Jacob finally stopped berating me and told me to finish writing before I got the rest of my memory back. He says it’ll be less confusing this way. We are racing to my house to get the coordinates. His gang is close on our tail. I don’t know what would be worse getting caught by an angel or Jacob’s old gang. Certainly, Jacob isn’t afraid of the police, given the way he’s driving. All he cares about is finding Avery and that’s fine with me.
“We’ll be there in five. Wrap it up, Drew,” Jacob warned.
Jacob had hid me in a hotel while he ran and got the ingredients for the second jinni summoning. Since I had no Watcher, angels would be hard pressed to find me. As long as I stayed away from the Morning Stars and got the GPS coordinates from my memory back, we’d be fine. That was until Joe the Barber showed up at the hotel before Jacob did. I only remembered him from reading journal entry 10. I have no actual memory of meeting him when he knocked at the door.
I checked the peephole. The Barber called through the hotel door, “Hey, Andrew. It’s Joe. I rescued you from the charm shop. We need to talk.”
Jacob had warned me not let anyone in. I flipped open my journal. I knew that I had written about him when I had gone back to the charm shop the second time. I skimmed through it and found, “he’s setting me up.” I had no feeling about him one way or the other, but my own handwriting told me not trust him and to trust Jacob. Jacob had just said, “Remember, the Barber is after us,” when we had left his house.
“Where’s Jacob?” I asked. I didn’t want to let Joe know I was with Jacob. “I only want to work with Jacob.”
“I told you Jacob is off your case. I’ve been put in charge.”
“I don’t remember ever talking to you. I want to talk to Jacob.”
“Frankly, Jacob’s MIA. Let me in so we can talk.”
A sort of blindness came over me. When I woke up, I had lived through every all of journal entry 10 again. The entire day. All the fear came back. Joe the Barber was scary like Jacob, but the Barber didn’t seem to care if I lived or died.
When I came to, I was lying on the bed. Joe and his thugs were in the room.
“What happened?” Joe asked.
I saw that the door was busted open. I didn’t say a word.
“Looks to me like you’re getting’ memories back.” Joe flung my journal at me. “Looks to me that someone is keepin’ a journal so that they don’t forget certain things. Jacob’s crossed the line again, and I gotta clean it up. Hmm. Where’s Jacob?”
“I don’t-”
“Drop the act.” Joe sat down next to me on the bed. He dangled Jacob’s gun above me. “I gave this back to Jacob the other day after you killed that angel. The only way you would’ve gotten this is if Jacob gave it back to you. Now, where is he?”
…
He was right. Jacob had removed my watcher and earlier that day he had taken me to see an angel, but I hadn’t killed it. Jacob had made a call on his cell phone after reviving me on the street. His conversation was bazaar. “Preacher man. No, no payment this month. Got a favor instead. Need you to call Barakiel and tell him there’s a problem with the machine. … I don’t know make something up. I just want to get a peek at him. I’ll be out of the way. … Don’t worry about it. The less you know the better. … Make it forty-five. … So. Alright, what’s the earliest? I ain’t got that kind of time.”
Jacob threw his phone into a cup holder. “We gotta make a stop at my place. Got no ammo. You lit up my last clip yesterday. My crib will have some heat on it so you’ll have to stay low.”
Jacob drove to Compton. We pulled down a side street, he told me to get my head. “This here’s our check point. Can’t let these snitches know I’m bringing a cracker around. All these chickenheads ‘ll ring the alarm.”
I moved the seat back and curled into a ball on the passenger side floor. My heart raced as Jacob slowed. I saw Jacob give someone a head nod. Then, he pulled into a single car garage and closed the door.
“This is my place. You’re safe here. Scratch that. If anyone sees you, we gotta bounce.”
“Then, why take me here. Can’t we get bullets anywhere?”
“If you got a gun license. I don’t. Do you? Besides, We need real protection.”
Jacob tossed me a bullet. “You didn’t think you were some kind of natural shot did ya?”
I examined the bullet. It glistened… no, it danced. Flames danced on the metal. I closed my hand around it. “I didn’t shoot your gun.”
“Shit, you got some holes in that brain. Just chill here. I’m gonna get some angel killers inside. Be back in five.”
Jacob left me alone in the garage. I wasn’t petrified. Before I lost Heather and Avery, being alone was awkward. I came from a big family. Granted I’m mainly close to my sister, but I had two other siblings. I was never alone as a child. As I grew up, I never craved being alone. I think that’s why Heather and I got along so well. She liked having other people constantly around too. Even if she was reading a book and or just not talking for hours. It was always better to have someone else in the room. The only time I was ever alone was when I commuted to and from work. Now. In Jacob’s garage. I suddenly knew I didn’t like to being alone either. I’ve felt so empty since I lost Heather and Avery. I was alone no matter where I was.
A women’s voice could be heard just outside the garage. “Jacob, quit stalling. I know you saw me. Get out here. We need ta talk.”
“Chill Roe-Roe.”
“Don’t you Roe-Roe me. You’ll call me the name my mama gave me just like everybody else.”
“You need to check you volume.”
“Why? The Barber looking for ya?”
“What it to you?”
“I just want to get mine before you get yours.”
Someone banged onto the side of the garage. It was obviously the girl.
Jacob’s voice came low and slow. “Don’t forget who I am. You go tell the Barber that I do my thing until I’m called by the counsel. Not him, and especially not you, gonna come on down me for doin' my thing. You tell the Barber that if I see him sniffing around my client, he’s a dead man. Oh, and we’re through Rohanda. When I get back, your shit better be gone.”
Jacob returned with the ammo. “Ah, angel killers. Ain’t nothin’ better than bullets made from angel swords. Drew, the Barber is after us. That boy means to stop you from finding your daughter. I ain’t gonna let that happen.”
We drove to an unassuming white office building in Santa Ann. It was nicer than the other buildings around it. I could tell it was government-owned because of the California and American flags that were in front of it. Unlike the other office buildings, the parking let was almost empty. Although there was plenty of room, Jacob parked in the back.
“Just like the government, closed by four. We gonna roll up in here and check out this angel. Don’t do anything. I don’t feel like getting killed. You just need you to get a glimpse and you’ll start getting your memory back. Oh, and you gotta believe.”
“Where are we?”
“Lotto central, my friend.”
“We’re going to see an angel here?”
“Church is always the best place to find an angel?”
I didn’t bother asking the next logical question. Jacob led me through an unlocked door and into a small room. It was a lotto studio, where they filmed the live lotto drawings for the county. I remembered seeing it on TV. The room wasn’t more than 12’ by 12’. Jacob led me around the backdrop and up a ladder. We looked over the stage from behind stage lights and were only about10 feet up.
“If it goes down, it’s gonna go bad quick. Just get low and hide. You’re dead if Barakiel sees you without a Watcher. Angels don’t like people who are free.”
“Barakiel?”
“The Angel of Fortune. Runs the worship of greed. The priest here is on my payroll. He’s gonna call him in here. You just keep watch. Don’t make a sound. And everything should go smooth.”
The door opened. Jacob grabbed my arm and covered his mouth with a finger.
This man with large wire framed glasses scurried into the room. He wore an ugly plaid shirt with kakis. He talked as though someone was behind him.
“Sorry to summon you here. I know you’re busy. I just don’t think it’s working right.”
The plaid-shirted guy paused as though he was listening for something. I couldn’t see anyone else in the room.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal if we bumped up our meeting to today. I just wanted…”
I turned to Jacob to ask him what was going on, but he covered my mouth. He moved my ear close and whispered, “Believe.”
I looked back to the plaid guy having a conversation with himself. I had no memory of any angels at this point. Just my words written in the journal. Did I believe my own writing? Did I trust myself? Is any of this real? Explainable?
Suddenly, the worker was flown into the air and bounced against the wall like a ragdoll. This angel appeared before me as though out of thin air. Its back was towards me with its wings fully spread. Blue sparks flicked from the tips of the wings. I couldn’t see its face.
“You will explain yourself. I run this machine. It cannot break. Why have you summoned me?”
“I told you.”
The angel widened its stance. I immediately noticed its feet. Rabbit feet. Then, it started to laugh.
“A trap then. Or one of your human jokes. Not funny preacher. You have worked for both sides long enough. Your successor is ready to obey.” The angel approached the worker. I turned away and heard the screams that I expected.
“Whatever your reasons, your trickery is no longer a concern,” the angel announced.
I kept my face hidden. I started to shake. Jacob put his hand on me. “It’s okay. Barakiel is gone. Now, you will get your memories back.”
…
Joe the Barber loaded a bullet into the chamber of Jacob’s gun. “Where’s Jacob?” One of his thugs jumped on me. He locked my arm. The Barber pushed the barrel of the gun into the palm of my hand.
I closed my eyes tight preparing for impact. Shots rang out. I opened my eyes. Jacob was in the doorway. Two of the Barber’s men were on the floor, leaving Joe and the thug on top of me. Joe let go of my arm, and I immediately clawed at the face of the thug who pinned me.
Joe ducked behind the bed while Jacob put two bullets into the thug. His lifeless body collapse on top of me.
“You just ended your life,” the Barber called out. “I got an order from the council. You are to cease all activity.”
“You talked to Rohanda then?”
“Yeah.”
Jacob fell to the ground and unloaded in gun underneath the bed. ‘You’ve been warned then.”
I clenched my eyes, hoping not to get shot.
They stopped. The bathroom door slammed. Jacob shoved the dead body off of me. He found his other gun that Joe had on the floor. Pointing both at the bathroom door, Jacob yelled, “No foolin’. I actually got summoned?”
Joe let out a soft “Yeah-” that was drowned out by Jacob’s gunfire. We ran from the room not caring to confirm if Joe was dead.
Jacob and I just arrived at my house. We are running in to find the coordinates. All my memory is back, except for the day after Journal entry 10.
