“It was Japheem. I couldn’t tell how hard I struck him with my fire, but he suddenly spun away from me with a cry of pain. He must not have believed that I would keep coming after he hit my wing.”
“Your wing,” I said. “It’s wounded?”
“Grazed. It’s throbbing.”
“You can feel it? Even if it’s not showing?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see. Don’t argue.” Then his large white wings were before me. The left one was whole and beautiful as it always was, glittering with gold in the light from the window. The right had been struck along the topmost tip, a black scorch mark extending down over the feathers almost to his shoulder. I walked behind the chair to see that both wings were fine on the other side. “How do I help with this?”
“Brush your hand along the damaged feathers. Just keep brushing and they’ll come free,” Adriel said. I ran my fingers gently over one of the black feathers and he winced. Doing it a second time, I sensed a tiny loosening as my hand moved along. The feather fell to the floor, the undamaged part still glinting at the base and the rest black and curdled.
“Do they grow back?” I asked in concern.
“Yes, they grow back.” For a long time I worked on his wing, the pile growing at our feet. The feathers were so thickly laid along his wing that it was hard to tell where there were some missing. No matter how lightly I brushed and how stoic his expression, it hurt him terribly and I was crying by the end to be the one causing pain. Whatever Drina and the Kreelings were discussing about my life, I had long ago stopped listening.
Once the last feather was on the floor, the wing curled around my body and held me close. The softness on my skin was unbearable; I wanted to sink into it mind and soul for the rest of my existence. “Doesn’t it hurt you to do this?”
“You took the pain away,” Adriel whispered into my hair. “Thank you.”
The door to the kitchen swung open and his wing unfurled from me. Everyone came in and bustled around. Grandpa Jack had been called and alerted that I had a major project for science due on Friday. The imaginary project needed botanical samples and Lotus was going to lead some of my classmates and me on long hikes to acquire them. I didn’t find this a believable story, but Grandpa Jack had signed off on it. It had been a long time since he had cared for a person in high school.
“What about my clothes?” I asked Drina, who sat in a squeaking chair.
“Kishi is over there now packing up a few things,” Drina said. “Hooplan Cooper is offering up a room in his house for you.”
“He’s not-” Adriel started.
“He’s fully human, the only one here with room to spare, and there is a lock on the bedroom door should Jessa feel alarmed,” Drina said. The Kreelings went back and forth through the room, doors opening and stairs creaking, the phone ringing in the kitchen and Silea running by to answer it.
In agitation, I said, “What about my grandfather? Is he safe there at the house should they figure out who I am?”
“One of us will be stationed on your block to watch over it,” Drina said.
Cadmon awoke and said, “Drina?”
She turned stiffly to the corner. “Hey, sweetie. Taurin will be here any minute to drive you and me home . . . actually, that’s his car pulling up now.” Brakes were squealing outside.
“Can’t you just fly with muted wings?” Adriel asked.
“I’m too injured,” Drina said. Her wings burst into view and I wanted to cry once more at the damage. Far worse than Adriel’s, great swathes of that stunning green had been made black and crisp by fire. All this time she had sat in the kitchen like this! Now I knew why she hadn’t been able to tolerate leaning back on the chair.
Lifting from the pillow, Cadmon touched the damaged feathers. “You were hit. I did not see you get hit.”
“It was right at the end,” Drina said. Two of the blackened feathers came free in Cadmon’s hand and fell to the floor. “Adriel and I were chasing the Rippers away and one shot back a fireball. As I was dodging it, I swung directly into the path of another. I pulled my wings over my face in the nick of time.”
Someone knocked. Adriel let Taurin inside. His eyes widening at Drina’s wings, he cried, “Honey!”
Another man came in just as Adriel was starting to close the door. It was a Cooper I didn’t know, a man with a trim figure and dark hair. A little gray was at his temples. “Hi, I’m Hooplan, but everyone calls me Hoopie. Hear I’ve got a guest.”
“This is Jessa Bright,” Adriel said. I watched his face carefully while he checked over the man’s soul. What he found in its amount of shielding did not displease him. Feathers pattered to the floor, both Taurin and Cadmon brushing at the wings to clear away the damaged portions. Drina closed her eyes and breathed meditatively.
Hoopie shook my hand and said, “Since you know what we’ve got going on, let me just say that I’ve lived with Zakia and Lotus on and off since I was a little boy. They haven’t ever been anything less than delightful company. Only Lotus will be in the house with us and there’s no need to worry. She doesn’t bite.”
“She’d better not,” Adriel mumbled.
“You won’t even see her that much. She keeps to a strict schedule and most of her duties are out of the house. We’ve always got someone running into town or coming back from there, so getting you to school won’t be a problem if you’re still keen to go.”
“We debated if that was wise,” Drina said. “However, Adriel will be right there on campus with her, and if he escorts her from class to class, I don’t know that there’s much to fear.”
“I can do that,” Adriel said. I clung to the thought of school like I’d never done so in my life. Even Spooner High and Mr. Rogers’ swine flu-covered hands were better than being shut up underground, or in a home with nothing to do and people I barely knew.
Another car pulled up. It was Kishi arriving with a suitcase of my belongings. She dropped it in shock when she saw the state of Drina’s wings, and rushed over to help remove feathers. The kitchen door opened and Radeo came out with heavy armaments at his belt.
“Let’s get her moved,” he grunted about me. He walked us over to the last house on the lane, Adriel holding my hand and never taking his eyes from the sky. Somehow it had become early evening. The lane was empty of the children who had been playing upon it earlier, although I heard happy voices from one backyard.
Hoopie’s house reminded me of Grandpa Jack’s: a lot of belongings crammed into small rooms. One living room wall was covered in antlers and wooden duck carvings, and another wall had shelves packed with books and DVDs. The house was big for only two people. Lotus’ presence was evident in the collections of leaves and flowers put into display cases. I got a glimpse into her room while going down the hallway. How she got to the bed I had no clue. Stacks of books up to my waist were everywhere, ranging from novels to big botanical tomes. There was enough to fill a library. The large desk was stacked with more, and those piles went over my head. If an earthquake hit, little Lotus was going to get crushed.
At the end of the hall, Hoopie opened a door to a guest room. “It has its own attached bathroom, no tub but there’s a shower. The water comes on at a scorch, so keep that in mind. I’m afraid we run real easy on meals here, just grab whatever you want from the kitchen. I work down at the mechanic’s and will be gone from eight to five. Just make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” I said. He and Radeo walked back down the hallway to chat. Adriel and I stood there. Then he set down my suitcase on the bed and closed the door to inspect the lock. It was a push-button, and he glowered at its simplicity.
When Adriel looked back to me, he said, “You’re shielding something.”
“Because I wasn’t going to say it,” I said.
“Please say it.”
“I’m just so sorry this happened!” I said in a rush. “I was having the best day and now . . . I’ve hurt both you and Drina-” Those burned wings weighed heavily
on my mind.
“Jessa, that wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.” Adriel inspected the room in dissatisfaction, like he was gauging it for all of the ways that maddened zombies or Rippers could break in. Going to the window, he drew the curtains. “I don’t think this is a good idea at all. And you shouldn’t ride with any of them to school. I can come over and pick you up in . . . I guess I don’t have a car any longer. I can borrow.”
“Adriel, your family cars really stand out,” I said. “I don’t think I’m in as much danger from the Coopers as you think I am.”
“Tell me what else you’re thinking. Anything.”
“I wish that we could go back to the bridge before any of this.”
He kissed me, and for moments all of these happenings were brushed away. I put my hand to his chest and forgot about anything but him. Then someone called his name outside the door and everything came back like a hammer blow. His lips pressed to my forehead in goodbye, and he left with a command to lock the door behind him. I snapped the button and picked up my suitcase. Should I put my clothes away or just dig around for them in the suitcase as necessary? A dresser sat in the tiny closet, and it had three empty drawers.
I didn’t want to fill them. Filling the closet would kill time, which I had to spare, yet I wanted to be ready to leave on short notice. Setting the suitcase on the bed, I unzipped it and chaos fluffed out. Kishi left an unmistakable trail wherever she went. One of my sweatshirts was right on top. Since the room was cold, I pulled it on. She had stuffed in practically every stitch I owned. Had she brought my school things? I rooted around and discovered my backpack at the bottom, along with my laptop and a variety of shoes.
The front door closed and the house was silent except for one pair of pattering feet. I shoved my suitcase on top of the dresser and went to the window to peek out. No one was in the backyard, which had no fence to demarcate it from the woods. A greenhouse was on the grass.
Someone tapped on the door and I called, “Who is it?”
“It’s me,” Lotus said. “They told me that you know. You don’t have to unlock the door if you’re afraid.”
I opened it. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
She looked up to me with old eyes, and I stopped seeing the preteen girl that she appeared to be. Until now, I had seen what she wanted me to see and not looked any more deeply. That lovely, earthy scent was exuding from her just like it did from Zakia and Neala.
Sighing, Lotus said, “You shouldn’t have been told, but since you know, please be assured that we’re safe. The four of us take our medication regularly, and it keeps us from changing.”
“You and Zakia, Neala and . . .” I trailed away.
“Barney.”
My grandfather went fishing with him! “What about all of your family in other states? Are there more like you?” Her lips pursed and I hastened to add, “I’m not meaning to be rude or nosy. Do you want to come in?”
“No, I have some tinctures that need my attention,” Lotus said. “There are about two dozen of us. We rotate among the Cooper properties, and yes, we are all monitored by Kreeling hunters.”
Hating how everything had changed between us, I said, “I wasn’t worried about that, and I’m not going to tell.”
“We shall see,” Lotus said appraisingly, pushing her dark braid over her shoulder. The knees of her jeans were stained with dirt, and more was under her fingernails like she had been gardening.
“How did this happen to all of you?” It was out of my mouth before I could filter it for politeness. “I’m sorry. Forget I asked.”
She softened a little, although it was clear that she did not want to talk about it. “We were attacked at a family party long ago.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“Don’t be. It is what happened, and we have been very lucky to find a way to survive it. Please excuse me; I have to go.”
When she walked away, I closed the door but left the lock undone. She would hear the sound of it snapping, and take it to mean that I was scared after all. Returning to the window, I watched her walk over the grass to the greenhouse and go inside. Her head moved back and forth through the opaque glass.
I looked up to the trees in the woods, searching for fallen angels. Then I sat on the foot of the bed, wondering what in the world I was supposed to do now.
Chapter Thirteen: The Wait
I never thought that I would be so glad to see dreary old Spooner High. Waving in gratitude to Neala for the ride, I walked into school with a skip in my step on Monday. From Bellangame High to Spooner High to an underground compound . . . my life was on a declining plane of accommodations. My phone call to check up with Grandpa Jack had been convincing on Saturday night; the fisherman took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. He wished me well on the botany project and reminded me to keep an eye out for poison oak.
London and Savannah ran over when I got to my locker, wanting to know what had happened to me in Seataw. They’d looked everywhere, and their only clue that I might have left was one of Kitts’ friends saying that she thought she saw Adriel’s car leaving the square with a screech.
Expecting these questions, Adriel and I had worked out a story in advance. I made my eyes round with shock and said, “You will never believe whom I ran into up there!”
“Who was it?” Savannah asked.
“An old boyfriend of mine from Bellangame, all the way back in freshman year,” I said. “We only ever went on two or three dates since he started getting weird. Then he moved to northern California somewhere and I never heard from him again. I haven’t even thought about the guy in years! And he was right there at the park, sitting with a bunch of his friends.”
Fascinated by this silly tale, London said, “But why did you leave?”
“Because he was almost stalking me when we lived down in Bellangame! We’d had fun going to the movies a few times. Big group dates, not even solo. We were only fourteen years old. But he started calling and texting all the time, like incessantly. Even at two in the morning, wanting to know where I was and what I was doing. Where did he really think I’d be at two in the morning? I would look out my bedroom window and he always happened to be riding his bike by my house. He lived clear across the city. It was giving me the creeps, so I hit the brakes on everything straight away.” Both girls nodded fervently. “So Adriel and I were walking across the last bridge and headed to Pirri’s, and Jeffrey was there at the picnic table. I didn’t even have time to turn around and sneak away before he looked up. He was all excited and wanted me to hang out, come over to his house up in Hightree. Minus Adriel. He was way too excited, you know? Wanting my number, my address, my school . . . I didn’t tell him that I live in Spooner now, and I whispered to Adriel that I wanted to go back home that instant.”
“Of course you did!” London exclaimed. She pulled off her sweater. It was early in the day yet unseasonably warm. “What a creep! That’s what I would have done.”
“As we were driving, I looked back and saw him in the car behind us,” I continued, feeling like a jerk for stringing them along like this.
“Did you call the cops?” Savannah cried.
“All he had to say was that he was driving down to San Francisco, if he’d been pulled over,” I said, throwing up my hands in mock frustration. “So I was freaking out by that point. I don’t want him to know where my grandfather’s house is! Adriel drove me down to the Gap. We were trying to lose him.” The fireball had obliterated Adriel’s silver car so completely that nothing was left in the rest area but a little unidentifiable scrap metal. He was going to tell anyone who asked about his car that he’d sold it and was getting a new one.
“And did you? Did you lose him?” Savannah asked. We pressed closer to the lockers for students moving past. I spotted Adriel farther down the hallway. He was giving me space to tell this story, but standing guard over me just the same. The burn on his cheek was almost healed, making him look like he’d just gotten a bit too much sun.
/> “It was crazy,” I said. “He just kept coming after us on Sutter and down into the Gap. We didn’t know what to do. Then Adriel sped up and jerked off the road to hide the car behind some trees. We saw Jeffrey drive by. Five minutes later, he drove back more slowly. Hunting for the car. We sat there for an hour, even though he only did one more circuit and didn’t reappear.”
“This is like something from television,” London said. I suspected that she was filing away the details in order to spread them around to everyone.
“Did you see him again on the way home?” Savannah asked.
“No.” That I was staying at the Coopers’ was a secret, just so it didn’t innocently get out from well meaning but loose lips. “Don’t call me at home this week, okay? We don’t have caller ID, so I won’t be picking up the phone. And don’t drop by for anything. Trust me, this guy is really weird, and you don’t want him to know who you are. He might just follow you home.”
“I can’t believe you dated him!” London exclaimed as the bell rang. “What were you thinking?”
Savannah shook her head and said knowingly while we walked around the corner, “Some guys can hold it together for a while. My dad taught me that from being a cop. They look normal on the surface, even if there’s something majorly screwy in their heads. He once had this great conversation with a guy in the station about sports and television shows, and found out later the guy had just been picked up for killing a woman somewhere in the Napa area.”
“That’s what he’s like,” I agreed. “You think he’s totally normal at first. Smart and funny and charming, and he’s so good-looking. The weirdness doesn’t come out until later. I was so relieved when he moved away from Bellangame.”
“And now you’ve fallen right into his lap!” London said. “What does he look like? We should watch out for him.”
“Well, he’s really our age but he looks a little older, like in his early twenties,” I said. Rapidly, I gave them a quick description similar to Japheem. Then I ran for first period and braced myself to shake Mr. Rogers’ hand.
Earth/Sky (Earth/Sky Trilogy) Page 25