Zach folded his arms across his chest. “What is this place?”
“Lost Angel Ministry. LAM for short. Officially, we’re a not-for-profit I founded twenty years ago. We cater to young people who have lost their way. Addiction issues. Family or abuse issues. The abandoned, disenfranchised, homeless.”
“And unofficially?”
“The youth we seek out and minister to are like Angel. And you, Zach.”
“The gifted?”
“Half Lights.”
The name Knight had called him. The one that had sounded like a slur on her lips.
Eli spoke up. “Discrimination runs deep, Zach. Even within our own kind. Brite was one of the old guard, but she was working with us anyway. Trying to help.”
“Are you kidding me?” Zach said, looking at Eli. “You’re reading my mind?”
“Sorry.” He lifted a shoulder. “I’m trying not to, but sometimes things break through my filter.”
He looked at Parker. “You son of a bitch. You knew all along. When I asked you about Knight, about what she called me, you—”
He stopped, head filling with what Eli had just said: “Discrimination runs deep. Even within our kind.”
Our kind.
Brite Knight’s hand. Truebell’s from a moment ago. He’d picked up nothing. He remembered thinking that it was almost as if Knight wasn’t human.
Zach told himself to get a grip. Truebell and Knight possessed unique gifts, perhaps exceptional ones. As in all cultures, forms of discrimination existed. The haves and the have-nots, the coolest kids from the rest of the herd.
“Okay,” he said, “you have a special little club, just for the gifted. I’m happy for you, but not interested.”
He started to stand. Truebell stopped him. “We’re not a club, nor an organization.”
“Then what the hell are you?”
“We’re Light Keepers, Zachary. And so are you.”
Chapter Forty-nine
Thursday, July 18
3:35 P.M.
“Okay,” Zach said, moving his gaze between the three men, settling finally on Professor Truebell, “I’ll bite. What’s a Light Keeper? Some sort of creature from outer space?”
“Sort of,” Truebell said lightly. “We’re mortal angels, Zach. Guardians of the light.”
Zach laughed. One of those spontaneous, You’ve-got-to-be-effing-kidding-me laughs. “I wish I’d known I was going to take a ride on the crazy train today, I’d have dressed for the occasion.”
“This isn’t a joke,” Parker said. “Far from it.”
Zach shook his head, amused by Parker’s dead serious voice and expression. “Not to you three, which is coming through loud and clear and is, frankly, the freakiest part of this whole thing.” He pushed his chair back from the table. “You have my sympathies, but I’m not interested in being a part of your whacked out little club.”
“You already are a part of it,” Parker said. “You just didn’t know it. Hear us out. You’ve always wondered why you were different and where you got your special abilities. Are you really going to leave before you find out?”
Son of a bitch knew him too well. He’d pulled the trump card.
The professor leaned forward, expression earnest. “If you choose not to join us, you walk away, no strings, no hard feelings.”
Zach hesitated. Yes, he longed for answers, but for the truth, not another fantastical work of fiction; he had spent his life conjuring those without any help from anyone.
“What do you have to lose, Zachary? A few minutes of your day, that’s it.”
He held the man’s gaze, then nodded and settled back into his chair. “You’ve got five minutes.”
Truebell began. “Zachary, you and I, Parker, Eli, we’re all part of an ancient army. An army sent by the Creator to help humankind. To steer them toward the light and away from the dark and the destructive urges found there.” He paused. “And to fight the beast.”
Zach almost laughed. Something in the man’s eyes stopped him. “The beast?”
“Do you doubt that evil exists, Zachary?”
Did he? Evil ran rampant in the world, acts of greed and avarice. But a beast? A creature to battle? He shook his head. “Certainly not as a fiery red creature with horns, a tail, and pitchfork in hand.”
“Did I say anything about any of that?” He leaned forward. “Evil, Zachary. As a force. One that can destroy, that can enter the body and devour the capacity for good.”
Zach inclined his head. “I concede there is evil in the world and those who appear to be wholly evil.”
Eli spoke up. “It’s a great irony, Zach. We were sent to be guardians of the light. To protect all that is good and holy. Instead, many of us bowed to evil ourselves.”
Truebell went on. “We started as beings of pure light. But enrobed in human flesh, we became susceptible to the same temptations as humans, those most deadly that wreak havoc on human will.”
Eli nodded. “The sins that all ugliness in this world springs from. Envy and pride. Gluttony. Lust. Anger. Greed and sloth.”
Parker leaned forward. “Seven of them, Zach.”