Broken Wings: Genesis (22 page)

Ke nodded. “I need to get going. I
have a few things to attend to.” He started to leave, and then stopped, without
turning around. “He was right, you know.”

“About which?”

“About all of it. There is a lot
of Ithane left in you. And no matter what happens, people are going to die, and
you will blame yourself. You have to learn not to do that. It will not be your
fault. Either way people are going to die, no matter what your decision.”

“Unless what the other faction of
angels say is true.” I had to point out. “What if this whole mess does just go
away if we do nothing?”

“Then that’s your decision. Just
be prepared to live with it.”

And then he left, leaving me alone
with the Gate. I thought I caught a ripple on the mirror-like surface, but when
I tried to focus on it, it was gone. Great. Now I was jumping at shadows. But
why hadn’t the angelic hosts replaced the Grigori Guardians? No matter what the
scenario, it didn’t seem like a smart move to me.

I watched Sariel carefully, the
weaves she was working, the way they flowed together. It was an amazing dance
of intertwining colors. So far, that was the extent of what Sariel had been
able to ingrain into my brain. I finally grasped the ability to see the weaves.
I had always been able to see my own, the way they flowed and how they fit
together. For the first time, I could see the way others worked the weaves. In
my opinion, that was a huge step. In the Grigori’s opinion, it was obvious they
only considered it to be a baby step. They didn’t seem concerned with holding
back their feelings of disappointment in my progress, or at least in the lack
of it.

The Grigori teacher held a rock in
her hand. It wasn’t even a pretty rock. It was a bland grey with no smooth edges,
sort of resembling a chunk of broken granite. Her weaves wrapped around the
stone surface, creating a blanket of interlocking colors that started to
permeate the outer layers. The rock had its own pattern of energy that made up
the solidity of its composition. The energy Sariel created was seeping into the
pattern of energy that made up the rock, and was changing it. The energy of the
rock would push back against the change, but Sariel’s energy pushed it gently
back into place, taming it to her will.

It was incredible, the shifting
energies blending into one, changing and morphing into something different
while I watched. The jagged edges of the stone smoothed and pushed outward in
places to form an entirely new shape. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It
started to look like a miniature, winged angel. It took me a moment to realize
it was a butterfly. The colors filled the wings, changing from the stone grey
color of the rock.

When the transition was complete,
Sariel tied off the energy. The creature sat still for a single breathless
moment, and then the wings began to move, gently flapping in the palm of her
hand. The movements were slow at first, and then picked up in speed. Sariel
held her hand up and let the creature go. It hovered briefly, and then started
to fly away, moving in the erratic flight pattern of a real butterfly.
Incredible.

“Now it is your turn.” Sariel
turned to me with a ghost of a smile at my look of amazement.

Now I was even more surprised, and
I’m sure it showed. “You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head. “No. You saw
what I did. You know how to weave energies, we are all too aware of that. Now
it is time for you to learn precision control over the power held within you.”

I started to shake my head. “I
can’t––”

“––is the first phrase you can use
to make sure it will never happen.” Sariel gave me a pointed look.

The look and the tone were
familiar. It was the combination used by the nuns used when they weren’t going
to take any arguments. Father David had a pretty good handle on that look, too.
It meant that no matter what
I
felt or said, I at least had to give it
my best shot.

Sariel reached down and picked up
another rock, similar to the one she had used. Without a word, she put it into
my hand and stood there, waiting for me to begin. There wasn’t any getting out
of it, so I squared my shoulders, focused on the rock and called the energy.

There is a feeling of surprise and
then euphoria when you can tell you are doing something right for the first
time. That was the feeling coursing through me. I watched, amazed at myself, as
the energies folded naturally into the same pattern Sariel had just
demonstrated. They wrapped around the stone, creating a cocoon of colorful
light that danced on the surface and then started sinking down to merge with
the energies of the rock. I both saw and felt the rock’s struggle against the
change, but I pushed back, forcing it to take the shape I was trying to
achieve.

And it happened. The edges began
to smooth, protruding and contracting in all the right areas for it to take on
the form of a butterfly. The euphoria reached a different height, moving into
the realm of smugness as the colors settled into the stone, turning it into the
complete form of the creature I was trying to bring into being. I tied off the
energies when the transformation seemed complete. The wings started to move,
just as had happened with Sariel, slowly, and then faster. With a grin of
triumph, I held my hand up and let the creature go. It hovered in the air for a
brief moment and then fell to the ground, shattering into multiple pieces, none
of them moving, but all still holding the color of the butterfly.

“You didn’t tie off the weave at
the right spot.” Sariel shook her head. “You needed to tie it off to the life
essence of the original stone, but instead you tied it off at the surface. Try
again.”

I looked over at Chaz, who had
watched in as much awe as I had.

“She got really close this time.”
He spoke up in my defense.

Sariel turned her pointed look on
him. “Yes, because of course Abaddon will wait around for her to get it right.”

Chaz blushed. I was a bit miffed.
The kid was right. I had gotten close. It didn’t seem to count for much with
the Grigori woman. And she was the best teacher they had for connecting to
humans? How did they manage to teach us anything way back when?

Several hours and a dozen failed
attempts later, Sariel let me take a break. I think the Grigori was actually
taking pity on me. I was bound and determined to get it right, but it was
developing into a big headache, one that had started as a nagging ache and
moved into thundering proportions. With each try at weaving the energy, the
headache grew more painful. I think it was when I was grimacing more than
weaving and the attempts were going downhill, that Sariel had decided to let up
a little. That was a good thing. I wasn’t going to give up, but at this point I
was doing more harm than good. The pile of broken stone shards at my feet were
evidence enough of that.

The rest of the Grigori faded
away, as they always did when we took a break. I wondered where they went
during that time. Catching up with old friends, perhaps? Starting subversive
efforts within the angelic hosts, hoping to win more support for their cause? I
was hurting enough not to want to give it much thought.

Sariel came over and put a
soothing hand to my forehead. Her touch was cool, and that coolness merged with
the heat in my head to calm the throbbing tempo of pain. It didn’t go away
entirely, but it did come back down to a more manageable thought level. I
wondered if she could’ve taken all the pain away, or if she wanted to leave a
residue for punishment. At least my eyes weren’t crossing any more, so I didn’t
bother to ask. I did ask the same question of her that I had asked of Ke.

“Why?”

“Why what?” She seemed surprised.

“Why do the Grigori care about
what happens to humanity?”

She shrugged. “Because we do.”

I shook my head. “Not good enough.
Wasn’t humankind the downfall of the Grigori? Why would you care so much about
saving them? Is it because you
have
to, or because you
want
to?”

Sariel walked over and sat down on
the grass. I didn’t feel like sitting, so I paced a little to get rid of some
of my tension. Chaz came over and plopped down next to the Grigori. I’m sure he
was as interested in the answers as I was.

Sariel shrugged. “Either way the
end result is the same, isn’t it?”

“No. You’re asking me to take your
word on faith. I’ve never been much on faith. I want to hear why it’s so
important to you. The other angels don’t seem to be in line with your way of
thinking, so I want to hear what makes the Grigori so different.”

“The whole subject of free will
and the angels is a bit complicated.”

“Enlighten me. Make it less
complicated.”

She sighed, plucking a blade of
grass and focusing on it. “All of this disagreement, all of these seemingly
different points of view between the factions of the angels, they’re all the
same part and parcel of the pattern.”

“How?” Chaz’s face was scrunched
up in puzzlement. “As you just said, the view points are so different. How can
they both be part of the pattern?”

“Because this war between the
angels is
supposed
to happen, isn’t it Sariel?” I asked softly.

“It is destined to happen.” She
admitted with a nod. “You couldn’t stop that part of it if you tried.”

“Why is it supposed to happen?”
Chaz asked in surprise.

Sariel looked uncomfortable. Good.
It meant we were finally getting somewhere.

“Spill it, Grigori.”

She looked away. What would make
her so uncomfortable about––Oh shit.

“It’s a cleansing, isn’t it? That’s
what happened the last time around. This isn’t about any Day of Judgment or
anything like that. The
worthy
among the humans have nothing to do with
faith or belief in God, it’s all about survival of the fittest.”

Sariel nodded. She looked unhappy.

Chaz was staring at the Grigori
female in horror. “For real?”

She didn’t reply.

“Why do the Grigori care, then?” I
asked softly, but the anger was tight in my voice.

“Out of all the angels, we spent
time among the humans.” Sariel finally responded, just as softly, but hers was
more of a touch of sadness.

“What? And we were so damned
wonderful you decided we were getting a bum wrap and wanted to help us out? I’m
not buying it.”

“No. We just learned to think a
little differently by being among the humans, sharing their thoughts and
ideas.”

“Because you would take human
form?”

“Which lessened our connection to
the web for the duration.”

“That would give you a taste of
free will, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, but not so much as you
think. We were still bound to the pattern.”

I had to stop and think about it
for a moment. I was still missing something. Chaz’s mind was heading in another
direction. The whole faith thing really disturbed him. It would’ve disturbed me
early on after I had just left from spending all that time being raised by the
church. It didn’t bother me so much any more.

“If the whole faith in God thing
doesn’t really matter in the end, why is it such a powerful influence in the
mortal world?” He was watching the Grigori female closely.

“It does have a powerful
influence, does it not?” Sariel looked at him with raised eyebrows.

Chaz nodded.

“Maybe it works as a tool to keep
humanity in line so they don’t fall in so easily with the Fallen Ones?” She
seemed to be hinting at something, trying to make the kid work it out for
himself.

“Is it because whichever side has
the strongest influence when the war starts will win the war?”

“In a roundabout sort of way.”

That damned light bulb was back on
in my head again. “The pattern isn’t set for a particular direction past this
point, is it?”

Sariel shook her head slowly.
“No.”

“That’s what the angelic host is
so afraid of––that the onset of this war will change everything.”

She nodded.

“What are they so afraid of?” It
was there, right at the edges of my thoughts, but I couldn’t grab onto it.

But Chaz did. I saw his face light
in sudden understanding. “They’re afraid of
us
, Yesh.”

My face scrunched up, trying to
grasp what the kid obviously already had.

“Think about it. What has been the
attitude toward humans that has stuck out most with the angels?”

“What? Arrogance? The fact they
consider us to be lesser beings? What’s so frightening about that?”

“What is one of the main things
that is supposed to happen in the war, Yesh? According to Revelations, I mean?”

“I don’t––”

“New Jerusalem, Yesh. New
Jerusalem comes down to earth.”

Okay, now I saw where he was going
and my heart did a little jump. “The Crystal
City––
that’s
New
Jerusalem?”

I laughed. “Oh,
that’s
rich. The angelic host will be forced to live among the humans––like the
Grigori did a long time ago.”

“In essence, yes.” Sariel
confirmed.

“And Lucifer,” Chaz continued,
“what was the one thing he hated and fought against for all these years?”

“He didn’t like that the humans
were lesser beings and given what the angelic host was not––free will?” I was
still trying to grasp all of this. “But then––oh shit. He would rather see
humankind destroyed then to have to live among beings that had something he
didn’t.”

“I’m betting some of the angelic
host feel the same way.” Chaz nodded.

Sariel nodded. “They do.”

“And the faith thing really does
play a part, doesn’t it?” Chaz looked at her curiously. “When the cleansing
happens, the only humans who will survive the cleansing will be the ones that
will join the angelic host in the Crystal
City.”