Something Deadly This Way Comes

strong to be feminine, but too thin to be masculine. And as I put mine into it, I could feel a divine strength humming, tightly leashed.

“Chronos? Is there an issue you wish to discuss?” the high angel said as it drew me effortlessly to my feet.

“She . . .” he stammered, eyes rising from his sword still in the seraph’s hand. “She poisoned the rising light timekeeper against me!”

“Mmmm.”

It was a slow sound, and I swear, I heard thunder rumble against the distant mountains, the seraph’s thoughts echoing between heaven and earth. My pulse was fast, and I backed away from both of them, finding the patio and not knowing what to do with my hands. It had saved me, but saved me for what? They were going to take my amulet away.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and both Ron and I took several prudent steps back as the angel moved to stand on the pavers as well. It was getting easier to look at it, and I snuck glances, its beauty still hurting me somehow.

“You showed Paul the truth of the guardian angels,” the seraph said, looking too kindly at me for me to bear. “They are rejoicing that their torment finally be understood, and your praises are being sung whether anything changes or not. Paul made the choice he was fated to. Rest easy.”

“That’s not it,” I said, and Ron made a frustrated noise.

“She turned him against me!” he protested. “My own student!”

I jumped when the angel abruptly looked at Ron. I hadn’t even seen him move. Ron, too, had closed his mouth, scared. “You turned him against you yourself with your hoarding of knowledge in fear,” the seraph said. “Be still for a moment. I want to know why Madison sorrows, and while here on earth, I can only do one thing at a time. It’s bothersome. How do you exist able to do only one thing at a time, see one outcome from a thing instead of many?”

The seraph turned to me, concern pinching its brow to make it look more beautiful yet. “Madison, why do you sorrow?”

I couldn’t look up, and I felt like I was before God himself. “I took some of Tammy’s soul,” I admitted. “In the flash forward.”

“Abomination!” Ron all but hissed, and I agreed with him.

My head came up, and I squinted at the seraph, pleading, “The memory was so beautiful. I didn’t want the black wings to eat it and have it be gone forever. I’d give it back if I could. Can you give it back to her for me?” Only now could I meet the angel’s eyes, and I blinked at the understanding, no, the pleased expression it wore. “I gave them a part of my own soul instead, and they didn’t know the difference,” I added more confidently. “I couldn’t let that much joy be forgotten by . . . everyone.”

“Mmmm.” Again the thunder rumbled in a clear blue sky, and the sun rose higher. “You claimed her with ancient law, giving an equal sacrifice for her soul. There is no need to make repairs,” it said, touching my shoulder in support, and I felt lifted, buoyed. “Memories grow with the sharing, as do souls. You took a memory of the future, not the present. She still has it. There is a long life for her now with much sorrow, and memories too beautiful to forget are what sustain us. The trick . . .” The seraph hesitated, its lips quirking in what had to be humor. “. . . is to recognize them.”

I was almost in tears, but Ron was smug as he set his feet wide apart and crossed his arms over his chest in a confident manner. “Then Paul got her a guardian angel after all,” he stated. “If she lives, then she must have her guardian. Good for Paul.”

The angel let go of my shoulder and laughed. The sound pealed forth, shaking the air. Frightened, I wanted to run, but the angel was focused on Ron, not me.

“No!” it said, and a cool breeze touched my face, heavy with moisture, odd here in the desert. “But good for Paul, yes. Madison showed a lost soul how to recognize joy, and Paul’s counsel gave her the strength to fight for it. Her fate is changing this very moment, and her life is lived, not endured. She dies with grace and touches many souls.” The seraph turned to me as I stared, openmouthed. “You and Paul did well.”

“Tammy is okay!” I said, elated. We’d done it. We’d done it twice! Surely they had to see now? But then my mood softened, ebbed, and died. Tammy’s fate wasn’t my only worry. Fingering my amulet, I thought of my body. I had said I’d give the amulet back if I ever found my body. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay. They’d let me stay if I wanted to, right?

“Tammy is okay,” the seraph said, beaming warmth into me to make me feel good despite my world falling apart around me. “Because of you and Paul. Because you worked together.”

Ron lost his confident stance, grim and ugly. “Paul is not going to succeed me,” he said vehemently. “This is an outrage! Light and dark working together. It isn’t done! I’ve served for a hundred lifetimes—”

“And you’ll continue to do so,” the seraph interrupted him, beautiful bare feet grinding the grit as the angel turned. “You are going to forget Paul’s intentions and what has passed this morning.”

My eyes widened as it raised Ron’s sword over his head, and plunged it deep into the paving stones. The earth shook, and both Ron and I fell. He scrambled up, but I stayed where I was, feeling the air grow damp against me. Above us, thick rain clouds had formed. Rain in the desert, a gift out of time, out of place.

The angel stood before us, terrible in its beauty and anger. “Reclaim your sword to bring about heaven’s will,” it intoned, and Ron looked in horror at his blade sticking out of the patio like Excalibur. “Use the time before you find your bravery to reflect,” the seraph added. “There is one last task for me before I leave this confused maelstrom of existence, and you are not required for it, Chronos.”

I didn’t understand why Ron was staring at me so hatefully, standing before his sword as if it was a snake. If he didn’t reclaim it, his amulet wouldn’t work at full strength.

“He takes it, and his memory of what Paul did this night is gone,” the seraph said, crouching down to be at my level. It was an odd position for an angel, and my breath caught at his nearness.

Slowly I stood up, my eyebrows rising in understanding. “And if he leaves it there, he won’t have the strength to stop us,” I said, and the angel beamed, holding out a hand as it knelt before me.

I looked at it, feeling my face going cold. The seraph was asking for my amulet. “One last thing,” it said, and I clutched at the stone.

“You want my amulet,” I whispered, and Ron snorted, clearly not upset that I was going to lose everything as well.

“Yes.” The seraph gracefully rose to a stand as well, still holding a hand out.

“But I proved fate can be changed, that a dying soul can be rekindled,” I said, looking over the cooling desert as if my past deeds would be out there somewhere to find and collect, like pretty rocks. “All of us together, light and dark. We saved Tammy’s soul and her life. I know I said I’d give it up when I found my body, but I saw what happened to those who are given guardian angels but aren’t able to rekindle their souls on their own, and that is awful.”

“Agreed,” the seraph said. “The songs of the guardian angels did much to sway heaven.”

“But to kill a person outright to save his or her soul,” I lamented. “That is awful, too.”

“Agreed,” the seraph said again, a touch of impatience in its tone, a hand still outstretched. “Your amulet, please. It is confusing here. I want to leave.”

“Give it to the angel, Madison, or it will take it,” Ron said smugly, and my reach to pull it over my head almost stopped. I wanted to cry as I felt the amulet leave me, felt the bond between us stretch and hold. “Paul and I,” I said as the seraph cupped its hands around it, hiding it from me. “We changed things. I can understand why I need to forget, but don’t make him forget.”

A glow leaked from between the seraph’s fingers, pure and divine. The angel opened its hand, and my white-hot stone slowly cooled, shifting through the spectrum until it was again black. “We have no intention of making him forget,” the seraph said, extending my amulet back to me.

I stared at it, unbelieving. They are giving it back?

“It took several hundred years of searching the time lines to find someone able to manipulate time and have the fate, to make the choice he has made,” the seraph said. “Here. Take your amulet. I want to leave.”

I stared at my amulet, dangling from the seraph’s fingers. They’re giving it back?