The Book of Doom - By Barry Hutchison Page 0,36
as?” said Zac. “Wait, let me guess. A comic book?”
“Come off it, I’m not that geeky,” Angelo replied.
“What did it look like, then?”
“A DVD boxed set of Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
“That’s not a book.”
“It doesn’t have to be a book,” Angelo said. “It can look like anything.”
Zac rested the back of his head against the pillar. “What I don’t understand – and I don’t believe I’m about to say this... Why doesn’t, you know –” he took a deep breath – “like, God, or whoever, just magic it back?”
“Oh, no,” Angelo said, “he can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“God quit.”
Zac stared. “God quit?”
“That’s right.”
“What do you mean, God quit? How can God quit?”
“God can do anything. That’s why He’s God. He got fed up of it all and just jacked it in.”
Herya gave a hollow laugh. “That’s the trouble with modern gods. No stamina.”
“Jacked it in?” Zac said. “What do you mean he jacked it in? How can God jack it in?”
Angelo scratched his head. “It was about a hundred years ago, I think. Maybe a bit less. He decided He’d had enough of Heaven and was going to go and live as a human on Earth instead. People weren’t happy about it, but what can you say? He’s God. You can’t really argue with Him. No one knows where He ended up. No one’s heard from Him in yonks. The Metatron’s in charge now.”
“The who?”
“The Metatron. He’s been around from the start, sort of like a spokesman for Heaven. Whenever burning bushes start speaking to people in the Bible, that’s the Metatron talking. He’s the official Voice of God,” Angelo explained. “He also does a very good Shirley Bassey, if you catch him in the right mood.”
Zac’s head was spinning. Yesterday, he hadn’t believed in God. Any god, for that matter. For a few hours today he had been reluctantly forced to accept that a supreme being might exist after all. And now he was trying to come to terms with the fact that God not only existed, but that he’d taken early retirement.
Through it all, though, a thought bothered him.
“So, if God quit, who’s to say he didn’t just take the book with him? That’s what I’d have done if it’s really as dangerous as everyone keeps saying. What if he didn’t want anyone else to have it?”
“Oh, no, it’s in Hell,” Angelo reminded him. “Gabriel said so.”
“What if Gabriel’s lying?”
“Angels can’t lie.”
“And who told you that?”
“Gabriel did.”
Zac nodded slowly. “Funny, I thought you might say that.”
He leaned back against the pillar again, deep in thought. Maybe Gabriel was telling the truth. Maybe the book really was in Hell. But something about the whole set-up stank, from the way they had threatened his granddad to the way they had teamed him up with the ticking time bomb that was sitting beside him now.
Gabriel hadn’t lied about Angelo, exactly. He’d never claimed he was half human, but he’d omitted the fact he was half demon, and Zac couldn’t help but wonder what else the archangel had neglected to mention.
“Why are they sending you?”
Zac turned to Herya. She was staring at him intently. “If the book is so important, why did they pick you to get it back? You’re just a mortal.”
“Because I’m good at that sort of thing,” Zac said, suddenly defensive. “I break into places and steal things. That’s what I do and I do it well. Really well. Better than anyone.”
Angelo shook his head. He made no effort to hide the disappointment in his voice. “That’s terrible. Stealing’s wrong.”
“Yeah, well,” began Zac. He felt a pang of something in his chest. Was it guilt? That would be a first. But then he’d never discussed his career choice with anyone before. “I steal from private collectors. Gangsters, usually, or worse. Most of the stuff I nick, they’ve already nicked from someone else, so I reckon it balances out.”
“It doesn’t. Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Angelo said with a sniff.
Zac opened his mouth, then closed it again. Why was he trying to justify himself to this boy? He did what he did, and that was that.
“So why did you agree?” Herya asked. “You’re willingly going to walk into Hell. That’s not normal.”
“I’m not sure about willingly,” said Zac. “From my point of view I didn’t really have much of a choice. They had me killed, told me I was going to Hell anyway. At least this way I’d have a chance of getting back out.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” Angelo