Surprise crossed her face. She was beautiful, as beautiful as Kayla, and I didn’t think guys, like never, ever rejected her. But she was out of her mind. That guy Pazuzu just practically told everyone he was my enemy, and her boyfriend’s entourage had tried to kick my ass the other day. But I saw something in her eyes, something like amusement—or maybe hope that I wasn’t actually as stupid as I looked.
“If you change your mind,” she said with a snarky grin that was very similar to George’s, and handed me an envelope. “See you around,” she said, and then disappeared down a tunnel.
Once again, there were still so many questions left unanswered.
Who interfered with my test, and why would they care?
Why did it feel like I was caught in another game I knew nothing about?
Who was Rene?
Why did the world seem intent on blowing up on me?
So many questions, not enough answers—but I guessed I would find out soon enough.
Chapter 19 – Pazuzu
“Why are you hiding, Matthew?” the man on the golden throne asked, his face as black as night against the red stone, his voice familiar, velvet on a sledgehammer.
“I’m not hiding.” I dripped with perspiration, the heat of the molten rock below suffocating, the sulfurous fumes choking. I was surprised that I could feel the heat, smell the rotten-egg stench below me. I wasn’t supposed to, not in a dream, at least not in any dream I’d had before. “Rene told me this place is dangerous.”
“It is dangerous, but they are preventing you from becoming what you are.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Pazuzu plays his role. Even now, he gathers strength to thwart you. You must confront him if you are to survive.” The shadow nodded and images raced through my mind.
Large vessels descending from the skies, cities on fire, screaming children clutched in lifeless arms: each image was more horrible than the next. Rene with wings of plasma, fighting off attacking ships of crystal and light, his body ravaged by wounds, his face ragged and grim. Aunt Emily below, a coronal glow, protecting the mansion, but failing. The vineyard on fire, the wrought-iron gateway cracked and broken as Ms. Maggie held Kayla in her arms, shaking her head, a lone tear falling from her face.
George fallen: dead eyes staring into the abyss.
I woke back in the throne room of molten rock, shaken and confused. “Is any of this true?”
“It is a possibility. One of many.”
“But how did we get there?”
“You failed.”
“How can I fail if I don’t even know what’s going on?”
“If you are to lead, you must not hide…”
The voice faded. Tendrils of sleep slipped away.
I woke to the sound of someone at the door.
“Eh, Dirtbag! You awake?” George yelled. I shook away the cobwebs, waking to the half-light of late twilight.
“Yeah, yeah! Hold up, will you?” The memory of George’s lifeless eyes was still in my mind.
The dream was so real, so very real.
Seeing George’s grin when I opened the door was unsettling. It was like seeing a ghost. The dog walked in closely behind, looked around, gave the room a few sniffs, and lay down in the corner.
“What you doing? Gonna sleep your whole life away?”
In actuality, I was still exhausted, but the dream had me so disturbed, I didn’t know what to think.
As I started to move, my ribs screamed in protest. I pulled up my shirt; uncovering dark bruises on my left side. I guess I must have aggravated Tuli’s handiwork in the test this morning.
“Looks good, Matty-Boy. Makes you tougher,” George laughed. I guess there would be no sympathy from him.
“Yeah. So why didn’t it work for you?”
“Funny, so what are we up to tonight?” George asked.
I measured him to see how much of my dream I should tell him. I didn’t know if he would think I was nuts and not come with me. But after what I’d seen, I didn’t have a choice. I needed to see what was going on. I needed to see who was trying to kill me, and I needed to stop those visions from coming true.
The memory of Dominick hovered in my mind. I owed somebody for what had happened to him. Maya’s party might be my chance to find out more. I needed answers, and I knew Rene and Aunt Emily were keeping too much from me. But that Ricco guy was bad news and I wondered if this girl was bad news as well.
“We’re going to a party,” I said, holding up the invitation Maya had given me.
“What? You mean at Devon Pazuzu’s? Are you crazy?”
“Yeah, I don’t know. But I’ve seen something. I’ve seen a future where the world comes to an end.”
“You’re seeing Timelines?” George asked.
“What?”
“Did you have a vision of the future, Matthew?” He called me Matthew. George never called me Matthew, and that scared me.
“No. I had a dream of someone showing me these visions.”
“Matty-boy. That is not good, man. Someone’s in your head.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not asking you to go with me, but I need to be at that party. Somehow, I know that whatever all of this is, it starts tonight.”
George stared at me like I was insane. He sighed, a deep breath. “Well, Matt. I guess this is where I either prove that I am a true believer or not. Let me get my stuff and let’s go.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, right. You owe me after this, bro. For the record, this is a really bad idea.”
“For the record, I think you’re right.”
I made my way to the bathroom. My pendant with its diamond setting glowed oddly with an inner fire I hadn’t noticed before, and I took a minute to admire it. I came out of the bathroom and Bailey stared at me with wide eyes. I’d forgotten it was even there.
“You know, you shouldn’t be going, kid,” it said.
I jumped out of my skin and nearly fell over the bed as I stumbled away from it.
“You talk?”
“Of course I talk. Don’t you?”
“Uh well, yeah. But I’m human. You know: a person. I’m supposed to talk.”
“Well, that’s just xeno-profiling and I resent it,” the dog said as he stood up and pattered out.
“You ready?” George asked, poking his head through the door. I ran to the doorway and pushed past him, watching Bailey clomp down the stairs in a huff. I looked at George but decided not to ask.
What would I say? Did you know the dog talks? He would probably say, Of course. You should hear his singing voice! Bigfoot, talking dogs, and Gallu demons… what the hell else was going to happen? Never mind I asked. I really didn’t want to know.
I shook my head and threw on a jacket.
“Let’s go.”
We crept out the back door as Ms. Maggie was having an argument with some show on the small TV in the kitchen.
Aunt Emily was nowhere around, but I could hear the patter of Bailey’s feet. I waved frantically to George, the universal sign for let’s get the hell out of here. George opened the door and we ran through. He was an expert at these get-aways, as his parents were always on him. Now I understood better why.
We quietly but quickly made our way down the darkened driveway. The air was cool but inviting, just the type of night to get into all sorts of trouble.
“You sure about this?” George asked.
“No, but it’s something I have to do,” I answered.
“Okay. They said it’s at the biggest house in the valley and it’ll be all lit up.”
We came to the wrought-iron gate and made our way down the long road.
“I wonder if Kayla’s there?” The vision of her lifeless in Ms. Maggie’s arms ran through my mind.
“You got a thing for her, huh?” George asked. I didn’t answer. “K, dude. You got call on that, but next hottie is mine.”
“Eh! Look, there it is!” He pointed to a house with lights so bright, the who
le mountainside looked like a carnival. There was no doubt that was where the party was.
We walked the mile and a half it took to get to a winding driveway and faced a large man in a black tuxedo standing at the gate.
“You’re sure about this?” George asked.
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” George said and walked right past the security guard, but the guard stuck out a giant hand and grabbed him by the back of the neck, sniffing at him unpleasantly.
“Where do you think you’re going? Your Kind isn’t allowed in here.”
“To the party. Where else, dude?” George asked as he wriggled in the guard’s grasp.
“We’ve been invited.” I stepped forward and shoved the invitation in his face.
He examined the thick invitation paper as more guards came up. It looked like he was just about to throw us out on our ass when a huge black BMW pulled up behind us.
“Matthew!” Maya poked her head out the rear window. “I’m glad you came. What’s going on?”
“This guy won’t let us in,” I answered.
Maya called out to the guard, “Hey, Burt. They’re with me.”
“You hear that, Burt! We’re with her,” George said just before ducking into the interior of the car. I followed. Another big guy was behind the steering wheel. Did they have some kind of special on burly security guards at the local thrift shop or something because they were crawling all over the place.
Maya moved over, leaving room for us in the backseat. She wore a very short black dress that left her shoulders uncovered, revealing the intricate tattoos I saw earlier. They ran all the way down her back.
George stared at Maya until he finally asked, “Do those tattoos go all the way down? Because I’d like to see how far down they go.”
Maya hit him, the sound like bamboo snapping against hardwood.
“Ow!” George exclaimed, and I laughed.
“Hey, big boy, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Say that again and I’ll hit you somewhere that’ll make you hit the ground hard.” Poison was in her voice.
“Uh, yeah! Got it,” George replied, rubbing his shoulder.
“Big, tough Malakhim. A good smack from a girl and you’re all talk,” I teased.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
The resemblance to Kayla was unsettling. I stared at her as George rubbed his shoulder.
I was about to ask when Maya said, “Yeah, she’s my sister.” She squirmed a little in her seat. “We’re twins.” I knew I didn’t say anything, but somehow she knew what I was thinking.
“Are you in training like your sister?” I asked, wondering if Maya was also an Empath.
“No.” She stared out the window.
“Why not?” George asked.
“Why? Are you writing a book?”
“No, but what I want to know is why are you hanging out with the Shed’im?” George asked. He stared at her, daring her not to answer. “Like, are you setting us up?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Well, explain what it’s like?” George said.
“Listen, your friend failed the Test. You know what they do to failures,” she answered, glaring at George. George glanced at me.
“Yeah, well, that has to be worked out. Rene will take care of it,” George said and for the first time, I saw something in George’s eyes. Something that made me think his belief was becoming ragged and frayed. I didn’t know what a Believer was, but I did know that George was my friend.
“That’s what my parents told me, too,” Maya said.
“You took the Test and failed?” I asked.
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal.” Maya’s face was contorted, angry. “After that happened, my parents said it was stupid for me to be here, that I should leave. I wasn’t ready to go back home yet. Then Ricco found me. He took me in. When everyone else turned their back on me, Ricco was nice. He helped me to understand the way things really work. He can help you too, Matthew.”
“How? By trying to beat us up?” George asked.
“You don’t understand. Ricco, he hates the Malakhim more than anyone you could ever meet. They ruined him. His Malakhim family disowned him because he failed his Test. Now he hates them, and he shares the truth.”
“What truth?” I asked.
“That the Malakhim are just pawns in a game they don’t understand.”
“Are you trying to tell me that all my training is for nothing?” George glared at her.
“What I am saying is that when it comes to the Malakhim or the Shed’im, think about everything you know. Do you know which side is fueling this War? How many families have to be torn apart because of a stupid test?”
George glared at her, but his eyes softened and lowered. A deep breath escaped him and Maya stared.
“Someone in your family failed the test, too?” Maya asked George.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“A brother?” Maya asked.
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
From somewhere, a vision of George and Tuli flashed through my mind. Their eyes, they had the same eyes, and somehow I knew Tuli was George’s brother. That’s why he never hassled me when I was around George. It had nothing to do with me. It was because he knew he would have to fight, and maybe kill, his brother in order to get to me.
“Oh my God. Tuli?” I asked. George flinched. “Tuli’s your brother?”
George sighed, long and deep. His eyes closed. When he opened them, tears fell down his cheek.
“My oldest. He failed the test and ran away before they could take his memories. My parents tried their best to get him back, but he refused, insisted on living in the Projects. They loved him, but he failed the test and would be purged. My parents are dedicated Malakhim and would never disobey the council. Tuli enjoyed the training, maybe more than anything else, and hated them for casting him out. He joined and became the worst of the Shed’im. I guess they took advantage.”
Maya put a hand on his shoulder and he let it lie there. I studied them both. When Maya noticed my attention, she moved her hand back onto her lap.
“So Ricco’s here?” I asked.
“He should be. It’s his house,” Maya said.
“He lives with Pazuzu?”
“He’s sort of adopted, so yeah,” she answered.
The car rolled up the hillside until it came up to the front of the huge mansion we had seen in the distance.
To the right was a small outbuilding with barrels. To the left, brightly colored planters.
We got out of the car and made our way to a set of gigantic wood doors that looked like they could keep out the devil himself. With the number of guards in black tuxedoes standing around, maybe that was exactly who they were expecting.
We made our way past statues of carven images depicting creatures with bulging eyes and snarling faces sitting in alcoves on both sides of the walkway. Some had the heads of birds, sharp claws, and wings on their backs; others had cat-like faces. It was a menagerie out of a nightmare and the grotesque sculptures stared out from the alcoves as if they would leap out and attack at any second.
We passed through to a palatial courtyard, toward a terrace absolutely packed with dancers. Pulsing lights were strung overhead like sparkling stars. I watched spellbound as girls gyrated with the thumping music.
I stared, and as I stared, I noticed that something was wrong. The dancers’ backs twisted just a little more than a human’s should, their smiles were just a little too wide, and their canines were a little too long. Worst of all, my pendant glowed faintly, allowing me to see something writhing beneath the surface of their skin, urging to get out, to break free, just as I had seen with Tuli.
“I’ll see you guys later,” Maya said, her brisk steps taking her to a group of kids on the far side of the dance floor.
“George, there’s something wrong with those people,” I yelled, trying to be heard over the music.
“Yeah, I
know. It’s not my place to alter the course of the Maschiach, but dude! I told you this was really a bad idea. “You wanted answers. Here they come,” George said.
Ricco and the guys from the park headed our way. Maya stood behind them. Instinctively, George’s hands went to his Kindjals.
“Well, look at what we have here,” Ricco said. “You were stupid to come. Malakhim, always thinking you’re so invincible.”
“You said that I should invite them, Ricco. What are you doing?” Maya asked.
“Get her out of here.”
“You said you’d be able to save him,” Maya screeched as she was lifted and carried into the house by two of the brutes. “You asshole,” she yelled. Maya must have just realized just what she had gotten us into although it didn’t matter. She didn’t know that I wanted to be here, needed to be here.
“Listen, all I want are some answers,” I told Ricco.
Now that we were up close and personal, I realized he had the face of a prince. Charismatic, charming, the face anyone could love, a face that could be forgiven a million sins. Now I understood why Maya was so taken by him.
“You’re a fool.”
“Umm, Matt,” George said as the rest of the goons spread out around us, cutting us off from any escape. George wasn’t a coward, but right now, he was on enemy terrain, facing long odds. But I knew in that instant exactly why I was sent into the fire. It was the crucible, and I was to prove that I was either worthy or not. My fate was being laid out right here and right now.
I didn’t know how I knew this, but I did.
“Look, I didn’t come here looking for trouble.”
“Guess what, bright boy! Trouble is looking for you.” Ricco nodded.
Immediately, one of the linebacker-types charged us. My pendant flared to life and red fire exploded, pushing me over him. George had his Kindjals out and the familiar blue light mixed with my red fire.
Two more of the linebacker corps came at us and George’s Kindjals swept through the air with liquid grace, catching one on an arm and another just below the chin. He must have been using the bat version of his blades because there was only the thud of flesh being pounded on, not the spray of blood. Another goon attacked him and he half-somersaulted, half-twisted over the giant. George kicked him, sending him crashing into a table.
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