A Beautiful Dark

by Jocelyn Davies

  “Yes,” Cassie said. “Otherwise it makes no sense. Anyway, you have to come. It’s going to be awesome.”

  “Of course,” I said. “How could I miss the Mysterious Ellipses’ first show?”

  “See?” Cassie beamed. “You’re catching on.”

  I nodded, an awkward silence settling between us. It was hopeless. I couldn’t make conversation with my thoughts so far away. And Cassie looked distracted, too. She kept looking over my shoulder every time someone walked past, but I was too tired to think about what was bothering her. I yawned again.

  “Where’s Dan?”

  “What?” Cassie’s head snapped back to me. “Why?”

  “Um, no reason. Just wondering where he is.”

  “Who knows what that boy does with his free time,” she grumbled.

  I wished I could tell Cassie about the conversation I’d overheard between Raven and Devin. Things kept getting stranger, more confusing, harder to believe. I had to talk to Asher. I knew that he would tell me the truth.

  Just as I was loading my backpack with books to take home at the end of the day, they cornered me: Asher at my left elbow and Devin at my right.

  “Come on,” Asher said. “Let’s walk down the hall while we have a secret conversation.”

  “Another one?” I smirked, trying to maintain some semblance of cool. But inside my stomach was sinking. I wasn’t sure how much more secret information I could take.

  “There’s more you need to know,” Devin said. “It will help you in all this.”

  “All what, exactly?” My voice was getting louder. “What do you mean by ‘all this’?”

  “Calm down.” Asher was cocky as ever. “There’s more to the story than we told you yesterday. Maybe if you didn’t have such a weak stomach, we wouldn’t have had to schedule a Part Two. But you were all, ‘nooo, to be continued’ . . .”

  “You’re a real pain, Asher,” I pointed out.

  “And don’t I know it.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Anyway, don’t look so panicked. We’re here to help you.”

  “It sure doesn’t—”

  “I know, I know, it sure doesn’t seem like it. But trust me. We don’t want to hurt you. And you’re going to want to hear what we have to say.”

  We were at the front doors to the school at that point, and the sharp sunlight hurt my exhausted eyes. I lifted a hand to shield them.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “To practice,” Devin said gruffly.

  “Practice? Practice what?”

  “Your po—” Asher started to say, but Devin’s head whipped around, and he gave Asher a stern glare. Asher looked sheepish. “Stuff,” he said.

  “Great,” I mumbled under my breath. “My ‘stuff’ was getting rusty, anyway.”

  “Come on,” Devin said, putting on sunglasses. “You’re driving.” He headed toward the parking lot.

  “Skye.” Asher turned to me when Devin was a few feet ahead of us. The after-school crowd swarmed around us, and he leaned in close so that he didn’t have to raise his voice. “I know this is all a shock to you, and you have every right to be wary and freaked out. But I want you to do me a favor. Trust me. Can you do that?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, instantly thinking about Ellie—and Jordan. I didn’t know if I could trust Asher, not yet. What did I really know about him?

  He looked a little offended. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, and walked down the steps.

  After a pause, I followed.

  We drove a few miles outside of town, to a field where Devin was convinced no one would see us. He led the way as we crunched across the icy grass. I walked behind him, and Asher held up the rear. None of us said much. I didn’t know about the two of them, but I was too nervous to string words together coherently.

  The light was bleak, the field colorless and anemic. As we approached the start of a path where it forged ahead into the woods, a winter bird perched on a nearby tree alighted in a flap of wings. The noise echoed across the empty field.

  Devin stopped and faced me.

  “Seems as deserted a spot as any,” Asher said under his breath as he scanned the empty clearing.

  “Before we explain anything else, let’s get some things straight. Your parents are the nomads in the story Asher told you. On that we’re clear?” Devin asked.

  I nodded, my heart pounding. “And me?”

  “Yes, you know what I’m going to say. You are their child. And—” He glanced at Asher, who nodded in some kind of agreement.

  “Skye, for this to make sense, we need to tell you the truth,” Asher said.

  “Meaning what? You’ve been lying to me up until now?”

  “You’re being difficult.”

  “You’re tearing apart everything I’ve ever known to be true. Did you think I wouldn’t rebel a little?”

  He gave me a warm grin. “Actually, I do appreciate the rebellion.”

  “You would,” Devin said cuttingly.

  “Okay. Enlighten me.”

  “The Order,” Asher began. “They oversee Earth . . . but they’re not exactly, uh, from Earth.”

  “Obviously.” I didn’t bother to hide my impatience. I was ready for straight-up honesty between all of us.

  “We’re unearthly beings,” Devin cut in. “We’re—”

  I closed my eyes. I already knew what was coming. “You’re angels, right?”

  “Yes, in a manner of speaking,” he said. “It’s complicated. I suppose if it’s easier for you to classify us that way, you can, though I barely know what that word means anymore. We are also known as Malakh, messengers. We believe we are the ones who keep Earth running.”

  “But yeah,” Asher chimed in. “The wings are the same in any language.”

  “A lot written about us is pure fiction,” Devin continued, ignoring Asher. “There is so much that’s glossed over or interpreted in various ways for the sake of convenience.”

  Remembering all of Devin’s complaints about Asher’s aversion to following rules, I turned to Asher. “You’re a Rebel?” He nodded. “You broke off from the Order and left Paradise? So what is that, like a fallen angel?”

  “We’re not exactly ‘fallen,’” Asher said huffily. “I guess you could say we jumped.”

  “So my father, he was one of you?”

  “Yup. Right up until the day he—”

  “Met my mother, yeah, I know.” It was beginning to come together. “Are you a messenger, too?”

  “I often am,” he said. “I’m often sent out on what you could call, like, counterintelligence missions. You know one of the basic laws of nature: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?”

  “Uh, yeah?”

  “Well . . . if you think of the Guardians as messengers of fate, keeping order, balance, manipulating destinies—then we’re dispatched to, you know, stop that from happening. We’re like our own system of checks and balances.”

  “Manipulate is a strong word, Rebel,” Devin argued. “Are you sure you want to start this now?”

  “I’ll start it up any time you want, but I think we’d better keep our focus on Skye at the moment,” Asher spat.

  “Uh, guys?” I shouted. “Enough? I have another question. A big one.”

  They looked at me.

  “Ask it,” Devin said.

  “Well, if my mother was a Guardian, and my dad was a Rebel, and they were both angels but they were both mortal when I was born . . . what does that make me?”

  “That,” Devin said, “is exactly what we’re here to find out. You are different. Special. The daughter caught between the Order of the Natural World and the chaos that tries to unravel it. Your destiny and your powers are completely unknown.”

  “My powers?”

  “Oh yes,” Devin said, smiling for the first time all afternoon. “Your powers.”

  Chapter 20

  A cold wind blew through the trees and swept across the field. Asher looked dubious
ly at the sky.

  I shivered. “What kind of powers?”

  “We’re not human,” Asher reminded me. “Of course we have powers. Some we were born with, some we developed out of what I’d call necessity.”

  “That’s skipping ahead a bit,” Devin said, placing a tense hand on Asher’s shoulder. “But the gist of it is true. The Gifted are born with the Sight, as we’ve told you. And the Guardians in turn have other gifts. Nothing like foreseeing destinies but a few cognitive and precognitive abilities. A subtle influence on people’s minds. One of the most useful ways this manifests is in our ability to intuit—to connect with—pain. And heal it.”

  “So you did heal my ankle?” I cried. “I knew it wasn’t crazy!”

  “Far from it. Though I shouldn’t have revealed myself to you so soon, before you knew and understood the true extent of your heritage. I’m sorry for—”

  “Freaking her out?” Asher cut in with a wry smile.

  Devin bristled. “Precisely.”

  “You’re one to talk,” I said to Asher. “You freaked me out when you did the fire thing in the cave. Remember?”

  Devin wheeled on him. “You showed her your ability to bring forth fire?”

  “She was freezing. What was I supposed to do? Let hypothermia kick in?”

  “You’re incredible,” Devin said, his tone indicating the opposite.

  “Says the guy who healed her broken ankle.”

  “I’ve been ordered to protect her.”

  “So have I.”

  “Hey, guys, could we take the chest beating down a notch and get back to explaining to me how all this stuff works?”

  They both averted their gazes.

  “What about the Rebellion’s powers?” I prodded Asher. “Did anything change when you left the Order, or are yours the same as Devin’s?”

  “Skye, watching out for you is about the only thing Devin and I have in common,” he said. “When the Rebellion formed and broke away, their original powers were lost. I don’t know if the Order reclaimed them or if they simply faded when the Rebellion made their home on Earth. Over time, Rebels developed their own unique set of powers. Powers that they took from the earth itself and use to give back to it. Elemental forces. Water, fire, rain. We can create storms. The ultimate physical arsenal, to combat the Order’s mental manipulation.”

  “Whoa,” I breathed.

  “Yeah. I say ‘they,’ because this was long before my time. Our new powers came over hundreds of thousands of years,” he explained.

  “Are you guys immortal?” I asked.

  “No,” Devin said. “Though our aging process works in an entirely different way from yours.”

  “Angels aren’t gods,” added Asher. “We’re born, we grow old, and we die. We just do it all kind of . . .” He paused, searching. “Differently. Like Devin said.”

  “So you’re not really my age? Or is it some weird trick of the light that you look seventeen?”

  “I haven’t been seventeen for a long time,” Asher said, almost, if I interpreted right, a little wistfully. It made me want to rush over and hold him. What would it be like to live so long, to see so many changes occur?

  “We do share many of the same properties as humans, it’s true. We look like you, for one. We understand and speak your many languages.” Devin was ticking things off on his fingers as though he was going through a memorized list. “But it’s important to remember that we’re not human, Skye.”

  “But . . . okay,” I said. “Here’s the thing. If I have—what you said—if I have, like, powers. What kind will I have? Will I become one of you, completely? Will I be an angel?” I paused, not sure I wanted to know the answer to the question that came next. “Will I no longer be human?”

  Asher shook his head. “Well, you’re already different from other people in ways you may or may not have noticed. Think about it. You’re a little bit faster. A little bit stronger. Haven’t you won every single one of your races this season?”

  “Because I practice my ass off,” I said defiantly. The sportswoman in me couldn’t accept that I’d had an unfair advantage. My conscience would compel me to return all my trophies and medals. And how would I explain it? I had performance-enhancing angel genes?

  “It’s more than that, Skye. And didn’t you just survive an avalanche—with your worst injury a broken ankle?”

  “But I couldn’t heal it myself,” I protested. “Devin did.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Asher said. “Just the fact that you survived is amazing. Devin, he’s sort of influenced everyone into thinking that your fall wasn’t that big a deal, but it was.”

  “If you weren’t at least a little bit like us, you might not have made it,” Devin added. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked almost sad.

  Asher continued. “Your powers haven’t completely formed yet. We don’t know whether you’ll develop the Guardians’ abilities or the Rebels’. We don’t know what forms the powers brewing inside of you will take. But when they do manifest, you’ll be your own thing. Not all human but not all angel.”

  He took a step forward, and I could see the passion and fire in his eyes. He was trying to convey how important all of this was. “This is what you were born for, Skye. To be part of our world, to embrace your destiny,” Asher quietly insisted. “Whatever your powers, being with us is what you were always meant to do.”

  “You don’t have to be afraid of the path, Skye,” Devin added. “Because it will lead you to us and to a calm you’ve never known.”

  “Okay,” I said hesitantly. “Show me what I can do.”

  Chapter 21

  Okay now, pay attention,” Devin said. “I’m going to demonstrate—”

  Plumes of fire exploded against the dark sky.

  Spinning around, he glared at Asher. “We had agreed that I would give the first lesson.”

  “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.” But Asher didn’t look sorry at all. He looked rather amused.

  Devin turned his attention back to me. “What he just did, ignoring the rules, is not tolerated.”

  “By the Order. The Rebellion refers to it as independent thinking. Initiative,” Asher said.

  “It creates chaos—as you’ve just proven. Here we are wasting time with your games instead of teaching Skye what she needs to know.”

  Bowing deeply, Asher extended his hand. “Continue.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, the bickering helped me to relax just a little.

  Devin straightened his wings and focused on me again. “You should be able to feel a well deep inside you and just reach in—” He flung his arms out toward the sky, and branches of the trees surrounding the clearing began dancing wildly. The strong wind hadn’t even been a hint of breeze a few minutes earlier.

  “Wow,” I said. “Was that a cognitive ability?”

  “It’s more than that,” Asher said. “Air is ethereal, of the clouds. Like the Rebellion controls the dark and stormy, earthy elements.” He waved his hand out, and the ground rumbled beneath my feet, causing me to stumble and almost lose my balance.

  Suddenly I was so cold that I was surprised I didn’t freeze completely. I whipped around and Devin stood behind me, arms outstretched, smiling.

  Asher sent fire rushing past me and my skin prickled with heat, but when the two elements clashed, they erupted with a loud crack—like ice being hit with heat—and died out.

  “I’m supposed to be able to do all of that?” I asked.

  “We don’t know what you’re capable of,” Devin said. “Just try and see what you can do. Start small.”

  “Okay.” I searched for that well that Devin talked about, but all I found was emptiness. “I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling it.”

  “Like this,” Asher said. “Watch.”

  For the next few hours, the two angels showed me the vast, terrifying extent of what they were able to do—what they thought I might be capable of doing, too. Thunder clapped. Bursts of fire flew toward the gatheri
ng dark clouds. Asher broke the ground apart; Devin caused it to reform, erasing all evidence of the destruction. The wind circled around us, but our hair stayed in place. Rain pummeled the earth, but somehow the three of us stayed bone dry. Their powers were so controlled. They could help or hurt. Heal or destroy.

  As I watched the fire and wind swirl together, the pieces were finally coming together for me. My destiny. Though I reminded myself as I watched them that I might be able to do all or none of those things, I couldn’t discount that there were strange things happening around me lately. The boiler. The thermostat. The bus heater. The avalanche. I could explain all of them rationally. And yet, I couldn’t deny that what Devin and Asher demonstrated could also explain the weirdness a lot better than I wanted to acknowledge.

  As they wreaked havoc around us, sometimes I couldn’t tell who was responsible for what. Dark powers, light powers. I imagined if these two groups ever went to war against each other, it would be the end of the world.

  Every now and then, they would stop and wait. Wait for me to follow their lead and cause a single spark or tremor. But all I caused was disappointment. The irony wasn’t lost on me that the weird things that had been occurring all around me always seemed to happen when I wasn’t prepared for them. Now that I was actively trying to make my powers manifest—they failed me.

  “Skye!” Devin shouted. He was hidden by the shadows of the night that had descended around us. “Are you paying attention?”

  “Yes!” I shouted back. “It’s freezing and my fingers are numb!” I waved my hands around in front of my face. “No fire. No wind. No healing. Nada.”

  “I don’t think you get how serious this is,” he said, his white wings growing brighter as he emerged from the dark, bringing with him his own light.

  “Look, maybe I don’t have any powers at all. You said I might not.”

  Devin sighed. “I thought what happened on the bus . . . with the heater . . . that maybe you caused that.”

  “Could have been bad wiring,” Asher said. He blended in so well with inky blackness at the edge of the clearing.

  “You don’t believe that,” Devin challenged.