Ethereal (13 page)

We drive in silence. Or at least I think we do until he lets out a loud series of strange noises and I realize he’s snoring.

As we arrive at the gate I shake him abruptly by the shoulder.

“Help you?” The guard asks peering into the car.

“I’m taking Ellis Harrison home. Right, Ellis?”

He gazes at the night security guard through heavily glazed eyes.

“Hey there.” The security guard salutes him and the barricade arm rises.

I roll past the guardhouse and into the quiet solitude of the backcountry of Paragon Estates.

I’m in.

I’m going to the faction council meeting—with a very stoned Ellis Harrison.
   
 

Chapter Twenty-Four

Just call me Angel

“I’m over here on the right.” Ellis points out, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

I pass it up trying to visualize the map, which I stupidly forgot to bring with me. I know he lives on a cul-de-sac called Saddle drive, and he’s the only house on the block so it can’t be that hard to find. It veered right off Steamboat, which is the main thoroughfare.

“Turn around right here.” He instructs.

“I’m not going to your house. Would you like me to drop you off?”

“No,” he says suspiciously. “You passed up
his
house too.” His being Logan’s.

“Not going there either. I need to pick up something for a friend at Nicholas Haver’s house. You know him?”

“Big Nick?” There’s a note of disbelief in his tone.

“Yeah, big Nick. So what does big Nick do anyway?” No point in letting my imagination run wild if Ellis is willing to blab.

“Construction.”

“Oh right. That makes total sense.” Not really.

Ellis instructs me on the details of how to get there, and after several twists and turns down unmarked roadways I come to realize there is no way I could have gotten here on my own. So it’s sort of a God thing Ellis is with me.

The street is loaded with cars. I park high up on the ridge behind a giant shrub and get out of the minivan.

Ellis joins me.

“You mind waiting in the car?”

“You’re parked like a mile away. I’ll come with. Besides, I like Nick. I helped him do an addition last spring.”

“OK. But I have to tell you something. I’m not really here to get anything from Nick. I have to ask you to wait by the car. This is strictly female business. I’m actually here to see his wife.” Who I pray actually exists.

His face darkens.

“Well if you put it that way.” He leans against the minivan and crosses his arms.

Stay
. I shout at him mentally as though he were a dog.

It’s beyond dark so I open up my cell and let it illuminate a pathway over to the property. I round out the back and find a giant structure, like Ellis’s pool house only ten times that size. The lights are on and I can see a bunch of heads sitting around the periphery of the room.

I tiptoe across the long stretch of yard with no bushes, or trees, or structure to obscure me. I glide across something greasy with my left foot and it’s not until the fowl odor hits my nose that I realize I stepped in a pile of dog droppings.

Gross.

I smear my shoe along the grass until I get most of it off.

If there’s dog crap, where’s the dog?

I don’t waste any time analyzing the situation, instead I hug the back wall, slightly out of breath from the long trek over.

Voices emanate from inside. The window clear on the opposite end is open so I get on all fours and crawl over.

I can hear them perfectly clear as if I were in the room with them.

“Noster can’t afford to side with Celestra.” A male voice says matter of fact. Bored, actually.

Gee thanks.

“So Celestra’s on its own?” Sounded like Logan. “Then don’t threaten me with a trial by Justice Alliance when I take things into my own hands.”

He’s yelling! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Logan worked up, let alone,
yell
.

“What the hell?” A voice hisses from behind.

I turn in fright to see Ellis Harrison nose to nose with me, and I let out a small squeal.

A dog comes charging out of the bushes, two glowing red eyes—teeth sharp as arrows, barking at top volume. He’s charging a million miles an hour, all rage and salivating fangs.

I can’t look, so I push my face into Ellis’ chest.

A chain rattles severely and the dog yelps a series of whimpers. When I look up he’s only three feet away, unable to complete his mission.

The people from the room bleed out, and a man with a belly that hangs clear over his trousers yanks Ellis up by one hand and me by the other.

“What in the…” He says full of surprise.

It’s Gage I see first.

“She’s here for me.” Gage shouts, making his way over.

Logan comes into focus, his eyes the size of baseballs.

“All of you out!” Nick shouts pushing Ellis and I in their direction.

Just a minute ago the patio was teeming with people and now there’s just the four of us. It’s like they scurried back inside because they didn’t want to be seen.

“I’m not here for them.” I say with a renewed vigor.

Nick eyeballs me up and down.

“I’m here because I belong here.” I stop short of flaunting the word Celestra because of Ellis, who by the way ruined everything.

“Come on.” Logan grabs me by the waist and starts leading me back up the trail.

What the hell are you doing here?
He says pissed.

I need more answers than you’re willing to give me.
I give his hand a hard squeeze to let him know I feel the exact same way.

And you bring Ellis?
He glowers over at him openly.

I needed to get behind the gates. Besides, he’s stoned. He won’t remember half this tomorrow.

He’ll clearly remember all this tomorrow, and by the way—he’s always stoned. That’s baseline for him.
He twitches his nose.
New perfume?

Yes. It’s called Craptastic.
Like my night.
 

We get back up to the ridge and I take in a few deep lungfuls of fresh night air. I pluck off my shoes and toss them in a plastic bag that I find floating around the trunk of the minivan.

“Are you guys coming back to the party?” I ask looking from Logan to Gage.

“No.” Logan observes as Ellis stumbles into the passenger side of the minivan. “And neither are you.”

He takes the keys I’m holding rather loosely and hands them over to Gage.

“Drive Ellis back. Stay as long as you want, but drive his car home for him.” He turns to me. “You’re coming with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Facts

The shutters are drawn and a small glow of light warms the Oliver’s sprawling estate.

“Nobody’s home.” He informs me as we enter through the front.

A lethargic lab wags his tail around us nervously as he sniffs forcibly over by my feet.

“You must be Charlie.” He was out back in the fields when I was here the other day, so we missed our first meeting.
 

Logan leads me into the dinning room. A palatial rectangle sits in the middle with a gold inlaid table that’s fit to seat twelve comfortably. A massive hutch sits behind it, and on each of the glass shelves are hundreds of angel figurines. My mother would say the whole thing’s gaudy, but I find it fascinating—eccentric.

“I’d have to agree with her.” Logan rubs his thumb against my hand.

“Is there any way to turn that off?” I can’t seem to keep forgetting he can hear my thoughts.

“Not that I know of.” He pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen from a small desk off to the side, before we take a seat at the table.

He starts making charts and writing down names, the word faction is written in giant letters across the top.

“Are you going to tell me everything there is to know?” I’m thrilled by the prospect.

“Maybe.” He keeps at his work until he’s done. “I’d never lie to you.”

“So that means no.”

“That means maybe.” He looks almost apologetic.

He spins the paper around and scoots in next to me.

“There are five factions of earthbound angels.” He taps his pen against the first one. “Celestra—that’s us.” A brief impression of a smile appears. “Countenance, most powerful, crooked bunch of bastards that roam the earth—think mob, but far more greedy. We don’t know who they are. They don’t reveal for obvious reasons. They band together and share the wealth, so there’s lots of reason for keeping their mouths shut. Plus, they don’t frown upon killing their own kind if they don’t cooperate. Then there’s the most common three, Noster, Levatio, that’s Gage and my uncle. Deorsum, that’s my aunt. And there you have it, factions at a glance.”

“So Celestra has the most powerful blood?”

“Yes.”

“Which means?” I can tell I’m going to have to pull all of the answers out of him, which isn’t fair because I don’t know all the right questions to ask.

“Which means if there were enough of us, we could rule the Nephilim kingdom. It’s like a government and right now the crooks are in charge. Each faction must pay a royalty to the Counts in exchange for their protection.”

“Protection against what? Aren’t they the ones we need protection from?”

He points the pen in my face.

“You’re a smart one. Technically yes, but they claim to be protecting us against other spiritual beings called, Sectors. The Sectors are like overlords of the angel armies. You’re a warrior if you hadn’t already done your homework. That’s why it’s all right to kill if your life is in danger, or you’ve been instructed to do so by your faction leader.”

“And is that a sufficient plea to tell your legal council before they haul your ass to prison?”

“You won’t go to prison if you stay within those bounds. The factions take care of everything.”

“So murder out of necessity, or under orders is OK.”

“Essentially.”

“I don’t exactly understand the Sectors.” I say.

“I don’t either. It falls under the category of wait until you’re thirty, but I have some theories.”

“And what about powers? Both you and Gage are really strong. Gage knows things. You and I can read minds, what else is there?”

“My aunt can influence small children to do her bidding. She owns and operates the single largest daycare center on the island. Parents love her. Most Deorsum don’t have that ability. The run of the mill things for them are strength, and speed. You might say they got the shaft when it comes to outstanding abilities.”

“I hear pretty well too.” A tall brunette with her hair up in a bun makes her way over and extends her hand.

She’s wearing a royal blue suit and has on an obnoxious shade of orange lipstick, but she’s absolutely stunning. I’d love for my mom to meet her.

“Emma.” Her fingers are frozen, so limp she barely moves within my seemingly harsh grasp.

“Skyla.”

Logan’s uncle enters and gives a slight wave. He looks over my shoulder and nods.

“Giving her the breakdown I see. I should have the blood work completed in a weeks time. That way we’ll know for sure if you’re Celestra or a mix or anything at all. Sometimes that happens. But if you’re a mix we go by what you have more of, just easier for labeling purposes.”