Angelology(206)

nothing to do but get around these ludicrous metal barriers.

A young man in a tracksuit entered the station and pulled a plastic card from his pocket. Percival

waited, letting him come to the turnstile, and then, just as he was about to swipe his card, Percival

slid the knobbed handle of his cane from the shaft and, pressing the tip into the man’s back, jabbed

with all his might. The man’s body lurched forward, slamming into the turnstile and falling back at

Percival’s feet. As the man moaned in pain, Percival snatched the card from the injured man’s fingers,

swiped it, and pushed through the gates of the subway. In the distance he heard the thundering of a

train approaching the platform.

Fifty-first Street and Lexington Avenue station, #6 downtown local

train, New York City

As the train came into the station, a whoosh of hot air brushed against Evangeline’s skin. She took a

deep breath, taking in the smell of stale air and hot metal. The doors slid open, and a stream of

passengers stepped onto the platform. She and Gabriella had run less than a block to the station, but

the effort had rendered her grandmother breathless. As Evangeline assisted her into a glossy plastic

seat, she saw how weakened Gabriella had become. Her grandmother leaned back against the seat,

trying to recover her equilibrium, and Evangeline wondered how long they would be able to continue

if Percival Grigori had followed them.

The car was empty except for a drunk man stretched across a row of seats at the far end, and within

a few sniffs Evangeline understood why there were no other passengers in their proximity. The man

had vomited all over himself and the seats, leaving a pungent stench. She almost gagged from the

odor, but there was no way she could risk stepping out onto the platform. Instead she tried to figure

out which train they were on and, finding a map, she deduced their position: They were on the 4-5-6

green line. Tracing the line south, she saw that it ended at the Brooklyn Bridge—City Hall station.

She knew the streets near the bridge intimately. If they could only get there, she would have no trouble

finding them a place to hide. They must leave at once. And yet the doors, which Evangeline expected

to close immediately, stood open.

A loud, jarring voice came onto the intercom system, speaking in a rapid string of words, each one

running into the next. The announcement, Evangeline surmised, must have something to do with a

delay at the station, although she couldn’t be sure. The doors sat open, leaving them exposed. Panic

surged through her at the thought of being trapped, but her grandmother’s sudden agitation

overshadowed her thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” Evangeline asked.

“It’s gone,” Gabriella said, grasping at her throat, clearly startled. “My amulet has fallen off.”

Evangeline instinctively touched her own throat, feeling the cold metal of her golden lyre pendant.

At once she began to unfasten the clasp, to give the necklace to her grandmother, but Gabriella

stopped her. “You will need your pendant now more than ever.”

Pendant or no pendant, it was too dangerous to remain standing there, waiting. Evangeline looked

out at the platform, measuring the distance to the exit. She was about to take her grandmother by the

arm and escort her off the train when, through a graffiti-etched window, the shape of their pursuer

appeared. He limped from the stairwell and onto the platform, searching the train. Evangeline ducked

below the window, pulling Gabriella with her, hoping he hadn’t seen them. To her relief, a bell

sounded and the doors began to close. The car pulled away from the station, its wheels grinding on

metal as they gained speed.

But when Evangeline looked up, her heart sank. A bloodied cane filled her vision. Percival Grigori

leered down at her, his face twisted in rage and exhaustion. His breathing was so labored that

Evangeline calculated they would be able to outrun him once they made it to the next station. She

doubted he’d be able to follow them up even the smallest flight of stairs. But as Percival removed the

gun from his pocket and gestured for Evangeline and Gabriella to stand, she knew that he’d caught

them. Grasping a metal bar for support, Evangeline held her grandmother close.

“Here we are again,” Percival said, his voice little more than a whisper as he leaned over and took

the leather case from Gabriella. “But perhaps this time we are dealing with the real thing.”

As the train made its way through the darkness of the tunnels, swaying with the curve of the

underground passage, Percival placed the case on the plastic seat and opened it. The train stopped at

a station and the doors opened, but as passengers stepped inside, they took one smell of the drunk man