Second Sight (22 page)

Lev is saying something, but I can’t hear
him. All I can do is fight, and the emotional surge seems to go on
forever. Then either he realizes I’m not going to stop fighting or
I get lucky. Either way, I fall to the ground and start running
again. My vision is still full of squiggly lines, but I can see
through them to my Jeep. Sobbing, I grab the door, but I feel Lev’s
hand on my shoulder.

I fall to my knees. “Get away from me.” I
drag my hand across my face. Trembling violently, I would push
farther from him, but I can’t get away. There is no way, not with
my back against the Jeep. “I’ve seen the things you and Evan have
done today, Lev. I don’t know why you’re waiting with me. Why don’t
you just get it over with? Better yet, why did you ever stop it in
the first place?”

Lev staggers backwards. His mouth hangs open,
his expression wounded. The glow that surrounds him fades until he
looks just like anyone else. Vulnerable. Unable to blink. He can’t
speak, even as I force myself to rise, climb into the Jeep, and
drive away, he stands there, watching me with the same
expression.

I cannot stop crying, and my breathing is
wild. As I drive, I have to constantly wipe my face to clear the
haze left by the tears. But seconds later, it clouds again. I try
to wipe it all away, and that’s when I veer into the other lane,
almost getting hit by a passing van, but I correct my course at the
last moment. The van blares its horn, and I jump. More tears.

The sky suddenly opens and dumps a thick
burst of rain on the windshield. I click on the wipers, stunned by
the sudden deluge. Everything turns into the most basic
level—instinct. One moment I’m driving, trying to clear the rain
and my tears, and the next I’m pulling into Kane’s driveway. My
head aches, and I grab it, trying to still the madness within so I
can breathe. Yet there is no balance in any of this. Ahead, I see
Kane’s SUV and thrust open the door. Immediately the rain assaults
me with cold, stinging pelts that feel more like hail than
water.

I stagger from the Jeep out into the storm
and bluster. My steps are weak, and I only take it about three of
them before the pain in my head is too much and I fall to my knees.
This can’t be from hitting my head; it’s something more. Stress,
perhaps. I’m still crying, and I hold my head, reeling as the rain
stings my skin. I shiver, craving warmth but I can’t move. It hurts
too much. Everything aches like it’s broken, and I can’t do it
anymore. I’m not strong enough, and part of me wishes Lev hadn’t
saved me because this is what it has come to—this and nothing
more.

I don’t know how long I linger in the
darkness and rain. It seems like forever. I don’t have the strength
to move, so I just lie there, my body slowly curling into a
ball.

“
Lizzie?”

I don’t react to the voice. I just keep my
eyes shut, trying to reach the place where there is no pain, no
sadness, nothing. I feel hands slipping under me, lifting. At one
time, I would have fought like a hellcat. Now I just don’t care.
Caring hurts too much.

“
Jeez, you’re soaked,” Kane
whispers. “Let’s get you inside and dried off. At the feel of his
warm skin, I cling to him and rest my head against his chest. “What
happened?”

I know I can’t speak without crying, so I say
nothing, just stare off into space as he hurries into the house
with me. By the time he slips inside, both of us have been
drenched. Water beads in his hair and drips onto my skin He carries
me upstairs to the bathroom adjoining to the bedroom I slept in and
once inside, he starts some warm bath water, grabs a towel, and
says, “I don’t know what is going on, Lizzie, but right now you’re
soaked. You need to get a warm bath. While you’re doing that, I’ll
get you some dry clothes and set them on the bed.” He rakes his
fingers through his hair to force the dark wet strands from his
face. Taking one more look at me, he heads to the door and slips
out.

There, under the harsh fluorescent lighting,
I look at my reflection and wonder at how I don’t even recognize
myself. My hair drips from the rain, and I look pale. Dark shadows
color the skin beneath my eyes, and my lips are chapped. A mottled
bruise colors my forehead where I hit while running away from Lev,
the purple and yellow contours appear sickening.

In short, I look wild. Still, I can’t help
shaking, and I know I’m never going to get warm unless I take off
these wet clothes and get into that bath, so I autopilot through
it, barely registering the warm water or anything else. All I see
is Lev shaking an old man who had never hurt anybody. The angel’s
face is a mask of rage I don’t understand.

I finish bathing and try to leave my thoughts
with the bathwater swirling down the drain, but they refuse to go.
I will never be free of Lev. Never. So I dry off and wrap the towel
around me before venturing into the bedroom where Kane said he
would have fresh clothes waiting, and, as I look on the dresser, I
spot some sweats piled there, waiting.

I swallow hard and walk over to them. After
the bath, I’ve realized just how exhausted I am and how little
strength I have left to go on. I fumble into the clothing and pile
the towel in the corner. Although my hair is damp, it will air dry.
I lie down on the bed, wanting to make the whole world go away.

“
Lizzie?” a voice calls,
dragging me from the tidal urgings of blackness. But the darkness
wants to keep me, and I feel it wrapping around my body, pulling at
me. Hands shake me, forcing me to open my eyes.

“
I thought you were never
going to snap out of it.” Kane sits on the bed beside me. Outside,
I hear the rain pouring down. Lightning splits the sky with white
heat, and thunder crashes in the distance. Although I’m expecting
the lights to be on, except for the lightning, the world is dark
save a few taper candles on the dresser.

“
What’s happening?” My
heart pounds, and I feel like I’ve been running and can’t catch my
breath.

“
You were having a
nightmare.”

“
I was?” I have to think
about it to recall the dream, but when I do, the memory slams into
me. I had been dreaming about the night Lev was shot, reliving the
last moments my world was still whole.

“
Do you remember what you
dreamed about?” Kane asks.

“
The night Lev was shot.
When he died.”

Kane’s shoulders sink slightly. “Lizzie,
angels don’t die, at least not like mortals.”

My stomach is getting that tight, nauseated
feeling. “What do you know about Lev?” I draw my knees to my body
and set my head on them.

Kane slowly rises and goes to the window to
peer out as the storm again rips the sky. “These questions aren’t
going to help you understand him, Lizzie; they’ll only add to the
darkness I feel stirring inside you.”
I rub my temples, knowing he’s right, but I can’t go on like this,
stumbling around in the dark. It hurts too much. “I have to know,
and right now, I’m not sure I’d trust anything that came out of his
mouth.”

He turns and stares, and the lightning
backlights his huge body. He shakes his head before sauntering
over. “All right, but I don’t think you’re going to like this
bedtime story.” He sits on the bed next to me and rests his
forearms on his thighs. His fingers weave together. “I think what
you’ve seen of Lev so far has been hard, but what you are asking me
is going to be harder still. You do understand that, right?” His
voice comes out husky, and he looks over at me, trying to read my
expression in the half-light.

“
I consider myself warned,
but I need to understand what’s happening.” I’m trying to be
logical about all this, but logic isn’t keeping me from trembling
violently. It isn’t stopping the whirling thoughts that cut through
me. It certainly hasn’t made Lev go away, either.

He slowly nods. “All right. What do you want
to know?”

Time of
truth
, I think, and take a deep breath
before proceeding. “Why would Lev be doing all this? He killed a
kind old man who’d never hurt anybody. Another angel aligned with
him, Evan, tried to kill Jayzee and Sarah as well.”

Immediately Kane’s back stiffens. “Evan’s
here? You sure?” He turns toward me, and his gaze locks with
mine.

“
Yeah. I saw him myself. He
was trying to kill Jayzee, but I blocked him to protect her. Why’s
that important?” I chew my lip, nervous about the way Kane seems to
be fixated on this one detail, as though it is so much more
significant than I realize.

“
How much did Lev explain
our purposes to you?”

I shrug as goose bumps stipple my flesh.
“Some. He said he was a sojourner.”
Kane nods. “And did he explain how much power goes with that
responsibility?”

“
No, he didn’t. Just what a
sojourner was. Why?” My shoulders stiffen, and suddenly I’m pretty
sure just how much I’m not going to like any of this. A grandfather
clock down the hall chimes three times.

“
There’s a natural order to
things, Lizzie. Sojourners are vital in helping to maintain that
order because when a human dies, the soul needs guidance to leave;
however there are some angels, some sojourners who don’t guide but
trap those souls.”

I exhale sharply as though the wind has been
knocked from my lungs. “But why would he do that?”

He shrugs and looks at the floor. “Not all
angels tolerate mortals, Lizzie. Some have trouble understanding
God’s infinite love for such a failed creation, and Lev has never
hidden his contempt for your kind, at least not to other angels.
Many of us have known he wasn’t the safest one to be a sojourner,
but God has blind tolerance of Lev for some strange reason.”

I brush the hair from my face. “But why would
he have saved my life? Why not just take my soul?” I can’t believe
I’m saying these words—that I’m speaking about Lev like this. It’s
all so surreal.

Kane turns, and his hand strokes mine. “I
know this will be unpleasant for you to hear, but even angels have
to amuse themselves, Lizzie. We do sometimes get bored.”

“
Boredom!” My voice sounds
ragged, emotional—frantic—and the shaking is getting worse. I start
rocking back and forth. “All I’ve been is amusement to
him?”

“
Lizzie.” Kane touches my
face. “That’s not the worst of it. I wish it were.” He shakes his
head and exhales slowly. “It’s only going to get worse from here,
and if Lev is recruiting angels like Evan, it won’t be long before
things get out of hand. Everyone you know is in danger, including
your guardian. You do realize this?”

I lean forward, gasping for air, trying so
hard to understand this madness. Lev and I were happy six months
ago, before he died. How is it even possible? I start rocking even
harder; it feels like I’m going mad, and if anything happens to
Jimmie, I will. It can’t. It just can’t.

I stand and start toward the door, but Kane
slips his fingers around my wrist, stilling me. “Where are you
going?”

“
To Jimmie. I’m not going
to let Lev destroy him because of me.”

Kane nods to the window. “Lizzie, take a good
look outside. There’s a storm raging, and the last thing you need
to be doing is trying to drive through it. The rain frequently
washes out some of the roads around your house every year. It’s not
safe for you to be traveling, at least not until morning.”

Lightning flashes across the sky,
illuminating the thick spread of rain spilling from the heavens.
Thunder snaps loudly, and I jump, but I’m still reaching for the
door, trying to go. I have to.

“
Lizzie, no.” His voice is
soft and pleading. “It’s not safe.” He pulls me back, and his gaze
pleads with me. “I will help you deal with Lev. But not tonight.
Besides, even angels don’t much care for storms. I think Jimmie
will be safe enough for now.”

My shoulders sink, and my heart slams so hard
I’m wondering if it’s just going to pound its way right out of my
body. “I’m scared, Kane. I…can’t lose Jimmie. He’s all I’ve got
left.”

“
You won’t. I’ll find a way
to stop him.” He gently sets his hand on my shoulder and turns my
body until I face him. His dark eyes are staring at me, and I find
myself drowning in them, unable to pull away, and while part of me
is terrified, part of me takes comfort in
him even as he leans close and gently brushes his lips across
mine.

From that moment on, I find myself lost as
his arms gently wrap around me. His lips slowly depart, and I wait
for their return, eyes closed, but when I realize they aren’t
coming back, I slowly open my eyes, dazed. Kane smiles gently and
nods to the bed. “You should get some sleep, Lizzie. You look
really tired.”

At the thought of trying to lie down and
drift to sleep, the sense of panic reclaims me. “I…can’t. I won’t
be able to sleep.”

“
You want company?” he
asks, gently stroking my face with his eyes.

“
I…I….”

He shakes his head and exhales slowly. “I
told you this was a hands-off zone, Lizzie, and I meant it. You
don’t seem to want to be alone, and I don’t blame you. But I’m not
here to shove myself on you, okay?”

“
Okay.” I finally manage,
feeling him grab my hand and lead me to the bed where we lie side
by side. My heart races, and I feel this crazy panic I can’t
control. I fidget with the blanket, wrapping part of it around my
finger and releasing it before repeating the motion.

“
Lizzie?” Kane says,
propping his head up with one arm. Lightning flashes outside, and
thunder claps loudly. I jump.