Authors: Laura Kreitzer
“
Yes, baby. You’re the chosen one—the one who will light the darkness.” She didn’t sound upset—she sounded proud.
Aiden put a hand on my shoulder, and Andrew flinched behind Abelie, as if he was nervous about the Shadow being so close to me. In my head, I remembered Andrew saying he knew Aiden as Abelie’s angel husband, not the Shadow before us. I wondered briefly if this was the same being Andrew remembered.
I looked up into the face of the Shadow—a creature that I had once feared. There was no horror in his presence. Just like with my mom, I practically leapt into his arms like a four-year old jumping up to meet her daddy’s embrace. His arms burst into flame when he grabbed a hold of me. There was no heat from the fire, only an enormous amount of love engulfing me, as if the cool flames held his feelings. He spun me around and placed a kiss on my forehead.
“
My sweet Gabriella,” he whispered in relief.
When he put me down, I looked between my parents and a million questions flew through my mind. The one I wanted to ask the most, the one that I had been trying to find the answer to for years, came bounding out of my mouth.
“
Why did you leave me? How—”
“
Sweetie,” Abelie cut in, rose to her feet, and placed her palms on my cheeks. “We didn’t want to leave you. We tried to keep you hidden for five years, but one day a Shadow found you. His name was Jeff—a nickname he acquired after seeking out and killing twenty-seven mortals named Jeff. He wore the name like a trophy. We fought him off, as we had in the past, before your birth.”
The images bobbed their way to the surface. When I was in pain and the blackness consumed me . . . they were running from a Shadow. Jeff. I hated him. How many times did an angel have to cast one of them out? But even as the images unfolded before me, it was hard to tear my eyes away from my parents. My parents. I tried to contain my smile.
“
I met Jeff,” I admitted.
“
What?” growled Aiden and Andrew at the same time. Watching the two of them, their faces angry, was funny to me for some reason. I swallowed the giggle before it could surface.
“
He was disguised as an FBI agent,” I continued.
“
Wait,” Joseph interrupted. I had almost forgotten he was here. When I turned to look at him, he had dried blood on his face and down his neck, making his appearance look brutal. I was surprised he hadn’t freaked out by this point. Hell, I was surprised I hadn’t freaked out. “Jeff was a Shadow?”
“
Yes,” both men answered. Joseph’s face distorted into a grimace.
“
Anyway,” Abelie continued, “we didn’t want to give you up. We cried over you and fought against the whole unbelievable idea, but we knew if you were to survive, you would have to live a life far away from angels and the supernatural. We’ve watched you grow up when we were able to get away,” Abelie explained. “We knew you were safe and happy. Your adoptive parents did a wonderful job in your upbringing.”
That brought me to my next train of thought. “How was I human and now I’m not, and my memory?” I mumbled.
“
You were such a smart little girl,” Abelie reminisced fondly. Now, more than ever, I wished I could remember the time before. “It was amazing how resourceful you were, even at such a young age. Your memory was perfect.” Aiden wrapped an arm around Abelie as she began to cry. “We—we cast a spell that turned you human. Your blood ran red, and then you couldn’t remember a time before that. We didn’t realize that would be the side-effect, but we were happy that it was so, because we didn’t know how we would explain the situation to you.” Her shoulders shook with her quiet sobs. “And we knew that the angels couldn’t find you, and if they did, they wouldn’t know you were the Illuminator. The whole world would know you as human, not angel. We did it to keep you safe. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do in four thousand years.
“
What we didn’t even think about was that you would one day possess a gift beyond being the Illuminator. We should’ve known. Everyone felt the shockwave you emitted. I knew how smart you were, and so I sent you a chest with a key.”
I nodded, stunned. “Two keys,” I corrected.
“
Two?”
“
Yeah.”
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Huh,” she said, bewildered. “That’s strange.”
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No, the Shadow was strange.”
“
There was a Shadow?” She gasped. “I left you a message with the key to the Divine Library, explaining what it went to—just in case something happened to me or Aiden.”
“
There was no message, only a Shadow.” I paused.
“
Wha—what happened, did he hurt you?” Abelie’s hands flailed around my body, searching for any signs of harm.
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No, I’m fine. Apparently all the damage happened in my head. He tore my office apart, but when he left everything was normal again.”
“
Gabriella, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I was only trying to provide a way for you to get some answers about your life.”
“
Why didn’t you just come to me?”
“
We were afraid that we would lead the Shadows or Ladies of Light to you. They both knew you weren’t dead, but they couldn’t find you. We had to be careful. But—” she hesitated for a second “—who could have tampered with it?”
I shrugged.
“
Did you at least understand that the key was meant for you?” she asked.
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Yes, though it was pretty cryptic, if you ask me.” I smiled.
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I was trying to warn you about the Ladies of Light—that they couldn’t be trusted, no matter how wonderful they seemed.”
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Okay.” I placed my hand on my shirt, which was still wet with my golden blood, and pulled it away. I placed my palm toward them and asked, “But why and how did I turn back into an angel?”
Abelie sighed and Aiden answered this time. “We don’t have the answer to that. But I’m pretty sure it’s because you’re the Illuminator. No spell or powerful charm will keep you from becoming who you were meant to be. Deep down, I think we knew that. It was still incredibly hard to let you go. It was for your protection, you have to understand that.”
“
I do.”
Everyone was silent. Thoughts whirled around in my head. There was so much to take in. “How did we get to Italy?” I blurted. The question was reasonable enough, I thought.
Lucia laughed, an enchanting sound. “My dear Illuminator, I’m able to manipulate dimensions. I opened up a portal and sent us all somewhere else for a second before I sent us here.”
I shook my head, trying to comprehend what she just told me. Did she seriously just tell me she opened up a portal and sent us to another dimension and then sent us here?
I blinked. “Come again?”
Lucia smiled at my bewildered expression. “It must be hard for you to understand our world, being so new to it, but you should know that you were made to live as an angel, and you will adjust better than anyone else.”
Andrew put his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. “You’re freezing,” he stated. “Let’s get you inside.”
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Inside where?” I asked, looking around. Was I missing a building or a house? I glanced over my shoulder and back around me again. There was nothing but rolling, grassy hills, small, rocky precipices for miles, and massive mountains in the distance.
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The Divine Library.”
“
Really?” Again, my eyes scanned the surrounding area. The sun was almost completely behind the horizon, and I couldn’t see that far. As I did a second sweep across the tall trees to the east, I saw something move within the shadows. I jumped and electrocuted Andrew, who then looked around suspiciously.
“
Let’s go,” he said to everyone. “We aren’t safe out here.”
We aren’t safe out here, I repeated in my head. Ehno nodded toward us, and we walked the opposite direction of the line of trees. Chills ran down my spine, and I couldn’t help but peek over my shoulder again. It was too dark, and I couldn’t make out anything. That didn’t stop the goose bumps from rising on my arms.
The sky was lit with a purplish tint as the sun finally made its way west. Instantly, everything started coming into focus. Shapes that were blurred were now clear and sharp, and that was when I saw them: a line of roughly thirty Shadows. They were dressed in black robes that billowed in the wind, all of them except for one who was dressed in a black suit. Even at this distance, I could see their eyes glow. The two at the end of the line stomped their feet and fire lit between them, illuminating the Shadows in the middle. My heart started to race ahead. I didn’t know what to do, and it seemed that the others didn’t either. We were all frozen in place. When I looked at my angels, their eyes glittered with the reflection of the fire. The scene was eerily like my depiction of hell.
One of the Shadows stepped forward from the fire. He was the only one not wearing black robes. The black suit and cold glare was attached to none other than Jeff Vittorio. There was no reason for him to be wearing his glasses when he was among his own kind. He still looked more human than the others, but the façade was gone, his appearance just as wild looking as the Shadows around him. Their skin was dark and cracked. Inside the cracks it looked like a river of lava flowed. They looked like demons.
Were we going to fight them? Were they here to capture me? How would we survive? My heart beat faster. Instead of staring at our enemies across the way, all I could do was look at the angels and the very human Joseph who would either be a witness to my death or die alongside me. I couldn’t allow that. He was innocent and good and didn’t deserve that fate so young. We couldn’t fight against them all. They were strong. Too strong.
As the Shadows converged upon us, their robes rippled across the ground like flowing water. Electricity burned within me and begged to escape. My heart pounded so fast I thought it would jump right out. As the line of fiery Shadows moved closer, all I could think about was protecting those I had grown to care for. Instead, the angels circled around me and kept me from their view. I hated how they felt obligated to protect me. This was a battle I didn’t want them to fight for me.
Jeff stepped forward through the fire as if it were air, a manic gleam in his eyes. “We don’t have to fight,” he said viciously with a grin spread across his charcoal face. Whatever magic he used to conceal himself when I first met him was gone. “Just give us the Illuminator, and we’ll leave you be.”
Andrew growled and pulled me closer behind his back. If it wasn’t for the situation, I might have raised my eyebrows and asked, “Did you just growl?” Instead, I gripped onto his skin right under his shirt and let the current flow between us.
Let them take me
, I thought, sure he could hear. His head jerked to the side, and the look of disbelief and pain was clear in his eyes.
We can’t fight them. We can’t win. And I can’t lose any of you—especially you
.
Ignoring the fiery Shadows, Andrew spun around and put his warm hands on my shoulders. He looked down, his eyes pleading. “I won’t allow it.”
“
It’s not your decision.”
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We’re not going to hand you over,” he said firmly. His eyes surveyed my face for several seconds, like he was looking for some answer I couldn’t give him.
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Just let me go,” I petitioned.
Andrew frowned and brought me into a comforting embrace. “Please don’t ask me to do this,” he barely whispered against my ear.
I took in his magnificent scent—kind of like honey and the most delectable cologne I’d ever smelled. The electricity burned within me, strong, hot, and fierce. I knew in that moment he could feel my emotions and hear my thoughts. He pulled me away and put his warm hands on my cheeks. This time there was no reason for him to kiss me, no ulterior motive. His lips pressed firmly, yet gently, against my own, and everything around us disappeared. My arms snaked around his neck, and he let go of my face and put his hands on my lower back to pull me to him. I was in heaven, right in the middle of an oncoming battle. And no matter the small amount of time I had known him, I loved him.
We broke free of each other, breathless. His forehead was against mine, and he looked content and distraught all at once.
“
I love you too. That’s why I can’t let you to give yourself over to the Shadows.” Andrew’s gaze was intent.
I sighed heavily. For a whole second I almost gave into his demands. Though his words were sweet and unexpected, I had to make him understand. I repeated part of the prophecy. “As the dark ones approach, the Illuminator should be set free, uninhibited by all Guardians.” I went on in increasing desperation. “You must realize that I know this is what I was meant to do. You need to let me go—it’s the only way.”