The Lost Saint (26 page)

When I padded out of the bathroom, I found Talbot waiting for me, dressed in his own white
gi
tied with a black belt. The white tunic top crossed in front of his otherwise bare chest. He had pecs just as ripped as his forearms. I looked down at his bare feet poking out from the bottom of his lightweight white pants. Why
did this whole situation feel more surreal than anything else we’d done so far?

“So you’re Mr. Miyagi and I’m the Karate Kid,” I said.

“I’m Mr. Who?” Talbot asked.

“You know, Mr. Miyagi. From the movie? Tries to catch flies with chopsticks?”

Talbot gave me a blank stare.

“You know, you have to be all,
‘Wax on, wax off!’
” I made the hand gestures that went along with the chant.

Talbot’s eyes went wide. He obviously didn’t get it.

I made an overly dramatic sigh. I guess kids who grow up on farms with retired demon hunters don’t exactly watch a lot of eighties movies. “You’re the great karate master, and I’m your student.”

“Um, okay.” He still looked at me funny. “But I’m not going to teach you karate. I’m actually debating between aikido and wing chun. Both are good for a small-sized fighter. Plus, you need sword training. And then we’ll move to crossbows, advanced staking, and maybe even some work with the bow staff.”

This time I was the one who made the surprised expression, but not because he was joking. He was dead serious.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, FOUR DAYS LATER

Training with Talbot was intense, to say the least. He
didn’t pull punches, never had to take a breather or nurse a tender knee. Which meant I had to work like hell to keep up with him. And I don’t know what it was that made it possible, but I gained more skills in less than a week while working with Talbot than I had in the months of training with Daniel.

Maybe it was the fact that Talbot didn’t demand that I hold back at the same time he encouraged me to push forward. He wanted me to grab on to my raw emotions, use them to make me stronger. And I couldn’t believe how quickly it worked—how much more powerful I’d become.

Our training sessions were like a drug—fully tapping into my abilities was overwhelming, engulfing, leaving me buzzed with power and wanting more. April always gave me funny looks when I got back to the bus, and she’d ask questions about what Talbot and I did for training, but she never quite understood why I was so excited about sparring.

I’d even contemplated getting together with Talbot on Saturday for an extra training session. But Mom had been in manic overdrive ever since Gabriel had come to dinner and she’d learned about the Halloween fund-raising festival—the same fund-raising festival for which she’d commandeered control of the concessions booths and poured every waking moment into preparing for. And there was no escaping her desire to bake and freeze
a zillion pecan tarts all Saturday long for refreshments. We were T-minus six days until Halloween, and I knew that if it weren’t for my mandatory service project each afternoon in the coming week, I’d probably never get out of the house to train with Talbot again.

By Sunday afternoon, I felt so positively shaky from having gone so long without training that I could barely think. Which definitely wasn’t a good thing, since I was supposed to meet Daniel for a picnic on the parish lawn after services. At Dad’s insistence, Mom had granted me a two-hour reprieve to work on my Trenton application with Daniel. Only I still worried he might notice something different about me.

It seemed like the better my training went with Talbot, the harder things got with Daniel. The harder it was to pretend to be normal around him.

I hated keeping things from Daniel. I hated that I couldn’t tell him anything about Talbot, or my lessons, or my plans to find Jude, for that matter. But that was just the way it needed to be, because I knew he’d try to stop me.

Daniel wanted me to be normal, but I couldn’t be. That wasn’t who I was anymore. I had these talents, these abilities. I knew what evil existed in the world, and I couldn’t just sit by anymore. I guess that’s why in all those comic books, the superheroes have to create an alter ego—the person who pretends to be ordinary so they can still be with the ones they love.

I knew Daniel wanted me to be normal because he wanted to keep me safe. But that was only because he didn’t know what I was really capable of. He’d lost his faith in me somewhere, somehow. Lost his faith in the whole concept of my being a Hound of Heaven—but I’d show him; I’d prove to him that I could do this. When the time was right—probably not until after I finished my training with Talbot … and maybe not until after I brought Jude home—I’d tell Daniel everything … eventually.

So that made what I was doing a surprise. I wasn’t technically keeping secrets from the person I loved the most.

Right?

As much as I dreaded trying to pull off “Grace Divine: 100 Percent Normal Pastor’s Daughter” for a couple of hours, I longed to be with Daniel. Just that he’d suggested the picnic in the first place made any potential awkwardness worth it. With Mom keeping me busy when I wasn’t with Talbot, and Daniel working extra shifts for Mr. Day and helping Katie Summers co-chair the fund-raiser, it felt as if it had been forever since we’d had time to be together outside of school. Or even in school, for that matter—considering he spent most of our lunch breaks planning booths and posters with Katie. And as twitchy as I felt—kind of like power withdrawal—nothing was going to keep me from having lunch with Daniel today.

Except for the fact that Daniel apparently didn’t feel the same way.

I sat out on the grass in my knee-length blue dress, soaking up the unseasonably warm October sun, for more than forty-five minutes before I decided he must have forgotten about our lunch. The lunch
he’d
planned. Daniel hadn’t been at services. But his church attendance was usually spotty anyway, so I hadn’t thought much about it then.

My stomach growled. I was cell-phone-less (Mom forbade me to take it to church), so I went into the parish to use my dad’s office phone to call Daniel. Dad wasn’t in his office, but the door was unlocked. I went inside and dialed Daniel’s number. It went straight to voice mail.

“I hope whatever you’re doing is important enough to blow me off,” I told the message recorder. “Call my cell when you remember who I am.”

I hung up and almost called back immediately to apologize. I hated myself for being so terse. But then again, wasn’t the superhero supposed to be the one who was always forgetting about plans last minute, or running off during important dinners? If anyone was going to be standing someone up, shouldn’t it be me?

I picked up my application packet from the desk and headed out into the hallway. My muscles twitched, and I was ready to take off on a good run—high heels or no high heels—but as I passed the double doors to the
social hall, I heard strange noises coming from inside. Kind of like long, heavy breaths and an occasional grunt.

My curiosity piqued—all of the parishioners should have gone home by now—I pulled open one of the doors and peered inside. Gabriel stood alone in the middle of the room, poised on the tips of his toes, with his arms stretched up high above his head. The palms of his hands were facing each other. He wore a gray linen tunic and pants, like the
gi
’s Talbot and I wore for training, and a long brown robe. I couldn’t help thinking he looked like a cross between a monk and a Jedi Knight.

I watched as he very fluidly dropped his arms down so they were parallel in front of his chest, his hands cupped so it looked as if he held an invisible ball. His head turned in my direction. He blinked when he saw me but didn’t say anything as he continued with his flowing motions. It reminded me of the martial arts Talbot taught me, yet completely different at the same time. He did another three moves that all melted into one another like a set routine. When he finished with the last one, he turned to me again and gave a slight bow.

“Hello, Miss Grace,” he said, and motioned for me to come into the room. “Forgive me for using this space. I’m afraid my room is too small for my exercises.”

“I thought you weren’t into fighting,” I said. “Why are you practicing martial arts?”

“I do not practice for fighting. What I do is for balance and meditation.” He rubbed the spot on his finger with the lighter band of skin. “Something I find I need a lot more of these days.”

“Is that because you’re missing your ring?” I pointed at his hand. It was obvious from how light his skin was there, compared to the rest of his hand, that he must have worn a ring on that finger for many years.

Gabriel gave me an approving nod, like he was pleased by my quick conclusion.

“What happened to it?” I asked. I was surprised he’d come here without his moonstone. It seemed like a great risk for someone who was so obsessed with staying in complete control.

“I gave it to someone who needed it more than I did.” He stopped rubbing the light spot on his finger and dropped his hands at his sides. “I just hope it wasn’t a wasted sacrifice.”

“Jude?” I remembered now that this wasn’t the first time Gabriel had come to Rose Crest. I hadn’t seen him, but he’d come here on Christmas Eve and had given my dad a moonstone ring for Jude—his very own ring, apparently. “You did that for him? But you’d never even met us.”

Gabriel nodded, more solemnly this time. “Daniel talked of you and your family often. I guess I felt like I knew you all. I could tell that you were just like my sister, Katharine, and Jude sounded much like myself
back before I joined the church and left for the Crusades. When I got your father’s letters about Jude’s infection, Sirhan forbade me from getting involved, but I could not help myself. I wanted to prevent your brother from falling to my own fate. But I’m afraid I always seem to be too late.” He put his hand on my shoulder. His steel-blue eyes seemed so ancient and sad as he searched my face. “I hope that is not the case with you.”

“I’m fine,” I said. I didn’t know why, but my voice was barely louder than a whisper.

“Nobody is ever as fine as they say they are.” Gabriel dropped his hand from my shoulder and stepped back a few paces.

“Well, I am.” I felt even shakier than before. I didn’t like the idea of his judging me again without knowing me. He’d already made up his mind that I couldn’t learn how to use my powers without falling to the wolf, like Jude and him.

“Tell me, Grace, how were you feeling when you thrust that dagger into Daniel’s heart?”

The question came out of nowhere, but he sounded so matter-of-fact, like a psychiatrist analyzing a patient lying on a couch, that it left me stunned for a moment.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

“Were you afraid? Were you angry? What were you hoping to accomplish?”

Is he going to pull out a notebook and start jotting down my answers?

“Why do you want to know?” I asked.

“My pack is quite fascinated with you. Do you realize what a commodity you are to them? A young girl who can save an Urbat’s soul. They want me to find out how you did it. But I’m more interested in
why.
”

“Because I love Daniel. And I’d promised him I’d save him.” It was the only promise I’d ever been able to keep.

Gabriel just stood there, staring at me, as if expecting me to explain more.

“I thought the wolf would take me over for killing him—but saving his soul was more important than anything. I was scared, but only that I wouldn’t be able to save him in time. I didn’t care what happened to me as long as his soul was preserved.”

“Hmm.” Gabriel sighed. His forehead creased. Any hint of his ancient smile fell into a frown. He seemed disappointed by my answer. Or maybe it was more that he’d known all along what I was going to say, but he didn’t have the first clue what to do with the information. “True love. Few people are capable of that.”

“I guess so.” I tapped my heel against the hardwood floor. “I think I’m going to go now.” I really didn’t want to be analyzed anymore.

Gabriel stretched his arms out in one of the poses I’d seen him do before. “You should join me in my exercises. I sense much agitation in you.”

“Okay, Master Yoda,” I mumbled.

Gabriel gave me a quizzical look.

I rolled my eyes. “Never mind.”
Seriously, does nobody else watch movies anymore?

“It would be good for you to relax. Meditate. Pray. You are letting the wolf have too much control over your emotions. Do you think in your current state you’d be capable of showing the same restraint and love you did the night you saved Daniel?”

“Of course.” I looked away from his face, definitely feeling agitated now. He had no business prying into my life—into my head—like this.

“I have my doubts,” Gabriel said.

“Whatever. You made up your mind about me the day we met. I’m not going to stand here and try to prove you wrong. I’m not your patient, or your subject, or whatever to be analyzed. Why don’t you just go home?”

I turned to walk out.

“I’m here because I care about you.”

No he doesn’t
, that voice said in my head. I used to think of it as foreign, but now it felt comforting.
Gabriel is never going to believe you’re capable of becoming a true Hound of Heaven—not in the way Talbot believes you can
.