Awakening (Children of Angels)

by Jessica Gibson

  She wondered now whether the reason she had been kept living all these years was that some day, her Father knew that she would return to their cause, to help them once more. And she had, already. She had found a way to reach her daughter, to bring her to this tower, to convince her to let Leonara in. In all the years she had tried, she had never been able to contact any of her kind - but humans believed there was a special bond between mothers and children, and she had tested it out, creating a Truth that she could communicate with her daughter. And she had delighted in her success.

  Katherine wondered if all that was happening now, at this moment, was her doing. They had been unable to find Mia - interesting, that the humans had chosen that name for her - until she had contacted her. Until the boy had noticed a disturbance in the Truths which held her prisoner. She had led them to her daughter. Again.

  Could it possibly be that this was the reason she was still here, this request that Evan was making of her? That there were parts to the prophecies that no-one knew, that were not written anywhere? Perhaps what made the difference between the two fates of her child hinged on her action or inaction now. Would her inaction lead to the war? Could she possibly influence the child to choose the right path? Or was it as the prophecy said, and she had to choose her own way?

  She had already changed the course of things once, by choosing to hand the child over, would changing it again really make all that much difference? And she was curious to see the child in the flesh. She stared out of the window of her turret, at the kingdom they called home, but she knew only as a prison. She had not been outside this tower in almost sixteen years. Finally, she turned and faced Evan, who had been waiting patiently, unable to read her thoughts.

  “I will go with you, but I cannot guarantee that I can do what you ask.”

  “I only ask that you try,” he replied simply, and she nodded politely.

  He reached out his hand, and with one final glance around the room, Katherine took it, and at his touch she found herself standing in a darkened room. She looked around, her sight adjusting to the dimness. It was unusual - in general, at least from what she remembered, the candles would flicker on at your arrival, or else be there burning and waiting for you. This dark room felt claustrophobic and sinister. Yet even through the dimness, as her eyes corrected and the room brightened before her, she could see that it was a lavishly furnished room. She turned to Evan, who had not yet released her hand, and opened her mouth to ask where they were. He squeezed her hand before releasing it, and through the gloom she saw him raise his finger to his lips, then tap his head. They were not alone in the room, it seemed.

  “Where are we?” She spoke directly into his mind, and it felt natural, far more natural than speaking aloud. It was something she rarely did now.

  “In my bedroom.”Evan replied, into her mind. His voice, although strong and clear, betrayed his feelings about this kind of communication. It felt unnatural to him, like an invasion of privacy. He did it out of necessity, not convenience like the others did.

  “And why is it so dark? Why are we speaking like this? I know you do not like to do so…”

  She had said too much, and Evan snapped the channel of communication shut. This was why he hated speaking soul to soul, too much information was accessible when you opened yourself up like that. She was not supposed to know his feelings, only the thoughts that he projected. She had violated his privacy, and his face was the feature now betraying his feelings. He eyed her coldly, and spoke aloud softly

  “We were speaking soul to soul so as not to disturb her.” h

  His voice was as steely as his eyes, which did not soften as Katherine’s widened in surprise, reminding him so much of Mia’s eyes. Before. Before it had happened.

  “She’s here?” she whispered in reply.

  It was strange that she had not sensed the child. If she were anywhere near as powerful as Evan was, she should have sensed her a mile off. How had she not been discovered, as soon as she entered this realm they would have all sensed her. Whenever Evan came and went, it was as though a breeze blew through the entire place, his power rippling out through them all. But from her daughter, not a thing. She gazed at Evan, wondering how he had hidden her, how he was hiding her now, in this place. Something in Katherine told her that this was a different Truth than the one where she was locked in a tower.

  Evan nodded, and gestured towards the bed. Curious, Katherine stepped closer and could see quite clearly now, a figure lying on the bed. The figure was very still, and there was no aura of power about it. It was not even comparable to a human, which at least had the flame of a human soul about it. Katherine had only seen such darkness on figures when she had seen the dead.

  Evan seemed to know her thoughts, although it was impossible.

  “She’s alive – barely,” Evan told her softly. “I need your help to heal her, is there a way? I don’t know how. I’ve done what I can. It’s up to her now, unless you know of a way to help?”

  “I do not.” She simply and without emotion. “Healing is something that one has to do for one’s self. It cannot be done for you. The most basic thing, surviving, is all that we have to do for ourselves. If one cannot be bothered to find the strength even to heal one’s own ills, then one has no business in this existence, and should move on to the Shadow World, where the workload is lessened.”

  Evan stood in silence - he had been a fool to bring her here. He had known from the start that she probably wouldn't help. He knew that if anyone out there could, it would be the ones who had created the girl in the first place. And here stood her mother, the one who (at least by human standards) was supposed to stand by her and protect her through anything, unwilling to even try.

  He felt something then, a shimmering in the air, as though someone was about to shift here, and for a moment, he felt panic rise in his chest. But no, there was no way anyone could have followed them, or known they were there, no-one could sense them through the Truths he had woven around this place. He had used this sanctuary many times, he would not have brought her here if he hadn't been certain that it was safe. Then he realized, it was not someone entering the room - it was someone trying to leave.

  In a flash, he was across the bed and holding tightly onto Katherine’s arm.

  “Leaving so soon?” he asked, menacingly.

  “Well how can I convince her of anything, Evan, she is so weak I thought she was dead. Her light is almost out, there is no good to me being here.”

  “Off back to the tower, were you?” He asked snarkily, tightening his grip further.

  Katherine stared back at him, and he knew that she was not afraid of him - she was not capable of fear. She simply stared, defeated. She had been foolish to try to get away, why did she think that she would be able to break his Truths? Foolish and impulsive, she had thought this might be her one chance at freedom. The tower was what kept her prisoner. The Truths were woven by the most powerful ones here, the ones who had decided to spare her life – the chosen few who decided everything. She had thought that getting out of the tower would allow her to shift and be free.

  His cold gaze was fixed on her eyes, and he struggled to control his anger. He should have known better than to bring her here. She had betrayed her own kind, why had he thought she would help him? Before he even had to really think about it, they were back in the tower, and he had released her. She stepped away from him calmly, and he noticed a red mark on her arm where he had grabbed her. A human would bruise, he knew, but she would heal herself in no time. Right on cue, the handprint vanished, without so much as her needing to glance at it.

  “Good evening, Katherine” he said coldly.

  “Good evening, Evan” she replied calmly.

  And then he was gone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Mia drifted in and out of consciousness in the darkened room, and couldn't quite figure out where she was. The pain was what woke her each time, and each time she woke, it took her a while to remember that she
had to heal herself. Slowly, she healed each part of her, piecing herself back together. It seemed to take a very long time, but she didn’t know whether it was days or weeks, since it was always dark. She wondered how much longer she could survive without eating or drinking, although she was not hungry or thirsty.

  Once all her skin was healed, she worked on bringing the glow back into her bones, and found she could heal herself more quickly. Eventually, she found herself sitting upright in the bed, her pain now no more than a dull ache resonating through her body, as she examined the room around her.

  He had not come back since he had brought her there, and she wondered what he planned to do with her. She hoped he never came back - she would find a way to get herself out of here, she didn't want his help. Amongst the hazy memories of the pain and the fire and the darkness, there was one memory that stood out crystal clear. A memory that made her feel sick to her stomach. A memory of blood.

  She shuddered at another, more distant memory, from the dream, when his face had changed and he had shown his true nature, and wondered what it meant for her, now that she had his blood in her.

  Mia felt her heart beating strongly now, and the heat from her power building up again and hoped she could fight him off if - when - he returned. But still she would rather he didn’t return at all.

  Eventually, she had explored all that she could through the darkness from her perch on the bed, and so she kicked back the covers gently, and gingerly stepped onto the cold wooden floor of the room. She cringed, waiting for a creak in the floorboards, but it thankfully did not come. Holding on to the edge of the bed, she allowed her legs to take the full weight of her body, and was pleasantly surprised by how little it hurt to stand, after the horrendous injuries she had suffered. Walking across to the window, she pulled back the heavy curtain, and gasped at the sight beyond.

  What stretched out before her was a seemingly endless expanse of lush grass, with pathways criss-crossing at regular intervals, giving the impression that they had been woven into the land. From her tower (at least she thought she was in a tower, she seemed to be very high up indeed), she could see smallish structures, an even mixture of domes and cubes, and all seemed to be constructed of the same white material, which was not quite reflective, but also not matt. It was something in between, and Mia doubted it was any material she had come across before.

  There were no flowers that she could see, just grass and these buildings. The only building which differed from the uniform ones below was directly opposite the building she herself was in, and was part of a huge outer-wall, like the ones she had seen in picture books of old castles, and walled cities, to defend from invaders. The wall was constructed of the same material as the other buildings, but (and she could not be sure, since she was quite some distance from it) appeared to be carved from one single block, as opposed to built with bricks. She wondered if the buildings below were the same. The one building she was focused on now though, was the one built into the wall. A huge tower, round like a lighthouse, but with a tapered point, so that it was conical. Something about the building intrigued her. There was something there that made her sad, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was.

  She turned her attention now to the sky, which was what she had noticed first. It was a curious sky, unlike one she had ever seen before. It was somewhere between purple and red and blue, a most unusual mix of the three, and the colours seemed to shift and change slightly in hue and shade even as she tried to fix them in her mind. In place of stars and the moon, there were simply two huge bright orbs, and she thought that any stars up there would be hidden by their brightness. Both appeared, at first glance, to be white, but when she looked closely, one had a pinkish tinge, the other greenish.

  She was fascinated by it all. So much so that she did not feel the ripple pass through the room, or hear the soft thump of Evan’s feet hitting the ground just behind her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  Evan had returned to the room several times since he had brought Katherine here, fleeting visits, just to make sure the girl was healing, and each time he visited, he felt her power growing stronger. He enforced the shielding around the room a little more each time, afraid that she was growing more powerful and that the Truths might break. Once she had begun to regain consciousness, his visits had been no faster than a blink, just to be able to see her, to know she was healing, and most importantly, to know that she was still there. If anyone could break these Truths, it would be her. He knew that he couldn't contain her if she did not wish to be contained. He only hoped that she didn't know it.

  On this occasion, he had flickered into the room and flickered out again, as usual, but this time, instead of seeing the sleeping or sitting figure he was accustomed to, he saw only a flash of an empty bed, the covers pushed down into a pile at the bottom. In that moment, he had been gripped with fear, he hadn't thought on his last visit that she was strong enough to shift across the room, much less break the Truths - perhaps he had been wrong, perhaps she'd fooled him. And so he had shifted again, focusing hard on shifting to the place where Mia was, wherever that may be, and in his panic somehow managing to miscalculate and ending up an inch or so off the ground. As he completed the shift, he thumped softly to the ground, and found himself back in his rooms. In front of him, a silhouette against the twilight beyond the window, stood Mia. He breathed a sigh of relief, she was still here. And now he knew that she was, he was not quite sure what he should do.

  He reached out to touch her shoulder, not sure why, surely it would make more sense to speak to her? To let her know he was there? But something in him told him to reach out and touch her. He did so tentatively and slowly. When his outstretched fingers were an inch from her, he jumped back as something like a jolt of static passed between them. Mia jumped too, and turned quickly to face him, her expression changing quickly from surprise and confusion to a mix of hatred and fear, that was like a punch to the stomach.

  “Hello Mia,” he said softly.

  “What did you just do to me?” she snapped back, her voice as steely as the gaze from her eyes.

  “I didn’t do anything…I don’t know what happened.” He spoke calmly, snapping back at her would do him no good.

  She didn't believe him, he could see that. She did not trust him, and he realized as he stood face to face with her that she may never trust him.

  “Mia, we need to talk.” He turned slightly, and gestured to the bed, indicating that she should sit.

  “I’m fine here thanks,” she said coldly, folding her arms.

  “Mia,” he sighed wearily, as though he was dealing with a petulant child, “you’ve been very sick. I know you’re healing well, but you still need to rest. Please just sit down.”

  “No” she replied firmly, but he could see she was already beginning to pale.

  “Fine.” He shrugged, feigning indifference, and stifling the frustration that bubbled just below the surface.

  He would have his work cut out for him here, that was for sure. She would not come quietly, that was the only thing he was certain of right now.

  “How much do you know, Mia? Of who you are? Of who you were born to be?”

  The question had caught her off guard, and she stood with her mouth hanging open, looking, she imagined, rather stupid. She had been ready to reply to whatever he said with a tongue laced with venom, but this question was unexpected.

  “What do you mean?” she asked in spite of herself, and mentally kicking herself for engaging with him.

  “I mean, what has your guardian told you?”

  Mia could only assume that he had meant Leonara, and she felt a pang when she thought of the Angel. She wondered where Leonara was, if she was safe - if she was in trouble for losing Mia, and being punished.

  “Everything.” She lied, trying to keep her voice even, sounding as though she knew now exactly what he was talking about. He smiled wryly.

  “Oh I doubt that, little Mia, I doubt that very much. No-one knows everyth
ing. Even I do not profess to know everything. But I think I know a lot more than you do.”

  He was infuriating. His condescending tone, and that look he gave her. It made her blood boil. To treat her like she was a stupid child. He was only two years older than her! He might have grown up around this, knowing what he was, he might know more about being an Angel - if he could even be described as that, more like a demon than anything- than she did, but that did not mean he could speak to her like she was simple.

  “Calm down, Mia,” he instructed, the smug smile disappearing from his face, “you remember what happened last time you lost control, I assume?” He spoke harshly now, his face cloudy, and she glared back at him, her eyes narrowed in spite. “I only want to tell you the parts they don’t want you to know.”

  “And why would you do that?” she replied, still sounding, despite her best efforts, like a spoiled brat.

  “Because you have a choice.” He spoke simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.