The Hidden Deep (19 page)

The young Observer’s eyes shifted out of focus, and then he nodded to himself. With a small smile, he said, “Harken says that Marcus says to stop dawdling and ask for what you need.”

“And what’s that?” she groused.

Koji gave her hand a squeeze. “I do not need sleep, so I will keep you company.”

Oh. With a longsuffering sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to relax. Thoughts wandered, but she rebelled against taking advice from Marcus. Still, it would be Milo who came for her, and that was something she’d been looking forward to since that afternoon. With a much smaller sigh, she offered an awkward little prayer, asking for the sleep she needed in order to join the dream where her friends waited.

Prissie had sort of expected the dream to begin as her last one had, with starlight and candlelight, but nothing was
the same. Sounds came first, a strange sort of clinking, like melting ice cubes in a glass of water, and then Milo’s voice reached her. “Miss Priscilla? Open your eyes, please.”

She obeyed, and immediately squinted. She was seated on the ground, but blue surrounded her, bright as the sky on a sunny day. The luminescent color overlapped itself in translucent layers, draping around the two of them in a sheltering cocoon.

Milo smiled at her in his same old way, though he no longer would have passed as their small town’s mailman. His ash blond hair tumbled in a riot of curls that reached well past his shoulders, and he was dressed in raiment. The beige cloth glowed as if it had a life of its own. Glancing down, Prissie saw that she, too, wore new clothes, a simple dress as white as new snow. Turning wondering eyes on the Messenger, whose hands were folded together in a relaxed manner, she murmured, “It’s different!”

“What is?”

“This isn’t anything like when Koji came for me,” she explained, a tinge of accusation in her tone.

“I should hope not!” he exclaimed, eyes sparkling with good humor. “That was Koji’s very first attempt to reach out to someone in dreams. While he managed very well with Harken’s assistance, I’m a full-fledged Messenger. This is what I
do
!”

Again, there was a distant tinkle of sound, and her attention was drawn to the bright color that hemmed them in. “This is beautiful,” she quietly confided.

“Thank you,” he replied just as softly.

“Where are we?”

“In the garden behind the blue door.”

“I don’t remember anything like this there,” she murmured, tentatively reaching out to touch the melodic light. He watched her exploration without comment, which Prissie took as permission to continue. Color slipped over her fingers like nothing she’d ever encountered before — softer than silk, lighter than air. It tickled across her skin like a breeze, and slowly brought a smile to her face. Finally, she asked, “What is all this?”

Milo’s eyebrows lifted slightly, and he replied, “My wings.”

Snatching her hand back, she murmured, “Oooh! Excuse me!”

He held a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. “It’s all right, Miss Priscilla. Ready to see the others?”

“Yes, please.”

Nodding once, the Messenger gave his wings a gentle shake, then lifted them away, slowly revealing a very familiar forest glade. Yahavim zipped around like golden fireflies, but for once, she ignored the little manna-makers. Prissie had been hoping to see Milo’s wings since the first moment she realized he had them, and she stared in frank admiration. Propping his chin on his hand, he wafted them playfully and asked, “Satisfied?”

Prissie toyed with the end of her braid and mumbled an indistinct affirmative. Glancing around, she spied Tamaes leaning against a nearby tree, a faint smile on his face. He was garbed as usual in armor-covered raiment, and the hilt of a sword showed over his shoulder. Sleek auburn hair partially hid the scar that ran along one side of his face, and for once, his wings weren’t on full display. Instead, a vivid pattern of overlapping rings in shades of orange decorated his arms.

When Tamaes caught her eye, he strode forward to
offer one large, tanned hand, helping her to her feet. “Hello, Prissie,” he greeted, searching her face with ill-concealed concern.

“I’m fine,” she blurted.

He blinked, then shook his head. “You are ill.”

“I’m mostly better,” she argued, vaguely embarrassed to have worried her guardian angel. “I’ll be better soon.”

“May it be so,” Tamaes said, and his gaze drifted off to one side. “Hello, Koji.”

She turned in surprise to find her friend hanging back, simply observing. Milo chuckled and asked, “Is Jedrick expecting you as well?”

Koji self-consciously tucked his loose hair behind an ear that now came to a distinct point. “I was not invited, but I need to stay with Prissie.”

Milo stood and straightened his tunic. “I’m sure the captain has taken Koji’s responsibilities into account.”

“Oh, sure,” interjected a familiar voice. “Where would she be without her conscience?”

Prissie turned to see Marcus strolling toward them through the trees along with his mentor. It was slightly disorienting to see a classmate wearing armor and heavy boots with oddly woven straps, but Marcus looked right at home in his raiment.

“Her
conscience
?” inquired Jedrick.

“It is a nickname,” Koji offered seriously.

From what Prissie could tell, all the warrior types in the Flight wore sleeveless tunics. Jedrick towered imposingly over the rest of them, all broad shoulders and bulging muscles. When he folded strong arms over his chest, she noticed that his fair skin was laced by an intricate pattern of green
whorls. In contrast, Marcus’s wings had settled into jagged markings that zigzagged in hues of cream and yellow over his warm brown skin.

Standing as tall as he could beside his mentor, Marcus also crossed his arms and smirked infuriatingly at Prissie. “Took you long enough, kiddo!” Before she could work up some indignation, Jedrick rumpled Marcus’s two-tone hair, causing the younger angel to duck his head and protest, “I was only saying
hi
!” The apprentice Protector might have been able to carry off a tough guy aura at school, but next to the other warriors in his Flight, he was pretty puny.

Her soft giggle put an end to the jostling, and Jedrick suggested, “Shall we begin?”

Prissie asked, “Are we the only ones here?”

The captain explained, “These four spend the most time with you.” That made sense, and when she nodded, Jedrick continued. “I cannot say if you have come to know us because you are in danger, or if you are in danger because you have come to know us. Either way, the threat is real, for Adin seems to have singled you out.”

“And he’s a demon?”

“He has set himself against God,” Jedrick confirmed.

Prissie didn’t
exactly
doubt them. Adin had been polite, handsome, and stylish … but sometimes he said or did things that made her uneasy. Frowning in concentration, she asked Jedrick, “How can you tell? I thought demons were horrible monsters.”

Marcus snorted, and with a dramatic flash of light, he unfurled his wings, spreading them wide. Getting right in her face, he made certain she was staring into his eyes, which
were an impossible shade of gold. “Look at me, Prissie,” he demanded in exasperation. “Is
this
how I show up to school?”

“Obviously not.”

“You already know the Faithful can hide their true nature in order to fit in! It’s no different for the Fallen!”

“Fine. But if he’s an enemy, how do you know his name? Is he on some kind of Most Wanted list?”

For several moments, an awkward silence filled the glade. Jedrick sighed and nodded at Tamaes, who took a half-step forward.

“Adin and I were once close,” Tamaes said dully. “He was like a brother to me when I was newly formed.”

“What happened?” Prissie asked, aghast. With a small shrug, Tamaes replied, “He Fell.”

“That’s all?”

Koji tapped her hand and solemnly answered, “That is
everything
.”

Jedrick cleared his throat and fixed Prissie with a stern gaze. “The members of my Flight stand ready to back up Tamaes in his service to God. Come what may, we are with you.”

Then Milo stepped forward. “I have a message for you, Miss Priscilla.”

“An official one?” she asked warily.

“Yep,” he amiably replied. “And it’s threefold.”

“Oh,” she managed, her heart already racing.

Holding up a finger, Milo calmly said, “Trust.”

Prissie had expected more than one word, so it took her a moment to react. “Isn’t that the same message Harken gave me before?”

Raising a second finger, Milo said, “Listen.”

Even more stymied, she asked, “To
what
?”

The Messenger replied, “At the moment, to
me.
” A third finger joined the others, and Milo concluded, “Remember.”

Truly frustrated now, Prissie begged, “Remember
what
?”

Marcus grumbled something about a complete lack of awe where divine messages were concerned, but Milo only chuckled. “I don’t know, Miss Priscilla. However, I can say with absolute certainty that whatever it is, it must be important.”

ZONDERKIDZ

The Hidden Deep
Copyright © 2013 by Christa Kinde

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kinde, Christa.

The hidden deep / by Christa Kinde.

      p. cm. — (Threshold series; bk. two)

ISBN 978-0-310-72489-6 (hardcover)

1. Angels—Juvenile fiction. 2. Demonology—Juvenile fiction. 3. Christian life—Juvenile fiction. 4. Families—Juvenile fiction. [1. Angels—Fiction. 2. Demonology—Fiction. 3. Christian life—Fiction. 4. Family life—Fiction. 5. Farm life—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.K56584Hid 2013

813.6 — dc23

2012044352

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