They both veered toward Clarissa’s tent, where she was also rising, sitting up. They could see her stretching, her arms reaching for the heavens.
“She’s going to be trouble,” Lev whispered, gritting his teeth. “You do know that, don’t you?”
“Perhaps,” Evan agreed, setting his hand on his son’s shoulder. “But then again, all humans are trouble. It’s part of who they are—who you are.” He looked from his son to the girl. “It’s like you’ve suddenly developed a strong dislike for her.”
“That’s not it,” Lev quickly reassured him. “Not really.”
“I guess I’ll have to take your word.” Evan nodded farther down the line of tents towards Griffin’s. “I guess I should go check in the others so we can get this finished. You’d best make sure everything is packed up,” Evan called back. “We’ll be heading out as quickly as possible.”
“Got it,” Lev said, his gaze drifting back to Clarissa’s tent as she rose to her feet and looked in his direction, her expression anything but clear, and Lev sensed that once she slipped out, he knew she’d approach him and try to talk about what had happened or whatever hadn’t happened that she wanted to, something he was far from up for.
He had to get out of there before that happened.
As his heartbeat quickened, he averted his gaze and hastened his steps in the same direction as Evan had gone, heading to make it to Griffin’s tent, where he knew he’d find Celia. Maybe, since she sensed something was off, she might be able to help him out of this mess before it got any worse.
“Lev?” Clarissa poked her head out, and he reluctantly stopped to offer her a smile he didn’t feel.
“Hey.”
“Have you got a few minutes?” Her voice was soft and tender, making him feel all the more guilty that he didn’t share what she felt. He could never do that.
“Not right now,” he said, pointing down the row of tents. “I need to talk to Celia. It’s important.”
She nodded. “All right. Maybe afterwards?” She gave him a hopeful look.
“Maybe,” he said. “You should check in with Evan or Riley about getting something to eat.”
“All right.” She beamed a smile at him, making him wonder if he should’ve done something differently yet again. The last thing he wanted to do was lead her on and make her think he felt things he didn’t.
Raking his fingers through his hair, he strode down to Griffin’s tent, where he saw Celia wrapped in Griffin’s arms, both laughing and talking. The world around them had stopped existing. Although he knew he shouldn’t feel jealous, he did, probably because of the emptiness that threatened to consume him. He would move heaven and earth to have that again.
“Celia?” he finally said, looking away.
“Lev?” She sat up abruptly, her smile vanishing. “Is everything all right?”
“Sort of.” He cleared his throat. “I need to get your advice about something, that’s all.”
“Okay.” She gave Griffin one last kiss and then forced herself to her feet. “You’d best get ready for the battle,” she told Griffin. “We’ll be leaving soon.”
She took a deep breath and headed out of the tent to meet her brother. “What’s up?”
“You were right—and don’t freaking tell me ‘I told you so.’” He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension.
“I was right about what?”
“Clarissa kissed me last night.”
Celia’s eyes bulged. “Oh, my. What did you do after that?”
“Got the heck out of Dodge as fast as I could.” Even though he didn’t want to, he kept replaying all the moments that had led up to that kiss, moments that never should’ve happened that he was sure would haunt him forever.
“And what do you want me to tell you?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest, her gaze still drifting back to the tent, probably to the same place her thoughts gathered: with Griffin.
“I don’t know what to do, Celia,” Lev muttered. “She has no family, so we can’t just send her back to them, yet I feel like she’s constantly watching me, expecting that I’m going to fall head over heels for her. We both know that isn’t going to happen. It can’t.”
“Well, there’s not much you can do except be honest with her…or get through this morning and hope Elizabeth is found. Once you find her, there won’t be any doubt how you feel about anything. What were you even doing with her?” A breeze blew Celia’s hair into her eyes, forcing her to push it back.
“She was having a nightmare. I was just trying to help.” He took a deep breath.
“You always are.”
Lev saw that Riley had emerged from his tent and walked over to Clarissa, where the two of them began talking. While the angel looked directly at her, Clarissa kept watching Lev, obviously awaiting his return, which only doubled the knots in his stomach. Of the options Celia mentioned, he preferred just waiting until he had Elizabeth back, but it was going to be hard to keep Clarissa at bay like that.
“How’s Griffin?”
The frown Celia wore quickly shifted to a broad smile. “He’s good. The extra hours of rest made all the difference for him.”
“Good. I should probably let the two of you be.” He glanced at Clarissa again, and this time she waved.
“You know it’s not her fault, right?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” he finally said, heading back to face music he didn’t want to hear.
As he walked back to his stuff, Clarissa quietly approached. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Just kind of stressed out, I guess. I’m not exactly crazy about heading into the dybbuks’ lair.” He started to say something else, but it didn’t feel right, like he was telling Clarissa something he shouldn’t and in a way making Elizabeth more vulnerable. That really didn’t make sense, but it was how he felt.
“Is that all?” She set her hands on her hips, her eyes searing into him--she was searching for something.
“Isn’t that enough?” He frowned, not liking the weirdness of this conversation.
“Well…yeah. It’s just that after last night, it seems like I have leprosy or something. You don’t want to be anywhere near me. It was just a stupid kiss, Lev. Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”
She started to take down her tent.
“Look, it’s not about you. You just walked into some things I can’t explain.”
Her laugh was brittle. “You don’t have to explain anything—I can tell when I’m not wanted. God, you must think me hideous or something.” She jerked one of the stakes from the ground but couldn’t quite manage.
“Is that what you really think?” His tone rose with incredulity.
“Most guys like girls they find attractive. You don’t find me attractive, so you must not like me. Besides, there’s always your girlfriend to think about, right? And she definitely wouldn’t appreciate me kissing you.”
She went after another stake, struggling right from the get-go. As Lev bent to help, however, she waved him off. “Look. Just don’t, okay? I can do this without your help. I’ve been doing stuff on my own my whole life. There’s no point in your trying to save me now.”
Lev straightened and wiped his hands on his jeans, trying to think of something to say, but he kept coming up empty, as usual. As an angel, he’d been better at figuring out the right words. Being human sucked all around, and being human without Elizabeth was intolerable.
He opened his mouth, but the newly pulled stake in her hand proved what she’d said—that she really hadn’t needed him, after all. Grateful for the exit cue, Lev took it, all the while hoping it wouldn’t come back and bite him on the butt before all was said and done.
Once again, he looked at the sky and realized that in a few minutes they’d all be heading toward the next location of battle.
* * *
When Riley had told them the location of the dybbuks’ nest wasn’t far, he hadn’t been kidding. Ro
ughly forty-five minutes after loading everything up and starting the engines, they found themselves facing yet another long-abandoned structure—a huge old barn with peeling rust paint. Tall weeds and a graveyard of useless farm machinery surrounded it, and the way the clouds tumbled over one another made it feel more like a painting than reality.
Then again, dybbuks didn’t live in art, and they sure weren’t pretty.
Lev cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. “You sure this is it?” The place just seemed so peaceful and yet, at the same time, haunted. It was like standing before a growling dog with a wagging tail: he didn’t know which end to believe, and this “dog” could do oh so much more than bite.
“Well, Clarissa?” Riley deferred to her, studying her face, looking for doubt.
Clarissa shoved the hair from her face and blinked, her gaze never leaving the barn. “Yeah, this is it.”
“You’re sure?” Evan asked, his voice even as always.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sure. This is where the dybbuks first brought me. No doubt they’re in there doing God only knows what.”
Lev’s shoulder’s tightened, and he inhaled sharply at that thought. Clarissa must’ve heard it because she gave him a helpless look.
“Sorry,” he said, as if that would make her little blunder sting less.
Yeah, right.
“So what’s the plan?” Lev asked. “I think there’s only one door, so it can’t be like last time, and I don’t think, considering the close quarters, the element of surprise is going to help us much here.”
“Probably not, which is why we are going to have to just get them to come out and face us on our terms,” Riley replied, his mouth set in a determined frown that suggested he didn’t, even for a moment, think they could lose this battle. Was he insane?
“And just how are we going to do that?” Griffin asked, looking equally as baffled.
Riley pointed at Griffin’s truck. “We’ve got some explosive charges in the trunk. We can set those around part of the barn. That will make enough of a distraction to get them all out here.”
Lev rushed forward and slammed Riley against the vehicle. “And if Elizabeth is in the wrong part of the barn, it just might get her killed, something I’m not willing to chance. She’s the reason we’re here.”
“It’s not like we have a lot of options,” Riley argued, shoving back then adjusting his shirt. “Use your brain for once.”
“I am using my brain. There’re enough angels here who could sneak in and at least see where Elizabeth is before we go blowing things up.”
“Angels?” Clarissa repeated, suddenly looking around with girlish new-found interest. “Some of you are angels? How cool is that?” She started acting like she wanted to jump up and down in her excitement, and Lev just wanted to throttle her.
“This isn’t the time,” Lev said, his voice coming out short and angry.
“I think he’s got a point, Riley,” Evan said, frowning at both her and Riley. “One of us could go in there and scout things out easily enough. They wouldn’t sense us.”
“And if there’s an angel in there, it’s game over.” Frustrated, Riley threw his hands up in exasperation. “All right. Fine. I’ll go in and see what we’re up against, not that it’s probably going to matter in the end.”
That’s because Elizabeth doesn’t matter to you, Lev thought, gritting his teeth to keep from lashing out. No matter how anyone else felt about Elizabeth, they would ultimately be able to walk away from this. Lev knew he wouldn’t. Some wounds never healed.
As Riley vanished, Lev focused on Clarissa, who was still watching him with that sense of irrepressible wonder that made absolutely no sense.
“Perhaps Clarissa should stay in the car.” Lev swallowed hard even as the displeasure crossed her face, transforming her features with anger.
“I don’t want to wait in the car!” she snipped, thrusting her hands to her hips. “I can handle myself just fine.” She frowned at Lev accusingly.
Evan calmly said, “It’s not like keeping her in the car will guarantee her safety. We needed her to get us here. Now there is no safety zone.”
Lev shook his head. “Fine.” He turned to Clarissa. “You might want to stand behind Evan or Celia. Got it?” He arched his eyebrows at her expectantly.
She opened her mouth to argue but clenched her lips shut at the last moment and gave a final nod. Lev cocked his head to one side, wondering why she seemed so fixated on him, but it didn’t matter. He just needed her to get whatever it was out of her system before it drove him over the edge.
Still, even if she drove him nuts, Lev didn’t want to see any harm come to her, and he really hoped she would listen to him when the time came because while the angels could watch out for her, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to.
He and the others stared at the barn as the waiting game stretched out in front of them. He gripped his sword more tightly, as though doing so might make him feel better somehow. He wanted to control something in the face of everything seeming to fall apart all around him.
Riley suddenly seemed appeared from out of nowhere and strode toward them, his expression dark.
“Well?” Lev demanded once the angel had stepped close enough to hear. “What did you see?”
“Ten dybbuks. Half are resting, but once things heat up, that’ll change.”
“What about Elizabeth?” Lev demanded.
Riley took a deep breath and nodded. “She’s in there—on the left side.” The whole while he spoke, Riley stared either at the ground or at Evan, anywhere but at Lev, as though he just couldn’t look him in the eye. There was something he’d refused to say, something big. Lev began to ask when Riley headed to the truck for the explosive charges. It was as though Riley had expected him to ask more questions and this was the only way he could avoid answering them.
Charges in hand, Riley strode around the building, setting them up. At least he had the sense to only rig the right side of the building, which would give them enough time to rush in and get Elizabeth before things went too far south. It was as good a plan as any, Lev suspected. Then again, no plan felt right. All was mucked up in the chaos of his heart and not about to untangle itself.
Everyone watched Riley, waiting, biding their time until he’d finished. It seemed to take forever.
“Get ready,” Evan hissed, nodding to Lev and Celia. Then he glared at Clarissa. “And you stay out of the way. It’s going to get ugly, and you definitely don’t want to be in the middle of it.”
Griffin stepped up to Lev and whispered in his ear, “I’ll do whatever I can to keep them off you so you can bring Lizzie out.”
“I’ll get her out.” His voice wavered as he thought about what might be waiting for him. Yes, she was in there. He just didn’t know if she were still alive, and even if he’d asked Riley, Lev had a feeling the angel wouldn’t have told him regardless. It was incentive that would make him try as hard as he could to get done what he needed to get done.
“I know.”
Riley gave one last warning nod to let them know it was going down now. Five seconds later, the world exploded in a burst of heat and pressure. Lev felt his stomach tense as he thought of Elizabeth inside that building, but Riley had been true to his word and left the side of the building untouched. The trick was going to be getting to her.
Suddenly the barn doors slammed open and the dybbuks spilled out, their expressions slack and disoriented. Evan and Celia met the first two as Riley rushed into the ranks to join in the battle, not that Lev much cared. He was more fixated on searching through the dybbuks, checking to see if Elizabeth were with any of them.
“Do you see her?” he called to Griffin, wondering if he had any better view.
“Not yet,” Griffin called.
Clarissa stared at the angels, her lips parted slightly as she watched the battle. More than once, the dybbuks tried to lunge past the line of angels, who somehow managed to hold them back, keeping them from the human
s. Still, Lev watched the building, and when he couldn’t wait any longer, he started toward it.
“Lev, no!” Celia called.
“Elizabeth’s in there!” he shouted and charged toward the burning structure. In his peripheral vision, he saw that Griffin followed, his sword poised, ready for any dybbuks that happened in their direction.
Lev was so focused on getting inside that he didn’t see the first one come at him and wasn’t prepared to fight off the hands lunging toward him, grabbing his throat, and by the time he could respond, he found the dybbuk cutting off his air.
Griffin, however, wasn’t nearly so distracted and began swinging. The first missed, but the second scored a direct hit. At the touch of the blade, the dybbuk, a man in his mid-forties with dark hair and eyes, immediately released Lev’s throat. Lev staggered back, watching as the dybbuk took one last step and then pitched forward into unconsciousness.
“Thanks,” Lev resumed his charge through the open doors. Another dybbuk, this time a twenty-something blonde who’d probably been an aerobics instructor greeted him. Although her sudden lunge in his direction took him off guard, at least this time he managed to knock her hands away before she could latch on. He’d seen what happened when they got hold one too many times, and he couldn’t risk the delay, not with smoke filling the room. If he didn’t get her out quickly, she’d die.
A different dybbuk charged at him, a teenage girl, as Griffin dealt with the aerobics woman. Lev got lucky and the blade found her immediately, freeing the dybbuks’ spirit from the girl’s body, leaving a pile of skin and bones behind.
As Lev ducked farther into the barn, he quickly realized how right he’d been to hurry; although half the structure hadn’t been touched, it wouldn’t be long before the fire claimed it. He scanned the room, searching desperately, but only the usual farm implements greeted him—that and what he assumed were tarp-covered vehicles.
“Elizabeth?” he called, ignoring the sounds of Griffin covering his backside, keeping the dybbuks off him so he could get through this. He’d find her one way or another—unless, of course, Riley had lied and she wasn’t really here. The thought made him stiffen as the air rushed from his lungs.