She squeezed. I pulled her in.
In unison, the dreks began:
The yowling siren filled the space, seeping into every pore and vibrating the walls, dirt sifting off the ceiling and onto my back and wings. Angie wilted in my arms, beaten into submission by a sound.
My eyes slid shut. I whispered, “Goodnight, my sweet sister. You were always there for me. I love you, so much.” …
The yell drifted away like horns sounding through a distant fog.…
Until all was quiet.
What is that? Something tugged at my jeans as if—
Owe! Something pricked my arm like needles, like … Teeth. Source, No!
BLACKNESS
CHAPTER 28
… Am I dead? It’s so dark. I don’t understand. But my mind is still going. Is it supposed to be this way? It’s—
What is that?
Is that my heartbeat? Is that my breath?
It’s so peaceful and quiet.
But … I’m alone.
Vyn, where are you?
CHAPTER 29
Eyes snapped open. Inhale. Exhale.
Light blinded me to squint.
Vision adjusted.
A high ceiling.
Inhale. Exhale. Is that—?
… My entire body felt cool and refreshed. Sounds of a trickling stream surrounded me, as I realized … I was on my back on a pebbled stream bank, the stones pressing into my skin. Jeans and shoes were slightly damp, and I wore an unfamiliar, rip-free T-shirt. My wings were clean and unfurled with the tips in flowing water. Fluorescent light filled the white concrete room. I rolled my head side to side on the bank to view the clear stream coming from under a far wall to my right, flowing through the center of the room and exiting under the opposite wall.
A long sigh drained from my lungs.
Wait. Where’s Angie! I sprang up, turned to see her sleeping on her back on the stream bank, her jeaned legs in the water up to her waist, wings unfurled wide.
Gravel crunched underfoot as I dashed to her, and then knelt before her on the bank. “Angie, are you okay?”
Nothing.
Sounds of water trickled through the room, joining an almost imperceptible vibration, like a faint hummm.
I lowered to the pebbled shore, stretched my legs out, lifted Angie’s head onto my lap and cleared some wet hair off her face. “Angie, please wake up. Please.”
At running sounds behind me I snapped my head around.
A boy skidded to a shoe-squeaking stop on a concrete floor, staring surprised brown eyes at me while he held a pile of clean towels. No older than ten, I guessed. Dark hair fell over his forehead and ears. He wore jeans with holes in the knees, a T-shirt and sneakers. A typical boy.
“Who are you?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Um, Mister Bellows told me I’m supposed to clean her wings.”
“Who’s Mister Bellows?”
I turned back to Angie, palmed her damp hair.
The boy chuckled behind me. “Mister Bellows, only the leader of our town, duh.”
I slanted a look. “Your town? Where am I?”
He stepped down from the concrete ledge to the gravel bank, made his way over and stood to my right. “Oh, yeah. You never been here, have you?” A crooked grin as he twirled a towel, stopped. “You two were really lucky, you know. We saved you from the monsters, just in time. We had to wear our earmuffs and everything. We thought it was one of those emergency drills, but it wasn’t. We heard the screaming and ran. I nailed one of ‘em too, right in the mouth with my slingshot. It was awesome. Then my dad put a needle in your arm, he said it would keep you calm, and we dragged you two in here. What were you doing out there? Are you crazy or something?”
“You saved us? Where are we?”
He sighed. “This is our town of New Branch. Stupid name, huh? I don’t know whose bright idea that was. New Branch. Why not just name it pinecone, or something, right?”
My gaze went back to Angie. “Is she—?”
“She’s sick, that’s all. She’s got the dark sickness, but she’s a heck of a lot better than she was. We weren’t sure whether she was gonna make it. It’s the water. It has light in it, or something. I don’t know. But, I need to clean her wings before the bubbles go away, okay?”
Angie’s wings were covered with small bubbles; I hadn’t noticed it until then. I gave the boy a hesitant go-ahead nod. He stepped to Angie’s wings, went to his knees, began wiping them off, whistling while he rubbed, then said, “Well, this is much better than cleaning out the shed, I’ll tell ya that. Let my stupid sister do it for once.”
“How long have we been here?”
“You two have been here for hours, it’s almost, oh, three. If it wasn’t for you I’d be in school right now, so, thanks for that.” He smiled, swiped some bubbles from Angie’s wing. “The whole town practically came to help, and to see the angels. But it got too crowded so Mister Bellows told everyone to go home so you could rest. He said you’d be scared when you woke up. Then he told my dad to tell me to clean your wings for you. They’re gonna pay me big for this. I might be able to get a new bike.”
“What do you mean, to see the angels?”
As he began cleaning again, I noticed something that I hadn’t paid attention to—his smooth back, his shirt with no wing-flaps. I sprang up to stand with my hand over my mouth.
“Geez. Be careful lady. Her head almost bounced the rocks.”
After pulling my hand down, I said, “You. You’re. Where are your wings?”
“Uh, I left ‘em at the house.” He snickered. “I don’t have wings, duh, none of us do. Your wings are pretty cool, though. I’d love to have a set of wings. Man, I’d fly so high, nobody’d catch me.” He swiped Angie’s wing, visualizing, said on a dreamy tone, “Yeah, that’d be awesome.”
“Billy, Billy! Dad said I could—” A little girl called and stopped short as she came skipping through an archway on the far side of the room. She had stopped on the concrete floor, and stood in a knee-length flowered dress, flats on her feet, light brown hair to her shoulders.
“Great,” the boy complained, blew a breath and turned back to Angie. “There’s my sister. She always gets her way. All she has to do his blink her eyes like a little pet. Then she gets one. And me, oh no, ‘Take out the garbage, Billy. Clean your room, Billy.’ Then I get a candy bar. She’s not helping me with this, though. I’m keeping all the diamonds for this job.”
“Are you—” I started to say, swallowed, and finished my thought, “Humans?” It sounded bizarre coming out of my mouth.
“Affirmative,” Billy said, then stood up, straightening Angie’s feathers. “Two arms, two legs, and no wings. Just, human.” He looked almost sad.
At the young girl’s gasp, I turned to see her strolling along the bank with a towel in her hands, little hazel eyes gazing up at my wings as she said, “Ohh, those are pretty. Can I touch them, please?”
Billy blew out a sigh. “Eight year olds, so childish. Leave her alone, Jen. She’s resting.”
Jen curled a frown, disappointed little eyes on Billy. “Dad said I could help you though.”
“I’m already done, so it’s my money. I’ll buy you a candy bar, though, okay?”
She gave her brother such a sweet smile. Yes, I understood now, that smile could get her anything.
Now, I wondered, what world did I just fall into? I must be dead. Yeah, that would explain it, right. I was dead, of course, and Source was a flappin circus?
The girl toddled over, looked up at me with requesting eyes. Her dress and shoes were so similar to that of what we wear. Their skin with a little deeper hue than ours—golden flesh tones—but the similarities to angels amazed me. I had read about them in books, but these weren’t pictures. I moved my wing, sending Jen to gasp in delight, which made me giggle.
“Do it again,” she said on a breath. I lowered my right wing so she could touch it. She skimmed her hands over it. “Ohh, they’re so smoot
h, and shiny.” She continued with her fascination. “Wow, you’re so lucky.”
I was bit fascinated myself.
“Okay, I’m finished,” Billy said, and turned to me. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Um, I’m Elle, and that’s my sister, Angie. She’s going to be okay, right?”
“Elle, huh? And she’s, Angie?” He arched an eyebrow, chuckled. “Yeah, right, and I’m king of the world. What’s your name, really?”
“I told you already. What’s the matter with you?”
His eyes went wide, face flushed. “You. You’re really, Elle, really? No jokes?”
The girl stopped rubbing my wing, stepped back with a look of wonder. “Elle?” She swiveled her head to Angie. “And, and that’s, Angie? From our dreams? But—”
“Billy,” a male voice called out near the archway, drawing my attention. “Are you finished? You two aren’t bothering them are you?” The stocky older man strode toward me in a kind of lumbering gait, maybe five-ten, khaki cargo pants and hiking boots, a faded blue T-shirt, gray-streaked short hair. Apelike thick arms reminded me of Dad’s construction worker friends. He stood before me, creases around his brown eyes as he looked up into mine. “They’re not bothering you, are they?”
“Dad,” said Billy, “you’re not gonna believe who they are.”
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re all right.” The man’s tone was rough and deep, like wet gravel in his throat. “You two had quite an adventure out there.” He surveyed my arms and wings. “It’s amazing. Your skin’s nearly healed. And it looks like your wings filled in nicely. One of the girls cleaned you up and gave you that shirt, yours was torn up.” His eyes lifted to mine. “It’s nice to meet you, young lady. I’m Christopher. Just call me, Chris.” He reached out a thick knuckled hand.
We shook hands as I replied. “Um, it’s nice to meet you too, Chris.”
“Good. Now, I’m guessing you have a few questions.” His callused grip released, a head swivel to Billy. “You kids go back to the house.”
“But, Dad—”
“It’s okay, Billy,” I said. “Her wings are beautiful. I’ll put in a good word for you, about the bike.” Wink.
Billy locked a stare on me, cheeks tinting over a grin.
He finally gathered up the towels, held them in both arms while he gave me another silent grin. He backpedaled off the stream bank and onto the concrete above. “C’mon, Jen.”
Jen finally stopped gazing at me and went to him. They treaded off while chatting. I couldn’t help but listen as Billy said, “I know, it’s so cool, huh? Did you hear what she said about the bike? Angels are so awesome.”
Jen said, “Do you think she would give me a present?”
“She’s not Santa Claus, Jen. I had to work for the bike.”
“Oh, okay. Will you share your bike with me?”
Billy put his arm around his sister’s shoulder as they walked on. “Yeah, I guess. Let’s go get that candy bar, sis.”
I smiled after them … turned to Chris. “How did you save us?”
“See that door over there.” He gestured to an ancient-looking iron door on the other side of the stream. “You were on the other side of it. We heard the yell, got here as fast as we could. See, we’ve been preparing for quite a few years, weekly drills and such. Wasn’t expecting to see you, of course, but we knew what to do. A few of us did get sick, though. They’re in the infirmary at the hospital. It was close, but I think they’re gonna pull through.”
“Is my sister going to be okay?”
“I don’t really know, but I’m sure your mother will—”
“You know my mother?” Surprise must’ve been evident in my widened eyes.
He grinned, considering … “Your family and I go way back, Elle. I remember when you were born. That was the last time I saw you. Celeste brought you down here, introduced you to us. I’d never seen her so happy. You look just like her, you know.” He paused. “Anyway, sounds like the secret held. Let’s save some time, get those questions answered.” He began to stride off toward the wall where the stream entered, said over his shoulder, “Follow me, it’s gettin late. You wouldn’t want them to worry.”
So, could it get any more confusing? I wondered while trailing in his wake.
We stood in the concrete corner, a standard iron door on the left, the stream behind us. Set into the wall on our right was a smaller door, narrow, the size of a pantry maybe. Chris pulled a key from his right pocket, unlocked and opened the smaller door to reveal a wooden box, with a few hanging ropes beside it in a hollow opening. On the box floor sat a wooden crate full of fruit, a stack of paper and a pencil beside it.
Chris pulled the crate, set it to the concrete floor, picked up a piece of paper and pencil. He palmed the paper against the wall, began writing something. Once finished, he reached and tugged on a rope. We waited … It startled me a bit when the box began moving up. Chris tapped the door shut, turned to me. “Okay, that’s that. Phillip is getting the message now.”
“Phillip? You mean my dad?”
He grinned. “I imagine he’ll be down in no time.”
We walked back to Angie and sat on the concrete ledge just above the stream bank. Chris explained a few things, mostly small talk, stalling I knew. He was such a kind human.
Minutes passed before the door we were standing near earlier blew open with a slam to the wall. I jumped and ran toward Dad, Vyn and Jaydenn while they marched into the room with such serious looks on their faces.
“Dad!” I launched into his arms as he gathered me up.
“It’s okay now, honey,” he replied in his deep Dad voice. The best sound I’d ever heard.
He set me down. When I hugged Vyn, I sensed he was in some sort of mode again, no doubt ready to do some serious damage to something, or lost in confusion, I couldn’t really tell which. Jaydenn loped over to Angie. He bent down and pulled Angie up, her limp body draped over his arms as he kissed her forehead. Emotion reddened his face.
“You’ve got some explaining to do, Dad.”
“Phil,” Chris announced, striding to us with a clamped grin. Dad, almost two feet taller and twice as thick, towered over Chris while they shook hands.
Their grip released. Dad’s brow curled over a serious gaze. “What happened?”
“Well, it seems your girls got into a bit of trouble. We heard the yells, did what we had to. What were they doing back there?”
Dad scowled at me. “That’s a good question. They weren’t supposed to be back there. Not behind the house, remember, Elle. We were supposed to take care of that.”
Cowering, I hung my head, dropped my shoulders, said on a breath, “I’m sorry, Dad.”
He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Well, I’m just glad you’re all right”—I raised my eyes to him—“It’s partly my fault. We should’ve taken care of this weeks’ ago.” He paused to give me a grin, then turned and asked Chris, “How’s Angie?”
“Sick. She needs bed rest. You were right about the spring water. It doesn’t do a thing for us, but it seems to help you angels. You should’ve seen Elle when we drug her in. By the way, where’s Celeste?”
“She doesn’t know yet. She’d cause a major scene down here. I can only handle one thing at a time.”
“Dad, how come I didn’t get sick? That water healed me?”
“It’s Source water, Ellie, underground. It’s the reason we heal so fast. It’s piped into our house. That’s why the tea makes you feel better. And it seems my visions were correct. You protected your sister, no matter the pain. You and your mother are protectors, honey. You’ll sacrifice everything to do it.”
All I could manage was a nod. Dad turned his gaze away and mine followed as Jaydenn strode to us, Angie a limp blanket across his arms with her wings tucked under. He stood before us, remnants of anguish on his face, swollen eyes pleading.
Dad cleared wet hair off Angie’s forehead. “Angie, my sweet angel, what did you do.” He lifted eyes to Ja
ydenn. “Get her up to the house, Jay. Celeste’ll fix her up. Let her know Ellie’s okay, and we’ll be up in bit. Just take care of Angie.”
Jaydenn gave Dad a quick nod and was off across the room and out the door.
“Well, Chris,” said Dad, “what’s say we show Ellie around?” Dad pulled a few brown-wrapped candy bars from his pocket, reached out. “Here’s a little somethin for Billy and Jen.”
Chris returned an appreciative nod, took the candy bars from Dad, spun around and walked toward the arched opening. With my arm linked through Vyn’s, we followed. Vyn remained silent, looking around in a confused daze.
Dad asked Chris, “How are they by the way. Billy still addicted to candy, I assume?”
“Oh, yeah, he can’t get enough. And Jen loves all that fruit you keep sending us.
That’s where all that fruit went, well that’s just sneaky.
Chris added, “By the way, the manuscript will be done in a few weeks, now that I have an idea for the ending. I’d like to get it over to the publishing house as soon we can. This one’s a special one.”
“No problem, I’ll get right on it. Celeste’ll be happy to hear that. She loves your work, can’t keep her nose out of it. Matter of fact, she thinks we should buy the company, a little retirement present, name it Soepheea Publishers …”
Books?
Is that— Oh my Source. Chris? Christoper Quintell? My favorite author of old-world human stories? They’re fantasy novels … Are they fiction?
CHAPTER 30
Did I just land on another planet?
This mesmerizing, bright and cheery world brought to mind some weird science fiction film that could be called “Planet of the Humans” or something. And I was right smack in the middle of it, wondering whether I would wake up and find myself in the audience, or behind the screen. I could almost smell the popcorn and cotton candy on the air.
After Dad, Chris, Vyn and I had passed under the archway to town, the floor narrowed into a cobbled road, bordered by paving stone sidewalks and perfectly manicured lawns. The domed ceiling, way up there, threw down the illusion of a blue-painted sky. Light poured from some sort of artificial sunlight fixtures in the ceiling. Fans pumping from somewhere sounded out a light hum, oxygenating the air, I assumed.
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