Chapter Eight
Marie's mom was seven shades of pissed. Her anger hit Brenton in waves and he tried his best not to collapse from the pressure that was building in his head. He had never encountered anyone with this type of power. She concentrated on him and it felt like she was peeling him, layer by layer. His strength was failing him.
“Mom, stop!” Marie yelled, standing between Brenton and her mom.
Marie's mom snapped back and her shoulders slumped. She backed up and leaned against the dresser, trying to hold herself up. Smoke started to circulate around the dresser. She snatched her hand away and in it's place was a burned imprint of her hand.
Brenton sat up on the bed and watched as Marie made her way over to her mom. The confused look on Marie's face was the breaking point for her; she broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
Marie touched the hand print on her dresser. She was glued to that same spot, her face calculating. Brenton tried to stand, but his legs gave way and he hit the floor. The pressure in his head still hadn't subsided.
Marie's mom stopped crying and gazed at him. Brenton saw the anguish in her eyes. He could feel it more than anything. She was mad at herself for being hostile toward him and not controlling herself better. She let down her guard and he could tell she was trying to show him something.
Brenton meditated on seeing past her wall. At first, images flashed by quickly. He tried to isolate each one, but he was still too weak. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“ I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've done this,” she said in his mind. He tried again and this time he could see clearly.
She showed him Marie as a newborn and how she lie awake at night pining over her. The next image was Marie levitating over her crib pointing at things in the room and those things flying to her as if by command. Another memory went by and he could feel her pain bleeding through the vision. It was Marie lying in her crib, flames encasing her.
“ She was barely a month old. It was hard enough keeping this from her dad, but if anyone else knew what she was...” she trailed off, but Brenton didn't need her to finish the thought. He understood.
She blocked the connection between them once more, but Brenton was grateful to have seen her most guarded secret. He wanted to know more about Marie, every detail of her life. There was so much they both missed out on.
He attempted to stand again and this time Marie moved to help him. She still hadn't said anything.
She was in shock and he couldn't blame her. He couldn't imagine what she must feel like after learning all this within a course of a day.
He remembered when he was told he was part angel. It was easier for him to accept it since he had someone to guide him from the beginning. When his dad told him, he was expecting it. He already knew he was gifted.
Now, Marie had to face this after being raised as a human all this time. Her transition wouldn't be easy, but he knew she could do it. Especially after seeing what her mom was capable of.
“Marie, I know you have a lot of questions,” her mom said, “I promise anything you ask me, I will answer truthfully.”
Marie slowly walked to her computer desk, pulled out the chair and plopped down. There was an absent look in her eyes.
“Um, mom, what just happened? I have a crispy hand print in my dresser. How did you do that?” she asked.
She rubbed her hands together nervously, “Where do I begin?”
She paced for a minute then finally sat down on the bed facing Marie.
“This gift was passed down to me, as it was to you, from our ancestor, an angel named Shamsiel. He was given the signs of the sun and had power over fire. All of his descendants could control and manipulate any form of it, but only a handful of his children could produce it.”
Right before Brenton's eyes, her hand caught fire. She rotated her hand then swirled it in a circle and the flames curved and bent to her will. She made it go up one arm and down the other into her palm, like she was doing some kind of magic trick.
“I learned when you were born you had the gift to produce as well,” she said and made the flame go out. “It is rare that two would be born to the same family. This made the target on our backs bigger. I had to do what I did to protect you.”
“What exactly did you do?” Marie asked.
Brenton tuned out when Renea told Marie some of what he learned through the vision she shared with him. He was still stuck on the flame dance she just did in her hands.
Out of all the descendants he met, none of them were able to produce fire. He couldn't either. He started to believe, as the others had, none of them were still around. Now, he was sitting in the presence of two of them. He almost felt out of place.
He knew he needed to listen to what she was saying, this was important for the both of them, but his mind floated through so many possibilities.
His mentor believed that if a connection was strong enough between twins, they could feed off each others strength. Brenton wondered if that was true in their case. Could he really be able to produce fire since Marie could?
Marie glared at him and he felt her trying to search his mind. He turned his attention back to her mom, avoiding Marie's piercing eyes.
She continued talking about the women she took Marie to when she was only two months old to have her shielded; afraid that if she couldn't get Marie's powers under control, they would be captured.
A breeze passed through the room and they all stopped what they were doing and focused. All at once, they turned toward Marie's window.
Outside, the wind picked up. Brenton looked out and saw the trees and bushes were only moving around Marie's house. All the streetlights had been blown out and the roads were completely dark. He thought he saw something move across the way, but it went by in a blur.
Marie and her mom finally joined him only to be knocked back seconds later from the window being blasted. Glass shattered everywhere. Marie buckled over and hit the floor. Her mom hit the wall and Brenton crashed into her dresser that was across the room.
A knife flew through the window and was lodged into the wall beside him.
“We're under attack,” Marie's mom yelled and lit her hands on fire. “Get her out.”
Marie had been knocked unconscious. Brenton picked her up and took her out into the hallway. He propped her up against the wall then went back in the room to help her mom.
As soon as he closed the door, more knives were being thrown through the window. Marie's mom was catching them in midair and they melted on contact.
Brenton ran to her side. He waved a hand over hers and his immediately caught fire. They stood side by side trying to contain the attack.
“We have to draw them out and away from here. I don't want anyone to see this, especially not my husband,” she said. Brenton nodded.
Together, they jumped out of the bay window and went into hyper speed down the street, toward the woods.
A metal arrow whizzed past Brenton's head as he stayed on her heels. She stopped and turned right before a spear hurdled toward him. She picked it out of the air and in the same instance, turned in a full circle and threw it back in the same direction.
Brenton couldn't see anyone, he could only feel their presence. They were closing in on them fast. He waited for any direction from Marie's mom; she was the veteran in this case.
He shifted his position from behind her and was now running along side her. Out of nowhere, a strong wind picked them up in midair then slammed them back down to the ground. They scrambled to get back on their feet before they were pummeled. As soon as Brenton stood, someone flew by him, hitting his arm and cutting a slice across his stomach. Before he could see who it was, they were gone.
He touched the area on his stomach and pulled away a hand full of blood. He didn't feel any pain, and the wound would heal soon enough, but he knew they were toying with him.
“Air and metal?” Brenton thought. “How many are there?”
“I don't know, but we need to get somewhere safe and fast,” Marie's mom thought back to him.
She turned in a full circle to assess the area. They were still lurking in the distance. She nudged her head in a direction to the east of them and Brenton understood. They started running again, only to be stopped once more by a blur that tackled Marie's mom, caught her by the neck and had her dangling in the air.
Brenton rushed over, but another strong wind threw him back a hundred yards. He quickly jumped to his feet. He was mad because he left all his weapons, not thinking he would have any use for them now. He should have known better.
In the distance, a fire blazed. He got closer and saw Marie's mom burning anything in her path. The grass looked like it was melting, the trees were smoking. Brenton directed some of the fire into his hands and stood guard, turning around to prepare for any attack.
A flash of light passed by Brenton's head and they both concentrated on that direction, throwing whatever they had. It was too late to figure out it was a distraction from the real threat. Another one of the attackers ran around them so fast, the fire began to swirl with the wind and turned into a tornado of heat and they were caught in the middle.
Even though the fire wouldn't bother them, it left them blinded to what was happening outside the inferno. Brenton looked to Marie's mom and she was calm and collected. He watched as she closed her eyes and focused all her energy.
Brenton looked up from inside the tunnel of fire, and saw a hole open on the top. Marie's mom put her hands together and brought them straight to her chest before pushing all of her energy out. The fire turned into an explosion and anything that was close was knocked back, including the attackers. They were temporarily down so they would have to think fast.
Without blinking, Marie's mom was right back into hyper mode. Brenton was so impressed. He could learn so much from her. She has been out of commission for years, but could still handle herself very well. Imagine if she was at her full potential. He couldn't wait to train with Marie. Together they could do some damage.
She took a hard right and they were running along the highway. Behind them, the attackers were back on their trail. They ducked and dodged until they ended up in a clearing. Brenton saw a warehouse in the distance.
“ We need to get inside ,” she said in his mind.
Marie's mom formed a ball of fire in her hand, the size of a baseball and threw it at a huge red button in the front of the building. The garage door began to roll up. She let it roll up halfway before throwing another ball at the same button and it began to descend.
They got closer and slid under the garage before it completely closed. Outside, it sounded like hard rain was hitting the door with the amount of knives being thrown.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Marie's Uncle Josh's warehouse. He built this and safeguarded it against any threat, even angels.”
“If they give up, they might go back to your house. What are we going to do about Marie?”
Her eyes widened. “We are not far. I just ran around in circles for a bit before leading them here.”
“That's awesome,” Brenton smiled. “Since you showed me your super cool moves, it's my turn to show you some tricks of my own,” he said reaching out his hand to her. “Close your eyes and focus on the wall in Marie's room. The one next to her closet.”
She did as he said and he closed his eyes as well. It was hard for him to concentrate with the relentless pounding against the building, but he pushed past it wanting to get back to Marie.
He continued to think about that spot and then walked forward. The air changed, it became warmer and he opened his eyes. They were back in Marie's room.
Marie's mom looked around the room. She touched the wall before turning to him and grinned, “Nice work kid. I'm officially impressed.”
She opened the door to see Marie lying on the floor. Brenton came around and picked her up to carry her back in the room and lie her on the bed.
She finally stirred, her eyes fluttered open. She looked around in a daze and sat up. “Mom, what happened?”
“It was nothing. We're fine,” she said.
Marie's mom stared at the window as Brenton searched the room. The only evidence of the attack was the busted window. All the knives that were stuck in the door and walls were gone. There wasn't even indents to show where they were lodged.
Brenton leaned against the wall, trying to grasp what happened. How they were ambushed by other angels; skilled ones at that. They were too fast to get a handle on, he never saw their faces, but he knew that one had descended from metal and the other from air.
He wondered to himself if he was the one who brought them here. It looked like Marie never had a problem with people attacking them until he came along. He was already causing problems.
“Frank is coming,” Marie's mom said. “Brenton, you must go. He doesn't need to see you here.”
Brenton understood. He hugged Marie, trying to give her some sort of comfort before he left. She was probably thinking he was a trouble maker. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to see him again.
He leaped from her window right before her dad turned the corner of their street. He took off in the night with a new reason to dread the future. The funny thing was, he was more worried for Marie than he was for himself.