“There is another,” said the angel. “In Shadows Fall.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” I said. “They’ll let anyone in. What’s going on here?”
“I am an angel imprisoned inside a man, as he is held within these bars. He is my cage.”
“What does Cassandra want with you?” said Molly.
“I make its business possible. All angels exist Outside of Time and Space, so we can see more clearly, to be about our business. Past, Present, and Future, all at once. I was part of the angel war, fought in the Nightside over the Unholy Grail.”
Molly put a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. The shabby man smiled at her.
“Yes, you were there, weren’t you, Molly Metcalf?”
“You were?” I said, staring at Molly. “You were there when angels came to the Nightside from Above and Below, to fight openly over the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper? And you never said?”
“I don’t tell you everything,” said Molly.
“Just as well,” said the angel. “Considering why you were there. What matters is, I was attacked and weakened, and fell to Earth. Hauled down from my high station, I was captured and imprisoned within a powerful human psychic. The only cage that could hold me. But just the effort of such a possession drove the man insane, and I refused to do anything my captors wanted. They had no way of compelling me. They dared not injure the host for fear of weakening his hold on me. And for fear of what I would do once I was free again. So I was traded back and forth, among various powerful organisations and individuals. Some because they hoped to find a way to force information out of me; some because they wanted me to intercede with Heaven for them. And a few just wanted to have sex with a man who had an angel in him. I refused to cooperate with any of them, and the psychic remained crazy. There’s not much of him left now—just this shell. Finally, the people who became Cassandra bought me at auction.
“They wanted to know the future. And they got answers out of me by threatening to freeze my host in cryogenics so I would never be free. They also promised to release me, once I’d answered a specific number of questions. That number is almost up, but I don’t believe they will keep their word. I can’t See for sure; I am not allowed to See my own future. But I believe Cassandra Inc’s Management are too scared of what I might do to them, once I was no longer constrained. For daring to compel an angel . . . And they’re quite right, of course. They’re currently searching for a way to destroy my host that would also send me straight back to Heaven.” He laughed softly—a ghastly, merciless sound. “Like that would protect them from the wrath of God.”
“Why has Heaven allowed you to remain caged for so long?” I said.
“What are a few moments in Time, compared to Eternity?”
“If you suspected Cassandra Inc’s Management were lying to you, why tell them what they wanted to know?” said Molly.
“Because of the possibility of freedom,” said the angel. “From being caught in the matter trap. I had a feeling my actions would result in someone coming here . . . who could free me.”
“Yes,” I said. “I can do that.”
Molly grabbed me by the arm and moved me urgently back to the door so we could speak quietly together. I wasn’t sure what difference that would make where an angel was concerned, but I went along. Molly glared at me.
“Really?” she said. “Let it out? Just like that? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, Eddie. Angels are beyond our understanding; they move in mysterious and often very scary ways. Particularly when someone’s really pissed them off. I do not want to end up as a pillar of salt!”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s the right thing to do. Look at it, Molly. See what they’ve done. It’s not right to keep Heaven in a cage.”
I walked back to the silver bars, with Molly straggling reluctantly along behind me. The angel looked back at me with its human face. Not begging or pleading, not ordering or demanding. Just waiting to see what I would do.
“Time to go,” I said. “Time for you to go home.”
“What do you want in return?” said the angel.
“No conditions,” I said. “No bargains. That would be wrong.”
“There are things I could tell you, Eddie Drood. Things I could do for you.”
“It wouldn’t be right,” I said, “to compel an angel.”
“Don’t look at me,” said Molly. “He gets like this sometimes.”
“What a refreshing change,” said the angel.
“I would . . . ask,” I said. “Leave the people on this ship to human justice. Please.”
“Since you asked so nicely,” said the angel. “But still, nothing for yourself? Then allow me to express my gratitude. I see death hanging over you, Eddie Drood. Nothing can stop it. Plan accordingly. And beware the Merlin Glass. When you look into that mirror, you’re not the only one who looks back.”
I waited, but that was all he had to say.
“I don’t get anything?” said Molly.
“Don’t push your luck, supernatural terrorist,” said the angel.
“Fair enough,” said Molly.
I took the silver bars in my golden hands and forced them apart. Strange magics and unnatural energies flared around me, so bright and fierce, Molly had to turn her head away, but none of them could touch me in my armour. The silver bars broke and shattered, and I threw the pieces aside until one whole side of the cage was gone. I stepped quickly back from the opening I’d made, and the man with an angel inside came out. He looked at the pentacle painted on the floor, sniffed dismissively, and stepped easily across the lines.
“Amateur night,” he said.
“Okay . . . ,” said Molly. “That’s freed the host, but how are we supposed to get the angel out of him? I’m guessing an exorcism wouldn’t work . . .”
“I was hoping you’d have something,” I said.
“Way outside my experience,” said Molly. “I suppose we could always kill the host . . .”
“Kill an innocent man, to release an angel?” I said. “I’m guessing seriously bad karma.”
Molly looked at the angel. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any ideas?”
“Not really my area of expertise,” said the angel.
“I need to talk to my family,” I said to Molly. “Can you . . . boost the signal, or something?”
“Maybe,” said Molly. “Let’s try.”
She moved in close and touched my torc with the fingertips of her left hand. They trembled slightly on the strange matter, like the most intimate of touches. Like she was touching my soul. I could see the strain in her face as she fought to marshal what magics she had left. I called out to the members of my family through the torc, and they heard me. My handler’s voice rang loudly in my ears.
“Eddie! This is Kate! I’ve been waiting here all evening just in case you needed me! What’s happening?”
“All kinds of weird and wonderful things,” I said. “Listen, I’m on board Cassandra’s ship, but I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course, Eddie. That’s what I’m here for. What do you need?”
“Tell the family psychics to stop generating their chaff and to put all their power into helping someone here with me. They’ll be able to locate him easily enough; he’s possessed. By an angel. I’ll explain later, I promise, but right now I need them to concentrate on breaking the binding so the angel can go free. Can you sort that out?”
There was a pause. “Only you would get involved with something like this, Eddie,” said Kate. “I’ll see what I can do. Hang on.”
“She likes you,” said Molly.
“I know.”
“No, I mean she really likes you.”
“I know! You don’t mind, do you?”
“I think it’s very sweet,” Molly said firmly.
She we
nt over to the door and looked out into the corridor. “I was sure breaking the cage would set off some kind of silent alarm, but I don’t see anyone.”
“Doesn’t mean they’re not on their way.”
“True. Do you still feel like hitting a whole bunch of people?”
And then the psychics must have come through, because the human host’s head suddenly came up, as though reacting to something only he could hear. He smiled, for the first time.
“Thank you, Eddie Drood, Molly Metcalf. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
The angel burst out of the man in a blast of unbearable light. What we’d seen before had just been an impression of an angel; what it allowed us to see. Scaled down, so it wouldn’t damage us. Wild and glorious, magnificent and free at last, the angel departed, in a direction I could sense but not name. The whole room rocked as the forces unleashed in its passing shook the flying airship from end to end. Molly and I clung to each other as the floor dropped out from under us. There was the sound of a whole string of explosions and all kinds of systems breaking down, along with any number of alarms and sirens, and a great many people panicking. One end of the room dropped dramatically as the airship began to fall out of the sky. Molly and I staggered back and forth, and had to hang on to what was left of the silver cage to steady ourselves.
“I asked the angel not to hurt anyone,” I said. “I should have specified—that included not dropping the bloody ship out of the sky with us still on board!”
“I told you it would come out in a bad mood,” said Molly. “I’m just relieved I didn’t end up as a salt lick.”
At the back of the cage, the human host was lying curled up in a corner, not moving. He’d clearly been dead for some time, probably killed by the original shock of containing the angel. Only its presence had kept his body going. Decay was setting in now and making up for lost time.
The airship lurched again, and Molly and I clung desperately to the silver bars. I armoured down to keep Molly company.
“I think we need to get to the control room,” I said. “See how bad this is, and what we can do to help.”
“Really?” said Molly. “After everything they’ve done, let them crash!”
“Not everyone on board is necessarily guilty,” I said. “I doubt most of them even knew about the angel. Probably just ordinary working stiffs.”
“You and your conscience,” said Molly.
The room steadied for a moment, and I quickly headed for the door. Molly stuck close behind, holding on to the back of my belt with one hand, in case things got a bit unsteady again. I could hear running feet approaching before I even got to the door, and when I looked out into the corridor, it was full of armed guards. Who took one look at me and immediately opened fire. I ducked back inside the room and armoured up. Molly yelped briefly as the hand she had holding on to my belt was pushed aside by the enveloping armour.
The door sprang open and the first guards charged in, opening fire again the moment they saw me. I stood between them and Molly, not moving. Bullets slammed into my armour, and it absorbed them all, effortlessly soaking up the massed firepower. With my old armour, the bullets used to ricochet, but that could lead to unfortunate incidents with innocent bystanders. I don’t know what my current armour does with the bullets it absorbs; I’ve never quite dared ask. More and more guards burst into the room, targeting me with their various weapons. The sound of so much gunfire in the confined space was deafening. And I just stood there and took it all. Staring calmly at the guards through the featureless golden mask that covered my whole face. That always freaks people out.
One by one the guards stopped firing, and lowered their weapons. In the sudden echoing quiet, the security men looked at one another, and then reluctantly looked back at me. I raised one golden fist, and grew heavy spikes out of the knuckles.
“Run,” I said.
And they did.
They’d been gone only a few moments before two men and a woman came charging into the room. Young business types, in smart power suits. They didn’t even look at me, all their attention fixed on the broken silver cage. One of the men actually moaned. The woman finally looked at me and Molly. Behind the understated makeup, her face was pale, but her mouth was still a flat, stern line.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m a Drood,” I said. “Who are you?”
“We’re Cassandra Inc’s Management,” said the woman. “What have you done?”
“Let the angel go free,” I said. “You had no right to hold it here.”
“We bought that angel!” said one of the men. “We paid good money for it. It’s ours!”
“You let it go?” said the other man. “We were going to be rich!”
“We didn’t imprison the angel,” the woman said carefully. “We just bought the man, with the angel already inside. We made a deal with it.”
“But did you intend to keep your side of the bargain?” I said. “The angel didn’t think so.”
“It was just business,” said the woman.
“Didn’t you think of all the damage you were doing with your predictions?” I said. “When you interfered with the Droods, you put the safety of the world at risk.”
“It was just business!” said the woman. “What gives you the right to interfere?”
“You messed with my family,” I said. “No one gets to do that.”
The woman looked at the two men. “Do something!”
They looked at each other, and ran back out the door. The woman went after them, bitterly calling them cowards.
“We didn’t even get their names,” said Molly.
“Do you care?”
“You let them go. I would have turned them into frogs.”
“My family will see that word gets out that they’re responsible for all the trouble Cassandra caused,” I said. “Those three will be on the run for the rest of their lives.”
“Nasty,” said Molly. “I like it.”
“Let’s go find the control room,” I said.
“Let’s,” said Molly.
* * *
I armoured down, and we fought our way through the narrow steel corridors, through crowds of desperate, panicking people looking for escape pods, parachutes, or any other way off the sinking ship. Having met the Management, I was willing to bet there weren’t any. The crowds paid no attention to me or Molly, except to curse us when we got in their way. I tried to ask directions to the control room, but no one had the time to talk to me. In the end, I just grabbed a man at random, slammed him up against the wall, thrust my face into his, and demanded directions. And he was only too happy to supply them.
But by the time I crashed onto the bridge, with Molly right behind me, the whole place was deserted. It was a room full of computerized control systems, with dozens of workstations and even an old-fashioned wooden steering wheel facing a massive windscreen, and not one crew member at his post, trying to keep the ship in the air.
“They ran,” I said. “Deserted their posts. Useless shit-bastard cowards.”
“Rats deserting a sinking ship,” said Molly. “Still think these people are worth saving?”
“Let them run,” I said. “My family will see they’re rounded up and made to pay for what they’ve done. Once I’ve saved them. I can’t just leave them to die, Molly.”
“You think the law can touch people like these?” said Molly.
“Who said anything about the law? I’m talking about my family.” I wandered round the various workstations, trying to make sense of the controls. “There must be something we can do . . .”
Molly pointed speechlessly at the massive windscreen before us. The ship’s prow was sinking even lower. It had already passed through the cloud banks, and was plummeting towards the earth at increasing speed.
“Eddie, we need to get the hell off this ship,
” Molly said in a calm and extremely controlled voice. “And I mean right now.”
“Do you have the magics for a teleport?”
“Well, no, but . . .”
“I suppose I could wait till the last minute and jump,” I said. “Hold you in my arms and trust the glider wings . . .”
Molly glared at me. “Any other ideas?”
I grinned at her. “Save the ship.”
“Let it crash! Everyone on board deserves it!”
“I’m thinking more about where the ship might crash,” I said. “The people it landed on might not deserve it. And besides, in the ordinary, everyday world, oversized flying aircraft carriers aren’t supposed to suddenly drop out of the sky and make a really large crater in the local surroundings. Droods are supposed to protect people from ever having to know things like that can happen.”
“All right!” said Molly. “I get the point! Save the bloody ship!”
I found the main control station and sat down, armoured up one hand, and sent tendrils of golden strange matter surging through the systems. Computer screens burst into life all around me, packed with information. I grasped what I could, thought for a moment, and did the only useful thing left to me. I slaved all the systems to the steering wheel. I retrieved the golden tendrils and moved over to stand at the wheel. It was solid oak, very sturdy. I armoured up, took a firm hold, and tilted the wheel back to raise the prow. The ship didn’t want to know. I set the power of my armour against the wheel, and slowly, inch by inch, the prow came up.
“That really is very impressive, Eddie,” Molly said quietly beside me. “But we are still falling out of the sky.”
“The main engines looked to be undamaged,” I said. “According to the computers, it’s just the guidance systems that are screwed. That’s why I put everything through the wheel. Think of me as the manual override. If I can just hold her steady, the engines should slow the ship down.”
“Should?”
“Hey, I’m dancing as fast as I can . . .”
“Anything I can do?” said Molly.
“Wish me luck,” I said. “This isn’t going to be easy.”