Armageddon's Ward by T J Kelly

Author:T J Kelly [Kelly, T J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948744003
Publisher: Persistence Publishing
Published: 2018-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

I headed outside. I couldn’t stand the thought of being inside my uncle’s castle for another minute.

Where did he get off, anyway? Chas lived with him for years and never once betrayed Armageddon or anyone else. And he could have. There were plenty of opportunities and secrets just lying around, ready to be used against the Irregulars. But Chas never did anything like that.

I hurried towards my usual thinking spot. There were wildflowers everywhere along the way, and I swiped at a few of them, knocking them over. I hated when I lost my temper, but Armageddon’s obnoxious opinions ticked me off. I hated how he was acting like he was my father. I already had a father, who loved me and watched out for me. Now that he was gone it didn’t mean the position was available. There wasn’t a vacancy for somebody else to step into as if my father had never existed.

Tears filled my eyes. I missed my father. He was funny. He loved me. And he was fair. He would have been worried about his little girl dating a boy, but he also would have taken Chas for the man he was instead of judging him based on his family. Rectors were known for our fairness. For our ability to see through fake actions and words. To know the truth.

And the truth was, Chas loved me and wouldn’t hurt me.

My focus shifted and I realized spring had come to the Pacific Northwest with a vengeance. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion all over the fields, bees humming as they collected their nectar, birds singing in the trees. There were a lot of them. Their birdsong was loud. Deafening. In fact, their songs were so intrusive that I couldn’t think.

I picked up a rock and threw it at the trees, hoping to scare the birds into silence. I needed a moment of peace, but instead, they were so obnoxious that I was surprised we couldn’t hear them inside the castle. They kept going on and on, though, as if I wasn’t even there.

“Shut up already!” I yelled. Then I was embarrassed at myself, talking to a bunch of birds. My anger dried the tears in my eyes. I stopped walking, facing the trees where the loudest of the cawing, chattering, clucking, tweeting, whistling, squawking, and cheeping was coming from.

Poets thought birds were romantic, always writing stupid poems about how sweet they sounded. I bet it was because they didn’t really live near any of them. There was no way they could spend time in nature and think the racket birds made was lovely. No. They were annoying. In fact, I wished they would just shut up for once and leave me alone.

I wished every single one of them would just go away.

And that was exactly what happened. Every bird, probably hundreds of them, disappeared from the trees and the sky. Their nests emptied. Ah, blessed silence. I took a breath, held it, let it out. Then took another. Finally, a little peace.

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