Guardian (48 page)

“There’s the Hummer!” I shouted, but the sound was strangely muffled and flattened in the quiet. “The Corolla is two cars over!”

Daniel pushed to his feet on his own, and I saw that his body had completely healed itself of any wounds. “Go on,” he said, his voice much stronger. “I can make it.”

Joseph and Sara were likewise standing on their own feet, staggering after Matthias and Rachel, who were running to my car. Someone had evidently plowed the long driveway not long ago, since the snow was only up to my ankles and finally made speed possible. Rafael ran – actually
ran
forward, and before I could shout for him to stop, rammed the Hummer with his shoulder. It rocked to and fro, and most of the snow fell off the windows and top, and he unlocked the passenger door, tossing me the key.

“Get in,” he growled.

I didn’t waste any time, catching the key and practically running for the car in the same instant. Rafael extended one large wing as he took a run and leapt over the hood, the wing sliding across the front windshield and wiping it free of the snow. He wasn’t moving with the normal eye-blurring speed he normally possessed, and his wing drooped before he pulled it in and jumped inside the car, but Rafael was clearly healing, his body returning to its former magnificent state.

“They saw me,” he said, starting the car.

“Who?” I asked, looking around wildly.

“Damian. He was at a window, they’re going to be following us.” Rafael yanked the gearshift into reverse and slammed down on the gas pedal. My head snapped forward as we shot backward, clipping another car in the process. We turned a wide half-circle before he halted, and then we lurched forward just as quickly, barreling down the long driveway.

I looked up at the big house, and though I shouldn’t have been able to see so clearly, I could make out a figure in one of the uppermost windows; someone with red hair, hands pressed against the glass. I tried to wave, even though I knew Izzy wouldn’t have been able to see me, but before I got my hand up, she was jerked away from the window. She had moved back so suddenly I knew someone had pulled her, and my heart ached as I turned my attention back to the road.

I wasn’t at all sure how Rafael knew where he was going, or how he even knew if he was still on the pavement; the snow covered everything so completely in front of us. But if there was anyone I trusted to drive in the middle of a blizzard, it would be him. Within seconds we were turning onto Riverside Drive, the Hummer skidding across four lanes before Rafael regained control and set us going forward again. I was gripping onto the ceiling handle for all I was worth, fighting the urge to close my eyes and shut it all out.

“Where are the others?” I asked, my teeth chattering. Panic had finally decided to set in.

Rafael glanced up in the rearview mirror, his eyebrows coming together in quick slashes as he frowned deeply. “They’re right behind us, trust me. I can see them. Damian is flying after us, he’s being slowed by all the snow.”

“But what can he do? He surely can’t hope to take all of you back by himself, can he? He, he tricked you or something, right?”

“He did,” Rafael said tightly. “But we’re weak right now, and he knows it. I think he’s working with Sadie and Abram as well.”

I could only sit there, vibrating with fear, waiting. Visions of Damian swooping down and breaking through the sunroof, grabbing one of us out of the car, filled my head. I tried to tell myself that it was ludicrous, that it could never happen, but that was the scariest part of it all; it
could
happen. This was all real. It was all dangerous. And right now, I was virtually helpless against it.

A sound cut across the quiet night, sounding like a muted foghorn, and I looked around wildly. “What was that?”

Rafael, hands straight out before him and taut on the steering wheel, was peering forward through the front window. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “It looks like-”

But then there was no need to elaborate, because I could see it with my own eyes. The lights were the first to become visible, a strange line of small orange lights, evenly spaced out high above us and coming closer and closer. All I could think was,
Are we about to hit a house?
And then the rest came into startling clarity, the bright yellow headlights to my right, the flaringly angry red taillights yards to my left.

A semi. A semi-truck had lost control and jackknifed, skidding across all four lanes of Riverside Drive toward us. There was no escape. There was nowhere to jerk the wheel or time to brake. It was going to hit us. I could actually see the driver and his panicked face, felt a curious floating sensation as I realized I was going to die. It was really going to happen this time. This was the end, but at least I was with Rafael.

“The truck,” I whispered weakly, and heard my own words as though from miles away. It was so strange, hearing the horn of the semi screaming, futilely trying to warn us out of the way. It was all happening so fast, all these thoughts and my whisper in the space of a second. I had just processed the truck careening toward us, hadn’t even yet turned to Rafael to tell him that I loved him one last time, when he screamed my name.

“
Lyla!
”

In less than the time it took to blink, Rafael rocketed to my side of the car. He grabbed me into his arms and opened the door in the exact same instant, propelling us out of the car. It all happened in one smooth, clean motion and so instantaneously that I didn’t even realize what he had done until we were hitting the snow and rolling.

We stopped with a painful hit to a tree, and though Rafael took the brunt of the impact, my hip made contact and made me cry out in pain. I struggled to sit up, to get out from under the crushing whiteness that surrounded me and made it hard to breathe. A horribly loud, squealing, crunching blast sounded behind us.

“Look out!” Rafael shouted once again, and planted a hand to my chest to force me back down into the snow. Overhead, I saw my little car fly over top of us, dangerously close to the ground where we were buried in the snow. I even caught a glimpse of movement through one of the windows. The other Fallen were inside the car as it rolled through the air in slow motion, turning over and over until it was out of sight once again.

I popped up out of the snow, ignoring the pain, ignoring the chill in my hands and face, the snow that had buried itself in my clothes. This time, Rafael didn’t stop me, and I was just in time to see the car go front end first into the Scioto River. It broke the ice with a booming
CRACK
and then sunk, submerging quickly until I couldn’t see anything.

“Rafael!” I shrieked, and I struggled to get to my feet, though my aching hip made me fall twice.

Rafael was already up, however, and immediately swung me up into his arms, once again as though I was weightless. He ran at top speed down to the river, skidding to a halt at the edge and skirting the large hole.

“Stay here,” he commanded, his breath on my face the only warm thing about the night. I found I was shivering uncontrollably, couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering. “Your part of the rescue is done. They will not die, Lyla. You know that. I’m just going to help them out.
Stay here.
”

I didn’t need a second urging. I was perfectly content to stay on solid ground. The idea of sinking through the ice terrified me, of drowning and being unable to find the hole through which I had fallen. Rafael walked out onto the ice, crouching by the edge of the hole. Despite my panic, I was a little more confident now. Rafael was clearly healed. The clean moisture from the snow and our fall, I suddenly realized, had cleansed all the holy water from his system. He would be able to fly. They would all be able to fly, and we would get out of here, safe and alive.

I looked behind me up at the road, trying to see between all the giant snowflakes. The semi had finally come to a stop, sliding off the road and getting trapped in the trees that lined the steep riverbank. Unlike the Corolla, it was large enough that its journey toward the river had been stopped. I saw a hunk of steaming metal and rocky-blue steel caught in its undercarriage, and realized with a jolt that it was the Hummer, mangled almost beyond recognition.

I could have been in there, I realized. That could have been
me
, all bent up and twisted. They wouldn’t have been able to tell where the car began and I ended. I shuddered violently and turned back to the river, and all the air was stolen out of my body. My heartbeat slowed and pounded loudly in my ears until it was the only sound I heard.

Everyone had been pulled from the river. Everyone was in some way or form alive, crouching as they spat up water, lying flat on their backs as they regained their breath, or forcing their wings to unfurl and shake free of water. Everyone except for Naomi.

Naomi
.

How had I forgotten that she was hopelessly, completely and utterly
human
, just as I was? She was weak and to complete it all, just a little child. How could I have expected her to survive that crash? It wasn’t possible. Matthias and Rachel were crouched over the little body on the ice, Matthias trying furiously to revive her, Rachel sobbing with her face in her hands as she wailed, “My baby! My
baby
!”

And then Rafael was there, stirring them all up, creating a frenzy that reminded me of seagulls being startled at the beach as everyone unfurled their wings at his command.

“
Up!
” he roared, pulling Matthias to his feet. “We need to get out of here! They’re on our trail, back to the warehouse! Everyone go, now!”

Joseph, Sara, and Daniel were off, their powerful wings unfurling and the ice straining under them as they forcefully pushed off the river. Rachel was still on the ground, crying over her daughter. My heart hurt just to look at her.

Rafael grabbed Rachel, pulling her up, gently putting Naomi’s limp form into her arms. “You can do nothing for her here,” he said softly. “Go back home, warm her up, it’s the only chance she has.”

Matthias seemed to pull himself together and took Rachel’s hand. Together, they took off into the air. It was Rafael’s turn to spread out his beautiful wings, and when he took off, the ice broke underneath him from the force, cracking into a thousand pieces. This time I was ready when he swooped over me, wasn’t the least bit startled or unsettled as he took me into his arms and I left the ground with dizzying speed. I turned my face to his warm chest, felt his heart beat with mine, and finally relaxed as we flew home.

The flight back to downtown seemed to take only seconds. We gently landed on the top floor of the warehouse, and Rafael allowed me to slip from his arms and stand on my own two feet, though he kept one arm around me. I was grateful, since the pain in my hip suddenly made itself known once again, and it was excruciating. Together we walked forward, to where Naomi was laid out on a table, bundled up in a cocoon of blankets, surrounded by a circle of the Fallen, with Rachel standing over her.

“Will no one help us?” she sobbed. “No one is willing?”

I realized that Naomi’s chest was rising and falling, but slowly, with great gaps of time in between. Every few seconds she had some kind of spasm, her whole body jerking and twitching. She wasn’t dead – yet. But she was
dying
. Which meant there was still time to save her, still time for her to be changed into a Fallen, as Rachel and Matthias had been hoping for, someday.

As I looked around, everyone was staring at their toes. No one was going to sacrifice their light. No one was willing to save the little girl who was dying before their very eyes. Naomi’s hair was wet and a strand trailed across her small face. Blood was trickling down one side of her head from a large gash on her temple, and in my mind I saw Grace on that table, Grace as the one who was dying. My heart screamed along with Rachel as she let out a keening wail. I wished with all my heart that I was a Fallen then, so I could save Naomi.

I looked up at Rafael and he met my eyes. The love, the love and adoration I saw there made my knees go weak, but there was also an overwhelming sadness, and
shame
. Rafael turned away from me in shame, and even though I realized then that he had acquiesced, had decided in his heart to let me join them, it didn’t give me any joy. Rafael wouldn’t save Naomi, because he wanted me at his side for eternity. I could have tried to argue with him, but I knew he wouldn’t have given in.

I knew exactly what he was thinking: if he saved Naomi, then someday it could be me on that table, me that no one was willing to help. And he would never do anything that would put me into danger. It had always been his foremost thought. So I could do nothing but find his hand and squeeze it tightly, trying to tell him without words that I understood, that I forgave him, even though he wouldn’t forgive himself.

A sudden hush passed through everyone, and I turned to the right, where everyone else was looking, and felt my heart seizure. Damian stood framed in one of the windows, staring at all of us. In an instant, every single one of the Fallen was on the offensive, forming a wall to shield Naomi and Rachel from Damian.

“What do you want?” Matthias spat out, the venom in his voice sending a chill down my spine, the harshness of his voice cracking through the frigid air. “Why have you come back? It’s too late. You’re no longer one of us.”

I looked up at Rafael, confused, and he looked down at me and saw my incomprehension.