The angels on the ground spread their wings and take to the air. Raffe looks at me, but I understand that he can’t lift me up without betraying weakness. A hand claws the air near my leg, grasping. I jump, trying to get away from the hands, wishing I could fly too.

When the bodies climb out of the soil, they’re so dirty that I can only tell they’re human by their shapes. That and their gasping sobs.

‘And the dead shall rise,’ says Uriel, his voice carrying over the wind.

Some of the bodies lie on the lawn, gasping for breath. Others scramble away from the hole they crawled from, clearly afraid something will drag them back in. Still others just huddle on the churned-up lawn, sobbing.

What I thought at first was all dirt turns out to be dirt on dried, shriveled flesh. These are locust victims. They look traumatized and terrified, staring down at their arms and legs as though seeing their jerkylike flesh for the first time. Maybe they are.

Uriel must have had them buried alive while they were paralyzed. He was prepared to impress the gathering even before Raffe came. If anyone could have timed something like this, it was him. His team knew just how much venom to use to keep the victims paralyzed until showtime.

I wonder if the locust stung know what happened to them. I wonder if they think that they are the rising dead.

‘Resurrected!’ Uriel looks eerie. His bowed head and his open wings glow in the beam of light. ‘I am the Messenger of God.’

Many of the angels glance uneasily at each other when Uriel declares himself the Messenger.

‘You have been chosen to share the glory of the apocalypse. Punish the blasphemy that is mankind, and you will be received in heaven. Shirk your duties, and you will be dragged back into hell where you came from.’ He points east. ‘Go. Find the humans and kill them all. Cleanse the earth, and make it righteous once again.’

The locust stung stare at him, stunned. Then they gaze around at each other, looking frightened and disoriented.

One person turns to move east.

Someone follows him. Then another. And another, until the entire group is migrating.

Wave after wave of resurrected claw their way out of the dirt. As soon as they can stand on their feet, they follow the crowd heading east.

East, toward the Resistance camp.

Chapter 33

33

‘That was an impressive show,’ says Raffe, hovering in the air among the angels. He doesn’t look at all impressed at the army of resurrected or the multiheaded monster. ‘But you’d all be making a huge mistake to believe him. Anyone who follows Uriel will fall when the truth comes out.’

‘Your scare tactics won’t work here,’ says Uriel.

‘If Uriel is lying, then he alone should fall,’ says a warrior. ‘The rest of us are just following orders.’