The yellow school bus had seen better days. It didn’t look like it would make it out of the city, let alone out of the state. It was the only vehicle large enough and old enough that Nacho and Calder could get working, and wasn’t subject to the EMP. With Nacho showing Calder the back roads into town, they managed to get the SUV. The plan was for Nacho to drive the bus, while the angels drove ahead of us in the SUV.
I placed a pile of blankets and pillows into the bus. Pain stabbed my back again. Over the past couple of days, as we’d prepared for the cross-country trip to join Remi, I had managed to ignore the constant dull throbbing. Today it was worse, and the ibuprofen I’d taken didn’t help much.
I leaned against the bus, rubbing the back of my shoulders as I took one last look at the only home I’d ever known. It was amazing how a video of less than one minute could change everything. I didn’t know who I was anymore. Human? Nephilim? Daughter of traitors?
The video didn’t have answers to the hundreds of questions I still had. Why had they been so adamant that I leave just days before the angels had attacked? Did they know I was sneaking off with Jo to Las Vegas? Why was Ari looking for them in the first place?
The remainder of the video only had my father urging Lucy and me to stay with Blaze. Every time I asked Aunt Marmie what she knew, she bawled into a tissue and said she had no clue and wished she had brought the cruise-ship figurine Mom had given to her for Christmas last year.
“This is the last box,” Tristan said to Val as he placed it in the SUV’s trunk. He winced as he slammed it shut.
I took a step forward and then stopped myself. I owed him everything. My life, my sister’s life, but he’d made it clear he didn’t want me or anyone else near him. He’d kept himself busy searching the town for supplies alone.
“Put this in a safe place. Are you sure you couldn’t find it? Karenna?” Aunt Marmie’s voice quivered as she placed a box in my hand.
I forced myself to stop watching Tristan and turned to Aunt Marmie.
Calder and I had searched through the wreckage of her house. Finding the figurine she desperately wanted was impossible as it was more than likely shattered.
“Sorry, we only found those.” I pointed to the handful of cards in the box. They were from a cruise of the Hawaiian islands my parents went on for their twentieth wedding anniversary. For people who rarely traveled, it wasn’t a surprise they had sent a postcard from every island they visited.
“Okay. Maybe I should keep these with me.” She took the postcards and rummaged through the box, searching for more. It was filled with an odd mishmash of items—spatulas, glass cleaner, a bag of marbles, and an old Farmer’s Almanac.
I sighed. I loved Aunt Marmie, but what had my parents been thinking leaving Lucy with her when they knew the apocalypse was coming?
“Babe, let me take that from you.”
I cringed at the sound of Dorian’s smooth voice. Hearing him was like listening to nails scraping across a blackboard. He had always annoyed me with his perfectly coiffed hair and freshly pressed clothes. I’d bet he even ironed his boxers.
I didn’t want Dorian anywhere near Jo, especially after what he’d done to her.
I couldn’t tell what Jo was thinking. Her face was blank. It was like she was just going through the motions, and Dorian was pulling the strings.
There was something fishy about the way he was being so helpful and polite as we got everything ready for the trip. It was as if he was trying to hide something. Javi and Neto adored him, and Nacho seemed to like him too. But Nacho didn’t see what I saw whenever Calder was around. Dorian would pull Jo to him and kiss her cheek as if marking his territory.
“Who did your tat?” Next to the SUV, Lucy balanced herself on her skateboard, rocking it back and forth as she talked to Zac.
“I was born with it,” Zac said.
“Cool! How come Bob doesn’t have one?”
“Only some angels have them, and those of us who have one get it at different times.”
“Seriously? Like when?”
“When we’re ready to do our duty.”
“Like chores?”
Zac chuckled. “Sort of.”
“We’re just about done here. Be ready to leave in five minutes,” Blaze said as he approached the SUV carrying the black bags.
“Hey, Bob, stop slacking and get yourself one of these cool crown tats,” Lucy joked.
He frowned, jerking the passenger door open.
“Lucy! Don’t be mean,” I said.
“He knows I’m kidding. Right, Bob?”
“Oh, Bob, I think you’re being summoned,” Val laughed, elbowing him.
“It’s Blaze,” he hissed as he tossed a bag inside the vehicle.
“So, Lucy,” Val drawled, leaning against the SUV. “I’m dying to know about this Bob business.”
Blaze spun around, his eyes wide as he shook his head furiously.
“Well . . . ” She gazed at Blaze with a devilish look in her eyes. She exhaled, slowly blowing a bubble, and then leisurely sucking it back in.
The angels huddled around her in anticipation. She even had Tristan’s attention. How did Blaze know Lucy when I’d never met him? I was dying to know.
“I was little, so I don’t remember much, but I do remember calling him, bah bah.”
“Bah bah?” Zac glanced over at me curiously.
“That was her word for bottle when she was a toddler,” I said, joining them. “You’ve known her since she was a baby?”
“I, uh . . . ” Blaze ran his hand across the back of his neck. I caught sight of his tattoo—a dog paw with wings, the mark of the guardians. “I came around from time to time.”
“Why?”
Was he Lucy’s guardian? Why didn’t he just say so?
“It was my job.”
“But why?”
He paused. “I’m not answering that.”
“I have a right to know,” I said, getting angry. If he only had business with Dad, and he wasn’t Lucy’s guardian angel, then why was he hanging around our house?
“Chill out, Karenna. I’m working it. Bob will spill it eventually,” Lucy said, smacking her gum. “Or I can do it.”
“Don’t,” Blaze said, panicking.
“They want to know.”
“Yes, we want to know,” Tristan said, a whisper of a smile flashing over his face. I was glad to see him returning to his old self.
“Please don’t,” Blaze pleaded.
Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “Next time don’t be mean to my sister.”
“I already apologized.”
“As I was saying.” Blaze groaned as Lucy continued. “Bob said he heard me crying one night, so he gave me a bottle. He thought I wouldn’t remember, but the next time I saw him, I kept saying bah bah. I didn’t stop until he gave me a bottle. When I got older, I started calling him Bob.”
“Aw, how sweet,” Val said.
“Wait, there’s more.”
“Oh god.” Blaze covered his face with his hands.
“We had tea parties in the tree house. We called it Bob’s Party Palace.”
Everyone burst out laughing.
“When’s tea time, Bob?” Tristan teased.
“Oh, I want to come. Are tiara’s optional?” Val joked.
Blaze shook his head, grumbling as he went back inside the house.
“Come back, Bob, they’re just teasing,” Zac called out.
Lucy continued to tell her Bob stories to entertain Zac and Val, while Calder and Nacho tinkered with the school bus engine.
It was good to laugh, even if just for a moment. There was so much crazy going on, it was nice to take a break and forget about the chaos.
Tristan’s eyes sparkled as he chuckled. He nudged me playfully, and I laughed with him, thankful to have the old Tristan back.
My eyes drifted to the red spot on his shirt.
He was still bleeding? How had I not noticed his wound hadn’t healed yet? Between trying to calm down Lucy after she’d watched our parents’ video, and helping Jo with her brothers, I hadn’t had time to check in on him.
Something was wrong. The way he caught his breath when he moved, the slight hunching of his shoulder, he was still in pain.
Guilt punched me in the stomach, leaving me breathless. Even if he had been avoiding me, I should’ve gone after him to make sure he was okay. Well, I was going to fix that right now.
“What are you doing?” He gasped at my touch when I took his hand in mine.
“Changing your bandage,” I said, gesturing at his shirt.
“I’ll just change my shirt.”
“No, you need to change the bandage.” I pulled him toward the back of the bus. “Wait there and don’t move.”
I dashed into the bus and searched between the cases of bottled water and boxes of beef jerky and protein bars. Finally, I spotted a box of bandages and made my way to the back of the bus.
“I found the bandages,” I said, flinging the emergency door open and jumping down to the ground.
“I can do it.” He took the kit out of my hands and began to walk away.
“Are you mad at me? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He stopped, his shoulders dropping. He turned, keeping his eyes down as if he was afraid to look at me. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Then what is it? Why can’t you look at me?”
“It’s just . . . ” He fiddled with the box, and then slowly his eyes lifted, meeting mine. He looked scared.
I glanced behind me. Through the bus’s windshield, I could see Lucy showing off some of her skateboard moves to Zac and Val.
I jumped down and lowered my voice as I spoke. “You can tell me. I won’t say a word.”
He hesitated, his eyes searching mine. Then he leaned in, the stubble on his chin scraping my cheek. His warm breath hit against my ear. “It’s not healing as fast as it should. We’ve been on Earth too long.”
He pulled back, his voice speaking softly. “I don’t think they can hear me even from this distance. Zac? Val?”
We waited to see if they responded. Zac was trying to balance himself on Lucy’s skateboard, while Val and Lucy cheered him on. They didn’t hear him.
“Our angelic gifts are weakening. We barely heard the video of your parents from the kitchen when you played it. If a dagger can do this, then the swords . . . I’m worried about the others.”
“But at least with the swords, they can defend themselves. You should take one.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Why?”
He ran a hand through his hair as he stared out in the distance. “I’m afraid of what will happen if I do.”
“You can protect yourself.”
“I don’t care what happens to me.”
“I do.”
“That’s why. You care.” He looked back at me. We gazed at each other for a moment. The sound of Lucy’s laughter drifted in the air. His hand lifted slightly, but then he pulled back, suddenly dropping it to his side.
“And so do I,” he murmured. He sighed and leaned against the side of the bus, looking up. His handsome face reflected the gloomy, overcast sky. “What if Blaze is right and Ari comes for us before we make it to safety? What if your parents are with him? Maybe they decided to stay on his side?”
“They won’t do that. That’s why they ran.”
“Well, what if Ari has them as hostages and threatens to kill you or Lucy? Will you side with Ari to save them? Lucy? I can’t take the risk that I might have to choose between protecting my family or yours.”
I’d do anything for my family and he knew that. But could I join evil and kill humanity to save them? In this war of angels, what side would I be on?
“It will never happen.”
He looked down at me, his blue eyes filled with heartache. “It already has.”
I glanced at his bloodstained shirt. “That’s different. It’s like you said—it was a mistake. A mistake I’ll regret for the rest of my life. I never wanted to hurt you. As for my parents, they’ll never put me or Lucy in that position.”
“I thought the same thing about my father. I was wrong. Taking a sword would be the first step down a slippery slope to becoming just like him. I won’t do it.”
“You’re not like your father. You never could be.”
“I don’t know sometimes.”
The bus horn blasted, making us jump.
“It’s time to get this show on the road. Let’s go!” Nacho shouted.
I closed the door, locking it. “We can talk more about this on the bus.”
“I’m riding in the SUV, remember?”
“You don’t have to.”
“It’s where I belong, Karenna.”
Tristan was drawing a line between us, and I wasn’t having it.
“We’re still on the same side, Tristan. I know angels don’t trust Nephilim.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just . . . ” his voice dropped as his eyes slowly slid to my lips. “I don’t trust myself.”
Images of Tristan’s lips on mine flashed through my mind. My stomach quivered at the memory of his touch.
“The kiss?”
“Yes. We can’t . . . ”
“I know,” I whispered.
He walked slowly to the SUV, pausing by the bus’s entrance for a second, before rushing past it as if he was afraid he’d change his mind.
The sound of the engines roared as we piled into the bus. Lucy gave Zac a high five as he climbed into the SUV.
“Dibs on the back seats,” she said, dashing up the steps.
I climbed on the step and stopped.
No. This was not the end, not for Tristan and definitely not for me. We cared for each other, and that was not a bad thing. Angel or not. Human or not. The feelings we had for each other were too precious to let go.
I hung out the door and yelled. “Still friends?”
Tristan turned. His handsome face lit up as he smiled.
“Always.”