Angel Fever (24 page)

Gunfire rained around us. Seb and I went high and started flying quickly back to the truck. The human Seb and I were already hurtling towards the centre of town, as fast as I could drive over the damaged streets.
Come on, come on,
I thought fervently as our angels sped towards us.

More people had appeared with guns, and another bullet whined past as we flew. Our angels reached the truck, diving straight through the windshield into our human forms.

“Maybe we should go the other way now,” Seb said dryly, eyeing the approaching mob.

I stopped the truck with a lurch. “No!” I gasped. “I know them – and they’re fighting the angels, so they’re on our side.” I scrambled out before Seb could respond; I heard him swear.

“Stop!
Stop!
” I cried as a dozen people thundered towards us. “It’s me – Willow!”

Scott Mason, former football star of Pawntucket High, was at the front of the pack. He jogged to a halt, holding a rifle. His once-broad form was leaner now, his brown hair longer.

“
Willow?
” he repeated, his voice rising in disbelief.

The group gaped at us. Seb had gotten out too and was holding one of the machine guns, his mouth grim – and I knew he didn’t trust my former classmates not to attack again.

Because everyone who’d come after us was someone I’d gone to Pawntucket High with. Scott, still wearing his purple and white letterman jacket. A girl with long auburn hair named Rachel – we’d taken freshman biology together. No sign of Nina, though.

Scott had raised his rifle against his shoulder, pointing it at us. “If you’re really Willow, what the hell was up with those angels?” he snapped.

I swallowed. “They’re – they’re part of us. We’re both half-angel.”

Someone at the rear had peeled off and was heading at a run back towards town. I watched nervously, wondering if she was going for reinforcements.

Scott snorted. “Yeah, you’re
supposedly
half-angel – who are you really?”

I stared at him. “What? Come on, Scott, don’t you recognize me?”

“Those angels flew right inside you!” he barked. “The Willow we knew is on
our
side – I’m not taking any chances.” Scott had always been expert with a football; he didn’t look any less so with a rifle as he stepped closer.

“Stay. Back.” Seb’s voice was a razor blade. “My angel can survive without me. If you shoot, he will grab the machine gun and fire on you all.”

The bluff worked. Scott lowered his rifle a fraction, his handsome face cautious.

“But I
am
on your side!” I cried. “I’ve been fighting the angels for years – we both have.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what you would say, isn’t it?” he demanded.

“But the half-angel thing can’t be
true,
can it?” protested Rachel, stepping closer. “I thought it was just a story!”

How had they already known I was half-angel? Before I could respond, a dark-haired guy said, “Either way, that doesn’t mean this is her! After two years? And
now,
after this morning?”

“Way too convenient,” put in someone else.

“Of
course
it’s really me!” I exclaimed. “Rachel – remember how crazy we made Mr. Kovak in biology? We refused to dissect frogs, remember? And, Scott, you flunked sophomore English – Coach Campbell was furious at you.”

“Angels are psychic,” muttered someone darkly.

“
I’m
psychic, remember?” But it was clear that nothing I said or did would convince them. “We’re here to help! ”I said anyway, raising my voice. “Pawntucket’s about to come under attack—”

“
Attack?
” Scott hissed. “You’ve led them right to us, haven’t you?”

“No! You’ve got to listen—”

Scott snapped the rifle to his shoulder again; with no hesitation, Seb let loose a burst of machine-gun fire, scattering it at his feet. As Scott jumped back, I stood breathing hard, my mind spinning. This could
not
be happening.

“Stop!” shouted a new voice. Running footsteps were heading towards us. “
Stop!
”

A guy wearing an old duffle coat and a grey thermal cap came sprinting up, with the girl who’d taken off before and someone else a few paces behind. Panting, the guy glanced at me and then the crowd, his expression incredulous. “What are you
doing
? This is Willow!”

“You don’t know what happened!” Scott said hotly. “She—”

“Yeah, Leslie told us,” broke in the new guy. Average height, a boyish face. “And it’s still Willow! She’s half-angel, remember? I
told
you that.”

I stared, wondering who this was and how he knew me – and then suddenly the figure who’d been bringing up the rear propelled herself into my arms. “Willow! It’s you; it’s really you—”

Nina.
Tears jumped to my eyes. I forgot everything else as I held her tightly, weak with relief that she hadn’t believed the terrorist stories after all.

She pulled back, swiping at her eyes. “Oh, god, I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Me neither,” I said faintly. Nina was an inch taller than me, with golden-brown hair that used to be straightened paper-flat. Now it framed her cute, snub-nosed face in a bob, making her brownish-green eyes look even larger.

Scott still held his rifle half at the ready. “Yeah, but – come on,
that’s
not how being a half-angel works, is it?” he sputtered. “An angel flying right inside you?”

My neck warmed. I felt so self-conscious, confirming to all my old classmates that I wasn’t completely human. Steadily, I said, “Well, that’s how it works in our case, and we’re the only half-angels that we know about. Our angels are part of us.”

Nina’s gaze widened as she glanced from me to Seb – but to my amazement, she didn’t look disbelieving. More than her hair must have changed in two years.

“Listen, if Jonah and Nina are sure it’s her, that’s good enough for me,” Rachel said firmly.

The murmurs of assent relaxed my spine a little, and then it hit me:
Jonah?
I turned and gaped at the newcomer as memories of the Denver Church of Angels whirled past. No way – it couldn’t be. Then mentally, I put him into a grey suit with an angelic blue tie; his gentle brown eyes were just the same.

It was really him.

“Yeah, we’re sure,” Jonah was saying. “Come on, Scott, put your gun down. All of you.”

Though his voice was mild, everyone obeyed. I stood staring, trying to take this in. “But – what are you doing
here
?” I blurted out.

Jonah glanced at me with an embarrassed smile. “Hi,” he said belatedly, stepping forward and offering his hand. “It’s great to see you again, Willow. I mean, it really is.”

I shook his hand in a daze. “You too,” I said softly. Our hands stayed gripped longer than necessary; suddenly my throat was tight. Jonah had been Raziel’s assistant. He’d risked his life to help us try to stop the Second Wave.

I let go. “Um – this is my friend Seb. Sebastián Carrera. Seb, this is Nina Bergmann, and Jonah…I’m sorry, I don’t know your last name.”

“Fisk.” Jonah extended his hand to Seb. I saw him glance at the empty truck and dreaded the question I knew would follow:
Where’s Alex?

“Listen – we’re here for a reason,” I said hurriedly. “Pawntucket’s in danger; Raziel plans to attack in five days. At least, I hope we’ve still got five days.”

Jonah stared at the mention of his former employer. “Raziel’s going to attack
here
?”

Nina gripped my arm. “Quick, tell us everything!”

I told them what I’d gotten from the angel in the corridor. “Something’s happening here that the angels weren’t expecting,” I finished in a rush. “Something they feel threatened by.”

Jonah looked pale. “Yeah…yeah, I guess maybe there is.”

Scott’s jaw had turned to stone. “Oh, man, only five days – and the others are out checking the food stores! We’ve got to get them back so we can start
planning,
do something! Town hall, right? One hour!”

He and the others took off at a run, leaving only Nina and Jonah. “Shouldn’t we go too?” Nina asked anxiously.

Jonah still looked pretty shaken, but his voice was steady. “Scott’s got people to help him. And besides—” He glanced at Seb and me, his fists moving in his coat pockets. “We’ve got to talk,” he said intently. “I need to find out what the Angel Killers have been doing and tell you what’s been going on here. You, um…probably need to hear about it, Willow.”

Suddenly I had a terrible feeling that Jonah had a tendency towards understatement. “Yes, all right.” I glanced back at the truck. “Should we move this? It’s kind of out in the open.”

Nina nodded, giving it a worried glance. “Most of us live at the elementary school now – on Birch, remember? You can park it under the covered walkway there, so it’s not visible from the air. Jonah and I will meet you over at the town hall.”

Not visible from the air
– I couldn’t believe the way sceptical Nina was taking all this in her stride. Two years ago she would have poured scorn on the very idea that angels really existed.

I shoved my questions away for the time being and started back to the truck. “Okay. Meet you there.”

As Seb and I drove to the school, a weighted silence settled down on us again. I glanced at his familiar profile and cleared my throat.

“Seb, look, I know you’re still angry at me…but do you think we could just pretend everything’s okay for the next few days?” I managed a smile. “If we actually survive this, you can go right back to not talking to me, I promise.”

He gave a quiet snort. Finally he shook his head. “You are the most infuriating person I have ever met,” he said tiredly. “But, yes, you are right.”

We’d reached the squat brick building of the Neil Armstrong Elementary School by then – I rocked us onto the sidewalk and parked under the covered walkway at the front. As Seb and I got out, our eyes met. He still looked irritated, but the corner of his mouth lifted a fraction.

“Friends?” I said.

He made a face. “No, I don’t think that’s the right word.” He pulled out his rifle from the back and slung it over one shoulder. “Even when I want to strangle you, you know, it doesn’t matter. We are still…” He stopped with a weary shrug.

My chest felt tight as I nodded, understanding. The bond we shared would always be there, like a deep river connecting us. Whether we wanted it to be or not.

As Seb and I walked down the familiar streets, I couldn’t stop staring. The fact that some homes were okay made the damaged ones look even worse. In the town square, half the buildings were sagging – broken windows, smashed-in walls. The drugstore had collapsed completely.

At the square’s centre, the town hall rose up from a snowy lawn, its tall brick structure stolid and unchanged. Nina and Jonah stood waiting on its front steps. They had their arms around each other; when they saw us, they stepped apart.

I blinked. Oh. So…apparently Nina didn’t have a thing for Scott Mason any more.

As we joined them, I bit my lip and glanced back towards the square. “I didn’t know you had such bad tremors here,” I said. Stupid comment. But I hated to see Pawntucket so slumped and defeated.

Nina nodded, studying the square with sad eyes. “We keep meaning to rebuild, but…” She sighed.

“I guess it hasn’t really been a priority,” Jonah said quietly. “One day, I hope. But come on, let’s get inside.” His eyes met mine. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

I’
D ONLY BEEN IN THE
town hall twice – once on a field trip in third grade and once to pay a parking ticket when I was sixteen. It smelled just the same, like dust and lemon cleaning polish. Jonah led us to a room on the ground floor. At one end was a battered-looking desk with a shortwave radio; at the other, a fireplace.

Jonah crouched in front of it, feeding the small blaze with scraps of wood. “Sorry it’s so cold in here,” he said. “The town’s only got one generator – we save it for the service station and heating the school at night.”

It felt strange that Jonah knew more about my hometown than I did now. I glanced at Nina, still hardly able to believe I was here. “How are you?” I asked her quietly. “I mean – how has everything been?”

“Bizarre,” she said with a tight smile. “These last two years have definitely not been normal. Not for you either, I guess.” She hesitated. “So did you
know
you were half-angel? Or what?”

I shook my head. “Not until I was sixteen – it was that day I followed Beth to the Church of Angels, actually.” It was also the day I’d first met Alex. At the image of him falling into step beside me as we walked through the parking lot, I stopped short and looked away. “It’s, um…a long story.”

Nina studied me with a frown, looking exactly the way she’d always looked when I’d tried to evade something. Thankfully, this time she didn’t pursue it.

“Are you sure your name is really Fisk and not Freedom?” Seb asked Jonah from beside the desk.

Relieved to have something else to think about, I followed his gaze – and saw scrawled notes on a yellow legal pad beside the shortwave. A puzzle piece slipped into place.

“You’re the Voice of Freedom!” I burst out.

Jonah’s cheeks reddened as he straightened. He briefly pulled off his cap and ran a hand over his head – his dark hair was close-cropped now, the curls gone. “Um, yeah…I guess you could say that.”

I felt a sudden fierce pride that the Voice of Freedom was coming from Pawntucket. “We listen to you all the time,” I said fervently. “People hear you – they tell us so in dark towns, when we go in to recruit.”

Jonah’s eyebrows shot up. “
Really?
That is so good to hear. Sometimes it feels like I’m just broadcasting into nothing.”

“No, you’re definitely making a difference. Don’t give up, not ever,” I said – and then winced, remembering the angels gathering in Schenectady.

A tense silence fell. Finally Jonah poured water from a plastic bottle into an old-fashioned kettle and hooked it over the fire. As we all settled near the hearth, he glanced at Nina. “So, where should we start?”

“How about with why you’re in Pawntucket?” I tried to smile. “I think you’re literally the last person I expected to see here.”

Jonah had to be in his early twenties, but his quick, embarrassed grin made him look about eighteen. “Actually, I came looking for you.”

“
Me?
Why?”

“Well, you and Alex,” he clarified. When I didn’t respond, he went on. “See, after the Second Wave arrived, I – I guess I didn’t deal with it very well.” He made a face as he traced a pattern on the faded carpet. “I mean…everything I’d ever believed in was gone. Everything. And we hadn’t managed to stop them, and—” He broke off. Nina’s expression had softened as she watched him.

Finally Jonah let out a breath. “Anyway, after a while I realized I could do something about it, if I could just find you two. I knew you’d still be fighting; I wanted to join you. But the only place I knew about where you and Alex might come to was here.” He hesitated, looking up. “Listen, I hope I’m not saying the wrong thing, but – where
is
Alex?”

I tensed. I’d never had to say it out loud before; everyone at the base had already known. The words came out harshly. “He’s dead. He died over a year ago.”

Jonah closed his eyes tight, as if he’d almost been expecting this. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I would have liked to have known him better.”

“Oh, Willow,” whispered Nina – and I knew Jonah must have told her about me and Alex being a couple. She leaned over and squeezed my hand. “Are…are you okay?”

For a second I couldn’t help gripping her fingers. “I’m fine,” I said. I quickly let go of her, hating the fact that tears were threatening. It had been a
year.
“Fine,” I repeated.

Nina still looked stricken; Jonah’s gentle brown gaze was full of concern. Seb cleared his throat. “Willow and Alex went down to Mexico City after they escaped from Denver,” he said. “Willow had a dream that took them there.”

He told Jonah and Nina everything – the assassination of the Council, our base in Nevada, the recent angel attack. He explained it all far more succinctly than I could have. It made me sad to listen, though. For over two years, we’d tried so hard, hoped so much – and we’d just had failure after failure.

Nina and Jonah both looked dazed when he’d finished. “Wow,” Jonah said finally, pushing his cap back a little. “Well, nothing as important as
that’s
been happening here. Though something pretty strange has been going on.”

He glanced at me and seemed reluctant to continue. Instead he stretched on his knees to hook the kettle off the fire. He poured us each a mug of tea, his boyish face intent. “Sorry, no milk. We’ve got sugar, though.”

“No, it’s gone,” Nina said, hugging a knee to her chest.

Jonah settled back beside her. “Oh, well. Sorry, no sugar, either. Anyway, I got to Pawntucket and found out that you weren’t here, Willow. But then I met Nina.”

Nina gave a small smile as they exchanged a glance. “Yeah, we were both outside your aunt’s old house. I mean…where it used to be.”

I stiffened, remembering the news footage: the shimmering wall of fire that had devoured the house, with a garden gnome glowing like a weird fire spirit in the front yard. “What were you doing there?”

Nina shook her head. “I don’t know; I just…went there sometimes. I really missed you after you left.” She ran a finger over her mug as she went on: “So one day there was this guy lurking around, and it was Jonah. We got to talking, and I thought he was crazy at first. I mean, he was telling me angels were real and feeding from humans, and
you
were half-angel and trying to defeat them – believe me, I made an excuse to get away from him pretty fast.”

Jonah smiled slightly. “And here I thought it was just my personality.”

“It was. I thought you were cute, but certifiable.” Nina swallowed. “But…then all this other stuff started happening, and I realized he was right.”

“What stuff?” Seb asked sharply.

“Well, things got pretty weird as soon as Willow left.” Nina glanced at me. “Right after, we had police all over the place, asking questions – and then there was all that about you running away with a secret boyfriend, which I
knew
wasn’t true. I – well, I was scared.”

“I wanted to call you so many times,” I said softly. “It just wasn’t safe.”

She nodded, her eyes bright. “I know that now. Anyway, things just got even weirder after that, with everyone convinced you were a terrorist. Which made even less sense than the secret boyfriend. And then the quakes…” She sighed. “Oh god, it was horrible. No power except for one tiny generator, the middle of winter—”

“Why didn’t you go to Schenectady Eden?” I asked. “I mean, I’m glad you didn’t, but I haven’t seen
any
populated dark towns this far north.”

“Most people did. I stayed because…well, because of the angels.” Nina shook her head. “It’s crazy, huh? I would never have believed that
anything
like that could be true. But after you left, I’d see people just – looking up into the air with these empty smiles. And then afterwards they’d go join the Church. It was like everyone was turning into a Stepford wife.” She bit her lip. “But then after the quakes hit…it all changed.”

“We’ve, um – sort of got a theory,” Jonah said. “We think maybe the earthquakes affected people here in ways they weren’t aware of. Like, woke them up, on some level.”

I stared at him. Nina took a deep breath. “Willow, a few days after the quakes, I saw Mrs. Baxter standing in front of Drake’s Diner, staring up at the sky – only this time I could see what was happening. I
saw
the angel, saw it feeding from her. It was so…” She trailed off with a convulsive shudder.

“I know,” I whispered, remembering the first time I’d seen someone being fed from by an angel. It wasn’t a sight that left you.

Nina started to say something else and hesitated, looking pained.

“The next week, Nina’s parents went to the refugee camp outside of Schenectady,” put in Jonah softly, touching her hand. “They’re probably residents of the Eden now.”

If they were still alive at all. I winced, remembering her nice, normal parents – how much I used to envy her having them. “Oh god, Nina, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah,” she said at last, her eyes full of an old sorrow. “I begged them not to go, but they didn’t believe me. They tried to make
me
go, but by then everyone who’s here now had seen what was going on too. We all kind of…banded together, I guess, and refused.” She gazed down, playing with Jonah’s fingers.

“Nina, that’s—”

She took a deep breath. “Wait, there’s more. We didn’t realize it until the first time an angel tried to feed from one of us, but – well, it’s like we’re immune. They try to feed and then hiss and back off. It’s even gotten to where we can see them
coming
now, as if our senses are sharpening all the time.”

I stared at her, my thoughts in chaos. “How many of you are there?” I asked finally.

“Almost two hundred,” she said. “Pretty much everyone you had a class with at Pawntucket High. Which, um…” She glanced at Jonah.

He put his mug down. “Willow, this is just a theory, okay? The thing is, we think the quakes had something to do with what’s happening – but we think
you
might, too.”

“
Me?
” I gaped at them. “I wasn’t even here!”

Nina’s voice was low. “Yes, but the people who became immune after the quakes had all spent a lot of time around you. We’ve gone over and over possible links, and you’re the only one that makes any—”

“Oh, right!” I let out a short, gasping laugh. “So I’m, like, secretly marshalling everyone from thousands of miles away, even though I wouldn’t know how if I tried? Yes, that’s reasonable.”

Jonah’s face was troubled. “No, actually we think it’s the opposite,” he said. “That people who knew you are somehow connecting to your energy and marshalling themselves.”

We were speaking different languages. “But that doesn’t make any sense. There’s nothing about me that could help them do that.”

“Jonah says the angels think you’re the one who can defeat them,” pointed out Nina. “So there must be
something
special about you.”

I hated this conversation. “The only thing special about me is that I’m half-angel – and so is Seb, so what does
that
do to your theory? Besides, if this is true, then everyone I know should be immune, and they aren’t!”

Seb had been sitting quietly through all this, missing nothing. “What about Kara?” he asked.

I froze. “What about her?”

“Kara is an AK,” Seb explained to Nina and Jonah. “And she, too, is immune. We don’t know that the others aren’t,” he added, looking at me. “During the battle, the angels weren’t trying to feed; they were only trying to kill.”

I shook my head dumbly. “Seb, no – this is just too strange. There’s no way it can be true.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know… I’m thinking now of how attached everyone in the base was to you. I’d feel it, sometimes – as if everyone’s energy was reaching towards you. I thought it was just – that they liked you, you know? But…” He fell silent.

I’d felt the same thing. Oh god, I’d felt the same thing. My blood chilled. Whatever was going on couldn’t really be to do with
me,
could it?

“Okay, but even if this is true…it doesn’t change anything,” I said finally. “Because if the only people this happens to are ones who’ve spent time around me – well, I can’t spend time around the whole world, can I? The angels will still win in the end.”

“It must mean
something.
” Nina’s voice was tight with frustration. “If you could just find a way to harness this thing—”

“How?”

“I don’t know; you’re the one who can defeat them!”

“Don’t you think I’ve racked my brains for two years now, trying to figure out what I could do? There’s nothing! I’m just
me,
Nina, not Supergirl.”

There was a long pause. Nina blew out a breath and stared down at her tea. Jonah’s eyes were kind but disappointed – and I realized with a jolt that they’d been hoping I was the answer. From Seb’s wry smile, I knew that he, at least, hadn’t believed for a second that we’d avoid a fight with the angels.

I didn’t believe it either.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Nina and Jonah. “I’d give anything if I knew how to defeat them. But if you’re looking for a saviour, you’d better look somewhere else.”

The room grew warmer as the fire took hold; finally Jonah started to speak again. The rest of his story didn’t take long. He’d come here looking for me and Alex, and found a dark town full of people who were immune to the angels. With Jonah’s knowledge, they started training themselves and bringing their attackers down.