Whisper (The Whisper Trilogy) Read online

  “You know,” Silas’s voice broke into my ecstasy as we exited the dank apartment building. “She is completely safe now.”

  I glanced over at him, flitting along next to my shoulder. “I know! That was so great, Silas. I totally knew what to do with those Darks.” Kicking and twisting at the air, I reenacted the fight. “I got rid of them pretty fast, don’t you think? I mean there were a lot of them.” I sighed, content. “So, do I keep an eye on Jen? Is she like one of my charges now?”

  “No, Calliope. As I said, she is completely safe now. No Darks can touch her.” He flew in front of me and faced me, moving backwards at my pace. “Once you save a soul, you change their lives forever. You touch them with your goodness, and it keeps the darks away for good. In a way, you leave your mark on them, or I should say, His mark. From now on, there is an invisible shield around little Jen that makes it impossible for the Darks to get to her.”

  “Awesome! So, she’ll be fine now. No more bulimia bull.” That was a relief. How anyone could gag themselves was beyond me. I couldn’t even stand when the doctor stuck the popsicle stick in my mouth to look at my tonsils. I hated gagging.

  “Well, she is human, and she has her own set of limitations, unfortunately, but she won’t have any demons around to encourage her fears any longer.” He pushed out his chest and smiled proudly at me then. “Thanks to you.” What a smug little Micro he was, wings all puffed up and nose in the air.

  Sure, Silas, it was all because of your gentle but firm coaching that I had become teen angel of the year. You get the award for best Micro ever. Your prize is... wait for it…. a gorgeous pink paisley scarf. I was pretty sure he had a speech stashed up that polka dot sleeve just for moments like this. Really… what a piece of work this little guy was.

  “So, I have some questions for you.” I hated to admit it, but I really needed a few answers.

  “I’d be happy to explain anything you need to know, Calliope.”

  “Do I really need to ask or can you take a little field trip in my head and find the questions to your answers, Si?” I huffed, put off by his smugness. So unfair that he could read my mind when I was the one who could seriously use some telepathic guidance at crunch time.

  “My vision into your mind is limited, Calliope. It only works when you are directing your thoughts at me or about me and when I am present. I am not… omniscient, so to speak.”

  Imagine that. Silas was admitting to limitations. Stranger things, I suppose. “Okay then. Good to know.”

  “Go on with your questions, Calliope.” He hovered, and I sat down on a rusty green metal bench in front of the apartment building. The sky was getting kind of dark. I had no idea what time it was, but I was pretty sure my parents were gonna take that cell phone back after this disappearing stunt. I did need to get home, but first I had to know a couple of things.

  “First, what do I do at school when Jen recognizes me and shouts out – hey you’re the crazy girl from my bathroom!”

  “As I said, she will have no memory of that.

  “Okay, how does that work?”

  “Any human who witnesses a supernatural occurrence whether it be with an Arc like yourself or a Micro like me will forget all about it directly after the event.” He perched on the bench next to me and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes, a human won’t even be able to identify when the supernatural is happening right in front of them. It’s called – “

  Suddenly we were interrupted by a piercing yell. “Aye Mama!”

  Thanks for the heart attack, Jules. Geez

  “Jules, what’s wrong?”

  “I broke my favorite heel!” She whined, throwing her hands towards the sky or the heavens. These days, the cosmic borders weren’t altogether clear for me. “These are Jimmy Choo knock offs, Silas.” Jules’ pout was straight out of Hollywood. This time, her wardrobe was more motorcycle chick meets Miss Universe. Her skintight black leather pants had rhinestone studs up the sides of her legs, matching the ones on her hot pink tank top that spelled out “HOT.”

  Yeah, it was in all caps. Shouldn’t there be a more conservative dress code for angels? I mean, her shimmery black feather wings were actually adorned with pink glitter and rhinestones today. Didn’t this chicky have better things to do than accessorize and file her super long fingernails?

  “Can’t you just touch it and say something so that the heel goes back to normal, Jules?” So, Micros could apparate and fly but they needed superglue to fix stuff? I was so lost.

  She glared at me.

  “Poor Jules.” Silas turned the tiny shoe around in his hand, admiring it with silent oohs and ahhs and totally ignoring me. “This is a great shoe.” Really? Like a broken heel was a national tragedy or something… I mean, I totally understood shoe love, but Silas was over the top. Part of me wondered if he wasn’t a little pleased that Jules’ shoe was ruined. I think he was mildly jealous that she could wear those shoes and he couldn’t. I guess The Boss had to draw the line somewhere when it came to angel dress code. What did I know, really though? If Jules could dress like she did, maybe there were even angels in drag. I winced at the thought of Silas playing around in my closet.

  “So, the word on the golden streets, leetle girlie, is that you have an affinity for slaying Darks.” She raised one perfectly waxed eyebrow at me. “Nice work.”

  Wow, was Jules actually paying me a compliment? Who knew things could get even crazier. “Yeah, I guess I’ve got skills.” I still needed answers though. “But, I was wondering... you know when I told Jen there was somebody bigger than her who cared about her…”

  “Yes.” Jules and Silas said in unison. They reminded me of a couple of Los Angeles hair dressers on break, Jules with one hand on her glam hip, lighting up a cigarette with the other and Silas, leaning into her, holding his chin in his hands, like The Thinker.

  “Well, I just can’t figure out where all of that came from.” Like I said before, I was raised Catholic, but we really didn’t talk openly about God in my house. My parents sent us to Christian education classes and assumed we were learning what we needed to know. We did a lot of note passing and doodling at those classes. So where the heck had I learned how to wax eloquent on Jesus?

  “Calliope,” Jules began in her throaty Italian voice, “It is instinct for you to fight the Darks. Somewhere inside of you there are many memories of all the things you experienced as an Arc before you were sent here.” She took a long drag and exhaled slowly. “So, all of this knowledge is inside of you. You will access it as you need it, as time passes.”

  “So, where was I before I was sent here?”

  They looked at each other like they were weighing whether it was okay to answer my question. Silas shrugged and picked a piece of fuzz from his blouse.

  “Well, you were in Heaven, of course.” Jules said matter of factly. “With the rest of us. With everyone.”

  Surely after all of the insanity that had invaded my teenage life thus far, I should have been able to embrace anything. Not true. Every new piece of this crazy puzzle had to be oiled and gently coaxed into its place for me to accept it. Heaven? What was next? Hell?

  “Of course. Where do you think Darks come from?” Silas almost rolled his eyes at me.

  “Callie girl, let me explain to you.” Jules’s giant wings fluttered easily as she landed on a gate post across from the bench I no longer could sit still on. She crossed her long leather legs, leaned back and tossed her auburn hair dramatically. “This world you live in is only a small small place on the… how can I say it…? On the cosmic map.” She was so pleased with herself for that explanation, and I still had no freakin clue what she was talking about.

  “You see, Calliope, Heaven is much much larger and grander than anything here on Earth. You’ve caught glimpses of it – the colors, the sounds, the seemingly strange abilities you have.” Silas continued. “Heaven is where we all originated, humans and angels alike. He created us all so long ago, before there was even a hint of the
war that rages now. Of course, I’m sure He knew it would come to pass. After all, Lucifer was His creation.”

  “So, you’re talking about God? The actual God?”

  They both grinned, and Jules sucked on her cigarette again. “Yes, Callie.” She exhaled. “The actual God.”

  Let them laugh, but this was way hard for even my advanced psyche to grasp.

  “Some humans know part of the story. Lucifer became jealous, wanted power, wanted to be God.”

  Jules interrupted. “I think he just got bored actually, and he was ticked that God had given him tiny horns. He always envied the ones that Miklas has – the ones that look like… what do you call it…? A ramses?”

  “A ram?” I ventured a guess. I felt like I was on a game show in Wonderland. Soon, the white rabbit would rush into the picture lamenting his tardiness. I rubbed my forehead.

  “Yes, that’s right, a ram. You, know a big reindeer or something. So, Lucifer, he decides he’s going to stage a coup, right?” She was laughing, as if she was recounting a funny family story that keeps getting retold year after year at reunions. “He takes his puny – you know he is a short sheet, right? Anyways, he takes his puny fork tailed self in front of the rest of the angels and announces his plan to take over and become… God. The actual, God.” She snickered.

  “So,” Silas took over when Jules collapsed into giggles. I was beginning to wonder if that was an actual cigarette she was smoking. It smelled a little off. Micros… honestly! “When The Boss found out about Lucifer, He was just heartbroken.” He shook his head sadly, obviously taking this tale a little more seriously than his glittery counterpart. “I mean, He doesn’t really have favorites, right? But isn’t that what all parents say? Deep down, I think Lu was one of His favorites, don’t you, Jules?”

  “Yes.”

  “But, a parent has to do the right thing, not the easy thing, and He had to set an example. So, he exiled Lucifer to Hell, which no one even knew existed up until that point. And, when we saw what it was like, believe me – none of us wanted to cross the Boss after that.”

  “Is it like in books, Silas?” I shuddered just thinking about it. “Fiery lakes and torture and everything?”

  “No.” He looked up thoughtfully. “In hell, there is nothing. I mean total nothing. It is void of any feeling, including negative. It is the worst torture, and it especially was for someone like Lu, who was already antsy in paradise.”

  “And, if you can even believe this,” Jules spoke up. “I think He would accept Lucifer back into the fold even now after everything that has happened. He’s just that way. Once you say you’re sorry and mean it, He forgets the past.”

  “So what happened after Lucifer was exiled? If there’s nothing, where did all of the Darks come from?”

  “Well, to that little red short sheet’s credit, he does actually have some brains under those leetle horns, huh Si?”

  “Yes. Lucifer figured out how to create some power of his own, nothing of course that could challenge God, but he did figure out a way to get to his creator –through torturing other creations, namely humans. Lu channeled his smarts into creating demons – Raysers, Marks, Blinders, Sways… there are all kinds, Calliope. And, all of these demons prey on different types of humans in different ways. If a human is destroyed by Lucifer’s Darks, he claims that soul and gets to keep it in his nothing world for eternity.”

  “That sucks.” What else could I say? I wasn’t even sure I understood all of this. How was I supposed to wrap my head around Hell being a void, like a big black hole?

  “Yes, Calliope. So, you see, there is a war that has been raging for eons. Lucifer wants revenge for being exiled, for not being able to be equal to God. We angels are God’s soldiers, fighting against Lucifer’s Darks. Anytime He loses even one of His humans, it is like a thousand swords to his heart. He is truly heartbroken over every one that’s lost; they are His children, Calliope.”

  Jules and Silas were silent then for a moment. So, they did do solemn once in a while. I tried to digest it all.

  “Callie,” Jules started. “You can’t remember right now - your mind had to be strongly altered in order for you to be able to act like a normal human, but you were chosen. Eons ago, when we were all living the good life behind the gates…” She smiled and looked wistfully off to the right. “Everything was perfect there before. And after… well,” Jules gestured at our surroundings and grimaced. “Here we are, angels who haven’t fallen from grace but fallen for grace. Chosen to defend and protect His creations, Callie. That’s what we are.” I looked at her, still dazed despite all of her waxing. She waved a hand at me, dismissing. “Everything will come back to you in time.” She patted me on the head like I was the Chihuahua that would totally have completed her look. I was thinking too hard to even roll my eyes at her.

  So, I was an Arc, an angel soldier sent here by the actual God to protect teenagers from demons called Raysers. It was all so crazy, but somewhere deep down I could feel that it was true. Not only did it explain all of the unexplainable recent events, but also I could feel some of the memories surfacing. The amazing music I could hear, the wild colors I could see; I sensed that these were part of my identity, the part that had been blocked out for sixteen years.

  We headed home in silence broken only by Silas’s incessant humming of some Miley Cyrus song. He really had no clue… really.

  When I poked my head through the back door of the kitchen, I fully expected my Mom to knock me over with a relieved and also angry embrace.

  She didn’t.

  There she was at the kitchen counter jamming on her IPod and slicing a watermelon. She didn’t seem upset or worried in the least. Maybe she hadn’t noticed I was gone. “Hey Cal,” She smiled easily at me and went back to shaking her hips and doing the smooch mouth.

  Weird… on so many levels.

  7

  “You’d think that a girl who has been waiting ages and ages for a cell phone would answer texts from her best friend.” Mila’s eyes were squinty and accusing as she pushed through the always open front door on Sunday morning.

  “Sorry,” I looked away, guilty as charged but also totally preoccupied with the smoke rings Jules was puffing towards the ceiling in the family room. How did she get them so perfect?

  “Eternities of practice, leetle Callie.” She flashed her bleached white teeth at me and winked.

  “What smells in here?” My mom was hurrying around trying to find everyone’s shoes and her purse. “Mila, I seriously hope you are not smoking cigarettes. I am going to talk to your mother again.”

  “Mrs. Evans, I am not smoking.” She rolled her eyes. “God, Callie.”

  “Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, Mila!” Mom yelled, on a roll now. How did she sniff out Jules’s smoke? That woman was a hound!

  “Callie, why do I agree to go to church with you guys on Sundays?” Mila plopped down on the couch, cracking her gum loudly. “It’s such a circus for you all to even get out of the house, right?”

  “Yeah,” I sputtered, trying to be nonchalant while I waved the invisibly smoky air around and glared at the snickering Jules. I knew why Mila went to church with us on Sundays. It was because Lily prayed to Saint Mattress on Sunday mornings; she liked to sleep in on the weekends. When Mom offered out of good Christian duty or something to take Mila with us, Lily was all over it. I think Mom was hoping to instill some values into my sidekick, thereby decreasing the risk of Mila being a bad influence on me. Judging by the way my mother eyed Mila’s heavily advertised cleavage, she was probably beginning to doubt her well intentioned plan.

  Mila really didn’t dig coming to church with us, and I guess I couldn’t blame her. Mass wasn’t exactly exciting or entertaining. Father Tom was like a hundred years old or something, and he mumbled a lot when he wasn’t singing off key. Also, it was the same routine more or less every Sunday. Sit, stand, kneel, sit stand, kneel and so on. So, Mila sat and popped her gum and passed me notes, which my mother usu
ally intercepted. This was usually followed by a great show of dramatic sighing and eye rolling from Mila. At some point during the hour, my brothers would usually do something inappropriate, like fart quietly and have a contest over whose was smellier. Mila didn’t have brothers. She didn’t do gross, and this trick would usually send her totally over the edge. Overall, it was never really a spiritual or even positive experience for Mila.

  Just then, out of nowhere Sam hurled himself into the room and onto Mila’s lap. Jack followed, plowing into the heap, yelling. “Give it back, Sam! It’s not yours!”

  “Jackie has a girlfriend!” Sam teased.”Look, he wrote her a looooovvve poem.” Seriously? I rolled my eyes while Mila fought her way out of the heap of immaturity that was my brothers. I don’t think they even noticed they were on top of her (yeah, they were that clueless), but she sure did.

  “God, you’re both just gross!” She yelled at them and tried to iron out the red mini dress she wore over leggings. “I totally need a shower.”

  “Come on kids, let’s go.” Mom, in a frenzy as usual, had her eye on the prize. Just get them all out the door, frantic as ever.

  “Your house is always in such an uproarious state, Calliope.” Silas muttered matter of factly, perching on the mantle and examining his fingernails.

  Tell me about it.

  I was beginning to get used to Silas and Jules sharing my space. I didn’t gawk anymore at Jules’s crazy outfits. I no longer was surprised by Silas’s “naiveté.” Yeah, that was a nice way of calling him thick.

  But truly… the guy didn’t realize that Boy Bands weren’t really for boys, and humming Justin Beiber’s “Baby” was not exactly considered cool, especially if you were dressed like Mr. Roper from Three’s Company. Where on earth had he heard that song anyways? Did the guy spend his free time listening to Disney’s XM radio or what?

  “Calliope, there is nothing wrong with Disney. It is quite a popular phenomenon these days.”

  I rolled my eyes. Yeah, when they were around, they were usually in my head. Maybe they couldn’t even help it – like my thoughts were their white noise or something.