‘They ripped it off for fun. Half my face. Skinned alive, I guess. It was the most excruciating thing I could ever have imagined. In fact, I couldn’t even imagine it before. You know what it’s like to have your life changed like that? One moment, you’re normal, the next, you’re a monster freak? Do you know that I used to be an actor?’ He snorts. ‘Yeah, I made my living off my charming smile. Now I don’t even have lips to smile with.’

‘I’m sorry.’ I can’t think of anything else to say. ‘Look, I know it’s been hard.’

‘You have no idea.’

‘You’d be surprised. Just because I don’t have a problem on the outside visible for the world to see doesn’t mean I’m not messed up on the inside. That can be just as hard to deal with.’

‘Spare me your self-centered teen angst. What you feel is nothing compared to what I feel.’

‘Gee, okay,’ I say. ‘You’re not at all wallowing in self-centeredness. I see that now.’

‘Listen, kid. I haven’t talked to anyone in weeks. I thought I missed it, but now you’ve reminded me that I really don’t.’

The music fills the car with old-world style before he speaks again. ‘Why should I help you when no one bothers to help me?’

‘Because you’re a decent human being.’

‘Yeah, one that wants to live. If I let you go, they’ll come down and kill me.’

‘If you don’t let me go, you won’t feel quite so human anymore. Being human isn’t about whether you fit in or look like the rest of us. It’s about who you are and what you’re willing to do or not do.’

‘Humans kill all the time.’

‘Not decent ones.’

Outside, the deserted world slides by. I guess no one wants to go near the new aerie. Word must have gotten around about that apocalypse party.

‘Did you really kill an angel?’ he asks.

‘Yeah.’ I’ve killed two.

‘You’re the only one I’ve met who has. What happens if I let you go?’

‘I return to my family and try to keep us all alive.’

‘Everybody? You’d try to keep all of us alive?’

‘I meant my family. That’s hard enough. How would I even begin to keep everyone alive?’

‘If the only one who can kill an angel can’t do it, then who can?’

It’s a good question, one that takes me a minute to come up with an answer. ‘Obadiah West can. Him and his freedom fighters. I’m just a teenager.’

‘History is filled with teenagers who lead the fight. Joan of Arc. Okita Soji, the samurai. Alexander the Great. They were all teenagers when they began leading their armies. I think we’re back to those times again, kid.’

Chapter 27

27