Covenant (10 page)

Instead, Nina stood behind her, appearing bewildered that this shell of a church held some kind of importance.

But there was one problem.

Perhaps it no longer did. “Nina,” Angela said with real fear. “I don't see a door.”

Thirteen

My mother named me out of guilt. She'd dreamt before I was born that a red-winged angel stood over my cradle. He told her to name me Hope, but she looked at my hair and refused.
—A
NGELA
M
ATHERS

“That's impossible,” Nina said gently. “The door is right here.”

Angela spun around, her gaze darting wildly here and there. “There's nothing here, Nina. I don't see any kind of special door anywhere.”

At least, not like the one from her vision.

Oh God, this couldn't be happening. Angela couldn't have lost the game already
.

Troy snorted impatiently from her perch. Obviously, she wasn't about to offer any further help. Perhaps she had none to give.

Nina paced and rubbed her forehead, trying to think. She paused. “Have you been given any other clues?”

Angela rubbed her arms, desperate to rein in her rising panic. “Just that the door was right in front of me, and that it could be anywhere.”

“I KNOW it's here,” Nina said firmly.

Angela huffed in exasperation. She slumped into a mildewed pew and cradled her head in her hands. “This is awful. I feel so close, but so far.”

“Try to stay calm. We'll figure this out,” Nina whispered. It was clear she was forcing herself to sound more confident than before. “Why don't we just take a minute or two to really think, okay? That couldn't hurt things. Just a minute or two.”

“Okay.” Angela nodded. “That's true. Maybe I do just need a few moments. There has to be a connection to the door and this church. But what?”

Angela closed her eyes and tried her hardest to block out the world—the relentless cold, the shivers running up her arms, the throbbing Grail, her desperation—and to think. Her mind wandered here and there, and she pictured the church and Israfel inside of it as he had been that long-ago day when they'd met. That was the one real tie she had with this place. She'd been trying so hard to paint his image, as if to hold on to something she'd lost, and had at last figured perhaps she should lose it after all. Now, she began to find it again.

She could see his eyes, so large and so piercingly blue, the shade of the deepest seas.

His hair shone a gorgeous color between starlight and silver.

His wings stretched like white banners between heaven and earth. Israfel's voice beckoned to her more achingly than the nightingales of so many poets, and for one cruel and impossible moment, Angela heard her heart respond.

A powerful wave of longing rushed over her—the nostalgia for what had been, for what could have been, and for what should possibly be. Angela had decided to hate Israfel rather than love him. He had abandoned her and taken her brother away forever.

So why, right now when she looked deep inside of herself, did that decision hurt just as much?

It was like she'd lost a very crucial piece of who Israfel really was.

And for some reason, it was her task to find that piece and put it back where it belonged
.

It was painful to admit but Angela would do anything at this second to see Israfel again and complete that task. She had to. Unlike the recent necessity of protecting Sophia, this was a mission that had been with her from some mysterious beginning.

You would do anything?
A familiar and gentle voice echoed from within her.

Yes,
her heart said without hesitation,
I would do anything.

With a sudden shock that sent Angela's heart hammering, she realized the voice in her head was Raziel's.

She opened her eyes again and saw the door.

It appeared exactly as in her vision, except solid and completely real and directly across from her, set against a wall of the church as if it had been there all along.

Nina gasped. Fury soared down from the rafters screeching in triumph. Troy dropped to the ground with Juno beside her, already inspecting every inch of the door's black wood with blazing eyes and suspicious growls. She slid a nail along one of the carvings set in the door but paused at the metal doorknob shaped like a snake—the same one Angela had drawn away from in fear while steeped in her vision of Kim and Sophia.

“This is it,” Angela said, approaching the door quietly. She feared if she made too much noise it might disappear and leave only ashes behind. Nothing about it seemed real now. Angela carefully eyed the creatures carved into the wood, part of her worried they might be eyeing her. Her gaze lingered for a moment on a strange horse with a menacing horn.

Troy snapped her wings open, sheltering Juno behind them. “It is the same door that Sariel entered.” Troy's voice was crisp with frustration. “But I could not get in myself.”

“Sariel?” Nina said.

“That's Kim's given Jinn name,” Angela said. “His father was a Jinn like Troy.”

“Oh . . .” Nina looked like she wanted to ask more and her face paled, but she bit her lip.

Angela reached for the snake-shaped knob, her heart racing. “Here goes nothing—”

The metal snake came alive like a horrid nightmare, its long fangs snapping cruelly for her hands.

She drew back in shock.

“
Now, now, dear,
” a voice whispered from between the snake's reptilian lips. “
You should introduce yourself before gripping me in such a familiar way. Your name?
” The snake returned to its original position and glared at her with orange eyes. Unlike Troy's eyes, they bored through Angela in a different way that was also entirely unnerving. But this wasn't the instinctual stare of a hunter. Angela couldn't name what it was at all—and that made it ten times worse. “
Come now, even I can see you're in a hurry.
”

“My name is Angela Mathers,” she said softly.

“
Oh?
” The snake pretended an amused tone. “
And to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, Archon
?”

So they knew Angela's true identity. She set her jaw, speaking between gritted teeth. “I'm going through the door. I was told that if I don't go through the door, my friend Sophia will die. So here I am.”

“
A dreadful situation
,” the snake hissed. “
Regrettable
.”

“Let me in,” Angela said. “NOW.”

The snake sighed. “
You're as much of a spitfire as I've heard. Unfortunately, I can't just let you in. There are rules, you see.
”

Troy inched forward, searching the door again for signs of weakness.

“What rules?” Angela prepared to take off her left arm glove and display the Grail. She was tired of this. There were too many obstacles already, and she couldn't imagine any more in front of her.

“
Rules of fairness. This is my labyrinth, and I know it top to bottom. So I think it's only polite to offer you a handicap, to make our interaction a bit more balanced. I have the advantage here, of course, and without a challenge, there's little reason to play. So here's my offer—if you are willing to sacrifice one of your companions, and believe me they won't last long in this maze—I will take you directly to the Book of Raziel and I promise her unharmed. Otherwise . . .”

“Otherwise what?” Angela hissed herself.

“
Otherwise, I've already won.
”

Sacrifice her friends? Sacrifice Nina? Sacrifice little Juno who'd escaped death in the Underworld and believed in Angela? Sacrifice Troy who had risked her life to make sure Angela stayed alive?

Angela ripped off her arm glove and showed the Grail to the horrid snake.

In a noise like thunder, Troy sheltered herself and Juno from the terrible sight with her wings. Nina cried out and crumpled to the ground, hiding her face. But the snake showed nothing but amusement behind its disturbing eyes.

“Bastard,” Angela muttered. She bit into the Eye with her fingernails, summoning the Glaive.

“
Impressive,
” the snake said coolly. “
But that's not quite an answer
.”

“Then here's your answer,” Angela said. “
No deal
.”

She thrust the Glaive's blade through the snake. With a horrendous cracking noise, its iron body exploded into thousands of silvery shards.

Fourteen

One more moment. One more, and then it all began.
—N
INA
W
ILLIS

Angela leaned down, her hands on her knees as she took deep breaths of chilly air.

She stared at the pieces of the door's iron knob littering the ground. Not a single trace of the snake remained, but its icy voice echoed in her head. Betrayal, it had said.
Certain
betrayal. And a game over before it had barely begun. Her ears rang with the sound of the metal snake exploding into bits.

A scream of frustration threatened to swell out of Angela. But it died in her lips, and she slumped even farther.

God, Angela—what have you done? How the hell will you get through that door now?

Troy's derisive snort shot through Angela like a bullet of fire. “Splendid,” the Jinn said bitterly. “Perhaps we can pray our way inside.”

“
Shut up,
” Angela shouted.

Fury had been hopping across the ground, pecking with her large black beak at the little pieces of metal. Angela spun around to face Troy and the bird flapped out of the way, screeching in distress.

Troy tensed her wiry muscles but seemed more surprised than angry.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Angela said a little less heatedly. “Did you really think bargaining with a demon was going to get us anywhere? You heard what that snake said. How the hell was I supposed to agree to that kind of bullshit?”

Troy snorted again, and her ears flipped back in annoyance. She dug her nails into the icy ground but stayed silent.

Nina wobbled to her feet and walked over to Angela, helping her stay steady. “Just calm down, okay? Do you feel all right?”

“Yeah.” Angela rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm sorry. It's just—”

Stupid. Stupid. What a stupid thing for her to do. Angela deserved for someone to yell at her. Sophia was right again. Angela was so stupidly impulsive sometimes.

“Forget it,” Nina continued. “The last thing you need to do is explain. Even I wanted to smack that snake with something. Like you said, we'll figure this out. There has to be more than one way through that door, magic or not.”

Angela shook her head and sat down in front of the door, resting her head on her knees. She shut her eyes and wished the weakness in her aching body away, but it was obvious that time would be needed for her to gain her strength back. An hour passed as the cold ate through to her bones, and memories rose before her like teasing ghosts. She thought of Israfel and that long-ago night, realizing with a sick sensation she might never keep that promise either.

Raziel had believed in Angela enough to show her the door, and she'd repaid him by ruining everything.

Juno's soft lisp floated out of the darkness. “Bad snake,” she said. “Angela was right.”

“Quiet,” Troy snapped at her.

Juno rustled her little wings. Gradually, she crept closer to Angela despite her aunt's glares. Her small white hands tipped by sharp black nails poked at Angela's legs. Troy growled and almost grabbed Juno by one of her ragged little wings, but Angela gestured for peace.

“Stop it,” she said to Troy. “It's okay. She's not bothering me.”

Troy looked doubtful. “As you wish,” she hissed, licking her bluish lips. She reclined on the ground and yawned, exposing some lethal teeth. Every so often, she glanced at Juno with undisguised irritation. “What do you want, chick?” she said at last. “What bothers you? There will be no food right now. Sacrifice as you did in the Warrens.”

Juno cocked her head at Angela, one of her pointed ears flopping like a puppy's. “I wanted to ask her. What is Angela singing?”

“What?” Angela said, sitting up abruptly.

She was singing?

“It is a nice song,” Juno said, her owlish eyes bright.

Troy shrugged her wings. “She speaks the truth. You've been murmuring like an imbecile for half an hour.”

Nina hummed to herself as well, seeming to use it as an example for Angela. When she paused, she said softly, “It sounds beautiful. Where did you learn it?”

Angela brought up another sigh from deep, deep down. “Israfel sang it. That was the song he used to bring me to this church that one night. But, honestly, it seems even more familiar. Like I heard the song somewhere else a long, long time ago.”

It really did have the sound of a lullaby. That probably explained why whenever Angela remembered or heard the song, she floated in some indefinable place, rocked into bliss as a musical voice crooned the words over and over.

“Sing it, please,” Juno said.

Troy rocked up and snarled at the chick with a cascade of frightening anger. Her wings tensed, and her fingers clenched. “You will not listen to angel songs. You are the heir to the Throne of the Underworld. Angels are the carrion crows that left your ancestors to starve in Hell.
They are the monsters that destroyed our ancient city and dispersed our people, driving us to the brink of extinction. You will not
—”

“I,” Juno said, straightening, “wish to hear the songs. They are part of our history, yes? As the Jinn Queen, I demand it.”

Troy shook with wrath. She advanced on Juno with savagery in her beautiful face.

Angela stepped in front of Juno, shaking like a leaf as Troy came closer. Fury danced and screamed in the background, and Angela wanted to scream with her.

“Get out of the way,” Troy muttered evilly, her hypnotic eyes focused on Angela. “The discipline of our chicks is none of your concern, Archon.”

With the greatest hunter of the Jinn staring Angela down, terror rose up in her. Sudden fear choked out Angela's voice. Yet she didn't move.

Troy flapped her wings with thunderous force. Shards of metal tumbled in the wind beneath her. “Spoiled little brat,” she snapped viciously at Juno. “When one of those angels rips off your wings, see then if I will come to your rescue.” She stomped painfully on her wounded ankle to a dark corner, curled her wings around herself, and, with one more cry of frustrated rage, shut out both Juno and the world behind a screen of tattered feathers.

Angela allowed her heart to continue beating. She exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Nina that spoke volumes between them.

Whoa,
Nina mouthed. She stepped away from Angela and Juno, choosing to sit on a pew and gaze out into the shadows.

I can't believe I just did that . . .

For a terrible moment, Angela had remembered her near-death experience with Troy over a year ago, and it had nearly left her a babbling idiot. Now she could get her sanity back and try to remember why she'd challenged death in the first place.

“The song,” Juno said imperiously, tugging on Angela's tights. The little Jinn blinked up at Angela, starkly serious.

Angela knelt down in front of the Jinn chick. “If I sing it, do you promise not to mention it again? You shouldn't make your aunt angry, Juno. Remember, she risked her life and is now an exile because she saved you from death.”

Juno's ears pressed down and she hunkered like a scolded dog. “I promise . . .”

She appeared genuinely sorry and so much like a sad human child that it was almost impossible not to hug her. Then again, those little teeth had drawn blood from Troy's hands. Keeping that in mind, Angela focused and sang. But words weren't enough to knock down doors, and if anything, Sophia felt farther and farther away.

Were you there in the Garden of Shadows?

Were you near when the Father took wing?

Did you sigh when the starlight outpoured us?

When the silver bright water could sing?

Have you drunk from a river of amber?

Or eaten the nectar of dreams,

Where thoughts linger determining aeons,

And time stretches apart at the seams—

A sudden cry broke apart Angela's haunting memories. She opened her eyes again.

Troy crouched in front of Juno, protecting her behind her large sickle-shaped wings. Her eyes had narrowed to slits, betraying pain.

Brilliant light outlined the door, flooding the interior of the church.

Juno's eyes were even larger than before, though she shivered in pain from the light. Nina stepped beside Angela and gripped her arm, her face washed out by brilliance.

The door to Hell had started to open.

Angela lost her breath. The door groaned open farther against its will and her heart fluttered. The hellish carvings set in the wood resembled creatures made of starlight and pearl. Troy shrieked in horror, and Angela had to shut her eyes one more time against a luminous glory.

And then it was all over. The light faded to a dull memory and the door remained open, revealing the same ominous stairwell that had claimed both Kim and Sophia in Angela's vision.

Troy shuddered but unfurled her wings from around Juno. The Jinn chick crept nearer to the door, but swiftly changed her mind and returned to the shadow of Troy's great wings. Warm air wafted out of the door's expansive mouth, toying with Angela's curtain of hair.

From a safe distance, Angela examined the stairs. They wound down into a darkness dimly lit by embers and strange glowing hieroglyphs.

“What in the world just happened?” Nina said reverently.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together. “I think it was Israfel's song,” Angela whispered. She didn't like talking too loudly, as if it would attract some unseen horror from the stairway's bottom. “It opened the door . . .”

Is that why Raziel wanted her to remember Israfel? Or was it just a coincidence? If anyone had a power like this, it was the Supernal angels. Perhaps they really did know a song that opened doors to other dimensions.

“But I can't imagine how or why,” Angela added. She looked to Troy.

The Jinn stared into the open doorway like a challenge had been thrown at her. Her blazing eyes narrowed. “There are no coincidences,” she said as if answering Angela's thoughts. But her tone was oddly hushed.

Now that the door had opened, no one seemed eager to enter it.

A chill ran along Angela's arms. So far, Stephanie and Nina had both said that if Angela entered and walked down those stairs, she would never return.

But Sophia was there—in that dark, awful place where Lucifel reigned
.

Trembling, Angela adjusted her arm gloves and cinched the laces on her boots. She stood up straight and took a step forward, and then one back. Troy and Nina waited for her, no one seeming to be able to decide on what to do next after so many early displays of bravery.

Finally, after the longest moment of her life, Angela walked toward the entrance to Hell.

Behind her, she listened to the footsteps of her companions, each of them gaining strength the more she advanced, feeding somehow off her own courage.

Even Troy was afraid this time. And what did it really mean if even she was afraid?

Angela was about to find out.

Without any more hesitation, she took the first steps down the stone stairway and into blackness.

It was almost too easy at first. Step by step with Fury hopping behind them, Angela, Troy, Juno, and Nina descended down a path that eerily resembled the stairway Angela had summoned one faraway night to let souls escape the crumbling Netherworld.

There might not be an escape for me this time.

Despite a sinking feeling inside, Angela turned back to the door. Surely, it would be there like a promise that safety wasn't far away.

The Grail throbbed in her left hand as a quiet fear stole her courage.

Of course, the door was gone.