Alex’s stern demeanour washed away with a tide of laughter at the young teenager’s gullibility. “Gotcha.”
John couldn’t help but laugh as well, despite overcome with embarrassment and his feeling of utter stupidity. “Shut up.” He sniggered with embarrassment.
“Are you buying?” Alex asked, glancing down at the square John had landed on.
John examined his thick wad of cash before looking back at the square. “Nah.” He decided dismissively.
Alex took the dice and rattled them across the board.
“So when are we heading back to Glasgow? I take it won’t be anytime soon with all the shit that’s happened.” He watched Alex move his piece around the board.
“I don’t know. Hayley and I discussed it but we think it would be unwise to go home so soon.”
“How come?”
“Well I think it’s safe to say that her parents and friends would have noticed that she’s gone missing by now and I’m sure they have phoned the police and if the police know, there will be a nation wide appeal issued by now.” He looked at John. “Keeping Hayley hidden isn’t the problem, but I’m certain Gabriel will be watching all our haunts and everyone she knows like a hawk. If she sees them, he’s going too as well.” He handed him the dice.
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that, sorry.” He admitted before rolling the dice again. “Did you ever read your paper swan thingy?” he added, out of interest.
“Yeah, why?”
John looked at him and shrugged indifferently. “I just wondered. Mine was about this morning. Too bad it made no fucking sense until my mum explained it to me.” He winged. “Why are they written like a damn riddle anyway?” He asked with renewed frustration. The art of the fortune teller was lost on him.
Alex smiled. “To be honest I do not really know.” He admitted. “Maybe if they were too obvious you’d try to change the future and end up making it far worse than it would have been than if you hadn’t of tried in the first place, but I don’t know.”
“Suppose.” said John, giving another indifferent rise and fall of his shoulders. “What did yours say?” he asked expectantly.
Alex looked at him for moment but did not reply. That gaze never failed to make the young lad avert his gaze and fiddle unnecessarily with his Monopoly money. Alex suddenly laughed. John looked back at him, unsure how to react to the unexpected outburst. Alex gave him a devious smirk. “It works every time.”
John rolled his eyes and shook his head, humiliated. He couldn’t believe that he had been tricked again. “What was it about then?” he asked.
Alex continued to laugh. “Mine was useless. I only got to read it after it had happened.” Just as quickly as he had perked up, his new found humour faded and he became suddenly very quiet and sullen. “It was a warning about Gabriel attacking us.”
“Wait.” said John, staring back at him now. “If you had read that note before we went back to the flat then we wouldn’t have been attacked by Gabriel, right?”
“I know where this is going...”
But John continued, undeterred. “Then if that had have happened, my fortune would of been a load of crap and never have happened. Then what was wrote on it would never have made any sense or ever have came real would it?”
Alex shot him a stern gaze. “What makes you so sure?” he challenged.
John squinted at him the same way someone would stare at an idiot. “Hello? The future would have been different? You wouldn’t have needed to send me back in time to get you that stupid journal.”
“Then your message would have been different.”
“What?”
Alex sighed and scratched his thick, spiky black hair. “Right, say I had read the message I got from the guardian before we arrived back at the flat, then the future would have been different, right?”
“Yeah.” said John, sitting forward and listening carefully.
“If I was supposed to have read that note I would have but I didn’t because it was never meant to be.” He clasped his hands as he leant forward, adopting a mentor-like manner. “If the guardian had seen the alternate future you mentioned then yes, your message would have been different from the one you actually did receive.” He frowned at his own words for a moment. “Or it could have been the same...I don’t know, time isn’t always a straight line. It’s not predetermined down to the last detail.” He suddenly backpedalled out loud.
John stared at him, his jaw gaping. For a moment Alex thought he was trying to catch flies until he spoke. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Alex sat back and folded his arms. “You asked me to explain it and I did.”
“Yeah I know, but you told me two different things! First you said the future was predetermined then you said it wasn’t!” he shouted in frustration.
Alex sat up sharply. “I sent you back in time to get the journal, right? Before any of this happened? Following so far?” He stared at John hard, his patience running thin. “You knew the future when you arrived back in time to get the journal, before we were attacked by Gabriel. As you knew the future, you could have changed it but in the instance of me not reading the note, I did not know what the future was and thus I could not have changed it.”
“But you know now, why can’t you go back and warn your past self?” John recoiled.
“Awk...” Alex scowled with frustration.
“What are you two boys arguing about now?” Hayley asked as she entered the room.
Alex’s expression went blank. “Nothing.” he shrugged. “Are you alright?” he quickly asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Yeah, I’m still a little tired though.” She replied warily as she slumped down onto the couch.
Alex shuffled up beside her. “Yeah, I’m still feeling it a little bit as well.”
“Do you remember everything that happened while you and Alex were stuck together or whatever the hell it was that you guys did?” John asked tactlessly as he fingered through his money.
“Excuse me?” Alex asked.
John could tell that he was not joking this time. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...”
“Please don’t start!” Hayley interrupted, shutting her eyes and wincing slightly. Their bickering was already beginning to give her a headache.
Both of the boys fell unusually quiet.
Hayley spoke again. “To be honest John, I can’t really remember a lot. Most of it is a blur.” She looked across to Alex. “I take it you remember it all though, don’t you?”
“Yeah...unfortunately.” the angel muttered ruefully. His gaze drifted into the distance, the haunting memories pouring back to him. He hated thinking about that day. So much anger, so much pain...
“Are you ok?” Hayley’s voice suddenly dragged him back from his inward thoughts.
He shook his head sullenly. “No, not really...”
Hayley took his hand at that point and gently squeezed his fingers. “Alex...” he looked back at her with dreary eyes, one of the first times she had ever seen her tough friend upset by something.
“You can talk to me about it you know, it’s alright.” She assured him.
“I know.” Alex muttered softly, forcing an emphatic smile across his troubled face but it was enough for her to know that he held her offer with the greatest of gratitude. “I just find it difficult to talk about such things.” He sighed heavily.
“I hope this isn’t a guy thing.” Hayley couldn’t help remark, back to her old sarcastic ways for the first time since they had fled the city.
“Normally I just find it difficult to open up about my thoughts and feelings when I have not done so for several centuries. As silly as it sounds you do begin to forget how too after so long.”
Hayley frowned, clearly not understanding. “It isn’t that hard, you just open you mouth and talk.” She explained rather simply, shifting forward to reach a nagging itch at the base of her neck.
“You may find it that simple, but unfortunately I don’t.??
?
“That’s what you say about everything.” She replied, but not unkindly as she started to scratch away furiously at a pestering itch. “Why won’t my shoulder stop itching?” she moaned out loud, continuing to claw at it.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah there are just a couple of lumps there that just won’t stop itching.” she said, continuing to scratch.
“How long have they been there for?”
“I don’t know a couple of days?”
“Here.” Alex said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Turn around.” He instructed, guiding her round so her back faced him. Hayley stopped scratching so that the angel could get a better look. “Take off your fleece.” He said and she did.
Now in just her white, shoulder-strap shirt Alex could see clearly what the problem was. Poking up from beneath her top were two long and narrow lacerations. Miniscule, white flecks poked out unevenly amongst the reddened skin.
“Oh no.”
“What is it?” Hayley asked, twisting her head around as far as possible to see.
John stepped over to see what the commotion was about. He frowned. “Is that...”
“Yes.” Alex confirmed dryly.
“What? Will someone tell me what’s wrong!” Hayley demanded impatiently.
Alex was about to explain as delicately as he could, but John opened his mouth first. “You’re growing wings.”
“What!” Hayley exclaimed, beginning to claw and finger her back in sudden panic.
“It’s alright! It’s alright! You’re fine!” Alex swiftly raised his voice, taking her hands which were now examining the lengthy scars.
“Fine? How am I fine? I’m growing a pair of wings for Christ’s sake!”
“Soon you’ll look like a chicken.” John jeered in self-amusement.
“You’re not helping!” cursed Alex.
“What? Come on, it was funny. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder.”
“Oh just sit down and shut up!” Alex snapped shortly, waving a hand at him.
John’s jaw slammed shut and as if someone had struck him from behind the knees, his feet were knocked from underneath him. His backside landed squarely on the chair he has previously been occupying. His eyes wide with panic and confusion, he tired to shout – but he couldn’t. It felt like his mouth had been wired shut. His panic intensifying, John attempted to force himself back onto his feet, only to find them failing him. Although he could still kick his feet and wave his arms about as much as he liked, his backside was firmly weighted to the seat of the couch like it was a block of lead.
Having sorted John out for the time being, Alex turned his attention back to Hayley. He turned her to face him. “Are you alright?”
“What do you think?” she asked, shortly.
“There’s nothing to worry about, I might be able to fix this...”
“Might?” Hayley furiously interjected before he could finish. “Might?”
“Will you please calm down, it isn’t that bad.”
She gave him a shifty look. “Alex, I’m growing wings for fuck sake! How could that not be bad?”
Ignoring her shouting, he said calmly, “Getting angry is not going to solve anything. If the wings were growing out of John or anyone else’s backs I could take them away in an instant. With you however, even if I did remove them completely, they might still grow back.”
Hayley’s expression grew even darker. “Why? Why’s it so hard to fix me compared to other people?” she demanded to know.
Alex placed his hands on her shoulders to steady the dithering girl and stared deep into her rich blue eyes. “I’m a part of you remember? To get the feathers off your back I’d have to merge with you again. I could get the feathers off but then another part of me could get stuck to you instead.”
Hayley’s eyes widened. “What? I’m not going to start growing anything else, am I?”
“No, no, no! Of course not!” he desperately tried to reassure her. Seeing that she had settled a little, albeit not very much, he continued, “I would not let it bother you so much, I think everything you have inherited is only cosmetic. You won’t be walking through walls or throwing energy from your hands anytime soon.”
“See, how can you know that for sure?”
“Trust me, if you could see the universe in higher dimensions like I do then you would have said something by now...” he gained a thoughtful look, “Or your head would have exploded.”
The poor choice of words set Hayley off again. “My head’s going to explode?”
“No, no, no! Sorry, I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have said that...”
“What? So throwing bolts of lightning out of your hands and being able to explode is all part of a package deal that comes with the psychic bit as well then, does it? Is that what you’re trying to say?” she rambled in confusion, her panic churning her thoughts and allowing them to leap so wildly that she had missed half the things he’d said.
Alex squinted at her curiously. “Exploding?” he said questionably. “How do you know that I could do that, I’ve never mentioned it to you...” but he already knew the answer to his own question.
Hayley just looked at him, blinking her bright blue eyes.
“You remember it...” he said, taken aghast by this revelation.
“Er...so? We’re talking about wings just now?”
He regarded her for a long moment. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“What?” she said, shaking her head. “What are you talking about now?”
“There it is, right there! You’re lying to me, you remember far more from when we were together than you’ve been letting on, haven’t you?”
Hayley turned on him angrily. “Ok, so I do! What the hell do you want from me Alex? Huh?” she demanded to know. “I don’t remember everything but I’ve seen some of the things you’ve done in the past before you met me.” she jabbed a finger in his chest. “And I know about Gabriel kidnapping me when I was a child and I most certainly remember seeing you kill that guy in the warehouse!” She stared at him, eyes ablaze. “I can’t believe you took my memories off me.” She shook her head. “After all we’ve been through and after how well I thought I knew you, I find out that.” She studied his shameful face. “Why have you lied to me all this time?”
Regret filled his eyes. “I was only trying to protect you. I didn’t want them to upset you, not after all the strange things that had been happening since I came back.” he sighed. “But it makes no difference now, not after Gabriel kidnapped me.” He looked away shamefully. “And I am so sorry. I should never have done it.”
Hayley gazed at him for a long moment, tears streaming from her eyes. Finally, she could not help herself but put her arms around him. Alex cuddled her close, pressing his head against the top of hers.
But the moment was short lived. A shot of fear ran the length of Alex’s spine, his nerves tingling with the cold and numbing sensation of the changing atmosphere. He stiffened, his expression growing uneasy.
“What is it?” Hayley asked, feeling him tense up.
He glanced down at her. “He’s back...”
Chapter 18
Alex’s snow-coloured wings unfolded soundlessly from behind his back, seemingly revealing themselves from nowhere as he paced the length of the living room. He had since released John from his vocal and physical restrictions and now the teenager stood by the window grimacing, albeit relieved that he could now speak and move freely once more.
“How do you know he’s in the city?” asked Hayley, perplexed by the Alex’s sudden claim to his adversary’s whereabouts.
Alex halted in his pacing and turned to face her, his brow furrowed with intense thought. “Because he isn’t hiding this time, he wants me to face him head on in the open.”
“This has got to be a trap.”
“Maybe...” he muttered, looking away.
“This is stupid.” Spat John, glaring from behind his huffy pout and fo
lded arms. “Why the hell is he in Glasgow? If he can tell you where he is, he must know where we are.”
Alex rounded on him. “Would you rather have him here?” he asked.
The suggestion alone was enough to drive the grumbling teenager to silence.
“Do you think this is it then?” asked Hayley, looking at Alex. They exchanged a long glance – he knew what she meant.
John’s eyes flitted between the two of them. It angered him that he was not part of this communion of information that they seemed to be sharing right now. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Alex looked at him, his gaze hard. “It is time.”
“Time for what?”
“Huh.” Alex hissed in frustration. He drew a hand down his face. “The thing we discussed the other day...” He did not know how many more hints the stupid boy would need before he finally twigged.
But the wide-eyed expression on his face confirmed that he did. “Oh shit...” he whispered, his throat suddenly feeling very dry.
******
A soft warm breeze flushed across the brown grass of Glasgow Green, twitching the long dead blades and rotting plants. It was spring everywhere else but in the heart of the city.
The rotting vegetation crunching beneath his heavy black boots, Gabriel scanned the open, barren landscape. Gripping the pommel of his sword tightly with his right hand, he prepared himself for a surprise attack – but he was to be disappointed.
From the furthest edge of the green he could see, before it slipped down a slight but long incline he saw something move. Focusing on the approaching figure, his expectations were quickly confirmed – it was Alex and to his surprise following not far behind, were John and Hayley.
He waited for him where he was. He was in no hurry. He knew they were not here to run. The three of them finally stopped in a line, a good fifty paces before him. The sword at Alex’s hip swung slightly as he halted.
A slither of a smile formed in the corner of Gabriel’s mouth as he gazed upon the odd party with his beady eyes. “I see you bought your pitiful and...” he deliberately eyed John, “freakish group of friends.”
“Fuck you.” was John’s short answer.