Earthbound Bones

by ReGina Welling

  Now that she was here, where a sense of peace flowed over her, the compulsion Adriel had been feeling faded away. Spending time with these women—women who knew her deepest secret and spared her the searching looks because they accepted her—healed something Adriel hadn’t known was broken. Their compassion for her came from the wisdom gained during their own struggles with self-acceptance. While Adriel, in her capacity as guardian angel, had been assigned to watch over Amethyst during the past year, she’d had a ring-side seat when each woman had been put to the test.

  Pulling her attention back to the present, Adriel chimed in on the raging debate over an appropriate color for Kat’s reading room. Nestled into the sunny spot created by a set of bay windows, a polished table and two chairs took up the most of the room. Seven sample colors marched across the table’s top. No wonder Kat couldn’t choose.

  “The deep blue simply screams psychic,” Adriel’s tongue might have been firmly planted in her cheek, but the thread of truth in the words sent Gustavia into a fit of giggles.

  “Yellow it is, then.” Kat decided firmly. “I prefer to avoid cliches when it comes to my line of work.”

  “There are two shades of yellow. Which one?”

  “That one.” Four voices chimed at once. Another tie.

  “Then I get to decide, right?” Adriel established the parameters. Kat circled a hand to indicate she should get on with it. “Well, I choose this,” she passed over both pots of yellow and held up a medium gray with just enough hints of warmth to contrast nicely with the white trim and still work well with the tones in the kitchen.

  “I love it, and I’m putting you in charge. Here’s the box, and here’s your crown.” Kat plopped a white paper painter’s cap over Adriel’s titian hair. Amethyst pulled a ten out of her pocket; handed it over to Kat with a sigh. “Might as well give this to you now. There’s no way it’s going past midnight with her in charge.” She cocked a thumb at Adriel.

  An hour and a half later, Kat was the owner of a box of marked samples, a second box of rejects, and a completed chart listing all the color combinations.

  “This calls for a celebration. It’s not even dark out yet ,and we’re done. I was sure we were still going to be arguing when the painters showed up in the morning,” Kat said.

  “Then why did you bet me we’d be done before midnight?” Amethyst sent Kat a mock glare. No matter how many bets they made, Kat always won. They made so many that, paradoxically, Gustavia and Julie had bet on whether or not Kat and Ammie would bet.

  “Red or white?” Amethyst’s question sailed right over Adriel’s head. She frowned her ignorance.

  “What kind of wine do you like? Red or white?”

  “Oh. I don’t have a favorite.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it was close enough to trigger a second blurt, “I’ve never had wine before.” The words hit Adriel’s ears at the same time as the others heard them. It was becoming clear to her that lying, in any form, was not on her list of abilities.

  “Give her the red,” Julie said.

  Nose wrinkling at what she perceived as a rotten fruit smell, Adriel took a cautious sip of the ruby liquid. It tasted better than it smelled. She drank a little more and felt the burn of alcohol in the back of her throat. With half a glass gone, she felt a case of the giggles coming on. How undignified. She bit down on the urge to laugh, and something between a snort and a twitter emerged—which might have been fine except the current topic of conversation didn’t involve anything humorous.

  All eyes turned toward her. “I think Adriel is drunk,” Kat’s glance took in the glass in her hand. “On half a glass of wine.”

  “Must be an angel thing,” Adriel’s own comment set her off on another round of giggling. “Or something to do with spirits.” Her play on words missed the mark. “You know…alcohol is sometimes called spirits, and so are ghosts, and I work with ghosts. Oh, come on. It’s a pun. It’s funny.” Apparently it wasn’t. “Tough crowd.”

  No wonder people sometimes struggled with alcohol addiction—Adriel couldn’t remember feeling this good since taking on flesh. Inhibitions siphoned away in a liquid rush that left her feeling oddly lighter than before.

  Her eyes had dropped closed while she savored the sensation. When they popped open again she was looking at four astonished faces.

  “Something wrong?” How could feeling this good be wrong?

  “Look.” Gustavia turned Adriel toward the mirror where a familiar face looked back at her.

  “What?”

  “What do you mean, what? Don’t you see it?”

  Leaning closer, Adriel peered at her reflection. Jet black hair in a pixie cut curled around heavily pierced ears. Blood red lipstick smeared over pouted lips below dark-rimmed eyes that stared back at her with just a hint of insolence from the palest of faces. “Do I have lipstick on my teeth?” She bared her teeth to make sure.

  “Adriel! You didn’t look like that when you came in here.”

  Her befuddled brain refused to process the concept. This was one of her many bodies—the one she used when relating to angst-ridden charges in the throes of their teen years. What was the big deal?

  Gustavia did something completely unexpected; she reached out and pinched Adriel on the upper arm. Hard. Hard enough to leave a mark.

  “Ow!” Adriel rubbed the spot and glared at her pincher. “What was that for?”

  “Because you need to sober up and catch a clue. You totally changed bodies right in front of us.”

  “I did?” Well, duh, of course she had. “So what? Angels can appear in any form. That’s nothing new.”

  And then it hit her. “Oh.” She shook her finger at the image in the mirror. “Oh.” Shock registered roundly in the eyes staring back from the silvered glass. “Oh.” Clothing hung oddly on this much smaller frame. She looked like a child playing dress up. A fairly apt description of her life if she wanted to get philosophical about it. Sad, really.

  This had disaster written all over it. In big, black, permanent marker.

  All the giddy lightness drained out of her just as quickly as it had come.

  “What am I going to do if I stay stuck in this body?”

  “You won’t.” Amethyst’s face appeared in the mirror. “The wine relaxed you, lowered your inhibitions and released you from limiting beliefs.”

  “So, I should drink more? That seems like a self-destructive course of action.”

  “Did I say that? No. You just need to let go of personal misconceptions. Before today—tell the truth—you thought you couldn’t alter the face you present to the world.”

  Adriel’s expression answered for her.

  “Now you know you can. All you have to do is recreate whatever you were feeling when it happened. Close your eyes and think back to that moment.”

  Amethyst was right, in theory. Her plan, though, left a lot of room for doubt and fear. What if changing worked, but only for a different form? What if it didn’t? Tension twanged Adriel’s muscles into ropy tightness that refused to relax.

  “It’s not working.” Five times of squeezing her eyes and wrinkling her nose in concentration proved fruitless. Every time she looked into the mirror, Miss teenage Goth stared back at her.

  “You think we need to get her drunk again?” A tiny smile accompanied Julie’s otherwise serious question.

  “We’ll save it as a last resort,” Amethyst replied dryly.

  “Probably wouldn’t work anyway.” Adriel’s sullen tone matched her face, which seemed to be fixed in a permanent sneer.

  “Give her a few minutes to get her thoughts settled.” Gustavia slung an arm around Adriel, pulled her away from the mirror, and settled with her on the sofa. “There’s no pressure right now. You’re among friends who know you for what’s beneath the skin.” Her voice modulated into a soothing tone while she ran a hand gently back and forth over Adriel’s forearm. “Let’s not think about it for a little while; see what happens. Kat, why don’t you put in a video? Something ligh
t and funny. We’ll have popcorn and a few laughs. There’s time enough to deal with this later. Our work is done; let’s just have a girl’s night. It’s been awhile since we’ve had one of those.”

  Panic settled from world-shaking to a quivering tremor under Gustavia’s calming touch. Amethyst and Kat went into the kitchen to prepare snacks and whisper where Adriel couldn’t hear, while Julie pawed through Kat’s movie collection looking for something suitably lighthearted.

  Another cup of soothing tea accompanied the popcorn in an odd but surprisingly satisfying combination, but it wasn’t the tea or even more alcohol that eventually did the trick. It was a bout of belly-shaking laughter over Gustavia and Kat acting out scenes from Notting Hill in fake British accents that finally relaxed Adriel.

  In a rush, the tension washed away, taking both inner and outer Goth along for the ride.

  “And she’s back.” Amethyst, hyper-aware of the energy around her, saw it happen out of the corner of her eye. “Your aura is a lot lighter than it was before, too.”

  “Can you do it again? On purpose, I mean.” Julie voiced the question uppermost in Adriel’s mind.

  “I can try.” Closing her eyes, she concentrated on accessing the calm place from moments before. Nothing happened. It was as though a glass wall separated her from the seat of her power. She could see it pulsing like a live thing, but could not touch it while the barrier held. “No. The power is there, but I can’t use it.”

  “Have you been in contact with other angels? What do they say about your situation?”

  Julie’s direct question posed a dilemma for Adriel. How should she answer? Since lying hadn’t gone so well for her up until now, she decided to stick to the truth.

  “I’ve been assigned a pair of guardians since my situation seemed to need more than just one. I think you might know them.”

  “Grams and Julius? Yes, we know.”

  “You know? How could that possibly be? I didn’t find out until I’d been here a week.”

  Julie exchanged a sidelong glance with Kat. “They were with us when we found the last cache. We saw them become angels right before this booming voice told them you had fallen and it was up to them to look after you.”

  The explanation had a very different effect on Adriel than expected. She levered off the sofa to rant.

  “Well isn’t that just dandy. Humans knowing angel business…and I’m left in the dark. No one tells me anything anymore, and I’m sick of it. There are rules. I followed those rules. Okay, maybe not there at the end, but still…you can’t tell me I was a bad angel. I took good care of my charges. Amethyst can tell you.” While Adriel worked herself up, a familiar prickling sensation stole over the women who watched. “…tell me I’m an angel in a human body then treat me like an outcast. I’ve had just about enough of this.”

  Adriel paced like a caged animal. “Estelle, you show yourself right now! I know how this works, don’t act like you can’t hear me when I know you can.”

  The prickling increased. “See, I can feel you there. Show yourself!”

  “That’s enough!” Estelle’s voice boomed, though she did not show herself as ordered.

  “Oh, it’s not even close to enough. I have questions and I want answers. Don’t tell me I am still an angel and treat me like a mortal.”

  “Then stop acting like one. I don’t have time to hold your hand right now. Julius is missing, and the council seems to think you’re the only one who can help me find him. In order for you to do that, you’re going to have to get over this ridiculous identity crisis. So, from one angel to another, I’m telling you to suck it up and find a way to be helpful.” Estelle withdrew her energy.

  “Did she just tell me to suck it up?” Adriel slumped back into her spot next to Gustavia on the sofa. Amethyst read both astonishment and chagrin in the shifting colors of her aura.

  “I believe she did.” The part about Julius was concerning, but Kat couldn’t help finding Estelle’s choice of phrase amusing. “What are you going to do about it?”

  To everyone’s surprise, Adriel burst into tears. “It’s my fault. I think I know what happened to Julius, and every one of you is in danger, too.” Through her sobs, she told the others what had happened on the day she had last spoken with Julius. She sensed Estelle listening in, too.

  “I thought we got rid of Billy when we sent him down to the dark. Was it all for nothing?”

  “No. Don’t say that.” Kat admonished Julie for speaking out in such bitter tones. “We did what we had to do, and if we need to do it again, then sign me up.”

  “It wasn’t Billy. You need to think this through carefully. I know your first instinct is to help, but whatever took Julius is so much more dangerous than Billy ever was. I hope Estelle is wrong. Not about there being a chance of getting him back, but about me being the one to make it happen.”

  “Pity party much?” Amethyst lost her patience. “If that’s the way you want to play it, then fine, but before you do, there’s something I want to show you.” The fairy-like woman concentrated for a moment then held up both hands toward Adriel. The taller woman’s eyes rolled back in her head when the force of the reader’s vision hit her. Only for a second, and then she saw what Amethyst wanted to show her.

  Wings.

  A glorious set of wings unfurled behind her and looked so real Adriel could almost feel their weight against her shoulders. Her breath caught and held. Oh, but they were beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the light that formed a corona around her body. This was her truest self, or it had been before the fall. How cruel of Amethyst to show her what she’d lost.

  “For someone who is supposed to be a higher being, you sure can be dumb at times. This is you. Now. Not before the fall. Now. Look more closely.” Amethyst’s tone brooked no refusal. A second, deeper look proved the reader correct. She had been so dazzled by the light and wings that she failed to look at the body under them. It was a warrior’s body. A human warrior—strong and fierce.

  “The only thing keeping you from being her, is that you can only see this.” The image changed to show the woman Adriel had gotten used to seeing in the mirror. “Both images are truth. This woman has exactly the same potential as this,” the fierce warrior was back.

  “Okay, I think she’s had enough.” Gustavia moved from her seat to sling a protective arm around Adriel. “It probably feels like we’re ganging up on her, and she’s overwhelmed.” To Adriel she said, “I can take you home, or if you want, you can stay the night with me. I’ve got the place to myself tonight with Finn out of town and Sam spending a week with her grandparents.”

  “I had to come here, did I tell you that?” Adriel said. “It was a compulsion that I couldn’t ignore. I’d never ridden a bike before today. But I had to come. Why do you think that is? Fate? Estelle meddling to make sure you all were with me when she told me about Julius? It’s been days since he disappeared. I find the timing suspicious, and it’s just the kind of thing I would have done as a guardian if I needed to nudge a charge into being at the right place and time.”

  “You’re saying she wanted you here because she knew we would offer to help. It’s Julius, so there’s no way we would let you go up against a threat to him alone. Fine. We’ve all been manipulated. So what. How we got here doesn’t change anything. If Julius is in trouble, you can count me in.” Kat said.

  “He’s my great-grandfather; you know I’m in.” Julie looked at Gustavia who shouted, “Scoobies ride again.”

  “We have got to think of a better name.” A wry comment from Amethyst.

  Chapter 14

  Letting Pam know about her dinner with Callum proved to be Adriel’s undoing. Not only was she forced to endure a second shopping trip, but this one included a session of hair and makeup.

  “Is this really necessary? We’re going to Athena’s for pizza. It’s just pizza. It’s not a date.”

  Pulling dresses off the racks as she went, Pam marched down aisles filled with bright color and pat
tern. “It’s a date with Longbrook’s most eligible bachelor,” she said, like it was a good thing.

  “And why is that? Don’t you think there’s something wrong when a man his age has never married?” Following behind, Adriel returned all of Pam’s choices to the racks for being too short or too bright.

  Pam tossed a withering look over her shoulder, “He has been waiting for the right woman,” she insisted.

  “I can promise you I’m not her.” At the end of the aisle, Adriel’s empty hands earned her a long-suffering sigh. “Why don’t you go out with him if he’s so wonderful?” She tossed the comment off lightly; was unprepared for the pain she saw slide across Pam’s features.

  “He never asked me,” a twist of the lips accompanied the muttered admission, “every other woman in town, but never me.”

  Figuring it might take days to get the taste of shoe out of her mouth, Adriel wasn’t sure what to say. “He remembers fondly.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Pam said—hands on hips, hot color in her face.

  That foot wasn’t coming out of her mouth without surgical intervention now. Adriel spent a moment trying to find the right words. She held up both hands in surrender. “Nothing bad, I swear. Right after they found Ben he stopped by to…well, I don’t know why he stopped by, but he seemed to need to talk about the past. It was a short conversation and he only mentioned—in passing—how he felt sorry for you and that you had guts.”

  “Lovely. I have other,” Pam glanced down, “attributes. All he sees are my guts. I don’t know what’s worse, that he hasn’t noticed them or that he pities me.”

  “You’re looking at this the wrong way. I’ve known plenty of Lotharios in my time. None of them respected their conquests. Callum respects you.”

  “This is a weird conversation to have about the man you’re going out on a date with tonight.”

  “It’s not a date. Is there another way I can say it so it sinks in?”

  Pam shrugged off the truth, along with regrets about her non-relationship with Callum, and got right back on the giddy train.