On the second floor we passed the sleeping quarters with rows of cell-size bedrooms now stripped of their mattresses and the communal bathrooms. Finally we stopped at a winding mahogany stairwell leading to the attic where Sister Mary Clare had been isolated for her own safety as well as the safety of others. Sister Faith hovered uncertainly at the foot.
“Can you really return Sister Mary Clare to the hands of God?” she asked.
“We’ll need to assess her condition before we can answer that,” Gabriel replied. “But we will certainly try.”
Ivy touched Sister Faith gently on the arm. “Will you take us to her?”
The nun peered worriedly at Xavier and Molly. “All of you?” she asked in small voice. “Are you sure about that?”
Gabriel gave a tight smile. “They’re tougher than they look.”
At the top of the stairs was a single locked door. I could sense the evil pulsing behind it even in my astral form. It was like a physical force, trying to repel the presence of Ivy and Gabriel. In addition to the mustiness there was another smell seeping from under the door, the smell of rotting fruit when the flesh has turned saggy and gray and insects have begun to burrow into it. Xavier flinched while Molly coughed and covered her nose. My siblings showed no reaction. They stood together, shoulders touching in a gesture of complete unity.
“I do apologize about the smell,” Sister Faith said self consciously. “But there’s only so much air freshener can do.”
Outside the door, only a candle lit the tiny landing. It sat on an antique dresser dripping wax onto its silver holder. Sister Faith dug into her deep pockets to produce an old-fashioned brass key. Behind the door we could hear muffled thumps, ragged breathing, and the screech of a chair being dragged across timber boards. A sound like grinding teeth and a sharp crack like snapping bone followed. Sister Faith crossed herself and looked desperately at Gabriel.
“What if you can’t help her?” she whispered. “What if the Lord sent us his messengers and that fails too?”
“His messengers do not fail,” Ivy said calmly. She produced a black hair tie from her pocket and methodically pulled her curtain of golden locks into a ponytail. It was a small gesture, but I knew it meant she was preparing for a violent struggle.
“There’s so much darkness in there.” Sister Faith’s face was creased in pain. “Living, breathing, tangible darkness. I don’t want to be responsible for the loss of life—”
“Nobody is dying tonight,” Gabriel said. “Not on our watch.”
“How can I be sure?” Sister Faith shook her head. “I’ve seen too much now … I can’t trust … I don’t know how I’m supposed to …”
To my surprise, Xavier stepped forward. “With all due respect, ma’am, there’s no time to waste.” His voice was gentle but firm. “You’ve got a demon tearing apart one of your sisters and we’re on the brink of an apocalyptic war. These guys will do everything they can to help you, but you need to let them do their job.”
His gaze went blank for a moment as if he were remembering something that happened a long time ago. Then he refocused and put a hand on Sister Faith’s shoulder. “Some things are beyond human understanding.”
If my spirit form had allowed it, I would have cried at that moment. I recognized those words as my own. I had spoken them to Xavier that night on the beach when I’d taken a blind leap of faith and thrown myself from a cliff, letting my wings break my fall and revealing my true identity. When I had convinced Xavier it wasn’t all a bizarre prank, he’d been full of questions. He’d wanted to know why I was there, what my purpose was, and if God really existed. I’d told him: Some things are beyond human understanding. Xavier hadn’t forgotten.
I remembered that night as if it were yesterday. When I closed my eyes, it all came flooding back to me like a tidal wave. I saw the cluster of teenagers around the crackling bonfire, embers spitting from the flames like fiery jewels until they sank into the sand. I remembered the sharp smell of the ocean, the fabric of Xavier’s pale blue sweatshirt beneath my fingers. I remembered the way the black cliffs had looked like looming puzzle pieces against the mauve sky. I remembered the exact moment I had tilted my body forward and left gravity behind me. That night had been the beginning of everything. Xavier had accepted me into his world and I was no longer the girl pressed up against the glass looking in on a world I could never be a part of. The memory of it made me ache with longing. We had thought facing Gabriel and Ivy after I’d exposed our secret was a challenge. If only we’d known what lay in store for us.
The sound of the key turning in the lock drew my attention back to the present. Xavier’s words had encouraged Sister Faith to reveal what lay behind the closed door. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as the smell of rotting fruit grew stronger and a ripping snarl shot though the air. It seemed that time stood still as the door swung open in slow motion.
The room was rather ordinary; sparsely furnished and only somewhat larger than the cubicle-size bedrooms on the second floor. But what we found crouched inside the room was anything but ordinary.
26
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
AT first she looked like an ordinary woman, tense and wary of the strangers standing in her doorway, but a woman nonetheless. She was wearing a cotton chemise that reached her knees and would have been pretty had it not been torn, blackened, and stained with blood. Her long, dark hair was a tangled mess around her shoulders and she crouched by the grate of the fireplace grabbing fistfuls of soot and spilling it onto the bare boards. Her knees were scuffed and cut as if she had dragged herself across the floor. Had I been physically present my first instinct would’ve been to go to her aid, help her to her feet, and comfort her. Instead I looked to Ivy and Gabriel, but they didn’t move. I realized why when I focused on the eyes looking back at us and saw that they no longer belonged to Sister Mary Clare. The others saw it too, and Molly let out a stifled cry and edged behind Xavier, whose face reflected mixed emotions. His expression shifted from pity to disbelief to disgust and back again in a matter of seconds. This was something he’d never had to deal with before and he wasn’t sure what the appropriate response was.
The young nun, who couldn’t be more than twenty, was crouched on the floor, looking closer to an animal than any kind of human. Her face was twisted grotesquely, her eyes huge, black, and unblinking. Her lips were cracked and swollen and I could see the points where her teeth had pierced right through the flesh. A row of intricate symbols had been branded into the skin on her arms and legs. The room itself was in no better shape. The mattress and linen had been torn to shreds and scratches were gouged into the floor and ceiling. Words were scrawled on the walls in an ancient script I couldn’t decipher. I wondered for a moment how the walls had come to be smeared with coffee until I realized it wasn’t coffee, but blood. The demon cocked its head to one side like a curious dog, and its gaze lingered on the visitors. There was a long, deep silence, until the demon snarled again, gnashing its teeth. Its head darted rapidly from side to side, looking for a point of escape.
Ivy and Gabriel moved in tandem, ushering the others back and sweeping into the room. The demon’s eyes widened as it spat viciously at them. The saliva was tinged red from having bitten its tongue. I noticed that it didn’t need to blink and could focus with frightening precision. Ivy and Gabriel joined hands and the demon screamed as if this gesture alone caused intense pain.
“Your time on this earth is over.” Gabriel fixed his steellike gaze on the creature, his voice full of righteousness and authority. The demon stared for a moment before recognition dawned and its face cracked into a hideous smile. I saw that Sister Mary Clare’s teeth had been ground into uneven stumps.
“What are you going to do?” the demon jeered, its voice singularly high-pitched and scratchy. “Vanquish me with holy water and crucifixes?”
Ivy’s demeanor did not change. “Do you really think we need toys to destroy you?” she asked in a voice like water flowing over r
iver stones. “The Holy Spirit is alive in us. It will soon fill this room. You will be cast back into the abyss from which you sprang.”
If the demon was alarmed, it didn’t show it. Instead, it deftly changed the subject. “I know who you are. One of your kind belongs to us now. The little one …”
Xavier looked as if he were about to step forward and take a swing at the creature, but Molly gripped his arm and with some effort, he turned his face away. “It knows our weaknesses,” I heard him murmur to himself like a mantra. “It plays on our weaknesses.” Xavier may not have had any direct experience with possession before, but he’d learned enough from Sunday School to know how the Devil worked.
“It’s funny you should mention that,” Gabriel said to the demon. “It’s exactly what we wanted to talk to you about.”
“You think I’m a whistleblower?” the demon hissed.
“You will be,” Ivy replied pleasantly.
The demon glanced over her shoulder and its eyes flashed. Suddenly, a blast of wind lifted Xavier off his feet and threw him against a wall. He slid onto the ground and to my horror an invisible force began to drag him across the floor.
“Stop it!” Molly screamed, reaching for him.
“Molly, no!” Xavier yelled and gritted his teeth as he was flung against the steel bed frame. “Stay there.”
“You threaten, I threaten,” the demon taunted as Xavier struggled against its hold.
“Enough.” Gabriel thrust his palm forward in a pushing motion and the demon cried out and seemed to crumple in pain. It was obvious whose power was dominant. “We’re not interested in playing games,” he said darkly. “We want to find a portal.”
“Are you out of your mind?” the demon growled. “Do you have a death wish?”
“We have come to reclaim our sister,” Ivy said. “And you will tell us how to find her.”
“Make me!” the demon spat.
“If you insist.” There was a sound like muffled fireworks and then streams of white light began to pour from Ivy’s fingertips. As she flexed and twisted her fingers the strands of light seemed to enter into the body of the demon like electric shocks. It let out a feral howl and clawed at its torso.
“Stop!” it screamed. “Stop! Stop!”
“Will you tell us what we seek to know?” Ivy asked. She turned her palm slowly from side to side so the beams of light twisted inside the demon and it shrieked even louder. Ivy was choosing her method carefully. I knew the Holy Light would sear the demon, but leave Sister Mary Clare’s body completely unharmed.
“Yes,” it screeched. “I’ll help you. Stop!”
Ivy snapped her hand into a fist and the light vanished. The demon collapsed on the floor exhausted.
“Easily convinced, aren’t they?” Gabriel muttered.
“No sense of loyalty,” my sister replied with disdain before rounding on the creature. “Where is the nearest portal?” she demanded.
“It doesn’t matter,” the demon croaked. “You’ll never get through it.”
“Answer the question,” Gabriel said. “How did you get here?”
“Why don’t you just send me back?” the demon tried to stall. “That’s what you’ve come to do, isn’t it? Are you really willing to let me fester inside this poor girl just to fulfill your own agenda?” It clicked its tongue as if to indicate disappointment. “Some angels.”
Gabriel made the Sign of the Cross very slowly and deliberately, and when he finished, he seemed to catch something in his hand. He drew back his arm and launched it at the demon. Although it was invisible, the thing collided with the demon with incredible force and it yelped, spraying foam from its mouth across the floor.
“There’s a place called Broken Hill down in Alabama,” it gasped. “There’s a train station there. Years ago there was a train wreck. Sixty people died. The closest portal is there.”
“Shouldn’t there be a portal in Venus Cove?” Xavier snapped. “The one Jake took Beth through?”
“Powerful demons can conjure portals at will,” Gabriel replied. “That one was only temporary to serve Jake’s purpose.”
Xavier glanced at the demon on the floor. “But how do we know it’s telling the truth?”
“If there was a train wreck in Broken Hill it could be true,” Ivy said. “Traumatic events causing loss of innocent lives can result in the formation of a portal.” She hesitated. “Still, it could be lying. Gabe, can you get inside its mind — see if it’s telling the truth?”
A look of repulsion crossed Gabriel’s face as he contemplated reaching inside the mind of such a creature. He’d told me once that a demon’s mind was thick and clogged with a sticky black substance like tar. That’s why exorcisms were so draining for the afflicted human beings. Once that stuff got inside of you, it stuck. It clung to you like glue, infecting you and spreading like a fungus until every inch of you belonged to them. Some humans didn’t survive the separation. It was like tearing apart two souls; only one half didn’t want to be separated. It was a vicious tug-of-war with the human body as the rope. I knew that once the demon had surrendered the information my siblings needed, they would have to tear it out of Sister Mary Clare. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn away. Gabriel closed his eyes and the demon clutched the sides of its head as if a sudden migraine had come on. A few moments later, my brother withdrew, disgust written all over his perfect features.
“It speaks the truth,” he said.
“So if we find the portal we’ll be able to get Beth back?” Xavier asked.
“If only it were that easy,” the demon cackled. “You’ll never get through it.”
“There is always a way,” said Ivy in a level voice.
“Oh, yes,” the demon snickered. “Though I wouldn’t try and trick your way in. You may find you’re not able to get out.”
“We don’t resort to tricks,” Gabriel said.
“You could always bargain her back,” the thing suggested, its lip curling maliciously as its empty, black eyes fell on Xavier. “Trade him for her. And you’d do it, wouldn’t you, boy? I can see it in your eyes. You’d sacrifice your soul to save her. It’s a high price to pay for something that isn’t even human. How do you know she even has a soul? She’s just like me — except working for a rival corporation.”
“I’d shut my mouth if I were you.” Xavier scraped his walnut-colored hair away from his face and I caught a flash of my promise ring on his hand. In his black T-shirt and jeans he didn’t look celestial like my brother and sister, but he looked tall and strong and thoroughly pissed off. I could tell he wanted to wipe the smirk off its face, but Xavier could never bring himself to hit a girl, even one who was possessed.
“Hit a nerve, have we?” the demon crooned.
I thought Xavier might snap, but instead, his tense posture relaxed and he leaned against the wall, surveying the creature coolly.
“I feel sorry for you,” he said slowly. “I guess you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be loved or wanted by anybody. You’re right, though; Beth isn’t human, because humans have a soul that they struggle all the time to stay in touch with. Every day is a battle for them to listen to their conscience and do the right thing. If you knew Beth at all you’d know that she doesn’t have a soul, she’s all soul. She’s filled with it, more than any human possibly could be. You wouldn’t know that because emptiness and hatred is all you’ve ever known. But that won’t win out in the end — you’ll see.”
“You’re very cocky for a mere human,” the demon replied. “How do you know fate won’t tempt your soul to become as black and twisted as mine?”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Ivy said with a smile. “His soul is already marked as one of ours. Xavier’s got a reserved seat in Heaven.”
“Now, if you don’t mind,” my brother cut in smoothly. “We’re done making small talk.”
The demon seemed to know what was coming and leapt up, arching its back like a cat and hissin
g furiously. Molly, who was hovering in the doorway, ducked as if she expected objects to begin flying around the room.
“Is this the part where you start chanting in Latin?” she asked tremulously.
Gabriel’s gaze flickered toward her. “Get under the bed, Molly. You don’t need to witness this.”
“It’s okay,” Molly shook her head. “I’ve seen The Exorcist.” My brother gave a humorless laugh. “This is a little different,” he said. “Humans need prayers and rituals to send a demon back to Hell. But we’re stronger than that.”
He held out his hand and Ivy entwined her dainty, peachcolored fingers with his. At exactly the same moment their wings opened, spanning the width of the room and casting long shadows on the walls. The others watched in astonishment as light began to blaze from their outstretched wings to form a cloud around them. Their bodies seemed to hum and vibrate and then ever so slightly levitate off the ground. Then Gabriel spoke.
“In the name of Christ Our Lord and all that is Holy, I command you be gone. Return this earthly body to the hands of God and slither back into the pit of fire where you belong.”
The demon’s head began thrashing back and forth like a whip, as though it were having some sort of seizure. The cloud of muted, golden light crept forward, beautiful to the human eye, but a mark of death for any agent of darkness. The demon tried to dart past my siblings, but the light was like a force field keeping it back. It struggled violently, but to no avail. The misty cloud had almost reached it and I watched the demon throw itself to the floor. As the light surrounded it, descending like a fog, Sister Mary Clare’s body began to emit smoke from her nose and a sizzling sound like meat on a barbeque filled the air. Molly’s jaw dropped in horror and she backed away from the scene before her, covering her ears against the demon’s strangled screams. Xavier too went pale and swallowed hard, watching with a pained expression. The body on the ground had gone rigid, its torso lurching upward in shuddering convulsions. I saw a bulge appear in Sister Mary Clare’s abdomen, it seemed to be shifting upward, through her chest, like a hideous tubershaped growth. Xavier winced as the sharp crack of a snapping rib was heard amid the grunts and gasps. The bulge distorted the woman’s throat until suddenly her mouth flew open and she began to choke and gurgle. My siblings concentrated harder, their light constricting around the nun’s throat and sure enough, a steaming, thick black substance came pouring through her open mouth and flopped onto the floor like a dead fish.
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