Chaos Descending

Angel with a Shotgun

Chapter 22 - Angel with a Shotgun

Before I had a chance to escape the stage, Carmen came up and bumrushed me. "Chaos, I didn't know you could sing!"

"I can't," I moaned, turning to give her a hug. She leaked her usual cheerful self all over me. Gross. Once again I picked up on the crisp, salty smell of a beach whenever she was near. I swear, even her long silky mane smelled like the ocean.

"Here, you forgot your trophy," she said, handing me a heavy marble base that featured three gold shooting stars covered in glitter. "You were freaking amazing."

"Thanks, I think."

Carmen pointed over her shoulder. "What's up with Edward Cullen and Count Dracula over there?"

I craned my neck to find Thomas positively glowering at me, while Vycandor waved and gave me two thumbs up. As usual, they were a study in contradiction. One temperamental and moody. The other charming and charismatic. Well, most of the time anyway. "That right there is called the, "Joys of dating to guys a once."  Everyone should try it."

She shook her head. "Uh, no thanks. I'm good. I'm with Nick, remember?" 

I glanced over at Nick. He was dripping with sweat and looked exhausted. Trying not to be too obvious, I scanned the stage for Skylar and found him talking to a girl I didn't know. A cute little brunette number. He'd definitely moved on fast. I felt an unexpected ping of jealousy. Not that I expected him to pine after me forever. Yes I did. "Skylar seems happy," I noted, trying to act like I didn't care.

Carmen followed my eyes. "That's Molly. She started staying with me after, uh...you know...after what happened to her parents and..."

I put my hand up to stop her. I knew exactly what she meant. "I don't need a walk down memory shame. I'm about as innocent as an angel with a shotgun."

"You know what they say," Carmen began, "before you start a war you better know what you're fighting for. Sometimes to win, you've got to sin. When this is all over, we're not just going to be judged for the things we did to survive. We're going to be judged for the ones we saved. Especially you."

Narrowing my eyes, I said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"This is going to be hard for you to hear, but Robert thought you should hear it from me because we're friends and all. You know you can trust me, right?" I glanced back and forth between her and Robert, feeling not just theirs but the weight of thousands of eyeballs upon me. Something told me this wasn't going to be bad. It was going to be super bad. "Well?" she pressed. "Do you trust me?"

Between the mounting hunger and sudden paranoia, I'd reached my saturation point for surprises in one day. "How about I don't not trust you." How far I could actually trust Carmen remained to be seen. She did try to munch me after all.

Grabbing me by the shoulders, she turned me to face the audience. Again. They were so quiet you could've heard a pin drop.

"It's not your fault," Carmen admitted. "Someone had to step up and stop Serenity."

My eyebrows shot up in alarm. I was pretty sure I'd left her name out when I blabbed the truth to Carmen at the White Trash Bash. "How do you know about Serenity? I never told you..."

"That she's the one who turned turned us against our parentals?" Carmen interrupted. "Yeah, we know. A lot of lives were lost because of her." I hung my head in shame. "But even more lives were saved because of your efforts." My head snapped up. Without waiting for me to respond, she continued. "Don't you get it? You're mom was right. We survived because of you. We're all standing here because of you."

The crowd cheered and clapped so loud it made my ears hurt. Between the singing and the crowd, I had to get away. I couldn't stand to be congratulated for my failures. Not now. Not ever. "No. I can't. I can't do this again."

"Chaos, look at me," Carmen insisted. "I know you think you're the only one. But you're not."

"I'm not the only what?" I cried, wrangling to get a way.

"You're not the only angel. We're all angels like you. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I decided to wait until now because I wanted it to be a surprise."

It was a surprise all right.

Suddenly, it's like there was an eruption of wings and feathers in the crowd that practically shook the entire stage. Only they weren't fiery like mine. Or all white like Thomas'. Or even all silvery like Vycandor's. They were every color of the rainbow. Some, like Dalton's, were even decorated and covered in sparkles and glittery rhinestones. No two pairs were exactly alike. And they came in all shapes and sizes too. Some wings looked like they were made out of flowers, while others were sheer and looked like they were made out of spider webs.

I couldn't wrap my brain around it. "I don't get it. How? Thomas said I was the only one who'd refused the Dark Ones."

"That's true," Robert admitted softly. "It's because you defied Serenity that we managed to escape her minions and flee to safety. She was too busy looking for you that she didn't find us."

"But I saw you," I demanded, pointing at Carmen. "You were a zombie. I saw you. I was there!"

"There's no such thing as zombies," Thomas said, breaking into our conversation to join me on stage.

"It's true," Robert began, pointing at the crowd. "Like you, we were also affected by the poison."

"They just didn't become Angels of War in the second wave of attacks," Vycandor added. 

I whirled around to face him. "You, you knew about them and you didn't tell me?"

Carmen gave me a nudge that was meant to be reassuring. "You started a rebellion and we all followed. It's that simple." She stood smoothing a delicate gossamer wing that was almost see through while waiting for my reaction. I glanced over at the band. Besides matching black Emo hair, they all wore matching outfits consisting of jeans and black graphic T-shirts. And, surprise, surprise...their wings matched too. Only, upon closer inspection, they weren't what I expected. Instead of feathers it looked like their wings were made entirely out of black fringe, each one intricately weaved into a design that looked suspiciously a lot like an oversized dream catcher. Something told me their wings weren't real. Not even close. Like they were more for decoration. I mean, a band of Emo Angels? As if!

Only in my dreams.   

Robert decided it was finally time to intervene in this madness. "Chaos, I think we should go have that talk now."

My voice came out in an angry squeak. "Gee, ya think?"