Fledgling: Book 1 (Afterlife) (13 page)

Avoiding this thought, I say, “Thank goodness you are okay.” I breathe a sigh of relief. I haven’t seen him since before I entered the abyss. “Did you end up in the abyss? I waited for you, but you didn’t show.”
 

He nods. “I was in there for a little while, but not as long as you. They make sure we do not end up with anyone when we are in there, so the punishment is more severe.” As he explained it, it made sense to me. I was so keen to spend the time in the abyss with Blue; it probably would not have been half as bad if he had ended up in the same spot.
 

I am happy until a sinking feeling fills me. “What are you doing here?” I ask.
 

A couple of people pass me and give me a peculiar look. I realise that to them I look like I am talking to an empty space.
 

He gives me a guilty look. “Your angel was flashing on the charm again.”
 

I look down to the top of his pants where the charm hangs and see the angel with golden wings still flashing. “I’m okay.” I try to reassure him. “I completed my mission this time.”
 

He shows relief, and I continue, “You did a lot for me and landed yourself in trouble. You can’t be here. I just seem to get you into trouble.”

He dark brown brows crease together. “If you have completed your mission, why are you here?”

I try to hide my guilt as I explain, “I am just checking up on someone.”

One eyebrow rises, and he crosses his arms across his bare chest. I get the feeling he did not believe me. He asks, “If that is so, then why is your angel flashing?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I don’t know. You charmed the charm.”
 

He does not lower his eyebrow. I look away and find myself looking directly at Ethan by accident. My heart stops, and I hold my breath. He is looking at me. Anguish covers his face. I lower my chin and pull my hair over my face and step back completely behind the aisle. Cursing silently to myself, I see that this movement did not escape Blue’s attention.
 

Trying to bluff him, I feign innocence. “What?” I ask.

His second eyebrow rises to level with the first and his blue eyes dance with amusement. “Do you really think I didn’t see that?”

“See what?” I ask. I focus on the colour of the ocean in his eyes trying to reinforce my bluff. A couple of more customers pass, and I see them in my peripheral vision look back in my direction. I am starting to look like a crazy woman standing here talking to myself. “Don’t you have a mission to accomplish?” I whisper through my teeth.

“All complete,” he says. “This is why I am checking on the troublemaker.” He smirks. “Clearly you are not in danger, so what trouble are you up to?”
 

A middle-aged couple wandering past, run into the invisible Blue. They stop suddenly and turn to give me a filthy look. I guess seeing I was in the vicinity they thought I was the one responsible for their sudden stop. I hid a smile behind my hand once they turned their backs to me. It was almost comical.
 

I look at Blue; he was smiling broadly, but he could afford to considering they could not see him.
 

“Today is turning out to be quite entertaining. Which reminds me, what was that you just did with the hiding behind your hair and the shelving?” he asks.

I can see that he is not going to give in. I try to divert the question. “Look, like I said, I was just checking up on someone.”

“Yeah, I got that. So, who is it?” he asks, as he looks down the aisle to where Ethan is standing.

“Nobody in particular. Everything is good, and they are safe. Let’s get out of here.” I grab his bare arm in a loop then drop it, remembering that this would also look weird to the humans. He shrugs his shoulders. I know I have won for now and I smile. We prepare to walk outside to find a place where I can transform back into an angel in private.

I hear a voice behind me. It is not loud. It is just audible. “Aurora?”
 

I freeze. I have been longing for so long to hear that voice call my name, but now was not a good time. My head barely moves to look up at Blue standing on my right. He has seen my reaction, and whether I like it or not, I have his full attention. I try to step forward as though nothing has happened. As I lift my leg to move my foot, I hear it again.

“Aurora?” The voice is almost pleading.

My heart is ripping in two. I was not supposed to be seen and now Blue also knows my past life’s real name. On top of this, if the archangels find out about this encounter, I am gone for sure. “You should go,” I whisper to Blue.
 

He shakes his head and his eyes hold determination.
 

“Get yourself away from here. I don’t need you to be in trouble again because of me,” I insist as I look pleadingly into Blue’s eyes. I can see my words are not convincing him.

Slowly, I begin to turn toward the voice. As my eyes rest on Ethan’s face, I can feel the tears welling into the small dams in the corner of my eyes. The only way to tame these dams, which are about to explode, is to think of how much trouble I will be in if I am found out.
 

- Chapter Twelve -

Across Ethan’s face, I see hopeful disbelief. I don’t blame him. I am dead. Once I completely turn around, he looks me up and down, assessing if I am real.
 

“Aurora?” he whispers almost choking on the words. His pale brown eyes cloudy with confusion and the corners of his mouth edge down as though he knew someone was playing a cruel hoax on him.
 

I nod. I can see he wants to believe it, but he is not a fool and knows that I cannot be real. It takes a few moments with his eyes studying me; then his face relaxes, and he steps forward and embraces me.
 

“You look different. Like you — but different,” he whispers in my ear.

I hear Blue clear his throat in the background. “Who is this?” I heard a strange tension in his voice.
 

I turn my mouth away from Ethan’s ear. “This is Ethan, my true love for three lives,” I whisper.

“What?” Blue hisses. “We have to ditch this dude and get out of here; after we wipe his memory, that is. You are playing with fire here. Even for you this is extreme.”
 

Blue has never hissed at me before, and it concerns me, but I understand. Releasing Ethan, I turn to look at Blue and say, “You should leave, Blue. I did warn you. This is my mess to deal with.”

Ethan steps back and asks, “Who are you talking to? And what do you mean the past three lives?”

I am about to turn and look at him when I see Blue become brighter. “Me,” he says. He has made himself visible. Thankfully there is no one in the area at the time. This is not how I envisioned my time with Ethan.
 

Ethan steps back from me and away from Blue. “Whoa! Where did you come from? And where is your shirt?” He looks back at me and asks. “Are you a ghost? No, wait, I just hugged you.” He steps a little further away, his face losing its colour. “How are you here?”

Blue places an arm around my shoulders and stands a little too close. “She is an angel. But I guess you already knew that,” he adds in a cavalier fashion. A smirk forms on his face watching Ethan’s expression as he registers the information.
 

I turn to give Blue a glare. “You’re not helping.”

“And so I shouldn’t be. What you are doing is not healthy. We need to wipe his memory and leave. Angels and humans should not mix, especially past loves. It is going too far.” Blue is upset. I have never seen him upset before. He is always so calm and collected.

Hearing raised voices, a male shop assistant looking to be in his fifties, stops. He wears a red shirt and deep grey apron with Bunnings Warehouse writing on it. He peers down his nose, through his glass lenses and asks, “Is everything okay here?”

Ethan looks at me; his face is contorted then his eyes rest on Blue. “Yeah,” he says without emotion. “Yeah,” he adds with more conviction. “Everything is good here.”

The shop assistant looks at each of us individually, and I see him observing the facial expressions of the two males. He looks back at me and says, “Okay then. But there will be no fighting in here.” He does not sound convinced, but he steps away remaining within hearing distance.
 

A few moments of silence pass and I can see his eyes continually looking in our direction, watching and listening.
 

“Can we go outside and talk?” I ask Ethan.
 

Ethan nods and Blue adds, “Yeah, let’s take this outside.”

I turn to him. “Actually, you weren’t invited.”

He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter; I’m coming anyway. You need protection from yourself. Hopefully, I will get it through your head how dangerous this is. The Archangels will make sure you will not see the light of day if they catch you.”

I sigh and begin to walk outside with Ethan next to me, and Blue following too close for comfort. As we walk, Ethan keeps turning his head and looking at me. He looks as though he wants to say something, but then he looks at Blue and the words never come.
 

When we reach the car park, I look for a place without security cameras. I see a grassy spot just off the tarmac, and I direct the group in that direction. Blue is still hovering around, and I can see that it is causing Ethan to be more on edge. I turn to him and ask, “Can you take off for a bit?”

Blue opens his mouth to protest, and I place a finger on his lips. I plead with my eyes as I look deep into his. I can see his concern, which I am guessing is the cause of his anger.
 

“I’ll be fine.” I try to put him at ease. “You can even stand just over there, near those trees. That way you can see everything that is going on.” I know because of his angel hearing he will still be able to hear what we say, but Ethan doesn’t know that. After studying my face, Blue glances at Ethan then back at me. He nods, and I can feel the pressure rising.

“Just don’t do anything stupid. I can’t bear to lose you to the abyss again. I would miss you too much.”

I smile sadly. “I’ll be good. I promise.”

He leaves us to talk, observing from a safe distance. I sit on the grassy mound and tap the ground next to me with my hand, inviting Ethan to sit with me.
 

He sits, resting his elbows on his knees and his arms stretching out in front of him joining the hands. His muscles in his arms twitch as he fiddles with his fingers. He’s staring straight ahead. A puff of breeze ruffles his light brown hair, and an alluring smell of burgers and chips enters my nose from a local fast food place. I wish I could eat food again. Ignoring the pull, I look at Ethan.
 

He continues to look straight ahead. A frown is crumpling his tanned forehead, and his lips press together. I push my body sideways, nudging his shoulder softly with mine.
 

“Hey!” I say forcing a smile.

His pale brown eyes focus on mine. The confusion resting in them hits me with a wave of sorrow. I can feel the edges of my mouth turn down.

“You know, I didn’t mean for it to happen this way,” I say slowly. I see the lines in his forehead deepen, but he doesn't say anything. “I was only trying to drop by and see if you were doing okay . . . and because I miss you.” I finish in a whisper. His creases iron out a little. “But I didn’t mean to cause you confusion or heartache.”

“How are you here?” he asks. His voice cracks mid sentence. “You . . . you are supposed to be dead.” His eyes study my face. “And you look like you, only different.”

A tear trickles down my cheek. I lift my hand and wipe it away. “It is true. I did die . . . and I am . . . no longer human. As Blue said, I am an angel. I am chosen because I died an innocent three times.” I smile. “I guess that’s why I look better now than I did as a human.”

“Don’t be absurd. You looked perfect as a human.” His mouth turns up in the corner in a half smile while his eyes searched my face longingly. I can see he means it. “I want you back,” he whispers as he reaches out and takes my hand.

A tear rolls down the other cheek. I don’t wipe this one away, rather, I taste its salty flavour when it hits the side of my mouth. “You are not much different than I was.” I choke out the words past the lump in my throat.

“What do you mean?”

I want to tell him that if he remains an innocent and gets murdered that he would be able to join me as an angel, but I don’t. I know that this is not a good thing to tell someone when they are in the sad mental state. If he knew this information he might jeopardise his chances of dying as an innocent while in a mad rush to be with me. Oh, how I dream of having him with me.
 

I smile at him and pat his thigh affectionately. “Just keep living like you do — with a good heart. Maybe one day we can be together again.” I cast my eyes to the ground. Time is passing quickly, and I know I have to go. I begin to rise. He reaches out a hand and pulls me back to the ground next to him.

“Don’t go,” he whispers.