Solace (Asteria Trilogy Book 1)

by Alaina Katherine

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Solace

  Alaina Katherine

  Chapter One

  I opened my eyes to find a young man in my room. Don’t all girls wish to wake up to a cute boy on their birthday?

  Except boy didn’t really describe him. He had to be in his twenties at least.

  He was sitting in the immaculately white arm chair that was placed in the corner of my room, opposite my bed. I suppose I should have been more concerned about the fact that there was a stranger in my bedroom but for some reason I didn’t even scream. I was probably just still groggy from sleep. I rolled out of bed and got ready for school like I would any other day, assuming that the next time I would walk into my room the man would be gone. But every time I entered my room my eyes flashed over to that chair and every time I looked, he was still there. Every now and then he would look up at me with an intense gaze that made my heart skip a beat. How could someone who I was probably just imagining look at me in such a way?

  As soon as I stepped out of my house I took a deep breath, convinced that I wouldn’t see the man again.

  But I was wrong.

  When I got into my car there he was, sitting in the back seat. I drove stiffly to my best friend’s house and watched her carefully as she climbed into my car. I tried to see if she noticed the strange, yet admittedly attractive, guy sitting in the back seat.

  “Hey birthday girl!” she said, pulling the car door open enthusiastically, leaning over to give me a kiss on my cheek.

  “Hey,” I smiled back at her. Okay, so she definitely didn’t notice him. This was just great. Was seeing hot guys who didn’t really exist a consequence of turning eighteen that everyone failed to mention? I thought to myself.

  “Have you decided what you want to do for your birthday?” she asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders.

  “I can’t really think of anything,” I said, staring straight at the road in front of me and trying hard not to look in my rearview mirror.

  “Alright, that’s it then. I’m going to plan something for you.”

  “Oh, you’re going to come up with something completely insane,” I groaned.

  “Don’t worry, I know you don’t like thing to be too outrageous,” Danielle said, rolling her eyes.

  “I’m trusting you.” I eyed her.

  “I won’t let you down.” She smirked. My eyes flashed to my rearview mirror where I saw the top of the guy’s light brown head this time I almost did scream, forgetting that he was “there”.

  Throughout the day various people would call my name to wish me a happy birthday and every time I turned around to thank them the guy was still there, following me with his head bent low and his gaze flicking to everywhere around me. By the time fifth period came around I was officially creeped out. As I walked into my next class I could feel his presence so close to me that I cracked.

  I turned around and yelled “stop following me!” right at his face. He then, for the first time since being at school, lifted his head to meet my gaze. His hazel eyes opened wide in shock and I soon noticed that so did everyone else’s. Their gazes were all on me because, of course, they couldn’t see who I had yelled at. After all I apparently was the only delusional one around here. I looked around the guy to see the girl behind him. Wonderful, I thought to myself. It was Marie; she was literally the quietest and sweetest girl I had ever met. This is a girl who every day, wakes up an hour earlier than she needs to so that she can make extra sandwiches to bring to school in case someone doesn’t have money to buy lunch.

  And now, thanks to me, she was on the verge of tears.

  “Oh! Not you Marie!” I rushed and at the same time I swore I heard the guy mutter “That’s not possible.” As he furrowed his brow.

  “Sage?” My teacher came up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I’m not really one to go around yelling at random people, unless maybe they deserved it of course. Which Marie most certainly did not. “Are you feeling well? Maybe you should go home for the day.”

  Maybe I should considering my hallucination just spoke.

  “Yeah,” I agreed a little dazed. I walked to the office to call my mom, who was reluctant (and understandably so) to believe that I was sick on my birthday. I signed myself out and walked to my car. My hallucination still followed me but he didn’t say anything else. In fact, he looked as if he were mentally a million miles away, which was where I would have liked the rest of him to go as well. When I got to my car he sat in the passenger seat this time as opposed to the backseat. I quickly glanced over at him and he was looking at me intently, as if my existence was the strange part of this situation.

  I tried to drive home as calmly as possible, but it was really hard to stay focused on the road considering how my day was unfolding.

  When we finally arrived at my house, we sat in the living room in silence for a few minutes. I sat on the couch staring at my feet while the man sat on the chair opposite me, staring at my face. Finally I looked up and met his gaze.

  I probably should have been more concerned about the fact that I was sitting in my house with a stranger; a stranger who looked fully capable of holding me hostage if I tried to run. I weighed my chances of being able to fight him off, but he also looked capable of breaking bones. I bet he would look even more intimidating if he released his shoulder length hair from its ponytail. So I guess that was why I just sat there in silence until asking, “So what are you? Why can I see you when no one else can?”

  “I don’t know. You shouldn’t be able to see me, at least not right now,” he replied, starring down at his hands.

  “Okay, but you didn’t answer the first part of my question,” I pointed out, although not fully understanding his answer.

  “I think I should tell you what you are first.” He returned his gaze to me.

  “What do you mean what I am?” Even though he hadn’t said much it already sounded ridiculous and I was so not in the mood for this.

  “You, Sage, are a prophet.”

  “A prophet,” I said flatly. “You’ve got to be joking.” I began contemplating my chances at escape again.

  “I am not joking with you. It happens to a select group of people on the day that marks their eighteenth year. Technically you have been a prophet all of your life. It is fated. Once you turn eighteen your visions…activate, for lack of a better word.”

  “But I haven’t had any visions…unless you are one?” I said attempting to go along with his game. I instantly felt stupid for even entertaining the idea of prophets, but he seemed to take my answer seriously.

  “No, I am not a vision. I have been assigned to protect you.”

  “And what is it exactly that I need protecting from?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Many things, but most importantly there are some who want to harness your power, as well as other prophet’s powers, for evil.”

  “Of course.” I rolled my eyes. “Look, I think you better leave before I call the cops, buddy.”

  “Sage, this is serious!” he raised his voice at me. I held his gaze for a second and swore I saw a flash of angry fir
e dancing in his eyes.

  “Sorry.” I turned my gaze back towards the ground feeling slightly ashamed. I had been sitting here mocking him about something he truly seemed to believe in, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

  “I know this isn’t easy,” he replied in a softer voice.

  “So why exactly am I a prophet? Why am I so important that I need protection?”

  “We need your visions to help us defeat Lucifer.” he said simply as if people everywhere weren’t in constant wars over the existence of higher powers.

  “Lucifer…” I stammered. “As in Satan, the devil?” This guy was officially crossing into psycho territory.

  “As you would understand the devil, then yes. Which leads us back to your first question. I am the angel Gabriel,” he responded, then sat silently, giving me some time to process all this information.

  “You said ‘we’ so that means that there are more of you?” I finally asked.

  “There are other angels yes, and they too have their own charges to protect. At least most of them do, though there are other angels who serve other purposes in our society, but we can discuss them later. Right now we need to figure out why you, unlike all of the other prophets can see us, or at least see me, when you should not be able to. Currently I am in my veiled state, which means only those with angelic blood should be able to see me,” he informed me, drawing his eyebrows together in confusion, which there seemed to be a lot of today.

  “So what does that mean?” I questioned.

  “I have an idea but I am not really sure of it. I would like to try something. I am able going to remove the veil to make myself visible and I want you to tell me if you notice any difference, alright?” I simply nodded my head at his request, unsure of what to do.

  I watched Gabriel as he closed his eyes and sat very still. His face tensed up ever so slightly; it wouldn’t have even been very noticeable for someone who was not looking, really there was just a slight crinkle at the corner of his eyes and then suddenly he relaxed again. He opened his eyes and asked, “Anything?”

  “Nope, you look exactly the same,” I answered causing Gabriel to sigh.

  “I suppose I should take you up then.”

  “Up where?” I asked, thoroughly confused, which was the theme of the day apparently.

  “To my home, and to the home of the other angels as well, it’s called Aether. You need to meet with an elder. It is the only thing I can think of to do.”

  “Alight, that’s it,” I announced as I rose angrily to my feet. “You need to leave. It’s my freaking birthday and I am not going to sit here and listen to your psychotic preachings.”

  “Sage, I know how this must look, and for most it is very difficult to understand but with time you will see.”

  “Just shut up!” my head was throbbing. Who was this guy? What type of person thought it was okay to show up in a girl’s bedroom over night and stalk said girl all day? “Look, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you are not normal. I could have you arrested!”

  Gabriel got up out of his chair and took a step towards me. “The police are hardly a threat to me.”

  His tone wasn’t threatening but, in one swift motion I grabbed the lamp from the table next to me, yanking the chord straight out of the wall socket.

  “Sage,” he said my name again, his eyes flashing over to the lamp in my hands. His face filled with worry.

  “Stop saying my name like you know me!” I threw the lamp at Gabriel in my fit of anger.

  Apparently my aim was off seeing as how the lamp missed his head by over a foot and crashed into the wall behind him.

  “Fine. I will let you be for now.” He gazed at me one last time with what looked like hurt in his eyes, before turning sharply on his heel and heading in the direction of my backdoor.

  Once I heard the door close I looked down at my hands. They were shaking uncontrollably. I glanced over to where I had thrown the lamp. It had shattered into dozens of pieces. My mother is going to kill me, I thought as I sank back into the couch. I spent a few minutes just staring at the wall trying to calm myself down before finding the dustpan and sweeping up the mess I had made.

  My headache had become a full on migraine so I numbly found my way into my bed. I had no idea how I was going to explain the broken lamp to my mother when she got home from work but I was in too much pain to even think of anything and my body, feeling the comfort of my bed, drifted into sleep.

  “Honey,” My body was gently rocking back and forth. No, someone was rocking it back and forth. “Dinner’s on the table are you hungry?” It was my mother, her soft voice waking me from my dreamless sleep.

  “Mom,” Suddenly remembering the earlier events of the day, I jumped out of bed.

  “Whoa, slow down there, you don’t want to make yourself feel even sicker.”

  Why was she being so nice to me? She had to have noticed that there was no lamp in the living room anymore.

  “Come out and eat with your father and me,” she said before walking out of the room. I slowly followed her out of the room, waiting for her to turn around and scold me for breaking the lamp. But when I turned the corner, the lamp was sitting on the end table as usual; giving off a yellowish glow and illuminating the room.

  How? I thought as I gazed in bewilderment at the lamp. It wasn’t possible. I threw it across the room; I swept it up and threw away all the pieces into the garbage myself! I walked over to the kitchen and removed the lid from the garbage can expecting to see brown shattered bits strewn all over the garbage but they weren’t there. I shook the garbage can to see if I could hear the glass clicking as it hit the walls of the garbage but there was no such sound.

  “Sage,” I heard my mother’s voice filled with concern behind me. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” I placed the garbage back in its usual spot. “I just thought maybe I had thrown something important away, but it doesn’t seem to be there. I’ll be at the table in a minute.” I put on my calmest voice though I was freaking out in my head. There was no way I had imagined everything with Gabriel, was there?

  That night as I lay in bed my mind refused to let me sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw flashes of images. I saw Gabriel and the hurt look on his face before turning and leaving me. I saw him looking fierce with a sword that seemed to be on fire. There were images of a gazebo that gleamed with multiple, vibrant hues and wings sprouting from humans’ backs.

  But the most terrifying image of all was of me. I was standing with the flaming sword outstretched in my hands, my knuckles white with the intensity of my grip on the handle. My hair stuck to my face with sweat as the image zoomed out further so I could see what I was pointing the sword at. The creature resembled a human but its back was hunched over as if its spine did not allow the creature to stand up straight. Even though it was hunched over it stood at least three feet taller than me. Its skin looked rough and grey, almost as if it belonged on a dying corpse. All it wore was a cloth around the lower half of its body. Its ribs were sticking out of his torso as if it had not eaten in weeks. But most horrific of all was its face; its teeth were bared, revealing a mouth full of sharp pointed teeth dripping with sticky saliva. Its face was contorted in an expression so demented; the creature’s eyes looked as if it were excited to kill the girl standing in front of it. The smirk it wore made it seem as if the creature would take pleasure in torturing the girl before finally taking her life.

  I let out a scream and sat straight up in my bed, awaking from the horrible dreams.

  “Sage?” there was a soft voice at my bedside. Believing it was just my dad coming in to check on me I let him know that I was fine and had had a bad dream. But when I looked up it wasn’t my dad who was crouching next to my bed.

  It was Gabriel.

  Chapter Two

  I began to shake and tears started falling silently down my cheeks as I looked at him. His gaze was so tender and concerned. He repeated my name and reached out a hand to cup my c
heek. Though his hand was rough, his touch was comforting.

  “What did you see?” his was voice barley a whisper.

  “You aren’t crazy after all are you,” I said as more of a statement than a question. “Some of it was beautiful; you, the sword, that structure. But then…there was something else, I don’t even know what to call it.”

  “There are many of things it could have been. Would you describe it to me?” Although I did not want to picture the creature again, I did so in order to explain it to Gabriel. Without hesitation he gave the creature a name. “Anakim.” His eyes hardened as he spoke the word. “Sage, that creature, you should not have to worry of him any longer. His kind no longer exists. I know you were upset by my suggestion earlier, but I really think I need to take you to Aether. And please do not throw another lamp at my head, stores aren’t open at this hour and it will be difficult for me to find a replacement. And besides, your aim is horrible and you just wasted a perfectly good item.” He smirked.

  “Wait, it was you! You replaced the lamp that I broke so my mother wouldn’t notice?”

  “I did. I figured it would be easier than having you explain the reason behind your breaking it. Unfortunately, covering up situations is a part of the job sometimes,” Gabriel answered with a shrug.

  “Well, thank you,” I whispered. “And sorry I was so mean to you, I just…well you must know how what you were saying sounded.”

  “Of course, although I will say, of all the reactions I’ve witnessed, yours was definitely the most interesting.” That half smile smirk of his crept across his face for the second time that night. “So what do you say? Would you allow me to take you up?”

  “Um, okay.” I stopped for a moment. “How exactly are we going to get ‘up’ there?”

  “The only way is to fly,” he said. I took a moment to think.

  “So you have wings.” I stated boldly.

  “Yes of course, do they teach you nothing of angels in your school?” Gabriel scoffed.

  “They do, though I have a feeling most of it is severely off,” I sighed. “So where are the wings?”