Destined to Fall (An Angel Falls Book 5)

by Jody A. Kessler

  “This way,” she says.

  She opens a door to a private room and the lights go out. The guys in the lounge hoot and whoop in the sudden darkness. Someone says, “Man, I hope they don’t cancel us.”

  Star reaches for me. The emergency exit signs are the only visible light and Star walks over to the nearest one.

  “They have generators here, right?” I ask as we stumble toward the exit.

  I hear a flick of a lighter and then Star is illuminated by a tiny flame.

  “They better have,” she says.

  We move into the tunnel. The narrow concrete stairway covered with the names of the famous isn’t quite as glamorous in the semi-dark. But we’re away from the joking and the excited chatter of Star’s band members, and we can sort of see what we’re doing.

  The music stopped when the power went out and my heart sinks for Jared and the guys. Then just as suddenly as it had gone dark, the lights come back on. A voice I don’t recognize utters apologies and asks for the audience to stay calm. The announcer reassures the crowd the concert will continue momentarily.

  “Take this.” Star places something ticklish into my hand. “As soon as we start the chant, unravel the talisman into as many pieces as you can.”

  I knew what I was holding without looking at it, but I stare down into my palm anyway. The black and white feathers woven together to make an odd mat with tiny silver and multi-colored glass ornaments embedded into it is exactly what I saw in the vision.

  “Tell me the words,” I say in a hurry.

  Nathaniel is being beaten up and drained of energy for approaching my brother while Jared plays the final songs of his life. I’m sick to my eyeballs with Marcus’s crap.

  Star recites the words for the chant. “Marcus has trespassed on unwanted ground. Now he journeys to a place without sound. Without the light and without his touch, he shall visit the prison I have created. Where he will sit and be sedated. Marcus will stay three days away and in these three ways, he must obey.”

  I silently repeat the chant to memorize the words and push aside the screaming alarms going off inside my mind to quit this madness.

  Star bends over and draws a red triangle on the concrete in front of her feet. She places another talisman inside the triangle and a single black feather with white and blue ribbons tied around the shaft at the pinnacle of the triangle.

  “Stand across from me,” she instructs.

  I move into position, feeling the tingle of the magic begin like a whisper over my skin. The charm in my hand hums with readiness.

  “Picture Marcus far away from here,” she instructs.

  I glance up the stairs, looking for Nathaniel and Marcus and see nothing but the glow of stage lights. The electricity flickers, goes out, and comes back on.

  “Jules,” Star says to regain my attention.

  With a start, I look to Star and the talisman falls from my hand. I squat down to retrieve it and notice Star’s impatience.

  “As we say the words, tear it to bits. Then put all the pieces on the top of that one.” She points at the third charm inside the triangle.

  I nod and Star begins the incantation. I join her and our voices meld. Then I’m distracted again as Star’s lead singer pops her head out the doorway, gives us a shocked but knowing look, and disappears back into the lounge.

  “Keep going,” she hisses at me after the first round.

  Drumbeats pound from the stage over our heads and Mostly Mayhem begins another song. I think I hear a slight off-key note from Caleb, but I have to focus on tearing up the feathers and trinkets in my hand while saying the incantation with Star.

  Tearing up the feathers while creating a spell with our words creates a sensation to which I imagine being similar to standing in the eye of a hurricane. I want to run away and forget about all magic and the supernatural. I want my teenaged life back, with work, and school, and an irresponsible little brother to worry about. The only thing that stops me is that I may be buying Jared more time and getting Marcus off Nathaniel’s back.

  We make it through the second verse and begin the third. We have to yell to hear each other, but Star’s determination fuels my own. We make it through the first half. Our hands work twice as fast as the slow chant of the incantation. Then without the slightest warning, a bolt of lightning strikes somewhere close to the stage canopy. My body jerks in reflex and I crash into the cement wall of the stairway. I try to keep up with Star who looks unfazed by the strike, but I know I fudge the last part of the sentence. Before I snap out of the shock, the thunder cracks, giving me a whole new respect for its ability to deafen and numb my senses. The sound echoes and amplifies inside the tunnel and I drop the bits and pieces of the talisman to protect my ears.

  Star shrivels slightly but doesn’t cover hers. She looks at the concrete floor, horror and disappointment equal on her heart-shaped face.

  Another flash of lightning shocks the sky and I stare toward the stage at the end of the stairwell. The power goes out, leaving us in the apocalyptic glow of the emergency lights. The crowd boos and it’s only now that I realize the band has stopped playing again.

  Star says the final bit of the incantation without me.

  “Juliana!” I hear Nathaniel cry out.

  In the next instant, I’m up the stairs. I see Nathaniel and I call out, “Right here!”

  A scream from behind me makes me look back at Star. She’s hugging the wall in the corner of the stairwell. Marcus looms over her, blocking her escape. He’s ferocious as he squeezes Star’s shoulders. It’s then I notice his feet inside the triangle and half sunk into the cement landing. Marcus isn’t quite himself. He appears half solid and half translucent.

  “I knew you were trouble from the very beginning,” he growls into Star’s face.

  “Tell me you didn’t help her,” Nathaniel says as he takes my outstretched hand. His arms engulf me and I’m instantly inside my safe haven.

  “Your plan is failing miserably, you wicked witch!” Marcus says.

  Nathaniel and I can’t help but look. We see her struggling against Marcus’s grasp. He’s stuck inside the triangle but has a hold of her. I pull out of Nathaniel’s arms, unable to leave Star behind with an irate Angel of Death.

  “Leave her,” Nathaniel says.

  He holds me back. It isn’t in me to leave a friend in trouble.

  “Look at him,” Nathaniel orders. “He can’t hurt her. She’s only scared. And she earned it.”

  Someone appears from the lounge. I can’t see exactly who it is from up here with only the dim emergency lights, but it must be one of her band members.

  “Help me!” Star yells. “Grab me and pull!”

  Star breaks free of Marcus and the two of them disappear into the other room.

  We stare for another second. Long enough to see Marcus struggle for freedom and know that he can’t escape. Nathaniel hurries me away from the stairwell and toward the stage. My eyes search for Jared amidst the chaos.

  A deep voice alerts the audience that the rest of the show is canceled. Staff members echo the announcement and the hum of disappointment travels across the amphitheater. Someone rushes by us saying the generators aren’t coming back on because lightning has hit a main fuse box. People whine and complain about what a nightmare the night has turned into and how too much rain is leaking onto the stage.

  Derrick and Caleb move guitars, pedals, and mics toward the center of the stage. Dan and Alex, with two of the stage crew team up to carry keyboards and instrument stands away from the blowing rain. Where is Jared? Then I suddenly know. The vision is so clear in my mind. Jared will be at stage right. Near the back by the building and the rocks.

  Nathaniel and I are on the same side. All I have to do is turn slightly to look for him. Jared’s retying the tarp Marcus had loosened. Rain pours in and it’s the main cause of the growing stream of water soaking the stage.

  Jared is so fixed on his efforts that he doesn’t see me or Nathaniel.


  “Stop him!” I cry out and lunge toward my brother.

  But the sight of him in the location in my vision where I knelt over his body has me paralyzed with fright. Well, almost.

  For my entire life, whenever I’m unfocused, stressed, or out of sorts, this will be the exact moment I’m most likely to have an accident and injure myself by some embarrassing, klutzy, and always painful blunder. Just because this may be the most important moment of my life, and Jared’s, doesn’t give me a free pass.

  My ankle turns over as I spring toward Jared. As I recover, I trip over Nathaniel’s foot. Luckily, Nathaniel is by my side and he catches me before I crash to the stage. He gives me a look that says he can’t believe fate wouldn’t give me one ounce of sympathy in this night of terrible nights. Since I don’t have time to worry about the Justice League coming to my rescue and slapping some sense into the universe right now, I cry out, “Make Jared stop right now!”

  Nathaniel wants to help me, so he urges us closer, moving as fast as I can possibly go on one foot.

  “Jared!” I yell, but I don’t think he hears me because he moves to another loose corner of the tarp. “Jared, stop!” I try again.

  He’s only twenty-five feet away and I don’t understand why he won’t turn around.

  “This happened in my vision,” I say, pleading. “Nathaniel, get him away from there.”

  Nathaniel leaves me hopping on one foot and moves to Jared with speed that should alarm anyone who may be watching, but no one is. Everyone is busy dealing with the rain, no power, wet equipment, and thousands of people trying to figure out the fastest driest path back to their cars.

  Then the worst happens.

  Chapter Twenty-four: Oaths

  Nathaniel

  Jared grabs a rope hanging from the corner of the tarp. He pulls the fabric taut, but a gust of wind rips the tarp from his hand and sends it flapping. We’re in the back corner of the stage near the area where the rock wall joins the steel beams of the canopy. The tarp blocks a gap where the rain is blowing in. Being on the southeast side, the wind must be blowing in an unusual direction for this much water to be leaking onto the stage. Jared’s predicament is easy to see. If no one blocks the rain, the band’s equipment is soon going to be waterlogged and ruined.

  “Jared!” I yell.

  Jared looks over at me, squinting in the dimness and acknowledges my unspoken offer to help. He turns back to the job before him. The ties dangling from the tarp have wound themselves around a metal support cable. The cables are strung from the rigging across to the building where they are bolted in place. Now the tarp is being held open instead of flapping around, and the rain is falling freely through the gap. Jared is soaked, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

  Standing on tip-toe, Jared’s fingertips can just touch the dangling cord. He jumps and swats at the thin rope, but his efforts make no difference.

  Ever the entertainer, Jared squats and leaps straight up catching the cable in his two hands.

  “Hey! Juliana says to stop working on that,” I call, but my words are drowned out as the power suddenly comes back on and a howling screech rips through the sound system from an amp that was left on to close to some other piece of equipment.

  Someone whoops with glee about having the power restored and I hear Juliana.

  “Jared, get down from there!” she yells.

  She’s next to me now and we stare at her brother together.

  “I need another second,” he says, as he hangs with one arm and untwists the wound-up cord.

  But it’s too late. The cable is only there to stabilize the rigging and isn’t meant to hold the weight of a man. Metal bends then snaps. Jared comes flailing down to the concrete stage. It isn’t a long drop, but he’s caught off guard and when he hits the deck, his feet slip on the wet surface.

  Jared falls back without even a chance to catch himself. His head crashes against the stage and I see the light go out in his eyes from the impact.

  Juliana screams and throws herself at her brother. I grab her around the waist and pull her away as tubular metal framing, wires, and bulky lights fall from the broken rigging.

  She quits struggling as we cower and shield our heads with our arms. The worst of it is over as quickly as it had begun and miraculously Jared isn’t crushed by any of the debris.

  Everyone rushes to us to see what’s happening. My eyes are drawn to something that sends me straight into high alert — as if I wasn’t already there.

  Jared isn’t dead. I clearly see him breathing. He may have knocked himself unconscious, but the blow to his head isn’t enough to kill him. However, the live electrical wires that tore loose from the crashed stage rigging can definitely finish the job.

  “Everyone stay back!” I shove Juliana to a dry part of the stage a couple of yards away. I spread my arms in an attempt to create a barrier and inch toward Jared. The live wire crackles and sparks from the frayed end.

  “Call an ambulance,” someone orders.

  “Get the medics up here now!” someone else screams.

  “Jared!” Star shrieks and bursts forward again.

  “Stop! You’ll be electrocuted!” I point at the snaking wires. Now that I look closer, I see there are other live wires. Two overhead, one ominously close to Jared, and one sizzling near the shoes of the gathered spectators.

  The danger stops everyone. People move away from the wetter parts of the stage.

  “I’ve got him!” Caleb dives forward.

  I yank Caleb back. “No! Stay back.”

  “Kill the electricity,” a commanding voice screams across the stage. “Now!”

  Knowing I won’t die from electrocution, I spin around and move as quickly as possible to get Jared away from the danger. But God, the Almighty, the Source, Great Spirit, the Universe, or simply the All, — whatever you choose to call the Higher Powers — can be quite the hilarious jester when it wants to be.

  I grab Jared under his arms. As I’m about to pull him out of the puddle of rainwater, the electrical wire zaps, whips around like the pissed off rattlesnake we ran into earlier, and lands in the puddle beneath my feet.

  Jared and I take the white zing. Electricity hits every nerve in our bodies and sends me sprawling backwards. I stare at my would-be brother and know his heart can’t take the shock. The power cord sits in the water. His body twitches as the current makes its escape by any means available.

  Screaming ensues. Commands are being thrown about by the guard staff and other personnel. I’m already weak from my spat with Marcus, but I manage to turn over onto my hands and knees and rise to my feet.

  Until someone shuts off the electricity, the streaming rain on the stage is a barrier for anyone to approach me or Jared, and I’m glad of it.

  Except for Juliana. Unable to do anything else, she’s in tears as I stumble over to her. She catches me as I collapse.

  “Oh, my God. Nathaniel. No. No. No,” she whimpers almost incoherently.

  The power goes out. This time it’s on purpose so Jared can receive the help he needs. Not that it will do him any good. With the sudden darkness, I let go. Residual electricity shimmers in the air like sparks of static as I escape my body. No one except Juliana notices. She gasps at the sight, but then I see her staring through the place where I stand and she’s fixed on Jared.

  “I’ll take him,” I whisper to Juliana. “Don’t worry, love. He’ll be safe with me.”

  We hear a familiar high-pitched voice calling Juliana and Jared’s names from somewhere near the exit.

  “Grandma?” Juliana says, confused.

  “Jared Crowson is my grandson. Let me back there this minute!”

  Juliana runs over to the security guard blocking Charlotte. Their mom, Diane, stands by Charlotte, looking pale-faced and in utter shock beneath the hood of her red raincoat. Juliana argues with the security guard to let them through.

  The snakebite, the fight with Marcus, and the electric shock have left me as weak as a newborn fawn. T
he young deer can hardly stand when they’re first born. When the mothers need to eat, they leave the fawns in a hidden spot and return later with the hope that no predators have found their babe in the woods. In this state of being, a predator could devour me in a second. I wonder if I have enough energy to be any use to Jared. But that isn’t an option. There’s no alternative. With Marcus trapped and Juliana counting on me, I’m Jared’s only ticket to the other side. All I have to do is open the gateway and wait for him to pass. Then I can rest and recharge.

  The funny thing about all this is that I’m still feeling the surge of electricity and my leg is burning as if it were on fire. I glance at my calf and wonder if the snakebite will ache for the rest of eternity. It wasn’t bothering me before the electrical shock, but now it’s nearly unbearable.

  Jared rises out of his body and turns to face me.

  “So, this is my big moment,” he says, unimpressed.

  “It’s more exciting than most,” I say with a grimace. My weakness is agonizing, but I have to persist.

  “Star is pretty torn up,” he says. She’s on her knees, hugging herself.

  There’s a large section of lights hanging ominously over our heads and looks like it will fall at any time. Star’s band members urge her to move back away from the danger, but she appears deaf to their pleas.

  “At least her band is here to comfort her,” I say.

  “She’ll be all right, I guess,” Jared says, but I see the regret on his face.

  “She loves you, Jared. She told me right before the show started. She took care of Marcus and that’s why I’m here.”

  Jared’s gaze shifts to me, curious and concerned. “What did she do?”

  “A spell to get rid of him for a while. She asked me to help. She thought if Marcus wasn’t around, you’d have more time. I knew she was wrong, but Jules and her managed it.”

  “She’s a crafty one for sure,” he says, and takes a step in her direction.

  Then we hear, “What! Noooo! My baby. No!” Diane Crowson wails as she throws herself down next to Jared.