Angels Falling

by Harriet Carlton

  “Good to see you arrived safely.”

  “It’s been a long night, Brother,” replied Raphael.

  Imorean stepped up to Kadia. “You must be Kadia Palmer.”

  “That’s me,” she replied with a bright grin. “I take it you’re Imorean Frayneson.”

  “Guilty as charged,” he replied.

  There was a contagious quality to Kadia’s smile. He liked it. Mentally shaking himself, Imorean stuck out a hand for her to shake. He took note of her small hands, but was surprised at the strength of her grip. Maybe Michael had been right. Maybe she would be a perfect addition to the squad.

  A sensation of command brushed the left side of his head. “Room nine.”

  “Got it,” replied Imorean. He looked at Kadia. “You ready to get to your room?”

  “You have no idea,” replied Kadia, adjusting her book bag. “Well, I guess you do, actually.”

  “I understand what you mean,” nodded Imorean.

  He turned around and opened his wings with a powerful snap. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel self-conscious about the black marks on the feathers. Kadia hadn’t known him when they were pure white. Imorean knew she would simply think they were a part of him. There was a distinct taste of relief in that thought. Beating his wings down once, he sailed up to the second floor, landing behind the railing. He turned to look back at Kadia.

  “Felsenmeer is built to be angel-friendly. Come on. Your room is on this floor.”

  Kadia smiled brightly a second time and opened her own wings. Imorean hoped desperately that his disappointment didn’t show on his face. Kadia’s sparrow wings were tiny. They didn’t look big enough to lift her off the ground. He couldn’t help but wonder how much of a handicap they would be on the battlefield or just keeping pace with the rest of the squad on long flights. His own gyrfalcon wings were built for speed. Baxter and Ryan both had eagle wings, designed to coast on thermals. Even Roxy could fly very fast in short bursts. How could Kadia, with such small wings, expect to keep up with them?

  Keeping his eyes on her, he watched Kadia fly up to the second floor. Where he had taken only one wingbeat to make it up, she took two. It seemed the air itself would be where they had to work the hardest.

  “Michael’s put you in room nine,” said Imorean, turning to the right and leading Kadia down the hallway.

  “Which room are you in?” she asked.

  “I’m in room one, opposite end of this hall, and Colton is in room four. He said you know each other.”

  “Yeah!” nodded Kadia. “I like Colton. He’s a good kid. Young, but mature.”

  Imorean stopped in front of a room with a small, brass nine on the door. “This is you. We’ll meet tomorrow morning at ten o’clock down in the gym for training.”

  “You sure don’t waste any time, do you?”

  Imorean inclined his head. “We can’t really afford to.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kadia, giving him a confused smile.

  Expanding his senses, Imorean sent a rushing wave of frustration toward Michael. It was just like Michael to not tell Kadia what she was doing here. Humor trickled back to him and Imorean heard two faint words.

  “Your job.”

  He took a deep breath and tried to give her a reassuring smile. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. For now, you need to get some sleep. I promise I’ll tell you everything you need to know when you wake up.”

  Kadia nodded and Imorean gave a silent sigh of relief.

  “Ten o’clock sharp?” she asked.

  “On the dot,” he replied. “Good night.”

  Imorean turned away, unable to shake the feeling of Kadia’s eyes still on him, suspicious and confused. Quickening his step, he moved back toward the lobby. How could Michael have not let Kadia know what she was getting into?

  “That is your job, squad leader. Now, if you have nothing better to do than berate me, I suggest you stay quiet. I am working on something,” said Michael’s voice, cutting across his mind.

  Imorean gritted his teeth and snapped back, in spite of the annoyance he felt from Michael. “I wasn’t the one who interviewed her and neglected to let her know what she was getting into. You can’t keep playing with lives like this. You’ve done it enough to me. Don’t start doing it to other people, too. She needs to be told what she’s in for.”

  It was no use. Dimly, Imorean felt Michael’s impatience, but there was no reply from him.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Imorean shot up in bed. He was damp and cold with sweat. His chest heaved and his mouth was dry. He was trembling. He took a deep breath and slowly lay back down. Another nightmare. Already, details were dissolving. Toddy’s face and the few flashes of green he had seen at the very end, though, still danced in front of his eyes. Cheeks sunken and emaciated. Toddy had looked like a ghost. His once lively eyes had been nothing more than broken hollows of former life. Imorean snapped a breath. Losing his watch, hearing his mother’s voice, taking on a new squad member and his talk with Colton must have upset him more than he realized.

  Toddy. Surely, Toddy couldn’t be like that now. He couldn’t be. He just couldn’t. Nausea built in Imorean’s stomach. He had to find Toddy. He didn’t care what condition he found him in. He wouldn’t leave him in Vortigern’s clutches. He would talk to Michael about it in the morning. Guilt settled on him, hot and sickening. How could he have been enjoying himself, flying, training, existing, when Toddy was stuck in Vortigern’s hands? The urge to vomit rose in Imorean’s throat. He was a horrible excuse for a human being. If he even was human anymore …

  Wings rustling against the sheets, Imorean rolled onto his side and put a hand on his bedside table. His fingers came into contact with cool metal. The frame of his watch settled next to the picture of his family. A pang touched his heart. This timepiece that he had worn for the last few years of his life. Should it mean as much to him as it did? Imorean blinked as he ran a thumb around the rim. How much humanity did he have left inside him to lose? This watch … did it really signify the last pieces of his true human self? No. No, it couldn’t. He set his watch case back down. He mustn’t think like that. The watch didn’t mean his humanity, but could it be a symbol of it?

  A heavy sigh worked its way from Imorean’s mouth. He looked at the ceiling. He was two-thirds Archangel. The combination of Michael’s and Inmerael’s Archangel genes were so strong now that they seemed to cancel out his own human ones. He thought of Roxy, Colton, even Kadia. They were all only half angel. Did they tie their humanity to physical objects to remind themselves of who they truly were? Would they understand how he was feeling? Imorean closed his eyes and ran a hand across his face. No. They would never understand. There was more distance between him and his humanity than there was between them and theirs. He swallowed and thought of his connection with Michael. Their mental bond. The way they could speak to each other and have complex conversations using only their minds. No other angel could do that. How Michael could take him to the astral plane. How they were starting to mirror each other’s actions. Diniel even thought they were starting to look alike.

  Imorean closed his eyes. He extended his senses on reflex. His eyes shot open and he pulled his senses back. He wanted to hear less, see less, feel less. He wanted to feel human. He shivered as he reined in all his senses. He felt blind. Uncomfortable. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes again. His powers were getting stronger. They were more natural now. He felt that every day. Of course, Michael would say that that was a good thing, but he wasn’t so sure. He wondered just how much he had really changed. He swallowed. He was more angel than the others. More angel and less human. Without that last piece of his father, the constant reminder of home resting around his wrist, he felt it – less human.

  Chapter 26

  The door creaked open. Imorean wasn’t sure if the sound was dream or reality. He had fallen back into a hazy sort of sleep. A sleep that was disturbed and confused. Footsteps crossed his room. His ey
elids flickered, trying to open, but he was tired. So tired after lying awake most of the night. A hand landed on his shoulder and he rolled away.

  “G’way,” he muttered, waving the assailant away with a wing.

  The hand stilled his wing. “Imorean.”

  “L’me sleep. ‘M tired.”

  “Imorean. Get up. This is important.”

  Groggy, Imorean opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. Green eyes were a matter of inches away from his own. He screamed.

  “What are you doing in here!?”

  Michael stood up, looking affronted. “I have found something important if you would be so courteous as to join me.”

  “You couldn’t have waited until morning?”

  “It is five o’clock. This is morning.”

  Imorean swung his legs out of bed. “No, Michael, this is the middle of the night. You need to get your priorities in order.”

  “You will be interested in this.”

  “I better be or else we’re going to have a real issue with you waking me up this early,” sighed Imorean. He pulled on a clean shirt and a pair of socks.

  “If you are done berating me?” snapped Michael, motioning to the door.

  Imorean yawned and followed Michael out of his room. “How did you get in my room anyway?”

  “I have keys to all of them.”

  “Why?”

  “I never know if I will have to enter any of them for any reason.”

  “You couldn’t have just sent me an email?” asked Imorean, yawning again.

  “Much of this cannot go in an email.” Michael paused. “Sleep well?”

  “Awful,” replied Imorean, pushing open the door to the third floor.

  “Oh?” prompted Michael.

  Imorean narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t just friendly concern, is it? Why are you really asking?”

  Michael was silent for a moment. “… You hear your mother’s voice during your waking hours. You have sleep paralysis. Vortigern visits you in your nightmares. I am wondering if he was the one to keep you awake last night.”

  “Yeah,” sighed Imorean, falling into step next to Michael as they neared the top of the stairs. “Why?”

  “Ignore him, Imorean. The only reason he has the ability to get into your dreams is because of –” Michael bit off his sentence, as though the delirium of early morning had made him say too much.

  “Do tell,” said Imorean, his glare deepening. “You were so close to giving me actual information.”

  “It is because of Inmerael’s connection to Vortigern.” Michael sighed hard. “He was Vortigern’s older brother. Directly over him. They were close when we were all young. After Vortigern and others were cast out of heaven, their bond remained very strong. Stronger than most. They only engaged each other in combat once. As I told you in North Carolina, Inmerael was the only one Vortigern ever had any love for. Just as Vortigern has a connection with Inmerael, he has a small one with you as well.”

  Imorean paused, his heart sinking. Vortigern was connected to him? “How can I stop him?”

  “It is difficult to say. Remind yourself that Vortigern is simply exploiting the bond he had with Inmerael in order to get to you. What you see in your nightmares is not real. It is Vortigern playing on your fears. It is a feat he knows all too well how to perform.”

  Imorean swallowed. “It doesn’t make it feel any less real in the moment.”

  “I understand,” nodded Michael.

  Brown eyes narrowed even further. The flash of green at the end of some of his dreams. Michael’s signature color. “Do … do you watch them? My nightmares?”

  A muscle in Michael’s jaw twitched. “Trouble finds you too easily, Imorean. When you are in distress, it catches my attention.”

  “How many times do I have to say it?” snapped Imorean as Michael opened the door to his office. “Stay out of my head. Quit probing around in it. I don’t like you, Vortigern or anyone else looking through my thoughts. It’s invasive. Even vampires have to be invited in somewhere before they enter.”

  “I am not a vampire,” retorted Michael. “And our connection is something I am certain will be useful one day.”

  “Just keep it to when I’m awake, would you?” sighed Imorean in resignation. This was fighting a losing battle.

  “I do not mean to intrude on them. Sometimes, it just happens. I admit, your heightened emotions can catch me off guard,” said Michael.

  Imorean settled in one of the chairs in front of Michael’s desk and looked out of the window. The sun was already above the horizon. Light flickered off the remnants of snow. He blinked hard, annoyed. This was no time in the morning for the sun to be up. There was a creak as Michael settled in his chair on the other side of the desk.

  “What did you drag me in here for?” asked Imorean.

  A smile of satisfaction settled on Michael’s lips. “We have found Huitzilopochtli.”

  “Okay … This couldn’t have waited until proper morning for me to know?”

  “It is best that you and I converse these matters before the rest of the world is properly awake. It is good practice for sensitive subjects.”

  “I didn’t know that the public mission we’re doing was sensitive.”

  “Would you listen to me instead of refuting everything I say?” snapped Michael, irritation creeping into his tone.

  “Only if you stop saying stupid things.”

  Imorean looked away under the weight of Michael’s glare. It had been some time since he’d been fixed with that that bone-chilling stare.

  “May I go on?”

  “Please, do,” grinned Imorean, trying to diffuse the tension.

  “Are you going to have anything else to say?” asked Michael.

  “Only if I see an irresistible opportunity.” Imorean wasn’t sure, but he thought that the corners of Michael’s mouth were twitching up.

  “We have tracked him to the tropics of Mexico.”

  “Where do we find him? The tropical jungles in Mexico are pretty big.”

  “That is the trick. Huitzilopochtli and the other Aztec and Mayan gods were more or less wiped out after Vortigern located them. Huitzilopochtli is one of the only ones who survived. We believe he has constructed a barrier around his world, much like Odin has around his own fragment of world. As Huitzilopochtli and his companions have been attacked by Vortigern once in the past, the entrance to their world will be harder to locate. We believe that only an Archangel will be able to find the entrance.”

  “So, you’re coming with us, right?” asked Imorean, thinking of their last mission into Odin’s fragment of reality.

  “Unfortunately, no,” replied Michael. “I will be away from Felsenmeer doing field work of my own.”

  “Where?”

  Michael’s eyes flashed and Imorean wondered if he had pushed too far. It was rare for Michael to answer questions about his own, personal business, then his eyes softened. “I am going to the Czech Republic. I am curious why Vortigern would leave you a message about Houska Castle.”

  “Can I come?” asked Imorean.

  “No, Imorean.” Imorean opened his mouth to protest, but Michael held up a hand. “We have been over this. If we are thinking of countering Vortigern directly, you and I cannot be in the field together. It must be one or the other, not both of us. Just as he is exploiting the remnants of your, his and Inmerael’s connection, so would he exploit our own. No, you will go to Mexico with your team.”

  “Who are you sending with us?”

  One brown eyebrow raised.

  “You aren’t sending anyone, are you?”

  “You are two-thirds Archangel. You are tuned in enough to find your way to Huitzilopochtli.”

  “What if I can’t find the entrance to his world?” argued Imorean. “There’s so much that could go wrong if we go down there without a real Archangel.”

  “A real Archangel?” asked Michael.

  “Yeah. So, who’s the real Archangel you’re sen
ding with us?”

  “I am looking at him.”

  “You really think I can do this, don’t you?”

  “I am convinced of it.”

  “Michael, your faith in me is pretty flattering, but …”

  “You doubt yourself,” said Michael, picking up a pen and fiddling with it.

  Imorean let his shoulders fall forward a fragment. “Yeah, I do. I’m not as powerful as you and the others are.”

  Michael made an odd noise in the back of his throat. “Yes, you are. You simply need to learn how to handle it.”

  “I’ve failed before,” said Imorean, the words leaving him in a whisper. “I let my family down. I let my team down. My family is gone. Two of my team are dead.”

  Silence. Imorean could feel Michael studying him and looked away. A sense of sympathy crept into the air.

  “Power does not mean an inability to fail. Failure is paramount to growth,” said Michael. “There is not one among us who has not failed at one point or another.”

  Imorean scoffed, trying to cover the insecurity in his chest. “Surely, not you.”

  “Even me,” replied Michael, one side of his mouth lifting.

  “Yeah, maybe,” sighed Imorean. He let the subject drop to appreciate the moment. It wasn’t often that Michael tried to be comforting. “So, what’s the plan for Mexico?”

  “I will send all of you to Mexico City a short while after the other members of your squad arrive. Before you leave you will do research and once you arrive in Mexico City, you will confirm any research you have done. I will brief you on any necessary topics once the rest of your squad arrives. After you have completed research, you will set out and find the entrance to Huitzilopochtli’s world.”

  “And that brings us to the ‘how’ of the issue,” said Imorean, folding his arms.

  Michael continued toying with the pen. “You will feel it. Believe me. Your instincts are sharp. For today, worry about your assessment of Kadia.”