Archangel Evolution (11 page)

“My lord, we now have the firepower we have
been seeking. I recommend we march out in the next battle and
decimate the demon army. In our evolved state we cannot be
stopped.”

The strength of David’s words resonated with
others around the table. Percy and Sarah were nodding, and Lucas
seemed to be hanging on his every word. Only Cassandra and Johanna
appeared unmoved: Cassandra was more interested in gawking at
herself in the portable mirror she had brought to the Council
meeting, and Johanna was probably still angry with the boy for the
way he had spoken to her in earlier meetings.

Dionysus said, “What about the girl?”

“She is only one, we are many. We will crush
HER!” David slammed his fist on the table when he said
her
,
emphasizing his point. Cassandra flinched and almost dropped her
mirror.

“Your point is well-taken, but I would
propose a slightly different course of action. Look, we are in no
danger at the moment. The demons, as usual, are probably waiting
for us to make the next move. And we will. But not yet. At this
point, we do not fully comprehend what the girl is able to do, or
what our new bodies are capable of. We need to know what we’re
dealing with.”

David said, “What do you propose?” The
man-child’s voice sounded so different that Dionysus found himself
shuddering each time he spoke. He would need to do something about
that too, maybe force him to speak in a voice changing device that
made him sound like a little kid again.

“I propose we train. We learn about our new
powers and ensure we understand how to use them most effectively
before we fly into battle like a bunch of testosterone-crazed
teenagers that just hit puberty. At the same time, we’ll enlist one
of our demon spies to keep tabs on the girl, and gather intel about
her powers. Once we are informed, we’ll plan our next move.”

“Interesting,” David said. “I am willing to
live with that.” Dionysus smiled. He had been somewhat concerned
that there might be dissension in the New Archangels, especially
because the boy was so unpredictable. Now he knew that David was on
his side, just another pawn to be used. “Thank you, David. Your
agreement is appreciated. I propose a vote!”

As expected, the voting was unanimous.

A
single bead of
sweat twisted and turned and meandered down Taylor’s face. It
paused mid-cheek and quivered for a moment, as if it were fighting
gravity and losing, before continuing to her chin. The droplet
reached the edge and fell to the ground, making a tiny splash that
went unnoticed by anyone in the stadium.

“I can do this,” Taylor said under her
breath. Despite her stronger, more capable body, her muscles ached
and her lungs burned. She had been training for two hours
straight—no breaks, no water, no rest—and had barely learned
anything. All she had been able to do was to create a small orb
about the size of a basketball, which had taken more than an hour
to accomplish. During that time, she had basically been standing
still, so she was surprised at the toll it had taken on her.
Gabriel explained that every angel act—whether mental or
physical—had a physical component to it. Therefore, the thirty or
forty attempts to harness the power of light to create a ball of
energy had been the equivalent of running about twenty miles, based
on Gabriel’s estimations. Taylor felt like she had run a hundred
miles—or more. But her new and improved body managed to sustain her
in a way that never before would have been possible.

For the last thirty minutes she had been
trying to fly. “You can do this,” she repeated as she took her
first step. They had started with hovering, but Taylor was unable
to encourage her wings to break from the skin and muscles in her
back. You can’t hover if you don’t have wings. Changing tactics,
Gabriel had instructed her to try a running start, almost like an
airplane speeding down a runway. The hope was that the forward
momentum, along with a high jump at the end, would allow her
instincts to take over, thus forcing her wings out.

The first three times she had crash landed
before ever really taking off. But she had stayed true to her
promise to Gabriel that she would not get frustrated, and had kept
trying.

She sped up, turning her light jog into a
run, faster than any human being could move. She hissed over and
over again: “You can do it, you can do it, do it, do it, do it…”
Taking her already blazing speed up another notch, she began
sprinting down the field. Unlike even the fastest football players,
who might be able to go end zone to end zone in thirteen or
fourteen seconds, Taylor got there in three. Waiting until the last
possible second—just before she reached the end of the grassy
field—Taylor leapt skywards with all her might, higher than she had
ever jumped, willing her body to take over, releasing her mind to
her angel instincts.
The monkey tittered at her while licking an
ice cream cone. Chocolate, of course.
Gravity took over and
slammed her down forcefully. Except this time she didn’t have soft
grass to land on. She careened into the metal bleachers, crunching
them under her steely angel frame. “Ahhh!” she yelled.

In seconds Gabriel was by her side, still
smiling. He had been smiling the whole day. Either he was trying to
be positive for her sake, or he was amused by her struggles. Either
way, it annoyed her, but she dared not complain. “You’re bleeding,”
he said.

“You think?” Taylor said sarcastically,
giving herself a minor reprieve from her pent up anger.

Lifting a mangled piece of metal bleacher
that had wrapped around her arm, Gabriel said, “It’s not deep.
Watch it heal.”

As soon as the offending metal was removed
from the wound, Taylor watched as the steady stream of white blood
that poured from her skin became a trickle and then stopped
completely, of its own accord. The three-inch gash became
two-inches, and then one, her skin knitting itself together as if
she was watching the speeded up process of an injury healing
through the use of stitches over the course of a few months.
“Awesome,” Taylor breathed.

“Okay, break over,” Gabriel said, clapping
his hands together. “We need maintenance over here!”

Grudgingly, Taylor picked herself up. Gabriel
didn’t offer a helping hand.
That was a break? Taking two
minutes to watch my arm stop bleeding?

Taylor watched as two demons jumped
effortlessly from the field to the raised seating area. They
carried a fresh segment of metal bleachers. Working quickly with
metal saws, they cut away the section she had destroyed, and
replaced it with the fresh piece. All day the maintenance team had
been chasing her around, cleaning up after her mistakes. Like
replacing light bulbs she had fried, replacing divots of grass she
had torn up, and now, repairing stadium hardware, like the
bleachers.

Trying to control her simmering frustration,
Taylor hopped down from the seats and strode back onto the field
where Gabriel waited for her. He said, “Flying’s not so easy, even
with wings.”

“I don’t have wings. At least, not anymore.
It’s like they’ve disappeared.”

“Trust me, they’re there. The scans showed
them healthy and strong and ready for flight. The first time’s
always the hardest.”

“But it’s not the first time,” Taylor said,
remembering how she had hovered magnificently in the air before
wreaking havoc on the Archangels. At the time, the experience had
seemed so real, vivid, but now it felt like just a memory of a hazy
dream.

“The other one doesn’t count. You weren’t
trying then. It’s harder when you’re trying.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Taylor said, hoping
he was right.

“Try again, but this time, don’t think about
flying. Assume you are just going to leap in the air and then come
falling back to the ground, like you would before—when you were
human.”

Taylor nodded, and without responding, took
off down the field. Two seconds and fifty yards later, she planted
both feet firmly on the ground and propelled herself up. Expecting
to come back down, she kept her knees bent and her stance wide, as
she controlled her body in anticipation of recontacting the field.
She closed her eyes

There was a
pop!
and she felt the wash
of wind through her hair. It felt good, as she was still warm and
sweaty from the exertion of the day. The breeze was inconstant,
however, hitting her from behind and then not. From behind and then
not. Like a turning fan, it provided cooling relief one out of
every few seconds. She enjoyed the breeze for a few minutes,
preparing herself mentally for her next attempt at flying.

She heard, “Way to go, Tay!” It was Gabriel’s
voice, but sounded distant—he was still at the other end of the
field, most likely. He had been sarcastic with her all day, with
comments like
Nice one
, or
Impressive!
after each of
her failures. It was really starting to piss her off. Taylor opened
her eyes, ready to yell something like, “Who saved your life when
you got the poo beaten out of you by Lucas?” Instead, she yelled,
“Holy Shnikes!”

Her feet were dangling beneath her and the
field was getting smaller and smaller. At both edges of her
peripheral vision, there were white creatures flashing about.
Angels!
she thought. Dionysus had found her and captured her
and was carrying her away. She glanced to the left, ready to kick
and claw at her attacker. Her breath caught in her throat when she
saw what was there. A brilliantly white, feathery wing gracefully
arced high above her shoulders, and then powered down with a
whoosh!
With each successive cycle, the wing pushed air
across her face, simulating a gust of wind. She was flying!

But how?
She wasn’t thinking about it
and yet the wings performed, propelling her higher and higher, as
if they had minds of their own. Finally, she thought to look up,
and when she did, she saw that she was nearly to the top of the
domed roof. “How do I stop these things!?” she yelled to Gabriel,
who now looked like an ant scurrying across a small rectangle of
grass.

Faintly, she heard Gabriel say, “You control
them, not the other way around! They are just like legs or arms,
your brain just isn’t fully aware of them yet!”

Taylor glanced up again; she was getting
dangerously close to the roof, and she didn’t want to find out what
would happen if she collided with it. A vision flashed in her mind:
her wings clipped the dome, cracking in four places and failing
her, like the propeller on a helicopter stopping in midflight,
allowing gravity to carry her to the earth hundreds of times faster
than she had left it.

“I’m the boss,” she growled through clenched
teeth.
Flying is just like walking, once you get the hang of
it
, Gabriel had explained. Concentrating on these words, she
tried to garner control.

A burst of air hit her as she suddenly shot
forwards, cruising along the edge of the dome. Despite having flown
with Gabriel many times before, Taylor was unprepared for the rush
of excitement she felt. Like every carnival or amusement park ride
twisted into one—all the rollercoasters with their demon drops and
loops and corkscrews, the plunges from incredible heights protected
only by a thin safety strap, the spin-factories and Ferris
wheels—flying solo was a thrill seeker’s wildest dream.

And then she was in control.

Somehow she intuitively understood the nature
of her new appendages, and she dove rapidly for the field, loving
the drop in her stomach that resulted and wishing she could fall
forever. She leveled out and soared towards Gabriel, who was still
earthbound and watching her. Seconds before crashing into her
boyfriend she turned and whipped around him, leaving him in the
wash of moving air that she had created, as if she was a truck
powering down the highway.

Heading upwards again, she looked back over
her left shoulder for Gabriel’s reaction. He was gone. Something
brushed by her right side and past her. She heard Gabriel say,
“Tag, you’re it.”

Turning to face forwards again, she saw him
flying out in front of her, putting more and more distance between
them. “It’s on!” Taylor yelled, as she mentally spurred her wings
to speed up. They completed a lap around the dome. And then
another. Despite her best efforts, however, he seemed to continue
to gain on her.
There has to be something else I can do,
Taylor thought.

She stopped flying to think about it for a
moment, hovering delicately in the air. A thought was on the tip of
her tongue, but she couldn’t quite pluck it off. Something to do
with angel abilities. Powers. How to magnify her powers! That’s it!
She remembered Gabriel telling her at the beginning of the training
that harnessing the power of light was the most important thing she
could learn, because it would need to be combined with all her
other powers to magnify them. To catch Gabriel, she would need to
use more light power.

She waved her hand in front of her face to
gauge her current energy level. Her hand was glowing, but only
dimly, barely even noticeable under the bright stadium lights.
Reaching her hand towards the nearest pocket of overhead lights,
Taylor tried to extract their inherent power. Immediately her hand
glowed brighter and brighter until it wasn’t glowing anymore—it was
shining! Not nearly as bright as the sun, and just short of a light
bulb, her hand’s light appeared more distant, like that of a star.
Realizing she might blow out the bulbs like she had earlier that
morning, she picked the next set of lights and stole as much of
their energy as she could. Growing in confidence, she started
flying again, but continued to soak up light-energy wherever she
saw it.