one of those experimental space colonies they’re planning to build in our future. That way, you wouldn’t even be contaminating the same planet as the rest of the human race.”
I was getting a wee bit concerned at this point. Don’t get me wrong. I totally sympathised with Dominic’s feelings. But as you know, the Agency doesn’t exactly encourage violent acts of revenge.