Miracle - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

I was carried like a football into the Enoch's Peak enforcement station, under the arm of a big, pissy guy who announced our presence the moment he stepped through the doors.
"Special delivery, ladies and Nephilim!" He hauled me up by the back of my jacket and the waistband of my jeans, slamming me onto my feet before the front desk. "Look what I found wandering the road on my way back into town." He kept hold of my collar as every head in the station turned toward us.
"God Almighty, Jed," gasped the Elioud behind the desk, "is that the missing Eljo?"
"That's right."
People started hurrying into the lobby to stare at me. For my part, I was just trying to stay upright without leaning on my captor too much. I was dizzy, and my stomach was empty and queasy at the same time. I hadn't been able to eat or sleep for days. There was a heavy ache in my body that had settled deep in my pelvis, like I should already be six feet under. Those things felt unimportant, though, because Ezra was all that mattered.
"Where did you find him?"
"What was he doing out there?"
"Wait, is this the one Ezrael Mekas was hiding?"
My woozy senses were overwhelmed with an onslaught of data, not just the barrage of questions, but also a shimmer of arousal that I hadn't been expecting. It was similar to what I felt in the Swan's presence, and it fogged up my head as I tried to make sense of it.
I realized that there were four women in the room, all of whom were Elioud. All of whom were shocked by my presence, and probably had elevated heart rates. While the feeling wasn't self-escalating, or even half as powerful as when I was near the Swan, it was still pretty awkward. I didn't even like girls that way.
"Wow, he's really tiny, isn't he? You couldn't tell from the pictures."
"Great job bringing him in, Jedaiel, this is incredible."
I'm sure he had no intention of telling them that when he first stuffed me into his car, he wasn't planning on bringing me here at all. I'd said I was turning myself in, asked him to take me to the Nephilim police. He had laughed at first.
"Why should I? There are people who would pay out the nose for something like you."
"I'll pray to the council and tell them you're kidnapping me." It was a bit of a bluff, because until a couple minutes ago I hadn't even known the guy's name. Also, I wasn't sure how much the council would care, as long as it wasn't drawing human attention.
But I guess it was a convincing threat, because here we were.
"I want to talk to the council," I said. Now that I was far enough from the Swan's house to avoid suspicion, I was ready to let them know I was here. I sent a thought to Absalom, and tried to think of the other two Nephilim council members at the same time.
Uh, hi. This is Connor Hayes. The Eljo? I've turned myself in to the enforcement station this morning, I have something to say to you. Then I thought I'd better add, Please. This prayer thing was weird, but handy. I didn't need to ask to use their phone.
One of the Nephilim enforcement officers, a blond guy in a black uniform, scoffed. "Not gonna happen. The council won't hear from an Eljo."
"They've already heard me," I retorted, "so that's obviously not true."
Jedaiel lifted me by my jacket until my feet were almost off the floor. "Little worm, who do you think you're talking to? Mind your tone."
"Hand him over, Jed," said one of the uniformed Elioud. She held a set of manacles, just like the ones they had on Ezra. "We can take it from here."
I moved my wrists when she tried to put the manacles on them. "What are those for? I haven't done anything wrong, you can't just—"
"You're an intruder," she replied, grabbing my arm. The silver metal clicked around my wrist. "Eljo aren't admitted into Enoch's Peak without a license. How did you even find us?"
"Isn't it obvious? Ezrael Mekas brought him here."
"But they caught Mekas in Salt Lake, that's hundreds of miles away."
"Did he tell you where to find this place? Huh? I bet he did. That's another violation right there."
"Maybe we should contact the council."
"Ah, who cares, they're going to execute him today. Problem solved."
"But what are we gonna do with this?" The blond officer looked me over like a mouse in a trap, that he was now responsible for disposing.
"Same thing we do with any unclaimed stray, right? Put him down."
"Oh, come on, Ben, he's human. It's not the same."
"He's got no business being here. We can't put him up for adoption, the council's not going to license him. He's Eljo but he's not one of us, so we can't release him back into the wild hoping he'll keep his mouth shut. What choice do we have?"
"Should we contact the school? His sister was at the advocacy rites yesterday."
"Students aren't allowed to keep pets. And anyway, didn't you hear all that arrogant crap she was spouting? She'll put the Eljo's interests ahead of ours in a heartbeat, same as Mekas. I say we get rid of him."
"With an Elioud sister, that's asking for trouble."
"Let's wait for the Seraph, he can decide."
"I have to talk to the council," I repeated. "Now. This morning."
"They're busy," the blond guy said. "They're deciding what to do with your wanna-be sponsor. He screwed us all over because of you."
"That's why I have to—"
"Shut up and let's go."
I was locked inside an interview room. It had no windows, just white-painted brick walls with a table and two chairs. I didn't see any security cameras, though there was a shiny strip of glass running the periphery of the ceiling. I bet they used it to keep an eye on their prisoners.
I sat in one of the chairs. Since I had nothing better to do, I prayed some more. Guys, they've locked me up, and they're talking about killing me. I have to see you, it's really important. Come on, I'm not going to stop praying until you answer. Hello? Hello, hello, hello...
I wished I had a watch. There was no clock in here to tell me what time it was. The Nephilim Jedaiel had picked me up around eight A.M., which I only knew because that was what the digital display in his car dashboard said. It hadn't taken that long to get here. On TV yesterday, they'd said the council would announce Ezra's sentence at noon.
I had to get to them before then.
I put my head down on the table and kept praying. I probably repeated myself a lot. Eventually half the stuff I was thinking wasn't terribly clear, because I was tired and weak, and increasingly desperate. This was my only chance. If I couldn't get through to the council, it wouldn't matter what happened to me after that. So I just kept chanting the same things over and over.
It felt like hours before the door opened. A uniformed Nephilim came in. He seemed shorter than most of the others I'd seen, thick and stocky like he was built out of tree trunks. He also looked young, maybe only in his early twenties. Though I guess that didn't mean much here.
"I'm the Seraph of this station," he said. That meant nothing to me, so he added dryly, "That means I'm in charge."
"Can you take a message to the council for me?"
He huffed. "Isn't that what you've been doing in here yourself this whole time? I just came from the Community Hall. The council's instructed me to bring you to the punishment rites."
Oh, thank God, they weren't over yet? Maintaining a poker face was hard, but it helped that I was exhausted. "Let's go."
The Seraph gave a smirk. "I wouldn't be so eager if I were you. They've probably decided to make that traitor Mekas watch while they put you down."
"Just take me there."
"Your funeral," he said, and grabbed my shoulder. "I've got better things to do than play deliveryman. They're probably announcing his sentence right now, and I'm missing it."
"The rite's already started?" I asked as he steered me through the empty station. I saw only one other officer, who was sitting behind the front desk watching an overhead television in the lobby. Sure enough, I could see the inside of the Community Hall on the screen, with the six council members settled in a row behind the bench.
"Any word yet, Marcy?"
She nodded at the TV. "They're bringing him in."
I only got a glimpse of Ezra's back as he was led toward the criminal box. The Seraph squeezed my arm and yanked me for the doors. "Hurry up, or we'll miss the best part."
We got outside and I let out a yelp as my feet suddenly left the ground. I was used to being thrown around by guys bigger than me, but this feeling contradicted every familiar rule of gravity. The Seraph was gripping my upper arm, but he hadn't tossed me over his shoulder, or put me in football position like that Jedaiel guy.
I was floating, and so was he. We were gliding several inches off the ground, moving along as fast as if we were both on rollerblades. I couldn't help kicking my feet in reaction to the bizarre sensation, which made him snort.
"What's the matter, kid, Mekas never levitated you anywhere?"
The pavement of the sidewalk was skimming beneath our feet faster than my eyes could track.
"Levitating?" I gasped. Neither the Elioud textbook nor Ezra had mentioned anything about this. But it made sense. If Ezra could lift an entire motorcycle into the air with his powers, something like this was probably a piece of cake. Combined with the nausea in my gut, I was getting a little seasick.
"You can stop wiggling," the Seraph said with annoyance as the tip of my sneaker scraped the sidewalk. I found myself floating higher, so that my toes couldn't reach. "Just relax and enjoy the ride. We're nearly there."
We were passing over a park of thick grass, and I recognized the approaching Community Hall from television. It was a vaulted brick building, with gothic windows mounted over the front doors and a spire extending from its apex to point at the sky. The grass was being pressed flat into a path by our forward inertia, and instead of dodging around the park's benches we rose up and over them like a game of Super Mario.
The Seraph set us both down in front of the Hall. He kept hold of my arm. We went up the steps using our feet and gravity, like normal people. The minute he pulled the door open, I was hit by another rush of arousal, as if we'd walked into a heat wave. It had to be from all the Elioud present inside.
We stepped into a broad entry hall that ran the front of the building, carpeted in dark green. The space was surprisingly modern given the architecture of the building's exterior. There were neatly labeled signs directing visitors to different meeting rooms, but my escort marched straight ahead toward a set of double doors with a digital sign hanging over them that read Quiet Please - Council In Session.
Absalom's microphone must have been piped into speakers out here, because I could clearly hear him saying, "After careful deliberation, the Enoch's Peak council has reached the following conclusions. In regard to flagellation, Ezrael Mekas shall—"
The Seraph had pulled the door open, eager to witness the sentencing. I took that opportunity to slip free of his grip, using a technique that had worked for me in escaping bullies for years—I crouched down, making myself so short he couldn't keep hold of me without losing his balance, and then sprang into a headlong run.
That meant I went barreling down the center aisle of the Hall, toward the council bench. My hands were still manacled.
"Wait!" I screamed, so desperately that my voice cracked.
The audience broke into gasps. Ezra shot to his feet and shouted my name, but I couldn't afford to be distracted. I dodged grabbing hands, passed a flash of white that my subconscious registered as the Swan's trademark linen suit. The resulting surge of hormones gave me a boost of energy, and I used it.
I made it to the front and the room was in an uproar. Ezra's guards were trying to force him to sit down, but they might as well have been slapping a brick wall. All six council Seats were glaring down at me with assorted levels of distaste. I had about a half second to meet Ezra's deep black eyes and send him a message he wouldn't be able to hear. I'm not going to let them hurt you.
Someone seized me from behind and lifted me into the air. "Vermin," Ariel spat in my ear. "I swear to Samyaza, I'm going to kill you."
"I want to be Ezra's proxy!" I yelled, kicking and struggling against his burly arms. "You hear? I'm invoking the law of proxy! Put me down. Put me down!"
Ariel went still. I couldn't see his face and the pressure of his hold didn't let up, but he seemed frozen with shock.
"Connor, no!" Ezra roared from the criminal box. One of the guards touched a baton thing to his halo. Its blue lights flashed and it made a sizzling noise. Ezra grimaced, his knees buckling enough that they could wrestle him back into his chair. A chorus of shouts had gone up through the Hall, mostly enraged.
"My apologies, Wise Council," panted the Seraph, running up to us. Ariel's arms tightened so much I thought he might crush my ribs. "I'll remove him immediately."
"You're not touching him," Ariel grunted.
"Doc, you have to let me—"
"Back off!"
"Quiet," Absalom commanded into his microphone.
The entire room fell silent. Absalom was staring at me, and I held his cold, hard gaze without blinking.
"Ariel, set him down."
I was put back onto my feet. The arms around me withdrew, but I could still feel Ariel's looming presence at my back.
"Connor Hayes. You have displayed grave disrespect for these rites."
"To be fair, sir, they've shown no respect for me, either."
A couple of the Seats arched their eyebrows, and I heard Ariel growl.
"You're human," Absalom stated dryly. "You have no standing here."
"Your law allows a human to proxy, I looked it up. The Book of Kasdeja, chapter fourteen, verses five through—"
"We do not need an Eljo to quote our own scriptures to us," Absalom interrupted. "We understand well what a proxy is. The question is, do you?"
I lifted my chin in defiance. "Yes."
"I'm not sure you do. There hasn't been a proxy case before any council in the world in my lifetime. I'm not sure when the last one was, in fact."
"Paris, 1716," I answered. "A human named Louise was allowed to proxy for the Nephilim who killed her rapist. She was flogged, blinded, and burned at the stake. He went on to marry and had, like, a dozen children. He named all the girls after her."
The Hall was uncomfortably silent.
"I know what it means, Wise Council. If I proxy for Ezra, I can take the punishments on his behalf."
"No!" Ezra bellowed, earning another strike to the halo that rendered him half-conscious.
I cringed and scowled at his guards. "Leave him alone!"
"We haven't announced his sentences yet," Samuel, the Third Seat, pointed out. "You don't know what you're volunteering for."
"It doesn't matter. Whatever they are, I'll do them."
"That's absurd," said Elizabeth from her spot next to Absalom. "This child's as unhinged as Mekas is."
"Is this the reason you've been bombarding our heads all morning?" Jonah, the Seventh Seat, asked.
"I didn't have any other way to reach you."
"It's against the law to tamper with the council during deliberations," Daisy said irritably. "You can be punished for that."
"Connor, run." Ezra could barely keep his head up. "Get out of here." The baton was brandished again, but thankfully the guy didn't stun him.
"Wise Council, if this is what the Eljo wants, I think we ought to hear him out."
Absalom turned his heavy stare on Ariel, over my head. "I remind you, Doctor Mekas, that you are not here today as a council Seat." Then he looked at me again. "Before you commit to taking on someone else's punishments, boy, you should know what they are. Let's proceed with the rites."
He raised a paper in front of him and read into his microphone. "In regard to flagellation, Ezrael Mekas shall receive forty lashes in the second degree."
A ripple of satisfied murmurs went through the crowd.
"In regard to deprivation, he shall be permanently divested of his angelic abilities."
More approving noises.
"In regard to castration, he is exempted."
That drew a few disappointed exclamations, though I heard Ariel take an audible breath of relief behind me.
"And in regard to execution, he is sentenced to death by drowning."
Oh my God. I swayed a little.
Absalom set the paper down in front of him. "While not all members of the council agree on this next matter, it is the vote of the majority that the Nephilim community will be best served by staying the sinner's execution on a temporary basis, as requested by his family."
I heard Ariel exhale again, and glanced over my shoulder to see that Ruth had come up next to him. She was clutching the sleeve of his suit jacket, with eyes full of hope.
"However, this forbearance is contingent upon a set of conditions.
"One, both Ariel and Ezrael Mekas will bid for Brides annually. If accepted, they will marry within thirty days. Should they be widowed or divorced, or should their Brides fail to produce children within ten years, they will begin bidding for an additional Bride with the same stipulations. Failure on either the sinner's or his father's part to make every good-faith effort to produce male offspring will result in revocation of the stay.
"Two, Ezrael Mekas shall make restitution for his sins, for the duration of his life. He shall surrender himself into the possession of Elioud Biogenesis, and comply fully with the direction of the institute board. Any attempt to escape institute custody, defy institute instructions, or make contact with the human world will result in revocation of the stay.
"And three, upon the first birthday of a healthy Mekas son, execution will be imposed."
The crowd was quiet, and it seemed like every eye in the Hall was on Ezra. Ezra, however, was staring at me.
"Is that all?" I asked of the First Seat, and he nodded. "Okay. I still want to proxy."
"Why?" Samuel demanded. "He's not even dying today. What's wrong with you?"
"You're still going to whip him and all that other stuff. And whether it's today or fifty years from now, you'll eventually drown him. None of this would be happening if it wasn't for me, so do it to me instead."
Ezra stood up again, this time leaning halfway over the box like he was about to jump out. "Stop! You wouldn't say that if you knew—"
"Shut up!" Ariel raged, prompting the guards to apply another charge to Ezra's halo.
Ezra hissed and his eyes rolled back for a second, but he remained on his feet and choked out, "Connor, I made you!"
I frowned. "What?"
He was fighting to refocus, and grabbed the front of the criminal box with both hands to steady himself. "You're Eljo because of me. I did this to you, so please—"
"God Almighty," Ariel said, marching toward the guard with a hand out. "Give me that wand. Forget flagellation, I'm going to fry your brain where you stand, you idiot."
"Ariel!" Absalom boomed into the Hall. "Step back. Now, or I'll have you escorted out."
The guard had zapped Ezra again and was clutching his wand to his chest, like that would keep it safe from the scary Viking doctor closing in on him. Ariel paused, fuming so hard that his cheeks were puffing with every breath. A couple of other enforcement officers had moved to flank him, including the Seraph, and it seemed to dawn on him the scene he was making. He straightened up and backed away, until he was next to Ruth again at the front of the crowd.
"You know better," Absalom warned, then turned to Ezra. "Open your mouth again without the council's permission, sinner, and you will lose your tongue."
Ezra had slumped back into his seat, twitching. He was in pain, breathing hard, the veins on his forehead standing out so sharply I could have mapped them with a fingertip. I was getting teary eyed just looking at him. This wasn't fair. I was trying to save him, and he was still getting hurt on my account. It had to stop.
"Eljo," Absalom said to me, "do you wish to question Ezrael about what he just said?"
"Wise Council," Ariel interrupted, though in a much milder tone. "Elioud Biogenesis staff are forbidden to disclose details of the Bride program."
"When a sentient creature is offering up their life," Absalom responded coolly, "they have a right to do so being fully informed. Or would you prefer we deny this proxy petition altogether?"
I could feel Ariel's eyes shooting daggers into my back. Ezra was struggling to hold his head up, like he was hoping the council would do exactly that. "I don't need to ask him anything," I assured everyone. "It doesn't matter to me." Ezra met my eyes in disbelief, and I gave him a wistful smile.
I didn't know what the story was. Maybe he'd done it on purpose, created a forbidden male Eljo to help with his research. Or maybe it had been a mistake. He could even be lying, in an attempt to convince me not to do this. But I didn't care. My life was his, regardless. For once, I was going to protect him.
"Forty lashes in the second degree," Absalom intoned. "Our flogging system employs a laser that delivers second-degree burns across the subject's back. Each lash is delivered fifteen seconds apart. Forty of these, on a person small as you, will do quite a bit of damage."
My knees wobbled, but I maintained eye contact.
"Permanent deprivation of angelic abilities," he went on. "Normally achieved with a surgery that severs neural pathways in the deep chakral cerebrum. The next closest substitute might be a severing of the optic nerves."
Blindness. Just like the girl from Paris.
"Then there is restitution, as a ward of Elioud Biogenesis. Where Ezrael would be able to fulfill this condition by conducting research, you would have value only as a research subject. As one of the last male Eljo on Earth, I imagine you'd prove useful in a variety of experiments. This would mean the institute has the right to conduct any tests or procedures they desire."
Ezra was soundlessly panicking, his eyes wild as he shook his head.
"You would be forbidden to leave the institute, or have any contact with friends or family in the outside world, for the rest of your life. When the stay of sentence ends, you will be brought to the Justice Center and enclosed in an execution tank. It will fill with water, and you will drown."
The Hall was silent again. I think Ezra was going to try and dissuade me one more time, because his lips parted and a small sound escaped. I shushed him quickly. I wasn't volunteering for all this just for him to get his tongue cut out.
"Connor Hayes, is it still your petition to serve as proxy for Ezrael Mekas in the punishment rites?"
I knew what Absalom was doing. He was trying to scare me into backing down. The scaring part had worked, I was good and terrified, but it could never overpower my determination to save Ezra. The Nephilim were likely to kill me, whether I died in Ezra's stead or not. At least I could make my death count for something, in a way my life never had.
I squared my shoulders and tried not to let my voice shake. "Yes."
"Elizabeth?" He was asking for her vote.
She sighed. "I'm against it. If Mekas is released without consequence, he will remain a danger to us all. And I believe this boy is not in his right mind. Let Mekas suffer the punishments he has earned."
"Samuel?"
"I was going to say no. For all we know, Mekas has coached this boy to take the fall for him. But looking at him now," he jerked his chin toward Ezra, who had gone white-knuckled on the edge of the criminal box, "I'm thinking he's as surprised by this as the rest of us. Perhaps watching his little Eljo pay the price for his sins would be the most effective rehabilitation possible. So I will say yes."
"Daisy?"
"I agree with Samuel. Why should the Nephilim community lose an entire bloodline and a promising scientist, if the lesson can be learned and justice served by granting the Eljo's petition? Yes."
"Patricia?"
"No, no, a thousand times no! Am I the only one thinking about the fact that Connor Hayes is merely a child? Remember, he is fifteen years old, even though to us he may look like an adult. Imagine one of our boys volunteering to proxy at his age."
A fifteen year old Nephilim would look like a five year old human. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, because I didn't want them thinking I was incapable of making my own decisions. But I could agree that the mental image of a five year old being flogged and drowned was barbarous. And some in the crowd started to murmur, as they considered the same thing.
"Jonah?"
"Honestly, to me this seems like a gift-wrapped solution, and we would be fools not to acknowledge it. The Bride program has been key to flying under God's radar for generations. Eliminating male Eljo was an enormous advancement. Yet here we have one that the sinner himself has admitted to creating. Connor Hayes is the impetus for all of Mekas' transgressions, and he has no place among us. It's inevitable that he would need to be put down, even apart from these proceedings. So let's grant his request and see if it puts Mekas back on the righteous path."
Absalom nodded. "Three in favor, two opposed." No one in the Hall was breathing as he appeared deep in thought. "At this time, I am going to conserve my vote."
I wasn't sure what that meant until Ezra gave a low cry. He looked like someone had just stabbed him in the gut, which I guess meant... I'd won? He gave me the most desperate, agonized stare I could ever have imagined, so I smiled at him again, trying to reassure him. It's okay. Really it is.
"The Eljo's petition to proxy is granted," Absalom declared. A rumble of mingled dismay and astonishment swept through the crowd.
"And Ezrael Mekas... you are released."