“Now, now, that’s below the belt,” he said. “Don’t you worry; I’ll take care of your friend. It seems we have a lot in common.”
Then he turned and swept Molly away. I watched her disappear from sight, russet curls bobbing.
I spent the rest of the afternoon desperately looking for Molly so I could explain things to her in a way she might understand, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. I told Xavier what had happened and saw the muscles in his face tighten ever so slightly. Together we looked all over the school for Molly, and with every empty classroom I felt my insides twisting with anxiety. Xavier made me sit down on a bench when I began breathing loudly and erratically.
“Hey, hey,” he said, lifting up my face so we were looking eye to eye, “calm down. She’s going to be okay. Everything is.”
“How?” I asked. “He’s dangerous! He’s completely unstable! I know what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to get to me through her. He knows she’s my friend.”
Xavier sat down beside me.
“Think about it for a moment, Beth,” he said. “Jake Thorn hasn’t hurt anyone in his inner circle yet. He wants to recruit people — it’s what he does. So long as he has Molly on his side, she’ll be safe.”
“You can’t know that. He’s completely unpredictable.”
“Unpredictable or not, he still won’t hurt her,” Xavier said. “We have to keep our wits about us now; we can’t afford to lose our heads. It’s easy to overreact given what’s just happened.”
“So what do you think we should do?” I asked.
“I think Jake might have given us a clue to finding that proof Gabriel is after.”
“Really?”
“Did Molly say where he was taking her?”
“She just said it was going to be on Sunday… and his friends were going to be there,” I said.
Xavier nodded. “Right, well, Venus Cove isn’t that big a place — we’ll find out where they’re going and follow them.”
We relayed our concerns to Ivy and Gabriel. The problem was working out where Jake might take Molly. It could be anywhere in Venus Cove, and we couldn’t afford to miscalculate. This was our one chance to see what he was really up to, and we didn’t want to blow it.
“Where would he go?” Ivy mused. “Of course there are all the normal places in town, like the movie theater or Sweethearts, the bowling alley. ..”
“There’s no point thinking normal,” I said. “He’s anything but that.”
“Beth’s right,” said Xavier. “Let’s try to think like him for a moment.”
Asking an angel to get inside the head of a demon was a tall order, but Gabriel and Ivy tried to mask their disgust and complied with Xavier’s request.
“It won’t be somewhere public,” Ivy said suddenly, “especially not if he plans to bring his friends along. They’re too big a group, too conspicuous.”
Gabriel agreed. “They’ll go somewhere quiet and private, a place where they won’t be interrupted.”
“Are there any abandoned houses or factories around here?” I asked. “Like the one where the after-party was held? That would suit Jake.”
Xavier shook his head. “Jake strikes me as a little more dramatic than that.”
“So let’s think exaggerated and over-the-top then,” Ivy suggested
“Exactly.” Xavier looked at me, his azure eyes sharp. “His followers… think about what they look like, how they dress.”
“They look like goths,” I replied.
“And what is the center of goth culture?” Gabriel said.
Ivy looked at him, her eyes wide. “Death.”
“Yes.” Xavier’s face was grim. “So where would be the best place for a bunch of weirdos obsessed with death?”
The realization hit me, and I drew a sharp breath. It was overstated, it was grim, it was dark, and it was the perfect place for Jake to stage his show.
“The cemetery,” I breathed and Xavier nodded.
“I think so.”
He turned to my brother and sister, who were looking dour. Gabriel’s ringed fingers tightened around his coffee mug.
“I think you might be on to something,” he said.
“Honestly, you’d think the boy might be a little more original,” Ivy snapped. “The cemetery indeed. Well, I suppose one of us is going to have to follow them there on Sunday.”
“I will,” Gabriel said immediately, but Xavier shook his head.
“That would be asking for a fight. Even I know you can’t just throw an angel and a demon together like that. I think I should go,” Xavier said.
“It’s too dangerous,” I argued.
“Beth, I’m not scared of them.”
“You’re not scared of anything,” I shot back. “But maybe you should be.”
“This is the only way,” he insisted.
I looked up at my brother and sister.
“Fine but if he’s going, I’m going with him.”
“Neither of you are going anywhere,” Gabriel cut in. “If Jake were to turn on you with a group of others to support him…”
“I’ll look after her,” Xavier said. He seemed offended by Gabe’s insinuation that he wouldn’t be able to protect me. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen.”
Gabriel looked skeptical. “I don’t doubt your physical strength,” he said. “But…”
“But what?” Xavier asked in a low voice. “I would lay down my life for her.”
“I know you would, but you have no idea what you’re facing here.”
“I have to protect Beth—”
“Xavier.” Ivy put a hand on his arm, and I knew she was sending a soothing energy through his body. “Please listen to us. We don’t know what these people are… we don’t know how strong they are or what they’re capable of. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s likely they have no reservations about killing. Brave as you are, you are still only one human facing… only Our Father knows what.”
“So what do you propose we do?”
“I think we should do nothing until we’ve consulted a higher authority.” Gabriel’s face was expressionless. “I’ll make contact with the Covenant right away.”
“There isn’t time for that!” I cried. “Molly could be in serious trouble.”
“Our first concern is protecting the two of you!” The anger in Gabriel’s voice caused a hush to fall over the room. Nobody spoke until Ivy looked at us with sudden decisiveness.
“Xavier, whatever we decide to do, you cannot go home this weekend,” she said. “It’s not safe. You must stay with us.”
The scene at Xavier’s house wasn’t pretty. Gabriel and Ivy waited in the car while Xavier and I went inside to tell his parents he was staying with me for the weekend.
Bernie glared at him when he broke the news. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.” She followed Xavier into his bedroom and stood in the doorway, hands on hips as he packed a bag. “You can’t go — we have plans for this weekend.”
She seemed to have missed the part where he’d
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he said, striding around the room and throwing clothes and underwear into his sports bag, “but I have to go.”
Bernie’s eyes widened. She threw me an accusatory look, evidently holding me responsible for her model son’s transformation. It was a shame because we’d been getting along so well. I wished there was a way we could tell her the truth, but there was no chance she would have understood that it was too dangerous to leave Xavier unprotected.
