Daniel on Trial (historia 10)

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DANIEL ON TRI AL

Angel, rise!

Daniel rose from his chair, spread his wings, and beat

them gently, hovering a few feet off the floor as the nine

Scale angels in sinister black burlap cloaks swished into

the ordinary mortal boardroom in suburban Dayton,

Ohio. He bared his wings so they would know he was

unarmed. The old angels filed in, barely looking at him

as they took their seats on the golden benches that hadbeen specially installed in the boardroom for the trial.

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Come eight oclock this morning, all evidence of this

gathering would be gone.

You may ground yourself, the same voice boomedbehind hima faceless secretary Daniel would never see

again.

He touched down on the industrial carpet and sat

alone behind the long table facing the Scale. He watched

the sunrise out the window, unbearably bored as each

member ritually turned his back, flicked down the hoodof his cloak, and revealed the gold insignia branded onto

the back of his neck: each bore a seven-pointed star.

As if he cared. As if this display of the Scales

so-called exclusivity raised them whatsoever in Daniels

esteem. They were a parole board, plain and simple,

albeit a heavenly one. The Scale was composed of

power-hungry lesser angelsangels so far down the

ranks that, before the Fall, the Throne might not even

have been able to distinguish one of them from another.

Sure, they had a measure of power now, but . . .

Daniel would never have felt so superior to the Scaleif they hadnt made a point of playing superior to him.

Daniel Grigori? asked the Scale member Daniel

thought of as Toadface. None of them had names. That

was part of the Scale protocol, tooonce an angel

joined their sect, he discarded his individuality. The

group, they felt, was more important than a single angel.And so Scale members disavowed themselves of their

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given angelic names. They were part of a bigger force

now, a single entity.

Yes? Daniel looked around the room and rolled hiseyes, as if to say, Who else but me? I am the one called

Daniel Grigori. He should have been used to their fussy

procedures by now, but each trial irritated him all over

again.

He had been called before the Scale many times over

the years, though in the beginning there were so manyother angels at the table with him that the procedure

had been less painful. Now that Daniel was among a few

remaining unsided souls, one of the few who had chosen

neither the Throne nor Lucifer, the Scale had made him

their pet project. They dragged him in on any excuse.

He spent far too little time with Lucinda and far too

much time tripped up in their bureaucracy. He resented

them for that.

Toadface stood and read aloud from a heavy

parchment scroll. You are charged with coercion of

an established Host of Heaven.Come on, Daniel said. Thats ridiculous.

Did you not converse with Gabrielle Givens on

the night of October the twenty-seventh, saying, and

I quotehere Toadfaces voice became brooding and

affectedDont you ever feel like its all worthless?

Is it really any different back in Heaven than it waswhen we were kicked out? Toadface narrowed his

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warty old eyes. We have many witnesses who can attest

to this heretical statement.

Daniel swallowed. I said it. I was in a bad mood.Who cares? Gabbe would never give up her place

in Heaven. If you dont know that, youre

And why were you in such a bad mood,

Mr. Grigori?

You know why! Daniel shouted, rising from his

chair, rising off the floor. He had had enough. His wingstowered over them, dwarfing their small, silly, moon-

light-blue wings, casting a shadow on their haughty old

faces. A few Scale members reared back in their seats.

One rose and wagged a finger at him. If you so

dislike having to answer to us, there is one thing you can

do: Learn from your mistakes, Mr. Grigori. Make the

choice you should have made ages ago.

Another took up the diatribe. Instead you chose

love. How very quaint.

A third continued even as several of them came

around the long table, even as they shrugged off theircloaks, which could double as straitjackets. You were

too weakened by foolish love to make the right choice

before. But now you can correct your mistakes.

Toadface finished: Now you can do the thing

you know you need to do!

The four came at him from either side, their bindinggarments held forth, all of them smiling with anticipa-

tion. This, too, was almost part of their protocols: The

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Scale relished the punishments they inflicted on angels

who didnt heed them.

In that way they were not so very different fromthose fallen theyd labeled demons.

Never! Daniel said, even as they leaped upon

him, shackling him with their horrible black burlap

straitjackets, from which thered be no struggling free.

Never! he repeated before the sleeves of the cloak

wound themselves around his chest, his arms, his mouth.He would not yield to the Scale. If they bound him

up for a year, or for a thousand years. He would not

renounce Lucinda.

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Text 2011 by Tinderbox Books, LLC and Lauren Kate.

Illustration 2011 by Fernanda Brussi Gonalves with Rebecca Roeske.

Daniel on Trial (historia 10)

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