He turned his attention back to the small boy and found him looking at him, as though waiting for Imorean’s approval. Imorean smiled and nodded. Colton nervously twisted his body and turned to land. Imorean watched his small friend closely, poised to help him if he got into any trouble. Colton seemed to be doing well, but as his first foot touched the surface of the cliff Michael had chosen to land them on, Colton stopped beating his wings. Imorean’s eyes widened. Colton’s body weight was still behind him and would drag the boy over backwards.
Colton cried out as he fell back, plummeting down toward the water of the fjord. His wings remained at his sides, not opening by reflex as they should, and Colton clawed wildly at the air. Imorean didn’t pause to think as he snapped his wings against his sides and plunged.
Imorean was shocked by how much ground Colton had already gained on him. The boy was tumbling wildly, unable to open his wings and slow his fall. A small burst of panic opened in Imorean and for a moment, he wasn’t sure he would be able to catch Colton. The smaller boy was falling too fast. Imorean swept his wings up to his shoulders, pointing his body like an arrow, desperate to catch his friend. He closed his eyes for a second, then found himself in front of Colton when he opened them. How had he gained so much ground in just a split second? Imorean chose not to dwell on it and instead grabbed hold of Colton’s wrist, stopping the smaller boy’s uncontrolled fall. He snapped his wings open, the muscles shrieking as Colton’s weight dragged both of them down. Imorean snarled and pulled them both toward a spread-eagle position, desperate for stability. Shakily, Colton rocked forward in the air and was finally able to fully flare out his own wings. Banking sharply, Imorean maneuvered Colton into a position where the other could take the rest of his weight on his own wings. At long last, they pulled up into a hover.
“You okay?” asked Imorean, maintaining his hold on Colton’s wrist. Colton didn’t respond verbally, but nodded his head instead. Imorean loosened his grip ever so slightly as he realized that Colton was nearly white with fear.
“Is he all right?” asked Michael, gliding down to Imorean and Colton’s level.
“I think so,” replied Imorean.
“Good. Not bad, Frayneson.”
“Uh … thank you.” Imorean quirked a little, nervous smile at Michael’s unexpected praise.
“Imorean,” said Colton in a small voice. “You can let go of my wrist now.”
“Oh,” replied Imorean, jumping in surprise. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. Thank you.”
Imorean nodded. “No problem.”
“Come on,” said Michael, banking sharply upward and turning back to the ledge where the rest of the students were gathered. Several were standing on the very edge of the rock, watching what was going on.
Imorean alighted on the cliff ledge and helped Colton land before he got a good opportunity to look around. Some of the students couldn’t look less interested in the situation, but others were giving him odd, suspicious glances.
“That was awesome!” cried Toddy, bounding up to Imorean and clapping him and Colton on their backs. Mandy was beaming at both of them, relief in her eyes.
“Not very awesome for me,” replied Colton, shuddering.
“I was just doing what I should have done,” agreed Imorean, barely able to get the words out of his mouth before another person made their presence known.
“You idiot!” snapped Roxy, marching up to Imorean out of the crowd and shaking him by the front of his sweatshirt.
“Hey! Hey! Easy,” said Imorean, placing his hands on top of hers and forcing her to stop her assault on him.
“What were you thinking?” growled Roxy. “You could have both been killed. You barely even know how to fly, Imorean, much less save someone who’s falling.”
“Well I did it, didn’t I?” replied Imorean, giving her a reassuring smile. “Stop worrying, Mother Hen. We’re all just fine.”
“Stop being so reckless, Imorean. I’m begging you,” said Roxy, lowering her voice and resting her hands on his shoulders.
Imorean inclined his head, hearing the concern in her tone. He was starting to reply when Michael commanded all their attention.
The Archangel was standing on a small boulder, placing himself a good distance above the students’ heads.
“Well done all of you,” he said. “I confess myself proud of each and every one of you. This will be our last large assignment until we come back next semester. Starting tomorrow, my angels and I will begin to make arrangements for all of you to go back to your homes for Christmas break. You will begin leaving Gracepointe on November thirtieth. Until then, concentrate on your practical exams and continue to practice flying in small groups. We will not fly together again as a company until the spring.”
For the last few weeks at Gracepointe they would be allowed to act like normal college students. Imorean grinned broadly. He could barely contain himself. What a stroke of freedom! He turned to Roxy to express how happy he was, but before the words could leave his mouth, there was a loud roll of what sounded like distant thunder. Imorean slowly turned his head to look back at Michael, but the Archangel was no longer looking at the students. He was staring toward the source of the sound. There was a shade of terrible fury in Michael’s eyes and Imorean swallowed hard.
“Imorean, what’s going on?” asked Colton, tugging on Imorean’s shirt sleeve.
“I – I’m not sure,” replied Imorean, looking between Roxy, Toddy, Mandy and Colton who were all gazing at him expectantly. There was fear clearly etched in all of their eyes.
The teenager turned back and his brown eyes followed Michael’s line of sight and his skin crawled in fear as he caught sight of a cloud as black as night making its way through the sky above the mountains in the distance. For a few seconds, everything and everyone was still. Then the cloud moved, racing over the mountaintops and drawing closer to Imorean and his classmates. Imorean gagged as he smelled something rancid and he felt as though pressure was contracting over his head like a metal band. A high-pitched alarm rang in his ears, threatening to deafen him.
“Gabriel!” Michael shouted, launching himself into the sky and hovering above the students. There was a sickening noise as Michael drew one of his swords in a flash of green.
Imorean whipped around, feeling panicked as he searched for Michael’s younger brother. Nausea and the pressure in his ears heightened his sense of fear. The other students were starting to mill around fearfully, knowing there was something wrong. Imorean knew they were experiencing the same things that he was. White wings flared in fear and he was desperate to take to the sky. He had a horrible feeling that he knew exactly what the cloud in the distance was. He had seen something like this once before. In a dream. Imorean looked up in panic, checking to see if the sky was clear for an escape. A wave of relief washed over him as he spotted Gabriel diving down toward them.
Gabriel showed no signs of slowing as he approached the rock face. Just before the Archangel collided with the hard surface there was a loud rumble of thunder and Imorean felt his world get turned upside down. His vision flashed white, purple and green as he was flung through space and time.
Chapter 21
The breath was driven from Imorean’s chest as he smacked into the ground. He drew a few breaths and for a moment he couldn’t force oxygen back into his lungs. There was a surge of relief as he took a breath and was granted air. Clean air. The stench of decay was gone. Imorean raised his head and looked around. He groaned as a raging headache immediately made its presence known. He and the rest of his classmates were back on the sports field at Gracepointe. Imorean breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing they were all safe. Or were they? Near him were Colton, Mandy, Roxy and Toddy, each one beginning to sit up and take note of their surroundings. Beyond them were the rest of Imorean’s classmates, but where were Michael and the squad of angels who had been with him?
Nearby, Imorean spotted Raphael clambering awkwardly to his feet. There w
as neither hide nor hair of Michael, nor his squad. Imorean watched Raphael quickly count the students and he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Imorean,” said Roxy, catching Imorean’s attention.
“Yeah?” asked Imorean, sitting up on his knees and slowly climbing to his feet. His legs were shaky beneath him and he felt as though all the energy had been sucked out of him.
“What happened?” she asked, sounding scared.
Imorean studied her expression for a moment. She wasn’t just scared. She was terrified. They were all so far out of their depth here. Imorean closed his eyes for a moment. They weren’t ready for this world. He knew it and he had a feeling that all the Archangels knew it as well. Angels, demons, war … they just weren’t ready. Imorean took a steadying breath and shook his head. He was almost certain that what he had seen earlier were demons, just as he had seen them in his dream. He wasn’t going to burden his friends with the knowledge that the demons seemed to have found them on their excursion today. It would be too much of a shock to them. It was better for them to be left in ignorance. Just until Michael and Gabriel decided to tell them what was happening.
Brown eyes looked around. Gabriel was once again, nowhere to be seen. Then the white-haired teenager spotted a ruffled, battered heap of green and tawny feathers on the ground just behind Raphael. Gabriel.
“He’ll be fine,” said Raphael, obviously noticing Imorean’s gaze. The black-haired Archangel raised his eyes to address the rest of the students. “Make your way back to your dorms now. Do not stray out of the main campus. We are back under official lockdown. Curfews will be rigidly enforced.”
Imorean’s blood ran cold and he lingered as the other students began to file away from the sports field, murmuring dissent between one another. Imorean didn’t pay them too much mind, though. It didn’t feel nice to be back under orders for confinement. He was worried about both Gabriel and Michael. To an extent too, he was worried about Uriel. What if Michael went missing as well? What would happen to all of them then?
“Imorean, are you coming?” asked Toddy, causing Imorean to turn.
“Yeah,” replied Imorean, shaking his head and looking over his shoulder as he made his way toward his friends.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The male dormitory was quiet that night. The regular noises of video games and chatter were absent. Most of the students had already vanished into their own rooms, so Imorean and his friends had free reign of the lobby. They had drawn up various chairs and couches so they could all sit around one of the coffee tables in the room. So far though, they had all been silent.
Roxy was the first to break the silence. “What was that all about? I mean, what was that cloud? It was all black and when I saw it…”
“You felt cold?” asked Mandy.
“Yeah … and insignificant. And the noise … I thought I was going to die.”
“Me too,” said Mandy, shuddering.
Toddy looked around the room, his eyes still wide and nervous. “It was freaky. Did anyone else see the way Michael was looking at it? Did you, Imorean?”
Imorean looked down at the coffee table. “I must have missed it.”
“You were looking right at him.” Colton sounded suspicious.
“Like I said,” shrugged Imorean, “must have missed it.”
“Right,” nodded Colton skeptically.
Imorean glanced out the window at the campus beyond. Night had fallen not long after they had come back. The days were growing much shorter, ever a reminder of the break they would be receiving in December. Imorean’s mind was churning and he was only half listening to his friends. As far as he knew, Michael was still not back. There was also the resemblance between the cloud they had seen today and the fog that had descended upon Uriel in his dream.
“What do you think it was?” asked Mandy, looking at Imorean.
Grudgingly, Imorean jerked himself out of his thoughts. “I have no idea. It was too far off for me to tell.”
“Didn’t Haroel say something about demons having a non-corporeal form?” asked Roxy, inclining her head and locking eyes with Imorean.
“I think so.”
Fear flashed through Roxy’s hazel eyes. “What if that’s what that was?”
“I doubt it,” said Imorean, scoffing slightly. “Michael and Gabriel wouldn’t deliberately put us into danger. Not this early on.”
“Where’s all this faith in them coming from?”
“I guess I’ve just been spending more time with them or with Gabriel, at least. Look, I’m exhausted. I’d love to stay and continue this conversation, but I need to go to bed. I’ve done too many long flights over the past few days and I’m really tired.”
“All right,” nodded Toddy. “See ya upstairs.”
“Good night, Imorean,” said Roxy, waving at him. Mandy smiled briefly.
“Night,” replied Imorean, making his way away from the table. Once he rounded the corner of the stairs though, he stopped.
“Is he okay?” asked a voice. Imorean identified it as Colton’s.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” replied Roxy. “Like he said, he’s tired, but I think he’s worried about what’s going on.”
“He has an idea of what it was, doesn’t he?” asked Mandy.
“Of course he does,” said Roxy. “But he won’t say anything about it until he knows for sure. Believe me, I know how Imorean operates. Don’t worry about him.”
“If you say so,” huffed Colton.
“He’s not hiding anything, Colton,” said Toddy.
“I don’t think Imorean’s the type to keep secrets,” agreed Mandy.
“I’ll repeat. If you guys say so, I suppose I’ll have to believe you.”
Imorean ascended the rest of the steps quietly, hoping his friends wouldn’t hear his footsteps and know he’d been eavesdropping. He was grateful to Toddy, Mandy and Roxy for having defended him, but at the same time, he understood Colton’s suspicion. If the roles were reversed, he too would have felt suspicious.
Once inside his and Toddy’s dorm room, the tiredness Imorean had been feeling evaporated and he felt wide awake. He figured it would be some time before Toddy came upstairs, so Imorean crossed the room to the window and opened it, letting in the freezing night air. It jarred his senses back to full awareness. He leaned down and rested his forearms on the window sill. Cool, clear air calmed his racing thoughts and tugged softly at his wings. If he had a little more energy, he probably would have jumped out of the window and glided around campus a bit. Tonight though, he decided against it. Raphael had asked them to minimize their movements and had set them back onto lockdown. The entire faculty seemed to be on high alert. If Imorean’s suspicions were right though, he could understand why.
Imorean looked up as he heard a rush of wind through what was unmistakably feathers. There was an angel flying around somewhere. He had to wonder who it was. Had Raphael really raised their security measures to the point where they needed patrols?
“Just land here,” said a voice filled with command. Michael. Imorean leaned further out of the window and looked around. Michael had finally returned. Imorean didn’t know what he had expected to feel upon the Archangel’s return, but relief was not the first emotion he had imagined. The teenager jumped when there was a thump just above his head.
“Go and take him to Raphael. He will know you are coming,” said Michael firmly. Imorean felt that the commander was speaking to another angel. “Hurry.”
Imorean had to wonder what was going on. He itched to swoop out of the window and up to the roof to see what they were doing, curiosity straining at him. He looked up as two angels awkwardly carrying a third swept over his head, flying toward the campus’s health center. As they passed over, Imorean caught the scent of something hot and metallic, something unmistakable. Blood. He swallowed and resisted the urge to gag. There was an underlying smell as well. It was as though something had gone rotten. It was the same rancid smell from that morning. His stomach
turned. Sulfur. The stench of corruption.
“Have I not warned you about poking your nose into things that do not directly concern you?” asked Michael’s sharp voice from just feet above Imorean’s head.
Imorean leaned back out of the window and looked up. He could just see the toes of Michael’s combat boots on the edge of the roof. Michael already knew he was there. It didn’t make sense to hide. “I’m just always in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sore wings protested as Imorean unfurled them slightly and hopped up onto the window ledge then out into the open. A few wingbeats later, he was balanced on the flat rooftop next to Michael.
“Everyone got back safely, I trust?” asked Michael, fixing Imorean with his pale, green stare.
“If they didn’t, I doubt you’d be back.”
“Quite,” snorted Michael, looking back out toward campus.
The two fell silent for a moment, but Imorean didn’t sense that Michael wanted him gone. There was an odd sense of neutrality stemming from the Chief Archangel. It was a pleasant change to the usual hostility. Imorean couldn’t help but glance at his commander and in the darkness provided by nighttime, he almost missed the way that patches of Michael’s skin glistened unnaturally. The mixed scent of sulfur and blood was even more cloying up here. Imorean couldn’t help but feel disgusted. He turned away from Michael for a moment and his blood ran cold when he caught sight of a cluster of tattered feathers heaped on the rooftop. It looked as though nearly the entirety of someone’s wing had been taken off.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice smaller than he had expected.
“Nothing major.” Michael did not turn. “One of my brothers needed medical attention, but it is nothing life threatening. Two of my other siblings have taken him to the hospital wing. He will live.”
“What’s that smell?”
Michael chuckled humorlessly and wiped his face. “It is sulfur.”
Angels Soaring (Angels Rising Book 2) Page 19