Angel

by L. A. Weatherly

Page 72

 

  Alex stiffened as he realized. “Wait. You want Willow to be the one to do this?”

  “She’s the only one,” said Nate.

  The angel handed the stone to Willow; looking stunned, she took it in slow motion, turning it over in her hand. She bit her lip and glanced at Alex. “If I did do it, then what would happen?”

  Sophie’s expression was anxious, tight with tension. “We hope the gate would be destroyed, closing the wall for good. ”

  “You hope?” said Alex, his words razor-sharp. “So you’re not exactly positive, are you?” Their silence was assent. “And what would happen to Willow? Would she be destroyed, too?”

  Sophie winced. “We don’t know that,” she said finally. “The wall will become extremely unstable; we don’t know exactly what form that will take. But, Willow, with you standing right beside it . . . ” She didn’t finish.

  Fear and rage leaped through Alex; it was all he could do not to start punching things. “And how would she get into the cathedral in the first place? It’s going to be a madhouse — tens of thousands of Church of Angels fanatics, who all want her dead! Just so she can do this thing that might kill her, that you hope will work?”

  “We can get her in,” said Nate. “Our person in the Church will help. We’ve got a plan in place that will put her close to the gate without attracting notice. ”

  “Yeah, great,” said Alex harshly. “And even if it all works, what happens if standing next to the gate doesn’t kill her? The angels don’t arrive, and everyone’s seen that she’s the reason why — are they all just going to say, Oh, well, and go home?”

  The agents didn’t answer. Alex glared at them. “They’d kill her, and you know it,” he said in a low voice. “A small army couldn’t keep her safe in that situation. ” Then he saw the truth on their faces, and his jaw hardened. “Oh, except that you don’t think that’s going to happen, do you? You think the gate’s going to blow her to pieces, no matter what. ”

  There was a long silence, and then Sophie let out a breath. “Willow, he’s right, it’s tremendously dangerous. The gate’s reaction when the angelica touches it is likely to be . . . quite violent. ”

  “No way is she doing this,” said Alex. “Seriously. No way in hell. ”

  “There’s more, though. ” Sophie glanced at Nate, who nodded.

  “Angels are creatures of energy,” he said. “We all come from the same original source. So we’re individuals, but we’re also linked — whenever an angel dies, we all feel it. If the gate is closed and the wall disrupted, then those left in our own world would perish soon. With casualties on such a massive scale, it’s only a matter of time before the angels here would perish as well. We couldn’t survive for long with so many of us gone. ”

  Willow looked up at Nate. “But — if that happened, then you wouldn’t survive, either. ”

  “No, I wouldn’t,” said Nate. He fell silent, tapping his fingers together. “The betrayal of my own kind isn’t a thing I take lightly,” he said finally. “But what’s happening is abhorrent. Even if it’s to save ourselves, we angels can’t cause such death and destruction to another race; we simply don’t have that right. ”

  Another time, Alex might have been impressed by Nate’s selflessness; as it was, he just wanted to strike him. “Yeah, that’s really noble, but you’re not the one taking the risk here, are you? You’re asking Willow to do that, when nothing’s even certain. ”

  Sophie’s voice took on an edge. “The thing that’s certain is that if we do nothing, more angels will invade our world. If we act, we at least have a chance to destroy them all. ”

  Willow was silent, turning the silvery gray stone over in her hand. Finally she said, “You really think it has to be me, don’t you?”

  Alex felt his stomach go into icy knots as he stared at her.

  Nate nodded. “With the way your dual nature works, you’re the only one who can do it. Plus, it’s written all through your psyche — you’re the one who can destroy us. ”

  Willow was still gazing down at the stone. “And . . . how likely is it that the gate would close?”

  “I can’t give you odds,” said Nate levelly. “We can’t really know what will happen until you try. ”

  Sophie leaned forward, watching her intensely. “Willow, time is already extremely short,” she said. “If you agree to this, then we need to leave immediately, so that we can brief you and get things ready. ”

  “Willow, no,” said Alex. He gripped her arms. “No. There is no way that you can do this. Just no way. ”

  She looked up at him, and he saw that she was close to tears. She took a deep breath. “Could you excuse us, please?” she said to Sophie and Nate. Leaning over, she placed the angelica back on the table.

  “Yes, of course. ” Sophie put the rock in her briefcase and snapped it shut; she and Nate stood up, scraping their chairs back. “We’ll be outside. ”

  The door shut behind them; Alex hardly heard it. “You can’t do this,” he said, still clutching Willow’s arms. “You can’t. Tell me that you’re not serious. ”

  She was pale. “Alex, I . . . I just don’t see that I have a choice. ”

  “Weren’t you listening? Willow, they think the gate will blow you apart; they don’t even know whether you can close it or not!”

  Very slowly, she nodded. “I know,” she said.

  Sudden fury gripped him; his voice rose, ringing around the tiny cabin. “You cannot seriously be considering this! Have you gone completely insane? Do you want to just throw your life away? Is that your plan?”

  A tear streaked onto her cheek, but when she spoke, her tone was almost steady. “What else can I do — go to Mexico with you and ignore all of this? How could I live with myself, knowing that maybe I could have stopped the angels forever and I didn’t even try?”

  “Willow, this isn’t the way. All this is going to do is kill you! Look, we’ll find a way to fight them; we’ll —”

  He was holding her arms too tightly; she pulled away, her face agonized. “Of course this is the way! This is what it all means — don’t you see? My premonition last night, and Paschar’s vision — I’m the only one who can stop them. This is how I have to do it!”

  Terror that she was right turned his veins to ice. “No. You are not doing this; I’m not letting you. ”

  Her expression was so torn, so full of sorrow and love for him. “Alex, if there’s even just a chance that I can stop the angels, then I have to try. You’ve fought them your whole life; you must understand —”

  “Not like this!” he shouted. “This is suicide; they can’t even tell you if it’s going to work or not! Does throwing your life away really sound that good to you?”

  “It’s not like I want to do it!” she cried, her eyes bright with tears. “All I want is to be with you and for things to be like they have been!”