

The Last Angel

Jon Jacks

Other New Adult and Children's books by Jon Jacks

The Caught – The Rules – Chapter One – The Changes – Sleeping Ugly

The Barking Detective Agency – The Healing – The Lost Fairy Tale

A Horse for a Kingdom – Charity – The Most Beautiful Things (Now includes The Last Train)

The Dream Swallowers – Nyx; Granddaughter of the Night – Jonah and the Alligator

Glastonbury Sirens – Dr Jekyll's Maid – The 500-Year Circus

P – The Endless Game – DoriaN A – Wyrd Girl – The Wicker Slippers

Heartache High (Vol I) – Heartache High: The Primer (Vol II) – Heartache High: The Wakening (Vol III)

Miss Terry Charm, Merry Kris Mouse & The Silver Egg

Seecrets – The Cull – Dragonsapien – The Boy in White Linen – Porcelain Princess – Freaking Freak

Text copyright© 2015 Jon Jacks

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. It remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Thank you for your support.

# Chapter 1

Provided you failed to notice the huge, feathery wings tucked neatly beneath her, like an extra soft topping of quilt, Jial could have been mistaken for any normal twelve-year-old as she lay back on Chrissy's bed.

With her legs bent and crossed, she airily wiggled a bobby-socked foot in the air. She was thinking carefully about Chrissy's question, hoping to come up with a suitably profound answer.

'Hhmn, okay okay – let me guess what you're _really_ thinking here. You feel you should be getting more out of life; that it's quickly passing you by in a boring town. You want a life more like those you see people living in the movies, or in the books you read. Right?'

'Little Miss Knowitall!' Chrissy chuckled.

Picking up the small cushion she'd been resting on while lying on the floor, she deftly threw it at Jial.

The cushion softly struck the young angel directly in her face.

'Ouch!' Jial giggled, throwing the cushion back at Chrissy. 'That's _not_ the way to treat your guardian angel!'

'Well, is a guardian angel supposed to just lie there telling me the blindingly obvious?'

Leaping up from the floor, Chrissy jumped onto the bed. Using her slight superiority in size, she held the smaller Jial down and started mercilessly tickling her.

'Stop, stop it, Chrissy! That tickles!' Jial wailed helplessly, laughing uncontrollably as she fruitlessly struggled to break free.

'Not till you say sorry for being a little Miss Knowitall!'

'Okay, okay – I'm sorry, sorry you're a little Miss Knowitall!'

'You'll never learn, will you?' Chrissy chuckled again, tickling poor, helpless Jial all the more.

'Chrissy! Chrissy!' Chrissy's mom was shouting up the stairs. 'What are you two doing up there?'

'Sorry Mom!' Chrissy yelled back, sitting up on her bed and finally letting a still giggling Jial free. 'We were just talking about things!'

'Talking?' her mom cried back sceptically. 'It sounds like you're talking to a herd of elephants up there!'

Jial crouched alongside Chrissy, quietly taunting her with an accurate mimicking of her usual pained, wailing complaint.

'"Mom doesn't understand me. _No_ one understands me. _No_ one knows the _real_ me!"'

Without moving from her sitting position, Chrissy casually reached back for one of her bed's pillows and swung it up into Jial's face.

Jial fell back across the bed, giggling uncontrollably once more.

'Keep the noise down, dear!' Chrissy's mom continued. 'And Jial? Angels are supposed to be a calming influence, remember?'

Jial giggled all the more, curling up into a ball in her delight.

'That's what I've been telling her, Mom!' Chrissy insisted innocently.

Jial gave her a gawping stare, whispering, 'Oh, you little liar Chrissy!'

'She says she'll be a good little angel in future, Mom!' Chrissy continued with a mischievous smirk.

Jial's gawping mouth widened all the more. She gave Chrissy a playful push. Chrissy struggled to stop herself from bursting out laughing.

'Good, good! Thank you, Jial!' Chrissy's mom replied, shouting back as she walked away from the bottom of the stairs.

As they heard Chrissy's mom move away, Chrissy and Jial both rolled back on the bed, curling up together and hugging each other happily as they laughed and giggled.

*

# Chapter 2

'So, what kind of movie do you fancy watching tonight?'

They were walking down the small town's high street, heading towards the DysUtopia bookstore.

'Hmn, well if that's the _real_ reason we're heading there, rather than you just hoping to bump into Simon, then – wow, if looks could kill! _That's_ a weapon of mass destruction!'

'We're going there for a movie! Simon just _happens_ to work there, that's all! I'm not even sure he's working there today!'

'Oh sure; he's _never_ there on a Saturday, when he's off school!'

'You know, I'm beginning to wonder if I didn't prefer you when you were more like my _older_ sister!'

'Hey, your choice! I _could've_ aged with you. But I got the distinct impression you preferred the delightful, cheeky, twelve-year-old me.'

'Okay, okay; that's true! But now I know what younger sisters are like, I wonder if I didn't make a teensy-weensy mistake giving that impression!'

'Ahhh, come on, Chrissy! You _know_ you really _love_ me!'

Jial leant across to give Chrissy a swift hug. She made it an extra special embrace by partially wrapping one of her luxuriously soft wings around them both. They grinned at each other within the reflected glow of the perfectly white feathers.

'Sometimes, you know, I'm not _quite_ so sure,' Chrissy teased.

As they started walking again, Jial pouted, like she was upset.

'Okay, I agree; he's _luscious_!' she said, almost sounding apologetic until she cheekily pronounced 'luscious' the same way Chrissy dreamily described Simon to her friends. 'But I'm not so sure it's wise letting your friends know what you think about him. They're not as good at keeping secrets as I am!'

'What?' Chrissy was mortified. She came to an abrupt halt. 'You're saying they're _telling_ everyone?'

'Not _everyone_! And it's not _all_ your friends who're revealing your secrets. But it's enough of them for you to start worrying that it's going to get back to Si!'

'How come you know all this?' Chrissy asked suspiciously. 'I thought you angels weren't supposed to discuss our secrets?'

'It's hardly a secret now, Chrissy! Your friends have more or less ensured Simon's going to find out you have the hots for him. Even _we're_ not immune to talking about juicy gossip like that! Besides, we're _supposed_ to discuss something like this. I'd be letting you down if I let you get into a relationship too early, so–'

'Too early?' Chrissy looked scandalised. 'Suddenly, you're sounding like Mom! That's what all the adults round here are always saying! Leave it a bit longer. You're too young. You haven't thought this out.'

'Well, they're only trying to make sure you don't get hurt and–'

'What about all those boys and girls we see in the movies? Or read about in books and mags? _They're_ my age!'

'Oh yeah yeah; the movies, the books! That's real life we're talking about, right Chrissy? Besides, how many times does it end badly? I can't remember seeing a movie where they wouldn't've been better keeping a blooming wall between them!'

'I'm sure that's just the movies _we've_ seen! There must be loads of others out there with better endings!'

'Such as?'

'Well...'

Chrissy couldn't think of any movies or books her friends had mentioned that had a happy ending. On the other hand, quite a few of her school class had their own exciting tales to tell of holiday romances.

Being necessarily brief, such romances weren't quite as frowned upon as long term relationships were. Chrissy had received lots of interest from the boys when they'd holidayed in places like Florida or New Orleans. Unfortunately, Jial _really_ had been just like a younger sister, giggling whenever she caught Chrissy exchanging nervous glances. Sure, she might goad Chrissy into starting up a conversation, or even flirting a little, but just when things started to get serious, Jial would mischievously point out the boy's faults ('funny eyes', 'weird smile', 'creepy way he moves his hands'). Either that or grumpily warn her that 'your mom's not going to like this, you know?'

'I'm sure there must be some movies that end happily!' Chrissy said at last in reply to Jial's question.

'Oh, so now you're saying we're so morbid we just happen to end up watching all the miserable movies? The ones we can spend all night weeping into our tissues over, right? While everyone else, oh, _they're_ watching love stories that have them dancing in the street with joy!'

'Oh, okay, and so just what're _you_ saying? That, _suddenly_ , you're not like my little sister anymore: you're like my teacher, or on the town council, or–'

'Your guardian angel? Are those the words you're looking for, by any chance? Which means that, when you need it, I've got to give you good advice. And that, in case you're going to start worrying about it, is exactly what Zorbielle will have given Simon – good advice. Well, he will if he's heard the latest gossip, anyway.'

'And you think _that's_ going to stop me being embarrassed next time I see Simon, do you? You don't think I'll be simply hoping the floor just swallows me up?'

'Next time? We're going to be seeing him in just a minute, aren't we?'

'No we are not! We're turning around right now! I'm not going in that shop ever again!'

Jial puckered her lips disappointedly.

'Well, if you want to miss out on the latest movies–'

'Now you're sounding like their advertising posters!'

'Seems a shame. I mean, all because you're just a little embarrass–'

'A little embarrassed? I won't know where to look when I–'

'Hi Chrissy! How's things?'

Hearing the greeting from behind her, Chrissy spun around. Simon was heading towards her, a huge grin on his face.

'Si!' Just as Chrissy had feared, she felt herself uncontrollably blushing. She was lost for words, stuttering. 'What...what're you doing...doing here? I mean, I mean...I wasn't looking for you! I...I thought you were at work!'

She couldn't concentrate on her words. His grin said it all, didn't it? He'd heard! And he thought it was all highly amusing. All she could hope was that whatever she was saying wasn't going to make things worse.

'I'm on a later shift today,' Simon replied. 'I'm on my way there now. Fancy tagging along, if you're heading there too?'

Chrissy was in agony. Should she turn him down, or continue to suffer the humiliation of not knowing if he'd heard how much she liked him? But she wanted to accept his offer, wanted to walk with him to the store; and he _might_ not have heard _anything_ yet.

'Look, okay Chrissy,' Jial said resignedly, having noticed her anxious frown, 'the gossip _hasn't_ got back to him for now.'

Chrissy whirled angrily on Jial.

'And so how come you didn't tell me this earlier? Before I almost made a fool of myse–'

Chrissy cut herself short, wondering if she wasn't giving too much away to Si. He looked slightly mystified by Chrissy's remark, but was obviously politely waiting until she'd finished talking to Jial.

'No, we can still get there in time,' Simon reassured his own angel Zorbielle, taking a quick glance at his watch.

'Because as you well know,' Jial said in reply to Chrissy's accusation, 'I'm not supposed to tell you what he does and doesn't know. Because Si came on us out of nowhere while we were busily yapping, and I didn't have the chan–'

'So, how do you think you almost made a fool of yourself, Chrissy?'

Si smirked mischievously, unaware that he'd begun talking over Jial, mistakenly believing they'd finished their conversation.

As soon as Jial realised Si had got his timing wrong, she stopped talking. With hands placed on her hips, she gave Chrissy a petulant frown, letting her know she was disgruntled that she hadn't been able to fully justify her actions.

'Oh, I, er...' Chrissy stumbled over her words.

'Tell him I said I'd already seen the movie you were going to order,' Jial advised, helping Chrissy out of her predicament.

'Jial has only just gone and told me she'd already seen the movie I was planning on streaming, hasn't she?'

'Oh, which one was that?'

'Oh, er, er...'

'A love story,' Jial helped out again.

'It was a love story; not one you'd be interested in.'

'Oh, I don't know; which one?' Si asked.

'Boy, he doesn't give up does he?' Jial fumed.

'That's not much help, is it?' Chrissy said, turning on Jial once more. She turned back to Si with an apologetic smile. 'Sorry Si; you know what angels can be like!'

'Well, I know what _Zorbielle's_ like,' Si replied, staring at the empty space where he presumed Jial must be standing. 'But everything you've told me about Jial makes her sound a whole lot more unpredictable!'

'Hmn, thank you very much, Si Menchester!' Jial fumed, crossing her arms and tapping a foot irritably.

Chrissy chuckled, breathing a sigh of relief (not for the first time!) that only she could see and hear Jial.

Of course, even if Zorbielle could have seen Jial, he wouldn't be allowed to divulge what had just passed between them. Thankfully, someone had decided long ago that no angel should distract other guardians from their earthly tasks of aiding their charges. So there was no chance of her and Jial's secret conversation becoming common knowledge.

She wondered what Zorbielle must be making of all this. He might not be able to see Jial down here on earth, but he would know what she was like, how she looked and acted. All of which meant he might easily guess how Jial was reacting to Si's comments.

Si had told Chrissy that Zorbielle was like an older brother, always just a couple of years older than him, growing up as he did. He even looked a little similar. Jial knew exactly what he looked like, Chrissy often teasing her by asking if he was every bit as dishy as Si; but Jial always refused to answer even this simple question. How the relationship worked between someone and their angel was incredibly private, a part of your life, your character, whose details most people revealed only to their very closest friends.

Chrissy could only guess what Zorbielle looked like. Obviously, however, an angelic version of Si must be unbelievably–

No no no! She absolutely _refused_ to use that word _luscious_!

*

# Chapter 3

DysUtopia was full of brightly coloured posters promoting not only the very latest books, but also the most recently released movies now available for streaming down to equipment at home.

The whole effect was quite exhilarating, the posters usually portraying young couples either fleeing from or tackling vampires, werewolves, or some futuristic, evil overlords. Hence the shop's name, representing both the dystopian nightmares the couples found themselves in and the utopia they were fighting for and hoping to create.

'DysUtopia; it all comes down to U' the store's placards proclaimed.

'Urgh, cheesy,' Chrissy had groaned when she'd first come across Si sticking up the placards.

Si had shrugged.

'It's Ben's store; he reckons it's a deep and meaningful statement. He says that, when it all comes down to it, only us kids stand between a bad and a better world.'

'He means well,' Jial had pointed out. 'Although life in Hermon's hardly what you'd call dystopian, is it? Unless you reckon coffee bars are secretly taking over the whole place. '

Ben was serving behind the store's centrally positioned counter when Chrissy and Si walked in.

'Hi Chrissy. Hi Si.'

He greeted them with a knowing grin, like he saw them as an already inseparable couple. Even so, his grin was followed by the most fleeting of disapproving frowns.

'I'll head off for a coffee,' he added after Chrissy and Si had greeted him in return.

Hurriedly striding out from behind the counter, Ben gave a slight nod of his bushy-haired head to let Si know he should step to one side with him.

'Could I just have a quick word please, Si?'

'Sure,' Si replied, glancing Chrissy's way with an apologetic grin.

Both of them knew what the 'quick word' would be about. Every adult in town, seeing a young couple leaning in a little too close to each other, or hanging around too much together rather than in a larger group, would see it as their duty to instil a little cool, calm sense into their hot little heads.

As Chrissy and Jial turned aside to look through the rack of fantasy books, they were both surprised to see that Ben didn't take Si as far away from them as they'd expected.

'Now, Si, it's nice to see you're close to Chrissy,' Ben said, curving one of his thick arms around Si's shoulders. He quickly looked around, trying to determine where Zorbielle might be standing. 'But, now, would I be right in presuming Zorbielle's given you some advice?'

'Oh oh,' Jial sighed anxiously, rushing across to place her hands over Chrissy's ears. 'He reckons he's being clever, figuring you're already an item. So he's delivering a warning to both of you at the same time.'

With a quick bending of her knees and a slight shake of her head, Chrissy deftly shrugged off Jial's hands before they tightly clamped around her ears. Sure, she shouldn't be listening in, but this involved her. Besides, it was way too interesting, as she just _had_ to hear Si's reply.

'Er, yes, yes.' Si nervously glanced Chrissy's way with an uncharacteristic flush of embarrassment. 'Zorbielle, er, said it was fine to remain, er, friends, but anything else...well, er...'

'You should wait, yes?' Ben finished for him.

'Aarrggghhh!' Jial wailed, theatrically grabbing her long auburn locks as if about to start tearing them out. 'Who was it who figured adults can get by without a guardian's advice?'

Si cringed in humiliation as he nodded in agreement to Ben's query. Seemingly unaware that he'd made Si reveal his attraction to Chrissy, Ben beamed with satisfaction.

'If I were allowed to,' Jial fumed, her wings flaring in the same way someone would throw their arms up in exasperation, 'I'd throw every book here at him!'

Chrissy grinned happily. And no, not because she'd like to see Ben's reaction to a mass of books flying towards him from out of empty space. She was happy because, at last, she knew Si cared for her as much as she cared for him.

When Si looked her way again, she smiled dreamily, joyously. She hoped it was a smile saying she felt the same way about him.

He grinned back, a little stupidly, a little with relief.

'Now, what have I _just_ told you guys?' Recognising the meaning behind the looks passing between Si and Chrissy, Ben shook his head in bewilderment.

'Yeah, yeah, well played Ben!' Jial declared, giving him a mocking, slow handclap.

Chrissy almost laughed, something you should always try to avoid if you're amused by whatever your angel's said. Anyone nearby might think you're laughing at them. Fortunately, she was distracted by an urgent, live news item coming up on the large TV bracketed to the wall just above and beyond Ben's head.

'Sorry, sorry,' Chrissy said with a puzzled frown to both Ben and Si, 'sorry to interrupt; but could you just turn up the TV please?'

With an equally puzzled frown, Si leaned back to pick up the TV's remote from the counter, switching it from mute to sound. The President was holding a live press conference, speaking into a number of mikes in a subdued, serious tone. A large American task force based in the Mediterranean had been redirected to sail for the Egyptian coast, in preparation for airborne attacks on a new regime that had recently overthrown the elected government.

'So?' said Si, wondering why Chrissy had wanted the TV turning up. 'It's old news; I saw this a couple of weeks back. The attack never happened – they were stood down at the last minute.'

'Yeah, yeah; that's what I thought too,' Chrissy agreed, but drawing his attention back to the images of planes taking off from an aircraft carrier. 'But they're saying it's live. Yet it all looks exactly like I remember it looking the last time.'

'Yeah, I see what you're saying.' Si stared up at the TV once more. 'I remember it because, just after it, there was that crazy run of Josh Taylor's that you'd've said was impossible if you...hadn't...'

He trailed off in amazement as the President's press conference was immediately followed by the breathless yells of an ecstatic sports commentator urging on a footballer's mad, wildly swerving dash across a pitch full of floundering rival players.

'It could be a tape mix-up.' Jial said it nonchalantly enough, but Chrissy noticed that she seemed strangely anxious. 'It happens,' Jial added, regaining a sense of calmness.

Ben didn't just look anxious: he seemed to be sweating with fear.

'What...what do your angels say?' he asked nervously, his eyes still locked on the TV.

'It could be a tape mix-up, it happens,' Chrissy and Si both answered at once.

*

How had both angels arrived at exactly the same answer?

Jial shrugged off Chrissy's questioning glare with a nonchalant, 'Hey, haven't you heard that saying? – Great minds think alike! Besides, it's pretty obvious that's what happened, isn't it?'

'Yeah, course; should have thought of that myself!' Ben breathed with relief. 'Just mixed up tapes!'

Chrissy thought he still looked a little flustered, however. He was edgily looking her and Si's way, attempting to gauge where the angels might be. He grimaced fretfully, his almost bulbously fear-filled eyes giving her the impression that he'd been hoping for more information.

Why Ben seemed so panicked over a simple newsroom tape mix-up, she wasn't sure. Everything was back to normal on the TV. The news reports coming up now were all about today as, of course, they should be. There hadn't been any apology or explanation for the tape mix-up, probably because the person responsible was keeping his fingers crossed that no one had noticed his mistake.

'It's a shame what's going on out there,' Si said innocently, obviously unaware of his employer's unease.

'Out there?' Ben snapped. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean in Egypt; I told you, that's where I went on holiday. Just a few months back.'

'Oh yeah, yeah, you did,' Ben chuckled, rapidly stroking his thick, ginger-tinted moustache. 'The pyramids; you said the pyramids were amazing, right?'

'That's right; but really odd, you know, the way they're right on the edge of the city like that. When you see pictures of them, they always look like they're out in the middle of nowhere.'

'Hardly do their tourist trade much good, would it, if they showed them like they were just a bit of urban sprawl?' Jial had gone back to looking over the books, running a finger over the titles on their spines. 'Most of these – the sort we like, anyway – we've read, Chrissy. We're just gonna have to widen our horizons I'm afraid.'

'When will you be getting some new stock in, Mr Goodstone?'

Chrissy had hoped her simple question would be a good way of helping Ben concentrate on his business once more, calming him down a little. Instead, it seemed to increase his nervousness, even though he tried to hide it.

'Oh, er, there's a, er, warehouse problem, apparently. I'll, er, let you know when we get the new books in, obviously Chrissy.'

Chrissy caught Jial sharply turning her head, fleetingly frowning at the news – then acting as she hadn't heard and immediately returning to browsing through the books.

'Here's one; how about this?' Jial said, her fingers hesitating over the edge of the book as if she'd almost been tempted to pull it free.

Chrissy moved alongside her, taking the book out herself. It wasn't that Jial wasn't capable of removing the book; she could, if only with a great deal of concentration, as it was a much more involving and delicate task than simply flinging something across a room. But at all times, guardians had to ensure they weren't performing actions that either gave their charges too much physical help or would appear annoyingly unnatural to anyone nearby.

'Sure, sure,' Chrissy said, quickly taking in the cover picture and the teasing plot summary on the back. 'Yeah, we'll take this one.'

She wasn't really so sure that it was a book they'd like. But although asking Ben about new stock hadn't seemed to take the edge off his unease as she'd intended, she hoped buying a book might do the trick.

'I'll have this please, Mr Goodstone,' she called out brightly, holding up the book.

At last, Ben's ruddy face broke into his familiar crooked smile.

'Good choice Chrissy,' he called back cheerfully. 'I've had a lot of good reports back about that book from everyone who's purchased it!'

He moved back behind the counter, preparing to ring up the sale on the till.

Chrissy and Si swapped sly, secret grins. Had Ben just forgotten that he was on his way out? Or had he decided to hang on a little longer, just to make sure they weren't left alone together?

*

# Chapter 4

Ben hadn't just hung on a little longer.

He'd hung on and on, furtively looking in turns either Chrissy or Si's way. He'd obviously appointed himself their chaperon for the day.

Chrissy had also stayed a good while longer than she'd planned, expecting Ben to eventually tire of his self-appointed role and reward himself with the coffee he'd originally promised himself.

'Bye Mr Goodstone, bye Si,' Chrissy finally resignedly called out, making her way towards the door with a sad, disappointed smile.

'Bye Chrissy, thanks for your custom!' Ben yelled back, grinning with what looked like relief to Chrissy.

'Bye Chrissy, I'll give yo–' Si was about to give her a cheerful wave, but lowered his hand the instant he noticed Ben's disapproving frown.

Even as she and Jial headed up the street together, Chrissy looked back towards the store a number of times.

'Don't you dare think of going back there!' Jial warned with a giggle. 'There's only so long I can pretend I'm simply ecstatic looking at book spines! Even if it looks like he's leaving, I'll bet you he's hiding around the corner, just to catch you sneaking back! The poor man was having kittens. He was so worried he'd led you guys into a relationship you weren't ready for!'

With the odd, slight fluttering of her wings, Jial glided along just a few inches above the floor. As usual, she was shoeless, wearing only her intensely white bobby socks. Now and again, as other people walked by, she passed through them as if she were as insubstantial as a mirage.

Chrissy was half walking, half skipping, she was so happy. Even though Ben had been keeping a beady eye on them both back in the store, they'd managed to swap thrilled grins, even pouted kisses, followed by barely suppressed chuckles. Jial, of course, had spotted all of this even if Ben hadn't. She'd sternly rebuked Chrissy for being 'just a little childish today'.

'Says the girl I think of as my little sister?' Chrissy had whispered back with triumphant glee.

'Isn't this book the film we saw? Only with a different title?' Chrissy now asked Jial, reading more of the book's description as they made their way home. 'The one with _Zaaaccc_?'

She pronounced 'Zac' as a long, dreamy sigh. Jial bristled, preparing herself for what she knew would be coming next.

'That's right,' she snapped bluntly.

'Hah, so _that's_ why you wanted this book, is it?' Chrissy changed her voice back into a dreamy sigh. 'Ohh, he's _so_ dishy!'

'I did so _not_ say he was dishy!'

Chrissy gave her a light nudge with her elbow.

'Oh come on, Jial! Every film he's in, you sit there drooling!'

She opened her mouth wide in an exaggerated imitation of someone in a love-struck daze.

Jial nudged Chrissy back a little harder.

'I do so not _drool_! Angels don't _drool_!'

'Well, obviously some angels _do_ drool!'

'It wasn't drooling!' Jial insisted, laughing now. 'It was the _story_! It was so so sad!'

She came to an abrupt halt, turned to Chrissy and, lightly grabbing her by her arms, stopped her going any farther.

'Tissues!' She said urgently. 'If we're going to read the book, we're going to need to buy a whole box of tissues!'

*

'Perhaps we should...should have got another box,' Chrissy sniffed sadly, reaching for another tissue from the box they'd placed beside them on the bed.

'It's okay...okay,' Jial sobbed, dabbing her eyes, wiping her cheeks. 'We can always start using your spare bed sheets!'

Chrissy was holding the book up between them, but they were taking it in turns to flick the pages.

'Finished?' one would say.

'Ready,' the other would reply, their reading pace hardly differing.

Jial had wrapped a soft, comforting wing around Chrissy's back, its feathers warm and luxurious. They both had their legs stretched out before them, crossed at the ankles. They touched and wriggled their toes together whenever they came to an especially emotional part of the story.

'Ohhhh, it's so sad...so sad...' Jial wailed miserably, while somehow also grinning happily between her tears.

Chrissy leant across to dab Jial's tears.

'You know, sometimes I wonder just who's looking after who here,' she said with a weepy laugh.

'You're the one who choose the _movie_ we watched!' Jial said, both sobbing and giggling.

'But, what I don't understand is...'

'Oh oh, I think I know where this is going again!' Jial chuckled, now dabbing her own tissue at Chrissy's tears.

'Well, but I _don't_ understand! Why don't we hear what _her_ angel's advising her to do? We hardly ever see it in books, movies – even when it's about teens, not adults!'

Seeing that Jial was halfway through opening her mouth to speak, Chrissy had assumed she was going to offer her usual answer – that most books and movies were about people who had reached an age where they no longer required an angel's help.

'Chrissy, just look at us!' Jial said instead, tearfully laughing as they both continued to wipe away each other's tears. 'Your choice of angel is really really personal! Believe me, if you wrote a book, you'd be giving away _way_ too much about yourself if you thought all angels are like me! It works differently for everyone. So writers avoid revealing too much about themselves by just assuming you know the character's _actions_ are based on–'

Jial was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the hallway phone standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Chrissy and Jial looked at each other.

'Si?' Chrissy whispered hopefully.

'Si,' Jial nodded, quietly giggling as she added, 'Bet you!'

*

Downstairs, Chrissy's mom stepped into the hallway from the kitchen and picked up the phone.

Both Chrissy and Jial cocked their ears, giggling quietly together when they noticed how conspiratorial and silly they looked. They heard Chrissy's mom give her usual, cheerful phone greeting, but of course they couldn't hear who was on the other end of the phone.

Chrissy glanced towards her cellphone lying on the bedside cupboard. Life would be so much easier if boys were allowed to call you on it directly, rather than contacting you first via the household's landline.

Not, of course, that it definitely was Si...

'Chrissy?' her mom suddenly shouted up the stairs. 'It's Simon for you!'

Chrissy jumped off the bed and rushed down the stairs, Jial following just behind.

'Now, don't be long on there,' Chrissy's mom warned her, handing her the phone with a wary smile. 'Jial, I shouldn't have to tell you this; but make sure she has no more than a minute, all right?'

She spoke to empty air, mistakenly presuming Jial was on Chrissy's right-hand side. Jial gave Chrissy an irate pout, one Chrissy recognised as saying, 'See the trouble you get me into?'

As her mom returned to the kitchen, Chrissy put the phone to her ear.

'Hi!' she said excitedly, then, after the briefest pause, 'Hi me!'

Jial raised her eyes. Chrissy always said that in reply to Si's, 'Hi, it's me.'

Chrissy's face fell. Her eyes widened in horror.

'No! No, it's not possible!'

'Chrissy?' Jial asked, concerned.

Chrissy lowered the phone.

'It's Zorbielle! He...he's just _vanished_!'

*

# Chapter 5

'Vanished?'

Jial turned pale. She clutched at her throat.

'How? He...he can't just vanish! Didn't he say anything first?'

Chrissy returned to speaking on the phone, urgently asking similar questions; How? When? What did he say?

Jial nervously wound a lock of hair around a finger as she waited for the replies.

'No, he didn't say anything; he _did_ just vanish!' Chrissy said, briefly lowering the phone once more. 'Just a few minutes ago. Si called here straight away.'

Jial grimaced worriedly as Chrissy asked Si for more details.

'But wouldn't he have said that?' Chrissy asked in reply to something Si had said. 'I mean, surely Zorbielle would have told you you no longer need him, rather than just vanishing like that?'

Alongside her, Jial shook her head.

'Si isn't old enough to manage without an angel. How did Zorbielle vanish? I mean, was he just there one second, then the next, poof, he'd gone? Or was there something else? What was he doing when he vanished?'

Chrissy was unnerved by Jial's expression of absolute confusion. She'd never seen her look so fretful.

She quickly asked Si what Zorbielle was doing just before he vanished.

She lowered the phone, edgily biting her lip.

'He says Zorbielle put his arms up in the air, like he was terrified and trying to protect himself from attack. Then he seemed to freeze like that. Then he just disappeared!'

*

Now Jial was the one who looked terrified.

'What...what's going on Jial?' Chrissy asked her anxiously. 'How can this be happening?'

'I'm not...not really sure, just yet,' Jial admitted. 'Though I'm sure there's an explanation for it; a perfectly innocent explanation.'

She smiled as she added this last part, yet it seemed to Chrissy that it was a forced smile, like Jial didn't really believe what she was saying. Chrissy anxiously yet gently grabbed hold of Jial's arm.

'Jial; _you're_ not going to leave me, are you?'

Jial shook her head, grinned dreamily like she was having to think about it.

'Course not, course not Chrissy!'

She didn't say it with the conviction Chrissy was hoping for. Remembering that Si was still holding on, Chrissy spoke into the phone once more.

'Si, Jial can't explain it either! Look, should we meet up...right, yeah, okay. See you there!'

As she hung up, she noticed that Jial still looked thoughtful.

'Chrissy, I'm just going to have to...to...' Jial said hesitatingly, 'to _leave_ you for a _little_ while.'

Chrissy's mouth fell open in shock. She was distraught, and suddenly weeping once more.

'What? No no! You just said you'd _never_ leave me! You said angels don't just vanish!'

'Not without explaining why they're leaving. And I'll be back, as soon as I can!'

Chrissy tightly wrapped her arms around Jial, embracing her like she was never, ever going to let her go.

'No no no, Jial! I don't want you to ever–'

She almost fell, her arms abruptly grasping at nothing more than empty air.

Jial had vanished.

*

# Chapter 6

As she made her way to Si's house, Chrissy couldn't help but nervously glance about her.

The streets she was walking down, streets she had calmly walked down hundreds of times before, suddenly felt unfamiliar, even a little alien and dangerous.

Like she had suddenly been surround by too much space. An uncontrollable, unknowable space.

It felt odd to be on her own. It felt like a very important part of her was missing.

Jial was a very important part of her!

She had always been with her. For as far back as Chrissy could remember.

She was her friend. Her closest friend. Someone who'd listen to her when she was upset; when she had secrets to tell. Someone who – unlike just about everyone else she knew – understood her perfectly.

She was also her conscience, of course. Although, really, not a very _strict_ conscience.

She was like her little sister.

A funny little sister.

A cheeky little sister.

Sometimes, even a little petulant little sister!

And that's why Chrissy loved Jial.

And why, she was sure, Jial loved her!

*

Like most of the houses in Hermon, Si's was neat, low built, and set back from the road behind a small, regularly maintained lawn. Si was standing out front with his dad, their truck jacked up to one side of the driveway.

Si hadn't noticed Chrissy urgently heading his way. As his dad dropped down to the floor and pulled himself under the truck, Si followed him, slipping into place alongside him.

Now that was odd.

Chrissy had never, ever seen someone's father invite his son to help him repair or maintain a vehicle. It was one of those things you were only supposed to learn or take an interest in once you were declared an adult.

Was that it?

Was Si now regarded as an adult because Zorbielle was no longer around to advise him?

After all, if Zorbielle had still been around, he would have insisted that Si didn't take part in anything that counted as extra and unnecessary – in some cases even dangerous – education.

If Zorbielle was still there, and he had allowed it, where would he be now? Sitting casually by the side? Or keeping as close to his charge as he could, lying partly merged with Si in a more angelically insubstantial state?

When Chrissy had been younger and frequently played games such as hide-and-seek with her friends, she'd often chosen a tightly confined space like a cupboard to hide away in. Jial could have opted to stay outside, as many angels did, or take on an insubstantial state and sit half in, half out. Instead, however, a giggling Jial had also crammed herself into the space, as if she too were hiding, using her insubstantiality to blend and become almost as one with Chrissy.

Then of course, Jial had been similar in size to Chrissy, if anything more like an older rather than a younger sister. It had been a strangely thrilling, electrifying experience for Chrissy, creating a sense that she too was now an angel. The gloriously white wings seemed to sprout from her own back, reassuringly curling around them both as they quietly chuckled and whispered to each other.

Oh how she had enjoyed those moments of an unimaginably wonderful closeness.

And now Jial wasn't even with her!

When was she coming back?

Where was she?

What had happened to her?

Had she too, like Zorbielle, vanished forever?

Just ahead of her now, she could hear angry shouting. It was Si and his dad, slipping out from under their truck and arguing ferociously.

Chrissy had never seen anything like it. You just didn't argue with your parents! As soon as it seemed you were about to start an argument with either one of them, your angel would somehow calm you down, making you count to ten until you looked at everything from a more reasonable perspective.

Suddenly, even worse, something Si said made his dad just about freeze in shock.

'Wait here!' his dad snapped furiously, irately pointing at Si with a sternly rigid finger. 'You wait here, got that young man?'

Throwing his wrench down onto the lawn, Si's dad strode off back towards the house's front door. Hearing Si greet Chrissy, he glanced back over his shoulder. Chrissy immediately felt the heat of his accusatory glare. Was he blaming her for what had happened between him and his son?

As his dad slammed the door behind him, Si confidently ambled over towards Chrissy. He was wiping his hands on an oily rag as if he'd actually been fixing the truck.

Some hope, Chrissy thought, hiding her smile. The closest a boy would get to fixing a car would be looking up advice on the web. It would end a tour of a vehicle's more basic features with a terse, 'Now ask an expert to repair the fault you think you may have discovered.'

As Si drew closer, he moved a little jerkily, a little uncertainly, as if he'd planned on kissing Chrissy but suddenly realised he was splattered with oil.

'Si,' Chrissy said urgently, abruptly remembering why they'd agreed to meet, 'Jial's vanished too. She says it's only for a while, though. So I think she'll find out what's happened to Zorbielle!'

Si grinned.

'Well, I think I already know. As I said, the angels must think I'm ready to be left on my own – to be an adult!'

'Si, you're not an adult!'

Was that a wise thing to say? Chrissy wished she had Jial here to advise her.

Then again, as angels went, even Chrissy wasn't too sure that she got the best advice from Jial.

Si chuckled good-naturedly at what he could have taken as an insult.

'Hah, that's exactly what dad just said!'

'You've told him? Told him Zorbielle's gone?'

'Sure, just now. Didn't you see how his head just about exploded? I'd said now the angels reckoned I was an adult, he could start showing me how to fix the truck properly rather than just pointing out it had a wheel on each corner!'

'Did he know why Zorbielle might have gone?'

Si shook his head dismissively.

'Ah ah; he said he'd never heard anything like it – that it sounded dangerous to him!'

'That...that's what Jial thinks – I think, going by the way she seemed to react.'

'Let's face it, Chrissy; I was going to have to tell Mom and Dad at some point. Seeing as how they'd soon pick up that I'd stopped speaking to what seemed to be empty space to them.'

'Simon!'

His mom was standing at the front door, frowning worriedly. Once again, like his father, she fleetingly glared at Chrissy as if holding her responsible for Zorbielle's disappearance.

'Simon, please come in for a moment! I think we need to talk, don't you?'

'Okay Mom.'

He said it with that confident, carefree grin Chrissy loved so much. He turned to face Chrissy once more, opened his mouth to say something – but his mother yelled out to him once more.

'Simon! I meant now! This instant!'

'Shheeessssh,' Si sighed, grinning in a half laugh once more as he added light-heartedly, 'I mean, Chrissy, do you ever get that feeling, you know, that you must've been adopted?'

With a final beaming smile for Chrissy, he turned and sprinted back towards his front door.

'Coming Mom!'

*

# Chapter 7

Adopted? Yeah, Chrissy often felt that way too.

Sometimes, when she was in a particularly bad, especially frustrated mood, she even wished she _had_ been adopted.

I mean, why were they so strict?

Such incredible killjoys?

Don't do this! Don't do that!

Do this! Do that!

Where had her own more carefree attitude to life come from, when her parents were such complete grinches?

Sure, she loved her mom and dad; but why oh why did they have to be so...so _controlling_?

The whole town was boring enough without them making it even more boring.

Now if she had been adopted, if she really had come from some more fun loving mom and dad – now that would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

She must definitely be from a family from a more exciting place than mind-numbingly dull Hermon. If only because _anywhere_ had to be more exciting than this dreary dump!

Nothing ever happened here!

_Everything_ happened _elsewhere_!

In the movies, in the books, they were always describing these absolutely amazing places, where kids had fun, dated, loved and fell out with each other as often as she had breakfasts. Oh sure, they might all come to a bad end, but it was a simply wonderful life while it existed!

London. New York. Tokyo. Singapore. Even cities in China for heck's sake!

All these places ablaze with light, with everything you could dream of to do, day or night! Cities that never went to sleep!

And Hermon? The whole place seemed to be asleep by ten!

Only the angels remained awake, guarding their charges.

Ohhhh, she shouldn't be thinking like this, Chrissy abruptly admonished herself.

It was only getting her down. Making her feel envious. Ungrateful.

If only Jial were here with her, she wouldn't be wasting her time dwelling on such selfish thoughts!

Jial would be helping her think of the amazing amount of things she should be grateful for! The things she _had_ , not the things she _didn't_ have!

'Jial, where are you Jial?' Chrissy muttered, edgily glancing about herself as she made her way home.

She jumped when her cellphone rang. Taking it from her pocket, quickly fumbling with the buttons, she saw that it was Si who was calling.

'Si!' she spoke angrily into the phone. 'You know you're not supposed to call me directly!'

'Mom and Pop said I should,' he confidently replied. 'It's important. Is Jial back?'

'No, not yet,' Chrissy said sadly.

'Good; I mean, good for now. I wouldn't want her to be around in case she picked up from your replies what I was talking about. See, Chrissy, I need to know; have you told anyone else yet that Zorbielle's vanished?'

'Si, of course not!'

'Good good; see, it's Mom and Dad who don't want anyone to know just yet.'

'So they're okay about Zorbielle just disappearing like that?'

'Ah ah.'

Chrissy thought he said it like he was shaking his head. Like he was having to be careful about what he said as his mom and dad were nearby, listening in; perhaps even on the phone's extension. He'd been a little hesitant, as if he'd been doubtful about how he should answer.

Sure, she was reading a lot into a simple 'Ah ah,' but then again she'd got to know Si's way of speaking quite well by now. Besides, that 'Ah ah' was all he'd said for the moment; he'd gone quiet, without any further explanation.

'Sooo...' Chrissy said, trying to swiftly work out what she should say, 'should I come by tomorrow...?'

There was a slight pause.

'Yes, yes; I'll explain tomorrow.'

'Shouldn't you, you know, let the council know? About Zorbielle just vanishing like that, I mean?'

Again, there was a slight hesitation before Si answered.

'No, no, Chrissy; they were planning on phoning, Mom even picking up the phone at one point: but Dad stopped her. They had a quick chat – what they were saying, I'm not sure – then came back to me saying they needed a little more time to work out what to do. No one has to know just yet, okay?'

'Okay, got that; no one has to know just yet.'

'Look, I'll see you early tomorrow, honest. Okay?'

'Okay, right, yeah.'

As Chrissy slipped her phone back into her pocket, she wished more than ever that Jial was with her to talk this over. It's the sort of strange problem you saw girls in movies wrestling with by writing it down in their diaries, which Chrissy had never really understood. Wouldn't it be better to confide your worries to your angel, as she did with Jial?

But hadn't Si just said that he didn't want Jial to know about this? Well, that's more or less what he'd implied, wasn't it?

Yet it sounded like his parents were troubled by Zorbielle's disappearance, and unsure what to do next. Surely this was the very thing you should be talking to your angel about?

It was all so confusing, so unusual.

Her cellphone urgently rang once more.

Chrissy deftly slid it out of her pocket, expecting it to be Si calling back.

It wasn't – it was her friend Emma.

'Hi Emma, how–'

'Chrissy, Chrissy!' Emma wailed tearfully. 'Petrial's _gone_! My angel's just _vanished_!'

*

# Chapter 8

Hearing Emma weeping down the phone, the first thing that flashed through Chrissy's mind was concern for Jial: she still wasn't here. Had she vanished for ever too?

Immediately realising she was being selfish to think in this way, Chrissy tried to sound as calm as she could when replying to Emma.

'Emma, it's probably only for a while; Jial's gone for a while too, but she said she'd be back.'

'She did?' Emma sounded hopeful, even managing to stem her tears a little. But her nervousness instantly returned. 'But...but Petrial didn't say anything like that. She...she sounded really worried just before she disappeared, Chrissy! I think something awful's happened to her!'

'Emma, look, look...'

Chrissy was struggling to know what to say. How could she reassure her friend when she herself was worried about everything that was happening to her at the moment?

'Emma, have you told anyone else about this yet?'

Even as she said it, Chrissy wasn't quite sure why she'd asked this question.

'No, no; I...I was hoping that Petrial would be back soon, at first, when she first vanished a few hours ago. But the longer she's been gone, the more worried I've got. I thought about mentioning it to Dad, or Mom; but Dad's really edgy, like he's got lots of worries all hitting him at once. Mom's all frantic, and worrying along with him too. Like she reckons that's what the mayor's wife's supposed to do. Besides, they give me weird looks like they know something's wrong. But I don't know how, cos I'm making sure I'm acting all right whenever they're around.'

'Well, Jial...Jial...'

Chrissy bit her lip. She'd almost blurted out to Emma that Jial was trying to find out what had happened to Zorbielle. But, of course, Si had told her she mustn't let anyone know that he'd also vanished.

'Jial will be able to tell me what's happening when she's back, right?'

'Okay, okay; I know it's late, Chrissy, but could you come over my place? I'm worried, I mean really worried! Please?'

Chrissy glanced about her, noticing that the evening sky was now rapidly getting darker. Yes, it was still so light that you didn't really need the street lighting that had come on a few moments ago, but there were few people around now. Most families had already settled down for the night, either in front of the TV or around the table for dinner. Soon the only ones out on the street would be the police in their patrol cars, relaxing and winding down as they looked forward to heading on home themselves, probably long before it hit ten.

'Jial's not with me yet, Emma. And I'm not sure when she'll be back. I really do think we should wait until she's with me; otherwise we're never going to be able to figure out where Petrial's gone.'

On the other end of the phone, Emma hummed and hawed doubtfully.

'I'll come straight over tomorrow morning,' Chrissy said quickly. 'Then we can have a proper talk about this, Emma. But...but don't tell _anyone_ else that Petrial's gone, okay?'

'But why not, Chrissy? I need to find out what's going on! I'm worried, I–'

'Please Emma! I can't explain just yet, but I think it's best you don't tell anyone, right? Please trust me on this one.'

Chrissy wasn't really sure why she was telling Emma to keep the disappearance of Petrial a secret. She was using the reaction of Si's parents' to Zorbielle's disappearance as a guide, as that was all she had to go on at present.

'Okay, okay, Chrissy. But _promise_ me you'll come by tomorrow! I...I don't think I can live without Petrial.'

*

Chrissy didn't really know what Petrial was like – what Petrial had _been_ like. Although Emma was one of her closest friends, she had revealed few details about Petrial to Chrissy. Then again, Chrissy hadn't told Emma much about Jial either.

To do so would be like revealing you innermost secrets. And you only revealed those to your angel.

With a promise that she would definitely call round early tomorrow morning, Chrissy finally hung up on a still distraughtly weeping Emma.

Chrissy felt awful cutting her friend off like that without being able to offer her any help or even consoling words.

But what could she do? What could she say?

If she'd stayed on the phone any longer, she would probably have joined in with Emma's anxious wailing.

What must it be like to lose your angel? How terrible must it be?

Sure, Si seemed to have coped well with Zorbielle's disappearance. Even relished the freedom it gave him.

But Emma, like Chrissy, was much closer to her angel than Si had ever been to Zorbielle. Perhaps it was a girl thing, this close relationship you built with your angel.

Jial was like Chrissy's little sister. She couldn't imagine a life without her. Truth was, she even dreaded growing older, for that would mean that Jial would finally leave, no matter how much Chrissy wanted her to stay.

How had any of the adults handled such a loss? No one would ever say.

'It's...it's private,' they would say whenever you asked them. 'Something we all have to deal with in our own way. There's no magical formula for dealing with it.'

But for an angel to leave you before you felt you were ready, before you even felt that you were now an adult? Could there be anything more incredibly painful?

Chrissy had only been apart from Jial for a few hours, but the agony she was feeling was increasing every minute that she was away. She had never felt so lonely, vulnerable and confused.

'Jial, where are you Jial?' Chrissy edgily muttered once more.

Alongside her, there was an abrupt fluttering of wings.

'It's okay Chrissy, I'm here, I'm back!' Jial declared with a beatific smile.

They immediately reached out for each other, drawing themselves into an eagerly welcoming embrace.

'I was beginning to think I'd lost you!' Chrissy sighed with relief, only just managing to hold back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. 'It was so odd, you not being here with me!'

'I told you I'd be back!' Jial chuckled, giving Chrissy an extra tight hug before they parted at last and stepped away from each other.

'What about Si? What about Zorbielle?' Chrissy urgently asked, even though she was actually thinking more of Emma and Petrial rather than the more resigned Si. 'Will he be back?'

Jial's smile vanished. She shook her head sadly.

'No, but Zorbielle...Zorbielle simply felt that Simon might be ready to get by without him.'

Chrissy knew Jial well enough to know her slight hesitation meant she didn't really believe what she was saying. Was she lying? Or was that what she herself had been told, and she was merely repeating it? Was it, even, that she believed she was protecting Chrissy from the more frightening truth – that Zorbielle's disappearance hadn't been expected even by the angels?

'I know that look, Chrissy!' Jial said, her grin instantly returning. 'You think I'm holding something back! Go on – what is it?'

'Well, you didn't sound much like you believed it yourself, for one thing! For another, Si's not much older than I am! Are you saying he's much more of an adult than I am?'

Chrissy put on a stern, aggrieved face.

Jial, almost like a reflection, put on an equally shocked expression.

'Are you saying you don't want me around anymore? That you can manage without me after all, thank you very much?'

Now Chrissy was genuinely upset and shocked.

'No, no! Of _course_ not Jial!'

She took Jial into a fierce clinch once more, relishing the warmth and comfort of her huge wings as they reassuringly enveloped them both.

'You know I _love_ you! That I couldn't live _without_ you!'

As she said it, Chrissy recalled that Emma had declared exactly the same thing. What had Emma's relationship to Petrial been like? Had they also regarded each other as sisters?

'Petrial,' Chrissy murmured, now looking directly into Jial's eyes. 'Petrial's vanished too.'

'Yes, yes, I know.'

Chrissy felt Jial's chest rise and fall in a deeply resigned sigh.

'It...it's the same thing,' Jial said, her eyes closing as she spoke. 'The same thing as Zorbielle's disappearance.'

Chrissy moved back a little.

'Emma's younger than I am, Jial. Are you really saying that both her and Si don't need their angels anymore? Yeah, okay; so Si seems pretty happy about it all – like he's suddenly free to do all sorts of things he must have been thinking he's been denied up till now. But Emma; she's as miserable as I'd be if _you_ left _me_.'

'If...if she feels that way, it might be that she – and perhaps even Si too, if it looks like he's suddenly going to start misbehaving! – it might be that new angels are appointed to–'

'New angels?' Chrissy was aghast. 'But Emma wants _Petrial_ back. Not some _new_ angel! I thought we got to choose our angels? Not the other way round, where someone tells us which angels will be looking after us!'

'Perhaps...perhaps Petrial _could_ come back, after a while.' Jial sounded unsure. She slightly turned away and hung her head, as if ashamed, or at least avoiding Chrissy's eyes. 'Things have changed, Chrissy. Everything can't be as it was, I'm afraid.'

And as Chrissy saw a tear fall to the floor, she at last realised why Jial had turned away.

*

# Chapter 9

The next morning, Chrissy's dad looked worried.

The Sunday newspaper hadn't been delivered.

Chrissy couldn't understand why he was making such an amazing fuss about it. He only ever just glanced through it, like he wasn't really bothered about what was going on in the world, but was just going through the motions of pretending to be interested. Even so, he quickly called on the neighbours, nervously asking them if they'd had their papers delivered, receiving an equally anxious 'No' from every one of them.

Why was it such a big deal? Chrissy wondered.

Who in town really cared what was going on in the rest of the world, unless it was the latest music, movies, books or fashions? (Or, of course, when it came to people like herself, the kind of nightlife and amazing things to do that the school kids of Hermon could only dream about.) Hermon's council often cited what the rest of the world was doing as a reason why they'd be doing the complete opposite: for the good of the town's populace, of course; for the sake of a peaceful, law-abiding life; for a more morally upstanding and rewarding way of living.

In many ways, Chrissy had to agree, the town council was right in taking this stance. There was little crime in Hermon, most cases being nothing more than a minor traffic violation, or someone mistakenly taking something from a shop without paying. Crimes that could be resolved with no more erroneous punishment than a stern talking to.

Not even the police were allowed or needed to carry weapons. The only guns she had ever seen were those in movies. The only knives those used in cooking. Even in the school's cookery classes, the knives were treated as items to be handled with utmost care, counted out as they were handed round, counted once more as they were collected and locked away in their drawers.

Everyone in Hermon was perfectly safe. If more than a little bored.

Chrissy left the house with a sigh of relief. Even though her dad had tried to hide it, going about his regular Sunday chores of cleaning out the garage and clearing up the garden, Chrissy thought he still seemed a little jumpy: particularly when she'd come across him a number of times making whispered phone calls.

Chrissy had almost made the mistake of telling her father that a far more important thing to worry about than disappearing newspapers were vanishing angels. Thankfully, she'd stopped herself just in time when she remembered Si's parents had said no one else should be told.

Yes, she felt awful hiding something like that from her parents; but a promise was a promise, wasn't it?

'Hmn, it's an odd promise to hold you to; though, yeah, I can understand they don't want everyone knowing just yet,' Jial had murmured doubtfully when Chrissy explained why she wasn't telling her parents what had happened (leaving out the extra detail that Si's parents had also insisted that Jial wasn't to know they hadn't informed the council). Jial had been persuaded even less by Chrissy's argument that the promise meant she couldn't even mention Petrial's disappearance; 'Well, in a way, Jial, I'm revealing that, you know, angels are disappearing, and that might lead to questioning by Mom and Dad that leads me into mentioning Zorbielle.'

'Still, I suppose the promise has created a bit of a moral problem for you,' Jial had conceded doubtfully. 'We'll have to insist Si releases you from such an unfair promise; tell him it means you can't speak honestly with your mum and dad.'

Chrissy had almost chuckled at Jial's earnestness; it was just so unlike her! But that very same earnest frown dissuaded Chrissy from making fun of her.

Besides, as far as Chrissy was aware, Zorbielle and Petrial were still missing, despite Jial's claim that they might return. It was hardly a situation to treat lightly.

Emma was still mortified that Petrial had disappeared, despite Chrissy calling her again the previous night to tell her that Jial believed it might only be a temporary separation. Emma had, of course, been grateful for Chrissy's call. When she'd asked for more definite details, however, Chrissy hadn't been able to answer, as Jial herself had refused to explain further, regardless of Chrissy's own repeated questioning.

Chrissy had arranged to meet Emma on the green lying more or less half way between her own house and Si's. That way, she'd reasoned, she wouldn't miss Si if he'd decided to call on her. It turned out to be a good decision on her part, as a hugely-grinning Si was already striding up her street towards her.

'Hardly looks like he's even the teensiest bit concerned that poor Zorbielle just vanished just like that, does he?' Jial puckered her lips peevishly, slipping back into little sister mode.

Before Chrissy could reply, Si yelled out to her.

'Let me guess! The big news of today is that there is no news?'

He chuckled, as if he'd been enjoying himself all morning watching flustered adults rushing around looking for their missing newspapers.

'You too?' Chrissy's yell was a little softer than Si's, as they were drawing closer. 'I thought it might be Gary – the boy who delivers our papers – being poorly or something. I'd heard Dad on the phone to the shop. But he went all weirdly quiet and nervous as soon as he saw I could hear him.'

'Nope, it's not the delivery boy's fault. There's been no papers delivered from out of town.'

'So? It means a truck's broken down, or something, yeah? I can't understand why everyone's acting like it's the nearest thing to a terrorist attack on Hermon!'

'Tell me about it! To be fair on Mom and Pop, though, they've hardly bothered about it; like they've got their minds more fixed on Zorbielle's disappearance, and what to do about it.'

'Nice to see someone's concerned!' Jial glared at Si, even though he couldn't possibly be aware of her sarcastic response. 'I take it they've told the council?'

Chrissy knew she should answer Jial's question – but she was still compromised by that promise, right? Si didn't want even Jial to know that his parents had decided no one should be informed of Zorbielle's disappearance, least of all the council.

She felt odd hiding things from Jial. She had never, ever, had to hide anything from her. She felt like it was a betrayal of her most trusted friend.

She wasn't proud of herself. She felt, rather, incredibly ashamed.

Incredibly vulnerable.

To avoid answering Jial, Chrissy made out she was responding to the anxiety of Si's parents over the loss of Zorbielle.

'Jial reckons Zorbielle could come back,' she said to Si. 'Petrial too! Oh yeah, sorry; I haven't had chance to tell you. Petrial, Emma's angel, has vanished too!'

'Hmn, so it's _not_ just me?'

Chrissy shook her head.

'Emma's taken it an awful lot harder than you have though. I said I'd meet her on the green; have a talk with her.'

Si looked worried.

'You haven't mentioned that Zorbie–'

'Course I haven't Si! I made a promise, didn't I?'

'Tell him you need releasing from that promise!' Jial urged. 'It's causing trouble between you and your mom and dad!'

Once again Chrissy ignored Jial, this time by pretending to be distracted by Si who, oblivious to Jial's presence, was speaking over her.

'Good, good,' Si said with satisfaction. 'Sure, have a chat with Emma. But _please_ don't mention Zorbielle, Chrissy! It is an odd feeling, being without your angel, I'll give her that. I can understand why she might be upset! To be honest, even I'm not taking it all as easily as you probably think I am. You can't have a relationship like that suddenly ending without it affecting you. I'm just accepting it as a part of my growing up; plus, of course, all the amazing freedom it's given me!'

He pronounced 'freedom' like a character in a movie who'd just broken free of prison.

Jial glowered.

'Freedom isn't such a great thing if you're not sure what to do with it or, worse, you end up doing the wrong things! Poor Zorbielle was only there to act as an extra conscience, to help Si make the right choices! The council need to know Si's no longer receiving adequate guidance. Has his mom and dad told them of Zorbielle's disappearance?'

Chrissy realised she couldn't ignore Jial any longer without it becoming obvious that it was deliberate.

'Jial's asking if you've told the council that Zorbielle's gone,' she said to Si.

'She took a long time to say something that simple, Chrissy,' Si cynically chuckled.

He had patiently waited while Chrissy had listened to Jial's complaint, even though it had looked to him as if Chrissy had been doing nothing but stare into empty space.

'I bet she was having a little rant about me being free as a bird too, wasn't she?'

'Arrghhh!' Jial fumed. 'Are you sure you still fancy this arrogant twerp, Chrissy?'

Stepping forward, Jial aimed a swinging kick at Si's shins. As her foot passed harmlessly through his leg, she lost her balance, tumbling to the floor.

'Serves you right!' Chrissy laughed.

'Luckily for him,' Jial pouted miserably, sitting up on the floor, 'I remembered halfway through my kick that I'm not supposed to hurt him!'

*

'I'll never live this down, you know that Chrissy? I'm not supposed to be allowing this! I've failed in my duty to you!'

Jial was still seething after her humiliation of falling on the floor. Now, however, she was complaining that things were even worse. Alongside her, Chrissy was openly holding hands with Si as they walked towards the town's green.

'Look, Jial; what's the problem?' Chrissy retorted. 'Si's a grown up now, right? And he's helping me grow up, isn't he?'

Jial just about smouldered with anger.

Si raised his eyes in exasperation.

'That's the problem with angels; whenever you want to enjoy yourself, yap yap yap!'

He used his fingers to indicate a yapping mouth.

Jial glowered.

'You know, I _could_ kick him if I wanted to!'

Suddenly, Si stopped walking, pulling Chrissy to a halt with him.

'It's just, well, _wonderful_ holding hands with you like this, Chrissy. But, you know, I've always wondered...'

He looked directly into her eyes. It was a look that lingered, as if he were trying to communicate with his eyes alone. He grinned, letting his lips part slightly, invitingly.

Jial at least immediately knew what he was suggesting.

'No no, Chrissy! You can't, you can't!' she wailed. 'Not here! Not _anywhere_! Not _yet_!'

Chrissy ignored her. As if in a dream, she leant closer towards Si; and he leant closer towards her.

Their lips touched. Melded. Somehow, the strangely beautiful curves of their lips fitted perfectly together.

'I can't look!'

Jial covered her eyes, squirming in embarrassment.

'If I don't see, I can't tell you off, I suppose! But I _can_ hear you, so please keep the _sighs_ down, right?'

*

# Chapter 10

'A _fine_ guardian angel I've turned out to be!'

Jial writhed in shame as she miserably ambled alongside a deliriously happy Chrissy and Si.

'Is she _still_ complaining?'

A deliriously grinning Si glanced at the empty space where he presumed Jial must be.

'She'll get over it!' Chrissy reassured him, clenching his hand tighter, using the move to pull him closer towards her.

'I will _not_ get over it! Do you know what sort of trouble I'm going to be in for allowing this to happen?'

'Jial, don't be such a hypocrite! You love all those love movies and stories! You cry just as much as I do!'

' _Stories_ , Chrissy! Not _reality_! There are _repercussions_ in reality!'

Si was watching Chrissy's argument with Jial with bemusement. He could only guess what the latter was saying, using Chrissy's own comments, tone and expressions as an unreliable guide.

'Wow,' he chuckled, 'this makes me realise how all this would be impossible if Zorbielle was still around!'

Jial glared at Si, but softened as she spoke to Chrissy.

'Chrissy, please! I'm _not_ a killjoy! I can understand why you and Si would want to get together! And, to be honest; I think it's wonderful! Butttt...apart from feeling a bit of a gooseberry tagging along like this, I'm not supposed to _allow_ it!'

Chrissy leant closer towards Jial, whispering as if she had a delicious secret to share.

'But Jial; you just can't believe how _amazingly_ wonderful it is to be kissed! It's far better than you'd think from the stories!'

Jial smiled sadly.

'Yes, Chrissy; I must admit, I am a little jealous – because I _would_ like to know what it's like to be kissed!'

*

The green was where most people headed when they didn't have any particular plans for the day.

They knew there was a good chance there'd be someone they knew similarly aimlessly hanging around the surrounding shops and cafes.

Forming into groups, next they'd either work out something better to do, or linger a while longer, lazing on the grass or joining in light-heartedly played games.

As Chrissy and Si approached the green, a game that didn't seem to follow any regular rules was in progress. The players were kicking a number of balls around, but immediately giving up possession as soon as someone tagged them. Even so, as Chrissy and Si would expect, everyone seemed to be enjoying playing, laughing rather than getting upset whenever they lost the ball.

Each time someone appeared to score by tossing the ball into one of a number of chalked squares, there were so may cheers that it was impossible to tell how the players were divided into teams – if, indeed, there were any teams.

Then something happened that Chrissy had never seen before, except in the movies, or had read about in books.

One of the players, a tall, lithely muscular girl called Mardy, elbowed aside a smaller girl as she made a rush for one of the scoring squares. She swerved and leapt past other players, making a ridiculously determined effort to score. She threw the ball down into the square with a triumphant cry.

As if this wasn't an amazing, unfamiliar sight in its own right, a handful of other players nearby joined in with the girl's exultant yells. Others just as loudly jeered, complaining that the point shouldn't be allowed.

'Wow, how seriously are they taking that game?' Si chuckled in bemusement. 'Detentions all round if they tried that at school!'

Far from being amused, Jial frowned apprehensively.

'Someone might get injured if they continue playing like that,' Chrissy said, wondering why scoring a point could be so important to anyone.

'They're playing to _win_ ; not simply to _enjoy_ themselves,' Jial pointed out with a disapproving puckering of her lips.

Around the green, smaller groups of people were taking part in other games. Most of these were being played as they should be, with the stronger, more athletic girls and boys helping the weaker players gain the most points. Yet even some of these games had their share of players treating the game as if it were really a contest; a test of prowess that – as was regularly discussed in Philosophy and Morals class – could only lead to discord and bitterness.

Even stranger, however, were the small gatherings taking place beneath the largest of the green's trees. Rather than using the shade offered by the spreading branches as the ideal place to sit and talk or read, all the girls and boys gathered there were excitedly peering up into the leafy covering, shouting out words of encouragement or warning.

People were _climbing_ in the trees, Chrissy realised with horror.

Why were their angels allowing them to risk–

And then it dawned on her.

Like Si and Emma, they obviously no longer had an angel to advise and guide them.

*

# Chapter 11

Around the green, numerous examples of unusual behaviour were taking place.

Boys were attempting back flips in the air. Girls were cartwheeling. Whole groups were taking turns to leap over obstacles, such as old tree stumps or the long, wooden seats set a few yards back from the surrounding pavements.

Slowly, however, more and more of them began to stop whatever they were doing. Some were drawing to a halt in mid-run, others picking themselves up off the ground. Even more were turning around wherever they were standing or sitting to stare with gawping, incredulous eyes in the very same direction – towards Chrissy and Si.

'Why...why are they all staring at us like that?' Chrissy hissed nervously at Si.

'You're still holding hands, remember?' Jial answered with a satisfied trill to her voice.

With an embarrassed squirm, Chrissy shrugged her hand free of Si's. He stared back at her in surprise, then grinned mischievously.

'Now what's your little angel telling you to do?'

'Everyone's _staring_ at us Si!'

Chrissy blushed. Even though she was no longer holding hands with Si, everyone was continuing to watch them as they approached the green. Most broke into a knowing grin similar to Si's.

'How _embarrassing_!'

Chrissy hung her head in shame.

' _You're_ embarrassed?' Jial said. 'What do you think it's like for me? If this were a regular job, I'd be out of work tomorrow!'

'Chrissy! Chrissy!'

Emma was running across the green towards them, calling out Chrissy's name.

She was still tearful, her face reddened and creased with worry. Chrissy wouldn't have recognised her if she'd had to pick her out of the crowd.

Normally carefree, her walk almost an exuberant skip, Emma was edgily clutching at a sodden handkerchief she was constantly dabbing her face with. Her long, flowing locks were tied up beneath an unflattering cap, as if – for the first time ever – she no longer wished to draw attention to herself.

'What's happening, what's happening Chrissy?' Emma demanded, frantically gripping Chrissy's arm. 'Can't you see, can't you see?' she wailed, nervously glancing about her at the games being played across the green. ' _Other_ angels have vanished! They're _leaving_ us Chrissy, they're _leaving_ us!'

She glared with angrily bulbous eyes at the empty space next to Chrissy, where she expected Jial to be standing.

'Why are you leaving us? What have we done to _deserve_ this?'

'We're not leaving you; tell her that please Chrissy.'

Jial spoke as calmly and authoritatively as she could. Yet Chrissy was almost sure she could detect a quivering in her voice, a possible hint of uncertainty.

'They're _not_ leaving us, Emma!' Chrissy said, stretching out an arm, curving it around Emma's back to give her a supportive hug.

Emma gratefully collapsed against Chrissy, her body shaking as she began to sob uncontrollably.

'I feel...so _alone_!'

'I think we'd better cut down on anything said between us for a while, don't you think Chrissy?' Jial said, frowning anxiously as she observed Emma's distress. 'I don't think seeing us happily chatting away is going to help her one bit.'

'She's not the only one to take it all so badly.'

With a nod of his head, Si drew Chrissy's attention to girls and boys she hadn't noticed before. Like Emma, they were withdrawn, hanging back from the other groups as if lost and aimless.

Chrissy was surprised to see that some of these boys and girls were usually the most confident, outgoing people she knew. Now they were fretfully shambling around, their heads hung low. A few were crazily staring at everything going on about them, as if it had all suddenly changed into a frightening, unpredictable world.

Even as she watched them, however, the ones farthest from her began to cock their heads, as if listening to something in the distance. More and more of them began to hear it too, until even Chrissy could detect the faint, tinkling chords of what could have been an approaching ice cream van.

Everyone who had been miserable smiled. They turned excitedly to people whom, only a moment ago, they had ignored and avoided as if they weren't really there.

Those who had started their games up again after finishing staring at Chrissy and Si halted in mid-stride once more. All those who had been playing to win frowned in disappointment, even angrily slamming any ball they held into the ground.

Emma stopped crying. She grinned ecstatically, excitedly clutching at her sodden handkerchief. Then, as if something had suddenly dawned on her, she began fretfully weeping once more.

Chrissy gave her a consoling squeeze.

Si shrugged.

'Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.'

Everyone recognised those brightly tinkling tones, a tune happily remembered from their past.

It was the Angel Bus.

*

# Chapter 12

Of course, only Chrissy saw Jial's briefly puzzled expression.

It didn't look as if she'd been expecting the Angel Bus to turn up.

Even if anyone else could have seen Jial, they wouldn't have noticed her bemusement. All of their attention was now focused on the angels appearing one by one around the green. Ablaze with a silvery white glow, smiling serenely, these were fully matured angels. Their massive wings rose up in three pairs across their backs.

Still smiling, still silent, each angel gracefully made his or her way across the green, hovering just slightly above the grass rather than treading on it. They approached those who, only a moment ago, had been wilfully striving to score the most points, or had been walking around aimlessly, seeming both bewildered and miserable. The angels spoke quietly, amiably, reassuringly, as was their style.

The ringing tones of the Angel Bus grew louder as it turned into the road running around the large green. Almost as perfectly white as the angels, if missing their ethereal glow, the bus sparkled in the sun, especially along its immense, slightly silvered windows. It took up the whole parking bay it smoothly pulled into.

Although she hadn't seen the bus since she was three years old, from what Chrissy could remember of her experience it looked just the same. And she remembered a great deal of that day, for it was when she had first been presented with Jial.

Of course, Jial wasn't really Jial then. Then she had been nothing more than the tiniest baby, as weak, helpless and vulnerable as a kitten. She had been totally dependent upon Chrissy's incredibly naive care. Fortunately, unlike a real baby, the young Jial was indestructible, and didn't require either feeding or toilet training.

After three months of this, when an idea of how the relationship between them would work had finally begun to be realised, Jial had swiftly matured over a matter of days: overtaking Chrissy in age, knowledge and understanding of moral issues. But it had been Chrissy who had determined just what kind of angel Jial would be. Similarly, Si's earlier actions and raising of the infant Zorbielle had resulted in an elder brother figure, while Emma's ultimate wish (not that Chrissy knew this, of course) had been for a twin who was more gossiping friend rather than sister.

With a satisfied hiss, the door towards the front of the bus opened, automatically swinging aside. The angels began directing those they had been talking to into forming a queue running alongside the bus. The queue was soon snaking beyond the bus's end, as others began to join it without any prompting from the angels.

A few of those who had seemed to be enjoying their new found freedom hung back doubtfully. They were obviously in no rush to once again take on the restraints to their behaviour that would come with a new angel. Si, of course, was one of these, hanging back with Chrissy as if hoping he could continue to hide the fact that Zorbielle was one of the angels who had vanished. More surprisingly, Emma was hanging back too.

'It...it won't be _Petrial_! Not the _real_ Petrial, anyway,' she mumbled miserably.

Even more surprisingly, Chrissy noted, was Jial's reaction to the arrival of the Angel Bus. At first she had seemed astonished then, as she had watched the angels calmly rounding up everyone who had lost an angel, her puzzled frown had changed into a disturbed anxiousness.

One of the angels had noticed that they were hanging back. With an understanding, calming smile, she began to unhurriedly glide across the ground towards them.

'Come on,' Si resignedly muttered, taking Chrissy's hand and beginning to step towards the rear of the queue. 'We're going to have to go; and I'd prefer to be the one who decides to do it rather than being lectured to.'

Chrissy took Emma's hand and, with nothing more than a pleading 'Emma?', persuaded her to walk along with them.

Seeing that they intended to join the queue after all, the angel turned off towards a group of boys who were on the point of moving away from the green. Another angel, having already spotted their intention, had already swiftly moved in to block their way.

Chrissy wondered what the angels would do if the boys refused to obey them. She couldn't see that they would resort to any form of physical persuasion; they all appeared too kind, too spiritually graceful, to give any impression that they would risk harming anyone.

As a police car turned into the road surrounding the green, Chrissy believed she had her answer; if there were any trouble, the police would step in to control things. Not, of course, that the town's police themselves had ever had to resort to any form of physical restraint – but she had seen police react purposely, robustly and even violently enough in movies.

As she, Si and Emma made their way towards the still growing queue, other patrol cars slowly, almost silently drew into the road, parking along the green's edges.

Both Si and Jial frowned as they noticed this, as if taking it as a sign that the police might be expecting trouble. Emma hadn't noticed the arrival of the patrol cars, didn't notice them even as the police officers in each car stepped out onto the pavement or road. The officers began to warily watch the continuing efforts of the angels to gently persuade the more reticent of the boys and girls to make their way over to the Angel Bus.

Emma was blankly staring at her sodden handkerchief, which she was tensely crunching up in her hands once more.

'Emma, it will be all _right_!' Chrissy said kindly, once again curving a reassuring arm around the nervously weeping girl's shoulders. 'In a few days, when she's grown, it will be just like having Petrial back!'

Even as she said this, Chrissy doubted the truth of her own words.

If she had been placed in the same position as Emma, would she accept that a new angel was Jial, even if she looked and sounded exactly like her? What, she would always wonder, had happened to the _original_ Jial? The _real_ Jial?

A replacement pretending to be Jial would make that loss seem all the greater, all the worse, as if the real Jial had been nothing but some toy or object that could be easily substituted.

'It won't be the _same_ ,' Emma said determinedly between a burst of body wracking sobs, putting Chrissy's own thoughts into words. 'I grew up with Petrial. We've been the same age since we were eight. She was my best friend. I _loved_ her!'

Chrissy hardly knew anything about how Emma's relationship with Petrial had worked. Obviously, however, Emma had chosen the youngest age for an angel, then also chosen that they would grow up together as soon as Emma had caught Petrial up in age.

Chrissy glanced towards Jial, her eyes begging for help in reassuring Emma.

'A new Petrial would remember everything they'd done together. In a while, maybe, who knows–' Jial shrugged as if she weren't really so sure how things would turn out. 'Maybe Emma would come to think of her as the real Petrial.'

Chrissy couldn't see how she could re-interpret Jial's hesitantly uncertain comment in a way that would comfort Emma.

'These are angels, remember?' Chrissy said at last, feeling she would have to say something. 'You can't think of them as if, you know, they're like us, humans, who die and then just vanish from the world!'

Jial grimaced. It could have been an expression of pain, even fear. Suddenly, Chrissy once again doubted the truth of her own words.

'He looked terrified,' one of an approaching group of boys and girls blurted out. 'He put his hands up in front of his face, like he was being attacked or something!'

The boy re-enacted the disappearance of his angel with arms raised up against his face. He half cowered, half stepped back.

Perhaps, under the circumstances, it was perfectly natural that they had been discussing the disappearance of their angels. Perhaps they had overheard Chrissy, and it had set off recollections of their own experiences. Either way, the boy's description made Emma anxiously cringe.

How had Petrial vanished? Chrissy wondered. Had she also been terrified?

'Frestrielle just wished me luck. She said she'd enjoyed being my angel, but she had to go now, and wouldn't be coming back.'

'Mine too, more or less,' another girl agreed. 'But then, like Jake's, she suddenly looked like she was being attacked. It was like she stood no chance against whatever it was that made her just disappear like that.'

Emma was becoming increasingly distraught. Realising this, Chrissy wanted to pull farther away from the group of boys and girls, but as they were all heading towards the queue it would look odd just moving away from them like that. She looked Jial's way once more, hoping to see how she was reacting to these stories of how the angels had appeared to be being attacked.

Before she could gauge Jial's response, however, she was interrupted by a police woman who had stridden across the grass towards them.

'Chrissy?' the police officer called out. 'Your angel's still with you, isn't she?'

'That's right, that's right officer Veris,' Chrissy replied quickly. 'But I just wanted to be with my friends. You know, help them?'

She drew the police officer's attention to Emma's distress with a slight nod of her head.

'Hah, sure, okay Chrissy.' With a sorrowful, understanding smile, the officer backed away.

As they joined the queue, the conversation around them had fortunately changed, a few people even laughing, giggling with anticipation.

'You know, now I'm a bit older, well; perhaps I did _need_ a change, know what I'm saying?'

Jial appeared affronted by the flippant way the girl had spoken of replacing her angel. Chrissy, however, could understand what the girl meant. As far as Chrissy was aware, none of her friends had chosen an angel of the maximum age of twenty five, although a handful had allowed them to gradually mature to this age. Now, though, when they themselves were older, more mature – would they see a benefit in taking guidance from a more sophisticated angel?

Jial had hardly spoken since the arrival of the angels. Or was it, in fact, Chrissy wondered, since the arrival of Emma?

Either way, Jial strangely seemed to be every bit as bewildered by events as she was, if not more so. And that really didn't make sense, did it?

Surely an angel should know everything? Particularly when it involved the angels themselves?

Around her, the laughing had grown louder, more excited. There were also cries of 'Cute!', 'Wow, I'd forgotten how adorable they were!' and 'Let me have a look'. The group standing by them had been joined by a couple of girls who, having been towards the front of the queue, had now circled back to proudly present their new angels to everyone.

They had chosen eggs, rather than hatchlings. Even so, in the warmth of the girls' cupped hands one bleary eyed, drowsy, and still thoroughly drenched angel had already emerged from her cracked shell. The other egg was already cracking, an incredibly tiny fist at last punching through and widening the hole until the shell more or less split in half.

The fledgling tumbled exhaustedly from the broken shell. Weakly taking in a gasp of air, she blinked her eyes in disbelief at the brightness of the world she'd woken up in. She smiled lazily, dreamily, as if about to go back to sleep. Her wings were wet, furled against her back and, for the moment, unmoving.

'How embarrassing to know I started out like this.'

Jial sounded like she was grumbling, yet even she was as enthralled as everyone else by the minute angels as they tiredly and thankfully curled up in the safety and softness of the girls' cupped hands.

By nightfall, the wings of the fledglings would be dry, soft and feathery. By then, though, the young angels would also be invisible to everyone but their new companion. Hatchlings were visible to everyone young enough to require a guardian, but only on the very first day, allowing them to be chosen in preference to an unhatched egg.

Chrissy had chosen Jial as a hatchling, instantly entranced by her wide, curious eyes. She had frowned at everything going on around her, as if mystified by even the most normal of events or things.

'Now, what will _you_ be, I wonder?'

The girl stared in a mix of amusement and awe at the angel in her hands. It happily blinked back at her in equally wide-eyed amazement.

'I've always wondered what Spiderman's angel would be like.'

The other girl was tenderly using her thumbs to remove the egg's sticky liquid from her own angel, who was now calmly sitting up in her cupped hands.

'I always thought, you know, that poor angel must've been driven crazy. I mean, following him flying around the city like that! And with him quite obviously not listening to a word she was saying too!'

Her friends chuckled and giggled. Everyone, at some point, had tried to imagine how a fictional or historical character's relationship with their angel worked. Attempting to guess how and why a guardian had failed to control a young Hitler, or in what way they had aided a maturing Plato, or a severely suffering slave, was an important part of their school course work. Naturally, it could only ever be speculation, for no one had ever revealed how their particular relationship worked. As a popular teacher had warned, 'it was an abstract philosophical exercise at best; and may only end up revealing your own idea of a relationship, if you're not careful!'

The girl speaking, Chrissy was suddenly surprised to realise, was the same girl who only moments before had been aggressively pushing aside anyone standing in her way of scoring yet another point. Now she was carefully tending to her hatchling. The calming influence of the angels, even the still blissfully naive hatchlings, was quite remarkable. It really was hard to understand how so many angels had ultimately had so little influence over so many despots and criminals, not only throughout history but also within their own time too.

Si gently nudged her. He drew her attention to the coach's windows, which they were now slowly passing alongside.

'You know,' he said with an anxious frown, 'I'm not sure there's going to be enough: angels, I mean. There's not going to be enough angel's for everyone here.'

Chrissy frowned too, but only in puzzlement. She couldn't see what Si meant. Jial shrugged, her face creasing slightly in a 'Me neither' look. Emma's head was down, staring at the ground as she miserably shuffled along with everyone else.

The tall, almost floor to ceiling windows loomed above them. Their silvering had been removed, replaced by a smoky grey that allowed anyone outside to dimly peer through them. Those who had already entered the Angel Bus were obediently filing past the glass cabinets displaying the hatchlings and eggs for them to choose from. It was also possible to see inside some of the cases. Just as she remembered from her first time on the Angel Bus, the hatchlings were drowsily tumbling over each other, or making the very first weak flaps of their gradually drying wings. Around them, nestled in a beds of fine straw, were uncracked eggs, glistening with a jewel-like sheen under the bright heat lamps of the cabinets.

'There's plenty there,' Chrissy said, fleetingly glancing back to see just how big the queue was. 'More than enough for everyone here.'

Si shook his head, his mouth curling into a dismissive pursing.

'Watch, Chrissy. Watch the kids filing through, not the hatchlings: no matter how cute they are.'

Chrissy watched. Even though she was on a much lower level to those filing through the bus, and she was seeing them through multiple layers of distorting glass, she could make out the eagerness with which each person studied, pointed at and excitedly chose their angels, picking them out from amongst the uncountable hatchlings and eggs in the translucent cabinets. She was about to shake her head in puzzlement once more, even started saying 'I can't see what the problem is' – then halted mid-word.

The chosen hatchings weren't being carefully withdrawn from the cabinets and presented to their new companions, as she would have expected.

'I...I don't understand,' she admitted worriedly. 'A choice of an angel can't be refused.'

The white-coated assistants on the bus, rather than fulfilling their important role of ensuring the correct link up of chooser-companion and chosen-guardian, were instead apologetically shaking their heads. Offering instead some spoken explanation Chrissy obviously couldn't hear, the assistants merely calmly led the disappointed boy or girl off towards the front of the queue. Here they would both disappear behind the solid, opaque panels of the bus's rear.

'I reckon the handlers are the ones without any choice.'

Si craned his neck back to peer as intently as he could at the nearest row of hatchlings, which were a good arm's length above his head.

'I don't think the hatchlings are really there. They're holograms, or some other kind of moving projection anyway.'

Chrissy grimaced doubtfully, yet she couldn't see what other reason there could be for the handlers to refuse a companion's first (and supposedly only) choice of guardian.

'So why are they still keeping us queuing like this?' she demanded irately, forgetting that she needn't be in the queue at all. 'And if you're right, Si, why are they trying to fool everyone into thinking there are still plenty of hatchlings left?'

Jial shrugged apologetically once more as Chrissy unfairly glared at her. Emma, as if she had been following the conversation after all, began to amble to one side of the patiently filing children. She appeared ready to leave the queue, a sickly, almost pleased grin on her otherwise downcast face.

An angel silently swooped forward. Her beatific smile was somehow at odds with the way she opened her arms and wings wide to gently corral Emma and edge her back into the queue.

Fortunately, Emma was too beaten, too miserable, to protest further. Farther up the queue, both Chrissy and Si noticed that someone more forthright had had the same idea, only for the angel's kindly persuasion to be suddenly backed up by the abrupt appearance of sternly scowling police officers.

'Don't look at me,' Jial insisted petulantly before Chrissy had a chance to glower at her once more. 'I've no idea what's going on either!'

'We have to get out of the queue, I think,' Chrissy said determinedly, taking in the line of nervously shuffling police officers who had positioned themselves beyond the angels keeping the queue in order.

'You think?' Si said, having come to the same conclusion.

'Easier said than done.' Jial grimaced, edgily glancing over towards the lines of angels and police.

Jial turned back to face Chrissy, giving Chrissy the impression that she was torn between whom she should be helping.

'You do know I should be stopping you, right?' Jial added, proving Chrissy had guessed correctly.

'But you're not because, obviously, I chose the right angel,' Chrissy answered, wondering if the happily giggling girls standing by her had also – perhaps intuitively, perhaps magically – made the right choice.

One of the girls was holding her hatchling in just the palm of her hand, letting him play with her relatively huge fingers, while the other was still tenderly cupping her more freshly hatched, weaker angel.

' _I_ know what to do,' Chrissy whispered, turning back to Si and Emma.

*

# Chapter 13

Even Emma seemed entranced by the egg she was holding in her cupped hands as, along with the two girls, they all walked away from the queue.

Si was even promising his unhatched angel that, this time, he wouldn't constantly question whatever was asked of him.

'Don't overplay it, Marlon Brando!' Chrissy hissed.

Jial tagged along like she wished she were a million miles away. Her face was every bit as downcast and miserable as any normal twelve-year-old girl who thought she had been unfairly treated.

'What happens to angels when they get fired, do you think?' she muttered unhappily. 'You do know you're only getting away with this because they think I'd have more sense than to let you do it?'

She gave a petulant nod towards the lines of angels and police, many of whom had closely watched them split off from the queue as if they were with the two girls. Chrissy was the only one amongst the group who wasn't adoringly cooing into her cupped hands but, of course, far from worrying the watching police, this had only reassured them. They were obviously fully aware that she was still being watched over and guided by Jial. The angels even appreciatively smiled at the care everyone was taking over the new hatchlings, warming to the expressions of happiness and awe on the faces of each boy and girl.

Not even the angels could tell that the two girls weren't just happy, but also a little bemused that Chrissy and her friends had decided to walk across the green with them. They all more or less knew everyone by sight, having at some time caught glimpses of each other at school, or hanging around the green, cafes or movie theatres: yet they could hardly be called friends. Then again, the girls thought, a happy, unusual occasion like this always brought people closer together, didn't it? It was one of those times when everyone was filled with a sense that the world was both wonderful and a joyous place to be.

'By, see you later,' the girls trilled merrily as the two groups finally spilt up on the edge of the green.

'Perhaps, you know, we should hang out together once our angels have grown a little?' one asked hopefully, her eyes lingering on Si a little too long for Chrissy to feel comfortable about it.

Emma was the next to say she was heading on home, miserably shaking her head when Si suggested heading back along the edge of the green. He wanted to see what was happening to those who stepped off the Angel Bus without either a hatchling or an egg.

'I'm sure I didn't see anyone walking away across the green looking disappointed: so what's happening to them all?' he asked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders like she couldn't care, like she couldn't care about anything anymore.

'Maybe they crossed the road behind the bus?' she said dismissively. 'Or maybe, just like us, the ones you saw crossing the green were just cupping their hands and pretending they'd got themselves a whole new angel.'

She screwed her face in distaste as she sarcastically and angrily said 'a whole new angel'.

'Why would they pretend to have an egg?' Si irately replied. 'We only did it so we could get away from the queue – and keep _on_ doing it until you're out of sight of the cops Emma!'

Tiring of their silly game, Emma had begun to let her empty hands drop away from her face. Si's anger was so obvious, however, that she immediately cupped them again.

'Okay Emma,' Chrissy said quietly and kindly, trying to calm everything down. 'I'll call you later, okay? Or you call me – whenever you want, right?'

Emma gave a sullen nod.

'You do know she doesn't see the point in calling, right?' Jial said, reading Emma's forlorn, hopeless expression and slumped pose in exactly the same way that Chrissy had

Chrissy ignored Jial, even though she was tempted to reward her with a light kick to the ankles for not only stating the obvious but also distracting her as she tried to help Emma.

Emma headed off up one of the streets leading from the green, keeping her hands cupped as Si had more or less ordered her to. Every now and again she would miserably look back, wondering when she'd at last be able to put a stop to this mad pretence that she was happy, content, and had a brand new angel she could joyously raise.

Si sighed with relief that Emma had left them.

'Good; she wasn't taking this seriously. She could have endangered us, you know?'

Endangered? Chrissy was a little shocked. Why would they be endangered?

Did Si really think that the angels and police had suddenly become a danger to them? An enemy, someone who couldn't be trusted?

Did your mind start playing tricks with you like this once your angel had left you?

He'd called the police 'cops'. She'd never heard anyone call them that. Unless, of course, you counted the unreal world of books and movies.

She glanced Jial's way, hoping for a few reassuring or even comically dismissive words from her.

Jial didn't say anything.

But her anxious expression, the way she was gently biting her lip?

That said that maybe Si wasn't overreacting at all.

*

# Chapter 14

They kept to the edge of the green, Si still pretending to coo happily over his egg.

Chrissy watched out for any moves the angels or police made that could imply they were becoming suspicious. Jial continued to reluctantly shuffle alongside them, mumbling that she really really shouldn't be allowing this. Then again, she'd added miserably, as there didn't seem to be _anything_ happening that counted as normal, well, she wasn't really sure what she should be doing, was she?

From the green's corner, they could see both sides of the Angel Bus: the kerb side, where the queue was still patiently worming its way towards the bus's front door, and the side facing on to the road, where everyone disembarked through a small, rear exit door.

Chrissy thought back to the excitement and wonder she'd felt all those years ago when she'd stepped down through that door. She had cupped the fledgling Jial as tenderly as if she were holding her own life in her hands (which, in many ways, she was). Thankfully, the angels and the police were on hand to safely guide her off the road and back towards the green and her waiting parents. Like every other young child around her, she had been in a blissful daze, and would probably have unthinkingly wandered off.

The scene she was watching now was hardly different from her memory of that day. The police were once again waiting just outside the exit door, striding forward as soon as someone stepped down from the bus. Taking their charge gently by an elbow or arm, they would guide them away from the door so they wouldn't block the way of the next person to disembark. The children were older now, of course, and there was no need for their parents to be waiting for them. Even so, they still appeared every bit as disorientated and bewildered as Chrissy had as a three-year-old.

This time, of course, it was a different type of bewilderment to that experienced by Chrissy. This time, they weren't confused and disorientated because they'd just received a fledgling angel, but because they'd just been denied the angel they'd been expecting would be theirs.

They came off the bus looking perplexed, cheated, angry even. The police weren't treating them with the tenderness and kindness that Chrissy fondly recalled either. If anyone stepping off the bus appeared to be irately shrugging off a police officer's grip to their elbow or arm, the grip became firmer, the officer's 'guidance' harder and more aggressive.

No one was being safely guided towards the green. Everyone was being directed, if necessary even brutally pulled, a short distance across the road towards a large armoured van, which they were forced to board through open rear doors.

A boy protested, pushing back away from the doors and whirling around violently enough to shrug off the policeman's grip on his arm.

The officer instantly reached for something on the rear of his belt, swiftly drawing it up to point it directly into the boy's face.

The boy pulled back in horror; then quickly, submissively, he boarded the van.

The officer stepped away, his back now to Chrissy and Si as he slipped whatever he'd used to scare the boy back into its belt pouch.

Chrissy recognised it immediately from the movies she'd seen, the descriptions in books.

It was a gun.

*

Chrissy was so startled, she glanced Si's way. She needed some form of confirmation that she really had just seen a police officer wielding a gun.

His eyes were wide with surprise, perhaps even horror – yes, he'd seen the gun too.

She hadn't imagined it after all.

'What's a police officer doing with a gun?' Si breathed anxiously.

A police officer with a gun implied a town or city where order had broken down. Where people were prepared to commit lawless acts. It was a fictional device, code for the breakdown in society featured in movies and books, but having no place in real life.

Chrissy looked Jial's way for an explanation.

'They're nervous; worried there might be a panic once everyone realises there aren't enough angels to go around just yet. And the panic will be worse, of course, because they no longer have their angels to calm them and offer guidance.'

Another armoured van turned into the road they'd just crossed, slowing traversing down the edge of the green. Noticing this, the police closed the doors of the van presently being filled with those exiting the bus. A police woman rapped hard on the back of the van and, its motor already ticking over, it immediately set off, leaving a space for the newly arrived van to pull into.

Even before the new van had drawn to a halt, its rear doors flew open, a short flight of steps clattering into place below them like a broken xylophone. A policeman leapt out from inside, spinning around as he landed on the ground to help the other officers firmly guide a bewildered girl aboard.

'They're arresting them?' Si exclaimed, grimacing in disbelief. 'Just what are they expecting all those kids to do?' he added, as if he'd somehow heard Jial's earlier explanation. 'And just because – what? The kids haven't got their angels, like they'd expected?'

'Your egg!' Chrissy hissed in warning, nervously glancing around as it dawned on her that Si – forgetting to keep up the pretence that he'd received an angel – had let his hands drop. 'You're supposed to be carrying an egg, remember?'

Si instantly cupped his hands together before his face once more. Like Chrissy, he briefly glanced back towards the angels and police standing around on the now otherwise empty green.

'Let's get back to my place!' Quickening his stride, he headed up the nearest street leading away from the green. 'Before I end up in that van!'

*

# Chapter 15

'There isn't any signal.'

Slipping her cellphone back into her jeans pocket, Chrissy frowned in puzzlement and frustration. She had never known a time when there hadn't been a clear signal.

'Call 'em from Mom and Dad's phone when we get there.'

Now they were a few blocks from the green, Si had dropped the pretence that he was carrying an angel.

'You know,' he continued, 'I reckon the whole point of the signal being down is that they don't want any kids ringing home telling their parents that they're being arrested.'

'It's deliberate?' Chrissy's puzzled frown deepened into one of anger. 'You reckon the signal's been deliberately cut off?'

She glanced Jial's way, staring at her accusingly as she waited for a response.

'Yeah, I reckon he's probably right on that one,' Jial conceded, pulling a disconcerted face. She kicked out at a polystyrene cup on the floor, so that it flew up as if caught by the wind.

'Litter?' Si exclaimed in surprise as he watched the cup bounce into the road. 'Now I _really_ know something odd's going on around here!' he added with an ironic grin.

'That's what you get, maybe, when you don't see a place for angels in your lives?' Jial snapped sourly at an oblivious Si.

'Jial, what _is_ going on here?'

Chrissy glowered sternly at Jial once again. Following her gaze, Si distrustfully scowled at the empty space.

An obviously uncomfortable Jial shrugged, holding her arms out wide as if begging for understanding, even forgiveness.

'It doesn't make _any_ sense, I _know_. But at the moment, well, I'm sorry, but – we've sort of lost control. But only briefly – only briefly, honest!'

She hurriedly blurted out the last part, having noticed Chrissy's increasingly horrified expression.

'Not even the angels know what's going on?' Chrissy breathed worriedly.

Si's eyes opened wide in surprise.

'Damn! Now that really _does_ mean trouble!'

'No no! I didn't really say _that_!' Jial insisted. 'What I mean is, that presently, for the moment, we're having a little, er, difficulty.'

'Difficulty?' Chrissy snapped. 'You make it sound like there's a difficulty delivering the latest movie I've ordered! Why are those kids back there really being arrested? Why are we being stopped from phoning our moms and dads? What's happening to the angels?'

Now Jial was waving her hands, a sign that she couldn't handle all these difficult questions being thrown at her all at once.

'I...I can't explain – I mean, I'm not _allowed_ to explain. Not just yet, anyway!' There was a hint of doubt in her voice, like she wasn't really sure that she would ever be allowed to explain everything. 'Trust me, please. We _are_ trying to sort everything out. And I'm not really supposed to be telling you what I _am_ telling you!'

'And the kids? The one's being arrested?' Chrissy demanded determinedly.

Si stared curiously at the same empty spot that Chrissy was glaring at, wondering how Jial was reacting to this onslaught of questions.

'It _is_ for their own good, honest Chrissy!' Jial replied defensively, her face screwing up into an affronted pout. 'It's for their own protection.'

Chrissy recognised what Jial's disgruntled pout meant; Jial was upset that Chrissy didn't believe her. But she wasn't going to let up on trying to get some proper answers out of Jial.

'Their own protection?'

'What? _That's_ what she's saying? That kids are being locked up for their own protection?'

Si sounded even more incredulous than Chrissy.

Jial stamped her foot in frustration.

'Didn't I just say I'm not allowed to explain everything? You know, Chrissy, there really is something wrong with our relationship here, don't you think? _I'm_ the one having to explain myself all the ti–'

'Simon Menchester!' a megaphone enhanced voice cred out from somewhere behind them all. 'Stop right where you are! Or we shoot!'

*

# Chapter 16

Even before Chrissy had had time to turn around and get a good look at the police car slowly heading towards them, Si had grabbed her hand. Pulling her along with him, he darted across a lawn towards the nearest house.

'Run Chrissy, run!'

'Don't run, don't run!' Jial wailed anxiously, yet following after them anyway. 'They're not _really_ going to shoot!'

They sprinted towards one of two paths running between the side of the house and its neighbour. They ducked into the passageway. Almost directly behind them, the police car bounced up onto the kerb, slewing to a halt on the lawn. With the heavy clunk of doors hurriedly flung open, the policemen leapt out onto the now heavily churned up lawn.

Neither Chrissy nor Si recognised or had ever heard anything like the ear-splitting bang that immediately followed.

A bullet zipped through Jial's thankfully insubstantial body. It completely shredded a small bush they were all running past.

Jial instantly started to urge them on with frenziedly waved arms.

'They _will_ shoot, they _will_! Run, _run_!'

*

Their hearts fell as they ran into the house's small rear garden.

Even though the cluttered mass of small trees, shrubs, bushes and rose arches, they could see that the garden was completely surrounded by a mix of high hedges, walls, and wooden fencing.

They had no choice but to keep on running, however, hurtling down a winding gravel path. They leapt over a flowerbed, thinking it would help them gain a few extra yards.

But a few extra yards to where? they wondered anxiously.

Cutting behind a garden shed, they came to the end of the garden: an almost bare lawn, dominated by a gnarled apple tree.

'Wait, wait!' Chrissy cried excitedly, jerking Si off to one side.

With her free hand, Chrissy forced Si to duck down beneath the low spreading branches. In an instant, they were scrabbling across the hard earth towards the bases of the thick, seemingly impenetrable hedge.

'Where are _we_ going Chrissy?' Si hissed irritably.

'I'm not sure; just hoping – hoping it's still here!' Chrissy quietly mumbled as she frantically tore at a covering of nettles.

Forcing and squashing the nettles aside, she began to hurriedly snap the thin twigs blocking the gap between the trunks of two of the bushes making up the hedge.

'Yes, yes!' she yelled excitedly, clearing enough of a gap for her to quickly if painfully clamber through, and making the hole bigger as she did so.

Si didn't need any urging to follow her through the gap. He almost groaned in disappointment, however, when he found himself in the dark, narrow space running between two long lines of bushes that made up the hedge. With great difficulty, he turned around in the confined space to reach back through the hole and swiftly pull as many of the flattened nettles and twigs back into place. He urgently withdrew his hands as the police officers charged into the bottom of the garden.

Through incredibly small gaps in the hedge, Chrissy and Si silently watched the officers quickly take in their situation. Both officers were holding what seemed to be huge shotguns at chest height, as if ready and prepared to fire them at any moment.

'There's no way out of here,' one of the officers grumbled breathlessly.

'They must be lying somewhere amongst all those bushes back there, like I said,' the other agreed irritably.

Without another word, they spun on their heels and sprinted back up the garden.

Even so, Chrissy waited a moment before she dared move. She lightly tapped Si on his shoulder, indicating with a pointing thumb that they should start moving.

Seeing the way she was pointing, Si grimaced in disbelief.

Where they were crouching was already low and cramped. To either side of them, however, the intertwined branches and twigs of the bushes formed a seemingly impenetrable barrier. It was only when Chrissy began to crawl along the ground that Si realised there was a few inches of clearance between that dark tangled mass of twigs and the solidly packed earth.

Si bent into a crawl. Following on behind Chrissy, all he could see of her was the soles of her scrabbling feet. The way wasn't completely free of sharp twigs and branches, and straight away he felt he was being painfully cut to pieces by both these and the stones scraping along his body. He uncomfortably squirmed his way along the confined passageway.

He should have gone first, he told himself. It must be even worse for Chrissy, with her being up front.

Perhaps if he still had an angel, Zorbielle would have pointed that out to him before they'd set off along here.

Then again, if he'd still had Zorbielle with him, the police wouldn't be trying to kill him, would they?

*

# Chapter 17

'How did you know about this place?'

Si whispered, even though he hoped they'd left the officers far enough behind for them to talk once again. With any luck, he thought, they officers will still be edgily searching the bushes in the garden.

Chrissy was still scrambling along the floor directly ahead of him. The low tunnel formed by the overarching hedge seemed endless, particularly as he couldn't see even the slightest glimpse of any light ahead of him.

'The garden back there; it was the Edington's house,' Chrissy whispered back. Her voice broke every now and again into heavy pants and moans as she struggled to move as quickly as she could through the tightly confining space. 'Sometimes, I used to help myself to an apple from their tree. You know, just for fun?'

'Fun?' Si said in disbelief.

'I was smaller then, obviously! I wasn't doing this just last week, Si!'

'And Jial used to _let_ you do this?' Si sounded more disbelieving than ever.

'I _told_ you I was being too lenient!' Jial snapped at Chrissy.

If Si could have seen Jial, he would have realised she was blushing with embarrassment. He would also have envied the way she was casually ambling along by their sides as if the hedge didn't exist.

'You laughed as much as _I_ did!' Chrissy retorted.

Si knew enough about how angel relationships worked to realise that Chrissy was now talking to Jial.

'Well I _knew_ you weren't going to listen to me!' Jial said. 'So I thought I might as well get _some_ enjoyment out of it all!'

'Oh yeah, and then a few hours later, you'd be all sanctimonious, like you were a completely different person.'

'Oh, so not only are we not allowed to laugh, we can't be temperamental either. Is that what you're saying?'

'It may not be obvious to you, Jial, traipsing along up there like it's a day in the park, but I'm not in the best of moods to have an argument, right?'

'Suit yourself. No need to bite my head off!' Jial huffily replied.

'You know Jial, sometimes even _I_ wonder just what type of angel you are!'

*

When they finally clambered out of the end of the hedge, they were filthy and covered in scratches.

'Wow, look at your hand!'

Helping Si get to his feet by grasping his hand, Chrissy stared with shocked eyes at the deep cut running along the back.

'Ahhhaaarrgh!' Si winced in agony. 'No, no, sorry; it's not that you're not being careful! It hurts like mad. One of the splinters from that tree shredded by the bullet struck it really hard!'

He tried to wiggle his fingers a little, yet even this made him grimace in pain.

'So much for my lucky fairy ring, yeah?' he said wryly, mockingly kissing the ring of Welsh gold he wore on the same hand.

'Well, didn't you say you have to actually believe in fairies for it to work?'

'Yeah, I suppose–' Si looked at Chrissy. 'But look at you,' he said light heartedly. 'You look like someone's dragged you through a hedge backwards!'

He reached for a twig stuck in her hair, gently pulling it free. As the twig came away from her tangled hair, they found they were staring directly into each other's eyes.

They grinned sheepishly at each other.

Dropping the twig, Si tenderly caressed Chrissy's hair. Slightly cupping his hand around the side of her head, he brought her face nearer as he moved closer towards her.

Their lips came within touching, touched, melded.

'Oh jeez, could I just remind you guys I'm here?' Jial shuffled embarrassedly on her feet. 'I'm feeling a teensy-weeny bit of a gooseberry again, you know?'

Chrissy wasn't in a hurry to reply. It was only as she and Si slowly pulled apart that she turned towards Jial, a mischievous grin on her face.

'You can always look away if it upsets you, couldn't you?'

'Hmn, well could I at least remind you guys that you're sort of on the run, right? You know: policemen with big nasty guns, that sort of thing?'

Chrissy chuckled nervously as she grabbed Si's uninjured hand.

'We're _running_ , remember?' she said, suddenly pulling him into a sprint with her.

They ran down the edge of the road, Chrissy looking directly ahead, her focus on where they were heading. Si glanced about him as if expecting someone to jump out at them at any moment.

'Get ready to cut across the lawn and into someone's garden again!' he warned.

'You know, if it's anything like last time,' Chrissy panted back, 'I might just prefer to see if it's any less painful getting shot!'

*

Wherever they could, Chrissy and Si cut down the small pathways winding between the houses, keeping away from the roads as much as possible.

Running down one of these meandering paths, they finally came out onto the road that Si's house was on. Like most of the other houses on the street, it was set slightly back from the road behind a neat lawn and well-tended flower borders. It was now only about a hundred yards away from them.

For a brief moment, the only sound they could hear was the echoing of their own feet on the slabs of paving, mixed with the steady drone of a distant lawnmower in action.

Suddenly, there was an angry growl of engines, a squeal of tyres. Just beyond Si's house, first one and then another police car swerved into the road from out of an adjoining street, their backs momentarily fishtailing before their drivers regained control.

'Run, run!'

Both Chrissy and Si yelled it out at exactly the same time.

They put on an extra burst of speed. Still holding hands, they dashed across the lawns, leapt over box hedging, uncaringly crashed through flowers beds. They made the door to Si's house just as both cars squealed to a sudden halt directly outside, the tyres leaving a complicated pattern of hot rubber smears across the tarmac.

Flinging open the doors, the officers leapt out of their cars.

Flinging open the door to his house, Si desperately pushed Chrissy through. As he followed on behind, the first gunshot took away the timber support of the small porch.

'Dad! Mom! The police are after me!'

Si slammed the door behind him. His voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the second shot and the snap of the wooden doorframe splintering around him.

His mother abruptly appeared alongside him. Grabbing both his and Chrissy's arms, she brusquely pulled them away from the door.

Si's father was suddenly nearby too, stretching up to unlatch a few plastic clasps on the ceiling above the door. A concertina of heavy metal plates immediately dropped into place across the entrance.

In what seemed to be rehearsed moves, he slammed thick bolts at the base into the floor, revealing slots beneath the carpet and plaster that they firmly locked into.

Obviously satisfied that Si and Chrissy were now safely inside the house, Si's mother rushed over to the nearest window. With moves as equally well-practised as her husband's, she dropped and locked into place thick plating that covered and fortified the entire frame.

Chrissy looked to Si for an explanation of this strange behaviour. He appeared as mystified and surprised as she was. Even Jial frowned in bewilderment as she watched Si's parents going through their highly organised motions.

'We heard the cars: thought it sounded a bit odd.' Si's father dashed towards another window, where he began to swiftly slide another sheet of plating into place.

'Si, Chrissy: come with me!' Pulling back from the window, Si's mother urgently indicated that she wanted them to follow her towards the back of the house.

'While your dad takes care of the other windows, you can help me fetch the guns!'

*

# Chapter 18

'Guns?'

Si and Chrissy swapped bewildered stares

Despite this, they dazedly followed Si's mom as she ran farther into the back of the house. Looking Jial's way once again, however, Chrissy was surprised to see that she seemed to take this new revelation quite casually. She didn't seem to find it in anyway unusual that Si's somewhat boring parents – his father was heavily into gardening and do-it-yourself (that, of course, could explain the steel plates), his mother into crocheting and reading women's magazines – had a hidden stash of guns.

'We prayed that we'd never have to use them, naturally,' Si's mom said back over her shoulder. She stopped by the stairs and coolly picked up a heavy ornament of St Michial from a side table. 'If it ever came to it, we'd told ourselves, we'd wouldn't use them. We'd leave ourselves in the hands of God.'

She began to repeatedly smash the ornament at an area of the wall beneath the stairs, sending a thin coating of painted plaster flying everywhere. Si's father pushed his way past with apologetic smiles as he rushed towards the rear of the house.

'Turns out we needed them after all. To defend you!' Si's mom chuckled, like she'd said something incredibly funny or ironic.

Tossing the ornament to one side, she heaved on the inlaid handle of a door she'd uncovered beneath the plaster.

With the cracking of even more plaster, the door swung open. Behind, there was a thin compartment built into the wall. Inside, fixed to a rack, were two rifles that were every bit as monstrous as the guns being used by the police.

'Mary!' From somewhere to the rear of the house, Si's father cried out urgently. 'They've moved round the back!'

Si's mom grabbed one of the guns and a belt of ammunition hanging alongside it.

'Si, bring the other gun and belt!' she barked as, lithely slipping the heavy belt over a shoulder, she darted towards the house's rear.

Grabbing the gun as ordered, Si chased after his mother.

'Stay here,' he told Chrissy. 'This looks like it's going to be dangerous!'

Chrissy knew she stood stay where she was. Jial knew she should stay there too, telling her, 'It's good advice.'

Chrissy chased after everyone anyway, watching in amazement as Si's mother clipped an ammunition cartridge into the huge gun even as she ran. By the time they'd all reached the kitchen, Si's father had already drawn down a steel plate covering the rear door. Si's mother brought her gun's butt up to her shoulder, aiming it through the window at a police officer rapidly approaching across the garden.

'Stop or I shoot!' she hollered as loud as she could.

She fired anyway, a warning shot that completely destroyed the window. A hailstorm of glass and wood splinters scattered across the garden.

The officer threw himself to the ground.

'This is crazy, Will!' the officer irately yelled out. 'You've _got_ to let us take Si in! You know that!'

Si's father didn't seem to be listening. Reaching up to the top of the window, he let the steel covering drop into place. He quickly latched it securely against the sill and walls.

'We can't hold them off for ever.' With a nod of her head, Mary indicated to Si that he should hand the gun over to his father.

As Will took the gun, loading it as swiftly and expertly as Mary had only moments before, Chrissy wondered if the pair of them wouldn't be able hold off a whole army for at least a week.

Slipping on the heavy ammunition belts around their shoulders and waists, Si parents instantly took on the grim, determined expressions of hardened, professional soldiers. Chrissy had never understood how the small but wiry Mary and the sedate, steadily weight-gaining Will had managed to have a son as athletically agile as Si. Now, maybe, she was beginning to see how it was possible after all.

'Upstairs: I need to cover the windows,' Will declared as he and Mary glanced about their house, taking in the situation.

'We won't let them take you, Son!' Mary reached across to Si, giving him a tearful hug. Just as Si was about to ask for an explanation, Mary unintentionally cut him off with a surprisingly cheerful, 'Don't worry!'

Don't worry? If this wasn't a time to worry, Chrissy thought, when was?

Instantly recognising her concern, Jial reached out to grab her hand. Chrissy smiled, grateful for Jial's calming influence.

'They're not supposed to be doing this: the police, I mean,' Jial reassured her. 'They should be calming things down. Instead, they're only making things worse.'

'Worse?' Chrissy scoffed. 'Jial, even for you, that's one heck of an understatement! They're trying to _kill_ us!'

'They're panicking, nervous because the angels are disappearing–'

'There's no need for this Will!' a policeman shouted from somewhere out in the rear garden.

Chrissy looked up, noting for the first time that Will and Mary had been anxiously observing her conversation with Jial.

'You know we've got take Si in,' the policeman continued. 'Let him go now, and we promise you he won't come to any harm.'

'Chrissy, your angel–' Ignoring the threatening yells of the officer, Mary looked towards the empty space where she assumed Jial must be standing. 'Can we trust her?'

Chrissy looked towards Jial, wanting her to answer Mary's question.

Jial nodded. Chrissy nodded in reply to Mary's query.

Another officer yelled out another warning.

'If you keep him in there, Will, you know what's going to happen!'

'I'm prepared to take the risk, thanks!' Will defiantly hollered back.

Even as he cried out, however, he used a wave of a hand, followed by a quietly whispered 'Go!', indicating that he wanted Mary and the others to somehow leave him. 'I can take care of this!'

'You might be, Will!' the officer screamed from outside, almost drowning out Will's orders. 'But what about your neighbours? What right have you got to put them at risk? Don't _they_ have a choice?'

Will wasn't listening. He was giving first Mary then Si a long, tight, loving hug, while refusing to lower his rifle.

'See you soon, son!' he said proudly, cutting off any questions or hesitation from Si with an authoritative, 'Not yet: no time for explanations! Go!'

Mary had already rushed back to the gun compartment. Grimly grasping the rack, she wrenched hard on it, as if trying to pull it from the wall. The compartment swung aside, like a thick door, revealing an incredibly narrow passageway behind it.

The blast of a shotgun from the rear garden was immediately followed by the boom and rattle of the window's steel plates shaking and buckling. They held in place, however, suffering little damage but a few indents.

'The roof, Will!' Mary shouted out, drawing everyone's attention to the sounds of someone darting across the tiled roof.

'I'll handle it!' Will replied, loping up the stairs. 'Go! Now!'

Handing Si a lit torch she'd taken from the gun compartment, Mary almost pushed him into the crudely built passageway. She told him to lead the way before he had chance to refuse. Chrissy was next, with Mary following up the rear.

The passage was only slightly wider than the bricks that made up the steps steeply descending into the earth. It was damp, and smelled sickeningly of sewerage.

'No loud noises,' Mary warned. 'Once we're heading under the road, anyone might hear us.'

*

# Chapter 19

'Wow, this is all _really_ impressive Mom!' Si whispered back to Mary as they moved as quickly as possible through the narrow, dank tunnel.

'You make it sound like we're on some tour of a stately home!' Chrissy hissed back angrily.

Their journey through the hedges had left Chrissy's clothes ripped and filthy. Now they were also covered in thick, sticky spider web, damp moss and a rust-like mix of drenched, crumbling brick and clay.

What made it worse was that Jial still looked immaculate. She casually wandered ahead of her as if the brick walls didn't actually exist.

'Shhussh!' Mary warned them once again. 'Keep your voices dow–'

The first bars of Taylor Swift's _I Knew You Were Trouble_ began to shrilly ring out and echo around the confined corridor.

'Your phone!' Jial exclaimed, spinning around, her expression every bit as horrified as everyone else's.

Panicking, unable to remember where she'd put her phone, Chrissy began to frantically pat her pockets.

'Back pocket, your right back pocket!' Jial yelled helpfully.

Pulling out the phone with a gasp of relief, Chrissy switched it off. She mouthed an embarrassed 'Sorry' to Mary.

Mary wasn't looking her way, however. Like Si, she was staring upwards, holding her breath as she intently listened for any hint that they had been heard.

After a few seconds, Mary indicated with a wave of her hand that they should begin moving again.

'Quick!' she whispered urgently. 'Just in case!'

*

The tunnel opened up into the storeroom lying beneath the grocery store owned by Si's parents.

When Mary closed the door behind them, it looked like a cluttered shelf, looking no different to the other cluttered shelves fixed to the room's walls.

'Mom, just what–'

'Later, Si, later!'

Sharply cutting off Si's request for an explanation, his mom swiftly moved into the room, leaning her gun against a nearby table.

'There's food in a red box in the freezer,' she continued as, with a nod of her head, she indicated the large refrigerator set by the door leading up to the store.

The store's van stood towards the front of the room, facing garage-style doors that opened up onto a steep ramp leading out into the street. Standing alongside it, Mary began to quickly strip the store's name off one side.

'Chrissy, can you give me a hand on the other side?' she asked, giving neither Si nor Chrissy time to start asking questions.

'I get the impression Si's parents have been preparing for this for a long time, don't you?' Jial said with a wry frown.

Chrissy had to agree. Taking off the store's sign from the side of the van was easier than she'd imagined it would be. Far from being painted on, as she'd always assumed it was, the words were printed on a transparent film. Once you'd found its edge, it could be easily torn off as it appeared to be held in place by nothing more that static electricity. Like the tunnel, it was obviously just one more thing that Si's parents had prepared in advance. It was as if they'd known all along that Si would end up being hunted down at some point.

Following his mom's urgently yelled instructions, Si had hurriedly retrieved a large, red plastic box from the freezer.

'Mom, can't you just–'

'It's all preserved food, all pretty tasteless. But it's enough to get you out of town and someplace else.'

One again, Mary used a nod of her head to instruct Si to place the box in the van's cab.

'Out of town?' Si repeated, bewildered. Opening the van's cab, he slipped the box onto the front seat. 'Mom, what do you mean "someplace else"? Where? Where do we need to go?'

'Not _we_. Chrissy can head on home.'

Mary had moved round to the front of the van, opening it up to tinker around inside the engine for a moment. She tossed something aside, slammed the engine compartment shut, and moved around to pick up her gun once more.

'I'll drive you to the town's outskirts, then it's a straight road across the desert. I know you can't drive, but I'll give you a quick, basic guide.'

She was in such a rush, she had grabbed Si by his arm and was almost forcing him into the van's cab ahead of her.

'Mom, Mom!' Si protested, hanging back. 'Sorry, but – I can't drive at all!'

Si held up his gashed hand. His mom briefly stared at it, stared at the van's stick shift, stared intently at Chrissy across the front of the van.

'Chrissy,' she said with renewed, gritty determination. 'Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to drive Si out of town. Trust me: his life depends on it!'

*

# Chapter 20

'You can't Chrissy! What about your mom and dad?'

Jial frowned anxiously. Chrissy glanced nervously at Si and his mom, who both looked back at her expectantly.

'But Si, he...'

'Si can be taken by his mom, can't he?'

'I'll call Mom and Dad: just to let them know I'll be a little late!' Chrissy said brightly to Mary, remembering how her phone had rung earlier.

Jial angrily stamped her foot. Mary grimly nodded her approval.

'Okay Chrissy. But don't go telling them _anything_ about what's really happening here!'

Switching her phone on once more, Chrissy pressed the instant dial to her home.

'This is crazy, you know that Chrissy?' Jial fumed. 'I really really shouldn't have been so lenient with you–'

'It's not working: there's still no signal to my mom's.'

Chrissy stared bemusedly at her phone, wondering why it had seemed to be working just a few minutes ago.

'Perhaps they're just blocking kids from contacting their parents,' Si said. 'Perhaps Mom could ring them on her phone to let them know you'll be okay.'

Mary shook her head.

'No, I don't think that's a good idea, Si. What are they going to think when they hear our house has been surrounded by the police?'

'Dad! I've been so busy, I'd almost forgotten we'd left him back–'

Mary placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

'He'll be fine for now. The police aren't going to risk an attack just yet, with all those heavy shutters down and your dad heavily armed. But I'm going to have to get back as soon as I can...'

She looked Chrissy's way, her eyes narrowing in a way that implied she needed a quick decision.

'I can't let you go back there Mom. I'll come back–'

'No you won't! Our only chance is that when I get back we surrender to the police, telling them they can search the house to look for you. By the time they find the secret door, you'll be long away; provided, of course, young Chrissy here does the decent thing.'

'Mom, please, you still haven't explained–'

'I'll do it!' Chrissy said firmly, ignoring the way Jial looked like she was about to tear all her hair out. 'Although, you should know, as you've probably guessed; I've never driven before either!'

'In we get then!' Mary said, undeterred. 'Chrissy, you sit next to me. I'm going to have to give you the world's quickest driving lesson as I drive.'

*

# Chapter 21

The van shuddered and the gears grated maddeningly as Chrissy crashed them for what was at least the fiftieth time in ten minutes.

She grimaced, the strain showing on her face. She struggled to stop the van weaving from side to side, the task made all the harder by the slipperiness of her sweat covered hands.

'Wow, go careful with Dad's van, can't you?' Si complained.

He forlornly stared through the windshield at the dusty road stretching out into the barren, almost desert-like land lying before them. The sign on the outskirts of town had said 'Homehaven ten miles' but he was seriously worried that the van was going to completely die on them before they even made it half way.

'I mean, how many times do you have to change gear on a perfectly straight road?'

'As many times as I want, as long as I can pretend it's your neck I'm throttling!' Chrissy snapped back irritably.

Driving the van wasn't anywhere near as easy as Mary had made it look. Fearing that the juddering, struggling van was about to cut out, she violently revved the engine.

'Your mom said you've got keep on changing the gears to make it run smoothly!'

'If this is what you call smoothly, I'd hate to see what your jerky driving's like!'

'You know what Simon Menchester?' Chrissy growled. 'I wish I'd asked your mom for a crash course in using that gun of hers: because I'd sure remember how to use it on _you_!'

'Hmn, good job she took it with her then, right?'

Si's mom had refused to leave the gun with them, bluntly declaring, 'They'd use it as an excuse to shoot you out of hand, no chances given.' Shouting over her shoulder as she'd started running ran back through the streets towards Si's house, she'd added next, 'Just keep heading straight ahead. You won't need any maps!'

Despite his mom's advice, Si now called up the satellite map of Homehaven on his cellphone.

'If my memory serves me right – yep, it does – fortunately it's all straight road until we come to that sharp bend before Homehaven's swimming pool. So, Chrissy; do you think you'll have figured out how to turn this thing by then, or are we going to end up amongst the water slides and the fake bea– oowww! That hurt!'

He laughed as, with an irate grimace, her eyes still locked on the road ahead, Chrissy withdrew the arm she'd just jabbed him with. Although sitting between them, her legs extended before her and her feet on the dashboard, Jial hadn't felt the jabbing arm that had harmlessly passed through her. The box on the seat was also no obstacle to her.

'You've got to admit it's pretty dire driving, Chrissy!' Jial said gloomily. 'At this rate, you've got plenty of time to learn how to drive as we won't be there until next week!'

'Do you want to drive this damn thing? Because you're sure as heck–'

Chrissy was interrupted by her ringing phone; _I Knew You Were Trouble_ again.

'It's Emma!' Chrissy said, shifting sideways on her seat a little so she could withdraw her phone from her pocket. 'Could you see what she wants?'

Quickly handing the phone to Si, she immediately grabbed the steering wheel once more.

'Hi Emma,' Si said gaily into the phone as he answered it. 'Chrissy's busy at the moment; can I help?'

Even though she was concentrating on driving, Chrissy still managed to hear a tinny, indecipherable version of Emma's excited cries down the phone.

'Really! That's amazing!'

Si's response lead to even more excited but completely garbled cries from Emma.

'What's amazing?' Chrissy asked, both intrigued and annoyed that she was only getting one side of the conversation. It was the same sense of frustration anyone felt when they overheard someone having a conversation with their angel. 'Quick, put it to my ear, Si!'

Stretching across the seat, his arm passing through Jial's indignantly frowning face, Si placed the phone to Chrissy's ear.

'What, what's amazing, Emma?' Chrissy asked.

'Petrial!' Emma screamed in joy. 'Petrial's _back_!'

*

# Chapter 22

'Petrial's back, she's back!' Chrissy repeated for Jial's benefit.

Jial's face scrunched up into a look of puzzled disbelief. Chrissy ignored her. Emma was still ecstatically shouting down the phone.

'That's wonderful, amazing!' Chrissy blurted elatedly into the phone, almost swerving off the road in her excitement. 'But how, how did she come back just like that? Did she say why she'd gone away in the first place?'

'No no, of course not, Chrissy!' Emma laughed back. 'She's too young to speak just yet! She's still just a fledgling!'

'A fledgling?'

Chrissy glanced Jial's way with a confused frown. Jial responded with a doubtful pursing of her lips.

'But...I thought there weren't any more left?' Chrissy continued. She hesitated a little as she added uncertainly, 'And...and how can it be _Petrial_ , Emma. If it's a fledgling, I mean?'

'But that's just it, Chrissy! It _can_ be Petrial – it _is_ Petrial! That's one advantage of being the mayor's daughter, I suppose, He hadn't told me, course, but he'd realised I'd lost Petrial and how lost I felt without her! So he'd arranged for a special fledgling to be specially delivered to our house this morning. But with me heading off early in a silly strop, I missed her, didn't I?'

'Well, yeah, that's great, wonderful, Emma!'

Chrissy noticed that Jial, like Si, was watching her curiously, as if they were both waiting to hear what Emma was saying. Even so, at moments like this Chrissy couldn't help but wonder if Jial actually knew more about the other side of the telephone conversation than she was letting on.

It was just something about Jial's inquisitive expression or, during particular parts of the conversation, the way she seemed to be trying to hide that she was surprised. Of course, it could also be that Jial was standing close by her, and Emma was just about screaming down the phone in her excitement. Yet Chrissy had often sensed something similar when she was watching a movie, or even when simply reading on her own. Was Jial aware of her emotions, perhaps even her thoughts?

Naturally, Chrissy could have simply asked Jial how much of her thoughts she was aware of. Jial would have had to give her an answer.

Chrissy had always avoided putting Jial on the spot like this, however, fearing that the answer would be a lie, or at least some sort of dissembled reply. Besides, if angels were allowed to know your innermost secrets, even when you weren't prepared to share them – then it wasn't as if there was anything Chrissy could do about it, was there?

'But I still don't understand,' Chrissy admitted into the phone, nervously twitching the steering wheel from side to side as she felt the van waver, threatening to lurch off the road. 'It's just a fledgling angel, isn't it? How can you be sure it's Petrial?'

'Well, naturally Chrissy, I asked that as well! But dad said, Think about it Emma: what do you think happens when it's decided that an older boy or girl no longer needs an angel? Do you really think, he said, that these angels just head off into some sort of retirement home, with their pipes and slippers?'

Emma paused with a little giggle, like she was amused by the image her father had conjured up for her.

'But angels are ageless, of course! So they can come back to form a new relationship with someone else. You know, just taking on the new form that the new person wants them to! And in my case, this is Petrial. And so I can ask her to take on exactly the same form as she did before!'

Out of the corner of her eye, Chrissy was sure that Jial was frowning doubtfully once more.

'But Emma, surely th–'

'Oppps, got to go, Chrissy! Petrial's calling me – well, she's sort of half crying and gurgling anyway! Bye, see you later Chrissy!'

'But Emma–'

Emma wasn't listening any more. She clicked her phone off.

'She's hung up,' Chrissy said, much to the relief of Si, whose arm was beginning to tire.

'So, what was all that about?' Si asked, pulling the phone away from Chrissy's ear. 'I get the bit that Petrial's back – but I don't see how.'

'Apparently she's come back as a fledgling. Which angels can apparently do.'

Chrissy took Jial's dubious expression as an agreement that it all sounded very unlikely.

'If she wants to believe that, what's the problem?' Si said.

'True, true.'

Chrissy couldn't find any fault with Si's reasoning. And, going by her nonchalant shrug, neither could Jial.

'Now, who's famished, like me?' Si said, leaning over and opening the box sitting on the seat next to him.

Although she didn't have to, Jial instinctively moved slightly out of the way. The huge wings she'd spread out behind the length of the long seat fluttered slightly, causing even Si's hair to gently ripple in the breeze.

'Hey, that's really nice, that cool breeze,' Si laughed appreciatively as he intently sorted through the box's contents. 'The food though; well, that's pretty basic. Crisp wheat bread, beef jerky, dried dates, chocolate. But there's water and – well, whaddya know!'

Sitting up straight in his seat, he proudly held up a transparent plastic case containing a large wad of banknotes.

'Makes you sorta feel like Bonnie and Clyde on the run, don't ya think?'

Chrissy never took her eyes off the road. Her hands clutched the juddering steering wheel as if glued to it.

'It does if they ever found themselves endlessly looking for a bush!' she said distractedly.

'Bush?' Si peered out through the increasingly dirty glass, taking in the barren land leading off into the distance on both sides of the dusty road. 'What would they need a bush for?'

'What do you think a girl who's spent all day running around town would need a bush for, Si?' Chrissy grumbled irritably.

'Ahh, yes, yes; I suppose, come to think of it, I could do with a bush too!'

'Well you're both out of luck,' Jial pointed out, 'as this isn't exactly an area scattered with bushes, is it? You're going to have to stop the van and take turns disappearing round the back – and I might as well disappear for a moment too, as I've something to do.'

'Disappear? But Jial–'

As Chrissy nervously glanced Jial's way, she almost swerved off the road. She was just in time to catch Jial vanishing.

'Jial's gone!' Chrissy cried forlornly.

'What, did she need a bush too?' Si asked with a cheeky grin.

*

'Sorry about that crack saying you'd end up in the swimming pool.'

Leaning across the seat, Si patiently fed Chrissy piece after piece of crisp bread whenever she nodded her head to indicate she was ready for some more.

She was gripping the wheel ferociously hard, as if she were frightened that it was going to slip or jump out of her hand at any moment. The van continued to violently judder and lurch every time she mistimed yet another unnecessary clutch change.

'Ending up in a swimming pool might not be such a bad idea anyway,' she said with a wry smirk, rapidly scanning the van's controls for anything resembling air conditioning.

Despite it now being early evening, it was still incredibly hot in the van's cabin. Chrissy's nervous struggling with the van only added to her discomfort. Taking a dip in a large pool of cool water sounded blissful.

'Just how far is Homehaven anyway?' she complained bitterly. 'We seem to have been driving for ages!'

'Whenever Mom and Dad brought me out here, it didn't take long at all. Then again, we were going faster than I could walk, so – sorry, sorry, only joking!'

Chrissy had shot him a warning glare.

'That's where I got my lucky ring from, actually,' Si said, holding up his gashed hand and wriggling the finger banded with Welsh gold. 'The fake beach at Homehaven's pool.'

'Homehaven? I thought you'd said you'd got it from Jamaica?'

Chrissy glowered at him once more, this time with narrowed, accusing eyes.

'Ah well, yes, yes,' Si answered, stuttering with embarrassment. 'It would hardly be cool going around with a fairy ring now, would it, especially one from Homehaven beach? But from Jamaica, with all its voodoo and stuff – that's different, isn't it? And I _have_ been there on holiday, honest!'

'Si! You lied to me! What did Zorbielle think of that? And if you didn't think a fairy ring's cool, why didn't you just stop wearing it?'

'Well, as you'd expect, Zorbielle wasn't at all happy about me lying. But for once, he did agree it sounded cooler to say it came from Jamaica. And he knew I didn't want to hurt Mom by refusing to wear it!'

'How would refusing to wear it hurt your mom?'

'Because she bought it especially for me, when I lost the ring I really _had_ got from Jamaica. I lost my old ring in the sands of the fake beach. I was looking endlessly for it. Mom pretended to find it, thinking she'd got me a ring that looked just like it. I could tell the difference, obviously; but I didn't have the heart to tell her.'

'Pity it doesn't work, your magic ring,' Chrissy said wistfully. 'You know, sort of how a computer's default button just restores everything back to how it all was when everything was working okay.'

'Yeah, that would be a great, wouldn't it,' Si agreed with a chuckle and a blow on his ring

On the seat between them, where Si had left it earlier, Chrissy's cellphone began to shrilly ring.

'Emma again,' Chrissy said, recognising the ringtone.

With a slight flip of her head, she indicated to Si that she wanted the cellphone placed against her ear once more.

'Hi Emma, how's–'

Chrissy's cheerful welcome was immediately interrupted by Emma's wailing cry.

'Petrial's _gone_ , Chrissy! She's _vanished_ again!'

*

# Chapter 23

'If even the _fledglings_ are vanishing now, just what the heck is going on?'

Si was almost sitting bolt upright in his seat with shock. Chrissy felt more on edge, more rigidly tense, than ever.

Emma hadn't spent long on the phone. She'd been too distraught, too tearful and wracked with anguish, to continue speaking clearly for more than a few seconds. She'd hung up, unable to continue speaking.

But Chrissy had got the message. Even some of the new, baby angels were now vanishing.

She disinterestedly stared out through the filthy windshield. They were passing a small park of mobile homes set around a swimming pool. She would probably have ignored it completely, as she must have done on previous trips to Homehaven, as she couldn't remember ever having seen it before. She noticed, though, that a police car was parked close to the entrance booth. The officers were standing close by, unhurriedly drinking from polystyrene cups of coffee, their eyes curiously following the slowly moving van.

'Damn, let's hope this glass is so dirty they can't tell it's two kids in here!' Si breathed anxiously. He'd also noticed that the officers were watching the slow, lurching van with increasing suspicion.

'I suppose the fact we're not going much faster than they can walk might give them a clue it isn't an adult driving!' Chrissy sighed miserably. 'I haven't got a license either!'

'Haven't got a license? Chrissy, we're supposed to be fleeing for our lives here. And _you're_ worried you haven't got a _license_?'

Jial suddenly appeared on the seat between them.

'Fleeing for your lives at five miles an hour?' she scoffed. 'Thing is, it's over; they know who you are, and they've been waiting for you.'

Abruptly panicked, Chrissy pushed down hard on the accelerator. She fumbled with the gears, willing the van to go faster. It all only succeeded in making the van squeal and growl louder than ever.

Casually tossing aside their half empty cups into nearby bins, the officers languidly stepped towards and got inside their car.

*

'Jial! You _told_ them we were out here!'

'Did _not_!' an offended Jial protested. 'What do you think I am? Some sort of sneak?'

Si briefly glanced Chrissy's way, taking her accusation as a sign that Jial was back. He returned to watching the police.

'They're starting up the car,' he said. 'Were they expecting us? Is that what Jial's said?'

'They've been tracking your cellphones' signals!' Jial irately responded before Chrissy could answer Si. 'More or less ever since they realised Si wasn't hiding in his mom and dad's house. They're fine, his parents, by the way; if you wanted to reassure Si, rather than accusing me of being a snitch!'

'You mom and dad are okay!' Chrissy sighed breathlessly as she desperately tried to make the van go faster.

She frantically wrenched on the shift stick. She frenziedly moved her feet from pedal to pedal, depressing them as far as they would go. She struggled with the wheel as if it were alive and trying to jump out of her hands.

The engine suddenly spluttered and died. The van slowly rolled to a halt.

'Now what have you done?' Si gasped in astonishment.

'Nothing! I did nothing!' Chrissy insisted vehemently, glowering in bewilderment at the controls.

Si looked back at the police car as it lazily made its way along the park's drive. It turned onto the road. The officer in the passenger seat was leaning out of the window, training his immense rifle on the van.

'Simon Menchester!' the car's speakers blared out. 'Come out with your hands up! We've got you covered!'

*

# Chapter 24

'He'll be fine, honest.'

Jial could see that Chrissy was still distressed by the way the police had brusquely handcuffed Si. They had bundled him into the back of their car, and handcuffed him once more to a thick bar running across the top of the door.

Despite the uncomfortable position Si had been forced to take – his arms raised, his feet handcuffed to another, lower bar – he had fallen asleep on the unhurried drive back into town.

'They don't want to hurt him; they just want to get him back safely.'

'Safely? Just what do they think he's going to do?' a bewildered Chrissy spat back angrily. 'And all just because he no longer has an angel?'

One of the officers seated in the front of the car glanced back over his shoulder at her. His frown immediately changed into a knowing grin. He realised Chrissy was no longer taking her anger out on them but on her own angel.

'What's she doing, your angel; letting you get into trouble like this?' he asked with a mischievous smirk.

'See Chrissy!' Jial snapped grumpily, sulkily folding her arms in front of herself. 'Now you've got _me_ into trouble! _Everyone_ knows I've been too lenient on you!'

' _You're_ in trouble? What about poor Si here? He's the one in _real_ trouble, isn't he?'

The officer exchanged a wry smile with the driver. Ahead of them, through the car's windshield, the long, straight road appeared to be merging into the surrounding, barren land as the sun began to dip below the horizon.

Jial responded to Chrissy's accusation with a dissatisfied sigh. Bringing her feet up onto the seat, and her legs up towards her chest, she tightly wrapped her arms around her ankles until she was almost in a ball.

'Are you in a huff?' Chrissy demanded. 'I can't believe this! An angel in a huff!'

'Oh, so _you're_ not being stroppy, right?'

'And this is guidance, is it? You acting like a spoilt child?'

'Look, I'm tired of this, Chrissy! It's been a pretty hard day for all of us, hasn't it?'

She yawned, letting go of her legs with one arm to bring her hand up to her mouth.

'Did you just yawn?'

Chrissy was amazed. Angels never, ever yawned. They were never, ever tired. They never slept. They didn't need to.

'Did not!' Jial adamantly protested.

'Yes you did! I just saw you! You yawned; and angels aren't supposed to yawn. Are they?'

'I suppose that depends on how bored they've become with being told off by the person they're supposed to be in charge of!'

'In charge of? Oh, so that's how our relationsh–'

The police car's radio crackled. A stern, anxious voice came out through the speaker as a vibrating wail.

'Three known fatalities just discovered at the mayor's residence; two adult, male and female, plus one young adult, female. Suspected chiasmus attack; repeat...'

'Emma!' Chrissy breathed in horror.

*

# Chapter 25

Emma was dead!

Chrissy was so shocked, everything around her suddenly seemed to be happening in a hazy, uncontrollable dream.

She could no longer hear the rest of the message coming across the radio. All she heard was a terrified gasp from one of the officers sitting in front of her.

'Oh Jesus no! Jesus no!'

Reaching up, the officer seated in the passenger seat frantically pulled out the heavy rifle he'd stored earlier in a hidden, overhead compartment. He fleeting glanced over his shoulder at the still sleeping Si. Turning back, he began to nervously peer from side to side through the car's windows.

Chrissy leant across the back seat, reaching out a hand to wake Si.

'Leave him, Chrissy,' Jial said, raising her own arm to block Chrissy's move. 'It's best if he stays asleep. Waking him won't help: trust me.'

'But Emma–'

Jial shook her head.

'I'm sorry about Emma, and her parents, Chrissy. But we need to stop arguing. And we need to help the officers by looking out through the windows for anything unusual. Especially when we reach town.'

'Anything unusual? Like what, Jial? What's happening?'

'I'm sorry Chrissy, but I'm really not allowed to explain.' She briefly looked Si's way. 'But I think I know a way to help Si: and this might be the only chance I've got to arrange it. So I have to go for a while.'

'Go? But Jial–'

Chrissy reached out to stop Jial. But it was too late.

Jial had vanished again.

*

At first, after the almost complete darkness of the surrounding desert, the edge of town seemed strangely, ridiculously bright, with its street lamps and randomly lit office and house windows.

This was just a first impression, however. It soon became obvious that, beyond the globes of light, most of the town was actually poorly lit. It was an indistinct and formless mass of dark greys, while many areas remained shrouded in deep, impenetrable shadows.

It was into these dark and dimmer areas that the officers edgily peered, slowing the car down to a crawl. They studied each area carefully before moving on.

'What is it exactly that we're looking for?' Chrissy asked.

She had been fooled a number of times into thinking she'd seen something, only to realise it was nothing more than a change of light and shadows.

'Your angel hasn't told you?'

'Where _are_ the angels?'

Both officers sounded incredulous, anxious – terrified.

'The tracking must be off,' the officer holding the gun said in answer to the driver's query.

Chrissy frowned in puzzlement. Why were the officers expecting there to be angels around when, for the moment, the whole town seemed to be deserted?

She hadn't seen anyone out on the streets. Of course, no boy or girl would be out at this time. However, it was well known that their parents and other adults would normally be out until reasonably late, either in the bars, restaurants or the movie theatre.

Moreover, how did the officers know for sure that there weren't any angels around when, being adults, they wouldn't be able to see them?

'So, what am I looking for?' Chrissy asked once more, peering as intently as she could into the darker areas.

'You'll know it when you see it! Believe me, you'll–'

There was a booming thud, a screech of agonised, shattering metal.

The car's rear lurched wildly upwards, catapulting Chrissy up out of her seat. She painfully struck the ceiling.

To the sound of splintering glass, the officer in front of her was suddenly whipped away from her. His body shredded around its edges as it seemed to shoot out through the broken windshield.

A dark, massive shape was crouching on the hood, effortlessly holding the quivering, shrieking officer in one hand. With a relieved groan from the car, it leapt into the air, so quickly it almost seemed to simply vanish. It landed on the other side of the road. Then, in an effortlessly lithe, bounding lope, it rushed down the street, dragging the unfortunate officer along with it.

'What...what _was_ that?'

Chrissy was terrified. But the motionless, wide-eyed driver appeared to be even more petrified than she was.

'Oh God, oh dear God no!' he muttered in a daze, more to himself than Chrissy. 'It was a _chiasmus_!'

*

# Chapter 26

The driver shook his head, like someone trying to wake up from an overpowering sleep: to pull themselves together, to focus on what was really going on around them.

'Stay here,' he commanded brusquely, looking back over his shoulder at Chrissy as he leant across the front seats.

With one hand, he reached out through the shattered windshield for the butt of the gun his partner had dropped on the car's hood. With his other, he tried the controls of the radio. There was only a vain hope that the mangled mass of crushed plastic and loose wires might still be capable of transmitting a call for help.

'What...what if it comes back?' Chrissy asked unsurely.

'Don't worry: your angel should be able to give you some sort of warning or even help.'

The officer slipped out of the car's door before Chrissy had the chance to tell him Jial had vanished.

'But my angel–'

Her desperate cry was cut off by the slam of the door swinging shut behind the officer. He set off in a sprint, resolutely clutching the gun before him. He headed down the street in pursuit of the monster, obviously determined to rescue his friend despite his fear.

'What the heck was _that_?'

Wide eyed, and with his hands still uncomfortably fixed to the overhead bar, Si looked Chrissy's way.

'You're awake? Why didn't you let me know?'

Chrissy was furious that he'd pretended to sleep through such a terrifying attack.

'Course I'm awake! How could anyone _sleep_ through that? But those cops were nervous enough to kill me before all this happened. I felt sure they'd bump me off after that thing had attacked us!'

'Now we know _why_ they were nervous!' Once again, she unfairly took out her fear and confusion on him. 'We need our angels to protect us from those things, whatever they are! That's why Emma was killed, and her mom and dad along with her too!'

'How'd you figure that? It didn't seem to be after me! I'm still here – oh, talking of that, how about helping me out of here?'

Si had noticed that, along with his gun, the unfortunate officer dragged off by the beast had also dropped his bunch of keys. Or, rather, as he'd been pulled through the splintered hole, his belt had shredded. A section had been left hanging across the dashboard.

With a nod of his head, Si indicated the hanging keys to Chrissy. She leant across between the gap in the front seat, reaching for the keys

'I don't know how it works, do I? Perhaps not having an angel draws the monster your way. But then it just takes whoever's _nearest_ to it!'

Easily retrieving the keys from a loop on the belt, Chrissy slipped back into her seat. Turning Si's way, she tried to work out which key would unlock the handcuffs.

'Wait a minute,' she said abruptly, remembering the officer's order. 'We're supposed to stay here!'

'Ohh, and what if you're right? And that thing _does_ come back for me?'

*

They would have preferred to choose a completely different direction to that taken by the beast. However, they agreed that the nearest, safest place for them was Chrissy's, and so they ran zigzag style through the streets.

They moved quickly, quietly, constantly watching out for any movement.

'Wait, wait!' Si urgently hissed. Grabbing hold of Chrissy's arm, he pulled her to a halt and into a crouch. 'If the beast is after me, I'll be drawing it towards your parents – and towards you, if you stay with me! I need to leave you: to head off somewhere on my own!'

Chrissy hesitantly bit her lip.

'No, no: I'll stay with you,' she declared, taking his hand in hers. 'But yes, we need somewhere other than my hou–'

His eyes wide in warning, Si placed a finger against her lips to stop her talking. He nodded his head, an indication that he'd seen something over her shoulder and she should turn around.

Dreading what she might see, Chrissy slowly turned. The street seemed thankfully empty, silent, peaceful. It was even pretty, with tall, globular street lamps casting their orbs of light over small clumps of bushes planted along wide kerbs.

Si pointed towards one of the larger clusters of bushes, one more heavily-shadowed than most of the others.

The shadows shifted, moved.

Against an aura of dim light, first a head showed itself, then the angular crock of an arm.

But it was smaller than the beast. And as it briefly moved more into the light, it was revealed to be nervously clutching a rifle.

It was the police officer. Squatting behind the bush, he uneasily peered around it. He was looking towards the minute garden fronting an office block, but set back from the kerb.

At first, Chrissy couldn't understand his interest in the garden. But then, as before, the shadows beneath a weeping willow stirred, flowed, and took on a new form.

It was human.

Standing up beneath the spreading branches, the man shivered.

Then he danced, bizarrely, like a loose-limbed puppet. His feet were hovering above the floor.

He limply crumpled to the ground.

The shadows swept across him, this time massive and impenetrably dark.

And this time it was the beast.

*

# Chapter 27

'Die, die, die, die, die!'

Screaming to give himself courage, the police officer at last emerged from behind the cover of the bush. As he charged towards the beast feeding on his friend, he levelled and fired the huge gun.

Two, three, four thunderous blasts completely shredded the shrouding branches of willow. Blood, flesh and muscle splattered like red rain into the light. Some of this was human, one of the powerful blasts accidently striking what remained of the body lying on the floor and sending it hurtling into the air.

The beast roared. He spun around to face the still oncoming officer.

He burst from beneath the willow, rushing out into the light.

Both Chrissy and Si gasped in horror and fright.

Perhaps part gorilla, part rhinoceros, it was massive and immensely muscled. It could have been a primeval version of a bear, transported here from an age when giants ruled the Earth.

It moved shockingly swiftly, taking the charging officer by surprise. With the swing of a huge arm it brutally batted him aside, knocking him high off the ground. It sent him bowling into nearby bushes, his gun whirling uselessly into the air.

Spinning on its heels, the beast bounded towards the bushes. It raised an arm in readiness to smash down once more – then abruptly slewed to a halt, freezing in mid-strike as it gawped skywards.

It was suddenly surrounded by a flickering light, as if caught in the edges of a helicopter's probing searchlight. High above, however, up to where the beast was gaping in wonder, the light was stronger still, a blaze of gold and silver.

The beast appeared to be hypnotised by the blinding light. He was unable to drag his eyes away from the swirling sphere of flame even as it rapidly descended, growing in size and power like a falling star.

The fiery orb swooped down towards the beast, in an instant briefly enveloping it completely. A shaft of the brightest, most blinding light struck it hard in the chest, penetrating the thick flesh so deeply that the light emerged laser-like from the beast's back.

Reeling back from the tremendous force of the blow, the beast howled in agony. It clutched at the glowing, deeply embedded lance as if amazed by its sudden appearance.

Unhindered in any way, the glowing light continued on its swooping course. In its midst, a golden armoured, mounted knight raised his hand as he released his lance. Rising slightly up into the air, the knight halted and spun his horse around in a fluid swirl of expanding, dispersing metallic light.

He drew his sword and, with a flap of his huge wings, urged his horse into the attack once more.

'Saint Michial!' Chrissy and Si both breathed at once in awe.

*

# Chapter 28

The beast stumbled, unbalanced by the weight of the lance. It should, of course, have fallen, should be swiftly dying if not already dead.

Instead, it angrily grasped the lance spearing its chest and, with a single wrench of its massive, powerful arms, snapped the shaft in two. Then, rather than casting the broken piece aside, the beast took it with both hands and swung it like a club at the swiftly oncoming angel.

Saint Michial and his mount passed through the swinging club as if it didn't actually exist. Yet when the knight swung down with his own weapon, the bewildered beast gave an anguished roar, the sword striking it hard across a shoulder.

The knight brought his horse to a halt. Whirling her around, with an urgent clenching of his knees he sent her charging towards the beast once more.

Throwing aside its useless club, the beast spun around with surprising agility, despite the still encumbering lance lodged in its back. It fearlessly leapt straight towards the onrushing knight, reaching out with immense hands and bared claws at the horse's neck.

This time, the knight and his mount didn't pass through the beast's attack unharmed. All three collided with a tremendous jolt. The beast's hands grabbed at the horse's throat and the back of its neck, threating to slash open a vein, or effortlessly cleanly snap away vertebrae and bones.

The horse reared and whinnied in terror, trying to back away with a panicked flurry of its own vast wings. Yet the beast clung on, snarling as if readying to take a bite out of the poor creature's throat.

The knight calmly stood up high in his stirrups. He leant forward in his saddle – and brought his sword down hard in one straight, direct plunge into the top of the beast's head.

The beast fell back, howling, the sword protruding from the top of its head. Reaching high above its crown, the beast clutched at the blade. It wildly tugged at the sword in a desperate, fruitless effort to either shatter it or withdraw it.

A flame burst from St Michial's hand, transforming immediately into another glistening sword. Spurring his mount forwards, he slashed down again and again at the frenziedly whirling beast, who was now lashing out only aimlessly and weakly.

At last, the beast's legs began to crumple. He staggered, sagged – then dropped with a loud thud to the floor.

Stilling his horse, the knight observed the beast closely, warily, as if even now there might still be signs of life. He ignored the rustling of the bushes behind him, as if fully aware that it was only the police officer who had previously been flung there by the now dying beast. Still entangled amongst the branches, the officer managed to sit up slightly, raising his head and shaking it as if in a daze.

He jerked in fear as he saw the beast on the floor, vainly attempting to scramble back through the bush as he abruptly recalled how he had ended up here. Then he relaxed, slumping back into the bushes in relief, realising the beast wasn't moving.

St Michial similarly seemed to decide that the beast was finally dead.

He raised his sword in front of his face in a salute to his vanquished foe – and then both he and his winged mount instantly vanished.

*

'How many more of these things do you think there are around us?'

Si nervously glanced into every darkened corner as he and Chrissy ran down the streets once more.

'Surely that's the only one,' Chrissy gasped breathlessly. 'Besides, it seems like the angels can take care of them, whatever they are.'

From somewhere ahead of them, the crack of a gunshot rang out, echoing down the surrounding streets. Another crack followed, then another.

Si and Chrissy slewed to a halt. They instinctively reached out towards each other, tightly grasping each other's hand.

As the crack of the shots finished reverberating around the various buildings, the sound was replaced by the growl of heavy engines, the clank and thud of swiftly moving large vehicles.

Rapidly flowing cones of light lit up the streets stretching out before Chrissy and Si. Then, suddenly, a convoy of covered trucks roared across a junction lying far ahead of them.

The column vanished into the streets once more, the haphazardly illuminating headlights briefly flickering against building tops and roofs as the growls and clunking quickly faded.

'They weren't coming from your mom and dad's street.' Si gave Chrissy's hand a reassuring clench. 'The shots or the trucks,' he added for clarification.

'No, but they were pretty close.'

Chrissy bit her lip apprehensively. She fleetingly glanced Si's way, trading looks with him that were both anxious and yet defiantly assured. They had both come to the same decision in regards to what they had to do.

'Come on!' Chrissy yelled, dragging Si along with her into a frantic sprint. 'We have to make sure Mom and Dad's okay!'

*

# Chapter 29

The lights from the row of assembled trucks created a dome of gradually paling light above the street. Even so, most of the gardens and houses were dark. The interior lights of the few homes that were still lit were all being rapidly switched off.

Chrissy's home was one of those that were already enveloped in darkness.

She and Si had halted at the end of the street, hiding in the deep shadows of a high hedge. They watched as armed police officers edgily escorted people from the houses to the covered trucks.

Every adult seemed to be carrying a large rifle. Some had joined the police, standing guard around the waiting trucks rather than boarding them.

Even in the poor light, Chrissy thought she could recognise some of her friends – Mary Pickers from the end of the street, Victor Grange from just a few doors down – as they clambered into the back of the trucks. She thought, too, that she could see bewilderment and hesitation on their faces, until their parents seemed to persuade them that they needed to quickly get on board.

Suddenly, harsh cries rang out from the porchway of the Burfords' house.

Chrissy had to stop herself from gasping out in surprise as Tom Burford and his parents were abruptly surrounded by officers aggressively levelling guns at each of their heads. There was a chaotic scuffle and anguished yells of protest. The Burfords had their own weapons deftly snatched out of their hands.

Tom was naturally athletic and lithe. He swung around while raising an arm, dashing the rifle barrel to one side. The shot shattered a nearby pot of geraniums rather than his head.

Tom effortlessly transformed the whirl of his body into a smooth run, sprinting across the darkened lawns. He was heading towards the hidden Chrissy and Si almost as if he knew they were there, waiting for him.

'Tom! Don't, don't run!' his mother frantically screamed after him. 'They'll shoot! They'll shoot you!'

'Don't shoot him, please don't shoot my boy!' Tom's father yelled fearfully. Almost at the very same time, he threw himself at the nearest officer, clutching desperately at the gun to prevent it being used.

Ignoring the parents' despairing cries, the officers around them brought up their guns to their cheeks. Taking up firing positions, they aimed directly at the fleeing boy's darkened, shadowy form.

Suddenly, the darkness around the boy changed, expanding and moving as a tall man stepped out of the solid black of the lawns. The man brought up the stock up a gun, brought it down brutally on the side of the boy's face.

The boy collapsed, unconscious, to the ground.

'Sorry Tom,' Chrissy's father apologised gruffly. 'But they _would've_ shot you!'

*

# Chapter 30

'My dad! My _dad_ nearly killed Tom!'

Even though she had just seen it with her own eyes, Chrissy still couldn't believe it. She didn't _want_ to believe it.

Her father had mercilessly clubbed poor Tom Burford to the ground.

'If he hadn't, as he said, the police would have killed him,' Si replied breathlessly. 'I reckon your dad was either very brave, or very stupid. Those officers could've just as easily hit him if they'd fired.'

Chrissy didn't find this as reassuring as perhaps she should have done.

She had watched, dumbfounded, as her father had helped the officers drag the dazed Tom off. They'd carried Tom towards a large armoured van similar to the one used to herd the kids into by the green.

Now, having silently sloped away from the street full of trucks, they believed they were at last far enough away to break into a run and speak without being heard.

The streets they were passing down now were surprisingly quiet. Apart from the street lights, they were also remarkably dark, with no light emanating from the rows of houses. Either they had already been abandoned, the occupants perhaps taken away in earlier convoys of trucks, or the lights had been deliberately switched off to give the impression that no one was home. Every window was firmly shuttered, with the very same kind of heavy, metal boarding that had effortlessly slid into place in Si's home.

Now and again, from somewhere deep within the maze of darkened streets, they heard the crack of a gun, the harsh tones of a warning cry. Sometimes, too, down the distant end of a street, they caught the flash of light that they hoped was a protecting angel.

Si dialled his mom and dad on his mobile, as much to make sure they were okay as to tell them he and Chrissy were heading their way.

'Still no signal!' he groaned in frustration, slipping the phone back into his pocket. 'I hope – what the!'

He jumped in surprise as a young girl suddenly appeared alongside him out of nowhere.

'Who're you? How did you do that?' he demanded nervously and angrily.

'It's me, it's me!' the girl exclaimed urgently, unfurling her gloriously white wings. 'Jial: Chrissy's angel!'

'Jial! You're back!' Chrissy exclaimed joyously, rushing forward to give her a tight hug.

'Of course I'm back, silly!' Jial returned the warm hug. 'Did you really think I'd just leave you like that?'

Chrissy stepped back slightly, wiping a tear from her eye.

'But everything's so strange and frightening aroun – wait! Si can _see_ you?'

She stared at Si in almost as much surprise as Si was staring at Jial.

'Yes, yes, I can see her,' Si mumbled in astonishment. Then he grinned, chuckled. 'She's cute: like a sweet little sister. Just like you'd more or less told me.'

'That...that's not _possible_!'

Shocked, and weirdly feeling a little bit naked and embarrassed, Chrissy looked towards Jial for either confirmation or an explanation.

'Yes, yes, _sorry_ Chrissy: Si _can_ see me now. That's what I asked for – so I can help _him_. And so, that way, I can help _you_ too!'

She'd reached for and taken a firm hold of Chrissy's hand. Now she made a move to stride quickly away, pulling Chrissy along with her.

'So come on: we have to get _moving_. We need to get you both to safety. We need to find a convoy–'

Chrissy pulled back on Jial's hand, dragging her to a stop once more.

'Jial, we _can't_! We saw them putting kids without angels in a van...'

'So?' Jial grinned. 'Si's got an angel now, hasn't he? You've just got to make sure the cops and the soldiers know it when we approach them!'

She jerked hard on Chrissy's hand, forcing her into a reluctant run.

'Where Jial, where can we find a convoy?' Si asked as he ran alongside them.

'Same as you found one last time: look for an orb of light in the sky. And then try and get there before it starts moving again!'

*

'Why, why do we need a convoy, now you're with us?' Chrissy asked irritably as they ran through the darkened streets. 'Can't you protect us?'

She couldn't help feeling irritated, no matter how many times she told herself she was being silly. Jial was right, of course – this _was_ the best, the only way, of ensuring Si was safe.

Even so, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, vulnerable, as if every one of her innermost secrets had been unwittingly revealed to Si. It didn't help that Si now had an almost permanent grin on his face. He swiftly switched his gaze between Chrissy and Jial, his amazed, joyful expression no doubt similar to the mischievous glee of anyone who'd discovered and opened someone's secret diary.

'Fight them you mean, fight a chiasmus?' Jial said in reply to Chrissy's questioning. She shook her head. 'But I can, of course, call down an angel who can: if we find ourselves in trouble.'

Chrissy recalled how the police officers had also referred to the attacking monster as a chiasmus.

'What _are_ these monsters?' she asked. 'How come we've never heard of them before? Where've they suddenly come from?'

She was fighting for breath as she spoke. At last, they had spotted a semi-spherical globe of light illuminating a small section of the maze of dark streets lying ahead of them. They were now heading towards it as fast as they could. Despite her exhaustion and fear, however, Chrissy noticed that Jial seemed to hesitate before answering.

'They _haven't_ just suddenly come from nowhere, I'm afraid.' Jial's voice was calm and smooth. She wasn't so much running as rapidly gliding over the ground. 'They've been around almost as long as humans.'

'Mom and Dad's arsenal: that's _not_ unusual, is it?' Si asked knowingly. 'All these convoys, shutters on the house – it's all preparation, that's right, isn't it? Just in case we were attacked like this?'

Jial nodded.

'They knew: your moms and dads, all the adults. You were all just too young to be told just yet. The chiasmus are vicious, intelligent – but so are the guards who'll be protecting the convoy. So remember what I said about letting them know I'm with you!'

With another nod of her head, she drew their attention back to how close they now were to the brightly illuminated convoy lying around the next corner. They all elatedly whirled around the corner – and slewed to an abrupt, shocked halt.

In the bright glare of upturned searchlights and headlamps twisted askew, the wrecked trucks cast hard, angular shadows. And the bodies of the dead were strewn everywhere across the ground.

*

# Chapter 31

'Mom! Dad!' Chrissy tearfully gasped.

'It's a different convoy, a _different_ one!' Si exclaimed, urgently yet tenderly taking Chrissy in his arms. 'I'm _sure_ of it!'

Even Jial appeared shocked and dismayed.

'Yes, yes; it _won't_ be the same convoy that took Stu and Elaine, Chrissy!' she managed to blankly blurt out.

'What...what _are_ these _things_?' Chrissy muttered fearfully, glancing with wide, glazed eyes over the torn and bloodied bodies scattered around the wrecked and, in some cases, upturned trucks. 'How can they do this to armed soldiers and police?'

Guns lay alongside many of the bodies, often smashed or bent beyond further use.

There were no bodies of the beasts.

'The angels; why didn't the angels protect them?' Si breathed, fleetingly looking back at Jial with an almost accusatory glare.

'I...I don't _know_ ,' Jial admitted with a dismayed shake of her head.

Towards the centre of the wrecked convoy stood the armoured van that had been used to transport any young adult no longer accompanied by a protective angel. An entire side of it had been ripped open, a vast hole of shredded, jagged metal.

From the surrounding darkness, there came a snort, a low, gleeful howl, a gravel-disturbing scuffling.

Edgily reaching for each other's hand, a horrified Chrissy and Si nervously tried to scan the enveloping shadows for any hint of movement.

Jial threw her head back and yelled out a call for help.

'I call on Saint Michial and the Angelic Guard to protect us!'

*

The darkness of the shadows shifted, flowed.

First a gruesome, angular head, then massive powerful shoulders emerged from the fluctuating blackness. The creature languidly stepped out of the surrounding debris, heavily muscled arms loosely swinging by his sides. His gait was smoothly athletic.

He snorted, growled.

From close by him, there came a responding grunt. From behind him, a hungry slavering.

More creatures moved out of the shadows, every one of them gigantic, colossally built. They were all ridiculously contoured with an array of constantly writhing, undulating muscles. Reflecting the light of the trucks' headlamps, their eyes appeared glazed, empty – soulless.

Illuminated like this, the beasts could have been some lost, evolutionary branch of ape, a creature giving rise to legends of fearsome monsters, to fairy tales of Beauties and Beasts. Yet they moved like men, confident of their power and dominance over the small group of inferiors they were nearing and gradually surrounding.

Si and Chrissy nervously edged back from the approaching creatures, shivering in fright. To their side, disturbed metal sheets slid and grated against each other. More shadowy forms emerged, seemingly gruesomely chuckling, their teeth bared.

Jial, probably with less, if anything, to fear, stood her ground.

Once again, she threw back her head and screamed into the night.

'Michial! Gabrielle! _Please_ help us!'

*

# Chapter 32

The nearest beast grinned, as if understanding yet mocking Jial's plaintive cry. A set of sharp fangs glistened like icebergs where they were caught by the light.

Like the rest of the creatures gradually appearing from the surrounding wreckage, he seemed in no hurry to approach the angel and her charges. He, like his companions, was obviously confident that his prey had nowhere to run, no chance of escape.

His eyes glowed like orbs of fire, flickering brightly with flames of gold, silver and red. Around him, the eyes of the other beasts similarly flickered into flaming life, as if transformed into globules of molten lava and glass.

The steady advance of the creatures came to a halt. At first one by one, and them almost as one, they began to curiously peer upwards, shading their now painfully squinting eyes beneath swiftly raised arms.

Illuminated in an abruptly intense brightness, the edges of their fur appeared to blaze, as if set alight. Then they glowed almost white as everything around them was also instantly irradiated with a shimmering light, like a slice of early dawn irresistibly imposing itself on a fragment of night.

With all the suddenness, noise and blinding glare of an impacting meteor storm, the previously encroaching creatures were sent reeling back across the scattered debris. The bright light immediately steadied and remained in place, however, forming a wall of fiery orbs lying between the fallen beasts and a relieved Chrissy and Si.

Through the barrier of swirling flame, they could just make out the still illuminated forms of the creatures lying beyond it. Strewn awkwardly across the angular wreckage, the beasts writhed slowly, as if either painfully or slightly dazed. Even so, they were gradually rising to their feet once more.

The creatures roared and growled, a mingling of anger and agony. They were all clutching at some injury or other, whether a flopping, useless arm, or a shoulder pinioned with the broken, glistening shaft of a lance or spear.

As Chrissy and Si's eyes at last adjusted to the fierce, coruscating glare of the blazing orbs, they began to make out inside each one of them the shimmering armour, wings and weapons of angelic warriors. Knights in silver or gold, bearing glittering shields, wielding flaming swords, or standing ready with raised, fiery spears. Their massive, feathery wings rapidly spread out behind them, creating a seemingly impassable barrier.

With threatening snarls and raging screams, the beasts charged into and threw themselves against the line of angelic knights. They lashed out with powerful strikes of fists and claws. They leapt high into the air, dropping down once more with pounding arms and fiercely kicking legs. Teeth were bared, jaws snapped, bit home, and rived and tore.

The angels silently yet resolutely retaliated with the violent thrust or swooping curve of an expertly handled sword, the lunge and plunging stab of a spear, the push, shove and deflecting arc of a shield. They hacked, slashed and struck out at the furiously oncoming beasts as if both tireless and unaffected by any emotion.

Writhing and screeching in pain and frustration, the odd beast would now and again reel backwards, nursing painful wounds. But they would immediately rush back into the fray, ducking away from a slashing sword to swing out with a slicing cut of their own evilly sharpened talons.

No longer afraid, Chrissy and Si watched the battling angels in awestruck admiration. But Jial, who had stepped back towards them, pulled urgently at Chrissy's arm.

'Quick, quick; we have to leave, while we have the chance!'

'Leave?' gasped an exasperated Si. 'Why leave now? This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!'

'The angels are _winning_! We're _saved_ , Jial!' Chrissy breathed excitedly, her eyes never leaving the ferociously fighting lines of combatants.

'Trust me; we have to leave, _now_!' Jial insisted, pulling harder on Chrissy's arm and dragging her back towards the main bulk of the shattered convoy. 'We need to move quickly; in fact, if we can find one, we need to find a truck or something that's still working!'

' _Another_ truck?' Chrissy wailed miserably with a glance at Si's still obviously badly injured hand. 'I could hardly drive the _last_ one!'

'Chrissy, I reckon Jial's right!' Si warned, almost tripping over his feet in his sudden eagerness to step back from the warring lines. 'Some of the beasts look ready to break through!'

As all three of them broke into a run, Chrissy peered back over her shoulder to try and see what Si could mean. She was just in time to see one of the creatures ignore the thrashing sword strikes of an angel, and duck beneath the wall of wings.

With a satisfied growl, he started elatedly looping towards them.

*

The beast moved incredibly swiftly.

He was gaining on them far quicker than either Jial or Si appreciated, Chrissy realised.

Spotting a large gun that had been cast to the floor, she bent down, picked it up, and swung around to aim it at the pursuing beast.

She'd never held a gun before, let alone fired one. Of course, she'd seen in movies, read in books, that all you had to do was pull the trigger. But wasn't there something to do with flicking a safety catch on or off? And what if the gun had already been fired? What if it no longer contained any ammunition?

Too late to think of all that now – the snarling beast was almost upon her.

Chrissy pulled sharply on the trigger.

There was a noise like a clap of thunder, repeated innumerable times. The recoil of the blast punched back painfully hard on Chrissy's arm and lower chest. It threw her off her feet, sending her rolling across the ground.

Caught in a rapid burst of bullets at point-blank range, the beast's head disappeared in a vaporised cloud of blood and flesh. The huge, powerful yet now headless body crumpled to the floor almost at Chrissy's feet. She nervously scuttled back, crablike, on her hands and feet.

She glanced over towards the line of battling angels, which seemed to be holding. Strangely, however, many of the beasts appeared to be shrugging off the ferocious blows. It was as if they were so intent on chasing after her and the others, they'd become increasingly uncaring of the punishment being meted out to them.

Another beast was already edging his way into a position where he could duck beneath the angelic wall. His eyes were firmly locked on hers, readying himself to charge across and capture and probably kill her.

An anxious Jial was hovering low over her, the fluttering wings enveloping her in a draft of reassuringly cool air. Accepting Jial's proffered helping hand, Chrissy quickly pulled herself to her feet.

Si was standing by a small, open-topped vehicle, some kind of jeep. The uniformed driver was still limply slumped across the seat. Si brusquely pulled the driver clear, letting him flop lifelessly to the ground. Even Chrissy could see the bright gleam of a deeply gashed throat.

'Si, your hand!' Chrissy cried out worriedly as he slipped into the driver's seat.

'It's okay; it's nowhere near as bad as it was!' He quickly studied the controls, checked that the key was still in the ignition. He could reach the pedals comfortably.

'It's an automatic, not a gear stick – I mean stick shift,' Jial reassuringly pointed out to Chrissy as they both leapt into the passenger seats. 'Easier to drive! Just drive it like one of your video games, Si!'

Si started up the engine, kicked the jeep into life. It jerked forward, jumped over rubble and wreckage scattered across the ground. Si spun the wheel, bringing the jeep out from behind an overturned truck, its cargo of bodies strewn across the ground.

Clinging on to the jeep's sides as Si accelerated away, Chrissy glanced back at the wavering defensive line of angels.

'They're breaking through!' she yelled out in warning and terror. 'The beasts are breaking through!'

*

# Chapter 33

The jeep crunched, skittered, skewed sideways and roared over the debris littered road. As it picked up speed, Si quickly acquainted himself with the controls.

Behind them, the beasts elatedly howled as they effortlessly sprinted into a frenzied chase.

'They're not breaking through, Chrissy,' Jial observed forlornly, almost tearfully, as she peered over the back of the jeep at the pursuing horde. 'They're just _ignoring_ the angels. And that's bad, very bad indeed.'

Now that Jial had pointed it out, Chrissy immediately realised that she was right. The beasts weren't ducking past the swinging blows of the angelic warriors as she had assumed. They were simply walking unhurt through what should have been fiercely curving strikes of sword or lance. It was as if the angels existed only as beings of nothing more than the brightest light – glorious, frightening even, yet ultimately insubstantial and harmless.

'No lights!' Si screamed worriedly, drawing both Chrissy and Jial's attention back to where they were heading. 'We need some light here!'

They'd passed out of the orb of illumination provided by the smashed convoy's shattered searchlights, the crazily angled main beams of the upturned vehicles. Ahead of them lay mainly darkness, lit only every now and again by a dim street lamp. Si was frantically searching the controls, looking for the switch for the jeep's lights. The jeep lurched, bucked and bounced violently as it first struck the kerb and then other objects hidden by the darkness.

At last, the jeep's own beams blazed into life, throwing out twin cones of light for a good few yards ahead of them. With his attention firmly back on the now brightly illuminated road, Si regained a passably good control of the jeep. He gunned the engine into a much needed extra burst of speed.

The beasts moved ridiculously swiftly. They weren't being left behind anywhere near as quickly as Chrissy had hoped. With blood-freezing growls and yelps, the pursuing monsters were still giving chase, loping after the frenziedly swerving jeep as if it were hardly moving.

'I'll try give them the slip!' Si cried, glancing back over his shoulder at the pursuing horde. 'Hold on!'

He abruptly spun the wheel hard, screeching the jeep into a tight curve, and aiming it down a narrow, badly lit side alley.

'Si, it's one way!' Chrissy yelled, seeing the warning sign only as the jeep plunged between the enclosing alley walls.

'One way?' Si yelled back in disbelief. 'Chrissy, we've got monsters from hell chasing us and – arrrgghhhh, no!'

They all jumped at the horn's blare. They were all almost blinded by the bright, full beams.

Another vehicle was heading directly towards them down the narrow alley.

*

'Hang on again!'

Si threw the jeep into an urgent swerve once more, an even more urgent correction.

The oncoming driver must have instinctively made a similar manoeuvre. Like the jeep, it leapt and jumped as it struck the kerb. It screeched painfully as it scraped along the wall, clanged nosily as wing mirrors and handles collided, broke off, and spun away into the darkness.

The two vehicles roared past each other with little to spare, frantically fishtailing and bucking and rocking worryingly as their respective drivers nervously jerked them off the kerb and back onto the road.

Despite apprehensively clinging to her seat as tightly as she could, Chrissy stared back at the now rapidly receding car. She watched in horror as its rear lights blazed a brighter red, the driver hitting his brakes, presumably fearing he was about to tear into a crowd of people.

The car ploughed into the onrushing beasts, the thuds of violently stricken bodies loud enough to be heard over screeching tyres. At least two of the beasts were sent uncontrollably bowling over the top of the car. Their immense bodies and long limbs loosely flopped in the air, as if every bone had been shattered beyond repair.

Yet both beasts landed catlike upon feet and hands, springing instantly back into a run, both uninjured and undeterred. Only those left behind them gave up pursuing the jeep, and then only because this new, more easily apprehended prey had landed in their lap. These beasts leapt hungrily upon the car, pounding on its roof and doors. They shattered windows and tore off whole sheets off metal in their eagerness to drag out the terrified, fearfully shrieking people inside.

Chrissy couldn't look anymore.

'Jial; is there nothing you can do?' she asked hopefully.

Jial gloomily shook her head.

'No, sorry; even the angels can't save those poor people now. We have to–'

There was a thunderous boom, the shrieking of protesting metal. The jeep bucked violently, briefly almost coming to a complete halt. What appeared to be a massive, dark boulder had dropped from out of nowhere onto the vehicle's hood.

Si fought the wheel, the jeep uncontrollably weaving for a moment. He wondered what Chrissy was doing as, out of the corner of an eye, he saw her swiftly reach for and unclasp a shotgun strapped just beneath the jeep's dashboard.

The dark mass on the hood instantaneously uncoiled. Stretching out into a beast, it triumphantly snarled as it sprang towards Si. The jeep frantically reared and chaotically swerved as a second beast landed in the back seat alongside Jial.

'Chrissy, behind you!' Jial screamed in warning.

Chrissy didn't hear. There was an ear-splitting crack as, standing up in her seat, she aimed the shotgun at the beast bounding towards Si.

The beast's chest exploded, a volcano of flesh, fur and blood. The force of the gun's blast sent the creature flying off into the semi-darkness.

The shotgun's recoil brutally flung Chrissy back out of her seat. She crashed heavily into the beast in the rear seat, sending him wheeling uncontrollably out of the back of the vehicle.

'Si! They're coming across the roof tops!' Chrissy bellowed urgently.

Looking up from her sprawled position in the back seat, Chrissy could see more and more beasts using the surrounding high buildings as runways to cut off the jeep's retreat.

Another beast leapt from the roof top, aiming to land on the hood once more.

Si jerked the wheel, swerved enough to cause the beast to miss, to land just slightly to one side of the jeep. The creature howled in dismay and agony as, in the harsh, angular light of a beam, he was caught by a wheel arch and sent crashing into a nearby wall.

A forth beast landed just short of the jeep, emerging from an athletic, force-absorbing roll to spring immediately to his feet. It reached out for the spare tyre fixed to the vehicle's rear. Its talons effortlessly bit into thick metal and rubber, easily grabbing purchase; then the tyre broke free, and the surprised beast fell bowling across the ground.

'Turn right, so they can't cut us off!' Jial yelled as, behind her, more beasts dropped through the darkness.

Landing as lithely as if weightless, the beasts instantly leapt up into a sprinting chase.

The brighter lights of a more major road lay far ahead, crossing the end of the alley. Si glanced up to his side, saw immense shadowy figures rushing across the tops of the buildings. They would reach the road before he did.

Just up ahead, to his right, he saw the opening to what he could only hope was another, narrow alley. Wrenching the steering wheel hard, he swung the nosily protesting jeep into a sliding turn. Then, gunning the engine yet again, he sent the jeep plunging into this new alleyway.

'If we continue straight on,' he warned, 'we're going to end up in Bonniville.'

Looking far up ahead, Si realised that keeping to the alley, rather than making another turn, would eventually lead them to one of only four roads taking them out of town,

'Bonniville it is then,' Chrissy sighed with a resigned grimace.

She gained a small measure of comfort from the heavy gun resting in her hands as she anxiously stared back at the swiftly pursuing beasts.

'Because if we don't keep straight on, these monsters are going to catch us. You can bet on it.'

*

# Chapter 34

'They won't give up,' Jial said gloomily.

Slightly turning around in her seat, she looked back towards the beasts still resolutely giving chase. Despite the extra speed the jeep had at last managed to pick up on its straight, clear run, they beasts didn't appear to be tiring.

'Not until it's obvious to them that you've definitely outrun them.'

Staring out of the rear of the jeep with Jial, Chrissy wondered when that would ever be. The creatures weren't experiencing any trouble in maintaining the incredible speed necessary to keep up with the jeep. Yes, bit by bit they were dropping behind, but only gradually, only slowly.

Si resisted the temptation to turn off down any of the roads crossing their own. He realised that the beasts would take to the roof tops once more, threatening to cut them off at the next junction.

Si dragged as much acceleration as he could out of the now sorely battered jeep. Even when they at last reached the end of the long alley, coming out onto a wider, curving road on the edge of town, he tore straight across the intersections. He used only the briefest glance either side to make sure no other vehicles were going to crash into them.

Si tweaked the steering wheel. The jeep threw up a light smattering of dust as Si pointed it down the long road heading out towards Bonniville.

And the beasts tirelessly continued to follow.

*

'I think you should stop now.'

Chrissy peered at Jial incredulously.

'Stop? Jial, they're _still_ after us!'

It was still dark, in fact darker than ever out in the unlit desert. The pursuing beasts could no longer be seen, but they could still be heard. Howling excitedly, threateningly, somewhere on the road way behind them.

The beasts had, at last, dropped a considerable distance behind them. Yet they seemed inexhaustible, determined. Chrissy had fearfully begun to believe that the creatures would keep on chasing them until their jeep ran out of fuel.

'You need to stop for a moment,' Jial insisted. 'Or, just like last time, in the van, you're going to be forced to come to a halt.'

Si shook his head in angry disagreement.

'I've checked – we've got more than enough gas to get us to Bonniville. It's what; no more than twelve miles from us?'

'It's more, more miles than you think,' Jial answered ominously. 'But unless you stop now and remove the engine disablers, the jeep's going to come to a grinding halt.'

'You mean like that thing Mom stripped from the van? There's one in the jeep as well?'

'Two – there's two. That's why you're mum's stripping it out didn't prevent the van from coming to a halt. There's a second one hidden away that even she's not allowed to know about.'

'Jial – what's going on here?' Chrissy demanded angrily. 'How come you know about these things? Why have all our cars got things in them to stop them working?'

'And what was that you said earlier about this jeep?' Si joined in, his tone no less accusatory. 'It's a _gear_ stick? That's English, isn't it – I mean _British_ English?'

'So what're you saying, Si? _The British are coming_?' Jial spat back irritably. 'That's you're biggest worry, is it? That I speak _British_ English rather than _American_ English? Just stop the jeep, _please_ ,' she finally pleaded. 'You _have_ to, otherwise they really _will_ catch us!'

With an irate flip of his foot, Si stepped down hard on the brake pedal. The jeep slew to an almost immediate halt. As Si leapt out of the jeep, Jial followed him with a flutter of her wings.

'Okay, okay, but let's be quick!' Si insisted irritably. 'And you're going to have to show me where these things, whatever they are, are hidden.'

He flipped open the jeep's hood, automatically switching on a light that illuminated the engine.

Chrissy quickly slipped back into the front seat, from where she began to urgently search for more ammunition for her gun.

'Is that one?' Si asked Jial hopefully, pointing out a device next to the cylinders. It looked remarkably similar to the one he'd seen his mom remove from their van. 'Should I remove it?'

Jial nodded. 'It should pull out easily enough,' she said.

Si effortlessly ripped out the disabler and contemptuously flung it aside.

'That's the other one.' Jial leant over the engine to point deeper into its works. 'It's made to look like some kind of pump. But it will cut out the engine as soon as you reach too far out of town.'

Realising he didn't have time to demand any more explanations, Si simply reached for the device. With an angry jerk of his arm, he pulled the disabler clear of the engine.

Letting the hood slam back into place, he tossed the disabler into the darkness. He rushed back to and slid once more into his seat.

His eyes widened in both amazement and admiration as he saw Chrissy smoothly, perhaps even expertly, reloading her gun.

'Surprising what you can pick up from the movies,' she said blithely. 'Especially when your life depends on it.'

There was an urgent yet gentle fluttering of wings as Jial flew into her own, rear seat. There was also a loud series of howls; howls that were louder, much louder than they'd been before Si had had to stop the jeep.

'Better get going.'

Si and Chrissy said it together, almost at once.

Si started up the engine. He gunned the jeep back into motion with a slew of rapidly revolving tyres fighting for grip.

With an edgy glance back into the darkness, Chrissy patted the gun in her lap.

She could only hope that she'd learned enough from the movies to save them all when the beasts eventually caught up.

*

# Chapter 35

A smattering of lights lay ahead of them. The lights took on an extra brightness, and a few more became visible, as they drew nearer.

'Bonniville should be bigger than this, surely?' Chrissy breathed with a mix of both hope and disbelief.

Dim cones of light cast from high, overhead street lamps began to illuminate the garishly white, perfectly rectangular sides of mobile homes.

'Uh uh,' Si said, peering intently towards the nearing lights. 'It's another mobile home park. All these trips I've had out of town, and I can't ever recall seeing one of these parks lying between the two towns.'

'It looks like everyone's asleep.' Stirring anxiously in the back of the jeep, Jial fleetingly looked over her shoulder, back towards where you could still hear the excited whoops and fearsome growls of the shadowing beasts. 'We've brought down hell upon them. And no one seems to have warned them what's happening in town!'

Leaning across from her seat, Chrissy frantically pumped the jeep's horn. As the horn blared out nosily across the mainly empty desert, a few more lights flickered on amongst the mobile homes.

'Should we stop, help–'

'No, we can't help them,' Jial interrupted. She stared up into the darkness, biting her lip apprehensively. 'I can't understand why no one's coming to help.'

'Angels?' Si asked. 'You're expecting the angels?'

'Gunships: helicopter gunships. That's what I was really hoping for,' Jial replied bluntly.

'If Hermon's asked for help, they could be flying in from any of the other surrounding towns,' Si said.

'Hmn, possibly, possibly,' Jial agreed, though with a tone suggesting she was unpersuaded.

Partly dressed, blearily-eyed people were already stepping outside of their homes as the jeep roared past. They peered worriedly at the jeep as Chrissy continued to frenziedly sound the horn.

'The beasts, the beasts are coming!' she roared out to them as loudly as she could, even though she knew they wouldn't be able to hear her. 'Get yourself a gun. At least get yourself a gun!' she wept bitterly as they stared curiously after the swiftly passing jeep.

The jeep hurtled into the darkness lying ahead of them. The lights of the mobile home park rapidly dropped behind them, becoming little more than a smattering of dim lights once more.

The howls of the trailing beasts abruptly transformed into much louder, elated whoops and aggressive growls. A street lamp shook then toppled, blinking out as it crashed to the ground.

There were a few gun shots, but far more shrieks of terror, and cries for help. The sound, too, of what could be the thin metal walls of the homes being ripped and torn.

Gradually, the lights from the park faded and dimmed behind the fleeing jeep. So too did the howling of the beasts as if, at long last, they had given up the chase.

The beasts had been handed far easier prey to devour, after all.

Chrissy breathed a sigh of relief. Yet she couldn't help feeling guilty, too, for thinking that way.

*

'I'd expected them to have been given warning: be more prepared for an attack.'

Recognising Chrissy's misery and sense of responsibility for what had happened, Jial spoke calmly and assuredly.

'The first thing we need to do when we reach Bonniville is to find a police station: let them know what's going on in Hermon. Just in case they also haven't received any warnings.'

'They won't think we're crazy?' Si asked with a fleeting glance at Jial over his shoulder. 'They'll know about the beasts?'

' _Everyone_ knows about the chiasmus. Don't worry.'

'Everyone?' Chrissy responded bitterly. ' _We_ didn't!'

'Okay, every _adult_ – why do you think your parents were so well armed, so well protected with metal shutters on their houses?'

'Sure, and a fat lot of good that did us Jial!' Si spat back.

'It was such a large attack, so many of them all at once; they weren't prepared for that.'

'Where'd they all come from, just like that?' Si demanded to know. 'How come these chiasmus or whatever you call them have never even appeared in books, in movies?'

'And what would be the point of that, Si? It would just scare children for no reason. We thought the presence of the angels would prevent it happening again – but, as you know, something's happening to us too. We're...were still vanishing too. And I can't explain why.'

'You _can't_ explain, or you _won't_ explain?' Chrissy asked vehemently, even though she couldn't fail to notice that Jial seemed upset, even incredibly apprehensive, about the continuing disappearance of the angels.

'And did I hear you say _again_?' Si frowned angrily. 'This has happened _before_?'

'Frequently, I'm afraid. These chiasmus are an evolutionary throwback; actually a branch of humanity, would you believe? One that's managed to cling on living hidden amongst us, gradually growing in strength.'

Chrissy felt more confused and lost than ever, despite Jial's supposed explanation. Exhausted, all she wanted to do at the moment was sleep. She couldn't hold back from deeply yawning.

Jial yawned along with her.

'Jial? You _yawned_! You _did_ yawn the last time I said you had!'

This was now the second time Chrissy had seen Jial yawn.

Angels weren't supposed to tire. They were supposed to keep a constant watch over you. That's what everyone said and what everyone was told about angels.

'I did _not_ yawn!' Jial protested. 'I was just, you know, sort of sighing. That's all.'

'It looked like a yawn to _me_!'

'If you're tired, Chrissy, get some sleep,' Si said, yawning tiredly himself. 'This is a military vehicle, so there's probably some blankets somewhere.'

'I reckon you've left the beasts behind.'

Jial realised she didn't need to add that the beasts had only stopped chasing them because they'd stopped to kill and cause mayhem back in the trailer park.

'You could take turns driving and sleeping. There'll be rations somewhere around here too, if you're hungry. And plenty of petrol in the jerry cans.'

'It can't be much farther, surely?'

Si checked the google map on his mobile. He also punched a few buttons, grimacing in frustration when it dawned on him that there was still no telephone service.

Jial chuckled bitterly.

'This far out of town, Si, that map's useless. It's going to be a lot farther than you think, farther than you remember it being when you last came out here.' Jial pointed to the compass fixed to the jeep's dashboard. 'No matter what happens, keep heading in the same direction. The road's going to run out pretty soon, so you'll be driving for at least thirty miles across empty desert.'

'Empty desert? For _thirty_ miles? Jial, just what _is_ going on?'

'Sorry, Chrissy; I've probably already told you more than I should have. And now I've got to leave you for a little while.'

' _Leave_? Jial you can't lea–'

'Sorry, I _have_ to. But I'll be back before your reach town, honest. Oh, by the way, Bonniville won't be as you remember it. It'll be – how should I say it? – a lot more _futuristic_ than you're expecting.'

'Jial, what do you mean – _futuristic_?'

Jial shrugged, grinned wanly.

'Oh and when we're there, don't mention _me_ , okay? Don't mention _angels_.'

'Don't mention _angels_? What do–'

But Chrissy's query came too late. Jial had vanished once more.

*

# Chapter 36

The sun was rising at last. Through a rippling haze of rising heat and vaporised dew, Chrissy could make out the pulsating images of the edge of town.

As Jial had warned, the road they had been driving along had petered out ages ago. Thankfully, the well-sprung, four-wheel-drive jeep was more than capable of taking in its stride the rocky ground that had replaced it. In fact, when Chrissy had taken over the wheel to give Si a chance to take a rest, she had been pleasantly surprised to find just how much easier the automatic jeep was to drive than the stick-shift van.

As in parts of Hermon, a narrow road ran around the edge of the town, perpendicular to the surrounding desert. Drawing nearer to it, and preparing to drive up and turn on to it, Chrissy gave the sleeping Si a nudge.

'Si? We're here.'

Si stirred beneath the thick blanket he'd covered himself in, an attempt to gain as much warmth and comfort as he could while remaining seated in the jeep's passenger seat. Behind him, in the rear seat, Jial abruptly appeared with a jovial, 'Hi everyone; glad you all got some sleep.'

The jeep lurched slightly as it bounced onto the road. It purred in delight, however, as it gently curved across the smooth tarmac of the road.

'Jial!' Chrissy shouted over her shoulder irately. 'There's still a lot you need to–'

She stopped in midsentence as Si reached out a hand to interrupt her, to draw her attention back to her surroundings.

'Chrissy, something's not right here! Not right at all.'

'Sure, sure, it's not the Bonniville I remember, as Jial had warned us–'

Her voice faded away as she took in the wrecked cars. Cars not just abandoned by the kerbs, but also chaotically strewn across the road.

As Jial had also warned, the cars weren't of the type either Chrissy or Si were used to. They were sleeker, and seemingly made more of glass than metal. Glass that had been shattered, violently smashed.

Apart from the sound of their own jeep, and its hollow echo reverberating through the alleys separating the nearby buildings, the town was eerily quiet.

The town appeared abandoned.

'Oh no no!' Jial breathed in horror. 'Not _here_ too!'

*

# Chapter 37

'That could explain why Hermon isn't getting any help from this direction. And why you've been getting fewer supplies delivered recently.'

Jial looked out miserably across the deserted, partially demolished town. Everywhere seemed abandoned, wrecked.

'You mean to say even you didn't know anything about this?' Chrissy said accusingly.

'Do I need to point out that things aren't going too well for us angels at the moment either, Chrissy?' Jial replied irritably. Gruffly crossing her arms, she slunk back into the rear seat.

Spotting what looked like some form of large garage situated along the side of the road, Chrissy smartly and confidently swung the jeep towards it.

'Seeing as how even our angels seem to have lost the plot about what's going on around here, we'll see if this town's newspapers and magazines can give us any clues.'

Pulling into the drive, Chrissy immediately realised that this wasn't the kind of gas station she was used to. Yes, there were cars parked alongside what could have been tall pumps, but the dispensers weren't like anything she'd seen back in Hermon. A few of them were seriously damaged, even impossibly twisted out of shape, as were all of the parked cars.

Even stranger, none of the signs and advertising posters she could see scattered around the forecourt were in English. They weren't even in a language she could recognise. The lettering was a strange, flowing script, a series of elegantly curving lines and dots that reminded her more of some form of Arabic writing.

'Now that, that's _really_ odd,' Jial observed in a tone of undisguised bewilderment from the jeep's rear. She'd also noticed the same strangely alien-looking posters. 'Even I wasn't expecting _that_!'

'This is all getting more worrying by the minute, Jial; all these things taking _you_ by surprise.' Si spun around slightly in his seat to glare at Jial. 'Where _are_ we?'

'Well, not America, like you'd thought, obviously,' Jial said matter-of-factly. She was trying to stare deep inside the garage's shop as Chrissy pulled up outside. 'And like I'd thought too, for that matter.'

'You kidding me?' Si exclaimed furiously. 'Are you seriously trying to say we've somehow ended up in some other country just because we've driven across a desert?'

Jial shook her head, yet she looked to be every bit as confused as Si and Chrissy.

'No, no; I mean, it seems even Hermon can't be in America. Even though I'd also been led to believe it was.'

*

They all slipped out of the jeep. They headed to the shop's huge, broken plate-glass door.

'Aren't angels all-seeing?' Chrissy no longer seemed irate, just bewildered. 'Surely you'd know, at the very least, if we were in America or not?'

'Hmn, it seems angels aren't as all-knowing as we'd like to think we are. Might I suggest we also look for a map, see if that could give us some idea of–'

Towards the rear of the shop, where a shattered door led out to a storeroom, there came the sound of something knocked and falling. The sound of something scuffling.

'A rat?' Si whispered hopefully.

They were all wide eyed with fear, all frozen still, so as not to make any noise. They glanced back towards the shop's door, wondering if they would have time to run back to the jeep.

Chrissy sensed how empty her hands suddenly felt, cursing her stupidity for leaving her gun behind.

Slowly, they began to back towards the door.

'This could be the part in the movie where we find some petrified kid hiding out from–'

Si's whispers were cut off by another sound of scuffling, this time coming from behind them.

They whirled around; and all gasped in terror, even Jial.

A chiasmus was standing in the shop's splintered doorway.

*

# Chapter 38

They had no choice but to run for the back door: the door leading to the storeroom, where they had first heard sounds of scrabbling and movement.

Each one of them was hoping that, as Si had said only moments before, it might be nothing more than a rat or some other creature.

The chiasmus bounded after them, effortlessly shrugging aside the shop's heavily loaded shelves, scattering rotting goods across the floor.

The storeroom was much like the shop's front, only with more heavily stacked shelves. They rushed down the narrow aisles running between these shelves. Off to one side, towards a far wall of the large room, they all heard the growl of another scavenging chiasmus.

Hearing the fleeing Si and Chrissy, the chiasmus elatedly threw aside the packs of grain he'd been eating. As if the shelves and stores were ridiculously fragile and weightless, he began to smash his way through everything in his way in his eagerness to get towards them.

'Another door, a door out to the back!' Jial screamed, pointing towards yet another shattered door, but this time one leading to the backyard.

Behind them, the cacophony of angry howls and splintering, toppling shelves increased as the other chiasmus rushed in from the shop. Even though he had to duck to clear the doorway, he charged in without even briefly breaking his pace.

Moving swiftly and lightly with the use of her wings, Jial was the first out of the back door. She wanted to make sure that Chrissy and Si wouldn't be blindly rushing out into more chiasmus. She quickly glanced about her, checking that the way back to the jeep out on the forecourt was clear. It was – until another beast loped around the building's corner, heading towards the exit door.

Chrissy and Si hurtled through the doorway. Jial spun around on her feet, directing them away from this new, swiftly oncoming chiasmus.

'Quick, quick! The other way!' she yelled. 'They're coming _this_ way!'

Turning sharply, Chrissy and Si sprinted towards the partially demolished remains of a huge carwash. The carwash's vast sheets of plasti-glass were mainly broken, the massive rainbow coloured rollers scattered as if nothing more than a discarded set of hand brushes.

'Jial, can't you call up the angels?' Chrissy pleaded breathlessly.

'I can't, I can't. They won't work here!'

Hopping through the shattered glass on their side of the carwash, and finding themselves confronted by a solid brick wall directly in front of them, they looked towards what would have been the entrance. But it was blocked by a skewed, crumpled van. The exit was hardly better, with two cars almost melded into each other, they were so twisted and warped out of shape.

Behind them, they could hear the heavy tread of the three beasts charging across the yard towards them. Si dived towards the slender, jagged corridors of space winding between the partially enjoined cars, looking for the best way through them.

The cars gave a metallic screech, slithering across each other a little. Si gasped in surprise as the tunnel he was hoping to clamber through widened.

A fourth chiasmus appeared at the far end of the tunnel, effortlessly lifting one of the cars aside.

'Trapped!' Si gasped worriedly, sliding to a halt, nervously reaching for Chrissy's hand.

He turned towards her.

'This might be a bit late to tell you, but I wanted you to know, before we – I love you!'

He leant towards her, urgently closing his lips on hers.

Chrissy felt ridiculously warm, strangely happy, angry, frightened, and, most weirdly of all, somehow free, released.

They were going to die – and she accepted that.

She would die with the one she loved.

*

# Chapter 39

What an awful, _awful_ dream.

As she finally, hesitatingly woke up, Chrissy drowsily shook her head. She hoped it would somehow shake out of her mind the last remnants of the terrible nightmare she'd suffered.

She still felt half-asleep, not fully awake yet. Her vision was still blurred. She couldn't quite rid herself of a sense of unfamiliarity, of a hard to shift stupor.

Her bed felt surprisingly hard, cold and unrelenting. She was uncomfortable, laid oddly, ungainly. Sharp objects, like shattered stones, probed mercilessly into her flesh.

She blinked, partially shook off her daze.

She was lying on the floor, not her bed. A concrete floor, littered with debris, with small shards of glass, of metal.

Slowly, unsurely, she brought a hand up to her face.

It was bloodied, such that no clear flesh was visible.

With a start, she glanced down at the rest of her body. It, too, was drenched in blood. And she was naked, apart from a few odd shreds of clothing that hung from her like long, bloody clots.

She sat up, swiftly wrapping her arms about herself as her whole body trembled with a terrified, embarrassed shiver.

How had she ended up here like this?

She urgently tried to piece together the last parts of her nightmare in the hope of working out what had really happened to her.

But no, it _wasn't_ a nightmare was it?

As she began to rapidly recall the terrible events that had led to her ending up naked and bloodied on this concrete floor, it dawned on her that everything had really happened.

They _had_ been attacked by the chiasmus.

She had _somehow_ survived.

Si!

Dreading what she might see, she urgently glanced everywhere about her,

Si was seated against the wall, thankfully seemingly uninjured. His face was tightly drawn, however, his eyes wide with shock and terror. Jial was kneeling by him, carefully tending him as if he were suffering from hidden injuries, reassuring him with quiet yet obviously caring words.

Why isn't Jial helping me? Chrissy wondered resentfully, enviously. Look at _me!_ I'm far more injured than _he_ is!

It was a crazy thing to think under the circumstances, she knew. It was a last residue of anger that, mercifully, was gradually ebbing, and somewhat unhurriedly flowing out of her.

With a jolt, Chrissy realised that Si's terror-stricken eyes were locked on her.

She was _naked_!

She'd forgotten she was naked!

Wrapping her arms even tighter about herself, and running in a demure, half crouch, Chrissy ducked behind the remains of one of the broken roller brushes.

Even though she'd intended to keep her eyes only on Si, her change of position gave her an entirely different view of the carwash. For the first time, she saw that there were other bodies scattered throughout the tightly enclosed area of the wash.

And not chiasmus bodies either; human bodies. Bloodied, shattered, human bodies.

One was skewered on the end bar of one of the massive roller brushes, the blood of the dead woman merging with the florescent whites, pinks and purples of the nylon strands. Another had been smashed and pinioned against the sharp, twisted shards of the wrecked cars. A third body had been shredded amongst the slivers of glass. Little was left of a fourth, other than pieces of flesh, muscle and bone strewn across the floor, as if brutally butchered by a maniac.

'Who...who did this?' Chrissy fretfully asked Jial. She was at once both awed and alarmed by the sudden realisation that all of this mayhem, this hideous brutality, could only have been achieved by a creature of phenomenal strength. 'And Si – is he okay? Is he injured?'

Jial looked up from tending Si; and Chrissy saw in her eyes the same fear and shock she'd seen in Si's eyes.

'He's fine, Chrissy: shocked, scared, that's all. He's not injured – thanks to you.'

'Thanks...thanks to _me_?' Chrissy gulped in disbelief.

'You can't remember?'

Rising from her crouching position by Si, Jial quietly fluttered over towards Chrissy. Settling down beside the naked, trembling girl, Jial didn't speak at first. Instead, Jial lovingly embraced her, fully enveloping her in the warm, soothing cocoon of her wings.

Chrissy buried her face against Jial's heaving chest and wept.

'I...I can't remember _anything_! I just woke up and saw – saw all this, all this horror! Who _are_ these poor people? What happened to the beasts, the monsters who were chasing us?'

'Those "poor people" _were_ the chiasmus. Or, at least, they were until you killed them.'

'Me? I killed all these beasts – but they're _not_ beasts, are they? They're just teenage kids! What _is_ going on? All this makes less and less sense to me!'

'What's going on, Chrissy, is you saved us: saved _me_!' Si rose unsteadily to his feet, his voice choked and quavering.

Chrissy was relieved to see that Si no longer appeared as shocked, no longer as scared of her, as he had only a moment ago. Rather, he seemed relieved, more understanding and forgiving, more concerned and pitying.

'As Jial says, they were beasts when you were fighting them. They changed as soon as you'd killed them. You know – like some kind of werewolf, or something.'

Chrissy felt Jial let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, as if relishing being spared having to tell the truth about what had just happened to her.

'Fighting them? How did I fight those _monsters_?' a bewildered Chrissy demanded.

'Like I said; they're some sort of werewolf. And you...you must've been bitten or something because–'

'Bitten?'

Chrissy anxiously checked her blood soaked skin, looking for any gash, any bite marks.

'You kind of transformed into one of them – only briefly, Chrissy, only _briefly_. Somehow you changed back too!'

Seeing the dawning horror on Chrissy's face, Si hurriedly tried to reassure her. But it was no use. Chrissy was panic-stricken.

'I'm a _beast_? I've been bitten, and now I'm one of these _monsters_?'

'You changed _back_ , that's the _main_ thing, Chrissy!' Jial hugged Chrissy even tighter. 'It's even possible to remain _permanently_ human, if you can keep a tight check on your anger, your worst emotions.'

'And if I can't? I transform, don't I? And maybe next time, its Si I end up killing!'

Si blanched. Even so, he tried to remain calm, reaching up for a car blanket he'd spotted hanging from an open door of one the wrecked cars.

'But you _didn't_ kill me,' he pointed out. 'It was as if you almost recognised who I was, and spared me. Despite how murderous you were towards the other beasts.'

With a sharp pull, and the sound of tearing, he dislodged the blanket from wherever it had snagged on the inside of the car.

'It was such a brief change, it was almost like you had some sort of control over it,' Jial agreed. 'You fought the beasts, rather than joining them; which I would normally have expected, once you'd transformed.'

'Then...then I'm not a danger to Si?'

'You _protected_ me,' Si said, stepping closer towards Chrissy and, as Jial stepped aside and unfurled her enveloping wings, covering her with the blanket. 'If you hadn't changed – hadn't been able to control that change too – I'd be dead. _We'd_ be dead.'

'And I'm here to help you control your emotions, to calm you, remember, Chrissy?' Jial tried to smile, but her effort faded. 'I'm to blame over what happened, not you. It's my role to keep you calm, and I failed. Sorry. I'll be more careful in future.'

Si grinned.

'Jial, don't _you_ be so hard on yourself too! How were you supposed to help keep her calm when we were about to be torn apart by a gang of massive monsters?'

Chrissy reached for and gripped Si's hand tightly.

'But that means I might transform again! I _can't_ go with you Si! It's too dangerous for you!'

Wrapping the blanket tighter around her, Si gave her a loving, reassuring embrace. He kissed her tenderly on her neck.

'It's too dangerous for me _without_ you!' His breath was warm on her skin. 'Besides, if the worst comes to the worst, you bite me, and we can be beasts together, right?'

Jial laughed sourly.

'Don't be so romantic, Si. Eventually, you'd just be animals, beasts of the worst kind. You won't remember any form of relationship between you, let alone love.'

Turning towards Si, Chrissy looked him directly in the eye, gripped his hand even harder.

'Si, I don't _want_ to be a beast. I'd rather _die_.'

*

# Chapter 40

'We're getting out of here. It's not safe.'

Leaving the gas station behind them, Si swung the jeep out onto the wrong side of the road, the side where under normal circumstances you'd expect to be met by angrily blaring, oncoming traffic.

He peered out of his side of the jeep. He was looking for the dirt tracks that would highlight where they'd pulled onto the road earlier, when arriving from out of the desert.

There weren't any signs pointing towards Hermon. There wasn't even any indication that anything lay out there other than a forbidding, murderous desert.

With a deft spin of the steering wheel, Si swerved off the road and headed out into the desert along their earlier tyre marks.

'Oh, and Hermon _is_ safe?' Chrissy observed sarcastically.

On their way back to the jeep through the shop, Chrissy had grabbed a set of loosely fitting clothes – t-shirt, baggy trousers, scuffed and holed plimsolls – from what was probably a counter-assistant's locker. She'd also rubbed herself as clean as she could with a few, quickly grabbed packs of moist baby wipes. She was surprised to find that she wasn't gashed or wounded in any way that she could see, leaving her wondering if part of her transformation entailed rapid healing.

'Uh uh, Hermon's not safe either,' Si replied. 'But this is the only way I know to somewhere out in the desert we know's _relatively_ safe. Somewhere where we can rest awhile and plan what we're going to do next.'

'We have to go back; to Hermon, I mean.' Jial was seated in the rear of the jeep once more, her wings spread out across the backs of the seats.

'Hmn, now _that_ wasn't the sort of plan I'd envisaged coming up with,' Si said.

'I suppose that depends if your plan involves helping your parents. Remember those people who raised you, cared for you, loved you?'

Chrissy swung around in her seat to glare accusingly at Jial.

'You told us they'd be safe! That they'd be protected by the police and military.'

Jial hung her head ashamedly.

'I thought they _would_ be safe. But something's gone wrong. Should all else fail, if an attack by the chiasmus becomes too powerful to hold back, there's a failsafe device in the mayor's home that will fry the brain of any beast in range. But no one's tripped it. Like it's been forgotten, or they can't get to it.'

'But the angels, the Angelic Guard that we saw; they can protect everyone against the beasts, surely?'

Jial shook her head as morosely as if she were a spoilt teenager.

'We're...we're _losing_ Chrissy. Yes, even the angels are losing. What do you think has been happening to us? Why we've been disappearing?'

'You mean Zorbielle? Petrial?' asked Si.

Jial nodded miserably.

'And all the others; more now than you can imagine, Si. There are so few of us left.'

'But how? How can angels _die_?' Chrissy was dumbfounded.

'The chiasmus; they can attack us almost as effortlessly as they can attack you.'

But...how's that possible. They're here, here on earth! Not up in heaven, or wherever it is angels live.'

'Yet we can talk to you, even interact a little with you, yes?' Jial said. 'And the chiasmus are a far older branch of humanity than you are; a more _elemental_ offshoot. They can intrude within our zone, where they're every bit as powerful as they are on earth.'

Everyone was quiet for a moment while Chrissy and Si took all this new information in. While they considered its many implications.

'So, what do we do?' Chrissy said eventually. 'To protect our parents, I mean; how can we possibly help?'

'You trip the failsafe device.' Jial replied bluntly.

'Wait, wait, wait!' Si was so furious he almost slewed the jeep to a sudden halt. 'Didn't you say this device fries the mind of any beast in range? And won't that include Chrissy?'

'Yes; it might,' Jial agreed with tears in her eyes.

*

# Chapter 41

'We _can't_ do it!'

'We _must_! It's the _only_ way to save our parents!

Si took a hand off the wheel to reach out for and tightly grasp Chrissy's hand.

'I can't watch you die, Chrissy!' Si continued to insist. 'Especially if I'm the one responsible: if _I'm_ the one who's tripped this damn switch!'

' _I'll_ trip it then. As I've already said, Si, I _can't_ live my life as a beast!'

'But what's to say you can't beat this? You're _not_ a beast! It was only a _brief_ change, while you were incredibly angry and frightened. You might never change again.'

Their hands gripped all the tighter.

'Si, we _know_ that's highly unlikely! Besides that might be what _saves_ me, right? If I'm still human when we flick the switch, it isn't going to harm me!'

Chrissy glanced back towards Jial for confirmation that she might be right. But Jial avoided her stare, ashamedly hiding her face behind a curtain of long hair.

'No, no!' In his frustration, Si vehemently banged the steering wheel. ' _I'll_ trip the switch! I'll leave you somewhere safe on the outskirts of town, out of range of this doomsday machine!'

'You couldn't do it, Si,' Jial mumbled from the back seat. 'Not on your own.'

Si fleetingly glared back at her.

'You said we should drive through to the mayor's house, stopping for nothing and nobody.'

They had Google-Mapped for the quickest, easiest route to the mayor's house once they entered town via the road to Bonniville. Once inside the house, they would have to search for the failsafe switch, as Jial wasn't sure where it would be hidden.

'And if the chiasmus decide to stop you?' Jial obviously hated having to continually point out the obvious flaws in Si's reasoning.

'The angels, damn you Jial! Isn't that what you're for? To protect us?'

'We can hardly protect ourselves anymore. But yes, we'll do what we can, I promise you that.'

Chrissy took one of Si's hands in hers again.

'Si, we both know what she means, why she says you need me.'

Tears appeared in Si's eyes. He grasped Chrissy's hand all the tighter.

'I can't let you do that for me _again_ , Chrissy! You don't want to be a beast, you've already said that!'

'I said I can't _live_ as a beast. But I can _die_ as one: if it means saving _you_.'

*

As they drew closer to the mobile home park, Chrissy cradled her gun in her lap.

She hoped that this would suffice: that this would be enough to protect them from any beasts that had remained in the park. That way, perhaps, she herself wouldn't change into a monster.

Jial had explained the role of the trailer parks in helping Hermon remain an oasis deliberately cut off from the rest of world, where it was hopefully protected from the surge of chiasma plaguing and gradually overcoming every other town and city on the globe.

Vehicle disablers ensured no one, not even rebellious parents like Si's, could travel beyond the parks. There had never ever been trips or holidays to Bonniville, Homehaven and the other towns supposedly surrounding Hermon, let alone to Europe. The break took place here, with a mix of drugs and hypnosis instilling the false memories necessary to maintain the idea that Hermon was part of the wider world. Old movies, books and news items all added to the sense that Hermon was safe and idyllic, ensuring that the children at least had no fear of what was really happening in the outside world.

The sun was high and, out in the desert, blistering. A while back now, they had raised the jeep's canvas covering to give them some degree of shade. They had also briefly stopped for a rest, to eat a few more bites of the rations, to go to the toilet. Chrissy had even wondered if Jial was hungry, the way she had momentarily eyed the food being shared out. Of course, that was crazy; angels were never hungry.

Jial had vanished for about half an hour but, as she had promised just before she vanished, she had returned, appearing in the rear of the jeep with a satisfied smile.

Even though the sun was now startling bright, the street lamps standing between the mobile homes were still on. Many of the homes were crumpled wildly out of shape, as if smashed by a ferocious storm. Chrissy tensed, listening out for the howls of any beasts that had hung behind in the park, clutching tighter on her gun, hoping it would be enough.

There were no howls. No beasts emerging from the wreckage, giving chase.

Alongside her, Chrissy saw Si steadily breathe out a sigh of relief.

'They've abandoned the park: headed back into town.'

'Which means you've got more of them to face when we get there,' Jial pointed out.

'Did you notice?' Chrissy asked anxiously. 'There weren't any bodies. What did they do with the bodies?'

Si shrugged.

'It probably doesn't mean anything.' He didn't sound convinced. 'They'd left them at the wrecked convoy we found, remember?'

'They hadn't finished with the convoy. They had other prey to seek out.'

Chrissy tried her best to hide that she was quivering with fear.

Is this what _she_ was now? A vicious cannibal?

She felt physically sick, and mentally sickened, disgusted with herself, what she had become.

She looked back towards Jial. Jial seemed strangely distracted, edgily glancing off to her side as if watching some invisible, soundless events. Her face was creasing up in horror.

'Jial?'

'Huh?'

Jial turned to face her, but appeared anxious, perhaps even irritated that she had been interrupted.

'Do you really think it's possible for me to control...to control who I've become?'

'I...I think it is possible, yes.'

Jial's eyes continued to uneasily flicker to one side. For a brief moment, she even flinched, as if some invisible object had been thrown at her and she was trying to avoid it striking her.

'It was such a brief change,' Jial continued. 'And while changed, you managed to remember who Si was, and that he was important to you.'

'But...will I ever forget that?'

Chrissy fleeting looked Si's way, at once thinking it would be impossible to forget how important he was to her. Yet she also recalled how her actions as a beast were a complete blank in her life. She hadn't really been in control of the beast she'd briefly transformed into, surely? And what if the transformation lasted longer? Would she completely forget who she really was, who Si was? Would she attack him then?

As if reading her thoughts, Jial spoke up again.

'The way you avoided striking out at Si earlier was something I've never seen or heard of before. It's like your love for him restrained you – that's all I can put it down to, to be honest. But also to be honest; no, sorry, Chrissy, I can't reassure you that you'll always remain aware of the connection between you.'

She spoke remarkably quickly, everything coming out in a rush. It was the way someone speaks when they need to tell you everything they can before having to urgently leave.

Suddenly, Jial threw her arms up in a protective gesture around her face.

'Oh no no!' she shrieked. 'Please help me someone!'

And then she vanished.

*

# Chapter 42

'She's gone! Jial's gone!'

'What?'

Seeing how frantic Chrissy had become, kneeling up dangerously in her seat to pass her hands through the empty air behind her, Si slewed the jeep to a halt as carefully as he could. He turned, looking back into the empty seat.

'She's vanished before. She'll be back.'

'No, no, this time it's _different_ ,' Chrissy wailed, the tears streaming down her face as if they would never end. 'She didn't say she had to go, or that she'd back, like she has before. It was like she was being attacked – like when the other angels vanished!'

She glowered at the empty air around her, in the hope her intense, probing eyes could spot the invisible foe that had managed to spirit Jial away.

Si took her trembling hand.

'She's an _angel_ , Chrissy. She can take care of herself.'

'Can she, Si? I don't think she can. What did she say? That they were under attack too, just like us!'

'Then – then that's all the more reason to carry on, Chrissy. To flick this switch, or whatever it is.'

Chrissy slumped miserably into her seat.

'She...she was like my sister, Si. My _little_ sister!'

Si leant across from his seat, hugged her tightly, kissed her tear soaked cheeks.

'We _can_ turn back. There's nothing that says we have to go ahead with this, risking your life.'

'No, Si; you were right before,' Chrissy said resolutely, wiping away her tears, sitting comfortably once more in her seat. 'I've already lost my little sister. I'm not going to lose my parents too!'

*

They rushed through the town as quickly as they dared. Wherever they could, they kept to the widest, straightest roads. They headed down the middle, which was as far away from the buildings as possible. They kept turns to a minimum.

Everywhere seemed deserted. Cars were abandoned at the side of the road, or were strewn across the carriageway as shattered wrecks. Apart from the hollow echoes of their own roaring engine, it was all eerily quiet.

It reminded them of Bonniville.

'I hope we're not too late.'

Chrissy stroked her gun, telling herself that this time she had to be prepared for the violent thrusts of its recoil. She also had to avoid a panicked shot that, being too early, too badly aimed, wouldn't bring down the beast. The trick was to calm your fears, to wait – then take their head off with a point-blank blast.

She hoped Si realised that's the only way a beast could be halted in its tracks. Just in case she forgot who he was and attacked him.

They had already come across the odd beast. But, by staying to the centre of the widest roads, they had so far avoided being taken completely by surprise.

The beast had invariably charged towards them, only for Si to expertly swerve past. If he believed he could get away with it, Si would simply smash the colossal weight and momentum of the hurtling jeep into the monster's side, sending him bowling away with a badly gashed leg. In one instance, a beast was sent toppling head over heels over the jeep itself.

A blast from Chrissy's gun had prevented another beast from leaping into Si's side of the jeep. She had to take the shot while leaning over the back of her seat, firing over his shoulder. Another blast had taken the leg off a chiasmus who had swung down on them from a tall street lamp, sending him rolling uncontrollably across the road behind them.

The closer they drew towards the mayor's house, however, the narrower and more winding the roads became. It forced Si to slow down a little. Even so, Chrissy had to cling on tightly as Si threw the jeep around wending corners, refusing to slow down so much it might leave them open to an unexpected attack.

The attack, when it came, was successful because it was totally unexpected by both them and beasts alike.

A large group of chiasmus had gathered in a street, picking over their latest spoils. They weren't looking for Chrissy and Si and their jeep. They weren't even aware of their existence until they heard the thundering of the heavily overworked engine. They swapped eager glances, recognising the sound of new, fresh prey.

The jeep violently swung around the corner just behind them. It briefly skittered across the road as Si wrenched at the wheel to regain full control.

Si saw the chiasmus languidly scattered across the road. Momentarily tempted to slam down hard on the jeep's brakes, he retained enough presence of mind somewhere amongst his panic to realise that this would only end in a stalled, surrounded jeep. So, instead, he slammed down hard on the accelerator.

The jeep ploughed angrily into the beasts.

With heavy crump after heavy crump, the jeep smacked again and again into hard flesh and muscle. Some beasts were sent spinning aside, while others seemed to simply crumple, disappearing beneath the whirling wheels. The jeep's canvas cover was ripped in two as a beast sent flying over its top reached out with grasping talons.

Striking such massive creatures, the jeep was taking a fearsome battering, the metal itself denting and warping with each blow. It bounced chaotically over the formidable bodies vanishing beneath its wheels, there being little give or softness in such heavily muscled creatures.

Even though badly injured, these creatures disappearing beneath the wheels swung out with massive fists, punching holes in the underside. Others frenziedly clutched at the chassis and the spinning axles. They began to slow the vehicle, using their own bodies as dead, dragging weights.

The beasts Si had almost managed to leave behind were intelligent enough to see their chance. They rushed towards the slowing jeep.

Chrissy swung out of the side of the jeep. She blasted one of the beasts clinging to the underside, at last making him give up his hold. She blasted another as it tried to leap on the jeep's rear. Swiftly and expertly, she reloaded, even though she knew it was ultimately hopeless.

'There's too many of them, Si!'

'Don't change Chrissy,' Si pleaded. 'Don't _change_! Better we die like this, together. Even you can't save us now.'

*

# Chapter 43

The sky high above them flickered with coruscating light. The flickering became orbs of flame, of gold and silver.

The spheres of blinding light rushed down towards the earth. They struck hard like miniature volcanic explosions amongst the charging beasts. The creatures howled and growled in frustration and pain, reeling back from the ferociously hacking angelic knights.

Chrissy leant low out of the jeep's side, poking her gun's barrel beneath the chassis. She fired directly into the face of a beast that had grasped and slowed the axle. He dropped to the floor. With a whirr of thanks, the axle spun once more, the jeep gratefully leaping forward.

With a second blast, she took off the arms of an already sorely wounded beast, removing the final drag to the jeep's movement.

'Go, go,' she yelled at Si. Sitting up in her seat once more, she deftly reloaded her gun.

As Si made the jeep leap with unbounded joy once more, Chrissy glanced back at the warring angels and beasts. As before, some of the beasts seemed to be ignoring the striking swords and lances, daring every now and again to try to break through the angelic line holding them back.

Even worse, though, was that some of the angelic knights seemed to be simply blinking out of existence. One minute they were there, fighting bravely; the next, they and their surrounding orb of light had just winked out, as if they had never really been there in the first place.

'You don't have much time: these are the last of us.'

'Jial!'

Just as abruptly as the knights were vanishing, Jial had appeared in the jeep's rear seat. She grinned, but it was half a grimace too, like a sign that she was suffering pain. When she spoke, her voice was also a little gruff, with a trembling harshness.

'Later, later,' Jial spluttered breathlessly, shrugging off with a smile Chrissy's attempt to lean over the seats and hug her. 'Don't let their sacrifice be in vain!'

Chrissy looked towards the wavering angelic line once more.

For the first time, she realised with surprise that a mounted St Michial was amongst them, wondering how she could have missed him.

As if abruptly aware that Chrissy was watching him, he turned his horse around to face the rapidly fleeing jeep.

As he had earlier, he raised his sword against his face in salute

Then he too blinked out of existence.

*

# Chapter 44

The mayor's house had been boarded up. The windows were covered with thick planks, the door with a metal sheet that had been quickly and haphazardly hammered and bolted into place.

It would have been nigh on impossible to break into if someone hadn't already done it for them. The boarding across a window had been smashed as if it were little more than rotten driftwood.

'A beast?' Si asked unnecessarily,

They all recognised that only a beast could possess such effortless strength to so easily shatter those thick planks of wood.

The jeep gave a choke of relief as Si switched off the throbbing engine. It exhaled a breath of steam and dark smoke. It was a wreck, battered beyond all recognition that it had been a proud, sparkling military vehicle only a day earlier.

They slipped out of their seats, Jial briefly taking to the air and landing alongside an ecstatic Chrissy.

The girls hungrily hugged each other, cried in their happiness to be together again. But Chrissy sensed a frailty in Jial she had never experienced before. She even wondered if Jial had tried to hide that she flinched a little as they'd embraced. It briefly felt as if Jial was going to faint in her arms, either from agony or dizziness.

'Jial...?'

Chrissy stepped back, looking quizzically into Jial's eyes for an answer, for the truth.

Jial merely grinned once more. That half grimace, half smile that had worried Chrissy so in the first place.

'I'm okay – come on, we need to do this!'

She took Chrissy's hand, pulling her after her with an exuberant giggle. She rushed across the lawn towards the window with the broken boarding.

Si frowned at Jial's eagerness. What was wrong with her? It wasn't like her to be so careless, especially when Chrissy's life was in danger.

'Be careful! The beast who broke in earlier might still be in there.'

He reached back into the jeep for the gun and a few boxes of ammunition.

With a deft kick of her stockinged feet, and letting go of Chrissy's hand, Jial flew in through the hole in the shattered boards. She expertly furled her wings across her back as she slipped between the wood's jagged edges.

Landing gently on the carpeted floor, she glanced quickly about the room. She hissed back through the hole that it was clear in here and was safe for them to climb through.

Chrissy and Si had to help each other to pass through the shattered boarding. Fortunately they managed it easily enough, even though they were attempting to achieve it as quietly as possible. Even though, too, there was a second layer of smashed boarding, this time similar to the metallic shutters they had seen gracefully fall into place in Si's home, the shattered steel shards splaying open like an immense, blooming tulip.

Inside, the room was somewhat surprisingly pristine, harking back to a Hermon of easy living and peaceful lives. An elegant dining table was draped with a brilliantly white tablecloth, upon which ceramic ornaments and a graceful candle lamp had been tastefully set out. Oil paintings of country scenes and seascapes graced the walls. There was an ever bigger framed photograph of Emma with her parents, all three of them smiling into the camera.

The hall lying just beyond the dining room through a single doorway, however, was ominously splattered with blood. A faded, chalk silhouette signified where one of the beast's victims had fallen. Male, adult, Chrissy surmised, going by its size and shape.

Emma's father, the mayor.

The floor creaked with every step they took across it. They cringed, wishing there were some way of quietening its readiness to announce their presence. Jial strode slightly ahead of them, the first to enter the next room, once again making sure it was empty before signalling the others to follow.

This room was as blood spattered as the hall, but there were no chalk silhouettes. These were in the fourth room they entered. There were two of them: one laid half across a large leather sofa, the second incongruously seated against the wall next to a shattered display cabinet.

Emma and her mother.

'Where will it be, this switch?' Chrissy whispered.

She didn't want to think of how her friend had ended up as nothing more than a chalk image drawn on a wall.

Si urgently grabbed her by the shoulder, indicating with a finger placed against his pursed lips that she needed to be perfectly quite. He placed an open palm by his ear: _listen_!

Chrissy listened.

Somewhere, farther within the house, wood squeaked.

*

'We _have_ to go on.'

Placing a hand against her rapidly beating heart, and briefly closing her eyes, Chrissy steadied herself.

'That's why we're here: our parents, remember?'

Si nodded in agreement. He pressed the butt of the gun against his hip, letting the barrel swing out before him as he made his way into the next room as silently as possible. Thankfully, this room was free of the splattering of blood despoiling the other rooms.

As before, Jial had gone on slightly ahead, quickly inspecting the room to ensure there were no surprises waiting for them. But Si had noted once again that she seemed a little dazed, even a little unsteady, despite the way her feet hovered over the floor. He was no longer sure they could completely trust her judgement.

'Clear,' he hissed back behind him to Chrissy, having reassured himself that it was safe for her to enter.

Chrissy stepped into the room.

From the corner of the room, from the depths of a large wardrobe, there came a shocked gasp, a heavy exhalation of previously strenuously held breath.

Si instinctively and swiftly brought the gun up to his shoulder, aiming it at the wardrobe.

'No!'

Jial placed her hand against the gun's barrel. She glared at Si as if expecting the power of her eyes alone to be enough to command him not to fire.

With an irate glower in reply, Si only partially lowered the gun. His protest that this was crazy, dangerous, remained on his grimly set lips.

'I don't think it's a chiasmus,' Jial whispered calmly.

'Chrissy?'

The quaking, terrified voice came from the wardrobe. Through a tightly latticed section of the wardrobe's doors, Chrissy could just make out the glitter of frightened eyes, staring out from its interior darkness.

One of the doors half swung open. A haggard figure, a girl, stepped out.

'Emma?' Chrissy asked unsurely.

*

# Chapter 45

Chrissy rushed forward towards her friend.

Just in time, too, because Emma almost fainted into her arms. Her whole body crumpled, as if with relief or due to hunger

Putting his gun down, Si dragged a simple wooden chair away from a wall, positioning it where they could help Emma sit on it.

'Emma! We thought you were _dead_!' Chrissy breathed excitedly.

'I should be, I should be.'

Emma managed a tired smirk. She seemed drunk, maybe a little crazed. With wild, enflamed eyes, she reached out to take Chrissy's hand.

'You won't believe me – you won't believe what happened here. No one would. That's why I've had to hide. They think _I_ did it Chrissy. They think I killed Mom and Dad and Judith.'

'Judith? Your friend Judith Green? She was here too?'

Releasing Chrissy's hand, Emma began to nervously twist a gold ring on her finger.

'Yes, yes; I don't know why she was here, why she'd called round. I can't remember asking her round. She...she looked _so_ bad, her clothes ripped off. It was hard to tell it was her: but I knew, I recognised her hair, because she always copied my styles. You see, she was killed by...by...'

Her voiced drifted off. Her eyes edgily flitted about the room, as if anxious that someone might be listening in.

'By a _monster_!'

Chrissy nodded: yes, she understood, that made sense.

'You believe me?' Emma snapped back slightly in surprise. 'I tell you a monster attacked me, and you believe me?'

She sounded incredulous. She chuckled at the foolishness of it all.

'We believe you,' Si said soothingly.

Emma took Chrissy's hands in hers again.

'Good, good; because it's _true_! I never _used_ to believe in monsters!'

She was almost childlike in her demure stance and way of talking.

'I _wanted_ to believe in fairies. That was nice: believing in fairies, wasn't it? But I thought, no, fairies don't exist – they're just silly myths, legends.'

Freeing her hands once more, she twisted her ring again. This time Chrissy recognised its similarity to Si's ring of fairy gold.

'But Chrissy, Chrissy; I thought the same about _monsters_. And now I've _seen_ a monster. It killed my Mom and Dad and my friend. And perhaps, Chrissy, perhaps if I'd believed in fairies earlier, they'd have protected us from the monster!'

Chrissy tenderly took Emma's hands in hers, gripping them gently and reassuringly.

'I know this is painful to have to think about it again, Emma, but – can you remember if this monster _bit_ you?'

Unseen by Emma, Si swapped a knowing glance with Chrissy. Judith had been the chiasmus who had attacked the family. And Emma, probably in a doomed attempt to protect her parents, had briefly transformed into a chiasmus too. Just as Chrissy had back in Bonniville.

Her eyes wide with bafflement, Emma briefly seemed to be considering Chrissy's query. Then she shook her head.

'I don't think so. But I can't remember much about it all. Dad screamed, out in the hall, telling us to run. Then the monster came for me and Mom. But I _must've_ been knocked out, because when I woke up everyone was dead. Poor Judith as well: perhaps she'd heard the screams, and rushed in to help. The monster didn't kill me, because the police came. But when they saw all the bodies, and saw me covered in blood – and I was _naked_ , all my clothes torn off by the monster – they didn't recognise me. They'd thought _I'd_ killed everyone. They shouted at me, tried to catch me. But I ran away. I hid and didn't dare come back until I knew they'd gone. They'd boarded up the house, but I was angry: I needed food and clothes. I can't remember how I did it, but I got back in somehow. I just remember sort of waking up in front of the family portrait. For a moment, I even weirdly fooled myself that Mom and Dad were alive again: that everything had been a terrible dream.'

Emma didn't hear it, of course, but both Chrissy and Si were aware that Jial seemed to be failing in her obvious attempts to hold back a spluttering cough. Stranger still, Si thought, she appeared to be unnaturally, almost magically, leaning and resting against an invisible object.

'So you've been hiding here since then?' Chrissy asked Emma, who nodded in reply. 'And no one came back? No one came looking for – for a switch?'

Emma seemed taken aback.

'You know about the switch?'

She stared curiously at both Chrissy and Si. They both nodded: Yes, they knew of the switch.

'But...but Dad said even _I_ wasn't supposed to know about the switch. He said no one should touch it. It's hidden, but I came across it by accident–'

'You know where it is?' Chrissy couldn't restrain her sense of excitement.

'Please, Emma, we need to know where it is,' Si pleaded. 'It's very important.'

'Okay, okay.' Emma rose languidly, even a little dreamily, from her seat. She began to lead the way back towards the other rooms. 'It's normally locked, of course, but when they came, they left it open–'

'They? Who left it open Emma?'

'The men and women who came to save the children.'

'But they didn't use the switch?' Si shared his confusion with a sly glance Chrissy's way.

As they stepped into the hall, Emma shook her head.

'No, they left it: I checked it, once they'd gone. I was hiding, but they were loud, arguing. Most of them were saying they didn't have the right to do it: that they had to save the children.'

Once again, Chrissy and Si swapped confused glances. Jial's eyes widened, however, in a way Chrissy had seen before: when she had just heard something remarkable but, perhaps, also understandable.

'They can't realise how bad things are,' Jial said.

'You sure you heard that right?' Chrissy asked Emma. 'They _didn't_ do it because they wanted to _save_ the children?'

'They were arguing – I might've been confused,' Emma admitted blankly.

In the front room that Chrissy and Si had originally entered by, Emma coolly pulled back what appeared to be a regular piece of wall panelling, revealing a steel cabinet. The cabinet, as she had explained earlier, was unlocked.

The cabinet door swung silently open on well-oiled hinges.

And inside was a simple, strangely innocuous looking red switch.

*

'Huh, it looks like the kind of switch you use to turn off the electricity – not fry the brains of every monster in town.'

Si chuckled bitterly. He immediately regretted his touch of black humour, however, when he caught Chrissy fretfully chewing her bottom lip.

She'd been bitten, of course. As had Emma. Did that mean that they would die too when they flicked the switch? Or would it only affect those who were currently transformed into chiasmus?

'You sure you want to go ahead with this, Chrissy?'

Chrissy stopped chewing her lip. She looked back towards Emma. Emma had stepped back from the cabinet, allowing Si and Chrissy better access.

Emma was motionless, smiling not a little inanely, Si thought as he followed Chrissy's gaze. Thankfully, she didn't realise that, in less than a few seconds, she might no longer be alive.

Chrissy was fully aware, however, that in the blink of an eye, the tripping of a small, red switch, she might suddenly cease to exist. Si could see that awareness, that awful dilemma that her own end might be near, on her strained face.

What would she decide? he wondered.

Steeping closer towards him, Chrissy moved his hand away from the switch.

'It has to be me that does it.' She said it with only the barest of tremors in her voice. 'You could never forgive yourself Si, if... if, well you know.'

She gave him a wan smile. He reached for her free hand, gripped it tightly. Then, still holding her hand, he swung it around her back, embracing her hard and lovingly as he buried his face in her shoulder.

'I...I love you!' he whispered.

'I love you too.'

Moving their faces a little way back from each other, they kissed. They let the kiss linger, wanting it to go on and on. That way, the switch would never have to be flicked.

It was Chrissy who finally pulled away, whispering, 'I have to do this: for everyone's sake. To save the children.'

Si sadly nodded his agreement.

'But, Si...please hug me tightly if...if anything does seem to be going wrong, okay?'

'Okay.' He tried to smile.

'Ready?'

'Ready.'

'Here goe–'

'Wait...'

Jial's hand was on Chrissy's, stopping it a hairbreadth away from flicking the switch.

*

# Chapter 46

'What they said, those people who came to flick the switch: that they didn't have the right, that they had to save the children?'

Jial's face was pained. It was the look of someone who was trying to work out just how much more they needed to say, and how best to say it.

Neither Chrissy nor Si said anything. They just continued to stare back at Jial expectantly.

'They were right,' Jial continued. 'There are things you should know before you flick that switch.'

'I know I'm putting myself in danger.'

Chrissy felt strangely irritated by Jial's interruption. This was a hard enough decision to make as it was, without any unnecessary delay.

'No, no; you _don't_ know. Not _everything_ you need to know.'

With Jial still holding it, Chrissy let her hand fall away from the switch.

'Go on.'

'You're doing this to protect your parents, yes?'

Chrissy looked back towards Si, exchanging puzzled frowns. Wasn't it obvious they were doing this for their parents? Where was this going?

They both gave Jial a nod of agreement.

'Ah, well,' Jial began uncertainly. 'See, they're _not_ your parents: not your _real_ parents.'

Chrissy and Si's confused frowns became bewildered, sheepish grins.

'Jial, is this some sick joke?' Si acidly chuckled.

'This is going too far, Jial,' Chrissy agreed with a sour glower.

'I mean, not my parents?' Si added sarcastically. 'These are the parents who risked their lives to save me, right? The Mom and Dad who supposedly aren't my Mom and Dad who were prepared to sacrifice themselves to make sure the police didn't take me in.'

Emma watched from afar. Her blissful gaze implied that she wasn't completely following the arguments.

'They love you Si, it's true. Love you as a real mum and dad should. As does Chrissy's mum and dad. And, before they were killed, Emma's parents loved her too. I know this to be true.'

Jial fleeting looked back towards Emma, who smiled as if appreciating the comment. Jial coughed before continuing.

'You were orphans, and they adopted you–'

'Wait, wait a minute here!' Si blurted out. 'When you first started this ridiculous conversation, I thought maybe you meant my parents weren't my real parents, or perhaps Chrissy's. But now you're saying you mean both of – and even poor Emma here too?'

Jial bowed her head in a mix of shame and sad agreement.

'Every child in Hermon: every child and teenager in Hermon has been adopted.'

*

# Chapter 47

'This...this whole thing just gets crazier by the minute!'

Si waved his arms in disbelieving dismay.

'Every kid in Hermon was an orphan? We've _all_ been adopted?'

'I said Hermon was specially created, deliberately cut off from the rest of the world.'

Jial's face creased as if she were in agony. Neither Si nor Chrissy could determine if this was because she was finding it painful to tell them these things, or because she was in physical pain.

'It was to help save you from the influx of chiasmus. We could give you a new life here, a better life. And part of making that life safer, of course, was surrounding you with love. We could raise you in a calm, soothing environment. One that would avoid the life of overwrought emotions and violent hormonal changes a teenager usually suffers.'

Chrissy and Si were so furious they spoke over each other.

'So because we're orphans, you thought you could just lock us away from the world?'

'You're saying it was for _our_ benefit? But you didn't think we had the right to know we were taking part in some sort of vast, awful experiment?'

Jial tentatively bit her lip, as if once again either unsure how much more she should say, or how best to say it.

'Yes, you're right – it was an experiment. But it was either that or...or to have you killed.'

'Killed? Is that what happens in this modern world we've been excluded from? Orphans are _killed_.'

Jial shook her head.

'No; but potential chiasmus are killed.'

Si spun around on the balls of his feet as he held his head in his hands. He was vainly trying to make sense of all this new, confusing information.

'This...this is...'

He angrily turned on Jial.

'You're saying all the kids in Hermon are potential chiasmus? How, how do you know that? Were we bitten at some point, when we were all too young to remember?'

'I never even knew these beasts existed,' Chrissy insisted. 'Let alone ever coming across one that _bit_ me!'

'You were all too young to remember. And it was a thankfully brief transformation; that's why we hoped we might be able to treat you, to stop it happening again. The later in life a transformation happens, the harder it is to control.'

Jial noted how Si glanced Chrissy's way, recognising in his anguished stare his fear that this might include her own, latest transformation.

'That's because the teenage brain is growing a little haphazardly, a little out of kilter with your rapidly maturing body. But get past that stage without a permanent transformation, and you're safe.'

'Hence there being no need for the calming influence of angels once we get past twenty?' Chrissy looked hopefully towards Jial for confirmation.

'Exactly.'

'And the armoured vans taking away the kids? It wasn't for their protection, was it? It was because, without their angels, they might become chiasmus? And that van we saw in the convoy: the beasts had smashed _out_ of it, hadn't they?'

As Jial nodded once more in agreement, she grimaced. She carefully caressed her side, as if nursing an internal injury. Seeing her in agony like this – not that she had ever seen Jial suffer physical injury before – Chrissy almost instinctively reached out to comfort her; but she held back.

Jial had been hiding so much from her, and for so long too.

Jial had been lying to her. For years.

Chrissy doubtfully eyed the switch, the switch waiting to be flicked by her.

As if accurately gauging her thoughts, Si spoke up for her. He kept his voice calm and reasonable, despite a trembling of barely restrained anger.

'So if all the kids are potential beasts, this switch could wipe us all out. And all to save people who aren't even our real parents?'

Jial sighed. Whether it was a sign of resignation or of pain, Chrissy couldn't be sure.

'No one's really sure what effect the switch has. No one's ever tried it before, obviously. It sends out a pulse that, hopefully, just affects the more primitive brain of a fully transformed chiasmus.'

'How can we trust you on this?' Chrissy glared at Jial. 'You've lied to us – to me – so much!'

Jial shrugged, a move that appeared to make her cringe as a surge of pain coursed through her.

'You can't,' she admitted. 'You can't because I honestly don't know the truth about this myself: no one does. Who will it affect? Yes, it could be you Chrissy, and Si, and Emma. It could just be the ones who are fully transformed.'

She shrugged again, but this time a little more carefully to avoid any chance that she was hit by a further surge of pain.

'That's why the people who came her – your parents, or at least representatives of your parents – chose not to flick the switch. They weren't sure who it would kill. And therefore they decided that they would "save the children"; even though that meant they themselves would most likely die. And they did that despite a life of loving children who, at any time, might have transformed and killed them. '

'No, no; you're wrong, so wrong Jial!' Chrissy vehemently declared. 'Even as a beast, I realised I loved Si! I didn't kill him! And I love Mom and Dad – I would _never_ kill them!'

'But Chrissy, you already _have_ killed your parents.'

Jial paused a little before continuing, giving a bewildered, sceptical Chrissy and Si a brief moment to consider this.

'How else would we know you were potential chiasmus? How else would you become orphans?'

'You mean,' Chrissy said flatly, forcing herself to shake off an implicit need to deny Jial's implication, ' _we_ killed our _real_ parents.'

*

# Chapter 48

Instinctively drawing together, Chrissy and Si held onto each other tightly.

'Can...all this be true?' Si murmured, dumbfounded.

'It's awful, awful,' Chrissy wept. 'We were children – and we murdered our parents!'

'All it would take would be a brief surge of uncontrollable anger to transform you,' Jial explained soothingly. 'You wouldn't even know what you were doing.'

'But how?' Chrissy begged. 'How were we bitten?'

Jial approached them both, placing a consoling hand on each of their remorsefully lowered heads.

'You never were; even when you made your most recent change, Chrissy. Not every child is susceptible, thankfully. Unfortunately, more and more of you are, as if there's something stressful in modern life – something causing distress, jealously, dissatisfaction, or perhaps even a lack of life-affirming spirituality. Whatever it is, ultimately it's flicking a primeval, more bestial part of your DNA back into life.'

'But if everyone has an angel who can...'

With a sympathetic smile, Jial despondently shook her head.

'How many angels do you think there are, Chrissy? And now we no longer have enough even for Hermon's children.'

There was a chaotic crash of splintering wood, the screech of bending steel. Breaking away from their desperately clinging embrace, Chrissy and Si spun around.

Bursting through what was left of the window's boarding, a beast gracefully land in the middle of the room's floor. With a lazy swipe of a powerful arm, the chiasmus nonchalantly knocked Emma aside with a heavy blow to the head. He not only knocked her unconscious, but also sent her crashing painfully into the wall.

They'd been careless, so careless.

They'd been standing in the dining room in clear view of any passing beast. Any beast would have easily seen them through the shattered boarding.

A second beast with an almost casual effortlessness loped through the opening. He unhurriedly joined his partner in the middle of the room.

They both grinned, knowing this would be easy. Their prey was trapped, defenceless.

'Angels?'

Chrissy looked to Jial for help.

Jial's eyes were glazed, tearful, apologising.

'Sorry,' she whispered. 'There are so few lef–'

One of the beasts charged towards Chrissy.

He would have crushed her against the wall if Jial hadn't suddenly grabbed her and pulled her aside. The beast slammed into the wall, the fake panelling splintering into a heavy rainfall of shards.

Si only briefly wondered if he should tackle the second beast, who had moved closer to the still heavily dazed Emma. Instead, he foolishly leapt onto the back of the partially fallen beast. Gaining enough momentum to send them both rolling aside, he forced the beast farther away from Chrissy, which had been his only real intention.

The beast took the blow and the roll in its stride. It easily shrugged off the struggling Si, making it all part of the same easy motion enabling it to lithely spring back onto its feet.

Chrissy dashed back towards the cabinet containing the switch.

It was their only chance.

With luck, it might obliterate the beasts while sparing herself, Si and Emma.

At worst, they would also be killed – but they were about to die anyway. And that would leave no one to make the choice whether the switch should be tripped or not.

She scanned the room, wishing to beg Si's forgiveness with a shared, knowing look between them.

But Si was nowhere to be seen.

Rather, there were now three ferociously snarling beasts in the room.

Si had transformed.

Si was now a chiasmus.

*

# Chapter 49

Yet again, Chrissy's hand slipped away from the switch.

With Si's transformation, the odds of them surviving had changed. She had hoped that only those who were currently beasts would die. But now that would definitely include Si.

A beast turned to face her, growling in what could have been intense pain or an overpowering fury.

Would Si forget who she was? Would he attack her?

Her hand hovered over the switch again. This could well be the last chance for anyone to do this.

Before she could move, however, the beast launched itself towards her. She screamed in terror as the beast coolly grabbed her around the waist.

As though she were weightless, the beast lifted her high into the air in an athletically perfect move, including a curving sprint across the room.

With a deft toss, as competently performed as a winning basketball pitch, Si perfectly deposited Chrissy onto the plush, reasonably shock-absorbing quilt of a chaise-longue lying beyond the dining table.

He immediately turned. With all the power and force he could muster, he recklessly threw himself at the beast hovering by Emma. With the crump of hard muscle and immovable bone, he struck the beast's upper chest in a violent shoulder charge that lifted it high off its feet. Unbalanced, they both toppled, falling towards a corner.

But the other beast moved every bit as swiftly as Si. Powering across the room, and leaping the remaining distance, it latched its powerful arms around Si's thick shoulders.

Using its own incredible weight and strength to pull Si back, and combining this with a twist of its body, the beast flung Si aside. Si struggled to remain on his feet. He was hurled across the room, finally crashing into the wall with a sickeningly loud crunch.

Now both beasts jubilantly threw themselves at Si, howling with glee as they began to mercilessly pummel him. With a defiant snarl, Si fought back. He lashed out at his opponents with fully extended talons. He used his powerful jaws and flint-like teeth to gouge, rive and tear away huge chunks of flesh.

Swinging her feet off the chaise longue, Chrissy raced towards the dining table. Propelled by a powerful surge of adrenalin and a rush of blood, she nimbly jumped up on to it.

She sensed that her fear and fury was unstoppably flooding into every part of her body. It was hardening, solidifying, becoming something real and manifest in its own right. For once, however, Chrissy welcomed the realisation that she innately possessed the unimaginable power of a ferocious beast. She greeted the knowledge that she was on the cusp of transforming with unalloyed joy; for this would be the only way she had a chance of saving Si.

She _had_ to be a beast!

She _would_ be a beast!

There was a frantic fluttering, the cold draught of rapidly moving air. Chrissy's dash was halted halfway across the table as Jial blocked her way. Thin, trembling arms and vast, all enveloping wings wrapped securely around her.

'No, no, Chrissy!' Jial whispered soothingly. 'This time, the change could be permanent! And after this, Si will need _you_ to help him _back_!'

Chrissy struggled to break free, to complete her change. The transformation was too far gone: it couldn't be halted now, surely?

She _had_ to save Si!

'Si's going to die! Only _I_ can save him!' Chrissy screamed.

But Jial's arms were far stronger than they looked. The wings, despite their softness, were even more immensely powerful, creating an unbreakable hold.

Beyond the soft breath of her winged cocoon, Chrissy could only hear the muted growls of pain and anger, the crunch and smack of heavy flesh against hard flesh. She could see nothing, nothing but the brilliant white of perfectly pure feathers.

'Si _will_ win, he _will_ win!' Jial comfortingly reassured her. 'Si will win because he _has_ to, Chrissy. Because he _loves_ you, and _has_ to save _you_!'

Chrissy shook, she sobbed. Nonetheless, she writhed less and less within Jial's calming embrace.

The changes she'd felt taking place within her were subsiding. The flood of fear and fury was ebbing. It was all rushing back to where it had originally all come from, from a mind that was chaotically out of control and unrestrained.

'Then you...you _must_ call up the angels,' she insisted. 'Otherwise, Si _will_ die!'

Jial wept.

'I can't, I can't; there _are_ no more angels, Chrissy. I'm the last – _the last angel_.'

*

# Chapter 50

As Jial felt Chrissy relax, she relaxed too.

Her arms loosened their tight grip. Her wings began to gradually open up. Silently, they were pulling back from their complete envelopment of Chrissy, as if releasing her from some glistening cocoon of ice and silk.

Through a curiously inappropriate state of total calm, Chrissy watched as the three beasts battled. She was no longer capable of telling which was Si and which were his assailants.

It should have been possible, of course, to differentiate the one being attacked from his attackers; but the movement was swift and impossible to accurately follow. The brutality and mercilessness of the blows from all three was equally horrifying.

There was an elaborate series of flowing, intertwining moves, accompanied with kicks of heavily muscled legs and slashes of deadly talons. There was a howl of outraged surprise as one of the beasts found himself being abruptly hoisted high on the back of the shoulders of another, furiously charging beast.

The charging beast kept his opponent locked there in an unyielding grasp. He carried his captive with him as he hurtled towards the window's shattered boarding, as if preparing to fling him completely clear of the house. At the last second, however, the running beast nimbly sidestepped. He cruelly threw his helpless victim hard against the spiked shards of the steel shutter.

With a queasy slurp of tearing flesh and muscle, the crack of splintering bone, the shards sliced effortlessly through the beast's body. They projected from the chest as bloodied, innard-strewn gargoyles.

The beast shrieked in surprise and agony. It writhed frantically on the impaling shards, as if still hoping to break free.

Chrissy also wanted to scream, fearing that this might be Si she was watching so agonisingly die. In her strange state of unnatural calm, however, all she could manage was a sorrowful moan.

Even the other two beasts appeared briefly stunned by the awful and imminent death of the pinioned chiasmus. They watched in silence, with bizarrely little sense of satisfaction.

The beast's pained thrashing became weaker. With a final shudder, a last tormented whimper, it abruptly went limp. It hung from the skewering shards like a discarded Halloween costume.

Chrissy sobbed. It _had_ to be Si, the way the other beasts were simply watching him die, rather than continuing their fight.

Jial hugged her reassuringly once more. Her wings trembled, yet remained pulled a little aside.

'Wait, wait,' she said calmingly.

The impaled beast began to move again. This time, though, it was a quivering of flesh and fur.

The body was shrinking, changing.

Within a few seconds, it wasn't a massive beast speared on the shards but a naked, blood soaked girl. A girl Chrissy recognised. A girl from the lower years at school who had regularly won commendations for her English essays.

Chrissy sobbed once more. She wished she could do more, wondered why she was so incapable of showing more distress over the death of this poor girl.

Jial held on to her, keeping her calm, keeping her emotions in check.

Both beasts looked their way. They growled, the lips of both of them creasing in a threatening snarl.

Even now it was impossible to tell which of the beasts was Si. Even now, Chrissy felt a shudder of doubt that this bestial Si would be able to hold back from attacking her.

She should feel fear, she realised. But there was no sense of fear within her. There was only relief that Si, even if he was still a beast, was still alive.

One of the beasts turned away, its attention focusing instead on the pinioned girl. It drew closer, giving the impression that it was about to caress the naked body, to mourn the girl's death.

Instead, with a disgusted growl, it slipped through the hole in the shattered boarding.

The remaining beast continued to look Chrissy's way. Its eyes were bulbous, bloodshot. They were full of hate, fury, confusion, a mingling of the most terrible emotions broiling away beneath its unforgiving glare.

'He needs you now,' Jial whispered in Chrissy's ear. 'Don't be sacred.'

She unhurriedly parted from Chrissy.

Chrissy stepped down from the table, approaching Si with her arms held wide.

'Si, it's me,' she said, wondering if this was the right thing to say, wondering what she could say.

Si stared back at her, crocking his head in the manner of a curious, uncertain animal, never letting his eyes wander from her.

He seemed unsure about everything that was happening around him. As if, once again animal-like, he was wondering whether to edge back or to attack.

'He's fighting to remember who he really is,' Jial explained. 'Seeing you, someone he recognises and loves, might be his only hope of remembering.'

'Si, you need to come back to me,' Chrissy pleaded, keeping her eyes locked on his as she drew closer and closer.

She was nervous, doubtful; emotions that grew as she stepped farther from Jial and closer to Si.

Si softly howled, a cry of confusion. Then he growled, snarled; and reached out towards Chrissy with his long, powerful arms.

*

# Chapter 51

Chrissy stepped back in horror.

Si stumbled, brought back his outstretched arms. He stared curiously at his arms, as if he couldn't quite believe that these were his arms, that they had been reaching out to slash this girl he faintly recognised.

He growled again, but this time in anguish. He threw his arms about his own upper torso, wrestling with himself, desperately trying to wrest back control of his own body, a tortured physical response to the mental struggle.

As if it were all ultimately too much for him, he jerked and shivered violently, finally collapsing to the floor. As with the girl only moments earlier, his flesh trembled, rapidly contracted, the fur retracting as if it were poisoned, shrivelling weeds.

A naked, bloodied and dazed Si was left quivering with cold and shock on the floor.

Whirling around, Chrissy grabbed the white tablecloth gracing the dining table. She jerked it free without any care of the ornaments, sending them and the lamp spinning across the top or crashing to the floor.

Rushing towards the shivering and still confused Si, she wrapped the tablecloth about him. Crouching down beside him, she held him close, held him as tightly as she could.

'You _saved_ us, Si! You changed into a beast, but you _saved_ us!'

Jial joined her, throwing her own arms around Si, bringing her wings about them all to create extra warmth and comfort.

Si appeared bemused by it all, his eyes glazed with tears, his body trembling like a man suffering aftershock. He smiled weakly, however. It was a sign, perhaps, that he was beginning to gather his thoughts together once more, to gradually recognise the meaning behind Chrissy's otherwise strange comments.

Jial smiled back, only to have to raise a hand to her mouth as she tried to hold back a short, rasping cough.

'Sorry,' she said with a muted chuckle. 'Even angels can be overcome by the emotion of it all.'

Chrissy stared at her doubtfully. Jial had coughed before, then as now trying to hide it. Jial smiled, but avoided Chrissy's questioning gaze.

'Love can be such a strange thing,' she said as if by way of explanation for her behaviour. 'It can cause far more torment than joy, especially if things go wrong between you. We thought it best to protect you from something so distressful it could be dangerous to you. But...we may have got it wrong.'

She stood up, once again attempting to hide a slight grimace of pain, as well as seemingly refraining from clutching her side. Now while she talked she began to swiftly sway her arms before her as if moving invisible objects from one area to another.

'But it was your love for each other that helped you retain some idea of whom you really are, even while in a bestial chiasmus state, and become human again. Emma, too, seems to have regained _some_ form of control, thanks to the love she felt for her parents.'

Chrissy followed Jial's fleeting glance towards Emma. Virtually forgotten during the clash between the beasts, Emma had recovered enough to stand and silently approach them. Although no longer unconscious, she still exhibited the same, peculiar dream-like behaviour she'd adopted before the attack. It was as if she preferred this state of semi-stupor to facing the horrors of reality.

'Forgive me,' Jial said, returning to her task. 'I hope I'm not playing God here.'

Her flowing, elegant moves reminded Chrissy of someone diligently working at a curving console. There was a wave that could be the moving of one piece of information from one suspended glass computer screen to another. The flickering of fingers that could be the keying in of numbers or extra words. The withdrawing and punching forward of arms that mimed the action of pulling memory sticks free and reinserting them elsewhere.

Suddenly, Jial jumped as if distracted by something way off to her right.

'No, no; God wouldn't be terrified like this, would he?' she laughed, seemingly at the foolishness of her own nervousness.

'Why _isn't_ God doing anything about this?' Chrissy asked.

'I've asked myself that very question so many times,' Jial replied with a bitter laugh. She seemed more focused on her task than answering Chrissy's questions. 'And so now it seems it's been left to me to make what I hope are pretty radical changes.'

'You're allowed to make all these changes?'

Like Emma before him, Si had now recovered enough to listen into the conversation. He sat up on the floor, pulling the table cloth tighter about him. Even so, he still obviously appreciated Chrissy's tight, comforting embrace.

'Promotions have been quite rapid around here recently.' Jial's morbid guffaw was wracked by a spluttering cough. 'Besides, they don't just chose _anyone_ to be an angel, you know!'

She flicked a few more invisible keys. She reached high up, pulling out another unseen disc that had to be reinserted into another, lower slot.

'Jial, you've been injured–'

Realising that Si was now swiftly recovering his strength, Chrissy stepped over towards an increasingly pained looking Jial. Jial sidestepped Chrissy's thoughtful approach, shook her head.

'I have to work quickly, Chrissy. I don't have much time.'

She grimaced anxiously as she glanced over to her right once more.

'You don't have much time? You _are_ badly injured Jial.'

For once, Jial admitted with a nod that, Yes, she was hurt.

'I'm almost done! I'm hoping this lessens the effect, and I've been able to make particular changes to your chip, Chrissy–'

'Chip? Did I hear you say "chip"? As in _computer_ chip?'

Urgently rising to his feet, Si swung the tablecloth about himself like a toga. He purposefully strode towards Jial and Chrissy.

Jial's face wrinkled in embarrassment, as if caught out revealing something earlier than she'd intended. She didn't refrain from continuing with her increasingly hurried tasks, however, answering Si's query in a bland, matter-of-fact tone.

'Everyone in Hermon has a chip inserted within their brains. It helps us keep track of your emotional state, even affect it some time with the odd, helpful pulse. Your parents need it too, of course; they're under amazing pressure, raising a child they know could turn on them at any moment and effortlessly kill them.'

'And let me guess,' Chrissy said, 'it's this innocent little chip that fries our brains, right?'

'Right. Taking into account that certain parts of a chiasmus's chip erode over time.'

Once again Jial answered unemotionally, as if this were now the time for hard truths.

'But that's also why, of course, angels have less and less effect over them.'

Dropping her arms loosely by her side, and breaking off at last from whatever changes she was making, Jial turned to face Chrissy and Si.

'You see, my real name is Elly, Elly Rood. I'm fourteen years old, and I'm from Aylesbury, in England.'

*

# Chapter 52

Unsure how to react, Chrissy and Si could only look to each other with identical frowns; was Jial joking?

Was she really saying she wasn't really an angel?

How could that be possible? Everyone knew angels were just a natural, wonderful part of life.

Even Emma managed to appear more bewildered than ever.

'Jial, of _course_ you're an angel,' Chrissy insisted, indicating the incredible expanse of Jial's wings with a curving wave of a hand. 'You have _wings_! You can _fly_. You can vanish, then later reappear miles away! You never sleep, never eat, never–'

She stopped. She was about to say 'never get injured'. Because, in all the long time Chrissy had known Jial, she had never known her suffer pain or injury, until what could only be the last few hours.

'You've heard of holograms? Virtual reality suits?'

Jial fluttered her wings, drawing attention to them as if it were quite obvious that such a magnificent feature could easily be created by computers and pixel generation.

'Sure,' Si agreed with a disbelieving smirk, 'but nothing so sophisticated it could conjure up an angel that regularly talks to us, moves things around us–'

'And _cries_ ,' Chrissy interrupted hopefully. 'I've seen you _cry_ , even helped dry your tears, Jial. No hologram can do _that_!'

'You forget the world outside Hermon is more advanced than you could imagine. The implant in your brain can fool you into thinking just about anything. It also relays to us any senses you're experiencing. It even sends out energy pulses, making minor movements within your world.'

'So...Elly,' Chrissy said uncertainly, 'how much of what we're seeing is really you? Do you _look_ like Jial? Minus the wings, of course.'

'Huh, I wish! It would be nice just to have completely spot free skin, for a start. Jial's based more on Jenny, who is – sorry, _was_ – very, very pretty.'

Chrissy and Si frowned in confusion. Jial answered the question she presumed they were about to ask next.

'See, there were three of us, including Becky, who took turns being Jial. That way, there was always someone to watch over you. Now, there's just me. And I _am_ tired, and I _am_ hungry.'

Her head jerked to the right, her eyes bulbous with fright.

'They've broken in again,' she announced fearfully, returning once more to hastily moving around invisible discs or memory sticks. 'I've almost finished!'

'Jial, what's happening there?'

Chrissy was frantic, wishing she could see what was troubling Jial.

'Chiasmus; they've regularly broken in here. We all vowed to stay at our stations. We think Hermon–'

She halted, carefully considering her words.

'Hermon's possibly the last place were humans can continue to hold out.'

'The last _humans_?' Si glowered. 'But you mean our _parents_ – not _us_.'

It wasn't a question. It was a blunt statement.

'I'm hoping my changes will give you a chan – arrggghh!'

Violently jerked backwards, Jial was lifted off her feet. She flew across the room as if struck by an otherwise imperceptible tornado.

'Jial, run Jial!' Chrissy screamed.

Jial sprung back to her feet. She dashed back to where she had been standing, raising her hand, reaching for some unseen object.

'Just one more swit–'

She was brutally struck once more. Her hand came down hard against her body as she was flung back across the room.

'Jial, Jial,' Chrissy wailed, dashing over to her side.

Jial's eyes didn't seem to see her. They were directed at something drawing near.

'It's best you don't see this. Love you Chris–'

Then she vanished.

*

# Chapter 53

'Jial, Jial! No, no!'

Chrissy reached out into the empty space before her. The empty space where Jial had been lying only a split second before.

Si crouched down beside her, stretching a consoling arm around her shoulders.

'She might come back.' He didn't sound convinced. 'She has done before.'

Chrissy shook her head as she wept.

'No, no; not this time.' She turned to Si, speaking as if she herself couldn't believe what she was saying. 'She's gone, Si. Jial's gone. For ever this time.'

She looked up towards the open wall cabinet, towards the red switch.

'We don't have to do this,' Si pointed out, judging that he was reading her thoughts correctly. 'All we have to do is make sure we stay calm. We could live as we are.'

Ignoring him as if he were as invisible as the chiasmus she'd just seen murder Jial, Chrissy rose to her feet. She stepped towards the beckoning switch.

'Jial said she'd given us a chance...'

'She'd would say that, just to make you flick the switch.'

Si joined Chrissy by the switch.

They both glanced Emma's way. She was wringing her hands fretfully.

Did she understand what they were about to do?

'I love–'

Si placed a finger against Chrissy's lips.

'We've already gone through all this,' he grinned.

Moving his finger aside, he brought his lips towards hers. They kissed, briefly yet warmly.

'If you're going to do it,' he added, backing away a little, 'do it. Do it now!'

With a last trembling chew of her bottom lip, Chrissy flicked the switch.

*

# Chapter 54

Even as she felt the switch lock into place, Chrissy sensed the first intimation of a fire raging uncontrollably through her brain.

Alongside her, Si was already screaming in agony. He was clutching his head as if he would rather tear it off his shoulders rather than let this torture continue.

Emma was even worse, already writhing on the floor, wrapping her head in her arms as if to prevent it exploding.

Si's eyes rolled in his head, revealing nothing but a blank, lifeless white. Then he dropped to the floor.

Chrissy fell with him, unable to cope much longer with the flood of pain surging around inside her head, her entire body.

Emma was no longer moving. Si's body was wracked by a last few spasms, then he too lay lifeless.

Chrissy felt her own life hurriedly retreating from the unimaginable torments of her own body. She fought to remain conscious, praying she could somehow survive all this agony, this inferno that was in her head. She wondered how Jial had ever hoped she might survive this.

But there was _no_ hope.

Her life was ebbing. flowing away

leaving her

and this was

the end

Light.

An orb of swirling, coruscating light.

It wasn't real, of course,

It was simply swirling round and round in her mind.

She realised that.

There was also the unmistakable sound of anguished weeping.

She recognised that too.

Oddly, the light seemed to expand until it was no longer simply within her, but was, rather, suffusing her in its intensely bright glow.

She strained to open her eyes.

As she had feared, the light was blinding, making her immediately close her eyes once more.

She blinked, letting her eyes adjust to this new light. And as her eyes became used to it, she recognised that it wasn't, probably, a new light after all. It was sunlight, bathing her face as it streamed in through an open window,

No, not an open window, she realised, as she sat up, as the hazy shapes around her became more distinct, more full of colour.

It was a window with smashed, splintered boarding partially covering it. And a dead girl skewered on the sharp, bloodied barbs of a broken steal shutter.

Chrissy glanced to her side, hoping she wouldn't see what she knew, what she feared, she would see.

Si was lying beside her.

Chrissy hopefully reached out towards him.

'Si?' she whispered.

But even as she touched him, she sensed the icy aura of lifeless flesh, the unmovable hardness of rigor mortis. She drew her hand back – then leant over his cold corpse, weeping.

*

# Chapter 55

What had she done, what had she done?

She slipped into the jeep's driving seat.

Emma, like Si, had been still, lifeless. Cold.

Ahead of her, in the middle of the road, another child lay dead and naked.

Avoiding the body as she drove off, she sedately made her way towards the nearby town green. Here and there, she passed more naked bodies. Most of them were in unusual positions, such as bent over a hedge, or ungainly strewn across a roof top. Chrissy wondered what they had been doing when they had been struck dead.

At least there were signs of life around the green, but these were all adults.

Despite the fact that they had survived, only a few of them weren't openly weeping, mourning the deaths of all the children they saw scattered around them. Some couples were crouching down by the corpse of a child, having recognised their daughter or son. They had each tenderly covered the naked body with a quickly removed coat of jacket. Others wandered as if in a daze, searching for their own child, already dreading what they must know they would find.

That odd, coruscating light hadn't left her, Chrissy realised with a start. It hung around her, as it were a glow reflected from a mirror. The weeping was still there too; not just coming from the couples lamenting the death of a child, but hovering by her as if an indistinguishable part of the light.

A couple crouching over the naked corpse of their daughter looked up, as if spoken to by an invisible person standing over them. They smiled.

Another couple, one of those morosely seeking their own son amongst the dead children, abruptly stopped their searching to smile blissfully. Then they rushed off, this time with more purpose and eagerness.

'Angels?'

'Angels!'

Bewildered murmurs were beginning to rise up from the couples making their way across the green.

'Yes, yes, we can see _angels_!' a man and woman cried out together joyously.

*

# Chapter 56

With a shake of her head, as if she had suffered nothing more than a mild faint, one of the older girls sat up on the ground.

She seemed surprised to find her parents weeping over her, even more surprised when they elatedly clasped her to them as if they would never let her go again. She blushed with embarrassment when she realised she was naked beneath the coat her parents had covered her with.

On the other side of the green, another couple yelled out thanks and praise as their son similarly rose up from the grass with a stunned, confused grin.

Yet the weeping by Chrissy's side continued. She reached out into the floating, now slightly diffused light.

It wavered to her touch. It partially solidified.

The light flowed, becoming a simply cloaked body, a bowed head; a pair of perfectly beautiful white wings.

'You're back?' Chrissy softly gasped. 'The angels are back?'

The angel stopped his weeping. He looked up, looked towards her.

'You can see me? You can see us once more?'

He said it as if he couldn't be more shocked.

'But Jial? Where's Jial?' Chrissy demanded, attempting to look everywhere she could all at once.

It was as if she were clearly seeing everything for the first time. Everything was sharp and bright, with nothing out of focus or hard to define.

There were angels everywhere she looked.

They were kneeling by and praying for the life of the dead children.

They were offering a helping hand and words of encouragement to children rising to their feet.

They were calming those adults bursting with happiness as they welcomed their son or daughter back to the world of the living.

They were offering reassuring words to those still waiting for their own child to regain life.

'Yes, yes, of course we can see you again,' Chrissy said distractedly to the angel standing by her.

She was still hoping to find Jial amongst these angels, even though they looked different to the ones she was used to.

'Even our parents can see you now,' she added, fighting back a sudden pang of anxiousness she felt for her mom and dad. She quickly reassured herself that they were probably fine.

'Even adults?' The angel laughed kindly. 'Well, of course! We've always been here for everyone! We remained by you, unseen yet waiting and hoping that the connection between us, broken millennia ago, would one day be restored: and you would be aware of our presence once more!'

'Jial did it! Yes, she did _something_ , somehow!'

'And who's this Jial?' the angel asked curiously.

'Jial, my angel – my guardian angel. She's the one who – well, I don't know what she did! Reawakened more ancient, dormant sections of our brains, other senses?'

'But _I'm_ your angel. I've been with you ever since you were born. I've had to watch in growing anguish, for I realised I was incapable of influencing you as I was charged to do. It is indeed a miracle that everyone has been reconciled with their angel once more.'

'Yes, yes, it _is_ a miracle!' Chrissy breathed excitedly, glimpsing Si and Emma making their way across the road towards the green.

Si was still dressed in the tablecloth, draped about him and tied in place so that it looked more like a toga than ever. Emma no longer seemed as stupefied as she had been before. She beamed happily as she watched children rising up from the ground as if from a long, dreamy sleep, smirking in baffled embarrassment as their parents firmly hugged them.

Would Emma's parents also regain life? Chrissy believed she had the unhappy answer to her own question when she noticed the odd couple being consoled by their angels.

'Si! Emma!'

Chrissy waved high in the air to gain their attention. They looked her way, waved back. They set off in a swift jog across the grass as she sprinted towards them.

Si and Emma's guardians flowed alongside them, their angelic forms fluctuating between bodily shapes and orbs of whirling light, emanating a tangible sense of peace and comfort.

Chrissy and Si hungrily threw their arms around each other, clenching hands as they finally parted and stepped back a little.

'She did it, Jial did it!' Si exclaimed elatedly.

'Jial? Don't you mean Elly?' Chrissy teased mischievously, releasing Si's hands to give the patiently waiting Emma a brief yet welcoming squeeze.

Chrissy pulled back, grinning. She turned to Si, intending to wrap her arms around him once more – but stopped, and stared with disbelieving eyes.

A large, pure white feather silently fluttered down between them.

Hardly daring to breathe, Chrissy let the feather gently settle within her cupped hands.

'Coincidence?' Si said, staring as wide-eyed as Chrissy and Emma at the tenderly held feather.

Chrissy glanced up. There was nothing but pure blue sky stretching high above them.

In answer to Si's question, she shook her head.

'No Si – I think Elly's a _real_ angel now.'

End

If you enjoyed reading this book, you might also enjoy (or you may know someone else who might enjoy) these other books by Jon Jacks.

The Caught – The Rules – Chapter One – The Changes – Sleeping Ugly

The Barking Detective Agency – The Healing – The Lost Fairy Tale

A Horse for a Kingdom – Charity – The Most Beautiful Things (Now includes The Last Train)

The Dream Swallowers – Nyx; Granddaughter of the Night – Jonah and the Alligator

Glastonbury Sirens – Dr Jekyll's Maid – The 500-Year Circus

P – The Endless Game – DoriaN A – Wyrd Girl – The Wicker Slippers

Heartache High (Vol I) – Heartache High: The Primer (Vol II) – Heartache High: The Wakening (Vol III)

Miss Terry Charm, Merry Kris Mouse & The Silver Egg

Seecrets – The Cull – Dragonsapien – The Boy in White Linen – Porcelain Princess – Freaking Freak

