Airs & Graces: The Angel's Grace Trilogy Book I

by A. J. Downey

  I dressed in my jeans, laced up my Docs, and pulled the microfiber shirt over my head. It hugged my curves and fit almost like a second skin. It was super easy to move in, and I decided that not only did I like it, I really liked it. It looked good with the jeans and the jacket, and I really wished I knew who had picked it out so I could thank them. I crammed the little odds and ends back into my jacket’s pockets and draped my jacket over my shoulder, picking up the silk shirt. I would have to ask Mei-Lei if I was expected to wear it while in the Temple, or what. I mean I was sure she would be able to tell me, I really didn’t want to offend anyone while I was here, but for now I needed to find Tab, so I draped it over my arm, making sure one last time that I had everything.

  I opened the door to my room and there she was in the hall, and for the first time ever Mei-Lei didn’t look happy.

  “Mei-Lei what’s wrong?” I asked, dread unfurling in the pit of my stomach. She looked at me, and her face crumbled, and she started to cry. “Oh honey! Don’t cry,” I said, wrapping my arms around her thin shoulders. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Master Yin and Master Tabbris ask me to come get you,” she said. “You are leaving.” I hugged her and rocked her a little bit. I had figured that was the case when I saw my clothes.

  “Oh,” I said, realization bringing surprise at her reaction. “We always knew I was only going to be here a couple of days, sweetie.” I leaned back so I could have a look at her. “I’m sorry I have to go. I wish I could stay, but it’s better for all of you if I leave right now.”

  She nodded and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “You are my friend, Addy. It is never good to watch your friends go.”

  I smiled and let her go, patting her shoulder. “I’m going to miss you too Mei-Lei. Hopefully someday I can come back again.” And I was surprised to realize I meant it.

  I held out the blue silk shirt and opened my mouth to ask about it but she put up her hands.

  “A gift, you take and remember me,” she said. I nodded and held out my jacket for her to hold. I slipped the blue shirt on and left it unfastened along the front, then took my jacket and slipped it on over. The silk disappeared under my jacket, just the barest edge of the collar peeking out at the top, the same with the hem at the bottom. Which was good, I wanted the shirt safe.

  I hugged Mei-Lei again, surprised to feel tears slipping down my own cheeks. The girl and I really had become fast friends, and I really was going to miss her.

  “I need to find Tab and Master Yin. You said you know where they are?”

  She nodded. “I take you to them.”

  We set off down the hall, and I wasn’t surprised when the Temple’s Guardian joined us. She was almost like my ever-present shadow. I nodded at the girl, and she looked back at me, solemn, but not angry. It was an improvement.

  “You don’t have to say it. I more than want to get the fuck out before anything nasty comes knocking on your door.” The Guardian cocked her head to the side and finally nodded at me, and for the first time since I first saw her, I think we were on the same wavelength.

  “Where are they?” I asked, turning to Mei-Lei.

  “The planning room.” She answered, taking the steps two at a time to keep pace with my stride. The planning room, of course, why didn’t I think of that? I blinked and wondered where that particular thought had come from. I didn’t know this Temple, why would I know they had a specific planning room? I know that thinking alien thoughts should have rattled me, but I felt eerily calm as I moved along through the Temple, and it was only as I reached the bronze inlaid door of the planning room that I realized that Mei-Lei was out of breath and that somewhere along the way I had stopped following her and had become the leader. I looked to the Guardian and nodded respectfully as I grasped the door handle, turned, pushed and stepped through.

  I didn’t look up straight away, my hands going to my hair and twisting it into a straight thick braid. I took for granted that Tab was there and said, “Tab, I feel like we need to get a move on. You guys solidify a plan yet?”

  I looked up, and I caught a glimpse of the room, with Tab and Master Yin in it, and I am pretty sure my jaw hit the floor.

  Crystal everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, some of them in shapes I didn’t even have a name for. I blinked, and the room flickered, warping without really moving, and I knew what was coming. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be scared by it anymore. I mean I knew what it was now, a memory, and memories couldn’t hurt you right? Sure they could be scary and show you some nasty things, but they couldn’t hurt you. So I closed my eyes in a long, slow blink and tried my best to be open to it and cooperate with it, but it was still no less disorienting. I stopped in my tracks and waited for it to do its thing.

  Finally, after I’d looked at the floor for a heartbeat or two, the vision or memory or whatever broke through. It was as if I teleported the last few strides because instead of being just in the door, I was at the round table Tab and Master Yin had been standing at. On its surface there was a painting done in sand. The sand painting was some sort of sigil or glyph that looped and whorled back in on itself at some crazy acute angles.

  I turned my attention to the man speaking. He was standing where Tab had been before the vision, and even though I knew that this was a memory not my own, I still half expected him to be there, maybe dressed different but still Tab, like the vision at the frat house. So when I got a look at the dude, I couldn’t help it. I blinked in surprise because it was an honest-to-God Knight Templar. Suit of armor, white tabard emblazoned with a red cross, the whole nine yards, and he was just a normal guy. Sandy blond hair, blue eyes and a scruffy beard, sure, but he looked human, meaning he wasn’t like exceptionally beautiful or anything, like any of the Angels I’d encountered so far. I guess the only thing really weird about it was that he was a Knight Templar, in a Temple in Tibet… did the Knights Templar even cross through Tibet when they were around? I closed my eyes and shook my head. The vision scattered, and I looked up. I was still stopped in my tracks, in the front of the room near the door where the vision had taken over. Tab and Master Yin both looked at me, Tab stoic as a stone statue and Master Yin simply serene.

  “I saw a sand painting on the table and a Knight Templar,” I blurted in explanation, followed indelicately with a muttered, “Don’t ask me what the fuck it means. I’m seeing all sorts of weird shit that doesn’t make sense.” I was thinking back on that frat house vision, I still didn’t know what it meant, just that it had apparently happened and that Tab didn’t want to talk about it. Which honestly, who could blame him? I don’t think I would want to relive that one either if I were him.

  Neither Tab nor Master Yin remarked on the vision, so I stood there a moment, then quietly approached the table they were at, curious as to what they were doing.

  “We have a plan, though it won’t be easy,” Tab began, and I found myself taking a deep breath and hoping to Hell they had worked out at least a few of those not so minor details.

  Chapter Six

  Tabbris

  We went from Tibet to Wyoming. Adelaide didn’t get sick this time. With all of the other questions I had regarding the state of the Grace within her, I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or worried.

  “I think I’m starting to get the hang of that…” she began, before pausing, clutching her stomach, and taking a few deep breaths. “Okay, maybe not. But it’s still a little better.”

  I decided, for the moment, to take it as a good sign. It would at least make some of the potential traveling easier. “As soon as you’re recovered, we have a walk ahead of us.”

  “Where are we, anyway?” She used one hand to make an effort at preventing the warm winds from blowing her hair into her face. After she got her jacket off, she tucked it under her other arm. The Temple had been quite warm for Tibet, but it had still been Tibet.

  “Wyoming, near Medicine Bow.”

  She glanced around at the barren landscape, having to continually push her h
air back to keep it out of her face. “How helpful. How near?” I answered by starting to walk. It didn’t take long for her to scramble after me.

  “There’s nowhere closer that I could be certain we wouldn’t be seen. We’re going to visit a friend.”

  “I thought they’d be watching all of your friends?”

  “All of the ones likely to be especially useful in aiding us in battles between Angels, Archangels, and Demons, yes.”

  “So this friend can’t help us with any of that?”

  “No.”

  “And he’s not going to be sheltering us? I don’t want to put anyone else in danger.”

  “No, he won’t be providing shelter, either. It’s not that kind of help. Right now, we’re about as far away from the war as it’s possible to get.”

  “So we’re just dropping in to say hello to be sociable? This doesn’t seem like the time.”

  “I didn’t say that, either,” I replied, trying not to smile.

  “Tab, seriously… you were leveling with me before. This friend, is he an Angel, a Demon, some other weird thing?”

  “His parentage is interesting, but he’s not an active participant in the war, one way or another. And he restricts his miracles to resurrecting Chevrolets well past their time.”

  “Chevrolets?”

  “And the occasional Buick. Never Fords, though. He doesn’t trust them.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” Despite the comment, even without looking, I could tell she was trying not to smile.

  “We can’t keep moving around the way we have been. Not with what we need to do next. We’re going to be hiding in plain sight for a little bit, and I’m going to be trying to use the powers a lot less. They won’t help, for now, anyway.”

  “So we’re going to this friend of yours to get a car, and then, what? Is it time to fill me in on the plan, yet?”

  “It’s almost that time,” I agreed. “But I think that’s a conversation you’ll prefer having after dinner, when we find a motel for the night. You’re going to have a lot of questions, and we still have several miles to walk.”

  She sighed, looking at the road stretching ahead of us. “Fair enough, I’ll be patient. Medicine Bow, here we come.”

  Settling into Medicine Bow didn’t take long. We checked into The Virginian Hotel. Adelaide didn’t object to getting just one room, with two beds. It would be easier to keep an eye on her there. We finally settled into the Owen Wister suite. It cost more than any of the other rooms, but came with a private bathroom, unlike most of the rest. The place certainly tried to sell itself as a tourist destination, but from her reactions, I suspected that Adelaide considered the rustic quality to be more of an inconvenience than an attraction.

  I let her get settled in, not that we carried much with us, and I spent a while in meditation, speaking with the supposedly haunted old hotel in my own fashion.

  “The bathtub’s got claws,” Adelaide interrupted my reverie.

  “It does have claws,” I agreed. “I suppose it’s probably time for dinner and explaining the plan.” I stood and adjusted my coat.

  “That is so cool. What about your car friend? No phones in here to call him.”

  “He lives over the shop. Let’s feed you first and talk it out.”

  She agreed, but the limited options for food soon had her a bit dismayed. While the Temple had been even more limited, I suspected that she was hoping the return to civilization might look a little more like Seattle. Still, she eventually settled on a steakhouse with some enthusiasm, and I certainly wasn’t objecting. The waitress looked at me slightly strangely, perhaps expecting an order for beer or something, instead of just water, but she and Adelaide seemed to get along well enough. As soon as the woman departed with our initial drink order, I turned to the task at hand. “I don’t think we should be in much danger of anyone overhearing us in here,” Most of the place was fairly noisy. It would probably take a concerted effort to eavesdrop. “So I’ll start by trying to explain.”

  “That’d be good.”

  “We’re going to unfold the Grace within you and teach you how to use it.”

  “Her,” she interrupted.

  “I’m sorry?” I frowned.

  “Her, not it, you keep doing that. She’s not an ‘it,’ she’s a ‘her,’ I saw her, so quit it.” She looked at me plaintively, and I bowed my head in acknowledgement.

  “My apologies.”

  “So… same plan as when we didn’t have a plan? I was kind of hoping you’d figured out a way to get her out of me, or for me to disappear and wait this out.”

  “Iaoel is making efforts to exert herself. You’re demonstrating unusual skills and the visions are coming up on their own. There isn’t an easy way to get her separated from you that I know of. And the keys are involved, so there’s no waiting out Michael. Disappearing isn’t an option. We’ll have to just stay a step ahead until the task is done and the keys are found.”

  “All right, so if that’s the option we have, how do we do this?”

  “That’s largely up to you. The process of unfolding Grace generally takes decades, not weeks. Typically, a person has to make peace with a lot of the conflicts in their lives and reach a state of balance, which helps them find the enlightenment needed to understand what they’ve been given.”

  “I’m definitely not in some kind of state of enlightenment, so what’s different this time?”

  “As I said, Iaoel is helping.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. The two of you may be exceptionally compatible somehow. Perhaps it is simply that … she is awake, after laying dormant within Piorre. I just don’t know. But just as likely, she believes she can act through you to achieve her own objectives. The time may just be right for her to come out of hiding and enact whatever plan she was beginning when she betrayed me.”

  “Whoa, wait… back up. Betrayed you?” Adelaide looked at me uncertainly.

  I pursed my lips. “It is neither here nor there, for the time being. It is in the past.”

  “And if I don’t want her to follow her own agenda? Or at least want to make sure to reveal the big news to you and not people who want to kill me?”

  That was exactly the response I was hoping for. I couldn’t trust anything for certain, with Iaoel involved, but my hope was that Adelaide’s general independent streak would be of help here. “That’s precisely why we need to try to accelerate your understanding, try to give you some understanding – and control. Teach you to potentially direct the visions and give you a fighting chance at taking part in the greater war around you.”

  “Yeah, I get that. The helpless bystander – or really, in-the-middle-of-it-stander – thing isn’t really working for me.”

  “It may be as simple as putting the information in the right hands, out of harm’s way. A lot of forces, including Iaoel, aren’t going to want that to happen, though.”

  “So, there’s a chance she might just wake up all the way and take control of me?”

  “Only if we let her. If we can unfold the Grace, teach you to use it, you should be able to assert yourself. You’re still the host, and still know your own mind better than she does.”

  “Should be able to? You’re not sure, are you?”

  It was an awkward time for the waitress to come back with Adelaide’s beer and my water. The conversation paused, as I did my best to offer some assurance without lying, and without a word spoken. I suspect it didn’t go as well as hoped, since, before the waitress was out of earshot, Adelaide had already drained half her beer and ordered another. Still, I answered aloud as soon as I could. “After all Piorre went through, and everything I knew, I didn’t think it could happen this fast, but many things have demonstrated that I can misjudge situations regarding her. So no, I’m not sure. But I do have plenty of experience with, and faith in, human free will. That includes yours.”

  “But she’s an Angel, and I’m just – ”

  “ – You’re jus
t a recipient of God’s greatest gift. Angels are as we were made, and we follow our natures. Humans, as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola wrote, were made to Be What They Will.”

  “Yeah, ‘cause I’ve totally read Giovanni Mirandola.” She rolled her eyes, sarcasm layering her tone. “His stuff makes great beach reading, I’m sure.”

  “Regardless, it’s true. I’m not saying it will be easy, but I am saying that if you’re able to exert your will, if you really want to, she won’t be able to overpower it. That goes doubly true if you’re able to make use of her Grace yourself, under your control.”

  She was quiet for a time, continuing to work through her beer while she pondered that. “You honestly believe it, right? That I can do this. You’re not just saying it to make me feel better?”

  “I could say any number of things about free will, but this seems easiest – have I said anything, so far, to make you feel better?”

  She dropped her eyes to the table, solemn. “Point taken.”

  Still, that seemed to reassure her even more than I could have hoped. Enough that she exerted her free will, further, stretching our limited remaining budget, by ordering a prime cut of steak when the waitress returned. I’d have to plan around this, but, given the circumstances and the location, I did the same. The steaks in Medicine Bow really are worthwhile.

  She was well into dinner, a large cut of meat, an equally large potato, and a modest helping of vegetables by comparison, when she spoke again. “So, how, exactly, do we do this?”

  “The same way Piorre was doing it, but much faster, and with less introspection. Whatever happens, it’s going to be very personal, and up to you. At this point, I can help you, and protect you, but the journey is your own.”