by G. P. Ching
Jacob stood behind a row of giant cannons and catapults, watching teams of adults make last-minute adjustments to the machines with the sole purpose of projecting a pumpkin farther than any other. He smiled to himself and pulled his coat tighter around his chest. When you didn’t have the ocean or mountain to keep you busy, he supposed you hurled pumpkins.
“That was amazing.” Malini stared as the next pumpkin disappeared behind the horizon. The bowl of pumpkin ice cream in her hand was disappearing rapidly. She offered a spoonful to Jacob.
“Thanks.” The thick creamy texture was accentuated by the flavors of nutmeg and cinnamon with a subtle pumpkin pie finish. “It’s really good,” he said honestly, “but I can’t believe we’re eating ice cream at nine in the morning.”
“It’s always sold out by lunch.” She scooped in another bite. “So, have you heard if Dane’s going to be all right?”
“Yes. His dad called my uncle and said he had a concussion, two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken arm. But they’ve patched him up and he’s in stable condition.”
“And, you didn’t see who did it? You have no idea?”
Jacob lowered his voice. “Malini, that’s what I told the hospital. That’s not what happened.” It was the first time he’d been alone with her since the incident and the last thing he wanted to do was text her the entire story. There was no way he was putting it in writing.
“What did happen?”
“It was Auriel.”
The bowl fell from Malini’s hand, the sickly pallor returning to her face. He took her waist to hold her up.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick again?”
“No. I just knew. I knew there was something … evil about her. There’s something I need to tell you, Jake.”
A loud bellow interrupted them. “What did you think of that one, Jacob?” Uncle John was waving his hat about ten feet away, a bottle of pumpkin beer in his hand. Linda and Mark stood in front of him with the twins. Next to him, Dr. Silva smiled up at the flying pumpkins. She did not spare so much as a glance toward Jacob.
“Why don’t you go get some more ice cream?” he said to Malini. Jacob tilted his head toward Dr. Silva. Whatever Auriel was, if there was one person who would know what to do about her, it was Dr. Silva.
Malini nodded.
Jacob made his way over and stood between John and Dr. Silva. “That was really great, how far do you think it went, Uncle John?”
“Oh, easily a mile,” he said.
Jacob turned to Dr. Silva. “It’s good to see you again, Dr. Silva.” He tried hard to sound casual. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question about your garden?”
“Her garden’s why she’s here, Jacob. She donates the pumpkins from her patch.”
Dr. Silva briefly glanced down her nose at Jacob, her eyes icy daggers. “Oh, Jacob, you’ve proven yourself capable of figuring out all of your questions on your own. You don’t need me.” She smiled up at John. “It was nice to see you again, neighbor. I’ve got to get back. Enjoy the show.”
“See you later, Abigail,” John called with a wave of his hand, never taking his eyes off the flying pumpkins.
Dr. Silva rushed off toward a weathered red barn that stood on the property. Jacob followed. He had to practically sprint to keep up. As he watched her black cloak flutter through the open barn door, he saw Auriel.
She was leaning against a tree near the side of the barn, her hands in the pockets of her jeans jacket and one booted foot propped against the gnarled trunk. When she saw Jacob, she began to walk toward him, a brilliant smile lighting up her eyes. She smoothed her blonde curls back from her face.
“Hi, Jacob! Did you forget you were supposed to meet me today?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you come? Don’t you like me anymore?”
“What are you?” he blurted, backing up as she advanced toward him. She abandoned the facade of sweet teenage girl, her smile melting into an expression that could only be described as deadly.
“I’m the girl you want to kiss.” Her arm shot out and grabbed the nape of his neck, so fast it reminded him of the strike of a snake. She crushed his body to hers as if he weighed nothing and her lips covered his before he could even scream.
And then he was surrounded by her spicy, sweet smell and the too-sweet taste of her breath in his mouth, both intoxicating and nauseating. While his body was drawn to her, his mind and soul were screaming to break free. He remembered too well the maggots in his dream and how she had maimed Dane.
But Jacob was powerless. He felt dizzy, the field spinning. Auriel stopped kissing him and numbness crept over his body like a poison. She pushed him toward her red Jeep in the parking lot. By the time he reached it, his body would barely respond at all. Auriel had to lift him into the passenger seat. He was so disoriented he could hardly feel the Jeep accelerate, even when the speedometer reached ninety miles per hour.
“Stop,” he managed to say. “I want to go back.” His voice sounded weak, unsure, even to his own ears.
“You don’t mean that, Jacob. We are going to go someplace special. I’m taking you home to meet my dad. He is going to love you.”
“Why?” His mouth felt dry. The word was all he could force out of his lungs.
“Because it’s time for you to go where you belong. You chose this!”
“Chose?” he mumbled. His tongue was swelling.
Auriel recklessly weaved in and out of traffic, sliding around the corners, tires screeching.
“Don’t play innocent with me. You’ve made choice after choice that led me to you. You broke the dolls, you trespassed in the garden, you lied to John about your trip to Peru, you stole Abigail’s notes about the tree, and you traveled using the blood of Oswald Silva without permission. You even tried to force an innocent.” She turned to look at him, taking her eyes off the road for a dangerously long time for how fast she was driving. “That’s right, Jacob. I know every sin you’ve ever committed. You are quite the offender. I don’t think there’s one in the book that you haven’t done and I am going to see you get what you deserve.” She was nodding her head self-righteously. “Now I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
As she said these last words, his tongue pushed to the back of his throat and his head slammed against the seat like an invisible hand was gagging him. The harder he tried to speak the more frustrated he became as he could produce nothing but choking sounds. He searched out the window for any sign of water but if they passed any, he was traveling too fast to connect with it. What was she? What gave her this power she had over him? What she accused him of … only half of it was true. But how did she know that much?
“Whaa, whaa, whaa. Is wittle Jacob sad because he finally has to pay for all the bad stuff he’s done?” Her blonde head shook with the loud toothy laugh and she stuck her tongue out at him in an expression both immature and cruel. Jacob turned away to face the window.
After watching the rural landscape fly by, he recognized landmarks that made him certain she was taking him back to Paris. It was only minutes before Auriel was pulling into Dr. Silva’s driveway, leaping from the driver’s side and practically tearing the door off its hinges to yank Jacob out.
Auriel dragged him from the car by his collar. Mysteriously, his leg muscles began to work again, as if whatever venom she’d stung him with was wearing off. Like a dog, she led him forward by the neck, her fingers clawing into his flesh. She half dragged, half pushed him through the orchard and up to the wrought-iron gate.
She turned the key and popped the lock.
“But—” Jacob muttered.
“You thought I couldn’t open the gate? Once you invite a Watcher in, Jacob, it renders the enchantment powerless against them. Abigail should have taught you better.” She cast him a wicked smile that sent a chill up Jacob’s spine.
Jacob didn’t understand. Even if he had accidentally left the gate unlocked, he certainly never invited Auriel through it. Asking
didn’t seem wise. She moved him down the trail and through the cactus maze quickly, with one single goal: to bring him to the tree. Each time he struggled to get away, she buried her nails deeper into his neck and lifted him from the ground like a puppy. Her strength was boundless.
Standing before Oswald, Auriel’s hand moved to his wrist and she dragged him the last few feet toward the tree. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” she laughed.
Jacob remembered saying those words the night he visited Malini in her room. What he saw in his mind, however, was what he’d done to Malini at the tree—from her perspective. He felt her terror as Auriel dragged him toward the tree. Worse, Jacob realized he’d been in Auriel’s position, the tyrant, the coercer. Whatever Auriel was, she knew his past. She knew everything he’d done wrong in his life and could pump it into his brain at will. He collapsed from the guilt and saw his own tears hit the sand. Auriel’s demonic grip only strengthened on his wrist, as if she was drawing strength from his suffering.
Auriel touched the bark and Jacob watched it grow up her arm, shingling her shoulder before absorbing the rest of her body. The familiar slowing took over as the tree swallowed him, too. But this time, instead of rising and becoming the sky, he felt himself sink. The earth and every crawling creature that lived in it became one with his flesh. He slid down the roots of the tree, deeper and deeper until, at last, he emerged in a dark garden of twisting thorns.
From the spot on the ground where he lay recovering from the effects of the tree, he glanced back at Auriel. She was more beautiful than ever. But his eyes could not miss what had changed about her, even in the faintest of light. Behind her back, two feathery wings folded against her body. Fluffy and white, they arced over her shoulders and extended down her back. As she fanned them out, stretching like a bird first one than the other, each looked about eight feet long.
“Welcome to Nod, Jacob. Welcome to your new home.” She yanked him to his feet and led him forward into the darkness.
Chapter 39
Malini’s Confession
Malini picked up the bowl of ice cream she’d dropped and tossed it in the trash. By the tilt of Jacob’s head and his deadly serious expression, she knew this was about Auriel.
“Why don’t you go get some more ice cream?” He was going to ask Dr. Silva for help.
She moved toward the ice cream vendor but kept her eyes on Jacob. Dr. Silva walked away from him. After all this time, she still blamed Jacob. Maybe some of that blame was deserved but Malini knew that most of it wasn’t.
As Jacob followed Dr. Silva across the field to the barn, Malini trailed close behind. She hid behind the closest cart and watched. Vomit filled her mouth when she saw Auriel. She hurled onto the grass. What was it about that girl that made her feel sick? Unless her illness was brought on by wanton jealousy? Definitely a possibility.
Without warning, Auriel snatched Jacob and kissed him, full on the lips. A toxic energy flooded Malini’s body. It was a mixture of fury and envy with a splash of guilt. With nowhere else for the emotion to go, it came pouring out from her eyes in the form of tears. No. Not that. Get your lips off of him, she thought. The idea of that disgusting creature touching Jacob made her retch. The upside was there was nothing left in her stomach. When she saw Auriel leading Jacob to the red Jeep, she didn’t waste another minute. She ran into the barn.
Dr. Silva was shoveling what looked like cow manure into the back of a truck. When Malini cleared her throat, she looked up from the pile.
“It’s for my garden,” Dr. Silva said. “Fertilizer.”
The odor hit Malini and she covered her nose and mouth with her shirtsleeve. She walked forward, until she was just a foot away from Jacob’s neighbor. “Dr. Silva,” she said, “there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What would that be?”
“I know about the tree in your garden. The one in the back garden.” Malini lowered her chin as she said this and watched Dr. Silva’s eyes squint skeptically.
“What do you know? Tell me.”
“I was the one who left the gate open. I was with Jacob that day and saw him lock it behind us. After he left, a little girl, maybe three or four years old, came to the gate from the inside. I thought she followed us in there. She was crying and begging me to let her out, so I did. I didn’t know it was against the rules.”
“Who are you?” Dr. Silva demanded.
“Malini Gupta. I’m Jim Gupta’s daughter. We met in his office when your window was broken.”
“Yes. I remember you. You say you were there the day Jacob went to the tree?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because Jacob’s in trouble. The girl I let in through the gate. I think she, somehow … it’s like she grew up. Jacob introduced me yesterday to a girl that looked exactly like her, but older. And I just saw her kiss him and then take him away.”
Dr. Silva stared at Malini, her pale face expressionless. She might as well have been made of stone.
“Do you smell that?” Malini asked, pressing her shirt more tightly over her mouth. “God it’s awful. Not the manure, it’s a sweet, spicy smell, but more metallic … like arsenic.”
Dr. Silva took a step back and then her eyes darted toward the barn door.
“Please, Dr. Silva. You are the only one that can help. I know it.”
“How much do you know, girl?”
“Not much, but you can fill me in on the way. We have to catch them. She’s not right. I know she’s evil. You can’t let her take him.”
“Well to be clear, I can let him go, but it seems you, Malini, cannot. He’s important to you?”
“Yes.”
“And you think he is worth getting back?”
“Of course!”
“Then I believe you. But we must make haste if we are to have any hope of reaching him before it’s too late.” She looked at the truck. “This won’t do.” She grabbed Malini’s wrist and ran for the door.
In the parking lot, Malini had to sprint to keep up with Dr. Silva, who was scanning the rows of cars until she saw one that seemed to have promise. She waved her hand over the lock and helped Malini into the passenger side of a silver BMW roadster. She crawled behind the wheel. With another pass of her hand, the engine started and she peeled out of the parking lot.
“Seatbelt, Malini,” she said.
Malini reached over her shoulder for the belt. Her shirt fell from her nose. She clicked the belt into place, gagging.
“There it is again. That smell. What is that?”
“Do you believe in God, Malini?”
“Yes, of course I do.”
“Do you know the story of how Lucifer fell from grace?”
“Lucifer? Like, the devil? Yes, I’ve heard it.”
“Where do you think the fallen went?”
“Obviously, the story isn’t true. The Bible says they were cast to Earth, but if fallen angels were here I think someone would have noticed by now.”
“We are talking about the Lord of Illusions. They are deceivers, tellers of lies. I could be one of them right now and you would never know.”
“It’s not meant to be taken literally. It’s a myth to teach a lesson.”
“So, in this myth then, where does the Bible say that Eve encountered Lucifer disguised as the serpent?”
“In the garden of Eden.”
“Yes, and how did he get there? They were in Eden, after all, the most perfect place created by God. How could evil walk right in?”
“I don’t know. It’s never explained.”
“Well, I wasn’t there personally, but I knew,” Dr. Silva said. “We all did.”
“What do you mean? How could you know?”
Dr. Silva did not answer.
She was flying down Rural Route One now, in control but speeding as fast as she could safely drive on the long stretch of road. “All angels exist to serve God. Lucifer and his followers rebelled and were c
ast out of the presence of God. They still have powers, although they are limited compared to the power of God. They are no longer considered angels but Watchers, fallen ones.”
“Then the story is true?”
“Yes.”
Malini’s throat felt dry. Her hands trembled. “What powers do they have?”
“They are sorcerers, illusionists, and herbalists.”
“Herbalists?”
“Think drugs. An easy way to control people’s minds and Watchers are all about easy.” Dr. Silva pulled into her driveway in the shadow of the dark Victorian. She turned and looked Malini directly in the eye.
“The odor is so strong here,” Malini said, trying to breathe through her mouth.
“Tell me, Malini, have you smelled that smell before?”
Malini thought about it. Of course she had.
“Auriel. But why am I smelling it now?”
“And is there anything about me that reminds you of Auriel?”
Malini stared in horror at her perfect features. Dr. Silva’s hair was straight, Auriel’s curly, but both were platinum blond. They were both tall and thin although Auriel was slightly shorter than Dr. Silva. And they both had the type of eyes that cut right through a person. They weren’t twins but there was something, a likeness, that couldn’t be denied.
“Yes,” Malini said, suddenly terrified.
“Do you know what we are?”
“I think so.”
“Then say it. Call it out so that we can put it behind us.”
Malini swallowed hard. “You’re a Watcher—a fallen angel.”
“Very good,” she said, nodding. “I’m proud of you. Now can you answer one more question for me?”
“I can try.”
“What are you, Malini?”
“What do you mean? I’m a human being.”
“Normal humans can’t smell Watchers. There are some occasions when we use our smell to lure a human being to us. We are lazy creatures after all. That’s why we are called Watchers: we watch, we wait, and we use what opportunity is presented to us to our advantage. But you … I wasn’t trying to lure you. You smelled what I was, not what I wanted you to smell. So, what are you?”