Intuition: The Premonition Series (22 page)

“Ahh, that just blows,” I mutter, feelin’ Zephyr release me. I turn and try to push him away, but he is rapidly regainin’ his strength, so he just grins at my attempts.

“You were hoping she would kill him?” Zephyr asks me.

“Somethin’ like that,” I mumble, and I hear him chucklin’ as I leave the room.

“Russell…Russ…” Evie whispers as she creeps into my darkened room. Still wide-awake lyin’ in bed, I refuse to answer her ‘cuz I’m still mad at her for what happened in the trainin’ room today. Hopin’ she will go away if she thinks I’m sleepin’, I don’t move. Slinkin’ to the foot of my bed, she stands there lookin’ at me. Realizin’ that she can see me clearly, even though it is dark, I watch her shadowy figure put her hands on her sexy hips. Then she whispers, “I know you’re awake, Russell. I can see that your eyes are open.”

“Whaddaya want?” I ask her in a surly tone. I don’t try to keep my voice low. I can really care less if the angels overhear us.

“Shh!” she hisses at me as she comes ‘round the bed to perch tentatively on the side by my feet. “I’m here because we have to talk. I have to tell you what happened when you were with your parents over break. I have to explain…” Her voice breaks as she glances away from me for a second.

All of my senses are alerted to her in that second.
She’s really upset,
I think.

Sittin’ up, I turn on the lamp beside the bed. Her face is a mask of pain. She looks heart-broken when she whispers to me, “I thought we would have more time. I was hoping we could stay until we took our exams, but we can’t. We have to go soon, Russell. I heard the angels talking and they’re looking for me—Dominion. We have to go before they kill them. They will think they are traitors. They think we’re Nephilim.” She is whisperin’ so fast and I can’t understand half of what she is tellin’ me.
What’s Dominion? What’s a Nephilim? Who wants the angels dead?
I wonder rapidly.

Gettin’ out of my bed, I walk over to the desk in my room and retrieve a tablet and a pencil. I come back to the bed. Sittin’ next to Evie, I write:

WTF Red?

Evie takes the pencil back from me and writes:

We have to leave, Russell. Just you and me.

I scan her face after I read what she wrote. I want to shout at her ‘cuz I have so many questions. I take the pencil from Evie’s hand and write:

Why?
I
frown, watchin’ her sad expression.

She takes the pencil back from me and begins writin’ out an explanation:
When you were gone over break, Buns, Zee, Reed, and I went to a resort to snowboard. We ran into some Powers who saw me. I ran from them, but one hunted me. She was pretty specific when she told me what she is going to do to me when she finds me. She called me a Nephilim, but when I asked the angels later what it was, they all clammed up on me and wouldn’t explain what it is. They acted like it was no big deal and that she couldn’t possibly find us, but everything I know about Power angels tells me they were not giving it to me straight. Powers don’t quit once they have a mission. They never quit. To her, I’m a failed mission if she doesn’t find me and erase me from all existence.

I take the pencil out of Evie’s hand and write:
Holy shit Red! Why didn’t anyone tell me? No shit, they don’t stop. They are like freaking terminators. They won’t stop until you’re dead. Why are we still in Crestwood?
I thrust the pencil back at her, hearin’ my breath comin’ out faster in agitation.

I kept trying to figure that out. Reed and Zee want us to think they’re still trying to draw in Alfred, but I think they have put him on the back burner because I overheard part of their conversation last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was on my way to the kitchen to get some water when I heard them talking in the library. They were all there: Brownie, Buns, Zee, and Reed. Zee has been keeping an eye on what “Dominion” is putting out on me. It turns out that all the Powers are now alerted to the existence of the Nephilim spotted recently in this area.

What’s Dominion?
I write after I tear the pencil from her hand. I then thrust it back at her.

I think it’s like some kind of military HQ for Power angels. That’s what I got from the conversation, but I couldn’t ask them because I was earjacking the information. If it’s made up of Powers, I’m in big trouble.
Evie writes and then she looks at me with eyes that show fear that she has every right to feel.

If those angels are after her, she is in deep—and so am I, ‘cuz we’re the same, she and I. I gaze ‘round my bedroom, seein’ all of the monstrous shadows bein’ cast on the walls from the lamp on my bedside table. I try to make sense of what she’s tellin’ me. If Dominion is a military headquarters, then those Powers can mobilize legions of angels to search for Evie. I take the pencil from her hand as another question surfaces in my mind.

Then what’s a Nephilim?
I write with dread, not sure I want that question answered for me.

She writes:
I don’t know for sure. Like I said, the angels all clammed up when I asked them that question. Reed must have said something to Zee and the girls because they all keep insisting I’m not a Nephilim anytime I ask any of them what it is. They won’t explain it to me. I looked it up on the Internet. I found out that a Nephilim is supposed to be an offspring of the sons of God, meaning angels, and the daughters of Man, meaning human women. The sons of God are angels, but the ones who fathered the Nephilim are specifically the angels called the “Watchers” or another name is the Grigori.

That sounds exactly like what y’all are, Evie.
I write. Tears collect in her eyes as she nods.

I know. But I hope not.
She writes.

Why not?
I write.

Because, Nephilim are said to be the offspring of human women and the Archangels that were sent to watch over humans. They weren’t suppose to be able to breed with them, but when they did, they created these evil giant monsters called the Nephilim that God had to destroy in a flood because they were so vile.

“The” flood? Like the one with the big ark?
I write the question and watch as she nods her head yes and then a wave of panic grips me. She can’t be a Nephilim. They’ll never let her live if she is. My hand shakes when I write:
Reed would know if you were a Nephilim. He would’ve killed y’all right away if that was the case. There is no way Zee would’ve let you live either, so we have to trust the angels when they say y’all aren’t one of them.

The only thing I can think of that points to me not being a Nephilim are a few technicalities.
She watches as I quirk my eyebrow, eager for her to explain the loophole that gets us out of being seen as innately evil. Then she writes:
Well, there are three things that we can argue: We don’t have white wings like the Archangels. I have red wings and I think you will too, so that clearly means that I come from the Seraphim. We aren’t giants either. I’m not even six foot and these creatures were supposed to be huge giants. And finally, we have souls. None of the other creatures were reported to have souls, so they couldn’t be redeemed.

I just thought of another reason:
We’re not evil
.
I write, stabbin’ the paper with my pencil harshly.

She takes the pencil out of my hand and writes:
I overheard Zee tell Reed that he uncovered the name of the Power leading the mission against me. Her name is Pagan. You want to know why they call her Pagan? It’s because her favorite bad humans to smote, back in the day, were pagans. The last time I saw Pagan, she promised me that she would rip out my evil heart, just after she tore a fully-grown tree from the ground and hurled it at me like it weighed nothing at all. She’s not going to stop. She’s got this Dominion on her side. I heard Zee telling Reed that they may have to move us soon because she has shown up in this area searching for me. They were hoping that she would believe we would leave the area, but somehow, she has gotten closer than they thought she would. Pagan can’t find me with Reed or Zee. I heard Buns say that Dominion will execute them if they’re found to be traitors. Dominion could put Reed and Zee on trial for treason if they think they’re aiding the Fallen.
Her hands are shakin’ as she writes the last part. I gently take the pencil from her hand.

We’re not Fallen.
I write, tryin’ to reason with her.

How sure are you that we would be able to convince a bunch of hostile Powers of that fact? Especially when one of them has already reported that we’re Nephilim. Do you think they will give us time to explain before they rip our hearts from our bodies? What will happen to Reed and Zee? Will they be able to show the other Powers that we aren’t evil before they kill them, too?
Evie asks me as she frantically writes out her argument.

She has thought this out. She knows there is every chance that we won’t be given an opportunity to speak on our own behalf before they mow us down like any of the Fallen would be when they are discovered. No trial, we’re just dead.

He’ll never let you go.
I write, watchin’ her expression turn from determination to anguish. She already knows this.

I can’t stay and watch them kill Reed, not when I can save him. I can’t exist if he doesn’t exist. I have to know he is alive somewhere, or its over for me, too. You have to come with me, for their sakes because Pagan will believe you’re a Nephilim, too.
Please
. We can’t ask them for their protection anymore. I’m sorry, Russell. I wish you had time to evolve more before I rip you away from their protection, but if Pagan finds us, then we’re all dead and I can’t have that. If we stay, it’s like we’re murdering them.
Evie writes, and then she drops the pencil back on the paper and covers her face with her hands. I can feel the desperation comin’ from her.

I reach out and pull her to my chest. It feels so right to have her in my arms. She’s ’bout to give me what I want most in the world and a part of me is so happy, I can hardly contain it. To have her all to myself is somethin’ I want above anythin’ else.
It’s the only way to win her back. I would do anythin’ for that chance. Anythin’,
I think to myself, holdin’ her close.

“When do we leave?” I whisper to her, feelin’ her damp tears on my bare chest as she cries with what I bet is a mixture of relief that I agreed and the agony of havin’ to leave Reed.

“Soon. I’ve been planning it for awhile—since we got back. It was just an option at first. Someone told me I might need it,” she whispers back.

“Where will we go?” I ask her in a low tone, hopin’ she has thought this through ‘cuz it will be a short trip if she hasn’t. Reed is like a bloodhound when it comes to Evie and he won’t stop until he gets her back.

“North,” she says, and I cringe ‘cuz I’m ’bout as far north as I ever want to go. Ever.

“How?” I ask, and listen to her plan as she outlines it.

CHAPTER 8

The Option

Finesse isn’t required in my escape from the angels who have been safeguardin’ me for months. Buns, Zee, and I have a Poli-Sci class together, well, we have every class together, but Red is right when she says my part in the plot will be easy. Zee and Buns have tunnel vision when they are together. They only see each other.

After parkin’ in the campus lot, Zee picks up Buns’s bag and begins carryin’ it toward our class in the middle of campus. I check my watch. My window of escape is narrow. I have to get away within the next fifteen minutes, otherwise, if Evie is discovered missin’ before I get a chance to leave, they might get suspicious and start askin’ questions. After we enter the classroom, we take our seats together and I pretend to rummage through my bag for a second.

“Ahh, shoot, Zee.” I say with a grim smile as I continue to check ‘round in my bag, “I left my Poli-Sci book in the car. Toss me the keys and I’ll get it.” I hold out my hand for the keys to the new Tahoe we had driven to school.

“Do you want me to get it? I am much faster?” he asks, grinnin’ at me arrogantly. His easy smile causes a pang of regret to hit me like someone punched me in the stomach. Zephyr and I are like brothers now. In just a couple of months, I have formed a tight bond with him and it feels like I’m sellin’ him out, lyin’ to him like this. I have to remember that I’m tryin’ to save him from lookin’ like a traitor to his own kind.