Sure, Adramelek seemed to have accepted Iofiel’s statements as to the apocalyptic due date, but that didn’t mean everyone believed her.
Iofiel had been looking forward to the class trip, but not for reasons of proving her worth, not because she was ready to try and steal a soul. She had other, worse business among the humans.
She was laying on her bed when there was a knock on the door. The trip was a day from now, and she was reviewing her notes— Maalik sat nearby, working on some spells to enchant his knife. Since he’d been working on military matters, he’d been refining it most nights.
The knocking continued, and Iofiel got up to answer, but the door opened— It was Santiago and Damien, the former of which was holding a large box under her arm.
“Hey,” Santiago said, looking about the dorm room. “Uh.”
Iofiel couldn’t help but hug her, somehow it just felt right.
“R-Right,” Santiago looked away, blushing (a pink hue which was actually pretty easy to pick up on, even with her red skin). “I... feel bad.”
“You haven’t done anything!” Iofiel blurted, happy they had come by at all.
“I feel bad because I’ll never know you better. Because even if you released this bind, I’d still blab tomorrow just to screw you over,” Santiago said. “You buffoon.”
“You hooligan,” Damien added sadly.
“You guys are so sweet...” Iofiel said.
Maalik scowled.
“Me and Damien are heading out for winter break. And... I don’t know if we’re coming back, honestly. There. Now you have something to blackmail me with.”
“Who would honestly do anything about that?”
“Jus’ about anyone,” Damien said. “Anyway, we’re here because it’s Christmas.”
“Angels don’t celebrate Christmas. It’s a Christian holiday, anyway, beyond being a human one—”
“Look, humans have this down, okay?” Damien said. “They just... they really just go for this whole Christmas thing. I feel like most of them don’t even believe in the religious part of it. Just the candy, presents, and cheesy movies.”
“We can’t talk about a lot of things any more than we can help what we are. But.” Santiago patted the box in her arms. “We can sit around and watch something dumb.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“Is it wise to talk about that, Blue?” Santiago walked past her, putting the box on the floor— it was a small television, which buzzed with static when she switched it on.
“You know I wouldn’t sell you out. Or find you. I’m just curious.” Damien settled onto the floor next to Santiago, and Iofiel went to join them. Maalik gave her a look of distress, but kept on his bed.
“I’m not sure. Small town USA. Sticking around here isn’t going to do either of us much good.”
“The United States? Ugh.”
“Yeah, I know right? What’ll we do without bagged milk?” Damien rolled her eyes. “Come on. What do you even know of the world?”
“There’s ducks in the city!”
There was a beat. “Were,” Santiago said. “Maybe I’ll leave you a note. See if you can’t divert Hell-On-Earth from our front door.”
“Let’s just watch the movie,” Damien said. “It’s a good one.”
“What is it about?”
“Do you— Wait, do you like, know about Santa Claus?”
“What?”
“You know what? We’re going to have fun.” Damien grinned.
“No, what are you talking about?”
Santiago pulled some peppermints out of her pockets and began to gingerly throw them at Iofiel. “A pagan idol the humans have chosen over your favorite Son.”
“Again, not Christian.”
Santiago continued pelting Iofiel with sweets. “You’re going to like it, okay kiddo? It’s beyond sappy. Humans always are.” she said, “Hey Maal, you joining?”
“I wasn’t aware the option was there.”
“Course it is, you big... Damien, quick, insult him.”
“Timberjack?”
Santiago cracked up. “Yeah. Fucking Maal. What a backhoe.”
“Utter grader,” Damien giggled.
“... Ballast temper.”
They howled in laugher.
“I have no idea what you guys are saying,” Maalik said. He sat on the floor next to Iofiel. “Not even from an insulting point of view.”
“You ever have one of those too specific inside jokes?” Santiago said, “Oh, wait, I forgot— a feller buncher like you is too uptight for humor.”
“Is... this another language?” Iofiel asked, which prompted another round of hysterics. “Guys?”
Maalik rolled his eyes and leaned forward to the television, starting the movie.
“I haven’t been this confused before in my life,” Iofiel said, watching as Damien and Santiago continued to spit out strange words (“snowcat”, “fresno”) while lying on the floor cackling. “What...”
Maalik tapped her on the shoulder and gave a clear look of ‘don’t even start’. “Let’s just watch this movie.”
It wasn’t impossibly hard to get Maalik to agree to come with her for break. Knowing most of the truth, he was far more impatient than the already jumpy angels, and there was little reason for him not to enjoy a quick vacation. Most of the Soul Sales class was taking an airplane down to California for the week— a challenge in understanding customs, maintaining glamor, and of course, when they actually arrived they’d be practicing interacting and selling to humans. Technically none of them were supposed to attempt any full-on deals, but Santiago had winked at this, saying ‘someone always pulls it off, anyway’.
Archie and Salem were going with Iofiel, while Maalik was going to presumably magic himself there and meet her the next morning. Santiago was also supposed to go, but she’d bailed— for good. After watching their movie, Santiago and Damien had both hugged Iofiel and said remarkably polite goodbyes.
So that was over with.
Iofiel didn’t actually need Maalik with her for her plans, but needing someone was a bad reason to keep them around.
The flight took six stifling hours, not counting the extra hour they had when they arrived early to the airport, or the actual travel time to and from their location. By the time Iofiel had flopped onto her hotel room’s bed, she had no idea what time is was or how long she’d been awake. Time zones made no sense.
At first it had been fun, riding in a bus again, her bags packed. She’d cheated and helped Archie with his human skills again, but no one cared. They sat next to each other and watched the countryside go by. Observed traffic, saw another settlement, and then four others. She was ready to stretch her legs by the time they got to the airport, and as interesting an invention as airplanes were, security took a befuddling half an hour, and once the airplane was actually up in the air, it was dreadfully boring.
More humans ought to be witches, she thought. It wasn’t right, but then they at least thanks to witchcraft they wouldn’t have to put up with the pain of immigration checks.
At least the air was warm here. Dry, not as humid and pleasant as Heaven, but a clear improvement from winter. The hotel lobby had been coated in more shiny materials than Iofiel had ever seen gathered in her entire life, and all the employees wore bright and tight uniforms with many buttons. As the class had packed into the spacious lobby, several members of hotel staff, each wearing a different color of tie, had swarmed around the group, some gathering the larger bags the group had with them, others simply standing still with wide smiles. The professors had gone to speak with the most important looking of the uniformed workers, but from what Iofiel could see, they were making pleasant chitchat. Then they were made to line up, take a card, and were sent on their way.
Her room was gigantic— or, perhaps not, but it was certainly a little bit bigger than her dorm room, and she had the entire space to herself. An air conditioner in the window was doing its diligent best to keep her cool, a
nd there was a mint on her pillow. There was even a television across from her bed, black and daunting, and if she had any free time she would have loved to explore the wonderfully wide world of cable.
Iofiel sighed and collapsed on the bed, just for a moment, feeling the comfort of the mattress call her to sleep. Unfortunately, her respite was a short one: she was only here to put away her bag and maybe change clothes. She’d gotten a few more outfits for the snowy weather, but now had to switch back to her old warm weather outfits. There was a meeting downstairs to discuss the next few days.
The University had pulled what seemed to be a nice hotel for the year one Soul Sales students— being demons might’ve helped in that. Maybe they’d blackmailed someone along the way in order to secure nearly fifty rooms.
Archie was staying somewhere higher up in the hotel, and they had decided to meet in the lobby. Iofiel was waiting off in the corner, where a low pond filled with koi was looking somewhat out of place. There were low iron fences around to keep people from falling in, but there was also a small bridge where Iofiel could sit and see the koi up close. They were big and healthy, floating in place but becoming active when she kneeled closer, perhaps thinking she had food for them.
Even though it was hot, she was still wearing long sleeves as to hide the bind Michael had put on her— but she rolled up her clean arm’s sleeve and put her hand forward, letting a calico fish swim up close and nibble on her finger tips. When she looked up, Archie was watching her.
“What are those?” He asked. He leaned over, his hands on his knees, to watch.
“Koi. Decorative carp from Japan. I didn’t know they were kept in hotels, too,” Iofiel explained. Archie got onto his knees, but when he leaned closer to the water, the few fish that had been drifting near Iofiel scattered. “I guess they’re a little skittish.”
“They were interested in you,” Archie complained. But as he sat back, the fish slowly returned again, gathering around Iofiel’s reflection in the clean, shallow water.
“You probably just scared them, see?” Iofiel said. She gently took Archie’s hand and guided it towards the water. As his fingers dipped into the cool water, the fish returned, pushing their heads out of the water and trying to nibble his skin. “They also might like me.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was one of your gifts,” Archie said. But the fish were curious about him now, and he giggled as they pushed against each other, still thinking there was food to be had.
“Archie!” A sharp voice echoed down the lobby, and the two of them turned to see the source. Duke Flauros was leaning by a large archway, and Iofiel spotted some demons walking past him. Right. They were supposed to be gathering there.
They got up and crossed the lobby. There was a large, empty dining room, and then past a partition were the rest of their classmates. There were two teachers here to maintain order: Duke Flauros and Ms. Starken. Both were decked in full casual wear, loose collared floral print jackets and cargo shorts. Starken was a tall, extremely gaunt woman who failed to look human, even though even in her full demon glory she lacked horns, a tail, or anything demonic. Duke Flauros in comparison was too pretty. The leopard-faced professor had taken a different human head this time, but his teeth were still too white.
Iofiel figured if she was a human, she’d be able to spot anyone supernatural from a mile away.
Starken cleared her throat. “Some of you may be wondering why we took an entire day to travel a distance which, dare I say, could have been shorter. Why we have come here, to the western coast of the United States, instead of somewhere closer. The answer is simple.” She was sipping on some sort of drink in a wide rimmed glass. “It’s because I’m tired of the cold.”
“So!” Both of them really did a poor job of speaking like normal people, but that was an odd thought for Iofiel to have. What exactly was normal, again? And was she now calling anyone a person? Duke Flauros swung on every syllable like each word was a surprise. “Tomorrow we’re waking at eight AM— local time— for breakfast, and we’ll spend the day primarily at the boardwalk and beach area. We’ll need you to regroup whenever we tell you to— tomorrow it’ll be six— since this is still an educational vacation.”
“There’ll be plenty of time to sneak out after we’re done pretending taking a week for this is in fact justified. Don’t slip out of your day dress until you know the windows are closed. Don’t let your lips loosen. We’re lucky we’re in a city as dull as Los Angeles, but try not to be completely worthless at your jobs.”
“That is, future jobs. Or perhaps, sooner-than-expected jobs?” Duke Flauros winked at Iofiel. At least, she was pretty sure he did. “And remember to have fun.”
Everyone was meant to stick together during the next day— split into groups, and spread throughout the day— but the next morning Iofiel snuck out of her hotel room and headed towards the city. She hadn’t known one hundred percent where she was going to be staying, but eventually had figured out good meeting place for Maalik.
It was an ugly city, though evidently a popular one, and the streets were busy with tourists and salaryfolk. Iofiel had a small budget of one hundred and fifty American dollars to work with, and bought herself a bus ticket. Then, after an hour of incorrect buses and misguided attempts, she snuck off to a parking garage, made sure she was alone, and flew the rest of the way.
Well, up to Hollywood— from there she had to ask around until she finally met up with Maalik at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was one of those weird things she’d learned about in Culture class, and even though she roughly understood its purpose, it still reminded her of a graveyard.
“You’re quite late.” Maalik didn’t look too out of place here, his blond hair clashing against his light brown skin in a way that suggested he’d either bleached it or had a tan— not that he always looked this silly anyway.
“I don’t understand public transit.”
“Why didn’t you just fly?”
“Well. Eventually,” Iofiel hugged him, then kissed him on the cheek. “Listen, I need to talk to you about something.”
He gave a put-upon sigh. “Aren’t we here to relax?”
“This is the perfect to... do something. Tomorrow night I’m— I might be leaving, Maal.”
“Blue...” He moved to tuck her hair behind her ear, even though it already was behind her ear. “You made me come all the way out here for that?”
“I know you magicked yourself over,” She swallowed. “We can... We should still spend some time together. But then I’ll need you to remove Archie’s bind, and then we’ll see what happens.”
“What are you going to do?”
“It’d be dangerous to tell you.” Perhaps it wouldn’t be, but she didn’t want him to know, because he might fight with her about it, and she didn’t need someone logical to talk her down from this. She just needed herself and her stupid gut.
And if he didn’t fight with her, he might just be sad or angry for the rest of their time together, and she didn’t want that either. This was for herself, Salem, and eventually Archie, to deal with.
“This is a really downer way to start a vacation, you know.”
“Well... Try to keep it in mind, that’s all. I think now, here, no one is listening, and I...”
“I think,” Maalik whispered, “No One is listening. But that Someone probably doesn’t quite mind, does She?”
“Who knows. I can’t quite tell if you’re emphasizing like that as a sort of reference to Our Good Neighbor or to try and tip me off to something else.” Iofiel, just to be sure, spun in place, scanning the crowd. “Nope. Alright then.”
“I’ve never been here before,” Maalik said, his hands on his hips. “I’d be honored if you wanted to spend the day with me, but how are we going to fill it?”
“Isn’t there a beach?”
“We are right next to the ocean, yes.”
“Well, let’s swim!”
Iofiel took Maalik’s hand, pulling him towards her
rough estimate of where the beach was.
“Do you know how to swim?” he asked.
“No!”
“It’s not something that just comes preinstalled.”
“It’s more fun that way.”
They weaved through the clumps of people, breathing in the wayward dust of the morning rush. “You do know we’re still quite a way away from the actual sea, right?”
“We can still enjoy the sights!”
Hollywood strip was mostly a sort of pastel white, lined with palm trees, poorly lit souvenir shops, and the occasional too-fancy building or chain store. The further they walked from the nestle of theaters they’d met by, the flatter the city seemed to get. Things were dirty, slightly pink, and the air was fume-like. Big cities had never seemed like a great idea to Iofiel, though she had to admit it had looked appealing from above.
It was again hard, and exhausting, to find space to recast all the old spells: concealment, and illusion. At least Maalik excelled in it, and was quick. They’d ducked into the corner of a gift shop and then spun through the garage door entrance, taking to the air and twirling upwards until they were far above the city streets.
Iofiel could still see Maalik through his ‘don’t look this way’ charms, but they were both fairly incorporeal, and his skin appeared nearly translucent. It was a disgustingly sunny and bright day, the likes of which Iofiel was persistently missing. The ocean was a wrinkle on the other side of grey-red dartboard, and they circled like turkey vultures towards the beach.
Wow. How did humans do it? They touched down near the boardwalk pier, diving into the shadows and throwing themselves back into a more visible reality. Iofiel had never really seen something like this before— she suspected Maalik hadn’t either. There was a... wheel, and a contraption, and a whole lot of people. She didn’t know the right words for any of it, but a grin crept onto her face as she clutched Maalik’s hand. The waves roared, and never before had the angel Iofiel seen such beauty in the world.
Good Angel Page 27