The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) (34 page)

As they ate, Natalie told
Chris that the judge had informed the rest of the Angelics of Jacob
and Tyler's return, and what they were going to try to do to get them
back.

Chris just nodded
throughout. He didn't want to discuss the subject again but he wasn't
surprised that the others were told. It did concern them in a way,
after all.

Alysa and the others
dropped by their table after dinner and invited them both to play
video games. Chris surprised himself by accepting, something he
certainly wouldn't have wanted to do that morning.

Natalie begged off, saying
that she had to meet someone. Chris waited for her to mention who it
was, but she simply smiled a bit mysteriously, told them all to have
fun and left.

“
Wonder who Nat's
going to see?” Chris said casually as the five teens made their
way to the games room.

Alysa giggled and he
looked at her curiously.

“
You know
something?”

She put her hand over her
mouth, but didn't answer. Chris looked at the others, who were
studiously looking elsewhere.

“
What? What am I
missing?” he asked them.

Anabelle looked at him
directly as they walked into the large, wood-paneled room where
several video consoles were set up along the walls. They settled
themselves down in front of the closest one.

“
You aren't missing
anything,” she told him. “But,” she gave Alysa a
quelling look as the other girl giggled again, “rumor has it
that Natalie's become friends with one of the members of staff.”

Chris stared at her. “So?”

“
So, by friends I
mean, you know, close friends.”

Chris was still looking at
her blankly and Anabelle sighed.

“
Oh for Heavens
sake, Chris. Boys are so thick. I mean they're seeing each other. You
understand?”

After another long moment,
something clicked in his brain.

“
Oh! You mean
they're dating?” She just nodded. “Huh. Well, good for
her, I guess.”

Patrick was setting up the
game and he stopped and looked at Chris.

“
Wait. You don't
mind?”

“
Mind? Why should I
mind? I think it's great. She's been alone a long time. I just hope
he's a nice guy.”

Chris suppressed an urge
to laugh as his four friends looked at him with identical expressions
of surprise.

Francis, calm and quiet as
usual, was the first to speak.

“
Sorry, mate. We
thought you'd be upset. That's why no one mentioned it before. We
were waiting for Natalie to tell you. Too bad someone,” and he
looked at Alysa sharply, who blushed, “let the cat out of the
bag.”

“
Yeah. We sort of
thought you had, you know, a thing for her,” Patrick added.

He turned and continued
loading the game, some racing game that Chris had never seen before.

Now he did laugh, as he
finally realized why they had been tiptoeing around the subject.

“
You mean, you
thought I had a crush on Nat?” There were general nods. “Gees,
guys, that's ridiculous. I'm like four years younger than her. She's
a good friend and we've been through a lot together in a short amount
of time, but that's as far as it goes.”

He thought about how
Natalie usually treated him.

“
I think she sees me
as more of a younger brother than anything else. And I'm okay with
that.”

Alysa actually looked
disappointed.

“
So you aren't
jealous?” she asked with a bit of a pout.

“
Not even a little
bit,” he replied, grinning. “Now are we gonna play or
what?”

The rest of the evening
passed quickly. Strangely enough, once Chris had reassured everyone
that he and Nat weren't a 'thing', Alysa became a little flirty with
him. Chris simply shrugged it off and treated her exactly the same as
he did the others and she finally gave up with another little pout.

Chris and Anabelle
exchanged glances at that moment and both turned away to avoid
laughing. All in all, he had a very enjoyable evening.

The next two days passed
quickly, although Chris was anxious to hear anything from the judge
about either Ghost and his imminent attack on the Fallen, or Bea and
George, who seemed to have vanished entirely.

But there was no word from
Judge Hawkes and Chris didn't even catch a glimpse of the man in the
halls or at meals. When he hesitantly brought the subject up with
Chef when he visited him in the kitchens, the big man had simply
shrugged.

“
No news is
sometimes good news, Chris,” Chef replied.

He was in the middle of
preparing an extremely large turkey for dinner. Chef had obviously
inserted himself firmly among the kitchen staff and even Frannie, the
head cook, didn't seem to mind a bit.

Chef was filling the large
bird with stuffing.

“
I wouldn't worry
about Ghost. He won't communicate until he is ready to strike. And
the enemy won't know what hit them, believe me. As for Beatrice and
George...”

He paused and then began
tying the turkey's legs together.

“
I don't know. I
will be honest and tell you that I'm worried as well. But what can we
do? It's a waiting game, my young friend. And being patient can be
the hardest thing to do sometimes. Try to keep busy and not think
about it too much.”

At Chris' look of
skepticism, Chef barked a short laugh. “Yes, I know. It's
easier said than done. But try anyway.”

So that's what Chris did.
He spent time with the other Angelics. He wandered leisurely through
the parts of Valiant normally filled with tourists, examining the
paintings and rooms full of statuary and artifacts that were
centuries old. And he walked through the gardens. The weather had
been clear and warm for several days in a row, something that he'd
been told was unusual for this time of year, so he took full
advantage of it and stayed outside for hours at a time. And the days
passed.

And then, on the morning
of the third day, he got a call from Judge Hawkes.

Chris was in his room. He
had just come back from finishing breakfast, waffles and blueberries
with whipped cream, his favorite, when his cell rang. It was the
judge.

“
Good morning,
Christopher,” the familiar voice said.

“
Morning, sir,”
Chris replied, feeling a rush of excitement mixed with a tinge of
fear.

“
I wonder if you've
been into the basement area of Valiant yet?”

Chris was caught off guard
by the question.

“
The basement? Um,
no sir. Why would I want to go there?”

The judge chuckled. “Why
indeed. Well, Valiant, like the Nest and several other of our
safe-houses, has a rather large vault that was built by an ancestor
of mine. We store quite a few rare and valuable relics down there.
Relics, I might add, that our enemies would probably do almost
anything to get their hands on, if they knew we had them in our
possession. Fortunately, the walls of the vault are heavily imbued
with talismans and blessed with holy rites, and the Fallen cannot
penetrate those wards.”

Chris was nodding
unconsciously. He held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he
sat on his bed putting on socks. He'd slept in and forgot to put any
on when he'd rushed to get to breakfast on time.

“
Okay,” he
said, feeling that he should say something.

“
At any rate, I'd
like you to meet me in the vault as soon as possible. I'm heading
there now.”

The judge gave Chris
directions and, now that he was quite familiar with Valiant's layout,
he was able to see the path in his mind. He assured the man that he
could get there on his own, no problem, and the judge thanked him and
hung up.

Chris tossed the cell on
his bed, unsnagged a sock from his big toe and slipped it on, and
quickly put on his shoes. He stood up and went to stand in front of
the full-length mirror beside his bureau.

Hmm, he thought. I guess I
look okay. Yellow t-shirt, black jeans and neon purple sneakers. His
hair was hanging on his shoulders now and the streaks of white were
not as obvious as they had been. He noticed with some surprise that
his dark hair had lightened somewhat from all the sun he'd been
getting.

With his tan, his light
blue eyes seemed brighter than usual and, if anything, made him look
even younger. He stuck out his tongue at his reflection and then
gazed at it thoughtfully. I wonder if I'll look older when I turn
fourteen in two months? Then he frowned. I wonder if I'll be alive to
turn fourteen in two months. That was probably the more important
question.

Chris locked his door
behind him as he started off for the vault, checking again to be sure
that he had his cell and the sword hilt with him.

As he made his way down
the hallways and corridors, he passed several staff members who
nodded and smiled politely. He did the same, wondering if any of the
young men he saw was the one that Natalie was dating. It was just a
passing thought.

He was actually quite
happy to hear that she was seeing someone. She'd been a virtual
recluse for a year or more after being betrayed by her best friend
Angelica, who turned out to have Lilith inside of her. People had
died and Natalie had blamed herself. If she was finding some
happiness now, Chris thought that she more than deserved it.

He managed to get all the
way to the door that led down to the basement without getting turned
around once, but Chris stopped and stared when he saw it.

It was the first door in
Valiant that he had seen that was made entirely of metal. Steel, he
assumed. Its edges were lined with large rivets and it opened with a
lever, not a door knob.

Chris almost expected the
door to be locked as he pushed down on the lever, but it opened
smoothly and swung inward in well-oiled silence. Beyond was a wide
landing and then broad steps leading down, a line of harsh lights in
the ceiling pushing back the shadows.

He started walking. The
stairs were steep and the staircase went down to a second landing,
turned to the right and went down again. Chris counted fifty steps
before he lost track and then just kept descending. The air was
getting cooler the deeper he went.

When he reached the
bottom, there was another metal door, an exact duplicate of the first
one above and he opened it and stepped through.

Chris' eyes widened as he
entered a large room with high ceilings. The floor was tiled in black
and white and he felt like he had stepped on to a giant chess board.
The walls were lined with doors, again all metal. He counted ten of
them. There was no furniture or decorations. And it was cold, cold
enough to raise goosebumps on his arms and make him shiver slightly.

Across the room, maybe
twenty yards away, the judge was standing next to an open door,
tapping on his phone. The sight of the man in his three-piece blue
suit, calmly using his phone, eased Chris' apprehension. He began to
walk toward him.

Judge Hawkes looked up and
smiled warmly.

“
Good morning,
Christopher,” he said. “Thank you for joining me so
promptly.”

“
Not a problem,
sir,” Chris said as he reached the judge's side. “So
what's up?”

“
Well, for a change,
considering the events over the past few weeks, I have some good
news.” He waved at the open door. “Come in and I'll show
you.”

Chris followed the judge
through the door, looking around curiously.

They were in a corridor
lined with what he guessed were sheets of iron, heavy and thick. The
hallway was only about ten feet long and opened into a massive,
brightly lit room.

The walls and floor of the
room were made of dressed stone, while the ceiling was clad in metal
like the corridor. Lights shone from the walls every few feet. Chris
saw a jumble of display tables covered in glass, huge old chests with
heavy padlocks, shelves stuffed with tattered books and shiny
trinkets. Even a scuffed and fragile-looking mummy case leaning
against the far wall, its muted blues and golds gleaming darkly. The
room smelled dusty, somehow, even though it was spotlessly clean.

Wow, he thought. It looks
like a museum. Smells like one too.

A movement to his left
caught his eye and he turned to see where two people had been sitting
quietly on large leather chairs. They were just standing up and that
motion had made him look over at them. It was Beatrice and George.

“
Hey!” Chris
called out, delighted. “Hi guys! When did you get back? How are
you? Are you okay? What happened in Luxembourg?”

Both of the adults laughed
at the barrage of questions.

“
Easy, Chris. Easy,”
George said as he chuckled. “One thing at a time. We got back a
few hours ago.” He looked at Judge Hawkes. “The judge
will tell you what you need to know. We just finished our
debriefing.” He shot a quick glance at Beatrice. “I could
use some sleep. You?”