“There was an explosion.”
“I know that, but seriously, how could this happen in the village? Do you think it was the demons? Have they returned?”
Jerome tried to calm him down, although he didn’t think what he was about to say would help any. “According to Ambrosia it was an angel, not a demon. The council think it was one of our own and that’s why security was so tight up there.”
Finally, Alexander stopped pacing as he processed what he was hearing. Jerome waited, completely understanding what was going on in his friend’s head. It was inconceivable to think an angel was capable of that kind of destruction. They were peacekeepers, protectors, they didn’t have it in them to hurt others. Especially not other angels. If there weren’t so many guards around the council building, he might have just dismissed Ambrosia’s ramblings as shock. But he knew what he saw and couldn’t throw away the truth, he had to face it.
“Who could do that?” Alexander almost whispered, his voice so quiet and disbelieving. “Why would they do this? Two councilors were killed, we don’t do that to each other.”
“I know, I can’t imagine any of us causing injury to one another either. But someone did, the explosion wasn’t an accident. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and cross our fingers it won’t happen again.”
“Do you think they’d hurt anyone else?”
Jerome shrugged. “Who knows what they’re capable of?”
Alexander just shook his head, trying to organize his thoughts. It didn’t work. No matter how much he thought it through, it made no sense. He sat on the edge of the bed next to his friend, possibly the only other angel in the world he could truly trust without question.
“We have to keep this to ourselves,” Jerome started. “If everyone finds out, there will be a mass panic. They’ll all turn on each other and accuse anyone who they think is guilty.”
“You’ve got my word I won’t tell anyone,” Alexander solemnly vowed. An angel’s word was infallible. At least, it once was, it was anyone’s guess now.
“Our plans for the council overthrow will have to be put on hold indefinitely. We can’t do anything until order is restored.”
“Agreed.”
“The others will still look to us for leadership though, we’ve got to stay strong for them.”
“I’ve got your back, buddy.”
“What’s the situation with Gabriella?” Jerome asked, remembering he had left her meltdown at finding out about his love for Leila with Alexander the night before. He hadn’t seen either of them since. “Is she going to tell anyone about Leila and I?”
Alexander shook his head. “I convinced her to keep it to herself. I tried to explain how it happened. I don’t think she entirely blames you for falling in love with your human. She doesn’t understand it, but she doesn’t have to.”
“Thanks, buddy, I appreciate it.”
They sat together, neither knowing what they should do next. It wasn’t like they could go help with the clean up or check on the injured angels. They couldn’t even step foot outside their front door. They were now prisoners.
In the quiet room, a noise from downstairs suddenly rang through. It only took an instant for Jerome and Alexander to exchange a panicked glance before they ran for the stairs.
A commotion was going on, all the other angels staying in the hostel were huddled around the front door. Jerome tried to make his way through to see what was going on.
“Jerome!” Thomas thrust through the few angels standing between them. He pulled Rosie behind him. Room was made so they could get through.
“Thomas, what are you doing here?” Jerome asked, completely confused and worried about the couple’s presence there. “We’re on lockdown.”
“I know but we had to get here, Jerome, it’s not fair,” Rosie sobbed. She could barely stand she was so upset. His heart went out to her.
“What’s not fair? What happened?”
Thomas placed his arms around Rosie’s shoulders to try to calm her down. He looked at Jerome with haunted eyes. “The council have ordered us to be banished immediately.”
“They can’t do that,” Jerome insisted, hoping Thomas was mistaken.
“They can and they have. With everything that happened at the council building today, they’re bringing all punishments into play immediately. Rosie and I are both going to be banished as soon as they can get their hands on us.”
“But there’s a process, there’s rules about these kinds of things,” Jerome continued. “They can’t just banish you because they are fearful about the situation.”
“It’s done, they can do whatever they want. We need your help, Jerome, you have to hide us. We can’t be banished, we’ll never last,” Thomas pleaded. Jerome didn’t doubt his claims, the council did do whatever they wanted and the pair wouldn’t last a moment in the wastelands. They wouldn’t be banished to the same place, they would spend an eternity looking for each other until they dropped dead wherever they stood.
“We’ll do what we can,” Jerome promised. “We need to hide you somewhere, did anyone see you come here?”
Before Thomas could take a breath to answer, the door to the hostel burst open once again. The three guards standing there answered his question for him.
“No!” Rosie shrieked as strong hands gripped her from the side. She struggled against them, as did Thomas. They refused to be pulled apart but it was no good – the guards were too strong.
“Leave her alone… get your hands off us,” Thomas yelled, pushing at the restraints they were trying to secure around him.
The other angels stood back, knowing it was wrong to interfere with council business. They were accustomed to trusting the council and the guards, they weren’t used to questioning them. Unlike Jerome and Alexander.
Jerome stood by the door, trying to block it. “You can’t take them, they haven’t had a fair trial. I will vouch for them, I will promise you they will stay here and go nowhere.”
“Get out of the way, angel Jerome,” the biggest of the guards, the leader, said sternly. He didn’t sound like he would entertain any idea of a deal. “This does not concern you.”
“Thomas and Rosie are my friends, they do concern me. You have to let them go so they can have due process with their case. It is unjust to take them away like this, it’s being purely reactionary and that’s not what angels do. It’s not who we are.”
Rosie’s sobs and Thomas’s protests were echoing around the room. Jerome tried to block them out, despite his instincts to comfort them. He had to stay focused and use his words to save them, it was all that could work now.
“Step aside, angel Jerome, you’ve been warned.”
“I can’t let you take them.”
“You are not on the list to be banished but I will take you too if I have to,” the guard warned, he got the feeling it was the last one he was going to get.
“No, you can’t do this,” Rosie yelled, trying to free herself from the restraints around her hands. It wasn’t doing her any good, they were bound tight.
“Take them now, we don’t have time for these games,” the guard ordered the others. They barged past Jerome, he was no match against their hulking frames.
“You can’t do this,” he called after them.
“You move from that door and I will not hesitate to banish you too, angel Jerome,” the guard called back. He didn’t even look around to check whether his command was being obeyed, he just knew it would be.
Jerome and Alexander stood side by side as they disappeared down the path. It was like there was an invisible barrier standing between them and the rest of the village. They may as well have been in prison.
Running his hands through his hair, Jerome tried to think. Banishment to the wastelands was the worst punishment they could endure, but it wouldn’t kill them immediately. The longer they were there, the more damage they would suffer. He had to find a way to get them back.
They closed the door, hoping it didn’t sig
nal giving up. Jerome took the stairs two at a time, Alexander closely followed. They couldn’t speak in front of the others, let them think they were being secretive and rude instead. Better that than knowing the truth.
Once inside the bedroom, Jerome couldn’t keep his emotions in check anymore. “I have to get a message to Lucia.”
“Lucia? What’s she got to do with it?” Alexander sat propped against the windowsill, his energy spent for the day already. He couldn’t pace anymore.
“Her father is on the council, she might be able to find out what’s going on with everything. We need to know why Thomas and Rosie have been banished like this. We need to know how long this lockdown is going to last.”
“You missed the watchword there, Jerome, lockdown. We can’t speak with Lucia and we can’t get her a message.” Alexander threw up his hands in defeat. “This whole thing is so pointless, our entire village is doomed. Those they don’t banish will spend the rest of their lives in their house.”
“Don’t give up on me now, Alexander, we need to stick together and figure this out. We can do it, just have some faith.”
“Where did faith get Heraldo and Daniel today? Dead, that’s where. Thomas and Rosie are just the next victims. We don’t know what we’re up against.”
Jerome didn’t know what to say, a part of him wanted to give up too. He thought how much easier it would be just to put his head down and wait out whatever was going on. It would be less tiresome just to do nothing. Perhaps his own survival could be guaranteed if he just stayed out of trouble.
But he had never spent a day taking the easy road. Jerome couldn’t do it, no matter how tempting it was. While he still had a heart beating in his chest, he would continue to fight. He just had to work out how to rally the troops.
A thought suddenly struck him, he knew how to get a message to Lucia. She was on active duty, she had a human of her own to protect – just like Jerome did.
“I know how to get Lucia a message,” he looked over at Alexander, waiting for some kind of signal that he really hadn’t given up completely. He didn’t get it.
“It’s impossible.”
“No, it’s not. I can tell Leila to get a message to her human, she can then pass it on to-”
Alexander cut him off. “That’s ludicrous. Leila doesn’t remember you, she doesn’t know you exist. You can’t just pop up and tell her to deliver a message.”
“I can. She does remember me, she knows I’m an angel.”
“When did this happen?”
Jerome was starting to see the light, he was getting somewhere with his friend. At least he hadn’t stormed out of the room… yet. “Earlier today.” Was it really only hours earlier? Jerome couldn’t believe it wasn’t a week ago, it felt that way.
“You still can’t do it. She’s a human, even if she does remember you. Does she remember everything you did?” Jerome didn’t want to reply, Alexander continued on, knowing the answer. “She doesn’t, does she? It’s a suicide mission, Jerome, you can’t do it. You’re going to end up banished and I’m going to go down too for being an accomplice.”
“I’ll keep you out of it, I won’t tell you anything more so you can say you didn’t know. I’ll do it by myself.”
Alexander shook his head, he couldn’t let his friend do it alone. It was either all or nothing. “We’re a team, we both promised we would stick together.”
“Then trust me on this, Alexander, please. I know what I’m doing and I know Leila can do it too. She will come through for us, I can guarantee it will work.”
He was softening, but there was more at stake than just being banished to the wastelands. Alexander knew how much he cared for his human and if she didn’t take his reinstatement back into her life well, he feared he would be broken beyond repair. A heart was more fragile than the rest of the body.
“Alexander, please.”
But there were bigger problems than his friend’s feelings. Thomas and Rosie were banished, the village was in lockdown, and everyone was a suspect of committing an unspeakable crime. And the worst thing was that nobody else was doing anything about it. If it wasn’t them, then who else could save them all?
“Fine,” he sighed. “But I’d like it to be remembered that I thought this was a bad idea. If it all goes wrong, I will say I told you so.”
“And I will accept your ability to hold your genius over me forever,” Jerome added. He knew he wouldn’t need to, it was going to work. He had the utmost of faith. “I need to get moving.”
“Go in the morning.”
“No, I need to go now while the council are preoccupied. They might not notice my absence with everything else going on tonight. If I wait until morning it will be too late,” he insisted. Plus, there was no way he was going to be able to sleep, not after everything that had happened.
Alexander couldn’t disagree with his logic this time. Time was important and every second that ticked by counted. “Be careful, buddy.”
“I will, my friend.”
Jerome stood and they shared a hug before he flashed down to Earth. Within seconds, he was standing in Leila’s bedroom, watching her while she read peacefully in bed. She was all snuggled in, it seemed a pity to have to shake her entire world. She had already been through so much.
He waited for her to feel his presence like she always seemed to. As far as he could tell, no other human was that sensitive to an angel’s presence. Jerome figured it was because they had spent so much time together, but a part of him also thought it was because Leila was so special. There was nobody else on Earth like her.
Leila looked up over the top of her book around the empty room. She didn’t see anything but wondered if she had heard something. It was enough for Jerome to act, it was time to reveal himself to the one person in the world that held his heart in the palm of her hand.
CHAPTER 12
Jerome allowed his wings to become visible first and then slowly let the rest of his body dissolve into reality. Leila watched, mesmerized by the appearing angel.
The both stared at each other for a few moments, Jerome vowed he wouldn’t moved until Leila wanted him to. He wouldn’t frighten her and he wouldn’t rush her. In her own time, he expected her to come around to him. She had done it once before and she could do it again, he knew she could.
“Who are you?” Leila asked. She let her book rest on the bed while she perched on the side, ready to run if necessary.
Keeping his voice low and steady, Jerome replied: “I think you remember me.”
She looked him up and down, taking in every inch of him. She wasn’t running in fear for her life, it was a good sign but not a guarantee.
“Leila?” Jerome said her name as gently as possible, praying for some kind of recognition.
“You’re the guy I keep thinking about,” she replied quietly, as if talking more to herself than her visitor. “Who are you?”
“I’m angel Jerome. I know you can’t remember everything about me, but we do know each other. You also have to know I won’t hurt you.”
“So you are an angel.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement from the girl. She was relieved with the validation, she wasn’t going crazy after all.
Jerome nodded. “I am. A guardian angel, your guardian angel. I live to protect you.”
She took a few tentative steps closer to him, carefully treading in case it wasn’t as safe as she thought. Her gut told her he could be trusted but she wasn’t sure she could trust her gut. He stood as still as a statue, making sure it was her closing the gap and not him. He made absolutely no movement like she was a bird that could fly away at any moment.
Leila touched his arm and felt a tingle run through her fingers. It sparked a memory of her doing it before. She remembered the way their hands interlocked, his large ones holding her small ones. She remembered how safe she felt with him at her side, like she was invincible.
“I remember you. Well, parts of memories anyway. How is this even possible?”
Jerome thought quickly, he knew he couldn’t tell her anything she didn’t remember by herself. The council rules were quite clear. He was already on shaky ground, he wasn’t going to intentionally cause an earthquake.
“It’s possible because I need your help,” he replied carefully, better to focus on the present than the past. “But I need you to know that I would never ask you to do anything that would put you in danger.”
“I know,” Leila smiled. She didn’t exactly know how she knew, but she did. She automatically trusted everything that came out of his mouth, she didn’t even have to think about it. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
“Good, thank you. May I sit down?” He slowly indicated to the bed, still afraid of startling her.
“Of course. Where are my manners?” She moved aside so he could sit, the bed creaking under his weight. He let his wings fall over the side, making sure they didn’t get too close to Leila. He didn’t want her to freak out over the feathered mass. She sat beside him, feeling like she belonged there.
Very carefully, Jerome spent the next half hour telling Leila exactly what he needed her to do. She wrote down the name he gave her, knowing she wouldn’t be able to remember it without doing so. She accepted the envelope he gave her, holding onto it tight.
She felt like she was in a dream, the whole idea of the angel sitting on her bed was absurd. Yet at the same time it made so much sense. That one thing that had been missing from her life for the last six months finally fell into place. She felt complete again, whole for the first time in half a year.
By the time he was finished, her head swam with information that she was unable to process. All she could do was stare at the angel’s beautiful blue eyes and nod her head.
“I have to leave you now,” Jerome finished, regretting that he couldn’t stay longer. If it was up to him, he’d never leave her alone again. But it wasn’t up to him, it was never going to be up to him. “Will you be okay to do this?”
Angel's Uprising Page 13