Espial (17 page)

     Ace stepped
down. “Cool room,” he commented, looking around.

     “Thanks” I
replied. “I’ll be back soon.”

     “You’ll
make it fine.” He said, playfully smacking my arm. “Don’t forget to stall him.
Hurry back.”

     I gave him
a quick pat on the arm, then ran downstairs and out of the house. While
running, I noticed that the house smelled stale and dust had settled onto some
of the furniture. It was already afternoon there and the sun was high in the
sky. Steam poured through the potholes dotting the streets. My old gated
community sat quiet. I made my way down the street, taking the extended route
toward the CEB like Stella had advised. I passed my school, which too sat dark
and quiet. Strange how it was only a few months since I was last there. I
turned down the city’s main road. In the distance, I could see the CEB, smoke
billowing out of a chimney behind it. I walked down the middle of the street,
my footsteps the only sounds in the air. I reached the halfway point after
about thirty minutes of walking. The entire way, I felt like a stranger in my
own city. All stores and eateries were desolate. While I recognized everything,
I also didn’t. The quiet that hung heavily in the air made me uneasy. Terredome
no longer felt like my home.

     I then
heard a whistling above my head. Right as I looked up I saw three robotic
demons dive down at me. I crouched low, covering my head with my hands. When
they landed, I stood back up and faced them. One of them was Levi Boz.

     “Soleil
Arch,” he spoke, his voice sounding eerily deep and scratchy. “You must come
with us.”

     “No.” I
said, as I had rehearsed with Rider. “I am terribly afraid.”

     “Ha!” he
squawked. They then reached forward and grabbed me with their talons. They
lifted up and flew with me toward the CEB.

     “Good job.”
I heard in my ear. It sounded like Rider’s voice. “We are now leaving the
factory and heading into the CEB.”

     Levi and
his two companions flew me to the steps outside of the CEB. They brought me
down and escorted me up and through the main entry. While the CEB stood white
and majestic on its exterior, the inside was dark and menacing. All of the
windows were boarded up with a single chandelier providing light in the grand
lobby. Along the floor, snakes hissed and rattled, contained within a barbed
wire perimeter outlining the entire room. The entire ground was covered in dark
goo, squishing under our feet as I was led up a wide staircase in the center of
the room. I reached out to hold the hand rail when Levi turned and clawed at my
left hand, leaving a large gash that began bleeding heavily.

     “Owww!” I
cried, the pain searing up my arm. I leaned forward, clutching my left wrist.

     “Keep
moving!” hissed one of the demons to my side, pushing me forward.

     I continued
climbing up the stairs, which led to the third floor. Levi pressed the ‘up’
button alongside an old elevator that stood before us. When it arrived, I was
pushed in and Levi turned a knob that read ‘penthouse.’ The elevator shot up
rapidly. During the ascent, I could smell the putrid odor of decayed bodies. I
looked up at the ceiling to see arms and hands dangling in the seams of the
ceiling. I quickly looked away, swallowing back the chunks that rose from my
stomach. The pain in my hand was intensifying and I began to feel weak. Blood
continued oozing out of the wound. I lifted it steadily to assess it, when one
of the demons grabbed my arm, quickly brought it to his mouth and began sucking
blood from it.

     “Noooooo!!!”
I screamed, pain blinding my vision. Its tongue burned against my skin as it
tried to steady my arm and continue draining me. It then yanked me down bit
into one of my wings. I started seeing spots and everything around me became
darker.

     “You’ll
kill her, and Sato needs her alive!” hissed Levi. He grabbed the demon off of
my arm and threw him against the elevator wall. The demon slouched to the
floor, laughing and wiping my blood from his face. He then licked the blood off
of his claws.

     I too
slouched down. I had lost too much blood and was feeling faint. We arrived at
the penthouse just then, and the doors opened. The demons dragged me out of the
elevator and down a hallway. The hall had no lights and reeked of blood and
burning bodies. The goo that coated the floor matted my wings as I was dragged
down the length of it. The demons paused before two large mahogany doors,
‘Sato’ inscribed in cursive on them. They hissed in unison, causing the doors
to open on their own. They pulled me to the center of an office, leaving me on
the floor. I was barely able to make out a large black desk at which sat a
larger black throne.

     “He’ll be
here to greet you momentarily,” chuckled Levi. “Enjoy your life while it
lasts.” The other demons joined him in a hissing laughter as they exited the
room.

     “Hang in
there, Sol,” came Rider’s voice in my earpiece. “We just breached the basement
of the CEB. Give us a few minutes to plant the reactor.”

     I gradually
brought myself to my feet. Holding my left arm, which was pale and losing
sensation, I looked around the room. I needed to heal my wing. “Remedia.” The
bite mark in my wing disappeared, as did the blood surrounding it. My arm,
however, failed to heal itself. Sato’s office was crimson red and unlike
anything I had ever seen. Hundred of glass tubes ran from the ceiling down
along the walls, emptying out into large black vases on the floor. Blood flowed
freely through these tubes. The stench of the bodies peeked in this office and
I realized that Sato was likely draining the bodies of the citizens of
Terredome. I looked up at the ceiling to see if I could make out how far the
tubes ran up. Unable to see well, I then looked at his desk. On it sat a large
wine glass, filled with blood. The ATS room launch papers were neatly stacked
in front of the wine glass, with portions of the top sheet highlighted. Two
red-bulb lamps lit the room, giving it a frightening feel.

     “Welcome
home!” said a familiar voice from behind me.

     I slowly
turned and looked into the eyes of my betrayer.

     “You must
be so happy to be back, aren’t you?” asked Alex mockingly. “You don’t seem too
happy to see me though.”

     “You are a
disgusting piece of trash.” I said calmly. “You caused irreparable damage to
the lives of so many people.” I had rehearsed my stalling remarks with Stella.
I needed to give Rider enough time to plant the reactor.

     “Oh I
thought you were upset because I made you fall for me,” he winked.

     I felt my
face blush, but I continued. “Why are you and your father doing this?” I asked.

     “Well, Sol.
My father has had some great aspirations over his lifetime. But truth be told,
he’s going to have to pass the torch some day. And since I’m his only heir, he
felt that it was time that my training be put to use.”

     “Your
training? So you planned this all along?” I asked.

     “Of course
this was planned! I’m not really seventeen, Sol. More like seventy. So we’ve
had quite a few decades to get this ball rolling.” He stepped toward me and
brushed the back of his hand against my face. “You were the best part, I must
admit.”

     I smacked
his hand away with my right arm.

     “What? You
didn’t think Sato had suspicions about your father and that whole Oculation
story the technicians fabricated? Sato knows everything, Sol. That’s what makes
my father the greatest angel of all time. He chose to wait patiently for you to
develop. That way, he achieves the greatest pleasure when he gets to murder the
only descendant of Solomon Arch.”

     “What on
earth do I or my ancestors have to do with Sato?”

     “My father
was supposed to gain fame, not Solomon Arch!” screamed Alex, completely losing
his composure. “Sato’s name should be on everyone’s lips, praising him all of
the time. Since he can’t have it that way, everyone will pay for Solomon’s
notoriety!”

     “Why would
you punish the world for something they had no control over?” I felt myself
sway as I said this, the loss of blood causing flashes of light to appear, my
vision clouding.

     Alex
ignored me and walked over to one of the tubes. “The blood of mankind will flow
endlessly, feeding us as we turn dreams and hopes into misery and despair.” I
could no longer stand and fell to the floor. Just then Warren Sato entered the
room, flanked by Wrath and Fury, who were in their normal, human-like state.
Both smiled devilishly at me, making what little blood I had left boil. They
stopped at either side of the doorway and stood guard.

     “Ah Soleil
Arch, granddaughter of the mighty Solomon Arch. Welcome. It will be an honor to
take down a second arch in my lifetime.”

     “Sol, the
reactor was planted. You have three minutes to teleport NOW!” shouted Rider
into my earpiece.

     “Father,
she’s been wounded. Apparently one of your subordinates couldn’t help himself.”

     “Well that
is why you are in charge of them!” shouted Sato to his son. “To prevent things
like this!”

     Alex knelt
next to me, inspecting my hand. I moaned when he poked his finger into the
wound, grinning at me sadistically.

     “Bring her
to Factory 8. I will be there shortly to dismember her myself.”

     “Two
minutes, Sol!” shouted Rider.

     Alex began
dragging me by my right arm into the hallway. I tried conjuring an image of the
house at the edge of Terredome. However, each time I tried to picture it, the
image slipped away, the pain in my left arm too much to bear. We reached the
elevator, and Alex pressed the up button. We rode it one more floor up to the
rooftop of the CEB. There resided the entry points to the catwalks that led to
the factories.

     “Sixty seconds,
Sol!”

     Alex
dragged me to the catwalk marked ‘8’.” Back at the elevator we had just exited,
the door opened and Warren stepped out, flying towards us with Wrath and Fury
following behind.

     “Where are
they?!” he yelled out, his voice booming as he flew.

     “What?”
called out Alex, still holding my right arm.

     “Cameras
picked up one of Rider’s angels in the tunnels. What did they do?!” He was just
about to land, when I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I envisioned my old room,
the way my bed looked with its bedspread and pillows. When I opened my eyes,
there I was, lying on my old bed. However, Alex was there as well, still
holding onto my arm.

     “What?
Where are we? What did you do?” he asked.

     “Ten
seconds!” Rider’s voice drilled into my eardrum.

     I leaped off
of the bed and realized that the pod I had arrived on was gone. I flew down the
staircase, Alex right behind me. I made it out the front door and took off
flying toward the house in the east.

     “Five
seconds!”

     Alex took
flight after me.

     “Three,
two, one!” I heard a loud sound and looked back as I flew. The CEB mushroomed
into a ball of fire. I stopped flying and hovered mid-air as I could see waves
of the explosion making their way towards me. I dropped onto the ground and
squeezed my eyes tight. Alex grabbed one of my wings just as I envisioned the
house in the east. I opened my eyes to find Ace waiting next to the pod. His
eyes widened, but before he could say anything, I grabbed him and pulled him
onto the pod. We flashed in an instant and disappeared from Terredome for good.

     My eyes
opened and I found myself lying on a bed. I immediately felt a dull throbbing
in my left arm, so I raised it cautiously. It was wrapped in a white bandage,
some blood soaking through. Soft white lights were beaming down on me. I
blinked rapidly to focus my eyesight. In a chair at the foot of the bed sat
Ace, sound asleep. On a counter next to him rested my gold sais. Someone had
bathed me, cleaning my wings thoroughly and dressing me in a green cotton romper.
I slowly sat upright, pushing a sheet off to the side. I was feeling slightly
dizzy, so I reached for a nearby glass of water when Ace stirred awake.

     “Hey
there,” he said delicately.

     My throat
too dry to speak, I nodded in his direction.

     “How are you
feeling?”

     “Ok,” I
croaked. “Where are we?”

     “Umm…,” Ace
looked around uncomfortably. “That’s actually a funny story.”

     “What’s
wrong?” I asked, now panicking. “Where is everyone?”

     “Oh no need
to worry everyone is fine…back in Los Angeles, that is.”

     “What do
you mean ‘back in Los Angeles?’”

     “Well
that’s the funny part. I don’t think the pod in Terredome could handle the
weight of us, so we didn’t transport back to L.A.”

     “Ok so
where are we then?”

     “We’re in
Dublin.”

     “Dublin?!”
I yelled, my voice cracking. I remembered reading about Dublin in history
class. “As in Dublin, Ireland?!”

     “Yes. I
think the pod must have malfunctioned with the three of us on it, so it sent us
here.”

     “Wait.
There were only two of us.”

     “Umm…no.
That’s where it gets funnier, actually,” Ace stammered. “You teleported to the
house with Alex.”

     “Are you
joking?”

     “No. You
pulled the three of us onto the pod. When we landed here in Dublin, you were
unconscious. Alex and I got into an altercation in their angel transport room.
He was restrained and is in custody.”

     “Oh no.
This can’t be happening,” I said softly, rubbing my face.

     “I spoke
with Rider and Stella last night. They all made it back to L.A. Glinda was
slightly injured because they were attacked when leaving the tunnels. But
they’re safe. Terredome was utterly leveled and General Matthews’ army is
searching for Sato’s body as we speak.”

     “You said
last night. How long have I been out?”

     “Close to
twelve hours. It’s 9am here.”

     “Oh. I’m
glad everyone is safe.”

     “Well sort of.”

     “What?”

     “While we
were in Terredome, something bad happened at the LARF. Fly’s son was kidnapped
by the odd blonde-haired woman. Victoria had been watching him when the woman
drove through the lobby. The car damaged everything in the hall. She snatched
Gadget, got into her car, and took off.”

     “Oh my…oh
no,” I said, hopping off of the bed. “Did they follow her?”

     “It all
happened so fast and no one else was in the lobby. Victoria tried to fly after
her, but was pierced by a poisonous dart. She’s recovering and should be fine
in a few days. But they finally know who she is.”

     “And?”

     “You may or
may not know her. I can’t remember the name Rider mentioned, but everyone in
L.A. is trying to find how’s she’s connected to all of this.”

     “We need to
get back to L.A. right now,” I said firmly. I stood and started making my way
towards the door.

     “We can’t
quite yet,” replied Ace.

     “Why not?”
I paused.

     “While they
were taking Alex into custody, he ingested a liquid that was hidden in a
capsule inside of his mouth. Since yesterday, he has been growing larger in
size. His wings are enormous and are dark red now. His teeth transformed into
pointed fangs and his nails are like claws.”

     “Do you
think he’s a threat to the city by being here?”

     “Yes.
That’s exactly why we can’t leave right now. An ATS pod is being set up near
his cage. They would like us to transport him back to L.A. Rider and Stella are
building a holding cell for him now. He will be executed once he’s back.”

     “Can’t they
execute him here?”

     “They tried.
They’ve been trying all night. Whatever he took, it has thickened his skin,
making it impervious to any weapons they have here.”

     “What do
Rider and Stella have in mind then?”

     “Execution
by incendiary. Some type of contained explosion, I believe.”

     “Well it
better work, and fast. How soon can we leave?”

     “The pod
will be ready in an hour. You should probably eat before we take off.”

     Ace guided
me out of the room and we left the building. It felt like years had passed
since I had roamed through bustling city streets. Everything sounded loud and
no other angels were in sight.

     “Wait. We
can’t be out here. People will see our wings.”

     “They can’t
unless they’re an Espial, remember?”

     “Oh right.”

     I had grown
accustomed to everyone being able to see me for what I truly was. Walking the
narrow streets of Dublin, I mostly blended in. People walked in and out of
stores and pubs, laughing and enjoying the end of summer. Slightly humid and
muggy out, we walked into a nearby pub just as rain began to fall. Inside was
dimly lit, yet felt cozy. We ordered potato and corned beef dishes, served with
pints of ale. The pain in my left hand had mostly faded and I could feel the
strength returning to my body as I ate. Ace was famished as well, shoveling
large forkfuls of food into his mouth.

     “He was
planning everything all along.”

     “I
suspected that might be the case,” nodded Ace.

     “I think a
part of me hoped that he wasn’t always bad. But I was just fooling myself.”

     “Don’t
worry. He will be begging you for mercy when we get back to L.A.”

     “He
shouldn’t waste his breath because his kind of evil has no place in this
world.”

     Ace nodded
and went back to his plate. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I felt
so different compared to several months earlier. What seemed like so long ago,
I was worried about something going wrong during my Oculation procedure. All of
a sudden, I was the descendant of an arch angel, fighting alongside angel
warriors in an effort to protect mankind. We got up and left the pub after
satisfying our hunger. As we approached the Dublin angel center, I paused and
looked up at the sky. It was drizzling and the cool water felt good on my face.

#

     We still
had roughly twenty minutes before the pod would be ready. The Irish angels took
time showing me around their facility while Ace sat in the lobby, sharpening
his invisible arrows. Smaller than both the ARC and LARF centers, they
explained that while they were familiar with Sato’s evil plans, he had yet to
travel overseas. Therefore, they saw no need in expanding their central
intelligence or weaponry. The Irish base, known as the Ireland Angel Center,
had no combat training room. Its defense department only consisted of a single
computer in a tiny room. From what we were told, the small building only
contained three launch pads. Upon arriving in their ATS room, I saw the pod
that I had arrived on with Ace and Alex. It was dented and had scuff marks all
around it from where Ace and Alex had fought. The other two pods were pristine.

     “When was
the last time anyone transported?” I asked Seamus, the head of defense.

     “It has
been several decades,” he replied. His Irish accent was thick. His dark brown
hair had shimmery specks of gold. His green eyes were kind and they matched his
emerald wings. “We don’t really have a need to leave here.”

     “Not even
to network with other angel facilities?”

     “Why should
we? No one helped us after the war. We’ve decided it’s best to look out for
ourselves.”

     “But Sato
didn’t care about who helped who during the war. He single-handedly destroyed
the entire planet by detonating the nuclear reactor.”

     “That was
not our problem. And now that he’s dead, it will never affect us again. None of
it matters anymore. He’s gone and the world can continue on as it did before.”

     I shook my
head in frustration. “I don’t think you understand that Sato’s presence has
little to do with the fact that you’ve isolated yourselves when you could have
had help all along.” Seeing that I couldn’t change his mind, I switched gears.
“Did a lot of you survive the GWW?”

     “I think
that’s a question better suited for your leader, Rider, to address.”

     “Why do you
say that?”

     He turned
away from me and turned on a tablet resting on a small desk. It was clear he
wouldn’t answer my question. I tried a different approach.

     “Do you
know how we ended up here?”

     Seamus
shrugged. “I really don’t know. That’s a problem on your departing end, not our
receiving end.” The tablet opened a visual messaging program. “It’s going to
connect you to Los Angeles,” he said, motioning me to move closer. After a
quick beep, Rider’s face appeared on the screen.

     “Sol, are
you alright?” he asked.

     “Yes I’m
fine. How’s my mom?”

     “We have
her in hiding here are the ARC. She’s fine and knows that you are safe.”

     “Ok good.
How are Div and Glinda?”

     “Div is the
same like always. Happy that we destroyed Terredome and the CEB. Glinda is
still a little shaken from the tunnel attack, but she’s recuperating and will
be back to normal in a day or two. Div is overseeing her treatment.”

     “Ace and I
will be back shortly, so I will make sure to check in on her first thing. And
Luke?”

     “Luke’s
well. He too is in hiding.”

     “Ok great,”
I sighed, thankful that everyone was safe.

     “I know we
have much to catch up on when you arrive, but is there anything vital that Sato
said when you were in his office? We could not make out anything he said using
Fly’s vocal recognition software.”

     “Well Alex
is seventy, not seventeen. And they’ve taken the citizens of Terredome to begin
feeding off of their blood. The smell was horrid. I think that he’s trying to
harvest human blood as a resource to live off.”

     “That would
make sense. His goal to rule mankind can only be achieved if humans are in a
weakened state. It’s possible that it’s also the only thing he’d be able to
satisfy his demon army with.”

     “Exactly.”

     “One last
question, Sol.”

     “Yes?”

     “Do you
remember anyone by the name of Jeze DeMonica?”

     My heart
stopped in my chest. “Yes, why?”

     “Luke was
reviewing the security footage of the kidnapping of Gadget with me. He
identified the woman as Jeze DeMonica. He said that the three of you went to
school together?”

     “We did.
Don’t you remember?”

     “That’s the
problem. We’ve never had a student named Jeze DeMonica in school records. As the
principal, I do recognize her face, but I do not know this person based her
name, or based on the records on file for the school.”

      “So a
random girl had been roaming the halls and attending classes, yet no one
questioned who she was. How on earth is she involved in something like this?”

     “After some
research using facial recognition software, it seems her family is distant
relatives of Sato. Her uncle, who’s a cousin of his, is the mayor of a city
near Terredome.”

     “And?”

     “And after
the incident in the ARC, his city was overrun by rebels who refused to succumb
to his quest for human enslavement. Word of what happened at the ARC seems to
have spread. Cities across the land are beginning to rebel against Sato’s
regimes.”

     “So that’s
why she came looking for me. Jeze blames me.”

     “That’s what
we believe.”

     Seamus
cleared his throat. When I looked over, he pointed at the door. “Rider, they’re
summoning me to go.”

     “Alright,
Sol. See you shortly.”

     I followed
Seamus and two other angels down a flight of stairs and into a crypt. I made up
my mind to not let Rider’s update affect either my thinking or my emotions. In
each tomb sat bones of various creatures, still connected to shackles. From the
opposite end of the room, I heard growls and rattling chains. We approached the
locked gate in front of the last tomb and I saw a large beast with red wings
trying to pull the chains off of the wall. Alex had grown both larger and
taller. His hair was now flaming red like his father’s, with matching wings. He
turned and snarled when he saw me, baring his teeth.