Umbel (Terminal Trilogy #3)

27: Ambience

No one was particularly happy, and I thought it a good idea to head home after that. The only problem being that neither of the girls wanted to.

"I'm sick of your house." Adeline insisted.

Ria nodded. "You're on the news like every day, meeting with all these famous people, clearly not in any danger- why can't we do that?" We had pulled out of the crowd as quickly as we could, and were now leaning against the wall of a second hand shop a few streets down.

"Spending time with half the celebrities in Hell is roughly the same as working customer service past midnight in the only grocery store in town; it's just a bunch of semi-insane people telling you their life stories." My nerves were still racing from watching the procession earlier, as I tried to guess how hard it would be to get to Earth.

"I want to see my fake mother again." Adeline said, her voice as calm as ever.

"Mannie? She won't appreciate you calling her that."

"That's why she is my fake mom. Do you know who our real one is yet?"

"She said you were given to her by an angel, and you're evidently not human, so, uh, no. I can probably ask around at some point, but probably not while all this other stuff is still going on."

"We don't really need to know." Ria said, taking Adeline's hand. It was always odd how condescending she could act towards her older sister.

"Fine. We'll stop by the central building and see if anyone wants to gossip. Then we either head home or back to Earth and wait this out."

There was another scream from a few streets down. Never a good sign.

Adeline suddenly gripped my arm, "You're a Hellhound. You can protect us."

A couple soldiers in light blue uniforms ran by, heavy black guns in their arms.

The main meeting building seemed empty, no one at reception and certainly no one stopping us from entering. Outside, the square had been busy, as what appeared to be the entire school population had gathered there. A teacher had stared at me forlornly while I past, like he was begging me to stop and help manage the hundreds of kids he had watch over.

We took the elevator up to the floor where the meeting room was, and then paused the moment we arrived- like kids walking past a busy classroom, we collectively starting creeping forward as we came to the room, desperate not to interrupt the subdued whispers from within.

I signaled Ria and Adeline to stop moving while I leaned forward and peeked into the meeting room. This was probably some sort of criminal offense, right? Breaking into a building and spying on business meetings?

The people in this room almost confused me, as I didn't really know any of them- I was used to seeing The Few as a collective group, but I usually had only paid attention to Kell, their de facto leader. In here were six people I had trouble remembering the names of, all looking relatively angry at each other.

After a moment, the names came back to me- Stacy was unhealthy looking man seeming to lead the meeting, writing various vaguely threatening words on a small whiteboard in all caps, like 'bombs' and 'civilian soldiers'.

Beside him, also standing, was the old leader of Hell Occasio. He had his arms crossed and was staring at the man next to him- Alexander, who was leaning back in an ugly jacket with his eyes closed.

Sitting in on this meeting were the redhead in the wheelchair- Noel-, as well as Glenn and Lane.

I took a few quiet steps back. "I don't think this is something we should interrupt. We should leave."