He nods.
‘But …’ I whisper, ‘that can’t be right. I told you that already.’
‘I can’t change this for you. It is what it is.’
Shae lays her hand on Nathaneal’s shoulder. ‘Please, Thane.’
He gives me a long, considering look, then nods at her.
Shae sits on the low table in front of me and attempts to take my hand. Instinctively I pull away. She flinches and flicks Nathaneal a hurt look. He nods encouragingly and she turns back to me.
‘Nathaneal is telling you the truth,’ she says. ‘I am your sister. And I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.’ She smiles tentatively. ‘I wish I’d had the chance to do all those things a big sister is supposed to do for you.’ Tears swell in her eyes and my heart softens towards this young woman, but in no way does this mean I’m her sibling.
‘I would have helped you with your studies,’ she elaborates, ‘and especially with procuring your powers,’ she adds. ‘With all that we’ve heard about them –’
‘Shae,’ Nathaneal interrupts.
The tears begin to flow and she sniffs. ‘Our parents have struggled with your absence, Ebrielle, always wondering, worrying. They still pray in the Temple every day for your safe return.’ A wave of emotion radiates from her and hits me with the force of strong wind.
‘Oh, for pity’s sake, child,’ Jezelle’s husky tones ring out, ‘can’t you see how much damage you’ve caused this family already?’
‘Jez!’ Nathaneal snaps.
But Jez has an agenda: humiliating me, though why I have no idea. She doesn’t know me, so I can’t have wronged her in the past. What is her problem? It’s obvious she wants Nathaneal, and since I’m the new girl, would she see me as a threat? ‘Shae’s willing to accept you,’ she says, ‘which is quite a generous gesture, if you ask me.’
‘Which nobody is,’ Isaac mutters.
‘Are you incapable of feeling anything?’ she harps on. ‘Or is your lack of emotion because you’re not really Shae’s sister? Are you a fraud, Ebony Hawkins?’
Nathaneal yells, ‘That’s enough, Jez!’
I look up then and meet her eyes. ‘Aha!’ she gasps excitedly. ‘She doesn’t believe she’s Ebrielle herself!’ She walks up to Nathaneal and says softly, ‘Thane, darling, how did you get this so wrong?’
Nathaneal glowers at her. He takes a step towards her and the air around him distorts like waves of invisible plasma.
Gabriel grabs hold of his arm. ‘Not worth the reprimand, Thane.’ Nathaneal eventually nods, but Gabriel keeps hold of him anyway.
Jezelle flicks a hand at me as if I’m less significant than a fly. ‘Seriously, does anyone really believe this girl is Ebrielle?’
Nathaneal drags air through gritted teeth, but unperturbed she continues, ‘Look at her, Thane. She’s weak like a human. Even her eyes lack the intensity of our species.’
Shae tilts her head for a better angle. Isaac and Gabriel check me out too. I feel like the main event at a freak show. Whatever they see, or don’t see, they keep to themselves. Only Michael doesn’t come over, but that could be because he doesn’t want to leave the door unattended.
Nathaneal’s belief in me is not enough to convince me though. And I can understand Jezelle’s doubts. ‘Jezelle is probably right, and I think you all know that I’m not this girl “Ebrielle”,’ I say. ‘You can all go home, because that’s where I’m going right now.’
My admission starts the group arguing among themselves. Shae gets right into Jezelle’s face, accusing her of exploiting my insecurities. But to my thinking, Jezelle’s arguments are the more believable.
‘The proof is in the eyes,’ Jezelle says. ‘Humans have dull, lacklustre colours. That girl’s eyes tell us all we need to know.’
I slide forward on to my elbows and bury my head in my hands so I don’t have to see them all looking at me.
I should be pleased of this ‘proof’ that I’m not one of them. So I don’t understand why instead I suddenly feel bereft. Whatever the reason, I can’t think clearly among the swirls and ebbs of their emotions. So when they calm down, I’m going to get up, walk outside and phone Dawn to pick me up.
As if understanding how desperate I’m feeling, Nathaneal yells at them to get out. The room falls silent and I feel the heat from their staring eyes burning through the top of my head.
I hear whispers of apologies, but Nathaneal doesn’t want to hear any of them. He’s too angry, and again he asks them to leave, adding, ‘I need to talk to Ebony alone. We’ll meet again in the chapel annex in one hour. Jez, Shae, both of you will prepare Ebony. I’ll bring her to you soon. Isaac, you will escort the girls to the chapel. Gabriel, you will instruct Jordan. Michael, you will officiate.’
I feel Michael’s gaze on me and I look up. ‘It will be my honour, my lady,’ he says.
As they begin to file out, Nathaneal pulls Michael aside. ‘Nothing must go wrong now, Michael.’
‘Nothing will. You have my word.’
Nathaneal holds the door open and points to Jordan. ‘You need to leave too.’
‘No way, dude. I told Ebony I wouldn’t leave her side and I’m not going to break that promise for anything.’
In a low, implacable voice he insists. ‘You will go now and you will stay close to Gabriel.’
Jordan storms out, slamming the door behind him, and the only sound I hear then, other than my own heart beating, is Nathaneal’s.
He sits beside me and takes my hands gently in his. Then, tilting my chin up with his thumb, he scrutinises my face as if locking it into his memory. ‘Dear, sweet Ebony, how very human you are.’
‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!’
‘You seem human because you were raised to believe you are, but, Ebony, you are every measure an angel – as much as I am. You just need time to assimilate into our culture, to live among us and to feel deep inside your heart that you belong.’
He takes a breath and smiles. My heart skitters. Can I really belong in Nathaneal’s world?
‘I promise,’ he says, ‘you will come to love Avena with every fibre of your being. Ebony, I want to be the one to take you home.’
‘But my eyes – you heard what she said. It’s true; they’re as dull as mud.’
‘Jezelle can see no one’s beauty except her own, and your eyes are far from dull.’
‘You people are all stunning. I’m not even pretty. I’m less than ordinary.’
‘I may have to work on your eyesight first.’ He smiles.
‘My eyesight is fine. It’s better than fine.’
‘Your hearing and your memory, are they better than fine too? What about your speed? I hear you run like the wind.’
‘I know what you’re trying to do.’
‘Is it working?’
A small smile escapes.
‘And then there is the emergence of your wings.’
I glance down at my lap and, biting on my lower lip, a tear escapes and I have to wonder why? Do I want wings now?
‘What is it?’ His face clouds over with concern.
‘They disappeared. I noticed last night. I was so relieved I cried, but now …’ I bite down on my lower lip again, this time to stop it trembling.
He leans so close the heat from his face warms mine. With his thumb under my chin he tilts my head, ever so gently, until I’m looking directly into his eyes. They are as true and deep and mesmerising as only the deepest part of an ocean could be, if lit by an underwater sun. ‘But now?’
‘I feel as though I’ve lost something.’
He smiles and sighs blissfully.
‘Why do you sound relieved? They would have been proof.’
‘It’s uncomfortable to have your wings partially emerged for any extended period of time. Your need to stretch them would be like an itch you can’t reach. And as for proof, if you feel the need to show the others, there may still be a mark where they emerged. If you’re willing, I could take a look, or I c
ould call Shae back. She’d be here before I ended the mind-link.’
‘You don’t understand. There’s nothing left. Nothing. They’ll think I made it up. And please don’t call Shae. I’ve disappointed her enough already. No one will believe me now, Nathaneal, especially Jezelle.’
‘Don’t worry about Jez.’
‘She needs proof. I understand that because it’s how I operate. Without proof there is only conjecture. If I had partial wing-growth, a mark or a feather or something that might convince her, and me, but now …’ I shrug.
He leans his forehead down to mine, almost touching. He smells amazingly of the woods and I breathe in deeply, trying to surround myself in it and forget everything else.
‘Will you show me?’
I nod and he moves back while I stand and slide Amber’s coat off my shoulders. Turning my back to him, I undo the top few buttons of my shirt, enough to allow my shoulders to fall bare.
His inhalation is sharp and sudden, his heart kicks into a faster beat, and when his fingertips touch my skin a shuddering wave of awareness tightens muscles in my stomach and all sorts of places. My heart beats as fast as his now, and my instincts urge me to lean backwards into him. But if I did, would he embrace me? Or would he put distance between us?
He whispers, ‘Amazing.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re right, there’s no indication of wing generation. Nothing at all.’
‘I told you. So you see, there’s no way to explain what those growths were.’
He turns me around. ‘It just means you have healthy muscle and skin tissue. It’s what we call a perfect healing and indicates the possibility that one of your powers is likely to be healing.’
And while he tells me this he traces my chin with his finger, moving slowly around my jaw to my lips. His light, gentle touch ignites a fire inside me that makes me alternate between shivering and feeling feverish.
But even with these escalating sensations I have to ask, ‘Do you still believe I’m the kidnapped angel you’re looking for?’
He murmurs, ‘Without a doubt.’
‘But how can you be so sure?’
‘I just know …’ he murmurs, touching his chest with his fist, ‘in here. And I don’t want you to doubt yourself any more.’
‘That’s not so easy for me.’
He leans down as if … as if he might kiss me. My mouth opens in a soft gasp and my bottom lip trembles. The heat generating between us as his mouth hovers over mine makes my temperature rise and my knees go weak. His hand plunges into my hair and I arch my neck and wait with sweet anxiousness for his mouth to press into mine.
But he doesn’t do anything but sigh. ‘You’re sixteen.’
I open my eyes. ‘Does it count that I don’t care?’ My voice is a whisper, husky and practically unrecognisable. ‘It was just a little … I mean … you were just going to …’
‘Kiss you.’
‘Yes.’
‘Nothing little about it.’
‘Why did you … not … kiss me?’
‘I’ve searched most of my life for you, constantly thinking of you, wondering and talking with you in my mind. And now that you’re really here, I don’t trust myself to stop at one.’
‘So it’s not that you don’t find me … attractive?’
‘If only you were older and in my arms, I’d show you how attractive I find you.’ He groans deep in his throat, as if in real pain, and my heart flutters. ‘Why are the rules so easy to forget in this world?’
‘You’ve been here so long, maybe it’s just what you’re used to now.’
‘That holds true for you too, Ebony.’
‘So how do I change?’
He murmurs, ‘Give yourself permission to trust. Hopefully, after that everything will fall into place.’
‘You make it sound so easy, but I’m not a person who believes easily. I was raised that way.’
‘Raised that way on purpose,’ he reasons.
It’s the truth!
‘Ebony, the proof is inside your heart. You only need to look.’
My mind flits to a memory I don’t recognise but it leaves me with a sense of belonging that feels important. It’s as if my past is a jigsaw puzzle where one vital piece is within sight and about to drop into place but I just can’t quite reach it. ‘Nathaneal, how is it that I know you? And … and … why do I feel as if I … you … we … belong to each other? Where is this coming from?’
He smiles and laughs simultaneously, and his warm breath blows into my mouth and tastes like honey and sweet wine. ‘I belong to you.’
His words trigger the memory again, but it still eludes me. ‘Help me, Nathaneal. Help me remember.’
‘It’s what you told me once.’
‘I told you? I told you that you belong to me?’
His smile is sweet and arrogant and altogether far too sexy.
‘Then we have met before.’
‘We were much younger, and it wasn’t face to face.’ His playful smile says he’s teasing me, teasing out the memory. He wants me to remember.
With this realisation my heart plummets and my newly formed hopes dissolve, because I understand now. Nathaneal’s not going to come straight out and tell me where we’ve met before, because he needs me to remember.
So much for knowing in his heart! The truth is, Nathaneal is not sure. He has doubts too! I’m not saying he’s lying; I don’t think he could. He’s just not admitting to himself that he doesn’t positively know who I am.
37
Ebony
It’s the spine-tingling whistling sound that makes me look up. Jezelle and Isaac are walking on either side of me, Shae close behind, while silently in front a Brother shows us the way to the chapel.
I walk carefully through the courtyard in a long white silk dress. It’s so similar to the one from my dream that when Shae and Jez first showed it to me I almost passed out. A strange coincidence? I don’t know. But not as strange as what I’m suddenly seeing coming down from the sky.
The sound is that of a meteorite that’s managed to pass through the earth’s atmosphere, but this is no burning rock falling from the sky. Whatever this is, it’s alive.
Glowing in the darkness, it drops like a rocket, a reddish haze around its lower extremities, giving the appearance of burning up.
I blink hard to clear my eyes in case this is a figment of my exhausted imagination. But I soon pick out wings, tucked in by its sides so they’re difficult to make out at first. As this ‘bird’ rockets closer to earth, many more appear behind it, like stars bursting into life.
‘Aracals,’ Isaac shouts.
Shae runs up close and shields me from behind, while Isaac and Jez close the circle around me.
‘Run, Brother Tim! Tell Brother Bernard to prepare a safe room,’ Isaac calls to the Brother slightly ahead of us. He then turns to Shae. ‘Report to the watchtower and find out what’s happening. Get us numbers, whatever you can. Inform Nathaneal. Stay there until you know exactly what’s coming after the Aracals. I’ll meet up with you in the courtyard grounds as soon as I can.’ Her face crumples. ‘Right now, Ebony needs guards around her who are not emotionally attached. Go, Shae, we’ll get Ebony inside. We will keep her safe.’ When she doesn’t release me, he yells, ‘Go!’
Brushing her cheek against mine fleetingly, Shae takes off. Then Jez and Isaac shuck off their coats, release their wings and spin me around so fast my feet don’t touch the ground. Just before their wings wrap around me from both sides, I get a glimpse of black uniforms with weapons hanging from belts at their waist. I peer between Jez’s blue feathers and Isaac’s white, and watch the first Aracal land perfectly on its feet in the centre of a raised flower bed.
I’ve seen these birds before, around the school. Jordan says they’re spies, but this one looks more like a soldier than a spy. As with other Aracals I’ve seen, the eyes of this variety are still the dominant feature, too large for the head, and circular with a
single black dot in the centre, but where the other ones had bright blue irises, these have orange ones that glow like solar flares.
It senses us, turns its head and looks straight at me. When our eyes connect, it shrieks like a banshee. Its wings shoot out at sharp angles like elbows with long, sharp talons at their tips.
Isaac and Jez spin me again. Their desperation shows in the speed with which they whisk me away.
‘Where is this door?’ Jez’s impassioned cry scares me almost more than the creature closing on us.
A look passes between her and Isaac over my head, and the next instant Isaac is loosening his hold on me. He turns and faces off the creature.
‘No!’ I cry out as Jez pulls me further away. ‘We can’t leave Isaac to fight that thing on his own!’
‘If you really are one of us, you have many battles to come, but this one isn’t yours to fight.’
‘But this is my battle.’
‘You’re not ready to fight demons.’
Brother Bernard, bald and barefoot in his white tunic, holds open the heavy steel door.
‘Aren’t you going back?’ I ask Jez when the door locks behind us.
‘Are you giving me orders already?’
‘Yes. No. What do you mean? I just thought to help Isaac, that’s all.’
‘Hmm, well, Nathaneal would have my head on a platter if I left your side now.’
‘Hurry, my ladies, this way.’ Brother Bernard indicates we should follow him into the inner sanctum of the monastery.
But outside I hear more screeching. ‘What’s going on out there?’
‘Aracals are attacking.’
‘But I thought Aracals weren’t bred for attacking.’
‘It would seem that the Dark Prince has engineered stronger ones, which fight like soldiers.’
‘He made them?’
‘He likes to dabble where he shouldn’t by creating his own demons. The Aracal is his most successful species so far.’
Outside, the sounds of screeching have been joined by fighting, swishing swords and bodies hitting hard surfaces. ‘There are more than Aracals attacking out there now. What’s happening?’
Jez receives a message. I see it in her eyes as they find their focus on me, followed by a slight nod. ‘Michael’s called for reinforcements from Avena.’