I can’t make out the highest ones. There are more books in here than I’ve seen in my lifetime, and I work in a public library. In the middle of the room is a long row of desks and chairs and a bank of computer screens.
Daniel and three other Rephaim are clustered around the largest. The library is a strange hybrid of mediaeval and modern: the tables are antiques, the chairs ergonomic; the parquetry floor worn with age, the screens flat and shiny. This is probably where the Rephaim tracked Rafa online and found my short story: the one that set all of this in motion.
‘Technology’s improved since we left,’ Ez says to Mya. Mya doesn’t respond.
Daisy registers our arrival but her attention is fixed on whatever’s on the screen. We hang back. Jude is still craning his neck, checking out the library, while the other Outcasts shuffle behind us, impatient. The screens at our end of the table are all cold, blank.
I unzip my jacket. ‘Who’s Zarael going to see?’
‘Tourists,’ Ez says. She’s trying to peer over shoulders to see what’s in front of Daniel. ‘Hundreds come by bus twice a week.’
I stare at her. ‘Why would Nathaniel encourage that?’
‘The Sanctuary is a thousand years old. Pilgrims were coming here long before Nathaniel moved in.’
‘But it’s crawling with Rephaim.’
‘The tours never come past the front chapel. The rest of the world thinks this a closed order. Everyone trains indoors the days the buses come.’
And obviously the buses are here now.
Magda breaks away from the cluster around Daniel and comes over to us, cautious. Intelligent brown eyes shift from me to Ez to Mya and back to Ez. She’s still clutching her beads.
‘Let me turn this on for you so you can see what they’re looking at.’
Ez steps out of her way. Mya doesn’t move, forcing Magda to walk around her. She turns on the nearest screen and brings up images from four cameras, each showing a different angle of the front entrance.
‘It’s a live feed.’ Magda moves aside so we can crowd around the screen.
‘Oh god, it’s peak hour out there,’ Ez says.
There must be a hundred tourists milling about the gravel car park, most with silver hair and rounded shoulders. Some are climbing out of buses and forming groups around their guides, others line up for the chapel. A monk poses for photos while two others usher the visitors towards the main steps.
No sign of the Gatekeepers.
‘What do we do?’ I ask.
‘We wait.’ Daniel doesn’t look away from his screen. At least he’s acknowledged we’re here.
‘For what?’ Mya demands. ‘Zarael to send out a hellion?’
‘He won’t attack humans. He knows better than to draw that sort of attention.’
‘Of course they’ll attack. That’s what they do.’
Daniel finally turns his head. ‘No, Mya, they threaten humans to bait you. You take the bait, the demons attack, and then they kill the witnesses. The Gatekeepers have never openly attacked humans unless you and your crew have been in the vicinity.’
‘That’s not true,’ Jude says. ‘What about the ship? Zarael let hellions feed on aid workers—’
‘Do you remember that incident?’ Daniel straightens from the desk.
‘I’ve dreamed about a hellion on a ship. I didn’t know what it meant until today.’
‘So your dreams differ from Gabriella’s?’
‘Who cares?’ Mya shifts her weight, taps her fingers on the edge of the worn desk. ‘You should be more worried about what’s happening out there.’ She’s wound tight. Too tight. She wasn’t even like this before we went to LA.
Daniel’s gaze slips to me for a second before returning to Mya. ‘I’m not inciting a battle in the front car park. We will not engage with the Gatekeepers unless there is absolutely no avoiding it.’
Jude scratches his jaw with the hilt of his katana. ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to get the tourists inside the walls before something happens?’
‘That’s what the monks are
Daniel and three other Rephaim are clustered around the largest. The library is a strange hybrid of mediaeval and modern: the tables are antiques, the chairs ergonomic; the parquetry floor worn with age, the screens flat and shiny. This is probably where the Rephaim tracked Rafa online and found my short story: the one that set all of this in motion.
‘Technology’s improved since we left,’ Ez says to Mya. Mya doesn’t respond.
Daisy registers our arrival but her attention is fixed on whatever’s on the screen. We hang back. Jude is still craning his neck, checking out the library, while the other Outcasts shuffle behind us, impatient. The screens at our end of the table are all cold, blank.
I unzip my jacket. ‘Who’s Zarael going to see?’
‘Tourists,’ Ez says. She’s trying to peer over shoulders to see what’s in front of Daniel. ‘Hundreds come by bus twice a week.’
I stare at her. ‘Why would Nathaniel encourage that?’
‘The Sanctuary is a thousand years old. Pilgrims were coming here long before Nathaniel moved in.’
‘But it’s crawling with Rephaim.’
‘The tours never come past the front chapel. The rest of the world thinks this a closed order. Everyone trains indoors the days the buses come.’
And obviously the buses are here now.
Magda breaks away from the cluster around Daniel and comes over to us, cautious. Intelligent brown eyes shift from me to Ez to Mya and back to Ez. She’s still clutching her beads.
‘Let me turn this on for you so you can see what they’re looking at.’
Ez steps out of her way. Mya doesn’t move, forcing Magda to walk around her. She turns on the nearest screen and brings up images from four cameras, each showing a different angle of the front entrance.
‘It’s a live feed.’ Magda moves aside so we can crowd around the screen.
‘Oh god, it’s peak hour out there,’ Ez says.
There must be a hundred tourists milling about the gravel car park, most with silver hair and rounded shoulders. Some are climbing out of buses and forming groups around their guides, others line up for the chapel. A monk poses for photos while two others usher the visitors towards the main steps.
No sign of the Gatekeepers.
‘What do we do?’ I ask.
‘We wait.’ Daniel doesn’t look away from his screen. At least he’s acknowledged we’re here.
‘For what?’ Mya demands. ‘Zarael to send out a hellion?’
‘He won’t attack humans. He knows better than to draw that sort of attention.’
‘Of course they’ll attack. That’s what they do.’
Daniel finally turns his head. ‘No, Mya, they threaten humans to bait you. You take the bait, the demons attack, and then they kill the witnesses. The Gatekeepers have never openly attacked humans unless you and your crew have been in the vicinity.’
‘That’s not true,’ Jude says. ‘What about the ship? Zarael let hellions feed on aid workers—’
‘Do you remember that incident?’ Daniel straightens from the desk.
‘I’ve dreamed about a hellion on a ship. I didn’t know what it meant until today.’
‘So your dreams differ from Gabriella’s?’
‘Who cares?’ Mya shifts her weight, taps her fingers on the edge of the worn desk. ‘You should be more worried about what’s happening out there.’ She’s wound tight. Too tight. She wasn’t even like this before we went to LA.
Daniel’s gaze slips to me for a second before returning to Mya. ‘I’m not inciting a battle in the front car park. We will not engage with the Gatekeepers unless there is absolutely no avoiding it.’
Jude scratches his jaw with the hilt of his katana. ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to get the tourists inside the walls before something happens?’
‘That’s what the monks are
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