Earth/Sky (Earth/Sky Trilogy)

by Macaulay C. Hunter

  “Oh, someone’s been naughty,” said Makala in a singsong. “But his wings haven’t dimmed, have they, Barasho? What does that mean to you?”

  “He caught the girl for her sake, not only for his own,” said the man behind me in a deep baritone.

  I wanted to get to Adriel, but Makala and Japheem were still blocking my way. Going closer to that terrible music was going to rip me up inside. “Adriel, what are they?”

  “Rippers,” Adriel said in disgust.

  “We’re Rippers?” Makala said. “And here you are with your makeshift charge, angelus cadus. You know that’s not allowed.”

  “Oh, but they never notice, do they?” Japheem said, looking at me hungrily. “Not with these little ones of no importance. So we’ll just be taking this one for ourselves, and thanking you kindly, Adriel.” He stepped closer and I flinched as that jangling grew in volume. It was the complete opposite of the celestial chords I heard while flying. This was the shriek of metal and the screech of tires, voices lifted in screams and the deafening cracks of thunder all sewn together.

  “You won’t be taking her,” Adriel said dangerously, and then a sword of flame was in his hand. The fire was blue and yellow, the hilt gold, and even at the distance between us, I felt the heat coming off that blade. In answer, a sword came to Japheem’s hand. Like his wings, the blue and yellow colors were muddied and ugly, and the hilt was brown. Heat did not pulse from his blade but a freezing cold. As the souls of humans were laid bare to angels, so were their souls bare before me in the color and sensation of their wings and swords.

  Just as Japheem moved to Adriel, Barasho looked over his shoulder and said, “Later! People are coming.”

  “I want to take her with us,” Japheem said.

  The wings vanished from Makala and Barasho, the latter of whom commanded, “Japheem! Now!”

  The swaying bridge began to creak. Japheem didn’t look like he was going to obey, but then he slowly backed off. I moaned, unable to help myself at the awful pull of that music. His wings and sword disappeared a split second before a cheery voice called, “Jessa! We’re going for ice cream. Do you and Adriel want to come?”

  The three around me startled and then recoiled at Zakia. A low growl came from Makala’s throat. “Zombie.”

  The smile fell from Zakia’s lips, both at the word and at the sight of Adriel’s fiercely blazing wings and sword. He looked me up and down, making sure that I was all right. Back in the picnic table area, girls were shouting, “Zakia? Zakia!”

  “Let’s go,” Barasho ordered, his brows drawn down in warning upon Japheem. “We can pick her up any time.”

  Looking at Zakia in revulsion, Makala forced her way through the thickets of flowers along the path. The others followed, crushing teacup roses under their shoes. Adriel came to my side, his wings and sword vanishing. Tilting my face to his, he said, “Did they hurt you?”

  “No,” I said.

  “What’s going on?” Zakia asked darkly.

  Adriel took my hand in a hard grip. His shirt was torn in the back from his wings. “We don’t have time to explain everything, and it doesn’t concern you. I have to get her out of here and warn the Kreelings.” He scanned around us and then looked up. “The bunker.”

  “I can pass along a warning,” Zakia said. “Tell me what they were. Were those-”

  “Rippers?” I meant to voice it as a statement, but it came out a question.

  “Three Rippers,” Zakia said. “I’ll find a pay phone and call them now.”

  “Five,” I corrected. “There’s a fourth you didn’t see, a blonde girl. She was going to meet a fifth named Trenton.”

  “I don’t need your help,” Adriel said.

  “I’d say you do,” Zakia retorted. “You get her home; I’ll get in touch with the hunters.”

  Quickly, Adriel walked me back through the park, over the bridges and to the car. His eyes never stopped moving over our surroundings, even though the Rippers had gone to the west side of the square and we were going east. Once we were inside the car, he checked for traffic and pulled out into the road. “I have to drive. Watch the skies for them. It will look like smoke.”

  “I know what they look like darkened,” I said. The sky was blue and full of puffy white clouds, nothing up there that shouldn’t have been. With a start, I realized that Makala had taken my shopping bag with her. I was lucky that that was all she stole. If she had helped herself to my purse, she could have opened my wallet and . . . no, I hadn’t changed my driver’s license to Spooner since I’d only be here until graduation. It didn’t make sense to do that. Still, it was better that she didn’t have my Bellangame address.

  “Tell me everything they said to you,” Adriel said as we raced through Seataw to the road that would carry us back to Spooner.

  “They were sitting at the picnic tables, and looked at me funny while I was waiting for you,” I said. “The one with the sword, Japheem, he was really interested. He asked how long it had been since I cheated death.”

  “Damn,” Adriel whispered. “He’s a seer.”

  “A what?”

  “An angel with extra sensitivity to fluctuations in the tapestry. He could tell that you were supposed to have died-”

  “He knew that it was a fall. Makala couldn’t see it, but he could.”

  “Yes. Very few fallen angels have that ability. He could sense . . . it’s not a cut, not like with Zakia. Japheem saw more of a knot. That’s what happened to your thread when I caught you. Instead of being severed as it should have been, your thread hit a knot and then continued.”

  I leaned forward in my seat to check the sky. “He isn’t so sensitive that he could see my name, is he?”

  “No, seers can’t do that. I’ve never met one until now, but Taurin did. That was long, long ago.”

  “They’re fallen angels like you, but their wings are so ugly.” I glanced out the back. The only living thing besides us was a cat in a window of a house that we were passing.

  “I told you that not all fallen angels are benign. Rippers are when they go bad.”

  “What are they ripping? Or is that just a name?”

  “They rip everything, living by thieving and deceit, collecting humans who shouldn’t be here like you. Jessa, watch!”

  I had turned to look at him out of reflex. Returning to the windows, I said, “Collecting?”

  “If you had fallen in front of them, they might have caught you like I did. Except not to take you home. You would be presumed dead, your body lost in the woods, and really they would have you.”

  My heart chilled. “For what purpose?”

  “For whatever purpose they want. Dye your hair, change your name, frighten or abuse you into submission . . . they could kill you tomorrow or keep you as their servant for the rest of your natural life. Everyone else would be impacted by your supposed death, just as the tapestry is supposed to go . . .” He rolled through a stop sign and drove out of Seataw. Trees rose up high all around us, blocking my view of the sky save what little was visible over the road. “Rippers happen when the bitterness of having fallen gets the best of you. The anger and the pain of being cast out can do it. They take it out on the world. Do you see anything?”

  “No.”

  “Did they have any creatures with them?”

  “Creatures? Like what?”

  “Lukos anemoi. Wind wolves. Just call them anemoi. Those are the most common result of a splitter, like what happened to Kishi. It creates a small tear in the living fabric of the tapestry, when of its own accord, not angelic error, the world that is woven suddenly weaves itself into the wrong one. It breaks down barriers between what is real and what is not. I don’t know how to explain. The Thronos patch up those tears as fast as they can.”

  Anxiously, I said, “You guys don’t have wolves.”

  “We don’t want to; they aren’t friendly creatures. This isn’t where they are supposed to be. They’re drawn to wrongness, so they gravitate to Rippers.”r />
  The speed limit on this road was forty-five, but he was going much faster. “Adriel, what’s going to happen?”

  “I’m taking you to the Kreelings in case we’re being followed. They can hide you. And then I’ve got to call home and warn the others. Fallen angels can’t be killed, but they can be bound. If these ones give chase, we’ll have to go after them. But first you have to be out of the way.”

  When we got to Sutter, he drove so fast around the curves that my stomach roiled. I stared steadily into the distance to quell it. This wasn’t the time to get carsick.

  A streak of dark gray smoke shot through the sky. Adriel and I saw it at the same moment. Yanking over into the next rest area as the smoke veered in our direction, he slammed on the brakes. The car spun in a half circle, with gravel flying everywhere and the brakes screaming. Then we were facing back the way we had come. Throwing open his door, Adriel said, “Get out!”

  “What?”

  “Get out!” he yelled. I got out of the car.

  Fire burst over the road. It was the same muddy blue and yellow of Japheem’s sword, crackling up to filthy tips and evanescing. I jumped back at the second streak of it, which hit the gravel and flared out into a wall reaching six feet high. Adriel grabbed my hand and we ran right for the edge of the cliff. A third fireball shot for the car. The last thing I wanted to do was jump off into the nothingness below, but I did as the car exploded.

  The shock wave hit us. Adriel folded me into his arms in our spiraling down, and then leveled with the ground to zigzag among the trees. Wings pulled in close around my body as he flew between two trees growing closely together. I fought to maintain my whole mind, that faint yet beautiful music lulling me to peace.

  Flame roared up from the earth, setting trees ablaze and blackening them to ash before the fire could spread. The floor tilted and pushed us upward to avoid being caught in it. We were moving so fast that the trees blurred to green smears. Shooting through the canopy, Adriel’s wings darkened. More fire raced down from the clouds, and we pierced through the trees once more to race along. Flames appeared all around us.

  Oh God, I was going to die. Not off the cliff but burned alive. A sudden cold filled me as a blaze passed too closely and set some of Adriel’s feathers alight. Going into a spiral, he flew faster and faster to extinguish them.

  With a jolt, we were standing in the parking lot of a seedy theater. Trashcans tipped over behind us with a crash. Adriel was walking swiftly and pulling me along, his wings gone. I struggled to keep up with his long strides. Part of his face was burned, from the temple down to his right cheek. “Adriel, you’re hurt-”

  “Walk,” he ordered. We made it to the sidewalk and turned left. People were strolling across the street to an equally seedy hotel, one pushing a cart full of trash and others laughing rowdily. Cars went by in both lanes. When we got to the end of the block, Adriel didn’t wait for the walk signal to flash. Darting across since no one was coming, we jumped up on the opposite curb and kept going. No one gave a second glance to his torn shirt.

  Dark smoke raced overhead, dipping in and out of the clouds. Then a second and third streak appeared. It looked like they were searching from the loops they made. Chilled to see them, I whispered, “Would they actually start a firefight here on the road?”

  “They’re Rippers,” Adriel said tightly. “We’re supposed to be discreet about our existence or risk punishment. But I don’t know how much they care.”

  We were going so fast that I had to stop talking. One of the three streaks of smoke shot to earth. I peered down the driveway to a store across the street and saw a figure form there. It was Makala. A truck passed down the road between us, and as it did Adriel pulled me into Botanic Wonderments.

  The same woman from the first time I had been here was behind the counter. Canvassing my mind for her name, I was relieved when it came forth. Neala. She was the only one in the store. Adriel aimed for the counter and she looked up from a magazine. “Hi, Jessa! It’s good to see you again. How can I-”

  “Hide her and call the Kreelings. It’s an emergency,” Adriel burst. He thrust me at the counter, which I circled and ducked behind. He went to the window to look out.

  Dialing rapidly, Neala paused while it rang and then spoke into the receiver. “Radeo? Radeo, it’s Neala. I have a situation at the store. Yes, it’s Jessa Bright. She just came in with one of the Graystones . . .”

  “Adriel? What’s going on?” I called.

  “They’re out there, Makala and Japheem.” Adriel had one finger raising the curtain. “Both are looking up and down the sidewalk on the opposite side. Stay back there.”

  The phone clicked down. Neala said, “Radeo and Silea are coming here. Collan and Evanyi are tracking the skies.”

  “What are they doing now?” I asked.

  “Japheem is still on the sidewalk,” Adriel replied. “Makala is looking into stores, but she’s going in the other direction.” He let the curtain fall suddenly. “Shh.”

  From my hiding place, I saw Barasho walking down the sidewalk on our side of the street. He looked through the windows to the store and I retreated further behind the counter. Adriel pressed himself against the wall. Returning to her magazine to look casual, Neala turned a page. I didn’t know if Neala was human or a zombie, and if she was the latter, how far away a fallen angel could sense it. Breathing deeply, I picked up on the earth scent I associated with Zakia. She was one, just like him. It was only a hunch, but I was sure that I was right.

  A shadow fell over the counter. Neala hooked her dark hair behind her ear and continued to read like she hadn’t noticed. Then it passed and she muttered, “He’s gone.”

  “The back room,” Adriel said. The two of us rushed back there. He went straight to the phone and made a call while I headed for the sink. “Drina, Jessa and I just ran into a pack of Rippers in Seataw . . . we’re in Botanic Wonderments. I’m going to lure them away . . . okay.” He hung up.

  “You can’t leave me here!” I exclaimed. Having dampened a paper towel, I brought it to the desk and pressed it to his burn.

  “They’ll think you’re with me,” Adriel said. He put his hand over mine. “Stay here. Be careful of Neala.”

  “She’s like Z-”

  “Yes. The Kreelings will get you into hiding until this is over.”

  The front door opened. Very loudly, Neala said, “Hello! How can I help you?”

  Adriel and I froze at the desk, hearing the warning. A man whose voice I didn’t recognize said, “Hi, I’m just looking for my friends! Have you seen them? One’s a girl about this high with long brown hair, and the other is a guy with blond hair. They’re both in jeans and about seventeen, eighteen years old.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I haven’t seen them,” Neala said. “Would you like to try one of our free samples of shampoo?”

  “Oh, no thanks,” the man said. The door opened and closed. Then it was quiet in the store. Adriel rose from the desk and peeked out to the main floor.

  “He’s human,” Adriel said. “That must be one of their acquisitions. And here’s Silea.” The door was opening again.

  Silea came to the back room and looked us over. Her blonde hair was pulled in a tight ponytail, and around her waist was a belt laden with weapons and other objects. “Are you hurt, Jessa?”

  “I’m not. He is,” I said.

  “I’ll go out the back door and fly off fast so you can take her out the front to your car,” Adriel said to Silea.

  “How many are there?” she asked briskly. I didn’t feel very confident about going off with her, considering she was human and younger than I was. All the martial arts training and experience in the world couldn’t compete with wings and swords made of fire.

  “We aren’t sure how many,” Adriel said. “Five perhaps, although I think one of the five is actually that human man who was just in here. Jessa, the names?”

  “Barasho, Makala, Japheem, and a blonde girl whose name I never heard,” I sa
id. “Adriel-”

  “Japheem,” Silea said keenly. “Does he have strange eyes?”

  “Yes.”

  “We know of him.” Removing a walkie-talkie from her belt, Silea said, “The Graystone is going out the back. Hold fire. One to four may follow him.”

  “Copy,” a voice crackled. Adriel walked to the back door.

  “Don’t go! They’ll hurt you!” I pleaded.

  His sea blue eyes were full of grim purpose. “I can’t die, Jessa, but you can. Silea will take care of you.”

  I didn’t want this veritable stranger to take care of me. Helplessly, I watched as he went out the door. It closed on his darkened angelic form streaking up into the sky. Silea looked out to the main part of the store and said, “Hurry.”

  Neala was stationed at the window, searching the people on the sidewalks and checking the sky. “No one is in sight.” We rushed past her and outside to a black van without windows in the back. The door slid open and a man with hair nearly as platinum as Silea’s gestured to me impatiently. I climbed inside and looked around for a seat, but there weren’t any. The door rattled shut behind Silea and the man climbed to the front. I sat directly on the floor. The engine turned on with a silent purr that vibrated under my legs. Attached to the interior walls of the van were racks of weapons.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “We’re going to put you in the bunker,” Silea said. She was no angel, but she read my reluctance easily. Scrutinizing me with intensity, she added, “There is no choice. You are in extreme danger, especially if that is the Japheem we know. You do not want to be one of his mortal women-”

  “We’ve got a tagalong,” the man interrupted.

  Cutting herself off, Silea forced her way past me to the racks. She unsnapped the latches holding down a rifle, which she cracked open and loaded with a strange golden bullet. When the van went over a bump, a second bullet fell from her fingers. I picked it up, feeling not the smoothness of a bullet but a coarse surface. I brought it closer to my eyes. Thousands of little gold links were wrapped tightly into a bullet’s shape. “What are these?”