Finale (11 page)

“I took it from him last night at the Devil’s Handbag. I found him hiding out in a brown van parked across the street from the entrance. He bolted before I got my hands on him, but in his hurry, he missed grabbing his belongings, including his phone with all his contacts. I’ve been dialing and texting numbers all morning, trying to reach you.”

Secretly, I breathed in relief. Patch had escaped. “If you brought me here to interrogate me, you’re out of luck. I don’t know where Patch is. I haven’t talked to him since yesterday. In fact, it sounds like you were the last to see him.”

“Interrogate?” The tips of his Dumbo ears glowed pink. “Golly, that sounds ominous. What do I look like? A common criminal?”

“If you don’t want to question me, why lure me all the way out here?” So far, we’d kept our conversation light, but I was growing increasingly nervous. I didn’t trust Pepper’s bungling, inept antics. They had to be a ploy.

I
GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO DO THIS THE EASY WAY
, but I’m running out of patience,” Pepper said. He stuffed the gun into the waistband of his trousers, freeing up both hands to wipe his gleaming brow. “If I can’t get von&o epper said to Patch, I’ll make him come to me.”

I saw where this was going. “This is a kidnapping? You’re most definitely not a common criminal, Pepper. Felon, sociopath, and nefarious evildoer all sound a bit closer to the mark.”

He loosened his collar and grimaced. “I need Patch to do something for me. A little . . . favor. That’s all. Harmless, really.”

I had a feeling that “favor” included following Pepper down to hell, just before he jumped clear and slammed the gates shut on Patch. It was one way to take care of a blackmailer.

“I’m one of the good guys,” Pepper said. “An archangel. He can trust me. You should have told him to trust me.”

“The fastest way to break his trust would be to kidnap me. Think this through, Pepper. Taking me isn’t going to make Patch cooperate with you.”

He tugged harder at his collar. His face had flushed to the point that he resembled a sweaty pink pig. “There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. I’m out of options, can’t you see that?”

“You’re an archangel, Pepper. And yet here you are, strolling around on Earth, carrying a gun and threatening me. I don’t believe you’re harmless, just like I don’t believe you mean no ill will toward Patch. Archangels don’t hang around on Earth for extended periods of time, and they don’t take hostages. You know what I think? You’ve turned bad.”

“I’m down here on assignment. I’m not bad, but I do have to take certain . . . liberties.”

“Gee, I’m almost tempted to believe you.”

“I have a job for your boyfriend that only he can do. I don’t want to kidnap you, but you’ve forced my hand. I need Patch’s help, and I need it
now
. Walk toward the boat, nice and easy. Any sudden movements and I shoot.”

Pepper made a summoning gesture, the boat glided obediently through the water, moving toward the closest boat ramp. Patch hadn’t told me archangels could command objects. I didn’t like the surprise, and I wondered how much this would complicate my attempt at escape.

“Didn’t you hear? He’s not my boyfriend anymore,” I told Pepper. “I’m dating Dante Matterazzi. Surely you’ve heard of him? Everyone has. Patch is one hundred percent in my past.”

“Guess we’ll find out, won’t we? If I have to ask you to start walking again, I’ll put a hole in your foot.”

I raised my arms level with my shoulders and walked to the boat ramp. A little late, I wished I’d worn my jean jacket with the tracking device. If Patch knew where I was, he’d come for me. Maybe he’d sewn a device into my puffer vest too, but I couldn’t count on it. And since I didn’t know where Patch was, or if he was even okay, I couldn’t count on him, either.

“Climb into the boat,” Pepper ordered me. “Take the rope on the seat and tie your hands to the guardrails.”

“You’re serious about this,” I said, stalling. I glanced at t { glng gestuhe trees framing the river. If I could get to them, I could hide. Pepper’s bullets would have more success hitting trees than me.

“Thirty miles from here, I have a nice roomy storage room with your name on it. Once we get there, I’ll give your boyfriend a ring.” He made a fist, extending his thumb and pinkie finger, and placed the hand-phone near his ear. “We’ll see if we can’t come to an agreement. If he swears an oath to handle a personal matter for me, you just might get to see him, and your friends and family, again.”

“How are you going to call him? You have his cell phone.”

Pepper frowned. He hadn’t thought this through. Maybe I could use his disorganization to my advantage. “Then we’ll just have to wait for him to call us. For your sake, I hope he doesn’t dawdle.”

Reluctantly, I climbed inside the boat. I picked up the rope and started looping it into a knot. I couldn’t believe Pepper was this stupid. Did he honestly think a run-of-the-mill rope would contain me?

Pepper answered my question. “In case you’re having any escape-type thoughts, you should know that rope has been enchanted. It looks harmless, but it’s stronger than structural steel. Oh, and once you’ve secured your wrists, I’ll enchant it again. If you so much as tug against the rope to break free, it will pump two hundred volts of electricity into your body.”

I tried to keep my composure. “Special trick of archangels?”

“Let’s just say I’m more powerful than you think.”

Pepper swung one short leg over the boat, balancing his foot on the driver’s seat. Before he could bring his other leg over, I slammed my body against the side of the boat, rocking it forcefully away from the ramp. Pepper stood one foot in, one foot out, with the gap of air between his legs widening.

He reacted instantly. He shot into the air, hovering several feet above the boat.
Flying.
In my split-second decision to unbalance him, I’d forgotten he had wings. And not only that, but now he was clearly furious.

I dove overboard, swimming hard for the center of the river, hearing shots being fired into the water from above.

A splash sounded behind me, and I knew Pepper had dived in after me. In a matter of seconds he would catch me and fulfill that promise to put a hole in my foot—and probably a lot worse. I wasn’t as strong as an archangel, but I was Nephilim now, and I’d trained with Dante . . . twice. I decided to do something either incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave.

Planting my feet firmly on the sandy riverbed, I pushed up with all my strength, vaulting straight out of the water. To my surprise I overshot, soaring above the treetops crowding the riverbanks. I could see for miles and miles, past the factories and fields, to the highway strung out with tiny cars and tractor-trailers. Beyond that, I saw Coldwater itself, a cluster of homes, shops, and green-lawned parks.

Just as quickly, I lost velocity. My stomach flip-flopped, air skidding over my body as my direction reversed. The river rushed up at me. I had the urge to pinwheel my arms frantically, but it was as if my body wouldn’t stand for it. It refused to be anything less than graceful and efficient, tucking into { tuI kne a tight missile. My feet crashed into the boat ramp, smashing through the planks of wood, plunging me back into the water.

More bullets whizzed past my ears. I scrabbled out of the debris, lunged up the riverbank, and took off sprinting for the trees. Two mornings of running in the dark had given me some preparation, but it didn’t explain why I was suddenly running at speeds that rivaled Dante’s. The trees passed in a dizzying blur, but my feet leaped and bounded with ease, almost as if they could anticipate the necessary steps a half second before my mind.

I raced at top speed up the walkway, flung myself inside the Volkswagen, and floored it out of the parking lot. To my amazement, I wasn’t even out of breath.

Adrenaline? Maybe. But I didn’t think so.

I drove to Allen’s Drug and Pharmacy and slid the Volkswagen into a parking space nestled between two trucks that hid me from the street. Then I slouched in my seat, trying to make myself invisible. I was pretty sure I’d lost Pepper at the river, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. I needed time to think. I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t go back to school. What I really needed was to find Patch, but I didn’t know where to start.

My cell phone rang, startling me out of my reverie.

“Yo, Grey,” Scott said. “Vee and I are on our way to Taco Hut for lunch, but the big question of the day is, where are
you
? Now that you (a) can drive, and (b) have wheels—ahem, thanks to me—you don’t have to eat in the school cafeteria. FYI.”

I ignored his jesting tone. “I need Dante’s number. Text it to me and make it fast,” I told Scott. I’d had Dante’s number stored on my old phone, but not this one.

“Uh,
please
?”

“What is this? Double-standard Tuesday?”

“What do you need his number for? I thought Dante was your boy—”

I hung up and tried to think things through. What did I know for certain? That an archangel leading a double life wanted to kidnap me and use me as incentive to get Patch to do him a favor. Or to quit blackmailing him. Or both. I also knew Patch wasn’t the blackmailer.

What information was I low on? Mostly Patch’s whereabouts. Was he safe? Would he contact me? Did he need my help?

Where are you, Patch?
I shouted into the universe.

My cell phone chimed.

HERE
’
S DANTE
’
S NUMBER. ALSO
,
I HEAR CHOCOLATE WORKS WELL FOR PMS
, Scott texted.

“Funny,” I said out loud, punching in Dante’s number. He answered on the third ring.

“We need to meet,” I said with an edge.

“Listen, if it’s about this morning—”

“Of course it’s about this morning! What did you give me? I drank an unknown liquid, and suddenly I can run as fast as you and soa {s y&rsqr fifty feet into the air, and I’m pretty sure my vision is better than twenty-twenty.”

“It’ll wear off. To sustain those speeds, you’d need to drink the blue stuff daily.”

“Does the blue stuff have a name?”

“Not over the phone.”

“Fine. Meet me in person.”

“Be at Rollerland in thirty.”

I blinked. “You want to meet at the roller-skating rink?”

“It’s noon on a weekday. Nobody there but moms and toddlers. Makes it easy to spot potential spies.”

I wasn’t sure who Dante thought might be spying on us, but I had an uneasy feeling fluttering around in my stomach that whatever the blue stuff was, Dante wasn’t the only one who wanted it. My best guess, it was a drug of some sort. I’d witnessed its enhancement properties firsthand. The powers it gave me were surreal. It was as if I had no boundaries, and the extent of my own physical prowess was . . . limitless. The feeling was exhilarating and unnatural. It was the latter that had me worried.

When Hank was alive, he’d experimented with devilcraft, summoning the powers of hell to his advantage. The objects he’d enchanted had always cast an eerie blue hue. Up until now I’d believed that the knowledge of devilcraft had died with Hank, but I was beginning to have doubts. I hoped Dante’s blue mystery drink was a coincidence, but instinct told me otherwise.

I got out of the car and walked the last few blocks to Rollerland, checking over my shoulder often for signs that I was being followed. No strange men in dark trench coats and sunglasses. No overly tall people, a dead giveaway of Nephilim, either.

I swung through Rollerland’s doors, rented a pair of size-eight roller skates, and sat down on a bench just outside the rink. The lights were low and a disco ball scattered shades of bright, saturated light across the polished wood floor. Old-school Britney Spears played through the speakers. As Dante had predicted, only small children and their moms were skating at this hour.

A shift in the air, snapping with voltage, alerted me to Dante’s presence. He lowered himself onto the bench beside me, dressed in dark tailored jeans and a fitted navy polo. He hadn’t bothered to remove his sunglasses, making it impossible to see his eyes. I wondered if he regretted giving me the drink and was experiencing some degree of moral conflict. I hoped so.

“Going skating?” he asked with a nod at my feet.

I noticed he wasn’t carting skates. “The sign said you have to rent skates to go beyond the lobby.”

“You could have mind-tricked the counter attendant.”

I felt my mood darken. “That’s not really how I play.”

Dante shrugged. “Then you’re missing out on a lot of the perks of being Nephilim.”

“Tell me about the blue drink.”

“It’s an enhancement drink.”

“So I gathered. What’s it enhanced with?”