Airel - Aaron Patterson [53]
Kreios was itching to go. “The time for talking has now passed us by. We must move. I can feel the army over the nearest rise to the west, and they are moving fast. It will be impossible to fight them in the air while also keeping my daughter and Maria safe. It will leave us outnumbered, with too much distraction from the fight.” Kreios was a practical mind but now he seemed like he had no sense of humor at all. The message was received. This was not a game.
Zedkiel took Maria in his arms and Kreios hugged his baby girl tight to him. He could smell her skin. It was intoxicating. She smelled like sweet lavender with a hint of something that Kreios could not determine—it was not like anything he had ever smelled. But it was the most wonderful scent in the world.
Kreios sent the horses away with a glance and placed his daughter carefully in her little sling. The magnificent war horses hid themselves deep in the wood, far from where any man would trod.
The angels rose from the ground in battle formation: Kreios on point, Zedkiel at his right hand and Yamanu on his left, already difficult to see. The air was cool under the brightness of a full moon. A touch of spring could already be felt, a prophecy of hope to them.
Kreios looked to the west. The unholy flicker of war torches greeted his gaze. Black and gray mist hovered around the airborne cluster of angels like fingers of dark smoke, masking them in shadow. They quickly faded into the night sky.
Turning north and soaring like eagles on desert updrafts, the travelers coasted gracefully toward a City to which they had never been. They hoped and prayed it did exist. But something they all felt was that it might not be easy to find.
The sword grew warm against Kreios’s back as if it knew the way home and would lead them. He breathed in a sigh of relief mixed with hesitation. The sword had a definite connection to his daughter—he could feel that very clearly, though he was not sure why. It was difficult to see and perceive the truth after so recently losing the only woman he would ever love; and so bitterly, so unexpectedly.
He wondered almost aloud what this connection was and what role the Seer might play as well. These questions, and more, bothered him as they soared northward. He would not rest until he was sure that they were safe; in the safest place on earth.
Chapter XXXI
Boise, Idaho. Present day.
When the door opened and I saw Michael Alexander stand up stiffly, I stood paralyzed, hoping with everything in me that what I feared was not happening, that this was all just a bad dream. He was staring at me with an unsettling mixture of awe and disbelief.
“Your head... the…” His voice was soft, questioning and scared. “It’s gone, I mean it just disappeared!” He reached out, muttering something incoherent, trying to touch my forehead. But I ducked and took a step backward. He lowered his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest.
“Airel—”
My mind refused to function. Despite the fact that I needed it more than ever at this very moment, it hid like a stupid kid on his first day of school, refusing to come out from under the bed. Should I pretend that I didn’t know what was happening? Play innocent? Or should I fess up to the only person I was comfortable fessing up to about this subject? Why can’t I let myself bring Kim in on all this? But with him… I looked at the gorgeous guy standing before me. Maybe I knew deep down that he would understand it... or me. If that was possible. There was no getting around it, though—I was a turncoat. A backstabbing fiend, for sure, because I was totally trashing the feelings of my best friend for…some dude…
I reached a trembling hand to my forehead and touched the place where, seconds ago, a large goose-egg throbbed. It was smooth, cool to the touch. Healed.
I stood there with my best impression of a confused,