Something Deadly This Way Comes

Chapter Eleven

It wasn’t the muggy, breathless darkness that creeped me out and made my stomach clench. It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear Barnabas and Nakita behind me somewhere, swords drawn as they jogged after me. It wasn’t that my out-of-shape breathing was harsh and heavy next to Josh’s long-distance runner’s light breaths. It wasn’t even that this end of town had bars on the windows and roll-down gates over the storefronts. What bothered me was that I was still barefoot and had stepped in something sticky.

Grimacing, I raised my foot and shuddered.

“This way,” Barnabas said, easing past me as I hesitated. I could hardly see him in the black alley, his coat making him a moving shadow. Nakita’s scent brushed past me, and I started to follow. Paul edged past Josh and me, and I couldn’t help but see how predatory the two reapers looked beside him: Barnabas dark and furtive, Nakita taut and slim, both on the hunt, both joined in thought to one goal. I was proud of them, working together like that. Demus’s amulet was in my pocket, heavy and warm. I don’t know what he intended to do to Tammy without it, but Demus and Tammy were together according to Barnabas.

“She’s just ahead,” Paul whispered as he turned, the streetlight glinting on the shine of his dress shoes. His posture was tense and eager, and I wished I could see the time line to gauge how close we were.

The brighter square of black at the end of the alley beckoned; I picked up my pace. “Watch it!” Josh whispered, reaching out and jerking me back an instant before I stepped in a foul-smelling pile of garbage outside a side door.

It was a bad part of town. I wouldn’t come here even during the day. The street was empty, seeing as it was about two in the morning. A faint brightening hinted at the coming sunrise, but it was hours off. The air stank, heavy and humid. Streetlights barely lit the potholed street, the asphalt making hardly any division between itself and the sidewalk, and then the tired, chipped buildings with their roll-down gates and bricked-up windows. It was rock, asphalt, and cement. Not a hint of anything green or alive. Not even a rat.

Which is probably a good thing, I thought as I shifted my weight from one cold foot to the other. “Thanks,” I whispered back, wrinkling my nose at the smell. My arms had gone around my middle, and I was cold. Maybe I should have waited until we were done with this prevention before claiming my body. And what was that squishy thing between my toes? This was just gross.

“She’s in there,” Paul said, his rising chin indicating a bus depot, the broken neon sign in the shape of a big arrow.

“With Demus,” Nakita said, almost hissing the word.

“The bus depot,” I said, turning to give Josh a smile. “You were right.”

Heart pounding, I took a step forward only to have Barnabas yank me back. Overhead, a streetlight popped to put us in darkness. My eyes went up as I wondered if it was Grace, and Barnabas whispered, “Cop car.”

Frustrated, I pulled back into the even darker alley. Paul was beside me and Josh. Nakita jumped straight up, vanishing onto the roof. The slow sound of an idling engine grew, and we pressed back even more, hiding behind a box. I could see inside the bus depot from where I stood with my back to the wall. Demus and Tammy were just talking, but I was sure if Demus had had his amulet, she’d be dead by now.

It was a cop car, and I silently thanked Grace for the broken light as it cruised very slowly past, the spotlight playing over the abandoned storefronts and probing into the dark places.

Standing between me and the top of the alley, Paul exhaled as the car slowly drove away. He looked determined as he shifted to the center of the alley, and I couldn’t help but feel a spark of something as we all followed him back to the street. Not romantic but perhaps a contemporary? I wondered. Someone who would really understand the hell that we had to go through. That is, if I kept my amulet.

“He’s gone,” Paul said as the cop’s brake lights flashed and the car turned a corner.

“Do you think they’re looking for me?” I asked, reluctant to step into the open.

Barnabas was a shadow on my other side, his gaze still where the car had disappeared. “Probably no. I tweaked their memories of you. I think I got everyone.”

Paul turned to frown at him. “You think?”

Barnabas frowned right back. “Nothing is certain.”

“The car is gone,” I said, tension making me jittery. “Let’s go.”

“Black wings!” Paul said, and I froze, fighting an irrational fear as I looked up, seeing their black outlines against the sooty sky. There was a flash of brilliant light as one turned, and I looked away, shivering. I had a body. They couldn’t sense me. And even if they could, they couldn’t touch me. Not with a real aura around me again.

“What are they doing here?” Josh asked, hunched and uneasy. He’d seen what they had done to me. “Demus can’t scythe anyone if you have his amulet. And they don’t follow light reapers.” He looked at Barnabas, his expression ill. “Right?”

Barnabas said nothing as he put a hand on my shoulder and pushed us into motion. “Not usually, no. But we’ve got three reapers, a timekeeper, and a rising timekeeper out here. Even plants turn to the sun.”

And maybe Arariel was here hunting, too, I mused, following us since she couldn’t find Tammy on her own. My eyes scanning everything, we crossed the empty street, moving furtively and avoiding going right under the circling black sheets of dripping goo. God, I hated those things, and I shivered at the memory of them eating Tammy’s memories until she was nothing.

“What is Demus even doing here?” I babbled, mincing in my bare feet. “He can’t make a scythe.”

“I think he’s going to push her in front of a bus.”

I looked askance at Barnabas, trying to decide if he was being funny or not.

There was the soft sound of feathers, and a soft click of heels, and Nakita joined us as we reached the door. I pulled one side of the twin doors only to find it locked. Barnabas reached in front of me and gave a yank. With a sharp ping of breaking metal, the door opened. A fetid scent of old sneakers and stale cigarettes spilled out. Nice.

Demus looked up. His boyish features—softened to lull Tammy—became hard. “Broken feathers and pinions, get behind me, Tam!” he said as he stood, pushing her behind himself.

Frightened, the girl stood, holding his shoulders and peeping around his shoulder. “Oh, there’s a good idea,” Barnabas said as he filed in behind me.

“Tammy, honey, his job is to kill you,” Nakita said, taking my other side.

It was clear Tammy had been crying; her eyes were red and her hair was a mess. There was a backpack beside her. It was likely all she had in the world—apart from her soul. She was running. It was the beginning of the end for her, and I had to stop it here. If she left, she’d believe the lies she was telling herself, and her soul would die.

“He is not going to hurt me!” she exclaimed as she took in the five of us, but she was edging back as if unsure. “You burned my apartment. He’s going to—”

“Save you?” I said, and she looked up at him, seeing his anger at us and her doubt grew. “Take you away from everything? Tammy, he’s lying. Angels do that.” I glanced at Barnabas, adding, “A lot.”

A frown crossed Barnabas’s face, and he pulled to a stop from where he had been edging away from us, trying to circle Demus. Nakita had been doing the same on the right. “Especially dark reapers,” Barnabas said, looking at his nails, feigning disinterest. I could tell he was poised to move in an eyeblink.

“Then why hasn’t Demus killed me already?” she asked belligerently.

“Because I have his sword,” I said, pulling his amulet out and dangling it.

“Madison, no!” Barnabas yelled, but Demus had seen it, and lunged, exactly as I had wanted.

Nakita made a dart for Tammy, pushing her back to a bulletin board and getting between her and Demus. Josh reached out and pulled me out of the way, and Paul danced clear, his shiny shoes clacking.

“Oh, crap!” Josh yelled as his tug caused my fingers, cold and damp, to slip on the lanyard. The flat black stone glittered as it arced through the air, and a delicate ting of crystal echoed for one pure instant when it hit the floor.

“Barnabas! Get it!” I yelled as I fell, but Demus had already switched directions and was diving for it. I watched breathlessly as Paul got there first.

“I got it!” he shouted triumphantly, then his eyes widened at the sight of Demus barreling toward him. Knowing he didn’t have a chance, he threw it to Nakita.

“Here!” the dark reaper shouted, hand raised, but it wasn’t her grip that the stone landed in. It was Arariel’s.

“Son of a puppy!” I shouted as I scrambled up, and she smiled pure evil at me, pulling back out of Nakita’s sword’s reach.

“I’m sorry!” Josh was saying, his hands on my shoulders as we blocked the door.

“I’m the one who dropped it,” I said, frustrated as I tugged my oversize shirt straight.

“Arariel! Give me the amulet!” Paul demanded, but she wasn’t listening to him, twirling Demus’s amulet like she’d won a prize at the fair.

“Nakita?” I questioned, and my wonderful reaper grinned just as evilly back, her sword dipping once in invitation to Arariel. Behind Nakita, Tammy curled into a ball in one of the flaccid-cushioned chairs against the wall, crying. I really couldn’t blame her.

“You will not grace her with a guardian angel,” Nakita intoned, and Arariel fell into a fighting stance, poised.

“And I’m not going to let you kill her, foul black reaper!” she shouted back, lunging.

“You call me foul?” Nakita shouted, face red. “I give a clean release, not a slow death! You are ugly. Ugly!”

Demus just wanted his amulet, still dangling from Arariel’s hand. He watched it hungrily, inching closer as Nakita pushed Arariel farther from Tammy. I jumped when Barnabas touched my shoulder. “You and Josh get Tammy out of here,” he whispered. “She’s too scared to move. I’ll stay here and try to help Nakita.”

Scared was right. I could be killed now, and I knew the feeling. Josh looked as unsettled as I was, but he gave my hand a quick squeeze, and together we circled around Nakita and Arariel as they took their first shots at each other.

Tammy’s tear-streaked face turned to us as we approached, and she scrunched back into the chair when I reached for her. “Come on!” I exclaimed. “We have to get out of here!”

Tammy kicked at me, and I jumped back. “Shoe said you were dead,” she said, terrified. “Are you dead?”

“Come on, Madison . . .” Josh urged, standing between me and the reapers.

She called him! I thought, elated. “I used to be,” I said quickly. “But I’m not anymore, which is why we have to get out of here!” How could she believe I was dead, and still trust Demus’s lies? Again I grabbed her wrist, and this time she let me pull her to her feet.

“Look out!” Paul shouted, and we ducked as a chair ripped from the floor crashed into the wall only five feet away, bits of tile and cement peppering us like shrapnel. Nakita was getting serious.

“We gotta go,” Josh said, and we ran for the door.

Arariel saw us. Battle cry ringing, she leapt high, circling over Nakita’s sword to land between us and the door. My eyes widened, and I pushed Tammy behind me as we skidded to a halt.

“Arariel, stop!” Paul called out from the opposite side of the room.

“You are not my keeper,” she snarled, then looked to the ceiling. “Heaven’s guard, descend!” she called out, summoning a guardian angel.

Oh, crap. If an angel was assigned, then it was all over! “Back!” I shouted, but Tammy had frozen where she stood, frightened.

Demus lunged at Arariel, intent on his amulet. Bellowing, he crashed into her, and they went down as she screamed in outrage. Demus’s black stone hit the tile floor, flashing violet for an instant as it bounced. Flat on his stomach, Demus reached, stretched, and got it. With a cry of relief, he rolled to a stand, his blade already forming.

Teeth clenched, Nakita swung at Demus, her lips pulled back and the glory of heaven in her eyes. Their blades met, and again a clear ping of infinity rang.

My heart was pounding, and Paul slid to a stop beside us, his eyes bright. “Arariel isn’t listening to me,” he said, sounding betrayed.

“You think?” Josh said, finally getting Tammy to move back a step as she watched the angels battle for her soul.

“We have got to get out of here!” I said. “Tammy, we have to go!”

Barnabas was at the door, holding it open and making frantic “out” gestures, but Nakita, Demus, and Arariel were too close for my comfort.

“My God,” Tammy whispered, the tears stopped in her awe. “Shoe wasn’t lying.”

“Her!” Arariel cried out, kicking both Demus and Nakita back so she could point her sword at Tammy. “She is heaven’s blessed. Save her!”

Oh, shit, it was the angel. Without thought, I reached out with one hand and shoved Tammy behind me. With the other, I grabbed Paul’s hand. My head snapped back as the battle suddenly took on a new hue of sparkle and depth as I saw everything with the added power of his amulet. Deep tones shook the air at each blow, and energy radiated from the battling reapers like the sun. And over it all were two small glowing balls of light. One was Grace, and the other was the one from my flash forward.

“No!” I cried out, hand raised to the guardian angel. “When I flashed forward, you told me to stop this, now I’m telling you! Leave! She is not to be graced with an angel!”

“She is the one!” Arariel shouted, then dropped her sword and gripped her wrist with a cry as Nakita finally scored on her.

“She is mine!” I said, words flowing from me in desperation. Tammy’s future death rang through me, the terrible futility of a life wasted making me frantic.

“Please!” Tammy cried out, hiding behind Josh, clutching at him as he stood in front of her. “Go away! All of you! I just want to live. I want to live!”

“That’s a start,” Paul said.

“Come with me, and you will,” Arariel said, her hand outstretched. Behind her, Nakita and Demus got to their feet, blades out but pointing down. They didn’t attack, feeling the power of the guardian angel soak into them. It was up to me now. Could I convince the angel that Tammy was mine, or would that awful future of a life wasted be true?

The angel waited, recognizing me, but probably not knowing if this was the moment of now, the future, or even the past. Outside, the black wings gathered. One plastered itself against the window, and I shuddered. Paul tried to pull away, but I gripped his hand harder. If he let go, I’d lose sight of the guardian angel.

“That is not life you offer her,” I said to Arariel, pulling my gaze from the ugly sight. “It’s a slow death. You can’t have her. She is already mine!” I took a breath, feeling wild and unreal. “I am the dark timekeeper, and I have claimed her, I say she is not to be scythed, and she is not to be graced with a guardian. She is mine!”

“Claimed her?” Arariel said, her stance losing its confidence. “You can’t claim her!”

“I have,” I said, shaking as I remembered Tammy’s death and how I had exchanged part of my soul for hers to keep it from being eaten. “I have a part of her soul,” I said, and Tammy whimpered, pressing into Josh. “She’s dark now. She is part of the dark, and the light has no claim.” I leaned toward Arariel, my voice low as I said, “You can’t touch her.”

Tammy’s eyes widened, and even Josh looked shocked. I was too afraid to look at Paul, standing beside me as I gripped his arm.

“You?” Arariel was thunderstruck. “You claim her soul?”

“Leave!” I shouted, gesturing, and Arariel leapt backward, yelping and holding a hand to her chest as if burned.

“I thought your amulet didn’t work,” Paul said.

“It doesn’t,” I said, confused. “I didn’t do anything.”

“It was the old power,” Arariel said, hunched as she backed away, giving the guardian angel a betrayed glare. “Ancient law, you speak of the ancient law, your claim surmounting heaven’s itself. I can’t touch her! I can’t touch her!”

Nakita, too, looked shocked, scared almost, as she dissolved her sword. “Madison?” Nakita warbled. “What have you done?”

“Look out!” Barnabas shouted, and I tripped on the cuffs of my too-long pants and fell back as Arariel wailed, stretching her shoulders until her wings flashed into existence and took up the entire room. For an instant they brushed the edges of the walls, and then, still keening, she wrapped them around herself and vanished in a thunderous clap of sound.

Stunned, I looked over the destruction, racks of chairs upended, holes in the ceiling, and deep gouges in the floor from divine swords. Nakita rose from a crouch, halfway across the room. “Where did you learn the ancient law?” she whispered. “Madison, you are responsible for her soul now. If it fails to thrive, you will be held accountable. Do you know what that means?”

Not really, but I could make some guesses. I was scared, becoming more so as Barnabas growled at her to shut up. The guardian angel was gone. Or at least I didn’t see her. I’d lost my grip on Paul when I’d fallen, and he had backed away, his arm behind his back as if I was going to take it again. Maybe that bit about me having a piece of Tammy’s soul had scared him. It didn’t make me feel very warm and fuzzy, either—even if it had saved her life. Frightened, I tried to reach his eyes, but he was making a huge effort to avoid me, head down as he tucked his shirt back in.

From the floor, Tammy stared at the empty space where Arariel had been. Her mouth was hanging open. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t scared. She looked numb. “She . . .” Tammy started, then swallowed hard. “She had wings. Are you all angels?”

“Just them,” Josh said, pointing to Barnabas and Nakita. Demus was gone. Swell. But the black wings were, too, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Did you save her?” Josh asked me, and I nodded, taking his hand as he helped me up.

“Yes and no,” I said as I glanced at Paul, who looked like he was avoiding me and wondering how much of this was going to end up in Ron’s ears. It didn’t feel over.

My bare feet seemed to find every pointy bit of broken tile and cement, and I shifted uneasily as Nakita set an overturned chair upright and sat in it, her elbows on her knees as she caught her breath. Grime marred her white clothes, making her gray, turning her black. This mess was going to be hard to explain. But then again, in this part of town, maybe not.

“Are you okay?” Nakita asked from across the room, and I nodded, feeling Josh’s touch on me slip away. We were okay—for now. Arariel wasn’t going to forget this had happened, and Demus was going to go crying to the seraphs. . . .

Barnabas reached out to help Tammy to her feet. She stared at his hand for a moment, then, when he smiled, she slipped her hand into his and stood. A pang hit me, and I watched as she dropped her eyes, suddenly shy as she realized he was an angel. I’d been the same way, and I wondered at my past innocence.

“Is it true?” Paul accused harshly, jerking me from my thoughts. “Is it true what you said about having part of her soul? Is that why they can’t touch her? Because you tied her soul to your own?”

My lips parted, and I glanced at Tammy, still with Barnabas. “I’m trying to help,” I whispered, tugging my oversize shirt straight again. It wouldn’t stay put.

“You said you claimed my soul? That you had it?” Tammy said, the beginnings of trust that Barnabas had started dropping from her.

“Just a tiny piece of it,” I said, almost pleading. “Tammy, I saw you in the future, dying. The black wings were eating you alive! I couldn’t let them take everything. You had such beautiful memories of your mother and Johnny; I couldn’t bear to see them destroyed forever even though you’d forgotten them. I gave the black wings one of my memories instead. They took a part of me instead! They ate it, and it’s gone forever. If I could give you yours back, I would, but I don’t know how!”

“They eat me alive . . .” Tammy breathed, fixated on that one part and backing away. Making a tiny cry, she turned and ran for the door.

“Tammy! We’re trying to help!” I called out, but Barnabas was faster, and he was in front of her before she got halfway there.

“Wait,” he said, grabbing her.

“Help!” she screamed, hitting him. “Someone help me!”

I felt awful, and I winced when Tammy smacked his face, leaving a handprint on his cheek. “It’s okay,” he whispered, pulling her closer, comforting her. “They won’t eat you now. You’re not the same. It’s going to be okay. You belong to the dark now.”

“But I don’t want to belong to the dark!” she wailed, slumping into his warmth and his strength, feeling the purity of him and taking comfort in it. Her cries for help dissolved into racking sobs, and he held her firm.

I knew how she felt.

Paul looked at me, his disgust at my having stolen a piece of her future soul starting to evaporate. Josh touched my elbow, and I jumped. “If you gave them part of your own, then isn’t that okay?” Josh asked, his eyebrows high. “You saved a little bit of her, didn’t you?”

“I think she might have saved all of her,” Nakita said as she stood up.

It was starting to look like I might have, but at what cost? Ancient law. It sounded like I was responsible for her now, I guess. If her soul died, would I be the one to suffer, not her? Guess I’d better make sure her soul didn’t die.

Tammy’s sobs quieted, and I wondered if there were any more tissues in Nakita’s purse. I took a breath to ask her when she sidled up to me, but everything went out of my head when Nakita leaned close and whispered, “Grace has a message for you.”

It was as if my heart seemed to stop. My head snapped up, and I looked over the destruction. “W-what?” I asked, my knees going weak.

“Uh, she says they want to talk to you.”

They? “They who?” I asked, already guessing she meant the seraphs. I’d taken part of Tammy’s soul. That probably wasn’t a good thing in hindsight, even if it had saved her. I think it had saved her. I looked at Tammy, shaken and distraught as Josh and Barnabas talked to her. Please, let it have saved her?

Nakita looked at one of the ceiling lights, and it glowed brighter. Grace. “The seraphs,” she said, looking frightened. “You’re to go to Ron’s.”

Josh looked up from Tammy. “You mean the light timekeeper?” he exclaimed. “No way!”

My gaze went to Paul, seeing that he was just as scared as I was. Clearly they knew I’d gotten Paul to help me. And now that I’d gotten my body back, they were likely going to insist that I give back the amulet after the mess I’d made here.

Barnabas gently pushed Tammy from his shoulder, handing her a black handkerchief. “That was quick.”

“I thought we might have a little time,” Paul said nervously, and I realized just how many lives I’d messed up trying to save one.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, looking at them in turn. “Paul, I didn’t mean to get you in this much trouble.”

“No,” he said firmly, his gaze going haunted as he glanced away. “I’d do it again in a second. The system in place is flawed. I stand by what I believe.” He shifted his feet, frightened but determined. “It’s okay. I’ll be with you.”

“No you won’t.” Nakita grimaced as the light that surrounded Grace fizzed and hummed. “You’re staying here with Tammy to take her home.”

“I’m not leaving her now!” I said loudly. “This is just so they can come back and kill her or slap a guardian angel on her! Which in this case is the same thing!” My thoughts winged back to the guardian angel crying over Tammy, and the thunder in her voice when she told me to change things. That had to mean something. It had to!

Tammy’s expression flashed into fear again. “Don’t leave me. Please!” she said, clutching at Barnabas. “I don’t know what’s going on! I just want to go home!”

“Home is exactly where Paul is going to take you,” Nakita said, just as loudly. Glaring at the light she added, “I’m telling her! Shut up!” With a huff, she turned to me. “Paul is to take Tammy home. Uh, I mean to her aunt’s, where her mother is staying.” She looked at Tammy with hard severity. “They are worried sick about you.”

“I’m sorry.” Tammy’s voice was a faint whisper of real regret, and in it I felt a breath of hope. Maybe she had changed. Maybe she was going to live, touch the lives around her for the better and not just exist.

“Barnabas is going to take Josh home,” Nakita said, and Josh stiffened in protest. “And I,” Nakita said, “am going to take you to Ron’s. It’s almost sunrise there, and the seraphs like the sunrise.” She focused on me, and her eyes pinched in concern. “They know you have your body back.”

Damn it, I was in so much trouble. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The light surrounding Grace popped and went out, startling me. Swallowing hard, I turned to Paul. “You’ll get her home?”

Paul walked across to Tammy, his hand extended. “I’m not as pretty as Barnabas, but I can tell you what’s going on. I’ve seen your future.”

She blinked, the tears almost starting again. “Is it okay?” she warbled.

Turning to the door, Paul started to lead her away, stepping over and around chunks of ceiling tile and foam from the seats. “That depends upon what you do. The future isn’t fixed, you know. You have the choice of your fate. I can tell you what I saw. And then I’ll tell you what could happen if you change a little. Open up and see things differently.”

The knot in my chest started to ease. If I was going to lose my timekeeper status, I’d at least leave with the satisfaction of having saved Tammy’s life. That is, if they let me remember it.

The door to the bus depot squeaked as it opened, and then it fell in a sliding crash to hang from one hinge. Tammy and Paul gingerly stepped around it. Paul turned, holding Tammy’s hand. “If I don’t see you again, Barnabas, I’m sorry for calling you grim. You’re still light. I don’t care what color your amulet is.”

Barnabas ducked his head, seeming to grow taller. “I’m not,” he said, eyes holding determination when they rose, flicking first to me, then Paul. “But thank you.”

Paul nodded and turned back to Tammy. Together they walked down the street, his voice rising and falling as he told her what he had seen in her future.

Slowly my smile faded as my reality soaked in. I had royally messed up. Taken a slice of someone else’s soul. That had to be illegal or something. They were going to take my amulet. Make me forget. Ancient law, Arariel had said. That didn’t sound good. Cold, I wrapped my arms around myself and looked at the busted light. “Is Grace coming?” I asked, knowing I’d feel better if she was.

“She’s here.” Barnabas moved closer to stand beside me. He shook his shoulders, and his long coat shimmered, growing into his black-feathered wings. “I’m taking you to Ron’s,” he said. “Nakita can take Josh home.”

“The seraphs—” Nakita said, and Barnabas glared, leaning until they were nose to nose.

“I. Am. Taking. Her.” Barnabas leaned back, losing his threatening mien. “See you around, Josh.”

But would he? I didn’t know.

“Madison?” Josh said, his voice uneasy.

Shaky and light-headed, I gave him a hug. “Thanks for being here,” I whispered, pressing into him as if he was the only thing real anymore. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope I don’t forget.”

“Me either,” he said as he stepped back and we parted.

Then I glanced up as Grace’s light doubled in brightness.

“I’m . . . sorry.”

“For what?” I said, and Barnabas cleared his throat for us to hurry up.

Josh smiled sickly at me. “I wanted this to work. I know it meant a lot to you.”

My stomach hurt, and I couldn’t look at him. “See you at home,” I said, and Barnabas tugged me to him.

Biting my lip so I wouldn’t cry, I leaned back into Barnabas as his wings enfolded me, and with a sudden feeling of falling, the bus depot melted away and we were gone.