Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 3

  A ripping sound came from Esmerelda’s lime green dress and her left shoulder slipped out. She snarled and shoved, trying to use her weight to force Althea over backward. Althea twisted and widened her stance, giving up ground, but maintaining balance. Strange elation came on; this girl—hostile though she was—treated her like any other kid living in Querq. When Althea loosed a giggle, Esmerelda roared and shoved her away. Althea stumbled to the side, barely ducking a hasty punch before the other girl tackled her, pulling her hair while sitting on her.

  The little ones gathered around, not one of them making a sound. In the distance, an older woman yelled, “Knock it off.”

  Still laughing, Althea brought her arms up to protect her face, allowing the bigger girl to hit her a few times in the body.

  “Stop laughing at me!” screeched Esmerelda, fist cocked.

  “Esmerelda! Behave yourself,” shouted a different older woman.

  A chorus of oohs came from the small kids.

  Althea peered between her forearms at the bulging eyes behind the hovering fist. She grinned. Esmerelda pounded her on the arms twice, failing to get her knuckles past them to Althea’s face.

  “Don’t laugh at me!” Esmerelda jumped to her feet and grabbed two handfuls of Althea’s dress, pulling her up off the ground.

  Althea wrapped her arms around the larger girl in a tight hug. “It’s okay.”

  After one half-hearted punch to Althea’s undefended ribs, Esmerelda sagged, gasping for breath. “You’re weird. What’s wrong with your head? You like getting your ass beat?”

  “No.” Althea stopped hugging her and leaned back to smile. “No one ever hits me. I like the normal.”

  After two seconds of gazing at glowing blue eyes, Esmerelda seemed to realize what she had done. She trembled, gasped, and covered her mouth with both hands. Her emotion shifted from anger and confusion to terror in an instant.

  The azure light in Althea’s eyes flickered brighter as she muted Esmerelda’s fear, replacing it with calm and stalling her trembles. “It’s okay. Please don’t be scared of me. I want to be—”

  Esmerelda flew into the air with a squeak, kicking and screaming. A tall, stocky man hauled her up by one arm. Spanish scolding ran by too fast for Althea to pick out every word, but she got enough to understand he was terrified what his daughter’s attack on the Prophet would mean for his family. The Badlands swarmed with legends about how bad things happened to those who mistreated her, though the truth had a far less magical explanation: those who had taken her as a slave soon found themselves under attack by other bandit groups who wanted to own her. Here in Querq, her home, those legends did not apply, especially to a girl her age fighting over a game of kick-the-ball.

  Two middle-aged women, who had been watching over the kids from a nearby porch, ran up behind him, yelling at him to calm down. Althea rolled to her feet and advanced.

  “Please, stop. It’s okay.” Her soft voice drowned under his tirade.

  The man gripped Esmerelda by both forearms, shaking her and screaming until she burst into tears. All the small children scurried back to a safe distance. When he drew back his arm to slap the girl, Althea pounced on it, startling him. The two matrons pried his hand away from Esmerelda and got between them.

  “I don’t want you to punish her for hitting me.” Althea held on until he relaxed.

  “She struck you,” said the man. “You are the Prophet.”

  Esmerelda sniffled and straightened her posture, trying to salvage some dignity back from the crowd of children watching her cry.

  Althea shivered at the word. “Please don’t call me that. I’m not a thing you own. This is my home. I want people to treat me like a person. I’m not mad at her.”

  He looked down on Esmerelda. “You see how nice she is? You attack her, and she’s the one feeling bad? Shameful. You apologize right now and pray nothing happens to us.”

  “I’m sorry, Papa. I didn’t see she was the…” Esmerelda choked on the P word, staring at Althea.

  “Be sorry to Carlos, Sophia, and Henry.” Althea waved at the small children Esmerelda had shoved to the ground.

  Esmerelda sulked over to them and muttered an apology before her father ushered her away. The matrons gathered the children to the porch and handed out small pastries and milk. Althea joined them, and within a few minutes, the tension evaporated. The awkward feeling of being a child as well as a caretaker crept over her, and she excused herself when the small ones settled down for a late afternoon nap.

  Althea meandered to the end of the block, pausing on the curb at the corner and rubbing her bruised ribs. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the minor injuries while pondering the oddity of her finding comfort in violence. Of course, the bigger girl hadn’t been trying to kill her or even inflict real harm. Scrag children fought like that all the time, practice for when they were older. No one had ever dared strike her before and it made her feel normal in a way she didn’t realize she craved until she experienced it. Querq had eroded much of her wildness. The thought made her grin at the memory of Father calling her feral.

  With the last of her bruises gone, she opened her eyes and resumed wandering. The town square had many strange things in it since the City Police had arrived. Gleaming silver cubes with wires as thick as her arms crisscrossed the street. They radiated an eerie feeling of power, though whether she sensed something real or merely feared the horrible city, she couldn’t tell. She gazed up the length of a metal pole, topped with a cluster of light-making things high off the ground, dormant while the sun shined. Upon noticing the wire less than a foot from her toes, she edged away.

  Two of the scary flying cars huddled against the wall of the building the Ravens had let the City Police bring to Querq. Althea eyed them warily, not wanting to move fast enough to attract their attention. She sidestepped, staring at the glistening, black vehicles, sparing only faintest slivers of attention downward to keep from stepping on a wire. She couldn’t tell if the metal beasts were asleep or acting like they hadn’t seen her.

  “Hello, Althea,” said a man behind her.

  She screamed, jumped, and whirled about. A pair of Division 0 officers had come up close enough to touch her: a man in shiny black armor and a girl not much older than Karina in a clingy cloth uniform. If not for their city clothes—and the violet streaks in the girl’s hair—their darkish skin would’ve let them pass for Querq natives.

  “Hola, me asusaste,” said Althea, in a wavering half-whisper.

  The woman pulled a small device out of a case on her belt and glanced at it before leaning toward the armored man. “We scared her, Kev.” She smiled. “I’m sorry.” Light appeared above the device. “Lo siento.”

  “I have the English words.” Althea peeked at the two cars, neither of which had moved.

  “She speaks English?” The woman raised an eyebrow.

  “You didn’t read the report,” said the man. “Mostly English, but she throws in Spanish when she doesn’t know the right word.”

  “I’m not dumb.” Althea studied her toes.

  “We didn’t mean to scare you. What are you so frightened of? Is something bad going to happen?” The man sat on a nearby crate, also black and covered with those strange markings that spoke to the city people.

  “I don’t want to wake them.”

  “Wake who?” asked the woman.

  “Them.” Althea pointed at the slumbering cars.

  The woman made that aww noise Althea had grown tired of, while the man burst out laughing. Between the two of them, her nervousness gave way to indignation. She folded her arms and glowered at the road.

  “Sweetie, those are patrol craft,” said the woman. “They’re not alive.”

  “They went flying alone two days ago. No person.” Despite her mood, the memory of it added a fearful whine to her voice.

  “It’s remote recall.” The man tapped a finger to his left forearm. “There’s a computer in here that I can use to make the car drive
to where I am. We all have it. They won’t eat you.”

  Althea blushed. Had he sniffed her surface thoughts? “Com… puter?”

  “Wow, look at her eyes, Kev.” The woman stooped closer. “I’m sorry, do you mind?”

  “Would you care?” Althea sighed and opened them as wide as she could. A wave of embarrassment radiated from the woman, making her regret the snap of petulance. “Sorry. I don’t like it when people think I’m”—she smiled, thinking of Esmerelda—”weird.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” She took Althea’s hand. “You’re not weird. You’re very special. Why do you want to be out here, working for these people? Isn’t this the same thing that always happens to you?”

  She let the woman hold her limp arm, wanting to yank back, but feeling it pointless. “I liked helping people. I didn’t like the cages and leashes. I hate being tied.”

  The woman made that aww noise again.

  “This is my home.” Althea cast a sidelong glance at all the technology scattered throughout the courtyard. Someone had left a bright red plastic cup on the still-standing leg of the broken, ancient statue. “This ‘city stuff’ is wrong to Querq.”

  “We’re not going to take over.” The man summoned his most reassuring smile. “You need to read the reports, Jess. Command is concerned about corporate interference if Althea’s talents become known. Besides, Director Carter herself indicated this was the healthiest place, psychologically speaking, for her to be. She did not seem likely to acclimate to the city.”

  “What?” said Althea. “It’s psionic, not psi-co-lodge-amy.”

  “Aww.” The woman hugged her. “She’s adorable!”

  Althea weathered the embrace, despite feeling mocked by it. The teen launched into the usual barrage of questions the new arrivals always hit her with, but her companion cut her off.

  “Jess, everything you’re asking is in the report. You were supposed to read it. Admin is too lenient. If you get into I-ops, you’ll need to learn ‘orders’ aren’t a request.”

  “I’d rather talk to her.” Jess looked her up and down. “She’s so thin. Does the metabolic drain of accelerated healing affect her body when she’s inducing cellular regeneration on someone else?”

  “That wasn’t English or Spanish,” mumbled Althea.

  “Seems that way,” said the man, though Althea couldn’t tell if he answered her or his partner.

  “I’m a healer like you.” Jess squeezed her hand. “Sort of. I can only fix myself. I wonder if you can teach me how to help other people.”

  Althea looked down, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. Memories of collars, shackles, and cages raced around in her mind; a spongy sensation wrapped around her brain from the man intruding on her surface thoughts. She looked at him. “Bad people will want to take her. I shouldn’t try.”

  Kev reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re here to make sure nothing like that happens to you ever again. I know it will take you time to believe us, but the city isn’t all bad.”

  “Oh, there’s no rush. I’m not sure it’s even possible. We know so little about you,” said Jess.

  Althea fidgeted. “You don’t want to be a Prophet.” She remembered staring up at clouds, lying in a pool of other people’s blood while the escaped slaves fled Vakkar’s camp. That man had seemed stunned she chose to stay, but didn’t argue for long. Going with those people would have doomed them. “You don’t want it.”

  “I’m sorry for making you sad.” Jess squeezed her shoulder, then looked up at Kev. “Besides, the report said it was due to her being ‘Awakened,’ whatever the hell that means.”

  “You read—?”

  “Of course.” Jess laughed, gave Althea a quick hug, and walked away.

  She stood in place, staring at the two police officers as they crossed the courtyard, slipped past the cars, and disappeared into their building. The man radiated annoyance, but not anger.

  Two members of the Watch walked by, holding their modern rifles as if they were magic relics bestowed upon them by some ancient deity. Althea returned their greeting and moped off down the closest street. Corporations would try to take her, as the raiders had, except the corporations had fancy magic guns and armor, too. For the Badlands, Querq seemed a nigh-impregnable fortress. Against people with city weapons, what chance did they have?

  Yet again, Althea worried her presence brought doom upon those she loved.

  Her spiraling mood came to an abrupt halt three blocks later when the farm came into view.

  No. I will not let them take me. She had forgotten herself again. Her power would protect her and everyone in Querq. Rage simmered at the thought of someone trying to abduct her. Fancy city rifles wouldn’t do much good if the people holding them were sobbing their eyes out, or wetting themselves at the sight of her, or filled with adoration.

  With renewed contentment, she skipped up the dirt path toward the farm, arriving amid the rows of vegetables at the same time Aldo crested the far hill, behind his rickety, squeaking lunch cart. The old man wheezed and groaned, but considering his age, he was lucky to be walking at all. Althea raced to his side, ducked under his arm, and took hold of the push bar, absorbing the burden from the old man’s grip.

  “Bless you, girl,” rasped Aldo. He let go, but left one hand on her shoulder, following her to the spot by the water valve where everyone ate. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and let loose a whistle that made her clamp her hands over her ears. “Almuerzo!”

  People emerged from the garden, gathering around and forming a haphazard line. Althea helped him dole out empanadas and rice to everyone, before taking a plate for herself and curling up next to Karina on the half-height wall ringing the farm. Aldo slid a folding chair off the side of the cart and sat on it, taking his portion last.

  “What are you doing today?” asked Karina. “Where’s Den?”

  “The Ravens gave him a job.”

  Karina snickered. “Yes, with the Watch. They let him do what he asked. He’ll be fine. Father is with him.”

  “I learned a game with the small ones today.” Althea nibbled on the corner of an empanada as she described the ball and goals.

  “What happened?” Karina stopped eating. “I know that look.”

  “I got into a fight.”

  Karina laughed.

  “I did.” Althea traced a line in the dirt with her big toe. “I didn’t start it. Esmerelda was hurting the small kids, so I got in her way. She got mad and hit me.”

  Karina lowered her fork, her smile fading to a look of concern. “Tell me what happened.”

  Althea recounted as best as she could remember.

  “I’m going to speak to her father.” Karina set her plate down and fawned over her. “Are you okay?”

  “You don’t have to. He saw it. He was gonna hit her, but I asked him not to; she’s only ten.”

  “She’s twice your size.”

  “No.” Althea stuck her tongue out. “She’s a little taller.”

  “And double your weight.”

  “It’s okay. It didn’t bother me.”

  “Fighting?” Karina gasped. “You liked it?”

  “No, I did not like the fight, but it made me forget about being… you know.”

  “You’re not the Prophet.” Karina ruffled her hair. “You’re Althea.”

  She leaned against her sister, feet tucked under her atop the wall, and ate with a big smile.

  A grating metallic squeak from the top of the hill drew her attention to a mushroom-shaped house made of mismatched metal plates. The Water Man emerged, still ponderous and fat, but less so than the first time she had seen him. Ornry, the brown-and-white pit bull, ran circles around him, tail wagging. She grinned at the faces he made while trundling down the path. Sweat rolled off his head by the time he reached the food cart, but he seemed to enjoy his newfound mobility. He went to the valve and filled a metal mug, which he chugged before refilling it.

  Ornry bee-lined to Althea and lic
ked at her legs until his master went toward Aldo, at which point the dog bounded to the Water Man’s side, begging for food. Aldo set a plate of meat scraps on the dirt, barely getting his hand out of the way before the animal inhaled it in two quick snaps of his wide jaws. The dog licked his jowls and looked up, his expression obvious in the sentiment of ‘That’s all? Where’s the rest?’ The Water Man tossed him an empanada. Ornry snapped it out of midair and continued to stare expectantly upward.

  The big man settled against the wall to Althea’s right, his broad grin renewing her good mood. She reached out and put a hand on his arm, earning a sideways look as he bit into one of the pastries, filling his beard with tiny flecks of dough. Althea linked her senses to his life-shapes, finding no trace of sick within him. When she opened her eyes, he hadn’t moved at all since she’d touched him, not even to chew once.

  She leaned back into Karina’s side, smiling.

  He had difficulty faking his curmudgeonry as he grumbled. “Damn. Now I gotta warsh kid-germs offa mah arm.”

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better,” said Althea, before brushing the last of her rice from her plate to her mouth.

  The Water Man relented with a chuckle. He thrust out his upper lip, making his walrusine moustache dance, and appraised the patchwork lengths of copper tubing hanging over the plants. “Aye. Got to ‘bout half the leaks already. Ought’a be done by end ‘o the month.”

  “It’s good to see you outside,” said Karina.

  “Mmm.” He mumbled into his food.

  Ornry bounded over and assaulted Althea with a flapping tongue. She let off a squeal and dropped her plate, which being empty, only distracted him for a second.

  “Behave,” yelled the Water Man. “Sit.”

  The dog curled up against the wall between them. Karina stifled a groan as the others formed a procession past the cart to return dirty plates on their way back to the fields. Several refilled their water jugs and reclaimed hand tools they’d rested on the wall.

  Althea slid to the ground, skritching Ornry all over. The dog moaned and wriggled, trying to expose his entire belly all at once. It didn’t take long for the Water Man to finish eating. He looked around as if to make sure no one was watching him and winked at her before plodding up the long, curving path back to his control room. Ornry stayed put until the screech of a metal door echoed over the farm. He bounded to his feet and zoomed up and inside before the Water Man closed it. Althea spent a moment watching Karina work, wanting to spend time with her, but not wanting to get her sister yelled at for ‘idling,’ whatever that meant. When Aldo grunted with the cart, she hurried to his side.