Dark Angel Box Set

by Hanna Peach

  “It’s scary going after what you want. If it’s something you care about, then it’d hurt if it doesn’t work out.”

  She tasted bitterness on the back of her tongue. She wasn’t scared. That’s not why she wasn’t doing it.

  “You should do it, Alyx. Take that job. Get out of Saint Joseph.”

  She didn’t answer. She grabbed the door handle and pulled. Israel’s palm slammed against the door stopping it from moving. “What are you doing?” Her stomach jumbled.

  “What are you scared of?”

  “I’m not scared.”

  “No, you’re not. Of everything we’ve faced in here already, I’ve barely seen an ounce of fear or hesitancy in you.” His eyes bore into hers as if he was trying to see right into the very depths of her. “So why are you so afraid out there?”

  The backs of her eyes prickled but a sear of anger burned those tears away before they could escape. “Life is cruel, Israel. Without any warning, it will take things from you, people from you, and you can’t imagine the loss… It’s better to stay safe. Stay small. Then when life rips them away from you, it won’t hurt so much.”

  He said nothing. He just looked back at her, no anger in his face, no judgement. He just…saw her. Saw everything she was trying so desperately to hide. Being this naked was painful.

  “We have to go.” She pulled at the heavy front door and this time he let her go. She stepped out into the blazing summer sunshine, her eyes taking a second to adjust. She blamed that light for causing them to water, wiping them only when Israel had turned his back to lock the door.

  When they slipped out through the gates of Saint Catherine’s School, she paused for just a second, staring at the buildings through the iron bars. The school didn’t seem as dark as before.

  Alyx was silent as she led Israel along the quiet streets towards the museum, trying to ignore all the questions that were trying to surface. Was Israel right? Was she scared?

  “Alyx…”

  “You never told me about your parents,” she interrupted. She didn’t want to talk about herself anymore.

  At first she thought that Israel might not let her change the subject. But then he began to speak. “My mother is tiny, smaller than you, but what she lacks in height she makes up for in ferocity. She’s a tough woman, raising a son all by herself, but she loved me in her own way.”

  “By herself?”

  “My father died when I was very young. I never got to know him. My mother said he was a brave man. That he died in battle but…”

  Alyx remained silent, too surprised to speak. He lost his father? She didn’t know.

  He continued, “I tried to find him once, but there was no record of him ever existing. I wish… I wish I had something of his. A photo, a memory, a story…anything.” His voice was light, almost casual, but there was nothing casual about what he was saying. “If I was given a choice to have some years with my father, even if I’d still have to lose him, I would choose that. Every time.”

  Alyx felt like she had been slapped. She couldn’t think of anything to say back, his words just tumbling over and over in her mind. She turned the corner and it took her a few steps to realize that she had led them into a dead end. She had led them to a dead end. She felt something in her crack. She turned, her head spinning, and bumped into Israel right behind her. She stumbled. He caught her, his hands around her upper arms firm yet gentle, waves of heat running up and down her limbs.

  She thought he might stay like that, holding her. But he dropped his arms and she missed his touch.

  His voice was soft when he said, “Your time with your parents…just because it didn’t last forever, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.”

  His words soaked into her body like raindrops into sand. She turned away from him, unable to think of what to say in response, and almost tripped over a huge sunflower growing up out of the cracks in the sidewalk, unfurling its leaves and raising its head to face her before opening its petals out.

  “Did you see that?” she asked. “The sunflower? That grew so fast.” She brushed her fingers on the petals and felt her heart tug. “They’re my favorite flowers. They used to be my mother’s favorite too. We had them growing in our backyard. We used to collect the seeds. She taught me to carry a pocketful of them with me wherever I went. And wherever a spot of happiness was needed, I would plant one of the seeds.” It had been a long, long time since she had carried a pocket full of seeds.

  Why had the sunflower grown here? What did this mean? Was this a message? From…her mother?

  Don’t be stupid. Your mother’s not sending messages.

  Alyx shoved all these thoughts aside. “Let’s go. It’s already summer.”

  * * *

  “The museum is just round this corner.”

  Israel followed Alyx, then almost bumped into her when she halted suddenly.

  “What’s wrong?” But he didn’t need an answer. He stared up at the Saint Joseph Museum and his mouth dropped open. It was as if someone had slashed two halves of two separate buildings and stuck them together, the invisible seam running at a slant. One half, Israel guessed to be the museum, an imposing sandy-brick building of arches and steep slate roofs. The other half was a giant stone castle, turrets and towers reaching to the sky like long gray fingers, a lonely blue flag flying from the tip of one.

  “What the hell is that building?” Israel asked.

  “That one,” Alyx pointed to the right, “is the museum. The other…I have no idea.”

  “Let’s go inside. But be careful.”

  Israel walked up the grand stone staircase that went up to the front entrance, craning his neck up at the tall arches and decorative pillars soaring up at least three stories. This would have to be one of the grandest buildings in Saint Joseph.

  And Alyx worked here. Even if she didn’t think so, she was an impressive woman, her potential shining from her like a halo. A woman who’d never go for a failure like you.

  “You okay?” Alyx stood at the door, looking at him from over her shoulder.

  He shook himself and forced a smile. “Fine.”

  Before he could tell her to wait she disappeared inside. He jogged up to the door, glanced around once to make sure they weren’t being followed, and slipped inside.

  He halted with a start. He was standing in a closed courtyard, the stone walls around him giving off a distinct chill to the air that smelled of damp hay. Across the courtyard, internal buildings faced him, their windows like black eyes.

  This was not the museum.

  And Alyx was nowhere to be seen.

  The door slammed shut behind him. He spun and grabbed at the handle but it wouldn’t budge. He swallowing down a sticky feeling. The door didn’t matter right now. He had to find Alyx. He turned and took a step farther into the courtyard. There was a flash of movement across an open doorway.

  “Alyx?”

  His voice, echoing in the space, just made him feel the silence more. His right hand hovered near his sword as he walked under an arch and into one of the rooms where he had seen the shadow moving.

  He stood just inside the doorway, glancing around. It was an office, a heavy wooden bookcase stretching across one wall filled with books and what looked like glass trinkets, an oak desk and chair standing on a plain faded red rug. There was a sizeable upright gilded mirror directly opposite the doorway. He must have seen something moving in the reflection of the mirror. But there was nobody in here. Could the movement have been a trick of the light?

  He moved closer to the mirror, watching his reflection move in tandem. How strange. It didn’t reflect back the stone castle room he was standing in. In the mirror it appeared that he was standing in a large marble-floored room filled with copper bowls and large hammer-beaten gold disk necklaces. Like in a museum.

  “No way,” he whispered under his breath. He pressed his finger to the glass. It was as solid as solid could be. He looked behind the mirror. There was just an empty space and the
crease of the wall gathering dust.

  This was weird too. He gazed out of the window next to the mirror. Outside it appeared that this room was on the third floor not on the ground, a vast green lawn stretching out and fading into a thick forest. Far in the distance he could see a huge mountain range. Wherever this was, he didn’t seem to be in Saint Joseph anymore.

  Chapter 9

  Alyx stepped into the grand museum foyer. The museum may have looked like two pieces of a Frankenstein science experiment from the outside but from the inside it looked exactly like it did in real life, wide hallways stretching ahead, left and right, the warm light coming from the grand chandeliers twinkling off the marble and glass.

  She thought she heard someone whispering her name. The door slammed shut behind her and she spun. Nobody was there. Where was Israel?

  Did he change his mind about helping her?

  A knot tied itself in her stomach. He left. Even though he said he wouldn’t. Of course he left. Everyone always left.

  She turned back to the museum foyer, teeth clenched together, trying hard to ignore the prickle in her jaw. Screw him. Better he left now than later. She didn’t need him anyway. She’d find the globe herself.

  She strode down a corridor, aiming straight for the room that held the ancient Greek collection, her footfalls echoing in the empty hallway. Several times she thought she could hear whispering as she passed the open doorways to the other rooms, causing her to hand to flinch to her sword. But there was no one else here. She kept going, eyes darting about her, wishing fiercely that Israel was here by her side and hating herself for missing him.

  She reached the ancient Greek room, a cavernous marble space with low display tables containing fragile pottery and old tools; there were also roped off podiums holding larger pieces and some statues.

  There it was. In the center of the room, the statue of Atlas, a giant marble figure bent over and with a giant globe resting on his shoulders. The figure’s eyebrows furrowed with strain and his shoulders curved with the weight of the world on them, literally.

  I know how you feel.

  What now? This globe was too large to take with her.

  The riddle said that there was a world within the globe. What if it literally meant within the globe? Which meant she had to figure out how to open it.

  She walked around the statue, studying it, looking for some sort of clue that might reveal how she could open it. There were no hidden levers, no symbols or writing. Nothing on the statue was jumping out at her. Maybe she had to break it open. Even though this wasn’t real, a part of her blanched at that idea.

  Alyx glanced around the room then craned her neck to look up…to the blank ceiling.

  A blank ceiling.

  “There ’neath the spiral stars of gold, lies a world within a globe.”

  There was no painting of a spiral of stars above. Not even a skylight to show the real stars. She hadn’t remembered until now.

  She cursed under her breath. “This globe isn’t the right one.”

  “We meet again, Alyx,” a loud deep voice boomed through the room.

  She stumbled back. The stone figure of Atlas dropped the globe off his shoulders with a crash against the floor and rose to full height, almost a head taller than her.

  She missed Israel’s presence by her side with a fierceness that almost stole her breath. Where are you, Israel? Why did you have to leave me alone?

  Cracks appeared across Atlas. He broke apart in a cloud of rubble. She squinted and coughed through the dust. As it cleared it revealed a man underneath, wheat-colored hair cut short, stern brows, wide shoulders, dressed in a similar black uniform as she had on, a sword sheathed to his hip. She stood her ground and drew her sword. Now would be a great time to remember how to use it.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “Don’t you remember me?” He stepped forward and out of the haze, his fierce blue eyes flashing at her, tickling a memory lost deep inside her. “I died for you once.”

  He reached for the dagger in his boot. “I won’t let him use my powers to kill you. I won’t. If…if I take away my magic, then he will weaken enough for you to break out.”

  “No, Symon.” The growing realization of what he meant to do gripped her like a thousand sharp claws.

  “It’s the only way, or he will destroy you. You need to live.”

  Symon’s hands closed around the handle as he turned the point to face himself.

  The memory slammed through her, making her gasp, and she almost dropped her sword. “Symon.”

  He nodded.

  “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to—”

  “The time for talking is over.” He leaped for her, drawing his sword and raising it over his head.

  Chapter 10

  Israel heard a thudding and what sounded like a female crying out. Alyx? His body broke out in a panicked rash.

  Next door. It sounded like it came from the room next door. Israel raced out into the corridor where heard a muffled female voice. It was definitely coming from the room next door.

  He barged through the door, sword at the ready. He froze just inside the doorway of what appeared to be somebody’s room, a bed made with a thin fleece blanket behind the two people standing before him.

  “Ugh, he’s miscalculated this time.”

  “He has not miscalculated. Look.” Balthazar waved to him, looking exactly the same as when he broke into Israel’s apartment. “Hello again, Israel.”

  Standing next to him was a woman who looked like a pixie with short silver hair. She was brushing down her black clothes. “Nice to see that you decided not to land on me this time, Balthazar.” This must be Vix, the woman that Alyx met with Balthazar earlier. She looked up at Israel and grinned.

  “Vix?”

  Her eyes widened. “You remember me?”

  Israel shook his head. Although… “Alyx told me she met you two earlier. I assumed it was you.”

  Her face fell. “Oh. Right. Yes, that was me.”

  “In all your charm,” Balthazar added.

  Vix shot him a sharp look before turning back to glance past Israel. “Where’s Alyx?”

  “I don’t know. I lost her as soon as I stepped inside the castle.”

  “Castle?” Balthazar frowned. “I thought Jordan was sending us to a museum?”

  Vix glanced around her, wrinkling her nose. “Is this…Speranza?”

  “What’s a Speranza?” Israel asked.

  “Castle Speranza. It means ‘hope’ in Italian. Alyx named it. We had our community here, at least we did until Elder Michael came and—”

  “Now who’s wasting time,” Balthazar muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

  Vix gave out a short grunt, then turned back to Israel. “We’re here to offer you a gift, if you can answer this riddle.”

  Magic. They had magic for him too. Israel sheathed his sword and stood up straight. “I’m ready.”

  Vix smiled. “I have towns—”

  “Hang on a minute,” Balthazar interrupted. “You got to say the last one.”

  “So?”

  “I want to say this one.”

  Vix rolled her eyes. “You’re such a child.”

  “Am not.”

  “Are too.”

  “I know you are but what am I?”

  Vix let out a loud sigh and threw her arms up in the air. “Fine. You recite the riddle.”

  “Oh, goodie.” Balthazar clapped gleefully.

  “But you better not muck it up.”

  “I’ll have you know that I was given the Great Growl award when I studied as an orator and I always got top marks in drama.”

  “Drama, I should have known,” said Vix. “But you’re telling me that you were an orator?”

  Israel’s head spun. What on earth were they talking about?

  “Well, no,” said Balthazar. “But I could have been if Lucifer hadn’t singled me out to work with him.”

  Lucifer? Surely not th
e real Lucifer.

  She snorted. “You, an orator.”

  “I would have been a great orator. Now, please,” Balthazar glared at Vix. “I need complete silence for this.”

  Vix made a motion like she was locking up her mouth and flicking away the key.

  Balthazar turned to Israel and cleared his throat. Then, as if he were reciting a monologue to a crowded theater, he began to speak:

  “I have towns but no houses,

  Forests, but no trees,

  Rivers, but no fish.

  What am I?”

  Both of them stared at him expectantly. Israel frowned, his mind ticking over this. Was it a play on words?

  Balthazar leaned forward. “If you need a hint—”

  “No hints,” snapped Vix.

  “Just a little one.”

  “Then the magic will wrap around your arm.”

  Balthazar let out a huff and crossed his arms. “Party pooper.” But he kept his mouth shut.

  Israel’s mind strained. This was impossible. There was no such thing as a town with no houses or a forest with no trees. He should just focus on finding Alyx and getting that globe so they could exchange it for their map.

  He let out a yelp. “Of course.”

  “Have you got it?” asked Balthazar.

  He grinned. “It’s a map.”

  “Corrrrrect!” Balthazar clasped his hands by his face. “Oh, our little boy is growing up.”

  Vix was grinning too, even if her enthusiasm was more reserved. She looked over at Balthazar. “I supposed you want to deliver the magic too.”

  “Oh, can I?”

  Vix handed him a glass orb and made a wave of her hand as if to say, there you go.

  Balthazar threw the orb at Israel’s feet. A wispy white mist floated out from the shattered glass and curled around Israel’s upper arm. He didn’t flinch when it seared him for a moment.

  He pulled his jacket down so he could see the mark it left, a circle with three twisted lines rising up from the bottom curve. “What is it?”

  “AirWhisperer,” said Vix. “We thought you’d like this one best.”