Part 18 (2/2)
Angel suddenly thought that she might never make it out. It wasn't quite a vision but... She paused, and Gazzy shot her a worried look.
The dark-haired boy shoved Angel forward. ”In you go!”
Then they were in a narrow, dank hallway, lit by harsh overhead fluorescent lights. As soon as Angel stepped inside, several huge Dobermans lunged at her, snarling and barking. Angel quickly sent them soothing thoughts, telling them she was a friend. They quieted at once.
She looked up to see the two teens and now a grown-up staring at her.
”Who are your friends, Toni?” the man asked the girl. Angel felt his suspicion.
”Angelika and her brother, Andrew,” said Toni. ”They want to join us.”
”Toni, not now,” the man said crossly. ”Everything is all set. We can't take them.”
”Don't make us go back,” Angel pleaded. ”You have to let us stay!”
”And why should we?” the man asked.
”Because we can't live with them anymore. The normal people,” Angel said, slowly extending her wings.
67.
”YOU'RE ONE of the birdkids,” the man said, much friendlier now, but Angel had the sense that he was reading from a script. ”We've heard about you. Take them upstairs to Mark,” the man told Toni, completely ignoring Gazzy. Angel gave him a sweet smile, and she and Gazzy followed Toni down the hallway.
This building, like so many others in Paris, was centuries old. They shuffled along narrow, winding hallways. The low, ancient doorways were blocked with steel grates. It was certainly well protected. Toni took out a huge key ring and had to open a series of locks at each door. As they went farther into the maze, Angel felt Gazzy's panic rising at the memory of times they'd been locked in cages, and she tried to soothe him.
Toni took Angel and Gazzy past several closed wooden doors, and Angel heard people singing: ”The One Light is s.h.i.+ning on me. The One Light makes everyone free...”
Finally, they emerged in what seemed to be an abandoned factory. A few bare lightbulbs did little to brighten the ominous darkness of the enormous s.p.a.ce.
Several kids of different ages stood near a copy machine, bundling flyers. Some sat on the floor, folding flyers in thirds, then stapling them. They all looked gaunt and kind of unhealthy, though they had sort of a bright look in their eyes. Except for one kid, that is. He was banging his head against the wall, over and over, blood streaming down his face.
”Wha-what's with him?” Gazzy stammered in a small voice.
Toni smiled. ”Oh, don't mind Allen. He just needs to learn to trust the One Light.”
Angel tried to listen to random thoughts, but she pulled back from the compulsive, panicky minds she tapped into: Be perfect be perfect be perfect be perfect Be perfect be perfect be perfect be perfect... This place was seriously giving her the w.i.l.l.i.e.s.
Toni stopped in front of a crusty, black door, where an older kid seemed to be standing guard. The kid nodded at Toni, then Toni knocked.
”Come in!” a man's voice boomed.
When Toni opened the door, Angel was. .h.i.t with a blast of malevolence, greed, and l.u.s.t for power, all overlaced with an oily charm. Angel swallowed hard and held Gazzy's hand. It took every ounce of her willpower to force herself into that room. She tried to look wide-eyed and innocent, but her throat hurt, the dry, stale air almost choking her Toni shoved Angel ahead of her, through tall stacks of yellowing newspapers, until they came to an open, dimly lit area. A man stood there, his hands clasped behind his back. He was studying a wall covered in newspaper clippings, and a world map with cities circled in thick black marker. He had just tossed a crumpled sheet of newspaper into the open door of a nearby furnace that was throwing off heat worthy of Hades.
”Toni!” the man said as he turned, narrowing his eyes. ”You know we've reached our quota. Are you going against my wishes?”
Toni shook her head. ”No, Mark! Of course not!” she said quickly. ”Rob sent me here with these two! I would never go against your wishes!”
The man turned and looked directly at Angel. He seemed very old, even though his face was smooth and wrinkle free. But there was not that smiling emptiness that Angel had seen in other DG-ers. Angel sensed such pure evil that she held her breath and tried not to flinch.
”No, of course not,” Mark said, smiling like the Ches.h.i.+re cat. ”You believe in the One Light. You want to be part of the solution, not the problem, don't you, Toni?”
”Yes, Mark,” Toni said frantically. Angel could feel Toni's terror and saw incoherent orange light glowing menacingly in her mind. ”I believe in the One Light. You know I do.”
”Good girl,” said Mark, and Angel felt Toni almost weep with relief.
Toni turned to Angel and Gazzy and pushed them forward. ”Show him,” she said. Summoning her courage, Angel stepped closer, urging Gazzy to stay behind her as she carefully opened her wings.
”Oh, that's good,” Mark almost purred. ”That's very good. Your wings will bring great strength to many of our children.”
Angel wondered just exactly what that that was supposed to mean. Especially when the next thing Mark did was to pull a hot, glowing poker from the furnace nearby. was supposed to mean. Especially when the next thing Mark did was to pull a hot, glowing poker from the furnace nearby.
”Let's see if we can trust you,” he said, moving toward her.
68.
THE DOOMSDAY GROUP posters announced that D-day was near, that when the world ended, the new regime would begin.
Why aren't crazy people content to take over, like, one town? It always has to be the whole world. They can't just control maybe twenty people. They have to control everyone. They can't just be stinking rich. They have to be incomprehensibly stinking rich. They can't just do genetic experiments on a couple unlucky few. They have to put something in the water. In the air. To get everyone.
I was tired of all of it.
But if their claims were true, this could be the worst thing we'd ever come up against. I couldn't take the chance. What was really getting to me was that since Angel and Gazzy had left yesterday afternoon, we hadn't heard from them. All sorts of bad scenarios played out in my brain, but I hoped if they'd been harmed, I would somehow know it, feel it.
”What time does the rally start?” Dylan asked.
”You saw the poster. Noon,” I said, my anxiety making me cranky.
His eyes met mine, and his expression told me that he understood, that he didn't take it personally. Just then I remembered being with him atop the Arc de Triomphe. Being held, being comforted again wouldn't be such a bad thing right now.... I looked away, angry at myself for thinking like a weak and weepy damsel.
”We should go there early,” said Nudge, fidgeting in her chair. Despite all the baddies and dangers and disasters we'd faced, this one felt different. We were all on edge.
I nodded. ”We'll head there right after breakfast-and try to volunteer.”
Fang's gang had its own plan; our part was to get jobs at the rally.
By 10:00 a.m., crowds were gathering at the Place de la Concorde. It was a huge plaza and could hold thousands of people. Somehow the DG had gotten permission to close off the traffic circle around the tall pink-marble obelisk that had been a gift from Egypt nearly two hundred years before.
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