Alex nodded, resting a firm-looking shoulder against the wall. “I think it might have been the CIA.”
I looked up from wiping my eyes. “You mean Sophie?”
“Yeah, maybe. Nate told you that another department was sheltering Project Angel, now that it’s been infiltrated. She could have gotten their help to set the fire and get your mother and aunt out of there – keep them both safe, so the angels can’t use them to get to you.”
I fell silent as I threw the damp tissue into the overflowing trash can. Project Angel had been the covert CIA department Alex had worked for; after it had been taken over by the angels, Sophie and Nate had been its only two agents left. Now Nate – a renegade angel who’d tried to help humanity – was dead, and though I assumed Sophie was still alive, I had no idea where. She’d left me at the Church of Angels cathedral with no way to contact her, believing I was going to die just like Nate.
And yeah, maybe I’d agreed to that plan, but it was still kind of hard for me to like Sophie after that. If Alex was right though, and she’d really taken Mom into protection, then she was officially my new favourite person.
A chilling thought came. “Wait a minute – if Mom and Aunt Jo are okay, who were in the body bags?”
Alex shrugged. “Two women of about the right age? It wouldn’t be hard for the CIA to find a couple of unclaimed bodies; the morgues in New York City must be full of them.”
In a flash I saw again the body bag on the stretcher, slipping as the fireman stumbled. Oh my god. Who had been in it?
“Or maybe the bags had living people in them, just to make them look right for the cameras,” added Alex. “It depends on who was at the scene; whether they were CIA or not.”
“I like that version better,” I said softly.
“Okay. We’ll go with that one, then.” He wrapped his arms around me and I closed my eyes, just drinking in the solid warmth of him. There were no words to explain what I felt for Alex; for how grateful I was that, even with everything that had happened, we somehow still had each other.
Finally I cleared my throat, fingering the damp patch on the collar of his T-shirt. “I got you all wet.”
“Don’t worry, I’m waterproof.” He squeezed my hand. “Come on, we’d better get going. We’ve still got all of New Mexico to get across.”
“No, wait,” I said. “There’s something I want to do first.” And rising up on my tiptoes, I twined my arms around his neck and pressed close against him, kissing him deeply.
I felt his heartbeat leap against mine, and caught my breath as his hands slipped into the back pockets of my jeans, pulling me closer still. The soft-rough heat of his mouth; the feel of his hair as I stroked my fingers through it...I never wanted this to end. But finally, softly, we drew apart.
“Wow,” murmured Alex. He nuzzled at my neck. “What was that for?”
“Well,
A
, because I wanted to, and
B...
” I stopped. “
B
, to say thank you. I don’t know if it would even have occurred to me to search psychically for Mom, after what I saw on TV. I would have spent the rest of my life just...thinking she was gone.” My chest clenched; I couldn’t say any more.
Alex rested his hand on my cheek. His eyes looked darker than usual – a stormy grey that melted me. “We’re a team,” he said quietly. “Always, remember?” Then he grinned. “Hey, do I get to say ‘You’re welcome’ now?”
I managed a casual shrug as my pulse skipped. “You know, I think you should. It’s good to be polite.”
He put his arms around me. “Polite’s my middle name.”
“I thought it was James.”
“Yeah, ‘Polite James’. My parents had weird taste in names.” He lowered his head to mine again, then both of us jumped as the doorknob rattled.
“Hey,” came a man’s voice. “Is anyone in there?”
I stifled my laughter against Alex’s chest. “Be out in a minute,” he called.
“What’s he going to think when we both come out?” I whispered.
“Well, the truth, obviously. Two wild teenagers, making out in a bathroom.” He gave me a quick kiss, and we pulled apart.
I went over to the sink and hastily splashed cool water on my face. In the mirror, my short hair was like an explosion from the wind and the crying. And it still looked very red. I held back a sigh as I tried to smooth it down, wishing I’d asked Alex to buy a hairbrush.
“You know what, I think that colour makes your eyes look greener,” said Alex suddenly.
I looked up in surprise. “Really?”
He nodded, studying me. “It really does. They look a lot more...vivid now, or something.” He touched a spiky lock of my hair, his finger stroking gently through it. “You look beautiful, Willow.”
He meant it; I could tell. I smiled. “So, you think you can get used to me as a redhead?”
“Hmm, tough call. Yeah, I think I can deal with it.” Alex dropped a kiss on my nose, then closed his eyes. I felt the slight shift as he lifted his consciousness up through his chakra points, until it was hovering somewhere over his crown.
“Okay, the parking lot’s clear of angels, at least,” he said after a second. “What about you, do you sense anything?”
I’d already been checking, relaxing my mind and imagining the service-station forecourt. No particular feelings came. “I think we’re all right.”
We left the bathroom holding hands. My cheeks were burning.
“Sorry,” said Alex to the man waiting outside. He didn’t sound sorry; I could tell he was trying not to laugh. The man shook his head and didn’t answer, disappearing inside and banging the door.
“He thinks I’m a floozie,” I said as we started back to the bike. It was almost dark now; the town’s street lamps were casting soft pools of light up and down the main road. Happiness that Mom was alive still pulsed through me, making my steps light and springy.
“Definitely,” said Alex. “But he thinks
I’m
lucky.” He started to say something else and stopped, looking across the street.
Following his gaze, I saw a run-down shopping strip with a Goodwill charity store on the corner. The lights were on, and I knew that Alex was thinking of going in, if it was safe. Neither of us had any clothes, apart from what we had on – and hardly anything else, for that matter.
I let my thoughts drift towards the store, scanning it. “It’s okay,” I said. “It feels almost empty.”
He nodded, eyes narrowed in thought. “Maybe we should risk it,” he said. “If they have some second-hand camping gear, we could avoid motels until we find someplace safe in Mexico to hole up. Plus we could maybe get another helmet, so that both our faces are hidden.”
“Oh,” I said.
Alex glanced down at me. “What?”
“Nothing. I just thought you were thinking about clothes.”
His dark eyebrows arched in amusement as we continued to the bike. “We’re on the run, and you think I’m worrying about clothes?”
“Alex, I’ve worn this same outfit for three days now; it’s getting
foul
. And, you know – as long as we’re in there anyway...”
“This is a girl thing, isn’t it?”
“It’s possibly a girl thing,” I admitted.
The Goodwill store was huge, but it was so near closing time that we were the only ones in there. The old woman behind the counter was reading a romance novel; she didn’t even look up as we came in. We both got some clothes, and Alex found another helmet for the bike, plus two old sleeping bags and a two-man tent. Then, as we were carrying our stuff to the checkout counter, I saw them: an almost-new pair of grape-juice-purple Converse sneakers, just my size.
“Alex, look, look!” I darted over and tried them on; they fitted perfectly.
And
they were only four dollars. “Okay, these are definitely mine.” I put back the pair of old running shoes I’d been going to buy.
Alex grinned. “Hey, excellent.” Then he took in my face and started to laugh. “Is this another girl thing? I’ve never seen someone look so happy over a pair of shoes before.”
He was right; I couldn’t stop smiling. Maybe it was stupid, but it felt like I’d gotten back a little piece of myself that I’d lost.
We’d parked around the side of the building, in the shadows. When we got back to the bike, Alex pulled off the blue T-shirt he’d been wearing for the past few days and reached for the bag with our clothes. Warmth stirred through me as I watched the muscles of his chest and arms move. We’d been together for over a month, but it felt like longer – I couldn’t imagine my life without Alex now.
“It’s not really fair, you know,” I said, leaning against the bike. “I can’t just start changing my clothes out here the way you can.”
The
AK
tattoo on Alex’s bicep flexed as he pulled a long-sleeved white thermal shirt over his head; he put on a faded red plaid shirt over it, leaving it hanging open. He raised an eyebrow at me as he rolled up the sleeves a few turns. “Go for it. I don’t mind.”
I laughed. “No, I bet you don’t. Nice try.” I put our clothes bag in the motorcycle’s storage compartment, shoving it down so the lid would close. “How much money do we have left?” I asked. Everything had been really cheap, but we’d still spent almost a hundred dollars.
Alex squatted down to fasten the tent under the rear of the seat. “Let’s just say I’m really glad we don’t have to spend money on motels any more.”
I bit my lip. That bad. Part of the reason we were going to Mexico – apart from practically the entire United States being on the lookout for us now – was that it was cheaper. “We should try and save money on food too,” I said as Alex strapped the sleeping bags to the bike. “If we go to grocery stores instead of fast-food places from now on, we can—” I broke off, breathing in sharply.
A flock of gleaming white angels had just glided out from over the top of the strip mall – fifteen or twenty of them. They flew across the street from us at an angle, their great wings stroking the air.
Seeing my face, Alex rose hastily; I sensed his energy shifting. His expression hardened as he spotted the angels. “Get back,” he said, not taking his eyes off them. We pressed against the side of the building, Alex shielding me with his body, trying to hide my aura with his own. He drew his gun out from under his waistband. I heard a faint
click
as he took the safety off.
The angels continued on their way without noticing us, achingly glorious against the mundane buildings and run-down houses. I stared at them from under Alex’s arm, my emotions in a tumult. That deadly beauty was half me. I wasn’t a predator like they were, but half of me was angel all the same. As the flock grew more distant, they winked in and out of the street lights like stars, finally fading from view.
I felt Alex check out the area around us, and then relax. “It’s okay; it’s clear now.”
We stepped out of the shadows and glanced at each other. My legs felt like cotton. If the angels had seen us, we’d be dead right now. Especially me, after what I had done – and if they still thought I was the one who could destroy them all. I knew Alex was thinking the same thing, but neither of us said it.
“That was a really large flock,” I said at last.
“Yeah. I’ve never seen one that size before.” He put his gun away, revealing a ribbon of toned, flat stomach. “I guess they’re from the Second Wave – maybe heading down to Albuquerque to live.”
I swallowed. It was already starting, then. The Second Wave of angels, settling into our world alongside the first. Silently, Alex crouched to finish strapping our stuff to the bike; when he straightened again he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close for a long moment. “Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded; suddenly I could hardly wait to get away from this place. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
We drove for hours, heading south on minor roads, stopping only once to grab food from a tiny convenience store in the hills north of Alamogordo. The land turned to desert, vast and empty, with the stars shimmering overhead. Once, as we skirted a town, I saw another angel in flight, its pure white figure clear against the night sky. As I watched, it wheeled sharply on one wing and plummeted, deadly as an arrow. I turned my head away as we sped on, hating what I knew was happening at that very moment.
We started climbing back into mountains; the cold wind whipped at my face and arms. I shivered, pressing against Alex’s back, and was glad when he finally pulled off the road. It felt late, after midnight.
“I thought New Mexico was supposed to be hot,” I said as we got off the bike. He’d taken us down a dirt road that led deep into the woods; we were at the bottom of a narrow canyon. Moonlight cast a faint, silvery light – I could see my breath in the air.
“Not up here,” said Alex as he unstrapped the tent. This was his home state, and he seemed to know it inside and out. I fumbled coldly in the storage compartment for the sweater I’d bought, pulling it on over the one I was already wearing – and remembered how Alex hadn’t even needed a map back in September, when he’d guided us over a hundred miles of New Mexico back roads.
“But we’re not too far from the border now, and then it’ll be desert again,” he went on. He tossed the rolled-up tent onto the frosty ground, and started undoing the sleeping bags. “I just thought we could get a couple of hours’ sleep up here where we’re hidden, then cross before dawn when there’s a little more light – I don’t remember exactly where the crossing-place is; I might miss it in the dark.”
Needless to say, we weren’t going into Mexico the legal way. Pushing aside my apprehension about what the next few hours might bring, I helped Alex put up the tent.
“I’ve never gone camping before,” I commented as I unwound a guy rope.
Alex was wrestling one of the tent pegs into the hard ground; he glanced at me in amazement, his face looking sculpted in the moonlight. “Never? Really?”
“No, Mom never took me, and Aunt Jo...” I shrugged. I had told Alex what Aunt Jo was like; I didn’t have to explain.
He smiled, knowing what I meant. “Well, we’re sort of roughing it,” he said, moving on to the next rope. “You can get, like, fridges and stoves and stuff, but that’s never really seemed like camping to me.”
“Not that any of that would fit on the bike anyway,” I added.