First thing this morning we had unloaded the cart and put everything away. I’d pushed my scooter over to the carport that stands beside the barn, parked it next to the family Jeep, then plugged it into the charging box.
Now, at the breakfast nook table, still in my dirt-stained clothes with my body covered in grime, I sat with the sorrowful feeling that it was my fault. So I stayed in the kitchen in solitary reflection. A cup of tea steamed before me. Thoughts of the nightmare that had become reality set in. The heat of my cup seeped into my palms as I took a sip, gazed out the bay window to an uncertain future.
How could such forested- and flowered beauty give way to such darkness? It was as if two opposite dimensions shared the same space; ruled by the sun or moon.
Bub was munching on his breakfast crunchies. I glanced over to see Angie strolling into the kitchen, her sundress flowing around her legs. Freshly showered, I sensed, as the scent of her lilac body wash drifted by. When I turned back to the window, she said behind me, “Are you sure you’re okay, Ellie. Can I get you anything?”
Morning fog was crawling up a distant mountain, seeming alive as it moved over and around the forest, sliding through the trees. Moistened air hung in the front yard, filtering the waking sunlight like a soft blanket. “I’m fine. It’s so beautiful out there.” I took another sip from the edge of my cup.
Angie’s teacup and saucer tapped to the table as she took a seat across from me. “Yeah, I know. It’s strange isn’t it?”
With a small nod, I agreed, and turned to her. My sister, the pro, knew how to mix and match to create an effect. Her trimmed eyebrows, a hint of blush on her cheekbones, and the teal color of her dress accentuated her exotic green eyes. She had also conditioned her wings, I noticed. Damp brown hair fell to her chest. Lips were colored transparent peach.
“I like that lip gloss,” I said, “where’d you get it?”
“Yeah, it’s Mom’s. She really stocked up from Angel’s Closet. You should see all the stuff she got.”
I blew out a breath that vibrated my lips. “I swear, if I don’t get to go there soon, I’m gonna freak out.”
“We’ll go, don’t worry about it. Maybe next weekend. We can catch a movie too.”
After a pause, and some sort of grin, a feeling of guilt churned in me. I set my cup to the saucer and placed my palms on my lap, tilted my chin down and said, “I-I’m sorry, Angie. I mean, maybe we shouldn’t have taken the cart. And we should’ve stayed in Vinger. It was all my idea. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Oh, Ellie, nobody’s mad at you. It was a mutual decision, all of it. Everyone knows that. Things just happen. Don’t worry. We all love you.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “Is that why you’re staying here in the kitchen all by yourself?”
I nodded a slow frown. My bottom lip quivered and I thought I was about to cry, but I blinked it away … eventually said, “What are the others doing?” I’d been in the kitchen all morning, wanting to visit with them, and now realized it was my own delusions of guilt that had kept me here. It must have been some kind of post stress thing, I figured, or I’m an idiot.
She picked a butter cookie off her saucer, dipped it. “Planning. Flexing their muscles. You know, male stuff.” She bit the cookie, chewing as she added, “I heard you got Dakarai good, huh?”
“Not good enough.”
“Do you still want to— I mean. I watched out the window and that was kinda …” She trailed off with a lip curl, dipped her cookie.
“I know, right? That was crazy wasn’t it? Hunters are so mean, and ugly.”
“I was so mad at Jaydenn.” She paused. “But I was happy Dad got to the barn anyway. You shoulda seen Mom though, she was freakin out”—she held her fingers like a pinch—“I was this close to slapping her out of it.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that image.
Angie squinched up her face. “Not to be rude or anything, but, Ellie, honey, you stink.”
After pulling some hair to my nose, I sniffed, cringed. “Eew, yeah. Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay.” She reached out. “Here, have a cookie. We’ll get you cleaned up in a little while. I’ll come up with you so we can talk.”
****
Strolling through the foyer, we passed the bronze hawk before I heard my name brought up in a conversation from the living room. I crept over to the corner of the entryway, motioned for Angie to join me for a little listen. She paused, smiled, snuck over to join me.
“She’s too small to fight those things,” Mom tried to keep the volume down.
“It’s not just about size, Celeste,” Dad replied.
“I know, but, we have to be realistic. She just can’t handle that. And what about what you told me, it’s just a phase, remember?”
A muscle worked in my jaw as I narrowed my eyes.
Dad said, “I don’t know, maybe I was wrong. It does happen once in a while.”
“It’s not funny. This is our daughter’s life. Do you really want to risk that?”
The room went silent … Dad heaved a sigh.
After clearing my throat, I stepped into the room on a giggle. Angie caught the hint, giggled back and said, “It smells pretty bad all right.”
“What are you guys talking about out here?” I asked with an innocent grin.
Dad was on the couch with one arm draped across the back cushion. He looked back over his shoulder at me. “Nothing much, just plans, you know. I’m gonna make some calls, check up on the damage. Then get the boys up here to help with Vyn’s lab. Shouldn’t take long.”
Vyn was on the loveseat to the right, grinning at me. Mom was in Dad’s chair across the room in her morning sundress, her legs crossed and hands holding her knee, hair draped down her chest. By the look of all their fresh clothes, clean and showered bodies, it seemed I was the last smelly angel left in the room.
Dad said to Vyn, “We can transform the cellar if you think that’d do. We’ll fix it up nice. We don’t use it anyway, haven’t been down there in years.”
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Vyn replied.
“How’s your leg, Dad?” I asked.
He glanced at his thigh. “Just a scratch. There’ll be many more. You wrapped it good, though. Maybe you should be a nurse too?” He sent Mom a look.
Mom seemed to have smelled a breeze through a window of opportunity. “She did do a good job, didn’t she, Phil.” Her eyes glittered at me. “Maybe you should, Ellie, maybe you should be a nurse. You two could be nurses together.” She pulled a curtain of hair off her face, revealing a desperate smile.
Angie and I exchanged glances, chuckles, mutual thoughts of Mom’s pathetic attempt.
“I need a shower,” I said, then wheeled around and walked off.
****
The shower hissed a spray over my wings, grime swirling down the center drain in the floor. The upstairs bathroom shower is a large oasis smelling of flowered soap, and filled with girl stuff: body washes, sea sponges, shampoos and conditioners. The pebble-stone-tiled floor and matching bench adds a rustic touch like a wilderness streambed and waterfall. Once the glass door is thoroughly steamed up, it’s not that difficult to envision this place as a secret spot by some river. We girls claimed this bathroom; the boys can mess up the other two all they want, just stay out of here.
Angie was sitting on the marbled vanity counter, legs dangling, keeping me company.
“You know, Ellie, maybe it isn’t such a bad idea. I mean, they do need nurses.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it too?” I questioned through the mist.
“No. I’m just saying. The hunters are— I don’t wanna lose you, sis.”
After grabbing a bottle of shampoo from the stone shelf, I whipped up some bubbles in my hands, began frothing up my wings and hair. Eyes closed while rinsing, I said, “So, you’re not worried about yourself then? Did you change your mind about joining me?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. But I will protect you no
matter what.”
Hair rinsed, I lifted my foot to the bench, began foaming my leg with the sponge, my mind wandering. She would, wouldn’t she? She’d protect me. What if she got hurt, or— No, it’d be my fault. I could not live with that. “Well, Ang, you’re right”—scrubbing—“Maybe you should help out here, I mean, instead of being out there with me.” I turned to rinse.
“Yeah, maybe,” she replied in a somber tone. “But …”
Catching her tone, I rubbed a spot off the shower glass, observed her for a moment. Long hair fell around her face as she held her gaze at the bathroom floor, chin to chest. She didn’t know I was watching her. “Are you okay, sis?”
“Yeah. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.” She swiped something off her cheek.
A lump knotted inside me. How could I do this to her? I pulled back from the glass, stuck my face in the shower stream. What do I do? Oh Source, what do I do? Mom was one thing. That was her job, to worry. But Angie, my sister. My partner through everything that’s good and decent in life. I can’t. I just can’t see her suffer because of me.
After a long moment of contemplation under the spray, I backed my face out of the stream. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it. Please don’t worry about me. Maybe I should just hang back with you and patch up the boys.” I glanced out the glass. Her face showed a little more light. The corner of her mouth turned up into the slightest of smiles. Much better. I couldn’t tell her it was a lie. “Can you hand me a towel, sis, please?”
She hopped off the counter with a bit of newfound energy.
****
In short yellow shorts and a girl cut T-shirt, I sat at my bedroom vanity table, brushing my hair while Angie stood behind rubbing Dr. Danyell’s Feather Gloss into my wings. We discussed anything except the horrible issues in the night.
Earlier, just after my shower, we had some closet-raiding sister time in Mom’s closet, trying on this and that, giggling and commenting while we did so: Oh, look at this. Oh, my Source, I just love this color. Oh my, look at this. I can’t believe Mom would wear something like this. What is that supposed to cover, it’s like, barely here. I don’t think she wears it for her. Giggle, giggle. That little garment had guided our interest to Mom’s new Angel’s Closet purchases: camisoles, sundresses, nighties and gowns, bras and panties, lotions and soaps and angel-wing jewelry. I’d thought about “borrowing” one of her new Angel Curve silk bras, but I didn’t feel like stuffing half a roll of tissue paper in the cups, so, sadly, I’d resisted the urge. Maybe I could borrow one of Angie’s bras. At least it wouldn’t take half a roll of stuffing, maybe just a quarter, or a sock or something.
Ugh, I need to get to that store. This is pathetic.
So anyway, when we finally made it downstairs, in short shorts and T’s, we noticed through the windows that Vyn and Jaydenn were outside, so we stepped over for a little entertainment. While they stood on the dirt driveway, Jaydenn was apparently reenacting last night’s scene, demonstrating how he’d swung the piece of wood around into the hunter’s head.
“Just look at them,” I said. “Vyn’s looks so cute, like a little boy waiting to share a toy.”
Jaydenn tossed the spear and Vyn snatched it out of the air. He gave it an awkward thrusting movement. I wrinkled my nose at Angie. “Maybe he should stay in the lab, huh?”
Angie chuckled. “Yeah, I think that’d be a good idea.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go talk to Dad. I wanna know what he did with that dead hunter.”
CHAPTER 17
Dad sat in his desk chair with the phone held to his ear. “It’s that bad, eighty-seven lost? Uh-huh, yes.” Pause. “Uh-huh. Well, I’ll do what I can.” Pause. “Uh-huh, yes. I’ll take care of it. We’ll get a plan together. Take care now.” He dropped the phone to the charger, rocked back in his chair, and requested we sit with a tilting gesture of his head.
Still in shorts and T’s, we lowered into the chairs before his desk. He seemed to be mulling something over as he stared at us.
Those words he’d said flew through my mind, sinking my heart; eighty-seven lost.
“Girls,” he finally said, “I think we may need your help.” His eyes landed on mine. “Ellie, just listen to me, okay?”—I gave him a silent nod—“I wanna get your mother off our backs. So, whattaya thinka this.” He bent forward, laced his fingers together on the desk, deepened the creases on his face with a tight-lipped grin and dropped brows. “How ‘bout you stay away from the hunters and—”
“But Da—”
“Just listen for a second, will you, please.”
Even as I sent him a disagreeing scowl, he just twitched a crooked grin, then added, “You two killed some dreks and—”
“It was a mi—” Angie tried to voice her opinion.
“Cheett,” Dad cut her off with a chirp and a lifted hand. “Just listen. Can you girls just please let me finish.” He waited for a response as Angie and I sat without a word, staring at him. “As I was saying, you two killed some dreks so you know how it’s done. I think it’d much safer in the daytime.” He directed eyes at me. “And, Elle, you could go after the dreks. If you still want to help, that is. You wouldn’t have to go out at night, so Dakarai wouldn’t be a problem for you. Just don’t get caught out there after sunset.” He turned to Angie. “And you, Ang, you could help her if you want.” He leaned back, laid palms on his lap, waited….
Us, a team of drekavac hunters, I didn’t have to think about it anymore. I was in. Images of children displayed in my mind. Yeah, this was my purpose. Save them. Angie didn’t appear totally convinced.
“Well, whattaya think?” I asked Angie. “Remember that stupid giggling look on the face of that female drek? I saw how you took care of her. I know you didn’t mean to, but, it worked.”
Angie considered … nodded a slow grin. “Yeah, she was flappin annoying, wasn’t she?” She glanced from me to Dad, tucked some hair behind her ear. “Okay, I’m in.”
Dad pursed his lips, reclined back and lifted his hands to clasp behind his head. “Well, girls, welcome to world war five.”
Stung from that phrase, I asked on a breath, “Is it that bad?”
“Afraid so, it seems the hunters didn’t stop at Boden. Just kept following the night around. They took out quite a few before we finally figured it out. But, we know now, so, it’s time to make them pay.” His eyes went to Angie, mine followed. Angie’s face had fallen into the depths of remorse, a deep frown at the floor.
“Angie,” Dad said, “don’t you feel like this was—”
“I started world war five,” Angie dropped the anguish-filled words at her bare knees. “I just pushed her, that’s all. I was just protecting my—”
“That’s right,” Dad half-barked, unclasping his hands from his head and rocking forward to the desk. “That’s what you were born to do. It’s our instinct … Angelica Marie Soepheea, do you hear me?”—Angie pulled her head up—“Our instinct. So don’t you feel guilty about anything. They planned it. They pushed it. They started the war, not you. That’s what they do, prey on our instincts and play with our minds.”
Dad clamped his jaw, pushed sharply from his chair, marched over to a bookcase and back carrying a thick, ancient looking brown book. He dropped the book on the desk with a weighty thud, sending a flinch through me. Dad hadn’t use Angie’s full name in, well, not since we were kids, so I knew this had to be important. For some reason, I felt … small.
Dad opened the book, flipped to a certain section and leaned palms flat on the desk, gazed down at the pages and began to read:
“It is our absolute duty as angelic beings to protect the innocent from dark forces, no matter the consequences”—seeming entranced, Dad spoke in the deepest, most official tone I’d ever heard—“We shall protect with our nature of good. We shall guard our kind and those that represent the light. We have descended from Source to protect the humans and provide security for the angelic population. This is who we are
. Go forth and protect the light, and may Source be with you forevermore.” He held his gaze down for a beat.
Then finally looked up, lowered and relaxed back into his chair. His hard, vacant green eyes stared through us. He laced his fingers together over his midsection.
“Dad?” I questioned, soft, with a hint of, are you in there?
He nodded as if to give permission to proceed.
“Did you say humans?”
His lips clamped a tight line. Face turned defeated, wrinkles around his eyes. “Yes, honey, I did,” he finally replied. “That’s what we were originally brought here for. It didn’t work out as well as we had planned.”
He leaned forward, closed the book and focused on us.
“We fought alongside the humans for fourteen years to rid the earth of impurity. And we learned. Remember, girls, the drekavacs will stop at nothing to trick you into the dark. You will see and hear things that may not be there. It can be very convincing. You heard that yell of theirs, like nothing you’d ever heard, I’m sure. There’s a purpose behind that. It can dim your light and trap your mind.” He paused, thinking, and then added, “Death doesn’t even cross their minds. Their sole purpose, like a disease, is to spread. Their physical presence is somewhat of an illusion, they’re more like dark spirits, on a mission to infect. Death is a release for them, but they’ll take as many as they can with them into the dark, to propagate their species.”
Listening to him, I began to realize it was a different kind of danger. I’d be safe from the hunters in the daylight, but the looming night would always be there.
“What happened to the humans?” Angie asked, a little catch in her throat, before she cleared it. “You said that was our original purpose, right?”
A thin smile stretched his face. “Source is taking care of them now. Once we rid this place of the dreks and hunters, we’ll bring humanity back. But for now, we’re needed to balance the forces.
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