Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6)

by Matthew S. Cox

  “Go on, Anna,” said the constable, from his car. “It’s alright. You’ve spent too much time starin’ at ‘ouses today.”

  “Yeah,” whispered Anna. “I s’pose I ‘ave at that.”

  She pushed past the gate and got to the porch before the second wave of hesitation hit. The place seemed so quiet without all the NewsNet bots and police. Anna kicked at the ground, feeling foolish for making all the wrong moves. Penny’s, her old home, Faye’s flat… if the CSB was after her, they were either asleep or more incompetent than possible.

  Buzz. The doorbell sounded angry.

  A few minutes of silence later, Anna pushed it again.

  “Keep your knickers on, I’m comin.’”

  The voice sounded too young to be the mother, too old to be Faye.

  Anna fidgeted with her coat until the door opened. A young woman answered, gaunt, pale, and with shadowed eyes. Her oversized tee shirt hung down to her thighs over baggy leggings, covered by straight, black hair as long as her waist. Her expression of ‘what the hell do you want’ fell to shocked neutrality for a second before her eyes went red and she leapt into a hug.

  “Anna?”

  Her fears of anger and rejection unfounded, Anna raised her arms and held on. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  Faye leaned back. Her baleful expression made Anna think the girl had forgotten how to smile. “Come in! It’s Baltic out here.”

  Anna followed her into a living room a bit too warm for comfort and shrugged out of her coat. The place screamed milquetoast middle class, decorated in beige and tan, with small fake plants interspersed among a dozen portraits of the family. A chronology of images circled the inner wall above the couch, showing Faye’s transformation from infant to the child she remembered to the haggard skeleton of a teen she’d become. The two most recent shots at least showed an attempt to smile.

  “Place looks the same,” said Anna, taking a seat on the sofa. “Few more photos.”

  “Aye. Parents are out for a re-date or some ghastly nauseous rubbish. They need time away. Apparently, I’m a bit of sad sack.” Faye stuck her tongue out. “Ya want some tea? Water?”

  Before Anna could answer, the girl ran out and returned with Sainsbury’s brand iced tea in an automatic-cool can. She handed it over and flopped in a facing seat, elbows on her knees, eyes watery.

  “Sorry I’ve been out of touch.” Anna turned the can about. “I’ve been in a bit of trouble. What’re you now, eighteen?”

  “Next month. They’re worried about me ‘cause I haven’t given much of a fuck about gettin’ my certification for autos. An’ they really think I’m nutters ‘cause I don’t sneak off and drink and shite. How cocked up is that? They suspect I’m wonky because I’m not on drugs.” Faye dug her toes into the carpet. “I thought you were mad at me.”

  “I… Not at all. I was caught up in a bit of a mess and I didn’t want it to spill over onto you. Besides, you had a family and a home and everything and I was just an outsider who didn’t belong mucking it up.”

  “Rubbish,” Faye whined. “I would’ve liked an older sister. Mum would’a let you stay with us.”

  Anna laughed. “I’m too old to have parents now. I’m twenty… eight?”

  “Shit, really? You don’t bloody look it.” Faye blinked.

  “Thanks.” Anna smirked and popped open the tea. A fizzling crackle escaped the small hole on the top with a brief whiff of metallic chemical, and a layer of frost swam down the outside. In seconds, the canister became too chilly for comfort. She took a hasty sip and set it on the coffee table. “Cripes that’s cold.”

  Faye pulled her legs up onto the seat. “So…”

  “How’ve things been for you?” Anna looked the girl up and down. “Are you eating?”

  “Yeah, not much. Ain’t much for sleep neither.”

  Anna leaned forward. “Talk to me.”

  “I… I don’t sleep well.” She went from leaning left to sitting cross-legged. “Doc says I have ‘night terrors’ or some shit. I keep waking up screaming, thinking those men are coming through my window to take me again. Dad’s a proper champ about it, though. Always runs in to check on me.” She loosed a somber laugh. “What am I, five? When I do sleep, I crash hard an’ don’t hear my alarm. Was late for school last month, an’ Mum tossed a sheet over my face to wake me up and I thought it was a black bag.” She cried into her hands. “I freaked. Mum’s still afraid to be alone in a room with me.”

  “I’m sorry for leaving you to deal with that.” Anna reached over and put a hand on Faye’s arm.

  “It’s okay… you had those fuckers still chasing you for real.” She wiped her cheeks, sniffling into a giggle. “After that crap with Bell, Mum and Dad are still super guilty. I could get away with murder. Guess they’re lucky I’m a geek, huh?”

  “I’m still willing to kill that worthless nonce if you want.”

  “Anna!” Faye threw a pillow at her. “He doesn’t scare me anymore. My nightmares are about those cockbags in black. Everyone at school thinks I’m the crazy bitch. You know, one of the tinfoil hat crowd what sees aliens.”

  “The man who ordered your abduction is dead.” Anna risked the tea, finding it tolerable. “James threw him off a roof.”

  Faye cringed.

  “I stayed away to protect you. The CSB has no reason to mess with you if they can’t use you to get to me.” Did I? I could’ve called her. Why didn’t I ever think to? She looked up from the can of tea to Faye’s sunken eyes and thought of Alexi. Would it have been kinder to make Faye forget everything that happened? “Faye…”

  “Hmm?”

  “Would you want to forget it all? Bell, being abducted in the night by the government, everything?”

  “I’d forget you and Penny and that horny bastard Spawny too, wouldn’t I?” She slid out of the recliner and flopped on the couch next to Anna. “I can handle a few nightmares, and I don’t give a rat’s ass what the morons at school think of me.”

  “Better a painful truth than a comfortable lie?” Anna chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose.”

  “Something bad happened to you, didn’t it?” Faye leaned her head on Anna’s shoulder. “You can talk about it if you want. I’m not a kid anymore.”

  Anna smiled at her. “No… I suppose you aren’t. You’d be pretty if you actually ate food.”

  Faye gave her a raspberry. “Are you back in London for good?”

  “I’ve got to leave soon. It’s not safe for me here… I’m not sure it’ll ever be.” Anna squinted at the bay window, thinking of Aurora’s comment at her old home. “Course, stranger things have happened.”

  “I wish you’d stay. Well…” Faye hopped to her feet and started for the kitchen. “I’ll order takeaway then. Thai? We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

  Anna let her head sag back into the cushions. Worrying about delays now felt ridiculous. James would have noticed her absence already. Fuck it. Fix me to the bed will he? He can wait a day. “Sure. Something with chicken, not too spicy.”

  “Noodles?”

  “Why not.”

  Faye grinned, looking as if Anna had breathed life back into a zombie. She scrambled off the sofa and darted out of sight.

  Anna scowled as soon as Faye left the room. Five years ago, she felt responsible for getting that little girl mixed up with the government. She’d thought Faye had been doing well at home with loving parents—instead, she’d been barely sleeping or eating.

  Bloody CSB. If Gordon wasn’t already dead…

  40

  Sleepover

  Anna

  Half-asleep in a borrowed shirt, in a shared bed, with Faye’s arm over her, she felt as though she’d gone to an alternate dimension: twelve some odd years ago in another world where Annabelle Morgan was an ordinary teenager having an ordinary sleepover. The weak scent of Thai food still hovered in the air, wafting from the takeaway containers on the floor. She laced her fingers behind her head and breathed, drifting in and out of
sleep, trying to imagine a normal life.

  Plain, white walls had a couple of pre ‘everything-went-to-shit’ holo-posters from when Faye still liked contemporary music. She’d taken down the Dead Ballerinas stuff as it reminded her too much of ‘the bad time.’ The lack of effort put into the decorations made her worry more. This bedroom could be a model for a rental office. Faye had no interests to speak of, didn’t care much for music, vids, games, driving, or even dating. Her parents made her go to a therapist for depression and night terrors, which she tolerated but thought useless. As Faye had put it, ‘coping’ll mean fuck all when soldiers kick in my window again.’

  After a banquet of amazing Thai takeaway, they’d stayed up to the wee hours talking about the past five years, save for a half-hour interlude when the parents returned. Her mother had been concerned about the awkwardness of an almost-thirty-year-old woman sharing her daughter’s bed, even if she did look like a teenager. They lacked a guest room, and Faye had seemed so energized around her. After repeated insistence that Faye liked boys, Anna’s “I’ll just crash on the floor,” and Faye’s horror that they thought anything unseemly would happen between them, they’d relented. The change in the girl was dramatic. Anna felt a bit like a pitbull guarding her sleeping human. For years, she worried the sight of her killing those men during the escape had left mental scars, but Faye barely remembered that part at all. She still thought of her as a savior.

  As odd as it seemed, Anna felt better after talking out what Mr. Blake had done to her, the conversation she’d never been able to have with Penny. Faye was horrified; for a short while, Anna found herself on the receiving end of being comforted. In a way, she rationalized some kind of karmic circle had turned around. She’d rescued the girl from the government, and Faye had rescued Anna from her shame.

  Faye’s mother peeked in around nine in the morning, offered a hesitant smile, and left.

  A bit past noon, Faye woke. She blinked at the clock, and let off a sleepy laugh. “Guess I got the day off.”

  When they went to the kitchen, the Vidphone played a recorded message from Mr. Taylor apologizing for not being home due to work. He thanked Anna for dropping in and, addressing Faye, mentioned her school was sending her day’s work electronically.

  “Because of my ‘condition.’” Faye rolled her eyes. “The crazy girl has attacks, you know. Sometimes she gets to work from home.”

  “Don’t most kids attend from home?”

  “Oh, I wish.” Faye sighed. “This isn’t the UCF. We’re still required to go in person.”

  Anna held her shoulders. “Faye. I want to show you something.”

  “’Kay.” Faye let her arms drape in her lap and stared into Anna’s eyes.

  She opened a telepathic link and recalled the CSB agent dressed as a constable standing in the shadow of the press frenzy. Anna focused on the memory of him saying, “The Taylor girl will not be bothered.”

  “Thanks.” Faye hugged her. “Maybe that’ll help… but you know this shit isn’t rational fear.”

  By the time Anna returned from a quick shower, Faye had set out a full English breakfast: poached eggs, fried mushrooms, toast, and sausages. Anna took one look at the eagerness in the girl’s expression and felt horrible for having to leave.

  Conversation as they ate largely became an elongated farewell process. Faye’s desperation mounted with each passing moment. By the time they’d cleaned their plates, she looked like the little girl who’d begged Anna to come inside the night she’d returned home.

  “I’ll pop back at least once a month.” Anna offered a weak smile. “It’s only an hour’s flight.”

  “Next time, will you stay at least a weekend?”

  “I can do that.” Anna frowned inside, thinking of the look on James’s face as he left her chained to the bed. “Maybe a whole week if I can manage it… but, you’ll not use me as an excuse to skip school.”

  “Kay.”

  Aurora’s comment needled at her again. “And I dunno. If ever I can manage it, I might consider coming back to London more permanent like.”

  Faye grinned.

  They walked together to the door and the porch. Anna hid her tears as they embraced, not resisting an excuse to take a few minutes longer.

  “You vid me anytime you want,” muttered Anna.

  “Aye.” Faye sniffled. “Safe flight and all that.”

  Anna started to walk for the gate, but stopped and spun back. She grasped Faye’s hands and stared her in the eyes. “You know how you really beat those bastards, Faye? Live. You live.” Anna paused a second to keep from choking up. “You live your life in defiance of what they did to you. You’re not psionic. They’ve got no reason to bother with you again. Don’t mire in the past forever.”

  “Pot. Kettle.” Faye’s eyes ran with tears, but she smiled.

  All the house lights faltered. “Aye.” I’ve got a bit of living to do myself.

  “So what about you then?” Faye bit her lower lip.

  “Things are… complicated at the moment.” Anna exhaled, head down. “I’m not rightly sure ‘ow any of it’ll turn out, but, I’ll try to live if you will.”

  “Gonna hold you t’that.” Faye drilled a limp punch into Anna’s shoulder, grinning. “Vid?”

  “Aye. Will. I’ll try an’ come ‘round more if I can.” She glanced up at the sky, for the first time in five years’ time unsure if she wanted to leave Earth behind.

  “Brill.” Faye smiled. “Can’t wait.”

  Leaving had proven harder than she thought, and standing on the porch with Faye clinging for almost a half hour came close to changing her mind. Eventually, Anna trudged along the path to the gate and paused with one hand on the metal. She feared if she looked back, she’d be unable to leave, but she did. As expected, Faye hovered in the doorway, wiping tears from her eyes.

  I’ll not be gone for good, said Anna telepathically.

  Faye gave her a look like a kid who’d been promised a new puppy. Anna picked up the reply upon her surface thoughts. ‘Ats what the ghost said.

  A pang of worry stabbed her in the gut. Anna waved with a semi-enthusiastic grin and walked off in the direction of the city center. ‘Ghost’ had to mean Aurora. Faye had no gifts at all, at least, not in a psionic sense.

  What the devil’s going on?

  Anna trudged among light pedestrian traffic. Twice she caught pickpockets, and once she sensed the approach of a skimmer—and fried it. A dark-skinned, teenage boy in a heavy, green coat with smoke pouring out of the pocket ran off yammering in rapid Hindi. Hearing him made her remember how Penny used to babysit for one of the Propers and claim the little boy as hers when collecting her dole. Almost twenty minutes after she’d left Faye’s house, a glimmer caught her eye from a plasfilm poster on the wall of a coffee shop, depicting a smiling young boy surrounded by text demanding equal rights for psionics. Another one had a grimy little girl in the rags of a street urchin with a forlorn expression. She held her hands up, with two dolls floating above her palms and the slogan ‘we’re not evil’ written across the paving below her feet. The third poster showed a young couple holding hands with text demanding an end to the ban on psionics marrying.

  The fragrance of coffee proved too much to resist after staying up until almost five a.m. She stumbled into the place and bumped a disheveled man in an orange blazer at the end of the line. His wild hair looked like she’d already shocked him senseless. He glanced at her for an instant, looked away, and whirled around screaming. He seemed a week’s worth of starved and several days without a razor’s attention.

  “Bloody fuck!”

  “Plonk?” Anna blinked. “Of course, only you would wear that shade of orange with a white shirt and a pink necktie.”

  “Don’t bloody kill me!”

  Anna smiled at the room, trying to look as innocent and harmless as a tiny woman could.

  Stop it, arse. You’re causing a scene. I’ve no interested in ‘arming you.

  He whimp
ered at the telepathic message until the meaning chipped past the thick layer of muck around his brain. Plonk glanced side to side and rushed up close enough to smell last night’s booze on his shirt.

  “They’re lookin’ after ya, Pix.”

  “Damn.” She caught herself eyeing the room. “Who?”

  “Dunno, lass. Some government tool. Came by the flat this mornin’ askin’ about ya.” He grinned. “Need anyfin’?”

  “No, Plonk. Remember what I said about not wanting to harm you?”

  “Aye.”

  “If I wind up with a zoomie anywhere on my body, I’ll rescind that promise.”

  “Right.” He glanced down. “Gotcha.”

  Her NetMini vibrated at the same instant a teen behind the counter yelled “Next.”

  Plonk gave her a nervous smile and ran to the clerk. Anna drifted to the side of the shop, answering in voice-only mode.

  “Hello?”

  “Where the bloody hell have you gone off to this time? Are you not quite done over there yet?” asked Archon.

  “Almost. Just nabbing some coffee.”

  “We have a minor problem. I would prefer to have your assistance with a misplaced starship and an absentminded Awakened samurai with issues of self-worth. What are you doing back in London? Do you not understand the danger over there? Where are you that you have the image off?”

  “I’m well aware of the danger I’m in.” Anna narrowed her eyes, holding that thought for a moment—and not in the way James would take it. “I didn’t want the entire coffee shop to partake of our chat.”

  “I know that tone. I hope there is nothing wrong.”

  “Oh, I’m peachy keen.” She examined the fingernails of the hand not holding the NetMini to her ear. “For being left spread eagle all damn day. Yes, I’m a bit cheesed off about that. What the hell’s gotten into you?”

  “I thought you were fond of that sort of… kinkery, is it? I hoped you would find a bit of a thrill in it. Honestly, I had not intended to be away as long as I was; the situation in Venezuela became… more complicated than I had anticipated.”