Fire Prophet (Son of Angels) (19 page)

He looked down at his watch again, pushing the side button one more time.

The watch began to transform in front of them. The scrolled hands disappeared, replaced by an orange glow. Jonah glanced up at Eliza, who was beaming as she looked at the watch face. Words appeared in an ancient-looking language that neither of them could read. It was in the angelic tongue, as he had discovered the last time he had used the watch. He pressed the button again, and the words changed to English:

Mission: Recover Prophet Abigail Honsou

Priority: Critical

Location: Manhattan Island, New York City

Proceed to Alphabet City.

“That’s better,” Jonah said.

Eliza’s face lit up. “It worked!”

Jonah looked up from the watch. “Alphabet City?”

“I guess that’s somewhere here in New York,” suggested Eliza. “But the first thing we need to do is get out of this alleyway.”

Jonah agreed. Looking out in front of them, he saw a narrow corridor that stretched for half a block. A crevice of light was visible at the end. He assumed that the opening, between two large buildings, would take them to a side street.

He didn’t like it, but they didn’t have a choice. They had to make it to the street ahead.
At least there aren’t any fallen angels over here
, he thought.
That we can see, anyway.

But they would have to run a gauntlet to get there, and just hope that they didn’t find any trouble.

“You ready?” he asked Eliza. Jonah nodded.

After they entered the hidden realm, they saw that in front of them was a wall of pale white light. Looking up, Jonah noticed that it extended over the top of the back of the convent and down around it in every direction.

“The prayer barrier,” he said.

They both knew what it meant to walk through it. One more step away from safety.

Eliza squeezed his arm and managed a smile. “We still go with Elohim no matter what. Remember what Dad always says? Even the darkness is like light to Him.”

Somehow the words didn’t comfort Jonah in that moment. He took a deep breath and stepped through the wall.

He felt a cool sensation as he passed through, but at least he didn’t bounce off it and disintegrate like the fallen angel had. It
felt the same on the other side, but passing through was a clear reminder that they were on their own.

They walked slowly down the alleyway. The glow of a distant streetlight cast a deep shade of yellow onto everything around them. Jonah could make out the outlines of metal fire escapes on each wall above them. Trash littered the street.

“It smells like the city dump in Peacefield,” whispered Eliza.

“We would know, wouldn’t we?” answered Jonah, thinking about their narrow escape from the Egyptians there a few days before.

He remained focused on the rectangle of light ahead that they were approaching. Another thirty steps and they would be out of the alleyway, and maybe he could breathe a little easier.

He couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that eyes were watching them from above. He glanced up every couple of seconds but saw nothing.

You’re just being paranoid
, he thought to himself.
Stay focused on getting to the street, and we can figure out where to go from there.

Just then, Eliza asked, “Does it feel like we’re being watched?” Clearly he wasn’t alone in his thoughts.

When he heard a scuttling sound, like rapid tapping against brick, Jonah knew it was more than his mind playing tricks on him. His head snapped upward, searching for what had made the noise. It sounded like something was crawling fast across the walls above them.

“What was that?” asked Eliza in a frantic whisper.

Jonah stood perfectly still, listening and watching. He couldn’t see anything except the fire escapes above them.

They waited for at least a full minute, but it was deathly silent once again. Jonah caught Eliza’s eyes and began to walk.

The scuttling above them began again, this time on both sides of the wall. Out of instinct, Jonah pulled out an arrow and strung it, holding it up above his head.

The glow from the white flame on the tip of the arrow illuminated the walls. Slowly, the creatures came into focus. Four fallen angels, crouched on the wall on all fours, clinging to the walls. Their black faces gleamed with intense hatred, and in an instant, they all leaped from their perches, unfurling their black wings and soaring directly downward as fast as they could.

Jonah fired his arrow, and it found its mark, tearing into the skull of one of the creatures. It screeched in agony, disintegrating, filling the air with a sheet of black snow.

Eliza had both of her arms outstretched, forming a strong shield of light around them both. The shield of faith was her specialty. The other three creatures saw it but didn’t have time to turn away. They crashed down against it, their speed sending them careening off the shield and onto the pavement on either side.

One was now in front of them, and two more behind. They picked themselves up off the pavement angrily. Jonah had another arrow pulled, and he fired it before they could make another move. It ripped through one of the Fallen behind them.

The remaining two suddenly moved in unison, both rushing Jonah and Eliza at the same time. Jonah couldn’t shoot both of them. Eliza’s shield was holding strong, and he turned toward the one closest to her and fired another arrow over her shoulder.

It sailed through the shield of faith and found its mark. Quickly, Jonah turned back around, hand on his sword, ready to finish the last one. But the fallen angel was right in front of him now, just on the other side of the shield, no more than two feet from Jonah’s nose.

Jonah fell backward. Stumbling into Eliza, he hit her legs, causing them to kick out from underneath her. Her hands dropped down out of instinct, to catch herself as she fell onto the hard pavement.

The shield disappeared. Nothing stood between them and the vicious fallen one, hovering above them just inches from their faces.

Jonah and Eliza began scurrying backward on the pavement, Jonah trying to get to a position where he could pull out his angelblade, but the fallen one was too close. The stench coming from the creature almost made Jonah vomit.

The creature held a spear in his hand, and he raised it quickly, his eyes flashing brightly at the prospect of a kill. Or two.

Jonah raised his elbow over his face, waiting for the inevitable blow.

But instead of a piercing strike to his body, something soft fell against his face.

Black ash. Behind them, feet spread and still holding his bow, was David. Jeremiah stood beside him, fist-pumping the air. The fallen one had been blasted into a million pieces.

David dropped his arm, the bow disappearing. They could see his wide grin in the dark. “Got it! Not too bad, huh?”

So many questions ran through Jonah’s mind that he didn’t even know where to begin. Which was fine, because Eliza had no trouble figuring out what to say.

“Are you guys crazy?” she said, standing and dusting herself off. “You aren’t supposed to be out here! Your job was to stay inside with the rest of the quarterlings. You’re supposed to be asleep, for goodness’ sake!”

Jeremiah shrugged off her questions with his usual smile. “I knew when Jonah left that something was up.”

“So he woke me up,” added David.

“You mean to tell me you were awake when I left?” questioned Jonah.

Jeremiah laughed. “I’m a pretty good sleep faker. Tricked you, didn’t I?”

Jonah sighed loudly, but then chuckled.

“How’d you guys get past Marcus?” asked Eliza. “He was at the back door when we left. He’s supposed to be guarding that post.”

“Easy,” Jeremiah said. “I just told him that there were fallen angels at the other end of the building. He took off down the hallway. And we followed you out that window.”

“We saw you guys fighting those bad angels,” David chimed in, “and we thought you could use some help.”

Jonah brushed the black dust off his face and out of his hair. “Well, thanks for the help. But, Jeremiah, you know you’re not supposed to lie, especially to a big angel like Marcus that could snap you in two.”

Jeremiah looked up at him with his big, round eyes. “But I didn’t lie to him, Jonah! I told him that fallen angels were at the other end of the building. And they are,” he said, grinning at his brother and sister again. “I may not have told him that they’re still on the outside.”

Jonah sighed, looking back toward the convent. “Well, little brother, I hate to burst your bubble, but we’re going somewhere that’s too dangerous for you. We’re going to have to take you back.”

But as Jeremiah hung his head in disappointment, Jonah saw movement overhead. From where they were, they could see the dome of light that the prayer barrier made. Directly over the top of it, winged creatures swarmed.
They must have been there all along and we just didn’t see them until now
, Jonah thought. They
were probably searching for any cracks in the barrier, any weaknesses they could exploit.

Now, though, they apparently had seen them standing in the alleyway. They shot down the side of the building, positioning themselves between the convent and the quarterlings. There were at least eight of them, but more were careening over the building every second. Obviously, someone had sounded the warning, and the fallen angels were hungry for some action.

There was no choice. Jonah grabbed Jeremiah’s hand and turned.

“Run!”

Jonah, Eliza, Jeremiah, and David took off down the alleyway.
If we can just make it to the street . . .
Jonah’s thoughts focused on that one goal. If they could get there, then maybe they could find a way to lose them.

It was a big “if,” though. Jonah looked over his shoulder as they ran. The Fallen were flapping their wings furiously, gaining on them with every step. Jonah bore down, and suddenly his feet felt light. He didn’t have to look down—he knew that the sandals of speed that had helped him so many times in the past had momentarily taken the place of his basketball shoes.

He felt himself lurch forward.

“David,” he yelled. “Feet!”

But his feet were already transforming too. Seeming to read Jonah’s thoughts, he pulled Eliza into the crook of his arm and blazed ahead.

“On my back, Jeremiah!” Jonah yelled. He yanked his brother up, and Jeremiah latched his arms around Jonah’s neck.

Jonah could barely control his speed while balancing his
brother, but he somehow made it to the end of the alley and onto the side road, right behind David carrying Eliza.

They turned right, two blurs running down the middle of the street. Jonah couldn’t look back for fear of running into something. But Jeremiah was able to turn his head.

“They’re back there, but we’re way ahead of them now!”

Jonah bore down, beginning to move even faster, pulling even with David. He was determined to do whatever he needed to do to outrun the fallen angels. He was getting tired, though, and he knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer.

He moved in front of David, making a quick left, another right, and one more left turn before he heard David’s voice.

“Okay, Jonah! Okay!” he called out from behind. “I don’t see them anymore. I think we lost them.”

Jonah slowed down, dumping Jeremiah gently to the ground as he leaned over and held his knees. It felt like he had just run wind sprints in basketball tryouts at school.

“I wish I could run that fast,” said Jeremiah, picking himself up off the ground. “That was so cool, Jonah! You guys should be on the track team this year.”

Jonah and David just nodded, still sucking in air and unable to speak. Their sandaled feet were soon covered again with their normal shoes.

“Well, it looks like we’re safe,” said Eliza, inspecting the street they were on. “At least for now.”

Jonah looked around. They were standing on the sidewalk of a tree-lined street. Cars were parked along the sides, most of them sleek, new sport utility vehicles and sedans. Along the sidewalk, sets of brick steps led to a series of well-kept buildings.

“This looks like a bunch of homes,” Jonah said, glancing at the cars. “Nice ones.”

“Well, that’s great and everything,” said Eliza, her voice full of sarcasm. “But we need to be looking for Alphabet City, right?”

“Alphabet City?” repeated David.

Jonah showed him the MissionFinder 3000. It still read the same. David whistled lowly at the silver watch.

Jonah took a few steps, searching the quiet street. How were they supposed to find this place? He knew a little about the city, but apparently not enough.

They needed to find someone who could take them where they needed to go.

A few blocks down, the residential street met with what appeared to be a larger boulevard. He saw a few cars pass by.

The silhouette of what looked like a taxicab was parked on the street corner, its red parking lights piercing the blanket of darkness on everything else.

“Come on, guys,” Jonah said, beginning to take long strides with his lanky legs. “Who better to tell us how to get there than a New York City cabbie?”