The Book of Doom - By Barry Hutchison Page 0,70
purposefully towards the house that God built.
HE ORNATE FRONT door opened without a whisper and Zac stepped on to a marble floor.
“Gabriel?” he called, and his voice echoed around the cavernous hall. “Gabriel, you there?”
Almost immediately there came the sound of hard footsteps clopping across the polished floor. Gabriel entered through one of the many arched doorways at the back of the room. He appeared surprised to see Zac there, but his politician smile didn’t waiver once.
“Ah, there you are,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “We lost track of you and rather feared the worst. It is good to see you are in one piece.” He stopped in front of Zac and the smile grew larger. “I trust you were able to retrieve the book?”
“I’ve got it. But they’ve kept Angelo.”
Gabriel’s smile slipped smoothly into a frown. “Have they? Have they indeed?” He gave a solemn nod, then the smile returned. “May I see it?”
“See what?”
“The book. May I see it?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? They’ve got Angelo. We have to do something.”
Gabriel’s eyes twitched. “All in good time. The book, please, Zac.”
The force of the sudden realisation made Zac take a step back. “Wait... you knew. You knew they were going to keep him,” he mumbled. “You made him wait outside the door. You knew I’d choose him over Michael. You knew I’d take him with me.”
“The book,” said Gabriel, his smile falling away completely. “Give me the book.”
“So... what? You swapped him?”
“We made a deal,” the archangel replied. “The boy for the book. His life for the lives of countless billion others. It was the right thing to do. It was the good thing to do.”
“The good thing? You’ve sent him to Hell, and who knows what they’re going to do to him? That’s not good, that’s evil! I thought you lot were supposed to know the difference.”
Gabriel held out a hand. “The book, Zacharias. Give me the book.”
“No,” Zac said. “I want to see the Metatron.”
The archangel’s eyebrows arched, but he said nothing.
“The voice of God. He’s in charge now, right? Angelo told me all about it. I want to see him.”
Gabriel chuckled. “What a strange thing to say. You don’t see voices, Zac. You hear them.”
“Well, I want to hear him, then. I want to talk to him.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Gabriel said. “Now, while I appreciate your concern for Angelo, I am going to say this one final time. Give me the book.”
Zac shook his head. “No,” he said. He turned back towards the door. He barely caught a glimpse of Michael standing there before the fiery blade of the archangel’s sword was across his throat. Michael’s flawless features fixed into an ugly snarl.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cut you down,” Michael growled.
Zac felt his strength leave him. His shoulders sagged and his spirit sagged with them. “I promised him,” he said quietly. “I promised him I’d get help.”
Gabriel fished inside the backpack. He pulled out a small cloth bag filled with thirty or more little round balls. “Been playing marbles?” he asked, and Zac could hear the smirk on his face. Gabriel returned the bag to the backpack. A moment later, he took out the book.
There was a long moment of silence, broken eventually by Gabriel’s clipped tones.
“Is this some sort of joke?” he demanded, catching Zac by the shoulder and spinning the boy round to face him. Gabriel’s blue eyes were dark, his chiselled nostrils flared wide. “What is this?” he asked, holding up the leather-bound volume.
“The book,” Zac replied.
“No, it isn’t! This isn’t the book. Look!”
He broke the clasp and padlock without any effort and the book fell open. Zac watched as the archangel flipped through the pages.
“See? Blank. There’s nothing there. This isn’t the Book of Everything it’s a book of nothing.” He turned and hurled the book across the room. It struck a pillar and sprayed plain white paper in all directions. Gabriel stepped in closer to Zac, visibly shaking with rage. “Where is it? Where is the real book?”
Zac shrugged. “That’s the one they gave me.”
“And you accepted it?” Gabriel snorted. “You’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”
“Send me back down,” Zac suggested. “I’ll get the real book and get Angelo at the same time.”
“Oh, Angelo, Angelo, Angelo,” Gabriel cried. “Stop talking about Angelo. Nobody cares about Angelo! Least of all you, if I remember correctly. The book is all that matters. Besides, for all we know they don’t even have it. We’re