Shimmer: The Rephaim Book 3 (28 page)

‘A tattoo would pierce the skin, so I guess that changes it.’ Jude turns to Jason. ‘Did the family encourage you to do anything to your mark?’

‘No,’ Jason says. ‘But I saw that Celtic cross on Mya in Pan Beach and it’s old. Dani’s only twelve. There was nobody to hide from before she came along. It could just be a coincidence.’

I hate to say it, but someone has to. ‘Unless the family received a revelation telling them to do it.’

Nobody answers. My bad knee is starting to ache. I get up and go over to the window. It’s dark outside now. The cloister is bathed in faint pools of light. Two monks hurry along, heads turned towards each other in conversation.

‘Out of curiosity,’ Jude says to Dani, ‘have you ever found a feather after one of your sessions? Or heard horns?’

Dani winds a curl around a finger while she thinks. ‘Sometimes I smell incense.’

‘It’s time Dani and I left,’ Maria says. She reaches for Dani, lifts her from the floor.

Jason is already nodding. ‘Yes, she’s done more than enough.’

‘No, Jason, I want to stay with you.’ Dani pulls away from her mother.

‘You can, blossom, just not here. Maggie and I will take you and your mum wherever you want to go.’

‘I want to stay with
all
of you.’ She casts a meaningful glance at Rafa, Jude and me. At Ez and Zak.

‘Why?’

‘I need to be where you all are. I feel it, here.’ She puts her hand over her heart, looks at her mum. ‘You know what I’m talking about.’

‘Baby, you need to be sure you feel it and not just
want
to feel it,’ Maria says. She and Dani exchange a long look.

‘Mom, I promise this is where we’re meant to be.’

Maria sighs, sits at the desk.

‘Right then,’ Jude says. ‘We need to find out more about Michael.’

I grab the books from the desk and hand them around. ‘This will be quicker if we all take one.’ Maria is surprised when I offer her
Angels Through the Ages
. ‘It’ll give you something to do other than be annoyed at me.’ I get a tight smile in return.

‘Gaby,’ Maggie says. ‘Got a sec?’

I glance at Jude, but he’s already lost in his book, and Rafa is listening to Dani explain about the time she saw him stalking me in the Pan Beach rainforest. ‘Next door?’

We go into my room. Lamplight spills over the unmade bed: the doona scrunched up, mattress not quite straight, pillows scattered.

‘Well, that answers one question,’ Maggie says and I hear the smile in her voice as she closes the door behind us.

I start to straighten the bedding, feel heat in my cheeks. ‘Which question would that be?’

‘Whether or not you’re any tidier away from home.’

I laugh and throw a pillow at her. She helps me make the bed and then we sit on it, face each other.

‘So?’ she asks gently. ‘Did you two…?’

I let my breath out, nod.

‘And?’

‘It was…intense.’

‘In a good way?’

‘Mind-blowing.’ Just thinking about it makes me ache for him.

‘Did he tell you what happened between you two…you know, before?’

I can’t meet her eyes. ‘I know I should’ve found all that out before jumping into bed with him but, Mags, I nearly lost him tonight.’

‘Babe, I’m not judging you.’ She touches my arm. ‘It’s between the two of you, nobody else.’

I nod, but like everything else in my life, it’s not that simple.

‘And have you seen the way he’s looking at you now? It’s exactly how you want a guy to be after you’ve had sex: besotted.’

I choke-laugh. ‘I think you’re confusing Rafa with Jason.’

‘Don’t underestimate the effect you have on Rafa. We’re talking about the guy who was willing to die tonight to keep you safe.’

I push away the memory of him bloodied and crumpled. The thought of it wrings me out. ‘Have you spoken to your mum?’

‘Yeah, I told her Jason and I were staying in the city for an extra night. She wasn’t ecstatic about having to find someone for tomorrow’s shift but she was okay. She likes Jason, so that helps.’

‘How’s he doing?’

‘He keeps forgetting to breathe.’ She reaches up and slides out the tie holding her ponytail in place. Blonde hair fans out around her shoulders. ‘I’ve never seen him so uptight.’

‘He’s worried about Dani.’

‘I know, but I keep telling him that Dani’s got you guys looking out for her.’

‘You honestly think that makes Jason feel she’s safe?’

‘It works for me.’

I stare at her. ‘Mags, if it wasn’t for us you’d be safe in Pan Beach, oblivious to the existence of demons and hellions and half-angel bastards. You wouldn’t be hiding out in a mediaeval monastery in freezing mountains, worrying where the next threat’s coming from.’

‘True, but then I wouldn’t have Jason in my life. Or you. And I wouldn’t be in
Italy.
’ She gives me a brave smile and that’s when it hits me: she’s the most courageous person here. Well, after Dani.

‘Mags…’

‘Shush.’ She leans in and hugs me. I try to resist—I need to talk sense into her—but there’s something so comforting about a Maggie hug. My throat closes over. And then, without warning, the last twelve hours catch up with me. Finding Jude. The attack. Rescuing Rafa. I honestly thought I was cried out…It takes a good thirty seconds to pull myself together, and even then I feel raw, wind-blasted.

‘You know, before I met you I didn’t hug and I didn’t cry, and I didn’t have deep and meaningful conversations about my
feelings.
’

She smiles, and this one is all warmth. ‘Now you do all three—and kill creatures from hell with a shiny sword. You’re like the poster child for paranormal self-development.’

My face is hot and my eyes sting but I laugh anyway.

‘When was the last time you read the Book of Enoch?’ Jude asks Ez as Maggie and I walk back in.

‘Not for a couple of decades,’ she says.

‘It says it was the Archangel Michael who bound Semyaza and the Two Hundred.’

Rafa watches me sit down next to him, studies my face. He glances at Maggie and she gives him a reassuring smile.

‘So,’ Jude goes on, ‘it must have been Michael’s blood that confined them.’

‘And if anyone was going to give humans instructions about blood wards…’

‘It’s just a theory.’

‘What else did you find?’ Ez asks.

Jude scans the page. ‘The Archangel Gabriel was the one ordered to kill the bastards left behind—the Nephilim—and the women who gave birth to them.’

I clear my throat, check I’m together again. ‘I thought he was the merciful one?’

‘Not that day. This also says Semyaza taught the women charms and enchantments.’

‘For what?’

‘Doesn’t say.’

Rafa shuts his book and tosses it aside. ‘None of this is news. You knew that book inside out and it didn’t answer any of your questions then.’

‘We talked about this stuff?’ Jude asks.

‘Yeah, right. You had your existential debates with Mya, not me.’

A phone buzzes with a message. Ez checks her screen, smiles. ‘Rafa, the crew is in the commissary waiting for you.’

‘Excellent,’ he says and stands up, holds a hand out for me. ‘I could definitely go a beer.’

A HARD-EARNED THIRST

The Outcasts cheer and whistle when we walk in. Jones reaches Rafa first.

‘Looking good, dude.’ They bump fists. ‘Did you get any sleep?’ He winks at me. Awesome. Everyone knows Rafa was in my room. In my bed.

‘Yeah, some.’ Rafa’s eyes slide in my direction, check my reaction.

Jones is elbowed aside by Seth, who drags Rafa into a man hug. The Outcasts mill about, waiting to shake his hand or hug him. I catch a few glances in my direction from the girls—curious—and I can’t help thinking about Daniel’s jibe that I was the only Rephaite girl Rafa hadn’t slept with. That turned out to be an exaggeration—at least in part. Still, in the last century or so there’s a good chance he’s been with most of the girls here, and of course there’s Mya. But he’s been away from all of them for the past year—I stop, remember to breathe. Let it go. None of that part of Rafa’s past is news to me. I wish it didn’t feel like such a big deal.

I move away to give everyone room. The only other people in the commissary aside from us are the kitchen staff. The chefs are preoccupied sautéing and steaming, banging and chopping. The smell of garlic and pancetta hangs in the air. It’s dark outside, so I can’t see anything beyond the windows. I could be facing sky, trees or the mountains, it’s impossible to tell. All I can see is my own reflection—and Ez walking my way.

‘How are you?’ she asks.

‘Starving. When’s dinner?’ She tilts her head and I know the question wasn’t about my appetite. I sigh. ‘Are you going to tell me it’s a bad idea—me and Rafa?’

‘By my calculation it’s about three decades overdue.’ She smiles at my surprise. ‘Oh, it’s going to be messy, but you’ll sort yourselves out.’

I shouldn’t need her approval but I like having it. ‘How long did it take you and Zak?’

Her face softens, a private smile. ‘We’ve been
together
together for about twenty-five years, but it took us a good part of a century to figure out that’s what we wanted. Or, more to the point, to have the courage to try something permanent.’

My eyes skim over the other Outcasts. They’re all so comfortable with each other, so at ease. ‘Are there other couples like you guys?’

‘No, we’re the benchmark for longevity by at least two decades.’

Rafa is sitting on the edge of a table with Jude, surrounded by Outcasts. He’s waiting for me to look at him and when I do, he widens his eyes like he needs rescuing.

‘Come on,’ Ez says and we move back into the throng. Jude makes room so I can sit between him and Rafa. I feel exposed, conspicuous.

‘Any truth to the rumour Mya grabbed the old girl?’ Jones asks.

‘Yeah, Mya took Virginia,’ Rafa says. ‘We’re waiting to hear from her.’

Not quite true, but close enough.

‘What now?’

Rafa absently probes his chest through his t-shirt, around the tip of the crescent moon. ‘Zarael’s not going to roll over and take what happened in Iowa without retaliating. I wouldn’t mind hanging around here for another hour or so, see how it plays out.’

‘Are you staying?’ Seth asks Jude.

Jude tips his head at me. ‘We’re here as long as Rafa is.’

‘So now we’ve got both the women from that farmhouse,’ Jones says. ‘Do we know any more about them?’

‘We know a bit.’ It’s Ez who answers. ‘We know they’ve been tracking all of us from day one, and believe the Archangel Michael is giving them instructions.’

The commissary is instantly still. It’s like the archangel’s name alone is enough to incapacitate the Outcasts. For a few long seconds, the only sound is the clatter from the kitchen.

Rafa rubs his jaw. ‘It’s probably a load of shit—’

‘Were they involved with what happened to Jude and Gabe last year?’

‘Doubtful,’ Jude says. ‘The family’s more interested in keeping the Rephaim dysfunctional. They think we’re the key to releasing the Fallen.’

‘“We” as in us?’ Jones asks, and gestures to the Outcasts.

‘As in all of the Rephaim. United. They believe it’s their sacred mission to keep us separated.’

‘So storming out of here a decade ago was playing right into their hands?’

I look to the doorway. Taya stands there with Micah and Malachi. Her arm is in a sling, her hand heavily bandaged. The bruising on her face has faded, but now a scar follows her hairline from her temple to her jaw.

‘Pretty much,’ Jude says.

Taya walks towards us, slightly favouring her left leg. Deep shadows under her eyes stand out against translucent skin. She’s delicate, almost see-through. ‘How’s the chest?’ she asks Rafa.

‘I won’t make this year’s Rephaite calendar. How’s the hand?’

‘Missing a finger.’

The Outcasts are wary, but there’s no threat here from either side. Taya puts her good hand over the bandages covering her knuckles. ‘Brother Ferro wants to get me a glove with a prosthetic finger. I’d rather learn to swing a sword better with four.’

‘Of course,’ Rafa says. ‘That would be the hard way.’ They smile at each other. Not glare. Not taunt.
Smile
. ‘How much did you overhear?’

‘Enough to know Virginia’s gone.’

I finally look Micah in the eye. He’s not happy, but he gives a tiny shake of his head, which I hope means he still hasn’t mentioned to anyone
why
Mya took Virginia. I seriously owe that guy a beer. Maybe a keg.

‘You might want to avoid Nathaniel,’ Malachi says to me. ‘He’s not happy.’

‘And Daniel?’

Malachi’s lips twitch into a small smile. ‘He scored points for sending me along to keep an eye on you.’

Micah tilts his head, gives me a look that says,
See—I
know what I’m doing.

‘Did you catch up with Simon before you left the infirmary?’ I ask Taya.

‘Yeah. He needs to get home. All those boys do.’

I nod, but I can’t see how it’s any safer for them to be back in Pan Beach now. Especially not if Zarael’s looking for payback.

‘How’s your shoulder?’ Jude asks Taya. With all the trauma over her missing finger, I’d almost forgotten one of the Gatekeepers buried a sword in her shoulderblade at the Butlers’ camp.

‘So-so.’ She heads over to our table and sits between Jude and me, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘I hear I missed a good brawl.’

Jones smirks. ‘Yeah. It was a touching reunion.’

For a few seconds, nobody speaks. Taya clears her throat. ‘Thanks for coming for us.’ She says it quietly. ‘Thanks for coming for me.’

‘We tried patience,’ I say, ‘and then your finger turned up.’

She touches her bandaged hand again, almost involuntarily. ‘The Five would’ve sent a team eventually.’

‘Yeah,’ Rafa says. ‘And you still had nine fingers to get through.’

They share a look. Knowing. A decade of antagonism and recrimination between them dissolved: gone. They’re tied together now, connected by something stronger.

‘You guys hanging around?’ Malachi asks.

Rafa nods. ‘For the moment.’

‘Nathaniel wants Virginia back. The room might be gone, but he still needs to know how they built it. And he’ll want to talk to you. And Gabe and Jude.’