I release my breath. “You’ve got us all worked up over some prophecy?”
“Just hear me out, Dante.”
I want to protest, but Quinn opens his mouth first. “He’s right. You can’t just dismiss a prophecy. You have premonitions of your own, don’t you? So you know how real they are.”
A sharp pang shoots through my stomach when I remember my last premonition and I drop back into my chair. “Well yes, but they are just possible outcomes, aren’t they?”
Quinn taps his fingers on the table. “True, but how will you prevent something if you don’t know what to look out for? People see things for a reason.”
“Okay, you’ve got a point.” I nod at Charlie. “Please go on.”
“There are lots of prophecies. Whole books were written about them, scribbled down by Mages just like yourself. But there’s one that keeps coming up, everywhere I look. It’s the scariest and most important one of all. The only prophecy about the fate of the world. The one that describes the greatest fight of all time between good and evil.”
I squeeze Vicky’s hand. My mouth goes dry. I already know what he’s about to say. My heart pounds wildly, the beat repeating my hopes over and over. Don’t say it. Don’t say it.
But he does. His eyes meet mine and he utters the truth I already knew deep inside. “The prophecy is about you.”
I shake my head, if only to avoid looking at him. “No it’s not. You’re wrong.”
“It is, and you know it,” Quinn says before anyone else can speak up.
Vicky pulls back her hand. “You already knew you were chosen. Why is this so hard to believe?”
I jump from my seat. “I’m not chosen! Someone is just playing some sick trick on me.”
Jeep clears his throat. “What about all the demons we fought?”
“Demons, yes. We fought some evil beings. But not the greatest evil of all. I mean, come on.” I point at myself. “Do I look like the embodiment of good? Like someone who could save everyone from the Devil? My powers have just started to develop. I’ve had no training. And even if I had, I’ll never be very powerful.”
Quinn abruptly pushes his chair back and stands up. He raises his arms, mutters something under his breath and brings his hands together with force. With a loud groan, the walls around us crumble into a million pieces. The ceiling crashes down at deafening speed. Charlie yells in alarm and the ghosts vanish.
I duck and throw up my arms without thinking. Lightning shoots out of my fingertips. I can feel the energy leaving my body. It hits the ceiling with an earsplitting crack and forms a barrier that keeps it in place. When I slowly straighten up, the ceiling moves up, too, creating just enough room for me to stand. The ghosts slowly blink into view again. Charlie is on the ground, his hands lifted, ready to create a gel wall.
“What the hell?” I shout at Quinn. “What did you do that for?”
Quinn’s hands part again, inch by inch. The walls mend themselves and the ceiling is lifted back to where it belongs. When I blink, everything is back to normal. Not one speck of dust is left, not even a crack visible in the walls.
Quinn sits down and crosses his arms. “Not powerful, huh?” He shoots me a mocking grin. “You just matched the powers of an angel. And this was only a reflex.”
All heads turn in his direction. Mouths fall open.
Charlie is the first one to speak. “The powers of a what?”
CHAPTER …
My eyes almost pop out of my head. “You’re an angel?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you help us when we had to fight all those demons?”
“Oh, but I did.”
I frown. “How?”
A familiar bodiless voice whispers in my ear. “I steered you in the right direction.”
I slam my fist on the table, making Taylar jump. “You are the voice? Why didn’t you tell me?” I wave my hand before he can speak. “No wait, don’t say it.” I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t ready.”
“Exactly,” he says. “But that was not my call.”
From the corner of my eye, I can see Charlie pulling at his hair as if he wants to rip it out. I know how he must feel. Things just keep getting weirder. I thought having a Shield and a power was strange, but this is so much bigger.
“I was assigned to you, to protect you,” Quinn says.
I snort. “Right, because I’m so important.”
“You are, Dante. You are the only one who can beat the Devil.”
“According to this prophecy Charlie was talking about.”
“Yes. We’ve been preparing for this for years. Your friends were selected very carefully. Charlie was the first. You will find no Mage more loyal than him.”
Charlie slumps down in his seat again with a shrug. “True.”
I recoil. “Wait, you knew about this?”
My best friend shakes his head. “No man, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Paul and Simon were selected for their powers,” Quinn continues. “They would have been strong allies.” He rubs his chin. “But I’m afraid they have been lured to the other side with false promises. They were weaker than my father thought.”
“Your father?” I stare at him hard. “Do you mean the one you’re living with or-“
He points at the ceiling. “I mean the real one.”
A grin spreads across my face. “Okay guys, very funny.” I laugh out loud. “Ha ha, you got me. Best joke yet. Scare the newbie, huh? Well, I fell for it.”
They don’t even flinch and that only makes me laugh harder. “Wow, you’re really convincing.” I shift my gaze to Taylar. Surely he can’t keep up the act for long.
But the corners of his mouth don’t move.
“Come on, guys,” I chuckle. “The game is o-“
I swallow the rest of my sentence when Maël appears. She fades into her seat next to D’Maeo, more transparent than she used to be. She pulls her cape tighter around her body, but freezes halfway when she notices Quinn. Her eyes grow wide, and she apparates next to Quinn, who stands up when she bows.
“Qaddisin,” she says breathlessly. “What an honor to see you again.”
Judging by the looks on the faces around me, I’m not the only confused one here.
“You know him?” Jeep asks.
Quinn gestures to her seat and she moves back to it slowly. Her posture and movements tell me she’s hurt even more than we thought.
“You don’t know who he is?” she asks when she finally reaches her seat.
“Apparently he’s an angel,” I blurt.
“He is, and not just any angel. Qaddisin is part of the Council of God.”
“The what?”
“He is the right hand of God himself.”
I bite my lip. My head is pounding again. Is she just playing along? Quinn, the highest angel of all?
I cross my arms over my chest. “And how do you know him?”
She lowers her head. “I stood before the council once, asking for forgiveness for what I did to my people.”
Quinn smiles his too white smile. “And we granted it.”
“In return I was assigned to your grandfather, to fight Lucifer.”
I rub the stubble on my chin. “Right.”
Vicky sighs beside me. “He’s not going to believe you until you show him your true self, Qaddisin.”
Quinn flinches, this time I’m sure of it. Is it that big a deal to show his magical side?
“I’m not sure he’s ready for that,” he says. “He’s seen a lot in just a couple of days.”
“Oh please.” I let out my breath in a loud huff. “If I’m as powerful as you claim, I should be able to handle just about anything. I’m supposed to fight the Devil. How much more surprising can things get?”
“Fine.” He pushes back his chair and spreads his arms.
I’m waiting for his big grin and the inevitable ‘Got you!’. Instead, there�
�s a flash of blinding light and a loud whoosh. After a few seconds and a lot of blinking, I can see again. My mouth falls open. Quinn is still standing next to the table, but he has changed. He is a lot taller. His head touches the ceiling. There’s a bright light in his eyes and his hair has turned completely white. But the things that really make me gulp for air are the huge wings sprouting from his back. The white of the feathers hurts my eyes, but I can’t stop looking at them. I’ve always been jealous of Quinn’s beauty. I never understood my feelings and thoughts about that. How could I admire his smooth dark skin and muscular body so much while I was so obviously into girls? Now I’m guessing it’s part of the angel package.
We all thought about Quinn that way, which made it less awkward. But it was always a bit strange.
Dust tickles my throat and I close my mouth. I try to say something, but my voice refuses to obey. I swallow and try again. “You are gorgeous.”
His laugh vibrates through my whole body. It sounds different than Quinn’s. Deeper. More powerful. It fills the whole room and everything in it.
My cheeks flush. “Why is that funny?” I ask.
“You are experiencing the effects of my true form. Admiration and awe fill your soul. It makes you say things you wouldn’t normally say.”
“I’ve always thought you were gorgeous,” I confess without wanting to.
He flexes his wings, breathes in deeply and shrinks back to his normal form. Or disguise, I should say. His wings disappear and his eyes turn back to their normal dark. His short curls are black again.
“So your real name is Qaddisin?” I say to cover up my disgrace.
“It is.”
“And your father is…” I give a vague wave towards the ceiling. “…God?”
He tilts his head with a half-smile. “Is that so hard to believe? That he exists, I mean.”
I munch on my lower lip. “Well… Yes.”
“Why? You already know the Devil exists, too.”
I stop chewing. “Know is a strong word. I haven’t seen the guy.” I grimace. “Or being. Creature. Whatever.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to.”
“That’s not the point. Right now I don’t know what to think anymore. Everything I ever believed in has been shot to pieces. No one I know turns out to be what I always considered them to be.”
“Your mother is.”
I sigh. “Again, not the point.”
“I know it’s a lot to digest, but it’s all very real.”
Maël pops up next to me and takes my hand. “You are blessed with a great task, Dante. Have faith in yourself, like we all do. God wouldn’t have sent his right hand if you weren’t important. This is a chance to prove your worth. Not many people get it.” Sorrow seeps through her voice. I know she’s thinking of the people that died because of her.
I put my hand on hers. “Thanks, Maël.”
She vanishes back to her seat and I straighten up. “Okay, so we’ve all been brought together for the same reason. To prevent the Devil from breaking out of Hell and conquering the world.”
Quinn leans back in his chair. “That pretty much sums it up.”
“There’s something I don’t understand.” Many things actually, but let’s start with the most important one. “Why don’t you just save the people on the Cards of Death yourself? You’re what, one of the most powerful beings in the universe?”
“Yes, but I cannot interfere too much. The Devil will sense me.”
I shrug. “So what?”
“If he knows I’m involved, he’ll send his right hand to fight me.”
“Oh great, he has a right hand, too?”
There’s worry in Quinn’s eyes. “You’ve probably heard of him. His name is Beelzebub.”
I drop my head in my hands. “He’s real, too? Where does this end?”
Vicky strokes my back. “Every story you’ve ever heard is based on facts. Most have strayed a bit from the truth, but the creatures do exist.”
I glance at Quinn through my eyelashes. “Beelzebub.” I rack my brain to grasp the information stored somewhere in my mind. “Wasn’t he the one who brought disease to the world and could turn into a fly?”
“That’s the one. But don’t worry about him too much. He doesn’t leave Hell unless he’s provoked.”
I push my fists onto my eyeballs before turning my gaze back on Quinn. “Provoked? By an angel helping a couple of Mages and a bunch of ghosts, you mean?”
He winks. “Exactly.”
“Okay, let’s not provoke him. You just keep whispering to me.”
He grins. “I will.”
“We’re still pretty strong together, right?” I wring my hands together, ready to dive back into the action.
“Sure, but we have to be careful tomorrow.”
“Why? What’s tomorrow?”
“Friday the thirteenth. The day that all evil is stronger than usual.”
CHAPTER 14
See, I told you thirteen brought bad luck. Next time I think I’ll just skip the whole chapter. Move straight to fourteen.
I always thought stories about the number thirteen were nothing more than superstition. Guess I was wrong. Of course, my Shield told me about this, but to be honest, I’d forgotten about it already. I didn’t realize it was this big a deal. This number will never be the same to me again. Bad luck in the magical world is so much worse than it is in the human world.
You think Quinn was exaggerating? Just keep reading then. You’ll see.
CHAPTER 15
I pace behind the table, my hands on my head. “Where does this end? Is there any good news?"
“Sure,” Charlie says. “The prophecy says you’ll win.”
The banging inside my head fades a little. “Oh good.”
“Of course, you’ll have to sacrifice something important to do that.”
I hold up my hand. “Please stop.”
He sniffs. “Yeah, it sucks. But I’ll be by your side to help you through it. And you also have a Shield and an angel on call.”
I let out my breath. “That actually helps a lot, thanks. Besides, prophecies don’t always come true.”
“Exactly. We could also lose.” Jeep spins his hat on his finger.
The sparkle in his eye tells me he’s fooling around, so I let him get away with it.
Vicky is not so kind. She emerges in front of him, her body merging with the table, and stares him in the eye until he squirms and begs for forgiveness.
Vicky winks at me before fading back into her own chair.
I turn to Charlie. “I want to know all about that prophecy. There might be-“
A jackhammer comes to life in my head and a trillion colors explode before my eyes. I slam my hands against them, but that doesn’t help. I start falling, not backwards but straight down, as if the floor has disappeared. I clench my fists against my forehead. The trembling and hammering are excruciating. Lights whirl around me.
Then I’m suddenly standing on solid ground. The colors are gone and the jackhammer has been turned off.
I breathe in slowly and drop my hands. I have no idea where I am, but somehow it does look familiar. Heat rises up from the red rocks I’m standing on. The sky is blacker than I’ve ever seen it. No stars, just a giant hole. The silence around me is unnerving. For a moment I freak out, thinking I’ve lost my hearing. But when I clap my hands together in front of me, I clearly hear a sound. It echoes through the air and I flinch. A chill creeps up my spine, making the sweat on my back prickle. I try to see something in the dim light that emanates from the hot rocks, while the sound of my clapping fades into the distance. As soon as silence descends again, large flames rise up all around me with a loud hiss. I scream and duck. Sweat drips from my temples and I jump back when a claw of fire grabs my wrist. I pull as hard as I can and twist my body in an attempt to escape, but its hold is strong. More claws reach for my legs and I kick out in all directions.
> A cackle freezes me to the spot. The claws immediately wrap around every body part they can reach. All my limbs burn. I clench my jaws together and swallow a scream.
The cackling stops and a voice pierces my ears. “They think they can beat me. But no matter how many people they save, I will keep going.” A giant shadow looms over me. It consists of a black head with flaming orange eyes, attached to a hulking body. It has long, slender arms like branches that end in large claws. A skeleton finger reaches for me and lifts my chin. My skin sizzles under its touch. “You can fight as much as you want, but this time victory will be mine. You tell him that.”
Moaning rises up from behind the figure. I gulp when hundreds of bodies crawl out from under the rocks, dragging their torn skin along the ground.
But then anger flushes over me and I look the thing straight in the eye. “I’m not afraid of you. You’re not real. You can’t hurt me.”
The shadow throws its head back and shakes with laughter. “You silly creature. Do you really believe in that old tale?” Sparks fly from its eyes. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll find out how real I am soon enough.”
He turns away from me and the fire claws release their grip. I fall onto my knees. When I catch my weight with my arms, heat burns away the flesh on my hands. I scream. Tears drip onto the rocks and vaporize. And then I’m falling again.
I jerk up and let out a cry. Charlie stumbles back with a curse. “Jeez! Stop scaring me, man.”
“Sorry,” I pant. The burning sensation has gone, but I do a quick body scan just in case.
Vicky strokes my back. “You’re fine. Just breathe.”
I do as she says, trembling slightly.
Quinn bends over me, lifts my eyelid and stares into my eye. “I think you just had your second premonition about the Devil.” He lets go and I blink. “Tell me everything you remember.”
I open my mouth to describe what I saw and heard, but suddenly it’s all gone.
“I-I don’t remember,” I stutter. Flames dance through my memories. “Fire. And…” I squeeze my eyes shut, but there’s nothing else. “Fire and pain, that’s all I can recall.” I let out a roar of frustration. “What good are these premonitions if I don’t remember them?”
The Second Premonition Page 8
