Human (20 page)

Devin gently laid me down on the bed, getting on top of me. I reached out, placing my hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment, nuzzling my fingers. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me, crushing my lips against his in an almost bruising kiss. I'd never wanted anyone like I wanted him right now. Just as I slid my hand under his shirt, he abruptly broke the kiss and sat up, panting.

"Ariel, you make me forget things." He took my hand and pulled me into a sitting position, so I ended up looking straight into his black eyes.

"That's good, isn't it?" I really wanted to continue what we'd been doing.

"Yeah." He smiled, but then frowned. "No. No, it's not."

"Look, I'm not doing this only because I feel sorry for you or anything." I leaned in, trying to steal another kiss, but he moved away.

"It's not that," he said, a pained expression on his face.

"Just don't tell me you want to marry me first because I'm not going to..." I ended up laughing at the perplexed look he was giving me. "Ok, never mind."

"Can I just hold you?" he said, and I nodded. He was right. This wasn't the right moment. My emotions were all over the place today. As we settled back on the bed, his arm around me and my head resting on his chest, I realized I was so afraid of never seeing him again that my heart hurt.

I stood only two feet away from the door that led to the human world, fighting back tears. Devin smiled at me, squeezing my hand encouragingly. Leonard was watching us from the corner, his face free of any form of emotion. Luckily for us, Maliadades had stayed in his throne room, probably thinking seeing me leave was not worth the effort. But Leonard was here, and I knew Maliadades would be able to find a way to get the details out of him, so I couldn't really say much to Devin.

"It's time, Ariel," Leonard said, and I hugged Devin fiercely to myself.

"Take care of yourself," he said softly, his hand caressing my cheek. A lump formed in my throat, and it was suddenly very hard to breathe. How could I just leave him here and not shatter into a million little pieces? I could. I could because I had to find a way how to save him. I'd do it. Biting back tears, I kissed him, long and deep, until we were both breathless.

"I'll be back for you," I whispered into his ear. Leonard gave me an impatient look, and I stepped towards the door. Devin didn't move from where he was, a forced smile plastered to his lips. Taking a deep breath and glancing one more time at the boy who owned my heart, I walked out of Hell.

I emerged from the cave into a bright sunny day. My eyes hurt from so much light, and I had to blink a few times before I could actually recognize the shapes in front of me. The fresh air felt heavy in my lungs, making me cough. It was incredible how unaccustomed to my world I'd become. After a few tries, I finally got out of the woods and reached the busy, but very familiar, street. I was home, but I felt like an alien.

My vision blurred just as I started running towards my house. If everything had gone right, my family was miles away from here, but the house was my best shot at finding out where they were. Maybe they'd left a note for me, or I could at least use the phone to call them. The only problem was that my mind didn't want to cooperate because a vision was pushing through so viciously that I staggered. Could Devin already be in trouble?

I'm standing in
an unfamiliar room, right in front of a huge bed with white sheets and pillows. My sister is huddled on it, her face full of tears. Her brown hair is carefully braided, and she is wearing a long white gown, which makes her look like a true angel.

"Ariel! Please tell me you can see me! Please!" she says desperately. Her eyes are focused on me, but I don't think she see
s me. Panic seizes me as I realize her eyes are violet.

"Christina! Where are you?" I yell, trying to walk over to her, but, once again, I can't move. "Christina!"

"Ariel?" She sniffs, sitting up and looking around, her eyes as wide as a startled deer's.

"Christina, what's going on? Where are you?" I say, wishing I could comfort her somehow, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do but hope she c
an hear me too.

"Oh, thank God, Ariel! I've been trying to get to you for days! You need to get me out of here! Please!"

"Where are you?"

"In Heaven," she cried. "Please. I hate it here. I miss you..."

I was back on the street, leaning against the wall, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. My sister was in Heaven? How had that happened? I needed some answers and fast. Hoping I wouldn't get another vision, I ran as fast as I could to my house, shoving people out of my way. I didn't care about the curses that followed me or the irritated car horns; the only thing that mattered was to find out how had my sister ended up in Heaven.

There was no need for me to bang on the door or find a spare key because the door of my house opened as soon as I gripped the knob.

"Mom? Dad?" I yelled, walking further inside, shocked that everything looked just like the usual. I could even swear I smelled my mom's favorite coffee.

"Ariel?" I heard my mom's surprised voice coming from the kitchen and immediately ran to her. Hugging her close to me to check if she was real, I let out a sigh of relief. She was fine and unharmed.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon. Did something happen on your trip?" She frowned, her eyes filling with worry. "Is Tina back too?"

I looked around me and realized that everything really was like the usual, like my parents had no idea what was going on. My dad was probably at work. And, oh my God, what had she just said? Surely Amadeo hadn't used magic to make my mom believe.... Anger boiled through me. There better be a reasonable explanation for this, or I was going to kill him.

"No... Only my class returned earlier." I smiled, hoping she wouldn't notice the tension in my shoulders.

"Oh," she said, the corners of her lips going up, but she looked suspicious. Yeah, like I could ever fool mom without using the stupid magic.

"I'm just going to my room," I said. "I'm so tired."

"Do you want me to get you something to eat?" She reached for a plate of cookies that was on the counter.

"No, I ate already." Still smiling, I ran upstairs to my room. I didn't have time to be happy to see all my things again, but I did give a squeeze to my plushie while I fumbled through papers to find Amadeo's number.

Tapping my foot nervously as I waited for Amadeo to pick up, I walked over to the mirror and stared at my hazel eyes. Yeah, all was the same in the human world.

"Yes?" Amadeo said cheerfully from the other end of the line. It took all of my willpower not to throw the phone across the room.

"Where is my sister?" I hissed, not bothering to be nice to him. If he had done what I suspected he had, he didn't deserve any niceties from me.

"Ariel? Is that you? You're alive?" he said, not hiding his surprise. What? You'd been hoping I was dead? Great.

"Yes, it's me," I said. "And I think you owe me an explanation."

"Your sister is perfectly safe. I did what was the best for her," he said. "You know, we shouldn't be discussing this over the phone. Can I come to see you?"

"If you can fly yourself to my house in less than five minutes, then, by all means, come."

"I'll be right there." He hung up. I slammed the phone back to its place and leaned on my dresser. Closing my eyes, I focused on my wings, but nothing happened. So the angel eyes and wings thing worked only in Hell. Good to know. I went over to the window and opened it wide, ignoring the chilly winter air coming inside. The long black coat and dark blue sweater Leonard had gotten for me in Hell were quite warm.

The fluttering of wings drew my attention to the window just in time to see Amadeo flying inside. He was as gorgeous as ever in his faded jeans and a black leather jacket, his dark brown hair shadowing his face. The smile he flashed me sent shivers down my spine, but I wasn't going to end up admiring his beauty. Not right now.

"What did you do?" I said accusingly, crossing my arms in front of me. He didn't come any closer to me, which meant he wasn't stupid and could see how upset I was.

"Does it really matter?" I said. "I asked you to do one thing for me. I wanted you to get my sister and my parents away from here. Tell me what went wrong."

"How did you get back from Hell?" He eyed me carefully. "How do I know you're not working for those filthy demons now?"

"They had to let me go," I said, not willing to share my secrets with him. "Hell's rules."

"I couldn't do what you asked me to. You know Heaven is the safest place for your sister. Convincing your parents to run around the world with Christina was a bad idea. You have to realize that." He gave me a compassionate look like I was stupid or slow.

"Yeah, but you
could
actually use magic on them to convince them we were on some stupid school trip!"

"Ariel, I'm an angel. I know what's the best. Trust me. Your sister is fine," he said. "I don't know what you dreamed or think you saw, but she's perfectly fine."

"Well, I'm half-angel and I don't trust you," I said. "Take me to her. Now."

"I can't. It's against the rules," he said. "I really wish I could, but you were in Hell and no one will give you permission to come through the gate of Heaven. But you could write a letter to your sis and I can take it to her."

If looks were daggers, he'd be dead by now. Oh, I could only imagine what would happen with my letter. Maybe they'd even force Christina to write something back. Were all angels messed up in the head? My sister wasn't, so that kind of gave me hope, but the only angel I could talk to right now was the beautiful bastard in front of me.

"No. You'll talk to your angel friends and convince them to let my sister go. I don't need to go to Heaven to see her. I want her back right here with me and our family. She belongs here."

"If you bring your sister here, she will be an easy target for demons," he said. "Have they brainwashed you in Hell so you'd betray your own sister?"

"Ariel! Ariel! Hurry! They found my parents...our mother! They'll bind me to Heaven if you don't come for me. Ariel!!
"

The fear in my sister's voice tore through me. I wasn't going to let the angels take her away from me.

"Will you at least show me how to get into Heaven and see my sister?" I said pleadingly, hoping I could fool him. "I only want to see her. Nothing else."

"Sorry. I can't."

"Please. You have to understand me. I need to know she's safe. Wouldn't you want to check on Italia too if she were in this situation?" If he said no to me now, he was a heartless monster.

"I really can't do anything. The gate is closed right now." He sounded honest. Somehow I knew it would be too late if I waited for the gate to open.

"Fine. Then go. I'll prepare a letter for her," I sighed, faking resignation.

"Sure. Just call me when you're done." Amadeo smiled. I nodded, sitting down on my bed. I heard the fluttering of wings, and just like that, he was gone. So he could get a letter through a closed gate? Riiiight. I closed my eyes, emptying my mind of everything but an image of my sister. Come on, visions, be useful for once!

"Ariel!"

"Christina? Tell me how to get to Heaven! Hurry!" I say, not seeing anything in front of me except of blinding light.

"There's a gate... behind Amadeo's house. Right between the two oak trees! Just walk through it!"

"Do I have to open the gate?"

"No. Our mother will do it. Just hurry!"

Our mother? She must have meant our biological angel mother. Was she helping us or trying to lure me to Heaven too? What if the whole thing was just a ploy to bring me to Heaven? Did they think I needed saving? There was no time to ponder on that, so I sneaked out of the house. My sister would never do anything to harm me.

It wasn't hard to find the oak trees Christina had been talking about. I wasn't sure were Amadeo and Italia at home, but it didn't really matter because I knew I could be fast enough to get to the gate before they even noticed me. Running with all I had in me, I closed my eyes, praying it would work. There was a strange rush of energy, and when I finally opened my eyes, I found myself in a small meadow. The sun was shining from a perfectly blue sky, and it was so warm that I immediately had to take off my coat. I could hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing around just like on the most beautiful summer day. The sweet smell of flowers was nearly overwhelming. Wow, Heaven really was nice, and the air was amazingly fresh.

I didn't have time to admire the nature because my sister was waiting somewhere for me. But how was I supposed to find her? It looked like I was in the middle of nowhere. Turning around to figure it out in which direction Christina might be, I heard someone gasp. There was a beautiful woman standing under a tree, her blue dress draped over her like a toga. Her violet eyes were wide in shock, one hand covering her mouth. Just like Christina's in my vision, her long brown hair was braided down her back, and she had the most beautiful olive skin I'd ever seen. Yeah, angels were unbelievably gorgeous.