Angel Fire

Page 53

 

  Whether he’d ever like the guy was a totally different matter.

  I helped Liz with dinner that night, though things had gone pretty stiff between us. Not that we’d ever become bosom friends, but we’d at least started talking a tiny bit when we cooked together. Now her mouth was a thin line as she made the salad, and I knew it was because of Seb. When we’d first gotten back to the house, Alex had told everyone what had happened, his tone as matter-of-fact as if this kind of thing occurred every day. Even so, the team had been. . . surprised to have another half-angel suddenly appear. To put it mildly. That, plus the Council arriving early, had put everyone seriously on edge.

  I set the table in silence. My own thoughts were still way too confused to try to alleviate whatever was going on in Liz’s head.

  We both looked up as the door opened and Kara rushed into the kitchen. “Where’s Alex?” she said, yanking off her jacket. Without waiting for an answer, she called out towards the boys’ dorm, “Alex! Alex, we’ve got to talk!”

  “What’s going on now?” asked Liz, wide-eyed.

  “Luis is gone,” said Kara tightly. She paced the kitchen. “Totally gone; no sign of him. I went to his apartment and it’s just abandoned, like—” Alex came in, and she whirled towards him. “Alex! Luis is—”

  “I heard,” he said tightly.

  The others started arriving behind him as Kara explained. “He was visiting his family this weekend, but he was supposed to be home by now; I already had a date with him tonight,” she said, her words tumbling over themselves. “But there wasn’t any answer, so I let myself in, and. . . he’s just gone. I mean, his bag’s there, so he got home all right, but it’s still unpacked. There was a half-eaten sandwich on the table, and a cold cup of coffee. . . ” She trailed off.

  I bit my lip and glanced at Alex; he was standing behind one of the kitchen chairs, leaning on its back with both arms. “You didn’t try to call him, did you?” he asked sharply.

  Kara shook her head. “No, and I didn’t touch anything in his apartment either – just got out of there as fast as I could. ” She took a deep breath. “Plus the Council’s not staying at the Nikko Hotel – I headed over there and couldn’t feel any sign of them. So then I went to the Torre Mayor, but to get past the lobby you have to have a pass for the card reader. I don’t know if the angels are still there or not – they’re really high up if they are; I couldn’t tell. ”

  There was a long pause as we all took this in. “So. Looks like the Church must have gotten wind of your boyfriend giving out security information,” said Alex wryly.

  “Less of the boyfriend, please. . . but yeah. ” Kara looked more shaken than I’d ever seen her.

  “Okay, this is not good, this is officially really, really not good,” muttered Brendan, scraping at his rust-coloured hair.

  For a change, Sam didn’t argue with him. Neither did anyone else. Wesley was glowering even more than usual; Trish and Liz looked as pale and stricken as I felt. At least Kara had never given Luis any information about us – though I felt guilty even thinking that, just then.

  “So. . . I guess the same invitations for the reception won’t be any good now,” said Trish faintly.

  “No way,” said Alex. I could hear the strain in his voice, though I doubted anyone else could. “Basically, we don’t have a plan any more – we’re back to square one. ”

  “Wait – what does that mean?” demanded Wesley. He hardly ever spoke with more than a few people around; now his fists were clenched at his sides. “Are you saying the attack can’t go ahead? Because there is no way that—”

  “Of course I’m not saying that,” cut in Alex in a low voice. “This is the only chance we’re going to have at the Council. We’ll find a way to get to them, no matter what. ”

  I swallowed hard, but knew he was right. Everyone glanced at each other. Three weeks – that was all we had now.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find out what’s going on. ” Kara’s voice was matter-of-fact again, back in control. “What do you want me to do? Should I go over to the cathedral tomorrow, see if I can get any information? Any change to the Council’s visit was sure to have been organized by someone in the office there – they’ve been coordinating everything. ”

  Alex nodded, looking deep in thought. “Yeah, good idea – we need anything you can get. Won’t they recognize you, though?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I usually met Luis at his place. He didn’t have my cell number or anything. ” She managed a small smile. “I was a woman of mystery. ”

  I watched Alex’s eyes scan over her. “Can you get hold of a wig or something, just in case? If the angels have him, they’ll see you in his memories. And you’re pretty distinctive. ”

  Another time, I knew Kara would have bantered with Alex over this; now she just nodded. “I’ll get one tomorrow. See what I can do with some make-up too. ”

  “Good,” said Alex. “And I’ll do some checking around myself. Plus keep training these guys – maybe take them on another practice hunt. ”

  Sam was shaking his head. “Yeah, but what about—”

  He broke off as Seb came into the kitchen, looking like he’d just taken a shower – his chestnut curls were damp, shoved away from his face as if he’d raked his fingers through them. When I saw him, something in me tightened. . . because I realized that the whole time we’d been talking, part of me had been thinking about Seb, wondering where he was.

  Silence choked the room. Seb obviously noticed, and knew it was because of him. His eyes found mine and he smiled slightly. Despite my discomfort, I gave him a rueful one back; I knew exactly how he must be feeling. The team’s stony faces were bringing back some not-so-pleasant sensations of déjà vu. Clearly I had made a little progress with them, even if I hadn’t been all that aware of it – because now Seb was here, it was obvious that was something else that was back to square one.

  Alex sighed. “Hey, Seb,” he said, and I wanted to hug him just for managing to sound normal. “We were talking about something that’s come up; I’ll fill you in after dinner. You finding everything all right?”

  Seb’s eyebrows rose at “something that’s come up”, but he didn’t comment. “Yes, fine, thanks. ”

  As we all started sitting down to eat, Seb took the seat next to me – the place where Alex always sat. Obviously he didn’t know that, but I could see everyone sort of glancing at Alex, to see what he would do. As if there was some sort of competition going on.

  My face went hot, and I cleared my throat. “Um, Seb, that’s—”

  “It’s okay,” said Alex briefly. He took the seat to my other side, the one where Trish usually went, and Trish squeezed in next to Wesley, where I’d put an extra chair. I saw Seb get what had happened then; he looked like he was holding back a smile despite himself.

  Hardly anyone spoke. The clink of knives and forks against plates sounded deafening. My own awkwardness around Seb wasn’t helping much either, to be honest. . . and I was feeling a lot of it.