This wasn’t Adriel’s first time behind the wheel of a vehicle. She hadn’t lied about that; but would Pam believe her if she explained the last time was when she filled in for a NASCAR driver’s guardian angel? The time before that was during a short stint with Henry Ford. A car is a car, right?
By the time they pulled into Adriel’s drive, Pam had finally gone quiet. And pale. And she was sweating from places Adriel didn’t even know had sweat glands.
“You know what?” Pam choked out the words, “I think Uncle Craig had a bike in the shed. Maybe you should check it out. I think it had a nice basket on the front.” Her voice trembled, “They say exercise does a body good.”
***
Over Pam’s shoulder, Julius shimmered into view. “Come outside,” he mouthed. Adriel gave him a nearly imperceptible nod and excused herself. Her shift wouldn’t start until after noon, so she said goodbye to Pam and strolled out of the building.
“Hello, Julius. Good to see you again.”
His head bobbed. “Galmadriel.” He fell silent.
“I assume you’re here in the same capacity as Estelle?” Wry humor penetrated her tone. In her present predicament, training the pair of them wouldn’t be easy, and she suspected they might have been sent to her as penance. She strolled with him toward home.
“We let you down at the bridge. I’m sorry.”
“I’m the one who let you down. I should have known it would be too much for us to handle.”
Adriel chanced a glance at him to find his face unreadable. Taciturn at the best of times, Julius kept his feelings locked down tightly. It was a habit that would stand him in good stead as a guardian. Most of the time, anyway. His head bobbed again and then he turned a wide grin her way.
“You sure turned some heads with that stunt. Half the collective is annoyed you got away with it. The other half are impressed you had the strength to pull it off, and they’re all trying to figure out how to capitalize on your new status. What with everything that’s happened since…”
This was news to Adriel. Estelle only provided limited details.
“Everything that’s happened since? Do you know what they’re going to do with me?” The minute the words came out, Adriel wished she hadn’t asked. His expression turned guarded and he kicked a small, round stone hard enough for it to go skittering down the road ahead of them. When he didn’t answer, she pressed, “Can you at least tell me what happened during those three months I was missing?” Julius’ mouth pressed itself into a straight line. Whatever he knew, he wasn’t talking. “Then what are you doing here?” Frustration ebbed out with the question.
“On the job training, which means you’re supposed to tell me what to do next.”
Unexpected angry heat burned across Adriel’s skin, reddened her face. Yelling at Julius, while satisfying, wouldn’t address the root of her concerns. “You see how this is a problem, right?”
“I see how you’re supposed to tell me what to do next.”
Him repeating it wasn’t going to solve anything.
“I don’t have enough information.”
Julius sighed impatiently. “You’re my teacher, so tell me what you want me to do.” His exaggerated emphasis finally penetrated Adriel’s thick skull.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened.
“Well then, Julius, you need to tell me everything you know about my current assignment.” He raised an eyebrow and circled his hand to indicate she needed to say more. “And anything about my last one you think might be helpful to my ability to complete it.”
Relief sagged his shoulders. “Since you’ve given me a direct order, here’s what I can tell you…” A thunderclap shook the air, made the earth tremble under their feet. With no other warning, Julius disappeared. So much for getting any useful information out of him.
The next thing Adriel felt was an icy cold hand gripping her arm. Night-black darkness descended over her like a cloud bringing with it an unearthly silence. She yanked her arm away hard, but the hand grasping it only tightened painfully. Red eyes gleamed a feral warning when she turned her head toward the source of pain. Vertigo threatened to suck Adriel toward an abyss just out of her line of sight. Her heart galloped into a staccato beat that her ears seemed to feel, rather than hear. Goosebumps pebbled every inch of exposed skin.
A low hissing broke through the sound of her blood rushing through her veins “You took one of mine, I’ll take one of yours.” Breath reeking of death and oozing decay overwhelmed her senses. Out of the hulking darkness, the likeness of the Earthwalker she had recently banished swam toward her, pure terror contorting his face into a silent scream. “Or I will take everything.” Image after image of her friends shrieking in agony swam out of the darkness, then faded back into oblivion. Her ears popped and their screams turned audible. Slamming her hands over her ears did nothing to mute the sounds. Even her own voice raised to its highest pitch couldn’t wash away their tormented cries.
When the darkness finally faded, Adriel found herself huddled in a ball at the end of the cabin’s short driveway; Julius nowhere in sight. Chest still heaving, ears ringing with the sound of her own screams, she made her way to the bathroom and stripped to stand under the steaming spray. Heat returned to chilled limbs slowly, but nothing could wash away the sights and sounds of her friends being dragged into the dark realm while she watched in paralyzed horror.
Too rattled to settle, she paced the twisted path between the boxes from one end of the tiny space to the other—over and over until it felt like her feet might sink into the worn floorboards. Each time she walked past it the phone caught her eye. A magnet pinned Kat’s number to the refrigerator. All she needed to do was pick up the phone, punch the buttons and in no time, the cabin would be filled with the very faces playing through her mind right now.
“Julius!” She called his name loudly. “Estelle. I need you!” As though an invisible dome arched over her head, each cry bounced and echoed back to her—the words falling like stones around her head.
Despair licked at the edge of her thoughts until fury pushed it back. No more. Instead of banking the fire, she let the anger burn higher, brighter, stronger. What erupted from her was more than a request, it was an order backed by every ounce of rage-fueled angel power she had ever had at her disposal. The force of it blew the hair back from her face.
“Come to me, now!”
The form shimmering before her turned out not to be Estelle or Julius. Nope. That would have been too easy.
“You wanted something?” Chiseled features; skin brushed with every shade of gold; pale blue eyes glowing with crystal fire: Malachiel stood in the tiny room. His wings brushed the ceiling, their tips dragged on the floor. No angel ever looked so uncomfortable.
“Don’t bother giving me your patented how-dare-you stare. After what happened earlier, it’s somewhere around the third scariest thing I’ve seen today. Put your wings away and sit down. It’s about time I got some answers.” Watching him try to navigate the room while stubbornly keeping his wings in corporeal form brought a tiny smile.
“Tell me what happened during the time I lost.” She watched his face carefully for anything useful.
“What do you remember?” His eyes flickered.
“I remember every second of eternity except for the time between when I left Hayward House and ended up here. Now tell me what happened during those months.”
“I cannot.” At least he was being honest this time.
“What can you tell me?”
“Nothing. No one is going to tell you anything.”
“Why did you bother to come here, then?”
“Your anger called me. You’d better watch out, Galmadriel. How far do you really want to fall?” Was that a warning? Adriel wasn’t sure.
“At least tell me what you know about Julius.”
At Malachiel’s blank look, Adriel said, “Here’s what happened.” She laid out the events of the past hour for him in fine detail. If he knew anything about
the entity that had accosted her, his carefully schooled features gave away nothing.
Chapter 10
One more day, Gideon promised. One more day, and his crew would lay a culvert to connect this trench with the one on the other side of the road. To get the job done faster, he brought in two of the scooping machines from hell. One to hack out the section of road where the pipe would go, the other to finish the last bit of the trench leading up to it. What Gideon failed to mention was the need for tamping soil down tightly over the corrugated length of pipe. Added to the constant digging noises was the sound of the second bucket pounding soil into place.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Adriel went about her business for the morning praying for a freak accident to render her temporarily deaf. Not that it would have mattered, given the shock waves accompanying the banging sound could be felt through the floor.
When the pounding stopped, shouting replaced the short reprieve of silence.
Not the kind of shouting of orders being given or taken, though. This shouting sounded altogether different. She stopped to listen.
“…there’s the skull, and that’s a hand.”
Skull? An ominous sounding word. Ominous enough to make her open the door and go see what was happening.
An interesting tableau spread itself before Adriel when she stepped onto the porch. Several men stood, slack-jawed, gazing into a newly dug section running alongside the road, while others milled around as far from the area as they could get. Gideon shouted rapidly into his cell phone.
“No….Roman, I’ve lived here my whole life, there’s no abandoned grave yard around here. You’d better come out and take a look.”
Adriel heard the familiar sound of Ben’s bicycle long before he pulled to a stop next to the hole. He looked down, his eyes dark pools in a grave, white face. Talking to him in front of the crew was not a valid option, so they both only nodded a hello.
The human nature lurking inside her liked the idea of cowering inside while someone else dealt with the situation. She had always thought fear was an emotional response, but it seemed the heebie jeebies might just be hard wired into the physical body. Curiosity, more than anything, was what finally propelled her feet toward the hole.
After a first look, she hoped it was the depth of the hole making the bleached white bones seem so small, but she knew better. Ben had been found. If there were any doubts, the stricken look in his eyes was enough to dispel them. She longed to talk to him, make him feel better any way she could, but with the entire road crew close enough to remain within hearing distance, it was impossible. Okay, not technically impossible, but not the recommended choice.
It’s funny how people’s reactions are so different. Based on the way Gideon took charge until Zack arrived, it was easy to see how the job had come to him. He barked orders with no visible sentiment other than the faint whiff of annoyance Adriel could sense, because this was going to put him behind again. Yet, the gruff sympathy in his voice matched the way his eyes strayed time and again back to where the pale relic lay alone and bare in its grave.
No flashing lights or sirens marked Zack’s approach this time. There was no reason for hurry, the bones had lain in that spot for long years, and another ten minutes wasn’t going to change anything. He flashed Adriel a questioning look, which she answered with a small nod, knowing he would find her when he had time to talk. When she looked back, Ben had gone and Pam’s Jeep was pulling into her driveway.
Adriel went out to meet her. “They’re saying it’s Ben.” Not a lick of color graced Pam’s face. Tiny freckles stood out against the pale.
“I’ll walk with you.” Adriel linked arms with Pam knowing it would be a waste of time trying to talk her out of looking at what lay in the cold ground.
***
“Can I get you anything? Iced tea? Coffee?” Adriel offered an hour later when Zack tapped on the screen door before letting himself inside. He noted the changes to the place with a look of approval.
“I’m good.” Zack remained standing just inside the door; this was official business. A nodding gesture indicated the hole that marred the edge of Adriel’s yard. “You get a chance to see what they found?” She joined him just in time to see a black body bag being slid into the back of an ambulance by a somber-faced man she assumed was the coroner, and the same fellow who had worked hard in his attempt to save Lydia’s life.
“Bones.” An internal debate ran through her head. Should she tell him she was almost certain she know whose bones they had been?”
“A forensic expert is on the way, but I’ve seen enough death to know those are the bones of a child, and they’ve been in the ground for a long time. There’s only one missing persons case involving a child fitting the time frame.”
Before she could stop the name, it crossed her lips, “Ben Allen?”
“How did you know?”
“I work for Ben’s sister, Pam.” Should she tell him the rest? Yeah, probably. “And, he’s been visiting me.”
“He’s not an Earthwalker?” Zack’s horrified expression said he might have nightmares about devil children if she didn’t dispel the notion quickly enough.
“No. It was a genuine case of unfinished business. His death might have been accidental, or it might have been homicide. From what he remembers, it’s hard to tell. He was the victim of a hit and run—car vs. bike. There’s not much more I can tell you because Ben only got a quick glance at the headlights.”
“That explains the death, not the disappearance,” Zack said.
“I gather the driver panicked and buried Ben’s body”
“Poor kid.” Zack’s voice dropped in sympathy.
“Looks like he is stuck here until his killer is found.” Adriel brought Zack up to date on her conversations with Ben, who hadn’t given them much to go on.
“Never a dull moment around you, is there?”
“Ah. Do you…have you…” Adriel wasn’t exactly sure how to frame the question. “Would it help if I arranged a visit from Ben? I assume you have questions. I could interpret if you need me to. Or Kat could. Unless you can talk to him yourself since your trip over the bridge,” she ended lamely.
“No, I wouldn’t be able to see or hear him. We’ve only run into one other death in connection with a case in the past few months. Not a murder, but we did think it was a suicide. Guy’s ghost stuck around long enough to describe his freak accident. Forensics confirmed it after Kat’s unofficial investigation, and we closed the case.” Adriel could hear the pride in his voice.
“You’ll need to talk to Pam. Be gentle with her, Zack. She’s more fragile than she seems. Ben was here right after they found the bones. If he comes back, is there anything you want me to ask him that I haven’t already?”
“Do you think he would be willing to talk to me? Through you, I mean.”
“I’ll ask, but I think it's safe to say he would. He’s ready to move on.”
Zack handed her his card. “Call me if and when. Try to make it soon, though.” The screen door squeaked on hinges no amount of oil would quiet when Zack swung back through on his way out.
***
With all the lights off in the cabin, the velvet sky filled with winking stars mirrored flashes from lighting bugs flitting their complicated dance in the field. Night birds called out the news of the day to each other from perches high in the trees. From her chair on the porch, Adriel listened to the soft chirp of insects, the rustle of a low breeze through maple leaves, and the whisper of wind as it tickled the grass. The night soothed her into a peaceful stupor until something odd caught her eye. No lightning bug, this. A penlight not quite shielded enough to remain hidden swung in a slow arc—forward then down—as though its holder was looking for something. Curiosity stilled her tongue.
Moving toward the area where she had found Lydia, the light bounced once and Adriel heard a low, muttered curse in a male voice she didn’t recognize. “Stupid rock. Never going to find anything in the dark. What was I
thinking coming out here this time of night?” An older man by the sound of his voice.
“Can I help you?” She finally spoke into the darkness.
The penlight jerked then aimed right into her eyes. It was brighter than expected, given that the man holding it was at least twenty feet away. She held up a hand to shield the glare, then stepped down from the porch to close the distance between them.
“My name is Adriel.” She squinted to try and see his face. He lowered the light.
“Edward Keough,” rough with emotion, his voice sounded a little out of breath. “Folks call me Ed. You’re the one who found my Lydia. I wasn’t expecting to run into you tonight,” or anyone else if he had his way about it, she’d wager. “Would you mind telling me about how you found her?”
“Only if you’ll come sit on the porch.” The last thing she wanted was for him to keel over in her front yard. “Can I get you anything?” She flipped on the porch light before getting him settled on a lime green plastic chair. Craig had a liking for bright colors.
“Wouldn’t say no to a glass of iced tea if you have some.” Ed flicked off the penlight and Adriel got her first look at him. Grief dimmed, but couldn’t hide the smile lines around his mouth and a pair of kindly blue eyes. Age had salted his hair, cut short on both sides, to a crisp white. She judged him as being at least fifteen years older than his late wife. Maybe more.
“I’ve got lemonade.”
“That’ll do.”
Adriel stepped over the long legs kicked out in front of him to go inside and pour them both a glass. She took her time, giving him a chance to rest and regain his breath. Besides, she wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. Telling him the details of finding his wife after her brutal attack didn’t rate anywhere on her list of fun things to do.
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