Solace (Asteria Trilogy Book 1)

by Alaina Katherine

  “I’m sorry Metatron, but I can’t live in this mansion,” I apologized sheepishly. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable, and besides, what would I do with all that space! I’d feel so lonely being there by myself.”

  “Sage, I think I know a house that would better suit you,” Gabriel said turning away from the mansion.

  As we walked to the house that Gabriel wanted to show me, Metatron sulked a few steps behind us.

  “I think I hurt his feelings,” I whispered to Gabriel.

  “He’ll be fine; he’s a grown man who can handle disappointment.”

  “You think he’s disappointed in me?” I said with wide eyes.

  “No, I don’t think he’s disappointed in you. I think he’s disappointed that the house he chose wasn’t acceptable to his Goddess.”

  “I feel bad.”

  “Like I said, he’ll be fine. Now here we are.” Gabriel smiled.

  He had stopped in front of a quaint house that was also made up of stone but it was much, much smaller. Gabriel walked over to the normal sized wooden door and opened it, stepping aside to allow me through. The house opened up straight into the living room and off on the left were a bathroom and a bedroom, and on the right was the kitchen. It was the perfect little house and what made it even better was that it had a bay window that looked out into the simple backyard.

  “I love it!” I spun on my heels to smile at Gabriel.

  This would be my new home.

  Chapter Four

  On Friday, I finally returned to school with Gabriel accompanying me at all times of course. The moment I stepped through the doors of my homeroom class Danielle rushed over to me to embrace me in a tight hug.

  “Oh my God, I’ve been so worried about you! Are you okay? I hope you are because I planned your party for tomorrow night and it is going to be so much fun!” she rushed out, seemingly without taking a breath.

  “I’m feeling much better now, thanks. And I can’t believe you were able to plan a party without me knowing.” I playfully hit her arm.

  “I’ve actually been planning it for about a month and I was so scared that after all of my planning you wouldn’t be able to go since you were sick. But thankfully you’re here now, and you look great! And we are going to have the best night!” Danielle beamed.

  “I’m sure we will.” I smiled at her enthusiasm. The bell rang at that moment and all of the students scrambled around to find their seats. The only two people who remained standing were the teacher and Gabriel, though only I could see him as he stood to the side of the room.

  While everyone else watched the morning announcements my eyes were on my guardian. He was standing there so still with his back perfectly straight and his feet together. If I hadn’t known he was real I would have thought he was a statue. If I looked closely enough though, I could see his eyes scanning anything and everything around him, always on the lookout for my safety.

  Gabriel continued to stand like this in every one of my classes and by third period I really wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to constantly stand because I’m sure that it had to get uncomfortable fairly quickly. So I decided to excuse myself to the bathroom, knowing that Gabriel would follow me. I walked a few paces down the hall, making sure that no one else was around us before talking to the invisible Gabriel.

  “You know you don’t have to stand like that, you could sit in an empty chair, there are plenty of them in each class,” I told Gabriel.

  “I know, but then I wouldn’t be in the best position to defend you.”

  “I’m sure you can defend me just as well from a chair. Seriously Gabriel, relax. Besides, I really don’t think anything will happen to me anytime soon,” I said over my shoulder as I pulled open to door to the restroom. I stepped inside and notice that Gabriel was still following me. “Um, what are you doing?”

  “I’m coming in with you, to keep you safe,” Gabriel answered as if it were obvious.

  “From what? Falling into the toilet? I think I can handle myself for two minutes, you can wait outside,” I replied before leaving Gabriel standing outside with a look of confliction on his face. I hurried up in the bathroom, making sure that I didn’t leave Gabriel worrying for too long, and went back outside to him. “See perfectly unharmed.” I smiled before going back to class.

  Gabriel thankfully took my advice and sat down in unoccupied desks for the rest of my classes. At the end of the school day, when Gabriel and I were in my car he asked me if I wanted him to take me up to Aether today. I had to explain to him that soon I would be spending all of my time up there so I would rather spend as much time on earth as possible. Thankfully Gabriel was fine with this and was in fact very excited about living on earth for an extended period of time.

  I spent Friday night picking out my outfit for my party and the perfect makeup to go along with it. Gabriel found that very boring and spent that time reading Catcher in the Rye and petting Storm while sprawled out on my bed.

  On Saturday Danielle surprised me by coming to my house at noon to take me out to get my nails and hair done before the party. Poor Gabriel had to tag along of course. With me spending all this time doing girly things I felt almost as if I was a burden to Gabriel even though he never complained once. I tried to catch his attention every now and smile at him just to see him smile back, as if my smile would make up for the fact that I was dragging him to a salon. I got back to my house around five, just as my parents were leaving for their dinner date as per their ritual every Saturday night for the past twenty years.

  When I got to my room I examined my salon styled hair. The stylist had curled my hair into fairly tight curls and pined up half of it, leaving the rest cascading around my shoulders.

  “It’s so funny how your hair looks so much shorter just because it’s curled,” Gabriel said coming up behind me and fingering a dark curl. He was right, my normally waist length hair was hanging just barely past my shoulders now.

  “I suppose I should get ready soon, Danielle is going to be back here by six thirty.” I stepped aside and pulled my dress out of my closet and went into the bathroom to change. I had completely forgotten that my dress had a zipper in the back that I would need someone else to zip up for me. Well since there is no one else here I suppose I will have to have Gabriel do it. I walked into my room holding my dress up at the straps. “Can you zip it for me please?”

  “Of course.” Gabriel held up the straps with one hand so that I was free to carefully hold my hair up away from the zipper as Gabriel used his other hand to zip it up.

  The dress I had chosen for the night had a square neckline that exposed just the right amount of cleavage. It had a thick belt around the waist to draw attention to my hour glass figure and the pleated skirt of the dress fell just above my knees. The majority of the dress was beige with alternating light and dark brown outlines of flowers on vines snaking their way up the dress.

  “Brown suits you,” Gabriel complimented when I turned around to face him.

  “Thank you.” I blushed. I turned back around to do my makeup which I enjoy doing and I ended up spending half an hour getting my makeup perfect. I then slipped on some cute brown wedges and I was ready to go. I only had to wait a few minutes before Danielle arrived at my house...and she brought a sleek black limo with her.

  “Oh my God!” I squealed as soon as I saw her step out of the limo. “Really Danielle? I cannot believe you are doing all of this!” I hugged her tightly, realizing that I was really going to miss my best friend when I moved up to Aether. “You didn’t pay for all of this by yourself did you?” I demanded, pulling away from her slightly.

  “Like I have that kind of money,” she scoffed. “Your parents and a couple of our friends helped pay too.”

  “You are too amazing.” I hugged her again.

  “Enough thanking, more moving.” She smacked my butt to herd me into the limo like you would to herd a horse. Gabriel had already climbed inside, still invisible to others of course. There were a few other
friends who were inside the limo and they all rang out in a chorus of happy birthday when I sat down.

  About forty minutes later, the limo pulled up in front of the Eden Roc on South Beach.

  “Oh my god Danielle.” I found myself saying for what felt like the millionth time that night. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can thank me by relaxing and actually having some fun tonight.”

  We all piled out of the car with me getting out last…or at least everyone thought I was the last one to get out, though of course I knew I was not. Gabriel climbed out after me. It wasn’t until that moment that I noticed that he was dressed very nicely in a button up shirt and slacks. I gave him a quizzical look.

  “Just in case I need to make myself visible,” He whispered so no one would hear a random voice.

  We all walked to the ballroom and when I stepped inside I saw that the room was filled with mauve and pink, it was beautiful. There were a few people already in the room mingling with one another and a few people sitting at some of the dinner tables that sat on one side of the room (the dance floor took up the other side).

  “Danielle!” I began.

  “Don’t even.” She held up her hand to stop me from gushing about how much I love her. “You can thank me though when you see who I invited for you.” She took me by the shoulders and turned me towards one of the tables where a boy from our class was sitting, talking to one of his friends.

  Said boy was approximately six feet of godliness. Said boy had shaggy light blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Said boy was now looking at me. Oh and said boy’s name was Nathan.

  “Hey, Nathan,” Danielle said flirtatiously.

  “Hey, Danielle. Happy Birthday, Sage,” he said, flashing me his blindingly white teeth.

  “Hey, Nathan,” I said sheepishly, as Danielle pushed me into the chair next to Nathan.

  “Do you like being legal?” Nathan smirked.

  “I suppose, it doesn’t feel much different though.”

  Nathan and I kept up the small talk as more and more people began to arrive and soon enough dinner was ready. Danielle had decided on having a buffet that way she wouldn’t have to worry about peoples preferences. After everyone had eaten and the plates were cleared the music started and everyone got up to dance. Danielle now pulled me out of the chair that she had forcefully put me into in the first place. I laughed as she bumped my hip with hers, sending me careening into someone I barely knew.

  I was on the dance floor for about an hour when I realized that Gabriel was sitting alone in a chair towards the back of the room. I was about to walk over them when a slow song started and Danielle practically threw me at Nathan. He drew me close, welcoming me. Placing his hands on my hips he began to sway me so that we were dancing. I met Gabriel's eyes and he smiled at me, though I didn’t return the smile. I felt bad that he had to sit there, literally invisible to everyone, and not join in on the fun. Scratch that, I felt absolutely horrible. As soon as the song was over I broke away from Nathan and walked out into the lobby, excusing myself by saying that I had to use the restroom.

  “Maybe you should make yourself visible,” I turned around and said as soon as I had walked out the door, knowing without even having to look, that Gabriel had followed me.

  “Why?”

  “Well, so you don’t have to sit there by yourself. You could have fun too, dancing and stuff.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “It is,” I said nodding my head. I watched as Gabriel closed his eyes and reopened them a few seconds later. Though it made no difference to me, I knew that he had just made himself visible to others.

  “So what’s going to be your story about why you’re here. Party Crasher?”

  “A friend of a friend.”

  “Alright, well let me walk back in first then you can follow a couple minutes later,” I said before walking back into the ballroom. I walked back over to the dance floor, finally able to really have fun now that I wasn’t worried about Gabriel being left alone. After another hour of dancing I needed a break and headed for the table I had sat at earlier.

  The table that now held Nathan and Gabriel. As they spoke to one another I compared the two of them. Nathan didn’t look nearly as godly sitting next to Gabriel. Though, I guess that Gabriel had an unfair advantage, being an angel and all.

  “Hey,” I said as I slid into the chair next to Nathan. Nathan turned his attention solely to me.

  Looking a little nervous he asked, “Hey, will you let me take you out next Saturday?”

  “Sure.” I smiled at him before noticing that Gabriel had gotten out of his chair and was now standing behind me.

  “Can I have this dance?” his whispered in my ear just before a softer song began playing.

  I simply looked up at him in confusion as I took his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor.

  “How did you know that the next song was going to be slow?” I asked. “I thought I was supposed to be the one to tell the future.”

  “I overheard your friend asking the D.J to play a slow song next. I’m sure her intention was for you to be dancing with Nathan though, if her glare is any indication,” Gabriel answered as he placed his hands on my waist, keeping a respectable distance between us.

  “So what were you talking to him about anyways?” I asked curiously.

  “I was just trying to see what he’s like. I had to make sure he was good enough for you,” he answered, looking off into the distance over my head.

  “Why did you have to do that?”

  “I had to make sure he wasn’t going to break your heart.” He still wasn’t meeting my gaze.

  “Is that part of your protector description?”

  “I suppose most protectors could care less about their charges emotional life.”

  “But not you.”

  “No, I can feel if my charge is in pain, no matter what kind, physical or emotional,” he answered, finally looking at me with serious eyes.

  “Well I’m glad you’re my protector then, to watch over my heart as well as my body.” I gave a little smile.

  That song that we danced to turned out to be the last song of the night. I hadn’t realized that midnight would come so quickly, but sure enough Danielle found me and ushered me out to the limo saying that we only had it for one more hour and we still needed to get a bunch of people home.

  The next week passed by in a blur, every class was basically pointless since it was the end of the school year. Whatever time I didn’t spend freaking out about my finals, I spent freaking out about my upcoming date with Nathan.

  “Maybe we should have a code word in case you need me to bail you out,” Gabriel suggested as I was getting ready for my date.

  “I cannot believe that you are seriously going to come with me on this date,” I said turning my humiliated gaze on him.

  “I have to keep you safe Sage. We discussed this already, let it go,” he stated as the doorbell rang.

  I tried to finish getting ready as quickly as possible in order to get to the door before my mom did but I wasn’t fast enough.

  “Hello there,” I heard her smooth voice as she greeted Nathan. Oh well, no point in rushing to the door anymore, I’d just look like a freak. I thought to myself as I slowed my walk to the living room. I rounded the corner just in time to see Nathan shaking hands with my mom. I was the spitting image of my mother aside from being three inches shorter than her. Although, I made up for that by having five more inches of hair than she has.

  I noticed that she held an earring in her hand and realized that she herself was getting ready for her routine date with my father. If you saw them you would have thought they were the strangest pair. My mom was a sexy, long legged genius while my dad was a short, round geek, complete with wire rimmed glasses, but for whatever reason they instantly fell in love with each other when they were in college.

  “Have fun,” my mom said as she placed a hand on my shoulder,
before disappearing into her bedroom. I smiled at my mom before turning to give Nathan a (slightly awkward) hug.

  “Let me just get my purse.”

  When I went back to my room Gabriel held out my purse to me. He looked ridiculous standing there holding my purple purse. I tried not to laugh as I reached out to take it from him, but he wouldn’t loosen his grip.

  “Sage, I need you to listen to me.” His face was grim as he said his next words. “Word of your return has probably begun to spread throughout the underworld; we need to be careful that we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”

  I nodded my head in silence since I was too afraid to speak. Gabriel finally released his hold on my purse and I returned to Nathan who was standing awkwardly, looking down at his feet in my living room.

  “So where are you taking me?” I asked in what I hoped was a flirtatious tone.

  “It’s a surprise,” Nathan answered as he took my hand in his and led me to his car. As we drove to wherever Nathan was taking me I could practically feel the darkness as is settled in around us. My skin prickled with a sense of unease as we drove through it, heading in the direction of the beach. But I knew I didn’t need to worry because my angel was in the backseat, ready to protect me with his life at any given moment.

  Nathan pulled his car into a metered parking spot right on the edge of the beach. After helping me out of the car he reached into the back seat and pulled out a picnic basket and a blanket.

  “I thought we could have a picnic on the beach,” Nathan explained as he led me over to the shore where he set down the blanket just a few feet from the water.

  It was a very romantic idea but as I was sitting on the blanket with Nathan setting up a lantern and the food I saw the look on Gabriel's face as he scanned the area. I could practically read his mind through that expression. He didn’t like that we were so secluded from other people, he didn’t like that it was dark and he defiantly didn’t like that we were out in the open where it was hard to find a spot where it was possible to watch everything around me while at the same time keeping me in his vision. I could tell he would have preferred Nathan to have picked a more traditional date location, such as a restaurant or a movie theater where Gabriel could easily have his back to a wall where he could keep an eye on all possible threats.