CHAPTER 20: THE CLOCK IS TICKING
They gaped at me. Joseph’s mouth was ajar while Andrew’s eyes burned into mine, the color of melted treasure. His expression was one I couldn’t place. Astonishment? Shock? Disbelief? Ehno and Lucia had their faces practically plastered to the glass walls, their expressions just as unreadable. The emergency lights barely lit the lab, and the flashing yellow lights made the whole scene look surreal and dream-like. But this was reality.
Andrew opened his mouth as if to speak, but then closed it after a few seconds of silence. That was okay. I was still trying to comprehend everything that happened in my dream. I was a bit faint and sat on a stool at a table, leaning over the countertop for support. As the tears slid down my face, they dropped on the stainless steel lab table before me. If I thought my level of bewilderment was reached, I was incredibly wrong. The two small droplets were like tiny beads of hot gold. I brushed at my face, wiping the tears from my eyes. When I looked down at my fingers, they were wet with golden tears. Gold? Why were they gold? This was a first. I turned back to the angels.
“Wha—what?” I stuttered.
“You’re an angel,” Andrew whispered in awe.
“I’m a . . .” I trailed off. Images of my dream slammed back into my consciousness. Bam, bam, bam. One by one: Abelie, Aiden, the Divine Library, the Ladies of Light, the Soul Stalker, the prophecy . . .
The prophecy!
“I’m a hybrid,” I realized aloud. I looked over my skin to check for the charcoal color of a Shadow. There were only bruises, most of them already turning a faint yellow. If I had a mirror I would have searched my eyes for the fire blazing behind them.
No, no, no. This was too much. All too much. I couldn’t handle this. I gripped the table for support as the room swayed at a funny angle. Was the table always tilted sideways or was I leaning that way? Each passing second felt weirdly sluggish as the room shifted sideways.
“She’s going down. Catch her,” shouted Andrew.
Before my body fell into unconsciousness, the ground swirled up toward my face. Then everything was black.
Warm fingers were on my face. “Please wake up,” murmured a soft tenor voice. “Gabriella, please.”
Without opening my eyes, I asked, “Did I faint?”
“Thank you,” whispered a voice. “Yes, you fainted. How do you feel?”
I blinked, the lights hadn’t returned and Joseph’s face was cast in shadows. “I feel . . . well, I’m not sure if there’s a single word in any language that could describe how I feel.” I couldn’t believe I fainted. How embarrassing.
He let out a breath of relief. “I was worried.”
“We all were,” barked Andrew.
I sat up, a little too quickly. My head went all swoopy on me. “Is the Sou—Karen here?”
“No,” several people answered at once.
“Thank God.” I sighed and leaned against the bottom of the lab table.
Andrew raised his eyebrows at my reaction.
“Don’t trust her,” I said.
“I don’t understand,” Lucia replied from the farthest cell to my left. “She’s your Guardian, of course you can trust her.”
Ignoring her, I looked straight at Ehno whose eyebrows had come so close together they almost made one single brow. “I know who gave me the Sight, and now I know why.”
“Who?” he asked.
“My mother.”
“What?” exclaimed Ehno.
“Your mother?” Andrew bellowed.
Lucia stared at me in complete disbelief. “Angels don’t have children.”
“Maybe you knew her?” I shrugged. “Abelie?”
My words were met with silence. Knowing silence.
I tried to get to my feet, to move closer to the angels in their darkened cells. Joseph held out a hand to help me up. Once I was standing, I moved toward the glass cells, which reflected the annoying yellow lights.
“Do you?” I asked. “Know her, I mean.”
“She’s an Elder,” whispered Lucia.
“We all knew her,” Andrew finally said. “She was the librarian at the Divine Library.”
There were too many things going through my head, too many aspects of my dream that they needed to know, but all I could do was stare at them. I’d finally found my mother, so to speak.
“What was she like?” My fingers met the glass of Andrew’s cell. The glass vibrated as electricity shot through me. A small crack formed beneath my fingertips, and a spider-web effect raced through the glass until it touched all four corners. Then the wall crumbled to the ground in tiny little pieces as they scattered in every direction. Instead of jumping back in shock, I stepped over the pile of reflective crystal, glad the barrier was finally gone—and so were the camera’s intrusive eyes because there was no power. Relief rushed me.
Words weren’t necessary. I fell into Andrew’s arms.
“She’s beautiful, like you,” he said while stroking my hair. “She has the kindest heart of any angel I ever knew. But I’m confused as to why you think you’re a hybrid. Abelie was deeply in love with her angel husband Aiden. If she’s your mother—an impossibility, I might add—then you would be an angel—you are an angel.” His voice lowered to a whisper until it trailed off.
His words surprised me. I didn’t want to pull away, but that was what I did—quickly—jerking my way free. “What? But that doesn’t— In my dream Aiden wasn’t an angel, he was a Shadow.”
From the cell next to Andrew’s, Ehno’s noises of impatience grew louder. “Maybe you could use your powers to let us out, too. I know you can,” said Ehno. “I can see it.”
Andrew nodded at me.
“Yeah. I suppose I could try, right?” I stepped over the fragments of glass.
Joseph still hadn’t said a word; he just continued to look at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
Ehno’s expression was clearly excited. I shook my hands before placing them on the glass. The bruises on my arms were gone, and I gasped, startled. At the same time electricity shot through me so fast and violent the glass didn’t just crack and crumble to the ground, it exploded. Joseph dived behind a lab table. Ehno, red eyes wide, smirked. I bit my bottom lip, unsure of what to say. He stepped over the pile of shards before tracing a spot on my arm. I looked down to see small droplets of golden blood escaping a deep gash, a piece of glass sticking out. Speechless, I yanked the glass free and watched as my skin grew back together, leaving the golden droplet on my arm. My heart beat rapidly as I witnessed this. When I was younger I had skinned my knees up, I was in a car accident once, and every time my blood was red, not gold.
What does it all mean? I thought, flabbergasted.
“It’s true then? You really are an angel,” Ehno breathed in wonder. “You’ll become very powerful.” He nodded at some thought.
I wasn’t sure if that was a statement of goodwill in me or his psychic ability. When I turned around, I almost ran right into Andrew who stared over my head at Ehno. It seemed like they were having a silent conversation.
“Hurry,” Andrew said to me, then looked back at Ehno. “While the power is out we might be able to break free of this place. Ehno can’t quite see the outcome yet.”
Behind Andrew, Joseph was watching us, his eyes as big as silver dollars. It was now or never; I rushed over to Lucia’s cell and didn’t hesitate as I put my fingers on the glass.
Nothing happened. Ehno and Andrew flanked me.
“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked.
I stared at our reflections in the glass. They were waiting for me to free her—to break the glass as I did before. This power was still new to me, and I wasn’t quite sure how to control it. I tried to will the electricity to come. Again, nothing. When I thought about it, I realized that the previous two times electricity had exploded from me when I experienced an overwhelming emotion. In my failed attempts I grew frustrated, but that emotion was not strong enough to wield any results. I tried to think
about my dream, but nothing happened.
“There’s no electricity,” I said angrily.
Andrew and Ehno started having another one of their silent conversations; I could tell just by the changing expressions on both of their faces.
“The clock is ticking,” Andrew stated. I turned around and stared between the two, waiting with much impatience at their silence.
All of a sudden, Ehno’s eyebrows shot up. “That might work.”
I exhaled a deep breath, ready to demand to hear what they were saying to each other in their heads. “What might work?”
Both of their eyes snapped down to me before they looked back at each other knowingly. I opened my mouth to demand more information when Andrew twisted me around and pushed me up against the glass wall. His face descended to mine until he was only an inch away. He took me completely by surprise. My breath came heavily at the feeling of his face being so close to mine. At his body pressing against mine.
What was he doing?
His rich, warm scent swirled between us. He hesitated so close to my lips I thought I was going to explode with anticipation. We stood like that for several long—too long—seconds. His breath filled the space between us, and I licked my lips. His eyes, his face, his body had gone all aggressive and passionate. My breath hitched. Butterflies assaulted my stomach and sent a wave of bliss rushing through my throbbing veins—my veins that were now full of golden blood. You really are an angel, Ehno had said.
I closed my eyes, and Andrew finally closed the distance, his hands on the glass beside my head, trapping me. I didn’t care. His lips were warm and soft against mine as I responded to his mouth. The taste of him was much better than I could have ever imagined. He was like honey. Desire raced in my veins; desire for him, his body, his lips against mine. Each time he moved his mouth away, I brought his lips back with my own. Everything around me melted away—there was only us. He was my angel and would always be my angel. I would refuse to give this up—to give him up.
A strange, new, and exciting sensation rippled down my spine. Electricity built inside me. It gathered at my core, growing hotter. Andrew pressed his body against mine, pressing me firmly against the glass. His body was hard and sexy as hell. Oh God. And though everyone was here to witness this very intimate moment, I didn’t care. All my worries seemed to vanish. I was melting in his capable hands as his fingers roamed over my cheeks and got lost in my hair. As I reached toward his face, the electricity crackled between my fingers. I quickly put my hands behind me, embarrassed. Andrew’s hands went to my back and grabbed mine. Before I knew what he was doing, he pressed my palms flat against the glass and pushed into me even more with his spectacular body.
Unexpectedly, I fell backward, but I didn’t have the chance to fall far. Andrew seized me, pulling my waist to him as he pressed his lips firmly against mine, becoming more eager. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Someone cleared their throat. We pulled apart as if we were both being yanked back with hooks. His chest was heaving, as was mine. Was I blushing? What did it look like now that my blood was gold? Did I glow? Was I glowing?
“I’m sorry.” Andrew looked ashamed.
I shook my head. “Don’t be.” Do it again, I wanted to scream. Didn’t he feel what I was feeling? Was it bad for him? Did he not enjoy himself? I hated that I felt so insecure, but I’d never felt a connection like that with anyone before. The electricity, the rushing of my blood through my body as it warmed every inch of my skin. All of a sudden I felt extremely vulnerable. He could really hurt me if he wanted to. In the past, I had never let myself get to this point with another person. I was fully clothed, but I suddenly felt naked, my comfortable layer of protection gone.
Lucia stepped past me, patting me on the shoulder as if she was sympathizing with my thoughts.
“Can we quit with the theatrics and get the hell out of here before the power comes back on?” Joseph snapped, standing on the other side of the table that had acted as his shield earlier.
Theatrics? Was that what that kiss was? An act? I had forgotten that Joseph was here after that kiss. I didn’t have time to think about it. He was right—we needed to get out of there and fast. I brushed glass off my clothes and started toward the door with the angels and Joseph.
Karen—or should I say Soul Stalker—came running into the lab, her eyes wide with distress. She was a good actress, better than good, really. Instantly, I didn’t trust her look of concern.
She was nicknamed “Soul Stalker” because she was believed to be devoid of a soul. With everything that was going on, I still hadn’t had time to tell the angels exactly what it was I saw in my dream.
“Are you all right, Gabriella?” asked the Soul Stalker. “I knew I shouldn’t have left.”
“I’m fine,” I said, trying not to let resentment leak into my tone.
“Thank Gods.”
I gripped Andrew’s hand, letting the electricity flow between us. Before, I was able to communicate through the current, and I was hoping now more than ever that he would be able to hear the thoughts that I was screaming at the top of my mental lungs. She’s not who she says she is! She has come to kill me. She’s an assassin. The Soul Stalker. We need to get away from her. Please. Andrew, please trust me.
His grip tightened on mine, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of my frightened thoughts or if it was just a reassuring gesture. I hated that he couldn’t talk back to me through that same current.
It was the Ladies of Light. Everything’s their fault; I just know it. Karen’s bad. B-A-D. Do something, anything. Just let me know you hear me. I gripped his hand with all my strength.
Several images from before, when we were in the Fishbowl together, flooded back to me. My need to take the necklaces off the angels—the necklaces that were actually a symbol of good and not evil—the pull to take them off was intense, strong, and now that I thought about it, it was probably Karen’s doing. Did that mean those necklaces held power, or did she just want to strip them of their titles? I had no time to think.
Andrew looked sideways at me and lifted his hand to my cheek. With his face out of view of the Soul Stalker, he gave me a tiny nod. The breath I didn’t know I was holding came out in a rush. When Andrew moved, I could see Karen walking over to me, as if to assess my wellbeing. It looked more like a lion preparing to pounce on its prey. I didn’t want her anywhere near me. Her acting wasn’t going to work on me anymore. I had believed her this whole time, trusted her, and now I felt sickened.
Anger swelled inside me, burning just beneath the surface of my skin. I put my hand up to tell her to stop, that I was fine. When I did this, electricity shot from my hand and hit her with the strength of a Mack truck. She shook with the voltage, which was more electricity than I had ever felt inside me before. She collapsed to the ground, and everyone turned to look at me in shock. The Soul Stalker: zero. Gabriella: one. The game was on.
“In my dream, the Ladies of Light were meeting about Zola’s prophecy.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as quickly as I could speak them. “During the meeting they talked about how the assassin had been chosen. She was hired to kill the Illuminator. The assassin was the Soul Stalker,” I finished in a rush.
Andrew stiffened next to me. Joseph looked just as confused as ever, the look of bewilderment scrunching up his forehead. Ehno and Lucia stared at me as if I had just told them I was a mermaid.
As if we didn’t already have a pile of trouble, Darren stumbled into the lab.
Shit, I shouted in my head.
“Karen.” He gasped and knelt beside her. “What happened?”
He looked straight at me, and for the first time in my life, I lied so smoothly you would have thought I was a professional fibber. “I don’t know. She just came in here and fainted.”
Darren looked back down at the Soul Stalker with affection. Bile rose in my throat. “Oh Karen, please be okay.” If only he knew.
“I’ll go get help,” I offered.
&nb
sp; “You can’t. All the doors are locked. If it weren’t for the engineers, I wouldn’t have been able to get this far,” he said, his eyes never leaving Karen’s face. I was grateful for that much because if he even took a second to put things together, he’d understand that we were trying to escape. The room was destroyed, three glass cells were broken, and the angels were out. One of them was even holding my hand. Master of the Oblivious—that was Darren.
“Then we’ll all go. You can take care of Karen, right?” I asked.
Darren nodded. “Yeah. Go. Hurry!”
He didn’t need to tell us twice. We ran down the hallway as if a fleet of dragons were behind us, lighting our asses on fire. As we turned the first corner, the lights flared to life as electricity was restored. We all froze.
“That’s not good,” I muttered.