Angel Fire (29 page)

Seb went silent, his hazel eyes thoughtful as he smoked. “I understand,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

For some reason, the two-by-two thing flickered into Alex’s head again; he shoved it away with a mental grimace. “I’d like you to start training her tomorrow,” he said. “The sooner she can learn to hide her aura, the better.”

“I agree; it’s no good that she doesn’t know how.” Seb studied him. “Seriously, man, how do you even sleep at night, knowing she’s so exposed all the time?”

“She’s not
that
exposed – I’d die before I ever let anything hurt her, either,” said Alex dryly. “But yeah, it’s not easy sometimes.”

“I believe you,” said Seb. “Because I won’t be sleeping well now myself, until she learns.” His cigarette was almost gone by then; he took a final puff, seeming to savour it.

It was childish, but Alex couldn’t resist: “Oh, and she hates cigarette smoke, by the way.”

The look Seb shot him was now definitely amused. Breathing out a last plume of smoke, he twisted the butt out on the metal railing. “You know what? I had a feeling she did. Good thing I just quit, isn’t it?”

Alex could tell he was serious. “So, that would be because you’re not after her in the slightest.”

Seb shrugged as he propped himself back against the door jamb. “It would be because I’ve just found the girl I’ve been looking for my entire life, and she hates cigarette smoke. It’s not exactly a complicated decision.”

The girl I’ve been looking for my entire life
. Alex resisted the urge to throw Seb off the balcony and see if he could fly. “Here’s a tip: you might as well keep smoking. Have four packs a day; knock yourself out. Nothing’s going to happen between you and Willow. Or haven’t you got that yet?”

Seb stood with his hands in his jeans pockets; a breeze ruffled one of his loose brown curls. He shrugged. “Yeah, that must be the only reason I want to stick around – because I think she’s going to fall into my arms tomorrow. You know what, you’re right. Now that I’ve met another half-angel, why don’t I just leave? Willow won’t care. Neither will I.”

Alex had a feeling that Willow
would
care – a lot, actually. God, why had he even suggested letting this guy stay? But he knew why, and it was still the most important thing, bar none.

“Don’t go anywhere until you teach her how to change her aura,” he said. “After that, I’ll help you pack. Anyway, back to business. Have the guys helped you figure out where you’re sleeping?”

Seb looked unsurprised at the change of subject. “Yeah, they said they could put a camp bed in the dorm for me. It looks pretty crowded in there already, though. Plus I don’t think anyone likes the idea very much, you know?”

Alex didn’t like the idea either; Willow was self-conscious enough already about being in his room, without him wanting Seb out there in the dorm too. “You can take one of the storage rooms,” he said. “It’ll be pretty cramped, but if we pile some boxes up, we could probably just about squeeze a camp bed in.”

“Sounds good. I’d like that better, anyway,” said Seb. And apparently with that, he considered the conversation closed. He bent to snag his knapsack from the floor; swung it over his shoulder in an easy motion.

Seeing Seb’s knapsack reminded Alex of something. “Hey, have you still got Willow’s picture?” he asked. “The one of her when she was a little girl? Because I think she’d really like it back, you know. It means a lot to her.”

Seb regarded him; suddenly his eyes were almost impish with humour. “Don’t worry – I’ll keep it safe, and give it back to her soon. But for now—” He shrugged, smiled. “Hey, you’ve got the girl, I’ve got the picture. That’s fair, right?”

As Seb walked off, Alex was tempted to yank him back by the strap of his battered knapsack and take out Willow’s picture himself. Thinking about what he’d told Kara, Alex knew that it was true – he was certain the team could trust Seb; Willow’s psychic insights were never wrong about that kind of thing.

Whether he’d ever
like
the guy was a totally different matter.

I helped Liz with dinner that night, though things had gone pretty stiff between us. Not that we’d ever become bosom friends, but we’d at least started talking a tiny bit when we cooked together. Now her mouth was a thin line as she made the salad, and I knew it was because of Seb. When we’d first gotten back to the house, Alex had told everyone what had happened, his tone as matter-of-fact as if this kind of thing occurred every day. Even so, the team had been...surprised to have another half-angel suddenly appear. To put it mildly. That, plus the Council arriving early, had put everyone seriously on edge.

I set the table in silence. My own thoughts were still way too confused to try to alleviate whatever was going on in Liz’s head.

We both looked up as the door opened and Kara rushed into the kitchen. “Where’s Alex?” she said, yanking off her jacket. Without waiting for an answer, she called out towards the boys’ dorm, “Alex! Alex, we’ve got to talk!”

“What’s going on
now
?” asked Liz, wide-eyed.

“Luis is gone,” said Kara tightly. She paced the kitchen. “Totally gone; no sign of him. I went to his apartment and it’s just abandoned, like—” Alex came in, and she whirled towards him. “Alex! Luis is—”

“I heard,” he said tightly.

The others started arriving behind him as Kara explained. “He was visiting his family this weekend, but he was supposed to be home by now; I already had a date with him tonight,” she said, her words tumbling over themselves. “But there wasn’t any answer, so I let myself in, and...he’s just gone. I mean, his bag’s there, so he got home all right, but it’s still unpacked. There was a half-eaten sandwich on the table, and a cold cup of coffee...” She trailed off.

I bit my lip and glanced at Alex; he was standing behind one of the kitchen chairs, leaning on its back with both arms. “You didn’t try to call him, did you?” he asked sharply.

Kara shook her head. “No, and I didn’t touch anything in his apartment either – just got out of there as fast as I could.” She took a deep breath. “Plus the Council’s not staying at the Nikko Hotel – I headed over there and couldn’t feel any sign of them. So then I went to the Torre Mayor, but to get past the lobby you have to have a pass for the card reader. I don’t know if the angels are still there or not – they’re really high up if they are; I couldn’t tell.”

There was a long pause as we all took this in. “So. Looks like the Church must have gotten wind of your boyfriend giving out security information,” said Alex wryly.

“Less of the boyfriend, please...but yeah.” Kara looked more shaken than I’d ever seen her.

“Okay, this is not good, this is officially really, really not good,” muttered Brendan, scraping at his rust-coloured hair.

For a change, Sam didn’t argue with him. Neither did anyone else. Wesley was glowering even more than usual; Trish and Liz looked as pale and stricken as I felt. At least Kara had never given Luis any information about us – though I felt guilty even thinking that, just then.

“So...I guess the same invitations for the reception won’t be any good now,” said Trish faintly.

“No way,” said Alex. I could hear the strain in his voice, though I doubted anyone else could. “Basically, we don’t have a plan any more – we’re back to square one.”

“Wait – what does
that
mean?” demanded Wesley. He hardly ever spoke with more than a few people around; now his fists were clenched at his sides. “Are you saying the attack can’t go ahead? Because there is
no way
that—”

“Of course I’m not saying that,” cut in Alex in a low voice. “This is the only chance we’re going to have at the Council. We’ll find a way to get to them, no matter what.”

I swallowed hard, but knew he was right. Everyone glanced at each other. Three weeks – that was all we had now.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find out what’s going on.” Kara’s voice was matter-of-fact again, back in control. “What do you want me to do? Should I go over to the cathedral tomorrow, see if I can get any information? Any change to the Council’s visit was sure to have been organized by someone in the office there – they’ve been coordinating everything.”

Alex nodded, looking deep in thought. “Yeah, good idea – we need anything you can get. Won’t they recognize you, though?”

“No, I don’t think so. I usually met Luis at his place. He didn’t have my cell number or anything.” She managed a small smile. “I was a woman of mystery.”

I watched Alex’s eyes scan over her. “Can you get hold of a wig or something, just in case? If the angels have him, they’ll see you in his memories. And you’re pretty distinctive.”

Another time, I knew Kara would have bantered with Alex over this; now she just nodded. “I’ll get one tomorrow. See what I can do with some make-up too.”

“Good,” said Alex. “And I’ll do some checking around myself. Plus keep training these guys – maybe take them on another practice hunt.”

Sam was shaking his head. “Yeah, but what about—”

He broke off as Seb came into the kitchen, looking like he’d just taken a shower – his chestnut curls were damp, shoved away from his face as if he’d raked his fingers through them. When I saw him, something in me tightened...because I realized that the whole time we’d been talking, part of me had been thinking about Seb, wondering where he was.

Silence choked the room. Seb obviously noticed, and knew it was because of him. His eyes found mine and he smiled slightly. Despite my discomfort, I gave him a rueful one back; I knew exactly how he must be feeling. The team’s stony faces were bringing back some not-so-pleasant sensations of déjà vu. Clearly I
had
made a little progress with them, even if I hadn’t been all that aware of it – because now Seb was here, it was obvious that was something else that was back to square one.

Alex sighed. “Hey, Seb,” he said, and I wanted to hug him just for managing to sound normal. “We were talking about something that’s come up; I’ll fill you in after dinner. You finding everything all right?”

Seb’s eyebrows rose at “something that’s come up”, but he didn’t comment. “Yes, fine, thanks.”

As we all started sitting down to eat, Seb took the seat next to me – the place where Alex always sat. Obviously he didn’t
know
that, but I could see everyone sort of glancing at Alex, to see what he would do. As if there was some sort of competition going on.

My face went hot, and I cleared my throat. “Um, Seb, that’s—”

“It’s okay,” said Alex briefly. He took the seat to my other side, the one where Trish usually went, and Trish squeezed in next to Wesley, where I’d put an extra chair. I saw Seb get what had happened then; he looked like he was holding back a smile despite himself.

Hardly anyone spoke. The clink of knives and forks against plates sounded deafening. My own awkwardness around Seb wasn’t helping much either, to be honest...and I was feeling a lot of it.

When Seb and I had been talking on the balcony earlier, there’d been so much to say that we’d just kind of skirted around the edges of it all, with the unspoken understanding that as soon as we could, we’d be sitting down for a long talk. I wanted that desperately. There was so much I needed to know: to ask if what I’d been experiencing with my angel was normal; to find out more about his life; to compare a thousand and one experiences and see if things had been the same for him.

But as we’d been talking, I’d also been scalp-tinglingly
aware
of Seb, even standing several feet away from me. It wasn’t because of how attractive he was – and he really was gorgeous; you’d have to be unconscious not to notice – it was just...him. His energy, so like my own. The memory of our hands together; how that had felt. It had been a huge relief when Alex had shown up and I could make my escape.

You don’t even know him,
I told myself.

Except that wasn’t true. I did know Seb. Maybe not all the details of his life yet, but the kind of person he was, yes. And now I could feel him sitting beside me. Not only his physical presence, but his energy. We were close enough that our two auras were touching, and though I never really noticed this with Alex unless I concentrated, with Seb it was like I’d just gained an extra sense – one that tingled through me like electricity. His aura was so alive, so buoyant. I could feel it drifting through my own, just like mine was drifting through his. Intermingling. Exploring.

My cheeks heated. Abruptly, I tried to bring my aura back to myself but we couldn’t avoid each other – we were sitting too close. I felt Seb notice; try and fail to pull his own aura completely away. Now there was a sense of gentle, teasing apology where his aura mingled with mine, and I gritted my teeth. Wonderful. I was inadvertently playing aura-footsie with him.

And meanwhile, the silence had not become any less deafening.

“Okay, come on everyone, this is stupid,” said Alex finally. “He’s a member of the team. We can trust him. Just...act normal, all right? Please, for the love of god, before my brain starts to bleed.”

For a moment no one spoke. Finally Kara said, “So, Willow, maybe you could tell us more about what you saw today, when the Council arrived.”

Relieved, I started to answer – but before I could, Sam jumped in. “No, wait,” he growled, tossing his fork down with a clatter. “Alex, I want to know how it is you’re so sure we can trust this guy. At least with Willow, we all saw her angel defending Liz. Who
is
he, anyway? He’s just appeared out of nowhere, and now he’s on the team?”

Seb glanced at him. “I’m Sebastián Carrera,” he said, cutting a piece of his pork chop. “I’m not from nowhere; I’m from right here, Mexico City. And if I say I’ll help you fight, I’ll help you fight.”

“Willow’s read his hand,” added Alex as Sam opened his mouth to respond. “We can trust him.”

“Got it,” said Sam, giving me a look that wasn’t massively friendly. “So I guess that’s why she was holding hands with him when they went running off together this afternoon, right? ’Cause she was giving him a reading on the hoof?”

My face went bright red as everyone stared. “Oh,
that
sounds nice and cosy,” muttered Liz. Trish gazed down at her plate, obviously hating the tension.