Imorean looked up. His mother was standing by the door, her arms folded over her chest.
“Yeah, Imorean,” said Rachel. “It’s past your bedtime.”
“Very funny,” replied Imorean, elbowing her as gently as he could.
“I wasn’t just talking to Imorean,” said Amelia. “I meant you two little devils as well.”
“But, Mom,” whined Isaac, looking at the clock. “It’s only ten thirty.”
“All the more reason for you to go to bed,” said Amelia firmly.
“Fine,” huffed Isaac, hopping off the couch and hugging Imorean once more before he trundled away down the hallway.
“And you, Rach,” said Imorean, standing up.
“Okay,” nodded Rachel, hugging Imorean again and following her younger twin brother toward their bedroom.
“They’ve missed you a great deal,” said Amelia, dropping her arms back to her sides.
“I don’t think they’re the only ones,” replied Imorean, walking across the living room so he could stand next to his mother for a moment.
“They most certainly are not,” she said, pulling him into a hug again. Imorean rested his head on her shoulder and sighed in contentment. It was going to break his heart to leave home again at the end of Christmas Break.
“What’s happened to you?” asked Amelia. “You feel so much stronger than you did when you left. You’re practically all muscle now. I think you’ve lost some weight as well. Your face looks squarer.”
“I guess I’ve just been… I don’t know. I suppose I’ve been working out a bit more, I guess,” replied Imorean. He felt awful for lying to her, but she couldn’t know the truth. Not yet. He didn’t want to know what she would do. After all, who would want a freak for a son?
“Go to bed, Imorean,” said Amelia.
“’Night, Mom,” he replied, pulling out of her hug. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Imorean yawned as he made his way down the hall. He stopped outside his bedroom and pushed the door open. Everything was just as he had left it four months ago. The white-haired teenager breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. He was home. Temporarily. But that didn’t matter. For now, he was home. He was safe. The world was right. Just for a few weeks, the world would be right.
Chapter 24
Imorean was awake very early the next morning. It was just getting light in the sky when he woke up. He knew his mother wouldn’t be awake yet. When she had a day off from work she didn’t normally wake up until eight or nine o’clock. Imorean couldn’t say he blamed her. Had it not been for the jet lag, he didn’t think he would have woken up yet either.
Imorean dressed quickly, then sat down at his desk and withdrew a piece of paper from his bag. It was a written set of rules that all the students were to follow during their break. He wanted to reread it just to make sure he wouldn’t get in trouble. He wanted as little contact with Gabriel as possible during his vacation.
Rule 1: Speak to no one outside of family about Gracepointe. Doing so will result in immediate recall to Norway for all students.
Rule 2: Attempt to tell your parents about the events which you have undergone. In the event that you do so, ensure that they are in accord with Rule Number 1.
Rule 3: No unscheduled flights – flying must be supervised by an angelic escort.
Imorean hummed as he read over the third rule. He couldn’t remember if Gabriel had told them that one or not while they had been at Gracepointe. No flying? Imorean wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In all truth, he had started to like his wings and the feeling of flying was unlike any other. It was a feeling of freedom in its purest and most unadulterated form. No flying until he returned to Gracepointe after New Year’s? Perhaps he could work something out with Gabriel. The Archangel was normally easy to get along with. As Imorean’s thoughts made their way to Gabriel and the other Archangels, they naturally turned also to Michael. What could he possibly be doing in Romania? Why Romania of all places? Was that where Uriel was? Were there demons there? Imorean hadn’t heard any recent news reports about the country and nothing he could think of marked it as unusual.
The white-haired teen stood up and yawned, stretching as he did so. His wings stretched out of their own accord, extending to their full span. Imorean jumped in surprise and folded them quickly back to his shoulders as there was a clatter and crash. He had just successfully knocked his lamp off his desk. Perhaps his wings were a bit bigger than he had realized.
“Imorean,” said a small voice.
The teenager’s blood ran cold as he turned to see Rachel cracking open the door to his bedroom and peering inside. Instinctively, he snapped his wings back behind his shoulders. Could she see them? Did she know?
“Hey, Rach,” he said with a nervous chuckle, forcing a smile and doing his best to conceal the fact that she had spooked him. His heart was pounding and he swallowed. He knew he couldn’t have acted more suspicious if he tried.
“Is everything okay? We heard something fall.”
“Everything’s fine.”
“You’re different,” said Isaac, pushing in front of his sister and into Imorean’s bedroom.
Imorean summoned another grin and hoped it didn’t look as forced as it felt. “Well so are you. You’ve grown up a great deal since I’ve been gone. I suppose we all have.”
“We don’t mean like that,” said Rachel, staring at her feet.
The wish to talk to his siblings, to tell them what was different about him, was on the tip of Imorean’s tongue, but he knew he couldn’t tell them. Not yet. It still wasn’t the right time. This simply wasn’t something they would understand.
“Hey now, I know I’ve been gone for a while, but I’m still the same person,” said Imorean, kneeling down on the floor and putting himself at the height of his siblings. He smiled at them. “Now, what do you two say we go and watch some TV before Mom gets up, huh?”
“Yeah!” cried Rachel, grabbing hold of Imorean’s hand.
Imorean breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed their earlier worries and suspicions had been forgotten. He had successfully diverted them. Now was not the right time for them to know what he had become.
Once the television was playing cartoons and his siblings were happily seated on the couch, Imorean picked up his cell phone and made his way into the kitchen. It felt strange to be able to use his phone again. He didn’t get service in Norway, so the device was essentially null and void. As he began to play with it again he found a text message from Roxy asking if he had gotten home.
Imorean smiled. He hadn’t seen her in a little over a week. He missed her. He dialed her number from memory and lodged a call to her phone.
“Hello?” came a groggy voice as his call was answered.
“Hey, Rox,” said Imorean, grinning.
“You’re home!”
“Yeah, I got home late last night. What are you doing?”
Roxy’s voice echoed as she yawned. “I was sleeping.”
“All right. Well I just wanted to let you know I got back.”
“Good,” said Roxy. “Do you want to try to hang out later? I don’t think I’m doing anything today.”
Imorean sighed. “I don’t know if I can. I know Gabriel wants to talk to me today about something, and I definitely need to go see my grandparents later.”
“Oh, yeah, my guide kept me busy for a few days after I got back here, too.”
“Rox,” said Imorean, turning and leaning on the kitchen counter. He lowered his voice. “Have you told your parents yet?”
“Um, absolutely not. Do you honestly think my family would tolerate me knowing that I’m even more different now? Come on, Imorean, be real.”
“Very true. Your parents have never been the most accepting. Do you think I should tell my mom?”
“She deserves to know. She’ll love you regardless of how you are. My family, not so much, but you and your mom are so close. You need to tell her what the deal is.”
“True. Well, I’ll let you go, Roxy. Get some more sleep. Gabriel will be showing up here pretty soon, I’m sure. Talk to you later.”
“Later,” replied Roxy.
Seconds later, there was a quiet click and the call was ended.
Imorean sighed and tossed his phone down on the counter. He wanted to tell his mother, but what would she say? Again, the tight, cold metal band of apprehension constricted around his stomach and he felt nauseous. What if she didn’t accept him? He shook his head, causing some of his white hair to fall into his eyes. Everything would be fine. He just had to keep telling himself that. Everything would be just fine. It had to be. Noise down the hallway told Imorean his mother was awake. He smiled and began to brew her a cup of coffee.
The hands on the clock in the living room had just passed seven o’clock when two things happened. Amelia came walking tiredly into the kitchen, still in her slippers, and there was a sharp knock at the front door.
Imorean flashed a smile at his mother as they passed one another, then he moved to open the door. He was not surprised to see Gabriel standing on the front steps. Once again, the Archangel was darting suspicious, almost angry, glances around. Just as he had done the night before.
“Morning,” said Imorean, his heart dropping to his stomach. “Everything all right?”
“I think so,” hummed Gabriel, sounding distracted as he motioned for Imorean to move aside. “Good morning.”
“Oh, come on in. Make yourself at home,” said Imorean, as Gabriel came to a halt in the living room. “My home is your home, apparently. It’s really polite to drop by someone’s house before nine in the morning. Couldn’t you have called to let me know you’d be coming this early?”
Gabriel turned, his hazel eyes dull and exhausted. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.
“I have a great deal on my mind, Imorean. For the next few hours I am not concerned with adhering to human etiquette customs. I am here because it is convenient for me to be here at this moment.”
Imorean folded his arms, and replied equally as quietly. “A text then. Surely, you could have managed that.”
“Perhaps,” replied Gabriel, a small smile tugging at the side of his mouth.
“Good morning,” called Amelia from the kitchen. Imorean looked up, glad the secretive atmosphere was broken.
“Good morning,” replied Gabriel, flashing his bright smile at all the occupants of the room. Rachel and Isaac looked at one another nervously before waving at Gabriel shyly. Imorean shook his head. The way the twins greeted strangers reminded him constantly of cats. They were often quiet and reserved when new people came in the house. Imorean glanced between his mother and his younger siblings for a moment. They had no idea there were two supernatural creatures, one angel-human hybrid and one Archangel, standing in their living room.
“Go ahead and sit down,” said Imorean, turning to Gabriel and motioning around the living room.
“Thank you.”
“Everything okay?” asked Imorean. He noticed again how tired Gabriel looked this morning. Even his green and tawny wings were slightly slumped. Unusual. Angels didn’t get tired unless they had undergone something very strenuous.
“Yes. I just had a rather busy night.”
“I see.”
“What happened?” asked Amelia, entering the living room with three cups of coffee. She turned to address the twins. “There’s orange juice in the kitchen for you two. When you’ve drunk that, go and get ready for school. You’ve got a little under an hour until the bus comes.”
“I had to stay awake until all of the students reached their destinations,” replied Gabriel, running a hand through his pale brown hair.
“How late were you up?” she asked, furrowing her brow in concern.
“I haven’t slept,” replied Gabriel, taking a grateful sip of coffee.
“How long have you been up?” asked Amelia.
“I think three days or so now,” answered Gabriel, shrugging his shoulders.
Imorean saw the Archangel’s huge wings move as well. Immediately, his eyes flicked to his mother. He knew right away she hadn’t seen the same movement he had. She was still staring intently at Gabriel, undistracted by his wings.
“Surely you need to sleep!” she said, seeming concerned.
“He’ll be fine,” interjected Imorean before he could stop himself. His mother looked at him strangely and Imorean dropped his eyes to the floor. He didn’t want her to see the reservation in them.
“He’s quite right,” said Gabriel, coming to Imorean’s rescue. “This is nothing compared to some of the shifts I’ve had to pull at Gracepointe sorting out papers, students’ schedules and the like. I’ll just catch some sleep when we’re finished here.”
“All right,” replied Amelia.
Imorean caught himself before he whined aloud. He could tell from the sound of her voice that she wasn’t convinced.
“So,” said Gabriel, smiling again and locking eyes with Amelia for a split second longer than was normal before looking back at Imorean. “Big plans for this Christmas?”
“I don’t think so. Nothing huge anyway. Just relax a little. Brain dump all the stuff from last semester.”
“Natural student behavior,” nodded Gabriel.
“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” said Amelia. “But, why are you asking these kinds of things?”
“Since Gracepointe is a smaller college, we are able to take a much deeper look into our students’ lives. We’ve found it helps them perform better.”
“I see,” nodded Amelia. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“I trust you’re familiar with the leaflet we sent home with all of you,” said Gabriel, turning back to Imorean.
“Yeah. I read back over it this morning just to make sure I remembered everything important in it.”
“Good, good,” replied Gabriel, nodding slowly. He folded his hands and rested his chin on top of them. “You haven’t forgotten about the assignment we gave you to consider over break?”
“I haven’t been able to get it off my mind.” Imorean groaned inwardly as his voice faltered audibly. He knew exactly what Gabriel was talking about. The revelation of his wings to his mother. His stomach churned in apprehension.
“Don’t fret about it,” said Gabriel. “If you need my help with it at any point, I’m only a call away. I suggest doing it quite soon. To get it out of the way, if you know what I mean.”
“I had hoped to do it after Christmas,” replied Imorean, his brown eyes widening slightly. He didn’t want to rush something this sensitive.
“I advise against doing that.” Gabriel locked Imorean in a hazel stare. “The earlier you do it, the more time you’ll have to refine it afterwards. Understand?”
“Yeah,” replied Imorean. Mentally, he slapped himself. His mother was right next to him. There was no doubt that she had already picked up that something was bothering him.
“I recommend Linville Falls,” said Gabriel, wrapping his hands around the coffee mug and swilling it around the cup before drinking.
“What’s this all about?” asked Amelia. Imorean didn’t have to look at her to know her eyes were narrow.
“It’s merely an assignment we gave the students before they left.”
“You couldn’t even give us a month without work,” said Imorean, trying to help Gabriel play off what he had proposed.
“Sadly, no,” replied Gabriel, raising one eyebrow. “Do you honestly think the Dean of Students would allow that?”
“Of course not,” muttered Imorean darkly. “As if he’d be that merciful.”
Gabriel chuckled humorlessly and glanced out a nearby window.
“What’s the assignment?” asked Amelia.
Imorean looked at his mother. Her eyes were almost angry and her eyebrows were knit together. She was suspicious and rightly so.
“Like I said, it is an assignment on environmental studies. Imorean is doing an in-depth study of North Car
olina’s topography from a bird’s eye view and the geology of Linville Falls is interesting as well, so perhaps you would be able to work some of that into your report.”
Imorean resisted the urge to snort. A bird’s eye view. Of course, Gabriel would come up with something like that.
“I see,” nodded Amelia, sounding more content now.
“Like I said earlier, Imorean,” said Gabriel, taking a final sip of coffee, “you’re going to want to knock it out as soon as possible. I would really like to hear that it’s close to being finished by Saturday.”
“But it’s Wednesday now! You want me to have the assignment finished by Saturday?”
“I am aware of the date,” nodded Gabriel. “Personally, I would like to give you a few more days to think it over, but that requirement has been set by someone else.”
Imorean rolled his eyes and glared up at Gabriel. The Archangel blinked meaningfully.
“Of course,” sighed Imorean, running a hand through his hair. Michael. Gabriel would be the one to be able to come up with some witty explanation for the assignment, but Michael, Michael would be the one to impose ridiculous time constraints on such a sensitive task.
“Thank you, Amelia,” said Gabriel, placing his mug lightly down on a coaster on the coffee table. “I’ll take my leave of you both now. Don’t forget, Imorean.”
“How could I?” snapped Imorean, unable to keep the frustration and venom from his voice. “It’s not like it’s something I can just forget about.”
“I know how students are with procrastination,” replied Gabriel.
Imorean watched with a feeling of helplessness as Gabriel stood up and turned toward the door.
“Thank you again for your hospitality, Mrs. Amelia.”
“You’re welcome,” said Amelia, following him to the door and holding it open for him.
Imorean didn’t look up as his mentor exited. He was lost in his own thoughts. He had a matter of hours to figure out how to tell his mother what he was.
“This isn’t like you,” said Amelia, sitting down next to him again.
“What?” asked Imorean, feeling jerked from his musings.
“You don’t normally get so worked up over an assignment.”
Angels Soaring (Angels Rising Book 2) Page 22