Airel (22 page)

Chapter I

Boise Idaho, Present day

The feeling of power in its purest form was enough to compel a man to break free of every law of decency and run through the streets naked and screaming. Stan knew that he did not
have
to kill the detective—but oh, how much fun it was to shoot the pig in the head.  

Detective Lopez had taken too long. Much too long. There was a schedule to keep, people to see and all that. Lopez did give Stan what he had wanted, though—which made killing him in spite of it feel so much more satisfying. Innocence had so many uses, and quite contrary to what decent people thought. “Stan is very creative,” he said.

Stan let his memory flood his mind. The nice thing about memories was the ability to relive a great moment. The moment he shot Lopez was one that he liked. How could something so wrong feel so right?

Chapter II

Somewhere in the Mountains of Idaho, Present day

I dreamed of the Book, felt its presence in the room like a living thing. I could swear it called to me in the night the way my mother would, sweetly. 

I opened my eyes to see the sun high in the sky, the curtains pulled back, and a warm yellow sunbeam filtering across my bed. I yawned, reaching up with my arms over the forest of soft pillows. I felt my back pop and a rush of wonderfulness flow through me like the unkinking of a garden hose. 

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Michael’s voice made me start. He grinned and chuckled low. 

“Michael, you scared me! What are you doing?” I pulled the covers up to my neck, though I was fully clothed in my pajamas.

“Relax, I’m just here to wake you. I couldn’t let you sleep any longer. It’s noon already, and the date I have planned for us is slowly slipping away.” I smiled and let the covers fall away. I struggled out of their grasp, my feet finding the floor. I discreetly checked my breath and ran a hand through my tangled hair. I was promptly self-conscious. We were dangerously mixing bed head, dragon breath, and Michael Alexander. He was standing only a few feet away, offering a date and looking great on top of it. 

“You kinda caught me at a bad time, mister.” I could feel my face heat up and my palms begin to sweat. 

“Aw, you look beautiful. But anyway, I’ll just wait down in the kitchen. That way you can make your stunning entrance. I made you breakfast—well, lunch.” He had worked his way to the door as he spoke, but he turned, smiled, and left.

I shook my head at him, smiling. As soon as the door closed, I leapt from the bedside to the bathroom. I got ready just as quickly as I could, dressing in jeans and a pink hoodie. I stepped into my sneakers and ran down the stairs feeling better than I could have imagined. One look in the mirror had told me I was beautiful; once again, no makeup required. I shook my head and let my hair sort itself out.

Michael was standing with his back to me at one of the counters, downing a large glass of orange juice. I stopped and looked at him, feeling my heart rise and thump in my chest just at the sight of him. I snuck in and grabbed a stool, sitting on it.

“So, what’s the special?” He jumped at the sound of my voice. “Gotcha back,” I said. He smiled. 

“You look amazing, Airel.” When he turned toward me, a large bowl of exotic fruits came into view behind him. He had arranged everything in the shape of a heart. 

I clicked my tongue and said, “Awww!” It was such a nice gesture; and it had probably taken some time to do. 

“There’s fresh bread, too,” he said, turning to the brick oven. He brought out a couple of gorgeous looking rounds of sourdough, and abruptly, my stomach turned. 

Oh, no.
I didn’t want to get sick again. Why was this happening? It was like a second puberty—no matter how you sliced that idea, it’s bad. I spoke, to try to distract myself. “You make your own bread, too?” I was genuinely impressed.

“Sure, why not?” He looked at me quizzically, cocking his head. “You okay? You look weird.”

“Oh, really?”

“Well! Not weird. I mean, you look great. But you look like you just smelled something gross…”

My mind fluttered, going into emergency procedures. Michael’s eyebrows lowered, making me wonder what he was thinking. “I’m fine, just hungry. It all looks so good.” 

I guess I should have seen it coming. For the first time—well, the first time consciously—I heard something: It was Michael’s voice, but distant, as if it was coming from a thousand miles away.
“I can’t go on like this; I have to tell her.”
It was Michael, but not his spoken voice. I was hearing his thoughts. I was reading his mind; I remembered what Kale had told me about the ‘gift.’ It was a small voice in the fog, but it was
all
Michael’s.

“Well, good, ‘cause there’s plenty to eat here.” He seemed to lose some of his trademark spark. I hadn’t
really
noticed it until it had gone, but it had always seemed to be toward the back of his eyes, illuminating his gaze. I wondered what he was holding back from me, and what it meant. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He moved the bowl of fruit over to where I was sitting, serving me. “Just thinking of how crazy all this is. We’re in this beautiful house with everything we could want: food, clothes, great trails to hike. No TV or games, but I really haven’t missed ‘em all that much.”

I smiled; he was so cute. He was the one person I could never fear, or even see myself becoming fearful around, like some guys I knew. Deep down, I think a lot of girls have this underlying fear of a man they know could kill them, crush them with sheer strength or will. He was so strong, built like a rock. But I knew he could never use his strength to hurt me, no matter what. His strength made me feel—safe.

We sat and ate breakfast for quite a while, enjoying the luxury of one another’s company. I realized that we hadn’t really had much time to ourselves, for all that had happened. And if we had an easy time before the kidnapping finding common ground, our present situation was like double-sided tape between us. 

We spent the day doing ultimately forgettable things, just enjoying each other’s company. My grandparents would say we were strolling, because life was slower then, more easily enjoyable, probably.
Yeah, and there was horse poop in the streets, too.
I guessed every age had its gilded edge. But it didn’t matter. I was finally,
finally,
getting to indulge myself in what I wanted the very most: Michael Alexander. And it was glorious.

The air was cool, with a hint of rain. The trees and the undergrowth seemed to open to it, as if enjoined to the sense that something was coming. The woods came alive with anticipation of the life-giving rain, and we stood silently in the midst of it, looking up from russet-colored earth through giant redwood boughs that reached to the darkening sky. 

Michael looked great in his worn-out blue jeans and dark blue windbreaker. We had both found hiking boots in our rooms. They were new and lightweight. I guessed Kale had gifted us with such niceties. I winced at the thought of him. I wondered if that assessment was unfair now. I knew I needed to ask him about it and find out what was really going on. Why
had
he killed the man in the movie theater? Was that guy a ‘bad guy?’ He had to be; I couldn’t see Kale murdering someone in cold blood. 

“So. We need to talk,” Michael said unexpectedly. We were moving along a well-worn path guarded by green shrubs and ferns that brushed our legs as we walked by. 

“Yeah, I guess we should try to work out some nagging questions about this whole mess. What do you know so far about why we’re here?” I wondered if he believed Kale’s claim that I was a descendant of the Sons of God, a half-angel of sorts.

“Well…” He
shooshed
in a heavy sigh as he began, “I think I’m here by accident. He’s interested in you, and I just happened to get in the way.” His face clouded over.

“Yeah, but somehow I think Kale wouldn’t mess up like that. He doesn’t seem to do anything on impulse. I mean, just look at how he lives. Everything is just-so.” I jumped up on a log that had fallen across the path and Michael vaulted over it without even thinking. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter why I’m here. He wants you, to train you… to do what? Develop your ‘powers,’ or the powers he believes you may have.”

“Michael…” I wondered if he remembered my head injury, and if he was still fighting the reality of what was going on. “I do have some abilities that I cannot explain. You remember when I fainted at football practice?” He nodded as we kept walking. “Well, it healed. I heal very fast. I’ve tried it out a few times, and it’s true. I’m also strong enough to kick down the heavy door to my room… but that one I’m still trying to figure out.” I left out the mind-reading bit. No use freaking him out.

“So he’s telling you that you’re part angel and part human? That’s kinda… unbelievable, really.”

“Yeah, I know.” I felt like I had to say that just so he wouldn’t feel awkward. But I believed it readily enough for me.

“You know, it feels like we’re in a movie or something. I just wonder when we’re going to wake up. Maybe when we do, we’ll find ourselves back in the mall parking lot, where we started. On our first date.” He looked at me.

He was
so
romantic. I could die. The memories came back, honestly warm and fuzzy. “I know, it’s weird, huh. But for what it’s worth, I believe Kale. I don’t know why—but I do.” Up until this point I did not know what I really thought of our kidnapper. I didn’t like the
situation.
But I knew I could trust him. He seemed to have this code of honor, one he would never cross. They say that chivalry is dead—but what if that age was still clinging to someone who had actually lived through it? How would they go about their days, I wondered. There was something about Kale that was different in that respect. 

“I think I trust him,” I said, trying to close the deal. “He seems to know something that we don’t.” I paused for a minute, thinking. “Ya know, it’s like he kidnapped me on purpose. Maybe to protect me from something?”

“Yeah, that’s true enough, I guess. From what though? ‘The Brotherhood?’ I doubt
they
still exist, though they might have a long time ago.” Michael was playing with a long blade of grass and the tip bounced in his hand like a bobber on a lake. It was hypnotic. 

“Well it’s possible. Who knows,” I said. “All I know is that I need him for now—I have too many questions about these so-called abilities, and he seems to have all the right answers.” I looked at Michael. “So far.” 

He seemed to resist what I was saying.

“Look, I just want to be careful. I need to figure out what I can do, if anything, to get control of my abilities before I hurt someone I care about.”

“It’s not that.” He looked genuinely disturbed and worried.  “Airel, you know that even though we don’t know each other that well, I still feel you’re…” He hesitated, his gorgeous blue eyes hiding behind a momentary shadow. He took my hand in his and looked at it. He was
so
warm. The touch of his skin made me feel a shock in my arm running straight for my heart. He looked into my eyes. 

“Airel, I want you to know I’m falling in love with you. And it’s not a crush—we all know what that is. But this…” He put a hand to his heart and closed his eyes, taking a moment.

I cannot express in words how I felt, the way all of me was bound up right inside that moment. 

“…This is the real thing. This kind of thing is like winning the lottery. You can go a lifetime without ever finding anything real. I love you, Airel, and all I need from you is to know that one simple thing.” 

My heart hurt as it swelled with emotion. I took his face in my hands and made him look at me. This time his eyes were clear and brilliant. “Michael, I love you more than life itself. No matter what happens to me, or… or how I change… I always will.” 

I could almost feel his soft lips about to gently brush my own, in the prelude to a kiss—but I wouldn’t, I couldn’t. The anticipation of it was killing me. But I knew if I kissed him it was all over. I would be positively head-over-heels and I needed to hold back a small part of my heart until I figured all this out. And I may have been only seventeen, but I knew well enough that the first kiss with that special someone always started a fire that couldn’t be put out. 

Michael pulled me closer, enveloping me with his strong arms. I laid my head on his chest in surrender. That’s where I belonged, where I wanted to be. If I could have stopped time, I would have frozen it right then. 

As Michael held me, I could feel his heart beating against my cheek. I searched the spaces in my mind and tried to read his thoughts again, but all I heard was crying. Was he crying? I pulled away and looked up at his face. It was dripping with pain and sadness. There in the deep pools of his eyes was a force that I didn’t understand.

Something was tearing him apart from the inside out. No tears were in his eyes, but I could hear it in his head. I could picture a little boy crying in a dusty corner. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer to him. 

“It’ll be okay, Michael. I will
always
love you. Everything’s going to work itself out, you’ll see.” I buried myself in his scent. It was him, Michael,
my
Michael. I could feel that little part of my heart I was trying to hold back slipping. Michael, with all his charm and mystery, was the only man I wanted to be with.

We sat like that for quite a while, the storm gathering closer to us. When the wind began to whip and gust, we both realized we were cold and underdressed for the weather. We felt a little too far from the house and broke apart, standing. My feet had fallen asleep. I put my hands in my back pockets and stepped back from him a little. He seemed like, whatever he had been dealing with, he was mostly over it now.

He looked at me mischievously and smiled, putting his arm around me. “So. Can I see one of these
superpowers?
” His eyes sparkled and a small grin spread across his face. 

“Boys!” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “You’re all the same.” I walked in a circle, looking on the ground for something sharp. “Okay, the one I know the best involves healing. It hurts—but it’s really cool.” I found a jagged looking branch on the ground and began to try to dislodge it from its entanglements. 

Michael stood up with a look of concern on his face. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. Watch.” I finally broke off a chunk and examined it. “Yep, that’ll do.” It looked like a giant shark’s tooth. I held it in my right hand and lifted it high over my head. Before I could change my mind or hesitate, and in the midst of Michael’s protests, I stabbed it down into my other hand as hard as I could.

“Airel! Are you okay?”

I growled in pain. I held my hand up, the chunk of branch buried and standing up in my palm. I wanted to do that little hopping dance that people do when they stub their toe or whatever. But I kept my courage by looking in Michael’s eyes. I could feel my hand begin to itch. I yanked the thing out of my palm and tossed it away. I held my bloody hand out to him, and we watched as the blood flowed, carrying little bits of dirt and bark and splinters with it.