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Dawn Lang squeezes my shoulders while I ask about the car and if the fire fighters saw it.

‘A Toyota Hilux is parked in the garage.’

‘Oh. Do you know if … um … anyone … ?’ I have to stop to swallow.

He says, ‘It was found to be unoccupied.’

This news is a significant blow. I thought for sure it wouldn’t be there. Mum and Dad go on Sunday drives occasionally. Now I know they didn’t make it to the car and drive to somewhere safe. I guess I just hoped …

Sliding into a daze, wondering what could have happened to them, I walk off on my own. I don’t need anyone to tell me it’s too late to save my house. I can see that with my own eyes. I stand back and watch as the fire fighters do their best. Amber comes and stands as a sentinel beside me, ready to collect the pieces if this doesn’t end well.

As the house burns away before my eyes, my thoughts are not of the past or what I have lost. Wood is wood after all. Houses can be rebuilt. My thoughts are on my mum and dad, hoping with all my heart that somehow,
somehow
, they managed to escape.

His car is a white Lamborghini.

The double-winged doors are wide but light as a feather as I get in.

‘Do you like it?’ he asks, grinning at me from behind the wheel.

‘What do you think? Of course I like it!’

He presses the ignition switch. The controls whirr to life, purring like a kitten. He gives it a bit of oomph, and it rumbles like a mountain bear and pulls away.

In a good mood, Nathaneal looks like a teenager. I wonder how old he is.

‘I’m twenty-three,’ he replies, reading my thoughts.

‘Isn’t that young for an angel? I mean, weren’t you created, like, millions of years ago, before everything?’

He glances at me, smiling. ‘One of my closest friends was born several thousand years ago and doesn’t look a day over twenty.’

‘So, are your years the same length as human years?’

He nods. ‘Our significant differences lie in our cultures. Earth is dependent on technology, whereas in Avena we rely on the natural environment and the energy we produce
from within our physical bodies. We don’t use machines. We don’t keep clocks. We have our own inbuilt timepieces. We don’t use guns or bombs and our weapons would appear rudimentary to a human, but when they are powered by our own inner forces, they are more lethal than any man-made invention.’

While he talks, my fingers run over the car’s immaculate leather interior. The flashy screens and switches resemble the cockpit of a jet plane, while the charcoal-coloured upholstery with the cool, charcoal-and-white seats matches perfectly with the glossy white exterior paintwork. I sink into the sports-style contoured seat and, with my eyes closed inhale the scent of new leather.

‘I’ll teach you to drive it, if you like.’

My eyes snap open. ‘Are you serious? You’ll teach me to drive
this
?’

We’re zipping through morning traffic, full-thrust mode. The throaty F1 growl turns heads on both sides of Walgett Road – girls and guys, except the blokes are looking at the car, while the girls unashamedly eye up Nathaneal.

He drives fast. I tilt my head to check the speedometer and notice it’s up well in excess of a hundred.

‘I kind of thought, you being an angel and everything, you might follow road rules more rigorously. What gives? Are you a rebel angel or something?’

He laughs. ‘My friends and even my enemies have called me many things, but never a rebel.’ Then he adds, ‘I can’t use my wings without attracting attention here on Earth, and driving fast helps ease the ache of inactivity.’

‘Where did you get the money to buy something that moves this fast? Or am I out of line?’

‘You can ask me anything, Jordan. The Brothers of the Holy Cross Monastery manage financial trusts funded from the sale of their goods and produce, and from contributions, usually in the form of bequests.’

I must be looking blank, because he says, ‘You know, humans who pass away leaving something for the Brothers in their will.’

I nod.

‘Well, these funds cover the costs incurred in the line of an angel’s work here. But I paid for my car and my house from my own accounts, which are all legitimate, Jordan, I assure you.’

‘I wasn’t accusing you of anything.’

‘I know.’

‘So you’re rich, huh? I have a wealthy cousin. Cool.’ I look up as we approach the first roundabout. I expect to feel the usual gear changes slowing us down, but he doesn’t change anything. ‘Mate, you’re not going to be able to take the curve at this …
Whooooah!
’ I grip the edges of my seat while he power-slides through the turn. As he accelerates out, thunder rumbles under my feet. ‘Dude, for someone who didn’t grow up surrounded by technology you’re not doing too badly.’

But it’s still amazing we haven’t hit anything!

He smiles to himself, obviously hearing my last thought. I try to stop thinking so loudly and look out of the window instead.

It’s not long before we’re heading up Mountain Way. I
look at the landscape hurtling past without really seeing it. ‘Man, so your house really is inside the monastery grounds. I thought you were pulling my leg.’

‘I don’t pull legs, Jordan.’

‘Ha ha. So do I have to share a room with one?’

‘With a Brother?’

I nod.

‘Your new home may be inside the monastery grounds but it’s nowhere near the Brothers’ quarters.’

‘Ohhh! That’s a relief. So why do you live there?’

‘The monastery grounds are much larger than you’re imagining, with thousands of hectares of forest that stretch across the entire northern end of the ridge. My house is on the east side, and a river runs between it and the buildings the Brothers inhabit. I had the house constructed inside their domain for two important reasons. One is to protect Ebrielle. She will be safe to wander the grounds as she pleases while she’s training.’

‘And the other?’

‘The house is near the Crossing.’

‘Really? OK.’

‘Feel better now?’

I laugh to cover my intense relief. ‘More than you could know.’

He frowns and I hurry to distract him from reading my memories. ‘Still, do we have to go now? I’ve been cooped up in a hospital bed for a whole week. I wouldn’t mind catching up with some friends.’

‘We don’t have time for distractions, Jordan,’ he answers cautiously. He’s on to me; I know it. ‘We need to make
the most of your school break. Today you will settle into your new home. Tomorrow you will begin training in unarmed combat and I will show you the entrance to the Crossing.’

‘OK.’

While looking straight ahead, he continues poking around in my head.

‘Will you stop that?’

‘You’ve been to the monastery before.’

Aw, man. I groan loudly. What’s the point? Until I learn how to stop him he’s going to know whatever I’m thinking! ‘OK, OK. One night last month I camped outside the monastery’s north boundary wall, but a couple of hours past midnight I swore I’d never return. That part of the forest is way creepy. And that’s why I didn’t want to go to your place. But since your house is on the east side, it should be fine, right?’

‘The monastery, the grounds and the house are all protected. You have nothing to fear. Now, would you mind elaborating on “creepy”?’

I shrug and glance out the window.

‘Jordan?’

‘Strange things happen in that northern end of the forest. Everyone knows not to go there after dark. We shouldn’t have ignored the rumours, that’s all.’

‘We?’

‘My mate Danny. We were looking for a place to camp after a long day hiking and it seemed like a good idea at the time.’

‘Even though you had heard rumours about the place?’

‘Yeah, well, we thought it was just an urban legend. The escarpment there is the highest point on the ridge and has the best views over the valley. People would make the trek up there just to check out the scenery and maybe catch a sunset. Occasionally they stayed till after dark, and that’s when they saw and heard things.’

‘Such as?’

‘Weird noises, glowing lights, rancid smells, and screaming that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.’

‘When you and Danny camped up there, did you experience any of these noises, lights, smells and screaming?’

‘Not really.’

‘I take that to mean yes?’

‘We made camp about a hundred metres from the wall, chilled out with a few beers and were just beginning to nod off, when we noticed a mist creeping in around us. It was weird, man. The smell was awful. Then we heard something cry out, a bone-chilling caw. We glanced at each other and ran to the monastery. That was weird too.’ I drum my fingers on my knee.

‘How so?’

‘A Brother had a door open waiting for us, like he knew we were coming. We spent the night in a visitors’ room and went back to collect our gear in the morning.’

Taking his eyes off the road briefly, he flicks me a troubled glance.

‘Creepy, right?’

He nods. ‘Did you report the incident?’

‘Couldn’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘We’d been drinking, so who was going to believe us?’

‘The Brothers.’

‘They told us not to concern ourselves, they would look into it. And Danny and I promised each other we wouldn’t talk about it again.’

After a long moment Nathaneal says, ‘Thank you for telling me. Now I have something to tell you.’

‘Yeah?’

‘There is a reason those rumours were started.’

I almost gasp out loud. What can this angel dude have to do with it? And then it clicks. ‘It’s the Crossing. You want to keep people away from the area so they don’t stumble across it.’

‘Or stumble across something they shouldn’t.’

‘That would suck.’

‘Yes, it would, but what you don’t know is that there are two of these Crossings that make travelling between the dimensions possible. You can think of them as portals, though what they really are is far from a portal. They are dangerous places, almost a dimension of their own, but for now it’s enough for you to know that the entrance to one is here on Mount Bungarra, while the other is in Alaska. This one –’ he points to the northern end of the ridge through my window, where we can just start to see glimpses of the escarpment – ‘is monitored by the Brothers of the Holy Cross. It’s their job. It’s why they built their monastery here.’

He turns his head a moment to look directly at me, ensuring I’m following every word. ‘Dark angels use the
Crossing in Alaska. That one is protected by an order of sons and daughters of dark angels that live permanently up there. But sometimes a dark angel will use this Crossing. It’s one of the activities the Brothers watch for so they can warn us of impending trouble. For any number of reasons, they need to be prepared. And when it happens, whether it’s one dark angel or a dozen coming through, the forest becomes active with Prince Luca’s spies.’

‘Spies?’

‘Demons he created specifically for living and working in the Earth dimension. They’re nocturnal creatures, and their screams will raise the hairs on the back of your neck, if you have any,’ he adds mysteriously.

‘Demons live on the ridge? Oh, man!’

‘They’re called Aracals. They mostly stay in the trees where you can hardly see them. Even when they come out at night, the most you should see is a glimpse of a small black animal. They’re not something humans normally need worry about.’

‘Great. Thanks for straightening that up for me.’

His smile is a mere tightening of his lips. ‘The Brothers monitor their movements. Recently they found several small colonies lower down the mountain, and in the national parkland that surrounds the Oakes Valley. Stranger still, some are venturing out during daylight.’

‘No shit! So what do they feed on, these … Aracals?’

He gives me a quick look up and down with eyes that don’t look serious for once. ‘Since you’re still here, apparently not you.’

Is he joking? Of course he’s joking!
He laughs a little and I
grizzle at his unfunny joke, ‘Ha ha! Your sense of humour needs work.’

‘Prince Luca isn’t going to sit back and watch me swoop in and take Ebrielle home once he discovers I’m here. It’s why we’ll have to work fast once we find her. You’ll have your work cut out.’

‘What “work” exactly are you referring to? I thought you just needed my Guardian Angel radar working.’

‘That part you will do instinctively.’

‘And the other part?’

‘It’s going to be your job to convince Ebrielle to return to Avena with me.’

I stare at his profile. He doesn’t flinch. He’s like a statue carved from confidence rather than alabaster or marble. ‘And how am I supposed to do that?’

‘Once you meet her and get to know her, the words will come.’

‘What if she doesn’t choose to go with you or the Dark Prince? What if she wants to stay here, where she grew up?’

He nods. He’s considered this possibility already, but he doesn’t answer until he manoeuvres around a bus of tourists pulled over to take snapshots. ‘She will never willingly choose Prince Luca.’

‘Does the Dark Prince know about the Free Will thing?’

‘All the dimensions abide by this law. The worst offenders are humans because they’re not held accountable for these crimes. But all angels are, especially the Dark Prince, since this and other laws were part of the agreement that brought peace more than a thousand years ago.’

‘OK. That helps.’

He sighs, a very strained, tense sound, and I brace myself for more bad news. ‘Prince Luca is a master manipulator and we mustn’t forget that,’ he says. ‘He may not break this law, but neither will he allow it to stand in his way. He probably has a plan already in place to circumvent it.’

‘Man, I’m not in a coma and dreaming this stuff, am I?’

‘You’re not dreaming, Jordan.’

‘Any chance I could go back and choose again?’

He pulls over suddenly. ‘You need to see with your own eyes that what I’m saying is real, my friend,’ he says, and hits the switch that opens both doors.

I follow him to a eucalyptus tree on the side of the road, where he points to a small furry animal curled up asleep on a branch about midway up. I try to make out what it is but come up blank.