Angel's Fury (19 page)

‘Seth, this is written from Azael’s point of view. It’s his book. Listen:
My repellent disguise shields me from His sight. As long as I do not call His name He cannot find me
. The legend said Azael hid from God, remember?’

Seth stopped his restless pacing. ‘A lot of writers tell stories from another viewpoint. It’s called fiction.’

‘What about this? I have discovered that my brother is set in the heavens, in the constellation that the Greeks call Orion.’

Seth hesitated. ‘Orion?’

‘That’s where Shemhazai is supposed to be. Seth . . . I see the image of Orion everywhere.’

He licked his lips nervously. ‘It’s a coincidence.’

Like a fly to one of Pandra’s corpses my eyes were drawn to a sentence underlined in black:
The search for the trapped spirits must be a priority
. My priests and I will find Shemhazai’s sons. Together we will destroy man and turn his faith in the Lord to dust. Then my brother will be freed and together we will inherit the Earth
.

I flicked back and forth through the notes.

An ache in my jaw warned me that I was grinding my teeth. ‘According to this, Azael plans to destroy man . . . or at least his belief in God. He would have to do something really big to do that, wouldn’t he? Like . . . natural-disaster big. Huge enough to make people say no God would let it happen.’

Seth chewed his swollen knuckle and his eyes met mine. ‘My last incarnation was during the Second World War.’

‘Mine too.’ I swallowed. ‘Do you . . . do you think that could have been caused by Azael?’

‘If it was, he failed. A lot of people still have faith.’

‘So . . . before the six thousand years are up, he’ll have to use the sons to do something even worse.’ I swallowed. ‘How old do you think those early manuscripts are?’

Seth fingered the chisel. ‘This is crazy.’

‘Listen.
Before my brother can be released, his sons must be guided to lustful and murderous acts. They must not be thwarted by conscience nor the human laws that bind them
.’

Seth snorted.

‘What?’

He shook his head. ‘The legend says Shemhazai will be released once his children overcome
the restrictions of their fleshly bodies
. Lust and murder isn’t rising above humanity – it’s more like giving in to it.’

‘So . . . what would they need to do?’

‘Um . . . act more like angels than men. So maybe praying . . . repenting for their sins, like Shemhazai did. I’d guess Shemhazai will be trapped in Orion’s Belt until his sons are sorry for all the bad stuff they’ve done.’

‘Then Azael has it wrong.’

Seth shrugged. ‘He probably wanted revenge so badly he couldn’t make out the real meaning of the words. If his sons had asked for forgiveness, Shemhazai would have been released.’

‘But if Azael’s turning them into killers . . .’

‘. . . Shemhazai will be trapped forever and the spirits of his sons will never be free.’

He’s stopped talking as if this is just a story
.

With a jolt I remembered that the Doctor had been writing in the book. With fingers that felt like someone else’s I flipped to the end. I honestly hoped to find some sort of scholarly comment on the text, some reason that she might have the book other than the one I feared.

The back pages were blank, waiting to be written to life, so I started to search backwards. About twenty pages from the end, I found the most recent of her notes.

I didn’t understand them. Each entry was headed by a number and had two or three lines of writing underneath. Other numbers followed and then a thick line marked the next entry. I read the most recent.

8220: F. b. 1992. EN. Shows early promise. Ref. 7999
.

‘Seth, look. Wasn’t that number 8220 on the notepad?’

Seth slid the pencil blackened paper from the desk. ‘Yes. It says “
Subject 8220 as back-up
”.’

‘I was last in to the Manor and 8220 is the last entry. So I could
be subject 8220.’ I narrowed my eyes. ‘Who am I supposed to back up?’

Once more behind me Seth shook his head. ‘Ref. 7999. What does it say under that number?’

I flicked backwards until I found 7999 at the head of an entry:

7999: M. b. 1920. DE. Shows early promise. Ref. 5329
.

Moved into stage two. Ref. 5200
.

d. 1944 before emergence
.

I heard him swallow. ‘I think “d” stands for died. He died in 1944.’

‘Does that mean “b” is born? Born 1920, died 1944. What’s stage two?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Look at the one above. He got to stage three.’

‘Why he?’

‘The “M”.’ He reached over me, returned the book to my own entry and pointed to
8220: F
. ‘The “F” here must stand for “female”.’

‘I was born in 1992.’

‘Let’s see the earliest entries.’ Seth paged back until we reached
the start of the notes and I felt the tension race through him. ‘Look at the dates, Cass.’

‘It says “BC”. That can’t be right.’ My fingers trembled over the ink.

‘These notes have been copied in from an earlier document.’ Seth’s voice was brittle as old bones.

I turned to frown at him. ‘How do you know?’

He shrugged. ‘People wouldn’t have said “BC” then, would they? They’d have used a different dating system. And look – the writing’s the same on these pages: the same pen; the same hand. Someone copied them in later.’ He sucked air through his teeth as he flicked forward. Finally he stopped. ‘Here’s where they started entering notes as events occurred. It’s a different pen for each entry and they’ve all faded differently.’

‘So . . . 1916 . . . that’s when this book was made.’

‘Seems like it.’

My head pounded with the effort of making sense of the scrawl, but something else was screaming for my attention. I tried to relax, to open myself up to the insistent thought. I stared at the open book until my eyes lost focus.

‘Seth, where’s that piece of paper?’

Wordlessly he handed it down to me. I stared at the page covered with the Doctor’s handwriting. Then my eyes flicked between the page in my hand and the notes in the book.

‘Do you see it?’

‘Move over.’ Seth dropped to his knees beside me.

‘The writing’s the same.’

‘It can’t be.’ He nodded at the paper in my hand. ‘That’s the Doctor’s handwriting.’

‘I-I know.’ I met his stunned gaze and flipped back to the ancient legend itself.

It too had been written in the Doctor’s hand.

‘It’s not possible.’ Seth swiped his hand over his face. ‘We’re seeing things because we’re tired.’

‘Look at the “f” and “t”. They don’t change.’

‘We’re not experts.’ But his voice cracked.

Then something else struck me with numbing force. ‘Look at the Doctor’s name. Leaza Ashworth. Azael . . . Leaza.’ The paper slipped out of my fingers and fluttered to the floor. ‘The
Doctor
is
Azael
.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Seth jumped to his feet. He backed away as if I’d grown horns. ‘Listen to yourself. You seriously think we’re
the reincarnation of the sons of one fallen angel and that our Doctor is another one who wants to use us to destroy the human race?’ His hands covered his face and he stopped talking. When he dropped them he was calmer. ‘Anyway, the Doctor’s a woman.’

I sighed. ‘You’re right, I’m sure you are. It’s just, the handwriting, her name, the story, our dreams . . . they all add up.’ I paused. ‘Maybe it’s why I hate Lenny so much. I didn’t know why. I’ve been beating myself up over it, but if Shemhazai’s sons hate the weakness of humanity . . . well, Lenny is so weak . . .’

Seth buckled into the Doctor’s chair and I saw how exhausted he was, how tired we both were. Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight.

Then I gasped. ‘Oh my God . . . Seth, we have to get out of here.’

He nodded. ‘Yes. Put the book back. We need to think this through.’

‘No. I mean we’ve got to get out of the Manor and we have to get the others out too.’

Seth blinked. ‘You’re crazy.’

‘Maybe. That doesn’t matter now. More importantly: is the Doctor crazy?’ Seth’s eyes widened but I carried on, hammering home my point. ‘It doesn’t matter if the Doctor
is
Azael, or if she
just believes she is. If she wrote this . . . and I’m sure she did . . . then she thinks we’re Shemhazai’s children. So what do you think she’s doing to us with all her
therapy
?’

Seth’s arms flopped bonelessly to his sides. ‘The Doctor’s trying to take away our consciences. The crazy bitch isn’t trying to help us at all; she’s trying to turn us into killers.’

‘Look what damage she’s done to Pandra already.’ Shuddering, I pictured her secret place.

‘Alright, I agree. We have to get out of here.’

I thought about all the treatments I’d had in this very room and felt ill. ‘How can we get the others out without the nurses stopping us?’

Seth drummed his nails on the leather blotter. Then his eyes glittered. ‘Lizzie’s game . . . Double Dares. We’ll dare the others to break out with us and come to the village pub. We can tell them about the book once we get there.’

I nodded; it sounded good. ‘But . . . that won’t work for Pandra.’

His shoulders sagged. ‘She won’t do anything I suggest.’ He paused. ‘We could just leave her.’

‘We can’t. She’s probably in the most danger and you know it.’ My hands were cold. I rubbed them together. ‘Also, I’m fairly sure
the blockers won’t work on the outside door. We need her key card.’

Seth frowned. ‘Why not just use one of ours?’

I hesitated, still reluctant to expose Pandra’s secret. ‘You’re the one who said Pandra’s like the Doctor’s daughter. She’s allowed in and out of the Manor pretty much as she wants. If we use Pandra’s card, I don’t think an alarm will be raised. If we use yours or mine . . .’

‘. . . They’ll be after us in a shot.’ Seth’s expression was grim.

‘I can get her to take me outside. She’ll open the exterior door in the rec room and I’ll block it with something before it shuts. You can all sneak out behind us.’

Seth’s palm rasped over his cheeks. ‘We’d be tramping around the moor without a map.’

I shivered at the thought. ‘We can follow the road to the village.’

‘But if the Doctor finds us gone it’s the first place she’ll look.’ Seth rested his forearms on the desk and groaned. ‘Even if we get away our parents will probably send us straight back.’ He looked at the book. ‘We’ll have to take it with us. No one would send us back here once they saw those notes.’

Alarm rippled through me. ‘She might look for it tomorrow. If she finds out it’s gone . . .’

Seth closed his eyes. ‘We have to take it. If we come back for it, we might get caught.’

I wiped my hands on the brushed cotton of my pyjamas. Then before I could change my mind, I stuffed the empty box back into its hiding place and scooped up the book. My flesh crawled. The hole under the desk and Pandra’s secret place seemed nothing alike on the surface but to me they felt identical; both contained horrors.

Seth followed me to the door and switched off the light. The office plunged into darkness and his trousers rustled as he bent to retrieve his top from the floor.

‘Don’t forget the blocker,’ I whispered. As Seth palmed it I ducked into the corridor. The rectangle of light on the carpet had brightened. Dawn was approaching.

Pyjamas flapping, Seth and I ran towards the staircase. Then he held me behind him as he peered through the glass panel. ‘The stairs are empty.’ He pushed the door open and lifted the second wooden block.

I followed him through at a dash and we sped up the staircase. I barely thought about stealth. Now we were this far I just wanted to be back in the relative safety of my room and the book out of my arms.

At the top of the stairs Seth stopped. Swiftly he pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine. Between us the book pressed uncomfortably into my breasts.

‘Get some sleep,’ he whispered huskily. Then he pushed me towards the girls’ area.

The sight of my door filled me with near joy. Briefly I looked for Seth but he had already disappeared so I took a deep breath and half fell into my room.

I had to find somewhere to stash the book. Finally I decided to hide it inside my rucksack. There it seemed to whisper its story with a sort of malevolent seductiveness so I tucked the bag into the back of my wardrobe and threw myself into bed.

Wretchedly I wrapped my arms around Bunny and tucked my face against his fur. But as I dug my fingers into my old toy my eyes fell on the buttons by the bed.

The recorder! I can’t leave it empty.

Anxiously I pressed the button. I’d talk about Zillah. My breathlessness should be put down to the usual nightmare. It would be as if I’d never left my bed.

* * *

When I finally slumped back on to the mattress I glanced at the clock. The figures danced and blurred.

If I sleep now, I’ll be able to snatch a couple of hours before breakfast
.

I closed my eyes but like a computer hard drive my brain wouldn’t stop whirring. All I could see was an extract from the book:
They will rise up against the children of man . . . and they will never have rest
.

‘Believing that the Lord would be unable to see an angel in human form he took the shape he hated most. Then he vowed to find the sons of his brother and aid them in the destruction of man.’

I
could barely keep my eyes open. I needed to sleep before the day’s appointments, or who knew what I’d say? As soon as I’d choked down my breakfast and the nurse had seen me take my drugs I started back to my room.

As I was passing the phone booth Seth grabbed my arm, pulled me inside and pressed his mouth to my ear. ‘I’ve spoken to the others and they’re up for the dare.’

I gave myself a mental shake. ‘Will everyone have blockers?’