Divinity (28 page)

Julia squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. When she opened them, the sticks on the ground had stopped smoking. She looked at her web of light. There were threads of purple and blue and red all woven together, forming a shell around her. The wisps that she had shot toward the image of the
A’nwel
had been pure white, but they had retracted back into her the moment the threat was gone.

“I can feel it, Michael! I can see it!” Her voice wavered and her knees buckled, but Michael put a steadying arm around her waist. The shield didn’t affect him; instead, it seemed to open a spot for his arm.

-
Let it go, girl,
- Michael’s voice buzzed in her ears. -
We’ve seen enough
.-

Julia stopped focusing and her shield immediately winked out. She regained her footing and straightened. Her heart was racing, adrenaline still coursing through her.

“I could see it, Michael. Each piece of it. And I think I could make it again.”

Michael let go of her and moved back. He appeared to be examining her from head to toe. For several minutes he said nothing.

“Can you separate the part that damaged the…” he looked down at the pile of branches at their feet, “sticks?”

Julia should have been angry for the deception, but she knew why he had done it, and accepted the necessity of it. “Yes, I can. But I have no names for any of the parts, I can only tell you how I see and feel them.”

“You are never to use that part again. Unless faced with the actual
A’nwel.”
Michael’s face was grave, his voice firm.

“Of course I wouldn’t, Michael.” Julia struggled to find names for things there were no words for on Earth. “So, if the white burning part did damage, it was the weapon?”

“Yes. A very powerful weapon.”

“The other part was meant to shield,” she said. “So it was protection?”

“That is a simple way to put it. Did it drain your strength?”

“No, I’m okay now. It was just a little disorienting, I think.” Julia pocketed the stone and looked down at her hand. A blister had formed where she’d held the stone. She touched it with her thumb and cringed; it was still hot to the touch. Julia looked over her shoulder at the house and then sheepishly back at Michael. “I wouldn’t mind sitting down for a while.”

Michael laughed heartily. “This time we’ll walk, girl. I am not an amusement park ride.”

From somewhere behind the trees on the wooded side of the property, there rose the bay of a wolf, long and lonely. The hairs stirred on the back of Julia’s neck and she rubbed absently at her arms.

“That was chilling,” she said. “Do wolves howl in the daytime?” She glanced at Michael to see if he’d had any reaction.

“Interesting timing,” he replied. A flash of recognition shone in his eyes.

Julia filed it away for future questioning. Right now, she needed to sit down.

Gabriel and Raphael stood and watched as Julia sliced through their illusion. No words were spoken as they held up a shield around the yard where Michael and Julia stood. The shield the Archangels had spun served a different purpose than the one on which Julia was working. Theirs was, in essence, a camouflage net, designed to keep the energy being used hidden from malevolent forces that would be attracted to it.

It wasn’t until Julia used her energy as a weapon that Raphael finally spoke, and though her voice didn’t give her anxiety away, Gabriel felt it in her words.

“I am not certain winning a battle with a weapon like that would be a good thing.”

“Nor am I, Raphael. This seems to be the only way we know of to defeat this creature.”

“Every time she uses it she requires immense healing.” As she spoke, Raphael cascaded her green-hued healing energy over Julia, and the air surrounding her. “And now I see she is not the only one who will require healing.”

“But you are able to heal both her and the damage to the planet,” Gabriel said. It was not a question.

“For now. To what extent will this continue? What if there is an army of them? I will not be able to heal her quickly enough and definitely not on a larger scale.”

“I have never seen an energy weapon that could tear the fabric of being.” Gabriel watched Julia closely. Witnessing her capacity for destruction was unsettling.

“It is too dangerous to allow her to use that as a weapon. We do not know how much it can rend asunder. There must be another way.” Raphael’s wings fluttered as she spoke, but her concentration did not waver. The shield she and Gabriel were maintaining was firm, and the healing she sent was intense. It was over seconds after it began.

“We’ve seen enough,” Michael said as he appeared thinly between the two of them. “It is safe to drop the shield now. You have done well.”

“Michael,” Raphael began, “she tore the very fabric…”

Michael raised one hand, silencing Raphael. “At the moment, Sister, it is the only way. Unless you have a better suggestion, of course.”

“Perhaps if she tried it without the stone? Seraphinite has always opened a channel to the angels for humans; perhaps it is amplifying her abilities,” Raphael said, focusing her attention on the stone.

“The stone awakens her energy, it does not amplify it,” Michael said dismissively. “At any rate, she is not able to function without it. Taking the stone from her would leave her vulnerable. Look to what happened in the few seconds it was not within her grasp. A woman lost her arm.”

“And would have lost her life if not for Raphael,” Gabriel agreed, feathers twitching. “I do not like this. An unknown beast and an unknown weapon to counter it. I feel as though we are being led into a trap.”

Raphael and Michael both turned their heads toward Gabriel as he gave voice to their concerns.

“Perhaps it is simply the natural balance of things, Brother,” Michael said. The three of them stood wordlessly, their heads bowed, for several minutes.

Gabriel’s quiet words caused them all to lift their heads and exchange uneasy glances. “Or perhaps it will be the end of us all.”

XXIX

T
HE
Child strode through the streets of Sydney, oblivious to her effect on those surrounding her. The dark figure observed her every movement from a few feet away. He had himself shielded so that neither she, nor her so-called guardians, could sense him. It was an interesting new perspective for him.

She stepped past an elderly lady who relied heavily on her cane to take every step. The dark figure watched as the corners of the Child’s mouth turned down, sensing the old woman’s pain. He saw the tendril of energy flow from the Child to the woman. One thread. He would not have noticed had he not been watching so closely.

The elderly woman straightened and set her shoulders back, likely for the first time in many years. The cane swung with every step she made, but the dark figure knew it was no longer necessary. She was the fourth person the Child had healed in the last twenty minutes. The dark figure’s irritation increased with everything he witnessed.

He observed all the children’s heads swivel, their necks craning when she walked by. Their smiles brightened, though they were not sure why. Animals, too. She would pass and dogs’ tails wagged. Birds that would normally take flight as a human walked by sat and cocked their heads, watching her. Feeling her. Seeing her.

He had been sent to witness and report on Zachariah’s offspring—a task that grated on him. For every person she healed, he longed to strike ten down. She was an abhorrence who would never be human and never be angel. He despised her loathsome crossing of parentage, and despised her even more for the weight she added to one side of the scale. There would never be balance with beings like her wandering around, and her accidental healings were eventually going to be noticed.

The more he watched, the more he was certain—she needed to be terminated.

-
Control yourself,
- the voice rang heavily in his mind. -
You must not be seen, and you must not interfere
.-

-
I am not interfering,
- he answered silently. -
But one of us should. This one is out of control. There is no balance in what she does, and no discrimination. She will heal the whole of Australia if left to her own devices
.-

The dark figure heard no further response. He had his orders, and now he must follow them. But he didn’t have to like it. One day he would be out from under Uriel’s thumb, but until he could make that happen, he would be stuck monitoring this Child.

He glanced back at the elderly lady, the renewed spring in her step infuriating him. He dearly wanted to shatter her thighbone and even up the score. He sighed and continued to follow the Child.

She stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled a vibrating cell phone out of her small leather handbag. When she looked at the display screen, a swirling beacon of light rose from her essence. The dark figure stopped cold.

The Child put her cell back into her purse, unanswered, and the light vanished. She was frowning now. The dark figure wondered who had rung just then, why the intense spirit reaction, and why the Child had refused the call.

There would only be a spirit reaction like that if the caller was another Child. Or a soul mate.

He growled softly. -
I need to get my hands on that phone
.-

Julia tucked her phone back inside her purse. That was the third time she had tried to call Charlie, and the third time she’d been sent straight to voicemail. If only Charlie would answer, so Julia could apologize and get the squabble behind them. Charlie was the only person Julia knew she could talk to about anything—well, almost anything.
I’ll try again later. She has to answer the phone eventually
.

Having had a few minutes before the bank opened, Julia had tried to call Charlie while waiting just outside. Now she stepped through the door, just as it was unlocked. She smiled at the man holding it open for her. “Thank you.”

The man nodded and let the door close behind her as soon as she was through.

Julia made her way toward Milla, the girl at the service desk, who rose to meet her.

“Ms. Samson, what can we do for you today?” Milla stretched across the desk to shake Julia’s hand.

“I’d like to access my safe deposit box, please.” Julia gave her a firm handshake.

“We’re all ready for you, Ms. Samson, assuming you have your key with you. Please follow me.”

“It always pays to come early,” Julia said, walking down the long corridor to the room that held her safe deposit box. She had decided to bring Alex’s journals and his letter, to take away the temptation. She knew reading them would only hurt her heart more. She could do it some other time, and this way she knew they’d be safe. She wasn’t quite sure why she thought she should safeguard them, but she was more and more willing to follow her instincts.

Julia clutched the books tightly to her chest until she was able to lock them away. She felt a large weight lift from her shoulders as she made her way back out to the street, but she also felt like something wasn’t quite right. Like she was being followed.

She casually turned her head from side to side, scanning everyone in sight. Nothing. It occurred to her that she possibly wasn’t looking for a human stalker, so she had another look, this time trying to lift her vision above herself and view all the way around her. Still nothing. But that nagging feeling was still there.

What am I doing wrong?
she thought.
Oh, that’s right. The stone
.

Julia grabbed the green stone from her pocket, closed her eyes once in what appeared to be a long blink, and when she opened them, she was surrounded by the glowing essences of all the people on the street. She continued toward her car while she quietly examined each of the beings around her.

Human essences were each unique, but similar. They all appeared to be of solid light, flowing in different shapes and patterns with a variety of colors. She could see Michael walking beside her this way. His form was different from the humans, almost misty, and his massive wings were tucked squarely on his back. He was still made of light, but he held the form in which she had always seen him—like a large robed human with wings.