“Honestly, Imorean, I can't say I'm too sure. Michael and the travel coordinator, Afriel, make all the decisions concerning trips home.”
“I guess it's safe to say we'll be staying here permanently then,” snapped Imorean. “College has become prison.”
Imorean rolled his eyes as Gabriel looked at him in sympathy and shook his head. How could the Archangel possibly know how much turmoil he was feeling? Did angels understand emotions? Did they even have feelings?
“Imorean,” croaked a groggy voice.
Imorean's head snapped up and he swallowed hard. Roxy was looking over at him, blinking blearily.
“Imorean,” asked Roxy again, blinking hard and rubbing her eyes. “Is that you?”
“Yes, yes, it's me,” replied Imorean, hopping off Bethany’s bed and moving forward to crouch beside Roxy. He wondered if she had noticed his wings yet or if she was still too sleepy to realize they were there.
Roxy yawned. “I had such a weird dream. Where are we?”
“We ...” began Imorean. He looked over his shoulder at Gabriel. The Archangel took a sip of his coffee and nodded. “We're in the hospital.”
“Why? How did I get here? Am I sick? The last thing I remember was stepping into my art class. From there it’s just a blank.”
“Roxy,” said Imorean, taking hold of his friend's hand and sighing. The words were stuck in his throat. He had no idea how to even breach the topic. How was he supposed to tell his best friend that she now had wings? That she was a soldier in a war that none of them had known about? That everything they had known for the past few months at Gracepointe was a lie? Imorean looked back at Gabriel again, silently pleading for some guidance.
“Imorean… what is it? Is there something wrong?”
“Miss Daire,” said Gabriel, getting up. “You are not sick, but your body has recently undergone an … unusual and powerful transformation.”
“What? Imorean, what's he talking about?”
“Roxy, I – it's hard to explain,” said Imorean, stuttering.
“Imorean Frayneson, you tell me … what's going … on…. Imorean, what are those on your back?”
“They're wings, Miss Daire,” said Gabriel.
Imorean watched as Gabriel flared his own, stretching them above his head. The tawny feathers caught the morning sunlight beautifully and turned slightly golden.
“W – w – what?” whimpered Roxy, looking between Imorean and Gabriel.
Imorean sighed and looked down, allowing his own wings to drop from their fold to the cool, stone floor.
“I promise you, Roxy, we will tell you everything in due time,” said Gabriel. “We must first wait for your fellow classmates to wake up. I'm sure Imorean can start to explain some of the situation to you.”
“Imorean,” said Roxy, her voice sounding thick.
Imorean moved up onto Roxy's bed and took hold of both of her hands. The white-haired teenager narrowed his eyes in a glare as Gabriel turned away from them and began to check on some of the other students who seemed to be stirring.
“What have they done?” asked Roxy. Her voice was trembling. “What have they done to us? Did you know about this? Ow! Why does my back hurt so much?”
“Roxy,” said Imorean with a sigh, squeezing Roxy’s hands as he did so. “I woke up yesterday, so I know a little bit about what's going on. Believe me, I was as surprised and as scared as you are now.”
“Why are you dressed like that?” asked Roxy, obviously having noticed his trousers and boots.
“It was the only thing in my wardrobe that would properly fit me.”
Roxy shook her head. “You've got wings. You’ve got wings…”
“I'm not the only one,” replied Imorean. He felt immediately guilty as Roxy's eyes widened and she gasped. Slowly, her eyes dropped down to look at her own shoulders. Her jaw dropped in shock as her eyes landed on the vibrant, multicolored wings flaring out and away from her own shoulders. She clamped one hand over her mouth as a thin wail began to escape. Her chest heaved as she panted, trying to catch her breath.
“Roxy, it's okay. It’s okay. I have them, too. Everyone has them.”
“It is not okay! There is nothing about this situation that's okay. Nothing at all! What is this, some science experiment?”
“No. It's ... it's ... I don't really know what it is. I don't know how to explain it. I wish I did, for your sake.”
“Who did this to me, to you, to us?”
“As far as I know, it was Michael and Gabriel.”
“How? Why?”
“I don't know,” replied Imorean. He hated having to lie to her, but how could he possibly tell her that she was, for all intents and purposes, a soldier who was destined to fight for the fate of humanity? No, that answer was best delivered from Michael.
“I want to go home.” Roxy’s voice broke. She reached up with one hand and pulled Imorean into a hug, gripping the back of his shirt. He could feel a damp spot forming on his shoulder.
“I know,” said Imorean, putting his arms around her and returning her hug. Under his fingers, he could feel the small feathers at the base of Roxy's wings.
“I want to go home.”
Imorean used one hand to stroke her hair and raised his gaze to look out of one of the nearby windows. Blue sky was unmarred by even the barest trace of cloud. All of a sudden, home had never seemed further away. “I know. I know. I do, too.”
Chapter 5
Imorean didn't know whether to be filled with relief or dread as more and more of the students woke up. All of the white curtains around the beds had been removed and staff were bustling around checking each and every one of the students. A few of the stronger students were sitting up, while some were helping others who were weaker or more afraid. Imorean and Baxter had exchanged a nod as the former watched the latter comfort a crying girl. Imorean had always felt a wary liking to Baxter and realized now that his intuition about the other student had been right. Dustin, Imorean’s friend from the track team, stayed close to Baxter, looking around in horror, as though he couldn’t quite take everything in. Imorean didn’t blame him. Ryan, a boy who Imorean had once gotten into a fistfight with, however, stood in one corner, staring out a window. There was a blank, faraway look on Ryan’s face. It was as though he had been turned to stone. Imorean’s opinion of the ginger-haired boy had lowered further.
Every now and then, Imorean scoured the room for any sign of Gabriel or even Michael, but neither Archangel was anywhere to be found. The only adults were Gracepointe’s winged medical staff.
When Toddy had woken he seemed to be a little less shaken than Roxy, but Imorean supposed that Toddy was just better at hiding his shock. Toddy was now sitting on Roxy's bed, talking to her and Mandy quietly, helping keep them both calm. He even got them laughing a few times. Imorean was grateful for his friend's help, since he couldn't be everywhere at once. He was glad to see that Baxter and Dustin were still helping other students. They all needed support from each other right now. Unity would be their greatest strength.
Imorean was now sitting on Bethany’s bed, holding her hand, fingers intertwined. She had seemed calm and collected when she woke up and Imorean had found himself shocked by how easily she was taking everything. He had a feeling though, that deep down she was just as scared as everyone else. There was a steely, defiant look in her eyes and a rigidity to her silence.
Colton was one of the last students to wake up. Upon his waking, Imorean had attempted to talk to him and answer any questions the boy might have had, but Colton hadn't spoken. Not a single word since he had woken up.
The sound of slow clapping echoed hauntingly off the stones of the room. It was a noise that stilled all chatter and demanded absolute silence. Imorean spun to face the source of the sound and immediately spotted Michael, Gabriel, Dr. Raphael Hall and a fourth man with dark feathered wings standing in the threshold of the doorway. Michael had changed from his regular collared shirt and jeans into a uniform very sim
ilar to the one Imorean was wearing. From his position between the four others, the Archangel looked around the room. Imorean felt Michael’s pale gaze linger on him for a split second.
“Good to see that all of you are awake,” said Michael. His voice was loud, but it didn't sound as though he was trying to project it.
Imorean narrowed his eyes and did his best not to sneer in distaste. This had been Michael's plan. Michael was the one who had done this. This was all Michael's fault.
“I am certain that you all have questions. You have been kept in the darkness of ignorance all day. Before I attempt to answer your questions, I would like to tell you what has happened to you, what you have become, the reason for it and what your purpose now is. Perhaps doing so will answer some questions for you before you even have to ask them.”
The room was completely silent, every eye directed at Michael. Even Ryan and Colton were paying attention. The Archangel smiled slightly and continued.
“Perhaps some of you have heard the story the angels. The tale states that God created millions upon millions of them. He created nine angels to stand above the rest. They were the Archangels. The story also states that one of those nine was cast out of heaven and fell to Earth. His name was Lucifer. When he fell, he took with him over a third of all the angels in heaven. However, what the story fails to mention is that shortly after the fall and throughout history, a war began and has raged between the angels and the ones who fell. That war still rages to this very day, this very moment. Not that any of you would know, but the angels are beginning to lose this war.
“I am Michael, Chief Archangel. These are my brothers and three of the other Archangels, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. We have devised a plan and it involves each and every one of you. As I stated a moment ago, we angels are losing our war. If we lose, all of humanity will be taken over and subjugated to demonic rule. It will be the end of the world. It will be the apocalypse. Humanity will be wiped out. This is where the one hundred of you come in. When you were only babies you were given a gift by an angel. A piece of our holiness, part of our divine nature. That genetic material lived dormant within your blood for approximately eighteen years until you came here. Upon your arrival, I am sure many of you will remember that you were given an injection. That was an activation enzyme that awoke the genes in your veins. As for what you have become, all of you are now human-angel hybrids. You embody both human and angelic characteristics. The most obvious of the angelic traits being the wings. Your purpose is to be soldiers and to play an instrumental role in saving humanity itself. From this point onward, you will learn to fight, learn to fly, learn to think independently and become fully fledged, self-sufficient members of the army that I lead. Welcome to heaven’s newest regiment of foot soldiers.”
Imorean was certain that if anyone had dropped a pin it would have echoed around the room like a gunshot. He didn't know what foolish bravery filled his head as he stood up and stepped away from Bethany's bed. The dull thud of his boot heels filled the room like the sounds of cannon blasts. All of a sudden, he could feel every eye in the room on him, including Michael's pale green ones.
“You must be truly desperate if you're using teenage children,” said Imorean when he was standing in the center of the room. Everything inside his mind told him to flinch away when Michael narrowed his eyes, but Imorean took a deep breath and stood firm.
“And that's the thing, Imorean,” said Gabriel, stepping forward so that he was half a pace in front of his older brother. “We are desperate. I don't think any of you realize just how dire this situation is. Over the past eighteen years, we have suffered heavy, heavy casualties and we are almost outnumbered. This plan to involve all of you was a last resort. We do not mix the two gene strands lightly. Too much can go wrong. We were lucky that all one hundred of you pulled through. The bottom line is, we need you.”
“I thought you Archangels were supposed to be the most powerful beings in the universe,” Imorean said, maintaining his eye contact with Michael. “You need teenagers to fight your battles? You’re pathetic.”
There was a flash of emerald light, then a loud bang. Imorean was hurled backwards through the air, landing heavily on the stone floor. All around, he could hear the horrified whispers of his classmates. He shook his head, feeling dazed. The temperature in the room plummeted and Imorean involuntarily trembled. The hospital’s windows started to rattle in their frames, as did the beds, chairs and tables.
“We are some of the most powerful beings in the universe,” said Michael.
Imorean scrambled to his feet and fought the urge to back down as Michael pushed Gabriel out of the way and slowly closed the distance between them.
“Were you not part of this plan, your insolence would cost you dearly, but as it happens, we have yet need of you. You humans have something that ordinary angels do not. Free will. On a battlefield, you can make your own decisions, you can think for yourselves, you do not have to wait for orders to be issued. You would weep floods of tears if you knew how many scores of my brothers and sisters have been slaughtered over the past several years simply because they are bound by their mandate to listen to orders.”
Imorean swallowed hard as Michael stopped in front of him and looked down imperiously. The teenager bit the inside of his cheek and met Michael’s gaze, hoping his own eyes wouldn’t reveal how shocked and afraid he felt. Michael had attacked him in front of the other students and staff and obviously felt no guilt or fear of repercussions. Imorean tried to look away, but his eyes were riveted to Michael’s. Those green irises flooded Michael’s eyes with color and for a split-second, fire blazed through them. Imorean flinched hard and looked away. When he looked back up, Michael’s eyes had returned to their glare. The Archangel spoke.
“If we had the one thing you humans possess that we do not, the war would have been over centuries ago. We have no choice, and at this stage, neither do you.”
Imorean opened his mouth slightly to snap back a reply, but his mind was blank. Michael's eyes were narrowed and there was still an aggressive light in them. Slowly, Imorean closed his mouth and little by little, and, as though a massive hand was pushing his head down, lowered his eyes and directed his gaze to the flagstones on the floor. Imorean saw movement from his peripheral vision and watched as Michael turned on his heel and walked gracefully back to where Gabriel, Raphael and the fourth angel stood.
As Michael and the fourth angel exited the hospital, the temperature returned to normal and Raphael stepped forward. Gabriel lingered near the doorway, as though wavering between going after his older brother or staying with the students.
Raphael spoke up, his soothing voice carrying through the room. “All who feel strong enough are encouraged to return to their dorms. Any who do not feel that they are able to do so are welcome to stay here.”
Quiet, nervous chatter resumed in the room as groups of students decided what their course of action would be. Imorean stood still in the center of the room for just a minute more. He was an island in an ocean of movement. He was still trembling, but this time it was not from cold.
“That was a very stupid thing to do, Imorean,” said Gabriel.
Imorean looked up. Michael's twin brother was standing just a few paces away from him. So, he had decided to stay with the students.
“It had to be asked,” replied Imorean. His voice sounded smaller than he thought it should have.
“I'm sure many of your classmates would have asked it,” replied Gabriel, laughing humorlessly. “But perhaps they'd have had the sense to ask me or Raphael or Haroel. Anyone but my older brother. If you were less valuable or if he'd been in a worse mood he might have tried to kill you.”
“Why did he get so upset?” asked Imorean, shaking his head.
“He feels that losing this war is his fault. He is the commander of all troops, after all. It's only natural that he'll feel blame. As I was saying, that was very stupid, but very brave.”
Imorean furrowed his brow. “Bra
ve?”
“Brave. You may find that your actions will later earn some brownie points with him. He admires bravery above anything else. Anyway, bravery aside, I think you should go and see your friends. They'll want your support.”
“Yeah,” replied Imorean, turning to walk away. Before he took his next step though, he looked over his shoulder at Gabriel. “Thank you for the compliment, I guess.”
“You're welcome.”
Imorean approached his friends. “So, what are we all doing?”
“I just want to go to bed,” said Roxy, sighing. “I'm certain that this is all just a crazed dream brought on by midterms and I'm going to wake up late for my nine o'clock class.”
“Same here,” said Bethany, running a hand through her short, blonde hair. “I'm going to go back to the dorm tonight.”
“I’m right with you,” said Mandy. “I just want to get out of here.”
“Toddy?” asked Imorean.
“I'm exhausted. There's too much to take in here and I want to get somewhere familiar. I just want my bed.”
“Colton, what about you?” asked Imorean.
Toddy sighed. “He still hasn't said anything. Not a word.”
“Colton.” Imorean waved a hand in front of the smaller boy's face.
“I can hear you,” said Colton in a voice that was just barely above a whisper.
“Do you want to stay here or go back to the dorm?” asked Imorean, furrowing his brow in concern. While Colton was normally soft-spoken, Imorean had never heard the boy use a voice like the one he used now. It was hollow. Scared. The voice of a lost child. Imorean felt another surge of anger toward Michael. Colton was only fifteen. A high-achieving student who had been intelligent enough to attend college years early, and this was the reward he got. Imorean’s blood burned. Colton was hardly a teenager at all, let alone an adult. How could the Archangels possibly find it within themselves to do this to someone so young?
“I don't care. It doesn't matter.”
Angels Soaring (Angels Rising Book 2) Page 4