Chapter Three
‘Where are you going?’
The young man’s voice made me go still. The dark hallway was my only cover but he had somehow managed to see me. He stood in the entrance to the kitchen. The light from the room behind framed him.
‘To the toilet.’ Lying came much easier than it had to begin with.
After a long dinner with my new hosts, I had deduced that Jason, the son, was one of the kinder Perfects. He openly ignored me most of the evening. When his mother started ranting about Avoidables, he finally spoke up. He shouted at her to stop going on about them before storming to his room.
‘I don’t believe you. Who are you?’
I didn’t know how to react. I had a secret. It was about him. The one memory that had stayed in my mind was about two people that already lived in the city. Jason was one of them. My fellow angel, Arion, had reminded me that two people would be responsible for our mission being a success. He had also told me who they were. I didn’t realise how quickly I would find one of them. But then, nothing was ever a coincidence.
‘I’m William.’
He knew I told the truth. He was partly one of us. An angel. He had been born on the planet, unlike us. He had inhabited a body right from conception. Like most souls did. However, he was originally an angel.
‘Can I talk to you?’
His question threw me off guard. He wanted to talk to me? Was it safe to allow myself to be questioned by him?
‘Of course.’
How could I refuse? I followed him into the kitchen. My skin itched. I had to ignore the calling of my angel nature. I rolled my shoulders as I fought the urge to transform.
‘Do you want something to drink?’
Jason was a polite young man. He handed me a glass of water at my request. When we sat at the breakfast bench, I marvelled at the luxury of the home. It was almost like a mansion. The fridge was stocked with food. The dining table was intricately carved. The carpets were soft on my human feet.
When I had seen the squalor of Lower Side, I hadn’t imagined that the Perfects would live such an extraordinary lifestyle.
‘You seem like a man that’s different somehow,’ Jason said as he sipped his orange juice.
Sadly, the Avoidables hadn’t tasted fresh oranges for centuries. Just over the river, the Perfects mass produced them. Forcing them to grow in unnatural environments so they could still drink their juice and devour the tasty flesh.
‘Why do you say that?’
It was always better to ask a question, instead of trying to explain myself.
Jason leant his arms on the cool surface. I sat opposite him. He lowered his voice as his eyes narrowed on me. ‘You’re not like us. When mother was slating the Avoidables, most Perfects agree with her. You stayed quiet. Why is that?’
The young man was important to our mission. How could I avoid disaster? I needed him to trust me.
‘Some people…’ I sipped my water to give me time to make up my mind. ‘Don’t share exactly the same views.’
It was a gamble. If he was close to his mum, which wasn’t the impression I got, he would tell her what I said. However, if my intuition was right-
‘I agree!’
I smiled. He returned the gesture as he drank down his juice.
‘Sometimes I wonder how so many people can be so…cruel. I mean, why do we treat people the way we treat animals? Actually, we treat animals better than the Avoidables.’
‘You’ve seen the way they treat animals?’ I asked, fascinated by the Perfects scientific get up.
He nodded, turning towards the fridge and pouring himself another drink. He offered the carton to me. My curiosity got the better of me. I allowed him to pour me a glass, too. I hadn’t experienced the taste of orange juice. Just like the Avoidables.
‘Wow, that’s good,’ I said.
The bitter sweet citrus tang hit my tongue and slid down my throat.
‘It’s ordinary.’ Jason glanced at the carton to make sure.
I savoured my drink slowly. Jason watched me, his eyebrows lowered the whole time.
‘I get the impression you’ve never tasted orange juice before.’
I sat up straight. I had given too much away. I had to be careful about what I did. My eyes started to feel heavy. Needing to sleep was a drag on my mission. As an angel, I didn’t need sleep. I didn’t have a body that needed to re-energise.
‘You are different, aren’t you?’ Jason asked.
When I looked at him, he was staring at me. His gaze was intense, which made me question what he saw. I stood up and made my way to the mirror on the wall. There was a mirror in every room in the house. Catherine liked to check her appearance often.
In the dim light, I could see why Jason questioned me. My eyes had a faint glow to them. I glanced back at Jason. His eyes were almost completely hidden in the shade. It confirmed that a part of my angel self was showing.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. Are you an Avoidable?’
I hovered by the mirror for a second more before re-joining him. He reached forward and wrapped his hand around mine. Squeezing my fingers together, he studied my face.
‘Don’t lie to me, William.’ He let go and sat back.
I swallowed, only aware of the fluttering in my stomach. I had heard humans talk about nerves. Sweat lined my palms as I tried to think my way out of the dilemma.
‘I’m not an Avoidable. I’m something a little different.’
If I lied to him, I would break his trust. He sat back on his stool, clapping his hands on his thighs.
‘I’m not quite ready to tell you everything. Will you let me tell you soon?’ I wasn’t quite sure how I could divert his attention away from me. He watched me for a moment before nodding his agreement.
‘Okay,’ he said, jumping off the seat.
I watched him disappear out of the kitchen. His footsteps sounded as he ascended the stairs. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Our conversation had been brief but we had learnt a lot about one another in a short space. I would reveal all to him when the time was right.
Getting to my feet, I crept towards the front door. Jason wasn’t ready to hear what I was. However, I needed to meet with the others and discuss what we had found out about the Perfects.
The door was silent as it closed. I was surprised that there wasn’t more security at the household, considering it held one of the governments biggest officials.
The street outside was empty. Perfects were tucked up in their comfortable beds.
My feet were silent on the pavement as I tuned in to my inner navigator. I followed only my intuition as I ducked down streets. I glanced behind me to check that no one saw me.
A pair of guards patrolled the next road. I froze around the corner, unable to decide what to do. Glancing to the top of the buildings, I made up my mind when I calculated how high they were.
A dark alley lay to my left so I went down it. Taking off the new shirt that John had provided me, I bent forward. My back started to shudder as a crack echoed around me. I breathed deeply, allowing my feathered wings to burst from my back.
If anyone saw me, I would be classed as an Avoidable and maybe even executed. I grabbed my shirt and tucked it under my arm. Looking up, I smiled at the clear gap between the buildings. Flexing my wings, I allowed them to flap.
I lifted into the air. A grin spread on my face when my back stretched from the effort of sending me soaring. I flew up the side of the building and landed on the rooftop.
It took me no time at all to hop across the buildings towards the forest at the north of the city. Once I reached my destination, I glided straight down into the trees.
‘William!’
Paul, one of my angels hissed at me from the shelter of the foliage. He gestured for me to follow him. He was still in the clothes he had arrived in.
We made our way further into the woods before we stopped in a clearing.
‘We can’t be long,’ I an
nounced as the others arrived at the same time. There were ten of us altogether. A nice amount of people to gradually slink into the government.
They striped off their tops. Each shuddered and groaned as their wings burst from their backs. Light emanated from them as they allowed their angel side to show.
‘How did it go?’ Paul asked as we gathered into a circle.
‘I’m actually staying with Catherine and John. They are Jason’s parents.’
The others gasped. The synchronicity was too perfect. We had spoken about what we could do to find the two people that we needed to complete our mission. We had never imagined it would be that easy.
‘The angels above are helping us.’ Paul stretched his wings.
The women in the group stood proud. Their naked top halves didn’t have the same meaning to us. The Perfects and Avoidables were shy of their naked bodies. It was obvious why most of the Avoidables refused to be seen naked but it baffled me that the Perfects were such prudes.
‘Let’s contact them. I need to let them know what we’ve learnt so far.’
They nodded their agreement and held out their hands. When we were joined in a circle, I closed my eyes and allowed my light to grow. The humming that entered the ring vibrated throughout my human body.
‘How is it going, William?’
It was Arion. He stood in the middle of the circle, his arms crossed over his chest. His big frame and powerful light reminded me of what I used to be.
‘It’s going well. I have found the boy.’
‘Good job. You’re welcome,’ he said, looking at his fingernails.
He showed himself as a glowing human form. It was funny to see him through the eyes I now had. It was a completely different experience.
‘Thank you for helping me.’
The others took turns in telling him their news. Paul had befriended an old lady that had invited him into her home. She had old ideals so he was working with her to find out about the current political situation.
Everyone else had found a place to rent. They had befriended at least one Perfect.
‘Remember not to get sucked into their lifestyle. It’s easy for you to forget why you’re here when you have human emotions.’ Arion looked at each one of us but paused when his gaze landed on Paul.
Paul lowered his eyes. His face glowed red. It was something I had never seen happen to an angel. Embarrassment wasn’t an emotion in our world.
‘I’m sorry, Arion. It’s just, some of the women…’
I stifled my grin by putting a hand over my mouth. The physical attraction was completely new to us. We were connected by energy so we didn’t need to send out physical signals. On Earth, even though people were connected by energy too, they needed a bit of encouragement because the darkness had taken over.
‘I will be keeping an eye on you,’ Arion said, unfolding his arms and holding them out.
He crouched before he jumped and soared into the sky.
‘Sorry, William, I…’ Paul started.
His sentence trailed off as we burst out laughing. The humanness in us completely understood him.
‘Some of them are gorgeous!’ one woman said.
I shook my head. I couldn’t help it. She was right.
‘That may be so but we need to stay focused. We’ll be as bad as the Perfects if we start to believe that beauty is all about the outside.’
Their faces straightened. It was a quick reminder of why we were there. My angels would experience living in a different way but they wouldn’t lose sight of our goal.
‘Tomorrow, I’m going to try and get into the government compound. I need to see how it works.’
My skin tingled at the idea of being an insider. It was a thrill to know that no one, except maybe Jason, would know that I wasn’t genuine.
‘That sounds like a good plan. If you can get in there first, you can hire us.’ Paul ran his hands over his taunt stomach. One of the women watched him.
‘Come on then, let’s get back to it. We’ll meet here again in two days.’