by Dana Faletti
“Geez.” I bent down and picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder. I sure was tired, and my arms felt like they were ready to give out on me.
“Hey Si, we need to get this one to an E.R., and I’m not up for the walk.” I stood with Len the dead weight in my arms and waited for Silas’s magic moving touch. Instead of touching me, he hovered in front of me, wings fluttering, eyeing me strangely.
“What’s your deal? Is there a booger on my face or something?” I wiped at and around my nose.
“No.” He said, still staring.
“Okay, Si, you are totally freaking me out.” I hefted Len up again, trying to balance his weight and waiting for Silas to get us moving. “Did I sprout wings or something?”
“No.”
I raised my eyebrows. Well, something had rendered Chatty Kathy here speechless. Miracles never ceased. My shoulders were on fire. No more time for Si’s drama. “Not polite to stare, Si. Can you close your mouth and touch me to the nearest hospital please?”
“Yes.”
What was with Silas and these one word answers? Next thing you know, Jules was gonna show up fully dressed, no skin showing. Then we might as well bend over and kiss our arsenals goodbye. I mean those were end times signs, if you know what I mean.
After we dropped a sleepy and wet Len off at Mercy Hospital, I stretched my arms to the sky, trying to work out the tightness in my arms. “I don’t know why I’m so stiff.”
“You don’t?” Silas was still staring at me like he was waiting for my head to spontaneously combust or for flowers to grow out of my ears. I was starting to wonder if he hadn’t gotten his hands on some of Len’s junk.
“Silas.” I sighed, hands on my hips. “Can you just spit it out please? Obviously something has you totally wigged. You’re in awe of something on or around me, and it’s just not like you, dude.” For Silas to stand in awe of anything other than his own fashion catastrophe reflection was just uncanny.
“Calliope, have you any memory of the events that have passed tonight?”
I thought for a minute.
Come to think of it, I didn’t remember a thing. Until now, I’d had no time to really think about how we’d gotten under that bridge in that dirty little hole.
“I was with Joshua.”
Si’s eyes widened, and Jules sucked on her cigarette, muttering something in Italian under her breath.
“My date…” I explained. “I was on a date, and you guys showed up, and we went to that crappy part of town to save Len.”
Suddenly my blood froze. The hair on my arms stood up and started to dance to creepy music. My head started pounding, and memories flooded me. Memories of an unimaginable horror, except he wasn’t imaginary. Memories of unthinkable pain, except I knew what it felt like. Memories of being hunted like an animal by a predator so strong and so scary; I don’t know how I could have gotten away. Wait a minute… how did I get away?
“Mihm.”
“So, now you remember.” Silas spoke and then looked away. Silence filled the spaces in me that weren’t already filled with fear. The minutes ticked away. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke, until I broke the silence.
“What happens to angels when we die?
14
JOSHUA PRIDE
“Joshua, you have absolutely no idea what you are dealing with. Walk away.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him. All three feet of him, practically dressed in drag – barking out orders at me. Get real, buddy. “Pipe down, Silas.”
“Don’t tell me to pipe down, Joshua. You are in complete violation of the law, and you know it.”
“When you get angry, you have a unibrow, Si.” I took the last swig of my Snapple and tossed the bottle in the recycling bin. “Look, Silas, why don’t you go back to your regular job. Just go take care of Calllie, okay?”
“Joshua, the law is in place for a reason. Your rogue behavior up to now may have been overlooked due to your… track record, but believe me… success can only take you so far.”
The little turd was fluttering his wings right in my face. What a bug he was. I rolled my eyes at him.
“The system is not going to change for you, Joshua. You are meant to be solitary.”
Okay. Enough. I wanted to squash his little butterfly bod. Pick his wings off one by one. I needed to keep my temper in check or this micro was gonna be in trouble.
“Easy for you to say, Silas. You haven’t been flying around by yourself for centuries, nobody but you to look all prettied up for.”
“But –“
“Just let it go. I have everything under control.”
“I can’t just let it go, Joshua. Calliope is my charge. I am responsible for her well being, her protection.”
“Well, Silas, you totally blow at protecting her. You kinda proved that the other day with Mihm, remember?” He pursed his lips and looked away. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?”
“I-“
“Just shut it, Silas. If it weren’t for me, Callie’d be gone now, and you know it, so you can just take your little tail feathers and shake them on another mission. I’ve got this one.”
And, that was my plan. I’d been doing this long enough that I could do my job and coach Callie. She had pure, raw talent, a strength I couldn’t even believe, and she was so damn beautiful… Okay, so that part really didn’t matter when it came to killing Darks, but I certainly appreciated it. Anyways, she didn’t need Silas and Jules. I’d tell her who and what I was. I’d teach her my stuff, and we’d be a team. We were obviously the best in the business, and the best should stick together. Very close together.
“Where did you get the serum, Joshua?”
“I have connections, Silas.” Truth be told, I’d lifted the lavender licorice serum from Jixer ages back. I’d never even needed it, but Callie sure did the other day.
When I’d showed up, she was practically gone, her breath shallow, her skin cold and covered with Morar, a slimy sticky substance which all demons oozed. She was basically suffocating in evil. It was clogging her pores, her airways, her veins. The lavender licorice scented serum, Fentil, was the only fix for being drowned in Morar. I’d parted her lips and forced her to swallow a few teaspoons. Seconds later, she’d started breathing again.
Of course, my mere presence incited a string of expletives from Jules as well as polite but firm protesting from Silas. Neither of them really wanted to see Callie perish, and they didn’t get in my way, but both did their fair share of citing rules and regs I was only too aware of.
“Dees ees not the place for you, you $#%&*”
“Well, since you guys sort of dropped the divine ball, I thought I’d help.”
“How deed you even find us?”
“I’m kinda personally vested in this Arc’s survival, Jules. Look, she’s coming to.”
“You’d better go, Joshua.” Silas spoke rapidly.
I looked him up and down, sending him a silent message that he heard loud and clear by the ashamed look on his face. “I’ll go, Silas, but I’ll be watching.”
And, I’d walked away, knowing it wasn’t the time or place for Callie to hear the truth. I wanted to work her up to it, get her to a place where she’d listen to me rather than Silas and Jules. The sooner the better though. I’d had just about enough of these Micros. Jules was at least tough. Silas, with his oxford shoes and mauve sweater vest… I mean, I can’t believe he gave Callie a slingshot to use as a weapon. Sometimes I wondered if he didn’t secretly play for the other team.
Here he was, in front of me, pouting like an insolent child.
“What in God’s name were you thinking anyways? Letting her go up against Mihm?” I shook my head.
“We had no idea he was loose, Joshua. Last Jules and I heard, Lu had locked him up for losing a battle with you.”
“Yeah, well, you’d better start opening your ears and paying better attention, Micro. You put your Arc in major harm’s way.”
“I am aware.”
“Me?”
“Exactly. So that leaves me. Done deal, Silas. Thank you for your time. Bye now.”
I waited for him to poof himself away, but he didn’t. For a minute, he tried to stare me down but failed. “You know Joshua, when we encountered you that evening on Spring street, the night we woke Calliope to save the young girl who was cutting herself…”
“Yeah, I know. Jules found me.”
“I’d already seen you lurking around the school.”
“Good for you. So?”
“I knew you were going to stir things up. I just had a bad feeling about you.”
He tossed his feathery hair to the side with all the drama of the queen he was. Give me a freakin break. I put my hand on his shoulder, ready for the electric shock he might throw at me. It never came. Well, thanks good buddy.
“Okay Nostradamus, thank you for the warning. I can take it from here.”
“I do suppose we’ll have to work together to keep Calliope safe.”
“Uh – no not really, brother. I think I can handle that myself.”
“You know I’m bound to her for the first decade. It is physically impossible for me to just leave.”
Shoot. I’d been breaking these rules for so long, I’d forgotten that one. “Okay, so I have to put up with you for a decade. No biggie for me, considering the centuries… Know what I mean?”
“Jules is not going to take well to this.”
I chuckled, imagining the fit she’d pitch. She was one hot tempered Italian. Yeah, oxymoron I guess. Oh well, I’d just stay out of her line of fire for a bit. This was doable.
“She will surely tell Jixer. They see each other occasionally, you know.”
“Oh, I know, Silas.” Jixer and Jules had had a thing going on for decades now, and Micros really didn’t even get that PDA wasn’t widely accepted. They were just all over each other any minute they got to be together.
“So, Jixer will most definitely reprimand you.”
Seriously? I chuckled again. And?
“You’re a hopeless case, aren’t you Joshua?” Silas sighed deeply and poof. Finally.
Actually, these days, I felt more hopeful than I had in at least a century. I had a Greek Goddess out there just waiting to spend eternity with me. And, with Calliope Evans by my side, wings or not, I was sure to fly.
15
Nobody knows. Nobody knows what happens to angels when they die. Nobody freakin knows.
This wasn’t exactly good news for me. I mean, up until now, I’d thought I was invincible. Even after Silas had explained about Raysers being able to kill Arcs, I’d never met one that was an actual threat. Then I’d met Mihm.
Lying on my bed, staring at the patterns on the ceiling, I started wallowing, dreading. Silas and Jules had warned me against just this, advising me to focus outward, past my fear of both death, a.k.a. Mihm, and the unknown.
Silas and Jules didn’t have to remember what it felt like to be dripping with death, pinned beneath a mountain of horrible, breathing the breath of hell.
Gross upon gross. I closed my eyes and then quickly snapped them back open. I hated the images behind them.
Without warning or the hint of a knock, my bedroom door creaked open.
“So, how was the date?” Mila sauntered easily into my room and plopped herself down next to me.
“Huh?”
“You know – your date with the most gorgeous guy in school, maybe on the planet.” Mila scrunched her face up at me and chomped her strawberry gum. “Are you on this planet today, Cal?”
“Oh, yeah. Date was awesome.” Although I was pretty sure he had written me off by now. Two days had gone by, and I hadn’t even sent him a text explaining my disappearance. Fact was, I was so worried I couldn’t concentrate. Every time I blinked, I saw Mihm’s freaky fleshless form behind my eyes, his fire red glare, his talons. The last couple of days had been quiet as far as Rayser activity went. Maybe the cosmos was having pity on me.
“Dish, girl.” Mila crossed her legs and came close to me, grinning. “I want the details.”
Pleasure penetrated terror, and I had to smile, just thinking of being up on the roof with Joshua. The night had been perfect right up until it ended… abruptly. “Mi, I don’t know what to say. He’s… amazing.”
“Did you kiss him?” She was practically panting at me.
“What if I did?”
“Come on Cal,” she pouted.
“Mila, I’m really just not in the mood-“
“Callie!” Mom’s voice to the rescue. “There’s somebody here for you.”
For a split second, I froze, imagining the unimaginable at my front door. But that was impossible. I exhaled. Mom couldn’t see Mihm if he were at my front door. Lucky her.
I skipped downstairs and into the living room.
Suddenly, a symphony played for my ears only. Colors of light, still unnamed, framed my world, painted in my lines. I smelled summer nights, lilacs and the beach, all at once. The warm air kissed my bare arms, leaving goose bumps crawling up and down my legs. My cheeks burned red.
Joshua Pride was sitting on my couch.
“Hey,” he stood up, grinning at me. “Thought I’d pop over and check you out.”
Nice.
My mother cleared her throat from the other room.
“I mean check on you.”
I raised one eyebrow at him, and we both started laughing.
“Anyone want to explain the joke to little old me?” Mila flounced into the living room and stood between us, hands on her hips, swishing her blue mini skirt. “So, I finally get to meet the infamous Joshua Pride.”
“Infamy, huh? I guess I could do worse.” He flashed his teeth at her and then at me.
God, he was so cool. I couldn’t stop smiling at him, dressed in his usual tee shirt and jeans, tossing his gorgeous hair around. Those lips... I could just watch them move; it didn’t matter what they were saying.
“Well, there’s a party tomorrow night over at Gina’s.” Mila moved in, close to my face, whispering. “Her parents are in Europe.”
Are you kidding me? Like my mother couldn’t hear her. Mila was delusional.
“So?”
“So, we’re going.”
“We’re not.” I put my hand up to ward off the protests I was sure she was about to bring on. There was no way I was going to Gina Jones’s. First off, she had a reputation. Secondly, her parties had a reputation. I really wanted no parts of either. I’d been around enough drugs in the past few weeks – I really had no interest in going to a party in which they would be the main event, accessorized only by teenage sex and self loathing. Nope. Not going.
“Why not?” Joshua interjected, just as Mila was about to throw a temper tantrum.
Was he crazy? Okay, Genius, you are not gonna win any points with my Mom by taking me to this kind of party. She was totally eavesdropping on this conversation, pretending to fold laundry in the kitchen. Oldest trick in the book.
“Might be a fun time, and it’s probably beneficial for us to be there.”
Mila and I both narrowed our eyes at him. I’m sure her expression was due to the fact that she had no idea what beneficial meant. I was just a little lost as to how going to Gina Jones’s party was going to benefit me in any way.
“I mean…” I’d never seen Joshua stutter before. He was nervous. This was interesting. “I mean, it might be a cool party.” He studied his Converse All Stars. “We should all go.”
Oh look at that ear to ear smile. Mila was eating this right up, her cheeks red, her expression heady. If she puffed up anymore, she might pop. “Well, Cal, it looks like I’m going, and Josh here is going.” She moved nex
t to him. Any closer, and I might pop her, puffy or not. The little... “You coming?”
What a little shugar she was. I looked from Mila to Joshua and then back at her before I spoke, my calm and collected voice promising not to betray just how mad I was.
“Nope.” And with that I turned on one heel and walked towards the stairs. Before I climbed them to the sanctity of my room where I could throw a totally massive temper tantrum in private, I gave him one last look.
“Bye Josh.”
My eyes lied and told him I didn’t give two shugars if he went to that party or not, that said I could take him or leave him. I tossed my hair over my shoulders and disappeared upstairs, the look of shock and awe on his face burning confidence into my every step.
Let him sip on that exit for a while. I could picture him glancing warily down at Mila with her syrupy smile beaming up at him. Those Converse shoes couldn’t help his feet run fast and far enough away from her. I saw it in his face when she stood a little too close to him. Pure fear. It was almost funny.
Oh well, I knew there was nothing stopping Mila from going to that party, but my instincts told me Joshua Pride was going to be somewhere else on Saturday night. Namely, with me.
16
Does anything in my life ever happen like I expect it to?
Yeah…not lately. Anyways, when Silas and Jules heard about Gina Jones’s party, they were all over me.
“Why would I want to go? This girl is bad news, Si.” Gina had a reputation at school for having started young and being easy. She had a different boyfriend every couple of weeks, and the guys liked her for one reason and one reason alone. “Plus, the kids there are going to be totally wasted and high. I’m not really into that scene unless I’m on the job if you know what I mean.”
“Exactly, Leetle Callie.”
What?!
“That’s precisely our point, Calliope.” If this Micro pursed his lips at me again today, I was gonna pop him one. “You will be on the job. There will surely be plenty of Rayser action at this little soiree, which means an opportunity to save many souls.” He actually was drooling a little. What, did the Micros get a prize or something when their Arcs performed? “It is the perfect place for you.”