Chapter Seven
It was spread over the table like a spotlight, shining and reflecting off the odd colors of the boys’ hair. There was no source to the light; it simply existed.
Couldn’t anyone else see it?
Ness kept walking toward the table anyway. The boys were in deep conversation—she could have sworn she heard the words, “Well, if you could just stop time for a minute, we could go.” She shook it off, thinking that maybe they were just talking about a video game.
“Hey,” she said, and they abruptly stopped talking. “Um...do you mind if I sit here?”
Jonas looked at Max, who looked at Landon. Landon, however, was looking at Ness with a shy smile on his face. “Go right ahead,” he said, motioning toward the empty seat.
Ness pulled out the chair and sat, looking around at the boys quickly. She already knew Landon, of course; his auburn hair was laced with chunks of light brown, and he had the most extraordinary gray eyes: when she looked into them, she felt as if he had pierced her soul. He had strongly chiseled features and pale, milky skin.
“Ness, that’s Max McCloud and Jonas Gonzales,” Landon told her, pointing to each of the boys in turn. “This is Ness Parazzi. She just moved in across the street from me.”
The boy that Landon introduced as Max looked positively terrified. He had light blonde hair, but it was nearly black at the roots. His eyes, covered by glasses, were bright, shining blue with surprisingly prominent brown flecks in them—and they were wide open in an expression of horror. Something that Mackenzie said moments before rang through her mind: no one would care if he would just…disappear one day.
She turned her eyes to the next boy, afraid that she was scaring the other one. Nearly everything about Jonas Gonzales was dark: his hair was pitch black; his skin was deeply tanned. What stood out in startling contrast were his eyes: they were golden and hawklike, shining yellow.
It would probably give any other person an uncomfortable feeling to sit at a table with three people whose features were so unusual, but not Ness. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so out of place.
“So, Ness…seen any good movies lately?” Jonas asked in a surprisingly normal voice that didn’t quite seem to match his unusual looks.
“Are you kidding me?” Ness said, faking shock. “I lived in Hollywood, for God’s sake.”
Right then, at that exact moment, is where the friendship started. They began talking at once, and the conversation was so animated that not one of them noticed the strange golden haze swirling around the table, though they were perfectly capable of seeing it.
In fact, no one noticed it. Then again, no one else with mortal eyes could have seen the light that enfolded itself around the four. Of course, one of the four did see it from time to time, but eventually it became so normal that they grew used to it.
They spent time together every weekend well into November, and the friendship developed so fast that it seemed as though they had known each other for years instead of just weeks. Ness almost completely forgot about California and missing home, all thanks to Landon, Jonas, and Max. Being around the boys made her feel normal, too: when she was with them, she was no longer the odd-looking redhead with the telekinetic powers. She was somebody with those three, and she was in a place where she belonged.
However, the boys never mentioned their deepest secrets to Ness, nor did she ever reveal her own to them.
They did learn nearly everything else about each other, though, throughout the next three months. Ness was introduced to the boys’ families and they met hers, although they usually avoided the Parazzi-Horowitz house for the simple fact that Claire lived there, too.
It became tradition to spend every Friday and Saturday night together. While other people their age were out doing senseless things like drinking or partying to relieve themselves of stress or just to have fun, the four found comfort in each other’s presence. They had plenty of fun just joking and talking, and nothing else was needed to make their evenings complete.
One chilly Friday night in the middle of November was one of those typical nights: the four of them were sitting around Max’s house playing around with a video camera like the technology had just come out the day before.
Unknown to the four of them, though, this night would not be so typical after all.
“Who knew this could be so much fun?” Landon said, zooming in on an embroidered pillow. He wandered out onto the back deck, which overlooked the woods behind Max’s house.
“Have you ever gone into the woods before?” Ness asked Jonas and Max as they followed Landon outside.
“Yeah, a lot,” Jonas said. “Max and I used to go down there all the time when we were little.”
“We’re going to use it for paintball, or something,” Max added on.
“No, we’re not,” Landon said from behind the camera, pointing the lens to the sky.
Ness had learned during the past few weeks that Jonas and Max went far back—they had been friends since early childhood, and Landon had only met them in high school.
She let her eyes travel to the stars overhead. There were so many visible here without the blaring lights and smog in Los Angeles! She could even see a planet...
“Hey, look,” she said, pointing. “You can see Jupiter from here.”
The three boys looked skyward. “How can you tell?” Jonas asked, craning his neck.
“I used to study sky charts a lot,” Ness confessed.
“You know, we really shouldn’t use the woods for paintball,” Jonas said, looking from the camera to the trees. “We could film some sort of spoof to the Blair Witch Project there or something.”
“Hey...we could!” Landon exclaimed, spinning around and pointing the camera in Ness’s face. “We should.”
“It would be fun...” Max admitted, his voice trailing off.
“It’s really creepy at night,” Landon remarked.
“Go get flashlights,” Jonas said. “It’ll be fun.”
With those three final words, the four went and gathered what they would need for a late-night hike in the woods.
Ness gave Jupiter a final salute, admiring its beauty.
* * * * *
The Holy Council stood on Jupiter, the King of the planets, looking far into the distance at the planet Earth. The three members of the Council were recognizable as nothing but mere vapor hanging in the still air.
However, they were much, much more than that.
“The Archangels have brought word.”
The sentence seemed to float across the galaxy, though it was only whispered. Its source was unidentifiable by sight, but it came from the one called Spirit.
“And?”
“Lucifer’s grip is beginning to tighten,” Spirit continued. “He has sent more of his minions upon Earth to prey on mortals.”
The three entities stayed in thoughtful, powerful silence for a moment.
“Then we must do what is necessary,” the one called Son spoke at last.
“We can't. All of the angels are busy with their own territory that they have to take care of. Sending them away could be disastrous,” Spirit explained.
“Where is he concentrating now?” Son asked.
“In North America,” Spirit said. “The United States, where most people have already fallen easily to many kinds of evil.”
Two of the three entities were in shock. “He’s finally done it. He’s finally trying to bring about the Apocalypse.” Son looked at the third being, the one who hadn’t spoken. “Father, is it time for me to—”
“No.” The third one spoke in a tone so final, so definite, that the universe seemed to go silent. “We have to try and stop him first. We must try another group of mortal angels.”
Son and Spirit gazed at the being quietly. “Have you decided who to choose?”
“The Spark has been reunited. Can you not see it from here?”
Sure enough, the golden light was shining so brightly off the Earth’s surface that it was nearly impossible to miss.
“Four friends have developed a bond that’s becoming so strong Lucifer will have quite a time trying to break it,” the third continued.
Two of three entities whispered quiet agreements as they looked on at their greatest leader.
“Send Camael.”
Again whispered confirmations were passed; two beings looked on as the One with many names, the All-Knowing, peered down on his greatest creations. He could hear them calling to him, praying to him.
“Allah. . . .Our Father. . . .Buddha. . . .My God!”
* * * * *
Ness was in the kitchen trying to find batteries for the flashlight when Landon walked in from the deck.
“It’s cold out there,” he said.
“It shouldn’t be that bad if we’re climbing over stuff in the woods. We’ll probably warm up fast,” Ness replied, ignoring the fact that she was a native Californian and not used to weather below fifty degrees.
She could hear Jonas and Max turning things over in the basement below them; soon, Jonas poked his head out of the door, armed with a mop. He twisted off the spidery cloth end and threw it back down the stairs.
“Ow! Watch it!” Max muttered. He came up holding the top piece and threw it in the basement. “I don’t see why we need that stuff when we can just—”
He suddenly stopped talking in mid-sentence. Ness looked at him blankly, her mild shock concealed behind her eyes. She had been thinking the same thing...but of course, the boys didn’t know how much of a freak she really was...
The four stood in the kitchen looking at each other. It seemed so melodramatic: they all had on black shirts, jackets, and gloves, carrying odd weaponry and a video camera. Ness yanked on her black hat.
“Let’s go,” Max said as he pushed his glasses further up his nose, and they filed out the back door.
Ness found herself walking next to Jonas. “What do you need the mop for?” she asked as they trekked across Max’s backyard.
“There’s all kinds of animals out there. And we have at least one coyote,” he replied.
“Don’t forget about the mad cows,” Max added.
“Mad cows?” Ness asked sarcastically. She had never really seen a cow; she had, after all, never left L.A. before this year.
“Yeah. I’m serious. They’re from all the farms around here.”
“Mad cow farms. Yeah, that makes me want to eat beef,” Landon muttered.
They reached the edge of the yard and looked down the hill—towards the woods.
None of them knew that they were looking their destiny straight in the face.
This needs a bit more work on description, but the dialogue is pretty good, although I don't think you need to suggest that they are going to do/see something extraordianry or anything, I think just the last sentance is enough.
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