“True love is believed to transcend space and time,” Marie-Lydia said. “The temple-palace and its cultivated section of Xyn’s Ground will exist outside of those constructs as well. The temple-palace will be based on an architectural design I’ve learned during my time here. Those Errorists’ souls delivered by you and me will be allowed to reform themselves by laboring to build the temple-palace and tend to the vineyard, a plot of the Ground where we shall make our magick wine to change the dull Creator’s mind.”
This almost made good sense to Darryl, but—
“What about the bodies left behind on Reality’s surface?” he asked. “When delivering souls to Xyn, their and our bodies will be left on the surface in a deep-deep sleep. We’ll eventually wake up to go about our ‘artistic’ business—but what about them? What are we supposed to do with the bodies?”
She smiled in a fashion Darryl had never seen before. “We’ll have allies on the surface who’ll know how to deal with those. Your concern and mine are the souls.” She then took to the air to assist VanJill with its current task.
Darryl stayed on the ground, but he followed her around the room, considering the entire proposal. A lost-found child, a great Artist, a Miracle, crying into reality—all levels of Reality—perfection. A Beautiful Creation. One finally fit for humankind, a species that has suffered gravely and incessantly since its inception…But there were pieces that didn’t quite fit for him. Marie-Lydia had left something out of her proposal that he felt should’ve been obvious, but he just couldn’t get his mind to settle on it.
While thinking about it all, he also looked around and considered the fact they were now standing inside an elaborately decorated room. What had once been the skull’s eye sockets were now stained-glass windows. The entire scene was plainly set for some sort of ceremony. It almost seemed as if his acceptance of Marie-Lydia’s proposal was a foregone conclusion.
“What if I understand I want no part of this engagement?” he asked. “What if I decide that, now that you’re free from your prison, I should be allowed to go free and live my life as I please?”
“You may,” was Marie-Lydia’s surprising answer. “The choice is yours. And you don’t have to make it now. Let your actions speak for you when you return to Reality’s surface. Faith preceded by words but not backed by actions is holey. Empty.
“You’ll take your final test after you leave Xyn. To pass, you’ll send to me the soul of the Errorist who was most responsible for my imprisonment here for so long. Your success will be considered an acceptance of my proposal; your failure, a rejection. If you reject what I’ve offered, then you’ll be free to follow your own pleasure, free to go in peace.”
He wasn’t trapped after all. But Darryl knew he couldn’t go back to living and behaving as he had. There had to be other options.
“If I choose your way,” he asked, “to pass this test, just how would I send someone’s soul to this exact spot?”
VanJill interrupted its actions to respond, using one word per bubble. “Your jeweled brain was transplanted to the area of your heart as you were modified by Sprat. A faithful caretaker of The Beautiful One’s body on Reality’s surface has placed a replica of this jewel on your body. You may direct souls back to the correct section of the Ground with the jewel assisting your will and wishes.”
“And just so you know that I won’t feel bitter or wronged if you don’t accept the offer I’ve given in return for your actions on my behalf,” Marie-Lydia said, “my pole-pet and I will give you and yours a gift just to show our gratitude. Consider it an engagement gift you may keep even if you decide to break it off with me.”
“What kind of gift?”
“It was simply described as ‘Perfect Memory Recollection’ when it was given to me,” Marie-Lydia said. “It’s an extrasensory ability. A truly valuable one. Your pet will best know how to put it to use.”
Of course. Sprat would now be with him always. Just under the soul’s skin when in Xyn, and deep in the subconscious while on Reality’s surface.
“Now then,” Marie-Lydia said, “you’ve heard my proposal. Go and give me your answer.”
Darryl looked behind him toward the stained-glass windows, the now-plugged portals through which he’d entered. He wondered exactly how he should make his exit.
“And remember,” Marie-Lydia said, “you will remember, if you want redemption, if you want to be saved, absolved, you need to know exactly what you’re being saved from, what’s being washed away. You won’t be saved by interpreting someone else’s attempts at art. You’ll only be saved by creating your own.”
Darryl felt the jewel at the center of his soul’s chest beginning to throb, and quickly accelerating. His soul felt increasing pressure, from within and without, as if he were expanding and being crushed at the same time. He wanted to cry out in pain, but he no longer had a voice. The only sound he made was when his wings fell off his back and shattered on the floor; the crystal-feathers were reduced to colored dust. It was amid an expanding cloud of multicolored dust that Darryl’s soul began to disintegrate. Its pieces and particles began to get carried away on the fierce breezes that had been contained within him. He was ushered out of the room, out through the tiny cracks in the stained glasses, the imperfectly plugged eye sockets. But Darryl saw much before his consciousness evaporated.
The giant had replaced its skull back onto its shoulders; the lifting and reattachment must’ve caused the skull-chamber’s earlier trembling. The seventy-eight rectangles were now nowhere in sight. There was no more need for armor or guards, but the giant’s body was most likely protected in some way by the grapevines entwined about its entire body. The soon-to-be-brains-or-raisins had turned into imperfect spheres, multicolored egg-shaped objects, each imprinted with the design of a globe—Earths with amethyst seas, emerald continents, and swirling wisps of ruby-red clouds. Bunches and bunches of the egg-shaped alternate-earth objects rested in both of the giant’s hands, so many it seemed inevitable a few would spill and fall to crack open, or maybe to float in the fresh unfrozen water on which the giant’s feet now stood.
The last thing Darryl saw before losing the sight and thought of it all was the face of the giant’s newly replaced head as it acquired patches and pieces of something like skin. Each puzzling piece was a different pigmentation, none of them a hue found in familiar nature. Darryl was gone before he could solve that puzzle, but he was all set on the solution to another.
EIGHTEEN
Robert and Ava had been driving around for a little more than an hour. There were several more to go until dawn. Aside from the Mustang’s headlights and the occasional unbroken streetlights and the unreliable moonlight, there wasn’t much to help brighten their way. But Robert wasn’t really relying on light for their search. He’d put his trust into Ava’s intuition, particularly her sense of recollection.
He’d taken a good look at Vince’s map, and without showing or even mentioning it to her, he’d been driving Ava to the places where Darryl had spotted the “Save the Children” graffiti in Reston, Virginia, and its surrounding areas. He’d hoped the places would provoke Ava’s sense of familiarity. The forth spot did just that.
“I know this place.”
“Here?” Robert asked.
They were driving through Herndon, Virginia, a few miles from the city limits of Reston.
“Yes,” Ava replied in a voice that just rose above a whisper. “That group of trees. On the other side is a house. A pretty big house. Probably something in there worth looking for.”
Robert drove for another half mile then pulled the car over to the side of the road. He shut off the engine. “We’ll go on foot from here.”
He popped the trunk so Ava could retrieve the crystalline bow. He removed the corresq from his jacket’s inner breast pocket, tossed the jacket into the trunk, and secured the vehicle. He then motioned for Ava to move closer.
“We don’t have watches to communicate with,” he whispered, “so we’ll go
over the plan now, just so we’re on the same page.” Ava nodded. “This is a wealthy area. People guard their properties ferociously. So from here, we travel through the treetops, camouflaged. We don’t want to trip anything lying out on the ground for trespassers. Once we get to the house, if it is the one we’re looking for, we stay together. No splitting up.”
“Seems like we could do a more effective search by splitting up,” Ava whispered. “Unless you don’t trust me to—”
“Damn it, I trust you!” Robert almost forgot to keep his voice down. “Like I said, we have no way to communicate with each other, no easy way of finding each other quickly if we need to. You said it’s a big house, right? So we stay close.” Robert attached the corresq to his belt buckle. “Let’s go.”
It was more difficult than it would’ve been in broad daylight, but they both managed to get to and move through the higher tree branches while making only a small amount of noise. If anyone had been listening, they would’ve been more likely to mistake the two as frisky owls or insomniac squirrels than as two people on a serious mission. Even with their toys in tow, neither Ava nor Robert managed to rustle the tree leaves any more than a small mammal would have. Robert was keenly alert to how they were moving and the results of those movements; he was impressed with Ava’s skill. It was clear she’d had more than her fair share of practice at doing this—when, where, and exactly why he’d have to learn later.
Within minutes, the two were in view of the three-story house. The front door was on the second story, and the porch in front of it was larger than most backyard balconies Robert had seen—but it had no patio furniture, no flowerpots, and no decorations of any kind. A four-car garage was on the left side of the house, on the other side of the stone stairway leading up to the front door. The property’s driveway, currently empty, was long and wide enough for more than half a dozen cars. All of it was impressive, but the first thing Robert noticed were the large windows. The black rectangles and squares were all tinted with something that prevented Robert’s eyesight from penetrating through. When he tried, he only saw a tiny reflection of the trees.
“Damn it,” he said. “If they have any special optical equipment in there, they’ll see us coming the second we leave these branches. If they haven’t already.”
“It doesn’t look like there’re any lights on,” Ava said.
“Yeah, the better for them to see us.”
“I meant maybe no one’s home. Or they’re asleep. They can’t be expecting us.”
“Always expect that you’re expected,” Robert said. “You may be embarrassed later, but you’ll survive long enough to enjoy it.”
“That’s a delightful little philosophy.”
“Yeah, well, any delightful big ideas on how we can get in there? Front door is clearly out of the question.”
Ava stared at the house for a moment. “There’s a hidden entrance on the right side of the house. It’s the main entrance for the first floor. Very inconspicuous. Even if we were facing the right side of the house right now, dead on, you’d have a hard time seeing it.”
“Me?” Robert said. “I doubt that.”
“I don’t.”
“Well, then, lead the way, Arkangel.”
The two made as little commotion as possible as they maneuvered through the trees to get a view of the right side of the house. Ava was correct. There was no walkway leading to it, and the door wasn’t visible to anyone looking at the house straight on. It was located on the side of a portion of the house that jutted outward from the rest of the structure, evidently an add-on. Robert wondered for what purpose. He then wondered why the light-posts in the yard and the light fixtures on the house were all shut off. The lack of light enveloped the entire property in darkness, a darkness enhanced by the surrounding trees and accentuated by the fact the fading moonlight didn’t touch the house or the grounds.
“Any alarms?” he asked.
“Probably,” Ava said. “But every door and window probably has one. This is the entry point they’ll least likely expect us to use. It’s our best bet.”
“Good thinking; you’re probably right.”
“Quite a compliment.”
“Here’s another one,” Robert said. “You’re taking point. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Wow. You actually trust me to go first?”
“As long as you trust me to have your back.”
Ava didn’t respond.
“Turn invisible,” Robert said. “Your bow too. When we leave the tree, don’t touch the ground. We’ll levitate a few inches above the grass blades and skate over.”
Ava nodded and did as instructed.
As they cautiously approached the door, Robert had a fleeting thought. What if there were motion detectors on the property? Maybe the lights were set to turn on only if triggered.
His fear dissipated when they made it without even a flicker from the lights. He again, briefly, wondered why all the lights had been shut off. He then concentrated on the door. A thorough x-ray showed the only thing of significance on the other side was a stairway leading to the second floor, the primary floor.
“Got a key?” he said, half joking.
“I can get us in,” Ava said.
She did something to the door’s handle while her body shielded Robert’s view of the process. He could’ve spent some energy and concentration to manipulate his vision in order to see exactly what she was doing, but he didn’t. He needed to conserve. For all he knew, she really did have a key. Maybe Zel had given her a tool. Right now, it didn’t matter. Getting in was most important. He trusted her to get them in.
Something clicked, and Ava cracked open the door. No alarm. She opened it wider and stepped aside to allow Robert to go first. He shook his head then pointed at her and the stairway. They’d be better off with her maintaining the point position on the assumption she’d know the inside of the house as well as she knew the outside.
Ava started up the stairs, her feet not touching anything but cushions of air. Robert gently shut the door behind them and followed in the same manner.
The stairs ended at another door, this one already ajar. Regardless, Robert adjusted his vision to x-ray and see if the other side was clear before they moved on. They entered the kitchen. Excepting the dirty wine glasses near the sink, the room was spotless. Ava motioned for Robert to move closer and whispered into his ear.
“There’s another set of stairs on the other side of the house. They go downstairs, to the garage and bedrooms. One of us can go that way, the other can go upstairs.”
Robert didn’t want to repeat his feelings on the idea of them splitting up. He was beginning to think maybe it was a good idea. After all, Ava’s other recent ideas had been good ones. She’d gotten them this far.
“Let’s say we do split up from here,” he said. “Anything else about this place you want to tell me? Any surprises I should know about?”
“Surprises?”
“Booby traps.”
“How should I know?” she asked.
“Same way you knew about the stairs,” he said. “And the side door.”
“Robert, believe me, I’m just going by sight and angelic intuition. A sight of something will push a thought into my head. I don’t know what’s coming next. I’ll be just as surprised as you.”
“Yeah.” Robert took a look around him—peering, measuring, and searching. “Okay. Take me to the stairs that go to the upper level. I’ll go up, you go down.”
Ava looked at him and parted her lips as if she wanted to say something else. But it was only momentary. She closed her mouth, tightened her grip on her bow, and walked into the dining room. Robert followed, searching and measuring each new view with his eye. They both stopped after they left the dining room and entered the foyer. Ava pointed at the stairs. Robert focused on something else.
The mirrors. All of the various mirrors hanging in the corners and running all along the walls of the spacious two-story foyer. There were so man
y, Robert knew their purpose went beyond simple decoration. How far beyond, he couldn’t figure. He didn’t waste much of a thought on it. The sight of the potentially dangerous reflective glass made him think of a bigger potential danger.
He’d missed his last scheduled dosage.
He was supposed to take his Virus medication every two to three hours. It’d been a few more than that since his last dosage. His last half dosage. So caught up in worrying about Darryl, he’d forgotten to get a refill from Sam. He now realized he could be attacked at any moment from within as well as from without.
Ava had left him to his silent speculations and gone into the living room. After a few breathless moments, Robert inhaled, deeply, and started up the winding staircase. When he was two steps from the top, every light within range came on at once.
Robert cursed when the onslaught of radiance made him recoil and almost made him fall down the stairs. As he checked his balance and his eye adjusted to the bright atmosphere, he called to Ava. She didn’t respond. He instead heard another female’s voice shouting “Welcome back!” from the living room.
He ran down the staircase, almost tripping more than once, but not stopping until he reached the living room’s entranceway.
In a split-second’s survey, he saw Veronica Blake dressed in a white cropped T-shirt and denim cutoff shorts; he saw every window in the room had somehow converted into a mirror; and he saw Ava lying on her back on the floor, surrounded by a rectangular coffee table at her head, couches on either side of her, and Veronica at her feet. It seemed the Spryte had gotten the drop on the Arkangel.
Broken Angels Page 27