Angelfire (5 page)

Will pulled something out of his pocket and held out his hand. On his palm lay a pendant shaped like a pair of white wings hanging on a gold chain. The necklace was gorgeous, ethereal, the wings so brightly white that they shimmered and appeared to glow in the light. When I blinked, the glow was gone.

“What is this?” I asked, marveling at the winged pendant.

“It's always been yours,” he said, lifting my hand and placing the necklace on my palm. “Since before I knew you. It never tarnishes or fades. Always the same. Always permanent even when fate takes so much away.” He gently closed my fingers around the pendant, his warm hands lingering a moment too long. “I'll talk to you soon.”

Will turned and left. I opened my hand to stare at the
beautiful necklace. Brushing my fingers across the wings, I couldn't decide what it was made of. The pendant's surface was smooth and luminous, as if it were made of mother-of-pearl but something more precious than that. Its beauty lulled me, and I slipped into a strange, nostalgic trance; and the whispers of memories that couldn't have belonged to me surfaced in my mind. Distant images of Will's face, of reapers lurking in the dark, of me running through alleys and forests, of the necklace in my hands. Things I shouldn't have remembered but did.

I shook my head and stuffed the necklace into my purse.

More than forty years?
I fell back against the lockers tiredly and rubbed my face with both hands. Why wouldn't Will just leave me alone? He seemed to firmly believe that I was some kind of superhero, and that had to be the craziest thing I'd ever heard. As if that wasn't enough, he said he'd talk to me soon. Although I knew little about Will, I knew for a fact that was a promise.

I went back to lunch with my friends and tried to forget about him, but I couldn't. Fourth period came and went without incident other than Kate distracting me from the discussion of the week's assignment. Something about dress-shopping plans for Saturday's party outfits. Thankfully, that was the only other class I had with Kate, so I was able to concentrate a little more during my other classes. Fifth-period European history was mildly more interesting because I
actually liked history. It was something I got easily, unlike economics.

As I sat at my table, ignoring my tablemate, who absently picked at his face, I found myself thinking about the night before. I tried to remember the horrible creature Will had called a reaper. The snarling, dead-eyed monster stared out at me from my memories, its enormous talons digging into the earth, ready to leap. Why would I dream about such awful things? I rubbed my arms, recalling the sensation of its fur brushing against my skin. Never had any nightmare felt so real, in my mind, on my skin, and in my heart.

I decided to imagine for a moment that Will had been telling the truth. If I was indeed what he claimed, the Preliator, then those monsters, the reapers, were real. What did he mean when he said I'd been gone for twenty-eight years?

I was so confused. Just trying to make sense of Will's claims was enough to drive me crazy.

I couldn't get past Will's surprise that I couldn't remember anything. Of course, nothing happened—it was just a bad dream, and Will was nuts. But how could he know so many details from my nightmare? He had even mentioned the “grim” again, whatever that was. And his tattoos…I had not seen those when I'd met him the previous afternoon. The first time I saw them was in my dream.

Will had touched me and I suddenly had become
someone different, someone powerful, someone very frightening. That scared me, but I was still drawn to the idea. I pulled the winged necklace out of my purse and studied the delicate edges and intricate etchings.

Remember
. I thought hard, shutting my eyes tightly and closing my fingers around my pendant. Remember, remember.
What
was I supposed to remember? I stared down at my history notes. If only my own history were written on those pages instead of Charlemagne's.

The events from the night before replayed over and over in my mind like a horror movie: the reaper stalking through the dark, charging at me as I swung those strange, flaming, sickle-shaped swords. So much blood…

And then my eyes went out of focus. I squeezed them shut and opened them again, turning my face away from the harsh light of the classroom to stare at the floor. The temperature plummeted, and I shivered and rubbed my arms. The floor blurred and my desk and all the faces around me vanished, leaving me alone in the dark and kneeling on a snowy ground. I stood and looked around me, and I saw the dense, shadowed forest closing in on me and felt the icy, unyielding wind on my face.

My eyes fell to the trail of blood dotting the snow in front of me as I moved through the Grim. I knew the reaper couldn't be far. He had taken nearly a hundred lives already in the poor region of Le Gévaudan in southern France. The dragoons sent by the French king had found nothing and
left an endless trail of innocent wolf carcasses in their wake. The lupine reaper was smarter and hungrier than any of them, and that made him far more dangerous. They couldn't hunt something that they couldn't see and that was smarter than them.

I could suddenly feel it—the tingle of the darkest power crawling across my flesh, rolling through the earth beneath the snow.

Something dark flashed to my right. Then it flashed to my left. He was circling me.

I hated when they hunted me back. I held my swords closely. The flames didn't melt the snow around me. Angelfire only ever burned evil and left everything else untouched.

Footsteps crunched the snow in front of me. The reaper had finally decided to show himself. He stepped closer, allowing me to get a better look at him. He gnashed his teeth with the promise of death, and his black fur glistened with a dark, lurid liquid. Blood. I didn't know what, or who, it belonged to.

“You are a fool for hunting me, Preliator,” he growled through wolflike jaws, jaws that should never have been able to speak human words. “This is my territory. The souls in this land will be mine. You will meet your end in this forest.”

I scoffed and tightened my grip on both helves. “I may, but before I die, I'll make sure you don't leave this forest alive either. That is the price you pay for taking so much blood.”

The reaper lifted his head, his black eyes watching me
curiously. “And what price do you pay? For all the blood you've spilt?”

“This is my duty.”

He ignored me. “Loneliness, I suspect.” His voice was so deep, it hurt my ears trying to hear him.

“Stop trying to get into my mind and just fight me, Holger.”

He lowered his head, and his muzzle formed a strange wolfish smile. His eyes were nearly invisible against his black fur, revealed only by the angelfire cast across their glossy surfaces. “You know my name.”

“I know a lot more about you than that.”

“Does that knowledge make you fear me?” he asked, frighteningly hopeful. He was old—older and more powerful than most of the reapers I had fought in recent years. Three hundred years was certainly something to boast about.

“That would make you happy, wouldn't it?”

“Yes, yes it would,” Holger said, the words rolling over his giant tongue. “Where is your Guardian, Preliator?”

“Not far behind.” It didn't matter. I had to destroy the reaper on my own or he would send more innocent souls to Hell.

“Well, that is quite fortunate for me.”

He launched, jaws and claws spread wide. I bolted and he landed to the side of me, sliding through the snow and spraying glittery white powder. He leaped for me again, and I dived behind a tree. He collided with it, shaking half the tree
free of snow and gouging a massive hole in the bark with his body. He roared in fury, and every tree near him shook with the force of his energy. His power exploded and he bashed a tree trunk with his paw, his talons ripping the trunk nearly in half. The tree groaned, and I stared up as it came crashing down; but I fell back before it pinned me to the ground. Though it missed me, the log had trapped one of my swords beneath it and the flames went out. I grabbed the handle and tugged, but the blade didn't slide free.

Holger climbed over the trunk, and then his snarling muzzle was inches from my face. He snapped his jaws, lashed his thick tail in anger, and lunged at me, but a powerful blow to his skull knocked him off the tree.

My heart leaped when I saw Will. He pounded the reaper's head again, crushing Holger to the ground. Will snapped back around to face me and bellowed, “Your sword!”

I nodded and gave the Khopesh another strong tug, grinding my boot into the trunk for leverage, and finally the blade slipped out. Angelfire burst from it. I turned my head just in time to see Holger charge at me where I lay. His jaws snapped at me, but I twisted away, and his teeth clamped down on earth and snow instead of flesh. With a desperate cry, I swung my sword as hard as I could. The blade cut deep through his neck, and his body burst into flames. Holger's head toppled off his body and onto my face.

I cried out and my chair slipped out from under me. The racket echoed through the classroom as my butt hit the
tile floor and the chair crashed.

Everyone around me was silent, too shocked to laugh, but I didn't dare look up. My entire body flushed with heat.

Oh God, oh God…
Both my hands covered my face as I sat on the floor, absolutely mortified.

“Holy
crap
, Ellie, are you okay?” asked my table partner.

I looked up to see his face peering down at me. “The chair…it slipped.”

THE REST OF THE DAY WENT BY WITHOUT ANY MORE incidents. No more daydreams, I told myself firmly. My nightmares were scary enough and I had no desire to have them while awake. The memory of what I had experienced during history was fresh in my mind and stung like a paper cut; the episode fluttered around school, so by last period I was already known as that chick who fell on her ass during class. I'd have to move away. Probably to Alaska.

At last, school ended and I hurried to my locker. My interlude there with Kate and Landon was brief—I had other things on my mind. Like getting my car. And my nightmares coming to life.

I halfheartedly agreed to meet Kate at the mall on Saturday to get our outfits for my party, as we had discussed during math earlier. After saying a hasty good-bye and
thanking Landon once again for the roses, I headed outside with the vase in my arms to meet my mom.

She seemed as excited as I was. “Honey, who are the flowers from?”

“Landon,” I said, smelling them again.

“Well, that was very sweet of him,” she offered.

“I suppose he's making up for all the snowballs he's thrown in my face and shoved down my shirt over the years.”

She nodded slowly and her brow flickered. “If you say so.”

We drove to the dealership a few miles from school and inspected nearly every single car there. I was set on a sedan, so we decided to test drive a couple of different cars, with the busty saleswoman tagging gleefully along. I fell in love with a little white Audi with a black interior. It was sportier than the others and definitely felt perfect to me.

After my mom had organized the purchase and we were ready to head home, I hopped into the driver's seat of my birthday present. The interior was wrapped in smooth, cool leather and I let myself sink into it.

Mom dipped her head to smile at me through the driver's-side window.

“I'm going to name him Marshmallow,” I announced.

My mom raised an eyebrow. “Marshmallow?”

“Yes, and he loves it.” I tenderly ran my fingers along the leather-covered steering wheel.

“So what do you say to driving home in your new car?”

“Yes!” I almost shouted.

“Be sure to tell your dad thank you when you get home.”

I nodded, smiling widely. I was almost ecstatic enough to forget my frightening daydream from earlier. Almost.

I followed my mom home. The Audi glided along the hilly roads like a dream. Up and down, left and right, the vehicle handled effortlessly and I felt in complete control, otherworldly. I didn't know what had come over me, whether it was the thrill of having my first car or my party coming up, but I felt energized.
Different
. I felt
good
. None of the soreness I had woken up with that morning remained.

As I pulled into the driveway behind my mom's car, I happened to glance at my neighbor's mailbox, which lay in a pile of splinters. My neighbor, Mr. Ashton, was picking up the wooden fragments and chunks of brick scattered across his lawn. A very clear memory from the night before crept into my head, and the blood drained from my face. A cold rush flooded through me as I stepped out of my car, dizzying me so much that I had to lean against the door for support. I noticed a jagged crater in the street not too far off.

“That happened last night,” my mom said with a frown on her face. “It appears a sinkhole may have caused a driver to hit the curb and then Mr. Ashton's mailbox. The neighborhood association is having someone come by to fill the hole in tomorrow. It's strange, since these things don't usually happen until spring.”

I leaned back against my car for support, my breaths
long but dizzyingly shallow.

“Maybe that's what you heard last night?” Mom offered. “The loud noise you mentioned.”

I watched Mr. Ashton dump the remains of his mailbox into a wheelbarrow and haul it into his backyard. “Maybe.”

I ran up to my bedroom and dumped the contents of my wastebasket onto the carpet. Will had to be wrong. My missing hoodie couldn't be in there. But right in front of me, in the midst of crumpled notebook paper, wadded tissues, and a candy wrapper, was my hoodie. I lifted it, gingerly plucking the hood up with two fingers. The cotton was shredded, stiff from something wet and thick that had dried all over it, and splattered across the sleeves and chest were dark dried droplets. The whole thing had a sour dog-drool smell laced with the faint tang of old blood.

Scrambling into the bathroom, I threw up into the toilet.

 

Kate called me that evening at seven to meet her at Starbucks. Any reason was good enough to get me out of the house and driving. As I left, I took a whiff of the roses on my dresser and tried not to think about the shredded discovery in my wastebasket. I let my mom know where I was going and she gave her permission without much resistance. When I arrived, Kate was standing by her car in the parking lot with Landon and Chris. She let out a high-pitched squeal when she saw my new car.

“Ah!” she shrieked. “It is
so
cute! I approve.”

“Thank you!” I said, beaming. “I named him Marshmallow. Isn't it perfect?”

“Oh my God, yes,” Kate said, peeking in the driver's-side window. “Ruby wants him to be her boyfriend.” She was referring to the name of her red BMW.

“You rich girls and your stupid names for your cars,” Chris said, sighing as he checked it out. “A4, nice. I'll race you with my 370Z.”

I laughed. “No way. I'm not going to kill myself, thanks, and why would you even bother? I'm pretty sure you'd destroy me in that thing anyway.”

“Fine,” he said, and turned to Kate. “Let me take on the E90.”

She eyed him, grinning. “Keep dreaming.”

“You ladies are wasting your cars,” Landon said, examining my tires.

“It's really going to suck when we're freshmen at Michigan State and have to leave our cars at home,” Kate said, pouting.

“Did you send your application in?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. Haven't you?”

I grimaced. My grades hadn't exactly been awesome, but I was still treading water. “Not yet.”

“Well, do it quick,” she said. “Spots fill up fast.”

I made a mental note to start my application next week. Neither of us wanted to go anywhere else. Well, of course I had wanted to go to Harvard when I was six, but my goals had gotten more realistic since then.

After the boys inspected the Audi from grill to tailpipe, we went into Starbucks to order. Kate bought me a cappuccino for my birthday, and I sipped on it while we talked and laughed. I was happy not to have to worry about the strange events of the past couple of days. At the moment, all I had to worry about was not spilling my coffee on myself and not letting Landon get too close. He seemed to shift himself closer and closer to me as I watched him out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't claustrophobic by any means—but I soon would be if he got any closer.

“So what are we seeing tomorrow?” Chris asked, licking the whipped cream topping his cup.

Friday night was Movie Night for our group of friends. It was pretty much a religious event for us. I shrugged. “I don't know. What's out?”

“There's that ghost movie that opened last week,” Kate offered.

“Eh,” I said. I had had enough of scary situations in the last twenty-four hours.

“Action movie, then?” Landon asked.

We settled on a movie about an existential hit man. Movie Night wasn't about seeing Oscar-worthy films. It was about spending a sweet night out. Clichés be damned.

Suddenly, I remembered my lit paper. I snarled at the ground. “I really need to get started on my paper.”

Kate frowned. “Already?”

“Really, Ell,” Landon said, flashing a stupid grin. “What's the point of drinking coffee at night if you're just going to go fall asleep?”

I shoved his shoulder playfully. “While your logic is flawless, it doesn't help me get my paper done. This cappuccino will, on the other hand.”

“Fine, fine,” Kate said, waving her hand in a shooing motion. “You suck. Leave.”

“You shouldn't tell me I suck on my birthday,” I said with a grin.

“Happy birthday!” She beamed.

“Thanks, lover.” I gathered my purse and cup. I said good-bye and headed back out to my car. When I got home, I went up to my room and immediately realized I had left my lit book and notes in my locker that afternoon. I swore loudly and plopped heavily down on my bed.

“Damn it, what am I going to do?” I said aloud to no one. I stared at my backpack, angry at it for not containing the things I needed. If I didn't start my paper tonight, I would never get it done. I'd be too busy with my party. I had to go back to school to get it.

I glanced at my clock. It was almost nine, but the school should definitely still be open for the adult-education night classes. If it wasn't open, then at least I had a pretty good excuse to drive again. I could be optimistic when needed.

I grabbed my backpack, purse, cappuccino, and cell
phone and headed back to school to retrieve my forgotten homework. The grounds were weakly lit, and I found only two other cars parked in the student lot behind the building. The faint illumination was provided by the orangeish blotches beneath the parking lot lights, so I parked under one of them instead of in a dark patch. I figured I was less likely to get jumped there.

I found that the doors I usually entered through every morning were locked, so I rounded the building until I found an unlocked one. Inside, I nodded to a janitor I recognized, who smiled kindly at me as he swept the floor, listening to the MP3 player plugged into his ears. The halls were dimly lit, and my footsteps echoed solemnly. It was amazing how creepy this school got at night. I raced to my locker, yanked out what I needed, and stuffed it into my bag before jogging back out of the building. For some reason, outside it now seemed darker to me.

The light on the pole beside my car flickered and hummed. Something tugged on my body, and a hazy veil covered my vision. I had trouble stepping forward, and I looked down at my arms to see what was holding me back. The world—not just the air, but everything solid—stretched and melted away as if I were moving through a gelatinous wall. One more step, and I was suddenly free as a burst of black smoke wound around my limbs and cleared away, leaving the world normal again.

Halfway across the lot, I heard a distinct—and all too familiar—rumble.

“Oh God,” I whispered, halting in fear. After two excruciatingly long seconds I heard another growl rolling through the darkness.

I bolted, digging my hands frantically into my pockets for my keys. Something heavy pounded the pavement behind me, but I was too terrified to look back. I pressed Unlock fifty times before I crashed into my car door. A giant, dark shape flashed in the corner of my vision, and I screamed and ducked just as an enormous paw raked its talons across the front fender of my brand-new car.

I hit the ground, spilled my coffee and my bags, and looked up to face my attacker: a reaper, as big as the Audi, loomed over me with one paw on the hood of my car. It looked down on me, covering me completely in its shadow, blocking out the streetlight, its chest heaving with every breath. Its shaggy, dark fur gleamed an ugly charcoal color in the yellow light. The reaper was wolf shaped, just like the ones from my daydream and my nightmare the night before.

“I have found you, Preliator,” the reaper said in a deep, husky, but oddly feminine voice. “And now you are
mine
.” She grinned a mouthful of fangs and snapped at me. I screamed and threw my arms over my head. The reaper laughed, her hot breath strangling me.

A shadow zipped behind the reaper and suddenly she
was sent flying over the Audi. She landed and skidded across the pavement, digging her claws into the pavement and leaving white streaks behind.

I lowered my arms and looked up to find Will standing over me. His skin beneath the tattoos on his right arm glowed brightly in the streetlight.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, offering his free hand.

I took it, staring at him dazedly, and he helped me up. “The cappuccino…It must be the caffeine….”

Will grabbed my shoulder suddenly, threw me back against my car, and looked fiercely into my face. “Snap out of it, Ellie! Denial isn't going to make the reaper go away!”

“I can't! I—”

“Stop saying you can't! You
can
! You must fight!”

I wheeled around, bumping into Will as I searched for the reaper, who had vanished. I grabbed at Will's shirt in terror, shuddering closer to him, my head whipping around wildly, desperate to find the reaper.

“Release her, Guardian!” Her voice rang out from somewhere unseen.

Letting out a hoarse cry, I snapped my gaze up to see the reaper crouched on the roof of the Audi. Thick saliva dripped from her jaws, hitting the roof and sliding down the driver's-side window.

“Oh, poor child,” the thing half cooed, half snarled. “She's shaking. What's the matter, girl? You were supposed to be a nightmare, but all I see is a whimpering little lamb.
We don't even need the Enshi. I'll kill you myself.”

Horrified, I scrambled away, but Will caught my arm.

“Again!” he cried out, slamming his palm into my forehead for the second time in as many days. The blast hit me, stronger this time, and the white light blinded me once more. The world shook and roiled, and I felt like I was trapped in the center of a tornado again. An eerie gust of wind spiraled around me, pulling my hair and body toward the sky. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself. Will released me and I fell back, but his arm wound around my waist and pulled me to his chest. After a woozy moment I had the strength to stand on my own, and he let me go.

When I opened my eyes, I called my blades and they appeared in my hands, growing magically from the pommel at the bottom of each of the helves to the tips of the blades. The simplest tug in my chest sent flames bursting from the swords, as if they came alight by my will alone. My power surged through me, and the creepy, spiderlike energy of the reaper heated my face like crackling fire. I could feel—and see—Will's power as he stood beside me. He looked dark and beautiful.