They Who from the Heavens Came (The Wisdom, #1)

Quetzal flew above the black Ferrari, just high enough to avoid the motorway bridges, but low enough to keep the Halflings in sight. His golden cloak acted like wings, catching the wind and allowing him to glide in the air like an enormous eagle. Everything about him shimmered.

He’d been following the girl for two days, now. Horace, disgusted with the plan, had chosen to do his own research; they would reconvene later.

‘We’re not here for the girl,’ he’d said. ‘I didn’t sign up for this diversion. All I want is to complete our mission and leave. There’s a reason I left Earth, you know. I hate this place. I hate everything about it. I hate the trees. I hate the birds twittering away in them. I hate the ugly boring houses. I hate the way you don’t seem to hate it. And I hate wasting time following around Halflings like that girl.’

Horace didn’t understand the girl’s potential significance; and for her sake, Quetzal was not yet ready to explain.

So Quetzal had watched her alone. Enveloped in his bubble, he’d sat in the girl’s room the night before, and watched her until morning. He’d listened to her telephone conversation, watched her write and watched her dream. Through it all, he was disturbed by the colour of the sensor on his cube. It was different from her usual pulse. Particularly when she was writing, the girl’s usual deep red grew darker and darker until it was solid black, as if there were no pulse on the cube at all. But there was. He could feel it.

But it just couldn’t be. No one in the world could do that. No one in the universe, in fact, possessed so much power. He doubted the girl even knew what she could do.

Moreover, it enhanced that delicious aroma of life that seemed to follow her wherever she moved. He could never have told Horace, but it was the most beautiful thing he had known in all his five thousand years of life.

All that marred it was the strange darkness spidering around the girl when she worked her magic.

Yet more stunning was the scene he’d witnessed in the maize field. These children were so much more than the Halflings he’d known in his time on Earth. He thought he should probably notify Charon, but he didn’t feel ready. That the boy and the girl had found each other…it was momentous. Something big was happening; Quetzal could feel it. He didn’t want to interfere with whatever might come of it.

For now, he would simply watch.

* * *

On the journey home, Itzy tried hard to ignore the way Seth kept staring at her from the passenger seat. His look was of an angry lion protecting his pride, and it was driving her nuts.

‘So, what?’ Itzy said to her brother as he drove. ‘You can raise the dead?’ She rested her arm on the back of his seat.

‘Not exactly.’ Oz stretched his neck from side to side. It made a light popping noise as the muscles released. ‘It’s not zombies or anything. And I don’t have control over what comes out. I just…I can draw bodies out from the ground, whatever bodies happen to be there. It’s sort of a surprise every time I do it.’

‘Is that why there was a sheep?’ she asked. Now that it was all over and they were back in the safe normality of the car, it seemed funny.

‘Yeah.’ He grinned at her in the rear-view mirror. ‘Weird things come up, sometimes.’

‘Have you ever raised a human?’

Oz’s face set in a grim expression. ‘No. Not yet.’

He let the unspoken and I hope I never do hang in the air between them.

Itzy leaned back in her seat. She felt Seth watching her again.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ he asked for the umpteenth time.

Itzy smiled patiently. ‘I’m getting better.’ And she was. After Aidan had gone, Seth had ‘drawn’ away the scrapes and tears painted on her body. Unfortunately, it was all appearance and he couldn’t erase the pain underneath. But the shock was wearing off a little more with each passing hour.

Seth pointed at the grey hoodie in Itzy’s lap. ‘What’s that?’

She looked at the article in surprise. ‘Oh. It’s Aidan’s. I was…wearing it. I forgot I had it.’ She noticed it was torn in several places.

Seth looked like he was trying to work out who Aidan was, before understanding settled uncomfortably over his face. His eyes were indecipherable, and then he turned away. Oz put on a CD of Bach preludes and Seth didn’t even comment.

When they reached Ealing, Oz asked, ‘Where are we dropping you?’

Itzy took a breath. ‘Actually, I was sort of hoping…I could go to your house.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘I don’t think you should be alone, tonight.’ He drove on to his own road and parked the car three houses down. It was dark by that time, almost midnight. ‘Ring your mum and let her know you’re okay,’ he instructed. His concern was touching.

‘I will,’ Itzy said.

She suddenly remembered the story she’d written. Had it worked? She’d felt so confident about it before, but now she was uncertain. After all, there had been no trance. She’d been lucid through the experience.

As the trio walked up the path to the front door, she pulled out her mobile and pushed a button. She put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.

Her heart sank when she heard the recorded message. ‘Voicemail,’ she announced. She waited for the beep and then left a message. ‘Hi, Mum, it’s me. I’m…staying with friends.’ She paused before adding, ‘Love you,’ and ended the call.

They headed into the house. Oz flicked the light switch and the building burst into their vision, making them squint. Oz yawned, stretching his arms high above his head. ‘I’m shattered,’ he declared. ‘I’m going to bed. You can stay on the sofa; it’s quite cosy. Seth will get you whatever you need.’

There was an awkward moment before Itzy threw her arms around him. ‘Goodnight,’ she said.

Oz didn’t move, at first. Then he returned the hug. When they drew apart, he smiled. ‘Goodnight,’ he said, and he went up to his room.

Seth stood with his hands in his pockets, still watching her. Itzy got the impression he thought if he took his eyes off her, she might vanish.

He seemed to sense something was expected of him, so he said, ‘Tea?’

‘Yes, please. Black.’

He nodded, his face expressionless. He pulled his hands from his pockets and headed into the kitchen. Itzy followed him and watched him fill the kettle. It seemed he wasn’t in the mood for magic.

A few minutes later, the tea was ready and they moved into the lounge, where they sat on opposite ends of the sofa. Itzy realised she was carrying Aidan’s hoodie like a security blanket, and she dropped it on the floor. She allowed herself to get comfortable, curling her legs up under her, while Seth kept both feet on the floor and leaned back, not meeting her eyes.

‘So,’ Itzy said. Now what? ‘Thank you for fixing me up, after…you know.’

Seth ran one of his fingers along the rim of his mug. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner,’ he said finally.

That explained the staring.

‘It’s not your fault,’ she assured him.

He gave her a sad smile. ‘Thank you. But I still feel guilty. If we hadn’t walked off and left you behind….’ He finished his sentence with a sip of too-hot tea, winced and set the cup on the floor. Then he surprised her by saying, ‘I’m sorry I shut you up in a wardrobe, too.’

Her brow lifted. ‘You what?’

‘The wardrobe. I just couldn’t think what else to do. My brain wasn’t working. I didn’t mean to scare you.’

Itzy stared at him in confusion. ‘Seth, I honestly have no idea what you’re on about. Explain.’

He appeared to share her confusion. ‘The box I drew. To get you out of the field.’

‘You made that?’

‘Well, where else would it have come from?’

‘I had no idea. But Seth. It wasn’t a wardrobe.’

He blinked. ‘It wasn’t?’

Itzy shook her head.

He blinked again. ‘Then what was it?’

She made a face. ‘I’m not sure. It was strange. It was like I was standing in a sort of vestibule. All around me were doorways and they all led to different places. And through one of them, I could see everything that was happening in the field.’

Seth’s brow rose in alarm. ‘I…I didn’t mean to send you anywhere like that,’ he stammered. ‘I was picturing your room and I thought of the wardrobe. I don’t know why, but I got this idea it would make a good hiding place, so….’ He shifted in discomfort. ‘I probably just wasn’t thinking straight and made a mistake.’

‘Yes. Probably,’ Itzy agreed. But privately, she wondered – especially at Seth uncannily choosing to send her to the exact place she used to hide from her father.

Seth let out a long sigh. ‘There are more of us out there,’ he murmured. ‘More than we know.’

‘Who can…do things?’ she presumed.

‘Yes. And clearly, some of us aren’t interested in confining our powers to our own lives.’

‘You’re wondering what their game is,’ Itzy guessed.

Seth slowly turned to face her. ‘You realise if they’d really hurt you – I would’ve found a way to hurt them back.’

Her heart thudded in her chest. ‘You…you would?’

For a moment, neither of them said anything. They held each other’s eyes too long. Seth appeared to be turning over an idea in his mind.

He smiled sadly at her. ‘You know,’ he said, sounding shy for the first time since she’d met him, ‘I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you made me kiss you.’

His confession made Itzy’s heart flutter in her chest and heat rushed all over her. ‘But today, you told me it didn’t mean anything.’

Seth laughed silently and shook his head. ‘I was trying to be cool.’

‘Why are you telling me now?’ she wondered.

He reached out and touched the skin on her forehead, as if he could still see the grazes he had healed for her. ‘Because today scared me.’

Itzy didn’t know how to respond. Her voice seemed to have stopped working, and the words were mixed up in her head.

Seth retrieved his tea, which he downed in a few gulps. Then he jumped to his feet and waved his hands through the air, producing a duvet and pillow. Then he grinned and drew something else. Itzy glanced at her lap and found Parson Brown sitting there.

‘You’re going?’ she asked.

‘It’s getting late,’ he said. But his eyes said something more. She wished she knew what.

‘Goodnight, Itzel,’ he said. This time, there was no irony when he used her full name, but affection. It spoke of a different kind of familiarity. He bent down and dropped a kiss on her forehead before turning off the light and disappearing up the stairs.

Then it was just her, preparing to sleep on a sofa in a house belonging to two people who had been strangers to her but a week ago. It was incredible how things turned out, sometimes.

Itzy picked up her cup and tipped it sideways, sipping the last of her tea and rubbing stray dribbles off her chin with the back of her hand. She dropped the cup back on the floor beside her and made her makeshift bed. When she was done, she switched off the lights and snuggled under the covers. Parson Brown sat on her chest, staring at her with accusation.

‘What’s your problem?’ she asked the silent toy.

She saw a flicker of light from one of the bookshelves that encircled her. She squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, and realised it was Eurydice. She gazed lazily at Itzy from among the books, her body curled into a ball and her long chestnut tail tucked under her chin. The cat blinked once more before closing her eyes and falling back to sleep.

Itzy felt too keyed up to sleep, so she dug her hand into her pocket and retrieved her mobile. No missed calls, which meant her mother hadn’t rung back. The story hadn’t worked.

She spent some time texting Devon, to fill her in on what had happened. Then she saw something that obliterated all other considerations. It was an alert saying she had a Facebook message –

from Aidan Carnegie.

There was no mistaking who it was; she knew no other Aidan. With a torturous mix of dread and excitement, she opened the curiously worded message:

Glad to finally meet you. Shame about the circumstances. I think you have something of mine. Wondered if you’d like to meet so you can give it back to me. A.

She stared at it a long time before she dropped her phone on the floor and closed her eyes. His message burned in her mind’s eye.

Finally, he’d said.

He’d recognised her, too.