Kim Harrison - Something Deadly This Way Comes

The somewhat overweight, stocky man looked up at me, and I gave him an insincere smile. Irritated, he set his pen down on his steel-and-laminate desk and crossed his arms over his chest, staring back at me. My cell phone was next to his oversize, ugly monitor. Grace had drained the batteries. She drained every single thing they tried to plug into it. They hadn’t been able to contact my parents yet, and I hoped I’d be out of here before they managed it. Grace was good, but these guys were determined.

“You ready to tell me who that redheaded kid was with you?” he asked, and I shook my head. “How about how to call your folks?” he tried, and I looked at the ceiling.

“Punk-ass kids,” he muttered, standing up and pocketing my cell phone. “We used to be able to put you gangbangers behind bars where you belonged and be done with it. You’re only making it harder on yourself. We’ll find out who you are. And that redhead, too.”

“I didn’t set the fire,” I said, and he pressed his lips together, which made his mustache stick out.

“Stay there,” he demanded, pointing a stubby, fat finger at me. “Don’t touch anything.”

I stuck my tongue out at him as he left, but he missed it, more intent on getting a sugar-induced coffee high. The frosted-glass door shut with a bang, and I jumped.

Exhaling a breath I’d taken who knew how long ago, I slumped back in my chair and swung my foot, looking over the cluttered shelves, the high, narrow window with the metal netting on it, and finally the scuffed green and white tiles. I didn’t think my treatment was standard procedure, but I wasn’t making things easy on them, either.

Head thrown back, I looked at the stained ceiling. I’d totally missed my curfew, and I was going to be so-o-o-o grounded when I got home, even if my dad never found out about this. But what really had me worried was Tammy. I didn’t like that the seraphs had sent a reaper out to take her early. They knew I was handling this. Grace had told me that Barnabas was watching Tammy and that both Arariel and Demus were gone, so maybe my actions tonight in stopping Demus had caused them to reconsider. I just didn’t know.

I’d feel a lot better if I could change Tammy’s resonance to help hide her while I cooled my heels in juvie. Ron had changed mine several times, but he had done it by modifying my amulet, seeing as it was the source of my aura now that I was dead. Tammy didn’t have an amulet to give her the illusion of an aura, so I’d have to change it some other way. Logic said I’d have to be with her to do it, but maybe all I needed to do was find her in the time line and just sort of . . . tweak it. It was worth trying.

Bringing my head down, I looked at the ticking clock. It was after ten, past midnight at home. My dad was going to kill me. “Grace?” I whispered, needing some company.

“There once was a cop shop in Baxter,” the guardian-angel-turned-messenger sang out as she ghosted through the glass in the door, “who once a timekeeper did capture. Accused of a fire, her condition was dire, but Barnabas won’t let them ax her.”

Looking at the bookcase of sloppy folders where she had landed, I squinted. “Grace? What’s going on? I feel like I’m on a deserted island, here.”

“You’re in jail, Madison!” the angel said cheerfully. “The seraphs are angry. Tammy is a lost cause. And Demus is walking the streets again, looking for her. She’s run away, just like the seraphs fated she would.”

“What?” I sat up, now twice as worried for Tammy as I was before. “I thought Demus was recalled!”

The glowing ball of light landed on my knee, and a soft warmth soaked into me, like a sunbeam. “No, he just went back to heaven temporarily to make sure he wasn’t doing something contrary to heaven’s will by doing what you told him to do.”

My face scrunched up into an ugly expression. “Three guesses as to how that went,” I said sourly. “And the first two don’t count.” Just like Tammy’s desire to live, I guess. This is so unfair. I saved her from the fire. I saved Johnny from the fire, and still Tammy lets her soul die? What is wrong with the girl? Doesn’t she see how much her mother and brother love her?

“Um, they told Demus to get back down here and scythe her. Madison, it doesn’t look good. He knows her aura signature and even what she looks like.”

Thanks to me.

Grace rose up, the glow from her wings a spot of clean in the otherwise sticky office. “Barnabas and Nakita are going to get you out,” she offered, but I didn’t feel much better. “Madison, maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Grace said softly, and my heart gave a thump.

“Not you, too,” I said, miserable. Damn it, why did no one believe that this was possible! We’d done it before. It would work if they would believe in it!

“It’s just that the seraphs are so agitated!” Grace said, hovering right in front of me. “Their songs are going higher than I’ve ever seen them. The echoes are reaching down here, even. Those sensitive to it are getting visions. I haven’t seen it like this since . . . since the Renaissance in Italy.” She hesitated, and a burst of light came from her at a thought unshared.

“Maybe the seraphs shouldn’t have butted in and sent Demus,” I said, and Grace flew backward in alarm. “I’m trying to help Tammy!” I said, almost pleading. “It doesn’t always happen whiz-bang! If it takes a year for a soul to give up on life, then it might take longer than two hours to rekindle the will to live. Scything someone to save their soul is so fast that it’s cheap. Where’s the honor in that? I’m getting better at this. Haven’t I changed things already so that she is alive? Her and her brother both. She doesn’t have that guilt now. How can that be a bad thing?”

Never. Never would anyone be able to convince me that Tammy and her brother dying in pain and agony in a fire was a good thing.

“There once was a brave human girl, immortality gave her a whirl. For humans to save, God’s wrath did she brave, her tenacity making me hurl.”

“Nice.” I looked at the door as a shadow went past. “Grace,” I whispered, “I got this job for a reason. Maybe because I want to change things.”

Her glow dimmed, and I felt cold as her depression soaked into the room. “What do the seraphs say Tammy’s fate is now?” I asked. There had to be something I could do to make this better.

“It hasn’t changed.” A brief glow came from Grace, vanishing as she moved to the desk and stilled her wings. “Her brother’s death had been the trigger of her soul’s decline. Now it’s losing her home in the fire. That’s why they sent Demus back. She needs to come home early, or she’s not coming home at all. Madison, we’re talking about her soul. What is a human life compared to the everlasting soul? This isn’t a game!”

“Is that what they think I think this is? A game?” I exclaimed, then lowered my voice before someone came in. “I want this to work so badly that it hurts. Tammy’s fate hasn’t changed at all?”

“Nope.”

She sounded resigned, and I slumped back into my chair, not wanting to believe it. Barnabas could lie. Maybe seraphs could, too.

“Tammy’s choice to stay with her brother tonight was based on fear, not a change in heart,” Grace said. “You may have saved their lives, but Tammy still runs away, abandoning those who love her and losing hope in herself. Soon as Demus finds her . . .” Grace made a curious, high-pitched whistle, and went silent.

“Game over,” I whispered, staring at the cop’s desk and his phone. Maybe they left me alone thinking I’d use it and they could track my parents down. “Are you sure?”