by S. L. Naeole
Table of Contents
PREFACE
JUST DEAL
PROTECTION
LIFE OR SOMETHING UNLIKE IT
FULLEST
APRIL
VISITOR
A CHOICE
NOT FOR CHILDREN’S EARS
NEPHILIM
UMBRAGE
MELODY
A QUESTION
BIG SISTER
OF DOUBT AND OTHER DUBIOUS THINGS
CIRCUITOUS
INNOMINATE
THE ON/OFF SWITCH
PAROLED
THE WISHING WELL
FULL HOUSE
THE PERFECT FIT
THE MISTAKE
HUMAN NATURE
IN A FOREST FILLED WITH EYES
MELDING
THE ELEGANCE OF EMPTINESS
COMPULSION
THANK YOU, GOOD DOCTOR
GREEN ISN’T EASY
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
COLD DAY IN HELL
GIVING IN
OFFER
THE BREAKDOWN OF REASON
CHECK
GRIEVANCES
HEARTSONG
MATE
LEAVING COURSE
HEAR YOU ME
PROMISES KEPT
EPILOGUE: WHAT CAN WAIT FOR TOMORROW WILL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Black Halo
By: S. L. Naeole
Black Halo
© 2010 by S.L. Naeole
All rights reserved.
Published by Crystal Quill Publishing
All of the situations and characters in this novel are fictional. Any similarities to actual people or situations are completely coincidental and wholly unintentional.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
S.L. Naeole
Visit my website at www.slnaeole.com
Visit the official website for Falling From Grace at www.graceseries.com
Falling From Grace (Book One in the Grace Series)
Bird Song (Book Two in the Grace Series)
For my missies.
“For the heart whose woes are legion
'Tis a peaceful, soothing region-
For the spirit that walks in shadow
'Tis- oh, 'tis an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it,
May not- dare not openly view it!
Never its mysteries are exposed
To the weak human eye unclosed;
So wills its King, who hath forbid
The uplifting of the fringed lid;
And thus the sad Soul that here passes
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.
By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.”
Dreamland – Edgar Alan Poe
PREFACE
The fire in my chest raged, the need for air fighting against my need to keep running, to not stop until the darkness was behind me. The sounds around me were mocking, jeering at the pains that shot through my arms and legs. Their sinister laughter, which echoed behind me hinted at the promise of something dark and evil that I had knowingly invited, and now ran from.
The trees, under the cover of their starless canopy began to move and sway with glee at the activity that swirled around them. I cried out as my foot wedged itself in the small hollow of a curious root, and I tumbled to the ground, the sound of snapping bone and tearing flesh silencing the sounds around me.
Quiet had never sounded so deadly.
JUST DEAL
The beginning of the final chapter of senior year usually starts off with incredible excitement—there are only three months left before graduation, then college and the rest of your life. But the sentiment around my house couldn’t have been any gloomier.
Getting up for that first day back felt like the hardest thing I’d ever had to do—probably because I hadn’t even gone to sleep yet. I looked at the clock on my dresser and pulled the covers back over my face, not wanting to admit that it was six in the morning. I hadn’t been sleeping well—or at all— these past few days, each night spent tossing and turning until I finally gave up and stared holes into my ceiling until it was time to quit pretending.
A loud knock on my door was followed by a rough shaking of the bed as my best friend—and now my housemate—Graham Hasselbeck jumped in beside me.
“Holy cow, your feet are cold!” I shouted, quickly squirming away from him until I ran out of bed space and fell with a resounding “oomph” onto the carpeted floor. “Why are you in here so early? And with glaciers for toes?”
“Because I heard your alarm go off. And it’s cold downstairs; I think the heater’s busted. Hey, did you know it snowed last night?”
I crawled to the window and stood on my knees to peer over the sill. Indeed, the street and the houses across it were covered in a nice blanket of pure, white snow. “That’s weird—it hasn’t snowed after spring since we were ten.”
“I know. I remember that. You slipped on the sidewalk and sprained your ankle while walking to the bus. I had to carry you back inside and then I slipped coming back out. We spent the next two days watching old movies and eating stale popcorn downstairs.”
“And the RHPS tradition was born,” I laughed before turning around. “Hey, get out of my bed!”
“I told you, it’s cold downstairs!” he cried as he pulled my comforter up to his chin defiantly. “I’m staying here until you make breakfast, so if you want me out, you’re gonna to have to get cracking.”
“Oh, I’ll crack something alright,” I replied and launched myself onto the bed. I laughed as he tried to cover his head with the blanket. “That never worked as kids and it certainly won’t work now!”
We wrestled on the bed, each vying for control, before tumbling off and landing sharply onto the floor in peals of laughter.
“I’m glad the two of you seem to be enjoying yourselves.”
I peeked from between the mess of my hair, while Graham pulled back the comforter from his face to see my dad standing in the doorway, a suitcase in one hand, a white box in the other.
“Uh…hi, Dad,” I managed to get out while Graham stuttered an incoherent reply.
“Mr. Shelley-Grace-morning-yes-hi.”
Dad laughed and shook his head. “It’s okay, Graham. I’m not dumb enough to think that you and Grace were up to no-good.”
“Why are you home so early, Dad?” I asked. “And where’s Janice?”
Dad walked over to me and handed me the box before pointing to the suitcase. “She’s in the car—she’s having contractions and the doctor says that it’s too early, so we’re here to drop off this bag and pick up the hospital one before heading off there.”
I handed the white box to Graham who opened it and hooted at the contents. “Donuts! Thanks, Mr. S!”
“Well, I’m coming, too,” I announced.
Dad shook his head vigorously. “No. You’re going to school. We don’t know what’s going on yet so there’s no need for you to miss out on any classes. If anything does come up, I’ll call, alright?”
I nodded reluctantly and stood up to give him a hug. “You tell Janice that I’m thinking about her, okay?”
“Of course,” he replied, returning my hug. “Have you been eating okay? You seem…thinner.”
I nodded with slight agitation and eased away from dad. “I’m fine, Dad.”
“Well, I know you left the wedding feeling sick—how are you feeling, by the way? How’s Robert?”
I shrugged my shoulders and looked away, unable to answer him.
“She’s been stuck in bed mostly, Mr. S, and Robert’s been busy at work, so she hasn’t seen much of him lately,” Graham said hastily. I mouthed the words “thank you” to him and then turned to nod my head in agreement.
“Well, I guess that’s better than I expected—I admit that there were a few moments that I was afraid I’d come in and find you and Robert in here…alone. It’s nice to see that I can trust you to behave yourself, Grace,” Dad said, patting my shoulder with a slight bit of reservation.
“Okay, kiddo, I’m going to get that bag now. Go-to-school! And don’t let Robert take you to school on that motorcycle of his in this snow!”
I nodded my head and watched him walk out of my room. As soon as I heard his bedroom door open, I sank to the floor.
“I can’t get out of it, can I?”
“Gedowduvwot?” a muffled voice asked behind me.
I turned my head to see Graham shoveling the back end of a glazed donut into his mouth. “Never mind,” I told him and reached for the box. “You ate them all?!” I shouted, looking at Graham’s gluttonous face in shock. “Ugh!”
“Wot?” He quickly swallowed the hastily chewed donut and wiped his mouth on the corner of my comforter. “You know better than to stick food in my hands. Besides, I told you to make breakfast—you snooze, you lose, woman.”
I snatched my comforter from his hands, glared at the sugar-stained corner with disgust, and fought back the urge to punch him in his donut-filled gut. “You know what? I changed my mind. I don’t want you to talk to Lark anymore—there’s nothing in this world that she could have done to deserve you for a boyfriend.”
His mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared at me, his eyes disbelieving. “Are you serious?”
I held my face stern for as long as possible before I burst into laughter. “Oh God, duh! You know I meant what I said about you talking to her.”
I had. There was a genuine connection between Lark and Graham, the two people least likely to fall in love, yet had done just that amid everything that was going on around them involving me and Lark’s brother. I blinked my eyes rapidly as that last thought caused the burning of moisture to appear.
Graham nodded, his jaw closing slowly though he still looked at me with doubtful eyes. “Well, I thought I’d do it today. You know, since we’ll probably see her at lunch and everything.”
I smiled sadly and then turned my body around to face my window. I stood up and walked over to it, climbing over my bed in the process and pushed it up, opening it just wide enough to allow a hint of the cold morning air to flow through while allowing the stale air to escape.
“I’m going to the bathroom—do not get back on my bed,” I warned him before heading out of my room, closing the door as I did so.
“Here, kiddo. I thought it was best to save an extra one,” Dad said as he handed me a napkin wrapped donut. He was standing in the hallway, a mini duffel slung over his shoulder and a small travel bag in one hand.
“Thanks, Dad,” I said, grabbing it. I bit into the soft pastry and closed my eyes for a moment, relishing the not-so-subtle sweetness of the glaze over the buttery ring of fried dough. “Are you leaving now?” I mumbled.
“Yeah. I don’t want to keep Janice waiting any longer. She didn’t honk the horn yet, so I know that I haven’t taken too long, but the roads are a mess right now from all this snow and I don’t want her to have to sit in the car longer than necessary,” he answered. “You be good and I’ll call you later this evening if nothing else happens, okay?”
He bent to press a quick kiss to the top of my head before heading downstairs. I followed him and helped hold the door open as he bent down to grab the morning paper sitting on the welcome mat.
“Oh, and could you do something about all of these pots?” he said as he passed by the lily graveyard that had once been our front yard. “I don’t know what’s going on with all of them but they’re an eyesore, Grace, and I’d like to think that you’d take better care of the house than this.”
“Sorry Dad,” I answered, avoiding looking at the mass of pots that littered the lawn, each one holding lilies in varying stages of decay. For the past week, the deliveries had been non-stop, and these represented only the past couple of days’ worth of flowers, the rest having met their fate elsewhere.
I caught a glimpse of my new step-mother’s figure in the front seat of dad’s car. “Hi Janice,” I called as I waved to her. She smiled and waved a lazy hand towards me, the other resting protectively over her abdomen. I saw her wince with pain and knew that while Dad hadn’t taken too long to get what he needed, he was cutting it pretty close.
“Drive safe, Dad!” I shouted as he got into the car after loading the bags into the back seat.
“Remember what I said about Robert and that motorcycle, Grace,” he called back before pulling out.
I simply nodded and waved, the words unwilling to leave my mouth.
Once he was gone, I walked over to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of milk and sat down in the semi-darkness to finish the rest of my donut. The ticking of the clock on the wall was the only sound in the entire house, and I counted along with each one until I found myself losing track. I got up to wash the glass and finish getting ready for school.
The sun was just peeking through the windows, casting golden rays of light across the walls and floor, turning the otherwise invisible dust motes floating in the air into tiny sparkles of glitter. It would have been a beautiful sight if it wasn’t a reminder that I hadn’t cleaned the house in over two weeks.
“I’d make a horrible housewife,” I muttered to myself without realizing what I was saying, and started up the stairs. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush, intending on removing any traces of donut and skim milk from my breath before taking a shower. As I began to brush my teeth, I looked over to my bedroom door. I couldn’t help the smile that crossed over my lips, and I only hoped that my meddling had paid off.
After rinsing, I realized that I didn’t have my clothes with me, so I rushed into my room.
“Oh- dear-bananas.”
A flustered and slightly embarrassed Graham pulled away from an equally flustered and embarrassed Lark as they stood in the middle of my bedroom, their eyes glassy, their mouths pulled into secretive smiles.
“Uh—hi, Grace,” Lark said with a slight wave of her fingers. Graham grinned.
“Hi, Lark,” I said, smiling. “I’m just going to grab some clothes and I’ll be out of here in a second.”
“Oh, no, don’t do that. I have to leave anyway—I don’t have anything to wear to school, and these clothes are so last quarter,” she said apologetically. She approached me, her movements slow and tentative. “Grace?”
I looked at her, confused. “Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“What for?”
She hugged me and I had to push her away, the scent of her skin and hair far too familiar, each note like a knife slicing into the tattered remains of my heart.
“I…I’m sorry,” I said, covering my mouth and nose with my hand. “I can’t do this.”
I ran outside and headed towards the only place I thought was safe. Matthew’s room was a cluttered mess at the moment, with unpacked boxes and linens scattered around the floor, but the crib was nearly finished being put together, the outward facing rail still needing to be attached, which made it a perfect place to sit and calm myself.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them, the pressure of my thighs against my chest enough to help ease the painful tension that had been building inside of me. Things were supposed to get easier with each day—instead they seemed to only become more difficult.
How long does it take
to mend a physical wound that no one else can see? What are the limits to what you can do to ease the pain that simply grows in intensity as each day passes? I didn’t understand it; I tried to remain busy after simply lying like a lump didn’t work—it hadn’t worked the first time, I don’t know why I thought it would have now—but just the slightest hint of a fragrance had turned the hollowed remains of my heart inside out, exposing new areas to the already all-consuming pain.
I brought my head down, pressing my eyes against the tops of my knees and tried desperately to keep the tears from flowing. The hurt at such a small reminder had almost eclipsed the hurt from the betrayal that I had experienced at the hands of the one person whose word should have been infallible.
Robert should have been the last person in this world who would’ve hurt me; he wasn’t human with human weaknesses and faults. He was born an angel, one of the divine creatures who roam the world disguised as normal, if not extraordinary humans who possess seemingly limitless powers and abilities that often times defines, if not dictates what their call, their sole purpose in their divine life will be.
And no call could play as important a role in human society as the one that Robert had received. He had been born amid flames and death, gifted with life eternal that would be used in return to take life. Robert’s calling, his purpose in his world and in mine, was to serve as Death himself. The reality of such a thing was horrifying and upsetting to me at first, but I loved Robert so intensely, so wholly and unconditionally, my fear disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared because I knew that I had nothing to fear from him—he wasn’t Death to me. He was simply Robert.
But, I had also come to realize that as divine as angels might be in our eyes, their very existence depended on deception. Without it, they’d never be able to blend into society as they had done since the beginning of mankind. And it was that deception that I had taken for granted when Robert’s portrayal of a human being crossed the boundary between his kind and mine.