Chapter Six
Marie walked slowly toward the woods, looking around for any sign of Brenton. He was nowhere in sight. She started to feel silly for thinking she could talk to him through her thoughts. Of course he wasn't here. She hadn't seen him in days.
She turned around and was heading home when she heard a low whistle come through the trees. She stopped and waited. Another whistle came in the same manner and she spun around to see him standing behind a tree. She was so happy to see him, she didn't stop to think about what this all meant.
“You're here,” she said walking toward him.
“I told you to come find me.”
She stopped in front of him. “Wait, you mean that was real? You were in my head and we really did communicate.”
She stumbled and almost fell. He quickly caught her and leaned in close. Marie was startled by how fast his movements were. “Uh, yeah, that's how it works.”
“How what works?” she asked, feeling like her breakfast was about to come up.
He helped her up and they roamed further in the woods without him saying anything. She couldn't take another mysterious encounter with him. She paused, but he kept walking until he realized she wasn't with him.
“Please Brenton, I need to know what's happening. Something is different and I don't understand it. How are we able to talk to each other when you are nowhere around? And I can't explain it but,” she was embarrassed to admit it, but she needed him to know, “I felt your pain. I felt that you were concerned for me. How is that?”
She realized she was pleading with him, but she didn't care. That morning, before they met, she knew something was about to happen. The feeling was so heavy, it weighed on her. Now, all she wanted was for someone to tell her the truth about it.
“I can't believe you don't know what's going on?” he asked, his face pained.
“Why would I be asking you this if I knew?”
“I guess you're right.”
He sat down on the ground and motioned for her to join him. She sat across from him and folded her legs.
Once again, the wind picked up. The leaves swirled around them; she felt like she was inside a tornado. Fallen branches joined the whirlwind and floated around her in a perfect circle while Brenton looked past her, in a daydream. She stayed silent and waited.
Lightening flashed above them. Brenton didn't flinch, he just concentrated, eyes glazed over. The last time this happened, Marie thought he was listening to something or someone, but now she knew for sure.
She moved closer and his eyes bore into her, wild and blazing. She was startled and jumped back. He shook his head and the wind ceased in that second. The branches fell instantly and the leaves floated to the ground beside her.
“What was that?” she said breaking the silence.
“That?” he replied looking up, “That was nothing.”
Marie didn't know him, but she knew a fib when she heard one. “You're lying.”
He stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants and reached his hand out for hers. She grabbed it. He pulled her up and they faced the sky as another strike of lightening rolled above them.
“Seriously, it's nothing. Someone is just having a temper tantrum.” Lightening struck again. “Anyway, I was hoping they were wrong, but I guess I'm not so lucky.”
Marie was getting irritated. “Can you stop talking in riddles, please?”
They headed back toward the school and Marie sat down on the bleachers near the baseball field while Brenton paced in front of her.
“It would be hard to explain everything just like that. I mean, I always thought everyone of us knew our purpose from youth, but apparently you were shielded,” he said.
“I still don't get it.”
He stopped and grabbed her hand, adding to the dramatic effect she was sure she would have to get used to.
“Marie, you and I... we're half mortal, half angel; a race which descended from the angels of Heaven, called the Elyos.”
She glared at him for a second then she couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst out laughing. Her eyes started tearing up while Brenton's face remained placid.
“Come on, be serious please,” she said wiping her face.
“How did you get here Marie? How did you know to come here?” he asked.
Marie stopped snickering.
“You know you're changing, but you refuse to admit it. You feel emotion as if it were an animate object. You sense it in the air, all around you.” He was anxious. “That night when you called to me,” he paused in front of her, “I wanted to come to you. I told you I would come quick, fast and...”
“In a hurry,” Marie finished his sentence. “But how? I just don't understand how. If I'm an angel, how is it I didn't know all this time?”
“That's what I was trying to tell you; someone shielded you.”
Brenton explained that when he was younger, he had visions of other angels. All of the Elyos did. It was the guide for the life he was meant to lead. From the visions, they would learn about the beginning of their race and who their ancestors were. It was how they stayed connected.
He had dreams that showed him his heritage, the power he obtained and about his fathering angel. He started training at the age of five, learning how to control his thoughts, his gifts and being prepared for war.
Apparently Marie was shielded from knowing who she was and her lineage. Someone erased her memories and masked her powers, which made her neutral. She was more human than angel.
“When I was younger, I would see weird images in front of me all the time. They would come out of nowhere. I could see them in my dreams or sometimes, when I'm awake,” Marie said. “It's starting to happen again.”
“What did you see?”
Marie's brain felt like it was about explode as she tried to remember the things she wanted so badly to forget. Even though they were coming back to haunt her, she hated thinking about it.
She gave Brenton every account of the memories she could muster up. There weren't many from when she was young, but the recent ones were still fresh. Sometimes she could see handwriting in the air, in a language she couldn't understand, by a hand she couldn't see. Other times, it was a land that was abundant in trees and crystal like rivers. This land was free of any modern technology or anything she grew up with. She told him of the women she saw and how they dressed in long, silky, purple robes, with tiaras on their head.
“I hate to break it to you, but those were your heritage visions. The handwriting you saw was from the Book of Angels, the language was Hebrew. It is our history. And our past is being the product of spirit and flesh, descendants of the fallen and mortal women,” he said.
“The fallen?”
“Yeah, the angels who fell from Heaven because they went against God's will and mated with mortal women.”
Marie had to take a minute to grasp what he was telling her. Never in a million years would she have thought this was possible. But somehow, it still made sense. She knew she wasn't normal; she always felt so different from everyone else.
“So, if what you're telling me is true, that would mean one of my parents has the blood of an angel, right?” she asked.
“Yes, but which one, I don't know,” he said picking up a rock and throwing it. “Since you were shielded, there is a chance you could be adopted.”
“What? No way. Why would you say something like that?”
Marie was starting to really get aggravated. He had some nerve telling her that. There was no way she was adopted. She and her mom looked exactly alike, and she acted just like her dad.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. It's just that, back then, the angels were punished for defiling the Earth and were thrown in prison. Their children were to be destroyed, but some of our ancestors escaped. They were being hunted and if caught they would be thrown into the pit to await judgment. Some of the women shielded their child, so their powers wouldn't give them away, and gave them up, to protect them.”
“I don't care what happened back then, I'm not adopted. Do you understand me?” she said fuming.
“Okay, I got it.”
They sat on the bleachers until the sun started going down, talking about angelic history as it was taught and shown to Brenton. Marie listened intently.
He explained that there were three different spheres of angels, each containing three different orders. The first of the spheres being the closest to God; the Seraphim, Cherubim and Ophanim, who were the heavenly counselors and guardians of the throne. The second sphere consisted of the Dominions, Virtues and Powers. This order worked as the heavenly governors. They were descendants of the third hierarchy, the principalities, archangels and angels, whose main function was heavenly messengers and soldiers.
Before the fall, angels were described as being avid worshipers, providers and protectors. They revealed messages from God to man, gave instructions, strengthened and encouraged His people.
The Fallen were originally sent to teach mankind how to do what was right and just upon the earth. They were to teach virtue and righteousness as well as assist those who were being attacked by forces of evil. But once the angels descended, the plans changed.
It only took two hundred angels to fall and bind themselves to the Earth to sully the angels good name. Ironically, the thing they were supposed to teach the humans, is what they fell prey to.
It was said that when a child of an angel died, it's spirit became demonic. A percentage of the disembodied spirits stayed on earth to try and lead mankind astray.
Since they were not considered full angel or full human, they had no place. Many of them believed if they could make up for the mistakes of their ancestors, do the job the original angels were sent to do, they would be redeemed and allowed a place in Heaven. That was the one thing that kept them in line.
Most of the Elyos adapted the human way of life and had no interest in searching for redemption. But there were still some who helped where they could; doing small acts of kindness, encouraging people with just a whisper of a word or pushing them in the right direction to avoid danger.
Marie's cellphone rang and interrupted Brenton, mid speech. She didn't want to answer it, but when she saw it was her mom, she knew she had to. It was getting dark and they were on high alert since the incident. This angel lesson would have to be put on hold. She told her mom she was on the way home and hung up.
“I gotta go. My mom is really worried since I passed out the other day,” she said getting up from the bleacher.
Brenton winced. “I've been meaning to apologize for that. If I would've known.... I wouldn't have left you alone.”
“What happened that day?”
They started making their way back toward her house and she could tell he didn't want to share, but he wasn't getting off that easily.
“While we were in the woods, I got a message from another angel telling me to back off. My mentor ordered me back and I had to go.”
“But, couldn't you see or feel that I blacked out?” she asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck before he began to speak. He rolled out another story instead of giving her a straight forward answer.
He said that, as grand as history made angels out to be, they had limitations. Angels are stronger than man, but they aren't omnipotent. We have greater knowledge, but we are not all-knowing. Lastly, some angels can appear where they are needed, but they cannot be present everywhere.
Bottom line, his thoughts were directed elsewhere. When she was passing out, his mind was focused on something else and he wasn't aware of her. She didn't reach out to him, so he couldn't sense her.
“So what changed? Why were you able to tell me about it now?” she asked.
“Michael knew I wasn't gonna stay away for long. Finding you was way too important to me. They said you were probably neutral, but I didn't want to believe it. Then when you reached out to me yesterday and again today, I figured maybe they were wrong. But like I said, I'm never that lucky.”
“Oh,” was all she could think to say.
They walked together silently until she was a block away from her street. She turned to leave without saying a word. There wasn't anything she could say that would express the magnitude of how she felt.
She was almost to her front porch when she felt a chill go down her spine. Pressure started to build up in her head and she instinctively touched the birthmark on her head. She turned back around and Brenton was there as if she hadn't walked anywhere.
“Did you just do that?” she questioned.
“Nope, it wasn't me,” he laughed. “It's probably those pesky memories trying to break free. You have a headache?”
“How did you know?”
“If you hadn't been shielded, we would have shared most of each others' lives without having to be near one another. I couldn't see you as much as the others could see their other half. I had to concentrate very hard to get the glimpses I did get. I guess me being around is stirring up something, making those memories surface.”
“What do you mean other half?”
He winked and flashed his sparkling, white smile before answering, “Slow down there tiger, not now. You have to get home or your mom will send out a search party. We will talk more later.”
He left in the opposite direction and said over his shoulder, “I'm only a thought away.” Then right before her eyes, he vanished.