Intersections Read online

  A vibrating hand and a digital tri-tone echoing over and over brought Lily back as thunder rolled across the cloudless heavens. Call display told her it was Mrs. Carlito. Oh crap! Lily flicked the sound off and shoved it in her pocket where it kept vibrating.

  Another boom unfurled into the air. Buildings shook. Tires screeched and horns honked. The sounds of metal against metal and tinkling glass wound through it all. A brilliant flash of light from above threw the street into stark relief. A collective hush fell across the area. People got out of their cars. Those on the sidewalk moved onto the road, strides betrayed barely checked panic. Like one entity, they looked up. Lily followed their gaze. Half fearing she’d see a plane falling from the heavens.

  Instead, the sky broke.

  Fissures zigzagged across the blue. In their wake, a pulsing white light spilled through. The crowd gasped, but no one moved. To Lily, it seemed too momentous, too huge a moment to process with action. Then a child giggled. The laughter radiated outward like a pebble thrown into a pond. Even Lily soundlessly joined in, her heart joyful and carefree, her troubles forgotten. Whoops and hollers threaded through the cheer. People hugged their neighbors and kissed their friends. No one questioned it. They just accepted the warm feeling of love until the road rippled.

  Another tremor knocked those gathered into each other. Lily stumbled, tried to right herself as the ground heaved. It tossed her into the window of Mad Molly’s as pandemonium grabbed the horde. Screaming now, they broke and ran pell-mell, abandoning the wonder in the sky. To Lily, they resembled sparrows scattering from a hawk.

  Deep rending sounds—not unlike the crack of thick lake ice on a frigid day—reverberated around the buildings. In the street, fissures opened. Darkness, infinite and difficult to gaze upon, poured out.

  A shadow crossed Lily’s heart. The urge to harm every one of those cowering fuckers galvanized her nerves. An old woman turned on the young man beside her and punched him in the face. Couples grappled. The children hid. Jungle screams and guttural roars rang through the melee. Lily shook with adrenaline. Leg and arm muscles quivered as she struggled against entering the throng. Another tremor froze the tableau.

  Above, the incandescence spilling from the ruptures pulsed. The black void raced up toward it and took the dark desires with it. Lily—glad to be free of its grip—traced the stygian arc barreling to meet the light. When they collided, the sonic boom blew every window inward. Power lines snapped and sparked and the power went out.

  Lily found herself sprawled inside Mad Molly’s display window. Her stinging cheeks and throbbing nose confused her. Beads of tempered glass dug into her chin and the point of a rose quartz stabbed her palm. Movements sluggish, she sat up.

  Again, the ground shook. A ball of fire exploded onto the pavement. The brilliance blinded her, leaving a green splotch to dance in her vision. She blinked and blinked. And when it cleared she saw the back of a naked giant man, charred wing bones jutted from shoulder blades, his robe in smoking tatters. Unable to process the implications of the Angel standing in front of her, she watched him watching the gasping slash in the asphalt.

  A charred hand reached up from the crevice and gripped the edge. Another appeared. Then the top of a horned Demon’s head. Lily screamed soundlessly.

  Whistling shrieks filled the air as more Angels smashed into the earth to rise and take up vigil along the rift. Another of the Angels turned her gaze at Lily. Blue light flickered in her eyes. She put a finger to rosebud lips as if to shush her then turned her attention back to the rift.

  The unrattled part of her brain urged her to run. Shock and detachment kept her sitting and watching the unfolding scene like one would a movie.

  One, two, three more pairs of hands appeared at the edge of the rift. Blackened, cracked monstrosities sprouted from the earth. Horns twisted in random patterns. Cracked flesh glowing orange. Dirt and pavement dripped from black talons. Lizard wings stretched and tested. The Angels and Demons stared at each other. Burnt feathers floated around them like black snowflakes.

  The Angels attacked.

  In retaliation, a Demon summoned a whip of fire. He snapped it and a fireball burst from the tip. It missed its mark and disappeared into the store on the other side of the street. Deafening concussions followed. The building crumpled. Glass, brick, and wood spilled onto the road as a cloud of dust bloomed and screams filled the air. Within the murk, bright blue lightning met lashes of fire.

  Something landed on Lily. Her shocked, syrupy thoughts snapped into focus.

  What the fuck?

  She heaved it away. A burnt and twisted stroller clattered to the sidewalk. Blue snakes crackled across the plastic and smoking fabric. Oh God, oh no. Lily bit back rising bile.

  Lily started to weep. She puked. Cried harder.

  Another body hit the pavement, splattering her with gore. Hands shook as she wiped blood from her eyes. An ichor stained sign lay beside the broken man. The end is now. Nostrils flared, Lily scooted back. The world turned upside down.

  Black dots floated across her vision as she stared at dead fluorescent lighting. The back of her head throbbed. The crack and boom of explosions muffled by ringing ears. The vibrations radiated through the hardwood floor.

  The end is now.

  Police sirens joined the cacophony. A female voice boomed from a bullhorn. Gunfire stuttered. Obscene howls dug into the primal part of her brain and she pissed herself.

  We’re fucked.

  She curled into a ball on her side, covered her head, and waited for the end.

  Growling. Something—Angel or Demon—stood in front of the display window. Silhouetted by the flickering firelight outside, it was hard to tell which. Lily held her breath. The creature leaned into the store. Lily sensed the being scanning the space and, after a moment, it moved on. Then a flaming, shrieking thing hurled through the smashed window and splashed across the store. Shelves of books ignited. The flames jumped to the next aisle. And the next.

  Confrontation with the very reality of her death compelled her to move. She ran toward the back of the store hoping to find the storeroom with a service entrance. Her toe caught a hard edge. She stumbled and went down on one knee. An electric jolt—prickly yet painless—spread up and down her leg. The letters glowed in the smoke. Compelled, she scooped up the heavy board and kept going. In the storeroom, she snagged a messenger bag to carry the cumbersome board and hit the exit.

  Another explosion rocked the day, raining brick dust down on Lily as she careened out of the store. Lily looked from one side of the alley to the other and back again. To the left one of the fissures cracked the earth between the buildings. Right it is. Keeping her back against the brick, she slid along the side of the store. Sirens wailed above the screams and otherworldly shrieks.

  Clouds of smoke and dust drifted at the mouth of the alley. The slow whoomp-whoomp-whoomp of helicopter blades echoed between the buildings. A dark shape coalesced within the smoky dust.

  Lily sprinted back the way she’d come. Behind her, the whoomp turned to metal screeching across pavement. She dared a glance behind. The bent and twisted nose of the copter raced toward her. The blades snapped and scraped against the brick walls as smoke billowed from the interior. A face pressed against the bubble window mouthed a silent scream.

  In front of her, the chasm loomed while behind her the chopper skidded closer. She gambled and leapt. Pelvis thrust forward and arms pin wheeling she hurled across the gap. A blast of hot air from below pushed her the last few feet. The pavement sliced furrows in her palms and tore the knees of her jeans as she landed.

  Lily jumped to her feet and took off as the helicopter met the fissure. It erupted. Flaming fuel and flying metal shot past her. She kept running.

  The battle’s smoke and dust obscured the sun, casting the city in false twilight. Lily stuck to the shadows as best she could. She had to get home. Home. The sound of wings beating the air whooshed over her. She ducked. It’s where the heart is. A distant e