Kim Harrison - Something Deadly This Way Comes

“We were trying to save someone!” I shouted back, still holding myself like I was afraid. “Guardian angels are not guarding the living. They are guarding the dead in the vain hope that they will somehow rekindle their souls. People can’t change unless they see the good and the bad. The light and the dark. The system doesn’t work anymore!”

But he wasn’t listening, his bony feet slapping the gritty pavers as he paced, his fury needing an outlet. “He was my student and you turned him against me!”

I took a breath to yell at him some more, but it came out in a gasp as he snatched his amulet, and a brilliant sword glittered into existence.

“Hey!” I shrieked, stepping backward to get space between us, but I stepped off the patio and into the soft sand. My arms pinwheeled and I went down. My air huffed out, and I could do nothing as he bore down on me, sword gleaming in the new sun.

I widened my eyes, and my breath sucked in as the sword glittered. And then Ron swung, his sword catching the first rays of the new day.

I’m going to die. Again, I thought, not knowing what that meant anymore. But a matte-black sword swung to block Ron’s. The two met in a ping that was more feeling than sound, and I felt dizzy at the bubble of energy that was released, pressing out and away to color the sun and stir an echo from the sky itself. The sword above me looked as immutable as time, soaking in the light. My eyes struggled to shift, and I blinked at the seraph above me. I couldn’t tell if it was the same one as before or not, the white glow hurting my eyes. Its face was terrible with anger, short of understanding and patience.

“Give me that,” the seraph demanded, snatching Ron’s sword from his slack grip.

Ron’s sword in the seraph’s hand made a ping, cracking from the hilt to the point. Ron stumbled back, his amulet on his chest glowing briefly before it went out. My lips parted at the new crack in the stone, leaking a silver line of infinity. Seeing it, Ron covered it, shamed.

But he was still angry.

I sat up at the seraph’s feet, stunned. That awful black sword was gone, and the seraph was extending a hand to help me rise. Watching my hand move as if in a dream, I put my fingers out. It was a perfect hand, too strong to be feminine, but too thin to be masculine. And as I put mine into it, I could feel a divine strength humming, tightly leashed.

“Chronos? Is there an issue you wish to discuss?” the high angel said as it drew me effortlessly to my feet.

“She . . .” he stammered, eyes rising from his sword still in the seraph’s hand. “She poisoned the rising light timekeeper against me!”

“Mmmm.”

It was a slow sound, and I swear, I heard thunder rumble against the distant mountains, the seraph’s thoughts echoing between heaven and earth. My pulse was fast, and I backed away from both of them, finding the patio and not knowing what to do with my hands. It had saved me, but saved me for what? They were going to take my amulet away.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and both Ron and I took several prudent steps back as the angel moved to stand on the pavers as well. It was getting easier to look at it, and I snuck glances, its beauty still hurting me somehow.

“You showed Paul the truth of the guardian angels,” the seraph said, looking too kindly at me for me to bear. “They are rejoicing that their torment finally be understood, and your praises are being sung whether anything changes or not. Paul made the choice he was fated to. Rest easy.”

“That’s not it,” I said, and Ron made a frustrated noise.

“She turned him against me!” he protested. “My own student!”

I jumped when the angel abruptly looked at Ron. I hadn’t even seen him move. Ron, too, had closed his mouth, scared. “You turned him against you yourself with your hoarding of knowledge in fear,” the seraph said. “Be still for a moment. I want to know why Madison sorrows, and while here on earth, I can only do one thing at a time. It’s bothersome. How do you exist able to do only one thing at a time, see one outcome from a thing instead of many?”

The seraph turned to me, concern pinching its brow to make it look more beautiful yet. “Madison, why do you sorrow?”

I couldn’t look up, and I felt like I was before God himself. “I took some of Tammy’s soul,” I admitted. “In the flash forward.”

“Abomination!” Ron all but hissed, and I agreed with him.

My head came up, and I squinted at the seraph, pleading, “The memory was so beautiful. I didn’t want the black wings to eat it and have it be gone forever. I’d give it back if I could. Can you give it back to her for me?” Only now could I meet the angel’s eyes, and I blinked at the understanding, no, the pleased expression it wore. “I gave them a part of my own soul instead, and they didn’t know the difference,” I added more confidently. “I couldn’t let that much joy be forgotten by . . . everyone.”

“Mmmm.” Again the thunder rumbled in a clear blue sky, and the sun rose higher. “You claimed her with ancient law, giving an equal sacrifice for her soul. There is no need to make repairs,” it said, touching my shoulder in support, and I felt lifted, buoyed. “Memories grow with the sharing, as do souls. You took a memory of the future, not the present. She still has it. There is a long life for her now with much sorrow, and memories too beautiful to forget are what sustain us. The trick . . .” The seraph hesitated, its lips quirking in what had to be humor. “. . . is to recognize them.”

I was almost in tears, but Ron was smug as he set his feet wide apart and crossed his arms over his chest in a confident manner. “Then Paul got her a guardian angel after all,” he stated. “If she lives, then she must have her guardian. Good for Paul.”

The angel let go of my shoulder and laughed. The sound pealed forth, shaking the air. Frightened, I wanted to run, but the angel was focused on Ron, not me.

“No!” it said, and a cool breeze touched my face, heavy with moisture, odd here in the desert. “But good for Paul, yes. Madison showed a lost soul how to recognize joy, and Paul’s counsel gave her the strength to fight for it. Her fate is changing this very moment, and her life is lived, not endured. She dies with grace and touches many souls.” The seraph turned to me as I stared, openmouthed. “You and Paul did well.”

“Tammy is okay!” I said, elated. We’d done it. We’d done it twice! Surely they had to see now? But then my mood softened, ebbed, and died. Tammy’s fate wasn’t my only worry. Fingering my amulet, I thought of my body. I had said I’d give the amulet back if I ever found my body. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay. They’d let me stay if I wanted to, right?

“Tammy is okay,” the seraph said, beaming warmth into me to make me feel good despite my world falling apart around me. “Because of you and Paul. Because you worked together. ”

Ron lost his confident stance, grim and ugly. “Paul is not going to succeed me,” he said vehemently. “This is an outrage! Light and dark working together. It isn’t done! I’ve served for a hundred lifetimes—”

“And you’ll continue to do so,” the seraph interrupted him, beautiful bare feet grinding the grit as the angel turned. “You are going to forget Paul’s intentions and what has passed this morning.”

My eyes widened as it raised Ron’s sword over his head, and plunged it deep into the paving stones. The earth shook, and both Ron and I fell. He scrambled up, but I stayed where I was, feeling the air grow damp against me. Above us, thick rain clouds had formed. Rain in the desert, a gift out of time, out of place.

The angel stood before us, terrible in its beauty and anger. “Reclaim your sword to bring about heaven’s will,” it intoned, and Ron looked in horror at his blade sticking out of the patio like Excalibur. “Use the time before you find your bravery to reflect,” the seraph added. “There is one last task for me before I leave this confused maelstrom of existence, and you are not required for it, Chronos.”