Something Deadly This Way Comes

  “Listen to me!” Barnabas said, his hand on his amulet as if it was the hilt of his sword. “You are the rising light timekeeper! You will keep your mouth shut. You will learn what Ron teaches you. You will take his amulet when he steps down!”

  “Barnabas!” Nakita exclaimed, appalled.

  Barnabas ignored her. “And when you reach your power, you will use your understanding of choice to change things,” he finished.

  Josh exhaled in understanding, and I stiffened. Barnabas turned his gaze to me, and I shivered at the depth of his heartache. Eons of it, stored behind his dark eyes. “You both will,” he said to me, his voice breaking. “We just have to be patient.”

  “I don’t want to wait a lifetime to make a difference,” I said.

  “Then you find them when you can,” Barnabas said, a new, almost eerie fervor to his voice that bordered on the fanatical. “Talk to them if they listen. Before Ron sends an angel to guard them or the seraphs send a reaper to scythe them.”

  It was what I had been trying to do all along. Barnabas believed it was possible. Maybe now, Paul did, too. And if Paul did, perhaps we had a real chance.

  “We have to find Tammy,” Paul said, his voice almost virulent. “We have to change this. She can’t be allowed to live her life if all that is at the end of it is . . . for the sum of her life and memories to be eaten by a mindless dish of bacteria!”

  “Then we do this?” I said, hope making me shake inside.

  Paul took a breath, knowing he was agreeing to more than saving Tammy. He was going to get in trouble. Ron wasn’t going to be happy. Screw Ron.

  “We do this,” Paul said. His eyes closed briefly, and then he turned to look deeper into the graveyard, across it to the rest of the town. “She’s not very far away.”

  “Good,” Nakita said, her expression drawn up into a worried look. “Because Demus is gone.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It wasn’t the muggy, breathless darkness that creeped me out and made my stomach clench. It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear Barnabas and Nakita behind me somewhere, swords drawn as they jogged after me. It wasn’t that my out-of-shape breathing was harsh and heavy next to Josh’s long-distance runner’s light breaths. It wasn’t even that this end of town had bars on the windows and roll-down gates over the storefronts. What bothered me was that I was still barefoot and had stepped in something sticky.

  Grimacing, I raised my foot and shuddered.

  “This way,” Barnabas said, easing past me as I hesitated. I could hardly see him in the black alley, his coat making him a moving shadow. Nakita’s scent brushed past me, and I started to follow. Paul edged past Josh and me, and I couldn’t help but see how predatory the two reapers looked beside him: Barnabas dark and furtive, Nakita taut and slim, both on the hunt, both joined in thought to one goal. I was proud of them, working together like that. Demus’s amulet was in my pocket, heavy and warm. I don’t know what he intended to do to Tammy without it, but Demus and Tammy were together according to Barnabas.

  “She’s just ahead,” Paul whispered as he turned, the streetlight glinting on the shine of his dress shoes. His posture was tense and eager, and I wished I could see the time line to gauge how close we were.

  The brighter square of black at the end of the alley beckoned; I picked up my pace. “Watch it!” Josh whispered, reaching out and jerking me back an instant before I stepped in a foul-smelling pile of garbage outside a side door.

  It was a bad part of town. I wouldn’t come here even during the day. The street was empty, seeing as it was about two in the morning. A faint brightening hinted at the coming sunrise, but it was hours off. The air stank, heavy and humid. Streetlights barely lit the potholed street, the asphalt making hardly any division between itself and the sidewalk, and then the tired, chipped buildings with their roll-down gates and bricked-up windows. It was rock, asphalt, and cement. Not a hint of anything green or alive. Not even a rat.

  Which is probably a good thing, I thought as I shifted my weight from one cold foot to the other. “Thanks,” I whispered back, wrinkling my nose at the smell. My arms had gone around my middle, and I was cold. Maybe I should have waited until we were done with this prevention before claiming my body. And what was that squishy thing between my toes? This was just gross.

  “She’s in there,” Paul said, his rising chin indicating a bus depot, the broken neon sign in the shape of a big arrow.

  “With Demus,” Nakita said, almost hissing the word.

  “The bus depot,” I said, turning to give Josh a smile. “You were right.”

  Heart pounding, I took a step forward only to have Barnabas yank me back. Overhead, a streetlight popped to put us in darkness. My eyes went up as I wondered if it was Grace, and Barnabas whispered, “Cop car.”

  Frustrated, I pulled back into the even darker alley. Paul was beside me and Josh. Nakita jumped straight up, vanishing onto the roof. The slow sound of an idling engine grew, and we pressed back even more, hiding behind a box. I could see inside the bus depot from where I stood with my back to the wall. Demus and Tammy were just talking, but I was sure if Demus had had his amulet, she’d be dead by now.

  It was a cop car, and I silently thanked Grace for the broken light as it cruised very slowly past, the spotlight playing over the abandoned storefronts and probing into the dark places.

  Standing between me and the top of the alley, Paul exhaled as the car slowly drove away. He looked determined as he shifted to the center of the alley, and I couldn’t help but feel a spark of something as we all followed him back to the street. Not romantic but perhaps a contemporary? I wondered. Someone who would really understand the hell that we had to go through. That is, if I kept my amulet.

  “He’s gone,” Paul said as the cop’s brake lights flashed and the car turned a corner.

  “Do you think they’re looking for me?” I asked, reluctant to step into the open.

  Barnabas was a shadow on my other side, his gaze still where the car had disappeared. “Probably no. I tweaked their memories of you. I think I got everyone.”

  Paul turned to frown at him. “You think?”

  Barnabas frowned right back. “Nothing is certain.”

  “The car is gone,” I said, tension making me jittery. “Let’s go.”

  “Black wings!” Paul said, and I froze, fighting an irrational fear as I looked up, seeing their black outlines against the sooty sky. There was a flash of brilliant light as one turned, and I looked away, shivering. I had a body. They couldn’t sense me. And even if they could, they couldn’t touch me. Not with a real aura around me again.

  “What are they doing here?” Josh asked, hunched and uneasy. He’d seen what they had done to me. “Demus can’t scythe anyone if you have his amulet. And they don’t follow light reapers.” He looked at Barnabas, his expression ill. “Right?”

  Barnabas said nothing as he put a hand on my shoulder and pushed us into motion. “Not usually, no. But we’ve got three reapers, a timekeeper, and a rising timekeeper out here. Even plants turn to the sun.”

  And maybe Arariel was here hunting, too, I mused, following us since she couldn’t find Tammy on her own. My eyes scanning everything, we crossed the empty street, moving furtively and avoiding going right under the circling black sheets of dripping goo. God, I hated those things, and I shivered at the memory of them eating Tammy’s memories until she was nothing.

  “What is Demus even doing here?” I babbled, mincing in my bare feet. “He can’t make a scythe.”

  “I think he’s going to push her in front of a bus.”

  I looked askance at Barnabas, trying to decide if he was being funny or not.

  There was the soft sound of feathers, and a soft click of heels, and Nakita joined us as we reached the door. I pulled one side of the twin doors only to find it locked. Barnabas reached in front of me and gave a yank. With a sharp ping of breaking metal, the door opened. A fetid scent of old sneakers and stal
e cigarettes spilled out. Nice.

  Demus looked up. His boyish features—softened to lull Tammy—became hard. “Broken feathers and pinions, get behind me, Tam!” he said as he stood, pushing her behind himself.

  Frightened, the girl stood, holding his shoulders and peeping around his shoulder. “Oh, there’s a good idea,” Barnabas said as he filed in behind me.

  “Tammy, honey, his job is to kill you,” Nakita said, taking my other side.

  It was clear Tammy had been crying; her eyes were red and her hair was a mess. There was a backpack beside her. It was likely all she had in the world—apart from her soul. She was running. It was the beginning of the end for her, and I had to stop it here. If she left, she’d believe the lies she was telling herself, and her soul would die.

  “He is not going to hurt me!” she exclaimed as she took in the five of us, but she was edging back as if unsure. “You burned my apartment. He’s going to—”

  “Save you?” I said, and she looked up at him, seeing his anger at us and her doubt grew. “Take you away from everything? Tammy, he’s lying. Angels do that.” I glanced at Barnabas, adding, “A lot.”

  A frown crossed Barnabas’s face, and he pulled to a stop from where he had been edging away from us, trying to circle Demus. Nakita had been doing the same on the right. “Especially dark reapers,” Barnabas said, looking at his nails, feigning disinterest. I could tell he was poised to move in an eyeblink.

  “Then why hasn’t Demus killed me already?” she asked belligerently.

  “Because I have his sword,” I said, pulling his amulet out and dangling it.

  “Madison, no!” Barnabas yelled, but Demus had seen it, and lunged, exactly as I had wanted.

  Nakita made a dart for Tammy, pushing her back to a bulletin board and getting between her and Demus. Josh reached out and pulled me out of the way, and Paul danced clear, his shiny shoes clacking.

  “Oh, crap!” Josh yelled as his tug caused my fingers, cold and damp, to slip on the lanyard. The flat black stone glittered as it arced through the air, and a delicate ting of crystal echoed for one pure instant when it hit the floor.

  “Barnabas! Get it!” I yelled as I fell, but Demus had already switched directions and was diving for it. I watched breathlessly as Paul got there first.

  “I got it!” he shouted triumphantly, then his eyes widened at the sight of Demus barreling toward him. Knowing he didn’t have a chance, he threw it to Nakita.

  “Here!” the dark reaper shouted, hand raised, but it wasn’t her grip that the stone landed in. It was Arariel’s.

  “Son of a puppy!” I shouted as I scrambled up, and she smiled pure evil at me, pulling back out of Nakita’s sword’s reach.

  “I’m sorry!” Josh was saying, his hands on my shoulders as we blocked the door.

  “I’m the one who dropped it,” I said, frustrated as I tugged my oversize shirt straight.

  “Arariel! Give me the amulet!” Paul demanded, but she wasn’t listening to him, twirling Demus’s amulet like she’d won a prize at the fair.

  “Nakita?” I questioned, and my wonderful reaper grinned just as evilly back, her sword dipping once in invitation to Arariel. Behind Nakita, Tammy curled into a ball in one of the flaccid-cushioned chairs against the wall, crying. I really couldn’t blame her.

  “You will not grace her with a guardian angel,” Nakita intoned, and Arariel fell into a fighting stance, poised.

  “And I’m not going to let you kill her, foul black reaper!” she shouted back, lunging.

  “You call me foul?” Nakita shouted, face red. “I give a clean release, not a slow death! You are ugly. Ugly!”

  Demus just wanted his amulet, still dangling from Arariel’s hand. He watched it hungrily, inching closer as Nakita pushed Arariel farther from Tammy. I jumped when Barnabas touched my shoulder. “You and Josh get Tammy out of here,” he whispered. “She’s too scared to move. I’ll stay here and try to help Nakita.”

  Scared was right. I could be killed now, and I knew the feeling. Josh looked as unsettled as I was, but he gave my hand a quick squeeze, and together we circled around Nakita and Arariel as they took their first shots at each other.

  Tammy’s tear-streaked face turned to us as we approached, and she scrunched back into the chair when I reached for her. “Come on!” I exclaimed. “We have to get out of here!”

  Tammy kicked at me, and I jumped back. “Shoe said you were dead,” she said, terrified. “Are you dead?”

  “Come on, Madison . . .” Josh urged, standing between me and the reapers.

  She called him! I thought, elated. “I used to be,” I said quickly. “But I’m not anymore, which is why we have to get out of here!” How could she believe I was dead, and still trust Demus’s lies? Again I grabbed her wrist, and this time she let me pull her to her feet.

  “Look out!” Paul shouted, and we ducked as a chair ripped from the floor crashed into the wall only five feet away, bits of tile and cement peppering us like shrapnel. Nakita was getting serious.

  “We gotta go,” Josh said, and we ran for the door.

  Arariel saw us. Battle cry ringing, she leapt high, circling over Nakita’s sword to land between us and the door. My eyes widened, and I pushed Tammy behind me as we skidded to a halt.

  “Arariel, stop!” Paul called out from the opposite side of the room.

  “You are not my keeper,” she snarled, then looked to the ceiling. “Heaven’s guard, descend!” she called out, summoning a guardian angel.

  Oh, crap. If an angel was assigned, then it was all over! “Back!” I shouted, but Tammy had frozen where she stood, frightened.

  Demus lunged at Arariel, intent on his amulet. Bellowing, he crashed into her, and they went down as she screamed in outrage. Demus’s black stone hit the tile floor, flashing violet for an instant as it bounced. Flat on his stomach, Demus reached, stretched, and got it. With a cry of relief, he rolled to a stand, his blade already forming.

  Teeth clenched, Nakita swung at Demus, her lips pulled back and the glory of heaven in her eyes. Their blades met, and again a clear ping of infinity rang.

  My heart was pounding, and Paul slid to a stop beside us, his eyes bright. “Arariel isn’t listening to me,” he said, sounding betrayed.

  “You think?” Josh said, finally getting Tammy to move back a step as she watched the angels battle for her soul.

  “We have got to get out of here!” I said. “Tammy, we have to go!”

  Barnabas was at the door, holding it open and making frantic “out” gestures, but Nakita, Demus, and Arariel were too close for my comfort.

  “My God,” Tammy whispered, the tears stopped in her awe. “Shoe wasn’t lying.”

  “Her!” Arariel cried out, kicking both Demus and Nakita back so she could point her sword at Tammy. “She is heaven’s blessed. Save her!”

  Oh, shit, it was the angel. Without thought, I reached out with one hand and shoved Tammy behind me. With the other, I grabbed Paul’s hand. My head snapped back as the battle suddenly took on a new hue of sparkle and depth as I saw everything with the added power of his amulet. Deep tones shook the air at each blow, and energy radiated from the battling reapers like the sun. And over it all were two small glowing balls of light. One was Grace, and the other was the one from my flash forward.

  “No!” I cried out, hand raised to the guardian angel. “When I flashed forward, you told me to stop this, now I’m telling you! Leave! She is not to be graced with an angel!”

  “She is the one!” Arariel shouted, then dropped her sword and gripped her wrist with a cry as Nakita finally scored on her.

  “She is mine!” I said, words flowing from me in desperation. Tammy’s future death rang through me, the terrible futility of a life wasted making me frantic.

  “Please!” Tammy cried out, hiding behind Josh, clutching at him as he stood in front of her. “Go away! All of you! I just want to live. I want to live!”

 
“That’s a start,” Paul said.

  “Come with me, and you will,” Arariel said, her hand outstretched. Behind her, Nakita and Demus got to their feet, blades out but pointing down. They didn’t attack, feeling the power of the guardian angel soak into them. It was up to me now. Could I convince the angel that Tammy was mine, or would that awful future of a life wasted be true?

  The angel waited, recognizing me, but probably not knowing if this was the moment of now, the future, or even the past. Outside, the black wings gathered. One plastered itself against the window, and I shuddered. Paul tried to pull away, but I gripped his hand harder. If he let go, I’d lose sight of the guardian angel.