Devil's Advocate (The X-Files: Origins #2)(18)

“Let me think, now. There was a quote about it in Ezekiel, but don’t ask me chapter and verse. Something about them having two sets of wings and hooves … How’d it go? ‘The face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they had the face of an ox on the left side; and also the face of an eagle.’ That’s not it exactly, but close enough to be going on with.”

The blue of her eyes seemed very bright in the morning sunlight, and there was no hint of a troubled mind. That, as much as what Gran was saying, chilled the whole kitchen.

Gran shook her head. “If you’re having dreams about angels, Dana, then you need to be careful. Not all ugly angels are bad, and not all beautiful ones are good. They’re not human, and you can’t judge them the way you judge a human. That’s how people get hurt. Everything about them is different from what it seems.” She laughed. “Maybe that’s how the devil came to be called the prince of lies. If he’s an angel, then nothing about him is the simple truth.”

“How can I tell if it’s real or just a dream?” asked Dana.

Gran considered the question, but as she thought about it, her face began to change, and Dana’s heart sank. She saw the cloudiness of confusion steal the clarity from those blue eyes as surely as if the pall of a storm had rolled in front of the sun. It happened quickly. In the space of a few seconds, Gran retreated back into the shadows of her own mind.

“Gran…?” asked Dana cautiously.

Her grandmother smiled. “Oh, good morning, Melissa,” said Gran brightly. “There’s coffee made.”

Dana got up and walked around the table to kiss her grandmother on the cheek. That soft cheek.

“I love you, Gran,” she murmured.

“I love you, too, Margaret. Be sure to clean your room before you go out with that Scully boy. He’s a scoundrel.”

Margaret was her mother’s name.

“I will,” said Dana.

“Dana…?” called her mother from the hall. “Is Gran with you?”

“We’re in the kitchen.”

Her mom came in, and her dad followed a few moments later. Charlie came in, too, but he was clearly not completely awake and still wearing the superhero mask he obviously slept in. He sat down and stared with unblinking eyes at a bowl of cornflakes. It was a rare thing for the Scullys to have breakfast together, but Dana didn’t comment on it. There was a palpable tension in the air. Mom and Dad set about making coffee and preparing breakfast, neither saying much of anything. Gran retreated further into herself and Dana went back to her chair. Melissa came in yawning, too, dressed for school but with her hair still tousled. She gave wordless grunts and poured some of the fresh coffee, ladled in four spoonfuls of sugar, and thumped down on her chair. Her coffee was half gone before she blinked her eyes clear and looked around.

“What’s with everyone this morning?” asked Melissa.

Mom put a plate of eggs and toast in front of her. “Here you go. Hurry up and eat or you’ll be late.”

Melissa cut a look at her father, whose mouth was locked into a tight line, then over at Dana. They didn’t have to say a word to each other to know what was going on. Mom and Dad had had another fight. That seemed to be happening more often since moving here.

Breakfast proceeded with arctic coldness.

Only Gran was smiling as she thoroughly buttered both sides of her toast.





CHAPTER 18

Francis Scott Key Regional High School 7:27 A.M.

“Glad they didn’t suspend you,” said Eileen.

“I thought they were going to expel you,” said Dave. “That’s what everyone was saying.”

The Minderjahns had intercepted the sisters in the hall, and the four of them were clustered together around Melissa’s locker.

“Well, then everyone’s stupid,” growled Melissa, instantly coming to Dana’s defense.

Teens moved like currents up and down the hall, and a lot of them gave Dana looks. Anger, amusement, curiosity, and contempt, all in equal measure.

“It’ll pass,” said Eileen with confidence.

“Yeah,” said Dave. “Everyone’s hurt and scared right now, so you freaking out gave them something else to focus on. Otherwise they’d have to deal with their own stuff. What’s it called? Transference? Something like that.”

Melissa nodded. “Right. And anyone who doesn’t get over it, anyone who keeps holding it against you, well … I guess it’s safe to say they’re not your real friends.”

“I don’t have any real friends,” said Dana. Then she gasped as she realized how hurtful that sounded, but Eileen gave her a motherly smile and a pat on the arm.

“We’re your friends,” she assured her.

“Yeah,” said Dave, though he was looking at Melissa when he said it.

The bell rang for class, and they all went off in different directions. Dana tried to be invisible, but she could feel the eyes on her. At first everyone treated her exactly as she expected, and she was convinced she had a huge winking neon light over her head that said WEIRDO. But the wattage of contempt seemed to diminish after her first class. It wasn’t that anyone rushed up to hug her, but instead they seemed to simply pull away and focus on their own lives rather than hurl mental stones at her. Dave had been right, at least in part.