4

February

The fire burning across the street cast a dim orange glow over the field across which Lily hiked. Freshly filled water bottles sloshed against the Ouija board that now went everywhere with her.

Lily jumped over a small fissure. Hot air venting from it turned the grass brown and dirt into dust. A little puff of it wafted around Lily’s foot when it hit the ground. Behind her, a stone rattled on pavement. Her heart jumped, and she ran for the rubble at the middle of the field. If she were able to find a hiding spot, the Ouija would shield her. Another stone skittered but the sounds of running feet didn’t follow.

“Wait!” a male voice boomed. “We’re friends!”

She wove around cement blocks that lay scattered around like children’s toys and ran for the towering pile in the center. Her backpack scraped against the sides of the slabs as she slipped through an opening. The space inside allowed her to stand. She saw the legs of student desks protruding from gaps between the stone. She heard feet pounding on the dirt.

Friends, my ass.

Lily worked her way to the back of the cavity and crouched.

“Hey, lady, where’d ya go?” said a girl’s voice. It sounded as if she were right there. “We won’t hurt you.”

Lily didn’t hear malice in the young voice, only a subtle pleading. The girl stopped in front of the opening and looked up over her shoulder at someone behind her. She appeared about twelve, but the grime streaking her face made it hard to tell.

“Why won’t she answer?” the girl said.

“She’s probably scared,” said the man.

“Why? We’re not mean.”

“She doesn’t know that.”

The conversation—so like a daughter and a father’s—convinced Lily to take a gamble. She stood up as the girl started walking again and Lily saw her companion. Orange glowed through the cracks in its blackened skin, wing tips scored furrows in the dust, and a great taloned hand reached out to swallow the girl’s. Lily dropped to the ground.

“Did you hear that?” the Demon said.

Terror ate the spit in her mouth. It blasted through her heart. She grappled with the buckles of the messenger bag in an attempt to free the Ouija board. It was the only thing to protect her from the monstrosity and its evil little devil child. The thing probably used the girl as bait. And Lily had almost fallen for it. Angry now, she tore at the clasps. They jingled together.

“Shhhh,” the Demon said. “Hear that now?”

Her throat worked as if in a whimper and for once Lily was glad she had no voice.

“No,” the evil girl child said.

Finally, the buckles slid free. She pulled the Ouija board out. Crystals tumbled after but didn’t spark into their usual glow. She laid her palms on the sun and the moon. Nothing. No warmth, no radiance, not ever a whisper in her mind.

Come on, damn you.

No blue mist. No ghosts.

“Listen,” the Demon said.

She pressed her hands harder onto the Ouija. No safety of Purgatory.

Don’t leave me here now.

Tears born of fright streaked down her cheeks as she continued to plead with the board. Off to the east came the rattle and slide of concrete tumbling down.

“Now I do,” the devil child said. “Over there.”

Lily listened to the pair recede, then broke. Curling into a ball, she let the fear wash over her. She cried and shook until all that remained was anger, a fury at the Ouija board. Why hadn’t the Ouija taken her away? Wasn’t that its purpose? To protect her? Fresh tears coursed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. The board had given her the sense of safety and protection she’d been accustomed to in the old world. How would she survive without it? Then it dawned on her.

The Angels’ refugee camp on the outskirts of the city. Rumor was they had power, hot water, food, and security. And they didn’t turn away the uninjured. If you were able, you were put to work. She figured she’d shirked people long enough, and besides, they wouldn’t be like the gangs she’d been avoiding. She’d be safe. Decision firmly made, she pushed the Ouija board and crystals to the side and unrolled her sleeping bag.

She dreamed of ghosts and of having a voice.

Hungry, dirty, and drained, Lily trudged toward the Angels’ camp in the near distance. Smoke from the fires and dust lent the day an overcast sickly yellow quality. Half a week of hiking left her with blistered feet, tired legs, and shoulders aching from carrying the backpack and messenger bag. No matter how disappointed she was, she couldn’t abandon the Ouija board or the crystals. So into the bag they went but there they stayed. Even when a chance encounter with a group traveling the same direction drove her into hiding, the Ouija never left the satchel. And when the first silvery blue flashes caught the edge of her vision, she ignored them.

The klieg lights set around the fenced perimeter of the camp sharpened the shadows thrown by the fence, the sparse tall grass, and the two Angels standing at the gate. Taller than she remembered, they stood well over seven feet. The electric blue fire in their eyes brighter too. Arms crossed, they watched her. She felt it. Lily slowed her pace as anxiety built to churn stomach acids.

Stop it, Lily. They’re the good guys.

But the feeling of dread wouldn’t leave her. Multicolored light flickered through the stitching of the messenger bag.

Not now.

One Angel strode toward her. The crystals grew brighter. Some instinct told her to hide the crystals and Ouija. Quickly, she slid the backpack off and shoved the satchel inside. She hitched the pack shut as the Angel reached her.

“You must be Lily,” he said. “I’m Raziel.”

She startled when he spoke her name—how’d he know?—but forgot the question under his gaze. Dark hair flowed to his shoulders and high feminine cheekbones rose beneath long-lashed blue eyes. When he smiled at her, a dimple appeared on a cheek free of stubble.

Raziel extended a hand, “Let me take that for you.”

Without hesitation, she handed over the backpack, which he slung over a shoulder. He winced.

“Ahhh, still a little raw.”

She frowned.

Oh, right. The fall burned away his wings.

“Come along, let’s get you settled.” She followed him toward the camp. “How was the journey? Rough?”

Lily opened her mouth to answer then remembered she had no voice.

What the hell is wrong with me? Of course, I can’t answer.

She shook her head and put her hand on her throat then shook her head again.

“I’m sorry, Lily, I forgot. Please forgive me.” Lily shrugged to show him it was okay. “We’ll find you a paper and pen so you can talk to us.”

Raziel put a hand on her lower back and guided her into the camp while the waiting Angel slid the chain-link gate shut then followed.

“Welcome to Camp Paradise Lost,” Raziel said.

Lily involuntarily shuddered.