“I don’t know about the church, Commander. That’s what Dad had said. We used to go to church every Sunday.”
I patted the boy’s head. He didn’t remember. Relieved, I asked, “What’s your name?”
“Michael.” He gave me a side-eye and a small smile.
I wanted to dismantle Lucifer. Surely, this wasn’t a coincidence. “Tell me about the girl.”
Chapter Fourteen
I perused my file that I’d found in the drawer. Apparently, someone, likely Michael himself, put together this file. It was mind-boggling how this got assembled, but interesting, to say the least, because I had a street address. Not my old one, but a new one, changed with everything else that he’d changed.
I wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in my uniform pocket.
The door swung open, and an angel stood there, eyes wide as if not believing what he was seeing.
File in hand, I stood. “Hi,” I said.
“Soldier, what are you doing here?”
What to say, what to say. “Um, reading my file.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because Michael said there was a map here, and he said I could look at it.”
“Michael,” he squeaked. “Why do you call him Michael?”
Oops. “By accident.”
“You’re a glutton for a punishment. Which the commander loves. So now…” He clapped his hands. “Get out with your squad. They’re mobilizing and ready to leave.”
“There was no squad in my file.”
“Are you new?”
“Yes.”
He swung open the door and stepped aside. “You can join Patitos Viciosos.”
Vicious Ducklings? “The commander has a vicious sense of humor.”
“Move it, soldier. You’re going out.”
“Out where?”
“Training exercise.”
He spun on his heel and left. I placed my file back in the cabinet and slammed it closed, then rushed into the hallway after him. Everyone was heading outside, and again, as if I belonged, I moved with them. Several groups of men and women in white uniforms stood knee-deep in the snow. I realized the white uniforms offered camouflage in the winter. Before I could ask which one was my squad, the angel ascended.
A man walked before one squad. He paused, tilted his head, and smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. He pointed at a vacant spot in the perfectly structured human lineup. Third row. “Soldier, do you need a formal invitation?”
All eyes landed on me, and I balled my hands into fists, looking over all the soldiers exiting the property and heading into town. If I went into town, I could maybe find the address from my file. “No, sir.” I bounced down the stairs and stood next to a boy a bit older than myself.
“Whore,” he whispered.
Maybe I heard wrong. “What?” I asked.
The pacing man who I presumed was the drill sergeant grabbed me by the shirt and pulled. Our faces inches apart, he leveled me with a look. “I don’t like it when my trainees fall out of line.” He shook me. “You’re going in the front.” He yanked and pulled me all the way to the back of the lineup, where another boy smirked before leaving me his place. This was the back, not the front, but I said nothing. I glanced on my left.
A tall man a little older than me ground his jaw. “You better be good, or I’ll kill you myself.”
The sergeant barked, and as one, everyone turned. Except me. I caught on fast, though, and spun on my boot. Oh no, this really was the front line, and they started moving, and when I didn’t, the person behind me pushed me forward. I fell in step with them, sometimes glancing in front of me, but mainly watching the boy next to me marching so I could keep up.
We passed angels as they took off into the sky. They formed three groups of eleven and flew in a diamond formation of one-two-three-two-one, with two angels circling the formation in what seemed like a random flight pattern. I was fairly certain nothing random came from Michael or his fleet. The one in the back flew lower than the rest, his head tilted back, eyes upward toward the sky, not downward like the rest of them. It reminded me of something Dad and I had agreed to do in the Before. Scout for angels in the sky. What was he looking for?
We marched through the second court level and entered an area I hadn’t visited yet. There were more training grounds, although I knew they were training grounds only because I’d seen this kind of stuff in the movies. Tall walls with a rope I imagined one had to climb, barbed-wire fences, and various other military setups for the soldiers graced the landscapes. I eyed the tallest wall, wondering if my arms could pull me up on a rope positioned that high.
We passed the training grounds and a tunnel and a gate and appeared in town. We kept moving down, past the rows and rows of townhomes, and because everything looked the same, I couldn’t tell if I’d been here the night all the madness started for me. For these people, there never was a madness, and I better remember to keep my mouth shut.
By the time we reached the town, reality set in. I had no idea what I was doing or even what was expected of me. Fear gripped me, and if it wasn’t for the man pushing me every time I stalled or got out of line, I would have run and never returned. Except there was no place to run to when you were stuck on an island surrounded by the Pacific. No, not even the Pacific exists anymore. From the map, I gathered this body of water was called Bleu Abysse, and it spanned the entire planet. The closest land, miles and miles away, also belonged to the Court of Command, and, judging by the white landscape color on the map, it was frozen.
Dreaming about escape made me detach from the now, so when gray fog rose from the asphalt, I
