Angel Fire (38 page)

“What are you thinking?” Alex had pulled away slightly, watching me with a considering smile. “You look like you’ve got a million thoughts whirring around in there.” He tapped my brow.

I smiled. “Maybe not quite a million.” I wasn’t about to tell Alex. He was already worried sick about all this; there was no point adding to it until I knew how to disguise my aura at will. I was just glad he wasn’t psychic – he’d have picked up on what I was planning in about two seconds, the same as Seb had. I thought of the steady look that had been in Seb’s eyes, that moment in the basement. We hadn’t discussed the issue out loud yet – it didn’t really feel necessary; we both knew exactly how the other felt.

Without trying, I got a sudden image of him. He was sprawled on his bed reading a book – I could picture him so vividly that I could see the Spanish title on its front cover; the brown hair falling over his forehead in those loose curls that I knew drove him crazy. The image made me smile; he looked so engrossed. I closed it away as quickly as it had come. I don’t know when I’d first realized that I could sense Seb’s whereabouts when he wasn’t around – somehow it just felt natural to know where he was.

Why was I thinking about Seb again? I pushed him away, irritated, and studied Alex’s face in the faint glow of the street lights – its strong, beautiful lines. I kissed his nose. “You have a very nice nose, are you aware of this fact?”

He laughed for the first time in days, warming me like a hot drink on a winter’s evening. “No, I can’t say that I am. I don’t think my nose has ever gotten a compliment before.”

“Poor nose. It deserves lots of compliments.” I kissed it again.

Alex shook his head with a grin. “My nose and I both thank you. Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to distract me? You know, I did actually notice that you didn’t tell me what you were thinking.”

“Maybe that’s because I didn’t want to. Maybe I’m busy having lots of secret, private thoughts.”

“Hmm, very mysterious...” As Alex drew me to him again, a sound came from inside the house, almost like someone shouting.

We glanced at each other, startled, and then it came again and this time there was no doubt. Sam’s voice, bellowing: “Guys! You guys, get in here! Everyone,
now
!”

The TV showed a reporter facing the camera, speaking in rapid Spanish. Behind him was a broad conference table with twelve well-dressed people sitting around it, though you couldn’t really make out their faces. Sam sat hunched on the sofa, his muscular forearms resting on his thighs. “They’re talking about
el Consejo de los Ángeles
,” he said tersely. “That’s the Council, right?”

“Oh my god,” murmured Trish.

No one else said anything. Everyone was there, including Seb, still holding his book: Sam’s shouts had brought us all running. I sank down on the arm of the sofa, staring at the TV. Alex stood next to me, frowning; I was glad to feel the warmth of his arm against mine.

From the doorway, Kara began to translate. “...I was brought to this secret location blindfolded, to maintain the security of the group that claims to be the Seraphic Council – the government of those heavenly beings here on earth. I’m talking now to their spokesperson.”

A woman with intense grey eyes appeared on the screen. A chill went over me. This was actually one of the Twelve: one of the ones we hoped to kill. Yet somehow the features of her face were oddly difficult to grasp hold of; it was like you kept forgetting them every second you looked. In a daze, it struck me that I didn’t know what this angel looked like, even though I was staring right at her.

The angel spoke in apparently flawless Spanish – but her voice had a strange resonance, almost like several people talking at once. My mouth went dry. “We are speaking to the world today because statements have recently been made which are false, and must be corrected,” Kara translated. “This will be our only public statement.”

“Okay, these are some seriously creepy angels,” muttered Brendan. The faces of the others said he’d taken the words right out of their mouths. I reached for Alex’s hand; felt his fingers squeeze around mine.

“We are the angelic ruling body. We want to let the world know that regardless of what you may have heard, things are indeed going to change. We speak for all angelkind – and we are the only angels with the authority to do so.” She paused to let that sink in.

And suddenly I got what this was about. Raziel. He’d appeared on TV and promised nothing would change – as if it were up to him.

The reporter’s face was pale. “What changes can we expect?”

The angel gazed directly at the camera for the first time. Her chorus of voices turned lower, more deliberate. “Primarily, there will be imminent changes in how the Church of Angels is run.”

“Do you mean—” started the reporter.

She spoke right over him. “We’ll keep on with the tradition of an angel heading the Church for the time being – and in fact, will soon appoint an angel to head the Church here in Mexico. However, this angel’s name will not be released; from now on, we’ll be keeping a much lower profile in your world. Any angel who you know by name will soon be retiring from public view. That is our promise.”

The grey eyes burned as the angel echoed Raziel’s words. I swallowed. I had no sympathy at all for Raziel, but I was glad I wasn’t him, just then. I could imagine his impotent fury so clearly that for a second it was almost like the emotion beat through me.

Beside me, Alex’s expression was intent as he took it all in, trying to see if there was anything here that could help us. Seb stood frowning. His feelings about the angels were a lot more complicated than mine – he’d had a love-hate relationship with their fierce, powerful beauty for years – but I knew he was as disconcerted by the Council as I was.

The angel seemed to remember the reporter’s presence. She gave something I think was meant to be a smile, though it made him visibly recoil. “This is
your
world – we angels will allow you the running of it. Our administration of the Church is only in response to your unavoidable worship of us – beyond that, we have little interest in associating with you.”

Kara stopped translating for a second; she let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Man, I never thought I’d dislike any angel
more
than Raziel.” Then she continued as the reporter stammered, “Is...is that why you’re in Mexico City – to appoint a head for the Church here?”

The eyes turned aloof. “Partly,” said the angel. “We are currently conducting other business here too – vital business for all angelkind. You humans here in Mexico City, and then also around the world, may notice certain affects. This interview is at an end.”

“What does
that
mean?” yelped Brendan.

“I don’t know – but they’re already
affecting
humanity more than enough,” Wesley ground out. He was glaring at the screen, his normally closed-off face alive with anger. Remembering what Alex had told me in confidence, about his entire family having angel burn, I didn’t blame him.

“Quiet, you guys,” said Alex.

The final image showed the Twelve in their angel forms, their winged figures glowing brightly. “We
chilangos
can be proud that the Seraphic Council chose Mexico City from which to address the world,” the reporter said in a voice-over. “But for now...we can only wait, and wonder.”

“God, we can’t do away with
them
soon enough,” Liz burst out as two commentators in a newsroom appeared onscreen, talking excitedly. “Talk about doing the world a favour!”

“At least they don’t seem to like that smarmy Raziel very much.” Kara still stood in the doorway, her nose wrinkled in distaste. “It sounds like he may not even be holding onto the Church much longer.”

“Yeah, but none of this
matters
unless we can actually get into the Torre Mayor,” growled Sam. “Alex, what’s up with that? You’ve got a plan, right?”

I glanced at him, wondering what he’d say. When Alex wasn’t taking the team on practice hunts, he’d been hanging out around the rear of the Torre Mayor, watching the service entrance. Though I’d had the sense for days now that a plan was forming in his mind, he didn’t seem to want to talk about it yet.

He obviously didn’t want to talk about it now, either. “I’m working on something,” he said shortly. “Don’t worry, we’ll get in. But first things first, guys. We’ve got to get the security info, or we’ll be working blind once we
are
in.”

Seb spoke, his quiet voice searing through the room. “What I want to know is, what is this ‘vital business for all angelkind’ that they’re up to?”

“No idea,” said Alex. “But for now, I’m only concerned about it if it affects the attack.” As he kept his gaze on the TV screen, he looked relaxed enough – but taking in the faint lines on his forehead, I knew he wasn’t.

“Hopefully it won’t,” I said.

Alex glanced down at me and I could almost see his tension ease; for a second, we were the only two people in the room. With a small smile, he briefly touched my back, his fingers warm through my shirt. “Yeah, hopefully,” he said.

Things became even tenser after that, more determined: the team had actually seen who they were going to be fighting. Alex was still taking them out on daily hunts – which made me curse my inability to disguise my aura more than ever. I hated just staying at home when the danger was increasing with each day that passed – because the angels had to be aware by now that there were AKs in the city. I could never really relax until everyone was back again. Alex was careful to never fall into a predictable routine, though. He always took the team to different places, and at different times; they even went at night sometimes. And the AKs were improving by leaps and bounds. I knew Alex thought that if we could just get the security information, we’d have a real chance against the Council now.

When asked, all he would say was that he had a plan to get us into the Torre Mayor, but he was working out the details.

“
Do
you have a plan?” I whispered one morning when we were alone in his bedroom. I was lying in his arms, savouring the feel of his skin against mine. I’d slipped into his room while the others were having breakfast – I knew Alex would already have had his; he was an early riser. When I timed things right, we could sometimes have almost half an hour alone together. It was incredibly precious to us both – and not just as a time to talk. Now I stroked his bare chest. “Or are you just trying to keep morale up or something?”

Alex sighed. Keeping an arm around my shoulders, he stretched up a hand to bat at the dust motes that were drifting past. “Yes, I’ve got a plan – but I don’t like it very much,” he admitted. “I don’t want to say anything to the team until after we get the security information. I’m hoping we’ll find out something that’ll improve on it.”

I bit my lip. That bad. I didn’t say anything; he clearly didn’t want to go into it. After a pause, he rolled towards me, and we lay gazing at each other without speaking. I felt myself falling into his blue-grey eyes, so vivid under their black lashes. As I caught a wave of his emotions, my throat tightened: a deep yearning; a suppressed fear that the two of us wouldn’t have the long life together that we both wanted. The thought filled me with dread.

He reached out and touched a strand of my hair, as if he’d never seen it before, and then lowered his lips to mine. I could feel how much he needed to lose himself in me; it was what I needed too, with him. I held him to me tightly as we kissed, and wished there were no time limits and no other people, and that we could just do exactly what we wanted. Because even though I tried not to think about it, in my darkest moments I couldn’t help wondering if we’d really survive all this. And I didn’t want to die without ever truly giving myself to the boy I loved.

“Alex, maybe...” I whispered now. My heart was thudding; my body felt flushed and prickly.

He rose up on his elbows, scanning my face. Before he could say anything, we heard Sam and Brendan come back into the dorm, arguing about basketball.
Basketball
, when we were a thousand miles away from the NBA. I closed my eyes tightly; I felt like crying. Alex let out a breath, and then kissed me.

“Soon,” he said, and I could tell from the determination in his voice that he was going to make it happen, no matter what.

With only one digit left to crack on the six-number security code, it turned out that they changed the code every week, knocking us back to square one. Everyone was stressed – especially Kara, I think, whose task of finding the new code couldn’t be hurried, though we all longed for it to be. There was just over a week left now. The rest of the team spent any spare time either grimly working out or watching TV in near silence.

But the success of the plan wasn’t my only worry. Once or twice now, I’d gotten glimpses from Seb of the same powerful emotion I thought I’d felt in him the first day we’d met – warm, deep flashes, which told me exactly how much he still hoped that something more than friendship would happen between us.

He usually kept it hidden far below the surface, though. And selfishly, I was glad of it. I didn’t want to face his feelings for me. I didn’t want anything to change between us, not ever – because Seb and I just clicked, on every level. He really did feel like a brother: a soul-twin who’d somehow found me again, after a lifetime apart.

Blue
. I imagined an airy light blue, like the sky on a summer’s day. As we sat outside in the courtyard, I focused only on my aura, lightly keeping the sense of oneness, of play. My aura shifted, its silver lights turning obediently to the colour of the sky. Somehow I kept myself detached, ignoring the distant pounding of my heart. For a change, Seb’s energy wasn’t bolstering me up, though I could feel him sitting nearby, silently willing me on.

Then a car alarm went off and I started; my aura snapped back to silver. When I tried again, I knew I’d totally lost the sense of light-heartedness – I’d have to go into aura-sparkler mode again to get it back. I sighed as I opened my eyes. Now that I’d reached this stage, Seb kept saying I needed to lock away the aura part of my mind and keep it separate, so that nothing could distract me, but I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it.