Heaven's Trumpet - 2. So May It Secretly Begin

[Chapter 2]

I sent the phone into subspace with a wrist flick and looked around with so many emotions warring within my chest. I didn’t know how to feel at the moment. I couldn’t pinpoint one emotion that was more extreme than any other. I hoped the guys were taking it better than I was. I was always the more dramatic of the four of us. I owned up to it proudly.

Eight months of peace.

I wish it had been longer.

I closed my eyes. I didn’t have to search for it. Behind my vision, within my mind's eye, I could see it – that spark of light, bright and eternal, floated in an ocean of black. Mentally I grasped at it and was immersed within its energy.

I felt more than saw my clothes shift, changing form, growing lighter and heavier at once. I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror covering the closet door.

I was now clothed in a black bodysuit that looked like the uniforms the X-Men wore from the films. It was made of a material that was similar to Kevlar thread, but a hundred times stronger, and more akin to nano-carbon tube fibers.

A billowing, black cloak hung around my shoulders with the cape trailing behind my back, down to my ankles. The same weave of the suit was also incorporated into the cape as well, making it just as tough. The hood, or cowl as Ryan kept reminding me to call it, covered my head obscuring parts of my face in shadow. Everything above my mouth was hidden in the shadows the hood created, and only my eyes in the upper half of my face could be seen, piercing and bright, in the dense darkness.

A pendant, resting on my collarbone had been fixed onto the cloak, like a clasp and securing it in place. I ran my fingers over the smooth surface of the pendant. I bit my bottom lip. Was I ready for this? I had to be. I was born for this after all. I had no choice.

I hoped mom didn’t get the bright idea to check on me tonight. I didn’t need questions that I wasn’t ready to answer. There wasn't time to think about the consequences. People were dying now. I had to go.

I opened the window and instantly the cool fall breeze hit me in the face. I closed my eyes briefly and focused on being determined. It had been a while since I had to go play hero. I straightened my back and let it fill me up. Time to go.

"Angels above me,
Clouds circling thee.
Lend me your wings,
So I can jump higher
Than the tallest tree."

I clapped my hands and thrust them toward the carpet, letting the final portion of the spell activate with a push of will and magic.

"Leap of faith!"

A pair of white wings with downy feathers, so soft at the touch, appeared in sparkles pinned at both of my ankles. Like Hermes, my winged boots would carry me with the swiftness of the wind and with the flight of gods. I jumped out of the window without hesitation. How often had I done this? Too many times to count.

I faintly registered touching the ground before I was bounding back up through the air, faster than a breeze, and higher than a building. My feet touched the roof of a house and I was in the air again, leaping miles within a single bound. I roof-hopped my way across the city appearing as no more than a blur, as with each leap I gained more speed and momentum for longer and more powerful jumps. Powered by magic and backed by the wings of the god of messengers, this mode of transportation took me to my destination within minutes.

I landed perfectly on the roof adjacent to the Centennial Museum of Art. I was getting better at not making with the klutz attacks. The area surrounding the building was barricaded by police and squad cars with their glowing sirens lighting the air in whirling colors of blue and red. Behind the barricades reporters and civilians clamored, moving against each other in anxiety, as they watched the police evacuate the wounded and regroup behind squad cars. SWAT gathered near an armored truck preparing and planning to move in and bring this to an end.

It would end all right. It would end in a bloodbath. Whatever was in that building was something that mortals had no hope of facing. If they did then the Chosen wouldn’t exist. We protect them when they can’t protect themselves.

I was doing some intense brooding. All I needed was a tape recorder and a smoking Christian Slater and I could go all Interview with the Vampire. Subtract Vampire and add Chosen, of course.

I heard a piercing whistle and an accompanying boom that echoed through the night. I knew that familiar sound. That noise was pressure waves piled up on top of each other from an object moving faster than the speed of sound. There was only one person I knew that often casually broke the sound barrier. I whipped around and barely caught sight of Omega landing a dozen feet away.

Omega walked to my side and his expression was solemn.“Hey, darling.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Hey.” I gestured down at the scene below us. “It’s a mess down there.” I studied the chaotic street with its panicking people. “Looks almost like a Saturday night at Killian’s house.”

A giant globe of orange light settled down on the rooftop near us. It burst apart in an explosion of sparkles leaving the Executioner and Solaris standing in the afterglow. Solaris leveled me with a challenging look. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the dark visor but I knew he was glaring at me. It made me smile and I was sure my eyes were twinkling, which just increased the scowl on his face.

“What was that, Warlock?” he asked.

I shrugged, smiling brightly. “Just a casual observation.”

The Executioner cleared his throat. “If I may interrupt the pissing contest, I think we’re needed.”

Good old Ryan. Always pointing us toward our mission. Get’cha head in the game, Summers. I moved to edge of the roof and peered down. “As far as I can see the police are preparing to regroup and move in for round two-”

“Of getting their ass kicked,” Solaris said needlessly.

Idiot. I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, we have to get down there before they go back in that building otherwise they'll have another massacre.”

Omega nodded. “You’re right. Guns aren’t enough to stop preternatural beings.”

“Do we even know what type of creatures we're dealing with, and why are they here of all places?” The Executioner rubbed his chin in thought.

We all quieted. It was a good question. Creatures of the dark didn’t usually go for big attacks that could get them exposed like this. This was out of character for the usual creatures that we have gone up against before. I shook my head. We didn’t have time to ponder. We had to act. Lives were at stake.

“Come on, guys,” I said. “We have to stop the cops from going in. Let's go down there and show them we have it under control.”

Omega frowned. “You want us to expose ourselves?”

I shrugged. “If that's what it takes. Most of the city suspects we exist anyway. This will just be confirmation.” I smiled grimly. “If this is our big debut then let’s not disappoint. Let’s drop down there and show ‘em who the Chosen really are.” And we damn sure ain’t Centennial’s Heroic Quartet. Which was still a lame ass name.

Three answering grins was all the affirmation I needed for my orders. We fell from the roof that had to be over a dozen and half stories. I did a flip in mid-air, as the ground rushed ever closer and my descent slowed enough for my cloak to catch the wind. I hit the pavement at a crouch landing before the steps of the museum.

I noticed out of my peripheral vision the others landing in similar ways. The Executioner and Solaris flanked my left side and Omega stayed close to my right. Not too close since I was right handed and it was the hand I favored when casting spells. My boyfriend knew me well.

The police immediately aimed their guns at us and I gulped. Oh boy. Let’s hope we could convince them that we had things under control. Okay. This was going to take a massive show of force or we were going to be spitting bullets.

“Freeze!” I heard multiple guns being cocked and was glad I had my hood on or my pale face would have shown how scared as fuck I was. “Don’t move!”

Time to act like the leader that I was. “We’re here to help,” I said loudly, my voice carrying through the air.

Camera flashes almost blinded me after that. News cameras turned our way and reports talked rapidly into microphones. I noticed all this with a sort of detachment. They weren’t important. The guys with the guns were.

“Put your hands up and slowly get on the ground.” A voice commanded through a megaphone.

I sighed. I glanced first at my left and then at my right. The guys nodded. We slowly raised our hands. I focused on my power and silently sent tendrils of magic into the electrons that filled the air. Immediately the sky blazed with the sight of numerous lightning strikes, disturbing the peaceful night sky.

I was sure my eyes glowed blue and bright the same color as the lightning. Solaris stood tall with both hands above his head holding an orb of powerful white energy. The Executioner was at his side crouched down in a fighting stance that screamed danger. Oathkeeper was out, ominously glowing in the night and casting a shadow on Omega’s dark expression.

A collective gasp went through the crowd and I inwardly cheered. I guess we made a very intimidating picture. The cops were a mix of confused, amazed, horrified, and unsure. They were being slapped in the face with the metaphysical and I was impressed that not one of them fainted.

“Like I said,” I began again forcefully. “We’re here to help. We have things from here. What’s in there you can’t fight. But we can.”

They didn’t stop us this time as we reined in our power and turned around to charge up the stairs to the museum. I was tempted to blast open the doors, but thought that might be a bit overkill. Who says that Chad Summers couldn’t be covert? I was learning.

We entered the building and it was surprisingly quiet. I took care to ignore the blood stained surfaces and the body parts on the floor. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Swallow. There we go.

“It’s too quiet,” the Executioner muttered.

The silence was maddening. I almost wanted to burst out into song. Already a song from High School Musical skirted across the edge of my thoughts. I mentally slapped myself. Focus Chad!

I took point and cautiously peered around a corner. Only the undisturbed display cases and hanging paintings occupied the dimly lit hall. I signaled the others that the way was all clear. We quietly moved through the hall keeping up our guard when a deafening noise echoed through the entire building. I reflexively ducked and checked for the source, but only the sound of screaming filled the air.

“People are still alive!” I said surprised. “Let’s go, guys!”

We raced toward where the sound originated from. Left. Right. Straight. This place was like a maze. The last time I had ever been here was for an art class in middle school. And that was a disaster. Kevin had made the museum guide angry like a woman in labor because he wouldn’t stop asking questions.

There are only so many times a person can hear “So why...” or “How come...” before going postal. Poor, “just call me Lacey”. I hope she didn’t get fired for cussing our class out in her Kevin induced rage.

We braked as we neared the shrill screams, stopping in an exhibit of what looked like Viking artifacts. A woman lay on the ground screaming her head off and clutching her bleeding arm, while men, totaling six, tore the room apart around her. Glass shattered, armor was thrown, statues were knocked over, and paintings were slashed. What the hell? I shared a look with the others and they mirrored my confused expression. I don’t understand. This wasn’t right. Where were the ‘evil creatures of the night’?

The guys were so into their demolishment of the exhibit that they hadn’t even noticed us standing there. They wore typical clothes and looked like regular, normal people. This wasn’t our forte. We didn’t fight against normal people. Normal people - One of the guys turned and finally saw us gaping at them – Normal people’s eyes didn’t look fucking reptilian!

He blinked and his reptilian irises turned a normal shade of brown. Oh hell no. Human my ass! What were they? The guy stopped and the other men noticed his lack of movement and they too paused in their actions.

I put on a brave face and adopted a teasing tone. “You boys want to put all the nice stuff back? If not...” I smiled dangerously. “...then let the ass kicking begin.”

I hoped they weren’t demons. Demons that could perfectly mimic human form, like they were doing, were known to be tremendously powerful. It took a lot of strength to completely change form into a creature with a soul. So if these guys weren’t demons then it would be a plus for us. But if they weren’t then the question was what were they?

“Help me!” The woman screamed desperately, scrambling toward us. One of the men kicked her in the ribs and she fell over moaning.

“Quiet,” the attacker said gruffly. He glared and said in that same scratchy tone. “You're interfering in our work.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh in his face or clap for pointing out the obvious. Instead, I stood tall and pointed my finger at him dramatically. I do love flair.

“Listen up, corpse fuckers! Tonight we’re handing out lollipops and ass whoopings and I’m all out of lollipops!”

“Nice one, Solaris muttered sarcastically.

Bitch! I made a noise in my throat and shot him a glare. “Shut your face,” I hissed.

I was too busy glaring at Solaris and didn’t see the attackers move, but even if I had been paying attention I wouldn’t have seen much. My eyes couldn’t follow their lightning quick movements. They simply blurred from sight. Something hard struck me on the side of the head and my whole body was thrown to the side sharply. I screamed when my shoulder hit the wall first and my body crashed to the ground a beat later.

Stars exploded behind my eyes and I only vaguely heard the sounds of fighting taking place, since a painful ringing was filling my head. It felt like a giant hammer had been smacked across my skull. It hurt to even think. A hand wrapped my neck and I gasped and choked as I was lifted into the air without warning.

Dark brown eyes beneath a set of thick brows met mine. “I know what you are and you will not interfere.”

“Fuck,” I wheezed with great difficulty. “You!”

I summoned power and it reacted. Without words or intent to shape it lashed out in bright tendrils of light that twisted and writhed around my glowing body. The man blasted away and I fell to my feet panting and dizzy from the lack of oxygen and sudden influx of power. The glow faded from my body as I reined my magic in.

Surveying my surroundings I found only chaos. Lights flared through the hall as both Omega and Solaris rained down devastation on the men, things, creatures, or whatever the fuck they were. The Executioner weaved between the men swinging a loachaber ax with a black, steel head, and a silver edge on the border of the blade. I've never seen anything like it. It literally made a faint-almost musical noise as it sliced through the air. I guess he found a replacement for his broken staff. Kudos to him.

Whoever these guys were they were supernaturally fast and tough. Stronger and definitely faster than us, maybe even faster than the Executioner. And he was like Captain America on steroids. Fuck. This was going to be a problem later, I could feel it.

Let’s see if these fuckers were as Billy badass as they seemed. Flexing my hand I gathered magic. I willed it to take shape and yelled out the focusing incantation, "Elios, keeper of dreams. Help me defeat this enemy. Twilight Ray!"

The gold beam cut the air and seared into the forehead of the man nearest me. He staggered forward a step, another, another, and then stopped. He fell to the floor, gushing blood from the smoking hole in his head. The other men stared at the body then looked at me, rising hatred lurking in their gazes.

I waved cheekily and said smugly, “One down.”

They cursed in fury and one of the men rushed at me and smacked me hard to the ground. My jaw exploded in agony. I pushed back the pain and rolled to my feet. The fight began again in earnest. There were five men left and dammit if they weren’t holding their own. The Executioner had his ax caught in the back of one of the men, but the fucker wasn’t even down. He was fighting the Executioner in hand to hand, and I winced at the strength behind the blows. They could easily punch through steel.

Omega and Solaris fought against three, back to back and they were a sight as they worked together to effectively counter and repel whatever the men threw at them. Were those spells the attackers were using?

“Fuck!”

I had split my focus too much and the bastard landed a solid kick to my gut. I staggered back winded and feeling momentarily nauseous as my dinner threatened to come back up to greet me. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. I couldn’t wuss out now.

I took a moment to glance at my friends. The men were slowly losing. Where they had advantages over us we were clearly more powerful. A feminine scream broke my observations. The man I was fighting had the female hostage and was dragging her away from the hall and into an elevator. Damn! Why hadn’t I been paying more attention? I took off after them and just missed the elevator doors closing in my face. Double damn!

I had to save her. I searched around searching for another route. The stairwell sign caught my eye like a beacon. Before I even registered what was happening my feet took me tearing through the door and up the stairs. A door many floors above me banged open, screaming accompanying the noise. I pushed myself to go faster. He must be headed to the roof. It was the only way out of the building.

I rounded a stairwell and caught flailing legs being dragged through the door. I threw open the door and was right on their tracks. It was jarring being out on the roof suddenly under the nighttime sky. I felt like Buffy as I chased the man to the ledge, his victim’s screams cutting at my heart like steel edge knives. She was going to be fine. I just had to keep telling myself otherwise I was going to freak out from an anxiety attack.

“Let her go!” I yelled.

The man stepped back teetering on the edge of the rooftop. He stared at me as if I was a bug beneath his shoes. Ah, gee. I felt all warm inside. I met his stare, clenching my fists and willing magic to the surface. With power so close at my slightest beckon, it was leaking from my eyes and making them glow electric blue. The woman’s nonstop, panicked pleas broke the quietness of the stare down.

“Stay back Chosen or I will break the woman’s neck.”

I brightened uncontrollably. “You’ve heard of us?”

The man’s head tilted and his tone came out as mocking. “All in the know of the true ways are familiar of you. You're the oldest of legends. The Avenging Angels of Atlantis.”

“Well we’re back,” I said hoping I could keep him talking. The more information I could get out of him the better.

The man nodded. “So the rumors were right. But even the Chosen shall not stand between...” he clammed up realizing he might have said too much.

I rolled my eyes. I hated when the henchman got smart. “Cat got your tongue?”

A growing smirk was his answer and suddenly the woman was flung from the roof and the man was gone in a blur of movement. Fuck! I sprinted forward and jumped over the ledge. The woman fell at an impressive rate. I fought the wind resistance and threw my arms forward.

“Champion Whip!”

A length of rope made of blazing gold light materialized and wrapped around the woman’s waist. I grabbed the end of the rope and grunted, yanking her to my side. My cloak caught wind and slowed the descent. But it wasn’t enough. The crowd below screamed as the concrete rushed ever closer. I wrapped one hand tightly around the woman and pointed my free arm toward the ground.

I willed my magic into a tangible force of energy that surrounded us like a cocoon of warm blue light. The light covered us with a snap and I pumped pure power into its effects. The energy behind the feat was enough to probably power a whole city block. The energy was also enough to counter the flow of gravity. Gravity repelled against our bodies, like the effect of two magnets encountering one another. I would have grinned if my face wasn’t tight with the concentration in directing us safely to the ground.

“Whoa now, I got you.”

The woman cried in relief and then just stared at me clearly baffled as the fact that we weren’t kissing asphalt finally sunk in. “H-How? But who has you?”

I just smiled.

I noticed the sudden silence. It was eerie. The street had gone still and silent, which was a complete transformation from the chaos of earlier. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared as we descended. The crowd was filled with awed disbelief and rampant confusion. Even the police and reporters lapsed in their jobs, as they watched us lower to the ground. Finally, our feet touched concrete and I wanted to quip hadn’t they ever seen a flying man before, but I refrained. I was finally learning tact. Thanks, Adam. You could teach an old dog new tricks.

I released the woman and smiled at her. “You’re safe now.”

She shakily left my arms still staring in wide eyed wonder. I stepped back and turned just as the doors to the museum opened and the other Chosen rushed out. I nodded my head in answer to their questioning stares.

“It’s safe to go in there,” I told the stunned police officers. “We took care of it.”

I didn’t know what happened next but the crowd was suddenly abruptly out from the silent stupor. I guess it was the sound of my voice that did the trick. But they unexpectedly went wild, breaking into excited cheering. They whistled, clapped, and screamed their exuberance. Amazed, I hesitantly raised my hand in a wave. The others were equally just as surprised as me. Although Solaris was a little too into the crowd's cheers, with his ever bright grin and shifting, posing stances. Ass clown.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Hey Zoolander, get us out of here.”

“Buzz kill,” he muttered, raising his arms. “Sun Rise!”

The world turned orange and we were lifted up inside the bubble of hardened photons. The crowd cheered even louder at the display of power as we lifted off into the sky.

“Well, that was different." Omega slipped his arm around my waist.

I leaned into his side. “You can say that again.”

“It freaking was great!” Solaris grinned widely. He was almost bouncing. “Did you see the crowd? They thought we were awesome!”

The Executioner bit his lip and looked thoughtfully at Solaris. “I like you like this, you’re all... bouncy.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Clearly, he’s an attention whore.”

Solaris fixed Omega with an annoyed look. “Either you get a muzzle for him or I will.”

“Now, now boys,” Omega said with a half smile. “The more you fight the more I will suspect you really do care for each other.”

I frowned and turned to Omega and asked, “You’re still on this ‘Killian and I as potential friends theory’, aren’t you?”

He nodded proudly. I inched away from him eyeing him suspiciously. I wasn’t too fond of this new plan. I shared a look with Killian and he watched me with the same intense scrutiny. Did we really want to be buddy buddy, fun fun? We did use to be friends a long time ago, in this life and the last. I stared at the ground thinking and then glanced back at him. I swallowed and looked at Solaris just as he mouthed, Hell no.

I agreed one hundred percent.

“Should we update Nathaniel and figure who were those guys?” asked the Executioner, watching the passing landscape below.

I shook my head. “I snuck out of my house and we have school in the morning. Let's debrief after class tomorrow.”

“That sounds good to me,” agreed the Executioner.

Solaris sighed and I sneered at his dreamy expression. “I hope we’re in the news.”

Like I said earlier, attention whore.

***

First period class was bright and early in the morning right at eight thirty. Usually, I was half asleep waiting for Mr. Hamilton to drone on about civil liberties and government conspiracies. He was a child of the seventies and felt that the curriculum needed to cover the real issues regardless of the fact that he taught Physics. Instead, today’s conversation was centered on “Centennial’s Heroic Quartet”. Theories were lobbied back and forth and everyone raved, gushed, or deliberated the
reality of people with super powers. And I swear if I had to hear that stupid name one more time-

“So I think I Centennial’s Heroic Quartet are just so cool-”

“Maybe their name isn’t Centennial’s Heroic Quartet,” I said loudly with an irritated tone. Everyone snapped toward me and I flushed, realizing that I said that out loud. Oops. “...or so I hear...” I backtracked nervously, with a lame chuckle.

Mr. Hamilton cocked his head, confused. “That’s their name in the news and I’m inclined to believe it’s a good a name as any.”

“Too bad it sounds dumb as hell,” I muttered contemptuously.

“What was that Mr. Summers?” Mr. Hamilton asked as he erased the board clear of the batshit theories he developed that speculated on the source of power the Chosen used.

I faked a sunny smile and amended, “Did I hear the sound of the bell?”

Mr. Hamilton frowned thoughtfully. “No... We still have thirty minutes left in class. Maybe you should get your hearing checked.”

I nodded with a serious expression. I so didn’t need to go to the office for foul language. The other members of the Student Council would shove a demerit down my throat or probably make me listen to EDM over and over. I grimaced at that picture.

I observed my over excited classmates and shook my head at all the enthusiasm they showed toward last nights events. For the most part, the existence of the Chosen was being denounced as an elaborate viral marking campaign, or even just a plain old hoax, but some, mostly young people, were willing to believe that we were genuine. I took that as a good sign. We were once again trending on Twitter.

The classroom door opened and everyone looked at the person who entered. It was a girl with vibrant red hair, the ends curling slightly, and warm green eyes. Her outfit was that look of tattered jeans, that cost more than should legally be allowed, and a green top that brought out her eyes. It was probably the reason she wore it.

The guys in the room stared at her like hungry predators and I was thankfully not one of those guys. None of them were even kind of subtle about it. I would like to believe that I didn’t oogle guys like that. Well except for Chance Randall that sat next to me with his tight jeans and sleeveless shirts looking like he saw Rebel Without a Cause one too many times. He was totally rocking the James Dean look. I looked at his carefully gelled hair and narrowed my eyes. Although, maybe rocking it a little too well. He was cute and all but I’m sensing an intervention in his future.

“Class.” Mr. Hamilton read off a paper that the girl handed him. “This is Isabella Graison. She just transferred here. Please take the empty seat by the window.”

Graison. Graison. Where did I know that name? Wait. Didn’t Ian say he had a sister? This had to be here. They had almost identical features. She took the seat near me and I didn’t want to talk to her. I had an urge to call her out for having a dick for a brother, but that wasn’t her fault.

But I was still going to give her the typical cold shoulder just on principle. Isabella looked up, catching me in my staring. She met my eyes and gave me a friendly smile. I blinked. Well, that was unexpected. I was for sure she would have rolled her eyes or shot the finger. Hmmm... Maybe I would like this Graison. The brother however was still on my list. That conceited asshole.

“So what did the guys who killed all those people take from the museum?” Chance Randall asked.

Mr. Hamilton shrugged. “Who knows. But nothing's been reported as missing.”

I almost gasped but I controlled it. I couldn’t do the stereotypical ‘gay gasp’, but no one goes to the trouble of breaking into something and not come away with anything. So what were they doing besides acting like typical comic book villains? Why break in to just destroy everything in sight. It didn’t make sense, because that’s not all that happened I realized with a sudden clarity. Finally, my marathon CSI Miami watching was finally playing off. Thank you, Horatio Caine.

I thought back to last night and played it again in my mind, thinking carefully to what I didn’t notice at the time. They hadn’t been randomly inflicting destruction to everything in sight. It was more than that. They had been looking for something, searching and then disregarding whatever they investigated. I was sure of it. It made so much more sense. The question now was:

What were they searching for?