World After (35 page)

“So long as we’re also a plague upon angels, I’m sure everyone else will forgive us.”

“Oh, you’re definitely a plague upon at least one angel. Is there anything I can say that will stop you from going to the aerie?”

I pause to think about that. “I wish there was. My life would be a whole lot easier.”

“What if I refuse to help you get there?”

“Then I’ll walk or drive.”

“What if I drag you into a prison and lock you up?”

“Then I’ll use my nifty little sword to cut my way out.”

“What if I leave my sword outside the prison?”

“You won’t. If you can’t have it, you want me to have it, right? We’re better off together than apart.”

Our eyes meet.

“Besides, who’d let me out if something happens to you?”

He throws me a sideways glance, like the thought of something happening to him is ridiculous.

“Beliel is probably still at the aerie,” I say.

“And why would you think that?”

“The doctor who operated on Paige thinks that she’s drawn to Beliel. Who knows what strange animal sense they put into her? She might have a sense of where he is.” I lift Mom’s tracker. “I’m tracking Paige. She’s tracking Beliel. You can’t stop me from following Paige so why not take advantage of the situation and just fly me there?”

He glares at me. “I’ve had to watch you die once, isn’t that enough?”

“All you have to do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I give him a sunny smile. “Simple.”

“The only thing simple is you. Stubborn little…” His grumbles fade to the point where I can’t hear them, but I suspect they’re not compliments.

Eventually, he puts out his arms.

It’s unnerving to be so close to him that I feel his heart beat against my breasts. I hold him tightly as he opens his wings and we take off into the night.

W
E
SKIM
so close to the water that we might as well be swimming. I keep expecting us to fly right through a large swell. As it is, the spray feels like an icy shower. I bury my face in Raffe’s neck, seeking his endless warmth.

It’s so cold that my arms want to crack and fall off in protest. It’s no consolation that this is the only way we can get near the aerie without being seen. If we had flown over land, they would have spotted us.

Raffe is stoic and calm this close to the water despite having swum probably only once in his entire existence. I’m a little less calm. I can’t help but think that this might be the last thing I do. I can’t get the images of the crazed warriors sprayed in blood out of my head.

Raffe holds me tighter. “It’s about time you showed some sense. You should be afraid.”

“I’m shivering because I’m freezing.”

“You’re cute when you’re afraid.”

I give him a dirty look. “Yeah, you’re cute when you’re afraid too.”

He actually bursts out laughing. “You mean I’m devastatingly handsome when I’m
not
afraid. Because you’ve never seen me afraid.”

“I said you were cute, not ‘devastatingly handsome.’ ”

We’re nearing the shore. So far, the sound of waves crashing onto the sand and rocks should have disguised our banter. But we’re getting close enough that we both instinctively shut up.

We, of course, don’t have a plan. We’ll simply have to see what’s going on and take it from there. We drift a little to the side of the new aerie so that we can go on shore unnoticed. We land on the beach below the bluff at the edge of the hotel grounds.

Hiding behind rocks, fences, and bushes, we sneak up as close as we dare near the circle of light by the edge of the hotel’s lawn. New torches have been set up to replace the old ones that got knocked down during the brawl. But they’re placed randomly and at drunken angles as if whoever put them up couldn’t be bothered with them.

I try to match Raffe’s stealth and smooth coordination, but my frozen limbs are clumsy, and I have to grab him several times to keep myself from tipping over. He throws me a look with a clear message that I should deal with my issues.

We dart to a row of low bushes and follow them closer to the lawn. The edges of the grounds are crammed with the remains of the party like debris washed up on shore. Fallen party tables, upside-down lounge chairs, torn costumes, and other broken things.

The lawn also has a motley carpet of trampled wing coverings, masks, and shattered things that are now hard to identify. There are dark patches on the grass that probably look red in daylight. If there are any servants left, they’re not inclined to come out and clean up.

The angels scattered on the lawn seem too hung over to notice much. One group is singing in the middle of the grass, still wearing their masks. Their voices blend beautifully but with all their swaying and kicking of debris, they look more like drunken pirates after a raid.

Another group is putting something together near the mansion-like hotel. They’re setting up a table with wooden boxes. Beside it are poles of different heights.

An angel hovers at the top of the poles, tying triangular flags that wave colorfully in the ocean breeze like castle flags. Two angels fly up with a banner in their hands. They tie it to the top of the two highest poles. It has several symbols that run across the banner like script.

Raffe’s eyes become cold and hostile as he looks at the banner.

I give him a questioning look, asking him what it says.

He leans over, his words barely slipping into my ear. “Vote for Uriel today, start the apocalypse by tomorrow.”

I don’t understand all the implications of angel politics but I know this isn’t good. They’re setting up an election booth for the Messenger.

Another banner goes up, this one angled up so it can be seen from above. One of the angels unfurling the banner is a giant with snow-white wings. Beliel.

Raffe and I exchange a look and we head his way.

As we sneak closer, Raffe finds wing coverings draped over a bush. A ripped layer of sequins hangs over the dark feathers but he easily discards them, leaving only the feather coverings. He swings them over his wings and I help the feathers lie flat.

He also grabs one of the discarded masks as it tumbles off the lawn in the ocean breeze. I tie it on for him. The mask is deep red shot through with silver around the eyes and cheeks. It covers his entire face except his mouth.

He gets up and without a word pulls me up beside him, placing himself between me and the hotel lawn. I have to peek around him to see the angels, which means they can’t see me either. Raffe is big enough to hide me. From a distance, we must look like a warrior walking to the other side of what was once the party.

I worry that angels might fly directly overhead and see me. Luckily, they must be hung over or something because none of them are energetic enough to fly beyond what’s necessary. We walk briskly near the edge of the lawn, getting ever closer to Beliel. I keep up with Raffe, which is not too difficult since he’s walking at a casual pace.

Beliel stands behind Uriel. He’s at the edge of Uriel’s entourage as Uriel gives them orders.

Raffe glances up at the sky and I wonder if he hears something. Beliel also looks up toward the same place. He leans over to Uriel and they have a quick exchange.

One by one, the angels pause in their tasks and all look up. The dull roar that blended so well with the crashing waves is becoming thunderous and hard to ignore.

A cloud darker than the night sky swarms toward us. It twists, expands, then contracts, swinging this way and that.

The angry sound of a thousand scorpion wings is unmistakable as they fly over our heads.

S
HADOWS
SWOOP
DOWN
beyond the reach of the torches at the edge of the lawn. Raffe watches a scene that’s too dark for me to see. I catch a glimpse of shadows flying back up into the air, though, giving me an impression of iridescent insect wings.

Out of the darkness walks little Paige.

She moves stiffly and carefully as if she was part machine, part girl. In the torchlight, the stitches that run across her face are red-black and her razor-edged teeth reflect the flames as she passes by the torches.

Now that I’m looking for it, she does move like someone in pain but her expression doesn’t show it. She’s toughing it out, maybe because it probably hurts to wince or make any expression. I never knew she had such steel in her.

Beliel tilts his head, watching her as she walks toward him.

“Little Worm,” he says. “Is that you?” His mouth stretches into a smile that’s part surprise and part pride. “You’re no longer crawling in the dirt.”

He puts out his hand. “You’re coming into your own, aren’t you?”

It kills me to see my baby sister slip her small hand into his.

Doc was right. Somewhere in me, I clung to the hope that he was off his rocker. But seeing her turn to a demon like Beliel only reminds me how horrible it must have been for her to be with the rest of us.

Paige looks up at him. Her neck strains as she meets his eyes. Holding hands like that, they could almost be father and daughter.

Beliel partially opens his stolen wings and holds up Paige’s hand as he turns to smile at Uriel. His smile says,
See? Look at my trophies.

Paige tugs his arm so that Beliel ends up leaning down toward her. For a second, I think she might give him a kiss. The thought makes my stomach roil.

Instead, she leaps and bites into his neck.

She shakes her head like a rabid dog as a chunk of his neck comes ripping off in her mouth.

Beliel shrieks.

Blood flows everywhere.

Uriel and his entourage jump back from the attack. Everyone else just stops in the middle of whatever they’re doing and stares.

The buzzing above gets more frantic as the swarm of scorpions twists in the distance and heads back for another flyby. Hadn’t the scorpions been following Beliel’s commands all this time? Will they be angry?

Paige spits out the still attached piece of flesh and grabs Beliel’s head before he can pull out of her reach. She rips into his face.

Three scorpions dive toward them from the sky.

I gasp, thinking they are attacking Paige.

But instead, they grab Beliel.

Their stingers zap in and out, pumping him full of paralysis venom.

Instead of finishing him off, Paige begins kicking him. Screams at him. Rips out clumps of his hair and skin. She tears out chunks of his flesh and spits them into his face.

And all the while, she is crying.

I am mesmerized by the sight of my little sister raging against Beliel. He’s no small opponent, but she caught him utterly by surprise.

I have never seen a seven-year-old with this much fury. I’ve certainly never seen Paige with anything like this much anger. She pummels him with her tiny fists in a way that I know is more about dealing with her internal demons than about the demon that is Beliel.

It feels like my heart chars and turns to crumbling ash as I watch the remnants of my sister. Salty wetness touches my lips before I even realize I’m crying.

The ocean wind blows against me, making me shiver like a frail petal in a storm.