Confronting the Fallen (20 page)

“Well Christopher, what did you
think?”

“Think? Well, she wasn't what I
expected, sir. She was a lot younger than I thought she would be. And
pretty devious too. Good catch on your part, your honor.”

The judge smiled. “Thank you,”
he said, sounding a bit tired. “She has never been good at
deception and obviously her allies have not taught her very well in
its use.”

“They know who I am, sir,”
Chris said worriedly. “They obviously connect me with what
happened last night.”

“No, young man, they do not,”
the judge said sharply. “That's why Angelica was here. She was
fishing, trying to see if your arrival and the disturbance last night
are indeed connected or not. And she learned...nothing, except that
her wiles will not work. She left, not only empty-handed, but with us
even more alert to our enemies and their thinking than we were
before. Her superiors will not be happy with her, I'm sure.”

“Sir, that was Jacob at the door,
wasn't it?” At the judge's nod, Chris said, “But she
called him Janariel.”

“Janariel is the name of the
angel within Jacob. When you see any of the teens in the house
wearing what Jacob was wearing, it means that they are on duty and
their angelic soul has been brought out into the open.”

Chris was confused. “I don't
understand,” he said.

“It means that Jacob has allowed
his angel's soul to take over his mortal body, which allows it to use
its powers directly.” The judge's gaze sharpened. “That
kind of cooperation takes perfect trust, Christopher. Something that
you and Sariel do not have at the moment. Whether you ever will is
something that is between you and him.”

“So when I spoke to Tyler one
night when I was outside and he was on patrol, I was actually
speaking to his angel?” Chris asked in wonder.

“Partly. An angel is near the
surface when the teens are on patrol, as Janariel was when he
confronted Angelica. But Jacob and the others aren't subordinate when
their angelic souls are brought out of the darkness, so to speak. It
is an amalgamation, a blending of the two personalities, each
contributing to create a being more powerful than both.” The
judge seemed wistful. “I am told it is a joining that is
superior to any other, be it love or friendship or what have you. I
will never know, of course.”

Chris tried to imagine such a joining
but he couldn't. He was too independent a person to give up control
of himself to someone else, even an angel. I'll probably never know
either, he thought.

“Well, that's something we'll
worry about in the future. For now, I wanted to ask if you noticed
anything odd about Angelica, Christopher? Anything out of the
ordinary.”

Chris hesitated. “Well, maybe one
thing. I don't know if it was a trick of the light or not, but I
thought her eyes went red for just a second, when she noticed the
cameras.” He felt a little silly for even mentioning it, but
the judge smiled broadly.

“Excellent, young man. Well done.
It was not an illusion. You can now see what the others like you here
can see; the presence of evil in a fallen angel. The eyes are the
windows to the soul, Christopher. That is the one sign that they
cannot hide, no matter how gentle and caring they may appear to be.
Watch for it when you meet others out in the world. It is a sign that
evil is very near.”

Chris shivered again. A real demon,
that's what the judge called these fallen angels. The idea frightened
him more that he wanted to admit. He watched as Judge Hawkes reached
into a pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He unfolded it and
showed Chris the ring resting on it.

“Don't forget this, Christopher.
You may need it sooner than you think. If you decide to use it, that
is.”

Chris put the ring in his pocket. “So
what happens now, your honor?”

“Now?” The judge reached
for his phone and dialed quickly. “Now we step up security. I
think we've started something today and, unless I miss my guess, our
enemies are going to move against us and soon.”

Chris
had lunch with Tyler and Jacob. He was a bit shy at first about
speaking to Jacob about his angelic alter-ego, but surprisingly,
Tyler was the one to bring it up.

“
So
how does Janariel feel about Angelica, Jake?” he asked
casually. Jacob stopped eating for a moment and appeared to be
considering his answer.

“
Sad,”
he said. “You know he can't hate, not really. He's sad that she
betrayed him and the others. But he was ready to take her on if he
had to. I'm glad it didn't come to that though.”

Chris
spoke up hesitantly. “You're okay talking about this stuff in
front of me now?”

“
Yeah,
of course. You passed the test, Chris,” Tyler said in a
friendly tone. “Martin passed the word to all of us that you're
one of the family now, so to speak, and if we want to discuss this
stuff with you, we can. If you want to, of course.”

Chris
sighed audibly. “Thanks, guys. That is such a relief. I really
wanted to talk to someone my own age about it, especially you two,
since you're part of the whole 'angel' thing.”

Jacob
grinned. “Yeah, the 'angel' thing. Good name for it. So, any
questions, Chris? Because I think we have a few. But you're the new
angel in town,” he said with a grin, “so you get to go
first.”

Chris
collected his thoughts and finished off his chocolate cream pie at
the same time. He spared a quick thought for Chef's amazing cooking.

“
Okay.
I think my first question for you guys is, do you know who I have
basically 'riding' inside me?”

“
Nope,”
Tyler answered after a quick look at Jacob. “Not a clue. Which
frankly is weird because normally these angels know each other on
sight, even if the host doesn't realize that they have an angel's
soul.” He looked at Chris quizzically. “That's why we
didn't tell you anything about it when we met you, Chris. We simply
couldn't tell if you had one or not. Which is odd.”

“
Yeah,
Chris, what's up with that?” Jacob asked. “Janariel is
actually confused, which is a bit funny because he's usually so smart
about this stuff.”

“
I
think I know why, guys.” Chris waited a moment, not sure how
his friends would react. “You see, I don't have an angel's soul
inside me.” Both Tyler and Jacob began to talk at once but
Chris waved them down. “Hang on, hang on. I'm not quite sure
how to say this, so I'll just say it. I don't have an angel's soul
inside me. I have an archangel's soul inside me.” Both of his
friends stared at him with wide eyes. “Yeah, that's pretty much
how I reacted too.”

“
An
archangel's soul?” Jacob's voice was hushed. He looked around
at the other tables in the dining room but no one seemed to be paying
any attention to them. “But, I didn't think that was possible,
Chris.”

“
That's
what the judge said, too. But we saw him and I talked to him and
yeah, he's really in there. Which still feels weird to say actually.”

Tyler
was staring intently at Chris. “What's his name, Chris?”
he finally asked.

“
And
this is where it might get weirder, guys.” Chris tried to sound
reassuring. “His name is Sariel.”

He
wasn't sure how his friends would react but total silence wasn't what
he had expected. Both Tyler and Jacob gaped at him for a long moment
and then, almost simultaneously, their expressions went blank and
they lowered their eyes.

It's
as if they're looking inside themselves, Chris thought. Talking to
their angels? Maybe.

Tyler
was the first one to speak up. “Sariel,” he repeated
flatly. “My angel inside says that is impossible. He calls
Sariel 'the Broken One', whatever that means. He was banished from
Heaven for some high crime. How could he be a part of God's plan to
stop Armageddon?”

Jacob
nodded. “Janariel says much the same, Chris. This Sariel is
more of a legend to the angels, someone who existed at the beginning
of Creation. What's going on?”

Chris
realized that he had to tell the whole story from the beginning.
“Okay, guys. I'm going to tell you what Sariel told me. I'll
let you judge for yourselves after that.”

And
so, for the second time that day, Chris retold the experiences of the
night before, from the beginning. He also told his friends what had
happened during the test. Tyler and Jacob sat open-mouthed during the
entire story, not interrupting, just drinking it in. By the time
Chris was done, the dining hall was empty. He sat back feeling
drained and watched the two teens closely.

Finally
Tyler nodded. “So that's what happened. Astriel, that's the
name of my angel, Chris, had never heard it before. Apparently, they
don't talk about it in Heaven. It's a forbidden subject.”

“
Yeah,
Janariel had never heard it either,” Jacob chimed in.

“
So,
what do they think?” Chris asked. He was curious about an
angelic point of view of the story.

Again,
his friends got that faraway look in their eyes. Then Tyler shrugged.
“They are staying neutral, Chris. I think this whole situation
is beyond them. Angels are a pretty unimaginative lot as a rule,”
he added with a wink.

Chris
smiled and Jacob chuckled. “I agree. Janariel is cautious but
intrigued. He'll wait to see how it goes.”

“
Huh.
Well, a better reception than I thought I might get,” Chris
said. “Sariel is not a typical angel, from what I've learned so
far. He is beyond powerful, and I think he has anger management
issues. A bad combination, I'd say.”

“
Seriously,
Chris,” Tyler said flatly. “Be careful with this guy. I
have a feeling that in a regular fight, getting Sariel involved would
be like bringing a nuke to a fistfight. Little bit of overkill.”

Chris
shrugged. “I wouldn't know how to call him out anyway. What
happened with Anna was a mistake, a surprise to Sariel when she
showed me that relic. Even if I needed him, I don't know what to do
to get his attention.”

Jacob
looked surprised. “You mean, the judge didn't tell you?”
At Chris' head shake, Jacob frowned. “That's weird,” he
said.

“
Maybe
they don't want you to know, Chris,” Tyler said darkly. Jacob
stared at his friend.

“
C'mon,
Ty, they wouldn't do that! We all trust the adults here, don't we?”

“
Do
we? I don't,” Chris cut in. “I trust them more than any
other adults I've known in the last few years, but I'm still, let's
say, concerned about all of this.”

Tyler
nodded in agreement. “I trust them, Chris. But I totally
understand why you don't.” Seeing Jacob's puzzled expression,
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Jake, you heard Chris. His angel isn't
like ours. His power is off the charts. So, consider Sariel as a
weapon, which he is, really. And Chris has now put that weapon in the
hands of the leaders in this house. How can he be sure they won't use
him for something that he doesn't want to do?”

Jacob's
puzzled expression gradually turned to one of understanding. “Oh,
right. Of course!” He looked searchingly at Chris. “You
must have had it rough living on the streets, Chris.”

Chris
looked down at the table. Rough? He stared at his hands. The
ring-finger on his left hand was a bit crooked where it hadn't healed
straight after it was broken two years ago. The middle-finger beside
it had healed better and showed no evidence of being broken. He
turned over his right hand and looked at the two round, smooth scars
side by side on the back of the hand. Cigarette burns. He remembered
the smell of burnt flesh vividly. There were other scars, hidden but
still there. He reached up and felt the jagged line of scar tissue
just above the collar bone; from a knife edge pushed in just a little
too hard when the man holding him from behind couldn't force him to
do what he refused to do.

Scars
of body, of mind and of spirit. All there, all just as easy to recall
as if they had just happened. And then Chris thought of Sariel. Of
those horrible scars that had been ripped across his face, and of his
mangled wing. All healed, oh yes, but still there. Still a source of
suffering. We're the same, he thought with wonder. No family, no
parents, cast out, unloved. The same. And he looked at Tyler and
Jacob, staring at him with concern. Chris didn't have to ask to know
that they weren't orphans. They exuded health and honesty and a
normal life that he could barely recall. They were here because of
their angelic souls, not because they'd been driven here by a
merciless enemy.

Chris
knew that his friends would do what they must do, that they would
fight if they had to. But they didn't hate the way he did, the way he
knew Sariel did. Jacob had told him that. His angel couldn't hate.
Chris looked at him again. Must have been rough living on the
streets? Be happy that you'll never know, he thought and felt a
churning anger bubbling up inside of him.

The
anger was an emotion he knew, but suddenly it became more dense,
darker. He remembered every assault he'd lived through, every blow,
every threat and cruel word used against him. And his anger turned to
rage. Where was this coming from, he thought and felt a stab of
panic. He was afraid he knew.