Hush, Hush (Bonus)

Chapter 4 Patch

Every time I walked inside Enzo’s, I got a funny feeling. It was one of those uncomfortable wrenches in your gut, reminding you of being someplace when you’d rather be anywhere else. Months before Nora knew who 1 was, I’d sat at a table in the back of Enzo’s, watching her. I’d studied her schedule, her personality, her mannerisms. I’d learned everything I could about her, because I was going to use that information to get close to her, and then sacrifice her for a human body. I’d never told her how long I’d followed her or how meticulously I’d planned. I was trying to forget the memory. I wasn’t the same guy I’d been back then, but I didn’t know if she’d see it that way.

“There she is,” Nora said, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward into the crowd. I sidestepped an unidentifiable ice Sculpture, and there was Vee.

“Well?” Vee asked, pointing overhead at hundreds of red and black balloons twisted together to form a wide snake that dangled from the ceiling. “What do you think?”

“It looks amazing,” Nora answered. “Really, truly amazing. I’m blown away.”

Vee raised her eyebrows at me. She wasn’t asking my opinion. She was daring me to say what I really thought. “ Well, Patch?”

Nora vised my hand threateningly, and I smiled. “Nice work.”

“I’m manning the punch station,” Vee said, turning her body to shut me out of the conversation. “My shift lasts an hour. Come find me and we’ll hang.” And she left.

“Where do you want to sit?” Nora asked me, scanning the tables. “Over there?” She pointed to a table in the back, where the light didn’t reach properly. The same table I’d sat at multiple times while watching her from a distance. It was the last place I wanted to sit. I didn’t want to be here in the first place. Dabria’s words echoed at the back of my mind. The archangels were laying a trap. If I wasn’t careful, I’d walk straight into it. I took a good look at the faces around me, skeptical of them all. Was I being tailed? Probably. The archangels wouldn’t like that I was becoming so intimately involved in Nora’s life. I was new to this, and the rules were old, barely intact memories. I felt my uncertainty rise.

“Here’s just as good,” I said, striding to the nearest empty table and pulling out her chair. I took the adjacent seat and stole a look at my watch under the table. Fifty-five minutes and counting. “I’ll grab us something to drink,” I offered. I was on my feet, anxious to do something.

I thought about telling Nora everything. I thought about telling her the archangels were a serious threat. They were powerful, and they had us outnumbered. But I didn’t want to alarm her until I knew for sure. Right now, I was going on Dabria’s word. I didn’t think she was lying, but I didn’t fully trust her either. She had something to gain from this. What, I still didn’t know.

Bypassing the punch line, I stepped outside. The doors shut behind me, and the parking lot grew quiet. I walked around the side of the building and called Rixon.

“I need you to do something for me,” I told him. “Keep an eye on Dabria.”

“Got a bad feeling?” he asked.

“Worse than usual.”

“Think she’s plotting revenge now that you’ve demoted her to fallen angel?”

“Could be. But I think there’s more. She told me the archangels are holding a grudge and making plans. It’s no secret they don’t like me, but I’m still trying to figure out how they plan on getting rid of me. Dabria claims she has a source. I want to know who it is, and what they know.”

“Consider it done.”

I hung up and went over what I knew. If Dabria was telling the truth, the archangels would have to build a case against me to send me to hell—I hoped. If they intended to do it quietly, they could use underground channels and erase their steps. Years ago I would have put the archangels above foul play, but I’d seen enough to change my mind. I’d seen enough firsthand to change my mind.

Inside Enzo’s, I couldn't find Nora. Our table had been taken over by Marcie Millar, the only person I’d ever known Nora to hate. I walked over.

“Lose your girlfriend?” Marcie asked me when I took the chair beside her.

“You wouldn’t know anything about that?” I returned calmly, but I fixed her with a dark, measured look.

“How much is it worth to you?” She crossed her legs, bumping my knee as she did. It was no accident.

I said nothing. As the silence thickened, it was clear that Marcie grew more unnerved. To her credit, she hid it well.

She shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t want to be found. If you get tired of looking for her, I could use a drink.”

I bent forward in my seat, locking her in an unbreakable gaze. For all intents and purposes, the method—a simple mind-trick—worked as well as hypnosis. Did you take this table from Nora? I asked her thoughts directly.

Marcie didn't blink. “I told her you were looking for her. She left without being asked,” she confessed freely.

Make it up to her by showing yourself out. I commanded her thoughts. The party’s over.

Obediently, Marcie rose to her feet, gathered her belongings, and marched out the exit. If the archangels hadn’t been weighing on my thoughts, I might have taken satisfaction in getting rid of her.

I stood abruptly when I saw Nora across the room, talking to a guy I didn’t know. Her expression was polite and friendly, but she had her arms folded protectively across her chest. Every time he took a step closer, she backed away. She caught me looking and waved me over.

“Patch, this is Anthony Amowitz. He was in my PE class this year. Anthony, this is Patch.”

“Her boyfriend,” I said, snagging two glasses of punch from the refreshments table and handing one to Nora.

“Cool, man,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t find it one bit cool. “So. How’d you two meet?”

“Biology,” I offered.

He nodded. “Nice, nice. How long have you been together?”

I took a sip of punch. “Long enough.”

Nora kicked my shoe discreetly. “About a month,” she told the guy brightly.

“I haven’t seen you around school,” he said, frowning slightly as he examined me head to toe. “Are you new?”

A casual nod.

He laughed, and it was an obnoxious, husky sound. “You got yourself a talker,” he told Nora, as if he could share a private joke with her.

“A pleasure talking to you, Andy.” I handed him my empty punch glass. “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to dance with my girl.”

I led Nora to the open floor at the center of the bistro. Tables and chairs had been pushed along the walls, and couples were already dancing to the music blaring over the speakers.

“Anthony,” she giggled into my ear. “His name is Anthony.”

I smiled down at her. “I don’t like finding you flirting with other men, Angel.”

She pulled on a face of mock nuisance. “That? So not my idea of flirting.”

“What is?”

Her exasperation melted into a slow, provocative curve of her lips. She was beautiful with her face lit up that way. Swaying to the music, I fanned my fingers through her soft curls, watching them spill onto her shoulders. An eyelash had fallen just below her left eye, and I licked my thumb, pressing it to her cheek to catch the eyelash.

“Make a wish,” I instructed her.

“Can I say it out loud?”

I shook my head. “It won’t come true.”

She scrunched her eyes closed and wrinkled her nose. Concentration tightened her face. She peeked, caught me watching, and quickly shut her eyes again. I grinned at her stem, serious expression. I wanted to kiss her, but I didn’t want to break her focus.

“Okay,” she said at last. She drew a deep breath and blew the eyelash off my thumb. I followed it for one brief moment before it sailed out of sight, into the crowd. “What did you wish for?” I asked, knowing she wouldn’t tell.

“I think you know.” She looked up at me then, out from under her eyelashes, gazing at me in a way that dared me to pretend I didn’t know.

“I would have wished for the same thing,” I told her honestly.

“If we both wish for it, maybe it will come true.”

She made it sound possible. She made everything feel within reach. But doubt edged into my mind. I’d faced down many opponents over the years, but none had the strength, influence, and power of the archangels. For the first time, I worried I was out of my league. I would do whatever it took to stay here with Nora, to keep her safe and begin making amends for a lifetime of wrongs, but the challenge felt ominous.

The archangels didn’t lose.