Everlong: (Book One of the Everlong Trilogy) (9 page)

I kept quiet, holding his gaze as he run his tongue over his lips.

Hyperion stepped backwards, away from me, his eyes still fixed on mine. 'Who are you, what's your name?'

I didn't answer.

Hyperion smirked. 'Oh, ok, don't tell me,' he said, his golden eyebrows knitting together as he looked deep into my eyes. I felt myself falling into those raging pools of fire, felt the fingers of his mind probing mine.

'Hello Josh,' he said, as I felt his mind push me away and return me to the room. 'So, how did She get you to come and find me? I don't know you from Adam, although, to be honest, I don't really know Adam all that well, despite what the gossips say, but I digress.' He shrugged, then looked away as if he were in deep thought. 'I know...I know this,' he said, waggling his forefinger in the air. He stopped still, his head cocked to the side, a wide grin spreading across his face. 'Evie...that's why you're here! You're in love!' He clasped his hands to his chest. 'You're in love, although that should not be possible! All
very
intriguing, I must say.'

My heart leapt into my mouth at the mention of her name. How did he know?

'What's a matter, Josh? Don't you want to talk about it?' Hyperion stepped forward, placing his hand on my shoulder. I trembled under his touch. 'Is being apart from her breaking your heart that much?'

'Leave Evie out of this!' I spat, unable to ignore the heat building in the chamber any longer.

Hyperion stepped back, removing his hand quickly as if I had burnt him. 'But how can I?' he asked, 'Evie is now a part of this, whether you like it or not.'

'I broke the rules, not her. I saved her life. I have to pay, so leave her alone.'

Hyperion tapped his lips with his finger. 'I see where you're coming from, really I do, but,' he said, his head rocking from side to side, as though he was deliberating with himself, 'you see, you brought her into all of this when you saved her-'

'But, I saved her, she didn't ask-'

'I'm afraid it isn't that simple, Josh; Evie should've died but she didn't, because of you. And now she's sitting at home, doing whatever it is depressed teenagers usually do, when she should be fluttering around,' he said, flapping his hands in the air like wings, 'pretty as you like, collecting dead souls.'

'But-'

'No buts Josh,' he said, raising his hand to stop me, 'You know I speak the truth. Evie should be dead, serving her punishment for taking her own life, for committing that sin. You changed all that Josh. You pissed Death off.'

I stared into Hyperion's raging eyes, letting his words sink in, feeling the ball of dread in my gut twist. Had I become a part of something bigger, something happening between Death and Hyperion?

'Oh, Joshy, Sweetheart,' said Hyperion, stepping forward to pat me on my cheek, 'when are you going to wake up! You Angels of Death, so much sin and atonement, so much innocence, I do feel so sorry for you -'

'Don't be sorry for me!' I spat.

'But I do,' he replied calmly, his hand still resting on my cheek. 'Think about it. You're stripped of all emotions, of all memories, leaving you in a state of ignorance. Your Soul, left in a shell of your former self, rumbles on, atoning for a crime you don't even remember committing.' He threw his hands in the air. 'And they believe that this will bring you back to the fold and back to innocence?' He took a step back, and crossed his arms over his chest. 'But I ask you, Josh, what is the point of returning to innocence if we live in ignorance?'

'What has this got to do with Evie?'

'Don't you see?'

I shook my head.

'No, of course you don't.'

I tried to remain still as he leant forward. I could feel his breath on the side of my neck, could smell the metallic aroma of his skin. 'Death,' he whispered into my ear, 'has lied to you.'

I took a step backwards from him. 'How? How has She lied to me?'

'Consider this; where would you be now, if it wasn't for Her?'

'What?'

'Where would you be now? If She hadn't made you come here.'

'I'd be dead! That's where I would be. I broke the rules, I should be dead!'

I felt like a dog being prodded by a little boy with a big stick, and I didn't know how long I could keep a lid on my anger which was slowly uncoiling within me like a cobra. 'I should be dead,' I repeated, trying hard to keep the frustration from my voice.

'You are wrong. Even after your little misdemeanour, you didn't have to die.

'What?'

'Now bear in mind I'm only telling you this because I like you, because I consider anyone who pisses Death off to be a friend.' He put his burning arm around me but it felt cold to the touch, 'You didn't have to die, there was another option; She could've punished you by making you one of the Fallen.'

I shook him off and took a step backwards, my heart on fire with hope. 'You're lying-'

'No,' said Hyperion, his golden eyes pleading with me, 'I am the only one who is telling you the truth. You know that I am the Archangel of Wisdom?'

'That doesn't mean you-'

Hyperion shook his head, his hair of fire rippled around him. 'No Josh,' he said, moving forward, placing his hand on my arm, 'She has lied, manipulated you, and your love for Evie.' I felt his hand tighten on my arm. 'Do you not see? She's using you like a pawn in some twisted game of chess.'

'No!' I said, pulling my arm from Hyperion's hand. I stepped away, my knuckles turning white as I gripped the book he'd given me. I needed time to think, to work out what to believe. Who to believe.

'Within these walls lies the secret to you being with Evie, the key to unlocking that which has been purposely hidden from you; the Fallen, your means to being with Evie. I have told you that, I tell you the truth. Not Her!'

'You're just trying to confuse me, to make me doubt-'

'Believe that if it makes it easier,' said Hyperion shrugging, 'But don't tell me I didn't warn you, or give you a way out. You can be with Evie, the information is out there if you are willing to take it. But I can see you are too much of a coward and would rather stay in the dark!'

'I don't believe you!' How could it be true?

'Believe me or don't. I couldn't give a damn either way. Your little love affair is of no importance to me!' he said. 'Now, I must be off, enjoy your reading.' His face lit up with a wide smile as he released his wings, ecstasy running down his spine.

I couldn't move, my eyes were transfixed by the beauty of his wings as they opened, a thousand shimmering feathers of fire. I imagined that this is how Hell felt. He formed a fist with his right hand, and before I had chance to react, he threw himself forward and punched the marble floor. The ground began to shake as fire bubbled, like molten lava, up through the hole.

'Don't do this,' I warned, struggling to keep the chaos raging inside me under control.

'What? This?' Hyperion boomed, as he pounded the floor again and again with his hand of gold.

Cracks of fire appeared in the floor and it was as if he were knocking through to Hell. There was a resounding crack as the ceiling fractured above us, sending large chunks of jagged marble raining down, distracting me just for the smallest of moments, and when I looked up again, Hyperion had gone, with only the smell of burnt flesh and destruction left behind in his wake.

But I could feel his imprint left on my flesh like a stain; it had penetrated through my skin.

What if Hyperion was right? Had Death lied to me? Could I really be with Evie as one of The Fallen?

The whole place was crumbling around me; I had to get out. And yet...

I frantically looked around. I looked at the leather book in my hands. Where would I find a book on The Fallen? I spun around on my heels, consumed by the need to find out. I ran down the corridor I had come from and back to the circular atrium, the ground splitting and hissing as I ran, the heat burning into the soles of my feet, and yet I felt no pain. I was driven by something that knew no pain.

I rounded the corner, and found that the floor above me was now starting to slide through the hole I had made earlier. The whole building was unstable. I had to act fast before the whole of the Castel collapsed on top of me. I climbed over the piles of rubble trying to work out where I would find a book on the Fallen, but I didn't know where to start looking.

I turned around just as a huge rumble brought a large section of masonry down, setting off a chain reaction around the atrium as other large blocks crashed to the floor. It was no use, I had to get out of there.

I clutched the book against my chest. How could I have been so close and yet leave empty handed? But I had no choice, I had to run before the building claimed me. I took the only exit I could see and ran. And now that I was running I could not look back, even when I could feel the corridor collapsing behind me.

The dust was clawing at my lungs, drying my mouth out and making it difficult to breathe. How I hated being a freak. Half angel, half human; weak and feeble!

I fled down the corridor, my wings burning on my back, desperate to burst out and take me away from there. But I couldn't let them emerge; they would only hinder me in such a constricted space.

And then I saw light at the end of the tunnel. I ran straight for it, the air in my lungs burning in my chest. I flung myself through the opening and into the dawn, taking a good gulp of fresh air, and finally letting my wings explode from my back.

The pain ripped through my body as they burst violently through my skin. My mind went black and my body went limp. I fell forwards onto the cold damp floor. I scraped at the ground trying to regain control over my body, to fight the pain.

I took to the sky, not looking back until I reached the relative safety of the dome of Saint Peter's. I landed on the ornate dome for a brief respite from the pain. I folded my wings back, and turned to sit down on the apex, just below the spire. The view over Rome was now distorted, corrupted like the angel I had been sent to find. The Ponte Sant' Angelo, the bridge that used to run over the Tiber had fallen into the river, its Bernini angels lost to the churning waters. As the Castel continued to collapse, great chunks of masonry fell into the raging river with a boom, sending waves of discontent rolling down the Tiber, washing away anything in its path. Boats, trees, walls, all fell to the raging torrent.

Sirens blared from every direction as the chaos took hold, blue and white lights flashed as ambulances and the police rushed to the scene of the devastation. But I couldn't think about that now, my head was like the confusion unfolding before me on the streets of Rome; torn between guilt (for what I'd done in bringing this anarchy to pass) and my anger at myself, at Hyperion, at Death. I'd saved Evie, believed Death, and listened to Hyperion. But now what? Who was I to believe? Was Death really lying to me? Was I only some tiny pawn in a sick game between Her and Hyperion?

I sat, cross-legged, on the dome of Saint Peter's, the Castel Sant' Angelo destroyed. How many people had died today? I should've been used to death, to destruction, but my heart felt like lead inside me.

I couldn't look anymore. I didn't want to see my fellow Angels of Death arriving to take away the dead.

Instead I looked at the cover of the book still clasped in my hands. "The Apocalyptic Relics" read the golden Angelic Script on the leather cover. I opened it and roared as fury ripped through me. The pages had been torn out, replaced instead by sheets of blank paper. One by one I grabbed the imposters from the cover and scrunched them up, throwing them away so that they cascaded down the dome like snow. Only one page from the original text remained, and over it, someone had scribbled the words "The Fallen", in thick red letters.

I ripped the page from the book, letting the cover clatter down the dome, and with a roar of defiance, I took off into the sky.

Josh

I wanted to see Death. I wanted Her to tell me Hyperion was wrong. I wanted to know the truth.

But no matter how much I raged at her, or how high I flew, She wouldn't see me. She wouldn't allow me to return to the Other Side.

I was left with nothing but the stormy sea of thoughts churning in my head.

What if Hyperion was right? Was Death lying to me? Could She have made me a Fallen? Could I really be with Evie?

What if...

What if the only way to find out was now lost to me, hidden under tons of rubble in Rome?

I stared at my reflection in the gilt mirror hanging on the wall of the apartment I'd managed to charm my way into. I hated what I'd had to resort to, what I'd become; a trickster, a shadow. My eyes were dull and lifeless, ringed by black, my face pale and gaunt.

I turned away, disgusted, and punched the wall, my anger wrapping me up in its violent arms.

But, in the depths of my madness, one thing still held true; my love for Evie.

I had tried so hard not think about her, to save myself the pain after saying goodbye, but now...now she seemed to be the only light in the dark. Although my wings had gone, the mark left on my back, as black as a tattoo, burned and throbbed with the thought of her. It was a pain that I now welcomed because it brought memories of Evie with it.