Falling (The Falling Angels Saga) (26 page)

What I thought was so crazy that, if I was wrong, I was undoubtedly going to get that visit to the district shrink Maudrina had spoken of earlier.

Mr. Percival got to his feet and stuck the key in the lock. It was now or never. I knew for sure once I entered that office I wouldn’t be coming out again. As he unlocked the door, he gave a quick glance up and then down the corridor, making sure there were no witnesses. I took a few steps back, away from him.

“Here we go,” he said, swinging the door open.

“Demon!” I called. Before I could get another word out, he spun around, his eyes wild and flaring.

“Did you just call me
Damon
?” He was trying to smile, trying to throw me off my game, but there was fear bulging his eyes. “My name’s not Damon, it’s Kevin. You can call me that if you wish.” he said with a chuckle. He reached for me.

“Demon!” I repeated. “I command you to leave Mr. Percival’s body now.” I took another step back as his eyes went unnaturally wide. His reaching hand snapped back like a bungee cord.

“Are you crazy!” he called. His wild eyes again glanced up and down the corridor.

Nothing was happening. Aside from him being really angry with me, nothing was happening.

He gathered himself. He seemed weaker, as if he’d been punched in the gut. “Come now,” he said, again reaching for me.

“Demon, did you not hear my command?” I bellowed. I was either right about him, or I was crazy. Either way, something horrible was going to happen.

He shuddered as if he’d again been punched. “You are cr…cr… cuhhh.” He started coughing. At first it was as if he had a bad cold. He covered his mouth. Yet in moments the cough turned violent, as if his lungs were erupting or being ripped to shreds from the inside. He slumped to his knees, his eyes dancing wildly in their sockets as the coughing jag raged on.

“Mr. Percival! Mr. Percival, are you all right?”

I wheeled around, looking up and down the deserted corridor for someone, anyone, any adult who might know what to do. I was wrong about Mr. Percival. He wasn’t a demon. He was having a heart attack.

Instead of an adult, I saw the strangest thing. So strange, I had to rub my eyes to make it go away. Amanda. My gray-and-black cat, Amanda, was slinking up the corridor toward us, like a combat soldier creeping along on her belly.

“Amanda? What are you doing here?” I suddenly felt disoriented, as if maybe I
was
going crazy.

The coughing abruptly stopped. When I turned back, Mr. Percival was lying on the floor; his eyes had disappeared up into his head, revealing nothing but the whites. His mouth hung slack, and foam drizzled across his lips and down his chin, pooling onto his cardigan sweater where it congealed into a jello-like blob.

Then something else came out of his opened mouth. At first it appeared as though a swarm of black bees were ascending from his mouth, gathering in a cloud above his head. But they weren’t bees. They were particles of black soot fleeing Mr. Percival’s body and hovering above his head, suspended in air like a black ghost.

A growl from down the hall pulled my attention back to Amanda. She had stopped advancing and was now shifting into her hell-cat form. As I looked on, she grew in length, muscles suddenly bulging from her shoulders and haunches. A pair of dark bat wings unfolded from the fur on her back and waved in the air, making a soft whooshing sound.

“Youuuuu.” A gravelly voice called in a prolonged sigh, pulling my attention back to Mr. Percival and the black cloud.

The cloud was now hovering next to an unconscious Mr. Percival (still lying on the floor) shifting into the shape of an unearthly being. The dwarfish thing forming from the cloud was black as coal, hairy, and naked. It had tiny stubs of devil-like horns protruding from its forehead, with angry yellow eyes and a thick, jet-black beard around its mouth.

“Youuuuu,” it repeated, wagging a finger with an inch-long black nail at my hell cat. “You should not be here. The girl is miiiiine!” the little man said, now fully materialized.

Amanda let out roaring growl that echoed off the empty school walls. If a student or teacher had wandered down, there’d be a lot of explaining to do. Amanda poised to pounce on the demon.

“No, Amanda! Not yet,” I called. “I want to question the creature.” Amanda obeyed, kneeling back onto her haunches, waiting to have at him. I faced the little monster. “Demon, I command you to tell me who you are and who sent you here.”

The demon’s yellow eyes blinked twice. “I do not answer to mortals,” he cried out in a scratchy voice.

That was a surprise. In my short dealings with lesser demons, I had yet to encounter a stubborn one. “I am more powerful than you, demon. You have to obey. Now, tell me what I want to know,” I said in a commanding voice.

“You? You are not more powerful than Nachtmahr.”

The demon was being crafty, giving me the information I demanded while pretending to be obstinate. “Who sent you, Nachtmahr?”

The demon let loose with a throaty chuckle. “You want to know if I answer to Satan. Is that true?” he said, his yellow eyes laughing.

I took a quick glance over at Amanda, just to make sure I was truly in control of the situation. She remained in her crouch, her green, luminescent eyes fastened to the demon.

“If not Satan, then who?” I asked.

“I answer only to me! Satan does not want you harmed, but I do not care what Satan wants. I know his secret.”

“What secret?” I asked, hoping against hope that the demon might possess information that could help me in my battle against Satan.

“That whoever devours your soul will inherit Satan’s power,” he replied as if stating the obvious.

That sounded to me like a lie, but I couldn’t be certain of it. “Who told you that?” I demanded.

“No one tells Nachtmahr anything. Nachtmahr observes, and Nachtmahr makes his own decisions,” he said, folding his arms across his chest, his voice filled with smug defiance.

“Don’t you fear punishment? When Satan finds out what you’ve done, he’ll destroy you.”

“Satan cannot punish his equal.” Nachtmahr took a menacing step toward me. Amanda let loose with a high-pitched scream. “I will only be punished
if
I should fail.” His twitchy eyes moved briefly to Amanda. He took another defiant step in my direction. I held my ground.

“What makes you think you won’t fail? Do you not see my hell cat waiting to rip you to shreds?”

“I see her. And I agree, the odds are indeed stacked against Nachtmahr. But he must try. No risk, no reward.” He took yet another step, a hellish grin on his dark lips.

“You
have
failed, Nachtmahr. See ya.” Satisfied I’d gotten all I could from him, I turned my attention to my crouching hell cat. “Amanda, destroy the demon,” I said in an even tone.

Amanda leapt. Nachtmahr danced away from her, and slowly began shifting back into inky mist.

“Not so fast,” he called, his voice triumphant.

Amanda’s powerful jaws snapped at the mist. As he drifted high into the air she leaped at him, but there was nothing for her to grab onto. He was getting away.

“Nachtmahr, I command you to stay in your earthly form,” I called out.

“No!” he cried.

Yet before the demon could drift away, he morphed back into his physical form. It was like a genie being sucked back into his bottle. Nachtmahr settled back onto the floor, standing before us, once again solid and vulnerable. He met my gaze with angry eyes. “I am not the only one.” He wheezed this warning before turning and sprinting up the corridor.

Nachtmahr was fast, but Amanda was faster. She caught him in two bounds, wrestled him to the floor, and began tearing at his dark hairy flesh with her lengthy incisors.

There were anguished shrieks from the demon as my hell cat proceeded to end him. I looked around, my own eyes wild with fear. I knew at any moment a teacher who’d stayed to work on a lesson plan, or a late-shift office worker, could come into the corridor to see what was causing all the commotion. Then what would I say?

That’s when I saw them rushing toward me from the opposite end of the corridor. Guy, followed by Orthon, were racing to my rescue.

Guy arrived and practically tackled me, corralling me in his arms. “Sweetheart, are you all right?”

“Yes. I am now. I thought I’d lost you,” I said, clutching him back.

“Never,” he replied. He turned his gaze on Orthon. “Although his trickery nearly succeeded.”

“Trickery? I had no hand in the demon’s attempt on Megan’s life,” said Orthon.

“More lies!” Guy released me and stepped toward Orthon.

“Fellas, fellas, not now! Can’t you see we have a mess to deal with here?” I said, my voice pleading.

Guy looked down the hall at Amanda, who was finishing off the demon. “You’re right,” he said, taking a cleansing breath.

“I cannot believe how
blind
you are,” Orthon said to Guy, reigniting the flame. Guy’s eyes raged at him. His hands balled into tight fists.

“Orthon, please!” I called.

“As you wish, my sweet,” he replied with a breathy sigh.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Miss Barnett? What am I doing down here?” came the voice of Mr. Percival.

We three moved to him, Guy and Orthon standing at an angle that blocked his view of the carnage down the hall. Mr. Percival looked up, his gaze alternating between us, puzzlement and fear in his eyes. “What time is it? What day is this?” he asked in a pitiful tone.

“I’m right here,” I said, stooping by his side. I took one of his hands and caressed it gently. “You had a… a seizure,” I said. I hated lying to him, but the lie was a whole lot better than telling him what had really happened—and a whole lot more believable, too.

“I did?” he replied even more puzzled. “When?”

I raised my eyes to meet Guy and Orthon’s. “We need to get him into his office, so we can
fix
this,” I said. There was no hiding the urgency in my voice.

They moved in and helped Mr. Percival to his feet.

“Who are you boys? Do you go to this school?” He looked at Orthon and breathed in his odor. “Why are you dressed like that? You know the rule. No dark glasses on campus.”

Amid a barrage of complaints, we got Mr. Percival into his office and began walking him across the room. It was a small, windowless office, with an oversized desk piled high with books and ungraded papers.

While Guy and Orthon helped Mr. Percival into his highback chair, I moved back to the door and peered out into the corridor. The demon and Amanda were both gone. The demon had been devoured, and Amanda had departed.
Thank God!
Miraculously, the corridor had remained empty throughout. I eased shut Mr. Percival’s door. Now, no one could happen upon us. So far, so good.

“Angel eyes,” I whispered as I came back across the room. “We need him to forget any of this ever happened.”

“What’s his name?” Guy whispered back.

“Call a doctor,” cried Mr. Percival, his voice turning whiny. He was frightened, and worried, and trying to seize control of the moment. “I need immediate medical attention.”

“Mr. Percival,” I replied, urging Guy to get to it. “Kevin Percival.”

“Kevin Percival,” Guy said, leaning over him and looking into his eyes. “You’re going to sleep for a little while, and when you awaken you won’t remember me, or the fellow in the dark glasses, or anything that happened today.”

“Why won’t I? Are you planning on robbing me?” Mr. Percival asked, his voice rising.

“Tell him to fix my grade,” I whispered.

An ironic smile sprang to Guy’s lips. “Come again? Why?”

“It was probably the demon who gave me that F. Tell him to fix it!” I urged.

“Right,” Guy replied, as if he didn’t believe me. He again looked deeply into Mr. Percival’s eyes. “When you wake up, you’ll adjust Megan Barnett’s grade to the B…”

“A,” I blurted.

“The
B
she deserves,” he said, overriding my demand.

“Are you threatening me? Let me up!” insisted Mr. Percival. He began squirming in Guy’s grasp.

Guy turned to me, his strong arms pinning Mr. Percival to the chair. “It’s not working,” he said.

“Why not?” I asked, my tone bordering on hysteria. I looked at Mr. Percival struggling to get up and wondered how I’d ever be able to explain this.

“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with my decision to leave heaven,” Guy responded, his dreamy gaze lowering because he thought he’d let me down. “My powers are slowly dissolving,” he said, his voice laboring with remorse over his diminishing abilities.

“Heaven? Are you religious fanatics? Let me up now!” Mr. Percival demanded. He fought harder.

“I got this,” said Orthon. He stepped in closer and removed his glasses. Upon seeing Orthon’s face, Mr. Percival’s eyes widened in horror. He continued struggling, but Guy was too strong for him.

“Mr. Percival, you can stop resisting now,” Orthon said in a soothing tone. He leaned in close, capturing Mr. Percival’s gaze. “You’re safe. You’re among friends now. Okay?”

“Okay,” Mr. Percival replied, his voice husky and distant. The fighting stopped. He sat still, his arms coming to rest in his lap. His eyes grew vacant as he awaited his next order.

Guy released him and took a step back, shoulders slumped. I knew it was because Orthon had performed the glamour instead of him. Orthon took a moment to gaze at me and Guy with a satisfied smirk before his eyes moved back to Mr. Percival. He continued speaking softly.

“I want you to sleep for a while, Mr. Percival, and when you awaken, I want you to adjust Megan’s grade to the A she deserves,” he said.

I couldn’t help but smile, even though I knew Guy was quietly fuming.

*

We left Mr. Percival asleep in his office. With no knowledge of when the demon had taken over, we couldn’t be sure of what exactly he should forget. Hopefully when he awoke he’d be able to get back to his life without any lingering memories.

As we hurried back down the corridor, we could hear the rally on the quad winding down. We slipped off campus in Guy’s Mustang, leaving the student parking lot before the parade of student traffic began.