Young Writers Society

Summary:

Have you read Chapter One?

Mitch stood in front of the twelve angels who would decide his fate with a determined expression directed to the marble floor. Some would call him lucky with Barnabas of the new testament, the encourager, in his group of disciples, but the others' hard faces weren't promising.
The avenging angel that had brought him here was whispering the happenings of the arrest to Barnabas, the head disciple, and finally, joined his ten peers as one of the twelve. He seemed bothered and sympathetic.
Barnabas cleaned his spectacles and began with the regular procedure. “Do we have all twelve disciples?” He watched eleven hands appear and nodded. “Do we have the accused?”
Mitch raised his hand and looked up for the first time. His hard eyes met every gaze, and he smiled ever so slightly. He turned to Barnabas and said apologetically, “I've never been to one of these before. Who starts?”
The head disciple frowned and pointed to the accused. “You... unless you want one of us to speak first.”
“Okay then...” He licked his lips nervously and admitted, “I stole the White Bible.” He nodded and rubbed a hand over his face. “But you knew that. I'm obviously not smart enough to plan that though and, as the avenging angels you've sent to search my house will find, I do not have the White Bible. I had a so called partner, but he was really the boss. He came up with the plan and probably had it before he even found me. He found someone stupid enough to join his charade, and now he has the Bible... on earth.” He took a deep breath and said softly, “I'm not trying to make excuses for my actions. I should be thrown into the deepest pits of hell, but I really want to get that Bible back before something really bad happens... And that's all I know. That's all of my bargaining chips. You can go ahead and banish me now.”
Barnabas nodded and jotted a few words on the parchment in front of him. “I got a message before you came, Mitch.” He looked over his glasses and cleared his throat. Pushing down a smile, he announced, “You will not be going to the low or high pits of hell. Instead you have been assigned as a guardian angel to...” He checked the parchment again and continued, “Luke Jenkins. Apparently, he's got himself into some trouble.”
One of the twelve, an angel with the appearance of a young girl with brown hair, jumped up and shouted, “That's hardly fair!”
Barnabas smiled at the girl and nodded. “There you go with you're passion again, Lucy.” He glanced at the parchment for the last time and blinked. “You've just been assigned as well... to an Amy Spindler.”
The girl frowned, obviously disappointed. “Why can't I have Luke?” she whispered.
“You two are to meet with Simon Peter at the next hour.”
Mitch just nodded dumbly and didn't even notice Lucy's black glares. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I won't let you down.
. . .
Long, pale fingers squeezed around the brown neck, and he whispered as Conrad's eyes shot open, “Where is it? What did you do with it? I know the sinner, the faithless, the unbeliever doesn't have it. He would have chucked it.” Low laughs that revealed how unhinged this character was echoed in Conrad's ears. “Now that I touch you I see how evil you really are. You're worse than the blackest of sinners, the wickedest of criminals, the stain on man kind. But you believe. Yes, yes, you believe. You have no choice.”
Conrad growled, “Get off me, vermin.” He became very still and stared into the man's bright eyes. “The serpent has already gotten a hold of you.” He pushed the weak man from him and stood angrily.
The White Bible fell from the sheets, and both sets of eyes went to it. Somehow, long, pale fingers beat Conrad's, and the man was immediately flipping through the pages. “I know what verse. I know what verse,” he kept muttering and danced out of Conrad's reach. “He he he.” The man giggled like a child at Christmas and pointed at a verse. He began reciting it, and Conrad vanished, but the man took no notice.
Luke woke up to shrieking and found the bible beside his head. He reared back as if it was a snake and stared at it. The window was wide open with the ugly puce curtains billowing into the room. The room was quickly growing cold as he continued to stare at the bible. Why was it here? He had thrown it away... Hadn't he?
He looked toward Conrad's bed as his heartbeat slowed and felt a stab of worry. Where was his roommate?
Mitch stood in the corner, very still. It was hardly the beginning of his job, and this guy was already in trouble with a demon!
Well, that demon wouldn't be coming back. The demon had smelled him. That was how they all recognized different species, smell. Barbaric. Mitch realized he had almost become one himself not two hours ago. The idea chilled him.
Luke threw the bible across the room and turned over, refusing to be extremely bothered by any of this. Conrad was taking a piss. He had awoken to those damn pipes that squeaked whenever water ran through them, and that damned book wasn't even real. He was exhausted. His mind was playing tricks on him was all. He groped for his wallet and opened it. He studied the picture and kissed it when his eyes were about to close of their own accord.
Mitch wanted to reach over and grab the Bible that had hit him in the leg, but he had orders. Apparently, more demons were spilling from hell than usual, and Luke could be saved if his guardian angel could just leave the book alone. He took a fortifying breath and picked up the Bible. He walked across the room and set it on the bedside table. There was no reason not to make his charge a little nervous.
. . .
An alarm wailed, and Amy lifted her head from her desk quickly. She pushed herself away from it and hurried toward the door, raking her fingers through her hair.
One of the scientists stood by her office door with a panicked look. “What's happened? I don't know what's happening.”
Amy realized the man would be of no help and quickly abandoned him, only to find all of her scientist in a similar state. She began to run down the halls, stopping only to take off her killer heels. She opened the rooms of her testing samples and glanced at the soldiers. Some beds were full of piles of salt; others still held sleeping bodies.
The building began to shake. What was happening?
Lucy followed at a distance, feeling the work of a demon. She studied the rooms after Amy went through them and frowned. This was bad.
. . .
As the compound began to shake, Luke sat up. His eyes fell on the white bible, and he went cold. What was that damn thing? He got up, grabbing the book, and moved toward the door as he pulled on his pants. He opened the door to see the boss lady look at him with panicked eyes and made it out of the room just in time for the ceiling to collapse in on them both.
Mitch darted between the falling debris and pushed his charge into a safer part of the hallway as Luke jumped to save Amy in an act of pure adrenaline and instincts. He rolled out of the way as well, though he had no need to, and looked up to find Lucy frowning down at him.
“I had that.”
Mitch stood slowly and nodded. “I'm sure you did. I just got it first.”
She rolled her eyes and looked at the scene before them. “Looks like we might be spending some more time together.”
Luke groaned and rolled off of the boss lady as soon as he realized he was lying on top of her. He coughed and sat up slowly. Studying the cave in, he wondered how he had landed where he had but gave it little thought. “Are you okay?” He squinted through the dust at the blonde still lying on the ground, panting and a little worse for wear.
“Fine.” She glanced at the ceiling as the hallway shook again and stood brusquely. “We've got to get out now.”
Luke stood as well and looked at the doors on either side of him. “What of the others?”
“They must already be outside,” she lied to herself and to him. She began to jog down the hallway without looking to see if he was following.
Luke scrambled to catch up, seeing no other way of escape.
Lucy stared at Luke hungrily and walked behind him.
Mitch hesitated. There was something he needed to see... There was another rumble and more dust fell. He turned around in the hallway, searching for something, and finally followed to protect his charge.
. . .
Pale, long fingers tore at the rubble, and an ecstatic sigh was heard as white was revealed, almost unharmed by the cave-in.