Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (17 page)

“What?
” I ga
s
ped.
“How could you possibly know that
?
”
I didn’t even know that her delusions were about ang
el
s and demons until last night,
but
of course I wasn’t going to admit this ignorance to him
.

“I’ve already told you that I can dream walk, and I rather rashly shouted at you last night that I was the one who appeared to her to explain your destiny.
”

I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing
.
He took my pause as an invitation to continue on
.

“You are special and we had to keep you protected, we had to make sure you survived to fulfill your destiny
.
I had to tell your m
other about your future as Michael’s instrument on earth, so she could understand how important you were
.
We wouldn’t want all
of humanity’s hope to be lost because your m
om let you ride your bike in the street,” he finished
.

“So you’re the reason my f
ather and I have lived an almost continual hell of outbursts and medication?” I asked furiously
.

“You have to understand
,
Michelle
.
I was crazed with
anger
towards
my f
ather’s actions
.
No way did I want humanity to end in a sea of torment and violence
.
I loved you all, and I couldn’t b
ear
the thought
.
I now understand why anger is such a serious sin
.
I
t was the first real emotion I had since the anger I felt against Lucifer’s betrayal
.
I bestowed on your m
other the gift of second sight, so she could see
the evil around you and help protect you, but this is more of a curse then a gift
.
The minions of h
ell are all around us at all times,
tempting our fate and decisions;
the second sight and her Motherly protective instincts have been almost to
o
much to b
ear
, but she is still in there Michelle and she has succeeded
.
She has kept you safe, and now I’m here to keep you safe and soon my brother Michael will intervene from heaven and help you as well.
”

I
let out a long exasperated sigh.
“I don’t know what’s worse
, thinking that your m
other is crazy and fearing that you’ll inherit it or knowing that she isn’t crazy but overwhelmed with the impossible task of keeping me safe
.
I probably should be more
upset with my impending doom than I am with my m
other’s past
,
but I can’ t help but be angry.
”

“Michelle, I never realized till I became mortal how much pain and conflict my kind has brought to yours
.
Being an angel you don’t fully understand the emotional turmoil, but now I do
.
I understand the way you feel, and I
understand how difficult your m
other’s road has been
.
For you and I have just met
,
and already I
would sacrifice everything
to
keep you safe
.
I a
m sorry for what I did to your m
other,” he ended solemnly
.
He didn’t even give me a chance to
respond
;
I just heard the silent click of the phone as he hung up
.

Chapter
8

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large
sword
.

—
     
Revelation 6
:3-4
˄
NIV

The rest of my Saturday was basically filled with me trying to comprehend all the information that had come to light over the past twenty-four hours
.
When I finally reached th
e point that I couldn’t possibly
think about any of it any
more, I took out the remainder of my science homework and attempted to get some work done
.
If I really was going to have to sacrifice myself to save all of humanity you would think that I could just abandon my homework
, but old habits die
hard
.

Once I was finished every last bit of homework that was assigned and had read ahead a chapter, I still need
ed
distracting
.
I went over to my bookshelf and pulled off Lewis Carroll’s
The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland
.
On
e of my all time favorite books;
after all
,
I already felt like I fell down the rabbit hole
.
The words of the Cheshire cat, “We’re all mad here,” rang in my mind and I thought I would like some
company in my insanity
, but even my favorite book couldn’t hold my attention.

I found myself rooting through the back of my bookshelf looking for my children’s
Bible
.
I found it all the way in the back; it was
a Precious M
oments themed
Bible
, but I assumed that didn’t really
matter
.
I spent the rest of the evening buried nose deep in passage after passage
,
attempting to make sense of it all
.
I hoped Gabriel really was here to guide me as a former messenger of God because if not we were all doomed
.
Apparently C
alculus wasn’t the only subject I had trouble understanding
.

More surprising
was the fact that I didn’t hear from Gabriel after our conversation on Saturday
.
Admittedly I was still mad a
t him over the whole making my m
other crazy thing, but if he was my only ally in all this we were going to
have to be on speaking terms
.

I awoke Monday morning with more than my usual beginning of the week dread
.
I dressed in a blur
,
not caring much what I wore and didn’t
even bother with any make-up
.
I skipped coffee and breakfast and
trudged
off to school
.
I couldn’t bring myself to walk up the main steps of the school, through the main entrance and witness
all the
campaign
posters and last minute
campaigning for student council that I was sure was going on right inside the doors
.
I had no doubts that both Cami and Alex wo
uld be
there
, Alex with his fake smile and Cami with her overly bubbly giggle
.
I cut through the back way, t
hrough the student parking lot;
a route I seldom traveled since I was wit
hout a means of transportation.
I walked passed a new, red mustang convertible that looked suspiciously like the same vehicle that had almost run me down on Saturday morning
.
It was a car I had never seen before, but like I said I rarely was in the student parking lot
.
I did notice that it was parked right next t
o Alex’s large, white Cadillac E
scalade
.
I had a fleeting impulse to key his car, but I doubt that that small bit of revenge would really satiate my rage
.

As I approached the back entrance to the school I noticed a figure standing along the wall
.
I immediately tensed at the person lurking in the shadows
.
My rational mind t
old me it was some lonely under
classman stealing a smoke before class, but the part of me that had just recently been introduced to a world of angels and
apocalyptic destinies was ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble
.
To my relief
,
out stepped Gabriel with two paper cups filled with what smelled like coffee
.

“Thought you might need this, “ he stated calmly as he hand one of the cups of coffee over
.

“Is mind reading one of your special powers?
”
I had meant for it to come out joking but there was too much bite in my voice and I just sounded accusatory
.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong
.
Let me just say thank
you.
”

“It
’
s okay if you
’
r
e still mad,
confused
,
or whatever
.
You’ve had a lot dumped on you in
the past few days.” He didn’t look up during
his words
,
but instea
d intently studied the lid to his
coffee cup
.
“But drink up, because not only is today student council elections
,
but we also have new student.
”

I know my face was one giant question mark
.
It was odd enough to get one new student in a school year, and Gabriel had been it
, so t
o have two in one year would send Shady Lane High into a tailspin of excitement
.
Then it dawn
ed
on me,
the
red mustang
.

“I’ve already met her,” I stated flatly as I took a long sip from m
y
coffee cup
.

Gabriel stopped
mid-drink
and
looked up at me sharply.
“Have you now?”

“Yeah, she almost ran me over coming home from Cami’s house on Saturday morning.
”

He shook h
is head and let out a deep sigh.
“I really have to keep a closer eye on you
, don’t I?”
He re
ached out with his free hand,
grabbed my elbow and pulled me towards him
.
It could have come off as possessive, but he was gentle about it and when I
was
just close enough to feel my skin crawl with the unusual sensation that left the small hairs on my arms standing at attention, he let go
.
It was as if he f
elt better just having me close, which made sense because
I know
I did.
“Well be prepared, she’s already got the student body in quite a dither.
”

As serious as I knew I should be about all this I couldn’t
stop
myself
from saying
, “
Who says dither?
”
I
laughed
at him
.

He gave a short huff under his breath, almost a laugh
.
“You know what I mean
.
Everyone is all riled up.
”

“I can imagine
.
Two new students in the same year is odd for Shady Lane
,
let alone two new students in one month.
”

“Yes, I’m sure that plays a part in the excitement, but I think you should reserve your judgment till you meet her,” he replied
,
shooting me a meaningful glance over the top of his cup
.

“Let me guess
,
she’s part of all this isn’t she?
”
I asked
,
already knowing the answer
.

“Her name is Scarlet
,” he
said,
let
ting the
statement hang in the air for a moment
.

Luckily I had done my best at catching up on my understanding of the book of Revelations this weekend, and I knew what it meant
.
I finished my coffee in
one final swig and tossed the c
up in the nearby trashcan
.
Recycling didn’t seem as important anymore when you weren’t sure you’d live to see your high school graduation
.
“
Let’s go meet our second seal,
shall we?
”
I asked
,
walkin
g past Gabriel to swi
ng
the door open
.
Not even nine
a
.
m
.
and already the day was off to a terrible start
.

 
My original hesitation about going through the front entrance proved to be accurate
.
Campaign posters plastered the hallway, all the candidates were still last minute campaigning, and the student population all seemed to be sporting buttons of their candidate of choice
.
I couldn’t help but notice
that all the
buttons
I saw
were for Alex Chase
.

I moved through the hallways as fast as I possibly could, stopping at my locker in order to throw my bag inside, and then I all
but ran to homeroom
.
In my effort to avoid all the student council hoopla, I had also forgotten to look for the new student
.
Cami and Alex were missing from homeroom, excused I’m sure because of the elections
.
Attendance was taken, the flag salute said, and then all the students were escorted down to the auditorium by homeroom
.
First period was canceled because all of the student body was in the auditorium to listen to our politically motivated peers ramble on about sports funding, longer lunches, and better snacks in the vending machines
.

I was both dreading and intrigued as to how this was going
to go down
.
I had mentally acc
epted that Alex was evil and
probably
going to doom us
all to eternal damnation, that part I got, but
student council president
?
You think of Antichrists you think of Adolf Hitler, Caligula,
even Stalin
not some teenage boy with an expensive car and a bad attitude
.
It all seemed a little small scale for the end of times, but here I sat, waiting for an adolescent
boy to give a speech worthy of a
false prophet
.

 
I scanned the room, looking for some sign of the doom I felt inside my bones
.
I spotted Gabriel standing by the back wall, looking menacing and
somehow avoiding notice all at the same time
.
I turned in my seat and scanned the front of the room
.
I saw the candidates for student council all seated in the front row
.
Freshman, then the sophomore candidates, juniors, and finally the seniors filled the first few seats
.
I spotted Cami dressed in what I was sure was suppose to be responsible attire, but came of
f
looking like a
L
e
gally B
londe version of political Barbie
.
Her pink business suit had a jacket trimmed in satin, and a pleated skirt that was about four inches above
the knee, for her sake I hoped her underwear matched
t
he ski
rt because once on stage she might
flash i
t
.

Seated next to her was Alex
.
He was dressed in a navy suit and a red tie; he looked good if slightly overdressed for a high school assembly
.
Cami was busy doing her best to commandeer his full attention by flashing him quite a bit of thigh and tossing her blond
e
hair seductively t
o
the side
.
Alex seemed oblivious to Cami’s show; he was simply staring
off
ahead of himself without the slightest sign of an emotion on his face
.

I continued to scan the auditorium, but our new student, Scarlett, evaded me
.
Every face I saw looked familiar, they were all the same faces I had been staring at for the past thirteen years
.

The speeches began in a
mind
numbi
ngly
boring
procession. I
f one more candidate quoted Kennedy,
Caesar, or FDR I was going to l
ose my mind
.
When in doubt
,
and unable to create a speech of your own
,
apparently my classmates decided to just rip of
f someone else’s famous words
.
Cliché yes, but still better than quoting song lyrics
.

Finally the senior candidates took the stage
.
Surprisingly enough
,
Cami’s speech was well written, and there was no denying that the girl had charisma
.
We may
be former best friends, but there was no denying she had a certain spark that was endearing
.
If we weren’t currently embroiled in a grudge of epic proportions I might have been proud of her
.
Cami introduced Alex to the school at the end of her speech
.