Another half step, and I hit the bookshelf. I check Nick and Erin for weapons. “Where did you get that?”
“A messenger,” Nick says, which translates to, I killed an Angel and looted their body. “Open it.”
“It’s okay,” Erin says. “Go ahead. I promise.”
Deep breaths. It’s fine. No matter what this is, it can’t be worse than what the Angels want.
Right?
“Fine,” I say. “Okay. I’ll open it. If you back up.”
Nick takes a respectful step away, and Erin ducks her head.
In blocky, typewritten letters, it reads:
NEW NAZARETH CHURCH OF GRACE
Church of the Angel, Church of the LORD Reverend Mother Veronica Woodside of New Nazareth speaks:
True believers of God’s word rejoice! The time has come. The LORD has blessed us with grace beyond our comprehension, a miracle beyond us all; eternal life is within our grasp. For we have found our way to SERAPH through—
My deadname.
My deadname is right there on the paper. It’s only been a week since I last heard it, but it still feels like a knife to the chest. And it’s on the official announcement of my recognition as the true Seraph. Copies of this announcement left New Nazareth in the bags of messengers who broadcasted it to camps across the world. News would reach colonies on almost every continent, soldiers embedded in the ruins of every country, and what a joyous day it would be. Now every Angel knows that after nineteen failed trials, nineteen false Seraphs, I will finally lead them to Heaven.
Except my name is Benji, and they don’t have me anymore.
I whisper, “What do you want from me?”
“So you are Seraph, then,” Nick says.
Erin looks away from us both.
I stammer. “You weren’t sure?”
“I wasn’t,” Nick says. “You could’ve been a failed trial who escaped. You could’ve been a sick kid who just got lucky.”
Tricky bastard.
“Hey.” Erin leans forward a bit to catch my eye. I lean away in turn. “We’re not going to hurt you. The ALC was built to help queer teenagers, and that’s what it’s always done. It’s just that the specifics have changed in the past few years.” She folds the document closed in my hands. “We want to help you escape.”
What? No. That can’t be—that can’t—
“But we need to figure out how to do it,” she says. “We have two ideas, and all you have to do is tell us which one you like best. Okay?”
Nothing is ever this easy. There has to be a catch.
But what if they’re telling the truth? Not everyone is as cruel as the Angels. Dad wasn’t. Theo wasn’t, for a time. Kind people exist. I know that.
I can take a chance on this.
“Tell me.”
Erin lights up—a switch is flipped, her face beaming despite the fog of death hanging over her. “The first option is that Nick and the others will get you out of Acheson and into Acresfield County. The path will suck, and you’ll have to stick it out on your own at the end, but we know a place where you can cross in the suburbs outside the city.” I stare at her, awestruck. “You get out of the city, and we won’t have to worry about a giant monster stalking around in a few weeks. It’s a win for everybody.”
I imagine the weight taken off her shoulders, knowing Seraph is far away from her and the ALC. That the Angels will never get their hands on me, and her friends can go back to preparing for the deadly heat and droughts of the upcoming summer instead of worrying about monsters like me.