Guardian (13 page)

Raven touched down in the valley, where a mass of mangled metal foreshadowed the disaster to come. The surrounding hillsides gave the lush landscape an Old World charm, and if not for the tracks and a narrow road beside them, it would appear untouched by man.

“Where’s the train?” Glimmer asked as she stopped beside the track. Her glistening wings tucked behind her as she turned to study the metal, hands on her hips.

A hillside stretched behind them, cut only by the strip of track that ended in a twisted clump of metal near the spot where they stood. Raven had noticed the eastern side of the track dropped off a mountainside. This was the worst possible scenario and probably carefully chosen by the enemies. If it hit with enough force, the train’s propulsion could topple the whole thing right off the cliff.

“Let’s get organized,” Mace said. “Can we bend the track back into shape?”

“No way.” Vine grabbed one rail and tugged hard. “Even if we could, we’d never get it straight enough to keep the train from derailing.” Dash grabbed the same piece of metal, and as both pulled it creaked and moved but remained kinked.

“He’s right,” Dash said. “The train is still going to jump the track. No way around it.”

“Listen!” Mace held a hand up.

A whistle blew, and its urgency threw them all into high gear. Mace’s eyes darted to Raven’s. “It’s coming.”

Think, Raven, think. “Vine, Dash, go down the track. Try to get the engineer’s attention.”

“There isn’t time for it to stop,” Sky said, pointing to a flash of black iron and steel snaking through the countryside and coming closer. Before Raven could stop them, Vine and Dash disappeared in the direction of the oncoming train.

“Maybe they can slow it down.”

The others began pulling and tugging the metal, but too much of it had warped into an irreparable mangle.

Will landed beside Mace with Nikki in his arms. The massive guardian angel placed a hand on Mace’s shoulder.

Mace pointed to Nikki. “Will, get her on the hillside. If she’s down here when the train hits …”

But Will was frozen. His face read deep concern. Mace didn’t seem to notice, but Raven did. “Will, go.”

The verbal order snapped him back from wherever his mind had traveled. Just before he left, however, Will’s lightning-blue eyes settled on Raven. This look held neither the reprimand nor admiration Raven expected to see. It almost resembled a goodbye. Will and Nikki disappeared from sight and materialized on the next hill over.

Raven’s entire body felt bathed in ice water. At the very beginning of this assignment on earth, he’d stood outside of his room listening to Will nag about the importance of protocol. For once, Mace had been the one in trouble. He’d broken the rules and gone after Nikki.

The look on Will’s face that day was too much like this one. And Raven knew even then what it meant. This journey would take the life of either him, Mace, or Vine.

He wondered if today would be a good day to die.

There was a time when Raven would have welcomed death, to be removed from the tug of war that was his existence. But that was before Nikki. She’d made it worth staying, and changed everything almost from the day they’d met. Besides, it was a lie anyway. If he died—and wasn’t offered mercy—eternity would be far more hellish than anything he’d experienced on earth. And Raven had a strong suspicion he’d not be offered mercy.

The train rolled closer, and he knew what had to happen. Before he could shout instructions to the group, Mace beat him to it.

Hmm , at least we agree on one thing. Raven snapped his wings open and jumped in front of the train.

Off to the right, where Nikki stood on a hillside, he could hear screaming.

Nikki clamped her hands over her face as both Mace and Raven jumped onto the train track. From her vantage point, she could see the scene clearly, though her eyes begged to look away.

Her hands flew forward as if she could reach out and snatch them from harm, even though she knew it was impossible. The two Halflings she loved were flying straight toward certain death.

Sparks flew from the track, and she squinted through tears to see what caused them. More wings came into view, and she realized Winter and Glimmer had grabbed the side of the train, their hands digging into the metal and their wings fighting to slow the forward momentum. Both girls were being dragged along but continued to hold. Soon the others arrived as well. Sky and Dash dropped to the far side of the train as if they planned to copy Glimmer and Winter’s tactic. Vine dropped to the front of the train, and though there was nothing for him to stand on, he faced off with the metal monster and pumped his wings feverishly in a deadly game of chicken.

Nikki clamped her hands onto Will’s shirt, crumpling the material against his chest. Beneath his clothing, she felt the mass of muscles, angel muscles. Her fingers gripped tighter. “Help them, Will!” she pleaded. “Go help them.”

His eyes were hollow, dulled by some internal force. He looked down at her but spoke no words.

Her plea became an order. “Help them!” But somehow she knew he meant to stay right there no matter what happened. Fury clawed its way into her throat and out through her hands. She lashed out and hit Will’s chest with a fist. “What’s wrong with you?” she screamed. “Go help!”

But he was a statue—a giant, cold marble statue refusing to engage and ready to watch his Halflings die. The only thing moving was his face. Will’s chin quivered and something glistened in his eyes. “I cannot help them,” he said.

Nikki shoved off of him and returned her attention to the train. The brakes were screaming now, and it had slowed some, but not enough. Impact was imminent. Wings that had been strong and steady now flapped at uneven speeds. The Halflings were wearing out and the broken track was coming closer.

Why did I have to sketch that train?

As the back of the third car came into view, Nikki noticed faces pressed to the windows. They must have felt the change in the train’s speed and were now gazing out, and the faces she could see were a scattered blend of confusion and concern. All those people.

The front of the train was engulfed in feathers, all working to slow its speed. It looked as though they could lift the first car right off the ground with all that angel power, but behind it was another car and another and another. Clouds of dust rose around Winter and Glimmer. Their feet were probably raw from the onslaught of gravel and dirt, and Nikki wondered why they didn’t stay airborne.

She sucked a breath when she realized. The girls were trying to dig their feet into the ground to slow the forward push. It had to feel like being stuck in a meat grinder.

Despite all the effort, nothing was working. The train’s momentum continued barreling it toward the broken track.

Sky suddenly appeared atop one of the cars, his wings spreading and catching the wind. From the hillside she could see his expression, one of pain and fierce determination. Where his wings met his back, a tight cord of muscle strained under the pressure. It looked as though his wings could be ripped from his body.

But it was working. The train slowed marginally.

Nikki beat her fisted hands against Will’s chest, this time out of excitement. “It’s working! The train, it’s slowing down.” She screamed it, first at Will, then at the Halflings. “Get on the roof,” she yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth.

Sky looked up at her as if he heard, then hollered something. One by one, the Halflings on the sides began making their way to the top. They spread out until they stretched over the first two cars, their glow making them look like lightning bolts wrapped in flesh. The wind pressed against them with such force, it flattened Glimmer’s curls to her head, but the feathered parachutes of their wings were counteracting the train’s momentum.

But where were Mace, Raven, and Vine? Her breath was short spurts now, as fear and apprehension stole her momentary joy. The Lost Boys were still at the front of the train. And the broken track was nearly upon them.

“No,” she whispered. But as the train and the car-sized mass of twisted metal became one, the whisper grew to a scream. “No!” Soon she was sobbing and hiding her face as metal scraped and crashed against metal. It went on forever, the sound of the crash and the human screams, the shuddering and screeching as steel compressed and was refashioned. The very track groaned in protest as car after car reverberated with the impact.

Nikki buried her face in Will’s shirt. But there was no strength in her body. Her head spun, and had it not been for the frozen grip of her fingers, she’d have dropped to the ground.

The solid wall she leaned on wavered. She forced her eyes up to Will’s face. A vein in his throat throbbed. Worse, his eyes were empty. Lifeless, staring not at the train, not at her, but straight ahead as if trapped in time.

Then a tremor from his chest, a stifled quake as his unblinking eyes filled with tears. Nikki’s fingers unwound from his shirt and she stepped back. She heard a scream from below and recognized it as Vegan’s voice. She started running.

“Mace!” she screamed, closing the distance to the wreckage as she raced down the hillside. Her heart pounded, but her feet skidded to a stop when she saw him. Nikki fell to the ground, legs unable to obey her desire to get there, to get to him. Mace was motionless and flat on his back beside the train.

Vegan screamed again, but the tone wasn’t one of anguish; it was a cry for help.

Nikki struggled to her feet and forced her legs to begin moving, this time with more power.

“I’m coming, Vegan,” Mace yelled, but he was only able to push himself up a few inches before falling back to the ground.

She ran to where Mace lay and threw herself over his chest, wrapping him in a fierce hug. She jerked back up to her knees and ran her hands over him while she sobbed. “I—I saw you. You—were between the train and—and—”

“Shhh,” he said, trying to wrap his arms around her. “It’s okay. I got out of the way. We all jumped right before impact.”

Nikki’s gaze traveled from side to side. Her hair clung to her wet cheeks and she pushed it away. We all, he’d said. There on the ground, Vine and Raven were stretched out, breathing hard but moving. She offered a relieved smile to Raven, but he looked away. Though he’d tried to hide it, she’d seen the sorrow in his eyes. She’d gone to Mace. Not him.

Nikki swallowed hard. She wouldn’t apologize for fearing Mace had died. She clamped her hands on his face. “But you’re okay?”

He grinned beneath her touch. “I’m okay, Nikki.”

The tears were starting again, but she tried to force them back. She began to tremble, and the shaking only worsened as Mace placed his hands over hers. “Hey,” he said in a whispered tone. “It’s okay. Nikki, I’m all right.”

But the tremors grew. “I thought— I thought I’d watched you die.” The floodgate opened and became two steady streams beneath her eyes.

He took her face in his hands. “I’m fine.” Mace sighed and cast a glance around them. “Nikki, I need you to get back to the hillside. We have to start helping the wounded.”

Her hands dropped to his shirt and tightened in a death grip. He couldn’t expect her to just jump up and leave after … after … But of course he did. This was Mace, after all. “I could help. I could stay down here. You need my help.” Panic drove her words.

Mace shook his head as he stood. “No, Nikki.” His voice was soft, but final. “You’d just slow us down. I’m sorry.”

Fear and relief turned into embarrassment. She sat there for an instant feeling the prick of pain accompanying his words. She was a useless, helpless human.

Slowly, she rose and headed toward the hillside trying to ignore the screams from the people inside the train. As she passed Raven, she thought she heard him say, “I’d have let you help.”

Nikki watched from the hill. Mace was probably right. She didn’t know how to handle the questions the people were undoubtedly asking about how the train had slowed, where the group of rescue-teenagers had come from, and why they seemed to have wings. What could Nikki do? Just get in the way. Just slow them down. After all, she was only a human.

As time wore on, and she’d tired of pacing, Nikki angled her attention to Will, who was waiting quietly, solemnly, beside her like a sentry. Below them the Halflings worked their way through the passenger sections of the train. One crashed train car then the next, all the while pulling survivors from the wreckage. She counted fifteen passenger cars, and the Halflings were sifting through them at lightning speed.