“Say something El, say anything!” Phoebe twiddled nervously with the end of her hair as she concluded her incredible tale and sat anxiously waiting for Ella to respond. Demetrius had remained quiet throughout, allowing Phoebe to relay their tale in the way she saw fit, and now Ella looked from him to Phoebe and back again. Finally, after a few moments had passed, Ella tilted her head back, ran her fingers through her sandy hair and fixed her blue eyes on Phoebe’s bright green ones.
“Wow!” exclaimed Ella. “Is that response enough?” She was teasing, but she could tell from the serious expression on Phoebe’s face that she desperately needed to know how Ella really felt about everything she had just heard – giant angelic warriors, horrible cruel demonic creatures, aeroplane crashes that happen then never happen, a vortex of light, time travel. It was a lot to take in by anyone’s standards.
“Sorry Phoebs,” Ella said, suitably serious now. “It sure is one giant crazy tale. But of course I believe you! Why on earth would you guys make something like that up? It’s too bizarre! So, what happens now? You said that Cosain said that I’ll be involved in this somehow?”
“Phew!” Phoebe exhaled loudly and relaxed back into the softness of the big leather sofa. “I’m so glad to have all that out in the open! Yes, Cosain mentioned you, he said you would be ‘instrumental’. But for now neither Dem nor I know any more than you. I guess we just wait. Cosain and the others will keep us on the right track.”
“I’m gonna meet angels,” Ella mused. “I really don’t know whether to be excited or terrified!”
“I know how you feel, believe me! I’m still not sure how to feel about them!” Phoebe concurred.
“Yes,” said Demetrius. “It is a fairly unique experience. And don’t worry, Cosain knows where we are, he will make sure that we don’t miss what has been planned for us.”
Ella paused, then seemed to recall something important. “You know,” Ella said. “It’s maybe nothing more than coincidence but there has been, well, weird stuff going on here too the last while.”
“Weird? How so?” Phoebe was intrigued.
“Well, you know the Abbey up on Quagmire Hill?”
“Darken Abbey? It’s still there?” Phoebe asked. Ella nodded then continued.
“It’s been empty for, like, forever, you know? Nobody really goes up there, and there definitely hasn’t been anything happening in it since you left Ireland, Phoebe. Only recently, there have been some peculiar things happening up there – people reporting strange noises, lights inside the building and in the grounds… I didn’t really believe any of it, but now… well, now I’m not so sure!”
“Hmmm.” Phoebe chewed on her lower lip and was surprised to find that Ella’s information had made her strangely nervous. “I guess it might just be coincidence, or overactive imaginations?”
“Or,” Demetrius interjected thoughtfully. “It could be more pieces in this crazy tale we’re caught up in. One thing’s for sure though, our angelic friends will be keeping an eye out.”
As the summer evening began to draw in, a dark form materialised just outside the den window at the Quills’ house.
“Yes, those wretched angels know where you are Phoebe Wren. But so do I. And I’ll be keeping an eye on them and you!”
Glinting red eyes peered in at the three teenagers, and Schnither’s face contorted into a maniacal mask of malevolence.
“I will be avenged,” he sneered. “I will have my day!”
And with a swish of black wings he was gone, leaving a trail of sulphurous yellow smoke in his wake.