Angel Evolution (17 page)

“
Too alarming now to talk about

Take your pictures down and shake it out

Truth or consequence, say it aloud

Use that evidence race it around

There goes my hero

Watch him as he goes

There goes my hero

He's ordinary”

Foo Fighters- “My Hero”

From the album
The Colour and the Shape (1997)

G
abriel was enjoying the verbal sparring. Given he was the only one who knew the full truth of what was about to happen, the conversation was pointless, but he wasn’t going to stop it. Instead he just played along.

“We need to tell Sam what’s going on,” Taylor said.

“Trust me on this one, Tay, the fewer people that know, the better,” Gabriel replied.

“Don’t I get a say?” Chris asked.

“No!” Taylor and Gabriel said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

The girl, the angel, and the demon were camped out in the library trying to make some team decisions while Sam was at the gym. Of course, Taylor and Gabriel were thinking about what to do based on their secret plan, while Christopher was basing his rationale on the plan that he thought they had agreed on. Chris believed that he would be part of a diversion set to occur on Thursday to allow Gabriel and Taylor to escape, and then he would meet up with them later. Taylor knew that the real plan was for Gabriel and Taylor to fly off alone on Wednesday, leaving everyone else confused and unable to track them. However, she thought that she and Gabriel would hide together until they could come up with a permanent way to get both the angels and the demons off her back. That wasn’t exactly true…like at all.

The discussion now was about whether to include Sam in any of the plans and whether to reveal to her the true nature of the boys that she and Taylor were dating. Taylor was voting yes, Gabriel said no, and they refused to let Christopher voice his opinion.

Taylor clearly wanted her best friend to know what was going on. She said, “I have an idea. I will agree that we won’t tell her now. We’ll carry out the plan and find a safe place to hide. Then, after the semester is over, we are going to need Sam to keep up the ruse that I am on an extended vacation with Gabriel. We will need her to reassure my father or he is going to be freaking out and having the cops out looking for me.”

“Fine. Deal,” Gabriel said. He was the only one who knew the full truth. There would be no need to maintain the lie about them being on vacation for very long. If his plan was successful, the mission would be accomplished in less than a week and she would be back at school, finishing her classes and hanging out with her best friend, Sam, and the love of her life, him.

Taylor was surprised he had agreed so easily, but wasn’t about to question it. She grabbed Gabriel’s hand and shook it before he had a chance to change his mind. Her mind wandered back to the plan they had come up with. She had lost track of the days and realized then that it was already Tuesday night, the eve of her escape from the demons. She shuddered.

She had felt bad about not telling Christopher, but she knew that he couldn’t be trusted after what Gabriel told her he had done. She still thought that he might be a good demon and that he had just made a mistake, and was trying to make up for it now. She also knew that if they told him what they were really doing, that he might make another mistake and alert the other demons, so she kept her mouth shut.

Taylor yawned and looked at her watch. It was only seven-thirty in the evening, but she wanted to get plenty of sleep as the real plan involved getting up quite early.

“I’m going to head back to my room and make it an early night, you guys want to walk back with me?” Taylor asked. After what happened earlier that week, she knew Gabriel wouldn’t let her out of his sight. Chris decided to tag along, too.

With a sly smile, Taylor said, “Hey, Chris, a little birdie told me that demons have the ability to teleport and to teleport others, is that true?”

He smiled proudly; Chris was oblivious to what had happened with the gargoyle, so he didn’t realize that his ability to teleport had some bad memories for her. “Yep, absolutely, why do you ask?”

“Well, I was just thinking…my legs are tired and I would rather get back to my room as quickly as possible so…do you think you could do anything about that?”

Christopher laughed, while Gabriel glared at Taylor. “That is a bad idea, Tay,” Gabriel objected.

“It’s fine by me,” Chris agreed. “I can take you both.”

“Or I could just fly us all there,” Gabriel suggested, not wanting to give in.

“Nah, I’m too tired to hang on, let’s just
port
,” Taylor insisted.

The two boys looked at each other and laughed at her creation of the verb
port
, meaning “to teleport”.

“Whaddya say, Mr. Angel?” Chris asked.

“Alright fine, let’s make it quick.”

They found a janitor’s closet and squeezed in so that no one would see them do it. Seconds later they had ported into another small janitor’s closet in the Commons.

Taylor sighed. “That was way better than walking, although flying does have a certain thrill to it.”

“Glad you liked it,” Chris said.

Gabriel walked Taylor home and Chris went back to his room. When Gabriel dropped her off, he asked, “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” she replied. “See you at six o’clock sharp.”

He kissed her deeply and then hugged her like he would never see her again. “Goodnight, my love,” he said, shutting the door.

“Back at you, angelboy,” Taylor said to the door.

I
t was three o’clock in the morning. Taylor rubbed her eyes, and looked at the shining numbers on her iPhone. Sleep came and went. Her body and mind were restless.
Three hours to go
, she thought.

She needed to get some sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, vivid scenes from the last three months of her life flashed by. How had things gotten so out of control? She was just a normal teenager who wanted to have a normal college experience, and now here she was, in love with an angel, hunted by demons, a potential midnight snack for some gargoyle.

If only she could tell Sam; that would change everything. They would make jokes about it, talk to each other about how they were feeling, and just generally be there for each other. The only ones she could talk to about it, Gabriel and Christopher, were the ones causing the problems to begin with!

She rolled back over, trying to tell the thoughts in her head to “Shut up!!” when she heard a soft tapping on her window. Glancing at Sam to make sure she was fast asleep, Taylor kneeled on her bed to see what had caused the sound. It was Gabriel, his wings fully extended and slowly undulating, allowing him to hover outside the glass.

Over the time that she had been dating him, he had appeared outside her window countless times. She loved it when he did that. It usually meant going for a midnight flight around campus, or gazing at the stars and talking about fantastical creatures, like angels and demons, or better yet, feeling his lips against hers, their bodies intertwined.

She knew this was not one of those kinds of visits, but still, her heart leapt in anticipation, until she saw the troubled look on her boyfriend’s face. His face was panicked, his eyes wide and his facial expressions jerky.

Ever so slowly, Taylor lifted the window a few inches, praying it wouldn’t betray her with a squeak. “What’s wrong?” she hissed.

“He’s on to us,” Gabriel growled.

“Chris?”

“I wish. No, it’s Jonas. He doesn’t know the real plan, but he knows the one where we escape with Chris. Maybe Chris told him.”

Taylor said, “Chris wouldn’t do that.”

“Look, we don’t have time to argue. Jonas and his boys could show up any second!”

“Okay, one sec.” Taylor crawled across her bed and plucked the small overnight bag she had packed from the floor, slid the note she had written for Sam onto her desk, slipped on and tied her sneakers, and clambered back to the open window.

Thinking ahead, Taylor had decided to sleep in her jeans and a tank top, so that she was able to leave quickly if necessary. It made her feel like she was a spy or fugitive in some movie.

She had wanted to bring enough clothes for a few weeks, but Gabriel insisted he wouldn’t be able to fly very far with that kind of load on his back and that they would be able to acquire more clothes along the way if necessary.

Taylor swung her legs out the window and ducked her head, so that her entire body was in the open air. Positioning her hands to either side of her hips, she propelled herself forward and onto Gabriel’s back, instantly feeling his warmth and the gentle rocking as his body levitated above the ground.

Gabriel soared into the night. The area around Taylor’s building was deserted, and even if some insomniac was watching out a window, they would likely think it was a dream and no one would believe their story anyway.

Once they were away from the campus, Taylor spoke. “How’d you know Jonas was coming for me?”

“It’s really not the time to talk about all this…,” Gabriel said.

“It’s exactly the time,” Taylor said, unable to prevent a hint of irritation on her voice.

“Okay, I’ve been watching Jonas all night. Twenty minutes ago, he left his building and met his buddies and I was able to overhear part of their conversation. They somehow knew we were leaving tomorrow, as we had agreed with Chris.”

“Was Chris with them?” Taylor asked.

“No, but—”

“He didn’t tell them,” Taylor said.

“I don’t know how they found out then. If neither of us told them, that leaves only Chris.”

“Maybe they somehow overheard one of our conversations with Chris.”

“Maybe,” Gabriel said, “but it seemed like Jonas had just found out.”

Taylor didn’t respond. She didn’t feel like talking anymore. Just a few weeks ago she had felt betrayed by Gabriel, when she found out he had lied to her, and she really didn’t want to think about the possibility that another one of her close friends had betrayed her, too. She rested her head on the upper portion of Gabriel’s left wing, using it as a pillow, and slipped into a restless sleep. Early on in their relationship, Taylor had helped Gabriel fashion a harness of sorts that clamped on his retractable wings, which she could strap herself into, so that while she was on his back she could sleep without falling off.

A couple of hours later Gabriel landed near a 24-hour gas station so they could get something to drink and use the bathroom. It almost felt like a road trip. If that’s what it was, it was a very strange kind of road trip.

After they got back “on the road”, Taylor felt like talking again. The endless silence was deafening, somehow.

“Where exactly are we going?” she demanded, making no attempt to hide her bad mood. “You told me it was a safe place, but that you would give me the details later.” Taylor realized how foolish she sounded. Allowing herself to be taken to an unknown place with a boy she hardly knew. How was this a good idea?

She wondered how her dad would react when she told him that she was skipping the last part of the semester to go on vacation with the boyfriend he hadn’t even met yet. It wouldn’t matter that she had a plan to e-mail her assignments to Sam to turn in for her, or that she planned to find a way to make it back for her exams. He would be furious. She wondered if he would try to pull her out of UT and transfer her closer to home. Or threaten to not pay for her education altogether.

These thoughts were swirling around her head when Gabriel replied, “We are going to the front lines of the War.”

“Wha…What?” Taylor was dumbfounded. “We agreed that I would stay out of the War! That our lives together and our friendship with Chris and Sam were more important than the politics of angels and demons!”

“Look, Taylor,” Gabriel growled, “you act like making these decisions is so easy and that there are no consequences, but there are. If you don’t help one side or the other, you will be hunted for your entire life. The War is bigger than either of us, bigger than our friendships, bigger than our love. I know you are going to hate me for having to lie to you again, but you left me no choice. The right thing to do is to help the angels win the War, or else there may not be any world for us to live in. It is a hard decision, but it’s what we must do.”

Taylor wanted to scream at Gabriel, to hit him, to leap from his back and try her luck skydiving with no parachute, but instead, she just seethed quietly, trying to regain control of her emotions. Eventually, she said, “You could have told me you felt differently. I was willing to listen.” Taylor’s teeth were clenched, making her words sound slurred.

“I didn’t see it that way. And while I know that lying to you is not a good habit, I
will
do it to prevent you from destroying yourself.”

“And how will taking me to the front lines of a violent war protect me!” Taylor shouted over the wind.

“Look, I was exaggerating when I said I was taking you to the front lines. We are going to the location where the majority of the War is being fought. However, we will go to the angel command center and training grounds, which is well back from the front lines. That’s why it is literally the safest place on earth for you. You will have the strength of the entire angel army between you and the demons.” Gabriel said this last part proudly, like she should feel privileged to be granted such protection.

Taylor thought about it for a moment, trying to think about it logically. If Chris, who seemed to be one of the better demons, had ratted her out, and the rest of the demons were like the thugs that had attacked her with the gargoyle, then maybe they did need to be destroyed. And if she was going to be safe the entire time, then maybe this was the right decision. She could be pissed at Gabriel later, but as long as she was kept safe, while still being able to help protect the human race, perhaps she should go along with it.

“So in the command center I will be close enough to the action to help?” Taylor asked. Her voice had become calm, even, the exact opposite of her fiery tone just a minute earlier.

“Well, not exactly. Remember when I enhanced my powers by being near you?”

“Yes…”

“I was really close to you then, which made the effect much greater than if you were say…two miles away.”

“How close is the command center to the battlefield,” Taylor asked.

“About a mile,” Gabriel replied. “We will need you on the actual battlefield, close enough that a few of our best soldiers can see you and gain as much strength from your aura as possible.” Gabriel added quickly, “But don’t worry, you will be safe. I will be right next to you, protecting you. If anything manages to get close to you, I can just use your aura to blast them away.”

Taylor’s stomach dropped and her body felt tingly, but not from the thrill of the flight.
Wow!
she thought.
She would actually be in the midst of the battle!
While frightening, there was a certain excitement to it as well. And she knew she would be very well protected. After all, she was the most valuable weapon the angels had.

“It sounds like it could be fun, in a weird, twisted, thrill-seeking kind of way,” Taylor admitted grudgingly.

“I’m sorry I lied to you again,” Gabriel said. “But this is the right decision.”

“Whatever,” Taylor said.

She went silent for a while, thinking about the craziness of the last three months. She even pinched herself a few times to make sure that it wasn’t all just an exceptionally long dream. Taylor managed to convince herself to brush aside any anger she had towards Gabriel for his lies—they could be worked out later. Now, she had to focus on the task at hand: playing her role in the Great War. While her mind wandered, they made steady progress towards their destination.

Their destination was about a seven hour flight from UT and in a completely different direction than Mount Olympus, where the angel leaders were located. Located three thousand miles south and two thousand miles east from UT, the equator had to be crossed to reach the front lines of the War.

There was one thing that both the angels and demons agreed on: that the War needed to be confined to a standard location until one side was victorious. In order to keep their existence a secret, which all parties agreed to be necessary, they had to contain the violence in a place that no human would be likely to stumble upon.

All battles were scheduled in advance, so that proper surveillance of the area could be conducted to ensure that a lost or backpacking human didn’t find themselves in the middle of a nasty skirmish. When there was a rare human sighting, all planned battles were rescheduled until the
battle-blocker
, as they called the humans, had exited the fight zone.

Both sides maintained a command center and training ground behind the front lines. Taylor and Gabriel were headed for the angel command center.

After he had, unbeknownst to Taylor or Chris, formulated the real plan two weeks earlier, Gabriel had phoned Dionysus to inform him of the change in circumstances. Dionysus was extremely happy with the plan. They did, however, have a slight disagreement on where Taylor should be flown to. Dionysus wanted her to come to Mount Olympus first and then the Council would travel with Gabriel and Taylor to the command center. Gabriel disagreed and eventually was able to convince Dionysus that any delay could allow the demons to stop them.

The full Archangel Council of the Twelve would leave Mount Olympus and meet them at the command center. It was the first time that the entire Council had left their haven simultaneously. Gabriel didn’t know whether any Council members would want to participate in the battle in the hopes of gaining glory during the victory, or if they all just wanted to be there to see the end of the War.

As Gabriel thought about introducing Taylor to the Council, a pit formed in his stomach. He felt ill. He had told so many lies that he was starting to lose track. Jonas hadn’t found out about any plans and Chris certainly hadn’t told him anything. But he said what he had to say to convince Taylor to go along with him, to convince her that she was in great danger. He didn’t like lying to her, not anymore, but he didn’t have a choice. He hoped he could contain the remaining lies and get Taylor through the rest of the ordeal alive with their relationship intact.