Below, I could see the army of angels now, their bodies shining as they neared the park. I still couldn’t turn away from the melee before me. My arms prickled as Raziel screamed – a high, terrible sound that was cut short. Then snowy fragments came drifting on the air, glinting as they caught the light…like the rainbows my mother had loved so much.

I let out a long, ragged breath.

“Goodbye, Father,” I said.

The words had barely left my mouth when the gate’s surface churned and yawned open. I jogged a few hasty steps back. An immense rushing noise came, like the ocean crashing over a ship.

And then the gate started to do exactly what I’d designed it to.

The angels who’d attacked Raziel vanished first, the energy reeling in their bright, struggling bodies almost lazily; then it picked up speed, and the angels who’d been surging towards me from Pawntucket were drawn through in a panicked tumble of wings. Angelic screams, glimpses of stunned, frightened faces.

The noise grew deafening, a roar that shook the ground, as the gate pulled them in faster and faster – I fell to my knees, crying out and clapping my hands over my ears. I couldn’t even see angels any more: just a sparkling river of light that led into the willow tree as thousands were drawn through, from miles away.

But I could sense their despair – their certainty that what had happened here was a judgement on them. In their gamble with our world, they’d lost almost everything that had made them angels.

When it was all over, there was silence.

I rose slowly, staring at the willow tree, with its shimmering, frosty branches. Ice skirted the edge of the pond; above, a few patches of blue were showing through the clouds. It all looked just the same. As if the last half-hour had never happened at all.

Then, with a chill, I realized something had changed. My angel. Oh god, the way the energy had battered so fiercely at her – I reached for her in a panic. In my mind’s eye, I could see her: my radiant, winged twin. Her head was bowed…and one of her wings lay crumpled and useless at her side.

“No,” I whispered, gently reaching out to her. Our hands touched with a soft glow as her eyes met mine. They were sad, resigned – and in a daze I knew that this was not an injury that could be healed.

Angrily, I wiped away tears. No – no, this couldn’t be true. I switched my consciousness to hers, longing to sense that everything was all right. Instead it felt as if my ethereal body were bound down by tethers, unable to break free.

My angel couldn’t fly any more.

I stood motionless beside the tree, trying to take it in. She’d never leave my body again – never lift away and send me soaring through the stars. At first I’d spent so long hating my angel self, wanting her to go away for ever. Yet now that she’d been diminished, it felt as if part of me had been chopped off.

The willow tree shifted gently in the breeze as I gazed at the spot where I’d been conceived – the place where the angels had disappeared, for ever. After what seemed a long time, I felt my shoulders straighten a little.

If this was the price I had to pay, then okay – I can live with it, I thought finally.

I turned and made my way back down the hiking trail, listening to the tread of my footsteps against the snow and damp earth. And somehow, despite Mom, despite my angel…I felt strangely at peace. Already what had happened felt like a dream, yet at the same time everything was so clear now, as if the world were brand-new. I tipped my head back as I walked, gazing at the frost sparkling on the pine trees.

When I reached the parking lot, my truck was still there. I got in and started the engine – and glanced at the picture of Timmy.

“Let’s go home, kid,” I murmured.

38

MY DREAMY FEELING OF PEACE evaporated the second I pulled out onto the highway. Alex. I couldn’t sense him any more – at some point I’d lost the connection. As I drove, I hastily scanned.

Nothing. I took a deep breath and tried again, reaching for the strong, familiar sense of him.

Panic clutched me. It wasn’t there.

No, that wasn’t it – confusedly, I realized that I didn’t know whether his energy was there or not. Whenever I tried to send my consciousness out of myself, nothing happened.

As the truth hit me, my hands went cold on the steering wheel. The road suddenly looked strange, off-kilter. Apparently my angel hadn’t been the only thing damaged by the ethereal storm that had raged through me. I was still psychic; I could feel it…but on nowhere near the same level.

I swallowed hard; I couldn’t even begin to process this yet. Alex is okay, I told myself harshly. He’s got to be.

As I drove into the town, people were cheering, waving their weapons. They shouted my name as they saw me, pounding on the hood of the truck as I passed. My heart quickened as I brought their auras into view. They lay flat and flickering against their bodies. Oh my god – had I actually done it?

I sped the rest of the way to the square, looking for Alex at every turn. There was no sign of him.

When I got to the town hall, people were gathering in front of it; jubilant shouts filled the air. As I jumped out, I saw Nina and Jonah holding each other tightly on the lawn, his dark head against her golden-brown one. They spotted me and came running over; I met them halfway.

Nina and I embraced. She was crying. “Oh, Willow, you did it! We saw them all sweeping away through the sky, and then they vanished—”

“Is everyone okay?” I gasped.

She gulped and wiped her eyes as we drew apart. “No. We’re still counting, but we’ve lost eight so far.”

My chest turned to ice. Then Nina named some of my old classmates – no one I’d known well, but I could put faces to all the names. One was a girl I’d shared notes with in English class.

“Eight people,” I murmured, my throat tight. “But I thought—” I stared at the shouting crowd, their auras still flush with their bodies. Slowly, I let go, and watched them all return back to normal.

“I thought I’d saved everyone,” I said in a small voice.

Jonah touched my hand, his brown eyes intense. “Willow, you saved so many,” he said. “You saved me, for that matter – I had five on me at once, but they couldn’t grab hold.” When I didn’t respond, he added, “We all would have died, you know. Just like the attack at your base.”

“And you know what else?” Nina said, her expression fierce. “We are going to have the celebration to end all celebrations today – because the angels are gone, and that’s what we’ve all been fighting for.”

Wrestling with pain, triumph, confusion, I hugged her again, unable to speak. Then I pulled away. “Have you seen Alex?” I asked urgently.

Jonah shook his head. “I got a glimpse of him during the battle. He was up on a roof at the far end of town, holding off – well, an entire army of angels. He must’ve killed hundreds.”

Alex. He’d been the reason why the army hadn’t reached me in time – the reason I was still alive. “Is…is he all right?” I got out.

“I don’t know. I lost sight of him—”

“Jonah!” shouted an urgent voice. Rachel came panting up. “It’s Seb. We found him behind one of the houses – he looks pretty bad.”

My heart gave a sickening lurch. Following Rachel’s gaze, I saw a small knot of people carrying someone on a makeshift stretcher. The next second I was running across the square as fast as I could, with Nina and Jonah right behind.

A girl I hardly recognized was crying. “I didn’t mean to! I was trying to hit the angel attacking him—”

I skidded to a stop on the damp ground and fell to my knees. Seb lay with his head to one side, not moving. A dark bruise stained the left side of his face. Blood was everywhere – in his curls, mixing with the stubble on his face, staining his green jacket.