CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Angelique:
We went downstairs again, the three of us, Chaz, Isabelle and I. That was when I realized that there was something sinister in the air tonight, more than the apparitions that had visited me. As bewildering as the transparent illusions were, I knew that I deserved their torment. But there was something else.
It was like the sound of hooves clicking on pavement, like an approaching danger.
Chaz sensed it too. I could see it on his face when he stared out the door toward the black, shapeless night. I turned and looked through one of the windows, but I couldna€?t see anything. Still I could feel it.
Fingernails scraping over brick, flesh ripping, teeth grinding.
It was like that slender breath of calm when the eye of a hurricane passes overhead, that moment when you realize your entire world is about to be destroyed.
Ia€?ve heard that demons can disguise themselves as angels of light. I dona€?t know if ita€?s true, dona€?t know if demons even exist, but if they do, then one stood in our midst that night. It came in a shower of blinding light and it cast a spirit of confusion on all of us. Isna€?t that what William used to say?
Something happened outside. There were shoutsa€”I thought I heard a womana€?s voice, but that was probably my imagination. A split second later, the outside of the house was bathed in light, bright and hot.
Then when I turned back around, I realized that the children were terrified. They wore thin, translucent collars, something that I had never seen before. One of the kids screamed. And then I didna€?t even have time to blink. A blinding surge of light blasted across the rooma€”it started like a halo around one of the little girls, a pale amber that flashed and turned blue white. Then a radiant circle exploded outward, knocking people over.
I seem to remember that the light didna€?t affect any of the children, as if they had some sort of immunity to it.
But then my nanosecond of observation was over.
The blaze of brilliance hit me square in the chest, knocked me backward, cleaned my lungs of air, scorched my skin like an instant sunburn. And it blinded me. Ia€?ve always thought blindness would be black and suffocating, but this was dazzling, almost sinfully addictive. I lay propped against the wall, numb and slightly aware of the fact that my skin burned. And I didna€?t care about anything else.
All coherent thought seemed to dissolve.
I took a deep breath, glad that I could still breathe. I blinked. Everything was white and luminous. I felt like I was glowing, like the burning sensation came from a fire deep inside of me.
Then somebody grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet. I heard a mana€?s voice and I tried to understand his words. We were going up the staircase and I was stumbling, my hand on the wall for support.
a€?You gots to blink your eyes. Quick,a€? he said, whoever he was.
I did. My vision began to come back.
a€?Blinks a€?em again. Hurry!a€?
I could almost see him now. It was that guy who came over to the hotel this morning. Pete. He had been talking to Chaz when I woke up.
a€?I think I know you,a€? I said, my words tangling on my tongue.
a€?Yeah, ya do.a€? He pulled me down the hallway, leaned me against the wall. a€?You gots to shake off the blast, Angelique. Come on, I needs ya awake, Ellen, come on!a€?
a€?What?a€?
a€?Look, Ia€?m sorrya€”I done the best I could, but you was dead a long time when I gots there. Yaa€?ll gots to come out of it, nowa€”a€?
a€?Do you know what happened to me? How did Ia€”a€?
a€?Not now,a€? he said, guiding me toward a door. a€?You gots to trust your instincts. You been trained for situations like this. You knows what to do.a€? He pulled the door open and I saw a bedroom filled with children. And Russ. A knife blade of terror pierced my chest when I saw him. a€?Whatever happens,a€? Pete whispered in my ear as I crossed the threshold, a€?makes sure Isabelle is safe. Do you understand?a€?
I nodded. Suddenly my instincts kicked in. Just like he said they would.
?
For a moment I could see fear as it hung suspended in the air. Then it descended, like droplets of sweat, until it covered everything and everyone. It glittered on the skin of the children, it sparkled in their fawn-dark eyes, it moved like a frost around their blue-white lips. It followed in their footsteps, leaned against them, pressed against their backs, burrowing like a parasite through their innocence, looking for a way inside their souls.
And across the room I saw it mirrored in Russella€?s hollow eyes.
He couldna€?t save them. He wouldna€?t even be able to save himself.
I lifted my head, then took a deep breath. The air held a winnowing blast. Chaff would be separated from the grain tonight. Men would remain men and the others, whatever they were, would be exposed.
Pete was watching me. I could feel it.
In an instant I saw everything in the room, the position of the furniture, the windows, the doors, the slow movement of the children, the static posture of the guards. I felt both alive and electric, every muscle ready to do exactly what was necessary. I could killa€”if I had to.
A tremor ran across the floor, brushed against my feet. I glanced at Pete. He felt it too.
It was time to pretend, to play another role.
a€?Isabelle,a€? I said, a soft smile on my lips. a€?Your pigtails have come undone. Leta€?s go into the bathroom and Ia€?ll fix your hair.a€?
Russell glanced backward, toward the window.
Something was moving toward us; something heavy and dangerous.
Isabelle looked up at me, wanting to believe that she was safe, seeing the promise in my eyes. Together, we headed toward the open door, the bathroom. Another little girl quietly followed us, slipped inside before I could close the door. She tried to hide her fear, but I could hear it, like a bird trapped in her chest, wings fluttering.
I didna€?t know what was coming, but I could guess. I locked the door. I lifted the children off the floor and held them by the waist, one in each arm, then set them on the counter.
a€?Take those off,a€? I whispered, pointing to the slender plastic rings they wore around their necks. a€?Hurry!a€? I couldna€?t risk another explosion of blinding light.
They did as they were told.
And then the nightmare we had been dreading shocked into the room. First, a blast of broken glass, an almost musical destruction, and then a flash of fire that we could see in the narrow space between the door and floor. After that: screams, too many screams.
Liquid light. I had never seen it before last night when Chaz threw it in the bar, and yet, somehow, I knew everything about it.
I grabbed some towels and a rug, crammed them in the space beneath the door.
But I was a second too late.
I managed to plug the holes, but my hands were pressed against the towel when the light hit. It sizzled through the fabric and shocked up my arm, all the way through my body. I couldna€?t breathe and I couldna€?t let go.
And I became a conduit, pulling the liquid light into the room.