by Julie Hall
The magnitude of the situation pressed heavily on my chest. I couldn’t begin to imagine the horror that awaited us. Logan took my silence as a cue to continue.
“The demon’s been influencing the boy for a long time. Years perhaps. Our goal is to free the boy of the demon and to protect as many of the students and teachers in the school as possible. And if the boy is resolute about his path after the demon’s detached, then we’re going to try to minimize the damage until the authorities can take over.”
“What do you mean if the boy is resolute? Won’t the crisis be over after we get the demon? Won’t the boy just stop? Surely it’s the demon making him do this.”
Logan shook his head. “That’s not how it works. The demon can’t make him do anything. He’s been guiding the boy with lies and deceit, but the boy made a choice. He chose to bring a gun into school with him with his own free will. We’re just hoping that if we can stop the influence of the demon, the boy’s mind will be clear enough to make the right choice in the end. The demons have surrounded the school to keep us away from him. They know that free of the demon’s influence, there’s a chance a major tragedy can be stopped.”
This was a lot to wrap my brain around. “But why weren’t we just sent to the boy sooner? Why wait until it’s escalated this much?”
“I can’t answer that for you, Audrey. I don’t know the answers to everything; I’m not God. Perhaps the boy never asked for help, perhaps we tried and he turned it down.”
“But if God knew this would happen, why would He let it?”
“He’s sending us now. Without us it would be a massacre.”
I wasn’t convinced. “Even if no one is hurt, this kid’s life is going to be over after today. The minute he whips out that gun, his life is never going to be normal again.”
“You don’t know that.”
“What do you mean I don’t know that? Of course I do! Do you know how serious it is to bring a gun into school? Without even causing a single injury, that kid is never going to have a normal life. How could God turn a blind eye to that?”
“Audrey, you’re not listening to me. God’s not turning a blind eye. He knows the full picture. We don’t. Yes, we have to live with the consequences of our decisions, but there’s always hope. There is always the chance to turn things around. I can attest to that as well as any of us.”
That shut me up. Our conversation in the meadow flashed through my mind. I think Logan was talking just as much about his life on Earth as his new beginning in the afterlife.
Logan took advantage of my silence, getting more heated himself.
“Life is so much bigger than what we see of it. And yeah, bad stuff does happen here, and that’s because people aren’t perfect. That kid is making a choice today. That is what we’ve always had—free will. God uses all situations for good in the end, but we have the freedom to royally screw up. In fact, sometimes it’s those screw-ups that lead us back to God. So no, I can’t explain to you the whys of today. I can only say that I trust that God’s got a much better handle on this situation than you are giving Him credit for.”
The last comment felt like a slap on the face, and I flinched when he said it. His words definitely left a mark, but on my heart, not my cheek. It all came down to trust. Why was I having such a hard time trusting God? The answer came to me quickly. Because it was a hard thing to do. It was hard to trust a God when I didn’t have any proof of His trustworthiness. I stared at Logan in silence, not sure if he was aware of the battle raging inside of me.
“Okay, it sounds like we should get going then.” I started to turn when Logan grabbed my arm, halting my movement.
“That’s not all I wanted to talk to you about.”
I averted my eyes.
“I want your word that you won’t do anything without asking me first, and when I say something, you’ll do it immediately and without question.”
“Haven’t we already had this conversation?” I asked in defeat.
“Audrey, I am beyond serious about this. The moment I have an inkling you aren’t going to listen to me, I’ll pull you out, do you understand me? I’ll personally drag you out by your purple hair if I have to. Because if you can’t agree to these terms, we can end this right now. I’ll leave you tied to this tree.”
His words were firm and harsh, but his eyes pleaded, almost as if he was scared . . . scared for me. This wasn’t serious Logan who always had to get his way—this was another Logan all together. What I read in his eyes that hadn’t passed his lips was that he would do anything to keep me safe. This was a Logan I couldn’t refuse.
“Yes. I understand. You have my word.”
“Thank you.”
I nodded my head, eyes still averted. I was suddenly ashamed that he had to work so hard to garner my cooperation. Was I being difficult just for the sake of being difficult? If that were true, the frustration and fatigue in Logan’s eyes made that much more sense. I was going to do better, to be better!
I took a deep breath and told myself to hold it together. I just needed to get through this day. One step at a time. There was a boy and a school full of kids that needed our help. Everything else could be dealt with later.
22
To Battle
As we approached the school, what at first appeared to be a low-hanging lightning cloud quickly proved to be something else. A myriad of angels and demons flew through the air, locked in combat. The enormous swarm of bodies was so dense that not even a ray of sunlight penetrated. The mass moved as if a single being rather than a mixture of opposing forces. Its energy was palpable, pulsating and wafting over the school campus.
Yet the creepiest part wasn’t what my eyes were seeing, but rather what my ears weren’t hearing. It was as if someone had pushed a cosmic mute button on the battle raging in the sky. Noisy cars drove on the road, students laughed and chatted in between periods, and even the wind rushed by my ears, but not a single sound from the conflict above. It made everything that much more surreal.
I looked to the hunters on my left and right to gauge their reactions. Determination was etched on each of their faces. Romona’s face, usually soft and kind, was hard with concentration. Logan’s customary stoic mask was sterner. Even Alrik, whom I’d yet to see attack any situation without an air of humor, looked resolute. Only I broke form—less stern and more bewildered.
“They’re keeping each other out.” Romona reiterated what Logan had told me.
“Why can we see the fight but not hear it?”
“We’re being protected. The sound of that battle is more horrific than you can imagine. An angel is casting a protective shield. Once a demon breaks the barrier, we’ll be able to hear plenty.”
If the sound I’d heard coming from that one demon in the warehouse with Gabriel could be multiplied by a hundred or a thousand, my guess was we’d all be incapacitated in a very short time by the sound.
“So what are we waiting for?” I asked.
“Them to attack us,” she answered.
I remembered the part about the demon’s addiction to emotions. The thought that demons would attack us to get a fix was just plain scary. Some of us were essentially going to be demon bait.
“Why? Why don’t we just slip into the school now while they aren’t looking?”
“We need a few angels to be freed up first to help with transporting us back.” She seemed reluctant to go on but did after a short pause. “For those of us who get seriously hurt and need to get back for medical attention quickly. We can’t move forward until we know there are at least a few angels on hand for our wounded.”
Romona turned to face me fully. Her eyes remained hard and serious.
“Audrey, please do your best to stay with Logan. You need to do exactly what he says. I can’t stress how important that is.” She was pleading with me, much like Logan had.
“Romona, is there something specific I should know about this mission?”
Her stillness confirmed my suspici
ons.
“What is it? Why am I here?”
“This is a serious fight, and they wouldn’t usually allow someone as new as you to be here. But for some reason they have. I don’t like it. I do know that . . .”
She was cut off by an unwelcome sound. The high-pitched shrill of a demon. I looked up as the “unsmell” burrowed into my brain. One of the beasts had broken away from the pack and was diving at an angle straight for us.
Before I knew what was happening, Logan had shoved me behind him. I was about to object when I remembered my promise. Even with the demon coming straight at us, the horde of hunters surrounding me made me feel safe.
The closer the demon got, the larger it appeared to be. Its wingspan alone must have been the length of two humans, its body the width of a large tree. Its flesh was the consistency of blackened bark.
The hunters around me held their ground, eyes glued to the shrieking beast. In mere seconds the demon would be on top of us. I started to shout a warning when a sharp command came from the ranks, and quicker than I could process, a line of hunters pulled bows from their backs, aimed, and fired arrows that crackled like fireworks as they sailed through the air.
The demon tried in vain to change its course, its wings flapping furiously as the first volley of arrows connected with their target. I covered my ears against its scream. Black ooze poured from the wounds and melted into shadows, but even so it still came at us. A second command was yelled, and another round of arrows shot into the free-falling beast.
Spurred by a sudden bad feeling in my gut, I glanced behind us. The other hunters’ attention was so drawn to the injured demon that they had missed the silent approach of one from behind.
Instinctively, I grabbed the knife from the sheath at my thigh and threw it at the demon, yelling a warning to the hunters around me. The blade connected with the target, imbedding itself in the creature’s blackened flesh. A number of quickly drawn arrows swiftly joined my knife. The crowd of hunters parted where the demon crashed to the ground.
On the other side, the first demon was still fighting a group of hunters on the ground. Even wounded, it was far from defeated. The creature had two tails of reflecting scales that went invisible at times, wreaking havoc on the hunters working to take it down. My body was moving even before I’d made up my mind to help. On the third step, someone jerked me off my feet.
“NO!”
I went limp. Fighting off Logan wasn’t going to leave me much energy for much else. And again, there was that promise. Logan released his hold.
“We’re headed over there.” He pointed to the side of the school. “We’re going around the building to slip in the side door. There’s still time to catch the boy before he does something stupid.”
I didn’t bother with words, just nodded my understanding. Logan took off without looking back, trusting for once that I would follow.
I made the mistake of looking up as we made our break for the side entrance. More demons had broken off from the cluster and were headed toward the group of hunters we’d just broken away from. Including Romona. A few angels swooped down in a failed attempt to intercept them.
The pressure in my head built with every demon that broke through the barrier. I stumbled but caught myself before I fell. Logan disappeared around the corner. Focused on catching up, I sprinted to the point where he’d vanished.
I rounded the corner without any intention of slowing down, and the next thing I knew my stomach collided with a metal bat—or at least, that’s how it felt when the tail of a demon swatted me in the midsection and threw me into the air. I landed on a soft patch of grass. I blinked to clear the stars and gasped for breath. My fear compounded as the demon approached, reaching near-hysteria levels as I coughed and hacked and struggled to get to my feet. Just behind the demon, I caught sight of Logan’s shocked face as he ran back toward us. The demon must have dropped between us when we separated.
It felt as if I was drowning with air all around me. I still couldn’t get in a breath, and my vision was starting to blur. I got to one knee and willed myself to get up. Logan wasn’t going to get here in time. I was going to have to fight off the demon myself, and I could barely even get to my feet.
The demon shrieked and jumped for me. I dropped back to the ground and freed my blazing sword to defend myself. It was going to take me down with a fiery sword in its gut.
I could almost feel the tearing of the creature’s claws when a blur of light slammed into it from behind and sent it sailing over me. Finally able to take in a breath, I scrambled to my feet to see Gabriel take down the demon with one mighty blow, severing its body with a downward sweep of his sword.
Someone grabbed my shoulders and roughly turned me around.
“Are you okay?” Logan’s face was strained.
“Yeah,” I croaked, and then bent over to cough before going on, “I’m okay. I just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“Logan, get her out of here.”
We turned our heads toward Gabriel, who gave Logan a stern look and waited for him to nod back before shooting into the air.
“You need to stay closer to me.”
“No kidding.”
“Audrey, I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I.”
It must have been the scared-to-death look in my eyes that convinced him. He nodded once. “Okay. Are you sure you can keep going?”
I wanted to say yes, but I had a suspicion if I opened my mouth that’s not what would have come out. I just nodded. This time when he turned toward the school, he kept my hand firmly in his.
I was breathless with exertion and adrenaline when we burst through the side doors. A half-dozen other hunters were already there, scanning the empty hallways. It must have been in the middle of a period.
Logan dropped my hand the moment we crossed over the threshold. “How much time do we have?”
A large guy with fire-red hair and a full red beard answered him back. “Not much. We’re running on borrowed time. If we don’t find the boy soon, there’ll be a riot on our hands.” Logan’s mouth was pressed into a straight line. “We have a scout team already moving through the school. We were getting ready to sweep this wing.” The red-headed guy paused for a moment and looked straight at me.
“Is this the new one? The one we’ve heard about?”
“Yes,” Logan answered.
Big Red nodded back, eyes burning a hole in my forehead.
“You can come with us. But put out that fire for now. I don’t want any of my team singed.”
The sword.
I’d almost forgotten it was still blazing. I sheathed it quickly as Big Red waved his team forward. The sounds from outside were getting louder. We jogged past classrooms full of people completely ignorant of the commotion outside. Angels, demons, and hunters battled outside the windows of the classrooms, yet the students inside were completely unaware—taking notes, whispering when they didn’t think the teacher was looking, even cheating on tests. One part of my mind was focused on keeping up with the other hunters, but there was another detached half that was with the students of this school.
I wondered if this was what my life had been like. What did it feel like to sit in a classroom? To have friends to pass notes to? What subjects had I liked and disliked? Did I have many friends—a boyfriend? Did I play sports? An instrument? As inopportune a moment as it was, I couldn’t stop question after question from assaulting my brain.
I didn’t realize how unfocused I’d become until Logan had to call my name twice to get my attention.
My face must have reflected my guilt. There were more important things going on right now. Logan narrowed his eyes, suspicion forming. He opened his mouth to say something when the first gunshot rang out.
23
A Single Jar of Pickles
An eerie silence followed that first shot. The noise ricocheted off the locker-lined halls as all eight of us stood still. On the second shot, all hell broke loose.
> Screams started from down the hall—human screams and the pounding of footsteps as a stampede headed our way. Within moments, we were mobbed by a sea of bodies that divided like the Red Sea when it hit our knot of hunters. The hysterics caused people to push into us, but most ended up falling, which caused others to stumble on their fellow classmates and teachers.
“Split up!” shouted Big Red. And we did.
Hunters dispersed into the crowd and worked their way against the current. Most stayed toward the sides to help the flow and prevent any further accidents. But I was still frozen in the middle of the hallway with people funneling around and right into me. My brain told my feet to move. But the shock that we’d been too late, that a shot had been fired, that this was actually happening, was too much.
It was the quietest of whimpers that broke my daze. A girl huddled on the linoleum floor to my right. She lay on her side with knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped around her head.
And she was being trampled. Someone stepped on her leg in their haste. She screamed out in fear or pain, maybe both. My feet finally in action, I ran the short distance, determined to throw myself on top of her if necessary to keep her safe.
I was only a half-step away when I was pulled off my feet from behind.
“Let me go! She’s hurt!”
“No, Audrey, that’s not why we’re here.”
I struggled futilely against Logan. “But she’s hurt. They’re stepping on her!”
As I said it, another person tripped on her, this time kicking her in the head. I heard her muffled sobs. She was too scared or too hurt to get up and move on. I understood. I struggled more furiously against Logan.
“Let me go!”
Logan only tightened his hold, restraining me within arms of steel. I struck out blindly and scratched his cheek with my nails, drawing blood.
