Weeping Angel: Malvada (Book 1 of the Weeping Angel Series)

Chapter XL

Ethan flips through more pages before groaning, "Now it's talking about mermaids and Bigfoot and fairies. Why do I get my hands on books that talk about things we already know?"

Gabby and I chuckle before we set Ethan's book aside and Gabby opens up a thick book with pages folded. She flips to the first two folded pages and shows us a series of images of angel statues in different postures.

One image describes the typical weeping post with a statue's hands covering its face; another shows a statue's arms lifted over its head; another was crouching down and hugging its knees; one picture showed a child-like angel statue with its palms resting on its face.

Gabby flips to the folded pages in the middle and end of the book before her eyes land on something, to which she reads out loud, "Guys, hear this. 'In order to defeat these lonely assassins, capture their souls in a way they could only imagine. Images and footages are your companions, so collect them if you haven't.' This is poetically dark." She sighs, leaning back in her chair, staring at the book in confusion as if trying to wrap her head around the meaning behind the words.

Capturing souls can only mean one thing: holding the soul, as in the statue itself as a prisoner through pictures and videos.

I rest my elbow on the table, my palm supporting my face. "I think images and videos capture a Weeping Angel's power and keep everyone else safe, so maybe that's why we're supposed to collect as many as we can."

Ethan blinks at me, clearly not agreeing with me or the book. "That just means we're keeping her power alive. How does capturing her powers and keeping them "safe" defeat Malvada?"

I open my mouth to make a valid argument to back up the book, but I'm tongue-tied. He has a strong point.

Gabby furrows her dark brows, analyzing the words in the book before she jolts up in her seat and slaps the table, staring at us with wide eyes, and I flinch.

"If you keep Malvada's powers in something she can't access, that means she's powerless, so she can't do anything," She says carefully, stressing the importance of each word so we can understand.

I narrow my green eyes at her, not entirely convinced. Something like that cannot make Malvada suddenly powerless, given her detailed attention to everything that goes around in my house.

"Yeah, but there's probably a way to restore those powers into Malvada. I don't think pictures and videos capture her powers entirely," I explain.

"We don't even know if pictures and videos can take Malvada's powers and strength away," Ethan backs me up, and I throw him a grateful smile.

Gabby shrugs and suggests we continue looking through the book. She resumes to flip some pages, her brown eyes concentrating on every word written in the book before she shakes her head, muttering an occasional "nope" and turns to the next page.

Suddenly, her eyebrows draw together in confusion. "I just found the weirdest thing. 'Look at a Weeping Angel for the first time, and it will seep through you, compelling you to take it with you. Weeping angels choose one person and get attached to them, making them act differently.' What the hell is this?"

I purse my lips and turn the book towards me and I read what Gabby said over and over, the screws in my brain slowly working their way to uncover the strange meaning behind the poetic sentence.

A small paragraph catches my attention, but I don't read it aloud just yet.

Weeping Angels have the ability to trick you into choosing them. They can control a living creature's mind, making them do things Weeping Angels want to happen, but the victims normally won't have any idea of what's going to happen.