A Radiant Sky

27

I stood alone on the surging dance floor.

I felt at peace. I’d tied up all my loose ends.

I was ready to face the future.

I scanned the room and spotted Asher talking to Aunt Jo, Aaron, and James. Earth was very intently staring out the window, a serious expression on her face.

They all looked up when I approached.

“Where are Cassie, Dan, and Ian?” I asked, just as Cassie bounded up next to me.

“Well, I lost my boyfriend. Have you seen him?”

We heard laughing and followed the sound to where Dan and Ian were standing by the giant papier-mâché Titanic. They each held a LEGO figurine in their hands and looked like they were acting something out.

“Seriously?” I muttered.

“You know,” said Cassie, “people have broken up for less.”

I cleared my throat and Ian and Dan whipped around. “We were . . . uh . . .” Dan fumbled.

“This is why we’re not allowed to go on missions, Daniel,” Cassie hissed.

“Entertaining as this is,” I said, “come on. I want to get everyone together.” Earth was signaling to me frantically.

Just as we all reconvened, the DJ’s voice rang out in the background.

“Ladies and gentleman of Northwood, it’s time to announce your prom court.”

“Ooh!” cried Cassie.

“Are you sure it’s my fault?” Dan asked.

“A shooting star!” Earth cried breathlessly. “And Skye, it has your name on it!”

“It’s now,” I said. “That was it.” Asher moved to my side.

“NOW?” cried Cassie. “But what about the prom court?!”

“Tell me how it turns out.” And then I closed my eyes, and I let go of high school.

An image began to take shape in my mind.

A vast white space. Slowly, through the mist, I began to pick out shapes and patterns. The slope of an archway, the geometric zigzag of steps. Was it a city? A palace of some kind? Figures moved like shadows against the blank white background, like the ghostly image that’s left on your eyelids when you close your eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were human—or something else.

My eyes still closed, my skin stippling with goose bumps, I watched as the mist faded away, and the shapes that had begun to materialize formed fully before my eyes. They weren’t the glistening arches and steps of a city somewhere in the sky, where I’d always imagined the Order to be. As I watched, I realized they were cliffs and rocks, looming above a wide, endless beach.

I trudged across a great expanse of black sand, the ocean tide lapping at the shore, as if calling my name, rising to meet me. It soaked the bottom of my dress, already smudged with sand, and washed away something dark and sticky that left behind the echoes of a deep red stain. Blood.

This was it. I’d seen this beach before in my visions. I’d carried a sword, wearing the very dress I was wearing now.

But this time was different. This time, when I moved, I was actually moving. When I spoke, my voice echoed out over the sea. Whatever I’m seeing, I’m already here.

I kept my eyes closed, focused on the beach around me. But I knew, on the other side of my eyelids, the entire group was watching me, waiting. The lights around us dimmed and glowed, the disco ball casting sparkles and shadows on the walls and glimmering across our faces and hair. The music played on.

“Are you guys ready?” I asked, and was met with a solemn chorus of agreement. “I see it, in front of me. Give me your hands. I’ll take us there.”

The events of my life had brought me to this moment—but my visions had, too. Because they foretold the event that was supposed to take place tonight, of all nights—the cataclysmic clashing of the celestial factions. Timed perfectly to coincide with prom. There was about to be a battle. Someone I loved was going to die.

With eyes still closed, someone took my left hand, and someone else my right one—completing the circle.

“Bye!” Earth’s voice rose above the music.

“Be safe!” Cassie called.

“Are you guys ready?” I asked. “Because we’re about to leave River Springs, and I can’t promise that we’re all going to make it back.”

When the mist cleared, we were standing on the beach, still holding hands. Asher, Ian, Raven, Devin, the three Rogues—and me.

The beach was deserted. The only sound was the lapping of the waves. Gray clouds hung low, blocking out the sun and allowing only the dimmest light to filter through. Black sand stretched out before us, as far as the eye could see. On one side of us, a massive, rocky cliffside towered up into the sky, so that I had to shield my eyes and squint to see the top. On the other side, the gray ocean churned, restless, coming in and out with the tide.

The wind whistled through the endless expanse.

“Where are we?” I asked Raven. “Is this the Order’s realm?”

“No,” said Raven slowly. “This is no place I’ve ever been.”

“It’s the Cradle of Time,” a voice boomed, echoing around us. We all looked up. I realized that the cliff face stretching out to our left wasn’t just a cliff face. It was an intricate maze of steps and arches, carved into the sea-ravaged, weather-beaten rock.

Standing in the center of each arch—and there must have been a hundred of them, carved into the side of the cliff—stood a Gifted One. They were easy to spot, older and grayer, with aged, yellowing wings. At the same time, each lit a single candle. Collectively, the flames cast an eerie glow over the beach.

Standing at the top of the cliff, I could just make out Astaroth.

“Time is born here and dies here. It passes and returns, like the tide of the ocean lapping at the sand beneath our feet. This place is where the Sight begins and ends. It’s where all destiny originates.”

“We’re in the Before Place,” said Raven, her voice breathy and full of awe. “Astaroth told me about this. It existed long before there was even an Order, or a Rebellion to break away from it. It’s where the first angel was born with the Sight. It’s the place where destiny began.”

“Very good, Raven,” Astaroth’s voice echoed down at us. “You were always my star pupil. I thought you were going to go far—not abandon me for some futile Uprising.”

“I didn’t abandon you, sir,” Raven said boldly. “By the ancient laws of the Order, I was no longer allowed to return home. So I found a new home.”

“And how is that working out for you?” Astaroth said mildly. “Your . . . new home.” I saw what he was doing—he was a master at manipulation, and he was trying to plant seeds of doubt in Raven’s mind. “Have they accepted you? Welcomed you into their fold with open arms?” He laughed ruthlessly. “Or were they more skeptical? Will they always think of you as a Guardian?”

In the distance, farther down the beach, I thought I could make out a body drawing closer. And another. And another.

“And Devin,” Astaroth continued. “My, how the mighty have fallen. From Guardian to Rebel to nothing.”

Devin lifted his chin defiantly.

A sea of dark figures materialized at the edge of the beach. Coming toward us. Or coming for us.

The Rebellion.

My group huddled together, achingly small compared to the two armies facing us down.

“We can’t control your powers, Skye,” Astaroth said. “And we haven’t been able to claim you for our own. Or, for that matter, kill you.”

“Nor have we,” a voice spoke up. Ardith was at the front of the group on the beach before us, a sword strapped to her back, her hair in a long, glossy chestnut braid. Gideon stood close to her side.

She drew the sword, at the ready. She and Asher made eye contact, and a storm of fury charged between them. He stepped closer to me. She barely even paused on Devin.

“Just tell me again,” I whispered to Asher, “what side you’re on.”

“Whatever side you’re on, Skye.” He squeezed my hand.

“You’ve had the opportunity to choose for yourself,” Astaroth said. “And we’ve all tried to choose for you—to force you to pick a side. But you are untamed. Unbound by the laws of the Order and the Rebellion. If neither side can kill you, and neither has claimed you, there’s only one thing left to do.” A sinister smile tugged the edges of his lips. “We’ll just have to fight for you.”

“I can fight for myself,” I said.

“We all know you can control your powers. But it’s when you are panicked, when you are under attack, that your control weakens. And powerful, unexpected things happen.”

He cocked his head at me.

“Do you know why you are here, Skye?”

I swallowed.

“No,” I said.

“If I may,” he said, taking a candle from one of his Gifted, “allow me to tell you a legend:

“It began with a vision. Many, many millennia ago. Before your parents were even conceived. Before they were born, fell in love, were cast to earth, and before you were created, their flesh and blood—and something else, some magical essence we still do not understand. Nor do I think we ever will.” The candles that the Gifted held aloft flickered, casting light across the Rebellion, below. “I was not the one who had this vision—though I was alive at the time. It was my father who saw it.”

I stepped forward. “What did he see?”

“Chaos,” Astaroth said. “Cities burning. Flooding. Death. The Order unable to control it, to stop it. Because the Order could not have seen it coming. For they had lost the ability to see along the lines of fate. They had lost the Sight. It was,” he said, “an End of Days.”

“But,” said Ardith, “another angel had the same vision. He didn’t see destruction. He saw renewal. He saw a Beginning of Days. The dawn of a new era.”

“The two angels argued. One was convinced that if we lived according to free will, that day would be a day of hope and light. While the other was bound to his belief in fate, and was convinced the day would be the destruction of the world. So one angel left the Order. And he was the first Rebel.”

“What does this have to do with me?” I asked. “Why I’m here?”

“Because in the vision it was you—your powers—who brought this day to come. The daughter of dark and light caused the End—or the Beginning—of days. But nobody knew which would happen. It’s why we tried to prevent you from ever being born. And it’s why we watched you so carefully when you wouldn’t die.”

“And it’s why we tried so hard to fight them, Skye!” Ardith said, raising her voice above the wind as it began to howl, blowing sand into the air around us. “Because we knew you would bring a day that would change the world—and make it better! It’s why we wanted you to side with us.”

“So you could destroy the Order,” Astaroth said.

“No—so we could use her for good—and prevent you from destroying her.”

“But neither side succeeded. And so we have only one option left.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

“That day is today.” Astaroth’s voice was grave. “We’ll let your powers take over. And the rest . . . is what they’ll base new legends on.”

Something Asher had once told me came roaring back, filled every inch of me.

“I know you’re stuck between two choices, and you don’t exactly have a conscious say in the matter. Your powers will take over when it really counts.”

Ian stepped up beside me on one side, Asher and Devin on the other. Their hands tensed by their sides.

“So,” I said. “What happens now, Astaroth?”

“Now,” he said. “We fight. And we see just what you’re made of. Will it be the end of the world or the beginning? Will the Rebellion plunge the world into darkness—or will the Order rule forever?”

I turned toward my small team. Hopefully we wouldn’t be small for long.

“It’s time to call the Rogues!” I said, strangely calm now that the time had finally come. Aunt Jo, James, and Aaron formed a circle, taking hands. They left one spot empty.

“For you,” Aunt Jo said. If she was nervous, she didn’t show it. “Let’s call our army.”

I ran to her, grasped her hand and Aaron’s. Power surged between the four of us, so strong and quick it almost broke our hands apart. But we held on tighter.

I called out to the Rogues. I willed them to come and fight with me. I summoned them. The balance of power in my blood shifted and changed, now light, now dark, now both. There was a rushing in my ears, so enormous that it blocked out all other sound.

And when I opened my eyes, they were coming. Stretching out down the beach in the other direction were hundreds of people. Their eyes were angry, their faces, determined. They were dressed in normal clothes, like they’d been pulled from normal lives. They swarmed the beach, coming from all sides.

The closer they drew, the angrier they looked. I had a sudden panicked thought. What if they didn’t want me for their leader? What if they didn’t want to fight with me?

What if they wanted to fight against me?

When they reached us, they came to a stop and turned, as one, in my direction. Trying to keep my hands from shaking, I took a deep breath.

“Rogues,” I said. “You may feel that there’s no place for you in this world. But that ends now. I’m like you—I’ve had to find my own place. But your place can be here, with me. Please”—my voice sounded so strong across the beach—“fight with me. Fight for a world that isn’t so divided. Fight for someplace to call home.”

Their eyes flashed. For one sickening moment, my heart leaped to my throat. And then—they began to cheer. Their voices rose above the howling wind, and lightning cracked across the sky.

I had found my people.

“Astaroth!” I called into the wind, whipping around. “You think you can fight over us? You think one side is going to beat the other? Well, guess what! There won’t be an End of Days today. Or a Beginning of Days, either. I have the Rogues on my side, and there’s power in numbers. We’re going to keep the balance between dark and light. The world will keep spinning, and neither of you will take control of the universe if I can help it!”

Astaroth looked panicked, for the first time, as the Rogues continued to storm the beach. He hadn’t been expecting the force of the Uprising. My ability to blur destiny had made sure of that.

“I guess there are many more people in this world who are mixed up, who believe in gray areas, than you could have imagined. We are the people who don’t believe the world exists in your black-and-white terms,” I said, sweeping my arms wide at the children of angels and humans who, like me, belonged to no true place but their own. “And we’re going to change the way of things,” I said. “Once and for all.”

I let my wings expand from my back, massive, catching the gleam of the fire in their silvery feathers. Reaching behind me, I plucked one bright, shiny feather and held it aloft.

When I brought it down to my side, I was holding my own angelic sword.