He leans in, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, and his hand lingers there. I can’t stop myself from looking up into his brilliant eyes, even as it makes my blood heat and my breathing turn shallow.
“Tell me the truth,” he urges.
“Fine. Yes. I feel special.” I place my palm over the hand at the side of my head, cupping it. “Thank you, Malak.”
“Dusk,” he croons, his eyes dipping to my lips.
“What?”
“My name.”
“Oh.Dusk.” My voice comes out more heady than I intend. “You were serious about that?”
His eyes flick back up to mine, seeming to glow even hotter, more entrancing, with so little distance between us. “Absolutely.”
I’m frozen for a moment, slightly panicking, as I try to get a proper read on this situation. With that look he’s giving me, I can’t tell if he’s simply being sincere or if he wants to lean down and kiss me. I don’t know what I’d do if he did. Would he taste like Heaven? Would I go to Hell for defiling a holy messenger?
Oh, God. I need out of this position.
“Right, uh…” Trying to act casual, I take a step backward?—
“There’s something else I need to tell you.”
I wince at the sudden, solemn seriousness in his voice. Considering he’s already told me the world is ending, I don’t know what could possibly be worse. Slowly, I turn around, trying my best to hide my dread from my features. “Yes?”
“The great evil, the one we need the help of these locusts to fight, is not only from Earth.”
Oh, is that all? I figured as much. “You mean the devil?”
“Not necessarily.” He seems especially careful with how he articulates this, as if he’s seeking the least scary explanation possible. “For every religion you ask, they call it something different. The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles… Details get lost to human history, turning stories into half-true legends. In reality, there’s a whole group of people to blame. We prefer to call them, collectively, the Adversary.”
“People,” I say with finger quotations, taunting him into something more specific.
“Fallen angels, if you will.”
“Knew it.”
“Kae. This is serious.” He leans forward, his eyes suddenly pleading with me. Again. It’s incredible how drastically his expressions can change in an instant. A moment ago, he was delicate. Now, he’s looking at me as if I’m the answer he desperately seeks. Like I’m all of humanity’s absolution. “Every day you spend here on the surface, you’re risking your life. The Adversary wants to abolish the Almighty’s benevolent rule, elevating their rogue sect above everyone and everything. They’ll stop at nothing to get their way. And you… Well, with your latent abilities, your mere existence is a threat to them. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill you while you’re still an easy target. It’s a miracle I found you before they did.”
A miracle indeed.
Or just plain suspicious.
How do I knowheisn’t with this Adversary? I haven’t met another angel to corroborate his story, but if I don’t go with him, I may never get the chance to. It’s a lot to gamble. “And you alone are going to keep me safe from this group of evil angels while I try to open this supernatural lock?”
He shakes his head. “The Abyss is a fortress. It isn’t the most pleasant city to stay in, but you’ll be safe and well-protected there. You just have to choose to come with me and seek out your gift.”
I have to choose? I don’t know about that. I don’t see anythingstopping him from throwing me over his shoulder and just dragging me down there.
Something isn’t adding up here.
If I’m going to do this, to really commit the rest of my life to this massive cosmic battle, then I need to find out what Duskisn’tsaying. He dances around my questions like a professional ballerina, entertaining me with the bare minimum of information. If I want answers, I have to take this next step. It’s the only way forward.
“Okay,” I drag the words out of my throat, voicing them with as much shaky confidence as I can muster. “I guess you’ve convinced me. I’ll go.”
“Good.” Malak lets out a breath of relief, nodding to himself. “That’s good?—”
“My only condition is I don’t want my family and friends to be worried about me while I’m gone. I don’t want to simply disappear. I need a cover story. And I have a good idea for what it can be.”
