“Uriel?”
“Yes, it is I.” He looked around at my surroundings. “I’d ask how you are doing, but I think I know the answer.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, I’ve been better. Am I dreaming?”
He shook his head.
“So … um … my only memories come to me in dreams. I thought you had died.”
“We don’t really die, but if the Flaming Sword strikes us, then we are grounded to wherever we are meant to be. For some of us, that is heaven; and for others, that is hell. Once we are sent there by the Flaming Sword, we are not to leave. Of course, the Flaming Sword was never meant for the archangels, but rules are rules.”
I squinted like I was prone to do when someone made zero sense. “Okay, so how are you here, then?”
“I’m not really.” He cut his hand down toward his thigh like an axe chopping wood. His hand went through his leg. His whole body was blurry for a few seconds before it settled back like congealed Jell-O. “I have special permission to come visit you. Your mother sends you a bushel of hugs, by the way.”
My eyes started to tear up at just the mention of her. “She couldn’t come …” I waved my hand at him. “Even in that form?”
“No, I’m afraid not. The reason why is because we only have an allotted amount of time before anyone notices we are missing, and Abbadona knew that she would likely go over that time, and then she would be punished. Everyone has a soft spot for your mother, so we all try to protect her when we can. Speaking of time, I’m cutting it close, so let me get to the point. Sometimes, what the heart wants and needs are two different things. I need you to remember that when your friend comes tomorrow. Make a choice that your heart can live with.”
“Wait—who are we talking about? Finn?”
“You’ll see. Now, to the important part. The blade that Azrael poured into you is no longer meant for one person. If you are to defeat the fallen and their creations, you will need people around you who can help. Seven should carry its essence, including yourself. Choose wisely.”
“Creations? You mean us?”
“Things that should not have been created.” He stood up.
“Wait,” I said. “No offense, but you can’t just drop in here … a cell of all places, and tell me that I need to pass the torch to six other people. I need details, like who and how. Also, let’s talk about these creations.”
He smiled. Like freaking smiled as if he didn’t know that I was aggravated.
I made it to my feet and stared at him until he spoke.
“I’ve been touched by the Flaming Sword. I can’t alter the future. I’m already treading into the danger zone, and I never said pass the torch. You will still be just as powerful. Each day, you grow more and more powerful.” He reached out a hand like he was going to touch me, but his fingers disappeared the moment they should have come into contact with my cheek. His eyes grew sad. “I must go. Your mother is probably pacing the floors right now, wanting to know every little detail of our exchange.”
Another lump formed. “Tell her I remember her, and she was a great mother.”
He frowned a little. “She still is. Just because she is in heaven and you roam the earth doesn’t mean that she has stopped thinking or caring about you.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded.
“Abbadona is signaling to me that time is up, so I must go.”
“Wait!” I shouted. “How will I know who to choose?”
“You will feel it in your gut. Let Chamuel’s gift guide you. Whomever you pick will be bound to you for as long as you walk on this earth. You will all share a common goal. And remember, you can’t make the best choices if you live in safety. We are all rooting for you.”
I watched as he literally evaporated in front of my eyes. Then I paced the floors of my small containment.
Uriel was cryptic; that was for sure. You would think he would have given me a little more information or help in the matter. Shoot, why not just give me a list of names of who could be trusted?
The good news was that he didn’t seem to think I would waste away in this cell.
I went back to lying on the floor. I knew sleep for me was a lost cause, but while I was waiting for my gut to lead me, I could hope to fall asleep and dream of my mother or the boy I was missing.
Before sleep could take me away from this hellhole, an unwanted visitor came back seconds after Uriel had left.
I narrowed my eyes. “Tell me exactly what the headmistress meant by take two. And I swear to you right now, if I don’t like the answer, I’ll make sure you die a slow, painful death.”
Trev looked exhausted. “Two fingers.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I were. I had a feeling this would happen.”
I stood. “You had a feeling that some psychotic woman was going to demand a part of my body?”
He sighed heavily. “I knew that she wasn’t going to take a chance of going up against Finn. It’s true that, with the serum, she could kill him, but she has never administered it to someone so powerful. Also, she has an ace up her sleeve, but to release that card, she would have to be desperate.”
“You are making zero sense.”
“There are a lot of ifs and buts when it comes to the commander. The headmistress has been looking for leverage to help her get what she wants—the Flaming Sword.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Once she realized that you were that leverage, she now has something that she hasn’t had in a long time—hope. If she doesn’t show him that she has that leverage—you—then he will be in this academy by nightfall, and there is a ninety-nine percent chance that we are all dead once he arrives.”
“Good. I hope he swims in your blood.”
“When did you become so bloodthirsty?”
“Somewhere between you kidnapping me and demanding two of my damn fingers! That’s when.”
Footsteps were approaching. Then, from around the corner, came Trev’s brother, whistling a merry tune.
“Look,” Trev continued, “I have a lot of explaining to do, which I promise I will, but first, I have to show my loyalty to the headmistress. If this box isn’t delivered within the next twenty minutes, we are all screwed.”
I held up my middle finger. “This is the only finger you are going to get.”
Trev’s brother laughed, causing Trev to sigh.
“Ezra, now is not the time.”
The brother, Ezra, shrugged. “I could go back to my room, but I came to help.”
“What?” I snapped. “Are you here to hold me down?”
Ezra leaned a solid shoulder against the empty cell in front of mine. “No. I came to take away the pain and stop the bleeding.”
“Again,” I said, “not getting my fingers.”
“Our first priority is to stop the commander from storming the gates. Our second is to explain to you why we need you. Our third—”
“Whoa. You cannot be serious,” I said. “Do you seriously think that I would help you?”
“Crunch, crunch, brother. We are wasting time,” Ezra said.
“She feels no pain,” Trev warned his brother.
“Of course.”
I watched in horror as they took out a key and unlocked my cell. Then the limited training that I had received from the Academy of Seraph took over.
With Trev juggling the box, I kicked out a leg, catching him on his knee cap. He dropped the box, but he was able to block my escape. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his face toward my rising knee. I got two good shots in before he disentangled himself from my hold. In a move that I had yet to learn, he swooped one arm under mine and had it at a weird angle within seconds. I was forced to either stop struggling or break an arm. I would have gone for the break, but logic took over. I would still have to beat Trev one-armed and, if by some miracle I whooped his ass, I would still have to go through his brother. Without my powers, there was no way I could win.
Ezra clapped. “Such a firecracker.”
“Thanks for the help, brother.”
Ezra shrugged. “Here, I’ll help. I think she broke your nose.”
“Thanks, but I already knew that.”
Ezra strolled into the cell. “Listen, as highly entertaining as all this was, we are out of time.” He stooped down to where the box was. Taking off the lid, he then pulled out a sharp knife. “There is good news to this. One, it will keep the headmistress from knowing your little secret. You know, the one where you’re not a demi after all. And two, once your little secret is returned to you, your fingers will grow back.”
I glared at him. “You need a fact-checker. I am a demi. The first demi to have immortality. And what is to keep either of you from telling the headmistress about my immortality?”
I couldn’t see Trev’s face, but Ezra looked at his brother like I was daft. “Because you are going to free us all.”
I tried to turn around so I could face Trev, to plead with him not to do this, but his grip on me tightened.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said.
Earnestly, Ezra said, “I promise I’ll heal your face, too.”
“My face?” I barely had time to finish my sentence before I saw him swing his meaty fist at me. With Trev holding me tight, I could only slightly turn my head as I braced for impact. My last thought was I was going to kill them both.
I felt like I was wading through swampy water. Brown mud was all around me, and there was nothing but sloshy dirt for miles and miles. My head hurt, and my limbs felt weighted down. I was dream walking.
After searching for Finn and coming up empty, I changed tactics. I really wanted to chat with some people, but getting to them was wearing me down.
I closed my eyes as I put one foot in front of the other. I took calming breaths as I pictured the faces that I really needed to see. When I opened my eyes back up, everything around me was a pristine white, a vast difference from the slosh pit I had just waded through. My movements became easier as I almost glided on what looked like puffy, white clouds. Ahead of me was one lone door, which wasn’t braced by anything, as there were no walls on either side. Tilting my chin up, I marched through the doorway.
There was a collective gasp as seven archangels noticed the intruder.
I took my time looking over all of them. Zadkiel looked more like a Viking than Ezra, with his red hair and bushy beard. One corner of his mouth climbed up as he gently tilted his head in my direction as a greeting.
Haniel stood with her mouth open. Then she bounced up and down before crossing to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Brothers and sister, tell me if I am imagining things, or is this really happening?”
Raphael, who had olive skin and black hair, elbowed Jeremiel, the man he was sitting next to. Jeremiel’s eyes widened as he shook his dark head in disbelief. Chamuel, the one I remembered as my favorite uncle, stood slowly. Then, quicker than I could track, he was before me and had me wrapped in a bear hug. My feet left the ground as he swung me left to right. Then he peppered the top of my head with kisses.
Uriel said, “Put the poor girl down; you’re going to squish her.”
I smiled at him. “Hello again.”
He gave me a wink, but whatever he was about to say died on his lips as my mother, who had been in the corner, let out a half-sob.
Chamuel gave her a nod. “I know. It’s overwhelming. Come say hello to your daughter, Gabriel.”
The woman, who looked like my older sister that was no older than twenty-one, glided toward me. Her dark hair was tied up in a knot at the base of her neck and her beautiful blue eyes were quickly filling with unshed tears. Her ruby lips were parted as she stopped in front of me. She touched both of my cheeks before she slid her hands down my arms. When she got to my palms, she tugged them gently toward her. Tears were streaming down her face. I patted her back as she cried.
In this life, I had bounced around different foster homes and didn’t have any family. Recently, I had dreams about a former life, when I had not only had a family of fifteen archangels, but they were amazing people. Or rather, angels. Their actions had caused them to fall from heaven, and only being hit with the Flaming Sword had allowed them to come back here. If, in fact, I was actually in heaven.
Because they were fallen, they had to always bear the mark of the fallen—black wings. These were all things that I had learned from dreams, but I didn’t really remember the archangels. Not like how they remembered me. These people were strangers.
Sobs racked Gabriel’s body as everyone else crowded around. I continued to console her awkwardly.
Finally, Uriel stepped beside Gabriel. He put an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her back from me. After giving her a quick kiss to the temple, he said, “Let’s give her a little room, shall we?”
Gabriel looked stricken for a second, like she had overstepped some sort of boundary.
I smiled at her. “You’re fine. I can understand how emotional all of this must be for you.”
“But you don’t remember any of your first life, do you?” Chamuel asked.
Sheepishly, I said, “I’m sorry, but no.”
Gabriel’s spine lengthened, and for the first time, I saw the warrior inside of her. “But you will. I don’t know what I have to do to return those memories, but I promise you that I will.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I gave her a nod.
Haniel grabbed my elbow and steered me to cushions that looked as soft as clouds, which reminded me of my earlier question.
After I sat down, I asked, “Am I in heaven?”
Gabriel sat to the left of me. “Yes, it’s a part of heaven. We are no longer on duty, since the Flaming Sword has touched us.”
Zadkiel grunted. “So much for being a permanent defender of earth.”
“Don’t be a grouchy old man,” Raphael said. “We deserve vacation time.”
Haniel rolled her eyes. “Let’s not get started on that subject again.” She sat down to my right. “Tell us, child, how was it possible for you to seek us here today?”
All seven of the archangels had found a seat and were waiting on my reply.
“I honestly don’t know. My powers have been bound, and between that and the tranquilizer darts, I haven’t been able to dream walk to Finn. But when I wanted to visit the seven of you to ask more questions …” I shrugged. “Well, here I am.”
Jeremiel said, “Interesting. Whatever powers they have used on you only restricts you to the earth realm.”
Zadkiel gave me a wink. “And you are extremely powerful. It was probably my powers that gave you such strength.”
He was clearly jesting, but Jeremiel and Raphael started arguing with him.
Chamuel, ignoring them, gave me a smile. “We do peek on you often enough.”
I frowned. If that was the truth, why the heck was he so cheery? Had he not seen me being kidnapped, drugged, and having my powers bound? And this was my favorite uncle?
Haniel laughed, and all of them looked at her.
She waved a hand at me. “Hello, auntie here with psychic abilities.” Then she laughed again. “Her memories have told her that Chamuel was her favorite uncle.”
Chamuel beamed while the other four men in the room all started arguing and denying that statement.
I sighed. She had picked up my thoughts, and that was what had concerned her?
She grabbed my hand. “Sweetheart, Azrael gave you an amazing gift. As long as you don’t burn through your powers without recuperating, you can’t be killed. And this so-called binding that they wrapped around your brain”—she gently touched my forehead-“is only lasting because you haven’t fought against it. Once your powers come back to you, if you choose to, you could bring the Empowered Academy down with everyone in it.”
Gabriel piped up, “Though we don’t recommend that. In fact, we think you shouldn’t fight against the binding.”
“Um … why?” I asked.
> It was Raphael who said, “We believe that everything happens for a very good reason. You are at that academy for a reason.”
Haniel butted in, “One that I will not disclose, but I can say that you will be helping innocents if you just let destiny carry you for a moment.”
Jeremiel nodded. “You’re heading for big things.”
That all sounded fine and great, but there was one thing that I was very unhappy with.
“Right before I was kidnapped, I had a dream about the day that all of you were touched by the Flaming Sword … the day of my wedding.”
There was sorrow in their gazes.
“I learned that I was to marry Finn in my previous life. There is a torrent of emotions going on inside of me, and I would really like to talk with him, but with this binding around my mind—” I rubbed a hand over my chest—“I can no longer seek him or feel him.”
Gabriel nodded. “I can understand how that would make you feel. Please understand that Finn is on his own path. It’s very different from yours, but just as much needed by the blessed. You are their champion, but so is he.”
“And you will get to talk with him again soon,” Haniel added.
I silently wondered how good of a psychic she was.
She laughed, her long, pale neck tilted back as she held her belly. Finally, she said, “I’m the best. I assure you that you will see your Finn again, and soon. Patience, my dear.”
Chamuel said, “Besides, the binding Finn did recently is a better memory than your wedding would have been.”
If I hadn’t been paying attention, I wouldn’t have noticed Gabriel and Haniel subtly shaking their heads, or Uriel wincing.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Chamuel took a look at his brothers and sisters and said, “Hmm? What’s that?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Would you still like to be the favorite uncle or not?”
Uriel laughed. “You know, little one, some things aren’t for us to tell.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but considering that I have a whole life that I can no longer remember, maybe you could throw some much-needed info my way.”
Captured: Academy of the Seraph Page 2