“I can write off the bog,” said Hughes.
“He watched over me out of guilt. Because he couldn’t save my mother.”
Aaron put a hand on her shoulder. In the span of a second and a half, he thought of and discarded a handful of things to say, all sounding horrible in his head.
Anna sniffled and stared up at him with red-ringed eyes. Archon made him afraid of me, didn’t he?
“Cut all ties.” Aaron patted her on the back. “He wanted you for himself.”
30
Exiled Again
Althea
Ripples of blurry air surrounded Kate; the heat wafting from her body made Althea lean away, clinging to Shepherd’s side. She glared at Hector with a mixture of rage and pity. The man had caused all this death, and once again threatened Karina, but she did not want him to die. His friends’ anger had faded. As soon as her clothing flash burned, Kate had filled them with the same emotion raiders gave off during wifeing.
Hector, on the other hand, couldn’t take his stare away from Althea, enraged to the point he didn’t feel human anymore. She forced calm over him, sapping the hate from his sneer. She had to believe Father had protected Karina. Conflict gripped her heart. In addition to the people around her, at least one more had probably died in Querq. Her hope the assassin who tried to kill Karina had been killed (instead of her sister) made her feel ashamed. She clung to the possibility that Father may have only wounded the man.
“You miss your brother so much, asshole?” Kate hauled her arm back, fireball in hand. “Let me set up a meeting.”
“No!” screamed Althea. “Please don’t! There is too much dying.”
Hector’s friends stared at the fireball, lust withering to fear in an instant. They all made the sign of the cross, dropped their rifles, and ran.
Althea let go of Shepherd and reached for Kate’s arm. She drew back before contact, due to the heat. “Please don’t kill him. That’s what it wants.”
“Sorry, Althea.” Kate narrowed her eyes. “I know you did something to my head. You’re like my daughter, and this son of a bitch tried to kill you. If you hadn’t asked for me to come out here with you”—Kate shuddered, trails of steam wisped from the corners of her eyes—”you’d be dead. Blown to pieces. I’m going to melt this cocksucker’s skin off.”
Althea tamped down Kate’s fury. “I’m sorry. I wanted to protect you from the Sentience.”
“It’s okay.” Kate blinked, looking confused by her sudden calm. “I honestly don’t mind, but this shithead is going to burn.”
Estevez, Garcia, and Hernandez muttered amongst themselves, debating shooting Hector. Garcia held them off since Althea had asked.
“Rachel said some people deserve to die.” She looked up from the ground to Hector. “I don’t think he is evil.”
Nelson groaned and sat up, leaning on the guardrail. He clamped his hand over the bullet wound in his arm. Althea looked at him.
He pointed at the ravine. “I’m okay, Miguel first.”
“He is.” Shepherd’s hand engulfed Althea’s left shoulder. “Look what he did to Miguel, just to draw you out here. Montez is dead. Those men he convinced to help him are dead. He sent another man to murder your sister. That is evil.”
Althea reached across her chest to put her hand on Shepherd’s. “Hector shot Karina once. She almost died. I got angry and hurt him, but it was wrong. Pain does not fix pain.” She looked up at him. “When Karina almost died, I knew how Hector felt about Emilio. I am sad I could not save him, but I didn’t know I could.”
Fire in Kate’s hands fluttered in the stillness.
“Why didn’t you help Emilio?” wailed Hector.
“He was dead, shithead,” screamed Kate.
“So was the ox.” Hector pointed at Shepherd.
“Emilio died when raiders attacked.” Althea stared at the ground, grinding a toe into the dirt. “The Sentience made them go to Querq. He wanted to hurt me. I do not blame Hector for thinking Emilio’s death was my fault. I didn’t know I could bring him back.”
“Not sure you could have,” mumbled Kate. “I think Shep only happened because you considered him a friend and you felt responsible, as if you’d killed him.”
“Only works on family, eh?” Hector twitched and stole a glance at his mangled hand. “I’d love to test that.”
“I wanna help everyone. Bad people wanted to control me.” She stood tall, reining back the water leaking from her eyes. “I won’t let them do it anymore. Hector, you have hate because the Sentience feeds on you. I do not hate you. Please don’t have angry at me.”
Althea looked at the ground. A weak moan emanated from the bottom of the ravine. She gasped and hurried to the edge, gazing down at Miguel. Despite the distance, she felt his life slipping.
“Shep?” asked Kate, letting the fire go out.
“Yeah?”
“Can I borrow your shirt?”
He reached for the flannel’s buttons. “Uhh, sure.”
Hector let off a bellow of anger, tearing a machete from his belt with his left hand and charging. He roared at Althea with the blade over his head. Blood sprayed from the ruin of his right hand as he ducked under hasty shots from the uninjured Watch. Althea whirled to face the oncoming madman, stunned for an instant by the sheer rage in his eyes. A second later, she gathered the presence of mind to focus her power.
“Stop!” she yelled, her eyes flaring bright.
The rush lost speed, but not before Shepherd lunged into a punch, and drove his fist into the skinny man’s sternum. Hector’s feet swept forward off the ground; his shins smacked him in the forehead as he wrapped around the huge arm. The machete slipped from his fingers and sailed past Althea, skittering across the dirt before going over the edge. Hector hit the ground on his back and slid a few meters, wheezing.
“Bastard!” shrieked Kate. “Don’t you touch her!”
Fire streamed from her outstretched hands, covering Hector, who emitted a strained gargle, still breathless from the massive punch. She shrieked in anger, and the burn built into a conflagration ten feet high. Althea clutched her chest as the frigid prickling grasp of a departing life swam over her. Seconds later, Kate relaxed, panting. Only a char mark in the dirt bearing a vague resemblance to a human figure remained of Hector. Even his bones were gone.
“Well damn,” said Shepherd, both eyebrows up.
“She made me feel like her mother. What does she expect me to do when some piece of shit tries to kill her?” Kate slumped forward, hands on her knees and out of breath. “I’m sorry Thea. I know you said you didn’t want him to die. Sometimes you’re just too damn nice for your own good.”
Althea’s lip quivered. She shivered, sniffled, and fought the urge to cry. No one said anything about her shedding tears over someone who had done such awful things, exchanging silent glances instead.
She knew they thought her foolish, but also respected the way she considered all life sacred.
Eyes downcast, she started to turn toward the ravine, but stopped at the appearance of a malignant presence on the road. A shadow exuded from Hector’s ashes, taking on the shape of a decrepit old man in a leather coat and wide brimmed hat.
He smiled a ruin of kelp-colored teeth at her, tipped his hat, and faded away.
31
Down Came the Light
Althea
Cold air blew past, teasing Althea’s hair. She narrowed her eyes at the gale, steeling herself against any potential attack. Nothing happened. Kate slipped into Shepherd’s flannel shirt, which hung down to her knees, her hands hidden in the huge sleeves. Estevez and Hernandez did what they could to prepare Montez’s remains for transport back to Querq.
Althea peered over the edge at Miguel, who’d stopped moving. She gasped; it felt as though his life would slip away at any second.
The rope will take too long. She crept to the edge until her toes curled over the crumbling dirt. My legs will break, but I can mend them. I can’t let him die.
Driven by the need to help Miguel, Althea jumped. Kate’s scream startled a pair of buzzards into the air. She stared at Miguel’s prostrate form approaching fast, eager to get close enough to help him. Althea gathered her power into herself, attempting to strengthen her body for impact. At the same instant, an instinctive urge not to fall came out of nowhere, siphoning off the energy she tried to send into her legs.
A warm feeling washed over her back, and her plummet slowed. Glimmering ribbons of pure white energy burst from her shoulder blades, spreading out seven feet to either side. They took on the general silhouette of wings and, despite being made of light, caught the air like a parachute.
Her feet touched down at Miguel’s side without pain, and she knelt.
“La ángel a venido por mi,” whispered Miguel, as he fainted.
Althea ignored this bizarre new development, paying little attention to the canopy of light shrouding them. She ripped at his shirt until she could get her hands on his skin, and sent a surge of power into his body. First, she commanded his mind to ignore pain.
The life-shapes appeared in the blackness of her closed eyes. Broken bones, burst blobs in the middle, and two cracks along his backbone. She forced him to regrow in places to stop the blood-shape from flowing where it didn’t belong, and tended to the blobs next. Pangs of fatigue clawed at her as she urged things back to the way they should be.
Minutes passed in the silent darkness of shifting red, beige, and black shapes before a crunch of boot on gravel registered in her mind. It sounded miles away, but she knew someone approached close by. She sensed concern and awe.
“Please straighten his legs.”
Miguel moved, though not of his doing. When the legs untwisted from the pose he had landed in, she channeled her power into the bones. She saved the spine for last, urging the delicate tendrils inside out of the way as the cracked ring-like parts mended.
When she could do no more for him, she opened her eyes and slouched, kneeling in the dirt.
Shepherd loomed over her, his bare arms and neck covered in a sheen of sweat and dust, his sleeveless undershirt smeared with dirt. Her ‘wings’ were gone, and she spent a moment staring at the space they had once occupied, frightened and confused by what had happened to her.
“How is he?” asked Shepherd. “Is it safe to move him?”
“He is not hurt, but he will be very hungry.” Althea couldn’t stop from yawning, and her stomach murmured. “And tired.”
Shepherd picked Miguel up as if he were a boy, and draped him over his right shoulder. He scooped Althea to his chest. She threaded her arms around his neck.
“Can you hold on?”
She squeezed herself tight to him. The motion of his ascent all but rocked her to sleep by the time hands slid under her armpits from behind. She looked back at Kate, who peeled her away from Shepherd as Estevez and Hernandez took Miguel so the big man could haul himself up over the edge. The woman radiated guilt, and couldn’t look her in the eye.
“What is wrong?” Althea yawned again.
“I think I know why you’re so… innocent.” Kate dropped to her knees. “I’m sorry I killed him. Please forgive me.”
Althea pulled on Kate’s arm. “Please don’t kneel at me.”
Kate got up.
“Hector had the hate, but not like you did. Your hate came from having the sad. He wanted to be important, to be bigger than others. He would never have stopped trying to hurt people I love. You want to protect me. I… understand. It is like how I had the anger when he shot Karina. I do not have to like that he is dead, but I do not blame you.”
Sensing a hurt, Althea slipped a hand under the borrowed shirt that covered the woman like a dress. Kate’s skin remained hot to the touch, but not painful. Althea concentrated and mended the bruise as well as a crack in her rib.
Kate wheezed.
“What… was that light?” asked Garcia as she wandered over, helping Nelson walk. “Did that just happen?”
“I thought ‘little angel’ was just a metaphor,” rasped Nelson. “Dios mío, somos bendecidos.”
Althea forced a smile. “I don’t know. A man in the bad city called me that too. He thought I was there to take everyone to some place called Heaven and make the world stop.”
Awkward silence. The adults exchanged glances.
“I’m not.” Althea smiled. “I don’t even know what Heaven is.”
Relief spread over the Watch. Kate stared at the ancient paved road, guilt in her eyes. Shepherd gazed into the clouds, as if deep in thought. Althea touched Nelson’s arm by the bullet hole, sensing a tunnel through from one side to the next and a chip displaced from the bone-shape. She mended it and forced his body to generate more blood. After, she knelt by the horse and concentrated until repairing muscles forced the bullet out.
The overjoyed animal stood and nuzzled her.
When she tried to open her eyes, they refused to budge. Her legs went numb and she noticed herself falling only after she collapsed at Shepherd’s feet.
Shepherd picked her up and cradled her. “You need rest.”
He set off toward Querq, carrying her. Her legs dangled over his right elbow, feet flopping about with each stride. She lacked the energy to do much of anything but lay limp in his arms. Kate walked at his left, surrounded by a cloud of regret. Althea peeked up at her, trying to offer a consoling expression. The woman’s emotion deepened. Nelson and Hernandez carried Montez a few meters back, while Garcia led the horse and Estevez lent his shoulder to help Miguel stumble home.
“Guess it wasn’t a dream,” said Shepherd.
“Mmm?” Althea mumbled.
“When you called me back. I saw you with those wings, floating over me. I figured my head was playing games on me.”
“Mmm,” muttered Althea. “Aurora said a part of me is from another place. I don’t know.”
Althea let her head lean against his chest and shut her eyes. In an instant, desolate road became the inside of Querq by the gate. She blinked, realizing she’d fallen asleep. Father pushed past a group of Watch, muttering sharp, rapid commands to people in his way. Karina trailed after him, screaming her name. Her sister radiated fear as soon as she saw Shepherd carrying her.
“What happened?” Father took her hand.
“She is exhausted,” said Shepherd.
“I’m sorry about Montez,” mumbled Althea to the spinning world. “I couldn’t…”
“It was Hector,” said Kate, her guilt swirled into anger. “The bastard had a bomb waiting for her. He almost—”
“Yeah, damn lucky it was a dud,” said Shepherd. “Looked like an old claymore mine, centuries old.”
“Probably repacked with new explosives,” said a man Althea couldn’t place.
“It wasn’t a dud,” whispered Kate. “I uhh… stopped it.”
“No way in hell that thing should’ve been functional,” said Shepherd.
“He wanted it to work,” whispered Althea.
Father plucked her from Shepherd’s arms and squeezed a squeak out of her. “I will kill him.”
“You can’t,” said Althea.
“No, child. He’s gone too far this time. He will answer for what he has done.” Father kissed her atop the head. “Even you cannot give me a reason not to rid this world of his filth.”
“Too late,” mumbled Kate.
Althea’s voice faded to a whisper no one noticed. Her thoughts drifted back to The Many standing on the road, smiling at her as he absorbed Hector’s soul. “He’s not alive.”
Miguel, stuffing his face with empanadas, walked over and patted her on the head. “Bless you, child.” He bowed to Father. “You have a little angel there.”
“Si,” said Father.
“Yeah… we do,” said Kate.
Althea summoned a weak smile, and surrendered to the urge to sleep.
32
Loose Ends
Anna
The image Mamoru had found of her mother lying dead in
the street haunted Anna’s thoughts. In the middle of Orange’s flat, she broke down and sobbed. Aaron pulled her close and held on. Orange shifted uneasily in his chair as if trying to remain between her and his network rig. Hughes meandered to the far end of the apartment with his attention absorbed by his NetMini.
What’s real? I don’t know what’s real anymore.
Her father’s angry glower rose out from the miasma of her daydream. Twinges in her face and arms echoed where his fist had come down.
Daddy, stop! Her twelve-year-old voice screamed in her memory.
When he hit her again, she lashed out. She’d sat on the floor, staring at his corpse for an hour. The police had shown up before she dared to move, and considered her a traumatized witness to a bizarre kitchen mishap. Anna hadn’t lied about being beaten, but she claimed a misaimed punch striking the food assembler had caused his death. Any trace of guilt she projected, she explained away as blaming herself for ducking. If she hadn’t ducked, he’d still be alive. Being tiny got her picked on at school, but it also made the cops trust her. She’d been twelve, but they mistook her for nine.
Old Bill had bought the story.
What else would they have believed?
“What am I?” Anna’s voice emerged on autopilot.
“Alive, and with friends,” whispered Aaron. “Don’t try to make sense of it all at once. Bit by bit.”
The glow from the NetMini ceased painting Agent Hughes’s face bright green, returning his cheeks to pale normality. He pocketed the device and walked over. Anna glanced up at him, feeling foolish for bawling like a schoolgirl in front of three men. Even if she had recently learned she did murder her father.
“I don’t have all the details, but I was able to find some records concerning the initiative that resulted in your birth.” Orange paused for a breath. “Designated Project Seraph, Mi6 experimented on psionics detained in the interests of national security. Genetic material was harvested and matched with an interest in weaponization. The Crown did not so much want to eradicate psionics as they wished to keep them away from the public eye while using them for their own purposes. Seraph was a breeding program intended to create a pool of gifted operatives. Unfortunately, their attempts to engineer a desired ability set in babies failed miserably.”
Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 33