Seraphina: Initiation

by Sheena Hutchinson

  Chapter 17: Choose a Destiny

  I awake to the sound of bird wings flapping in the distance. The sun is streaming in through the window as I sit up. Rubbing my eyes, man I’m exhausted. It seems like no matter how long I sleep it’s never long enough. Ugh, what a crazy ride this has been I think to myself as I sit in bed putting all my thoughts in order. I glance over at the mirror again and just as I thought all my bruises have healed, there is no sign they were ever there. Throwing my head back onto my pillows, I almost want to crawl back into bed and never wake up. I sigh, knowing there’s no way Nate will ever let that happen.

  Climbing off the edge of the bed, I head towards the bathroom to get ready for the day. Splashing water on my face I seem to notice my hands smell slightly of… coffee. It brings up a vague memory of the first dream of the night. Did I have a dream about Jack? Was it because of the text he sent me? I’m debating this as I throw my hair up into a messy bun. Put on a pair of sweatpants and tank top before heading downstairs for breakfast.

  After pushing my food around on my plate, I told Nate I was going for a run. I think he’s starting to understand my running is something I like to do alone because he nods and doesn’t follow me. I climb down the basements steps and head for the treadmill. My heart once again sinks as my eyes lock into this hunk of metal that’s supposed to substitute for my daily escape from reality. I take a deep breath as I climb aboard and turn it on. I begin with a light jog, slowly waking up my legs and opening my mind. My wild imagination escapes me and begins to picture me outside. I bring to mind the feeling of the outdoors. I reminisce about the smell of pine in my nostrils, the wind whipping past me, the sun on my back, and of course the freedom of it all. As if I’ve jumped right into my daydream, I can once again feel the heart beat of Mother Nature as I can hear the crunch of the Earth beneath my footsteps. My legs take over and lead me as my mind is lost in the overwhelming beauty of the Earth. I’m so lost in my senses that I don’t even realize my feet have subconsciously taken me back to town, I slow my pace to a walk, knowing I can’t enter town and bring the danger of my presence to the people I love once again. Instead, I decide to head into the cemetery. I can’t harm the already dead, can I? I wonder. Hopping over the stone wall and I begin walking past the various tombstones of loved ones. I run my hand along the top and I can feel the cold stone against the palm of my hand. Sighing when I catch sight of my grandfather’s grave. It stands out against all the others with the stone Angel overlooking them all. With it’s drooping wings and his outstretched hands he draws me in. I drop to my knees as I confess to my grandfather all that he has missed. I tell him everything that has happened to me over the past week or so, that I miss him and his infinite wisdom that would always be able to give me his honest opinion. Instead I’m forced to pray again, I let the tears run down my face as I speak the inner admissions of my soul. I ask for strength and wisdom to face what’s coming for me. I’m forced to stop when my emotions take over me. The very emotions I’ve been suppressing for so long—fear and anxiety. I curl up against my grandfather’s tomb as my tears turn to sobs.

  “Seraphina…” It’s as if I can hear my grandfather right next to me again, his voice alone comforts me. “Seraphina, don’t cry…” I hear him say again and my eyes whip open. Standing in front of me is my grandfather just as I remember him, only he’s wearing white robes lined with gold trim and there’s a glow about him. I’m staring wide-eyed as I feel my tears begin to freeze to my cheeks. “Seraphina, don’t be scared. You called for me, I’m here to help.”

  “I called for you?” I ask curiously.

  “Your heart did,” he tells me taking a knee a pointing to my chest.

  “I’m just scared…” I whisper the feelings I’ve tried so hard to ignore.

  “I know sweetheart, it’s a scary thing. Everyone has their own path, everyone has a destiny. Yours just happens to be a little bigger than everyone else’s. It’s going to be scary, but God trusted you with this.”

  “Are you sure it was God and not someone else?” My desperation for answers echoes with every word as my eyes exploring his face for clues.

  His face scrunches up like it used to when he was thinking about something, but then he quickly recovers, “Seraphina, it doesn’t matter where you come from, God gave humans the gift of free will. That is what sets you apart from Angels and Demons, you can choose to be otherwise. It’s up to you to change your destiny.”

  “Why? Why me?” I ask him, my hazel eyes exploring his.

  “God only knows, but I can tell you this, it took whoever centuries to create you. You must be very careful and take this very seriously.”

  “I am taking it seriously! I’m training and learning, but I just wish I had some kind of warning! Something to prepare me for this!” I blurt out, finally letting myself scream my frustration out loud.

  “You did. Do you think those dreams were a coincidence? You were being trained even back then. Seraphina, this is deep within you, trust your instincts,” he cryptically tells me.

  “Grandpa, are we descendants of Nephilim?” I decipher his statement quicker than he expected.

  “There is something I want to share with you…” he states, standing on his bare feet and looking out over the cemetery. “When I was younger, I ran into a woman with fiery red hair, like yours,” he pauses before glancing back down to me. “She had this look in her hazel eyes that told me she knew me. I followed her into a dark alley. She stopped, turned around to face me and I noticed she was dressed head to toe in black with swords and knives entwined in this strange suit. I thought it was a trap, I thought she was going to kill me,” he tells me before coming to sit beside me ironically against his own grave stone. “She told me not to be afraid, she said that she knew me. That she knew me better than I knew myself. Then she told me something to the effect of her just checking in on me, that was all I remember. The next thing I know I’m waking up in my bed the next day. I didn’t think anything of it because I had quite a few drinks that night and I assumed it was all a hallucination. It wasn’t until your mother was born that I thought I saw her pass me in the hallway of the hospital. Then the day you were born, the nurse that came in carrying your tiny swaddled body had a surgical mask over her face, but she had hair redder than flames and I swear her hazel eyes were tearing when she handed you to your mother. After that I never saw her again. I don’t know what happened to her, but looking back now, I think that maybe she was an Angel, maybe she was our Guardian Angel.”

  “She was our Guardian Angel? What happened to her? Is that why Nate came to me?” I ask trying desperately to make sense of it all.

  “I don’t know Seraphina. I’m just telling you what I do know. I have to go now.”

  “No! Grandpa!” I exclaim trying to reach for him.

  “Be strong,” he tells me as he evaporates into the wind. His smiling face looking down on me forever engrained in my mind.

  “Noooo!” I scream before bursting into tears looking down to the frost hanging off the hampered blades of grass where my grandfather just was.

  “Sera! Sera!” I hear being called to the back of my mind, “Sera!” It’s coming louder now. The cemetery before me is starting to shake, what is going on? Is this an earthquake? “SERA!”

  I snap out of my daze, opening my eyes to the basement. I’m sitting against the wall next to the treadmill that’s still running. I’m crying as Nate is trying to shake me out of it.

  “Sera! Are you okay? What happened?” he asks seeing my eyes are beginning to focus again.

  “I’m fine,” I automatically state shaking my head, was that all a dream?

  “Sera, what happened?” he continues to press.

  “I daydreamed I was running outside and I … I saw my grandfather!” I whisper piecing everything back together. I hear him take a deep breath, he was probably expecting the worst. I don’t know where seeing dead relatives ranks up against his list of strange happenings that can kill me. So, I decide to
keep what my grandfather told me to myself, after all it may have just been a dream. When my breathing finally slows to normal and my tears have dried, he climbs to his feet and offers me his hand, “Come, let’s go upstairs.”

  Chapter 18: Power of the Mind

  Nate turns to me when he reaches the middle of the dining room and I think I see him take a deep breath before starting right in.

  “Today is devoted to learning how to use the power of your mind,” he begins to tell me, but my eyes seem to be wandering over to the closed door of his office. I wonder what is in there and why is it that he hasn’t showed me this one room, what could he possibly be doing in there? I thought we were a team. “Now let’s start with the simplest, movement.”

  My mind finally catches that last part, “What?”

  “Try and move something with your mind, with one thought, one emotion—not all emotions like what you did in front of your house last week!” I have to smile at his words, to think I can be so powerful is exciting.

  Okay, focus Sera. Move something. I look around the dining room, there is nothing but table with chairs and… Nate. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before my mind focuses on Nate. I sense his breathing, his body heat, his blood coursing through his body, and I can even feel every beat of his heart as if it were my own. Remembering his instructions, one emotion. The only emotion that comes to mind when I think of Nate has to be Love. So, I focus on all the love I harbor for him. My heart rate elevates, my body heat rises, and I feel my arm extend reaching for him, calling him. Smiling I can sense him coming towards me. Slowly, I open one eye and watch as he is gliding across the floor toward me. He looks down in surprise before looking up to me and shaking his head. Though, he doesn’t say anything until he is directly in front of me.

  “That’s cute, but let’s start with an inanimate object please,” he instructs kissing my forehead and stepping to the side.

  Inanimate object, well the only thing here is the table so I focus on it. The first emotion that comes to mind is Anger, so I jump on it. Why am I angry? All my memories seem to flood to the forefront of my mind. The mystery of my family, will I ever see them again? Are they in danger? The attacks, the threats on my life, they have taken away my running, my sleep, my family, my very freedom—things I took for granted before. The last image that pops into my mind is the expression on Nate’s face last night when he saw what had been done to me. I feel the power surging inside me. Like a tidal wave, I feel it rise and sway back and forth until finally it flows to my hands. I open my eyes at the last minute to see them glowing, brighter and brighter. I clasp them together trying to control it like Nate has told me time and time again. Clasping as hard as I can, my power seems to grow bigger and bigger. Forming an orb of pure white power in between my hands until I can’t seem to control it any longer. I take a step back and throw it.

  All my senses slow as my eyes watch in slow motion. I see the orb fly through the air, hit the table and it bursts into pieces. What I don’t expect, however, is it also seems to continue past the table and shatters the entire back wall of glass. I watch in shock as the shattered pieces of wood and glass fly through the air, out into the grass and ultimately tumble out over the cliff. When time comes back to normal, I’m staring at the destruction I just caused. I completely obliterated the table and the cold breeze seems to hit me through the opening in the back of the house. I automatically look over at Nate, waiting for my lecture on how I need to learn to control these things, but I get a quick glimpse that he too, is shocked. He quickly recovers and turns to me.

  “What were you thinking?” he asks but in a curious way.

  “I was picturing my anger…” I admit with my mouth twisted to one side.

  “Let’s try something not so… uh, volatile, okay?” he jokes before walking in front of me and continues, “I see we have to use different training techniques with you. How about you try and move me backwards using an emotion you haven’t used before.”

  I focus on Nate, trying not to use love. That’s like trying to swim without getting wet. As I ponder, the only other emotion that comes to mind is Fear. I focus on how afraid I am of him getting hurt in all this. I imagine something coming for him and I’m moving him out of the path of danger. Extending my hands in front of me like I’m pushing him out of the way. When I open my eyes, sure enough he is gliding backwards. I laugh at myself at how easy it is once I know what I’m doing.

  “Okay, now try moving this chair,” he states as a chair appears in his hands, “move it over there,” he finishes pointing to a spot in the corner. Instead of closing my eyes, I extend my hands. I feel as though most my power comes from them anyway, Stretching my hand towards the chair and slowly trace it across the room to the corner. The chair follows my hand and it stops once I pull my hand back. Nate nods once in approval before jumping right back into trainer mode and conjuring another object.

  After I’ve moved all the objects Nate can think up, he decides I’m ready for my next assignment. “How about you try and conjure something yourself?” he half asks half orders.

  “How do I do that?”

  “Picture something, focus your energy and force it into existence,” he turns to see my confused face, “It’s hard to explain, but you’ve done it before so I don’t think it’ll be much trouble for you.”

  He’s right I’ve done this before… I can do this. Although the times I’ve done it was either in urgency or in my sleep. I guess I have to just try. I walk up to where the glass wall was and I place my hands up against the air where it would have been. I imagine how it was. I know we need a wall, protection from the evil that is around, that is building an army against me. I feel my hands begin to warm and I hear crackling as if I were walking on ice. Suddenly, I feel something hard against the palm of my hands. Slowly opening my eyes, I see the glorious wall of glass restored back to the way it was. The smile traces it’s way across my lips, but I don’t allow it to turn into an excited giggle. Instead, I spin on my heels and picture a new dining room table. It’s only fair. I destroyed his old one. I imagine a long, mahogany table with ornately sculpted legs and a tabletop made of sheer glass to match the wall beside it. Clenching my fists as I feel my hands warm I feel it come to life before me.

  By the time my eyes blink open, Nate is looking at me. I smirk in response and he shakes his head, talking to thoughts I can’t hear.

  “What’s next?” I blurt out maybe a little too confidently.

  “Let’s try shielding.”

  “Hmm.. shielding?”

  “Yes, it’s to protect yourself from harm, falling objects, attacks, two men trying to decapitate each other…” he raises his eyebrow and I realize maybe I’ve already shielded once.

  I walk around the table and stand feet apart and my hands at the ready. “Picture yourself under attack and form a shield around us.” I close my eyes and try to picture us under attack. Feeling my power flowing to my hands, but I cant seem to get it to form around us. Unwilling to admit defeat, I try again. I add more imagery to my mind but it only slightly extends around my hands. It’s not even enough to protect me, let alone the both of us. I open my eyes and take a deep breath, unable to form the words.

  “I see we need some context,” he states reading my mind. He conjures something that looks like a time bomb from something out of an old cartoon. A cylindrical object with a time clock strapped to it.

  “Are you crazy?” I scream trying to reach for his hands.

  “Maybe,” he raises his eyebrows and takes a step backward.

  “What if I can’t?” What if…” I try and argue as he gives me these eyes that tell me I better start focusing.

  “You better hurry up and try!” I hear the countdown begin to click behind me. I spin around to face it. I bring my power to my hands again, but like before it doesn’t seem to grow. My anxiety does seem to expand though, with each tick yet I can’t seem to get my power to cooperate. It isn’t until I hear it click the last notch tha
t my hands reflexively brace for impact as I feel the heat from the explosion coming.

  I’m standing with my hands over my face, all I can hear is silence. Did the bomb go off? I could swear I felt the house shake! Slowly I open my eyes and take in the sight before me. On the floor of the dining room where the bomb used to be is charred and black, the glass wall is once again destroyed, and the kitchen is currently on fire.

  That almost seems appropriate, given the circumstances. What I don’t expect is the shield around Nate and I. It’s a semicircle of power that has formed around us shielding us from danger. I look over at Nate who ultimately had to step in when I couldn’t keep up, but he seems to be looking around at the shield. He walks up to it and extends his hand to touch it. Surprisingly, when his finger touches it, I feel as if he has poked me. Distracted, I feel the shield drop around us. It was me? I created that? I’m shaking my head in disbelief. I could have sworn I choked. Maybe, it’s a protective reflex, like the night of the accident with the deer. The night I shielded myself from oncoming car driven by an inebriated kid that would have killed me.

  “See, I told you, you need context.” Nate breaks my train of thought.

  I suddenly get this lightheaded feeling and I automatically place my hand on my head. My body feels weak, really strange feeling. I wobble slightly before Nate has his arm wrapped around me.

  “Sorry, I pushed you too hard today. But, you have to tell me when you’re feeling weak.” He informs my drooping eyes before picking me up in his strong arms and taking me into the living room. Placing me on the couch before I’m vaguely aware of the heat emanating from the fire until sleep takes over my consciousness.