Return to Eden (20 page)

Gideon leaped toward her, transforming into an angel in a grotesque twist of flesh. When he was done, Gideon stood toe to toe with Malini, his eyes challenging her. "I have a question," he said into her face.

"Spill it," Malini said, fists going to her hips.

"How do you know? How do you know that Abigail has turned herself over to Lucifer? How do you know this isn’t all the devil's elaborate trap?" He snapped the words at Malini, his voice rising with the tide of anger that reddened his face.

Malini shook her head. "I know because it’s my job to know. When I became Healer I was given the ability to determine the greater good."

"The greater good for humanity, not the greater good for us."

Malini nodded and lowered her voice. "You know that’s how it works, Gideon. You taught me that."

He brought one fist down into the other with such force it made Malini take a step back. "You are a sixteen-year-old girl who has been a Healer for less than a year. Maybe this time you are wrong. Maybe this time there has been a mistake." His eyes cast downward.

Malini shook her head. "There's no mistake, Gideon."

His upper body collapsed and he caught himself on his knees.

Stepping forward, Malini placed her healing hand on his shoulder. "I can’t force you to trust me. I know this is hard for you but I also know that this time I’m right. The future is always changing based on our choices. I can’t see every possible scenario. But I do know that in this case, this plan will lead to the best outcome." She turned her face toward the others. "You have to trust in my abilities as a Healer. If you don’t, we’re as good as doomed. We might as well go in fighting blind."

Gideon shrugged her hand off his shoulder.

"I need to know if you are with us or against us," she said to him.

The angel ruffled his wings. The air around him sparked and crackled. "I’m with you," he said reluctantly. He spat the words and refused to meet Malini’s eyes.

She steeled her resolve and rose to her full height, facing the Soulkeepers who watched Gideon nervously. "This is my guidance to you as your Healer, not my personal will. If we are to have any hope of defeating evil, we have to work together. That means you are in one-hundred percent or not in at all. You can’t do this halfway. Are you in?"

One by one they nodded their heads.

"It’s time. We go on foot. Spread out and don’t get caught." Malini turned and used the car to launch herself over the fence into the buffalo exhibit. Jacob followed. Gideon lagged behind but eventually moved in their direction.

"Wow, Malini, great speech. ‘You're either with me or against me.’ Damn. I didn’t know you had it in you." Jacob smiled in her direction.

"It’s not funny, Jacob. We’re going into battle. People could die. Did you see how they looked at me? They think I came up with this plan on a whim. They don’t respect me. They don’t trust me."

Jacob shook his head. "That’s not true. It’s not about you, Malini. Everyone knows you’re brilliant. They’re scared. Gideon’s heart is broken and the twins and Jesse have almost no experience with this type of thing. I know it’s hard but you can’t take it personally."

"That’s easy to say but I have a hard enough time trusting in my abilities. They’re right, Jacob. I’m only sixteen and I’m not sure that everything’s going to be okay. People might get hurt. People might die, and it might be my fault. But this is the only way I know how to lead. My gifts tell me this is the right thing to do."

Jacob scanned the horizon, watching the bison eye them cautiously from their watering hole. "Don’t step in it," he said.

"I don’t have a choice. I have to do what I have to do."

He yanked her arm toward him, pulling her against his chest. She narrowly missed a steaming pile of dung. "I meant literally," he said.

"Oh, thanks." Silently, she worked her hand down into his. As they crossed the miles toward the small building that marked the entrance to the control center, Malini glanced back occasionally to check that Gideon was still there. He was, but he made no effort to catch up. If he’d wanted to, he could travel through the light the way that Dr. Silva could travel through shadow, but he didn’t.

"He’s there, Malini," Jacob said, tugging her forward. "He told you he would be. Don’t expect him to be happy about it."

When they reached the entry point, Jacob made short work of the lock with the water from his flask. Gideon showed up just as they approached the elevator.

"How is this going to work, Malini? There’s nowhere to hide. As soon as we step on that elevator, they’re going to know we’re here."

Malini lowered her eyes. "Yes. We won’t get in undetected. Lucifer's been tracking me for weeks." She placed one finger over her lips and turned toward Gideon.
Disappear
, she mouthed.

He did, dissolving into the light that poured through the windows. The elevator doors opened and Malini stepped inside, pulling Jacob in behind her. She pressed a button on the panel. With a jerk, they descended below the Earth’s surface.

Nervous energy poured off of Jacob, who positioned himself slightly in front of Malini, his fingers never leaving the top of the flask he’d tucked in his waistband.

After a ridiculously slow ride, the thick metal opened.

Dr. Silva stood on the other side, her face an icy sculpture of fury. Her eyes narrowed at Malini, the illusion fading to the slit pupils of a Watcher. "You have to leave, now."

Chapter 30

Jacob and Abigail

Jacob leaped forward, the water from his flask freezing into the blade that was perfectly weighted for his hand. "Back off, Abigail. I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you come near her, I swear." He crouched defensively.

"Kill me?" She laughed. "Do you think you could?" Her body twisted into shadow and reappeared behind him, inside the elevator. "I’m very hard to kill, Jacob."

Lifting Malini by the waist with one arm, Jacob sprung from the compartment. "Shouldn’t you be somewhere doing Lucifer’s bidding?" he said through his teeth.

"As it so happens, Lucifer was called away," Abigail said.

Malini stepped around Jacob’s body. "That is his weakness, isn’t it? Only one place at a time. While he’s gone, why don’t you tell us how to stop this from happening?"

Abigail strode from the elevator, lighter than air. When she floated like that it was easy to tell she wasn't human. It reminded Jacob of the first night he'd seen her, outside his bedroom window.

"This can’t be stopped," Abigail said. "You are fools to try. A team of humans has been altering this facility to prepare for this sacrifice for weeks. The place is swarming with the influenced and the Watchers who manage them."

"We’re not leaving, Abigail," Malini said.

Pivoting on her heel, Abigail’s black cloak flowed organically with her, the cloth arching as if it had a life of its own before settling around her ankles. Her platinum-blonde hair floated to rest at the center of her back. "Then follow me," she said over her shoulder. "If you refuse to leave, you might as well have a front row seat for the show." She walked away from them, toward a railing at the end of the hallway.

Jacob pleaded with Malini in hushed tones, "Why do I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well? Maybe we should leave. We’re no good to anyone dead."

Malini shook her head but offered no explanation. Jacob walked to the railing, following in Abigail’s footsteps. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the scene beyond. In a pit three stories deep, a monstrous black machine loomed against the concrete. A stone altar had been welded to a steel platform at the center. A room the size of a school gymnasium held a row of computers, and panels of toggle switches, buttons, and blinking lights. A dozen humans buzzed between the electronic equipment, while other humans worked to perfect the platform and altar.

As promised, there were Watchers, too. Jacob looked down upon Auriel and his mouth filled with the taste of maggots. A second later, he recognized Cord on the other end of the room. He pointed them out to Malini. Others came and went with the humans, only discernible from this distance by their otherworldly beauty.

With a grave purse of his lips, Jacob watched Abigail descend the stairwell and join the chaos below. "She isn’t telling them we’re here."

"She’s still hoping we’ll leave," Malini said.

"Why? I don’t get it. She either wants us dead or she doesn’t."

Malini brought her lips to Jacob’s ear. "No matter what Abigail says or does, don’t think for a minute that she wants you to see her like this, Jacob. Her illusion covers loads of imperfections, but her feelings for you are not one of them. She doesn’t want us to see her do this and she doesn’t want to be the cause of our deaths."

"Ironic considering she’s the focal point of a plan to bring about the end of the world," Jacob whispered.

Malini nodded.

An explosion of sound and light turned their attention toward the pit. A pillar of red, sparkling smoke dissipated into a chorus of coughs from the surrounding humans. Lucifer’s blond curls and white smile beamed from the center. The tailored suit he wore made the corncob he nonchalantly juggled in his left hand seem out of place.

"What’s with the corn cob?" Jacob whispered. Malini placed a finger over his lips.

"Don’t fight until I tell you to," Malini cautioned under her breath. "Go along."

Lucifer’s voice boomed from below. "The inconvenience of my absence has been rectified." He pointed the cob at Abigail. "Tell me good news. I need a pick me up after what I’ve just been through."

Abigail glided to his side and whispered something in his ear. Her eyes flicked up toward Jacob and her finger pointed at Malini. Lucifer grinned.

"This is good news." He pointed a hand at Jacob and Malini. "Look who’s joined the fun. Come on down, kids. You won’t want to miss this."

Jacob glanced back toward the elevator only to find a thorn bush had erupted from the concrete and filled the hallway.

"You won’t be going back that way." He shook his head and coaxed them with his hand. "Cord, Auriel, would you mind escorting our guests to the viewing area."

"What was that you were saying, Malini, about Abigail not wanting us to die?" Jacob said.

Shhhh.

The Watchers materialized to the left and right, grabbing Jacob and Malini’s elbows and pushing both forward. Down the industrial metal stairs, Jacob faltered, catching himself every third step, trying to keep up with the Watcher's rough handling. If Malini was afraid, Jacob couldn’t tell. Her face was completely blank. He tried to trust in her bravery, that she’d know what to do, but his heart betrayed him, pounding in his chest. Every drop of water within twenty yards called to him. It was all he could do not to use it. When they reached Lucifer, Auriel and Cord pushed him forward and he crashed to the concrete floor at the devil's feet.

Malini tilted her face up. "What is this, Lucifer? What are you doing?"

He glanced around the room laughing, his narrowed eyes landing back on Malini. "The Healer wants to know what I’m doing." He lifted her by the back of her t-shirt. "Don’t mess with me, Malini. You know exactly what’s going on here, and you have just become a part of it."

Lucifer jerked Malini into a chair that manifested itself in front of the platform. The black wood splintered, erupting grotesque gray arms that wrapped around her chest and held her in place. Dead arms of the damned that stunk of decay and sulfur. She turned her head to avoid the stench.

Jacob reached out to the water, but Malini shook her head.

"Don’t try it, Horseman," Lucifer said. He grabbed Jacob by the neck and forced him into a chair next to Malini. Struggling to stand, Jacob fought against the corpse arms that forced him painfully into the chair.

He turned his face toward Malini, noticing the fear that had taken up residence in the corners of her eyes and he wondered if any of this was part of the plan. She looked away quickly. Was she afraid of what he might see? Did she have doubts about her own plan?

Lucifer clapped his hands together. "Places, people. These Soulkeepers are like bugs, once you see one, the place will be lousy with them before you know it. Let’s make them fallen heroes." He jogged up to the platform. "Abigail, it’s time."

* * * * *

Gideon watched from his place on the stair landing. He’d blended into the light as Malini had asked but it was becoming harder and harder not to act. Malini and Jacob, captured and constrained, would be useless if the portal was opened. The Soulkeepers couldn’t afford to lose their Healer now, not with their numbers so low.

It all came down to trust. If he trusted that a sixteen-year-old Healer could lead, then he should wait for her signal. Her role made her privy to information she couldn’t always share. She must know what he didn’t and he had to support her role.

But the truth was he didn’t fully trust her abilities. It wasn’t simply because she was young. It was because she treated Abigail as if she were a hopeless case. When you loved someone, it was impossible to believe they were hopeless. He knew if he could talk to her, he could save her.

As an angel, it should have been easy for him to have faith. Maybe his distance from heaven had changed him. The idea of spending eternity with Abigail, with or without heaven wasn’t without merit. He’d thought about falling, too. They could live in Paris as she had, walking their own path between heaven and hell. It might work.

The main level suddenly teemed with influenced humans and Watchers. They’d passed around black hooded cloaks that they donned over their clothing. The floor became a sea of black robes, ceremoniously facing Lucifer on the platform. The devil folded his hands like a groom waiting for his bride.

Gideon’s heart ached. Abigail was the bride.

Descending the steps, Gideon carefully navigated the crowd. He remained transparent but knew that his scent might give him away. If he passed too close to an astute Watcher, he was doomed. Still he made his way to the front, stepping up beside Malini and placing his hand on hers. She didn’t look down at the pressure, but when her fingers curled, he knew she felt his touch.