“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that we need to keep in mind her best interests right now. We have to work together.”
“I can’t work with you.”
Jerome used his hand to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt so it didn’t accidently fly towards the human. “Whether you like it or not, I need Leila’s help right now so I can’t go anywhere. I’m staying here so you need to get used to me. If you truly love Leila, you will see that. You will go back into that room and you will co-operate.”
Something must have got to Reece because he dropped his crossed arms to his side. He was listening, the angel was actually getting through to him. He tried not to get his hopes up, he wasn’t in the clear yet. But it was a starting point.
“Why do you need her help anyway?”
“Because where I’m from, there is a lot of bad stuff going on. I can’t go home until I figure out how to fix it all,” he said honestly. The reality of his words struck him just as much as the human. He really couldn’t go home, perhaps forever unless he worked out a solution. He would never see the village again, or everyone in it. Alexander, Gabriella, Lucia, he would even miss Ambrosia. He was alone in the universe with just one person he could turn to.
Reece wasn’t satisfied with the explanation. “Are you putting Leila in any danger? Is anything you’re planning going to hurt her?”
“She’s been through so much already, I would never do anything to cause her more harm.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Reece muttered as he turned to move back up the stairs. Jerome grabbed his arm mid-turn, leaning in close to ensure he couldn’t be overheard.
“I know Leila a hundred times better than you. Don’t ever forget that. We don’t need to like each other, quite frankly I don’t think I could ever like you, but we do need to be civil. Especially in front of Leila.”
He shrugged the angel off his arm, shooting him daggers with his eyes. He took the steps two at a time, Jerome taking them three at a time to make a point. They silently raced back through to the gallery and to the waiting girl.
“Reece, you didn’t leave,” she exclaimed, racing towards him. She stopped short of embracing him, still unsure where she stood.
“We’re going to need to talk later,” he shot back, looking pointedly at Jerome. She got the hint but couldn’t think about it right now. She needed to know what was going on with the angel, he wouldn’t just be there to converse.
She spun around to face Jerome, giving Reece a nod beforehand. “Why are you here, Jerome? Has something happened?”
“Perhaps we should talk privately?”
Leila looked between the two men. Both of them wore stormy looks. “We can trust Reece, he might be able to help. He’s good at thinking outside the box.”
Jerome didn’t like it but wasn’t going to argue. Not when they had called a truce only moments earlier. He would put up with the human… for now. “I’ve been sentenced to banishment. I can’t go home now.”
“Banished? Whatever for?” Leila couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She already knew of his innocence without even needing to hear the story.
“One of the council members doesn’t like me-”
“Can’t imagine why,” Reece interrupted.
Jerome continued, unfazed. “He doesn’t like me so he blamed me for the fire and the deaths. I was to be banished within hours. Another council member helped me to escape and told me to hide on Earth.”
“They can’t find you?”
“Not while I have this on.” He held out the necklace. “It makes me invisible to all angels. They won’t be able to find me.”
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to live here forever?” Leila wasn’t sure if being happy about that thought was wrong. She tried not to look pleased, settling with concerned instead.
“I’m going to figure out how to make things right and then I will return. But I’m going to need your help, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, you know I want to help you.”
Reece snorted at their side. They both chose to ignore him. Leila kept her focus on Jerome, he needed her more than Reece did at that point. “What do you need me to do?”
“Do you remember where Lucia’s human lives?”
“I do.”
“I need to get her a message.”
Leila grinned. “Does this mean you have a plan?”
He returned her gaze, feeling his heart contract as he looked into her eyes. “It does. I know how to make things right again, I know how to save us all.”
“Let’s go then.” She was already walking, not waiting to see who else was coming.
Jerome looked at Reece, raising his eyebrow in question, silently asking if he would be joining them. He got his answer loud and clear.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Reece took a step closer, keeping his voice confidential between the two of them. “But if you do anything to hurt Leila, I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Do not let her out of your sight.”
“I plan on keeping a very close eye on her, you can be assured of that,” Jerome smirked, inwardly kicking himself for being so petty. But he couldn’t help it, everything the human said and did rubbed him the wrong way. If he was a dog, they would have stood there growling at each other.
Jerome turned to leave, his point being made. He didn’t turn back as his wings bounced behind him. He couldn’t help but stand taller but it had nothing to do with putting the human in his place. He finally had a plan, something to implement so the whole ordeal could be over and done with. Each step he took, it was with purpose and was taking him closer to achieving his goal. It was time he took back the village.
Somehow, he convinced Leila that it would be faster to fly to Shenay Tyler’s house rather than walk. He didn’t want to risk humans seeing him and if they walked it would be far too difficult to hide his wings. At least he had a chance in the sky, more people looked downwards than upwards.
He kept his course steady, guided by Leila’s directions as she hid her head against his chest. She had to remember the route from her previous visit which wasn’t easy.
“We’re not up that high, you can take a look,” Jerome said, amused at her fear of flying. He couldn’t imagine being afraid of the feeling, it was too wonderful.
“I won’t freak out if I look?”
He shrugged, unable to answer. He wasn’t going to make a promise to her that he didn’t know he could keep. She may very well freak out, he didn’t know any better.
Still, she wanted to overcome her fear. She saw the way he enjoyed the breeze in his feathers and wanted to see what he did. She peeked out over his arm, he lifted her up slightly so she could see better.
It was magical. The earth below didn’t look real, like she was viewing it through a snow globe. The trees and buildings disappeared just as quickly as they came into view. The people below walked like ants, seemingly meandering about with no purpose.
“It’s beautiful,” she muttered, barely more than a whisper. “It feels like we could go anywhere or do anything.”
“I know, right?” Jerome laughed. If he didn’t need to get his message delivered, he would have gladly flown her around the world and back again if she wanted to. He could have stayed there with his arms wrapped around her for eternity. His wings would never tire.
“There’s Shenay’s house.” Leila nodded towards the ground, recognizing the place from her previous visit. She never thought she would be flying back there.
Jerome landed and they walked to the front door of the house. The angel hesitated before he knocked, he was about to expose himself to yet another human. Was the ever increasing number ever going to stop? Would the council ever forgive him? He tried not to think about it. If everything went to plan, the council weren’t going to be a problem anymore.
They knocked and waited. Shenay answered the door warily, only opening it fully when she saw Leila standing on her stoop. She eyed Jerome suspiciously, hardly
reacting to the grey wings at his back.
“I take it this is Jerome?” She asked Leila, nodding towards his large figure.
“It is. We need your help.”
“No ‘how are you, Shenay’, ‘doing well, Shenay’, ‘nice weather we’re having today’?”
“Sorry,” Leila apologized, realizing how abrupt she had sounded. She forgot that other people didn’t know how dire and urgent the situation was. She had to remember to be more polite. “May we come in?”
Shenay stepped back from the doorway in response. She led them into the living room, it looked exactly the same as it had before – even down to the dirty bowls on the table.
“Thank you for listening to us,” Leila started. “Jerome and I really appreciate it.”
“We really do,” Jerome added, to be certain she knew their gratitude.
Shenay looked him up and down, taking the angel in. “You’re bigger than I thought you’d be.”
Jerome looked at Leila, not understanding the human and not having anything to say in response. She took over so he didn’t have to speak. She couldn’t believe he had managed to spend weeks on Earth before, he obviously didn’t learn much. “We were wondering if you would be able to call your angel again?”
“You have another message?”
“Kind of. Jerome wants to speak with her directly so she just needs to come down and see him. Then she’ll stop so they can talk. That’s the plan, right?” She looked at Jerome for some consensus, he nodded in response.
“So I have to be all scared or something?” Shenay asked, holding her hands together in front of her.
“Yes, please.”
Shenay shrugged, preparing herself. But before she could start to emote, Jerome stopped her and turned to Leila. “Wait. Lucia won’t be able to see me because of my charmed necklace. You need to tell her I’m here.”
“You can’t take it off?”
“Not without the council knowing where I am. They’ll be searching everywhere for me.”
Leila nodded and gave Shenay the sign to proceed. She closed her eyes and concentrated, biting her lip as she thought hard. As she began thinking about everything scary and horrible to conjure up the level of fear needed, Leila got to work.
“Lucia, Jerome is here and needs to speak with you. Please stay and show yourself,” she repeated over and over again, unsure when the angel would actually appear. A part of her wondered if she even would, last time Lucia had fallen for the trick, perhaps she would know better this time.
But Jerome knew it would work. Angels couldn’t ignore the feeling of their human, their emotions were intertwined. Lucia would be able to feel Shenay’s fear, just as he could now feel Leila’s concern.
Suddenly, before their eyes, the angel appeared. At first it was just her feet, then slowly the rest of her appeared out of nothing. Leila stopped, mid-sentence. The angel was beautiful, she stood almost as tall as Jerome and her honey-brown hair flowed in long locks down her back. A glow emanated from her, making her porcelain skin absolutely perfect.
“Lucia!” Jerome exclaimed as he hugged her tightly. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”
She couldn’t see him, she only felt the warmth around her body. “Jerome? I hope that’s you.”
“It’s me, I’m in hiding under a magic talisman. I’m so glad you are here and okay.”
“I could say the same about you, Jerome,” she laughed as he let her go. “My father said you had been banished but that you had escaped. He said you were responsible for the attack on the council building.”
“I had nothing to do with the attack, you have to know that.”
“I believe you, I didn’t think it was true for even a second,” Lucia grinned, reaching out. He gripped her hand so she would know where he was. “You would never harm another.”
“Thank you, that means a lot to me, Lucia.”
Leila wasn’t sure if she wanted to see the exchange taking place before her. Even though Lucia was the only one who couldn’t see Jerome, she was still looking his way with adoration in her eyes. It was annoying her, she had to fight her urge to stand between them.
“Jerome, what are you going to do? They’re all out hunting for you, they’re telling everyone about your guilt.”
“I have a plan but I need your help. I need to know what your father is doing on the council.”
“It’s a long story,” Lucia sighed.
“I’ve got time,” Jerome replied, pulling her towards the lounge to sit down. He figured it would be a story that needed the listener to be sitting.
CHAPTER 16
According to Lucia, the council was breaking down. Just as Jerome had suspected, their losses had been far greater than just the majority of the building. The archangels had fled to the higher realm to seek protection. They were also supposed to gain help from the higher being to restore the village to its usual peace. But they hadn’t returned so they weren’t optimistic about their assistance.
Without the archangels, there were no clear leaders of the council. As a result, those willing to step up and take over were fighting between themselves for the power. Those wanting to just get on with business were drowned out by the voices of the few ambitious.
What Jerome couldn’t get over was their behavior. They were still angels, they weren’t supposed to be acting that way. Their lives were created for servitude, they were not born with egos or desires to be leaders. They were supposed to care about everyone else before themselves. To hear of their abhorrent behavior was disappointing to say the least.
“And your father? How is he fitting into the new council?” Jerome asked after hearing the story. He was right about something – he did need to sit down to hear the tale. He felt sick with the situation.
“He is laying low and trying to oppose anything that is unjust,” Lucia explained. “But they rarely take notice of him. He is close to resigning from the council because he can’t handle it anymore. He would rather protect a human than serve their own agendas.”
“Would resigning be smart at the moment?” He knew the answer without needing to hear it from her lips, but he wanted to ensure Lucia’s father had thought about all the consequences. He knew him to be a level headed angel.
“No,” she agreed. “They would most likely blame him for anything and he would be banished too. It would be too easy for them to make a scapegoat out of him. How did we get in such a mess, Jerome? What happened to our village?”
He knew the despair she was feeling, he was right there with her. “We can get our village back, or we can at least try. Would your father be willing to help me?”
Lucia really wished she could see Jerome as he sat beside her. She could feel his hand on her arm but there was nothing to substitute actually looking into someone’s eyes to see the emotion they felt inside. Yet she didn’t need to see him to know he was sincere.
“He will,” she finally answered. “I trust you and that will be good enough for him. You are right, as always, we need to do something. We can’t just sit back and wait for the councilors to restore order. They won’t now.”
“In that case, I need you to listen carefully.” Jerome leaned closer to Lucia and started to tell her what he had planned. She nodded with each instruction, her hope restoring as the picture became clear.
Leila was tired of listening to them, or perhaps it was seeing them together that was exasperating her. She turned to Shenay. “Do you have some water?”
“Sure.” She led her through to the kitchen. Just like the living room, it wasn’t the most well kept of places. Dirty dishes and discarded packaging lay on the bench tops. It would only take a good clean and the place would be pristine.
As she accepted the glass of water, Leila took a few sips and started piling up the garbage. To keep busy, if anything. Shenay watched her carefully.
“You like the angel, don’t you?” She asked with no pleasantries to hide the question.
Leila didn’t look at her or stop the tidyi
ng. She thought she had been playing it cool. “I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you do.”
Leila knew she did too but wasn’t going to admit to it. She didn’t know how she felt, really. Her feelings for Jerome, Reece, everyone were just in a muddle of confusion. With everything else going on in the angel village, she didn’t think it was fair to worry about her own feelings.
Just as she was about to snap back that Shenay should mind her own business, it occurred to Leila that the girl was the only other person she knew that had a guardian angel close by. She could talk about them without fear of sounding completely crazy.
“How do you feel about your angel?” She asked, turning the question back on the girl. She genuinely wanted to know, she wondered if her feelings were just a human/angel thing and nothing special.
Shenay shrugged. “She’s just there. I guess it’s better having one than not having one.”
“Do you having any feelings for her? Like you love her or anything?”
“No,” Shenay replied, as if the feeling was absurd. “I don’t even know her. She’s like a ghost or something.”
“Do you think you could be friends with her?” Leila wasn’t going to give up.
“I don’t think we’re meant to be friends.”
She let the girl’s words sink in. Jerome had told her that once before, she knew it without having to recall the memory – or having the memory to recall. Humans weren’t supposed to know angels existed, they therefore couldn’t be friends.
Leila suddenly felt so stupid for thinking otherwise. She shouldn’t have read more into Jerome’s presence than the fact he needed help. She was a means to an end. She was wrong about him loving her. Delusional even. She could have kicked herself for being so foolish.
Humiliated, Leila just wanted to go home. She hoped Jerome would never find out about her stupid thoughts. He never loved her, of course he didn’t. If he ever found out she thought that, she would die of embarrassment.
They returned to the living room where Jerome and Lucia were locked in a hug.
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