Kim Harrison - Something Deadly This Way Comes

Tammy’s sobs quieted, and I wondered if there were any more tissues in Nakita’s purse. I took a breath to ask her when she sidled up to me, but everything went out of my head when Nakita leaned close and whispered, “Grace has a message for you.”

It was as if my heart seemed to stop. My head snapped up, and I looked over the destruction. “W-what?” I asked, my knees going weak.

“Uh, she says they want to talk to you.”

They? “They who?” I asked, already guessing she meant the seraphs. I’d taken part of Tammy’s soul. That probably wasn’t a good thing in hindsight, even if it had saved her. I think it had saved her. I looked at Tammy, shaken and distraught as Josh and Barnabas talked to her. Please, let it have saved her?

Nakita looked at one of the ceiling lights, and it glowed brighter. Grace. “The seraphs,” she said, looking frightened. “You’re to go to Ron’s.”

Josh looked up from Tammy. “You mean the light timekeeper?” he exclaimed. “No way!”

My gaze went to Paul, seeing that he was just as scared as I was. Clearly they knew I’d gotten Paul to help me. And now that I’d gotten my body back, they were likely going to insist that I give back the amulet after the mess I’d made here.

Barnabas gently pushed Tammy from his shoulder, handing her a black handkerchief. “That was quick.”

“I thought we might have a little time,” Paul said nervously, and I realized just how many lives I’d messed up trying to save one.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, looking at them in turn. “Paul, I didn’t mean to get you in this much trouble.”

“No,” he said firmly, his gaze going haunted as he glanced away. “I’d do it again in a second. The system in place is flawed. I stand by what I believe.” He shifted his feet, frightened but determined. “It’s okay. I’ll be with you.”

“No you won’t.” Nakita grimaced as the light that surrounded Grace fizzed and hummed. “You’re staying here with Tammy to take her home.”

“I’m not leaving her now!” I said loudly. “This is just so they can come back and kill her or slap a guardian angel on her! Which in this case is the same thing!” My thoughts winged back to the guardian angel crying over Tammy, and the thunder in her voice when she told me to change things. That had to mean something. It had to!

Tammy’s expression flashed into fear again. “Don’t leave me. Please!” she said, clutching at Barnabas. “I don’t know what’s going on! I just want to go home!”

“Home is exactly where Paul is going to take you,” Nakita said, just as loudly. Glaring at the light she added, “I’m telling her! Shut up!” With a huff, she turned to me. “Paul is to take Tammy home. Uh, I mean to her aunt’s, where her mother is staying.” She looked at Tammy with hard severity. “They are worried sick about you.”

“I’m sorry.” Tammy’s voice was a faint whisper of real regret, and in it I felt a breath of hope. Maybe she had changed. Maybe she was going to live, touch the lives around her for the better and not just exist.

“Barnabas is going to take Josh home,” Nakita said, and Josh stiffened in protest. “And I,” Nakita said, “am going to take you to Ron’s. It’s almost sunrise there, and the seraphs like the sunrise.” She focused on me, and her eyes pinched in concern. “They know you have your body back.”

Damn it, I was in so much trouble. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The light surrounding Grace popped and went out, startling me. Swallowing hard, I turned to Paul. “You’ll get her home?”

Paul walked across to Tammy, his hand extended. “I’m not as pretty as Barnabas, but I can tell you what’s going on. I’ve seen your future.”

She blinked, the tears almost starting again. “Is it okay?” she warbled.

Turning to the door, Paul started to lead her away, stepping over and around chunks of ceiling tile and foam from the seats. “That depends upon what you do. The future isn’t fixed, you know. You have the choice of your fate. I can tell you what I saw. And then I’ll tell you what could happen if you change a little. Open up and see things differently.”

The knot in my chest started to ease. If I was going to lose my timekeeper status, I’d at least leave with the satisfaction of having saved Tammy’s life. That is, if they let me remember it.

The door to the bus depot squeaked as it opened, and then it fell in a sliding crash to hang from one hinge. Tammy and Paul gingerly stepped around it. Paul turned, holding Tammy’s hand. “If I don’t see you again, Barnabas, I’m sorry for calling you grim. You’re still light. I don’t care what color your amulet is.”

Barnabas ducked his head, seeming to grow taller. “I’m not,” he said, eyes holding determination when they rose, flicking first to me, then Paul. “But thank you.”

Paul nodded and turned back to Tammy. Together they walked down the street, his voice rising and falling as he told her what he had seen in her future.

Slowly my smile faded as my reality soaked in. I had royally messed up. Taken a slice of someone else’s soul. That had to be illegal or something. They were going to take my amulet. Make me forget. Ancient law, Arariel had said. That didn’t sound good. Cold, I wrapped my arms around myself and looked at the busted light. “Is Grace coming?” I asked, knowing I’d feel better if she was.

“She’s here.” Barnabas moved closer to stand beside me. He shook his shoulders, and his long coat shimmered, growing into his black-feathered wings. “I’m taking you to Ron’s,” he said. “Nakita can take Josh home.”

“The seraphs—” Nakita said, and Barnabas glared, leaning until they were nose to nose.

“I. Am. Taking. Her.” Barnabas leaned back, losing his threatening mien. “See you around, Josh.”

But would he? I didn’t know.

“Madison?” Josh said, his voice uneasy.

Shaky and light-headed, I gave him a hug. “Thanks for being here,” I whispered, pressing into him as if he was the only thing real anymore. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope I don’t forget.”

“Me either,” he said as he stepped back and we parted.

Then I glanced up as Grace’s light doubled in brightness.

“I’m . . . sorry.”

“For what?” I said, and Barnabas cleared his throat for us to hurry up.

Josh smiled sickly at me. “I wanted this to work. I know it meant a lot to you.”

My stomach hurt, and I couldn’t look at him. “See you at home,” I said, and Barnabas tugged me to him.

Biting my lip so I wouldn’t cry, I leaned back into Barnabas as his wings enfolded me, and with a sudden feeling of falling, the bus depot melted away and we were gone.

My feet slipped off Barnabas’s, and I gasped, clutching at his arm wrapped around me as my toes dangled in the wind. The world shifted beneath us, wheeling as an updraft buoyed us higher. I was safer in Barnabas’s grip than I would be at home in my own room. More so, probably.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured in my ear, a mix of annoyance and reassurance that only Barnabas could manage. Flying was a lot scarier now that hitting the ground held real consequence. I still had the bruises from hitting the seat belt. I didn’t need to add to them.

“I trust you,” I said, squinting down at the desert below. “It’s me I’m worried about.”

He said nothing, but his flight smoothed into a slow spiral down. It looked like he was headed for the modest home below us. Ron’s, presumably. It was the same color as the tan, almost pink sand. There was nearly no vegetation, either next to the house or in the surrounding area. I didn’t see any roads at all leading up to it, and no sign of people anywhere. Just a low single-story adobe home amid the desert dirt and water-cut gullies.